, that atoms are eternal, subsisting by themselves,
independent from any other being, and consequently entirely perfect.
SECT. LXXVIII. The Suppositions of the Epicureans are False and
Chimerical.
Must we suppose, besides, that atoms have motion of themselves?
Shall we suppose it out of gaiety to give an air of reality to a
system more chimerical than the tales of the fairies? Let us
consult the idea we have of a body. We conceive it perfectly well
without supposing it to be in motion, and represent it to us at
rest; nor is its idea in this state less clear; nor does it lose its
parts, figure, or dimensions. It is to no purpose to suppose that
all bodies are perpetually in some motion, either sensible or
insensible; and that though some parts of matter have a lesser
motion than others, yet the universal mass of matter has ever the
same motion in its totality. To speak at this rate is building
castles in the air, and imposing vain imaginations on the belief of
others; for who has told these philosophers that the mass of matter
has ever the same motion in its totality? Who has made the
experiment of it? Have they the assurance to bestow the name of
philosophy upon a rash fiction which takes for granted what they
never can make out? Is there no more to do than to suppose whatever
one pleases in order to elude the most simple and most constant
truths? What authority have they to suppose that all bodies
incessantly move, either sensibly or insensibly? When I see a stone
that appears motionless, how will they prove to me that there is no
atom in that stone but what is actually in motion? Will they ever
impose upon me bare suppositions, without any semblance of truth,
for decisive proofs?
SECT.
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