To show this was a quality production the pages bear a variety of woodcut motifs, illustrated Capital letters and panels used for decorative purposes. In the 18th century Pugin collected such ornaments into an illustrated sourcebook.

Epicurus said we should lead a tranquil and happy life. He believed the two major sources of distress in life were fear of death and fear of the gods. His atomistic ideas overcame both of these. He said fear of the Gods was a fear of punishment in the after-life but if the soul was just a collection of atoms that flew apart at death to be recombined in new forms then there was nothing to fear from an afterlife because there wasn’t one. Lucretius in De rerum natura several times tries to comfort his readers by arguing against the immortality of the soul. He also argues that anything that is divine must be eternal, unchanging, happy and tranquil so concludes that the gods, being divine, cannot be burdened with the problem of governing the universe or with listening to the grovelling, pleading miserable prayers of men as this would make the gods unhappy therefore they are not able to , or are prevented from hearing our prayers. Furthermore, as we are composite things, we break apart upon death but the gods cannot do that as they are unchanging. So Epicurus and Lucretius do not argue against the existence of the Gods but state they must already exist in the simplest of forms such as an atom and are quite separate from the rest of the universe which they neither perceive nor interfere with but just float along in a state of eternal happiness. So there is nothing to fear from death or the retribution of the gods.

Remember the phrase KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid? In science or philosophy always go for the simplest answer that fits the facts. Peel away the layers of complexity that just serve to obscure the simple truth. This is the principle of Occam’s razor. Occam was a 13th century Franciscan Friar. Think of it as peeling away the layers of an onion where each layers presents more complex alternatives.
Let me give you an example:
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson decide to go on a camping trip. After dinner and a bottle of wine, they lay down for the night, and go to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend.
"Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replied, "I see millions of stars."
"What does that tell you?"
Watson pondered for a minute.
"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.""Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo.""Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three.""Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant." "Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow." "What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke: "Watson, you idiot. It means someone has stolen our tent!“

Lucretius did not believe the world was formed by a Divine creator. It is too flawed. The area available for human habitation is intruded upon by mountains, rocks, swamps, forests, oceans, deserts. Even the areas man can cultivate need constant toil and they may be destroyed by flooding, drought, frost, violent winds or ravaged by wild beasts and pests. No, our world was created by the random interaction of atoms and it is imperfect. The binding and unbinding of atoms causes the gradual emergence of new worlds and the gradual disintegration of the old one with no divine intervention. It is a random event. We were not created for some special purpose or cause but we exist as result of the laws of physics. You can now understand why the work of Lucretius upset the early church and was driven underground or destroyed.