De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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| 129 |
Quod iam rerum ignorem primordia quae sint , hoc tamen ex ipsis caeli rationibus ausim confirmare aliisque ex rebus reddere multis , nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam naturam rerum : tanta stat praedita culpa . principio 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 adsiduusque geli casus mortalibus aufert . quod super est arvi , tamen id natura sua vi sentibus obducat , ni vis humana resistat vitai causa valido consueta bidenti ingemere et terram pressis proscindere aratris . si non fecundas vertentes vomere glebas terraique solum subigentes cimus ad ortus . sponte sua nequeant liquidas existere in auras . et tamen inter dum magno quaesita labore cum iam per terras frondent atque omnia florent , aut nimiis torret fervoribus aetherius sol aut subiti peremunt imbris gelidaeque pruinae flabraque ventorum violento turbine vexant . praeterea genus horriferum natura ferarum humanae genti infestum terraque marique cur 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 nixibus ex alvo matris natura profudit , 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 almae 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 .
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But knew I never what The seeds primordial were, yet would I dare This to affirm, even from deep judgments based Upon the ways and conduct of the skies- This to maintain by many a fact besides- That in no wise the nature of all things For us was fashioned by a power divine- So great the faults it stands encumbered with. First, mark all regions which are overarched By the prodigious reaches of the sky: One yawning part thereof the mountain-chains And forests of the beasts do have and hold; And cliffs, and desert fens, and wastes of sea (Which sunder afar the beaches of the lands) Possess it merely; and, again, thereof Well-nigh two-thirds intolerable heat And a perpetual fall of frost doth rob From mortal kind. And what is left to till, Even that the force of nature would o'errun With brambles, did not human force oppose,- Long wont for livelihood to groan and sweat Over the two-pronged mattock and to cleave The soil in twain by pressing on the plough. . . . . . . Unless, by the ploughshare turning the fruitful clods And kneading the mould, we quicken into birth, [The crops] spontaneously could not come up Into the free bright air. Even then sometimes, When things acquired by the sternest toil Are now in leaf, are now in blossom all, Either the skiey sun with baneful heats Parches, or sudden rains or chilling rime Destroys, or flaws of winds with furious whirl Torment and twist. Beside these matters, why Doth nature feed and foster on land and sea The dreadful breed of savage beasts, the foes Of the human clan? Why do the seasons bring Distempers with them? Wherefore stalks at large Death, so untimely? Then, again, the babe, Like to the castaway of the raging surf, Lies naked on the ground, speechless, in want Of every help for life, when nature first Hath poured him forth upon the shores of light With birth-pangs from within the mother's womb, And with a plaintive wail he fills the place,- As well befitting one for whom remains In life a journey through so many ills. But all the flocks and herds and all wild beasts Come forth and grow, nor need the little rattles, Nor must be treated to the humouring nurse's Dear, broken chatter; nor seek they divers clothes To suit the changing skies; nor need, in fine, Nor arms, nor lofty ramparts, wherewithal Their own to guard- because the earth herself And nature, artificer of the world, bring forth Aboundingly all things for all. |
| 130 |
Principio 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 . quippe etenim , quorum partis et membra videmus corpore nativo mortalibus esse figuris , haec eadem ferme mortalia cernimus esse et nativa simul . qua propter maxima mundi cum videam membra ac partis consumpta regigni , scire 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 esse neque umorem dubitavi aurasque perire atque eadem gigni rursusque augescere dixi . principio pars terrai non nulla , perusta solibus adsiduis , multa pulsata pedum vi , pulveris exhalat nebulam nubesque volantis , quas validi toto dispergunt aëre venti . pars etiam glebarum ad diluviem revocatur imbribus et ripas radentia flumina rodunt . praeterea pro parte sua , quod cumque alit auget , redditur ; et quoniam dubio procul esse videtur omniparens eadem rerum commune sepulcrum . ergo terra tibi libatur et aucta recrescit .
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THE WORLD IS NOT ETERNAL And first, Since body of earth and water, air's light breath, And fiery exhalations (of which four This sum of things is seen to be compact) So all have birth and perishable frame, Thus the whole nature of the world itself Must be conceived as perishable too. For, verily, those things of which we see The parts and members to have birth in time And perishable shapes, those same we mark To be invariably born in time And born to die. And therefore when I see The mightiest members and the parts of this Our world consumed and begot again, 'Tis mine to know that also sky above And earth beneath began of old in time And shall in time go under to disaster. And lest in these affairs thou deemest me To have seized upon this point by sleight to serve My own caprice- because I have assumed That earth and fire are mortal things indeed, And have not doubted water and the air Both perish too and have affirmed the same To be again begotten and wax big- Mark well the argument: in first place, lo, Some certain parts of earth, grievously parched By unremitting suns, and trampled on By a vast throng of feet, exhale abroad A powdery haze and flying clouds of dust, Which the stout winds disperse in the whole air. A part, moreover, of her sod and soil Is summoned to inundation by the rains; And rivers graze and gouge the banks away. Besides, whatever takes a part its own In fostering and increasing [aught]... . . . . . . Is rendered back; and since, beyond a doubt, Earth, the all-mother, is beheld to be Likewise the common sepulchre of things, Therefore thou seest her minished of her plenty, And then again augmented with new growth. |
| 131 |
Quod super est , umore novo mare flumina fontes semper abundare et latices manare perennis nil opus est verbis : magnus decursus aquarum undique declarat . sed primum quicquid aquai tollitur in summaque fit ut nihil umor abundet , partim quod validi verrentes aequora venti deminuunt radiisque retexens aetherius sol , partim quod supter per terras diditur omnis ; percolatur enim virus retroque remanat materies umoris et ad caput amnibus omnis convenit , inde super terras fluit agmine dulci qua via secta semel liquido pede detulit undas .
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And for the rest, that sea, and streams, and springs Forever with new waters overflow, And that perennially the fluids well, Needeth no words- the mighty flux itself Of multitudinous waters round about Declareth this. But whatso water first Streams up is ever straightway carried off, And thus it comes to pass that all in all There is no overflow; in part because The burly winds (that over-sweep amain) And skiey sun (that with his rays dissolves) Do minish the level seas; in part because The water is diffused underground Through all the lands. The brine is filtered off, And then the liquid stuff seeps back again And all regathers at the river-heads, Whence in fresh-water currents on it flows Over the lands, adown the channels which Were cleft erstwhile and erstwhile bore along The liquid-footed floods. |
| 132 |
Aëra nunc igitur dicam , qui corpore toto innumerabiliter privas mutatur in horas . semper enim , quod cumque fluit de rebus , id omne aëris in magnum fertur mare ; qui nisi contra corpora retribuat rebus recreetque fluentis , omnia iam resoluta forent et in aëra versa . haut igitur cessat gigni de rebus et in res reccidere , adsidue quoniam fluere omnia constat .
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Now, then, of air I'll speak, which hour by hour in all its body Is changed innumerably. For whatso'er Streams up in dust or vapour off of things, The same is all and always borne along Into the mighty ocean of the air; And did not air in turn restore to things Bodies, and thus recruit them as they stream, All things by this time had resolved been And changed into air. Therefore it never Ceases to be engendered off of things And to return to things, since verily In constant flux do all things stream. |
| 133 |
Largus item liquidi fons luminis , aetherius sol , inrigat adsidue caelum candore recenti suppeditatque novo confestim lumine lumen . nam primum quicquid fulgoris disperit ei , quo cumque accidit . id licet hinc cognoscere possis , quod 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 ; ut 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 , lumina , 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 : usque adeo properanter ab omnibus ignibus ei exitium celeri celeratur origine flammae . sic igitur solem lunam stellasque putandum ex alio atque alio lucem iactare subortu et primum quicquid flammarum perdere semper , inviolabilia haec ne credas forte vigere .
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Likewise, The abounding well-spring of the liquid light, The ethereal sun, doth flood the heaven o'er With constant flux of radiance ever new, And with fresh light supplies the place of light, Upon the instant. For whatever effulgence Hath first streamed off, no matter where it falls, Is lost unto the sun. And this 'tis thine To know from these examples: soon as clouds Have first begun to under-pass the sun, And, as it were, to rend the rays of light In twain, at once the lower part of them Is lost entire, and earth is overcast Where'er the thunderheads are rolled along- So know thou mayst that things forever need A fresh replenishment of gleam and glow, And each effulgence, foremost flashed forth, Perisheth one by one. Nor otherwise Can things be seen in sunlight, lest alway The fountain-head of light supply new light. Indeed your earthly beacons of the night, The hanging lampions and the torches, bright With darting gleams and dense with livid soot, Do hurry in like manner to supply With ministering heat new light amain; Are all alive to quiver with their fires,- Are so alive, that thus the light ne'er leaves The spots it shines on, as if rent in twain: So speedily is its destruction veiled By the swift birth of flame from all the fires. Thus, then, we must suppose that sun and moon And stars dart forth their light from under-births Ever and ever new, and whatso flames First rise do perish always one by one- Lest, haply, thou shouldst think they each endure Inviolable. |
| 134 |
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 posse neque adversus naturae foedera niti ? denique non monimenta virum dilapsa videmus , non ruere avolsos silices a montibus altis nec validas aevi vires perferre patique finiti ? neque enim caderent avolsa repente , ex infinito quae tempore pertolerassent omnia tormenta aetatis , privata fragore .
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Again, perceivest not How stones are also conquered by Time?- Not how the lofty towers ruin down, And boulders crumble?- Not how shrines of gods And idols crack outworn?- Nor how indeed The holy Influence hath yet no power There to postpone the Terminals of Fate, Or headway make 'gainst Nature's fixed decrees? Again, behold we not the monuments Of heroes, now in ruins, asking us, In their turn likewise, if we don't believe They also age with eld? Behold we not The rended basalt ruining amain Down from the lofty mountains, powerless To dure and dree the mighty forces there Of finite time?- for they would never fall Rended asudden, if from infinite Past They had prevailed against all engin'ries Of the assaulting aeons, with no crash. |
| 135 |
Denique iam tuere hoc , circum supraque quod omne continet amplexu terram : si procreat ex se omnia , quod quidam memorant , recipitque perempta , totum nativum mortali corpore constat . nam quod cumque alias ex se res auget alitque , deminui debet , recreari , cum recipit res .
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Again, now look at This, which round, above, Contains the whole earth in its one embrace: If from itself it procreates all things- As some men tell- and takes them to itself When once destroyed, entirely must it be Of mortal birth and body; for whate'er From out itself giveth to other things Increase and food, the same perforce must be Minished, and then recruited when it takes Things back into itself. |
| 136 |
Praeterea si nulla fuit genitalis origo terrarum et caeli semperque aeterna fuere , cur supera bellum Thebanum et funera Troiae non alias alii quoque res cecinere poëtae ? quo tot facta virum totiens cecidere neque usquam aeternis famae monimentis insita florent ? verum , ut opinor , habet novitatem summa recensque naturast mundi neque pridem exordia cepit . quare etiam quaedam nunc artes expoliuntur , nunc etiam augescunt ; nunc addita navigiis sunt multa , modo organici melicos peperere sonores , denique 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 ante hac eadem omnia credis , sed periise hominum torrenti saecla vapore , aut 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 ; nam 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 atque illi quos a vita natura removit .
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Besides all this, If there had been no origin-in-birth Of lands and sky, and they had ever been The everlasting, why, ere Theban war And obsequies of Troy, have other bards Not also chanted other high affairs? Whither have sunk so oft so many deeds Of heroes? Why do those deeds live no more, Ingrafted in eternal monuments Of glory? Verily, I guess, because The Sum is new, and of a recent date The nature of our universe, and had Not long ago its own exordium. Wherefore, even now some arts are being still Refined, still increased: now unto ships Is being added many a new device; And but the other day musician-folk Gave birth to melic sounds of organing; And, then, this nature, this account of things Hath been discovered latterly, and I Myself have been discovered only now, As first among the first, able to turn The same into ancestral Roman speech. Yet if, percase, thou deemest that ere this Existed all things even the same, but that Perished the cycles of the human race In fiery exhalations, or cities fell By some tremendous quaking of the world, Or rivers in fury, after constant rains, Had plunged forth across the lands of earth And whelmed the towns- then, all the more must thou Confess, defeated by the argument, That there shall be annihilation too Of lands and sky. For at a time when things Were being taxed by maladies so great, And so great perils, if some cause more fell Had then assailed them, far and wide they would Have gone to disaster and supreme collapse. And by no other reasoning are we Seen to be mortal, save that all of us Sicken in turn with those same maladies With which have sickened in the past those men Whom nature hath removed from life. |