[Footnote 2: Woltier in Phil. Jahrb. cxxix, referred to in Schmidt's Catullus, attempts to show by an examination of the dates assigned for the birth of Lucretius, that he was born in 97 B.C. and died in 53 B.C. But the most definite statement we have is that he died on the day in which Virgil assumed the _toga virilis_, and that was in the second consulship of Pompey and Crassus, i.e. 55 B.C. Besides both tradition and internal evidence lead to the conclusion that his poem was not given to the world till after his death, and it certainly had been read by both the Ciceros early in 54 B.C. F. Marx in the Rheinisches Museum, 'de aetate Lucretii,' holds that he was born in 97 B.C., and died in his 42nd year, B.C. 55. He makes a more important contribution to the controversy in the remark 'acceptissima vero Enniana Lucretii poesis fuisse putanda est Ciceroni.' Whether Lucretius died in his 44th or 42nd year cannot be of much consequence to anybody; and, in the general uncertainty of Jerome's dates, it seems impossible to determine it one way or other.] [Footnote 3: Professor Wallace in his interesting account of 'Epicureanism' writes, in reference to the way in which Epicurus himself was regarded in a later age, 'And the maladies of Epicurus are treated as an anticipatory judgment of Heaven upon him for his alleged impieties.'--Epicureanism, p. 46.] [Footnote 4: This consideration is urged by De Quincey in one of his essays.] [Footnote 5: iii. 1039, etc.] [Footnote 6: iv. 33-38:-- Atque eadem nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes Terrificant atque in somnis, cum saepe figuras Contuimur miras simulacraque luce carentum, Quae nos horrifice languentis saepe sopore Excierunt, ne forte animas Acherunte reamur Effugere aut umbras inter vivos volitare.] [Footnote 7: An article in the Fortnightly Review of September, 1878, on 'Hallucination of the Senses,' suggests a possible explanation of the mental condition of Lucretius, during the composition of some part of his work. The writer speaks of the power of calling these hallucinations up as being quite consistent with perfect sanity of mind, but as sometimes inducing madness. He goes on, 'Or, if the person does not go out of his mind, he may be so distressed by the persistence of the apparition which he has created, as to fall into melancholy and despair, and even to commit suicide.']