ecla deditque ferarum ingentia corpora partu.[1]

The same mind which recognised these probabilities knew also that
our globe is not single, but that it forms one among an infinity of
sister orbs (ii. 1084):--

quapropter caelum simili ratione fatendumst
terramque et solem lunam mare, cetera quae sunt
non esse unica, sed numero magis innumerali.[2]

When Lucretius takes upon himself to describe the process of
becoming which made the world what it now is, he seems to incline to
a theory not at all dissimilar to that of unassisted evolution (v.
419):--

nam certe neque consilio primordia rerum
ordine se suo quaeque sagaci mente locarunt
nec quos quaeque darent motus pepigere profecto,
sed quia multa modis multis primordia rerum
ex infinito iam tempore percita plagis
ponderibusque suis consuerunt concita ferri
omnimodisque coire atque omnia pertemptare,
quaecumque inter se possent congressa creare,
propterea fit uti magnum volgata per aevom
omne genus coetus et motus experiundo
tandem conveniant ea quae convecta repente
magnarum rerum fiunt exordia saepe,
terrai maris et caeli generisque animantum.

[1] Compare book v. 306-317 on the evidences of decay
continually at work in the fabric of the world.

[2] The same truth is insisted on with even greater force
of language in vi. 649-652.

Entering into the details of the process, he describes the many
ill-formed, amorphous beginnings of organised life upon the globe,
which came to nothing, 'since nature set a ban upon their increase'
(v. 837-848); and then proceeds to explain how, in the struggle for
existence, the stronger prevailed over the weaker (v. 855-863). What
is really interesting in this exposition is that Lucretius ascribes
to nature the volition ('convertebat ibi natura foramina terrae;'
'quoniam natura absterruit auctum') which has recently been
attributed by materialistic speculators to the same maternal power.

To press these points, and to neglect the gap which separates
Lucretius from thinkers fortified by the discoveries of modern
chemistry, astronomy, physiology, and so forth, would be childish.
All we can do is to point to the fact that the circumambient
atmosphere of human ignorance, with reference to the main matters of
speculation, remains undissipated. The mass of experience acquired
since the age of Lucretius is enormous, and is infinitely valuable;
while our power of tabulating, methodisi