which yet say some he did but dissemble out of excess of fast and disdain as conceiting himself the onely person in the world for profoundness of Learning and Wisdom By the Character our Poet gives him it seems he much delighted to be little understood and Lucretius was no admirer of Hierogliphical learning yet not out of disaffection to pure and natural Eloquence but when it was empty and jejune of matter or that any science was delivered in obscure language which have made some write on this place as if by Inversis quae sub verbis c. signified how Heraclitus was addicted to the childish spelling or pronouncing his words backwards because Vitruvius and some others have named him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his affected obscurity and Laertius where he repeats divers reproachful Nicknames given to sundry of the Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi nimirum turbaâ—orem confusorémve c. ob affectatam in scribendo obscuritatem a great lover of enigmatical and tropical expressions which makes Nardius on this place very much in choler against our poor Chymists at whose canting he is exceedingly bitter and impatient But to our Poet whose first quarrel against Heraclitus is Cur tam variae res possent esse requiro Ex vero si sunt igni puróque creatae c. But how things can thus differ I enquire If they proceed from pure and real fire To prove that no solitary thing or Element alone can possibly be this catholick Principle especially since as it follows they neither admit of Rarefaction Condensation or Vacuum without which it must of necessity still remain Fire such yet as in defect of Vacuum to move in it could not be the principle being thus destroyed by reason of its density incompatible with its nature as is evident by the light heat and effects thereof which evidently discovers its Rarefaction and Admixtion with Vacuum But Quòd si forte ulla credunt ratione potesse Ignis in Coctu stingui mutaréque corpus c. If haply some perswade themselves that fire May shifâ— it's body and i th' mass expire c. And by this shift become Earth being endued with more crasse and thick particles for so Plutarch seems to deliver it for him viz. that by contraction it becomes Earth and again by laxation Water this evaporated and extenuated Aire c. It should by this process utterly lose the being and prerogative of fire as exceeding its terms and so not being what it is established for must of necessity annihilate of which Nothing we have already proved it impossible that any thing should consist Fire therefore by being extinct cannot properly be said to be changed into any other substance seeing a simple body is incapable of alteration without a total perdition And then if ought remain it is Atomes the common matter and principles which we all this while contend for and which by their Addition Detraction Transposition c. sometimes indeed appear in the form of Fire and sometimes of other things as the hath here expressed it Heraclitus saith he believes his senses by which he understands what Fire is 't is perspicuous Why doth he not as well credit them when it perceives or feels other things which be altogether as obvious and visible such as Aire Earth or Water which may all by this argument be as well Principles as his pretended Fire As much saith our Poet have erred those other Philosophers Qui principium gignundis aera rebus Constituêre c. Who Air the universal source have deem'd I suppose he means Cleanthes and Anaximenes Milesius Anaximents Infinitum aera dixit esse ex quo omnia gignerentur as Cicero The like is affirmed by Plutarch who also ascribes the same opinion to Archelaus the Athenian and thence it is reported that Apolloniates Diogenes believed it to be the common God or rather Principle in respect of its immense extension and the vast space which indeed it employeth aut Humorem quiâ—úmque putârunt Fingere res ipsum perse terramve creare Omnia c. Or that pure Water or the earth have esteem'd Forms all c. Of which opinion was Thales Milesius one of the seven Sages the same who named God the Mind though he reported water to be the first Principle out of which the Minde educed all other materials moisture the Principle and God the Cause Of which see the elegant Lactantius Cicero de Nat. deor l. 1. Vitruvius l. 2. c. 2. and in proaem l. 8. Indeed though some hardy men father this Philosophy on Moses yet that Water is really a very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or universal Principle besides the fore-cited Thaâ—es Hippon Empedocles and Theophrastus were of the same saith Hippocrates himself attributes much to it and of later times the great Sendivogius and generally the best learned Spagirists But above all is famous that experiment delivered us by Helmont of the growth of his tree supplyed onely by this humor Let the curious consult his works for I hasten As concerning the Earth Hesiod and some others first broached In fine he concludes that whoever they are that constitue Fire Heat Aire the Water or indeed any other solitary Element to be the Universal and Common Principle Magnopere à vero longéque errasse videntur Have all alike at large from truth estray'd Adde etiam qui conduplicant primordia rerum Add those who principles of things combine The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or General of these Philosophers such were Archelaus and Parmenides the one making Fire and Water the other Earth and Water to be rerum principia was the learned Empedocles by Sect a Pythagorean by birth a Citizen of Agrigentum a town in Sictly now called Naro and Gergento whose coast our Poet here most elegantly describes together with the rivage and vorago of Charybdis the horrible and ignivomous mouth of Aetna not improperly mentioned in this place as into whose jaws some report he precipitated himself his hopes were to have made men think he had passed some extraordinary way to Immortality if the unlucky ejection of his iron Sandals which he forgot to dispose of had not detected his ambition and folly Some say he fell into that Barathrum by accident as the elder Pliny perished at Vesuvius whilst he was Philosophizing upon the cause of those terrible Vulcano's The particulars mentioned here by our Carus are onely in honor of this Illustrious Heroe whom he even Canonizes and makes a Demi-god of But certainly a very extraordinary person he was in imitation of whose former work upon the like subject some affirm that our Poet composed these six Books de Rerum Natura and how great a man he was may be seen at large in Diog. Laertius where he informs us how neerly he approached to the description of God whom whilst some with the Anthropomorphite imagined to be composed of humane form and shape that is to say
with the very members of a man as is easily collected out of those Verses in Ammonius comment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he affirmed to consist onely of a divine and holy mind moving and governing the Universe by cogitations most swift and incomprehensible To this add his conjecture that all things were created by a certain amity consent or harmony amongst the Elements and that they perished onely by some unhappy discord as for the Soul that it onely resided in the blood essentially which was also the opinion of Critias whence the Poet Purpuream vomit ille animam And that those who were best furnished with that crimson humor were more generous spirited then other men and consequently of better judgement but I quit this It should seem he was a very rare person indeed that the great Aristotle should ascribe the invention of Rhetorick to him and whose discourses our Lucretius who else believed little of those fabulous divinations and Spirits should prefer to the very Oracles of Apollo the descant of whose Responses if our Carus have not sufficiently described let the curious Reader consult Porphyrius recited by Aug. de Civit. dei l. 20. Herod l. 1. c. And yet this person as learned and universal as he was for his thus blending and marring of Principles with the rest as the Stagyrist somewhere pronounces of other Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Poet interprets Principiis tamen in rerum fecere ruinas Et graviter magni magno cecidere ibi casu Yet these great persons all receive great falls And split themselves on false originals And such it seems besides Empedocles c. were those who Motus exempto rebus inani Constiâ—uunt res mollis rarásque relinqunt c. Motion without void avow And yet of things do soft and rare allow For Lucretius is far from denying the four vulgar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are compositive parts of the Vniverse but onely when usurping on that prerogative of Atomes men affirm them to be the principles of the Concretes And again for that they utterly reject all Vacuum and yet admit of other things which cannot possibly subsist without it In the second place that they affirm all things to be infinitely dividuous rejecting Atomes to which when once a division is arrived there is a certain period to all farther Anatomization of Bodies Thirdly that they constitute soft and per consequens mutable principles such as Fire Earth Aire Water c. which must of necessity annihilate Fourthly for that they produce contrary and repugnant Elements such as Fire and Water c. expressed in our Poet by Inimica Venena inter se reciprocally destructive Fifthly that they make the Elements to be the principles of Bodies rather then Bodies to be the principles of the Elements And lastly because they acknowledge the four common elements to be changed into things being once dispoil'd of their natures which are immediately to revert into the Elements again or in case they still preserve their natures remain onely capable of making some confused and rude heap without producing any thing perfectly distinct Non animans non exanimo cum corpore ut arbos Quippe c. No living thing nor things inanimate As Trees for that c. For Epicurus did not admit of any Soul to reside in Plants but held that they were governed and grew by vertue of a certain nature not vegitable proper to them alone and yet affirmed that they live that is enjoy a peculiar motion as the water of Chrystal springs the fire which we excite to a flame is called living water and living fire something analogical to that which I think is more difficult to express then comprehend for such is fire without light c. But concerning this see the express Treatise written by the learned T. Campanella in his Book De sensu Rerum Magia c. The sum is that those four vulgarly reputed Elements are not the Principles of natural things to the prejudice of Atomes Lastly for that This too Repetunt à coelo atque ignibus ejus Et primùm faciunt ignem se vertere in auras Aeris hinc imbrem gigni terrámque creari Ex imbri retroque à terrá cuncta reverti Humorem primùm post aera deinde calorem Nec cessare haec inter se mutare meare De Coelo ad terram de terra ad sydera mundi Quod facere haud ullo debent primordia pacto From heaven and from his fires they bring And first the fire to aire transform'd they sing Hence rain sublim'd and Earth condens'd of rain And so from Earth they all retire again First Water then the Aire and Fire in trains Nor once this course to cease but to and fro From heaven to earth from earth to heaven they go Which Principles refuse c. Making a Transmutation to preserve them from destruction as repaired by a compensation of parts even as the Species are still conserved by a continual succession of new Individuals Thus like Antimonie they operate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doctrine is wholly repugnant to the nature of Principles which ought to be stable and fixed as hath abundantly been shewed All which considered saith Carus Potius tali natura praedita quaedam Corpora constituas ignem si forte crearint Posse eadem demptis paucis paucisque tributis Ordine mutato motu facere aeris auras Sic alias aliis rebus mutarier omnis Rather such bodies state that fire shall make Add some few things away some other take Order and motion chang'd turn to thin aire Thus every thing doth every thing repaire For so it is spontaneous things are produced as by the mutual conversion of Water and Aire viz. by the various disposition and conjugation of the very identical parts and so in like sort by access and addition as those things which spring up of seed by Fermentation Coagulation c. till they specifie accordingly so also by Detraction of parts as Wax by separating it from the honey Spirits from the Phlegm and other Chymical principles by fire as might be infinitely exemplified At manifesta palà m res indicat inquis in auras Aeris è terra res omnis crescere alique c. But you 'll object all things from Earth do spring Up into th' Airâ— and thence have nourishing To which objection that the Plants and Animals derive their nutrition from the four Elements it is answered That those Elements are nor really the first Principles of them for they are indiscernable these are evident But thus it is that in these compounded Elements those so abstracted and inconcrete are disguised and latent through which it happens that whilst these Vegetables seem to receive their nouriture from the moisture of the showers and propitious warmth of the Sun each of our Poets Corpuscles contribute to those of the same nature and which are homogeneous to them Namque eadem
be hidden to your kindeness then the most abstruse Author to your Apprehension or by that time you have done with him to any mans else Yet absence alone is a death not that it uses to kill friends but friendship The Spaniard calls it putting of earth between so both Death and Burial too and he hath a proverb that tells us A muertos y à ydos no ay Amigos the crossing whereof is the thing I now take so kindely at your hands Then to evidence that no Author whatsoever can stand in your way I know not where you could have made so crabbed a choice as you have done though for intrinsick value an incomparable one and well quitting your pains On my word Cozen this Piece is The taming of the Shrew What shall I say more Having as skilfully as I could confronted his Latine with your English they appear to me Lifes both or rather both pictures of one life the features being exactly the same in each onely yours as the younger so the smoother It puts me in minde of the two Amphitruo's in Plautus where the Translation was taken for the Original by her that should best have known which mistake had probably not hapned if the Divine Counterfeit could not have spoken the Husbands Thoughts as well as induced his Shape And if that Metamorphosis made a long night this of yours I am sure makes the day short But I injure it with the name of a Translation it is Lucretius himself A judged Case in a certain Italian Comedy Thus a Bondman of Naples is apprehended in open street No running away now no denying the fact for which he is accused What then he changes his language facing both the Officers and his Prosecutors down in perfect Spanish a concealed quality he had that he is not the man they take him for nay not so much as of the Nation In this maner fences for a good space against them All the Scene is not unplesant But do you think it served his turn in the end No nor would have done though he had for his better disguise shifted himself into a Gentile habit and garb And so shall we know LUCREâ—IUS in your Book though it retains neither his voyce nor yet his lineaments nor have you in my conceit however I finde it difficult to explain so much put him into your cloathes as out of his own person Sic parvis componere pulchra solebam One thing I must needs acquaint you with and it is that this came to my hands just when I had made an end of reading a Posthumous Translation by Mr. or Dr. Bat hurst lately printed at London I presume you have seen it of Spencer's Shepherds Calendar into Latine as if opportunely to prevent my idolizing that Language to the advantage whereof above ours I do not now impute that admirable work which unless my Augury deceive me will where its true Origine shall be unknown pass for a Native of old Rome and that as far as the utmost bounds extend of the Commonwealth of Learning For if the great wonder there be how a Poem which the Author made it his business to cloath in rugged English could be capable of so smoath Latine certainly it is no less a one here how so rugged a Latine Poem rugged in spight of your Authors teeth through the stubbornness of the Stuff and poverty of words as himself confesses can be rendred in so smooth English And if Mr. Bathurst by that exported commodity do more honor to England Abroad You by this imported will more enrich it at home making our Income proportionable to our Expence Thus Cosin since you will make a Countrey Fellow a Judge I have parted the Apple between you although it is true the other Gentlemans Cause is not before me yet because his Merits are But that which I give you intirely to your self is Tankersley 27 Decem. 1653. Sir Your very affectionate Kinsman and humble Servant Richard Fanshawe The Argument THe Poet invocates Venus by whom as a Philosopher he understands the Goddess Nature or rather Nature it self and under the persons of Venus and Mars most ingeniously infers his design to speak of Generation and Corruption Then after the dedication of his work he intreates of the nature of Gods and from them falls upon the praise of Epicurus for his bold discovery of the absurd superstition of the times the great inconveniences whereof he illustrates by the cruel Sacrifice of Iphigenia Then having divinely celebrated the Poet Ennius introduces his opinion touching the separation of souls from their Bodies with divers other speculations concerning the nature of Spirits the difficulty of which Argument causeth him to acknowledge the insufficiency of the Latine Tongue to treat of maâ—ters so Philosophick and abstracted Then he proves that nothing can be created out of Nothing but that there are certain Principles which belong to all kindes of things that nothing may be totally annihilatâ—d but that from the Corruption of one another still proceedeth and is generated Then he discourseth of the admirable effects of the Raine of Bodies imperceptible of the violence of Winds of the course and monstrous Inundations of Waters of Smells Heat Cold of the Voyce of descent of the Dew into Cloach of those things which diminish by frequent use and handling likewise of Voyd of Fishes in the Water of Solid Bodies which Separate themselves and how Void and Bodies constitute the nature of all other things That there is no such thing as any Third Nature Of Accidents of Time and of the other Principles of Things Of things which consist of a soft Nature as of Water and Atomes Disputes and argues against Heraclitus who would maintain Fire to be the Vniversal Principle Against Empedocles that affirms the same Original to result out of all the four Elements Against Anaxagoras who confoundeth Nature by his similar parts Then he sublimely intreats of solid Bodies and of Infinite affirming last of all that there is no such thing as Centre towards which all things do tend and are spontaneously carried T. Lucretius T. LVCRETII CARI DE RERUM NATURA LIBER PRIMUS Lib. I. AeNeadum genetrix hominum Divûmque voluptas Alma Venus coeli subter labentia signa Quae mare navigerum quae terras frugiferentis Concelebras per te quoniam genus omne animantuÌ„ Concipitur visitque exortum lumina Solis Te dea te fugiunt venti te nubila coeli Adventumque tuum tibi suavis daedâ—la tellus Summittit flores tibi rident aequora ponti Placatumque nites diffuso lumine coelum Nam simul ac species patefacta est verna diei Et reâ—erata riget genitalis aâ—ra Favon I Aeriae primum volucres te DIVA tuumque Significant initium percussae corda tuâ vi Indè ferae pecudes persultant pabula laeta Et rapidoÌ„s tranant amnis ita capta lepore Te sequitur cupidè qùo quamque inducere pergis Denique per maria
that 's conjoyn'd which one can truly never Without the ruin of the subject sever As Water's wet Earth heavy Fire is hot So Bodies may be toucht and Vacuum not On the other side Subjection Freedom War Peace Riches Poverty be they what ere With and without which Nature 's still intire These justly of Events the name acquire Nor is Time of it self but from the things Results a sence what every age forth brings For present past or future 't is confest Without things motion and convenient rest Can never of themselves discerned be By any sensible capacitie Let 's therefore see in fine how men have sed That Troy was sack'd and Helen ravished Least such expressions us perchance constrain To yeeld they yet in Essence do remain When that whole race of men from whom alone Flow'd these events is long since past and gone What Action then so ere we understand Call it th' Event of such a Thing or Land Lastly were Matter from all things abstracted Nor space or place wherein they each were acted No such things ere had been that Paris breast Had with the fire of Helens love possest Kindled a War for bloody Bittel's fam'd Nor had the wooden horse Troys Towres inflam'd Of them not once suspected by a slight With disembowel'd Greeks in dead of night That Actions done then it is manifest Do not like Bodies of themselves subsist Nor yet as Vacuums themselves present But rather such as we must call event Of Bodies and of place by which and where Such Actions and such Things performed were Bodies are either Principles of things Or such as from their adjunation springs But Elements no stroaks can violate Their solid bodies dos all force rebate Although it may not over easie seem In Nature any solid to esteem For Lightning oft our thickest walls strikes through Voyces and Cryes Iron in fire doth glow The stony rock with fervent vapour cleaves And rigid gold fusion in heat receives And brass congealed melts i' ch' flame both cold And heat the silver peirce as when we hold A Mazor in our hands one both perceives When powr'd aloft it a moist dew receives So that no solid seems in things to be But since the certain cause and true decree Of Nature calls on us a while give ear We in few lines will this assertion clear That of a solid and eternal frame Bodies there be which Principles we name And seeds of things from whence the total sum And mass of all created beingâ— come Since of two things two Natuâ—es then we see Which no way in their properties agree Bodies and place which doth all motions bear Each do subsist and uncompounded are For wherefoere of Room Emptie is said No Body is again where ever 's laid A Body is no voyd firm therefore be Prime Bodies and from empty spaces free But since in things there is a voyd confest 'Bout solid matter it must surely rest Nor can it by right reason be suppos'd That Voyd is hid in Bodies or inclos'd Unless you grant what must in Justice follow Those Bodies solid are which hold the hollow And they be nought else but that firm compos'd Matter in which this Vacuum is inclos'd Matter then which confists in solid may Be permanent though all things else decay Besides did nought a Vacuum contain All would be solid and did not again Some real Bodies stand which fill up Places All were meer emptiness where now are spaces Alternatly then we must grant there be Bodies distinct and a vacuitie Since then nor all is full nor empty space Some Bodies are that garnish every place These nor by blows extern can wronged be Nor riveted between asunder flee Nor by what ere effort attaqu'd will â—lide That which above to you we justifi'd For broken cut in two or once annoy'd Could nothing be unless there were a Voyd Nor wet nor cold admit nor fires keen ray Which through all Concrete bodies makes his way And how much more things do include a voyd By these assail'd they sooner are destroy'd If as I taught then Principles are free From voyd they likewise must eternal be Besides had matter not for ever been We had long since all things reduced seen But as we shew'd Nought can of Nothing be Nor being once revert to Nullitie Bodies immortal Principles require To which all compounds may at last retire That there may matter be for things supplie Then Principles have pure soliditie Nor may we else conceive ought lastinglie Can for eternal reparation be Did Nature when she doth in peeces take Things to her self no Bounds nor Limits make Matter ere this had been so near reduc'd To their first cause as nought could be produc'd That e're would have attained perfectly To their full age and due maturity For things much sooner perish then attain Being once dissolv'd to be repair'd again Wherefore long tract of time which did expose Their naked bodies to eternal blows Could not in a large space repair anew What it so long together overthrew But now to such destruction 't is most plain Limits are fixt since they 'r restor'd again And to all sort of things Times set in which They may attain their ages perfect pitch Again though matter be most solid taught Yet concret's may nevertheless be Soft So Air Earth Water so are Vapours bred By what e're power and how engendered Since voyd to mix in things we entertain But if the Principles were soft again How Flints and Iron harden could be found No cause since Nature then would want a ground Bodies then simply solid we suppose Which more condens'd can render all things close And being thus together more compact Are thence indu'd with greater power to act Lastly since Nature to each thing doth give A bound and tearm wherein they grow and live Since 't is decreed what each thing can advance And do what not by the same ordinance Yet nothing change but all things still remain Hence Birds with proper spots their plumage stain To their own Family from whence we see Bodies unchanged in their matter be Could Principles of things be altered Or by corruption once be vanquished Then were it also an uncertain thing What had the pow'r and what had not to spring How the activity of things is bounded And how their force with limits is surrounded Nor would successions alwaies be inclin'd To live move feed and do after their kind Moreover each Bodies extremity Being something which the sharpest sence doth fly In such a point of matter doth consist Without all parts that it had n'er the least Division nor can since what we name The first or last in bodies is the same Hence similar parts one by another still Drawn up in order Bodies nature fill Which since they cannot of themselves subsist They must of force one with another twist Whence no divorce is then first bodies be Of a most pure solid simplicitie Which Pact in minute parts in one combin'd Nor
by th' access of other things conjoyn'd Are of eternal simple purity Nature not suffering them at all to be Diminish'd or dissolv'd but doth reserve Them for a seed perpetual to serve Vnless you grant a least the smallest mite Of Bodie would admit parts infinite For if one part of half doth yet pretend An half part still of things would be no end Which being so what difference would there be Betwixt the least and greatest quantitie Were infinite the sum of things the least Would then of parts as infinite consist Which since nor sense nor judgement doth allow To think then vanquished you must avow Such are as of no parts compounded be And the least magnitudes then must agree They 'r solid and Eternal Now suppose Nature from whence all things created rose Did not each thing into least peeces take She never could anew the same things make Since things of many parts made up can not Admit those qualities we must allot To matter that is generative as thus Poize Concourse Stroke Connexion various Motion which manage all in Natures round Besides admit there were at all no bound To Bodies dissolution yet 't is sure Some Bodies from eternity endure But since that a frail nature they retain It contradicts they always should remain And vexed midst so many stroaks subsist Which them uncessantly do thus molest More wide are they from reason that suppose Fire the first matter from whence all things rose And that of fire consisted the whole mass Of these the Captain Heraclitus was Cri'd up for 's dark expressions by the light Not sober Greeks such as in Truth delight For fools t' admire and love are most inclin'd What lurking midst obscurest terms they find And onely hold for truth what accents quaint Strike the pleas'd ear and which trim phrase doth paint But how things can thus differ I enquire If they proceed from pure and real fire For it would nought avail condens'd or rare If every part of the same nature were With the whole fire for the united heat Of Ignite parts would be more fierce and great And it again would be as much abated And languish if they were once separated But more then this you nothing can expect Which should in the like causes have effect Nor is it Fire condens'd or rare which brings In nature such variety of things Though would they grant that there a Vacuum were Then Fire indeed might be or Dense or Rare But since who none admit do plainly see Themselves gain-said with contrariety And a pure Emptiness in things oppose Whilst they the hard way fear the right they lose Not seeing how without vacuitie All things would dense and but one Body be Which of it self could not project aright As glowing Fire darts forth the smoak and light So that from hence you clearly may enact 'T is not of solid parts alone compact If haply some perswade themselves that fire May shift its body and i' th' mass expire If once it should do so its heat must fade To nought and all created things be made Of nothing since what doth its limits pass By change quite perishes from what it was Therefore something must needs intire remain Least all things else annihilate again And this whole heap of things from nothing grow Since therefore certain Bodies we allow Of constant nature by whose being near Or absent order chang'd things chang'd appear In Nature too and compounds do dissolve Then Fi'rie bodies we with ease resolve Are not things Principles neither at all Imports it what goes out or what doth fall What 's joyn'd to others or from order swerve If all things did Fires nature still preserve For whatsoever then produced were Would be but onely one continued fire But thus I tak 't Bodies there be whose right Encounter Motion Order Figure Site Compose the Fire which if you shall transpose Will with their order their own nature lose Neither resembling Fire nor any such As bring their Bodies to our sense or touch T' affirm then all things to be Fire and nought Real and true but Fire as this Man taught Is most egregious folly for he goes The Senses by the Senses to oppose And shakes their proof to whom all Truths we owe From whom what he cals fire himself doth know Beleeves the Sence knows fire but not the rest Though full as clear which seems to me a jest For what thing can there be more sure then Sence By which we truth discern from false pretence Besides why should one rather all remove And heat the onely nature left approve Then Fire deny and all things else allow Both which were equal madness to avow Who ere then takes for Matter which frames all The Fire and that of Fire consists this Ball Who Air the universal soâ—rce have deem'd Or that pure water or Earth have esteem'd Forms All and is into all Nature made Have all alike at large from Truth estrai'd Add those who Principles of things combine Who Fire to Air and Earth to Water joyn And who think all of four things have their birth Spring up of Air of Heat of Showre and Earth An Agrigentine Citizen ' mongst these Is chief and principal Empedocles Born on the shore of Sicils triple-bounds Which the Ionian in wide bayes surrounds Laving its Cliffs with azure waves whose force And rapid current Italie divorce By a smal strait Here 's vast Charybdis seat And here the murmuring Aetna's flames do threat To reinforce once more their dreadful ire And vomit yet again devouring fire Belching it forth out of his sooty jaws Which he at Heaven in lightning flashes throwes Although this Isle for sundry things may seem Famous and many Nations it esteem Renown'd for wealth and many gallant men Yet never had it ought more glorious then This Personage nought more miraculous More holy or which was more precious His Verse divine and his Inventions rare The Fruits of that rich breast do so declare An Vniversal knowledge that some doubt Whether or no he sprung from humane root Yet this man and the rest that mentioned are Beneath him greatly his inferiors far Though as if they divinely were inspir'd Have sundry things so difficult inquir'd And as if Oracles had from them broken More rational and sacred things have spoken Then Pythia herself whose voyce did breath From Phoebus Tripod and the Lawrel wreath Yet these great Persons all receiv'd great falls And split themselves on things Originals First that they Motion without voyd avow And yet of things do soft and rare allow As Air Sun Fire Corn Earth the Animal Yet in their bodies mix no voyd at all Next that they will at all no limits give To Bodies sections nor from breaking leave Nor yeeld a least in things whereas we see That the extream and top of all to be Which to our sence seems least from whence we learn There is a least in things which none discern Into another error here they fall
Who hold that soft is things Original Which we perceive from other causes flow And into those resolve if this were so Each thing to nought would turn and all renew From nothing which are equally untrue For whilst these are at mortal jars together It comes to pass that when they meet each other They perish or else scatter as in sight Winds Lightnings Showres and Storms are put to flight Lastly if of four things compos'd be all And in these four again dissolved fall Why should we then Originals esteem Of things not things Originals of them Since thus by turns successively they rise And change their hue their nature still disguise But if thou think bodies of Earth and Fire Air and moist dew together here conspire That in this combination Nature 's said To make no change nought from them can be made No living thing nor things inanimate As Trees for that it would discover strait Their natures in one variant heap and shew Air mixt in one with Earth and Heat with dew Bnt Principles in things production crave Nature occult and clandestine to have Least ought appear by which it be gain-said Things to be truly that which they are made This too from Heaven and from his Fires they bring And first the Fire to Air transform'd they sing Hence Rain sublim'd and Earth condens'd of Rain And so from Earth they all retire again First Water then the Air and Fire in train Nor once this course to cease but too and fro From Heaven to Earth from Earth to Heaven they go Which Principles refuse somewhat must stay Least all to nothing vanish quite away For whatsoever once its bounds doth pass Strait perishes from what before it was Since therefore thus they change as is confest Before then must it needs be manifest That they to other Principles relate Immutable lest all annihilate Rather such Bodies state that fire shall make Add some few things away some other take Order and Motion chang'd turn to thin Air Thus every thing doth every thing repair But you 'l object all things from Earth do spring Up into th' Air and thence have nourishing And that unless a proper season sends Indulgent showres and kindly moisture lends Unto the shrubs except the Sun them nourish And distribute his heat no Grain can flourish No Trees nor Animals and even we Our selves unless sustain'd and fed we be With solid meats and with mild juyce to drink Our Bodies ruin'd our whole Life would shrink From off our Nerves and Bones for without doubt We are maintain'd and nourished throughout With certain things as other Creatures be Of certain other Since there do agree Causes of many things in many joyn'd When various things by various nurs'd we find And now it would be truly comprehended How these Originals are oft times blended Their site and subject and what motion they Do mutually receive and give away For they 'r the same which Heaven constitutes Sun Seas Earth Streams Shrubs Animals and Fruits Although with different motions mixt they be Just as each where in these our lines you see To divers words are many Letters found Common which differ much in sense and sound Such change variety of Letters brings But Elements which are indeed of things The Principles are able to induce Greater and more variety produce And now let us a little cast our eye On th' Anaxagoran Homoeomerie By Greeks so term'd and which our native speech Poor in expression cannot fully reach However yet the thing it self be found Facil in words and easie to expound These Principles or Homoeomerie By this Philosopher so cal'd imply That Bones of smal and minute bones proceed That Intrails do of little Intrails breed And Blood of sanguine drops which meet likewise That Gold of little grains of Gold doth rise And Earth her form from smal Terrella's takes That sparks the Fire and humour Water makes By like proportion fains the rest to be And to no place assigns Vacuitie Nor any term or end doth he allow To Bodies sections both of which we know Extreamly err much like to those which we In that which went before have let you see Besides if these his Principles he name They are too feeble being just the same Even with those things of which they do depend Which fail together and together end Reciprocally nor can ought them free From ruining For what thing can there be Which may in such a violence opprest Death to envade Deaths very teeth resist Can Fire or Water can Air Blood or Bone Or any one of these I think not one Since the whole sum of things must be as frail As what we see before our eyes to fail Then I attest what we before related Nought springs of Nought or is annihilated Besides since Meats augment the body and Do nourish it then may we understand That Veins Blood Bones and likewise Sinews may Consist of divers parts or if they say All meats are mixed Bodies and contain Certain smal Bodies under them again As Nerves Bones Veins and particles of blood Then of all meats it must be understood Whether or no they dry or liquid are They all consist of parts dissimilar As Bones Nerves Veins and Blood likewise the Earth If she contain all which from her have birth Then of strange parts the Earth must needs consist Which thence arise 't is very manifest Change now the Subject keep the terms still good If Flame Smoak Ashes all do lurk in Wood The wood of divers parts it will imply Here is some slender probability For Anaxagoras which he assumcs Who all things thus to lurk in all presumes But onely that appears which hath most mixt And is more obvious in the front prefixt Which is as far from Truth for then should Corn Beneath the weighty milstone ground and worn Into smal parts some stains of blood there shed Or something whereof we are nourished Then should a stream of blood out-flowing gush When we one stone do with another crush By the same reason too Hearbs must distil And taste like Milk which from Ews teats doth drill Thus stirring up the Gleab one oft should find Parcels of hearbs and grain of every kind With scattered boughs hid in the ground thus broke Lastly in Wood cleft one should spy the Smoak Ashes and sparks of Fire therein to nest But since no such effects are manifest Mixtures of things with things no such we see But that the seeds of many things there be Diversly mixt which latent are and ought To be amongst themselves in common thought But thou affirmst on Mountains which aspire That tops of Trees are oft times set on fire Till they do flame again with glowing heat When Southern winds them on each other beat And bee 't so yet in wood by nature breeds No fire but there of heat are many seeds Which clash together and the Groves inflame Whereas were so great Fires hid in the same They could them not conceal
motion And that nor base nor superficies be Resolv'd since all things to the middle flee Should you suppose ought on it self can rest And all those weights beneath be upwards prest That they may on this Hemisphear repose Whence they maintain that as calm Water shows Shadows and Images of things that so Beneath our feet some Animals do go Which on th' inferiour Regions of the Skie Can no more fall then may our Bodies flye Up to Celestial Thrones that they see light Of Sun when we enjoy the Stars of night And th' Annual seasons interchang'd always Divide with us and have nights for our daies But some fond error first these things devis'd ' Mongst silly men for that they ne're compriz'd The pure Originals of things aright For since that voyd and place are infinite Nothing can Center be or if there were A Medium yet no reason doth appear To prove that it should but in one place dwel And in another not be found as well For every place and space we empty call Bee 't Medium or no it must yeeld all Alike to pond'rousness even wheresoe're Its motion drives nor any place is there Whither when heavy bodies are arriv'd They can in Vacuum stand of weight depriv'd Nor may the Voyd to Bodies yeeld a Base But as its Nature is must still give place Things therefore cannot in such sort be joyn'd As to the middle by desire inclin'd Besides 't is clear because they do not fain As if all bodies would the Center gain But such alone as the most Earthy be And liquid like the waters of the Sea And Cataracts which from steep mountains fall And what of Bodies is terrestrial Against this they oppose that the hot fire And Airs thin breath from the midst both retire That thence the Orbs revolve their trembling light And Sols bright flame fresh nourishments invite In azure Sphears ' cause heat the Center flyes And joyns to exhalations which arise But each thing mortal food from earth receives Nor could top branches of the Trees shoot leaves Unless insensibly the Earth them fed For else like hasty flames already fled The Worlds bright wals would vanish suddenly Through the vast Voyd dissolv'd the rest would be After the same sort hurried that from high Would drop the thundring Turrets of the Skie And under foot the sinking earth to bend Whilst the same ruin Earth with Heaven would blend Crushing all Bodies with disorder'd force Through the profound Abyss to steer their course So that one Moment would no relique leave Save Elements which no eye could perceive And Desert space for from what part soe're You would that Bodies first receding were That part an open sluce of death must prove Where Matter issuing forth would downwards move If then by this slight work thou knowledge gain For one thing will the other much explain Thou canst not err but shalt perceive aright Natures extreams So Things to Things give light The end of the First Book The Stationer to the Reader I Must acknowledge ingenuously That these Animadversions following were some scattered Collections encountred at the end of this Copy which it was the Authors express desires I should totally suppress as being conscious how justly they might importune the Learned to whom he told me they were so little considerable But to advance our particular Interest and gratifie the Printer who objected the Volume was too smal of it self I have adventured to publish this Addition and since I cannot but beleeve it will please some shall beg pardon both of the Writer and Reader for this presumption of their Most humble Servant G. BEDEL ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE FISRT BOOK OF T. LVCRETIVS CARVS DE RERUM NATURA Aeneadum genitrix hominum Divûmque voluptas Alma Venus c. Romes parent Venus joy of Gods above And men c. THe renowned Prince of Troy Aeneas feigned to be the Son of Anchises and the Goddess Venus espoused to his first wife Creusa daughter of King Priamus after the sack of that City with twenty ships he wandred into Italy and carried along with him his Son Ascanius named also Julus where in ad Nuptials he married Lavinia relict of the vanquished Turnus King of the Latines whom he succeeded Now after the Apotheosis of Aeneas Ascanius his successor left a son called Julus Sylvius of whom linealy descended the great Julius Caesar who for this cause as is reported dedicated a Temple Veneri Genetrici Thus the Goddess becomes Patroness of the Family of the Emperors and so by a figure of the Imperial City according to that of the Poet Genus unde Latinum Albanique patres atque altae moenia Romae Whence Latines come Great Albans Ancestors and towring Rome But as Venâ—s is here invocated by our Carus otherwise no great friend to Gods or Goddesses either it is because it was the custom of Poets in all Heroical works of this nature to implore the Divine aid or more probably for that Venus was feigned to preside in Gardens whence according to Varro she was frequently stiled hortensis and wherein our Lucretius his Master Epicurus spent so much of his time was so delighted and first delivered his so celebrated Institution But to approach the design of our Poet by Venus we are to understand that inseparable appetite and inclination to propagate and engender which saith Cicero is by Nature diffused into all living â—reatures for so the Etymologists Venus à Venire because of her universal access The old Poets have derived her original from the Genitors of Coelus cast into the sea whence mixing with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or scum of its waters the Greeks named her Aprodite Cicero in his book of the Nature of Gods makes mention of no fewer then four of this name but for that the Poets chiefly celebrate onely the second to whom they usually attribute all the actions of the rest we shall purposely omit them This was she on whom Mercury begat Cupid It is said that this Goddess being conceived in a great Concha or shell of mother of Pearl floated therein by the propitious aid of Zephyrus mentioned also within few lines of the beginning of this Poem by the name of Favonius a wind which spireth from the occidental point of the Aequinox especially in the spring as being most generative to the Isle of Cyprus where she fortun'd to be taken up by certain Nymphs of that Coast Plato in his Banquet reckons up two more the one very ancient daughter of the Heavens Vrania or Coelestis intimating the brightness and reâ—ulgency of the Divinity together with a most secret affection which she produceth endeavoring to attract our souls and unite them to the Essence of God But the second and yonger daughter of Jupiter and Dione whom he names Pandemia popular carnal and voluptuous comes neerer to the instance of our Poet in this place For Pausanias in his Misen and Plutarch in his Problem's make her
from this their noninanity Praeterea nisi materies aeterna fuisset Ante hac ad nihilum penitus res quaeque redissent c. Besides had matter not for ever been We had long since all things reduced seen c. If in extream resolutions things should absolutely annihilate then certainly all things had long ere this perished and every individual extant resulted from nothing which were a most absur'd conceit therefore saith he they undoubtedly return to some solid matter again without which property Nec ratione queunt alia servata peraevum Ex infinitâ— jam tempore res reparare Nor may we also conceive ought lastinglie Can for eternal reparation be And that he may demonstrate how Nature proceeds to some final and determinate resolutions without any pretence to Infinite he shews for Si nullam finem natura parasset Frangendis rebus jam corpora materiai Vsque redacta forent aevo frangente priore Vt nihil ex illis c. Did Nature when she does in pieces take Things to her self no Bounds nor limits make Matter e're this had been so neer reduc'd To their first cause as nought could be produc'd c. There are therefore some solid Principles that can never be destroy'd And unless there were a certain period stated for the decay of things when it is proceeded as far as those bodies or Atomes they had long ago failed and been utterly annihilated nor were we for the future to have ever expected any successive mature productions since those Moleculae had e're this been obnoxious to so many strokes continual and uncessant encounters as must of necessity have reduced them At nunc nimirum â—rangendi reddita finis Certa manet quoniam refici rem quámque videmus Et finila simul generatim tempora rebus Stare quibus pâ—ssent aevi contingere florem But now to such destruction 't is most plain Limits are fixt since they 're restor'd again And to all sort of things times set in which They may attain their ages perfect pitch For as much as those perpetual agitations terminate being once vared to those solid and irrefragable principles which nothing can eternally alter And thus having partly asserted the Perennity of his Elements he endeavors in the next to demonstrate by another instance that notwithstanding his bodies are thus hard and wonderfully compact yet by being joyned and coupled to Void they may in composition of things be said to be of a Soft Nature Quae fiant aer aqua terra vapores Quo pacto fiant qua vi cunque gerantur c. So Air Earth Water so are vapors bred By what e're power or how engendered Continually pursuing the immutability of his Principles viz. by the indivisibility inconspicuity and simplicity of his Atomes which do not constitute bodies by the least mixture but a certain fortunate adhesion in which our Poet discovers the difference 'twixt Aristotle and Epicurus the one affirming that a body was divisible into parts infinite how small soever obnoxious yet to eternal divisions This our Carus refells by a plain deduction ad absurdum Empedocles was it seems of this judgement But the Other taught that his principles were so small that they were neither actually nor potentially subject to any farther division which Argument our Poet seems here to refer to the Treatise which his Praeceptor expresly writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a minimum as one may speculate to reside in the very point of an angle of some most acute Atome for of such the universal body of his principles consist or at least something Analogical to them as most meet for the generation and supply of things which if actually and infinitely divisible could determine to nothing certain neither if so could there be any difference 'twixt the greatest and the least which were most repugâ—ant to reason This admitted you are saith our Author necessitated to concede a minimum Let the Reader be again admonished that he mistake not our Poets minim for such a Mathematical point as is represented Sans magnitude our principles enjoy it and likewise figure as infinitely variable as theirâ— is divisible amongst the Peripateâ—icks which Apices or least of things upon serious and speculative disquisition may happly prove a notion to be hardly denied whether Physically or Mathematically taken as the much admired Gassendus largely demonstrates where he speaks de non esse magnitudinem Epicuro infinitè dividuam whether I refer the curious and to something which we shall speak hereafter Lastly Si minimâ—â— in Partis cuncta resolvi Cogere consuêsset rerum natura Creatrix Jain nihil ex illis eadem reparare valeret c. Now suppose Nature from whence all things created rose Did not each thing into least pieces take She never could a new the same things make The various readings of which Verses I suppose to have here reconciled The drift of the Poet being still to oppose the infinite divisibility of principles from their then incapacity of new productions Having thus established his own he falls next to examine and refel the opinions of some other renowned Philosophers And first he encounters Heraclitus who taught that Fire was the very first matter Atque ex igni summam consistere solo c. And that of Fire consisted the whole mass This is that Sceptick who also affirmed that the world was repleat with Daemons or Spirits that the Sun was onely an actual flame which yet he sensually believed to be no bigger then its Phaenomena But to return to our subject Thus Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That all things consisted of fire and reverted again into it by a certain rarefaction and condensation flowing much after the manner that rivers do That Fire when it became condensed grew moist and so was made Aire Aire congregated resolved into Liquor and Water congealed and waxing more concrete turned into Earth all which was performed downwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and then it ascended gradually again beginning with the lowest and most ponderous The Earth attenuated dissolved into Water of the Water rarified was made Aire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reâ—â— after the same process which makes our Poet worthily reproach this Ephesian Philosopher as one Clarus ob obscuram linguam magis inter inanes Quam de gravis inter Graios qui vera requirunt Omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque Inversis quae sub verbis Laâ—itantia cernunt Veráque constituunt quae bellè tangere possunt Aures lepido quae sunt fucata sonore Cry'd up for 's dark expressions by the light Not sober Greeks such as in truth delight For fools t' admire and love are most inclin'd What lurking midst obscurest terms they find And onely hold for truth what accenâ—s quaint Strike the pleas'd ear and with trim phrase doth paint This was that Maudline Philosopher whom they report to have wept so often at the vanities of other men