Poetic Immortality and the Fear of Death: The Second Proem of the De Rerum Natura

1989 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
Charles Segal
Keyword(s):  
Fear Of Death ◽  
De Rerum Natura

Readers in the Underworld: Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 3.912–1075

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Tobias Reinhardt
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
De Rerum Natura ◽  
Image Position

Readers have always acknowledged the comparatively clear macrostructure of De rerum natura 3. It begins with a prooemium in which is described the terrifying impact which the fear of death has on human lives, as well as the fact that Epicurus has provided a cure against this fear, namely his physical doctrines (1–93). Particular attention is paid to fears of an afterlife in which we have to suffer pain and grief in the underworld; cf., for instance, the programmatic lines 3.37–40 (translation by Ferguson Smith, which will be used throughout):This prooemium is followed by a long passage (94–829) in which Lucretius explains the basics of Epicurean psychology and tries to show that the soul is (like the body) material and hence mortal; this last point is driven home with particular force in II. 417–829 where Lucretius lists twenty-five proofs for the mortality of the soul.

How the fear of death incites suicide in men and women according to Classical literature

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Stevens Ivy
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
De Rerum Natura ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Roman World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender Neutral

In this paper, I will explain how a few Roman writers explore the process and contemplation that leads to suicide, particularly Lucretius through his work De Rerum Natura. I will contrast this Epicurean stance to Stoic perspectives using Vergil’s epic Aeneid, Seneca’s Epistles and Cicero’s Dream of Scipio and Tusculans. Each of these authors comments on the act of suicide and the social connotations that accompany self-murder, including its reception based on the suicide’s gender. These authors’ use of suicide and a person’s virtus shows how they perceive gender equality or inequality when it comes to death. All of the authors examined in this paper agree that the fear of the death is an important issue in the Roman world. Lucretius’ approach to encounter one’s fear of death is focus more on physics; this enables him to take a non-gendered approach because all humans are made up of the same atoms just in different compositions. However, Vergil, Seneca, and Cicero construct systems that examine the fear of death from a more ethical side. I will explain that, unlike his contemporaries, Lucretius portrays suicide and the fear of death through specifically gender-neutral references to dispel its fear from all his readers; he explains that everyone experiences the same death and we can all attain virtus before death through subscribing to Epicurean ideals.

Lucrèce De rerum natura II 631

1971 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 210-214
Author(s):  
Monique Mund-Dopchie
Keyword(s):  
De Rerum Natura

A REVIEW OF FEAR OF DEATH

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gizem ONERI UZUN
Keyword(s):  
Fear Of Death

Reflections on Death by Spiritually Mature Elders

1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Eugene Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Spatial Terms ◽  
Present Life

Beliefs and feelings about death are excerpted from interviews conducted with elderly English men and women, who were viewed as spiritually mature by those in their community. Respondents reported a wide range of beliefs about death, reflecting their personal experience, but none reported fear of death. Subtle sex differences were noted: men tended to picture death in spatial terms, of moving into a new dimension, while women tended to describe death in terms of relationships. Overall the respondents indicated that they placed a positive value on death, viewing it as a continuation of, and source of meaning for their present life.

Race and Sex Differences and Fear of Dying: A Test of Two Hypotheses — High Risk or Social Loss?

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Marks
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Zero Order ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Social Loss ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The Social

A national sample of noninstitutionalized adult Americans is used to test two hypotheses and their relation to fear of death, The first hypothesis, referred to as the high risk hypothesis (i.e., groups with higher mortality rates will express more fear of death than groups with lower rates of mortality), is rejected. The second hypothesis, referred to as the social loss hypothesis, is developed and tested across six status categories—race, sex, age, religion, level of education, and health status. Zero order differences did appear for sex and race, however, these differences were eliminated with the introduction of controls. Both hypotheses are rejected.

Lucretius and the Language of Nature

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barnaby Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Language ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
First Century ◽  
De Rerum Natura ◽  
Detailed Understanding ◽  
Technical Language ◽  
Depth Reconstruction ◽  
Linguistic Innovation ◽  
Prefixed Words ◽  
Core Features

Lucretius’ Epicurean poem De Rerum Natura (‘On the Nature of Things’), written in the middle of the first century BC, made a fundamental and lasting contribution to the language of Latin philosophy. This book is a study of Lucretius’ linguistic innovation and creativity. Lucretius is depicted as a linguistic trailblazer, extending and augmenting the technical language of Latin in order to describe the Epicurean universe of atoms and void in all its complexity and sublimity. A core thesis of the book is that a detailed understanding of Epicurean linguistic theory will bring with it a greater appreciation of Lucretius’ own language. Accordingly, the book features an in-depth reconstruction of certain core features of Epicurean linguistic theory. Elements of Lucretius’ style that are discussed include his attitudes to and use of figurative language (especially metaphor); his explorations, both explicit and implicit, of Latin etymology; his uses of Greek; and his creative deployment of compounds and prefixed words. His practice is related throughout not only to the underlying Epicurean theory but also to contemporary Roman attitudes to style and language.

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