Lucretius

Lucretius, Carus Titus (circa 95-52 b.c), an eminent Roman poet, concerning whose life nothing certain is known. His Be Rerum Natura, a didactic poem in hexameter verse, contains six books, in which are expounded the principles of the Epicurean system of philosophy. It is, perhaps, the sole example of a philosophical poem in which the didactic purpose is successfully maintained without destroying the literary value of the work. This is the more remarkable as the materialistic character of the views enforced might naturally be supposed to be very repugnant to the poetic temperament. Yet the poem contains passages which for beauty and grandeur are unequalled by anything else in the whole range of Latin literature. Lucretius is said to have been driven mad by a love philtre, administered by his wife, and to have committed suicide; but some think that this story was invented by his enemies.