Bilingual Inscriptions and Translation in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Abstract

This chapter examines a particular moment of translation that of the Greek historian Thucydides plague narrative into Lucretius epic De Rerum Natura. It discusses how Roman poet Lucretius attempts to elide Thucydides from his translation, assuming his persona as a close and present observer, and how, from this privileged position, he develops a disparaging treatment of Thucydides contemporary Athenians. This chapter reviews a famous fact about the character of Lucretius' translation. The Lucretius' translation of Thucydides stresses the fear of death, and clings to the point of death, emphasizes it much more than Thucydides original narrative. Lucretius wrote a didactic poem in Latin called the De rerum natura, which convince us that people should not fear the physical dissolution of their bodies at death. The most basic strategy behind Lucretius employ to bring Thucydides under Epicurean control is elision of Thucydides as the narrator of the plague story, and the integration of Thucydidean evidence into a seamless Epicurean argument.