Lucretius III 41-93

41-47: People say that they fear diseases or shame more than they do death, and that they don’t need Epicurean philosophy. But you should know that they are boasting and that they don’t really understand the nature of their fear.

41: Lucr., having asserted that he must discuss the nature of the animus and anima, along with the fear of death, feels compelled to explain that these topics cannot be passed over lightly.

42: ferunt “say,” a common meaning of fero, especially when the subject is more general than specific (as homines is here). The indirect discourse following ferunt contains three main verbs: (1) esse timendos (line 41), (2) scire (line 43), and (3) egere (line 44). Tartara leti “the infernal regions of death.”

43 and 46: sanguinis and venti are genitives of material (v. AG 344, and cp. §401 for abl. of material).

44: prosum = prorsum

45: advertas is present subjunctive following licet. The second person may refer to Memmius, to whom the poem is addressed, or to the reader in general. The complement of advertas animum (“notice that”) is the accusative and infinitive construction whose main verb is iactari (line 47) and whose subject can be extracted from homines (line 41). The object is the substantive omnia (“all (these) things”).

47: The adverbs magis … quam coordinate two different causal constructions: (1) a prepositional phrase (laudis causa --that is, they are trying to seem tough and wise), and (2) a quod clause (quod res ipsa probetur), in which probetur has the sense of “is understood” or “is truly believed.”

48: idem nominative plural masculine. patria ablative of separation.

50: vivunt “they (continue to) live.” Lucr. emphasizes that some persons live instead of, we may suppose, killing themselves, which course of action might be suggested by a greater fear of shame than of death (line 41).

51: quo cumque “to whatever place.”

54: religionem is from religio, which word suggests, in Lucretius’ text, the set of all religious beliefs that taught that the gods were concerned with human affairs. Simply put: "superstition.” If the homines in the previous sentence truly held the coldly scientific views they claim (for example, that life is nothing more than a biological artifact of blood or breath), then they would not in times of adversity pay even keener attention to religious beliefs and activities, in particular sacrificing to the dead, an action that both the verb parento and the phrase nigras … pecudes (line 52) imply.

55: quo magis “all the more,” a favorite connective of Lucr., who uses it 14 times in De Rerum Natura.

56: convenit (present, as both the sense and meter show) is impersonal (“it is suitable”) For impersonal convenit in this book see also lines 455 and 462).

59: avarities is an alternative for avaritia. honorum is objective genitive.

61: inter dum = interdum “from time to time”

63: emergere complementary inf. authorized by niti (62), which, along with transcendere (60), is a complement of cogunt (60).

64: non minimam partem adverbial accusative, “not in the smallest part” (that is, “quite a lot,” an example of litotes).

65-73: This sentence explains the assertion of the previous sentence: that the fear of death can be said to nourish (aluntur, line 64) greed and a desire for honor. The explanation is that some people (those who do not understand the Epicurean philosophy) consider being despised on the one hand, and poverty on the other, to be almost death, which they fear and flee, driven by false fears (false both because the Epicurean philosophy teaches that death is not to be feared, and because it teaches that simplicity is preferable to wealth). To avoid disgrace and poverty, these people commit terrible crimes. ]

65: enim, like nam in line 41, indicates that Lucr. is now about to explain or justify his previous assertion. contemptus is the nominative singular of the fourth-declension noun meaning “being despised” or “disgrace.”

66: videtur has as its subjects both turpis contemptus and acris egestas. semota (1) describes both of the noun phrase subjects of videtur, while agreeing in form with only the nearer, and (2) belongs to the predicate (it is what the two subjects “seem (to be)”). Lines 70-73 make clear that Lucr. is in this sentence focused on the evils to which poverty can drive persons.

67: cunctarier = cunctari (a common archaic form in De Rerum Natura). Cf. lines 263, 443, 623.

68: unde relative adverb whose antecedent is leti portas. dum subordinates volvunt (line 69): “while they wish...”. se is object of remosse (line 69). remosse = removisse by syncopation.

70: rem conflant “they pile up wealth”

73: consanguineum is genitive plural from consanguineus, -a, -um. consanguineorum is rare, although not absent, in preserved Latin literature.

74-78: In lines 70-73, Lucr. showed that when poverty is a motivation for crime, the fear of death may be the root of the motivation. Here, he shows that from the same fear (ab eodem timore, line 74) springs the tendency for disgrace to beget crime. ]

75: macerat invidia “envy tortures.” The phrase creates in the reader’s mind an expectation that the thought behind envy’s torture will be reported, and this expectation is sufficient to authorize the indirect discourse from ante (line 75) to honore (line 76).

76: claro … honore an ablative of manner describing a senator or some other person whose very dress would demonstrate importance.

77: ipsi and queruntur signal a change of subject. in tenebris volvi caenoque is a poetic way of describing passing one’s life in obscurity and even disgrace.

78: partim is an adverb from pars meaning “in part,” “partly.” This word often interacts with a verb (as here) or another pronoun to give the sense of “some (people)”. ergo is a formal-sounding alternative for the preposition causa, with thich ergo shares meaning and syntax.

79-86: The text and punctuation of this section have provoked a great deal of debate. As printed, the segment breaks neatly into two parts. Lines 79-82 assert that the dread of death, ever hanging over life, can cause humans to despair and (paradoxically) seek death when they have forgotten (obliti, line 82) the true source of their fears. Lines 83-86 explain the power of the fear of death to convince persons to act in ill-advised ways.]

79: formidine ablative of cause, or perhaps means. vitae … lucisque videndae (in line 80) are objective genitives with odium “of life and of seeing the light.” lucis videndae is the gerundive construction (AG 503).

81: maerenti pectore ablative absolute

82: fontem curarum is the noun phrase that belongs to the predicate of the indirect discourse cued by obliti.

83: vexare pudorem “to defile (his) sense of restraint.” amicitiai = amicitiae. vincula amicitiai rumpere makes sense in light of the fact that a person who kills himself abandons obligations to friends.

84: in summa pietate evertere is one of the most difficult parts of this passage to understand if the text is printed as it is here. In 1956, L. A. McCay suggested that the meaning implied is something like “to overthrow (the sanctity placed) in the greatest trustworthiness”, thus echoing the preceding phrase.

86: vitare Acherusia templa petentes is a participial expansion of homines (line 85), giving the reason of those people for betraying their parents and nation. For the phrase, v. line 25.

87-93: These famous lines decribe the fear of death as a childish of fear of the unknown.

89: inter dum = interdum. quae introduces a fused relative construction in which the missing antecedent is easily extracted from the relative, usually in the same form (here quae =haec quae); the whole construction functions as direct object of timemus in line 88. nihilo is an ablative of degree of difference authorized by magis. Note that nihilo is positioned in front of the relative clause within which its meaning belongs.

90: futura = futura esse (the esse of the perfect and future infinitive is frequently omitted in both prose and poetry).