and Cafaubon explaining this passage of the prologue to Perfius; Magifter artis, ingeniique largitor Venter. ANIMADVERSION, BY WAY OF RECAPITULATION, ON THE FIFTH BOOK OF LUCRETIUS. WHAT Lucretius in this book afferts from ver. 60. to ver. 461. that the fun, the earth, the fea, in a word, the whole frame of this world has not exifted from all eternity, nor will continue to all eternity, is believed in general by all pious men, and found philofophers: but his proving this af fertion by fome probable, and by many trong and unquestionable arguments, that indeed feems peculiar to Lucretius only: for certainly no tronger proofs, no more cogent reafons [always except the Holy Scriptures] are any where to be found. This makes me wonder the more, how fo excellent a wit could infert thofe foolish verfes from ver. 168 to ver. 266. in which he endeavours to evince, that God did not create the world: for he believes, that God is not generous enough, or rather is too fpiteful and envious, to do any thing for the fake of man; and fancies, that whatever he does, he does for the fake of himfelf, of his own eafe and quiet. If any man fhould give fuch a character of Epicurus, Lucretius would treat him as an impudent babbler. In the next place he imagines, that neither God nor man can have any notice or knowledge of any things, but by the means of images. And who is this God? Is it not he whom the mind of man perceives, whom all nations acknowledge and adore? In the next place, who can bear with him, while he enumerates the faults, as he calls them, of the world? All of them falfe and foolishly invented. And were thefe defects in the new and infant world? Lucretius himself denies they were; and therefore is the more to blame, to impute the decays and flaws in a building, worn out with age, to the fault of the architect. From ver. 461. to ver. 551. he defcribes the rife or birth of the world; and among all the phyfiologers, there is not a defcription of it more likely to be true, nor more lively and beautiful. The atoms are moved by their own weight, they meet, this makes them rebound, and according to the difference of the ftroke and weight, the refilition is made into different places, where they combine and grow into bodies. Having, as he imagines, freed the Deity from all care and trouble, and kept him in eafe and quiet, while the world was making, he proceeds, and from ver. 550. to ver. 824. delineates the order: and becaufe he does not affign any one certain cause of the motions of the heavens, of eclipfes, of day and night, with that pofitiveness as fome others do, he feems to fome to waver in his opinions but 1 infift, that fuch a conftancy as they call it, in an Epicurean phyfiologer, would be very ridiculous: for he pronounces that all things are made and done by chance: and that no man can determine one, to fay, certain cause, of thefe phenomenons, fince they may be explained in feveral manners. Nor fhould I indeed think a man worthy of blame, who affigns feveral caufes, while among the rest the only true and certain caufe is propofed. Nor can I imagine a man could act more agreeably to his principles, or defcribe chance better: refolving all philofophy, all our fearch, and inquiry into thofe matters, into a naked may be: nay, often scarce ftanding within the comprehenfive bounds of poffibility: but to pafs by all the contradictions that lie in the very principles, and beginning of his hypothefis, let us fuppofe thefe infinite atoms, moving in this infinite; and grant they could ftrike, and take hold, and fqueeze out the leffer and more agile parts into feas, heaven, moon, ftars, &c. I afk, why this mighty mafs of earth as its nature requires, does not conftantly defcend? Why is it fixed and steady? Lucretius anfwers: because it lies in congenial matter, and therefore preffes not: but ftill the question returns: why does not this congenial matter fall, fince it has weight, the Epicurean property of atoms, and that other fit matter fpread below it? The demand conftantly returns. Befides, this matter was fqueezed out of the earth by the defcending heavier particles, and therefore the mafs may prefs, and defcend through it. Well then, if this earth cannot be framed, neither can any of the other elements; fince, according to his defcription, the latter depends on the former. And fince he refuses to stand to any one caufe of the motion of the fun or stars, it would be endless to pursue this flying bubble, and follow him through all the mazes of conceit and fancy. Nor will I add any thing concerning what he alleges of the magnitude of the fun, moon, and ftars, having faid before, that that opinion is too vulgar to be regarded. : Read the reft of this book, and commiferate a man of fo excellent parts, who could forget himfelf, and play the fool fo egregiously but it is a fate upon all who deny a Divine Providence, to reafon foolishly in ethics, and abfurdly in phyfics. Yet in the defcription he gives of the state of the firft men, of their manners and way of life, we have a perfect image of the manners of all the prefent barbarous and favage nations and in thefe earth-born men of Lucretius, you will eafily difcover the Cannibals, Brafileans, and several others of the people of the Weft Indies. Qq iiij BOOK VI. THE ARGUMENT. The first thirty-feven verfes of this fixth and last book of Lucretius contain the praife of Athens, in which city the great Epicurus was born; together with an encomium of that philofopher. II. From ver. 37. to ver. 96. the poet explains the argument of this book, in fuch a manner as might reafuna. bly be expected from an Epicurean. From thence, to ver. 431. he proceeds to dive into the very nature of the things we call meteors; and, that men might learn not to be difmayed at the thunder of angry Jupiter, he teaches, that thunder is made either by the collifion, or corrafion, or difruption of clouds, when contrary winds fight against one another: or, by the force of winds, either ftruggling within the bowels of the clouds, or driving them with violence against each other: or, that it is only the hifling of flames, that fall from a dry cloud into a wet or, laftly, that thunder is but the crashing noise of bodies of hail and ice, that meeting violently in the air, are dafhed to pieces. As for the lightning, which the Latins called Fulgur, he fays it is nothing but fire forced out of clouds, either by their collifion, or other motion; or the feeds of flames that are driven out of clouds, by the force of winds. And then, as to the thunderbolt, that other fort of lightning which the ancients called Fulmen, he teaches, that it confifts of a fubtile and fiery nature; that it is conceived and bred in thick and high-built clouds; that being grown to maturity, it bugfts out of the clouds by the force of wind, that either breaks through them, dafhes them to pieces, or beats from without, with great violence against them; that it confifts of atoms fo fubtile and minute that it is borne along the air with wonderous celerity: and that it is moft frequent in the vernal and autumnal feafons: then he concludes this difputation with deriding the fuperftitious doctrine of the Thufcans, and others, who held that thunder and lightning are not the effects of natural caufes, but proceed me ely from the will of the offended, angry gods, and that Jupiter himself is the darter of thunder. And because a prefter or fiery whirlwind, which is indeed a fort of lightning, and all other whirlwinds are certain kinds of meteors, the poet, from ver. 431. to ver. 460. difputes, IV. concerning them; and explains the nature, caufes, motions, and differences of them. V. From ver. 459. to ver. 532. he treats of clouds and of rain. Clouds he fuppofes to be made either of the rougheft and moft dry particles of the air; or of the fteams, vapours, and exhalations, that arife from the earth and waters And as to rain, he fays, it is generated, either by compreffion, as they term it, or by tranfmutation: by compreffion, if the force of the winds fqueeze the water out of the clouds; by tranfmutation, if the clouds themfelves are changed, and distil in falling drops of water. VI. In regardle the other meteors, as the rainbow, fnow, wind. hail, and froft, he disputes briefly of them, or rather mentions them, from ver- 531. to ver. 541. VII. From ver. 540. to ver. 609 he treats of the feveral forts of earthquakes, and of the causes of them: which he afcribes, either to hollow parts of the earth, which, falling in, caufe it to tremble; or to the tremulous motion of the waters, which he fuppofes the earth to fwim in; or to iubterraneous, and other winds; which either fhake the earth in several parts, or drive it to and fio. VIII From ver. 608. to ver 646. he treats of the fea; and teaches, that the reason why it does not increafe, notwithstanding the immenfe quantity of water that is continually flowing into it, is, either because of the vastnefs of the fea itself, or because the heat of the fun dries up its waters or because the winds, brufhing over them, bear much of them away; or because the clouds draw much moisture from them; or, laftly, because of the drynefs of the earth itfelf, which fucks in, and imbibes, the waters of the fea. IX. From ver 645, to ver. 715. he inquires into the caufes of the fires that are ejected out of Etna; and imputes them either to the vi olence of the wind, or to the exeftuation of the waters of the fea; which, entering beneath into the cavities of the mountain, extrude and force out the seeds of flame, that are engendered and collected there, through the apertures, that are on the top of it. X. From ver. 714. to ver. 735. he treats of the annual increale of the Nile; and afcribes it either to the Etefian winds, that blow full against the fream of that river: and thus, hindering its courfe, caufe the waters to overflow: or to heaps of fand, which the fea drives to the mouths of it, and thus chokes them up; or to the rains and fnows that fall, and are melted, near the fountain of the Nile. XI. From ver. 734. to ver. 831. he difpures of the Averni, and other tracts of the earth, that are noxious, and even deadly, to birds, men, deer, crows, horfes, &c. XII From ver. 830. to ver. 894. he teaches, why the water of fome wells and fprings is hot in winter, and cold in fummer. XIII. And thence to ver, 1006. he explains at large the attractive power and virtue of the loadstone XIV. Laftly, from ver. 1006. to the end of the book, he difcourfes briefly of the cause and origin of plagues and difcafes; and concludes his poem with an ekgant description, taken from Thucydides, of the plague that raged in Athens, and almoft laid waite and defolate the whole country of Attica, in the time of the Pelopon. nefian war. As high as heav'n the top, as earth the bafis Happy in honours, and in wealth's embrace, II Still groan'd at home; with cares and fears op- And taught what man fhould hope, what man fhould fear. The end, at which our actions aim, he show'd, What we from chance, or nature's force may fear, 32 And taught us how t' avoid, and how to bear, And therefore I'll proceed. Since then the sky 50 The various wonders of the lower air [care, Perplex mens doubtful thoughts with vexing And make the wretches bend with flavifh fear:S For ignorance of caufes heaves the mind To pow'rs above; as birds foar high, when blind. We fee effects; but when their caufes lie Beyond the ken of vulgar reafon's eye, We then afcribe them to the Deity. For ev'n thofe few exalted fouls, that know The gods muft live at ease, nor look below; If they look up, and view the world above, And wonder how thefe glorious beings move, They are entrap'd, they bind their flavish chain, And fink to their religious fears again; And then the world with heav'nly tyrants fill, Whofe force is as unbounded as their will. Deluded ignorants! who ne'er did fee By reafon's light, what can, what cannot, be: 60 How all at last muft yield to fatal force; What fteady bounds confine their natʼral course: And therefore err. If you refufe to fly Such thoughts, unworthy of the Deity; But think they a& fuch things, as break their ease, Then thou fhalt iurely fmart, and, fancying still But now to chase these phantoms out of fight turn. And you, my fweeteft mufe, come lead me on I'm eager, and 'tis time that I were gone; Come lead me on, and fhow the path to gain The race, and glory too, and crown my pain. First, then, the dreadful thunder roars aloud, When fighting winds drive heavy cloud on cloud: For where the heav'n is clear, the sky ferene, No dreadful thunder's heard, no lightning feen; But where the clouds are thick, there thunders rife; 100 } The furious infant's born, and fpeaks, and dies. But clouds meet not directly ftill, but flide, And rudely grate each others injur'd fide: And hence that buzzing noife we often hear, That with harfh murmurs fills the lower air; Continues long, but with a fofter found; At length it gathersftrength, and breaks the bound. But more, the thunder, arm'd with pointed flame, 121 May feem to fhake the world, and break the frame; When e'er a fierce, and strong, and turi us wind, In narrow, thick, and hollow clouds confin'd, Breaks through the prison with a mighty noise, Again: 'tis reason too that noife should rife When vi'lent ftorms rage o'er the lower fkies, 130 For thousand clouds appear, rough, close combin'd, And thick, and able to refift the wind: Thus noife muft rife, as when the woods they wound, The vext and injur'd boughs figh forth a mournful found. And winds oft cut the clouds, and, paffing through, 142 Or elfe hot thunder falls on rain, or fnow, And dies, and hiffes, as it paffes through: As when we quench a glowing mass, the fires Fly off with noife, with noife the heat expires. But if the cloud be dry, and thunder fall, Rifes a crackling blaze, and spreads o'er all; 150 As when fierce fires, prefs'd on by winds, do feize Our laurel groves, and waste the virgin trees; The leaves all crackle; fhe, that fled the chafe Of Phabus love, ftill flies the flames embrace. Or elle vaft hills of hail, and rocks of ice, May break; and, tumbling, rattle through the fkies: For when rough forms conjoin the parts of hail, Or fcatter'd ice, their weight muft make them fall. Quick lightning flies, when heavy clouds rush on, And ftrike as fteel and flint, or ftone and ftone: For then small sparks appear, and scatter'd light Breaks (wiftly forth, and wakes the fleepy night: The night, amaz'd, begins to hafte away, As if those fires were beams of coming day. 163 170 And firft we fee the light, and then we hear The noises: these but flowly reach the ear; Because the images of things do fly More fwift than founds, and quickly strike the eye: One inftance clears it; for, obferve, and fee, Whene'er a cruel ax does wound a tree, The tree ftrait fighs: but if at distance shown, We fee the ftroke before we hear the groan : So whilst the noise moves flow the winged light Flies fwiftly on, and strikes the diftant fight: Though both arose at once, that moves the eyes, Before the flow-tongu'd thunder fpeaks, and dies. But more; a cloud feems fir'd, a tempest brings Swift trembling flames upon his dreadful wings; When fhut within a cloud, it fcorns the bound, And frives to break, and whirls, and tumbles round; 180 And, whirling, hollows out the wat'ry frame, The wind grows hot, when loos'd from cold brace Of preffing clouds, and gets a larger space; Strait scatters fparks of fire, which swiftly fr And spread quick lightnings o'er the lower Then the grave murmur comes: the light pears Before the heavy found can reach our ears, Now this is done, when cloud lies heap'd on da Thence lightning flies, and thunder roars alx. Nor muft you think this false; because the eye, When plac'd below, fees clouds more broad a high: For look and fee, the lab'ring winds can bear Vaft mountain-clouds, and whirl them threa the air; The lab'ring winds then move but flowly en move, Yet ftill the low are prefs'd by thofe above: Then you may guess their bulk; how high r rear! How vast these real caftles built in air! How great, how ftrong their hollows, whe wind Shut up, grows fierce, and fcorns to be co But roars through all the clouds; as beafs w dain The den's confinement, and the flavish chan But more, thefe glaring fires, these fa And fall to earth through all the fpacios 10 Because the clouds hold num'rous parts of For if they're dry, their colour's fiery bright For they must catch, and hold defcending ra And thus look fiery red, and often blaze: Thefe, prefs'd by winds, to narrow place f And scatter feeds that frame the glaring fre But farther; lightning often feems to glide When clouds grow rare; for, as the winds t The clouds muft lofe the feeds: Thofe fhow fire, But without thunder filently expire. But now what feeds the thunder's parts com Their ftinks, their marks, and fulph'rous fhows: For these are signs of fire, not wind, or rain: Nay, oft they burn our towns, and men cut plain Of heav'nly fires, and angry gods, in vain. Now thefe celeftial fires are fram'd above, Of parts refin'd, and thin, and apt to move: Too ftrong to be oppos'd, they fcorn a bound And pass through clofeft walls, as vond found: (ard They fly with cafe through ftone, through And in one infant melt the ftubbo n mais: For when the fmiling heav'n's ferene and clear, Or thinly clouded, we no thunder hear: But now ev'n fenfe affures no fmiles adorn, No fky's ferene, while mighty thunder's born: Befides; at fea dark clouds do often fall, 260 As ftreams of flowing pitch, and spread o'er all, ar from the darken'd fky; and, fwoln with, rain,. and ftorms, they draw behind a dreadful train If thunder-cracks, which rage o'er all the main. v'n we on earth all shake, with terror aw'd, We feek for fhelter, nor dare peep abroad. Therefore thefe clouds, that spread o'er all the sky, Auft needs be thick, and all built vaftly high: or elfe they could not ftop defcending light, 269 for check the rays, and bring fo thick a night; for fuch great floods, nor fo much water yield, As well our ftreanis, and spread o'er ev'ry field. Thefe winds and fires, when spread o'er all the sky, Make thunders roar, and the wing'd lightning fly. And clofely mixes with the gather'd flame, 280 Or when the furious flame breaks o'er the bound, Sometimes external winds the clouds divide, And break wide caverns in their injur'd side. Through these the infant thunder makes its way e Thefe winds call forth the flames, and they obey. And fometimes too a wind unkindled flies, But kindles in its paffage through the fkies; 300 Lofing fome heavy parts it us'd to bear, Which could not fwiftly cut the middle air; And gath`ring others of convenient frame, [flame: Which join, and fly with them, and raife the As balls of lead, when shot with mighty force, Their ftubborn, their ungentle parts divorce, And, foften'd, melt in middle of their course. Sometimes the fury of the froke may raise Quick fparks of fire, and make a mighty blaze: For by the ftroke fmall ftreams of light may fpring 310 Both from the ftriking, and the injur'd thing: As from cold flint and steel bright sparks appear; They fly the blow, and fly to open air. And thus the clouds, if of convenient frame, May well be kindled, and diffolve in flame: Nor can the winds be cold, because they move Through fuch vast space, still tumbling from above: For, if not kindled by the flames they meet, Yet fure they must come warm with mingled Befides, its parts are small, and quick the blows, And therefore meets with nought that can oppose: No ftops can hinder, and no lets can stay : The clofeft pores will yield an open way: And hence it flies with fuch a mighty force; 330 And hence fo great the ftrength, fo quick the course. Befides; all weights by nature downward go; But when that motion is increas'd by blow, The swiftnefs, and the force muft needs increase, And break, whatever dares refift, with ease. Laftly; fo vaft a space fince thunders run, Their fwiftnefs muft increase in tumbling down: For motions fill increafing run their race, And all by odd proportions mend their pace: Or all the feeds direct their vi'lent course, And strike one part with their united force: Or elfe, as through the air they swiftly rove, Meet parts which strike, and make them swifter move. 34 And when the pores receive the subtle fire, The force flies through, the thing remains entire : But when it strikes the fubftance, then the mafs Is broken: Thus it melts itrong gold and brass: Because its parts are thin, and fwiftly fly, And enter in, and foon diffolve the tie. Now fpring and autumn frequent thunders hear; 350 They shake the rifing, and the dying year: |