No light, but rather darkness visible
Serves only to discover fights of woe,

Regions of forrow, doleful fhades, where peace
And reft can never dwell; hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge fed

With ever-burning fulphur, unconfum'd, &c.

Ver. 32. The author of Hudibras feems to have regarded this paffage, when he says, -As he profefs'd,

He had first matter feen undrefs'd;
He took her naked, all alone,

Before one rag of form was on.
The Chaos too he had descry'd,

And feen quite through: or else he ly'd.
Ver. 33. Having in the first and fecond book
treated at large of the feeds themselves, and of
their figures and motions, he now promises, in
thefe eight verfes, an accurate difputation con-
cerning the foul, the mortality of which he will
endeavour to evince, to the end he may deliver
mankind from the fear of death, and the dread of
future punishment after it.

" Om

Ver. 40. The words in Lucretius are, nia fuffundens mortis nigrore;" and Creech, in his note upon them, fays, that nothing was ever more elegantly expreffed, and that there is no where to be found a more beautiful image. I with I could fay the like of his interpretation of it: But to fully with fear, is, in my opinion, not to pass a more fevere cenfure upon it, a very bold metaphor.

Ver. 41. But fome perhaps may fay, that other philofophers have done what Lucretius promifes, and that not Epicurus only delivered men from the fear of hell, fince many others taught, that the foul is mortal, and confequently that we have nothing to fear after death; and therefore that Epicurus does not deferve this mighty praife, nor does Lucretius confer a greater benefit on mankind than others have done before him: To which the poet answers, in these fourteen verfes, that other philofophers did indeed talk very big, but when the trial came, they started. and stood aghaft at death, as much as any of the vulgar; they patiently lived on, and endured torments, infamy, and all the calamities of life; and when dangers threatened, or fickness feized them, they confeffed, of all men, the most abject fouls, and betrayed a mind most subject to superstition.

Ver. 43. Some of the ancients believed the foul to be a fuffufion of blood about the heart, and confequently that it is the blood itfelf; as Empedocles and Critias. Witnefs Aristotle, de Anima, lib 1. c. 2. Cicero, Tufcul. 1. Macrobius, on the dream of Scipio, l. 1. c. 14. and Tertullian of the Soul, cap. 4. According to this opinion,

Undantique animam diffundit in arma cruore.

Nor are we without frequent inftances of this in our English poets. Milton fays of Abel,

He fell, and deadly pale,

Groan'd out his foul, with gushing blood effus'd
And Sir R. Blackmore:

Gafping he lay, and from the griefly wound
The crimfon life ebb'd out upon the ground.
And Lee, in the tragedy of Nero:

With many a wound she made her bofom gay;"
Her wounds, like flood gates, did themselves
difplay,

Through which life ran in purple streams away..
And Cowley, David. 4.

His life for ever spilt, ftain'd all the grafs around. And even Mofes often fays, that the foul is in the blood: he repeats it no less than thrice in one chapter, Lev xvii., and alleges it as a reason for the precept, not to eat blood.

Ver. 52. By the manes the ancients understood three different things: I. The fouls of the dead: II. The place in hell, to which the fouls went after death, and where they had their abodes: and in this fenfe Virgil, Georg. iv. v. 467. says of Orpheus, that he went to the manes: Tænarias etiam fauces, alta oftia Ditis, Et caligantem nigra formidine lucum Ingreffus, Manefque adiit, Regemque tremendum, &c.

III. The infernal gods. In which fenfe too the fame Virgil, Georg. iv. v. 489. speaking likewife of Orpheus, fays,

Incautum dementia cepit amantem, Ignofcenda quidem, fcirent fi ignofcere manes. And Cicer. 2. de Leg. 37. "Deorum Manium jura fancta funto." But of the manes, or fouls of the dead, in which fenfe our author is to be taken, Apuleius, lib. De Deo Socratis, gives this account: "Manes animæ dicuntur melioris meriti, quæ in corpore noftro Genii dicuntur: corpori renunciantes, Demures: cum domos incurfionibus infeftarent, Larvæ appellabantur: contra fi bonæ fuerint, Lares familiares." From whence we may gather, I. That, in general, they are called Lemures: II. That of thefe Lemures, they who were at reft, took care of the houfes of their living relations, and were called Lares, household gods: III. That the fouls of thofe who had led wicked lives, had no refting places after death, but being excluded from the infernal manfions. remained upon earth, punished, as it were, with exile, and haunting the houses of the living, were

with the smiles of fortune: But if when men are befet with dangers, and oppreffed with mifery, they then give proofs of an unfhaken temper of foul, it must be granted, that philofophy has improved their minds, and been of use to them.

Ver. 59. Faber fays, that the twenty-eight following verfes cannot be fufficiently read and confidered, fo many good things are contained in them. For it is certain that the fear of death is the cause of avarice, treachery, ambition, cruelty, envy, despair, &c. And hence arifes the great glory of Epicurus, who, as Lucretius pretends, has chafed away that dread of death, which is the root of so many evils.

Ver. 71. Macrobius Saturnal. lib. vi. cap. 2. obferves, that Virgil has imitated this paffage of Lucretius, in his fecond Georgic, v. 510. in these words,

-Gaudent perfufi fanguine fratrum; Exilioque domos et dulci limina mutant, Atque alio patriam quærunt fub fole jacentem. Which Dryden interprets thus:

Some thro' ambition, or thro' thirst of gold, Have flain their brothers, or their country fold; And, leaving their sweet homes, in exile run, To lands that lie beneath another fun.

Ver. 73. How much better he, who repines not at the profperity of others; but fatisfied and

ing thofe facrifices, says,

Quatuor hic primum nigrantes terga juvencos Conftituit,

Voce vocans Hecaten, &c.

And again :

-Ipfe atri velleris agnam
Æneas matri Eumenidum, magnæque forori
Enfe ferit, &c.

V. 249. Of which Arnobius adv. Gentes, lib. 7. deriding the fuperftitious ceremonies of the Pagan religion, gives the reafon in these words: "Quæ in coloribus ratio eft, ut merito his albas, illis nigras conveniat, nigerrimafque mactari? Quia fuperis Diis, inquitis, atque hominum dexteritate pollentibus, color albus acceptus eft, ac fœlix hilaretate candoris. At vero Diis lævis, fedefque habitantibus inferas, color fulvus eft gratior, et triftibus fuffectus è fucis."

These facrifices to the manes were called inferie, under which word fix things were contained; water, honey, milk, wine, blood, and hair: of all which, fee at large, Euripid. in Oreft. and in Iphig. Virg. Æn. iii. v. 66. and v. v. 77. Senec. in Oedip &c

Ver. 55 Having given thefe inftances of the vainnefs of thofe philofophers, whofe followers had fet them up for rivals to Epicurus, and shown, even by their own practice, that their doctrines are incapable to take away the fear of death, he adds in thefe four verfes, that no credit is to be given to men who talk big, when they are bleffed

the part that is allotted him. Perfius, in his fixth
Satire, fays very pertinently to this purpose,
Heic ego fecurus vulgi, et quid præparet aufter
Infœlix pecori, fecurus. et angulus ille
Vicine noftro quia pinguior: et fi adeo omnes
Ditefcant, orti pejoribus.

Which Dryden has thus excellently paraphrased:
Secure, and free from bus'nefs of the state,
And more fecure of what the vulgar prate,
Here I enjoy my private thoughts, nor care
What rot for sheep the fouthern winds prepare;
Survey the neighb'ring fields, and not repine
When I behold a larger crop than mine:
To fee a beggar's brat in riches flow,
Adds not a wrinkle to my even brow.

Ver. 79. Fannius, flying from the enemy, killed himself, for fear of falling into their hands: Hoftem cum fugeret, fe Fannius ipfe peremit:

Hic, rogo, non furor eft; ne moriare, mori? fays Martial, 1. 2. Epigram 80. To whom we may obferve, by the way, that the author of Hudibras was beholden for his thought, when defcribing the effects of fear, he says, that it makes men

Do things not contrary alone

To th' force of nature, but its own;
The courage of the bravest daunt,
And turn poltreons to valiant:
For men as refolute appear
With too much, as too little fear;

And when they're out of hopes of flying,
Will run away from death by dying.

Self-murder is certainly one of the most unac-
countable frenzies that ever raged in the minds of
miferable men And yet how frequent are the
deplorable inftances of fuch wretches, as, groan-
ing under the calamities of life, put an end to
themselves and their difcontents together; or, as
Dryden somewhere elegantly expreffes it,
Who, when oppress'd, and weary of their breath,
Throw off the burden, and suborn their death.
And the fame poet, in his defcription of the
temple of Mars, has painted one of thefe homi-
cides in colours fo lively, as fcarce any pencil but
his own can imitate :

The flayer of himself yet faw I there;

The gore, congeal'd, was clotter'd in his hair: With eyes half-clos'd, and gaping mouth, he lay, And grim, as when he breath'd his fullen foul away.

This is the effect of defpair: But many of the ancients, even of thofe who held the foul to be immortal, laid violent hands on themselves, believing they should go directly to heaven. Of this number were Clearchus and Chryfippus, Zeno and Empedocles; the last of whom threw himfelf one night, unfeen of any, into the flaming chasm of Mount Etna, that, by disappearing on a fudden, it might be believed he was gone to the gods. Among the Latins, befides many others, we have the famous example of Cato, that prince of the Roman wisdom, who all his life was an exact imitator of the Socratic doctrine, and who before he killed himself, is faid to have read Plato's treatife of the Immortality of the Soul, and by the authority of that philofopher, to have been encouraged to commit the most horrid of crimes. And Cleambrotus too killed himself, upon reading of that very book. Democritus, who was of another perfuafion, yet nevertheless, Sponte fua letho caput obtulit obvius ipse.

:

Lucret

But as Lactantius obferves, all these philofophers were deteftable homicides: For if he, who takes away the life of another, be guilty of murder, fo too is he who takes away his own. Nay, his crime is the more heinous, in that it can be punish ed by none but God alone and as we came not into this life of our own accord, fo neither may we leave this tenement of clay, unbidden of him, who placed us in it." Sic homicida nefarius eft, qui hominis extinctor eft ; eidem fceleri obftrictus eft qui fe necat, qui hominem necat. imò verò majus effe facinis exiftimandum eft, cujus uitio Dey fob fubjacet : Nam ficut in hanc vitam non noftra fponte venimus, ita rurfus ex hoc domicilio corporis, quod tuendum nobis affignatum eft, ejufdem juftu nobis recedendum eft, qui nos in hoc corpus induxit tam diu habitaturos, donec jubeat emitti." De falfa Sapient. cap. 18. And Virgil himself, all heathen as he was, has nevertheless

allotted to fuch execrable wretches that place of torments, to which the juftice of God has decreed them:

Proxima deinde tenent mæfti loca, qui fibi letum
Infontes peperere manu, lucemque ; peroli
Projecere animas. Quam vellent æthere in alto
Nunc et pauperiem, et duros perferre labores!
Fata obftant, tristique palus inamabilis unda
Alligat, et novies Styx interfufa coercet.
En. 6. v. 434.

Which Dryden renders thus:
The next in place and punishment are they,
Who prodigally throw their lives away:
Fools, who repining at their wretched state,
And loathing anxious life, fuborn'd their fate:
With late repentance now they would retrieve
The bodies they forfook, and wish to live,
Their pains and poverty defire to bear,
To view the light of heav'n, and breathe the
vital air.

But fate forbids: the Stygian pools oppofe, And, with nine circling ftreams, the captive fouls enclofc.

Ver. 87. These fix verses are repeated, from Book II. v. 58. and will be fo again, Book VI. v. 32.

Ver. 93, 94. Some of the ancient philofophers held the mind to be a vital habit of body, as health in a man who is well. Of this opinion Ariftoxenus is faid to have been the author: He practifed phyfic, and was an excellent musician: He first was a hearer of Lamptus of Erythræa, then of Zenophilus the Pythagorean; and laftly of Aristotle. Yet Cicero does not allow him to have been the author, but only a favourer of this opinion. "Ariftoxenus, Muficus, idemque philofophus, animum effe cenfet ipfius corporis intentionem quandam. velut in cantu et fidibus quæ harmonio dicitur: fic ex corporis totius natura et figura varios motus oriri, tanquam in cantu fonos. Hic ab artificio fuo non receffit, et tamen dixit aliquid, quod ipfum, quale effet, erat multo ante et dictum, et explanatum a Platone.” Ariftoxenus, the musician, and philofopher, held the mind to be a certain confent and accord of the body, as that in musical instruments, which is called Harmony. Thus from the nature and figure of the whole body proceed various motions, as different notes in mulic. This man fraggled not away from his employment, and yet faid a thing, which, fuch as it was, Plato had both said and . explained long before. This paffage of Plato, which Cicero here fpeaks of, is in his Phædon, and contained in thefe wards Kai yàg öv ŵ Σúxgales, oïpaı öyoys xai aúróv os tāro ivslvuñoDaı, öri τοῦτο τί μάλισα ὑπολαμβάνομεν τὴν ψυχὴν εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἐντεταμένα τα σώματος ἡμῶν. καὶ συνεχομενα ὑπὸ

suri duxen, rì žieữ, vì ùyer TOUR ON TINY Neασιν εἶναι, τὲ ἁρμονίαν αὑτῶν τάτων τὲ ψυχὴν ἡμῶν, ἐπά δε ἡ ταῶ]α καλῶς τὸ μετρίως κραθῆ πρὸς ἄλληλα. Yet, whoever will take the pains to confider it, will find, notwithstanding what Cicero says, that Ariftoxenus feems to have taught one doctrine,

and Plato another. But Lactantius, Inftitut. 7. cap. 13. explains this harmony of Ariftoxenus in a few words. "Sicut in fidibus, ex intentione Nervorum efficitur concors fonus atque cantus, quem Mufici Harmoniam vocant: ita in corporibus, ex compage vifcerum et vigore membrorum vis fentiendi exiftit." As in mufical instruments, an accord and confent of founds, which musicians call harmony, is made by the due difpofition and tuning of the ftrings; fo in bodies, the power and faculty of perception proceeds from the due connection and vigour of all the members and interior parts of the body. Macrobius, on the dream of Scipio, lib. i. cap. 14. afcribes this opinion to Pythagoras and Philolaus. Now Lucretius, in thefe feventeen verfes, explains the meaning of it, and brings his firft argument against it, to this purpose. It often happens, fays he, that when a man feels pain in his body, he rejoices in his mind; and often when his body enjoys a perfect indolence, his mind is moft miferably tormented. The foul therefore is not an accord, not a vital habit, or due difpofition and temperament of the whole body; but a part of the man, diftin&t from the body, no less than the hand, the foot, the head, &c. are parts of a human body, diftin&t from one

another.

The mind.] The chief part of the foul; for the foul confifts of the three parts: viz. the mind, the memory, and the will.

Ver. 94. The poet is in the right to fay, that the mind is a part of man; for it is, indeed, the informing, but not an aflifting part, as a mariner in a fhip, and a coachman in his box, as the academics believed. But he is grofsly mistaken, when he adds, that it is as much a part of man as the feet, the hands, the eyes &c. are parts of the whole animal. For in this he makes no diftinction between the integral and effential parts, as we term them; for the integral, or integrating parts, make up the whole compound, inafmuch as it confifts of matter: thus the head, the eyes, the hands, the feet, the legs, &c. conftitute the whole body; but the effential parts make the effence and existence of the whole compound. Thus matter and form, thus body and foul conftitute the whole man; but Lucretius believed with Epicurus, that the foul is corporeal, and fo held it to be an integral part of man.

Ver. 96. This Lucretius calls Senfum Animi, the fenfe, the operation of the mind, as we exprefs it, and which he pretends is in man, in like manner as the fight, the hearing, the touch, &c. Now the fenfe of feeing is made in the eyes, the fenfe of hearing in the ears, &c. And thus he would fix the fenfe of the mind in a certain part of man. Ver. 98. A due proportion, agreement, or accord of all its parts.

braced. There is then no accord of the interior parts, no confent of the members; but the whole frame, and each part of it, is untuned and languid; yet, even then in dreams, fomething that belongs to the man that is agitated, is grieved, rejoices, &c. Now, it is the mind which then perceives. The mind, therefore, is not the harmony of the whole body, fince the body is relaxed by fleep, in like manner as there is no harmony in an inftrument when the strings are flackened.

Ver. 114. His third argument, to prove that the foul is not the harmony of the body, is contained in thefe twelve verfes to this effect. Asia mufical inftruments, if you take off fome of the ftrings, the whole accord perishes; so if some of the members of a body were lopped off, the whole body would perish likewife; and thus there would be no life, no fenfe remaining. But we know very well, that men who are mutilated, and have loft fome of their limbs, live nevertheless, and enjoy their fenfes. Even when a man has loft many of his limbs, his life and fenfes will remain en tire; but if fome certain particles of heat and air fly away from the body, the animal drops down, and dies no life or faculty of perception remains. From whence it appears, that life and fenfe do not proceed from the harmony of all the members, nerves and bowels, but depend on thofe particles

:

of heat and air.

Ver. 122. Lucretius fays, "Eft igitur Calor & Ventus vitalis in ipfo-Corpore, &c." And our interpreter is in the wrong to use the word air in this place, instead of wind or vapour. This will evidently appear by and by, when the poet comes to treat of the different kinds of atoms that compofe the Epicurean foul.

Ver. 116. In thefe eight verfes, he concludes this difputation concerning the harmony of the foul and body and after his ufual manner, derides and fcoffs at that belief. Let thefe fiddlers, fays he, hug themselves in their harmony, a term foolishly invented, and more foolishly explained. I will lofe no more time in refuting their nonfenfe.

Ver. 130. The poet adds not this without rea fon for the word harmony is likewife taken for the jointing and setting together of words, or any other more folid matter. Thus we read in Arif tophanes ἁρμονιῶν διαχασκεσιών. And thus, too, Hefychius, on a certain paffage of Herodotus, interprets the word &quoviav by Zúsiği, conjunction, or joining together.

Ver. 131. "Proprio quæ tum res nomine e gebat," are the words of Lucretius. And Faber, in his note upon them feems furprised that our poet fays, the foul had no proper name be fore it was called a harmony, fince the words Jupis, vs, and 4%, were in ufe long before, As for Juuos, fays he, it may be objected against propter vonuaoiar because of its many uig.

v is an action, not a faculty. But what can be alleged against yʊx; for, though it be fometimes fed to fignify the blood, as in the Clouds of Ariftophanes, where he fays, that the bugs,