Physiologizing (In) Fertility in the Roman World: Lucretius on Sacrifice, Nature, and Generation

Abstract

The present paper reassesses the intellectual background of Lucretius’ treatment of infertility in 4.1233-1241, pointing out the author’s ability to combine genuine Epicurean doctrine and Roman cultural patterns. Lucretius’ denigration of religious mentality and his efforts to offer an entirely rational explanation of (in)fertility are interpreted in light of both internal evidence in the De Rerum Natura  (e.g. 1.1-20; 248-264; 2.581- 660) and differents kinds of external evidence - including the so-called Laudatio Turiae, Rome’s fertility cults, and underused Epicurean sources such as PHerc 908/1390. Indeed, while systematically delegitimizing the traditional connection between supernatural powers and generation, the poet endeavors to convert his readers to a comprehensive Epicurean worldview in which death and birth, fecundity and sterility, reflect the existence of a material ‘great chain of being’.