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10
LUCRETIUS
The De rerum natura of Lucretius represents one of the rarest of literary accomplishments,
a successful didactic poem on a scientific subject. Few great poets
have attempted such a work, and many critics, from Aristotle on, have argued
that the contradictions which are implicit in the genre, and indeed in all didactic
poetry, can never be fully reconciled. 'Didactic poetry is my abhorrence',
wrote Shelley in the preface to Prometheus Unbound,' nothing can be equally
well expressed in prose that is not tedious and supererogatory in verse', and
Mommsen dismissed the greater part of the De return natura as ' rhythmisierte
Mathematik'. What, then, is the relationship between Lucretius the poet and
Lucretius the philosopher? To what extent do they come together to form a successful
unity? Otto Regenbogen called this the 'central question' in Lucretian
criticism, 1 and in his famous essay' Lukrez: seine Gestalt in seinem Gedicht' he
attempted to answer it in three ways: by examining the background of the poem,
the personality of the poet, and the structure and quality of the work itself. Most
Lucretian criticism falls under one or other of these headings and it will be
convenient to consider each in turn.
I. BACKGROUND
One might imagine that a didactic and moralizing work like the De rerum
natura would have deep roots in the society which produced it. Yet there is
a wide disparity of views about the purpose of the poem and the character of
the audience for which it was composed. Ostensibly it was written for the poet's
aristocratic patron Memmius, but, since literary convention required that a
didactic poem be addressed to some particular person, we may suppose that
behind Memmius stands the general reader. Both are linked, rather awkwardly,
in the famous programmatic passage about the poet's mission.
. . . quoniam haec ratio plerumque uidetur
tristior esse quibus non est tractata, retroque
uolgus abhorret ab hac, uolui tibi suauiloquenti
carmine Pierio rationem exponere nostram. . . (1.943—6 ~ 4.18—21)
1 Regenbogen (1932) 2.
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