De Rerum Natura: Latin Text (Latin Edition) Paperback – February 8, 2016

This annotated edition of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura, edited by Leonard and Smith, is the perfect tool for an advanced Latin student reading this work for the first time. To begin with, the entirety of Lucretius' text is included, which is quite rare outside of an Oxford Classical Text (in fact, I do believe this is the only complete version with annotations). The introduction is clear, concise, and informative for anyone facing this text for the first time, or anyone re-reading it.The annotations themselves are quite useful. They cover a variety of topics, including: grammar and syntax, special meanings of words (that you would not find in a simple dictionary entry), difficult lines and phrases, context, and literary allusions (it is particularly helpful how the commentary tells you which passages are directly inspired by Epicurus). The annotations take up most of the page, leaving around ten lines of Latin per page - I personally prefer this format, as it breaks up the Latin and makes it easier to read.Note that this is NOT a dual Latin-English translation. The "Latin and English" Amazon is referring to is the Latin text with accompanying English annotations. This is notable because, as I said, there are no other complete annotated versions of Lucretius' text.This version generally follows the manuscript tradition compiled and edited by C. Bailey for the Oxford Classical Text, meaning that it is a standard Latin text of Lucretius. This is a good thing, as there are a lot of weird versions out there.The reason you would buy this book (and why I bought this book) is because you are interested in reading and understanding Lucretius' De Rerum Natura completely. The assigned text for my graduate-level seminar on Lucretius is the Oxford Classical Text (OCT), which is overwhelming at best and completely senseless at worst (moreover, annotations come in separate volumes that are pretty much only attainable by school libraries). This is because Lucretius' Latin is extremely difficult (though after a few weeks with this edition you should get the hang of it!). I say that this edition is for advanced students because the annotations do not hold your hand: there is no index of words, no parsing of complicated forms, and very few outright translations of difficult passages. A beginning/intermediate student should get a compilation of some sort, like the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics edition (which is superbly annotated and does coddle you a bit).The importance, however, in using a full text such as this edition, as opposed to simply using a compilation, is that Lucretius really needs to be read in full. There is not really any good way to make "best of" selections, mostly because everything is well-written, compact, and extremely confusing out of context. Lucretius builds his argument slowly using both philosophical and rhetorical devices, often "anticipating" the argument he will later make. That anticipation is lost when selections are taken out of context.Someone who is not all that familiar with Latin but would like to be able to quote it/read a literal translation should invest in a Loeb dual Latin-English translation. Those texts are superbly edited and have decent translations.I'd like to point out that I'm using this text for the first time as a junior in college, and my father first used it forty years ago when he was my age. This edition really stands the test of time!

While this seems to be a very fine scholarly approach to Lucretius's philosophical poem, with an almost overabundance of line by line commentary, a substantial introduction, and in depth analysis of the text, nonetheless the poem is not here translated. Do not be deceived by the Amazon description "Latin-English" version. The poem itself is only in Latin; the critical apparatus are only in English. If you care to rise to the challenge of the Latin, this is an excellent edition; if you are unable to read or translate Lucretius's refined Latin, you may want to look elsewhere. (Full disclosure: I have the capacity to read medieval Latin fairly fluently, but struggled with Lucretius. His Latin is not easy, and some of his nouns are, to me at least, unfamiliar.)

The rating applies to the long introduction, which is wise, knowledgable and instructive about the Roman empire before Chjrist. The latin text has many footnotes, about twice as much as the text itself. It is not for casual reading. Having an English translation handy is necessary. I though the book had that, but nix. Quite a compendium !!

Check out the note on line 965, 'pira lecta,' for a good laugh.

It's so hard to find texts in Latin only, and they're usually cheap print-on-demand affairs. Cavalier classics is a rare exception. Though still print-on-demand, they put in the effort to format their texts in a way that feels natural and professional. Dedinitely rcommend this edition and others from cavalier classics if you're looking for a good Latin-only book.