Please do a close reading of a passage provided below.

“The fact that you perceive some things, such as briny sea water, to be bitter as well as fluid should not cause you any surprise. Intermingled with the smooth and round atoms, to which the brine owes its fluidity, are rough particles that cause pain. But, in spite of their roughness, these particles cannot be hooked together: their ability to advance with a flowing motion and at the same time irritate the senses indicates that they are spherical as well as rough. And so that you will be more firmly convinced that it is a mixture of smooth and rough elements that constitutes the bitter substance of Neptune,29 there is a method of separating them and observing them apart: when the water is filtered several times through the earth into a pit, it loses its harshness and flows in a fresh stream; for it leaves behind the elements of nauseous brine, which,
because of their roughness, can more easily stick in the earth.”
(Lucretius, Book 2, p. 47)

Please keep in mind that a well-developed close reading should take into consideration the following:

A careful balance of evidence
You should spend some time analyzing the use of particular words
Present a compelling thesis you can advance throughout the close reading
Discuss how the text makes a certain assertion, considering the author’s use of metaphors, rhetorical strategies, themes , figurative speech, etc.
Explain how this passage relates to the rest of the essay, chapter, or book. If this passage were omitted, what would be lost from the text?
What are the key terms in the passage? Where else are they used in this text? What do they mean? What do they mean to you?

A good rule of thumb: for every line or sentence that you quote from the text, you should have a paragraph of your own to explain what it means, how it works, and how it fits into an argument. The close reading should be three to four pages long. For this writing exercise, please cite two outside sources.