Venus By Lucretius Essay

The opening of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura immediately immerses the reader into a fantastical world ruled by Venus. Creation and generation, nature and nurture, all lie within her realm. While perhaps foreign to modern audiences, such a world would have been familiar to Lucretius’ original Roman audience. In the next few lines, however, this familiar world experiences upheaval. Venus is usurped as Man becomes the protagonist. More specifically, Epicurus emerges as the champion of humanity. As the poem proceeds, Venus appears further stripped of significance, while Epicurus is idolized in her absence. Scholarly attempts to explain the roles of Venus and Epicurus have provided a range of interpretations, some more charitable to Lucretius than others. ADD MORE
For instance, many modern scholars attempt to frame the poem to fit Epicurean tenets by claiming that Epicurus supplants Venus. Call this rather standard view the Replacement Thesis. Of course, if one views the poem as an epic of man conquering the beast of religion, the Replacement Thesis seems sufficiently persuasive. However, this standard view seems justified only when ignoring the central theme of the poem, Lucretius' stated goal of teaching humanity
This paper argues that Venus and Epicurus serve as counterparts in the work, each revealing aspects of ataraxia neither could show alone. Call this the Counterpart Thesis. This reading is justified in part by the representation of both Venus and Epicurus throughout the poem (most notably in lines 5.28-29), but also by the unifying interpretation of the work it provides. That is, in addition to textual support, I argue the Counterpart Thesis is superior to the Replacement Thesis, as the latter leads to common insoluble claims of inconsistency in Lucretius' poem, while the former resolves such conflict and adheres to Lucretius’ intention in composing the