Classical Shout Out Friday: Atomic Bard

I will reveal those atoms from which nature creates all things and increases and feeds them and into which, when they perish, nature again resolves them.
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura.

Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet of the 1st century BCE. Thanks to him we have the best exposition of Epicurus' philosophy in On the Nature of Things. This great poem is admirable for its clarity and hatred of superstition. Lucretius deftly uses poetic imagery to inspire a greater appreciation for natural phenomena. He dispenses with Superstition* and in its stead sings the glorious naturalism of Epicurus' theory of the universe.  

*Even the opening Prayer to Venus implies the Goddess is revivifying Nature itself and not an anthropomorphic deity, despite the scene with Mars. Plus, as a philosophical poem, he was wise to observe the formalities established by Parmenides, Empedocles, and others. Lucretius wished to open with familiar honey to appeal to readers of his time.