22 PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION PART 



remained, the teaching of Empedocles, and of 

 Epicurus as the mouthpiece of the atomic theory, 

 was revived by Lucretius in his De Rerum Natura. 

 Of that remarkable man but little is recorded, and 

 the record is untrustworthy. He was probably born 

 99 B.C. and died by his own hand, Jerome says, 

 but of this there is no proof in his forty-fourth 

 year. It is difficult, taking up his marvellous poem, 

 to resist temptation to make copious extracts from 

 it, since, even through the vehicle of Mr. Munro's 

 exquisite translation, it is probably little known to 

 the general reader in these evil days of snippety 

 literature. But the temptation must be resisted 

 save in moderate degree. 



With the dignity which his high mission inspires, 

 Lucretius appeals to us in the threefold character of 

 teacher, reformer, and poet. * First, by reason of the 

 greatness of my argument, and because I set the 

 mind free from the close-drawn bonds of superstition ; 

 and next because, on so dark a theme, I compose 

 such lucid verse, touching every point with the grace 

 of poesy.' As a teacher he expounds the doctrines 

 of Epicurus concerning life and nature ; as a re- 

 former he attacks superstition ; as a poet he informs 

 both the atomic philosophy and its moral application 

 with harmonious and beautiful verse swayed by a 

 fervour that is akin to religious emotion. 



Discussing at the outset various theories of origins, 

 and dismissing these, notably that which asserts that 

 things came from nothing for if so ' any kind might 

 be born of anything, nothing would require seed,' 

 Lucretius proceeds to expound the teaching of 

 Leucippus and other atomists as to the constitution 



