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Aeternus Lepos: Venus, Lucretius, and the Fear of Death

In a recent article and a subsequent book Charles Segal finds a paradox in the writing of Lucretius, a paradox which, it might appear, was not to be evaded if the author wished to be both an Epicurean and a poet. On the one hand, his creed makes death as certain for the world as for its denizens and the hope of immortal glory an ignis fatuus; on the other hand, the poet has all the mortal frailties and as much desire as any Roman author for the survival of his name. These longings are both ‘vehement’ and ‘intense’, and, though the reader is to be made aware of their futility, they are latent in the first half of his opening book, until they are brought to light in his ‘second proem’.