The work is a reasoned system of philosophy written in verse. Book V attempts an explanation of the origin of the universe and life, and the gradual advance of man from the savage state. All these topics are treated from the viewpoint that the world is not itself divine nor directed by a divine agency. Definitive edition with translation, commentary, apparatus criticus and prolegomena by Cyril Bailey, 3 vols., London, Oxford University Press, 1947. ISTC No. il00332900.