concept

First-beginnings (atoms)

first-beginnings

also: primordia, semina rerum, corpora prima, first bodies

The indivisible, solid, everlasting particles from which all things are made and into which they dissolve. Lucretius rings the changes on their names -- primordia (first-beginnings), semina rerum (seeds of things), corpora prima (first bodies) -- all denoting the same atoms.

Reading notes

On the Nature of Things §4.2 images
The Epicurean 'simulacra': gossamer films of atoms, shed from the surfaces of things, whose flight explains sight, reflection, thought and dreams. The doctrine governs the whole first half of Book 4.
On the Nature of Things §6.3 seeds of fire
The first-beginnings (atoms): the indivisible, eternal bodies from which all things are made; here the 'seeds of fire' whose collision and release explain thunder, lightning, and the thunderbolt.
On the Nature of Things §6.28 first-beginnings
The atoms: here the first-beginnings of iron, drawn into the void opened by the lodestone's emanation.

Mentioned in 1 work (88 mentions)

On the Nature of Things poem · 88 mentions