For they by Counsel can not move more flow; 160 How they muft work, on what Design they go. But fome, dull Souls! think MATTER can not Move So fit for Man; nor Fruit, nor Bushes bear, 165 Nor other Things, which PLEASURE prompts,could do: PLEASURE, that GUIDE of LIFE, and MISTRESS too! That we should seek Love's generous Embrace, And thence renew frail Man's decaying Race: And therefore fanfy that the GoDs did make 170 And rule this ALL. How great is that Mistake! NOTES. muft of Neceffity hinder the Swiftnefs of their Courfe. 158. For they by Counfel] No Man will be fo foolish as to pretend that the Atoms ftop in the Air to confult and deliberate as mong themselves which fhall go firft, which fecond, &c. This and the two following Verfes fome of the Editours of Lucretius have rejected: others retain them, and interpret them as a bove: Whoever think fit to reject them, may give them what Explication they pleafe. For GOD neither made this World, nor any Thing elfe for the Sake of Man. And lastly, he promifes to flew in another Place that the Frame of the World is fo artlefs, confus'd, and ill put together, as to evince it felf to be a Work altogether unworthy of the Divine Wisdom: In the fifth Book we shall fee how he will keep his Word with us: Quid dignum tanto feret hic promiffor hiatu. 161. But fome, &c.] In these 17. V. Lucretius, who is always Mean while, how much wifer he arguing, tho' but very weakly who faid,Coeli enarrant gloriam against Providence, takes Occa- Dei, & opera manuum ejus enunfion to deride the Stoicks, who ciat firmamentum, Pfal. 19. v. 1. held Matter of it felf to be un- When we fee any Things move, active, and incapable to produce fays Cicero, in fixt and regular any Thing: but that it is mov'd Motions, as the Spheres, the Seaand difpos'd to act, not by its fons, and many other Things, own Strength and Power, but by do we doubt those Works are the Divine Mind. Then he au- made without Counsel and Rea-. dacioufly and impiously affirms, fon? When we confider with That Matter, rude as it was, did how wonderful a Celerity the make this World without any Heavens are whirl'd around in Art, or Counfel, or Defign, and fo conftant and never-failing a accomplish all thofe Works, Manner making and maintaining which the ignorant and fuperfti-the Univerfal Viciffitudes, to the tious Vulgar afcribe to Wifdom Prefervation and utmoft Benefit and Providence: That Pleafure of all Things, can we doubt that is the Guide of the Life of Man; they are made and done without that all Things are rul'd and go- Reafon, nay, and without an exvern'd by her Direction, and that cellent and Divine Reafon and Wif For were I ignorant whence Things arife; 175 Was never made by the wife Pow'RS ABOVE. And this I think a proper Place to prove, Each tender Ear and Shrub does upward spread, NOTES. Wisdom too? de Natura Deor. lib. 2. 178. And this, &c.] He has already affirm'd, that all the Seeds tend downwards, and that all upward Motion is violent: He now in 32. v. urges the fame again, and teaches that no Body, not even Fire excepted, naturally Again own Force, but by the Impulse of protruding Bodies: And upon this he lays the Foundation of the double, that is to fay, natural and violent Motion of his Atoms. Plutarch, 1. Plac. Phil. cap. 12. καὶ τὰ πρῶτα μὴ ἄπλα, τέτα ἐξ ἐκείνων συγκράματα βά او that Epicurus was of Opinion, And Simplicius teaches απανσῶμα βάρῶν ἔχειν, τῷ ἢ τὰ βαρύτερα υφιζάνειν, τα βάρια ύπ indivov xtxÍCEN ETT TO άva. afpires, but is driven upwards by the Force of other Bodies, in like manner as the Sap rifes in Trees, as Blood gulies out of a Wound, and as a Piece of Timber mounts when it is plung'd 180. Left when, &c.] Here we into Water. For who doubts may obferve a filent Anthypobut that the fame Sap, the fame phora: for the Poet anfwers beBlood, and the fame Piece of forehand the Objections that his Timber would tend downwards Adverfaries might urge against in the Void, tho' the Sap rifes him: But it will be faid that up in the Trees, the Blood fpouts Fire moves upward: To which out of the Veins, and the Tim- he anfwers: And Plants and ber emerges and leaps, at leaft Trees rife upward likewife, by half of its Thickness, out of the reafon of the driving Force from Water. Laftly, he obferves, that beneath, which breaking out of the Rays of the Sun tend down-the Earth compels them to grow wards, that Stars, firy Meteors, by Afcent: and yet all pondeand Lightning fall to the rous Things naturally, and as Ground, and concludes that Fire much as in them lies, fink downis carry'd upwards, not by its wards. 199. AI 190 Again who fees not that a quiet Flood Throws back with mighty Force th' immerfed Wood ? For when we strive, in deeper Streams, to drown, And scarce with all our Force can prefs it down, The Waves, with double Vigour throw it up, 195 And make it ftrongly leap above the Top: And yet who doubts all thefe would downward tend, When plac'd in VoID, and nat'rally defcend ? So rifing FLAMES by th' Air are upwards born, Altho' their nat❜ral Weights prefs a Return: 200 Befides, we all behold, how ev'ry Night The falling METEORS draw long Trains of Light. Wherever NATURE yeilds a Paffage thro', We fee STARS fall, and feek them here below: NOTES. Trails of Light. The 199. Altho', &c.] Tho the, With fweeping Glories, and long Weight of the Flame naturally ftrives to deprefs and bring down the Flame; yet the Force and Strength of the ambient Air compels and drives it upwards. Thus it yields to an Element heavier and more denfe than it felf, but is not borne upwards of its own Accord. اد Ariftotle fays,they are Exhalations of the Earth, that are apt to take Fire; and that being carry'd up into the middle Regions of the Air, they kindle,by means of their being comprefs'd by the Cold of the circumfus'd Air: 203. We fee Stars fall] Here And he calls this kind of Exhalafome may be apt to think that tion 'Edgun, and "Asee puois, Epicurus, and Lucretius, who difcurfus & fluxus Stellæ. Anaxfollows his Opinion, are mifta- agoras held thefe Meteors to be ken for the Stars never fall: Sparkles that fall from the firy But by the Word Stars in this Region. Eunapius in. Ædes, Place we are to understand a fat- calls them, oppoo Tives asegov, ty, oleaginous and fulphurous Effluentiæ quædam Stellarum: Exhalation, which kindles in the And the Arabs Sbibab, which Air, and falls to the Ground in the Commentatour upon Ulugh a purple-colour'd Jelly. Virgil Beigh's Fables explains, Stella has imitated this Paffage of Lu-que nocte incedit ficut ignis; cretius, and defcribes the Fall of and Stella Dæmones pellens; for thefe Exhalations, Georg. I. the antient Arabs and Eaftern v.365. People fanfy'd Falling Stars to be firy Darts lanc'd from Heaven, against the Devils or Evil Spirits of the Air; as the learned Golius has likewife obferv'd in his Notes upon Alfergan. p. 65. But Fromondus Meteor. lib. 2. cap. 3. defcribes them, according to the Doctrine of Ariftotle, to be a firy Exhalation, forc'd out of a Cloud, and having the Refemblance of a true falling Star. They The SUN too from above his Vigour yields 205 To us below; and cherishes our Fields. 210 Therefore its FIRE DESCENDS: fwift LIGHTNING flies; NOTES. They are thought to come from the fame Caufe and Origin as Lightning, tho' they are not attended by Thunder, at least not perceivable by us: but they bear the fame Proportion to Lightning, as the Fire of a Musket does to that of a Canon; For, as at a great Distance we may fee the Fire of a Musket, but fcarce hear its Noife, tho' the Fire of a Canon at the fame Diftance is feen, and its Noife plainly heard; fo by reafon of the Exility of the Exhalation we hear not the Noife when thefe falling Stars break from a Cloud, as we do that of Thunder that follows Lightning. Fromondus compares thefe Meteors to our Kind of Fireworks, call'd Rockets; (tho' there Motions be different, that of the one being forc'd upwards, the other downwards) which run in a Train, and fall in the manner of Stars: And therefore Pliny calls them, Scintillas & Difcurfus Stellarum, and Ptolemy, Trajectiones: both which are express'd by Manilius in thefe Verfes: Præcipites ftellæ paffimque volare videntur, Quum vaga per nitidum fcintil lant lumina mundum; Exurguntque procul volucres lib. 1. v. 845. For Which Creech renders thus: And ftill when falling Stars a- The falling Meteors draw long Like Arrows, hot from the ce- They cut the Air, and strike our 210. Now Seeds, &c.] To do Juftice in this Place to Lucretius, I must give the original Text of this Paffage, which our Interpreter has not faithfully render'd: Illud in his quoque te rebus cog nofcere avemus: Corpora cum deorfum rectum per inane feruntur Ponderibus propriis, incerto tempore ferme, Incertifque locis fpatio decedere paulum, Tantum quod Momen mutatum To explain these five Verfes Now Seeds in downward Motion muft decline, Tho' very little from th' exacteft Line. He has totally omitted, incerto tempore ferme, Incertifque locis; which Words nevertheless have a Signification, and that too of great Importance in this Place: For did they ftill MOVE STRAIT, they needs muft fall, Like Drops of Rain, diffolv'd and scatter'd all; For ever tumbling thro' the MIGHTY SPACE, 215 And never join to make one fingle Mass. NOTES. If Defertum præter Spatium, & Lucr. Place: For what Lucretius fays is this: That the Atoms, when by their own Weight they are borne downwards thro' the Void in a direct Line, do at fome time The Opinion of Democritus laor other, but incerto tempore, bour'd under this Defect: for, as at no one fixt and determinate Plutarch fays, de Placit. PhiloTime, and in fome Parts of the foph. lib. 1. c. 23. he acknowVoid likewise, but incertis locis, ledg'd only one Sort of Motion; not in any one certain and deter-Tany, for fo it ought to be minate Place of it, decline a little from the direct Line by their own Strength and Power; but fo nevertheless that the direct Motion can be faid to be chang'd the leaft that can be imagin'd. Infomuch that he infinuates that his Atoms are mov'd as Animals; which appears more evidently V. 259. where fpeaking of the voluntary Motion of Men, he ufes almost the very fame Words: nec Declinamus item motus, read, not Taylor, as is manifeft from Cicero, who in his Book of Fate, fays, Quondam nis, quam Plagam ille appellat, vim motus habebant impulfioà te, Epicure, gravitatis & ponderis: Formerly, they [the Atoms] had a Motion of Impulie, which he (Democritus) calls Stroke: but. them a Motion of Heaviness and you Epicurus gave Weight. Epicurus therefore held two Sorts of natural Motion : one perpendicular, the other declining: Suo duxhoews, tò καὶ ςαθμίω, * τὸ κτὶ παρέγκλι σιν. Plutarch. de Placit. Philofoph. lib. 1. cap. 23. Now this Motion of Declination thought neceffary, because otherwife the Atoms could never have met together; and confequently there could have been no GeneThe Poet has difputed at large ration of any Thing whatever. of the Seeds natural Motion Cicero, in 1. lib. de Fin. Cendownwards,and violent upwards. fet [Epicurus] illa folida ac inNow from whence can_that_vio-dividua Corpora Materiæ ferri lent Motion proceed, but from fuo deorfum pondere ad lineam : Stroke? But the Seeds being hunc naturalem effe omnium heavy, and therefore defcending Corporum Motum. Deinde ibithro' the Void in a direct Line, dem homo acutus cum illud ocand with equal Swiftnefs, could curreret, fi omnia deorfum è renever meet, never overtake one gione ferrentur, &, ut dixi, ad another fo that Nothing could lineam, nunquam fore ut Atobe generated whatever; and No- mus altera alteram poffet attinthing would exift but empty gere: itaque attulit rem com Space, and invifible Principles. mentitiam': declinare dixit Ato Thus this inveterate Enemy of Providence beftows only not a Mind, only not a Will on his ftupid and fenfelefs Atoms. But to proceed to the Explication of this declining Motion. was mum |