Lucretius - Rouse
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
T. Lucreti Cari de Rerum Natura
Liber Primus
Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas,
alma Venus, caeli subter labentia signa
quae mare navigerum, quae terras frugiferentis
concelebras, per te quoniam genus omne animantum
5concipitur visitque exortum lumina solis:
te, dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila caeli
adventumque tuum, tibi suavis daedala tellus
summittit flores, tibi rident aequora ponti
placatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum.
10nam simul ac species patefactast verna diei
et reserata viget genitabilis aura favoni,
aeriae primum volucres te, diva, tuumque
significant initum perculsae corda tua vi.
15inde ferae, pecudes persultant pabula laeta
1415et rapidos tranant amnis: ita capta lepore
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De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
Book 1
Mother of Aeneas and his race, darling of men and gods, nurturing Venus,a who beneath the smooth-moving heavenly signs fill with yourself the sea full-laden with ships, the earth that bears the crops, since through you every kind of living thing is conceived and rising up looks on the light of the sun: from you, O goddess, from you the winds flee away, the clouds of heaven from you and your coming; for you the wonder-working earth puts forth sweet flowers, for you the wide stretches of ocean laugh, and heaven grown peaceful glows with outpoured light. For as soon as the vernal face of day is made manifest, and the breeze of the teeming west wind blows fresh and free, first the fowls of the air proclaim you, divine one, and your advent, pierced to the heart by your might. Next wild creatures and farm animals dance over the rich pastures and swim across rapid rivers: so greedily does each one follow you, held captive by your charm,
Footnotes
aVenus in this invocation is a figure of extraordinary complexity: as well as being the goddess of traditional religion and mythology who was mother of Aeneas and the Roman people, who was loved by Mars, and who appears on the coins of the gens Memmia, she is the Empedoclean principle of Love (as opposed to Mars = Strife), representing the creative forces in the world, and she is the personification of the Epicurean summum bonum, pleasure (voluptas). Lucr. addresses her not only as the power of physical creation, but also as the giver of charm to his poetry (21–28). Spenser imitates 1–25 in The Faerie Queene 4.10.44–47.
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
te sequitur cupide quo quamque inducere pergis.
denique, per maria ac montis fluviosque rapacis
frondiferasque domos avium camposque virentis,
omnibus incutiens blandum per pectora amorem,
20efficis ut cupide generatim saecla propagent.
Quae quoniam rerum naturam sola gubernas,
nec sine te quicquam dias in luminis oras
exoritur neque fit laetum neque amabile quicquam,
te sociam studeo scribendis versibus esse
25quos ego de rerum natura pangere conor
Memmiadae nostro, quem tu, dea, tempore in omni
omnibus ornatum voluisti excellere rebus.
quo magis aeternum da dictis, diva, leporem.
Effice ut interea fera moenera militiai
30per maria ac terras omnis sopita quiescant;
nam tu sola potes tranquilla pace iuvare
mortalis, quoniam belli fera moenera Mavors
armipotens regit, in gremium qui saepe tuum se
reiicit aeterno devictus vulnere amoris,
35atque ita suspiciens tereti cervice reposta
pascit amore avidos inhians in te, dea, visus,
eque tuo pendet resupini spiritus ore.
hunc tu, diva, tuo recubantem corpore sancto
circumfusa super, suavis ex ore loquellas
40funde petens placidam Romanis, incluta, pacem;
nam neque nos agere hoc patriai tempore iniquo
Footnotes
34reiicit Lactantius Placidius on Statius. Theb. 3.296 (manuscripts LPb): reicit QG, Lact. Plac., loc. cit. (MPa): reficit O
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whither you go on to lead them. Then throughout seas and mountains and sweeping torrents and the leafy dwellings of birds and verdant plains, striking alluring love into the breasts of all creatures, you cause them greedily to beget their generations after their kind.
21Since therefore you alone govern the nature of
things, since without you nothing comes forth into the shining borders of light, nothing joyous and lovely is made, you I crave as partner in writing the verses, which I essay to fashion on the Nature of Things,a for my friend Memmius, whom you, goddess, have willed at all times to excel, endowed with all gifts. Therefore all the more grant to my speech, goddess, an ever-living charm.
29Cause meanwhile the savage works of war to
sleep and be still over every sea and land. For you alone can delight mortals with quiet peace, since Mars b mighty in battle rules the savage works of war, who often casts himself upon your lap wholly vanquished by the ever-living wound of love, and thus looking upward, with shapely neck thrown back, feeds his eager eyes with love, gaping upon you, goddess, and, as he lies back, his breath hangs upon your lips.c There as he reclines, goddess, upon your sacred body, do you, bending around him from above, pour from your lips sweet coaxings, and for your Romans, illustrious one, crave quiet peace. For in this time of our country’s troubles neither can I do
Footnotes
aThe title of the poem—a translation of Περὶ Φύσεως, the title both of Epicurus’ chief work and of one of the poems of Empedocles, whom Lucr. deeply admired (716–733).
bIt has been suggested (D. E. W. Wormell in G and R ser. 2, 7 [1960] 61) that Lucr. uses the archaic form Mavors to emphasize the connexion between Mars and mors.
cLucr.’s description, which may owe something to a painting or sculpture, probably had some influence, through Politian, on Botticelli’s Marte e Venere (cf. note on 5.740). Certainly Byron had it in mind in Childe Harold 4.51.
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
possumus aequo animo nec Memmi clara propago
talibus in rebus communi desse saluti.
omnis enim per se divom natura necessest
45inmortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur
semota ab nostris rebus seiunctaque longe;
nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis,
ipsa suis pollens opibus, nil indiga nostri,
nec bene promeritis capitur neque tangitur ira.
Quod superest, vacuas auris animumque sagacem
51semotum a curis adhibe veram ad rationem,
ne mea dona tibi studio disposta fideli,
intellecta prius quam sint, contempta relinquas.
nam tibi de summa caeli ratione deumque
55disserere incipiam, et rerum primordia pandam,
unde omnis natura creet res auctet alatque
quove eadem rursum natura perempta resolvat,
quae nos materiem et genitalia corpora rebus
reddunda in ratione vocare et semina rerum
60appellare suëmus et haec eadem usurpare
corpora prima, quod ex illis sunt omnia primis.
Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret
in terris oppressa gravi sub religione,
Footnotes
44-49which recur in 2.646–651, are excluded or bracketed by most editors. However, strong arguments for the retention of the lines are summarized by Bailey 601–602, 1750. It is true that the passage comes in abruptly, and it may be assumed that Lucr. first wrote it in Book 2, and later inserted it here without adjusting it properly to its new context. In view of this manifest lack of revision, it seems unnecessary and unwise to assume a lacuna either before or after the lines 50 vacuas auris animumque sagacem scholia Veronensia on Virgil, G. 3.3: ut (deleted by O corr.) vacuas auris OQG
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my part with untroubled mind, nor can the noble scion of the Memmii at such a season be wanting to the common weal.a [I pray to you for peace,] for
the very nature of divinity must necessarily enjoy immortal life in the deepest peace, far removed and separated from our affairs; for without any pain, without danger, itself mighty by its own resources, needing us not at all, it is neither propitiated with services nor touched by wrath.b
50For the rest,c ears unpreoccupied and keen intelligence
detached from cares you should apply to true philosophy, that my gifts, set forth for you with faithful solicitude, may not by you be contemptuously discarded before they have been apprehended. For I shall begin to discourse to you upon the most
high system of heaven and of the gods, and I shall disclose the first-beginnings of things,d from which nature makes all things and increases and nourishes them, and into which the same nature again reduces them when dissolved—which, in discussing philosophy, we are accustomed to call matter, and bodies that generate things, and seeds of things, and to entitle the same first bodies, because from them as first elements all things are.
62When man’s life lay for all to see foully grovelling
upon the ground, crushed beneath the weight of
Footnotes
aProbably an allusion to Memmius’ praetorship of 58 b.c.
bCf. Epicurus, Sent. 1.
cThe absence of the expected address to Memmius by name is probably due to lack of revision rather than to a textual loss (cf. critical note on 44–49), unless—and this is improbable—the name has dropped out of 50, a defective line in the manuscripts (see critical note).
dThe atoms.
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
quae caput a caeli regionibus ostendebat
65horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans,
primum Graius homo mortalis tollere contra
est oculos ausus primusque obsistere contra,
quem neque fama deum nec fulmina nec minitanti
murmure compressit caelum, sed eo magis acrem
70inritat animi virtutem, effringere ut arta
naturae primus portarum claustra cupiret.
ergo vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra
processit longe flammantia moenia mundi
atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque,
75unde refert nobis victor quid possit oriri,
quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique
quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens.
quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim
obteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.
80Illud in his rebus vereor, ne forte rearis
impia te rationis inire elementa viamque
indugredi sceleris. quod contra saepius illa
religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta:
Footnotes
66tollere OQGP: tendere Nonius p. 662 Lindsay, which may be right (cf. 4.325, Virgil, Aen. 2.405), since Nonius quotes the line specifically to illustrate this use of the verb
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Superstition,a which displayed her head from the regions of heaven, lowering over mortals with horrible aspect, a man of Greeceb was the first that dared to uplift mortal eyes against her, the first to make stand against her; for neither fables of the gods could quell him, nor thunderbolts, nor heaven with menacing roar, but all the more they goaded the eager courage of his soul, so that he should desire, first of all men, to shatter the confining bars of nature’s gates. Therefore the lively power of his
mind prevailed, and forth he marched far beyond the flaming walls of the world,c as he traversed the immeasurable universe in thought and imagination; whence victorious he returns bearing his prize, the knowledge what can come into being, what can not, in a word, how each thing has its powers limited and its deep-set boundary mark.d Therefore Superstition is now in her tum cast down and trampled underfoot, whilst we by the victory are exalted high as heaven.
80One thing I fear in this matter, that in this
your apprenticeship to philosophy you may perhaps see impiety, and the entering on a path of crime; whereas on the contrary more often it is that very Superstition which has brought forth criminal and
Footnotes
aThis or “false religion,” not “religion,” is the meaning of religio. The Epicureans were opposed not to religion (cf. 6.68–79), but to the traditional religion which taught that the gods govern the world. That Lucr. regarded religio as synonymous with superstitio is implied by super . . . instans in 65. The connexion of superstition with the celestial regions, stated in 64, is emphasized by the fact that the letters of RELIGIONE are contained in caELI REGIONibus (for further examples of this kind of play upon words in Lucr., see P. Friedländer in AJPhil. 62 [1941] 16–34). On the imagery in 62–79, see especially D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 57–63.
bEpicurus.
cCf. Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy 3.2 (of Milton): “He pass’d the flaming bounds of space and time.” Lucr. refers to the fiery belt around our world (cf. 2.1144, 5.454), but also is picturing Epicurus as a general successfully storming the walls and setting them ablaze.
d76-77 = 595-596, 5.89-90, 6.65-66.
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
Aulide quo pacto Triviai virginis aram
85Iphianassai turparunt sanguine foede
ductores Danaum delecti, prima virorum.
cui simul infula virgineos circumdata comptus
ex utraque pari malarum parte profusast,
et maestum simul ante aras adstare parentem
90sensit et hunc propter ferrum celare ministros
aspectuque suo lacrimas effundere civis,
muta metu terram genibus summissa petebat.
nec miserae prodesse in tali tempore quibat
quod patrio princeps donarat nomine regem;
95nam sublata virum manibus tremibundaque ad aras
deductast, non ut sollemni more sacrorum
perfecto posset claro comitari Hymenaeo,
sed casta inceste nubendi tempore in ipso
hostia concideret mactatu maesta parentis—
100exitus ut classi felix faustusque daretur.
tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
Tutemet a nobis iam quo vis tempore, vatum
terriloquis victus dictis, desciscere quaeres.
quippe etenim quam multa tibi iam fingere possunt
105somnia, quae vitae rationes vertere possint
fortunasque tuas omnis turbare timore!
Footnotes
104tibi iam OP: tibi me QG: tibimet (cf. 102). E. Orth, Helmantica 11 (1960) 123–124 possunt Marullus: possum OQGP
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impious deeds: as when at Aulisa the altar of our Lady of the Crosswaysb was foully defiled by the blood of Iphianassa, shed by chosen leaders of the Danai, chieftains of the host. So soon as the ribbonc had bound her maiden tresses falling in equal lengths down either cheek, so soon as she saw her father standing sorrowful before the altar, and by his side attendants hiding the knife, and the people shedding tears at the sight of her, dumb with dread, she sank to the ground upon her knees. Alas, poor girl! no help could it be to her at such a time that the name of father had been bestowed on the king first by her; for uplifted by the hands of men, all trembling she was brought to the altar, not that amidst solemn and sacred ritual she might be escorted by loud hymeneal song, but a clean maiden to fall by unclean hands at the very age of wedlock, a victim sorrowful slain by a father’s hand: all in order that a fair and fortunate release might be given to the fleet. So potent was Superstition in persuading to evil deeds.d
102You will yourself some day or other seek to fall
away from us, overborne by the terrific utterances of priests.e Yes indeed, for how many dreams can they even now invent for you, enough to upset the principles of life and to confound all your fortunes
Footnotes
aA port of Boeotia where the Greek ships assembled before sailing to Troy. Artemis, whom Agamemnon had offended, detained the fleet with contrary winds. To appease her, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia, whom Lucr. calls Iphianassa. Iphigenia came to Aulis in the belief that she was to marry Achilles, and in 95–96 Lucr. uses terms (sublata, tremibunda, deducta) that are appropriate not only to the sacrifice, but also to a wedding ceremony.
bDiana (Artemis).
cThe mark of the victim.
dVoltaire, an ardent admirer of Lucr., believed that line 101 would last as long as the world.
evatum (cf. 109) refers to all professional supporters of traditional religion and mythology, both priests and poets—including (see E. J. Kenney, Mnemos. ser. 4, 23 [1970] 378) Ennius.
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
et merito; nam si certam finem esse viderent
aerumnarum homines, aliqua ratione valerent
religionibus atque minis obsistere vatum.
110nunc ratio nulla est restandi, nulla facultas,
aeternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum.
ignoratur enim quae sit natura animai,
nata sit an contra nascentibus insinuetur,
et simul intereat nobiscum morte dirempta,
115an tenebras Orci visat vastasque lacunas,
an pecudes alias divinitus insinuet se,
Ennius ut noster cecinit, qui primus amoeno
detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam
per gentis Italas hominum quae clara clueret;
120etsi praeterea tamen esse Acherusia templa
Ennius aeternis exponit versibus edens,
quo neque permaneant animae neque corpora nostra,
sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia miris;
unde sibi exortam semper florentis Homeri
125commemorat speciem lacrimas effundere salsas
coepisse et rerum naturam expandere dictis.
Quapropter bene cum superis de rebus habenda
nobis est ratio, solis lunaeque meatus
qua fiant ratione, et qua vi quaeque gerantur
130in terris, tum cum primis ratione sagaci
unde anima atque animi constet natura videndum,
et quae res nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes
Footnotes
122permaneant OQGP: permānent Politian, an attractive proposal
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with fear ! And with reason; for if men saw that a limit has been set to tribulation, somehow they would have strength to defy the superstitions and threatenings of the priests; but, as it is, there is no way of resistance and no power, because everlasting punishment is to be feared after death. For there is ignorance what is the nature of the soul, whether it be born or on the contrary find its way into men at birth, and whether it perish together with us when broken up by death, or whether it visit the gloom of Orcus and his vasty chasms, or by divine ordinance find its way into animals in our stead, as our own Enniusa sang, who first brought down from pleasant Heliconb a chaplet of evergreen leafage to win a glorious name through the nations of Italian men; although nevertheless he also sets forth in everlasting verses that there exist regions of Acheron,c which neither our spirits nor our bodies endure to reach, but certain similitudes of them pallid in wondrous wise; whence he avers that the likeness of ever deathless Homer issued forth, and began to shed salt tears and to unfold the nature of things.
127Therefore not only must we lay down right
principles concerning things celestial, how the courses of sun and moon come about, and by what power all is done upon earth, but also most especially we must examine with keen-scented reasoning, of what the
spirit is made and the nature of the mind,d and what thing it is that meeting us when awake terrifies our
Footnotes
aEnnius (239–169 b.c.), Lucr.’s chief poetic model, accepted the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, and believed that the soul of Homer had passed into himself. ENNIus . . . perENNI (117-118) emphasizes the immortality of the poet’s work (cf. note on 63).
bMountain in Boeotia, home of the Muses.
cOne of the rivers of the underworld; hence the lower world itself, templa (same root as τέμνω) is a term of augury for the quarters or houses into which the sky is divided by the augurs. It thus has a solemn tone. The templum of a god is his τέμενoς. Hence the wider sense of regions or realms.
dOn the animus and anima, see 3.94-416 and Introduction p. xxxvi.
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
terrificet morbo adfectis somnoque sepultis,
cernere uti videamur eos audireque coram,
135morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa.
Nec me animi fallit Graiorum obscura reperta
difficile inlustrare Latinis versibus esse,
multa novis verbis praesertim cum sit agendum
propter egestatem linguae et rerum novitatem;
140sed tua me virtus tamen et sperata voluptas
suavis amicitiae quemvis efferre laborem
suadet, et inducit noctes vigilare serenas
quaerentem dictis quibus et quo carmine demum
clara tuae possim praepandere lumina menti,
145res quibus occultas penitus convisere possis.
Hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.
principium cuius hinc nobis exordia sumet,
150nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus umquam.
quippe ita formido mortalis continet omnis,
quod multa in terris fieri caeloque tuentur
quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre
possunt, ac fieri divino numine rentur.
156155quas ob res ubi viderimus nil posse creari
157de nilo, tum quod sequimur iam rectius inde
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minds whilst we are labouring under disease, or buried in sleep, so that we seem to see and to hear in very presence those who have encountered death, whose bones rest in earth’s embrace.a
136Nor do I fail to understand that it is difficult
to make clear the dark discoveries of the Greeks in Latin verses, especially since we have often to employ new words because of the poverty of the language and the novelty of the mattersb; but still it is your merit, and the expected delight of your
pleasant friendship,c that persuades me to undergo any labour,d and entices me to spend the tranquil nights in wakefulness, seeking by what words and what poetry at last I may be able to display clear lights before your mind, whereby you may see into the heart of things hidden.
146This terror of mind therefore and this gloom
must be dispelled, not by the sun’s rays or the bright shafts of day, but by the aspect and law of nature.e The first principle of our study we will derive from
this, that no thing is ever by divine power produced from nothing.f For assuredly a dread holds all mortals thus in bond, because they behold many things happening in heaven and earth whose causes they can by no means see, and they think them to be done by divine power. For which reasons, when we shall perceive that nothing can be created from nothing, then we shall at once more correctly understand from that principle what we are seeking, both
Footnotes
aFor the explanation of such visions, see 4.33-41, 757-767.
bFor the abstruseness of Lucr.’s subject, cf. 922, 933 (=4.8); for the poverty of his native language, cf. 832, 3.260; for his consciousness of being a pioneer, cf. 926–934 (=4.1–9), 5.336–337.
cSee Introduction p. xlviii.
dLucr. again refers to his laborious (though pleasurable) task in 2.730, 3.419.
e146–148=2.59–61, 3.91–93, 6.39–41.
fCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 38: πpῶτoν μὲν ὅτι oὐδὲν γίνετaι ἐκ
τoῦ μὴ ὄντoς.
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158perspiciemus, et unde queat res quaeque creari
155et quo quaeque modo fiant opera sine divom.
Nam si de nilo fierent, ex omnibu’ rebus
160omne genus nasci posset, nil semine egeret.
e mare primum homines, e terra posset oriri
squamigerum genus et volucres erumpere caelo;
armenta atque aliae pecudes, genus omne ferarum,
incerto partu culta ac deserta tenerent;
165nec fructus idem arboribus constare solerent,
sed mutarentur: ferre omnes omnia possent.
quippe ubi non essent genitalia corpora cuique,
qui posset mater rebus consistere certa?
at nunc seminibus quia certis quaeque creantur,
170inde enascitur atque oras in luminis exit
materies ubi inest cuiusque et corpora prima;
atque hac re nequeunt ex omnibus omnia gigni,
quod certis in rebus inest secreta facultas.
Praeterea cur vere rosam, frumenta calore,
175vites autumno fundi suadente videmus,
si non, certa suo quia tempore semina rerum
cum confluxerunt, patefit quodcumque creatur,
dum tempestates adsunt et vivida tellus
tuto res teneras effert in luminis oras?
180quod si de nilo fierent, subito exorerentur
incerto spatio atque alienis partibus anni,
quippe ubi nulla forent primordia quae genitali
concilio possent arceri tempore iniquo.
Nec porro augendis rebus spatio foret ususs
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the source from which each thing can be made and the manner in which everything is done without the working of gods.
159For if things came out of nothing, all kinds of
things could be produced from all things, nothing would want a seed.a Firstly, men could arise from the sea, from the earth scaly tribes, and birds could hatch from the sky; cattle and other farm animals and every kind of wild creature would fill desert and cultivated land alike, with no certainty as to birth.b Nor would trees be constant in bearing the same fruit, but they would interchange: all would be able to bear all. Seeing that there would be no bodies apt to generate each kind, how could there be a constant unchanging mother for things? But as it is, because every kind is produced from fixed seeds, the source of everything that is born and comes forth into the borders of light is that in which is the material of it and its first bodies; and therefore it is impossible that all things be born from all things, because in particular things resides a distinct power.
174Besides, why do we see the rose put forth in
spring, corn in the heat, grapes under persuasion of autumn, unless because each created thing discloses itself when at their own time the fixed seeds of things have streamed together, while the due seasons are present and the lively earth safely brings out things young and tender into the borders of light? But if they came from nothing, suddenly they would arise at uncertain intervals and at unsuitable times of the year; naturally, for there would be no first-beginnings to be restrained from generative union by the unfavourable season.
184Nor furthermore would time be needed for the
Footnotes
aLucr. is translating Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 38.
bThat is, there would be no certainty that a wild animal would be born in the wilds, a farm animal on the farm.
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
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Lucretius
185seminis ad coitum, si e nilo crescere possent;
nam fierent iuvenes subito ex infantibu’ parvis,
e terraque exorta repente arbusta salirent.
quorum nil fieri manifestum est, omnia quando
paulatim crescunt, ut par est, semine certo,
190crescentesque genus servant; ut noscere possis
quidque sua de materie grandescere alique.
Huc accedit uti sine certis imbribus anni
laetificos nequeat fetus submittere tellus
nec porro secreta cibo natura animantum
195propagare genus possit vitamque tueri;
ut potius multis communia corpora rebus
multa putes esse, ut verbis elementa videmus,
quam sine principiis ullam rem existere posse.
Denique cur homines tantos natura parare
200non potuit, pedibus qui pontum per vada possent
transire et magnos manibus divellere montis
multaque vivendo vitalia vincere saecla,
si non materies quia rebus reddita certast
gignundis e qua constat quid possit oriri?
205nil igitur fieri de nilo posse fatendumst,
semine quando opus est rebus quo quaeque creatae
aeris in teneras possint proferrier auras.
Postremo quoniam incultis praestare videmus
culta loca et manibus melioris reddere fetus,
210esse videlicet in terris primordia rerum
quae nos, fecundas vertentes vomere glebas
terraique solum subigentes, cimus ad ortus.
Footnotes
191materie G, Nonius p. 165 Lindsay: materia OP: materiae Q, G corr.
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growth of things, for seeds to collect, if they could
grow from nothing; for youths would be made on a sudden from small infants, and trees would leap forth suddenly arising out of the earth. But manifestly none of these things takes place, since all things grow little by little, as is proper, from a fixed seed, and in growinga preserve their kind; so that you may infer that every kind grows and is nourished from its own proper material.
192Add to this that without fixed seasons of rain
in the year the earth cannot put forth her cheering fruits, nor furthermore can living things kept apart from food beget their kind and preserve life; so that you may more readily believe many bodies to be common to many things, as we see letters to be common to words, than that anything can exist without first-beginnings.
199Again, why could not nature produce men so
large that they could wade through the deep sea as a ford and tear asunder great mountains with their hands and outlive many generations of life, if it is not because a fixed material is assigned for making things, from which what can arise is fixed? Therefore we must confess that nothing can come from nothing, since all things must have seed, from which each being created may be brought forth into the soft breezes of air.
208Lastly, since we see that cultivated land is
better than uncultivated, and returns better fruit by the labour of our hands, it is plain to see that there are first-beginnings of things in the ground which we bring to birth by turning over the fruitful clods with the ploughshare and trenching the soil.b But if
Footnotes
aA solecism in 190: Lucr. writes crescentes, as though not omnia (188), but omnes res, had preceded (cf. rebus, 184).
bCf. 5.210–211.
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quod si nulla forent, nostro sine quaeque labore
sponte sua multo fieri meliora videres.
215Huc accedit uti quidque in sua corpora rursum
dissoluat natura neque ad nilum interemat res.
nam si quid mortale e cunctis partibus esset,
ex oculis res quaeque repente erepta periret;
nulla vi foret usus enim quae partibus eius
220discidium parere et nexus exsolvere posset.
quod nunc, aeterno quia constant semine quaeque,
donec vis obiit quae res diverberet ictu
aut intus penetret per inania dissoluatque,
nullius exitium patitur natura videri.
Praeterea quaecumque vetustate amovet aetas,
226si penitus peremit consumens materiem omnem,
unde animale genus generatim in lumina vitae
redducit Venus, aut redductum daedala tellus
unde alit atque auget generatim pabula praebens?
230unde mare ingenuei fontes externaque longe
flumina suppeditant? unde aether sidera pascit?
omnia enim debet, mortali corpore quae sunt,
infinita aetas consumpse anteacta diesque.
quod si in eo spatio atque anteacta aetate fuere
235e quibus haec rerum consistit summa refecta,
inmortali sunt natura praedita certe.
haud igitur possunt ad nilum quaeque reverti.
Denique res omnis eadem vis causaque volgo
conficeret, nisi materies aeterna teneret,
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there were none such, you would see all things without labour of ours, of their own will, grow much better.
215Add to this that nature resolves everything
again into its elements, and does not reduce things to nothing.a For if anything were perishable in all its parts, each thing would then perish in a moment snatched away from our sight. For there would be no need of any force, to cause disruption of its parts and dissolve their connexions. But as it is, because the seed of all things is everlasting, nature allows no destruction of anything to be seen, until a force has met it, sufficient to shatter it with a blow, or to penetrate within through the void places and break it up.
225Besides, if time consuming all the material
utterly destroys whatever by lapse of years it removes, whence does Venus restore living creatures to the light of life each after its kind, or, when they are restored, whence does the wonder-working earth nourish them and make them grow, providing food for each after its kind? Whence is the sea supplied by the springs within it, and by the rivers without, flowing from afar? Whence does the ether nourish the stars? For all things that are of perishable body must have been consumed by infinite time and ages past. But if through that space of time past there have been bodies from which this sum of things subsists being made again, imperishable indeed must their nature be; therefore things cannot severally return to nothing.
238Again, the same force and cause would destroy
all things without distinction, unless everlasting
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 39.
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240inter se nexus minus aut magis indupedita;
tactus enim leti satis esset causa profecto,
quippe ubi nulla forent aeterno corpore, quorum
contextum vis deberet dissolvere quaeque.
at nunc, inter se quia nexus principiorum
245dissimiles constant aeternaque materies est,
incolumi remanent res corpore, dum satis acris
vis obeat pro textura cuiusque reperta.
haud igitur redit ad nilum res ulla, sed omnes
discidio redeunt in corpora materiai.
Postremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater aether
251in gremium matris terrai praecipitavit;
at nitidae surgunt fruges ramique virescunt
arboribus, crescunt ipsae fetuque gravantur;
hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum;
255hinc laetas urbes pueris florere videmus
frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas;
hinc fessae pecudes pingui per pabula laeta
corpora deponunt, et candens lacteus umor
uberibus manat distentis; hinc nova proles
260artubus infirmis teneras lasciva per herbas
ludit lacte mero mentes perculsa novellas.
haud igitur penitus pereunt quaecumque videntur,
quando alid ex alio reficit natura, nec ullam
rem gigni patitur nisi morte adiuta aliena.
265Nunc age, res quoniam docui non posse creari
de nilo neque item genitas ad nil revocari,
Footnotes
240nexus OQGFL (cf. 220, 244): nexu Q corr., ABM 257 pingui Philargyrius on Virgil, G. 3.124: pinguis OQ, G corr. (G omits), Martin
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matter held them together entangled more or less
closely in their interlacing bonds; for just a touch would be cause enough for destruction, inasmuch as there would be no particles of everlasting body, whose contexture a special force would be needed to dissolve. But as it is, since the bonds which combine the elements are different, and their matter is everlasting, things abide with body intact until a force meet them that is found vigorous enough to affect the texture of each. Therefore no single thing returns to nothing, but all by disruption return to the elements of matter.
250Lastly, the raindrops pass away, when father
Ether has cast them into the lap of mother Earth; but bright crops arise, the branches upon the trees grow green, the trees also grow and become heavy with fruit; hence comes nourishment again for our kind and for the wild beasts; hence we behold happy cities blooming with children and leafy woods all one song with the young birds; hence flocks and herds, weary with their fat, lay their bodies about the rich pastures, and the white milky stream flows from their swollen udders; hence the young ones gambol in merry play over the delicate grass on their weakly limbs, their tender hearts intoxicated with neat milk.a Therefore no visible object utterly passes away, since nature makes up again one thing from another, and does not permit anything to be born unless aided by another’s death.
265Now then, since I have taught that things cannot
be created from nothing and, when brought
Footnotes
amero suggests wine: the pure milk is strong drink for the young animals—hence their frolicsome behaviour (lasciva . . ludit) and unsteadiness on their legs (artubus infirmis).
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ne qua forte tamen coeptes diffidere dictis,
quod nequeunt oculis rerum primordia cerni,
accipe praeterea quae corpora tute necessest
270confiteare esse in rebus nec posse videri.
Principio venti vis verberat incita pontum
ingentisque ruit navis et nubila differt;
interdum rapido percurrens turbine campos
arboribus magnis sternit montisque supremos
275silvifragis vexat flabris: ita perfurit acri
cum fremitu saevitque minaci murmure ventus.
sunt igitur venti nimirum corpora caeca
quae mare, quae terras, quae denique nubila caeli
verrunt ac subito vexantia turbine raptant;
280nec ratione fluunt alia stragemque propagant
et cum mollis aquae fertur natura repente
flumine abundanti, quam largis imbribus auget
montibus ex altis magnus decursus aquai,
fragmina coniciens silvarum arbustaque tota,
285nec validi possunt pontes venientis aquai
vim subitam tolerare: ita magno turbidus imbri
molibus incurrit validis cum viribus amnis.
dat sonitu magno stragem volvitque sub undis
grandia saxa, ruit qua quidquid fluctibus obstat.
290sic igitur debent venti quoque flamina ferri,
quae veluti validum cum flumen procubuere
quamlibet in partem, trudunt res ante ruuntque
Footnotes
271pontum Marullus: cortus OQG: tortus O corr.: corpus Q corr.: portus P
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forth, cannot be brought back to nothing, that you
may not by any chance begin nevertheless to distrust my words, because the first-beginnings of things cannot be distinguished by the eye, learn in addition of bodies which you must yourself of necessity confess to be numbered amongst things and yet impossible to be seen.
271First the mighty wind when stirred up beats
upon the ocean and overwhelms huge ships and scatters the clouds, and at times sweeping over the plains with rapid hurricane strews them with great trees and flogs the topmost mountains with tree-crashing blasts: so furious and fierce its howling, so savage and threatening the wind’s roar. Therefore undoubtedly there are unseen bodies of wind that sweep the sea, that sweep the earth, sweep the clouds of the sky also, beating them suddenly and catching them up in a hurricane; and they flow and deal devastation in the same way as water,a which, soft as it is, suddenly rolls in overwelling stream when a great deluge of water from the high mountains swells the flood with torrents of rain, dashing together wreckage of forests and whole trees, nor can strong bridges withstand the sudden force of the coming water, with so mighty a force does the river, boiling with rain-torrents, rush against the piers; it works devastation with loud uproar and rolls huge rocks under its waves, and sweeps away whatever stands in its path. Thus therefore the blasts of the wind also must be borne along, which, like a strong river, when they have borne down in any direction, thrust all before them and sweep all away with frequent
Footnotes
aFor the correspondences between this simile and the account of wind, see especially D. West, Philol. 114 (1970) 272–274.
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impetibus crebris, interdum vertice torto
corripiunt rapidoque rotantia turbine portant.
295quare etiam atque etiam sunt venti corpora caeca,
quandoquidem factis et moribus aemula magnis
amnibus inveniuntur, aperto corpore qui sunt.
Tum porro varios rerum sentimus odores
nec tamen ad naris venientis cernimus umquam,
300nec calidos aestus tuimur nec frigora quimus
usurpare oculis nec voces cernere suemus;
quae tamen omnia corporea constare necessest
natura, quoniam sensus inpellere possunt;
tangere enim et tangi, nisi corpus, nulla potest res.
305Denique fluctifrago suspensae in litore vestes
uvescunt, eaedem dispansae in sole serescunt;
at neque quo pacto persederit umor aquai
visumst nec rursum quo pacto fugerit aestu.
in parvas igitur partis dispargitur umor,
310quas oculi nulla possunt ratione videre.
Quin etiam multis solis redeuntibus annis
anulus in digito subter tenuatur habendo,
stilicidi casus lapidem cavat, uncus aratri
ferreus occulto decrescit vomer in arvis,
315strataque iam volgi pedibus detrita viarum
saxea conspicimus; tum portas propter aena
signa manus dextras ostendunt adtenuari
saepe salutantum tactu praeterque meantum.
Footnotes
294rapidoque “ex codicibus fidelioribus” (Pius): rapidique O, Q corr., GP: rapidisque Q: rapideque Lachmann rotantia Lambinus (1563–64): rotanti OQGP
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attacks, and at times catch things up in a swirling eddy and whirling them round carry them off in a swift tornado. Therefore I say again and again, there are unseen bodies of wind, since in deeds and ways they are found to rival great rivers, which possess a body which can be seen.
298Then further, we smell the various odours of
things and yet we never see them approaching our nostrils, nor do we behold scorching heat, nor can we
set eyes on cold, nor are we accustomed to see
sounds; yet all these must of necessity consist of bodily structure, since they can act upon our senses. For nothing can touch or be touched, except body.
305Again, garments hung up on a surf-beaten shore grow damp, the same spread in the sun grow dry; yet none has seen either how the damp of the
water pervaded them, or again how it departed in the heat. Therefore the water is dispersed into small particles, which the eye cannot in any way see.
311Moreover, with many revolutions of the sun’s
year, a ring on the finger is thinned underneath by wear, the fall of drippings hollows a stone, the curved ploughshare of iron imperceptibly dwindles away in the fields, and the stony pavement of the roads we see already to be rubbed away by men’s feet; again, bronze statues set by gateways display the right hands thinned away by the frequent touch of greeting from those who pass by.a These therefore we observe
Footnotes
aCicero, Verr. 4.94, mentions a bronze statue in the temple of Hercules at Agrigentum, whose lips and chin had been worn away by the kisses of worshippers. However, Lucr. is referring to the right hands of statues by city gates, and the custom may have been to touch or grasp these (cf. tactu, 318, though this could refer to the touch of the lips) rather than, as is usually supposed, to kiss them. The foot of St. Peter’s statue in St. Peter’s, Rome, is a familiar modern parallel.
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haec igitur minui, cum sint detrita, videmus;
320sed quae corpora decedant in tempore quoque,
invida praeclusit specimen natura videndi.
Postremo quaecumque dies naturaque rebus
paulatim tribuit, moderatim crescere cogens,
nulla potest oculorum acies contenta tueri;
325nec porro quaecumque aevo macieque senescunt,
nec, mare quae inpendent, vesco sale saxa peresa
quid quoque amittant in tempore cernere possis.
corporibus caecis igitur natura gerit res.
Nec tamen undique corporea stipata tenentur
330omnia natura; namque est in rebus inane.
quod tibi cognosse in multis erit utile rebus
nec sinet errantem dubitare et quaerere semper
de summa rerum et nostris diffidere dictis.
quapropter locus est intactus inane vacansque.
335quod si non esset, nulla ratione moveri
res possent; namque officium quod corporis exstat,
officere atque obstare, id in omni tempore adesset
omnibus; haud igitur quicquam procedere posset,
principium quoniam cedendi nulla daret res.
340at nunc per maria ac terras sublimaque caeli
multa modis multis varia ratione moveri
cernimus ante oculos, quae, si non esset inane,
non tam sollicito motu privata carerent
quam genita omnino nulla ratione fuissent,
345undique materies quoniam stipata quiesset.
Footnotes
321specimen F. Nencini, Riv. Fil. 24 (1896) 304, C. L. Howard, CPhil. 56 (1961) 145–146 (cf. 4.209, and for the corruption cf. 5.186 where most editors accept Pius’ emendation): speciem OQGP
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to be growing less because they are rubbed away; but what particles are separated on each occasion, our niggardly faculty of sight has debarred us from proving.
322Lastly, whatever time and nature little by
little adds to things, compelling them to grow in due measure, no keenness of sight, however strained, can perceive; nor further when things grow old by age and wasting, nor when rocks hanging over the sea are eaten away by the gnawing salt, could you discern what they lose upon each occasion. Therefore nature works by means of bodies unseen.
329Yet everything is not held close and packed
everywhere in one solid mass, for there is void in things: which knowledge will be useful to you in many matters, and will not allow you to wander in doubt and always to be at a loss as regards the universe and to distrust my words. Therefore there is intangible space, void, emptiness.a But if there
were none, things could not in any way move; for that which is the province of body, to preventb and to obstruct, would at all times be present to all things; therefore nothing would be able to move forward, since nothing could begin to give place. But as it is, we discern before our eyes, throughout seas and lands and the heights of heaven, many things moving in many ways and various manners, which, if there were no void, would not so much lack altogether their restless motion, as never would have been in any way produced at all, since matter would have been everywhere quiescent packed in one solid mass.
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 40.
b“Province . . . prevent” (M. F. Smith) is an attempt to reproduce the verbal play officium . . . officere.
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Praeterea quamvis solidae res esse putentur,
hinc tamen esse licet raro cum corpore cernas:
in saxis ac speluncis permanat aquarum
liquidus umor et uberibus flent omnia guttis;
350dissipat in corpus sese cibus omne animantum;
crescunt arbusta et fetus in tempore fundunt,
quod cibus in totas usque ab radicibus imis
per truncos ac per ramos diffunditur omnis;
inter saepta meant voces et clausa domorum
355transvolitant; rigidum permanat frigus ad ossa.
quod, nisi inania sint qua possent corpora quaeque
transire, haud ulla fieri ratione videres.
Denique cur alias aliis praestare videmus
pondere res rebus nilo maiore figura?
360nam si tantundemst in lanae glomere quantum
corporis in plumbo est, tantundem pendere par est,
corporis officiumst quoniam premere omnia deorsum,
contra autem natura manet sine pondere inanis.
ergo quod magnumst aeque leviusque videtur
365nimirum plus esse sibi declarat inanis;
at contra gravius plus in se corporis esse
dedicat et multo vacui minus intus habere.
est igitur nimirum id quod ratione sagaci
quaerimus admixtum rebus, quod inane vocamus.
370Illud in his rebus ne te deducere vero
possit, quod quidam fingunt, praecurrere cogor.
Footnotes
357fieri O corr. by Dungal (9th cent.), P: valerent OQG, and Bernays (not Brieger, as shown by Martin and Bailey) proposed corpora quaeque valerent in 356
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346Besides, however solid things may be thought
to be, here is proof that you may discern them to be of less than solid consistency. In rocks and caves the liquid moisture of waters oozes through, and the whole place weeps with plenteous drops. Food is dispersed through all the body in living creatures. Trees grow and at their time put forth their fruits, because their food is distributed all over thema from the lowest roots through trunks and through branches. Sounds pass through walls and fly through closed houses, stiffening cold permeates to the bones. But, if there were no void there which bodies might pass through in each case, you could not see this happen in any way.
358Lastly, why do we see some things surpass
others in weight when they are no larger? For if there is as much body in a ball of wool as in lead, it is fitting that they should both weigh the same, since it is the property of body to depress everything downwards, but contrariwise the nature of void remains without weight. Therefore that which is equally great and is seen to be lighter without doubt shows itself to have more void; but contrariwise the heavier makes clear that it has more body in it, and much less of void. There is therefore without doubt, intermingled with things, that which we seek with keen-scented reasoning, that which we call void.
370And here in this matter I am driven to forestall
what some imagine, lest it should lead you away
Footnotes
aLucr. writes totas, as though not arbusta (351), but arbores, had preceded. Cf. 190, 6.215.
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cedere squamigeris latices nitentibus aiunt
et liquidas aperire vias, quia post loca pisces
linquant, quo possint cedentes confluere undae;
375sic alias quoque res inter se posse moveri
et mutare locum, quamvis sint omnia plena.
scilicet id falsa totum ratione receptumst.
nam quo squamigeri poterunt procedere tandem,
ni spatium dederint latices? concedere porro
380quo poterunt undae, cum pisces ire nequibunt?
aut igitur motu privandumst corpora quaeque,
aut esse admixtum dicundumst rebus inane,
unde initum primum capiat res quaeque movendi.
Postremo duo de concursu corpora late
385si cita dissiliant, nempe aer omne necessest,
inter corpora quod fiat, possidat inane.
is porro quamvis circum celerantibus auris
confluat, haud poterit tamen uno tempore totum
compleri spatium; nam primum quemque necessest
390occupet ille locum, deinde omnia possideantur.
quod si forte aliquis, cum corpora dissiluere,
tum putat id fieri quia se condenseat aer,
errat; nam vacuum tum fit quod non fuit ante
et repletur item vacuum quod constitit ante;
395nec tali ratione potest denserier aer,
nec, si iam posset, sine inani posset, opinor,
ipse in se trahere et partis conducere in unum.
Quapropter, quamvis causando multa moreris,
esse in rebus inane tamen fateare necessest.
Footnotes
384late Cod. Vat. Ottob. lot. 1954, variant in Cod. Vat. lot. 3275: lata OQGP
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from the truth. They saya that water yields to the
pressure of scaly creatures and opens liquid ways, because fish leave room behind them for the yielding waves to run together; that so other things also are able to move in and out and to change place, although all is full. You must know that this has been accepted on reasons wholly false. For whither, I ask, will the scaly fish be able to move forward, unless the water shall give place? Into what place, again, will the water be able to move back, when the fish will be unable to go? Either then all bodies must be deprived of movement, or we must say that void is intermingled in things, as a result of which each thing may begin to move.
384Lastly, if two bodies set in motion leap far apart
after contact, of course it is necessary that air take possession of all the void which is made between the bodies. Further, however swiftly this air may run together with currents hurrying all around, yet the space will not be able to be filled all at one time; for the air must occupy each point of space in succession before the whole is occupied. But if by
chance anyone thinks that this happens at the moment when the bodies have leapt asunder because the air becomes compressed, he goes astray; for in that case a void is made which was not there before, and a void also is filled which was there before; nor can air be compressed in such a way, nor, granting that it could, could it, I think, without void withdraw into itself and condense its parts together.
398Therefore, however you may demur by making
many objections, confess you must, nevertheless, that there is void in things. Many another proof besides
Footnotes
aThe theory to which Lucr. refers is mentioned first in Plato, Ti. 79 b, but is attributed by a later source to Empedocles and Anaxagoras. It was adopted by Aristotle (Ph. 213 b—216 b) and Epicurus’ contemporary Strato of Lampsacus, and is mentioned by Cicero, Acad. 2.40.125.
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400multaque praeterea tibi possum commemorando
argumenta fidem dictis conradere nostris.
verum animo satis haec vestigia parva sagaci
sunt, per quae possis cognoscere cetera tute.
namque canes ut montivagae persaepe ferai
405naribus inveniunt intectas fronde quietes,
cum semel institerunt vestigia certa viai,
sic alid ex alio per te tute ipse videre
talibus in rebus poteris caecasque latebras
insinuare omnis et verum protrahere inde.
410quod si pigraris paulumve recesseris ab re,
hoc tibi de plano possum promittere, Memmi:
usque adeo largos haustus e fontibu’ magnis
lingua meo suavis diti de pectore fundet,
ut verear ne tard a prius per membra senectus
415serpat et in nobis vitai claustra resolvat,
quam tibi de quavis una re versibus omnis
argumentorum sit copia missa per auris.
Sed nunc ut repetam coeptum pertexere dictis,
omnis ut est igitur per se natura duabus
420constitit in rebus; nam corpora sunt et inane,
Footnotes
404ferai Q corr., P: ferare OQG: ferarum O corr.
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I can mention to scrape together credit for my doctrines. But for a keen-scented mind, these little tracks are enough to enable you to recognize the others for yourself. For as hounds very often find by their scent the leaf-hidden resting-place of the mountain-ranging quarry, when once they have hit upon certain traces of its path, so will you be able for yourself to see one thing after another in such matters as these, and to penetrate all unseen hiding-places, and draw forth the truth from them.a But should you be sluggish or draw back a little from the task, this I can promise you, Memmius, without more ado: so bounteous draughts out of plenteous springs will my melodious speech pour forth from my richly stored mind, that I fear lest laggard age may creep over our limbsb and break down the barriers of life within us, before the whole store of demonstrations on any one matter has been poured in my verses through your ears.c
418But now to resume my task begun of weaving
the web of this discourse: the nature of the universe,d therefore, as it is in itself, is made up of two things; for there are bodies, and there is void, in which these
Footnotes
aOn the correspondences between simile and context, see especially D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 74–75. Socrates, in the Platonic dialogues, frequently uses hunting metaphors when referring to arguments: e.g. Phd. 63 a, 66 b-c, 79 e, 88 d.
bCf. Lord Vaux, The Aged Lover Renounceth Love: “For Age, with stealing steps, | Hath clawed me with his clutch.”
cNotice again (cf. 140–145) Lucr.’s readiness quemvis efferre laborem in his attempt to convert Memmius to Epicureanism. Notice too that he is prepared to make fun of his own missionary fervour and enthusiasm for philosophy: cf. 4.969–970, where he confesses that, just as lawyers dream of legal cases, generals of battles, and sailors of the sea, so he himself dreams of studying Epicureanism and expounding it in Latin.
domnis (419) is best taken as genitive of τὸ πᾶν. Cf. Plutarch, adv. Col. 1112 f (of Epicurus): τὸ πaντὸς Φύσις (cf. omnis . . . natura) ὀνoμάζειν εἴωθε. Cf. natura . . . inanis (363), corresponding to Epicurus’ ἡ . . .τoῦ κενοῦ φύσις (Ep. ad Hdt. 44; cf. Plutarch, loc. cit.).
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haec in quo sita sunt et qua diversa moventur.
corpus enim per se communis dedicat esse
sensus; cui nisi prima fides fundata valebit,
haud erit occultis de rebus quo referentes
425confirmare animi quicquam ratione queamus.
tum porro locus ac spatium, quod inane vocamus,
si nullum foret, haud usquam sita corpora possent
esse neque omnino quoquam diversa meare;
id quod iam supera tibi paulo ostendimus ante.
430Praeterea nil est quod possis dicere ab omni
corpore seiunctum secretumque esse ab inani,
quod quasi tertia sit numero natura reperta.
nam quodcumque erit, esse aliquid debebit id ipsum:
435cui si tactus erit quamvis levis exiguusque,
434435augmine vel grandi vel parvo denique, dum sit,
corporis augebit numerum summamque sequetur;
sin intactile erit, nulla de parte quod ullam
rem prohibere queat per se transire meantem,
scilicet hoc id erit, vacuum quod inane vocamus.
440praeterea per se quodcumque erit, aut faciet quid
aut aliis fungi debebit agentibus ipsum
aut erit ut possint in eo res esse gerique.
at facere et fungi sine corpore nulla potest res,
nec praebere locum porro nisi inane vacansque.
Footnotes
435transposed, as suggested in Codex Laurentianus 35.32. Order of lines in the manuscripts is retained, perhaps rightly, by Martin and Büchner
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bodies are and through which they move this way and that. For sensation common to men declares that body has its separate existencea; and unless our belief in sensation is first firmly established, there will be no principle of appeal in hidden matters, according to which we may establish anything by the reason.b Then further, if there were no place and space which we call void, bodies could not be situated anywhere nor could they move anywhere at all in different directions, as I have already shown you above a little while ago.c
430Besides, there is nothing which you can call
wholly distinct from body and separate from void, to be discovered as a kind of third nature.d For whatever is to be, that must be something in itself; and if it shall be sensible to touch however light and small, it will increase the quantity of body by some increment either great or small if you will, provided it do exist, and will go to make up the sum. But if it shall be intangible, being unable to forbid anything to pass through it in motion at any point, undoubtedly this will be that which we call empty void. Besides, whatever shall exist of itself will either act upon something, or will necessarily be
passive itself while other things act upon it, or it will be possible that things be and be done in it. But nothing can act or be acted upon without body, nothing can afford space but the void and the empty.e
Footnotes
aIn 422, per se may be taken either with corpus . . . esse, or with sensus “sensation of itself”: the former interpretation is supported by 419, 445, 479, the latter by Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 39: αὐτὴ ἡ αἴσθησις ἐπὶ πάντων μαρτυρεῖ.
bAccording to Epicurus, sensation is the primary standard of truth, and there is no other criterion by which it can be refuted: cf. e.g. Ep. ad Hdt. 38–39, Sent. 23, Diogenes Laertius 10.31–32, Lucr. 1.699–700, 4.478–521, Cicero, Fin. 1.7.22, 1.19.64.
c335–345, 370–383.
d419–432 and 445–448 are closely related to Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 39–40, but the argument of 433–444 is not found in Ep. ad Hdt., and the whole passage may be based on Epicurus’ lost Μεγάλη
’Επιτoμή or even on his Πεpὶ Φύσεως (see Bailey 666).
eCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 67.
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445ergo, praeter inane et corpora, tertia per se
nulla potest rerum in numero natura relinqui,
nec quae sub sensus cadat ullo tempore nostros
nec ratione animi quam quisquam possit apisci.
Nam quaecumque cluent, aut his coniuncta duabus
450rebus ea invenies aut horum eventa videbis.
coniunctum est id quod nusquam sine permitiali
discidio potis est seiungi seque gregari,
pondus uti saxis, calor igni, liquor aquai,
tactus corporibus cunctis, intactus inani.
455servitium contra paupertas divitiaeque,
libertas bellum concordia, cetera quorum
adventu manet incolumis natura abituque,
haec soliti sumus, ut par est, eventa vocare.
tempus item per se non est, sed rebus ab ipsis
460consequitur sensus, transactum quid sit in aevo,
tum quae res instet, quid porro deinde sequatur;
nec per se quemquam tempus sentire fatendumst
semotum ab rerum motu placidaque quiete.
Denique Tyndaridem raptam belloque subactas
465Troiiugenas gentis cum dicunt esse, videndumst
ne forte haec per se cogant nos esse fateri,
quando ea saecla hominum, quorum haec eventa
fuerunt,
inrevocabilis abstulerit iam praeterita aetas;
namque aliud terris, aliud regionibus ipsis
Footnotes
453saxis OQGP: saxist Wakefield igni J. P. Postgate, Journ. Phil. 24 (1896) 131 (but reading aquae stat for aquai): ignis OQG: ignist Bockemüller aquai QG, O corr.: aquae O
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Therefore besides void and bodies no third nature can be left self-existing in the sum of things—neither one that can ever at any time come within our senses, nor one that any man can grasp by the reasoning of the mind.
449For whatsoever things have a name, either you
will find to be properties of these two or you will see them to be accidents of the same.a A property is that which without destructive dissolution can never be separated and disjoined,b as weight is to stone, heat to fire, liquidity to water, touch to all bodies, intangibility to void. Slavery, on the other hand, poverty and riches, freedom, war, concord, all else which may come and go while the nature of things remains intact, these, as is right, we are accustomed to call accidents. Time also exists not of itself,c but
from things themselves is derived the sense of what has been done in the past, then what thing is present with us, further what is to follow after. Nor may we admit that anyone has a sense of time by itself separated from the movement of things and their quiet calm.
464Moreover, when they say that the rape of
Tyndareus’ daughterd and the conquest by war of the Trojan tribes are facts,e we must see to it that they do not compel us to admit that these things are of themselves, on the ground that those generations of men, of whom these were accidents, the irrevocable ages past have already carried away; for whatever has been done may be called an accident
Footnotes
aFor properties (coniuncta = συμβεβηκότα) and accidents (eventa=συμπτώματα), cf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 40, 68–73.
bOn the tmesis se ... gregari in 452, see note on 3.860 and S. Hinds, CQ N.S. 37 (1987) 450–453.
cIt has been generally supposed that in 459–482 Lucr. is refuting the Stoics, but see D. J. Furley in BICS 13 (1966) 13–14.
dHelen of Troy.
eesse, the auxiliary of the pf. inf. pass., is capable of being understood as an assertion of existence. This ambiguity is not found in English, hence the paraphrase “are facts.”
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470eventum dici poterit quodcumque erit actum.
denique materies si rerum nulla fuisset
nec locus ac spatium, res in quo quaeque geruntur,
numquam Tyndaridis forma conflatus amore
ignis, Alexandri Phrygio sub pectore gliscens,
475clara accendisset saevi certamina belli,
nec clam durateus Troiianis Pergama partu
inflammasset equos nocturno Graiiugenarum;
perspicere ut possis res gestas funditus omnis
non ita uti corpus per se constare neque esse,
480nec ratione cluere eadem qua constet inane,
sed magis ut merito possis eventa vocare
corporis atque loci, res in quo quaeque gerantur.
Corpora sunt porro partim primordia rerum,
partim concilio quae constant principiorum.
485sed quae sunt rerum primordia, nulla potest vis
stinguere; nam solido vincunt ea corpore demum.
etsi difficile esse videtur credere quicquam
in rebus solido reperiri corpore posse.
transit enim fulmen caeli per saepta domorum,
490clamor ut ac voces; ferrum candescit in igni
dissiliuntque fero ferventi saxa vapore;
cum labefactatus rigor auri solvitur aestu,
Footnotes
473forma OQG: formae O corr., P, perhaps rightly amore OQGP: amoris Wakefield tentatively in notes
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either of the whole earth or of the actual regions in which it occurred.a Again, if there had been no material for things, and no place and space in which each thing is done, no fire fanned to flame by love through the beauty of Tyndareus’ daughter, and glowing beneath the breast of Phrygian Alexander,b would ever have set alight blazing battles of savage war; no wooden horse,cunmarked by the sons of Troy, would ever have set Pergama in flames by its night-born brood of Greciansd; so that you may perceive that things done never at all consist or exist in themselves as body does, nor are said to exist in the same way as void; but rather you may properly call them accidents of body, and of the place in which the things are severally done.
483Furthermore, bodies are partly the first-beginnings
of things, partly those which are formed by union of the first-beginnings. But those which are the first-beginnings of things no power can quench: they conquer after alle by their solid body.fAnd yet it seems difficult to believe that anything with solid body can be found in creation. For heaven’s thunderbolt passes through walled houses, as sound does and voicesg; iron grows white-hot in fire, and stones split with fierce fervent heat; the hardness of gold is softened and dissolved by heat, and the ice
Footnotes
aFor this interpretation of 469–470, see R. L. Dunbabin, CQ 11 (1917) 135-136, K. Wellesley, CR N.S. 13 (1963) 16–17.
bParis. The epithet Phrygio is probably intended to sug gest the frigus in Paris’ heart before he was “fired” with love for Helen. Cf. 2.611, 613 Phrygias. . .fruges.
cequos (477) = equus.
dFor the “pregnant” Trojan Horse, cf. Aeschylus, Ag. 825, Euripides, Tro. 11, Ennius, Sc. 76–77, Virgil, Aen. 2.20, 237–238, 6.516.
eThat is, after all assaults.
fCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 40–41.
gCf. 6.228–229.
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tum glacies aeris flamma devicta liquescit;
permanat calor argentum penetraleque frigus,
495quando utrumque manu retinentes pocula rite
sensimus, infuso lympharum rore supeme.
usque adeo in rebus solidi nil esse videtur.
sed quia vera tamen ratio naturaque rerum
cogit, ades, paucis dum versibus expediamus
esse ea quae solido atque aeterno corpore constent,
501semina quae rerum primordiaque esse docemus,
unde omnis rerum nunc constet summa creata.
Principio quoniam duplex natura duarum
dissimilis rerum longe constare repertast,
505corporis atque loci, res in quo quaeque geruntur,
esse utramque sibi per se puramque necessest.
nam quacumque vacat spatium, quod inane vocamus,
corpus ea non est; qua porro cumque tenet se
corpus, ea vacuum nequaquam constat inane.
510sunt igitur solida ac sine inani corpora prima.
Praeterea quoniam genitis in rebus inanest,
materiem circum solidam constare necessest,
nec res ulla potest vera ratione probari
corpore inane suo celare atque intus habere,
515si non, quod cohibet, solidum constare relinquas.
id porro nil esse potest nisi materiai
concilium, quod inane queat rerum cohibere.
materies igitur, solido quae corpore constat,
esse aeterna potest, cum cetera dissoluantur.
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of bronzea is overcome by fire and liquefies; warmth oozes through silver and so does penetrating cold, seeing that we have felt both, as we duly grasp the goblet, when dewyb water is poured in from above. So true is it that there seems to be nothing solid in the world. But because nevertheless true reason and the nature of things compels, be with me, until in a few verses I make it clear that there are such things as consist of body solid and everlasting, which we teach to be seeds of things and their first-beginnings, out of which now all the sum of things has been built up.
503First, since there has been found to exist a
twofold and widely dissimilar nature of two things—of body, that is, and space in which all things are done—it is necessary that each exist by itself and for itself unmixed. For wherever is empty space, which we call void, there no body is; further, where body maintains itself, there by no means exists empty space. The first bodies therefore are solid and without void.
511Besides, since there is void in created things,. atoms);
there must be solid matter round about it, nor can anything by true reasoning be proved to conceal void in its body and to hold it within, unless you grant that which holds to be solid. Further, that can be nothing but a union of matter, which can hold the emptiness of things within it. Matter therefore, which consists of solid body, may be everlasting, though all elsec be dissolved.
Footnotes
aFor the possibility that this striking metaphor was inspired or influenced by Empedocles, see J. Longrigg, CR N.S. 20 (1970) 8–9. The metaphor, though bold, is extremely apt, because bronze, like ice, is solidified, smooth, shiny, cold (cf. Homer, II. 5.75, ψυχpὸν ... χaλκόν, quoted by Wakefield), and melts (cf. liquescit).
brore suggests the purity, and especially the sparkle, of the water: cf. 771, 777, 4.438.
cThat is, all compound bodies.
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520Tum porro si nil esset quod inane vacaret,
omne foret solidum; nisi contra corpora certa
essent quae loca complerent quaecumque tenerent,
omne quod est, spatium vacuum constaret inane.
alternis igitur nimirum corpus inani
525distinctum, quoniam nec plenum naviter extat
nec porro vacuum, sunt ergo corpora certa
quae spatium pleno possint distinguere inane.
haec neque dissolui plagis extrinsecus icta
possunt nec porro penitus penetrata retexi
530nec ratione queunt alia temptata labare;
id quod iam supra tibi paulo ostendimus ante.
nam neque conlidi sine inani posse videtur
quicquam nec frangi nec findi in bina secando
nec capere umorem neque item manabile frigus
nec penetralem ignem, quibus omnia conficiuntur.
536et quo quaeque magis cohibet res intus inane,
tam magis his rebus penitus temptata labascit.
ergo si solida ac sine inani corpora prima
sunt ita uti docui, sint haec aeterna necessest.
540Praeterea nisi materies aeterna fuisset,
antehac ad nilum penitus res quaeque redissent,
de niloque renata forent quaecumque videmus.
at quoniam supra docui nil posse creari
de nilo neque quod genitum est ad nil revocari,
545esse inmortali primordia corpore debent,
dissolui quo quaeque supremo tempore possint,
materies ut suppeditet rebus reparandis.
sunt igitur solida primordia simplicitate,
Footnotes
520vacaret O corr., P: vocaret QG: vcaret O. It is possible that Lucr. wrote vocaret = vacaret (see Munro), but the form occurs nowhere else in the poem, and a scribe easily could have writtenquod inane vocaret in error, influenced by the common quod inane vocamus (369, 426, 439, 507); in any case, it seems unwise to risk confusing the modern reader
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520Then further, if there were nothing void and
empty, the universe would be solid; unless on the other hand there were definite bodies to fill up the places they held, then the existing universe would be vacant and empty space. Therefore without doubt body is marked off from void alternately, since the universe is not completely full nor yet empty. There are therefore definite bodies to mark off empty space from full. These can neither be dissolved by blows when struck from without, nor again be pierced inwardly and decomposed, nor can they be assailed and shaken in any other way, as I have shown you above a little while ago.a For it is seen that without void nothing can be crushed, or broken, or split in two by cutting, nothing can admit liquid or again percolating cold or penetrating fire, by which all things are destroyed. And the more each thing holds void within it, so much the more thoroughly it is shaken when these things attack it. Therefore, if the first bodies are solid and without void, as I have taught, these must be everlasting.
540Besides, unless matter had been everlasting,
before this all things would have returned utterly to nothing, and whatever we see would have been born again from nothing. But since I have shown aboveb that nothing can be produced from nothing and what has been made cannot be brought back to nothing, there must be first-beginnings of immortal body, into which each thing can be resolved at its last moment, that matter may be forthcoming for the renewal of things. The first-beginnings are therefore of solid singleness, nor can they in any other way be preserved
Footnotes
a215–264, 485–502.
b149–264.
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nec ratione queunt alia servata per aevom
550ex infinito iam tempore res reparare.
Denique si nullam finem natura parasset
frangendis rebus, iam corpora materiai
usque redacta forent aevo frangente priore,
ut nil ex illis a certo tempore posset
555conceptum summum aetatis pervadere finem.
nam quidvis citius dissolvi posse videmus
quam rursus refici; quapropter longa diei
infinita aetas anteacti temporis omnis
quod fregisset adhuc disturbans dissoluensque,
560numquam relicuo reparari tempore posset.
at nunc nimirum frangendi reddita finis
certa manet, quoniam refici rem quamque videmus
et finita simul generatim tempora rebus
stare, quibus possint aevi contingere florem.
565Huc accedit uti, solidissima materiai
corpora cum constant, possint tamen omnia reddi
mollia quae fiunt—aer aqua terra vapores—
quo pacto fiant et qua vi quaeque gerantur,
admixtum quoniam semel est in rebus inane.
570at contra si mollia sint primordia rerum,
unde queant validi silices ferrumque creari
non poterit ratio reddi; nam funditus omnis
principio fundamenti natura carebit.
sunt igitur solida pollentia simplicitate,
575quorum condenso magis omnia conciliatu
artari possunt validasque ostendere viris.
Porro si nullast frangendis reddita finis
corporibus, tamen ex aeterno tempore quaeque
Footnotes
555finem Q corr., BL (for the masculine gender, cf. 2.1116): fine QG: finis OAF: florem Marullus
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through the ages from infinite time past and make things anew.
551Moreover, if nature had provided no limit to
the breaking-up of things, by this time the bodies of matter would have been so reduced by the breakings of ages past, that from them nothing could within any fixed time be conceived and attain the full maturity of its life. For we see that anything can more quickly be dissolved than it can be remade again; therefore what all the long ages of infinite time past, disturbing and dissolving, had broken up before now, could never be made new in the time remaining. But as it is, in fact there remains appointed a fixed limit for the breaking, since we see each thing being remade, and at the same time definite periods fixed for things after their kind, in which they may attain the flower of life.
565Add, moreover, that while the elements of
matter are perfectly solid, yet it is possible to give an explanation how all those things which are soft—air, water, earth, firea—are formed, and by what force each is directed, when once void is intermingled in things. But contrariwise, if the first-beginnings of things were soft, no explanation will be possible to say out of what hard flints and iron could be produced; for all nature will utterly lack a foundation to begin upon. Therefore they are mighty by their solid singleness, and, by a denser combination of these, all things can be more closely packed and show hard strength.
577Further, if no limit has been set to the breaking-up
of bodies,b you must nevertheless admit that even
Footnotes
aThe four elements of Empedocles, with whose theory Lucr. deals in 716–829.
bLucr. is arguing here primarily against Anaxagoras (cf. 847–858), who held that matter is infinitely divisible.
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nunc etiam superare necessest corpora rebus,
580quae nondum clueant ullo temptata periclo.
at quoniam fragili natura praedita constant,
discrepat aeternum tempus potuisse manere
innumerabilibus plagis vexata per aevom.
Denique iam quoniam generatim reddita finis
585crescendi rebus constat vitamque tenendi,
et quid quaeque queant per foedera naturai,
quid porro nequeant, sancitum quandoquidem extat,
nec commutatur quicquam, quin omnia constant
usque adeo variae volucres ut in ordine cunctae
590ostendant maculas generalis corpore inesse,
inmutabili’ materiae quoque corpus habere
debent nimirum; nam si primordia rerum
commutari aliqua possent ratione revicta,
incertum quoque iam constet quid possit oriri,
595quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique
quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens,
nec totiens possent generatim saecla referre
naturam mores victum motusque parentum.
Tum porro quoniam est extremum quodque ca-
cumen
600corporis illius quod nostri cernere sensus
iam nequeunt, id nimirum sine partibus extat
et minima constat natura, nec fuit umquam
Footnotes
599Munro assumes a lacuna between these two lines and supplies e.g.: corporibus, quod iam nobis minimum esse videtur, | debet item ratione pari minimum esse cacumen—thus introducing an analogy from perceptible objects, such as is found in 749–752 and Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 58–59. This solution, rejected by recent editors, is strongly supported by D. J. Furley, Two Studies in the Greek Atomists 31–33, and may well be correct. However, as Furley admits later in his detailed discussion of 599–634, “Lucretius’ argument is not very clear” and “the whole section is messily put together,” and the cause of the difficulty in the opening lines may be lack of revision rather than a textual loss. Therefore the text of the manuscripts is retained, though with much hesitation
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now after infinite time there are left bodies of every
kind of thing, bodies never yet attacked by any danger. But, since they are endowed with a dissoluble nature, it is inconsistent to say that they could haveing to each remained through time everlasting, exposed to innumerable assaults throughout the ages.
584Again, since a limit has been fixed for the growth of things after their kind and for their tenure of life, and since it stands decreed what each can do by the ordinances of nature, and also what each
cannot do, and since nothing changes,a but all things are constant to such a degree that all the different birds show in succession marks upon their bodies to distinguish their kind, they must also have beyond a doubt a body of immutable matter. For if the first-beginnings of things could be changed, being in any way overmastered, it would also now remain uncertain what could arise and what could not, in a word in what way each thing has its power limited and its deep-set boundary mark,b nor could the generations so often repeat after their kind the nature, manners, living, and movements of their parents.
599Then further, since there is always an extreme
point on that body which our senses are no longer able to perceive, that point undoubtedly is without parts, and is the smallest possible existence, and it
Footnotes
aThe types persist.
b595–596=76–77, 5.89–90, 6.65–66.
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per se secretum neque posthac esse valebit,
alterius quoniamst ipsum pars primaque et una,
605inde aliae atque aliae similes ex ordine partes
agmine condenso naturam corporis explent,
quae, quoniam per se nequeunt constare, necessest
haerere unde queant nulla ratione revelli.
sunt igitur solida primordia simplicitate,
610quae minimis stipata cohaerent partibus arte,
non ex illorum conventu conciliata,
sed magis aeterna pollentia simplicitate,
unde neque avelli quicquam neque deminui iam
concedit natura reservans semina rebus.
Praeterea nisi erit minimum, parvissima quaeque
616corpora constabunt ex partibus infinitis,
quippe ubi dimidiae partis pars semper habebit
dimidiam partem nec res praefiniet ulla.
ergo rerum inter summam minimamque quid escit?
620nil erit ut distet; nam quamvis funditus omnis
summa sit infinita, tamen, parvissima quae sunt,
ex infinitis constabunt partibus aeque.
quod quoniam ratio reclamat vera negatque
credere posse animum, victus fateare necessest
625esse ea quae nullis iam praedita partibus extent
Footnotes
611illorum (i.e. cacuminum or minimorum = minimarum partium; cf. 450) OQGP: illarum Preiger (see Havercamp)
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has never existed apart by itself nor will ever have force to do so, since it is essentially a part of something else, a first part with unity of its own, and then other and other like parts, each in its own place, in close formation fill up the nature of the atom; and since these cannot exist separately, they must necessarily so adhere to the whole that they cannot by any means be torn away.a The first-beginnings, therefore, are of solid singleness, made of these smallest parts closely packed and cohering together, not compounded by the gathering of these parts, but strong rather by their eternal singleness, and from these nature allows nothing to be torn away or diminished any longer, but keeps them as seeds for things.
615Besides, unless there is to be a smallest something,
each littlestb body will consist of infinite parts, since of course a half of the half of anything will always have a half of its own, and there will be no limit to the division. Then what difference will there be between the sum of things and the least of things? There will be no difference; for although the whole sum of things be absolutely infinite, yet the bodies which are littlest will equally consist of infinite parts.c But since true reasoning protests against this, and denies that the mind can believe it, you must yield and confess that there are things which no longer consist of any parts and are of the smallest possible
Footnotes
aFor the subtle and difficult doctrine of minimal parts (minimae partes, minima = ἐλάχιστα), cf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 56–59. Epicurus could not accept that matter is infinitely divisible and so postulated the existence of minute, physically indivisible particles, i.e. atoms, but at the same time believed that each atom, since it has magnitude, must also have parts which, though they are physically inseparable from the atom, can be distinguished in thought. Lucr. returns to the doctrine in 2.478–499 in connexion with atomic shapes.
bparvissima is used here to avoid confusion with minimum.
cThe fallacious assumption that all infinities are equal is refuted by Newton in a passage quoted by Munro. Lucr.’s argument is probably aimed chiefly at Anaxagoras, perhaps also at the Stoics.
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et minima constent natura. quae quoniam sunt,
illa quoque esse tibi solida atque aeterna fatendum.
Denique si minimas in partis cuncta resolvi
cogere consuesset rerum natura creatrix,
630iam nil ex illis eadem reparare valeret
propterea quia, quae nullis sunt partibus aucta,
non possunt ea quae debet genitalis habere
materies, varios conexus pondera plagas
concursus motus, per quae res quaeque geruntur.
Quapropter qui materiem rerum esse putarunt
636ignem atque ex igni summam consistere solo,
magno opere a vera lapsi ratione videntur.
Heraclitus init quorum dux proelia primus,
clarus ob obscuram linguam magis inter inanis
640quamde gravis inter Graios qui vera requirunt.
omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque
inversis quae sub verbis latitantia cernunt,
veraque constituunt quae belle tangere possunt
auris et lepido quae sunt fucata sonore.
Footnotes
634quae Marullus: quas QG, O corr. by Dungal: quos Codex Musaei Britannici (Harleian 2612), according to Wakefield: omitted by O, which also omits res quaeque geruntur
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nature. And since these exist, you must also confess that the first-beginnings are solid and everlasting.
628Lastly, if nature the maker had been accustomed
to compel all things to be resolved into their smallest parts, that same nature would no longer be able to make anything again out of them, because things which are not augmented by any parts cannot have what generative matter must have—the varietya of connexions, weights, blows, concurrences, motions, by which all things are brought to pass.
635Thereforeb those who have thought that fire is
the original substance of things, and that the whole sum consists of fire alone, are seen to have fallen far away from true reasoning. Of these Heraclitusc opens the fray as first champion, one illustrious for his dark speech rather amongst the frivolous part of the Greeks than amongst the serious who seek the truth. For dolts admire and love everything more which they see hidden amid distorted words, and set down as true whatever can prettily tickle the ears and all that is varnished over with fine-sounding phrases.d
Footnotes
avarios (633) is emphatic: see D. J. Furley, Two Studies in the Greek Atomists 39-40 (cf. next note).
bQuapropter refers back to propterea quia in 631, as shown by Furley (see last note) 40. Heraclitus’ fire (cf. 645–646), like the minimal parts, would lack the variety which generative matter must have.
cRefutations of rival physicists were traditional in the Epicurean school: cf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 6 Smith. Diogenes, like Lucr., begins with Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 540-c. 480 b.c.), who taught that everything is in constant flux, that balance in the world is maintained by a continual struggle of opposites, and that fire, which exemplifies these fundamental doctrines, is the controlling element in the world. It is usually thought that Lucr.’s harsh attack on H. is aimed also at the Stoics, whom he influenced. This view has been challenged by D. J. Furley in BICS 13 (1966) 15–16, but, though it would be a mistake to suppose that the Stoics are Lucr.’s main target, it is most improbable that he did not have them in mind at all.
dLucr.’s mockery of Heraclitus’ famous oracular and paradoxical pronouncements reaches its climax with the outrageous metaphor in 644 (literally “dyed with an attractive sound”)—a clear parody of H.’s style. Moreover, init .. . dux proelia (638) ironically hints at H.’s contention that “strife is right” and “war is the father of all and king of all.” In 641 stolidi may be intended to suggest Stoici.
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645Nam cur tam variae res possent esse requiro,
ex uno si sunt igni puroque creatae.
nil prodesset enim calidum denserier ignem
nec rarefieri, si partes ignis eandem
naturam quam totus habet super ignis haberent;
650acrior ardor enim conductis partibus esset,
languidior porro disiectis disque supatis.
amplius hoc fieri nil est quod posse rearis
talibus in causis, nedum variantia rerum
tanta queat densis rarisque ex ignibus esse.
655Id quoque, si faciant admixtum rebus inane,
denseri poterunt ignes rarique relinqui.
sed quia multa sibi cernunt contraria quae sint
et fugitant in rebus inane relinquere purum,
ardua dum metuunt, amittunt vera viai,
660nec rursum cernunt exempto rebus inani
omnia denseri fierique ex omnibus unum
corpus, nil ab se quod possit mittere raptim,
aestifer ignis uti lumen iacit atque vaporem,
ut videas non e stipatis partibus esse.
665Quod si forte alia credunt ratione potesse
ignis in coetu stingui mutareque corpus,
scilicet ex nulla facere id si parte reparcent,
occidet ad nilum nimirum funditus ardor
omnis et e nilo fient quaecumque creantur.
670nam quodcumque suis mutatum finibus exit,
continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.
Footnotes
657quae sint Merrill; cf. 4.510: muse O: mu QG: mussant CF: musae ed. Brixiensis: adesse Lachmann: niti A. MacGregor, AJPhil. 101 (1980) 399–400
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645For I want to know why things could be so
various, if they are made of fire pure and simple; for it would be of no use that hot fire should become denser or rarefied, if the particles of fire still had the same nature as the whole fire has also; for the heat would be more intense with the particles compressed, but more faint if they were thrust apart and scattered apart: there is nothing else but this that you can suppose to be possible in such conditions, much less could there be all this variety of things produced from density or rarity of fire.
655There is this also: if they should grant that
void be mixed within things, fire will then be able to grow dense and be left rare; but because they see many things that fight against them, and they shrink from leaving pure void in things, while they fear the steep they lose the true path; nor again do they perceive that, if void be taken from things, all are condensed together and all become one mass, unable to emit anything briskly from itself, as burning fire throws off light and heat, so that you may see that it does not consist of closely crowded parts.
665But if by chance they believe that there is any
other waya by which fires can in their union be quenched and change their substance, assuredly if they shall not in any way spare so to do, then manifestly all heat will perish utterly into nothing, and from nothing will be fashioned all that is madeb; for whatever by being changed passes outside its own boundaries, at once this is the death of that which
Footnotes
aAny other than closer or looser union.
bIf fire can somehow form such a union that it loses the quality of fire, then, if the process is continued, you get an end of heat or fire entirely, and so come to the conclusion that “everything can come from nothing”; for by changing fire into something that is not fire you have “killed” fire.
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proinde aliquid superare necesse est incolume ollis,
ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnes
de niloque renata vigescat copia rerum.
675nunc igitur, quoniam certissima corpora quaedam
sunt, quae conservant naturam semper eandem,
quorum abitu aut aditu mutatoque ordine mutant
naturam res et convertunt corpora sese,
scire licet non esse haec ignea corpora rerum.
680nil referret enim quaedam discedere abire,
atque alia adtribui, mutarique ordine quaedam,
si tamen ardoris naturam cuncta tenerent;
ignis enim foret omnimodis quodcumque crearent.
verum, ut opinor, itast: sunt quaedam corpora quorum
685concursus motus ordo positura figurae
efficiunt ignis, mutatoque ordine mutant
naturam neque sunt igni simulata neque ulli
praeterea rei quae corpora mittere possit
sensibus et nostros adiectu tangere tactus.
690Dicere porro ignem res omnis esse neque ullam
rem veram in numero rerum constare nisi ignem,
quod facit hic idem, perdelirum esse videtur.
nam contra sensus ab sensibus ipse repugnat
et labefactat eos, unde omnia credita pendent,
695unde hic cognitus est ipsi quem nominat ignem;
credit enim sensus ignem cognoscere vere,
cetera non credit, quae nilo clara minus sunt.
quod mihi cum vanum tum delirum esse videtur;
quo referemus enim? quid nobis certius ipsis
700sensibus esse potest, qui vera ac falsa notemus?
Footnotes
674vigescat Heinsius from 757: vivescat OQG: virescat P
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was before.a Therefore something must remain safe
and sound in those fires of theirs,b or you will find that all things return utterly into nothing, and that from nothing the supply of things is born again and lives. Now therefore, since there are certain most definite bodies which preserve their nature always the same, by the going and coming of which and their changed order things change their nature and bodies transform themselves, we may be sure that these elements of things are not made of fire. For it will be of no use that some should separate and depart, and others be added, and some change place, if nevertheless all retained the nature of fire; for whatever they should make would be altogether fire. But, as I think, the truth is this: there are certain bodies which by their concurrences, motions, order, positions, shapes, produce fire, and which, when their order is changed, change the nature of the thing, and are not like fire, nor like any other thing that can emit particles to the senses and by impact touch our sense of touch.
690Further, to say that all things are fire, and that
there exists no true thing in the number of things except fire, as this same man does, appears to be raving madness. For on the basis of the senses he himself fights against the senses, and shakes the credit of that upon which all belief depends, by which this very fire as he names it is known to himself; for he believes that the senses can truly perceive fire, but not the other things which are no less clear: which seems to me to be at once folly and raving. For to what shall we appeal? What can we find more certain than the senses themselves, to mark for us truth and falsehood?c
Footnotes
a670–671=792–793, 2.753–754, 3.519–520.
bollis =illis, referring either to ignis (666) or to quaecumque creantur (669).
cCf. 422–425 (see note there), 4.478–521.
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Praeterea quare quisquam magis omnia tollat
et velit ardoris naturam linquere solam,
quam neget esse ignis, aliud tamen esse relinquat?
aequa videtur enim dementia dicere utrumque.
705Quapropter qui materiem rerum esse putarunt
ignem atque ex igni summam consistere posse,
et qui principium gignundis aera rebus
constituere, aut umorem quicumque putarunt
fingere res ipsum per se, terramve creare
710omnia et in rerum naturas vertier omnis,
magno opere a vero longe derrasse videntur.
adde etiam qui conduplicant primordia rerum,
aera iungentes igni terramque liquori,
et qui quattuor ex rebus posse omnia rentur
715ex igni terra atque anima procrescere et imbri.
quorum Agragantinus cum primis Empedocles est,
insula quem triquetris terrarum gessit in oris,
quam fluitans circum magnis anfractibus aequor
Ionium glaucis aspargit virus ab undis,
720angustoque fretu rapidum mare dividit undis
Footnotes
703aliud M. F. Smith: omitted by OQG: aliam Q corr.: summam P: quidvis Lachmann
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701Besides, why should one take away everything
and choose to leave only the nature of fire, rather than deny that fire exists and still allow that something else exists? It seems equal madness to assert either.
705Therefore those who have thought that fire is
the material of things and that the universe can consist of fire, and those who have laid down that aira is the prime element for producing things, or whoever have thought that waterb moulds things by itself, or that earthc produces all things and changes itself into the natures of all things, are seen to have gone far astray from the truth. Add, moreover,
those who take the first-beginnings of things in couples, joining air to fired and earth to water,e and those who think that all can grow forth out of four
things,f from fire, earth, air, and water. Foremost among whom is Empedocles of Acragasg: who was
born within the triangular coasts of that island, around which the Ionian deep, flowing with its vast windings, sprinkles the salt brine from its green waves, and the swift-moving sea in its narrow strait divides with its waves the shores of the Aeolianh land
Footnotes
aAnaximenes and Diogenes of Apollonia.
bThales.
cPherecydes (?).
dOenopides (?).
eXenophanes.
fEmpedocles.
gEmpedocles (c. 493-c. 433 b.c.) of Acragas (Agrigentum) in Sicily was not only an influential philosopher, scientist, and physician, but also a hexameter poet of distinction—hence Lucr.’s great admiration for him. In his Περὶ Φύσεως, of which about 350 lines are extant, he explained the universe as a spherical plenum (cf. 742–745) containing four elements (fire, air, water, earth) which unite and separate under the influence of Love and Strife. A second poem, entitled κaθaμoί (“Purifications”), of which about 100 lines survive, was strongly influenced by Orphic and Pythagorean beliefs, and shows that E. was a remarkable mixture of rationalist and mystic. In 731–733 Lucr. perhaps has in mind E.’s claim to be a god (fr. 112).
hIf the text printed is correct (see critical note), the reference is to that part of southern Italy closest to Sicily. Although that region is not elsewhere called Aeolia, it is close to the Aeolian islands, and there was a legend that Rhegium had been founded by Aeolus’ son, Iocastus.
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Aeoliae terrarum oras a finibus eius.
hic est vasta Charybdis et hic Aetnaea minantur
murmura flammarum rursum se colligere iras,
faucibus eruptos iterum vis ut vomat ignis
725ad caelumque ferat flammai fulgura rursum.
quae cum magna modis multis miranda videtur
gentibus humanis regio visendaque fertur,
rebus opima bonis, multa munita virum vi,
nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se
730nec sanctum magis et mirum carumque videtur.
carmina quin etiam divini pectoris eius
vociferantur et exponunt praeclara reperta,
ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus.
Hic tamen et supra quos diximus inferiores
735partibus egregie multis multoque minores,
quamquam multa bene ac divinitus invenientes
ex adyto tamquam cordis responsa dedere
sanctius et multo certa ratione magis quam
Pythia quae tripodi a Phoebi lauroque profatur,
740principiis tamen in rerum fecere ruinas
et graviter magni magno cecidere ibi casu;
primum quod motus exempto rebus inani
constituunt, et res mollis rarasque relinquunt—
Footnotes
721Aeoliae Heinsius, probably rightly (see Bailey), despite the objections of F. H. Sandbach, CR N.S. 13 (1963) 13: Haeliae OQGB: Haeoliae O corr.: Italiae AFL: Aeolidae Sandbach very tentatively (he prefers Italiae)
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from the boundaries of that isle. Here is wasteful Charybdis, and here Etna’s rumblings threaten that the angry flames are gathering again, that once more its violence may belch fires bursting forth from its throat, and once more shoot to the sky the lightnings of its flame: which mighty region, while it seems wonderful in many ways to the nations of mankind and is famed as a place to see, fat with good things, fortified with mighty store of men, yet it seems to have contained in it nothing more illustrious than this man, nor more sacred and wonderful and dear. Moreover, the poems of his divine mind utter a loud
voice and declare illustrious discoveries, so that he seems hardly to be born of mortal stock.
734Nevertheless he and those whom I mentioned before, men very much below him by many degrees and far less than he, although in making many excellent and inspired discoveries they have given responses as it were from the holy place of the heart, with more sanctity and far more certainty than the Pythiaa who speaks forth from Apollo’s tripod and laurel,b nevertheless I say these have come to a (1) they deny Void
crash about the beginnings of things; great they were, and herein great was their fallc: first because
they assume motion after taking away void from things, and allow things to be soft and rarefied, air,
Footnotes
aThe priestess of the oracle at Delphi.
b738–739=5.111–112, where Lucr. is referring to his own oracular pronouncements. It is interesting that Epicurus compares himself to an oracle in Sent. Vat. 29. Cf. Cicero, Fin. 2.7.20 (of Epicurus): in alio vero libro, in quo breviter comprehensis gravissimis sententiis quasi oracula edidisse sapientiae dicitur;Fin. 2.32.102; Nat. D. 1.24.66: haec ego nunc physicorum oracula fundo. With the Lucretian passages Wakefield well compares lines from Athenaeus’ epigram on Epicurus (Diogenes Laertius 10.12): “This the wise son of Neocles heard from the Muses or from the sacred tripod at Delphi” (ἤ ΠυΦoῦς ἐξ ἱεpῶν τpιπόδων).
c741 was perhaps influenced by Homer, II. 16.776.
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aera solem imbrem terras animalia fruges—
745nec tamen admiscent in eorum corpus inane;
deinde quod omnino finem non esse secandis
corporibus faciunt neque pausam stare fragori
nec prorsum in rebus minimum consistere quicquam,
cum videamus id extremum cuiusque cacumen
750esse quod ad sensus nostros minimum esse videtur,
conicere ut possis ex hoc, quae cernere non quis
extremum quod habent, minimum consistere in illis.
huc accedit item, quoniam primordia rerum
mollia constituunt, quae nos nativa videmus
755esse et mortali cum corpore funditus, utqui
debeat ad nilum iam rerum summa reverti
de niloque renata vigescere copia rerum;
quorum utrumque quid a vero iam distet habebis.
deinde inimica modis multis sunt atque veneno
760ipsa sibi inter se; quare aut congressa peribunt
aut ita diffugient ut tempestate coacta
fulmina diffugere atque imbris ventosque videmus.
Denique quattuor ex rebus si cuncta creantur
atque in eas rursum res omnia dissoluuntur,
765qui magis illa queunt rerum primordia dici
quam contra res illorum retroque putari?
alternis gignuntur enim mutantque colorem
768et totam inter se naturam tempore ab omni.
Footnotes
744imbrem C. Bailey and P. Maas CR 57 (1943) 14: ignem OQUP. A reference to the four elements is needed:cf. 567, 713, 715, 783–786. For the corruption, cf. 784–785(probably), Catullus 62.7.
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sun, water, earth, animals, crops, yet do not mingle void in their body; secondly because they place no
limit at all to the cutting-up of bodies or fixed pause to their breaking, and deny that there exists in things any least part at all, although we see that in each thing there exists that extremest point which according to our senses is seen to be least, so that you may deduce from this that in those things which you cannot perceive a least exists which they have as their extreme.aMoreover, since they make the
first-beginnings of things to be soft, things which we see to be generated and to be wholly of perishable body, the sum of things must by this time return to nothing, and the store of things be reborn from nothing to grow vigorous; and how far both these views are from the truth you will know already. Then
again, these elements are at war together in many ways, and poison to one another; therefore when they meet they will either perish, Or will fly apart, as when a tempest has gathered we see lightnings and rain and winds fly apart.
763Moreover, if all things are made from four
things, and all are dissolved again into these things, how can these be called the first-beginnings of things, rather than things the first-beginnings of these, the thought being reversed? For they are born from one another, and change their colour and their whole nature amongst themselves from everlasting. But if
Footnotes
aCf. 599–634 and see note on 608. The argument here is that, just as visible objects have a visible minimum, so there must be a minimum in the invisible atoms.
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770sin ita forte putas ignis terraeque coire
corpus et aerias auras roremque liquoris,
nil in concilio naturam ut mutet eorum,
nulla tibi ex illis poterit res esse creata,
non animans, non exanimo cum corpore, ut arbos;
775quippe suam quidque in coetu variantis acervi
naturam ostendet mixtusque videbitur aer
cum terra simul atque ardor cum rore manere.
at primordia gignundis in rebus oportet
naturam clandestinam caecamque adhibere,
780emineat nequid quod contra pugnet et obstet
quominus esse queat proprie quodcumque creatur.
Quin etiam repetunt a caelo atque ignibus eius
et primum faciunt ignem se vertere in auras
aeris, hinc imbrem gigni terramque creari
785ex imbri retroque a terra cuncta reverti,
umorem primum, post aera, deinde calorem,
nec cessare haec inter se mutare, meare
a caelo ad terram, de terra ad sidera mundi.
quod facere haud ullo debent primordia pacto;
790immutabile enim quiddam superare necessest,
ne res ad nilum redigantur funditus omnes.
nam quodcumque suis mutatum finibus exit,
continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.
quapropter quoniam quae paulo diximus ante
Footnotes
777atque ardor Lambinus: et quodam OQUP: atque vapor Merrill (1917) tentatively: atque calor W. Clausen, AJPhil. 70 (1949) 309–310 784–785 imbrem . . . imbri . . . a terra Marullus: ignem . . . igni ... in terram OQUP. See critical note on 744. Here ignem . . . igni can be retained only if we suppose that Lucr. is again arguing against Heraclitus and his followers. This supposition is in fact made by Pascal and by M. Bollack in Assoc. G. Budé, Actes du VIIIe Congrès 386–387, and it may be correct. The reading of the manuscripts is also retained by Merrill (1917)
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by chance you think fire and the substance of earth and airy wind and liquid water so come together as to change nothing of their nature in the union, you
will find that nothing will be able to be made from them, no animal, nothing with inanimate body as a tree; for each element in the combination of this discordant heap will show its own nature, and air will be seen commingled together with earth, fire abiding with water. But the first-beginnings in begetting things ought to bring with them a nature secret and unseen, that nothing may be prominent to thwart and hinder from its proper being each thing which is being made.
782Moreover, theya go back to heaven and its
fires for a beginning, and lay down that first fire changes into the winds of the air, from this water is produced, and earth made from water, and back all returns again from earth, water first, then air, lastly fire, and that these change about incessantly, passing from heaven to earth, from earth to the stars of the skies. But this the first-beginnings on no account
ought to do; for something unchangeable must survive, that all things may not return utterly to nothing. For whatever by being changed passes outside its own boundaries, at once this is the death of that which was before.b Therefore, since these thingsc which we mentioned a little while ago pass
Footnotes
aThe reference may be not only to the Stoics (cf. Cicero, Nat. D. 2.33.84, 3.12.30–31), but also to the Peripatetics. For the view that Lucr. has returned to Heraclitus and his followers, see critical note on 784–785.
b789–793=2.750–754. 792–793 occur also at 670–671, 3.519–520.
cThe four elements.
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795in commutatum veniunt, constare necessest
ex aliis ea, quae nequeant convertier usquam,
ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnes.
quin potius tali natura praedita quaedam
corpora constituas, ignem si forte crearint,
800posse eadem, demptis paucis paucisque tributis,
ordine mutato et motu, facere aeris auras,
sic alias aliis rebus mutarier omnis?
“At manifesta palam res indicat,” inquis, “in auras
aeris e terra res omnis crescere alique;
805et nisi tempestas indulget tempore fausto
imbribus, ut tabe nimborum arbusta vacillent,
solque sua pro parte fovet tribuitque calorem,
crescere non possint fruges arbusta animantes.”
scilicet, et nisi nos cibus aridus et tener umor
810adiuvet, amisso iam corpore vita quoque omnis
omnibus e nervis atque ossibus exsoluatur;
adiutamur enim dubio procul atque alimur nos
certis ab rebus, certis aliae atque aliae res.
nimirum quia multa modis communia multis
815multarum rerum in rebus primordia mixta
sunt, ideo variis variae res rebus aluntur.
atque eadem magni refert primordia saepe
cum quibus et quali positura contineantur
et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque;
820namque eadem caelum mare terras flumina solem
constituunt, eadem fruges arbusta animantis,
Footnotes
806ut Priscian 7.72: et OQGP
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into change, they must of necessity consist of other things which can nowhere change at all, or you will find that all things return utterly to nothing. Why not rather assume some bodies endowed with such a nature that, if they happen to have produced fire, the same, when a few have been taken away and a few added, and their arrangement and motion have been altered, are able to make the winds of the air, and in this way all other things can interchange with others?
803“But,” you say, “manifest fact shows openly
that into the winds of the air out of the earth all things grow and are nourished; and unless the season lets the rain have its way at a favourable time, so that the trees shake under the melting of the clouds, unless the sun fosters them on his part and grants his heat, crops, trees, and animals cannot grow.” True: and unless we also were helped by solid food and soft water, we should lose our flesh at once, and all life also would be dissolved out of all our sinews and bones; for we ourselves are helped without doubt and nourished by certain fixed things; other things and others again by other fixed things; undoubtedly because many first-beginnings common
to many things in many ways are commingled in things, therefore different things are nourished by different things. And it is often of great importance with what and in what position these same first-beginnings are held together, and what motions they impart and receive mutuallya; for the same beginnings constitute sky, sea, earth, rivers, sun, the same make crops, trees, animals,b but they move differently
Footnotes
aCf. 908–910, 2.760–762, 1007–1009.
bCf. 2.1015–1016.
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verum aliis alioque modo commixta moventur.
quin etiam passim nostris in versibus ipsis
multa elementa vides multis communia verbis,
825cum tamen inter se versus ac verba necessest
confiteare et re et sonitu distare sonanti.
tantum elementa queunt permutato ordine solo;
at rerum quae sunt primordia, plura adhibere
possunt unde queant variae res quaeque creari.
830Nunc et Anaxagorae scrutemur homoeomerian
quam Grai memorant nec nostra dicere lingua
concedit nobis patrii sermonis egestas,
sed tamen ipsam rem facilest exponere verbis.
Principio, rerum quam dicit homoeomerian,
835ossa videlicet e pauxillis atque minutis
ossibus hic et de pauxillis atque minutis
visceribus viscus gigni sanguenque creari
sanguinis inter se multis coeuntibu’ guttis
ex aurique putat micis consistere posse
840aurum et de terris terram concrescere parvis,
ignibus ex ignis, umorem umoribus esse,
Footnotes
834quam OQGP: quom Lachmann
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mixed with different elements and in different ways. Moreover, all through these very lines of mine you see many elements common to many words, although you must confess that lines and wordsa differ one from another both in meaning and in the sound of their soundings. So much can elements do, when nothing is changed but order; but the elements that are the beginnings of things can bring with them more kinds of variety, from which all the various things can be produced.
830Now let us also examine the homoeomeria of of Anaxagoras.
Anaxagoras,b as the Greeks call it, which cannot be named in our language because of the poverty of our mother speech,c but yet it is easy to explain the thing itself in words.
834First, as to what he calls the homoeomeria in things, he clearly holds that bones are made of very small and minute bones,d flesh of very small and minute particles of flesh, and blood is composed by many drops of blood coming together into union, and he thinks gold may consist of grains of gold, and earth to be a concretion of small earths, fire of
Footnotes
a823–825=2.688–690. Comparison between the disposition of letters in words and the arrangement of atoms in compound bodies is made also in 196–197, 912–914, 2.1013–1018. Both the Latin elementa and the Greek στοιχεῖα can mean both physical elements and the letters of the alphabet.
bAnaxagoras (c. 500-c. 428 b.c.) of Clazomenae, near Smyrna, resided in Athens from c. 456 until c. 432 b.c., when he was prosecuted and banished for impiously maintaining that the sun is not a divinity, but a red-hot mass of stone larger than the Peloponnese. Like the atomists, whom he preceded and influenced, he supposed that matter exists in the form of an infinite number of separate particles; but his particles differed from atoms in that they were heterogeneous in substance; moreover, unlike the atomists, he believed in the infinite divisibility of matter and denied the existence of void. The term homoeomeria, which means “similarity of parts,”was probably not used by A. himself (see G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven and M. Schofield, The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd ed., 376–378, W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy II 325–326).
cCf. 139, 3.260.
dIt is probable that all the examples in 835–841 are taken from Anaxagoras himself. See Munro, Ernout-Robin, Bailey.
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cetera consimili fingit ratione putatque.
nec tamen esse ulla idem parte in rebus inane
concedit neque corporibus finem esse secandis.
845quare in utraque mihi pariter ratione videtur
errare atque illi supra quos diximus ante.
Adde quod inbecilla nimis primordia fingit,
si primordia sunt, simili quae praedita constant
natura atque ipsae res sunt, aequeque laborant
850et pereunt, neque ab exitio res ulla refrenat.
nam quid in oppressu valido durabit eorum,
ut mortem effugiat leti sub dentibus ipsis?
ignis an umor an aura? quid horum? sanguen an ossa?
nil, ut opinor, ubi ex aequo res funditus omnis
855tam mortalis erit quam quae manifesta videmus
ex oculis nostris aliqua vi victa perire.
at neque reccidere ad nilum res posse neque autem
crescere de nilo testor res ante probatas.
Praeterea quoniam cibus auget corpus alitque,
860scire licet nobis venas et sanguen et ossa
. . . . . . . . . . . .
sive cibos omnis commixto corpore dicent
esse et habere in se nervorum corpora parva
ossaque et omnino venas partisque cruoris,
Footnotes
843idem (but after parte) P: iden OQG: de (cf. 235) Diels
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fires, water of waters; he fancies and imagines the rest in the same way. But he refuses to allow void
anywhere in things, or to place any limit to the cutting-up of bodies. Therefore he seems to me wrong in both these views equally with those whom we have already mentioned above.a
847Add that he supposes first-beginnings which
are too weak, if indeed those are first-beginnings which are endowed with a nature similar to the things themselves, and equally suffer and pass away, nor does anything curb them back from destruction. For which of these will endure under crushing pressure, so as to escape death between the very teeth of destruction?b Fire or water or air? Which of these? Blood or bones? Nothing, as I think, when everything alike will be in its essence as perishable as what we see manifestly pass away from our sight overcome by some violence. But I appeal to what has been already demonstrated,c to prove that things can neither fall back into nothing, nor again grow out of nothing.
859Besides, since food increases the body and
nourishes it, we may know that veins and blood and bones [and sinews are made of parts not like themselvesd;] or if they say that all foods are made of miscellaneous substance, and contain within them small bodies of sinews and bones and also veins and particles of blood, it will follow that all food itself,
Footnotes
aThat is, Heraclitus, Empedocles, and their followers (cf. 658, 742–752).
bCf. Dante, Purgatorio 7.32 “dai denti morsi della morte,” but the resemblance must be fortuitous, for in Dante’s time Lucr. was unknown in Italy (see Munro I 2).
c149–264.
dSee critical note for Lambinus’ supplement.
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fiet uti cibus omnis, et aridus et liquor, ipse
865ex alienigenis rebus constare putetur,
ossibus et nervis sanieque et sanguine mixto.
praeterea quaecumque e terra corpora crescunt
si sunt in terris, terram constare necessest
ex alienigenis, quae terris exoriuntur.
870transfer item, totidem verbis utare licebit:
in lignis si flamma latet fumusque cinisque,
ex alienigenis consistant ligna necessest,
874ex alienigenis, quae lignis exoriuntur.
873praeterea tellus quae corpora cumque alit auget
. . . . . . .
875Linquitur hic quaedam latitandi copia tenvis,
id quod Anaxagoras sibi sumit, ut omnibus omnis
res putet inmixtas rebus latitare, sed illud
apparere unum cuius sint plurima mixta
et magis in promptu primaque in fronte locata.
880quod tamen a vera longe ratione repulsumst.
conveniebat enim fruges quoque saepe, minaci
robore cum saxi franguntur, mittere signum
sanguinis aut aliquid, nostro quae corpore aluntur;
cum lapidi in lapidem terimus, manare cruorem.
885consimili ratione herbas quoque saepe decebat
et latices dulcis guttas similique sapore
Footnotes
864Some editors place a comma after ipse instead of after liquor, perhaps rightly
884-885are transposed by many editors, following N.P. Howard, Journ. Phil. 1 (1868) 122. But, if 884 is thought intolerably awkward after 882–883 (and it is difficult to see why it should be), a better solution is that of H. Jacobson, CPhil. 61 (1966) 151–153, who suggests that 882–883 and 884 are alternative versions (cf. 4.26–44 and 45–53, 5.1359 and 1360), both written by the poet, and that Lucr. intended to omit one of them, probably 884
885herbas Marullus: herbis OQP
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both solid food and liquid, is held to consist of things unlike itself, bones and sinews, pus and blood commingled. Besides, whatever bodies grow out of the earth, if they are in the earth, then the earth must consist of things unlike itself which arise out of the earth. Apply this reasoning to other cases, and you may use the very same words. If flame, if smoke and ashes, are hidden in wood, the wood must necessarily consist of things unlike itself, of unlike things, which arise out of the wood. Besides, whatever bodies the earth nourishes and increases [must consist of things unlike themselves, which in their tum must contain things unlike themselves].a
875Here is left some slight opportunity for evasion,
which Anaxagoras turns to advantage in supposing that all things are hidden immingled in all things, but that alone appears which preponderates in the mixture and is more to be seen and placed right in the front. But this is far removed from true reasoning. For then it were proper that corn also, when it is being ground by the crushing strength of the millstone,
should show often a sign of blood or something of those substances which are nourished in our bodies; and when we rub with stone upon stone the blood should trickle. In the same way it were fitting that herbage also and water should often emit drops
Footnotes
aThe passage within brackets gives what is, according to Bailey, the likely sense of the missing argument.
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mittere, lanigerae quali sunt ubere lactis,
scilicet et glebis terrarum saepe friatis
herbarum genera et fruges frondesque videri
890dispertita inter terram latitare minute,
postremo in lignis cinerem fumumque videri,
cum praefracta forent, ignisque latere minutos.
quorum nil fieri quoniam manifesta docet res,
scire licet non esse in rebus res ita mixtas,
895verum semina multimodis inmixta latere
multarum rerum in rebus communia debent.
“At saepe in magnis fit montibus,” inquis, “ut altis
arboribus vicina cacumina summa terantur
inter se, validis facere id cogentibus austris,
900donec flammai fulserunt flore coorto.”
scilicet, et non est lignis tamen insitus ignis,
verum semina sunt ardoris multa, terendo
quae cum confluxere, creant incendia silvis.
quod si facta foret silvis abscondita flamma,
905non possent ullum tempus celarier ignes,
conficerent volgo silvas, arbusta cremarent.
iamne vides igitur, paulo quod diximus ante,
permagni referre eadem primordia saepe
cum quibus et quali positura contineantur
910et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque,
atque eadem paulo inter se mutata creare
ignes et lignum? quo pacto verba quoque ipsa
Footnotes
887ubere OQGP: ubera (cf. 2.370) first printed by Lambinus, who states that he found the reading quales sunt ubera in a manuscript
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sweet and of like flavour to the milk from the udders of fleecy ewes; and assuredly, when clods of earth have been crumbled, various kinds of herbage ought often to be seen, and corn, and leaves, scattered about and lurking amid the earth in small portions; lastly, when wood is broken, smoke and ashes and fire should be seen lurking in small portions. But since plain matter of fact teaches that nothing of all this is to be seen, we may know that things are not thus mixed up in things, but seeds common to many things must in many ways lurk immingled in things.
897“But,” you say, “often on great mountains it
happens that the topmost branches of tall trees being close together are rubbed one against another when the strong south winds compel them so to do, until the flower of flamea breaks out and they blaze.” Assuredly, and yet fire is not implanted in the wood,b but there are many seeds of heat which stream together by rubbing and make a conflagration among the forests; whereas if the flame were hidden in the forests ready made, the fires could not be concealed for a moment, they would consume the forests everywhere, burn up the trees. Do you see now, as I said a little while ago,c that it is often of very great importance with what and in what position these same first-beginnings are held in union, and what motions they impart and receive mutually, and how the same elements a little changed in their relations create fires and firs? Just as the words themselves too
Footnotes
aFor the metaphor flammai . . . flore, cf. 4.450, Homer, II. 9.212 (πυρὸς ἄνθος) quoted by Plutarch, Mor. 934 b, Aeschylus, PV 7, Naevius 48 (Ribbeck TRF) ut videam volcani opera haec flammis fieri flora. With 897–900 cf. Thucydides 2.77.4. With 897–903 cf. 5. 1094–1100.
bAnaxagoras’ view that fire is present in wood is effectively emphasized by the presence of the letters of ignis in lignis. Cf. 912–914.
c817–819.
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inter se paulo mutatis sunt elementis,
cum ligna atque ignes distincta voce notemus.
Denique iam quaecumque in rebus cernis apertis
916si fieri non posse putas, quin materiai
corpora consimili natura praedita fingas,
hac ratione tibi pereunt primordia rerum:
fiet uti risu tremulo concussa cachinnent
920et lacrimis salsis umectent ora genasque.
Nunc age quod super est cognosce et clarius audi.
nec me animi fallit quam sint obscura; sed acri
percussit thyrso laudis spes magna meum cor,
et simul incussit suavem mi in pectus amorem
925Musarum, quo nunc instinctus mente vigenti
avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante
trita solo, iuvat integros accedere fontis
atque haurire, iuvatque novos decerpere flores
insignemque meo capiti petere inde coronam
930unde prius nulli velarint tempora Musae:
primum quod magnis doceo de rebus et artis
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consist of elements a little changed, when we mark fires and firsa with a distinct name.
915Lastly, if you think that whatever you see
amongst visible things cannot be brought about without supposing that the elements of matter are endowed with a like nature, on this reasoning there is an end of your first-beginnings of things: it will follow that they guffaw shaken with quivering laughter, and bedew face and cheeks with salt tears.b
921Come now, mark and learn what remains, and
hear a clearer strain. Nor am I unaware how obscurec these matters are; but the high hope of renown has struck my mind sharply with holy wand,d and at the same time has struck into my heart sweet love of the Muses,e thrilled by which now in lively thought I traverse pathless tracts of the Pierides never yet trodden by any foot.f I love to approach virgin springs and there to drink; I love to pluck new flowers, and to seek an illustrious chaplet for my head from fields whence before this the Muses have crowned the brows of none: first because my teaching is of high matters, and I proceed to unloose
Footnotes
aThe translation of Munro, adopted by Rouse. “Beams . . .flames” (Bailey) and “fires .. . conifers” (M. F. Smith) are perhaps preferable in that, being partly anagrammatic, they represent more accurately the reshuffling of the same elements (911). Lucr.’s own example, though ingenious, is not perfect in this respect.
bCf. 2.973–990. Lucr. is fond of concluding an argument with a reductio ad absurdum: cf. e.g. 3.367–369, 775-783.
cFor the obscurity of Lucr.’s subject, cf. 136, 933.
dThe thyrsus is the wand carried by Dionysus and his votaries. For the idea that the poet is divinely inspired and possessed, like a bacchant, see Plato, Ion 533 e—534 e.
eWith incussit suavem mi in pectus amorem Musarum (924–925) cf. omnibus incutiens blandum per pectora amorem (19). The parallelism shows that Lucr. feels that his creative urge (to write poetry) is comparable to, though of course on a higher level than, the creative urge given to animals by Venus. In this connexion, it is relevant to recall that Venus is invoked in the first proem not only as the power of physical creation, but also (24–28) as the giver of grace to Lucr.’s verses.
fThe Pierides are the Muses. For the probable influence of Callimachus on 926–928, see E. J. Kenney, Mnemos. ser. 4, 23 (1970) 370.
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Lucretius
religionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo,
deinde quod obscura de re tam lucida pango
carmina, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore.
935id quoque enim non ab nulla ratione videtur;
sed veluti pueris absinthia taetra medentes
cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum
contingunt mellis dulci flavoque liquore,
ut puerorum aetas inprovida ludificetur
940labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum
absinthi laticern deceptaque non capiatur,
sed potius tali pacto recreata valescat,
sic ego nunc, quoniam haec ratio plerumque videtur
tristior esse quibus non est tractata, retroque
945volgus abhorret ab hac, volui tibi suaviloquenti
carmine Pierio rationem exponere nostram
et quasi musaeo dulci contingere melle,
si tibi forte animum tali ratione tenere
versibus in nostris possem, dum perspicis omnem
950naturam rerum qua constet compta figura.
Sed quoniam docui solidissima materiai
corpora perpetuo volitare invicta per aevom,
nunc age, summai quaedam sit finis eorum
necne sit, evolvamus; item quod inane repertumst
955seu locus ac spatium, res in quo quaeque gerantur,
pervideamus utrum finitum funditus omne
constet an immensum pateat vasteque profundum.
Footnotes
942pacto Heinsius, Lachmann: facto OQGP
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the mind from the close knots of superstitiona; next because the subject is so dark and the lines I write so clear, as I touch all with the Muses’ grace. For even this seems not to be out of place; but as with children, when physicians tryb to administer rank wormwood, they first touch the rims about the cups with the sweet yellow fluid of honey, that unthinking childhood be deluded as far as the lips, and meanwhile may drink up the bitter juice of wormwood, and though beguiled be not betrayed, but rather by such means be restored and regain health, so now do I: since this doctrine commonly seems somewhat harsh to those who have not used it, and the people shrink back from it, I have chosen to set forth my doctrine to you in sweet-speaking Pierian song, and as it were to touch it with the Muses’ delicious honey, if by chance in such a way I might engage your mind in my verses, while you are learning to see in what shape is framed the whole nature of things.c
951But since I have taught that the bodies of
matter matter are perfectly solid, and that they fly about continually unimpaired for ever, come now, let us unfold whether there be any limit to their sum or not; likewise as regards the void which has been found to exist, or place and space for all things to be done, let us see clearly whether it be limited in its essence or spread to breadth immeasurable and vasty depth.
Footnotes
aThe metaphor in 932 shows that Lucr. connects religio with religare“to bind fast.”
bconantur not only adds a pleasingly realistic touch to the illustration by suggesting that the doctor’s trick may not succeed, but also corresponds to si . . . forte. . . possem in 948–949 where Lucr. shows that he is not fully confident of his ability to hold Memmius’ attention and convert him. For the Epicurean philosopher as missionary and spiritual healer, see Introduction p. xlii.
c926–950 are repeated, with a few minor alterations, in 4.1–25.
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Omne quod est igitur nulla regione viarum
finitumst; namque extremum debebat habere.
960extremum porro nullius posse videtur
esse, nisi ultra sit quod finiat; ut videatur
quo non longius haec sensus natura sequatur.
nunc extra summam quoniam nil esse fatendum,
non habet extremum, caret ergo fine modoque.
965nec refert quibus adsistas regionibus eius:
usque adeo, quem quisque locum possedit, in omnis
tantundem partis infinitum omne relinquit.
Praeterea si iam finitum constituatur
omne quod est spatium, siquis procurrat ad oras
970ultimus extremas iaciatque volatile telum,
id validis utrum contortum viribus ire
quo fuerit missum mavis longeque volare,
an prohibere aliquid censes obstareque posse?
alterutrum fatearis enim sumasque necessest;
quorum utrumque tibi effugium praecludit et omne
976cogit ut exempta concedas fine patere.
nam sive est aliquid quod probeat officiatque
quominu’ quo missum est veniat finique locet se,
sive foras fertur, non est a fine profectum.
980hoc pacto sequar atque, oras ubicumque locaris
extremas, quaeram quid telo denique fiat.
Footnotes
966omnis P: omnus OQG: omneis ed. Aldina, Pius, ed. Juntina, Naugerius, Lambinus, Creech, Havercamp, and other editors before Wakefield, to whom Diels and Büchner attribute it
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958The universe then is not limited along any of
its paths; for if so it ought to have an extremity. Again, clearly nothing can have an extremity unless there be something beyond to bound it, so that something can be seen, beyond which our sense can follow the object no further. Now since we must confess that there is nothing beyond the sum of things, it has no extremity, and therefore it is without end or limit.a Nor does it matter in which of its quarters you stand: so true is it that, whatever place anyone occupies, he leaves the whole equally infinite in every direction.
968Besides, if all the existing space be granted for
the moment to be finite, suppose someone proceeded to the very extremest edge and cast a flyinff lance, do you prefer that the lance forcibly thrown goes whither it was sent and flies afar, or do you think that anything can hinder and obstruct it? For you must confess and accept one of the two; but each of them shuts you off from all escape, and compels you to own that the universe stretches without end. For whether there is something to hinder and keep it from going whither it is sent and from fixing itself at its mark, or whether it passes out, that was no boundary whence it was sped.b In this way I shall go after you, and wherever you place your extremest edge, I shall ask what at last happens to the lance.
Footnotes
aFor the argument of 958–964, cf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 41, Cicero, Div. 2.50.103–104.
bIf it goes on, there is space beyond; if not, there is matter. In either case it is not the end of the universe. The illustration may have been suggested by the practice of the Roman fetial hurling a spear over the enemy’s border as a declaration of war.
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Lucretius
fiet uti nusquam possit consistere finis
effugiumque fugae prolatet copia semper.
Praeterea spatium summai totius omne
985undique si inclusum certis consisteret oris
finitumque foret, iam copia materiai
undique ponderibus solidis confluxet ad imum,
nec res ulla geri sub caeli tegmine posset,
nec foret omnino caelum neque lumina solis,
990quippe ubi materies omnis cumulata iaceret
ex infinito iam tempore subsidendo.
at nunc nimirum requies data principiorum
corporibus nuilast, quia nil est funditus imum
quo quasi confiuere et sedes ubi ponere possint.
995semper in adsiduo motu res quaeque geruntur
partibus e cunctis infernaque suppeditantur
ex infinito cita corpora materiai.
Postremo ante oculos res rem finire videtur;
aer dissaepit collis atque aera montes,
terra mare et contra mare terras terminat omnis;
1001omne quidem vero nil est quod finiat extra.
Est igitur natura loci spatiumque profundi,
quod neque clara suo percurrere fulmina cursu
perpetuo possint aevi labentia tractu
1005nec prorsum facere ut restet minus ire meando:
usque adeo passim patet ingens copia rebus
finibus exemptis in cunctas undique partis.
Ipsa modum porro sibi rerum summa parare
ne possit, natura tenet, quae corpus inani
Footnotes
996e M: in P: omitted by OQG
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The effect will be that no boundary can exist anywhere and the possibility of flight will ever put off escape.
984Besides, if all the space in the universe stood
contained within fixed boundaries on all sides and all were limited, by this time the store of matter would by its solid weight have run together from all sides to the bottom, nor could anything be done under the canopy of heaven, nor would heaven exist at all or the sun’s light, because assuredly all matter would be lying in a heap from sinking down through infinite ages past. But as it is, sure enough no rest is given to the bodies of the first-beginnings, because there is no bottom whatsoever, for them to run together as it were into it and fix their abode there. Always the business of the universe is going on with incessant motion in every part, and the elements of matter are being supplied from beneath, rushing from infinite space.
998Lastly, one thing is seen before our eyes to be
the limit of another: air separates hills and mountains air, earth bounds sea and contrariwise the sea is the boundary of all lands; the universe, however, has verse has nothing outside to be its limit.
1002Therefore the nature of space and the extent of the deep is so great that neither bright lightnings can traverse it in their course, though they glide onwards through endless tracts of time; nor can they by all their travelling make their journey any the less to go: so widely spreads the great store of space in the universe all around without limit in every direction.
1008Furthermore, nature withholds the sum of existing
things from providing a limit for itself, because
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1010et quod inane autem est finiri corpore cogit,
ut sic alternis infinita omnia reddat,
aut etiam alterutrum, nisi terminet alterum eorum,
simplice natura pateat tamen inmoderatum.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
nec mare nec tellus neque caeli lucida templa
1015nec mortale genus nec divum corpora sancta
exiguum possent horai sistere tempus;
nam dispulsa suo de coetu materiai
copia ferretur magnum per inane soluta,
sive adeo potius numquam concreta creasset
1020ullam rem, quoniam cogi disiecta nequisset.
Nam certe neque consilio primordia rerum
ordine se quo quaeque sagaci mente locarunt
nec quos quaeque darent motus pepigere profecto,
sed quia multa modis multis mutata per omne
1025ex infinito vexantur percita plagis,
omne genus motus et coetus experiundo
tandem deveniunt in talis disposituras,
qualibus haec rerum consistit summa creata,
et multos etiam magnos servata per annos
1030ut semel in motus coniectast convenientis,
efficit ut largis avidum mare fluminis undis
Footnotes
1013-1014Lacuna between these lines assumed by Marcellus (marginal note in Codex Laurentianus 35.32) and all recent editors except Merrill (1917) and Martin. Diels supplies: nam si finitum vacuum constaret inane, | innumera haut [=haud] caperet cita corpora materiai; | sin finita essent immenso corpora inani, | nec mare etc. Cf. Epicurus, Ep.ad Hdt. 42
1023darent motus pepigere profecto Marullus (from 5.421): sagaci mente locarunt (from 1022) O corr. by Dungal, Q, G corr., P
Page number 84
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she compels body to be bounded by void and that again which is void to be bounded by body, so that by this alternation she renders the universe infinite, or else either one of these two, if the other did not bound it, would yet by itself spread abroad without limit. [But if space were finite, it could not contain an infinite amount of matter; and if matter
were finite], neither sea nor land nor the gleaming regions of the sky nor the race of men nor the holy bodies of gods could stand fast for the fraction of an hour; for the store of matter, driven abroad from its union, would be rushing dissolved through the great void, or rather would never have been compacted to
form anything, since when scattered abroad it could never have been brought together.a
1021For certainly neither did the first-beginnings
place themselves by design each in its own order with keen intelligence, nor assuredly did they make agreement what motions each should produceb; but because, being many and shifted in many ways, they are harried and set in motion with blows throughout the universe from infinity, thus by trying every kind of motion and combination, at length they fall into such arrangements as this sum of things consists ofc; and this being also preserved through
many great cycles of years,d when once it has been cast together into convenient motions, brings it about that rivers refill the greedy sea with generous waves
Footnotes
aCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 67 Smith
b1021–1023=5.419–421.
cWith 1024–1028 cf. 5.187–194, 422–431.
dmagnus annus meant a long cycle of years, to which philosophers assigned various lengths. Cf. 5.644, Cicero, Arat. 232–233: hae faciunt magnos longinqui temporis annos, cum redeunt ad idem caeli sub tegmine signum.
Page number 85
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
integrent amnes et solis terra vapore
fota novet fetus summissaque gens animantum
floreat et vivant labentes aetheris ignes;
1035quod nullo facerent pacto, nisi materiai
ex infinito suboriri copia posset,
unde amissa solent reparare in tempore quaeque.
nam veluti privata cibo natura animantum
diffluit amittens corpus, sic omnia debent
1040dissolui simul ac defecit suppeditare
materies aliqua ratione aversa viai.
nec plagae possunt extrinsecus undique summam
conservare omnem quaecumque est conciliata.
cudere enim crebro possunt partemque morare,
1045dum veniant aliae ac suppleri summa queatur;
interdum resilire tamen coguntur et una
principiis rerum spatium tempusque fugai
largiri, ut possint a coetu libera ferri.
quare etiam atque etiam suboriri multa necessest,
et tamen ut plagae quoque possint suppetere ipsae,
1051infinita opus est vis undique materiai.
Illud in his rebus longe fuge credere, Memmi,
Footnotes
1044morare OQ probably should be retained. Diomedes (II. Keil, Grammatici Latini I p. 400, 15–28) mentions the active form and quotes examples from Naevius, Ennius, and Pacuvius. Cf. 3.628, where the reading of OQ points to vagare: morari O corr., Q corr., GP seems to have been unanimously adopted by the editors
Page number 86
De Rerum Natura
of their streams, and earth, cherished by the sun’s heat, renews its produce, and the generation of living things springs up and flourishes, and the gliding fires of heaven do live; which they would by no means do, unless a store of matter could arise up out of the infinite, from which they are accustomed to replace in season all that has been lost. For as the nature of animals, deprived of food, wastes away, losing its body, so all things must be dissolved away as soon as matter, turned somehow from its course, has ceased to be supplied. Nor can blows from without on all sides conserve the whole of every world which has been formed by the union of atoms. They can indeed batter it frequently, and delay one part until others shall come and the sum can be filled up; yet theya are compelled sometimes to rebound and thereby to give the first-beginnings of things ample time and space to escape, so that they can fly clear away from their combination. Therefore again and again I say, it is necessary that they should arise up in large numbers; indeed, in order that even the blows themselves be supplied, there is need of an infinite quantity of matter on all sides.
1052One belief concerning these matters, Memmius,
you must avoid and keep afar: that, as some say,b
Footnotes
aThe atoms that cause the blows.
bIt has been generally assumed that the theory which Lucr. attacks is, as Lambinus thought, “Peripateticorum et veterum Academicorum et Stoicorum,” and that the Stoics are his main target. However, D. J. Furley, BICS 13 (1966) 16–23, following E. Bignone, has argued that Lucr. does not have the Stoics in mind at all, but only the Peripatetics. Since Lucr.’s argument is no doubt derived from Epicurus, who probably was arguing chiefly against Aristotle (so far as we know, Epicurus himself did not attack the Stoics), it is natural that it should be most applicable to the Peripatetic form of the theory, but it is hard to believe that Lucr., writing at a time when Stoicism was his school’s chief rival, did not aim it at the Stoics at all, even if it was not relevant to the Stoic view in every detail. Epicurean writers did not always present the views of their opponents fully and fairly.
Page number 87
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
in medium summae quod dicunt omnia niti,
atque ideo mundi naturam stare sine ullis
1055ictibus externis neque quoquam posse resolvi
summa atque ima, quod in medium sint omnia nixa—
ipsum si quicquam posse in se sistere credis—
et quae pondera sunt sub terris omnia sursum
nitier in terraque retro requiescere posta,
ut per aquas quae nunc rerum simulacra videmus.
1061et simili ratione animalia suppa vagari
contendunt neque posse e terris in loca caeli
reccidere inferiora magis quam corpora nostra
sponte sua possint in caeli templa volare;
1065illi cum videant solem, nos sidera noctis
cernere, et alternis nobiscum tempora caeli
dividere et noctes parilis agitare diebus.
sed vanus stolidis haec . . . .
amplexi quod habent perv . . .
1070nam medium nil esse potest . . .
infinita; neque omnino, si iam medium sit,
possit ibi quicquam consistere . . .
quam quavis alia longe ratione . . .
omnis enim locus ac spatium, quod inane vocamus,
1075per medium, per non medium, concedere debet
aeque ponderibus, motus quacumque feruntur.
Footnotes
1058et OP: at QG
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all things press towards the centre of the whole,
and that for this reason the nature of the world stands firm without any external blows, and the highest and lowest parts cannot be set loose in any direction, because all presses towards the centre—?
if you believe that anything can stand upon itself—
and that the weights that are beneath the earth all press upwards and come to rest on the earth upside down, like the images which we now see reflected by water. And likewise they maintain that the animals there move about head downwards, and cannot fall back from the earth into the space of sky any more than our bodies of themselves can fly into the regions of the sky; that when they see the sun, we behold the stars of night, and they share the seasons of the heavens with us alternately, and pass nights which are equal to our days. But it is empty [error that approves]a these [fallacies] to the stupid, because they have embraced [them with twisted reasoning]. For there can be no middle, [since the universe is] infinite.
Nor indeed, if middle there really were, could anything at all stand still there [on that account rather] than [be driven] far [away] for some different reason. For all place and space, which we call void, must yield a passage through middle or not-middle equally to weights, wherever their movements
Footnotes
aThe words in square brackets here and in the following lines translate Munro’s restorations. See critical note.
Page number 89
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
nec quisquam locus est, quo corpora cum venere,
ponderis amissa vi possint stare in inani;
nec quod inane autem est ulli subsistere debet,
1080quin, sua quod natura petit, concedere pergat.
haud igitur possunt tali ratione teneri
res in concilium medii cuppedine victae.
Praeterea quoniam non omnia corpora fingunt
in medium niti, sed terrarum atque liquoris—
10861085umorem ponti magnasque e montibus undas,
1085et quasi terreno quae corpore contineantur—,
at contra tenuis exponunt aeris auras
et calidos simul a medio differrier ignis,
atque ideo totum circum tremere aethera signis
1090et solis flammam per caeli caerula pasci,
quod calor a medio fugiens se ibi conligat omnis,
nec prorsum arboribus summos frondescere ramos
posse, nisi a terris paulatim cuique cibatum
. . . . . . .
1095 . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
1100 . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
ne volucri ritu flammarum moenia mundi
diffugiant subito magnum per inane soluta,
et ne cetera consimili ratione sequantur,
Footnotes
1077cum venere L (?) (according to Büchner), ed. Aldina: cum venerunt F: comveneri (with i erased) O: covenir Q: comvenirt G
1094After 1093 a space of eight lines is left by O, and QG indicate the lacuna with a cross. The loss was caused by the same tear that mutilated 1068–1075. One of the missing lines may have begun with quondam (Pap.fr. L)
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tend. Nor is there any place in which bodies, when they have come thither, can lose the force of weight and stand still in the void; nor again must that which is void ever give support for anything, but, as its nature craves, it must proceed to give place. Therefore, things cannot be held in combination together in any such way, overcome by a yearning for the middle.
1083Besides, inasmuch as they do not suppose all
bodies to press towards the middle, but only those of earth and water—the liquid of the sea and great waters that descend from the mountains, and such things as are contained as it were in earthly frame—, but on the other hand explain that the thin breezes of air and hot fires are at the same time carried away from the middle; and that the whole firmament all about twinkles with constellations and the sun’s flame feeds through the blue sky, because all the heat fleeing from the middle gathers itself together there; and that the topmost branches of trees could not even produce leaves, if food were not [distributed] to each from the earth, gradually [supplied by an internal fire, their reasoning is inconsistent.a... If fire and air have a natural tendency to move upwards, there is danger] lest the walls of the world suddenly be dissolved and flee apart after the fashion
of flying flames through the void, and the rest follow
Footnotes
aThe lacuna must have contained the apodosis to the quoniam clause that begins in 1083. But there is much disagreement about the argument of the lost passage, and the interpretation offered here (within square brackets), which is that favoured by Bailey, cannot be regarded as certain.
Page number 91
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
1105neve ruant caeli tonitralia templa superne,
terraque se pedibus raptim subducat et omnis
inter permixtas rerum caelique ruinas
corpora solventes abeat per inane profundum,
temporis ut puncto nil extet reliquiarum
1110desertum praeter spatium et primordia caeca.
nam quacumque prius de parti corpora desse
constitues, haec rebus erit pars ianua leti,
hac se turba foras dabit omnis materiai.
Haec sic pernosces parva perductus opella;
1115namque alid ex alio clarescet, nec tibi caeca
nox iter eripiet quin ultima naturai
pervideas: ita res accendent lumina rebus.
Footnotes
1105tonitralia first printed by Lambinus, who notes“sic habent quattuor libri manuscripti, quos secutus sum”: tonetralia OQGF (and B, according to Büchner): penetralia AL (and B, according to Martin)
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in like manner, the thundering regions of the sky
rush upwards, the earth swiftly slip from under our feet, and amidst the commingled ruin of sky and all things, letting their elements go free, utterly depart through the empty profound, so that in one moment of time not a wrack be left behind except desert space and invisible elements. For in whatsoever part you shall assume that particles shall first be lacking, that part will be the gate of death for things: by that way the whole mass of matter will disperse abroad.
1114So you will gain a thorough understandinga of
these matters, led on with very little effort; for one thing will become clear by another, and blind night will not steal your path and prevent you from seeing all the uttermost recesses of nature: so clearly will truths kindle light for truths.
Footnotes
aThe completeness of the mastery which Memmius should attain is emphasized by the triple per- in 1114, 1117: pernosces, perductus, pervideas.
Page number 93
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
Liber Secundus
Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis,
e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem;
non quia vexari quemquamst iucunda voluptas,
sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.
65suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri
5per campos instructa tua sine parte pericli.
sed nil dulcius est bene quam munita tenere
edita doctrina sapientum templa serena,
despicere unde queas alios passimque videre
10errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae,
certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate,
noctes atque dies niti praestante labore
ad summas emergere opes rerumque potiri.
o miseras hominum mentes, o pectora caeca!
15qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis
degitur hoc aevi quodcumquest! nonne videre
nil aliud sibi naturam latrare, nisi utqui
corpore seiunctus dolor absit, mensque fruatur
iucundo sensu cura semota metuque?
Footnotes
5-6transposed by Avancius and all recent editors except Büchner, who, like Merrill and Bailey, overlooks the fact that the transposition was rejected by ed. Juntina, Naugerius, and Wakefield
18mensque Marullus: mente OQG
Page number 94
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Book 2
Pleasant it is, when on the great sea the winds
trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another’s great tribulation: not because any man’s troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive what ills you are free from yourself is pleasant. Pleasant is it also to behold great encounters of warfare arrayed over the plains, with no part of yours in the peril. But nothing is more delightful than to possess lofty sanctuaries serene, well fortified by the teachings of the wise, whence you may look down upon others and behold them all astray,a wandering abroad and seeking the path of life:—the strife of wits, the fight for precedence, all labouring night and day with surpassing toil to mount upon the pinnacle of richesb and to lay hold on power. O pitiable minds of men, O blind intelligences! In what gloom of life,c in how great perils is passed all your poor span of time! not to see that all nature barks for is this, that pain be removed away out of the body, and that the mind, kept away from care and fear, enjoy a feeling of delight!
Footnotes
aCf. Cicero, Fin. 1.19.62 (of the wise man as represented by Epicurus): cum stultorum vitam cum sua comparat, magna afficitur voluptate.
b12-13 (nodes . . . opes) = 3.62-63.
cFor the darkness of ignorance from which Epicurus rescued mankind, cf. e.g. 3.1-2, 5.11-12.
Page number 95
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
20Ergo corpoream ad naturam pauca videmus
esse opus omnino, quae demant cumque dolorem,
delicias quoque uti multas substernere possint;
gratius interdum neque natura ipsa requirit,
si non aurea sunt iuvenum simulacra per aedes
25lampadas igniferas manibus retinentia dextris,
lumina nocturnis epulis ut suppeditentur,
nec domus argento fulget auroque renidet
nec citharae reboant laqueata aurataque templa,
cum tamen inter se prostrati in gramine molli
30propter aquae rivum sub ramis arboris altae
non magnis opibus iucunde corpora curant,
praesertim cum tempestas adridet et anni
tempora conspergunt viridantis floribus herbas.
nec calidae citius decedunt corpore febres,
35textilibus si in picturis ostroque rubenti
iacteris, quam si in plebeia veste cubandum est.
Quapropter quoniam nil nostro in corpore gazae
proficiunt neque nobilitas nec gloria regni,
quod superest, animo quoque nil prodesse putandum;
40si non forte, tuas legiones per loca campi
fervere cum videas belli simulacra cientis,
Footnotes
41Nonius, p. 808 Lindsay, quotes from Lucr. 2 fervere cum videas classem lateque vagari. Some editors insert this line after 43; Munro, following A. G. Roos, places it after 46; others, probably rightly, regard it as a misquotation of 41
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20Therefore we see that few things altogether
are necessary for the bodily nature, only such in each case as take pain away,a and can also spread for our use many delights; nor does nature herself ever crave anything more pleasurable, if there be no golden images of youths about the house, upholding fiery torches in their right hands that light may be provided for nightly revellings,b if the hall does not shine with silver and glitter with gold, if no crossbeams panelled and gilded echo the lyre, when all the samec stretched forth in groups upon the soft grass beside a rill of water under the branches of a tall tree men merrily refresh themselves at no great cost, especially when the weather smiles, and the season of the year besprinkles the green herbage with flowers.d And no quicker do hot fevers fly away from your body, if you have pictured tapestry and blushing purple to toss upon, than if you must lie sick under the poor man’s blanket.
37Therefore, since treasures profit nothing for our body, nor noble birth nor the glory of royalty, we must further think that for the mind also they are
unprofitable; unless by any chance, when you behold your legions seething over the spacious Plaine as they evoke war in mimicry, established firm with
Footnotes
aAccording to Epicurus, pleasure is limited, and the limit of pleasure for the body is reached when the natural and necessary desires are satisfied and the pain caused by want is removed. Cf. e.g. Epicurus, Ep. ad Men. 130-131, Sent. 3, 18, Cicero, Fin. 1.11.38.
b24-26 are in imitation of Homer, Od. 7.100-102.
cThat is, despite the lack of the luxuries listed in 24-28. The desire for such luxuries is neither natural nor necessary, and therefore must be banished. For Epicurus’ classification of desires, see Ep. ad Men. 127, Sent. 29, Cicero, Fin. 1.13.45.
d29-33 are repeated, with minor alterations, in 5.1392-1396. For the significance of the repetition, see B. Farrington in Hermathena 81 (1953) 59-62.
ecampi (40) probably refers to the Campus Martius at Rome. Cf. 323-332.
Page number 97
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
subsidiis magnis et equum vi constabilitas,
ornatas armis pariter pariterque animatas,
his tibi tum rebus timefactae religiones
45effugiunt animo pavidae, mortisque timores
tum vacuum pectus linquunt curaque solutum.
quod si ridicula haec ludibriaque esse videmus,
re veraque metus hominum curaeque sequaces
nec metuunt sonitus armorum nec fera tela
50audacterque inter reges rerumque potentis
versantur neque fulgorem reverentur ab auro
nec clarum vestis splendorem purpureai,
quid dubitas quin omni’ sit haec rationi’ potestas,
omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret?
55nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis
in tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus
interdum nilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam
quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura.
hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
60non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.
Nunc age, quo motu genitalia materiai
corpora res varias gignant genitasque resolvant,
et qua vi facere id cogantur, quaeque sit ollis
Footnotes
42-43omitted by Q which indicates a lacuna of three lines:written in uncials by OG: transposed by Bailey 42 et ecum (= equum) vi Munro (the form ecus has manuscript authority in 4.420):epicuri OGABF: et opum vi Büchner, comparing Ennius, Ann. 161, 412 43 pariter (after armis) Bernays(pariter pariterque occurs 3.457, and here the first pariter may have been omitted by haplography (cf. 4.653), or there may have been a blot in the middle of 43 and 42):itastatuas O, with dots under at, to indicate that the letters should be omitted: itasiuas (itastuas, according to some recent editors) G: statuas Itali (according to recent editors, but ita statuas is the reading of the ed. Veronensis and ed. Veneta)
46pectus Lambinus: tempus OQGP, Wakefield (comparing Terence, Haut. 90)
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mighty supports and a mass of cavalry, marshalled all in arms cap-á-pie and all full of one spirit, then these things scare your superstitious fears and drive them in panic flight from your mind, and death’s terrors then leave your heart unpossessed and free from care. But if we see these things to be ridiculous and a mere mockery, if in truth men’s fears and haunting cares fear neither the clang of arms nor wild weapons, if they boldly mingle with kings and sovereigns of the world, if they respect not the sheen of gold nor the glowing light of crimson raiment, why
doubt you that this power wholly belongs to reason, especially since life is one long struggle in the dark? For just as children tremble and fear all things in blind darkness, so we in the light fear, at times, things that are no more to be feared than what children shiver at in the dark and imagine to be at hand.a This terror of the mind, therefore, and this gloom must be dispelled, not by the sun’s rays nor the bright shafts of day, but by the aspect and law of nature.b
62Listen now, and I will set forth by what motion
the generative bodies of matter beget the various things and dissolve t h em once begotten, and by what force they are compelled to do it, and what swiftness
Footnotes
aCf. the opening words of Francis Bacon’s essay Of Death:” Men fear death as children fear to go into the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.”
b55-61 =3.87-93, 6.35-41. 59-61 = 1.146-148.
Page number 99
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
65reddita mobilitas magnum per inane meandi,
expediam; tu te dictis praebere memento.
Nam certe non inter se stipata cohaeret
materies, quoniam minui rem quamque videmus
et quasi longinquo fluere omnia cernimus aevo
70ex oculisque vetustatem subducere nostris,
cum tamen incolumis videatur summa manere
propterea quia, quae decedunt corpora cuique,
unde abeunt minuunt, quo venere augmine donant,
illa senescere, at haec contra florescere cogunt,
75nec remorantur ibi. sic rerum summa novatur
semper, et inter se mortales mutua vivunt:
augescunt aliae gentes, aliae minuuntur,
inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum
et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.
80Si cessare putas rerum primordia posse
cessandoque novos rerum progignere motus,
avius a vera longe ratione vagaris.
nam quoniam per inane vagantur, cuncta necessest
aut gravitate sua ferri primordia rerum
85aut ictu forte alterius. nam cum cita saepe
obvia conflixere, fit ut diversa repente
dissiliant; neque enim mirum, durissima quae sint
ponderibus solidis neque quicquam a tergo ibus obstet.
Footnotes
85quom (=cum Lachmann) cita Wakefield (in his notes, but not in his text): cita OQGAB
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has been given them to travel through the great void; do you remember to give heed to my words.
67For certainly matter is not one packed and coherent mass, since we see each thing decreasing, and we perceive all things as it were ebbing through length of time, and age withdrawing them from our
eyes; although nevertheless the sum is seen to remain unimpaired for this reason, that whenever bodies pass away from a thing, they diminish that from which they pass and increase that to which they have come, they compel the first to fade and the second on the contrary to bloom, yet do not linger there. Thus the sum of things is ever being renewed, and mortal creatures live dependent one upon another. Some species increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and, like runners, pass on the torch of life.a
80If you think the first-beginnings of things can
stand still, and by standing still can beget new motions amongst things, you are astray and wander far from true reasoning.b For since the first-beginnings of things wander through the void, they must all be carried on either by their own weight or by a chance blow from another atom. For when in quick motion they have often met and collided, it follows that they leap apart suddenly in different directions; and no wonder, since they are perfectly hard in their solid weight and nothing obstructs them from behind.
Footnotes
aThe metaphor is from the Athenian lampadedromy (relay torch-race), as in Plato, Leg. 776 b (quoted by Lambinus): τὸν βίον παραδιδόντας ἄλλοις ἐξ ἄλλων =“begetting and rearing children, and so handing on life, like a torch, to successive generations.” Pius compares Varro, Rust. 3.16.9, Persius 6.61.
bEpicurus deals briefly with atomic motion in Ep. ad Hdt. 43-44, 61-62.
Page number 101
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
et quo iactari magis omnia materiai
90corpora pervideas, reminiscere totius imum
nil esse in summa, neque habere ubi corpora prima
consistant, quoniam spatium sine fine modoquest,
inmensumque patere in cunctas undique partis
pluribus ostendi et certa ratione probatumst.
95quod quoniam constat, nimirum nulla quies est
reddita corporibus primis per inane profundum,
sed magis adsiduo varioque exercita motu
partim intervallis magnis confulta resultant,
pars etiam brevibus spatiis vexantur ab ictu.
100et quaecumque magis condenso conciliatu
exiguis intervallis convecta resultant,
indupedita suis perplexis ipsa figuris,
haec validas saxi radices et fera ferri
corpora constituunt et cetera de genere horum.
105cetera, quae porro magnum per inane vagantur,
paucula dissiliunt longe longeque recursant
in magnis intervallis; haec aera rarum
sufficiunt nobis et splendida lumina solis.
multaque praeterea magnum per inane vagantur,
110conciliis rerum quae sunt reiecta nec usquam
consociare etiam motus potuere recepta.
Cuius, uti memoror, rei simulacrum et imago
ante oculos semper nobis versatur et instat.
contemplator enim, cum solis lumina cumque
Footnotes
105-106Merril’s (1917 ed.) transposition of paucula (paucuia OQG) and cetera is adopted with much hesitation. It is adopted as being somewhat less drastic than Purmann’s exclusion of 105 as a variant for 109; however, paucula is surprising, and magnum per inane vagantur seems a strange description of atoms in compounds, however loose the compounds may be, and, Purmann may be right
112memoror OQGP: memoro Codex Vaticanus Reg. lat. 1706 simulacrum Itali: simulacra OQG, Merrill (1917), Diels, Büchner
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And to show you more clearly that all the bodies of matter are constantly being tossed about, remember that there is no bottom in the sum of things and the first bodies have nowhere to rest, since space is without end or limit, and I have shown at large and proved by irrefragable reasoning that it extends immeasurable from all sides in all directions.a Since this stands firm, beyond doubt no rest is granted to the first bodies throughout the profound void, but rather driven by incessant and varied motions, some after being pressed together then leap back with wide intervals, some again after the blow are tossed about within a narrow compass. And all those which being held in combination more closely condensed
collide and leap back through tiny intervals, caught fast in the complexity of their own shapes, these constitute the strong roots of stone and the bulk of fierce iron and the others of their kind. Of the rest, which go on wandering through the great void, a very few leap far apart and pass far back with long intervals between: these supply thin air for us and the gleaming light of the sun. And many besides wander through the great void which have been rejected from combination with things, and have nowhere been able to obtain admittance and also harmonize their motions.b
112Of this fact there is, I recall, an image and similitude always moving and present before our eyes. Do but apply your scrutiny whenever the
Footnotes
aSee 1.958-1007.
bThe point is that an atom cannot join a compound body, unless (as well as being of suitable size and shape) it can move in harmony with the other component atoms of the object.
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115inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum:
multa minuta modis multis per inane videbis
corpora misceri radiorum lumine in ipso
et velut aeterno certamine proelia pugnas
edere turmatim certantia nec dare pausam,
120conciliis et discidiis exercita crebris;
conicere ut possis ex hoc, primordia rerum
quale sit in magno iactari semper inani.
dumtaxat rerum magnarum parva potest res
exemplare dare et vestigia notitiai.
Hoc etiam magis haec animum te advertere par est
126corpora quae in solis radiis turbare videntur,
quod tales turbae motus quoque materiai
significant clandestinos caecosque subesse.
multa videbis enim plagis ibi percita caecis
130commutare viam retroque repulsa reverti,
nunc huc nunc illuc, in cunctas undique partis,
scilicet hic a principiis est omnibus error:
prima moventur enim per se primordia rerum;
inde ea quae parvo sunt corpora conciliatu
135et quasi proxima sunt ad viris principiorum,
ictibus illorum caecis inpulsa cientur,
ipsaque proporro paulo maiora lacessunt.
sic a principiis ascendit motus et exit
paulatim nostros ad sensus, ut moveantur
140illa quoque in solis quae lumine cernere quimus,
nec quibus id faciant plagis apparet aperte.
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sun’s rays are let in and pour their light through a
dark room: you will see many minute particles mingling in many ways throughout the voida in the light itself of the rays, and as it were in everlasting conflict struggling, fighting, battling in troops without any pause, driven about with frequent meetings and partings; so that you may conjecture from this what it is for the first-beginnings of things to be ever tossed about in the great void. So far as it goes, a small thing may give an analogy of great things, and show the tracks of knowledge.
125Even more for another reason it is proper that you give attention to these bodies which are seen to be in turmoil within the sun’s rays, because such turmoil indicates that there are secret and unseen motions also hidden in matter. For there you will see how many things set in motion by unseen blows change their course and beaten back return back again, now this way, now that way, in all directions. You may be sure that all take their restlessness from
the first-beginnings. For first the first-beginnings of derive°their things move of themselves; then the bodies that form a small combinationb and, as one may say, are atoms, nearest to the powers of the first-beginnings, are set moving, driven by the unseen blows of these, while they in their tum attack those that are a little larger. Thus the movement ascends from the first-beginnings and by successive degrees emerges upon our senses,c so that those bodies also are moved which we are able to perceive in the sun’s light, yet it does not openly appear by what blows they are made to do so.
Footnotes
ainane (116) refers to the air (cf. Virgil, Aen. 12.906) through which the motes move, not to void in the strict scientific sense. But, like corpora in 117, the word is carefully chosen in order to emphasize the parallel with the behaviour of the atoms.
bSmall atomic aggregates.
cFor the imperceptibility of the motions of the atoms, see 308-332.
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Nunc quae mobilitas sit reddita materiai
corporibus, paucis licet hinc cognoscere, Memmi.
primum aurora novo cum spargit lumine terras,
145et variae volucres nemora avia pervolitantes
aera per tenerum liquidis loca vocibus opplent,
quam subito soleat sol ortus tempore tali
convestire sua perfundens omnia luce,
omnibus in promptu manifestumque esse videmus.
150at vapor is quem sol mittit lumenque serenum
non per inane meat vacuum; quo tardius ire
cogitur, aerias quasi dum diverberat undas.
nec singillatim corpuscula quaeque vaporis
sed complexa meant inter se conque globata;
155quapropter simul inter se retrahuntur et extra
officiuntur, uti cogantur tardius ire.
at quae sunt solida primordia simplicitate,
cum per inane meant vacuum nec res remoratur
ulla foris, atque ipsa, suis e partibus unum,
160unum in quem coepere locum conixa feruntur,
debent nimirum praecellere mobilitate
et multo citius ferri quam lumina solis
multiplexque loci spatium transcurrere eodem
tempore quo solis pervolgant fulgura caelum.
. . . . . . .
165nec persectari primordia singula quaeque,
ut videant qua quidque geratur cum ratione.
Footnotes
152undas OQGP: umbras F. H. Sandbach, CR N.S. 13(1963) 13-14
166videant FL: deant OQG: omitted and space left by AB
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142Now Memmius, what swiftness is granted to the
bodies of matter, you may understand from what follows in a few words. First, when the dawn diffuses new light over the earth, and the different birds flitting about through pathless woods through the soft air fill every part with their liquid notes, how suddenly at such time the sun arising is accustomed to envelop and flood the whole world with his light, we see to be plain and manifest to all. But that heat and that light serene which the sun sends, does not pass through empty void; therefore it is forced to go more slowly, while it beats its way so to speak through waves of air. Nor do the particles of heat move alone and singly, but linked together and massed together; therefore they are at the same time retarded by one another and obstructed from without, so that they are forced to
go more slowly. But the first-beginnings, which are of solid singleness,
when they pass through the empty void, are not delayed by anything from without, and being themselves units composed of their own parts,a when they are carried each to that one point to which their first efforts tend, most certainly they must be of exceeding swiftness and must be carried far more quickly than the light of the sun, and traverse a space many times as wide in the same time that the sun’s lightnings take to pervade the heavens.
165... norb to follow up the first-beginnings separately one by one, that they may see in what way everything is done.
Footnotes
aAlthough each atom has a number of minimal parts, it is uncompounded, for the minimal parts are physically inseparable (cf. 1.599-634).
bFor comments on the lacuna, see critical note on 164-165.
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At quidam contra haec, ignari materiai,
naturam non posse deum sine numine credunt
tanto opere humanis rationibus admoderate
170tempora mutare annorum frugesque creare,
et iam cetera, mortalis quae suadet adire
ipsaque deducit dux vitae dia voluptas
et res per Veneris blanditur saecla propagent,
ne genus occidat humanum. quorum omnia causa
175constituisse deos cum fingunt, omnibu’ rebus
magno opere a vera lapsi ratione videntur.
nam quamvis rerum ignorem primordia quae sint,
hoc tamen ex ipsis caeli rationibus ausim
confirmare aliisque ex rebus reddere multis,
180nequaquam nobis divinitus esse creatam
naturam mundi: tanta stat praedita culpa,
quae tibi posterius, Memmi, faciemus aperta.
nunc id quod superest de motibus expediemus.
Nunc locus est, ut opinor, in his illud quoque rebus
185confirmare tibi, nullam rem posse sua vi
corpoream sursum ferri sursumque meare,
ne tibi dent in eo flammarum corpora fraudem;
sursus enim versus gignuntur et augmina sumunt,
et sursum nitidae fruges arbustaque crescunt,
190pondera, quantum in se est, cum deorsum cuncta ferantur.
nec cum subsiliunt ignes ad tecta domorum
et celeri flamma degustant tigna trabesque,
Footnotes
168credunt Pontanus: reddi OQGP, Wakefield, Büchner:reddunt (cf. 179) Brieger: rentur (cf. 1.154, 6.91) Marullus
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167But somea in opposition to this, knowing nothing
of matter, believe that without the gods’ power nature cannot with so exact conformity to the plans of mankind change the seasons of the year, and produce crops, and in a word all else which divine pleasure, the guide of life, persuades men to approach, herself leading them and coaxing them, through the ways of Venus, to beget their generations, that the human race may not come to an end. But when they imagine the gods to have arranged all for the sake of men, they are seen to have departed widely from true reasoning in every way. For although I might not know what first-beginnings of things are, this nevertheless I would make bold to maintain from the ways of heaven itself, and to demonstrate from many another source, that the nature of the universe has by no means been made for us through divine power: so great are the faults it
stands endowed with. All this, Memmius, I will make clear to you laterb; now I will explain what remains to be said about motion.
184This is now the place, as I think, in my theme
to establish for you another principle: that no bodily thing can of its own power be carried upwards and move upwards. The particles of fire should not lead you into a mistake; for in an upward direction flames are born and win increase, upwards grow trees and the bright crops, although all weights tend downwards as far as in them lies. And when fires leap up to the roofs of houses and with swift flame devour
Footnotes
aHaec disputantur in Platonem, et in Stoicos” (Lambinus).
b5.195-234.
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sponte sua facere id sine vi subiecta putandum est.
quod genus e nostro cum missus corpore sanguis
195emicat exultans alte spargitque cruorem.
nonne vides etiam quanta vi tigna trabesque
respuat umor aquae? nam quo magis ursimus altum
derecta et magna vi multi pressimus aegre,
tam cupide sursum revomit magis atque remittit,
200plus ut parte foras emergant exiliantque.
nec tamen haec, quantum estinse, dubitamus, opinor,
quin vacuum per inane deorsum cuncta ferantur.
sic igitur debent quoque flammae posse per auras
aeris expressae sursum succedere, quamquam
pondera, quantum in sest, deorsum deducere pugnent.
206nocturnasque faces caeli sublime volantis
nonne vides longos flammarum ducere tractus
in quascumque dedit partis natura meatum?
non cadere in terras Stellas et sidera cernis?
210sol etiam caeli de vertice dissipat omnis
ardorem in partis et lumine conserit arva;
in terras igitur quoque solis vergitur ardor.
transversosque volare per imbris fulmina cernis:
Footnotes
193sine OQGP: nisi D. A. West, CQ N.S. 14 (1964) 96 subiecta (sc. flammarum corpora 187) OQGP (cf. Virgil, G. 4.385): subigente Lambinus, who notes “sic restitui ab unocodice manuscripto adiutus”
210caeli (cf. Cicero, Arat. 297) Bernays: omitted by OQG: summo FL: mundi Stürenberg, W. Hörsckelmann (according to Merrill), E. Orth, Helmantica 11 (1960) 128–129, C. L. Howard, CPhil. 56 (1961) 149
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timbers and beams, we must not think they do this of themselves, being shot up without a force. Even so when blood is let out from our body, out it spirts, leaping forth on high and sprinkling its red drops. Do you not see also with what force liquid water spits out timbers and beams? For the deeper we have thrust them and pushed them right down, pressing laboriously with full force and many together, the more eagerly does the water vomit them back and shoot them back up, so that they issue forth and leap out more than half their length. Yet we do not doubt, I think, that, as far as in them lies, these are all carried downwards through an empty void. In this way, therefore, flames also must be able to rise up, squeezed out upwards through the breezes of the air, although, as far as lies in them, their weights fight to draw them down; and do you not see how the nightly torches of the sky fly up aloft and draw their long trails of flame in whatever direction nature has given them a way? how stars and luminaries fall to the earth? The sun also from the pinnacle of heaven disperses his heat abroad in all directions and sows the fields with lighta; therefore the sun’s heat tends towards the earth also. And you perceive lightnings to fly crosswise along the rain clouds:
Footnotes
aWakefield quotes Milton, Paradise Lost 5.1-2: “Now Morn, her rosy steps in th’ eastern clime | Advancing, sow’d the earth with orient pearl.”
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nunc hinc nunc illinc abrupti nubibus ignes
215concursant; cadit in terras vis flammea volgo.
Illud in his quoque te rebus cognoscere avemus,
corpora cum deorsum rectum per inane feruntur
ponderibus propriis, incerto tempore ferme
incertisque locis spatio depellere paulum,
220tantum quod momen mutatum dicere possis.
quod nisi declinare solerent, omnia deorsum,
imbris uti guttae, caderent per inane profundum,
nec foret offensus natus nec plaga creata
principiis: ita nil umquam natura creasset.
225Quod si forte aliquis credit graviora potesse
corpora, quo citius rectum per inane feruntur,
incidere ex supero levioribus atque ita plagas
gignere quae possint genitalis reddere motus,
avius a vera longe ratione recedit.
nam per aquas quaecumque cadunt atque aera rarum,
231haec pro ponderibus casus celerare necessest,
propterea quia corpus aquae naturaque tenvis
aeris haud possunt aeque rem quamque morari,
sed citius cedunt gravioribus exsuperata;
235at contra nulli de nulla parte neque ullo
tempore inane potest vacuum subsistere rei,
quin, sua quod natura petit, concedere pergat;
Footnotes
214abrupti OQGP: abruptis Macrobius, Sat. 6.1.27 (cf. Virgil, Aen. 3.199), D. A. West, CQ N.S. 14 (1964) 97, n. 1, perhaps rightly, but see Statius, Theb. 1.353–354 quoted by Wakefield
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now from this part, now from that, burst the fires out of the clouds and rush along; it is a common thing for the fiery bolt to fall on the earth.a
216One further point in this matter I desire you
to understand: that while the first bodies are being carried downwards by their own weight in a straight line through the void, at times quite uncertain and uncertain places, they swerve a little from their course, just so much as you might call a change of motion.b For if they were not apt to incline, all would fall downwards like raindrops through the profound void, no collision would take place and no blow would be caused amongst the first-beginnings: thus nature would never have produced anything.
225But if by chance anyone believes it to be
possible that heavier elements, being carried more quickly straight through the void, fall from above on the lighter, and so deal blows which can produce generative motions, he is astray and departs far from true reasoning. For whatever things fall through water and through fine air, these must speed their fall in accordance with their weights, because the body of water and the thin nature of air cannot delay each thing equally, but yield sooner overcome by the heavier; but contrariwise empty void cannot offer any support to anything anywhere or at any time, but it must give way continually, as its nature
Footnotes
aFor a detailed discussion of 184–215, see D. A. West, CQ N.S. 14 (1964) 94–99.
bThe theory of the swerve (πapέγκλισις clinamen, declinatio, inclinatio) of atoms is not described by Epicurus in his extant writings, but is mentioned by Cicero, Philodemus, Plutarch, Diogenes of Oenoanda, and others. Lucr.’s account (216-293) is the fullest which we have. Epicurus, influenced above all by Aristotle, rejected the determinism of Democritus and believed in the freedom of the individual will, and the theory of the atomic swerve was designed to explain free will (see 251-293) as well as to account for collisions between atoms moving through the void. See Introduction pp. xxxiii-xxxiv.
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Lucretius
omnia quapropter debent per inane quietum
aeque ponderibus non aequis concita ferri.
240haud igitur poterunt levioribus incidere umquam
ex supero graviora, neque ictus gignere per se
qui varient motus per quos natura gerat res.
quare etiam atque etiam paulum inclinare necessest
corpora; nec plus quam minimum, ne fingere motus
245obliquos videamur et id res vera refutet.
namque hoc in promptu manifestumque esse videmus,
pondera, quantum in sest, non posse obliqua meare,
ex supero cum praecipitant, quod cernere possis;
sed nil omnino recta regione viai
250declinare quis est qui possit cernere sese?
Denique si semper motus conectitur omnis
et vetere exoritur motu novus ordine certo,
nec declinando faciunt primordia motus
principium quoddam quod fati foedera rumpat,
255ex infinito ne causam causa sequatur,
libera per terras unde haec animantibus exstat,
unde est haec, inquam, fatis avolsa voluntas,
per quam progredimur quo ducit quemque voluptas,
declinamus item motus nec tempore certo
260nec regione loci certa, sed ubi ipsa tulit mens?
nam dubio procul his rebus sua cuique voluntas
principium dat et hinc motus per membra rigantur.
Nonne vides etiam patefactis tempore puncto
Footnotes
249recta FL: omitted by OQG 250 sese OQGP: sensu Giussani: posse L. A. MacKay, CPhil. 56 (1961) 103-104
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demands: therefore they must all be carried with equal speed, although not of equal weight, through the unresisting void. So the heavier bodies will never be able to fall from above on the lighter, nor deal blows of themselves so as to produce the various motions by which nature carries on her processes. Therefore again and again I say, the bodies must
incline a little; and not more than the least possible, or we shall seem to assume oblique movements, and thus be refuted by the facts. For this we see to be manifest and plain, that weights, as far as in them lies, cannot travel obliquely, when they drop straight from above, as far as one can perceive; but who is there who can perceive that they never swerve ever
so little from the straight undeviating course?
251Again, if all motion is always one long chain,
and new motion arises out of the old in order invariable, and if the first-beginnings do not make by swerving a beginning of motion such as to break the decrees of fate, that cause may not follow cause from infinity, whence comes this free will in living creatures all over the earth, whence I say is this will wrested from the fates by which we proceed whither pleasure leads each, swerving also our motions not at fixed times and fixed places, but just where our mind has taken us?a For undoubtedly it is his own will
in each that begins these things, and from the will movements go rippling through the limbs.
263Do you not see also, when the cellsb are thrown
Footnotes
aFor a detailed discussion of the Epicurean theory of voluntary action, often very critical of the traditional view, see D. J. Furley, Two Studies in the Greek Atomists 161-237. Furley devotes a chapter to Lucr. 2.251-293.
bcarceres are the cells in which horses and chariots were confined at the start of a race. Cf. 4.990.
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carceribus non posse tamen prorumpere equorum
265vim cupidam tam de subito quam mens avet ipsa?
omnis enim totum per corpus materiai
copia conciri debet, concita per artus
omnis ut studium mentis conixa sequatur;
ut videas initum motus a corde creari
270ex animique voluntate id procedere primum,
inde dari porro per totum corpus et artus.
Nec similest ut cum impulsi procedimus ictu
viribus alterius magnis magnoque coactu;
nam tum materiem totius corporis omnem
275perspicuumst nobis invitis ire rapique,
donec eam refrenavit per membra voluntas.
iamne vides igitur, quamquam vis extera multos
pellat et invitos cogat procedere saepe
praecipitesque rapi, tamen esse in pectore nostro
280quiddam quod contra pugnare obstareque possit?
cuius ad arbitrium quoque copia materiai
cogitur interdum flecti per membra per artus
et proiecta refrenatur retroque residit.
Quare in seminibus quoque idem fateare necessest,
285esse aliam praeter plagas et pondera causam
motibus, unde haec est nobis innata potestas,
de nilo quoniam fieri nil posse videmus.
pondus enim prohibet ne plagis omnia fiant
externa quasi vi; sed ne mens ipsa necessum
Footnotes
268eonnixa (= conixa Lachmann) ascribed to certain mss by Lambinus: conexa OQU
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open at a given moment, that nevertheless the eager force of the horses cannot burst forth so suddenly as the mind itself craves? For all the mass of matter must be stirred up together through the whole body, in order that thus stirred up together it may all with one combined effort follow the passion of the mind; thus you may see that the beginning of motion is made by the intelligence, and the action moves on first from the will of the mind, then to be passed onwards through the whole body and limbs.
272Nor is this the same as when we move forwards
impelled by a blow from the strength and mighty effort of another; for then it is clear that all the matter or the whole body moves and is hurried against our will, until the will has curbeda it back through the limbs. In this case do you see then that, although an external force propels many men and forces them often to move on against their will and to be hurried headlong, yet there is in our breast something strong enough to fight against it and to resist? by the arbitrament of which, also, the mass of matter is compelled at times to be turned throughout body and limbs, and, when thrust forward, is curbed back and settles back steadily.
284Therefore you must admit that the same exists in the seeds also, that motions have some cause other than blows and weights, from which this power is born in us, since we see that nothing can be produced from nothing. For it is weight that prevents all things from being caused through blows by a sort of external force; but what keeps the mind itself
Footnotes
aThe metaphor here (refrenavit) and in 282 (flecti) and 283 (refrenatur) was probably suggested to Lucr. by the racecourse illustration in 263-265. A further link between 263– The metaphor here (refrenavit) and in 282 (flecti) and 283 (refrenatur) was probably suggested to Lucr. by the racecourse illustration in 263-265. A further link between 263– 265 and the present passage is that in 277-279 Lucr is Probably thinking of a crowd at the races. See M. F. Smith in Hermathena 102 (1966) 76-77, and notes on 5.1290, 1436.
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290intestinum habeat cunctis in rebus agendis
et devicta quasi cogatur ferre patique,
id facit exiguum clinamen principiorum
nec regione loci certa nec tempore certo.
Nec stipata magis fuit umquam materiai
295copia nec porro maioribus intervallis;
nam neque adaugescit quicquam neque deperit inde.
quapropter quo nunc in motu principiorum
corpora sunt, in eodem anteacta aetate fuere
et post haec semper simili ratione ferentur,
300et quae consuerint gigni gignentur eadem
condicione et erunt et crescent vique valebunt,
quantum cuique datum est per foedera naturai.
nec rerum summam commutare ulla potest vis;
nam neque, quo possit genus ullum materiai
effugere ex omni, quicquam est extra, neque in omne
306unde coorta queat nova vis inrumpere et omnem
naturam rerum mutare et vertere motus.
Illud in his rebus non est mirabile quare,
omnia cum rerum primordia sint in motu,
310summa tamen summa videatur stare quiete,
praeterquam siquid proprio dat corpore motus.
omnis enim longe nostris ab sensibus infra
primorum natura iacet; quapropter, ubi ipsa
cernere iam nequeas, motus quoque surpere debent,
Footnotes
305extra (cf. 1.963, 3.816 = 5.361) Munro: omitted by OQGP 313 ipsa Gifanius: ipsum OQ, G (?), P: ipsam (sc. primorum naturam), the reading of G, according to Haver-camp, and also of C, according to Wakefield, may well be right. It is adopted in the ed. Juntina and by Naugerius, but is ignored by modern editors, according to whom G reads ipsum (on the carelessness of Havercamp and Wakefield, see Munro I 18-19)
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from having necessity within it in all actions, and from being as it were mastered and forced to endure and to suffer, is the minute swerving of the first-beginnings at no fixed place and at no fixed time.
294Nor was the mass of matter ever more closely
packed nor again set at wider intervals, for nothing increases it nor does anything perish from it. Therefore in whatsoever motion the bodies of first-beginnings are now, in that same motion they were in ages gone by, and hereafter they will always be carried along in the same way, and the things which have been accustomed to be born will be born under the same conditions; they will be and will grow and will be strong with their strength as much as is granted to each by the laws of nature. Nor can any power change the sum total of things; for there is no place without into which any kind of matter could flee away from the all; and there is no place whence a new power could arise to burst into the all, and to change the whole nature of things and tum their motions.a
308One point in these matters need cause no
wonder, why, though all the first-beginnings of things are in motion, the sum total seems nevertheless to abide in supreme quietude, except for anything that may show movement with its own body. For the nature of the first things lies all hidden far beneath our senses; therefore, since you cannot get so far as to see the things themselves, they must necessarily steal their motions too from your sight, especially
Footnotes
aThe doctrine that the universe is unchanging is stated briefly by Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 39.
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315praesertim cum, quae possimus cernere, celent
saepe tamen motus spatio diducta locorum.
nam saepe in colli tondentes pabula laeta
lanigerae reptant pecudes quo quamque vocantes
invitant herbae gemmantes rore recenti,
320et satiati agni ludunt blandeque coruscant;
omnia quae nobis longe confusa videntur
et velut in viridi candor consistere colli.
praeterea magnae legiones cum loca cursu
camporum complent belli simulacra cientes,
325fulgor ubi ad caelum se tollit totaque circum
aere renidescit tellus subterque virum vi
excitur pedibus sonitus clamoreque montes
icti reiectant voces ad sidera mundi
et circumvolitant equites mediosque repente
330tramittunt valido quatientes impete campos—
et tamen est quidam locus altis montibus unde
stare videntur et in campis consistere fulgor.
Nunc age iam deinceps cunctarum exordia rerum
qualia sint et quam longe distantia formis
335percipe, multigenis quam sint variata figuris;
non quo multa parum simili sint praedita forma,
sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant.
nec mirum; nam cum sit eorum copia tanta
ut neque finis, uti docui, neque summa sit ulla,
340debent nimirum non omnibus omnia prorsum
esse pari filo similique adfecta figura.
Footnotes
325ubi OQG: ibi Marullus
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when things that we can perceive do yet often conceal their motions if they be withdrawn at a great distance. For often on a hill, cropping the rich pasture,
woolly sheep go creeping whither the herbage all gemmed with fresh dewa tempts and invites each, and full-fed the lambs play and butt heads in fun; all which things are seen by us blurred together in the distance, as a kind of whiteness at rest on a green hill. Besides, when great legions cover the outspread plains in their manoeuvres, evoking war in mimicry,b and the sheen rises to the sky and all the country around flashes back the brilliancy of bronze, and beneath, the ground quakes, resounding with the mighty tramp of men’s feet,c and the mountains, stricken by the clamour, throw back the sounds to the stars of heaven, and horsemen gallop around and suddenly course through the midst of the plains, shaking them with their mighty rush, yetd there is a place on the high mountains, from which they seem to stand still, and to be a brightness at rest upon a plain.
333Mark now and learn in the next place of what
kinds are the beginnings of all things, how far they differ in shape, how varied they are in their manifold figures: not that there are only a few endowed with similar shape, but because commonly they are not all like all. And no wonder: for since there is so great a store that there is no end to them, as I have taught, and no sum, they must assuredly not be all of like frame with all and marked by the same shape.
Footnotes
aCf. e.g. Drayton, Sonnets 53: “Amongst the dainty dew-impearled flowers”; Milton, Paradise Lost 5.743-744: “Or stars of morning, dew drops which the sun | Impearls on every leaf and every flower”; Joanna Baillie, Poems 228: “Dew-gemmed in the morning ray.”
bCf. 40-43.
c325-327 are in imitation of Homer. See II. 2.457-458, 19.362-363, Od. 14.267-268.
dStrictly “and yet”—an anacoluthon, unless the alteration of ubi to ibi in 325 is accepted. Cf. 342-347.
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Praeterea genus humanum mutaeque natantes
squamigerum pecudes et laeta armenta feraeque
et variae volucres, laetantia quae loca aquarum
345concelebrant circum ripas fontisque lacusque,
et quae pervolgant nemora avia pervolitantes—
quorum unum quidvis generatim sumere perge:
invenies tamen inter se differre figuris.
nec ratione alia proles cognoscere matrem
350nec mater posset prolem; quod posse videmus
nec minus atque homines inter se nota cluere.
nam saepe ante deum vitulus delubra decora
turicremas propter mactatus concidit aras,
sanguinis expirans calidum de pectore flumen;
355at mater viridis saltus orbata peragrans
quaerit humi pedibus vestigia pressa bisulcis,
omnia convisens oculis loca si queat usquam
conspicere amissum fetum, completque querellis
frondiferum nemus adsistens et crebra revisit
360ad stabulum desiderio perfixa iuvenci;
nec tenerae salices atque herbae rore vigentes
fluminaque illa queunt summis labentia ripis
oblectare animum subitamque avertere curam,
nec vitulorum aliae species per pabula laeta
365derivare queunt animum curaque levare:
usque adeo quiddam proprium notumque requirit.
praeterea teneri tremulis cum vocibus haedi
cornigeras norunt matres agnique petulci
Footnotes
343armenta first printed in the edition of J. Tonson (1712), but also conjectured by Bentley in a manuscript note (see Wakefield): arbusta OQGP
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342Moreover, the race of men, and the dumb
swimming tribes of scaly fish, fat cattle, and wild beasts, the different birds which throng the joyous regions of water around bank and spring and lake, and which crowd the pathless woods through and through as they flit about—of these go on to take any one in any kind, and you will find nevertheless that each differs from each in shape. Nor is there
any other way by which the young could recognize the mother or the mother her young; and this we see they can do, and that they are known clearly to each other no less than men are. For often in front of the noble shrines of the gods a calf falls slain beside the incense-burning altars, breathing up a hot stream of blood from his breast; but the mother bereaved wanders through the green glens, and seeks on the ground the prints marked by the cloven hooves, as she surveys all the regions if she may espy somewhere her lost offspring, and coming to a stand fills the leafy woods with her moaning,a and often revisits the stall, pierced with yearning for her calf; nor can tender willow-growths, and herbage growing rich in the dew, and those rivers flowing level with their banks, give delight to her mind and rebuff her sudden care, nor can the sight of other calves in the happy pastures divert her mind and lighten her load of care: so persistently she seeks for something of her own that she knows well. Besides, tender kids with trembling voices know their horned mothers, and mischievous lambs the flocks
Footnotes
aCf. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Pt. 2, Act 3, Sc. 1, 210, 214-216: “And as the butcher takes away the calf, | . . . And as the dam runs lowing up and down, | Looking the way her harmless young one went, | And can do nought but wail her darling’s loss.”
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balantum pecudes: ita, quod natura reposcit,
370ad sua quisque fere decurrunt ubera lactis.
Postremo quodvis frumentum non tamen omne
quidque suo genere inter se simile esse videbis,
quin intercurrat quaedam distantia formis.
concharumque genus parili ratione videmus
375pingere telluris gremium, qua mollibus undis
litoris incurvi bibulam pavit aequor harenam.
Quare etiam atque etiam simili ratione necessest,
natura quoniam constant neque facta manu sunt
unius ad certam formam primordia rerum,
380dissimili inter se quaedam volitare figura.
Perfacile est animi ratione exsolvere nobis
quare fulmineus multo penetralior ignis
quam noster fluat e taedis terrestribus ortus;
dicere enim possis caelestem fulminis ignem
385subtilem magis e parvis constare figuris
atque ideo transire foramina quae nequit ignis
noster hic e lignis ortus taedaque creatus.
praeterea lumen per cornum transit, at imber
respuitur. quare? nisi luminis illa minora
corpora sunt quam de quibus est liquor almus
390aquarum.
et quamvis subito per colum vina videmus
perfluere, at contra tardum cunctatur olivom,
aut quia nimirum maioribus est elementis
Footnotes
383fluat OQGP: fuat Faber, who however rejects his own suggestion: “sed nil mutandum; est enim illustris trans-latio”
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of bleating sheep: so, as nature demands, they usuallya run down each to its own udder of milk.
371Lastly, take any kind of corn, you will see that
the grains are nevertheless not all so alike by their common species, but that there is a certain difference of shape between them. And in the same way we
see the multitude of shells painting the lap of the earth, where with soft waves the sea beats on the thirsty sand of the curving shore.
377Therefore again and again I say that the first-beginnings of things in the same way, since they exist by nature and are not made by hand after the fixed model of one single atom, must necessarily have some of them different shapes as they fly about.b
381It is very easy for us to explain by reasoning
of the mind why the fire of lightning has a far more penetrating flow than our fire that arises from terrestrial torches; for you could say that lightning, the heavenly fire, is finer and made of smaller shapes, and therefore passes through openings through which this fire of ours, sprung from wood and made from a torch, cannot pass. Besides, light passes through horn, but rain is rejectedc: why? unless those bodies of light are smaller than those which make up the nourishing liquid of water. And we see wine, as quickly as you will, strain through a colander; but contrariwise olive oil lags and lingers, either to be sure because its elements are larger, or because they
Footnotes
aSome editors and translators, evidently homines ab agro remotissimi, take fere to mean “without fail,” “without exception.” In fact, lambs and kids sometimes run to the wrong udder of milk, and Lucr., always an accurate observer of animal behaviour, was undoubtedly aware of this.
bquaedam, because there are some similar as well as others different.
cLucr. is thinking of a horn lantern carried on a wet night. Cf. Empedocles fr. 84, lines 1-6.
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aut magis hamatis inter se perque plicatis,
395atque ideo fit uti non tam diducta repente
inter se possint primordia singula quaeque
singula per cuiusque foramina permanare.
Huc accedit uti mellis lactisque liquores
iucundo sensu linguae tractentur in ore;
400at contra taetra absinthi natura ferique
centauri foedo pertorquent ora sapore;
ut facile agnoscas e levibus atque rutundis
esse ea quae sensus iucunde tangere possunt,
at contra quae amara atque aspera cumque videntur,
405haec magis hamatis inter se nexa teneri
proptereaque solere vias rescindere nostris
sensibus introituque suo perrumpere corpus.
Omnia postremo bona sensibus et mala tactu
dissimili inter se pugnant perfecta figura;
410ne tu forte putes serrae stridentis acerbum
horrorem constare elementis levibus aeque
ac musaea mele, per chordas organici quae
mobilibus digitis expergefacta figurant;
neu simili penetrare putes primordia forma
415in nares hominum, cum taetra cadavera torrent
et cum scena croco Cilici perfusa recens est
araque Panchaeos exhalat propter odores;
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are more hooked and entangled more closely, and therefore it happens that the separate first-beginningsa cannot be so suddenly detached and ooze one by one each through its own opening.
398Moreover, the liquids of honey and of milk have
a pleasant taste as they are moved about in the mouthb; but contrariwise the loathsome nature of wormwood and of harsh centaury twists up the mouth with a noisome flavour; so that you may readily recognize that those bodies which can touch our senses pleasantly are made of smooth and round atoms, but contrariwise all that seem to be bitter and rough are held in connexion by atoms more hooked, and are therefore accustomed to tear open their way into our senses and to break the texture by their intrusion.
408Lastly, all things that are agreeable to our
senses in touch and all that are disagreeable are in conflict, being made of dissimilar shapes: so that you must never think the harsh grating of a strident saw consists of elementsc as smooth as the melodies of music which harpers awakend and shape on the strings with nimble fingers; never think that first-beginnings of similar shape penetrate men’s nostrils,
when noisome corpses are roasting, and when the stage is freshly sprinkled with Cilician saffron,e and the altar near by breathes Panchaean scentsf;
Footnotes
aAlthough primordia(396), like elementis(393), must refer to atoms, it seems inconceivable that Epicurus, who believed that all atoms are so small as to be invisible, supposed that the passage of oil through a colander is delayed by the inability of each constituent atom to pass through a separate opening; probably the reference should have been to atomic nuclei, particles, or molecules. See Giussani and Bailey.
bLucr. discusses taste in more detail in 4.615-672.
cIn Book 4 Lucr. explains that hearing, sight, and smell are caused by emanations impinging on the appropriate sense-organ.
dCf. Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 48: “Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.”
eCorycus in Cilicia was famous for its saffron. The sprinkling of the stage with a solution of saffron is mentioned by several other Roman writers.
fPanchaea, a mythical island east of Arabia, was reputedly rich in incense: cf. Virgil, G. 2.139, 4.379.
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neve bonos rerum simili constare colores
semine constituas, oculos qui pascere possunt,
420et qui conpungunt aciem lacrimareque cogunt
aut foeda specie diri turpesque videntur.
omnis enim, sensus quae mulcet cumque, figura
haud sine principiali aliquo levore creatast;
at contra quaecumque molesta atque aspera constat,
425non aliquo sine materiae squalore repertast.
sunt etiam quae iam nec levia iure putantur
esse neque omnino flexis mucronibus unca,
sed magis angellis paulum prostantibus, utqui
titulare magis sensus quam laedere possint;
430fecula iam quo de genere est inulaeque sapores.
denique iam calidos ignis gelidamque pruinam
dissimili dentata modo conpungere sensus
corporis, indicio nobis est tactus uterque.
tactus enim, tactus, pro divum numina sancta,
435corporis est sensus, vel cum res extera sese
insinuat, vel cum laedit quae in corpore natast
aut iuvat egrediens genitalis per Veneris res,
aut ex offensu cum turbant corpore in ipso
semina confunduntque inter se concita sensum;
440ut si forte manu quamvis iam corporis ipse
tute tibi partem ferias atque experiare.
quapropter longe formas distare necessest
principiis, varios quae possint edere sensus.
Denique quae nobis durata ac spissa videntur,
445haec magis hamatis inter sese esse necessest
et quasi ramosis alte compacta teneri.
Footnotes
421diri Lachmann: di OQG: fedi Q corr.
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never suppose that agreeable colours fit to feed our sight consist of seed like those which make the eye
tingle and force it to weep, or such as by their ugly aspect seem terrible and vile. For nothing whatsoever
that soothes the senses is made without some smoothness in the first-beginnings; but contrariwise whatever is offensive and harsh has been found to be not without some roughness in its material. There are also in the series those first-beginnings which are rightly thought to be neither smooth nor altogether hooked with curved points, but rather to have small angles a little projecting, so that they can rather tickle our senses than hurt them; of which kind we have now tartar of wine and the flavour of elecampane. Again, here are hot fire and cold frost toothed in different fashion to prick our bodily senses, as the touch in either case proves to us. For touch, so help
me the holy power of the gods, it is touch that is the bodily sense, whether when a thing penetrates from without, or when hurt comes from something within the body, or when it gives pleasure in issuing forth by the creative acts of Venus, or when from a blow the seeds make riot in the body itself and confuse the sense by their turmoil; as you might try for yourself now if you strike any part of your body with a hand. Therefore it is necessary that the first-beginnings have widely different shapes, since they can produce varying sensations.
444Again, whatever seems to us hardened and
close set must consist of elements more closely-hooked and held knit deeply together by branch-like
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in quo iam genere in primis adamantina saxa
prima acie constant ictus contemnere sueta,
et validi silices ac duri robora ferri,
450aeraque quae claustris restantia vociferantur.
illa quidem debent e levibus atque rutundis
esse magis, fluvido quae corpore liquida constant;
namque papaveris haustus itemst facilis quod aquarum:
nec retinentur enim inter se glomeramina quaeque,
455et perculsus item proclive volubilis exstat.
omnia postremo quae puncto tempore cernis
diffugere, ut fumum nebulas flammasque, necessest,
si minus omnia sunt e levibus atque rutundis,
at non esse tamen perplexis indupedita,
460pungere uti possint corpus penetrareque saxa
nec tamen haerere inter se; quodcumque videmus
sensibu’ dentatum, facile ut cognoscere possis
non e perplexis sed acutis esse elementis.
sed quod amara vides eadem quae fluvida constant,
465sudor uti maris est, minime mirabile debet;
nam quod fluvidus est, e levibus atque rutundis
est, et squalida sunt illis admixta doloris
corpora; nec tamen haec retineri hamata necessum:
scilicet esse globosa tamen, cum squalida constent,
470provolvi simul ut possint et laedere sensus.
et quo mixta putes magis aspera levibus esse
Footnotes
453quod OQGP: quasi M. Haupt
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shapes. Amongst the first in this class, diamond stones, for example, stand in the front rank, accustomed to despise blows; and stout stone and the strength of hard iron, and bronze sockets that shriek out as they resist the bolts. Those others, the fluids
which consist of liquid body, must be of elements smoother and rounder. Indeed you may scoop up poppy seed as easily as water, for the individual round particles are no hindrance to each other; and when poppy seed is knocked over, it runs downhill just as readily.a Lastly, all that you see dispersing in a moment of time, as smoke and clouds and flame,
if not wholly made of smooth and round elements, must at least necessarily not be hampered by elements entangled, that they may be able to sting the body and penetrate stonesb without clinging together; so that you may easily recognize that whatever we see to be spiky to the senses consists of elements sharp but not entangled. But it should be no marvel that you see the same things both bitter and fluid, as the brine of the sea; for being fluid it consists
of smooth and round elements, and many rough bodies that cause pain are intermingled with them; and yet it is not necessary that these be held together by hooks: you must know that they are round although they are rough, so that they can roll on and at the same time hurt the senses. And to show you more clearly that there are rough elements
Footnotes
ai.e. just as readily as water. On the interpretation of 453-455 see especially D. A. West in CR N.S. 14 (1964) 4-6.
bSmoke stings the eyes, fire (cf. 1.491) penetrates stones and splits them.
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principiis, unde est Neptuni corpus acerbum,
est ratio secernendi, seorsumque videndi
umor dulcis, ubi per terras crebrius idem
475percolatur, ut in foveam fluat ac mansuescat;
linquit enim supera taetri primordia viri,
aspera quom magis in terris haerescere possint.
Quod quoniam docui, pergam conectere rem quae
ex hoc apta fidem ducat, primordia rerum
480finita variare figurarum ratione.
quod si non ita sit, rursum iam semina quaedam
esse infinito debebunt corporis auctu.
namque in eadem una cuiusvis iam brevitate
corporis inter se multum variare figurae
485non possunt. fac enim minimis e partibus esse
corpora prima tribus, vel paulo pluribus auge:
nempe ubi eas partis unius corporis omnis,
summa atque ima locans, transmutans dextera laevis,
omnimodis expertus eris, quam quisque det ordo
490formai speciem totius corporis eius,
quod superest, si forte voles variare figuras,
addendum partis alias erit; inde sequetur,
adsimili ratione alias ut postulet ordo,
si tu forte voles etiam variare figuras.
495ergo formarum novitatem corporis augmen
Footnotes
477quom A. G. Roos: quo OQP
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mixed with smooth which produce Neptune’sa bitter
body, there is a way to separate them, and to see-how the sweet water, when the same is filtered through earth several times, runs separately into a pit and loses its saltness; for it leaves above the elements of the nauseous brine, since the rough ones can more easily stick in the earth.
478Now that I have explained this, I will proceed
to link with it another truth which depending on this draws its proof from itb: that the first-beginnings have a finite number of differing shapes.c If that were not so, it would once more follow that some of the seeds will necessarily be of infinite size.d For within the same small measure of one given bodye the shapes cannot differ much from one another: suppose, for instance, the first bodies to consist of three smallest parts, or increase that number by a few more; naturally, when you take all those parts of one body, and by placing them top or bottom, and transposing right and left, you have tried in all possible ways what shape of that whole body each order gives, if after all you wish perhaps to vary the shapes, other parts must be added; and it will follow that in like manner the arrangement will demand other parts, if you perhaps wish to vary the shapes yet further. Therefore novelty of shapes implies increase
Footnotes
aFor Lucr.’s attitude to the use of such names, see 655-660.
bHere, in 481 (rursum), and in 498-499 the reference may be to a non-existent proof that the size of the atoms is limited. Brieger and Giussani assume a lacuna between 477 and 478, but Bailey is more cautious: “In the unfinished state of the poem it is rash to assume that a passage has been lost; ... it is safer merely to say that the argument requires it.”
cCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 42. Democritus, however, had supposed that the number of atomic shapes is infinite.
dIn 481-499, which should be compared with Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 55-56, Lucr. returns to the doctrine of minimal parts expounded in 1.599-634 (cf. Ep. ad Hdt. 56-59).
e“Body” here = “first body,” i.e. “atom.”
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subsequitur. quare non est ut credere possis
esse infinitis distantia semina formis,
ne quaedam cogas inmani maximitate
esse, supra quod iam docui non posse probari.
500Iam tibi barbaricae vestes Meliboeaque fulgens
purpura Thessalico concharum tacta colore,
aurea pavonum ridenti imbuta lepore
saecla, novo rerum superata colore iacerent
et contemptus odor smyrnae mellisque sapores,
505et cycnea mele Phoebeaque daedala chordis
carmina consimili ratione oppressa silerent;
namque aliis aliud praestantius exoreretur.
cedere item retro possent in deteriores
omnia sic partis, ut diximus in melioris;
510namque aliis aliud retro quoque taetrius esset
naribus auribus atque oculis orisque sapori.
quae quoniam non sunt, sed rebus reddita certa
finis utrimque tenet summam, fateare necessest
materiem quoque finitis differre figuris.
515Denique ab ignibus ad gelidas iter usque
pruinas
finitumst retroque pari ratione remensumst;
omnis enim calor ac frigus mediique tepores
interutrasque iacent explentes ordine summam.
ergo finita distant ratione creata,
Footnotes
501tacta (cf. 6.1188) F. Oudendorp (on Lucan 10.491): tecta OQP: tincta ed. Juntina (cf. 736, 747, 776)
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of size. And so it is impossible for you to believe that the seeds have an infinite number of differing shapes, or you must compel some to be of immeasurable magnitude, which I have already shown to be impossible to prove.
500Then, I tell you, barbaric vestments, and blazing
Meliboeana purple, dyed in the colour from Thessalian shells, and the golden generations of peacocks steeped in laughing grace, all would sink, out done by some new colour in the world; the odour of myrrh and the savour of honey would be despised; the swan’s melody and Apollo’s music set to the wonder-working art of strings would in like manner be vanquished and silent; for one thing more splendid than another would continually arise. All things might also change back for the worse, as we have said they might do for the better: for in the backwards way also one thing would be more loathsome than another to nose, ears, and eyes, and the taste of the mouth. Since this is not so, but a certain limit is set for things, which shuts in the sum from both sides,b it must be confessed that matter also has a limited number of different shapes.
515Again, limited is the path that extends from
fiery heat to the icy frosts, and it is measured backwards in the same way, for all the heat and cold and middle warmth lies between these extremes, filling up the sumc in succession. Therefore things produced differ by limited degrees, since they
Footnotes
aMeliboea, a town on the coast of Thessaly, where dye was obtained from the shell-fish called κόχλoς in Greek, murex in Latin.
bThe two extremes of goodness and badness.
cThat is, all the possible degrees of heat and cold.
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520ancipiti quoniam mucroni utrimque notantur,
hinc flammis illinc rigidis infesta pruinis.
Quod quoniam docui, pergam conectere rem quae
ex hoc apta fidem ducat, primordia rerum,
inter se simili quae sunt perfecta figura,
525infinita cluere. etenim distantia cum sit
formarum finita, necesse est quae similes sint
esse infinitas aut summam materiai
finitam constare, id quod non esse probavi,
versibus ostendens corpuscula materiai
530ex infinito summam rerum usque tenere,
undique protelo plagarum continuato.
Nam quod rara vides magis esse animalia quaedam
fecundamque minus naturam cernis in illis,
at regione locoque alio terrisque remotis
535multa licet genere esse in eo numerumque repleri;
sicut quadripedum cum primis esse videmus
in genere anguimanus elephantos, India quorum
milibus e multis vallo munitur eburno,
ut penitus nequeat penetrari: tanta ferarum
540vis est, quarum nos perpauca exempla videmus.
Sed tamen id quoque uti concedam, quamlubet esto
unica res quaedam nativo corpore sola,
Footnotes
521infesta Lambinus (notes only): infessa OQ:insessa Marullus, Lambinus (text), perhaps rightly
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are marked at both extremes by two points, one at either end, beset on the one side by flame, on the other by stiff frost.
522Now that I have explained this, I will proceed
to link with it another truth which depending on this draws its proof from ita: that the first-beginnings of things which are made of similar shape are infinite in number.b Indeed, since the difference of shapes is finite, it is necessary that the shapes which are alike be infinite, or else that the sum of matter be
finite, which I have provedc not to be so, while showing in my verses that the small bodies of matter hold-together the sum of things from infinity with an uninterrupted successiond of blows from all sides.
532For although you see certain animals to be
rarer and nature to be less fertile in them, yet in another place and climate and in distant lands there may be many of that kind, and so the number be filled upe: as in the race of quadrupeds we see especially snake-handed elephants, which in their many thousands provide an ivory palisadef about India, so that none may penetrate within: so great is the quantity of those beasts, of which we see very few specimens.
541But to grant this also—let there be, if you will,
some one thing unique and sole of its kind with a
Footnotes
a522-523 = 478-479.
bCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 42.
c1.1008-1051.
dprotelum is literally a row of draught-oxen or mules harnessed together. The metaphor is used again in 4.190.
eFor the Epicurean doctrine of ἰσoνoμὶa or “equili brium,” which is introduced also in 569-580, cf. Cicero, Nat. D. 1.19.50.
fBailey thinks that the allusion is to a legend, but this view is disputed by A. Ernout in Rev. Phil. 44 (1970) 203-205. See also?. K. Borthwick, CQ N.S. 23 (1973) 291-292, who quotes a passage from Dio Chrysostom (Or. 79.4) which refers to the Indian practice of building the skulls of elephants, tusks and all, into the walls of houses.
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cui similis toto terrarum non sit in orbi;
infinita tamen nisi erit vis materiai
545unde ea progigni possit concepta, creari
non poterit neque, quod superest, procrescere alique.
quippe etenim sumam hoc quoque uti finita per omne
corpora iactari unius genitalia rei,
unde, ubi, qua vi et quo pacto congressa coibunt
550materiae tanto in pelago turbaque aliena?
non, ut opinor, habent rationem conciliandi;
sed quasi naufragiis magnis multisque coortis
disiectare solet magnum mare transtra cavernas
antemnas proram malos tonsasque natantis,
555per terrarum omnis oras fluitantia aplustra
ut videantur et indicium mortalibus edant,
infidi maris insidias virisque dolumque
ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant,
subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti,
560sic tibi si finita semel primordia quaedam
constitues, aevom debebunt sparsa per omnem
disiectare aestus diversi materiai,
numquam in concilium ut possint compulsa coire
nec remorari in concilio nec crescere adaucta;
565quorum utrumque palam fieri manifesta docet res,
et res progigni et genitas procrescere posse.
esse igitur genere in quovis primordia rerum
infinita palam est unde omnia suppeditantur.
Nec superare queunt motus itaque exitiales
Footnotes
543non sit in orbi Q corr., P: sit orbi O: orbi Q:nulla sit orbi Lachmann
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body that had birth, and let there be nothing like it in
the whole world; yet, unless the sum of matter be infinite from which it may be conceived and brought forth, it cannot be made, nor, moreover, can it grow and be nourished. Indeed, if I should go so far as to assume that the bodies generative of this one thing were finite in number, tossed about through the universe, whence, where, by what force, in what manner
will they meet and combine amidst such an ocean of matter, such an alien crowd? They have no way, I think, to combine; but as when many great shipwrecks have come about, the high sea is accustomed to toss asunder transoms, ribs, yards, prow, masts,
and oars all swimming, so that the poop-fittings are seen floating around all the shores, and provide a warning for mortals, that they eschew the treacherous deep, with her snares, her violence, and her fraud, and never trust her at any time when the calm sea shows her false alluring smilea: so if you once lay down that certain first-beginnings are finite in number, they must be scattered through all time and tossed asunder on the sundering tides of matter, so that never can they be driven together and come into combination together, nor remain in combination, nor grow by increase; both which things are openly shown by manifest facts to be done, namely that things can be brought forth and when produced can grow forth. It is therefore obvious that in each kind there is an infinity of the first-beginnings of things from which a supply of all things is brought up.
569And therefore, neither can death-dealing motions
Footnotes
aThe treachery of the sea is frequently mentioned in classical literature: cf. e.g. 5.1004-1005, Plautus, Rudens 485–486, Virgil, G. 1.254, Propertius 3.7.37.
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570perpetuo neque in aeternum sepelire salutem,
nec porro rerum genitales auctificique
motus perpetuo possunt servare creata.
sic aequo geritur certamine principiorum
ex infinito contractum tempore bellum:
575nunc hic nunc illic superant vitalia rerum
et superantur item, miscetur funere vagor
quem pueri tollunt visentes luminis oras;
nec nox ulla diem neque noctem aurora secutast
quae non audierit mixtos vagitibus aegris
580ploratus mortis comites et funeris atri.
Illud in his obsignatum quoque rebus habere
convenit et memori mandatum mente tenere,
nil esse, in promptu quorum natura videtur,
quod genere ex uno consistat principiorum,
585nec quicquam quod non permixto semine constet.
et quodcumque magis vis multas possidet in se
atque potestates, ita plurima principiorum
in sese genera ac varias docet esse figuras.
Principio tellus habet in se corpora prima
590unde mare inmensum volventes frigora fontes
adsidue renovent, habet ignes unde oriantur;
nam multis succensa locis ardent sola terrae,
ex imis vero furit ignibus impetus Aetnae.
tum porro nitidas fruges arbustaque laeta
595gentibus humanis habet unde extollere possit,
unde etiam fluvios frondes et pabula laeta
montivago generi possit praebere ferarum.
Footnotes
593ex imis OQP: eximiis Avancius
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lord it for ever and for ever bury existence,
nor further can motions that generate and give increase to things for ever preserve them when made. Thus the war of first-beginnings waged from infinity is carried on with doubtful issue: now here, now there the vital elements gain the mastery, and in like manner are mastered. With the funeral dirge is mingled the wail that children raise when they first see the borders of light; and no night ever followed day, or dawn followed night, that has not heard mingled with their sickly wailings the lamentations that attend upon death and the black funeral.a
581This also herewith you would do well to guard
sealed and treasured in memory, that there is none of those things which are in plain view before us which consists only of one kind of element, nothing which does not consist of various seeds commingled; and the more a thing has in itself many powersb and faculties, so it shows that there are within it most kinds of elements and varied shapes.
589First, the earth contains the first bodies from
which the springs, rolling coolness along, industriously renew the illimitable sea, and she contains the source of fires. For in many places the crust of the earth burns aflame, while from the depths come the fiery eruptions of Etna. Then further, she contains the means to raise up bright corn and fruitful trees for the races of mankind, the means to produce rivers and leaves and fruitful pastures for the mountain-ranging brood of wild beasts. Therefore she alone
Footnotes
aCf. Tennyson, The Vision of Sin 97-98: “Every moment dies a man, | Every moment one is born.”
bFor vis as accusative or nominative plural, cf. 3.265, 5.1033.
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quare Magna deum Mater Materque ferarum
et nostri genetrix haec dicta est corporis una.
600Hanc veteres Graium docti cecinere poetae
sedibus in curru biiugos agitare leones,
aeris in spatio magnam pendere docentes
tellurem neque posse in terra sistere terram.
adiunxere feras, quia quamvis effera proles
605officiis debet molliri victa parentum.
muralique caput summum cinxere corona,
eximiis munita locis quia sustinet urbes;
quo nunc insigni per magnas praedita terras
horrifice fertur divinae Matris imago.
610hanc variae gentes antiquo more sacrorum
Idaeam vocitant Matrem Phrygiasque catervas
dant comites, quia primum ex illis finibus edunt
per terrarum orbem fruges coepisse creari.
Gallos attribuunt, quia, numen qui violarint
615Matris et ingrati genitoribus inventi sint,
significare volunt indignos esse putandos,
vivam progeniem qui in oras luminis edant.
tympana tenta tonant palmis et cymbala circum
Footnotes
600-601Between these lines Q leaves a space of two lines, and many editors assume a lacuna. But the space in Q was almost certainly left for a title (see Bailey 901-902)
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is called Great Mother of the gods,a and Mother of
the wild beasts, and maker of our bodies.
600She it is of whom the ancient and learned poets of the Greeks have sung, that seated in a chariot she drives a pair of lions, thus teaching that the great world is poised in the spacious air, and that earth cannot rest on earth. They have yoked in wild beasts, because any offspring however wild ought to be softened and vanquished by the kindly acts of the parents.b And they have surrounded the top of her head with a mural crown, because embattled in excellent
positions she sustains cities; which emblem now adorns the divine Mother’s image as she is carried over the great earth in awful state. She it is whom different nations in their ancient ritual acclaim as the Idaean Mother, and give her troops of Phrygians
to escort her, because men declare that first from that realm came the corn,c which then spread over the round world. They give her eunuchs, as wishing
to indicate that those who have violated the majesty of the Mother, and have been found ungrateful to their parents, should be thought unworthy to bring living offspring into the regions of light. The taut
tomtoms thunder under the open palm, the hollow
Footnotes
aThe cult of the Magna Mater, Cybele, whom Lucr. identifies with Rhea (633-639), was brought to Rome from Phrygia in 205-204 b.c She was represented with a mural crown (606) and a team of lions (601). She had eunuch priests (614) called Corybantes, who worshipped her with loud, wild music (618-620) and frenzied armed dances (629-632). The similarity between her cult and that of Rhea caused them to be confused, and the Corybantes came to be identified with the Cretan Curetes (629, 633). The fact that both Phrygia and Crete possessed a Mt. Ida (611) contributed to the confusion.
bVarro, in his description of the Great Mother (Augustine, De civ. D. 7.24), says: leonem adiungunt solutum ac mansuetum, ut ostendant nullum genus esse terrae tam remotum ac vehementer ferum quod non subigi colique conveniat.
cHerodotus 2.2 relates how the Egyptian king Psammetichus discovered that the Phrygian word for “bread” was the original one. As D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 106, has noticed, Lucr. emphasizes the origin of corn in Phrygia with the verbal play Phrygias . . . fruges. Cf. note on 1.474.
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concava, raucisonoque minantur cornua cantu,
620et Phrygio stimulat numero cava tibia mentis,
telaque praeportant violenti signa furoris,
ingratos animos atque impia pectora volgi
conterrere metu quae possint numine divae.
ergo cum primum magnas invecta per urbis
625munificat tacita mortalis muta salute,
aere atque argento sternunt iter omne viarum,
largifica stipe ditantes, ninguntque rosarum
floribus umbrantes Matrem comitumque catervam.
hic armata manus, Curetas nomine Grai
630quos memorant, Phrygias inter si forte catervas
ludunt in numerumque exultant sanguine laeti,
terrificas capitum quatientes numine cristas,
Dictaeos referunt Curetas qui Iovis illum
vagitum in Creta quondam occultasse feruntur,
635cum pueri circum puerum pernice chorea
637armati in numerum pulsarent aeribus aera,
ne Saturnus eum malis mandaret adeptus
aeternumque daret Matri sub pectore volnus.
640propterea Magnam armati Matrem comitantur,
aut quia significant divam praedicere ut armis
ac virtute velint patriam defendere terram
praesidioque parent decorique parentibus esse.
Quae bene et eximie quamvis disposta ferantur,
645longe sunt tamen a vera ratione repulsa.
Footnotes
628catervam Q, Wakefield, Martin, is probably right (cf. Ciris 142), despite 611, 630:catervas F: caterva OABL
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cymbals sound around, horns with hoarse-echoing blare affright, hollow pipes prick up the spirits with their Phrygian cadences, martial arms show a front
of violent fury, that they may amaze the ungrateful minds and impious hearts of the vulgar with fear through the goddess’s majesty. Therefore as soon as she rides through mighty cities, silently blessing mankind with unspoken benediction, they bestrew the whole path of her progress with silver and copper, enriching it with bounteous largess, and snow down rose-flowers in a shower, over-shadowing the Mother and her escorting troop. Here an armed group, whom the Greeks name the Curetes, whenever they
sport among the Phrygian bands and leap up rhythmically, joyful with blood, shaking their awful crests with the nodding of their heads, recall the Dictaean Curetes, who are said once upon a time to have concealed that infant wailing of Jupiter in Cretea; when, boys round a boy in rapid dance, clad in armour, they clashed bronze upon bronze to a measure, that Saturn might not catch him and cast him into his jaws and plant an everlasting wound in the Mother’s heart. For this reason they escort the Great Mother armed; or else because they
indicate the command of the goddess that with arms and valour they be ready to defend their native land, and to be both protection and pride to their parents.b
644But well and excellently as all this is set forth and told, yet it is far removed from true reasoning.
Footnotes
aRhea concealed Jupiter, her son, in a cave on Mt. Dicte in Crete, to save him from his father Saturn, who knew that he was destined to be overthrown by one of his children.
bNote the pun parent . . . parentibus.
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omnis enim per se divom natura necessest
inmortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur
semota ab nostris rebus seiunctaque longe;
nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis,
650ipsa suis pollens opibus, nil indiga nostri,
nec bene promeritis capitur neque tangitur ira.
terra quidem vero caret omni tempore sensu,
et quia multarum potitur primordia rerum,
multa modis multis effert in lumina solis.
655hic siquis mare Neptunum Cereremque vocare
constituet fruges et Bacchi nomine abuti
mavolt quam laticis proprium proferre vocamen,
concedamus ut hic terrarum dictitet orbem
esse deum Matrem, dum vera re tamen ipse
680660religione animum turpi contingere parcat.
660Saepe itaque ex uno tondentes gramina campo
lanigerae pecudes et equorum dvellica proles
buceriaeque greges eodem sub tegmine caeli
ex unoque sitim sedantes flumine aquai
665dissimili vivont specie retinentque parentum
665naturam et mores generatim quaeque imitantur.
tanta est in quovis genere herbae materiai
dissimilis ratio, tanta est in flumine quoque.
Hinc porro quamvis animantem ex omnibus unam
670ossa cruor venae calor umor viscera nervi
670constituunt; quae sunt porro distantia longe,
dissimili perfecta figura principiorum.
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For the very nature of divinity must necessarily enjoy
immortal life in the deepest peace, far removed and separated from our affairs; for without any pain, without danger, itself mighty by its own resources, needing us not at all, it is neither propitiated with services nor touched by wrath.a The earth indeed
lacks sensation at all times, and only because it receives into itself the first-beginnings of many things does it bring forth many in many ways into the sun’s light. Here if anyone decides to call the sea Neptune, and corn Ceres, and to misapply the name of Bacchus rather than to use the title that is proper to that liquor, let us grant him to dub the round world Mother of the Gods, provided that he forbears in reality himself to infect his mind with base superstition.b
661Often therefore cropping grass from one field,
are woolly sheep and the warrior breed of horses and horned herds of cattle, beneath the same canopy of heaven, and quenching thirst from one river of water, which live each in a different shape and each race keeps its parents’ nature and imitates their ways after its kind: so great a diversity of matter is there in each kind of herbage, so great in each river.
669Hence also any animal of them all is made up
of bones, blood, veins, warmth, fluid, flesh, sinews; which are also things very different, made of first-beginnings that have dissimilar shapes.
Footnotes
a646-651 = 1.44-49.
bNote the emphatic wording of this important qualification. Lucr. himself calls the sea Neptunus(472) and wine Bacchus(3.221). According to Cicero, Nat. D. 1.15.40, the Stoic Chrysippus disputat aethera esse eum quem homines Iovem appellarent, quique aer per maria manaret eum esse Neptunum, terramque earn esse quae Ceres diceretur, simili-que ratione persequitur vocabula reliquorum deorum, and Lucr. may well have the Stoics in mind (see Munro and especially Ernout-Robin).
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Tum porro quaecumque igni flammata cremantur,
si nil praeterea, tamen haec in corpore condunt
675unde ignem iacere et lumen summittere possint
675scintillasque agere ac late differre favillam.
Cetera consimili mentis ratione peragrans,
invenies igitur multarum semina rerum
679corpore celare et varias cohibere figuras.
679Denique multa vides quibus et color et sapor una
reddita sunt cum odore; in primis pleraque dona
. . . . . . .
haec igitur variis debent constare figuris;
nidor enim penetrat qua fucus non it in artus,
fucus item sorsum, sorsum sapor insinuatur
685sensibus; ut noscas primis differre figuris.
dissimiles igitur formae glomeramen in unum
conveniunt, et res permixto semine constant.
Quin etiam passim nostris in versibus ipsis
multa elementa vides multis communia verbis,
690cum tamen inter se versus ac verba necesse est
confiteare alia ex aliis constare elementis;
non quo multa parum communis littera currat
aut nulla inter se duo sint ex omnibus isdem,
sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant.
695sic aliis in rebus item, communia multa
multarum rerum cum sint primordia, verum
Footnotes
674condunt Munro: traduntur OQ: tradunt Q corr., P:cludunt Bernays: aluntur Isaac Voss
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673Then further whatever things are kindled and
burnt up with fire, if nothing else, yet hide in their tain substance those bodies, which enable them to throw out fire and shoot up light and scintillate sparks and scatter embers all around.
677Then go through all the rest in a like mode of reasoning, and you will find them to conceal within them seeds of many things and to contain various shapes.
680Again, you see many things which are possessed
of colour and taste together with smell: amongst the chief, those many offerings [which enkindled are accustomed to make the altars of the gods smoke]a; these therefore must be made of various shapes; for the rank smell penetrates into the body, where colour cannot; colour again in one way, flavour in another way, creeps into our senses; so that you may recognize that they differ in the shapes of their first elements. Unlike shapes therefore come together into one lump, and things consist of mixed seed.
688Moreover, throughout my own verses you see
many elements common to many words, although you must confess that both verses and wordsb are different and consist of different elements; I do not say that there are very few common letters running through all, or that no two words, if compared, are made up of elements all the same, but that commonly they are not all like all.c So in other things also, although many first-beginnings are common to
Footnotes
aThe words in square brackets are a translation of Munro’s exempli gratia restoration (see critical note).
b688-690 = 1.823-825. See note there.
cCf. 336-337, 723-724.
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dissimili tamen inter se consistere summa
possunt; ut merito ex aliis constare feratur
humanum genus et fruges arbustaque laeta.
Nec tamen omnimodis conecti posse putandum est
701omnia; nam volgo fieri portenta videres,
semiferas hominum species existere, et altos
interdum ramos egigni corpore vivo,
multaque conecti terrestria membra marinis,
705tum flammam taetro spirantis ore Chimaeras
pascere naturam per terras omniparentis.
quorum nil fieri manifestum est, omnia quando
seminibus certis certa genetrice creata
conservare genus crescentia posse videmus.
710scilicet id certa fieri ratione necessust.
nam sua cuique cibis ex omnibus intus in artus
corpora discedunt conexaque convenientis
efficiunt motus; at contra aliena videmus
reicere in terras naturam, multaque caecis
715corporibus fugiunt e corpore percita plagis,
quae neque conecti quoquam potuere neque intus
vitalis motus consentire atque imitari.
Sed ne forte putes animalia sola teneri
legibus hisce, eadem ratio disterminat omnia,
720nam veluti tota natura dissimiles sunt
inter se genitae res quaeque, ita quamque necessest
Footnotes
719hisce Bernays: his OQ VP eadem Lambinus (but found by him in four manuscripts): quaedam OP: quedam V: quidam Q disterminat OQ VP (cf. Cicero, Arat. 94): res terminat Lambinus omnia (with synizesis) ed. Juntina: omnis OQ VP
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many things, yet taken one with another they can make up a whole quite unlike; so that different elements may rightly be held to compose the human race and corn and luxuriant trees.
700However, it must not be thought that all can be
conjoined in all ways: for then you would commonly see monstrosities come into being, shapes of men arising that would be half beasts,a lofty branches at times sprouting from a living body, parts of terrestrial creatures often conjoined with creatures of the sea,b Chimaerasc again, breathing flame from noisome
throats, pastured by nature over the lands that produce everything. But that none of these things happen is manifest, since we see that all things bred from fixed seeds by a fixed mother are able to conserve their kind as they grow.d Assuredly this must come about in a fixed way. For in each thing, its own proper bodies are spread abroad through the frame within from all its foods, and being combined produce the appropriate motions; but contrariwise we see alien elements to be thrown back by nature upon the earth, and many, beaten by blows, escape from the body with their invisible bodies,e which were not able to combine with any part nor within the body to feel the life-giving motions with it and imitate them.
718But do not think that animals only are held by
these laws, for the same principle holds all things apart by their limits. For just as all things made are in their whole nature different one from another,
Footnotes
aCentaurs. Cf. 5.878-891. For the explanation of mental pictures of such creatures, see 4.722-748.
bScylla. Cf. 5.892-893.
cCf. 5.901-906.
dCf. 1.189-190.
eLucr. refers to expiration, perspiration, etc.
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dissimili constare figura principiorum;
non quo multa parum simili sint praedita forma,
sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant.
725semina cum porro distent, differre necessust
intervalla vias conexus pondera plagas
concursus motus, quae non animalia solum
corpora seiungunt, sed terras ac mare totum
secernunt caelumque a terris omne retentant.
730Nunc age dicta meo dulci quaesita labore
percipe, ne forte haec albis ex alba rearis
principiis esse, ante oculos quae candida cernis,
aut ea quae nigrant nigro de semine nata;
nive alium quemvis quae sunt imbuta colorem,
735propterea gerere hunc credas, quod materiai
corpora consimili sint eius tincta colore,
nullus enim color est omnino materiai
corporibus, neque par rebus neque denique dispar.
in quae corpora si nullus tibi forte videtur
740posse animi iniectus fieri, procul avius erras.
nam cum caecigeni, solis qui lumina numquam
dispexere, tamen cognoscant corpora tactu
ex ineunte aevo nullo coniuncta colore,
scire licet nostrae quoque menti corpora posse
Footnotes
734imbuta O VP:inbuta Q: induta Lambinus colorem FL:colore OQ V
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so each must consist of first-beginnings differently shaped; I do not say that very few are endowed with the same shape, but that commonly they are not all like all.a Since, further, the seeds are different, different must be their intervals, passages, connexions, weights, blows, meetings, motions, which not only separate animal bodies asunder, but keep asunder the earth and the whole sea, and hold back all heaven away from the earth.
730Now then, mark my words, which with sweet
toil I have gathered,b lest by chance you suppose these white things which you see bright before your eyes to be made of white first-beginnings, or those no colour, that are black to be born of seed that is black, or that the reason why they show any other colour which they may be imbued with is that the elements of matterc are dyed with like colour. For there is no colour at all in the elements of matter, neither like the colour of things nor again unlike. But if by chance you think that the mind cannot project itselfd into the nature of these bodies, you are wandering far astray. For since men born blind, who have never beheld the sun’s light, nevertheless recognize bodies by touch which they have not associated with any colour since the day of their birth, you may be sure that bodies not painted about with any hue are
Footnotes
aCf. 692-694, 336-337.
bCf. 3.419-420 and see note there.
cEpicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 54, states that the atoms have the properties of shape, size, and weight, but no other qualities; and a and a scholium on Ep. ad Hdt. 44 informs us that Epicurus believed that colour changes according to the position of the atoms.
danimi iniectus (740) is a translation of Epicurus’ ἐπβoλὴ τῆς διανοίας, the act by which the mind concentrates its attention on an image or idea and apprehends it. Cf. Diogenes Laertius 10.31, Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 38, 51, Sent. 24, Lucr. 2.1047, Cicero, Nat. D. 1.20.54.
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745vorti in notitiam nullo circumlita fuco.
denique nos ipsi caecis quaecumque tenebris
tangimus, haud ullo sentimus tincta colore.
Quod quoniam vinco fieri, nunc esse docebo
. . . . . . .
omnis enim color omnino mutatur et omnis
. . . . . . .
750quod facere haud ullo debent primordia pacto;
immutabile enim quiddam superare necessest,
ne res ad nilum redigantur funditus omnes.
nam quodcumque suis mutatum finibus exit,
continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.
755proinde colore cave contingas semina rerum,
ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnes.
Praeterea si nulla coloris principiis est
reddita natura et variis sunt praedita formis,
e quibus omne genus gignunt variantque colores
760propterea, magni quod refert semina quaeque
cum quibus et quali positura contineantur
et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque,
perfacile extemplo rationem reddere possis
cur ea quae nigro fuerint paulo ante colore,
765marmoreo fieri possint candore repente:
Footnotes
748A lacuna after this line noted by Munro. Bailey suggests e.g. corpora prima omni semper privata colore. Bentley, Lachmann, Merrill (1917), Buchner transfer 743 after 748, but see Bailey on 743
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able to become a concepta for our mind. Again, when we ourselves touch anything in blind darkness, we do not feel it to be steeped in any colour.
748And since I prove that this is so, I will now explain [that the first bodies] are [deprived of all colour]. For all colours altogether change, and all
[things that change colour change themselves]b; which first-beginnings ought not to do on any terms, for something unchangeable must survive, that all things may not be brought back utterly to nothing. For whatever by being changed passes outside its own boundaries, at once this is the death of that which was before.c Forbear therefore to steep in colour the seeds of things, lest you find that all things come back utterly to nothing.d
757Besides, if no quality of colour has been given
to the first-beginnings, and they are endowed with various shapes, from which they beget all sorts of various colours for this reason, because it is of great moment with what and in what position they are held together, and what motions they impart and receive mutually,e then you could very easily explain on the spot why those things which were black a little while before can suddenly become a shining
Footnotes
aThe mind, receiving impressions through the senses, forms a general idea or πpόληψις of a class, to which it refers other examples; then by projecting itself, it forms an idea of abstract things, or things of which it has no experience, such as atoms without colour, notitia(or notities) is used of both these concepts: 4.476, 479, 5.124, 182, 1047.
bThe words in square brackets translate the lines supplied exempli gratia by Bailey. See critical notes on 748, 749.
c750-754 = 1.789-793. 753-754 also = 1.670-671, 3.519-520.
d756 = 864, 1.673.
eCf. 1.908-910, 2.1007-1009.
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ut mare, cum magni commorunt aequora venti,
vertitur in canos candenti marmore fluctus;
dicere enim possis, nigrum quod saepe videmus,
materies ubi permixta est illius et ordo
770principiis mutatus et addita demptaque quaedam,
continuo id fieri ut candens videatur et album,
quod si caeruleis constarent aequora ponti
seminibus, nullo possent albescere pacto;
nam quocumque modo perturbes caerula quae sint,
numquam in marmoreum possunt migrare colorem.
776sin alio atque alio sunt semina tincta colore
quae maris efficiunt unum purumque nitorem,
ut saepe ex aliis formis variisque figuris
efficitur quiddam quadratum unaque figura,
780conveniebat, ut in quadrato cernimus esse
dissimiles formas, ita cernere in aequore ponti
aut alio in quovis uno puroque nitore
dissimiles longe inter se variosque colores.
praeterea nil officiunt obstantque figurae
785dissimiles quo quadratum minus omne sit extra;
at varii rerum inpediunt prohibentque colores
quominus esse uno possit res tota nitore.
Tum porro quae ducit et inlicit ut tribuamus
principiis rerum nonnumquam causa colores,
790occidit, ex albis quoniam non alba creantur,
nec quae nigra cluent de nigris sed variis ex.
quippe etenim multo proclivius exorientur
candida de nullo quam nigro nata colore
aut alio quovis qui contra pugnet et obstet.
795Praeterea quoniam nequeunt sine luce colores
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white; as the sea, when great winds have stirred up the surface, turns into hoary waves with a white sheen; for you could say that often what we see as black, when its matter is mixed up and the order of its first-beginnings changed, some being added and taken away, immediately thereafter seems to be bright and white. But if the surface of the deep
were made of blue seeds, it could not in any way become white; for however you may jumble up things that are blue, they can never change into a shining white colour. Or if different seeds that make up the sea’s uniform and pure brightness are steeped in different colours, just as often from different shapes and various figures something square is composed with a uniform figure, then it were fitting that, as in the square we perceive unlike forms to be contained,a so on the surface of the deep or in any other pure and uniform brightness we should perceive various colours very different from one another. Besides, there is nothing in the unlike figures to hinder and debar the whole thing from being square on the outside; but the various colours of things do thwart and forbid the whole thing to be of one brightness.
788Then further, the reason that leads and attracts us sometimes to attribute colours to the first-beginnings of things falls to the ground, since white things are not made from white, nor what are black from black, but from diverse colours. The fact is that white things will arise much more easily from no colour than from black or from any other colour that fights against it and thwarts it.
795Besides, since colours cannot be without light
Footnotes
aH. J. Rose in CR N.S. 6 (1956) 6-7 suggests that Lucr. “was acquainted with some tangram or ‘Chinese puzzle’ in which the triangles when properly fitted together could make a square, in other words with the stomachion on which Archimedes wrote a treatise.”
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esse neque in lucem existunt primordia rerum,
scire licet quam sint nullo velata colore.
qualis enim caecis poterit color esse tenebris?
lumine quin ipso mutatur propterea quod
800recta aut obliqua percussus luce refulget;
pluma columbarum quo pacto in sole videtur,
quae sita cervices circum collumque coronat;
namque alias fit uti claro sit rubra pyropo,
interdum quodam sensu fit uti videatur
805inter caeruleum viridis miscere zmaragdos.
caudaque pavonis, largo cum luce repleta est,
consimili mutat ratione obversa colores;
qui quoniam quodam gignuntur luminis ictu,
scire licet, sine eo fieri non posse putandum est.
810Et quoniam plagae quoddam genus excipit in se
pupula, cum sentire colorem dicitur album,
atque aliud porro, nigrum cum et cetera sentit,
nec refert ea quae tangas quo forte colore
praedita sint, verum quali magis apta figura,
815scire licet nil principiis opus esse colores,
sed variis formis variantes edere tactus.
Praeterea quoniam non certis certa figuris
est natura coloris, et omnia principiorum
formamenta queunt in quovis esse nitore,
820cur ea quae constant ex illis non pariter sunt
omne genus perfusa coloribus in genere omni?
conveniebat enim corvos quoque saepe volantis
ex albis album pinnis iactare colorem,
Footnotes
805caeruleum OQP(caeruleam F): curalium (= “ coral”) Wakefield, perhaps rightly (cf. Q. Serenus Sammonicus, Liber Medicinalis 942-943 [ed. E. Baehrens, PLM III])
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and the first-beginnings of things do not come out
into the light, you may be sure that they are covered with no colour. For what colour can there be in blind darkness? Why, a colour is changed by the light itself, according as the brightness responds to a direct or oblique impact of light; in this way the dove’s plumage shows itself in the sun, lying about the nape and encircling the neck; for at times it is red as the blazing carbuncle, again view it in a certain way and it comes to appear a fusion of emerald green with blue. And the peacock’s tail, when it is suffused with plenteous light, in like manner changes the colours as it turns; and since these colours are caused by a certain impact of light, assuredly you must not think that they can be produced without it.
810And since the pupil of the eye receives one
kind of blow when it is said to perceive a white colour, and quite another when it perceives black and all the rest, and since when you touch anything it matters nothing what chance colour the thing is of, but rather what shape it has, you may be sure that the first-beginnings have no need of colours, but that they give forth various kinds of touch with their various shapes.
817Besides, since no fixed colour is allotted to each
fixed shape, and all configurations of first-beginnings may be found in any given hue, why are the things that consist of those shapes not likewise dyed in colours of all kinds in every kind of thing? For it were fitting that crows also as they fly should often throw off a white colour from white feathers, and
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et nigros fieri nigro de semine cycnos
825aut alio quovis uno varioque colore.
Quin etiam quanto in partes res quaeque minutas
distrahitur magis, hoc magis est ut cernere possis
evanescere paulatim stinguique colorem;
ut fit ubi in parvas partis discerpitur austrum:
830purpura poeniceusque color clarissimu’ multo,
filatim cum distractum est, disperditur omnis;
noscere ut hinc possis prius omnem efflare colorem
particulas quam discedant ad semina rerum.
Postremo quoniam non omnia corpora vocem
835mittere concedis neque odorem, propterea fit
ut non omnibus adtribuas sonitus et odores.
sic oculis quoniam non omnia cernere quimus,
scire licet quaedam tam constare orba colore
quam sine odore ullo quaedam sonituque remota,
nec minus haec animum cognoscere posse sagacem
841quam quae sunt aliis rebus privata notare.
Sed ne forte putes solo spoliata colore
corpora prima manere, etiam secreta teporis
sunt ac frigoris omnino calidique vaporis,
845et sonitu sterila et suco ieiuna feruntur,
nec iaciunt ullum proprium de corpore odorem.
sicut amaracini blandum stactaeque liquorem
et nardi florem, nectar qui naribus halat,
cum facere instituas, cum primis quaerere par est,
850quod licet ac possis reperire, inolentis olivi
naturam, nullam quae mittat naribus auram,
Footnotes
829ostrum (= austrum P. E. Goebel) Wakefield who, though calling his emendation “certissima” and “verissima,” strangely does not print it in his text: aurum OQ VP
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swans be made black from black seed, or indeed of any other colour single or variegated.
826Moreover, the more minute the particles into
which anything is pulled apart, the more readily it is perceived that the colour gradually fades away and is extinguished; as happens when purple wool is torn up into small parts: the purple and the scarlet colour, brightest of all, is wholly destroyed when the wool has been pulled apart thread wise; so that you may learn from this that the particles breathe away all their colour before they are dispersed apart into the seeds of things.
834Lastly, since you grant that some bodies do
not emit sound or smell, for that reason it follows that you do not attribute sound and smell to all bodies. So, since we cannot perceive all things with our eyes, you may be sure that certain things exist as much deprived of colour as without any smell and empty of sound, and that the intelligent mind can recognize these no less than it can mark things that are devoid of other qualities.
842But that you may not think by some chance
that the first bodies remain without colour only, they are also destitute altogether of warmth and cold and strong heat, they move along barren of sound and dry of juice, nor do they throw off any smell of their own from their bodies. Just as when you set about to prepare the balmy tincture of marjoram and of myrrh, and the flower of spikenard which breathes nectar to the nostrils, amongst the first things you have to seek is olive oil as scentless as may be and as you can find it, emitting no breath to the nostrils, so that it may as little as possible
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quam minime ut possit mixtos in corpore odores
concoctosque suo contractans perdere viro,
propter eandem rem debent primordia rerum
855non adhibere suum gignundis rebus odorem
nec sonitum, quoniam nil ab se mittere possunt,
nec simili ratione saporem denique quemquam
nec frigus neque item calidum tepidumque vaporem,
cetera; quae cum ita sunt tamen ut mortalia constent,
860molli lenta, fragosa putri, cava corpore raro,
omnia sint a principiis seiuncta necessest,
inmortalia si volumus subiungere rebus
fundamenta quibus nitatur summa salutis,
ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnes.
Nunc ea quae sentire videmus cumque necessest
866ex insensilibus tamen omnia confiteare
principiis constare. neque id manufesta refutant
nec contra pugnant, in promptu cognita quae sunt,
sed magis ipsa manu ducunt et credere cogunt
870ex insensilibus, quod dico, animalia gigni.
quippe videre licet vivos existere vermes
stercore de taetro, putorem cum sibi nacta est
intempestivis ex imbribus umida tellus;
praeterea cunctas itidem res vertere sese:
875vertunt se fluvii, frondes et pabula laeta
in pecudes, vertunt pecudes in corpora nostra
Footnotes
854rem Lachmann: omitted by OQ VP
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with any pungency of its own touch and destroy the scents that will be mixed and boiled up with its substance: for the same reason the first-beginnings of things must not contribute any odour of their own
to the making of things, nor any sound, since they can emit nothing from themselves,a and similarly no taste at all, nor cold, nor heat again and moderate warmth, and the rest: all these,bsince their nature is such that after all they are perishable—the pliant of soft body, the fragile of crumbling body, the spongy of rarefied body—all these must be kept apart from the first-beginnings, if we wish to lay an imperishable foundation for things upon which the sum of existence may rest: or else you will find all things passing back utterly to nothing.c
865Now you must of necessity confess that all
we perceive to have feeling consists nevertheless of first-beginnings that have no feeling. Nor do mani-fest facts refute this, things plainly known to us, nor do they contradict, but rather they lead us themselves by the hand and compel us to believe that living creatures are born from beginnings that have no feeling, as I say. Why, you may see worms arise
all alive from stinking dung,d when the drenched earth becomes rotten from excessive rains, and be sides, you may see all things changing in the way. Rivers, leaves, luxuriant pastures change into animals, animals change their substance into our
Footnotes
aFor this would imply diminution and therefore destructibility.
bThat is, smell, sound, etc. But Lucr. seems to have identified the qualities with the emanations to which they belong.
c864 = 756, 1.673.
dThe theory of the spontaneous generation of certain plants and creatures, including worms, from putrefied matter, dung, etc. was held by several ancient philosophers, including Aristotle (see Ernout-Robin on 871). Cf. 898-901, 928-929, 3.719-736, 5.797-798. The theory was finally disproved as late as the 19th century, by Louis Pasteur.
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naturam, et nostro de corpore saepe ferarum
augescunt vires et corpora pennipotentum.
ergo omnes natura cibos in corpora viva
880vertit et hinc sensus animantum procreat omnes
non alia longe ratione atque arida ligna
explicat in flammas et in ignis omnia versat.
iamne vides igitur magni primordia rerum
referre in quali sint ordine quaeque locata
885et commixta quibus dent motus accipiantque?
Tum porro quid id est, animum quod percutit
ipsum,
quod movet et varios sensus expromere cogit.
ex insensilibus ne credas sensile gigni?
nimirum lapides et ligna et terra quod una
890mixta tamen nequeunt vitalem reddere sensum.
illud in his igitur rebus meminisse decebit,
non ex omnibus omnino, quaecumque creant res
sensilia, extemplo me gigni dicere sensus,
sed magni referre ea primum quantula constent,
895sensile quae faciunt, et qua sint praedita forma,
motibus ordinibus posituris denique quae sint.
quarum nil rerum in lignis glaebisque videmus;
et tamen haec, cum sunt quasi putrefacta per imbres,
vermiculos pariunt, quia corpora materiai
900antiquis ex ordinibus permota nova re
conciliantur ita ut debent animalia gigni.
Deinde ex sensilibus qui sensile posse creari
constituunt porro ex aliis sentire suëtis,
. . . . . . .
Footnotes
903suetis Lambinus: sueti OQ VP. A lacuna after 903 noted by W. Christ
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bodies, often from our bodies the strength of wild
beasts and the bodies of strong-winged birds increase. Therefore nature changes all foods into living bodies, and from them brings forth all the feelings of animals, very much in the same way as she expands dry sticks into flames and turns them all into fire. Now do you see then that it is of great moment in what order all the first-beginnings of things are placed, and with what commingled they cause and receive motions?a
886Then further, what is that which strikes on your
very mind, which moves it and compels it to express diverse feelings, forbidding you to believe that the sensible is born from the insensible? Surely that stones and sticks and earth though mingled together yet cannot produce the vital sense. But in this matter you will do well to remember that I do not say that without exception sensations are produced forthwith from all the substances that make sensible things, but that it is of great moment, first how small those elements are that make a sensible thing, and what shape they are endowed with, what lastly are their motions, arrangements, positions. And in the sticks and clods these conditions escape our vision; yet these, when they have become rotten as it wereb by rain, bring forth little worms, because the bodies of matter, being moved from their ancient arrangements by a new condition, are combined together in the way by which living things must be produced.
902Again, those who maintain that the sensible
can be created out of sensible elements, which would furthermore be accustomed to derive their own sensation
Footnotes
aCf. 1.907-910. There Lucr. was arguing against Anaxagoras, and there can be little doubt that much of the argument of the present section (865-930, 973-990) is directed primarily at the same opponent.
bquasi apologizes for the word putrefacta
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mollia cum faciunt; nam sensus iungitur omnis
905visceribus nervis venis, quaecumque videmus
mollia mortali consistere corpore creta.
Sed tamen esto iam posse haec aeterna manere:
nempe tamen debent aut sensum partis habere
aut similis totis animalibus esse putari.
910at nequeant per se partes sentire necesse est;
namque alio sensus membrorum respicit omnis,
nec manus a nobis potis est secreta neque ulla
corporis omnino sensum pars sola tenere.
linquitur ut totis animantibus adsimulentur.
923915sic itidem quae sentimus sentire necessest,
915vitali ut possint consentire undique sensu.
916qui poterunt igitur rerum primordia dici
917et leti vitare vias, animalia cum sint,
918atque animalia sint mortalibus una eademque?
919920 quod tamen ut possint, at coetu concilioque
920nil facient praeter volgum turbamque animantum,
921scilicet ut nequeant homines armenta feraeque
922inter sese ullam rem gignere conveniundo.
quod si forte suum dimittunt corpore sensum
atque alium capiunt, quid opus fuit adtribui id quod
926detrahitur? tum praeterea, quo fugimus ante,
quatenus in pullos animalis vertier ova
cernimus alituum vermisque effervere terra,
Footnotes
909similis (sc. partes) OABL: similes QVF: simili (sc. sensu) Lachmann, but cf. 914
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from other [sensible elements, make the seeds mortal] in making them soft. For all sensation is therefore bound up with flesh, sinews, veins, all of which we mortal. see to be soft, and therefore to be concretions consisting of mortal substance.
907However, let it even be granted that these
can abide for ever: assuredly they must yet either have the sensation of a part, or be thought to be like whole animals. But it cannot be that parts have independent sensation; for every sensation in the frame has relation to something else: neither hand nor any part of the body at all, separated from us, can keep sensation alone. It remains that they be like whole animals. So they must have sensation in the same way that we have sensation, in order that they may be able to feel with us the life-giving sensations everywhere. How then will it be possible
for them to be called first-beginnings of things, and to avoid the paths of death, when they are living things, and living things are one and the same as things mortal? And even supposing they could be so, yet by conjunction and combination they will produce nothing but a throng and crowd of living things, exactly as men, cattle, and wild beasts could not produce a new thing amongst themselves by coming together. But if by any chance they relinquish their own sensation from their body and receive another, of what use was it to attribute that which is taken away? Then besides, to return to an earlier example, inasmuch as we perceive birds’ eggs to turn into living chicks, and worms to seethe from
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intempestivos quam putor cepit ob imbris,
930scire licet gigni posse ex non sensibu’ sensus.
Quod si forte aliquis dicet dumtaxat oriri
posse a non sensu sensum mutabilitate,
aut aliquo tamquam partu quo proditur extra,
huic satis illud erit planum facere atque probare
935non fieri partum nisi concilio ante coacto,
nec quicquam commutari sine conciliatu.
Principio nequeunt ullius corporis esse
sensus ante ipsam genitam naturam animantis,
nimirum quia materies disiecta tenetur
940aere fluminibus terris terraque creatis,
nec congressa modo vitalis convenientes
contulit inter se motus, quibus omnituentes
accensi sensus animantem quamque tuentur.
Praeterea quamvis animantem grandior ictus
945quam patitur natura repente adfligit, et omnis
corporis atque animi pergit confundere sensus.
dissoluuntur enim positurae principiorum
et penitus motus vitales inpediuntur,
donec materies, omnis concussa per artus,
950vitalis animae nodos a corpore solvit
dispersamque foras per caulas eiecit omnis.
nam quid praeterea facere ictum posse reamur
oblatum, nisi discutere ac dissolvere quaeque?
fit quoque uti soleant minus oblato acriter ictu
955relicui motus vitales vincere saepe,
Footnotes
929quam OQ V: quom (cum) Marullus
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the earth which putrefaction has affected after excessive rains, we may be sure that sensation can be produced from not-sensation.
931But if by any chance someone shall saya that
sensation can at all events arise from not-sensation by a process of change or by some process like a birth by which it is brought forth, here is something that will be enough to make clear to him and to prove that birth does not take place unless there has been combination before, and that nothing changes except by combination.
937In the first place, there can be no sensation in
any body before the living being has been actually formed, because of course the matter is held dispersed abroad in air, rivers, earth, and what grows from the earth, and not having come together yet, it has not formed that combination of appropriate vital motions by which all-perceiving sensations being kindled protect each living thing.
944Besides, in any living being a blow greater than
nature can endure suddenly strikes it prostrate, and proceeds to confuse all sensations of body and mind. For the arrangements of the first-beginnings are broken up and the vital motions are utterly hindered, until the shock, diffused through all the substance of the frame, loosens from the body the vital knots of the soul, and ejects the soul scattered abroad through all the pores. For what else do we think the inflicted blow able to do, unless to strike all apart and to break it apart? It happens also that when
the inflicted blow is less violent, the remaining vital
Footnotes
aIt is usually thought that Lucr. is refuting a Stoic theory, but this view is challenged by D. J. Furley in BICS 13 (1966) 24-25. Lucr.’s reply to his opponent is that change or birth implies the existence of a union of particles, and that without a union of particles sensation is impossible.
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vincere, et ingentis plagae sedare tumultus
inque suos quicquid rursus revocare meatus
et quasi iam leti dominantem in corpore motum
discutere ac paene amissos accendere sensus.
960nam qua re potius leti iam limine ab ipso
ad vitam possint conlecta mente reverti
quam quo decursum prope iam siet ire et abire?
Praeterea quoniam dolor est, ubi materiai
corpora vi quadam per viscera viva per artus
965sollicitata suis trepidant in sedibus intus,
inque locum quando remigrant, fit blanda voluptas,
scire licet nullo primordia posse dolore
temptari nullamque voluptatem capere ex se,
quandoquidem non sunt ex ullis principiorum
970corporibus, quorum motus novitate laborent
aut aliquem fructum capiant dulcedinis almae.
haud igitur debent esse ullo praedita sensu.
Denique uti possint sentire animalia quaeque,
principiis si iam est sensus tribuendus eorum,
quid, genus humanum propritim de quibus auctumst?
976scilicet et risu tremulo concussa cachinnant
et lacrimis spargunt rorantibus ora genasque,
multaque de rerum mixtura dicere callent,
et sibi proporro quae sint primordia quaerunt;
980quandoquidem totis mortalibus adsimulata
ipsa quoque ex aliis debent constare elementis,
inde alia ex aliis, nusquam consistere ut ausis:
quippe sequar, quodcumque loqui ridereque dices
et sapere, ex aliis eadem haec facientibus ut sit.
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motions often prevail, they prevail and quiet the
vast tumult of the blow, and call everything back again into its accustomed channels, and shake off the movement of death which already, as one may say, was lording it in the body, and once more kindle the sensations which were almost lost. For in what other way can living things come back from the very threshold of death into life, their minds collected again, rather than pass on to that goal whither their course was almost run, and pass away?
963Besides, since there is pain when the bodies of
matter, attacked by some force through the living flesh and limbs, tremble in their secret habitations within, and when they move back to their place comes soothing delight, you may be sure that the first-beginnings cannot be assailed by any pain, and from themselves can take no delight, since they are not composed of any bodies of elements, so as to be troubled by any strangeness in their motions or to take any enjoyment of life-giving delight; therefore they are bound not to be endowed with any sensation.
973Again, if sensation must really be attributed to
their atoms, so that all living things may be able to feel, what of those from which the human race is grown in its proper way? Doubtless they shake trembling with laughter, they guffaw, they bedew face and cheeks with tears,a they can discourse wisely at large on the composition of things, they go so far as to examine what their own first-beginnings are; since they resemble the whole mortal, they also must consist of other elements, then those of others, so that you dare not make a stand anywhere: for indeed I will follow you up; whatever you shall affirm to speak and laugh and be wise, shall be composed
Footnotes
a976-977 are very similar to 1.919-920, the concluding lines of a lengthy argument against Anaxagoras. The repetition confirms that Lucr. is refuting Anaxagoras here too (see note on 885).
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985quod si delira haec furiosaque cernimus esse,
et ridere potest non ex ridentibus auctus,
et sapere et doctis rationem reddere dictis
non ex seminibus sapientibus atque disertis,
qui minus esse queant ea quae sentire videmus
990seminibus permixta carentibus undique sensu?
Denique caelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi;
omnibus ille idem pater est, unde alma liquentis
umoris guttas mater cum terra recepit,
feta parit nitidas fruges arbustaque laeta
995et genus humanum, parit omnia saecla ferarum,
pabula cum praebet quibus omnes corpora pascunt
et dulcem ducunt vitam prolemque propagant;
quapropter merito maternum nomen adepta est.
cedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante,
1000in terras, et quod missumst ex aetheris oris,
id rursum caeli rellatum templa receptant.
nec sic interemit mors res ut materiai
corpora conficiat, sed coetum dissupat ollis;
inde aliis aliud coniungit, et efficit omnes
1005res ita convertant formas mutentque colores
et capiant sensus et puncto tempore reddant;
ut noscas referre eadem primordia rerum
cum quibus et quali positura contineantur
et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque,
1010neve putes aeterna penes residere potesse
Footnotes
1000terras et OQV: terram sed Lactantius, Div. Inst. 7.12.5, perhaps, as Wakefield thinks,” memoriae fidens nimium,” for he has fulgentia for rellatum in 1001, but nevertheless followed by Diels(terram, set)
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of other things doing the same. But if we perceive all this to be delirium and lunacy, and if one can laugh although not grown from laughing things, and can be wise and reason with learned sentences although not made of seeds that are wise and eloquent, why should not all we see capable of sensation be composed of seeds which altogether lack sensation?
991Lastly, we are all sprung from celestial seeda;
all have that same father, from whom our fostering mother earth receives liquid drops of water, and then teeming brings forth bright corn and luxuriant trees and the race of mankind, brings forth all the generations of wild beasts, providing food with which all nourish their bodies and lead a sweet life and beget their offspring; therefore she has with reason obtained the name of mother.b That also which once came from earth, to earth returns back again, and what fell from the borders of ether, that is again brought back, and the regions of heaven again receive it. Nor does death so destroy things as to
annihilate the bodies of matter, but it disperses their combination abroad; then it conjoins others with others, and brings it about that thus all things alter their shapes and change their colours and receive sensation and in a moment of time yield it up again; so that you may recognize how important it is with what and in what arrangement the same first-beginnings are held together, and what motions they give and receive mutually,c and that you may not believe it possible that the first bodies for ever hold
Footnotes
a991-1022 conclude the argument that the atoms lack secondary qualities and sensation. The first part of the passage is almost certainly in imitation of lines from the Chrysippus of Euripides (fr. 839 Nauck) which were influenced by the doctrines of Empedocles and Anaxagoras. For the idea of the Sky-Father and Earth-Mother, cf. 1.250-261.
bCf. 5.795, 821-822.
cCf. 760-762, 1.817-819, 908-910.
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corpora prima quod in summis fluitare videmus
rebus et interdum nasci subitoque perire.
quin etiam refert nostris in versibus ipsis
cum quibus et quali sint ordine quaeque locata;
namque eadem caelum mare terras flumina solem
1016significant, eadem fruges arbusta animantis;
si non omnia sunt, at multo maxima pars est
consimilis; verum positura discrepitant res.
1019sic ipsis in rebus item iam materiai
1021concursus motus ordo positura figurae
cum permutantur, mutari res quoque debent.
Nunc animum nobis adhibe veram ad rationem.
nam tibi vementer nova res molitur ad auris
1025accidere et nova se species ostendere rerum.
sed neque tam facilis res ulla est quin ea primum
difficilis magis ad credendum constet, itemque
nil adeo magnum neque tam mirabile quicquam,
quod non paulatim minuant mirarier omnes.
1030principio caeli clarum purumque colorem,
quaeque in se cohibet, palantia sidera passim,
lunamque et solis praeclara luce nitorem—
omnia quae nunc si primum mortalibus essent,
ex improviso si sint obiecta repente,
1035quid magis his rebus poterat mirabile dici
aut minus ante quod auderent fore credere gentes?
nil, ut opinor: ita haec species miranda fuisset.
quam tibi iam nemo, fessus satiate videndi,
suspicere in caeli dignatur lucida templa!
Footnotes
1020intervalla vias conexus pondera plagas (= 726, 5.441) deleted by Lachmann
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possession of that which we see floating upon the surface of things and sometimes being born and perishing on a sudden.a Moreover, it is important in my own verses with what and in what order the various elements are placed. For the same letters denote sky, sea, earth, rivers, sun, the same denote crops, trees, animals.b If they are not all alike, yet by far the most part are so; but position marks the difference in what results.c So also when we tum to real things: when the combinations of matter, when its motions, order, position, shapes are changed, the thing also must be changed.
1023Now, I beg, apply your mind to true reasoning.
For a mightily new thing is labouring to fall upon your ears, a new aspect of creation to show itself. But nothing is there so easy that at first it is not more difficult to believe, nothing again so great or so wonderful that all men do not by degrees abate their wonder at it. In the first place, consider the clear and pure colour of the sky, and all that it contains—the travelling constellations, the moon, and the bright light of the dazzling sun; if all these were now revealed for the first time to mortals, if they were thrown before them suddenly without preparation, what more wonderful than these things could be named, or such as the nations would have less dared to believe beforehand? Nothing, as I think: so wondrous this spectacle would have been. Yet think how all are so wearied with satiety of seeing it that no one now thinks it worth while to look up
Footnotes
aLucr. refers to the secondary qualities, especially to colour: with 1011 cf. 4.80 coguntque suo fluitare colore, 4.74 de summis ipsum quoque saepe colorem.
bCf. 1.820-821.
cFor the comparison between letters and atoms, cf. e.g. 1.823-827 and see note on 1.825.
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Lucretius
1040desine quapropter novitate exterritus ipsa
expuere ex animo rationem, sed magis acri
iudicio perpende, et, si tibi vera videntur,
dede manus, aut, si falsum est, accingere contra.
quaerit enim rationem animus, cum summa loci sit
1045infinita foris haec extra moenia mundi,
quid sit ibi porro quo prospicere usque velit mens
atque animi iactus liber quo pervolet ipse.
Principio nobis in cunctas undique partis
et latere ex utroque supra subterque per omne
1050nulla est finis; uti docui, res ipsaque per se
vociferatur, et elucet natura profundi.
nullo iam pacto veri simile esse putandumst,
undique cum vorsum spatium vacet infinitum
seminaque innumero numero summaque profunda
1055multimodis volitent aeterno percita motu,
hunc unum terrarum orbem caelumque creatum,
nil agere illa foris tot corpora materiai;
cum praesertim hic sit natura factus, et ipsa
sponte sua forte offensando semina rerum
1060multimodis temere incassum frustraque coacta
tandem coluerunt ea quae coniecta repente
magnarum rerum fierent exordia semper,
terrai maris et caeli generisque animantum.
quare etiam atque etiam talis fateare necesse est
Footnotes
1049supra supterque Lachmann: superque OQ VP: super supterque E. Orth, Helmantica 11 (1960) 131
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towards the bright vault of heaven! Forbear then to be dismayed by mere novelty and to spew out reason from your mind, but rather ponder it with keen judgement; and if it seems to be true, own yourself vanquished, or, if it is false, gird up your loins to fight. For, since the sum of space is infinite abroad beyond the walls of the world, the mind seeks to understand what is there in the distance whither the intelligence continually desires to look forth, and whither the mind’s projectiona flies free of itself.
1048In the place, all around us in every direction
and on both sides and above and below through the universe there is no limit: as I have shown,b and truth of itself cries aloud, and the nature of the unfathomable deep gives forth light. Now since there is illimitable space empty in every direction, and
since seeds innumerable in number in the unfathomable universe are flying about in many ways driven in everlasting movement, it cannot by any means be thought likely that this is the only round earth and sky that has been made,c that all those bodies of matter without do nothing: especially since this
world was made by nature, and the seeds of things themselves of their own accord, knocking together by chance, clashed in all sorts of ways, heedless, without aim, without intention, until at length those combined which, suddenly thrown together, could become in each case the beginnings of mighty things, of earth and sea and sky and the generation of living creatures. Therefore again and again I say, you
Footnotes
aCf. 740 and see note there.
b1.958-1001.
cFor the Epicurean theory that the number of worlds is infinite, cf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 45, 73-74, Ep. ad Pyth. 88-90, Cicero, Nat. D. 1.20.53, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 63 Smith. See also Usener 301-307.
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Lucretius
1065esse alios alibi congressus materiai,
qualis hic est, avido complexu quem tenet aether.
Praeterea cum materies est multa parata,
cum locus est praesto, nec res nec causa moratur
ulla, geri debent nimirum et confieri res.
1070nunc et seminibus si tanta est copia quantam
enumerare aetas animantum non queat omnis,
visque eadem et natura manet, quae semina rerum
conicere in loca quaeque queat simili ratione
atque huc sunt coniecta, necesse est confiteare
1075esse alios aliis terrarum in partibus orbis
et varias hominum gentis et saecla ferarum.
Huc accedit ut in summa res nulla sit una,
unica quae gignatur et unica solaque crescat,
1079quin aliquoiu’ siet saecli permultaque eodem
sint genere. in primis animalibus inice mentem:
invenies sic montivagum genus esse ferarum,
sic hominum geminam prolem, sic denique mutas
squamigerum pecudes et corpora cuncta volantum.
quapropter caelum simili ratione fatendumst
terramque et solem lunam mare, cetera quae sunt,
1086non esse unica, sed numero magis innumerali,
quandoquidem vitae depactus terminus alte
tam manet haec, et tam nativo corpore constant,
quam genus omne quod hic generatimst rebus
abundans.
1090Quae bene cognita si teneas, natura videtur
Footnotes
1072visque eadem et Marullus: vis eadem OQ VP: quis eadem Lachmann
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must confess that there are other assemblages of matter in other places, such as this is which the ether holds in greedy embrace.
1067Besides, when abundant matter is ready, when
space is to hand, and no thing and no cause hinders, things must assuredly be done and completed. And if there is at this moment both so great store of seeds as all the time of living existence could not suffice to tell, and if the same power and the same nature abides, able to throw the seeds of things together in any place in the same way as they have been thrown together into this place, then you are bound to confess
that there are other worlds in other regions and different races of men and generations of wild beasts.a
1077Moreover, there is no one thing in the whole
sum which is produced unique, and grows up unique and alone, so as not to belong to some kind and to be one of many like it. To begin with, cast your mind to the animals: you will find that this is so with the mountain-ranging generation of wild beasts, this is so with the double breedb of men, so also with the dumb scaly fish and all creatures that fly. Therefore you must in like manner confess for sky and earth, for sun, moon, sea and all else that exists, that they are not unique, but rather of number innumerable; since there is a deepset limit of life equally awaiting them, and they are as much made of a perishable body as any kind here on earth which has so many specimens of its kind.
1090If you hold fast to these convictions, nature is
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 74.
bMale and female. Virgil, Aen. 1.274 has geminam . . . prolem, and, though he is referring to Ilia’s twin sons Romulus and Remus, he may have recalled the present passage.
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libera continuo, dominis privata superbis,
ipsa sua per se sponte omnia dis agere expers.
nam pro sancta deum tranquilla pectora pace,
quae placidum degunt aevom vitamque serenam,
quis regere immensi summam, quis habere profundi
1096indu manu validas potis est moderanter habenas,
quis pariter caelos omnis convertere et omnis
ignibus aetheriis terras suffire feracis,
omnibus inve locis esse omni tempore praesto,
1100nubibus ut tenebras faciat caelique serena
concutiat sonitu, tum fulmina mittat et aedis
saepe suas disturbet et in deserta recedens
saeviat exercens telum quod saepe nocentes
praeterit exanimatque indignos inque merentes?
Multaque post mundi tempus genitale diemque
1106primigenum maris et terrae solisque coortum
addita corpora sunt extrinsecus, addita circum
semina quae magnum iaculando contulit omne,
unde mare et terrae possent augescere, et unde
1110appareret spatium caeli domus altaque tecta
tolleret a terris procul et consurgeret aer.
nam sua cuique locis ex omnibus omnia plagis
corpora distribuuntur et ad sua saecla recedunt,
umor ad umorem, terreno corpore terra
crescit, et ignem ignes procudunt aetheraque aether,
1116donique ad extremum crescendi perfica finem
omnia perduxit rerum natura creatrix;
ut fit ubi nilo iam plus est quod datur intra
vitalis venas quam quod fluit atque recedit.
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seen to be free at once and rid of proud masters,
herself doing all by herself of her own accord, with out the help of the gods. For I appeal to the holy hearts of the gods, which in tranquil peace pass untroubled days and a life serene: who is strong enough to rule the sum of the immeasurable, who to hold in hand and control the mighty bridle of the unfathomable?
who to turn about all the heavens at one time and warm the fruitful worlds with ethereal fires, or to be present in all places and at all times, so as to make darkness with his clouds and to shake the serene sky with thunder, then to launch lightnings
and often to shatter his own temples,a and as he passes away into the wilds to cast that bolt in his wrath which often passes the guilty by and slays the innocent and undeserving?b
1105Andc since the time when the world came
into being, since the first birthday of sea and earth and since the arising of the sun, many bodies have been added from without, many seeds have been added around, which the great all has brought together in its tossing; that from these sea and land might increase, and the habitation of the sky might amplify its expanse and uplift its dwellings high over the earth, and the air might rise up. For all bodies are distributed abroad by blows from all places each to its own thing and pass back to their own kinds: liquid goes to liquid, earth grows by earthy elements, fires forge out fires and air air, until up to the extreme limit of growth, nature, the maker of all things, has brought them through with finishing touch; as happens when no more is now given into the arteries of life than what flows out and passes away. At this
Footnotes
aCf. 6.417-420.
bCf. 6.390-395.
cLucr. resumes the argument interrupted at 1089.
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omnibus hic aetas debet consistere rebus,
hic natura suis refrenat viribus auctum.
nam quaecumque vides hilaro grandescere adauctu
paulatimque gradus aetatis scandere adultae,
plura sibi adsumunt quam de se corpora mittunt,
1125dum facile in venas cibus omnis inditur, et dum
non ita sunt late dispessa ut multa remittant
et plus dispendi faciant quam vescitur aetas.
nam certe fluere atque recedere corpora rebus
multa manus dandum est; sed plura accedere debent,
1130donec alescendi summum tetigere cacumen.
inde minutatim vires et robor adultum
frangit et in partem peiorem liquitur aetas.
quippe etenim quanto est res amplior, augmine
adempto,
et quo latior est, in cunctas undique partis
1135plura modo dispargit et ab se corpora mittit,
nec facile in venas cibus omnis diditur ei
nec satis est, proquam largos exaestuat aestus,
unde queat tantum suboriri ac subpeditare.
iure igitur pereunt, cum rarefacta fluendo
1140sunt et cum externis succumbunt omnia plagis,
quandoquidem grandi cibus aevo denique defit,
nec tuditantia rem cessant extrinsecus ullam
corpora conficere et plagis infesta domare.
Sic igitur magni quoque circum moenia mundi
1145expugnata dabunt labem putrisque ruinas.
omnia debet enim cibus integrare novando
et fulcire cibus, cibus omnia sustentare—
nequiquam, quoniam nec venae perpetiuntur
Footnotes
1120hic attributed by recent editors to W. Christ, but stated by Creech to be a manuscript reading. Certainly, so far as printed texts are concerned, it goes back at least asfar as Jansonn’s edition of 1620: his OQ V
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point the life of all things must come to a stand, at this point nature by her power curbs back growth. For whatever you see growing with merry increase,
and gradually climbing the steps of mature life, assimilates to itself more bodies than it discharges, so long as food is easily absorbed into all the veins, and so long as the things are not so widely spread open as to let go many elements and to spend away more than their age feeds on. For certainly we must own
ourselves convinced that many elements flow out and pass away from things; but still more must be passed in, until they have touched the pinnacle of growth. After that by minute degrees age breaks the strength and mature vigour, and melts into decay. And indeed when growth ceases, the larger a thing is and the wider it is, the more particles it now scatters abroad on all sides and lets go from itself, nor is food easily sent abroad into all its veins, nor is this enough, in proportion to the abundant streams that it streams out, to enable as much to spring up and to be brought up in its place. With good reason therefore the things pass away, when by the flowing off they have become thinned, and all fall by blows from without, inasmuch as by great age food fails at last, nor is there anything which bodies buffeting from without cease to break up and to subdue with fatal blows.
1144So therefore the walls of the mighty world in like manner shall be stormed all around, and shall collapse into crumbling ruin. For it is food that must repair all by renewing, food must support, food sustain everything, but in vain, since the veins cannot
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quod satis est neque quantum opus est natura
ministrat.
1150iamque adeo fracta est aetas, effetaque tellus
vix animalia parva creat, quae cuncta creavit
saecla deditque ferarum ingentia corpora partu.
haud, ut opinor, enim mortalia saecla superne
aurea de caelo demisit funis in arva,
1155nec mare nec fluctus plangentes saxa crearunt,
sed genuit tellus eadem quae nunc alit ex se.
praeterea nitidas fruges vinetaque laeta
sponte sua primum mortalibus ipsa creavit,
ipsa dedit dulcis fetus et pabula laeta;
1160quae nunc vix nostro grandescunt aucta labore,
conterimusque boves et viris agricolarum,
conficimus ferrum vix arvis suppeditati:
usque adeo parcunt fetus augentque laborem.
iamque caput quassans grandis suspirat arator
1165crebrius, incassum magnum cecidisse laborem,
et cum tempora temporibus praesentia confert
praeteritis, laudat fortunas saepe parentis.
tristis item vetulae vitis sator atque vietae
Footnotes
1163laborem CF, Pius (notes): labore QQ VABL
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contain enough and nature does not supply as much as is necessary.a Even now indeed the power of life
is broken, and the earth exhausted scarce produces tiny creatures, she who once produced all kinds and gave birth to the huge bodies of wild beasts.b For it is not true, as I think, that the races of mortal creatures were let down from high heaven by some golden chainc upon the fields, nor were they sprung from sea or waves beating upon the rocks,d but the same earth generated them which feeds them now from herself. Besides, she of her own accord first made for mortals the bright corn and the luxuriant vineyards, of herself she gave forth sweet fruits and luxuriant pasturage, which now scarce grow great when increased by our toil; and we exhaust our oxen and the strength of our farmers, we wear out the ploughshare, and then are scarce fed by our fields: so do they grudge their fruits and increase our toil. Now the ancient ploughman shaking his head sighs many a time that his great labour has all come to nothing, and comparing times present with times past often praises the fortunes of his father. Sadly also the cultivator of the degenerate and shrivelled vine rails at the progress of time and continually
Footnotes
a1146-1149 certainly come in rather strangely here, but, as Merrill remarks, “the necessity for transposition does not seem to have been proved.” See also Ernout-Robin and Bailey. It is probable that Lucr. would have made an alteration in revision.
bIn 5.783-825 Lucr. explains that the earth in her youth herself produced not only plants, but also all kinds of birds and animals, but that later (see 5.826-836), like a woman, she became effete, so that now she can only produce animalia parva(2.1151) such as worms (cf. 2.871–872, 898–901, 928–929, 3.719–736, 5.797–798).
cIn Homer, II. 8.19 Zeus says that, if the gods were to suspend a golden rope from heaven, they could not pull him down. This σειpὴ χpυσείη was allegorized by philosophers, including Plato (Tht. 153 c) and (see Munro) the Stoics. In 5.793 Lucr. again denies that animals came from the sky.
dHere and in 5.794 Lucr. probably alludes to the theory of Anaximander.
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temporis incusat momen saeclumque fatigat,
1170et crepat antiquum genus ut pietate repletum
perfacile angustis tolerarit finibus aevom,
cum minor esset agri multo modus ante viritim;
nec tenet omnia paulatim tabescere et ire
ad scopulum, spatio aetatis defessa vetusto.
Footnotes
1169omitted by P momen noted by Pius(“quidam momen scribunt pro momento”): nomen OQ V saeclumque O: saeculumque Q: insaeculumque V: caelumque Wakefield
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criticizes the age, and grumbles how the old world, full of piety, supported life with great ease on a narrow domain, though the man’s portion of land was formerly much smaller than it is now; nor does he comprehend that all things gradually decay, and go to the reef of destruction,a outworn by the ancient lapse of years.
Footnotes
aad scopulum: “ad interitum. translatum a navi, quae infligitur scopulo” (Lambinus). The phrase is discussed and defended by M. Possanza, CQ N.S. 40 (1990) 459-464.
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Lucretius
Liber Tertius
Otenebris tantis tam clarum extollere lumen
qui primus potuisti inlustrans commoda vitae,
te sequor, o Graiae gentis decus, inque tuis nunc
ficta pedum pono pressis vestigia signis,
5non ita certandi cupidus quam propter amorem
quod te imitari aveo: quid enim contendat hirundo
cycnis, aut quidnam tremulis facere artubus haedi
consimile in cursu possint et fortis equi vis?
tu pater es, rerum inventor, tu patria nobis
10suppeditas praecepta, tuisque ex, inclute, chartis,
floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant,
omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta,
aurea, perpetua semper dignissima vita.
nam simul ac ratio tua coepit vociferari
15naturam rerum, divina mente coortam,
diffugiunt animi terrores, moenia mundi
discedunt, totum video per inane geri res.
apparet divum numen sedesque quietae
Footnotes
10OVA, “ad propensissimos poetae in praeceptorem suum affectus convenientissime” (Wakefield): omitted by Q: E BM: Te R. J. Shackle: A Q corr., CF
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Book 3
O you who first amid so great a darkness were able to
raise aloft a light so clear, illumining the blessings of life, you I follow, O glory of the Grecian race,a and now on the marks you have left I plant my own footsteps firm, not so much desiring to be your rival, as for love, because I yearn to copy you: for why should a swallow vie with swans, or what could a kid with its shaking limbs do in running to match himself with the strong horse’s vigour? You are our father, the discoverer of truths, you supply us with a father’s precepts, from your pages, illustrious man, as bees in the flowery glades sip all the sweets, so we likewise feed on all your golden words, your words of gold, ever most worthy of life eternal. For as soon as your reasoning begins to proclaim the
nature of things revealed by your divine mind, away flee the mind’s terrors, the walls of the world open out, I see action going on throughout the whole void: before me appear the gods in their majesty,
Footnotes
Epicurus.
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quas neque concutiunt venti nec nubila nimbis
20aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina
cana cadens violat semperque innubilus aether
integit, et large diffuso lumine ridet.
omnia suppeditat porro natura neque ulla
res animi pacem delibat tempore in ullo.
25at contra nusquam apparent Acherusia templa,
nec tellus obstat quin omnia dispiciantur,
sub pedibus quaecumque infra per inane geruntur.
his ibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas
percipit atque horror, quod sic natura tua vi
30tam manifesta patens ex omni parte retecta est.
Et quoniam docui cunctarum exordia rerum
qualia sint et quam variis distantia formis
sponte sua volitent aeterno percita motu
quove modo possint res ex his quaeque creari,
35hasce secundum res animi natura videtur
atque animae claranda meis iam versibus esse
et metus ille foras praeceps Acheruntis agendus,
funditus humanam qui vitam turbat ab imo,
omnia suffundens mortis nigrore, neque ullam
40esse voluptatem liquidam puramque relinquit.
nam quod saepe homines morbos magis esse timendos
infamemque ferunt vitam quam Tartara leti
et se scire animi naturam sanguinis esse
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and their peaceful abodes, which no winds ever shake nor clouds besprinkle with rain, which no snow congealed by the bitter frost mars with its white fall, but the air ever cloudless encompasses them and laughs with its light spread wide abroad.a There moreover nature supplies everything, and nothing at any time impairs their peace of mind. But contrariwise nowhere appear the regions of Acheron; yet the earth is no hindrance to all being clearly seen, whatsoever goes on below under our feet throughout the void. There upon from all these things a sort of divine delight gets hold upon me and a shuddering, because nature thus by your power has been so manifestly laid open and uncovered in every part.
31And since I have shown of what kind are the
beginnings of all things, and in how varying and different shapes they fly of their own accord driven in everlasting motion, and how all things can be produced from these, following next upon this the nature of mind and spiritb must now clearly be explained in my verses, and that fear of Acheron be sent packing which troubles the life of man from its
deepest depths, suffuses all with the blackness of death, and leaves no delight clean and pure. For when men often declare that disease and a life of infamy are more to be feared than the bottomless Pit of death, and that they know the nature of the
Footnotes
a18-22 are in imitation of Homer, Od. 6.42-46, and 18-24 are imitated by Tennyson in Lucretius 104-110: “The Gods, who haunt | The lucid interspace of world and world, | Where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind, | Nor ever falls the least white star of snow, | Nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans, | Nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar | Their sacred everlasting calm!” Cf. The Passing of Arthur 427-429.
bThe relationship between the animus and anima, the two constituents of the complete soul, is explained in 136-160. See also Introduction p. xxxvi. The structural identity of animus and anima is well emphasized by the use of similar words.
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46aut etiam venti, si fert ita forte voluntas,
4445nec prorsum quicquam nostrae rationis egere,
45hinc licet advertas animum magis omnia laudis
iactari causa quam quod res ipsa probetur:
extorres idem patria longeque fugati
conspectu ex hominum, foedati crimine turpi,
50omnibus aerumnis adfecti denique vivunt,
et quocumque tamen miseri venere parentant
et nigras mactant pecudes et manibu’ divis
inferias mittunt multoque in rebus acerbis
acrius advertunt animos ad religionem.
55quo magis in dubiis hominem spectare periclis
convenit adversisque in rebus noscere qui sit;
nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo
eliciuntur et eripitur persona, manet res.
Denique avarities et honorum caeca cupido,
60quae miseros homines cogunt transcendere fines
iuris et interdum socios scelerum atque ministros
noctes atque dies niti praestante labore
ad summas emergere opes, haec vulnera vitae
non minimam partem mortis formidine aluntur.
65turpis enim ferme contemptus et acris egestas
semota ab dulci vita stabilique videtur
et quasi iam leti portas cunctarier ante;
unde homines dum se falso terrore coacti
effugisse volunt longe longeque remosse,
70sanguine civili rem conflant divitiasque
conduplicant avidi, caedem caede accumulantes,
Footnotes
58manet res CF: manare OQ VBL
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soul to be that of blood or even aira if their whim so direct, and that they have no need of our reasoning, what follows will show you that they make all these boasts in vainglory rather than because the fact itself is established. These same men, driven from their native land and banished far from the sight of men,
stained with some disgraceful charge, in short afflicted with all tribulations, yet live; and in spite of all, wherever the wretches go they sacrifice to their ancestors, and slay black cattle, and send down oblations to the departed ghosts, and in their bitter days direct their minds far more eagerly to superstition. Thus it is more useful to scrutinize a man in danger or peril, and to discern in adversity what manner of man he is: for only then are the words of truth drawn up from the very heart, the mask is torn off, the reality remains.
59Moreover, avarice and the blind lust of distinction,
which drive wretched men to transgress the bounds of law, and sometimes by sharing and scheming crime to strive night and day with exceeding toil to climb the pinnacle of power,b these sores of life in no small degree are fed by the fear of death. For in general degrading scorn and bitter need are seen to be far removed from sweetness and stability of life, and a lingering as it were before the gates of death; from which men desiring to escape afar and to remove themselves far away, driven by false terror, amass wealth by civil bloodshed and greedily multiply riches, piling murder upon murderc; cruelly
Footnotes
aEmpedocles regarded the blood around the heart as the seat of thought; Anaximenes and Diogenes of Apollonia identified the soul with air. But, as the context shows, Lucr. is referring not to these philosophers, but to those of his contemporaries who arbitrarily adopt one of the popular materialistic conceptions of the soul.
b62-63 (nodes . . . opes) = 2.12-13.
cFor the troubled times in which Lucr. lived, see Introduction p. xxiii.
Page number 193
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Lucretius
crudeles gaudent in tristi funere fratris
et consanguineum mensas odere timentque.
Consimili ratione ab eodem saepe timore
75macerat invidia ante oculos ilium esse potentem,
ilium aspectari, claro qui incedit honore,
ipsi se in tenebris volvi caenoque queruntur.
intereunt partim statuarum et nominis ergo.
et saepe usque adeo, mortis formidine, vitae
80percipit humanos odium lucisque videndae,
ut sibi consciscant maerenti pectore letum
obliti fontem curarum hunc esse timorem:
hunc vexare pudorem, hunc vincula amicitiai
rumpere et in summa pietatem evertere suadet;
85nam iam saepe homines patriam carosque parentis
prodiderunt, vitare Acherusia templa petentes.
nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis
in tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus
interdum nilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam
90quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura.
hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.
Primum animum dico, mentem quam saepe vocamus,
95in quo consilium vitae regimenque locatum est,
esse hominis partem nilo minus ac manus et pes
atque oculi partes animantis totius extant.
. . . . . . .
sensum animi certa non esse in parte locatum,
Footnotes
94quam Charisius p. 272 Barwick: quem OQ VP
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they rejoice at the mournful death of a brother, they hate and they fear a kinsman’s hospitality.a
74In like manner and through the same fear, they are often consumed with envy that before their very eyes he is clothed in power, he is the sight of the town, who parades in shining pomp, while they complain that they themselves are wallowing in darkness and mire. Some wear out their lives for the sake of a statue and a name. And often it goes so far, that for fear of death men are seized by hatred of life and of seeing the light, so that with sorrowing heart they devise their own death, forgetting that this fear is the fountain of their cares: it induces one man to violate honour, another to break the bonds of friendship, and in a word to overthrow all natural feeling; for often before now men have betrayed fatherland or beloved parents in seeking to avoid the regions of Acheron. For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things that children in the dark hold in terror and
imagine will come true. This terror, therefore, and darkness of the mind must be dispersed, not by rays of the sun nor the bright shafts of daylight, but by the aspect and law of nature.b
94First I say that the mind, which we often call
the intelligence, in which is situated the understanding and the government of life, is a part of man, no less than hands and feet and eyes are parts of the whole living being.
98[However, some philosophers have thought] that
Footnotes
aIn case they are poisoned.
b87-93 = 2.55-61,6.35-41. 91-93 = 1.146-148.
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verum habitum quendam vitalem corporis esse,
100harmoniam Grai quam dicunt, quod faciat nos
vivere cum sensu, nulla cum in parte siet mens;
ut bona saepe valetudo cum dicitur esse
corporis, et non est tamen haec pars ulla valentis.
sic animi sensum non certa parte reponunt;
105magno opere in quo mi diversi errare videntur.
saepe itaque in promptu corpus quod cernitur aegret,
cum tamen ex alia laetamur parte latenti;
et retro fit uti contra sit saepe vicissim,
cum miser ex animo laetatur corpore toto;
110non alio pacto quam si, pes cum dolet aegri,
in nullo caput interea sit forte dolore.
praeterea molli cum somno dedita membra
effusumque iacet sine sensu corpus onustum,
est aliud tamen in nobis quod tempore in illo
115multimodis agitatur et omnis accipit in se
laetitiae motus et curas cordis inanis.
Nunc animam quoque ut in membris cognoscere
possis
esse neque harmonia corpus sentire solere,
principio fit uti detracto corpore multo
120saepe tamen nobis in membris vita moretur;
atque eadem rursum, cum corpora pauca caloris
diffugere forasque per os est editus aer,
deserit extemplo venas atque ossa relinquit;
noscere ut hinc possis non aequas omnia partis
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the feeling of the mind is not situated in any fixed part, but that it is a sort of vital condition of the body, called harmonya by the Greeks, which makes us live
endowed with feeling, although the intelligence is not situated in any part; as when the body is often said to have good health, and yet this health is no part of the healthy creature. Thus they do not place the feeling of the mind in any fixed part; and in this they seem to me to wander very far astray. For
indeed the body which we can see plain before us is often sick, although we are yet happy in the other part which lies hidden; and again it often happens that the contrary is true in its turn, when one wretched in mind is happy in all his body, not otherwise than if the sick man’s foot gives him pain when there is no pain meanwhile in the head. Besides,
when the frame is given over to soft sleep, and the body lies outspread heavy and without sensation, there is yet something in us which at that time is agitated in many ways, and admits into itself all the motions of joy and cares of the heart, which have no meaning.
117Next, that you may recognize that the spirit
also lies within the frame and that it is not harmony that causes the body to feel, firstly it happens that if a great part of the body be taken away, yet life often remains in our frame; and again when a few particles of heat have dispersed abroad and air is driven out through the mouth, the same life in a moment deserts the veins and leaves the bones; so that from this you may recognize that not all particles
Footnotes
aBy “harmony” is meant a proper adjustment or “attunement” of the bodily constituents. The doctrine, which was probably influenced by both Pythagoreanism and Sicilian medical theory, is expounded in Plato’s Phaedo (85 e—86 d) by Simmias and refuted there (91 c—95 a) by Socrates. In the fourth century b.c. it was developed by Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus. Aristoxenus was a musician, and Lucr.’s reference to musicians in 132 suggests that he is thinking chiefly of him (cf. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1.10.19). See also note on 132.
Page number 197
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125corpora habere neque ex aequo fulcire salutem,
sed magis haec, venti quae sunt calidique vaporis
semina, curare in membris ut vita moretur.
est igitur calor ac ventus vitalis in ipso
corpore qui nobis moribundos deserit artus.
130Quapropter quoniam est animi natura reperta
atque animae quasi pars hominis, redde harmoniai
nomen, ad organicos alto delatum Heliconi,
sive aliunde ipsi porro traxere et in illam
transtulerunt, proprio quae tum res nomine egebat.
135quidquid id est, habeant; tu cetera percipe dicta.
Nunc animum atque animam dico coniuncta teneri
inter se atque unam naturam conficere ex se,
sed caput esse quasi et dominari in corpore toto
consilium quod nos animum mentemque vocamus.
140idque situm media regione in pectoris haeret.
hic exultat enim pavor ac metus, haec loca circum
laetitiae mulcent: hic ergo mens animusquest.
cetera pars animae per totum dissita corpus
paret et ad numen mentis momenque movetur.
145idque sibi solum per se sapit, id sibi gaudet,
cum neque res animam neque corpus commovet una.
et quasi, cum caput aut oculus temptante dolore
laeditur in nobis, non omni concruciamur
corpore, sic animus nonnumquam laeditur ipse
150laetitiaque viget, cum cetera pars animai
per membra atque artus nulla novitate cietur.
Footnotes
146una OQV: ulla F (according to Büchner), attributed by many modern editors to Havercamp, but already read by ed. Juntina, Naugerius, Lambinus, Gifanius, and others
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have a like function or support life equally, but rather that those which are seeds of wind and warming heat see to it that life lingers in the frame. There is therefore within the body itself a heat and a vital wind which deserts our frame on the point of death.
130Therefore, since the nature of the mind and spirit
has been round to be in some way a part or the man, give back the name of harmony, brought down to musicians from high Helicon,a or perhaps the musicians themselves drew it from some other source and applied it to that which then lacked a name of its own. Be that how it may, let them keep it; do you now learn what else I have to say.
136Next, I say that mind and spirit are held in
conjunction together and compound one nature in common, but that the head so to speak and lord over the whole body is the understanding which we call mind and intelligence. And this has its abiding-place
in the middle region of the breast. For in this place throbs terror and fear, hereabouts is melting joy: here therefore is the intelligence and the mind. The rest of the spirit, dispersed abroad through the
whole body, obeys and is moved according to the will and working of the intelligence. This alone by itself has sense, alone for itself rejoices, when nothing affects either spirit or body at the same time. And
just as when head or eye is hurt by an attack of pain in us we are not tormented in the whole of our body, so the mind sometimes is hurt by itself, and is eager with joy, when the rest of the spirit throughout the limbs and frame is not stirred by any new sensation.
Footnotes
aIt should be noted that in Greek music ἁρμoνία meant not the combination of simultaneous notes so as to form chords, but rather the tuning of an instrument in a particular key or mode, and hence a scale or tune of successive notes. This is not what we call a “harmony.”
Page number 199
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verum ubi vementi magis est commota metu mens,
consentire animam totam per membra videmus
sudoresque ita palloremque existere toto
155corpore et infringi linguam vocemque aboriri,
caligare oculos, sonere auris, succidere artus,
denique concidere ex animi terrore videmus
saepe homines; facile ut quivis hinc noscere possit
esse animam cum animo coniunctam, quae cum animi vi
160percussast, exim corpus propellit et icit.
Haec eadem ratio naturam animi atque animai
corpoream docet esse; ubi enim propellere membra,
corripere ex somno corpus mutareque vultum
atque hominem totum regere ac versare videtur,
165quorum nil fieri sine tactu posse videmus
nec tactum porro sine corpore, nonne fatendumst
corporea natura animum constare animamque?
praeterea pariter fungi cum corpore et una
consentire animum nobis in corpore cernis.
170si minus offendit vitam vis horrida teli
ossibus ac nervis disclusis intus adacta,
at tamen insequitur languor terraeque petitus
suavis, et in terra mentis qui gignitur aestus,
interdumque quasi exsurgendi incerta voluntas.
175ergo corpoream naturam animi esse necessest,
corporeis quoniam telis ictuque laborat.
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But when the intelligence is moved by more vehement
fear, we see the whole spirit throughout the frame share in the feeling: sweatings and pallor hence arise over the whole body, the speech falters, the voice dies away, blackness comes before the eyes, a sounding is in the ears, the limbs give way beneatha; in a word we often see men fall to the ground for mental terror; so that everyone may easily recognize from this that the spirit is conjoined with the mind, and when this has been smitten by the mind’s power, straightway it strikes and drives forward the body.
161This same reasoning teaches that the nature
of mind and spirit is bodily; for when it is seen to drive forward the limbs, to arouse the body from sleep, to change the countenance, to guide and steerb the whole man, and we see that none of these things can be done without touch, and further that there is no touch without body, must we not confess that mind and spirit have a bodily nature? Besides you perceive the mind to suffer along with the body, and
to share our feeling in the body. If the grim force of a weapon driven deep to the dividing of bones and sinews fails to hit the life, yet a languor follows and a blissfulc fall to the ground, and upon the ground a turmoil that comes about in the mind, and sometimes a kind of hesitating desire to rise. Therefore the nature of the mind must be bodily, since it suffers by bodily weapons and blows.
Footnotes
a154-156 were probably influenced by lines in the same ode of Sappho (fr. 31 Lobel-Page) that inspired Catullus 51.
bFor the nautical metaphor cf. 4.896-904.
cThe epithet suavis, rejected by some editors, will surprise only those who have never fainted. Cf. Seneca, Ep. 77.9, describing the death of Marcellinus; Montaigne, Essais 2.6, describing his fall from a horse: “je fermoy les yeulx pour ayder, ce me sembloit, à la poulser hors, et prenoy plaisir à m’alanguir et à me laisser aller”; Wakefield describing his experience as a small boy “vi lapidis capiti impacta.”
Page number 201
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Is tibi nunc animus quali sit corpore et unde
constiterit pergam rationem reddere dictis.
principio esse aio persubtilem atque minutis
180perquam corporibus factum constare, id ita esse
hinc licet advertas animum ut pernoscere possis:
nil adeo fieri celeri ratione videtur
quam sibi mens fieri proponit et inchoat ipsa;
ocius ergo animus quam res se perciet ulla,
185ante oculos quorum in promptu natura videtur.
at quod mobile tanto operest, constare rutundis
perquam seminibus debet perquamque minutis,
momine uti parvo possint inpulsa moveri.
namque movetur aqua et tantillo momine flutat,
190quippe volubilibus parvisque creata figuris.
at contra mellis constantior est natura
et pigri latices magis et cunctantior actus;
haeret enim inter se magis omnis materiai
copia, nimirum quia non tam levibus extat
195corporibus neque tam subtilibus atque rutundis.
namque papaveris aura potest suspensa levisque
cogere ut ab summo tibi diffluat altus acervus,
at contra lapidum coniectum spicarumque
noenu potest. igitur parvissima corpora proquam
200et levissima sunt, ita mobilitate fruuntur;
at contra quaecumque magis cum pondere magno
asperaque inveniuntur, eo stabilita magis sunt.
nunc igitur quoniam est animi natura reperta
mobilis egregie, perquam constare necessest
205corporibus parvis et levibus atque rutundis.
Footnotes
183sibi Wakefield: si OQVP, Martin
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177Now I shall go on to explain to you, of what
kind of body this mind is, and of what it is formed. First I say that it is exceedingly delicate and formed of exceedingly minute particles. That this is so, you may consider the following points to convince you. Nothing is seen to be done so swiftly as the mind
determines it to be done and does its own first acta; therefore the mind bestirs itself more quickly than any of these things which are seen plain before our eyes. But that which is so readily moved must consist of seeds exceedingly rounded and exceedingly minute, that they may be moved when touched by a small moving power. For water moves and flows
with so very small a moving power because it is made of small rolling shapes. But on the other hand the nature of honey has more cohesion, its fluid is more sluggish, and its movement more tardy; for the whole mass of its matter coheres more closely, assuredly because it is not made of bodies so smooth or so delicate and round. For a checked and light breath of air can make, as you may see, a high heap of poppy-seed slip down from the top; but contrariwise
it cannot stir a pile of stones or wheat-ears.b So,
according as bodies are extremely small and smooth, they have power of motion; but contrariwise, whatever is found to be more weighty and rough is by so much the more stable. Now, therefore, since the nature of the mind has been found to be moved with unusual ease, it must consist of bodies exceedingly
Footnotes
aFor the way in which mental visualization activates the body, see 4.877-906.
bThe reason being that, whereas poppy seeds are smooth, round, small, and light, stones are heavy and ears of corn spiky. The immovability of the objects in 198 is emphasized by the heavy spondees (contrast 196-197).
Page number 203
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
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Lucretius
quae tibi cognita res in multis, o bone, rebus
utilis invenietur et opportuna cluebit.
Haec quoque res etiam naturam dedicat eius,
quam tenui constet textura quamque loco se
210contineat parvo, si possit conglomerari,
quod simul atque hominem leti secura quies est
indepta atque animi natura animaeque recessit,
nil ibi libatum de toto corpore cernas
ad speciem, nil ad pondus: mors omnia praestat
215vitalem praeter sensum calidumque vaporem.
ergo animam totam perparvis esse necessest
seminibus, nexam per venas viscera nervos,
quatenus, omnis ubi e toto iam corpore cessit,
extima membrorum circumcaesura tamen se
220incolumem praestat nec defit ponderis hilum.
quod genus est Bacchi cum flos evanuit, aut cum
spiritus unguenti suavis diffugit in auras,
aut aliquo cum iam sucus de corpore cessit:
nil oculis tamen esse minor res ipsa videtur
propterea neque detractum de pondere quicquam,
226nimirum quia multa minutaque semina sucos
efficiunt et odorem in toto corpore rerum.
quare etiam atque etiam mentis naturam animaeque
scire licet perquam pauxillis esse creatam
230seminibus, quoniam fugiens nil ponderis aufert.
Nec tamen haec simplex nobis natura putanda est.
tenvis enim quaedam moribundos deserit aura
mixta vapore, vapor porro trahit aera secum.
nec calor est quisquam, cui non sit mixtus et aer;
235rara quod eius enim constat natura, necessest
Footnotes
224nil AF: nihil OQV: nilo Heinsius, but Lucr. never elides nilo, and for nil with comparative cf. 5.569
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small and smooth and round. If this be known to you, my good friend, it will be found of advantage in many ways, and you will call it useful.
208Another thing also makes clear of how fine a
texture it is, and in how small a space it might be contained if it could be gathered together; namely that as soon as death’s peaceful calm has taken possession of a man, when mind and spirit have departed, you could not perceive any jot or tittle to be diminished from the body whether in look or in weight: death presents all, except vital sense and warming heat. Accordingly the whole spirit must consist of very small seeds, being interlaced through veins, flesh, and sinews, since, when the whole has already departed from all the body, nevertheless the outward contour of the limbs presents itself undiminished, nor is one jot of the weight lacking; just as happens when the bouquet of wine has vanished,
or when the sweet breath of ointment has dispersed into the air, or when the flavour has passed from a substance, and yet the thing itself does not seem any smaller to the eye for all that, nor is anything lost in the weight, because assuredly many minute seeds compose the flavour and the smell in the whole substance of the things. Therefore again and again I say, we may understand the substance of mind and spirit to be made of very minute seeds, since in departing it takes nothing from the weight.
231But we must not believe this nature to be
single. For a kind of thin breath mixed with heat leaves the dying, and the heat, moreover, draws air with it. Nor is there any heat which is not mixed with air; for since its nature is rarefied, many first-beginnings
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aeris inter eum primordia multa moveri.
iam triplex animi est igitur natura reperta;
nec tamen haec sat sunt ad sensum cuncta creandum,
nil horum quoniam recipit mens posse creare
240sensiferos motus et quaecumque ipsa volutat.
quarta quoque his igitur quaedam natura necessest
adtribuatur. east omnino nominis expers;
qua neque mobilius quicquam neque tenvius exstat,
nec magis e parvis et levibus ex elementis;
245sensiferos motus quae didit prima per artus,
prima cietur enim, parvis perfecta figuris;
inde calor motus et venti caeca potestas
accipit, inde aer; inde omnia mobilitantur:
concutitur sanguis, tum viscera persentiscunt
250omnia, postremis datur ossibus atque medullis
sive voluptas est sive est contrarius ardor.
nec temere huc dolor usque potest penetrare neque
acre
permanare malum, quin omnia perturbentur
usque adeo ut vitae desit locus atque animai
255diffugiant partes per caulas corporis omnis.
sed plerumque fit in summo quasi corpore finis
motibus; hanc ob rem vitam retinere valemus.
Nunc ea quo pacto inter sese mixta quibusque
Footnotes
240et quaecumque ipsa T. J. Saunders, Mnem. ser. iv, 28 (1975) 296-298: quaedam (or quodam) quae (or que) mente OQ VP (quaedam presumably from 241): aut quae quis mente Purmann: nedum quae mente Polle: et mens quaecumque Frerichs
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of air must be moving through it. Already, therefore, the nature of the mind is found to be threefold; yet all these three together are not enough to produce feeling, since the mind cannot admit that any of these can produce sense-bringing motions and the thoughts which it itself revolves. A fourth nature must therefore be added to these;
this is entirely without namea; nothing exists more easily moved and more thin than this, or made of elements smaller and smoother; and this first distributes the sense-giving motions through the limbs. For this is first set in motion, being composed
of small shapes; after that, heat takes on the movement, and the unseen power of wind, then the air; after which all is set in movement, the blood is agitated, the flesh is all thrilled through with feeling, last is communicated to bone and marrow it may be the pleasure, it may be the opposite excitement. Nor is it easy for pain to soak through thus far, or any violent mischief, without throwing all into so great a riot that no place is left for life, and the particles of spirit flee abroad through all the pores of the body. But usually there is an end to the movement almost at the surface of the body; on this account we are strong enough to retain life.
258Now when I long to explain how these thingsb
Footnotes
aCf. Aëtius 4.3.11 (Usener 315): “Epicurus regards the soul as a mixture of four things—something fiery, something airy, something windy, and a fourth nameless element” ’Επίκoυpoς [sc. τήν ψνχὴν] κpᾶμa ἐκ τεττάpων, ἐκ πoιoῦ πυpώδoυς, ἐκ πoιoῦ άεpώδoυς, ἐκ πoιoῦ πνευυaτικoῦ, ἐκ τετάpτoν τινόςάκaτoνoμάστoυ) Also Plutarch, adv. Coloten 1118 d-e (Usener 314). The Epicureans felt that the fourth unnamed element, an element of unsurpassed subtlety, was needed to initiate the subtle processes of sensation and thought.
bThe four elements in the soul.
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compta modis vigeant rationem reddere aventem
260abstrahit invitum patrii sermonis egestas;
sed tamen, ut potero summatim attingere, tangam.
Inter enim cursant primordia principiorum
motibus inter se, nil ut secernier unum
possit nec spatio fieri divisa potestas,
265sed quasi multae vis unius corporis extant.
quod genus in quovis animantum viscere volgo
est odor et quidam calor et sapor, et tamen ex his
omnibus est unum perfectum corporis augmen,
sic calor atque aer et venti caeca potestas
270mixta creant unam naturam et mobilis illa
vis, initum motus ab se quae dividit ollis,
sensifer unde oritur primum per viscera motus.
nam penitus prorsum latet haec natura subestque,
nec magis hac infra quicquam est in corpore nostro,
275atque anima est animae proporro totius ipsa.
quod genus in nostris membris et corpore toto
mixta latens animi vis est animaeque potestas,
corporibus quia de parvis paucisque creatast,
sic tibi nominis haec expers vis facta minutis
280corporibus latet atque animae quasi totius ipsa
proporrost anima et dominatur corpore toto.
consimili ratione necessest ventus et aer
et calor inter se vigeant commixta per artus
atque aliis aliud subsit magis emineatque,
Footnotes
267calor OQ VP: color Lambinus (in his notes, but not in his text). For color cf. 2.680-681, but see Giussani and Bailey
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are intermingled and in what ways they are arranged
so as to be active, I am drawn away against my will by the poverty of our mother tonguea; but notwithstanding I will touch upon the chief points, so far as I can.
262The first-beginnings of the elements so interpenetrate one another in their motionsb that no single element can be separated off nor can its power act divided from the rest by space, but they are, as
it were, the many forcesc of a single body. Just as in the flesh of any living creature there is a scent and a certain heat and flavour, and yet from all these is made one body grown complete: so heat and air and the unseen power of wind commingled form one nature along with that quickly moving force, which from itself distributes amongst themd the beginning of motion, whence first the sense-bringing motion arises spreading through the flesh. For this nature
lies deep down, hidden in the most secret recess, and there is nothing in our body more deeply seated than thise; and it is itself furthermore the spirit of the whole spirit. Just as commingled in our frame and in all our body the force of mind and the power of spirit lies hidden, because it is composed of small and scanty elements: so, I tell you, this force without name composed of minute particles lies hid, and is furthermore itself as it were spirit of the whole spirit and lords it in all the body. In like manner it is necessary that wind and air and heat interact commingled throughout the frame, one element yielding place to another or rising pre-eminent in
Footnotes
aCf. 1.136-139, 832.
bOn the interpretation of 262-263, see G. B. Kerferd, Phronesis 16, no. 1 (1971) 90-91.
cSee note on 2.586.
dThat is, among the other three elements.
eAlthough Lucr. has found it necessary to use local terms in this description (273-274), he does not mean that the fourth element is situated furthest within the body, but rather that it is more impalpable than anything else in the body.
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285ut quiddam fieri videatur ab omnibus unum,
ni calor ac ventus seorsum seorsumque potestas
aeris interemant sensum diductaque solvant.
Est etiam calor ille animo, quem sumit, in ira
cum fervescit et ex oculis micat acrius ardor;
290est et frigida multa comes formidinis aura,
quae ciet horrorem membris et concitat artus;
est etiam quoque pacati status aeris ille,
pectore tranquillo qui fit voltuque sereno.
sed calidi plus est illis quibus acria corda
295iracundaque mens facile effervescit in ira.
quo genere in primis vis est violenta leonum,
pectora qui fremitu rumpunt plerumque gementes
nec capere irarum fluctus in pectore possunt.
at ventosa magis cervorum frigida mens est
300et gelidas citius per viscera concitat auras,
quae tremulum faciunt membris existere motum.
at natura boum placido magis aere vivit,
nec nimis irai fax umquam subdita percit
fumida, suffundens caecae caliginis umbram,
305nec gelidis torpet telis perfixa pavoris:
interutrasque sitast cervos saevosque leones.
Sic hominum genus est: quamvis doctrina politos
constituat pariter quosdam, tamen illa relinquit
naturae cuiusque animi vestigia prima.
310nec radicitus evelli mala posse putandumst,
quin proclivius hic iras decurrat ad acris,
ille metu citius paulo temptetur, at ille
Footnotes
289acrius OQ VP: acribus Lambinus (1565, 1570), comparing Virgil, Aen. 12.102
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such a way that a unity be seen to be made of all, or
else heat and wind apart and the power of air apart would destroy and dissipate the sensation by being separated.
288The mind has also that heat, which it takes on
when it boils in wrath and fire flashes more fiercely from the eyes; it has also abundance of that cold wind, fear’s comrade, which makes the limbs shiver and stirs the frame; it has too that quietude of calm air which comes about when the heart is tranquil and the countenance serene.a But there is more of the hot in those creatures whose bitter hearts and angry minds easily boil up in wrath. A notable instance of this is the violent fury of the lion,
which so often bursts his breast with roaring and growling, nor can he find room in his heart for the storm of passion. But the cold mind of the stag has more of wind, and more speedily sends currents of cold
breath through his flesh, which cause a tremulous movement to pervade the limbs. But the nature of the cow lives more by the peaceful air; never overmuch
excited by the smoky torch of wrath which when applied spreads a shade of blinding darkness around, never pierced and frozen with cold shafts of fear: she stands between the two, stags and wild lions.
307So also is it in the race of men: although training
may bring some to an equal outside polish, yet it leaves there those original traces of the character of each mind. And we must not suppose that faults can be torn up by the roots, so that one man will not too readily run into bitter anger, another be attacked
Footnotes
aLucr. has been arguing that temporary emotional changes in individuals are caused by the temporary prominence nence of a particular element in the mind. In the following passage (294–322) he deals with permanent differences of character among species of animals and human beings.
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tertius accipiat quaedam clementius aequo.
inque aliis rebus multis differre necessest
315naturas hominum varias moresque sequacis;
quorum ego nunc nequeo caecas exponere causas,
nec reperire figurarum tot nomina quot sunt
principiis, unde haec oritur variantia rerum.
illud in his rebus video firmare potesse,
320usque adeo naturarum vestigia linqui
parvola quae nequeat ratio depellere nobis,
ut nil inpediat dignam dis degere vitam.
Haec igitur natura tenetur corpore ab omni,
ipsaque corporis est custos et causa salutis;
326nam communibus inter se radicibus haerent
nec sine pernicie divelli posse videntur.
quod genus e thuris glaebis evellere odorem
haud facile est, quin intereat natura quoque eius,
sic animi atque animae naturam corpore toto
extrahere haud facile est, quin omnia dissoluantur:
331inplexis ita principiis ab origine prima
inter se fiunt consorti praedita vita;
nec sibi quaeque sine alterius vi posse videtur
corporis atque animi seorsum sentire potestas,
335sed communibus inter eas conflatur utrimque
motibus accensus nobis per viscera sensus.
Praeterea corpus per se nec gignitur umquam
Footnotes
321nobis Lachmann: noctis O: noctes QV: dictis Mamilas: mentis E. L. B. Meurig Davies, CR 64 (1950) 94-95
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somewhat too soon by fear, a third put up with an affront more meekly than he should. And in many other respects the various natures of men must differ, and the habits that follow from them; I cannot now set forth the hidden causes of these, nor find names enough to fit the shapes assumed by the first-beginnings from which arises this variety in things. One thing I see that I can affirm in this regard is this: so
trivial are the traces of different natures that remain, beyond reason’s power to expel, that nothing hinders faults. our living a life worthy of gods.a
323This natureb then is contained by the whole
body, and is itself the body’s guardian and source of its existence; for they cling together with common roots, and manifestly they cannot be torn asunder without destruction.c Just as it is not easy to tear out the scent from lumps of frankincense, without its very nature being destroyed: so it is not easy to draw out mind and spirit from the whole body, without
the dissolution of all. So interwoven are their elements from their first origin in the life which they live together; and we see that neither body nor mind has the power to feel singly without the other’s help, but by common motions proceeding from both conjointly sensation is kindled for us in our flesh.
337Besides, a body is never born by itself, nor
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Men. 135: “you shall live as a god among men” (ζήσεις δέ ὡς θεὸς έν ἀνθpώπoις). Also Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 125.III-IV Smith, part of a letter from Epicurus to his mother, in which the writer asserts that his condition is godlike, despite his mortality. Since the gods enjoy perfect peace of mind, anyone who achieves perfect peace of mind can be compared to a god—above all Epicurus himself (cf. 5.8, 51), who not only attained perfect happiness, but also enabled others to obtain it.
bThe soul.
cCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 37.I.7-12 Smith: “yet it (i.e. the soul) girdles the whole man and, while being itself confined, binds him in its turn, just as the minutest quantity of acid juice binds a huge quantity of milk.”
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nec crescit neque post mortem durare videtur.
non enim, ut umor aquae dimittit saepe vaporem
340qui datus est, neque ea causa convellitur ipse,
sed manet incolumis, non, inquam, sic animai
discidium possunt artus perferre relicti,
sed penitus pereunt convulsi conque putrescunt.
ex ineunte aevo sic corporis atque animai
345mutua vitalis discunt contagia motus,
maternis etiam membris alvoque reposta,
discidium ut nequeat fieri sine peste maloque;
ut videas, quoniam coniunctast causa salutis,
coniunctam quoque naturam consistere eorum.
350Quod superest, siquis corpus sentire refutat
atque animam credit permixtam corpore toto
suscipere hunc motum quem sensum nominitamus,
vel manifestas res contra verasque repugnat.
quid sit enim corpus sentire quis adferet umquam,
355si non ipsa palam quod res dedit ac docuit nos?
“at dimissa anima corpus caret undique sensu.”
perdit enim quod non proprium fuit eius in aevo;
multaque praeterea perdit cum expellitur aevo.
Dicere porro oculos nullam rem cernere posse,
360sed per eos animum ut foribus spectare reclusis,
difficilest, contra cum sensus ducat eorum;
sensus enim trahit atque acies detrudit ad ipsas,
fulgida praesertim cum cernere saepe nequimus,
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grows by itself, nor is it seen to last long after death.
For it is not as when the liquid of water often throws off the heat which has been given to it,a and yet is not itself torn to pieces for that reason, but remains uninjured; not thus, I say, can the frame endure disruption apart from the spirit which has left it; but it is utterly undone, torn to pieces, and rots away. From the first moment of life, the interdependent contacts of body and spirit, while yet laid away in the mother’s body and womb, so learn the vital motions, that disruption apart cannot be without their ruin and damage; so that you may see that, since conjunction is necessary to their existence, so also theirs must be a joint nature.
350Furthermore, if anyone denies that body can
feel, and believes that it is the spirit mingled through-out with the body that takes on that motion which we name feeling, he fights against things that are quite manifest and true. For who will ever explain what it is for the body to feel, unless it be what experience has openly shown and taught us? “But the spirit gone, the body lacks feeling in every part.” Yes, for it loses that which in life was not its own property; as there are many other things that it losesb when it is driven from life.
359Moreover, to say that the eyes can discern
nothing, but that the mind looks out through them as through open portals,c is difficult, when their own feeling leads us to the opposite conclusion; for it is their feeling that draws us and pushes us on to the very eyeballs; especially since we are often unable to perceive glaring objects because our bright eyes
Footnotes
aWhereas scent is an essential attribute of frankincense (cf. 327-328), heat is an accident, not a property, of water.
be.g. heat, colour, motion.
cFor the history of the theory that the sense-organs themselves do not perceive, but are “doors” or “windows” through which the mind perceives, see Ernout-Robin on 359 ff. The theory, which may have originated with Heraclitus, was adopted by the Stoics. It is expounded by Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1.20.46.
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lumina luminibus quia nobis praepediuntur.
quod foribus non fit; neque enim, qua cernimus ipsi,
366ostia suscipiunt ullum reclusa laborem.
praeterea si pro foribus sunt lumina nostra,
iam magis exemptis oculis debere videtur
cernere res animus sublatis postibus ipsis.
370Illud in his rebus nequaquam sumere possis,
Democriti quod sancta viri sententia ponit,
corporis atque animi primordia singula privis
adposita alternis variare, ac nectere membra.
nam cum multo sunt animae elementa minora
375quam quibus e corpus nobis et viscera constant,
tum numero quoque concedunt et rara per artus
dissita sunt; dumtaxat ut hoc promittere possis,
quantula prima queant nobis iniecta ciere
corpora sensiferos motus in corpore, tanta
380intervalla tenere exordia prima animai.
nam neque pulveris interdum sentimus adhaesum
corpore nec membris incussam sidere cretam,
nec nebulam noctu neque aranei tenvia fila
obvia sentimus, quando obretimur euntes,
385nec supera caput eiusdem cecidisse vietam
vestem, nec plumas avium papposque volantis,
qui nimia levitate cadunt plerumque gravatim,
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are hindered by the brightness, which never happens with portals; for an open door through which we look out ourselves never receives any annoyance. Besides, if our eyes act as portals, why then take the eyes away, and it is obvious that the mind should perceive things all the better with doors, posts and all, removed.
370There is another thing, laid down by the revered
judgement of the great Democritus,a to which you could never assent: that the first-beginnings of body and of soul are placed one beside one alternately in pairs, and so link the frame together. For, as the
elements of spirit are much smaller than those which compose our body and flesh, so they are fewer also in numberb and are dispersed at rare intervals through the frame; so that at least you may safely say that the first-beginnings of spirit lie at such intervals apart as equal the smallest things which falling upon us are able to awaken sense-bringing motions in our body.c For sometimes we do not feel
dust clinging to the body, or chalkd shaken on us settling on our limbs, nor do we feel the impact of a mist by night, or a spider’s gossamer threads when we are caught in their net as we go along, nor the withered vesture of the same creature falling on our head, nor birds’ feathers or flying thistle-down, which are so exceeding light that they usually find it a
Footnotes
a371 is repeated at 5.622. Lucr.’s great respect for Democritus is implied also in 1039-1041. Epicurus himself, despite his great debt to the earlier atomist, was not always so polite about him: cf. Cicero, Fin. 1.6.21, Nat. D. 1.33.93.
bCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 37.I.2-5 Smith.
cAn object that impinges on us and is not felt is smaller than the interval between two soul-particles. However, there is a problem below; for, among the examples of objects whose impingement we do not feel, Lucr. mentions cobwebs, feathers, and thistle-down—all of which obviously extend over more space than the interval between two soul-particles, and are not felt because of their lightness rather than because of their smallness. Either, as Bailey suggests, Lucr. failed to see any difference between his examples; or, as Giussani thinks, he may have believed that there are no soul-particles on the absolute surface of the body.
dChalk was used as a cosmetic and for bleaching clothes.
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nec repentis itum cuiusviscumque animantis
sentimus, nec priva pedum vestigia quaeque,
390corpore quae in nostro culices et cetera ponunt.
usque adeo prius est in nobis multa ciendum
quam primordia sentiscant concussa animai
semina corporibus nostris inmixta per artus,
et tantis intervallis tuditantia possint
395concursare coire et dissultare vicissim.
Et magis est animus vitai claustra coercens
et dominantior ad vitam quamvis animai.
nam sine mente animoque nequit residere per artus
temporis exiguam partem pars ulla animai.
400sed comes insequitur facile et discedit in auras
et gelidos artus in leti frigore linquit.
at manet in vita cui mens animusque remansit;
quamvis est circum caesis lacer undique membris
truncus, adempta anima circum membrisque remota,
405vivit et aetherias vitalis suscipit auras.
si non omnimodis, at magna parte animai
privatus, tamen in vita cunctatur et haeret;
ut, lacerato oculo circum si pupula mansit
incolumis, stat cernundi vivata potestas,
410dummodo ne totum corrumpas luminis orbem
et circum caedas aciem solamque relinquas;
id quoque enim sine pernicie non fiet eorum.
at si tantula pars oculi media illa peresa est,
occidit extemplo lumen tenebraeque sequuntur,
Footnotes
394tantis Wakefield (tantis intervallis in his notes, but quam, intervallis tantis in his text): quantis OQ VP: quam in his Lachmann: quam illis M. F. Smith, but tantis is palaeographically closest toquantis, and its sense is acceptable, for, as Kenney points out, the intervals between the soul-atoms are great compared with those between the body-atoms (cf. 376-377)
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heavy task to fall, nor the progress of every creeping thing, nor each of the footsteps that gnats and suchlike place on our body: so true is it that many particles must be moved in us, before the seeds of spirit mingled with our bodies throughout our frame begin to feel that the first-beginningsa have been struck, and before they can go buffeting over such great intervals, run together, meet together, and leap apart in turn.
396And the mind is more potent in holding fast the
barriers of life, and has more dominance over life, than the spirit’s force. For without the mind and intelligence no particle of the spirit can abide in the frame for an instant, but readily follows after it, and departs into the air, and leaves the limbs cold in the chill of death. But he remains in life to whom the mind and intelligence remains. He may be a mutilated trunk dismembered all about, the spirit removed all around and separated from the limbs, yet he lives and breathes the vital air. Deprived of a great part of the spirit, if not of all, yet he lingers and clings to life; just as when the eye is lacerated all round, if the pupil remains unhurt, there abides
the lively power of seeing, provided you do not mangle the whole eyeball and cut round the pupil and leave that isolated; for that will not be done without destroying them both.b But if that tiny spot in the middle of the eye is eaten through, in a trice the light is out and darkness follows, even though
Footnotes
aThat is, the body-atoms.
bThat is, both pupil and eyeball.
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415incolumis quamvis alioqui splendidus orbis.
hoc anima atque animus vincti sunt foedere semper.
Nunc age, nativos animantibus et mortalis
esse animos animasque levis ut noscere possis,
conquisita diu dulcique reperta labore
420digna tua pergam disponere carmina vita.
tu fac utrumque uno sub iungas nomine eorum,
atque animam verbi causa cum dicere pergam,
mortalem esse docens, animum quoque dicere credas,
quatenus est unum inter se coniunctaque res est.
425Principio quoniam tenuem constare minutis
corporibus docui multoque minoribus esse
principiis factam quam liquidus umor aquai
aut nebula aut fumus—nam longe mobilitate
praestat et a tenui causa magis icta movetur,
430quippe ubi imaginibus fumi nebulaeque movetur:
quod genus in somnis sopiti ubi cernimus alte
exhalare vaporem altaria ferreque fumum;
nam procul haec dubio nobis simulacra geruntur—
nunc igitur quoniam quassatis undique vasis
435diffluere umorem et laticem discedere cernis,
et nebula ac fumus quoniam discedit in auras,
crede animam quoque diffundi multoque perire
Footnotes
431alte Lachmann: alta OQ VP. The emendation is probably right, but not certain. C. L. Howard, CPhil. 56 (1961) 150, defends alta = “piled high.” More probably the meaning would be “lofty,”“stately”; cf. Virgil, G. 4.541, alta . . . delubra 432 vaporem O corr.: vapore OQ VP, which Wakefield defends by reference to Virgil, Aen. 1.417 433 geruntur OQ V: genuntur Lambinus: feruntur Creech (in his notes)
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the radiant orb is otherwise unharmed.a Such is the alliance by which spirit and mind are for ever bound.
417Listen now: that you may be able to recognize
that the minds and light spirits of living creatures are born and are mortal, I shall proceed to set forth verses worthy of your calling, long sought out and found with delightful toil.b Be so good as to apply both these names to one thing; and when for example I speak of spirit, showing it to be mortal, believe me to speak also of mind, inasmuch as it is one thing and a combined nature.
425First of all, since I have shownc it to be delicate
and composed of minute particles and elements much smaller than the flowing liquid of water or cloud or smoke—for it surpasses these far in quickness, and moves if touched by a more delicate cause, inasmuch as it is moved by images of smoke and mist, as for example when sunk in sleep we perceive altars exhale their steamd on high and send up smoke (for without doubt these are images borne to use)—now, therefore, since, when vessels are shattered, you perceive the water flowing out on all sides and the liquid dispersing, and since mist and smoke disperse abroad into the air, believe that the spirit also is
Footnotes
aThe image in 414-415 is from the sun and its setting.
bCf. 2.730-731. William Cowper, The Task 2.285-286: “There is a pleasure in poetic pains | Which only poets know.”
c177-230.
dThis translation of vaporem is preferable to “heat,” for the word surely corresponds to nebula in 430, 436.
eIn 4.26 ff. Lucr. explains how vision, thought, and dreams are caused by the impingement on our eyes or mind of “images,” i.e. the fine atomic films which all objects constantly discharge from their surfaces. The examples of steam and smoke are chosen, because such fine substances would discharge exceptionally fine “images.”
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ocius et citius dissolvi in corpora prima,
cum semel ex hominis membris ablata recessit.
quippe etenim corpus, quod vas quasi constitit eius,
441cum cohibere nequit conquassatum ex aliqua re
ac rarefactum detracto sanguine venis,
aere qui credas posse hanc cohiberier ullo,
corpore qui nostro rarus magis incohibescit?
445Praeterea gigni pariter cum corpore et una
crescere sentimus pariterque senescere mentem.
nam velut infirmo pueri teneroque vagantur
corpore, sic animi sequitur sententia tenvis;
inde ubi robustis adolevit viribus aetas,
450consilium quoque maius et auctior est animi vis;
post ubi iam validis quassatum est viribus aevi
corpus et obtusis ceciderunt viribus artus,
claudicat ingenium, delirat lingua, labat mens,
omnia deficiunt atque uno tempore desunt.
455ergo dissolui quoque convenit omnem animai
naturam, ceu fumus, in altas aeris auras,
quandoquidem gigni pariter pariterque videmus
crescere et, ut docui, simul aevo fessa fatisci.
huc accedit uti videamus, corpus ut ipsum
460suscipere inmanis morbos durumque dolorem,
sic animum curas acris luctumque metumque;
quare participem leti quoque convenit esse.
Quin etiam morbis in corporis avius errat
Footnotes
444incohibescit OQ VP, rightly retained by Ernout. Inceptive forms are common in Lucr. (see Ernout-Robin on 1.252), the inceptive force sometimes hardly being felt, as in 890: incohibens sit J. Woltjer: incohibessit attributed by the editors to Wakefield, but already recorded by Havercamp, who seems however to mean incohibescit: incohibentist P. T. Eden, CPhil. 72 (1977) 248
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spread abroad and passes away far more quickly, and is more speedily dissolved into its first bodies,
as soon as it has departed withdrawn from the limbs of a man. In fact if the body, which is in a way its vessel, cannot contain it, when once broken up by any cause and rarefied by the withdrawal of blood from the veins, how could you believe that it could be contained by any air, which is a more porous container than our body?
445Besides, we feel that the mind is begotten along
with the body, and grows up with it, and with it grows old. For as toddling children have a body infirm and tender, so a weak intelligence goes with it. Next, when their age has grown up into robust strength, the understanding too and the power of the mind is enlarged. Afterwards, when the body is now wrecked with the mighty strength of time, and the frame has succumbed with blunted strength, the intellect limps, the tongue babbles, the intelligence totters, all is wanting and fails at the same time. It follows therefore that the whole nature of the spirit
is dissolved abroad, like smoke, into the high winds of the air, since we see it begotten along with the body, and growing up along with it, and as I have shown, falling to pieces at the same time worn out with age.
459Add to this that, just as the body itself is liable
to awful diseases and harsh pain, so we see the mind liable to carking care and grief and fear; therefore it follows that the mind also partakes of death.a
463Moreover, in bodily diseases the mind often
Footnotes
aThis same argument had been employed in the second century b.c. by the Stoic philosopher Panaetius: cf. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1.32.79.
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saepe animus; dementit enim deliraque fatur,
465interdumque gravi lethargo fertur in altum
aeternumque soporem oculis nutuque cadenti,
unde neque exaudit voces nec noscere voltus
illorum potis est, ad vitam qui revocantes
circumstant lacrimis rorantes ora genasque.
470quare animum quoque dissolui fateare necessest,
quandoquidem penetrant in eum contagia morbi;
nam dolor ac morbus leti fabricator uterquest,
473multorum exitio perdocti quod sumus ante.
476Denique cur, hominem cum vini vis penetravit
acris et in venas discessit diditus ardor,
consequitur gravitas membrorum, praepediuntur
crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,
480nant oculi, clamor singultus iurgia gliscunt,
et iam cetera de genere hoc quaecumque sequuntur,
cur ea sunt, nisi quod vemens violentia vini
conturbare animam consuevit corpore in ipso?
at quaecumque queunt conturbari inque pediri,
485significant, paulo si durior insinuarit
causa, fore ut pereant aevo privata futuro.
Quin etiam subito vi morbi saepe coactus
ante oculos aliquis nostros, ut fulminis ictu,
concidit et spumas agit, ingemit et tremit artus,
Footnotes
474(=510), 475 et pariter mentem sanari corpus inani are rightly excluded by Naugerius, Lambinus, and all modern editors except Diels, who alters mentem . . . inani (475) to mentei . . . sinapi and explains “incohata est carminis pars, quam postquam 510 aliter continuavit poeta, hic delere oblitus est”
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wanders astray; for it is demented and talks deliriously,
and at times is carried by heavy lethargy into the deep everlasting sleepa with eyes drooping and dejected head, from which it can neither catch the voices nor recognize the looks of those who stand round calling it back to life, their faces and cheeks bedewed with tears. Therefore you must confess that the mind also is dissolved, since the contagion of disease penetrates within it; for both pain and disease are makers of death, as we have been well taught by the perishing of many before now.
476Moreover, when the piercing power of wine
has penetrated into a man, and its fire has been dispersed abroad, spreading through the veins, why does heaviness come upon the limbs, why are his legs impeded, why does he stagger, his tongue grow tardy, his mind soaked, his eyes swim, noise and hiccups and brawls burst out, and all the rest of such things follow, why is this, I say, unless it be that the vehement fury of wine is accustomed to confuse the spirit while yet in the body? But if anything can be confused and impeded, this indicates that, if some cause a little more compelling should penetrate, the thing would perish, and be robbed of its future life.
487Moreover, we have often seen someone constrained
on a sudden by the violence of disease,b who, as if struck by a thunderbolt, falls to the ground, foams at the mouth, groans and shudders,
Footnotes
aaeternum. . . soporem refers to the state of unconsciousness that seems everlasting to the patient’s relatives and friends (for this use of aeternus cf. 907, 911). But the use of the epithet here may be influenced by the thought that the patient will often pass on into the truly eternal sleep of death (to which aeternum . . . soporem in 921 refers) without regaining consciousness.
bEpilepsy. Cf. Celsus 3.23: inter notissimos morbos est etiam is qui comitialis vel maior nominatur. homo subito concidit, ex ore spumae moventur; deinde interposito tempore ad se redit et per se ipsum consurgit.
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490desipit, extentat nervos, torquetur, anhelat
inconstanter, et in iactando membra fatigat;
nimirum quia vi morbi distracta per artus
turbat agens anima spumas, ut in aequore salso
ventorum validis fervescunt viribus undae.
495exprimitur porro gemitus, quia membra dolore
adficiuntur, et omnino quod semina vocis
eiiciuntur et ore foras glomerata feruntur
qua quasi consuerunt et sunt munita viai.
desipientia fit, quia vis animi atque animai
500conturbatur et, ut docui, divisa seorsum
disiectatur eodem illo distracta veneno.
inde ubi iam morbi reflexit causa, reditque
in latebras acer corrupti corporis umor,
tum quasi vaccillans primum consurgit et omnis
505paulatim redit in sensus animamque receptat.
haec igitur tantis ubi morbis corpore in ipso
iactentur miserisque modis distracta laborent,
cur eadem credis sine corpore in aere aperto
cum validis ventis aetatem degere posse?
510Et quoniam mentem sanari, corpus ut aegrum,
cernimus et flecti medicina posse videmus,
id quoque praesagit mortalem vivere mentem.
addere enim partis aut ordine traiecere aequumst
aut aliquid prorsum de summa detrahere hilum,
515commutare animum quicumque adoritur et infit
Footnotes
492vi Brieger: vis OQ VP, but distracta must refer to the anima: cf. especially 499-501, also 507, 590, 799, 4.946 morbi OQVP: animi C. D. Gilbert, CQ N.S. 23 (1973) 293, retaining vis in 492 andanimam in 493, but his reading and interpretation involve taking per artus not with distracta but with turbat, and, especially in view of 4.916, 946, this canhardly be right
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raves, grows rigid, twists, pants irregularly, out-wearies himself with contortions; assuredly because the spirit, torn asunder by the violence of the disease throughout the frame, is in turmoil and foams, just as in the salt sea the waves boil under the mighty strength of the winds. Further, groans are forced out, because the limbs are afflicted with pain, and in general because seeds of voice are ejected and rush forth from the mouth in a mass, where they have been, as it were, accustomed to pass, where is the established highroad. There is raving, because the strength of mind and spirit is set in a turmoil and, as I have shown,a divided apart and separated up and drawn asunder by that same poison. Next, when the cause of the disease has already turned back, and the corroding humour of the diseased body has returned to its secret haunts,b then first, staggering as it were, the man rises, and by degrees comes back to his full senses and receives back his spirit. Since, therefore, the mind and spirit are tossed about by so great diseases in the very body itself, and are miserably
torn asunder and distressed, why do you believe that the same without body, in the open air, amidst mighty winds, are able to live?
510And since we see that the mind, like a sick
body, can be healed and changed by medicine, this also foreshows that the mind has a mortal life. For it is necessary to add parts or transpose them or draw away at least some tittle from the whole, whenever anyone attempts and begins to alter the mind
Footnotes
a492-494.
bThe humour is compared to a venomous snake: cf. veneno (501), reflexit (502), latebras (503).
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aut aliam quamvis naturam flectere quaerit.
at neque transferri sibi partis nec tribui vult
inmortale quod est quicquam neque defluere hilum;
nam quodcumque suis mutatum finibus exit,
520continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.
ergo animus sive aegrescit, mortalia signa
mittit, uti docui, seu flectitur a medicina:
usque adeo falsae rationi vera videtur
res occurrere et effugium praecludere eunti,
525ancipitique refutatu convincere falsum.
Denique saepe hominem paulatim cernimus ire
et membratim vitalem deperdere sensum:
in pedibus primum digitos livescere et unguis,
inde pedes et crura mori, post inde per artus
530ire alios tractim gelidi vestigia leti.
scinditur haec animae quoniam natura, nec uno
tempore sincera existit, mortalis habendast.
quod si forte putas ipsam se posse per artus
introrsum trahere et partis conducere in unum,
535atque ideo cunctis sensum deducere membris,
at locus ille tamen, quo copia tanta animai
cogitur, in sensu debet maiore videri;
qui quoniam nusquamst, nimirum ut diximus ante,
dilaniata foras dispargitur, interit ergo.
540quin etiam si iam libeat concedere falsum,
et dare posse animam glomerari in corpore eorum
lumina qui linquunt moribundi particulatim,
Footnotes
531haec animae W. Clausen, CR N.S. 41 (1991) 545-546: atque animo haec (hec V) OQVP: atqui animae Lambinus: itque animae hoc Munro: itque animae haec Bailey (1947)
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or indeed to change any other nature whatever. But that which is immortal does not permit its parts to be transposed, or anything to be added, or one jot to ebb away; for whatever by being changed passes outside its own boundaries, at once that is death for that which was before.a Therefore, if the mind is sick, it gives indications of mortality, as I have shown, or if it is changed by medicine: so completely is the truth seen to combat false reasoning, and to cut off its retreat as it flies, and to convict falsehood by a double refutation.
526Furthermore, we often see a man pass away
by degrees, and limb by limb lose the sensation of life: first the toes of the feet grow livid, and the nails, next die feet and legs, afterwards over the other limbs go creeping the cold footsteps of death.b Since in this case the substance of the spirit is divided and does not issue forth whole at one time, it must be considered to be mortal. But if by any
chance you think that it can of its own accord pull itself inwards through the limbs and draw together its portions into one place, and that is how it withdraws sensation from all the limbs, then the place into which all that quantity of spirit is gathered together ought to seem more sensitive; but since this place is nowhere to be found, undoubtedly, as I said before,c the spirit is torn to pieces and dispersed abroad, perishes therefore. Moreover, if I had the whim after all to concede a falsehood, and to grant you that the spirit might be concentrated in the
body of those who are leaving the daylight by dying
Footnotes
a519-520 = 1.670-671, 792-793, 2.753-754.
bLambinus compares Plato’s account of the death of Socrates (Phd. 117 E—118 A).
c531-532.
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mortalem tamen esse animam fateare necesse,
nec refert utrum pereat dispersa per auras
545an contracta suis e partibus obbrutescat,
quando hominem totum magis ac magis undique sensus
deficit et vitae minus et minus undique restat.
Et quoniam mens est hominis pars una, loco quae
fixa manet certo, velut aures atque oculi sunt
550atque alii sensus qui vitam cumque gubernant,
et veluti manus atque oculus naresve seorsum
secreta ab nobis nequeunt sentire neque esse,
sed tamen in parvo liquuntur tempore tabe,
sic animus per se non quit sine corpore et ipso
555esse homine, illius quasi quod vas esse videtur,
sive aliud quid vis potius coniunctius ei
fingere, quandoquidem conexu corpus adhaeret.
Denique corporis atque animi vivata potestas
inter se coniuncta valent vitaque fruuntur;
560nec sine corpore enim vitalis edere motus
sola potest animi per se natura nec autem
cassum anima corpus durare et sensibus uti.
scilicet avolsus radicibus ut nequit ullam
dispicere ipse oculus rem seorsum corpore toto,
565sic anima atque animus per se nil posse videtur.
nimirum quia per venas et viscera mixtim,
per nervos atque ossa, tenentur corpore ab omni,
Footnotes
553liquuntur (“quidam doctus,” according to Lambinus). . . tabe Isaac Voss (except that Voss suggested tabi; Munro and subsequent editors attribute licuntur . . . tabe, read by Munro himself, to Creech, but in all the editions which the reviser of the present work has seen Creech suggests the same reading as Voss): linguntur . . . tali (tale V) OQ V: lincuntur (Lachmann) . . . labi E. Orth, Helmantica 11 (1960) 312
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piecemeal, yet you must confess the spirit to be mortal, for it does not matter whether it passes away dispersed abroad through the air, or draws in its parts upon itself and grows dull, seeing that more and more sensation leaves the whole man on all sides, and on all sides less and less of life remains.
548And since the mind is one part of a man, which
abides planted in a fixed place, just as eyes and ears are and all the other organs of sense that govern life; and just asa hand or eye or nose separated from us can neither feel nor be, but rather are soon dissolved in putrefaction, so the mind cannot be by itself without body or without the man himself, which body seems to be a kind of vessel for it or any other similitude you may choose for a closer conjunction, since in fact the body does cling closely to it.b
558Furthermore, the quickened power of body
and mind have vigour and enjoy life only in close conjunction together; for neither can the nature of the mind show vital motions alone by itself without the body, nor again deprived of the spirit can the body endure and use the senses. To be sure, just as the eye torn from its roots cannot by itself distinguish anything apart from the whole body, so it is seen that mind and spirit can do nothing alone. Undoubtedly because their first-beginnings are held in by the whole body, commingled throughout veins
Footnotes
aAn anacoluthon. The quoniam clause has no apodosis, and Lucr. writes et veluti, as though quoniam had not been written.
bLucr. suggests that his comparison (for which cf. 440) is inadequate, because, whereas body and soul are intimately interconnected (cf. 323-349), the vessel and its contents are not intermingled.
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nec magnis intervallis primordia possunt
libera dissultare, ideo conclusa moventur
570sensiferos motus quos extra corpus in auras
aeris haud possunt post mortem eiecta moveri,
propterea quia non simili ratione tenentur.
corpus enim atque animans erit aer, si cohibere
sese anima atque in eos poterit concludere motus
575quos ante in nervis et in ipso corpore agebat.
quare etiam atque etiam, resoluto corporis omni
tegmine et eiectis extra vitalibus auris,
dissolui sensus animi fateare necessest
atque animam, quoniam coniunctast causa duobus.
580Denique cum corpus nequeat perferre animai
discidium, quin in taetro tabescat odore,
quid dubitas quin ex imo penitusque coorta
emanarit uti fumus diffusa animae vis,
atque ideo tanta mutatum putre ruina
585conciderit corpus, penitus quia mota loco sunt
fundamenta, foras manante anima usque per artus,
perque viarum omnis flexus in corpore qui sunt,
atque foramina? multimodis ut noscere possis
dispertitam animae naturam exisse per artus
590et prius esse sibi distractam corpore in ipso,
quam prolapsa foras enaret in aeris auras.
Quin etiam finis dum vitae vertitur intra,
Footnotes
574sese anima OP: esse anima Q: esse animam V: in se animam Wakefield (notes only) eos OQ VP eo Faber 586 manante anima usque Lachmann: manant animaeque (animeque Q V) OQ VP: anima emanante Wakefield, a more considerable change than Lachmann’s, and emanante is not necessarily supported by emanarit in 583, for foras manante = emanante
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and flesh, sinews and bones, and cannot leap freely apart through wide intervals: for this reason, when shut in together, they make those sense-giving motions, which they cannot make outside the body when cast forth into the winds of the air after death, because they are not held in as before. For air will
be a body and a living creature, if the spirit shall be able to keep itself together, and to confine itself to those motions which before it used to make in the sinews and in the body itself. Therefore again and again I say, when all the covering of the body is broken up, and the breath of life is cast forth without, you must confess that the sensations of the mind are dissolved, and the spirit too, since the two exist by union.a
580Again, since the body cannot endure tearing
apart from the spirit without putrefying with a loathsome stench, why do you doubt that the strength of the spirit, after gathering together from its depths and inmost recesses, has oozed out already dispersed abroad like smoke, and that the reason why the body changing and crumbling in such ruin has collapsed altogether, is that its foundations to their inmost recesses have been moved from their place while the spirit was oozing out all through the limbs and through all the meandering passages and pores that are in the body?b So that in many ways you may learn that the spirit was scattered abroad when it went out through the limbs, and had been torn all apart within the body itself, before it glided out and swam into the winds of the air.
592Moreover, while the spirit still moves about
Footnotes
acausa=causa salutis, the cause of existence: cf. 348, 559.
bThat is why it was already diffusa when it passed out. Cf. 4.90-94.
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saepe aliqua tamen e causa labefacta videtur
ire anima ac toto solui de corpore velle,
595et quasi supremo languescere tempore voltus,
molliaque exsangui cadere omnia corpore membra.
quod genus est, animo male factum cum perhibetur
aut animam liquisse: ubi iam trepidatur et omnes
extremum cupiunt vitae reprehendere vinclum;
600conquassatur enim tum mens animaeque potestas
omnis, et haec ipso cum corpore conlabefiunt,
ut gravior paulo possit dissolvere causa.
quid dubitas tandem quin extra prodita corpus
inbecilla foras in aperto, tegmine dempto,
605non modo non omnem possit durare per aevom,
sed minimum quodvis nequeat consistere tempus?
Nec sibi enim quisquam moriens sentire videtur
ire foras animam incolumem de corpore toto,
nec prius ad iugulum et supera succedere fauces,
610verum deficere in certa regione locatam,
ut sensus alios in parti quemque sua scit
dissolui. quod si inmortalis nostra foret mens,
non tam se moriens dissolvi conquereretur,
sed magis ire foras vestemque relinquere, ut anguis.
Denique cur animi numquam mens consiliumque
gignitur in capite aut pedibus manibusve, sed unis
617sedibus et certis regionibus omnibus haeret,
si non certa loca ad nascendum reddita cuique
Footnotes
596cadere omnia corpore F (Bailey’s objection to the reading is answered by Büchner): cadere omnia OQ V: trunco cadere omnia Lachmann
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within the bounds of life, nevertheless, when weakened
by some cause or other, it often appears to wish to depart and to be released from the whole body, and the countenance appears to grow languid as at the last hour, and all the limbs to relax and droop from the bloodless body. This is what happens when the phrase is used “the mind fails” or “the spirit faints”a: when all is trepidation, and all those present desire to pull back again the last bond of life. For at that time the intelligence and all the power of the spirit are shaken altogether, and these fail together with the body itself, so that a slightly more serious cause could dissolve them. Why then
after all do you doubt that, when driven without the body, weak, outside, in the open, without a covering, the spirit could not only not endure through all time, but could not last even for the smallest space?
607It is evident that no one in dying feels his soul
go forth from the whole body intact, nor rise first to the throat and then pass up to the gullet; rather he feels it tail m the particular region where it is located, as he knows his other senses to be dispersing abroad each in its own part. But if our intelligence were immortal, in dying it would not so much complain of dispersing abroad, but rather of passing out and quitting its vesture, like a snake.b
615Again, why are the mind’s intelligence and understanding never produced
in the head or feet or hands, but abide in one sole position and fixed region in all men, if not because fixed positions are
Footnotes
aanimo male factum and animam (or animum) liquisse are colloquial expressions for fainting.
bThat is, like a snake sloughing its skin (cf. 4.60-61). In 614 it seems necessary to assume the ellipse of some verb like gauderet: “but rather would be glad that it was passing out . . .”
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sunt, et ubi quicquid possit durare creatum,
620atque ita multimodis partitis artubus esse,
membrorum ut numquam existat praeposterus ordo?
usque adeo sequitur res rem, neque flamma creari
fluminibus solitast neque in igni gignier algor.
Praeterea si inmortalis natura animaist
625et sentire potest secreta a corpore nostro,
quinque, ut opinor, eam faciundum est sensibus auc-
tam;
nec ratione alia nosmet proponere nobis
possumus infernas animas Acherunte vagare.
pictores itaque et scriptorum saecla priora
630sic animas introduxerunt sensibus auctas.
at neque sorsum oculi neque nares nec manus ipsa
esse potest animae neque sorsum lingua neque aures;
haud igitur per se possunt sentire neque esse.
Et quoniam toto sentimus corpore inesse
635vitalem sensum et totum esse animale videmus,
si subito medium celeri praeciderit ictu
vis aliqua ut sorsum partem secernat utramque,
dispertita procul dubio quoque vis animai
et discissa simul cum corpore dissicietur.
640at quod scinditur et partis discedit in ullas,
scilicet aeternam sibi naturam abnuit esse.
Footnotes
620partitis (cf. 710) Bernays: pertotis OQ VP
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assigned to each thing for its birth and a place where it may endure when made, with its manifold limbs being arranged in such a way that their order is never reversed? So surely one thing follows another; neither is flame accustomed to be produced from streams, nor frost in fire.
624Besides, if the nature of the spirit is immortal
and can feel when separated from our body, we must, I think, assume that it is endowed with the five senses; in no other way can we imagine the spirits below to be wandering in Acheron. Paintersa therefore, and the earlier generations of writers,b have introduced the spirits thus provided with senses. But apart from the body there can never be either eyes or nose or hand by itself for the spirit, nor tongue apart from the body, nor ears; therefore spirits by themselves cannot either have sensation or exist.
634And since we feel that vital sense inheres in
the whole body, and see that it is the whole that is animated, if suddenly some force with a swift blow shall cut the body through the middle so as to sever the two parts asunder, there is no doubt that spirit also will be sundered apart and cleft apart and cut apart with the body.c But that which is cleft and divided into parts assuredly renounces all claim to be everlasting.
Footnotes
aNotably Polygnotus at Delphi and Nicias at Athens.
be.g. Homer, Ennius. With this passage of Lucr. cf. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1.16.37.
cIn 638–639 Lucr. uses three verbs with the prefix dis-to emphasize the parting of the soul. Plato in the same way uses three verbs with the prefix δια- in Phd. 80 c 4–5, 84 b 6–7, and it is possible that Lucr. was influenced by him.
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Falciferos memorant currus abscidere membra
saepe ita de subito permixta caede calentis,
ut tremere in terra videatur ab artubus id quod
decidit abscisum, cum mens tamen atque hominis vis
646mobilitate mali non quit sentire dolorem
et simul in pugnae studio quod dedita mens est;
corpore relicuo pugnam caedesque petessit,
nec tenet amissam laevam cum tegmine saepe
650inter equos abstraxe rotas falcesque rapaces,
nec cecidisse alius dextram, cum scandit et instat.
inde alius conatur adempto surgere crure,
cum digitos agitat propter moribundus humi pes;
et caput abscisum calido viventeque trunco
655servat humi voltum vitalem oculosque patentis,
donec reliquias animai reddidit omnes.
Quin etiam tibi si lingua vibrante minanti
serpentis cauda procero corpore utrumque
sit libitum in multas partis discidere ferro,
660omnia iam sorsum cernes ancisa recenti
volnere tortari et terram conspargere tabo,
ipsam seque retro partem petere ore priorem,
volneris ardenti ut morsu premat icta dolore.
omnibus esse igitur totas dicemus in illis
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642They tell how scythed chariots,a reeking with
indiscriminate slaughter, often shear off a limb so suddenly that it is seen to quiver on the ground when it falls shorn from the trunk, although the man’s mind and strength can feel no pain, from the swiftness of the blow, and at the same time because the mind is absorbed in the ardour of battle; with what is left of his body he pursues battle and blood, and does not observe that his left arm, it may be, with its shield has been carried off amidst the horses by the wheels and their ravening scythes, or another that his right arm has fallen while he climbs and presses on.bThen another essays to rise with a leg lost, while the dying foot hard by on the ground twitches its toes. Even the head shorn off from the hot and living trunk retains on the ground the look of life and its open eyes, until it has rendered up all that is left of the spirit.
657Moreover, when you see a serpent with flickering
tongue, menacing tail, long body, if it please you to cut up both partsc with your steel into many pieces, you will see all the parts cut away writhing separately while the wound is fresh, and bespattering the earth with gore, and the fore part turning back and seeking to gnaw itself, that by its bite it may assuage the burning pain of the wound which struck it. Shall we say then that there is a whole spirit in
Footnotes
aWar-chariots equipped with scythes were an oriental invention, and were never adopted by the Greeks or Romans (hence memorant, 642). They are first mentioned by Xeno-phon, An. 1.8.10; Livy, 37.41.7, mentions their use in the war with Antiochus III; and they and their effectiveness are described by the first century a.d. historian Q. Curtius Rufus, Hist. Alex. 4.9.5 and 4.15.17.
bi.e. the soldier, who has lost his arm in climbing up to attack the driver of a scythed chariot, continues his attack.
cThe meaning of utrumque is uncertain. Does it refer to both the front and back part of the snake’s body? Or does it mean, as supposed by Diels (in his translation) and W. S. M. Nicoll, CR N.S. 20 (1970) 140–141, both body and soul of the snake? The former interpretation derives support from 637, 657–658 (where Lucr. stresses head and tail as well as body) and 662; the latter from 668–669, for there utrumque certainly refers to body and soul, and the parallelism between in multas . . . partis disciditur (669) and in multas partis discidere (658) might be taken as indicating that utrumque has the same reference in both places. In any case, no emendation of the text is necessary.
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665particulis animas? at ea ratione sequetur
unam animantem animas habuisse in corpore multas.
ergo divisast ea quae fuit una simul cum
corpore; quapropter mortale utrumque putandumst,
in multas quoniam partis disciditur aeque.
670Praeterea si inmortalis natura animai
constat et in corpus nascentibus insinuatur,
cur super anteactam aetatem meminisse nequimus
nec vestigia gestarum rerum ulla tenemus?
nam si tanto operest animi mutata potestas,
675omnis ut actarum exciderit retinentia rerum,
non, ut opinor, id ab leto iam longiter errat;
quapropter fateare necessest quae fuit ante
interiisse et quae nunc est nunc esse creatam.
Praeterea si iam perfecto corpore nobis
680inferri solitast animi vivata potestas
tum cum gignimur et vitae cum limen inimus,
haud ita conveniebat uti cum corpore et una
cum membris videatur in ipso sanguine cresse,
sed velut in cavea per se sibi vivere solam
685convenit, ut sensu corpus tamen affluat omne.
quare etiam atque etiam neque originis esse putandumst
expertis animas nec leti lege solutas;
nam neque tanto opere adnecti potuisse putan-
dumst
corporibus nostris extrinsecus insinuatas—
690quod fieri totum contra manifesta docet res;
namque ita conexa est per venas viscera nervos
Footnotes
676ab OQP: a Nonius p. 828 Lindsay, Charisius p. 265 Barwick longiter Nonius, Charisius l.c.: longius OQP. The 4th cent. grammarians, who quote this line alone as containing longiter, can hardly have invented the form, defended by S. Timpanaro, Maia 22 (1970) 355–357
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each of these fractions? But in that way it will follow that one living creature had many spirits in its body. Therefore that spirit which was one has been divided apart together with the body; and so each must be considered mortal, since each alike is cut asunder into many parts.
670Besides, if the nature of the spirit is immortal
and creeps into the body as we are born, why can we not remember also the time that has passed before, and why do we keep no traces of things done? For if the power of the mind has been so greatly changed that it has lost all recollection of things done, that, I think, is not far removed from death. Therefore you must confess that the spirit that was before has perished, and that which now is has now been made.
679Besides, if the body is already complete when
the quickened power of the mind is accustomed to be introduced into us, at the moment when we are born and when we enter the threshold of life, it ought not so to live that it should be seen to grow with the body and together with the frame in the very blood, but it should live alone by itself as it might be in a cage, while nevertheless all the body should be full of streams of sensation. Therefore again and again I say that spirits must not be considered to be without beginning or free from the law of death. For we must not believe that they could have been so closely connected with our bodies if they had been introduced from without, when experience
manifestly proves the clean contrary; for the spirit is so closely connected with the body through all the veins, flesh, sinews, and bones that
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ossaque, uti dentes quoque sensu participentur,
morbus ut indicat et gelidai stringor aquai
et lapis oppressus, subiit si e frugibus, asper—
695nec, tam contextae cum sint, exire videntur
incolumes posse et salvas exsolvere sese
omnibus e nervis atque ossibus articulisque.
Quod si forte putas extrinsecus insinuatam
permanare animam nobis per membra solere,
700tanto quique magis cum corpore fusa peribit;
quod permanat enim dissolvitur, interit ergo.
dispertitur enim per caulas corporis omnis;
ut cibus, in membra atque artus cum diditur omnis,
disperit atque aliam naturam sufficit ex se,
sic anima atque animus, quamvis integra recens in
706corpus eunt, tamen in manando dissoluuntur,
dum quasi per caulas omnis diduntur in artus
particulae quibus haec animi natura creatur,
quae nunc in nostro dominatur corpore nata
710ex illa quae tunc periit partita per artus.
quapropter neque natali privata videtur
esse die natura animae nec funeris expers.
Semina praeterea linquuntur necne animai
corpore in exanimo? quod si linquuntur et insunt,
715haud erit ut merito inmortalis possit haberi,
partibus amissis quoniam libata recessit.
sin ita sinceris membris ablata profugit
Footnotes
694subiit si e Bernays: subitis e OQP: subsit si A. C. Clark, CR 25 (1911) 74
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even the teeth feel like the rest, as their aching proves, and the twinge of cold water, and the crunching of rough grit, when it has got into them out of bread; and since they are so closely connected,a it is clear that they are not able to emerge intact and loosen themselves away whole from all the sinews and bones and joints.
698But if by any chance you think that the spirit
is accustomed to creep in from without and so to ooze through our frame, so much the more will it perish, being interfused with the body; for that which permeates is dissolved, perishes therefore. The spirit is distributed through all the pores of the body; just as food, while it is being dispersed into all the members and limbs, perishes and supplies another nature from its substance, so spirit and mind, even though they enter whole into a new body, yet in permeating it are dissolved, while the particles are being dispersed through all the pores, as we may call them, into the limbs, those particles that compose this mind which now lords it in our body, born of that mind which perished at the time when it was distributed through the limbs. Therefore the spirit is seen to be neither without a birthday nor without death.
713Again, do any seeds of spirit remain or not in
the lifeless body? Now if any are left and are in it, it will be impossible rightly to consider the spirit immortal, since it has gone away diminished by the loss of some parts. But if it has departed and fled forth with its component parts so intact that it has
Footnotes
aThat is, since spirits are so closely connected with bodies (cf. 691).
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ut nullas partis in corpore liquerit ex se,
unde cadavera rancenti iam viscere vermes
720expirant, atque unde animantum copia tanta
exos et exanguis tumidos perfluctuat artus?
quod si forte animas extrinsecus insinuari
vermibus et privas in corpora posse venire
credis, nec reputas cur milia multa animarum
725conveniant unde una recesserit, hoc tamen est ut
quaerendum videatur et in discrimen agendum,
utrum tandem animae venentur semina quaeque
vermiculorum ipsaeque sibi fabricentur ubi sint,
an quasi corporibus perfectis insinuentur.
730at neque cur faciant ipsae quareve laborent
dicere suppeditat. neque enim, sine corpore cum sunt,
sollicitae volitant morbis alguque fameque;
corpus enim magis his vitiis adfine laborat,
et mala multa animus contage fungitur eius.
735sed tamen his esto quamvis facere utile corpus,
cui subeant; at qua possint via nulla videtur.
haud igitur faciunt animae sibi corpora et artus.
nec tamen est utqui perfectis insinuentur
corporibus; neque enim poterunt subtiliter esse
740conexae neque consensu contagia fient.
Denique cur acris violentia triste leonum
seminium sequitur, volpes dolus, et fuga cervis
a patribus datur et patrius pavor incitat artus?
Footnotes
736cui Bernays: cum OQP qua Marullus: que OQ: qui BF may be right
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left in the body no particles of itself, how do corpses
exhale worms from flesh already grown putrid,a whence comes all the great mass of living creatures, boneless and bloodless, that surge through the swelling limbs? Now if you believe by any chance that
spirits can creep into the worms from without and come one by one into the bodies, if you do not ponder why many thousands of spirits gather together where one has gone away, Here is a question that it seems worth while to ask and to bring under examination,
whether in fact the spirits go a-hunting for all the seeds of little worms and themselves make them a habitation, or whether they creep as it were into bodies already formed. But there is no answer to the question why they should make bodies themselves, or why they should take that trouble. For,
when they are without bodies, they are not plagued with disease as they fly about, or with cold and hunger; for it is the body rather that is troubled through susceptibility to these infirmities, and the mind suffers many maladies by contact with it. Grant, however, that it be as useful as you will that these make them a body to enter: but how they can, there is no way to be seen. Spirits therefore do not make themselves bodies and limbs. Nor is there any possibility that they creep into bodies already made; for they will not be able to conjoin themselves closely together with these, nor will harmony be established through community of sensation.
741Furthermore, why does bitter fury go with the
sullen breed of lions, why craft with foxes, why is the instinct of flight transmitted to deer from their fathers, the lather s timidity impelling their limbs,
Footnotes
aFor the belief in the spontaneous generation of worms, see note on 2.872.
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et iam cetera de genere hoc cur omnia membris
745ex ineunte aevo generascunt ingenioque,
si non certa suo quia semine seminioque
vis animi pariter crescit cum corpore quoque?
quod si inmortalis foret et mutare soleret
corpora, permixtis animantes moribus essent:
750effugeret canis Hyrcano de semine saepe
cornigeri incursum cervi, tremeretque per auras
aeris accipiter fugiens veniente columba;
desiperent homines, saperent fera saecla ferarum.
Illud enim falsa fertur ratione, quod aiunt
755inmortalem animam mutato corpore flecti;
quod mutatur enim dissolvitur, interit ergo.
traiciuntur enim partes atque ordine migrant;
quare dissolui quoque debent posse per artus,
denique ut intereant una cum corpore cunctae.
760Sin animas hominum dicent in corpora semper
ire humana, tamen quaeram cur e sapienti
762stulta queat fieri, nec prudens sit puer ullus
764nec tam doctus equae pullus quam fortis equi vis.
765scilicet in tenero tenerascere corpore mentem
confugient. quod si iam fit, fateare necessest
mortalem esse animam, quoniam mutata per artus
tanto opere amittit vitam sensumque priorem.
Quove modo poterit pariter cum corpore quoque
770confirmata cupitum aetatis tangere florem
vis animi, nisi erit consors in origine prima?
Footnotes
747quoque OP (cf. 769): toto Q
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why are all other qualities of this sort generated in the body and the character from the beginnings of life, if not because in each seed and breed its own fixed power of mind grows along with each body? But if it were immortal, and accustomed to pass from body to body, living creatures would show confused habits: the dog of Hyrcanian breeda would often
flee before the horned stag’s onset; the hawk would tremble, flying through the air from the advancing dove; men would lack reason, the wild generations of wild beasts would have it.
754For it is based on false reasoning to say that an
immortal spirit is altered by a change of body; for that which changes is dissolved, therefore perishes, The parts of the spirit are transposed, and move from their position; therefore they must be capable of being dissolved also through the frame, to perish at last one and all with the body.
760But if they say that the spirits of men always
pass into men’s bodies, I will still ask why a foolish spirit can be made of a wise one, why no child is ever prudent, and no foal ever so accomplished as the horse of powerful strength.b No doubt they will take refuge in saying that in a tender body the mind becomes tender. But even if this is so, you must confess that the spirit is mortal, since being changed so completely throughout the body it loses its former life and feeling.
769Or how will the power of the mind be able to
grow strong together with any given body and attain the longed-for flowering of life, unless it shall be
Footnotes
aThe dogs of Hyrcania, on the south-east shore of the Caspian Sea, were noted for their ferocity. According to Cicero (Tusc. Disp. 1.45.108), the Hyrcanians thought that the best method of burial was to be torn to pieces by their dogs, and kept them especially for this purpose.
bThe mention of the horse shows that the supposition with which Lucr. is dealing is that souls of all animals, and not only human souls, remain constant to the same species.
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quidve foras sibi vult membris exire senectis?
an metuit conclusa manere in corpore putri
et domus aetatis spatio ne fessa vetusto
775obruat? at non sunt inmortali ulla pericla.
Denique conubia ad Veneris partusque ferarum
esse animas praesto deridiculum esse videtur,
expectare inmortalis mortalia membra
innumero numero certareque praeproperanter
780inter se quae prima potissimaque insinuetur;
si non forte ita sunt animarum foedera pacta
ut quae prima volans advenerit insinuetur
prima neque inter se contendant viribus hilum.
Denique in aethere non arbor, non aequore in alto
785nubes esse queunt nec pisces vivere in arvis
nec cruor in lignis neque saxis sucus inesse:
certum ac dispositumst ubi quicquid crescat et insit.
sic animi natura nequit sine corpore oriri
sola neque a nervis et sanguine longius esse.
790quod si posset enim, multo prius ipsa animi vis
in capite aut umeris aut imis calcibus esse
posset et innasci quavis in parte soleret,
tandem in eodem homine atque in eodem vase manere.
quod quoniam nostro quoque constat corpore certum
795dispositumque videtur ubi esse et crescere possit
sorsum anima atque animus, tanto magis infitiandum
totum posse extra corpus durare genique.
quare, corpus ubi interiit, periisse necessest
confiteare animam distractam in corpore toto.
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its partner in the first origin? Or why does it wish
to issue forth from a frame grown old? Does it fear to remain imprisoned in a putrefying corpse, fear lest
its house, worn out with the long lapse of years, fall in upon it? But there are no dangers for the immortal.
776Again, to suppose that spirits stand ready for the
amours and the parturition of wild beasts is plainly too ridiculous—immortal spirits awaiting mortal frames in number numberless, and struggling together in hot haste which first and foremost shall creep in; unless perhaps the spirits have contracts so arranged, that the spirit which comes flying up first may creep in first, and they need not come to blows one whit.
784Again, a tree cannot grow in the sky,a nor
clouds be in the deep sea, nor fish live in the fields, nor can blood be in sticks nor sap in rocks. It is fixed and arranged where each thing is to grow and have its being. So the nature of the mind cannot arise alone without body, nor exist far from sinews and blood. But if it could do this, the power of the mind itself could much more easily be in head or shoulders or the heels of the feet, and be born in any part, and at least remain in the same man, the same vessel.bBut since even in our body there is seen to be a fixed rule and ordinance in what place mind and spirit may exist and grow apart, so much the more must we deny that they can endure and be produced wholly outside the body. Therefore, when the body has perished, you must confess that the spirit has passed away, torn to pieces throughout the body.
Footnotes
a784–797 are repeated, with slight alterations, in 5.128–141, where Lucr. is arguing that the earth, sea, sky, sun, moon, and stars are not animate, let alone divine.
bThe argument of 790–793 is this: if the mind could exist outside the body, then, rather than do this, it would be more likely to be found in some part of the body where in fact it cannot exist; in fact, it can only exist in the breast.
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Quippe etenim mortale aeterno iungere et una
801consentire putare et fungi mutua posse
desiperest; quid enim diversius esse putandumst
aut magis inter se disiunctum discrepitansque,
quam mortale quod est inmortali atque perenni
805iunctum in concilio saevas tolerare procellas?
Praeterea quaecumque manent aeterna necessest
aut, quia sunt solido cum corpore, respuere ictus
nec penetrare pati sibi quicquam quod queat artas
dissociare intus partis, ut materiai
810corpora sunt quorum naturam ostendimus ante;
aut ideo durare aetatem posse per omnem,
plagarum quia sunt expertia, sicut inanest,
quod manet intactum neque ab ictu fungitur hilum;
aut etiam quia nulla loci sit copia circum,
815quo quasi res possint discedere dissoluique,
sicut summarum summast aeterna, neque extra
quis locus est quo diffugiant, neque corpora sunt quae
possint incidere et valida dissolvere plaga.
Quod si forte ideo magis inmortalis habendast,
820quod vitalibus ab rebus munita tenetur,
aut quia non veniunt omnino aliena salutis,
Footnotes
814sit OQP: fit Lachmann
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800In fact, to yoke mortal with immortal, and to
think that they can be partners in feeling and act upon each other, is folly; for what can be considered more discordant, more contradictory or inconsistent, than that what is mortal can be yoked together in combination with immortal and imperishable, to weather furious storms!
806Besides, whatever bodies abide everlasting must
either, being of solid structure, reject blows and allow nothing to penetrate them that could dissever asunder the close-joined parts within, as the particles of matter are, the nature of which we have shown before; or else the reason why they can endure
through all time must be that they are free from assaults, as the void is, which remains untouched and is not a whit affected by blows; or again because
there is no extent of space around into which things can as it were disperse and dissolve, as the sum of all sumsa is eternal, and there is no place without it into which its elements may escape, nor bodies to fall upon it and dissolve it asunder with a strong blow.b
819But if possibly the reason why the spirit is to
be held immortal is rather this,c that it is sheltered and protected by the forces of life, either because nothing comes at all that is hostile to its existence,
Footnotes
aThe universe.
b806–818 recur, with a few minor alterations, in 5.351–363, where Lucr. is arguing that the world is not eternal. Since the lines are better adjusted to their context in Book 5, it is reasonable to assume that Lucr. first wrote them there, and later inserted them here when it struck him that they were relevant to his argument for the mortality of the soul. It is probable that, if he had lived to complete the revision of his work, he would have incorporated the passage in its new context more satisfactorily, pointing out that since the soul does not satisfy any of the three conditions of immortality, it must be mortal.
cIt is probable that in 819–823 Lucr. is alluding, as Giussani suggests, to the condition of the immortality of the gods, who continually gain new atoms to replace those which they lose, and who survive a constant atomic bombardment in the intermundia.
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aut quia quae veniunt aliqua ratione recedunt
pulsa prius quam quid noceant sentire queamus,
. . . . . . .
praeter enim quam quod morbis cum corporis aegret,
825advenit id quod earn de rebus saepe futuris
macerat inque metu male habet curisque fatigat,
praeteritisque male admissis peccata remordent.
adde furorem animi proprium atque oblivia rerum,
adde quod in nigras lethargi mergitur undas.
830Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum,
quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur;
et, velut anteacto nil tempore sensimus aegri,
ad confligendum venientibus undique Poenis,
omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu
835horrida contremuere sub altis aetheris auris,
in dubioque fuere utrorum ad regna cadendum
omnibus humanis esset terraque marique,
sic, ubi non erimus, cum corporis atque animai
discidium fuerit, quibus e sumus uniter apti,
840scilicet haud nobis quicquam, qui non erimus tum,
accidere omnino poterit sensumque movere,
non si terra mari miscebitur et mare caelo.
Et si iam nostro sentit de corpore postquam
distractast animi natura animaeque potestas,
Footnotes
823Lambinus is almost certainly right in assuming a lacuna after this line. He inserts scilicet a vera longe ratione remotumst, which Marullus had supplied after 820. Bailey suggests e.g. hoc fieri totum contra manifesta docet res (cf. 690), already adopted by Munro in his translation. Buchner, who assumes an ellipse instead of a lacuna, overlooks the fact that Wakefield and Heinze take the same view
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or because all that does come goes back, in some way repulsed before we can perceive what harm it does, [experience manifestly shows that this cannot be true.] For not to mention that it sickens along with bodily disease, something often comes that torments it about the future, keeps it miserable in fear, wearies it with anxiety, and, when there has been evil done in the past, its sins bring remorse. Add madness which is peculiar to the mind, and forgetfulness of all things, add that it is drowned in the black waters of lethargy.
830Therefore death is nothing to us,a it matters
not one jot, since the nature of the mind is understood to be mortal; and as in time past we felt no distress, while from all quarters the Carthaginians were coming to the conflict, when the whole world, shaken by the terrifying tumult of war, shivered and quaked under the lofty and breezy heaven, and was in doubt under which domination all men were destined to fall by land and seab; so, when we shall no longer be, when the parting shall have come about between body and spirit from which we are compacted into one whole, then sure enough nothing at all will be able to happen to us, who will then no longer be, or to make us feel, not if earth be commingled with sea and sea with sky.
843And grant for the moment that the nature of
mind and power of spirit does feel after it has been torn away from our body, yet that is nothing to us,
Footnotes
anil. . . mors est ad nos (cf. 845, 850, 852, 926, 972) = ὁ
θάνaτoς oὐδὲν πpὸς ἡμᾶς (Epicurus, Sent. 2).
bThe reference is chiefly to the Second Punic War (218–201 b.c.).
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845nil tamen est ad nos, qui comptu coniugioque
corporis atque animae consistimus uniter apti.
nec, si materiem nostram collegerit aetas
post obitum rursumque redegerit ut sita nunc est,
atque iterum nobis fuerint data lumina vitae,
pertineat quicquam tamen ad nos id quoque factum,
851interrupta semel cum sit repetentia nostri.
et nunc nil ad nos de nobis attinet, ante
qui fuimus, neque iam de illis nos adficit angor.
nam cum respicias inmensi temporis omne
855praeteritum spatium, tum motus materiai
multimodi quam sint, facile hoc adcredere possis,
semina saepe in eodem, ut nunc sunt, ordine posta
865haec eadem, quibus e nunc nos sumus, ante fuisse.
858nec memori tamen id quimus reprehendere mente;
859860inter enim iectast vitai pausa, vageque
860deerrarunt passim motus ab sensibus omnes.
861Debet enim, misere si forte aegreque futurumst,
862ipse quoque esse in eo tum tempore, cui male possit
863accidere. id quoniam mors eximit, esseque probet
864865illum cui possint incommoda conciliari,
scire licet nobis nil esse in morte timendum,
nec miserum fieri qui non est posse, neque hilum
differre an nullo fuerit iam tempore natus,
mortalem vitam mors cum inmortalis ademit.
Footnotes
853neque Lachmann: omitted by OQ: nec Marullus: nil Merrill (1917)
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who by the welding and wedding together of body
and spirit exist compacted into one whole. Even if time should gather together our matter after death and bring it back again as it is now placed, and if once more the light of life should be given to us, yet it would not matter one bit to us that even this had been done, when the recollection of ourselves has once been broken asunder. And even now we are not concerned at all about any self which we have been before, nor does any anguish about it now touch us. For when you look back upon all the past expanse of measureless time, and think how various are the motions of matter, you may easily come to believe that these same seeds of which now we consist have been often before placed in the same arrangement they now are in. And yet we cannot call that back by memory; for in between has been cast a stoppage of life,a and all the motions have wandered and scattered afar from those sensations.b
862For,c if by chance anyone is to have misery and
pain in the future, he must himself also exist then in that time to be miserable. Since death takes away this possibility, and forbids him to exist for whom these inconveniences may be gathered together, we may be sure that there is nothing to be feared after death, that he who is not cannot be miserable, that it makes not one jot of difference whether or notd he has ever been born, when death the immortal has taken away his mortal life.
Footnotes
aThe tmesis inter . . . iectast (860) well emphasizes the interruption of life which Lucr. is describing. Cf. e.g. 5.287, where the interruption of the sun’s light is reflected and emphasized in radios inter quasi rumpere lucis. And the tmesis is similarly appropriate to the sense in e.g. 1.452, 651, 3.262, 5.299, 1374, 6.332.
bThe atoms may be the same, but their motions have lost all connexion with the earlier sensations.
cLucr. abruptly resumes his main argument, which he interrupted at 843. The intervening passage (843–861) is parenthetic, though relevant to the contention that death is nothing to us.
dIn 868, between differre and an, supply utrum aliquo tempore natus fuerit.
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Proinde ubi se videas hominem indignarier ipsum,
871post mortem fore ut aut putescat corpore posto
aut flammis interfiat malisve ferarum,
scire licet non sincerum sonere atque subesse
caecum aliquem cordi stimulum, quamvis neget ipse
credere se quemquam sibi sensum in morte futurum;
876non, ut opinor, enim dat quod promittit et unde,
nec radicitus e vita se tollit et eicit,
sed facit esse sui quiddam super inscius ipse.
vivus enim sibi cum proponit quisque futurum,
880corpus uti volucres lacerent in morte feraeque,
ipse sui miseret; neque enim se dividit illim
nec removet satis a proiecto corpore, et illum
se fingit sensuque suo contaminat astans.
hinc indignatur se mortalem esse creatum,
885nec videt in vera nullum fore morte alium se
qui possit vivus sibi se lugere peremptum
stansque iacentem se lacerari urive dolere.
nam si in morte malumst malis morsuque ferarum
tractari, non invenio qui non sit acerbum
890ignibus inpositum calidis torrescere flammis
aut in melle situm suffocari atque rigere
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870Accordingly, when you see a man resenting his
fate, that after death he must either rot with his body laid in the tomb, or perish by fire or the jaws of wild beasts,a you may know that he rings false, and that deep in his heart is some hidden sting, although himself he deny the belief in any sensation after death. He does not, I think, admit what he professes to admit, nor the premise from which his profession is derivedb; he does not wholly uproot and eject himself from life, but unknown to himself he makes something of himself to survive. For when
anyone in life anticipates that birds and beasts will mangle his body after death, he pities himself; for he does not distinguish himself from that thing,c he does not separate himself sufficiently from the body there cast out, he imagines himself to be that and, standing beside it, infects it with his own feeling. Hence he resents that he was born mortal, and does not see that in real death there will be no other self that could live to bewail his perished self, or stand by to feel pain that he lay there lacerated or burning. Ford if after death it is an evil to be mauled by the jaws and teeth of wild beasts, I do not see how it should not be unpleasant to be laid upon the fire and to shrivel in the hot flames, or to be packed in honey
Footnotes
aPerhaps an allusion to the custom of the Magi. Cf. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1.45.108: Magorum mos est non humare corpora suorum, nisi a feris sint ante laniata. And see note on 750 for the custom of the Hyrcanians.
bWhat he professes to admit is that there is no feeling after death; the premise is that the soul does not survive after death. For the attitude of the Epicurean, cf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 73.1. Smith: “[I follow you (Epicurus)] when you make [these] statements about death, and you have persuaded me to laugh at it. For I have no fear on account of the Tityoses and Tantaluses whom some describe in Hades, nor do I shudder [when I reflect upon] the decomposition of the body, [being convinced that we have no feeling, once the] soul [is without sensation,] or anything else.”
cThat is, from his own dead body.
dnam (888) refers to uri (887), its full force being: “I mention being burnt, for ...”
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frigore, cum summo gelidi cubat aequore saxi,
urgerive superne obtritum pondere terrae.
“Iam iam non domus accipiet te laeta neque uxor
895optima, nec dulces occurrent oscula nati
praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent.
non poteris factis florentibus esse, tuisque
praesidium. misero misere,” aiunt, “omnia ademit
una dies infesta tibi tot praemia vitae.”
900illud in his rebus non addunt: “nec tibi earum
iam desiderium rerum super insidet una.”
quod bene si videant animo dictisque sequantur,
dissoluant animi magno se angore metuque.
905“Tu quidem ut es leto sopitus, sic eris aevi
quod superest cunctis privatu’ doloribus aegris;
at nos horrifico cinefactum te prope busto
insatiabiliter deflevimus, aeternumque
nulla dies nobis maerorem e pectore demet.”
illud ab hoc igitur quaerendum est, quid sit amari
tanto opere, ad somnum si res redit atque quietem,
911cur quisquam aeterno possit tabescere luctu.
Hoc etiam faciunt ubi discubuere tenentque
Footnotes
893obtritum Marullus: obrutum OQP, Martin: obruptum Codex Bodleianus Auct. F.1.13: operitum (=opertum) Wakefield
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and stifled, and to be stiff with cold lying upon a slab of cold marble,a or to be buried and crushed under a weight of superimposed earth.
894“No longer now will your happy home give
you welcome, no longer will your best of wives; no longer will your sweet children race to win the first kisses, and thrill your heart to its depths with sweetness.b You will no longer be able to live in prosperity, and to protect your own. Poor man, poor man!” they say, “one fatal day has robbed you of all these prizes of life.”c But they do not go on to
add: “No longer too does any craving possess you for these things.” If they could see this clearly in mind and so conform their speech, they would free themselves from great anguish and fear of mind.
904“Yes, you, as you now lie in death’s quiet
sleep, so you will be for all time that is to come, removed from all distressing pains; but we beside you, as you lay burnt to ashes on the horrible pyre, have bewailed you inconsolably, and that everlasting grief no time shall take from our hearts.” Of such
a speaker then we may well ask, if all ends in sleep and quiet rest, what bitterness there is in it so great that one could pine with everlasting sorrow.
912This also is the way among men, when they
Footnotes
a“The chilly discomfort of this situation, in which the body has no covering (summo . . . aequore), is ironically contrasted with that of the buried body, which has too much” (Kenney).
b894–896 are imitated by Virgil, G. 2.523–524, and almost certainly influenced Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 21–24: “For them no more the blazing hearth shall hum, | Or busy housewife ply her evening care: | No children run to lisp their sire’s return, | Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.”
cIt is important to realize that in 894–899 and 904–908 Lucr. is parodying the conventional utterances of the bereaved, with whose sentiments he disagrees (cf. 900–903, 909–911). See D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 28–29, and Kenney’s commentary.
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pocula saepe homines et inumbrant ora coronis,
ex animo ut dicant: “brevis hic est fructus homullis;
915iam fuerit neque post umquam revocare licebit.”
tamquam in morte mali cum primis hoc sit eorum,
quod sitis exurat miseros atque arida torrat,
aut aliae cuius desiderium insideat rei.
nec sibi enim quisquam tum se vitamque requirit,
920cum pariter mens et corpus sopita quiescunt;
nam licet aeternum per nos sic esse soporem,
nec desiderium nostri nos adficit ullum.
et tamen haudquaquam nostros tunc illa per artus
longe ab sensiferis primordia motibus errant,
925cum correptus homo ex somno se colligit ipse.
multo igitur mortem minus ad nos esse putandumst,
si minus esse potest quam quod nil esse videmus;
maior enim turbae disiectus materiai
consequitur leto, nec quisquam expergitus exstat,
930frigida quem semel est vitai pausa secuta.
Denique si vocem rerum natura repente
mittat et hoc alicui nostrum sic increpet ipsa:
“quid tibi tanto operest, mortalis, quod nimis aegris
luctibus indulges? quid mortem congemis ac fles?
935nam si grata fuit tibi vita anteacta priorque
Footnotes
917torrat Q, O corr., BL: torret OA: torreat (with synizesis) Gifanius: tortet N. H. Romanes, Notes on the Text of Lucretius (1934), anticipating M. L. West, CR N.S. 11 (1961) 203–204
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have laid themselves down at table and hold goblets
in their hands and shade their brows with garlands, that they often say from their hearts: “Short enjoyment is given to poor mankind; soon it will be gone, and none will ever be able to recall it.” As if
after death their chief trouble will be to be miserably consumed and parched by a burning thirst, a craving possess them for some other thing! In fact, no one feels the want of himself and his life when both mind and body alike are quiet in sleep; for all we care that sleep might be everlasting, and no craving for ourselves touches us at all; and yet those first-beginnings dispersed through our body are not straying far from sense-giving motions at the time when a man, startled from sleep, gathers himself together.a Death therefore must be
thought of much less moment to us, if there can be anything less than what we see to be nothing; for a greater dispersion of the disturbed matter takes place at death, and no one awakens and rises whom the cold stoppage of life has once overtaken.
931Besides, suppose that nature should suddenly
utter a voice, and thus take her tum to upbraid one of usb: “What ails you so, O mortal, to indulge overmuch in sickly lamentations? Why do you groan aloud and weep at death? For if your former
life now past has been to your liking, if it is not true
Footnotes
aCf. 4.916–918.
bBy the skilful rhetorical device of personifying Nature and making her deliver the sharp rebukes that follow (933–949, 955–962), Lucr. tactfully avoids offending Memmius and his other readers. Later (1024–1052) he puts a harsh rebuke into the mouth of Memmius himself—another effective device whereby he avoids giving offence. Cf. B. Farrington, Anales de Filología Clásica 1 (1959) 29–30.
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et non omnia pertusum congesta quasi in vas
commoda perfluxere atque ingrata interiere,
cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis
aequo animoque capis securam, stulte, quietem?
940sin ea quae fructus cumque es periere profusa
vitaque in offensost, cur amplius addere quaeris,
rursum quod pereat male et ingratum occidat omne,
non potius vitae finem facis atque laboris?
nam tibi praeterea quod machiner inveniamque,
945quod placeat, nil est: eadem sunt omnia semper.
si tibi non annis corpus iam marcet et artus
confecti languent, eadem tamen omnia restant,
omnia si perges vivendo vincere saecla,
atque etiam potius, si numquam sis moriturus”;
950quid respondemus, nisi iustam intendere litem
naturam et veram verbis exponere causam?
955Grandior hic vero si iam seniorque queratur
952atque obitum lamentetur miser amplius aequo,
953non merito inclamet magis et voce increpet acri?
954955“aufer abhinc lacrimas, baratre, et compesce que-
rellas!
omnia perfunctus vitai praemia marces;
sed quia semper aves quod abest, praesentia temnis,
inperfecta tibi elapsast ingrataque vita,
et nec opinanti mors ad caput adstitit ante
960quam satur ac plenus possis discedere rerum.
Footnotes
941offensost Q, O corr. by Dungal, P: offensast Codex Musaei Britannici (Harleian 2554) (cf. Cicero, Att. 9.2a.2): offensust Lambinus
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that all your blessings have been gathered as it were
into a riddled jar,a and have run through and been lost without gratification, why not, like a banqueter fed full of life, withdraw with contentment and rest in peace, you fool? But if all that you have enjoyed has been spilt out and lost, and if you have a grudge at life, why seek to add more, only to be miserably lost again and to perish wholly without gratification? Why not rather make an end of life and trouble? For there is nothing else I can devise and
invent to please you: everything is always the same. If your body is not already withering with years and your limbs worn out and languid, yet everything remains the same, even if you shall go on to outlive all generations, and even more if you should be destined never to die.” What have we to answer, but that nature urges against us a just charge and in her plea sets forth a true case?
952But if in this regard some older man, well
stricken in years, should make complaint, wretchedly bewailing his death more than he ought, would she not have reason to cry more loudly still and to upbraid in bitter words?b “Away, away with your tears, ruffian, check your lamentations! All life’s prizes you have enjoyed and now you wither. But because you always crave what you have not, and contemn what you have, life has slipped by for you incomplete and ungratifying, and death stands by your head unexpected, before you can retire glutted and full of the feast. But now in any case dismiss
Footnotes
aAn allusion to the story of the Danaids. Cf. 1003–1010; also 6.20–21.
bCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 47.III 10-IV.2 Smith: “How can we justly bring a complaint against nature, if someone who has lived for so many years and months and days [comes to his last day]?”
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nunc aliena tua tamen aetate omnia mitte
aequo animoque agedum iam annis concede: neces-
sest.”
iure, ut opinor, agat, iure increpet inciletque;
cedit enim rerum novitate extrusa vetustas
965semper, et ex aliis aliud reparare necessest;
nec quisquam in barathrum nec Tartara deditur atra:
materies opus est ut crescant postera saecla,
quae tamen omnia te vita perfuncta sequentur;
nec minus ergo ante haec quam tu cecidere, cadent-
que.
970sic alid ex alio numquam desistet oriri
vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.
respice item quam nil ad nos anteacta vetustas
temporis aeterni fuerit, quam nascimur ante.
hoc igitur speculum nobis natura futuri
975temporis exponit post mortem denique nostram.
numquid ibi horribile apparet? num triste videtur
quicquam? non omni somno securius exstat?
Atque ea nimirum quaecumque Acherunte pro-
fundo
prodita sunt esse, in vita sunt omnia nobis.
980nec miser inpendens magnum timet aere saxum
Tantalus, ut famast, cassa formidine torpens;
Footnotes
962agedum ABF: agendum OQ: age nunc Merrill (1917) tentatively iam annis (annis Merrill) A. Krokiewicz, Lucr. III, Lublin (1921), A. Traina, Maia 5 (1952) 283–287 (cf. M. F. Smith, CR N.S. 16 [1966] 264): magnis OQP: iam aliis Marullus: gnatis Bernays
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all that does not befit your age, and with equanimity, come now, yield to your years: thus it must
be.” She would be right, I think, to bring her charge, right to upbraid and reproach. For the old order always passes, thrust out by the new, and one thing has to be made afresh from others; but no one is de livered into the pit of black Tartarus: matter is wanted, that coming generations may growa; and yet
they all, when their life is done, will follow you, and so, no less than you, these generations have passed away before now, and will continue to pass away. So one thing will never cease to arise from another, and no man possesses life in freehold—all as tenants.b Look back also and see how the ages of everlasting time past before we were born have been to us nothing. This therefore is a mirror which nature holds up to
us, showing the time to come after we at length shall die. Is there any thing horrible in that? Is there anything gloomy? Is it not more peaceful than any sleep?
978And assuredly whatsoever things are fabled to exist in deep Acheron, these all exist for us in this life. There is no wretched Tantalus,c as the story
goes, fearing the great rock that hangs over him in
Footnotes
aCf. 1.263–264, 2.71–79.
bmancipium is the legal process by which the full ownership of real property and slaves or animals is transferred: usus, the right of use, usufruct.
cAccording to Homer, Tantalus’ punishment was to stand up to his chin in water which receded whenever he stooped to drink, and to be surrounded by fruit-laden branches which, whenever he tried to pluck the fruit, the wind blew out of reach. However, because it better suits his allegorizing purpose (see especially D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 98), Lucr. adopts the version of Tantalus’ punishment favoured by the Greek lyric and tragic poets (cf. Cicero, Fin. 1.18.60, Tusc. Disp. 4.16.35). For Diogenes of Oenoanda’s scorn for the Tityoses and Tantaluses in Hades, see on 876.
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sed magis in vita divom metus urget inanis
mortalis, casumque timent quem cuique ferat fors.
Nec Tityon volucres ineunt Acherunte iacentem
985nec quod sub magno scrutentur pectore quicquam
perpetuam aetatem possunt reperire profecto.
quamlibet immani proiectu corporis exstet,
qui non sola novem dispessis iugera membris
obtineat, sed qui terrai totius orbem,
990non tamen aeternum poterit perferre dolorem
nec praebere cibum proprio de corpore semper.
sed Tityos nobis hic est, in amore iacentem
quem volucres lacerant atque exest anxius angor
aut alia quavis scindunt cuppedine curae.
995Sisyphus in vita quoque nobis ante oculos est,
qui petere a populo fasces saevasque secures
imbibit et semper victus tristisque recedit.
nam petere imperium quod inanest nec datur um-
quam,
atque in eo semper durum sufferre laborem,
1000hoc est adverso nixantem trudere monte
saxum quod tamen e summo iam vertice rursum
volvitur et plani raptim petit aequora campi.
Deinde animi ingratam naturam pascere semper
atque explere bonis rebus satiareque numquam—
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the air and frozen with vain terror; rather it is in
this life that the fear of gods oppresses mortals without cause, and the falla they fear is any that chance may bring.
984No Tityosb lying in Acheron is rummaged by winged creatures, nor assuredly can they find in eternity anything at all to dig for deep in that vast breast. Wide as you will, let that huge body be spread forth, enough to cover not nine acres only with the outstretched limbs, but the whole globe of earth: yet he will not be able to bear pain for ever, nor to provide food from his own body always. But Tityos is here among us, the man who, as he liesc in
love, is torn by winged creaturesd and devoured by agonizing anguish or rent by anxieties through some other passion.
995Sisyphuse also appears in this life before our
eyes, athirst to solicit from the people the lictor’s rods and cruel axes, and always retiring defeated and full of gloom: for to solicit power, an empty thing, which is never granted, and always to endure hard toil in the pursuit of it, this is to push laboriously up a hill the rock that still rolls down again from the very top, and in a rush recovers the levels of the open plain.f
1003Then to be always feeding an ungrateful mind,
yet never able to fill and satisfy it with good things—
Footnotes
aLucr. exploits the double meaning of casum = “mischance” (figurative) and “fall” (literal, in reference to the stone threatening Tantalus). Cf. 992–994, 1002.
bA giant who tried to rape Leto. His punishment was to have two vultures eternally feeding on his liver. Lucr. follows the account of Homer, Od. 11.576–581.
cThe repetition of iacentem from 984 is deliberate.
dKenney has rightly argued that volucres, which in 984 = “birds,” here (993) refers to the Cupidines or “Loves.” See his commentary and, for a fuller discussion, PCPS N.S. 16 (1970) 44–47. However, it should be noted that the meaning had already been understood by Pius, who comments on volucres: “curae et alati cupidines.”
eFor the punishment of Sisyphus, cf. Homer, Od. 11.593–600, whom Lucr. follows.
fAgain (cf. 983, 992–994) a double meaning: plani raptim petit aequora campi suggests the candidate (petitor) hurrying back to the Campus Martius to seek re-election (see D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 102). For the likelihood that a passage about Ixion has dropped out after 1002, see esp. H. D. Jocelyn, Acta Classica 29 (1986) 49–51.
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1005quod faciunt nobis annorum tempora, circum
cum redeunt fetusque ferunt variosque lepores,
nec tamen explemur vitai fructibus umquam—
hoc, ut opinor, id est, aevo florente puellas
quod memorant laticem pertusum congerere in vas,
1010quod tamen expleri nulla ratione potestur.
Cerberus et Furiae iam vero et lucis egestas,
Tartarus horriferos eructans faucibus aestus—
qui neque sunt usquam nec possunt esse profecto.
sed metus in vita poenarum pro male factis
1015est insignibus insignis, scelerisque luella—
carcer et horribilis de saxo iactu’ deorsum,
verbera carnifices robur pix lammina taedae;
quae tamen etsi absunt, at mens sibi conscia factis
praemetuens adhibet stimulos torretque flagellis,
1020nec videt interea qui terminus esse malorum
possit nec quae sit poenarum denique finis,
atque eadem metuit magis haec ne in morte graves-
cant.
hic Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita.
Hoc etiam tibi tute interdum dicere possis:
1025“lumina sis oculis etiam bonus Ancu’ reliquit,
qui melior multis quam tu fuit, improbe, rebus.
inde alii multi reges rerumque potentes
Footnotes
1011Munro assumes a lacuna after this verse, and Bailey once argued for a lacuna after 1012. For the probability that some lines are indeed lost, see H. D. Jocelyn, Acta Classica 29 (1986) 47–49
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as the seasons of the year do for us when they come
round bringing their fruits and manifold charms, yet we are never filled with the fruits of life—this, I think, is meant by the tale of the damselsa in the flower of their age pouring water into a riddled urn, which, for all their trying, can never be filled.
1011Cerberusb also and the Furies and the with-holding
of light, and Tartarus belching horrible fires from his throat—these neither exist anywhere nor in truth can exist. But in this life there is fear of punishment for evil deeds, fear as notorious as the deeds are notorious, and atonement for crime—prison, and the horrible casting down from the Rock, stripes, executioners, condemned cell,c pitch, red-hot plates, firebrands; and even if these are absent, yet the guilty conscience, terrified before anything can come to pass, applies the goad and scorches itself with whips, and meanwhile does not see where can be the end to its miseries or the final limit to its punishment, and fears that these same afflictions may become heavier after death. The fool’s life at length becomes a hell on earth.
1024This thought also you may at times address to
yourselfd: “Even good Ancus has closed his eyes on the light,e who was better than you, unconscionable man, in many ways.f After him many other
Footnotes
aThe Danaids.
bThe monstrous watch-dog at the entrance to the lower world.
crobur almost certainly refers to the Tullianum, the execution-cell of the prison at Rome. The most notable prisoners executed there were Jugurtha (104 b.c.) and the Catilinarian conspirators (63 b.c.). saxum (1016) is the Tarpeian Rock on the Capitol.
dSee note on 932.
eA quotation from Ennius, Ann. 149V: postquam lumina sis oculis bonus Ancu’ reliquit. According to tradition, Ancus Marcius was the fourth king of Rome.
fCf. Homer, II. 21.107: “Even Patroclus died, and he was a far better man than you.”
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occiderunt, magnis qui gentibus imperitarunt.
ille quoque ipse, viam qui quondam per mare magnum
1030stravit iterque dedit legionibus ire per altum
ac pedibus salsas docuit super ire lacunas
et contempsit equis insultans murmura ponti,
lumine adempto animam moribundo corpore fudit.
Scipiadas, belli fulmen, Carthaginis horror,
1035ossa dedit terrae proinde ac famul infimus esset.
adde repertores doctrinarum atque leporum,
adde Heliconiadum comites, quorum unus Homerus
sceptra potitus eadem aliis sopitu’ quietest.
denique Democritum postquam matura vetustas
1040admonuit memores motus languescere mentis,
sponte sua leto caput obvius obtulit ipse.
ipse Epicurus obit decurso lumine vitae,
qui genus humanum ingenio superavit et omnis
restinxit, stellas exortus ut aetherius sol.
1045tu vero dubitabis et indignabere obire,
mortua cui vita est prope iam vivo atque videnti,
qui somno partem maiorem conteris aevi
et vigilans stertis nec somnia cernere cessas
sollicitamque geris cassa formidine mentem
Footnotes
1042lumine OQP: limite Pius (notes)
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kings and potentates have fallen, who ruled over
great nations. Even he himself,a who once paved a road across the great sea for his armies to pass over the deep, and taught them to walk on foot over the salt bays, and despised the roarings of the ocean as he trampled upon it with his cavalry, he also was robbed of the light and poured his spirit out of a dying body. The son of the house of Scipio, thunderbolt
of war,b terror of Carthage, gave his bones to the earth as though he had been the humblest menial. Add the inventors in the worlds of science and beauty,
add the companions of the Heliconian maids,c whose one and only king, Homer, has been laid to rest in the same sleep with all the others. Democritus
again, when ripe old age warned him that the recording motions of his mindd were beginning to fail, of his own free will himself offered his head to death. Epicurus himself died when the light of life had run its course,e he whose intellect surpassed humanity, who quenched the light of all as the risen sun of heaven quenches the stars. And will you hesitate,
will you be indignant to die? You whose life is now all but dead though you live and see, you who waste the greater part of your time in sleep, who snore
open-eyed and never cease to see dreams, who bear with you a mind plagued with vain terror, who often
Footnotes
aXerxes, who in 480 b.c. built a pontoon bridge over the Hellespont.
bProbably an imitation of Ennius (the end of 1035 is from Ann. 313V). Munro thinks that the comparison may have been suggested by a false derivation of Scipio from σκηπτός (= “thunderbolt”). The Scipio to whom Lucr. refers is the elder Africanus, who defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 b.c.
cThe Muses.
dLucr. appropriately uses the language of an atomist to describe the failing powers of Democritus, who is said to have starved himself to death (cf. 1041).
eThe only mention of Epicurus’ name in the entire poem. The editors point out that decurso lumine is a mixture of two metaphors, decurso spatio and extincto lumine. The combination results naturally from the conception of the sun (to which Epicurus is compared) as both lamp and chariot(eer): cf. e.g. 5.397–404. 1043–1044 almost certainly owe something to the epigram on Homer by Leonidas of Tarentum (Anth. Pal. 9.24)—an epigram of which the reference to Homer in 1037 perhaps put Lucr. in mind.
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1050nec reperire potes tibi quid sit saepe mali, cum
ebrius urgeris multis miser undique curis
atque animi incerto fluitans errore vagaris?”
Si possent homines, proinde ac sentire videntur
pondus inesse animo quod se gravitate fatiget,
1055e quibus id fiat causis quoque noscere et unde
tanta mali tamquam moles in pectore constet,
haud ita vitam agerent, ut nunc plerumque videmus
quid sibi quisque velit nescire et quaerere semper
commutare locum, quasi onus deponere possit.
1060exit saepe foras magnis ex aedibus ille,
esse domi quem pertaesumst, subitoque revertit,
quippe foris nilo melius qui sentiat esse.
currit agens mannos ad villam praecipitanter,
auxilium tectis quasi ferre ardentibus instans;
1065oscitat extemplo, tetigit cum limina villae,
aut abit in somnum gravis atque oblivia quaerit,
aut etiam properans urbem petit atque revisit.
hoc se quisque modo fugit, at quem scilicet, ut fit,
effugere haud potis est, ingratis haeret et odit,
1070propterea morbi quia causam non tenet aeger;
quam bene si videat, iam rebus quisque relictis
naturam primum studeat cognoscere rerum,
temporis aeterni quoniam, non unius horae,
Footnotes
1052animi Lambinus: animo OQP
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cannot discover what is amiss with you, when you are oppressed, poor drunken wretch, by a host of cares on all sides, while you wander drifting on the wayward tides of impulse!”
1053Just as men evidently feel that there is a
weight on their minds which wearies with its oppression, if so they could also recognize from what causes it comes, and what makes so great a mountain of misery to lie on their hearts, they would not so live their lives as now we generally see them do, each ignorant what he wants,a each seeking always to change his place as if he could drop his burden. The man who has been bored to death at home often goes forth from his great mansion, and then suddenly returns because he feels himself no better abroad. off he courses, driving his Gallic poniesb to his country house in headlong haste, as if he were bringing urgent help to a house on fire. The moment he has reached the threshold of the house, he yawns, or falls into heavy sleep and seeks oblivion, or even makes haste to get back and see the city again. Thus each man tries to flee from himself, but to that
self, from which of course he can never escape, he clings against his will, and hates it, because he is a sick man that does not know the cause of his complaint; for could he see that well, at once each would throw his business aside and first study to
learn the nature of things, since the matter in doubt is not his state for one hour, but for eternity, in what
Footnotes
aWith this passage Lambinus (Bailey credits Ernout with the quotation) compares Ennius, Sc. 234–241V.
bNoted for their speed. With this whole passage cf. Matthew Arnold, Obermann Once More 97–104: “In his cool hall, with haggard eyes, | The Roman noble lay; | He drove abroad in furious guise, | Along the Appian way. | He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, | And crown’d his hair with flowers— | No easier nor no quicker pass’d | The impracticable hours”
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Lucretius
1074ambigitur status, in quo sit mortalibus omnis
aetas, post mortem quae restat cumque, manenda.
Denique tanto opere in dubiis trepidare periclis
quae mala nos subigit vitai tanta cupido?
certa quidem finis vitae mortalibus adstat,
nec devitari letum pote quin obeamus.
praeterea versamur ibidem atque insumus usque,
1081nec nova vivendo procuditur ulla voluptas;
sed dum abest quod avemus, id exsuperare videtur
cetera; post aliud, cum contigit illud, avemus,
et sitis aequa tenet vitai semper hiantis.
posteraque in dubiost fortunam quam vehat aetas,
1086quidve ferat nobis casus quive exitus instet.
nec prorsum vitam ducendo demimus hilum
tempore de mortis nec delibare valemus,
quo minus esse diu possimus forte perempti.
1090proinde licet quot vis vivendo condere saecla:
mors aeterna tamen nilo minus illa manebit,
nec minus ille diu iam non erit, ex hodierno
lumine qui finem vitai fecit, et ille,
mensibus atque annis qui multis occidit ante.
Footnotes
1075manenda Lambinus: manendo OQP
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state mortals must expect all time to be passed which remains after death.
1076Besides, what is this great and evil lust of life
that drives us to be so greatly agitated amidst doubt and peril? There is an end fixed for the life of mortals, and death cannot be avoided, but die we must. Again we move and have our being always amidst the same things, and by living we cannot
forge for ourselves any new pleasure; but while we have not what we crave, that seems to surpass all else; afterwards, when we have attained that, we crave something else; one unchanging thirst of life fills us and our mouths are for ever agape. And it is uncertain what fortune the next years may bring, what chance has in store, what end awaits us. And
by protracting life we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death, nor are we able to diminish that, so as to leave perhaps a shorter time after our taking off. Therefore you may live to complete as many generations as you will: nevertheless that everlasting death will still be waiting, and no less long a time will he be no more, who has made an end of life with to-day’s sun, than he who fell many a month and year before.
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Lucretius
Liber Quartus
Avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante
trita solo, iuvat integros accedere fontis
atque haurire, iuvatque novos decerpere flores
insignemque meo capiti petere inde coronam
5unde prius nulli velarint tempora Musae:
primum quod magnis doceo de rebus et artis
religionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo,
deinde quod obscura de re tam lucida pango
carmina, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore.
10id quoque enim non ab nulla ratione videtur;
nam veluti pueris absinthia taetra medentes
cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum
contingunt mellis dulci flavoque liquore,
ut puerorum aetas inprovida ludificetur
15labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum
absinthi laticem deceptaque non capiatur,
sed potius tali pacto recreata valescat,
sic ego nunc, quoniam haec ratio plerumque videtur
tristior esse quibus non est tractata, retroque
20volgus abhorret ab hac, volui tibi suaviloquenti
carmine Pierio rationem exponere nostram
et quasi musaeo dulci contingere melle,
si tibi forte animum tali ratione tenere
Footnotes
8pango (cf. 1.933) ABCF: pando OQL, Wakefield
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Book 4
A pathless country of the Pierides I traverse, where
no other foot has ever trod. I love to approach virgin springs, and there to drink; I love to pluck new flowers, and to seek an illustrious chaplet for my head from fields whence before this the Muses have crowned the brows of none: first because my teaching is of high matters, and I proceed to set free the mind from the close knots of superstition; next because the subject is so dark and the verses I write so clear, touching every part with the Muses’ grace. For even this seems not to be out of place; but as with children, when physicians try to administer rank wormwood, they first touch the rim of the cups all about with the sweet yellow fluid of honey, that unthinking childhood may be deluded as far as the lips, and meanwhile that they may drink up the bitter juice of wormwood, and though beguiled be not betrayed, but rather by such means be restored and regain health, so now do I: since this doctrine commonly seems somewhat harsh to those who have not used it, and the people shrink back from it, I have chosen to set forth my doctrine to you in sweet-speaking Pierian song, and as it were to touch it with the Muses’ delicious honey, if by chance in such a
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Lucretius
versibus in nostris possem, dum percipis omnem
25naturam rerum ac persentis utilitatem.
Atque animi quoniam docui natura quid esset
et quibus e rebus cum corpore compta vigeret
quove modo distracta rediret in ordia prima,
nunc agere incipiam tibi, quod vementer ad has res
30attinet, esse ea quae rerum simulacra vocamus;
quae, quasi membranae summo de corpore rerum
dereptae, volitant ultroque citroque per auras,
atque eadem nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes
terrificant atque in somnis, cum saepe figuras
35contuimur miras simulacraque luce carentum,
quae nos horrifice languentis saepe sopore
excierunt; ne forte animas Acherunte reamur
effugere aut umbras inter vivos volitare
neve aliquid nostri post mortem posse relinqui,
40cum corpus simul atque animi natura perempta
in sua discessum dederint primordia quaeque.
dico igitur rerum effigias tenuisque figuras
mittier ab rebus summo de corpore eorum;
id licet hinc quamvis hebeti cognoscere corde.
Footnotes
43eorum (cf. 101, 1.450) OQABL: rerum (cf. 64) Lachmann
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way I might engage your mind in my verses, while you are learning to understand the whole nature of things and perceive its utility.a
26Now, since I have explained what is the nature
of the mind, from what elements it takes its strength when combined with the body, and how when torn away from the body it returns to its first elements, you shall now see me begin to deal with what is of high importance for this subject, and to show that there exist what we call imagesb of things; which, like filmsc drawn from the outermost surface
of things, flit about hither and thither through the air; it is these same that, encountering us in wakeful hours, terrify our minds, as also in sleep, when we often behold wonderful shapes and images of the dead, which have often aroused us in horror while we lay languid in sleepd; lest by chance we should think that spirits escape from Acheron or ghosts flit about amongst the living, or that anything of us can be left after death, when body and mind both taken off together have dissolved abroad, each into its own first-beginnings. I say, therefore, that semblances and thin shapes of things are thrown off from their outer surface. This can be recognized by the dullest brain from what follows.
Footnotes
a1-25 = 1.926-950, except for minor variations in 11, 24, 25 and possibly (see critical notes) 8, 17.
bsimulacra is Lucr.’s most common term for what Epicurus calls εἴδωλα (“images”) or τύποι (“impressions”), and it is indeed a literal translation of εἴδωλα. Other words which Lucr. uses less frequently are imagines, effigiae, figurae. The simulacra, as he is going to explain, are fine atomic films constantly and rapidly discharged from the surface of all things. When the films, which are similar in shape to the objects from which they emanate, impinge on our eyes, they cause vision; when they enter our minds, they cause thoughts or dreams, according to whether we are awake or asleep. Cf. especially Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 46-52, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 9 Smith, Usener 317–319.
cmembranae (cf. 51, 59, 95) is no doubt a translation of ὑμένες, which, though it is not found in Epicurus’ extant works, occurs in Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 10. V.3 Smith.
dCf. 1.132-135.
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Lucretius
45[Sed quoniam docui cunctarum exordia rerum
qualia sint et quam variis distantia formis
sponte sua volitent aeterno percita motu
quoque modo possit res ex his quaeque creari,
nunc agere incipiam tibi, quod vementer ad has res
50attinet, esse ea quae rerum simulacra vocamus,
quae quasi membranae vel cortex nominitandast,
quod speciem ac formam similem gerit eius imago
cuiuscumque cluet de corpore fusa vagari.]
Principio quoniam mittunt in rebus apertis
55corpora res multae, partim diffusa solute,
robora ceu fumum mittunt ignesque vaporem,
et partim contexta magis condensaque, ut olim
cum teretis ponunt tunicas aestate cicadae,
et vituli cum membranas de corpore summo
60nascentes mittunt, et item cum lubrica serpens
exuit in spinis vestem (nam saepe videmus
illorum spoliis vepres volitantibus auctas)—
quae quoniam fiunt, tenuis quoque debet imago
ab rebus mitti summo de corpore rerum.
65nam cur illa cadant magis ab rebusque recedant
quam quae tenvia sunt, hiscendist nulla potestas,
praesertim cum sint in summis corpora rebus
multa minuta, iaci quae possint ordine eodem
quo fuerint et formai servare figuram,
70et multo citius, quanto minus indupediri
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45[Buta since I have shown of what kind are the beginnings of all things, and in how varying and different shapes they fly of their own accord driven in everlasting motion, and how all things can be produced from these, you shall now see me begin to deal with what is of high importance for this subject, and to show that there exist what we term images of things, which are to be called as it were their films or bark, because the image bears a look and shape like the object, whatever it is, from whose body it is shed to go on its way.]
54In the first place, since amongst visible things
many throw off bodies, sometimes loosely diffused abroad, as wood throws off smoke and fire heat, sometimes more close-knit and condensed, as often when cicadas drop their neat coats in summer, and when calves at birth throw off the caul from their outermost surface, and also when the slippery serpent casts off his vesture amongst the thorns (for we often see the brambles enriched with their flying spoils): since these things happen, a thin image must also be thrown off from things, from the outermost surface of things. Why thin films should not fall and be thrown off from, things as much as those others,b no one could whisper a reason, especially since there are numerous minute bodies on the outermost side of things, which can be cast off in the same arrangement they were in before, preserving the shape of the object, and far more quickly, as, being fewc and
Footnotes
a45-53 are bracketed in both text and translation, because it is certain that Lucr. did not intend to retain them. They were evidently written at a time when his plan was that Book 4 should follow Book 2, for 45-48, which are, except for three minor variations, identical to 3.31-34, refer to the subject matter of Books 1-2. When he changed his plan, he wrote a new passage (26-44) in which he referred to the subject matter of Book 3 and included two lines (29-30) from the original passage (49-50). (Cf. J. Mewaldt, Hermes 43 [1908] 283-295.)
bIf coarse things are thrown off, as they are, there is the more reason to suppose that fine films are discharged.
cFew in comparison with the many that compose a solid mass like a cast-off skin.
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Lucretius
pauca queunt et quae sunt prima fronte locata.
nam certe iacere ac largiri multa videmus,
non solum ex alto penitusque, ut diximus ante,
verum de summis ipsum quoque saepe colorem.
75et volgo faciunt id lutea russaque vela
et ferrugina, cum magnis intenta theatris
per malos volgata trabesque trementia flutant;
namque ibi consessum caveai subter et omnem
scaenai speciem †patrum matrumque deorum†
80inficiunt coguntque suo fluitare colore.
et quanto circum mage sunt inclusa theatri
moenia, tam magis haec intus perfusa lepore
omnia conrident correpta luce diei.
ergo lintea de summo cum corpore fucum
85mittunt, effigias quoque debent mittere tenvis
res quaeque, ex summo quoniam iaculantur utraque.
sunt igitur iam formarum vestigia certa
quae volgo volitant subtili praedita filo,
nec singillatim possunt secreta videri.
Praeterea omnis odor fumus vapor atque aliae res
91consimiles ideo diffusae e rebus abundant,
ex alto quia dum veniunt intrinsecus ortae,
scinduntur per iter flexum, nec recta viarum
ostia sunt qua contendant exire coortae.
Footnotes
71quae sunt Lachmann: sunt OQP: sunt in (cf. 97) Q corr., AB
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stationed in the front rank, they are less able to be impeded. For assuredly we see many things cast off particles with lavish bounty, not only from the depths and from within (as we said before)a but from the outermost surface, amongst others colour not
seldom. This is often done by yellow and red and dark purple awnings, when outspread in the public view over a great theatreb upon posts and beams surface; they tremble and flutter; for then they dye, and force to flutter in their own colour, the assembly in the great hollow below, and all the display of the stage . . . . . . .; and the more the walls of the theatre are enclosed all round, the more all within laughs in the flood of beauty when the light of day is thus confined. Therefore, since canvas throws off colour from its outermost surface, everything else must also cast off thin
semblances, because in each case they throw off from the outermost surface. There are therefore fixed outlines of shapes and of finest texture which flit about everywhere, but singly and separately cannot be seen.
90Besides, all smell, smoke, heat and other such things stream away from objects all diffused abroad, for this reason, because they arise from the depths, and as they come forth they are torn up in their tortuous course, there being no direct openings to the paths to let them push out together when they have
Footnotes
aThe reference is to 56, where Lucr. mentions smoke and heat, but not until 90-94 does he explain that they come from deep inside things.
bRome’s first stone theatre was constructed in 55 b.c, so that Lucretius is presumably referring to temporary theatres with wooden seats and stage. Awnings were first used in 78 b.c. Sockets for the masts that supported the awnings can still be seen in some Roman theatres. See now R. Graefe, Vela erunt: die Zeltdächer der römischen Theater und ähnlicher Anlagen, Mainz (1979).
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Lucretius
95at contra tenuis summi membrana coloris
cum iacitur, nil est quod earn discerpere possit,
in promptu quoniam est in prima fronte locata.
Postremo speculis in aqua splendoreque in omni
quaecumque apparent nobis simulacra, necessest,
100quandoquidem simili specie sunt praedita rerum,
101ex ea imaginibus missis consistere eorum.
104sunt igitur tenues formae rerum similesque
105effigiae, singillatim quas cernere nemo
cum possit, tamen adsiduo crebroque repulsu
reiectae reddunt speculorum ex aequore visum,
nec ratione alia servari posse videntur,
tanto opere ut similes reddantur cuique figurae.
110Nunc age quam tenui natura constet imago
percipe. et in primis, quoniam primordia tantum
sunt infra nostros sensus tantoque minora
quam quae primum oculi coeptant non posse tueri,
nunc tamen id quoque uti confirmem, exordia rerum
115cunctarum quam sint subtilia percipe paucis.
Primum animalia sunt iam partim tantula, quorum
tertia pars nulla possit ratione videri.
horum intestinum quodvis quale esse putandumst?
119quid cordis globus aut oculi? quid membra? quid artus?
quantula sunt? quid praeterea primordia quaeque
Footnotes
101ex ea H. Lotze: ex OQ: exin H. Purmann
104formae rerum similesque H. Purmann, Munro: formarum dissimilesque OQP: formarum illis similesque Lachmann
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gathered together. But contrariwise when a thin film of surface colour is thrown off, there is nothing to tear it up, since it lies in front and on the very outside.
98Lastly, whatever similitudes we see in mirrors,a
in water, in any bright surface, since they are possessed of the same appearance as the things, must consist of images thrown off from those things. There are therefore thin shapes and like semblances of things, which singly no one can perceive, yet being flung back by incessant and unremitting repulsion give back a vision from the surface of mirrors. Nor does there seem to be any other way in which they could be preserved so that figures so like each thing should be given back.
110Now listen and learn how thin the structure of
this image is.b And in the first place, since the first-beginnings are so far below our senses, and so much smaller than the point at which our eyes begin not to be able to see, now to confirm this yet further, let me explain in a few words how fine are the elements of all things.
116Firstly, there are some living creatures so small that their third part cannot possibly be seen. What must you suppose one of their guts is like? the ball of the heart, or the eyes? the limbs and members? How small are they? What further of the first-beginnings
Footnotes
aThe phenomenon of the mirror is introduced again in 150–167, 269–323. Cf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 9.1.4-12 Smith: “[And] often mirrors too will be my witnesses [that likenesses] and appearances are real [entities]. For what I say will certainly not be denied at all by the reflection which will give supporting evidence on oath in the mirrors.”
bFor the unsurpassed fineness of the images, cf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 47.
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Lucretius
unde anima atque animi constet natura necessumst?
nonne vides quam sint subtilia quamque minuta?
Praeterea quaecumque suo de corpore odorem
expirant acrem, panaces absinthia taetra
125habrotonique graves et tristia centaurea,
quorum unum quidvis leviter si forte duobus
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
quin potius noscas rerum simulacra vagari
multa modis multis nulla vi cassaque sensu?
Sed ne forte putes ea demum sola vagari,
130quaecumque ab rebus rerum simulacra recedunt,
sunt etiam quae sponte sua gignuntur et ipsa
constituuntur in hoc caelo qui dicitur aer,
135quae multis formata modis sublime feruntur;
133ut nubes facile interdum concrescere in alto
134135cernimus et mundi speciem violare serenam,
aera mulcentes motu; nam saepe Gigantum
ora volare videntur et umbram ducere late,
interdum magni montes avolsaque saxa
montibus anteire et solem succedere praeter,
140inde alios trahere atque inducere belua nimbos.
nec speciem mutare suam liquentia cessant
et cuiusque modi formarum vertere in oras.
Footnotes
126A lacuna after this line noted with a cross by Q corr. See note on translation
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which must compose the nature of their mind and spirit? Do you not see how fine and how minute they are?
123Besides, anything that exhales a pungent smell from its body, heal-all, rank wormwood, strong southernwood, bitter centaury, any one of which, if by chance [you hold it] lightly between two [fingers, will impart its smell to them; and yet the particles that cling to them are invisible.]a
- . . but that you should rather recognize that many similitudes are moving about in many ways, without any intrinsic qualityb and devoid of sensation.c
129But that you may not think these images which
pass off from things to be the only ones that move about, there are others which arise of themselves and are formed by themselves in this part of the sky called the aird; which formed in many ways are carried aloft: as we sometimes see clouds quickly massing together on high and marring the serene
face of the firmament, while they caress the air with their motion. For often giants’ countenances appear to fly over and to draw their shadow afar, sometimes great mountains and rocks torn from the mountains to go before and to pass by the sun, after them some monster pulling and dragging other clouds; they never cease to dissolve and change their shapes and tum themselves into the outlines of figures of every kind.
Footnotes
aAfter 126 a passage, probably of considerable length, is missing. The words in square brackets give the probable sense of the first part of the lost passage.
be.g. powers of speech or reasoning. Cf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 10.IV. 11–14 Smith.
ccassa ... sensu (128) means not “unable to be perceived”, but, as Pius says “vacua et privata sensu”. 127–128 are the closing lines of an argument against the Democritean view that simulacraare sentient and rational. Cf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 10,43 Smith, and see A. Barigazzi, Emerita 49 (1981) 1–15.
dThe formation of compound images in the air is mentioned by Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 48. The present passage should be compared with 732–748.
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Nunc ea quam facili et celeri ratione genantur
perpetuoque fluant ab rebus lapsaque cedant
. . . . . . .
145semper enim summum quicquid de rebus abundat
quod iaculentur. et hoc alias cum pervenit in res,
transit, ut in primis vitrum. sed ubi aspera saxa
aut in materiam ligni pervenit, ibi iam
scinditur, ut nullum simulacrum reddere possit.
150at cum splendida quae constant opposta fuerunt
densaque, ut in primis speculum est, nil accidit
horum;
nam neque, uti vitrum, possunt transire, neque autem
scindi; quam meminit levor praestare salutem.
quapropter fit ut hinc nobis simulacra redundent.
155et quamvis subito quovis in tempore quamque
rem contra speculum ponas, apparet imago;
perpetuo fluere ut noscas e corpore summo
texturas rerum tenuis tenuisque figuras.
ergo multa brevi spatio simulacra genuntur,
160ut merito celer his rebus dicatur origo.
et quasi multa brevi spatio summittere debet
lumina sol ut perpetuo sint omnia plena,
sic ab rebus item simili ratione necessest
temporis in puncto rerum simulacra ferantur
165multa modis multis in cunctas undique partis,
quandoquidem speculum quocumque obvertimus oris,
res ibi respondent simili forma atque colore.
Praeterea modo cum fuerit liquidissima caeli
Footnotes
144A lacuna after this line noted by Lachmann. The missing verse was perhaps similar or identical to 2.66 expediam: tu te dictis praebere memento or 4.931 expediam: tu fac ne ventis verba profundam
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143Now [let me tell you] how easily and quickly
these images arise, constantly flowing off from things and gliding away.a For there is always something streaming from the outermost surface of things for them to shoot off. And this when it meets some
things passes through, particularly through glass. But when it meets rough stone or solid wood, there at once it is broken, so that it can give back no image. But when the opposed object is bright and compact, as particularly a mirror, nothing happens of this sort; for the images cannot pass through as through glass, nor again can they be broken: so much safety the smoothness never forgets to afford. Therefore it follows that the images stream back from it upon us. And no matter how suddenly you
place any object before a mirror at any time, its image appears, so that you may recognize that there is a constant flow from the surface of things of thin textures and thin shapes. Therefore many images arise in brief space, so that there is good reason to call the origin of these things rapid. And just as the
sun must send up many lights in brief space, that all places may be full of them without a break, so in like manner from things also it must be that in a moment of time many images pass off in many ways and in all directions everywhere, since in whatever direction we tum the mirror to the shapes of things, something answers back of like form and colour.
168Besides, when the weather has but now been of
Footnotes
aEpicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 48, says that the creation of the images is as quick as thought.
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tempestas, perquam subito fit turbida foede,
170undique uti tenebras omnis Acherunta rearis
liquisse et magnas caeli complesse cavernas:
usque adeo taetra nimborum nocte coorta
inpendent atrae formidinis ora superne;
quorum quantula pars sit imago dicere nemost
175qui possit neque earn rationem reddere dictis.
Nunc age, quam celeri motu simulacra ferantur
et quae mobilitas ollis tranantibus auras
reddita sit, longo spatio ut brevis hora teratur,
in quem quaeque locum diverso numine tendunt,
180suavidicis potius quam multis versibus edam;
parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruum quam
clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.
Principio persaepe levis res atque minutis
corporibus factas celeris licet esse videre.
185in quo iam genere est solis lux et vapor eius,
propterea quia sunt e primis facta minutis
quae quasi cuduntur perque aeris intervallum
non dubitant transire sequenti concita plaga;
suppeditatur enim confestim lumine lumen,
190et quasi protelo stimulatur fulgere fulgur.
quapropter simulacra pari ratione necesse est
inmemorabile per spatium transcurrere posse
temporis in puncto, primum quod parvola causa
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the clearest, all on a sudden the sky becomes ugly
and turbid, so that you might think all the darkness had deserted Acheron from all sides and filled full the great caverns of the sky: so completely has the loathsome night of clouds gathered together, and black faces of fear hang over us on higha: of which clouds how small a fraction the image is, no man can tell or give any reasonable account.b
176Now listen: how rapid is the motion which
carries the images along, and what velocity has been given to them in swimming through the air, so that but a brief time is spent over a long space,c to whatever part they tend with diverse inclination, this I will tell in verses few but sweet-voiced, as the short song of the swan is better than that honking of cranes, spread abroad in the skyey clouds of the south.d
183In the first place, you may very often see that
things light and made of minute elements are rapid. An example of these is the sun’s light and his heat, because they are made of minute elements, which are as it were beaten with knocks, and do not hesitate to pass through the intervening air when struck by the blow of that which follows; for instantly light comes up behind light, and flash is pricked on by flash, as in a long team.e Therefore the images in like manner must be able to run through space inexpressible by words in a moment of time, first because
Footnotes
aCf. 1.64-65 and see D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 58. 170-173 = 6.251-254 with one minor variation.
bThe argument of 174-175 is compressed. The idea is that, if clouds can be formed so swiftly, the images (which are far, far smaller than clouds) will be formed with almost unimaginable rapidity.
cEpicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 47, states that the velocity of the images is unsurpassed.
d180-182 (=909-911) are, as Lambinus points out, very similar to lines of Antipater of Sidon (Anth. Pal. 7.713.7-8).
eFor the literal meaning of protelum see note on 2.531.
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est procul a tergo quae provehat atque propellat,
195quod superest, ubi tam volucri levitate ferantur,
deinde quod usque adeo textura praedita rara
mittuntur, facile ut quasvis penetrare queant res
et quasi permanare per aeris intervallum.
Praeterea si quae penitus corpuscula rerum
200ex altoque foras mittuntur, solis uti lux
ac vapor, haec puncto cernuntur lapsa diei
per totum caeli spatium diffundere sese
perque volare mare ac terras caelumque rigare,
quid quae sunt igitur iam prima fronte parata,
205cum iaciuntur et emissum res nulla moratur?
quone vides citius debere et longius ire
multiplexque loci spatium transcurrere eodem
tempore quo solis pervolgant lumina caelum?
Hoc etiam in primis specimen verum esse videtur
210quam celeri motu rerum simulacra ferantur,
quod simul ac primum sub diu splendor aquai
ponitur, extemplo caelo stellante serena
sidera respondent in aqua radiantia mundi.
iamne vides igitur quam puncto tempore imago
215aetheris ex oris in terrarum accidat oras?
quare etiam atque etiam mira fateare necessest
Footnotes
216mira OQP: mitti Lambinus (not Lachmann as stated by most modern editors). If mira is retained, H. Purmann must be right in assuming a lacuna after 216, and mira will have qualified (e.g.)mobilitate in the next line. Bailey makes 216 the start of a new passage, but, in view of quare etiam atque etiam, this cannot be right. The new passage should begin before 217, but after 216, the opening of it being lost. 217-229 are repeated, with a few minor variations, in 6.923-935, and the reviser of this work thinks it most probable that 217 was preceded by two lines identical or almost identical to 6.921-922, and that those two lines were preceded by lines in which the new subject was introduced. Moreover, if the loss of a page of the archetype was responsible for the disappearance of the lines, it is possible that we have also lost an argument that intervened between the passage on the speed of the films and the passage on effluences
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there is a very small impulsea far behind which carries them on and pushes them on, also because they move with so swift a lightness, next because they are emitted with such a rarefied texture that they can easily penetrate anything, and as it were ooze through the intervening air.
199Besides, if those particles of things that are
sent forth from their depths, like the sun’s light and heat, are observed to glide and diffuse themselves abroad in a moment of time through the whole space of heaven, to fly over the sea and land and to flood the sky, what then of those which are ready on the very outside, when they are cast off and nothing impedes their discharge? Do you not see that they must travel so much the faster and farther, and run over many times the space in the same time as the sun’s light takes to spread abroad over the sky?
209This further seems a true and pre-eminent indication
to show with how rapid a motion the images are borne along, that as soon as the brightness of water is laid in the open air under a starry sky, at once the serene constellations of the firmament answer back twinkling in the water. Now do you see therefore how in an instant an image falls from the borders of heaven to the borders of earth? Therefore again and again I say you must confess
Footnotes
aThe reference is apparently to the constant vibration of the atoms of compound bodies, which causes the atoms on the surface of objects to be discharged as simulacra. parvola probably has concessive force.
Page number 293
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. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
corpora quae feriant oculos visumque lacessant.
perpetuoque fluunt certis ab rebus odores;
frigus ut a fluviis, calor ab sole, aestus ab undis
220aequoris exesor moerorum litora circum;
nec variae cessant voces volitare per auras;
denique in os salsi venit umor saepe saporis,
cum mare versamur propter, dilutaque contra
cum tuimur misceri absinthia, tangit amaror.
usque adeo omnibus ab rebus res quaeque fluenter
226fertur et in cunctas dimittitur undique partis,
nec mora nec requies interdatur ulla fluendi,
perpetuo quoniam sentimus, et omnia semper
cernere odorari licet et sentire sonare.
230Praeterea quoniam manibus tractata figura
in tenebris quaedam cognoscitur esse eadem quae
cernitur in luce et claro candore, necessest
consimili causa tactum visumque moveri.
nunc igitur si quadratum temptamus et id nos
235commovet in tenebris, in luci quae poterit res
accidere ad speciem quadrata, nisi eius imago?
esse in imaginibus quapropter causa videtur
cernundi neque posse sine his res ulla videri.
Nunc ea quae dico rerum simulacra feruntur
240undique et in cunctas iaciuntur didita partis;
verum nos oculis quia solis cernere quimus,
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[that the images move] with a marvellous [velocity].
[. . . . . . . .
In the first place, from everything we see there
must of necessity continually flow and discharge and scatter]a bodies which strike our eyes and vision. And there is a continual flow of odours from certain things, as there is of cold from rivers, heat from the sun, surge from the waves of the sea, that devourer of walls about the shore. Manifold voices
also fly through the air without ever slackening. Again, a moisture salt to the taste often comes into our mouth when we walk by the sea, and when we see wormwood being mixed with water in our presence, we have a sense of bitterness. So true it is that from all things the different qualities pass off in a flow, and disperse in every direction around; there is no delay, no rest to interrupt the flow, since we constantly feel it, and we can at all times see all things, smell them, and perceive their sound.
230Besides, since a shape handled in the dark is
recognized to be the same which is seen in the clear light by day, it must be that touch and sight are moved by a like cause. Now, therefore, if we take hold of something square and it excites our feeling in the dark, in the light what square thing can fall upon our vision, if not an image of it? Therefore there is seen to be in images a cause of vision, and without these nothing can be seen.
239Now the images of things I speak of are being
carried all about and thrown off scattered abroad in all directions; but because it is only with eyes we
Footnotes
aOn the lacuna and its probable contents, see critical note on 216.
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propterea fit uti, speciem quo vertimus, omnes
res ibi earn contra feriant forma atque colore.
Et quantum quaeque ab nobis res absit, imago
245efficit ut videamus et internoscere curat;
nam cum mittitur, extemplo protrudit agitque
aera qui inter se cumque est oculosque locatus,
isque ita per nostras acies perlabitur omnis
et quasi perterget pupillas atque ita transit.
251250propterea fit uti videamus quam procul absit
250res quaeque; et quanto plus aeris ante agitatur
et nostros oculos perterget longior aura,
tam procul esse magis res quaeque remota videtur.
scilicet haec summe celeri ratione geruntur,
255quale sit ut videamus et una quam procul absit.
Illud in his rebus minime mirabile habendumst,
cur, ea quae feriant oculos simulacra videri
singula cum nequeant, res ipsae perspiciantur.
ventus enim quoque paulatim cum verberat et cum
261260acre fluit frigus, non privam quamque solemus
260particulam venti sentire et frigoris eius,
sed magis unorsum, fierique perinde videmus
corpore tum plagas in nostro tamquam aliquae res
verberet atque sui det sensum corporis extra.
265praeterea lapidem digito cum tundimus, ipsum
tangimus extremum saxi summumque colorem,
nec sentimus eum tactu, verum magis ipsam
duritiem penitus saxi sentimus in alto.
Nunc age, cur ultra speculum videatur imago
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can perceive them, therefore it happens that where we tum our sight, there all things strike upon it with shape and colour.
244And the image enables us to see and takes care
that we distinguish how far each thing is distant from us; for when it is sent off, at once it pushes and drives all the air that is between itself and our eyes, and thus this air all streams through our eyes and, as it were, brushes the pupils and thus passes through. This is how we come to see how far off each thing is; and the more air is driven before it, the longer the breeze that brushes our eyes, the more distant and far removed the thing is seen to be. Assuredly all
this passes in a supremely rapid manner, so that we see all at once both what it is and how far away.
256But in this regard it should not be thought at all wonderful why the objects themselvesa are per ceived, and yet the images that strike our eyes cannot be seen singly. For when the wind also beats
upon us little by little, and when sharp cold flows upon us, we are not accustomed to feel every single particle of that wind and that cold, but rather the whole at once, and we see that the blows take effect upon our body exactly as if some object were striking us and giving us the feeling of its own body outside. Besides, when we knock a stone with a toe, we touch just the uppermost surface of the stone, and the outermost colour, but we do not feel this by the touch, but rather we perceive the real hardness of the stone in its inmost depths.b
269Now listen while I tell why the image is seen
Footnotes
aStrictly speaking, we never see an object itself, but only the image produced by the continuous stream of simulacra from the object.
bThis example is more complex. We touch the surface colour, but we feel hardness (not the colour) by the combined effects of the lower strata.
Page number 297
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270percipe; nam certe penitus remmota videtur.
quod genus illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur,
ianua cum per se transpectum praebet apertum,
multa facitque foris ex aedibus ut videantur;
is quoque enim duplici geminoque fit aere visus:
275primus enim citra postes tum cernitur aer,
inde fores ipsae dextra laevaque sequuntur,
post extraria lux oculos perterget et aer
alter et illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur.
sic ubi se primum speculi proiecit imago,
280dum venit ad nostras acies, protrudit agitque
aera qui inter se cumquest oculosque locatus,
et facit ut prius hunc omnem sentire queamus
quam speculum; sed ubi speculum quoque sensimus
ipsum,
continuo a nobis illuc quae fertur imago
285pervenit, et nostros oculos reiecta revisit,
atque alium prae se propellens aera volvit,
et facit ut prius hunc quam se videamus, eoque
distare ab speculo tantum semota videtur.
quare etiam atque etiam minime mirarier est par,
. . . . . . .
290illis quae reddunt speculorum ex aequore visum,
aeribus binis quoniam res confit utraque.
Nunc ea quae nobis membrorum dextera pars est
in speculis fit ut in laeva videatur eo quod,
planitiem ad speculi veniens cum offendit imago,
Footnotes
270remmota Q: remota OP: semota (cf. 288) Marullus 284 illuc W. S. Watt, Mus. Helv. 47 (1990) 123: in eum OQP: in id haec Lambinus (1570): in idem Munro: itidem C. L. Howard, CPhil. 45 (1961) 152-153
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beyond the mirror; for certainly it seems to be far
withdrawn. It is the same as with those objects which are seen in their realitya through the doors outside, when the doorway provides an open view through it and allows us to see from the house many things outside. For this vision also is brought about
by two distinct stretches of air; for first in this case is seen the air on this side of the doors, next follows the door itself right and left leaf, afterwards the external light brushes the eyes, and the other air, and those things which are seen in their reality through the doors outside. So when the image of the mirror has first thrown itself forwards, while it is on the way to our eyes, it pushes and drives all the air that is between itself and our eyes, and makes us able to perceive all this before we perceive the mirror; but when we have perceived the mirror itself also, at once the image which is carried from us to the mirror reaches it, and being flung back, comes back to our eyes, rolling and propelling before it another air, and makes us see this before we see itself; and that is why it seems to be withdrawn so far off from the mirror. Therefore again and again I say, it is by no means right to wonder [that this happens both to those things which are seen through doors and also]b to those things which give back a vision from the surface of a mirror, since the whole is done by two airs in each case.
292Next, that which is the right side of our frame
appears in a mirror on the left, for this reason, that when the approaching image hits on the flat of the
Footnotes
aIn contrast with the images in the mirror.
bThe words in square brackets translate the line supplied exempli gratia by Bailey (see critical note).
Page number 299
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295non convertitur incolumis, sed recta retrorsum
sic eliditur, ut siquis, prius arida quam sit
cretea persona, adlidat pilaeve trabive,
atque ea continuo rectam si fronte figuram
323servet et elisam retro sese exprimat ipsa:
324300fiet ut, ante oculus fuerit qui dexter, ut idem
nunc sit laevus, et e laevo sit mutua dexter.
Fit quoque de speculo in speculum ut tradatur imago,
quinque etiam aut sex ut fieri simulacra suërint.
nam quaecumque retro parte interiore latebunt,
329305inde tamen, quamvis torte penitusque remota,
omnia per flexos aditus educta licebit
pluribus haec speculis videantur in aedibus esse:
usque adeo speculo in speculum translucet imago,
et cum laeva data est, fit rursum ut dextera fiat,
334310inde retro rursum redit et convertit eodem.
Quin etiam quaecumque latuscula sunt speculorum
adsimili lateris flexura praedita nostri,
dextera ea propter nobis simulacra remittunt,
aut quia de speculo in speculum transfertur imago,
339315inde ad nos elisa bis advolat, aut etiam quod
circum agitur, cum venit, imago propterea quod
flexa figura docet speculi convertier ad nos.
Indugredi porro pariter simulacra pedemque
ponere nobiscum credas gestumque imitari
344320propterea quia, de speculi qua parte recedas,
Footnotes
299-347Q corr. restores the correct order of lines. OQ have 299-322 and 323-347 (line numbers as given above on the right) in the wrong order, evidently because a loose leaf of the archetype had been turned the wrong way
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mirror, it is not turned round unaltered, but is thrust
out straight backwards, just as if someone should dash upon a pillar or beam some mask of plaster before it were dry, and if it should at once keep its shape undistorted in front and mould a copy of itself dashed backwards: it will happen that what was formerly the right eye now becomes the left, and that the left becomes right in exchange.
302An image may also be transmitted from mirror
to mirror, so that as many as five or six images have often been produced. For whatever lies hidden behind in the inner parts of a house, however tortuous and secluded be the ways in between, may yet be all brought out through these involved passages by means of a number of mirrors and seen to be in the house. So truly does the image shine across from mirror to mirror; and when it has been presented left, it becomes right again, then once more it comes back again and returns to the same position.
311Moreover, all mirrors that have little sides
curved in the same degree as our sides return the images right to our right,a either for the reason that the image is carried across from one side of the mirror to the other and then flies to us after being twice dashed off, or indeed because the image is driven round when it has arrived, since the curved shape of the mirror teaches it to turn round towards us.
318Furthermore, when the images march along
with us and set down the foot with ours and mimic our gestures, you may believe the reason to be that from whatever part of the mirror you may move, at
Footnotes
aThe reference is to a horizontally concave mirror, which reflects the image twice (and therefore reverses it twice) so restoring it like the original. On the phenomenon described by Lucr. in 311-317, see especially Munro, Ernout-Robin, Leonard-Smith.
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continuo nequeunt illinc simulacra reverti,
omnia quandoquidem cogit natura referri
347ac resilire ab rebus ad aequos reddita flexus.
299Splendida porro oculi fugitant vitantque tueri.
300325sol etiam caecat, contra si tendere pergas,
propterea quia vis magnast ipsius et alte
aera per purum graviter simulacra feruntur
et feriunt oculos turbantia composituras.
praeterea splendor quicumque est acer adurit
305330saepe oculos ideo quod semina possidet ignis
multa, dolorem oculis quae gignunt insinuando.
Lurida praeterea fiunt quaecumque tuentur
arquati, quia luroris de corpore eorum
semina multa fluunt simulacris obvia rerum,
310335multaque sunt oculis in eorum denique mixta,
quae contage sua palloribus omnia pingunt.
E tenebris autem quae sunt in luce tuemur
propterea quia, cum propior caliginis aer
ater init oculos prior et possedit apertos,
315340insequitur candens confestim lucidus aer,
qui quasi purgat eos ac nigras discutit umbras
aeris illius; nam multis partibus hic est
mobilior multisque minutior et mage pollens.
qui simul atque vias oculorum luce replevit
320345atque patefecit quas ante obsederat aer
321ater, continuo rerum simulacra sequuntur
322quae sita sunt in luce, lacessuntque ut videamus.
Footnotes
345aer Bernays: ater OP: a . er Q
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once the images are unable to return back from that part, since nature compels them all to be carried back and leap back from things, given back at equal angles.a
324Bright objects, moreover, the eyes avoid and
try not to see. The sun actually blinds if you persist in staring against it, because its own power is great, and from on high through the pure air the images come heavily rushing, and strike the eyes so as to disturb their structure. Besides, whatever brightness is fierce often burns the eyes, because it contains many seeds of fire which cause pain to the eyes by penetrating.
332Moreover, jaundiced persons see everything a
greenish-yellow, because many seeds of this greenish-yellow colour stream out from their bodies to meet the images of things, and besides many are mingled in their own eyes which by their contact paint every-thing with lurid hues.
337Again we see out of the dark what is in the
light, because, when the black air of darkness, being nearer, has entered our open eyes first and possessed them, there follows immediately a bright clear air, which as it were purges them and beats abroad the black shades of the first air; for this bright air is far more mobile and made of far more minute elements and more powerful. As soon as this has filled up again the channels of the eyesb with light, and opened them out after being beset by that black air, at once those images of things follow that are in the
Footnotes
a“He refers no doubt to the angle of reflexion being equal to the angle of incidence” (Munro).
bBailey thinks that vias oculorum probably means “the ways to the eyes,” i.e. in the outer air, but this interpretation seems less natural.
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quod contra facere in tenebris e luce nequimus
propterea quia posterior caliginis aer
350crassior insequitur, qui cuncta foramina complet
obsiditque vias oculorum, ne simulacra
possint ullarum rerum coniecta movere.
Quadratasque procul turris cum cernimus urbis,
propterea fit uti videantur saepe rutundae,
355angulus obtusus quia longe cernitur omnis,
sive etiam potius non cernitur ac perit eius
plaga nec ad nostras acies perlabitur ictus,
aera per multum quia dum simulacra feruntur,
cogit hebescere eum crebris offensibus aer.
360hoc ubi suffugit sensum simul angulus omnis,
fit quasi ut ad tornum saxorum structa terantur—
non tamen ut coram quae sunt vereque rutunda,
sed quasi adumbratim paulum simulata videntur.
Umbra videtur item nobis in sole moveri
365et vestigia nostra sequi gestumque imitari
(aera si credis privatum lumine posse
indugredi, motus hominum gestumque sequentem;
nam nil esse potest aliud nisi lumine cassus
aer id quod nos umbram perhibere suëmus);
370nimirum quia terra locis ex ordine certis
lumine privatur solis quacumque meantes
officimus, repletur item quod liquimus eius,
propterea fit uti videatur, quae fuit umbra
corporis, e regione eadem nos usque secuta.
375semper enim nova se radiorum lumina fundunt
primaque dispereunt, quasi in ignem lana trahatur.
Footnotes
361terantur Munro: tuantur OQP (tuentur L): tuamur Lachmann: rotentur Munro (notes): cf. Petron. fr. 29. 3–4 nam turris, prope quae quadrata surgit, | detritis procul angulis rotatur
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light, and provoke us to see. But contrariwise we
cannot see out of the light what is in the darkness, for this reason, because a grosser air of the darkness follows second, which nils all pores and besets the passages of the eyes, that no images of anything when thrown upon them may move them.
353And when afar off we see the foursquare towers
of a city, they often appear to be round, for this reason, because every angle at a distance is seen blunted or rather it is not seen at all, its blow is lost and the stroke does not glide across to our eyes; because, while the images are rushing through a great space of air, the air with frequent buffetings forces it to become blunt. By this means when every angle at once has escaped our vision, the stone structures appear as though rounded on a lathe; not, however, like things that are close before us and really round, but they appear somewhat similar in a shadowy fashion.a
364Our own shadow also appears to move in
the sun, and to follow our footsteps, imitating our gestures (if you can imagine air without light able to march along, following the movements and gestures of men; for that which we are accustomed to call shadow can be nothing else but air without light); doubtless because the earth in certain spots one after another is deprived of the sun’s light wherever we in our course obstruct it, and what part of it we have left is filled up again, which causes it to seem that what was the shadow of our body remains the same and follows always opposite to us. For there are always new rays of light pouring out, and the first disappear
Footnotes
aCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 69 Smith.
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propterea facile et spoliatur lumine terra
et repletur item nigrasque sibi abluit umbras.
Nec tamen hic oculos falli concedimus hilum.
380nam quocumque loco sit lux atque umbra tueri
illorum est; eadem vero sint lumina necne,
umbraque quae fuit hic eadem nunc transeat illuc,
an potius fiat paulo quod diximus ante,
hoc animi demum ratio discernere debet,
385nec possunt oculi naturam noscere rerum.
proinde animi vitium hoc oculis adfingere noli.
Qua vehimur navi, fertur, cum stare videtur;
quae manet in statione, ea praeter creditur ire.
et fugere ad puppim colles campique videntur
390quos agimus praeter navem velisque volamus.
Sidera cessare aetheriis adfixa cavernis
cuncta videntur, et adsiduo sunt omnia motu,
quandoquidem longos obitus exorta revisunt,
cum permensa suo sunt caelum corpore claro.
395solque pari ratione manere et luna videtur
in statione, ea quae ferri res indicat ipsa.
Exstantisque procul medio de gurgite montis
classibus inter quos liber patet exitus ingens,
insula coniunctis tamen ex his una videtur.
400Atria versari et circumcursare columnae
usque adeo fit uti pueris videantur, ubi ipsi
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like wool drawn into a flame.a Thus the ground is easily robbed of its light, and again filled up as it washes off the black shadows.
379However, we do not grant that the eyes are
deceived in this one jot. For it is their task to see in what place light is, and where shadow; but whether it be the same light or not, whether the same shadow that was here now pass thither, or whether that happen rather which I said before, this nothing must decide but the mind’s reasoning power, and eyes cannot recognize the nature of things. Then do not impute to the eyes this fault of the mind.b
387A ship in which we sail moves on while it seems
to stand still, one which remains in its place is thought to pass by; and the hills and plains, which we row by or sail by, seem to be flying astern.
391The stars all seem to be fixed and stationary in the vaults of ether, yet all are in constant motion, since they rise and return to their far distant settings when they have traversed the sky with bright body. And the sun and moon in like manner appear to remain in their places, while experience proves that they move along.
397And mountains that stand up afar off from the
midst of the ocean, between which is a great channel wide enough for a fleet to pass freely through, these nevertheless seem to be joined into a single island.
400The room seems to children to be turning
round and the columns revolving when they themselves
Footnotes
aThere is always wool at the point where the flame is, looking the same but really different.
bThe function of the eyes is similar to that of a camera: it is simply to receive the images of objects; and, like the camera, the eyes are not at fault, if (e.g.) they receive a round image of a distant square tower (cf. 353-363). If the owner of the eyes at once assumes that the distant tower really is round, the fault lies with his mind, whose function it is to interpret the information provided by his senses. Cf. 462-468, Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 50-52, Sent. 24, Diogenes Laertius 10.34.
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desierunt verti, vix ut iam credere possint
non supra sese ruere omnia tecta minari.
Iamque rubrum tremulis iubar ignibus erigere alte
405cum coeptat natura supraque extollere montes,
quos ibi tum supra sol montis esse videtur
comminus ipse suo contingens fervidus igni,
vix absunt nobis missus bis mille sagittae,
vix etiam cursus quingentos saepe veruti;
410inter eos solemque iacent immania ponti
aequora substrata aetheriis ingentibus oris,
interiectaque sunt terrarum milia multa
quae variae retinent gentes et saecla ferarum.
At conlectus aquae digitum non altior unum,
415qui lapides inter sistit per strata viarum,
despectum praebet sub terras impete tanto,
a terris quantum caeli patet altus hiatus,
nubila despicere et caelum ut videare et aperta
corpora mirande sub terras abdita cernas.
Denique ubi in medio nobis equus acer obhaesit
421flumine et in rapidas amnis despeximus undas,
stantis equi corpus transversum ferre videtur
vis et in adversum flumen contrudere raptim,
et, quocumque oculos traiecimus, omnia ferri
425et fluere adsimili nobis ratione videntur.
Footnotes
406ibi ed. Juntina: ubi OQP: tibi Naugerius, modern editors, but ibi seems palaeographically preferable (for the corruption cf. e.g. 3.28, 5.100, 6.1218, 1231) and the emphatic combination ibi tum is appropriate in this description of a phenomenon that occurs briefly at a precise time
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have ceased to turn, so much so that they can hardly believe all the building is not threatening to fall in upon them.
404Again, when nature begins to uplift on high
the sun’s beam red with flickering fires, and to raise it above the mountains, those mountains which the sun then seems to be above, quite close and touching them with his hot fire, are scarcely distant from us a couple of thousand bowshots, often even scarcely five hundred throws of a javelin; but between them and the sun lie vast stretches of sea below the wide regions of the sky, between them are thrown many thousands of lands inhabited by manifold nations and tribes of wild beasts.
414But a puddle of water no more than one finger
deep, lying between the stones upon a paved street, offers a view downwards under the earth to as great a reach as the open heavens yawn on high, so that you seem to look down upon the clouds and heaven, and you see manifest objects miraculously buried beneath the earth.a
420Furthermore, when our spirited horse has stuck
fast in the middle of a river, and we have looked down upon the swift waters of the stream, while the horse stands there a force seems to be carrying his ways; body sideways and pushing it violently against the stream, and, wherever we tum our eyes, all seems to be rushing and flowing in the same way as we are.
Footnotes
aCf. Shelley, To Jane. The Recollection 53-58: “We paused beside the pools that lie | Under the forest bough, | Each seemed as ’twere a little sky | Gulfed in a world below; | A firmament of purple light | Which in the dark earth lay.”
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Porticus aequali quamvis est denique ductu
stansque in perpetuum paribus suffulta columnis,
longa tamen parte ab summa cum tota videtur,
paulatim trahit angusti fastigia coni,
430tecta solo iungens atque omnia dextera laevis,
donec in obscurum coni conduxit acumen.
In pelago nautis ex undis ortus in undis
sol fit uti videatur obire et condere lumen,
quippe ubi nil aliud nisi aquam caelumque tuentur;
435ne leviter credas labefactari undique sensus.
At maris ignaris in portu clauda videntur
navigia aplustris fractis obnitier undis.
nam quaecumque supra rorem salis edita pars est
remorum, recta est, et recta superne guberna;
440quae demersa liquore obeunt, refracta videntur
omnia converti sursumque supina reverti
et reflexa prope in summo fluitare liquore.
Raraque per caelum cum venti nubila portant
tempore nocturno, tum splendida signa videntur
445labier adversum nimbos atque ire superne
longe aliam in partem ac vera ratione feruntur.
At si forte oculo manus uni subdita subter
pressit eum, quodam sensu fit uti videantur
omnia quae tuimur fieri tum bina tuendo,
450bina lucernarum florentia lumina flammis
binaque per totas aedis geminare supellex
et duplicis hominum facies et corpora bina.
Footnotes
437undis F, Codex Musaei Britannici Butl. 11912, Marullus: undas OQABL: undae Lachmann
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426Again, a colonnade may be of equal line from
end to end and supported by columns of equal height throughout, yet, when its whole length is surveyed from one end, it gradually contracts into the point of a narrowing cone, completely joining roof to floor and right to left, until it has gathered all into the vanishing point of the cone.
432At sea sailors seem to perceive the sun to rise
out of the water and to set in the water, and there to hide its light, naturally because they behold nothing but water and sky, that you may not lightly believe the credit of their senses to be utterly shaken.
436Then those ignorant of the sea think that ships in harbour are maimed and struggling against the waves with stern-fittings broken. For whatever part
of the oars is raised above the sea watera is straight, and the rudders above are straight; but whatever is submerged under water seems to be all broken back and wrenched and turned flat upwards and thus bent back to be almost floating upon the flood.
443And when the winds carry scattered clouds
across the sky in the night time, then the shining stars seem to glide against the clouds and to pass above them in a very different direction from their true one.
447Then, if by chance a hand be put beneath one
eye and press it beneath, a certain sensation follows which makes it appear that all we look at grows double then and there as we look: two lamps flowering with flames, the furniture all over the house multiplied by two, men with double faces and two bodies each.
Footnotes
aRouse’s translation of rorem salis. However, ros is probably (see note on 1.496) more than a mere synonym for water. Here perhaps “dew-sparkling brine” (M. F. Smith).
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Denique cum suavi devinxit membra sopore
somnus, et in summa corpus iacet omne quiete,
455tum vigilare tamen nobis et membra movere
nostra videmur, et in noctis caligine caeca
cernere censemus solem lumenque diurnum,
conclusoque loco caelum mare flumina montis
mutare et campos pedibus transire videmur,
460et sonitus audire, severa silentia noctis
undique cum constent, et reddere dicta tacentes.
Cetera de genere hoc mirande multa videmus,
quae violare fidem quasi sensibus omnia quaerunt—
nequiquam, quoniam pars horum maxima fallit
465propter opinatus animi quos addimus ipsi,
pro visis ut sint quae non sunt sensibu’ visa.
nam nil aegrius est quam res secernere apertas
ab dubiis, animus quas ab se protinus addit.
Denique nil sciri siquis putat, id quoque nescit
470an sciri possit, quoniam nil scire fatetur.
hunc igitur contra mittam contendere causam,
qui capite ipse sua in statuit vestigia sese.
et tamen hoc quoque uti concedam scire, at id ipsum
quaeram, cum in rebus veri nil viderit ante,
475unde sciat quid sit scire et nescire vicissim,
Footnotes
471mittam Marullus: mituam OQ: mutuam P: minuam (cf. 2.1029) Palmerius (see Havercamp), Martin: metuam Gronovius (see Havercamp) tentatively
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453Further, when sleep has fast bound our limbs
with sweet drowsiness, and our whole body lies in profound quiet, yet we seem to ourselves then to be awake and to move our limbs, and in the blind darkness of night we think that we see the sun and the light of day, and we seem to exchange our narrow room for sky and sea, rivers and mountains,a and traverse plains afoot, and to hear sounds though the stern silence of night reigns everywhere, and to utter speech while saying nothing.
462We see in marvellous fashion many things besides
of this kind, which all try as it were to break the credit of our senses; but all in vain, since the most part of them deceives because of opinions of the mind which we bring to them ourselves, so that things are held to be seen which have not been seen by our senses. For nothing is more difficult than to distinguish plain things from doubtful things which the mind of itself adds at once.
469Moreover, if anyone thinks that nothing is
known, he does not even know whether that can be known, since he declares that he knows nothing.b I will therefore spare to plead cause against a man who has placed his head in his own footsteps.c And yet even if I grant that he knows that, still I will ask just this: since material things had no truth for his vision to begin with, how he knows what it is to know or not to know as the case may be, what
Footnotes
aIt is probable that editors and translators have misunderstood the construction in 458 and the meaning of mutare in 459, and that H. Jacobson, CPhil. 61 (1966) 155-156 is right in suggesting that there is a mutare aliquid aliqua re construction, as in Horace, Carm. 1.17.1-2.
bAlthough Lucr.’s argument against scepticism is undoubtedly derived from Epicurus, that does not mean that he is not aiming it at contemporary sceptics. See A. Barigazzi in Assoc. G. Budé, Actes du VIIIe Congres 286-292.
cOn 472, see M. F. Burnyeat in Philologus 122 (1978) 197-206.
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notitiam veri quae res falsique crearit,
et dubium certo quae res differre probarit.
Invenies primis ab sensibus esse creatam
notitiem veri neque sensus posse refelli.
480nam maiore fide debet reperirier illud,
sponte sua veris quod possit vincere falsa.
quid maiore fide porro quam sensus haberi
debet? an ab sensu falso ratio orta valebit
dicere eos contra, quae tota ab sensibus orta est?
485qui nisi sunt veri, ratio quoque falsa fit omnis.
an poterunt oculos aures reprehendere, an aures
tactus? an hunc porro tactum sapor arguet oris,
an confutabunt nares oculive revincent?
non, ut opinor, ita est. nam seorsum cuique potestas
490divisast, sua vis cuiquest, ideoque necesse est
et quod molle sit et gelidum fervensve seorsum
et seorsum varios rerum sentire colores
et quaecumque coloribu’ sint coniuncta videre.
seorsus item sapor oris habet vim, seorsus odores
495nascuntur, sorsum sonitus. ideoque necesse est
non possint alios alii convincere sensus.
nec porro poterunt ipsi reprehendere sese,
aequa fides quoniam debebit semper haberi.
proinde quod in quoquest his visum tempore, verumst.
500Et si non poterit ratio dissolvere causam,
cur ea quae fuerint iuxtim quadrata, procul sint
Footnotes
491seorsum Bentley: videri OQP, Wakefield, Merrill (1917): videre Martin
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gave him the concepta of true and false, what evidence proved that the doubtful differs from the certain.
478You will find that it is from the senses in the
first instance that the concept of truth has come, and that the senses cannot be refuted.b For some standard must be found of greater credit, able of itself to refute false things by true. What, moreover, must be held to be of greater credit than the senses? Shall reasoning, derived from false sense, prevail
against these senses, being itself wholly derived from the senses? For unless they be true, all reasoning is false. Will the ear be able to convict the eye, or the touch the ear? Will the taste of the mouth again refute the touch, will nose confound it, or eye disprove it? Not so, I think. For each has its own separate function, each its own power, and it is therefore necessary to decide what is soft and cold or hot by a separate sense, and by a separate sense to perceive the various colours of things and to see whatever is involved in colour.c For the taste of the mouth has power on a separate sense, smell arises for a separate sense, sound for another. Therefore it is necessary that one sense cannot refute another. Nor furthermore will they be able to convict themselves,
since equal credit must always be allowed to them.d Accordingly, what has seemed to these at any given time to be true, is true.
500And if reasoning shall be unable fully to explain the cause why things that were square close at hand
Footnotes
aSee note on 2.745.
bFor the fundamentally important Epicurean doctrine that sensation is the primary standard of truth, and that there is no other criterion by which it can be refuted, cf. especially Diogenes Laertius 10.31–32; also e.g. Epicurus, Sent. 23, Lucr. 1.422–425, 699–700, Cicero, Fin. 1.19.64.
cThat is, shape.
dThat is, one sense cannot refute its own evidence at another time.
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visa rutunda, tamen praestat rationis egentem
reddere mendose causas utriusque figurae,
quam manibus manifesta suis emittere quoquam
505et violare fidem primam et convellere tota
fundamenta quibus nixatur vita salusque.
non modo enim ratio ruat omnis, vita quoque ipsa
concidat extemplo, nisi credere sensibus ausis
praecipitisque locos vitare et cetera quae sint
510in genere hoc fugienda, sequi contraria quae sint.
illa tibi est igitur verborum copia cassa
omnis, quae contra sensus instructa paratast.
Denique ut in fabrica, si pravast regula prima,
normaque si fallax rectis regionibus exit,
515et libella aliqua si ex parti claudicat hilum,
omnia mendose fieri atque obstipa necesse est
prava cubantia prona supina atque absona tecta,
iam ruere ut quaedam videantur velle, ruantque,
prodita iudiciis fallacibus omnia primis,
520sic igitur ratio tibi rerum prava necessest
falsaque sit, falsis quaecumque ab sensibus ortast.
Nunc alii sensus quo pacto quisque suam rem
sentiat, haudquaquam ratio scruposa relicta est.
Principio auditur sonus et vox omnis, in auris
525insinuata suo pepulere ubi corpore sensum.
corpoream quoque enim vocem constare fatendumst
et sonitum, quoniam possunt inpellere sensus.
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seem to be round at a distance, yet it is better that
one who finds no reason explain the shape of either figure in a faulty manner, rather than anywhere to let slip from your hands the holdfast or the obvious,a and to break the credit from which all begins, and to tear up all the foundations upon which life and existence rest. For not only would all reasoning come to ruin, but life itself would at once collapse, unless you make bold to believe the senses, avoiding precipices and all else that must be eschewed of that sort, and following what is contrary. Therefore, believe me, vain is all that array of words which has been prepared and marshalled against the senses.
513Lastly, as in a building, if the original ruleb is
warped, if the square is faulty and deviates from straight lines, if the level is a trifle wrong in any part, the whole house will necessarily be made in a faulty fashion and be falling over, warped, sloping, leaning forward, leaning back, all out of proportion, so that some parts seem about to collapse on the instant, and some do collapse, all betrayed by false principles at the beginning. So therefore your reasoning about things must be warped and false whenever it is based upon false senses.
522Next our reasoning has no stony path to tread,
in showing how each of the other senses perceives its own object.
524In the first place, every sound and voice is
heard, when creeping into the ears they have struck with their body upon the sense.c For we must confess that voice and sound also are bodily, since they can strike upon the sense.
Footnotes
aThere is a play upon manibus and manifesta.
bregula (cf. Cicero, Fin. 1.19.63) = κανών literally a mason’s or carpenter’s “rule” or “straight-edge,” the title of a work (cf. Diogenes Laertius 10.31) in which Epicurus expounded his epistemology τὸ κανονικόν. Thus the comparison between sound rules of investigation and sound methods of building is not Lucr.’s own invention.
cEpicurus deals with hearing in Ep. ad Hdt. 52-53.
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Praeterea radit vox fauces saepe, facitque
asperiora foras gradiens arteria clamor,
530quippe per angustum turba maiore coorta
ire foras ubi coeperunt primordia vocum,
scilicet expletis quoque ianua raditur oris.
haud igitur dubiumst quin voces verbaque constent
corporeis e principiis, ut laedere possint.
535Nec te fallit item quid corporis auferat et quid
detrahat ex hominum nervis ac viribus ipsis
perpetuus sermo nigrai noctis ad umbram
aurorae perductus ab exoriente nitore,
praesertim si cum summost clamore profusus.
540ergo corpoream vocem constare necessest,
multa loquens quoniam amittit de corpore partem.
551Asperitas autem vocis fit ab asperitate
552principiorum, et item levor levore creatur.
542nec simili penetrant auris primordia forma,
545cum tuba depresso graviter sub murmure mugit
et reboat raucum retro cita barbara bombum,
545 et †validis necti tortis† ex Heliconis
cum liquidam tollunt lugubri voce querellam.
Hasce igitur penitus voces cum corpore nostro
550exprimimus rectoque foras emittimus ore,
mobilis articulat verborum daedala lingua
550formaturaque labrorum pro parte figurat.
Footnotes
546reboat Q corr., B: revorat OQ: revocat AF retro OQP: regio Lachmann
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528Besides, the voice often scrapes the gullet, and
a cry issuing forth makes the windpipe rougher; for when the first-beginnings of voice gathering in larger quantity begin to issue forth through the narrow passage, naturally the gateway of the mouth also is scraped when the gullet is filled full. There is therefore no doubt that voices and words to be able to hurt consist of bodily elements.
535Nor do you fail to see also how much body is
taken away, what is drawn away from a man’s very sinews and strength, by a speech which is drawn out uninteirupted from the rising gleam of dawn to the shades of black night, especially if it is poured forth with a great volume of sound. Therefore the voice must be bodily, since by much speaking a man loses a part of his body.
542The roughness of voice, moreover, comes from
roughness of the elements, as also smoothness from smoothness. The elements that penetrate the ear are not of like shape when the barbarous horn bellows with low and hollow roar and is re-echoed with a hoarse reverberating boom, and when from the winding valleys of Helicon the swansa uplift the mournful tone of their melodious lament.
549When therefore we press out these voices from
the inmost parts of our body, and send them forth straight through the mouth, the quickly-moving tongue, cunning fashioner of words, joints and moulds the sounds, and the shaping of the lips does its part
Footnotes
aFor the text translated in 547, see critical note.
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hoc ubi non longum spatiumst unde illa profecta
perveniat vox quaeque, necessest verba quoque ipsa
555plane exaudiri discernique articulatim;
servat enim formaturam servatque figuram.
at si interpositum spatium sit longius aequo,
aera per multum confundi verba necessest
et conturbari vocem, dum transvolat auras.
560ergo fit sonitum ut possis sentire neque illam
internoscere, verborum sententia quae sit:
usque adeo confusa venit vox inque pedita.
Praeterea verbum saepe unum perciet auris
omnibus in populo, missum praeconis ab ore.
565in multas igitur voces vox una repente
diffugit, in privas quoniam se dividit auris,
obsignans formam verbis clarumque sonorem.
at quae pars vocum non auris incidit ipsas,
praeterlata perit frustra diffusa per auras:
570pars, solidis adlisa locis, reiecta sonorem
reddit et interdum frustratur imagine verbi.
Quae bene cum videas, rationem reddere possis
tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola
saxa paris formas verborum ex ordine reddant,
575palantis comites cum montis inter opacos
quaerimus et magna dispersos voce ciemus.
sex etiam aut septem loca vidi reddere voces,
unam cum iaceres: ita colles collibus ipsi
verba repulsantes iterabant docta referri.
Haec loca capripedes satyros nymphasque tenere
581finitimi fingunt, et faunos esse loquuntur,
quorum noctivago strepitu ludoque iocanti
Footnotes
553illa OQP: una Bentley
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in giving them form. When there is no long race for
each of those utterances to run from start to finish, the words themselves also must necessarily be plainly heard and distinguished in all their joints and moulding; for the sound keeps its shaping and keeps its form. But if the intervening space is longer than it should be, the words passing through much air must necessarily be confused together and the voice blurred while it flies through the air. Therefore it follows that you can perceive a sound, and yet not distinguish what is the meaning of the words: so confused is the voice when it arrives and so hampered.
563Besides, one word often awakens the ears of a whole crowd when uttered by the crier’s lips. Therefore one voice is dispersed suddenly into many voices,
since it distributes itself amongst many separate ears, stamping on the words a shape and clear sound. But those of the voices which do not fall quite into the ears, are carried past and lost, being scattered abroad without effect into the air; some, dashed upon solid places and thrown back, give back a sound and at times delude with the image of a word.
572When you perceive this well, you may be able to give a reason to yourself and others, how it is in solitary places that the rocks give back the same
shapes of words in their order, when we seek straying comrades amongst the shady mountains and call loudly upon them to all sides. I have even seen places give back six or seven cries, when you uttered one: so did hill to hill themselves buffet back and repeat the words thus trained to come back.
580Such places the neighbours imagine to be
haunted by goatfoot satyrs and nymphs, and they say there are fauns, by whose night-wandering noise
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adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi,
chordarumque sonos fieri dulcisque querellas,
585tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum,
et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan,
pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans,
unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hiantis,
fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam.
cetera de genere hoc monstra ac portenta loquuntur,
591ne loca deserta ab divis quoque forte putentur
sola tenere. ideo iactant miracula dictis
aut aliqua ratione alia ducuntur, ut omne
humanum genus est avidum nimis auricularum.
595Quod superest, non est mirandum qua ratione,
per loca quae nequeunt oculi res cernere apertas,
haec loca per voces veniant aurisque lacessant.
conloquium clausis foribus quoque saepe videmus,
nimirum quia vox per flexa foramina rerum
600incolumis transire potest, simulacra renutant;
perscinduntur enim, nisi recta foramina tranant,
qualia sunt vitri, species qua travolat omnis.
Praeterea partis in cunctas dividitur vox,
ex aliis aliae quoniam gignuntur, ubi una
605dissiluit semel in multas exorta, quasi ignis
saepe solet scintilla suos se spargere in ignis.
ergo replentur loca vocibus abdita retro,
omnia quae circumfervunt sonituque cientur.
at simulacra viis derectis omnia tendunt
610ut sunt missa semel; quapropter cernere nemo
Footnotes
608fervunt Munro: fuerunt OQBL, Merrill (1917), Ernout: fuerint AF
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and jocund play they commonly declare the voiceless silence to be broken,a with the sound of strings and sweet plaintive notes, which the pipe sends forth touched by the player’s fingersb; they tell how the farmers’ men all over the countryside listen, while Pan, shaking the pine leaves that cover his half-human head, often runs over the open reeds with curved lips, that the panpipes may never slacken in their flood of woodland music. All other signs and wonders of this sort they relate, that they may not perhaps be thought to inhabit a wilderness which even the gods have left. This is why they bandy about these miraculous tales, or they are led by some other reason, since all mankind are too greedy for ears to tickle.c
595To proceed: there is no need to wonder how
pass voices pass and assail the ears through places through which the eves cannot see plain objects. We often witness a conversation going on behind closed doors, of course because the voice can pass unimpaired through tortuous passages in a substance, while images refuse: for they are split up, unless they have straight passages to swim through, such as those of glass through which every appearance can fly.
603Besides, a voice is distributed abroad in all
directions, since voices beget other voices when one voice uttered has once leapt asunder into many, just as a spark of fire is often accustomed to scatter itself into fires of its own. Therefore places hidden away from sight are filled with voices, and all boil and stir round about with sound. But all images tend straight forwards when once they are sped; therefore no one
Footnotes
aCf. Milton, Paradise Lost 1.781-784: “... or faëry elves | Whose midnight revels, by a forest side | Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, | Or dreams he sees.”
b585 = 5.1385.
cOr auricularum may be a gen. of respect or reference: “since all mankind are too greedy-eared”.
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saepe supra potis est, at voces accipere extra.
et tamen ipsa quoque haec, dum transit clausa do-
morum,
vox obtunditur atque auris confusa penetrat
et sonitum potius quam verba audire videmur.
615Nec, qui sentimus sucum, lingua atque palatum
plusculum habent in se rationis plus operaeve.
Principio sucum sentimus in ore, cibum cum
mandendo exprimimus, ceu plenam spongiam aquai
siquis forte manu premere ac siccare coëpit.
620inde quod exprimimus per caulas omne palati
diditur et rarae per flexa foramina linguae.
hoc ubi levia sunt manantis corpora suci,
suaviter attingunt et suaviter omnia tractant
umida linguai circum sudantia templa.
625at contra pungunt sensum lacerantque coorta,
quanto quaeque magis sunt asperitate repleta.
Deinde voluptas est e suco fine palati;
cum vero deorsum per fauces praecipitavit,
nulla voluptas est, dum diditur omnis in artus.
630nec refert quicquam quo victu corpus alatur,
dummodo quod capias concoctum didere possis
artubus et stomachi validum servare tenorem.
Footnotes
611saepe supra OQP, N. P. Howard, Journ. Phil. 1(1868) 131, Bailey, Merrill (1917), Diels, Martin, R. Waltz, Rev. Ét. Lat. 29 (1951) 191-193, Büchner, saepe being taken either as a noun (cf.praesaepe) or (with less probability) as the adverb: saepta supra Wakefield, perhaps rightly
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can see over a wall, though he can hear voices through it. And yet even the voice itself, in passing the walls of a house, is blunted and confused when it penetrates the ear, and we seem to hear sound rather than words.
615Nor need one jot more of reasoning be added,
or any more trouble, to explain the tongue and palate, by which we perceive flavours.
617In the first place, we perceive flavour in the mouth while we squeeze it out in munching the food, as if one by chance takes in hand a sponge full of water and begins to press it dry. Then that which we squeeze out is distributed abroad through all the pores of the palate and the tortuous passages of the spongy tongue. Therefore, when the bodies of the
oozing juice are smooth, sweetly they touch and sweetly stroke all the wet trickling regions around the tongue. But contrariwise they prick the sense and tear it as soon as they arise, in proportion as they are more full of roughness.
627Again, the pleasure that comes from flavour does not go beyond the palate; but when it has dropped down through the throat, there is no
pleasure while it is all being distributed abroad through the frame. Nor does it matter at all with what food the body is nourished, so long as you can digest what you take, and distribute it abroad through the limbs, and keep the stomach in a constantly healthy condition.
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Nunc aliis alius qui sit cibus ut videamus
expediam, quareve, aliis quod triste et amarumst,
635hoc tamen esse aliis possit perdulce videri.
tantaque in his rebus distantia differitasque est
ut quod aliis cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum.
est itaque et serpens, hominis quae tacta salivis
disperit ac sese mandendo conficit ipsa.
640praeterea nobis veratrum est acre venenum,
at capris adipes et cocturnicibus auget.
Id quibus ut fiat rebus cognoscere possis,
principio meminisse decet quae diximus ante,
semina multimodis in rebus mixta teneri.
porro omnes quaecumque cibum capiunt animantes,
646ut sunt dissimiles extrinsecus et generatim
extima membrorum circumcaesura coercet,
proinde et seminibus constant variante figura.
semina cum porro distent, differre necessest
650intervalla viasque, foramina quae perhibemus,
omnibus in membris et in ore ipsoque palato.
esse minora igitur quaedam maioraque debent,
esse triquetra aliis, aliis quadrata necessest,
multa rutunda, modis multis multangula quaedam.
655namque figurarum ratio ut motusque reposcunt,
proinde foraminibus debent differre figurae,
et variare viae proinde ac textura coercet.
hoc ubi quod suave est aliis aliis fit amarum,
illi, cui suave est, levissima corpora debent
Footnotes
633cibus ut videamus OQP: cibu’ suavis et almus Munro: a lacuna after 633 assumed by Brieger
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633Next I will explain and enable us to see how
different food is suited to different creatures, and why what is sour and bitter for some may yet seem very delicious to others. Indeed, there is so great a difference and distinction in these things that what is food to some creatures, is to others rank poison. Thus there is even a serpent, which when touched by man’s spittle perishes and gnaws itself to death.a Besides, hellebore is rank poison to us, but given to goats and quails makes them fat.
642That you may know how this comes about, in
the first place you must remember what I said before,b that things contain many seeds mingled in various ways. Further, all creatures that take food, as they are different in outward appearance, and as the contour and circumscription of their shape limits and defines each according to its kind, so they are composed of seeds differing in shape. Since further
the seeds differ, the intervals and channels, which we call passages, must also differ throughout the frame and so also in mouth and palate. Some therefore must be smaller and some larger, some triangular and some square, many round, some again with many angles in many arrangements. For as the relation of shapes and as the motions demand, so the shapes of the passages must differ, and so the channels must vary as the texture compels. Therefore if what is sweet to some is bitter to others, for the creature to whom it is sweet very smooth bodies
Footnotes
aFor the idea that human spittle is fatal or harmful to snakes, cf. Aristotle, HA 607 a, Pliny, HN 1.2.15.
bCf. 1.814-829, 895-896, 2.333-380.
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660contractabiliter caulas intrare palati,
at contra quibus est eadem res intus acerba,
aspera nimirum penetrant hamataque fauces.
Nunc facile est ex his rebus cognoscere quaeque.
quippe ubi cui febris bili superante coorta est
665aut alia ratione aliquast vis excita morbi,
perturbatur ibi iam totum corpus, et omnes
commutantur ibi positurae principiorum;
fit prius ad sensum ut quae corpora conveniebant
nunc non conveniant, et cetera sint magis apta,
quae penetrata queunt sensum progignere acerbum;
671utraque enim sunt in mellis commixta sapore—
id quod iam supera tibi saepe ostendimus ante.
Nunc age, quo pacto naris adiectus odoris
tangat agam. primum res multas esse necessest
675unde fluens volvat varius se fluctus odorum,
et fluere et mitti volgo spargique putandumst;
verum aliis alius magis est animantibus aptus
dissimilis propter formas. ideoque per auras
mellis apes quamvis longe ducuntur odore,
680volturiique cadaveribus. tum fissa ferarum
ungula quo tulerit gressum promissa canum vis
ducit, et humanum longe praesentit odorem
Romulidarum arcis servator, candidus anser.
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must enter the pores of the palate with soothing touch; but contrariwise if the same thing is bitter to any when it gets in, doubtless rough and hooked elements penetrate the gullet.a
663It is easy now from these explanations to understand every separate case. For when fever arises in
anyone, from overflow of bile, or when the energy of some disease is excited in another way, then the whole body is thrown into a riot and all the positions of the first-beginnings are changed about; it follows that the bodies which once were suitable to cause sensation, are so no longer, and the other things are more apt, which in penetrating can engender a bitter sensation; indeed both these are commingled in the savour of honeyb—a matter which I have explained to you often before.c
673Now listen and I will deal with the question,
how the impact of odour affects the nose.d First there must be a large number of things from which rolls flowing a manifold stream of odours, and we must think these flow and are sped and scattered everywhere; but different odours are more fitted to different creatures, because of their differing forms. And therefore bees are drawn through the air to any distance by the scent of honey, vultures by carrion. Then let loose a pack of hounds, it leads you on wherever the cloven hoof of wild beasts has set its step; and from afar the scent of man is caught by the white goose, preserver of the citadel of the
Footnotes
aBrieger, Bailey, and others are probably wrong in thinking that fauces refers to the foramina or their entrances.
bCf. Seneca, Ep. 109.7: sunt enim quidam quibus morbi vitio mel amarum videatur. According to Sextus Empiricus, Pyr. 2.63, Democritus maintained that honey is neither sweet nor bitter, Heraclitus that it is both sweet and bitter.
cCf. 2.398-407, 3.191-195. However, in neither of these passages is it stated that honey contains both smooth and rough particles.
dEpicurus gives a brief explanation of smell in Ep. ad Hdt. 53.
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sic aliis alius nidor datus ad sua quemque
685pabula ducit et a taetro resilire veneno
cogit, eoque modo servantur saecla ferarum.
Hic odor ipse igitur, naris quicumque lacessit,
est alio ut possit permitti longius alter;
sed tamen haud quisquam tam longe fertur eorum
quam sonitus, quam vox, mitto iam dicere quam res
691quae feriunt oculorum acies visumque lacessunt.
errabundus enim tarde venit ac perit ante,
paulatim facilis distractus in aeris auras,
ex alto primum quia vix emittitur ex re
695(nam penitus fluere atque recedere rebus odores
significat quod fracta magis redolere videntur
omnia, quod contrita, quod igni conlabefacta);
deinde videre licet maioribus esse creatum
principiis quam vox, quoniam per saxea saepta
700non penetrat, qua vox volgo sonitusque feruntur.
quare etiam quod olet non tam facile esse videbis
investigare in qua sit regione locatum;
refrigescit enim cunctando plaga per auras,
nec calida ad sensum decurrit nuntia rerum.
705errant saepe canes itaque et vestigia quaerunt.
Nec tamen hoc solis in odoribus atque saporum
in generest, sed item species rerum atque colores
Footnotes
704decurrit Lambinus: decurrunt OQP, -unt perhaps having come in from nuntia
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Roman race.a So different scent is given to different creatures, leading each to its food, and compelling it to leap back from loathsome poison, and in this manner the generations of wild beasts are preserved.
687Take all the smells then that assail the nostrils:
one may be carried further than another, but yet no smell is ever carried so far as sound, as the voice, I need not add as all that strikes the sight of the eyes and assails the vision. For it wanders about and comes slowly, and is ready gradually to die away too soon,b being dispersed abroad into the breezes of the air: first because it is emitted with
difficulty from the depths of each thing; for since all things seem to smell stronger when broken, when ground up, when disintegrated in fire, this means that odour comes flowing released out of the depths of things; again it may be seen that smell is made
of larger elements than voice, since it does not penetrate through stone walls,c through which voice and sound commonly do pass. For this reason also you will see that it is not so easy to trace out in what part the scent is situated; for the blow grows cold in its leisurely course through the air, and does not run in hot to the sense with news of the object. This is why hounds often are at fault and cast for a scent.
706Nor yet is thisd be found only in smells and
tastes, but also the look of things and their colours
Footnotes
aWhen Rome was sacked by the Gauls in 387 b.c., the Capitol was saved by the vigilance of the sacred geese of Juno. Cf. Livy 5.47, Pliny, HN 10.51, Cicero, Rose. Am. 20.56, Virgil, Aen. 8.655-656.
bperit ante, i.e. “evanescit antequam perveniat ad nares” (Pius).
cAnd yet in 6.951-952 Lucr. states that smell, like sound, cold, and heat, does pass per dissaepta domorum saxea.
dThe state of things described in 684-686. The fact that the present passage is not perfectly adjusted to its context is a mark of lack of revision.
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non ita conveniunt ad sensus omnibus omnes,
ut non sint aliis quaedam magis acria visu.
710quin etiam gallum, noctem explaudentibus alis
auroram clara consuetum voce vocare,
noenu queunt rabidi contra constare leones
inque tueri: ita continuo meminere fugai,
nimirum quia sunt gallorum in corpore quaedam
715semina, quae cum sunt oculis inmissa leonum,
pupillas interfodiunt acremque dolorem
praebent, ut nequeant contra durare feroces;
cum tamen haec nostras acies nil laedere possint,
aut quia non penetrant aut quod penetrantibus illis
720exitus ex oculis liber datur, in remorando
laedere ne possint ex ulla lumina parte.
Nunc age, quae moveant animum res accipe, et
unde
quae veniunt veniant in mentem percipe paucis.
Principio hoc dico, rerum simulacra vagari
725multa modis multis in cunctas undique partis
tenvia, quae facile inter se iunguntur in auris,
obvia cum veniunt, ut aranea bratteaque auri.
quippe etenim multo magis haec sunt tenvia textu
729quam quae percipiunt oculos visumque lacessunt,
corporis haec quoniam penetrant per rara cientque
tenvem animi naturam intus sensumque lacessunt.
Centauros itaque et Scyllarum membra videmus
Footnotes
712rabidei (= rabidi) Wakefield in notes: rapidi OQP, retained by Merrill (1917), Diels, Martin, Büchner in sense of rapaces. Cf. 5.892
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are not always so suitable to the senses of all, that
some things are not too stinging for some spectators. Why, even the cock, clapping out the night with his
wings, who is accustomed to summon the dawn with clear voice, is one before whom ravening lions dare not stand fast or stare: so surely do they think at once of flight, no doubt because there are certain
seeds in the cock’s body, which, when they are sped into the eyes of a lion, dig holes in the pupils and cause stinging pain, so that they cannot endure against it for all their courage; and yet these cannot hurt our sight at all, either because they do not penetrate, or because when they do penetrate they find a free exit from the eyes, that they may not in lingering hurt the eyes in any part.
722Now listen, and hear what things stir the mind,
and learn in a few words whence those things come into the mind that there do come.a
724In the first place I tell you that many images
of things are moving about in many ways and in all directions, very thin, which easily unite in the air when they meet, being like spider’s web or leaf of gold. In truth these are much more thin in texture than those which take the eyes and assail the vision, since these penetrate through the interstices of the body,b and awake the thin substance of the mind within, and assail the sense.
732Thus it is we see Centaurs, and the frames of
Footnotes
aIn the Epicurean view, thought and dreams are closely-related to vision. Vision is caused by the impingement of images on the eyes, thought and dreams by the entry of finer images into the mind. Cf. especially Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 49–51, Cicero, Fin. 1.6.21, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 9–10 Smith.
bCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 9. III.6–14 Smith, quoted below in note on 977.
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Cerbereasque canum facies simulacraque eorum
quorum morte obita tellus amplectitur ossa,
735omne genus quoniam passim simulacra feruntur,
partim sponte sua quae fiunt aere in ipso,
partim quae variis ab rebus cumque recedunt
et quae confiunt ex horum facta figuris.
nam certe ex vivo Centauri non fit imago,
740nulla fuit quoniam talis natura animalis;
verum ubi equi atque hominis casu convenit imago,
haerescit facile extemplo, quod diximus ante,
propter subtilem naturam et tenvia texta.
cetera de genere hoc eadem ratione creantur.
745quae cum mobiliter summa levitate feruntur,
ut prius ostendi, facile uno commovet ictu
quaelibet una animum nobis subtilis imago;
tenvis enim mens est et mire mobilis ipsa.
Haec fieri ut memoro, facile hinc cognoscere possis.
750quatenus hoc simile est illi, quod mente videmus
atque oculis, simili fieri ratione necesse est.
Nunc igitur docui quoniam me forte leonem
cernere per simulacra, oculos quaecumque lacessunt,
scire licet mentem simili ratione moveri
755per simulacra leonum et cetera quae videt aeque
nec minus atque oculi, nisi quod mage tenvia cernit.
Nec ratione alia, cum somnus membra profudit,
mens animi vigilat, nisi quod simulacra lacessunt
haec eadem nostros animos quae cum vigilamus,
Footnotes
740animalis Lambinus (1570): anima OQ: animai P: animantum “in quibusdam codicibus” (Pius): animantis Gifanius: animata Merrill (1917)
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Scyllas,a and faces of dogs like Cerberus, and images
of those for whom death is past, whose bones rest in earth’s embrace, since images of all kinds are being carried about everywhere, some that arise spontaneously in the air itself, some that are thrown off from all sorts of things, others that are made of a combination of these shapes. For certainly no image of a Centaur comes from one living, since there never
was a living thing of this nature; but when the images of man and horse meet by accident, they easily adhere at once, as I said before,b on account of their fine nature and thin texture. All other things of this class are made in the same way. And since these are carried about with velocity because of their extreme lightness, as I explained before,c any given one of these fine images easily bestirs our mind by a single impression; for the mind is itself thin and wonderfully easy to move.
749That this happens as I say, you may easily recognize
from what is now to be said. Since this is like that—what we see with the mind like what we see with the eye—it must come about in a like way.
752Now therefore, since I have shown that I perceive a lion, it may be, by means of images which in such a case assail the eyes, we may be sure that the mind is moved in a like way, by means of the images of lions and of all else it sees, equally and no less than the eyes, except that it perceives what is more
thin.
757Nor is there any other reason why the mind’s
intelligence is awake, when sleep has relaxed the limbs, except that the same images assail our minds
Footnotes
aFor Lucr.’s demonstration that Centaurs, Scyllas, and such monsters never existed, see 5.878-924.
b726.
c4.176-215.
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760usque adeo, certe ut videamur cernere eum quem
rellicta vita iam mors et terra potitast.
hoc ideo fieri cogit natura, quod omnes
corporis offecti sensus per membra quiescunt
nec possunt falsum veris convincere rebus.
765praeterea meminisse iacet languetque sopore,
nec dissentit eum mortis letique potitum
iam pridem, quem mens vivom se cernere credit.
Quod superest, non est mirum simulacra moveri
bracchiaque in numerum iactare et cetera membra;
770nam fit ut in somnis facere hoc videatur imago;
quippe ubi prima perit alioque est altera nata
inde statu, prior hic gestum mutasse videtur.
scilicet id fieri celeri ratione putandumst:
tanta est mobilitas et rerum copia tanta,
775tantaque sensibili quovis est tempore in uno
copia particularum, ut possit suppeditare.
Multaque in his rebus quaeruntur multaque nobis
clarandumst, plane si res exponere avemus.
Quaeritur in primis quare, quod cuique libido
780venerit, extemplo mens cogitet eius id ipsum.
anne voluntatem nostram simulacra tuentur
et simul ac volumus nobis occurrit imago,
Footnotes
761rellicta (or rēlicta) Isaac Voss: reddita OQP
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as when we wake, and to such a degree, that we seem surely to see him who has left his life, and of whom now death and dust are masters. This nature compels to happen, for the reason that all our senses are obstructed and quiet throughout the frame, and unable to refute the false by the true.a Besides,
in sleep memory lies inactive and is relaxed, and does not urge in contradiction that he has long since been in the power of death and destruction whom the mind believes itself to see alive.
768Moreover, it is not wonderful that images move, and stir their arms rhythmically, and the rest of their limbs; for it does happen that the image seems to do this in our sleep; the truth is that, when the first
image perishes and a second is then produced in another position, the former seems to have altered its pose. Of course this must be supposed to take place very swiftly: so great is their velocity, so great the store of things, so great the store of particles in any single moment of sensation, to enable the supply to come up.b
777There are many questions to be asked on this
topic, many explanations to be given, if we wish to make the matter clear.
779The first question is why the mind immediately
thinks of whatever the whim takes it to think of. Do the images wait on our will, and as soon as we wish it does an image present itself to us, be it sea,
Footnotes
aCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 9. IV.7-VI.3 Smith: “When we are asleep, with all the senses as it were paralysed and extinguished [again in] sleep, the soul, which is [still wide] awake [and yet is unable to recognize] the predicament and condition of the senses at that time, on receiving the images that approach it, conceives an untested and false opinion concerning them, as if it were actually apprehending the solid nature of true realities; for the means of testing the opinion are asleep at that time. These are the senses; for the rule and standard [of truth] with respect to [our dreams] remain [these].”
bA moment of sensation, as Lucr. explains below (794), is the shortest time in which one can feel or perceive. In this time many movements may combine to make one impression. Cinematographic pictures make this easy to understand.
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si mare, si terram cordist, si denique caelum?
conventus hominum pompam convivia pugnas,
785omnia sub verbone creat natura paratque?
cum praesertim aliis eadem in regione locoque
longe dissimilis animus res cogitet omnis.
Quid porro, in numerum procedere cum simulacra
cernimus in somnis et mollia membra movere,
790mollia mobiliter cum alternis bracchia mittunt
et repetunt oculis gestum pede convenienti?
scilicet arte madent simulacra et docta vagantur,
nocturno facere ut possint in tempore ludos.
An magis illud erit verum? quia tempore in uno,
795cum sentimus, id est, cum vox emittitur una,
tempora multa latent, ratio quae comperit esse,
propterea fit uti quovis in tempore quaeque
praesto sint simulacra locis in quisque parata:
tanta est mobilitas et rerum copia tanta.
800hoc, ubi prima perit alioque est altera nata
inde statu, prior hic gestum mutasse videtur.
et quia tenvia sunt, nisi quae contendit, acute
cernere non potis est animus; proinde omnia quae
sunt
praeterea pereunt, nisi si ad quae se ipse paravit.
805ipse parat sese porro speratque futurum
Footnotes
791oculis OQP: ollis Creech (notes), but oculis, though strictly inaccurate, is no less natural than in manibus in 820 795 cum sentimus attributed by most modern editors to Munro, but first printed by Naugerius: consentimus OQP: quod sentimus Lachmann
804si ad quae se Brieger: quae ex se OQL: quae ex sese BF: siquae ad se Lachmann
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be it earth we desire, or be it heaven?a Congregations of men, procession, banquets, battles—does nature make and prepare them all at a word? and that too although others in the same region and place have the mind thinking of all sorts of things quite different.
788What are we to say, moreover, when we see in
dreams the images footing it featly in rhythm swaying their supple limbs, swinging one supple arm after the other in rippling movement and repeating before our sight the same gesture with foot answering to hand? Assuredly the wandering images are steeped in art and well trained, so that they can make sport in the night time.
794Or will this rather be the reason?—because in one moment of time perceived by us, that is, while one word is being uttered, many times are lurking
which reason understands to be there, that is why in any given moment all these various images are present ready in every placeb: so great is their velocity, so great the store of things. Therefore, when the first image perishes and a second is then produced in another position, the former seems to have altered its pose. And because they are thin, the mind cannot perceive any sharply except those
which it strains itself to see; therefore all the others perish except those for which it has prepared itself.c It does, moreover, prepare itself, and hopes to see
Footnotes
aLambinus well compares Cicero, Fam. 15.16.1-2, Nat.D. 1.38.108, Div. 2.67.137.
bThe reason can divide up a sensible moment into a number of smaller times, as it can divide the atom into a number of minima which have no separate existence.
cThis is the reason why not all the images are perceived. The mind does not perceive any except when it directs its attention purposely (cf. 779). Lucr. does not explain what leads it to do so.
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ut videat quod consequitur rem quamque; fit ergo.
807nonne vides oculos etiam, cum tenvia quae sunt
809cernere coeperunt, contendere se atque parare,
810nec sine eo fieri posse ut cernamus acute?
et tamen in rebus quoque apertis noscere possis,
si non advertas animum, proinde esse quasi omni
tempore semotum fuerit longeque remotum.
cur igitur mirumst, animus si cetera perdit
815praeterquam quibus est in rebus deditus ipse?
deinde adopinamur de signis maxima parvis
ac nos in fraudem induimus frustraminis ipsi.
Fit quoque ut interdum non suppeditetur imago
eiusdem generis, sed femina quae fuit ante,
820in manibus vir uti factus videatur adesse,
aut alia ex alia facies aetasque sequatur.
826quod ne miremur sopor atque oblivia curant.
822Illud in his rebus vitium vementer avemus
823te fugere, errorem vitareque praemetuenter,
824825lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata,
825prospicere ut possimus, et ut proferre queamus
proceros passus, ideo fastigia posse
surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari,
Footnotes
808= 804 rightly omitted in ed. Aldina. A scribe repeated the line when his eye wandered from the end of 807 to the identical end of 803
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that which follows on each thing: therefore that does
follow.a Do you not see the eyes themselves, when they begin to perceive something that is thin, try hard and prepare themselves, without which we cannot possibly perceive sharply? And yet even in things plainly visible you can observe that, if your mind
fails to attend, it is just as if the thing were all the while withdrawn and far removed from you. Then what wonder is it, if the mind misses everything except what it is itself intent on? Furthermore, we
draw large deductions from small indications, and ourselves bring ourselves into deceit and delusion.b
818It sometimes happens again that the image
that follows up is not of the same kind, but what was before a woman seems to be changed into a man in our grasp; or that different shapes and ages follow; but sleep and oblivion see to it that we do not wonder.
823There is a fault in this regard which we earnestly
desire you to escape, shunning error with exceeding fearfulness: do not suppose that the clear light of the eyes was made in order that we might be able to see before us; or that the ends of the calves and thighs were jointed and placed upon the foundation of the feet, only to enable us to march forward with long forward strides; that the forearms again were
Footnotes
aThe mind directs its powers to see some image, and then determines to see the series belonging to it which follows: therefore this series does follow, the irrelevant ones being unnoticed.
bCf. 462-468. The idea here seems to be that the mind’s tendency to make the mistake of drawing sweeping conclusions from slight evidence is proof that much escapes its notice.
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bracchia tum porro validis ex apta lacertis
830esse manusque datas utraque ex parte ministras,
ut facere ad vitam possemus quae foret usus.
cetera de genere hoc inter quaecumque pretantur,
omnia perversa praepostera sunt ratione,
nil ideo quoniam natumst in corpore ut uti
835possemus, sed quod natumst id procreat usum.
nec fuit ante videre oculorum lumina nata,
nec dictis orare prius quam lingua creatast,
sed potius longe linguae praecessit origo
sermonem, multoque creatae sunt prius aures
840quam sonus est auditus, et omnia denique mem-
bra
ante fuere, ut opinor, eorum quam foret usus;
haud igitur potuere utendi crescere causa.
At contra conferre manu certamina pugnae
et lacerare artus foedareque membra cruore
845ante fuit multo quam lucida tela volarent,
et volnus vitare prius natura coegit
quam daret obiectum parmai laeva per artem.
scilicet et fessum corpus mandare quieti
multo antiquius est quam lecti mollia strata,
850et sedare sitim prius est quam pocula natum.
haec igitur possunt utendi cognita causa
credier, ex usu quae sunt vitaque reperta.
illa quidem seorsum sunt omnia quae prius ipsa
nata dedere suae post notitiam utilitatis.
855quo genere in primis sensus et membra videmus;
quare etiam atque etiam procul est ut credere possis
utilitatis ob officium potuisse creari.
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fitted upon sturdy upper arms, and ministering hands given on either side, only that we might be able to do what should be necessary for life.a Such explanations, and all other such that men give, put effect for cause and are based on perverted reasoning; since nothing is born in us simply in order that we may use it, but that which is born creates the use. There was no sight before the eyes with their
light were born, no speaking of words before the tongue was made; but rather the origin of the tongue came long before speech, and the ear was made long before sound was heard, in a word all the members, as I think, existed before their use; they could not then have grown up for the sake of use.
843But contrariwise there was fighting hand to
hand in the strife of battle, and tearing of limbs and polluting of bodies with blood, long before flashing shafts went flying; and nature taught men to avoid a wound before the left arm provided the interposition of a shield by artifice. You may be sure also that to yield the out-wearied body to rest is much more ancient than soft mattresses of a bed, and to quench the thirst is an older thing than drinking-cups. These things, therefore, which were found out from experience and life, may be well believed to have been invented for the sake of use. But those are all in a different class which were produced before any conception of their usefulness. Among the first of this class we see to be the senses and the limbs; therefore again and again I say, you have no reason at all to believe that they could have been made for the purpose of usefulness.
Footnotes
aThe most notable supporters of the teleological view which Lucr. refutes in this passage (823-857) were Aristotle and the Stoics. Although Epicurus, from whom Lucr. undoubtedly derived his argument, was probably arguing chiefly against Aristotle, there can be little doubt that Lucr. has the Stoics in mind as well (cf. note on 1,1053).
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Lucretius
Illud item non est mirandum, corporis ipsa
quod natura cibum quaerit cuiusque animantis.
quippe etenim fluere atque recedere corpora rebus
861multa modis multis docui, sed plurima debent
ex animalibu’. quae quia sunt exercita motu,
multaque per sudorem ex alto pressa feruntur,
multa per os exhalantur, cum languida anhelant,
865his igitur rebus rarescit corpus et omnis
subruitur natura; dolor quam consequitur rem.
propterea capitur cibus, ut suffulciat artus
et recreet vires interdatus, atque patentem
per membra ac venas ut amorem obturet edendi.
870umor item discedit in omnia quae loca cumque
poscunt umorem; glomerataque multa vaporis
corpora, quae stomacho praebent incendia nostro,
dissupat adveniens liquor ac restinguit ut ignem,
urere ne possit calor amplius aridus artus.
875sic igitur tibi anhela sitis de corpore nostro
abluitur, sic expletur ieiuna cupido.
Nunc qui fiat uti passus proferre queamus,
cum volumus, varieque datum sit membra movere,
et quae res tantum hoc oneris protrudere nostri
880corporis insuerit, dicam; tu percipe dicta.
Dico animo nostro primum simulacra meandi
accidere atque animum pulsare, ut diximus ante.
inde voluntas fit; neque enim facere incipit ullam
rem quisquam, quam mens providit quid velit ante;
Footnotes
862quae Lachmann: omitted by OQ
878varieque ed. Veronensis: vareque OQP (cf. 1007, where Q has varae for variae): quareque (or quareve) Merrill
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858Nor is there any reason to be surprised that
the nature of each living body seeks its own food untaught. I have showna you in fact that many bodies are thrown off flowing from things in many ways, but most must be thrown off from living creatures; for since these are always in quick movement, and many bodies are pressed out from their depths in sweat, many are exhaled through the mouth when they pant from exhaustion, by these means therefore the body becomes rarefied and its whole nature is undermined; and on this pain follows. For this reason food is taken, that it may prop up the frame and recreate the strength by filling the interstices, and may stop up the gaping desire to eat throughout limbs and veins.b Fluid also passes into all the different parts that demand fluid, and the bodies of
heat gathered in large masses, which set our stomach in a blaze, are scattered abroad by the fluid as it comes and extinguished like flame, that the dry burning may no longer be able to scorch our frame. Thus then your panting thirst is swilled away out of the body, thus your starved craving is filled up.
877Next I will say how it comes about that we can
carry onwards our steps when we please, how it has been given to us to move our limbs in different ways, what has caused the habit of pushing onwards this great bodily weight: do you attend to my sayings.
881I say that in the first place images of movement
come in contact with our mind, and strike the mind, as I said before.c After this comes will; for no one ever begins anything until the intelligence
Footnotes
a2.1128-1143.
bLucr. pictures the hungry body as a shaky and chinky building in need of support and repair: cf. subruitur (866), suffulciat(867), interdatus, patentem(868), obturet (869), expletur (876).
c724-731.
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885id quod providet, illius rei constat imago.
ergo animus cum sese ita commovet ut velit ire
inque gredi, ferit extemplo quae in corpore toto
per membra atque artus animai dissita vis est;
et facilest factu, quoniam coniuncta tenetur.
890inde ea proporro corpus ferit, atque ita tota
paulatim moles protruditur atque movetur.
praeterea tum rarescit quoque corpus, et aer
(scilicet ut debet qui semper mobilis extat)
per patefacta venit penetratque foramina largus,
895et dispargitur ad partis ita quasque minutas
corporis. hic igitur rebus fit utrimque duabus,
corpus ut, ac navis velis ventoque, feratur.
Nec tamen illud in his rebus mirabile constat,
tantula quod tantum corpus corpuscula possunt
900contorquere et onus totum convertere nostrum.
quippe etenim ventus subtili corpore tenvis
trudit agens magnam magno molimine navem,
et manus una regit quantovis impete euntem
atque gubernaclum contorquet quolibet unum,
multaque per trocleas et tympana pondere magno
906commovet atque levi sustollit machina nisu.
Nunc quibus ille modis somnus per membra quietem
inriget atque animi curas e pectore solvat,
suavidicis potius quam multis versibus edam;
910parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruum quam
clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.
Footnotes
897corpus Codex Bodleianus Auct. F.1.13, ed. Brixiensis, ed. Aldina, Pius, ed. Juntina, Naugerius, Gryphius—all earlier than Lambinus, to whom modern editors attribute the conjecture: corporis (from 896?) OQP ut ac OQ, ed. Aldina, Pius, etc. (as above): deleted by O corr.: omitted by ABF: ut hac L: uti, ut Lambinus
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has first foreseen what it wills to do. (What it foresees, the image of that thing is present in the mind.) Therefore when the mind so bestirs itself that it wishes to go and to step forwards, at once it strikes all the mass of spirit that is distributed abroad
through limbs and frame in all the body. And this is easy to do, since the spirit is held in close combination with it. The spirit in its tum strikes the body,
and so the whole mass is gradually pushed on and moves. Besides, at that moment the body also expands its pores, and the air (as you might expect with something always so sensitive to movement)
passes and penetrates through the opened passages in abundance, and so is distributed abroad into the very smallest parts of the body. Here then by two thingsa acting in two ways it comes about that the body is carried along, as a ship by sails and wind.
898Again, there is no need to be surprised that elements so small can sway so large a body and tum about our whole weight. For indeed the wind, which
is thin and has a fine substance, drives and pushes a great ship with mighty momentum, and one hand rules it however fast it may go, and one rudder steers it in any direction; and a machine by its blocks and treadwheels moves many bodies of great weight and uplifts them with small effort.
907Next in what way the sleep I spoke of floods
the body with quietude and lets loose care from the heart, I will declare in verses not many but sweet-speaking, as the short song of the swan is better than that honking of cranes, spread abroad in the
Footnotes
aThe limbs and the air. The action of the air upon the limbs is compared to the action of the wind upon the sails of a ship. Cf. 6.1031-1033.
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tu mihi da tenuis aures animumque sagacem,
ne fieri negites quae dicam posse, retroque
vera repulsanti discedas pectore dicta,
915tutemet in culpa cum sis neque cernere possis.
Principio somnus fit ubi est distracta per artus
vis animae partimque foras eiecta recessit
et partim contrusa magis concessit in altum;
dissoluuntur enim tum demum membra fluuntque.
920nam dubium non est, animai quin opera sit
sensus hic in nobis, quem cum sopor inpedit esse,
tum nobis animam perturbatam esse putandumst
eiectamque foras—non omnem, namque iaceret
aeterno corpus perfusum frigore leti;
925quippe ubi nulla latens animai pars remaneret
in membris, cinere ut multa latet obrutus ignis,
unde reconflari sensus per membra repente
posset, ut ex igni caeco consurgere flamma?
Sed quibus haec rebus novitas confiat, et unde
930perturbari anima et corpus languescere possit,
expediam; tu fac ne ventis verba profundam.
Principio externa corpus de parte necessum est,
aeriis quoniam vicinum tangitur auris,
tundier atque eius crebro pulsarier ictu;
935proptereaque fere res omnes aut corio sunt
aut etiam conchis aut callo aut cortice tectae.
interiorem etiam partem spirantibus aer
verberat hic idem, cum ducitur atque reflatur.
quare utrimque secus cum corpus vapulet, et cum
940perveniant plagae per parva foramina nobis
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skyey clouds of the south.a Do you lend me a keen ear and a sagacious mind, that you may not deny what I shall say to be possible, and depart from me with a breast that repels words of truth, although you are yourself in fault and cannot perceive it.
916In the first place sleep comes on when the power of spirit is drawn apart through the body, and
part being cast forth has gone away, and part more crowded together has retreated into the depths; for only then the limbs loosen and become flaccid. For there is no doubt that this feeling in us comes about by action of the spirit, and when sleep hinders the feeling so that there is none, then we must suppose that the spirit has been disordered and cast forth without; but not all, for then the body would lie pervaded with the everlasting cold of death; since of course if no part of the spirit were left hidden in the limbs, like fire covered in a heap of ashes, whence
could the feeling be suddenly rekindled throughout the limbs and arise like a flame from the hidden fire?
929But by what cause this new state comes to
pass, and whence the spirit can be disordered and the body become languid, I will proceed to explain; do you see to it that I do not waste my words on the winds.
932In the first place, it is necessary that since the
body is touched by the breezes of the neighbouring air, the outer part of the body must be thumped and buffeted by the frequent blows of the air; and that is why nearly all things are protected by skin, or even shells, or a callosity or bark. This same air beats the inner part also when we breathe, as it is
drawn in and blown back. Therefore, since the body is beaten on both parts, and also blows coming in
Footnotes
a909-911 = 180-182.
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corporis ad primas partis elementaque prima,
fit quasi paulatim nobis per membra ruina;
conturbantur enim positurae principiorum
corporis atque animi. fit uti pars inde animai
945eiiciatur, et introrsum pars abdita cedat,
pars etiam distracta per artus non queat esse
coniuncta inter se neque motu mutua fungi;
inter enim saepit coetus natura viasque;
ergo sensus abit mutatis motibus alte.
950et quoniam non est quasi quod suffulciat artus,
debile fit corpus languescuntque omnia membra,
bracchia palpebraeque cadunt poplitesque cubanti
saepe tamen summittuntur virisque resolvunt.
Deinde cibum sequitur somnus, quia, quae facit aer,
955haec eadem cibus, in venas dum diditur omnis,
efficit. et multo sopor ille gravissimus exstat
quem satur aut lassus capias, quia plurima tum se
corpora conturbant magno contusa labore.
fit ratione eadem coniectus parte animai
960altior atque foras eiectus largior eius,
et divisior inter se ac distractior intus.
Et quo quisque fere studio devinctus adhaeret,
aut quibus in rebus multum sumus ante morati,
Footnotes
944animi OQP: animae Bailey tentatively (see note on translation): homini (with semi-colon after corporis) Wakefield
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through the tiny passages penetrate to the primary particles and elements of our bodies, by degrees there comes about as it were a collapse all through the limbs.
For the positions of the first-beginnings of both body and minda are disordered. Next, part of
the spirit comes to be cast forth, and a part recedes within and is hidden, a part again, being drawn
abroad through the frame, cannot remain in conjunction or perform a combined motion; for nature shuts off the communications and paths; therefore sensation buries itself deep when the motions are changed. And since there is nothing as it were to prop up the limbs, the body becomes weak and all
the members are languid, arms and eyelids fall, the hams often at the moment of lying down give way beneath you and lose their strength.
954Again, sleep follows after food, because food
has exactly the same effect as the air, while it is being distributed abroad into the veins. And much the heaviest sleep is that which you take when replete or weary, because then the greatest number of elements are disordered, being dulled by long effort. Of the spirit, too, in the same way part is thrown together at a greater depth, and the quantity thrown forth is more ample, and it is more divided in itself and dispersed within.
962And whatever be the pursuit to which one
clings with devotion, whatever the things on which we have been occupied much in the past, the mind
Footnotes
aBailey is right to point out that animi is unexpected, because the animus is unaffected in sleep, but wrong in thinking that no earlier editor had noticed the difficulty: Wakefield suggests an emendation of animi(see critical note) and remarks “huic autem divinationi plus confidimus, quia nulla fiat animi mentio per totam hanc de somno disputationem.” The answer to the problem is probably not textual emendation, but rather that, as Bailey suggests, Lucr. here uses animus in the inclusive sense of animus + anima, or perhaps that he made a slip.
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Lucretius
atque in ea ratione fuit contenta magis mens,
965in somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire:
causidici causas agere et componere leges,
induperatores pugnare ac proelia obire,
nautae contractum cum ventis degere bellum,
nos agere hoc autem et naturam quaerere rerum
970semper et inventam patriis exponere chartis.
cetera sic studia atque artes plerumque videntur
in somnis animos hominum frustrata tenere.
Et quicumque dies multos ex ordine ludis
adsiduas dederunt operas, plerumque videmus,
975cum iam destiterunt ea sensibus usurpare,
relicuas tamen esse vias in mente patentis,
qua possint eadem rerum simulacra venire.
per multos itaque illa dies eadem obversantur
ante oculos, etiam vigilantes ut videantur
980cernere saltantis et mollia membra moventis,
et citharae liquidum carmen chordasque loquentis
auribus accipere, et consessum cernere eundem
scenaique simul varios splendere decores.
Usque adeo magni refert studium atque voluntas,
985et quibus in rebus consuerint esse operati
non homines solum, sed vero animalia cuncta.
quippe videbis equos fortis, cum membra iacebunt,
in somnis sudare tamen spirareque semper
Footnotes
968bellum 0 corr., P: vellum O: velum Q: duellum Codex Bodleianus Auct. F.1.13, adopted by most recent editors (“certainly right,” according to Bailey), but confusion of b and v is very common, and in 5.1289, where OQ read velli, all editors accept belli of O corr., and only Ernout tentatively suggests reading duelli. Cf. W. Clausen in Harv. Stud. 75 (1971) 70
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being thus more intent upon that pursuit, it is
generally the same things that we seem to encounter in dreamsa: pleaders to plead their cause and collate laws, generals to contend and engage battle, sailors to fight out their war already begun with the winds, I myself to ply my own task, always seeking the nature of things and when found setting it forth in our own mother tongue. Thus too all other pursuits and arts usually seem in sleep to hold fast men’s minds with their delusions.
973And whenever men have given constant attention to the games through many days on end, we usually see that, when they have now ceased to observe all this with their senses, yet certain passages are left open in the mind by which the images of these things can come in.b For many days then
these same things are moving before their eyes, so that even while awake they seem to perceive dancers swaying their supple limbs, to hear in their ears the lyre’s rippling tune and its speaking strings, to behold the same assemblage and with it the diverse glories of the stage in their brightness.
984Of so great import are devotion and inclination, and what those things are which not men only, but indeed all creatures, are in the habit of practising. In fact you will see horses of mettle,
stretched out, nevertheless sweating in their sleep
Footnotes
aFor the idea that people dream of the activities of waking life, cf. e.g. Accius, Praetext. 29, Petronius fr. 30, Fronto, feriis Ahiensibus 3. Petronius and Fronto were almost certainly influenced by Lucr.
bCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 9.III.6-IV.2 Smith: “And after the impingements of the first images, our nature is rendered porous in such a manner that, even if the objects which it first saw are no longer present, images similar to the first ones are received by the mind, [creating visions both when we are awake and in sleep].”
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et quasi de palma summas contendere viris,
990aut quasi carceribus patefactis rumpere sese.
999venantumque canes in molli saepe quiete
991iactant crura tamen subito vocesque repente
992mittunt et crebro redducunt naribus auras,
993ut vestigia si teneant inventa ferarum,
994995expergefactique sequuntur inania saepe
995cervorum simulacra, fugae quasi dedita cernant,
996donec discussis redeant erroribus ad se.
997at consueta domi catulorum blanda propago
998999discutere et corpus de terra corripere instant
1004proinde quasi ignotas facies atque ora tuantur.
1005et quo quaeque magis sunt aspera seminiorum,
tam magis in somnis eadem saevire necessust.
at variae fugiunt volucres pinnisque repente
sollicitant divom nocturno tempore lucos,
accipitres somno in leni si proelia pugnas
1010edere sunt persectantes visaeque volantes.
Porro hominum mentes, magnis quae motibus edunt
magna, itidem saepe in somnis faciuntque geruntque:
reges expugnant, capiuntur, proelia miscent,
tollunt clamorem, quasi si iugulentur ibidem.
1015multi depugnant gemitusque doloribus edunt
et, quasi pantherae morsu saevive leonis
mandantur, magnis clamoribus omnia complent.
multi de magnis per somnum rebu’ loquuntur
indicioque sui facti persaepe fuere.
1020multi mortem obeunt. multi, de montibus altis
ut qui praecipitent ad terram corpore toto,
exterruntur, et ex somno quasi mentibu’ capti
vix ad se redeunt, permoti corporis aestu.
Footnotes
990rumpere sese M. F. Smith (cf. 2.263-264 patefactis . . . carceribus . . . prorumpere): saepe quiete OQP (from 991): fundere sese W. Richter: velle volare Munro exempli gratia
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and for ever panting, as though they were exerting their last strength to win the palm, or as though bursting out from the opened cells. Hunters’ dogs
often in soft sleep all at once jerk their legs and suddenly give tongue, and often sniff up the air, as though they had found and were holding the track of a wild beast; and if awakened they often chase the empty images of stags, as though they saw them in flight, until they dissipate their delusions and come to themselves. But the friendly breed of dogs that live in the house hasten to shake themselves and
to leap up from the ground, exactly as if they caught sight of an unknown face and form. And the fiercer each breed is, the wilder each must be in its dreams. But the different birds take to flight, and suddenly disturb the groves of the gods at night with their wings, if in their gentle sleep hawks chasing and flying have seemed to offer battle and fight.
1011Moreover, the minds of men, which with mighty motions accomplish mighty feats, often do and carry out the same things in dreams: kings win
victories, are captured, join battle, cry aloud as if their throats were being cut on the spot. Many struggle violently, groan with pain, and, as if they were being gnawed in the jaws of a panther or cruel lion, make the place ring with their cries. Many in sleep talk of important matters, and they have often
borne witness against themselves. Many meet their death. Many are terrified with the notion that they are being hurled bodily down to earth from a lofty mountain, and, awaking like men deprived of their senses, they scarcely recover themselves, shaken by
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flumen item sitiens aut fontem propter amoenum
1025adsidet et totum prope faucibus occupat amnem.
parvi saepe lacum propter si ac dolia curta
somno devincti credunt se extollere vestem,
totius umorem saccatum corpori’ fundunt,
cum Babylonica magnifico splendore rigantur.
1030tum quibus aetatis freta primitus insinuatur
semen, ubi ipsa dies membris matura creavit,
conveniunt simulacra foris e corpore quoque,
nuntia praeclari voltus pulchrique coloris,
qui ciet inritans loca turgida semine multo,
ut quasi transactis saepe omnibu’ rebu’ profundant
1036fluminis ingentis fluctus vestemque cruentent.
Sollicitatur id in nobis, quod diximus ante,
semen, adulta aetas cum primum roborat artus.
namque alias aliud res commovet atque lacessit;
1040ex homine humanum semen ciet una hominis vis.
quod simul atque suis eiectum sedibus exit,
per membra atque artus decedit corpore toto
in loca conveniens nervorum certa, cietque
continuo partis genitalis corporis ipsas.
1045inritata tument loca semine, fitque voluntas
1046eicere id quo se contendit dira lubido,
1048idque petit corpus, mens unde est saucia amore;
Footnotes
1026parvi M.L. Clarke, CQ N.S. 34 (1984) 240: puri OQP: multi Avancius
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the confusion of their body. Again, one athirst often sits beside a stream or a pleasant spring, and all but swallows the whole river. Children often, when held fast in sleep, if they think they are lifting up their garments beside a basin or low pot, pour forth all the filtered liquid of their body, drenching the Babylonian coverlets in all their magnificence. Again those into the choppy tidesa of whose youth the seed is first penetrating, when time has duly produced it in the frame, meet with images from some chance body that fly abroad, bringing news of a lovely face and beautiful bloom, which excites and irritates the parts swelling with seed, so that, as if the whole business had been done, they often pour forth a great flood and stain their clothes.
1037This seed, as I have said before, is stirred up
within as soon as the age of full growth strengthens our frame. For there are different forces that move and excite different things; but only the power of man can draw forth human seed from a man. As soon as the seed comes forth, driven from its retreats, it is withdrawn from the whole body through all the limbs and members, gathering in fixed parts in the loins, and arouses at once the body’s genital parts themselves. Those parts thus excited swell with the seed, and there arises a desire to emit it towards that whither the dire craving tends; and the body seeks that which has wounded the mind with love.b
Footnotes
afretus or fretum connotes choppy seas and cross currents, whether in the narrows between two shores or in the place where opposing waters meet: see Varro, Ling. 7.22 dictum fretum a similitudine ferventis aquae, quod in fretum saepe concurrat aestus atque effervescat; cf. Lucr. 1.720, 6.427. In 6.364, 374 (if Lachmann’s restoration is right) it is used of spring and autumn, the unsettled, transitional seasons of the year. Here the metaphor vividly describes the emotionally unsettled transitional period between boyhood and maturity.
bexploiting the conventional imagery of the erotic poets (see
E.J. Kenney in Mnemos. ser. 4, 23 [1970] 380–384). On the
attitude of Lucr. and the Epicureans to sexual love, see
Bailey, but also K. Kleve, Assoc. G. Budé, Actes du VIIIe
Congrès 376–382, who argues that Bailey is mistaken in Wound metaphors are common in the erotic poetry of the Greek epigrammatists, and Lucr. makes his attack on the conventional attitude to sexual love the more devastating by thinking that Lucr.’s attitude is not entirely that of an orthodox Epicurean.
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namque omnes plerumque cadunt in vulnus, et illam
1050emicat in partem sanguis unde icimur ictu,
et si comminus est, hostem ruber occupat umor.
sic igitur Veneris qui telis accipit ictus,
sive puer membris muliebribus hunc iaculatur
seu mulier toto iactans e corpore amorem,
1055unde feritur, eo tendit gestitque coire
et iacere umorem in corpus de corpore ductum;
namque voluptatem praesagit muta cupido.
Haec Venus est nobis; hinc autemst nomen amoris;
hinc illaec primum Veneris dulcedinis in cor
1060stillavit gutta, et successit frigida cura.
nam si abest quod ames, praesto simulacra tamen
sunt
illius, et nomen dulce obversatur ad auris.
sed fugitare decet simulacra et pabula amoris
absterrere sibi atque alio convertere mentem
1065et iacere umorem conlectum in corpora quaeque,
nec retinere, semel conversum unius amore,
et servare sibi curam certumque dolorem;
ulcus enim vivescit et inveterascit alendo,
inque dies gliscit furor atque aerumna gravescit,
1070si non prima novis conturbes volnera plagis
volgivagaque vagus Venere ante recentia cures
aut alio possis animi traducere motus.
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For all generally fall towards a wound, and the blood jets out in the direction of the blow that has struck us, and if he is close by, the ruddy flood drenches the enemy. So therefore, if one is wounded by the shafts of Venus, whether it be a boy with girlish limbs who launches the shaft at him, or a woman radiating love from her whole body, he tends to the source of the blow, and desires to unite and to cast the fluida from body to body; for his dumb desire presages delight.
1058This is our Venus; from this also comes love’s
nameb; from this first trickled into the heart that dewdrop of Venus’s sweetness, and then came up freezing care. For if what you love is absent, yet its images are there, and the sweet name sounds in your ears. But it is fitting to flee from images, to scare away what feeds love, to turn the mind in other directions, to cast the collected liquid into any body, and not to retain it, being wrapped up once for all in the love of one, nor to cherish care and certain pain for yourself. For the sore quickens and becomes inveterate by feeding, daily the madness takes on and the tribulation grows heavier, if you do not confuse the first wounds by new blows, and cure them in time while fresh by wandering with Venus light-o’-love, or tum your thoughts in some other direction.
Footnotes
aNote amorem (1054) . . . umorem (1056)—a deliberate play upon words (cf. Plautus, Mil. 640) emphasizing the connexion between the two things (cf. e.g. 1.117-118, and see note on 1.63).
bCupido, Cupid.
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Nec Veneris fructu caret is qui vitat amorem,
sed potius quae sunt sine poena commoda sumit;
1075nam certe purast sanis magis inde voluptas
quam miseris. etenim potiundi tempore in ipso
fluctuat incertis erroribus ardor amantum,
nec constat quid primum oculis manibusque fruantur.
quod petiere, premunt arte faciuntque dolorem
1080corporis, et dentes inlidunt saepe labellis
osculaque adfligunt, quia non est pura voluptas
et stimuli subsunt qui instigant laedere id ipsum,
quodcumque est, rabies unde illaec germina surgunt.
Sed leviter poenas frangit Venus inter amorem,
1085blandaque refrenat morsus admixta voluptas;
namque in eo spes est, unde est ardoris origo,
restingui quoque posse ab eodem corpore flammam.
quod fieri contra totum natura repugnat:
unaque res haec est, cuius quam plurima habemus,
1090tam magis ardescit dira cuppedine pectus.
nam cibus atque umor membris adsumitur intus;
quae quoniam certas possunt obsidere partis,
hoc facile expletur laticum frugumque cupido.
ex hominis vero facie pulchroque colore
1095nil datur in corpus praeter simulacra fruendum
tenvia; quae vento spes raptast saepe misella.
ut bibere in somnis sitiens quom quaerit, et umor
non datur, ardorem qui membris stinguere possit,
sed laticum simulacra petit frustraque laborat
1100in medioque sitit torrenti flumine potans,
sic in amore Venus simulacris ludit amantis,
nec satiare queunt spectando corpora coram,
Footnotes
1081adfligunt OACFLM: adfigunt QB, Diels, Martin 1096 raptast Munro: rapta est AB, ed. Juntina in notes, Wakefield from Codex Musaei Britannici Butl. 11912: raptat OQFL
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1073Nor does he who avoids love lack the fruit of
Venus, but rather he takes the advantages which are without penalty; for certainly a pleasure more unmixed comes from this to the healthy than to the lovesick. Indeed, in the very time of possession, lovers’ ardour is storm-tossed, uncertain in its course, hesitating what first to enjoy with eye or hand. They press closely the desired object, hurting the body, often they set their teeth in the lips and crush mouth on mouth, because the pleasure is not unmixed and there are secret stings which urge them to hurt that very thing, whatever it may be, from which those germs of frenzy grow.
1084But Venus gives a light break to the suffering amidst their love, and the soothing pleasure intermingled curbs back the bites. For here lies the hope
that the fire may be extinguished from the same body that was the origin of the burning, which nature contrariwise denies out and out to be possible; and this is the only thing, for which the more we have, the more fierce burns the heart with fell craving. For food and liquid are absorbed into the body, and since these can possess certain fixed parts, thereby the desire of water or bread is easily fulfilled. But from man’s aspect and beautiful bloom nothing comes into the body to be enjoyed except thin images; and this poor hope is often snatched away by the wind. As when in dreams a thirsty man seeks to drink, and no water is forthcoming to quench the burning in his frame, but he seeks the image of water, striving in vain, and in the midst of a rushing river thirsts while he drinks: so in love Venus mocks
lovers with images, nor can bodies even in real presence satisfy lovers with looking, nor can they
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nec manibus quicquam teneris abradere membris
possunt errantes incerti corpore toto.
1105denique cum membris conlatis flore fruuntur
aetatis, iam cum praesagit gaudia corpus
atque in eost Venus ut muliebria conserat arva,
adfigunt avide corpus iunguntque salivas
oris et inspirant pressantes dentibus ora—
1110nequiquam, quoniam nil inde abradere possunt
nec penetrare et abire in corpus corpore toto;
nam facere interdum velle et certare videntur:
usque adeo cupide in Veneris compagibus haerent,
membra voluptatis dum vi labefacta liquescunt.
1115tandem ubi se erupit nervis conlecta cupido,
parva fit ardoris violenti pausa parumper.
inde redit rabies eadem et furor ille revisit,
cum sibi quod cupiunt ipsi contingere quaerunt,
nec reperire malum id possunt quae machina vincat:
1120usque adeo incerti tabescunt volnere caeco.
Adde quod absumunt viris pereuntque labore,
adde quod alterius sub nutu degitur aetas.
1124languent officia atque aegrotat fama vacillans.
1123labitur interea res et Babylonia fiunt
1125unguenta, et pulchra in pedibus Sicyonia rident;
scilicet et grandes viridi cum luce zmaragdi
auro includuntur, teriturque thalassina vestis
adsidue et Veneris sudorem exercita potat;
Footnotes
1118quod cupiunt A: quod cupiant OQFL (for the corruption cf. e.g. 1259): quid cupiant Lachmann
1124Babylonia OQ: Babylonica (cf. 1029) Pius (notes)
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rub off something from tender limbs with hands wandering aimless all over the body. Lastly, when clasped body to body they enjoy the flower of their age, at the moment when the body foretastes its joy and Venus is on the point of sowing the woman’s field,a they cling greedily close together and join their watering mouths and draw deep breaths pressing teeth on lips; but all is vanity, for they can rub nothing off, nor can they penetrate and be absorbed body in body; for this they seem sometimes to wish and to strive for: so eagerly do they cling in the couplings of Venus, while their limbs slacken and melt under the power of delight. At length when the gathered desire has burst from their loins, there is a short pause for a while in the furious burning. Then the same frenzy returns, and once more the
madness comes, when they seek to attain what desire, and can find no device to master the trouble: in such uncertainty do they pine with their secret wound.
1121Add this also,b that they consume their strength
and kill themselves with the labour; add this, that one lives at the beck of another. Duties are neglected, good name totters and sickens. Meanwhile wealth vanishes, and turns into Babylonian perfumes; lovely Sicyo-nian slippers laugh on her feet; you may be sure too that great emeralds flash their green light set in gold, the sea-purple tunic is ever in wear and, in rough use, drinks up the sweat of Venus. The well-won wealth of fathers
Footnotes
aFor the metaphor, cf. 1272-1273 and (e.g.) Aeschylus, Sept. 753-754, Sophocles, Ant. 569, OT 1256-1257, 1497, Euripides, Cyc. 171, Phoen. 18, Plautus, Asin. 874, Virgil, G. 3.136.
bOn 1121 ff cf. Plaut. Trin. 235-276.
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et bene parta patrum fiunt anademata, mitrae,
interdum in pallam atque Alidensia Ciaque vertunt;
1131eximia veste et victu convivia, ludi,
pocula crebra, unguenta, coronae, serta parantur—
nequiquam, quoniam medio de fonte leporum
surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat,
1135aut cum conscius ipse animus se forte remordet
desidiose agere aetatem lustrisque perire,
aut quod in ambiguo verbum iaculata reliquit
quod cupido adfixum cordi vivescit ut ignis,
aut nimium iactare oculos aliumve tueri
1140quod putat, in voltuque videt vestigia risus.
Atque in amore mala haec proprio summeque
secundo
inveniuntur; in adverso vero atque inopi sunt,
prendere quae possis oculorum lumine operto,
innumerabilia; ut melius vigilare sit ante,
1145qua docui ratione, cavereque ne inliciaris.
nam vitare, plagas in amoris ne laciamur,
non ita difficile est quam captum retibus ipsis
exire et validos Veneris perrumpere nodos.
et tamen implicitus quoque possis inque peditus
1150effugere infestum, nisi tute tibi obvius obstes
et praetermittas animi vitia omnia primum
Footnotes
1130Ciaque L: chiaque OQ: Ceaque “Adrianus Turnebus, seu potius Gulielm. Pellisserius, episcopus Momtepessulanus” (Lambinus): Coaque T. Bergk, Neue Jahrb. für Philologie und Pädagogik 67 (1853) 323-324
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becomes coronets and head-scarves, or it may be a cloak or silks from Alindaa and Ceos.b Banquets are prepared with magnificent trappings and rich fare, entertainments, bumpers in abundance, ointment, garlands, festoons; but all is vanity, since from the very fountain of enchantment rises a drop of bitterness to torment even in the flowers; either when a guilty conscience chances to sting him with the thought that he is passing his life in sloth and perishing in debauches, or because she has shot and left a word
of doubtful meaning, which, fixed in his yearning heart, keeps alive like fire, or because he thinks that she makes eyes too freely and gazes at another man, while he sees in her face the trace of a smile.
1141And more, these evils are found in a love
that brings possession, and when all goes exceedingly well; but in love that is unhappy and helpless, evils there are that you can see with your eyes shut, innumerable; so that it is better to be on guard beforehand, as I have explained, and to take care that you be not enticed. For to avoid being lured into the
snares of love is not so difficult as, when you are caught in the toils, to get out and break through the strong knots of Venus.c Yet you can escape the danger even when involved and entangled, unless you stand in your own way, and begin by overlooking
Footnotes
aA town in Caria.
bOne of the Cyclades. If (see critical note) the reading adopted in the text is right, Lucr. seems to have followed Varro in confusing Ceos with Cos, one of the Sporades, which was renowned for its dresses.
cOn the image of the net, see E. J. Kenney in Mnemos. ser. 4, 23 (1970) 386-388.
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aut quae corpori’ sunt eius, quam praepetis ac vis.
nam faciunt homines plerumque cupidine caeci
et tribuunt ea quae non sunt his commoda vere.
1155multimodis igitur pravas turpisque videmus
esse in deliciis summoque in honore vigere.
atque alios alii inrident Veneremque suädent
ut placent, quoniam foedo adflictentur amore,
nec sua respiciunt miseri mala maxima saepe.
1160nigra “melichrus” est, inmunda et fetida “acos-
mos,”
caesia “Palladium,” nervosa et lignea “dorcas,”
parvula pumilio, “chariton mia,” “tota merum sal,”
magna atque inmanis “cataplexis plenaque honoris.”
balba loqui non quit—“traulizi”; muta “pudens”
est;
1165at flagrans odiosa loquacula “lampadium” fit;
“ischnon eromenion” tum fit, cum vivere non quit
prae macie; “rhadine” verost iam mortua tussi;
at tumida et mammosa “Ceres” est “ipsa ab
Iaccho,”
simula “Silena ac saturast,” labeosa “philema.”
1170cetera de genere hoc longum est si dicere coner.
Sed tamen esto iam quantovis oris honore,
cui Veneris membris vis omnibus exoriatur:
nempe aliae quoque sunt; nempe hac sine viximus
ante;
nempe eadem facit—et scimus facere—omnia turpi,
Footnotes
1168tumida Bernays: iamina OQ: tamina F: gemina Turnebus (see Lambinus): nimia Martin.
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all faults of mind and body in her whom you prefer and desire. For this is what men usually do when blinded with desire, and they attribute to women advantages which they really have not. Thus women
that are in many ways crooked, and ugly we often see to be thought darlings and to be held in the highest honour. One lover will actually deride another, and bid him propitiate Venus as being the victim of a discreditable love, and often, poor wretch, casts not a glance at his own surpassing misery. The black girl is a nut-brown maid,a the dirty and rank is a sweet disorder, the green-eyed is a little Pallas,b the stringy and wooden is a gazelle, the squat little dwarf is one of the Graces, a pinch of embodied wit; the huge virago is a “stunner,” and full of dignity; if she stutters and cannot speak, elle zezayec; the dumb is modest; the fiery, spiteful chatterbox is a little squib; when she is too skinny to live, she is his maigrelette, his cherie; she is svelte when she is half dead of consumption. A swollen thing with large breasts is Ceres herself after the birth of lacchus, the pug-nosed is Silena or Madame Satyr, the thick-lipped is “all kiss.” It would be a long task if I were to try to go through all the list.
1171But, however, let her be one of the supremest
dignity of countenance, let the power of Venus radiate from her whole body, the truth is there are others, the truth is we have lived so far without this one; the truth is she does all the same things as the ugly woman does, and we know it, fumigating herself,
Footnotes
aThis justly famous list (1160-1169) of euphemistic descriptions, mostly Greek, probably owes something to Plato, Resp. 474 d-e, but may have been still more closely based on a lost source. The Lucretian passage in its tum influenced Ovid, Ars Am. 2.657-662, Molière, Misanthrope 2.5 (see Merrill), and perhaps Horace, Sat. 1.3.43-54, Juvenal 3.80-38.
bγλαυκῶπις “grey-green-eyed” or “bright-eyed,” is an epithet of Athena in Homer.
ctraulizi = τραυλίζει.
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1175et miseram taetris se suffit odoribus ipsa,
quam famulae longe fugitant furtimque cachinnant.
at lacrimans exclusus amator limina saepe
floribus et sertis operit postisque superbos
unguit amaracino et foribus miser oscula figit;
quem si, iam ammissum, venientem offenderit aura
1181una modo, causas abeundi quaerat honestas,
et meditata diu cadat alte sumpta querella,
stultitiaque ibi se damnet, tribuisse quod illi
plus videat quam mortali concedere par est.
1185nec Veneres nostras hoc fallit; quo magis ipsae
omnia summo opere hos vitae postscaenia celant
quos retinere volunt adstrictosque esse in amore—
nequiquam, quoniam tu animo tamen omnia possis
protrahere in lucem atque omnis inquirere risus,
1190et, si bello animost et non odiosa, vicissim
praetermittere et humanis concedere rebus.
Nec mulier semper ficto suspirat amore
quae conplexa viri corpus cum corpore iungit
et tenet adsuctis umectans oscula labris;
1195nam facit ex animo saepe et, communia quaerens
gaudia, sollicitat spatium decurrere amoris.
nec ratione alia volucres armenta feraeque
et pecudes et equae maribus subsidere possent,
si non, ipsa quod illarum subat ardet abundans
1200natura et Venerem salientum laeta retractat.
nonne vides etiam quos mutua saepe voluptas
vinxit, ut in vinclis communibus excrucientur?
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poor wretch, with rank odours while her maidservants give her a wide berth and giggle behind her back. But the lover shut out, weeping, often covers the threshold with flowers and wreaths, anoints the proud doorposts with oil of marjoram, presses his love-sick kisses upon the door; but if he is let in, once he gets but one whiff as he comes, he would seek some decent excuse for taking his leave; there would be an end of the complaint so often rehearsed, so deeply felt, and he would condemn himself on the spot of folly, now he sees that he has attributed to her more than it is right to concede to a mortal. Our Venuses are quite well aware of this; so they
are at greater pains themselves to hide all that is behind the scenes of life from those whom they wish to detain fast bound in the chains of love; but all is vanity, since you can nevertheless in your minds drag it all into the light of day, and seek the cause of all the merriment,a and if she is nice-minded and not a nuisance, you can overlook in your tum and make some concession to human weakness.
1192Nor does a woman always feign the passion
which makes her sigh, when she embraces her mate joining body to body, and holds his lips in a long kiss, moistening them with her own. For she often does it from the heart, and seeking mutual joys rouses him to run the full course in the lists of love. Nor otherwise could birds or cattle, wild beasts or sheep or mares submit to the male, were it not that their own nature, overflowing, is on heat and burning, and they thrust gladly against the penis of the mounting male. Do you not see also, when mutual pleasure has enchained a pair, how they are often tormented
Footnotes
aCf. 1176.
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in triviis cum saepe canes, discedere aventes,
12101204divorsi cupide summis ex viribu’ tendunt,
1204quom interea validis Veneris compagibus haerent.
1205quod facerent numquam, nisi mutua gaudia nossent
1206quae lacere in fraudem possent vinctosque tenere.
1207quare etiam atque etiam, ut dico, est communi’ vo-
luptas.
1208Et commiscendo quom semine forte virilem
12091210femina vim vicit subita vi corripuitque,
tum similes matrum materno semine fiunt,
ut patribus patrio. sed quos utriusque figurae
esse vides, iuxtim miscentes vulta parentum,
corpore de patrio et materno sanguine crescunt,
1215semina cum Veneris stimulis excita per artus
obvia conflixit conspirans mutuus ardor,
et neque utrum superavit eorum nec superatumst.
Fit quoque ut interdum similes existere avorum
possint et referant proavorum saepe figuras,
1220propterea quia multa modis primordia multis
mixta suo celant in corpore saepe parentes,
quae patribus patres tradunt a stirpe profecta;
inde Venus varia producit sorte figuras
maiorumque refert voltus vocesque comasque,
1225quandoquidem nilo minus haec de semine certo
fiunt quam facies et corpora membraque nobis.
Footnotes
1207lacere Lambinus: iacere OQP. See critical note on 1146, and cf. 5.1005 pellicere in fraudem
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in their common chains? For often dogs at the cross-ways, desiring to part, pull hard in different directions with all their strength, when all the while they are held fast in the strong couplings of Venus. But this they would never do, unless they both felt these joys which were enough to lure them into the trap and to hold them enchained. Therefore again and again I say, the pleasure is for both.
1209And in the mingling of seed, when by any
chance the woman suddenly overcomes the man’s force by hers and has gained the upper hand, then by means of the mother’s seeda children are born like the mother, as they are born like the father by reason of the father’s seed. But those whom you see with the shape of each, mingling the marks of their parents’ countenances together, grow from the father’s body and the mother’s blood both, when the seeds stirred up through the frame by the goads of Venus have been thrust together by the passion of two breathing as one, neither conquering, neither conquered.
1218It sometimes happens also that the children may appear like a grandfather and often reproduce the looks of a great-grandfather, because the parents often conceal in their bodies many first-beginnings mingled in many ways, which fathers hand on to fathers received from their stock; from these Venus brings forth forms with varying lot, and reproduces the countenance, the voice, the hair of their ancestors; for these features come from a fixed seed no less than our faces and bodies and limbs.
Footnotes
aEpicurus, like Pythagoras and Democritus, believed that
the female too emits semen during intercourse (Aetius 5.5.1, quoted by Wakefield).
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Et muliebre oritur patrio de semine saeclum,
maternoque mares existunt corpore creti;
semper enim partus duplici de semine constat,
1230atque utri similest magis id quodcumque creatur,
eius habet plus parte aequa; quod cernere possis,
sive virum suboles sivest muliebris origo.
Nec divina satum genitalem numina cuiquam
absterrent, pater a gnatis ne dulcibus umquam
1235appelletur et ut sterili Venere exigat aevom;
quod plerumque putant, et multo sanguine maesti
conspergunt aras adolentque altaria donis,
ut gravidas reddant uxores semine largo.
nequiquam divom numen sortisque fatigant;
1240nam steriles nimium crasso sunt semine partim,
et liquido praeter iustum tenuique vicissim.
tenve locis quia non potis est adfigere adhaesum,
liquitur extemplo et revocatum cedit abortu.
crassius his porro quoniam concretius aequo
1245mittitur, aut non tam prolixo provolat ictu
aut penetrare locos aeque nequit aut penetratum
aegre admiscetur muliebri semine semen.
nam multum harmoniae Veneris differre videntur.
atque alias alii complent magis, ex aliisque
1250succipiunt aliae pondus magis inque gravescunt.
et multae steriles Hymenaeis ante fuerunt
pluribus, et nactae post sunt tamen unde puellos
suscipere et partu possent ditescere dulci.
et quibus ante domi fecundae saepe nequissent
1265uxores parere, inventast illis quoque compar
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1227Female children also spring from their father’s
seed, and male children appear made of their mother’s substance; for the birth always is made out of both seeds, and whichever parent the offspring resembles, of that parent it has more than half; which you may discern, whether the child be male or female.
1233It is not the divine powers that drive away the
genital force from a man, so that he be never called father by sweet children and that he pass his days in barren wedlock, as men for the most part think, sorrowfully sprinkling their altars with much blood and making them burn with offerings, that they may make their wives pregnant with abundant seed. It is all vanity that they weary the gods’ power and magic lots; for they are barren, some because
too thick, others in turn because it is too watery and thin. The thin, because it cannot stick and adhere to the parts, at once flows away and departs withdrawn in untimely birth. That which is too thick, again, since it is emitted too closely clotted, either does not leap forward with so far-reaching a blow, or cannot equally well penetrate the part, or, although it penetrate, does not easily mix with the woman’s seed. For sexual harmony is seen to vary greatly. Some men more easily impregnate some women than others, some women more easily receive
their burden from some than from others and become pregnant. Many women barren often enough in earlier wedlock, yet have found those from whom they could conceive children and be enriched with sweet offspring; and often men, in whose homes hitherto women though fruitful have been unable to bear a child, yet have found a natural mate, so that
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natura, ut possent gnatis munire senectam.
usque adeo magni refert, ut semina possint
seminibus commisceri genitaliter apta,
crassaque conveniant liquidis et liquida crassis.
1260atque in eo refert quo victu vita colatur;
namque aliis rebus concrescunt semina membris
atque aliis extenvantur tabentque vicissim.
Et quibus ipsa modis tractetur blanda voluptas,
id quoque permagni refert; nam more ferarum
quadrupedumque magis ritu plerumque putantur
1266concipere uxores, quia sic loca sumere possunt,
pectoribus positis, sublatis semina lumbis.
nec molles opu’ sunt motus uxoribus hilum;
nam mulier prohibet se concipere atque repugnat,
1270clunibus ipsa viri Venerem si laeta retractat
atque exossato ciet omni corpore fluctus;
eicit enim sulcum recta regione viaque
vomeris atque locis avertit seminis ictum.
idque sua causa consuerunt scorta moveri,
1275ne complerentur crebro gravidaeque iacerent,
et simul ipsa viris Venus ut concinnior esset;
coniugibus quod nil nostris opus esse videtur.
Nec divinitus interdum Venerisque sagittis
deteriore fit ut forma muliercula ametur;
1280nam facit ipsa suis interdum femina factis
Footnotes
1271corpore W. Clausen, AJPhil. 84 (1963) 415–416: pectore OQP
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they could protect their old age with children. So important is it that the seeds should be able to be commingled together in a manner suited for generation, and that the thick should be combined with the watery and the watery with the thick.
And in this regard it is of importance with what food the life is nourished; for some foods make the seed thicken in the body, and others again make it thin and wasting.
1263Another thing of very great importance is the position in which the soothing pleasure itself is taken; for wives are thought generally to conceive better after the manner of wild beasts and quadrupeds, because in that position, breast down and loins up, the seeds can occupy the proper places. Lascivious
movements are of no use whatever to wives. For a woman forbids herself to conceive and fights against it, if in her delight she thrusts against the man’s penis with her buttocks,a making undulating movementsb with all her body limp; for she turns the share clean away from the furrow and makes the seed fail of its place. Whores indulge in such motions for their own purposes, that they may not often conceive and lie pregnant, and at the same time that their intercourse may be more pleasing to menc; which our wives evidently have no need for.
1278Nor is it due to a god’s influence or the arrows
of Venus, when, as sometimes happens, a wench of uglier shape is beloved. For a woman sometimes so
Footnotes
aCf. Horace, Sat. 2.7.50.
bciet . . . fluctus, though rightly interpreted by Pius, Lambinus, Faber, and Wakefield, has been misunderstood by many modern editors and translators, including the reviser of the present work in his own translation. That the translation given here is correct is shown by comparison with (e.g.) Juvenal 6.322, Arnobius, Adv. Nat. 2.42, 7.33. See especially Wakefield, also C. L. Howard, CPhil. 56 (1961) 154, W. Clausen, AJP hil. 84 (1963) 415.
cCf. Anth. Pal. 5.132.5, where Philodemus, praising the numerous attractions of an Oscan girl, exclaims ὢ κατατεχνοτάτυ (or, perhaps better, κατατεχνοτάτυ) κτνήματος. Cf. Anth. Pal. 5.129.1-2.
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morigerisque modis et munde corpore culto,
ut facile insuescat te secum degere vitam.
quod superest, consuetudo concinnat amorem;
nam leviter quamvis quod crebro tunditur ictu,
1285vincitur in longo spatio tamen atque labascit.
nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis
umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?
Footnotes
1282te Bernays: omitted by OQ
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manages herself by her own conduct, by obliging manners and bodily neatness and cleanliness, that she easily accustoms you to live with her. Moreover, it is habit that breeds love; for that which is frequently struck by a blow, however light, still yields in the long run and is ready to fall. Do you not see that even drops of water falling upon a stone in the long run beat a way through the stone?a
Footnotes
aCf. Tobias Smollett, The Regicide Act 3, Sc. 4: “The rude flint | Yields to th’ incessant drop.”
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Liber Quintus
Quis potis est dignum pollenti pectore carmen
condere pro rerum maiestate hisque repertis?
quisve valet verbis tantum qui fingere laudes
pro meritis eius possit qui talia nobis
5pectore parta suo quaesitaque praemia liquit?
nemo, ut opinor, erit mortali corpore cretus.
nam si, ut ipsa petit maiestas cognita rerum,
dicendum est, deus ille fuit, deus, inclute Memmi,
qui princeps vitae rationem invenit earn quae
10nunc appellatur sapientia, quique per artem
fluctibus e tantis vitam tantisque tenebris
in tam tranquillo et tam clara luce locavit.
Confer enim divina aliorum antiqua reperta.
namque Ceres fertur fruges Liberque liquoris
15vitigeni laticem mortalibus instituisse;
Footnotes
2maiestate hisque Lambinus: maiestatis atque OQ: maiestatisque P: maiestate atque manuscript reading known to Lambinus
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Book 5
Who is able with mighty mind to build a song worthy
of the majesty of nature and these discoveries? Or who is so potent in speech as to devise praises fit for his merits, who by his own intellect winning and gaining such treasures, has left them to us? None will be found, I think, of the sons of mortal men. For if we must speak as this very majesty of nature now known to us demands, he was a god, noble Memmius, a god he was,awho firstb discovered that reasoned plan of life which is now called Wisdom, who by his skill brought life out of those tempestuous billows and that deep darkness, and settled it in such a calm and in light so clear.c
13Do but compare the ancient discoveries accounted godlike, made by others. For Ceres is said
to have introduced corn to mortals, Liberd the liquor
Footnotes
aImitated by Virgil, Ecl. 5.64: deus, deus ille, Menalca. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1.21.48, was probably thinking chiefly of Lucr. when he wrote: soleo saepe mirari nonnullorum in-solentiam philosophorum, qui naturae cognitionem (cf. 7 maiestas cognita rerum) admirantur, eiusque inventori et principi (cf. 9 princeps . . . invenit) gratias exsultantes agunt eumque venerantur ut deum. The Epicureans felt justified in calling their master a god, because, although he was mortal (3.1042), his discoveries were seemingly superhuman: he had saved men from ignorance and misery, and enabled them to live lives as peaceful and happy as those of the gods. Cf. 3.322 and see note there.
bIn each of Lucr.’s four eulogies of Epicurus, it is emphasized that he was the first to save mankind: primum (1.66), primus (3.2), princeps (5.9), primae (6.4).
cFor the darkness from which Epicurus rescued (or can rescue) humanity, cf. e.g. 2.15, 3.1-2. On the storm-calm metaphor in Lucr. and Epicurus, see M. F. Smith, CR N.S. 16 (1966) 265. It should be noted that ἀταραξία (the Epicurean ideal) is a metaphor from calm water and weather (cf. e.g. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 5.6.16).
dBacchus.
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cum tamen his posset sine rebus vita manere,
ut fama est aliquas etiam nunc vivere gentis.
at bene non poterat sine puro pectore vivi;
quo magis hic merito nobis deus esse videtur,
20ex quo nunc etiam per magnas didita gentis
dulcia permulcent animos solacia vitae.
Herculis antistare autem si facta putabis,
longius a vera multo ratione ferere.
quid Nemeaeus enim nobis nunc magnus hiatus
25ille leonis obesset et horrens Arcadius sus?
denique quid Cretae taurus Lernaeaque pestis
hydra venenatis posset vallata colubris?
quidve tripectora tergemini vis Geryonai
. . . . . . .
30tanto opere officerent nobis Stymphala colentes,
2930et Diomedis equi spirantes naribus ignem
Thracis Bistoniasque plagas atque Ismara propter?
aureaque Hesperidum servans fulgentia mala,
asper, acerba tuens, immani corpore serpens
arboris amplexus stirpem, quid denique obesset
35propter Atlanteum litus pelagique severa,
quo neque noster adit quisquam nec barbarus audet?
cetera de genere hoc quae sunt portenta perempta,
si non victa forent, quid tandem viva nocerent?
Footnotes
29transposed by Munro, who assumes a lacuna before them, e.g. quid volucres pennis aeratis invia stagna. Marullus places 29 (30 in the manuscripts) after 31. Büchner, followed by Martin and D. A. West, Hermes 93 (1965) 499-502, places the same line between 25 and 26 (West assuming a lacuna before it). One of Büchner’s main arguments is that “poetam a propinquis ad longinquiores regiones progredi,” but this is not true of 26 (as West points out), and it is quite natural that the bull should have been mentioned immediately after the lion and the boar (cf. 1308-1310: tauros . . . sues . . . leones)
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of vine-born juicea; but nevertheless life could have
remained without these things, as we are told that some nationsb live even now. But good life was impossible without a purged mindc; which makes him seem to us with better reason a god, from whom even now spreading abroad through great nations come sweet consolations of life to soothe our minds.
22But if you think the deeds of Herculesd rival
his, you will stray much farther still from true reasoning. For what harm could we now receive from that gaping maw of the Nemean lion, or from the bristling Arcadian boar? What again could the Cretan bull do, or that pest of Lerna, the hydra fenced about with her poisonous snakes? What the great threefold breast of triple Geryones? What great mischief could we suffer from the [birds] that haunted the Stymphalian [lake], or Thracian Diomedes’ horses breathing fire from their nostrils hard by the Bistonian regions and Ismara? And the guardian of the gleaming golden apples of the Hesperides, fierce, with piercing eyes, that enormous serpent coiled about the tree-trunk, what mischief pray could he do by the Atlantic shore and the pitiless tracts of ocean, whither none of our folk ever goes and even the outlander dares not? And all the other monsters of this kind that were slain, if they had not been vanquished, what harm pray could they do alive? None, as I
Footnotes
aLucr. is perhaps parodying the language of the mythologists (D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 28), but it should be noted that in 6.1072 he has vitigeni latices in a straightforward argument.
be.g. the Germans (cf. Caesar, BGall. 6.22.1).
cThat is, a mind purged of fears and unnecessary desires and the vices that result from them: cf. especially 6.24-25.
dThe hero of the Stoics.
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nil, ut opinor: ita ad satiatem terra ferarum
40nunc etiam scatit et trepido terrore repleta est
per nemora ac montes magnos silvasque profundas;
quae loca vitandi plerumque est nostra potestas.
At nisi purgatumst pectus, quae proelia nobis
atque pericula tunc ingratis insinuandum!
45quantae tum scindunt hominem cuppedinis acres
sollicitum curae quantique perinde timores !
quidve superbia spurcitia ac petulantia? quantas
efficiunt clades! quid luxus desidiaeque?
haec igitur qui cuncta subegerit ex animoque
50expulerit dictis, non armis, nonne decebit
hunc hominem numero divom dignarier esse?—
cum bene praesertim multa ac divinitus ipsis
immortalibu’ de divis dare dicta suërit
atque omnem rerum naturam pandere dictis.
55Cuius ego ingressus vestigia dum rationes
persequor ac doceo dictis, quo quaeque creata
foedere sint, in eo quam sit durare necessum
nec validas valeant aevi rescindere leges
(quo genere in primis animi natura reperta est
60nativo primum consistere corpore creta
nec posse incolumem magnum durare per aevom,
sed simulacra solere in somnis fallere mentem,
cernere cum videamur eum quem vita reliquit),
Footnotes
44tunc . . . insinuandum first printed by Lambinus, but, according to Gifanius (1595), already read by Marullus. Munro raises the question of whether Gifanius was telling the truth. Probably he was. It should be noted that, according to Wakefield, the reading is found in three Renaissance manuscripts in England: sunt. . . insinuandum OQP: tumst . . . insinuandum Lachmann: sunt. . . insinuanda Merrill (1917): tunc . . . insinuantur M. F. Smith formerly
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think, seeing how the earth even now teems with swarms of wild beasts, how full it is of unnerving terror through forests and great mountains and deep woods, which places it is mostly in our power to avoid.
43But unless the mind is purged, what battles and perils must then find their way into us against our will!a
How sharp then are the cares with which lust rends the troubled man, how great also the fears! Or and vices what of pride, of filthy lust, of petulance? How great the devastation they deal! What of luxury and sloth?b He therefore who has vanquished all these and cast them forth from the mind by words,
not by swords, will it not be proper that he be held worthy to be counted in the number of the gods? Especially since he was accustomed to discourse often in good and godlike fashion about the immortal gods themselves, and to disclose in his discourse all the nature of things.
11His steps I trace, his doctrines I follow, teaching in my poem how all things are bound to abide in that
law by which they were made, and how they are impotent to annul the strong statutes of time; and herein first of all the nature of the mind has been nature found first to consist of a body that had birth, and unable to endure intact through a long time; but only images are accustomed in sleep to cheat the intelligence, when we seem to see him whom life has
Footnotes
aOn 43-44 see J. Farrell, CQ N.S. 38 (1988) 178-185.
bD. E. W. Wormell in Lucretius, ed. D. R. Dudley, 48, 66 n. 1, points out that superbia, spurcitia, petulantia, luxus, desidiae (47-48) +avarities and honorum caeca cupido (i.e. ambitio) (3.59) constitute the seven deadly sins.
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quod superest, nunc huc rationis detulit ordo,
65ut mihi mortali consistere corpore mundum
nativomque simul ratio reddunda sit esse;
et quibus ille modis congressus materiai
fundarit terram caelum mare sidera solem
lunaique globum; tum quae tellure animantes
70extiterint, et quae nullo sint tempore natae;
quove modo genus humanum variante loquella
coeperit inter se vesci per nomina rerum;
et quibus ille modis divom metus insinuarit
pectora, terrarum qui in orbi sancta tuetur
75fana lacus lucos aras simulacraque divom.
praeterea solis cursus lunaeque meatus
expediam qua vi flectat natura gubernans,
ne forte haec inter caelum terramque reamur
libera sponte sua cursus lustrare perennis,
80morigera ad fruges augendas atque animantis,
neve aliqua divom volvi ratione putemus.
nam bene qui didicere deos securum agere aevom,
si tamen interea mirantur qua ratione
quaeque geri possint, praesertim rebus in illis
85quae supera caput aetheriis cernuntur in oris,
rursus in antiquas referuntur religiones,
et dominos acris adsciscunt, omnia posse
quos miseri credunt, ignari quid queat esse,
quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique
90quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens.
Quod superest, ne te in promissis plura moremur,
principio maria ac terras caelumque tuere:
quorum naturam triplicem, tria corpora, Memmi,
tris species tam dissimilis, tria talia texta,
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left. Now for what remains the order of my design has brought me to this point, that I must show how
the frame of which the world consists is subject to death and has also had birth; in what ways that assemblage of matter established earth, sky, sea, and stars, the sun and the ball of the moon; then
explaining what animals arose from the earth, and what have never been born at any time; and in what manner the human race began to use variety or speech in their intercourse by means of the names of things; and in what ways that fear of gods crept into the heart, which in our earth keeps holy their shrines and pools and groves, their altars and images. Besides, I will explain by what force pilot nature steers the courses of the sun and the goings of the moon; lest by any chance we think that these between heaven and earth traverse their yearly courses free, of their own will, and obliging for the increase of crops and of animals, or deem them to revolve by some plan of the gods. For if those who have been rightly taught that the gods lead a life without care, yet wonder all the while how things can go on, especially those transactions which are perceived overhead in the regions of ether, they revert back again to the old superstitions, and take to themselves cruel taskmasters, whom the poor wretches believe to be almighty, not knowing what can be and what cannot, in a word how each thing has limited power and a deep-set boundary mark.a
91To proceed then, and to make no more delay
with promises, observe first of all sea and earth and sky: this threefold nature, these three masses, Memmius, these three forms so different, these three
Footnotes
a82-90=6.58-66. 89-90 = 1.76-77,595-596.
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95una dies dabit exitio, multosque per annos
sustentata ruet moles et machina mundi.
nec me animi fallit quam res nova miraque menti
accidat exitium caeli terraeque futurum,
et quam difficile id mihi sit pervincere dictis;
100ut fit ubi insolitam rem adportes auribus ante,
nec tamen hanc possis oculorum subdere visu
nec iacere indu manus, via qua munita fidei
proxima fert humanum in pectus templaque mentis.
sed tamen effabor. dictis dabit ipsa fidem res
105forsitan, et graviter terrarum motibus ortis
omnia conquassari in parvo tempore cernes.
quod procul a nobis flectat fortuna gubernans,
et ratio potius quam res persuadeat ipsa
succidere horrisono posse omnia victa fragore.
110Qua prius adgrediar quam de re fundere fata
sanctius et multo certa ratione magis quam
Pythia quae tripode a Phoebi lauroque profatur,
multa tibi expediam doctis solacia dictis,
religione refrenatus ne forte rearis
115terras et solem et caelum, mare sidera lunam,
corpore divino debere aeterna manere,
proptereaque putes ritu par esse Gigantum
pendere eos poenas inmani pro scelere omnis
qui ratione sua disturbent moenia mundi
Footnotes
116manere ed. Juntina: meare OQP, Wakefield, thought possible by Bailey
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textures so interwoven, one day shall consign to destructiona; the mighty and complex system of the world, upheld through many years, shall crash into ruins. Yet I do not forget how novel and strange it strikes the mind that destruction awaits the
heavens and the earth, and how difficult it is for me to prove this by argument; as happens when you invite a hearing for something hitherto unfamiliar, which you cannot bring within the scope of vision nor put into the hands,b whereby the highway of belief leads straight to the heart of man and the precincts of his intelligence.c Nevertheless I will speak out. My words will perhaps win credit by plain facts, and within some short time you will see violent earthquakes arise and all things convulsed with shocks. But may pilot fortune steer this far
from us, and may pure reason rather than experience persuade that the whole world can collapse borne down with a frightful-sounding crash.
110But before I begin to utter my oracles on this
matter, more solemnly and with more certain reason than those which the Pythia declares from the tripod and laurel of Phoebus,d I will expound to you many consolations in words of wisdom; lest by some chance bitted and bridled by superstition you think that earth and sun and sky, sea, stars, and moon are of divine body and must abide for ever; and should therefore believe it right that, like the Giants, all they should suffer punishment for a monstrous crime, who with their reasoning shake the walls of the world, and
Footnotes
aOvid, Am. 1.15.23-24, neatly incorporates an adaptation of 5.95 in his prophecy of Lucr.’s fame: carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti, | exitio terras cum dabit una dies.
biacere indu, according to Munro, Merrill, and Bailey, = inicere, but indu is more probably the preposition, as in 2. 1096.
cAs Bentley first pointed out, 101-103 are closely based on Empedocles fr. 133.
d111-112 = 1.738-739. See note there.
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120praeclarumque velint caeli restinguere solem,
inmortalia mortali sermone notantes;
quae procul usque adeo divino a numine distent,
inque deum numero quae sint indigna videri,
notitiam potius praebere ut posse putentur
125quid sit vitali motu sensuque remotum.
Quippe etenim non est, cum quovis corpore ut esse
posse animi natura putetur consiliumque;
sicut in aethere non arbor, non aequore salso
nubes esse queunt neque pisces vivere in arvis
130nec cruor in lignis neque saxis sucus inesse:
certum ac dispositumst ubi quicquid crescat et insit.
sic animi natura nequit sine corpore oriri
sola neque a nervis et sanguine longius esse,
quod si posset enim, multo prius ipsa animi vis
135in capite aut umeris aut imis calcibus esse
posset et innasci quavis in parte soleret,
tandem in eodem homine atque in eodem vase
manere.
quod quoniam nostro quoque constat corpore certum
dispositumque videtur ubi esse et crescere possit
seorsum anima atque animus, tanto magis infitiandum
141totum posse extra corpus formamque animalem
putribus in glebis terrarum aut solis in igni
aut in aqua durare aut altis aetheris oris,
haud igitur constant divino praedita sensu,
145quandoquidem nequeunt vitaliter esse animata.
Illud item non est ut possis credere, sedes
esse deum sanctas in mundi partibus ullis.
tenvis enim natura deum longeque remota
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would quench the shining light of the sun in heaven, tarnishing things immortal with mortal speech; although these things are so far distant from the power of divinity and unworthy to be found in the
number of the gods, that they should rather be thought to show forth in themselves what that is, which has neither lively motion nor feeling.
126For in fact it is not possible that the mind and
understanding can be thought able to reside in any and every body; just as in the upper air there can be no tree, no clouds in the salt sea, as fish cannot live on the fields, blood cannot be in wood, nor sap in stones.a It is fixed and ordained where each thing can grow and abide. So the mind cannot arise alone
and apart without a body, nor can it be far distant from sinews and blood. But if it could do this, the force of the mind itself could much more easily be in head or shoulders or down in the heels, and be born in any part, and at least abide in the same man, the same vessel.b But since even in our own body there is seen to be a fixed rule and ordinance in what place spirit and mind can be and grow apart, so much the more must we deny that it can abide wholly outside the body and the animal structure in crumbling clods of
earth or the sun’s fire or in water or the lofty regions of air. Therefore these are not endowed with divine feeling, since they cannot be animated with life.
146Another thing it is impossible that you should
believe is that any holy abode of the gods exists in any part of the world.c For the nature of the gods, being thin and far removed from our senses, is hardly
Footnotes
a128-141 are repeated, with a few minor alterations, from 3.784-797, where Lucr. is arguing that mind and soul are mortal.
bSee note on 3.793.
cThe Epicureans taught that the gods live in the spaces between the worlds (μετακόσμια, intermundia).
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sensibus ab nostris animi vix mente videtur;
150quae quoniam manuum tactum suffugit et ictum,
tactile nil nobis quod sit contingere debet;
tangere enim non quit quod tangi non licet ipsum.
quare etiam sedes quoque nostris sedibus esse
dissimiles debent, tenues de corpore eorum.
155quae tibi posterius largo sermone probabo.
Dicere podrro hominum causa voluisse parare
praeclaram mundi naturam, proptereaque
adlaudabile opus divom laudare decere
aeternumque putare atque inmortale futurum,
160nec fas esse, deum quod sit ratione vetusta
gentibus humanis fundatum perpetuo aevo,
sollicitare suis ulla vi ex sedibus umquam
nec verbis vexare et ab imo evertere summa—
cetera de genere hoc adfingere et addere, Memmi,
165desiperest. quid enim inmortalibus atque beatis
gratia nostra queat largirier emolumenti,
ut nostra quicquam causa gerere adgrediantur?
quidve novi potuit tanto post ante quietos
inlicere, ut cuperent vitam mutare priorem?
170nam gaudere novis rebus debere videtur
cui veteres obsunt; sed cui nil accidit aegri
tempore in anteacto, cum pulchre degeret aevom,
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seen by the mind’s intelligencea; and since it eludes the touch and impact of the hands, it cannot possibly touch anything that we can touch; for that cannot touch which may not be touched itself. Therefore
their abodes also must be different from our abodes, being thin in accord with their bodies. This I will prove to you later at large.b
156To say furtherc that for men’s sake they had the
will to prepare the glorious structure of the world, and that therefore it is fitting to praise it as an admirable work of the gods; and to think that it will be everlasting and immortal, and that a thing which has by ancient contrivance of the gods been established for the races of mankind to all eternity may not ever lawfully be shaken from its foundations by any force, nor assailed by argument and overthrown from top to bottom; to feign this and other such conceits, one upon another, Memmius, is the act of a fool. For what largess of beneficence could our gratitude bestow
upon beings immortal and blessed, that they should attempt to effect anything for our sakes? Or what novelty could so long after entice those who were tranquil before to desire a change in their former life? For it is evident that he must rejoice in new things, who is offended with the old; but when one has had no annoyance in the time past, enjoying a life of happiness,
Footnotes
aCf. Cicero, Nat.D. 1.19.49: Epicurus docet earn esse vim et naturam deorum ut . . . non sensu sed mente cernatur; 1.37.105: sic enim dicebas speciem del percipi cogitatione non sensu.
bIt has been generally thought that 155 must refer to a full account of the nature of the gods which Lucr. never lived to write. However, this view has been challenged by U. Pizzani, Il problema del testo e della composizione del DRN di Lucrezio 174-180, who takes quae as referring not to the immediately preceding lines, but (and this is quite natural) to 146-147, and supposes that the promise to prove that the gods do not live in our world is fulfilled in Books 5 and 6. Pizzani’s view, though not certainly correct, deserves the most serious consideration.
cWith 156-234 compare Diogenes of Oenoanda, fr. 20-21 Smith.
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quid potuit novitatis amorem accendere tali?
quidve mali fuerat nobis non esse creatis?
175an, credo, in tenebris vita ac maerore iacebat,
donec diluxit rerum genitalis origo?
natus enim debet quicumque est velle manere
in vita, donec retinebit blanda voluptas;
qui numquam vero vitae gustavit amorem
180nec fuit in numero, quid obest non esse creatum?
Exemplum porro gignundis rebus et ipsa
notities hominum dis unde est insita primum,
quid vellent facere ut scirent animoque viderent,
quove modost umquam vis cognita principiorum,
185quidque inter sese permutato ordine possent,
si non ipsa dedit specimen natura creandi?
namque ita multa modis multis primordia rerum
ex infinito iam tempore percita plagis
ponderibusque suis consuerunt concita ferri
190omnimodisque coire atque omnia pertemptare,
quaecumque inter se possent congressa creare,
ut non sit mirum si in talis disposituras
deciderunt quoque et in talis venere meatus,
qualibus haec rerum geritur nunc summa novando.
Quod si iam rerum ignorem primordia quae sint,
196hoc tamen ex ipsis caeli rationibus ausim
Footnotes
175placed after 173 by Lambinus 175 an credo O, Q corr., p (cf. Sulpicius in Cicero, Fam. 4.5.3): anc credo Q: at credo Lachmann (cf. Virgil, Aen. 7.297)
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what could kindle a love of novelty in such a one? Or what evil had there been for us, had we not
been made? Was our life presumably wallowing in darkness and grief, until the light of the first creation shone forth? For whoever is born must wish to remain in life, so long as soothing pleasure shall keep him there; but he who has never tasted the love of life, never been enrolled on the lists, how does it hurt him never to have been made?
181Again, whence was a pattern for making things
first implanted in the gods, or even a conceptiona of mankind, so as to know what they wished to make and to see it in the mind’s eye? Or in what manner was the power of the first-beginnings ever known, and what they could do together by change of order, if nature herself did not provide a model for creation? For so many first-beginnings of things in so
many ways, smitten with blows and carried by their own weight from infinite time up to the present, have been accustomed to move and meet together in all manner of ways, and to try all combinations, whatsoever they could produce by coming together,b that it is no wonder if they fell also into such arrangements, and came into such movements, as this sum of things now shows in its course of perpetual renovation.
195But even granting that I did not know what are
the first-beginnings of things, thus much at least I would dare to affirm from the very ways of heaven,
Footnotes
aFor notities, see note on 2.745. The argument here should be compared with that of 1046-1049, where Lucr. is dealing with the origin of language.
b187-191 =422-426 (from multa to creare). Also compare 187-194 with 1.1024-1028.
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confirmare aliisque ex rebus reddere multis,
nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam
naturam rerum: tanta stat praedita culpa.
200Principio quantum caeli tegit impetus ingens,
inde avidam partem montes silvaeque ferarum
possedere, tenent rupes vastaeque paludes
et mare quod late terrarum distinet oras,
inde duas porro prope partis fervidus ardor
205adsiduusque geli casus mortalibus aufert.
quod superest arvi, tamen id natura sua vi
sentibus obducat, ni vis humana resistat,
vitai causa valido consueta bidenti
ingemere et terram pressis proscindere aratris.
210si non fecundas vertentes vomere glebas
terraique solum subigentes cimus ad ortus,
sponte sua nequeant liquidas existere in auras;
et tamen interdum magno quaesita labore
cum iam per terras frondent atque omnia florent,
215aut nimiis torret fervoribus aetherius sol
aut subiti peremunt imbres gelidaeque pruinae,
flabraque ventorum violento turbine vexant.
Praeterea genus horriferum natura ferarum
humanae genti infestum terraque marique
220cur alit atque auget? cur anni tempora morbos
adportant? quare mors inmatura vagatur?
Tum porro puer, ut saevis proiectus ab undis
navita, nudus humi iacet, infans, indigus omni
vitali auxilio, cum primum in luminis oras
225nixibus ex alvo matris natura profudit,
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and to show from many other facts, that the world
was certainly not made for us by divine power: so great are the faults with which it stands endowed.a
200In the first place, of all that the sky covers with its mighty expanse, a greedy part is possessed by mountains and forests full of wild beasts, part rocks and vasty marshes hold, and the sea that keeps the shores of lands far apart. Almost two parts of
these lands are robbed from mortals by scorching heat, and constantly falling frost. Even the land that is left, nature would still cover with brambles by her own power, but that man’s power resists, well accustomed to groan over the stout mattock for very life, and to cleave the soil with the pressure of the plough. If by turning over the fruitful clods with the ploughshare and trenching the soil we do not bring them to birth,b no growths could emerge into the lambent air of their own accord; and even so at times, these procured by great labour, when they are already covering the earth with leafage and are all in bloom, are either scorched up by the sun in heaven with too great heat, or cut off by sudden rains and chilly frost, and the blasts of wind batter them with violent storms.
218Besides, why does nature feed and increase the
frightful tribes of wild beasts, enemies of the human race, by land and sea? Why do the seasons of the year bring disease? Why does untimely death stalk abroad?
222Then further the child, like a sailor cast forth
by the cruel waves, lies naked upon the ground, speechless, in need of every kind of vital support, as soon as nature has spilt him forth with throes from his mother’s womb into the regions of light, and he
Footnotes
a195-199 are repeated, with slight alterations, from 2.177-181.
bCf. 1.211-212. 394
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vagituque locum lugubri complet, ut aequumst
cui tantum in vita restet transire malorum.
at variae crescunt pecudes armenta feraeque,
nec crepitacillis opus est, nec cuiquam adhibendast
230almae nutricis blanda atque infracta loquella,
nec varias quaerunt vestes pro tempore caeli,
denique non armis opus est, non moenibus altis,
qui sua tutentur, quando omnibus omnia large
tellus ipsa parit naturaque daedala rerum.
235Principio quoniam terrai corpus et umor
aurarumque leves animae calidique vapores,
e quibus haec rerum consistere summa videtur,
omnia nativo ac mortali corpore constant,
debet eodem omnis mundi natura putari.
240quippe etenim quorum partis et membra videmus
corpore nativo ac mortalibus esse figuris,
haec eadem ferme mortalia cernimus esse
et nativa simul. quapropter maxima mundi
cum videam membra ac partis consumpta regigni,
245scire licet caeli quoque item terraeque fuisse
principiale aliquod tempus clademque futuram.
Illud in his rebus ne corripuisse rearis
me mihi, quod terram atque ignem mortalia sumpsi
Footnotes
241nativo ac (cf. 238; for the corruption cf. 321) Lachmann: nativom OQ: nativum O corr., P: nativo et Avancius (in his Catullus)
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fills all around with doleful wailings—as is but just, seeing that so much trouble awaits him in life to pass through.a But the diverse flocks and herds grow,
and wild creatures; they need no rattles, none of them wants to hear the coaxing and broken babytalk of the foster-nurse, they seek no change of raiment according to the temperature of the season, lastly they need no weapons, no lofty walls to protect their own, since for them all the earth herself brings forth all they want in abundance, and nature the cunning fashioner of things.
235In the first place,b since the earth’s mass and
the water, the wind’s light breezes, and burning heat, which are seen to compose this sum of things, all consist of a body that is born and dies, we must consider the whole world to be of the same structure. For certainly whenever we see the parts and the members of creatures to be made of body that has birth and forms that are subject to death, we perceive these same creatures to be invariably subject to death and birth along with the parts. Therefore, when I see the grand parts and members of the world being consumed and born again, I may be sure that heaven and earth also once had their time of beginning and will have their destruction.
247To show you that I have not here begged the
question, when I assumed that earth and fire are
Footnotes
a222-227 are famous lines. Parallels are quoted (see especially Munro, Merrill) from many later writers, including Pliny the Elder, Seneca, Apuleius, and Lactantius. Wordsworth imitates the passage in To —, Upon the Birth of her First-Born Child 1-12: “Like a shipwrecked Sailor tost | By rough waves on a perilous coast, | Lies the Babe, in helplessness | And in tenderest nakedness, | Flung by labouring Nature forth | Upon the mercies of the earth. | Can its eyes beseech? no more | Than the hands are free to implore: | Voice but serves for one brief cry; | Plaint was it? or prophesy | Of sorrow that will surely come? | Omen of man’s grievous doom!”
bAn abrupt resumption of the argument interrupted at 109
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esse, neque umorem dubitavi aurasque perire,
250atque eadem gigni rursusque augescere dixi,
principio pars terrai nonnulla, perusta
solibus adsiduis, multa pulsata pedum vi,
pulveris exhalat nebulam nubesque volantis
quas validi toto dispergunt aere venti.
255pars etiam glebarum ad diluviem revocatur
imbribus, et ripas radentia flumina rodunt.
praeterea pro parte sua, quodcumque alit auget,
redditur; et quoniam dubio procul esse videtur
omniparens eadem rerum commune sepulcrum,
260ergo terra tibi libatur et aucta recrescit.
Quod superest, umore novo mare flumina fontes
semper abundare et latices manare perennis
nil opus est verbis: magnus decursus aquarum
undique declarat. sed primum quicquid aquai
265tollitur in summaque fit ut nil umor abundet,
partim quod validi verrentes aequora venti
deminuunt radiisque retexens aetherius sol,
partim quod subter per terras diditur omnis;
percolatur enim virus retroque remanat
270materies umoris et ad caput amnibus omnis
convenit, inde super terras fluit agmine dulci
qua via secta semel liquido pede detulit undas.
Aera nunc igitur dicam qui corpore toto
innumerabiliter privas mutatur in horas.
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subject to death, when I did not hesitate to say that
water and air perish and are born again and increase once more, in the first place a large part of the earth, scorched with incessant suns and trampled by a host of feet, exhales a cloud of dust and flying mists which the strong winds disperse abroad through the whole sky. A part of the soil again is washed away by rain, and the scraping rivers nibble at their banks. Besides, whatever the earth nourishes and increases is given back in its due proportiona; and since beyond all doubt the mother of all is seen also to be the universal sepulchre, therefore you see that the earth is diminished and is increased and grows again.
261Moreover, there is no need to say how sea,
rivers, and springs for ever well up in abundance with fresh waters and their streams flow unceasing: the great pouring down of waters from all sides makes it clear. But, bit by bit, whatever comes first of the water is taken off, and the result is that there is no superabundance of liquid in the sum total; partly because strong winds sweep the surface and diminish it, as does the sun on high unravelling it with his raysb; partly because it is distributed abroad through all the earth underneath; for the pungency is strained off, and the substance of the water oozes back, and all meets at the sources of each river,cwhence it returns over the earth in a column of sweet water along the path which has once been cut for it in its liquid course.d
273Next then I will speak of the air, which throughout
its whole body changes in numberless ways every
Footnotes
aIn other words, whatever is produced from the earth is eventually returned to the earth, and gives back to the earth as much substance as it earlier took from it.
bD. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 82, thinks that radiis not only means “rays,” but also is intended to suggest “shuttles”—an attractive suggestion already made by B. Farrington (see Bailey, Addenda p. 1756).
cCf. Ecclesiastes 1.7: “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”
d269-272=6.635-638 except for two minor changes.
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275semper enim, quodcumque fluit de rebus, id omne
aeris in magnum fertur mare; qui nisi contra
corpora retribuat rebus recreetque fluentis,
omnia iam resoluta forent et in aera versa.
haud igitur cessat gigni de rebus et in res
280reccidere, adsidue quoniam fluere omnia constat.
Largus item liquidi fons luminis, aetherius sol,
inrigat adsidue caelum candore recenti
suppeditatque novo confestim lumine lumen.
nam primum quicquid fulgoris disperit ei,
quocumque accidit. id licet hinc cognoscere possis,
286quod simul ac primum nubes succedere soli
coepere et radios inter quasi rumpere lucis,
extemplo inferior pars horum disperit omnis,
terraque inumbratur qua nimbi cumque feruntur;
290ut noscas splendore novo res semper egere,
et primum iactum fulgoris quemque perire,
nec ratione alia res posse in sole videri,
perpetuo ni suppeditet lucis caput ipsum.
quin etiam nocturna tibi, terrestria quae sunt,
295lumina—pendentes lychni claraeque coruscis
fulguribus pingues multa caligine taedae—
consimili properant ratione, ardore ministro,
suppeditare novom lumen, tremere ignibus instant,
instant, nec loca lux inter quasi rupta relinquit:
300usque adeo properanter ab omnibus ignibus ei
exitium celeri celatur origine flammae.
sic igitur solem lunam stellasque putandum
ex alio atque alio lucem iactare subortu,
Footnotes
301celatur Marullus: celeratur OQ, Havercamp, Wakefield, Merrill (1917), Martin
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single hour. For always whatever flows off from
things is all carried into the great ocean of air; if this contrariwise did not return back particles to the things again, and renew them as they flow away, all would by now be dissolved and changed into air. Therefore air never ceases to be produced from things and to fall back into things again, since it is certain that all things are in a constant flow.
281The generous fountain of clear light also, the
ethereal sun, diligently deluges the heavens with fresh brightness, and brings up in the place of light each moment new supplies of light; for bit by bit whatever comes first of the light is lost to it and gone, wherever it falls. This you may recognize from what follows. As soon as clouds begin first to come up under the sun, and as it were to break in betweena the rays of light, at once the lower part of these rays is all lost, and the earth is in shadow wherever the clouds go; that you may see that things need light ever new, that one by one each cast of light is lost, that things cannot be seen in the sun in any other way unless the very source of light should bring up an unceasing supply. Again, you see, by night the
lights that are on the earth, hanging lamps, and torches bright with flickering flashes and all fat with thick black smoke, fostered by the fire in like manner, make haste to bring up new supplies of brightness: with trembling flames on they go, on they go, and the light never seems to be broken in between or leaves the place, so swift is it to hide its extinction by the quick birth of flame from all those fires. So, therefore, must we think that sun and moon and stars shoot out light from a store that comes up ever
Footnotes
aOn the tmesis inter quasi rumpere (cf. 299), see note on 3.860.
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et primum quicquid flammarum perdere semper,
305inviolabilia haec ne credas forte vigere.
Denique non lapides quoque vinci cernis ab aevo,
non altas turris ruere et putrescere saxa,
non delubra deum simulacraque fessa fatisci,
nec sanctum numen fati protollere finis
310posse neque adversus naturae foedera niti?
denique non monimenta virum dilapsa videmus,
†quaerere proporro sibi cumque senescere credas,†
non ruere avolsos silices a montibus altis
nec validas aevi vires perferre patique
315finiti? neque enim caderent avolsa repente,
ex infinito quae tempore pertolerassent
omnia tormenta aetatis privata fragore.
Denique iam tuere hoc circum supraque quod
omnem
continet amplexu terram: si procreat ex se
omnia, quod quidam memorant, recipitque perempta,
321totum nativo ac mortali corpore constat;
nam quodcumque alias ex se res auget alitque,
deminui debet, recreari, cum recipit res.
Praeterea si nulla fuit genitalis origo
325terrarum et caeli semperque aeterna fuere,
cur supera bellum Thebanum et funera Troiae
Footnotes
312The reading of OQ, obelized above, is manifestly corrupt, and no entirely satisfactory emendation has been proposed. In view of 2.979, quaerere proporro sibi is probably correct, and Munro’s sene for cumque seems the most plausible suggestion. However, an attractive alternative is Munro’s earlier proposal aeraque proporro solidumque senescere ferrum, for which he well compares 2.447-450; he suggests that credas came from credis in 338, the corresponding line on the next page of the archetypeOQP
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fresh and new, and that bit by bit whatever comes first of the fire is always lost; that you may not by any chance believe that their force is indestructible.
306Again, do you not see that even stones are conquered
by time, that tall turrets fall and rocks crumble, that the gods’ temples and their images wear out and crack, nor can their holy divinity carry forward the boundaries of fate, or strive against nature’s laws? Again, do Ave not see the monuments of men fall to pieces, [asking whether you believe that they in their tum must grow old?]a Do we not see lumps of rock roll down torn from the lofty mountains, too weak to bear and endure the mighty force of time finite? For they would not fall thus suddenly torn off, if they had endured all through from time infinite all the wrenchings of the ages without breaking up.
318Again, do but behold that which around and
above comprehends all the earth in its embrace: if it makes from itself all things, as some declare, and takes them back when they are destroyed, then the whole consists of a body subject to birth and death. For whatever increases and nourishes other things from itself must be diminished, and remade when it receives things back.b
324Besides, if there has been no first birth-time
for earth and heaven, and they have been always everlasting, why have not other poets also sung other
Footnotes
aThe words in square brackets translate quaerere proporro sibi sene senescere credas. See critical note and cf. Juv. 10.146.
b318-323 are in imitation of Pacuvius (ed. Ribbeck) 86-92.
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non alias alii quoque res cecinere poetae?
quo tot facta virum totiens cecidere neque usquam
aeternis famae monimentis insita florent?
verum, ut opinor, habet novitatem summa recensque
331naturast mundi neque pridem exordia cepit.
quare etiam quaedam nunc artes expoliuntur,
nunc etiam augescunt; nunc addita navigiis sunt
multa, modo organici melicos peperere sonores.
335denique natura haec rerum ratioque repertast
nuper, et hanc primus cum primis ipse repertus
nunc ego sum in patrias qui possim vertere voces.
Quod si forte fuisse antehac eadem omnia credis,
sed periisse hominum torrenti saecla vapore,
340aut cecidisse urbis magno vexamine mundi,
aut ex imbribus adsiduis exisse rapaces
per terras amnes atque oppida coperuisse,
tanto quique magis victus fateare necessest
exitium quoque terrarum caelique futurum;
345nam cum res tantis morbis tantisque periclis
temptarentur, ibi si tristior incubuisset
causa, darent late cladem magnasque ruinas.
nec ratione alia mortales esse videmur,
inter nos nisi quod morbis aegrescimus isdem
350atque illi quos a vita natura removit.
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things beyond The ban Wara and the ruin of Troy? Into Avhat place have so many deeds of men so often fallen, and nowhere flower implantedb in eternal monuments of fame? But, as I think, the world is young and new, and it is not long since its beginning. Therefore even now some arts are being
perfected, some also are in growth; to-day many improvements have been made in ships, yesterday musicians invented their musical tunes; again this nature and system of the world has been discovered but lately, and I myself am now found the very first to be able to describe it in our own mother tongue.c
338But if by any chance you believe that all these
things have been the same before, but that the generations of men have perished in scorching heat, or that their cities have been cast down by some great upheaval of the world, or that after incessant rains rivers have issued out to sweep over the earth and overwhelm their towns, so much the more you must own yourself worsted, and agree that destruction will come to earth and sky. For when things were assailed by so great afflictions and so great dangers, if then a more serious cause had come upon them, there would have been widespread destruction and a mighty fall. And in no other way are we seen to be mortal than that we see one another fall sick of the same diseases as those whom nature has taken away from life.
d
Footnotes
aA lost epic poem, the Thebaïs, told the story of the Seven against Thebes: how the Argive king Adrastus, Polyneices, the exiled son of Oedipus, and five others led an army against Thebes in an unsuccessful attempt to restore Polyneices to the throne.
bOn insita florent, see especially D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 2-3.
cIt is usually thought that C. Amafinius, whom Cicero (Tusc. Disp. 4.3.6-7) mentions as having achieved great success with his books, had expounded Epicureanism in Latin prose before Lucr. Although H. M. Howe, AJPhil. 62 (1957) 57-62, has followed G. Delia Valle in maintaining that Amafinius and Lucr. were contemporaries, his arguments, though important, are not entirely convincing. But if indeed Amafinius had written earlier than Lucr., why does Lucr. ignore him? The answer may be that Amafinius’ works were brief and dealt mainly with ethical doctrine, and that Lucr. was the first Latin writer to give a detailed account of Epicurean physics.
dSo the afflictions of the earth prove its mortality.
Page number 405
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
Praeterea quaecumque manent aeterna necessust
aut, quia sunt solido cum corpore, respuere ictus
nec penetrare pati sibi quicquam quod queat artas
dissociare intus partis, ut materiai
355corpora sunt quorum naturam ostendimus ante;
aut ideo durare aetatem posse per omnem,
plagarum quia sunt expertia, sicut inane est,
quod manet intactum neque ab ictu fungitur hilum;
aut etiam quia nulla loci sit copia circum,
360quo quasi res possint discedere dissoluique,
sicut summarum summa est aeterna, neque extra
qui locus est quo dissiliant, neque corpora sunt quae
possint incidere et valida dissolvere plaga.
at neque, uti docui, solido cum corpore mundi
365naturast, quoniam admixtumst in rebus inane,
nec tamen est ut inane, neque autem corpora desunt,
ex infinito quae possint forte coorta
corruere hanc rerum violento turbine summam
aut aliam quamvis cladem inportare pericli,
370nec porro natura loci spatiumque profundi
deficit, exspargi quo possint moenia mundi,
aut alia quavis possunt vi pulsa perire.
haud igitur leti praeclusa est ianua caelo
nec soli terraeque neque altis aequoris undis,
375sed patet immani et vasto respectat hiatu.
quare etiam nativa necessumst confiteare
haec eadem; neque enim, mortali corpore quae sunt,
ex infinito iam tempore adhuc potuissent
inmensi validas aevi contemnere vires.
380Denique tantopere inter se cum maxima mundi
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De Rerum Natura
351Besides, whatever bodies abide everlasting
must either, being of solid structure, reject blows and allow nothing to penetrate them that could dissever asunder the close-joined parts within, as the particles of matter are, the nature of which we have shown before; or else the reason why they can endure
through all time must be that they are free from assaults, as the void is, which remains untouched and is not a whit affected by blows; or again because there is no extent of space around
into which things can as it were disperse and dissolve, as the sum of all sums is eternal, and there is no place without it into which its elements may leap apart, nor bodies to fall upon it and dissolve it asunder with a strong blow.a But, as I have shown,b
this world is not made of solid body, since there is void intermingled in things; nor yet is it like the these, void; nor again are bodies lacking that can by chance gather out of the infinite, and overwhelm this sum of things in a violent hurricane or bring in any other disaster and danger; nor further is place lacking and profundity of space into which the walls of the world can be scattered out; or they may be struck by any other force and perish. The door of death therefore is not closed for the heavens, nor for sun
and earth and the deep waters of the sea, but stands open and awaits them with vast and hideous maw. Therefore also you must confess that these same things have had their birth; for things which are of mortal body could not have despised the mighty strength of immeasurable ages from infinite time up to this present.
380Again, since the greatest membersc of the
Footnotes
a351-363 also occur, with a few slight alterations, in 3.806-818. See note on 3.818.
b1.329-369.
cFire, water, air, earth.
Page number 407
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
pugnent membra, pio nequaquam concita bello,
nonne vides aliquam longi certaminis ollis
posse dari finem? vel cum sol et vapor omnis
384omnibus epotis umoribus exsuperarint;
quod facere intendunt, neque adhuc conata patrantur:
tantum suppeditant amnes ultraque minantur
omnia diluviare ex alto gurgite ponti—
nequiquam, quoniam verrentes aequora venti
deminuunt radiisque retexens aetherius sol,
390et siccare prius confidunt omnia posse
quam liquor incepti possit contingere finem.
tantum spirantes aequo certamine bellum
magnis inter se de rebus cernere certant,
cum semel interea fuerit superantior ignis
395et semel, ut fama est, umor regnarit in arvis.
Ignis enim superavit et ambiens multa perussit,
avia cum Phaethonta rapax vis solis equorum
aethere raptavit toto terrasque per omnis.
at pater omnipotens ira tum percitus acri
400magnanimum Phaethonta repenti fulminis ictu
deturbavit equis in terram, Solque cadenti
obvius aeternam succepit lampada mundi,
disiectosque redegit equos iunxitque trementis,
inde suum per iter recreavit cuncta gubernans,
405scilicet ut veteres Graium cecinere poetae.
quod procul a vera nimis est ratione repulsum.
Footnotes
385patrantur OQP: patrarunt P. E. Goebel, L. Grasberger, perhaps rightly
Page number 408
De Rerum Natura
world fight so hard together, stirred by most un-righteous
war,a do you not see that some end may be given to their long strife? Either when sun and all heat shall prevail, having drunk up all the waters; which they are striving to do, but so far they are unable to accomplish the attempt: so plentiful a supply do the rivers bring up, and further threaten to deluge the whole from the deep gulf of the sea—all in vain, since the winds sweeping the surface of the waters diminish them, as does the ethereal sun unravelling them by his rays, and these are confident that they can dry up all before the water can attain the end of its endeavour. So fierce is their warlike spirit, as in well-matched contest they strive to win a decision upon a mighty cause; although in the meanwhile fire won the mastery once, and once, as the story goes, water was king over the fields.
396For fire prevailed and went round burning up
many parts, when far from his course the furious might of the sun’s horses whirled Phaëthon through out the sky and over all the earth. But the almighty Father, stirred then with fierce anger, crashed down ambitious Phaëthon from his car to the earth with a sudden thunderbolt, and the Sun,b meeting his fall, caught up from him the everlasting lamp of the world,c and bringing back the scattered horses yoked them in trembling, and then guiding them on their proper path, restored all again—that, you know, is the tale which the old Grecian poets have sung. But this is all very far indeed removed from true reasoning.
Footnotes
apio nequaquam . . . bello = bello civili, the four warring elements being members of the same state, the world.
bHelios had lent his chariot to his son Phaëthon for one day. The story is told in detail by Ovid, Met. 1.750-2.400.
cIn this passage Lucr. is parodying the style of the veteres Graium . . . poetae of 405 (cf. D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 52-53): for an Epicurean there is no everlasting sun, no pater omnipotens (399), and indeed no Phaëthon.
Page number 409
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
ignis enim superare potest ubi materiai
ex infinito sunt corpora plura coorta;
inde cadunt vires aliqua ratione revictae,
410aut pereunt res exustae torrentibus auris.
Umor item quondam coepit superare coortus,
ut fama est, hominum multos quando obruit undis;
inde ubi vis aliqua ratione aversa recessit,
ex infinito fuerat quaecumque coorta,
415constiterunt imbres et flumina vim minuerunt.
Sed quibus ille modis coniectus materiai
fundarit terram et caelum pontique profunda,
solis lunai cursus, ex ordine ponam.
nam certe neque consilio primordia rerum
420ordine se suo quaeque sagaci mente locarunt
nec quos quaeque darent motus pepigere profecto,
sed quia multa modis multis primordia rerum
ex infinito iam tempore percita plagis
ponderibusque suis consuerunt concita ferri
425omnimodisque coire atque omnia pertemptare,
quaecumque inter se possent congressa creare,
propterea fit uti magnum volgata per aevom,
omne genus coetus et motus experiundo,
tandem conveniant ea quae convecta repente
Footnotes
412multos CF: multas OQABL. C. L. Howard, CPhil. 56 (1961) 154-155, who argues for hominum multos but is apparently unaware that it is a manuscript reading printed by several early editors and by Wakefield, well compares Catullus 66.9 multis . . . dearum, Pliny, HN 16.40.96 hominum multis | undis OQFL: urbis B, adopted by most modern editors, but obruit undis is supported by 6.864, and both undis and hominum multos are supported by Ovid, Met. 1.311 maxima pars (sc. hominum) unda rapitur, quoted by Howard
Page number 410
De Rerum Natura
For fire can prevail, when the particles of its matter collected together from the infinite are more than usual in number; afterwards its strength subsides beaten back in some way, or else the world perishes burnt up by the scorching blasts.
411Water also once gathering together began to
prevail, as the story goes, when its waves over-water-whelmed much of the human race; then when all its force, gathered up out of the infinite, being diverted in some way, moved back, the rains came to a standstill and the rivers diminished their force.
416But next in order I will describe in what ways
that assemblage of matter established earth and sky and the ocean deeps, and the courses of sun and moon.a For certainly it was no design of the first-beginnings that led them to place themselves each in its
own order with keen intelligence, nor assuredly did they make any bargain what motions each should produce; but because many first-beginnings of things
in many ways, struck with blows and carried along by their own weight from infinite time up to the present, have been accustomed to move and to meet in all manner of ways, and to try all combinations, whatsoever they could produce by coming together, for this reason it comes to pass that being spread abroad through a vast time, by attempting every sort of combination and motion, at length those come together which, being suddenly brought together, often
Footnotes
aFor the Epicurean cosmological theory, cf. especially Aëtius 1.4.1-4 ( =Usener 308).
Page number 411
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
430magnarum rerum fiunt exordia saepe,
terrai maris et caeli generisque animantum.
Hic neque tum solis rota cerni lumine largo
altivolans poterat nec magni sidera mundi
nec mare nec caelum nec denique terra neque aer
435nec similis nostris rebus res ulla videri,
sed nova tempestas quaedam molesque coorta
440omnigenis e principiis, discordia quorum
441intervalla vias conexus pondera plagas
442concursus motus turbabat proelia miscens,
443440propter dissimilis formas variasque figuras
444quod non omnia sic poterant coniuncta manere
445nec motus inter sese dare convenientis.
437diffugere inde loci partes coepere, paresque
438cum paribus iungi res, et discludere mundum
439445membraque dividere et magnas disponere partes,
hoc est, a terris altum secernere caelum,
et sorsum mare, uti secreto umore pateret,
seorsus item puri secretique aetheris ignes.
Quippe etenim primum terrai corpora quaeque,
450propterea quod erant gravia et perplexa, coibant
in medio atque imas capiebant omnia sedes;
quae quanto magis inter se perplexa coibant,
tam magis expressere ea quae mare sidera solem
lunamque efficerent et magni moenia mundi;
455omnia enim magis haec e levibus atque rutundis
seminibus multoque minoribu’ sunt elementis
quam tellus. ideo per rara foramina terrae
partibus erumpens primus se sustulit aether
Footnotes
437arranged in the order given above by A. J. Reisacker. The arrangement is adopted by Lachmann and all subsequent editors except Bockemüller and Martin
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become the beginnings of great things, of earth and sea and sky and the generation of living creatures.a
432Then, in these circumstances, was not to be
seen the sun’s wheel soaring aloft with generous light, nor the constellations of the great firmament, nor sea nor sky nor indeed earth nor air nor anything like to our things, but a sort of strange storm, all
kinds of beginnings gathered together into a mass, while their discord, exciting war amongst them, made a confusion of intervals, courses, connexions, weights, blows, meetings, motions,bbecause, on account of their different shapes and varying figures, not all when joined together could remain so or make the appropriate motions together. In the next place parts began to separate, like things to join with like, and
to parcel out the world, to put its members in place and to arrange its great parts—that is, to set apart high heaven from earth, and to make the sea spread with its water set apart in a place of its own, apart from the pure fires of ether set in their own place.
449For in plain fact firstly all the bodies of earth,
being heavy and entangled, came together in the midst and all took the lowest place; and the more entangled they came together, the more they squeezed out those particles which could make sea,
stars, sun, and moon and the walls of the great world; for these were all made of seeds more smooth and more round and far smaller elements than the earth. Therefore through the loose-knit
interstices, breaking out from the parts of the earth,
Footnotes
aThe passage 416-431 contains only one entirely new line (427). 416 should be compared with 67; 417 with 68; 418 with 76; 419-421 with 1.1021-1023; 422 with 187, 1.1024; 423 with 188; 424-426 with 189-191; 428 with 1.1026; 429-431 with 2.1061-1063.
bCf. 2.726-727.
Page number 413
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
ignifer et multos secum levis abstulit ignis,
460non alia longe ratione ac saepe videmus,
aurea cum primum gemmantis rore per herbas
matutina rubent radiati lumina solis
exhalantque lacus nebulam fluviique perennes,
ipsaque ut interdum tellus fumare videtur;
465omnia quae sursum cum conciliantur in alto,
corpore concreto subtexunt nubila caelum.
sic igitur tum se levis ac diffusilis aether
corpore concreto circumdatus undique flexit
et late diffusus in omnis undique partis
470omnia sic avido complexu cetera saepsit.
Hunc exordia sunt solis lunaeque secuta,
interutrasque globi quorum vertuntur in auris;
quae neque terra sibi adscivit nec maximus aether,
quod neque tam fuerunt gravia ut depressa sederent,
475nec levia ut possent per summas labier oras;
et tamen interutrasque ita sunt ut corpora viva
versent et partes ut mundi totius extent;
quod genus in nobis quaedam licet in statione
membra manere, tamen cum sint ea quae moveantur.
480His igitur rebus retractis terra repente,
maxuma qua nunc se ponti plaga caerula tendit,
succidit et salso suffudit gurgite fossas.
inque dies quanto circum magis aetheris aestus
et radii solis cogebant undique terram
485verberibus crebris extrema ad limina in artum,
in medio ut propulsa suo condensa coiret,
Footnotes
468flexit Lachmann: saepsit OQP, almost certainly from 470, but retained by Merrill (1917), Diels, Martin, Büchner 485 in artum Munro (cf. 6.158): partem OQP: partes Bockemüller (with terrae in 484): raptim Bentley
Page number 414
De Rerum Natura
first fiery ether uplifted itself and lightly drew with it quantities of fire; in no very different way than we often see, when in the morning the golden light of the beaming sun first blushes over herbage jewelled with dew,a when the lakes and the ever-flowing streams exhale a mist, and the very earth seems sometimes to smoke; then when all these exhalations come together on high above us, clouds with body now cohering weave a texture under the sky. In this way therefore at that time the light and expansive
ether, with coherent body, bent around on all sides and expanded widely on all sides in every direction, thus fenced in all the rest with greedy embrace.
471This was followed by the beginnings of sun and
moon, whose globes revolve in the air between the two; which neither earth nor the great ether adopted to itself, because they were neither so heavy as to sink down and settle, nor so light that they could glide through the uppermost regions, and yet they remain between both in such fashion that they revolve like living bodies and abide as parts of the whole world; in the same way as in us some members may remain at rest, while yet there are others moving.
480Therefore when these bodies were withdrawn,
suddenly the earth sank down where now the blue expanse of the sea extends so wide, and drowned its hollows with the salt flood. And day by day, the more the tide of ether and the sun’s rays compressed the earth into compactness with frequent blows from
all sides upon its outermost confines, so that thus beaten it was packed together and came together upon its own centre,b so much the more did the salt
Footnotes
aCf. 2.319 and see note there.
bOr, as C. L. Howard, CPhil. 56 (1961) 155-156, suggests, in medio . . . suo may mean “in that middle position which is appropriate to it,” i.e. in the middle of the world (as in 451).
Page number 415
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
tam magis expressus salsus de corpore sudor
augebat mare manando camposque natantis,
et tanto magis illa foras elapsa volabant
490corpora multa vaporis et aeris, altaque caeli
densabant procul a terris fulgentia templa.
sidebant campi, crescebant montibus altis
ascensus; neque enim poterant subsidere saxa
nec pariter tantundem omnes succumbere partes.
495Sic igitur terrae concreto corpore pondus
constitit, atque omnis mundi quasi limus in imum
confluxit gravis et subsedit funditus ut faex;
inde mare, inde aer, inde aether ignifer ipse
corporibus liquidis sunt omnia pura relicta,
500et leviora aliis alia, et liquidissimus aether
atque levissimus aerias super influit auras,
nec liquidum corpus turbantibus aeris auris
commiscet: sinit haec violentis omnia verti
turbinibus, sinit incertis turbare procellis,
505ipse suos ignis certo fert impete labens.
nam modice fluere atque uno posse aethera nisu
significat Pontos, mare certo quod fluit aestu,
unum labendi conservans usque tenorem.
Motibus astrorum nunc quae sit causa canamus.
510principio magnus caeli si vortitur orbis,
ex utraque polum parti premere aera nobis
dicendum est extraque tenere et claudere utrimque;
Footnotes
509-533bracketed or placed after 563 by several editors, but see Bailey 1398-1399
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De Rerum Natura
sweat, squeezed out of its body, by its oozing increase the sea and the swimming plains, and so much the more slipped out and flew away those many bodies of heat and air, and on high far from the earth packed the shining regions of the sky. The plains settled down, the lofty mountains increased their height; for the rocks could not sink, nor could all parts subside equally to the same degree.
495In this way, therefore, the heavy earth became
solid with compact body, and all the mud of creation, so to speak, flowed together by its weight and settled to the bottom like dregs; then sea, then air, then the fiery ether itself, being made of fluid particles, were all left pure, some lighter than others, and ether, lightest and most fluid, floats above the airy breezes, and does not mingle its fluid consistency with the stormy breezes of air: it leaves all things below to be turned upside down by violent tempests, leaves them to be disturbed with wayward storms, while itself bearing its own fires it glides with unchanging sweep. For that the ether may flow gently along with one sole movement is proved by the Pontus, a sea which flows with unchanging current and keeps ever one course of gliding movement.a
509Next let us sing what is the cause of the motions
of the heavenly bodies.b Firstly, if the great circle of heaven turns round, we must say that air presses on the pole at each endc and holds it from without and shuts it in from both directions; then that
Footnotes
aThe idea that the Pontus (the Black Sea) invariably flows into the Propontis, towards the Aegean, is found in Aristotle, Strabo, Pliny, and Seneca. Cf. Shakespeare, Othello 3.3.453-456: “... like to the Pontick Sea, | Whose icy current and compulsive course | Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on | To the Propontick and the Hellespont.”
bOn the meaning of astrorum, see Bailey. For Epicurean astronomy and for the way in which astronomical phenomena should be investigated, cf. especially Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth., Ep. ad Hdt.78-80.
cThat is, at each end of the axis.
Page number 417
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
inde alium supra fluere atque intendere eodem
quo volvenda micant aeterni sidera mundi;
515aut alium subter, contra qui subvehat orbem,
ut fluvios versare rotas atque haustra videmus.
Est etiam quoque uti possit caelum omne manere
in statione, tamen cum lucida signa ferantur;
sive quod inclusi rapidi sunt aetheris aestus
520quaerentesque viam circum versantur et ignes
passim per caeli volvunt summania templa;
sive aliunde fluens alicunde extrinsecus aer
versat agens ignis; sive ipsi serpere possunt
quo cuiusque cibus vocat atque invitat euntis,
525flammea per caelum pascentis corpora passim.
Nam quid in hoc mundo sit eorum ponere certum
difficile est; sed quid possit fiatque per omne
in variis mundis varia ratione creatis,
id doceo, plurisque sequor disponere causas,
530motibus astrorum quae possint esse per omne;
e quibus una tamen siet hic quoque causa necessest
quae vegeat motum signis; sed quae sit earum
praecipere haudquaquamst pedetemptim progredi-
entis.
Terraque ut in media mundi regione quiescat,
Footnotes
531siet hic Bernays: sit et haec QABF: sit et hae OL: sit et heic ( = hic) F. Nencini: siet haec Lachmann
Page number 418
De Rerum Natura
another air flows above, and moves in the same direction
in which roll the shining stars of the everlastinga world; or else that another air flows below to lift up the circle in the opposite direction, just as we see rivers tum wheels and buckets.b
517It is also possible that all the heavens remain
at rest, and yet the bright constellations move along: whether because swift tides of ether are shut in,c and tum round in seeking a way out, and roll the blazing signs everywhere through the night-thunderingd regions of the sky; or some air flowing from some outside place turns and drives these fires; or they themselves can creep forward, whither their food calls each and invites them as they go, feeding their fiery bodies all over the sky.e
526For which of these causes holds in our world it
is difficult to say for certain; but what may be done and is done through the whole universe in the various worlds made in various ways, that is what I teach, proceeding to set forth several causes which may account for the movements of the stars throughout the whole universe; one of which, however, must be that which gives force to the movement of the signs in our world also; but which may be the true one, is not his to lay down who proceeds step by step.f
534That the earth may rest in the middle region
Footnotes
aThe poetical epithet is scientifically unfortunate, being “contra Epicuri doctrinam” (Faber).
bThis is the irrigation wheel still used in the East. The sky goes round with its stars moved by the air, as the wheel with its buckets moved by the river.
cinclusi probably means “confined within the sky.”
dSummanus, an ancient Roman deity who had the power of thunder by night.
eIn 523-525 Lucr. is comparing the stars to sheep moving slowly over a field in search of grass. The passage should be compared with 2.317-319 (see especially D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 13-14).
fFor the Epicurean view that two or more explanations of the same phenomenon must often be put forward, cf. 6.703-711, Epicurus, Ep. ad Udt. 79-80, Ep. ad Pyth. 86-87, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 13.11.12-111.13 Smith.
Page number 419
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
435evanescere paulatim et decrescere pondus
convenit, atque aliam naturam subter habere
ex ineunte aevo coniunctam atque uniter aptam
partibus aeriis mundi quibus insita vivit.
propterea non est oneri neque deprimit auras,
ut sua cuique homini nullo sunt pondere membra,
541nec caput est oneri collo, nec denique totum
corporis in pedibus pondus sentimus inesse;
at quaecumque foris veniunt inpostaque nobis
pondera sunt laedunt, permulto saepe minora.
545usque adeo magni refert quid quaeque queat res.
sic igitur tellus non est aliena repente
allata atque auris aliunde obiecta alienis,
sed pariter prima concepta ab origine mundi
certaque pars eius, quasi nobis membra videntur.
550Praeterea grandi tonitru concussa repente
terra supra quae se sunt concutit omnia motu;
quod facere haud ulla posset ratione, nisi esset
partibus aeriis mundi caeloque revincta;
nam communibus inter se radicibus haerent
555ex ineunte aevo coniuncta atque uniter apta.
Nonne vides etiam quam magno pondere nobis
sustineat corpus tenuissima vis animai
propterea quia tam coniuncta atque uniter apta est?
denique iam saltu pernici tollere corpus
quid potis est nisi vis animae quae membra gubernat?
561iamne vides quantum tenuis natura valere
Footnotes
555apta Pontanus (cf. 537, 558, 3.839, 846): aucta OQP, Wakefield, Martin
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De Rerum Natura
of the world, it is proper that the weight should
vanish away by degrees and grow less, and that it should have another substance beneath, joined together with it from the beginning of its life and united into one with the airy parts of the world on which it is engrafted and lives. This is why it is no burden and does not depress the air; just as to a
man his limbs are no burden, the head no burden to the neck, nor in a word do we feel the whole weight of the body to be pressing upon the feet; but all weights that come from without and are placed upon us annoy, although often very much smaller. So important is it what each thing can do. In this way then the earth is not something alien suddenly brought and thrown upon alien airs from some other quarter, but it was conceived along with them from the first beginning of the world and a fixed part of it, as in us the limbs are seen to be.
550Besides, the earth shaken suddenly with a
mighty thunderclap shakes all that is above itself with its motion, which it could not by any means do, unless it were bound fast to the airy parts of the world and to the sky. For they cling together joined and knit together into one by common rootsa from the beginning of their existence.
556Do you not see also how the most thin essence
of the spirit sustains our body for all its great weight, just because it is so joined together and knit up with it into one? Again, what is able actually to lift the body in a vigorous leap, except the power of the spirit which guides the limbs? Now do you see how great can be the power of a thin nature when it
Footnotes
a554=3.325 where Lucr. is describing the close relationship between body and soul—a relationship which he mentions in 5.556-563 to illustrate the close connexion between earth and air.
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possit, ubi est coniuncta gravi cum corpore, ut aer
coniunctus terris et nobis est animi vis?
Nec nimio solis maior rota nec minor ardor
565esse potest nostris quam sensibus esse videtur.
nam quibus e spatiis cumque ignes lumina possunt
adiicere et calidum membris adflare vaporem,
nil illa his intervallis de corpore libant
flammarum, nil ad speciem est contractior ignis.
573570proinde, calor quoniam solis lumenque profusum
570perveniunt nostros ad sensus et loca fulgent,
571forma quoque hinc solis debet filumque videri,
572573nil adeo ut possis plus aut minus addere, vere.
575Lunaque, sive notho fertur loca lumine lustrans
sive suam proprio iactat de corpore lucem,
quidquid id est, nilo fertur maiore figura
quam nostris oculis qua cernimus esse videtur.
nam prius omnia, quae longe semota tuemur
580aera per multum, specie confusa videntur
quam minui filum. quapropter luna necesse est,
quandoquidem claram speciem certamque figuram
praebet, ut est oris extremis cumque notata,
584quantaque quantast, hinc nobis videatur in alto.
Postremo quoscumque vides hinc aetheris ignes,
quandoquidem quoscumque in terris cernimus ignes,
dum tremor est clarus, dum cernitur ardor eorum,
perparvom quiddam interdum mutare videntur
alteram utram in partem filum, quo longius absunt,
Footnotes
568nil illa his Bernays: nihil nisi OQP: nil illi his A. Cartault, Rev. Phil. 29 (1905) 33
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is joined together with a heavy body, as air is joined together with earth and the power of mind joined together with us?
564The wheel of the sun and its heat cannot be
much greater or less than is perceived by our senses.a For from whatever distances fires can project light and breathe warm heat upon our bodies, they diminish nothing by these intervals from their mass of flame, and the fire is made no narrower to the eye. Therefore, since the sun’s heat and flooding light reach to our senses and the world shinesb with its rays, the shape also of the sun and its size must so truly be seen from the earth that you can add nothing at all to it and take nothing away.
575And the moon, whether with bastard light she
moves illumining the world, or whether she casts her own light from her own body, however that may be, her shape as she moves is no larger than that seems to be with which she is presented to our eyes. For all things that we see at a great distance through much air become dimmed in appearance before their size is diminished. Therefore the moon, since it offers a clear appearance and a firm outline, must be seen on high by us from the earth in exactly the shape that defines it and of the size it really is.
585Lastly, since all the fires which we see on the earth, so long as their flickering is clear, so long as their glow is perceived, seem sometimes to change their size very little indeed one way or the other according to their distance, so with all the fires of
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 91, Cicero, Fin. 1.6.20.
bThere is no need to follow Bailey and others in taking fulgent as transitive; still less is there any need to emend the text.
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594590scire licet perquam pauxillo posse minores
595esse vel exigua maiores parte brevique.
590Illud item non est mirandum, qua ratione
591tantulus ille queat tantum sol mittere lumen,
592quod maria ac terras omnis caelumque rigando
593595compleat et calido perfundat cuncta vapore.
597nam licet hinc mundi patefactum totius unum
largifluum fontem scatere atque erumpere lumen,
ex omni mundo quia sic elementa vaporis
600undique conveniunt et sic coniectus eorum
confluit, ex uno capite hic ut profluat ardor.
nonne vides etiam quam late parvus aquai
prata riget fons interdum campisque redundet?
Est etiam quoque uti non magno solis ab igni
605aera percipiat calidis fervoribus ardor,
opportunus ita est si forte et idoneus aer,
ut queat accendi parvis ardoribus ictus,
quod genus interdum segetes stipulamque videmus
accidere ex una scintilla incendia passim.
610Forsitan et rosea sol alte lampade lucens
possideat multum caecis fervoribus ignem
circum se, nullo qui sit fulgore notatus,
aestifer ut tantum radiorum exaugeat ictum.
Nec ratio solis simplex et recta patescit,
615quo pacto aestivis e partibus aegocerotis
brumalis adeat flexus atque inde revertens
canceris ut vertat metas ad solstitialis,
Footnotes
596erroneously repeated in the manuscripts from 584
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ether which you see from this earth, you may be sure that they can be only a very little indeed smaller or larger by a small and but trifling difference.
592Another thing also need not excite wonder,
how it can be that so small a sun emits so much light, enough to fill with its flood seas and all lands and the heavens, and to suffuse all with warm heat. For it is possible that from this place is opened one single
fountain of the whole world, to splash its generous flood and to fling forth light, because the elements of heat gather together from all parts of the world in such a manner, and their assemblage flows together in such a manner, that the heat flows out here from one single source. Do you not see also how widely a small spring of water sometimes floods the meadows and streams over the fields?
604It is possible also that, even if the sun’s fire be
not great, yet the glow may pervade the air with hot burnings, if by any chance the air is so fit and disposed that it can be kindled when struck by small quantities of heat, just as at times we see a wide conflagration fall upon corn and straw from one spark.
610Perhaps also the sun, as he shines on high with
his rosy lamp, may have about him much fire with invisible heat, such that it has no shining to mark it, so that the heat he brings increases the blow of the rays to so great a force.
614Nor is there open before us any single and
`straightforward explanation, how the sun passes from his summer regions to the turning-point of Capricorn at midwinter, and coming back from that point how he turns to his goal of the solstice in Cancer; and
Page number 425
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lunaque mensibus id spatium videatur obire,
annua sol in quo consumit tempora cursu.
620non, inquam, simplex his rebus reddita causast.
Nam fieri vel cum primis id posse videtur,
Democriti quod sancta viri sententia ponit,
quanto quaeque magis sint terram sidera propter,
tanto posse minus cum caeli turbine ferri;
625evanescere enim rapidas illius et acris
imminui subter viris, ideoque relinqui
paulatim solem cum posterioribu’ signis,
inferior multo quod sit quam fervida signa.
et magis hoc lunam: quanto demissior eius
630cursus abest procul a caelo terrisque propinquat,
tanto posse minus cum signis tendere cursum;
flaccidiore etiam quanto iam turbine fertur
inferior quam sol, tanto magis omnia signa
hanc adipiscuntur circum praeterque feruntur.
635propterea fit ut haec ad signum quodque reverti
mobilius videatur, ad hanc quia signa revisunt.
Fit quoque ut e mundi transversis partibus aer
alternis certo fluere alter tempore possit,
qui queat aestivis solem detrudere signis
640brumalis usque ad flexus gelidumque rigorem,
et qui reiciat gelidis a frigoris umbris
aestiferas usque in partis et fervida signa.
et ratione pari lunam stellasque putandumst,
Footnotes
632etiam OQP: etenim Lachmann
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how the moon is seen to traverse month by month the space which the sun’s course takes a year to travel. No single reason, I say, is given for these things.
621Fora among the most likely causes is that
which the venerable judgement of that great man Democritus puts forwardb: that the nearer the different heavenly bodies are to the earth, the less can they be carried along with the whirling sky, since the swiftness of force in that movement vanishes away and its power grows less in the lower regions, and so the sun is gradually left behind with the signs that are behind him, because he is much lower than the burning signsc And the moon, he says, still more than this: in proportion as her course is still lower, farther from the sky and nearer the earth, so much the less can she keep up with the
signs; and in proportion as she is carried with fainter whirling movement, being lower than the sun, so much the sooner do the signs catch her up all around and pass by. That is why she seems to move back to each sign more quickly, because it is the signs that more quickly return to her.
637It is possible also that from parts of the world
across the sun’s path two airs may flow alternately each at its own fixed time, one strong enough to push him away from the summer signs as far as the midwinter solstice and the stiffening cold, one to throw him back from the icy shades of cold as far as the regions full of heat and the burning signs. And in like manner we must suppose that the moon, and the
Footnotes
a621-649 is a passage of considerable difficulty. The reader who finds Lucr.’s explanations hard to follow may derive comfort from the thought that the poet does not seem to have fully understood them himself! For a helpful discussion, illustrated with two figures, see Bailey.
b622=3.371.
cFrom Lucr.’s point of view, in which the earth is the fixed centre, the sun and the signs of the zodiac are moving in the same direction, but the sun more slowly than the signs because nearer the earth. Hence the signs catch him up one by one, and he appears to move through the signs in the opposite direction.
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quae volvunt magnos in magnis orbibus annos,
645aeribus posse alternis e partibus ire.
nonne vides etiam diversis nubila ventis
diversas ire in partis inferna supernis?
qui minus illa queant per magnos aetheris orbis
aestibus inter se diversis sidera ferri?
650At nox obruit ingenti caligine terras,
aut ubi de longo cursu sol ultima caeli
impulit atque suos efflavit languidus ignis
concussos itere et labefactos aere multo,
aut quia sub terras cursum convortere cogit
655vis eadem, supra quae terras pertulit orbem.
Tempore item certo roseam Matuta per oras
aetheris auroram differt et lumina pandit,
aut quia sol idem, sub terras ille revertens,
anticipat caelum radiis accendere temptans,
660aut quia conveniunt ignes et semina multa
confluere ardoris consuerunt tempore certo,
quae faciunt solis nova semper lumina gigni;
quod genus Idaeis fama est e montibus altis
dispersos ignis orienti lumine cerni,
inde coire globum quasi in unum et conficere orbem.
666Nec tamen illud in his rebus mirabile debet
esse, quod haec ignis tam certo tempore possunt
semina confluere et solis reparare nitorem;
multa videmus enim, certo quae tempore fiunt
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stars which revolve for vast yearsa in vast orbits, may move driven by airs this way and that way. Do you not see also that clouds driven by contrary winds in contrary directions move in layers, the lower
contrary to the upper? Is it not equally possible that those constellations can be carried by contrary tides through the great orbits of the ether?
650But night buries the earth in vasty blackness,
either when the sun after his long course has struck upon the extremity of the sky and breathed out his fires in weariness, shaken by the journey and made weak by passing through so much air; or because he is compelled to turn round his course beneath the earth by the same force which carried his orb above the earth.
656At a fixed time also Matutab diffuses the rosy
dawn through the regions of ether and spreads out her light, either because the same sun returning under the earth takes his first hold on the sky as he tries to kindle it with his rays, or because there is a gathering together of fires, and many seeds of heat are accustomed to flow together at a fixed time, which make each day the light of a new sun arise: just as it is said that from the lofty mountains of Idac at sunrise scattered fires are seen, and then as it were these gather together into one globe and together form an orb.
666Yet here it must not be thought wonderful that these seeds of fire can flow together at so fixed a time and restore the brightness of the sun: for we see many things that come to pass at a fixed time
Footnotes
aCf. 1.1029 and see note there.
bMatuta or Mater Matuta, deity of the first morning light, identified with Leucothea (Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 1.12.28) or Aurora.
cMount Ida in Phrygia. The phenomenon which Lucr. mentions is described also by Diodorus Siculus 17.7.5-7, Pomponius Mela 1.18.94-95.
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670omnibus in rebus: florescunt tempore certo
arbusta et certo dimittunt tempore florem;
nec minus in certo dentes cadere imperat aetas
tempore et inpubem molli pubescere veste
et pariter mollem malis demittere barbam;
675fulmina postremo nix imbres nubila venti
non nimis incertis fiunt in partibus anni.
namque ubi sic fuerunt causarum exordia prima
atque ita res mundi cecidere ab origine prima,
consequë quoque iam redeunt ex ordine certo.
680Crescere itemque dies licet et tabescere noctes,
et minui luces, cum sumant augmina noctes,
aut quia sol idem sub terras atque superne
imparibus currens amfractibus aetheris oras
partit et in partis non aequas dividit orbem,
685et quod ab alterutra detraxit parte, reponit
eius in adversa tanto plus parte relatus,
donec ad id signum caeli pervenit, ubi anni
nodus nocturnas exaequat lucibus umbras.
nam, medio cursu flatus aquilonis et austri,
690distinet aequato caelum discrimine metas
propter signiferi posituram totius orbis,
annua sol in quo contundit tempora serpens,
Footnotes
679consequë Lachmann: consequiae OQ, perhaps rightly: consequae AL: consequa CF: consequar B redeunt Lachmann: rerum OQP
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everywhere. At a fixed time trees bloom, and at
a fixed time shed their flowers. No less at a fixed time our age commands the teeth to fall out, and bids the ungrown youth to put on the soft vestures of growth and to let his beard grow equally down either cheek. Lastly lightnings, snow, rain, clouds, and winds come at fairly fixed seasons of the year. For since the first-beginnings of causes have been
so, and since things have thus befallen from the first beginning of the world, with regular sequence also they now come back in fixed order.
680Days may also increase and nights may wane,
and days again may diminish when the nights take their increase,a either because the same sun running above and beneath the earth divides the regions of ether in curves of unequal length, and separates his orbit into unequal parts, giving back as he comes round so much more to one of the two parts as he has taken from the opposite, until he arrives at the sign of the heavensbwhere the nodec of the year makes the shades of night equal to the days. For in the mid-course of the blast of the north wind and of the south windd the heaven holds his turning-points apart equally distant on account of the position of the whole zodiac, in which the sun, creeping along, consumes the period of a year, as he casts his light
Footnotes
aOn the varying length of day and night, see also Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 98.
bThe sign of the zodiac through which the sun is passing at each equinox, i.e. Aries in the spring, Libra in the autumn.
cnodus (= σύνδεσμος) is the intersection of the ecliptic and the equator at the vernal or autumnal equinox.
dThat is, at the vernal equinox and at the autumnal equinox. For the theory that the sun is pushed alternately north and south by winds blowing across its path, see 637-645. 689-693 are notoriously difficult lines: the translation given above is in accordance with the interpretation of Bailey, in whose commentary there is a detailed discussion of the passage and a diagram.
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obliquo terras et caelum lumine lustrans,
ut ratio declarat eorum qui loca caeli
695omnia dispositis signis ornata notarunt.
Aut quia crassior est certis in partibus aer,
sub terris ideo tremulum iubar haesitat ignis
nec penetrare potest facile atque emergere ad ortus;
propterea noctes hiberno tempore longae
700cessant, dum veniat radiatum insigne diei.
Aut etiam, quia sic alternis partibus anni
tardius et citius consuerunt confluere ignes
qui faciunt solem certa de surgere parte,
propterea fit uti videantur dicere verum
. . . . . . .
705Luna potest solis radiis percussa nitere
inque dies magis id lumen convertere nobis
ad speciem, quantum solis secedit ab orbi,
donique eum contra pleno bene lumine fulsit
atque oriens obitus eius super edita vidit;
710inde minutatim retro quasi condere lumen
debet item, quanto propius iam solis ad ignem
labitur ex alia signorum parte per orbem,
Footnotes
704A lacuna after this line assumed by Munro. The line was placed after 714 by Naugerius and Lambinus, after 702 by Diels. Recent editors say that Gifanius deleted it, but he too prints it after 714. If Bailey is right in thinking that the lost line emphasized the idea of the plurality of causes, a full stop should be placed at the end of 703
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obliquelya upon earth and sky; thus much the science of those men makes clear who have mapped out all the regions of the sky with the signs in their places.
696Or else because the air is thicker in certain
parts, therefore under the earth the trembling gleam of his fire hesitates, and cannot easily penetrate and come forth to its rising; for which reason the nights in winter are long and lingering, until the beaming ensign of day appears.
701Or again, because for the same reason at
alternate seasons of the year there is accustomed to be slower or quicker flowing together of the fires which make the sun rise in a certain place, therefore those seem to speak the truth . . .
705The moon may shine smitten by the sun’s rays,b
turning round that light day by day more towards our sight as she recedes from the sun’s orb, until right opposite to him she has shone with fullest light, and, as she rises, lifted on high, has seen his setting; then by small degrees she must as it were hide her light also behind her,c the nearer she sun; now glides to the sun’s fire from the opposite region
Footnotes
aOblique with reference to the ecliptic and the equator.
bOn the moon’s phases and light, see also Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 94-95. The discovery that the moon is illuminated by the sun was probably made by Anaxagoras (see W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy I 286, II 66, 306).
cretro may be taken, as here, with condere; or it may be taken by itself to mean ” retiring backwards.” The former interpretation is supported by 725. The moon, when furthest from the sun, is perceived by us as at the full, the earth being between sun and moon (but not in the same straight line). As it approaches the sun, we see less and less of its light; when it is opposite to us, the lines from the earth to sun and moon forming a right angle, it is half full; when nearest to the sun, the lines forming an obtuse angle, we see nothing. When all three are in one straight line, there is an eclipse either of sun or of moon.
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ut faciunt, lunam qui fingunt esse pilai
consimilem cursusque viam sub sole tenere.
715Est etiam quare proprio cum lumine possit
volvier et varias splendoris reddere formas;
corpus enim licet esse aliud, quod fertur et una
labitur omnimodis occursans officiensque,
nec potis est cerni, quia cassum lumine fertur.
720versarique potest, globus ut, si forte, pilai
dimidia ex parti candenti lumine tinctus,
versandoque globum variantis edere formas,
donique eam partem, quaecumque est ignibus aucta,
ad speciem vertit nobis oculosque patentis;
725inde minutatim retro contorquet et aufert
luciferam partem glomeraminis atque pilai,
ut Babylonica Chaldaeum doctrina refutans
astrologorum artem contra convincere tendit—
proinde quasi id fieri nequeat quod pugnat uterque,
730aut minus hoc illo sit cur amplectier ausis.
Denique cur nequeat semper nova luna creari
ordine formarum certo certisque figuris,
inque dies privos aborisci quaeque creata
atque alia illius reparari in parte locoque,
735difficilest ratione docere et vincere verbis,
ordine cum videas tam certo multa creari.
it Ver et Venus, et Veneris praenuntius ante
pennatus graditur, Zephyri vestigia propter
Flora quibus mater praespargens ante viai
Footnotes
736videas Q corr., CF (cf. 669): omitted by OQ: possint Lachmann (cf. 750)
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through the belt of signs—as they hold who suppose the moon to be like a ball and to keep the path of her course below the sun.
715It is also possible that she may revolve in light
of her own,a and yet offer various phases of brightness; for there may be another moving body which glides along with her, obstructing and hampering her in all sorts of ways, yet is not visible because it moves without light. Possibly she may revolve like a round
ball it may be, one half of which is bathed in bright light, and by turning her globe may display the various phases, until that part which is endowed with fire is turned to our sight and open eyes; then by small degrees she turns this behind and takes away the light-bringing part of the spherical ball; which the Babylonish doctrine of the Chaldeansb tries to prove as against the science of the astronomers which it refutes; as if that for which each fights might not be true, or as if there were any reason why you should venture to embrace this rather than that.
731Lastly, why a new moon should not be always
created with a fixed succession of phases in fixed shapes, why every single day the one which has been made should not vanish and another be restored in its place and station, it is difficult to explain by reasoning and to prove in words, seeing that one sees many things produced in so fixed an order. On come Spring and Venus, and Venus’ winged harbingerc
marching before, with Zephyr and mother Flora a pace behind him strewing the whole path in
Footnotes
aAs supposed by Anaximander and Xenophanes.
bBerosus, a priest of Bel, and his followers. Cf. Aëtius 2.28.1, Vitruvius 9.2.1. Berosus wrote in the first half of the fourth century b.c.
cCupid.
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740cuncta coloribus egregiis et odoribus opplet;
inde loci sequitur Calor aridus et comes una
pulverulenta Ceres et etesia flabra Aquilonum;
inde Autumnus adit, graditur simul Euhius Euan;
inde aliae tempestates ventique sequuntur,
745altitonans Volturnus et Auster fulmine pollens;
tandem Bruma nives adfert pigrumque rigorem
reddit; Hiemps sequitur crepitans hanc dentibus algu.
quo minus est mirum si certo tempore luna
gignitur et certo deletur tempore rursus,
750cum fieri possint tam certo tempore multa.
Solis item quoque defectus lunaeque latebras
pluribus e causis fieri tibi posse putandumst.
nam cur luna queat terram secludere solis
lumine et a terris altum caput obstruere ei,
755obiciens caecum radiis ardentibus orbem,
tempore eodem aliud facere id non posse putetur
corpus quod cassum labatur lumine semper?
solque suos etiam dimittere languidus ignis
tempore cur certo nequeat recreareque lumen,
Footnotes
747algu (cf. 3.732) Isaac Voss (see Havercamp), not Wakefield, better taken as ablative than as nominative of a neuter form: algi OQP: algus Lambinus: algor Gifanius, not Lachmann as stated by the editors
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front and filling it with brilliant colours and scents.a Next in place follows parching Heat, along with him Ceres his dusty comrade and the Etesian Windsb that blow from the north. Next comes Autumn, and marching with him Euhius Euan.c Then follow other seasons and winds, Volturnusd thundering on high and Austere lord of lightning; at length Shortest Day brings the snows and restores the numbing frost; after it comes Winter, its teeth chattering with coldf This makes it less wonderful if the moon is born at a fixed time and destroyed again at a fixed time, seeing that many things are produced at so fixed a time.
751Eclipses of the sun also and hidings of the
moong you must suppose to have several possible causes. For why should the moon be able to shut off the earth from the sun s light, and from the side of the of the earth to push her head in his way on high, obstructing his burning rays with her dark orb, and yet at the same time some other body, gliding along ever without light, not be thought able to do the same thing? And the sun, why should not he also be
able to lose his fires and faint at a fixed time and to
Footnotes
aThe description of the procession of the seasons (737-747), like the description of Mars and Venus in the first proem, may owe something to a painting or sculpture; and just as the Mars and Venus passage may have had some influence, through Politian, on Botticelli’s Martee Venere, so the description of spring (737-740) may have partly inspired, again through Politian, the same painter’s Allegoria della Primavera. But Lucr. was not, as is sometimes claimed, Botticelli’s only source of inspiration (see especially G. 1). Hadzsits, Lucretius and his Influence 264-265, E. Wind, Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance 110, n. 1, C. Dempsey, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 31 [1968] 251-273).
bSee note on 6.716.
cBacchus, named from the cry of his worshippers.
dEast-south-east wind.
eSouth wind.
fCf. Spenser, The Faerie Queene 7.7.31.1-2: “Lastly, came Winter cloathed all in frize, | Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill.”
gThe subject receives very brief treatment in Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 96.
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760cum loca praeteriit flammis infesta per auras,
quae faciunt ignis interstingui atque perire?
Et cur terra queat lunam spoliare vicissim
lumine et oppressum solem super ipsa tenere,
menstrua dum rigidas coni perlabitur umbras,
765tempore eodem aliud nequeat succurrere lunae
corpus vel supra solis perlabier orbem,
quod radios interrumpat lumenque profusum?
et tamen ipsa suo si fulget luna nitore,
cur nequeat certa mundi languescere parte,
770dum loca luminibus propriis inimica per exit?
772Quod superest, quoniam magni per caerula mundi
qua fieri quicquid posset ratione resolvi,
solis uti varios cursus lunaeque meatus
775noscere possemus quae vis et causa cieret,
quove modo possent offecto lumine obire
et neque opinantis tenebris obducere terras,
cum quasi conivent et aperto lumine rursum
omnia convisunt clara loca candida luce,
780nunc redeo ad mundi novitatem et mollia terrae
arva, novo fetu quid primum in luminis oras
tollere et incertis crerint committere ventis.
Principio genus herbarum viridemque nitorem
terra dedit circum collis camposque per omnis,
785florida fulserunt viridanti prata colore,
Footnotes
771erroneously repeated in the manuscripts from 764 776 possent ed. Brixiensis: omitted by OQ: possint AB: soleant CF
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renew his light, when he has passed through regions
of air that are hurtful to his flames, making the fires to be quenched and to perish for a time?
762And why should earth be able in turn to rob
the moon of light, and herself passing above the sun to keep him in subjection, while the moon in her monthly course glides through the clear-cut conical shadow,a yet at the same time some other body not be able to pass beneath the moon, or glide above the sun’s orb to intercept the rays and the flood of light? If, however, the moon shines of herself by her own
light, why should she not grow faint in some fixed part of the heavens, while she passes through regions hostile to her own light?
772And now to proceed: since I have explained
in what way everything might come to pass through the blue spaces of the great firmament, so that we might be able to understand what force and what cause set in motion the sun’s varied courses and the moon’s travels, how their light could be obstructed and they disappear veiling the unsuspecting world in darkness, when they seem to wink and again with open eye gaze on the whole place bright with clear light, I now return to the world’s infancy and the soft fields of earth, to tell what first they thought fit to bring forth into the regions of light with new
birth-throes and to commit to the wayward winds.
783In the beginning the earth gave forth the
different kinds of herbage and bright verdure about the hills and all over the plains, and the flowering
Footnotes
aThe moon, from the earth, appears to be above, and the sun below; the sun’s light being intercepted by the earth, a conical shadow is formed upwards, through which the moon passes.
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arboribusque datumst variis exinde per auras
crescendi magnum inmissis certamen habenis.
ut pluma atque pili primum saetaeque creantur
quadripedum membris et corpore pennipotentum,
790sic nova tum tellus herbas virgultaque primum
sustulit, inde loci mortalia saecla creavit
multa modis multis varia ratione coorta.
nam neque de caelo cecidisse animalia possunt
nec terrestria de salsis exisse lacunis.
795Linquitur ut merito maternum nomen adepta
terra sit, e terra quoniam sunt cuncta creata.
multaque nunc etiam existunt animalia terris,
imbribus et calido solis concreta vapore;
quo minus est mirum si tum sunt plura coorta
800et maiora, nova tellure atque aethere adulta.
principio genus alituum variaeque volucres
ova relinquebant exclusae tempore verno,
folliculos ut nunc teretis aestate cicadae
linquunt sponte sua victum vitamque petentes.
805tum tibi terra dedit primum mortalia saecla;
multus enim calor atque umor superabat in arvis.
hoc ubi quaeque loci regio opportuna dabatur,
crescebant uteri terram radicibus apti;
quos ubi tempore maturo patefecerat aetas
Footnotes
809aetas Marullus: aestas OQP (so in 828 L gives aestas for aetas): aestus Lachmann, but see D. A. West, CQ N.S. 14 (1964) 101
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meadows shone with the colour of green; then to the various kinds of trees came a mighty struggle, as they raced at full speed to grow up into the air. As feathers and hair and bristles first grow on the frame of four-footed creatures or the body of strong-winged birds, so then the new-born earth put forth herbage and saplings first, and in the next place
created the generations of mortal creatures, arising in many kinds and in many ways by different processes. For animals cannot have fallen from the sky, nor can creatures of the land have come out of the salt pools.a
795It remains,b therefore, that the earth deserves
the name of mother which she possesses, since from the earth all things have been produced. And even now many living creatures arise from the earth,c formed by the rain and the warm heat of the sun, so that it is less wonderful if then more and larger ones arose, which grew up when earth and air were young. First the race of winged things and the different birds issued from their eggs being hatched in the springtime, just as now in summer the cicadas of their own accord leave their neat husks, to seek life and living. The earth, you see, first gave forth the generations of mortal creatures at that time,d for there was great abundance of heat and moisture in the fields. Therefore, wherever a suitable place was found, wombs would grow, holding to the earth by
roots; and when in due time the age of the infants
Footnotes
aCf. 2.1153-1155 and see notes there.
bThey do not arise from water or air, so that only earth is left, fire being out of the question. On the interpretation of 783-836, see D. A. West, CQ N. S. 14 (1964) 99-102, who rightly argues that the difficulties which commentators have found in the passage stem from their failure to understand that Lucr. is primarily concerned with demonstrating the motherhood of the earth (cf.795-796, 821-822).
cSee note on 2.872.
dIn 805 tum . . . primum and mortalia saecla have exactly the same meaning as in 790-791, i.e. “then for the first time” and “animals ” (excluding birds). See D. A. West, CQ N.S. 14 (1964) 100-101.
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810infantum, fugiens umorem aurasque petessens,
convertebat ibi natura foramina terrae
et sucum venis cogebat fundere apertis
consimilem lactis, sicut nunc femina quaeque,
cum peperit, dulci repletur lacte, quod omnis
815impetus in mammas convertitur ille alimenti.
terra cibum pueris, vestem vapor, herba cubile
praebebat multa et molli lanugine abundans.
at novitas mundi nec frigora dura ciebat
nec nimios aestus nec magnis viribus auras.
820omnia enim pariter crescunt et robora sumunt.
Quare etiam atque etiam maternum nomen adepta
terra tenet merito, quoniam genus ipsa creavit
humanum atque animal prope certo tempore fudit
omne quod in magnis bacchatur montibu’ passim
825aeriasque simul volucres variantibu’ formis.
Sed quia finem aliquam pariendi debet habere,
destitit, ut mulier spatio defessa vetusto.
mutat enim mundi naturam totius aetas,
ex alioque alius status excipere omnia debet,
830nec manet ulla sui similis res: omnia migrant,
omnia commutat natura et vertere cogit.
namque aliud putrescit et aevo debile languet,
porro aliud concrescit et e contemptibus exit.
sic igitur mundi naturam totius aetas
835mutat, et ex alio terram status excipit alter,
quod tulit ut nequeat, possit quod non tulit ante.
Footnotes
833concrescit ed. Aldina: crescit OQABL: clarescit (cf. 1456, where Q has crescere for clarescere) Lachmann: succrescit Lachmann (commentary): succedit (cf. 1278) Merrill(1907, in notes)
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broke these, fleeing from the moisture and seeking
he air, nature would direct thither pores of the earth and make it discharge from these open veins a liquid like to milk, just as now when a woman has brought forth she is filled with sweet milk, because all that rush of nourishment is directed towards the breasts. Earth gave food for the children, warmth gave the raiment, the herbage, a bed with abundance of down rich and soft. But the infancy of the world produced neither hard cold nor excessive heat nor winds of great force; for all things grow and gain strength together.a
821Therefore again and again the earth deserves
the name of mother which she has gained, since of herself she created the human race, and produced almost at a fixed time every animal that ranges wild everywhere over the great mountains, and the birds of the air at the same time in all their varied forms.
826But because she must have some limit to her
bearing, she ceased, like a woman worn out by old age. For time changes the nature of the whole
world, and one state of things must pass into another, and nothing remains as it was: all things move, all are changed by nature and compelled to alter. For one thing crumbles and grows faint and weak with age, another grows up and comes forth from contempt. So therefore time changes the nature of the whole world, and one state of the earth gives place to another, so that what she bore she cannot, but can bear what she did not bear before.b
Footnotes
aThat is, cold, heat, and winds were also young and weak.
bD. A. West, CQ N.S. 14 (1964) 102 argues, perhaps rightly, that the relative clauses are subject. He translates: “so that what bore cannot (namely Earth), and what could not bear can (namely the parents of each species).”
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Lucretius
Multaque tum tellus etiam portenta creare
conatast mira facie membrisque coorta,
androgynem, interutrasque nec utrum, utrimque re-
motum,
840orba pedum partim, manuum viduata vicissim,
muta sine ore etiam, sine voltu caeca reperta,
vinctaque membrorum per totum corpus adhaesu,
nec facere ut possent quicquam nec cedere quoquam
nec vitare malum nec sumere quod foret usus.
cetera de genere hoc monstra ac portenta creabat—
846nequiquam, quoniam natura absterruit auctum,
nec potuere cupitum aetatis tangere florem
nec reperire cibum nec iungi per Veneris res.
multa videmus enim rebus concurrere debere,
850ut propagando possint procudere saecla:
pabula primum ut sint, genitalia deinde per artus
semina qua possint membris manare remissis;
feminaque ut maribus coniungi possit, habere
mutua qui mutent inter se gaudia uterque.
855Multaque tum interiisse animantum saecla neces-
sest
nec potuisse propagando procudere prolem.
nam quaecumque vides vesci vitalibus auris,
aut dolus aut virtus aut denique mobilitas est
ex ineunte aevo genus id tutata reservans;
860multaque sunt, nobis ex utilitate sua quae
commendata manent, tutelae tradita nostrae.
Principio genus acre leonum saevaque saecla
Footnotes
841muta Naugerius: multa OQP, Lambinus
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837Many were the portents also that the earth
then tried to make, springing up with wondrous appearance and frame: the hermaphrodite, between man and woman yet neither, different from both; some without feet, others again bereft of hands; some found dumb also without a mouth, some blind without eyes, some bound fast with all their limbs adhering to their bodies, so that they could do nothing and go nowhere, could neither avoid mischief nor take what they might need. So with the rest of like monsters and portents that she made, it was all in vain; since nature banned their growth, and they could not attain the desired flower of age nor find food nor join by the ways of Venus. For we see
that living beings need many things in conjunction, so that they may be able by procreation to forge out the chain of the generations: first there must be food, next there must be a way for the life-giving seeds throughout the frame to flow out from the slackened body; and that male and female be joined, they must both have the means to exchange mutual pleasures.a
855And many species of animals must have
perished at that time, unable by procreation to forge out the chain of posterity: for whatever you see feeding on the breath of life, either cunning or courage or at least quickness must have guarded and kept that kind from its earliest existence; many again still exist, entrusted to our protection, which
remain, commended to us because of their usefulness.
862 Firstly, the fierce brood of lions, that savage
Footnotes
aFor a different interpretation of 853-854, see C. W. Chilton, CQ 30 (1980) 378-380.
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tutatast virtus, volpes dolus et fuga cervos.
at levisomna canum fido cum pectore corda,
865et genus omne quod est veterino semine partum,
lanigeraeque simul pecudes et bucera saecla,
omnia sunt hominum tutelae tradita, Memmi;
nam cupide fugere feras pacemque secuta
sunt et larga suo sine pabula parta labore,
870quae damus utilitatis eorum praemia causa.
At quis nil horum tribuit natura, nec ipsa
sponte sua possent ut vivere nec dare nobis
utilitatem aliquam quare pateremur eorum
praesidio nostro pasci genus esseque tutum,
875scilicet haec aliis praedae lucroque iacebant,
indupedita suis fatalibus omnia vinclis,
donec ad interitum genus id natura redegit.
Sed neque Centauri fuerunt, nec tempore in ullo
esse queunt duplici natura et corpore bino
880ex alienigenis membris compacta, potestas
hinc illinc †parvis ut non sit pars† esse potissit.
id licet hinc quamvis hebeti cognoscere corde.
Principio circum tribus actis impiger annis
floret equus, puer haudquaquam; nam saepe etiam
nunc
885ubera mammarum in somnis lactantia quaeret.
post ubi equum validae vires aetate senecta
Footnotes
868secuta Lambinus (1570, Errata): secutae OQP, defended by Wakefield, Orelli
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tribe, has been protected by courage, the fox by cunning, by swiftness the stag. But the intelligent dog, so light of sleep and so true of heart, and all the various kinds which are sprung from the seed of beasts of burden, woolly sheep also, and horned breeds of oxen, all these have been entrusted to men’s protection, Memmius. For these have eagerly fled from the wild beasts, they have sought peace and the generous provision gained by no labour of theirs, which we give them as the reward of their usefulness.
871But those to which nature gave no such qualities, so that they could neither live by themselves at their own will, nor give us some usefulness for which we might suffer them to feed under our protection and be safe, these certainly lay at the mercy of others for prey and profit, being all hampered by their own fateful chains, until nature brought that race to destruction.
878But Centaurs never existed,a nor at any time
can there be creatures of double nature and twofold body combined together of incompatible limbs, such that the powers of the two halves can be fairly species, balanced.b Here is a proof that will convince the dullest wit.
883 Firstly, the horse is at the best of his vigour when three years have passed round; not so the boy by any means, for even at this time he will often in sleep seek his mother’s milky breast. Afterwards,
when the strong powers of the horse are failing in
Footnotes
aCf. 2.700-717, 4.732-748.
bThe text and sense of 881 are uncertain. See critical note.
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Lucretius
membraque deficiunt fugienti languida vita,
tum demum puerili aevo florente iuventas
occipit et molli vestit lanugine malas.
890ne forte ex homine et veterino semine equorum
confieri credas Centauros posse neque esse,
aut rabidis canibus succinctas semimarinis
corporibus Scyllas, et cetera de genere horum,
inter se quorum discordia membra videmus;
895quae neque florescunt pariter nec robora sumunt
corporibus neque proiciunt aetate senecta,
nec simili Venere ardescunt nec moribus unis
conveniunt, neque sunt eadem iucunda per artus:
quippe videre licet pinguescere saepe cicuta
barbigeras pecudes, homini quae est acre venenum.
901Flamma quidem vero cum corpora fulva leonum
tam soleat torrere atque urere quam genus omne
visceris in terris quodcumque et sanguinis extet,
qui fieri potuit, triplici cum corpore ut una,
905prima leo, postrema draco, media ipsa, Chimaera
ore foras acrem flaret de corpore flammam?
Quare etiam tellure nova caeloque recenti
talia qui fingit potuisse animalia gigni,
nixus in hoc uno novitatis nomine inani,
910multa licet simili ratione effutiat ore,
aurea tum dicat per terras flumina vulgo
fluxisse, et gemmis florere arbusta suësse,
aut hominem tanto membrorum esse impete natum,
trans maria alta pedum nisus ut ponere posset
Footnotes
889occipit Marullus: officit OQP, Wakefield, Martin 892 rabidis Heinsius, Bentley (cf. Virgil, Aen. 1.200 Scyllaeam rabiem): rapidis OQP, Diels, Martin, Büchner, as in4.712
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old age and his body faints as life recedes, then is the
time of the flower of boyhood, when youth is beginning and is clothing the cheeks with soft down. I say this that you may not believe that Centaurs can be formed or be, composed of man and the seed of the burden-bearing horse, or that a Scylla can exist with body half fish and a girdle of ravening dogs, and all other such monsters in which we see the members to be incompatible, which are not in their prime together, nor come to their bodily strength together, nor lose strength in old age, nor burn with passion alike, nor agree in habits, nor find the same
things pleasant for their bodies. In fact you may see that bearded goats often grow fat on hemlock, which for man is rank poison.
901Again, seeing that fire is accustomed to scorch and to burn the tawny bodies of lions as much as every kind in the world that consists of flesh and blood, how could it be that a Chimaera, threefold body in one, lion in front, serpent behind, goat in the middle, could breathe out fierce fire from its body?a
907Therefore also he that supposes that such animals could have been born when earth was young and heaven new, depending upon this one empty word newness, may with equal reason babble on without
end, saying that then rivers of gold used commonly to flow over the earth, that trees used to have jewels for flowers, that man was born with so great expanse of limbs that he could set his stride across
Footnotes
aLucr. is imitating the description of Homer, Il. 6.181-182: πρόσθε λέων ὄπιθεν δὲ δράκων μέσση δὲ χίμαιρα,| δεινὸν ἀποπνείουσα
πυρὸς μένος αἰθομένοιο.
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Lucretius
915et manibus totum circum se vertere caelum.
nam quod multa fuere in terris semina rerum
tempore quo primum tellus animalia fudit,
nil tamen est signi mixtas potuisse creari
inter se pecudes compactaque membra animantum,
propterea quia quae de terris nunc quoque abundant—
921herbarum genera ac fruges arbustaque laeta—
non tamen inter se possunt complexa creari,
sed res quaeque suo ritu procedit, et omnes
foedere naturae certo discrimina servant.
925Et genus humanum multo fuit illud in arvis
durius, ut decuit, tellus quod dura creasset,
et maioribus et solidis magis ossibus intus
fundatum, validis aptum per viscera nervis,
nec facile ex aestu nec frigore quod caperetur
930nec novitate cibi nec labi corporis ulla.
multaque per caelum solis volventia lustra
volgivago vitam tractabant more ferarum.
nec robustus erat curvi moderator aratri
quisquam, nec scibat ferro molirier arva
935nec nova defodere in terram virgulta neque altis
arboribus veteres decidere falcibu’ ramos.
quod sol atque imbres dederant, quod terra crearat
sponte sua, satis id placabat pectora donum.
glandiferas inter curabant corpora quercus
940plerumque; et quae nunc hiberno tempore cernis
arbita puniceo fieri matura colore,
plurima tum tellus etiam maiora ferebat.
Footnotes
925Et OQP: At Lachmann
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the deep sea and with his hands tum the whole sky about him. For although there were many seeds of things in the soil at the time when first the earth
poured forth the animals, that is nevertheless no proof that creatures of mixed growth could be made, and limbs of various creatures joined into one; because the various kinds of plants and the corn and the luxuriant trees, which even now spring in abundance from the earth, nevertheless cannot be produced interwoven together, but each thing proceeds after its own fashion, and all by fixed law of nature preserve their distinctions.
925And the race of men at that timea was much
hardier on the land, as was fitting inasmuch as the hard earth had made it: it was built up within with bones larger and more solid, fitted with strong sinews throughout the flesh, not such as easily to be mastered by heat or cold or strange food or any ailment of the body. Through many lustres of the sun rolling through the sky they passed their lives after the wide-wandering fashion of wild beasts. No
sturdy guider of the curved plough was there, none knew how to work the fields with iron, to dig new shoots into the ground, to prune off old branches from the tall trees with a sickle. What sun and rain had given, what the earth had produced of her own accord, that was a gift enough to content their minds. Amidst the acorn-laden oaks they refreshed themselves
for the most part; and the arbute-berries, which in winter-time you now see ripen with crimson colour, then the earth bore in abundance and even
Footnotes
aWith Lucr.’s description of the life of primitive man compare Diodorus Siculus 1.8.1-2, 5-9. The Epicurean views probably owed much to the Sophists and Democritus.
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Lucretius
multaque praeterea novitas tum florida mundi
pabula dura tulit, miseris mortalibus ampla.
945At sedare sitim fluvii fontesque vocabant,
ut nunc montibus e magnis decursus aquai
claricitat late sitientia saecla ferarum.
denique nota vagis silvestria templa tenebant
nympharum, quibus e scibant umori’ fluenta
950lubrica proluvie larga lavere umida saxa,
umida saxa, super viridi stillantia musco,
et partim plano scatere atque erumpere campo.
Necdum res igni scibant tractare neque uti
pellibus et spoliis corpus vestire ferarum,
sed nemora atque cavos montis silvasque colebant,
956et frutices inter condebant squalida membra
verbera ventorum vitare imbrisque coacti.
Nec commune bonum poterant spectare, neque
ullis
moribus inter se scibant nec legibus uti.
960quod cuique obtulerat praedae fortuna, ferebat
sponte sua sibi quisque valere et vivere doctus.
Et Venus in silvis iungebat corpora amantum;
conciliabat enim vel mutua quamque cupido
vel violenta viri vis atque inpensa libido
965vel pretium, glandes atque arbita vel pira lecta.
Et manuum mira freti virtute pedumque,
consectabantur silvestria saecla ferarum
Footnotes
947claricitat late Simeon Bosius (see Lambinus 1570): claricitatiate OQU: clarigitat late Lachmann: claru’ citat late Forbiger, perhaps rightly
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larger than now. Many another kind of food besides the flowering infancy of the world then produced, hard but amply sufficient for poor mortals.
945But to quench thirst, rivers and springs invited
them, as now the rushing of water down from the great mountains calls loud and far to the thirsting tribes of beasts. Moreover, they dwelt in woodland precincts of the Nymphs, familiar to them in their wanderings, whence they knew that some running rivulet issued rippling over the wet rocks, rippling over the wet rocks in abundant flow and dripping upon the green moss, and in parts welling up and bubbling out over the level plain.
953Not yet did they know how to work things with
fire, nor to use skins and to clothe themselves in the strippings of wild beasts; but they dwelt in the woods and forests and mountain caves, and hid their rough bodies in the underwoods when they had to escape the beating of wind and rain.
958They could not look to the common good, they
did not know how to govern their intercourse by custom and law. Whatever prize fortune gave to each, that he carried off, every man taught to live and be strong for himself at his own will.
962And Venus joined the bodies of lovers in the
woods; for either the woman was attracted by mutual desire, or caught by the man’s violent force and vehement lust, or by a bribe—acorns and arbute-berries or choice pears.a
966And by the aid of their wonderful powers of
hand and foot, they would hunt the woodland tribes
Footnotes
apira lecta: “An amusing touch: i.e. even the wild woodland wench had some discrimination and her wooer some technique” (Leonard-Smith). With 965 Pius compares Propertius 3.13.33-34: his tum blanditiis (sc. fruit, flowers, or a bird with gay plumage) furtiva per antra puellae | oscula silvicolis empta dedere viris.
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975missilibus saxis et magno pondere clavae;
968multaque vincebant, vitabant pauca latebris.
969970Saetigerisque pares subus silvestria membra
970nuda dabant terrae nocturno tempore capti,
971circum se foliis ac frondibus involventes.
972nec plangore diem magno solemque per agros
973quaerebant pavidi palantes noctis in umbris,
974975sed taciti respectabant somnoque sepulti,
dum rosea face sol inferret lumina caelo;
a parvis quod enim consuerant cernere semper
alterno tenebras et lucem tempore gigni,
non erat ut fieri posset mirarier umquam
980nec diffidere ne terras aeterna teneret
nox in perpetuum detracto lumine solis.
sed magis illud erat curae, quod saecla ferarum
infestam miseris faciebant saepe quietem.
eiiectique domo fugiebant saxea tecta
985spumigeri suis adventu validique leonis,
atque intempesta cedebant nocte paventes
hospitibus saevis instrata cubilia fronde.
Nec nimio tum plus quam nunc mortalia saecla
dulcia linquebant lamentis lumina vitae.
990unus enim tum quisque magis deprensus eorum
pabula viva feris praebebat, dentibus haustus,
et nemora ac montis gemitu silvasque replebat,
viva videns vivo sepeliri viscera busto.
at quos effugium servarat corpore adeso,
995posterius tremulas super ulcera taetra tenentes
Footnotes
989lamentis OQP: violenter W.S. Watt, Hermes 117(1989) 235: perhaps tormentis
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of beasts with volleys of stones and ponderous clubs, overpowering many, shunning but a few in hiding-places.
970And when night overtook them, like bristly hogs they just cast their savage bodies naked upon
the ground, rolling themselves in leaves and boughs. Nor did they go seeking the day and the sun with great outcry over the countryside, wandering panic-stricken in the shadows of night,abut waited quiet and buried in sleep until the sun with rosy torch spread his light over the heavens. For since they had been accustomed from childhood always to see darkness and light return in alternate sequence, it was impossible that they should ever feel wonder, or fear lest everlasting night should possess the world, the sun’s light being withdrawn for ever. Rather what troubled them was that the tribes of beasts
often made their rest dangerous to the poor wretches: driven from their home, they would flee from their rocky shelters when a foaming boar appeared or a mighty lion, and at dead of night in terror would yield their leaf-strewn beds to the savage guests.
988Nor did mortal men much more then than now
leave with lamentations the sweet light of life. True, each one was then more likely to be caught and devoured alive by wild beasts, torn by their teeth, and to fill woods and forests and mountains with groaning as he saw his own living flesh buried in a living tombb; while any that flight had saved with mangled body afterwards held their trembling hands
Footnotes
a“Quorundam philosophorum opiniones hic videtur ire oppugnatum noster,” comments Wakefield, who quotes Manilius 1.66-70, Statius, Theb. 4.282-284.
bThe notion that the devouring beast is a tomb is common: it is found in Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Gorgias, Euphorion, Oppian, Ennius, Accius, Ovid, Apuleius, Sedulius, Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, Pope (for the references and quotations, see Wakefield, J. S. Watson, Munro, Merrill, Leonard-Smith, Meurig Davies, Mnemos. ser. 4, 2 [1949] 73). See also Achilles Tatius 3.5.4, 3.16.4.
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palmas horriferis accibant vocibus Orcum,
donique eos vita privarant vermina saeva
expertis opis, ignaros quid volnera vellent.
at non multa virum sub signis milia ducta
1000una dies dabat exitio, nec turbida ponti
aequora lidebant navis ad saxa virosque;
tum temere incassum frustra mare saepe coortum
saevibat leviterque minas ponebat inanis,
nec poterat quemquam placidi pellacia ponti
1005subdola pellicere in fraudem ridentibus undis:
improba navigii ratio tum caeca iacebat.
tum penuria deinde cibi languentia leto
membra dabat, contra nunc rerum copia mersat.
illi inprudentes ipsi sibi saepe venenum
1010vergebant, nunc se perdunt sollertius ipsi.
Inde casas postquam ac pellis ignemque pararunt,
et mulier coniuncta viro concessit in unum
. . . . . . .
cognita sunt, prolemque ex se videre creatam,
tum genus humanum primum mollescere coepit.
1015ignis enim curavit ut alsia corpora frigus
non ita iam possent caeli sub tegmine ferre,
et Venus inminuit viris, puerique parentum
blanditiis facile ingenium fregere superbum.
tunc et amicitiem coeperunt iungere aventes
1020finitimi inter se nec laedere nec violari,
et pueros commendarunt muliebreque saeclum,
Footnotes
1002tum M. F. Smith (tum constantly used by Lucr. inreference to primitive times: cf. e.g. 988, 990, 1006, 1007): nec (from 1004?) OQP: sed Lambinus: hic Lachmann: nam C. Hosius: sic Diels
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over the hideous sores, calling on Orcus with horrible cries, until cruel torments put an end to their life, with none to help, all ignorant what a wound wanted. But one day did not send to destruction many
thousands of men in the battle-field, ships and mariners were not dashed on the rocks by the turbulent billows of the sea. Then it was all in vain, all useless, all for nothing that the sea often rose and stormed, and lightly it laid aside its threats without meaning, nor could anyone be enticed to his ruin by the treacherous witchery of a quiet sea with laughing waves.a The wicked art of navigation then lay hidden and obscure. In those days again, it was lack
of food that drove fainting bodies to death; now contrariwise it is the abundance that overwhelms overeating; them. In those days men often unwittingly poured poison for themselves, now they make away with themselves more skilfully.
1011Next, when they had got themselves huts and
skins and fire, and woman mated with man moved into one [home, and the laws of wedlock] became known, and they saw offspring born of them, then first the human race began to grow soft. For the fire saw to it that their shivering bodies were less able to endure cold under the canopy of heaven, and Venus sapped their strength, and children easily broke their parents’ proud spirit by coaxings. Then
also neighbours began to join friendship amongst themselves in their eagerness to do no hurt and suffer no violence,b and asked protection for their
Footnotes
aCf. 2.559 and see note there.
bCf. Epicurus, Sent. 31-33.
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vocibus et gestu cum balbe significarent
imbecillorum esse aequum misererier omnis.
nec tamen omnimodis poterat concordia gigni,
1025sed bona magnaque pars servabat foedera caste;
aut genus humanum iam tum foret omne peremptum,
nec potuisset adhuc perducere saecla propago.
At varios linguae sonitus natura subegit
mittere, et utilitas expressit nomina rerum,
1030non alia longe ratione atque ipsa videtur
protrahere ad gestum pueros infantia linguae,
cum facit ut digito quae sint praesentia monstrent.
sentit enim vis quisque suas quoad possit abuti:
cornua nata prius vitulo quam frontibus extent,
1035illis iratus petit atque infestus inurget;
at catuli pantherarum scymnique leonum
unguibus ac pedibus iam tum morsuque repugnant,
vix etiam cum sunt dentes unguesque creati;
alituum porro genus alis omne videmus
1040fidere et a pinnis tremulum petere auxiliatum.
Proinde putare aliquem tum nomina distribuisse
rebus et inde homines didicisse vocabula prima,
desiperest. nam cur hic posset cuncta notare
vocibus et varios sonitus emittere linguae,
tempore eodem alii facere id non quisse putentur?
Footnotes
1032monstrent L corr. (see Munro), M: monstret OQABCF, Wakefield, Merrill (1917)
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children and womankind, signifying by voice and gesture with stammering tongue that it was right for all to pity the weak. Nevertheless concord could not altogether be produced, but a good part, indeed the most, kept the covenant unblemished, or
else the race of mankind would have been even then wholly destroyed, nor would birth and begetting have been able to prolong their posterity to the present day.
1028But the various sounds of the tongue nature
drove them to utter,a and convenience moulded the names for things, not far otherwise than very speech-lessness is seen to drive children to the use of gesture, when it makes them point with the finger at things that are before them. For each feels to what purpose he is able to use his own powers.b Before the budding horns stand out on the calf’s forehead, these are what he uses in anger to butt with and pushes viciously; then panthers’ kittens and lions’ cubs already fight with claws and feet and bite, even when teeth and claws are as yet scarcely grown. Further, we see that all the winged tribes trust to their wings and seek unsteady aid from their pinions.
1041Therefore to suppose that someone then distributed
names amongst things, and that from him men learnt their first words, is folly. For why should he have been able to mark all things with titles and to utter the various sounds of the tongue, and at the same time others not be thought able to have done
Footnotes
aFor the Epicurean theory of language, cf. especially Epicurus, Ep. ad Hdt. 75-76, Diodorus Siculus 1.8.3-4, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 12.II.11-V. 14 Smith.
bSee note on 2.586.
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1046praeterea si non alii quoque vocibus usi
inter se fuerant, unde insita notities est
utilitatis et unde data est huic prima potestas,
quid vellet facere ut sciret animoque videret?
1050cogere item pluris unus victosque domare
non poterat, rerum ut perdiscere nomina vellent;
nec ratione docere ulla suadereque surdis,
quid sit opus facto, facilest; neque enim paterentur
nec ratione ulla sibi ferrent amplius auris
1055vocis inauditos sonitus obtundere frustra.
Postremo quid in hae mirabile tantoperest re,
si genus humanum, cui vox et lingua vigeret,
pro vario sensu varia res voce notaret?
cum pecudes mutae, cum denique saecla ferarum
1060dissimilis soleant voces variasque ciere,
cum metus aut dolor est et cum iam gaudia gliscunt.
quippe etenim licet id rebus cognoscere apertis.
Inritata canum cum primum magna Molossum
mollia ricta fremunt duros nudantia dentes,
1065longe alio sonitu rabie restricta minantur,
et cum iam latrant et vocibus omnia complent.
at catulos blande cum lingua lambere temptant
aut ubi eos iactant pedibus morsuque petentes
suspensis teneros imitantur dentibus haustus,
1070longe alio pacto gannitu vocis adulant,
Footnotes
1067See critical note on 1036
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it? Besides, if others had not also used these terms in their intercourse, whence was that foreknowledgea of usefulness implanted in him, and whence did he first gain such power, as to know what he wanted to do and to see it in his mind’s eye? Compel them again he could not, one against many, nor could he master and conquer them, that they should wish to learn the names of things; nor is it easy to teach in any way or to persuade what is necessary to be done, when men are deaf; for they would not have suffered or endured in any way that he should go on dinning into their ears sounds of the voice which they had never heard, all to no purpose.
1056Lastly, what is so very wonderful in this
business, if the human race, having active voices and tongues, could distinguish things by varying sounds to suit varying feelings? seeing that dumb animals, seeing that even wild beasts of all kinds are accustomed to utter sounds different and varying when they are in fear or pain, and when now joy begins to glow. Indeed you may learn this from plain facts.
1063When Molossian hounds are irritated, and their
great flabby jaws first begin to growl, baring the hard teeth, they threaten with a far different sound, drawn back in rage, than when at last they bark out and fill the place with their clamour. But when they set about to lick their pups affectionately with their tongue, or when they throw them about with their paws and snapping at them make as though to swallow them gently with teeth checked, they fondle them with yelpings of quite another sort than when
Footnotes
aFor notifies, see note on 2.745. 1046-1049 should be compared with 181-186, where Lucr. is arguing that the gods could not have created the world.
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et cum deserti baubantur in aedibus aut cum
plorantes fugiunt summisso corpore plagas.
Denique non hinnitus item differre videtur,
inter equas ubi equus florenti aetate iuvencus
1075pinnigeri saevit calcaribus ictus Amoris
et fremitum patulis sub naribus edit ad arma,
et cum sic alias concussis artubus hinnit?
Postremo genus alituum variaeque volucres,
accipitres atque ossifragae mergique marinis
1080fluctibus in salso victum vitamque petentes,
longe alias alio iaciunt in tempore voces,
et quom de victu certant praedaeque repugnant.
et partim mutant cum tempestatibus una
raucisonos cantus, cornicum ut saecla vetusta
corvorumque greges ubi aquam dicuntur et imbris
1086poscere et interdum ventos aurasque vocare.
Ergo si varii sensus animalia cogunt,
muta tamen cum sint, varias emittere voces,
quanto mortalis magis aequumst tum potuisse
1090dissimilis alia atque alia res voce notare!
Illud in his rebus tacitus ne forte requiras,
fulmen detulit in terram mortalibus ignem
primitus, inde omnis flammarum diditur ardor.
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they howl if left alone in the house, or when whimpering they cringe away from a blow.
1073Again, is there not seen to be a difference also
in the neighing, when amidst the mares a young stallion in the flower of his age runs wild, struck with the, spurs of winged Love, and snorts out from wide nostrils for the fight,a and when, as it chances, on some other occasion lie neighs with shaking limbs?
1078Lastly, the race of winged creatures and
different birds, hawks and ospreys, and divers, which seek life and living on the salt water amidst the waves of the sea, utter at other times sounds which differ greatly from those which they utter when they are fighting for food and their prey is offering resistance.b Some birds change their harsh-toned song with the weather, such as the generations of ancient crows or flocks of rooks, when they are said to call for water and rain, or sometimes to cry for wind and breeze.
1087Therefore if different feelings compel animals, dumb though they are, to utter different sounds, how much more natural it is that mortal men should then have been able to mark different things with one sound or another!
1091That you may not here perhaps be quietly asking
yourself the question, it was lightning that first brought fire down to the earth for mortals, and from this all blazing flames have been spread abroad. For
Footnotes
a“quaenam arma? Martiane, an Venerea?” asks Lambinus. That the battle is between the stallion and the mares is proved by Virgil’s imitation in G. 3.83-85: tum, si qua sonum procul anna dedere, | stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus, | collectumque fremens volvit sub naribus ignem. Cf. G. 3.98, 100: si quando ad proelia ventum est | . . . incassum furit (of a stallion past his prime).
bC. L. Howard, CPhil. 56 (1961) 158, rightly follows A. Cartault in taking praedae as nom. plural. It must be the prey that fights back, as in Petronius 109.6: alms hamis blandientibus convellebat praedam repugnantem. The plural praedae (for which cf. e.g. Juvenal 11.101) is natural here, for, as Howard says, it is a question of the various preys of various birds.
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multa videmus enim caelestibus insita flammis
1095fulgere, cum caeli donavit plaga vapore.
et ramosa tamen cum ventis pulsa vacillans
aestuat in ramos incumbens arboris arbor,
exprimitur validis extritus viribus ignis,
emicat interdum flammai fervidus ardor,
1100mutua dum inter se rami stirpesque teruntur.
quorum utrumque dedisse potest mortalibus ignem.
inde cibum coquere ac flammae mollire vapore
sol docuit, quoniam mitescere multa videbant
verberibus radiorum atque aestu victa per agros.
1105Inque dies magis hi victum vitamque priorem
commutare novis monstrabant rebus et igni
ingenio qui praestabant et corde vigebant.
condere coeperunt urbis arcemque locare
praesidium reges ipsi sibi perfugiumque,
1110et pecua atque agros divisere atque dedere
pro facie cuiusque et viribus ingenioque;
nam facies multum valuit viresque vigebant.
posterius res inventast aurumque repertum,
quod facile et validis et pulchris dempsit honorem;
1115divitioris enim sectam plerumque sequuntur
quamlubet et fortes et pulchro corpore creti.
Quod siquis vera vitam ratione gubernet,
divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parce
aequo animo; neque enim est umquam penuria parvi.
Footnotes
1094insita OQP, Nonius p. 814 Lindsay, Wakefield,Merrill (1917), Ernout, Martin: incita Marullus, but cf.1.901 and e.g. 6.181-182 ardoris . . . semina quae faciunt nictantia fulgura flammae
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we can see many things catch fire implanted with the flames from on high, when the stroke from heaven has given them its heat. And yet also when a branching tree struck by the winds, swaying and
tossed about, leans on the branches of a tree, fire is pressed out by the great force of the friction, at times the burning glare of flame flashes out while branches and trunks are rubbed together.a Either of these causes may have given fire to mankind. After that the sun taught them to cook food and to
soften it by the heat of names, since they saw many things grow mellow, vanquished by the blows of the heat of his rays amid the fields.
1105More and more daily they were shown how to
change their former life and living for new ways and for fire by those who were pre-eminent in genius and strong in mind. Kings began to found cities and to
build a citadel for their own protection and refuge; and they divided cattle and lands, and gave them to each according to beauty and strength and genius; for beauty had great power, and strength had importance, in those days. Afterwards wealth was introduced and gold was discovered, which easily
robbed both the strong and the handsome of their honour; for however strong and handsome in body, men for the most part follow the party of the richer.
1117But if one should guide his life by true principles, man’s greatest riches is to live on a little with contented mindb; for a little is never lacking. Yet
Footnotes
aCf. 1.897-903.
bCf. e.g. Epicurus, Sent. Vat. 25, Usener 135.
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1120at claros homines voluerunt se atque potentes,
ut fundamento stabili fortuna maneret
et placidam possent opulenti degere vitam—
nequiquam, quoniam ad summum succedere honorem
certantes iter infestum fecere viai,
1125et tamen e summo, quasi fulmen, deicit ictos
invidia interdum contemptim in Tartara taetra,
1131invidia quoniam, ceu fulmine, summa vaporant
1132plerumque et quae sunt aliis magis edita cumque;
1127ut satius multo iam sit parere quietum
11281130quam regere imperio res velle et regna tenere.
1129proinde sine incassum defessi sanguine sudent,
1130angustum per iter luctantes ambitionis,
quandoquidem sapiunt alieno ex ore petuntque
res ex auditis potius quam sensibus ipsis,
nec magis id nunc est neque erit mox quam fuit ante.
1136Ergo regibus occisis subversa iacebat
pristina maiestas soliorum et sceptra superba,
et capitis summi praeclarum insigne cruentum
sub pedibus vulgi magnum lugebat honorem;
1140nam cupide conculcatur nimis ante metutum.
res itaque ad summam faecem turbasque redibat,
imperium sibi cum ac summatum quisque petebat.
inde magistratum partim docuere creare
iuraque constituere, ut vellent legibus uti.
1145nam genus humanum, defessum vi colere aevom,
ex inimicitiis languebat; quo magis ipsum
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men desired to be famous and powerful, that their
fortune might stand fast upon a firm foundation, and that being wealthy they might be able to pass a quiet life: all in vain, since in the struggle to climb to the summit of honour, they made their path full of danger; and even down from the summit, nevertheless, envy strikes them sometimes like a thunderbolt and casts them with scorn into loathly Tartarus; since envy, like the thunderbolt, usually scorches the summits and all those that are elevated above others; so that it is indeed much better to obey in peace than to desire to hold the world in fee and to rule kingdoms.a Leave them then to be weary to no
purpose, and to sweat blood in struggling along the narrow path of ambition; since their wisdom comes from the lips of others, and they pursue things on hearsay rather than from their own feelings. And this folly does not succeed at the present, and will not succeed in the future, any more than it has succeeded in the past.
1136Kings therefore were slain; the ancient
majesty of thrones and proud sceptres lay over thrown in the dust; the illustrious badge of the topmost head, bloodstained beneath the feet of the mob, bewailed the loss of its high honour; for men are eager to tread underfoot what they have once too much feared. So things came to the uttermost dregs of confusion, when each man for himself sought dominion and exaltation. Then there were some
who taught them to create magistrates, and established law, that they might be willing to obey statutes. For mankind, tired of living in violence, was fainting from its feuds, and so they were readier
Footnotes
aCf. e.g. Usener 551: λάθε βιώσας, Usener 548, 554, Horace, Epist. 1.17.10: nec vixit male qui natus moriensque fefellit.
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sponte sua cecidit sub leges artaque iura.
acrius ex ira quod enim se quisque parabat
ulcisci quam nunc concessumst legibus aequis,
hanc ob rem est homines pertaesum vi colere aevom.
1151Inde metus maculat poenarum praemia vitae.
circumretit enim vis atque iniuria quemque,
atque, unde exortast, ad eum plerumque revertit,
nec facilest placidam ac pacatam degere vitam
1155qui violat factis communia foedera pacis.
etsi fallit enim divom genus humanumque,
perpetuo tamen id fore clam diffidere debet.
quippe ubi se multi per somnia saepe loquentes
aut morbo delirantes protraxe ferantur
1160et celata alte in medium et peccata dedisse.
Nunc quae causa deum per magnas numina gentis
pervulgarit et ararum compleverit urbis
suscipiendaque curarit sollemnia sacra,
quae nunc in magnis florent sacra rebu’ locisque,
1165unde etiam nunc est mortalibus insitus horror
qui delubra deum nova toto suscitat orbi
terrarum et festis cogit celebrare diebus,
non ita difficilest rationem reddere verbis.
Quippe etenim iam tum divom mortalia saecla
1170egregias animo facies vigilante videbant,
et magis in somnis mirando corporis auctu.
his igitur sensum tribuebant propterea quod
membra movere videbantur vocesque superbas
mittere pro facie praeclara et viribus amplis.
Footnotes
1160alte M. F. Smith: omitted by OQP: diu Marullus: mala Lachmann: ipsi Büchner et OQP: deleted by Marullus
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of their own will to submit to statutes and strict
rules of law. For because each man in his wrath would make ready to avenge himself more severely than is permitted now by just laws, for this reason men were utterly weary of living in violence.
1151Hence comes fear of punishment that taints
the prizes of life; for violence and injury enclose in their net all that do such things, and generally return upon him who began, nor is it easy to pass a quiet and peaceful life for him whose deeds violate the bonds of the common peace. For even if he hide it from gods and men, he must yet be uncertain that it will for ever remain hiddena; seeing that often many men, speaking in dreams or raving in delirium, are said to have discovered themselves, and to have disclosed deeply hidden matters and their sins.
1161Next it is not very difficult to explain in words,
what cause has spread the divinity of the gods over great nations and filled the cities with altars, and has made customary rites to be undertaken, rites which now flourish in great states and places, from which even now remains implanted in mortal men the awe that raises new shrines to the gods all over the world, and drives them to throng together on festal days.
1169The truth is that even in those days the
generations of men used to see with waking mind and still more in sleep,b gods conspicuous in beauty and of marvellous bodily stature. To these therefore they attributed sensation, because they appeared to move their limbs and to utter proud speech in keeping with their splendid beauty and vast
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Sent. 17, 34-35, Sent. Vat. 7, Usener 532.
bCf. Usener 353.
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1175aeternamque dabant vitam, quia semper eorum
subpeditabatur facies et forma manebat,
et tamen omnino quod tantis viribus auctos
non temere ulla vi convinci posse putabant.
fortunisque ideo longe praestare putabant,
quod mortis timor haud quemquam vexaret eorum,
1181et simul in somnis quia multa et mira videbant
efficere et nullum capere ipsos inde laborem.
Praeterea caeli rationes ordine certo
et varia annorum cernebant tempora verti,
1185nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis.
ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia divis
tradere et illorum nutu facere omnia flecti.
in caeloque deum sedes et templa locarunt,
per caelum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,
1190luna dies et nox et noctis signa severa
noctivagaeque faces caeli flammaeque volantes,
nubila sol imbres nix venti fulmina grando
et rapidi fremitus et murmura magna minarum.
O genus infelix humanum, talia divis
1195cum tribuit facta atque iras adiunxit acerbas!
quantos tum gemitus ipsi sibi, quantaque nobis
volnera, quas lacrimas peperere minoribu’ nostris!
nec pietas ullast velatum saepe videri
vertier ad lapidem atque omnis accedere ad aras,
1200nec procumbere humi prostratum et pandere palmas
ante deum delubra, nec aras sanguine multo
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strength. And they gave them everlasting life, because there was always a succession of visions coming up in which the shape remained the same, but above all because they thought that beings endowed with such strength could not lightly be overcome by any force. Therefore they thought them to be pre-eminent in happiness, because the fear of death troubled none of them, and at the same time because in sleep they saw them perform many marvellous feats and feel no distress as a result.
1183Besides they observed how the array of heaven
and the various seasons of the year come round in due order, and could not discover by what causes all that came about. Therefore their refuge was to leave all in the hands of the gods, and to suppose that by their nod all things were done. And they placed the gods’ habitation and abode in the sky, because through the sky the night and the moon are seen to revolve, moon and day and night and the solemn stars of night, heaven’s night-wandering torches and flying flames, clouds and sun, rain and snow, winds, lightnings and hail, rapid roarings and great threatening rumbles of thunder.a
1194O unhappy race of mankind, to ascribe such
doings to the gods and to attribute to them bitter wrath as well! What groans did they then create for themselves, what wounds for us, what tears for generations to come! It is no piety to show oneself
often with covered head, turning towards a stone and approaching every altar, none to fall prostrate upon the ground and to spread open the palms before shrines of the gods, none to sprinkle altars with the
Footnotes
aOn 1186-1193, which Bailey unjustly calls “confused,” see D. West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius 127-128.
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spargere quadrupedum, nec votis nectere vota,
sed mage placata posse omnia mente tueri.
Nam cum suspicimus magni caelestia mundi
templa super stellisque micantibus aethera fixum,
1206et venit in mentem solis lunaeque viarum,
tunc aliis oppressa malis in pectora cura
illa quoque expergefactum caput erigere infit,
nequae forte deum nobis inmensa potestas
1210sit, vario motu quae candida sidera verset;
temptat enim dubiam mentem rationis egestas,
ecquaenam fuerit mundi genitalis origo,
et simul ecquae sit finis, quoad moenia mundi
solliciti motus hunc possint ferre laborem,
1215an divinitus aeterna donata salute
perpetuo possint aevi labentia tractu
inmensi validas aevi contemnere viris.
Praeterea cui non animus formidine divum
contrahitur, cui non correpunt membra pavore,
1220fulminis horribili cum plaga torrida tellus
contremit et magnum percurrunt murmura caelum?
non populi gentesque tremunt, regesque superbi
corripiunt divum percussi membra timore,
ne quod ob admissum foede dictumve superbe
1225poenarum grave sit solvendi tempus adactum?
Summa etiam cum vis violenti per mare venti
induperatorem classis super aequora verrit
cum validis pariter legionibus atque elephantis,
Footnotes
1203placata OQP, Naugerius, Lambinus (1563-64 only), Gifanius, Wakefield, Eichstädt, M. F. Smith, CR N.S. 16(1966) 265-266 (cf. Cicero, Fin. 1.21.71, Tusc. Disp. 5.6.16): pacata ed. Juntina
Page number 472
De Rerum Natura
blood of beasts in showers and to link vow to vow; but rather to be able to survey all things with tranquil mind.
1204For when we look upwards to the celestial regions of the great firmament, to the ether studded with glittering stars, when we think of the ways of sun and moon, into our hearts already crushed with other woes a new anxious care awakening begins to lift up its head, whether by any chance we have to do with some immeasurable power of the gods, able to make the bright stars revolve with their different movements. For it shakes the mind with doubt to
find no answer to the question, whether the world had a birthday, and also whether a limit is set, until which the walls of the world are able to endure the strain of this restless motion; or whether by the gods’ ordinance endowed with everlasting existence they are able to glide on for ever through the course of time, despising the strong power of immeasurable time.
1218Besides, whose mind does not shrink up with fear of the gods, whose limbs do not crawl with terror, when the scorched earth quakes with the shivering shock of a thunderbolt and rumblings run
through the mighty sky? Do not nations and peoples tremble, do not proud kings huddle up their limbs smitten with fear of the gods, lest for some base deed or proud word the solemn time of punishment be now brought near at hand?
1226When also the supreme violence of a furious
wind upon the sea sweeps over the waters the chief admiral of a fleet along with his mighty legions and
Page number 473
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
non divom pacem votis adit ac prece quaesit
1230ventorum pavidus paces animasque secundas?—
nequiquam, quoniam violento turbine saepe
correptus nilo fertur minus ad vada leti.
usque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam
obterit, et pulchros fascis saevasque secures
1235proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur.
Denique sub pedibus tellus cum tota vacillat
concussaeque cadunt urbes dubiaeque minantur,
quid mirum si se temnunt mortalia saecla
atque potestates magnas mirasque relinquunt
1240in rebus viris divum, quae cuncta gubernent?
Quod superest, aes atque aurum ferrumque re-
pertumst
et simul argenti pondus plumbique potestas,
ignis ubi ingentis silvas ardore cremarat
montibus in magnis, seu caeli fulmine misso,
1245sive quod inter se bellum silvestre gerentes
hostibus intulerant ignem formidinis ergo,
sive quod inducti terrae bonitate volebant
pandere agros pinguis et pascua reddere rura,
sive feras interficere et ditescere praeda;
1250nam fovea atque igni prius est venarier ortum
quam saepire plagis saltum canibusque ciere.
quicquid id est, quacumque e causa flammeus ardor
horribili sonitu silvas exederat altis
a radicibus et terram percoxerat igni,
1255manabat venis ferventibus in loca terrae
concava conveniens argenti rivus et auri,
aeris item et plumbi. quae cum concreta videbant
Footnotes
1234obterit O corr.,AFL: opterit O: operit Q: obterere Y. L. Too, CQ N. S. 41 (1991) 255-257, perhaps rightly
Page number 474
De Rerum Natura
elephants, does he not crave the gods’ peace with vows, does he not in his panic seek with prayers the peace of the winds and favouring breezes? But all in vain, since none the less he is often caught up in the furious hurricane and driven upon the shoals of death. So true is it that some hidden power grinds down humanity, and seems to trample upon the noble rods and the cruel axes,a and hold them in derision.
1236 Then when the whole earth trembles beneath
our feet, when cities are shaken and fall or threaten to fall, what wonder if the sons of men feel contempt for themselves, and acknowledge the great potency and wondrous might of gods in the world, to govern all things?
1241Now to proceed: copper and gold and iron
were discovered, so also heavy silver and useful lead, when fire upon the great mountains had burnt up huge forests with its heat, whether by some lightning stroke from heaven, or because men waging war in the forests had brought fire upon their foes to affright them, or because led by the richness of the soil they wished to clear the fat fields and make the place fit for pasturage, or to destroy the wild beasts and to enrich themselves with spoil. For hunting with pit and fire came up before fencing about a glade with nets and putting up game with dogs. However that may be, whatever the cause by which flaming heat with appalling din had devoured the forests deep down to the roots and parched up the earth with fire, through the hot veins into hollow places of the earth would ooze and collect a stream of silver and gold, of copper also and lead; and when afterwards they saw
Footnotes
aCf. 3.996.
Page number 475
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
posterius claro in terra splendere colore,
tollebant nitido capti levique lepore,
1260et simili formata videbant esse figura
atque lacunarum fuerant vestigia cuique.
tum penetrabat eos posse haec liquefacta calore
quamlibet in formam et faciem decurrere rerum,
et prorsum quamvis in acuta ac tenvia posse
1265mucronum duci fastigia procudendo,
ut sibi tela parent, silvasque ut caedere possint
materiemque dolare et levia radere tigna
et terebrare etiam ac pertundere perque forare.
nec minus argento facere haec auroque parabant
1270quam validi primum violentis viribus aeris—
nequiquam, quoniam cedebat victa potestas,
nec poterant pariter durum sufferre laborem.
tum fuit in pretio magis aes, aurumque iacebat
propter inutilitatem hebeti mucrone retusum;
nunc iacet aes, aurum in summum successit honorem.
1276sic volvenda aetas commutat tempora rerum:
quod fuit in pretio, fit nullo denique honore;
porro aliud succedit et e contemptibus exit
inque dies magis adpetitur floretque repertum
1280laudibus et miro est mortalis inter honore.
Nunc tibi quo pacto ferri natura reperta
sit facilest ipsi per te cognoscere, Memmi.
arma antiqua manus ungues dentesque fuerunt
et lapides et item silvarum fragmina rami,
Footnotes
1267dolare et levia Marullus in ed. Juntina (dolare ac levia ed. Aldina): dolaret (dolare et F, dolare AB) levare ac (et AB) OQP
Page number 476
De Rerum Natura
these congealed together and gleaming upon the earth with bright colour, they would pick them up captivated by the sleek smooth grace and would see that they were each moulded into a shape like the
hollows in which they had left their mark. Then it dawned upon them that these metals might be melted and run into any shape and form of objects,
and might furthermore be beaten out with blows into the sharpest and finest possible point or edge, to make themselves tools, to cut down trees, to rough-hew timber and to plane planks smooth, to bore also and to pierce and perforate. And they would try to make these at first no less of silver and gold than of bronzea with its tough and strong substance, but in vain, since the strength of these yielded and bent, nor could they so well bear the hard work. Then bronze was of more worth, and gold was thought
little of, being useless with its edge blunted and dull. Now bronze is thought little of, and gold has mounted to the chief honour. So rolling time changes the seasons of things. What was of worth comes at
length to be held in no honour; next something else comes up and comes forth from contempt, is sought for more day by day, and once discovered thrives in praise and is held in wonderful honour among men.
1281Now it is easy for you, Memmius, to recognize
by yourself in what manner the nature of iron was discovered. The ancient weapons were hands, nails, and teeth, and stones and branches also broken from
Footnotes
aaes can mean either “copper” or “bronze” (an alloy of copper and tin). In 1241, 1257, where Lucr. refers to the discovery of the metal, the translation “copper ” has been given; however, from this point onwards “bronze ” has been preferred: as R. Geer (Lucretius, On Nature 197, n. 99) points out, pure copper would not be much better than gold for making tools.
Page number 477
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
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Lucretius
1285et flamma atque ignes, postquam sunt cognita pri-
mum.
posterius ferri vis est aerisque reperta.
et prior aeris erat quam ferri cognitus usus,
quo facilis magis est natura et copia maior.
aere solum terrae tractabant, aereque belli
1290miscebant fluctus et vulnera vasta serebant
et pecua atque agros adimebant; nam facile ollis
omnia cedebant armatis nuda et inerma.
inde minutatim processit ferreus ensis,
versaque in obprobrium species est falcis ahenae,
1295et ferro coepere solum proscindere terrae,
exaequataque sunt creperi certamina belli.
Et prius est armatum in equi conscendere costas
et moderarier hunc frenis dextraque vigere
quam biiugo curru belli temptare pericla.
1300et biiugos prius est quam bis coniungere binos
et quam falciferos armatum escendere currus.
inde boves lucas turrito corpore, taetras,
anguimanus, belli docuerunt volnera Poeni
sufferre et magnas Martis turbare catervas.
1305sic alid ex alio peperit discordia tristis,
horribile humanis quod gentibus esset in armis,
inque dies belli terroribus addidit augmen.
Temptarunt etiam tauros in moenere belli,
Footnotes
1289See critical note on 4.968
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De Rerum Natura
forest trees, flames and fire as soon as they were known. Later was discovered the power of iron and of bronze. The use of bronze was known before iron, because it is more easily worked and there is greater store. With bronze men tilled the soil of the earth, with bronze they stirred up the waves of war, and soweda devastating, wounds, and seized cattle and lands; for when some were armed, all that was naked and unarmed readily gave way to them. Then by small degrees the sword of iron gained ground, and the fashion of the bronze sickle became a thing of contempt; then with iron they began to break the soil of the earth, and the struggles of war now become doubtful were made equal.b
1297And it is an earlier practice for one to mount
on horseback armed, to guide the horse by the bit and to do doughty deeds with the right hand, than to essay the perils of war in a two-horse car. And to yoke a pair came before yoking twice two to the car, and before the armed men mounted the scythed chariot.c Next the Lucanian oxend with turreted
backs, hideous creatures, snake-handed, were taught by the Carthaginians to endure the wounds of war, and to confound the great hosts of Mars. Thus gloomy Discord bred one thing after another, to be frightful in battle for the nations of men, and added new terror to warfare day by day.
1308Bulls also they tried in the service of war, and
Footnotes
aThe choice of metaphor may have been influenced by the agricultural reference in the previous line. For similar thought-links, see notes on 1436, 2.276.
bWhen the use of iron became general.
cCf. 3.642 and see note there.
dElephants, because the Romans first saw elephants in Lucania, as part of the army of Pyrrhus (280 b.c.). W. Clausen, CR N.S. 41 (1991) 546, argues that bos luca is masc., but Varro, Ling. 7.39, thought it fem, and Lucr. may well have thought the same. The manuscripts provide conflicting evidence.
Page number 479
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
expertique sues saevos sunt mittere in hostis.
1310et validos partim prae se misere leones
cum doctoribus armatis saevisque magistris
qui moderarier his possent vinclisque tenere—
nequiquam, quoniam permixta caede calentes
turbabant saevi nullo discrimine turmas,
1315terrificas capitum quatientes undique cristas,
nec poterant equites fremitu perterrita equorum
pectora mulcere et frenis convertere in hostis.
inritata leae iaciebant corpora saltu
undique, et adversum venientibus ora petebant,
1320et nec opinantis a tergo deripiebant,
deplexaeque dabant in terram volnere victos,
morsibus adfixae validis atque unguibus uncis.
iactabantque suos tauri pedibusque terebant,
et latera ac ventres hauribant subter equorum
1325cornibus, et terram minitanti mente ruebant.
Page number 480
De Rerum Natura
attempted to send fierce boars against the enemy.a
Some let slip strong lions before them, with armed trainers and harsh masters to control them and to hold them in leash; but in vain, since when heated with the promiscuous slaughter they ran wild, and
threw the squadrons into confusion, friend and foe alike, on all sides shaking the frightful crestsb upon their heads, nor could the riders soothe the spirits of their horses terrified at the roaring, nor guide them towards the foe with the curb. The she-lions enraged bounded this way and that, and leapt straight for the faces of those that met them, or tore at others unawares from behind, and clasping them close bore them to the ground helpless from the wound, holding fast to them with strong jaws and curving claws. The bulls tossed their own friends and trampled them underfoot, and laid bare flanks and bellies of horses, striking from below with their horns, and scored up the earth with threatening intent.
Footnotes
aBailey, who says that he is “unaware of any parallel account of the actions of primitive man, except in Diodorus Siculus 1.48.1,” finds 1308-1349 “fantastic ” and as possibly indicative of madness. But he and other commentators are mistaken in thinking that Lucr. is writing of primitive times, as is shown by the mention of vinclis (1312) and tela (1327). The arma antiqua were hands, nails, teeth, stones, branches, and fire (1283-1285); the discovery of metals came later. On the other hand, 1339 implies that the experiments with bulls, boars, and lions are supposed to have occurred before the introduction of elephants. As for the allegation that the passage is “fantastic,” even if there were no authority for stories of such experiments, Lucr., in accordance with the Epicurean belief that developments are made gradually by a process of trial and error, might reasonably have thought it unlikely that men immediately made successful experiments with one wild animal, the elephant, and did not try other fierce beasts (cf. 1269-1272, on experiments with metals). However, there is no need to suppose that the whole story is a flight of the poet’s imagination: cf. S.H.A., Antoninus Caracalia 6.4: dehinc per Cadusios et Babylonios ingressus tumultuarie cum Parthorum satrapis manum contulit, feris etiam bestiis in hostes inmissis.The passage could perhaps be regarded as unnecessarily long and detailed, if Lucr. were interested merely in giving a straightforward account of an experimental stage in the development of military techniques. But surely he is, as so often in this last section of Book 5, also making a moral point: whereas primitive men (see 982-993) ran away spumigeri suis adventu validique leonis(985) and occasionally an individual became the victim of a wild beast, in more recent times men deliberately instigated these animals to kill wholesale. The suggestion that his account was partly inspired by contemporary venationes (see K. L. McKay, AJPhil. 85 [1964] 125-126) is highly probable. See also S. R. West, Philol. 119 (1975) 150-151.
bBy “crests ” Lucr. almost certainly means the lions’ natural manes, not artificial crests (see E. L. B. Meurig Davies, Mnemos. ser. 4, 2 [1949] 74).
Page number 481
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
et validis socios caedebant dentibus apri,
tela infracta suo tinguentes sanguine saevi,
[in se fracta suo tinguentes sanguine tela,]
permixtasque dabant equitum peditumque ruinas.
1330nam transversa feros exibant dentis adactus
iumenta aut pedibus ventos erecta petebant—
nequiquam, quoniam ab nervis succisa videres
concidere atque gravi terram consternere casu.
siquos ante domi domitos satis esse putabant,
1335effervescere cernebant in rebus agundis
volneribus clamore fuga terrore tumultu,
nec poterant ullam partem redducere eorum;
diffugiebat enim varium genus omne ferarum,
ut nunc saepe boves lucae ferro male mactae
1340diffugiunt, fera facta suis cum multa dedere.
Si fuit ut facerent. sed vix adducor ut ante
non quierint animo praesentire atque videre,
quam commune malum fieret foedumque, futurum;
et magis id possis factum contendere in omni,
1345in variis mundis varia ratione creatis,
quam certo atque uno terrarum quolibet orbi.
sed facere id non tam vincendi spe voluerunt,
quam dare quod gemerent hostes, ipsique perire,
qui numero diffidebant armisque vacabant.
1350Nexilis ante fuit vestis quam textile tegmen.
Footnotes
1328is almost certainly an interpolation stemming from a gloss explaining infracta in 1327 = in se fracta. But since it is just possible that both 1327 and 1328 were written by Lucr. as alternatives (see critical note on 1.884-885), the line has been retained in square brackets
Page number 482
De Rerum Natura
And the boars tore their friends with strong tusks, furiously bathing in their own blood the weapons broken in them, [bathing in their own blood the weapons broken in their bodies,]a and dealt promiscuous destruction to horsemen and footmen. For the horses would swerve aside to escape the wild lunge of the tusks, or rearing aloft pawed the air; but in vain, since you would see them collapse hamstrung and cover the ground in their heavy fall. If men before had thought any to be sufficiently tamed at home, in action they saw them grow hot with wounds and uproar, flight and terror and tumult, and found themselves unable to bring any part of them back; for all the different kinds of wild beasts would scatter abroad, as now the Lucanian oxen badly mangled with steel often scatter abroad, after they have dealt cruel deeds to many of their own friends.
1341If it really was true that they did it.b But I
can hardly bring myself to believe that, before hideous ruin came upon them all, they were not able to imagine and to perceive that this would happen; and you might rather maintain that this happened somewhere in the universe, in the different worlds made in different ways, than in any single and particular earth that you please. But they did this not so much with a hope to conquer, as wishing to give their enemies cause to mourn, and to perish themselves, when they mistrusted their numbers and were without arms.
1350
Plaited garments came before garments of
Footnotes
aSee critical note on 1328.
b1341-1349 confirm that Lucr. did not invent the story of the experiments with wild beasts, but derived it from an Epicurean or historical source.
Page number 483
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
textile post ferrumst, quia ferro tela paratur,
nec ratione alia possunt tam levia gigni
insilia ac fusi radii scapique sonantes.
et facere ante viros lanam natura coegit
quam muliebre genus (nam longe praestat in arte
1356et sollertius est multo genus omne virile),
agricolae donec vitio vertere severi,
ut muliebribus id manibus concedere vellent
atque ipsi pariter durum sufferre laborem
atque opere in duro durarent membra manusque.
1361At specimen sationis et insitionis origo
ipsa fuit rerum primum natura creatrix,
arboribus quoniam bacae glandesque caducae
tempestiva dabant pullorum examina subter;
1365unde etiam libitumst stirpis committere ramis
et nova defodere in terram virgulta per agros.
inde aliam atque aliam culturam dulcis agelli
temptabant, fructusque feros mansuescere terra
cernebant indulgendo blandeque colendo.
1370inque dies magis in montem succedere silvas
cogebant infraque locum concedere cultis,
prata lacus rivos segetes vinetaque laeta
collibus et campis ut haberent, atque olearum
caerula distinguens inter plaga currere posset
1375per tumulos et convallis camposque profusa;
ut nunc esse vides vario distincta lepore
omnia, quae pomis intersita dulcibus ornant
arbustisque tenent felicibus obsita circum.
Footnotes
1353insilia OP: ininsilia Q: insubula O. Foss, Classica et Mediaevalia 22 (1961) 50
Page number 484
De Rerum Natura
woven cloth.a Woven cloth comes after iron, because
iron is needed for equipping the loom, nor without it can such smoothness be given to the treadles and spindles, shuttles and noisy leash-rods. And nature made men work in wool before womankind (for the male sex as a whole is far superior in skill and more
clever), until the austere farmers made it a reproach, so that the men agreed to leave it in women’s hands and themselves to share in hard labour and by hard work hardened their bodies and hands.
1361But the pattern of sowing and the beginning
of grafting first came from nature herself the maker of all things, since berries and acorns falling from trees in due time produced swarms of seedlings underneath; and this also gave them the fancy to insert shoots in the branches and to plant new slips in the earth all over the fields. Next one after
another they tried ways of cultivating the little plot they loved, and saw wild fruits grow tame in the ground with kind treatment and friendly tillage. Day by day they made the forests climb higher up the mountains and yield the place below to their tilth, that they might have meadows, pools and streams, crops and luxuriant vineyards on hill and plain, and that a grey-green belt of olives might run betweenb to mark the boundaries, stretching forth over hills and dales and plains; just as now you see the whole place mapped out with charming variety, laid out and intersected with sweet fruit-trees and set about with fertile plantations.
Footnotes
aCf. Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 12.1.10-11.3 Smith.
bOn the tmesis inter . . . currere, see note on 3.860.
Page number 485
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
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Lucretius
At liquidas avium voces imitarier ore
1380ante fuit multo quam levia carmina cantu
concelebrare homines possent aurisque iuvare.
et zephyri, cava per calamorum, sibila primum
agrestis docuere cavas inflare cicutas.
inde minutatim dulcis didicere querellas,
1385tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum,
avia per nemora ac silvas saltusque reperta,
per loca pastorum deserta atque otia dia.
[sic unumquicquid paulatim protrahit aetas
in medium ratioque in luminis erigit oras.]
1390Haec animos ollis mulcebant atque iuvabant
cum satiate cibi; nam tum sunt omnia cordi.
saepe itaque inter se prostrati in gramine molli
propter aquae rivom sub ramis arboris altae
non magnis opibus iucunde corpora habebant,
1395praesertim cum tempestas ridebat et anni
tempora pingebant viridantis floribus herbas.
tum ioca, tum sermo, tum dulces esse cachinni
consuerant; agrestis enim tum musa vigebat.
tum caput atque umeros plexis redimire coronis
1400floribus et foliis lascivia laeta monebat,
atque extra numerum procedere membra moventes
duriter et duro terram pede pellere matrem;
unde oriebantur risus dulcesque cachinni,
omnia quod nova tum magis haec et mira vigebant.
1405et vigilantibus hinc aderant solacia somno,
ducere multimodis voces et flectere cantus
Footnotes
1388-1389= 1454-1455 deleted by Lachmann, probably interpolated, but it is just possible that Lucr. wrote them here without adjusting them to their context
Page number 486
De Rerum Natura
1379To imitate with the mouth the liquid notes of
the birds came long before men could delight their ears by warbling smooth carols in song. And the zephyrs whistling through hollow reeds first taught the countrymen to blow into hollow hemlock-stalks. Next, step by step they learnt the plaintive melodies
which the reed-pipe gives forth tapped by the players’ fingertipsa—the pipe discovered amid pathless woods and forests and glades, amid the solitary haunts of shepherds and the peace of the open air. [So by degrees time brings up before us every single thing, and reason lifts it into the precincts of light.]
1390These melodies soothed their minds and gave
them delight when they had had their fill of food; for that is when everything is pleasant. Often therefore stretched in groups on the soft grass hard by a stream of water under the branches of a tall tree they gave pleasure to their bodies at cheap cost, above all when the weather smiled and the season of the year painted the green herbage with flowers.bThen was the time for jest, for gossip, for pleasant peals of laughter; for then the rustic muse was in its prime. Then they would wreathe head and shoulders
with woven garlands of flowers and leaves, prompted joyous playfulness, and they would march out moving their limbs out of time and beating mother
earthc stiffly with stiff foot; from which mirth would arise and pleasant peals of laughter, because all these things being new and wonderful had great vogue. And when wakeful, this was their consolation for sleep, to sing many a long-drawn note and to turn a
Footnotes
a1385=4.585.
b1392-1396 are repeated, with minor alterations, from 2.29-33. See note on 2.33.
cThe earth who was indeed their mother: cf. 1411, 1427, 790-825.
Page number 487
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
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Lucretius
et supera calamos unco percurrere labro;
unde etiam vigiles nunc haec accepta tuentur
et numerum servare genus didicere, neque hilo
1410maiorem interea capiunt dulcedini’ fructum
quam silvestre genus capiebat terrigenarum.
Nam quod adest praesto, nisi quid cognovimus ante
suavius, in primis placet et pollere videtur,
posteriorque fere melior res illa reperta
1415perdit et immutat sensus ad pristina quaeque.
sic odium coepit glandis, sic illa relicta
strata cubilia sunt herbis et frondibus aucta.
pellis item cecidit vestis contempta ferinae;
quam reor invidia tali tunc esse repertam,
1420ut letum insidiis qui gessit primus obiret,
et tamen inter eos distractam sanguine multo
disperiisse neque in fructum convertere quisse.
tunc igitur pelles, nunc aurum et purpura curis
exercent hominum vitam belloque fatigant;
1425quo magis in nobis, ut opinor, culpa resedit.
frigus enim nudos sine pellibus excruciabat
terrigenas; at nos nil laedit veste carere
purpurea atque auro signisque ingentibus apta,
dum plebeia tamen sit quae defendere possit.
ergo hominum genus incassum frustraque laborat
1431semper et in curis consumit inanibus aevom,
nimirum quia non cognovit quae sit habendi
finis et omnino quoad crescat vera voluptas.
idque minutatim vitam provexit in altum
1435et belli magnos commovit funditus aestus.
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tune and to run along the tops of the reedpipes with curved lip; whence even now the watchmen keep up the tradition, and they have learnt how to keep
various kinds of rhythm, yet for all that they have no more profit in enjoyment than the woodland people had who were born of the earth.
1412For what is ready to hand, unless we have
known something more lovely before, gives preeminent delight and seems to hold the field, until something found afterwards to be better usually spoils all that and changes our taste for anything ancient. So men grew tired of acorns, so were deserted those old beds strewn with herbage and leaves piled up. The garment also of wild-beast pelt fell into contempt; which I can imagine must have excited such envy in those days when discovered, that he who first wore one was done to death by treachery, and even then that it was torn to pieces amongst them with much bloodshed and was lost and could not be turned to use. Then therefore pelts,
now gold and purple, trouble men’s life with cares and weary it with war; in which, as I think, the greater fault rests upon us. For without the pelts, cold tormented the naked sons of earth; but we take no harm to be without a vestment of purple worked with gold and great figures, so long as there
is the poor man’s cloaka to protect us. Therefore mankind labours always in vain and to no purpose, consuming its days in empty cares, plainly because it does not know the limit of possession, and how far it is ever possible for real pleasure to growb; and this little by little has carried life out into the deep sea, and has stirred up from the bottom the great billows of war.
Footnotes
aCf. 2.36.
bSee note on 2.21 and Introduction p. xxxix.
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At vigiles mundi magnum versatile templum
sol et luna suo lustrantes lumine circum
perdocuere homines annorum tempora verti
et certa ratione geri rem atque ordine certo.
1440Iam validis saepti degebant turribus aevom,
et divisa colebatur discretaque tellus.
tum mare velivolis florebat navibus altum,
auxilia ac socios iam pacto foedere habebant,
carminibus cum res gestas coepere poetae
1445tradere; nec multo priu’sunt elementa reperta.
propterea quid sit prius actum respicere aetas
nostra nequit, nisi qua ratio vestigia monstrat.
Navigia atque agri culturas moenia leges
arma vias vestes et cetera de genere horum,
1450praemia, delicias quoque vitae funditus omnis,
carmina picturas et daedala signa polita,
usus et impigrae simul experientia mentis
paulatim docuit pedetemptim progredientis.
sic unumquicquid paulatim protrahit aetas
1455in medium ratioque in luminis erigit oras;
namque alid ex alio clarescere corde videbant,
artibus ad summum donec venere cacumen.
Footnotes
1442navibus altum Merrill, CR 16 (1902) 169 (Büchner wrongly attributes it to himself), cf. Livius Andronicus quoted by Macrobius 6.5.10 tu qui permensus ponti maria alta velivola: propter odores (cf. 2.417) OQP: navibus pontus Servius on Virgil, Aen. 7.804: navibus ponti Gifanius (1595), Wakefield tentatively in his notes, and Martin: puppibus, et res Lachmann: propterea res L. A. Mac Kay, CPhil. 56 (1961) 105: propterea quod M. F. Smith, Hermathena 98 (1964) 45-52 (for other conjectures, see same article and M. F. Smith, G and R ser. 2, 18 [1971] 102-103, S. Timpanaro, Contributi di filologia e di storia della lingua latina, Roma [1978] 146-190)
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1436But those watchful sentinelsa sun and moon,
travelling with their light around the great revolving region of heaven, taught men well that the seasons of the year come round, and that all is done on a fixed plan and in fixed order.
1440Already men lived fenced in with strong
towers, and the earth was divided up and distributed for cultivation. Then the deep sea was blooming with sail-flying ships, men had already allies and friends under formal treaty, when poets began to commemorate doughty deeds in verse: nor had letters been invented long before. For this reason our age cannot look back upon what happened before, unless in any respect reasoning shows the way.b
1448Ships and agriculture, fortifications and laws,
arms, roads, clothing and all else of this kind, all life’s prizes, its luxuries also from first to last, poetry and pictures, artfully wrought polished statues, all these as men progressed gradually step by step were taught by practice and the experiments of the active mind. So by degrees time brings up before us every single thing, and reason lifts it into the precincts of light. For they saw one thing after another grow clear in their minds, until they attained the highest pinnacle of the arts.
Footnotes
aCf. Thomas Campbell, The Soldier’s Dream 2: “And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky.” The idea of calling the sun and moon vigiles mundi was probably suggested by the mention of the human vigiles in 1408. See M. F. Smith, Hermathena 102 (1966) 76, and for similar thought-links see notes on 1290, 2.276.
bIn 1440-1447 Lucr. seems to be following Thucydides. See M. F. Smith, Hermathena 98 (1964) 49-50.
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Liber Sextus
Primae frugiparos fetus mortalibus aegris
dididerunt quondam praeclaro nomine Athenae
et recreaverunt vitam legesque rogarunt,
et primae dederunt solacia dulcia vitae,
5cum genuere virum tali cum corde repertum,
omnia veridico qui quondam ex ore profudit;
cuius et extincti propter divina reperta
divolgata vetus iam ad caelum gloria fertur.
Nam cum vidit hic ad victum quae flagitat usus
10omnia iam ferme mortalibus esse parata,
et, proquam possent, vitam consistere tutam,
divitiis homines et honore et laude potentis
affluere atque bona gnatorum excellere fama,
nec minus esse domi cuiquam tamen anxia corda,
15atque animi ingratis vitam vexare sine ulla
pausa atque infestis cogi saevire querellis,
Footnotes
11possent OQP: posset Lachmann, perhaps rightly
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Book 6
It was Athens of illustrious name that first in former
days spread abroad the corn bearing crops amongst suffering mankinda; Athens bestowed on them a new life and established laws; Athens first gave the sweet
consolations of life, when she brought forth a manb
endowed with such wisdom, who in past days poured forth all revelations from truth-telling lipsc; whose glory, though his light is quenched,d on account of his divine discoveries has been long since published abroad and is now exalted to the skies.
9For when he saw how mortals had ready for them nearly all that need demands for living,e and that, as far as they could, their life was established safe; saw how men were rolling in riches, mighty in honour and fame, proud in the good repute of their sons, while at home nevertheless each had an anxious heart; saw how they tormented their life in their own despite without any pause, and were compelled to wax furious with racking lamentationsf:—then
Footnotes
aThe reference to Athens and mortalibus aegris looks forward to the account of the Athenian plague (1138-1286), aegris here being echoed by aegris in 1152. Similarly varieque volaret (30) anticipates multarum semina rerum . . . quae sint morbo mortique necessest multa volare (1093, 1095-1096), where Lucr. is describing the cause of pestilences, and anxia corda . . . querellis(14, 16) is echoed by anxius angor . . . querella (1158-1159). These verbal parallelisms between the proem, with its emphasis on moral sickness and health, and the final passage confirm (see note on 1139) that Lucr. views the Athenian plague as a physical disaster that involved moral disaster as well, and as symbolizing the moral condition of unenlightened mankind.
bEpicurus.
cLike an oracle. See note on 1.739.
dCf. 3.1042.
eCf. e.g. Epicurus, Ep. ad Men. 130, Sent. 15, 21, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 2.1 Smith.
fMost commentators and translators take corda as the subject of vexare and cogi.
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intellegit ibi vitium vas efficere ipsum,
omniaque illius vitio corrumpier intus
quae conlata foris et commoda cumque venirent,
20partim quod fluxum pertusumque esse videbat,
ut nulla posset ratione explerier umquam;
partim quod taetro quasi conspurcare sapore
omnia cernebat, quaecumque receperat, intus.
veridicis igitur purgavit pectora dictis
25et finem statuit cuppedinis atque timoris
exposuitque bonum summum quo tendimus omnes
quid foret, atque viam monstravit, tramite parvo
qua possemus ad id recto contendere cursu,
quidve mali foret in rebus mortalibu’ passim,
30quod fieret naturali varieque volaret
seu casu seu vi, quod sic natura parasset,
et quibus e portis occurri cuique deceret,
et genus humanum frustra plerumque probavit
volvere curarum tristis in pectore fluctus.
35nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis
in tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus
interdum nilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam
quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura.
hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
40non radii solis nec lucida tela diei
discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.
quo magis inceptum pergam pertexere dictis.
Et quoniam docui mundi mortalia templa
esse ac nativo consistere corpore caelum,
Footnotes
44ac M. F. Smith: omitted by OQL: et ABCF
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he understood that the pot itselfa made the flaw, and that by this flaw an inward corruption tainted all that came in from without though it were a blessing; partly because he saw it to be leaking and
who saw riddled, so that nothing ever sufficed to fill itb change the partly because he perceived that it befouled, as one may say, with a noisome flavour everything that it received, as soon as it came in. Therefore with truth-telling words he scoured the heart, he put a limit to desire and fear, he showed what was that chief goodc to which we all move, and pointed the way, that strait and narrow path by which we might run thither without turning; he showed what evil there was everywhere in human affairs, which comes about and flies about in different ways, whether by natural chanced or force, because nature had so provided, and from what sally-ports each ought to be countered; and he proved that mankind had no reason for the
most part to roll the sad waves of trouble within unnecessary their breasts. For just as children tremble and fear all things in the blind darkness, so we in the light fear, at times, things that are no more to be feared than what children shiver at in the dark and imagine to be at hand. This terror of the mind, therefore, and this gloom must be dispelled, not by the sun’s rays or the bright shafts of day, but by the aspect and law of nature.e Therefore I will proceed the more readily to weave the web of my discourse.
43And since I have shown that the regions of the
firmament are subject to death, and that the heavens consist of a substance that had birth, and since I
Footnotes
aThe mind.
bCf. 3.936-937, 1009-1010.
cPleasure
dOn the Epicurean attitude to chance, see especially Epicurus, Ep. ad Men. 133-134, Sent. 16, Usener 489, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 71-72 Smith.
e35-41 =2.55-61, 3.87-93. 39-41 = 1.146-148.
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45et quaecumque in eo fiunt fierique necessest,
pleraque dissolui, quae restant percipe porro,
quandoquidem semel insignem conscendere currum
. . . . . . .
ventorum existant, placentur, ut omnia rursum
quae fuerint sint placato conversa furore;
50cetera quae fieri in terris caeloque tuentur
mortales, pavidis cum pendent mentibu’ saepe,
et faciunt animos humilis formidine divom
depressosque premunt ad terram propterea quod
ignorantia causarum conferre deorum
55cogit ad imperium res et concedere regnum.
[quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre
possunt ac fieri divino numine rentur.]
nam bene qui didicere deos securum agere aevom,
si tamen interea mirantur qua ratione
60quaeque geri possint, praesertim rebus in illis
quae supera caput aetheriis cernuntur in oris,
rursus in antiquas referuntur religiones,
et dominos aeris adsciscunt, omnia posse
quos miseri credunt, ignari quid queat esse,
65quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique
quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens;
quo magis errantes caeca ratione feruntur.
Quae nisi respuis ex animo longeque remittis
dis indigna putare alienaque pacis eorum,
70delibata deum per te tibi numina sancta
Footnotes
47A lacuna after this line assumed by Bernays, who perhaps rightly supposes another lacuna after 48
66ratione O corr.: rationi OQ
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have explained most of the things which are done and must be done in it,a hear further what remains; since once [I have undertaken] to mount the glorious chariotb [of the Muses, I will now explain how furious storms] of winds arise, and how they are calmed, so that all is once more what it was, changed
with its fury appeased; and [I will explain] all else there; that men see happening in earth and sky, when they are often held in suspense with affrighted wits—happenings which abase their spirits through fear of the gods, keeping them crushed to the earth, because
which men their ignorance of causes compels them to refer the gods. events to the dominion of the gods, and to yield them the place of kings. [They are unable to see the causes of these works at all, and think them to be done by divine power.] For if those who have been rightly taught that the gods have a life without care, yet wonder all the while how things can go on, especially those transactions which are perceived overhead in the ethereal regions, they revert again to the old superstitions, and take to themselves cruel taskmasters, whom the poor wretches believe to be omnipotent, ignorant as they are what can be and what cannot, in a word how the power of each thing has been limited and its boundary firmly fixedc; so they are all the more driven astray by blind reasoning.
68Unless you spew all these errors out of your
Such errors mind, and put far from you thoughts unworthy of the gods and alien to their peace, their holy divinity,
Footnotes
a43-46 refer to 5.91-770.
bFor the idea of the poet as charioteer, cf. 92-95, Par-menides fr. 1, Empedocles fr. 4, line 5, Manilius 5.10-11 in imitation of Lucr.
c58-66=5.82-90. 65-66 = 1.76-77, 595-596.
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saepe oberunt; non quo violari summa deum vis
possit, ut ex ira poenas petere inbibat acris,
sed quia tute tibi placida cum pace quietos
constitues magnos irarum volvere fluctus,
75nec delubra deum placido cum pectore adibis,
nec de corpore quae sancto simulacra feruntur
in mentes hominum divinae nuntia formae,
suscipere haec animi tranquilla pace valebis.
inde videre licet qualis iam vita sequatur.
80Quam quidem ut a nobis ratio verissima longe
reiciat, quamquam sunt a me multa profecta,
multa tamen restant et sunt ornanda politis
versibus: est ratio caeli speciesque tenenda,
sunt tempestates et fulmina clara canenda,
85quid faciant et qua de causa cumque ferantur;
ne trepides caeli divisis partibus amens,
unde volans ignis pervenerit aut in utram se
verterit hinc partim, quo pacto per loca saepta
insinuarit, et hinc dominatus ut extulerit se.
90[quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre
possunt ac fieri divino numine rentur.]
Tu mihi supremae praescripta ad candida calcis
currenti spatium praemonstra, callida Musa
Footnotes
83caeli (ed. Veronensis) speciesque (ed. Brixiensis) Avancius (cf. e.g. 1.148): caelisque OQL: terris celisque A: coeli terraeque B: terrae caelique Bailey, perhaps rightly (cf. 50), but in the following lines Lucr. appears to be thinking only of the sky, and Bailey’s objection to species seems unsound, for in 85, just as qua de causa cumque ferantur corresponds to ratio, so quid faciant would well correspond to species
92calcis Turnebus, Lambinus: callis OQP, Wakefield, Martin
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impaired by you, will often do you harm; not that the supreme power of the gods is open to insult, so that it should in wrath thirst to inflict sharp vengeance, but because you yourself will imagine that they, who are quiet in their placid peace, are rolling great billows of wrath, you will not be able to approach their shrines with placid heart, you will not have the strength to receive with tranquil peace of spirit the images which are carried to men’s minds from their holy bodies, declaring what the divine shapes are. What kind of a life follows at once from that error, it is easy to see.
80In order that truest reasoning may thrust back such a life far from us, although many a word has been spoken by me, many still remain to be said and to be decked out with polished verse. The law and
to avoid aspect of the sky have to be understood; storms and bright lightnings have to be sung, what they do, and by what cause they are set in motion at any things. time; that you may not, like one senseless, divide up the heavens into quarters,a and tremble to see from which direction the flying fire has come, or to which of the two halvesb it has passed hence, how it has penetrated through walled places, and how after taking complete possession it has won its way out.c [Men are unable to see the causes of these works at all, and think them to be done by divine power.]
92Do you go before and show me the course, as I run my race to the white line of my final goal, clearly marked out before me, yes you, Calliope, Muse allskilful,
Footnotes
aThe reference is to the Etruscan augural practice of dividing the sky into sixteen areas, and of observing in which area the lightning appeared and in which it disappeared. Cf. Cicero, Div.2.18.42, 20.45, Pliny, HN 2.143.
bRight or left.
c87-89 =383-385.
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Calliope, requies hominum divomque voluptas,
95te duce ut insigni capiam cum laude coronam.
Principio tonitru quatiuntur caerula caeli
propterea quia concurrunt sublime volantes
aetheriae nubes contra pugnantibu’ ventis.
99nec fit enim sonitus caeli de parte serena,
verum ubicumque magis denso sunt agmine nubes,
tam magis hinc magno fremitus fit murmure saepe.
praeterea neque tam condenso corpore nubes
esse queunt quam sunt lapides ac ligna, neque autem
tam tenues quam sunt nebulae fumique volantes;
105nam cadere aut bruto deberent pondere pressae
ut lapides, aut ut fumus constare nequirent
nec cohibere nives gelidas et grandinis imbris.
Dant etiam sonitum patuli super aequora mundi,
carbasus ut quondam magnis intenta theatris
110dat crepitum malos inter iactata trabesque,
interdum perscissa furit petulantibus auris
et fragilis sonitus chartarum commeditatur
(id quoque enim genus in tonitru cognoscere possis),
aut ubi suspensam vestem chartasque volantis
115verberibus venti versant planguntque per auras.
fit quoque enim interdum ut non tam concurrere nubes
frontibus adversis possint quam de latere ire
diverso motu radentes corpora tractim,
aridus unde auris terget sonus ille diuque
120ducitur, exierunt donec regionibus artis.
Footnotes
112sonitus CF: omitted by OQABL
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man’s repose and god’s delight, that led by you I may win the crown with illustrious praise.a
96In the first place, the blue sky is shaken with
thunder,b because flying clouds rush together high in the ether, when winds fight against each other, crash For no sound comes from any serene part of the sky; but wherever the clouds are found in a denser host, from there so much the more does the thunder often roar loudly. Besides, clouds can neither be made of so dense a body as stones and wood, nor again so thin as mist and flying smoke; for then they must either fall thrust down by their dead weight, like stones, or, like smoke, be unable to hold together or to contain cold snow and showers of hail.
108They make a noise also over the stretches of
they may wide-spreading firmament, as at times the canvas awning stretched over a great theatre cracks flapping between poles and beams,c sometimes tears and flies wild under the boisterous winds, imitating the rending sound of paper (for that kind of sound also you may recognize in the thunder); or as when a garment hung on the line or flying sheets of paper are beaten by the blows of the breeze and slapped through the air. It often happens too that clouds cannot exactly meet front to front, but pass by the side in opposite directions, scraping their bodies as
they drag, which causes that dry sound to grate on the ear, long drawn out, until they have emerged from their confined quarters.
Footnotes
aFor the poet as charioteer, cf. 47 and see note there. The address to Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry, is modelled on Empedocles fr. 131, lines 1-3, fr. 4, lines 3-7. Note the verbal play CALLIda . . . CALLIope, emphasizing the cleverness of the Muse (cf. 1.117-118, 4.1054, 1056, and see note on 1.63).
bCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 100.
cCf. 4.76-77 and see note there.
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Hoc etiam pacto tonitru concussa videntur
omnia saepe gravi tremere et divolsa repente
maxima dissiluisse capacis moenia mundi,
cum subito validi venti conlecta procella
125nubibus intorsit sese, conclusaque ibidem
turbine versanti magis ac magis undique nubem
cogit uti fiat spisso cava corpore circum,
post ubi conminuit vis eius et impetus acer,
tum perterricrepo sonitu dat scissa fragorem.
130nec mirum, cum plena animae vesicula parva
saepe ita dat magnum sonitum displosa repente.
Est etiam ratio, cum venti nubila perflant,
ut sonitus faciant; etenim ramosa videmus
nubila saepe modis multis atque aspera ferri;
135scilicet ut, crebram silvam cum flamina cauri
perflant, dant sonitum frondes ramique fragorem.
Fit quoque ut interdum validi vis incita venti
perscindat nubem perfringens impete recto.
nam quid possit ibi flatus manifesta docet res,
140hic, ubi lenior est, in terra cum tamen alta
arbusta evolvens radicibus haurit ab imis.
Sunt etiam fluctus per nubila, qui quasi murmur
dant in frangendo graviter; quod item fit in altis
fluminibus magnoque mari, cum frangitur aestus.
Fit quoque, ubi e nubi in nubem vis incidit ardens
146fulminis: haec multo si forte umore recepit
Footnotes
131magnum Codex Placentinus(Landi 33);cf.Isidorus, Orig. 13.8.2 cum vesicula quamvis parva magnum tamen sonitum displosa emittat: parvum (introduced under the influence of parva in 130?) OQP
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121In this way also all things often appear to
Thunder shake and tremble with a heavy thunderclap, and it seems that the great walls of the capacious firmament suddenly torn asunder have leapt apart, when and bursts a gale of strong wind gathered together has twisted itself all at once into the clouds, and enclosed in that same place, whirling round and round, compels the cloud more and more in every direction to form a hollow with a thick crust all round; afterwards, when the wind’s power and fierce impulse have weakened it, then the cloud is torn and explodes with a most horrifying crash. And no wonder, when a small bladder full of air often makes so loud a noise as it is suddenly burst.
132There is another way whereby the clouds make
a noise, that is, when the winds blow through them. through them For indeed we often see clouds branching in many ways, and ragged as they sweep along; just as, you may be sure, leaves rustle, and branches creak, when the blasts of the north-west wind blow through a thick forest.
137It sometimes happens also that the swift force
or rends of strong wind tears through a cloud, breaking through with a direct rush. For what the blast can do there is plain from our own experience, when here on the earth, where it is gentler, it nevertheless tears up tall trees and wrenches them from their deepest roots.
142There are waves also amongst the clouds,
which in breaking give a kind of low roar, as happens waves roar; likewise in deep rivers and the great sea when the rolling tide breaks.
145Thunder occurs also when the burning force of
lightning falls from a cloud upon a cloud: if this cloud chance to be soaked with water when it
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ignem, continuo magno clamore trucidat,
ut calidis candens ferrum e fornacibus olim
stridit, ubi in gelidum propter demersimus imbrem.
150aridior porro si nubes accipit ignem,
uritur ingenti sonitu succensa repente,
lauricomos ut si per montis flamma vagetur
turbine ventorum comburens impete magno;
nec res ulla magis quam Phoebi Delphica laurus
155terribili sonitu flamma crepitante crematur.
Denique saepe geli multus fragor atque ruina
grandinis in magnis sonitum dat nubibus alte;
ventus enim cum confercit, franguntur in artum
concreti montes nimborum et grandine mixti.
160Fulgit item, nubes ignis cum semina multa
excussere suo concursu, ceu lapidem si
percutiat lapis aut ferrum; nam tum quoque lumen
exilit et claras scintillas dissipat ignis.
Sed tonitrum fit uti post auribus accipiamus,
165fulgere quam cernant oculi, quia semper ad auris
tardius adveniunt quam visum quae moveant res.
id licet hinc etiam cognoscere: caedere si quem
ancipiti videas ferro procul arboris auctum,
ante fit ut cernas ictum quam plaga per auris
170det sonitum; sic fulgorem quoque cernimus ante
quam tonitrum accipimus, pariter qui mittitur igni
e simili causa, concursu natus eodem.
Footnotes
147magno . . . trucidat OQP: magno . . . trucidet ed. Juntina: ut magno ... trucidet Lambinus (not ed. Juntina as stated by recent editors)
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receives the fire, it makes a great noise in destroying it at once, just as white-hot iron from the hot furnace often hisses when we have dipped it into cold water near by. If, further, the cloud be drier when it
receives the lightning, it is suddenly kindled and burns up with a loud din, as if the mountains were covered with laurel, and a flame were driven over by a tempest of winds, consuming them with mighty rush; and there is no other thing that burns with more terrible sound in the crackling flames than the Delphic laurel of Phoebus.
156Again, the great cracking of ice and falling
of Rattling hail often makes a noise in large clouds on high; for makes a when the wind packs them together, broken are all those mountains of clouds crushed together into a narrow space and mixed up with hail.
160It lightensa also, when clouds by their collision
have struck out many seeds of fire; as if stone or steel should strike stone, for then also a light leaps forth scattering abroad bright sparks of fire.
164But the reason why we hear the thunder after
the eyes see the lightning is that things always take longer to reach the ears than to produce vision. The truth of this you may understand from another experience: if you should see someone at a distance cutting down a well-grown tree with a double-headed axe, you see the stroke before its thud sounds in your ears; so also we see lightning before we hear the thunder, which is produced at the same time and by the same cause as the fire and born of the same collision.
Footnotes
aFor lightning, cf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 101-103.
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Hoc etiam pacto volucri loca lumine tingunt
nubes et tremulo tempestas impete fulgit:
175ventus ubi invasit nubem et versatus ibidem
fecit ut ante cavam docui spissescere nubem,
mobilitate sua fervescit; ut omnia motu
percalefacta vides ardescere, plumbea vero
glans etiam longo cursu volvenda liquescit.
180ergo fervidus hic nubem cum perscidit atram,
dissipat ardoris quasi per vim expressa repente
semina quae faciunt nictantia fulgura flammae;
inde sonus sequitur qui tardius adficit auris
quam quae perveniunt oculorum ad lumina nostra.
185scilicet hoc densis fit nubibus et simul alte
extructis aliis alias super impete miro;
ne tibi sit frudi quod nos inferne videmus
quam sint lata magis quam sursum extructa quid extent.
contemplator enim, cum montibus adsimulata
190nubila portabunt venti transversa per auras,
aut ubi per magnos montis cumulata videbis
insuper esse aliis alia atque urgere superne
in statione locata sepultis undique ventis:
tum poteris magnas moles cognoscere eorum
195speluncasque velut saxis pendentibu’ structas
cernere, quas venti cum tempestate coorta
conplerunt, magno indignantur murmure clausi
nubibus, in caveisque ferarum more minantur;
Footnotes
183adficit Bentley (“alii,” according to Creech, but the reviser of the present work has not found the reading in any earlier edition): adlicit OQP, Wakefield, Merrill, Martin
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173In this way also the clouds tinge places with
swift light, and the storm flashes with a quivering rush. When wind has entered a cloud, and moving about within the same has made the cloud grow grows hot thick round the hollow, as I explained before,a it becomes hot by its own quick movement; just as you see everything become very hot and catch fire by movement, and indeed a leaden bullet even melts when it is whirled a long distance.b When therefore this burning wind has burst the black cloud, by violent pressure it seems suddenly to squeeze out
and scatter abroad seeds of fire which cause the winking flashes of flame; then follows the sound, which is slower in striking the ears than what comes to the sight of our eyes. You may be sure that this is what happens, when clouds are thick and at the same time piled high one above another in a wonderful mass, that you may not be deceived because from below we see more readily how wide they are than how far they extend piled upwards. For do but apply your scrutiny when the winds carry clouds like mountains across through the air, or when you see them piled about the great mountains one above another, pressing down from above, and lying still with the winds deep buried on every side: then you will be able to recognize the great masses of them,
and to perceive the similitude of caverns reared with vaulted roofs, which when a tempest arises the winds fill, and with loud roaring resent their imprisonment in the clouds, menacing like wild beasts in their
Footnotes
a124-129.
bThe same idea in 306-307, Aristotle, Cael. 289 A 19-26, Virgil, Aen. 9.588, Ovid, Met. 2.727-728, 14.825-826, Lucan 7.513, Seneca, QNat. 2.57.2. J. K. Anderson in JHS 92 (1972) 172 suggests that the belief, which is untrue, is derived from ”the fact that leaden bullets (sling or rifle) picked up immediately after impact, are hot because their kinetic energy is converted into heat.”
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nunc hinc nunc illinc fremitus per nubila mittunt,
200quaerentesque viam circum versantur, et ignis
semina convolvunt e nubibus atque ita cogunt
multa, rotantque cavis flammam fornacibus intus,
donec divolsa fulserunt nube corusci.
Hac etiam fit uti de causa mobilis ille
205devolet in terram liquidi color aureus ignis,
semina quod nubes ipsas permulta necessust
ignis habere; etenim cum sunt umore sine ullo,
flammeus est plerumque colos et splendidus ollis.
quippe etenim solis de lumine multa necessest
concipere, ut merito rubeant ignesque profundant.
211hasce igitur cum ventus agens contrusit in unum
compressitque locum cogens, expressa profundunt
semina quae faciunt flammae fulgere colores.
Fulgit item, cum rarescunt quoque nubila caeli;
215nam cum ventus eas leviter diducit euntis
dissoluitque, cadant ingratis illa necessest
semina quae faciunt fulgorem; tum sine taetro
terrore et sonitu fulgit nulloque tumultu.
Quod superest, quali natura praedita constent
220fulmina, declarant ictus et inusta vaporis
signa notaeque gravis halantes sulpuris auras;
ignis enim sunt haec non venti signa neque imbris.
Footnotes
201e ABL: omitted by OQF: in Creech.
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cages: now this way now that way they send their growlings through the clouds, roaming round in quest
of a way out, and rolling together the seeds of fire from the clouds, and thus they collect many such and send the flame rushing about the hollow furnaces within, until they have shattered the cloud and flashed forth coruscating.
204Another reason why that golden colour of flowing
fire swiftly flies down to the earth is that in themselves the clouds must have very many seeds of fire; for when they are free from all wetness, their colour is mostly flaming and shining. In truth they must receive many such seeds from the sun’s light, so that there is good cause why they should blush and pour forth fires. When therefore the wind driving these has crushed them together and crowded them up together in a confined space, they squeeze out and pour forth seeds which make the colours of flame to lighten.
214It lightens also when the clouds grow thin in
the sky as well. For when the wind gently disperses thema abroad and diffuses them abroad as they pass, those seeds which make lightning must fall perforce. Then the lightning comes without hideous terror and din and without noise.
219Furthermore, what kind of a nature thunderbolts
have, is made clear by the strokes and the marks of heat burnt in, and the dints breathing offensive gusts of sulphur; for these are the marks
Footnotes
aLucr. writes eas (215), as though not nubila, but nubes, had preceded. Cf. 456, 1.352.
Page number 509
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praeterea saepe accendunt quoque tecta domorum
et celeri flamma dominantur in aedibus ipsis.
225Hunc tibi subtilem cum primis ignibus ignem
constituit natura minutis mobilibusque
corporibus, cui nil omnino obsistere possit.
transit enim validum fulmen per saepta domorum,
clamor ut ac voces, transit per saxa, per aera,
et liquidum puncto facit aes in tempore et aurum.
231curat item vasis integris vina repente
diffugiant, quia nimirum facile omnia circum
conlaxat rareque facit lateramina vasi
adveniens calor eius, et insinuatus in ipsum
235mobiliter soluens differt primordia vini.
quod solis vapor aetatem non posse videtur
efficere usque adeo pollens fervore corusco:
tanto mobilior vis et dominantior haec est.
Nunc ea quo pacto gignantur et impete tanto
240fiant, ut possint ictu discludere turris,
disturbare domos, avellere tigna trabesque,
et monimenta virum commoliri atque ciere,
exanimare homines, pecudes prosternere passim,
cetera de genere hoc qua vi facere omnia possint,
245expediam, neque te in promissis plura morabor.
Fulmina gignier e crassis alteque putandumst
nubibus extructis; nam caelo nulla sereno
nec leviter densis mittuntur nubibus umquam.
nam dubio procul hoc fieri manifesta docet res,
Footnotes
223saepe Codex Placentinus (Landi 33): se OQL. seque AB: per se F
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of fire, not of wind or rain. Besides, they often set roofs also alight, and with quick flame take full mastery within the buildings themselves.
225This fire, let me tell you, most refined of all
fires, nature has composed of elements so minute and swift that nothing whatever can block its way. For the strong thunderbolt passes through a walled house just as sounds and voices do,ait passes through stone, through bronze, and in an instant melts bronze and gold. Also it makes wine suddenly evaporate without
harming the vessels,b doubtless because its heat approaching easily relaxes all the earthenware of the vessel and makes it porous, then penetrating into the vessel itself with quick movement dissolves and disperses abroad the first-beginnings of the wine. And this you see that the sun’s heat is unable to do in an age, powerful as it is with its quivering blaze: so much more swift-moving and overpowering is this force.
239And now in what manner these thunderbolts
I will ex-are produced, and made with so strong a rush that they can split open towers with a stroke, overturn houses, tear out beams and rafters, demolish and displace the monuments of great men, kill human beings, lay low animals all around, and by what force they can do all else of this kind, I will expound, and delay you no longer with promises.
246we must believe that thunderbolts are produced
from clouds thick and piled up high; for they are never emitted in a serene sky nor when the clouds are lightly packed. Indeed manifest facts high: prove this beyond all doubt, because at such a timec
Footnotes
aCf. 1.489-490.
bCf. Pliny, HN 2.51.137.
cWhen thunderbolts occur.
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250quod tunc per totum concrescunt aera nubes,
undique uti tenebras omnis Acherunta reamur
liquisse et magnas caeli complesse cavernas:
usque adeo taetra nimborum nocte coorta
inpendent atrae formidinis ora superne,
255cum commoliri tempestas fulmina coeptat.
Praeterea persaepe niger quoque per mare nimbus,
ut picis e caelo demissum flumen, in undas
sic cadit effertus tenebris procul et trahit atram
fulminibus gravidam tempestatem atque procellis,
260ignibus ac ventis cum primis ipse repletus,
in terra quoque ut horrescant ac tecta requirant.
sic igitur supera nostrum caput esse putandumst
tempestatem altam; neque enim caligine tanta
obruerent terras, nisi inaedificata superne
265multa forent multis exempto nubila sole;
nec tanti possent venientes opprimere imbres,
flumina abundare ut facerent camposque natare,
si non extructis foret alte nubibus aether.
Hic igitur ventis atque ignibus omnia plena
270sunt; ideo passim fremitus et fulgura fiunt.
quippe etenim supra docui permulta vaporis
semina habere cavas nubes, et multa necessest
concipere ex solis radiis ardoreque eorum.
hoc ubi ventus eas idem qui cogit in unum
275forte locum quemvis, expressit multa vaporis
semina seque simul cum eo commiscuit igni,
insinuatus ibi vertex versatur in arto
et calidis acuit fulmen fomacibus intus;
nam duplici ratione accenditur: ipse sua cum
Footnotes
266tanti. . . imbres Lambinus (1570): tanto . . . imbri OQP
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clouds mass together throughout the air, so that we think that from every side all the darkness has deserted Acheron to fill the great caverns of the sky: to such a degree under the hideous night of cloud does the countenance of black terror overhang us on high,a when the tempest begins to forge her thunderbolts.
256Besides very often by sea also, a black cloud,
like a flood of pitch poured down from the sky,b all stuffed with darkness afar, falls thus upon the waters, and draws with it a black tempest teeming with thunderbolts and storms, itself full as full can be with fires and winds, so that on land also men shiver and run for shelter. In this way, therefore, we must believe the tempest to reach high above our heads. For the clouds would not submerge the earth with such blackness, unless there were many built high above many, robbing us of the sun; nor could such mighty rains come to overwhelm us, so as make rivers overflow and plains swim, if the ether were not full of clouds piled high.
269In such a case, then, all is full of winds and fires,
therefore rumblings and lightnings are made every-where. For indeed I have explained abovecthat the hollow clouds contain very many seeds of heat, and they must of necessity receive many from the sun’s rays and their warmth. Therefore when the same wind which happens to collect them together
into any one place, has pressed out many seeds of heat and has mingled itself together with that fire, the whirlwind, finding its way in, turns about there in the narrow space, and sharpens the thunderbolt in the hot furnace within. For the wind is kindled in
Footnotes
a251-254=4.170-173 with substitution of reamur for rearis. See note on 4.173.
bCf. Homer, II. 4.275-278.
c206-210.
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280mobilitate calescit et e contagibus ignis.
inde ubi percaluit venti vis et gravis ignis
impetus incessit, maturum tum quasi fulmen
perscindit subito nubem, ferturque coruscis
omnia luminibus lustrans loca percitus ardor.
285quern gravis insequitur sonitus, displosa repente
opprimere ut caeli videantur templa superne.
inde tremor terras graviter pertemptat, et altum
murmura percurrunt caelum; nam tota fere tum
tempestas concussa tremit fremitusque moventur.
290quo de concussu sequitur gravis imber et uber,
omnis uti videatur in imbrem vertier aether
atque ita praecipitans ad diluviem revocare:
tantus discidio nubis ventique procella
mittitur, ardenti sonitus cum provolat ictu.
295Est etiam cum vis extrinsecus incita venti
incidit in gravidam maturo fulmine nubem;
quam cum perscidit, extemplo cadit igneus ille
vertex quem patrio vocitamus nomine fulmen.
hoc fit idem in partis alias, quocumque tulit vis.
300Fit quoque ut interdum venti vis missa sine igni
igniscat tamen in spatio longoque meatu,
dum venit, amittens in cursu corpora quaedam
grandia quae nequeunt pariter penetrare per auras;
atque alia ex ipso conradens aere portat
305parvola, quae faciunt ignem commixta volando,
non alia longe ratione ac plumbea saepe
Footnotes
281venti vis et gravis ignis Bentley: gravis venti vis igni OQ
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two ways, of itself by the heat which comes from its own speed, and by contact with the fire. Next, when the force of the wind has grown hot through and through and the strong impulse of the fire has thrust in, then the thunderbolt, now as it were ripe, suddenly cleaves the cloud, and out flies the speeded
flame, sweeping over all places with flashing lights. Next follows a loud crash, so that the regions of the sky above seem suddenly to burst apart and overwhelm us. Then tremblings violently assail the earth, murmurs roll through the lofty sky, for then
almost all the tempest quivers with the shock and roarings are aroused. From this shock follows rain heavy and full, so that the whole ether seems to be turning into rain, and thus tumbling violently down,
again to make all a deluge: so great is the torrent discharged by the bursting of the cloud and the storm of wind, when the sound flies forth with a fiery blow.
295There are times also when a force of wind
stirred up from without falls upon a cloud pregnant with a thunderbolt fully formed, and as soon as the wind has burst it, in an instant that fiery vortex falls, which in our mother tongue we call thunderbolt. The same happens in other directions, wherever the force has inclined.
300It happens also at times that a force of wind
sped forth without fire, yet takes fire in its long journey through space, losing in its course as it comes on certain bodies too large to pass equally well through the air, and scraping together from the air itself and carrying with it other very small bodies, which commingled together with it produce fire during the flight; in much the same way as a leaden
Page number 515
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fervida fit glans in cursu, cum multa rigoris
corpora dimittens ignem concepit in auris.
Fit quoque ut ipsius plagae vis excitet ignem,
310frigida cum venti pepulit vis missa sine igni,
nimirum quia, cum vementi perculit ictu,
confluere ex ipso possunt elementa vaporis
et simul ex illa quae tum res excipit ictum;
ut, lapidem ferro cum caedimus, evolat ignis,
315nec, quod frigida vis ferrist, hoc setius illi
semina concurrunt calidi fulgoris ad ictum.
sic igitur quoque res accendi fulmine debet,
opportuna fuit si forte et idonea flammis.
nec temere omnino plane vis frigida venti
320esse potest, ea quae tanta vi missa supernest,
quin, prius in cursu si non accenditur igni,
at tepefacta tamen veniat commixta calore.
Mobilitas autem fit fulminis et gravis ictus,
et celeri ferme percurrunt fulmina lapsu,
325nubibus ipsa quod omnino prius incita se vis
colligit et magnum conamen sumit eundi,
inde ubi non potuit nubes capere inpetis auctum,
exprimitur vis atque ideo volat impete miro,
ut validis quae de tormentis missa feruntur.
330Adde quod e parvis et levibus est elementis,
nec facilest tali naturae obsistere quicquam;
inter enim fugit ac penetrat per rara viarum,
non igitur multis offensibus in remorando
haesitat, hanc ob rem celeri volat impete labens.
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bullet often grows hot in its course,a when casting off many bodies of coldness it catches fire in the air.
309It may be also that the very force of the blow
produces fire, when a force of wind, sped forth cold without fire, has struck; doubtless because, when it has smitten with a violent blow, elements of heat may flow together from the wind itself and at the same time from that thing which then receives the blow; just as, when we strike stone with iron, out flies fire,
like flint nor do the seeds of hot fire any the less run together at the blow because iron is a cold thing. So therefore also a thing must be kindled by the thunderbolt if it happens to be fit and proper for flames. And no force of wind can easily be completely and utterly cold which has been sped from above with such force, but, even if it is not first kindled by fire in its course, it must nevertheless arrive warm and mingled with heat.
323The speed, moreover, and heavy blow of the
thunderbolt comes about, and the bolts usually run with so quick a fall, because first of all within the clouds a force is always aroused and collects itself and takes on a mighty energy of movement, and then, when the cloud can no longer contain the increasing rush, the force is pressed out and therefore flies with a wonderful rush, like missiles which are hurled from powerful catapults.
330Moreover, it consists of small and smooth elements,
and it is not easy for anything to bar the way of such a substance, since it speeds in betweenb and penetrates through narrow passages; therefore not many obstacles can delay it or check it, and so it flies smoothly with a swift rush.
Footnotes
aCf. 178-179 and see note there.
bOn the tmesis inter . . . fugit, see note on 3.860.
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335Deinde, quod omnino natura pondera deorsum
omnia nituntur, cum plagast addita vero,
mobilitas duplicatur et impetus ille gravescit,
ut vementius et citius quaecumque morantur
339obvia discutiat plagis itinerque sequatur.
Denique quod longo venit impete, sumere debet
mobilitatem etiam atque etiam, quae crescit eundo
et validas auget viris et roborat ictum;
nam facit ut quae sint illius semina cumque
e regione locum quasi in unum cuncta ferantur,
345omnia coniciens in eum volventia cursum.
forsitan ex ipso veniens trahat aere quaedam
corpora quae plagis incendunt mobilitatem.
Incolumisque venit per res atque integra transit
multa, foraminibus liquidus quia transviat ignis.
350multaque perfigit, cum corpora fulminis ipsa
corporibus rerum inciderunt, qua texta tenentur.
dissoluit porro facile aes aurumque repente
confervefacit, e parvis quia facta minute
corporibus vis est et levibus ex elementis,
355quae facile insinuantur et insinuata repente
dissoluont nodos omnis et vincla relaxant.
Autumnoque magis stellis fulgentibus apta
concutitur caeli domus undique totaque tellus,
et cum tempora se veris florentia pandunt.
360frigore enim desunt ignes, ventique calore
deficiunt neque sunt tam denso corpore nubes.
Footnotes
349transviat OQP: transvolat Naugerius
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335Then, moreover, all weights always naturally thrust downwards; but when a blow is added, the velocity is doubled, and that first impulse grows
heavier, so that more violently and more quickly it disperses with its blows whatever meets it to bring delay, and follows its path.
340Again, because it comes rushing from a long
distance, it must add ever more and more to its greases with velocity, which grows by moving, increasing its distance. mighty strength and stiffening the blow. For thisa causes all the seeds of the thunderbolt to be carried straight onwards, as one may say, into one place, driving them all together as they roll into that single path. Perhaps as it goes it draws from the air itself certain bodies which kindle velocity by their blows.
348And it passes through things without hurting
them, leaving many intact after its transit, because the fire being fluid takes its way through them by of many their pores. And many it transpierces, when the without very particles of the thunderbolt have fallen upon the points where the particles of the things are joined in the texture. Furthermore, it easily dissolves
bronze and melts gold in a moment, because its mass is made of bodies extremely small and elements all smooth, which easily make their way in, and having so made their way, in a moment loosen all knots apart and slacken all bonds.
357And it is in autumn that the habitation of the
sky, set with shining stars, is more apt to be shaken all around, along with the whole earth, and when the flowering season of spring displays itself. For in the cold fires fail, and in the heat winds are lacking and the clouds are not so dense in their substance. When
Footnotes
aIts velocity.
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interutrasque igitur cum caeli tempora constant,
tum variae causae concurrunt fulminis omnes.
nam fretus ipse anni permiscet frigus et aestum,
365quorum utrumque opus est fabricanda ad fulmina nubi,
ut discordia sit rerum, magnoque tumultu
ignibus et ventis furibundus fluctuet aer.
prima caloris enim pars est postrema rigoris,
tempus id est vernum; quare pugnare necessest
370dissimilis res inter se turbareque mixtas.
et calor extremus primo cum frigore mixtus
volvitur, autumni quod fertur nomine tempus,
hic quoque confligunt hiemes aestatibus acres.
propterea freta sunt haec anni nominitanda,
375nec mirumst, in eo si tempore plurima fiunt
fulmina tempestasque cietur turbida caelo,
ancipiti quoniam bello turbatur utrimque,
hinc flammis, illinc ventis umoreque mixto.
Hoc est igniferi naturam fulminis ipsam
380perspicere et qua vi faciat rem quamque videre,
non Tyrrhena retro volventem carmina frustra
indicia occultae divum perquirere mentis,
unde volans ignis pervenerit aut in utram se
verterit hinc partim, quo pacto per loca saepta
385insinuarit, et hinc dominatus ut extulerit se,
quidve nocere queat de caelo fulminis ictus.
Footnotes
365nubi Lachmann, cf. Manilius 1.852-853: nobis OQP, Merrill (1917), Büchner
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therefore the temperature of the sky is set between the two, then all the different causes of the thunderbolt are combined. For the choppy currentsa of the year mingle cold and heat—each of which is necessary for the cloud to make thunderbolts—, so that there is discord amongst things, and the air billows furiously in wild tumult with fires and winds. For
the first part of warmth is the last part of cold, that with cold is the spring-time, for which reason these unlike things must fight and make confusion when mixed together. And when the last heat mixed with the first cold comes round, which is called by the name of autumn time, here also bitter winters come into conflict with summers. This is why these are to be called the choppy currents of the year; and it is no wonder if at that time very many thunderbolts are made, and a turbulent tempest is stirred up in the sky, since all is confusion with well-matched warfare on both sides, on this part flames, and on that, winds and water commingled.
379This is to understand the true nature of the
fiery thunderbolt, and to see by what power it plays its part; not by unrolling the scrolls of Tyrrhenian charms, vainly to search for signs of the hidden purpose of the gods, to learn whence the flying fire has come or into which of the two quarters it has turned
hence, in what manner it has penetrated through walled places and after winning mastery how it has conveyed itself out,b or what harmc the stroke of a bolt from heaven can do.
Footnotes
aSee note on 4.1030.
b383-385 = 87-89. On the augural practice to which Lucr. refers, see note on 86.
cNot the material damage, but the pollution caused to a place struck by lightning. Such a place was called bidental after the bidentes ( = animals for sacrifice) by whose slaughter it was purified.
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Quod si Iuppiter atque alii fulgentia divi
terrifico quatiunt sonitu caelestia templa
et iaciunt ignem quo cuiquest cumque voluntas,
cur quibus incautum scelus aversabile cumquest
390non faciunt icti flammas ut fulguris halent
pectore perfixo, documen mortalibus acre,
et potius nulla sibi turpi conscius in re
volvitur in flammas innoxius inque peditur
395turbine caelesti subito correptus et igni?
Cur etiam loca sola petunt frustraque laborant?
an tum bracchia consuescunt firmantque lacertos?
in terraque patris cur telum perpetiuntur obtundi?
cur ipse sinit neque parcit in hostis?
400denique cur numquam caelo iacit undique puro
Iuppiter in terras fulmen sonitusque profundit?
an simul ac nubes successere, ipse in eas tum
descendit, prope ut hinc teli determinet ictus?
in mare qua porro mittit ratione? quid undas
405arguit et liquidam molem camposque natantis?
Praeterea si vult caveamus fulminis ictum,
cur dubitat facere ut possimus cernere missum?
si nec opinantis autem volt opprimere igni,
cur tonat ex illa parte, ut vitare queamus?
cur tenebras ante et fremitus et murmura concit?
411Et simul in multas partis qui credere possis
mittere? an hoc ausis numquam contendere factum,
ut fierent ictus uno sub tempore plures?
at saepest numero factum fierique necessest,
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387But if Jupiter and other gods shake the shining
regions of heaven with appalling din, if they cast fire whither it may be the will of each one, why do they not see to it that those who have not refrained from some abominable crime shall be struck and breathe out sulphurous flames from breast pierced through, a sharp lesson to mankind? Why rather
does one with no base guilt on his conscience roll in flames all innocent, suddenly involved in a tornado from heaven and taken off by fire?a
396Why again do they aim at deserts and waste
their labour? Or are they then practising their arms and strengthening their muscles?b And why do they suffer the Father’s bolt to be blunted against practising? the earth? Why does he himself allow this, instead of saving it for his enemies? Why again does Jupiter
does never cast a bolt on the earth and sound his thunder, when the heaven is clear on all sides? Does he wait, until clouds have come up, to descend into them himself, that he may be near by to direct from them the blow of his bolt? With what purpose again does he
strike the sea? What has he against the waves, the mass of water, the swimming plains?
406Furthermore, if he desires that we be on our
guard against the thunderstroke, why does he neglect to provide that we may see it when it is hurled? If however he wishes to crush us at unawares with his fire, why does he thunder from that quarter,c so that we can avoid it, why gather the darkness first with crashings and growlings?
411And how could you believe him to shoot in
many directions at once?d Or would you make bold to say that this never is done, never many blows directions made at one time? In fact, this is often done and
Footnotes
aCf. 2.1103-1104, Aristophanes, Nub. 399-400.
bCf 2.1102-1103.
cFrom which he aims.
dCf. Cicero, Div. 2.19.44, where reference is also made to the thunderbolt striking the sea, mountains, and deserts.
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ut pluere in multis regionibus et cadere imbris,
415fulmina sic uno fieri sub tempore multa.
Postremo cur sancta deum delubra suasque
discutit infesto praeclaras fulmine sedes,
et bene facta deum frangit simulacra suisque
demit imaginibus violento volnere honorem?
420altaque cur plerumque petit loca plurimaque eius
montibus in summis vestigia cernimus ignis?
Quod superest, facilest ex his cognoscere rebus,
presteras Graii quos ab re nominitarunt,
in mare qua missi veniant ratione superne.
425nam fit ut interdum tamquam demissa columna
in mare de caelo descendat, quam freta circum
fervescunt graviter spirantibus incita flabris,
et quaecumque in eo tum sint deprensa tumultu
430navigia in summum veniant vexata periclum.
Hoc fit ubi interdum non quit vis incita venti
rumpere quam coepit nubem, sed deprimit, ut sit
in mare de caelo tamquam demissa columna,
paulatim, quasi quid pugno bracchique superne
435coniectu trudatur et extendatur in undas;
quam cum discidit, hinc prorumpitur in mare venti
vis et fervorem mirum concinnat in undis;
versabundus enim turbo descendit et illam
deducit pariter lento cum corpore nubem;
quam simul ac gravidam detrusit ad aequora ponti,
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must be done, that as showers and rain fall in many regions, so at one time many thunderbolts fall.
417Lastly, why does he shatter holy shrines of the
gods,a and even his own illustrious habitations, with the fatal thunderbolt, why smash fine-wrought images of the gods and rob his own statuesb of their grandeur with a violent wound? And why does he generally attack high places, why do we see most
traces of his fire on the mountain-tops?
423To pass on, it is easy from these thoughts to
understand in what way those things which the Greeks call from their nature presteresc come down from above into the sea. For it happens at times from the that a kind of column let down from the sky comes down into the sea, around which the waters boil stirred up by the heavy blast of the winds; and if any ships are caught in that tumult, they are tossed about and come into great peril.
431This happens when at times the force of the
wind stirred up is unable to burst the cloud which it cannot attempts to burst, but depresses it so that it is like a column let down from the sky into the sea, little by little, as though something were being pushed and stretched out towards the waves by a fist and the thrust of an arm from above; and when the force of the wind has torn it asunder, it bursts forth from the cloud upon the sea and causes a wonderful boiling in the waves; for the whirlwind turns as it comes down, and brings down along with it that cloud of yielding body; but as soon as it has thrust down the teeming cloud upon the surface of the ocean,
Footnotes
aCf. 2.1101-1102, Aristophanes, Nub. 401.
bCf. Cicero, Div. 1.12.19, quoting his own verses, Seneca, Q Nat. 2.42.2.
cπρηστήρ, relate to πρήθω an πίμπρημι means a fiery whirlwind or waterspout (cf. , HN 2.48.133). However, Lucr. does no mention fire in his account, which should be compared with Epicurus Ep. ad Pyth. 104-105.
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441ille in aquam subito totum se inmittit et omne
excitat ingenti sonitu mare fervere cogens.
Fit quoque ut involvat venti se nubibus ipse
vertex conradens ex aere semina nubis,
445et quasi demissum caelo prestera imitetur.
hic ubi se in terras demisit dissoluitque,
turbinis inmanem vim provomit atque procellae.
sed quia fit raro omnino montisque necessest
officere in terris, apparet crebrius idem
450prospectu maris in magno caeloque patenti.
Nubila concrescunt, ubi corpora multa volando
hoc super in caeli spatio coiere repente
asperiora, modis quae possint indupedita
exiguis tamen inter se comprensa teneri.
455haec faciunt primum parvas consistere nubes;
inde ea comprendunt inter se conque gregantur
et coniungendo crescunt ventisque feruntur
usque adeo donec tempestas saeva coortast.
Fit quoque uti montis vicina cacumina caelo
quam sint quoque magis, tanto magis edita fument
461adsidue fulvae nubis caligine crassa
propterea quia, cum consistunt nubila primum,
ante videre oculi quam possint tenvia, venti
portantes cogunt ad summa cacumina montis.
465hic demum fit uti turba maiore coorta
et condensa queant apparere et simul ipso
vertice de montis videantur surgere in aethram.
Footnotes
447procellae F: procellat OQABL, Isaac Voss (according to Havercamp), Wakefield
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the wind suddenly plunges itself in full force into
the water and stirs up the whole sea, compelling it boil with a huge noise.
443Sometimes too the vortex of wind enwraps
itself in clouds, scraping together seeds of cloud from gathere the air, and in a way imitates the prester let down cloud about from the sky. When this has let itself down upon the land and dissolved, it vomits forth a prodigious violence of whirlwind and storm. But because this rarely happens at all, and on land the mountains must get in the way, this same is seen more often upon the sea with its wide prospect and open sky.
451Cloudsa mass together, when in the space of
the sky above a large number of flying bodies have suddenly come together, which are rougher and, though they are entangled in a slight degree, are yet able to hold together in mutual attachment. These first cause small clouds to be formed; then theseb take hold together and cluster together, and by combining together grow, and are carried along by the winds until the time when a wild tempest arises.
459It happens also that the nearer in each case
mountain-tops are to heaven, so much the more busily in their lofty place they smoke with the thick blackness of a dust-coloured cloud; because, when the clouds first take their being, before the eye can see them, so thin they are, the winds drive and carry them together to the mountain-tops. Now at length gathered together in greater mass and packed together they are able to show themselves, and appear at the same time to rise from the very peak
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 99.
bea (456) =nubila, though nubes (455) has preceded. Cf. 215.
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nam loca declarat sursum ventosa patere
res ipsa et sensus, montis cum ascendimus altos.
470Praeterea permulta mari quoque tollere toto
corpora naturam declarant litore vestes
suspensae, cum concipiunt umoris adhaesum.
quo magis ad nubis augendas multa videntur
posse quoque e salso consurgere momine ponti;
475nam ratio consanguineast umoribus omnis.
Praeterea fluviis ex omnibus et simul ipsa
surgere de terra nebulas aestumque videmus,
quae velut halitus hinc ita sursum expressa feruntur
suffunduntque sua caelum caligine et altas
480sufficiunt nubis paulatim conveniundo;
urget enim quoque signiferi super aetheris aestus
et quasi densendo subtexit caerula nimbis.
Fit quoque ut hunc veniant in caelum extrinsecus illa
corpora quae faciunt nubis nimbosque volantis;
486innumerabilem enim numerum summamque profundi
esse infinitam docui, quantaque volarent
corpora mobilitate ostendi, quamque repente
inmemorabile per spatium transire solerent.
haud igitur mirumst si parvo tempore saepe
490tam magnis nimbis tempestas atque tenebrae
coperiant maria ac terras inpensa superne,
undique quandoquidem per caulas aetheris omnis
et quasi per magni circum spiracula mundi
exitus introitusque elementis redditus extat.
Footnotes
483hunc OQL (cf. 2.1097): huc A, perhaps rightly: hinc BF
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of the mountain into the ether. For the very facts and our own feelings when we ascend a high mountain make it clear that the open spaces above are full of wind.
470Besides, that nature takes up very many bodies
over the whole sea is made clear, when clothes are hung up on the shore and absorb the sticky moisture: which makes it more likely that many bodies can gather upwards to swell the clouds from the salt movement of the ocean, since there is a complete kinship between both these moistures.a
476Besides, from all rivers and also from the earth
itself we see clouds and steam arising, which exhaled from these sources like breath are carried up in this way, and suffuse the sky with their blackness and bring up supplies to the clouds on high as little by little they come together; for the heat also of the
starry ether presses on them from above, and by them down! packing them close seems to weave a texture of cloud beneath the blue.
483It also happens that those bodies which make
clouds and flying storm-rack our sky from without; for I have provedb that their number is innumerable and the sum of the deep infinite, and world. I have shownc with what velocity these bodies fly, and how in an instant they are accustomed to traverse a space beyond telling. It is no wonder then if often within a short time tempest and darkness overhanging above cover up sea and land with storm-clouds so great, since from all quarters through all the passages of the ether, and as it were through the breathing-channels of the great world around, there are comings-in and goings-out for the elements.
Footnotes
aThe moisture of the sea and the moisture contained in the clouds.
b1.984-1051.
c2.142-166.
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495Nunc age, quo pacto pluvius concrescat in altis
nubibus umor, et in terras demissus ut imber
decidat, expediam. primum iam semina aquai
multa simul vincam consurgere nubibus ipsis
omnibus ex rebus, pariterque ita crescere utrumque,
500et nubis et aquam quaecumque in nubibus extat,
ut pariter nobis corpus cum sanguine crescit,
sudor item atque umor quicumque est denique
membris.
concipiunt etiam multum quoque saepe marinum
umorem, veluti pendentia vellera lanae,
505cum supera magnum mare venti nubila portant.
consimili ratione ex omnibus amnibus umor
tollitur in nubis. quo cum bene semina aquarum
multa modis multis convenere undique adaucta,
confertae nubes umorem mittere certant
510dupliciter; nam vis venti contrudit, et ipsa
copia nimborum turba maiore coacta
urget, et e supero premit ac facit effluere imbris.
praeterea cum rarescunt quoque nubila ventis
aut dissolvuntur, solis super icta calore,
515mittunt umorem pluvium stillantque, quasi igni
cera super calido tabescens multa liquescat.
Sed vemens imber fit, ubi vementer utraque
nubila vi cumulata premuntur et impete venti.
at retinere diu pluviae longumque morari
520consuerunt, ubi multa cientur semina aquarum
atque aliis aliae nubes nimbique rigantes
insuper atque omni vulgo de parte feruntur,
terraque cum fumans umorem tota redhalat.
Footnotes
509umorem Munro (cf. 515): viventi (from 510 vis venti) OQ
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495Now attend, and I will explain in what manner 6.
rainy moisturea grows together in the clouds on high, because and how showers fall sent down upon the earth, First of all you will concede that many seeds of water clouds, rise upward together with the clouds themselves from things of all sorts, and that in this way both grow together, the clouds and whatever water is in the clouds, just as in ourselves body grows along with blood, sweat also and in a word whatever moisture is in the frame. The clouds also often take up a great deal of sea-water besides, like hanging fleeces of wool, when the winds carry clouds above the great sea. In like fashion water is raised to the clouds from all rivers. And when into these clouds
very many seeds of waters in many ways have gathered together, being increased from all sides, the discharge it clouds stuffed full strive to discharge the moisture in two ways: for the force of the wind thrusts them
together, and the very mass of the clouds, when a greater pack than usual has been collected, pushes and presses down from above and makes the showers flow out. Besides where the clouds are blown thin
by the winds, or loosened abroad, struck from above by the sun’s heat, they emit rainy moisture and drip, melted by as wax over a hot fire melts and grows fluid apace.
517But there is a violent downpour of rain, when
the clouds are violently pressed by both forces, by their own pile and by the rushing of the wind. But rains are accustomed to persist and linger for a great
while, when many seeds of waters are put in motion and clouds over clouds, storm-rack over storm-rack are carried along from every part, streaming from above, and when the earth smoking breathes back the moisture everywhere.
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 99-100.
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Lucretius
Hic ubi sol radiis tempestatem inter opacam
525adversa fulsit nimborum aspargine contra,
tum color in nigris existit nubibus arqui.
Cetera quae sursum crescunt sursumque creantur,
et quae concrescunt in nubibus, omnia, prorsum
omnia, nix venti grando gelidaeque pruinae
530et vis magna geli, magnum duramen aquarum,
et mora quae fluvios passim refrenat aventis,
perfacilest tamen haec reperire animoque videre
omnia quo pacto fiant quareve creentur,
cum bene cognoris elementis reddita quae sint.
535Nunc age, quae ratio terrai motibus extet
percipe. et in primis terram fac ut esse rearis
subter item ut supera ventosis undique plenam
speluncis, multosque lacus multasque lacunas
in gremio gerere et rupes deruptaque saxa;
540multaque sub tergo terrai flumina tecta
volvere vi fluctus summersaque saxa putandumst;
undique enim similem esse sui res postulat ipsa.
His igitur rebus subiunctis suppositisque
terra superne tremit magnis concussa ruinis,
545subter ubi ingentis speluncas subruit aetas;
quippe cadunt toti montes, magnoque repente
concussu late disserpunt inde tremores.
et merito, quoniam plaustris concussa tremescunt
tecta viam propter non magno pondere tota,
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524When in such a case the sun shines with his
rays amidst the gloomy tempest against the opposite showers from the clouds, then the hues of the rain bowa stand forth in the black clouds.
527The other things that grow above and are produced
above, and those which collect in the clouds, all, absolutely all, snow, winds, hail, and cold frosts, and the great power of ice,b that great hardener of the waters, that obstacle which everywhere curbs back the eager rivers, how all these are produced and why they are made it is very easy to find out in
spite of all and to see with the mind’s eye, when you have fully understood what qualities belong to their elements.
535Now attend and learn what is the reason for
earthquakes.c And in the first place, be sure to consider the earth below as above to be everywhere full of windy caverns, bearing many lakes and many
pools in her bosom with rocks and steep cliffs; and we must suppose that many a hidden stream beneath the earth’s back violently rolls its waves and submerged boulders; for the facts themselves demand that she be everywhere like herself.
543Since therefore she has these things attached beneath her and ranged beneath, the upper earth trembles under the shock of some great collapse
when time undermines those huge caverns beneath; for whole mountains fall, and with the great shock the tremblings in an instant creep abroad from the place far and wide—and with good reason, since when waggons of no great weight pass, whole buildings hard by the road tremble with the shock, nor
Footnotes
aCf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 109-110.
bHail, snow, dew, frost, and ice are explained (in that order) by Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 109-110.
cOf. Epicurus, Ep. ad Pyth. 105-106.
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Lucretius
550nec minus †exultantes dupuis cumque vim†
ferratos utrimque rotarum succutit orbes.
Fit quoque, ubi in magnas aquae vastasque lacunas
gleba vetustate e terra provolvitur ingens,
ut iactetur aquae fluctu quoque terra vacillans,
555ut vas interdum non quit constare, nisi umor
destitit in dubio fluctu iactarier intus.
Praeterea ventus cum per loca subcava terrae
collectus parte ex una procumbit et urget
obnixus magnis speluncas viribus altas,
560incumbit tellus quo venti prona premit vis.
tum supera terram quae sunt extructa domorum
ad caelumque magis quanto sunt edita quaeque,
inclinata minent in eandem prodita partem,
protractaeque trabes inpendent ire paratae.
565et metuunt magni naturam credere mundi
exitiale aliquod tempus clademque manere,
cum videant tantam terrarum incumbere molem!
quod nisi respirent venti, vis nulla refrenet
res neque ab exitio possit reprehendere euntis.
570nunc quia respirant alternis inque gravescunt
et quasi collecti redeunt ceduntque repulsi,
saepius hanc ob rem minitatur terra ruinas
quam facit; inclinatur enim retroque recellit
et recipit prolapsa suas in pondere sedes.
Footnotes
550exultantes dupuis cumque vim OQ—a hopeless corruption . Numerous emendations have been proposed, almost all of them highly improbable. I suggest e.g. exultant axes ubi summa viai (exultant ed. Juntina, viai Lachmann)
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less do [the axles] jump up [when the surface of the road]a jolts the iron rims of the wheels on either side.
552Sometimes also, when from lapse of time a huge mass is rolled forwards from the earth into some great and wide pool of water,b the earth also is moved and shaken by the wave of water: just as a vessel sometimes cannot remain still, unless the water within it ceases to be moved about in waves to and fro.
557Besides, when a wind gathering together
through the hollow places beneath the earth throws itself forward from one quarter, and bears hard, blowing thrusting with great force into the lofty caverns, the earth leans over in the direction of the wind’s headlong force. Then those buildings which are built up above the earth, and each all the more, the more they tower up towards heaven, lean suspended, pushing forward in the same direction, and the beams dragged forward hang over ready to go. And yet people fear to believe that this great world has waiting for it some period of destruction and ruin, although they see the earth’s mighty mass leaning over! Yet if the winds should never abate,c no force could curb the world back or hold it back in its rush to perdition. As it is, because in turns they abate
and gather force, and rally as it were and come back and then are driven back in retreat, for this reason the earth more often threatens to fall than it does fall; for it inclines forward and then again springs back, and after tumbling forward recovers its proper
Footnotes
aThe version of 550 translated is that tentatively proposed in the critical note.
baquae (552) must be scanned either ⌣ ⌣ – or – – instead of the usual ⌣ –. Cf. 1072, where aquai is to be scanned either ⌣ ⌣ – – or – –
crespirent here and respirant in 570 mean not ” breathe back,” but rather ”stop to recover their breath.”
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Lucretius
575hac igitur ratione vacillant omnia tecta,
summa magis mediis, media imis, ima perhilum.
Est haec eiusdem quoque magni causa tremoris,
ventus ubi atque animae subito vis maxima quaedam,
aut extrinsecus aut ipsa tellure coorta,
580in loca se cava terrai coniecit ibique
speluncas inter magnas fremit ante tumultu
versabundaque portatur, post incita cum vis
exagitata foras erumpitur et simul altam
diffindens terram magnum concinnat hiatum.
585in Syria Sidone quod accidit et fuit Aegi
in Peloponneso, quas exitus hic animai
disturbat urbes et terrae motus obortus.
multaque praeterea ceciderunt moenia magnis
motibus in terris, et multae per mare pessum
590subsedere suis pariter cum civibus urbes.
Quod nisi prorumpit, tamen impetus ipse animai
et fera vis venti per crebra foramina terrae
dispertitur ut horror, et incutit inde tremorem,
frigus uti nostros penitus cum venit in artus,
595concutit invitos cogens tremere atque movere.
ancipiti trepidant igitur terrore per urbis:
tecta superne timent, metuunt inferne cavernas
terrai ne dissoluat natura repente,
neu distracta suum late dispandat hiatum
600idque suis confusa velit complere ruinis.
Proinde licet quamvis caelum terramque reantur
incorrupta fore aeternae mandata saluti;
Footnotes
600idque OQP, hiatum (599) then being neuter (see Diels and Bailey, Addenda p. 1758), unless there is a syntactical irregularity: adque ( = atque) Lachmann, perhaps rightly: imque (= eumque) Lambinus (1570 Errata): iamque W.S. Watt, Mus.Helv.47 (1990) 126
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place in equilibrium. This then is how all buildings totter, the top more than the middle, the middle than the foundation, the foundation the merest trifle.
577There is also another cause of the same great
trembling, when wind or a very great force of air, either from without or arising within the earth itself has thrown itself suddenly into the hollow places of the earth, and there in the great caverns first growls tumultuously and is carried whirling about, afterwards the force thus excited and driven outwards bursts forth, and at the same time cleaving the earth asunder makes a great chasm. This befell at Syrian Sidon, and came to pass at Aegiuma in the Peloponnese, when such an issue of air overthrew those cities with the earthquake that followed. Many another city wall has fallen by great quakings in the earth,
many cities have sunk down to the bottom of the sea along with their inhabitants.
591But if there is no breaking forth, yet the impetuous
air itself and the furious force of wind is distributed abroad through the many interstices of the earth like an ague, and thus transmits the trembling; just as, when cold penetrates deep into our limbs, it shakes them, making them tremble and quake against our will. Therefore men shiver in their cities with a twofold terror: they fear the houses above, they dread the caverns below, lest the earth’s nature loosen all asunder in a moment, or torn asunder open abroad her own gaping jaws, and in confusion seek to gorge it with her own ruins.
601Therefore let them believe as they please that
earth and sky will remain incorruptible, given in
Footnotes
aThe earthquake at Sidon, mentioned also by Strabo and Seneca, probably occurred late in the fifth century b.c. The towns of Helice and Buris, near Aegium, were destroyed in 373-372 b.c.
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Lucretius
et tamen interdum praesens vis ipsa pericli
subdit et hunc stimulum quadam de parte timoris,
605ne pedibus raptim tellus subtracta feratur
in barathrum, rerumque sequatur prodita summa
funditus, et fiat mundi confusa ruina.
Principio mare mirantur non reddere maius
naturam, quo sit tantus decursus aquarum,
610omnia quo veniant ex omni flumina parte.
adde vagos imbris tempestatesque volantes,
omnia quae maria ac terras sparguntque rigantque;
adde suos fontis; tamen ad maris omnia summam
guttai vix instar erunt unius adaugmen;
quo minus est mirum mare non augescere magnum.
616Praeterea magnam sol partem detrahit aestu.
quippe videmus enim vestis umore madentis
exsiccare suis radiis ardentibu’ solem;
at pelage multa et late substrata videmus;
620proinde licet quamvis ex uno quoque loco sol
umoris parvam delibet ab aequore partem,
largiter in tanto spatio tamen auferet undis.
Tum porro venti quoque magnam tollere partem
umoris possunt verrentes aequora ponti,
625una nocte vias quoniam persaepe videmus
siccari mollisque luti concrescere crustas.
Footnotes
605subtracta P: substructa OQ: subducta (cf. 1.1106) Wakefield tentatively in notes (Bailey attributes the suggestion to himself)
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trust to life everlasting; and yet sometimes the very
present force of peril applies this goad of fear also from one part or another, that the earth may be suddenly withdrawn from under their feet, and fall into the bottomless pit, followed by the whole sum of things utterly giving way, and then may come the confused ruin of the world.
608In the first place,a men wonder that nature
does not increase the measure of the sea, for all the great running down of waters thither, for all the rivers that come into it from every side. Add the wandering showers, the flying tempests, which sprinkle and drench all seas and lands; add the sea’s own fountainsb; yet all compared with the whole mass of the sea will be scarce equal to the augmentation of one single drop; which makes it less wonderful that the great sea does not increase.
616Besides the sun by his heat draws off a great
portion. For certainly we do see that clothes soaking by sun with wet are dried up by the sun with his burning rays. But we see that the seas are many and spread out wide beneath; therefore although the sun may sip but a small portion from the surface in any given place, yet over so great an expanse he will take away from the waves in abundance.
623Then further the winds also can lift a goodly
portion of moisture by sweeping the surface of the ocean, since we see very often the roads grow dry in one night, and the soft mud massing together into crusts.
Footnotes
aThe abrupt introduction is almost certainly to be attributed to lack of revision rather than to a textual loss before 608.
bThe fountains beneath the sea, which feed it. Cf. 1.230.
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Praeterea docui multum quoque tollere nubes
umorem magno conceptum ex aequore ponti,
et passim toto terrarum spargere in orbi,
630cum pluit in terris et venti nubila portant.
Postremo quoniam raro cum corpore tellus
est, et coniunctast, oras maris undique cingens,
debet, ut in mare de terris venit umor aquai,
in terras itidem manare ex aequore salso;
635percolatur enim virus retroque remanat
materies umoris et ad caput amnibus omnis
confluit, inde super terras redit agmine dulci
qua via secta semel liquido pede detulit undas.
Nunc ratio quae sit, per fauces montis ut Aetnae
640expirent ignes interdum turbine tanto,
expediam. neque enim mediocri clade coorta
flammea tempestas Siculum dominata per agros
finitimis ad se convertit gentibus ora,
fumida cum caeli scintillare omnia templa
645cernentes pavida complebant pectora cura,
quid moliretur rerum natura novarum.
Hisce tibi in rebus latest alteque videndum
et longe cunctas in partis dispiciendum,
ut reminiscaris summam rerum esse profundam
650et videas caelum summai totius unum
quam sit parvula pars et quam multesima constet,
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627Besides I have showna that the clouds also lift
a great deal of moisture taken from the great surface of the ocean, which they sprinkle everywhere over the whole world, when it rains on earth and the winds carry the clouds along.
631Lastly, since the earth has a porous body, and it is joined together with the sea, girdling its shores all around, it is necessary that, as the flow of water comes from the land into the sea, so also it should
ooze into the land from the salt sea; for the pungency is strained off, and the substance of the water oozes back, and all meets at the sources of each river, whence it returns over the earth in a moving mass of sweet water along the path which has once been cut for it in its liquid course.b
639Now I will explain in what way fires at times
breathe out with such tempestuous fury through the throat of Mount Etna.c For it was no common devastation that attended the fiery storm which arose and held supreme dominance over the fields of Sicily, drawing upon itself the eyes of neighbouring nations, when perceiving all the regions of heaven to smoke and sparkle, they filled their hearts with panic fear, whether nature was in travail to work some universal disaster.
647In considering these matters you must cast
your view wide and deep, and survey all quarters far abroad, that you may remember how profound is the sum of things, and see how very small a part, how infinitesimal a fraction of the whole universe is one
Footnotes
a470-475, 503-505.
b635-638=5.269-272 except for two small alterations. See note on 5.271.
cThere were serious eruptions of Etna in 475 (described by Pindar, Pyth. 1.21-28), 396, and 122 b.c. There can be little doubt that it is to the eruption of 122, when Catana was destroyed, that Lucr. refers in 641-646. The modern reader may be surprised that he ignores Vesuvius, but in fact it was not active in his time: its upper slopes were wooded, its lower slopes planted with vineyards, and its crater was occupied by Spartacus and his followers in 73 b.c.
Page number 541
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nec tota pars, homo terrai quota totius unus.
quod bene propositum si plane contueare
ac videas plane, mirari multa relinquas.
Numquis enim nostrum miratur, siquis in artus
656accepit calido febrim fervore coortam
aut alium quemvis morbi per membra dolorem?
obturgescit enim subito pes, arripit acer
saepe dolor dentes, oculos invadit in ipsos,
660existit sacer ignis et urit corpore serpens
quamcumque arripuit partim, repitque per artus,
nimirum quia sunt multarum semina rerum,
et satis haec tellus morbi caelumque mali fert,
unde queat vis immensi procrescere morbi.
665sic igitur toti caelo terraeque putandumst
ex infinito satis omnia suppeditare,
unde repente queat tellus concussa moveri
perque mare ac terras rapidus percurrere turbo,
ignis abundare Aetnaeus, flammescere caelum;
670id quoque enim fit et ardescunt caelestia templa,
et tempestates pluviae graviore coortu
sunt, ubi forte ita se tetulerunt semina aquarum.
“At nimis est ingens incendi turbidus ardor.”
scilicet, et fluvius qui visus maximus ei
675qui non ante aliquem maiorem vidit, et ingens
arbor homoque videtur, et omnia de genere omni
maxima quae vidit quisque, haec ingentia fingit,
cum tamen omnia cum caelo terraque marique
nil sint ad summam summai totius omnem.
Footnotes
674visus OQP: visust Ernout
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sky—not so large a part as one man is of the whole earth. If you should keep this steadily before your Just as the world contains many seeds which cause diseases among men,
mind, comprehend it clearly, see it clearly, you would cease to wonder at many things.
655For is there any of us who feels wonder, if someone has got into his limbs a fever that gathers with burning heat, or any other pain from disease seeds which throughout his body? For the foot suddenly swells, a sharp aching often seizes the teeth, or invades the eyes themselves, the accursed firea appears creeping over the body and burning each part it takes hold on, and crawls over the limbs, assuredly because there are seeds of many things, and this earth and sky produce enough noxious disease that from it may grow forth an immeasurable quantity of disease. In this way therefore we must believe that a supply of all things is brought up from the infinite to the whole many heaven and earth, enough to enable the earth on a sudden to quake and move, the swift whirlwind to scour over land and sea, Etna’s fires to overflow, the heaven to burst in a blaze; for that also happens, the regions of heaven burn, and rainy tempests appear with heavier increment, when by some chance the seeds of waters have gathered to that effect.
673“But the turbulent blaze of the conflagration
Though is too huge for that.” Yes, and so any river is huge if it be the greatest a man has seen who has seen are vast, no greater before, and a tree or a man appears huge, world is and each imagines as huge all things of every kind which are greatest of those he has seen, although with the nevertheless all with earth and sea and sky thrown in are nothing to all the sum of the whole universe.
Footnotes
aErysipelas. Cf. Isidorus, Orig. 4.8.4: erysipelas est quem Latini sacrum ignem appellant, id est execrandum per antiphrasim.
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680Nunc tamen illa modis quibus inritata repente
flamma foras vastis Aetnae fornacibus efflet,
expediam. primum totius subcava montis
est natura, fere silicum suffulta cavernis.
omnibus est porro in speluncis ventus et aer;
685ventus enim fit, ubi est agitando percitus aer.
hic ubi percaluit calefecitque omnia circum
saxa furens, qua contingit, terramque, et ab ollis
excussit calidum flammis velocibus ignem,
tollit se ac rectis ita faucibus eicit alte.
690fert itaque ardorem longe, longeque favillam
differt, et crassa volvit caligine fumum,
extruditque simul mirando pondere saxa;
ne dubites quin haec animai turbida sit vis.
Praeterea magna ex parti mare montis ad eius
695radices frangit fluctus aestumque resorbet.
ex hoc usque mari speluncae montis ad altas
perveniunt subter fauces, hac ire fatendumst
. . . . . . .
et penetrare mari penitus res cogit aperto
atque efflare foras ideoque extollere flammam
700saxaque subiectare et harenae tollere nimbos.
in summo sunt vertice enim crateres, ut ipsi
nominitant, nos quod fauces perhibemus et ora.
Sunt aliquot quoque res quarum unam dicere
causam
Footnotes
695resorbet CF: resolvet OQAL: resolvit B, Wakefield, Martin: revolvit Bockemüller
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680Nevertheless I will now explain in what ways
the flame is excited which suddenly breathes out of the vast furnaces of Etna. Firstly, the whole mountain is hollow beneath, being supported for the caverns most part upon caverns in the basalt rock. In all the caverns, moreover, is wind and air; for wind arises when the air is excited by driving about. When this wind has grown hot, and has heated all the surrounding rocks by its fury wherever it touches, and also the earth, and from these has struck out hot fire
with quick flames, it rises and throws itself upwards has grown straight through the mountain’s throat. Thus it carries its fire afar, scatters ashes far abroad, rolls the smoke all thick and black, thrusts out at the same time rocks of wonderful weight; so that you may be sure that this is the turbulent force of air.
694Besides, around a great part of the mountain’s roots the sea breaks its waves and sucks back its surf. From this sea, caverns reach underground right to the lofty throat of the mountain. By these we must admit that [wind mingled with water] passes in, and that the nature of the case compels [it often to rise]a and to penetrate completely within from
the open sea, and to blow out the flame and so to uplift it on high, and cast up the rocks and raise clouds of sand; for on the topmost summit are craters, as they themselvesb call them, what we speak of as the throat or the mouth.
703There are also a number of things for which it
Footnotes
aThe words in square brackets translate the line supplied by Diels after 697 (see critical note).
bThe Sicilians. The literal meaning of κρατήρ is “mixing bowl,” which of course aptly describes the shape of volcano’s mouth. But Lucr. here implies that the name is appropriate also because of the mixing of sand, rocks, and fire that goes on inside.
Page number 545
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non satis est, verum pluris, unde una tamen sit;
705corpus ut exanimum siquod procul ipse iacere
conspicias hominis, fit ut omnis dicere causas
conveniat leti, dicatur ut illius una;
nam neque eum ferro nec frigore vincere possis
interiisse neque a morbo neque forte veneno,
710verum aliquid genere esse ex hoc quod contigit ei
scimus. item in multis hoc rebus dicere habemus.
Nilus in aestatem crescit campisque redundat
unicus in terris, Aegypti totius amnis.
is rigat Aegyptum medium per saepe calorem,
715aut quia sunt aestate aquilones ostia contra,
anni tempore eo qui etesiae esse feruntur,
et contra fluvium flantes remorantur et, undas
cogentes sursus, replent coguntque manere.
nam dubio procul haec adverso flabra feruntur
720flumine, quae gelidis ab stellis axis aguntur;
ille ex aestifera parti venit amnis ab austro,
inter nigra virum percocto saecla colore
exoriens penitus media ab regione diei.
Est quoque uti possit magnus congestus harenae
725fluctibus adversis oppilare ostia contra,
cum mare permotum ventis ruit intus harenam;
quo fit uti pacto liber minus exitus amnis
et proclivis item fiat minus impetus undis.
Fit quoque uti pluviae forsan magis ad caput ei
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is not enough to name one cause, but many, one of
mention which is nevertheless the true causea: just as if you should yourself see some man’s body lying lifeless when one at a distance, you may perhaps think proper to name all the causes of death in order that the one true cause of the man’s death may be named. For you could not prove that steel or cold had been the death of him, or disease, or it may be poison, but we know that what has happened to him is something of this sort. Even so in many cases we have the like to say.
712The Nile, the river of all Egypt, is the only
river in the world that swells and overflows on the fields towards summer-time. It is accustomed to irrigate Egypt through the middle heats, either because there are northerly winds in summer opposite to its mouth, which at that time of year are called etesianb winds, and these, blowing against
the stream, hold it back, and driving the waters up channel fill it and force it to stand. For beyond a doubt these blasts, which are driven from the cold back, stars of the pole, do blow against the current. The river comes out of the heat-laden country from the south, rising from the heart of the region of noondayc amidst black tribes of men thoroughly baked by the sun.
724It is possible also that a great collection of
sand blocks up the mouth against the stream, when the sea, stirred by the winds, rolls the sand inwards; by which it comes about that the outlet of the river becomes less free, and the waves have a less easy run downwards.
729It is also possible that there is perhaps more rain
Footnotes
aCf. 5.526-533 and see note there.
bThe northerly winds which blow over the Aegean Sea for about forty days from the rising of Sirius. Cf. 730, 5.742.
cThe south.
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730tempore eo fiant, quo etesia flabra aquilonum
nubila coniciunt in eas tunc omnia partis.
scilicet ad mediam regionem eiecta diei
cum convenerunt, ibi ad altos denique montis
contrusae nubes coguntur vique premuntur.
735Forsitan Aethiopum penitus de montibus altis
crescat, ubi in campos albas decedere ningues
tabificis subigit radiis sol omnia lustrans.
Nunc age, Averna tibi quae sint loca cumque
lacusque
expediam, quali natura praedita constent.
Principio, quod Averna vocantur nomine, id ab re
741inpositumst, quia sunt avibus contraria cunctis,
e regione ea quod loca cum venere volantes,
remigii oblitae pennarum vela remittunt
praecipitesque cadunt molli cervice profusae
745in terram, si forte ita fert natura locorum,
aut in aquam, si forte lacus substratus Averni.
is locus est Cumas apud, acri sulpure montes
oppleti calidis ubi fumant fontibus aucti.
Est et Athenaeis in moenibus, arcis in ipso
750vertice, Palladis ad templum Tritonidis almae,
quo numquam pennis appellunt corpora raucae
Footnotes
736decedere OQ, Gifanius, Fay, E. Orth, Helmantica 11 (1960) 333: descendere Lambinus and modern editors, but, though the change is an easy one, decedere gives excellent sense, andcrescat . . . decedere derives support from Virgil, Ecl. 2.67 et sol crescentis decedens duplicat umbras
Page number 548
De Rerum Natura
at its source at that time, when the etesian breezes
from the north then drive all the clouds together source into those parts. You may be sure that when they have come together driven out to the region of noonday, the clouds there thrust together are collected together at last upon high mountains and violently compressed.
735Perhaps the river grows from the heart of the high Ethiopian mountains, when the sun shining on all things with his melting rays compels the white
snows to depart to the plains.
738Now attend, and I will explain what nature
belongs to those various regions which are called Avernian,a and their lakes.
740In the first place, their name Avernian has been bestowed upon them because of their character, being dangerous to all birds, because when
they have come in flight straight over those places, forgetting their oarage of wings and slackening their sails, headlong they fall, sinking down with limp neck to the ground, if it so happens that the nature of the place allows it, or into the water, if it happens that a lake of Avernus lies below. Such a place is close by Cumae, where mountains, filled with rank
sulphur, smoke, all covered with hot springs.
749There is another place within the walls of Athens, on the very crest of the citadel, by the
temple of fostering Tritonian Pallas, whither hoarse
Footnotes
aLake Avernus, near Cumae (747), reputed to be an entrance to the underworld (762-763), gave off mephitic exhalations (747-748) which were supposed to kill any birds that flew over it, and the ancients connected its name with ἄορνος “birdless”: cf. Virgil, Aen. 6.242 (almost certainly interpolated) unde locum Grai dixerunt nomine Aornon. Lucr. gives the name “Avernian” to all places which are fatal to birds (740-741).
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cornices, non cum fumant altaria donis:
usque adeo fugitant non iras Palladis acris
pervigili causa, Graium ut cecinere poetae,
755sed natura loci opus efficit ipsa suapte.
In Syria quoque fertur item locus esse videri,
quadripedes quoque quo simul ac vestigia primum
intulerint, graviter vis cogat concidere ipsa,
manibus ut si sint divis mactata repente.
760Omnia quae naturali ratione geruntur,
et quibus e fiant causis apparet origo;
ianua ne pote eis Orci regionibus esse
credatur, post hinc animas Acheruntis in oras
ducere forte deos manis inferne reamur,
765naribus alipedes ut cervi saepe putantur
ducere de latebris serpentia saecla ferarum.
quod procul a vera quam sit ratione repulsum
percipe; nam de re nunc ipsa dicere conor.
Principio hoc dico, quod dixi saepe quoque ante,
770in terra cuiusque modi rerum esse figuras:
multa, cibo quae sunt, vitalia, multaque, morbos
incutere et mortem quae possint adcelerare.
et magis esse aliis alias animantibus aptas
res ad vitai rationem ostendimus ante
775propter dissimilem naturam dissimilisque
texturas inter sese primasque figuras.
multa meant inimica per auris, multa per ipsas
Footnotes
762pote eis P. E. Goebel, Rh. Mus. 15 (1860) 404: poteis OQU: potis O corr., L: potius ABCF: potis his Diels: forte his Munro
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crows never wing their way, not even when the altars smoke with offerings; so carefully do they flee, not, as the Greek poets have sung, from the bitter wrath of Pallas because of that vigil of theirs,a but the nature of the place does the job of itself.
756In Syria also, as it is said, another such place
is to be seen, whither as soon as ever four-footed beasts direct their steps, its natural power forces them down, to fall heavily; as if they were suddenly slain in sacrifices to the infernal gods.
760But all these things are done for some natural
reason, and it is clear from what source come the causes causes that produce them; so it should not be believed possible that the gate of Orcus is in these
regions, nor should we imagine next that the infernal deities by chance draw down souls from these places to the precincts of Acheron, as wing-footed stags are often thought to draw the tribes of creeping creatures from their holes by the breath of their nostrils.b Learn how far from true reasoning that is driven away; for I am now striving to speak of the true facts.
769In the first place, I say this, as I have said
often before,c that in the earth are elements of every kind of thing: many (which belong to food) being useful to life, and many such as can strike us with wholesome disease and make death come quickly. And I have poisonous. shown before that different things are better suited to different animals for purposes of life, on account of their unlike nature and unlike interweavings of structure and primary shapes. Many pernicious elements pass through the ears, many make their way into
Footnotes
aAthena had entrusted to the three daughters of Cecrops a chest containing the infant Erichthonius with instructions not to open it, which of course they did. A crow saw this and reported it to the goddess, who, angry at the news, banished all crows from the Acropolis.
bFor this belief cf. Pliny, HN 8.32.118, 28.42.149, Martial 12.29.5, Aelian, NA 2.9, Oppian, Cyn. 2.233-241, Isidorus, Orig. 12.1.18. 12.29.5, Aelian, NA 2.9, Oppian, Cyn. 2.233-241, Isidorus, Orig.12.1.18.
cCf. 1.809-822, 2.398-477, 4.633-672.
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insinuant naris infesta atque aspera tactu,
nec sunt multa parum tactu vitanda neque autem
780aspectu fugienda saporeque tristia quae sint.
Deinde videre licet quam multae sint homini res
acriter infesto sensu spurcaeque gravesque.
arboribus primum certis gravis umbra tributa
usque adeo, capitis faciant ut saepe dolores,
785siquis eas subter iacuit prostratus in herbis.
est etiam magnis Heliconis montibus arbos
floris odore hominem taetro consueta necare.
scilicet haec ideo terris ex omnia surgunt,
multa modis multis multarum semina rerum
790quod permixta gerit tellus discretaque tradit.
nocturnumque recens extinctum lumen ubi acri
nidore offendit nares, consopit ibidem,
concidere et spumas qui morbo mittere suevit.
castoreoque gravi mulier sopita recumbit,
795et manibus nitidum teneris opus effluit ei,
tempore eo si odoratast quo menstrua solvit.
multaque praeterea languentia membra per artus
solvunt atque animam labefactant sedibus intus.
denique si calidis etiam cunctere lavabris
800plenior et fueris, solio ferventis aquai
quam facile in medio fit uti des saepe ruinas!
carbonumque gravis vis atque odor insinuatur
quam facile in cerebrum, nisi aquam praecepimus
ante!
at cum membra hominis percepit fervida febris,
Footnotes
800et fueris attributed by recent editors to Wakefield, but first printed by Naugerius, whom Gifanius and Fay follow: efflueris OQP: et lueris Diels
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the very nostrils noxious and rough to the touch; and not a few exist which the touch must avoid and sight must shun and such as are unpleasant in taste.
781Again, you may see how many things have for
man a violently noxious sensation, being loathsome and dangerous. Firstly, certain treesa have a shade so dangerous that they often cause headache, if one has lain beneath stretched out on the herbage. There is also in the great mountains of Helicon a tree, which is accustomed to kill men by the vile stench of its flower. You may be sure that the reason why all these things rise from the soil is that the earth has many seeds of many things which she holds mixed up in many ways and separates apart before passing them on. And when a night-light newly extinguished meets
the nostrils with a sharp smell, it stupefies on the spot one who is accustomed to fall and foam at the mouth through disease.b The heavy scent of castorc
makes a woman fall back asleep, dropping the dainty work from her tender hands, if she has smelt it at the time of her monthly courses. And many other things besides loosen the languid limbs all through the frame and shake the spirit in its habitations within. Again, if you should ever tarry long in the hot baths
after a full meal, how easily you often collapse in the middle of the bath of hot water! And how easily the strong heavy fumes of charcoal creep into the
brain, unless we have taken water before! But when a burning fever is in possession of a man’s limbs, then
Footnotes
aJuniper (Virgil, Eel. 10.76), box and walnut (Pliny, HN 16.16.70, 17.12.89).
bEpilepsy (cf. 3.487-505).
cA strong-smelling, reddish-brown liquid obtained from two small pyriform sacs (sometimes wrongly thought to be testicles) in the groin of the beaver. It was used both as a medicine and in the preparation of perfumes.
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805tum fit odor vini plagae mactabilis instar.
nonne vides etiam terra quoque sulpur in ipsa
gignier et taetro concrescere odore bitumen?
denique ubi argenti venas aurique sequuntur,
terrai penitus scrutantes abdita ferro,
810qualis expiret Scaptensula subter odores?
quidve mali fit ut exhalent aurata metalla?
quas hominum reddunt facies qualisque colores?
nonne vides audisve perire in tempore parvo
quam soleant et quam vitai copia desit,
quos opere in tali cohibet vis magna necessis?
hos igitur tellus omnis exaestuat aestus
expiratque foras in apertum promptaque caeli.
Sic et Averna loca alitibus summittere debent
mortiferam vim, de terra quae surgit in auras,
820ut spatium caeli quadam de parte venenet,
quo simul ac primum pennis delata sit ales,
impediatur ibi caeco correpta veneno,
ut cadat e regione loci, qua derigit aestus.
quo cum conruit, hic eadem vis illius aestus
825reliquias vitae membris ex omnibus aufert.
quippe etenim primo quasi quendam conciet aestum;
posterius fit uti, cum iam cecidere veneni
in fontis ipsos, ibi sit quoque vita vomenda
propterea quod magna mali fit copia circum.
830Fit quoque ut interdum vis haec atque aestus
Averni
aera, qui inter avis cumquest terramque locatus,
Footnotes
815necessis Lachmann: necessest OBL could perhaps be retained with a full stop after it and (as in Lambinus’ text) a question mark after magna = “you must see” (cf. 3.962): necesse est QAF: necesse (as an adverb) Ernout tentatively
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the odour of wine has the effect of a deadly blow. Do you not see also that sulphur is produced in the earth itself, and asphalt grows together in lumps with its filthy smell? Again, when they follow veins
of silver and gold, rummaging with their tools the innermost secret places of the earth, what smells Scaptensulaa exhales from below! Or what mischief do gold mines breathe out, what do they make men look like, what colours! Do you not see or hear in how short a time they are accustomed to perish, how their vital force fails, who are held fast in such work as this by the great constraint of necessity?b All these streams therefore the earth streams out and breathes forth into the open and ready space of the sky.
818In this way also the Avernian places must send
up to the birds the deadly power which rises from earth into the air, to poison some part of the space heaven; so that, as soon as the bird has winged its way thither, it may be caught by the unseen poison and checked there, and so may fall straight down to the place where the exhalation directs it. And when it has fallen there, then the same force of this exhalation takes from all the members what remains of life. For at first indeed it seems to excite in them a sort of giddinessc; afterwards, when they have fallen into the very fountains of poison, in that place life also has to be vomited forth, because there is so great a store of mischief around them.
830It happens also at times that this power and
exhalation of Avernus strikes apart all the air that
Footnotes
aA town in Thrace celebrated for its mines.
bThe miners were slaves.
cThat aestus has two senses, exhalation and giddiness, seems to make the explanation more credible. Naturally aestus causes aestus.
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discutiat, prope uti locus hic linquatur inanis.
cuius ubi e regione loci venere volantes,
claudicat extemplo pinnarum nisus inanis
835et conamen utrimque alarum proditur omne.
hic ubi nixari nequeunt insistereque alis,
scilicet in terram delabi pondere cogit
natura, et vacuum prope iam per inane iacentes
dispergunt animas per caulas corporis omnis.
840Frigidior porro in puteis aestate fit umor,
rarescit quia terra calore et, semina si qua
forte vaporis habet proprie, dimittit in auras.
quo magis est igitur tellus effeta calore,
fit quoque frigidior qui in terrast abditus umor.
845frigore cum premitur porro omnis terra coitque
et quasi concrescit, fit scilicet ut coeundo
exprimat in puteos si quem gerit ipsa calorem.
Esse apud Hammonis fanum fons luce diurna
frigidus, et calidus nocturno tempore, fertur.
850hunc homines fontem nimis admirantur, et acri
sole putant subter terras fervescere partim,
nox ubi terribili terras caligine texit.
Footnotes
839A lacuna after this line assumed by most editors since Lachmann, who supposes that a page of the archetype had dropped out, the main arguments for a lacuna being that porro could not introduce an entirely new topic, and that a comment of Servius on Virgil, G. 4.51 implies that Lucr.’s explanation of temperature in wells was part of a longer passage. However, the case for a lacuna cannot be regarded as proved: see Ernout and Büchner; also U. Pizzani, II problema del testo e della composizione del DRN di Lucrezio 101 ff.
Page number 556
De Rerum Natura
lies between birds and the earth, so that an almost
empty pocket is left here. And when they have come flying straight over this place, the beat of their wings suddenly goes halting and ineffective, and all wings. the effort of the pinions on either side is wasted. In this case, when they cannot find rest or support on their wings, nature assuredly forces them to fall down to the earth by their own weight, and through this almost empty space they, as they now lie, disperse abroad their souls through all the pores of the body.
840Furthermore, water grows colder in wells when
it is summer, because the earth is rarefied by the heat and sends abroad into the air any seeds of heat which it has of its own. The more therefore the earth is summer, exhausted of its heat, the colder becomes that water which is hidden in the earth. When again all the earth is crushed by cold and congeals and, as it were, the air; grows together, the result naturally is that by congealing it presses out into the wells any heat it has in itself.
848By the shrine of Ammona there is said to be
a spring, which is cold in the daylight and hot in the season of night. This spring men wonder at overmuch, and some think that it is the fierce sun under and hot by the earth that makes it boil, when night has covered
Footnotes
aAn Egyptian god whom the Greeks identified with Zeus, the Romans with Jupiter. The strange spring at his oracular shrine in the desert about 300 miles west of the Nile is described by Herodotus 4.181.3-4 and many later writers.
Page number 557
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Lucretius
quod nimis a verast longe ratione remotum.
quippe ubi sol nudum contractans corpus aquai
855non quierit calidum supera de reddere parte,
cum superum lumen tanto fervore fruatur,
qui queat hic subter tam crasso corpore terram
percoquere umorem et calido satiare vapore?
praesertim cum vix possit per saepta domorum
860insinuare suum radiis ardentibus aestum.
Quae ratiost igitur? nimirum terra magis quod
rara tenet circum fontem quam cetera tellus,
multaque sunt ignis prope semina corpus aquai.
hoc ubi roriferis terram nox obruit undis,
865extemplo penitus frigescit terra coitque.
hac ratione fit ut, tamquam compressa manu sit,
exprimat in fontem quae semina cumque habet ignis,
quae calidum faciunt laticis tactum atque vaporem.
inde ubi sol radiis terram dimovit obortus
870et rarefecit calido miscente vapore,
rursus in antiquas redeunt primordia sedes
ignis, et in terram cedit calor omnis aquai.
frigidus hanc ob rem fit fons in luce diurna.
Praeterea solis radiis iactatur aquai
875umor et in lucem tremulo rarescit ab aestu;
propterea fit uti quae semina cumque habet ignis
dimittat, quasi saepe gelum, quod continet in se,
mittit et exsolvit glaciem nodosque relaxat.
Frigidus est etiam fons, supra quem sita saepe
Footnotes
858satiare Codex Vaticanus 1954: soclare O QU: sociare F: foculare Merrill (1917) tentatively: suffire P. Friedländer, AJPhil. 62 (1941) 34
Page number 558
De Rerum Natura
the earth with terrifying blackness. But this is very far removed from true reasoning. For when the sun, acting upon the exposed body of water, was unable to make it hot on its upper part, although his light above is possessed of heat so great, how could he when under so gross a body of earth boil the water through the earth and soak it with warming heat? Especially when he can scarcely make his warmth pass through the walls of a house for all his burning rays.
861How comes it then? Assuredly because the
ground keeps more porous about the spring than the rest of the earth, and there are many seeds of fire near the body of water. Therefore when night has overwhelmed the earth with its dewy waves, the earth suddenly grows cold to the heart and contracts; in this fashion, as though compressed by a hand, it presses out into the spring whatever seeds of fire it has, which cause the warm touch and heat of the water. Next when the sun rising has stirred apart
the earth with his rays and made it porous as his warming heat mingles with it, the first-beginnings of fire return to their ancient places, and all the heat’ warmth of the water passes into the earth. For this reason the spring becomes cold in the daylight.
874Besides, the fluid of the water is tossed about
by the sun’s rays, and the quivering heat makes it the porous at the coming of light; for which reason it discharges all its seeds of fire, just as water often discharges the cold which it contains, and melts the ice and loosens its knots.
879There is also a cold spring,a over which if tow
Footnotes
aAt Dodona. Cf. Pliny, HN 2.103.228.
Page number 559
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
880stuppa iacit flammam concepto protinus igni,
taedaque consimili ratione accensa per undas
conlucet, quocumque natans impellitur auris:
nimirum quia sunt in aqua permulta vaporis
semina, de terraque necessest funditus ipsa
885ignis corpora per totum consurgere fontem
et simul exspirare foras exireque in auras,
non ita multa tamen, calidus queat ut fieri fons.
praeterea dispersa foras erumpere cogit
vis per aquam subito sursumque ea conciliare.
Quod genus endo marist Aradi fons dulcis aquai
891qui scatit et salsas circum se dimovet undas;
et multis aliis praebet regionibus aequor
utilitatem opportunam sitientibu’ nautis,
quod dulcis inter salsas intervomit undas.
895sic igitur per eum possunt erumpere fontem
et scatere illa foras, in stuppam semina quae cum
conveniunt aut in taedai corpore adhaerent,
ardescunt facile extemplo, quia multa quoque in se
semina habent ignis stuppae taedaeque natantes.
900Nonne vides etiam, nocturna ad lumina linum
nuper ubi extinctum admoveas, accendier ante
quam tetigit flammam, taedamque pari ratione?
multaque praeterea prius ipso tacta vapore
eminus ardescunt quam comminus imbuat ignis.
905hoc igitur fieri quoque in illo fonte putandumst.
Quod superest, agere incipiam quo foedere fiat
naturae, lapis hic ut ferrum ducere possit,
Footnotes
889conciliare OQUP, Wakefield who explains “in concilium venire, coire: usu intransitivo, ut passim noster adsolet”: conciliari Lambinus
Page number 560
De Rerum Natura
be held it often throws out flame, catching fire at
once, and a torch in like manner is kindled and shines amidst the waters, wherever it floats driven by the winds: surely because there are in the water very many seeds of heat, and from deep down in the earth itself bodies of fire must rise through the whole spring and at the same time be exhaled and come out into the air, yet not so many as to make the spring hot. Besides, there is a force that compels
them suddenly to break out through the water dispersed abroad, and then gather together above it.
890This is like the spring of Aradusa in the sea, up fresh which splashes out sweet water and keeps away the salt waters around; and in many another region the sea offers timely blessings to sailors athirst, by vomiting out sweet waters amid the salt. In this way then those seeds can burst out through the other spring and splash out; and when they meet together on the tow or adhere to the body of the torch, they easily blaze up in a moment, because the tow and floating torches also have many seeds of fire within them.
900Do you not see also that, if you move a
wick newly extinguished near a night-light, it kindles before touching the flame, and the same with a torch? And many other things, touched just by the heat, blaze up at some distance before the fire comes close and drenches it. This then is what we must believe to happen in that spring too.
906To pass on, I will begin to discuss by what law
of nature it comes about that iron can be attracted
Footnotes
aAn island off the coast of Phoenicia. Cf. Pliny, HN 2.103.227, 5.31.128.
Page number 561
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
quern Magneta vocant patrio de nomine Grai,
Magnetum quia fit patriis in finibus ortus.
910hunc homines lapidem mirantur; quippe catenam
saepe ex anellis reddit pendentibus ex se.
quinque etenim licet interdum pluresque videre
ordine demisso levibus iactarier auris,
unus ubi ex uno dependet subter adhaerens,
915ex alioque alius lapidis vim vinclaque noscit:
usque adeo permananter vis pervalet eius.
Hoc genus in rebus firmandumst multa prius quam
ipsius rei rationem reddere possis,
et nimium longis ambagibus est adeundum;
920quo magis attentas auris animumque reposco.
Principio omnibus ab rebus, quascumque videmus,
perpetuo fluere ac mitti spargique necessest
corpora quae feriant oculos visumque lacessant.
perpetuoque fluunt certis ab rebus odores;
925frigus ut a fluviis, calor ab sole, aestus ab undis
aequoris exesor moerorum litora propter;
nec varii cessant sonitus manare per auras;
denique in os salsi venit umor saepe saporis,
cum mare versamur propter, dilutaque contra
934cum tuimur misceri absinthia, tangit amaror.
935usque adeo omnibus ab rebus res quaeque fluenter
930fertur et in cunctas dimittitur undique partis,
931nec mora nec requies interdatur ulla fluendi,
Footnotes
909fit OQU: sit P, perhaps rightly
Page number 562
De Rerum Natura
by that stone which the Greeks call magnet from the name of its home, because it is found within the national boundaries of the Magnetes.a This stone astonishes men, because it often makes a chain out of little rings hanging from it. For you may sometimes see five or more hanging in a string and swayed by a light breeze, where one hangs from another attached beneath it, and one from another learns the stone’s power and attraction: to such a distance does its power hold force, oozing through and through.
917In matters of this sort many principles have to
be established before you can give a reason for the thing itself, and you must approach by exceedingly long and roundabout ways; accordingly I crave all the greater attention of ears and mind.
921In the first place, from everything that we see
there must of necessity continually flow and discharge and scatter bodies which strike our eyes and excite vision. There is a continual flow of odours from thing, certain things, as there is of cold from rivers, heat from the sun, spray from the sea-waves, that devourer of walls beside the shore. Manifold sounds also ooze through the air without ever slackening. Again, a moisture salt to the taste often comes into our mouth when we walk by the sea, and when we see wormwood being mixed with water in our presence, we have a sense of bitterness. So true is it that from all things the different qualities pass off in a flow, and disperse in every direction around; there is no delay, no rest to interrupt the flow, since we
Footnotes
aThe inhabitants of Magnesia ad Sipylum in Lydia (not to be confused with Magnesia ad Maeandrum in Ionia). The magnet had interested Greek philosophers from the beginning: Thales attributed its behaviour to the presence of a soul. Empedocles and Democritus, before Epicurus, explained its power by means of a theory of emanations. As Pius and Lambinus saw, Lucr.’s description in 910-916 was almost certainly influenced by Plato, Ion 533 d-e.
Page number 563
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
932perpetuo quoniam sentimus, et omnia semper
933935cernere odorari licet et sentire sonare.
Nunc omnis repetam quam raro corpore sint res
commemorare; quod in primo quoque carmine claret.
quippe etenim, quamquam multas hoc pertinet ad res
noscere, cum primis hanc ad rem protinus ipsam,
940qua de disserere adgredior, firmare necessest
nil esse in promptu nisi mixtum corpus inani.
principio fit ut in speluncis saxa superna
sudent umore et guttis manantibu’ stillent.
manat item nobis e toto corpore sudor,
crescit barba pilique per omnia membra, per artus.
946diditur in venas cibus omnis, auget alitque
corporis extremas quoque partis unguiculosque.
frigus item transire per aes calidumque vaporem
sentimus, sentimus item transire per aurum
950atque per argentum, cum pocula plena tenemus.
denique per dissaepta domorum saxea voces
pervolitant, permanat odor frigusque vaposque
ignis, qui ferri quoque vim penetrare suëvit.
denique qua circum caeli lorica coercet
. . . . . . .
morbida visque simul, cum extrinsecus insinuatur;
956et tempestates terra caeloque coortae
in caelum terrasque remotae iure facessunt,
quandoquidem nil est nisi raro corpore nexum.
huc accedit uti non omnia, quae iaciuntur
Footnotes
942superna OQ UP: superne Lachmann
Page number 564
De Rerum Natura
constantly feel it, and we can at all times see all things, smell them, and perceive their sound.a
936Now I will repeat once more of how porous a
body all things consist; which is also made clear in my first book.b For in truth, although to understand this is of importance for many subjects, with none more than this very one which I am about to discuss is it necessary to establish at the beginning that there is nothing before us but body mixed with void.
First of all, in caverns the rocks above sweat with moisture and trickle with oozing drops. Sweat oozes
also from our whole body; the beard grows, and hairs over all our limbs and our frame. Food is distributed
abroad into all the veins, increasing and nourishing even the extreme parts of the body and the nails. Cold also and warming heat we feel to pass through bronze, we feel them likewise to pass through gold and through silver, when we hold full cups.c
Again, in a house voices flit through dividing walls
of stone, smell oozes through, and cold and the heat of fire, which is also accustomed to penetrate iron for all its strength. Again, where the corslet of heaven encompasses us, [the bodies which make clouds
and storm-rack penetrate],d and the power of disease at the same time, when it comes in from without; and tempests arising from earth and sky quite naturally move away withdrawn into sky or earth, since nothing exists that does not have a porous texture.
959Moreover, not all bodies that are cast off from
Footnotes
a923-935 = 4.217-229, with a few changes.
b1.329-369.
cCf. 1.494-496, 3.912-913.
dSee critical note on 954.
Page number 565
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
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Lucretius
960corpora cumque ab rebus, eodem praedita sensu
atque eodem pacto rebus sint omnibus apta.
principio terram sol excoquit et facit are,
at glaciem dissolvit et altis montibus altas
extructasque nives radiis tabescere cogit.
965denique cera liquefit in eius posta vapore.
ignis item liquidum facit aes aurumque resolvit,
at coria et carnem trahit et conducit in unum.
umor aquae porro ferrum condurat ab igni,
at coria et carnem mollit durata calore.
970barbigeras oleaster eo iuvat usque capellas,
effluat ambrosiam quasi vero et nectare tinctus;
qua nil est homini quod amariu’ fronde virescat.
denique amaracinum fugitat sus et timet omne
unguentum; nam saetigeris subus acre venenumst,
975quod nos interdum tamquam recreare videtur.
at contra nobis caenum taeterrima cum sit
spurcities, eadem subus haec iucunda videtur,
insatiabiliter toti ut volvantur ibidem.
Hoc etiam superest, ipsa quam dicere de re
980 adgredior quod dicendum prius esse videtur.
multa foramina cum variis sint reddita rebus,
dissimili inter se natura praedita debent
esse et habere suam naturam quaeque viasque.
quippe etenim varii sensus animantibus insunt,
985quorum quisque suam proprie rem percipit in se;
nam penetrare alio sonitus alioque saporem
987cernimus e sucis, alio nidoris odores.
991990praeterea manare aliud per saxa videtur,
Footnotes
971ambrosiam Avancius: ambrosias OQUP, retained as a Greek genitive by Diels, Martin, Bϋchner: ambrosia Marullus
Page number 566
De Rerum Natura
things are endowed with the same effect on the senses,
or suited for all things in the same way. In the first place, the sun bakes the earth and makes it dry, but he melts ice and with his rays compels to thaw snow piled up high on the high mountains. Again, when placed in his heat wax liquefies. Fire also makes
bronze melt and dissolves gold, but skins and flesh it contracts and shrivels up. The liquid of water again
hardens iron taken from the fire, but skins and flesh it softens after they have been hardened by heat. The wild olive gives as great a delight to the bearded
nanny-goat as if it were really running with ambrosia and bathed in nectar; yet there is no green growth which is more bitter to man than this foliage. Again, the pig flees from oil of marjoram and fears every kind of
unguent; for that which sometimes seems to give us new life is rank poison to the bristly pig. But on the other hand, although mud is to us the most hateful
filth, the same gives pleasure to swine, so much so that they cannot have enough of rolling all over in it.
979Another thing yet remains which it seems best
to say before I approach my proper theme. Since there are many pores to be found in different things, they must be endowed with different natures, each having its own nature and its own passages. For in truth there are different senses in living creatures, each of which perceives in itself the object proper to it; for we observe sound to penetrate by one sense, taste from flavours by another, by another again the smell of odours. Besides, one thing is seen to ooze
Page number 567
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
992atque aliud lignis, aliud transire per aurum,
993argentoque foras aliud vitroque meare.
994nam fluere hac species, illac calor ire videtur,
995atque aliis aliud citius transmittere eadem.
996995scilicet id fieri cogit natura viarum
997multimodis varians, ut paulo ostendimus ante,
990propter dissimilem naturam textaque rerum.
Quapropter, bene ubi haec confirmata atque locata
omnia constiterint nobis praeposta parata,
quod superest, facile hinc ratio reddetur et omnis
1001causa patefiet quae ferri pelliciat vim.
Principio fluere e lapide hoc permulta necessest
semina, sive aestum qui discutit aera plagis
inter qui lapidem ferrumque est cumque locatus.
1005hoc ubi inanitur spatium multusque vacefit
in medio locus, extemplo primordia ferri
in vacuum prolapsa cadunt coniuncta, fit utque
anulus ipse sequatur eatque ita corpore toto.
nec res ulla magis primoribus ex elementis
1010indupedita suis arte conexa cohaeret
quam validi ferri natura et frigidus horror.
quo minus est mirum, quod †dicitur ex elementis†
corpora si nequeunt e ferro plura coorta
in vacuum ferri, quin anulus ipse sequatur;
1015quod facit, et sequitur, donec pervenit ad ipsum
iam lapidem caecisque in eo compagibus haesit.
hoc fit idem cunctas in partis: unde vacefit
cumque locus, sive e transverso sive superne,
Footnotes
1007utque Marullus: utqui OQUP, Merrill (1917), Bailey (O.C.T.)
Page number 568
De Rerum Natura
through stone, another through wood, another to pass through gold, another to find its way out through silver or glass; for through glass, as we see, images flow, through silver warmth, and one thing is seen to pass through more quickly than another by the same way. Assuredly the nature of the passages compels this to happen, for it varies in manifold ways, as we have shown a little while since, on account of the different nature and texture of the things.
998When therefore all these principles have been
fully established and laid down ready and prepared for us, what remains is easy: from these to deduce the explanation and to make clear the whole cause which attracts the mass of iron.
1002In the first place, it must be that very many seeds flow out from this stone, or, let us say, a current which by its blows beats away all the air that lies between the stone and the iron. When this space is made empty and a large place becomes vacant
between, at once the first-beginnings of the iron gliding forward into the empty space fall in a body together, and the result is that the ring itself follows and passes in this way as a whole. And indeed there
is nothing that has its first elements more intertwined, nothing more closely connected together and coherent, than the substance of strong iron with its chilly roughness. For this reason it is less surprising . . .a if the large number of bodies emanating from the iron cannot move into the void without the ring itself following; this it does, and follows until it has reached that very stone and clung to it by unseen attachments. The same thing happens in all directions: wherever an empty space is formed, whether on the sides or above, the neighbouring bodies at
Footnotes
aOn the textual uncertainty in 1012, see critical note.
Page number 569
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
corpora continuo in vacuum vicina feruntur;
1020quippe agitantur enim plagis aliunde, nec ipsa
sponte sua sursum possunt consurgere in auras.
huc acceedit item, quare queat id magis esse,
haec quoque res adiumento, motusque iuvatur,
quod, simul a fronte est anelli rarior aer
1025factus inanitusque locus magis ac vacuatus,
1033continuo fit uti qui post est cumque locatus
1026aer a tergo quasi provehat atque propellat.
1027semper enim circumpositus res verberat aer;
1028sed tali fit uti propellat tempore ferrum,
10291030 parte quod ex una spatium vacat et capit in se.
1030hic, tibi quem memoro, per crebra foramina ferri
1031parvas ad partis subtiliter insinuatus,
1032trudit et inpellit, quasi navem velaque ventus.
denique res omnes debent in corpore habere
1035aera, quandoquidem raro sunt corpore et aer
omnibus est rebus circumdatus adpositusque.
hic igitur, penitus qui in ferrost abditus aer,
sollicito motu semper iactatur eoque
verberat anellum dubio procul et ciet intus;
1040scilicet ille eodem fertur quo praecipitavit
iam semel et partem in vacuam conamina sumpsit.
Fit quoque ut a lapide hoc ferri natura recedat
interdum, fugere atque sequi consueta vicissim.
exultare etiam Samothracia ferrea vidi
1045et ramenta simul ferri furere intus ahenis
in scaphiis, lapis hic Magnes cum subditus esset:
usque adeo fugere a saxo gestire videtur.
Footnotes
1023motusque Brieger: motuque OQ UP
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De Rerum Natura
once are carried into the void; for they are impelled by blows from other directions,a and they cannot of their own accord rise up into the air.
1022Moreover, to make the process easier, this matter also is added as an aid to the ring’s movement, namely that as soon as the air is made thinner in front of the ring and the space more void and empty, it follows at once that all the air that is behind the
ring pushes it forward as it were and propels it for ward from the rear. For the air all round is for ever buffeting things; but the reason why it propels the iron at that moment is that on one side there is empty space which receives it. This air that I speak of insinuates itself in subtle fashion through the many interstices in the iron into its small particles, thrusting and driving it on as the wind drives a ship with its sails.b Again, all things must have air in their body,
since they are of porous structure, and air surrounds and adjoins all things. This air, therefore, which is hidden in the inmost parts of the iron, is always being agitated with restless movement, and therefore beats the ring without doubt and sets it moving from within; the ring is assuredly carried in that direction whither it has once flung itself forward and taken its impulse towards the void.
1042Sometimes also the iron recedes from this
stone, being accustomed to flee and follow in turns, I have even seen Samothracian ironc dance, and at the same time iron filings go mad in a bronze bowl, when this magnet stone was applied underneath: so eager seems the iron to escape from the stone. When
Footnotes
aThere are no resisting blows from the void place, hence the blows from other quarters drive the particles into it; an automatic motion is impossible.
bOf. 4.897.
cProbably iron rings used as amulets, called after Samothrace because they were first made there (Lambinus). Wakefield quotes Isidorus, Orig. 19.32.5 and refers to Pliny, HN 33.6.23.
Page number 571
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
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Lucretius
aere interposito discordia tanta creatur
propterea quia nimirum prius aestus ubi aeris
1050praecepit ferrique vias possedit apertas,
posterior lapidis venit aestus et omnia plena
invenit in ferro neque habet qua tranet ut ante.
cogitur offensare igitur pulsareque fluctu
ferrea texta suo; quo pacto respuit ab se
1055atque per aes agitat sine eo quod saepe resorbet.
Illud in his rebus mirari mitte, quod aestus
non valet e lapide hoc alias impellere item res.
pondere enim fretae partim stant: quod genus
aurum;
at partim raro quia sunt cum corpore, ut aestus
1060pervolet intactus, nequeunt inpellier usquam:
lignea materies in quo genere esse videtur.
interutrasque igitur ferri natura locata
aeris ubi accepit quaedam corpuscula, tum fit
inpellant ut earn Magnesia flumine saxa.
1065Nec tamen haec ita sunt aliarum rerum aliena,
ut mihi multa parum genere ex hoc suppeditentur
quae memorare queam inter se singlariter apta.
saxa vides primum sola colescere calce.
glutine materies taurino iungitur una
1070ut vitio venae tabularum saepius hiscant
quam laxare queant compages taurea vincla.
vitigeni latices aquai fontibus audent
misceri, cum pix nequeat gravis et leve olivom.
1074purpureusque colos conchyli iungitur una
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the bronze comes between, all this quarrel is caused, because doubtless when the current from the bronze has come first and taken possession of the open channels of the iron, afterwards comes the current
from the stone to find all full in the iron, and no way to swim through as it had before: it is therefore compelled to beat and buffet the iron texture with its flood; and in this way it rejects from itself and sets moving through the bronze that which without the bronze it often sucks back.
1056In this connexion, you must not allow yourself
to feel surprise that the current from this stone has not the power to propel other things also. For some stand firm by their weight, of which kind is gold; while others, because they are of a body so porous that the current flies through unresisted, cannot be propelled anywhere, in which kind the substance of
wood is seen to be. Between the two, then, nature of iron, and when it receives certain minute bodies of bronze, the result is that the magnet stones tides have drive it by their flow.
1065But yet these properties are not so alien to
other things that I could not find good store of similar examples to hand which I might mention, of things that have affinity for each other and for nothing else. Firstly you see stones cemented by mortar
alone. Wood is joined together with bull’s glue,a so that the grain of boards often gapes open with a crack before the joints of the bull’s glue loosen their hold. The juice of the grape is ready to mingle with spring-water,b
when heavy pitch and light olive-oil cannot.c The colour of the sea-purple shell unites with the
Footnotes
aAccording to Pliny, HN 28.17.236, the best glue is made from bulls’ ears and genitals.
bFor the scansion of aquai (1072), cf. 552 and see note there.
c“leve dixit oleum, quia non subsidit, immo exstat, et super insidet humoribus omnibus: . . . contra picem gravem, quia subsidit “(Lambinus).
Page number 573
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Lucretius
corpore cum lanae, dirimi qui non queat usquam—
non si Neptuni fluctu renovare operam des,
non mare si totum velit eluere omnibus undis.
denique non auro res aurum copulat una,
1079aerique aes plumbo fit uti iungatur ab albo?
cetera iam quam multa licet reperire! quid ergo?
nec tibi tam longis opus est ambagibus usquam,
nec me tam multam hic operam consumere par est,
sed breviter paucis praestat comprendere multa:
quorum ita texturae ceciderunt mutua contra,
1086ut cava conveniant plenis haec illius illa
huiusque inter se, iunctura haec optima constat.
est etiam quasi ut anellis hamisque plicata
inter se quaedam possint coplata teneri;
quod magis in lapide hoc fieri ferroque videtur.
1090Nunc ratio quae sit morbis, aut unde repente
mortiferam possit cladem conflare coorta
morbida vis hominum generi pecudumque catervis,
expediam. primum multarum semina rerum
esse supra docui quae sint vitalia nobis,
1095et contra quae sint morbo mortique necessest
multa volare. ea cum casu sunt forte coorta
et perturbarunt caelum, fit morbidus aer.
atque ea vis omnis morborum pestilitasque
aut extrinsecus, ut nubes nebulaeque, superne
1100per caelum veniunt, aut ipsa saepe coorta
Page number 574
De Rerum Natura
substance of wool so that it can nowhere be separated, not if you do your best to restore it with Neptune’s flood, not if the whole sea would wash it out with all his waters. Again, is there not only one thinga that solders gold to gold, and is not bronze joined to
bronze by tin? How many other examples of the same sort are to be found! But to what purpose? You do not need anywhere ways so long and so round about, and I must not use so much labour on this point, but it is best briefly to comprise many things in a few words: when the textures of things have
fallen into such a relation to each other that the emptiness empty places of this answer to the full places of that, the empty places of that to the full of this, here is the best conjunction. It is also possible that some pairs may be held in coupling as if they were linked with sort of rings and hooks, which seems to be rather what happens between this stone and iron.
1090Now I will explain the reason of diseases, and
from what place the force of disease can suddenly gather together, and blow together a storm of deadly destruction for mankind and for flocks and herds. Firstly, I have shown aboveb that there are many seeds of things which support our life, and on the
other hand there must be many flying aboutc which make for disease and death. When these by chance or accident have gathered together, and thrown the heavens into turmoil, the air becomes diseased. And all these diseases in their power and pestilence either come from withoutd down through the sky, like clouds and mists, or often they gather together and
Footnotes
aThe reference is to chrysocoll Χρυσόκολλα = “gold-solder,” usually identified with borax.
b769-780.
cCf. 30, and see note on 1-2.
dFrom outside the world: cf. 483-494, 954-955.
Page number 575
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
de terra surgunt, ubi putorem umida nactast
intempestivis pluviisque et solibus icta.
Nonne vides etiam caeli novitate et aquarum
temptari procul a patria quicumque domoque
1105adveniunt ideo quia longe discrepitant res?
nam quid Brittannis caelum differre putamus,
et quod in Aegypto est qua mundi claudicat axis,
quidve quod in Ponto est differre, et Gadibus atque
usque ad nigra virum percocto saecla colore?
1110quae cum quattuor inter se diversa videmus
quattuor a ventis et caeli partibus esse,
tum color et facies hominum distare videntur
largiter et morbi generatim saecla tenere.
est elephas morbus qui propter flumina Nili
gignitur Aegypto in media neque praeterea usquam.
1116Atthide temptantur gressus, oculique in Achaeis
finibus. inde aliis alius locus est inimicus
partibus ac membris; varius concinnat id aer.
Proinde ubi se caelum quod nobis forte alienum
1120commovet, atque aer inimicus serpere coepit,
ut nebula ac nubes paulatim repit, et omne
qua graditur conturbat et immutare coactat;
fit quoque ut, in nostrum cum venit denique caelum,
corrumpat reddatque sui simile atque alienum.
1125Haec igitur subito clades nova pestilitasque
aut in aquas cadit aut fruges persidit in ipsas
aut alios hominum pastus pecudumque cibatus,
aut etiam suspensa manet vis aere in ipso,
et, cum spirantes mixtas hinc ducimus auras,
Footnotes
1106putamus OQ UP: putatis De Syllabis ascribed to Sergius in Codex Vat. Reg. Lat. 1587, fol. 19v (see C. E. Finch, CPhil. 62 [1967] 261-262)
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De Rerum Natura
rise from the earth itself, when through damp it has
become putrescent, being smitten out of due time by rains and suns.
1103Do you not see also that novelty of climate
and water affects any who travel far from home and country, just because there is a great difference in these things? For what difference must we suppose to be between the climate of Britain and that of Egypt where the world’s pole leans aslant?a What between that which is in Pontus, and at Gades right onwards to the tribes of black men with their roasted skin? And as we see these four climates to be diverse under the four winds and quarters of heaven, so the colour and aspect of men are seen to be widely different and diseases to possess the nations after their kind. There is the elephant diseaseb which is found by the river of Nile in mid-Egypt and nowhere else. In Attica the feet are attacked, the eyes in the Achaean district. Hence different places are dangerous to different parts and members; the variety of air brings that about.
1119Therefore when a sky which is alien to us
happens to set itself in motion, and a dangerous air through begins to crawl about, it slowly, like cloud or the air, mist, causing commotion wherever it goes and compelling change; often also, when it has come to our sky, it corrupts it, making it like itself and alien to us.
1125Accordingly this new plague or pestilence suddenly
either falls on the waters, or settles on the corn itself or other sustenance of mankind or food beasts, or even remains as a force suspended m the air itself, and when breathing we inhale the air mixed
Footnotes
aThe reference is to the inclination of the earth’s axis, the north pole being the highest point, the south pole the lowest. Cf. Virgil, G. 1.240-241.
bElephantiasis.
Page number 577
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
1130illa quoque in corpus pariter sorbere necessest.
consimili ratione venit bubus quoque saepe
pestilitas et iam pigris balantibus aegror.
nec refert utrum nos in loca deveniamus
nobis adversa et caeli mutemus amictum,
an caelum nobis ultro natura coruptum
deferat aut aliquid quo non consuevimus uti,
quod nos adventu possit temptare recenti.
Haec ratio quondam morborum et mortifer aestus
finibus in Cecropis funestos reddidit agros
1140vastavitque vias, exhausit civibus urbem.
nam penitus veniens Aegypti finibus ortus,
aera permensus multum camposque natantis,
incubuit tandem populo Pandionis omni.
inde catervatim morbo mortique dabantur.
1145Principio caput incensum fervore gerebant
et duplicis oculos suffusa luce rubentes.
sudabant etiam fauces intrinsecus atrae
sanguine, et ulceribus vocis via saepta coibat,
atque animi interpres manabat lingua cruore
1150debilitata malis, motu gravis, aspera tactu.
Footnotes
1135ultro Avancius: vitro OQ, U corr.: vito U: ultra De Syllabis ascribed to Sergius in Codex Vat. Reg. Lat.1587, fol. 19v (C. E. Finch, CPhil, 62 [1967] 261-262)
Page number 578
De Rerum Natura
with it, this also we must likewise absorb into our body. In like manner pestilence often comes to
cattle also, distemper even to lazy bleaters. Nor does it matter whether we travel to places unwholesome for us, changing our cope of sky, or whether Nature of herself brings an infected sky to us or something we are not accustomed to experience, which by its recent coming may be able to attack us.
1138Such a cause of disease and death-bringing
current once in the realms of Cecropsa poisoned the country-side, made the roads a desert, and drained the city of men. For beginning from the innermost
parts of Egypt, and traversing a wide expanse of air and the swimming plains, it fell at length upon all the people of Pandion.b Then they were given over in troops to disease and death.
1145First they felt the head burning with heat,
the two eyes red with the fire diffused beneath. The throat also, black within, sweated blood, ulcers clogged and closed the path of the voice, and the tongue, mind’s interpreter, oozed with blood, weakened by pain, heavy to move, rough to the
Footnotes
aTraditionally the first king of Athens. Lucr.’s account of the plague of 430 b.c. is closely based on Thucydides 2.47-52. However, as H. S. Commager Jr. has shown in Harv. Stud. 62 (1957) 105-118, he sees the plague not merely as a physical disaster, but also as a moral calamity and as symbolic of man’s spiritual unenlightenment. This (a) accounts for his departures from Thuc.’s account, (b) explains why he places the passage at the end of his poem, (c) shows that his account is not indicative (as some have thought) of morbid pessimism. The idea that the unenlightened are morally diseased is common in Epicureanism (cf. e.g. Cicero, Fin. 1.18.59, Diogenes of Oenoanda fr. 3.IV.3-VI.4 Smith) and is prominent in the proem to this book (see note on 1-2), where it is emphasized that this spiritual sickness is self-inflicted and, thanks to Epicurus, can be completely cured. The truth is that the prospect of salvation and of a heaven on earth which Lucr. offers in the DRN shines with a brighter and stronger light on account of this dark and hellish picture of what life is like without the guidance of Epicurus—in much the same way that in the myth in Plato’s Phaedo the brilliance and colourfulness and beauty of life on the surface of the real earth (110 b 5 ff.) is intensified by the following account (111 c 4 ff.) of the grim subterranean regions.
bAccording to legend, king of Athens and father of Procne and Philomela.
Page number 579
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
inde ubi per fauces pectus complerat et ipsum
morbida vis in cor maestum confluxerat aegris,
omnia tum vero vitai claustra lababant.
spiritus ore foras taetrum volvebat odorem,
1155rancida quo perolent proiecta cadavera ritu.
atque animi prorsum tum vires totius, omne
languebat corpus leti iam limine in ipso.
intolerabilibusque malis erat anxius angor
adsidue comes et gemitu commixta querella.
singultusque frequens noctem per saepe diemque
1161corripere adsidue nervos et membra coactans
dissoluebat eos, defessos ante, fatigans.
Nec nimio cuiquam posses ardore tueri
corporis in summo summam fervescere partem,
1165sed potius tepidum manibus proponere tactum
et simul ulceribus quasi inustis omne rubere
corpus, ut est per membra sacer dum diditur ignis.
intima pars hominum vero flagrabat ad ossa,
1169flagrabat stomacho flamma ut fornacibus intus.
nil adeo posses cuiquam leve tenveque membris
vertere in utilitatem, at ventum et frigora semper.
in fluvios partim gelidos ardentia morbo
membra dabant nudum iacientes corpus in undas.
1178multi praecipites lymphis putealibus alte
11741175inciderunt, ipso venientes ore patente:
1175insedabiliter sitis arida, corpora mersans,
1176aequabat multum parvis umoribus imbrem.
Footnotes
1156tum Wakefield tentatively in notes: omitted by OQU: et supplied before omne by F, but juxtaposition of totius omne is effective and tum could easily hace been omitted by haplography after prorsum
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De Rerum Natura
touch. After that, when passing through the throat the fell disease had filled the chest and had flooded into the sorrowful minda of the sufferer, then indeed all the barriers of life did totter. The breath rolled out a foul stench, like the penetrating smell of rotting corpses thrown out unburied. And then all the
powers of the mind, the whole body, grew faint, being now on the very threshold of death. These intolerable sufferings were ever attended by torments of anxiety and laments mingled with moans.b Retching persisted often through night and day, constantly causing cramps in the muscles and limbs, which quite broke them up, wearying those who were already wearied out.
1163Yet you could not perceive the outermost part
of the body of anyone to be burning with excessive heat on the surface, but rather to give forth a sensation of warmth to the hand, and at the same time to be red all over with ulcers as it were burnt into it, like when the accursed firec spreads abroad over the limbs. But the inward parts in men burnt to the
bones; a flame burnt in the stomach as in a furnace. There was nothing so light or thin that you could turn it to use for their bodies; only wind and cold always. Some cast their frame burning with the
plague into cool streams, throwing the body naked into the waters. Many fell headlong from a height into wells of water, which they struck first with gaping mouth as they came. Dry thirst beyond all quenching drenched their bodies, and made a flood of water no more than a drop.
Footnotes
acor is usually taken to mean “heart” or “stomach,” but see Commager 105-107, 114-115.
b1158-1159: cf. 3.993, 6.14, 16 and see Commager 105- 107.
cCf. 660 and see, note there.
Page number 581
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
1177Nec requies erat ulla mali: defessa iacebant
corpora, mussabat tacito medicina timore,
1180quippe patentia cum totiens ardentia morbis
lumina versarent oculorum expertia somno.
Multaque praeterea mortis tum signa dabantur:
perturbata animi mens in maerore metuque,
triste supercilium, furiosus voltus et acer,
1185sollicitae porro plenaeque sonoribus aures,
creber spiritus aut ingens raroque coortus,
sudorisque madens per collum splendidus umor,
tenvia sputa minuta, croci contacta colore
salsaque, per fauces rauca vix edita tussi.
1190in manibus vero nervi trahere et tremere artus
a pedibusque minutatim succedere frigus
non dubitabat. item ad supremum denique tempus
conpressae nares, nasi primoris acumen
tenve, cavati oculi, cava tempora, frigida pellis
duraque, in ore iacens rictum, frons tenta manebat.
1196nec nimio rigida post artus morte iacebant.
octavoque fere candenti lumine solis
aut etiam nona reddebant lampade vitam.
Quorum siquis, ut est, vitarat funera leti,
1200ulceribus taetris et nigra proluvie alvi
posterius tamen hunc tabes letumque manebat,
aut etiam multus capitis cum saepe dolore
corruptus sanguis expletis naribus ibat:
huc hominis totae vires corpusque fluebat.
1205profluvium porro qui taetri sanguinis acre
exierat, tamen in nervos huic morbus et artus
ibat et in partis genitalis corporis ipsas.
Footnotes
1195in ore iacens Nonius p. 266 Lindsay: in(h)oretiacet OQU rictum Lambinus: rectum OQUF: rictu Noniusloc. cit. manebat Nonius loc. cit., A: mebat OQU: tumebat Heinsius, but one would expect the forehead to be shrunk, not swollen: perhaps tenebat (intrans. as in 862)
Page number 582
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1178Nor was there any rest from pain: out-wearied the bodies lay. Medicine muttered below
her breath, scared into silence, because no doubt they so often rolled their staring eyes, fiery with the plague and knowing no sleep.
1182And many another sign of death was then to be
seen: a mind disordered in all this sorrow and fear, a gloomy brow, a mad and fierce look, ears also troubled and full of droning, quick pants or deep breaths rising at long intervals, dank sweat streaming and shining over the neck, fine thin spittle, salt and yellow in colour, expelled with an effort through the throat by hoarse coughing. Relentlessly the sinews in the hands twitched, the limbs trembled, from the feet cold crept up by inches. At the latter end also the nostrils were compressed, the tip of the nose grew sharp, the eyes were sunken, the temples hollow, the skin cold and hard, the mouth agape and grinning, the forehead remaining tense. No long
time after the limbs lay stiff in death. On the eighth shining of the sun’s light for the most part, or even on the ninth, they gave up the ghost.
1199And if one of them, as may happen, had
escaped the destruction of death, yet afterwards by foul ulcers and a black discharge from the bowels, wasting and death still awaited him, or else a stream of corrupted blood often passed by the choked nostrils with pains in the head: into this ran all the man’s strength and substance. Moreover, he who survived this cruel flux of foul blood, yet found the disease passing into his sinews and limbs and even the genital parts. And some with the strong
Page number 583
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
et graviter partim metuentes limina leti
vivebant ferro privati parte virili,
1210et manibus sine nonnulli pedibusque manebant
in vita tamen, et perdebant lumina partim:
usque adeo mortis metus his incesserat acer.
atque etiam quosdam cepere oblivia rerum
cunctarum, neque se possent cognoscere ut ipsi.
Multaque humi cum inhumata iacerent corpora
supra
1216corporibus, tamen alituum genus atque ferarum
aut procul absiliebat, ut acrem exiret odorem,
aut, ubi gustarat, languebat morte propinqua.
nec tamen omnino temere illis solibus ulla
1220comparebat avis, nec tristia saecla ferarum
exibant silvis. languebant pleraque morbo
et moriebantur. cum primis fida canum vis
strata viis animam ponebat in omnibus aegre;
extorquebat enim vitam vis morbida membris.
Incomitata rapi certabant funera vasta.
nec ratio remedi communis certa dabatur;
nam quod ali dederat vitalis aeris auras
volvere in ore licere et caeli templa tueri,
hoc aliis erat exitio letumque parabat.
Illud in his rebus miserandum magnopere unum
1231aerumnabile erat, quod ubi se quisque videbat
implicitum morbo, morti damnatus ut esset,
deficiens animo maesto cum corde iacebat,
funera respectans animam amittebat ibidem.
Footnotes
1225transferred after 1246 by Lachmann (not Bentley, as stated by some recent editors), perhaps rightly
Page number 584
De Rerum Natura
fear they had for the threshold of death went on living after they had severed the manly part with a knife, some without hands or feet remained in life or his memory
for all that, some lost their eyes: so deeply had the keen fear of death possessed them. And there were others who fell into oblivion of all things, so that they could not even tell who they were.
1215And although bodies on bodies lay unburied
upon the ground in heaps, yet the tribes of winged creatures and wild beasts would either leap away to escape the rank smell, or having tasted would faint in a speedy death. Yet it was not often in those days that any bird was to be seen at all, or the gloomy generations of wild beasts came out of the forests. Most of them grew faint with disease and died. Among the first were the dogs, faithful creatures, which, scattered about on all the roads, yielded their breath with reluctance; for the power of the disease wrenched the life out of their limbs.
1225Without mourners the lonely funerals competed with one another in being rushed through. Nor was any kind of remedy general and certain; for what had given one the power to draw the breath of life into his lips and to behold the regions of heaven, this to others was poison and brought them death.
1230But this situation the most pitiful thing
above all others and the most lamentable was that, when anyone saw himself to be involved in the plague, as thougha he were condemned to death he would lose all heart, and lie with sad spirit, thinking only of death, until he yielded up his own spirit
Footnotes
aH. Jacobson, CPhil. 61 (1966) 156, may be right in thinking that morti damnatus ut esset means “how he was condemned to death,” but Pius’ almost universally adopted explanation that ut = tamquam si seems more natural.
Page number 585
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
1235quippe etenim nullo cessabant tempore apisci
ex aliis alios avidi contagia morbi,
1245lanigeras tamquam pecudes et bucera saecla;
1237idque vel in primis cumulabat funere funus.
1238nam quicumque suos fugitabant visere ad aegros,
12391240vitai nimium cupidos mortisque timentis
1240poenibat paulo post turpi morte malaque,
1241desertos, opis expertis, incuria mactans.
1242qui fuerant autem praesto, contagibus ibant
1243atque labore, pudor quem tum cogebat obire
12441245blandaque lassorum vox mixta voce querellae.
optimus hoc leti genus ergo quisque subibat.
. . . . . . .
inque aliis alium, populum sepelire suorum
certantes; lacrimis lassi luctuque redibant;
inde bonam partem in lectum maerore dabantur.
nec poterat quisquam reperiri, quem neque morbus
1251nec mors nec luctus temptaret tempore tali.
Praeterea iam pastor et armentarius omnis
et robustus item curvi moderator aratri
languebat, penitusque casa contrusa iacebant
1255corpora paupertate et morbo dedita morti.
exanimis pueris super exanimata parentum
corpora nonnumquam posses retroque videre
matribus et patribus natos super edere vitam.
Footnotes
1237(1245) placed here by Bentley and all recent editors except Büchner, who unconvincingly defends its position in the manuscripts and is driven to alter lanigeras to lanigerae
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De Rerum Natura
where he fell. For indeeda not for a moment did the contagion of the insatiable disease cease to spread from one to another, as amongst woolly sheep and the horned herds, and this was the chief cause that piled deaths upon deaths. For if any shirked
the visitation of their own sick, avenging Neglect fulness not long after would punish them for their too great greed of life and their fear of death, by a death foul and evil, deserted and without help. But those who remained at hand passed away by contagion,
and by the toil which then shame compelled them to face, and the coaxing voice of the weary ones mixed with the voice of reproach. All the noblest spirits therefore met death in this way.
- . . and one upon others, fighting to bury the multitude of their dead; weary with weeping and grief they returned, then for the greater part took to their beds from grief. Nor could anyone be found
whom neither disease had assailed nor death nor mourning at such a time.
1252Moreover, by this time the shepherd and the
herdsman and also the brawny guide of the curved plough were all fainting; their bodies lay huddled up in the recesses of their huts, given over to death by poverty and disease. Sometimes you might see the lifeless bodies of parents lying upon their lifeless children, and contrariwise children yielding up their life upon the bodies of mother and father.
Footnotes
aThe commentators allege that Lucr. has misunderstood Thuc. here and in 1239-1246. But Lucr. was a master of the Greek language, and it is probable that his alterations are chiefly due to his desire to emphasize the psychological aspect of the plague and moralize (cf. Commager 108, 113).
Page number 587
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
Nec minimam partem ex agris is maeror in urbem
1260confluxit, languens quem contulit agricolarum
copia conveniens ex omni morbida parte.
omnia conplebant loca tectaque; quo magis aestu
confertos ita acervatim mors accumulabat.
multa siti prostrata viam per proque voluta
1265corpora silanos ad aquarum strata iacebant
interclusa anima nimia ab dulcedine aquarum,
multaque per populi passim loca prompta viasque
languida semanimo cum corpore membra videres
horrida paedore et pannis cooperta perire
corporis inluvie, pelli super ossibus una,
ulceribus taetris prope iam sordeque sepulta.
Omnia denique sancta deum delubra replerat
corporibus mors exanimis, onerataque passim
cuncta cadaveribus caelestum templa manebant,
1275hospitibus loca quae complerant aedituentes.
nec iam religio divom nec numina magni
pendebantur enim: praesens dolor exsuperabat.
nec mos ille sepulturae remanebat in urbe,
quo prius hic populus semper consuerat humari;
1280perturbatus enim totus trepidabat, et unus
quisque suum pro re et pro tempore maestus huma-
bat.
Footnotes
1259is maeror attributed to Munro by himself and subsequent editors, but already suggested by Lachmann as being preferable to maeror is: m(a)eroris OQ: moeros is Wakefield: maeror is Forbiger (not Diels): aegror is Simeon Bosius in Lambinus (1570)
Page number 588
De Rerum Natura
1259And in no small degree this affliction flowed
from the country into the city, for the fainting crowd people of countrymen brought it, gathering from all quarters with disease. They filled all places and buildings; so by the stifling heat death all the more piled them in heaps, being thus packed. Many bodies, thrown down by thirst and rolling over the road, lay stretched by the water-spouts, cut off from the breath of life by the too great sweetness of water; many in public places and roads you might see all about, bodies
half-dead with fainting limbs caked with squalor and covered with rags, perishing in filth of body, nothing where, but skin on their bones, and that almost buried in foul ulcers and dirt.
1272Moreover, death had filled all the sanctuaries
of the gods with lifeless bodies, all the temples of the celestials everywhere remained burdened with corpses, all which places the sacristans had crowded with guests. For indeed now neither the worship of
the gods nor their power was much regarded: the present grief was too great. Nor did that custom of
sepulture remain in the city, with which this nation in the past had been always accustomed to be buried; for the whole nation was in trepidation and dismay, and each man in his sorrow buried his own dead as time and circumstances allowed. Sudden need also and
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LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura
Lucretius
multaque res subita et paupertas horrida suasit;
namque suos consanguineos aliena rogorum
insuper extructa ingenti clamore locabant
1285subdebantque faces, multo cum sanguine saepe
rixantes potius quam corpora desererentur.
Footnotes
1282res C: omitted by OQU: vis F: mors Bernays
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De Rerum Natura
poverty persuaded to many dreadful expedients: for they would lay their own kindred amidst loud lamentation upon piles of wood not their own, and would set light to the fire, often brawling with much shedding of blood rather than abandon the bodies.a
Footnotes
aS. T. Kelly, Latomus 39 (1980) 95-97, makes the odd suggestion that 1286 means not only “struggling rather than see the corpses abandoned”, but also “struggling rather than see their own bodies left behind” and “struggling rather than see their own atoms left behind”.
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