Los motivos de la navegación y la guerra en De rerum natura: la naturaleza y los hombres en conflicto

Abstract

The paper aims to explore the representation of the concept of becoming in Lucretius’ De rerum natura. The axioms of Epicurean physics lead to conceive nature as an integrated and fluctuating totality of conflicting elements. This philosophical aspect is treated by Lucretius through a set of images involving various aspects of the themes of navigation and war. It will argue that these images are organized in motifs whose capacity for expression and synthesis allows the author to overcome the problems of indetermination underlying the representation of the nature of things.