ARISTOTLE TO AUGUSTINE the Stoic theory of divination were adopted and skilfully developed by Cicero.16 Lucretius No philosopher of the second century was as intelligent or persuasive as Carneades, and in the Wrst century primacy in philosophy passed from Greek to Latin authors Latin philosophy, like Greek philosophy, began in verse and only later turned to prose The Wrst complete Latin philosophical work that has reached us is a long and magniWcent poem in hexameter verse, On the Nature of Things, by Lucretius Almost nothing is known of Lucretius’ life: we can conjecture the rough dating of his poem by noting that it was read by Cicero in 54, and was dedicated to one C Memmius, who stood for the consulship in 53 Lucretius was an adoring admirer of Epicurus, and the six books of the poem set out the Epicurean system in verse which, as Cicero observed, always displays great artistry and sometimes shows Xashes of genius Lucretius himself described his poetic skill as honey to disguise the wormwood of philosophy (1 947) Parts of the poem were translated into English by John Dryden Had he completed the task, his version would have been a worthy rival of Pope’s Essay on Man Lucretius begins his poem by praising the bravery of Epicurus in throwing oV the fear of religion People cannot stand up to the tyranny of priests, because they fear eternal punishment; but that is only because they don’t understand the nature of the soul In his Wrst book Lucretius sets out Epicurean atomism: nature consists of simple bodies and empty void, bodies perceived by sense, and void established by reason Bodies are made out of atoms as words are made out of letters: the words ‘ignis’ and ‘lignum’ are made up of almost the same letters, just as the things they signify, namely Wre and wood, are made up of almost the same atoms (1 911–14) In a famous passage early in the second book Lucretius describes the philosopher looking down, from the heights of virtue, on the petty struggles of mankind He extols the Epicurean pursuit of simple pleasures and avoidance of unnecessary desires 16 The debate between Stoics and Sceptics is considered in detail in Ch below 101