LUCRETIUS
On The Nature of Things
ee | EpicureanFriends.com Reference Edition
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Lucretius
On The Nature Of Things
EpicureanFriends.com Reference Edition Version 1.0 - 1/1/2020 Compiled By Cassius Amicus And Volunteers At EpicureanFriends.com
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This PDF contains three public domain English translations of Lucretius:
(1) The 1743 Edition, published by Daniel Browne “at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar” in London. The translator of this work is not listed in the book and is currently unknown. If anyone has access to that information please contact us so we can credit the translator properly.
(2) The 1900 H.A.J. Munro Edition, published by George Bell and Sons in London. This version is the most
literal of the three editions.
The 1936 Cyril Bailey Edition, published by Oxford University Press. Bailey’s version may be easier to read
than Munro, and contains more recent research than the other two editions, but Bailey’s editorial choices
should be compared to the earlier editions as he is the least sympathetic to Epicurus of these three translators.
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——-
Latin and English versions are included on facing pages in the 1743 Edition. The H.A.]. Munro Latin Edition is also contained in this PDF edition. Explanatory Notes are included along with the text in the 1743 Edition. The Munro
Explanatory Notes and the Bailey Explanatory Notes are also included here.
1743 Edition Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Book 6 Munro Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Book 6 Bailey Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Book 6
Munro Notes Bookl Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Book 6
Bailey Notes Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Book 6
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T. Lucretius CARUS NATURE of THINGS, IN SIX BOOKS,
—
ILLUSTRATED With
Proper and Ufeful Nores,
Adorned with Copper-Prarss,
Curioufly EncRAVED
By GUER NJER, and others, _
Carmina fablimis tunc funt peritura Lucreti Lxitio Terras cum dabit una Dies. Ovip.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
———
LONDON: a Printed for DanieEL Browne, at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar.
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PREFACE.
HE only Tranflation in Englith
of this Poem was executed many
Years ago by Mr. Creech: The
World was pleafed with the Per-
formance, and received it with the Applaufe it deferved ; they faw an Author exceed- ingly crabbed and abftrufe, delightfully Opened, fet off with great Learning, and {weetend with the Charms of Poetry. ΔΆ Author (as Quntilian allows him) elegant in his kind, curious and exact in his Images, happy in difpofing his Matcrials, flowing even to Satiety in Inftances of a brisk and ready Wit, pointed in his Satire, fevere in A 3 Reficctions,
iv
The PREFACE.
Reflections, grave in Precepts, quick and vivacious in his Difcourfes, and every way fitted for his bold Attempt.
THESE Excellencies made him extreme- ly difficult to be followed. The learned Cafaubon declares it impoflible ; Mr. Eve- lyn, who tranflated the firft Book, found it a very difcouraging Task, and left off. He fays himtelf,
——= Perfuaded that there was rich Ore,
1 boldly launchd, and would new Worlds
explore;
Deep Mines I faw, and Iidden Wealth to bie
In Rocky Entrails, and Sierra's high.
I faw a fruitful Soil, by none yet trod,
Referv'd for Heroes, or fome Demi-God ;
And urg’d my. bortune on ;
Till rugged Billows, and a dangerous Coaft,
My vent’rous Bark and γα Attempt had croft ;
When bane unknown Paths, and hard Accefs
Made me defpond of pre-concezv'd Succefss
1
The PREFACE.
1 turn'd my Prow, ana the Difcovery made,
But was too weak, too poor hel to trade, |
Much lefs to make a Conguefi;—~—-
And I believe any one who will be pleafed to oblige the World with another, and more Lane Verfion, will be futhciently convinced of the Difficulty. ©
΄
Tue Matter of this Poem mutt be confeffed. to be rugged, fubtle,and ftubborn; and every Compofition of this kind is like a Landfcape, where craggy Mountains and broken Wallsare intermixed with fair Meadows and fmooth Streams. Our Language (as. Sir Henry Wotton obferves) runs out into Froth and Bubble, is copious in Complement, and in Love-Expreflions, but very narrow and barren in Terms of Art, and Phrafes fuited to Philofophy ; and thofe Technical Words
we have, move coarfely and cloudily in Verfe. For thefe Reafons, the Poetical Tranflation of Lucretius is often more perplexed'and harfh than the Original ; it is, in many Places, a wide and rambling Para-
2 phrate ἡ
v1
The PREFACE.
phrafe ; in others Mr. Creech contraéts and curtailshis Author, and is frequently guilty of Omiflions for many Lines together, tho his Numbers flow fweetly as he goes, and charm you irrefiftibly. This 1s no wonder ; for the Poet he undertook is not to be con- fined and fhackled by the Rules of Rhyme ; his Verfe is neareft, and runs more naturally intoProfe than any other, ‘fuvenaland Ho- vaceouly excepted, amongall the Claflicks. I have endeavoured (becaufe difencumber'd from the Fetters of Poetry) faithfully to dif- clofe his Meaning in his own Terms, andto fhew him whole and intire; Ihave foilowed the different Readings and Explications of the
bett Expofitors, but whether agreeable to
the Mind of the Author or no, Comparifon only can difcover.
Anp here I would have it be underftood, that I tranflate Lucretius only asa Claflick Writer of the firft Rank, and one of the Venerable Fathers of Latin Poetry, with- out thinking myfelf accountable for his Principles, or juftifying his Syftem; and whoever apprehends the Defign of this Work, in any other View, is a Perfon of
| "narrow
The PREFACE.
narrow and ftinted Conceptions; he is a precife Fanatick in the Republick of Letters, and a fecret and ignorant Enemy to Human Learning. It would make ftrange Havock in the Learned World, if a Tranflator who renders a Pagan Author, or a Tutor that explains an old Claflick to his Pupils, fhould be judged to cultivate and defend all the Folly and Impiety of the Heathen Mytholo- gy: This would foon banifh thofe great Founders of Knowledge and polite Litera- ture out of all Methods of Education, and introduce Barbarifm and Ignorance equal to that of the Goths and Vandals, upon the Ruins of every thing that is now called Noble, Generous and Inftructive, by the
wifeftt and the moft fenfible Part of Man-:
kind.
BESIDES, Books that treat of Subjects
naturally fo ob{cure and intricate as are
many of thofe of which Lucretius difputes, cannot be turned into our Language in fuch a manner, as by a bare Tranflation only to make them intelligible to a Reader merely fonglijo, and that has no Knowledge of the Languages in which the Originals were com- : A 4 pofed :
vil
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~
The PREFACE.
pofed: for the Terms, tho’ dark and diffs cult, muft neceffarily’ be retained, and by Confequence their Force cannot be appre- hended by Perfons of vulgar Abilities, and of low Learning.
ὦ But if I fhould ftill fall under Cenfure for beftowing fo much Time and Labour upon an impious Poet; upon Lucretzus, who believes and endeavours to prove the Mortality and Corporiety of the human Soul, who denies a future State, and laughs at Providence, who defends the Atheiftical Hypothefis of ‘Democritus and Epicurus, concerning the Indivifible Principles, and the Nature of Things: In Anfwer to this heavy Charge, not to mention,. that for the fame Reafon we ought to banifh from our Studies the moft celebrated Authors of An- tiquity, fince their Writings are in many Places profane, impious, fabulous, falfe and ridiculous; fo that all our Poets, Orators, Hiftorians, and Philofophers muft be avoid- ed and thrownaway as Debauchers of Youth, and Corrupters of Manners, if their Wri- tings were once to be tried by the Standard of Faith, and the Dottrines of Chriftianity -
Not
The PREFACE.
Not to infift upon this, I will boldly ven- ture to fay, that whatever Propofitions La- cretzus advances contrary to our Religion are fo vifibly and notorioufly falfe, and con- fequently fo eafy to be anf{wered, that they cannot fhake or ftagger any one’s Faith thar can give a Reafon for his Belief. What Dan- ger can any Man apprehend, while he reads that ridiculous Doérine of the Epicurean Philofophers, concerning their Atoms, or minute indivifible Corpufcles, which they held to be the firft Principles of all Things? An Opinion fo abfurd, that only to men- tion it is to confute it. When the Poet thinks he has fully demonttrated the Corpo- rality of the Human Soul, and brings no lefs than fix and twenty Arguments to prove its Mortality, upon full Confideration they ap- peat of fo little Force, and fo obvious to be confuted, that fo far from confounding a Chriftian’s Faith, no Man, but of ordinary Capacity, can, upon fo flender and uncon- vincing Proofs, believe, if he would, that the Soul dies with the Body; nor are his Ar- euments, by which he labours to overthrow the Belief of a Divine Providence, and to
wrelt the Power of Creation out of the Hands
Th PREFACE.
Hands of Omnipotence, more cogent or perfuafive. And what Chriftian will not be pleafed to obferve, that nor even the moft piercing Wit of Lucretius has been able
_ toadvance any Thing folid againft the Power of that infinite God whom he adores; ef-
pecially confidering, if any {uch Impieties could have been defended, he -was certainly capable of defending them.
Si Pergama dextra Defi poffent certé hac defenfa furffent.
VIRG.
Nort that we are to fuppofe, that what- ever Lucretius writ was impious, falfe or ridiculous; fo far from that, many excel- lent Things are contained in his Poem, ma- ny that deferve to be well read and remem- ber’d by the deft of Chriftians. How excel- lently does he declaim againft Ambition, Injufticeand Cruelty? againft Superftition, and the Fear of Death? againft Avarice, Luxury, and Luft? and the diforder’d Pat- fions of the Mind, and difhoncft Pleafures of the Body? Is he not ever exhorting his Memmtus to Sobriety, Temperance, Cha-
fity,
Th PREFACE.
ftity, and Magnanimity? Infomuch, that what Diogenes writes of Epicurus feems to be true, that he was falfely accufed of indulging himfelf too much in Pleafure, and that it wasa mere Calumny to wreft to a wrong Senfe the Meaning of that Philo- fopher, and to interpret what he faid of the Tranquillity of the Mind, as if it had been fpoken of the fenfual Delights of the Body. Galen reprefents this Philofopher as a Petr- fon ef confummate Virtue and Continence, that exclaimed conftantly againft the Ufe of Venereal Actions, that neglected the Ad- vantages of Life, and contemned all Dain- tinef$ and Exce(fs, in Eating, Drinking and Apparel, and would often fay, That Bread and Water in time of Want afforded the greateft Pleafure. Thus lived Epicurus, whofe very Name neverthelefs has, for ma- ny Ages, been ufed as a Proverb, to mark out an atheiftical, voluptuous Wretch, ad- dicted to all manner of Senfuality. Thus too lived his Followers, who neverthelefs are called impious Libertines, and reprefen- ted as a Herd of Swine, indulging them- {elves in Pleafure, and wallowing in all manner of Impurities. 7 —— Epicuri de grege Porci. Ἠοκ. | 1
xi
ΧΗ
The PREFACE
I sHALL conclude upon this Occafion, with the Charatter of Lucretius, and his excellent Poem, given by ‘Dicnyfius Lambi- nus,in his Epiftle Dedicatory to Charles IX. iad moft Chriftian King. :
‘ Tre: Pocm of Dicnis ih tho’ he ad “vances in it fome Opinions that are repug- *“nantto our Religion, isneverthelefs-aPoem,
‘nay, anda beautiful noble Poem too, di-
“ ftinguifhed, illuftrated and adorned with all |
‘the Brightnefs of Wit and Fancy. What ‘tho’ Epitanus and Lucretius were impious, ‘are we who read’ them therefore impious ‘too’ How many Affertions are there in “this Poem that are agreeable to the Opi- “nions and Maxims of other Philofophers κα ‘How many probable? how many excellent, ‘and almoft Divine? Thefe let us lay hold ‘on, thefe let us feize, thefe let us approve “οὗ. —— Belides, are we fo credulous as to
᾿ believe, that what Affertions foever all
“manner of Writers have left recorded in ‘their Works, are as true, asif they had been ‘pronounced from the Oracle of Apollo? ‘And fince we »“᾿ ly read many Things that
mare
The PREFACE:
‘are fabulous, incredible and falfe, either to é give fomeRefpite to our Minds,or to make “us the more willingly acquiefce in, and the ‘more conftantly to adhere to fuch as are in- “difputably true, what reafon is there that ‘we fhould contemn Lucretzus, a moft ele- ~*gant and beautiful Poet, the moft polite, ‘and the moft ancient of all the Latin Wri- “ters, from whom Vzrg7l and Horace have ‘in many Places borrowed. not half, but _ ‘whole Verfes ? He, when he difputes of the indivifible Corpufcles or firft Principles of ‘Things, of their Motion, and of their va- ‘rious Figuration, of the Void, of the Ima- “ges, ortenuiousMembranes that fly off from ‘the Surface of all:Bodies, of the Nature of ‘the Mind and Soul, of the Rifing and Set- ‘ting of the Planets, of the Eclipfe of the ‘Sun and Moon, of the Nature of Light- ‘ning, of the Rainbow, of the Canfes of ‘Difeafes, and of many other Things, is ‘learned, witty, judiciousand. elegant. In ‘the Introductions to his Books, in his Com- *parifons, in his Examples, in his Difputa- ‘ tions againft the Fear of Death, concerning “τῆς Inconvenienciesand the Harms of Love; of Sleep, and of Dreams, he is copious, | “ « difcreet,
eae
ΧΙ
XIV.
The PREFACE;
‘ difcreet, eloquent, knowing and fablime ; ‘we not only read Homer, but even’get him “by heart, becaufe under the Veil of Fables, ‘partly obfcene and partly abfurd, he has in ‘amannerincluded the Knowledge of all “natural and human Things. Shall we not “then hear Lucretius, who, without the ‘Difguife of Fables, and fuch Trifles, not ‘truly indeed, nor pioufly, but plainly and ‘openly, and as an Epicurean, ingenioully, ‘ wittily and learnedly, and in the moft cor- ‘rect and pureft of Styles, difputes of the “Principles, and Caufes of Things, of the ‘Univerfe, of the Parts of the World, of a ‘happy Life, and of Things Celeftial and ‘Terreftrial?) And tho’ in many Places he ‘diffents from Plato, tho’ he advances ma- “ny Affertions that arerepugnant toour Re- ‘ligion, we ought not thercfore to defpife
© and fet at nought thofe Opinions of his, in ‘which not only the ancient Philofophers,
‘but we, whoprofefs Chriftianity, agree with “him. How admirably docs he difpute of ‘the reftraining of Pleafures, of the bridling ‘of Paflions, and of the attaining Tranquil- “lity of Mind? How wittily docs he rebuke ‘and confute thofe who affirm that nothing
* can
The PREFACE.
‘can be perceived, and nothing known ? and ‘ who fay that the Senfes are fallacious? How ‘fully he defends the Certainty of Senfe? ‘How beautiful are his ‘Defcriptions? How ‘sraceful, as the Greeks call them, are his ‘Epifodes? How fine are his Defcriptions of © Colours, of Mirrours, of the Loadftone, ‘and of the Zverni ? How ferious and aw- * ful are his Exhoxtations to live continently, “juftly, temperately, and innocently ? What ‘fhall we fay of his ‘Dzé#zon, than which no- “thing can be faid or imagined more pure, “more correct, more clear, or more elegant. “1 make not the leaft Scruple to affirm, that “in all the Latin Tongue, no Author {peaks ‘ Latin betterthan Lucretius, and that the *Dittion, neither of Czcero, nor of (αν, “is more pure.
THe Notes that attend this Tranflation .
are fufficient, I think, to explain the Text to thofe, who are properly qualified to read this Work ; and to fuch who are not fo, a more copious and particulars Comment could be of no ufe.
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LUCRETIVS.
E have few Materials left from whence to colle& the proper Cir-
cumftances that relate to the Life | of Lucretius; we are aflured by his own
Teftimony, that he was a Roman, and born at Rome: His very Name direéts us to the noble and ancient Family of the Lucretz1, which being divided into many Branches,
VoL. 1. ~~ com:
Xvid
Pe
vane
726 Life of Lucretius.
coniprehended under it, the Triczpetinz, the Conna, the Vefpillones, the Triones, the Offelli, and the Galli, and gave ta Rome many Confuls, Tribunes and Pretors, who. were the great Supports and Ornaments of
the Commonwealth.
He was born, according tothe Chronicle of Eufebius, about the fecond Year of the hundred and feventy firft Olympiad, in the Confulthip of Lucius Licinmius Craffus, and Quintus Mutius Scevola, about the fix hundred and fifey eighth Year of Rome, twelve Years after Czeero. His Name was Titus Lucretius Carus; Carus was a Ro- man Surname, of which Ovsd and many others make mention; but we no. where find how it came to be given to Lucretzus. It is net improbable it was conferred upon him cither on account of his excellent and fprightly Wit, his Affability and Sweetnefs of Temper and Manners, or for fome other tike endearing Qualities, that render‘d him agreeable to thofe with whom he converfed, He was fent young to. Athens, where at that time the Eviewrean Philofophy was in great Reputation. He ftudied under Zena, ᾿ | β ~ who,
Tbe Life of Lucretius. who had the DireCtion of the Gardens at that time, and was the. Honour of the £f7- curean Sek. Phaedrus was another of his Maiters, whom Czcero mentions as ἃ Per- fon of the greateft Humianity. Thefe were the Preceptors of Lucretius, as they were likewife of Pomponius Atticus, Mem- mins, Cafsus, and many-others, who in that Age render’d themfelves very iluftrious
in the Republick of Kome. How he {pent.
his Time at Athens, how ftudioufly he im- proved it, let his Poem be Witnefs. That he fitted himfelf for the beft Company, is evident by what Cornelius Nepos tellsus of the great Intimacy between him, Pompo- nins Atticus, and Memmius: And no doubt but he was intimate likewife with
Tally and his Brother, who make fuch ho- °
nourable Mention ofhim. If we look into lis Morals, we may difcover him to bea Man fuitable to the Epicurean Principles, diffolyed in Eafe and Pleafure, flying publick Employments as a Derogation to Wifdem, and a Difturber of Peace and Quietniefs, and avoiding thofe diftradting Cares which he imagined would make Heaven itfelf un- aly.
ον ve THE
RIK
ix
The Life of LUCRETIUS.
Tue Accounts that remain of this Poet ftop fhort here, and no more is to be found concerning him till we come to his Death 5 yet it is difficult to find in what manner he
diced, nor is it much eafier to determine in
what Year of his Life his Death happened. Some make him die on the very Day Vergil was born, but this is an ingenious Fiction, founded only upon this, that Vzrgz/ affumed
the Toga Virilis on the fame Day that Le- cretius died.
Tue Chronicle of Eufebius obferves, that he died by his own Hands in the forty fourth Year of his Age, being made diftraG- ed by a Philtre, which either his Miftrefs or his Wife Luczlia (for fo fome call her, tho without Authority) in a Fit of Jealoufy had given him; not with a Defign to deprive him of his Senfes, or to take away his Life, but only to increafe the Paffion of his Love, Donatus, or whoever was the Author of — the Life of Vzrgz/, that goes under his Name, writes, that he died three Years before, when
Pompey the Great and M. Licinius Craffus were both of them the fecond time Confuls.
Orhers,
The Life of Lucretius. Others, who allow that having log his Sen- fes, he laid violent Hands on his own Life, yet place his Death in the twenty fixth Year of his Age, and believe that his Madnefs proceeded from the Cares and Melancholy
that opprefled him on account of the Βα--
nifhment of hisbeloved Memmius 3 to which others againadd likewife another Caufe, the fatal Calamities under which his Country then laboured. And indeed it is certain, that Lucretzus,a few Years before his Death, was an Eye-witnefs of the wild Adminiftra- tion of Affairs in the Days of Clodius and Catiline, who gave fuch a Blow to the Re- publick of Kome, as not long after occa- fioned its total Subverfion.
Ir is wonderful that this admirable Poem of Lucretzus fhould be compofed in the time of his Diftra€tion, His fix Books of his Eipicurean Philofophy, fays Eufebius, were written in his’ lucid‘ Intervals, when the - Strength of Nature had thrown off all the
difturbing Particles, and his Mind, as it is —
obferved of Madmen, was fprightly and vi- -gorous. Then, in a Poctical Rapture, he could fly with his Apzcurus beyond the fla-
ming
6? XS
Exit
The Life of LucrETIUs.
ming Limits of this World, frame and dif.
folve Seas and Heavens in an inftant, and
by fome unnufual Sallies be the ftrongeft Argument of his own Opinion; for it feems impoflible that fome Things which he deli- ¥ers fhould proceed from Reafon and Judg- ment, or from any other Canfe but Chance
and unthinking Fortune.
Arrer his Death, Cicéro, as Eufe-
bius witnefles, revifed and correéted his Writings. Lambinus contradicts this, but the Arguments he brings againft the Af
fertion ἯΣ che αι are “iy weak and of fmalj force.
A NEW TRANSLATION | O F =~. Lucretius Carus, Gee & Gist:
NATURE of THINGS.
Vou. I. B
ΤΕ A® Gh U M EN
OF THE
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Ucretius has difpofed his Poem in an excellent Method, and Order fhines through- out the whole. He begins with an Inveca-
tion to Venus, the common natural Appetite to Pro- creation, and gives her all her Titles, ας if really he expected fome Affiftance from ker, He then de- dicates to Memmius his Books of the Nature of Things, and endeavours to vindicate his Dottrines from the Charge of Impiety, and briefly lays down the Arguments of This and the following Books, He enters upon his Subjeé?, and labours firenuoufly, ‘That nothing can ‘proceed from nothing, and that nothing can be reduced intonothing, He proceeds to prove that there are fome little Bodies which, tho? imperceptible to the Hye, may be conceiv’d by the Mind, of which all Beings ave made: To thefe Cor- pufcles he fubjoins a voia or empty Spase. He-af- ferts, that there is nothing in Nature befides Body and Noid; and that all T Lings elfe, fuch as Weight, Heat, Poverty, War, &c. are no more than cer- tain Conpuncts or Events, Properties or Accidents of Body and Space. That thefe βγῇ Principles are perfetily folid, and by confequence indivisible, they are Leatts ( for Body cannot be injinitely divided)
and
The ARGUMENT.
and Eternal. He then refutes Heraclitus, who made Five the Principle of all Things, and others who laid down that all Things proceeded fram Air, Earth, or Water. He foews againft Empedocles, that Things are not compofed of the four Elements. He contradit?s Anaxagoras ; and, in the laft place, employs a long Difputation to prove the Univerfe, which confifts: of Body and Void, to be infinite. He is very copious in his Arguments againft the Stoicks, who held a Centre in the infinite Univerfe, down to which all heavy Things are continually ftriving, while the light work upward of their own accord; and defcribes the Opinions of Epicurus with a.great deal of Eloquence. He banifbes the Antipodes, and fooths with bis Arguments ‘the Imagination of Man, which delights to be led away into an Infinite, and never yet fixed any Bounds to Space, nor will ever dare to do fa.
ba
7, Lucretia Cart
DE RERUM NATURA LIBER PRIMUS.
A
AY” EADUM genetrix, bominum diviimque voluptas,
Alma Venus, cali fubter labentia figna Que mare navigerum, que terras frugiferenteis Concelebras ; per Te quoniam genus omne animantum
Concipitur, vifitque exortum lumina folis : 5 Te, Dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila celi, Adventumque tuum; tibi fuaveis dedala tellus Summittit flores, tibi rident equora pontt, Placatumque nitet diffufo luming ceelum,
Naw
gives her all her Titles ; yet, δὲ the” tame“ine, ance -- τ" bitter Refle€tions upon the then fafnionable Devotion. He ᾿ς ftyles her Mother of Rome, becaufe the Romans deduced their
Origin from xeas, who was the Son of Venus by Anchifes. ' B 3 ᾿ς when.
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ΟΥ͂, Lucretius Carus, OF THE NATUREof THINGS. THE FIRST BOOK
ΙΝ OTHER of Rome, Delight of Men 7}, pce
and Gods, Sweet Venus; who withcation ~~ | M vital Power doft fill the Sea bearing the Ships, the fruitful Earth, all Things beneath the rolling Signs of Heaven ; for *tis by Thee Crea- tures of every kindcenceive, rifeinto Life, and view the Sun’*s bright Beams. Thee Goddefs, Thee the Winds avoid; the Clouds fly Thee, and thy Approach ; with various Art the Earth for Thee affords her {weeteft Flowers ; for Thee the Sea’s rough Waves put on their Smiles, and the fmooth Sky fhines with diffufed Light. For
* Lucretius as a Poet conforms to the Rule of his Art, and begins with an Invocation to Venus, that is the common natu- ral Appetite to Procreation; which neverthelefs he treats asa _ Goddefs, as if he really expected Affiftance from her, and gives her all her Titles; yet, at the fame time, throws out bitter Refleftions upon the then fafhionable Devotion. He ftyles her Mother of Rome, becaufe the Romans deduced their Origin from xeas, who was the Son of Venus by Anchifes.
' 7" B 3 ~ when.
T. Lucretir Lisl
Nam fimul ac fpecies patefatta *ft verna diti, τὸ Et referata viget genitalis aura FavonI; Ὁ Aérie primum volucres te, Diva, tuumque Significant initum percuffe corda tua vi :
Inde fera pecudes perfultant pabula lata, Et-vrapidos tranant amneis ; ita captalepore, 15 MMecebrifque tuis. omnis natura animantum
Te fequitur cupide, quo quamque inducere pergis: Denique per maria, ac montets, fluviofque rapaceis, frundiferafque domos avium, campofque virentets, Omnibus incutiens blandum per pettore amorem, 2 Efficis, ut cupide generatim fecla propagent.
Que quoniam rerum Naturam (οἷα gubernas, Nec fine.Te quicquam. dias in luminis oras Exoritur, neque jit letum, nec amabile quicquam ; Te fociam fiudeo feribundis verfibus effe, 25 Quos ego de REnuM NaTuRa pangere conor Memmiadz nofiro: quem tu, Dea, tempore in omni Omnibus ornatum voluifts excellere rebus.
Quo magis eternum da dittis, Diva, leporem:
Lfice ut inierea fera manera militiai Ε΄
Per
Boox I. Of tha Nature of Thing’.
when the buxom Spring Jeads on the Year, ‘and -
eenial Gales of Wettern Winds blow frefh, un- -
lock’d. from Winter’s Cold, τῆς airy: Birds firft.
feel T:hee Goddefs, and exprefs thy Power; thy. active Flame ftrikes through their very Come . And then the favage Beatts, an wanton Play, | frifk o’er the cheatful Fields, and fwim the rapid ἡ
Streams. So pleafed with thy Sweetnefs, fo
tranfported by thy foft Charms, all living Nature. ftrives; ,with fharp Defire, to follow Thee her .
Guide, where Thou art pleas’d to lead. In fhort, thy Power infpiring every Breaft with tender
Love, drives every Creature on with eager Heat,
in Seas, 1n Mountains, and in fwifteft Floods, in
leafy Forefts, and in verdant Plains, to propa-
gate their Kid from Age to Age.
SincE Thou alone dott oovern Nature’ s Laws,
and nothing without Thee can rife to Light, with- out Thee nothing can look gay or lovely ; I beg
Thee a Companion to my Lays, which, now 1 fing.
f Nature, 1 devote to my dear > Memmius, whom
Thou art ever pleafed, fweet Goddefs, to adorn
with every Grace; for him, kind Deity, infpire my Song, and give immortal Beauty to my Verfe.
Mean time, the bloody Tumults of the ° War by
ν᾽ This Memmius, to whom Lucretius infcribes his Poem, travelled with him to Athens, where they ftudied Philofopny together; he was derived from the noble Family of the Mem-
mii, who claimed their Extraction from the Trojazs. He ar-’
rived at the Dignity of Pretor, and obtained Brthyxia for his Province, but was foon recalled, being accufed by Cz/ar of Male-adminiftration. Yet not many Years after his Return to Rome, he came to be Tribune of the People, and in a litile time itood Candidate for the Confulfhip ; of which he not on- ly failed, but being accufed of Bribery, was, tho” Cicero plead- ed in his Defence, convicted of it, and banifhed into Greece,
where he died in Exile.
_,° The Poet alludes to the diftraéted State of Affairs under ‘the Adminiftration of Clodizs and Catiline, which gave fuch a Biow to the Republick of Rowe, as occafioned its total Subver- fion, which happened not long after.
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T. Lucretir® Lis. Per maria ac terras omneis fopita quiefcamt. = Nam Tu fola potes tranquilla pace juvare. | Mortaleis, quoniam bella fera manera Mavors Armipotens regit, in gremium qui fepe tuun fe Rejicit, eterno devintlus volnere amoris , 35 Atque ita fufpiciens tereti cervice repifta . Pafcit amare avidos inhians in te, Dea, vifus : ἔφη tuo pendet refupini [piritus ore. Ὁ Flunc tu, Diva, tuo recubantem corpore fanéto Circumfufa fuper, fuaveis ex ore loquelas 40 Funde, petens placidam Romanis Incluta, pacem.
Nam neque Nos agere hoc patriai tempore iniqua Poffumus equo animo: neque MemmI clara propaga Talibus in rebus communi de ffe faluti. β Quod fupereft, vacuas aureis miki Memmiada, ee te, Semotum ἃ curis adbibe veram ad rationem, 46
Nec mea dona tibi ftudio difpifia jidelt,
Lnielletia prius quam fint, contempta relinguas.
Nam tibi de fumma Celi ratione, Dedmque, Differere incipiam, 3 rerum-primordia pandam ; 50. Unde omneis Natura creet res, auétet, alatque: κοῦ eadem rurfum Natura perempta refolvat : Que nos Materiem, δ᾽ Genitalia Corpora rebus Reddunda in ratione vocare; €9 Semina rerum — Appellare fuémus, €8 hac eadem ufurpare 55 Corpora Prima, quod ex illis funt omnia primis. ὁ Omnis enim per fe Diviim natura neceffe*ft Inmortali evo fumma cum pace freatur,
ne
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Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
- Sea and Land compote, and lay afleep. For ‘Thou alone Mankind with quiet Peace cantt blels;
becaufe *tis Mars Armipotent that rules the bloody Tumults of the War, and He by everlafting Pains of Love bound faft, taftes in thy Lap moft .fweer Repofe, turns back his fmooth long Neck, and views thy Charms, and greedily fucks Love at both his Eyes. Supinely as he refts his very Soul hangs on thy Lips; this God diffolv’d in Eafe, in the foft Moments when thy heavenly Limbs cling round him, with melting Eloquence carefs, great Goddefs, and implore a Peace for Rome.
For neither can I write with chearful Strains,
in Times fo fad; norcan the noble Houfe of Mem- ᾿ minus defert the common Good in ftich Diftrefs of
Things. The Hours you fpare apply with clofe Attention to my Verfe, and free from Care re- ceive true Reafon’s Rules; nor thefe my Gifts, prepared with faithful Pains, reject with Scorn
before they are underftood. ForI begin to write 72ε διδεῖ of lofty Themes, of Gods, and of the Motions 4 ay
of the Sky, the Rife of Things, how all Things Nature forms, and how they grow, and to Per- fection rife, and into what, by the fame Nature’s Laws, thofe Things refolve and die; which as I write I call by various Names; fometimes τὶ
Matter, or the firft Principles or Seeds of Things, |
or firft of Bodies, whence all elfe proceed. “For the whole Nature of the Gods mutt fpend an Immortality in fofteft Peace, removed from our Ὺ Affairs, ἃ Here Lucretius begins his Impiety ; had he contented him- felf only with deriding the fuperftitious Devotion of the Age he lived in, and not propofed Principles of Irreligion, drawn from the Happinefs of the Deity, which he places in fupine Idlenefs and Eafe, he might have been read with much Satif- faction, as an excellent Satirift againit the Heathen Worhhip ; for he feverely {winges the mad Zeal of Men-facrificers, tho” perhaps he has not produced a true Inftance in Iphigenia ; yet Hi- : = Py fioty
το ς T. Luer®tiu . ‘bret. Semota ab noftris rebus, fejuntiaque longe - ᾿ Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis, . 60
OO EE τ" ὔ«“«““π
Ipfa [εἰς pollens opibus, nibil indiga noftri, : Nec bene promeritis capitur, nec tangitur ira, Ore wowbly τ Thu Hove in terris opprelfa gravi fub Religione, j Que caput a cel regionibus oftendebat, 65 flare st mb ror idil super afpeciu mortalibus inftans 5 sos ath Op bed, Primum Graius homo mortaleis tollere contra Eft oculos aufus, primufque obfiftere contra: Quem nec fama Deiim, nec fulmina, nec minitanti
Humana ante oculos fede cum vita jaceret
Murmure compreffit Celum, fed eo magis acrem 79 Virtutem irritat animi, confringere ut ἀγα Nature primus portarum clauftra cupiret.
Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit, €P extra
Proceffit longe flammantia menia Mundi ;
Aique oinne immenfium peragravit mente animoque : Unde refert nobis victor quid poffit oriri, 76 Quid nequeat , finita potefias denique quoique Quanam fit ratione, atque alte terminus berens. Quare Relligio pedibus fubjelta vicifim
Odteritur, nos Ἔχ απ: vidloria Cela, SO
— illud
me
Booxl. Of the Nature of Things. 11 Affairs, and feparated by Diftance infinite ; from
Sorrow free, fecure from Danger; in its own
Happinefs fufficient, and nought of ours can
want, is neither pleafed with Good, nor vexed
with Il.
« ΓΝΡΕΕΡ Mankind, in wretched Bondage held,
lay groveling on the ground, galled with the
Yoke of what is called Religion; from the Sky
this Tyrant fhewed her Head, and with grim
Looks hung over us poor Mortals here below ; un- til a “ Man of Greece with fteady Eyes dared look ‘her in the Face, and firft oppofed her Power. Him not.the Fame of Gods nor Thunder’s Roar kept
back, nor threatening Tumults of the Sky; but {till the more they roufed the active Virtue of his
afpiring Soul, as he prefled forward firft to
break thro’ Nature’s fcanty Bounds, His Mind’s quick Force prevailed ; and fo he paffed by far the flaming Limits of this World, and wander’d with his comprehenfive Soul o’er all the migaty Space ;
from thence returned triumphant; told: us what
Things may have a Being, and what cannot; and
how a finite Power is fixed to each, a Bound it
cannot break; and fo Religion, which we feared
before, by him fubdued, we tread upon in turn;
his Conqueft makes us equal to the Gods. |
ftory,both facred and profane, gives us many fad Relations of fuch Cruelties: but fince he declares that the Defign of his writing is to free Men from the Fear of that Heavenly Tyrant Provw- dence, ἄς. he muft be read with fome Caution, tho’ his Ar- guments, in general, are weak, and, I think, can make but little Impreffion. : |
© He attempts the Praife of Epicurus of Athens, the Son of Neocles, who, he fays, firft oppofed himfelf to all thefe Ter- rors with undaunted Courage; and, by looking into the in- moft Receffes of Nature, difcovered, as he thought, that all Things were made without the Care and Workmanhhip of the Gods, and therefore overthrew the Foundation of ail Reli- gion.
Bur
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T. ΤΌ ΘΚΕΤΙΣΙ Liz. 1,
lua in bis rebus vereor, ne forte rearis Impia te rations inive elementa, viamque Endogredi feelerts: Quod contra, fepius oling Relligio pepertt fcelerofa aique impia falta, Aulide quo patio Triviai virginis aram 85 Lpbianaffai turparunt fanguine fade Duétores Danaim, delet, prima virorum., Cui fimul infula virgineos circumdata comptus Ex utraque pari malarum parte profufa *ft, Et meftum fimul ante aras adfare parentem 90 Senfit, <P bune propter ferrum celare minifiros 3 Afpettuque fuo lacrymas effundere civeis : Mita meiu terram genibus fummiffa petebat : Nec mifere prodeffe in talt tempore quibat, Quod Patrio princeps dondrat nomine Regem. 95 Nam fublata viriim manibus tremabundaque ad aras Deduéta ft, non ut, folenni more facrorum Perfeéto, poffet claro comitari Etymenao: Sed cafta incefte nubend: tempore in ipfo Hoftia concideret mattatu mafia parentis, τοῷ Exitus ut claffi felix, fauftufque daretur Tantum Relligiopotuit fuadere malorum.
Tutemet a nobisjam quovis tempore Vatune Terriloquis vittus dittis defcifcere queres ? Quippe etenim quam multa tibi jam fingere poffum Somnia, qua vita rationes vetere poffint, 106 Portunafque tuas ommeis turbare timore. Et merito: namfi ceriam finem elfe viderent
LES YUMMY Ui
Boox I. Of the Wature of Things. Bur in thefe Things I fear you will fufpeé& you
are learning impious Rudiments of Reafon, and en-
tring ina Road of Wickednefs. So far from this,
reflect what fad flagitious Deeds Religion has pro- duced ; by her infpired the Grecian Chiefs, the
ΕἸ of Men, at § Aulis, Diana’s Altar fhameful- 4
ly defiled with [pbigenia’s Blood; her Virgin Hair a Fillet bound, which hung in equal Length on either fide her Face; fhe faw her Father, cover’d with Sorrow, ftand before the Altar ; for pity to his Grief the butchering Priefts concealed the Knife; the City at the fight o’erflowed with Tears; the Virgin, dumb with Fear, fell low upon her Knees on the hard Earth; in vain the wretched Princefs in Diftrefs pleaded that ‘fhe firft gave the honoured Name of Father to the King ; but hurried off, and dragged by wicked Hands, fhe trembling ftood before the Altar: Alas! notas a Virgin, the folemn Forms being duly done, is drawn with pleafing Force to Hymen’s noble Rites, but a chafte Maid, juft ripe for nuptial Joy, falls a fad Victim by a Father’s Hand, only to-bee a kind propitious Gale for Grecian Ships; fuch Scenes of Villany Religion could infpire !
Bur ftill I fear your Caution will difpute the. Maxims I lay down, who all your Life have trembled at the Poets frightful Tales. Alas! E could even-now invent fuch Dreams as would pervert the fteadieft Rules of Reafon, and make your Fortunes tremble to the Bottom, No won- der! butif Men were once convinced that Death
* The Sacrifice of Iphigenia is well known ; for in thefe Notes I fhall give no Account of the common Stories and My- thology of the Heathens, to be met with in every Dictionary : - She was offer’d to Diana upon her Altar at Avlis, a Port of — on the River Euripus, her own Father afliftng at the
ACTUice.
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T. Luererrity in. Ἔ
Lerumnarum bomines, aliqua ratione valerent Relligionibus, atque minis obfifiere Vatum: 110 Nunc ratio nulla’ft reftandi, nulla facultas, | fAiternas quoniam penas in morte timendum.
Ignoratur enim que fit natura animat, Natafit, an, contra, nafcentibus infinuetur, Et fimul intereat nobifcum morte dirempta, - 118 An tenebras Orci vifat, vaftasque lacunas, An pecudes alias divinitus infinuet fe, “4 Ennius uf wofter cecinit, qui primus amano Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam, Per genteis Italas hominum qua clara clueret, .129 ΕΠ praterea tamen effe Acherufia templa Ennius eternis exponit verfibus, edens: Quo neque permanent anime, neque corpora noftra s Sed quedam fimulacra modis pallentia miris: Unde fili exortam femper-florentis Homeri 125 Commemorat [pectem, lacrumas €8 fundere falfas Capilffe, 8 rerum naturam expandere ditiis.
Qyapropter bene, cum, Superis de rebus habenda Nobis eft ratio, Solis Luneque meatus Qua fant ratione; &5 qua vi queque genantur 130
a
Et
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Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
was the fure End of all their Pains, they might with Reafon then refift the Force of all Religion, and contemn the Threats of Poets, Now we
have no Senfe, no Power, to ftrive againft this
Prejudice, becaufe we fear a Scene of endlefs Torments after Death,
_ Awp yet the Nature of. the Soul we know not, whether formed with the Body, or at the Birth infufed; and then, by Death cut off, fhe perifhes as Bodies do; or whether fhe defcends to the dark Caves and dreadful Lakes of Hell; or, after Death,- infpired with heavenly Inftinct, fhe re- tires into the Brutes, as our Great ὃ Exmius fung, who ΠΕ a Crown of Laurel ever green, brought down from Helicon ; which gained him Fame through all the Italian Coafts. And yet this Man, in never-dying Numbers, defcribes the ftately Palaces of -4Acheron, where nor our Souls or Bo- dies ever come, but certain Spectres {trange and wond’rous pale; from whence he tells how " Ho- mer’s ever celebrated Shade appeared, and how his Eyes began to fow with briny Tears, as in immortal Verfe he fung of Nature and her fecret Laws. |
Wherefore, I fhall not only accurately write of Things above, as how the’ Sun and Moon their
® A Latin Poet, who lived about a hundred Years before.
Lycretius ; he was a Pythagorean, and held the Doétrine of the T'ranfmigration of Souls ; he affirmed that the Soul of Homer was in his Body; but that he might not injure Pluto, he bequeathed to the infernal Manfions, not the Souls, nor the Bodies, but the Ghofts, which the Ancients held to be a third Nature,-of which, together with Body and Soul, the whole Man confifts. Thefe Spectres and Shadows of the Dead, appear, or feem to appear, when we are afleep, or awake, or fick, and terrify our Minds.
_” Exnius uted to fay, that Homer's Ghof appear’d to him from Hell, and bitterly weeping, difcover’d to him the Nature of Things ; for which Cicero fufficiently laughs at him, in his fecond Book of Academich Queftions.
3 Courfes
is
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T. Lucretit Liz. EL In terris : tum, cum primis, ratione Jogaci Unde Anima atque Animi conftet natura, videndums
Et qua res nobis vigilantibus obvia mentets
Terrificet, morbo affectis, omncque fepultis, Cernere uti videamur eos, audireguie coram, πὴ Morte abita quorum tellus ampleGitur offa:
Nec me ammi falit, Graiorum objcura reperta Diffciie snluftrare Latisis verfibus effe, (Multa novis verbis prafertin cum fit agendum,) Propter egeftatem lingua, ( rerum novitatent; 140 Sed tua me Virtus tamen, &F fperata voluptas Suavis Amicitia, quemvts perferre laborem Suadet, 9 inducit noéteis vigilare ferenas, Syaerentem diétis quibus, (F quo carmine demum Clara tue pofim prepandere lumina menti, 148. Res quibus occultas penitus convifere pofjis.
Hunc igitur terrorem animi, tenebrafque necef
7)
Nou radii Solis, neque lucida tela Diet Difcutiant, fed Nature [pecies, Ratioque: Principium bine cujus nobis exordia fumet, 150 NULLAM REM E NIHILO GIGNI DIVINITUS
UNQUAM.
Quippe
Boox IL. Of the Nature of Things. a7
Courfes run, and by what Power Beings in Earth and Hfeaven are formed, but chiefly fearch with niceft Care into the Soul and what } her Nature 1. What ’tis that meets our wake- ful Eyes, and frights the Mind ; and how, by Sicknefs or by Sleep oppreffed; we think we fee, or hear the Voice of thofe who died long: fince; whofe mould’ring Bones rot in the cold Embraces of the Grave. pak I Know “tis hard to explain in Latin Verfe, Te Digz: the dark and myftic Notions of the Greeks, culty of the (for 1 have Things to fay require new Words) ”*- becaufe the Tongue ts poor, the Subject new. But your Virtue, and the Pleafures I expect from tender Friendfhip, makes me bear the Toil, and fpend the filent Night with wake- ful Eyes, ftudious of Words and Numbers I fhall ufe, to open to your Minds fuch Scenes. of Light, which fhew the hidden Qualities of Things unknown. ' Teste Terrors of the Mind, this Darknefs then, not the Sun’s Beams, nor the bright Rays of Day can e’er difpel, but Nature’s Light and Reafon; Whofe firft of Principles — _ fhall be my Guide: ἢ Nothing was by the Gods Nothing .
of Nothing made. For hence it is that Fear”## stor Nothing:
‘ He how enters upon his Subject, and lays down this Prin- ciple, That Nothing is made of Nothing, which he attempts te prove at large ; he takes notice, that Men had obferv’d many Effects upon Earth and in the Heavens, and not being able to difcover the Caufes of them, concluded that the Gods had pro- duced them out of Nothing ; the Falfity of which he under- takes to demonttrate, tho’ without Succefs.
C difturbs
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T. LucrerTit Lisa.
Quippe ita formide Mortaleis continet omnets, Quod multa in Terris fieri, Caloque tuentur, Quorum operum caufas nulla ratione videre Poffunt, ac fieri divino Numine rentur. IES Quas ob res, ubi viderimus, nil poffe creari De nibilo, tum, quod fequimur, jam reétius inde Perfpiciemus, 95 unde queat res queque creart, Et quo queque modo fiant opera fine Divum. Nam fi de Nihbilo fierent, ex omnibu? rebus 160 Omne genus nafci poffet , nil Semine egeret : E mare primum homines, ὃ terra poffet orirz Squammigerum genus, €P volucres; erumpere celo Jrmenta, atque alie pecudes: genus omne ferarum Incerto partu culta, ac deferta teneret : 165 Nec fructus iidem arporibus conftare folerent, Sed mutarentur : ferre omnes omnia poffent. Quippe, ubi non effent genitalia Corpora quoique, Qui poffet mater rebus confiftere certa ? St nunc Seminibus quia certis quidque creatur, 176 Inde enafcitur, atque oras in luminis extt, Materies ubi ineft cujufque ξ5 Corpora prima : Mique bac re nequeunt ex omnibus omnia gignut, Quod certis in rebus ineft fecreta facultas. Preterea, cur Vere rofam, frumenta Calore, 175 Viteis Autuimno fundi fudante videmus : Si non, certa [0 quia tempore Semina rerum
-Cum confluxerunt, patefit, quodcunque creatur,
Dum tempeftates adfuni, & vivida tellus
Tuto res teneras effert in luminis oras ὃ 180 Quod fi de Nibilo ferent, fubito exorerentur Incerto [patio, atque alients partibus anni :
Quippe
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things. difturbs the Mind, that ftrange Events in Earth and Heaven are feen, whofe Caufes cannot appear by Reafon’s Eye, and then we fay they were from Powers Divine. But when we reft convinced that Nothing can arife from Nothing, then the Way is clear to our Purfuit; we diftinctly fee whence every Thing comes into Being, and how Things are formed without the Help and Trouble of the Gods. ee 7
'- Ir Thingsproceed frorn Nothing, every Thing might {pring from any Thing,and want no Seeds Men from the Sea might firft arife, and Fifh and Birds break from the Earth, and Herds and tender Flocks drop from theSky, and every kindof Beaft fix’d to no certain Place, might find a Being in Deferts or in cultivated Fields: Nor the tame Fruiton the fame Trees would grow, but would be chane’d, and all Things all Things bear. For had not every Thing its genial Seed, how is it that every Thing derives its Birth from Caufes ftillthe fame? But now, fince Things are form’d from certain Seeds, and firft rife into Light, where every Being has its Principles and Matter fitly framed, from hence we fee that all Things cannot fpring from every Thing, fince each has certain fecret Properties peculiar to itfelf. Be- fides, | |
Why do we fee the Rofe adorn the Spring, the Fruits in Summer, and the fweaty Autumn, pref- fing the Vine, unlefs the fixed Seeds of Things, uniting in their proper Times, give Life to Be- ings, each in its ftated Seafon, while Mother _ Earth can truft her tender Offspring with Safety
to the Air. But if Things proceed from Nothing, in a moment they might fpring at Times uncer- tain, at Quarters of the. Year unfit, and there
o_o — would
19
20.
T. Lucretir Lik. i
Duippe ubi nulla forent primordia, quae genitali © Concilio poffent arceri tempore iniquo.
Nec porro Augendis rebus Spatio foret ufus 185 Seminis ad coitum, ὃ Nibilo fi crefcere poffent. Nam fierent juvenes fubito ex infantibu? parvis:
E terraque exorta repente arbufta falirent.
Quorum nil fieri manifeftum ft, omnia quando Paullatim crefcunt (ut par eft) Semine certo: 190 Crefcendoque genus fervant, ut nofcere pofis Quaeque fua de Materia grandefeere, alique.
Huc accedit uti fine certis tmbribus anni Latificos nequeat fatus fummittere tellus :
Nec porro fecreta cibo natura animantum 108 Propagare genus pofit, vitamque tueri: ᾿ Ut potius multis communia corpora rebus
Multa putes effe, ut verbis Elementa videmus, Quam fine Principiis ullam rem exiftere poffe.
Denique cur Homines tantos natura parare 20@ Non potuit, pedibus qui pontum per vada poffent Tranfire, 5 magnos manibus divellere montets, Multaque vivendo vitaha vincere fecla:
Si non Materies quia rebus reddita certa *ft Gignundis ὃ qua confiat quid poffit oriri ὃ 205 Nix igitur fieri de NiLo poffe fatendum *f : Semine quando opus eft rebus, quo queque create Aeris in teneras poffint proferrier auras.
Poftremo quoniam Incultis preftare videmus — Culta.loca, 8 manibus meliores reddere fetus : 210 Efe videlicet in terris Primordia rerum,
Que nos, fecundas vertentes vomere glebas, Terraique folum fubigentes, cimus ad ortus.
Quod
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
would. be no proper Seeds, whofekindly Influence _ might check their Growth at Seafons that would
kill them-in the Bud. | Acarn, if Things could fpring from Nought,
what need of Time for Bodies to fulfil their’
Growth by Acceffion of new Matter ? An Infant then might inftantly become a Youth, and Trees ftart up in full Perfection from the Earth, But *tis not fo, ’tis plain; for Things, we know, grow by degrees from certain Seeds, and {till as they grow keep their Kind; and thus you find each Being rifes into Bulk, and thrives from Seed and Matter proper to itfelf,
Nor likewife can the Earth produce her Fruits to chear the Heart, unlefs with timely Showers impregnated ; nor can Creatures, bleffed with Life, deprived of Food, e’er propagate their Kind, or favé their ownsLives; and fo you fafer fay that certain fixed Principles belong to certain Things, as Letters form our Words, than that from Nothing any Thing can rife, :
FurTHER3 whence is it that Nature cannot fhew Men fo gigantick as on foot to wade through Seas, or with their Hands totearup migthy Hills, or to furpafs the common Bounds of Life, by many Ages, but that certain Seeds are fixed to all Things, whence they muft arife? And fo we _ muft confefs that Nothing fprings from Nothing, fince each Kind mutt firft proceed from Seed, the Principle whence every Creature derives its Life, and feels the gentle Air. _, Bestpes, becaufe we find the Earth, improved by Care, exceeds the uncultivated Soil, and by our Labour offers richer Fruits, we fay that in the Earth the Seeds of Things lie ftill, which, by turning up the fruitful Clods, by Ploughing, and, by breaking of the Ground, we force to {pring ;
| C 3 but
21
22
T. Lucretir = Lia. I. Quod fi nulla forent, noftro fine queque labore Sponte μια multo fleri meltora videres. 215 luc qccedit, uti quicque in fua Corporarurfum | Diffolvat Natura, neque ad Nibilum interimat res. Nam, fi ἢ quid mortale é cunttis partibus effet, Ex otulis res queque repente erepta periret s Nulla vi forei ufus enim, qlee partibus ejus 220 Difcidium parere, {SF nexus exfolvere poffet. At nunc, eterno quia conftant Semine quaque, Donec vis obit, que res diverberet iff, Aut intus penetret per inania, dt iffolvarque, Nullius exttium patitur Natura videri. 225
Praterea, quaecungue wetr fate amovet alas, d 61 penitus perimit confumens Materiem omnett, Unde animale genus generatim in lumina vite Redducit Venus ? aut reddullum dedala tellus Unde alt, atque auget, generatin pabula prabens £. Unde mare ingénui i fontes, externaque longé 231
Flumina fuppeditant 2 unde ether fidera paftit ὃ
Omnia .
Book I. Of the Nature of Things. 23
but then, if no fuch Seeds lay there, * the Fruits, without our Labour, svould of their own accord _ improve, and of themfelves prevent our Care.
App here, that Nature does diffoive all Bodies yy, ,4,,,;- into their Principles again; nor can reduce Things dilation. into Nothing. ᾿
! For if every Being was liable to Deaththrough all its Subftance, fnatch’d from our Eyes, it would directly perifh ; noneed of Violence to make a Breach in all its Parts, and loofe the vital Bands, But now fince Things are formed from eternal] Seeds, Nature wills that nothing be deftroyed, un- leis fome Force prevails, which beats with Blows its outward Form ; or pierces through the Pores - with fubtile Art, and fo diffolves the Frame.
Brsipes, fuch Things as are removed by Age, if Time deftroys them quite in all their Parts, whence does the Power of Love reftore to Light the feveral Race of Beings ? Whence the Earth, with niceft Art, does nourifh them when born, and makes them grow, and feeds with proper Food each in its Kind?) Whence do the bcounte- ous Springs, and Rivers, with their wandring
Streams from far, fupply the Sea? ™ The Air
:
Kk That is, what can hinder Plants that are produced from Nothing, from improving and growingevery Year more fair and fruitful of their own accord ?
1Tf Things were mortal in all their Parts, there would be no need of Violence to diffolve them; but as every ‘Thing would be produced and appear on afudden without the Endeavour or Force of any other Thing, fo without the Force or Violence of any other Thing likewife every Thing would perifh, not by a Diffolution of its Parts, but withdrawine from our Eyes, would vanifh away ina moment, and thusrefo: - into Nothing ; for the Reafon why Force is requifite to diffolve every Thing, is becaufe it confifts of Seeds that remain after its Diffolution.
m Tt was the Doétrine of the Epicureans, that the Sun and Stars were Fires, that were nourifhed and kept alive by Va- pours and Exhalations that rife from the Earth and Sea.
C 4 whence
"
24. »
ς: se
T. Lucreritr Lis. ¥.
Omnia enim debet, mortali Corpore que funt,
Infinita etas confumfe, anteatta, diefque.
Quod βίῃ co fpatio, atque anteatia etate fuere, 235
E quibus hec Rerum confiftit Summa refellas Ὁ
Immortali fun naturd pradita certé,
Haud igitur poffunt ad Nilum queque reverti. Denique res omneis eadem vis caufaque volgo
Conficeret, nifi Materies etern a teneret 24@
Inter fe nexas minus aut magis endopedite.
Tattus enim lethi fatis effet caufa profecio: |
Quippe, ubi nulla forent eterno Corpore, eorum
Contextum vis deberet diffolvere quaque.
At nunc, inter fe quia nexus principiorum 545
Diffuniles conftant, eternaque materies eft,
Incolumi remanent res corpore, dum fatis acris
Vis obeat pro texture cujufque reperta.
Haud igitur redit ad Nibilum res ulla, fed omnes Difeidio redeunt in corpora materiat, 250 Poftremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater Aither
ta gremium matris Terrai ‘ precipitavit.
Mt nitide furguut fruges, ramique vire/cunt Arboribuss crefeunt ipfe, fetuque gravantur : Hine alitur porto nofirum ΠΣ atque ferarum : Hinc betas urbeis pueris flore: re videmus, 256 Frundiferajque novis avibus canere undique fylvas, Hine-feffe pecudes pingues per pabula lata
Corpora deponunt, & candens latieus bumor Oberibus inanat diftentis + ; hinc nova proles 260 Artubus infirenis teneras lafcevaper berbas
Ludit, la&te mera menteis percuffa novellas.
, : |
}
Boox I. Of ihe Nature of Things.
whence feed the Stars? For that vaft Tract of Time already paft had long ago confumed ‘Things that were form’d from mortal Seed ; but if thofe
Bodies which compofe this Univer of Things
were ftill fupplied through all that Space and Periods of Time that pafe’d Jong fince, they furely. muft confift of an immortal “Nature, and from Death fecure, can never into Nothing fall. Acaty, the fame Violence would every where deftroy all Beings, if the eternal Power of Mat- ter did not hold: faft their clofe compacted Frame in Bonds more ftrong or weak; a fingle Touch would furely be the Caufe of Deaths; for Things form’d out of mortal Seed by any Force muft pe-
τῆι, and their Frame be quite diffolv’d; but ‘now, becaufe the Union of the Seeds of Bodies
differs, which confift of Matter eternal in its Na- ture, every Being is fafe from Danger till fome proper Force, pr roportioned to its Texture, makes the Affayltr. So Nothing can return to Nothing ; every [hing refolves by Separation of its Parts in- to its Principles from whence it fprung. Lastuy, the Rains that Father 7¢er pours
into the Womb of Mother Earth do feem to pe- |
rifh there, but ftrait fair Fruits {pring up; the Boughs grow green upon the Trees, their Limbs increafe, and bend beneath a Load of Fruit ; hence all the living Race of Men and Beafts are fed, our gallant Cities filled with Youth, our leafy Woods refound with Songs of Birds new flede’d ; the weary Flocks grown fat repofe their Bodies on the fertile Plains, while the white milky Humour from their Dugs diftended flows ; and hence their fprightly Young, in wanton Play, frifk with their tender ion o’er the foft Grafs, chearing their little Hearts with the pure Milk ;
and
25
26
T.Lucretiu Lis. f
Haud igitur penitus pereunt quecunque videntur : Quando aliud ex alio reficit Natura, nec ullam Rem gigni patitur, nifi morie adjutam aliena. 265
Nune age, res quoniam docui non poffe creari De Nibilo, neque ttente genitas ad Nil revocar? 3 Ne qua forte tamen ceptes diffidere diéiis,
Quod nequeunt oculis rerum Primordia ceryi ; Accipe preterea, que Corpora Tuie neceffe*/ 270 Confiteare effe inrebus, nec poffe vidert.
Principio, VENTI vis verberat incita poniunp, Ingenteifque ruit naveis, &S nubila differt ; Interdum rapido percurrens turbine campos Arboribus magnis flernit, monteifque fupremos 275 Silvifragis vexat flabris : ita perfurtt acri Cum fremitu, fevitque minact murmure pontus. Sunt igitur VENT nimirum corpora ceca,
Que mare, que terras, que denique nubila cals Verrunt, ac fubito vexantia turbine raptant. 280 Nec ratione fluunt alia, flragemque propagant,
Ae cum mollis aque fertur natura repente
Flumine abundanti, quod largis imbribus auget | Montibus ex altis magnus decurfus aquaz:
Fragmina conjictens fyluarum, arbuftaque tota 5
Nee
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
and therefore Things we fee do not entirely die 5 © Nature itill renews one Being by another, nor does fhe fuffer one Thing ‘to be, unlefs fupplied with Matter from fomething elfe that was diffol- yed before.
Anp now, fince I have taught that Nothing can proceed from Nothing, nor can Things once form’d to Nothing be reduced, ® left you by chance fhould doubt my Reafons, fince the Seeds of Things cannot be feen with naked Eyes; hear further, that there are Seeds of Bodies (and you mutt confefs there are) impervious to the Sight.
And firft, the raging Force of Winds does lafh the Sea, o’erthrow vaft Ships, and chafe the Clouds ; fometimes they {cour the Plains with fu- rious Storms, and fpread them o’er with talleit Trees, and vex the lofty Hills with Blafts that rend the Woods,- And fo they blufter with a dreadful Sound, and roar with threatening Noifes through the Air. Thefe Winds are therefore Bodies to the Eye unfeen, which fcour the Sea, the Lands, the Clouds, and tofs them, thus tor- mented, with their Blafts. They att the fame, and fpread Deftruction round as a ftill Stream, increafed by fudden Rain, and fwell?d by Tor- rents pouring from the Hills, the Effect of driv- ing Showers, is born along, rending the Limbs of Trees, and then whole Woods: Nor can the
" He concludes that Nothing returns to Nothing, fince Na- ture produces one Thing out of another, and never any Thing new, but makes ufe of the Matter of another ‘Thing that had been diffolved before.
° Left Memmius thould diftruft the Validity of the Argu- ments he has produced to eftablifh his Atoms, becaufe the firft Principles of ‘Things are, by reafon of their Exility, imper- ceptible to the Senfe, he brings feveral Inftances of corporeal Subftances, to which no Man denies an Exiftence, tho’ they are invulible to the Eye. -ν
ftrongelt
27
28
-Strataque jam volgi pedibus detrita viarum
T. Lucretit Lis. I.
Nec validi poffunt pontes venientes aquaz 286 Vim fubitam tolerare : ita magno turbidus imbri Molibus incurrens validis cum viribus anmis,
Dat fonitu magno ftragem ; volvitque [ub undis Grandia faxa, ruit qua quidquid fluctibus οὐαὶ,
Sic igitur debent Vent quoque flamina ferrt :
Qua, veluti validum flumen, cum procubuere Quamlibet in partem, trudunt res ante, ruuntque Impetibus crebris; interdum vertice torto Corripiunt, rapidoque rotantia turbine. portant.295 Quare etiam atque etiam funt VENTI Corporaceca: Quandoquidem faétis ac moribus, emula magnis Amunibus inveniuntur, aperto Corpore quz funt. Tum porro varios rerum fentimus ODORES, Nec tamen ad nareis venienteis cernimus uUnquam : Nes calidos Fistus tuimur, nec FR1GoRA qui- 2214} 301 Ufurpare ocults, nec Voces cernere fuemus ;
Que tamen omnia Corporea conftare neceffe *ft
Natura: quoniam fenfus impellere poffunt. ‘TANGERE ENIM ET TANGI, NISI CORPUS, NULLA POTEST RES. 305 Denique fluttifrago fufpenfe in littore Veftes Tvefcunt, eedem difpanje in Sole ferefcunt , At neque quo patio perfederit humor aquai Vifu *ft nec rurfum quo patito fugerit eftu
in parvas igttur parteis difpergitur Humor, 310
Quas ocul nulla poffunt ratione videre, Quin etiam multis Solis redeuntibus annis
“Annulus in digito fubtertenuatur habendo : δ} οά cafus lapidem cavat : uncus aratri
Ferreus oceulté decrefcit Vomer in arvis :
a2
Saxes confpicimus; Lum Dortas propter abena
RY gna
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things. ftrongeft Bridges bear the Force, fo fudden, of the rufhing Flood; the Stream, made mad by ‘ hafty Rains, beats on the Damms with Force im- _ petuous, fwells through the Breach with horrid Noife, and rolls the maffy Stones under its Waves, and breaks what {tops its Tide. Juft fo the Hurricanes of Wind drive on which way they point their Blafts, like mighty Floods, force all before them, beat with frequent Strokes; fome- times they {natch with rapid Turns, and whirl Things as they roll in Eddies through the Air. Thefe Winds, ’tis plain, are Bodies ftillunfeen, fince by their furious Blafts they rival in their Force the largeft Streams, which Bodies are we own.
Bestpes, we feel the various Smells of Things, but can’t difcern how they affect the Nofe; nor can we fee the raging Heat, nor with our Eyes perceive the Cold, nor can we fee a Voice; all which by Nature are of Bodies form’d, becaufe they make Impreffion on the Senfe, for nothing, but Body canbe touch’d, ortouch, -
AcaAin, a Garment hung up nigh the Shore, That breaks the Waves, grows wet, and, tothe Sun _ expanded, dries ; yet no one ever faw how the moift Vapour fix’d, or how again it fled before the Heat; the watery Drops muft be diffolv’d into {mall Parts too fubtle to be at all difcover'’d by the Eye.
But further, after many circling Years, a Ring upon the Finger wearsaway, the Fall of dropping Water hollows Stones, the crooked Plough-fhare, tho’ of Iron, -waftes in the Fields infenfibly by Ute; wefee the Streets, paved with hard Stones, worn out by frequent ‘Tread of Paffengers ; Ρ the
» He means the Images of the Tutelar or Guardian Gods, whofe Right Hand, whoever came into the City or went out of it, was ufed to kifs, box ominis causa, for good ot fake,
razen
29
9"
ΓΙ τιὶ | Bam I,
Signa manus dextras oftendunt attenuari Spe falutantum taltu, preterque meantum : Hee igitur minui, cum fint detrita videmus ; 320 Sed quae Corpora decedant in tempore quoque, Invida praclufit fpeciem Natura videndi.
Poftremo, quecunque Dies, Naturaque rebus Paullatim tribuit, moderatim crefcere cogens, Nulla poteft oculorum acies contenta tueri; 524 Nec porro quecunque evo, macieque fenefcunt : Nec mare quae impendent vefco fale Saxa perefas Quid quoque admittant in tempore, cernere poffis. Corporibus ἐσεῖς igitur Natura gerit res.
Nec tamen undique Corporea flipata tenentur 330
‘Omnia natura, namque eft in rebus INANE.
Quod tibi cogniffe in multis erit utile rebus: Nec finet erraniem dubitare, &S querere femper De Summa rerum, & nofiris diffidere dicts ; Quapropter locus eft intacius, INANE, vacanfque. Quod fi non effet, nulla ratione moveri 336 Res poffent ; namque officium, quod Corports extat, Officere, atque obftare, id in omni tempore adeffet Omnibus : Haud igitur quidquam procedere poffets Principium quoniam cedendi nulla daret res. 340 At nune per maria, ac terras, fublimaque cali; Mulia modis multis varia ratione moveri Cernimus ante oculos ; que, fi non effet INANE, Non tam follicito motu privata carerent ; Quam genita omnino nulla ratione fuiffent: 345 Undique Materies quoniam ftipata quief[et.
.
4 τ Preterea
21
brazen Statues nigh the Gates fhew their Right Hands made Iefs by many a Kifs of thofe who _ worfhip, or who pafs along. Thefe Things we fee fhew lefs and lefs, and wear; but what a Share of Matter every time is brufhed off, Nature in Envy tous, has not indulg’d the Faculty to fee.
Lastty, what every Day and Nature do beftow on Beings, to make them grow by juft Decrees, not the moft piercing Eye could ever find, nor yet the Particles that fly and waite by Age or by Decay ; nor can you fee by what. de- srees the Rocks are eaten through by the corrod- ing Salt of dafhing Waves: Thus Nature works by Bodies not difcern’d.
Anp yet all Beings are not form’d of clofe and There muft folid Parts ; in Things there is a Void, which 1η 4/4. your Searches into Nature wil! be of ufe to know. This will preferve your wand’ring Mind from Doubt, prevent your conftant Toilby judging right. of Nature’s Laws, and make my Words believ’d.
WHEREFORE there is a Place we call 4 4 Void, an empty Space intangibie, or elfe no Bodies could be moved, or ftir; the Quality all Bodies have to {top and to oppofe does never fail, fo that to move would be in vain to try, no Body firft by yielding would give way. But now we fee before our Eyes, that Things move various ways in Seas, in Earth, and inthe Heaven above; but were no Void, they would not be depriv’d of that Activity of Motion only, but would not beat all; for Matter wedg’d and crouded clofe on every fide had ever been at reft.
Ἢ If there were no Void interfperfed in Things, all Things would be crouded to fuch a degree, that not only nothing in the whole Univerfe could be moved from its Place, but it would be even impoffibie to give a Reafon, and explain how any thing can be generated, becaufe a local Motion is abfo- lutely neceflary for the Generation of all Things, and without a Void there can be no Motion whatever.
BESIDES,
δ T. Lucrerir ‘Lue. I. Preterea quamvis Solidae res effe putentur,
Hinc tamen effe licet Raro cum corpore cernas : In faxis, ac foeluncis permanat Aquarum Ligquidus humor, &8 uberibus flent omnia guttis :356 Diffupat in corpus fefe Cibus omne animantum : Crefeunt Arbufta, &8 fetus in tempore fundunt, Quod Cibus in totas ufque ab radicibus imis Per truncos; act per ramos diffunditur omneis : Inter fepta meant Voces, 5. claufa domorum 366 Tranfvolitant : rigidum permanat Frigus ad offa,
| Quod, nifiINAnia fint, qua poffent Corpora queque LIranfire, baud ulla feri ratione videres.
Denique cur alias aliis prefiare videmus Pondere res rebus, nibilo majore figura? 360 Nam, fi tantundem ft in Lane glomere, quantum _ Corporis in Plumbo *jt, tantundem pendere par eft ς
Corporis officium eft quoniam premere omnia deorfum ¢ Contra autem natura manet fine pondere INANIS. Ergo quod Magnum "ft eque, Leviufque videtur, Nimirum plus effe fibi declarat INaNIS: —-.366 At contra Gravius plus in fe Corporis effe Dedicat, & multé Vacui minus intus babere. Eft igitur nimirum id, quod ratione fagact Querimus, admiftum rebus quod Inane vocamus.
Wud
Book I, Of the Nature of Things.
- Brsipes * though Things’ appear of folid Parts compofed, yet you will find-‘them, in fome meafure, form’d of Bodies that are rare : the 11- quid Moifture of the Water {weats through Rocks and Stones, and all Things weep with Drops a- buhdant; the Food that every Creature eats, difs perfes through the Body ; the Trees increafe and grow, and in due Seafon fhew their Fruit ; be- caufe the Juice is from. the lower Roots fpread through the Trunk, and over all the Boughs. Sounds pafs through ftrong Partitions, and fly
quick through Walls of Houfes, and the piercing Ὁ
Cold ftrikes through the very Bones; but were no Void, no empty Space, that Bodies e’er fhould pafs, you’d finda Thing impoffible to prove. Acain, * why do we fee fonte Things exceed others in Weight, tho’ of an equal Size? For if as much of Body went to form a Ball of Wooll, _ as made a Ball of Lead, their Weight would be the fame; for the Quality of Body 1s to prefs downward: but a perfect Void by Nature has no Weight; fo that a Body of equal Size, but lighter in its Weight, proves it has more of empty Space. So again, the heavier Body has more of folid Parts *tis plain; and has within it lefs of Void. And this is doubtlefs what with Reaion’s fearching Eye we look for, mixed with Things, we call it Spage.
τ Some Bodies, he obferves, pierce and diftil through Things
that feem to be moft folid, as Water through Stones, which ,
could never be, were there not between the Particles of thefe es fome void Spaces, through which thefe Bodies might pa{s.
Z It is hard to conceive why two Bodies of the fame Shape and Size fhould weigh one more than the other, except the one had more of Body, to which Weight is natural, and the other more of Void, which has no Weight at all,
Vou], D | Bur
33
34
T. Lucreril Liz. I,
Iiludin bis rebus, ne te deducere vero
Poffit, quod quidam fingunt, precurrere cogor 3
Cedere Squamigeris latices nitentibus aiunt,
Et liquidas aperive vias 5 quia poft loca Pifces
Linquant, quo poffint cedentes confluere unde, 378
Sic alias quogue res inter fe polfe mover,
Et mutare locum, quamvis fint omnia plena:
Scilicet id falfa totum ratione receptum ft.
Nam qué Squamigeri poterunt procedere tandem,
Ni [patium dederint latices? concedere porro 480
Quo poterunt unde, cum pifces ire nequibunt ὃ
Aut igitur motu privandum ft corpora queque 5
Aut effe adinifium dicendum ft rebus INANE 5
Unde initium primum capiat res queque movendi. Poftremo duo de concurfu Corpora lata, 488
Si cita diffiliant, nempe acr omne neceffe °ft,
Inter corpora quod fuvat, pofidat INANE.
Is porro, quamvis circum celerantibus auris
Confluat, haud poterit tamen uno tempore totum
Complere fpatium: Nam primum quemque neceffe *ft
Occupet ille locum, deinde omnia poffideantur. 39%
Quod fi forte aliquis, cum Corpora diffiluere,
Tum putat id fieri, quia fe condenfeat aér,
Errat,; nam Vacuum tum fit, quod non fuit antes
Li repletur item, Vacuum quod confiitit ante: 395
Nee
—
Boox I. Ofzhe Nature of Things. 35
But Iam forc’d to ftep before, and an{fwer
what fome pretend, left you fhould be feduced
ftom Truth: t They fay the Waters yield to Fifh
making their way, and ope their liquid Paths ;
for when the Fifh have left a Space, that inftant
thither the yielding Waters circling flow. By
the fame Rule, all Beings may be moved among
themfelves, and change their former Place, though
all Things fhould be full: but this, ’tis plam, 1s
falfe throughout; for how could Fifh advance
at all, unlefs the Waters gave them way? And
whither fhould the Waves retire, if the Fifh did
not move, and leave a Space behind ? So that
all Bodies muft.be deprived of Motion, or you
muft fay a Voidis mixed with every Thing from whence each Being firft derives a Power to move.
Lastiy", if two broad Bodies meet, and in- {tantly are feparated again, the Air muft needs fill up the Void that is between; but this Air, though it fhould hurry with its fwifteft Powers, it cannot all at once fill up the Space, thefe Bodies will difclofe at parting ; firft the neareft Part will be filled up, and then the more remote, until the whole be full.
Tr one fhould fay, when théfe flat Bodies meet the Air iscondens°’d, but when they part the Air is rarified, *tis a Miftake; for then there mutt be Void where there was none before, and that Void that was before muft now be full; in fuch a
. t The Water could not give way unlefs there was an empty Place for it to retiré to; and therefore there muft be a Void mix’d with Bodies, or there could be no Motion at all.
If two fmooth broad Bodies meet, arid are parted of a fudden, a Void will be caufed by their Diffolution;. for all Matter muft have been driven away by thofe two Bodies, and therefore the Space that opens between them, as they part, will be void of all Body. |
D2 Cafe,
36
T. Lucretir Liz.
Nec tali ratione poteft denferier aér,
Nec, fijam pofet, fine Inant poffet, opinor,
Se ipfe in fe trahere, &F parteis conducere in unum 5
Qua propter, quamvis caufando multa moreris,
Εἰ in rebus INANE tamen fateare neceffe’ft. 400 Multaque praterea tibi poljum commemorande
Argumenta, fidem diétis, conradere noftris :
Verum animo fatis bec veftisia parva fagaci
Sunt, per qua poffis cognofcere celera Tute: —
Namque Canes ut montivage perfepe ferat 405
Naribus inveniunt intettas frunde quietes,
Cum femel infirterunt vefitgia certa vial:
Sic alid ex alio per te Tute ipfe videre
Talibus in rebus poteris, cecafque latebras
LInfinuare omneis, &3 Verum protrabere inde: 419 Quod fi pigraris, paullumve abfcefferis ab re,
Hoc tibi de plano poffum promittere, ΜΙ ἘΜ Με:
U/que adeo largos bauftus de fontibu? magnis
Lingua meo fuavis ditt de peciore fundet,
Ut verear, ne tarda prius per membra Senedius AVS
Serpat, & in Nobis Vitat claufira refolvat,
Qitam tibi de quavis una re verfibus omnis
Argumentorum fit copia miffa per aureis.
Sed nunc jam repetam ceptum pertexere dittis : Omnis, ut eft, igitur, per fe, Natura, duabus 420
Confiftit rebus, nam Corpora funt, & INanz,
flac in quo βία funt, & qua diverfa moventur :
Corpus enim per fe communis deliquat effe
Senfus ; quo nifi prima fides fundata vakelit,
Elaud erit occultis de rebus quo referentes Los
Confirmare animi quicquam ratione queamus.
Tum porro Locus, ac Spatium, quod INANE vocamius,
Si nullum foret, baud ufquam fita Corpora poffent
Efe, neque omnino quaquam diverfa meare ;
Ld quod jam fuperatibi paullo oftendimus ante: 430
_ Preteree
Book I. Of the Nature of Things. 37 Cafe, the Air can’t be condens’d ; and if it could, it can’t without a Void contract itfelf, and fo reduce its Parts into a clofer Space: Wherefore, perplex the Matter as you pleafe, you muft con-. tefs in Things there 1s a Void.
I covtp by many Arguments confirm this Syftem of a Void, and fix. your Faith to what I fay; burt thefe {mall Tracks I have drawn, to fuch a fearching Mind, wil] be enough; the reft you may find out without a Guide. For as ftaunch Ffounds, once put upon the Foot, will by the Nofe foon roufe the Mountain Game from their thick Covers; fo you,. in Things like thefe, will one Thing by another trace, will hunt for ‘Truth in every dark Reeefs, and draw her thence.
‘Burt if you doubt, or in the leaft object towhat - I fay, 1 freely promife this, my Memmius, my. tuneful Tongue fhall, from the mighty Store that fills my Heart, pour out fuch plenteous Draughts from the deep Springs, that tardy Age I fear will firft creep through my Limbs, and quite break down the Gates of Life, before Ican explain in Verfe the many Arguments that give a Light to one Particular. But now 1 fhall. So on to finith regularly whatI begun. τ.
Au Nature Perce in itfelf confidered, 18 ¢7,,.. 3, one of thefe, is Body or is Space; in which all norhing be- Things are placed, and from whence th € various/é des Body Metions of all Beings fpring. That there is Bo- “141 οἷά. dy common Senfe will fhew, this asa fundamen- tal Truth muft be allowed, or there is nothing we can fix ascertain in our Perfuit of hidden Tings, by which to find the Truth, or prove it when *tis found. Then if there were no Place or Space, we call it Void, Bodies could have no wherg to be, nor could they move atall, as we have fully proved to ΠῚ before.
2 BESIDES,
&
38
T. Lucretizt Lis.l.
Preterea nibil eft, quod poffis dicere ab omni Corpore /ejunctum, fecretumque effe ab INANI: Quod quaft tertia fit rerum natura reperta.
Nam quodcunque erit, effe aliquid debebit id ipfum Augmine vel grandi, vel parvo denique dum fit, 435 Cui fi Tactus erit quamvis levis, exiguafque, Corporum augebit numerum, fummamque fequetur 3 Sin Intaétile erit, nulla de parte quod ullam
Rem probibere queat per fe tranfire meaniem ; Scilicet hoe id erit Vacuum, quod Inane vocamus. 440
Praterea per fe quodcunque erit, aut faciet quid,
Aut aliis fungi debebit agentibus ipfum ;
Aut erit ut poffint in eo res effe, gerique:
Lt facere &S fungi fine CORPORE nulla potefi res:
Nec prebere locum porro, nifi Inane, Vacanfque 445
Ergo preter Inanz, & Corpora, éertia per fe
Nulla poteft rerum in numero natura relinqui 5
Nec, qua fub fenfus cadat ullo tempore noftros,
Nec, ratione animi quam quifquaim poffit apifci.
Nam quecunque cluent, aut his Conyuncr a dua- bus | 450
Rebus ea invenies; aut borum Event a videbis.
Conjunttum ft id, quod nunquam fine pernicialt
Difcidio potis eft fejungi, feque gregari :
Pondus uti faxis, Calor ignibu’?, Liquor aquai,
Tatius Corporibus cunctis, Inta&tus Inani. 455.
Servitium contra, Libertas, Divitieque, ¥
Paupertas, Bellum, Concordia, cetera, quorunt .
Adventu manet incolumis natura, abituque, |
flac foliti fumus, ut par et, EVENT a vocare.
Tempus
D
HOOK Ι. Of the Vature of Tain ὁ"
Besipes, there is Nothing you can ftrictly fay, It neither Body is nor Void, which you may call a third Degree of Things diftinét from thefe. For every Being muft in Quantity: be more or lefs; and if it canbe touch’d, tho’? ne’er fo {mall or
light, it muft be Body, ‘and fo efteemed 5 ΓΕ.
it can’t be touch’d, and has not in itfelf a Power to {top the Courfe of other Bodies as they pals, this 1s the Vozd we call an empty Space.
Acatin, *whatever Is muft either act itfelf, or be by other Agents acted on; or muft be fome- what in which other Bodies muft have a Place and move ; but Nothing without Body can act, or be acted on; and where can this be done, but in a Vacuum or empty Space? Therefore, befide what Body is or Space, no third Degree in Nature can be found, Nothing that ever can affeét our Senfe, or by the Power of Thought can be conceiv’d, All other Things youll find effential Conjuntts, or elfe the Events or Accidents of thefe. 1 call effential Conjunct, what’s fo joined to a ‘Thing that it cannot, without fatal Violence, be forced or parted from j it; fuch 15 Weight to Stones, to Fire Heat, Moifture to the Sea, Touch to all Bodies, and not to be touch’d effential 1s to Void; but, on the contrary, Bondage, Liberty, Riches, Poverty, War, Concord, or the like, which not affect the Nature of the Thing, but when they come or when they go, the Thing remains en- tire; thefe, as *tis fit we fhould, we call Events.
ὡ Nothing exifts but Body and Void ; for whatever is, ei- ther has a Power of acting on another, or may fuffer from an- other: that is, it muit be fibjedt either to Action or Paffion, and that muft ὯΝ Δ Body ; : or it muft be that in which T hings are contained, and in which they are made and moved, and that is the Void.
D 4 ¥ TIME
39
4.0
T. Lucrerit Liz. [.
Tempus stem per fe non eft, fed Rebus ab ipfis 460 Coufequitur fenfus, tranfactum quid ft in evo, Tum que Res infiet ; quid porro deinde fequatur: Nec per fe quemquam Lumpus fentire fatendu’ft Semotum abrerum motu, placidaque quiete.
Denique Tyndaridern raptam, belloque fubattas 46 5 Trojugenas genteis cum dicunt effe, videndu “ff, ὁ Ne forte hac per fe, cogant nos, effe fateri: Quando ca fecla bominum, quorum bec eventa fuere Irrevocabilis abjtulerit jam preterita «145. Namque alind Rebus, aliud regionibus ipfis 470. EVENTUM dict poterit, quodcungue erit acium.
Denique Materies fi rerum nulla fuiffet,
Nec Locus, ac Spatium, res in quo queque geruntur y Nunquam Tyndaridis forme conflatus amore
Ignis Alexandri Phrygio fub pectore glifcens 475 Clara, accendiffet ri certamina belli :
Nec clam durateus Trojams Pergama parte Inflammaffet equus nolurno Grajugenarum 9 Perfpicere ut ρος Res Gefias funditus omnets,
Non ita, uti Corpus, per fe conftare nec effe: 480 Nec ratione cluere eadem, qua conftat INANE;
Sed
Boox 1. Of the Nature of Things.
Y Time likewife of itfeif is Nothing; our Senfe collects from Things themfelves what has been done long fince, the Thing that prefent is, and what’sto come. For no one, we mutt own, eer thought of Time diftinct from Things in Motion or at Reif,
For when the Poets fing of * Helen’s Rape, or of the Trojan State fubdued by War, we mutt not fay that thefe Things do exift now in them- felves, fince Time, irrevocably paft, has long- fince fwept away that Race of Men that were the Caufe of thoie Events; for every Act is either properly the Event of ‘Things, or of the Places where thofe Things are done.
FuRTHER, If Things were not of Matter form’d, were there no Place or Space where Things might act, the Fire that burn?d in Paris? Heart, blown up by Love of He/en’s Beauty, had never rais’d the famous Contelts of a cruel Wars nor had the Wooden Horfe fet Trey on fire, dif charging from his Belly in the Night the armed Greeks : from whence you plainly feé that AGions do not of themielves fubfift, as Bodies do, nor are in Nature fuch as isa Void, but rather are
7 Pythagoras, Heraclitus and others believed, that Time
was a Body; but Lucretius calls it an Event, attributed to Things by the Mind or Thought only, according as they are gonceived to perfevere πὶ the State in which they are, cr to ceafe from it, and to preferve a longer or fhorter Exiftence, and to have it, or to have had it, or tobe to have it. Epicu- rus, becaufe he faw that Time is nothing befides Body and Void, afferted, that it does not exift of itfelf, nor as a Con- junct or Event, but as the chief Event of Events; he taught, that it exifts not in Reality, but only in the Mind, and there- fore may properly be called a Being of the Underitanding.
_ 5 The Rape of Helen, and the Deftrution of Troy, are not at this time, nor do exift in themfelves as Eody and Void dp, but are, as it were, the Events of ‘Things, of Perfons, or of Places, for the ‘Time pait has carried off thofe Men of whom
thofe Attions are Events, μ᾿
Gore :
ALY
42
T. Lucretitr Lis. 1.
Sed magis ut merito pofis EVENT A vocare
Corporis, atque Loct, res in quo queque gerantur. Corpora funt porro partim Primordia rerum,
Partim Concilio que conftant principiorum. 485
Sed que funt rerum Primordia, nulla poteft vis
Stringere; wam Solido vincunt ea corpora demum :
Et fi difficile effe videtur credere quicquam
In rebus Solido reperiri corpore poffe ; -
Tranfit enim Fulmen celi per fepta domorum, 490
Clamor ut, ac Voces: Perrum candefeit in igne:
Diffiliuntque fero ferventia Saxa vapore:
Conlabefattatus rigor Auri folvitur eftu:
Tum glacies ZL ris famma devitia liquefcit :
Permanat calor Argentum, penetraleque frigus 495
Quando utrumque, manu retinentes pocula rite,
Senfimus infufo lympharum rore fuperne:
Ufque adeo in rebus Solidi nibil effe videtur.
Sed quia vera tamen ratio, naturaque rerum
Cogit, ades, paucis dum verfibus expediamus, 500
ΕΠ ea, que Solido atque eterno corpore conftent,
Semina que rerum, Primordiaque effe docemus: Unde omnis Rerum nunc confiet Summa creata. Principio quoniam duplex natura duarum Diffimilis rerum longe conftare reperta ft 505 Corporis atque Loci, res in quo queque geruntur 5 ἘΠ utramque fibi per fe, puramque neceffe*f : Nam quacungque vacat Spatium, quod Inane vocamus 3 Corpus e4 non eft: qud porro cunque tenet fe Corpus, ea vacuum nequaquam confiat Inane. 510 Sunt igitur Solida, ac fine Inani Corpora prima.
Praeterea
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things. 43 more juftly called the Events of Body, and of
Space, where Things are carried on,
Lastuiy, Bodies are either the firft Seeds of Things, or formed by the uniting of thofe Seeds. The fimple Seeds of Things no Force can {train, their folid Parts will never be fubdued. Tho’ it is dificult, I own, to think that any Thing in Nature can be found perfeétly folid ; for Heaven’s Thunder paffes through the Walls of Houfes, juft as Sound or Words; Iron inthe Fire erows hot, and burning Stones fly into pieces by the raging Heat; the Stiffnefs of the Gold 1s Joofed by Fire, and made to run; the hard and folid Brafs, fubdued by Flames, diffolves ; the Heat and piercing Cold paffes through Sii- ver; both of thefe we find, as in our Hand we © hold a Cup, and at the Top pour Water hot or cold: fo nothing wholly folid feems to be found in Nature. But becaufe Reafon and the fixed State of Things oblige me, hear, Ibeg, while in few Verfes we evince, that there are Beings that confift of folid and everlafting Matter which we call the Seeds, and the firft Principles of Things, from whence the whole of Things begin to be.
Awon, firft, becaule we Ond two Sorts of The Seeds Things unlike in Nature, in themfelves diftin&, #7 Soéd. Body and Space, *tis necefiary each flould be en- tire, and feparate in itfelf; for where there isa Space which we call Void, there Nothing is of Body; fo where Body is, there Nothing is of empty Space: and therefore fuch Things there are as Solids and firft Seeds, which Nothing in them can admit of Void.
* He comes now to difpute more at large concerning Bodies, which he divides info Simple and Compound, and aflerts, that Simple Bodies, or the Principles of the Compounds, are moit
folid, perfettly full, and contain no Void; tho’ he allows this 4s very hard to conceive.
I BESIDES,
44
ς Tt. Lucretil LATS, te
Preterea quoniam genitis inrebus Inane °ft,
-Materiem circum Soltdam conftare neceffe *ft :
Nec res ulla poteft vera ratione probari
Corpore Inane fuo celare aique intus babere, 515 Si non, quod cobibet, Solidum conftare relinquas.
Id porro nibil effe poteft, nifi Materiai
Concilium, quod Inane queat rerum cobibere. Materies igitur Solido que corpore sonftat,
Life eterna poteft, cum cetera diffoluantur. 620
Tum porro fi nil effet, quod Inane vacaret,
Omne foret Solidum 3 nift contra corpora ceca Effent, que loca complerent, quecunque tenerent : Omne, quod eft, Spatium vacuum confiaret Inane. Alternis igitur nimirum Corpus Inani 525 Diftiniu?ft, quoniam nec Plenum naviter extat ; Nec porro Vacuum: funt ergo corpora caca,
Que Spatium Pleno point diftinguere Tnane.
Flac neque diffolut plagis extrinfecis iffa Poffunt: nec porro penitus penetrata retexiz 530 Nec ratione queunt alia tentata labare:
14 quod jam fupera tibi paullo oftendimus ante,
Nam neque conlidi fine Inani poffe videtur
Quicquam, nec frangi, nec findi in bina fecando:
Nec capere bumorem, neque item manadbile frigus,
Nec penetralem ignem, quibus omnia conficiuntur,
Et quam quaeque magiscobibet res intus Inane, 539
Tam magis his rebus penitis tentata labafcit.
Ergo, fi Solida, ac fine Inani Corpora prima
Sunt, ita uti docui, fint hec Atterna neceffe’ft. 540 Preterea, nift Materies Ze terna furffet,
Antebac
Ὁ
Book I. Of che Nature of Things. 46
Besipes ; becaufe in all created Things there is a Void, ’tis neceffary fome folid Matter fhould ftill include this Yotd; nor can you prove, by any Rule of Reafon, that any Thing contains within it felf an empty Space, unlefs you will allow what holds it in is perfect folid; and this is Nothing elfe but the clofe Union of firft Seeds, which bind and do confine within themfelves this Yozd. Mat- ter therefore compofed of folid Parts eternal is, when all Things elfe mutft die.
FurTHER, if there was no fuch Thing as we call Void, every Thing would-be folid; then again, unlefs there were fome Things folid to All up the Space they hold, all would be empty Space. Body from Space therefore is in itfelf di- ftinct; forall is neither full, nor is all Yoid; and therefore there are folid Seeds which make a Dif- ference between Full and Space. ‘
Tuese folid Seeds by no Force from without can be diffolved, nor can they be deftroyed by be- ing pierced within, nor made to yield by any other Means, as proved before. For Nothing can be brui- fedwithouta/ozd, or broken or by Force be cleft in two, or receive Moifture, or the piercing Cold, or. fearching Fire which all Things elfe deftroys. And the more of Void the folid Seeds confine, the 726 Seeds fooner when they are ftruck will they diffolve, af and fall to pieces*; therefore, if thefe firft Seeds””” are folid, free from Void, they, as I faid, muft be eternal, and from Death fecure.
Acatn, if Matter had not been eternal, ‘long
before
᾿ς ΡΒ Having afferted the Solidity of his Atoms, he proves they
are eternal ; for Solids are perfeCtly full, contain no Void, and
therefore are not fubject to Diffolution, or to a Separation and Divifibility of Parts.
© If the firft Seeds of Things were diffolved, they would
fall into Nothing ; for there are no Principles, prior to thefirft, into
46
Ti Bienetie ΤΕΡΕ. Ἐ,
Antehac ad Nihilum penitus res queque rediffent ; De Nibiloque renata forent quecunque videmus. At quoniam fupera docui Niu poffe creari De Nibilo, neque quod genitu’/t ad Nilrevocari: 545 Effe immoriali Primordia corpore debent, . Diffolvr quo queque [upremo tempore poffint 9 Maieries ut fuppeditet rebus reparandis. Sunt igitur Solida Primordia fimplicitate, Nec ratione queunt alia fervata per cvum 550 Ex infinite jam tempore res reparare.
Denique, fi nullam finem Natura pardffet
, Frangendis rebus, jam Corpora materiai
U/que redatia forent, evo frangente priore,
Ut nihil ex illis a-certo tentpore poffet 553 Conceptum, fummum atatis pervadere florem: Nam quidvis citins diffolvi poffe videmus,
Quam rurfus refict. Quapropter longa diez
Infinite etas anteatti temporis omnis
Quod fregiffet adbuc, difturbans, diffoluenfque, 560
Id nunquam reliquo reparari tempore poffet :
At nunc nimirum frangendi reddita finis
Certa manet : quoniam refici rem quamquevidemus, Lt finita fimul generatim tempora rebus
Siare, quibus poffint evi contingere florem. δ65
Fate
Book I. Of the Nature of Things.
before now all Beings had return’d to Nothing, and each Being we behold again had been reftored from Nothing; but, as before I proved, Nothing from Nothing can be made, and what was once in Being can ne’erto Nothing be reduced ; it fol- lows, thofe firft Seeds muft be compofed of Prin- ciples immortal, into which at laft each Being muft diffolve, and thence fupply an everlafting Stock of Matter to repair the Things decay’d. Thefe firft Seeds therefore are folid and fimple, elfe they could not Jaft entire through Ages paft and infinite, torepair Beings perifhed and diffolv’d.
Bur ΠῚ], ¢if Nature had prefix’d no Bounds in breaking Things to pieces, the Parts of Matter, broken by every paffing Age, had been reduced fo {mall, thas Nothing could of them be form’d that would in any time become mature; for Things we fee much fooner are diffolv’d than are again reftored; and therefore what an infinite Tract of Ages paft has broken, and feparated and diffolv’d, in future Time can never be re- paired ; fo that certain Bounds of breaking and dividing muft be fet, becaufe we fee each Being is repaired, and ftated Times are fixed to every
Thing in which it feels the Flower of its Age.
into which they can be refolved; and thus the Things that are daily born would arife from Nothing; it muft therefore be al- lowed either that the Seeds are eternal, or that Things pro- ceed from Nothing, which the Philofophers held as the grea- το Abfurdity.
ὁ The Seeds of Things are of a fixed Magnitude, and in- diffoluble ; for had they been broken and wafted for fo vaft a “ταδὶ of Time as is already paft, they would have been redu- ced into Parts fo extremely {mall, that they could never in any Length of Years, and therefore not ina few, be re-united and
rade up again into one Mais,
AnD
47
48
ΤΙ. Lives Part Lusk
Huc accedit, uti Solidifima materiat Corpora cum confiant, poffint tamen omnia reddi Mollia, que fant, Aér, Aqua, Terra; Vapores, Quo patio fant, S qua vi cunque genantur, “ἀρ δι quoniam fimul eft in rebus Inane. 570 At contra, fi Mollia fint Primordia rerum; Unde queant validi filices, ferrumque creart; Non poterit ratioreddi. Nam funditus omnis Principio fundamenti Natura carebit. Sunt igitur Solida pollentia fimplicitate, 575 Quorum condenfo magis omnia concilatu Ar ttari poffunt, validafque oftendere vireis.
Denique jam guoniam generatim reddita finis Crefcendi rebus conftat, vitamque tuendi, Et quid queque queant per federa Naturai, 580 Quid porro nequeant fancitum quandoquidem exftat : Nec commutatur quicquam, quin omnia conftant, ἔγημε adeo, varie volucres ut in ordine cuntie Oftendant maculas generaleis corpori ineffe : Immutabile materie quoque corpus babere 58 δ᾽ Debent nimirum. Nam fi Primordia rerum Commutari aliqua poffent ratione revilta, Incertum quoque jam conftet, quid poffit oriri, Quid nequeat , finita poteftas denique quoigue Quanam fii vatione, atque alté terminus bereat;59°
Nee
Bool. Of the Mature of Things. 49
Anp yet, © though the firft Seeds of Things Wtence are folid, all Beings that are compounded, fuch as?7oceceds Air and Water, Earth and Fire, maybe foft, 5/7: (however made, or by what Power form’d) and - from them be produced, becaufe there is a Void ‘ftill mix’d with Things; and, on the contrary; if thefe firft Seeds were foft, what Reafon can there be affign’d whence hatdned Flints and Iron could be form’d, for Nature would want the proper Principles to work upon; and therefore thefe firft Seeds muft fimple-Solids be, by whofe Union clofe and compact all Things are bound up firm, and fo difplay their Strength and hardy Force.
Acatn, * becaufe each Being in its Kind has certain Bounds prefix’d to its Increafe; and to the Prefervation of its Life, and fince by Nature’s Laws it is ordained to each how far their Powers to actornotextend; fince Nothing changes, and every Thing goes on as it began, each Kind of Birds, moft fteady in their Courfe, fhew .the fame Colours painted on their Wings, the Prin-. ¢iplesof Matter whence they {pring mutt be fix’d and unchangeable ; if the Seeds of Things could change by any Means, ’twould be unknown what could be form’d, what not; by what Means every Being is limited, and ftops fhort within the Bounds it cannot break ; nor could
© Soft Bodies may be compounded οὗ folid Seeds by the In- termixture of Void; but it the Seeds were foft, how hard Bodies fhould be made from them is impoftible to conceive.
f How could Animals carry always upon them the diftin- guifhing Marks of their feveral Kinds, if they were not formed of Principles nct liable to Change or Diffolution? If the Seeds could be changed or diffoived, neither Men nor any other Animals would retain their ufual Shapes ; fome would enjoy a prodigious Strength and Length of Days, while others of the fame Kind would be puny and fhort-lived. We fhould fee frequently white Crows, and fometimes black Swans.
οι,» Ι. Ἧ, the
| T. Lucretii - Lind Nec toties poffent generatim fecla referre Naturam, motus, viétum, morefque parentum. Tum porro, quoniam extremum cujufquecacumen ; Corporis eft aliquod, noftri quod cernere fenfus
Fam nequeunt, id nimirum fine partibus exftat, 595
Et Minima conftat natura, nec fuit unquam
Per fe fecretum, neque pofthac effe valebit :
Alterius quoniam eft ipfum pars, primaque, &F ima: Inde alia, atque ale fimiles ex ordine partes Agmine condenfo naturam Corporis explent. 600 Que quoniam per fe nequeunt conftare neceffe °ft
Herere, ut nequeant ulla ratione revelli.
Sunt igitur Solida Primordia fimplicitate ;
Qua minimis ftipata coherent partibus arte.
Non ex ullorum conventu conciliata, - δος Sed magis eterna pollentia Simplicitate :
Unde neque avelli quicquam, neque diminui jam Concedit Natura refervans femina rebus.
Praterea, nifi erit Minimum, Parviffima queque Corpora confiabunt ex partibus Infinitis ; 616 Quippe ubi dimidie partis pars femper habebit Dimidiam partem, nec res perfiniet ulla:
Ergé rerum inter fummam, minimamque qui efcit ὃ
\
Non
I. Of the Nature of Things.
the Courfe of Time tn every Age, the Nature, Motion, Diet, and the Manners of the old Sire imprefs upon the Young. | Besipes, ® becaufe the utmoft Point or the Extreme of every Body fomething is the Eye cannot difcern,; it ts not made of Parts, but is in Natute what we call the Leaf ; which ne’er ex- Hts of itfelf, divided from Body, nor ever can, becaufe it is the very Firft and Laft of fomething elfe. For ’tis by heaping up fuch Parts as thefe, one by another, that complete the Being of every Body. Since then they can’t fubfift apart, and feparate, they muft needs ftick clofe, nor be di- vided by the utmoft Force. ‘Fhefe Seeds there- fore are in their Nature folid, and fimple, form’d of fmalleft Parts bound clofe ; nét tied together by united Seeds ‘of various Kinds, but in them-
felves entire, eternally unmix’d and pure, from’:
which Nature wilt fuffer Nothing: to be forced or leffened, referving. them as firft Seeds, to form and to repair thofe Things that die.
“tg
eX
Acain, ἢ fuppofe there was no Leaf, the 4oms:
{malleft Bodies muft be compofed of Parts bound- [εἰς and infinite; the Half of every Being muft then contain another Half, fo there would be no End of ftill dividing ; and where would be the Difference between the {malleftand the largeft Bo-
ὃ Every Seed is of neceffity fimple and indiffoluble, becaufe it confifts of Parts even the leaft that can be conceived, and which no Art or Strength can disjoin, becaufe no Art or Strength can reduce into Nothing ; for Nothing goes into Nothing.
Ὁ The firft Seeds are eternal and not to be diffolved, not be- caufe they are deftitute of Parts, but becaufe they are folid,: and therefore cannot be broken in pieces, nor divided by the greateft Force. ‘Thefe Parts have no Parts, and are purely Mathematical ; for unlefs fuch Leafs are allowed, there would be no Inequality between the greateft and the fmalleft Things, becaufe either of them would contain infinite Parts alike; and thus both of them would be infinite, which is abfurd.
kK 2 dies ?
T, Lucreris Lis. 1
Non erit ut diftent: nam quamvis funditus omnis Summa fit tnfinita, tamen Parviffima que funi, 615 Ex Infinitis canjtabunt partibus eque, Quoi quoniam ratio reclamat vera, negatque Credere pofje animum, vittus fateare neceffe ft, Effe ea que nullis jam predita partibus exftent,. Et Minima conftent natura. Que quoniam funt, 620 Tila quoque effe tibi Solida, atque Aterna fatendum.
Denique ni Minimas in parteis cuntia refolui ἢ Cogere confuéfet rerum Natura creatrix, Fam nibil ex illis eadem reparare valeret : Propterea quia, que multis funt partibus audla, 625 No poffunt ea, que debet Genitalis babere Materies, varios Connexus, Pondera, Plagas, Concurfus, Motus, per que res queque geruntur.
Porro, fi nulla’ft frangendis reddita finis Corporibus, tamen ex eterno tempore quedam 6598 Nunc etiam fuperare neceffe ft Corpora rebus, ΄ Que nondum clueant ullo tentata periclo: At quoniam fragili natura predita conftant, Difcrepat eternum tempus potuiffe manere Tnnumerabilibus plagis vexata per evum. 635
Quapropter, qui Materiem rerum effe putdrunt lenem, atque ex ignt Summam conjiftere folo
Magnopere
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
dies? None in the leaft ; for though thé whole be intirely infinite, yet Bodies that are {malleft would contain wei Parts alike, which, fince true Reafon exclaims againft, nor will Chien: the Mind to give affent, you muft, convinced, profefs that τάς are Bodies which are void of Parts, and are
by Nature Leaff; fince fuch there are, you mult
admit them Solid and Eternal.
Lastiy, iif Nature, Parent of Things, had not compelled all Things that perith then to be refolv’d into Leaf Parts, fhe could from them repair Nothing that dies; for Bodies that. are form’d of various Parts can never be endued with Properties, which the firft Seeds of Things ought to poffefs, as Union, Weight, and Force, A- ereement, Motion, by which all Things ak.
ΑΝ yet, * fuppofe that Nature had allowed no End to Bodies being divided, yet fome Bo- dies from Eternity mutt have been, which by no
Force could ever be fubdued. But Bodies that are form’d of brittle Seeds, and to be broken;
could not have remained for Ages infinite, vexed as they have béen with endlefs Blows, but muft have been diffolv’d.
WHEREFORE, thofe Sages A wt have thought that Fire is the firft Principle of Things, tial from that‘alone the whole is ‘form’d, do oe Ἢ
1 If N nee oat d not - Jeffen even to the minuteft Mites, the Matter of which Things: are formed would be unff to underga thofe Changes, and receive thofe Figures, to which it mult ve expofed; for if thofe minute Bodies were formed of feveral Parts, and contained within them any Void, they would not be “αν with an equal Weight, or uniform Motion ; and therefore could neverbe united ‘together.
k If there were no Sclids which could not be diffolv- ed, where can we find thofe Bodies that from Eternity have re- mained unbroken ? for frail Atoms, that for fo long a Tract of Time have been expofed to infinite Strokes and Glows, mult of neceihity have been diffoived.
ye err
53
ee
T. Lucretir Lis. Ἐ
“Magnopere a vera lapft ratione videntur.
HERACTITUS 2711 quorum dux prelia primus, Clarus ob obfcuram linguam magis inter inaneis, 6 40 Quamde graveis inter Graios, qui vera requirunt. Onnia enim Stolidi magis admirantur, amantque Inverfis que fub verbis latitantia cernunt :
Veraque conjfituunt, que belle tangere poffunt Aureis, &8 lepido que funt fucata fonore. 645 Nam cur tam varie res poffent effe, requiro, —
Ex vero fi funt Igni, puroque create ?
Nil prodeffet enim calidum denferier Ignem,
Nec rarefieri, fi partes Ignis eandem
Naturam, quam totus habet fuper Ignis, haberent.
Acrior Ardor enim conductis paytibus effet: 65%
Languidior porro disjectis, difque fupatis.
Amplius boc fieri nibil eft, quod poffe rearis
oi alibus in caufi is, nedum variantia rerum
Tanta queat denfis varifque ex Ignibus effe. 655 Atque Hi fi faciant, admiftum rebus Inane ;
Denferi poterunt Ignes, rarique relingui Σ᾿ ;
Sed, quia multa fibi cernunt contraria, muffant,
Et fugitant in rebus Inane relinguere purum, EP,
Ardua dum metuunt, amittunt vera viai: 660
Nec rurfum cernunt exempto.rebus Inant,
Omnia denferi, fierique ex omnibus unum
᾿ς | : Corpus,
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things. 55
err from the true Rule of Reafon. The Cham- <gain/ pion of thefe, " Heraclitus, enters firft the Lifts, "τὰ more famed for dark Expreffion among empty ~ Greeks, than with the Wife, who fearch for Truth; for none but Fools admire, and love what they fee couch’d in Words abftrufe ; .and that they take for Truth which quaintly moves the Ear, and painted o’er affects by witty Jing- _ ling of the Sound.
or how fuch various Beings could arife, I afk, if form’d from pure and rea] Fire? To fay, ™that the hot Fire is now condens’d, and fometimes rari- fied, would noughtavail; the feveral Parts mutt ftill retain the Nature of Fire, the fame which the Fire - had when whole; the Heat would be more fierce, the Parts condens’d, more languid when divided and made rare, ‘There’s nothing more than this you can derive from Caufes fuch as thefe, much lefs fo great Variety of Things can be produced from Fire or Flame, condenfed or made rare.
InpEED, would they admit in Things a Void, Fire then might becondens’d orrarified ; but This, becaufeitcontradicts their Schemes,they murmurat, and willallow in Thingsno empty Space: So, while they fear to grant this difficult Truth, they lofe the Way that’s right, nor dothey fee, by not al- lowing there'is in Things-a Void, all Bodies would be denfe, and out of all one only would be ~ 1 He taught, that all Things are made of Fire, and re- folv’d again into Fire; and tho’ the Poet fingles out this Phi- lofopher, he takes it for granted, that his Arguments conclude as ftrongly againft others ; fince whatever oppofes this Doc- frine of Fire, will equally hold good againft the Air, or any other oi the Elements. ~ , |
™ Heraclitus afferted, that Fire, by being condenfed, grows moilt, and fo becomes Air ; and the Air, by Compreffion, be- comes Water; which Water, by Condenfation, 15 turned into
Earth : But this is not proved ; for the mare the Fire is condenfed, the more it is Fire, and the Rarifaction is nothing to the pur-
Fete : for sarify Fire as much as you will, it will itill be Fire. | 4, made,
AT) Duersti: Lis. I Corpus, nil ab fe quod poffit sittere raptim, Asfifer Ignis uti lumen jacit, atque vaporem : Ut videas non é fiipatis partibus effe. 665 Quod fi forte ulla credunt ratione poteffe | Lgneis in cou fiingui, mutareque corpus 3 Scilicet ex ulla facere id fi parte reparcent, Occidet.ad Nibiluim nimirum funditus Ardor Omnis, 9 ex Nibilo fient quecunque creantur, 670 Nam quodcunque [ες mutatum finibus exit, Continuo hoc mors eft illius, quod fuit ante ς Proinde aliquid fuperare neceffe ’/t incolume olli, Ne tibi ves redeant ad Nilum funditus omnes, De Nibiloque renata virefcat copia rerum. 675 Nunc igitur, quoniam certiffima corpora quedam Sunt, que confervani naturam femper eandem, Quorum abitu, aut aditu, mutatogue ordine, mutant Naturam res, 85 convertunt corpora [δὴ Scire licet non effe bec Igneacorpora rerum. 680 Nil referret enim quedam decedere, abire, Atque alia attribui, mutavique ordine quedam, Si tamen Ardoris naturam cunéia tenerent. Ὁ Ignis enim foret. omnimodis, quodcunque crearent. Verum, ut opinor, ita "ft: Sunt quedam Corpora, quorum | | 685
a
Conc “7 [5
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things. made, which could by force emit Nothing without it felf, as the hot Fire emits both Light and Heat, which fhews it 15 not compofed of crouded Parts, without:a Void.
But if they think, that " Fire in all its Parts may be extinguifh’d, and fo its Body change; if they infiit that This may once be done, then the whole Fire muft be refolv’d to Nothing, and Things new-form from Nothing mutt arife; for whatfoever is chang’d, and breaks the Bounds of its firft Nature, dies, and is no more what firft it was: fome Seeds of Beings therefore muft ftill remain whole and unhurt, left Things to No- thing fhould perfectly return; and. then revive, and fhould again from Nothing be reftored.
BuT now, fince there remain fome certain Seeds that keep their Nature ftill the fame, whofe Abfence or their Prefence, and their Change of Order change the Nature of compound Bodies, you muft not think that thefe ° firft Seeds are fiery; if they were, what would it fignify what Seeds are abfent, or what retire, what o- thers take their place, how others may their Rank and Order change, fince All would ftill be in their Nature Fire, and Beings form’d fronr Them muft wholly be of Fire? But, as I think, the Cafe is thus: Some certain Seeds there are by
Ὁ If Fire be a fimple and uncompounded Thing, of which all Things are made, it cannot change without totally perifh- ing; a compound Body may change, and affume another State, bat a Body uncompounded, if it lofes its firft Nature, entirely dies.
© The μη Seeds are not fiery in their own Nature; if they were, neither adding, detracting, nor tranfpofing them, would fisnify nothing to produce any Effect: for if the Nature of Fire fill continued fafe, nothing but Fire can be made of it. He fays further, that certain Corpuicles, whofe Form cannot be perceived by Senfe, are the firit Principles of Things, frora whofe meeting and uniting in various Manners, Fire and all Things elfe are produced,
3 whofe
57
»
T. Lucretit Lie. I.
Concurfus, Motus, Ordo, Pofitura, Figure, Efficiunt Ignes, mutatogue ordine mutant — Naturam, neque funt Igni fimulata, neque ulle¢ Preterea reit, que corpora mittere poffit Senfibus, ξ5 noftros adjetiu tangere taétus. 690 Dicere porro Ignem res omneis effe, neque ullam Rem veram in numero rerum conftare, nift Icnem, Quod facit Hic Ipem, perdelirum effe videtur. Nam contra Senfus ab Senfibus ipfe repugnat : Et labefattat eos, unde omnia credita pendent: 695 Unde hic cognitus ef ipft, quem nominat Ignem. Credit enim Senfus Ignem cognofcere vere, Cetera non credit, nibilo que clara minus funt: Quod mibi cum vanum, tum delirum effe videtur. Quo referemus enim? Quid nebis certius ipfis 700 Senfibus effe poteft, quo vera ae falfa notemus ὃ Praterea, quare quifquam magis Omnia tollat, Et velit Ardoris naturam linquere folam, Quam neget effe Ignis, Summam tamen effe reline quat ?
. Aqua videtur enim dementia dicere utrumque. 705
Quapropter qui Materiem rerum effe putdrunt Tenem, atque ex Ioni Summam confiftere peffe: Et qui principium gignundis Aira rebus Conftituére: aut Humorem quincunque putdrunt fing cre res plum per fe ΠΧ creare 710
Omnia 7
Book I. Of the Nature of Things.
whofe Concuffion, Motion, Order, Site, and Fi- gure, Fire is form’d ; and when their Order 1s chang’d, they change the Nature of this Fires but thefe firft Seeds have nothing fiery in them-
felves, nor of fucha Nature are they, as to fend. forth Bodies to be perceiv’d by Senfe, or be the.
Object of our Touch,
ΠΡ Awp now to fay that every Thing is Fire, that no true Thing in Nature does exift but Fire, as this Man does, is Madnefs all, he contradicts his Senfes by his Senfe, and overthrows thofe Tefts of. Truth by which all Things are known: For.’tis by Them we know that Thing which he
calls Fire, and this Senfe concludes, it truly knows the Nature of this Fire; but then all other
Things it will deny, which equally are true. This 15 to mea vain and foolifh Way to judge; for to what fhall we apply?) And what can be more fure than are our Senfes to us, by which we fully know Falfhood and Truth?
BrstpEs, why any one fhould all Things elfe difclaim, and only Fire allow, or fay there’s no fuch Thing as Fire, and all Things elfe allow, either of thefe is vain, and equal Madnefs to be- lieve.
WHEREFORE, ?thofe Sages whocontend that Fire is the firft Principle, and that of Fire all Things confift, and thofe who make the Air the firft Seeds of Bodies, and fuch who fay the Wa- ter is the fole Caufe of Beings, or that the Earth
Ὁ Heraclitus confeffes, he knows Fire by the Help of his Senfes ; Lucretius urges, that by his Senfes he difcovers other ‘Things befides Fire. The Philofopher never denied, but that other Things befides Fire appeared, but he would not allow them to be ; the Poet infifts, that other T nings befides Fire truly are, and that the Senfes evidently difcover them to, be.
1 Herachtus held, that Fire, Anaximenes Milefius, that Air, Thales \ilefius, that Water, and Pherecydes, that Earth was the firft Principle of ali Things.
all
59
60
TOR CSREES “Ets. I.
Omnia, ES an rerum naturas vertier omnes : Magnoperé avero longéque erraffe videntur.
Adde etiam qui conduplicant primordia rerum, Aéra jungentes Igni, Terramque Liquori : Et qui Quatuor ex rebus poffe omnia rentur, 918 Ex Igni, Terra, atque Anima procrefcere, Im-
bri: Quorum Acragantinus cum primis EMPEDOCLES oft : |
Infula quem Triquetris terrarum geffit in oris: Quam fluitans circum magnis amfractibus equor Lonium glaucis afpergit virus ab undis : 720 Anguftoque fretu rapidum mare dividit undis Italie terrai oras ἃ finibus ejus : Hic eff vata Charybdis, &S hic tnea minantur Murmura flammarum rurfum fe conligere iras, Faucibus eruptos iterum ut vis evomat igneis; 725 Ad celumque ferat flammai fulgura rurfum: Que cum magna modis multis miranda videtur Gentibus humanis regio, vifendaque fertur, Rebus opima bonis, multa munita virim vi: ΝῊ tamen hoc habuiffe Viro preclarius in fe, 730 Nec fantium magis, SP mirum, carumque videtur. Carmina quin etiam divini pectoris ejus Vociferantur, &S exponunt preclara reperta; Ut vix humana videatur flirpe creatus.
Hic tamen, 55 fupera, quos diximus, inferiores Partibus egregié multis, multoque minores, "δῷ Quanquam multa bene, ac diviniths imvententes
LK
Boox I. Of the Nature of | Things. δι
all Things creates, and can infufe itfelf into the Nature of all Things, do ftrangely err, and wan- der wide from Truth.
Anp fo do thofe who double the firft Elements TAizgs are of Things, and to produce all Beings, join the?” = Air to Fire, the Earth to Water, or believe thar 7 7" ‘ from all Four all Beings are produced, and {pring ) from Air, and Water, Earth and Fire, ,
Tue Chief of thefe we rank * Empedocles of Empedo- Agrigentum, born in Sicily, the Ifland famed for cles. its three Promontories, whofe Sides the Jonian Sea flows all around, with mighty Windings, from whofe Coafts the Sea, by a narrow Frith, divides the Bounds of Jfa/y. Here is the fierce Charybdis, here A£tna roars, and threatens loud to fuck in Flames of Vengeance, with greater Force to belch them out again, burft from his Jaws, and throw the flafhing Fire high as the Sky. This IMand, tho’ renown’d by Men for many Things, and worth their Sight, rich inthe _beft Advantages of Life, by mighty Men defen- ded, yet produced Nothing more glorious than this One great Man, Nothing more venerable, admired, and dear. Befides his Verfe, that from his Soul Divine flows fweetly, fo clearly proves, and fo explains the noble Secrets he has found, he feems {carce born of Human Race, but from the Gods.
Yet He, with others of inferior Note we named before, remarkably, by great Degrees, and much below him, tho’ thefe have fucceeded well in their Search, and many Things have found as if
τ The Son of Meton, born at Agrigentum in Sicily, who taught that all Things were formed of the four Elements, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Whatever Lucretizs objetts againft his Doctrine, will conclude likewife againft thofe who hold, that Things are produced from two or three Elements only ; for if four cannot be thought fufficient, much lefs will a fewer Number fuffice.
infpired,
2
T. Lucretir Lis. f. Ex adyto tanquam cordis refponfa dedére Sanétitis, ὃ multo certa vatione magis, quam Pythia, que tripode ex Phaebi, lauroque profatur 3 Principits tamen in rerum fecere ruinas, 741 Et graviter Magni magno cecidere ibi cafu:
Primum, quod motus, exempto rebus Inant, | Conftituunt, δ res molleis, rarafque relinguunt, Ara, Solem, Ignem, Terras, Animalia, Fruges: 7453 Nec tamen adimifcent in eorum corpus Inane.
Deinde quod omnino finem non effe fecandis Corporibus faciunt, neque paufam flare fragort ; Nec prorfum in rebus Minimum confiftere quicquam : Cum videamus id extremum cujufque cacumen 750 Effe quod ad fenfus noftros Minimum effe videtur :
Gomicerve
Boox |. Of the Nature of Things.
infpired, and iave pronounced their Oracles (from the moft clofe Receffes of their Souls) much more Divine, and founded more on Reafon than Pythia, facred Prophetefs, from Tripod, or from Apoilo’s Laurel ever fpoke. Yet they have made fad Havock, when they fearch into the Principles
of Things, and fell with this Great Man’s Μ|-
takes together with Him.
Anpb firft, * becaufe, denying there 1s Vozd in Bodies; they admit of Motion, and allow that Things are foft or rare; as the Air, the Sun, the Fire, the Earth, the Creatures, Fruits, and yet will mix no empty Space in the Contexture of Bodies that are form’d.
Anp then they fet no Bounds to Bodies being divided, nor will admit an End to Blows that break their Frame; nor will they grant that fuch a Thing as Lea is found in Bodies, when we plainly fee that every Being has a Part, a Point that utmoft lies, and obvious to our Senfe, which is the Leaft of all ; and thence conclude, that ut-
$ He objects againft the Philofophers, firft, that they admit of Motion, of Rarenefs and Softnefs, and yet deny a Void. Secondly, that they affert all Bodies to be infinitely divifible, which he oppofes. ‘Thirdly, that their firft Seeds are foft, and
confequently fubject to change ; and if they could change, .
they muft be annihilated: but he has proved before, that No- thing proceeds or returns to Nothing. Fourthly, that the E- lements they fet up are contrary to one another, and therefore will mutually deftroy one another, at leaft they can never unite in the Compofition of Bodies. He obferves, fifthly, that if they fay the Elements lofe their Nature, when they are changed into ‘Things, and that Things are again changed into them, in this Cafe he fays,“the Elements are not more properly the Principles of ‘Things, than Things are the Principles of tae H- lements. If they fay the Elements ftill retain their Nature, he infifts, that Nothing of one Species, and of one Name, could then be produced, but only a certain rude and. undigeited Mafs of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water ; as of the Things of Gold, Silver, Tin, and Brafs, Nothing can ever be made but a Heap of Gold, Silver, Tin, and Brats.
moft
63
T. Lucretir Lis. I.
Conjicere ut poffis ex boc, quod cernere non quis,
Extremum quod babent, Minimum confiftere rebus. Hue accedit item, quod jam primordia rerum
Mollia confiituunt, que nos nativa videmus 756
Effe, 85 mortal cum corpore funditus , αἰαὶ
Debeat ad Nihilum jam rerum Summa reverti,
De Nibiloque renata virefcere copia rerum :
Quorum utrumgque quid a vero jam diftet, habebas.
Deinde inimica modis multis funt, atque venena
Ipfafibi inter fe: Quare aut congreffa peribunt, 761
Autita diffugient, ut tempefiate coorta,
Fulmina diffugere, atque Imbrets Ventofque videmus.
Denique Quatuor ex rebus fi cunéta creantur,
Atque in eas rurfumres omnia difolvuntur, 65
Qui magis illa queunt rerum Primordia dict,
Quam contrares illorum, retroque putari ὃ
Alternis gignuntur enim, mutantque colorem,
Et totam inter fe naturam tempore ab omni:
Sin ita forte putas, Ignis, Terréque coire 770
Corpus, 85 Aérias auras, Roremque liquorum,
INil in concilio naturam ut mutet eorum:
Nulla tibi ex illis poterit res effe creata,
Non Animans, non Exanimo quid corpore, ut Arbos:
Quippe fuam quidque in cetuvariantis acervi ᾿ 775
Naturam oftendet, miftufque videbitur Aér
Cum Terra fimul, atque Ardor cum Rore manere:
At Primordia gignundis in rebus oportet
Naturam Clandeftinam, cecamque adbibere,
Emineat nequid, quod contra pugnet © obftet, 780
Quo minis effe queat proprié, quodcunque creatur. |
Quin
Boox I. Of the ΤΥ. of Things.
moft Point is that fame Leaf in Things too fmall to be difcover’d by the Sight.
Besrtpes, thefe Men make their Principles of ‘Things confift of foft Seeds, which we fee are born, and altogether mortal in their Frame; if fo, the whole of Things muft have return’d to Nothing, and be again from thence reftored ; how diftant both from Truth you have heard be- fore.
Awnp then fuch Seeds are many times at war among themfelves, and Poifon to each other, and fo will perifh in the Attack, or fly fcatter’d, as ina Tempeft we obferve the Thunder, and the Showers and Wind difperfe.
Last iy, if all Things from four Elements are form’d, and into them are finally diffolv’d, why fhould they rather the firft Principles of Things be called, than Things the Principles of them? For they are produced alternately, are ever changing their Form and their whole Na- ture mutually into each other ; but if by chance you think the Bedy of the Fire and Earth is join- ed, that Air is joined to Water, and thus uni- ted, each Element preferves its Nature {till en- tire; Nothing from Seeds like thefe could have been form’d, not Men, nor Things inanimate, as Trees: For every Element in this various Heap of Matter, ever changing, would difplay its pro- per Nature ftill; you’d fee the Air mix’d with the Earth, and Fire with Water joined. But the firft Principles whence Things are form’d fhould be in Nature clofe and undifcern’d, that Nothing might appear, which fhould oppofe or jar, and thus prevent the compound Body from being uniform, and make it confift of Parts diffi- milar, confufed and void.
Vou. I. Ἐ BESIDES,
65
66
Ly Le Wie τ Lipa:
Quin etiam repetunt ἃ calo, atque ignibus ejus Et primum faciunt Ignem fe vertere in Auras Aeris: hine Imbrem gigni, Terramque creari
Ex Imbri, retroque a Terra cuntta reverti, 785
Hlumorem primum, poft Acra, deinde Calorem : Nec ceflare hac inter fe mutare, meare De Calo ad Terram, de Terra ad Sidera Mundi : Quod facere haud ullo debent primordia patio. Immutabile enim quiddam fuperare neceffe "3 790 Ne res ad Nibilum rediganiur funditus omnes. Naim quodcunque fuis mutatum jinibus exit, Continuo boc mors eft illius, quod fuit ante, Quapropter, quoniam que paullo diximus ante, In commutatum veniunt, confiare neceffe’?f— 705 Ex aliis ea, que nequeant convertier unquam : Ne tibt res redeant ad Nibilum funditus omnes. Quin potins tali natura predita quedam Corpora conftituas, Ignem fi forte crearint, Poffe eadem demptis paucis, paucifque tributis, 800 Ordine mutato, δ motu, facere Aeris auras : Si¢ alias aliis rebus mutarier omneis.
At manifefia palam res indicat, inquis, in auras Aeris ὃ Terra res omnes crefcere, alique s
Lt
Booxl. Of the Nature of Things. 67
Besipest, Philofophers like Thefe derive their Tranfmutation from Celeftial Fire; and firft, they make this Fire to change to Air, from Air is Water form’d, the Earth from Water; and then-again, from Earth thefe Elements return, firft Water, then the Air, and lJaft the Fire, Nor do thefe conftant Changes ever ceafe among themfelves, but ftill proceed from Heaven to Farth, from Earth to Stars, that light the World. But the firft Seeds of Things muft by no means be thus difpofed; fomething 1mmu- table muft needs remain, left Things fhould ut- terly to Nothing be reduced: For whatfoever fuffers a Change, by pafling o’er the Bounds of its firft Nature, dies, and is no more what it frit was. Thofe Elements therefore, which, as we faid above, admit of Change, muft needs confift of other Seeds which never can change at all, left Things fhould utterly to Nothing be reduced: Then rather fay, there are fome certain Principles in Nature which are the Seeds of Fire, fuppofe, and fome of thefe being taken away, or elie by adding more, by changing of their Order or their Motion, they compofe the Air,andfo all other Be- ings may be produced by Changes fuch as Thefe.
« BuT you fay, that common Fact does clear- ly thew, that all Things grow, -and rife into the
| ahs Air,
t Empedocles and his Followers taught, that the Elements are continually preying upon andrcbbing one another ; butthe Poet urges, that if the Principles change, they will fll into Nothing; and therefore, fince they allow the Elements are chang’d, they cannet be the firft Principles of Things: For Nothing comes from Nothing, and therefore, there muft be an immutable Matter, which being varieufly moved, produ- ced now Fire, now Air, now Earth, now Water.
He raifes an ObjeCtion, that Plantsand all Animals grow, and are nourifhed by the four Elements ; and therefore are faid to be the Principles of all Things: but he replies, that they
i 2 ‘ are
68
,ὖ Lucrerit Lis Κὶ
Et nifi tempeftas indulget tempore faufto, 805 Imbribus, 85 tabe nimborum arbufta vacillant. Solque fua pro parte fovet, tribuitque calorem: ἡ Crefcere non poffunt Fruges, Arbufta, Animantes. Scilicet : €F nifi nos Cibus aridus, €8 tener Humor Adjuvei, amiffo jam corpore, vita quoque omnis 810 Onnibus ὃ nervis atque offibus exfolvatur : Adjutamur enim dubio procul, atque alimur nos Certis ab rebus, ceriis alia atque alie res. Nimirum quia multa modis communia muliis Multarum rerum in rebus Primordia mifta 8ϑι5 Sunt, ideo variis varie res rebus aluntur. Atque eadem magni refert Primordia fepe Cum quibus, €8 quali pofitura contineantur : Et quos inter fe dent motus, accipiantque. Namque eadem Calum, Mare, Lerras, Flumina, Solen 820 Conftituunt ; eadem Fruges, Arbufta, Animanteis : Vernm aliis, alioque modo commifta moventur. Quin etiam palfim noftris in Verfibus ipfis Multa Elementa vides multis communia verbis : Cum tamen inter fe Verfus, ac verba neceffe "ft 825 Conpfiteare 5 re, 9 fonitu diftare fonanti: Tantum Elementa queunt permutato ordine folo: At rerum que funt Primordia, plura adbibere Polfunt, unde queant varie res queque creari.
Nune
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
Air, and are fupported by the Earth; and unlefs the Seafon, in happy Time, indulges Rain, and fhakes the Trees ‘with driving Showers, unlefs the Sun, on his Part, cherifhes and gives his Heat, nor Fruits, nor Trees, nor Creatures could in- creafe. ’Tis true, but thefe are not firft Seeds;
and we likewife, unlefs dry Food and kindly Juice:
preferve our Bodies, they muft perifh, and every Spark of Life, out of our Nerves and Bones, muft be extinct. We are upheld, no doubt, and nourifhed by certain Means; and other Things are ftaid by certain others; for many common Principles of many Things are mix’d in each. And therefore, the various kind of Things we find fupported in a different manner; but yet it much concerns with what, and in what Order, thefe firft Seeds unite, and what Motion they give and take among themfelves; for the fame Seeds compofe Heaven, Earth, the Sea, the Ri-
vers, and the Sun, the fame compofe the Crea- .
tures, Fruits, and Trees, they differ only as they are moved by others, and as their Mixture dif- fers in themfelves. —
So, in thefe Lines of mine, the many Letters you fee are common to the Make and Forin of many Words; and yet, you mutt confefs, the Verfes and the Words are much unlike in Senfe and Sound: Such is the Force of Letters, by Change of Order only. But the firft Seeds of Things being more, muft needs admit of Changes more different ; from whence proceeds that great Variety of Things we fee produced.
areno more the Principles than Wine, Wheat, and other Things, by which we fupport Life; for Things that nourifh are not therefore Principles, but Thofe from which they receive a Contexture, which makes them fit Nourifhment for Things.
F 2 ᾿ Now,
69
70
T. Lucretil Lis fd.
Nunc &S Anaxacor® fcrutemur Homeome- viam, 830
Quam Greci memorant, nec nofira dicere lingua Concedit nobis patrii fermonis egeftas: Sed tamen ipfam rem facile "ft exponere verbis, Principium rerum quam dicit Homeomeriam : Offa videlicet ὃ pauxillis atque minutis 835 Ofibu?: fic 9 de paunillis atque minutis | Vifceribus Vifcus gigui: Sanguenque creari, Sanguinis inter fe multis coéuntibu? guttis ς Lx Aurique putat micis confiftere poffe Aurum: 9 de Terris Terram concrefcere parvis : Tenibus ex Ignem: Humorem ex Humoribus effe: 841 Cetera confimili jingit ratione, putatque.
Nec tamen effe ulla parte ἘΜ in rebus Inane Concedit, neque corporibus jinem effe fecandis : Quare in utvaque mibi pariter ratione videtur, 845 Errare, aique \u11, fupera quos diximus ante.
Adde quod imbecilla nimis Primordia fingit,
St Primordia funt, fimili que predita conftant Natura, atque ipfe res funt 5 equéque laborant, Et pereunt, neque ab exitiores ulla refrenat: 8 50 Nam quid in oppreff: valida durabit eorum,
2 .
Us
Book I. Of the Nature of Things. 71
Now, let us inquire into the * Hommwomery ot 4gainft A- ¥ Anaxagoras, the Greeks {fo call it, but the Po- P*4gors: verty of the Latin Tongue will not allow us to exprefs it; but yet, by a fhort Periphratis, we can explain that Thing which he calls Homeome- vy, and makes the Principle of Bodies. For in- {ftance, Bones proceed from {mall and little Bones, and Flefh is made of {mall and little Bits of Flefh ; and Blood is form’d of many Drops of Blood flowing together; and Gold, he thinks, confifts of little Grains of Gold; and Earth grows firm by Particles of Earth; Fire is made of Fire; Water from Water fprings; and all Things elfe, he thinks, from Caufes fuch as Thefe arife. ;
Anp yet this Man in no Cafe will allow in Things a Void, nor that there is an End to Bo- dies being divided : He equally miftakes in both; and fo do thofe Sages {poken of before.
BESIDES 7, the Seeds he chofe are much too weak, if of the fame frail Nature they confift, as do the Things themfelves, they equally fall to decay, and perifh, nothing hinders them from Death: For which of thefe can Jong hold out a- eainft the fierce Jaws of Death, and fo efcape
x Homeomery fignifies a Likenefs of Parts; we call Homazo- meries thofe ‘Things whofe minuteit Parts have the Name of the Whole, as Stones, Gold, Blood, ὅθε.
¥ ‘This Philofopher held the Matter of which all ‘Things are produced to be infinite, and made it confift of very minuté Par- ticles, exactly like one another, confufed at firft, but. reduced afterwards into Order by the Divine Mind. ‘Things he af- ferted were formed of fimilar Parts, as Bones of little Bones, Blood of Drops of Blood, €é¥c.
2 If like ‘Things confift of like, and the Principles are ex- actly of the fame Nature with the Compounds, it follows that they are both equally liable to perifh; for certainly no Reafon _ can be given, why a {mal! Part of Flefh fhould not be equally obnoxious to Corruption as a greater.
- F 4 Deftruction,
T. LucretTit ἥν» ἢ
Ut mortem effugiat lethi fub dentibus ipfis ὃ Ignis? an Humor? an Aura? quid horum? San- guen? an Offa? Nil, ut opinor, ubi ex equo res funditus omnis Tam mortalis erit, quam que manifefia videmus 855 Ex ocults noftris aliqua vi vitta perire. At neque recidere ad Nibilum res poffe, neque autem Crefcere de Nibilo, teftor res ante probatas: Preierea guoniam Cibus auget corpus alitque : Scire licet, nobis Venas, 95 Sanguen, ξ5 Offa, 860 Et Nervos alienigenis ex partibus effe : Sive Cibos omnecis comimifto corpore dicent Effe, 89 habere in fe Nervorum corpora parva, Offaque, δ omnino Venas, parteifque Cruoris ; Fiet, uti Cibus omnis 5) aridus, (S Liquor ipfe, 865 Ex alienigenis rebus conftare putetur, Ofibus, €F Nervis, Venifque, &F Sanguine mifto, Preterea quecunque ὃ Terra corpora crefcunt 5 Si funt in Terris, Terras conftare neceffe “ft Ex alienigenis, que Terris exoriuntur. | 8470 Transfer itent, totidem verbis utare licebit : In Lignis fi flamma latet, fumufque, cinifque : Ex alienigenis confiftant Ligna neceffe °/t Linguitur bie tenuts latitandi copia all : fa guod ANAXAGORAS fibi fumit, ut omnibus omnets Res putet immiftas rebus latitare: fedillud 876 Lapparerve units, cujus fi πὲ pluria mifta,
oa ~~ Gee ee
Pe τ
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
Deftruction, crufhed between his very Teeth ? Can Fire ? Can Air? Can Water? Which of thefe? Can Blood? CanBones? In my Opinion none. Ald Things in Nature then would equally be liable to Death, as are fuch Things we fee before our Eyes by any Force deftroy’d. But this, I think, is fully proved before, that Nothing can fall to Nothing, or from Nothing rife.
BesipEs, * fince Food increafes and fupports
the Body, then we know the Veins, the Blood,
the Bones, confift of heterogeneous and Parts diffimilar, as does our Food. But if they fay all Food confifts of Parts various and mixed, and in itfelf contains the littl Strings of Nerves and Bones, and all the Veins and Parts of Blood, then all dry Meat and Drink muft needs con- ΠΗ of Parts difimilar, of Bones, of Nerves, of Veins, and mingled Blood.
FurTuHeER, if all Things which grow from the Earth are inthe Earth contain’d, the Earth muft then confift of Parts diffimilar, as do. thofe Things which from the Earth arife. Now change the Theme, but keep the Terms the fame; in Wood if Flame and Smoke, and Afhes lay con- ceal’d, then Wood muft needs confift of Parts of different Frame.
But here a thin Evafion feems to fhake this Argument a little; and Anaxagoras himfelf makes ufe of it: he thinks all Things are mixed with
all Things and lie hid, but that one Thing only
4 The Body is fupported by feveral Sorts of Food, which plainly confifts of diffimilar Parts ; and therefore the Parts of our Body confift of diffimilar likewife: for the feveral Parts of it, the Bones, the Veins, the Nerves, are nourifhed with dif- ferent and diffimilar Aliments. If it be pretended, that thofe Aliments contain fome Particles of Bones, Nerves, €%c. it follows thatthere is not in thofe Bodies that Homaomery ima- gined by Azaxagoras.
a appears,
73
γι
T. ΠΤΟΚῈ ΤῊΣ Lie. I.
Et magis in promptu, primaque in fronte locata: Quod tamen a vera longe ratione repulfum *ft. Conveniebat enim Fruges quoque fepe minutas, 880 Robore cum faxi franguntur, mittere fignum Sanguinis, aut aliim nofiro quae corpore aluntur : Cum lapidi lapidem terimus, manare cruorem, Confimili ratione Herbas quoque fepe decebat,
Et laticis dulceis guttas, fimilique fapore 885 Mittere, lanigere quali funt ubera laftis :
Scilicet €9 Glebis terrarum fepe friatis
_ Herbarum genera, & fruges, frondeifque videri,
Difpertita, atque in Terris latitare minute :
Poftremo, in Lignis cinerem fumumque videri, 890
Cum prefratia forent, igneifque latere minutos,
Quorum nil fieri quoniam manifefta docet 7ε..
Scire licet non effe in rebus res tia miftas :
Verum femina multimodis immifta latere
Multarum rerum in rebus communia debent. 8095 At fepe in magnis fit montibus, inquis, ut altis
Arboribus vicina cacumina fumma terantur
Inter fe, validis facere id cogentibus Auftris,
Donec fullerunt flamma fulgore coorto:
Scilicet: €F non eft lignis tamen infitus Ignis, 900
Verum Semina funt Ardoris multa, terendo
Que cum confluxere, creant incendia fylvis.
Quod fi tanta foret fylvis abfcondita flamma,
Non poffent ullum tempus celarier Ignes :
Conficerent volgo fyluas, drbufia cremarent. 95
Fain
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
appears, of which it moft abounds, and on the Surface lies; but this Reply is vain, and wide
from Truth; for then the little Grains of Corn,
when ground, would fhew fome Signs of Blood, or of fome other Parts which form our Bodies; and when we wear the Stones, the Blood would flow. By the like Reafon Herbs would fweat {weet Drops of Liquor, fo delightful to the Tafte, as flow from Dugs of woolly Sheep, and Clods of crumbled Earth would fhew the various Kinds of Fruits and Herbs, and Leaves diftinét and hid in fmalleft Particles within the Earth; And then, in Wood divided, might be feen conceal’d Athes and Smoke, and {malleft Parts of Fire. But fince Experience f{hews Nothing of this appears, we -muit conclude there? sno fuch Mixture as This in Things; but fay, that common Seeds of many
Things in various Order join’d, are m1x’d in eve- |
ry Thing, and lie conceal’d.
But oft, > you fay, upon the Mountain Tops, the Heads of lofty Trees that grow together are by the violent Blafts of forcing Winds, fo rubb’d by clofe Collifion, that they foon are all on fire, and Flames fhine out. ’Tistrue, and yet there’s no actual Fire within the Wood, but many Seeds of Fire, which by hard Rubbing unite, and fo the Wood isall in flames. .For if fo much of Fire had lain concealed within the Wood, this Fire would have appeared immediately, and fo confumed the Wood intirely, and burnt its Root Branches to the ground, |
b He fays, there is not any Fire in the Tree itfeif, but that the Seeds of Firé, or the Molecule of the Atoms, being dif- pofed in a certain and new Order, and dafhing with Violence againit one another, exhibit and produce the Species of Fire. If there were actually Fire in Woods and Forefts of Trees, it would certainly fhew its Strength, and make a wide De- ftruction,
You
75
76
T. Lucretat ‘Lis. I.
Famne vides igitur, paullo quod diximus ante, Permagui referre eadem Primordia fepe Cum quibus, tS quali pofitura contineantur, Et quos inter fe dent motus, accipiantque ; Atque eadem paullo inter fe mutata creare 910 Ieneis é Lignis, quo patto Verba quoque ipfa Inter fe paullo mutatis funt elementis,
Cum Licna, aique lenzs diftincta voce notemus. Denique jam quecunque in vebus cernis apertis, Si fieri non poffe putas, quin Materiai QI5
C orpora confimili natura predita fingas, Hac ratione tibi pereunt Primordia rerum: Fiet uti rif tremulo concuffa cachinnent, Et lacrymis falfis humectent ora, genafque Nunc age, quod fupereft, cognofce, (© clarius audi. Nec me animi fallit quam fint obfcura, fed acri 921
Percuffit thyrfo Laudis [pes magna Meum cor,
Et fimul incuffit fuavem mi in pectus amorem Mufarum : quo nunc inftinctus, mente vigentz Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante 925 Trita folo: juvat integros accedere fontets,
Atque haurire: juvatque novos decerpere flores: Infignemque meo capiti petere inde coronam,
Unde prius nulli velarint tempora Mufe :
Primitm quod magnis doceo de rebus, © aréiis 9 30 RELLIGIONUM amimos nodis exfolvere pergo : Deinde quod obfcura de re tam lucida pango Carmina, Mufeo contingens cunéia lepore,
id
Boox I. Of the LVature of Things.
You fee therefore of what Concern it is, as we obferv’d before, with what firft Principles thofe Seeds are joined, and in what Order placed, and what the Motions are they give and take among themfelves, and how, the Seeds remaining ever the fame, but yet their Order changed, produce a Fire from Wood : juft as we write Iguis and Lignum, tho’ quite different Words, they are yet compofed of Letters much the fame. -
Last Ly, if Things moft obvious to the Senfe, youthink, cannot be form’d, unlefs you make their Seeds confift of Principles the fame in Na- ture, thofe Principles would be deitroy’d ; γου fee fome Seeds would “ fhake their little Sides with Laughing, fome bedew their Face with Tears.
Now, what remains obferve, attend me clofe; I know my Theme is dark, but the great Love of Praife pricks on my Heart with fharpeft Spurs, and ftrikes my Soul at once with fweet Defire of the moft tuneful Nine; by this urged on, my Mind in Rapture, I haunt the Mufes Seats, of difficult Accefs, and yet untrod; I love to ap- proach the pureft Springs, and thence to draw Jarge Draughts. I love to crop frefh Flowers, and make a nobie Garland for my Head ; from thence, where yet the Mufes never bound ano- ther’s Temples with a Crown like mine. And firft, I write of lofty Things, and ftrive to free the Mind from the fevereft Bonds of what Men call Religion ; then my Verfe I frame [0 clear, al- tho? my Theme be dark; feafoning my Lines with the Poetic Sweets of Fancy, and Reafon
© Some late Philofophers feem at leaft to favour this opinion of Azaxagoras, when they affert, that thefe Affections do in- deed, infome fort, przexift in the Elements, tho’ not in the fame manner as in Man, ὌΝ juftifies
77
T. Lucretit Lised
Id quoque enim non ab ulla ratione videtur : Sed veluti Pueris abfinthia tetra medentes 925 Cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum Contingunt mellis dulci flavoque liquores Ut Puerorum etas improvida ludificetur Labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum Abfinthi laticem, deceptaque non capiatur, 940 Sed potins tal: fatto recreata valefcat : Sic ego nunc, quoniam hec Ratio plerumque videtur Triftior effe, quibus non eft tractata, retroque Voleus abborret ab hac, volui tibi fuaviloquenti Carmine Pierio Rationem exponere nofiram, 945 Et quafi Mufo dulci contingere melle, Si tibi forté animum talt ratione tenere Verfibus in noftris poffem, dum perfpicis omnen Naturamrerum, qua conftet compta firura.
Sed quoniam docui, Solidifima Materiat 950 Corpora perpetuo volitare invitla per evum Nunc age Summai ecquenam fit finis eorum, Neene fit, evolvamus: item, quod Inane repertum ft Seu locus, ac fpatium, res in quo queque genantur, | Pervideamus utrum finitum funditus OMNE 955 Conftet, an Immenfum pateat vel ad ufque profundum?
OmMNE quodeft, igitur, nulla regione viarum Finitum “ft: namque Extremum debebat habere. Extremum porro nullius poffe videtur Effe, nif ultra fit quod finiat, ut videatur, 960 Quo non longins hac fenfus natura fequatur.
Nune
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
juftifies the Method. For as the Phyficians, when they would prevail on Children to take down a
bitter Draught of Wormwood, firft tinge the
Edges of the Cup, that fo the Childrens unfuf- _ pecting Age may be deceiv’d, at leaft their Lips,
and take the bitter Juice, thus harmlefly betrayed, but not abufed, they have their Health reitored: So I, becaufe this Syftem feems fevere and harth, to fuch who have not yet difcern’d its Truth, and the common Herd are utterly averfe to this Philofophy, I thought it fit to fhew thefe ngid Principles in Verfe fmooth and alluring, and tinge them, as it were, with fweet Poetic Ho- ney, thus to charm thy Mind with my foft Num- bers, till you view the Nature of All Things clearly, and perceive the Figure and the Order they difplay.
But fince I taught the Principles of Matter are folid, are eternal, ever-moving, nor are de- {troy’d ; now, come, let us enquire, whether they have an End, or are by Nature infinite : and fince we have found a Void or Place, or Space in which all Things are mov’d, let us now fee whether the Univerfe, made up of Void and Bo-
dy, be circumfcrib’d, or does to a profound Im-
menfity extend.
Turis ὁ A, therefore, does not admit of
Bounds; for if it did, then it mutt have fome-
thing Extreme: Now, no Extreme can be, un-—
lefs it lies beyond thofe Things whofe Bounds, or whofe Extreme it is, from whence they may be feen, and beyond which our Faculty of Sight can reach no further. Now fince we muft own,
d Whatever is finite has an Extreme, but whatever has an Extreme may be feen by what is without or beyond it. Now the Univerfe, or the All, is not feen by any Thing that is be- yond it; therefore the Univerfe has no Extreme.
that
v9
80 T. Lucreti Li. I.
Nuac extra Summam quomam ni bil effe fatendum ft , Non habet Exiremum: caret ergo fine, modoque : Nec refert quibus affifias regionibus ejus, | U/que adeo quem quifque locum poffidit, inomneis 965 Tantundem partets infinitum Omne relinguit. Preterea, fijam finitum conftituatur Omne quod eft fpatium, ft quis procurrat ad oras Ultimus extremas, jaciatque volatile telum, 14 validis utriim contortum viribus ire 970 Quo fuerit miffum mavis, longéque volare, | An probibere aliquid cenfes, obftareque poffe ὃ Alterutrum fatearis enim, fummafque neceffe "ft, Quorum utrumque tibi effugium precludit, 5. Omne Copgit ut exempta concedas fine patere. 97 5a Nam five eft aliquid, quod probibeat, offictatque Quo minu’ quo miffum *ft veniat, finique locet fe, Sive foras fertur, non eft ea fini? profecto. Foc patio fequar, atque oras ubicunque locaris Extremas, queram quid Telo denique flat. 980 Fiet uti nufquam poffit confifiere finis : Effugiumque fuge prolatet copia femper. Praterea fpatium Summai totius onme Undique fi tnclufum certis confifteret oris,
Finitumque
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
that nought can be beyond the 41, this 4// has therefore no Extreme, it has no End, no Bounds; nor does it fignify what Spot of this great All you ftand upon; for on what Part foever you are Ἔχ’ ἃ, you have a wide and infinite Space around you every way. Burt if this wide Extent of Space be finite and -circumicrib’d, Jet a Man ftand upon the utmoft Verge, and from thence throw a* Dart, whether you choofe this Dart, with mighty Force thus caft, fhould reach the Mark defign’d, and -fly {wift on, or whether you think that fomething
fhould hinder or oppofe its Flight, and one of |
_thefe you muft confefs; now either way you are caught, and can’t efcape: You are forc’d toown this All hes wide extended without Bounds. For whether there be formething that does hinder and {top its Fight, fo that it cannot reach the Mark defign’a, and there reft ftill and fx’d; or whe-
ther it flies forward, there this End you cannot fix: for if it ftops, then fomething mutt le be- yond the utmoft Verge; and if it fies, there isa Space beyond the extremeft Brink. And thus I follow clofe; and wherefoe’er you place the ex- tremeft Bounds, | ftill demand what comes. of your Dart? So that no Bounds can any where be fixed, but Space immenfe will always give a Paffagé to its Flight.
Brsipes, were this ///’s extended Space fhut up by certain Bounds on every Side, and was by
© Suppofe the Univerfe be finite, and let a Man be placed
on the extremeft Verge of it; and ftrive to throw a Dart, ei-
ther the Dart will fly forward, or fomething will top it; if it
flies forward, there isa Space beyond the extremeft Brink ; if
it be ftopt by any Thing, there muft be Something without the utmofi Part.
WOOL, I. | G Nature
83
T. LucretTir Lisl.
Finitumque foret, jam copia Materiat 985 Undique ponderibus folidis conflixet ad Imum ς Nec res ulla geni fub celi tegmine poffet : Nec foret omnino Calum, neque lumina Sols: Quippe ubi materies omnis cumulata jaceret Ex infinite jam tempore fubfidendo 990 At nunc nimirum requies data Principiorum Corporibus nulla’ft: gita nil eft funditus Imum, - Quo quafi confluere, €S fedes ubi ponere poffint 9 Senper 85 affiduo motu res queque genuntur Partibus in cunttis, eternaque fuppeditantur 995 Ex Infinito cita corpora Materiat.
Poftremo ante oculos rem res fimire videtur, Aer diffepit Colleis, atque Acra Montes ; Terra Mare, & contra Mare Terras terminat om-—
eis.
Omne quidem vero nihil eft quod finiat extra: 1000 Eft igitur natura loci, fpatiumque profund., | Quod neque clara fuo percurrere fiumina curfu Perpetuo poffint evi labentia tract : Nec provfum facere, ut reftet minus ire, meando: Ufque adeo paffim patet ingens copia rebus, 1005 Finibus exemptis in cuncias undique parteis.
Ipfa
Boox L Of the Nature of Things. 83
Nature finite, then this * Mats of Matter, prefs’d by its folid Weight, had lone ere now funk to athe loweft Place, and therefore Nothing under oe Vault of Heaven could have a Being, nor ould there be Heavens at all, or the Sun’s Light. Fot then the Seeds of Things that had been fink- ing from all Eternity, would in Confufion lie on Heaps ; but now the Principles of Bodies having no Reft at all, are ever moving, becaufe there’s no fuch Thing as loweft Place, to which they m:iy defcend, no fix’d Abode where they fhould reff; but Things are ever carried by Motion never- ἐπε. Ing, through every Part of this vaft All, froin whence the attive Seeds of Things arife, and are eternally. fupplied.
FuRTHER#®, we fee one Thing bounds in another; the ‘Ais bounds in the Hills, the Hills the Air, the Earth {huts up the Sea, and then again the Sea furrounds the Earth; but this Great 4] Nothing exterior to it felf can bind. For the Nature of this Place, this empty Space, As fuch, that Rivers of the fwiftett S Stream, were they to run for Ages infinite, with a perpetual Current, could not ran thro: uoh it, Origver tay their running prove they had lefs of their Courfe to run; fo vaitly wide this mighty Space of Things extended lies on all Sides, every way, without all Bounds,
Ὁ ΤΕ the Univerfe were inite, in that finite Space there would be fome loweft Place, to which Matter that by its nata- ral Gravity had been finking from ail Eternity, would have funk down and refted. And thus it would have ἜΡΡΕΙ ned long ago, that the univerfal Matter having reached the /we/ Place, would from that Time have generated Nothing ; for N othing can proceed from Seeds that are at Ref. & There can be Nothing exterior to the Univerfe that can
be its Bound, fince that very Thing that is exterior to it is a Part of it; for the Univerfe contains 4// that is.
G 2 | ) Br-
Ἔν Lucretia ‘Ling
Ipfa modum porro fibi rerum Summa parare Ne poffit, Natura tenet: quia Corpus Inani, Et quod Inane autem?ft, jiniri Corpore cogit: . Ut fic alternis Infinita omnia reddat. 1010 Aut etiam, alierutrum nifi terminet alterum eorum, Simplice natura {8 pateat tantum Immoderatum: Nec Mare, nec Tellus, nec Cali lucida templa, Nec Mortale genus, nec Diviim corpora (πηδῶ Exiguum poffent horat fiftere tempus. 1015 Nam difpulfa fuo de cetu Materiat Copia ferretur magnum per Inane foluta. Sive adeo potius nunguam concreta credffet Ullam rem, quoniam cogi disjecta nequiffet. Nam certé neque confilio primordia rerum 102@ Ordine fe queque, atque fagaci mente locarunt 9
err”
. ν᾽ ᾿
οοκῖ. Of the IVature of Things.
Bestpes", the Laws of Nature do provide; that this Univerfe of Things will not admit of Limits to itfelf, becaufe Body is Bound to Void,
and Veid a Bound to Body; and by this mutual ‘Termination it is, that this great 41] becomes Immenfe ; for were not each a Bound unto the other, were Body not a Limit fet to Void, the Void would be infinite, and all finite Bodies would be diffolv’d, and fo nor Sea, nor Earth, nor the bright Heavens, nor mortal Race of Men, ‘nor facred Bodies of the Gods could be one Mo- ment of an Hour; for the Seeds of Bodies being difunited in themfelves, would fly, and quite dif- folv’d, be carried through the Void; or rather, being never joined, had form’d no Being ; for once jicatter’d through this Space, they could not be compelled to join again.
For certainly ‘the Principles of Things could
never range themfelves in Form or Order, by
Counfel, or by Wifdom of the Mind, nor any —
_ 8 This Argument is allowed to be very intricate, and hard to be explained; he feems to mean that Body and Void mu- tually bind each othe:, and that an Immenfity-muft needs pro- ceec from the mutual Termination; becaufe neither of them, that 1s, neither Body nor Void, can be the laft, but whatever has ne Part that can be the Leaf or extremeft, that indeed is infinite.
1 The Stoicts held the World to be a rational Creature, and to confift of Heaven and Earth, as of Soal and Ecdy. The Fleavens, they faid, were the fame tothe whole, as lteafon is Ὁ Man, and the Stars were the Eyes of the Worid. He de- rides this Opinion, and teaches, that after a Length of Time all T"hings were produced by 2 fortuitows Concourfe of thefe indivifible Bodies, which after ftriking, joftling and crouding one another in the infinite Void, perhaps for many Myriads of Ages, after all pofible Configurations, Changes, Poitures, Succeflicns and Agitations, happened at Jait to tall into this goodly Fabrick of the Univerie. This is the Syitem of Epi- ¢urus concerning the firft Beginning of Things, which com- mon Senfe {ufficiently overthrows.
G 3 Com-
ὃς
86
T. Lucretrii Lie. I.
Nee quos queque darent motus pepigere profetto : Sed quia multintodis, multis, mutata, per Omne . | Ex injnito vexantur percita plagis,
Oinne genus motus, (S ca@ius experiunda, 1025 Tandem deveniunt in taleis difpofituras,
Qualibus bec rebus confiftit Summa creata: ᾿
Li mulios etiam magnos fervata per anos, Ut femel in motus conjetla’ft convenienteis, ζεῖ, ut largis avidum Mare fluminis undis 1030 Tntegrent Amnes, &8 Solis Terra vapore ‘ Fota novet fetus, fummiffaque gens animantum Floreat, €8 vivant labentes Attheris ignes. Quod nullo facerent patto, nifi Materiai Ex Infinito fuboriri copia poffet, 1025 Unde amifja folent reparari in tempore quoque. Nam εἰμ privata cibo Natura animantum Diffluit amittens corpus, fic omnia debent Diffolvi, ρα ac defecit fuppeditare : Materies recta regione averfa viai. 1040 Nec Plage poffent extrinfecis undique Summam — Confervare omuem, quecungue °ft conciliata, Cudere enim crebro poffunt, partemque morart, Dum veniani alia, ac fupplert Summa queatur.
- Interdum
- ὠ
I. Of the Nature of Things. 87
Compact make how each fhould move; but being _chane’d in various Forms, and {truck with many Blows, they are driven through this Vozd for ma-
ny Ages, and having try’d all Kinds of Motion,
and of Union, they at lengh by chance are fo dif- pofed, to frame thofe Bodies of which this Uni- verfe of Things confifts. And * thefe Seeds once thrown into convenient Motions, and keeping in the fame for many Ages, is the true Caufe that
Rivers, witha large Supply of Waters from their
Streams, fill up the greedy Sea, and the Earth,
fupported by the Sun’s Heat, renews the Fruits,
and the Race of living Creatures flourifh, and the rolling Stars of Heaven are kept alive; all which could never be, if from this infinite Mafs a Sup- ply of Seeds fow’d not, from whence decaying
Things might rife, and live, and be from Age
to Age repaired.
For as the Animal Creation, deprived of Food, muft perifh, and their Bodies be quite de- ftroy’d, fo Things muft be diffolv’d as foon as Matter, turning from its Courfe, fails to afford Supply, and fave the whole.
Nor, as fome may object, can ' outward Biows on all Sides given, preferve this All of Things we fee compounded, from falling into pieces :- They may indeed beat thick, and {tay fome Part, tll o- ther Atoms come, and fo fupply the Univerfe.
_* After this accidental Coition of the Seeds, they never (varied from their original and flated Moticns;- and fo the Frame of the Univerfe is preferved.
! He means that finite Atoms cannot always, and at every Moment of Time, mutually ftrike one another ; and when they do, they muft fometimes rebound, and thus give Time and Room for the Principles of the Compounds which affect to be in continual Motion, to break the Chain of their Con- texture, and to fly away from one another.
G 4 | But
$8
T. Lucrerir Lr, Interdum refilire tamen coguntur, &8 una 1045 Priacipus rerum fpatium, tempufque fugaz Largiri, ut poffint a cetu libera ferri. Quare etiam atque etiam fuboriri multa neceffe *ft. Et tamen ut Plage quoque poffint fuppetere ipfe, Infinite opus oft vis undique Materiai, 1050
llud in bis rebus longe fuge credere, Memmi,
In mecium Summe (quod dicunt) omnia nit, Alque ideo Mundi naturam fare fine ullis Litibus externis, neque quoquam poffe refolvi Summa atque Ima, quod in Medium fint omnia nixa, (lpfum fi quicquam poffe in fe fiftere credis: 1055 Et que pondera funt fub Terris omnia furfum Nitier, in Terraque retro requiefcere pifta: Ut per aquas que nunc rerum fimulacra videmus : ) Et fimili ratione Animalia fubtw? vagari τοῦο Contendunt, neque poffe é Terris in loca Cek Recidere inferiora magis, quam corpora noftra Sponte fua poifint in Celi templa volare : Lilt cum videant Solem, nos Sidera noé#is Cernere, &S alternis nobifcum tempora Cel 1065 Dividere, & noties parileis agitare, die/que.
Sed
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
’ But oft they are compelled to bound, and leap
back, and fo afford the Seeds both Time and Place to fly away, and thus to get their former Liberty again. Therefore, ’tis fit that many Seeds fhould ftill arife, from Time to Time, for a Supply; and that thefe Blows might never ceafe to beat, the Force of Matter mutt be onal} Sides infinite.
In thefe Enquiries fee that you avoid, my Mem- mius™, to believe with fome that fay, all Bodies ftrive to reach the middle Place of this great ///, and fo the Nature of the World ftands fix’d, not {truck at all by outward Blows; nor can the up- per or the lower Parts be {fcatter’d any way a- broad, fince all Things by Nature to the Centre tend (as if you could believe thatany Thing could ftay and reft upon itfelf, that heavy Bodies tend upwards, and fix their Reft upon the Surface of the Earth oppofite to us, juft as we fee the Images of Bodies fhew themfelves in Water.) By the fame Reafon they contend, that Creatures walk underneath, as we above; nor can they fall into the Regions of the Air below, than can our Bo- dies naturally fly upwards towards Heaven ; and when they fee the Sun, we view the Stars of Night, and fo by turns they fhare with us the Seafons of the Heavens, and with us fti!l divide the Nights and Days.
m Fle refutes the Opinion, that the Univerfe has a Centre, to which all Things tend by their natural Gravity. He fays, there can be no Middle, becaufe the Void is infinite; but what is infinite has neither Beginning nor End, and therefore no Middle. And grant there wasa Centre, yet no Reafon can be given why heavy Bodies fhould ftop in the middle Part of
the Void, when a Void gives way to heavy Bodies equally in_
every Part of it.
Bur
89
|
Co
TT. LucRETI! Lie. I,
Sed vanus Stolidis bec omnia finnerit error, Arsplexi quod babent perverse prima viat, Nam Medium nibil effe poteft, ubi Inane, locufque Infinita: neque omnino, fi jam Medium fit, 1070 Pofit ibt quicquam bac potius confiftere caufa, Quam quavis alia longe regione manere. Omnis enim locus, ac [patiuim, quod Inane vocamus,
Per Medium, per non Medium coucedat oporiet 2
ΖΕ φηῖς ponderibus, motus quacunque feruntur.1075 Nec quifquam locus eff, quo Corpora cum venere, Ponderis amiffa vi pofint flare in Inani :
Nec quod Inane autem ft, illis fubjifere debet, Quin, fua quod natura petit, concedere pergat. Haudigitur poffunt tali ratione teneri 1080 Res inconcilio, Medii cuppedine viéte :
Preteréa quoque jam.non omnia corpora fingunt In Medium niti, fed Terrarum, atque Liquorum, Humorem ponti, magnifque ὃ montibus Undas,
Et quafi Terveno que corpore contineantur: 1085 At contra tenues exponunt Aerts auras, Et calidos fimul a Medio digferrier Igneis,
Aique
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
Burt vain Miftake hath form?d this Scheme for Fools, who judge perverfly of the Seeds of Things. For there can be no Middle, where there is a Void or Space that’s infinite; or if there was, can Bodies, for this Reafon, rather ftop their Courfe in this Medium, than take up their Abode in any Partof Space that’s further off. For Place, or empty Space, which we call Void, muft equally give way to heavy Movements through a Medium, or through none, which way foe’er their Motions tend ; nor is there any Place where Bodies, when they come, throw off their Weight, and ftand fix’d in a Void, and take their Reft. Nor can a Void fupport the Weight of Bodies, but muft by its own Nature {till give way. It follows then, that Things are not preferv’d, or held together by this means, as if they fondly ftrove to reach a middle Space.
BesipeEs, all Bodies, they pretend, do not in- cline towards the Centre, but thofe of Earth and Water, the Sea, and Rivers rolling from the Hills, and thofe that are compofed of "earthy Parts, But the thin Air, they fay, and the hot Fire are carried upwards from the Middle; and hence it is the Sky 15 fpangled every way with Stars, and
_ ® Thofe who fuppofe a Centre, affert, that the Particles of the Earth and Water only tend thither ; but he anfwers, if fome earthly Particles did not rife upwards likewife, how could Animals be nourifh’d? How could Trees and all manner of Plants grow? He fays, they pretend that certain folid Heavens inclofe thofe light Particles that rife from the Centre, are roll’d round all Things, and hold them in ; for if thefe Particles were not ftopt, they would immediately fly through the immenfe Void, and the Heavens and the Earth would be diffolved, and fall to pieces ; for where any Part of the World begins to fail, the Whole will foon be diffolved. He recites thefe Opinions as Abfurdities, and thinks by fo do- ing he confutes them. :
the
οἱ
92
TeLucretrm Liz I.
Atque ideo totum circumtremere thera fignis, Et Solis fammam per celi cerula pafti,
Quod calor a Medio fugiens ibi colligat igneis. 1090 (Quippe etiam vefci ὃ Terra mortaha fatla:
Nee prorfum arboribus fummos frundefcere ramos Polfe, nift a terris paullatim cuique cibatum
Terra det) at fupra circum tegere omnia Calum Ne volucrum ritu flammarum, menia Mundi 1095 Diffugiant fubite magnum per Inane foluta,
Et ne cetera confimili ratione fequantur :
Neve ruant cali tonitralia templa fuperie,
Lerrague fe pedibus raptim fubducat, &F omnes
Later perimifias terre, celique ruinas 1100 Corpora folventes, abeant per Inane profundum, Temporis ut puntto nibil exftet relliquiarum,
| Defertum preter Spatium, (8 Primordia ceca.
Nam quacunque prius de parti corpora céffe Conftitucs, bec rebus erit parsjanua lethi: 1105 Hac [eturba foras dab:it omnis Materiat.
Hec fi pernofces, parva perfunttus opella, {Nangque alid ex alio clare[cei) non tibi ceca Nox iter eripiet, quin ultima Naturat Pervideas, ita Res accendent lumina Rebus. 1110
Boox I. Of the Nature of Things.
the Sun’s Flame in his celeitial Courfe is fed, be- caufe the Fire flying from the Centre, there binds up all its Heat; (fo from the Earth all mortal Things are fed, nor’can the Trees adorn their lofty Heads with Leaves, unlefs the Earth to every Kind affords its due Support.) They fay, a fort of Heavenly Canopy above covers the whole, and holds itin; left the ° World’s Walls, their Parts being all diffolv’d, fhould inftantly be fcatter’d through the Void, like {wifteft Flames, and all Things be o’erwhelm’d in this great Ruin; left the thundering Vaults of Heaven fhould tumble from above, and Earth fhould fail our trembling Feet, and the whole Race of Men, their Bodies broken and diffolv’d, fhould wander through the boundlefs Void, amidft thefe mingled ‘Ruins of the Earth and Heavens; and
in a Moment nothing would be left but defart .
empty Space, and fentelefs Seeds. For in what-
ever Part you will fuppofe the Seeds to feparate, -
here will ,be the Gate of Death to Bodies; for Matter through the Breach will ruth abroad, and prefs with mighty Force.
Ir This you throughly know, and little Pains will ferve (for one Thing by another you?ll ex- plain) no more fhall Darknefs interrupt your Way, but you fhall view the utmoft Depths of Nature ; for Things will fhew themfelves by mu- tual Light.
° He means the whole Circumference of the Heavens, which, like Walls, inclofe and furround the World.
The END of the FIRST BOOK,
93
THE
ARG UMEN T
Or ΤῊΣ SECOND BOOK.
crabbed, and therefore be adorned it with Poetical Defcriptions and Precepts of Mo-
rality in the Beginning and Ending of his Books. In this Book be treats of the Motions and Figures of bis Atoms, and introduces bis Subjeti with the Praifé of that Philofophy which Epicurus taught, and.which be calls, The Doétrine of the Wf. This he recommends to bis Memmuus, as what «11 alleviate all his Care, and deliver the Mind from Anxiety and Fear. Then he difputes about the Properties and Qualities of his Seeds or Atoms, the firft of which is Motion. That Seeds do move, is demonftrated from the Generation of Things, but their Motion is downwards ; for all Seeds are bea- vy: But when folid Seeds meet, they mujt of nece/- fity rebound every way from one another. Thus fome Seeds happen to unite and join together, and thofe whofe Union is moft compat, compofe Taings that are hardand denfe, but the Seeds whofe Con- nexion is more loofe, make thofe that are foft and rare. But fome Seeds never unite, but like the Particles of Duft we fee inthe Beams of the Sun, are with perpetual Motion carried through the Void, and inceffantly firike, and drive up and down other
Q UR Poet made choice of a Subje& naturally
.
The ARGUMENT.
oiber Atoms and Themfelves. He then explains the Swiftne/s of the Seeds that tend downwards; and, after bis ufual Manner, feverely falls upon thofe who confe/s @ divine and ruling Providence. He obferves that the Seeds, as they tend downwards, decline a little from a firait Line, for unlefs they did fo, Nothing at all, at leaft no free Agent, could ever be produced. He foews that the Seeds ftill keep the fame Motion in which they have moved from all Eternity; and that no Man fhould diftruft this Opinion, becaufe he cannot difcover this Motion by his Sight, fince the very Seeds themfelves cannot be perceived. Figure is the fecond Quality or Property of Seeds, and be proves that all Seeds are not of the fame Figure, but that fome are round, fome fquare, fome finooth, fome rough, fome hooked, &c. And he foews at large, what Pigures compofe bitter Bo- dies, what fweet, what bard, what foft; that this Variety of Figures is not infinite, but that Seeds of the fame Figure are infinite, that is, the Round are infinite, the Square infinite, &c. He obferves, that Things are not compofed of Seeds of the fame Figure, and proves by many Arguments, that com- pound Bodies contaiz Seeds of different Figures , Seeds, he fays, have none of thofe Qualities which ave call fenfible, as Colour, Tafte, Heat, Cold, &c. and that they are not endowed with Senfe, tho’ co- loured, favory, bot, cold, and fenfible Things are conipofed of them. Lafily, that thefe infinite Seeds frying up and down through the infinite Void, com- pofe infinite Worlds, and that thefe Worlds are fome- times increafed in Bulk by the Seeds that drop down out of the infinite Space, and fometimes diminifbed and diffolved, becaufe the Seeds get loofe and fly a- way from them into the infinite Space likewife; in the fame Manner as Plants and Animals are born, in- creafe in Growth, wax old, and at length die.
T. Lucretit
95
7. Lucretia Cari
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+. OF THE NATUREof THINGS. δ THE
SECOND BOOK.
FNS pleafant, when a Tempeft drives the δ Waves, in the wide Sea, to view the. fad Diftrefs of others from the Land;
‘not that the Pleafure is fo fweet that others fuf- fer, but the Joy is this, to look upon the Ills from which yourfelf are free. It likewife gives - delight to view the bloody Conflicts of a War, in Battle ranged overall the Plains, without a Share of Danger to yourfelf: But nothing is more {weet, than to attain the ferene tho’ lofty Heights of true* Philofophy, well fortified with Learning of the Wife, and thence look down on others,
a The Poet introduces his Subjeét with the Praife of that Philofophy taught by Epicurus; and intending in this Book to treat of the Motions and Figures, and other Qualities of his Atoms, he relaxes the wearied Mind of his Mesmmius, by forewarning him of the Dangers and Calamities of others, and to allure him to the Study of that Philofophy which he calls The Dottrine of the Wife.
Vou. IL. H and
nl 4
Ν
T. Lucrerii Lis. ἘΠ Dejpicere unde queas Alios, pyfi mgue Videre
Errare, atque viam palantets querere Vite, τὸ Certare ingenio, contendere nobvilitate,
No&teis atque dies niti praeftante labore
Ad fummas emergere opes, rerumque potirz:
O miferas hominum menteis! 6 peciora ceca! Qualibus in tenebris vite, quantifque periclis 15 Degitur boc evi, quodcunque °jt! nonne videre Nil aliud fibi Naturam latrare, nifi ut, cum Corpore fejunétus dolor abfit, mente fruatur Fucundo fenfu, cura femota, metuque !
Ergo corpoream ad naturam pauca videmus 20 Effe opus omnine, que demant quemque i Delicias quogue uti multas fubjternere poffint, Gratius interdum neque Natura ipfa requirit.
Si non aurea funt juvenum fimulacra per edeis Lampadas igniferas manibus retinentia dextris, 25
‘Lumina nociurnis epulis ut fuppeditentur,
Nec domus argento fulget, auroque renidet 5 Nec citharis reboant laqueata aurataque templa : Attamen inter fe profirati in gramine moll Propter aque rivum, fub ramis arboris alia, 20 Non magnis opibus gucundée Corpora curant: Prefertim cum tempeftas arridet, €9 anni Tempora confpergunt viridanteis floribus herbas, Nec calide citius decedunt corpore febres, Textilibus fi in pitturis, oftroque rubenti 85 Fadtaris, quan fi plebeia in vefie cubandu ae Quapropter quoniam nil nofiro in corpore Gaze
Proft-
Boox II. Of the Mature of Things. 99
and behold Mankind wandering and roving eve- ry way, to find a Path to Happinefs 5 they ftrive for Wit, contend for Nobility, labour Nights and Days, with anxious Care, for Heaps of Wealth, and to be Minifters of State.
O wretched are τῆς Thoughts of Men! How blind their Souls! In what dark Roads they grope their way, in what Diftrefs is this Life fpent, fhort as itis! Don’t you fee Nature requires no more, than, the Body free from Pain, fhe may enjoy the Mind eafy and chearful, remov’d from Care and Fear?
Awnop then we find a littie will fuffice the Nature of our Bodies, and take off every Pain ; nay, will afford much Pleafure, and Nature wifhes for nothing more defirable than this. What tho’ no > Golden Images of Boys, holding gp, yaniry forth blazing Torches in their Hands, to light ofa jé- the Midnight Revels of the Great, adorn thy 4ary Houfe? What tho’ thy Rooms fhine not with 8 Silver, nor are overlaid with Gold, nor do thy arched gilded Roofs rebound with the ftrong Notes of Mufick? Yet we find Men fweetly in- dulge their Bodies, as they lie together. on the foft and tender Grafs, hard by a River’s Side, under the Boughs of fome high Tree, without a Fleap of Wealth ; chiefly when the Spring fmiles, . and the Seafon of -the Year fprinkles the verdant — Herbs weth flowery Pride. Nor will a burning Fever fooner leave the Body, when you are tof- fed in Cloaths embroidered on Beds of blufhing Purple, than when you lie in coarfeft Blankets. Since Riches then afford no Comfort to our Bo-
» The Golden Statues ufed in the Houfes of Perfons ae Qua- lity, inftead of Sconces and Candlefticks in their Entertain-
ments by Night, , ' Η 2 dies,
100
T. Lucretit | Γ,18. ἢ].
Proficiunt, neque Nobvilitas, neque Gloria regni: Quod fupereft, animo quoque nil prodeffe putandum: Si non forte tuas Legiones per loca campi 40 Fervere cum videas belli fimulacra cientets : Fervere cum videas Claffem, latéque vagari, His tibi tumrebus timefatte Relligiones Effugiunt animo pavide, mortifque timores : Tum Vacuum pectus linquunt, curaque folutum. 45 Quod fi ridicula bec, ludibriaque effe videmus, Re veraque Metus hominum, Cureque fequaces, Nec metuunt fonitus armorum, nec fera tela : Audatterque inter Reges, rerumque Potenteis Verfaniur, neque fulgorem reverentur_abauro, 5° Nec clarum veftis [plendorem purpureai : Quid dubitas, quin omne fit hoc rationis egeftas, Omnis cm in tenebris prafertim vita laboret 2 Nam veluti Pueri trepidant, atque omnia cecis In Tenebris metuunt: fic nos in Luce timemus 55 Interdum nibilo que funt metuenda magis, quam Que Pueri in Tenebris pavitant, finguntque futura. Lune igitur terrorem animi, tenebrafque neceffe ᾽( Non Radii folis, neque lucida tela diet Difcutiant, fed Nature fpecies, Ratiogue. 60 Nunc age, quo mote GENITALIA Materiai CoRPORA 765 varias gignant, genita/que refolvant, Lt qua vi facere id cogantur, queve fit ollis
Reddita
Boox Il. Of the Nature of Things.
dies, nor Noblenefs, nor the Glory of Ambition, “tis plain you are to think they do the Mind no good. It, when you behold your furious Le- gions embattled o’er the Plains, waging mock War, or when you view your Navy ftand eager to engage, or bear away o’er the wide Sea, if {truck with Sights like thefe, your fearful Super- ftitions, and the Dread of Death, forfake your Mind, and leave your Breaft ferene, and free from Care, *twerefomething, But if thefe Things are vain and all Grimace, and the truth is, that nor the Fears of Men, nor following Cares fly from the Sound of Arms or cruel Darts, but boldly force their way among the Kings and Mighty of the Earth; nor do they Homage pay to fhining Gold, nor the gay Splendor of a pur- ple Robe. Do you doubt but all this Stuff 1s want of Senfe, and all our Life is groping in the dark ? :
For as “ Boys tremble and fear every thing in the dark Night, fo we, in open Day, fear Things as vain, and little to be feared, as thofe that Children quake at in the dark, and fancy making towafds them. This Terror of the Mind, this Darknefs then, not the Sun’s Beams, nor the bright Rays of Day can {catter, but the Light of Nature and the Rules of Reafon.
Bu T now, come on, remember you attend, while I explain by what Motion the Genial Seeds of Matter produce the various Kinds of Bodies, and diffolve them when produced, and by what Force compelled they act, and what Celerity of
¢ As Children dread every thing in the dark, fo Men are terrified witha Belief of Providence and of Punifhments after Death, which, according to Epicurus, are but the Day-Dreams
of a crazy Mind, Π 54 Motion
τοῖ
ΤΟΣ
T, Lucretrit Lie. I.
Reddita Mobilitas inagnum per Inane meandt, Expediam: Tu te dittis prebere memento. 65 Nam certé non inter fe fiipata cobaeret Materies, quoniam minui rem quamque videmus, Et queft longinquo fluere omnia cernimus evo ; Lx oculifque vetuftatem fubducere nofiris : Cine tamen incolumuis videatur Summa manere, “0 Propterea quia, que decedunt Corpora cuique, Unde abeunt, minuunt : quo venere, augmine donant: Lila fenefcere, at bec contra florefeere cogunt. Nec remorantur ibi: fie rerum Summa novatur Semper, (SF inter fe mortales mutua vivunt. a5 Augefcunt alie gentes, alice minnuntur : Inque brevi [patio mutantur fecla animantum : Et, quafi Curfores, vitat lampada tradunt. ‘Si ceflare putas rerum Primordia poffe, Ceffandoque novos rerum progignere Motus: δὼ Avius avera longe vatione vagaris. |
Nan,
Ο. ἊΣ
Boox Il. Of the Nature of Things. 1
Motion they poffefs, to force their way thro’ all the mighty Void.
For certain it 15) that no ἃ Seeds of Matter 72ε Mo- ftick clofe and unmov’d among themfelves ; for “95 οὗ the we fee every thing grows lefs, and perceive all’ “” Things wear away by a long Tract of Time, and old Age removes them quite from our Sight. And yet the Mafs of Things ftill remains fafe and entire; and for this Reafon, becaufe the Par- ticles of Matter which fall off, leffen the Bodies from whence they fall, -but add to thofe to which they join. Thefe they force to decay : thofce, on the contrary, they increafe: Nor do they remain in this Pofture. And thus the Univerfe of Things is continually renewing; Generations fuc- ceed one another, one Kind of Animal increafes, another waftes away ; and in a {ποῖ time. the liv- ing Creation is entirely changed, and, like * Ra- cers, delivers the Lamp of Life to thofe that are behind.’
Bur if you think the Seeds of Things can be at reft, and, being themfelves unmov’d, can give Motion to Bodies, you wander wildly from the ‘Way of true Reafon. For fince all the Seeds of
¢ He proves there is Motion from the Growth and Decreafe of Things ; for Things grow, becaufe fome Particles of Mat- ter fly, andadhere to them, and Things decreafe, becaufe fome minute Principles lofe their hold and fy away ; and this can- not be done without Miction.
© He alludes to certain Games celebrated at Athens in ho- nour of Vulcan, in which the Racers carried Torches in theis _ Hands, and ftrove who fhould firt: reach the Goal, with his Torch- not extinguifhed. In this Conteft, he whofe Torch was extinguifhed, yielded the Victory to him who came next after him; and he, in like manner, to the third: And there fore, as the Runner whofe Torch went out yielded the Victo ry to the Follower, fo aliving Thing, when its Light of Life 15 extinguifhed, gives up to another living Thing, as it were,
its Lamp of Life. ΕΗ 4 Things
1LO4.
T. Lucretir Lie. If.
Nam, quoniam per Inane vagantur, cuntia neceffeft Aut Gravitate fua ferri Primordia rerum,
Aut itiu forte alterius : nam cita fuperné
Obvia cum flinere, fit, ut diverfa repente 85. Diffliant: neque enim nirum, Duriffima que fint, Ponderibus folidis, neque quicquam ἃ tergis obftet.
Et quo jaftari magis omaia Materiai Corpora pervideas, reminifcere Totius imum Nil effe in Summa: neque babere ubi Corpora
prima 90 Confifiant : quoniam Spatium fine fine, modoque ᾽ς Immenfumque patere in cuntias undique parteis, Pluribus ofiendi, 85 certa ratione probatu’ ft.
Quod quoniam conftat, nimirum nulla quies eft Reddita Corporibus primis per Inane profunduim: 95 Sed magis affiduo, varioque exercita motu,
Partim intervallis magnis conflitia refultant :
Pars etiam brevibus fpatiis nexantur ab Iétu.
Et quecunque magis condenfo conciliatu,
Exiguis intervailis connexa refuliant, 100
Indupedita
“4
Boox II. Of the Nature of Things. 105
Things are rambling through the Void, they muft neceffarily be born along either by their own natural Gravity, or by the outward Stroke of fomething elfe; for when thefe Seeds tending downwards meet with others, they muft all fly off, and rebound a different way, and no won- der, fince they are hard Bodies, and of folid Weight; nor is there any thing behind to ftop the Motion: But, that you may perceive more plainly how all the Seeds of Matter are tofled a- bout, you mutt recollect, that there isnofuch thing in the Univerfe as the Lowe/t Place, where the firft Seeds may remain fixed, becaufe 1 have fhewn fully, and proved by certain Reafon, that Space is without End, without Bounds immenfe, and lies extended every way.
Tuis being plain, there can be no Reft poffibly . allowed to thefe firft Seeds, for ever wandering through the empty Void; but being toffed about with conftant and different Motion, and ftriking- acainft other Bodies ὅ, fome rebound to a great Diftance, others fly off, but not fo far; fuch of them as rebound but for a fmall Diftance, their Contexture being more clofe, and being hinder’d.
f The Seeds being folid are therefore heavy, and heavy Things tend downwards, and in their Defcent lighting upon Bodies that are either at reft, or move more flowly than them- felves, they muft neceffarily rebound; and this is the Caufe of the afcending Motion, which is violent, the other is natural, and both are neceflary to the Generation and Diffolution of Things.
6 Since the Seeds are in continual Motion, and itrike and rebound, this Rebounding is made to unequal Dittances ; thofe Seeds that rebound to a lefs Diftance, and are toffed in a nar- rower Space, compofe hard Bodies, as Iron and Stone; and {uch as rebound to a greater Diitance, and wander in a wider Space, compofe Bodies that are foft and rare, fuch as Air and Fire,
by
106
T. Lucretr Lie. Ik Indupedita fuis perplexis ipfa figuris ; Hae validas Saxi radices, &F fera Ferri. Corpora confittuunt, {8 cetera de genere horum Paucula: Que porro magnum per Inane.vagantur, Et cita diffiliunt longe, longéque recur fant 105 In magnis intervallis : bec Aéra rarun Sufficiunt nobis, &S {plendida lumina Solis.
Multaque praeterea magnum per Inane vagantur, Concilis rerum que {μπὲ rejelia, nec ufquam Confociare etiam motus potuere recepia : 110 Cujus, uti memoro, rei fimulacrum, &8 imago Ante oculos femper nobis verfatur, &8 inftat. Coxtemplator enim, cum Solts lumina cunque Lafertim fundunt radios per opaca domorum : Multa minuta modis multis per Inane videbis : 115 Corpora mifceri radiorum lumine tn ipfo:
Lt velut eterno certamine pretia, pugnafque
Edere turmatim certantia: nec dare paufam, Concilits, 9 difcidits exercita crebris :
Conjicere ut pofis ex boc, Primordiarerum, 120 Quale fit, in magnojattari femper Inani, Duntaxat rerum magnarum parva poteft res Exemplare dare, & vefligia notitiaz,
Hoc etiam magis bec animum te advertere par eft Corpora, qua in Solis radiis turbare videntur 125 Quod tales turbe motus quoque Materiai Significant clandeftinos, caecofque fubeffe.
Multa videbis enim plagisibt percita ca@cts
Cominuiare viam, retrogue vepulfa reverts
Nune bic, nunc illuc,in cuntlas denique partes. 130 Scilicet
Boox Il. Of the Nature of Things.
by their natural Twinings, thefe compofe the fo- lid Roots of Rocks, and the hard Bodies of Iron, and a few other Things of the fame Nature; but fuch as wander widely through the Vozd, and moved by the Blow, fly further off, and rebound
to greater Diftances; thefe compofe the thin Air, |
and the Sun’s brighter Light. BrsipEs, there are many Seeds keep wander-
ing through the Void, that are refufed all Union,
with other Seeds, nor could ever be admitted to join their Motion to any thing elfe. An Inftance or Reprefentation of this, as I conceive, is always at hand, and vifibly before our Eyes.’ When the Sun’s Light fhoots its Rays through a narrow Chink into a darkned Room, you fhall fee a thoufand little Atoms dance a thoufand ways through the empty Space, and mingle in the very Raysof Light, engaging, asit were, in endlefs War, drawing up their little Troops, never tak- ing breath, but meeting and exercifing their ho- {tile Fury with conftant Blows. And hence you may collect, in what Manner the Principles of Things are toffed in thisempty Void ; fo {mall an Inftance will give you an Example of thefe ex- traordinary Motions, and open a Way-to your Knowledge of greater Events,
But here it is fit you fhould apply yourfelf more clofely to obferve thefe Bodies which feem fo difturbed in the Sun’s Beams ; for it appears by thefe Diforders, that there are certain fecret Principles of Motion in the Seeds themfelves, tho’ invifible to us; for fome of thefe Motes you will fee ftruck by fecret Blows, and forc’d to change their Courfe, fometimes driven back, then again returning, now this, now that, and every other way ; and this Variety of Motion is
certainly
107
108
T. Lucrerir Lis. Il.
Scilicet bic ἃ Principiis eff omnibus error. Prima moventur énim per fe Primordia rerum
Inde ea, que parvo funt Corpora conciliatu,
Et quaft proxima funt ad vireis Principiorum,
Iitibus illorum σοῖς impulfa cientur : 136
Ipfaque, quae porro paullo majora, laceffunt.
Sic ἃ Principiis afcendit motus, ©& exit
Paullatim noftros ad fenfus, ut moveantur
Illa quoque, in Solis que lumine cernere quimus 5
Nec quibus id faciant Plagis apparet aperté. 140 Nunc, que Mobilitas fit reddita Materiai
Corportbus, paucis licet binc cognofcere, MEMMI.
Primum Aurora novo cum fpargit lumine terras,
Et varie volucres nemora avia pervolitantes,
Aéra per tenerum liquidis loca vocibus opplent: 145
Quam fubito foleat Sol ortus tempore tali ,
Conveftire fua perfundens omnia luce,
Onmibus in promptu, manifeftumque effe videmus.
At Vapor is, quem Sol mittit, lumenque ferenum,
Non per Inane meat vacuum, quo tardiis ire 150
Cogitur, aérias quafi cum diverberet undas :
Neg
Boox Il. Of rhe Mature of Things.
certainly in the® very Seeds; for the Principles of Things firft move of themfelves, then com- pound Bodies that are of the leaft Size, and ap- proach neareft, as it were, to the Exility of the firft Seeds, are by them ftruck with Blows un- feen, and put into Motion, and thefe again {trike thofe that are fomething larger; fo from firft Seeds all Motion ftill goes on, till at length it becomes fenfible to us; and thus we fee how thofe Motes that play in the Sun’s Beams are moved, tho’ the Blows by which they are driven about do not fo plainly appear to us.
109
Anp now, my Memmius, you may in brief, χρρϑαυΐ- from the following Inftance, collect how rapid 1s 2efs of the
the Motion of the firft Seeds; for when the Morning fpreads the Earth with rifing Light, and {weet Variety of Birds frequent the Woods, and fill each Grove with moft delightful Notes through the foft Air, every one perceives, and the Thing we fee is plain, how fuddenly, and in a moment, the rifing Sun covers the World, and fhines with inftant Light. But that Vapour, that glittering Ray, which the Sun fends forth, does not pafs through meer empty ' Space, and therefore is forced to move flower, as it has the refifting Air to part and divide as it goes; nor
h Since all Bodies will keep the fame Line, unlefs they are diverted by fome outward Violence, or by the Preffure of their own interior Weight, it follows that fome Motions of the Seeds, tho’ invifible to the Eye, agitate thofe Motes or little Bodies, and drive them about in that manner ; for he infifts, that all Motion that is obferv’d in Things is in the Seeds themfelves.
1 The Heat of the Sun paffes through the Air, which is full of Atoms and other Bodies, as Winds and Exhaiations, which hinder the Courfe of his Rays; and the Corpufcles of Light pafs not through the whole Air in an inftant of Time; nor {ingly one by one, but conglobed and intangled in oneanother, which mult hinder the Swittnefs of their Motion.
3 are
Seeds.
Imo T. Lucretit Lire. Il.
Nec fingillatim corpufcula queéque Vaporis,
Sed complexa meant inter fe, conque globata. Dyapropter fimul inter fe retrabuntur, ξ5 extra Oficiuntur, uti cogantur tardins ire. 155 At, qua funt folide Primordia fmplicitate,
Cum per Inane meant Vacuum, nec res remoratur Ulla foris, atque ipfa fuis ὃ partibus unum,
Unum in quem cepere locum connixa feruntur : Deveni ninirum precellere Mobilitate, 160 Lt multo citius ferri, quam lumina Solis: Multiplexque loci fpatium tranfcurrere eodem ‘Tempore, quo Solis pervoleant fuleura celum : Nam neque confilio debent tardata morari,
Nec perfcrutari Primordia fingula queque, τόρ Ut videant, qua quidque geratur cum ratione.
At quidam contra bec, ἰόν πὶ Materjai Naturam non poffe Detim fine numine rentur Tantopere humanis rationibus, ac moderatis Tempora mutare annorum, frugefque creare: 170
᾿ _ Wee
_— | 2.
-
ook II. Of the Nature of Things. are the Principles that compofe this Ray fimple firft Seeds, but certain little globular Bodies made up of thefe firft Seeds, that pafs thro? the Air ; and thefe firfe Seeds being agitated by various Motions, thefe little Bodies which are form’d of them are retarded by different Motions within themfelves, and are likewife hinder’d from with- out by other Bodies, and fo are obliged to move the flower. |
But Seeds that are folid and fimple in their Nature, when they pafs through a pure Void, having, nothing to {top them from without, ‘and being’ one, and uncompounded thro’ all their Parts, are carried at once, by an inftant Force, to the Point to which they firft fet out. Such Seeds muft exceed the Rays of the Sun in their Motion, and becarried on with much more Ce- Jerity ; they muft pierce through longer Traéts of Space in the fame Time in which the Sun- Beams pafs through the Air; for thefe Seeds cannot agree together by Defign, to move flow- ly, nor ftop in the Air to fearch into Particulars,
and be fatisfied for what Reafon their feveral Mo-
tions are thus carried on and difpofed.
_ Bur fome object to this, Fools as they are, and conceive that * imple Matter cannot of it felf, without the Affiftance of the Gods, act fo agreeably to the Advantage and Convenience of Mankind, as to change the Seafons of the Year,
~
k He moft ridiculoufly infifts, that Matter, rude as it was, did make this World without Art or Defign ; that Pleafure is
the Guide and Life of Man, that all Things are govern’d by .
her, and that the World nor any ‘Thing elfe was made for the Ufe of Man; and then promifes in another Place to fhew, that the Frame of this World is fo ill contrived, that it would be a Scandal to the Gods to charge them with the Creation of
it.
2 ἴο
TIF
112
T. Lucretrim Lis. If
Nec jam cetera, mortaleis que fuadet adire,
Tpfaque deducit dux vite Dia VotupTas,
Ut res per Veneris blanditim fecla propagent, Ne genus occidat Humanum: Quorum omuia caufa Confiztuiffe Deos fingunt, fed in omnibw? rebus 175 Masgnopere avera lapfi ratione videntur, Nam quamvis rerum ignorem Primordia que fint, Hoc tamen ex ipfis Celi rationibus aufim Confirmare, aliifque ex rebus reddere multis, Nequaquam nobis Divinitis effe creatam 180 Naturam mundi, que tanta’ft predita culpa: Que tibi pofterits, MEMMI, faciemus aperta; Nunc id quod fupereft de Motibus expediemus. Nunc locus eft (ut opinor) in his illud quoque rebus Conjirmare Tibi, nullam rem poffe fua vi 185 Corpoream furfum ferrt, furfumque meare. Ne tibi dent in eo Plammarum corpora fraudem: Surfus enim vorfus gignuntur, 9. augmina fumunt : Et furfum nitide Fruges, Arbuftaque crefcunt, Pondera quantum in fe "ft, cum deorfum cunéia fe- raniur. 196 Nec cum fubjiliunt Ignes ad tefta domorum, ΕἸ celeri flamma deguftant tigna, trabei/que, | Sponte [μὰ facere id, finevt fubigente, putandu ft:
Quod genus, énoftro cum miffus corpore Sanguis
ΚΕ» εξ
! δ Booxll. Of the Nature of Things. 112 to produce the Fruits, and do other Things which Pleafure, (the Deity and great Guide of ‘Life,) perfuades Men to value and efteem. It ‘could not induce us to propagate our Race, by
the Blandifhments of tender Love, left the Spe-
cies of Mankind fhould be extinét, for whofe
fake they pretend the Gods made all the Beings
of the Worlds but all Conceits like thefe fall greatly from the Dittates of true Reafon: for
tho? I were entirely ignorant of the Rife of Things, yet from the very Nature of the Hea-
vens, and the Frame of many other Bodies, I dare affirm and infift, that the Nature of the World
was by no means created by the Gods upon our account, it is fo very faulty and imperfect, which,
my Memmius, I fhall hereafter fully explain.
But now let us explain what remains to be faid
of Motion. w
. Awpv here, I think, is the proper Place to 4! Things prove to you, that no* Being can be carried Up cen bg wards, or afcend by any innate Virtue of itsown, | left by obferving the Tendency of Flame, you fhould be led into a Miftake. For Flame, you know, is born upwards, as well when it begins
to blaze, as when it is increafed by Fuel ;. fo the tender Corn and lofty Trees grow upwards. Nor
when the Flames afpire, and reach the Tops of Houfes, and catch the Rafters and the Beams
with a fierce Blaze, are you to fuppofe they de
this by voluntary Motion, and not compelled by Force. ’Tis the fame when the Blood gufhes
® He had faid before, that the Seeds tend downwards ; and
to the Objection that Fire moves upwards, he anfwers, that
Plants and Trees rife upwards likewife, by reafon of the dri-
ving Force which breaks out of the Earth, and compels them
to grow by Afcent. The ambient Air drives the Flames up-
τῷ and makes it yield toan Element more denfe than it Ἢ |
Vou. Ι. I from
LIA 7 T. Lucreti Drs. OL
Emicat exfultans alte, [pargitque cruorem, 195 Nonne vides etiam, quanta vi Tigna Trabeifque Refpuat humor Aqua? nam quam mag? merfimus altum ; Direia, SF magna vi multi prefimus egre 5 Tam cupide furfum revoniut magts, aique remittt, Plus ut parte foras emergant, exfiliantque. 200 Nec tamen bec, quantu "ft in fe, dubttamus, opinor, Quin vacuum per Inane deorfum cuntta ferantur. Sic igitur debent Fiamma quoque poffe per auras Aris expreffe furfum fuccedere 5 quanquam Pondera, quantum in fe "ft, deorfim deducere pug- nent : 205 Noéluruafque faces Celt fublime volanteis Noune vides longos flammarum ducere tractus,
ει in quafcunque dedit partets Natura meatum ὃ . Now cadere in terram Stellas, &8 Sidera cernts 2 Sol etiam fummo de vertive diffupat omnets 210
Ardovem in parteis, θ᾽ lumine conferit arva: In tervas igitur quoque Solis vergitur ardor. Tranfoerfofgue volare per imbres Fulmina cernis : Nune hinc, nunc illine abrupti nubibus [gues Concurfant, cadit in terras vis Flammea volgo. 215. ΟΠ μά in his queque Te rebus cognofcere avemus : Corpora cum deorfum refium per Inane feruntur, Ponderibus propriis incerto tempore feries
Facer tifque
.
Boox I. Of the Neture of Things. | tf
from a Vein, it fpouts bounding upwards, and fprinkles all about the purple Stream. Don’t you obferve likewife;-with what Force the Water throws up the Beams and Pofts of Wood? The
more we plunge them in, and prefs them down
with all our Might, the more forcibly the Stream {pews them upwards, and fends them back ; fo: that they rife, and leap up at leaft half their thicknefs above the Water. And yet I think, we make no queftion that all Things, .as they pais through empty Void, are earricd naturally down below. So likewife the Flame rifes up- wards, being forcibly prefled through the Arr, tho’ its Weight, by its natural Gravity, endea- vours to defcend. Don’t you fee the nightly Me- teors of the Sky flying aloft, and drawing after them long Trains of Flame, which way foever Nature yields a Paflage? Don’t you fee alfo the ὦ Stars and fiery Vapours fall downwards up- on the Earth? The Sun too fcatters from the Tops of Heaven his Beams all round, and fows the Fields with Light: Its Rays therefore are downwards fent to us below, You fee the Light- ning through oppofing Showers fly ailabout ; the Fires burft from Clouds, now here now there en- gage, at length the burning Vapour falls down upon the Ground.
I ῬΈΒΙΒΕ you would attend clofely upon this Subject, and obferve that Bodies,. when they are carried downwards through the Void in a ftrait Line, do at fome time or other, but at no fix’d and determinate Time; and in fome Parts of the Void \ikewife, but not in any one certain and de-
! The Stars never fall, but he means a fat; oily, and ful- phurous Exhalation, which kindles in the Air, and falls to the ground in a purple-colour’d Jelly.
I 3 terminate
“ἃ
ἊΣ