Lucretius on Death

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Lucretius on Death

Lucretius was a Roman philosopher who is today remembered for his single literally work, which is the poem De rerum natura. This poem was later translated to English from its original form. The poem is centered on the fear of death. Lucretius’ arguments on fear of death are guided by general observations and logical considerations. Arguably, Lucretius’ work was meant to free Gaius Memmius from the fear of death. Gaius Memmius is a representative of the human race that rides on superstitions and the fear of death. Lucretius asserts that human beings should not fear death because it is inevitable and therefore beyond human control.

Lucretius in his poem argues that we should not fear death as it is normal. He argues that, whether a person will fear death or not, does not matter since we will all die. This is due to history, which has it that man must die at some point regardless of the cause. He cements this argument by invoking the fact that no one has been to death and back. He argues that since no one knows anything on what is next after death, humans should never live in fear of death. Lucretius likens human fear of death to a baby fearing darkness. This is fear of the unknown and all that the poet tries to urge humans is not to tolerate it. While the child may see the darkness and walk in fear, there are very high chances that the darkness has no risk in it.

Lucretius compels us in the poem not to fear death as it makes us to live miserable lives. He argues that a person who lives in fear of death is always anxious and may not enjoy their earthly lives. He argues that anxiety may make us not to fully maximize our potential, as whatever we are working to build is likely to go to waste when we die. He points out that the fear of death largely contributes to premature death. He therefore advocates for life full of pleasure keeping in mind that death is there and will come at its opportune time.

In his poem, Lucretius asks humans not to fear death as there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. He argues that we should only scratch our heads over things that we can control. As such, he urges humans to live joyously and forget the worries of death because they cannot change a thing over it. Since we were not affected by occurrences when our lives began, Lucretius argued that we should not be worried or affected when our bodies leave the world. He says that by doing this, the law of nature would have taken its share and that humans will leave happier lives.

Lucretius in his work looks at the fear of death from the wealth and possession perspectives. He argues that humans should not fear death based on thinking that they would lose their possessions. He likens death to sleep. When one sleeps, they do not miss their possessions. He argues that in death, we cannot have our bodies reassembled or awaken. It is like a person who has gone into eternal sleep; they will never feel that they lack something. He further argues that when we die, our bodies and soul will go separate ways. This means that we will not feel anything after death. Conclusively, it can be said that Lucretius was more of a materialist than an atheist. This is brought up by the way he looked at life. He emphasized on the impact that death had on the material things. He looked at wealth and imagined what would happen to it after death. He advocated for pleasurable living. Lucretius invoked what remains to be an unanswered question on issues concerning death. The fear of death is in men, yet they have the reasons as to why they should not fear death.