Lucretius: De rerum natura, Book IV

183 Pages·1987·8.954 MB·English

by  John Godwin

Aris & PhilliPs ClAssiCAl TexTs
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura IV
with an introduction, translation and commentary by
John Godwin
Aris & Phillips is an imprint of Oxbow Books
First published in the United Kingdom in 1986, reprinted 2008 by
OXBOW BOOKS
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© The author John Godwin
Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-0-85668-309-1
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Contents
Preface v
Bibliography& Abbreviations vii
INTRODUCTION
Lucretius: Poet and Philosopher 1
The Structure ofBookIV 7
The Transmission ofthe Text. 9
Notes to Introduction 10
DE RERUMNATURAN
Textand Translation 11
Commentary 83
To my parents - with love and gratitude
PREFACE
'Lucretius speaks across the years to the modern reader
more directly, and enlists his interest more immediately, than
almost any other poet of antiquity.I (D.E.W. Wormell, IThe
Personal World of Lucretius' in Lucretius ed Dudley) The De
Rerum Natura is the great epic of Man and the Universe, a
tour de force of literary genius and a window into a world as
familiar to us as it was to the Romans of the 1st century B.C.
Nature - and human nature - have not changed; consequently
the impact of Lucretius' ideas - concerning perennial questions
of philosophy and charged with a directness and practicality
that is unique - has not been eroded with the passage of time,
but strikes us today with all the personal authenticity of a
man speaking to men. The fourth book in particular is of
enormous interest both literary the famous diatribe on
Romantic Love is indispensable reading for anyone interested
in Love poetry - philosophical, scientific, and simply human,
as we watch an intellectual giant attempting to come to terms
with reality as we perceive it through the normal everyday
spectacle of life.
Yet the fourth book of the De Rerum Natura has never
been edited in English separately from the rest of the poem. It
is the purpose of this edition to make the work accessible to
everybody - in particular those who are picking up Lucretius
for the first time. The translation is primarily functional
rather than aesthetic - designed to elucidate rather than to
rival the original - but will enable those without Latin to
derive some idea of the meaning and significance of this poem.
The Introduction and Commentary presuppose no knowledge of
Latin except in the elucidation of certain linguistic and textual
matters. The commentary makes no claim to be exhaustive
but where corners have been cut I have tried to indicate
where further information may be found.
My debts to other scholars are of course enormous.
Nobody can edit Lucretius without to a large extent being
guided and informed by the great editions of Munro,
Ernout-Robin and Bailey - if I had acknowledged every single
point owed to them the book would be twice the length.
v
Similarly, the work of Jonathan Barnes in philosophy and
David West in literary criticism have been of constant help and
inspiration in the preparation of this book. My thanks go also
to Mr C.D.N. Costa, who read a large part of the commentary
in draft form and saved me from myself on many points, and
to Mr John Aris, to whose enterprise and enthusiasm this book
owes its existence.
John Godwin
Shrewsbury December 1985
vi
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations appear in brackets
Works of Reference
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (2nd Edition, Oxford 1970)
(OCD2)
The Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford 1982) (OLD)
Texts
The most accessible text of Epicurus is to be found in
Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers vol. 2
(London-Cambridge, Mass., 1925) Loeb Classical Library; with
facing English translation. The most complete text of Epicurus
is in Arrighetti: Eplcuro, Opere (2nd edition, Torino 1973),
with Italian translation and notes. For the texts of the
Presocratic Philosophers, see: Kirk, Raven and Schofield: The
Presocratic Philosophers (2nd edition, Cambridge 1983), with
English translation and full discussion. Fragments not
contained there will be found in: H. Diels Die Fragmente der
Vorsokratiker (6th edition, revised W. Kranz, Berlin 1952)
(D-K). The two surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, Outlines
of Pyrrhonism (OP) and Against the Mathematicians (AM) are
available in the Loeb Classical Library (Greek text with facing
English translation) edited by R.G. Bury (4 vols. 1933-47).
Editions of Lucretius referred to:
Editio Aldina (Avancius) Venice 1500
Editio Juntina (Candidus) Firenze, 1512.
Lambinus, D• (Paris, 1563-4, 1565, 1570; Frankfurt, 1583)
Lachmann, K. (Berlin 1850)
Munro, H.A.J• (Cambridge, 1864, 1866, 1873, 1886)
Giussani, C. (Torino 1896-8)
Bailey, C. (Oxford, 1900, 1922) (aCT)
Ernout-Robin (second edition, Paris 1962)
Martin, J. (Leipzig, 5th edition 1963)
Leonard-Smith (Madison 1942)
Bailey, C. (3 vols. Oxford, 1947)
vii
Smith, M.F. (Loeb Classical Library, 1975)
Muller, K. (Zurich, 1975)
Editions of single books of the DRN
Book 1, edited by P. Michael Brown (Bristol, 1984)
Book 3, edited by E. J. Kenney (Cambridge, 1971)
Book 5, edited by C.D.N. Costa (Oxford, 1985)
Other works cited:
Adams, J.N. , The Latin Sexual Vocabulary (Duckworth 1982).
Amory, A., 'Obscura de re lucida carmina: Science and poetry
in De Rerum Natura': Yale Classical Studies 21 (1969)
143-68.
Annas, J. and Barnes, J., The Modes of Scepticism (Cambridge
1985) •
Arragon, R. F., 'Poetic art as a Philosophic Medium for Lucretius'
Essays in Criticism 11 (1961) 371-89.
Asmis, E., 'Lucretius' Explanation of Moving Dream Figures at
4.768-76', American Journal of Philology 102 (1981) 138-45.
Bailey, C., The Creek Atomists and Epicurus (Oxford, 1928).
Barigazzi, A., 'Epicure et le Scepticisme' Association Cuillaume
Bude:Actes de Congres (1969) 286-93.
Barnes, J., The Presocratic Philosophers (2nd ed. London 1982).
Barnes, Brunschwig, Burnyeat and Schofield (edd), Science
and Speculation (Cambridge, 1982) •
Barone, C., 'Le spese e le illusioni degli amanti (L.4.1123-30)'
Studi Urbinati di Storia, Fitosoiio e Letterature 52 (1978)
75-90.
Bergson, H., The Philosophy of Poetry:the Genius of Lucretius
(New York, 1959).
Betensky, A., 'Lucretius and Love' Classical World 73 (1980)
291-9.
Boyance, P., Lucrece et I'Epicurisme (Paris 1963).
Bright, D. F., 'The Plague and the structure of De Rerum Natura'
Latomus 30 (1971) 607-32.
Brown, R.D., 'Lucretius and Callimachus' Illinois Classical
Studies 7 (1982) 77-97.
'Lucre'tian Ridicule of Anaxagoras' Classical
Quarterly 33 (1983) 146-60.
Burnyeat, M.F. , 'The Upside-down Back-ta-Front Sceptic of
Lucretius 4.472' Philologus 122 (1978) 197-206.
Canfora, L., 'I Proemi del De Rerum Natura' Rivista di Filologia
e di Istruzione Classica 110 (1982) 63-77.
viii
Carcopino, J., Daily Life in Ancient Rome (Harmondsworth 1956).
Clarke, M.L., 'Lucretius 4.1026' Classical Quarterly 34 (1984) 240.
Classen, C.J., 'Poetry and Rhetoric in Lucretius' Transactions of
the American Philological Association 99 (1968) 77-118.
Clausen, W., 'Callimachus and Roman Poetry' Greek., Roman and
Byzantine Studies 5 (1964) 181-96.
'Two Conjectures' American Journal of Philology 84 (1963)
415-7.
Clay, D., 'The Sources of Lucretius' Inspiration' Etudes sur
l'Epicurisme Antique (Cahiers de Philologie 1 (1976»
205-27.
Commager, H.S., 'Lucretius' Interpretation of the Plague'
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 62 (1957) 105-21.
Commager, S., The Odes of Horace (Indiana 1962).
Copley, F.O., Exclusus Amator (American Philological Association
Monograph 17, Baltimore 1956).
Cox, A., 'Didactic Poetry' in (ed,') J. Higginbotham, Greek and
Latin Literature-' a Comparative Study (London 1969)
124-61•
Cox, A.S., 'Lucretius and his Message: a Study in the Prologues
of the De Rerum Natura' Greece and Rome 18 (1971) 1-16.
Dalzell, A., 'Some Recent Work on the Text of Lucretius' Phoenix
14 (1 960) 96-105•
Dodds, E.R., The Greeks and the Irrational (California 1951).
Dudley, D.R., (ed), Lucretius (London 1965).
Ferrero, L., Poetica Nuova in Lucrezio (Florence 1949).
Fitzgerald, W., 'Lucretius' Cure for Love in the De Rerum Natura'
Classical World 78 (1984) 73-86.
Frazer, J.G., The Golden Bough (London 1911).
Fraenkel, E., Horace (Oxford 1957).
FriedHinder, L., Rornan Life and A1anners (London 1907).
Furley, D.J., 'Lucretius and the Stoics' Bulletin of the Institute
of Classical Studies 13 (1966) 13-33.
Two Studies in the Creek Atomists (Princeton 1967)
Gillis 'Pastoral Poetry in Lucretius' Latomus 26 (1967) 339-62.
Goar, R.J., 'On the End of Lucretius' Fourth Book' Classical
Bulletin 47 (1971) 75-··-7..
Gosling, J.C.B. and Taylor, C.C.W.¥ The Greeks on Pleasure
(Oxford 1982).
Graves, R., The Creek Myths (2nd ed, Harmondsworth 1960)
Griffin, A., Sikyon (Oxford 1982).
Griffin, J., 'Augustan Poetry and the Life of Luxury' Journal
of Roman Studies 66 (1976) 87-105.
'On the Relationship of Literature to Life' Hesperiam 4
(1981) 7-22.
ix