308 )> 
tous concourse of atoms; and for deli- 
vering, by that doctrine,. the minds of 
men from the fear of the Gods, of death, 
and the punishment after death. He 
asserts that the mind and the soul are 
a -part of man, as well as the feet, the 
hands, the head, and other members, 
and not a vital habit of the whole: body ; 
that the mind and the soul are but one 
thing, but that the mind is the chief part, 
and resides in the heart, because fear, 
joy, and the other passions which obey, 
and depend upon, the mind, discover 
themselves there; while the soul, in 
which the icuinitile faculty is ‘solely | 
placed, being diffused through the whole 
body, is moved as the mind pleases: 
that the soul and body are so united to- 
gether, that they cannot be separated 
without the destruction of both of them. 
He endeavours to prove, by no less than 
six and twenty arguments, that the mind 
and soul are born with the body and die 
with it. He, of course, derides the trans- 
migration of Pythagoras. He then, in- 
culcates, that death is nothing, because 
the soul being mortal has nothing to fear 
after death; and if it be granted, “he says, 
that the soul is immortal, according to 
the opinion of Plato, yet still death is 
nothing, since the separated soul would — 
not remember that she had ever existed 
before. The remainder of the book 1s 
filled with common-place maxims, such 
as that it is absurd to lameii that we 
must die, since the greatest of monarchs 
cannot escape the ‘invincible power of 
death. 
In the fourth book, he begins with the 
images of things, and wa arnily insists that 
all sensation is made by them. He then 
asserts, that certain most tenacious and 
subtle images are ccntinvally flowing from 
the surfaces of all bodies, that they fly 
to and fro in the air; but that, nev erthe- 
Jess, they are invisible, unless they be 
reflected upon the sight from mirrors or 
water. He describes the extreme te- 
nuity of such images, and confirms the 
doctrine he taught in the first book, con- 
cerning the exiguity of his atoms. He 
then nroceds to enumerate, and explain, 
the various senses, beginning with the 
sight. He also treats of imagination and 
cogitation, which, he says, are likewise 
made by the same subi le images of things 
presenting themselves to the min sd. Sleep, 
dreams, and other affections of the mand, 
also Spee ts themselves to his con: idera- 
tion ; and he finally discusses the subject 
of love, barccaness, and fruitfulness, &e. 
with a freedom of thought, and broadness 
Lyceum of Ancient Interature— Lucretius. 
[May i, 
of expression, which scarcely admit of 
excuse, unless we charitably presume 
that the necessity of explaining these 
physical causes, in the free language of 
philosophy, silenced the delicacy of the 
poet. Inthe fifth bouk, he asserts that 
the sun, the earth, the sea, that the 
whole frame of this world, has not ex- 
isted from all eternity, nor will it con- 
tinue to all eternity. This is a position 
which piety will confirm, and which the 
soundest philosophy willnotreject. But 
he proceeds to inform us, that God did 
not create the world, for which he gives 
this absurd reason, that God is not sufli- 
ciently generous to do any thing for the 
sake of man; but that, whatever he does, 
is for his own ease and quiet. He de- 
Bee the rise or birth of the world, 
and the description is lively and beau- 
tiful in a high degree. The atoms, he 
says, are moved by their own. weight, 
they meet, this makes them rebound, 
and according to the difference of the 
stroke and weight, the resilition is made 
into different places, where they com- 
bine, and grow into bodies. The book 
concludes with a description of the un- 
civilized state of man, together with 
the origin and progress of governments, 
arts, and sciences. The sixth and last 
book is the least obscure and abstruse 
of any; being wholly taken up with de- 
scribing the appearances of nature, and 
accounting for some seeming prodigies, 
It opens with the praise of Athens and 
another encomium on Epicurus; he then 
enters upon a long explanation of what 
we call meteors, their nature, causes, 
motions, and differences. He treats of 
eamhquake, their different kinds and 
causes. He enquires into the causes of 
the fires that are ejected out of Etna, 
and imputes them, either to the violence 
of the wind, or to the exestuation of. the- 
waters of the sea; which, entering be- 
neath into the cavities of the mountain, 
extrude and force out the seeds of flame, 
that are envendered and collected there, 
through the apertures. The annual in- 
crease of the Nile he attributes, either . 
to the Ctesian winds «that blow full 
against the stream of that river, and, thus, 
hindering its course, cause the waters ~ 
to ov erflow, or to heaps of sand which 
the sea drives to the mouths, and thus 
choaks them up; or, to the rams and 
snows, that fall, and are melted near the 
source. He explains, at large, the at-) 
tractive power and virtue of the load- 
stone; and, lastly, exposes the causes — 
and origin of. plagues and diseases; and _ 
concludes 
