1.Previous
3.Next

The Romans believed that animal species and humans were spontaneously generated from the materials of the Earth, because of which the Latin word mater 'mother', descends to English-speakers as matter and material. In Lucretius the Earth is a mother, Venus, to whom the poem is dedicated in the first few lines. She brought forth humankind by spontaneous generation. Having been given birth as a species, humans must grow to maturity by analogy with the individual. The different phases of their collective life are marked by the accumulation

1.Previous
3.Next