Leukippos
© Hermead of Surazeus
2011 11 13

Short speech from Melissos in my tale about Leukippos,
the first atomist, a convoluted mess of logic
that inspired Leukippos to develop the idea of Atoms,
an uncuttable particle that forms all things.

Melissos stands before class on wood stage
of theater and lectures on existence.
"Permenides and Zenon taught our world
is One continuous fabric of material,
One complete whole that exists without void,
for if something exists, it always is.
Whatever appears as object in bounds
we perceive must have beginning in time,
but eternal One that permeates all
never began from nothing, to become,
and never ends in nothing, to decease,
for whatever has beginning or end
is not eternal nor unlimited,
so since being has no beginning or end
all things that exist and can be defined
are eternal, unlimited, and real.
Whatever changes is altered in shape,
and whatever is altered is not whole,
but eternal One is whole, so vast One
is never altered and will never change,
for to be empty is nothing, unreal,
and what is nothing can never exist,
yet One exists, and One is never empty,
and so what is not empty must be full,
therefore One is full of all that exists,
yet whatever has motion is not full
so whatever is full is motionless,
and since One is full, One is motionless.
Eternal One is whole in its own self,
therefore One has no thickness nor small parts,
so One is not bound inside body shells,
having no tight limits in time or space."