A century before Seneca’s prime, the immortal _De Rerum Natura_ of Lucretius had appeared at Rome, wherein the origin and constitution of the world were sung with the intense earnestness, brilliant imagination, and resounding cadence of a great poet and with the grasp and penetration of a great philosopher. In this splendid work some of the problems discussed by Seneca were considered, and explanations were given of them with the usual undoubting confidence of olden time. In literary quality the two writers stand far apart, yet it is not uninteresting to compare their respective views of nature. The vivid and often majestic diction of the one is not more diverse from the somewhat familiar and conversational tone of the other than are their respective creeds. Lucretius was a convinced and enthusiastic Epicurean, and in accordance with the teachings of his master denied the existence of any divine co-operation in the plan and government of the Universe, nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam naturam rerum,[104] [104] _De Rerum Natura_, v. 198. although no writer either of ancient or modern time has had a more overpowering sense of the beauty, majesty, and order of this world. It was his earnest purpose to show men how, by a contemplation of the face and ordered scheme of nature, they could free themselves from the bond of religious superstition and the fear of death.[105] [105] rursus in antiquas referuntur religiones et dominos acres adsciscunt, omnia posse quos miseri credunt, ignari quid queat esse, quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens.--_Op. cit._ v. 86. hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest non radii solis neque lucida tela diei discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.--i. 146.