  Because of the way he worked, there are grounds for confidence that, by and large, the central philosophical content of Lucretius’ poem closely mirrors what he found in Epicurus. His departures from Epicurus are more in the matter of sequence than of doctrine or argument. This adherence to Epicurus’ own text is further confirmed by the reverent tones in which Lucretius speaks of his master’s writings: ‘I follow you, glory of the Greek race, as in your footprints I now plant my own, not so much out of any desire to compete with you as for love, for my wish is to imitate you … You are our father, the discoverer of reality. You pass to us your paternal precepts, and from your scrolls, glorious one, just as bees sip all they can find in the flowery glades, we likewise feed upon all of your golden  words—golden, and ever deserving of perpetual life’ (3.3–13).