Epicurean Subversion? Lucretius’s First Proem and Contemporary Roman Culture
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23167937 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen Harrison (0000-0001-5951-3300, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Pages | 28-43 |
| Publication date | 2015-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Lucretius and the Early Modern (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198713845.003.0002 |
| OpenAlex | W2478568056 |
| ISBN | 9780198713845 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This chapter uses a close reading of parts of the first proem of Lucretius's De rerum natura (1.1–148) to show how the poem, setting out to present the doctrines of Epicureanism for Romans in the first century BCE, negotiates some fundamental tensions between that radical Greek philosophy and traditional Roman culture. It looks at the DRN's appropriation and undermining of key Roman concepts and institutions such as war, imperialism, and certain kinds of religious practice. Through a variety of poetic strategies, involving the application and redirecting of key Roman ideas, the proem (it is suggested here) argues that a turn to Epicureanism can offer Rome a model of peace which is both a specific antidote to the violence of the poem's own times and a countercultural notion for late Republican Rome.
Art · Epicureanism · Literature · Political science · Politics · Subversion · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Law
| Citations per year | 0.43 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2021 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |