Disarming Jupiter : Lucretius' Attack on Divine Thunderbolts (De rerum natura VI 379-422)

This paper focuses on Lucretius' criticism of divine thunderbolts (DRN vi 379-422). Firstly, I show how Lucretius draws on the latent myths of Ajax and Phaethon as paradigms of divine punishment, valid for the fiction of myth, but not for everyday life, thus demonstrating that thunderbolts do not depend on divine will. Secondly, I highlight the echoes of terrible events dating back to 65 and 63 BCE and argue that Lucretius is engaging with Cicero's De consulatu suo. While Cicero ascribes the recent upheavals to the will of a Stoic god, Lucretius attributes them to the perishable nature of the world according to Epicurean doctrine. In doing so, he succeeds in depriving Jupiter of his thunderbolt.