Villa Council Presents: Lucretius and the Toleration of Intolerable Ideas

The Villa Council Presents: Lucretius and the Toleration of Intolerable Ideas
A lecture presented by Stephen Greenblatt
How does one take in concepts that are initially alien or offensive? Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stephen Greenblatt considers why and how Lucretius' great poem "On the Nature of Things"--the core ideas of which were utterly repugnant to the Christian culture of Renaissance Europe--eluded the period's tight web of censorship and repression, playing a crucial role in an age in love with beauty.
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[@RealHogweed]

It's fascinating how the atomists and Epicurus were close to being correct in their description of reality. Lucretius was by far the best latin poet, maybe even the best of all antiquity (at least in my opinion). "And what's better than senses to understand the world?" this thinkers were close to the scientific method, and all was ruined by the obscurantism of obtuse minds. Anyway, this was a beautiful lecture, mr. greenblatt is a great speaker and i thoroughly enjoyed this. thanks :)

[@BIZEB]

This is incredible. It might be the single most important work of antiquity that combines science, philosophy and art in a cohesive, surprisingly modern and compelling way. 1st Century BCE? It's almost unbelievable. Also, great talk. Piero di Cosimo always eluded me as a Renaissance painter. Art history books remain surprisingly limited in this regard, given the richness and diversity of themes represented during this era.

[@MeistroJB]

Great lecture! Sheds a lot of light on why we don't have a lot more ancient literature. (Certain powerful people didn't like it). If I may be so bold, the lore about Pierro di Cosimo's appetite comes from Vasari, who loved a great story, but may have embellished the menu somewhat, claiming that the painter "...cared nothing for his own comfort, and reduced himself to eating nothing but boiled eggs, which, in order to save firing, he cooked when he was boiling his glue, and not six or eight at a time, but in fifties; and, keeping them in a basket, he would eat them one by one."

[@keithdonovan7311]

A wonderful ,continuation of the Renaissance spirit, thank you!

[@craigmacneill9137]

thank you to quote Lucy Hutchinson " A Wanton Dalliance With Impious Books "

[@buffhooper7417]

thanks getty

[@MeistroJB]

I'm trying to locate this letter of Cicero to Quintus that has the story about Lucretius and the love potion and suicide, but the story is not in the February 54 b.c.e letter - the one letter that does mention Lucretius. O-ooo - could it be that St. Jerome might as well slander Cicero while he's at it? And did Eusebius' original chronicle, that Jerome copied, contain the story? Professor Greenblatt? Anybody....? (one want's to do due diligence to these things, every once in a while....). Thanks.