20 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



it some sort of beauty and nobility, and, as John 

 Masson {Lucretius^ Epicurean and Poet) remarks : 

 " There was more true faith in Lucretius's denial 

 of a Divine Providence at such an era than there 

 is in the self-complacent creed of many a modern 

 optimist with whom, if things go well with himself, 

 all is well, and this world the best that can be." 

 To free men from superstition, and cant, and fear, 

 is the next best thing to leading them to a fair 

 faith. How great the emancipation, it is difficult 

 now to realise ; for it is difficult to realise how 

 completely most men of that day were under the 

 dominion of superstitions of every kind, and how 

 much the limbs of truth were hampered by the 

 fetters of fear. To look facts in the face, and to 

 have the courage to study the nature of things, 

 was a great step on the way to wisdom. 



Hundreds of years before Lucretius, there had, 

 as we have seen, been atomists ; and Lucretius, in 

 working out his atomic philosophy, chose as his 

 master Epicurus, whom he praises as the first 

 man to withstand religion openly. Indeed, it is 

 probable that Lucretius merely gave a luminous 

 and logical exposition of the doctrines adumbrated 

 by Epicurus. " Thee I follow, thou glory of the 

 Greek race," says Lucretius, "and now fix my 

 steps firmly in thy footprints and tread in them." 

 However that may be, the fact remains that 



