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LucretiusOn The Nature Of Things
Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 1910A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Fear of the Gods
Lucretius’ theological teachings are sadly incomplete, since he died before revising his work, but he states the major points clearly throughout the poem. In Epicurean thought, fear of the gods is one of the greatest barriers to peace of mind; it is also entirely misplaced. The gods, Lucretius tells us, are not directly involved in our world. They did not create it, nor did they create us; as he observes, the world could not have been created for us by sentient beings, because “it is marked by such serious flaws” (Book II, lines 180-181; page 40). Furthermore, the gods have no interest in human affairs, and our prayers and sacrifices have no influence on them.
This is not to say that the gods do not exist, or that they are unimportant. According to Lucretius, they simply inhabit a realm that is beyond our world, out in space, beyond the sky. The nature of the gods is “so tenuous, and so far removed from our senses, that it is scarcely perceptible even to the mind” (Book V, line 149; page 141). We do occasionally see the gods, however, in the form of “images”: every object emits a thin layer of particles, called an “image,” which allows us to see it; when images emitted by the gods penetrate into our world, they are too thin for our eyes to see, but they penetrate straight to our minds as dreams or visions.
Although the gods are not involved in our lives, they are still worthy of emulation. Lucretius tells us that the gods are perfect, and they live lives of perfect peace, “free from all distress, free from peril, fully self-sufficient, independent of us” (Book II, line 650; page 51). The gods embody the ideal Epicurean life, and therefore ought to serve as a model to us. By worshipping them with a peaceful mind, free from fear of the gods, we can “receive in peace and tranquility the images that emanate from their sacred bodies and enter human minds with news of divine beauty” (Book VI, lines 77-78; page 180).
Fear of Death
The mortality of our souls and our world pervade this work; one of Lucretius’ major tasks is to prove that neither is immortal, and to assuage the fear of death that prevails among the ignorant. Lucretius first establishes the necessary conditions for immortality: an immortal object must always have existed, it must be unchanging, and it must be completely solid. In our world (encompassing the sky, the sea, and the Earth), only atoms fulfill those criteria, so the rest must be mortal, including our souls.
Regarding the popular belief that the human mind or spirit can be immortal, and perhaps can inhabit another body after death, Lucretius refutes it by arguing that both are born with the body, mature with it, and die with it. As further evidence, he points out that the mind can suffer diseases, just like the body, and be cured. This quality shows a mutability that implies mortality: “For every change that involves a thing outstepping its own limits means the instantaneous death of what previously existed” (Book III, lines 519-520; page 81). The spirit, meanwhile, dissipates gradually from the body after death; since it can be broken into smaller parts in order to leave the body, it must again be mortal. Crucially, the death of the mind and spirit means that there is no life after death, and therefore we simply return to the oblivion of before we were born. As Lucretius puts it, “Death, then, is nothing to us” (Book III, line 830; page 89), and there is no need to fear death.
Our world, too, must be mortal, though it is long-lived. According to the Epicurean model, it is built from earth, air, fire, and water. Each of these elements is mortal, according to the above criteria: earth crumbles to dust, air is made up of a constantly-changing flow of particles, flames constantly die and are replaced, and water evaporates. Since it is composed of elements that are mortal, then, “the massive structure of the world, sustained for countless years, will collapse” (Book V, line 95; page 139). The transitory nature of our world shows that there is nothing special about it, and that there is no reason to believe that the gods have any involvement in it.
Tranquility of Mind
According to Epicurean philosophy, the key to happiness is “that the body may be rid of pain, and that the mind, divorced from anxiety and fear, may enjoy a feeling of contentment” (Book II, lines 17-19; pages 35-36). In other words, our best life can be achieved by avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. The two biggest barriers to success are fear of death and fear of the gods. Both of these fears cause mental unrest, and drive people into the harmful grasp of superstition. Through careful study, though, we can understand the nature of death and the gods, and by understanding that they are benign, we cease to fear them. The quest for this understanding is the driving force behind On the Nature of Things.
The pursuit of pleasure does not imply decadence and excess; it is important to practice moderation. For example, when it comes to passion, Lucretius advocates seeking casual sexual partners rather than a lover. Though love does bring pleasure, it also causes pain: “This is because [lovers’] pleasure is not pure: there are secret spurs that stimulate them to hurt the very object, whatever it may be, from which these germs of [passionate] madness spring” (Book IV, lines 1081-1082; page 129). Lucretius believes that it is ultimately best to avoid sexual relationships altogether, in fact, since the pleasure they bring is fleeting and unsatisfying.
Those who do not practice moderation in accumulating pleasure fall victim to greed and envy. These are the forces that compel ambitious men to pursue wealth and power above all else; they are also the forces that cause their downfall: “for envy, like lightning, usually blasts the highest places and all that are elevated above others” (Book V, lines 1128; page 167). What is more, greed is ultimately motivated by the fear of death: Men hope to stave off death with wealth and power, when of course, death cannot be avoided and shouldn’t be feared in the first place.
The Nature of Everything
The key to achieving Epicurean tranquility of mind forms the title of Lucretius’ work: one must understand the nature of things, in order to dispel fear of the unknown. This is generally achieved through close observation and logical argument, which Lucretius models throughout his poem. He devotes the bulk of this work to explaining natural phenomena.
Epicurean science identifies atoms as the building blocks of all matter. (It should be noted that ancient thinkers had no knowledge of atoms as we understand them today; rather, they theorized the existence of tiny, indivisible particles, and constructed a scientific model based on resulting best guesses.) The most important properties of atoms are that they cannot be created, they cannot die, they are completely solid, they are indivisible, they come in different shapes and sizes, and they are always in motion. From these basic principles, the Epicureans were able to construct a model of the entire universe.
At the largest scale, Lucretius tells us that the universe is infinite, has existed for all time, and will continue to exist forever. Our “world,” by which he means the Earth, the sea, and the sky (including the sun, moon, and stars), is an enclosed system within the larger universe. It was created by chance, through the random motion of particles, and at some point in the future, it will collapse. The celestial bodies are affixed to spheres that rotate at different rates and distances, which is why the sun, moon, and stars don’t follow the same course through the sky. It is possible for particles from other parts of the universe to enter our world, which could, for example, explain where plagues come from.
Life on Earth, according to the Epicurean model, was also created by chance, at a time when the planet was more fertile than it is now. All living things are made of atoms, and when we ingest new atoms in the form of food, our bodies turn them into muscle, bone, fat, and other tissues. When we die, our bodies decompose and deposit our constituent atoms back into the Earth, where they will one day be used to build something new. Our mind and spirit, being made of atoms as well, go through the same death and disintegration as the rest of the body. This cycle shows how, though individual creatures and objects can be mortal, the particles that formed them are immortal and will forever be recycled into new materials.
By distilling the nature of everything into functions of atoms and chance, the Epicurean model eliminates the need for creators. Though this model does accept the existence of the gods, it removes their presence and their influence from our world. The understanding of Epicurean science thus grants humanity the tools for attaining peace of mind.
