Ancient philosophy is a subject I really struggle with, beyond Stoicism, or at least the benefits of Roman Stoicism through a modern lens.
That's probably why I only read this book just now after downloading it some years ago.
But The Swerve shed a new light for me on Epicureanism. The book tells the story of Poggio Bracciolini, a Florentine, who, following his stint as secretary to the pope, spent years searching through dusty, monastic libraries in the search of lost, ancient texts.
He found several, but most notably, a copy of De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things) by the Roman philosopher and poet Lucretius. Lost for hundreds of years, the poem expounds the philosophy of Epicurus in beautiful dactylic hexameters.
Poggio's discovery helped many of the great writers, philosophers and scientists (think Montaigne, Newton, Voltaire, Einstein) advance their own works in the centuries to follow. Epicurus wrote that everything in this world consists of atoms (stunningly original thinking for the 4th century BC) that occasionally swerve of their own accord, eluding determinism, and potentially rivaling divine providence.
This led me to take a deeper dive into Epicureanism, a fascinating philosophy, exceptional for its establishment in the 4th century BC (and too much for outlining here).
More examples of ancient Greek brilliance.
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