255 Whence we conclude, that SEEDS OF BODIES ly In EARTH'S cold Womb, which, fet at Liberty By breaking of the Clods, in which they lurk, Spring briskly up, and do their proper Work. For, were there none, tho' we no Help afford, 260 Things would be better'd of their own Accord. Befides; as NOTHING NATURE's Power creates ; SO DEATH diffolves, but not annihilates. i For could the SUBSTANCES of BODIES dy, They prefently would vanish from our Eye; 265 And, without Force diffolving, perifh all; And filently into their NOTHING fall. But now fince Things from SEED s eternal rise Their Parts well join'd and fitted; NOTHING dies, Unless fome Force break off the the nat'ral Ties. 270 If all Things, over which long Years prevail, ; How thing; fo without the Force or Violence of any other thing likewife, every thing would perish, not by a Diffolution of its Parts; but withdrawing from our Eyes,would vanifh away in a Moment of Time, and thus refolve into Nothing. For the Reason why Force is requifite to diffolve each Thing is, because it confifts of Seeds that remain after its Diffolution. do Nothing Nay, what can hinder Plants, that are produc'd from Nothing, from improving and growing every Year more fair and fruitful of their own accord ? 261. Befides: as Nothing,&c.] Hitherto Lucretius has been proving, That Nothing is made of Nothing But now, in thefe 2. v. he propofes another Principle which is a Confequent of the former: viz. That nothing is anni hilated, or reduc'd into Nothing. 270. If all Things, &c.] His 263. For could, &c. In thefe fecond Argument, to prove that 7. v. he brings his firft Argu- Nothing is reduc'd into Nothing, ment against the Annihilation of is contained in thefe 15. v. AniThings, and reafons to this Purmals, fays he, which, as I have pofe, from the common Refolu- already prov'd, are not made out tion ofCompound Bodies. For,fays of Nothing, are born daily, and he, if Things refolv'd into No dy daily: The Fountains perthing, or were mortal in all their perually fupply Waters, of which Parts, there would be no need Rivers and the Sea confift, &c. of Force or Violence to diffolve Now whence could all these any of them: But as every Things proceed, if there were Thing would be produc'd, and not fome immortal Seeds, that appear on a fuddain, without the remain after the Diffolution of Endeavour or Force of any other the Bodies For who is fo void E of How could the Springs and Rivers flow fo far, And fill a Sea? How could th' Air feed each Star? But if thofe BODLES, which compose this A L L, They are immortal, and from Death fecure; 285 Again: the fame Force ev'ry Thing would break, Were not the Union made more strong or weak By of Senfe, as not to grant that the Sea discharges it felf, as Rivers firft Matter of Things, if it do into the Sea; and thus there were fometimes fubject to perih, is a perpetual Circulation of must have been totally confum'd Water, like that of the Blood in the infinite Succeffion of in human Bodies: and this LuYears, that has pafs'd away fince cretius himself owns in fome the Beginning of Things; info-measure, Book 6. v. 627. For to much that nothing of it would refer the Original of Fountains be now left to repair and renew to Condenfation, and afterwards the Things that are daily dying? to a Diffolution of Vapours un277. How th' Air feed each der the Earth, is one of the most Star] For the Epicureans? held unphilofophical Opinions in all that the Sun and Stars were Ariftotle. Befides, fuch an AFires, that requir'd Nourish byfs of Waters is very agreeable ment to feed and keep alive their to the Scriptures; for Jacob blefFlames and that they were nou- fes Jofeph with the Bleffings of rifh'd by the Vapours and Exha the Heavens above, and with the lations that rife from the Earth Bleffings of the Deep beneath and Sea. Nor was this the Opi- that is, with the Dew and nion of Epicurus only, but of the Rain of Heaven, and with the Stoicks likewife. Nay, we may Fountains and Rivers that arife trace this Belief even to before from the Deep: and conformathe Age of Zeno. bly to this, Efdras asks, What Habitations are in the Heart of the Sea, and what Veins in the Root of the Abyfs? Thus too at the End of the Deluge, Mofes fays,that God ftopt the Windows of Heaven, and the Fountains of the Abyfs. But to answer this Question of Lucretius, and give a probable Reafon of the perpetual Supply of Waters to Fountains and Rivers, we may have Recourfe to the Invention that Cowley found out to justify his 7!] 24 Waves, 285. Again the fame, &c.] In Etern alFountain of all these 13. v. he urges his third Aring gument,and fays,that'tis evident, Where their vaft Court the Mo-that. Nothing is annihilated, be ther Waters keep, 3 And undisturb'd by Moons in Silence fleep. and establish an Abyfs, or deep Gulph of Waters, into which the cause the fame Force is not fufficient to diffolve all Things, For it is in vain for any Man to object, that the fame Force can not diffolve all Things, becaufe the Principles of Bodies are join'd to gether By their immortal SEEDS: Nay, more than that; One fingle Touch would be the Stroke of FATE, For Things, where no eternal SE E D s are found, 290 Would ftrait diffolve, and dy with any Wound. But fince the SEED's eternal, and the Frame Of BODIES, and their Union not the fame ; Things may fecure, and free from Danger ftand, Until fome Force, driv'n by an envious Hand, 295 Proportion'd to the Texture, break the Band. Thus DEATH diffolves alone; DEATH breaks the And scatters Things to their first SEEDS again. (Chain, Laftly, when Father ÆT HE & kindly pours On fertile Mother EARTH his feminal Show'rs, 300 They seem to perish there: But ftrait new Juice Ferment, and various Herbs and Trees produce, (shoot, Whofe Trunks grow strong, and fpreading Branches Look fresh, and green, and bend beneath their Fruit. These Nourishment to Man and Beaft do prove : 305 Hence our Towns fill with Youth; with Birds each Who fit, and fing; and in a num'rous Throng, (Grove, With new-fledg'd Wings clap, and applaud the Song. NOTES. gether by different Textures: For what would that Disparity of Texture avail, when even the Principles themselves, if they can be reduc'd into Nothing, are not able to refift, or hold good, even against the flightest Touch? But admitting there are certain Principles, which are eternal,then indeed a Reafon may be given from the Diffimilitude of their Contexture with one another, why the fame Force is not alike fufficient to diffolve all Things. 291. And the Frame, &c.] For the Eternity of the Seeds alone would fignify nothing, unless there were a Diffimilitude of them likewife, without which there can be no Union or Connexion of Things: And therefore tho' the firft Bodies were eternal, yet the Compounds, would not, for that Reason only remain intire one Moment of Time. 298, Laftly, when, &c,] But These because there are many Things, which, as they diffolve, vanish both from our Sight, and Touch to that Degree, that they feem totally to perish, he, in these 18. v. obviates that Objection, and fhews, that even the Rain, which, when it falls upon the Earth, dries away, and chiefly may feem to vanish, does not ne vertheless perish, but fupplies Matter for the Growth of all manner of Plants and Trees; and to enable them to bring forth their feveral Fruits in great Abundance, for the Nourishment and Support of Men, Birds and Beafts: We can not therefore believe, that the leaft Particle of the Showers intirely perifles, fince fo many excellent Things are renew'd and repair'd by them. Laftly, he concludes, that Nothing returns to Nothing, fince Nature produces one Thing out of another; and ne ver any Thing new, but makes E 2 Ufe These fat our Cattle, that diftended ly On fertile Banks, their sprightful Young ones by, 310 Rev'ling on Milk, which their swoln Udders yield, Grow gay, and brisk, and wanton o'er the Field. And therefore BODIES can not fall to NOUGHT, Since one Thing still is from another brought By prov❜dent NATURE, who lets NOTHING rife, 315 Nor BE, except from fomething elfe that dies. Now fince we have by various Reasons taught, That NOTHING rifes from, or falls to NOUGHT; Left you diffent, because these SEEDS muft ly Beyond the Ken, ev'n of the fharpeft Eye: 320 Know there are Bodies, which no Eye can see, Yet them, from their Effects, we grant to B E. For firft the WINDS difturb the Seas, and tear The ftouteft Ships, and chase the Clouds thro' Air: Some NOTES. Ufe of the Matter of another Thing that had been diffolv'd before. See the Note on v. 957. of Book II. and Violence, fays he, whoever throughly confiders, how it toffes and difturbs the Sea, with what Fury it drives the Ships,&c. 314. Lets nothing rife, &e will acknowledge it to be corpoThis agrees with the Maxim of real, tho' no Eye could ever difAriftotle, lib. r. de generat. & cover its Particles; and this too corrupt. He ploeg, ama yi- the more readily, if he reflects, VEDIS, ʼn tyde viveσis, ame ploed.that Winds rush on in the fame The Corruption of one Thing is manner, as rapid Rivers do, the Generation of another, and when their Waters are fwoln the Generation of one Thing is with Rain, and bear before them the Corruption of another. whatever oppofes their Course, 316. Now fince, &c.] But and that Rivers are Bodies, the that he may not difpute to no Senfes themselves moft plainly Purpofe, while his Memmius will demonftrate. Virgil feems to perhaps diftruft the Validity of have imitated this Defcription of all the Arguments he has hither-a ftormy Wind, in the firft to brought to eftablish his A-Eneid, v. 86. and Lucan. lib. 5. toms; becaufe thofe eternal 322. For first, &c.] Virgil. Principles and Seeds of Things, Georg. 1. v. 318. defcribes the in themselves,and apart from the Force of the Wind in like manBodies which they compofe, are imperceptible to the Senfe, and by reafon of their Exility too fmall and fubtile not to efcape the Sight, even of the harpeft and moft piercing Eye, he brings feveral Inftances of corporeal Subftances, to which no Man denies an Existence, tho' they are invifible to the Eye. Firft, of the Wind, in 33. v. whofe Force ner: Omnia ventorum concurrere prælia vidi; Quæ gravidam late fegetem a radicibus imis Sublime expulfam erucrent : ita turbine nigro Ferret hyems culmumque levem, ftipulafque volantes. Off Sometimes thro' humble Plains their vi'lent Courfe 325 They bend, and bear down Trees with mighty Force; Sometimes they rife fo high, their Strength for great, With furious Storms they lofty Mountains beat, And tear the Woods. These must be BODIES, tho' unfeen they be, 330 Which thus difturb Heav'n, Earth, and Air, and Sea: Which hardeft Rocks, and Oaks, and all Things tear ; And fnatch them up in Whirlings thro' the Air: They all rush on as headlong Rivers flow, Swoln big with falling Show'rs, or melting Snow; NOTES.. Oft have I feen a fuddain Storm And, whirl'd aloft, the lighter And Georg. III. v. 196. Qualis, Hyperboreis Aquilo cum Scythiæque hyemes Lenibus horrefcunt flabris, summæque fonorem Dant Sylva, longiq; urgent ad littora Auctus: Ille volat, fimul arva fuga, mul æquora verrens. And 333. They all, &c.] Thus too Virgil defcribes the Rapidity of the Po, Georg. 1. v. 481. Proluit infano contorquens vor- Fluviorum Rex Eridanus, cam- Then rifing in his Might, the And rouling onward with a Bore Houfes, Herds, and lab'ring And the Violence of a Torrent, -Ceu rapidus montano flumine torrens Sternit agros, fternit sata læta, boumque labores, fi-Præcipitefque trahit Sylvas : stupet infcius alto Accipiens fonitum faxi de vertice Thus Deluges, defcending on the Sweep o'er the yellow Year, de- Of lab'ring Oxen, and the Pea- Unroot the foreft Oaks, and The |