Description
Book SynopsisIn a fresh interpretation of Lucretius's On the Nature of Things, Charles Segal reveals this great poetical account of Epicurean philosophy as an important and profound document for the history of Western attitudes toward death. He shows that this poem, aimed at promoting spiritual tranquillity, confronts two anxieties about death not addressed in
Table of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*CONTENTS, pg. vii*PREFACE, pg. ix*ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, pg. xi*CHAPTER ONE. Lucretius's Adequacy to the Fear of Death: Logic, Poetry, and Emotion, pg. 3*CHAPTER TWO. Atoms, Bodies, and Individuals: Death in Epicurus and Lucretius, pg. 26*CHAPTER THREE. The Wind-Scattered Soul, pg. 46*CHAPTER FOUR. Nothingness and Eternity: The Fear of the Infinite, pg. 74*CHAPTER FIVE. The World's Body and the Human Body: Walls, Boundaries, and Mortality, pg. 94*CHAPTER SIX. The Violation of Corporeal Boundaries, 1, pg. 115*CHAPTER SEVEN. The Violation of Corporeal Boundaries, 2, pg. 144*CHAPTER EIGHT. Generals, Poets, and Philosophers: Death in the Perspective of Time and Eternity, pg. 171*CHAPTER NINE. War, Death, and Civilization: The End of Book 5, pg. 187*CHAPTER TEN. The Plague Reconsidered: Progress, Poet, and Philosopher, pg. 228*CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Fear of Death and the Good Life, pg. 238*Selected Bibliography, pg. 247*Index of Passages, pg. 253*General Index, pg. 273
