33 Lucretius, De rerum natura, BookV, 1–101 (Diels Edition)

The study of Lucretius’s De rerum natura is an exercise in bridging the vast chasm between ancient speculative philosophy and the empirical rigors of modern physics. This module centers on the 1923 edition by Hermann Diels, a monumental work of philology that restored the poem’s structural integrity for the twentieth century. Diels, recognized by his contemporaries as a “friend of Epicurean Philosophy,” produced a text that remains the academic standard due to its “colorful and powerful art of writing” and its meticulous reconstruction of the Lucretian hexameter.

To understand the weight of this text, we must look to Albert Einstein and David Attenborough. For Einstein, Lucretius was not merely an ancient poet but a mind of “scientific and speculative curiosity” who intuited the “causal connectedness” of natural phenomena. Einstein’s “deep conviction” in the atomistic-mechanical worldview—the belief that the universe operates through the regular motion of immutable atoms—finds its first coherent expression here. While the 1515 Aldine edition described by David Attenborough serves as a “precious meme”—a physical vehicle for embedding and handing down human wisdom outside the body—it is Diels’s 1923 edition that provides the philological precision necessary for modern inquiry. The transition from the “wonderfully elegant italic script” of the Aldine paperback to the critical apparatus of Diels represents the evolution of Lucretius from a Renaissance treasure to a cornerstone of the history of science.

Contextual Insight

“For anyone who is not completely submerged in the spirit of our age, who feels instead like a spectator as the world goes past him… on him will Lucretius’s poem work its magic. One sees here how an independent man… imagines the world.” — Albert Einstein

“Printed books are… things in which the human experience is embedded and handed down from generation to generation, outside the body… a way in which one generation passes on experience and knowledge and wisdom over generations.” — David Attenborough

2. Parallel Text: Book I, Lines 1–101

3. Critical Apparatus: Testimonia and Codices

3.1 Testimonia

The following ancient and medieval authors provide primary evidence for the text and reception of Book I:

• Cicero, Ad Quintum Fratrem II 9, 3: “Lucreti poemata… multis luminibus ingeni, multae tamen artis.”
• Cornelius Nepos, Atticus 12, 4: Cites Lucretius alongside Catullus.
• Vitruvius, De Architectura IX, Praef. 16: Links Lucretius with Ennius and Cicero as foundational Latin authors.
• Ovid, Amores I 15, 22: “Carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti, exitio terras cum dabit una dies.”
• Seneca, Epistulae ad Lucilium 95, 11: Cites lines 54ff (nam tibi… resoluat).
• Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria I 4, 4: References Lucretius’s use of philosophy in poetry.
• Lactantius, Institutiones Divinae I 21, 14: Cites the sacrifice of Iphigenia (peperit scelerosa…).
• Priscian, Institutiones Grammaticae VII 9: Cites the opening line of Book I.

3.2 Codices and Sigla

The Diels edition reconstructs the text primarily from the Carolingian stemma:

3.3 Textual Notes (Apparatus Criticus)

• Line 1: Aneduu [G] vs Aeneadum [O].
• Line 6: lumina [L] vs lumine [OQG].
• Line 14: pergis [O1] vs tergis [O*QG].
• Line 27: ornatum [Prisc. OH] vs oralatum [OQG*].
• Line 30: sospita [O*] vs sopita [Corrected].
• Line 33: regit [Lact. Plac.] vs regium [OQG].
• Line 43: desse [L] vs idesse [O*QG].
• Line 66: tendere [Non.] vs tollere [OQG]. Diels prefers the Nonius reading for the metaphor of visual defiance.
• Line 70: effringere [Prisc.] vs perfringere [Non.] vs confringere [O*Q].
• Line 77: quanam [O1] vs quantum [O*QG].
• Line 84: Triuiai [Prisc. Consent.] vs triuiat [Q*G]. Diels restores the archaic genitive singular.

4. Technical Summary for OER Users

This opening section of De rerum natura establishes the ethical and physical framework of the entire poem:

• Hymn to Venus (Aeneadum genetrix): Lucretius invokes Venus not as a traditional deity, but as the personification of the uis (force) of nature and the generative power of primordia (atoms). She represents the pleasure (uoluptas) and peace necessary for the poet to compose his work.
• Praise of Epicurus (LAVS INVENTORIS): The “Greek man” (Graius homo) identifies Epicurus, who first dared to raise “mortal eyes” against the “monster” of religio (organized superstition). By understanding the “flaming walls of the world” (flammantia moenia mundi), he brings back the knowledge of what is possible (quid possit oriri) and what is impossible (quid nequeat).
• The Problem of Religion (EXEMPLVM RELIGIONIS): To combat the charge that Epicureanism is impious, Lucretius uses the sacrifice of Iphigenia (Iphianassai) at Aulis to prove that it is actually religion that produces scelerosa atque impia facta (wicked and impious deeds).
• The Atomistic Mission: Lucretius introduces the necessity of uerbis elementa (verbal elements) to explain rerum primordia (first-beginnings of things) in a language (Latin) that he famously claims suffers from egestas (poverty) in philosophical matters.