Titus Lucretius Carus

"This great poem stands with Virgil's Aeneid as one of the vital and enduring achievements of Latin literature.... Based on the tenets of Epicurean philosophy, On the Nature of Things asserts that matter is composed of an infinite number of small particles; that even the soul, like the body, is made up of these atoms and dissolves painlessly after death; that there is no afterlife and therefore no cause for fear; and that the universe operates without...

Despite its modern-day connotations of hedonism, Epicureanism" has more to do with living a mindful, uncomplicated life. Epicurus -- who was born at Samos, Greece, in 341 BC and died at Athens in 270 BC -- founded a school of philosophy that focused on maximizing simple pleasures and minimizing pain, such as the irrational fear of death. "Death is nothing to us," declared Epicurus, "since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we...