Atomism in the Aeneid: Physics, Politics, and Cosmological Disorder

by Matthew M. Gorey

Overview

Scholars have long recognized Lucretius's De Rerum Natura as an important allusive source for the Aeneid, but significant disagreement persists regarding the scope and purpose of Virgil's engagement with Epicurean philosophy. In Atomism in the Aeneid, Matthew M. Gorey investigates that engagement and argues that atomic imagery functions as a metaphor for cosmic and political disorder in Virgil's epic, associating the enemies of Aeneas and of Rome's imperial destiny with the haphazard, purposeless chaos of Epicurean atoms in the void. While nearly all of Virgil's allusions to atomism are constructed from Lucretian intertextual material, Gorey shows how the poet's negative reception of atomism draws upon a long and popular tradition of anti-atomist discourse in Greek philosophy that metaphorically likened the non-teleological cosmology of atomism to civic disorder and mob rule. By situating Virgil's atomic allusions within the tradition of philosophical opposition to Epicurean physics, Atomism in the Aeneid illustrates the deeply ideological nature of his engagement with Lucretius.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197518748
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Matthew M. Gorey is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wabash College.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Lucretian Allusion, Virgilian Allegory

Chapter 1. Characterizations of Epicurean Atomism

Chapter 2. Trojans Under the Influence of Atomism (Epic Winners)

Chapter 3. Non-Trojans Under the Influence of Atomism (Epic Losers)

Chapter 4. Turnus and the End of the Epicurean World

Chapter 5. Atomism And The Worldview of the Aeneid

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Gorey's book is a very valuable addition to the scholarship on the Aeneid, and, in more general terms, the interplay of philosophy and literature, as this study makes it very clear that Vergil read the de rerum natura as both a literary text and firm part of the epic tradition, but also as a philosophical work." — Greece & Rome

"This is a book that opens many doors in an intertextual edifice, as it offers tantalising, succinct, occasionally enigmatic insights into the Augustan poet's engagement with his Republican predecessor Lucretius. Its reading is swiftly over; the implications of its rich tapestry of ideas linger long in the mind." — LEE FRATANTUONO, The Classical Review

"Gorey has written an important book that should be useful for anyone working on Vergil, the reception of Lucretius or Epicureanism during the Roman period." — Classical Journal-Online

"A welcome contribution to a very important topic. As it develops a robust and challenging thesis, it offers readers a wealth of insightful observations which add perceptibly to our understanding of some crucial aspects of the Aeneid." — Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Even though the Aeneid is one of the most-studied texts from Republican Rome, Gorey gives us an important insight ... a fresh perspective, persuasively argued, for those studying the bedrock texts upon which the conception of the universe in the Western world arose." — Dr Cliff Cunningham, Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage

"Gorey's book is a very valuable addition to the scholarship on the Aeneid, and, in more general terms, the interplay of philosophy and literature, as this study makes it very clear that Vergil read the de rerum natura as both a literary text and firm part of the epic tradition, but also as a philosophical work." — Greece & Rome

"This important and original contribution to the understanding of allusion to Lucretius in the Aeneid has a clearly stated and clearly articulated thesis." — Philip Hardie, GNOMON 96

From the Publisher