Myth and poetry in Lucretius

Preface List of abbreviations Introduction 1. The philosophical background: Greek myth and mythology 2. The cultural background: myth and belief in late Republican Rome 3. The literary background: the De Rerum Natura as epic 4. Lucretius' theory of myth 5. Latent myth in the De Rerum Natura 6. The proem and the plague Conclusion: myth as a poetic and philosophical tool Bibliography General Index Index of passages cited.