This passage occurs in a series of examples of optical illusions which Lucretius provides in order to illustrate the way in which the mind can misinterpret the evidence of the senses. There are no manuscript variations relevant to the problem which I wish to discuss. The situation envisaged is that in fording a swift river, a horse has come to a halt in mid-stream. ‘We’, that is, the rider, look down into the rushing water and get the impression that our (...) horse is moving sideways and upstream, although the horse is in fact stationary. And wherever we turn our eyes across the water, everything seems to be in motion. The question is, what is meant by the word ‘everything’, that is, omnia in line 424? Bailey interprets: ‘when after looking down for some time at the rushing stream, we then look up at the objects on the bank, they all seem to be moving.! Similarly Leonard and Smith take the reference to be to’ all objects on the bank or all stones, etc., sticking out of the stream.’ In this case the words ‘assimili nobis ratione’ must be taken closely together: the objects on the bank seem to be moving upstream in the same way that we ourselves appear to do. (shrink)

The name Iphianassa occurs only once in Latin literature—in the proem toDe Rerum Natura(=DRN). Here Lucretius illustrates the evils of religion with a description of Iphianassa's sacrifice at Aulis (1.80–101):illud in his rebus uereor, ne forte rearisimpia te rationis inire elementa uiamqueindugredi sceleris. quod contra saepius illareligio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta.Aulide quo pacto Triuiai uirginis aramIphianassai turparunt sanguine foedeductores Danaum delecti, prima uirorum.cui simul infula uirgineos circumdata comptusex utraque pari malarum parte profusast,et maestum simul ante aras adstare parentemsensit et (...) hunc propter ferrum celare ministrosaspectuque suo lacrimas effundere ciuis,muta metu terram genibus summissa petebat.nec miserae prodesse in tali tempore quibatquod patrio princeps donarat nomine regem.nam sublata uirum manibus tremibundaque ad arasdeductast, non ut sollemni more sacrorumperfecto posset claro comitari Hymenaeo,sed casta inceste nubendi tempore in ipsohostia concideret mactatu maesta parentis,exitus ut classi felix faustusque daretur.tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.It is clear that Lucretius treats the name Iphianassa as a synonym for Iphigenia. Homer (Il. 9.145, 9.287) and Sophocles (El. 157) mention a daughter of Agamemnon called Iphianassa, but in neither author is she the daughter who was sacrificed at Aulis (and in several versions rescued at the last moment by Artemis). The first known mention of this myth was in theCypria, where, according to the summary of Proclus, the daughter was called Iphigenia (Kinkel,EGF19; Bernabé,PEG1.41). Hesiod refers to it in theCatalogue of Women, where he calls the daughter Iphimede (Cat. fr. 23a.15–26 + b M-W). From the fifth centuryb.c.e., the extant sources, beginning with Pindar (Pyth. 11.22) and Aeschylus (Ag. 1526, 1555), call her Iphigenia. Why did Lucretius choose Iphianassa? (shrink)