Medium and message in Lucretius' "honey" analogy.

In the programmatic statement of De Rerum Natura , an epic poem about Epicurean philosophy, Lucretius compares his work to a doctor who puts honey on a cup of bitter medicine to convince children to drink it (1.931-50). Lucretius similarly applies poetry to sweeten the philosophical message and make it more palatable. This "honey on the cup" analogy remains the focus of interpretations concerning the relationship between Lucretius' poem and his philosophy, and some interpretations posit a sharp division between the two. I argue, however, the analogy indicates Lucretius understood poetry and philosophy operating symbiotically in his work. Through an examination of this analogy and its resonance in the larger work and in the literary tradition, I demonstrate that Lucretius implicitly argues for the utility of poetry for expressing philosophy, and thus confronts the criticisms leveled against poetry by the philosophical tradition. Lucretius appeals to poetry's educative power by connecting his work with the cultural authority poetry wielded as the medium for inculcating cultural values and as the foundation of the educational system. He expands on the techniques of the didactic genre of poetry established by Hesiod to create a poem intended for instruction. He also emulates the poet-philosophers Empedocles and Parmenides who capitalized on poetry's authority to attract readers to their ideas. Plato, however, criticized poetry for false stories and a limited access to knowledge, and therefore questioned its ability to educate. Lucretius' work demonstrates poetry can teach philosophical truths. The "honey" analogy expresses Lucretius' endeavor to demonstrate poetry's utility for philosophy. The analogy's allusions unite the poetic and philosophical traditions, and it asserts sweet poetry's utility in attracting listeners to philosophy's message. Poetry's sweetness evokes particularly Epicureanism's concept of pleasure as the ultimate good. Further, by connecting the analogy with related passages in the poem, a correlation between the atomic structure of poetry and the soul emerges, which implicitly suggests poetry can play a significant role in Epicurean epistemology and thus is not only useful but most effective in expressing and teaching philosophical concepts. With the "honey" analogy Lucretius reclaims poetry for philosophical purposes.