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fense confists be sensible, they must consequently be foft; becaufe no hard or solid body is capable of fenfe; and if they are soft, they must be corruptible likewife; for unless they are folids, they may be divided, and therefore lofe their nature. But the principles of things, as is before declared, ought to perfevere and remain uncorrupted. Thus the philofopher Gaffendus rightly explains this paffage; but the grammarian Lambinus gives it a different interpretation; more agreeable to the rules of grammar, than to the doctrine of Lucretius. Moreover, this argument is chiefly defigned against Plato and Anaxagoras: the firit of whom held that all things are animated and fenfible: the latter, that all things are in all things in fuch a manner that the infenfible parts of things are mixed with the fenfible. Thus both they and their followers held, that fenfibles proceed from fenfibles.

Ver. 861. In these fifteen verfes, he propofes another argument. Let us fuppofe, fays he, with Plato and Anaxagoras, that these fenfible, as they will have them to be, and confequently foft principles of things, can be eternal, and not subject to diffolution, yet they cannot be said to be fenfible; neither as parts. because separated parts have no fenfe; for each part requires a union with the other parts to make it capable of fense: and without a vital confent and accord of the parts, there is no fenfe whatever; nor as wholes, because they then would be a certain kind of animals, and therefore mortal and corruptible, which contradicts the fuppofition.

Ver. 875. He goes on, in these five verfes; becaufe, fays he, though they be admitted both as animals, and as inmortal too, yet not an animal, at leaft like any of thofe we now fee, would, or could be generated, that is to fay, of its own, or combined into one fpecies; but only a heap or crowd of various animalcules. Thus Gaffendus: but Faber gives it another interpretation. Let it be granted, fays he, that the principles are fenfible; and fince you will have fo, not corruptible Deither. What after all could be produced of them? Certainly nothing but animals: no tree, no metal, &c.

Ver. 880 In thefe eight verfes, he derides thofe who affert, that atoms are indeed endowed with fenfe, but not with that which appears afterwards in the animals that are made of thofe atoms: to which he fubjoins another argument, like that which he alleged above, at v. 820 Birds, fays he, are made of eggs, and worms of rottep earth; but, who ever yet pretended that the eggs were fer ble, or the putrid clods alive?

Ver. 888. But fome perhaps will fay, that the principles of things are indeed infenfible, but that by the power and virtue of the thing that generates, thofe principles are changed into fenfibles, and enjoy fenfe before they combine into an ani

mal

To this Lucretius anfwers, in thefe fifteen veries, that the principles, feparately taken, are altogether incapable of change; and that the fente of no animal can be produced before the animal itself be perfect, because fenfe requires

fuch a consent and agreement of vital motions, as we should in vain expect in the principles of things, which fly confusedly scattered up and down in the air, the earth, the water, and fire. Here the poet feems to hint at thofe philofophers, who taught that all things are made of the four elements.

Ver. 903. The poet pursues his subject; and, in these ten verfes, appeals once more to the truth of experience. For, says he, a violent stroke which only diffolves the texture and connection of the little bodies of which the animal confifts, takes away all manner of fente; the animal is ftunned, the foul is diffipated; and its particles being difpelled through the pores and iffues of the body, death inevitably enfues.

Ver. 913. In these ten verses, he declares, that if the ftroke be fomething weaker, all things may be restored to their former state, after fome fmail difcompofure of the little bodies; the difpofition to vital motion fill having the upper hand; and not being quite broken and diffolved. Thus the tunned fenfes revive afresh, the animal returns from the very gates of death, and recovers its former convalefcency.

Ver. 923. In the next place, he proves, in these ten veries, that the feeds of pleasure and pain are therefore void of all fenfe; because, as pain proceeds from the violent expulfion of the feeds out of the ftate in which they are; fo pleasure arifes from the restoring of them into the fame ftate again. But the principles of things are fimple; nor can their parts be driven from the ftate in which they are, nor reftored into the fame state. again. And, thus fince the atoms are incapable of being affected with pleasure or with pain, they must be deftitute of all fenfe.

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Ver 934 In these twenty-three verses, he compels his adverfaries to mere abfurdities. For, if things, because they are fenfible, must be made of fenfibles likewife, that is to fay, like things of like; men, for example, muft, of neceffity, confift of principles, which even themselves laugh, weep, difcourfe, and reafon concerning the mixture and compofition of things, and even of their own felves, and inquire into what principles they are made of; for men laugh, weep, difcourfe, and reafon. But if laughing, weeping, and wife things can be compofed of principles that neither laugh, weep, nor are wife, why fhould not fenfible things proceed from principles that are wholly infenfible? He alfo urges another abfurdity: for if you affent that laughing, weeping, &c. things proceed from laughing, weeping, &c. principles, even those feeds must be compofed of others that are like them, and they again of others; and thus the progreflion would be infinite, and never

at an end.

Ver. 937. I have already observed, book i. ver. 925, that these two veries are in the third book of Cowley's Davideis.

Ver. 955. He concludes, in these thirty-two verfes, this long difputation concerning the production of fenfible things: he recapitulates his former arguments, urges then yet more home,

and explains at large his opinion of the origin of fenfe. When the earth, fays he, receives the fhowers that fall from heaven, she becomes fruitful, and produces corn, grafs, and fruits, with which men and beafts, fenfible things, are nourifhed. But Heaven, the father of all, is infenfible; the defcending fhowers are infenfible, and carth, the mother of all, no more fenfible than they. Lastly, When animals are dissolved, part of them fies back to heaven, part returns to earth; infenfible things both of them. Thus the particles that at one time are wholly deftitute of fense, being difpofed in a new order and position, become fenfible at another time. Thus, too, fenfible things, when that order and position of the feed is changed, grow ftupid, and lofe their whole power of fenfe and perception.

Seed celeftial. aërial. ethereal. Thus, too, in the first book, ver. 298.

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When father ether kindly pours

On fertile mother earth his fem'nal fhow'rs.
For the rain that impregnates the earth, and makes
her produce all things, comes not out of heaven,
but falls down from the air. Some by the word
celeftial understand divine: an interpretation that
agrees but ill with the opinion of Epicurus, who
would not allow the gods to be the authors of
things. Yet the other poets use the words Aer,
Ether, Calum & Deus, to fignify the fame thing.
Hence Clemens. Alexand, out of Afchylus, Strom.
5. Ζεὺς ἰσὶν αἰθής, Ζεὺς τε γῆ, Ζεὺς δέ ἐρανὸς, Ζεὺς τοὺ
áva. Jupiter is the air, Jupiter is the earth, Ju
piter is heaven, Jupiter is all things. Thus Ari-
totle, in the first book, de Generat. fays, that fome
afcribe to the earth, as it were, a female nature,
and make her a mother, but call the heavens the
fun, and other things of like nature, a father. And
this opinion Virgil follows, Georgic ii. ver. 325.
Tum Pater Omnipotens fœcundis imbribus Æther
Conjugis in gremium lætæ defcendit, et omnes
Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, fœtus.
For then Almighty Jove defcends, and pours
Into his buxom bride his fruitful fhow'rs:
And mixing his large limbs with hers, he feeds
Her births with timely juice, and fofters teeming
feeds.
Dryden.
Ver. 964. Lucretius feems to have taken this
from Epicharmus, who, speaking of the death of I
know not whom, fays, Esvxgion xai disugión, xai
ἀπῆλθεν ὅθεν ἦνει, πάλιν γᾶ μέν ἐς γῆν, πνεῦμα δὲ
ἄνω· τὶ τῶνδε χαλεπὸν, ὐδὲ ἐν· That is, he had been
compounded and was diffolved, and returned to
the place from whence he came : the earth to
earth, the fpirit upwards. What mighty harm is
there in all this? None at all. Euripides too had
been drawing out of the fame fountain; witnefs

thefe verses:

Ὅθεν δὲ ἔκασος ἐς τὸ σῶμ' ἀφίκετο,
Ενταῦθ ̓ ἀπῆλθε. πνεῦμα μὲν πρὸς αιθέρα
Τὸ σῶμα δὲ ἐς γῆν

And the following verses are ascribed to Ovid:

Bis duo funt homini: manes, earo, fpiritus, umbra?
Quatuor ifta, loci bis duo fufcipiunt.
Terra tegit carnem, tumulum circumvolat umbra,
Orcus habet Manes, spiritus aftra petit.

But how much they are in the right, who, con-
trary to the doctrine of Lucretius, interpret this
paffage as a conceffion of the immortality of the
foul, let themselves judge. For, let it be granted
that our fouls confift of the matter of ether, allow
them made of fire, it will certainly follow that
they are of a corporeal nature; and confequently
thofe expofitors are of the fame opinion with Lu
cretius.

Ver. 980. The poet has feveral times already ufed this comparifon. See it explained, book i V. 733, and v. 835, as likewife v. 643 of this book.

Ver. 986. To do justice to Lucretius, whom his interpreter in this place imperfectly renders, it is neceffary to give his own words: Sic ipfis in rebus item jam materiai Intervalla, viæ, connexus, pondera, plage, Concurfus, motus, ordo, pofitura, figuræ Cum permutantur, mutari res quoque debent. In these two verfes "intervalla, viæ," &c. upon which our tranflator beftows but these three words, order, figure, motion, are nevertheless contained all the conjuncts and events, or properties and accidents of the Epicurean atoms The poet mentions them in general, book i. ver. 493, where we have explained in general, likewife what i meant by them: He alfo, as may have been ob ferved, has frequently made mention of fome of them in many places of his arguments: but this gether, I have referved it to give a particular ex being the fole place where he has put them alto plication of them one by one. First, Intervala, The intervals, that is to say, the distance and space that intervenes between the atoms, when they affemble or come together to produce concrete bodies. Second, Via, The ways, are the regions and places, out of which, into which, through which, and in which the atoms are moved and continue. Third, Connexus, The connections are the proximities by which the atoms are more of lefs clofely joined together. Fourth, Pondera, carried downwards by their own heaviness, in a Weight, is the natural motion, by which they are direct line, or decline a little from it. Fifth, Pla ge, The ftrokes or blows, which make them rebound when they strike one another. Sixth, Cencurfus, The concourfe or meeting of the atoms, by which they affemble and grow together. Seventh, Motus, Motion, is the lation, by which they are borne upwards, downwards, or any other way, Eighth, Ordo, The order, is the ordination, and difpofition, which they keep among themselves in the procreation of things. Ninth, Pefitura, The fite, and pofition in which they are placed. Tenth, Figure, The figures, are the exterior forms which they exhibit in things. Now, fome of these are called conjuncts or properties; others, events, or accidents. Of the conjuncts three are faid to be primary: of the events, two. The three conjuncts of the atoms are magnitude, figure, and

weight, on which the other conjuncts depend., For motion, concourse, and ftroke, are a confequence of weight. The two events are their fite, and order, on which the other events likewise depend: for the intervals and connections depend on the fite and pofition of the atoms; and the ways, places, or regions, on their order. Moreover, Lucretius will have all the qualities of concrete things to proceed from all the conjuncts and events of the atoms; though Epicurus foems to acknowledge but three of them to be neceffary: Figure, fite, and order; as may be seen in Laertius, lib. x. Empiricus adv. Phyf. lib. ii. and Lactantius, lib. iii. cap. 17. And as to the manner how all the qualities of concrete bodies proceed from these three laft conjuncts and events of the atoms, you may confult P. Gaffendus, 1. 10. in Laert. pag. 218. & 317. where all those matters are at large explained.

Ver. 989. The feeds being now rightly pre pared, and inftructed with motion, he requires a work of them, than which nothing is greater, nothing more prudent. nothing more noble. He builds with them other earths, other funs, other stars, and in a word, innumerable worlds in the infinite void. He owns this opinion to be new and incredible, but will not have it therefore rejected: And would his Memmius be attentive to his arguments, and weigh the matter feriouly, it would daily appear lefs and lets | trange and wonderful: for many things feem indeed aftonishing for a while, to which when men are once accufomed, they no longer fufped the truth of them ἀλλὰ μὴν τε Κόσμοι άπειροι εἰσὶ οἶθ' όμοια τέτῳ, οὔτ ̓ ἀνόμοιοι; fays Epicurus to Herodorus.

Here the tranflator has totally omitted the four following verses of his author:

Quærit enim ratione animus, cum fumma loci fit
Infinita foris hæc extra monia mundi;
Quid fit ibi porro, quò profpicere ufque velit mens,
Atque animi jactus liber quo per volet ipfe.

And indeed the interpreters vary in opinion concerning them; fome retain them abfolutely, others as pofitively reject them. In my opinion, they are neither abfurd nor useless: for they explain the argument of the fubfequent difputation; and the meaning of them is this: For I afk, fays Lucretius, fince without the walls of this world, thefe vifible heavens, there is an infinite fpace, what is contained in that space, into which the mind is defirous to look, and by its own ftrength can freely confider without any hindrance or obtruction. This is the interpretation our tranflator himself gives this paffage in the Latin edition of Lucretius.

Ver. 1006. If you will give credit to Epicurus, it is certain, that there is an infinite void; and that an infinity of feeds are flying up and down in it; but all thofe feeds did not combine into one body to compofe this world of ours: Why then fhould we not believe, that in other parts of the infinite space, fome atoms compofe other frames, very like, or unlike this world which we inhabit

Epicu

and behold: especially fince the fame nature reigns every where, and exercises the fame power in all the parts of the infinite void. This argument is contained in nineteen verfes rus himself writes thus to Herodotus: ai ri yag ἀτόμοι ἶσαι φέρονται τὰ πόῤῥω ταύτα, τὶ ἀλλέδε· ἄλο και εἰς ἀπεργασίαν κόσμων ἀπείρων σαυερχονται ἡ γὰρ κατηνάλονται αι τοιᾶται ἀτόμοι (ἐξ ὧν ἂν γένοιτο ο xóoμos cúros, ʼn i1⁄2 år äv wanbéin äλλus) är'ès ïvæ, (fo Melbomius reads ir)res wiwigxoμives, úr ὅσοι τοιέτω ἐδ' ὅσοι διάφοαροι τέτω, ὥσε ἔδεν τὸ ἐμπο dílov esì ægòs rùv àæeigíav täv xéoμwr.

Ver. 1025. In these nine verses, he argues farther to this purpose. When all things that are requifite for the production of any thing are ready and at hand, why should not that thing be produced? But there is a fufficient store of matter, a place befides very proper; nor is there wanting that strength and power of nature, which composed this world of ours, of atoms that met fortuitously, and combined and joined together: Why then fhould not the fame nature join together other matter likewife, which is prepared for her, and obedient to her; and produce other heavens, other earths, other feas, men, animals, &c. in other places of the infinite void? Metrodorus, an intimate friend of Epicurus, has comprised this and the preceding argument in thefe words: ἄτοπον εἶναι ἐν μεγάλω πεδίῳ ἕνα τάχυν γινιθῆναι καὶ ἕνα κόσμον ἐν τῷ ἀπείρω ὅτι δὲ ἄπειροι κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος δῆλον ἐκ ὦ ἄπειρα τὰ αἴτια εἶναι εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν κόσμος πεπερασμένος, τὰ δὲ αἴτια πάντα άπειρα ἐξ ὧν ὅδε ὁ κόσμος γέγονεν, ἀνάγκη άπειρες εἶναι, ὅπε γὰρ τὰ πάδα γέγονεν αἴτια, ἐκεῖ καὶ τὰ ἀποτελέσματα. Plutarchus de Placit. Philofoph lib. 1. cap 5.

Ver. 1034 Laftly. He propofes his third argument in these ten verfes. Confider all created things, you will find in each kind a numerous train of like animals, which are called individuals: as in the human kind, men; in the brute, beafts, &c. Will you then pretend that there is only one fun and one earth. fince the fun, the earth, the heavens, &c. are alike fubject to perish, as are the other compound bodies. For according to the doctrine of thofe philofophers, against whom Lucretius here difputes, the reason why the several kinds of animals contain many of each kind is, because the individuals die.

Thus our poet ends his arguments to prove the plurality of worlds. But Epicurus and Lucretius were not the only men who held an infinite number of worlds. For, to fay nothing of Plutarch, who, in the first de Placit. Philofoph. says expressly, there are many worlds: nor of Hera clitus, who, together with the Stoics, held an innumerability of worlds fucceffively, as they call it, that is to fay, that the worlds were renewed and made out of one another: nor of Heraclides, who, as well as the Pythagoreans, believed all the ftars that glitter in the heavens, and light this globe of ours, to be fo many other worlds not to mention, I fay, any of thefe, it is certain, from the teftimony of Stobæus, Eclog. Phyf. lib. ix. that Anaximander, Anaximenes, Archelaus, Xenophanes, Diogenes, Leucippus, admitted an in

finite number of worlds. To these we may Ver. 1644. In these fifteen verfes, Lucretius, likewise add Anaxarchus, who, as Plutarch fays, after his ufual manner, takes occafion from the drew tears from Alexander the Great, by telling foregoing pofitions, to fall foul upon Providence; him, that the number of worlds was infinite. He has before given peace and quiet to his gods; Democritus and Epicurus fpoke aloud, that there because nothing can be happy that has any thing were infinite worlds: And their difciple Metro- to do: But let us now fuppofe, fays he, that this dorus too was of the fame opinion, and faid, that bleffed and happy Deity can be disturbed and it is no lefs abfurd to imagine that there is but one vexed with business or the care of any thing: world in the infinite universe, than it would be yet what ftrength, what power is fufficient to to affirm, that but one blade of corn is growing preside over, and to govern an infinite number of in a vaft, fpacious, and fruitful plain: as Plu- worlds, of funs, of earths, &c. For to rule an tarch witneffes in the place above cited. Thales infinite number of worlds, is too great an office indeed affirmed there is but one world, and that to be administered with ease, even by a god who it was created by God. Empedocles too taught would be always bufy, and allow himself no reft the fame doctrine; but then he held it to confift at all. Thus our impious poet treats that puny of a very fmall particle of the univerfe. Yet god, whom he feigned to be like man; and at why may there not be an actual multiplicity, length he concludes the whole with a fcoff that though not an infinity of worlds: let us content atheifts commonly advance, and which indeed is ourfelves with the belief of a poffibility that there of more weight than this argument against Promay be more than we know, or are aware of: vidence. Epicurus writes. to the fame purpose For indefinite is not infinite; man may not find to Pythocles: Καὶ μὴν ἐν τοῖς μετεώροις φόραν, καὶ the term, and yet a term there may be. Let us τροπὴν, καὶ ἐκλέψιν, καὶ ἀναβολὴν, καὶ δύσιν, καὶ τε only modeftly remember to referve the infinite, σύτοιχα τάξεις, μήτε λεί αργόντος τίνος νομίζειν χρῆναι which the divines term fentia, that the fpecu- . δείσθαι, μήτε διατάζοντος ή διατάξαντος, καὶ ἅμα την lation may be the fafer. The rational and acute πᾶσαν μακαριότητα ἔχοντος, μετὰ ἀφθαρσίας ο γέρ Bruno has travelled far on this argument, and συμφόνεσι πραγματείαι, καὶ φρόντιδες, καὶ χάριτες μα frives to evince that there is a plurality of καριότετι, ἄλλα ἀσθενείᾳ καὶ φόβῳ, καὶ προσδεήσει τῶν worlds: and for my part, fo long as the con- πλησίων. fiderations of thefe things rather adds to, and heightens the adoration of that infinite power of the great God, who, even by the author of the epifle to the Hebrews, is more than once only faid to have created the worlds, Heb. i. 2. and xi. 3. I cannot fee why we should cenfure fuch as have favoured and promoted thefe doctrines and opinions among whom, befides the ancients before mentioned, are many of our late and beft aftronomers, as Kepler, Tycho Brahe, Galileo, Des Cartes, Gaffendus, Hevelius, and divers others of extraordinary note and reputation: Yet we need not be obftinate, or too dogmatical, "adeo nefas exiftimandum eft ea fcrutari, quæ deus voluit effe celata," fays Lactantius in his treatife de Origine Erroris. And whether or no there be more worlds than one, God only knows, who is both intus and

foris; not as in loco but as being " ens infinitum, principiumque, cui omne innititur ens." I will therefore conclude this infinitely confounding and incomprehenfible fubject with thefe very pertinent words of Pliny, who, fpeaking of the globe of this vaft univerie, fays: "Furor eft, profecto furor eft egredi ex eo, et tanquam ejus cuncte plane jam fint nota, ire fcrutari extra : quafi verò menfuram ullius rei poffit agere qui fui nefciat, aut mens hominis videre quæ mundus ipfe non capiat." Nat. Hift. lib. ii. cap. I. It is a madnefs, indeed a mere madnefs, to go beyond the limits of this world, and to be perpetually fecking without it; as if we had already attained a perfect knowledge of the things that are within it: For how can he, who knows not his own, take the exact dimenfions of any thing elfe: or how fhould the wit of any man pretend to perceive thole things, which the very world itfelf cannot comprehend or contain ?

Thus we fee that Lucretius was fo inveterate an enemy to the Divine Providence and Omnipotence, that he could not comprehend what Virgil not long after him vifibly faw and believed, when in his 4th Georg. verse 221. he said,

-Deum namque ire per omnes Terrafque, tractufque maris, cœlumque profundum, &c.

But the doctrine of Epicurus would not fuffer our poet to believe, that the nature of our gods was fufficiently powerful to govern the affairs of the

univerfe; and therefore he held, that all things arrive by accident, and that chance is the futells us, that he embraced this opinion, having preme difpofer and governor of all. Plutarch obferved, "Malis effe benè, et bonis male" i. c. to use the words of St. Ambrofe," Improbos bundare bonis, et bonos egere:" That the wicked abound in good things, and that the good are in

want.

himself condemans in the first book of the Nature An impious belief, which even Cicero of the Gods, where he fays: "Sunt philofophi, et fuerunt, qui omnino nullam habere cenferent humanarum rerum procurationem Deos. Quequæ religio? Hæc enim omnia pure et cafte rum fi vera eit fententia, quæ poteft effe pietas, tribuenda Deorum numini ita funt, fi animadvertuntur ab his, et fi eft aliquid a Diis immor Dii neque poffunt nos juvare, neque volunt, nec talibus hominum generi tributum. Sin autem curant omnino, nec, quod agamus, animadver tunt, nec eft, quod ab his ad hominum vitam permabere poffit, quid eft, quod ellos Dus in mot fpecie autem ficla fimulationis, ficut reliquæ vir talibus cultus, honores, preces adhibeamus? Is tutes, ita pletas incffe non poteft, cum qua fimul et fanctitatem et religionem tolli noceffe eft.

Quibus fublatis perturbatio vitæ fequitur et magna confufio: atque haud fcio an pietat adverfus Deos fublata, fides etiam et focietas humani generis, et una excellentiffima virtus juftitiæ tollatur." Ver. 1049. "Proh fancta Deum tranquilla pectora pace!" fays Lucretius. And Epicurus is obferved by Dionyfius, bishop of Alexandria, to fill his books with oaths and adjurations: "Oz8; di xai igníomus pugies rois haute pictíos leider, ὁμούς τι σανεχῶς μὲ Δία, καὶ νή Δία εξορκῶν τὰς ἐσυνχάνοντας, καὶ πρὸς ἕς διαλέγοι, πρὸς τῶν Θεῶν Eufebius, Prep. lib. 14. cap. 27. He afferts many oaths and adjurations in his books, fwear-in arvis agricola: in mari nauta: miles in caftris : ing often, and adjuring his readers by Jupiter and all the gods. And we may find Lucretius too fometimes of this humour, as appears by this paffage, and fome others, that may be obferved here and there in this poem.

Hoc, etiam nobis tacentibus, et nulla defcripturis fan&tis prædicationibufque divinis documenta præbentibus, mundus ipfe jam loquitur, et occafum fui rerum labentium probatione teftatur. Non hyeme nutriendis feminibus tanta imbrium copia eft: non frugibus æftate torrendis folita flagrantia eft: nec fic verna temperie fata læta funt; nec adeo arboreis fœtibus autumno fæcunda funt: Minus de effuffis et fatigatis fontibus eruuntur marmorum crufta: minus auri et argenti opes fuggerunt: exhaufta jam metalla, et pauperes venæ breviantur in dies fingulos: Decrefcit

Ver. 1059. Having built an infinite number of worlds, and affirmed them to be mortal like animals, he now, in these twelve verfes, afferts, that they are nourished, increafe, and fometimes diminish, and at length die away. For the infinite univerfe fupplies feeds, which the world receives, and they duly joining with it, it becomes more ftrong and vigorous: when it emits, and parts with as many feeds as it receives, then it flints its growth, and stays at a stand, that is, neither increases nor decreases: but when more feeds fly away from the world than it receives, and are duly conjoined to its mafs, then it waxes feeble, decays by degrees, and draws to an end.

innocentia in foro: juftitia in judicio: in amicitia concordia: in artibus peritia: in moribus difciplina. Minuatur neceffe eft, quidque fine jam proxima in occidua, et in extrema devergit."

Ver. 1067. Ovid. Metam. xv. ver. 214. fays ta the fame purpose with Lucretius.

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Ver. 1071. Having afferted that his worlds grow fometimes bigger, fometimes lefs, he exThis was the opinion of Epicurus, and he plains in thefe twenty-feven verfes the whole reagrounded this belief on thefe reafons: I. Be- fon of the growth and decay of animals, and af. caufe the world was once made, and had its be- firms that the fame reafon holds good in other ginning in time: as Cicero fays, 1. de Nat. things likewife. Now animals grow, because in Deor. II. Because he held the world to be of a the first part of their life, more nourishment is like nature with animals. Ill. Because each in-converted into their fubftance, than departs, and dividual part of this world confifts of bodies that are born and die. IV. Because there is a continual war between all the parts that compofe this whole, which are always contending with one another, and which contention muft of neceffity weaken, and will at length occafion the deftruction of the whole frame. V. Because he would not allow any thing in nature to be not born, incorruptible and eternal, except thefe three things, the atoms, the void, and the rè way ALL, or the univerfe. But thefe opinions of his concerning his infinite worlds, or the decay of this, depending on his abfurd, fortuitous concourfe, muft of neceflity have the fame fate, and fall with it. Befides, we may bid any man, who is fond of these opinions, look on the face of the world, as it is painted in hiftories down from the Trojan wars, (for I prefs not more ancient, infallible records), about which time fociety first began, and he will fee it look as young now, as it did then, and that its vigour is fill as great.

is loft from it: in the middle part of their life, when they are grown to maturity, as much only is converted into the fubftance, as goes away from it then the age of the animal is at a ftand; that is to fay, the animal neither grows nor decreases; but in its declising age, more flies away from its fubftance, than is converted into it. Thus the animal increafes and waftes away: but how it comes to pafs, that in the first part of life more is received and conjoined, in the middle part as much, and in the latt lefs, the poet does not think fit to inquire: And indeed the reafon of that is concealed, and to my knowledge ever will be fo from atheists.

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Ver. 1074. Thus Cicero, in the fecond book de Nat. Deor. defcribes the manner by which the food is diftributed into all the parts of the body. is firft, fays he, received into the mouth to be chewed and ground to pieces by the teeth; when it is thus chewed, it is conveyed through the meat-pipe into the ftomach, to be concocted; when it is there concocted, it is carried first to the liver, then to the heart, and is diftributed from thence by the veins into all other parts and members of the body and by this means and manner it is, that the whole animal grows, and nourished.

However, fome of the fathers of the Chriftian church have not diffented from this opinion: efpecially not St. Cyprian, who writes to Demetrianus in these words: "Scire debes jam mundum non illis viribus ftare, quibus prius fleterat: nec vigore ac robore eo effe, quo ante prævalebat.is

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