De Rerum Natura, The Nature of Things

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.

David R. Slavitt is the author of more than eighty books of poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and drama. His Propertius in Love is available from University of California Press.

Translator’s foreword
the nature of things
Book I
Book II
Book III
Book IV
Book V
Book VI