206,
perished
by his own hand in the forty-fourth year
and praetor B.
and praetor B.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
Saec.
vi.
)
xiii. p. 295), who must have lived in or before the
5. Of ETRURIA. Plutarch, in his Symposiac. s. first century after Christ, as he is mentioned by
Quaest. Convivial. (viii. 7,8) introduces as one of the Archigenes. (ap. Galen. ibid. iii. 1. vol. xii. p. 623. )
speakers Lucius, an Etruscan, and a disciple of He was perhaps tutor to Criton (Galen, ibid. v.
Moderatus the Pythagorean, who flourished in the 3. vol. xii. p. 828) and Asclepiades Pharmacion
reign of the emperor Nero. Lucius asserted that (ibid. vol. xiii. pp. 648, 746, 816, 850, 852, 857,
Pythagoras himself was an Etruscan.
969), unless (as is not unlikely) the term ó kalna
6. HAERETICUS. (See Nos. 2, 4. ]
mos be used merely as a sort of honorary title.
7. MANICHA EUS. (See No. 4. ]
Fabricius says (Bill. Graec. vol. xiii. p. 310, ed.
8. Papa, succeeded Cornelius as bishop of Rome ret. ) that he was tutor to Galen, but it is probable
according to Baronius in A. D. 255, but according that in the passage referred to (vol. xiii. pp. 52+,
## p. 828 (#844) ############################################
828
LUCRETIUS.
LUCRETIUS,
>
509.
539) Galen is quoting the words of Asclepiades sequence of which he was accused by two tribunes
Pharmacion. His medical formulae are also several of the plebs before the people, and condemned to
times quoted by Aëtius (iii. 4. 42, p. 604, iv. 2. 3, p. pay a heavy fine. (Liv. xlii. 28, 31, 35, 48, 56,
685, iv. 3. 3, 9, 14, pp. 740, 745, 762, 763), but 03, xliii. 4, 6, 7, 8; Polyb. xxvii. 6. )
none of his writings are extant. If he be the same 5. M. LUCRETIUS, brother of No. 4, tribune of
person quoted by Caelius Aurelianus (De Mort. the plebs B. c. 172, brought forward a bill “ut
Chron. ii. 1, 7, pp. 365, 386, iv. 3, p. 5:22), he agrum Campanum censores fiuendum locarent. ".
wrote a work on chronic diseases (Tardac Pussioncs) | In the next year he served as legate to his brother
consisting of at least four books. (W. A. G. ) in Greece. (Liv. xlii. 19, 48, 56. )
LUCRE'TIA. 1. The wife of Numa Pom- 6. Sp. LUCRETIUS, praetor B. c. 172, obtained
pilius, the second king of Rome, whom, according the province of Further Spain. In B. C. 169 he
to some accounts, he married after his accession to served with distinction under the consul Q. Marcius
the throne. (Plut. Num. 21. )
Philippus, in the war against Perseus. He was
2. The wife of L. Tarquinius Collatinus, whose one of the three ambassadors sent into Syria in
rape by Sex. Tarquinius is said to have occasioned B. c. 162. (Liv. xlii. 9, 10, xliv. 7 ; Polyb. xxxi.
the dethronement of Tarquinius Superbus and the | 12, 13. )
establishment of the republic. (Liv. i. 55, &c. ; 7. M. LUCRETIUS, a senator, one of the judices
Dionys. iv. 64, &c. ) The details of the legend are retained by Verres, and hence suspected of having
given under TARQUINIUS.
been bribed. (Cic. Verr. i. 7. )
LUCRETIA GENS, originally patrician, but 8. Q. LUCRETIUS, accused Livius Drusus of
subsequently plebeian also. It was one of the praevaricatio, B. C. 54. He is mentioned by Cicero
most ancient gentes, and the name occurs as early as an intimate friend of C. Cassius Longinus, and
as the reign of Numa Pompilius (LUCRETIA, a supporter of the aristocratical party. On the
No. 1). The surname of the patrician Lucretii breaking out of the civil war he was stationed at
was TRICIPTINUS, one of whom, Sp. Lucretius Sulmo with five cohorts, but his colleague C. Attius,
Triciptinus, was elected consul, with L. Junius according to Cicero, or his town troops according to
Brutus, on the establishment of the republic, B. C. Caesar, opened the gates of the town to M. An-
The plebeian families are known by the tony, and Lucretius was obliged to save himself
surnames of Gallus*, Ofella, and VESPILLO. by Hight. (Cic. ad Atl. iv. 16. & 5, vii. 24, 25;
Carus also occurs as the cognomen of the poet Caes. B. C. i. 18. )
Lucretius. (See below. ) On coins we have like- T. LUCRE'TIUS CARUS. The information
wise the cognomen Trio, which is not found in to be derived from ancient writers regarding the
any ancient writer. A few Lucretii are mentioned personal history of Lucretius is very scanty in
without any surname.
amount and somewhat suspicious in character.
LUCRE'TIUS. 1. L. LUCRETIUS, quaestor That he was a Roman, or at least an Italian by
B. C. 218, was taken prisoner by the Ligurians, birth, may be inferred from his own words, for he
along with some other Roman officers, and delivered twice speaks of the Latin language as his native
up to Hannibal. (Liv, xxi. 59. )
tongue (i. 83), iii, 261, comp. i. 42). The Euse
2. M. LUCRETIUS, tribune of the plebs, B. c. bian Chronicle fixes B. c. 95 as the date of his birth,
210, appears to have taken a leading part in the adding that he was driven mad by a love potion,
dispute about the appointment of a dictator in that that during his lucid intervals he composed several
year. (Liv. xxvii. 5. )
works which were revised by Cicero, and that he
3. Sp. LUCRETIUS, plebeian aedile, B. C.
206, perished by his own hand in the forty-fourth year
and praetor B. c. 205, received in the latter year, of his age, that is, B. c. 52 or 5l. Donatus, on the
as his province, Ariminum, which was the name contrary, affirms that his death happened in B. C.
then given to the province of Gallia Cisalpina. His 55, on the very day on which Virgil assumed the
imperium was continued to him for the two follow- toga virilis, an event which, in the Eusebian Chro-
ing years, B. C. 204—203; in the latter of which nicle, is placed two years later. From what source
he had to rebuild Genua, which had been destroyed the tale about the philtre may have been derived
by Mago. In B. C. 200 he was sent as ambassador we know not. Pomponius Sabinus, in a note on
to Africa with C. Terentius Varro. (Liv. xxviii. the third Georgic (l. 202), states that the drug
38, xxix. 13, xxx. 1, 11. )
employed was hippomanes, while later writers,
4. C. LUCRETIUS Gallus, was created duumvir twisting a passage in the works St. Jerome (ad
navalis with C. Matienus, B. c. 181, in order to Rufin. c. 22) to their own views, have declared
equip a fleet against the Ligurians (Liv xl. 26). that the potion was administered by his own wife
Livy (l. c. ) calls him simply C. Lucretius, but there Lucilia, in order that she might inspire him with
can be little doubt about his being the same as more deep and fervent affection. It has been in-
C. Lucretius Gallus. Lucretius Gallus was praetor geniously conjectured that the whole story was an
B. C. 171, and received the command of the fleet in invention of some enemy of the Epicureans, who
the war against Perseus, king of Macedonia. He conceived that such an end would be peculiarly
was a worthy match for the consul P. Licinius appropriate for one who so boldly professed and so
Crassus, and distinguished himself by his cruelties zealously advocated the principles of that philo-
and exactions in Greece. With the money which sophy. Not a hint is to be found anywhere which
he had amassed in the war, he constructed an corroborates the assertion with regard to the edi-
aqueduct at Antium, and adorned the shrine of torial labours of Cicero.
Aesculapius with votive pictures. On his return to When we consider that what has been set down
Rome in B. c. 170, the Athenians and Chalcidians above comprises everything that can be gleaned
brought bitter coinplaints against him, in con- from authentic sources, we may feel somewhat sur-
prised, on turning to the biograpbies of Lucretinis
* Accidentally omitted under Gallus, and there- prefixed to various editions and translations of his
fore given below. [LUCRETIUS, No. 4. ]
work, to find that they contain a detailed account
## p. 829 (#845) ############################################
LUCRETIUS
229
LUCRETIUS.
3
of his family and connections, from the days of the to his aid the atomic theory of Lencirpus, by
chaste wife of Collatinus, a narrative of his journey which he sought to demonstrate that the material
to Athens for the prosecution of his philosophical universe is not the result of creative energy on
studies, an account of the society in which he there the part of the Supreme Being, but that all the
lived, of the friendships which he there formed, objects in which it abounds, mineral, vegetable,
of the preceptors from whose lips he derived his and animal, were formed by the union of ele-
enthusiasın for those tenets which he subsequently mental particles which had existed from all eter-
expounded with such fervid faith, of his return to nity, governed by certain simple laws ; and that
his native country, and of his life and habits all those striking phaenomena which, from their
while enjoying the charms of literary ease and strangeness or mighty effects, had long been re-
peaceful seclusion. But the whole of these parti- garded by the vulgar as direct manifestations of
culars are a mere tissue of speculations,—a web of divine power, were merely the natural results of
conjectures originally woven by the imagination of ordinary processes. To state clearly and develope
Lambinus and afterwards variously embroidered by Sully the leading principle of this pluilosophy, in
the idle and perverse ingenuity of a long line of such a form as might render the study attrctive to
commentators.
his countrymen, few of whom were disposed to
The period about which his piece was published take any interest in abstract speculations, was the
can be reduced within narrow limits. The allusion task undertaken by the author of the De Rerum
to the unhappy dissensions by which his native Natura, his work being simply an attempt to show
country was distracted, have been supposed to bear that there is nothing in the history or actual con-
special reference to the conspiracy of Catiline, but dition of the world which does not admit of explana-
the expression “patriäi tempore iniquo" is so ge- tion without having recourse to the active interpo-
neral that it is applicable to any portion of the sition of divine beings. The poem opens with a
epoch when he flourished. From the manner, how- magnificent apostrophe to Venus, whom he ad-
ever, in which Cicero, in a letter to his brother dresses as an allegorical representation of the re-
Quintus, written B. c. 55, gives his opinion on the productive power, after which the business of the
merits of the poem, we may fairly conclude that it piece commences by an enunciation of the grent
had been recently published ; and, taking into proposition on the nature and being of the gods
account the slowness with which copies were mul- (57—62), which leads to a grand invective against
tiplied, the conjecture of Forbiger becomes highly the gigantic monster superstition, and a thrilling
probable, that it may have been given to the world picture of the horrors which attends his tyrannous
in the early part of the year B. c. 57, when the sway. Then follows a lengthened elucidation of
machinations of Clodius were producing a degree the axiom that nothing can be produced from
of disorder and anarchy almost without example nothing, and that nothing can be reduced to nothing
even in those stormy times.
(Nil fieri ex nihilo, in nihilum nil posse reverti);
The work which has immortalised the name of which is succeeded by a definition of the Ultimate
Lucretius, and which, happily, has been preserved Atoms, infinite in number, which, together with
entire, is a philosophical didactic poem, composed Void Space (Inane), infinite in extent, constitute
in heroic hexameters, divided into six books, ex- the universe. The shape of these corpuscules, their
tending to upwards of seven thousand four hundred properties, their movements, the laws under which
lines, addressed to C. Memmius Gemellus, who was they enter into combination and assume forms and
praetor in B. C. 58 (MEMMIUS), and is entitled qualities appreciable by the senses, with other
De Rerum Natura. It has been sometimes repre- preliminary matters on their nature and affections,
sented as a complete exposition of the religious, together with a refutation of objections and opposing
moral, and physical doctrines of Epicurus, but this hypotheses, occupy the first two books. In the
is far from being a correct description. The plan third book, the general truths thus established are
is not by any means so vast or so discursive, and applied to demonstrate that the vital and intellectual
although embracing numerous topics requiring great principles, the Anima and Animus, are as much a
minuteness of detail, and admitting of great variety part of the man as his limbs and members, but
of illustration, is extremely distinct, and possesses like those limbs and members have no distinct and
almost epical unity. Epicurus maintained that the independent existence, and that hence soul and
unhappiness and degradation of mankind arose in body live and perish together; the argument being
a great degree from the slavish dread which they wound up by a magnificent exposure of the folly
entertained of the power of the Gods, from terror manifested in a dread of death, which will for ever
of their wrath, which was supposed to be displayed extinguish all feeling. The fourth book—perhaps
by the misfortunes inflicted in this life, and by the the most ingenious of the whole—is devoted to the
everlasting tortures which were the lot of the theory of the senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell, of
guilty in a future state, or where these feelings sleep and of dreams, ending with a disquisition
were not strongly developed, from a vague dread upon love. The fifth book, generally regarded as
of gloom and misery after death. To remove these the most finished and impressive, treats of the
apprehensions, which he declared were founded origin of the world and of all things that are
upon error, and thus to establish tranquillity in therein, of the movements of the heavenly bodies,
the heart, was the great object of his teaching ; and of the vicissitudes of the seasons, of day and night,
the fundamental doctrine upon which his system of the rise and progress of man, of society, and of
reposed was, that the Gods, whose existence he political institutions, and of the invention of the
did not deny, lived for everinore in the enjoyment various arts and sciences which embellish and
of absolute peace, strangers to all the passions, ennoble life. The sixth book comprehends an ex-
desires, and fears, which agitate the human heart, planation of some of the most striking natural
totally indifferent to the world and its inhabitants, appearances, especially thunder, lightning, hail, rain,
unmoved alike by their virtues and their crimes. snow, ice, cold, heat, wind, earthquakes, volcanoes,
As a step towards proving this position he called springs and localities noxious to animal life, which
a
## p. 830 (#846) ############################################
839
LUCRETIUS.
LUCULLUS.
We
leads to a discourse upon diseases. This in its especially to the comprehensive labours of Haver.
turn introduces an appalling description of the camp, whose bulky volumes (2 vols. 4to. Lug. Bilt.
great pestilence which devastated Athens during 1725, forming a portion of the series of Dutch
the Peloponnesian war, and thus the book closes. Variorum Classics, in 4to. ) contain everything that
The termination being somewhat abrupt, induces is valuable in preceding editions. The text of
the belief that Lucretius may have intended to Lambinus, however, underwent few changes until
continue his task, which might have been greatly it assumed its present form in the hands of the
exter. ded, but there is no reason to suppose that celebrated Gilbert Wakefield, whose recension,
anything has been lost.
founded upon the best English MSS. , was published
With regard to the general merits of the pro- in three volumes, 4to. Lond. 1796, and reprinted
duction, considered merely as a work of art, with at Glasgow, 4 vols. 8vo. 1813. We must not
out reference to the falseness and absurdity of the omit to mention with respect the edition of Albert
views which it advocates, but little difference of Forbiger, 12mo. Lips. 1828, who has shown great
opinion has prevailed among modern critics. All taste and judgment in selecting the best readings,
have admired the marvellous ability and skill with and has added short but useful notes. For practical
which the most abstruse speculations and the most purposes the edition of Lambinus, 1570, that of
refractory technicalities have been luminously bodicu Havercamp, 17:25, that of Creech, as reprinted,
forth in sonorous verse, and expressed in diction Oxon. 1818, exhibiting Wakefield's text, and that
which, although full of animation and dignity, of Forbiger, will be found the most serviceable, but
is never extravagant nor ponipous. All have ac- any one who can procure the second and fourth of
knowledged the matchless power and beauty of these may dispense with the rest.
those sublime outbursts of noble poetry which We have complete metrical translations into
diffuse light, vivacity, and grace, upon themes, English by Creech, 8vo. Oxford, 1682, very fre-
which in a less gifted writer must have proved quently reprinted ; by John Mason Goode (blank
obscure, dull, and repulsive. But even this is not verse), accompanied by a most elaborate series of
sufficient praise. Had it not been for Lucretius we annotations, 2 vols. 4to. Lond. 1805 ; and by
could never have formed an adequate idea of the Thomas Busby, 2 vols. 4to. Lond. 1813.
power of the Latin language. We might have have translations also of the first book alone by
dwelt with pleasure upon the softness, flexibility, John Evelyn, 8vo. Lond. 1656 ; by an anonymous
richness, and musical tone of that vehicle of thought, writer, 8vo. Lond. 1799 ; and by W. H. Drum-
which could represent with full effect the melan- mond, 8vo. Lond. 1809: but, excepting some de-
choly tenderness of Tibullus, the exquisite inge- tached passages rendered by Dryden, with all his
nuity of Ovid, the inimitable felicity and taste of wonted fire and inaccuracy, we possess nothing in
Horace, the gentleness, high spirit, and splendour our language which can be regarded as even a
of Virgil, and the vehement declamation of Juvenal ; tolerable representation of the original. The best
but had the verses of Lucretius perished we should translation into French is that by J. B. S. de Pon-
never have known that it could give utterance to the gerville, Paris, 1823, 1828 ; the best into Ita-
grandest conceptions with all that sustained majesty lian, that by Alessandro Marchetti, Lond. 1717,
and harmonious swell in which the Grecian Muse frequently reprinted ; the best into German,
rolls forth her loftiest outpourings. Yet, strange that by Knebel, Leipzig, 1821, and improved,
to say, the Romans themselves seem never to have Leipzig, 1831.
[W. R. )
done full justice to the surpassing genius of their LUCRI'NA, a surname of Venus, who had a
countryman. The criticism of Cicero is correct but temple at Baiae, near the Lucrine lake. (Stat.
cold, the tribute paid by Ovid to his memory is Silv. iii. 1. 150 ; Martial, xi. 81. ) [L. S. )
vague and affected, the observations of Quintilian LUCTEʻRIUS, the Cadurcan, described by
prove how little he bad entered into hie spirit or Caesar as a man of the greatest daring, was sent
appreciated his high enthusiasm, while the few into the country of the Ruteni, by Vercingetorix,
remaining writers by whom he is named either in- on the breaking out of the great Gallic insurrection
bult him with faint approbation, or indulge in direct in B. c. 52. Lucterius met with great success, col-
Statius alone, perhaps, proves himself lected a large force, and was on the point of
not insensible of the power which he describes as invading the Roman province in Gaul, in the
the docti furor arduus Lucreti. ” (Corn. Nep. direction of Narbo, when the arrival of Caesar
Att. xii. 4 ; Vitruv. ix. 3 ; Prop. ii. 25, 29 ; Vell. obliged him to retire. In the following year Luc-
Pat. ii. 36 ; Senec. de Tranquill
. Anim. 2, Ep. terius again formed the design of invading the
xcv. cx ; Plin. Ep. iv. 18 ; Tac. Dial. de Orat. 23. ) Roman province along with Drappes, the Senonian,
The editio Princeps of Lucretius was printed at but was defeated by the Roman legate C. Caninius
Brescia, in fol. , by Thomas Ferandus, about 1473, Rebilus, not far from Uxellodunum. (Caes. B. G.
and is of such excessive rarity that three copies only vii. 5, 7, 8 ; viii. 30—35. )
are known to exist. It has been fully described LUCTUS, a personification of grief or mourning,
by Dibdin in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 149–153. is described as a son of Aether and Terra. (Hygin.
The second edition, much less rare, and taken from Praef. ) This being, who wasted (edaa) the energies
an inferior MS. , appeared at Verona, fol. 1486, of man, is placed by the poets together with other
from the press of Paul Friedenberger. The text horrible creatures, at the entrance of the lower
was corrected from MSS. by Jo. Baptista Pius, fol. world. (Virg. Aen. vi. 274 ; Sil.
xiii. p. 295), who must have lived in or before the
5. Of ETRURIA. Plutarch, in his Symposiac. s. first century after Christ, as he is mentioned by
Quaest. Convivial. (viii. 7,8) introduces as one of the Archigenes. (ap. Galen. ibid. iii. 1. vol. xii. p. 623. )
speakers Lucius, an Etruscan, and a disciple of He was perhaps tutor to Criton (Galen, ibid. v.
Moderatus the Pythagorean, who flourished in the 3. vol. xii. p. 828) and Asclepiades Pharmacion
reign of the emperor Nero. Lucius asserted that (ibid. vol. xiii. pp. 648, 746, 816, 850, 852, 857,
Pythagoras himself was an Etruscan.
969), unless (as is not unlikely) the term ó kalna
6. HAERETICUS. (See Nos. 2, 4. ]
mos be used merely as a sort of honorary title.
7. MANICHA EUS. (See No. 4. ]
Fabricius says (Bill. Graec. vol. xiii. p. 310, ed.
8. Papa, succeeded Cornelius as bishop of Rome ret. ) that he was tutor to Galen, but it is probable
according to Baronius in A. D. 255, but according that in the passage referred to (vol. xiii. pp. 52+,
## p. 828 (#844) ############################################
828
LUCRETIUS.
LUCRETIUS,
>
509.
539) Galen is quoting the words of Asclepiades sequence of which he was accused by two tribunes
Pharmacion. His medical formulae are also several of the plebs before the people, and condemned to
times quoted by Aëtius (iii. 4. 42, p. 604, iv. 2. 3, p. pay a heavy fine. (Liv. xlii. 28, 31, 35, 48, 56,
685, iv. 3. 3, 9, 14, pp. 740, 745, 762, 763), but 03, xliii. 4, 6, 7, 8; Polyb. xxvii. 6. )
none of his writings are extant. If he be the same 5. M. LUCRETIUS, brother of No. 4, tribune of
person quoted by Caelius Aurelianus (De Mort. the plebs B. c. 172, brought forward a bill “ut
Chron. ii. 1, 7, pp. 365, 386, iv. 3, p. 5:22), he agrum Campanum censores fiuendum locarent. ".
wrote a work on chronic diseases (Tardac Pussioncs) | In the next year he served as legate to his brother
consisting of at least four books. (W. A. G. ) in Greece. (Liv. xlii. 19, 48, 56. )
LUCRE'TIA. 1. The wife of Numa Pom- 6. Sp. LUCRETIUS, praetor B. c. 172, obtained
pilius, the second king of Rome, whom, according the province of Further Spain. In B. C. 169 he
to some accounts, he married after his accession to served with distinction under the consul Q. Marcius
the throne. (Plut. Num. 21. )
Philippus, in the war against Perseus. He was
2. The wife of L. Tarquinius Collatinus, whose one of the three ambassadors sent into Syria in
rape by Sex. Tarquinius is said to have occasioned B. c. 162. (Liv. xlii. 9, 10, xliv. 7 ; Polyb. xxxi.
the dethronement of Tarquinius Superbus and the | 12, 13. )
establishment of the republic. (Liv. i. 55, &c. ; 7. M. LUCRETIUS, a senator, one of the judices
Dionys. iv. 64, &c. ) The details of the legend are retained by Verres, and hence suspected of having
given under TARQUINIUS.
been bribed. (Cic. Verr. i. 7. )
LUCRETIA GENS, originally patrician, but 8. Q. LUCRETIUS, accused Livius Drusus of
subsequently plebeian also. It was one of the praevaricatio, B. C. 54. He is mentioned by Cicero
most ancient gentes, and the name occurs as early as an intimate friend of C. Cassius Longinus, and
as the reign of Numa Pompilius (LUCRETIA, a supporter of the aristocratical party. On the
No. 1). The surname of the patrician Lucretii breaking out of the civil war he was stationed at
was TRICIPTINUS, one of whom, Sp. Lucretius Sulmo with five cohorts, but his colleague C. Attius,
Triciptinus, was elected consul, with L. Junius according to Cicero, or his town troops according to
Brutus, on the establishment of the republic, B. C. Caesar, opened the gates of the town to M. An-
The plebeian families are known by the tony, and Lucretius was obliged to save himself
surnames of Gallus*, Ofella, and VESPILLO. by Hight. (Cic. ad Atl. iv. 16. & 5, vii. 24, 25;
Carus also occurs as the cognomen of the poet Caes. B. C. i. 18. )
Lucretius. (See below. ) On coins we have like- T. LUCRE'TIUS CARUS. The information
wise the cognomen Trio, which is not found in to be derived from ancient writers regarding the
any ancient writer. A few Lucretii are mentioned personal history of Lucretius is very scanty in
without any surname.
amount and somewhat suspicious in character.
LUCRE'TIUS. 1. L. LUCRETIUS, quaestor That he was a Roman, or at least an Italian by
B. C. 218, was taken prisoner by the Ligurians, birth, may be inferred from his own words, for he
along with some other Roman officers, and delivered twice speaks of the Latin language as his native
up to Hannibal. (Liv, xxi. 59. )
tongue (i. 83), iii, 261, comp. i. 42). The Euse
2. M. LUCRETIUS, tribune of the plebs, B. c. bian Chronicle fixes B. c. 95 as the date of his birth,
210, appears to have taken a leading part in the adding that he was driven mad by a love potion,
dispute about the appointment of a dictator in that that during his lucid intervals he composed several
year. (Liv. xxvii. 5. )
works which were revised by Cicero, and that he
3. Sp. LUCRETIUS, plebeian aedile, B. C.
206, perished by his own hand in the forty-fourth year
and praetor B. c. 205, received in the latter year, of his age, that is, B. c. 52 or 5l. Donatus, on the
as his province, Ariminum, which was the name contrary, affirms that his death happened in B. C.
then given to the province of Gallia Cisalpina. His 55, on the very day on which Virgil assumed the
imperium was continued to him for the two follow- toga virilis, an event which, in the Eusebian Chro-
ing years, B. C. 204—203; in the latter of which nicle, is placed two years later. From what source
he had to rebuild Genua, which had been destroyed the tale about the philtre may have been derived
by Mago. In B. C. 200 he was sent as ambassador we know not. Pomponius Sabinus, in a note on
to Africa with C. Terentius Varro. (Liv. xxviii. the third Georgic (l. 202), states that the drug
38, xxix. 13, xxx. 1, 11. )
employed was hippomanes, while later writers,
4. C. LUCRETIUS Gallus, was created duumvir twisting a passage in the works St. Jerome (ad
navalis with C. Matienus, B. c. 181, in order to Rufin. c. 22) to their own views, have declared
equip a fleet against the Ligurians (Liv xl. 26). that the potion was administered by his own wife
Livy (l. c. ) calls him simply C. Lucretius, but there Lucilia, in order that she might inspire him with
can be little doubt about his being the same as more deep and fervent affection. It has been in-
C. Lucretius Gallus. Lucretius Gallus was praetor geniously conjectured that the whole story was an
B. C. 171, and received the command of the fleet in invention of some enemy of the Epicureans, who
the war against Perseus, king of Macedonia. He conceived that such an end would be peculiarly
was a worthy match for the consul P. Licinius appropriate for one who so boldly professed and so
Crassus, and distinguished himself by his cruelties zealously advocated the principles of that philo-
and exactions in Greece. With the money which sophy. Not a hint is to be found anywhere which
he had amassed in the war, he constructed an corroborates the assertion with regard to the edi-
aqueduct at Antium, and adorned the shrine of torial labours of Cicero.
Aesculapius with votive pictures. On his return to When we consider that what has been set down
Rome in B. c. 170, the Athenians and Chalcidians above comprises everything that can be gleaned
brought bitter coinplaints against him, in con- from authentic sources, we may feel somewhat sur-
prised, on turning to the biograpbies of Lucretinis
* Accidentally omitted under Gallus, and there- prefixed to various editions and translations of his
fore given below. [LUCRETIUS, No. 4. ]
work, to find that they contain a detailed account
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LUCRETIUS
229
LUCRETIUS.
3
of his family and connections, from the days of the to his aid the atomic theory of Lencirpus, by
chaste wife of Collatinus, a narrative of his journey which he sought to demonstrate that the material
to Athens for the prosecution of his philosophical universe is not the result of creative energy on
studies, an account of the society in which he there the part of the Supreme Being, but that all the
lived, of the friendships which he there formed, objects in which it abounds, mineral, vegetable,
of the preceptors from whose lips he derived his and animal, were formed by the union of ele-
enthusiasın for those tenets which he subsequently mental particles which had existed from all eter-
expounded with such fervid faith, of his return to nity, governed by certain simple laws ; and that
his native country, and of his life and habits all those striking phaenomena which, from their
while enjoying the charms of literary ease and strangeness or mighty effects, had long been re-
peaceful seclusion. But the whole of these parti- garded by the vulgar as direct manifestations of
culars are a mere tissue of speculations,—a web of divine power, were merely the natural results of
conjectures originally woven by the imagination of ordinary processes. To state clearly and develope
Lambinus and afterwards variously embroidered by Sully the leading principle of this pluilosophy, in
the idle and perverse ingenuity of a long line of such a form as might render the study attrctive to
commentators.
his countrymen, few of whom were disposed to
The period about which his piece was published take any interest in abstract speculations, was the
can be reduced within narrow limits. The allusion task undertaken by the author of the De Rerum
to the unhappy dissensions by which his native Natura, his work being simply an attempt to show
country was distracted, have been supposed to bear that there is nothing in the history or actual con-
special reference to the conspiracy of Catiline, but dition of the world which does not admit of explana-
the expression “patriäi tempore iniquo" is so ge- tion without having recourse to the active interpo-
neral that it is applicable to any portion of the sition of divine beings. The poem opens with a
epoch when he flourished. From the manner, how- magnificent apostrophe to Venus, whom he ad-
ever, in which Cicero, in a letter to his brother dresses as an allegorical representation of the re-
Quintus, written B. c. 55, gives his opinion on the productive power, after which the business of the
merits of the poem, we may fairly conclude that it piece commences by an enunciation of the grent
had been recently published ; and, taking into proposition on the nature and being of the gods
account the slowness with which copies were mul- (57—62), which leads to a grand invective against
tiplied, the conjecture of Forbiger becomes highly the gigantic monster superstition, and a thrilling
probable, that it may have been given to the world picture of the horrors which attends his tyrannous
in the early part of the year B. c. 57, when the sway. Then follows a lengthened elucidation of
machinations of Clodius were producing a degree the axiom that nothing can be produced from
of disorder and anarchy almost without example nothing, and that nothing can be reduced to nothing
even in those stormy times.
(Nil fieri ex nihilo, in nihilum nil posse reverti);
The work which has immortalised the name of which is succeeded by a definition of the Ultimate
Lucretius, and which, happily, has been preserved Atoms, infinite in number, which, together with
entire, is a philosophical didactic poem, composed Void Space (Inane), infinite in extent, constitute
in heroic hexameters, divided into six books, ex- the universe. The shape of these corpuscules, their
tending to upwards of seven thousand four hundred properties, their movements, the laws under which
lines, addressed to C. Memmius Gemellus, who was they enter into combination and assume forms and
praetor in B. C. 58 (MEMMIUS), and is entitled qualities appreciable by the senses, with other
De Rerum Natura. It has been sometimes repre- preliminary matters on their nature and affections,
sented as a complete exposition of the religious, together with a refutation of objections and opposing
moral, and physical doctrines of Epicurus, but this hypotheses, occupy the first two books. In the
is far from being a correct description. The plan third book, the general truths thus established are
is not by any means so vast or so discursive, and applied to demonstrate that the vital and intellectual
although embracing numerous topics requiring great principles, the Anima and Animus, are as much a
minuteness of detail, and admitting of great variety part of the man as his limbs and members, but
of illustration, is extremely distinct, and possesses like those limbs and members have no distinct and
almost epical unity. Epicurus maintained that the independent existence, and that hence soul and
unhappiness and degradation of mankind arose in body live and perish together; the argument being
a great degree from the slavish dread which they wound up by a magnificent exposure of the folly
entertained of the power of the Gods, from terror manifested in a dread of death, which will for ever
of their wrath, which was supposed to be displayed extinguish all feeling. The fourth book—perhaps
by the misfortunes inflicted in this life, and by the the most ingenious of the whole—is devoted to the
everlasting tortures which were the lot of the theory of the senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell, of
guilty in a future state, or where these feelings sleep and of dreams, ending with a disquisition
were not strongly developed, from a vague dread upon love. The fifth book, generally regarded as
of gloom and misery after death. To remove these the most finished and impressive, treats of the
apprehensions, which he declared were founded origin of the world and of all things that are
upon error, and thus to establish tranquillity in therein, of the movements of the heavenly bodies,
the heart, was the great object of his teaching ; and of the vicissitudes of the seasons, of day and night,
the fundamental doctrine upon which his system of the rise and progress of man, of society, and of
reposed was, that the Gods, whose existence he political institutions, and of the invention of the
did not deny, lived for everinore in the enjoyment various arts and sciences which embellish and
of absolute peace, strangers to all the passions, ennoble life. The sixth book comprehends an ex-
desires, and fears, which agitate the human heart, planation of some of the most striking natural
totally indifferent to the world and its inhabitants, appearances, especially thunder, lightning, hail, rain,
unmoved alike by their virtues and their crimes. snow, ice, cold, heat, wind, earthquakes, volcanoes,
As a step towards proving this position he called springs and localities noxious to animal life, which
a
## p. 830 (#846) ############################################
839
LUCRETIUS.
LUCULLUS.
We
leads to a discourse upon diseases. This in its especially to the comprehensive labours of Haver.
turn introduces an appalling description of the camp, whose bulky volumes (2 vols. 4to. Lug. Bilt.
great pestilence which devastated Athens during 1725, forming a portion of the series of Dutch
the Peloponnesian war, and thus the book closes. Variorum Classics, in 4to. ) contain everything that
The termination being somewhat abrupt, induces is valuable in preceding editions. The text of
the belief that Lucretius may have intended to Lambinus, however, underwent few changes until
continue his task, which might have been greatly it assumed its present form in the hands of the
exter. ded, but there is no reason to suppose that celebrated Gilbert Wakefield, whose recension,
anything has been lost.
founded upon the best English MSS. , was published
With regard to the general merits of the pro- in three volumes, 4to. Lond. 1796, and reprinted
duction, considered merely as a work of art, with at Glasgow, 4 vols. 8vo. 1813. We must not
out reference to the falseness and absurdity of the omit to mention with respect the edition of Albert
views which it advocates, but little difference of Forbiger, 12mo. Lips. 1828, who has shown great
opinion has prevailed among modern critics. All taste and judgment in selecting the best readings,
have admired the marvellous ability and skill with and has added short but useful notes. For practical
which the most abstruse speculations and the most purposes the edition of Lambinus, 1570, that of
refractory technicalities have been luminously bodicu Havercamp, 17:25, that of Creech, as reprinted,
forth in sonorous verse, and expressed in diction Oxon. 1818, exhibiting Wakefield's text, and that
which, although full of animation and dignity, of Forbiger, will be found the most serviceable, but
is never extravagant nor ponipous. All have ac- any one who can procure the second and fourth of
knowledged the matchless power and beauty of these may dispense with the rest.
those sublime outbursts of noble poetry which We have complete metrical translations into
diffuse light, vivacity, and grace, upon themes, English by Creech, 8vo. Oxford, 1682, very fre-
which in a less gifted writer must have proved quently reprinted ; by John Mason Goode (blank
obscure, dull, and repulsive. But even this is not verse), accompanied by a most elaborate series of
sufficient praise. Had it not been for Lucretius we annotations, 2 vols. 4to. Lond. 1805 ; and by
could never have formed an adequate idea of the Thomas Busby, 2 vols. 4to. Lond. 1813.
power of the Latin language. We might have have translations also of the first book alone by
dwelt with pleasure upon the softness, flexibility, John Evelyn, 8vo. Lond. 1656 ; by an anonymous
richness, and musical tone of that vehicle of thought, writer, 8vo. Lond. 1799 ; and by W. H. Drum-
which could represent with full effect the melan- mond, 8vo. Lond. 1809: but, excepting some de-
choly tenderness of Tibullus, the exquisite inge- tached passages rendered by Dryden, with all his
nuity of Ovid, the inimitable felicity and taste of wonted fire and inaccuracy, we possess nothing in
Horace, the gentleness, high spirit, and splendour our language which can be regarded as even a
of Virgil, and the vehement declamation of Juvenal ; tolerable representation of the original. The best
but had the verses of Lucretius perished we should translation into French is that by J. B. S. de Pon-
never have known that it could give utterance to the gerville, Paris, 1823, 1828 ; the best into Ita-
grandest conceptions with all that sustained majesty lian, that by Alessandro Marchetti, Lond. 1717,
and harmonious swell in which the Grecian Muse frequently reprinted ; the best into German,
rolls forth her loftiest outpourings. Yet, strange that by Knebel, Leipzig, 1821, and improved,
to say, the Romans themselves seem never to have Leipzig, 1831.
[W. R. )
done full justice to the surpassing genius of their LUCRI'NA, a surname of Venus, who had a
countryman. The criticism of Cicero is correct but temple at Baiae, near the Lucrine lake. (Stat.
cold, the tribute paid by Ovid to his memory is Silv. iii. 1. 150 ; Martial, xi. 81. ) [L. S. )
vague and affected, the observations of Quintilian LUCTEʻRIUS, the Cadurcan, described by
prove how little he bad entered into hie spirit or Caesar as a man of the greatest daring, was sent
appreciated his high enthusiasm, while the few into the country of the Ruteni, by Vercingetorix,
remaining writers by whom he is named either in- on the breaking out of the great Gallic insurrection
bult him with faint approbation, or indulge in direct in B. c. 52. Lucterius met with great success, col-
Statius alone, perhaps, proves himself lected a large force, and was on the point of
not insensible of the power which he describes as invading the Roman province in Gaul, in the
the docti furor arduus Lucreti. ” (Corn. Nep. direction of Narbo, when the arrival of Caesar
Att. xii. 4 ; Vitruv. ix. 3 ; Prop. ii. 25, 29 ; Vell. obliged him to retire. In the following year Luc-
Pat. ii. 36 ; Senec. de Tranquill
. Anim. 2, Ep. terius again formed the design of invading the
xcv. cx ; Plin. Ep. iv. 18 ; Tac. Dial. de Orat. 23. ) Roman province along with Drappes, the Senonian,
The editio Princeps of Lucretius was printed at but was defeated by the Roman legate C. Caninius
Brescia, in fol. , by Thomas Ferandus, about 1473, Rebilus, not far from Uxellodunum. (Caes. B. G.
and is of such excessive rarity that three copies only vii. 5, 7, 8 ; viii. 30—35. )
are known to exist. It has been fully described LUCTUS, a personification of grief or mourning,
by Dibdin in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 149–153. is described as a son of Aether and Terra. (Hygin.
The second edition, much less rare, and taken from Praef. ) This being, who wasted (edaa) the energies
an inferior MS. , appeared at Verona, fol. 1486, of man, is placed by the poets together with other
from the press of Paul Friedenberger. The text horrible creatures, at the entrance of the lower
was corrected from MSS. by Jo. Baptista Pius, fol. world. (Virg. Aen. vi. 274 ; Sil.
