De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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| 193 |
Nunc ratio quae sit , per fauces montis ut Aetnae expirent ignes inter dum turbine tanto , expediam ; neque enim mediocri clade coorta flammae tempestas Siculum dominata per agros finitimis ad se convertit gentibus ora , fumida cum caeli scintillare omnia templa cernentes 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 et videas caelum summai totius unum quam sit parvula pars et quam multesima constet 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 accepit calido febrim fervore coortam aut alium quemvis morbi per membra dolorem ? opturgescit enim subito pes , arripit acer saepe dolor dentes , oculos invadit in ipsos , existit sacer ignis et urit corpore serpens quam cumque arripuit partem repitque per artus , ni mirum quia sunt multarum semina rerum et satis haec tellus morbi caelumque mali fert , unde queat vis immensi procrescere morbi . sic 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 ; id 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 , qui 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 .
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And now the cause Whereby athrough the throat of Aetna's Mount Such vast tornado-fires out-breathe at times, I will unfold: for with no middling might Of devastation the flamy tempest rose And held dominion in Sicilian fields: Drawing upon itself the upturned faces Of neighbouring clans, what time they saw afar The skiey vaults a-fume and sparkling all, And filled their bosoms with dread anxiety Of what new thing nature were travailing at. In these affairs it much behooveth thee To look both wide and deep, and far abroad To peer to every quarter, that thou mayst Remember how boundless is the Sum-of-Things, And mark how infinitely small a part Of the whole Sum is this one sky of ours- O not so large a part as is one man Of the whole earth. And plainly if thou viewest This cosmic fact, placing it square in front, And plainly understandest, thou wilt leave Wondering at many things. For who of us Wondereth if some one gets into his joints A fever, gathering head with fiery heat, Or any other dolorous disease Along his members? For anon the foot Grows blue and bulbous; often the sharp twinge Seizes the teeth, attacks the very eyes; Out-breaks the sacred fire, and, crawling on Over the body, burneth every part It seizeth on, and works its hideous way Along the frame. No marvel this, since, lo, Of things innumerable be seeds enough, And this our earth and sky do bring to us Enough of bane from whence can grow the strength Of maladies uncounted. Thuswise, then, We must suppose to all the sky and earth Are ever supplied from out the infinite All things, O all in stores enough whereby The shaken earth can of a sudden move, And fierce typhoons can over sea and lands Go tearing on, and Aetna's fires o'erflow, And heaven become a flame-burst. For that, too, Happens at times, and the celestial vaults Glow into fire, and rainy tempests rise In heavier congregation, when, percase, The seeds of water have foregathered thus From out the infinite. "Aye, but passing huge The fiery turmoil of that conflagration!" So sayst thou; well, huge many a river seems To him that erstwhile ne'er a larger saw; Thus, huge seems tree or man; and everything Which mortal sees the biggest of each class, That he imagines to be "huge"; though yet All these, with sky and land and sea to boot, Are all as nothing to the sum entire Of the all-Sum. |
| 194 |
Nunc 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 aeër . ventus enim fit , ubi est agitando percitus aeër . hic ubi percaluit cale fecitque omnia circum saxa furens , qua contingit , terramque et ab ollis excussit calidum flammis velocibus ignem , tollit se ac rectis ita faucibus eicit alte . fert 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 radices frangit fluctus aestumque resolvit . ex hoc usque mari speluncae montis ad altas perveniunt subter fauces . hac ire fatendumst ( ... lost text ... ) et penetrare mari penitus res cogit aperto atque efflare foras ideoque extollere flammam saxaque subiectare et arenae tollere nimbos . in summo sunt vertice enim crateres , ut ipsi nominitant , nos quod fauces perhibemus et ora .
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But now I will unfold At last how yonder suddenly angered flame Out-blows abroad from vasty furnaces Aetnaean. First, the mountain's nature is All under-hollow, propped about, about With caverns of basaltic piers. And, lo, In all its grottos be there wind and air- For wind is made when air hath been uproused By violent agitation. When this air Is heated through and through, and, raging round, Hath made the earth and all the rocks it touches Horribly hot, and hath struck off from them Fierce fire of swiftest flame, it lifts itself And hurtles thus straight upwards through its throat Into high heav'n, and thus bears on afar Its burning blasts and scattereth afar Its ashes, and rolls a smoke of pitchy murk And heaveth the while boulders of wondrous weight- Leaving no doubt in thee that 'tis the air's Tumultuous power. Besides, in mighty part, The sea there at the roots of that same mount Breaks its old billows and sucks back its surf. And grottos from the sea pass in below Even to the bottom of the mountain's throat. Herethrough thou must admit there go... . . . . . . And the conditions force [the water and air] Deeply to penetrate from the open sea, And to out-blow abroad, and to up-bear Thereby the flame, and to up-cast from deeps The boulders, and to rear the clouds of sand. For at the top be "bowls," as people there Are wont to name what we at Rome do call The throats and mouths. |
| 195 |
Sunt aliquot quoque res quarum unam dicere causam non satis est , verum pluris , unde una tamen sit ; corpus ut exanimum siquod procul ipse iacere conspicias hominis , fit ut omnis dicere causas conveniat leti , dicatur ut illius una ; nam que eum ferro nec frigore vincere possis interiisse neque a morbo neque forte veneno , verum 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 , aut 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 flumine , 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 fluctibus 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 tempore 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 . forsitan Aethiopum penitus de montibus altis crescat , ubi in campos albas descendere ningues tabificis subigit radiis sol omnia lustrans .
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There be, besides, some thing Of which 'tis not enough one only cause To state- but rather several, whereof one Will be the true: lo, if thou shouldst espy Lying afar some fellow's lifeless corse, 'Twere meet to name all causes of a death, That cause of his death might thereby be named: For prove thou mayst he perished not by steel, By cold, nor even by poison nor disease, Yet somewhat of this sort hath come to him We know- And thus we have to say the same In divers cases. Toward the summer, Nile Waxeth and overfloweth the champaign, Unique in all the landscape, river sole Of the Aegyptians. In mid-season heats Often and oft he waters Aegypt o'er, Either because in summer against his mouths Come those northwinds which at that time of year Men name the Etesian blasts, and, blowing thus Upstream, retard, and, forcing back his waves, Fill him o'erfull and force his flow to stop. For out of doubt these blasts which driven be From icy constellations of the pole Are borne straight up the river. Comes that river From forth the sultry places down the south, Rising far up in midmost realm of day, Among black generations of strong men With sun-baked skins. 'Tis possible, besides, That a big bulk of piled sand may bar His mouths against his onward waves, when sea, Wild in the winds, tumbles the sand to inland; Whereby the river's outlet were less free, Likewise less headlong his descending floods. It may be, too, that in this season rains Are more abundant at its fountain head, Because the Etesian blasts of those northwinds Then urge all clouds into those inland parts. And, soothly, when they're thus foregathered there, Urged yonder into midmost realm of day, Then, crowded against the lofty mountain sides, They're massed and powerfully pressed. Again, Perchance, his waters wax, O far away, Among the Aethiopians' lofty mountains, When the all-beholding sun with thawing beams Drives the white snows to flow into the vales. |
| 196 |
Nunc age , Averna tibi quae sint loca cumque lacusque , expediam , quali natura praedita constent . principio , quod Averna vocantur nomine , id ab re inpositumst , quia sunt avibus contraria cunctis , e regione ea quod loca cum venere volantes , remigii oblitae pennarum vela remittunt praecipitesque cadunt molli cervice profusae in terram , si forte ita fert natura locorum , aut in aquam , si forte lacus substratus Averni . is locus est Cumas aput , acri sulpure montis oppleti calidis ubi fumant fontibus aucti . est et Athenaeis in moenibus , arcis in ipso vertice , Palladis ad templum Tritonidis almae , quo numquam pennis appellunt corpora raucae cornices , non cum fumant altaria donis ; usque adeo fugitant non iras Palladis acris pervigili causa , Graium ut cecinere poeëtae, sed 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 . omnia 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 , naribus 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 .
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Now come; and unto thee I will unfold, As to the Birdless spots and Birdless tarns, What sort of nature they are furnished with. First, as to name of "birdless,"- that derives From very fact, because they noxious be Unto all birds. For when above those spots In horizontal flight the birds have come, Forgetting to oar with wings, they furl their sails, And, with down-drooping of their delicate necks, Fall headlong into earth, if haply such The nature of the spots, or into water, If haply spreads thereunder Birdless tarn. Such spot's at Cumae, where the mountains smoke, Charged with the pungent sulphur, and increased With steaming springs. And such a spot there is Within the walls of Athens, even there On summit of Acropolis, beside Fane of Tritonian Pallas bountiful, Where never cawing crows can wing their course, Not even when smoke the altars with good gifts,- But evermore they flee- yet not from wrath Of Pallas, grieved at that espial old, As poets of the Greeks have sung the tale; But very nature of the place compels. In Syria also- as men say- a spot Is to be seen, where also four-foot kinds, As soon as ever they've set their steps within, Collapse, o'ercome by its essential power, As if there slaughtered to the under-gods. Lo, all these wonders work by natural law, And from what causes they are brought to pass The origin is manifest; so, haply, Let none believe that in these regions stands The gate of Orcus, nor us then suppose, Haply, that thence the under-gods draw down Souls to dark shores of Acheron- as stags, The wing-footed, are thought to draw to light, By sniffing nostrils, from their dusky lairs The wriggling generations of wild snakes. How far removed from true reason is this, Perceive thou straight; for now I'll try to say Somewhat about the very fact. |
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Principio hoc dico , quod dixi saepe quoque ante , in 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 propter dissimilem naturam dissimilisque texturas inter sese primasque figuras . multa meant inimica per auris , multa per ipsas insinuant naris infesta atque aspera tactu , nec sunt multa parum tactu vitanda neque autem aspectu fugienda saporeque tristia quae sint . Deinde videre licet quam multae sint homini res acriter infesto sensu spurcaeque gravisque ; arboribus primum certis gravis umbra tributa usque adeo , capitis faciant ut saepe dolores , siquis 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 quod 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 , et 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 plenior et lueris , solio ferventis aquai quam facile in medio fit uti des saepe ruinas ! carbonumque gravis vis atque odor insinuatur quam facile in cerebrum , nisi aqua praecepimus ante ! at cum membra domans percepit fervida febris , tum 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 secuntur , terrai penitus scrutantes abdita ferro , qualis expiret Scaptensula subter odores ? quidve mali fit ut exalent 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 .
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And, first, This do I say, as oft I've said before: In earth are atoms of things of every sort; And know, these all thus rise from out the earth- Many life-giving which be good for food, And many which can generate disease And hasten death, O many primal seeds Of many things in many modes- since earth Contains them mingled and gives forth discrete. And we have shown before that certain things Be unto certain creatures suited more For ends of life, by virtue of a nature, A texture, and primordial shapes, unlike For kinds alike. Then too 'tis thine to see How many things oppressive be and foul To man, and to sensation most malign: Many meander miserably through ears; Many in-wind athrough the nostrils too, Malign and harsh when mortal draws a breath; Of not a few must one avoid the touch; Of not a few must one escape the sight; And some there be all loathsome to the taste; And many, besides, relax the languid limbs Along the frame, and undermine the soul In its abodes within. To certain trees There hath been given so dolorous a shade That often they gender achings of the head, If one but be beneath, outstretched on the sward. There is, again, on Helicon's high hills A tree that's wont to kill a man outright By fetid odour of its very flower. And when the pungent stench of the night-lamp, Extinguished but a moment since, assails The nostrils, then and there it puts to sleep A man afflicted with the falling sickness And foamings at the mouth. A woman, too, At the heavy castor drowses back in chair, And from her delicate fingers slips away Her gaudy handiwork, if haply she Hath got the whiff at menstruation-time. Once more, if thou delayest in hot baths, When thou art over-full, how readily From stool in middle of the steaming water Thou tumblest in a fit! How readily The heavy fumes of charcoal wind their way Into the brain, unless beforehand we Of water 've drunk. But when a burning fever, O'ermastering man, hath seized upon his limbs, Then odour of wine is like a hammer-blow. And seest thou not how in the very earth Sulphur is gendered and bitumen thickens With noisome stench?- What direful stenches, too, Scaptensula out-breathes from down below, When men pursue the veins of silver and gold, With pick-axe probing round the hidden realms Deep in the earth?- Or what of deadly bane The mines of gold exhale? O what a look, And what a ghastly hue they give to men! And seest thou not, or hearest, how they're wont In little time to perish, and how fail The life-stores in those folk whom mighty power Of grim necessity confineth there In such a task? Thus, this telluric earth Out-streams with all these dread effluvia And breathes them out into the open world And into the visible regions under heaven. |
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Sic et Averna loca alitibus summittere debent mortiferam vim . de terra quae surgit in auras , ut 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 reliquias 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 . Fit quoque ut inter dum vis haec atque aestus Averni aeëra , qui inter avis cumquest terramque locatus . discutiat , prope uti locus hic linquatur inanis . cuius ubi e regione loci venere volantis , claudicat extemplo pinnarum nisus inanis et 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 . ( ... lost text ... ) |
Thus, too, those Birdless places must up-send An essence bearing death to winged things, Which from the earth rises into the breezes To poison part of skiey space, and when Thither the winged is on pennons borne, There, seized by the unseen poison, 'tis ensnared, And from the horizontal of its flight Drops to the spot whence sprang the effluvium. And when 'thas there collapsed, then the same power Of that effluvium takes from all its limbs The relics of its life. That power first strikes The creatures with a wildering dizziness, And then thereafter, when they're once down-fallen Into the poison's very fountains, then Life, too, they vomit out perforce, because So thick the stores of bane around them fume. Again, at times it happens that this power, This exhalation of the Birdless places, Dispels the air betwixt the ground and birds, Leaving well-nigh a void. And thither when In horizontal flight the birds have come, Forthwith their buoyancy of pennons limps, All useless, and each effort of both wings Falls out in vain. Here, when without all power To buoy themselves and on their wings to lean, Lo, nature constrains them by their weight to slip Down to the earth, and lying prostrate there Along the well-nigh empty void, they spend Their souls through all the openings of their frame. . . . . . . |
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frigidior porro in puteis aestate fit umor , arescit 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 . frigore 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 . hunc homines fontem nimis admirantur et acri sole putant subter terras fervescere partim , nox ubi terribili terras caligine texit . quod nimis a verast longe ratione remotum . quippe ubi sol nudum contractans corpus aquai non quierit calidum supera de reddere parte , cum superum lumen tanto fervore fruatur , qui queat hic supter tam crasso corpore terram perquoquere umorem et calido focilare vapore ? praesertim cum vix possit per saepta domorum insinuare suum radiis ardentibus aestum . quae ratiost igitur ? ni mirum terra magis quod rara tenet circum fontem quam cetera tellus multaque sunt ignis prope semina corpus aquai . hoc ubi roriferis terram nox obruit undis , extemplo penitus frigescit terra coitque . hac ratione fit ut , tam quam 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 et rare fecit 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 umor 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 .
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Further, the water of wells is colder then At summer time, because the earth by heat Is rarefied, and sends abroad in air Whatever seeds it peradventure have Of its own fiery exhalations. The more, then, the telluric ground is drained Of heat, the colder grows the water hid Within the earth. Further, when all the earth Is by the cold compressed, and thus contracts And, so to say, concretes, it happens, lo, That by contracting it expresses then Into the wells what heat it bears itself. 'Tis said at Hammon's fane a fountain is, In daylight cold and hot in time of night. This fountain men be-wonder over-much, And think that suddenly it seethes in heat By intense sun, the subterranean, when Night with her terrible murk hath cloaked the lands- What's not true reasoning by a long remove: I' faith when sun o'erhead, touching with beams An open body of water, had no power To render it hot upon its upper side, Though his high light possess such burning glare, How, then, can he, when under the gross earth, Make water boil and glut with fiery heat?- And, specially, since scarcely potent he Through hedging walls of houses to inject His exhalations hot, with ardent rays. What, then's, the principle? Why, this, indeed: The earth about that spring is porous more Than elsewhere the telluric ground, and be Many the seeds of fire hard by the water; On this account, when night with dew-fraught shades Hath whelmed the earth, anon the earth deep down Grows chill, contracts; and thuswise squeezes out Into the spring what seeds she holds of fire (As one might squeeze with fist), which render hot The touch and steam of the fluid. Next, when sun, Up-risen, with his rays has split the soil And rarefied the earth with waxing heat, Again into their ancient abodes return The seeds of fire, and all the Hot of water Into the earth retires; and this is why The fountain in the daylight gets so cold. Besides, the water's wet is beat upon By rays of sun, and, with the dawn, becomes Rarer in texture under his pulsing blaze; And, therefore, whatso seeds it holds of fire It renders up, even as it renders oft The frost that it contains within itself And thaws its ice and looseneth the knots. |
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Frigidus est etiam fons , supra quem sita saepe stuppa iacit flammam concepto protinus igni , taedaque consimili ratione accensa per undas conlucet , quo cumque natans impellitur auris . ni mirum quia sunt in aqua permulta vaporis semina de terraque necessest funditus ipsa ignis 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 conciliari . quod genus endo marist Aradi fons , dulcis aquai qui scatit et salsas circum se dimovet undas ; et multis aliis praebet regionibus aequor utilitatem opportunam sitientibus nautis , quod dulcis inter salsas intervomit undas . sic 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 tenentes . nonne 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 . hoc igitur fieri quoque in illo fonte putandumst .
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There is, moreover, a fountain cold in kind That makes a bit of tow (above it held) Take fire forthwith and shoot a flame; so, too, A pitch-pine torch will kindle and flare round Along its waves, wherever 'tis impelled Afloat before the breeze. No marvel, this: Because full many seeds of heat there be Within the water; and, from earth itself Out of the deeps must particles of fire Athrough the entire fountain surge aloft, And speed in exhalations into air Forth and abroad (yet not in numbers enow As to make hot the fountain). And, moreo'er, Some force constrains them, scattered through the water, Forthwith to burst abroad, and to combine In flame above. Even as a fountain far There is at Aradus amid the sea, Which bubbles out sweet water and disparts From round itself the salt waves; and, behold, In many another region the broad main Yields to the thirsty mariners timely help, Belching sweet waters forth amid salt waves. Just so, then, can those seeds of fire burst forth Athrough that other fount, and bubble out Abroad against the bit of tow; and when They there collect or cleave unto the torch, Forthwith they readily flash aflame, because The tow and torches, also, in themselves Have many seeds of latent fire. Indeed, And seest thou not, when near the nightly lamps Thou bringest a flaxen wick, extinguished A moment since, it catches fire before 'Thas touched the flame, and in same wise a torch? And many another object flashes aflame When at a distance, touched by heat alone, Before 'tis steeped in veritable fire. This, then, we must suppose to come to pass In that spring also. |