De rerum natura

De rerum natura
by Lucretius
Opening of Pope Sixtus IV's 1483 manuscript of De rerum natura, scribed by Girolamo di Matteo de Tauris
Written	First-century BC
Country	Roman Republic
Language	Latin
Subject(s)	Epicureanism, ethics, physics, natural philosophy
Genre(s)	Didactic
Meter	Dactylic hexameter
Publication date	1473
Published in English	1682
Media type	manuscript
Lines	7,400
Full text
On the Nature of Things at Wikisource

De rerum natura (Latin: [deː ˈreːrʊn naːˈtuːraː]; On the Nature of Things) is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC) with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics through poetic language and metaphors.^[1] Namely, Lucretius explores the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna ("chance"),^[2] and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities.