22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



But even Obbar, who has explained satisfactorily the significance 

 of the last line, has introduced confusion into the passage by regard- 

 ing the phrase me rebus subjungere as synonymous with the 

 cardinal docti'ine of the Stoic's 6/j.o^oyouixiv(>)(: rij fuaei Zrjv. This, as 

 Orelli says, is far-fetched and unnatural. The (puai'; referred to is 

 pi'imarily the abstract laws of life ; on the other hand, " rebus " here 

 seems to denote concrete human beings and human needs and 

 interests. The connexion between the two exhortations is at the 

 most by distant implication. The Greek exhortation means simply 

 " Live according to nature," the Latin, " Live for others." 



Finally, against the conjecture — 



" Nee mihi res sed me rebus," etc. 

 which has found favour at different times, a conclusive ai-gument is 

 supplied by the Cyrenaic phrase " ex*" ^^^ ^"'^ ^/o,aa£," words 

 which, though used by Aristippus in a special context, express 

 happily, in a nutshell, his relation to all external advantages. (Diog. 

 Laert : 2, 8, 75). Obbar furnishes another text scarcely less to the 

 point (id. sect. 95) rbv ao<pm taurdb iyexa Tzdvra Tzpd^eiv. Both quo- 

 tations furnish a description of Cyrenaic practice precisely parallel to 

 Horace's et mihi res non m,e rebus subjungere conor. 



SPONTANEITY IN NATURE ACCORDING TO EPICURUS. 



Quare in seminibus quoque idem fateare necesse est, 

 Esse aliam praeter plagas et pondera causam 

 Motibus, unde haec est nobis innata potestas, 

 De nilo quoniam tieri nil posse videmus. 

 Pondus enim prohibet ne plagis omnia fiant 

 Externa quasi vi : sed ne mens ipsa necessum 

 Intestinum habeat cunctis in rebus agendis 

 Et devicta quasi hoc cogatur ferre patique, 

 Id facit exiguum clinamen principiorum 

 Nee regione loci eerta nee tempore certo. 



Lucretius II. : 284-293. 



A considerable part of Mr. Masson's very interesting study of 

 Lucretius' Atomic Theory * is taken up with an examination of this 

 passage. M. Guyau t sees here the doctrine of free-will and con- 

 tingency in matter ; the reign of law in nature, therefore, so far from 

 being a cardinal tenet of the Epicurean system is, according to him, 



* The Atomic Theory of Lucretius, by John Masson, M. A., London.— George Bell & Sons, 1884. 

 t La Morale d'Epicure, par M. Quyau, 2me edit.— Paris : Librairie Germer Baillicre et Cie, 1881. 



