My wonderful Latin magister recommended this one...it blew my mind. ( )

So ancient and so true... it would seem as if modern science had little to do but correct minor details in Lucretius' understanding of the Universe while forgetting the whole point about engaging in these pursuits: to bring inner peace to humankind.

Lucretius' text is a strange flower, a kind of secular divine apparition. A poem (which I would love to understand in Latin, but I do not), a surprisingly accurate scientific treatise, an ethical argument, and a compassionate evangelium. Awe inspiring. ( )

I'm taking up Lucretius after reading through much of Horace in the Loeb--surprised at how short his epodes are, which seemed long when I read them in Latin in school. Loved Horace's Epistle 8 on his embassy with Vergil and Maecenas down the Appian Way (some of it by boat!) to Brundisium to negotiate for Augustus with the head of the Roman navy, Antony.
I'm surprised at how easy Lucretius reads, in Book IV now. Maybe more dense early on. I read a couple hundred lines in Latin (80% comprehension) during my morning walk yesterday, a couple miles. These were lines about the illusions of the senses, essentially about psychology--both in the ancient version, and ours. How eyes can be deceived, as by the rudder below water in a harbor. The scansion, too, is pretty simple. I'd say Caesar should be replaced in Latin II by Seneca and some of this.
I don't buy Greenblatt's thesis that Lucretius is behind modern science. Very doubtful. Clinamen.
But he does write well about Poggio, not done often. ( )