754 the anger | Of Pallas: echoing a phrase from the Hecale of the hellenistic Greek poet Callimachus (third century BC, fr. 260). In mythology, Athena became angry at the daughters of the Athenian king Cecrops for opening a chest containing the boy Ericthonius: their action had been reported to her by a crow, and in consequence she banned crows from the air over the acropolis.
756 In Syria also: the reference is uncertain: one possible contender is a ‘Plutonium’ near Laodicea described by the first-century BC/first-century AD geographer Strabo (13. 4. 14).
761 The gates of Hell: a large number of places in the ancient world were thought to be entrances to or openings from the Underworld (in Greek Charoneia, from Charon, the infernal ferryman): Lucretius’ contemporary Varro collected all the Italian examples (cf. Servius on Virgil, Aeneid 7. 563). They naturally figured in paradoxographical writing (see e.g. Antigonus of Carystus 123, Pliny, Natural Histories 2. 208, and cf. Ennius, Annals fr. 222, Virgil, Aeneid 7. 568). The Stoics, like the Epicureans, were emphatic that the wise person would have no fear of such places (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers 7. 123).
765 light-footed stags: for deer enticing snakes out of holes, cf. Pliny, Natural Histories 8. 118, 28. 149, Martial (first–second century AD) 11. 29. 5, Aelian (second–third century AD), On the Nature of Animals 2. 9, Oppian (third century AD), On Hunting 2. 233–41.
783 trees |… so dangerous: cf. Virgil, Eclogues 10. 76 (juniper), Pliny, Natural Histories 16. 70, 17. 89 (box and walnut), but the phenomenon is connected with the poetic mountain of Helicon only by Lucretius, perhaps polemically.
810 Scaptensula: a town in Thrace fames for its mines (its name Skapte Hule in Greek means ‘dug-out wood’). Ancient writers often commented on the appalling conditions in mines, often within a moralizing framework which criticized the whole enterprise: cf. Posidonius (first century BC) fr. 240 Kidd; J. F. Healy, Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World (London, 1978), 133–8.
840 Water in wells grows colder in the summer: cf. Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2. 25, Diodorus Siculus 1. 141, Seneca, Natural Questions 4. 2. 26, 6. 13. 2. Pliny, Natural Histories 2. 227–35, has a long discussion of the properties of springs and wells: cf. also Antigonus of Carystus 133–65.
848 shrine of Ammon: Ammon or Hammon (Amun) was an Egyptian god identified with Jupiter. The spring at his shrine in the oasis of Siwa in the Libyan desert was described by Herodotus 4. 181 (and cf. e.g. Pliny, Natural Histories2. 228).
879 a cold spring: at another prophetic site, that of Zeus at Dodona in north-west Greece, also described by Herodotus 2. 55–7, and Pliny, Natural Histories 2. 228.
890 spring at Aradus: Aradus (Awad) was an island off the coast of Phoenicia: for its freshwater spring, cf. Pliny, Natural Histories 2. 227, Strabo 16. 2. 13.
907–8 that stone | Which the Greeks call magnet, naming it from its home: the ‘magnet’ (lodestone, magnetite, magnetic iron ore) seems to have taken its name from Magnesia in Asia Minor. It had no practical use in the ancient world (the magnetic compass was first used in the West in the thirteenth century AD) but was another frequent source of wonder and speculation. Thales (fr. A22) thought the magnet was alive in some way: Empedocles (fr. A89) introduced explanation in terms of emanations and pores, and this was developed by the atomists, making use of their concept of the void (Democritus fr. A165). Epicurus thought that all attraction takes place by means of the rebounds and entanglements of atoms (fr. 293 Usener). Lucretius’ account gives an important role to the void, but otherwise comes closer to that of Plato, who denies the notion of attraction, and explains the phenomenon in terms of the dislodgement and movement of air (Timaeus80c, cf. Plutarch, Platonic Questions 7); this prepares for the role to be played by diseased air in the account of the plague. Lucretius’ contemporary Asclepiades of Bithynia seems to have held similar views to Plato and Lucretius (cf. Epicurus fr. 293). Cf. also in general Plato, Ion 535d–e, Theophrastus, On Stones 29, Pliny, Natural Histories 34. 147, 36. 126 ff.
911 A chain of little rings: the description recalls Plato, Ion 535d–e; cf. Pliny, Natural Histories 34. 147.
917 unless first | Much is established: the recapitulation of the Epicurean theory of emanations and pores is also useful for the coming account of the plague; 923–35 are repeated from 4. 217–29 with minor changes.
946 Food is diffused all through the veins: cf. Epicurus fr. 293, which also makes an analogy between digestion and magnetic attraction: cf. 3. 703, and 6. 1129–30, 1167 in the plague section.
1033 as wind drives sails and ship: cf. 4. 897.
1044 Samothracian irons: iron amulets from the island of Samothrace in the Aegean (the home of the Cabeirian mysteries, whose initiates wore iron rings): cf. Isidore (seventh century AD), Etymologies 18. 32. 5, Pliny, Natural Histories 33. 23.
1058–61 Gold… | Wood: the same examples of non-magnetic substances occur in Plato (cf. Plutarch, Platonic Questions 7).
1065 These properties are not so different | From others: Philodemus in his treatise On Signs (8, 16) deals with problems raised by the apparent uniqueness of the magnet.
1069 Bulls’ glue: cf. Aristotle, History of Animals 517b29 ff., Pliny, Natural Histories 28. 236.
1078 gold to gold one thing alone can bond: a substance known as chrysocolla (‘gold-glue’), possibly a flux or solder.
1084 mutually opposing textures: the interaction of substances here will again be recalled in the account of the plague, where the affinity proves lethal (cf. 1232 with 1016). The Jewish Greek philosopher Philo explicitly compares contagion and magnetism (On Providence 2. 90).
1087 hooks and rings: cf. Epicurus fr. 293 Usener.
1090 the nature of diseases: Book 6 and the work as a whole concludes with a general account of the causes of diseases (1090–1137), and a description of a specific example, the plague at Athens in 430–426 BC (1138–1286). The atomist explanation in terms of destructive particles connects the subject with the preceding wonders of nature which have been explained in similar terms, but the subject obviously has much greater significance. Like the Lisbon earthquake in Voltaire’s Candide, the horrors of the plague are the ultimate demonstration that the world is not providentially ordered, but they also offer a test to the reader. An Epicurean should be able to cope even with this. The aetiology of disease was naturally much discussed by medical writers in the ancient world, but also received considerable attention from philosophers: amongst the pre-Socratic philosophers, Alcmaeon of Croton (fifth century BC) paid particular attention to the subject, and there is a famous treatment by Plato in the Timaeus (81e–87b), who was probably reacting to Democritean theorizing (cf. Plutarch, Convivial Questions 8. 9). The Lucretian account draws on the treatise Airs, Waters, Plates (fifth century BC) ascribed to Hippocrates, which stressed the role of environmental factors, but adds the twist that it is the corrupt air which here travels rather than human beings moving into an unaccustomed area.
1099 from without: i.e. from outside the world-system: cf. 6. 483–94, 954–5. Democritus held that, when worlds broke up, matter from them could enter other worlds and cause plagues and new diseases: theories of extraterrestrial causation have occasionally been revived in modern times (as most recently by the astronomer Fred Hoyle).
1101 From the earth itself: the commonest explanation for diseased air; cf. Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Plates 10, [Aristotle], Problems 862a, Diodorus Siculus 12. 58. 3, Galen, On the differences in fevers 1. 6. 7.
1107 where the world’s great pole | Leans sideways: i.e. the earth’s axis is inclined.
1108 Pontus: the area of Asia minor in the Black Sea (modern Turkey), representing the east, as Cadiz represents the west, Britain the north, and Egypt the south (cf. Juvenal, Satires 10. 1 ff.). Rome had fought a long war with Mithradates of Pontus, who died in 63 BC, less than a decade before the publication of On the Nature of the Universe.
1114 the elephant disease: i.e. elephantiasis, though some forms of leprosy also seem to have b
een included under the term. Lucretius’ contemporary Asclepiades of Bithynia is said to have been the first to describe the disease (Plutarch, Convivial Questions 8. 9), but other sources say that it was mentioned by Erasistratus (fourth–third century BC) and Strato (third century BC). It is usually caused by parasitic worms.
1138 the realms of Cecrops: i.e. Athens, from the name of a mythical early king. He appears in encomia of Athens celebrating the fact that the Athenians were ‘autochthonous’ or born of the land: ironically here, while they do not move, the plague is an unwelcome immigrant. Lucretius’ account of the epidemic at Athens in 430–426 BC is based closely on that given by the fifth-century BC historian Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War (2. 47–52), with the addition of some details from medical writings. What the ‘plague’ actually was remains controversial: the agent responsible may no longer be extant or may have mutated. Lucretius’ tactic of using the horrors of the disease to offset the glories of the opening celebration of Athenian civilization picks up a similar contrast in Thucydides with Pericles’ famous Funeral Speech in praise of the city, which immediately precedes the description of the epidemic (2. 35–46). In turn, Lucretius’ account was much imitated: cf. Virgil, Georgics3. 478–566, Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 523–613, Seneca, Oedipus 110–201.
1139 Laid waste the fields: the plague is figured as an invading army (like that of the Spartans), pillaging the countryside, cutting communications with the city, and then besieging and sacking it. By contrast, in Thucydides the epidemic begins in the harbour of the Piraeus (2. 48. 2).
1142 traversing a wide expanse of air: while Thucydides also has an Egyptian origin for the epidemic, he lays stress on its transmission by human beings (2. 47. 1, 58. 2), whereas Lucretius emphasizes an airborne miasma.
1143 all the people of Pandion: Pandion was another early king of Athens: there is a play on the first part of his name, which means ‘all’.
1154 a noisome stench: the human body has become a place of evil-smelling exhalations, as earlier the earth had been (810 ff.).
1166 as if burnt into it: an allusion to the torture of slaves, cf. 3. 1017.
1167 The accursed fire: sacer ignis, or erysipelas, a streptococcal skin infection: cf. 660.
1169 as in a furnace: a recurring image in Book 6: cf. 146 ff., 199 ff., 278, 281.
1174 hurled themselves headlong into wells: cf. Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year: ‘some broke out into the streets, perhaps naked, and would run directly down to the river if they were not stopped by the watchman or other officers, and plunge themselves into the water wherever they found it’ (Penguin edn., p. 99).
1182–98 many signs of death: this section has no counterpart in Thucydides, but recalls lists of symptoms enumerated in short phrases without syntactical connection found in the Hippocratic corpus (especially Hippocrates’ Prognostica, a work on which the Epicurean Demetrius Lacon is said to have written a commentary).
1186 either panting fast or deep and laboured: similar alternatives are mentioned in Hippocrates, Prognostica 5.
1193 Nostrils were pinched: the following lines are based on a famous description of the human face at the time of death in Hippocrates, Prognostica 2.
1222 man’s faithful friends the dogs: in Thucydides, dogs are seen as carrion-eating animals, whereas in Lucretius they die at their posts as faithful servants of the house.
1233 Losing all heart: cf. Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year, 183–4: ‘in the plague, it came at last to such violence that the people sat still looking at one another, and seemed quite abandoned to despair.’
1236 contagion: the word contagium (literally ‘contact’) developed the sense ‘contagion’ from its use of the sheep disease scabies.
1239 Men shunned the sick-beds: the added twist that even those who tried to avoid nursing their relatives and friends died is Lucretian: Thucydides (2. 51. 5) mentions only the patients dying for lack of care.
1247–51 one upon another… : these lines are clearly out of place in the manuscripts: the parallel account in Thucydides (2. 52. 4) suggests that they come after 1286, and they are probably the original concluding lines to the whole poem, with 1251–2 ‘Nor could a man be found at such a time | Whom neither plague nor death nor grief had touched’, a generalizing epigrammatic conclusion. Like the Iliad, On the Nature of the Universe ends with a funeral, but with one which lacks all sense of resolution and reintegration of the mourners.
1252–8 Moreover now the shepherd… : these lines have no counterpart in Thucydides, and the stress on the pathetic deaths of the rural poor is perhaps a Roman element (later accentuated in Virgil’s plague episode at the end of Georgics Book 3). Cf. 2. 1164 ff., 5. 1386 ff.
1274 The shrines of the celestials: the uselessness of religion is emphasized by the contrast between the ‘celestial’ nature of the gods and the corpses of the men they could not help.
1277 present grief was all: the epiphany of pain has ironically routed the gods of religion: instead of the presence of the god, we have only grief.
1278 the ancient customs… | Of burial: Athens was renowned for its public funerals of the dead killed in war, such as inspired Pericles’ ‘Funeral Speech’ in Thucydides.
1284 with frenzied cries: the shouts of the brawling mourners are a parody of the normal conclamatio or ‘calling’ to the dead man: see above on 3. 468.
A SELECTION OF
OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS
*
Classical Literary Criticism
Greek Lyric Poetry
Myths from Mesopotamia
APOLLODORUS
The Library of Greek Mythology
APOLLONIUS OF RHODES
Jason and the Golden Fleece
APULEIUS
The Golden Ass
ARISTOTLE
The Nicomachean Ethics
Physics
Politics
CAESAR
The Civil War
The Gallic War
CATULLUS
The Poems of Catullus
CICERO
The Nature of the Gods
EURIPIDES
Medea, Hippolytus, Electra, and Helen
GALEN
Selected Works
HERODOTUS
The Histories
HESIOD
Theogony and Works and Days
HOMER
The Iliad
The Odyssey
HORACE
The Complete Odes and Epodes
JUVENAL
The Satires
LIVY
The Rise of Rome
LUCAN
The Civil War
MARCUS AURELIUS
The Meditations
OVID
The Love Poems
Metamorphoses
Sorrows of an Exile
PETRONIUS
The Satyricon
PLATO
Defence of Socrates, Euthyphro, and Crito
Gorgias
Phaedo
Republic
Symposium
PLAUTUS
Four Comedies
PLUTARCH
Selected Essays and Dialogues
PROPERTIUS
The Poems
SOPHOCLES
Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Electra
STATIUS
Thebaid
TACITUS
The Histories
VIRGIL
The Aeneid
The Eclogues and Georgics
THOMAS AQUINAS
Selected Philosophical Writings
GEORGE BERKELEY
Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues
EDMUND BURKE
A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
Reflections on the Revolution in France
THOMAS CARLYLE
The French Revolution
CONFUCIUS
The Analects
FRIEDRICH ENGELS
; The Condition of the Working Class in England
JAMES GEORGE FRAZER
The Golden Bough
THOMAS HOBBES
Human Nature and De Corpore Politico Leviathan
JOHN HUME
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and The Natural History of Religion
Selected Essays
THOMAS MALTHUS
An Essay on the Principle of Population
KARL MARX
Capital
The Communist Manifesto
J. S. MILL
On Liberty and Other Essays
Principles of Economy and Chapters on Socialism
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
On the Genealogy of Morals
Twilight of the Idols
THOMAS PAINE
Rights of Man, Common Sense, and Other Political Writings
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Discourse on Political Economy and The Social Contract
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
SIMA QIAN
Historical Records
ADAM SMITH
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
Political Writings
The Bhagavad Gita
The Bible Authorized King James Version With Apocrypha
The Koran
The Pañcatantra
Upaniads
AUGUSTINE
The Confessions
On Christian Teaching
BEDE
The Ecclesiastical History
HEMACANDRA
The Lives of the Jain Elders
NTIDEVA
The Bodhicaryvatra
MORE ABOUT
OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS
*
The
Oxford
World’s
Classics
Website
www.worldsclassics.co.uk
• Information about new titles
• Explore the full range of Oxford World’s Classics
• Links to other literary sites and the main OUP webpage
• Imaginative competitions, with bookish prizes
• Peruse Compass, the Oxford World’s Classics magazine
On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) Page 39