I suggest you read the book I reviewed here: https://medium.com/@pierrewhalon/the-peace-between-science-and-religion-a834d0c2383c

Lucretius' poem survived because a monk made sure of it. It became influential during the rise of the reformers like Erasmus. Similarly, Longinus' "On the sublime" only became widely read with the rise of the modern scientific method. Developed by Christian theologians like Newton, by the way.