The Polemic of Plutarch 65
is necessary that the atoms swerve slightly-but not more than the
minimum; otherwise, we would seem to be inventing oblique motions
and then the plain facts would refute us. For we see this obviously and
apparently, that heavy bodies, insofar as they are heavy bodies, cannot
move obliquely, when they fall from above, at least not enough that you
could observe it. But who could claim to perceive that none of them
swerves at all from a perfectly straight path?
- Finally, if every motion is always linked to another, and new
motions always arise from the old in definite order, and the atoms do
not produce by swerving a starting point for motion which can break
the bonds of fate and prevent one cause from following another from
infinity, where does this free will which living things throughout the
world have, where, I say, does this will torn from the grasp of the fates
come from? Through this we all go where each one's pleasure^28 leads
and swerve from our paths at undetermined times and places, just as our
minds incline to do. For it is far from doubtful that everyone's own will
provides the starting point for these things and that this is the source of
motion in our limbs .... - That is why it is necessary to admit the same thing for the
atoms, namely, that there is another cause of motion besides blows [from
collisions] and weight, which is the source of our inborn capability [to
act freely], since we see that nothing can come from nothing. For the
weight of the atoms prevents it from being the case that everything
happens as a result of the blows [of collisions], which are like an external
force. But that the mind itself does not have an internal necessity in all
its actions, and that it is not forced, as though in chains, to suffer and
endure, that is what this tiny swerve of the atoms, occurring at no fixed
time or place, accomplishes.
The Polemic of Plutarch
The later Platonist Plutarch (first to second century A.D.) wrote a
polemical treatise Against Colotes which contains a wide range of useful
information about Epicureanism, as one might expect in a sustained
criticism of one of Epicurus' early followers. What follow are excerpts
dealing in particular with epistemology and physics.- 'Will' just above and 'pleasure' here appear in the opposite order in the manuscripts.
We follow most editors in reversing them, although some editors defend the transmitted
text. In Latin, the two words differ by one letter.