Nunc omnes repetam quàm claro corpore fint res claret. Lucret. lib. 6. v. 936. This fufficiently proves the firft of the Books now extant, to be the first he writ; fince in that he has endeavour'd to evince, omnesquam claro corpore fint res, that no Bodies are fo folid, as not to contain fome Void: quod in primo quoque carmine claret. See Book I. v. 402. And he seems exprefsly to call the fixth Book his last in these excellent Verses, Tu mihi fupremæ præfcripta ad candida calcis From whence we may easily infer, that he never fo much as propos'd to himself to write above fix Books; fince he tells us he is now haftening, ad præfcripta candida fupreme calcis, to the End of the Race he had determin'd with himself to run; and therefore he invokes his Muse, To lead him on, and fhew the Path to gain Laftly, to ftrengthen all the foregoing Arguments, we may obferve, that in these fix Books only is contain❜d the whole Doctrine, and all the Philofophy of Epicurus, inafmuch as it relates to the Explication of Nature, or natural Caufes and Effects and there is nothing left for any one to fay farthes upon that Subject. Add Add to this the manifeft and pertinent Connexion of one Book to another; the judicious Method he has obferv'd in handling the feveral Subjects of which he treats; and his Artfulness in the Difpofition of them: They feem naturally to follow one another. In the firft Book he treats of the Principles of Things; in the laft, of Meteors and of the Heavens: Has not this Method been conftantly practis'd by all who have treated of the Knowledge of Nature? Even Epicurus himself obferv'd the very fame Difpofition, as appears by the few furviving Remains of that Philofopher, his three Epiftles to Herodotus, Monecous, and Pythocles. But as for the Reafons above alledg'd, I am verily perfuaded, that Lucretius never writ more than thefe fix Books of the Nature of Things; fo, on the other Hand, I am readily inclin'd to believe, that some of his Verses are, perhaps, wanting: for, as with almost all the antient Authours; fo more especially with this Poet, fome have affum'd to themselves too great a Liberty, and alter'd, added, or taken away many Things, as we have made it appear in feveral Places in our Notes: Servius cites this Fragment from Lucretius, Superi fpoliatus luminis Aër. which may perhaps have been his, tho' it be no where found in any of his Books; nor can it easily be discover'd where it has been left out. To reftore it to its due Place would require an Accuratenefs of Judgment as great, if poffible, as was their Difingenuity, who at firft left it out. I now return to Lucretius, who, as Eufebius declares, writ these fix Books of Epicurean Philofophy, in his lucid Intervals, when the Strength of Nature had thrown off all the difturbing Particles; and his Mind, as 'tis obferv'd of Mad-men, was sprightly fprightly and vigorous. Then, in a poetical Rapture, he could fly with his Epicurus beyond the flaming Limits of this World; frame and diffolve Seas and Heavens in an Inftant; and, by fome unufual Sallies, be the ftrongeft Argument of his own Opinion: for it feems impoffible that fome Things, which he delivers, fhould proceed from Reafon and Judgment; or from any other Caufe, but Chance, and unthinking Fortune. After his Death, as I hinted before, Cicero, as Eufebius witneffes, revis'd and corrected his Writings. Lambinus contradicts this; but the Argu ments he brings again the Affertion of Eufebius are but weak, and of little Validity. Virgil, who was eager and affiduous in the ftudy of them, has borrow'd from him in many Places, as both Macrobius and Gellius teftify: the last of whom calls him Poëtam ingenio & facundiâ præcellentem and Cornelius Nepos has plac'd him inter elegantiffimos Poëtas: So that if fome great Divines have given him the ill Name of Canis, it was not for any Rudeness in his Verfe, but due rather to his Grecian Mafter: the Eternity of Matter, and the like abfurd Affertions having corrupted moft of the Philofophies of Athens. As a Corollary to these few remaining Memoirs of the Life of Lucretius, I will here give the Opinions of feveral learned Men, concerning him and his Writings. f. TESTI TESTIMONIES of antient and modern learned Men, concerning LUCRETIUS and his WRITING S. M. Cicero to his Brother 2 Cicero, Book II. Epift. 11. THE HE Poems of Lucretius, as you obferve, are not written with much Brightness of Wit, but with a great deal of Art. Upon which Paffage of Cicero, the learned P. Victorius, in his Caftigations on Tully's Epiftles, makes the following Remark. If any one, fays he, thinks it ftrange, that fome have been of Opinion, that the Poems of the most elegant and excellent Poet Lucretius are written with no great Brightness of Wit, let him blame the Judgment of Quinctus: for we may reasonably miftruft, that, fince M. Cicero defends and commends him in the manner he does, he was not altogether M. Cicero ad Q. Cicer. fratrem, lib. 2. Epift. 11. LUCRETII poëmata, ut fcribis, non ita funt multis luminibus ingenij, multæ tamen artis. Ad eum locum Ciceronis ita doctiffimus P. Victorius: Caftig. in Cic. Epift. Quòd fi cui mirum videtur, judicatum effe quandoque Lucretium elegantiffimum & ornatiffimum poetam, non fatis multis ingenij luminibus poëmata fcripfiffe; is judicium Quincti reprehendat: nam fufpicari poffumus, cùm, quo modo poteft, eum tueatur & ornet M. Cicero, non valdè, etfi videatur illud confirmare, fratris judicio de hac together of his Brother's Opinion, tho' he feems indeed to confirm it: but that he would not thwart a tefty Man, who perhaps, because he writ Verses himself, was blinded with Envy, and did not perceive the Truth: Befides, he might be of that Opinion, becaufe Lucretius compos'd not his Poem to boaft his fhining Wit, but to explain, with his utmoft Art and Induftry, the whole Philofophy of Epicurus. The fame Victorius Var. Lect. lib. 17. cap. 16. The Copiousness and Purity of the Latine Tongue appear chiefly in Lucretius. M.Vitruvius in his Treatife of Architecture, Book IX. Chap. 3. Thofe, whofe Minds are instructed with the Delights of Learning, can not but with Veneration carry in their Breafts, as they do the Images of the Gods, fo too that of the Poet Ennius. Thofe, who are pleasingly diverted with the Poems of Attius, seem to have present with them, not only his Virtues, but his Figure and Refemblance likewife. In like manner, many will, in After-ages, feem to difpute, as it were, Face to Face with Lucretius, concerning hac re ftetiffe: noluiffe tamen iracundo homini adver fari: qui fortaffe, quòd ipfe quoque verfus fcribebat invidiâ motus verum non videbat : potuit tamen fic judi. care, quòd Lucretius poëma fuum non contexuit, ut ingeni. um ejus elucefcat; fed rationem ab Epicuro traditam fummâ induftriâ & artificio explicavit. Idem Var. Lect. lib. 17. cap. 16. In Lucretio maximè puritas Latinæ linguæ copiaque ap: paret. M, Vitruvius de Architect. lib. 9. cap. 3. Itaque qui literarum jucunditatibus inftructas habent mentes, non poffunt non in fuis pectoribus dedicatum habere,' |