Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/68

Rh LUCI1ETIUS of the poem implies that it is a treatise on the &quot; whole nature of things,&quot; the aim of Lucretius is not to treat exhaustively the whole of natural science, recognized in the Epicurean system, but only those branches of it which are necessary to clear the mind from the fear of the gods and the terrors of a future state. In the two earliest books, accordingly, he lays down and largely illustrates the first principles of being with the view of showing that the world is not governed by capricious agency, but has come into existence, continues in existence, and will ultimately pass away in accordance with the primary conditions of the elemental atoms which, along with empty space, are the only eternal and immutable substances. These atoms are themselves infinite in number but limited in their varieties, and by their ceaseless movement and combinations during infinite time and through infinite space the whole process of creation is maintained. In the third book he applies the principles of the atomic philosophy to explain the nature of the mind and vital principle, with the view of showing that the soul perishes with the body. In the fourth book he discusses the Epicurean doctrine of the &quot;simulacra,&quot; or images, which are cast from all bodies, and which act either on the senses or immediately on the mind, in dreams or waking visions, as affording the explanation of the belief in the continued existence of the spirits of the departed. The fifth book, which has the most general interest, professes to explain the process by which the earth, the sea, the sky, the sun, moon, and stars, were formed, the origin of life, and the gradual advance of man from the most savage to the most civilized condition. All these topics are treated with the view of showing that the world is not itself divine nor directed by divine agency. The sixth book is devoted to the explanation, in accordance with natural causes, of some of the more abnormal phenomena, such as thunderstorms, volcanoes, earthquakes, &c., which are special causes of supernatural terrors. It would be impossible, within the limits of this article, to give any detailed account or criticism of an argument which is carried on, with the interruption only of occasional episodes, in which the moral teaching of the poet is enforced, through a poem extending to between six and seven thousand lines. Eeaders who are especially inter ested in the science of Lucretius will find the subject clearly treated in chapter v. of Lange s History of Material ism. The consecutive study of the argument produces on most readers a mixed feeling of dissatisfaction and admiration. They are repelled by the dryness of much of the matter, the unsuitableness of many of the topics dis cussed for poetic treatment, the arbitrary assumption of premisses, the entire failure to establish the connexion between the concrete phenomena which the author pro fesses to explain and these assumptions, and the errone- ousness of many of the doctrines which are stated with dogmatic confidence. On the other hand they are con stantly impressed by his poVer of reasoning both de ductively and inductively, by the subtlety and fertility of invention with which he applies analogies, by the clear ness and keenness of his observation, by the fulness of matter with which his mind is stored, and by the consecu tive force, the precision, and distinctness of his style, when employed in the processes of scientific exposition. The first two books enable us better than anything else in ancient literature to appreciate the boldness and, on the whole, the reasonableness of the ancient mind in forming hypotheses on great matters that still baffle the investiga tions of science. The third and fourth books give evidence of acuteness in psychological analysis ; the fourth and sixth of the most active and varied observation of natural pheno mena : the fifth of original insight and strong common sense in conceiving the origin of society and the progressive advance of man to civilization. But the chief value of Lucretius as a thinker lies in his firm grasp of speculative ideas, and in his application of them to the interpretation of human life and nature. It is in this application that the most powerful interest of his poetry lies. All pheno mena, moral as well as material, are contemplated by him in their relation to one great organic whole, which he acknowledges under the name of &quot;Natura daedala rerum,&quot; and the most beneficent manifestations of which he seems to symbolize and almost to deify in the &quot; Alrna Venus, ;) whom, in apparent contradiction to his denial of a divine interference with human affairs, he invokes with prayer in the opening lines of the poem. In this conception of nature are united the conceptions of law and order, ot ever-changing life and interdependence, of immensity, individuality, and all-pervading subtlety, under which the universe is apprehended both by his intelligence and his imagination. Nothing can be more unlike the religious and moral attitude of Lucretius than the old popular conception of him as an atheist and a preacher of the doctrine of pleasure. It is true that he denies the two bases of all religion, the doctrines of a supernatural government of the world and of a future life. But his arguments against the first are really only valid against the limited and unworthy concep tions of divine agency involved in the ancient religions ; his denial of the second is prompted by his vivid realization of all that is meant by the arbitrary infliction of eternal torment after death. His war with the popular beliefs of his time is waged, not in the interests of licence, but in vindication of the sanctity of human feeling. The great and cardinal line of the poem, &quot; Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum,&quot; is elicited from him as his protest against the wicked and impious sacrifice of Iphigenia by the hand of her father. But in his very denial of a cruel, limited, and capricious agency of the gods, and in his imaginative recognition of an orderly, all-pervading, all-regulating power, the &quot; Natura daedala rerum,&quot; we rind at least a nearer approach to the higher conceptions of modern theism than in any of the other imaginative conceptions of ancient poetry and art, unless we include the hymn of Cleanthes among the utter ances of poets. But his conception even of the ancient gods and of their indirect influence on human life is more worthy than the popular one. They are conceived of by him as living a life of eternal peace and exemption from passion, in a world of their own ; and the highest ideal of man is, through the exercise of his reason, to realize an image of this life, &quot; Ut nil impediat dignam dis degere vitam.&quot; Although they are conceived of as unconcerned with the interests of our world, yet influences are supposed to emanate from them which the human heart is capable of receiving and assimilating. The effect of unworthy conceptions of the divine nature is that they render a man incapable of visiting the temples of the gods in a calm spirit, or of receiving the emanations &quot; divinse nuntia pacis &quot; in peace ful tranquillity. &quot; Nee delubra deum placido cum pectore adibis, Nee de corpore quse sancto simulacra feruntur In mentis hominum divinse nuntia pacis Suscipere hsec animi tranquilla pace valebis.&quot; 1 It is in no iconoclastic spirit that he regards even the temples and solemn rites of the gods, except when he finds the acts of worship tainted with &quot; the foul stain of super- 1 &quot; Nor wilt tliou approach the temples of the gods with a calm spirit, nor wilt thou be able, in tranquil peace of heart, to receive those images which are borne from their holy bodies into the minds of men, carrying tidings of the divine peace&quot; (vi. 75-78).