ABSTRACT
The study of the diction of poetry, accordingly, becomes a study of many relationships. John Dryden read both Rene Descartes and Lucretius, and the terms he used to describe nature at certain times were influenced by the different meanings he found in those writers. Supporting that sort of interest in scientific knowledge was curiosity about natural history, and an activity which increased tremendously after Alexander’s expeditions. It became fashionable to paint pictures of wild animals upon the walls of houses, and it is supposed that the same kind of interest led Nicander to write the Theriaca. The terminology of Lucretius and Marcus Manilius was scientific, and a considerable number of Virgil’s descriptive terms were used as accurately as scientists would desire. The point is that many of the important Roman poets, following the example of the Alexandrians, were prepared to search out a language authorized in other contexts for the description of nature.
