PART XIII.

E P I C U RU S.
i
I'
founding, or whan way foever making a noife, and apt, by entving into the Ear, to afFeft the Hearing.
That it is a corporeal effluxion, is proved, in that it moveth the Senfe, and that cither by touching it fmoothly and delightfully, or rough¬ ly and unpleafantly, according to the fmooth- nefs or roughnefs of the little Bodies. Alfo in chat it is moved thrbugh the Air, and being driven againft folid Bodies, leaps back, whence Eccho is made, 'viz,, by reafon of the folidity of the little Bodies. Alfo in that it is diminilhed, and becomes confufed, ,in regard of the long train of little Bodies,, when it goes forward, or their fwerving while they go overthwarr, through fome thicker partition, and the like.
If you demand, why Sound, can pafs, where Light and the fpecies of Colour cannot, as when we fpeak, the Doors being (hut ; the reafon is, becaufe Light, of the Images of Colour, cannot pafs but in a diredt line •, but Sound can infinuate it felf through oblique -Trafts. For being exci¬ ted, it leaps forward in little Bodies, which turn upwards, downwards, forwards, back¬ wards, on the right Side, and every way ; in like manner as a fpark of fire, fometimes ftat- ters it felf into little fparkles, which take a di- reft courfe towards all fides.
* .The fame may be faid of Odor. For this alfo is an effluxion, which going out of the odorous thing, is difFufed every way, and,, arriving at the Noftrils, moveth the Senfe of Smelling, ei¬ ther by ftroakingor pricking it. This is cor¬ poreal alfo, even more than Sound, in that it palleth more flowly through fpace, and cometh not from fo great a diftance, and penetrates pot through thofe partititions, through which Sound doth penetrate.
As concerning Sapor, there is this difference' That tho it confift in little Bodies, contained in the thing ftyled Sapid ; yet they iffue not forth into the Tongue and Pdate at a diftance, but then only, when the thing Sapid is applied! to the Tongue, they fo infinuate themfelves into it, that they affeft the contexture, of it, either mildly, and then make a fweet Tafte ; or rough¬ ly, and fo they make a fower Taft?.
As for Heat and Cold, that Scnfation which they caufe, is to be referred to the Touch. But tho many of the forefaid Qualities properly ap¬ pertain to the Touch, as Hardnefs, Softnefs, Humidity, Siccity, and the reft, which require application of the thing touched to the Hand, or to fome other part of the Body ; yet thefe two may be felt, not only when the Hot or Cold thing is applyed to the Hand, or fome other part •, but alfo when it is remote, and at fuch a diftance, as it can tranfmit fome little Bodies out of it felf into it. •
Neat indeed is chiefly an effluxion of little Bodies or Atoms, in Bulk flender, in Figure round, in Motion fwift. For as they are flen¬ der, there is no Body compared, that they find not little Pores, through which they infinuate into it •, as they'are round, they are eafily moved, and infinuate themfelves every where •, As they are fwift, they rapidly are impelled, and enter into the Body, and more and more ftill fucceed- ing one another, they are fo prefled, as that •they penetrate through the whole j and if they
proceed in afting, they fever and diflocate the parts thereof, and at laft diflplve the whole. ■Sbeh arc theeffefts of Heat, and chiefly the fiery (for Fire is nothing but iutehfe Heat,.) tow'ards all Bodies, and in -a living Creature kbnly ad¬ ded the Senfe of the Heat, which is from the plucking afuiider, and.Toofening what ' before was continued. . ' .xr'.' . ;'i. .
CoW isan effluxion alfo, but of Atoms, wliofe Bulk- is greater, theic.Eigure more corner’d, their Motion .flower- Tor, the. Eflefts b^irig con¬ trary, the Principles mull alfo be contrary. So that whereas Heast difgregates and , difperfes, Cold icomprefleth andr cbhftipafes. ,;- And in a fenfitive Creature, it doth this with a particular kind of Senfation ; for, .entring into the Pores of the Skin, it k^s back, -^nd drives in again the little bodies of Heat,' by oppofmg the bodies of Cold, and with its little fliarp corners it tears and twingeth all things wherefoever it palfes.
CHAP; XVI. '
Of thofe Qualities vohich-are’efeemed the Occidents of 'Things , and particularly^ of Tnni.
J t v ' i J ;
JT remains, that we a little touch-thofe Qua¬ lities which are not fo much Adjunfts as Accidents, and theiefore affeft not the thing internally, but externally only, and, quaUfie them with a certain kibdof refped to fome ex - trinfecal thing. Not but that within the things themfelves alfo there are fome Accidents, (fuch are Pofition, Orders, Irjtervals of ^artsbif par¬ ticles, and the like,) but that being- fuch^ they are Aeddents of the paiks themfelves, - not of the whole, which confift^ of them;
Accidents of this kihd^ are all thdfe gcnerally out of which arifoth fome' rdatipriy for which every thing is faitPTP befoth or fawY, iif 'cirder to another •, as like, unlike' ^ greater, lefTef ^ ma¬ ny, few •, fuperior, inferior • right, foft • caufe, effeft 5 giving, receiving •, and innumerable of the fame kind. * *
But it is known, that Pvclation is a work of the mind, referring and comparing one to ano¬ ther •, fo that, letting afide the Mind, every thing is that only which it is in it felf, but not that which it is in refpek of another. Whence, to Accidents we formerly referred Liberty and Health, Riches and Poverty, iyc. becaufe, fet- .
*ting the Mind afide, a Man is nothing but a Man -, not free, or fubleft -, rich, or poor, drc.
Now of all Accidents, there is one which may be termed the Occident of Accidents, that is. Time, from which all things are denominated, either prefent, or paft, or future 5 lafting, of little durable, or momentary • fometimes alfo fwift or flow.
For firft, That Time is an Accident, ismani- feft, in that it is not any thing by it felf, but on¬ ly attributed to things by Cogitation, or the Mind, as they are conceived to perfevere in the ftate in which they are, or to ceafe to be, and to have a longer or Ihorter exiftence, and to have it, or to have had it, or be to. have it. Whence it comes, that Time is not to be enquired af- inert, ter the fame manner as u>e enquire after other things, which are in feme fuhjeil^fetting afide the mind’-, and
therefore
EPICURUS.
568
therefore neither to under fl and what it is, mujl it be referred to the ^motions of things which occur to our fight ^ but we ought to difcourfe of it accord¬ ing to evidence., ufmg familiar fpeech. And not entangling ourfelves in Circumlocutions; we fay, Time is long or fliort.
Moreover, we call it the Accident of Accidents.^ becanfe, whereas fome things cohere by them- felves as a Body, and as a Eacuum or Space ^ o- thers happen^ or are accident to the Coherent, as Days, Nights, Hours ; as alfo pafflons and exemptions from them, as Motioh, Reft, &c. Time, by the affiflence of the mind, prefuppo- feth all thefe Accidents, and fupervenes to them. •
For Day and Night are Accidents of the am¬ bient Air ; Day diappens by the Sun’s illumi¬ nation • Night by privation of the folar illumi¬ nation. Hour being a part of Night or Day , is an Accident of the Air alfo, as likewife are Night and Day > But time is coextended with every Day, and Night, and Hour ^ and for this reafon a Day orNight is faid to be long or fhort, whifft we are carried by thought to time that fupervenes to them, according to the former Notions.
In the fame manner happen Pa{rions,and Indo- lencies, and Griefs, and ‘Pleafures to us; and therefore they are not Subfl:ances,but Accidents of thofe things which are affeded by them ; to wit, by fenfe, of deledation, or of trouble. But thefe Accidents happen not without time.
Moreoverer, Motion and Reft^ as we have al¬ ready declared, are Accidents of Bodies,neither are they without time *, wherefore we meafure the fwiftnefs and flownefs of motion by time,as alfo much or little reft. And forafmuch as none underftand time by it felf, or feperate from the motion and refi: of things ; therefore by un- derlfunding things do,ne,as the Trojan War, and the like, which are done with motion, and are Accidents partly of the men ading, partly of the places in which they are aded •, together with them is underftood their time, as they are compared to our affairs, and the exigence of the things intervening betwixt thofe and us.
CHAP. XVII.
Of the Generation and Corruption of Compounds.
IT remains that we add, how things are nerated and either of which is fome
kind of mutation or alteration •, but whereas by other mutations, a Body is not made and exifts new, but only that which now is acquires a new quality, and a new denomination from it. Ge¬ neration is a mutation, whereby every Body is firfl; produced, and begins in nature to be, and to be denominated fuch. Corruption is a muta¬ tion, whereby it is-at laft di{rolved,and ceafes to be injiature, and to be denominated fuch ; for thus Fire,a Plant, an Animal,and whatfoevcr is in a determinate 6'm« of Bodies, whenitfirft arifech into the light, and beginneth to be denominated fuch, is faid to bQ generated it goeth out of the light, and can no longer be denominated fuch, to be corrupted.