Evening star., 1927-08-01
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

ture Is enough. Respect the integrity
of soul of the mani
He, too, was q seeker after God.
X X X X
The poem begins, strangely enough,
with an invocation to Venus. used
hundreds of years later by Edmund
Spenser, who made similar invoca-
tion, copying 1t almost verbatim.
Why should man who prOfessed
enmity to the system of gods and
goddesses of mythology go to the
trouble of opening his propaganda
with an invocation to one of them?
This may be explained in two ways
either Lucretius had just a bit of
veneration for them, after all, or else
he simply typified. in Venus. the Gre
ating force of nature. Probably this
latter is nearer the truth.
After the panegyric on Epicurus,
then as now q most misunderstood
man, who has suffered from the mis-
application of his prnciples) Lucretius
defends his system against the charge
of irreligion.
The three main subjects treated by
the poet are the atomic theory, the
nature of the soul and the phenomena
of the heavens.
Imagine man today writing long
poem on the molecular theory, upon
molecules and ions, and the electrical
structure of the atom.
Yet this was exactly what Lucretius
did. managing to extract some real
poetry from his theme. mostly, it is
true, because he saw, beneath the
dry theory. the wonder of it all.
He had great love for humanity
his purpose was solely ethical-he
tod tA al @f IL
wanted to serve.
His entire poem is broken. here and
there, with places of beauty in words.
simple pictures of the lambs in the
fields, and friends at picnic. With
these Lucretius presents many re-
Elections upon human life which are
aternally true.
X ~
Nothing is gotten out of nothing.
Lucretils says, enunciating the theory
of law in nature.
Matter is imperishable.
"a thing, therefore, never returns
to nothing. but all things after dis
ruption go back into the first bodies
of matter. (Atoms)
Lastly rains die. when Father Ether
has tumbled them into the lap of
Mother Earth; but then goodly crops
SpIiI up, anu IIS dIc green Will
leaves upon the trees, trees them
selves grow and are laden with fruit.
"By them, in turn, our race and
the race of wild beasts are fed, by
them we see glad towns TEEN with
children and the leafy forests ring
on all sides with the song of new
birds.
Through them cattle, wearied with
their load of fat. lay their bodies
down about the glad pastures, and
the white milky stream pours from
the distended udders.
Through them a new brood with
weakly limbs frisks and gambols over
the soft grass, rapt in their young
hearts with the pure new milk"
Atoms, he points out, are invisible,
and gives score of instances to
prove it. Mature works by unseen
bodies" he says. The property of
body, he declares. lis to weigh all
things downward" Thus he ehun-
ciates the theory of gravity.
Arguments are given to prove the
indestructibility of the atom. He
argues against the theory, then cur
rent, that fire was the original ele-
ment, saying: Fools admire and like
all things the more which they per-
ceive to be concealed under involved
language, and determine things to be
true which can prettily tickle the
ears and are vanished over with
finely sounding phrases"