Oh, you guys are in for a treat this Thanksgiving Day in the USA. Here is Elli with the opening of Lucretius Book 1 -
Lucretius Book I (Rolfe Humphries)
When human life, all too conspicuous,
Lay foully groveling on earth, weighed down
By grim Religion, looming from the skies,
Horribly threatening mortal men -- a man,
A Greek, first raised his mortal eyes
Bravely against this menace. No report
Of gods, no lightning-flash, no thunder-peal
Made this man cower, but drove him all the more
With passionate manliness of mind and will
To be the first to spring the tight-barred gates
Of Nature's hold asunder. So his force,
His vital force of mind, a conqueror
Beyond the flaming ramparts of the world
Explored the vast immensities of space
With wit and wisdom, and came back to us
Triumphant, bringing news of what can be
And what cannot, limits and boundaries,
The borderline, the bench mark, set forever.
Religion, so, is trampled underfoot,
And by his victory we reach the stars.