So great the evils to which religion could prompt!
Genuine
Yes. In On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 95–101 (the quoted line is I.101); Leonard, Book I, “Proem”.
Found word for word by program in the Latin original and in William Ellery Leonard’s English translation (1916).
The wording people share comes from a later translation; Leonard’s words are underlined below.
- Work
- On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura), 55 BC
- Where
- Book I, lines 95–101 (the quoted line is I.101); Leonard, Book I, “Proem”
- Found at
- Paragraph 5 of the Latin text, 6 of the English
- Translation
- William Ellery Leonard, 1916
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
[…] This ultimate stock we have devised to name Procreant atoms, matter, seeds of things, Or primal bodies, as primal to the world.
Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret in terris oppressa gravi sub religione, quae caput a caeli regionibus ostendebat horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans, primum Graius homo mortalis tollere contra est oculos ausus primusque obsistere contra; quem neque fama deum nec fulmina nec minitanti murmure compressit caelum, sed eo magis acrem inritat animi virtutem, effringere ut arta naturae primus portarum claustra cupiret. ergo vivida vis animi pervicit et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque, unde refert nobis victor quid possit oriri, quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique qua nam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens. quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.
[…] She felt the chaplet round her maiden locks And fillets, fluttering down on either cheek, And at the altar marked her grieving sire, The priests beside him who concealed the knife, And all the folk in tears at sight of her. With a dumb terror and a sinking knee She dropped; nor might avail her now that first ‘Twas she who gave the king a father’s name. They raised her up, they bore the trembling girl On to the altar—hither led not now With solemn rites and hymeneal choir, But sinless woman, sinfully foredone, A parent felled her on her bridal day, Making his child a sacrificial beast To give the ships auspicious winds for Troy: Such are the crimes to which Religion leads.1
[…] Aulide quo pacto Triviai virginis aram Iphianassai turparunt sanguine foede ductores Danaum delecti, prima virorum. cui simul infula virgineos circum data comptus ex utraque pari malarum parte profusast, et maestum simul ante aras adstare parentem sensit et hunc propter ferrum celare ministros aspectuque suo lacrimas effundere civis, muta metu terram genibus summissa petebat. nec miserae prodesse in tali tempore quibat, quod patrio princeps donarat nomine regem; nam sublata virum manibus tremibundaque ad aras deductast, non ut sollemni more sacrorum perfecto posset claro comitari Hymenaeo, sed casta inceste nubendi tempore in ipso hostia concideret mactatu maesta parentis, exitus ut classi felix faustusque daretur. tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
And there shall come the time when even thou, Forced by the soothsayer’s terror-tales, shalt seek To break from us. […]
Tutemet a nobis iam quovis tempore vatum terriloquis victus dictis desciscere quaeres. quippe etenim quam multa tibi iam fingere possunt somnia, quae vitae rationes vertere possint fortunasque tuas omnis turbare timore! et merito; nam si certam finem esse viderent aerumnarum homines, aliqua ratione valerent religionibus atque minis obsistere vatum. nunc ratio nulla est restandi, nulla facultas, aeternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum. ignoratur enim quae sit natura animai, nata sit an contra nascentibus insinuetur et simul intereat nobiscum morte dirempta an tenebras Orci visat vastasque lacunas an pecudes alias divinitus insinuet se, Ennius ut noster cecinit, qui primus amoeno detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam, per gentis Italas hominum quae clara clueret; etsi praeterea tamen esse Acherusia templa Ennius aeternis exponit versibus edens, quo neque permaneant animae neque corpora nostra, sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia miris; unde sibi exortam semper florentis Homeri commemorat speciem lacrimas effundere salsas coepisse et rerum naturam expandere dictis. qua propter bene cum superis de rebus habenda nobis est ratio, solis lunaeque meatus qua fiant ratione, et qua vi quaeque gerantur in terris, tunc cum primis ratione sagaci unde anima atque animi constet natura videndum, et quae res nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes terrificet morbo adfectis somnoque sepultis, cernere uti videamur eos audireque coram, morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa.
Nec me animi fallit Graiorum obscura reperta difficile inlustrare Latinis versibus esse, multa novis verbis praesertim cum sit agendum propter egestatem linguae et rerum novitatem; sed tua me virtus tamen et sperata voluptas suavis amicitiae quemvis efferre laborem suadet et inducit noctes vigilare serenas quaerentem dictis quibus et quo carmine demum clara tuae possim praepandere lumina menti, res quibus occultas penitus convisere possis.
The scene
Early in the poem Lucretius anticipates that Memmius, the Roman he addresses, will think the Epicurean teaching impious. He turns the charge round: it is religion that has bred impious and criminal deeds, and as proof he tells how Agamemnon and the Greek leaders sacrificed his daughter Iphianassa (Iphigenia) at the altar of Diana at Aulis so that the fleet could sail. The line closes that scene; he goes on to warn Memmius against the terrors that seers tell of punishment after death.
What it means
Religious fear can drive people to do monstrous things: here a father kills his own daughter at the altar because he believes the gods require it.
Often misread
Quoted as a blanket atheist slogan against all belief in gods. Lucretius’ ‘religio’ is the fear of gods who meddle in human affairs and the rites that fear demands; as an Epicurean he does not deny that gods exist, only that they care about or intervene in the world. The example he gives is a human sacrifice from Greek legend.
Also shared as
- ShortenedTantum religio potuit suadere malorum. The line on its own, the form in which it is usually cited, without the sacrifice it sums up. Where it was seen
- Another public-domain translationSo great the evils to which religion could prompt! H. A. J. Munro’s prose translation (first published 1864). Where it was seen
- Another public-domain translationSo potent was Religion in persuading to evil deeds. W. H. D. Rouse’s Loeb translation (1924). M. F. Smith’s revision of it (1975), in copyright and quoted on Wikiquote under Rouse’s name, puts ‘Superstition’ for ‘Religion’; Latham’s and Stallings’s translations are in copyright and are not quoted here. Where it was seen
Topics
Related quotes
- This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Albert Einstein
- O tempora, o mores! Marcus Tullius Cicero
- Human life lay crushed beneath the weight of religion, until a Greek man dared to rise against it.
- This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” Martin Luther King Jr.
- Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
Sources
Cite it
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 95–101 (the quoted line is I.101); Leonard, Book I, “Proem”, translated by William Ellery Leonard (1916). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/so-great-the-evils-to-which-religion-could-prompt/ (31 October 2026).
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