Book

On the Nature of Things

by Titus Lucretius Carus (95–55 BCE)

30 chapters, about 66,000 words. The text is in the public domain in the United States and comes from Project Gutenberg.

Chapters

1. PROEM 1,200 words
2. SUBSTANCE IS ETERNAL 1,400 words
3. THE VOID 1,200 words
4. CHARACTER OF THE ATOMS 1,200 words
5. CONFUTATION OF OTHER PHILOSOPHERS 2,600 words
6. THE INFINITY OF THE UNIVERSE 2,000 words
7. PROEM 600 words
8. ATOMIC MOTIONS 2,500 words
9. ATOMIC FORMS AND THEIR COMBINATIONS 2,700 words
10. ABSENCE OF SECONDARY QUALITIES 1,800 words
11. INFINITE WORLDS 1,900 words
12. PROEM 900 words
13. NATURE AND COMPOSITION OF THE MIND 2,900 words
14. THE SOUL IS MORTAL 3,700 words
15. FOLLY OF THE FEAR OF DEATH 2,500 words
16. PROEM 300 words
17. EXISTENCE AND CHARACTER OF THE IMAGES 1,500 words
18. THE SENSES AND MENTAL PICTURES 5,400 words
19. SOME VITAL FUNCTIONS 2,300 words
20. THE PASSION OF LOVE 2,400 words
21. PROEM 1,700 words
22. THE WORLD IS NOT ETERNAL 1,400 words
23. FORMATION OF THE WORLD AND ASTRONOMICAL QUESTIONS 3,200 words
24. ORIGINS OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE 1,600 words
25. ORIGINS AND SAVAGE PERIOD OF MANKIND 700 words
26. BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION 4,600 words
27. PROEM 600 words
28. GREAT METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA, ETC. 5,100 words
29. EXTRAORDINARY AND PARADOXICAL TELLURIC PHENOMENA 4,800 words
30. THE PLAGUE ATHENS 1,500 words

Ideas discussed in this book

• Void (astronomy)

Open On the Nature of Things in the reader →