This elegant new translation at last restores the poetry to one of the
greatest and most influential poems in the Western tradition. De Rerum
Natura is Lucretius's majestic elaboration of Greek Epicurean physics
and psychology in an epic that unfolds over the course of six books.
This sumptuous account of a secular cosmos argues that the soul is
mortal, that pleasure is the object of life, and that humanity has free
will, among other ideas. Renowned author, translator, and poet David R.
Slavitt has captured Lucretius's elegance as well as his philosophical
profundity in this highly readable translation of a poem that is crucial
to the history of ancient thought.