On the Nature of Things by Lucretius

Author:Lucretius
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780393090949
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

1. After this line, several lines are missing.

2. Having proved to his satisfaction that the soul is mortal. Lucretius now ends Bk. III with a series of exhortations to men to abandon their foolish fears of death.

3. The word magnis, which appears in the MSS at this point, is generally regarded as spurious, and has never been satisfactorily emended.

4. See note on 1.263-64, above.

5. According to the version of his story here referred to. Tantalus was punished for stealing the ambrosia and nectar of the gods by being suspended under a boulder that seemed always about to fall and crush him. The more familiar version has him endlessly trying to catch the water and fruits that forever eluded his grasp.

6. Because he attempted to assault Leto, Tityos was condemned to be shackled to the ground for all eternity while buzzards fed on his liver—liver, because to the ancients this organ was the seat of sexual passion.

7. The famed “Trickster” of ancient legend. Because he tricked others—including, apparently, Zeus himself—he is condemned to be endlessly tricked by the boulder he tries to roll up the hill.

8. The daughters of Danaus (Danaids), who at their father’s orders murdered their husbands on the wedding night. Their futile activity in Hades is symbolic of the emptiness and futility of their lives on earth.

9. The three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to the underworld. Furies: the goddesses of vengeance, who punish men for their acts of violence. Dearth of Light: the Underworld itself, which is perennially dark and shadowy.

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