I very much enjoyed reading this article in Aeon by James Hannom. In itself Hannam's article is excellent, being comprehensively illuminating on the whole topic of Lucretius & his life & times & philosophy, giving equally extended treatments, both to Lucretius's philosophical atomism which is of interest to modern philosophy, and to his - shall we say - niche contention that the world is flat.
Hannom's article has a particular personal resonance, in that I had a classical education several decades ago, during the course of which, aged 15, I found myself translating large chunks of Lucretius. This probably sounds like an ordeal, but it wasn't. I found it absorbing. It was my personal introduction to philosophy. In fact, it's probably fair to say that translating Lucretius, and the early acquaintance with philosophical atomism, was what led eventually to my PhD. I'm devoted to novels, plays, & verse nowadays, and very much an ex-philosopher, but Hannom's De Lucretio Dictisque Suis is still revocative. All very Proustian ...
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