De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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est igitur natura loci spatiumque profundi , quod neque clara suo percurrere fulmina cursu perpetuo possint aevi labentia tractu nec prorsum facere ut restet minus ire meando ; usque adeo passim patet ingens copia rebus finibus exemptis in cunctas undique partis . Ipsa modum porro sibi rerum summa parare ne possit , natura tenet , quae corpus inane et quod inane autem est finiri corpore cogit , ut sic alternis infinita omnia reddat , aut etiam alterutrum , nisi terminet alterum eorum , simplice natura pateat tamen inmoderatum , nec mare nec tellus neque caeli lucida templa nec mortale genus nec divum corpora sancta exiguum possent horai sistere tempus ; nam dispulsa suo de coetu materiai copia ferretur magnum per inane soluta , sive adeo potius numquam concreta creasset ullam rem , quoniam cogi disiecta nequisset . nam certe neque consilio primordia rerum ordine se suo quaeque sagaci mente locarunt nec quos quaeque darent motus pepigere profecto sed quia multa modis multis mutata per omne ex infinito vexantur percita plagis , omne genus motus et coetus experiundo tandem deveniunt in talis disposituras , qualibus haec rerum consistit summa creata , et multos etiam magnos servata per annos ut semel in motus coniectast convenientis , efficit ut largis avidum mare fluminis undis integrent amnes et solis terra vapore fota novet fetus summissaque gens animantum floreat et vivant labentis aetheris ignes . quod nullo facerent pacto , nisi materiai ex infinito suboriri copia posset , unde amissa solent reparare in tempore quaeque . nam vel uti privata cibo natura animantum diffluit amittens corpus , sic omnia debent dissolui simul ac defecit suppeditare materies aliqua ratione aversa viai . nec plagae possunt extrinsecus undique summam conservare omnem , quae cumque est conciliata . cudere enim crebro possunt partemque morari , dum veniant aliae ac suppleri summa queatur ; inter dum resilire tamen coguntur et una principiis rerum spatium tempusque fugai largiri , ut possint a coetu libera ferri . quare etiam atque etiam suboriri multa necessest , et tamen ut plagae quoque possint suppetere ipsae , infinita opus est vis undique materiai .
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The nature of room, the space of the abyss Is such that even the flashing thunderbolts Can neither speed upon their courses through, Gliding across eternal tracts of time, Nor, further, bring to pass, as on they run, That they may bate their journeying one whit: Such huge abundance spreads for things around- Room off to every quarter, without end. Lastly, before our very eyes is seen Thing to bound thing: air hedges hill from hill, And mountain walls hedge air; land ends the sea, And sea in turn all lands; but for the All Truly is nothing which outside may bound. That, too, the sum of things itself may not Have power to fix a measure of its own, Great nature guards, she who compels the void To bound all body, as body all the void, Thus rendering by these alternates the whole An infinite; or else the one or other, Being unbounded by the other, spreads, Even by its single nature, ne'ertheless Immeasurably forth.... Nor sea, nor earth, nor shining vaults of sky, Nor breed of mortals, nor holy limbs of gods Could keep their place least portion of an hour: For, driven apart from out its meetings fit, The stock of stuff, dissolved, would be borne Along the illimitable inane afar, Or rather, in fact, would ne'er have once combined And given a birth to aught, since, scattered wide, It could not be united. For of truth Neither by counsel did the primal germs 'Stablish themselves, as by keen act of mind, Each in its proper place; nor did they make, Forsooth, a compact how each germ should move; But since, being many and changed in many modes Along the All, they're driven abroad and vexed By blow on blow, even from all time of old, They thus at last, after attempting all The kinds of motion and conjoining, come Into those great arrangements out of which This sum of things established is create, By which, moreover, through the mighty years, It is preserved, when once it has been thrown Into the proper motions, bringing to pass That ever the streams refresh the greedy main With river-waves abounding, and that earth, Lapped in warm exhalations of the sun, Renews her broods, and that the lusty race Of breathing creatures bears and blooms, and that The gliding fires of ether are alive- What still the primal germs nowise could do, Unless from out the infinite of space Could come supply of matter, whence in season They're wont whatever losses to repair. For as the nature of breathing creatures wastes, Losing its body, when deprived of food: So all things have to be dissolved as soon As matter, diverted by what means soever From off its course, shall fail to be on hand. Nor can the blows from outward still conserve, On every side, whatever sum of a world Has been united in a whole. They can Indeed, by frequent beating, check a part, Till others arriving may fulfil the sum; But meanwhile often are they forced to spring Rebounding back, and, as they spring, to yield, Unto those elements whence a world derives, Room and a time for flight, permitting them To be from off the massy union borne Free and afar. Wherefore, again, again: Needs must there come a many for supply; And also, that the blows themselves shall be Unfailing ever, must there ever be An infinite force of matter all sides round. |
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Illud in his rebus longe fuge credere , Memmi , in medium summae quod dicunt omnia niti atque ideo mundi naturam stare sine ullis ictibus externis neque quoquam posse resolvi summa atque ima , quod in medium sint omnia nixa , ipsum si quicquam posse in se sistere credis , et quae pondera sunt sub terris omnia sursum nitier in terraque retro requiescere posta , ut per aquas quae nunc rerum simulacra videmus ; et simili ratione animalia suppa vagari contendunt neque posse e terris in loca caeli reccidere inferiora magis quam corpora nostra sponte sua possint in caeli templa volare ; illi cum videant solem , nos sidera noctis cernere et alternis nobiscum tempora caeli dividere et noctes parilis agitare diebus . sed vanus stolidis haec * * * amplexi quod habent perv * * * nam medium nihil esse potest * * * infinita ; neque omnino , si iam medium sit , possit ibi quicquam consistere * * * quam quavis alia longe ratione * * * omnis enim locus ac spatium , quod in ane vocamus , per medium , per non medium , concedere debet aeque ponderibus , motus qua cumque feruntur . nec quisquam locus est , quo corpora cum venerunt , ponderis amissa vi possint stare in inani ; nec quod inane autem est ulli subsistere debet , quin , sua quod natura petit , concedere pergat . haud igitur possunt tali ratione teneri res in concilium medii cuppedine victae .
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And in these problems, shrink, my Memmius, far From yielding faith to that notorious talk: That all things inward to the centre press; And thus the nature of the world stands firm With never blows from outward, nor can be Nowhere disparted- since all height and depth Have always inward to the centre pressed (If thou art ready to believe that aught Itself can rest upon itself ); or that The ponderous bodies which be under earth Do all press upwards and do come to rest Upon the earth, in some way upside down, Like to those images of things we see At present through the waters. They contend, With like procedure, that all breathing things Head downward roam about, and yet cannot Tumble from earth to realms of sky below, No more than these our bodies wing away Spontaneously to vaults of sky above; That, when those creatures look upon the sun, We view the constellations of the night; And that with us the seasons of the sky They thus alternately divide, and thus Do pass the night coequal to our days, But a vain error has given these dreams to fools, Which they've embraced with reasoning perverse For centre none can be where world is still Boundless, nor yet, if now a centre were, Could aught take there a fixed position more Than for some other cause 'tmight be dislodged. For all of room and space we call the void Must both through centre and non-centre yield Alike to weights where'er their motions tend. Nor is there any place, where, when they've come, Bodies can be at standstill in the void, Deprived of force of weight; nor yet may void Furnish support to any,- nay, it must, True to its bent of nature, still give way. Thus in such manner not at all can things Be held in union, as if overcome By craving for a centre. |
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Praeterea quoniam non omnia corpora fingunt in medium niti , sed terrarum atque liquoris umorem ponti magnasque e montibus undas , et quasi terreno quae corpore contineantur , at contra tenuis exponunt aeris auras et calidos simul a medio differrier ignis , atque ideo totum circum tremere aethera signis et solis flammam per caeli caerula pasci , quod calor a medio fugiens se ibi conligat omnis , nec prorsum arboribus summos frondescere ramos posse , nisi a terris paulatim cuique cibatum ( ... lost text ... ) ( ... lost text ... ) ( ... lost text ... ) ( ... lost text ... ) ( ... lost text ... ) ( ... lost text ... ) ( ... lost text ... ) ( ... lost text ... ) ne volucri ritu flammarum moenia mundi diffugiant subito magnum per inane soluta et ne cetera consimili ratione sequantur neve ruant caeli tonitralia templa superne terraque se pedibus raptim subducat et omnis inter permixtas rerum caelique ruinas corpora solventes abeat per inane profundum , temporis ut puncto nihil extet reliquiarum desertum praeter spatium et primordia caeca . nam qua cumque prius de parti corpora desse constitues , haec rebus erit pars ianua leti , hac se turba foras dabit omnis materiai . Haec sic pernosces parva perductus opella ; namque alid ex alio clarescet nec tibi caeca nox iter eripiet , quin ultima naturai pervideas : ita res accendent lumina rebus .
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But besides, Seeing they feign that not all bodies press To centre inward, rather only those Of earth and water (liquid of the sea, And the big billows from the mountain slopes, And whatsoever are encased, as 'twere, In earthen body), contrariwise, they teach How the thin air, and with it the hot fire, Is borne asunder from the centre, and how, For this all ether quivers with bright stars, And the sun's flame along the blue is fed (Because the heat, from out the centre flying, All gathers there), and how, again, the boughs Upon the tree-tops could not sprout their leaves, Unless, little by little, from out the earth For each were nutriment... . . . . . . Lest, after the manner of the winged flames, The ramparts of the world should flee away, Dissolved amain throughout the mighty void, And lest all else should likewise follow after, Aye, lest the thundering vaults of heaven should burst And splinter upward, and the earth forthwith Withdraw from under our feet, and all its bulk, Among its mingled wrecks and those of heaven, With slipping asunder of the primal seeds, Should pass, along the immeasurable inane, Away forever, and, that instant, naught Of wrack and remnant would be left, beside The desolate space, and germs invisible. For on whatever side thou deemest first The primal bodies lacking, lo, that side Will be for things the very door of death: Wherethrough the throng of matter all will dash, Out and abroad. These points, if thou wilt ponder, Then, with but paltry trouble led along... . . . . . . For one thing after other will grow clear, Nor shall the blind night rob thee of the road, To hinder thy gaze on nature's Farthest-forth. Thus things for things shall kindle torches new. |
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Liber Secundus Suave , mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem ; non quia vexari quemquamst iucunda voluptas , sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suavest . suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri per campos instructa tua sine parte pericli ; sed nihil dulcius est , bene quam munita tenere edita doctrina sapientum templa serena , despicere unde queas alios passimque videre errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae , certare ingenio , contendere nobilitate , noctes atque dies niti praestante labore ad summas emergere opes rerumque potiri . o miseras hominum mentes , o pectora caeca ! qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis degitur hoc aevi quod cumquest ! nonne videre nihil aliud sibi naturam latrare , nisi ut qui corpore seiunctus dolor absit , mente fruatur iucundo sensu cura semota metuque ? ergo corpoream ad naturam pauca videmus esse opus omnino : quae demant cumque dolorem , delicias quoque uti multas substernere possint gratius inter dum , neque natura ipsa requirit , si non aurea sunt iuvenum simulacra per aedes lampadas igniferas manibus retinentia dextris , lumina nocturnis epulis ut suppeditentur , nec domus argento fulget auroque renidet nec citharae reboant laqueata aurataque templa , cum tamen inter se prostrati in gramine molli propter aquae rivum sub ramis arboris altae non magnis opibus iucunde corpora curant , praesertim cum tempestas adridet et anni tempora conspergunt viridantis floribus herbas . nec calidae citius decedunt corpore febres , textilibus si in picturis ostroque rubenti iacteris , quam si in plebeia veste cubandum est . quapropter quoniam nihil nostro in corpore gazae proficiunt neque nobilitas nec gloria regni , quod super est , animo quoque nil prodesse putandum ; si non forte tuas legiones per loca campi fervere cum videas belli simulacra cientis , subsidiis magnis et opum vi constabilitas , ornatas armis stlattas pariterque animatas , his tibi tum rebus timefactae religiones effugiunt animo pavidae mortisque timores tum vacuum pectus lincunt curaque solutum . quod si ridicula haec ludibriaque esse videmus , re veraque metus hominum curaeque sequaces nec metuunt sonitus armorum nec fera tela audacterque inter reges rerumque potentis versantur neque fulgorem reverentur ab auro nec clarum vestis splendorem purpureai , quid dubitas quin omnis sit haec rationis potestas , omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret ? nam vel uti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis in tenebris metuunt , sic nos in luce timemus inter dum , nihilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura . hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest non radii solis neque lucida tela diei discutiant , sed naturae species ratioque .
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BOOK II PROEM 'Tis sweet, when, down the mighty main, the winds Roll up its waste of waters, from the land To watch another's labouring anguish far, Not that we joyously delight that man Should thus be smitten, but because 'tis sweet To mark what evils we ourselves be spared; 'Tis sweet, again, to view the mighty strife Of armies embattled yonder o'er the plains, Ourselves no sharers in the peril; but naught There is more goodly than to hold the high Serene plateaus, well fortressed by the wise, Whence thou may'st look below on other men And see them ev'rywhere wand'ring, all dispersed In their lone seeking for the road of life; Rivals in genius, or emulous in rank, Pressing through days and nights with hugest toil For summits of power and mastery of the world. O wretched minds of men! O blinded hearts! In how great perils, in what darks of life Are spent the human years, however brief!- O not to see that nature for herself Barks after nothing, save that pain keep off, Disjoined from the body, and that mind enjoy Delightsome feeling, far from care and fear! Therefore we see that our corporeal life Needs little, altogether, and only such As takes the pain away, and can besides Strew underneath some number of delights. More grateful 'tis at times (for nature craves No artifice nor luxury), if forsooth There be no golden images of boys Along the halls, with right hands holding out The lamps ablaze, the lights for evening feasts, And if the house doth glitter not with gold Nor gleam with silver, and to the lyre resound No fretted and gilded ceilings overhead, Yet still to lounge with friends in the soft grass Beside a river of water, underneath A big tree's boughs, and merrily to refresh Our frames, with no vast outlay- most of all If the weather is laughing and the times of the year Besprinkle the green of the grass around with flowers. Nor yet the quicker will hot fevers go, If on a pictured tapestry thou toss, Or purple robe, than if 'tis thine to lie Upon the poor man's bedding. Wherefore, since Treasure, nor rank, nor glory of a reign Avail us naught for this our body, thus Reckon them likewise nothing for the mind: Save then perchance, when thou beholdest forth Thy legions swarming round the Field of Mars, Rousing a mimic warfare- either side Strengthened with large auxiliaries and horse, Alike equipped with arms, alike inspired; Or save when also thou beholdest forth Thy fleets to swarm, deploying down the sea: For then, by such bright circumstance abashed, Religion pales and flees thy mind; O then The fears of death leave heart so free of care. But if we note how all this pomp at last Is but a drollery and a mocking sport, And of a truth man's dread, with cares at heels, Dreads not these sounds of arms, these savage swords But among kings and lords of all the world Mingles undaunted, nor is overawed By gleam of gold nor by the splendour bright Of purple robe, canst thou then doubt that this Is aught, but power of thinking?- when, besides The whole of life but labours in the dark. For just as children tremble and fear all In the viewless dark, so even we at times Dread in the light so many things that be No whit more fearsome than what children feign, Shuddering, will be upon them in the dark. This terror then, this darkness of the mind, Not sunrise with its flaring spokes of light, Nor glittering arrows of morning can disperse, But only nature's aspect and her law. |
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Nunc age , quo motu genitalia materiai corpora res varias gignant genitasque resolvant et qua vi facere id cogantur quaeque sit ollis reddita mobilitas magnum per inane meandi , expediam : tu te dictis praebere memento . nam certe non inter se stipata cohaeret materies , quoniam minui rem quamque videmus et quasi longinquo fluere omnia cernimus aevo ex oculisque vetustatem subducere nostris , cum tamen incolumis videatur summa manere propterea quia , quae decedunt corpora cuique , unde abeunt minuunt , quo venere augmine donant . illa senescere , at haec contra florescere cogunt , nec remorantur ibi . sic rerum summa novatur semper , et inter se mortales mutua vivunt . augescunt aliae gentes , aliae minuuntur , inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt .
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ATOMIC MOTIONS Now come: I will untangle for thy steps Now by what motions the begetting bodies Of the world-stuff beget the varied world, And then forever resolve it when begot, And by what force they are constrained to this, And what the speed appointed unto them Wherewith to travel down the vast inane: Do thou remember to yield thee to my words. For truly matter coheres not, crowds not tight, Since we behold each thing to wane away, And we observe how all flows on and off, As 'twere, with age-old time, and from our eyes How eld withdraws each object at the end, Albeit the sum is seen to bide the same, Unharmed, because these motes that leave each thing Diminish what they part from, but endow With increase those to which in turn they come, Constraining these to wither in old age, And those to flower at the prime (and yet Biding not long among them). Thus the sum Forever is replenished, and we live As mortals by eternal give and take. The nations wax, the nations wane away; In a brief space the generations pass, And like to runners hand the lamp of life One unto other. |
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Si cessare putas rerum primordia posse cessandoque novos rerum progignere motus , avius a vera longe ratione vagaris . nam quoniam per inane vagantur , cuncta necessest aut gravitate sua ferri primordia rerum aut ictu forte alterius . nam cum cita saepe obvia conflixere , fit ut diversa repente dissiliant ; neque enim mirum , durissima quae sint ponderibus solidis neque quicquam a tergibus obstet . et quo iactari magis omnia materiai corpora pervideas , reminiscere totius imum nil esse in summa , neque habere ubi corpora prima consistant , quoniam spatium sine fine modoquest inmensumque patere in cunctas undique partis pluribus ostendi et certa ratione probatumst . quod quoniam constat , ni mirum nulla quies est reddita corporibus primis per inane profundum , sed magis adsiduo varioque exercita motu partim intervallis magnis confulta resultant , pars etiam brevibus spatiis vexantur ab ictu . et quae cumque magis condenso conciliatu exiguis intervallis convecta resultant , indupedita suis perplexis ipsa figuris , haec validas saxi radices et fera ferri corpora constituunt et cetera de genere horum . paucula quae porro magnum per inane vagantur , cetera dissiliunt longe longeque recursant in magnis intervallis ; haec aera rarum sufficiunt nobis et splendida lumina solis . multaque praeterea magnum per inane vagantur , conciliis rerum quae sunt reiecta nec usquam consociare etiam motus potuere recepta . Cuius , uti memoro , rei simulacrum et imago ante oculos semper nobis versatur et instat . contemplator enim , cum solis lumina cumque inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum : multa minuta modis multis per inane videbis corpora misceri radiorum lumine in ipso et vel ut aeterno certamine proelia pugnas edere turmatim certantia nec dare pausam , conciliis et discidiis exercita crebris ; conicere ut possis ex hoc , primordia rerum quale sit in magno iactari semper inani . dum taxat , rerum magnarum parva potest res exemplare dare et vestigia notitiai . Hoc etiam magis haec animum te advertere par est corpora quae in solis radiis turbare videntur , quod tales turbae motus quoque materiai significant clandestinos caecosque subesse . multa videbis enim plagis ibi percita caecis commutare viam retroque repulsa reverti nunc huc nunc illuc in cunctas undique partis . scilicet hic a principiis est omnibus error . prima moventur enim per se primordia rerum , inde ea quae parvo sunt corpora conciliatu et quasi proxima sunt ad viris principiorum , ictibus illorum caecis inpulsa cientur , ipsaque proporro paulo maiora lacessunt . sic a principiis ascendit motus et exit paulatim nostros ad sensus , ut moveantur illa quoque , in solis quae lumine cernere quimus nec quibus id faciant plagis apparet aperte .
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But if thou believe That the primordial germs of things can stop, And in their stopping give new motions birth, Afar thou wanderest from the road of truth. For since they wander through the void inane, All the primordial germs of things must needs Be borne along, either by weight their own, Or haply by another's blow without. For, when, in their incessancy so oft They meet and clash, it comes to pass amain They leap asunder, face to face: not strange- Being most hard, and solid in their weights, And naught opposing motion, from behind. And that more clearly thou perceive how all These mites of matter are darted round about, Recall to mind how nowhere in the sum Of All exists a bottom,- nowhere is A realm of rest for primal bodies; since (As amply shown and proved by reason sure) Space has no bound nor measure, and extends Unmetered forth in all directions round. Since this stands certain, thus 'tis out of doubt No rest is rendered to the primal bodies Along the unfathomable inane; but rather, Inveterately plied by motions mixed, Some, at their jamming, bound aback and leave Huge gaps between, and some from off the blow Are hurried about with spaces small between. And all which, brought together with slight gaps, In more condensed union bound aback, Linked by their own all inter-tangled shapes,- These form the irrefragable roots of rocks And the brute bulks of iron, and what else Is of their kind... The rest leap far asunder, far recoil, Leaving huge gaps between: and these supply For us thin air and splendour-lights of the sun. And many besides wander the mighty void- Cast back from unions of existing things, Nowhere accepted in the universe, And nowise linked in motions to the rest. And of this fact (as I record it here) An image, a type goes on before our eyes Present each moment; for behold whenever The sun's light and the rays, let in, pour down Across dark halls of houses: thou wilt see The many mites in many a manner mixed Amid a void in the very light of the rays, And battling on, as in eternal strife, And in battalions contending without halt, In meetings, partings, harried up and down. From this thou mayest conjecture of what sort The ceaseless tossing of primordial seeds Amid the mightier void- at least so far As small affair can for a vaster serve, And by example put thee on the spoor Of knowledge. For this reason too 'tis fit Thou turn thy mind the more unto these bodies Which here are witnessed tumbling in the light: Namely, because such tumblings are a sign That motions also of the primal stuff Secret and viewless lurk beneath, behind. For thou wilt mark here many a speck, impelled By viewless blows, to change its little course, And beaten backwards to return again, Hither and thither in all directions round. Lo, all their shifting movement is of old, From the primeval atoms; for the same Primordial seeds of things first move of self, And then those bodies built of unions small And nearest, as it were, unto the powers Of the primeval atoms, are stirred up By impulse of those atoms' unseen blows, And these thereafter goad the next in size: Thus motion ascends from the primevals on, And stage by stage emerges to our sense, Until those objects also move which we Can mark in sunbeams, though it not appears What blows do urge them. |
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Nunc quae mobilitas sit reddita materiai corporibus , paucis licet hinc cognoscere , Memmi . primum aurora novo cum spargit lumine terras et variae volucres nemora avia pervolitantes aera per tenerum liquidis loca vocibus opplent , quam subito soleat sol ortus tempore tali convestire sua perfundens omnia luce , omnibus in promptu manifestumque esse videmus . at vapor is , quem sol mittit , lumenque serenum non per inane meat vacuum ; quo tardius ire cogitur , aerias quasi dum diverberat undas ; nec singillatim corpuscula quaeque vaporis sed complexa meant inter se conque globata ; qua propter simul inter se retrahuntur et extra officiuntur , uti cogantur tardius ire . at quae sunt solida primordia simplicitate , cum per inane meant vacuum nec res remoratur ulla foris atque ipsa suis e partibus unum , unum , in quem coepere , locum conixa feruntur , debent ni mirum praecellere mobilitate et multo citius ferri quam lumina solis multiplexque loci spatium transcurrere eodem tempore quo solis pervolgant fulgura caelum . * * * nec persectari primordia singula quaeque , ut videant qua quicque geratur cum ratione . At quidam contra haec , ignari materiai , naturam non posse deum sine numine reddunt tanto opere humanis rationibus atmoderate tempora mutare annorum frugesque creare et iam cetera , mortalis quae suadet adire ipsaque deducit dux vitae dia voluptas et res per Veneris blanditur saecla propagent , ne genus occidat humanum . quorum omnia causa constituisse deos cum fingunt , omnibus rebus magno opere a vera lapsi ratione videntur . nam quamvis rerum ignorem primordia quae sint , hoc tamen ex ipsis caeli rationibus ausim confirmare aliisque ex rebus reddere multis , nequaquam nobis divinitus esse creatam naturam mundi : tanta stat praedita culpa . quae tibi posterius , Memmi , faciemus aperta ; nunc id quod super est de motibus expediemus .
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Now what the speed to matter's atoms given Thou mayest in few, my Memmius, learn from this: When first the dawn is sprinkling with new light The lands, and all the breed of birds abroad Flit round the trackless forests, with liquid notes Filling the regions along the mellow air, We see 'tis forthwith manifest to man How suddenly the risen sun is wont At such an hour to overspread and clothe The whole with its own splendour; but the sun's Warm exhalations and this serene light Travel not down an empty void; and thus They are compelled more slowly to advance, Whilst, as it were, they cleave the waves of air; Nor one by one travel these particles Of the warm exhalations, but are all Entangled and enmassed, whereby at once Each is restrained by each, and from without Checked, till compelled more slowly to advance. But the primordial atoms with their old Simple solidity, when forth they travel Along the empty void, all undelayed By aught outside them there, and they, each one Being one unit from nature of its parts, Are borne to that one place on which they strive Still to lay hold, must then, beyond a doubt, Outstrip in speed, and be more swiftly borne Than light of sun, and over regions rush, Of space much vaster, in the self-same time The sun's effulgence widens round the sky. . . . . . . Nor to pursue the atoms one by one, To see the law whereby each thing goes on. But some men, ignorant of matter, think, Opposing this, that not without the gods, In such adjustment to our human ways, Can nature change the seasons of the years, And bring to birth the grains and all of else To which divine Delight, the guide of life, Persuades mortality and leads it on, That, through her artful blandishments of love, It propagate the generations still, Lest humankind should perish. When they feign That gods have stablished all things but for man, They seem in all ways mightily to lapse From reason's truth: for ev'n if ne'er I knew What seeds primordial are, yet would I dare This to affirm, ev'n from deep judgment based Upon the ways and conduct of the skies- This to maintain by many a fact besides- That in no wise the nature of the world For us was builded by a power divine- So great the faults it stands encumbered with: The which, my Memmius, later on, for thee We will clear up. Now as to what remains Concerning motions we'll unfold our thought. |
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Nunc locus est , ut opinor , in his illud quoque rebus confirmare tibi , nullam rem posse sua vi corpoream sursum ferri sursumque meare . ne tibi dent in eo flammarum corpora frudem ; sursus enim versus gignuntur et augmina sumunt et sursum nitidae fruges arbustaque crescunt , pondera , quantum in se est , cum deorsum cuncta ferantur . nec cum subsiliunt ignes ad tecta domorum et celeri flamma degustant tigna trabesque , sponte sua facere id sine vi subiecta putandum est . quod genus e nostro com missus corpore sanguis emicat exultans alte spargitque cruorem . nonne vides etiam quanta vi tigna trabesque respuat umor aquae ? nam quo magis ursimus altum derecta et magna vi multi pressimus aegre , tam cupide sursum removet magis atque remittit , plus ut parte foras emergant exiliantque . nec tamen haec , quantum est in se , dubitamus , opinor , quin vacuum per inane deorsum cuncta ferantur . sic igitur debent flammae quoque posse per auras aeris expressae sursum succedere , quamquam pondera , quantum in se est , deorsum deducere pugnent . nocturnasque faces caeli sublime volantis nonne vides longos flammarum ducere tractus in quas cumque dedit partis natura meatum ? non cadere in terras stellas et sidera cernis ? sol etiam caeli de vertice dissipat omnis ardorem in partis et lumine conserit arva ; in terras igitur quoque solis vergitur ardor . transversosque volare per imbris fulmina cernis , nunc hinc nunc illinc abrupti nubibus ignes concursant ; cadit in terras vis flammea volgo .
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Now is the place, meseems, in these affairs To prove for thee this too: nothing corporeal Of its own force can e'er be upward borne, Or upward go- nor let the bodies of flames Deceive thee here: for they engendered are With urge to upwards, taking thus increase, Whereby grow upwards shining grains and trees, Though all the weight within them downward bears. Nor, when the fires will leap from under round The roofs of houses, and swift flame laps up Timber and beam, 'tis then to be supposed They act of own accord, no force beneath To urge them up. 'Tis thus that blood, discharged From out our bodies, spurts its jets aloft And spatters gore. And hast thou never marked With what a force the water will disgorge Timber and beam? The deeper, straight and down, We push them in, and, many though we be, The more we press with main and toil, the more The water vomits up and flings them back, That, more than half their length, they there emerge, Rebounding. Yet we never doubt, meseems, That all the weight within them downward bears Through empty void. Well, in like manner, flames Ought also to be able, when pressed out, Through winds of air to rise aloft, even though The weight within them strive to draw them down. Hast thou not seen, sweeping so far and high, The meteors, midnight flambeaus of the sky, How after them they draw long trails of flame Wherever Nature gives a thoroughfare? How stars and constellations drop to earth, Seest not? Nay, too, the sun from peak of heaven Sheds round to every quarter its large heat, And sows the new-ploughed intervales with light: Thus also sun's heat downward tends to earth. Athwart the rain thou seest the lightning fly; Now here, now there, bursting from out the clouds, The fires dash zig-zag- and that flaming power Falls likewise down to earth. |