De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)

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	De Rerum Natura Author: Lucretius	Translator: William Ellery Leonard
9	nil 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 , esse videlicet in terris primordia rerum quae nos fecundas vertentes vomere glebas terraique solum subigentes cimus ad ortus ; quod si nulla forent , nostro sine quaeque labore sponte sua multo fieri meliora videres . Huc accedit uti quicque in sua corpora rursum dissoluat natura neque ad nihilum interemat res . nam siquid mortale e cunctis partibus esset , ex oculis res quaeque repente erepta periret ; nulla vi foret usus enim , quae partibus eius discidium 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 quae cumque vetustate amovet aetas , si 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 ? unde mare ingenuei fontes externaque longe flumina suppeditant ? unde aether sidera pascit ? omnia enim debet , mortali corpore quae sunt , infinita aetas consumpse ante acta diesque . quod si in eo spatio atque ante acta aetate fuere e quibus haec rerum consistit summa refecta , inmortali sunt natura praedita certe . haud igitur possunt ad nilum quaeque reverti .	Confess then, naught from nothing can become, Since all must have their seeds, wherefrom to grow, Wherefrom to reach the gentle fields of air. Hence too it comes that Nature all dissolves Into their primal bodies again, and naught Perishes ever to annihilation. For, were aught mortal in its every part, Before our eyes it might be snatched away Unto destruction; since no force were needed To sunder its members and undo its bands. Whereas, of truth, because all things exist, With seed imperishable, Nature allows Destruction nor collapse of aught, until Some outward force may shatter by a blow, Or inward craft, entering its hollow cells, Dissolve it down. And more than this, if Time, That wastes with eld the works along the world, Destroy entire, consuming matter all, Whence then may Venus back to light of life Restore the generations kind by kind? Or how, when thus restored, may daedal Earth Foster and plenish with her ancient food, Which, kind by kind, she offers unto each? Whence may the water-springs, beneath the sea, Or inland rivers, far and wide away, Keep the unfathomable ocean full? And out of what does Ether feed the stars? For lapsed years and infinite age must else Have eat all shapes of mortal stock away: But be it the Long Ago contained those germs, By which this sum of things recruited lives, Those same infallibly can never die, Nor nothing to nothing evermore return.
10	Denique res omnis eadem vis causaque volgo conficeret , nisi materies aeterna teneret , inter 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 dissimiles constant aeternaque materies est , incolumi remanent res corpore , dum satis acris vis obeat pro textura cuiusque reperta . haud igitur redit ad nihilum res ulla , sed omnes discidio redeunt in corpora materiai . postremo pereunt imbres , ubi eos pater aether in gremium matris terrai praecipitavit ; at nitidae surgunt fruges ramique virescunt arboribus , crescunt ipsae fetuque gravantur . hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum , hinc laetas urbes pueris florere videmus frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas , hinc fessae pecudes pinguis per pabula laeta corpora deponunt et candens lacteus umor uberibus manat distentis , hinc nova proles artubus infirmis teneras lasciva per herbas ludit lacte mero mentes perculsa novellas . haud igitur penitus pereunt quaecumque videntur , quando alit ex alio reficit natura nec ullam rem gigni patitur nisi morte adiuta aliena . Nunc age , res quoniam docui non posse creari de nihilo neque item genitas ad nil revocari , ne qua forte tamen coeptes diffidere dictis , quod nequeunt oculis rerum primordia cerni , accipe praeterea quae corpora tute necessest confiteare esse in rebus nec posse videri . Principio venti vis verberat incita corpus ingentisque ruit navis et nubila differt , inter dum rapido percurrens turbine campos arboribus magnis sternit montisque supremos silvifragis vexat flabris : ita perfurit acri cum fremitu saevitque minaci murmure pontus . sunt igitur venti ni mirum corpora caeca , quae mare , quae terras , quae denique nubila caeli verrunt ac subito vexantia turbine raptant , nec 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 , nec 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 . sic igitur debent venti quoque flamina ferri , quae vel uti validum cum flumen procubuere quam libet in partem , trudunt res ante ruuntque impetibus crebris , inter dum vertice torto corripiunt rapidique rotanti turbine portant . quare 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 nec 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 . Denique fluctifrago suspensae in litore vestis uvescunt , eaedem dispansae in sole serescunt . at neque quo pacto persederit umor aquai visumst nec rursum quo pacto fugerit aestu . in parvas igitur partis dispergitur umor , quas oculi nulla possunt ratione videre . quin etiam multis solis redeuntibus annis anulus in digito subter tenuatur habendo , stilicidi casus lapidem cavat , uncus aratri ferreus occulte decrescit vomer in arvis , strataque iam volgi pedibus detrita viarum saxea conspicimus ; tum portas propter aena signa manus dextras ostendunt adtenuari saepe salutantum tactu praeterque meantum . haec igitur minui , cum sint detrita , videmus . sed quae corpora decedant in tempore quoque , invida praeclusit speciem natura videndi . Postremo quae cumque dies naturaque rebus paulatim tribuit moderatim crescere cogens , nulla potest oculorum acies contenta tueri , nec porro quae cumque aevo macieque senescunt , nec , mare quae impendent , vesco sale saxa peresa quid quoque amittant in tempore cernere possis . corporibus caecis igitur natura gerit res .	And, too, the selfsame power might end alike All things, were they not still together held By matter eternal, shackled through its parts, Now more, now less. A touch might be enough To cause destruction. For the slightest force Would loose the weft of things wherein no part Were of imperishable stock. But now Because the fastenings of primordial parts Are put together diversely and stuff Is everlasting, things abide the same Unhurt and sure, until some power comes on Strong to destroy the warp and woof of each: Nothing returns to naught; but all return At their collapse to primal forms of stuff. Lo, the rains perish which Ether-father throws Down to the bosom of Earth-mother; but then Upsprings the shining grain, and boughs are green Amid the trees, and trees themselves wax big And lade themselves with fruits; and hence in turn The race of man and all the wild are fed; Hence joyful cities thrive with boys and girls; And leafy woodlands echo with new birds; Hence cattle, fat and drowsy, lay their bulk Along the joyous pastures whilst the drops Of white ooze trickle from distended bags; Hence the young scamper on their weakling joints Along the tender herbs, fresh hearts afrisk With warm new milk. Thus naught of what so seems Perishes utterly, since Nature ever Upbuilds one thing from other, suffering naught To come to birth but through some other's death. . . . . . . And now, since I have taught that things cannot Be born from nothing, nor the same, when born, To nothing be recalled, doubt not my words, Because our eyes no primal germs perceive; For mark those bodies which, though known to be In this our world, are yet invisible: The winds infuriate lash our face and frame, Unseen, and swamp huge ships and rend the clouds, Or, eddying wildly down, bestrew the plains With mighty trees, or scour the mountain tops With forest-crackling blasts. Thus on they rave With uproar shrill and ominous moan. The winds, 'Tis clear, are sightless bodies sweeping through The sea, the lands, the clouds along the sky, Vexing and whirling and seizing all amain; And forth they flow and pile destruction round, Even as the water's soft and supple bulk Becoming a river of abounding floods, Which a wide downpour from the lofty hills Swells with big showers, dashes headlong down Fragments of woodland and whole branching trees; Nor can the solid bridges bide the shock As on the waters whelm: the turbulent stream, Strong with a hundred rains, beats round the piers, Crashes with havoc, and rolls beneath its waves Down-toppled masonry and ponderous stone, Hurling away whatever would oppose. Even so must move the blasts of all the winds, Which, when they spread, like to a mighty flood, Hither or thither, drive things on before And hurl to ground with still renewed assault, Or sometimes in their circling vortex seize And bear in cones of whirlwind down the world: The winds are sightless bodies and naught else- Since both in works and ways they rival well The mighty rivers, the visible in form. Then too we know the varied smells of things Yet never to our nostrils see them come; With eyes we view not burning heats, nor cold, Nor are we wont men's voices to behold. Yet these must be corporeal at the base, Since thus they smite the senses: naught there is Save body, having property of touch. And raiment, hung by surf-beat shore, grows moist, The same, spread out before the sun, will dry; Yet no one saw how sank the moisture in, Nor how by heat off-driven. Thus we know, That moisture is dispersed about in bits Too small for eyes to see. Another case: A ring upon the finger thins away Along the under side, with years and suns; The drippings from the eaves will scoop the stone; The hooked ploughshare, though of iron, wastes Amid the fields insidiously. We view The rock-paved highways worn by many feet; And at the gates the brazen statues show Their right hands leaner from the frequent touch Of wayfarers innumerable who greet. We see how wearing-down hath minished these, But just what motes depart at any time, The envious nature of vision bars our sight. Lastly whatever days and nature add Little by little, constraining things to grow In due proportion, no gaze however keen Of these our eyes hath watched and known. No more Can we observe what's lost at any time, When things wax old with eld and foul decay, Or when salt seas eat under beetling crags. Thus Nature ever by unseen bodies works.
11	Nec tamen undique corporea stipata tenentur omnia 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 . qua propter locus est intactus inane vacansque . quod 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 . at 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 , undique materies quoniam stipata quiesset . 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 . dissipat 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 transvolitant , 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 nihilo maiore figura ? nam 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 , ni mirum plus esse sibi declarat inanis ; at contra gravius plus in se corporis esse dedicat et multo vacui minus intus habere . est igitur ni mirum id quod ratione sagaci quaerimus , admixtum rebus , quod inane vocamus .	THE VOID But yet creation's neither crammed nor blocked About by body: there's in things a void- Which to have known will serve thee many a turn, Nor will not leave thee wandering in doubt, Forever searching in the sum of all, And losing faith in these pronouncements mine. There's place intangible, a void and room. For were it not, things could in nowise move; Since body's property to block and check Would work on all and at an times the same. Thus naught could evermore push forth and go, Since naught elsewhere would yield a starting place. But now through oceans, lands, and heights of heaven, By divers causes and in divers modes, Before our eyes we mark how much may move, Which, finding not a void, would fail deprived Of stir and motion; nay, would then have been Nowise begot at all, since matter, then, Had staid at rest, its parts together crammed. Then too, however solid objects seem, They yet are formed of matter mixed with void: In rocks and caves the watery moisture seeps, And beady drops stand out like plenteous tears; And food finds way through every frame that lives; The trees increase and yield the season's fruit Because their food throughout the whole is poured, Even from the deepest roots, through trunks and boughs; And voices pass the solid walls and fly Reverberant through shut doorways of a house; And stiffening frost seeps inward to our bones. Which but for voids for bodies to go through 'Tis clear could happen in nowise at all. Again, why see we among objects some Of heavier weight, but of no bulkier size? Indeed, if in a ball of wool there be As much of body as in lump of lead, The two should weigh alike, since body tends To load things downward, while the void abides, By contrary nature, the imponderable. Therefore, an object just as large but lighter Declares infallibly its more of void; Even as the heavier more of matter shows, And how much less of vacant room inside. That which we're seeking with sagacious quest Exists, infallibly, commixed with things- The void, the invisible inane.
12	Illud in his rebus ne te deducere vero possit , quod quidam fingunt , praecurrere cogor . cedere squamigeris latices nitentibus aiunt et liquidas aperire vias , quia post loca pisces linquant , quo possint cedentes confluere undae ; sic 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 quo 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 lata si 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 occupet 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 , nec tali ratione potest denserier aer nec , si iam posset , sine inani posset , opinor , ipse in se trahere et partis conducere in unum . Qua propter , quamvis causando multa moreris , esse in rebus inane tamen fateare necessest . multaque 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 naribus 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 . quod si pigraris paulumve recesseris ab re , hoc tibi de plano possum promittere , Memmi : usque adeo largos haustus e fontibus magnis lingua meo suavis diti de pectore fundet , ut verear ne tarda prius per membra senectus serpat et in nobis vitai claustra resolvat , quam tibi de quavis una re versibus omnis argumentorum sit copia missa per auris .	Right here I am compelled a question to expound, Forestalling something certain folk suppose, Lest it avail to lead thee off from truth: Waters (they say) before the shining breed Of the swift scaly creatures somehow give, And straightway open sudden liquid paths, Because the fishes leave behind them room To which at once the yielding billows stream. Thus things among themselves can yet be moved, And change their place, however full the Sum- Received opinion, wholly false forsooth. For where can scaly creatures forward dart, Save where the waters give them room? Again, Where can the billows yield a way, so long As ever the fish are powerless to go? Thus either all bodies of motion are deprived, Or things contain admixture of a void Where each thing gets its start in moving on. Lastly, where after impact two broad bodies Suddenly spring apart, the air must crowd The whole new void between those bodies formed; But air, however it stream with hastening gusts, Can yet not fill the gap at once- for first It makes for one place, ere diffused through all. And then, if haply any think this comes, When bodies spring apart, because the air Somehow condenses, wander they from truth: For then a void is formed, where none before; And, too, a void is filled which was before. Nor can air be condensed in such a wise; Nor, granting it could, without a void, I hold, It still could not contract upon itself And draw its parts together into one. Wherefore, despite demur and counter-speech, Confess thou must there is a void in things. And still I might by many an argument Here scrape together credence for my words. But for the keen eye these mere footprints serve, Whereby thou mayest know the rest thyself. As dogs full oft with noses on the ground, Find out the silent lairs, though hid in brush, Of beasts, the mountain-rangers, when but once They scent the certain footsteps of the way, Thus thou thyself in themes like these alone Can hunt from thought to thought, and keenly wind Along even onward to the secret places And drag out truth. But, if thou loiter loth Or veer, however little, from the point, This I can promise, Memmius, for a fact: Such copious drafts my singing tongue shall pour From the large well-springs of my plenished breast That much I dread slow age will steal and coil Along our members, and unloose the gates Of life within us, ere for thee my verse Hath put within thine ears the stores of proofs At hand for one soever question broached.
13	Sed nunc ut repetam coeptum pertexere dictis , omnis ut est igitur per se natura duabus constitit in rebus ; nam corpora sunt et inane , haec in quo sita sunt et qua diversa moventur . corpus enim per se communis dedicat esse sensus ; cui nisi prima fides fundata valebit , haut erit occultis de rebus quo referentes confirmare animi quicquam ratione queamus . tum porro locus ac spatium , quod inane vocamus , si nullum foret , haut usquam sita corpora possent esse neque omnino quoquam diversa meare ; id quod iam supera tibi paulo ostendimus ante . praeterea nihil est quod possis dicere ab omni corpore seiunctum secretumque esse ab inani , quod quasi tertia sit numero natura reperta . nam quod cumque erit , esse aliquid debebit id ipsum augmine vel grandi vel parvo denique , dum sit ; cui si tactus erit quamvis levis exiguusque , 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 . Praeterea per se quod cumque 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 . ergo 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 quae cumque cluent , aut his coniuncta duabus rebus ea invenies aut horum eventa videbis . coniunctum est id quod nusquam sine permitiali discidio potis est seiungi seque gregari , pondus uti saxis , calor ignis , liquor aquai , tactus corporibus cunctis , intactus inani . servitium 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 consequitur 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 Troiiugenas 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 eventum dici poterit quod cumque 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 clara 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 nec ratione cluere eadem qua constet inane , sed magis ut merito possis eventa vocare corporis atque loci , res in quo quaeque gerantur .	NOTHING EXISTS per se EXCEPT ATOMS AND THE VOID But, now again to weave the tale begun, All nature, then, as self-sustained, consists Of twain of things: of bodies and of void In which they're set, and where they're moved around. For common instinct of our race declares That body of itself exists: unless This primal faith, deep-founded, fail us not, Naught will there be whereunto to appeal On things occult when seeking aught to prove By reasonings of mind. Again, without That place and room, which we do call the inane, Nowhere could bodies then be set, nor go Hither or thither at all- as shown before. Besides, there's naught of which thou canst declare It lives disjoined from body, shut from void- A kind of third in nature. For whatever Exists must be a somewhat; and the same, If tangible, however fight and slight, Will yet increase the count of body's sum, With its own augmentation big or small; But, if intangible and powerless ever To keep a thing from passing through itself On any side, 'twill be naught else but that Which we do call the empty, the inane. Again, whate'er exists, as of itself, Must either act or suffer action on it, Or else be that wherein things move and be: Naught, saving body, acts, is acted on; Naught but the inane can furnish room. And thus, Beside the inane and bodies, is no third Nature amid the number of all things- Remainder none to fall at any time Under our senses, nor be seized and seen By any man through reasonings of mind. Name o'er creation with what names thou wilt, Thou'lt find but properties of those first twain, Or see but accidents those twain produce. A property is that which not at all Can be disjoined and severed from a thing Without a fatal dissolution: such, Weight to the rocks, heat to the fire, and flow To the wide waters, touch to corporal things, Intangibility to the viewless void. But state of slavery, pauperhood, and wealth, Freedom, and war, and concord, and all else Which come and go whilst nature stands the same, We're wont, and rightly, to call accidents. Even time exists not of itself; but sense Reads out of things what happened long ago, What presses now, and what shall follow after: No man, we must admit, feels time itself, Disjoined from motion and repose of things. Thus, when they say there "is" the ravishment Of Princess Helen, "is" the siege and sack Of Trojan Town, look out, they force us not To admit these acts existent by themselves, Merely because those races of mankind (Of whom these acts were accidents) long since Irrevocable age has borne away: For all past actions may be said to be But accidents, in one way, of mankind,- In other, of some region of the world. Add, too, had been no matter, and no room Wherein all things go on, the fire of love Upblown by that fair form, the glowing coal Under the Phrygian Alexander's breast, Had ne'er enkindled that renowned strife Of savage war, nor had the wooden horse Involved in flames old Pergama, by a birth At midnight of a brood of the Hellenes. And thus thou canst remark that every act At bottom exists not of itself, nor is As body is, nor has like name with void; But rather of sort more fitly to be called An accident of body, and of place Wherein all things go on.
14	Corpora sunt porro partim primordia rerum , partim concilio quae constant principiorum . sed 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 clamor ut ac voces , ferrum candescit in igni dissiliuntque fero ferventi saxa vapore ; cum labefactatus rigor auri solvitur aestu , tum glacies aeris flamma devicta liquescit ; permanat calor argentum penetraleque frigus , quando utrumque manu retinentes pocula rite sensimus infuso lympharum rore superne . usque adeo in rebus solidi nihil esse videtur . sed quia vera tamen ratio naturaque rerum cogit , ades , paucis dum versibus expediamus esse ea quae solido atque aeterno corpore constent , semina quae rerum primordiaque esse docemus , unde omnis rerum nunc constet summa creata . Principio quoniam duplex natura duarum dissimilis rerum longe constare repertast , corporis atque loci , res in quo quaeque geruntur , esse utramque sibi per se puramque necessest . nam qua cumque vacat spatium , quod inane vocamus , corpus ea non est ; qua porro cumque tenet se corpus , ea vacuum nequaquam constat inane . sunt 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 , si non , quod cohibet , solidum constare relinquas . id porro nihil esse potest nisi materiai concilium , quod inane queat rerum cohibere . materies igitur , solido quae corpore constat , esse aeterna potest , cum cetera dissoluantur . Tum porro si nil esset quod inane vocaret , omne foret solidum ; nisi contra corpora certa essent quae loca complerent quae cumque tenerent omne quod est spatium , vacuum constaret inane . alternis igitur ni mirum corpus inani distinctum , 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 nec 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 . et 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 . Praeterea nisi materies aeterna fuisset , antehac ad nihilum penitus res quaeque redissent de nihiloque renata forent quae cumque videmus . at quoniam supra docui nil posse creari de nihilo neque quod genitumst ad nil revocari , esse inmortali primordia corpore debent , dissolui quo quaeque supremo tempore possint , materies ut subpeditet rebus reparandis . sunt igitur solida primordia simplicitate nec ratione queunt alia servata per aevom ex infinito iam tempore res reparare .	CHARACTER OF THE ATOMS Bodies, again, Are partly primal germs of things, and partly Unions deriving from the primal germs. And those which are the primal germs of things No power can quench; for in the end they conquer By their own solidness; though hard it be To think that aught in things has solid frame; For lightnings pass, no less than voice and shout, Through hedging walls of houses, and the iron White-dazzles in the fire, and rocks will burn With exhalations fierce and burst asunder. Totters the rigid gold dissolved in heat; The ice of bronze melts conquered in the flame; Warmth and the piercing cold through silver seep, Since, with the cups held rightly in the hand, We oft feel both, as from above is poured The dew of waters between their shining sides: So true it is no solid form is found. But yet because true reason and nature of things Constrain us, come, whilst in few verses now I disentangle how there still exist Bodies of solid, everlasting frame- The seeds of things, the primal germs we teach, Whence all creation around us came to be. First since we know a twofold nature exists, Of things, both twain and utterly unlike- Body, and place in which an things go on- Then each must be both for and through itself, And all unmixed: where'er be empty space, There body's not; and so where body bides, There not at all exists the void inane. Thus primal bodies are solid, without a void. But since there's void in all begotten things, All solid matter must be round the same; Nor, by true reason canst thou prove aught hides And holds a void within its body, unless Thou grant what holds it be a solid. Know, That which can hold a void of things within Can be naught else than matter in union knit. Thus matter, consisting of a solid frame, Hath power to be eternal, though all else, Though all creation, be dissolved away. Again, were naught of empty and inane, The world were then a solid; as, without Some certain bodies to fill the places held, The world that is were but a vacant void. And so, infallibly, alternate-wise Body and void are still distinguished, Since nature knows no wholly full nor void. There are, then, certain bodies, possessed of power To vary forever the empty and the full; And these can nor be sundered from without By beats and blows, nor from within be torn By penetration, nor be overthrown By any assault soever through the world- For without void, naught can be crushed, it seems, Nor broken, nor severed by a cut in twain, Nor can it take the damp, or seeping cold Or piercing fire, those old destroyers three; But the more void within a thing, the more Entirely it totters at their sure assault. Thus if first bodies be, as I have taught, Solid, without a void, they must be then Eternal; and, if matter ne'er had been Eternal, long ere now had all things gone Back into nothing utterly, and all We see around from nothing had been born- But since I taught above that naught can be From naught created, nor the once begotten To naught be summoned back, these primal germs Must have an immortality of frame. And into these must each thing be resolved, When comes its supreme hour, that thus there be At hand the stuff for plenishing the world. . . . . . . So primal germs have solid singleness Nor otherwise could they have been conserved Through aeons and infinity of time For the replenishment of wasted worlds. Once more, if nature had given a scope for things To be forever broken more and more, By now the bodies of matter would have been So far reduced by breakings in old days That from them nothing could, at season fixed, Be born, and arrive its prime and top of life. For, lo, each thing is quicker marred than made; And so whate'er the long infinitude Of days and all fore-passed time would now By this have broken and ruined and dissolved, That same could ne'er in all remaining time Be builded up for plenishing the world. But mark: infallibly a fixed bound Remaineth stablished 'gainst their breaking down; Since we behold each thing soever renewed, And unto all, their seasons, after their kind, Wherein they arrive the flower of their age.
15	denique si nullam finem natura parasset frangendis rebus , iam corpora materiai usque redacta forent aevo frangente priore , ut nihil ex illis a certo tempore posset conceptum summum aetatis pervadere finem . nam quidvis citius dissolvi posse videmus quam rursus refici ; qua propter longa diei infinita aetas ante acti temporis omnis quod fregisset adhuc disturbans dissoluensque , numquam relicuo reparari tempore posset . at nunc ni mirum frangendi reddita finis certa manet , quoniam refici rem quamque videmus et finita simul generatim tempora rebus stare , quibus possint aevi contingere florem . Huc 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 . at 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 , quorum condenso magis omnia conciliatu artari possunt validasque ostendere viris . porro si nullast frangendis reddita finis corporibus , tamen ex aeterno tempore quaeque nunc etiam superare necessest corpora rebus , quae non dum 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 crescendi rebus constat vitamque tenendi , et quid quaeque queant per foedera naturai , quid porro nequeant , sancitum quando quidem extat , nec commutatur quicquam , quin omnia constant usque adeo , variae volucres ut in ordine cunctae ostendant maculas generalis corpore inesse , inmutabilis materiae quoque corpus habere debent ni mirum ; nam si primordia rerum commutari aliqua possent ratione revicta , incertum quoque iam constet quid possit oriri , quid nequeat , finita potestas denique cuique qua nam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens , nec totiens possent generatim saecla referre naturam mores victum motusque parentum .	Again, if bounds have not been set against The breaking down of this corporeal world, Yet must all bodies of whatever things Have still endured from everlasting time Unto this present, as not yet assailed By shocks of peril. But because the same Are, to thy thinking, of a nature frail, It ill accords that thus they could remain (As thus they do) through everlasting time, Vexed through the ages (as indeed they are) By the innumerable blows of chance. So in our programme of creation, mark How 'tis that, though the bodies of all stuff Are solid to the core, we yet explain The ways whereby some things are fashioned soft- Air, water, earth, and fiery exhalations- And by what force they function and go on: The fact is founded in the void of things. But if the primal germs themselves be soft, Reason cannot be brought to bear to show The ways whereby may be created these Great crags of basalt and the during iron; For their whole nature will profoundly lack The first foundations of a solid frame. But powerful in old simplicity, Abide the solid, the primeval germs; And by their combinations more condensed, All objects can be tightly knit and bound And made to show unconquerable strength. Again, since all things kind by kind obtain Fixed bounds of growing and conserving life; Since Nature hath inviolably decreed What each can do, what each can never do; Since naught is changed, but all things so abide That ever the variegated birds reveal The spots or stripes peculiar to their kind, Spring after spring: thus surely all that is Must be composed of matter immutable. For if the primal germs in any wise Were open to conquest and to change, 'twould be Uncertain also what could come to birth And what could not, and by what law to each Its scope prescribed, its boundary stone that clings So deep in Time. Nor could the generations Kind after kind so often reproduce The nature, habits, motions, ways of life, Of their progenitors.
16	Tum porro quoniam est extremum quodque cacumen corporis illius , quod nostri cernere sensus iam nequeunt , id ni mirum sine partibus extat et minima constat natura nec fuit umquam per se secretum neque post hac esse valebit , alterius quoniamst ipsum pars primaque et una , inde 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 , quae 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 corpora constabunt ex partibus infinitis , quippe ubi dimidiae partis pars semper habebit dimidiam partem nec res praefiniet ulla . ergo rerum inter summam minimamque quod escit , nil 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 esse ea quae nullis iam praedita partibus extent 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 , iam nihil 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 quas res quaeque geruntur .	And then again, Since there is ever an extreme bounding point . . . . . . Of that first body which our senses now Cannot perceive: That bounding point indeed Exists without all parts, a minimum Of nature, nor was e'er a thing apart, As of itself,- nor shall hereafter be, Since 'tis itself still parcel of another, A first and single part, whence other parts And others similar in order lie In a packed phalanx, filling to the full The nature of first body: being thus Not self-existent, they must cleave to that From which in nowise they can sundered be. So primal germs have solid singleness, Which tightly packed and closely joined cohere By virtue of their minim particles- No compound by mere union of the same; But strong in their eternal singleness, Nature, reserving them as seeds for things, Permitteth naught of rupture or decrease. Moreover, were there not a minimum, The smallest bodies would have infinites, Since then a half-of-half could still be halved, With limitless division less and less. Then what the difference 'twixt the sum and least? None: for however infinite the sum, Yet even the smallest would consist the same Of infinite parts. But since true reason here Protests, denying that the mind can think it, Convinced thou must confess such things there are As have no parts, the minimums of nature. And since these are, likewise confess thou must That primal bodies are solid and eterne. Again, if Nature, creatress of all things, Were wont to force all things to be resolved Unto least parts, then would she not avail To reproduce from out them anything; Because whate'er is not endowed with parts Cannot possess those properties required Of generative stuff- divers connections, Weights, blows, encounters, motions, whereby things Forevermore have being and go on.