Lucretian wisdom
By Peter Leithart
Book 2 of De rerum natura begins with “It is sweet on the great sea to watch from the shore other people drowning.”
The words were found on a wall on a house in Pompeii. Perhaps someone sweetly watched from a perch opposite Vesuvius as the lava flow swallowed up the town, and that house. Such are the ironies of Epicurean indifference.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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