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implores her to intercede with the god of war, to reftore peace and quiet to his native country. Hunc tu diva, tua recubantem corpore fancto Circumfufa fuper, fuaves ex ore loquelas Funde petens placidam Romanis inclyta pacem. Nam neque nos agere hoc patriai tempore iniquo Poffumus æquo animo; neque Memmi clara propago

Tallibus in rebus communi dêffe faluti.

Luer. lib. i. v. 39.

There are yet fome other accounts given of the time and manner of his death; but fince in fo great a variety of opinions we can fix on no certainty, nor determine which of them is true, it would be lofs of time to dwell any longer upon them.

his death, his poem of the Nature of Things, was first begun to be corrected by his intimate friend Tully, a tafk which may feem to require fome time; and, it may be, even a longer than that which paffed from the death of Lucretius to the writing of the treatife by Terentius Varro.

Moreover, faults of the like nature were very frequent in the writings of the ancients, where Lucilius, Lucretius, and Lucullus, in like manner as Cælius and Cecilius, and the like, were often put by mistake one for another. Thus, for example. Prifcian, lib. xviii. obferves, that in Salluft, Hift. lib. v. there was a mistake of this nature: "At Lucilius audito Marium regem proconfulem per Lycaoniam cum tribus legionibus in Ci liciam tendere," &c. which that grammarian thus corrects: "At Lucullus audito Marium regem proconfulem," &c.; for Salluft there treated of the war that Lucullus was carrying on against MiSaturnal. cap. xv. "M. Varro in lib. de agricul turâ refert M. Catonem, qui Utica periit, cum hæres teftamento Lucili effet relictus," &c t read, fays he," Teftamento Luculli," &c. Macrobius, nevertheless is there mistaken in one thing, for, as Plutarch witneffes, Lucullus left not Cato his heir, but only appointed him to be guardian of his fon, as being his uncle. And many the like inftances might oafily be produced.

The only remains this great wit has left us, are his fix books of the Nature of Things, which contain an exact fyftem of the Epicurean philofo-thridates. In like manner, Macrobius, lib. iii. phy. They were read and admired by the ancients; and if Ovid could prefage,

Carmina fublimis tunc funt peritura Lucreti,

Exitio terras cum dabit una dies.

Lucretius' lofty fong shall live in deathless fame,Till fate diffolves at once this universal frame.

But because fome are in doubt concerning the number of books written by Lucretius, and believe that he writ more than fix, it will not be improper to convince them of their error. They ground their opinion chiefly on a paffage in Varro, which, fay they, make it evident that Lucretius left one and twenty books, and that this is not the beginning of his poem which is commonly taken to be fo, fince Varro cites a quite different verfe as the beginning of it.

The paffage of Varro, which they allege in favour of their opinion, is in his fourth book, De lingua Latina, where we find thefe words: "Loca fecundum antiquam divifionem prima duo, cœlum et terra: à qua bipartita divifione Lucretius fuorum unius et viginti librorum initium fecit hoc :

Etheris et terræ genitabile quærere tempus." Thefe words, indeed, are very plain and pofitive; nevertheless, I infift, that unless there were another poet Lucretius among the ancients, who was author of the one and twenty books, spoken of in that paffage of Varro: and that there was I own, no mention is made in any of the records of antiquity, I infift, I fay, that there must be a fault in the above paffage of that author, and believe, that instead of Lucretius, it was formerly written Lucilius. Whoever reflects on the following reasons, will, if I mistake not, be of my opinion.

In the first place, it is believed upon good grounds, that Varro writ that treatife of the Latin tongue, about the time that Cæfar was dictator, or rather a little before: if fo, it is highly probable that copies of Lucretius could not fo foon be got abroad, for he died but in the fourth year before the dictatorship of Cæfar; and after

But to remove all manner of objections concerning the beginning of this poem, and to evince beyond reply the first book now extant to be the first book Lucretius writ, befides the invocation, with which, according to the cuftom of all poets, he begins his poem, I will, in oppofition to the above paffage of Varro, produce the authority of old Prifcian, who, after having faid that words of the first declenfion form the genitive plural in arum, and by contraction in um, by way of ex ample, adds amphorum for amphorarum, æneatim for æneadarum. For fo, fays he, Lucretius has it in his first verfe :" "Ita enim Lucretius in primo verfu."

Æneadûm genitrix, hominum divûmq voluptas

Befides, is there the leaft ground of probability that Lucretius ever writ above fix books, fince not one of the ancient grammarians, or other writers, neither Feftus, Nonius, Diomedes, Prilcian, Frobus, Carifius, Donatus, Servius, Tertul lian, Arnobius, nor Lactantius. who so frequently bring quotations from the fifth, fixth, and all the foregoing books of this poet, ever cite fo much as one fingle verfe from the feventh, eighth, & This, morally fpeaking, would be impoffible, had Lucretius written fifteen books, of the Nature of Things, more than are now extant. This makes me the rather wonder at the pofitiveness with which fome affert, that the feventh book of Locretius is praised in Prifcian, who, nevertheless, does not fo much as mention any fuch bock.

Moreover, in my opinion, Lucretius himself fufficiently determines this controversy, for, in his fixth book, reminding his reader of what he had been treating of in the firft, he says,

Nunc omnes repetam quàm claro corpore fint res Commemorare, quod in primo quoque carmine claret. Lucret. lib. vi. v. 936. This fufficiently proves the firft of the books now extant to be the first he writ, fince in that he has endeavoured to evince," omnes-quam claro corpore fint res," that no bodies are fo folid as not to contain fome void;" quod in primo quoque carmine claret." See Book I. ver. 402. And he feems exprefsly to call the sixth book his last, in these excellent verses,

Tu mihi fuprema præfcripta ad candida calcis
Currenti fpatium præmonftra, callida mufa,
Calliope, requies hominum, divâmque voluptas,
Te duce ut infigni capiam cum laude coronam.
Lueret. lib. vi. v. 91.
From whence we may easily infer, that he never
fo much as propofed to himself to write above fix
books, fince he tells us he is now hastening, "ad
præfcripta candida fupræme calcis," to the end of
the race he had determined with himself to run;
and therefore he invokes his muse,

To lead him on, and fhow the path to gain
The race and glory too, and crown his pain.

Creech.

Laftly, To ftrengthen all the foregoing arguments, we may obferve, that in these fix books only is contained the whole doctrine, and all the philofophy of Epicurus, in as much as it relates to the explication of nature, or natural causes and effects; and there is nothing left for any one to fay farther upon that subject.

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which may perhaps have been his, though it be no where found in any of his books; nor can it eafily be discovered where it has been left out. To restore it to its due place, would require an accurateness of judgment as great, if poflible, as was their difingenuity who firft left it out.

declares, wrote thefe fix books of Epicurean phiI now return to Lucretius, who, as Eufebius lofophy, in his lucid intervals, when the strength of nature had thrown off all the disturbing particles, and his mind, as it is obferved of madmen, was fprightly and vigorous. Then, in a poetical rapture, he could fly with his Epicurus beyond the flaming limits of this world, frame and diffolve feas and heavens in an instant, and, by fome unufual fallies, be the ftrongeft argument of his own opinion; for it seems impoffible that fome things which he delivers fhould proceed from reafon and judgment, or from any other caufe but chance, and unthinking fortune.

After his death, as I hinted before, Cicero, as Eufebius witneffes, revised and corrected his writings. Lambinus contradicts this; but the arguments he brings against the affertion of Eufebius are but weak, and of little validity.

Add to this the manifeft and pertinent connection of one book to another, the judicious method he has obferved in handling the several subjects Virgil, who was eager and affiduous in the study of which he treats, and his artfulness in the dif- of them, has borrowed from him in many places: pofition of them. They feem naturally to follow as both Macrobius and Gellius teftify: the last of one another. In the first book, he treats of the whom calls him "Poëtam ingenio et facundiâ principles of things; in the laft, of meteors and "præcellentem;" and Cornelius Nepos has placed of the heavens. Has not this method been con-him "inter elegantiffimos poëtas." So that if some ftantly practifed by all who have treated of the knowledge of nature? Even Epicurus himself obferved the very fame difpofition, as appears by the few furviving remains of that philofopher, his three epiftles to Herodotus, Manecœus, and Py. thocles.

But as, for the reafons above alleged, I am verily perfuaded that Lucretius never writ more than these fix books of the Nature of Things; fo,

great divines have given him the ill name of Canis, it was not for any rudenefs in his verse, but due rather to his Grecian mafter; the eternity of matter, and the like abfurd affertions, having corrupted most of the philofophies of Athens.

As a corollary to these few remaining memoirs of the life of Lucretius, I will here give the opinions of feveral learned men, concerning him and his writings.

Y iij

TESTIMONIES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN LEARNED MEN,

CONCERNING LUCRETIUS AND HIS WRITINGS.

M. Cicero to his Brother Q. Cicero, book ii. epift. 11. THE poems of Lucretius, as you obferve, are not written with much brightness of wit, but with a great deal of art.

Upon which paffage of Cicero, the learned P. Victorius, in his Caftigations on Tully's Epiftles, makes the following remark:

If any one, says he, thinks it ftrange that fome have been of opinion, that the poems of the moft elegant and excellent poet Lucretius, are written with no great brightnefs of wit, let him blame the judgment Quinctus; for we may reafonably miftruft, that, fince M. Cicero defends and commends him in the manner he does, he was not altogether of his brother's opinion, though he seems indeed, to confirm it; but that he would not thwart a tefty man, who, perhaps, because he writ verfes himfelf, was blinded with envy, and did not perceive the truth: Befides, he might be of that opinion, becaufe Lucretius compofed not his poem to boast his fhining wit, but to explain, with his utmost art and induftry, the whole philofophy of Epicurus.

The fame Victorious Var. Le&t. lib. xvii. cap. 16. The copioufnefs and purity of the Latin tongue, appear chiefly in Lucretius.

M. Vitruvius, in bis Treatise of Architecture, book ix. chap. 3.

Thofe, whose minds are inftructed with the delights of learning, cannot, but with veneration, carry in their breafts, as they do the images of the gods, fo too, that of the poet Ennius. Thofe, who are pleasingly diverted with the poems of Attius, fcem to have prefent with them, not only his virtues, but his figure and refemblance likewife. In like manner, many will, in after ages, feem to difpute, as it were, face to face with Lucretius, concerning the Nature of Things, as they will with Cicero, of the Art of Rhetoric,

Quintilian, book x.

For Macer and Lucretius are, indeed, worth the reading but not as if they contained the whole body of eloquence. Each of them is elegant in the fubject he treats of; but the one is low, the other crabbed and obfcure.

Upon which paffage of Quintilian, Gifanius thus: This opinion of Quintilian is, the greateft part of it, unanimously condemned by the ancients and moderns.

Barthius.

There are many things in Lucretius, that are not to be found elsewhere.

The fame Author.

So great is the beauty of the pure and fimple, that is to fay, of the ancient, and almoft only Latinity, that it easily prevails with intelligent read. ers, and fuch as are not fuperftitious, to contemn, in comparison of it, the borrowed charms of a gaudy and painted diction. This comes into my mind, chiefly when I read the poems of Catullus and Lucretius; for, of all the Latin poets, who have furvived to our days, these two deserve the preference; and, therefore, no diligence can mifemployed, no pain nor study fuperfluous, that may tend to the right understanding of them, or to prevent their being corrupted.

La&antius.

All the errors that Lucretius advances, were long before afferted by Epicurus.

Petrus Crinitus.

T. Lucretius Carus is believed to be defcended of the family of the Lucretii, which, at Rome, was held to be very ancient and noble. He wasa little older than Terentius Varro, and Marcus Ci

of

cero, as fome have written: this is the rather to be taken notice of, becaufe in the annals which we have from the Greeks, there are many things erroneouily related, and perverfely fet down, contrary to the truth of chronology. He is reprefented to have been a man of a vaft and foaring wit, in writing of verfes. He was wont to apply himfelf to the muses at feveral intervals of time; not without a certain fury and rupture of mind, as the authors of antiquity deliver. Quintilian witnes fes, that Æmilius Macer, and Titus Lucretius, excel in elegance of ftyle; but that the poem Lucretius is very difficult and obfcure: this was occafioned not only by the fubject itself, but by reafon of the poornefs of the tongue, and the rewnefs of the doctrine he taught, as he himself tef tifies. He writ fix books of the Nature of Things; in which he has followed the doctrine of Epicurus, and the example of the poet Empedocles, whofe wit and poetry he praifes with admiration. There are fome who write, that the poem of Lucretius was corrected by Tully: it is not, therefore, improbable, that, by reafon of his fudden death, he left it incorrect and imperfe&t. Quinctus, the brother of Cicero, held in high efteem the

poetry of Lucretius; and allows his work to have,
a great deal of artfulness and wit: befides, that
it ought not to be wondered at, that fome of his
veries feem rough, and almost like profe. This
was peculiar to the age in which he writ, as Fu-
rius Albinus fully witneffes in Macrobius, whofe
words are as follows: No man ought to have the
worfe efteem for the ancient poets upon this ac-
count, because their verfes feem to be fcabrous;
for that ftyle was then in greatest vogue; and the
following age had much ado to bring themselves
at length to relish this smoother diction. There-
fore, even in the days of the emperors the Velpa-
fans, there were not wanting fome, who chose to
read Lucretius rather than Virgil, and Lucilius
than Horace.

Francifcus Floridus Sabinus.

T. Lucretius was an excellent philosopher, and often gives very fatisfactory reafons of the things that feem to happen contrary to nature.

Hieronymus Mercurialis.

Lucretius was the first who explained the Nature of Things in the Roman tongue; and he borrowed many things from Democritus, Epicurus, and Hippocrates.

Julius Scaliger.

Dionyfius Lambinus, in his Epifle Dedicatory to Charles

IX. the Moft Chriflian King.

If among the few remains of the writings of the ancients, which have escaped as from a fhipwreck, there be any fort of learning, from whence many and great advantages have accrued to us, it is from their poems, &c. But you will fay, that Lucretius argues against the immortality of the foul, denies the providence of the gods, overthrows all religion, and places the chief good in pleasure. This is not the fault of Lucretius, but of Epicurus, whofe doctrines Lucretius followed. His poem, though he advances in it fome opinions that are repugnant to our religion, is, nevertheless, a poem; nay, and a beautiful noble poem too, diftinguished, illuftrated, and adorned with all the brightnefs of wit, &c.-What though Epicurus and Lucretius were impious; are we, who read them, therefore impious too? How many affertions are there in this poem, that are confentaneous to the opinions and maxims of the other philofophers How many probable! How many excellent and almost divine! These let us lay hold on; these let us feize; thefe let us approve of.--Befides, are we fo credulous and eafy of faith as to believe, that what affertions foever all manner of writers have left recorded in their works, are as true as if they had been pronounced from the o

Lucretius was a divine man, and an incompa- racle of Apollo? And fince we daily read many rable poet.

Cafaubon.

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Lucretius, even in the judgment of the ancients, is both a very great poet and philofopher, but full of lies; for, having followed the Epicurean fect, his opinions concerning God, and of the creation of things, are quite different from the doctrine of Plato, and of the other academics; for which reafon, fome believe that he ought not to be read by Chriftians, who adore and worship the true God. But fince truth, the more it is inquired into, thines the more bright, and appears the more venerable, Lucretius, and all that are like Lucretius, even though they be liars, as they certainly are, ought, my opinion, to be read.

Adrianus Turnebus.

Lucretius, in his pleafing poem, has feafoned his verfes with a certain delightful relifh of antiquity.

things that are fabulous, incredible, and falle, either to give fome refpite to our minds, or to make us the more willingly acquiefce in, and the moft conftantly adhere to fuch as are uncontrovertibly true; what reafon is there, that we should contemn or neglect Lucretius, a molt elegant and beautiful poet? &c.-1 return to our great and excellent poet Lucretius, the most polite, most ancient, and most elegant of all the Latin writers; from whom Virgil and Horace have in many places borrowed not half, but whole verfes. He, when he difputes of the indivifible corpufcles, or first principles of things; of their motion, and of their various figuration; of the void; of the the furface of all bodies; of the pature of the images, or tenuitous membranes that fly off from mind and foul; of the rifing and fetting of the planets; of the eclipfe of the fun and moon; of the nature of lightning; of the rainbow; of the Averni; of the caufes of difeafes, and of many other things, is learned, witty, judicious, and ele

gant.

In the introductions to his books; in his comparifons; in his examples; in his difputations against the fear of death; concerning the inconveniences and harms of love; of fleep and of dreams, he is copious, difcreet, eloquent, knowing, and fublime.We not only read Homer, but even get him by heart, because, under the veils of fables, partly obfcene, and partly abfurd, he is deemed to have included the knowledge of all na tural and human things. Shall we not then hear Lucretias, who, without the difguife of fables, and fuch trifles, not truly indeed, nor piously, but plainly and openly, and as an Epicurean, ingenioufly, wittily, and learnedly, and in the moft correct and pureft of ftyles, difputes of the prin

Y

ciples and caufes of things; of the univerfe; of the parts of the world; of a happy life; and of things celeftial and terreftrial. And, though in many places he diffent from Plato, though he advance many affertions that are repugnant to our religion, we ought not therefore to defpife and fet at nought thofe opinions of his, in which not only the aucient philofophers, but we who profefs Chriftianity agree with him. How admirably does he dif. pute of the restraining of pleasures, of the bridling the paffions, and of the attaining tranquillity of mind! how wittily does he rebuke and confute thofe who affirm, that nothing can be perceived and nothing known; and who say that the fenfes are fallacious! How fully he defends the fenfes ! &c.-How beautiful are his defcriptions! How graceful, as the Greeks call them, his epifodes! How fine are his difputations of colours, of mirrors, of the loadtone, and of the Averni! How ferious and awful are his exhortations to live continently, juftly, temperately, and innocently! What hall we fay of his diction; than which nothing can be faid or imagined to be more pure, more correct, more clear, or more elegant? I make not the leaft fcruple to affirm, that in all the Latin tongue, no author fpeaks Latin better than Lucretius; and that the diction neither of Cicero nor of Cæfar is more purc.

Obertus Gifanius in the Life of Lucretius.

I have retained the common title, of the Nature of Things: for, befides that the ancient copies have it fo, and that Sofipather in the fecond book of his Gram. mentions the third book of Lucretius, of Natural Things; our poet himfelf confirms it in book v. verfe 381, where he fays,

Thefe truths, this rife of things we lately know:
Great Epicurus liv'd not long ago:
By my affiftance young Philofophy
In Latin words now first begins to cry.

Creech.

Lucretius is in the right to fay this of himself: for he was the firft, who in the Latin tongue, writ of the Nature of Things; though afterwards many others followed his example; as C. Amafinius, Catius, M. Cicero Varro, and Ignatius: of the laft of whom Aur. Macrobius cites the third book. But the fame fubject had, many ages before, been treated of in Greck by Empedocles, whom Lucretius held in great veneration, as appears by the following elegy, which he gives of him in his first book, where, speaking of Sicily, he fays, that that fland,

Though rich with men and fruit, has rarely shown
A thing more glorious than this fingle one:
His verfe, compos'd of nature's works, declare
Mis wit was ftrong, and his invention rare;
His judgment decp and found; whence fome be-

gan,

And jully too, to think him more than man.

Creech, B. i. v. 748.

Him, therefore, our poet carefully imitated: For, what Ariftotle fays of Empedocies, that he writ in

the fame ftyle as Homer, and was a great mafter of his own language, as being full of metaphors, and making use of all other advantages that might conduce to the beauty of his poetry; all these perfections, I fay, though they are scarce to be found in any other of the Latin poets, manifeftly difcover themselves in Lucretius: for he excels all the rest in purity of diction; and, if I may use the expreflion, in fublimity of eloquence: befides, he has adorned his whole poem with an infinite number of excellent metaphors, as with fo many badges of distinction and honour. Tully, who was well able to judge, calls him a very artful poet: and, would I had leifure enough to show, not only what he has borrowed from Homer and others, but chiefly from Ennius, whom of all the Latin poets he moft admired, and ftudied to imitate, but what Virgil likewife has taken from Lucretius for that would make manifeft what I have often faid, that Ennius is the grandfather, Lucretius the father, and Virgil the fon, they being the moft illuftrious triumvirate of the epic Latin poets.

The fame Gifonius in bis Preface to Sambacus. Some there are, who will chiefly blame me for beftowing fo much labour on an impious poet; for this, will they fay, is the very Lucretius, who endeavours to evince that the foul is mortal; and thus takes away all hope of our falvation, and of a happy futurity; who denies the providence of God! which is the main bafis and fupport of the Christian religion: and, lastly, who afferts in his poem that moft abfurd doctrine of Democritus and Epicurus, concerning the indivifible corpuf cles or principles of all things. This being a griev ous accufation, did indeed at first very much ftartle me; but having maturely weighed this objection, I was perfuaded that it was not of fuch moment as to make us neglect the labours of this moft excellent poct, or fuffer them to be totally loft: For, by the fame reafon, we ought to con demn many of the writings of Cicero; fince in them as well as in this poem, the fame doctrine of the providence of God, of the nature of the foul; but above all of the atoms, is propofed, and often ftrenuously defended; nay, we muft in that cafe be obliged to neglect aimoft all the writers of antiquity. And, to fay all in a word, almost all the authors of the preceding ages, the poets, the hiftorians, the orators, and the philofophers, muft all be laid afide, if their writings were once to be tried by the ftandard of our religion, and by the precepts of Chriftianity.-The affertions we find in Lucretius that are contrary to the Chriftian faith, are indeed of the greatest moment: but then they are fo evidently falle, that they can by no means lead a Christian into error. -What danger can accrue to us from the ridiculous doctrine of his atoms, fince it is fo eafy to be refuted? On the contrary, we may from thence reap this great advantage, that, having dif covered the falfity of his affertions concerning the Nature of Things, we fhall be the more diligent to find out the truth; and, having found it, to retain ?

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