Lucretius, in the fifth book of De rerum natura, addresses one of the most popular issues in the language sciences: the origin of verbal languages and human language faculty. He does so by highlighting some aspects that are central to most contemporary theories on this issue. First of all, the relationship between nature and culture, then the relationship between gestures and voice; finally, the relationship between animal language and human language. In this contribution I would like to show how Lucretius has taken incredibly modern positions, despite the lack of empirical data at his disposal.