925 the men that roamed the earth: Lucretius now turns to the account of human development which is the most celebrated part of Book 5, and perhaps of the whole poem. With Plato, Protagoras 320c ff., Diodorus Siculus 1. 8 ff., and Seneca, Letter 90 (based on the views of the second–first-century BC Stoic Posidonius), Lucretius’ account is the most extensive to have come down to us, but the topic was handled by many thinkers and became a poetic commonplace also (cf. e.g. Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 76 ff.). Although individual elements are common between accounts, several different models can be distinguished. ‘Primitivist’ models idealize early life, either as a Golden Age (so-called ‘soft primitivism’, common in poetic accounts, e.g. Hesiod (c.700 BC), Works and Days 109 ff., Aratus (third century BC), Phainomena 96 ff.), or as harsh but simple and bracing, as in the accounts of the ‘Cynic’ philosophers (e.g. Maximus of Tyre (second century AD), Oration 36). ‘First discoverer’ or ‘heurematist’ models originally stressed the providential role of the gods in introducing developments (cf. e.g. Homeric Hymn to Demeter (seventh century BC) 470 ff.), but were later secularized with humans as the first discoverers (see above on 5. 13). ‘Teleological’ models see human development as one of the perfection of innate capacities, either by natural process (cf. Aristotle, Politics 1252b ff.) or by divine intervention in a form of the argument from design (cf. Plato, Timaeus 44d ff., Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2. 87 ff., Virgil, Georgics 1. 121 ff.). In contrast to all of these, the materialist account followed by Lucretius, many details of which may go back to Democritus, concentrates on technological developments as mainly communal responses over long periods of time to practical needs, and opposes any element of divine intervention. For the details of the accounts, see the work of Lovejoy and Boas mentioned above (on 783 ff.), and T. Cole, Democritus and the Sources of Greek Anthropology (2nd edn., Cleveland, 1990), though the latter may exaggerate Democritus’ contribution to the later accounts. Epicurus dealt with the origin and development of civilization in Book 12 of his On Nature, though we have very few fragments.
932 like wild beasts: the notion of the ‘beast-like life’ was common in accounts of early man (cf. e.g. Euripides, Suppliants (c.442 BC) 201 ff., Euripides or Critias, Sisyphus (Critias fr. B25), Moschion (third century BC) fr. 6; Hobbes, Leviathan 1. 13). Three elements are normally stressed: rule by superior force, the helplessness of the human race, and the harshness of the living conditions. Lucretius, however, avoids extreme elements such as cannibalism (cf. Moschion fr. 6, Horace, Art of Poetry 391–2).
938 a gift enough to bring content: in 938–57 the three natural and necessary desires in Epicureanism (cf. Vatican Sayings 33: see Introduction, and note on 2. 17 ff.), for food, drink, and warmth, are all satisfied.
955 caves: another regular element in accounts of early human beings, cf. e.g. Aeschylus (fifth century BC), Prometheus Bound 452–3, Homeric Hymn to Hephaestus (c.400 BC) 4, Diodorus Siculus 1. 8. 7.
963 Mutual desire: cf. 4. 1193 ff.
967 the beasts that roamed the woods and plains: the danger from wild animals is frequently mentioned: it sometimes plays a part in the development of social organization (cf. Plato, Protagoras 332b, Hermarchus (fourth–third century BC) fr. 34 = LS 22 m–n, Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 1. 8. 2).
973 wandering frightened in the shades of night: contrast Manilius, Astronomica (first century BC–first century AD) 1. 66 ff., Statius, Thebaid 4. 282–4. The Stoics held that the fear of the dark was a natural fear, because it reminded one of one’s death: cf. Seneca, Letters 82. 15, Hierocles (second century AD), Elements of Ethics 7. 5 ff.
993 a living tomb: a common notion, first extant in Aeschylus, Seven against Thebes (467 BC) 1020–1.
996 Orcus: a mysterious figure, common in poetry for the god of the underworld or the underworld itself.
1006 The wicked art of seamanship: the first boat (in myth the Argo) was often made a decisive moment in the fall of man from Golden Age simplicity and happiness: cf. e.g. Hesiod, Works and Days 236 ff., Aratus, Phainomena 110 ff., Virgil, Eclogue 4. 31 ff.
1014 Then first the human race began to soften: contrast the hardiness of humans when first born from the earth, 925 ff. Lucretius suggests that a number of factors are responsible for the ‘softening’ of human beings, and that the process takes place gradually: cf. 1101 ff., 1368 ff.: other accounts make for example change of diet decisive (cf. Hippocrates, On Ancient Medicine 3. 26, Moschion fr. 6, Virgil, Georgics 1. 147). Epicurus seems to have envisaged two stages in human development, one of direct response to nature, the second involving human reasoning and experimentation (Letter to Herodotus75–6). Lucretius’ account seems to be loosely structured around these two stages, with 1011–1104 describing the ‘natural’ phase, 1105–1457 developments based on active human reasoning. Both phases include social and technological developments. Many developments discussed in the second phase also involved at an earlier stage nature’s compulsion or prompting, and the need to establish a sense of an overall plot of continuous progress means that Lucretius cannot be rigid about the distinction between phases.
1017–18 children… | With winning smiles: Epicurus notoriously denied that parents instinctively loved their offspring (fr. 525–9), and, although in Lucretius the stress on the pleasure that the parents take is in accordance with orthodox Epicureanism, a closer emotional bond is perhaps suggested.
1020 Wishing to do no ill nor suffer harm: according to the Epicureans, justice existed because of a social contract neither to harm nor be harmed (Master Sayings 33, cf. 31–2). Lucretius has an initial contract here in the ‘natural’ phase, and then introduces a more developed system of laws as a response to social breakdown in the second phase (1143 ff.). Contractarian theories seem to have been formulated first in the fifth century BC in the context of the so-called ‘Sophistic’ movement (cf. famously Glaucon in Plato, Republic 358a ff.), and it is likely that Democritus’ approach was contractarian: in turn Lucretius’ account was influential in the development of social-contract theory in the modern period by Hobbes, Locke, Pufendorf, and especially Rousseau.
1028 the various sounds of speech: cf. Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus 75–6, Diodorus Siculus 1. 8. 3 ff. In this passage Lucretius covers only Epicurus’ first natural phase (see above on 1014).
1041 allotted | Names to things: Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 12 mocks the idea of early human beings being taught language by the god Hermes. The issue of the natural or conventional origin of language was raised especially by Plato in the Cratylus (e.g. 388e ff.).
1047 the concept of this usefulness: cf. 5. 182 for the necessity to have a conception of something before being able to think or speak about it.
1063 Molossian hounds: a breed of dog from west Greece, famous as hunting dogs and frequently mentioned in literature.
1092 Fire was first brought to earth for mortal men: Lucretius alludes to the myth of Prometheus bringing fire to men (cf. e.g. Hesiod (c.700 BC), Works and Days 42 ff., Theogony 561 ff.), but replaces Prometheus with the random activity of lightning.
1105 as the days passed: at this point we move to the second stage, where there is a limited role for first discoverers (1108). Kings arise and create cities for their own protection (1109); they distribute property on the basis of beauty and strength (1110–11) until wealth becomes more important (1113–16). As a result of men’s desire for power and fame (1120–2), the kings are then overthrown and a state of anarchy results (1141–2). Eventually magistrates and laws are introduced because mankind is tired of living in violence (1145).
1117 ff. greatest riches are a frugal life: cf. Epicurus, Master Sayings 15, ‘the wealth demanded by nature is both limited and easily got; that demanded by empty opinion extends to infinity’.
1120 men… sought after fame and power: translating the first part of Epicurus, Master Sayings 7. Although Lucretius is giving a historical account, the reference to contemporary Roman society is clear: note especially the imperatives of 1131 ff.
1130
To live a life of quiet: an allusion to the famous Epicurean maxim ‘Live unknown’: cf. Epicurus frr. 551, 548, 554. Plutarch wrote a treatise ‘On whether the Epicurean maxim “Live Unknown” was well said’.
1137 The ancient majesty of thrones and sceptres proud: Lucretius’ language recalls the names of the fifth and last kings of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus (‘the ancient’) and Tarquinius Superbus (‘the proud’). Throughout this passage he combines a general account of the development of law based on Epicurean theory with specific allusions to Roman institutions.
1156 Though he should keep it hid from gods and men: cf. Epicurus, Master Sayings 35 (where, as here, the stress is on the inability of the guilty man to be confident that he will escape detection, not on the actual chances of being caught), 17, 34, Vatican Sayings 7, fr. 532.
1161–2 reverence for gods | Has spread: Lucretius again uses the language of discoveries spreading throughout the world (see above on 5. 20), but ascribes the initial impulse to a cause, not a person. Two reasons are given for the origin of religious belief: visions of the gods, especially in dreams (1169–82) and ignorance of the causes of natural phenomena (1183–93). The first reason is justified, in that the Epicureans did believe that it was possible to have visions of the gods, and indeed that the true Epicurean would have better visions, as more tranquil and able to receive them without disturbance: cf. 6. 78 ff., Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus 123, fr. 353, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 15. Not all the inferences that men make about the gods from their visions, however, are necessarily correct. The second reason for belief in divinity, from contemplation of the heavens, was often appealed to by theists (cf. e.g. Aristotle, On Philosophy fr. 12, see above on 2. 1030 ff., Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 1. 11. 1, Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors 9. 26 ff.), but for the Epicureans was wholly wrong (cf. Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus76 ff., Democritus fr. A75). In general on the gods in Epicureanism, see Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 1. 18 ff., and the fragmentary treatises of Philodemus, On the Gods and On Piety. The origin of belief in the gods was treated in Book 12 of Epicurus’ On Nature (cf. Philodemus, On Piety 8. 225 ff.).
1191 night-wandering torches of heaven: theists tended to distinguish between regular and irregular phenomena of the heavens as causes of divine belief (cf. Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2. 13 ff., the fourth and third reasons for belief offered by the Stoic Cleanthes (fourth–third century BC)), but for Lucretius there is no difference: neither should lead to belief in the gods.
1228 elephants: although the use of elephants was especially associated with the Carthaginians (cf. 5. 1303), the Romans also used them, for example, at the battle of Cynoscephalae (197 BC, cf. Livy 33. 8. 3).
1241 metals first were found: cf. e.g. Seneca, Letters 90. 12 (arguing against Posidonius). In traditional accounts of the Golden Age, there were no metals (cf. Ovid, Amores 3. 8. 35 ff.): Lucretius has none of this idealization of the past, but he does not refrain from moralizing comment (1259, 1273 ff.).
1283 ancient weapons: the discovery of iron leads to an account of developments in warfare, and the intensification of the moralizing criticism of the uses to which technological developments were put. Lucretius rationalizes mythical accounts of the decline from the Bronze to the Iron Age (cf. Hesiod, Works and Days 176 ff.).
1289 with bronze they tilled the soil: a close imitation of Hesiod, Works and Days 150–1.
1303 men of Carthage: the Carthaginians used elephants in both the First and Second Punic Wars, most famously when Hannibal crossed the Alps in 218 BC.
1308 Bulls too were pressed into the service of war: a famous passage, sometimes used to substantiate allegations of madness against Lucretius. But although there is no close parallel, there is no reason to doubt that the practice of using wild animals was attested in some lost source, and the notion that if this did not happen in our world, it will have done so in another is straightforward Epicurean doctrine about possibility (see above on 5. 528). The main focus is on the moral implications of the perverted ingenuity displayed.
1350 The plaited garment: cf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 12.
1354 men’s work: for Herodotus (fifth century BC), one of the reversals of normal custom seen in Egypt was that the men did the weaving (2. 35, cf. Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus (404 BC), 337). Lucretius’ observation that men are ‘more clever’ is not without some irony: his other use of the word translated as ‘clever’ is in 1010, ‘today with greater skill they poison others’.
1367 cherished plots: the description of the gardens of early man suggests the ‘Garden’ of Epicurus (cf. also Catalepton (ascribed to Virgil) 5. 8–10, 8. 11 ff.): a fragment of Diogenes of Oenoanda (56) says that, when everyone becomes an Epicurean, ‘[we ourselves shall plough] and dig and tend [the plants] and [divert rivers and watch over the crops]’.
1383 First taught the country-folk to blow through pipes: Lucretius’ picture is in the spirit of pastoral (and was in fact influential on later pastoral, from Virgil, Eclogue 1. 1 ff. on).
1391 When they had had their fill of food: cf. Democritus fr. B144: ‘Music… is one of the younger arts… [because] necessity did not decree it, but it arose only when there already existed a superfluity.’
1392–6 So often, lying in company together… : repeated from 2. 29–33.
1436–8 sun and moon… | Have taught men well: the reference is perhaps to the discovery of philosophy from the observation of the motions of the heavenly bodies: cf. Plato, Timaeus 47a. Contrast 1183 ff. on belief in the gods.
1440 fenced in with strong towers: cf. Thucydides (fifth century BC), Histories 1. 8–10.
1447 Except where reason may point out the traces: Lucretius self-reflexively draws attention to the very procedure that he has been adopting in Book 5. See above on 1. 402.
1450 all the delights of life: i.e. all the things that it is natural to desire but not necessary to have: see above on 1391.
1456 brighten in their minds: the imagery of light and dark recalls the end of Book 1.
Book Six
1–2 Athens of glorious name: Book 6 opens with another ‘Priamel’ or focusing device (see above on 2. 1 ff.) in which the achievements of Athens are capped by its production of Epicurus. The book thus opens with a celebration of the greatness of Athenian civilization, and closes with the account of the plague there in 430–426 BC and of that civilization brought low (see below on 1138 ff.). Athens, as one of the most praised cities in antiquity (cf. e.g. Pindar, Pythian 7 (486 BC) 1 ff., Isocrates, Panegyricus (380 BC) 47), is a representative of the ‘peak’ of civilization that humanity was said to have reached at the end of Book 5, but all of this achievement cannot bring human happiness without the Epicurean message.
First brought corn-bearing crops: an allusion to the myth of Triptolemus, who was said to have been taught agriculture by Demeter and then to have carried the gift throughout the world (see above on 5. 20) in a winged chariot. The story was told for example in Sophocles’ lost play Triptolemus (468 BC): cf. Dionysus of Halicarnassus (first century BC), Roman Antiquities 1. 12. 2.
8 exalted to the skies: cf. the victory over religion on 1. 79. The language is used in Homer of the fame of the ‘good king’ (Odyssey 19. 108, cf. 8. 74).
9–10 nearly all those things | Which need demands: for the Epicureans, human needs were easily satisfied by simple means: cf. Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus130, Master Sayings 15, 18, 21, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 2, and see above on 2. 17 ff.
14 deep in every home: cf. 5. 43 ff.
17 He understood: Epicurus in this passage acts like a doctor, noting the symptoms (9–16), understanding their cause (17–23), and providing a two-stage cure, removing what is diseased (24–5) and providing a positive regimen for the future (26–34).
the vessel itself | Produced the flaw: a Platonic analogy (cf. Gorgias 493a ff.), but one which links to a complex of imagery within the poem: see above on 3. 936, 1003, and cf. Epicurus fr. 396.
22 tainted everything that entered it: the imag
e comes from the Cynic Diogenes, cf. Maximus the Confessor, Commonplaces 44c.
24 purged men’s hearts: philosophical imagery of ‘purgation’ goes back to Plato (cf. e.g. Cratylus 396e, 405a, Sophist 227c) and is part of the general conception of the philosopher as a doctor or a religious healer. In Epicureanism, pleasure is ‘pure’ when uncontaminated by pain or the fear of pain: see above on 4. 1075. The essentials of the philosophy are simple, and based on nature: much of its effort is directed towards cleaning out false ideas that spoil happiness.
26 that highest good: in the Latin bonum summum, the philosophers’ term for the good to which all other goods are referred. In Epicureanism, this is pleasure, which we all instinctively pursue, but which has been obscured by false opinions: Epicurus brings us consciously to pursue this natural goal.
27 the strait and narrow path: cf. 1. 81, 406, 1116; 1. 926 = 4. 1, 2. 10 ff., etc. The metaphor of the path in life is another common philosophical image: Epicurus is ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14: 6). Seneca reports Epicurus as dividing Epicureans into three groups: the first ‘makes its own way’, the others follow eagerly or reluctantly (Letters 52. 3–4, 11. 8–9): Epicurus and his close associates were known as the ‘leaders’; for Lucretius as a ‘follower’, cf. 3. 3 ff., 5. 55 ff. With the straitness of the way, contrast the wanderings of the unphilosophic at 2. 10 ff.: it is a narrow or small path because little is needed for happiness (and cf. 1. 926).
31 by natural chance: although there was indeterminacy at the atomic level in the Epicurean universe because of the ‘swerve’ (see above on 2. 219 ff.), this was probably not usually with effect outside the human soul, and chance events were those not predicted by a particular causal chain, rather than in any sense uncaused (cf. Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus 133 ff., Master Sayings16, fr. 489, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 71–2).
38 like children frightened of the dark: see above on 2. 55 ff.
58–66 For men who have been well taught about the gods… : 58–66 are repeated from 5. 82–90: see notes there.
On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) Page 37
