Abstract

This paper examine Lucretius' use of myth and poetry, focussing on the prehistory in DRN 5.925-1457, and advances the argument that Richard Dawkins' theory of memes or "viruses of the mind" may be a useful heuristic tool. Lucretius in his mission to combat superstition uses the infectious power of mythographic poetic topoi, which usually carry messages of religious falsehood, to vaccinate the reader's mind against superstition.