THE ATOMS OF LUCRETIUS 



broken, or by force be cleft in two, or receive moisture 

 or the piercing cold, or the searching fire which all 

 things else destroy, without a void." * 



Lucretius here opposes, as he does throughout his 

 work, the Eleatic doctrine taught by Xenophanes 

 (617-510 B.C.), and later by Parmenides (504 B.C.): 

 " That the world is one, immutable, immovable and 

 indivisible : that it fills all space, in which there is 

 no void, no vacuum, consequently there can be no 

 movement, for there is no place to move to. The 

 senses, it is true, testify that there is a plurality in 

 composition and in things, but the senses are fal- 

 lacious and illusive, and must not be received by the 

 reason. Space is a plenum, and is indivisible and 

 continuous, infinite and cannot be divided." In other 



*De Rerum Natura. 



Turn porro si nil esset, quod inane vacaret, 

 Omne foret solidum. Nisi contra corpora caeca 

 Essent, quae loca complerent, quaecunque tenerent : 

 Omne, quod est, spatium vacuum constaret inane 

 Alternis igitur nimirum corpus inani 

 Distinctum est, quoniam nee plenum naviter exstat, 

 Nee porro vacuum. Sunt ergo corpora caeca, 

 Quse spatium pleno possint distinguere inane. 

 Heec neque dissolvi plagis extrinsecus icta 

 Possunt : nee porro penitus penetrata retexi ; 

 Nee ratione queunt alia tentata labare : 

 Id quod jam supera tibi paulo ostendimus ante. 

 Nam neque conlidi sine inani posse videtur 

 Quidquam, nee frangi, nee findi in bina secando : 

 Nee capere humorem, neque item manabile frigus, 

 Nee penetralem ignem, quibus omnia conficiuntur. 



(Lucretius De Rerum Natura. Lib. 1. 521.) 

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