44 



OF THE 



PRINCIPLES AND ORIGINS OF NATURE, 



ACCORDING TO THE FABLES OF CUPID AND HEAVEN : OH, THE PHI 

 LOSOPHY OF PARMENIDES, TELESIUS, AND PARTICULARLY OF 

 DEMOCRITUS, AS EXHIBITED IN THE FABLE CONCERNING CUPID. 



THE fables of the ancients respecting Cupid or Love 

 cannot be made to agree in one and the same person. 

 They indeed profess to speak of two Cupids of two dif 

 ferent periods, the one the most ancient of the gods, the 

 other of a much later era. At present we will treat of the 

 ancient Cupid. They relate that this Cupid was the most 

 ancient of the gods, and therefore of all things, excepting 

 chaos, which is said to have been coeval with him. This 

 Cupid had no parent, but being united to heaven, was the 

 father of the gods and of all things. Some indeed would 

 derive him from an egg over which Night brooded. Dif 

 ferent attributes are ascribed to him, so that he is repre 

 sented as a boy blind, naked, winged, and armed with 

 darts. His chief and especial influence is over the uniting 

 of bodies. To him were given the keys of the earth, the 

 sea, and the sky. Another and younger Cupid is also cele 

 brated in fable, the son of Venus. To him are ascribed 

 the attributes of the ancient Cupid, besides many peculiar 

 to himself. This fable, with the sequel respecting heaven, 

 seems to embrace in a concise parable the doctrine of the 

 elements of things and of the origin of the world, and to 

 agree with that of Democritus, except that it appears 

 somewhat closer, more reasonable, and clearer. For the 

 observations of that confessedly acute and accurate philo 

 sopher nevertheless were of a too diffusive nature, and did 

 not seem to keep their proper limit, and to confine and 

 support themselves sufficiently. And indeed these dogmas, 

 which lie veiled in the parable, although better regulated, 

 are yet of such a nature as to appear to have come from 

 the mind left to itself, and not uniformly and gradually 

 assisted by experience ; for this seems to have been the 

 common fault of antiquity. But it must first be remarked, 

 that the opinions brought forward in this part of my trea- 



