Lucretius
Lucretius
Titus Lucretius Caruswas a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the epic philosophical poem De rerum natura about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which is usually translated into English as On the Nature of Things...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPoet
reality mask torn
The mask is torn off, while the reality remains
men too-much
Men are eager to tread underfoot what they have once too much feared.
men past scene
Men conceal the past scenes of their lives.
ocean wind sea
It is a pleasure for to sit at ease Upon the land, and safely for to see How other folks are tossed on the seas That with the blustering winds turmoiled be.
powerful struggle men
But if anyone were to conduct his life by reason He would find great riches in living a peaceful life And being contented; one is never short of a little But men want always to be powerful and famous So that their fortune rests on a solid foundation And they can spend a placid life in opulence. There isn't a hope of it; to attain great honours You have to struggle along a dangerous way And even when you reach the top there is envy Which can strike you down like lightning into Tartarus. For envy, like lightning, generally strikes at the top Or any point which sticks out from the ordinary level.
centaurs body speak
But centaurs never existed; there could never be So to speak a double nature in a single body Or a double body composed of incongruous parts With a consequent disparity in the faculties. The stupidest person ought to be convinced of that.
mind matter understood
Death is nothing to us, it matters not one jot, since the nature of the mind is understood to be mortal.
matter seeds nothingness
We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from.
life struggle dark
Life is one long struggle in the dark.
light kindles
Truths kindle light for truths.
rainy-day greatest-wealth mind
The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied.
believe hands atoms
At this stage you must admit that whatever is seen to be sentient is nevertheless composed of atoms that are insentient. The phenomena open to our observation so not contradict this conclusion or conflict with it. Rather they lead us by the hand and compel us to believe that the animate is born, as I maintain, of the insentient.
heart adversity reality
So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.
men height wickedness
Such are the heights of wickedness to which men are driven by religion.