Lucretius, as Epicurus, is often weak in physics. Cf. v. 564 sqq., of the sun’s size,
‘Nec nimio solis maior rota nec minor ardor
esse potest, nostris quam sensibus esse videtur.’
In i. 1052 sqq. he states well the theory of the antipodes but his dependence on Epicurus will not allow him to accept it. Reasons are sometimes given for a thing that never existed, as in iv. 710-21 for the fear that a lion has for a cock. Some passages come near the results of modern science, cf. v. 837 sqq. on extinct species; v. 855 sqq. on the struggle for existence; v. 610-3, on the invisible rays of the sun.
The references to Lucretius by name are few.
Nep. Att. 12, 4, ‘L. Iulium Calidum, quem post Lucreti Catullique mortem multo elegantissimum poetam nostram tulisse aetatem vere videor posse contendere.’
Ovid, Am. i. 15, 23,
‘Carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti,
exitio terras cum dabit una dies.’
Trist. ii. 425,
‘Explicat ut causas rapidi Lucretius ignis.’
Stat. Silv. ii. 7, 76,