Triomphe - De rerum natura · Book I

De rerum natura · Book I

At the beginning of the poem, Lucretius shows humanity crushed by superstition, that figure threatening mortals from the heights of heaven. Then a man appears.

A Greek, a mere mortal, dared to raise his eyes, dared to stand up to it face to face.

That Greek is Epicurus, and his victory goes beyond the feat itself. He returns, and he teaches us what can be born and what cannot, why the power of bodies is limited, and that for everything there is a boundary that cannot be crossed. Fear gives way to the knowledge of nature.

The track

Triomphe follows this movement: resistance, momentum, triumph, legacy. The spoken voice carries the text, while minimalist electronics accompany the rise without overwhelming it. The refrain, “a Greek, a mere mortal, dared to raise his eyes,” returns like a gesture: the lifting of one’s head.

The series

Triomphe is the second of six excerpts from De rerum natura: the invocation to Venus, the victory over fear, Ex nihilo, the atom, the order of the world, love. Minimalist electronic music was chosen for its accessibility, and for the spectral and rhythmic possibilities it offers in approaching the sensory experience Lucretius sought to convey through song.

🎧 Listen to Triomphe: 

Source: Lucretius, De la nature des choses (On the Nature of Things), Book I, excerpt, French translation by Charles Nisard, Firmin-Didot Frères, 1868 (Wikisource).