This course is for students who have already learned some Latin and are ready to tackle great Latin poetry with all available aids:  dictionary, textbook, reference grammar, and English translation.  Each week, you'll be responsible for reading a long selection in English, then being ready to translate 100 to 200 lines on your own in class.  We will read Lucretius 'De Rerum Natura,' an idiosyncratic but fascinating Latin scientific poem advocating an atomic theory of matter and human life.  We will discuss the scientific arguments while also paying intensive attention to language: what is different because this is Latin poetry, with its great flexibility and capacity for surprise?