DND 1.50a
Mischa Hooker / Cicero
- Created on 2021-09-29 21:17:36
- Translated by Yonge; Walsh
- Aligned by Mischa Hooker
Latin
English
English
Summa vero vis infinitatis et magna ac diligenti contemplatione dignissima est . In qua intellegi necesse est eam esse naturam , ut omnia omnibus paribus paria respondeant ; hanc isonomian appellat Epicurus , id est aequabilem tributionem . Ex hac igitur illud efficitur , si mortalium tanta multitudo sit , esse inmortalium non minorem , et si , quae interimant , innumerabilia sint , etiam ea , quae conservent infinita esse debere .
Surely the mighty power of the Infinite Being is most worthy our great and earnest contemplation ; the nature of which we must necessarily understand to be such that everything in it is made to correspond completely to some other answering part . This is called by Epicurus ἰσονομία ; that is to say , an equal distribution or even disposition of things . From hence he draws this inference ; that , as there is such a vast multitude of mortals , there cannot be a less number of immortals ; and if those which perish are innumerable , those which are preserved ought also to be countless .
The significance of the infinity just mentioned is supremely important , and repays close and careful scrutiny . We must grasp that its nature is such that there is an exact balance in all creation — what Epicurus calls isonomia or equal distribution . What follows from this principle is that if there is a specific quantity of mortal creatures , the tally of immortals is no fewer ; and again , if the destructive elements in the world are countless , the forces of conservation must likewise be infinite .