AMONG THE GREEKS 95 



ras supposed, have land animals arisen from the sea. 

 But as even now many animals under the influence 

 of rain, and the heat of the sun, arise from the earth, 

 so under the fresh, youthful, productive forces of 

 the younger earth, they were spontaneously pro- 

 duced in larger numbers. In this manner were first 

 produced birds, from the warmth of spring; then 

 other animals sprang from the womb of the earth, 

 since first mounds grew up from which people sprang 

 forth, for they had been nourished within. In an 

 analogous manner these young earth-children were 

 nourished by springs of milk. 



Only as an after-thought, not as a part of Na- 

 ture's method, Lucretius borrows from Epicurus, 

 and thus probably indirectly from Empedocles, 

 the 'Darwinian' survival of the fittest idea that 

 some of these earth-born beings were unable to 

 live and were replaced by others. As a rationalist 

 he naturally suppressed the mythological cen- 

 taur and chim^era from his direct history of cre- 

 ation. In the following passages^ we find these 

 purely fanciful speculations of Lucretius beauti- 

 fully expressed: 



And first the race she reared of verdant herbs, 

 Glistening o'er every hill ; the fields at large 

 Shone with the verdant tincture, and the trees 

 Felt the deep impulse, and with outstretched arms 

 Broke from their bonds rejoicing. As the down 



iLucretius: On the Nature of Things. Book V, 800. Poetical 

 version by John Mason Good. 



