CURRENT READING: Of The Nature Of Things : Titus Lucretius Carus

The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics

Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,
Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars
Makest to teem the many-voyaged main
And fruitful lands-for all living things
Through thee alone are evermore conceived
Through thee are risen to visit the great sun-
Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on
Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,
For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers
For thee waters of the unvexed deep
Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky
Glow with diffused radiance for thee