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A day of destruction will surely come

(1)

'......maria ac terras caelumque tuere;

quorum naturam triplicem, tria torpora, Memmi,

tris species tam dissimilis, tria talia texta,
una dies dabit exitio, multosque per annos

sustentata ruet moles et machina mundi."

5.92

at peace,a

Moreover the forces of the world arenot constant conflict is going on, and one or another must sometime gain the final mastery. -

"Denique tantopere inter se cum maxima mundi

pugnent membra, pio nequaquam concita bello,

nonne vides aliquam longi certaminis ollis

posse dari finem?vel cum sol et vapor omnis

omnibus epotis umoribus exsuperarint:

quod facere intendunt, neque adhuc conata patrantur:

tantum suppeditant amnes ultraque minantur

omnia diluviare ex alto gurgite ponti,

nequiquam, quonian verrentes aequora venti

deminuunt radiisque retexens aetherius sol,
et siccare prius confidunt omnia posse
quam liquor incepti possit contigere finem.
tantum spirantes aequo certamine bellum

magnis inter se de rebus cernere certant."

5.380

(1) Also 2.1148

Nor is man more favored than the rest. He is only one among the many productions of the "daedala tellus,

and he must struggle for existence with the rest. No

divine power watches over his destiny, and provides for

his needs-

"Quod si iam rerum ignorem primordia quae sint,

hoc tamen ex ipsis caeli rationibus ausim

confirmare aliisque ex rebus reddere multis,
nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam

naturam rerum: tanta stat praedita culpa.
principio quantum caeli tegit impetus. ingens,
inde avidei partem montes silvaque ferarum
possedere, tenent rupes vastaeque paludes
et mare quod late terrarum distinet oras.
inde duas porro prope partis fervidus ardor
adsiduusque geli casus mortalibus aufert.
quod superest arvi, tamen id natura sua vi
sentibus obducat, ni vis humana resistat

vitai causa valido consueta bidenti

ingemere et terram pressis proscinde aratris.

et tamen interdum magno quaesita labore

cum iam per terras frondent at que omnia florent,

aut nimiis torret fervoribus aetherius sol

aut subiti peremunt imbris gelidaeque pruinae,
flabraque ventorum violento turbine vexant.

Such was Lucretius' conception of the Universe, the

mutual relation of its parts and the power that ruled it-

mighty forces contending indeed with each other and

making the world of matter a world of unrest, but all still parts of a vast organic whole, pervading with vigor and life in which manifested itself the mysterious power that governed all --the power of Nature.

The popular religion on the other hand saw the world under the sway of Jupiter, to be sure, the father of gods and men, but still superintended, guarded and animated by a separate and lesser divinity for every smallest detail, for every process of growth or change. This narrow conception that lies back of the Roman popular religion stands in as striking contrast to that of Lucretius as to the conception which prevails in our own time. Lucretius in fact in his philosophy of Nature approaches much more nearly the modern idea, than the ideas of the popular religion of his day. "It is against the limitation which the ancient mythology imposed on the idea of Divine agency, rather than against the idea itself as it is understood in modern times that his

philosophy protests. To Nature his imagination attributes (1) not only life, but creative and regulative power.

(1) Sellar. The Roman poets of the Republic. p.342

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