Titus Lucretius Carus

Titus Lucretius Carus (c.99 - c.55 BC), Lucretius in short, was a Roman poet of whose personal history nothing is known, only that he was the author of a poem entitled "De Rerum Naturâ," , literally "On the nature of the Universe", a philosophic, didactic composition in six books, in which he expounds the atomic theory of Leucippus, and the philosophy of Epicurus. The philosophy of the work commends itself only to the atheist and the materialist, but the style is the admiration of all scholars, and has ensured its translation into most modern languages.

According to St Jerome, he was driven mad by a love philtre, wrote poetry in his lucid intervals, and died by his own hand, leaving his poem to be edited posthumously by Cicero.

Wisdom and Quotes

From De Rerum Natura

• Nothing can be created out of nothing.
• What is food to one is to another bitter poison.
• The generations of living things pass in a short time, and like runners hand on the torch of life.
• Life is one long struggle in the dark.
• Love is a product of habit.
• Victory puts us on a level with heaven.

Gaius Valerius Catullus