La natura

First, an apology for only giving it three stars. I am well aware that this is a brilliant piece of poetry, but my Latin is very poor, and I rapidly abandoned my initial plan of reading it in the original with the English translation alongside. In a way, though, I'm following Lucretius's advice: he

Epicurian Physics 31 July 2013 Well, here I am, once again sitting in the passenger seat of my Dad's car on our final trek to Melbourne, and since I have been reading, sleeping, or driving for most of the day, I might as well fix up a couple of my reviews while I am sitting here (and since I have a s Leggi tutto

The antiquity of this book calls for respect and appreciation. However, for a modern reader it is very boring to read. It's a long (300 pages) poem written in the first century BC in which the author pontificates about the physical sciences for the purpose of defending Epicureanism philosophy. It is Leggi tutto

“Therefore death to us Is nothing, nor concerns us in the least, Since nature of mind is mortal evermore.” “ Now then, learn How tenuous is the nature of an image. And in the first place, since primordials be So far beneath our senses, and much less E'en than those objects which begin to grow Too sma Leggi tutto

Wow, this was a real surprise. Lucretius was just so shockingly ahead of his time. It's probably more important than Newton in terms of the sheer range of thought he originates. His conception of atomic theory is surprisingly accurate, down to recognizing that atoms are composed of about three diffe Leggi tutto

Much on-target prediction. Philosophic argument combined with poetic aplomb. The nature of atoms, the movement of lightning, particles, sound, a refutation of the gods, sex and man's nature as opposed to the nature of non-sentient things. Attempts to locate the soul. Some missteps regarding the heav Leggi tutto