De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)

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	De Rerum Natura Author: Lucretius	Translator: William Ellery Leonard
121	Et commiscendo quom semine forte virilem femina 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 , semina cum Veneris stimulis excita per artus obvia conflixit conspirans mutuus ardor , et neque utrum superavit eorum nec superatumst . fit quoque ut inter dum similes existere avorum possint et referant proavorum saepe figuras , propterea quia multa modis primordia multis mixta suo celant in corpore saepe parentis , quae patribus patres tradunt a stirpe profecta . inde Venus varia producit sorte figuras , maiorumque refert voltus vocesque comasque ; quandoquidem nihilo magis haec semine certo fiunt quam facies et corpora membraque nobis . et muliebre oritur patrio de semine saeclum maternoque mares existunt corpore creti ; semper enim partus duplici de semine constat , atque utri similest magis id quod cumque creatur , eius habet plus parte aequa ; quod cernere possis , sive virum suboles sivest muliebris origo .	And when perchance, in mingling seed with his, The female hath o'erpowered the force of male And by a sudden fling hath seized it fast, Then are the offspring, more from mothers' seed, More like their mothers; as, from fathers' seed, They're like to fathers. But whom seest to be Partakers of each shape, one equal blend Of parents' features, these are generate From fathers' body and from mothers' blood, When mutual and harmonious heat hath dashed Together seeds, aroused along their frames By Venus' goads, and neither of the twain Mastereth or is mastered. Happens too That sometimes offspring can to being come In likeness of their grandsires, and bring back Often the shapes of grandsires' sires, because Their parents in their bodies oft retain Concealed many primal germs, commixed In many modes, which, starting with the stock, Sire handeth down to son, himself a sire; Whence Venus by a variable chance Engenders shapes, and diversely brings back Ancestral features, voices too, and hair. A female generation rises forth From seed paternal, and from mother's body Exist created males: since sex proceeds No more from singleness of seed than faces Or bodies or limbs of ours: for every birth Is from a twofold seed; and what's created Hath, of that parent which it is more like, More than its equal share; as thou canst mark,- Whether the breed be male or female stock.
122	Nec divina satum genitalem numina cuiquam absterrent , pater a gnatis ne dulcibus umquam appelletur et ut sterili Venere exigat aevom ; quod plerumque putant et multo sanguine maesti conspergunt aras adolentque altaria donis , ut gravidas reddant uxores semine largo ; ne quiquam divom numen sortisque fatigant ; nam 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 hinc porro quoniam concretius aequo mittitur , 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 succipiunt 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 uxoris parere , inventast illis quoque compar natura , ut possent gnatis munire senectam . usque adeo magni refert , ut semina possint seminibus commisceri genitaliter apta crassaque conveniant liquidis et liquida crassis . atque 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 concipere uxores , quia sic loca sumere possunt pectoribus positis sublatis semina lumbis . nec molles opus sunt motus uxoribus hilum . nam mulier prohibet se concipere atque repugnat , clunibus ipsa viri Venerem si laeta retractat atque exossato ciet omni pectore fluctus ; eicit enim sulcum recta regione viaque vomeris atque locis avertit seminis ictum . idque sua causa consuerunt scorta moveri , ne complerentur crebro gravidaeque iacerent , et simul ipsa viris Venus ut concinnior esset ; coniugibus quod nil nostris opus esse videtur .	Nor do the powers divine grudge any man The fruits of his seed-sowing, so that never He be called "father" by sweet children his, And end his days in sterile love forever. What many men suppose; and gloomily They sprinkle the altars with abundant blood, And make the high platforms odorous with burnt gifts, To render big by plenteous seed their wives- And plague in vain godheads and sacred lots. For sterile are these men by seed too thick, Or else by far too watery and thin. Because the thin is powerless to cleave Fast to the proper places, straightaway It trickles from them, and, returned again, Retires abortively. And then since seed More gross and solid than will suit is spent By some men, either it flies not forth amain With spurt prolonged enough, or else it fails To enter suitably the proper places, Or, having entered, the seed is weakly mixed With seed of the woman: harmonies of Venus Are seen to matter vastly here; and some Impregnate some more readily, and from some Some women conceive more readily and become Pregnant. And many women, sterile before In several marriage-beds, have yet thereafter Obtained the mates from whom they could conceive The baby-boys, and with sweet progeny Grow rich. And even for husbands (whose own wives, Although of fertile wombs, have borne for them No babies in the house) are also found Concordant natures so that they at last Can bulwark their old age with goodly sons. A matter of great moment 'tis in truth, That seeds may mingle readily with seeds Suited for procreation, and that thick Should mix with fluid seeds, with thick the fluid. And in this business 'tis of some import Upon what diet life is nourished: For some foods thicken seeds within our members, And others thin them out and waste away. And in what modes the fond delight itself Is carried on- this too importeth vastly. For commonly 'tis thought that wives conceive More readily in manner of wild-beasts, After the custom of the four-foot breeds, Because so postured, with the breasts beneath And buttocks then upreared, the seeds can take Their proper places. Nor is need the least For wives to use the motions of blandishment; For thus the woman hinders and resists Her own conception, if too joyously Herself she treats the Venus of the man With haunches heaving, and with all her bosom Now yielding like the billows of the sea- Aye, from the ploughshare's even course and track She throws the furrow, and from proper places Deflects the spurt of seed. And courtesans Are thuswise wont to move for their own ends, To keep from pregnancy and lying in, And all the while to render Venus more A pleasure for the men- the which meseems Our wives have never need of.
123	Nec divinitus inter dum Venerisque sagittis deteriore fit ut forma muliercula ametur ; nam facit ipsa suis inter dum femina factis morigerisque modis et munde corpore culto , ut facile insuescat secum degere vitam . quod super est , consuetudo concinnat amorem ; nam leviter quamvis quod crebro tunditur ictu , vincitur in longo spatio tamen atque labascit . nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa ?	Sometimes too It happens- and through no divinity Nor arrows of Venus- that a sorry chit Of scanty grace will be beloved by man; For sometimes she herself by very deeds, By her complying ways, and tidy habits, Will easily accustom thee to pass With her thy life-time- and, moreover, lo, Long habitude can gender human love, Even as an object smitten o'er and o'er By blows, however lightly, yet at last Is overcome and wavers. Seest thou not, Besides, how drops of water falling down Against the stones at last bore through the stones?
124	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 pectore 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 , inclyte Memmi , qui princeps vitae rationem invenit eam quae nunc appellatur sapientia , quique per artem fluctibus et tantis vitam tantisque tenebris in tam tranquillo et tam clara luce locavit . confer enim divina aliorum antiqua reperta . namque Ceres fertur fruges Liberque liquoris vitigeni laticem mortalibus instituisse ; 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 , ex 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 ille leonis obesset et horrens Arcadius sus , tanto opere officerent nobis Stymphala colentes ? denique quid Cretae taurus Lernaeaque pestis hydra venenatis posset vallata colubris ? quidve tripectora tergemini vis Geryonai et Diomedis equi spirantes naribus ignem Thracia Bistoniasque plagas atque Ismara propter aureaque Hesperidum servans fulgentia mala , asper , acerba tuens , immani corpore serpens arboris amplexus stirpes ? quid denique obesset propter 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 ? nil , ut opinor : ita ad satiatem terra ferarum nunc 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 tumst ingratis insinuandum ! quantae 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 expulerit dictis , non armis , nonne decebit hunc hominem numero divom dignarier esse ? cum bene praesertim multa ac divinitus ipsis iam mortalibus e divis dare dicta suerit atque omnem rerum naturam pandere dictis .	BOOK V PROEM O who can build with puissant breast a song Worthy the majesty of these great finds? Or who in words so strong that he can frame The fit laudations for deserts of him Who left us heritors of such vast prizes, By his own breast discovered and sought out?- There shall be none, methinks, of mortal stock. For if must needs be named for him the name Demanded by the now known majesty Of these high matters, then a god was he,- Hear me, illustrious Memmius- a god; Who first and chief found out that plan of life Which now is called philosophy, and who By cunning craft, out of such mighty waves, Out of such mighty darkness, moored life In havens so serene, in light so clear. Compare those old discoveries divine Of others: lo, according to the tale, Ceres established for mortality The grain, and Bacchus juice of vine-born grape, Though life might yet without these things abide, Even as report saith now some peoples live. But man's well-being was impossible Without a breast all free. Wherefore the more That man doth justly seem to us a god, From whom sweet solaces of life, afar Distributed o'er populous domains, Now soothe the minds of men. But if thou thinkest Labours of Hercules excel the same, Much farther from true reasoning thou farest. For what could hurt us now that mighty maw Of Nemeaean Lion, or what the Boar Who bristled in Arcadia? Or, again, O what could Cretan Bull, or Hydra, pest Of Lerna, fenced with vipers venomous? Or what the triple-breasted power of her The three-fold Geryon... The sojourners in the Stymphalian fens So dreadfully offend us, or the Steeds Of Thracian Diomedes breathing fire From out their nostrils off along the zones Bistonian and Ismarian? And the Snake, The dread fierce gazer, guardian of the golden And gleaming apples of the Hesperides, Coiled round the tree-trunk with tremendous bulk, O what, again, could he inflict on us Along the Atlantic shore and wastes of sea?- Where neither one of us approacheth nigh Nor no barbarian ventures. And the rest Of all those monsters slain, even if alive, Unconquered still, what injury could they do? None, as I guess. For so the glutted earth Swarms even now with savage beasts, even now Is filled with anxious terrors through the woods And mighty mountains and the forest deeps- Quarters 'tis ours in general to avoid. But lest the breast be purged, what conflicts then, What perils, must bosom, in our own despite! O then how great and keen the cares of lust That split the man distraught! How great the fears! And lo, the pride, grim greed, and wantonness- How great the slaughters in their train! and lo, Debaucheries and every breed of sloth! Therefore that man who subjugated these, And from the mind expelled, by words indeed, Not arms, O shall it not be seemly him To dignify by ranking with the gods?- And all the more since he was wont to give, Concerning the immortal gods themselves, Many pronouncements with a tongue divine, And to unfold by his pronouncements all The nature of the world.
125	Cuius 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 nativo primum consistere corpore creta , nec posse incolumem magnum durare per aevum , sed simulacra solere in somnis fallere mentem , cernere cum videamur eum quem vita reliquit , quod super est , nunc huc rationis detulit ordo , ut 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 extiterint , 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 fana 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 , morigera 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 quae 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 qua nam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens .	ARGUMENT OF THE BOOK AND NEW PROEM AGAINST A TELEOLOGICAL CONCEPT And walking now In his own footprints, I do follow through His reasonings, and with pronouncements teach The covenant whereby all things are framed, How under that covenant they must abide Nor ever prevail to abrogate the aeons' Inexorable decrees,- how (as we've found), In class of mortal objects, o'er all else, The mind exists of earth-born frame create And impotent unscathed to abide Across the mighty aeons, and how come In sleep those idol-apparitions, That so befool intelligence when we Do seem to view a man whom life has left. Thus far we've gone; the order of my plan Hath brought me now unto the point where I Must make report how, too, the universe Consists of mortal body, born in time, And in what modes that congregated stuff Established itself as earth and sky, Ocean, and stars, and sun, and ball of moon; And then what living creatures rose from out The old telluric places, and what ones Were never born at all; and in what mode The human race began to name its things And use the varied speech from man to man; And in what modes hath bosomed in their breasts That awe of gods, which halloweth in all lands Fanes, altars, groves, lakes, idols of the gods. Also I shall untangle by what power The steersman nature guides the sun's courses, And the meanderings of the moon, lest we, Percase, should fancy that of own free will They circle their perennial courses round, Timing their motions for increase of crops And living creatures, or lest we should think They roll along by any plan of gods. For even those men who have learned full well That godheads lead a long life free of care, If yet meanwhile they wonder by what plan Things can go on (and chiefly yon high things Observed o'erhead on the ethereal coasts), Again are hurried back unto the fears Of old religion and adopt again Harsh masters, deemed almighty,- wretched men, Unwitting what can be and what cannot, And by what law to each its scope prescribed, Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.
126	Quod super est , 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 , una 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 ; ut 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 forsitan 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 .	But for the rest,- lest we delay thee here Longer by empty promises- behold, Before all else, the seas, the lands, the sky: O Memmius, their threefold nature, lo, Their bodies three, three aspects so unlike, Three frames so vast, a single day shall give Unto annihilation! Then shall crash That massive form and fabric of the world Sustained so many aeons! Nor do I Fail to perceive how strange and marvellous This fact must strike the intellect of man,- Annihilation of the sky and earth That is to be,- and with what toil of words 'Tis mine to prove the same; as happens oft When once ye offer to man's listening ears Something before unheard of, but may not Subject it to the view of eyes for him Nor put it into hand- the sight and touch, Whereby the opened highways of belief Lead most directly into human breast And regions of intelligence. But yet I will speak out. The fact itself, perchance, Will force belief in these my words, and thou Mayst see, in little time, tremendously With risen commotions of the lands all things Quaking to pieces- which afar from us May she, the steersman Nature, guide: and may Reason, O rather than the fact itself, Persuade us that all things can be o'erthrown And sink with awful-sounding breakage down!
127	Qua 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 terras 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 praeclarumque 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 quid 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 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 . quod 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 dispositumque videtur ubi esse et crescere possit seorsum anima atque animus , tanto magis infitiandum totum 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 , quandoquidem nequeunt vitaliter esse animata .	But ere on this I take a step to utter Oracles holier and soundlier based Than ever the Pythian pronounced for men From out the tripod and the Delphian laurel, I will unfold for thee with learned words Many a consolation, lest perchance, Still bridled by religion, thou suppose Lands, sun, and sky, sea, constellations, moon, Must dure forever, as of frame divine- And so conclude that it is just that those, (After the manner of the Giants), should all Pay the huge penalties for monstrous crime, Who by their reasonings do overshake The ramparts of the universe and wish There to put out the splendid sun of heaven, Branding with mortal talk immortal things- Though these same things are even so far removed From any touch of deity and seem So far unworthy of numbering with the gods, That well they may be thought to furnish rather A goodly instance of the sort of things That lack the living motion, living sense. For sure 'tis quite beside the mark to think That judgment and the nature of the mind In any kind of body can exist- Just as in ether can't exist a tree, Nor clouds in the salt sea, nor in the fields Can fishes live, nor blood in timber be, Nor sap in boulders: fixed and arranged Where everything may grow and have its place. Thus nature of mind cannot arise alone Without the body, nor have its being far From thews and blood. Yet if 'twere possible?- Much rather might this very power of mind Be in the head, the shoulders, or the heels, And, born in any part soever, yet In the same man, in the same vessel abide But since within this body even of ours Stands fixed and appears arranged sure Where soul and mind can each exist and grow, Deny we must the more that they can dure Outside the body and the breathing form In rotting clods of earth, in the sun's fire, In water, or in ether's skiey coasts. Therefore these things no whit are furnished With sense divine, since never can they be With life-force quickened.
128	Illud item non est ut possis credere , sedes esse deum sanctas in mundi partibus ullis . tenvis enim natura deum longeque remota sensibus ab nostris animi vix mente videtur ; quae 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 ; quae tibi posterius largo sermone probabo . Dicere porro hominum causa voluisse parare praeclaram mundi naturam proptereaque adlaudabile opus divom laudare decere aeternumque putare atque inmortale futurum , nec 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 , desiperest . 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 ? nam gaudere novis rebus debere videtur cui veteres obsunt ; sed cui nihil accidit aegri tempore in ante acto , cum pulchre degeret aevom , quid potuit novitatis amorem accendere tali ? quidve mali fuerat nobis non esse creatis ? an , credo , in tenebris vita ac maerore iacebat , donec diluxit rerum genitalis origo ? natus enim debet qui cumque est velle manere in vita , donec retinebit blanda voluptas ; qui numquam vero vitae gustavit amorem nec fuit in numero , quid obest non esse creatum ? exemplum porro gignundis rebus et ipsa notities hominum divis unde insita primum est , quid vellent facere ut scirent animoque viderent , quove modost umquam vis cognita principiorum quidque inter sese permutato ordine possent . si non ipsa dedit speciem natura creandi ? namque ita multa modis multis primordia rerum ex infinito iam tempore percita plagis ponderibusque suis consuerunt concita ferri omnimodisque coire atque omnia pertemptare , quae cumque inter se possint congressa creare , ut non sit mirum , si in talis disposituras deciderunt quoque et in talis venere meatus , qualibus haec rerum geritur nunc summa novando .	Likewise, thou canst ne'er Believe the sacred seats of gods are here In any regions of this mundane world; Indeed, the nature of the gods, so subtle, So far removed from these our senses, scarce Is seen even by intelligence of mind. And since they've ever eluded touch and thrust Of human hands, they cannot reach to grasp Aught tangible to us. For what may not Itself be touched in turn can never touch. Wherefore, besides, also their seats must be Unlike these seats of ours,- even subtle too, As meet for subtle essence- as I'll prove Hereafter unto thee with large discourse. Further, to say that for the sake of men They willed to prepare this world's magnificence, And that 'tis therefore duty and behoof To praise the work of gods as worthy praise, And that 'tis sacrilege for men to shake Ever by any force from out their seats What hath been stablished by the Forethought old To everlasting for races of mankind, And that 'tis sacrilege to assault by words And overtopple all from base to beam,- Memmius, such notions to concoct and pile, Is verily- to dote. Our gratefulness, O what emoluments could it confer Upon Immortals and upon the Blessed That they should take a step to manage aught For sake of us? Or what new factor could, After so long a time, inveigle them- The hitherto reposeful- to desire To change their former life? For rather he Whom old things chafe seems likely to rejoice At new; but one that in fore-passed time Hath chanced upon no ill, through goodly years, O what could ever enkindle in such an one Passion for strange experiment? Or what The evil for us, if we had ne'er been born?- As though, forsooth, in darkling realms and woe Our life were lying till should dawn at last The day-spring of creation! Whosoever Hath been begotten wills perforce to stay In life, so long as fond delight detains; But whoso ne'er hath tasted love of life, And ne'er was in the count of living things, What hurts it him that he was never born? Whence, further, first was planted in the gods The archetype for gendering the world And the fore-notion of what man is like, So that they knew and pre-conceived with mind Just what they wished to make? Or how were known Ever the energies of primal germs, And what those germs, by interchange of place, Could thus produce, if nature's self had not Given example for creating all? For in such wise primordials of things, Many in many modes, astir by blows From immemorial aeons, in motion too By their own weights, have evermore been wont To be so borne along and in all modes To meet together and to try all sorts Which, by combining one with other, they Are powerful to create, that thus it is No marvel now, if they have also fallen Into arrangements such, and if they've passed Into vibrations such, as those whereby This sum of things is carried on to-day By fixed renewal.