Chapter 6. LEUCIPPUS1
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Leucippus was born at Elea, but some say at
Abdera and others at Miletus. He was a pupil of Zeno. His views were
these. The sum of things
is unlimited, and they
all change into one another. The All includes the empty as well as
the full. The worlds are formed when atoms fall into the void and
are entangled with one another ; and from their motion as they
increase in bulk arises the substance of the stars. The sun revolves
in a larger circle round the moon. The earth rides steadily, being
whirled about the centre ; its shape is like that of a drum.
Leucippus was the first to set up atoms as first principles. Such is
a general summary of his views ; on particular points they are as
follows.
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He declares the All to be unlimited, as already
stated ; but of the All part is full and part empty,
2
and these he calls elements. Out of them arise the worlds unlimited
in number and into them they are dissolved. This is how the worlds
are formed. In a given section many atoms of all manner of shapes
are carried from the unlimited into the vast empty space. These
collect together and form a single vortex, in which they jostle
against each other and, circling round in every possible way,
separate off, by like atoms joining like. And, the atoms being so
numerous that they can no longer revolve in equilibrium, the light
ones pass into the empty space outside, as if they were being
winnowed ; the remainder keep together and, becoming entangled, go
on their circuit together, and form a primary spherical system.
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This
parts off like a shell, enclosing within it atoms of all kinds ;
and, as these are whirled round by virtue of the resistance of the
centre, the enclosing shell becomes thinner, the adjacent atoms
continually combining when they touch the vortex.
In this way the earth is formed by portions brought to the centre
coalescing. And again, even the outer shell grows larger by the
influx of atoms from outside, and, as it is carried round in the
vortex, adds to itself whatever atoms it touches. And of these some
portions are locked together and form a mass, at first damp and
miry, but, when they have dried and revolve with the universal
vortex, they afterwards take fire and form the substance of the
stars.
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The orbit of the sun is the outermost, that of the
moon nearest to the earth; the orbits of the other heavenly bodies
lie between these two. All the stars are set on fire by the speed of
their motion; the burning of the sun is also helped by the stars;
the moon is only slightly kindled. The sun and the moon are eclipsed
[when ..., but the obliquity of the zodiacal circle is due
3] to the inclination of the earth to the
south ; the regions of the north are always shrouded in mist, and
are extremely cold and frozen. Eclipses of the sun are rare ;
eclipses of the moon constantly occur, and this because their orbits
are unequal. As the world is born, so, too, it grows, decays and
perishes, in virtue of some necessity, the nature of which he does
[not] specify.
