Lucretius, in full Titus Lucretius Carus c.99-55BC
Roman poet and philosopher

Little is known of his life, though he is said to have gone mad and committed suicide after drinking a love potion given to him by his wife Lucilia. His great work is the didactic poem De rerum natura ('On the Nature of Things'), in six volumes of hexameters, in which he sets out the theories of Democritus and Epicurus on the origin of the universe, and attempts to eradicate superstition and religious belief, which he savagely denounces as the source of man's wickedness and misery. Freedom from fear, and a calm and tranquil mind were his goals, the way to them being through a materialistic philosophy. His poem abounds in strikingly picturesque phrases, episodes of exquisite pathos and vivid description, rarely equalled in Latin poetry.