De rerum natura (usually translated as On the Nature of Things) is a philosophical epic poem written by Lucretius in Latin around 55 BCE. The poem was lost during the Middle Ages, rediscovered in 1417, and first printed in 1473. Its earliest published translation into any language (French) did not occur until 1650; in English — although earlier partial or unpublished translations exist — the first complete translation to be published was that of Thomas Creech, in heroic couplets, in 1682. Only a few more English translations appeared over the next two centuries, but in the 20th century translations began appearing more frequently.
Titus Lucretius Carus
Lucy Hutchinson
Lucretius, Roman poet; and Hutchinson, possibly his earliest English translator.
Only complete (or nearly complete) translations are listed. Notable translations of individual passages include the "invocation to Venus" by Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene IV.X.44-47; and five passages in John Dryden's Sylvae (1685).
Key
edit- Year — The year of first publication (except where * indicates year of composition).
- Translator
- Publication — The name of the work as published; ISBNs and links to PDFs when available; other publication information.
- Source — Some translators refer to multiple Latin editions; only the primary Latin source text (if known) is noted here.
- Notes — "Prose" or the form of verse is always listed first, so that sorting on this column groups formally similar translations; other germane information follows.
Table
edit| Year | Translator | Publication | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1600s* | Anonymous | In mss: Bodl. MS. Rawl. D. 314. | Gifanius (1595) | Prose. |
| 1650s* | Hutchinson, Lucy | In mss until Lucy Hutchinson's translation of Lucretius: De rerum natura. ed. Hugh de Quehen (1996) ISBN 0-472-10778-X | Pareus (1631) | Heroic couplets. |
| 1656 | Evelyn, John | Book 1 only: An essay on the first book of T. Lucretius Carus De rerum natura (1656). Evelyn's complete extant translation (lacking Book 2) not published until John Evelyn's Translation of Titus Lucretius Carus: 'De rerum natura': An Old-Spelling Critical Edition ed Repetzki, (Peter Lang (2000) ISBN 978-0820443881) | Lambinus (1570) | Heroic couplets. |
| 1682 | Creech, Thomas | First edition published pseudonymously as "Daphnis"; subsequently under Creech's own name. Second edition (1683) at Google Books, often reprinted. | Heroic couplets. The first complete English translation published, and the standard translation of the 18th century. | |
| 1743 | Anonymous | Of the Nature of Things at the Internet Archive "Plates by Guernier." | Prose. Facing Latin text. | |
| 1805 | Good, John Mason | The Nature of Things: A Didactic Poem: Vol 1 at the Internet Archive, Vol 2 at the Internet Archive. Reprinted in John Selby Watson's translation On the Nature of Things (1851) | Wakefield (1796–97) | Blank verse. Facing Latin text. |
| 1813 | Busby, Thomas | The Nature of Things: A Didascalic Poem | Heroic couplets. | |
| 1851 | Watson, John Selby | On the Nature of Things at Google Books, often reprinted. | Forbiger (1828) | Prose. |
| 1864 | Munro, H.A.J. | Text, commentary, and translation in volumes 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Often reprinted: Vol 3 rpt. of 1900 at the Internet Archive. | Munro (1860) | Prose. |
| 1872 | Johnson, Charles Frederick | On the Nature of Things at the Internet Archive | Munro (1860) | Blank verse. The first American translation. |
| 1884 | Baring, Thomas Charles | The scheme of Epicurus; a rendering into English verse of the unfinished poem of Lucretius, entitled "De rerum natura", ("The Nature of things") at Google Books | Fourteener couplets. | |
| 1910 | Bailey, Cyril | Lucretius On the Nature of Things at the Internet Archive. Often reprinted. | Bailey (1898/1921) | Prose. |
| 1916 | Leonard, William Ellery | Of the Nature of Things at the Internet Archive. Reprinted in Everyman's Library. | Guissani (1896–98) | Blank verse. Facing Latin text. |
| 1919 | Allison, Sir Robert | On the Nature of Things at the Internet Archive | Munro (1866) | Blank verse. |
| 1924 | Rouse, W. H. D. | Lucretius: On the Nature of Things (Loeb revised edn. ISBN 978-0674992009) | Rouse (Loeb 1924) | Prose. Facing Latin text. |
| 1929 | Jackson, Thomas | Titus Lucretius Carus on the nature of things | Bailey (1921) | Rhythmic prose. |
| 1933 | Way, Arthur S. | Lucretius on the problem of existence | 6-beat lines, rhymed couplets. | |
| 1937 | Trevelyan, R. C. | De Rerum Natura. Selections published in 1920 as Translations From Lucretius at the Internet Archive. | Bailey (1921) | Blank verse. |
| 1946 | Bennett, Charles Ernest | On the nature of things | Blank verse. | |
| 1950 | Brown, W. Hannaford | Lucretius on the Nature of Things | Imitative dactyllic hexameters. | |
| 1951 | Latham, Ronald E. | On the Nature of the Universe (Penguin Classics rev. by John Godwin (1994) ISBN 978-0140446104) | Prose. | |
| 1956 | Winspear, Alban Dewes | De rerum natura, by Lucretius, the Roman poet of science | Bailey (1921) | Irregular iambics. |
| 1963 | Johnson, L. L. | On the Nature of Things | Imitative dactyllic hexameters. | |
| 1965 | Geer, Russel Mortimer | On nature | Prose. | |
| 1965 | Mantinband, James H. | On the nature of the universe (De rerum natura) | 6-beat lines. | |
| 1968 | Humphries, Rolfe | The Way Things Are ISBN 0-253-20125-X | Rouse (Loeb 1924) | Blank verse. |
| 1969 | Smith, Martin Ferguson | On the Nature of Things (revised edn. (2001) ISBN 978-0872205871) | Prose. | |
| 1973 | Wooby, Philip F. | Lucretius: about reality ISBN 978-0802221223 | Imitative dactyllic hexameters. | |
| 1974 | Bovie, Palmer | Lucretius: On the nature of Things. De Rerum Natura. A Modern Verse Translation | Leonard & Smith | Verse. |
| 1976 | Sisson, C. H. | The Poem on Nature ISBN 978-1857547238 | 6-beat lines. | |
| 1977 | Copley, Frank O. | The Nature of Things (Norton rpt. (2011) ISBN 978-0393341362) | Bailey (1962) | Loose blank verse. |
| 1995 | Esolen, Anthony | On the Nature of Things ISBN 978-0801850554 | Loose blank verse. | |
| 1997 | Melville, Ronald | On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World's Classics rpt. ISBN 978-0199555147) | Rouse, rev. Smith (Loeb 1975) | Blank verse. |
| 2003 | Englert, Walter | On the Nature of Things ISBN 978-0941051217 | "Rough five or six beat line." | |
| 2007 | Stallings, Alicia | The Nature of Things (Penguin Classics ISBN 978-0140447965) | Rouse, rev. Smith (Loeb 1975) | Fourteener rhymed couplets. |
| 2008 | Slavitt, David R. | De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things): A Poetic Translation ISBN 978-0520255937 | 6-beat lines. | |
| 2010 | Johnston, Ian | On the Nature of Things ISBN 978-1935238768 | Munro (1900) | Blank verse. |
| 2016 | Cobbold, G.B. | The Nature of the Universe ISBN 978-0865168381 | Prose. |
References
edit- Dalzell, Alexander (1973), "A Bibliography of Work on Lucretius 1945-1972 [part 1]", The Classical World, 66 (7): 389–427, doi:10.2307/4347878, JSTOR 4347878
- Dalzell, Alexander (1973), "A Bibliography of Work on Lucretius 1945-1972 [part 2]", The Classical World, 67 (2): 65–112, doi:10.2307/4347972, JSTOR 4347972
External links
edit- English verse translation by Lamberto Bozzi (2022) at Centro Risorse Territoriale di Pesaro e Urbino