Unfortunately, Aristotle saw nothing of value in the crude survival suggestion of Empedocles. He believed that there was a purpose, a continued striving after beauty, in all the variations of plants and animals, and allowed nothing whatever to what we, for lack of better knowledge, call “chance variation.” He did, however, restate Empedocles’ position in modern, scientific language in order that he might refute it the more ably. He argues strongly for his conception of purpose in evolution, saying, “It is argued that where all things happened as if they were made for some purpose, being aptly united by chance, these were preserved, but such as were not aptly made, these were lost and still perish.” He then makes reference to the way which Empedocles used this conception to explain the non-existence of the mythical monsters of olden time, states again that nothing is produced by chance, and closes with the statement, “There is, therefore, a purpose in things which are produced by, and exist from, Nature.” Aristotle was far and away ahead of any other evolutionist of ancient times; indeed, had he turned his genius to the clarification and support of the survival hypothesis, instead of combating it, he might have been properly considered as the “Greek prophet of Darwinism.” His teachings were opposed by the philosopher Epicurus, who lived from 341 to 270 and was one of the most prominent figures of ancient rationalism. Epicurus did not believe in anything supernatural; he maintained that everything could be explained on a purely natural and mechanical basis. He excluded teleology, the doctrine of a conscious plan or purpose in evolution and nature from any place in true philosophy, thus taking an important stand in a struggle not yet settled. Unfortunately, Epicurus did not take the trouble to explain what his postulated natural causes were, or how they behaved. The agnostic may well say, with Elliot, that the organic world _seems_ to be teleologically organized merely because it cannot be organized otherwise, but he must stand ready to show grounds for his statement. After Epicurus we must pass from Greece to Rome. T. Lucretius Carus (99-55), more commonly known as Lucretius, revived the teachings of ancient Greek philosophers and united them with those of Epicurus, whose doctrines he made famous in the long poem, “De Rerum Natura.” Lucretius maintained a purely mechanical, rationalistic view of nature, but ignored the valuable work of Aristotle. He revived Empedocles’ hypothesis of survival, but confined its application to the mythical monsters of past ages--centaurs, chimeras, and so on. He believed in the spontaneous generation of life, speaking of mounds arising, “from which people sprang forth, for they had been nourished within.” “In an analogous manner,” says he, “these young earth-children were nourished by springs of milk.”