THE GARDENS OF EPICURUS n 



greatest subjects : as, whether the world were eternal, 

 or produced at some certain time : Whether, if pro- 

 duced, it was by some eternal mind, and to some end, or 

 bv the fortuitous concourse of atoms, or some particles 

 of eternal matter r Whether there was one world, 

 or many? Whether the soul of man was a part of 

 some ethereal and eternal substance, or was corporeal : 

 Whether, if eternal, it was so before it came into the 

 bodv, or only after it went out ? There were the 

 same contentions about the motions of the heavens, the 

 magnitude of the celestial bodies, the faculties of the 

 mind, and the judgment of the senses. But all the 

 different schemes of nature that have been drawn of 

 old, or of late, by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Des- 

 cartes, Hobbes, or any other that I know of, seem to 

 agree but in one thing, which is, the want of demon- 

 stration or satisfaction, to any thinking and unpossessed 

 man ; and seem more or less probable one than another, 

 according to the wit and eloquence of the authors and 

 advocates that raise or defend them ; like jugglers' 

 tricks, that have more or less appearance of being real, 

 according to the dexterousness and skill of him that 

 plays 'em ; whereas perhaps, if we were capable of 

 knowing truth and nature, these fine schemes would 

 prove like rover shots, some nearer and some further 



