Lucretius Quotes on Knowledge
Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 99 – c. 55 BC) gave the Latin philosophical tradition its principal exposition of the Epicurean system in the six-book hexameter poem De Rerum Natura, the most extensive surviving statement of the Epicurean canonic in any language. The poem develops at length the doctrine of atoms and void, the corresponding physiology of perception through atomic films (simulacra), the doctrine that all sensations faithfully report the atomic configuration that produced them and that error lies in the judgment subsequently added by the mind, and the practical conclusion that the philosophical mastery of these doctrines dispels the irrational fears (of the gods, of death, of the underworld) whose dispersal is the Epicurean conception of the philosophical good.
Quotes
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“Life is one long struggle in the dark.”
Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret. -
“Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque.”
The living force of his soul gained the day: on he passed far beyond the flaming walls of the world and traversed throughout in mind and spirit the immeasurable universe. | Book I, lines 72–74 (tr. H. A. J. Munro); of Epicurus . -
“Book I, lines 72–74 (tr. H. A. J. Munro); of Epicurus .”
Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque. -
“Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.”
Superstition is now in her turn cast down and trampled underfoot, whilst we by the victory are exalted high as heaven. | Book I, lines 78–79 (tr. W. H. D. Rouse) -
“Book I, lines 78–79 (tr. W. H. D. Rouse)”
Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo. -
“Saepius illa religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta.”
Again and again our foe, religion, has given birth to deeds sinful and unholy. | Book I, lines 82–83 (tr. C. Bailey) -
“Book I, lines 82–83 (tr. C. Bailey)”
Saepius illa religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta. -
“Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.”
So potent was Religion in persuading to do wrong. | Book I, line 101 (tr. Alicia Stallings) | H. A. J. Munro's translation: So great the evils to which religion could prompt! | W. H. D. Rouse's translation: So potent was Superstition in persuading to evil deeds.