On Nature

“Is the universe one connected whole, as it seems to us and to the wisest of the Greeks, Plato and Pythagoras and the Stoics and Heraclitus, or two, as perhaps someone supposed, or even many and infinite, as some others have thought, who, with many derangements of thought and varied coinages of words, have tried to fragment the substance of the universe, and suppose it infinite and ungenerated and without providence? For some, calling them atoms, some imperishable and very small bodies, countless in number, and positing a certain empty space of unlimited size, say that these atoms, carried at random in the void and colliding with one another spontaneously through a disorderly rush, and becoming entangled because, having many shapes, they take hold of one another, so produce the world and the things in it, or rather infinite worlds. Epicurus and Democritus held this opinion; they differed only so far as the one supposed all atoms to be very small and therefore imperceptible, while Democritus supposed that some atoms are even very large. Both say that they are atoms, and so called because of their indissoluble solidity. Others, renaming the atoms, say they are partless bodies, parts of the universe, from which, being indivisible, all things are composed and into which they are dissolved. And they say that Diodorus was the coiner of the name of these partless bodies; but Heraclides, they say, gave them another name and called them ‘masses,’ from whom Asclepiades the physician also inherited the name.” “How can we bear them saying that wise and therefore beautiful works are chance coincidences? Each of these, as it came into being by itself, was seen by him who commanded it to come into being to be good, and likewise all of them together. For ‘God saw,’ it says, ‘all things that he had made, and they were very good.’ But they are not admonished even by small, familiar, and everyday examples, from which they could learn that no work that is useful and beneficial is produced without design or by chance, but is fitted by handiwork for its proper service; and when it falls into uselessness and unprofitableness, then it breaks up without order and is scattered as it may happen, since the wisdom that cared for its holding together no longer handles and arranges it. For a cloak is not woven without a weaver, the warp threads standing by themselves and the woof weaving itself in spontaneously; and if it is worn out, the torn rags are thrown away. And a house is built, and a city, not by receiving some stones that desert of their own accord into the foundations and others that leap up into the courses, but the builder brings the well-fitted stones into place; and when it is thrown down, each stone falls and is dislodged as it happens. And when a ship is being built, the keel did not lay itself down, nor did the mast set itself upright in the middle, and each of the other timbers take whatever position it happened to of itself; nor were the so-called hundred timbers of a wagon each fixed in whatever empty place it found, but the carpenter brought each together at the right time. But if a ship breaks up at sea, or a wagon on its way on land, the timbers are scattered wherever it happens, some by the waves, others by the violent rush. So it would suit them to say that the atoms too, remaining idle and unformed and useless, are carried at random. Let them see the invisible atoms and think of the unthinkable ones, not like him who confesses to God what was revealed to him by God: ‘Your eyes saw my unformed substance.’” And when they say that the well-woven fabrics they claim come from atoms are worked by them without wisdom and without perception, who will bear hearing of atoms as weavers, when even the spider, working with its own hands from itself, is wiser than they? Or that this great house, composed of heaven and earth, and called kosmos, “order,” because of the greatness and abundance of the wisdom shown in it, was ordered by atoms moving without any order, and that disorder became order? And how are orderly motions and courses produced from a disorderly rush? And how does the all-harmonious dance of the heavenly bodies sing in concert from unmusical and unharmonious instruments?” “And in what way, since the substance of all is one and the same, and the same imperishable nature, except for sizes, as they say, and shapes, are some bodies divine and pure and eternal, as they themselves would say, or at least long-lived, according to him who so named them, both visible and invisible: visible, the sun and moon and stars and earth and water; invisible, gods and daimones and souls? For these they cannot deny exist, even if they wished. And the longest-lived living things and plants: of living things among birds, as they say, eagles and ravens and phoenixes; among land animals, deer and elephants and snakes; among water creatures, whales; of trees, palms and oaks and persea trees; and of trees some are evergreen, which someone counted and said were fourteen; others flower and shed their leaves in season; but most of the things that grow and are born are short-lived and soon ended, of which man too is one, as a holy Scripture said about him: ‘Man, born of woman, is short-lived.’ But they will say that differing bonds of the atoms are the cause of the difference in duration. For some, they say, are packed close and squeezed together by them, so that they have become felts altogether hard to separate; others have a looser and slacker connection of atoms, to a lesser or greater degree, so that they part from their cohesion either quickly or not long after; and some are compounded of atoms of such a kind and shaped in such a way, others of other atoms differently disposed. “Who, then, is the one who sorts them by kinds, gathers and pours them out, and arranges these thus into the sun, and those so, that the moon may come to be, and brings each together according to its affinity for the light of each star? For neither would the solar atoms, so many and such and united in such a way, have come down to the making of the moon, nor have the coils of lunar atoms ever become a sun; nor would Arcturus, bright as he is, ever boast of having the atoms of the morning star, nor the Pleiades those of Orion. For Paul distinguished well when he said, ‘There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.’ And if their compacting happened without perception, as being soulless, they needed a knowing craftsman; and if their coming together was without choice and by necessity, as being irrational, some wise herdsman driving them together presided over them; and if they have been shut in together to work willingly, some wonderful master builder assigning their work led them; or, like a well-ordered general, he did not leave the army confused and all mixed together, but arranged the cavalry in one part, the heavy infantry by themselves, the javelin men by themselves, the archers apart, and the slingers where they were needed, so that those equipped alike might fight together. But if they think this example a joke because I make a comparison of large bodies with the smallest, we shall pass over to the smallest.” “But if neither word, nor choice, nor order of a ruler were laid upon them, but they themselves of their own accord directed themselves out of the great turmoil in their flow, and passed through the great uproar of collisions, and like were led to like not by God, as the poet says, but ran together and herded together recognizing their kin, wonderful indeed is the democracy of the atoms, friends greeting and embracing one another and hastening to settle in one dwelling together; some of their own accord turned into the sun, a great light, to make the day; others perhaps blazed up into many pyramids of stars, to crown the whole heaven; others ranged round to make the ether firm and vault it at random as a base for the lights; and the confederacies of the common atoms chose dwellings for themselves and divided heaven by lot into houses and stations for themselves.” “But these men do not see even what is visible, much less perceive what is invisible. For they seem not to observe the ordered risings and settings either of the others or the most conspicuous ones of the sun, nor to use the help given through them to men, the day kindled for work and the night overshadowing for rest. For ‘man shall go out,’ it says, ‘to his work and to his labor until evening.’ Nor do they observe its other revolution, by which it brings about fixed seasons and appropriate times and unswerving turnings, guided by the atoms of which it consists. But even if the wretches do not wish it, as the righteous believe, ‘great is the Lord who made it, and at his words it hastened its course.’ Do the atoms, you blind men, bring you rains too, that the earth may send up food for you and for all living things upon it? And do they bring summer, that you may take the fruits from the trees for enjoyment? And why do you not worship the atoms and sacrifice to the fruit-bearing ones? Ungrateful, not dedicating to them even a few first fruits of the many gifts you have from them!” “And the vast and varied community of stars, whom the much-wandering and ever-scattered atoms put together, divided territories among themselves by agreement, as if taking up a colony or settlement, with no founder or master of the house presiding; and they keep their neighborly relations with those next to them under oath and in peace, not overstepping the boundaries they took at the beginning, as if governed by atoms with royal authority. But those do not rule; how could those that do not even exist? But listen to the divine oracles: ‘By the judgment of the Lord are his works. From the beginning and from their making he distinguished their portions; he ordered his works forever, and their beginnings to their generations.’⁠a “Or what phalanx so well ordered ever marched across a level plain, with none running ahead, none turning aside, none blocking the way, none falling behind those ranged with him, as the continuous and unbroken, untroubled and unhindered army of the stars advances always in even ranks with locked shields? But by inclinations and deviations to the side some unseen turnings of them occur. And yet they always keep their times and foresee the places from which each comes, those who have attended to these things say. Let the cutters of the atoms, then, and the dividers of the partless, and the compounders of the uncompounded, and the comprehenders of the infinite tell us where the circular motion and revolution of the heavenly bodies comes from, not of one compact of atoms flung irrationally like this, but of so great a circular dance stepping in measure and whirling round together; where such a countless crowd of fellow travelers, unordered, without choice, and unknown to one another, came to turn together. Well did the prophet put among things impossible and incapable of proof that even two strangers should run together: ‘Will two walk together,’ he says, ‘unless they know one another?’” “And they see neither themselves nor what concerns themselves. For if any of the founders of this impious doctrine had considered who he himself is and where he came from, he would have thought as one aware of himself, and would have said not to the atoms but to his Father and Maker, ‘Your hands formed me and made me’; and he would have gone on to describe the wonderful manner of his making: ‘Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews; you granted me life and mercy, and your care has preserved my spirit.’ For how many atoms, and of what kind, did Epicurus’ father pour out of himself when he begot Epicurus? And how, cast into his mother’s womb, were they compacted, shaped, formed, moved, increased? And how many atoms of Epicurus did the little drop call to itself, clothing some with skin and flesh, being set upright by others that became bone, and being bound together by others, stitched with sinews? And it fitted the many other members and internal parts, intestines, and sense organs, some within, others without, by which the body was brought to life? Of these nothing idle or useless was added, not even the smallest, neither hair nor nails; but all contribute, some to the benefit of the structure, others to the beauty of its appearance. For providence takes care not only of need but also of beauty. The hair is a defense and covering of the head for all, and the beard an adornment for the philosopher. And it fitted together the nature of the whole human body from all necessary parts, and threw round all the members their fellowship with one another, and measured out the supply from the whole. Of these, the general functions are plain from experience even to ordinary people, what power each has: the sovereignty of the head, and around the brain, as round a ruler in a citadel, the bodyguard of the senses: the eyes coming forward, the ears reporting, taste like a tax gatherer, smell like one tracking and searching out, and touch arranging all that is subject. (For we shall now run over in summary a few of the works of the all-wise providence, and shortly, God granting, work them out more precisely, when we address the one who is thought more learned.) The service of the hands, by which work of every kind and arts of many devices are accomplished, their particular powers jointed into one cooperation; the burden-bearing of the shoulders, the grip of the fingers, the bending of the elbows, turning inward to the body and outward away from it, so that they can draw toward and push away; the service of the feet, by which the whole creation on earth lies subject to us, the earth walkable, the sea navigable, the rivers passable, and communication among everyone; the belly, a storehouse of food, distributing from itself in measure their ration to all the members arranged with it and putting out the excess; and the other things by which the management of man’s continuance has been clearly devised, of which the wise have the use like the foolish but do not have the knowledge. For some refer the management that is most knowing about all things and most beneficent toward themselves to whatever deity they suppose, trusting it to be the work of a higher and truly divine wisdom and power; others attribute the most wonderful craftsmanship aimlessly to the chance meeting and collision of atoms. The still more effective examination of these, and the arrangement of the internal parts, physicians, having searched out precisely and been astonished, have deified nature; we shall later, as far as we are able, look at them even if only superficially. In general and in sum, who built this whole tent, such as it is, tall, upright, well proportioned, keen of sense, nimble, active, able to do all things? The irrational multitude of atoms, they say. But those, coming together, could not mold even a clay image, nor carve a stone statue, nor cast and bring forth an idol of silver or gold; but the arts and handicrafts for these, which shape the likeness of bodies, have been found by men. And if likenesses and sketches of these could not come about without wisdom, how did their true originals happen of themselves? And from where did soul and mind and reason come to be in the philosopher? Did he collect them from soulless and mindless and unreasoning atoms, and did each of them breathe into him some thought and doctrine? And as Hesiod’s myth says Pandora was completed by the gods, so was the man’s wisdom completed by the atoms? And will the Greeks no longer say that all poetry and all music, astronomy and geometry and the other sciences, are discoveries and teachings of the gods, but that the atom-Muses alone have become skilled and wise in all things? For the theogony of Epicurus out of the atoms is banished from the infinite worlds and exiled into the infinite disorder.” “Working and governing and doing good and taking forethought and such things are perhaps burdensome to the idle and foolish and weak and wicked, among whom Epicurus enrolled himself by thinking such things of the gods; but to the earnest and able and intelligent and temperate, such as philosophers must be (how much more the gods?), these things are not only not unpleasant and irksome, but most delightful and most welcome of all; to them neglect and delay in doing any good thing is a reproach, as the poet admonishes them, advising, ‘Do not put off till tomorrow’; and threatening besides, ‘The man who puts off work always wrestles with ruin.’ And a prophet teaches us more solemnly, saying that the works of virtue are truly worthy of God, and that he who neglects them is accursed: ‘For cursed,’ he says, ‘is he who does the works of the Lord carelessly.’ And to those ignorant of any art, and less perfect, through their lack of familiarity with the experience and unpracticed work, weariness comes in their attempts; but those advancing, and still more the perfect, rejoice in easily accomplishing what they pursue, and would rather choose to complete and perfect their accustomed tasks than have all human goods. Democritus himself, at any rate, as they say, used to say that he would rather find a single causal explanation than become king of the Persians; and that while giving causes vainly and without cause, starting from an empty principle and a wandering hypothesis, not seeing the root and the common necessity of the nature of things, but thinking the understanding of things happening without wisdom and foolishly to be the greatest wisdom, and setting chance as mistress and queen over things universal and divine, and declaring that all things come about according to it, while banishing it from the life of men and refuting those who honor it as foolish. Beginning his Precepts, at least, he says: “Men fashioned an image of chance as an excuse for their own folly. For by nature judgment fights against chance; and this very thing, most hostile to wisdom, they said rules it; or rather, doing away with wisdom altogether and abolishing it, they set chance up in its place. For they do not praise wisdom as fortunate, but chance as most wise.” Those in charge of works useful to life take pride in their help to their fellow men, and long for praise and glory for the things in which they toil for them, some by feeding, others by piloting, others by healing, others by governing; and philosophers are especially proud of attempting to educate men. Or will Epicurus or Democritus dare to say that they are distressed when they philosophize? They would set no other delight above this. For even if they think the good is pleasure, they will be ashamed not to say that philosophizing is pleasanter to them. But the gods, whom their poets sing as ‘givers of good things,’ these philosophers praise with mockery as ‘gods neither givers of any good things nor sharers in them.’ And in what way do they prove that there are gods, when they neither see them present and doing something (as those who admired the sun and moon and stars said they were called gods from their running, theein), nor assign them any creation or construction, so as to make them gods from tithenai, that is, ‘to make’ (for in this sense in truth the Maker and Creator of all is alone God), nor set forth any government or judgment or favor of theirs toward men, so that, owing them fear or honor, we might worship them? “Or did Epicurus, peeping out of the world and passing beyond the heavenly enclosure, or going out through some secret gates which he alone knows, see the gods in the void and bless their great luxury; and from there, becoming desirous of pleasure and an imitator of life in the void, does he so invite all to share in this blessedness, to be made like those gods, getting up for them a blessed banquet, not in heaven or Olympus, as the poets do, but in the void, setting before them ambrosia from the atoms and drinking to them nectar from them? And indeed, by those gods who are nothing to us he writes countless oaths and adjurations in his books, continually swearing ‘No, by Zeus’ and ‘Yes, by Zeus,’ and adjuring his readers and those he talked with ‘by the gods,’ not at all fearing perjury himself or for them, but adding this as an empty, false, idle, and meaningless appendage to his words, as if he cleared his throat and spat, or turned his face or moved his hand. Such a thoughtless and vain pretense was his naming of the gods. But this is plain, that after the death of Socrates, cowering before the Athenians for fear of seeming to be what he was, an atheist, he painted for them empty shadows of nonexistent gods, telling marvels. For he did not look up to heaven with the eyes of the mind to hear the clear voice from above, which the attentive observer heard and bore witness that ‘the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands’; nor did he look down in thought to the ground; for he would have learned that ‘the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord,’ and that ‘the earth is the Lord’s and its fullness.’ For after this it says, ‘The Lord looked upon the earth and filled it with his good things; with the soul of every living thing he covered its face.’ If they are not blind, let them consider the many-colored multitude of living things, those on land, those that fly, those in the water, and understand that the testimony of the Master at the judgment of all things was true, and that all things appeared good according to his command.”