«Si legga Lucrezio per comprendere che cosa ha com- battuto Epicuro». Il Lucrezio “inattuale” di Nietzsche

The essay traces Lucretian readings and quotations found in the corpus of Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings. Although there is no systematic examination of the poem De rerum natura, there are interesting hints of a reception of the Roman poet as a mediator of Epicurus’ philosophy. Fundamentally, the Nietzschean reception makes Lucretius the key to genealogically reconstructing Epicurus’ hostile positions on religion. But Lucretius is also understood as a paradigm of virtuous intellectual courage, insofar as he was able to experiment the Epicurean philosophy not only as an abstract doctrine, but also as a true way of life. Nietzsche makes of him a prototype of the ‘physician of civilisation’, who was able to perform a liberating and therapeutic function with respect to men’s erroneous beliefs and unjustified fears. In some passages of Aurora and Antichrist, Lucretius is celebrated anachronistically as an antidote and weapon in the fight against Christianity.