Existential Dread
I believe On The Nature Of Things is inherently a story about how Lucretius, and by extension Roman society, grapples with the trauma of warfare and the loss of religious faith. Lucretius details throughout the work that he does not believe that the Roman gods have any sort of influence, nor the desire for influence, over human life and that religion had done nothing but harm to humanity. This is a sentiment consistently expressed in literature produced in times of warfare and societal collapse, and in my opinion is a precursor to the rise of Atheism in response to the ails of modern society; Lucretius, aware of but not beyond the influence of his own upbringing as a first century Roman, responded to this loss of faith with the ancient equivalent of this same philosophy.
On The Nature Of Things grapples with problems that the religious still face today- the usage of religion to justify cruelty. Iphigenia died by her father’s hand in the name of a Goddess. Today, countless die from hate crimes that the perpetrators claim are in the name of God. It’s a chilling look at how little we’ve changed as a society. We will do anything to serve ourselves if we can claim it’s for some supernatural, untouchable reason.
But just as Lucretius details his disillusionment with religion, so too does he take comfort in it. In the final three paragraphs, Lucretius delves into the concepts of death and rebirth on both an earthy and cosmic scale, appearing to come to the conclusion that just as he will die and be reborn again, so too will Mother Nature herself. Lucretius decides that, though this life he lives now is traumatic and frightening, there will be something better in the next world. While I don’t necessarily agree with this idea of waiting for a better world, this is a textbook example of religious thinking in response to hardship.
To me, this is a piece of literature about coming to terms with massive societal upheaval, and the effect it can have on your faith and worldview. Lucretius lost faith in the Roman religion when he saw his country being destroyed from the inside out and no divine intervention to stop it, and responded with distancing himself from religion and a lingering hope for a better world in the next life. I found it fascinating that, 2000 years later, people still respond to this sort of trauma in an almost identical way.
