SOURCE: Cyril Bailey, "Atoms and Space," in The Greek Atomists and Epicurus, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1928, pp. 274-99.

Bailey's work on Epicurus has often been cited by fellow scholars as fundamental to the field—particularly his 1926 translation of the philosopher's works. The following chapter from his well-respected The Greek Atomists and Epicurus concentrates on Epicurus's concept of the atom. Bailey elucidates the originality of Epicurus's system, countering claims by earlier critics that he simply lifted Democritus 's thought.

In passing from Leucippus to Democritus the atomic theory … [grows] in consistency and harmony: with Epicurus the change is even more marked. It is now felt to be a system of interrelated parts: the connexion of one proposition with another has been thought out and the various conceptions involved in Atomism ordered and organized on fundamental principles. This impression is due in some degree, no doubt, to the form...