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Chapter 2 - Two languages, two worlds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

David N. Sedley
David N. Sedley
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

LINGUISTIC POVERTY

In the preceding chapter, we met at the end of Lucretius' proem his famous apology on behalf of the Latin language (1136–45), in which helaments the linguistic struggle that he faces (1136–9):

nec me animi fallit Graiorum obscura reperta

difficile inlustrare Latinis versibus esse,

multa novis verbis praesertim cum sit agendum

propter egestatem linguae et rerum novitatem.

Nor do I fail to appreciate that it is difficult to illuminate in Latin

verse the dark discoveries of the Greeks, especially because much use must be made of new words, given the poverty of our language and the newness of the subject matter.

In §§2–7 of this chapter I shall be considering how he handles this task of Latinising the technical terms of Epicurean philosophy. In §§8–13 Ishall turn to his own poetic use of Greek loan-words and idioms. The two practices will come out looking antithetical to each other. At the end I shall suggest how we are meant to interpret this antithesis. What may start out looking like an issue of linguistic mechanics will turn out, if I am right, to reveal a fundamental tension in Lucretius' evaluation of his own poetic and philosophical task.

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Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom , pp. 35 - 61
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

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  • Two languages, two worlds
  • David N. Sedley, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511482380.004
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  • Two languages, two worlds
  • David N. Sedley, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511482380.004
Available formats
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  • Two languages, two worlds
  • David N. Sedley, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511482380.004
Available formats
×