[six] “A Descent into the Maelstrom” + Democritus

At the beginning of Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelstrom”, there is a quote—

“The ways of God in Nature, as in Providence, are not as our ways; nor are the models that we frame any way commensurate to the vastness, profundity, and unsearchableness of His works, which have a depth in them greater than the well of Democritus.” -Joseph Glanville.

After a bit of research, I found that the Greek philosopher Democritus was very similar to some of the characters mentioned in The Biographer’s Tale, such as Elmer Bole and Carl Linnaeus. In his time, Democritus is said to have traveled to places perhaps as far away as India, Ethiopia and Egypt. He also studied a wide variety of subjects including ethics, natural science, nature/natural phenomena, math, literature, farming, painting and history. One of his more famous works is titled Causes Concerned with Seed and Plants and Fruits—an interesting parallel with the botany work of Carl Linnaeus. Democritus was also considered an early Materialist—a kindred soul with A.S. Byatt’s character Phineas G. Nanson, who is says “I need a life full of things…Full of facts”—MATTER  (page 7). But did A.S. Byatt purposely reference Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelstrom” not only for the story’s content but also for the story’s epigraph written by  Joseph Glanville, (a seventeenth century writer, natural philosopher and clergyman), that in turn makes reference to the philosopher Democritus who shares strong parallels to some of A.S. Byatt’s leading characters? Or is this all a metaphor for the multi-layered, woven tapestry that literature has become since the advent of spoken language that no author (s) can ultimately isolate or detach themselves from?