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.

HOMERIC CONCERNS: A METAPOETIC READING OF LUCRETIUS, DE RERUM NATURA 2.1–19

2013 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 780-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydnor Roy
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Great Pleasure ◽  
De Rerum Natura ◽  
Poetic Tradition ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Programmatic Statement ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Line Spread

Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventise terra magnum alterius spectare laborem;non quia vexari quemquamst iucunda voluptas,sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri 5per campos instructa tua sine parte pericli.sed nil dulcius est, bene quam munita tenereedita doctrina sapientum templa serena,despicere unde queas alios passimque videreerrare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae, 10certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate,noctes atque dies niti praestante laboread summas emergere opes rerumque potiri.o miseras hominum mentes, o pectora caeca!qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis 15degitur hoc aevi quodcumquest! nonne viderenil aliud sibi naturam latrare, nisi utquicorpore seiunctus dolor absit, mensque fruaturiucundo sensu cura semota metuque?(Lucr. 2.1–19)It is pleasant, when the winds stir up the waters on the great sea,to watch the great struggle of another from land;not because it is a great pleasure that anyone be troubled,but because it is pleasant to observe the troubles you yourself lack.It is also pleasant to watch the great contests of war 5spread out over the plains without taking any part in the danger.But nothing is more pleasing than to hold lofty yet calm templesthat are well defended by the teachings of wise men,from which you can look down and see others everywherego astray and wander while seeking the path of their life, 10competing in wits and contending over their nobility;throughout nights and days they strive with outstanding labourto come out at the peak of riches and have power over everything.O wretched minds of men, O blind hearts!In what shadows of life and in how many dangers 15is this bit of life, whatever it may be, being spent by you! Do you not seethat nature barks for nothing other than this – thatgrief be separated from the body and far away, and that the mind enjoypleasant feelings cut off from anxiety and fear? Epicurus' advice to his young friend Pythocles to ‘flee all education, raising up the top sail’ (παιδείαν δὲ πᾶσαν, μακάριε, ϕεῦγε τἀκάτιον ἀράμενος, Diog.Laert. 10.6 = Epicurus fr. 163 Us.) contains an allusion to Circe's advice to Odysseus in Odyssey 12.37–58. For much of the Greek (and Roman) world, education was based on the Homeric epics, and thus Epicurus' statement represents a complicated position towards Homer in particular and poetry in general. Epicurean philosophy rejects poetry because it is misleading about the gods and the nature of the soul, but Epicurus and his followers, most notably Philodemus and Lucretius, engage in poetic allusion and even the composition of poetry. Much work has been done on allusions to poetry in all three writers, but I hope here to bring out a heretofore unnoticed poetic allusion at the start of De rerum natura Book 2, in which Lucretius makes a programmatic statement about not only his philosophy, but also his poetry and its place in the poetic tradition.

scholarly journals VI.—The Body-Temperature of Fishes and other Marine Animals.

1908 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 66-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sutherland Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Body Temperature ◽  
Temperature Difference ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
The Body ◽  
Shore Crab ◽  
First Year ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Mean Temperature ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Image Position

SUMMARYThe body-temperature of the following fishes, crustaceans, and echinoderms has been examined and compared with the temperature of the water in which they live:—Cod-fish (Gadus morrhua), ling (Molva vulgaris), torsk (Brosmius brosme), coal-fish or saithe (Gadus virens), haddock (Gadus œgelfinus), flounder (Pleuronectes flesus), smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), dog-fish (Scyllium catulus), shore crab (Carcinus mœnas), edible crab (Cancer pagurus), lobster (Homarus vulgaris), sea-urchin (Echinus esculentus), and starfish (Asterias rubens). The minimum, maximum, and mean temperature difference for each species are given in the following table:—The excess of temperature is most evident in the larger specimens. This is well shown in the case of the coal-fish, where in the adult it was 0°·7 C., and in the great majority (11 out of 12) of the young of the first year, 0°·0 C. The body-weight and the conditions under which the fish are captured probably form the most important factors in determining the temperature difference.In 14 codfish, where the rectal, blood, and muscle temperatures were recorded in the same individual, it was found to be highest in the muscle and lowest in the rectum, the mean temperature difference being 0°·46 C. for the muscle, 0°·41 C for the blood, and 0°·36 C. for the rectum.

scholarly journals Beyond Neoplatonism: Love in the Poetry of Francisco de Aldana

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Joseph Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Golden Age ◽  
The Body ◽  
Lope De Vega ◽  
Spanish Golden Age ◽  
De Rerum Natura ◽  
Spiritual Transcendence ◽  
Unusual Combination ◽  
Happy Marriage ◽  
Love Lyric ◽  
Physical Components

Francisco de Aldana (c. 1540-78) is an oft-neglected warrior-poet of the Spanish Golden Age. His poetry was influenced by his Florentine education in classics and earned him praise from the likes of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Quevedo. Over the course of four chapters I will explore Aldana’s approach to love, which is unique in its synthesis of the seemingly opposing and discordant elements of Neoplatonic spirituality and sensual physicality. This unusual combination is considered in light of Ausiàs March’s incorporation of physicality, as well as Boscán’s reintroduction of aurea mediocritas to ensure a happy marriage, which together help highlight the originality of Aldana’s contribution to love lyric in Renaissance Spain. Aldana is seen to favour a love that recognises the importance of the body in spiritual transcendence, in accordance with Plato’s Symposium. Shared transcendental moments are considered possible but remain fleeting and death is the only way to permanently abandon the physical realm and seek unity with God. Aldana’s Neoplatonic influences are charted from Ficino’s De amore (1484) and extend to those later texts that moved away from the Ficinian model, namely; Bembo’s Gli Asolani (1484), Castiglione’s Il cortegiano (1528), Ebreo’s Dialoghi d’amore (1535), Tullia D’Aragona’s Dialogo dell’infinità d’amore (1547), and Nifo’s De pulchro et amore (1549). Lucretius’ De rerum natura, the elegies of Propertius, and the writings of Ovid on love form the basis of the classical influences from which Aldana, often through their combination with Petrarchan staples, fashions startling examples of sensual physicality that go beyond the limits of contemporary descriptions of the body and the act of love making. The poems selected from Aldana’s corpus are grouped thematically. Chapter One considers fragments of philosophical, religious, and epistolary poetry that frame his approach to love. Chapter Two centres on a rare example of reciprocal love that incorporates the figure ofseafaring. Chapter Three considers how Aldana’s pastoral texts deconstruct their own idealised nature and invite the reader to consider love outside the artificial realm. This is partly achieved by his incorporation of the sonetto dialogato tradition. Chapter Four, on the mythological genre, concerns love as a neutral, universal force shaped by those it affects. This is illustrated via two pairings: one divine, one mortal. The divine couple highlights love’s potential to render both positive and sinister effects, while the mortal one illustrates the successful synthesis of spiritual and physical components to produce a love unique to Aldana’s poetic corpus.

scholarly journals The Chaetotaxy of the Pupa of Stegomyia fasciata

1920 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. S. Macfie
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Posterior Angle ◽  
Image Position ◽  
The Right ◽  
Two Sides

The pupa is bilaterally symmetrical, that is, setae occur in similar situations on each side of the body, so that it will suffice to describe the arrangement on one side only. The setae on the two sides of the same pupa, however, often vary as regards their sub-divisions, and similar variations occur between different individuals; as an example, in Table I are shown some of the variations that were found in ten pupae taken at random. An examination of a larger number would have revealed a wider range. As a rule, a seta which is sometimes single, sometimes divided, is longer when single. For example, in one pupa the seta at the posterior angle ofthe seventh segment was single on the right side, double on the left; the former measuring 266μ, and the latter only 159μ in length. This fact is not specifically mentioned in the descriptions which follow, but should be understood.

Proportionality of organ development in osteodystrophic dwarf beef cattle

1960 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. S. E. Hafez ◽  
E. H. Rupnow
Keyword(s):  
Abdominal Cavity ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
The Body ◽  
Muscle Area ◽  
Eye Muscle ◽  
Pituitary Glands ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Image Position ◽  
And Control ◽  
Dwarf Males

Sixteen osteodystrophic dwarf cattle and ten controls of comparable age were slaughtered. The components of the body and eviscerated carcass were weighed and measured. At birth the dwarfs were thick and blocky. At the time of slaughter a bulging forehead was common but not always extreme and not always present. The symptoms of dwarfism became increasingly pronounced with age, due to retarded growth. The dwarfs had shorter thoracic cavity, abdominal cavity, body, loin, hind leg, arm bone and forearm bone than the controls. No explanation can be given for the difference. However, the dwarfs were hydrocephalic and had significantly lighter adrenal and pituitary glands than the control animals. The dwarf animals had more blood, heavier feet, less abdominal fat, smaller loin ‘eye muscle’ area at the 12th rib and a less deep loin ‘eye muscle’. The dwarf females had a lighter rumen (with and without contents) and large intestines (without content) as a percentage of live weight than the controls and dwarf males. There was no difference in palatability of the meat or percentage of wholesale cuts from the dwarf and control animals except for percentage of plate. The following three ratios were disproportionate in the dwarfs as compared with the controls:

The auditor Thaumasius in the Vita Plotini

1993 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 157-160
Author(s):  
Richard Lim
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
Lecture Room ◽  
Image Position

In his Vita Plotini, Porphyry recounts a colourful episode which, for a brief moment, brings to life the dynamics within the lecture room of Plotinus in Rome. The author explains how he was in the habit of posing questions to Plotinus frequently and persistently while his teacher was conducting his philosophical discourse before a mixed body of listeners. On one occasion, such an exchange between the two over the issue of the connexion between the soul and the body continued intermittently over a period of some three days, with the following outcome (Porph. V. Plot. xiii 12-15):

scholarly journals On the Probability of Collision with Earth, and Orbital Life-Time of Bodies of Asteroidal and Cometary Origin

1980 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 199-204
Author(s):  
E.N. Kramer ◽  
V.I. Musiy ◽  
E.A. Timchenko-Ostroverkhova ◽  
I.S. Shestaka
Keyword(s):  
Average Distance ◽  
Life Time ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Probability Of Collision ◽  
Image Position ◽  
Gravitational Capture ◽  
Cometary Origin

The radius for gravitational capture of meteoroids by the Earth is where R is the Earth's radius, h is the height where marked deceleration of meteor bodies begins, α0 is the average distance of the Earth from the Sun, v∞ and vg are preatmospheric and geocentric (undisturbed) velocities of the body.

A Caeretan Hydria in Dunedin

1955 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
J. K. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Good Deal ◽  
The Body ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Image Position

The vase here described was recently presented to the Otago Museum in commemoration of the distinguished services of Dr. H. D. Skinner, for many years Director of the Museum. It was formerly on the Rome market. It is restored from fragments, and missing pieces of the neck, mouth, and shoulder have been replaced by plaster. The joints and plaster restorations have been carefully painted over, and there has been a good deal of repainting where the glaze was worn. On the mouth, neck, and shoulder the restorations, though extensive, merely fill gaps in a well-defined pattern, and can therefore be passed over without a detailed description. The repainting of the figures on the body of the vase will be described at greater length below. The clay is a fine, clear red, rather lighter than the usual colour of Attic. The principal dimensions of the vase are as follows (measurements in metres):The body is ovoid, with high, flat shoulders. It is separated from the wide flaring foot by a low, raised ridge. A similar ridge separates the shoulder from the neck, which is cylindrical with slightly concave sides. The lip flares widely. The side handles are small and slope slightly upward; they are attached just above the widest part of the vase and below the sharpest curve of the shoulder. The vertical handle is divided by three deep, vertical grooves. The inside of the mouth and the upper surface of the foot are ornamented with rounded tongues of black glaze. These were painted alternately red and white, but the paint, which was applied on top of the black glaze, is now much worn. On the lower part of the body are short black rays; above these is a rather wider zone with a chain of five-petalled lotuses linked to five-leaved palmettes.

Socrates' Therapeutic Use of Inconsistency in the Axiochus

Phronesis ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim O'Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Use ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Therapeutic Effectiveness ◽  
Sextus Empiricus ◽  
Distinctive Type ◽  
Platonic Dialogue ◽  
Argumentative Practice

AbstractThe pseudo-Platonic dialogue Axiochus seems irremediably confused. Its author tosses together Platonic, Epicurean and Cynic arguments against the fear of death, apparently with no regard for their consistency. Whereas in the Apology Socrates argues that death is either annihilation or a relocation of the soul, and is a blessing either way, in the Axiochus Socrates seems to assert that death is both annihilation and a release of the soul from the body into a better realm.I argue that we can acquit the Axiochus from the charge of confusion if we pay attention to its genre, a consolation letter cast in dialogue form. The dialogue dramatizes a distinctive type of consolatory argumentative practice. Socrates' use of arguments with inconsistent premises, presented in propria persona, is only one of many ways in which he is willing to sacrifice argumentative hygiene for the sake of therapeutic effectiveness. These include appealing to emotion, tailoring arguments to the audience, and presenting invalid arguments so as to induce unjustified but comforting beliefs. In these respects, I think that Socrates' argumentative practice is best compared to PH III 280-1, where Sextus Empiricus says that the skeptic will deliberately use logically weak arguments as long as they work.

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