I’m looking to pick up a copy of Lucretius’ De rerum natura while I wait for DeWitt’s book to arrive. Does anyone have a recommendation for a translation?
Best Lucretius translation?
SUNDAY WEEKLY ZOOM - 12:30 PM EDT - Ancient Text Study: De Rerum Natura by Lucretius -- Meeting is open to Level 03 members and above - Read the agenda for our December 14, 2025 meeting -- or find out how to attend.
-
LOL "Best" is a loaded question. Most literal? Most readable? Prose adaptation or poetic translation? There are a lot of good translations online. My suggestion would be to explore those first.
As an aside, my first full read through was Stallings, but that can be a polarizing translation.
-
Don is correct. I think most people would agree that the current leading translation by one of the foremost leading scholars is Martin Ferguson Smith's Hackett Publishing version. You can find that lots of places inexpensively.
I know you're looking for a printed edition so I won't focus on the three we have here.
Also check here, and let's add further longer comments there to add to that discussion:
-
Loeb edition by Rouse, and revised by Smith, is great for the Latin facing text alone.
Verse translation? Rolfe Humphries.
I should make a tier list one of these days.
-
-
LOL "Best" is a loaded question. Most literal? Most readable? Prose adaptation or poetic translation?
Haha, fair point! “Favourite” would’ve been a better word.
-
Loeb edition by Rouse, and revised by Smith, is great for the Latin facing text alone.
Verse translation? Rolfe Humphries.
I should make a tier list one of these days.
Thanks Josh - I’ll look into Humphries’ translation. I’d like to read something in verse, though I understand it might be less faithful than a more direct translation? He does have a great name, though.
-
Glad you asked! Charlton Griffin on Audible reads the Humphries version. It is excellent.
-
Any suggestions for audio readings?
Joshua's response to this is my view too.
Were it not for the Charlton Griffin rendering on Audible, this forum might well not exist. It was *the* turning point for me in my decision to devote more time to studying Lucretius. I'd rank the Dewitt book up there in the same category of major influences, but it turns out that I needed the motivation of hearing Lucretius read in Griffin's booming voice to really motivate me.
I can't recommend the Griffin audio (which is a reading of the Rolfe Humphries translation) highly enough.
And as a comment on the Humphries verse rendering, I've found that one the best for me too. Even his rending of the title: "The Way Things Are" strikes me as the best "tone" to reflect how forceful Epicurean philosophy can be.
-
Cassius
June 27, 2025 at 3:49 PM Moved the thread from forum Uncategorized Discussion (General) to forum General Discussion of "On The Nature of Things". -
In my opinion ... I have a soft-spot for Humphries' style, though I don't think it's the most educational. It speaks to me personally, and provides me with a poetry that I find entrancing.
M. F. Smith is definitely going to be your best, contemporary resource. He writes in prose, or adapted free verse, and does not impose a rhyme schema on the literature. He is usually my go-to if I want to understand, conceptually, what Lucretius meant by a stanza. He's great with annotations, too.
The one weak spot I note with Smith is that he has a tendency to employ contemporary, technical jargon to refer to Epicurean physics, and, more and more, I think it's a bit anachronistic.
To rememdy that, I recommend Munro. He has a great way of translating the "fundamental seeds of reality" using words besides "atoms" and "particles" that is refreshing, and, in my opinion, more authentic to how a Roman would have experienced the poem 2,075 years ago. Granted, Munro's vocabulary is a tad older, and reads as a bit more dated than Smith's more recent work.
If you like a good, familiar rhyme schema, try A. E. Stallings. I like his flavor.
-
-
try A. E. Stallings. I like his flavor.
"Her"
Right on! I had no idea.
Finding Things At EpicureanFriends.com
Here is a list of suggested search strategies:
- Website Overview page - clickable links arrranged by cards.
- Forum Main Page - list of forums and subforums arranged by topic. Threads are posted according to relevant topics. The "Uncategorized subforum" contains threads which do not fall into any existing topic (also contains older "unfiled" threads which will soon be moved).
- Search Tool - icon is located on the top right of every page. Note that the search box asks you what section of the forum you'd like to search. If you don't know, select "Everywhere."
- Search By Key Tags - curated to show frequently-searched topics.
- Full Tag List - an alphabetical list of all tags.