Omnibus epotis umoribus exsuperarint;
Quod facere intendunt, neque adhuc conata patrantur[60].
(3) It is to be observed, also, how vividly Lucretius realises and how steadfastly he keeps before his mind the ideas of the eternity and infinity of the primordial atoms and of space. These conceptions support him in his antagonism to the popular religion, and deepen the feeling with which he contemplates human life and Nature. Our world of earth, sea, and sky is only one among infinite other systems. It stands to the universe in much the same proportion as any single man to the whole earth—
Et videas caelum summai totius unum
Quam sit parvula pars et quam multesima constet
Nec tota pars, homo terrai quota totius unus[61].
It was the glory of Epicurus that he first passed beyond the empyrean that bounds our world—
Atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque[62].
The immensity of the universe is incompatible with the constant agency and interference of the gods,—