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Chapter 3 - Common Ground in Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura

from Part II - Lucretius and his Readers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2020

Donncha O'Rourke
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Summary

This paper addresses the role of first-person plural expressions in DRN. I begin by outlining some ambiguities in the Latin first person plural before going on to demonstrate how those ambiguities may function for readers of DRN. First I show how ambiguity between inclusive and exclusive uses of the first person plural allow such expressions as quod inane vocamus to be interpreted differently by readers at different stages of their Epicurean education. I then discuss Lucretius’ use of inclusive first-person plural forms to characterize his own relationships with his reader. Finally, I discuss the role of collective first-person plurals in the argumentation of the poem, and its implications for Lucretius’ avowed empiricism. A central aim of the paper is to show how the ambiguities inherent in the language of Lucretian didaxis allow for different responses by different groups of readers.

Type
Chapter
Information
Approaches to Lucretius
Traditions and Innovations in Reading the <I>De Rerum Natura</I>
, pp. 59 - 79
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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