II. Lucretius—Bleak Materialism and Eternal Death-Sleep

Epicureanism, simplest of all Greek philosophies, penetrated Rome about 175 B.C. A century later Titus LUCRETIUS Carus (c. 96-c. 55 B.C.), the great Latin poet of his day, contemporary of Cicero and himself an Epicurean, wrote his amazing poem The Nature of the Universe. This was produced probably about 55 B.C., after profound study of the Greek language and philosophy. He sought to dispel by science all fear of death and destruction. It was abstruse speculation, with some sublime concepts in mystic settings—a poet’s portrayal of the then “scientific” outlook.CFF1 621.4

Picture 2: Lucretius:
Lucretius Voiced a Pronounced Reaction Against the Postulates of Platonism.
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Lucretius dismissed Divine Providence and an immortal soul alike as empty illusions. He was an antagonist of pagan Roman religio (“religion”), with its superstitions and taboos designed to terrorize. But out of the depths of pessimistic skepticism he rises at times to pathetic heights. The tradition is that he died a suicide—consonant with the principles he professed. Here is his actual teaching.CFF1 622.1

1. BOOK SYNOPSIS REVEALS STARK MATERIALISM

Translator Ronald E. Latham’s Synopsis of The Nature of the Universe (pages 21-26), shows that Book 1, on “Matter and Space,” deals with the “creative force of nature.” It praises Epicurus for “delivering mankind from superstition.” Nothing, Lucretius states, is ever “created out of nothing,” and “nothing is ever annihilated.” Matter exists in the form of “invisible” atoms. But in addition, the universe contains “empty space”—the universe consisting only of these two. Lucretius refutes the “false” philosophical theories of Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, insisting that the universe is “boundless,” and without a “centre.”CFF1 622.2

Book 2, on the “Movements and Shapes of Atoms,” states that the atoms are “always on the move,” and that the world was “not made by gods.” Furthermore, our world is but one of an “infinite number,” self-regulating, and without interference from the gods. But it “had a beginning and will soon have an end.”CFF1 623.1

Book 3, on “Life and Mind,” praises Epicurus for revealing the “true nature of the universe,” and removing “the fear of death” and of torment after death. It insists that the mind is “part of the body,” and that mind and spirit are of a “single corporeal substance.” Life depends upon the “union of mind-spirit with body.” And mind and spirit, he says, “were born and will die.” Lucretius comments on the “blessings of mortality,” and declares the “imaginary pains of Hell are symbolic of earthly sufferings.”CFF1 623.2

2. THE TERRIFYING ISSUES OF “DEATH.”

At the outset of Book 1 Lucretius speaks of those—CFF1 623.3

“haunted by the fear of eternal punishment after death. They know nothing of the nature of the spirit. Is it born, or is it implanted in us at birth? Does it perish with us, dissolved by death, or does it visit the murky depths and dreary sloughs of Hades? Or is it transplanted by divine power into other creatures? ...CFF1 623.4

“Ennius indeed in his immortal verses proclaims that there is also a Hell, which is peopled not by our actual spirits or bodies but only by shadowy images, ghastly pale” (v. 93). ^{1717) Ronald Latham, Lucretius on the Nature of the Universe, The Penguin Classics, p. 30.}CFF1 623.5

3. THE “IDLE FANCY OF FOOLS. “

Lucretius insists that “nothing can ever be created by divine power out of nothing” (162)—that is, nothing “can come into existence without atoms.” ^{1818) Ibid., p. 31.} And in reverse, “nature resolves everything into its component atoms and never reduces anything to nothing” (226) ^{1919) Ibid., p. 33.} If “throughout this bygone eternity there have persisted bodies from which the universe has been perpetually renewed, they must certainly be possessed of immortality. Therefore things cannot be reduced to nothing” (227). ^{2020) Ibid., p. 34.} This he denies.CFF1 623.6

4. “RARIFIED WIND” LEAVES BODY AT DEATH

Coming in Book 3 to the heart of the question, Lucretius holds that “mind and spirit are interconnected,” and both are “composed of matter” of “very fine texture.” ^{2121) Ibid., pp. 100, 101.} He then declares: “The body at death is abandoned by a sort of rarified wind mixed with warmth, while the warmth carries with it also air.” ^{2222) Ibid., p. 103.}CFF1 624.1

5. BOTH SPIRIT AND BODY ARE MORTAL

“Vital spirit,” he says, is “present in the whole body,” as well as these “atoms of spirit,” which are “less in magnitude than those composing our body and flesh.” ^{2323) Ibid., pp. 106, 107.} Mind is more dominant than spirit. And minds, he adds, are “neither birthless nor deathless.” ^{2424) Ibid., pp. 107, 108.} The spirit, he opines, is “flimsy stuff composed of tiny particles.” ^{2626) Ibid., pp. 109, 112.} Then he twice states that spirit is mortal. And “without body” the mind alone cannot perform vital functions. So “both alike must be reckoned mortal.”CFF1 624.2

6. RIDICULES “IMMORTAL SPIRITS” SEEKING BODIES

Alluding to the belief of some that an “immortal” spirit is “slipped into the body at birth,” ^{2828) Ibid., p. 116. See also pp. 117, 118.} Lucretius ridicules this reincarnation theory by commenting:CFF1 624.3

“It is surely ludicrous to suppose that spirits are standing by at the mating and birth of animals—a numberless number of immortals on the look—out for mortal frames, jostling and squabbling to get in first and establish themselves most firmly.” ^{2929) Ibid., p. 119.}CFF1 624.4

7. DEATH: ETERNAL SLEEP WITH NO AWAKENING

Turning to “death,” Lucretius comments, “Death is nothing to us and no concern of ours, since our tenure of the mind is mortal.” “We shall be no more.” ^{3030) Ibid., p. 121.} Therefore we “have nothing to fear in death,” since “one who no longer is cannot suffer.” “Mortal life has been usurped by death the immortal.” ^{3131) Ibid., p. 122.} Death must be regarded as sleep. And nothing is more “restful than soundest sleep.” ^{3333) Ibid., p. 127.} So the alleged torments of Hell are brushed off as the present disciplines of life. Thus Lucretius dismisses “Hell belching abominable fumes” with its “boiling pitch.” There simply awaits for all “the same eternal death.”CFF1 624.5

Such was the bleak prospect and the stark materialism of Epicurean Roman skepticism and disillusionment in 55 B.C. It was a pronounced reaction against the postulates of Platonism and the other philosophies based on the old mythologies and the pantheistic reincarnation and reabsorption theories, often tied in therewith. But that was not all.CFF1 625.1