PART xm.

EPICURUS.
561
menruration cannot be made from them. For
nothing hinders but that we may, by the mind frame fome dimeniions in an Atom. ’
Altfiougn, when as we fay, there are parts or wnnexures in an Atom, it is nbc fo to be under- ftood, as if at any time th^ey were disjoined and afterwards united ; but we do it, to declare that in an Atom there is a true magnitude confiftinn of parts, though withal they have that difference from compound things,that their parts can only be diftmguifhed by defignation, not by fepara-
Vki as they cohere by a natural, in-
aiviuble,and perpetual Connexion.
c H A p. vrir.
OftheGravity'i'or Weighty ) and manifold Mo^ tfons of yltoms.
IL
G H A P. VIL
• ‘ Ofjthe Figure of jdtoms.
( a. ) Lmet. A S (^)concerning which is the bound 2. jTjL pf magnitude, it is firll neceflary that in Atoms it be manifold ; or, that Atoms amongfl; themfelves be varioufly figured. This is pro¬ ved, forafmuch as all natural things framed of them. Men, Beads, Birds, fifhes. Plants, ^c. are varioufly figured, not only in refpea of their Genus^ bnt of every particular Species or Indtviuum ; for there are not any two fo like one another, but that if you mind them exad- ly, you will find fome defferences by which they are diftinguifhed. ^
^ Again, C ^ ) Forafmuch as the hinds of Figures tn jitoms are incomprehen/ible for number for they are round, oval, lenticular, flat, gibbous, ob- hooked j fmooth, rough, briftly , quadrilateral, dl'c, as well regular as irregular
without any determination poffiblc to the Intel- lea, yet are they not to be efteemed limply in- finite in number : For there would not be fo many and fo great differences in concrete things^ if in the ^toms of wUch they are compounded^ there were fuch a dvverfity of Figure as could be comprehended bythemmd. Tet the diverfities of Atoms cannot be abfolutely infinite, unlefs 0 man conceive in A- toms a magnitude, which is not only fo fmall as to efrape Senfe, but is in reality infinitely little:
. For in magnitude, or the fuperficies of magni¬ tude, which is finite, cannot be underjlood diver fi- (les, which are infinite.
But thirdly, although the kinds of Figure be not infinite, are there in every Figuration or kind of Figure^ Atoms /imply infitite in number • that is, there are infinite round Atoms, infinite oval, infinite pyramidal ; for otherwife the Vni- verfe would not be infinite in multitude of Atoms as was already declared, unlefs the Atoms which are like to one another in Figure, were abfolutely in- (c) Tint, phe, finite in number.
I- 4- But take notice, That though there are
udm. influ. Atoms corner’d and hooked, yet can they not 7* be conceiv’d to be worn away or broken be- caufc both the corners and hooks, as alfo the middle lit|le bodies tfiemfelves are of one na¬ ture, and kept together with equal folidity and neceflity, infomuch as no force whatfoever can cemprefs on Atom, either as to the whole or as to its parts, even to its very points. ’’
to Atoms Gr.mity^ov Weight; for whereas they are perpia- ally in motion or ftriving to move, it is necef- fary that they be moved by that internal Impulfe
Which IS called Gravitv, or Weight • ,
itrelfto'usinthe(a) lm„
Atoms a twofold motion, one of the gravity
or wught itfelf, whereby the Atom is carried after Its own way; the other, bopercuflion or refiedion, whereby one Atom, being driven up¬ on another, is beaten back again. And as for the motion of gravity or weight, that motion IS hrfl: conceived, whereby the Atom is carried onn\:iftreight ov pertpendicular line. By this motion are all heavy things moved. But becaufe if all Atoms ihould be moved in a flrejght line or downwards, and, as it were, ftreighton, it houid come to pale, that one could never ov'er- take the other ; It is therefore neceffary, that Atoms fhould go a little afide, tlie leafl that may be, that fo may be produced the complica¬ tions, and adhefmns, and. copulations of Atoms of which may be made the World, and all the parts of the World, and all things in it.
(i) When I fay, That otherwifeThe; Atom.s a-) lucret. i!> would not overtake one another,and epnfequent- y not meet, the reafon is. That the Uuiverfe ^ng infinite hath no middlenr centre towards which they may tend, and fo meet ; but only there may be conceived, according to what hath been faid, fome Region above, out^ which, without any heginning,all Atoms, by there Gra¬ vity} would defeend like drops of Rain, that is, by motionsfin themfelves parallel -, the.other be- low, into which all, without any bound, would be carried by the fame motions.
(0 Motion from refleftion may be under- c,c) piut, phc. Itood to be made, as well when the Atom re- 1.12. , bounds by great leaps, as when being impell’d and repell’d within fliort fpaces, it doth, as it ^
were, quake and tremble. Whence alfo (i) it comes topafs, that while it hapneth that the Atoms run into certain meetings and complications of mcL- ny obviating to, and entangling one another,
(.which IS chiefly done in thofeCompounds where they feem to refl,!) yet then, they are fiill un-: • quiet, and, as much as they can, and according as they at e further from, or nearer to one another, they gff an agitaion, or kind of palpitation, being bent down, or repreffed by the rejl, which make up that ajjoctation. ,
The caufe of this not only longer rebounding, but alfo (hotter agitation, or, as it were, in- w;ird palpitation, cotinuing ftill in thpfe Com¬ pounds is partly the nature of Vacuum, which, being intercepted even vyithin the muft: compadt Bodies plpcks all the Atoms afunder from one another, cither in whole or in part, not having power to ftay or fix them ; partly the Solidity connatural to the Atoms, which by collifion and repercuffion caufe a trembling, as much as that complication will fuffer that motion to be kept ftill continued by theftroke of thedefce.nding C c c c Atoms,
562
E P J C U R U S.
f ArilJ
Ibid.
lien.
Ibid.
Atoms. Now fince Weight or Gravity is a cev- tain V igour, or Energy, as it were ingenerate in Atoms ; and as I laid, an’ Impulfion, where¬ by they are fitted for Motion, we- muft there- (*) Lien. fore take it for certain, that ( * ) Atoms^an- mo- ved ( even with both kinds of Motion of Weight, and Refleftion , } continually , and throughaji eternity.^ becaofe there is no firft in- Itant, fince which they began to be made j' hot only Atom^,'>bot alfo which ferves for
both Motions, being etdrnal.
(f) Liert. We muftilfo take it for’ certain, ‘ that . - ( : ‘ that Motion of Atonls, to , which nothing oc-
‘ cars, which may divert it by beating againlt ‘ it, is of fo great fwift'hefs,' asit over-runs any ‘ imaginable SpheS in a'rhhncnt^ that vs in time j ‘ unimai^abVy ihtiiityfor ihey ought'in Velocity to { ‘ out-run • thofe Beams of the Sun^ rvhich make not j * their- CbUrfeAhrough yure'^Facuum - Ifoy , tO ' ‘ which nothing Occurs that ‘beats it back ; for other- ‘wife, this' frequent Reverberation makes a ‘' kind 'of Slownefs', as' \)\faht of Reverberation ‘ makes a kind of Swif^hefs.- ‘ Yet doth not • hereupon the Atom, which ‘ fuffers federal Repulfions, arrive at divers pla- ‘ ces in' fuch times as may be difeerned by the ‘ Mind, for todifeern thbfc times is not within ‘ the power of the Mirtth'* Befides, it may fo ‘ happen, that the- fame Atom, though diverted ‘ by feveral Repulfes, may be fo carried, as that ‘ from whencefoever it conies,out of that immen- ‘ lity of Space, we lhall not be able to affign
‘ foever the Atoms ate parried with the com- ^ pounds, they are all the ^ile ex^gitated with ‘ inteftine, moil frequent, or rather innumeVa- ‘ ble, and therfore not-fenfible, Repergufilcins ^ ‘ untill the Perpetuity of Skeeflion of the Mo- ‘ tion of the whole Body come to be fuch ,'^as ‘ that it may fall under the teach of Se'nfe.
‘for what we fancy'concerning tHe iiiiper- ‘ ceptible Motion of Atbifis,' as if Tirnes c'io'n- ‘ ceived by'reafon might'^’feach the moft fwift ‘ Succeffion of thejr Parts, 'i^ ho way true '5 but ‘ rather , whatlbever ouf Mind, attending to ‘the very Nature of. the' thing, appreliends, ‘ that is to be efteemed true. ■ • t •’
G H A P. IX.
That Atoms ( not the vulgar Elements 9r Homoi- omera'sf) are the firft Principles of tbingf
any pl^e or term, which in that time it' ’.hkth ‘ not ovef-pafied. For the Kepercuifion may b'e ‘ fuch, ( that w, fo little frequent, and fo little ‘ diverting,l)t\\ddL\t may in fome meafure equal
* the Swiftnefs of that Motion which i^ free from
* Repercuflion. '
‘ We fhuft laftly take it for certain. That ‘ Atoms are equally fwift, forafmuch as they are ‘ carried through Vacuum, neither is, there any ‘ thing that refills their Progrefs ; For ndther ‘ are the heavy carried on more fwiftly than ‘ thofe which are conceived light, feeing nothing ‘ occurs that may hinder either •, nor the leflcr ^ more than the greater, forafmuch as the paf- ‘ fage is equally free to all, according to their ‘ feveral magnitudes. Neither do the Motions ‘ which are made, either upwards, or obliquely ‘ by Collifions, or downwards by their natural ‘ Gravity, differ in Swiftnefs, fince an Atom, ^ as long as it is not thruft on either fide, fo ‘ long keeps on its way- and that by a fwift- ■ nefs equal to thought, untill being driven on, ‘ either extfinfecally, or by its own Gravity, it ‘ meets with the Refiftence or Affault of the ‘ Atom that ftrikes it.
‘ Moreover, as concerning compound Bodies, ‘ forafmuch as Atoms are in their own Nature ‘ equally fwift, therefore one cannot be faid to ‘ be fwifter than another - as if the Atoms that ‘ are in comjkun^s, and hurried away by the ‘ common Motion ofthem, were carried away, ‘ fomtimes into one place by a fenfible Motion, ‘ and that continuous, and. in fucceffive time, as ‘ whilft filch Motion is flow ; fomtimes whe- ‘ ther into one or more places, they fliould be ‘ carried in times fo ihort, as can only be con- ‘ ceived by reafon, as when the Motion is moft [ rapid. Bulj we {hall only fay, that which way
THis premifed concerning Atoms, wjtnbLW . • ■ muff (hew 'how they are the Principles, or firil Matter of things ; blit becaufe that' can¬ not be done without Treating at the fame time of Generation and Corruption-, and rhafe can¬ not be performed, unlefs we firil fpeak of the Qualities of things, and even before that;, 6f the firil Caufes which produce • thefe' it is fufficient in this place to take notice, that Atoms are the Principles and firil Matter of things, becaufe they are that firil and moil fimple, of which all generated things are compounded ; as alfo the laft and moil fimp^le; into which all corruptible things ard refolved, ' ' • ■
I fay, the firil and the Jail ; fprbefidbs- other greater ' Bulks, of which Ihat which a-
ted may more nearly be'edmpa which that which is corrupted may be ’refbl- ved, there are little Lumps, -of certain fmah thin Compounds, which being 'made by fome more perfedl and indiffoluble Coalitions, are, as it were, long durable Seeds of things ; fo that things may alio be faid to be generated of Seeds, not as of firil Principles, bkaufe even theib Seeds are generated of things precedent, thkt is, of Atoms. And likewife thifigs may be faid'to be refolved into Seeds, but not ultimately, be- caufe even thefe may flill further be dHfolved into Atoms.
In like manner, the four vulgar Elements lucret. lib. commonly admitted, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, may be called Principles, but not the firil ; they may alfo be called Matter, but not the firil Mat¬ ter ; forafmuch as they have Atoms precedent to them, of which even they themfelves are com¬ pounded.
And they who affign one Element only for ibiL Principle, will, that of it, by Rarefaftion and Condenfation, the three other be made, and of thefe afterwards, the reft of things. But, how if it be one, and nothing mixt with it, can any thing be generated ? For of Fire, (for inftance,) rarefied, nothing elfe will’ be prodftced, but a more languid, or a ftronger Fire. .
And befides, that they who teach this, admit ibid. not Vacuum, without which, neither RarefaCli- on nor Condenfation can be made ; they feem not to obferve, that Fire cannot be faid to be changed by Extiiftion into fome other thing;
becaufe
f