Lucretius - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism

Epicureanism

Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Following Aristippus—about whom...

, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".

Virtually no details have come down concerning the life of Lucretius; though Jerome

Jerome

Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...

tells how he was driven mad by a love potion and wrote his poetry in between fits of insanity, eventually committing suicide in middle age, modern scholarship suggests this account was likely an invention.