I found all of these reading selections very fascinating. The most interesting thing to me was the different ways that creation was descried by each author. First, Lucretius described creation as a bunch of turbulent atoms/motes with potential energy that causes creation out of chaos. This potential energy gives atoms agency but the randomness of their movement means there is no spirit or consciousness to them.
In Ovid's Metamorphosis, there is void matter which is the elements in inert, opposing, disoriented, contradictory order. God is able to mold this void matter into creation. Here there is agency, which occurs when neighboring matter cross over with each other, spirit, and consciousness. In Dryden + crew's translation of Metamorphosis, creation is described as chaotic matter that is rhythmically organized by god. Here there is agency, spirit, and consciousness belonging to god. Paradise Lost shares a similar description of creation. In Paradise Lost, creation is also described as chaotic matter but in this instance, it is manipulated by god, has agency to continue after creation, but no spirit or consciousness of its own. I found it very interesting that stories that were all more or less describing the same story could come about it so differently than on another.
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