ENGLISH COMMENTARY
poetic fragment to his own remorseless version of the atomic doctrine. That this inconsistency in Lucretius was recognized by other ancient critics is clear from Lactantius,[1] who writes: 'what was of earth, that is resolved into earth: what was of heavenly spirit, that ever persists and lives, since the divine spirit is everlasting. Moreover Lucretius, forgetting his assertions and the dogma he was defending, has written these verses. . . . It was not for him, who maintained that spirits perish with their bodies, to say this; but he was vanquished by the Truth; reason surprised him and stole the verity from him.'
Ch. 51. The first two lines are from Euripides' extant play, The Suppliants. Iphis speaks them, beginning: 'I hate those who desire to prolong their life.' Plutarch has cited the lines, in connexion with Heraclitus' doctrine of the ever-flowing river of generation, in a tract upon Consolation. The context and source of the other two lines is unknown. The point is that adversity proceeds from God and that, like brave men, we must bear what befalls us. This is the title of many similar fragments in Stobaeus.[2]
Ch. 52. A Spartan, worsted at Olympia, was told: 'Your adversary proved the better man.' 'No,' he replied, 'not better; better able to throw his man.' The point is the superiority of moral courage.[3]
Chs. 53–8. After the purple threads of poetry the Book returns to reflections upon right conduct in everyday life, maxims of detail which are to keep alive the moral consciousness.[4]
Ch. 53. Action according to the general law brings with it advantage to the individual and deliverance from all harm.[5]
Ch. 54. The present is our concern, to be content with our dispensation, to behave justly, to govern our imaginations.[6]
Ch. 55. We are to keep Nature's straight path, independently of praise or blame;[7] thus we fulfil the dictates of a rational self, which is supreme in the scale of Nature.[8]In man's constitution
