We move on to the shape of atoms: “since the supply of atoms is. Furthermore, there is an infinite amount of matter in our infinite universe, and the motion of atoms will never end. Our world is the result of these random atomic motions, and it is senseless to attribute it to the work of gods.

They coalesce into larger objects when they find themselves bouncing rapidly between other closely-packed atoms. Atoms are in constant motion: they are thrown in different directions by collisions with other atoms, and by their own spontaneous swerves. Lucretius launches into his examination of the atom by investigating atomic motion. Epicureans set their minds at ease by understanding the workings of the natural world, which frees them from the fear of the unknown. The birth of the world was chaotic, according to Lucretius, with the four elements in imbalance and its component atoms forming a disordered cloud.Lucretius begins by reflecting that the only happy life is that of the Epicurean nature only requires that “the body may be rid of pain, and that the mind, divorced from anxiety and fear, may enjoy a feeling of contentment” (Book II, lines 35-6 pages 18-19). Lucretius shows that the world must be mortal by demonstrating how all of its component elements are mutable and weak (“soft,” as established in Book I) evidence that the world will collapse, since something that is made of mortal components cannot itself be immortal. The main elements that make up our world are earth, water, air, and fire.

Since its publication over 2,000 years ago, the poem has been celebrated by such thinkers as Montaigne, Thomas Jefferson, and Einstein. The gods, therefore, did not have a hand in the world’s creation. On The Nature of Things is a didactic, six-book work exploring everything from the fundamental nature of reality and what we can know, to the character of goodness and how we should best live. Lucretius also reminds us that the combination of chance and time created the world: particles traveling at random were bound to create these circumstances eventually. Though this is inevitable, he does express the hope that “reasoning rather than reality convince you that the whole world may give way and collapse with a horrendous crash” (Book V, lines 108-109 page 139). Lucretius introduces his detailed cosmology by announcing that the ‘world,’ by which he means the sky, the sea, and the land, will collapse one day.

On the nature of things book