Radiative Linewidths and Lifetimes from the Phenomenological Maxwell Equation

The propagation of the electromagnetic field in the presence of $N$ interacting molecules which are fixed in space is considered. It is shown that radiative linewidths and radiative lifetimes are given by the classical phenomenological Maxwell equation in spite of the fact that the susceptibilities entering the equation are to be evaluated in the absence of the transverse radiation field. The linewidths and lifetimes are in agreement with quantal calculations.