(98? - 55 b.c.)Roman poet who was the author of the unfinished On the Nature of Things, a didactic poem in six books, setting forth in outline a complete science of the universe. The purpose of the work was to prove, by investigating the nature of the world in which man lives, that all thingsNincluding manNoperate according to their own laws and are not in any way influenced by supernatural powers. —HEV Approved Glossary