The employment of mythological language and imagery by an Epicurean poet anadherent of a system not only materialist but overtly hostile to myth andpoetry is ... » 

The employment of mythological language and imagery by an Epicurean poet anadherent of a system not only materialist but overtly hostile to myth andpoetry is highly paradoxical. This apparent contradiction has often beenascribed to a conflict in the poet between reason and intellect or to a desireto enliven his philosophical material with mythological digressions. This bookattempts to provide a more positive assessment of Lucretius aims andmethodology by considering the poets attitude to myth and the role which itplays in the De Rerum Natura against the background of earlier andcontemporary views. The author suggests that Lucretius was not only aware ofthe tension between his two roles as philosopher and poet but attempted toresolve it by developing his own Epicurean poetic together with a bold andinnovative theory of the origins and meaning of myth. «