De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)

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	De Rerum Natura Author: Lucretius	Translator: William Ellery Leonard
17	Quapropter qui materiem rerum esse putarunt ignem atque ex igni summam consistere solo , magno opere a vera lapsi ratione videntur . Heraclitus init quorum dux proelia primus , clarus ob obscuram linguam magis inter inanis quamde gravis inter Graios , qui vera requirunt ; omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque , inversis quae sub verbis latitantia cernunt , veraque constituunt quae belle tangere possunt auris et lepido quae sunt fucata sonore . Nam cur tam variae res possent esse , requiro , ex uno si sunt igni puroque creatae ? nil prodesset enim calidum denserier ignem nec rare fieri , si partes ignis eandem naturam quam totus habet super ignis haberent . acrior ardor enim conductis partibus esset , languidior porro disiectis disque supatis . amplius hoc fieri nihil est quod posse rearis talibus in causis , ne dum variantia rerum tanta queat densis rarisque ex ignibus esse . Id quoque : si faciant admixtum rebus inane , denseri poterunt ignes rarique relinqui ; sed quia multa sibi cernunt contraria quae sint et fugitant in rebus inane relinquere purum , ardua dum metuunt , amittunt vera viai nec rursum cernunt exempto rebus inane omnia denseri fierique ex omnibus unum corpus , nil ab se quod possit mittere raptim , aestifer ignis uti lumen iacit atque vaporem , ut videas non e stipatis partibus esse . Quod si forte alia credunt ratione potesse ignis in coetu stingui mutareque corpus , scilicet ex nulla facere id si parte reparcent , occidet ad nihilum ni mirum funditus ardor omnis et e nihilo fient quae cumque creantur ; nam quod cumque suis mutatum finibus exit , continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante . proinde aliquid superare necesse est incolume ollis , ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnes de nihiloque renata vigescat copia rerum . Nunc igitur quoniam certissima corpora quaedam sunt , quae conservant naturam semper eandem , quorum abitu aut aditu mutatoque ordine mutant naturam res et convertunt corpora sese , scire licet non esse haec ignea corpora rerum . nil referret enim quaedam decedere , abire atque alia adtribui mutarique ordine quaedam , si tamen ardoris naturam cuncta tenerent ; ignis enim foret omnimodis quod cumque crearet . verum , ut opinor , itast : sunt quaedam corpora , quorum concursus motus ordo positura figurae efficiunt ignis mutatoque ordine mutant naturam neque sunt igni simulata neque ulli praeterea rei quae corpora mittere possit sensibus et nostros adiectu tangere tactus . dicere porro ignem res omnis esse neque ullam rem veram in numero rerum constare nisi ignem , quod facit hic idem , perdelirum esse videtur . nam contra sensus ab sensibus ipse repugnat et labefactat eos , unde omnia credita pendent , unde hic cognitus est ipsi quem nominat ignem ; credit enim sensus ignem cognoscere vere , cetera non credit , quae nilo clara minus sunt . quod mihi cum vanum tum delirum esse videtur ; quo referemus enim ? quid nobis certius ipsis sensibus esse potest , qui vera ac falsa notemus ? Praeterea quare quisquam magis omnia tollat et velit ardoris naturam linquere solam , quam neget esse ignis , aliam tamen esse relinquat ? aequa videtur enim dementia dicere utrumque .	CONFUTATION OF OTHER PHILOSOPHERS And on such grounds it is that those who held The stuff of things is fire, and out of fire Alone the cosmic sum is formed, are seen Mightily from true reason to have lapsed. Of whom, chief leader to do battle, comes That Heraclitus, famous for dark speech Among the silly, not the serious Greeks Who search for truth. For dolts are ever prone That to bewonder and adore which hides Beneath distorted words, holding that true Which sweetly tickles in their stupid ears, Or which is rouged in finely finished phrase. For how, I ask, can things so varied be, If formed of fire, single and pure? No whit 'Twould help for fire to be condensed or thinned, If all the parts of fire did still preserve But fire's own nature, seen before in gross. The heat were keener with the parts compressed, Milder, again, when severed or dispersed- And more than this thou canst conceive of naught That from such causes could become; much less Might earth's variety of things be born From any fires soever, dense or rare. This too: if they suppose a void in things, Then fires can be condensed and still left rare; But since they see such opposites of thought Rising against them, and are loath to leave An unmixed void in things, they fear the steep And lose the road of truth. Nor do they see, That, if from things we take away the void, All things are then condensed, and out of all One body made, which has no power to dart Swiftly from out itself not anything- As throws the fire its light and warmth around, Giving thee proof its parts are not compact. But if perhaps they think, in other wise, Fires through their combinations can be quenched And change their substance, very well: behold, If fire shall spare to do so in no part, Then heat will perish utterly and all, And out of nothing would the world be formed. For change in anything from out its bounds Means instant death of that which was before; And thus a somewhat must persist unharmed Amid the world, lest all return to naught, And, born from naught, abundance thrive anew. Now since indeed there are those surest bodies Which keep their nature evermore the same, Upon whose going out and coming in And changed order things their nature change, And all corporeal substances transformed, 'Tis thine to know those primal bodies, then, Are not of fire. For 'twere of no avail Should some depart and go away, and some Be added new, and some be changed in order, If still all kept their nature of old heat: For whatsoever they created then Would still in any case be only fire. The truth, I fancy, this: bodies there are Whose clashings, motions, order, posture, shapes Produce the fire and which, by order changed, Do change the nature of the thing produced, And are thereafter nothing like to fire Nor whatso else has power to send its bodies With impact touching on the senses' touch. Again, to say that all things are but fire And no true thing in number of all things Exists but fire, as this same fellow says, Seems crazed folly. For the man himself Against the senses by the senses fights, And hews at that through which is all belief, Through which indeed unto himself is known The thing he calls the fire. For, though he thinks The senses truly can perceive the fire, He thinks they cannot as regards all else, Which still are palpably as clear to sense- To me a thought inept and crazy too. For whither shall we make appeal? for what More certain than our senses can there be Whereby to mark asunder error and truth? Besides, why rather do away with all, And wish to allow heat only, then deny The fire and still allow all else to be?- Alike the madness either way it seems.
18	Quapropter qui materiem rerum esse putarunt ignem atque ex igni summam consistere posse , et qui principium gignundis aera rebus constituere aut umorem qui cumque putarunt fingere res ipsum per se terramve creare omnia et in rerum naturas vertier omnis , magno opere a vero longe derrasse videntur . adde etiam qui conduplicant primordia rerum aera iungentes igni terramque liquori , et qui quattuor ex rebus posse omnia rentur ex igni terra atque anima procrescere et imbri . quorum Acragantinus cum primis Empedocles est , insula quem triquetris terrarum gessit in oris , quam fluitans circum magnis anfractibus aequor Ionium glaucis aspargit virus ab undis angustoque fretu rapidum mare dividit undis Aeoliae terrarum oras a finibus eius . hic est vasta Charybdis et hic Aetnaea minantur murmura flammarum rursum se colligere iras , faucibus eruptos iterum vis ut vomat ignis ad caelumque ferat flammai fulgura rursum . quae cum magna modis multis miranda videtur gentibus humanis regio visendaque fertur rebus opima bonis , multa munita virum vi , nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in se nec sanctum magis et mirum carumque videtur . carmina quin etiam divini pectoris eius vociferantur et exponunt praeclara reperta , ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus . Hic tamen et supra quos diximus inferiores partibus egregie multis multoque minores , quamquam multa bene ac divinitus invenientes ex adyto tam quam cordis responsa dedere sanctius et multo certa ratione magis quam Pythia quae tripodi a Phoebi lauroque profatur , principiis tamen in rerum fecere ruinas et graviter magni magno cecidere ibi casu . Primum quod motus exempto rebus inani constituunt et res mollis rarasque relinquunt aera solem ignem terras animalia frugis nec tamen admiscent in eorum corpus inane ; deinde quod omnino finem non esse secandis corporibus facient neque pausam stare fragori nec prorsum in rebus minimum consistere qui cquam, cum videamus id extremum cuiusque cacumen esse quod ad sensus nostros minimum esse videtur , conicere ut possis ex hoc , quae cernere non quis extremum quod habent , minimum consistere rerum . Huc accedit item , quoniam primordia rerum mollia constituunt , quae nos nativa videmus esse et mortali cum corpore , funditus ut qui debeat ad nihilum iam rerum summa reverti de nihiloque renata vigescere copia rerum ; quorum utrumque quid a vero iam distet habebis . Deinde inimica modis multis sunt atque veneno ipsa sibi inter se ; quare aut congressa peribunt aut ita diffugient , ut tempestate coacta fulmina diffugere atque imbris ventosque videmus .	Thus whosoe'er have held the stuff of things To be but fire, and out of fire the sum, And whosoever have constituted air As first beginning of begotten things, And all whoever have held that of itself Water alone contrives things, or that earth Createth all and changes things anew To divers natures, mightily they seem A long way to have wandered from the truth. Add, too, whoever make the primal stuff Twofold, by joining air to fire, and earth To water; add who deem that things can grow Out of the four- fire, earth, and breath, and rain; As first Empedocles of Acragas, Whom that three-cornered isle of all the lands Bore on her coasts, around which flows and flows In mighty bend and bay the Ionic seas, Splashing the brine from off their gray-green waves. Here, billowing onward through the narrow straits, Swift ocean cuts her boundaries from the shores Of the Italic mainland. Here the waste Charybdis; and here Aetna rumbles threats To gather anew such furies of its flames As with its force anew to vomit fires, Belched from its throat, and skyward bear anew Its lightnings' flash. And though for much she seem The mighty and the wondrous isle to men, Most rich in all good things, and fortified With generous strength of heroes, she hath ne'er Possessed within her aught of more renown, Nor aught more holy, wonderful, and dear Than this true man. Nay, ever so far and pure The lofty music of his breast divine Lifts up its voice and tells of glories found, That scarce he seems of human stock create. Yet he and those forementioned (known to be So far beneath him, less than he in all), Though, as discoverers of much goodly truth, They gave, as 'twere from out of the heart's own shrine, Responses holier and soundlier based Than ever the Pythia pronounced for men From out the triped and the Delphian laurel, Have still in matter of first-elements Made ruin of themselves, and, great men, great Indeed and heavy there for them the fall: First, because, banishing the void from things, They yet assign them motion, and allow Things soft and loosely textured to exist, As air, dew, fire, earth, animals, and grains, Without admixture of void amid their frame. Next, because, thinking there can be no end In cutting bodies down to less and less Nor pause established to their breaking up, They hold there is no minimum in things; Albeit we see the boundary point of aught Is that which to our senses seems its least, Whereby thou mayst conjecture, that, because The things thou canst not mark have boundary points, They surely have their minimums. Then, too, Since these philosophers ascribe to things Soft primal germs, which we behold to be Of birth and body mortal, thus, throughout, The sum of things must be returned to naught, And, born from naught, abundance thrive anew- Thou seest how far each doctrine stands from truth. And, next, these bodies are among themselves In many ways poisons and foes to each, Wherefore their congress will destroy them quite Or drive asunder as we see in storms Rains, winds, and lightnings all asunder fly.
19	Denique quattuor ex rebus si cuncta creantur atque in eas rursum res omnia dissoluuntur , qui magis illa queunt rerum primordia dici quam contra res illorum retroque putari ? alternis gignuntur enim mutantque colorem et totam inter se naturam tempore ab omni . sin ita forte putas ignis terraeque coire corpus et aerias auras roremque liquoris , nil in concilio naturam ut mutet eorum , nulla tibi ex illis poterit res esse creata , non animans , non exanimo cum corpore , ut arbos ; quippe suam quicque in coetu variantis acervi naturam ostendet mixtusque videbitur aer cum terra simul et quodam cum rore manere . at primordia gignundis in rebus oportet naturam clandestinam caecamque adhibere , emineat ne quid , quod contra pugnet et obstet quo minus esse queat proprie quodcumque creatur . Quin etiam repetunt a caelo atque ignibus eius et primum faciunt ignem se vertere in auras aeris , hinc imbrem gigni terramque creari ex imbri retroque a terra cuncta reverti , umorem primum , post aera , deinde calorem , nec cessare haec inter se mutare , meare a caelo ad terram , de terra ad sidera mundi . quod facere haud ullo debent primordia pacto . immutabile enim quiddam superare necessest , ne res ad nihilum redigantur funditus omnes ; nam quod cumque suis mutatum finibus exit , continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante . quapropter quoniam quae paulo diximus ante in commutatum veniunt , constare necessest ex aliis ea , quae nequeant convertier usquam , ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnis ; quin potius tali natura praedita quaedam corpora constituas , ignem si forte crearint , posse eadem demptis paucis paucisque tributis , ordine mutato et motu , facere aeris auras , sic alias aliis rebus mutarier omnis ? ' At manifesta palam res indicat ' inquis ' in auras aeris e terra res omnis crescere alique ; et nisi tempestas indulget tempore fausto imbribus , ut tabe nimborum arbusta vacillent , solque sua pro parte fovet tribuitque calorem , crescere non possint fruges arbusta animantis . ' scilicet et nisi nos cibus aridus et tener umor adiuvet , amisso iam corpore vita quoque omnis omnibus e nervis atque ossibus exsoluatur ; adiutamur enim dubio procul atque alimur nos certis ab rebus , certis aliae atque aliae res . ni mirum quia multa modis communia multis multarum rerum in rebus primordia mixta sunt , ideo variis variae res rebus aluntur . atque eadem magni refert primordia saepe cum quibus et quali positura contineantur et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque ; namque eadem caelum mare terras flumina solem constituunt , eadem fruges arbusta animantis , verum aliis alioque modo commixta moventur . quin etiam passim nostris in versibus ipsis multa elementa vides multis communia verbis , cum tamen inter se versus ac verba necessest confiteare et re et sonitu distare sonanti . tantum elementa queunt permutato ordine solo ; at rerum quae sunt primordia , plura adhibere possunt unde queant variae res quaeque creari .	Thus too, if all things are create of four, And all again dissolved into the four, How can the four be called the primal germs Of things, more than all things themselves be thought, By retroversion, primal germs of them? For ever alternately are both begot, With interchange of nature and aspect From immemorial time. But if percase Thou think'st the frame of fire and earth, the air, The dew of water can in such wise meet As not by mingling to resign their nature, From them for thee no world can be create- No thing of breath, no stock or stalk of tree: In the wild congress of this varied heap Each thing its proper nature will display, And air will palpably be seen mixed up With earth together, unquenched heat with water. But primal germs in bringing things to birth Must have a latent, unseen quality, Lest some outstanding alien element Confuse and minish in the thing create Its proper being. But these men begin From heaven, and from its fires; and first they feign That fire will turn into the winds of air, Next, that from air the rain begotten is, And earth created out of rain, and then That all, reversely, are returned from earth- The moisture first, then air thereafter heat- And that these same ne'er cease in interchange, To go their ways from heaven to earth, from earth Unto the stars of the aethereal world- Which in no wise at all the germs can do. Since an immutable somewhat still must be, Lest all things utterly be sped to naught; For change in anything from out its bounds Means instant death of that which was before. Wherefore, since those things, mentioned heretofore, Suffer a changed state, they must derive From others ever unconvertible, Lest an things utterly return to naught. Then why not rather presuppose there be Bodies with such a nature furnished forth That, if perchance they have created fire, Can still (by virtue of a few withdrawn, Or added few, and motion and order changed) Fashion the winds of air, and thus all things Forevermore be interchanged with all? "But facts in proof are manifest," thou sayest, "That all things grow into the winds of air And forth from earth are nourished, and unless The season favour at propitious hour With rains enough to set the trees a-reel Under the soak of bulking thunderheads, And sun, for its share, foster and give heat, No grains, nor trees, nor breathing things can grow." True- and unless hard food and moisture soft Recruited man, his frame would waste away, And life dissolve from out his thews and bones; For out of doubt recruited and fed are we By certain things, as other things by others. Because in many ways the many germs Common to many things are mixed in things, No wonder 'tis that therefore divers things By divers things are nourished. And, again, Often it matters vastly with what others, In what positions the primordial germs Are bound together, and what motions, too, They give and get among themselves; for these Same germs do put together sky, sea, lands, Rivers, and sun, grains, trees, and breathing things, But yet commixed they are in divers modes With divers things, forever as they move. Nay, thou beholdest in our verses here Elements many, common to many worlds, Albeit thou must confess each verse, each word From one another differs both in sense And ring of sound- so much the elements Can bring about by change of order alone. But those which are the primal germs of things Have power to work more combinations still, Whence divers things can be produced in turn.
20	Nunc et Anaxagorae scrutemur homoeomerian quam Grai memorant nec nostra dicere lingua concedit nobis patrii sermonis egestas , sed tamen ipsam rem facilest exponere verbis . principio , rerum quam dicit homoeomerian , ossa videlicet e pauxillis atque minutis ossibus hic et de pauxillis atque minutis visceribus viscus gigni sanguenque creari sanguinis inter se multis coeuntibus guttis ex aurique putat micis consistere posse aurum et de terris terram concrescere parvis , ignibus ex ignis , umorem umoribus esse , cetera consimili fingit ratione putatque . nec tamen esse ulla de parte in rebus inane concedit neque corporibus finem esse secandis . quare in utraque mihi pariter ratione videtur errare atque illi , supra quos diximus ante .	Now let us also take for scrutiny The homeomeria of Anaxagoras, So called by Greeks, for which our pauper-speech Yieldeth no name in the Italian tongue, Although the thing itself is not o'erhard For explanation. First, then, when he speaks Of this homeomeria of things, he thinks Bones to be sprung from littlest bones minute, And from minute and littlest flesh all flesh, And blood created out of drops of blood, Conceiving gold compact of grains of gold, And earth concreted out of bits of earth, Fire made of fires, and water out of waters, Feigning the like with all the rest of stuff. Yet he concedes not any void in things, Nor any limit to cutting bodies down. Wherefore to me he seems on both accounts To err no less than those we named before.
21	Adde quod inbecilla nimis primordia fingit ; si primordia sunt , simili quae praedita constant natura atque ipsae res sunt aequeque laborant et pereunt , neque ab exitio res ulla refrenat . nam quid in oppressu valido durabit eorum , ut mortem effugiat , leti sub dentibus ipsis ? ignis an umor an aura ? quid horum ? sanguen an ossa ? nil ut opinor , ubi ex aequo res funditus omnis tam mortalis erit quam quae manifesta videmus ex oculis nostris aliqua vi victa perire . at neque reccidere ad nihilum res posse neque autem crescere de nihilo testor res ante probatas . Praeterea quoniam cibus auget corpus alitque , scire licet nobis venas et sanguen et ossa * * * sive cibos omnis commixto corpore dicent esse et habere in se nervorum corpora parva ossaque et omnino venas partisque cruoris , fiet uti cibus omnis et aridus et liquor ipse ex alienigenis rebus constare putetur , ossibus et nervis sanieque et sanguine mixto . Praeterea quae cumque e terra corpora crescunt , si sunt in terris , terram constare necessest ex alienigenis , quae terris exoriuntur . transfer item , totidem verbis utare licebit : in lignis si flamma latet fumusque cinisque , ex alienigenis consistant ligna necessest , ex alienigenis , quae lignis exoriuntur .	Add too: these germs he feigns are far too frail- If they be germs primordial furnished forth With but same nature as the things themselves, And travail and perish equally with those, And no rein curbs them from annihilation. For which will last against the grip and crush Under the teeth of death? the fire? the moist? Or else the air? which then? the blood? the bones? No one, methinks, when every thing will be At bottom as mortal as whate'er we mark To perish by force before our gazing eyes. But my appeal is to the proofs above That things cannot fall back to naught, nor yet From naught increase. And now again, since food Augments and nourishes the human frame, 'Tis thine to know our veins and blood and bones And thews are formed of particles unlike To them in kind; or if they say all foods Are of mixed substance having in themselves Small bodies of thews, and bones, and also veins And particles of blood, then every food, Solid or liquid, must itself be thought As made and mixed of things unlike in kind- Of bones, of thews, of ichor and of blood. Again, if all the bodies which upgrow From earth, are first within the earth, then earth Must be compound of alien substances. Which spring and bloom abroad from out the earth. Transfer the argument, and thou may'st use The selfsame words: if flame and smoke and ash Still lurk unseen within the wood, the wood Must be compound of alien substances Which spring from out the wood.
22	Linquitur hic quaedam latitandi copia tenvis , id quod Anaxagoras sibi sumit , ut omnibus omnis res putet inmixtas rebus latitare , sed illud apparere unum , cuius sint plurima mixta et magis in promptu primaque in fronte locata . quod tamen a vera longe ratione repulsumst ; conveniebat enim fruges quoque saepe , minaci robore cum in saxi franguntur , mittere signum sanguinis aut aliquid , nostro quae corpore aluntur . cum lapidi in lapidem terimus , manare cruorem consimili ratione herbis quoque saepe decebat , et latices dulcis guttas similique sapore mittere , lanigerae quali sunt ubere lactis , scilicet et glebis terrarum saepe friatis herbarum genera et fruges frondesque videri dispertita inter terram latitare minute , postremo in lignis cinerem fumumque videri , cum praefracta forent , ignisque latere minutos . quorum nil fieri quoniam manifesta docet res , scire licet non esse in rebus res ita mixtas , verum semina multimodis inmixta latere multarum rerum in rebus communia debent . ' At saepe in magnis fit montibus ' inquis ' ut altis arboribus vicina cacumina summa terantur inter se validis facere id cogentibus austris , donec flammai fulserunt flore coorto . ' scilicet et non est lignis tamen insitus ignis , verum semina sunt ardoris multa , terendo quae cum confluxere , creant incendia silvis . quod si facta foret silvis abscondita flamma , non possent ullum tempus celarier ignes , conficerent volgo silvas , arbusta cremarent . iamne vides igitur , paulo quod diximus ante , permagni referre eadem primordia saepe cum quibus et quali positura contineantur et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque , atque eadem paulo inter se mutata creare ignes et lignum ? quo pacto verba quoque ipsa inter se paulo mutatis sunt elementis , cum ligna atque ignes distincta voce notemus . Denique iam quae cumque in rebus cernis apertis si fieri non posse putas , quin materiai corpora consimili natura praedita fingas , hac ratione tibi pereunt primordia rerum : fiet uti risu tremulo concussa cachinnent et lacrimis salsis umectent ora genasque .	Right here remains A certain slender means to skulk from truth, Which Anaxagoras takes unto himself, Who holds that all things lurk commixed with all While that one only comes to view, of which The bodies exceed in number all the rest, And lie more close to hand and at the fore- A notion banished from true reason far. For then 'twere meet that kernels of the grains Should oft, when crunched between the might of stones, Give forth a sign of blood, or of aught else Which in our human frame is fed; and that Rock rubbed on rock should yield a gory ooze. Likewise the herbs ought oft to give forth drops Of sweet milk, flavoured like the uddered sheep's; Indeed we ought to find, when crumbling up The earthy clods, there herbs, and grains, and leaves, All sorts dispersed minutely in the soil; Lastly we ought to find in cloven wood Ashes and smoke and bits of fire there hid. But since fact teaches this is not the case, 'Tis thine to know things are not mixed with things Thuswise; but seeds, common to many things, Commixed in many ways, must lurk in things. "But often it happens on skiey hills" thou sayest, "That neighbouring tops of lofty trees are rubbed One against other, smote by the blustering south, Till all ablaze with bursting flower of flame." Good sooth- yet fire is not ingraft in wood, But many are the seeds of heat, and when Rubbing together they together flow, They start the conflagrations in the forests. Whereas if flame, already fashioned, lay Stored up within the forests, then the fires Could not for any time be kept unseen, But would be laying all the wildwood waste And burning all the boscage. Now dost see (Even as we said a little space above) How mightily it matters with what others, In what positions these same primal germs Are bound together? And what motions, too, They give and get among themselves? how, hence, The same, if altered 'mongst themselves, can body Both igneous and ligneous objects forth- Precisely as these words themselves are made By somewhat altering their elements, Although we mark with name indeed distinct The igneous from the ligneous. Once again, If thou suppose whatever thou beholdest, Among all visible objects, cannot be, Unless thou feign bodies of matter endowed With a like nature,- by thy vain device For thee will perish all the germs of things: 'Twill come to pass they'll laugh aloud, like men, Shaken asunder by a spasm of mirth, Or moisten with salty tear-drops cheeks and chins.
23	Nunc age , quod super est , cognosce et clarius audi . nec me animi fallit quam sint obscura ; sed acri percussit thyrso laudis spes magna meum cor et simul incussit suavem mi in pectus amorem Musarum , quo nunc instinctus mente vigenti avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante trita solo . iuvat integros accedere fontis atque haurire iuvatque novos decerpere flores insignemque meo capiti petere inde coronam , unde prius nulli velarint tempora Musae ; primum quod magnis doceo de rebus et artis religionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo , deinde quod obscura de re tam lucida pango carmina musaeo contingens cuncta lepore . id quoque enim non ab nulla ratione videtur ; sed vel uti pueris absinthia taetra medentes cum dare conantur , prius oras pocula circum contingunt mellis dulci flavoque liquore , ut puerorum aetas inprovida ludificetur labrorum tenus , interea perpotet amarum absinthi laticem deceptaque non capiatur , sed potius tali facto recreata valescat , sic ego nunc , quoniam haec ratio plerumque videtur tristior esse quibus non est tractata , retroque volgus abhorret ab hac , volui tibi suaviloquenti carmine Pierio rationem exponere nostram et quasi musaeo dulci contingere melle , si tibi forte animum tali ratione tenere versibus in nostris possem , dum perspicis omnem naturam rerum , qua constet compta figura .	THE INFINITY OF THE UNIVERSE Now learn of what remains! More keenly hear! And for myself, my mind is not deceived How dark it is: But the large hope of praise Hath strook with pointed thyrsus through my heart; On the same hour hath strook into my breast Sweet love of the Muses, wherewith now instinct, I wander afield, thriving in sturdy thought, Through unpathed haunts of the Pierides, Trodden by step of none before. I joy To come on undefiled fountains there, To drain them deep; I joy to pluck new flowers, To seek for this my head a signal crown From regions where the Muses never yet Have garlanded the temples of a man: First, since I teach concerning mighty things, And go right on to loose from round the mind The tightened coils of dread religion; Next, since, concerning themes so dark, I frame Songs so pellucid, touching all throughout Even with the Muses' charm- which, as 'twould seem, Is not without a reasonable ground: But as physicians, when they seek to give Young boys the nauseous wormwood, first do touch The brim around the cup with the sweet juice And yellow of the honey, in order that The thoughtless age of boyhood be cajoled As far as the lips, and meanwhile swallow down The wormwood's bitter draught, and, though befooled, Be yet not merely duped, but rather thus Grow strong again with recreated health: So now I too (since this my doctrine seems In general somewhat woeful unto those Who've had it not in hand, and since the crowd Starts back from it in horror) have desired To expound our doctrine unto thee in song Soft-speaking and Pierian, and, as 'twere, To touch it with sweet honey of the Muse- If by such method haply I might hold The mind of thee upon these lines of ours, Till thou see through the nature of all things, And how exists the interwoven frame.
24	Sed quoniam docui solidissima materiai corpora perpetuo volitare invicta per aevom , nunc age , summai quaedam sit finis eorum nec ne sit , evolvamus ; item quod inane repertumst seu locus ac spatium , res in quo quaeque gerantur , pervideamus utrum finitum funditus omne constet an immensum pateat vasteque profundum . Omne quod est igitur nulla regione viarum finitumst ; namque extremum debebat habere . extremum porro nullius posse videtur esse , nisi ultra sit quod finiat , ut videatur quo non longius haec sensus natura sequatur . nunc extra summam quoniam nihil esse fatendum , non habet extremum , caret ergo fine modoque . nec refert quibus adsistas regionibus eius ; usque adeo , quem quisque locum possedit , in omnis tantundem partis infinitum omne relinquit . Praeterea si iam finitum constituatur omne quod est spatium , si quis procurrat ad oras ultimus extremas iaciatque volatile telum , id validis utrum contortum viribus ire quo fuerit missum mavis longeque volare , an prohibere aliquid censes obstareque posse ? alterutrum fatearis enim sumasque necessest . quorum utrumque tibi effugium praecludit et omne cogit ut exempta concedas fine patere . nam sive est aliquid quod probeat efficiatque quo minus quo missum est veniat finique locet se , sive foras fertur , non est a fine profectum . hoc pacto sequar atque , oras ubi cumque locaris extremas , quaeram : quid telo denique fiet ? fiet uti nusquam possit consistere finis effugiumque fugae prolatet copia semper . Praeterea spatium summai totius omne undique si inclusum certis consisteret oris finitumque foret , iam copia materiai undique ponderibus solidis confluxet ad imum nec res ulla geri sub caeli tegmine posset nec foret omnino caelum neque lumina solis , quippe ubi materies omnis cumulata iaceret ex infinito iam tempore subsidendo . at nunc ni mirum requies data principiorum corporibus nullast , quia nil est funditus imum , quo quasi confluere et sedes ubi ponere possint . semper in adsiduo motu res quaeque geruntur partibus in cunctis , infernaque suppeditantur ex infinito cita corpora materiai . Postremo ante oculos res rem finire videtur ; aer dissaepit collis atque aera montes , terra mare et contra mare terras terminat omnis ; omne quidem vero nihil est quod finiat extra .	But since I've taught that bodies of matter, made Completely solid, hither and thither fly Forevermore unconquered through all time, Now come, and whether to the sum of them There be a limit or be none, for thee Let us unfold; likewise what has been found To be the wide inane, or room, or space Wherein all things soever do go on, Let us examine if it finite be All and entire, or reach unmeasured round And downward an illimitable profound. Thus, then, the All that is is limited In no one region of its onward paths, For then 'tmust have forever its beyond. And a beyond 'tis seen can never be For aught, unless still further on there be A somewhat somewhere that may bound the same- So that the thing be seen still on to where The nature of sensation of that thing Can follow it no longer. Now because Confess we must there's naught beside the sum, There's no beyond, and so it lacks all end. It matters nothing where thou post thyself, In whatsoever regions of the same; Even any place a man has set him down Still leaves about him the unbounded all Outward in all directions; or, supposing A moment the all of space finite to be, If some one farthest traveller runs forth Unto the extreme coasts and throws ahead A flying spear, is't then thy wish to think It goes, hurled off amain, to where 'twas sent And shoots afar, or that some object there Can thwart and stop it? For the one or other Thou must admit and take. Either of which Shuts off escape for thee, and does compel That thou concede the all spreads everywhere, Owning no confines. Since whether there be Aught that may block and check it so it comes Not where 'twas sent, nor lodges in its goal, Or whether borne along, in either view 'Thas started not from any end. And so I'll follow on, and whereso'er thou set The extreme coasts, I'll query, "what becomes Thereafter of thy spear?" 'Twill come to pass That nowhere can a world's-end be, and that The chance for further flight prolongs forever The flight itself. Besides, were all the space Of the totality and sum shut in With fixed coasts, and bounded everywhere, Then would the abundance of world's matter flow Together by solid weight from everywhere Still downward to the bottom of the world, Nor aught could happen under cope of sky, Nor could there be a sky at all or sun- Indeed, where matter all one heap would lie, By having settled during infinite time. But in reality, repose is given Unto no bodies 'mongst the elements, Because there is no bottom whereunto They might, as 'twere, together flow, and where They might take up their undisturbed abodes. In endless motion everything goes on Forevermore; out of all regions, even Out of the pit below, from forth the vast, Are hurtled bodies evermore supplied.