TLucretius Carus, Of the nature of things . THE LIFE OF HE prefent Defign does not requirean exad Search into the Rife ofPhilofophy^ nor a nice Enquiry,whether it began amongft theBrachmans ; and from them^ asLucian^ in Fugitivis, ranks theCountries, vifited ^Ethiopia, iEgypt,Scythia, Thrace and Greece; or whether Curio-fity, or Ncceffity, was the Parent of it: The Chal-deans were invited to Aftronomy by the advan-tageoufnefs of their wide-extended Plains: and theOverflowing of the Nile forcd the Egyptians to becurious in the Properties of Figures: But 1 (hall takeit for granted, t

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TLucretius Carus, Of the nature of things . THE LIFE OF HE prefent Defign does not requirean exad Search into the Rife ofPhilofophy^ nor a nice Enquiry,whether it began amongft theBrachmans ; and from them^ asLucian^ in Fugitivis, ranks theCountries, vifited ^Ethiopia, iEgypt,Scythia, Thrace and Greece; or whether Curio-fity, or Ncceffity, was the Parent of it: The Chal-deans were invited to Aftronomy by the advan-tageoufnefs of their wide-extended Plains: and theOverflowing of the Nile forcd the Egyptians to becurious in the Properties of Figures: But 1 (hall takeit for granted, that Philofophy came from the Eaft:the Truth of this, not to mention the weak Oppo-fitions of Laertius, in his Preface, the Travels ofThales and Pythagoras, of Democritus, Plato, andothers^ fuffigiently evince : and the Egyptians af- 3 firm^ The Life 0/Lucre tius. firm, that the feveral Methods of Philofophy of theabove-mentiond Antients are only their Notionsdifguisdj drefsd after a Greek Faftiion^ and in thatGarb proposd to their Admirers. Thus tis pro- .bable,

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