The Nature of Things (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Lucretius (Author), Alicia Stallings (Translator)

Book Description

Release date: December 18, 2007 | Series: Penguin Classics

The seminal Epicurean text, in a brilliant new translation

The Epicureans of ancient Rome discarded the ideas of life after death and of an interventionist God in favor of the tactile pleasures of nature. In The Nature of Things, Lucretius celebrates with wit and sharp perception the extraordinary breadth of the Epicurean belief system, ranging from the indestructibility of atoms and the discovery of fire to the folly of romantic love and the phenomena of clouds and rainstorms.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Titus Lucretius Carus (who died c.50 BC) was an Epicurean poet writing in the middle years of the first century BC. His six-book Latin hexameter poem De rerum natura survives virtually intact, although it is disputed whether he lived to put the finishing touches to it. As well as being a pioneering figure in the history of philosophical poetry, Lucretius has come to be our primary source of information on Epicurean physics, the official topic of his poem. A. E. Stallings was born in 1968. She grew up in Decatur, GA, and was educated at the University of Georgia and Oxford University in classics. Her poetry has appeared in The Best American Poetry (1994 and 2000) and has received numerous awards, including a Pushcart Prize (Pushcart Prize Anthology XXII), the 1997 Eunice Tietjens Prize from Poetry and the third annual James Dickey Prize from Five Points. Richard Jenkyns is Professor of the Classical Tradition, University of Oxford, a Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall and author of a number of books including Dignity and Decadence: Some Classical Aspects of Victorian Art and Architecture and The Victorians and Ancient Greece.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (December 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140447962
• ISBN-13: 978-0140447965
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Greek & Roman
  • #17 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Ancient, Classical & Medieval
  • #67 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

238 of 242 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a real poem July 30, 2010

By Owen Cramer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Lucretius missed being translated in full by any of the classic English early modern translators: Chapman, Dryden, Pope. (Dryden did tantalizing selections) So it's fitting that Stallings goes back to those roots with a translation in rhymed fourteeners (think ballad form: da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum/da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, in couplets). There are a number of reasonably good translations available, including Latham's reliable prose in the older Penguin Classics edition, but this is the most ambitious modern attempt at a full, poetic translation of what is both (in Latin) a marvelous, sonorous epic poem and a fascinating account of Epicurean philosophy (serious, scientific, respectful of the gods but the opposite of conventional piety, mordantly disrespectful of love and politics).

181 of 187 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable translation April 30, 2010

By John Scott

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After reading the work in two other translations, I was very pleased to find this one. In my opinion, it's the best. The artistry is still there, but the meaning isn't being sacrificed for the sake of poetry. For me, that's important.

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fluency January 20, 2012

By sojourner

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Lucretius' poem DE RERUM NATURA is still revolutionary, fundamental to a view of the world that is materialist, atheist and humanist at the same time. The text's influence on civilized thought has been immense and yet, somehow clandestine, not unlike a samizdat.
Ms. Stallings has translated the Latin into English rhyme with admirable ease and fluency; reading, I find passages enrapturing me; it is amazing how elegantly the English language lends itself to this transformation of Latin, as compared to the stiffness of my native German.
Readers who do not know Lucretius might learn the trick from him to look at life with cold yet loving eyes, at the same time enjoying the unique presentation of his ideas in rhyme of the most sophisticated kind, thanks to a superb translation.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind-boggling. Jaw-dropping. Incredible. April 6, 2012

By amk

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Mind-boggling. Jaw-dropping. Incredible. These are just some of the superlatives that come to mind when thinking back about what I had read in "On the Nature of Things." I first learned of the book's existence while listening to "Hmmm...", an NPR show hosted by Robert Krulwich. That episode featured Stephen Greenblatt, the author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, a book about how "On the Nature of Things" was rediscovered, put back out into the world, and how it influenced important historical figures, such as Shakespeare, Machiavelli, and Thomas Jefferson.

"On the Nature of Things" was written over 2,000 years ago by a philosopher who prescribed to the thoughts and beliefs of Epicurus. Epicurus believed that everything in this universe was made of atoms and that these atoms arranged and rearranged themselves into everything that we see and touch, without any help from the gods. I was continuously in shock when I read Lucretius touch upon natural selection, talk about how these atoms had to have arranged themselves into a planet with life on it in a distant part of the universe, and more.

Do yourselves a favor. Read this book and then read The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Incredible.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Choice March 27, 2012

By Big John

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book in paperback, as a reference for an e-book. I now wish I'd gotten a Kindle version. The introduction is worth the price of the book. Reading the the translation requires patience, a good dictionary and perhaps a copy of Bullfinch. If that sounds appealing to you, go for it. I'm glad I did.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The Problem with Formatting January 14, 2013

By M. Fujita

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's impossible to read in the Kindle format. I can't tell where the line breaks are and in poetry, it's a dealbreaker. I won't pick up any more poetry for the Kindle.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars poor reading experience November 25, 2012

By Michael Paine MD

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This edition of the poem has no table of contents and thus one is unable to move freely and precisely throughout the work. I am appalled that they would charge $10 for a work that no effort has been made to make reader friendly. The formatting of this book seems like that of a free book. The content of this work may be excellent, but the reading experience is so poor, I returned it to look for another edition after reading only a small portion of it. I am publishing this review to encourage publishers to expend more effort on formatting.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One for Your Bucket List - But Why Wait? August 19, 2012

By William A. Hudson

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My life is far richer for having met Lucretius, a Roman disciple of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. Reading Lucretius' great unfinished poem, The Nature of Things, I got to know a wonderfully curious, intelligent, and humane observer of nature. A.E. Stallings's fluent translation and delightful notes bring Lucretius' words to life while encouraging the reader to learn enough Latin to experience the original. Definitely one for your bucket list - but why wait? You will understand why Thomas Jefferson wrote toward the end of his life: "I TOO AM AN EPICUREAN. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing every thing rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us."