No poem is as deeply infused with paradox as De rerum natura; this is because Lucretius wrote poetry stepping on the death of poetry - of love, of fear, of desire, of myth, of illusion, of error, of tradition, of religion. The only thing that ecstasizes him is the one and only mystery revealed by Epicurean philosophy. And this mystery is that there is no mystery; only some spider webs within the human mind...

De rerum natura is the lost Greek work "On Nature" by Epicurus, in a popularized, didactic poetic form; it is among the masterpieces of Roman literature; it is the harbinger and unique ancient ancestor of modern natural science; it is a hymn to the brightest manifestation of Greek philosophy; a hymn to freedom from the shackles of fear, religion, and superstition, from the chains of passions and ignorance; it is the ancient charter of free will and human dignity; it is the honorable voice that comes from the depths of the ages to warm the hearts of those who stand unyielding before death.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]