Note 45 — Chapter XVII · THE EPICUREAN VIEWS ON NATURE.
Oswald J. (Oswald Joseph) Reichel translation
Lucr. v. 416–508; Plut. Plac. i. 4. The latter view has been referred, in vol. i. 604, to the Atomists. It would now appear that it must be deduced from Epicureanism, and its agreement with the views attributed to Leucippus in other places explained by the well-known connection between Epicurus and Democritus. The views of Epicurus on the formation of the world do not entirely agree with those of Democritus. It was probably with an eye to Democritus (compare the extracts in vol. i. 608 from Orig. Philosoph. p. 17) that Epicurus, in Diog. 90, denied that the world could be increased from without, or that sun and moon could be possibly absorbed in our world. Lucret. ii. 1105, however, supposes an increase of the world from without to be possible. ↑