A Reading of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura by Fratantuono Lee

Author:Fratantuono, Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Suns and Puddles

What follows (4.404–413) offers an example that looks forward—after the poet’s manner—to the contents of the following book. The sun rises every morning,[64] and it is described once again in Lucretian limpid hexameters, this time with reference to a vast panorama of nature that it illumines with its ruddy light. The point of the image is essentially to note how it seems that the sun is so close to the mountains over which it rises; after all, it is a fairly common experience to think that a celestial body is much closer to us than it really is.

The example of the visions in a puddle at 4.414 ff. merits extended consideration. The basic point seems to be that one can see the entirety of the workings of the sky in a lowly puddle; some of the commentators and critics here[65] emphasize the contrast between the glorious vision of the sun as it rises over the mountains, and the rather humbler picture of puddles in the street. There has been significant confusion and debate over the precise meaning of lines 418–419, namely with reference to whether or Lucretius is imagining a situation where one can see not only the sky above, but also the underworld below (indeed, with the person staring into the puddle somehow envisioning himself as a dead body in the underworld). The puddle affords ample opportunity for optical illusion, rather in the manner of what Ovid might well describe for Narcissus; the point then would be that only a truly foolish individual would imagine that he was staring down into the depths of Avernus when he sees his reflection in a bit of water in the street.[66] The vision in the puddle is a prime example of the aforementioned business of virtual reality; we think we see a universe in the confines of a pitiful amount of water in the street—or we are foolish enough to think that we see our existence after the grave.

We should remember, too, that what happens in the heavens has an intimate connection to religious practice and the realms of the gods.[67] Lucretius is well aware that one can behold the majesty of the sky and think that the gods surely must exist; his constant struggle is to explain how the seemingly inexplicable is, in fact, merely the workings of the atoms and their atomic films.

When our horse is forced to stop in midstream due to a strong current, although the animal is immobile, when we gaze into the water, a different picture is revealed (4.420 ff.). From the mundanity of puddles we return to imagery that seems more invested in epic splendor; the example of the “vanishing point of the colonnade” (so Godwin) is also suitably elevated (4.426 ff.).

All of these optical illusions are in some sense the result of a complicated nexus and interaction between the mind, the body, and the soul.[68] All three vital components of the human organism are mortal and in a sense prone to different

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