THE BELFAST ADDRESS. 449 



the extension and perpetuation of his fame. Some two 

 centuries after the death of Epicurus, Lucretius * wrote 

 his great poem, " On the Nature of Things," in which he, 

 a Koman, developed with extraordinary ardor the philos- 

 ophy of his Greek predecessor. He wishes to win over 

 his friend Memniusto the school of Epicurus; and although 

 he has no rewards in a future life to offer, although his 

 object appears to be a purely negative one, he addresses 

 his friend with the heat of an apostle. His object, like 

 that of his great forerunner, is the destruction of supersti- 

 tion; and considering that men in his day trembled before 

 every natural event as a direct monition from the gods, 

 and that everlasting torture was also in prospect, the 

 freedom aimed at by Lucretius might be deemed a positive 

 good. " This terror," he says, "and darkness of mind, 

 must be dispelled, not by the rays of the sun and glittering 

 shafts of day, but by the aspect and the law of nature." 

 He refutes the notion that anything can corne out of 

 nothing, or that what is once begotten can be recalled to 

 nothing. The first beginnings, the atoms, are indestruct- 

 ible, and into them all things can be resolved at last. 

 Bodies are partly atoms and partly combinations of atoms; 

 but the atoms nothing can quench. They are strong in 

 solid singleness, and, by their denser combination, all tilings 

 can be closely packed and exhibit enduring strength. Ho 

 denies that matter is infinitely divisible. We come at 

 length to the atoms, without which, as an imperishable 

 substratum, all order in the generation and development of 

 things would be destroyed. 



The mechanical shock of the atoms being, in his view, 

 the all-sufficient cause of things, he combats the notion 

 that the constitution of nature has been in any way 

 determined by intelligent design. The interaction of the 

 atoms throughout infinite time rendered all manner of 

 combinations possible. Of these, the fit ones persisted, 

 while the unfit ones disappeared. Not after sage 

 deliberation did the atoms station themselves in their right 

 places, nor did they bargain what motions they should 

 assume. From all eternity they have been driven together, 

 and, after trying motions and unions of every kind, they 

 fell at length into the arrangements out of which this 



* Born 99 u. c. 



