Lucretius Finding Aid

Lucretius - Topical Outline

Book I

• [01] Venus / Nature / Pleasure is the motivating force of all life.

• [62] Humanity has long been oppressed under the grim weight of religion, but Epicurus was the first man with the force of mind to discover the truth of the way things really are, showing us the limits, boundaries, and benchmarks set by nature; in so doing he broke religion’s oppressive hold over the minds of men, raising us equal to the heavens.

• [80] The sacrifice of Iphanessa illustrates that it is religion that is the true mother of wickedness in the world.

• [102] Religion oppresses men by causing them to fear punishment by the gods both in this life and in eternal hell hereafter.

• [105] The true nature of the soul is not obvious to us, so if we are to free ourselves from religious fears we must study nature and determine whether religion is correct when it alleges that we have eternal souls that are subject to the dictates of god here on earth and to eternal damnation after death.

• [127] The remedy to the terrors of the spirit manufactured by religion is to study and uncover the true nature of the universe.

• [146] Our starting point in this study of nature is this primary observation: nothing ever comes from nothing -- neither gods nor any other forces are observed to create anything from nothing. Once we see that nothing comes from nothing, but that all things come into being in accord with their basic nature, we will see that all things occur without any intervention from the gods.

• [159] The proof that nothing comes from nothing is to look around and see that all things are not born of all things, but from fixed seeds.

• [174] And things are not only born from fixed seeds, but after they are born they grow at a fixed rate.

• [199] And not only do they grow at a fix rate but they stop growing according to fixed limits.

• [208] We also see that it takes working the land to produce specific results; unless we work the land specific crops do not grow.

• [215] Our second primary observation is that all things pass away and change back into the essential material from which they are made, but nothing is ever absolutely destroyed to nothing.

• [225] Another reason we know that nothing passes away to nothing is that otherwise in the eternity of time past all things would have passed away and nothing would be left in the universe.

• [238] Further, if things could be destroyed to nothing, it would be easy to destroy anything by force, but rather we see that many things are hard to break up.

• [250] We also see that nature nourishes one thing out of the other, and that the living are born from the dead.

• [265] Do not doubt that matter is indestructible simply because the atoms are too small to see – unseen things like wind are seen to be very powerful and to rival streams of water (which all can see) in their force.

• [298] You cannot see odors or voices either and yet you know they exist.

• [305] We know from hanging up wet garments that the water in them is dispersed, as they dry, into tiny particles that no one can see.

• [311] And we see over the years that rings wear away on fingers, and dripping water hollows stone, even though we cannot see it happening.

• [322] We therefore conclude that Nature’s work is done by particles so small that they are unseen

• [329] We also know that these particles are not tight-packed, and that around them is "void”. We know this because we see the particles move, and therefore there must be void within which they can move.

• [346] No matter how hard things are, they still contain void, which we know from the examples of water seeping through the rocks of caverns, and the roots of trees bringing up water to their branches, and noise travelling through walls.

• [358] We also know that some things weigh more than others of the same size, and the difference is the amount of void they contain.

• [370] Fish do not swim because the water compresses to allow them to pass, but because there is void in the water.

• [384] We also know that when things collide and spring apart the air rushes in to fill the spaces, and that this does not happen instantly but gradually.

• [398] We know that void exists because otherwise movement would be impossible; but we see that things do move, so we know void exists. The examples we have provided are sufficient for you to deduce for yourself that there is a void, just like a hunting dog can sniff out its prey once it catches the scent, but if you remain unconvinced I can keep talking about this until we both get old.

• [418] We conclude that all bodies of nature are built from bodies and void. We know that bodies exist because our senses declare to us that bodies exist, and unless we hold firm to what the senses declare to us, there is nothing we can ever prove by reasoning of the mind. And we know that the void exists because bodies must have a place to exist, and through which to move.

• [430]There is nothing - no third nature - that can exist besides bodies and void, because anything that exists, if it can be touched, must be a body, and if it cannot be touched, then it must be void. Except for the void, nothing can affect something else, or be effected itself, unless it is a body. Nothing else can be sensed or reasoned to exist unless it be body or void.

• [449] Everything that we can name to exist has attributes that we consider to be properties or events/accidents of that thing. A property is something that cannot be separated from the thing without the thing being destroyed, such as you cannot separate weight from rocks, or heat from fire, or moisture from water, or touch from bodies, or emptiness from void. On the other hand, events/accident can be separated from a thing without destroying it, such as slavery, poverty, riches, freedom, war, and peace can be separated from people without destroying the person himself.

• [464] Time is an example of an event that does not exist by itself, but from our feelings about the motion or stillness of things. For example, consider the Trojan War, which does not exist in itself, but as an event of things that occurred in the past. The people involved in that war are long dead, and the Trojan War is but an event of the people and things that were involved at the time.

• [483] Bodies are therefore not only the atoms that compose them, but thing things that are created when the atoms combine. In the world around us everything is porous, but by reasoning we will see that the atoms themselves are not porous, and from them everything we see is created.

• [503] Since we have determined that everything is composed of only two things, atoms and void, and that nothing else can exist, we conclude that wherever there is empty space there is no body there, and where any body exists, there is no void, and from this we conclude that the atoms are solid bodies free from any void.

• [511] By the same reasoning, since all bodies are composed of nothing but atoms and void, it is atoms which hold the void within a body, and nothing can be reasoned to hold void within it but bodies made of atoms. Therefore when any body dissolves, it is the atoms which composed that body remain.

• [520] If only void existed then the whole universe would be empty; if only atoms existed then the whole universe would be solid. Since this is not the case, bodies must be composed of both atoms and void, and those must be separate from each other. Bodies cannot be destroyed unless they have void in them, and the more void. Only things which have void in them can be destroyed, and since atoms have no void in them, atoms cannot be destroyed.

• [540] If the atoms were not everlasting, long before now everything would have passed away to nothing, and nothing that we see to have been born could have been born from nothing. This shows us that the atoms are everlasting, as in no other way could the universe have sustained itself through the ages.

• [551] For the same reason we also conclude that there is a limit to divisibility. for if there were not a limit nothing could have been generated from them. As we know, things are more easily broken apart than put together, and if there were no limit to divisibility what has broken down in the past could never have been regenerated. But we see that things are regenerated and do grow at their natural rates, so we know there is a limit to divisibility.

• [565] Another proof that the atoms are solid is that we can show how solid atoms can produce soft bodies by mixing them with void. The reverse is not true - if the atoms were soft, then nothing hard like flint or iron could be created.

• [577] If there were no limit to the breaking of things, nothing would survive from ages past, but bodies do exist despite their frail nature, and from this we know that it is the the atoms that compose them that are eternal.

• [584] Since Nature appoints a limit to the growth of all things, and yet the laws of nature hold fast so that birds through their generations show the same markings, and only certain things can come into being, and even the tribes can recall the nature, habits, and manner of life of their parents, it must be through the unchanging substance of the atoms that this continuity occurs.

• [599] Beyond the limit of our ability to observe there must be a least point which has no parts which exist in everlasting singleness.

• [615] If there were not a limit then the tiniest bodies would be composed of infinite numbers of parts, as any half could always be divided into another half. If that were the case, what difference would there be in anything, if everything held an infinite number of parts? Since true reasoning cries out against this, and the mind cannot accept it, we must conclude that there is a lower limit to the size of an atom, and at this lowest level that the atoms are solid and everlasting.

• [628] Also, if Nature had allowed all things to be dissolved into their least parts, and if those least parts were infinitely divisible, then nothing could be renewed from them, but this is contrary to what we see, as we see things are in fact renewed.

• [635] Those who allege that everything is made of fire are using faulty reasoning. Heraclitus is the leader of this pack, and he is famous for his hard-to-follow statements among those who are empty-headed and who love twisted sayings that tickle the ear more than they love the truth.

• [645] Things could not be as diverse as they are if they were created of fire alone, unmixed with anything else.

• [655] The advocates of fire as the only things making up all things might wish to suggest that void is mixed with fire, but they fear where that would lead, and so they lose the track of true reasoning.

• [665] The advocates of fire also know that they cannot admit that fire changes into another substance, for that which exceeds its own limits becomes something else again. The truth is that it is atoms that make up fire by changing their positions and movements, and this does not change the nature of the atoms, but explains how we can make fire and heat from the unchanging atoms.

• [690] Besides, it is crazy to suggest that there is nothing in the universe but fire. In this argument he fights against the senses by which he first came up with the idea that everything is made of fire! For he alleges that yes, the senses can recognize fire, but that they cannot recognize anything else, and this is crazy, for what else can we look to for deciding what is true and what is false except to the senses? Why would anyone choose to pick out fire and deny the existence of everything else? Why not deny the existence of fire but accept everything else? Only madness can explain choosing one over the other.

• [705] The same errors are committed by those who say that everything is made of air, or of some combination of only a few elements like earth or water. This is the error made by the otherwise majestic Empedocles.

• [734] Empedocles and the others (who were much less intelligent than he) all failed in understanding the nature of atoms and void. They believed in infinite divisibility of the material that things are made of, and thus they cannot explain what we see in nature to be the truth.

• [763] All things cannot be produced from only four elements that never lose their own nature, because the union of these four could never retain their character and yet form the things that we see around us - they could never form something of a distinctly new nature, which is what we know that atoms can do when they combine to form things with their own new characteristics.

• [782] Whenever a thing passes the limits of its own nature, that is the death of the thing that existed before, and that is the problem with those who assert that some combination of earth, air, fire, and water, which they allege to be elemental, change in nature to give rise to what we see around us.

• [803] If you argue that all things seem to grow from the earth up into the air and towards the fire of the sun and with the water of the rain, and that this means that these are the elements of all things, you should think again, for what is beyond doubt is that the growth of things is determined by nature, and that nature brings many things together to do its work, but it is of the greatest importance to decide what goes into making the earth and the water and the sun and the rain and how their components are combined together.

• [823] Think about how the words of this poem are composed of letters, and how the meaning of the words changes when the letters are moved around. The atoms have an even greater capacity than this, to make up all things by changing their positions and their motions and combining in different ways.

• [830] Let's not worry we don't have a Latin word for "homoeomeria" - the theory that all things are made up of smaller pieces of the same thing: that bones are made of tiny particles of bone, and the like.

• [834] This theory does not accept the existence of void, or that things are not infinitely divisible, so it suffers the same problems we discussed before.

• [847] In addition, this theory fails because none of these little bones or other miniature things can survive ultimate destruction, so they would all by now have already passed away.

• [859] Another problem for that theory is that if it were true, everything must be made of things which are alien to their own kind in order to produce what we see when smoke rises from burning logs, or plants grow up out of the earth.

• [875] Now Anaxagorus tries to save this argument by alleging that all things in miniature are hidden in all things, but this again is false reasoning, because if it were true, we ought to be able to squeeze corn until blood flows out, or blades of grass would give off animal milk. But we see this does not happen, so theory must be false. Instead, it is the atoms and the void that make up all things.

• [897] Another example is how the tops of trees can rub together in the wind to spark flames. This does not mean that fire is hidden inside trees, but that the movement and positions of the atoms is what creates the fire, just like words change their meaning when their letters are rearranged.

• [915] In the end, if you maintain that things are composed of miniatures of themselves, then you will eventually conclude that there are no true elemental particles, but instead you will find yourself deciding that you are made of little people who are laughing aloud and wetting their faces with tears at the thought of what you are suggesting.

• [921] Let's now cover what remains of these difficult questions, inspired by the Muses, and happy to think of the fame that will come in following paths never before tread by poets before us. We are talking about great things that will free the mind and free us from the bondage of religion, and we are acting as healers who, in giving wormwood to children, cover the rim of the medicine cup with honey so that they can drink the bitter medicine, charmed by the honey but not harmed by the taste, and rather be brought to health. That's the way of this philosophy - it seems bitter, and many shrink back from it, but if you stay with me you will come to see the big picture of the whole nature of things.

• [958] The universe is infinite in extent, and has no boundaries no matter how far you travel in any direction. We know this because the universe has no extreme point beyond which nothing else exists, and it makes no difference where we stand - there is boundlessness on all sides and in all directions.

• [968] A thought experiment confirms this: Consider that we throw a javelin in any direction. Either something will stop it, or it will keep on going. In neither case is the universe shown to be bounded, because if it hits something, then that something is part of the universe, and you can then move there and throw the javelin again. There is no evidence to suggest a boundary point to the universe as whole in the way that the things we see around us, such as the mountains or the sea, are bounded.

• [984] In addition, if the universe were bounded, then all the matter in the universe would have flowed from all directions through its weight toward a bottom, and everything would be piled together. But we know that there is no bottom to the universe at all, and thus there can be no final resting place for matter.

• [1002] Even the thunderbolts, as fast as they travel, could travel on indefinitely, and no matter how far they travel they have no less distance to continue to travel.

• [1008] The universe could not exist if either atoms or void did not surround each other, were limited, because if either were limited then the other would spread out to dominate the universe, which we see does not happen.

• [1021] It was not by intelligent design that the elemental particles placed themselves came together as we see them now, but rather by the unceasing movement of the atoms over the ages. Those movements created and sustain this world and all living things, which could not happen if the atoms and void were not as they are.

• [1037] All things are dissolved when their atomic material ceases to be replaced, and therefore it is necessary for the universe to survive any length of time for there to be limitless matter on all sides.

• [1052] Be sure not to accept the idea that all things press toward a center, and that this explains how the world stays together, and explains how animals can walk on the other side of the earth without falling off.

• [1067] The universe in fact infinite and has no center, so all things do not fall down toward the center of the earth. There is no place for anything to rest and stand still in the universe, and it is foolish to believe otherwise.

• [1083] Those who advocate for the earth being the center of the universe are not consistent, because they think this applies only to earth and liquid but not to air and fire, which fly upward. Instead, the truth is that there is an infinite supply of matter, and this restrains both the matter of the earth from flying outward, and the matter of the skies from crushing us down from above. Remember: on whatever side you argue that there is a limited supply of matter, that side will be the gate of death for things, because in that direction all of matter will throw itself.

• [1107] These basic lessons lead to all the rest that follows. Each spark of knowledge will lead to more knowledge, and from these you will see the truth of nature and kindle a light for others.

• End of Book One

Book II

• [01] It is sweet to perceive misfortunes from which we are ourselves free, and nothing is more gladdening than to live firmly protected by the teachings of the wise, avoiding the confusion and struggles of those who go astray in seeking the way to live. How sad it is to see that men do not realize that Nature calls us only to keep the body and mind free from pain so that it may enjoy pleasure!

• [20] The body needs only that which takes away pain, and it feels no loss when it does not experience luxury.

• [37] Since great wealth and power do not benefit the body, they do not benefit the mind, as they are not able to drive away to fears of religion or the dread of death. The power to drive away those fears belongs only to reasoning, and these terrors cannot be scattered even by sunlight, but only by an understanding of Nature. (Note - see 125 for why daylight alone is insufficient.)

• [62] Now we will address how the atoms move to create bodies, and eventually to destroy them, and why occurs, and at what speed the atoms move in doing so.

• [67] Material things do not last forever, and over time the lose their substance, but the universe itself remains undiminished, as the atoms move from things that grow old to things that are young and growing. The sum of things is always replenished even as old things pass away, even as nations do, like runners handing on the torch of life.

• [80] Atoms would not beget new things if they stayed motionless, but they move due to their own weight or by the force of collisions with other atoms, never coming to rest.

• [112] Atoms move like the dust we see illuminated by shafts of light, and this is an example of how in small things we can get a conceptual picture of how greater things work.

• [125] The movement of the atoms leads gradually to formation of larger bodies, and those larger bodies in turn receive the movements of their atoms, with this movement passing upward little by little until it comes forth to the level of our senses which we can perceive in the light of day.

• [142] The movement of light and heat is impeded by the atoms, but the movement of the atoms themselves through the void is unimpeded.

• [167] Yet some people, ignorant of how the atoms work, believe that Nature cannot change the seasons of the year without the direction of the gods, or create crops, or do any of those things which divine pleasure, guide of life, leads living things to do so that that will not perish. These people are mistaken in believing that the gods direct these things for the sake of men, and even if we did not understand the atoms we would see that the world is not made for men, so great are the harmful things which it includes.

• [184] No bodies, even fire, can travel upwards on their own without being driven to do so by some force, because weight naturally draws all things downward.

• [216] But atoms are not carried downward in a straight line - at no fixed time and no fixed place, the atoms swerve slightly from the fixed path downward, and we know this because if they did not do so, no collisions would ever occur to bring all bodies into being.

• [225] Do not think that these collisions could have been brought about by heavier atoms falling onto lighter ones, because all atoms move through the void at equal speed. It is the swerve that brings about collisions, but this swerve is no more than the very least change in direction, and certainly not sideways. We can plainly see that bodies on their own cannot travel sideways, but our senses are not strong enough to detect the deviation of the swerve from the straight downward path.

• [251] If all motions were predetermined from prior motions without any swerve of the atoms, all events would be decreed by fate, and there would be no free will for living things, but due to the swerve we have free will to move and follow pleasure where it leads our minds to choose.

• [263] An example of this is the racehorse, straining against the barriers, which desires first in its mind to burst forth from the gates before the movement is carried from the minds to the body and limbs.

• [271] Another example is how we can decide in our minds to resist blows or forces from outside ourselves.

• [284] Nothing comes from nothing, and mind does not feel necessity forcing it to do all things, and this will to deviate from the force of weight or resist outside blows must come from the swerve.

• [294] Matter was never in the past more tightly or loosely packed than it is now, nor will it so be in the future, and the atoms move and swerve now as they have always done and will always do, because there is nothing outside the sum of things which can bring a new force into the universe, nor is there a place outside the universe to which matter can escape.

• [308] We need not wonder why bodies appear to be motionless when they are composed of atoms which are in motion. The bodies appear motionless because the motion of the atoms is below the ability of our senses to detect. This is like looking at a herd of sheep or an army of men far away on a hillside - the groups appears to be a single mass.

• [333] The atoms are numberless, but they are not all unique, and they have many differing shapes.

• [342] All living things too are of differing shapes, and by this they can identify one another. This is how mothers identify their young, and a cow knows that her calf is missing when it has been sacrificed to the gods. Even individual grains of corn and seashells, though of similar kinds, have differences in shape between them. This is the way Nature makes them, and they are not made as if by hand according to a fixed pattern.

• [381] The differing motions of certain types of fire, and certain types of liquids, are also explained by the differing shapes of their atoms.

• [398] The differing feelings of pleasure and pain are also explained by he shapes of the atoms involved, with smooth bodies seeming pleasant and sharp atoms being painful. This applies to sounds and smells and colors as well. For it is touch - by the gods I swear! - that allows the senses to receive pleasure or pain, and therefore the atoms must have differing forms to produce these differing results.

• [444] Hard things, like diamonds, are formed by atoms whose shapes are hooked or branched, allowing them to cling together more firmly. Liquids, on the other hand, are formed by rounder atoms, and things which fly like gasses or flames are not closely linked, but more pointed.

• [478] The atoms, however, are limited in number of shapes and sizes, and we know this because if they were not bounded in bulk then some would be of huge size, which cannot be the case because something unlimited in size would consume the universe and must be rejected as per our earlier reasoning.

• [500] If the atoms were unlimited in shape and size then you would see new colors and smells and sounds constantly arising, some more magnificent than before, and some more horrible, but this does not occur, and thus we know there is a fixed limit to both smallness and largeness, and thus a limited number of shapes.

• [515] For example, the distance from the heat of fire to the cold of ice is limited, and occurs within a set range.

• [522] The atoms are limited in shape, but are not limited in number, and there are an unlimited number of atoms which are alike each other. This must be so since the amount of matter in the universe is itself unlimited.

• [532] An analogy to this is found in animals, where we see a limited number of kinds, but an unlimited number of individuals of each kind, with some animals being more prolific than others.

• [541] Even if there were something unique in the universe, that unique thing could not have been brought into being unless there were an unlimited number of atoms to have brought its atoms together. The atoms have no plan for union themselves, but as with a shipwreck, the flotsam would never come together, or stay fixed together, or grow together, as we see that the atoms in fact do.

• [569] In this way we know that the forces of destruction can never prevail without limit, nor can the forces of birth and growth continue without limit, but both must remain in balance, as we see birth and death continue together in the cycle of life.

• [581] Remember this well: nothing is seen by us to contain only one kind of atom, but all is created from differing atoms, and the more forces and powers a body possesses, the more different kinds of atoms it contains.

• [589] We can see this is both the sea and in the earth, which is called the mother of all things and gives birth to crops and all living things.

• [600] The Greek poets portrayed the earth as a goddess followed around by worshippers and tell many fantastic tales about her and her actions.

• [644] But these tales of the Greek poets are far from true reasoning. For the gods enjoy everlasting life in perfect peace, far away from this world, free from all pain and danger, mighty in their own resources, and never wanting anything from us, and their favor cannot be won by virtuous service nor their wrath kindled against us. But the earth herself is without feeling, and it is only due to her atoms that she brings forth so many things into the light of the sun. Therefore if anyone is tempted to misuse the names of the gods and call the sea and earth by their names, or to call the earth the mother of the gods, let him at least not stain his own mind with shameful superstitious awe.

• [661] Flocks of sheeps and herds of horses eat the same grass and drink the same water under the same canopy of heaven, yet live their lives in very different ways, each after the nature of its own kind, even though all of them are made of bones, blood, and the like, so great are the differences in the atoms that compose the fields of grass and the streams of water.

• [673] All things that can be burned by fire, for example, store in their bodies atomic seeds that can be changed into light and sparks and cinders, and if you apply the same reasoning to other aspects, you will see that bodies contain many diverse shapes that are the seeds of diverse colors and tastes and smells.

• [688] Even in these words you see many letters common to many words, yet combined in different ways to form very different meanings, and these can exist in bodies very different from one another, so that humans and corn and trees can be composed of differing particles.

• [700] But you must not think that all particles can be linked together in all ways, because if they could you would see monsters of many types, some half man and half beast, and giants, and flame-breathing animals. But we see no such thing, because all things are born of fixed seeds, of fixed parents, and so preserve their own kind, while other particles are driven out as alien to the bodies.

• [718] This limitation of possibilities does not apply just to living things, but to all things in earth and sea and sky.

• [730] Colors are not formed by colored atoms, because the atoms have no color at all, and this is knowable to us because our minds can separate touch and color, just as blind people can recognize bodies though never having seen color.

• [748] We also know that the atoms have no color because we see colors change into other colors, and the atoms, as eternal and unchanging, would not change color or anything else, because that which changes is no longer what it was, and the atoms are eternally the same. Take care not to consider the atoms to be colored, or you will convince yourself the atoms are changeable, and all will pass away to nothing.

• [757] Colors are explainable by the differences in the atoms and their movements and positions, but if the atoms were of one color - for example if the sea were composed of blue atoms - the sea could never change color and be seen as shining and white, as we see that it does. The differing shapes of the atoms in no way restrict a body from being square in its outline, but when we see differing colors we know that thing is not composed of a single color.

• [788] Once we see that the atoms are colorless but combine to form color, there is no reason to think that individual atoms have color, and since we cannot see color without light, and there is no color in darkness, there is no reason to think that the atoms are colored. Think of the tail of a peacock, which changes color as it moves through the light. Diverse shapes of atoms produce different kinds of touch upon the eye, and thus it is the differing colors arise from the differing shapes.

• [817] No fixed color belongs to any fixed shape, and crows and swans can be made of diverse atoms no matter what their color might be. The more you pull things apart, the more the color fades, and this shows that the tiny shreds lose their color before we get down to the atomic level.

• [834] No one thinks that all bodies send out sounds or smells, and so we do no assign sound or smell to everything, and likewise there is no reason to assign a set color to all things.

• [842] The atoms not only have no color, but they also have no heat or cold, sound or taste or scent, and we must realize that the atoms do not possess these changing qualities, or we will find that all things will pass away into nothing.

• [865] Further, like color and the rest, things which have sense are made of atoms that have no senses. The evidence compels us to this conclusion: living things are made of non-living atoms. Pastures change into cattle, cattle change into our bodies when we eat them, and this is no different than logs which catch fire and turn into flame. This is why it is so important to understand how the atoms are arranged into bodies and compose all things.

• [886] What makes it hard to believe that living things are composed of non-living atoms? No doubt you observe that simply mixing together stones and wood and earth cannot create a living creature. This is true, but the important thing is the size and form and motion and arrangement of the atoms. These arrangements are not present in every log or lump of earth, and yet when the rain falls worms can rise up from the ground and stirred from their old arrangements.

• [902] Sensible things are soft, and these could not be made from soft atoms.

• [907] The parts of a sensible thing cannot have sense on their own, because the parts depend on the other parts to form a sensible whole. Atoms cannot do this, or else they would be living themselves. And if atoms did have their own senses, this would not solve anything, because a group of atoms would still be a group of senses, and not a single sensible thing. In the same way that we know that insensible eggs can turn into chickens, and worms can swarm from the mud after a rain, we know that things that have sensation can be created from things that do not have sensation.

• [931] Sensation does not come to non-sensible atoms because the atoms have changed, but because of the combination of the atoms, which must occur before sensation can arise.

• [944] Further, living things can lose sensation if they are struck by too heavy a blow sufficient to scatter the arrangements of the atoms.

• [963] There is pain when the arrangements of the atoms are scattered by a blow, but pleasure comes to pass when the atoms settle back into their proper places, and this shows that the atoms feel no pleasure or pain themselves, but only through their arrangements do we feel pleasure or pain.

• [973] If living things that sense must be formed of sensing particles, what about humans? Are humans composed of human particles, shaking and crying with laughter, which themselves ask how they (the human particles) are formed? This is madness - humans can laugh, even though they are not composed of laughing atoms, and humans can think, even though they are not made of thinking atoms.

• [991] All living things - plants, animals, and humans - are sprung from the atoms of the earth, for which reason we think of the earth as our common mother, and to the earth our atoms eventually return. Death simply scatters the atoms, but does not destroy them, and nature joins them again into new things, and from this you must realize that the combinations and positions and motions give rise to all things we see around us, and that nothing that we see on the surface of things is eternal. The same letters are used in words like sky, sea, and earth, and just like those words change when their letters are rearranged, all things around us change as their atoms are rearranged.

• [1023] Now turn your attention to true reasoning, for a wondrous truth is now before you. Nothing wondrous is easy to accept at first, but over time even the wondrous becomes commonplace to us. If the world around us were seen by us as for the first time, what could be more wondrous? Nothing could, but as we are, no one even looks up at the sky. So do not let the novelty of these words cause you to reject true reasoning, but eagerly weigh these things. If you find these things to be true, then embrace them; if you find them false, then battle against them. For our minds and spirits desire to look outward past the walls of this world to seek the truth about boundless space.

• [1048] The universe in every direction is boundless in size, and there is no reason to think that this world is the only such world in the universe. The same processes that formed this world has created other worlds as well.

• [1067] Since there is no little to the matter of the universe, and since the same forces at work here are at work elsewhere, we must conclude that there are other worlds which have other type of animals and other races of humans.

• [1077] Another reason for this conclusion is that we see nothing single, unique, and of its own kind. Consider all the types of animals and men and fish and birds. In the same way that the earth. moon, and sun are not unique, but rather numberless, there are numberless living things on other worlds elsewhere in the universe.

• [1090] If you learn things things and hold to them firmly you will see that nature has no rulers over her, and she works of her own accord alone, and not controlled by any gods. For how could holy gods living in peace and calm control the whole sum of the universe, even shooting thunderbolts that destroy their own temples and kill innocent men?

• [1105] From the time this world was born the atoms of the universe have moved according to Nature to the point where they are today, where Nature herself has found its own limit with bodies formed of atoms being born, growing, decreasing, and passing away.

• [1144] Even this world itself will one day fall into decay and ruin, as it has now stopped growing and bringing new forms of life into being. For life was not let down from a golden rope, but brought forth by the earth, along with the plants and animals. Even in our own time people grumble that the earth is not as fruitful as it once was, because they are ignorant of the way that Nature works, and that all things that come into being must eventually also by Nature waste away and die.

Book III

• [01] In writing this poem I follow Epicurus, discoverer of truth, who first raised this light, and I plant my footsteps in his, not as a rival, but in emulation. Through this philosophy I see the peaceful abodes of the gods, and that there is no Hell, nor is the earth a barrier to wisdom, and I feel a godlike pleasure from the experience.
• [31] Now we will address the nature of the mind and soul, so we can drive away the fear of Hell that causes such much fear and allows no pleasure to be pure and unalloyed. For men say that they fear disgrace more than death, and that they know the nature of the soul, but when they are in trouble they fall back on superstition and sacrifice to the gods, and you know what they really think when they are facing adversity.
• [59] Fear of death provokes so many troubles in life, such as greed and craving for offices and murder, as they think poverty is painful, and leads to death.
• [74] In the same way envy and compete with each other for fame, and sometimes they even kill themselves, forgetting that it was fear of death in the first place which was the source of their trouble. These terrors cannot be scattered by the light of day, but by an understanding of the workings of Nature.
• [94] The mind is no less a part of a human than his hands, eyes, or feet, yet some argue that the mind does not exist in any particular part of the body, but in a "harmony" of the whole. This is wrong, and we know that the mind can feel pleasure while the foot feels pain, and that not every part of the body has an equal part to play in sustaining life.
• [130] Let the Greek musicians keep their Harmony, because the mind and soul are a part of man.
• [136] The mind and soul are of a single nature, and are seated in the breast, and the rest of the soul is spread throughout the body and obeys the understanding. The mind sometimes feels pain or pleasure on its own, when the rest of the body is now roused by any fresh feeling, but the mind can affect the rest of the body.
• [161] The nature of the mind and soul is bodily, which we know by how it is affected by things that touch us, such as the blows of weapons.
• [177] The mind is very fine and composed of tiny particles that move quickly.
• [208] The mind is also thin and might be contained in a very small place if it could be gathered together, but when one dies nothing leaves the body that sight or weight could test.
• [231] The mind is thin and light but it is not simple. It has much of air in it, as well as heat and breath, but these alone are not sufficient to bring sensation or thought. The mind has a further nature that gives rise to its motions.
• [258] The heat and air and breath mingle together to create one nature, from which motion and sensation first arises in the body.
• [288] The temperature of the air in the mind is related to how one thinks, and those living things with more heat have a more fiery heart and passionate mind, such as lions. Other living beings such as deer have more of cold wind, while oxen have more calm air.
• [307] Men are similar to the animals just described. Much training can lead men to a similar culture, but it cannot eliminate the original nature of the mind. Some men are more prone to anger, some more prone to fear, some more passive than is right. These traces cannot be eliminated, but reason has the power to dispel so much of the original nature that nothing hinders us from living a life worthy of the gods.
• [323] The Soul both protects and is protected by the body, and they cannot be separated without their destruction.
• [337] The body is never born by itself, nor does it grow alone, and nor does it linger on after death, as it cannot survive separation of the soul. The body and soul are linked from the womb, and they cannot survive being separated.
• [350] The soul has no sensation of its own, and when the soul dies, the body is utterly deprived of sensation.
• [359] The mind does not see on its own, but must use the eyes, and the eyes are not merely openings as are doors.
• [370] We much reject the teaching of Democritus that the atoms of the soul and body alternate with each other, because the particles of the soul are far fewer in number than the particles of the rest of the body. We do not immediately feel dust, or mist, or spider webs, or insects on our skin, because many atoms of the body must be stirred before the mind becomes aware of such things.
• [396] The mind is more the keeper of life than is the soul, and so long as the mind is intact the body can survive loss of many of its parts and the parts of his soul that are in those lost parts. This is similar to how the eye can be harmed in many places but can still see so long as the pupil is intact, but with loss of the pupil comes loss of sight.
• [417] So that we may see that mind and soul have birth and death, understand that mind and soul are as one, and compose a single thing.
• [425] The soul can be scattered more quickly than water or clouds or smoke, and since the body is the vessel of the soul, the soul is scattered when the body is shattered, as the soul can certainly not be restrained by the surrounding air.
• [445] It is natural that the mind is dissolved like smoke upon the death of the body, since the mind is born with it, grows with it, and becomes weary and worn with age with it.
• [459] This follows also from how we see that the mind suffers from diseases just like the body.
• [476] Another example of the linkage of mind and body is seen from how wine affects both.
• [487] Likewise both the mind and body can be seized by the violent convulsions of disease, and a sick person loses their mind, until the mind returns when the sickness is gone.
• [510] The mind can be cured with medicine just like the body, and this too shows us how they are linked, and this happens due to transfer of particles, which would not happen if the mind were immortal. Thus so surely is the truth seen to run counter to false reasoning, and to shut off the retreat of error, that it refutes the falsehood coming and going.
• [526] Sometimes men die little by little, with their toes and feet and legs first, as death moves step by step through the body. This slow death over time shows that the soul too is mortal, as the soul cannot contract itself into one part of the body.
• [548] Since the mind resides in one part of man, like the eye or the nose, the mind cannot survive separation from the body any more than can the eye or the nose.
• [558] Just as the eye cannot see anything if torn from the body, so the mind cannot give life separated from the body.
• [580] The body cannot endure loss of the soul without decaying, and in so decaying it can no longer contain the soul.
• [592] We see that men can be shocked and fall limp and seem to almost die, so that a little more shock would in fact bring death. If so, why doubt that the soul cannot survive outside the body for all time, or even for a moment?
• [607] If our mind were immortal it would leave the body as a snake leaves its skin, but instead as we die we feel the senses dissolving in their own place, not leaving.
• [615] The mind is never begotten in hands or feet, but is assigned to its normal place by nature, which it can never leave, just as a flame never resides in a stream or cold in fire.
• [624] If the soul is immortal and can feel outside the body, it must be endowed with five senses, and yet neither the eyes nor ears nor nose can exist apart from the body, and the soul cannot either.
• [634] We feel the sensation of life present in the whole body, and when the body is cut in half, beyond doubt the soul would be too, and what can be cut into pieces surely is not immortal.
• [642] Soldiers cut apart by chariots lose limbs instantly, and those limbs no longer feel, and we sometimes do not know they are gone.
• [657] Do we say that a snake when cut apart had a soul in each piece? If so, that would mean one body had many souls, but what can be cut into many parts is not immortal.
• [670] If the soul is immortal and enters the body at birth, why does it not remember being alive before? If it does not remember, then the soul is essentially new, and the old one is dead.
• [679] If the soul enters the body at birth, it would not be natural for the soul to be seen to grow with the body. We must therefore not think of souls as without a birth, or released from the law of death, or that they can unravel themselves from intertwining with the body.
• [698] Even if the soul were grafted within us from outside, that which is grafted in and permeates perishes and forms a new nature, so again we see that the soul neither without birth nor without death.
• [713] Are seeds of the soul left in a dead body? If so, they cannot be immortal, since some of the soul has left the body. And if the soul has left the body entirely, why is it that corpses teem with worms? There is no reason that souls should make homes for themselves in the body, because if they are outside the body they suffer no disease or hunger. Souls do not make bodies for themselves, nor are they grafted into ready-made bodies.
• [741] Why do lions act like lions and foxes like foxes and deer like deer? It is because the power of mind is determined by the body and grows with the body, but if the soul were immortal then a hawk might be afraid of a dove, or men be witless and the wild beasts be wise.
• [754] What is changed is dissolved and passes away, and soul that changes bodies likewise is changed and the old passes away.
• [760] If souls are immortal and pass to new bodies, why are children not born wise, and why does a foal not have the strength of a horse? Again, a soul that changes loses its former self.
• [769] If the soul were immortal why would it desire to be release from aged limbs? Why would it fear to be shut up in a decaying body? An immortal thing knows no such dangers.
• [776] It is laughable to think that souls stand in line waiting for mortals to be born so they can inhabit them, or that they jostle in line for better position, or that they make agreements on which body to inhabit.
• [784] Trees cannot exist in the sky, nor clouds in water, nor the mind without a body.
• [800] What is more foolish than to think that the mortal should be linked in union with the immortal?
• [806] If things are everlasting they must be able to survive assaults, such as can the atoms, or be exempt from blows, as is the void, or else because there is no space around it into which it can be broken up, or from which an outside force can enter in, as is the case with the universe as a whole.
• [819] But we see that disease and cares wear out the soul, so it cannot be everlasting like the atoms or the void or the universe as a whole.
• [830] Death then is nothing to us, nor does it concern us, as the mind is mortal, and just as we felt no pain before we were born, even in the Punic Wars, we will feel nothing after we are dead.
• [843] Even if the mind and soul have feeling after death, still that is nothing to us, for we are formed by the combination of body and soul, and even if our bodies were gathered together again by time, even that would not concern us, because we would have no memory of our former selves. When we think about the endless ages past, we can well imagine that perhaps our same atoms were often placed in the same positions in the distant past and yet we cannot remember any such thing.
• [862] If we are to feel grief and pain we must be there to experience it, and since we are not, we cannot be wretched, any more than if we had never been born, once we are dead.
• [870] A man who fears what happens to him after death presumes that he is still there to experience those things, and thus he regrets that he was born, because he does not realize that he will not be there to experience his loss, and that he should not care no matter how well or ill his body might be treated after death.
• [894] People think about the pleasures they will no longer experience, but they don't consider that after death they will no longer want those things. If people saw this clearly, they would free themselves from great anguish and fear or mind.
• [904] And if they saw that the soul dies with the body they would also not experience unending grief at the loss of a loved one, because we would know that the loved one had been released from every pain and sorrow, and that this is no cause for endless lamentation.
• [912] Men often also lament that the time of food and drink and enjoyment will soon be over, never to be called back, but they do not realize that when they are dead they will no longer want these things, and they will be in what we can consider to be an endless sleep, and the experience of death does not even include the shock we experience when we awaken startled from sleep.
• [931] Imagine that Nature speaks to us and says that if our life has been so pleasant that we fear losing it, why not look at death as when we leave a party having been filled with the banquet of life, and then embrace a rest that knows no care? And if your life has been terrible, why wish for more of it? Especially since things will be in the future as they were in the past, and nature has nothing new to offer.
• [952] Nature can justly rebuke an old man who laments leaving life, because such a man has enjoyed all life has to give, yet continues to want what he does not have, and forgets the gifts at hand, and uncompleted and unenjoyed his life has slipped from his hands. Such a man should give up these things so ill-fitted for his years and yield them to youth, as one must.
• [972] The old always must give way to the new, as it must: life is granted to none for freehold, to all on lease. Look back at the ages before we were born and see how they are nothing to us; such is the time after death; it is a rest more calm than any sleep.
• [978] The horrors we are told about in stories, such as the rock over Tantalus or the birds eating Tityos or the fear of the gods or the Sisyphus always seeking office - these are things we actually suffer in life.
• [1003] The enjoyment of each season that comes around never fills us, and we are like the maidens who cannot fill their leaky vessels.
• [1011] Monsters like Cerberus and Tartarus do not exist, but fear of punishment for the misdeeds of life torture us even worse. Here on earth the life of fools becomes a hell.
• [1024] Remember too that the great men of the past - Ancus, the Scipios, Democritus, and even Epicurus himself -- all of them died too, and if they died you - who waste your time in sleep and dreams and fears and wandering - can face death too.
• [1053] If men would learn what causes the fears that oppress them, they would not ceaseless want new things or wish to change places, as if those could ease their fears. They would not run from place to place, as if to a house afire, and seek to escape themselves. If he saw things clearly everyone would leave what they are doing and put first the study of the nature of things, since it is our state for all eternity, and not just for an hour, that is in issue.
• [1076] Death is inevitable, and spending our time amidst the same things does not bring new pleasures, and we constantly seek new things, and we cannot shorten the length of death. Live as long as we might, death still awaits us, and our deaths will be just as long as those who perished many months or years before.

Book IV

• [01] These paths we walk have not been traveled before, and I work to free the mind from the bondage of religion, teaching about great things, dispensing medicine as to children, rimming the cup with honey, charming them but not harming them, but bringing them to health, and for this reason I am writing in the form of poetry.
• [26] Since we have already discussed the atoms and their movements, and how things are created from them, and the nature of the mind and how it is mortal, now we will discuss something that is very important to our theme: that there are things called idols or images which are emitted from each thing, and which we can perceive with our minds, even in sleep, and which we sometimes mistakenly think have caused us to see the dead.
• [54] All bodies give off images which resemble in shape the body that emits them, in way similar to how the sun shining through awnings gives off light which colors the things below.
• [90] Some objects give off other things as well, like smell and smoke and heat, but those are scattered loosely. Images from the surfaces of things, however, more nearly maintain their shape.
• [98] Another illustration of this effect are the images that we see in mirrors.
• [110] Images are very thin and individually cannot be seen by the eyes.
• [116] We are familiar with things so small that we can hardly see them, well imagine something only a third their size -- they would not be visible.
• [123] Scents are also like this - they spread through the air but cannot be seen.
• [129] Some images do not originate from the surface of real things, but form spontaneously in the air, even as we see clouds forming images of things in the sky.
• [143] Images can pass through some things but not others, however they stream instantly in many ways and in all directions and from every side.
• [168] We see the sky change appearance from clear to stormy, and the shapes change, but it is not possible to say what part of this phenomena comes from images.
• [176] We can discuss images in a few words rather than many, just as the brief song of a swan is better than the clamor of cranes.
• [183] Images travel almost instantly, like sunlight.
• [199] Images from the surface of bodies are not hindered in their discharge.
• [209] Consider how scents stream off oc things, and cold streams from rivers, and heat from the sun, and spray from the waves of sea, and voices travel through the air - images travel similarly.
• [230] The cause of seeing lies in the images, nor without them can anything be seen.
• [239] The images are borne everywhere and to all sides, but we only see those which strike the eyes, and from this striking we tell how far a thing is away.
• [244] We see at the same time what a thing is and how far it is away.
• [256] We don't feel the images individually, but together, just like we feel the wind as a unit, and not separate particles of wind.
• [269] Things we see through a mirror are affected by the airs between us and the object, and can be compared to seeing through a doorway. {?}]
• [292] Mirrors reverse the images as they travel to our eyes.
• [302] Mirrors also make one image into several.
• [311] Curved mirrors send back right-handed images.
• [318] Mirrors make images seem to imitate our gaits because the images are sent back at equal angles.
• [324] Bright images can burn the eyes.
• [332] The eyes of people with jaundice make things appear yellow due to the way the images work.
• [337] The working of images explains how we see things differently in the dark as against the light.
• [353] Square towers at a distance look round because the distance causes the edges of the images to be blunted.
• [364] Shadows also are explained by the workings of images.
• [379] The eyes are not deceived by the workings of shadows and images, because it is the reasoning of the mind, that determines what we think we see, as the eyes do not know the nature of things, so do not fasten the fault of mistaken judgment on the eyes.
• [387] When we are on ships we seem to be standing still while the land moves by.
• [391] The stars and the sun and the moon seem to us to be still, but they are in endless motion.
• [397] Mountains seen at a distance over the ocean seem to be a single island, even though there is in fact a large area of water between them through which we can sail.
• [400] Children who twirl around and then stop think the things around them are moving, even though they are not.
• [404] When we see the sun strike the tops of distant mountains they seem close at hand, even though in fact there is a great distance and many things between us and them.
• [414] A pool of water, when we look into it, seems to extend down very far, but this is just a reflection of the sky.
• [420] When our horse stands fast in the middle of a rushing stream, we look down at the water around us, the water seems to be carrying us, even though we are not moving.
• [426] When we look at a colonnade the columns seem to contract like the head of an arrow, joining roof with floor, until everything comes together like the point of a cone.
• [432] To sailors at see it appears that the sun arises from, and sets into, the water.
• [436] The oars of a ship seem to be bent where they enter the water so they almost float on the surface.
• [443] When winds carry clouds at night across the sky, the stars seem to glide atop the stormclouds and seem to move in a direction far different from their true course.
• [447] If we press our faces beneath our eyes we can make things look double.
• [453] When we are asleep and at rest we seem to ourselves to be awake and moving and we think we see all sorts of things which are not within our room.
• [462] Many other illusions of this sort might cause us to doubt our senses, and fail to trust the senses, but such doubt is in vain, because for the most part it is the opinions of our minds which deceive us, so that we think we see what we actually do not see, and nothing is harder than to distinguish those things which seem clear to us because they are added by the mind from those things which are uncertain.
• [469] If anyone says that nothing is known, he does not know whether that statement is true, because he admits that he knows nothing. It is best to avoid engaging with such a person who - upside down - plants his head in the place of his feet. That person should be asked "If you have never seen any truth in things,how do you know what it is to know something, and to not know something? How do you know the difference between the true and the false, and the doubtful from the certain?"
• [478] The concept of the true comes first from the senses, and the senses cannot be second-guessed, for in order to second-guess them you must have something more reliable than the senses to which to refer, and what is of greater certainty than sense? Can reason second-guess the senses, if the evidence of reason comes itself from the senses? Unless the evidence of the senses is true, all reasoning becomes false. Further, the ears cannot pass judgment on the eyes, or the sense of touch on the ears, or the tongue the sense of touch. Each sense has its own faculty of power and one perceives what is soft or hot or cold, while another perceives color and another perceives tastes, and another smells, and another sounds. One sense can therefore not prove another sense to be false, nor can they pass judgment on themselves since we must place equal trust in them at all times. Whatever we perceive on each occasion must be deemed to be true.
• [500] And though your reasoning may be unable to unravel for you why why the same tower at a distance looks round, but up close looks square, it is better for you to be wrong about the reason than it is to lose confidence in your senses, and thereby lose the foundations of confidence and on which all of life relies. For if you lose confidence in the senses not only do you lose reason, you would shortly lose life itself, if you stop trusting the senses and fail to avoid cliffs and other dangers which must be shunned, and to pursue safety instead. Be assured then that all the arguments arrayed against confidence in the senses are empty words.
• [513] When you are erecting a building, if your straight edge is not straight, and your level is not true, the whole structure will end up crooked and faulty and in danger of collapse, all betrayed by the first wrong measurements. In the same way, all your reasoning about things will be false if your senses are not true.
• [522] Now it is time to explain how the senses perceive their objects, which is by no means too difficult.
• [524] Sounds are composed of bodily elements, and sounds that are too loud can hurt.
• [535] Likewise, talking too much can weaken one's strength, especially if you are shouting, and therefore we know it is bodily, and roughness of speech is associated with rough particles.
• [549] Each utterance preserves its shape and sound, but if it has to travel to far a distance, the words will become disordered and hard to understand.
• [563] Voices can travel directly to listeners, or they can bounce off sold objects, and cause and echo.
• [572] Some areas can produce six or seven reverberations.
• [580] Some places echo so much that people become superstitious, and think that satyrs and nymphs are the cause, and people are fond of such prattling tales.
• [595] Voices and sounds can pass through doors and other solid objects through which images cannot pass.
• [603] Voices and sounds can bounce in all directions, so even hidden places are full of sounds, but images travel in a direct line, and they are blocked by walls.
• [615] The tongue and taste need no longer than sound to explain.
• [617] When the things we taste are smooth, they taste pleasant; when they are rough, they are unpleasant.
• [627] Pleasure comes through the tongue, but once the food passes down the throat there is no pleasure as it travels further through the body. It does not matter what food you eat, so long as that food keeps the stomach moist and your body digests it and replenishes itself.
• [633] Some food is good for us and some is poisonous, but to others the reverse can be the case, just as a type of snake, when we spit upon it, kills itself by gnawing its own body. To us hellebore is poison, but it makes goat and quail grow fat.
• [642] Substances are food or poisonous, or taste pleasant or unpleasant, based on the arrangements of the atoms that make up the food and the person or animal that is eating it.
• [663] When a man is sick or has fever, that sickness can disorder his body, and what was before pleasant can now be unpleasant.
• [673] As to smell, some scents are better suited to some animals than to others on account of the shapes and arrangements of their atoms. Geese, for example the holy geese of Rome, have a much keener sense of smell than humans.
• [687] Smells, because of their frail nature, do not carry as far as sound or sight, and are more easily scattered.
• [706] Some images and colors of things are likewise not suited to some animals, such as the lion is driven away by the clapping wings and the shrill cry of the cock, and this is due to the atoms of the cock which stab into the eyes of the lion, yet such things do not bother us.
• [722] Now let us discuss what things stir the mind and come into the understanding.
• [724] Some images of things are far more fine in texture than those images which fill the eyes and arouse sight, and these more fine images penetrate directly into the mind.
• [732] Such fine images going directly to the mind is how we perceive Centaurs and the images of the dead, since images are everywhere, some which come from real objects, and some which are created spontaneously in air. Images of Centaurs, for example, do not come from living things, but from chance combinations of images of men and horses.
• [749] What we see with the eyes, and what we see with the eyes, are created in like manner, and are perceived in like manner, except that mind sees images that are finer in texture than do the eyes.
• [757] When we are asleep, and the understanding of the mind is no longer active, these idols can present us with images of people who are dead, and the memory and our other senses do not argue against this image, since they are not active.
• [768] Do not be surprised that images should seem to move their arms or legs, because this results from the flow of new images in different positions, and our minds put them together in succession.
• [777] We may ask why, when we have a whim to think of something, that the image seems to come to mind. Does nature create images for us as we will it, even though those around us are receiving images of things that are much different?
• [788] Are the images trained to move their limbs as if dancing?
• [794] The answer that is likely most near the truth is that there are many images available at any time, because the images are fine, the mind cannot discern them sharply. When the mind makes itself ready to see certain things, it will come to pass that it sees what it is looking for, and only what it is looking for, and this involves us in errors when we base wide opinions on slender signs, and we deceive ourselves.
• [818] We should not think it strange either that what we see as a man changes into a woman, or one face into another, but we do not generally worry about this because we forget what our minds receive when we are asleep.
• [823] Here is an error you must eagerly shun: do not believe that eyes were created in order that we should see, or that our legs can bend so that we can walk, or the like. Such errors reverse the cause and effect, since nothing was born with the intent that we use it, but we use what was born creates its own use. Sight did not exist before the eyes were born, nor speaking before the tongue was born, nor hearing before the ears were born - no limb can grow for the purpose of using it; we put to use that which grows.
• [843] On the other hand, the art of fighting was born before we developed javelins and shields, and we slept before we developed beds, and drank before we developed cups. These were developed because we wanted to use them, but the senses and the limbs grew of their own, and only afterwards were put to use.
• [858] The nature of every body is to seek its own food. As we act our bodies use up their stores of food, and eventually we feel the pain of hunger and thirst, and so we eat and drink to restore strength.
• [877] We are able to walk because images of walking strike our minds, and then the will follows, for no one does anything unless the mind has seen beforehand what it wishes to do. The mind then strikes the soul which travels through the body and summons it to action, and the body stirs into action like a ship borne on sails by the wind.
• [898] The mind can stir and steer the body like a captain can steer a large ship.
• [907] Now we will discuss sleep, in brief words like the song of the swan, and be attentive lest you deny what I see and remain in an error that you cannot discern.
• [916] Sleep occurs when the soul retreats within the body and the limbs loosen.
• [929] Be careful that I do not scatter my words to the winds.
• [932] The body grows feeble and towards sleep when the soul retreats within.
• [954] Sleep follows too after food.
• [962] What we do when we are awake is what engages the mind when we sleep. Lawyers plead their cases, generals fight battles, sailors fight the wind, and we write poetry in our native tongue.
• [973] If we observe the games for many days in succession, we end up reliving the experience in our sleep.
• [984] So important is the pleasure that we pursue is that even animals in sleep relive those actions: racehorses pant and strain in their sleep, hunting dogs toss their legs and sniff the air, and the like.
• [1011] In their sleep kings storm towns, and men fight, and politicians give speeches, thirsty men drink from streams, and some relieve themselves in their beds, and young men will ejaculate upon dreams of their loved ones.
• [1037] Men fall towards blows that strike them, and it is the same with love, and the seed rises in the direction of the one with whom the young man is smitten.
• [1058] The pleasure of sex comes from Venus. The madness of love can grow stronger day by day, and it is best to take steps to avoid such madness.
• [1073] He who shuns the madness of love need not be without the pleasures of Venus, but he can pursue those pleasures in way that brings no pain, without engaging in the madness.
• [1084] The desire for sex cannot be satisfied in the same way as meat and drink, which are taken into the limbs and satisfy the body. The madness of love can be satisfied briefly, but soon returns, and those madly in love waste away when they are unable to conquer their disease.
• [1121] The madness of love leads to great waste and dissipation of assets, and to great pain when we are jealous.
• [1141] Ills such as these are found even in loves that work out well, but when love is crossed and hopeless there are much worse ills, so it is better to avoid such madness in the first place, and to be clear-eyed about our lovers rather than to romanticize them as having attractions that they in fact do not have.
• [1171] Lovers pine away for their beloveds, and make fools of themselves, but this can be avoided by thinking about the truth of what is happening.
• [1192] And women are not always deceptive, and often showers love from the heart, and the lovers engage and are bound in common pleasure.
• [1209] The children born of a union will look like the mother, or the father, depending on the way the seeds come together, and sometimes the children look like their grandparents or other ancestors, because such things are transmitted by the first seeds.
• [1233] Some can successfully have children with some partners but not with others, and this again depends upon the makeup of the seeds.
• [1263] The way the act of love is performed is also relevant to what kind of children come from he union, and humans conceive best when they mate as do beasts.
• [1278] Beauty is not a requirement for love, and women may bring about love by being unselfish and neat and easy with which to live. Such love can grow over time like drops of water falling upon rocks can wear away the surface over time.

Book V

• Epicurus discovered and has shown to us immortal truths, which we should apply to our own lives as he did to his.
• Most importantly, the fear of hell must be shown to be groundless, as it pollutes life and makes happiness impossible.
• The fear of hell is dispelled by the study of nature.
• Mind is a part of man’s makeup just like hands, feet, and eyes.
• Mind and spirit are, like everything else, material in nature.
• Mind is made up of diminutive particles.
• Mind is made up of small particles but also of a fourth, unnamed element.
• This fourth element is lord of all, and rules body and mind.
• Reason can dispel our primitive elements and allow us to live lives worthy of the gods.
• This fourth element of spirit is inseparable from the body.
• Mind is more powerful than spirit.
• Mind and body are born and age together.
• Mind can be diseased just as the body can.
• The truth meets falsehood head-on and cuts off its retreat as well, so it is doubly victor.
• Mind perishes with the body.
• Even if spirit possesses an immortal quality, it keeps no memory of a prior life, so we are essentially new creations.
• The spirit, once infused throughout the body, dies with it.
• Spirits do not make bodies for themselves and crawl into them
• If spirit were immortal and kept its identify we would see beasts perform like scholars.
• It is comical to think that spirits might stand in lines holding tickets to enter the bodies of living things.
• Trees cannot root in the sky; there is an everlasting fixed assignment set for being and growth.
• It is nonsense to think that mortal and immortal can unite in an immortal pact.
• Death is nothing to us, and has no more relevance to us than did the time before we were born
• Just as we have no concern about the eternity of time before our birth, we should have no concern about the eternity of time after our death.
• Even if the mind or spirit has sensation after death, that is nothing to us, as our essence derives from our union with out body, and any such existence has no meaning to us.
• If tough luck lies ahead for any man, he must be there to experience it, but since death removes our consciousness we have no need to fear it.
• Death is no worse than eternal sleep.
• Take leave of life as if you are leaving a banquet.
• Think of the eternity of time before our birth as a mirror of the eternity of time after death and you will realize that this is not grim, and is a rest more free from care than any sleep.
• The terrors that supposedly exist in Hell really exist here – in the minds of fools.
• Remember that the greatest men in the history of the world have also died, just as you will.
• Half their time men spend in sleep; the other half wandering around aimlessly, sleeping with their eyes wide open
• Men seem to feel a burden on their souls, and they waste their lives away, not realizing that the issue for them to understand is not how they spend an hour, but how they will spend eternity.
• All men must die, and none can escape; you must reconcile yourself to this law of nature.

2.4. Book IV

• Epicurus’ teachings bring release from religious fear, and though the limitations of life may seem bitter, it is the best medicine for the soul to realize the natural limits of life.
• We now turn to discussing “images” (visions), to show that they do not result from seeing ghosts of those who are dead.
• Illusions do not show that eyesight is fallible; it is the task of reason to process the information they provide.
• There are many examples of visual illusions, but we fool ourselves; misjudgments are not the fault of the senses but of our processing the information the senses provide
• The man who argues that nothing can be known confesses that he himself is ignorant.
• The ultimate validity of the senses cannot be refuted, because any attempted refutation depends for its proof on the senses.
• If you cannot explain a seeming contradiction, it is better to accept an incorrect theory than to give up those conclusions that you have already had sufficient facts to verify to be true.
• Do not reason based on erroneous observations of the facts of reality, or else your conclusions will be erroneous also.
• Reason is dormant while we sleep, so things seen in dreams cannot be trusted.
• Eyes were not made to see; nor ankle-bones for walking.
• Nature did not make eyes for seeing; what is born creates the use.
• Sleep annuls sensation.
• Avoid the danger inherent in allowing passionate love to overcome your common sense
• Delight comes in a purer form to those who are reasonable in the way they indulge their senses
• It is easier to avoid the snares of love than to escape once you are entangled.
• Romantic love is strongest when based not on passion but on habit, growing stronger over time, like rain wearing away stone

2.5. Book V

• Epicurus appears to us now as god-like, given the immortal wisdom he left to us.
• If the reason is unpurified, we wage an internal war against ourselves.
• All the world is mortal too, and just as it once came together into its present form, it will one day pass away.
• Wonderment at the stars in heaven breeds confusion, as fools think that the stars are moved by the gods, and this leads them to invoke a bitter lordship of religion over themselves.
• Everything that has a body does not have a mind – the element of mind and spirit exists only in connection with living animals.
• The gods did not change their immortal ways to create the world for men.
• The gods did not live in darkness and grief before they created the world.
• It would be of no harm to us if we had never been born.
• Nature had to provide the model for creation – how could the gods themselves have created the universe without a model?
• Too much is wrong with the world for it to have been created by an all-powerful god.
• Our world is very young, or else we would have a much longer knowledge of human history.
• Our world was formed by the natural actions of the basic material of the universe.
• Speculations as to the stars are necessarily only theories, since we lack ability to verify the true facts by direct closeup evaluation.
• The size of the sun is an example of the limits of our ability to determine the truth of things in heaven – certain facts observable here on earth (primarily that all things except light appear to grow less distinct when further away) lead us to conclude that the sun is not significantly larger than it appears to us in the sky.
• Another point we lack the ability to verify is whether the Moon shines with its own light, or reflects light from sun.
• Centaurs and such things as half-men, half-animals never existed, and never can exist, because seeds combine only according to their nature.
• Language developed naturally over time as men learned to communicate with each other.
• Men fell under religion because they had visions of gods in dreams and saw things in the world and sky that they did not understand, so they assumed the gods must be responsible.
• Populations die if they disarm.
• Men developed music by imitating the birds
• We toil in vain because we fail to remember the limits of possessiveness and the brevity of our time to enjoy pleasure.

2.6. VI. Book VI

• Civilization first flowered in Athens, and Athens brought to us a man – Epicurus - who discovered and brought to us the complete truth, and as a result his glory makes him seem to us almost divine
• Epicurus diagnosed the problem that corrupts men’s lives, and cleansed our hearts by words of truth, showing us (1) the error of greeds and fears, (2) the highest good that Nature has ordained for men, (3) the natural evils that confront the lives of men, and that they can be defeated once we learn the proper way to deal with them, and (4) that most of the anxieties we face are imaginary, no worse than the imaginings of children.
• Even those who otherwise understand the laws of Nature may wonder how certain things can happen, especially in the sky, and this wonder leads to confusion and to regress to superstitious religious awe
• Stop having thoughts unworthy of the gods, because this will harm you – not because the gods will care, but because you will fear that you are at the mercy of the gods and this will cause you great anxiety.
• We see that lightning is not caused by the gods because it does not occur with any consistency to punish the enemies of the gods or to accomplish anything.
• Snow, wind, hail and the light are understandable if you keep in mind the basic properties of the elements involved.
• Many natural phenomena cannot be isolated to a single cause due to lack of information, so consider all reasonable possibilities that are not eliminated by the evidence.
• Disease is caused by noxious particles.
• The plague of Athens.