Didaxis, Rhetoric, and the Law in Lucretius

In this paper I propose to discuss certain constitutive features of Lucretius’ poem in connection with speciWc aspects of Roman culture in his times. This type of investigation has never been overly popular in the case of the De rerum natura, perhaps as a reaction to Benjamin Farrington’s rather extreme, if generous, promotion of Lucretius to the position of radical political champion.1 In more recent times the welcome, indeed dramatic, increase in our knowledge of Epicurus and Epicureanism has inevitably catalysed the interest of scholars. As a caveat, which I will elaborate at the end, I hasten to add at the beginning that I am not promoting a new politicization of the De rerum natura à la Farrington, nor will I suggest that more focus on distinctly Roman features in the poem invalidates or weakens the fundamental relationship between Lucretius and his Greek teacher. E. J. Kenney remarked some thirty years ago that Lucretius was too often studied in a vacuum, and he then proceeded brilliantly to modify the then prevailing view of Lucretius’ poetic allegiances.2