he feverely fcourges the mad zeal of men-facrificers; and though perchance he has not propofed a true inftance in Iphigenia, yet hiftories, both facred and profane, of former and present ages, give us too many fad relations of fuch cruelties. But, fince he openly declares, that the defign of his writing is to free men from the fears of that heavenly tyrant, Providence, and to induce perfect ferenity, that boasted 'Alagažin of Epicurus; and in purfuit of this, endeavours to maintain the great dictate of his mafter. "Nihil beautum, nifi quod quietum" Nothing is happy but what is fupinely idle and at ease. I shall examine his vain pretenfions; and, in order to it, prefent you with a fummary of the Epicurean religion.

66

reprehends Plato for his deal, or incorporeali
ty, as inconfiftent with fenfe, prudence, and plea-
fure, and yet he cannot allow it to be a coalition
of atoms, for that would destroy their neceffity of
being, and infer difcerpibility; but they have
quafi corpus, and quafi fanguinem, as it were a body,
and as it were blood: a fancy perchance received
from Homer.

Οὐ γὰρ σῖτον ἔδωσ', ἐ πίνεσ' αίθοπα αἶνον,
Τ ̓ ἕνεκ ̓ ἀναίμονες εἰσι καὶ Αθάναλοι καλίονται.
They drink no wine, they eat no common food,
And therefore nam'd immortal, void of blood.

:

.

They are of the figure of a man, that seeming the most beautiful, and the only receptacle of rea fon, without which the gods cannot be virtuous, nor happy their knowledge infinite, and boundlefs; for Velleius in Tully, to confute Pythagoras, boldly inquires, Cur quidquam ignoraret animus hominis, fi effet Deus?" why the mind of man fhould be ignorant of any thing, if it were a god? eafy and quiet is their life; and therefore unconcerned with the affairs of the world; for being full of themselves, why fhould they look on others, or trouble their minds with the confideration of lefs perfection, when they can expect no advantage nor addition to their happiness: yet thefe glorious beings are to be reverenced for the excellence of their nature. Our piety and religion must be heroical, not forced by fear, or raised by hope intereft must not bribe, nor terror affright us to our duty; but our devotion must be free, and unbiaffed by the folicitations of the one, or the impulfe of the other. Thefe, in short, are the deities of Epicurus; and this is the fum of his religion: a fufficient inftance, that men may dream when they are awake, and that abfurd fancies are not only the confequents of fleep. Let us look on the favourers of thefe opinions, and what are they but exact images of Timon's philofophers? "Avgos neveñs oiúoros špeæasoi gonós. Men, casks of vain opinion full.

If any man confiders the inconfiftencies that are in the Epicurean notion of a Deity, how the attributes difagree, and how the very being thwarts all their other philofophy, he will eafily agree with Tully, and admit his cenfure to be true. "Verbis ponunt, Re tollunt Deos." In words they affert, but in effect deny a God: which is feconded by Dionyfius in Eufebius, àλλà To μεν περίδηλον ὅτι κατὰ τὸν Σοκράτες θάνατον καταπεπ Inxe Alnvalus as un doxoín re' öxig nv "Alios dira, κενάς αὐτοῖς ἀνυποςάτων θεῶν τερα]ευσάμενος ἐζσω Γράφησε | xiás. Eufebius. lib. 15. It is evident, that after Socrates was put to death, being afraid of the Athenians, that he might not feem what really he was, an Atheist, he fashioned fome empty fhadows of fantastical deities: but fince antiquitiy hath but three Atheists on record, why should we increase the catalogue? he therefore afferts a divine nature, and proves it from the common confent of mankind; which does not arife from any innate ideas as Gaffendus phrafes it, thofe being altogether ftrangers to his hypothefis: for every idea is a mode of thinking, and no thought can arife, according to the Epicurean principles, but from a previous image; and therefore Lucretius makes the cause of this general confent to be the conftant deflux of divine images, which ftrike the mind. Plutarch de Placit. Phil. lib. I. cap. 7. And Atticus, the Platonist afferts it to be the common do&trine of the garden, τὰς βελτίονας αποῤῥοίας τῶν θεῶν τοῖς μεταχέσι μετάγων ἀγαθῶν Παραlas yavista, Eufebius. Præp. lib. 25. That the good emanations from the gods bring great advantages to thofe that receive them: to this the prayer of Democritus, ἀγαθῶν εἰδώλων μετέχειν, that he might receive good images; and Cicero, de Natura, Deor. lib. 1. fe&. 107. agrees, and I hope Gaffendus's bare denial cannot stand in competition with all thefe. This divine nature is branched out into many, his gods are numerous, and even exceed the catalogue of Apollodorus; and this he gathers from that irovoiz, or equability which must be in the univerfe," Si enim "mortalium tanta multitudo, immortalium non "minor, et fi quæ interimant item quæ confer"vent, infinita," For fince there is fo great a multitude of mortal things, there is no lefs of immortal; and if the things that die are infinite, fo likewife are thofe that remain to all eternity. Their fubftance is not immaterial, and Velleius For nought but body can be touch'd, or touch.

For, as Tully long ago obferved, it is their ufual custom to avoid difficulties by propofing abfurdities; that the lefs may not be difcerned, whilft all mens eyes are on the greater. For, first, not to require an explication of their unintelligible quafi corpus, and quafi fanguis, it is very caly to be proved, and a direct confequence from their eftablished principles, that the matter of the deities is perfectly like that of our bodies, and fo dif. cerpible; nor can they find any fecure retreat for their gods beyond the reach and power of troublefome atoms, which scattering every where must difturb their eafe, deftroy their quiet, and threaten a diffolution. For fince the images that flow from them, move the mind, which they affert material, those must be body:

Tangere enim et tangi fine corpore nulla poteft

res.

Lucret.

that the belief of the Providence is as univerfal | fight into the power of all nature; defcried her in as that of the happiness of the Deity, and founded on the fame reafon for, as Tully argues," fac "imagines effe quibus pulfentur animi, fpecies "quædam duntaxat objicitur, num etiam cur "beata fit? cur æterna?" Grant they are images that ftrike the mind, a certain fpecies only offers itfelf: why then muft it be happy? why eternal ? And, confequently, the same reason dictating that Providence is an attribute, requires as ftrong an affent as when it declares happiness to be one, fince neither can be inferred from the bare impulfe of the images. For fuppofe the ftroke conftant, yet what is this (as Lucretius would have it) to eternity. And why may not any thing we think upon be efteemed immortal on the fame account? Suppofe the impulfe continual, yet what connection between that and happinefs; fo that the Epicurean's argument recoils against himself, and he is foiled at his own weapons.

her inmost and most hidden recesses and by teaching mankind that things are made without the care and workmanship of the gods, totally overthrew all religion, as Cicero obferves, lib. i. de Natur. Deor. "Quid eft enim cur ab homini"bus colendos dicas, cum Dii, non modo homines non colant, fed omnino nihil curent, nihil a gant?" For what reafon is there why men fhould worship the gods, fince not only they take no care of them, but are entirely void of all care for any thing, and do nothing? But Gaffendus, Faber, and fome others, wafte their time to ro purpofe, while they endeavour to perfuade th the book which Epicurus writ, gips of fanctity or holinefs, and the piety of the Epict reans towards the gods, are a fufficient evidence, that the word religion is ufed in this place by the poet, to fignify only fuperftition, and an idle and vain fear of the gods. As if Lucretius did not abfolutely renounce all belief of Providence; er had been that fuperftitious man to believe that God did any thing, or concerned himself with the care of mankind.

Ver. 93. No natural effects whatever give fuch impreffion of divine fear as thunder. This is evident by the example of fome wicked emperors; who, though they were Atheists, and made themfelves gods, yet by their trembling and hiding themselves when they heard it, confeffed a greater divine power than their own." Cælo tonante "credidimus Jovem," Horat. And, therefore, Lucretius in this place fays of Epicurus, as if it were a thing extraordinary and peculiar to him, that even the found of thunder made not him fo

And now who can imagine fuch abfurd principles proper to lead any rational inquirer to ferenity. Will it be a comfort to a good man, to tell him, as Ariftophanes fpeaks in his Clouds, avri Závos ó Aivos Buches, instead of Jupiter a whirlwind rules, when it is his greateft intereft, that there fhould be a merciful difpofer, who takes notice of, and will reward his piety. It will be an admirable fecurity no doubt for his honesty, to affure his malicious enemies, that nothing is to be feared but their own difcovery. And unless their dreams prove treacherous or their minds rave, they are fecure in their villanies, and may be wicked as often as they can fortunately be fo, as often as occafion invites, or intereft perfuades. When commonwealths may be preferved by break-perftitious. ing the very band of fociety, το σκύδισμα τῆς πολι sus, as Polybius in his hiftory, book vi. ch. 54. calls religion; when treafons may be ftifled by taking off from fubjects all obligations to duty, but their own weaknefs; and when a Democles can fit quietly under his hanging fword; then the denial of Providence, then the belief of a world made and upheld by chance, will be a remedy a gainft all cares, and a neceffary cause of that defired 'Arapatia, ferenity of mind.

Ver. 84. In thefe four verfes he defcribes the tyranny, as he calls it, of religion; whom he places in heaven, looking fternly down on mankind, and frighting them into a vain and empty fear of the gods. And here let all, who, with Cicero, find a want of wit in Lucretius, contemplate this image, and fhow me one more beautiful if they can: In what a deplorable state lie thofe abject wretches, oppreffed under the tyranny of religion, and how dreadful are the gruff and haughty looks with which that heavenly tyrant threatens them from above; the devil himself feems to be lashing his whips over them.

Ver. 98. To way The ALL, whatever is in the nature of things, Epicurus and Lucretius after him, diftinguish between the ALL, and what they call mundus, the world. The ALL is the whole, or the universe; the world only a part of it. The Epicureans held the ALL to be infinite and etera never to have had a beginning, and that it will never have an end, and to be incapable of ir creafe or decreafe; but the world to be finite have had a beginning, and to be liable to have an end. Epicurus called the ALL, Tãy öhay quan, the nature of the whole; and in Plutarch purw, the nature of beings. This is what L cretius calls in this place, omne immenfum, tat immenfe All; and our tranflator, the mighty space.

Ver. 103. This is that conqueft which Virg celebrates, Georg. ii. ver. 490. where he fings a pean to the victor Epicurus.

Felix qui potuit rerum cognofcere caufas;
Atq, omnes metus, et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, ftrepitumq. Acherontis avari.

Ver. 88. Here the poet attempts the praise of
Epicurus of Athens, the fon of Neocles; and who
irft, fays he, oppofed himfelf to all thefe terrors,
with an undaunted foul, and being by the ftrength
of his mind carried beyond the limits of this
world, into the infinite ALL, got a thorough in-Nor vainly fear'd inevitable things ;

Happy the man, alone, thrice happy he,
Who could through grofs effects their caufes fee;
Whofe courage from the deeps of knowledge
fprings,

But did his walk of virtue calmly go,
Through all th' alarms of death and hell be-
low.

Corol.

Ver. 105. In those twenty-four verses, he seems to fufpect that Memmius will be startled at this impious doctrine that tends to the fubversion of religion and denies the Divine Providence; he therefore endeavours to buoy up his mind, by telling him that the religion which acknowledges Providence, did often formerly perfuade men to commit the most horrid crimes. To prove this, he brings the example of Iphigenia, who, upon the account of religion, and even by command of the oracle, was facrificed to Diana upon her altar at Aulis, a port of Boeotia on the river Euripus, even her own father assisting at the sacrifice; and this was done, fays he,

gamemnon's children. Thus the fays to her fa
ther in Euripides:

Πρώτη σ' ἐκάλισα πατέρα, καὶ σὺ παῖδ' ἐμέ.
Iphig. in Aul. ver. 1220.

I was the first that called you father, and first that
you called child.

Ver. 129. Lucretius once more diftrufts, left Memmius giving credit to the fables of the poets of Acheron, Cerberus, the punishments after death, &c. to which he had been long accuftomed, fhould still be averfe to his opinions; he therefore obviates thefe fcruples by fuggefting to him, that all thofe and the like fables are only the mere inventions of poets; and that he himself could invent others altogether as dreadful.

Ver. 135. In these twenty-four verses he infinuates, that fince the dread of punishments after death proceeds from the belief of the immortality of the foul, if it be once proved that the foul is mortal, all that vain fear will vanish; but fince the philofophers have differed in opinion concern

To bribe the gods, and buy a wind for Troy. For the story goes, that Agamemnon, king of Mycene and Argos, whom the Greeks made choice of to command in their expedition againfting the foul, fome believing it to be born with Troy, had killed a favourite stag, belonging to Diana, who, enraged at it, sent a tempeft among their fhips, which forced them into the port of Aulis; where being detained for fome time by contrary winds, they at length fent to confult the oracle, who told them Diana would not be appeafed till Iphigenia the daughter of Agamemnon, was facrificed to that incensed goddefs; and this was accordingly done, fays the fable, which, as well as what is related of Idomeneus, who, under pretence of a vow, would have facrificed his eldeft

fon, took rife. no doubt, from the story of Jephtha. which happened not a great many years before the fiege of Troy.

Ver. 109. She was daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and born at the fame birth with Apollo. A virgin goddess, whose chief delight was hunting of wild beasts; for which reafon fhe was called the goddess of the woods. She was Luna in heaven, Diana upon earth, and Proferpina in hell. Hence Dryden, or rather Chaucer, in the Knight's

Tale:

O goddefs, haunter of the woodland green,

To whom both heav'n, and earth, and seas are feen;

Queen of the nether skies, where half the year,
Thy filver beams defcend, and light the gloomy
sphere;

Thou, goddess, by thy triple shape art seen,
In heav'n, earth, hell, and ev'ry where a queen.

Ver. 111. It was the custom to deck and trim the victims with ribbands of feveral colours, and other gauderies, as if they were to be led to their nuptials, not their death.

Ver. 114. For fhe was led to the altar by her own father Agamemnon, and his brother Menelaus, who commanded the Greeks in the war againit the Trojans.

Ver. 124. Because fhe was the eldest of all A

the body, and to die with it; others, that it exists before, and is infufed into bodies at the moment of their birth, and that being feparated from the body by death, it goes down into hell; or tranfmigrates into the bodies of beafts, certainly men would be much in the wrong to contemn Providence, feeing eternal torments are referved for all that defpife it.

Ver. 141. The opinions concerning the foul were very different in the age of Lucretius. Some of the ancients believed it to exift from all eterothers, that it is born with the body, and corporeal nity, and that it is incorporeal and immortal;

and mortal Plato held it to be created from all
eternity, and that it was placed among the stars;
till grown weary of celeftial, and falling in love
the moment of their birth.
with earthly things, it infufed itself into bodies, at
Ariftotle, that it was

not created from all eternity, but at the same time
with the body; that is to fay, that it begins to
exit in heaven, at the time when the body is
born, and is the fame moment infufed into the
body, and continues in it, till it is feparated frona
it by death, and then returns back to heaven;
but he held it to be incorporeal and immortal.
Hence others fabled, that after death fouls return
into heaven from whence they came: others, that
they defcend into hell, but not all into the fame
place; for they imagined that the fouls of men
who had lived wicked lives, were thrown down
into Tartarus, which they held to be the lowest
deep of the infernal abodes; but that the fouls of
thofe who had lived well, were received into Ely-
fium. Others, as Ennius, held that the body re-
turned into earth, and that the foul flew away
into heaven; but that the fhadows or ghofts,
which they held to be certain images of fouls, go`
into hell. Pythagoras believed the foul to exist
from all eternity, and to be immortal and incor-
poreal, but that after death it goes from body into
body, as well of man as of beast; and this is what

whom he waking was wont frequently to think and speak.

Ver. 158. For Ennius ufed to fay, that the ghoft of Homer came to him from hell, and bitterly weeping discovered to him the nature of things: a folly for which Cicero fufficiently laughs at him in his fecond book of Academic Questions.

Ver. 159. Therefore to deliver his Memmius from all his fears, he tells him in ver. 8. that he will difpute, not only of the heavens, of the gods, and of the generation of things; all which he had before promised to do; but that he will explain befides the nature of the foul, and what those things are which affect us to that degree, fome. times when we are awake, fometimes when asleep, that we think we fee perfons long fince dead, and hear them talking to us; from whence we believe that the foul exifts after her feparation from the body.

Ver. 167. Having propofed the argument of the following work, the poet, in these ten verfes, weighs the difficulty of it; and declares how hard a tafk it is to write in Latin verse the philofophy of the Greeks, that is to fay, of Epicurus and his followers; as well becaufe of the poorness of the Latin tongue, as of the newness of the subject: he profeffes, however, that he is willing to undergo any labour for the fake of his beloved Memthemius, whom he has undertaken to instruct.