The pencil then did growing fame acquire,
Then was the trumpet heard, and tuneful lyre,
One did the triumph fing, and one the war infpire.
Greece did at length a learned race produce,
Who needful fcience mock'd, and arts of use,
Confum'd their fruitless hours in eager chace
Of airy notions, through the boundless fpace
Of fpeculation, and the darkfome void,
Where wrangling wits, in endlefs ftrife employ'd,
Mankind with idle fubtilties embroil,
And fashion fyftems with romantic toil;
Thefe with the pride of dogmatizing schools
Impos'd on nature arbitrary rules;
Forc'd her their vain inventions to obey,
And move as learned frenzy trac'd the way :
Above the clouds while they prefum'd to foar,
Her trackless heights ambitious to explore,
And heaps of undigefted volumes writ,
Illufive notions of fantastic wit;
So long they nature fearch'd, and mark'd her laws,
They loft the knowledge of th' Almighty Caufe.
Th' erroneous dictates of each Grecian fage
Renounc'd the doctrines of the eldest age:
Yet these their matchlefs fcience did proclaim,
Ufurp diftinétion, and appropriate fame.
But though their schools produc'd no nobler fruit 55 Than empty schemes, and triumphs of difpute; The notions which arise from Nature's light As well adorn the mind, as guide her right, Enlarge her compass, and improve her fight.
These ne'er the breaft with vain ambition fire,
But banish pride, and modest thoughts inspire.
By her inform'd, we bleft religion learn,
Its glorious object by her aid difcern;
The rolling worlds around us we survev,
Th' alternate fovereigns of the night and day;
View the wide earth adorn'd with hills and woods,
Rich in her herds, and fertile by her floods;
Walk through the deep apartments of the main,
Afcend the air to vifit clouds and rain;
And, while we ravish'd gaze on Nature's face,
Remark her order, and her motions trace.
The long coherent chain of things we find
Leads to a Caufe Supreme, a wife Creating Mind.
You, who the being of a God difclaim,
And think mere Chance produc'd this wondrous frame;
Say, did you e'er reflect, Lucretian tribe,
To matter what perfections you ascribe ?
Can you to duft fuch veneration show?
An atom with such privilege endow,
That from its nature's pure neceffity
It should exift, and no corruption fee?
Since your first atoms independent are,
And not each other's being prop and bear,
And fince to this it is fortuitous
That others fhould exiftence have; fuppofe
You in your mind one atom should remove
From all the troops, that in the vacant strove,
Cannot our thought conceive one atom lefs?
If fo, you Grecian fages must confefs
That matter, which you independent name,
Cannot a being neceffary claim;
For what has being from neceffity,
It is impoffible it should not be.
Why has an atom this one place possest
Of all the empty void, and not the rest ?
If by its nature's force 'tis present here,
By the fame force it must be every where ;
Can beings be confin'd, which necessary are?
If a first body may to any place
Be not determin'd, in the boundless space,
'Tis plain, it then may abfent be from all;
Who then will this a felf-existence call?
As time does vaft eternity regard,
So place is with infinitude compar'd:
A being then, which never did commence,
Muft, as eternal, likewife be immense.
What cause within, or what without, is found,
That can a being uncreated bound?
None that's internal, for it has no cause;
Nor can it be control'd by foreign laws,
For then it clearly would dependent be
On force fuperior, which will ne'er agree
With felf-existence and neceflity.
Abfurdly then to atoms you allign
Such powers, and fuch prerogatives divine.
Thus while the notion of a God you flight,
Yourselves (who vainly think you reafon right)
Make vile material Gods, in number infinite.
Now let us, as 'tis juft, in turn prepare
To ftand the foe, and wage defenfive war.
Lucretius first, a mighty hero, fprings
Into the field, and his own triumph fings.
He brings, to make us from our ground retire,
The reasoner's weapons, and the poet's fire.
The tuneful fophift thus his battle forms,
Our bulwarks thus in polish'd armour storms :
To parent matter things their being owe,
Because from nothing no productions flow;
And, if we grant no pre-existent feed,
Things, different things, from what they do, might breed,
And any thing from any thing proceed;
The fpicy groves might Scythia's hills adorn,
The thistle might the amaranth have borne,
The vine the lemon, and the grape the thorn;
Herds from the hills, men from the feas might rife, 135
From woods the whales, and lions from the fkies.
Th' elated bard here, with a conqueror's air,
Difdainful fiiles, and bids his foes defpair.
But, Carus, here you use poetic charms,
And not affail us with the reafoner's arms.
Where all is clear, you fancy'd doubts remove,
And what we grant with ease, with labour prove.
What you would prove, but cannot, you decline;
But chufe a thing you can, and there you fhine.
Tell us, fam'd Roman, was it e'er denied,
That feeds for fuch productions are fupplied?
That Nature always muft materials find
For beafts and trees, to propagate their kind?
All generation, the rude peafant knows,
A pre-existent matter must suppose.
But what to Nature first her being gave?
Tell, whence your atoms their existence have?
We ask you, whence the feeds constituent spring
Of every plant, and every living thing?
Whence every creature should produce its kind,
And to its proper fpecies be confin'd ?
To answer this, Lucretius, will require
More than fweet numbers and poetic fire.
But fee how well the Poet will fupport
His caufe, if we the argument retort.
If Chance alone could manage, fort, divide,
And, beings to produce, your atoms guide;
If cafual concourfe did the world compose,
And things from hits fortuitous arose;
Then any thing might come from any thing;
For how from chance can constant order spring?
The forest oak might bear the blushing rose,
And fragrant myrtles thrive in Ruffian snows;
The fair pomegranate might adorn the pine,
The grape the bramble, and the floe the vine;
Fish from the plains, birds from the floods might rife,
And lowing herds break from the starry skies.
But, fee, the chief does keener weapons chufe,
Advances bold, and thus the fight renews :
"If I were doubtful of the fource and spring "Whence things arife, I from the fkies could bring, "And every part of Nature, proofs, to show "The world to Gods cannot its being owe; "So full of faults is all th' unartful frame : "First we the air's unpeopled defert blame.
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