Proem to DRN book I
Proem consists in roughly 3 parts:
- Praise of Venus (1-43).
- Lucretius informs Memmius about the content of the poem, attacking religio [and the fear
of death] (44-135)
- Lucretius describes the task he has set for himself (136-45).
A poem De Rerum Natura
Clay, p. 32: “although the poem is announced as De rerum natura in none of the MSS, it proclaims
itself as such (I.25)
by signaling its argument as de rerum natura it aligns itself directly with Empedocles, Epicurus, and
the whole of early Greek physiology” in which the title “περι φυσεως” was very common.
The title “de rerum natura” instead of “de natura” (literal translation of “περι φυσεως”) was also
employed by (near) contemporaries Catius, Egnatius, and Varro -> Possibly Lucretius set the example
for the use of this title as Latin version of “περι φυσεως”
NOTE that the hymn to Venus followed by an address to Memmius might be modelled after Hesiod’s
Hymn to Zeus followed by an address to Perses
Venus passage: what interpretation?
Conflict with Epicurean philosophy
Lucretius’ praise of goddess seems to conflict with the negative way in which Lucretius
speaks of religio:
- humanity being “oppressa gravi sub religione” (I.63)
- “religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta” (I.83).
PROBLEM Lucretius prays to Venus to intervene with the current state of Rome: I.29-30:
“Effice ut interea fera moenera militia /per maria ac terras omnis sopita quiescant;” by
calming Mars with her charms.
Request for divine intervention radically conflicts with Lucretius’ Epicurean belief
that the gods do not interfere or even care about mortal affairs:
- belief which is the primary motivation of the whole poem
- Lucretius introduces this belief immediately after his praise of Venus and his
request for her to intervene (I.44-9).
SOLUTION: Lucretius might simply have evoked Venus because it was a traditional
element of poetry -> Lucretius did explicitly present himself as a part of a literary
tradition
Lucretius’ request to Venus to placate Mars can be interpreted as an exhortation to let
nature’s teachings calm the minds of people disturbed by contemporary politics. After all,
Venus appears to represent nature here.
Allegorical explanations of the Venus passage
NOTE that Lucretius allows for metaphorical usage of god’s names, e.g. Neptune for sea
or Ceres for grain (II.655–8)
, HOWEVER, such usage of gods’ names on the condition (II.659-60): “dum uera re
tamen ipse / religione animum turpi contingere parcat” (II.659-60).
NOTE These allegorical readings of Venus do not exclude each other
Venus represents the opposite of Stoic Zeus: Epicureanism and Stoicism were rival
philosophies.
Representing pleasure:
- Address of Venus as “hominum divomque voluptas” (I.1)
- Pleasure is the highest good in Epicurean Ethics
Representing Nature:
- address of Venus as “alma Venus” (I.2)
- Fits in with the subsequent passage which describes her as “quae (…) rerum naturam
sola gubernas” (I.25)
- Lucretius describes how the whole of nature is directed to Venus in her progress (I.2-
20).
- It makes sense to evoke a deity associated with nature at the start of a poem de
rerum natura.
- Roman religion was very naturalistic: there are numina everywhere: the world which
Lucretius represents is the inspirited world his viewers might see them.
Venus representing Empedoclean Love
Lucretius’ Venus creates a genesis of physis by a gathering (Clay)
Lucretius associates Venus with cupido: “I.20 efficis ut cupide generatim saecla propagent”
Clay, p. 3-5: Lucretius’ use of the term natura does not correspond with the common use of
the word but returns to its original and “largely” dormant” sense of birth and genesis:
“in an evocation of the invisible power of Venus genetrix whose empire is rerum natura
immediately the "birth of things."
Exortum (I.5) and exoritur (I.22) represent in fact common Latin equivalents for genesis
and gignetai.
In the evocation of Venus, physis/natura is conceived of as genesis -> the root of which is
apparent in:
- Aeneadum genetrix (i.i)
- Ingenus (I.4)
- genitabilis aura favoni (i.ii)
- generatim
This Lucretius’ uses natura in the sense of union, birth, and increase, resembling the
root sense of Greek physis
Clay, p. 35: “In a metaphor reminiscent of Parmenides, of Empedocles, and even of
Cleanthes in his Hymn to Zeus, Venus is said to govern the events of genesis. The metaphor
is wholly alien to Epicurus, for whom physis bear only the faintest traces of Physis.”
Lucretius’ Venus creates a genesis of physis by a gathering, recalling Empedoclean mixis:
- In Empedoclean philosophy, physis is, in fact, mixis -> Aphrodite is Empedocles’ driving
force behind this mixis:
- Clay, p. 36 “Taken in their root sense (…) concelebras and concipitur denote a
gathering together” which Venus makes possible by her calming effect on the world ->
Venus as the driving force behind mixis.
- Clay (p.37) “propagent” in its root sense means to peg; Empedocles often uses the
Greek variant πηγνυμαι when talking about the works of Aphrodite
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