Lucretius

(94 - 50)

from De rerum Natura [I.1-9]

Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divumque voluptas,
alma Venus, caeli subter labentia signa
quae mare navigerum, quae terris frugiferentis
concelebras, per te quoniam genus omne animantum
concipitur visitque exortum lumina solis:
te, dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila caeli
adventumque tuum, tibi suavis daedala tellus
sumittit flores, tibi rident aequora ponti
placatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum.

Sri Aurobindo’s remarks:

«Lucretius who wrote an epic about the “Nature of Things” and invested the Epicurean philosophy with a rudely Roman and most unepicurean majesty and grandeur.»

«Lucretius’ work lives only, in spite of the majestic energy behind it, by its splendid digressions into pure poetry»