De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)

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	De Rerum Natura Author: Lucretius	Translator: William Ellery Leonard
41	Illud in his obsignatum quoque rebus habere convenit et memori mandatum mente tenere , nil esse , in promptu quorum natura videtur , quod genere ex uno consistat principiorum , nec quicquam quod non permixto semine constet . et quod cumque magis vis multas possidet in se atque potestates , ita plurima principiorum in sese genera ac varias docet esse figuras . Principio tellus habet in se corpora prima , unde mare inmensum volventes frigora fontes adsidue renovent , habet ignes unde oriantur ; nam multis succensa locis ardent sola terrae , ex imis vero furit ignibus impetus Aetnae . tum porro nitidas fruges arbustaque laeta gentibus humanis habet unde extollere possit , unde etiam fluvios frondes et pabula laeta montivago generi possit praebere ferarum . quare magna deum mater materque ferarum et nostri genetrix haec dicta est corporis una . Hanc veteres Graium docti cecinere poetae sedibus in curru biiugos agitare leones , aeris in spatio magnam pendere docentes tellurem neque posse in terra sistere terram . adiunxere feras , quia quamvis effera proles officiis debet molliri victa parentum . muralique caput summum cinxere corona , eximiis munita locis quia sustinet urbes . quo nunc insigni per magnas praedita terras horrifice fertur divinae matris imago . hanc variae gentes antiquo more sacrorum Idaeam vocitant matrem Phrygiasque catervas dant comites , quia primum ex illis finibus edunt per terrarum orbes fruges coepisse creari . Gallos attribuunt , quia , numen qui violarint Matris et ingrati genitoribus inventi sint , significare volunt indignos esse putandos , vivam progeniem qui in oras luminis edant . tympana tenta tonant palmis et cymbala circum concava , raucisonoque minantur cornua cantu , et Phrygio stimulat numero cava tibia mentis , telaque praeportant , violenti signa furoris , ingratos animos atque impia pectora volgi conterrere metu quae possint numine divae . ergo cum primum magnas invecta per urbis munificat tacita mortalis muta salute , aere atque argento sternunt iter omne viarum largifica stipe ditantes ninguntque rosarum floribus umbrantes matrem comitumque catervam . hic armata manus , Curetas nomine Grai quos memorant , Phrygias inter si forte catervas ludunt in numerumque exultant sanguine laeti terrificas capitum quatientes numine cristas , Dictaeos referunt Curetas , qui Iovis illum vagitum in Creta quondam occultasse feruntur , cum pueri circum puerum pernice chorea armati in numerum pulsarent aeribus aera , ne Saturnus eum malis mandaret adeptus aeternumque daret matri sub pectore volnus . propterea magnam armati matrem comitantur , aut quia significant divam praedicere ut armis ac virtute velint patriam defendere terram praesidioque parent decorique parentibus esse . quae bene et eximie quamvis disposta ferantur , longe sunt tamen a vera ratione repulsa . omnis enim per se divom natura necessest inmortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur semota ab nostris rebus seiunctaque longe ; nam privata dolore omni , privata periclis , ipsa suis pollens opibus , nihil indiga nostri , nec bene promeritis capitur neque tangitur ira . terra quidem vero caret omni tempore sensu , et quia multarum potitur primordia rerum , multa modis multis effert in lumina solis . hic siquis mare Neptunum Cereremque vocare constituet fruges et Bacchi nomine abuti mavolt quam laticis proprium proferre vocamen , concedamus ut hic terrarum dictitet orbem esse deum matrem , dum vera re tamen ipse religione animum turpi contingere parcat .	This, too, in these affairs 'Tis fit thou hold well sealed, and keep consigned With no forgetting brain: nothing there is Whose nature is apparent out of hand That of one kind of elements consists- Nothing there is that's not of mixed seed. And whatsoe'er possesses in itself More largely many powers and properties Shows thus that here within itself there are The largest number of kinds and differing shapes Of elements. And, chief of all, the earth Hath in herself first bodies whence the springs, Rolling chill waters, renew forevermore The unmeasured main; hath whence the fires arise- For burns in many a spot her flamed crust, Whilst the impetuous Aetna raves indeed From more profounder fires- and she, again, Hath in herself the seed whence she can raise The shining grains and gladsome trees for men; Whence, also, rivers, fronds, and gladsome pastures Can she supply for mountain-roaming beasts. Wherefore great mother of gods, and mother of beasts, And parent of man hath she alone been named. Her hymned the old and learned bards of Greece . . . . . . Seated in chariot o'er the realms of air To drive her team of lions, teaching thus That the great earth hangs poised and cannot lie Resting on other earth. Unto her car They've yoked the wild beasts, since a progeny, However savage, must be tamed and chid By care of parents. They have girt about With turret-crown the summit of her head, Since, fortressed in her goodly strongholds high, 'Tis she sustains the cities; now, adorned With that same token, to-day is carried forth, With solemn awe through many a mighty land, The image of that mother, the divine. Her the wide nations, after antique rite, Do name Idaean Mother, giving her Escort of Phrygian bands, since first, they say, From out those regions 'twas that grain began Through all the world. To her do they assign The Galli, the emasculate, since thus They wish to show that men who violate The majesty of the mother and have proved Ingrate to parents are to be adjudged Unfit to give unto the shores of light A living progeny. The Galli come: And hollow cymbals, tight-skinned tambourines Resound around to bangings of their hands; The fierce horns threaten with a raucous bray; The tubed pipe excites their maddened minds In Phrygian measures; they bear before them knives, Wild emblems of their frenzy, which have power The rabble's ingrate heads and impious hearts To panic with terror of the goddess' might. And so, when through the mighty cities borne, She blesses man with salutations mute, They strew the highway of her journeyings With coin of brass and silver, gifting her With alms and largesse, and shower her and shade With flowers of roses falling like the snow Upon the Mother and her companion-bands. Here is an armed troop, the which by Greeks Are called the Phrygian Curetes. Since Haply among themselves they use to play In games of arms and leap in measure round With bloody mirth and by their nodding shake The terrorizing crests upon their heads, This is the armed troop that represents The arm'd Dictaean Curetes, who, in Crete, As runs the story, whilom did out-drown That infant cry of Zeus, what time their band, Young boys, in a swift dance around the boy, To measured step beat with the brass on brass, That Saturn might not get him for his jaws, And give its mother an eternal wound Along her heart. And 'tis on this account That armed they escort the mighty Mother, Or else because they signify by this That she, the goddess, teaches men to be Eager with armed valour to defend Their motherland, and ready to stand forth, The guard and glory of their parents' years. A tale, however beautifully wrought, That's wide of reason by a long remove: For all the gods must of themselves enjoy Immortal aeons and supreme repose, Withdrawn from our affairs, detached, afar: Immune from peril and immune from pain, Themselves abounding in riches of their own, Needing not us, they are not touched by wrath They are not taken by service or by gift. Truly is earth insensate for all time; But, by obtaining germs of many things, In many a way she brings the many forth Into the light of sun. And here, whoso Decides to call the ocean Neptune, or The grain-crop Ceres, and prefers to abuse The name of Bacchus rather than pronounce The liquor's proper designation, him Let us permit to go on calling earth Mother of Gods, if only he will spare To taint his soul with foul religion.
42	Saepe itaque ex uno tondentes gramina campo lanigerae pecudes et equorum duellica proles buceriaeque greges eodem sub tegmine caeli ex unoque sitim sedantes flumine aquai dissimili vivont specie retinentque parentum naturam et mores generatim quaeque imitantur . tanta est in quovis genere herbae materiai dissimilis ratio , tanta est in flumine quoque . Hinc porro quamvis animantem ex omnibus unam ossa cruor venae calor umor viscera nervi constituunt , quae sunt porro distantia longe , dissimili perfecta figura principiorum . Tum porro quae cumque igni flammata cremantur . si nil praeterea , tamen haec in corpore tradunt , unde ignem iacere et lumen submittere possint scintillasque agere ac late differre favillam . cetera consimili mentis ratione peragrans invenies igitur multarum semina rerum corpore celare et varias cohibere figuras . Denique multa vides , quibus et color et sapor una reddita sunt cum odore in primis pleraque poma . haec igitur variis debent constare figuris ; nidor enim penetrat qua fucus non it in artus , fucus item sorsum , sorsum sapor insinuatur sensibus ; ut noscas primis differre figuris . dissimiles igitur formae glomeramen in unum conveniunt et res permixto semine constant . Quin etiam passim nostris in versibus ipsis multa elementa vides multis communia verbis , cum tamen inter se versus ac verba necesse est confiteare alia ex aliis constare elementis ; non quo multa parum communis littera currat aut nulla inter se duo sint ex omnibus isdem , sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant . sic aliis in rebus item communia multa multarum rerum cum sint , primordia rerum dissimili tamen inter se consistere summa possunt ; ut merito ex aliis constare feratur humanum genus et fruges arbustaque laeta . Nec tamen omnimodis conecti posse putandum est omnia ; nam volgo fieri portenta videres , semiferas hominum species existere et altos inter dum ramos egigni corpore vivo multaque conecti terrestria membra marinis , tum flammam taetro spirantis ore Chimaeras pascere naturam per terras omniparentis . quorum nil fieri manifestum est , omnia quando seminibus certis certa genetrice creata conservare genus crescentia posse videmus . scilicet id certa fieri ratione necessust . nam sua cuique cibis ex omnibus intus in artus corpora discedunt conexaque convenientis efficiunt motus ; at contra aliena videmus reicere in terras naturam , multaque caecis corporibus fugiunt e corpore percita plagis , quae neque conecti quoquam potuere neque intus vitalis motus consentire atque imitari . sed ne forte putes animalia sola teneri legibus his , quaedam ratio res terminat omnis nam vel uti tota natura dissimiles sunt inter se genitae res quaeque , ita quamque necessest dissimili constare figura principiorum ; non quo multa parum simili sint praedita forma , sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant . semina cum porro distent , differre necessust intervalla vias conexus pondera plagas concursus motus ; quae non animalia solum corpora seiungunt , sed terras ac mare totum secernunt caelumque a terris omne retentant .	So, too, the wooly flocks, and horned kine, And brood of battle-eager horses, grazing Often together along one grassy plain, Under the cope of one blue sky, and slaking From out one stream of water each its thirst, All live their lives with face and form unlike, Keeping the parents' nature, parents' habits, Which, kind by kind, through ages they repeat. So great in any sort of herb thou wilt, So great again in any river of earth Are the distinct diversities of matter. Hence, further, every creature- any one From out them all- compounded is the same Of bones, blood, veins, heat, moisture, flesh, and thews- All differing vastly in their forms, and built Of elements dissimilar in shape. Again, all things by fire consumed ablaze, Within their frame lay up, if naught besides, At least those atoms whence derives their power To throw forth fire and send out light from under, To shoot the sparks and scatter embers wide. If, with like reasoning of mind, all else Thou traverse through, thou wilt discover thus That in their frame the seeds of many things They hide, and divers shapes of seeds contain. Further, thou markest much, to which are given Along together colour and flavour and smell, Among which, chief, are most burnt offerings. . . . . . . Thus must they be of divers shapes composed. A smell of scorching enters in our frame Where the bright colour from the dye goes not; And colour in one way, flavour in quite another Works inward to our senses- so mayst see They differ too in elemental shapes. Thus unlike forms into one mass combine, And things exist by intermixed seed. But still 'tmust not be thought that in all ways All things can be conjoined; for then wouldst view Portents begot about thee every side: Hulks of mankind half brute astarting up, At times big branches sprouting from man's trunk, Limbs of a sea-beast to a land-beast knit, And nature along the all-producing earth Feeding those dire Chimaeras breathing flame From hideous jaws- Of which 'tis simple fact That none have been begot; because we see All are from fixed seed and fixed dam Engendered and so function as to keep Throughout their growth their own ancestral type. This happens surely by a fixed law: For from all food-stuff, when once eaten down, Go sundered atoms, suited to each creature, Throughout their bodies, and, conjoining there, Produce the proper motions; but we see How, contrariwise, nature upon the ground Throws off those foreign to their frame; and many With viewless bodies from their bodies fly, By blows impelled- those impotent to join To any part, or, when inside, to accord And to take on the vital motions there. But think not, haply, living forms alone Are bound by these laws: they distinguished all. . . . . . . For just as all things of creation are, In their whole nature, each to each unlike, So must their atoms be in shape unlike- Not since few only are fashioned of like form, But since they all, as general rule, are not The same as all. Nay, here in these our verses, Elements many, common to many words, Thou seest, though yet 'tis needful to confess The words and verses differ, each from each, Compounded out of different elements- Not since few only, as common letters, run Through all the words, or no two words are made, One and the other, from all like elements, But since they all, as general rule, are not The same as all. Thus, too, in other things, Whilst many germs common to many things There are, yet they, combined among themselves, Can form new wholes to others quite unlike. Thus fairly one may say that humankind, The grains, the gladsome trees, are all made up Of different atoms. Further, since the seeds Are different, difference must there also be In intervening spaces, thoroughfares, Connections, weights, blows, clashings, motions, all Which not alone distinguish living forms, But sunder earth's whole ocean from the lands, And hold all heaven from the lands away.
43	Nunc age dicta meo dulci quaesita labore percipe , ne forte haec albis ex alba rearis principiis esse , ante oculos quae candida cernis , aut ea quae nigrant nigro de semine nata ; nive alium quemvis quae sunt inbuta colorem , propterea gerere hunc credas , quod materiai corpora consimili sint eius tincta colore ; nullus enim color est omnino materiai corporibus , neque par rebus neque denique dispar . in quae corpora si nullus tibi forte videtur posse animi iniectus fieri , procul avius erras . nam cum caecigeni , solis qui lumina numquam dispexere , tamen cognoscant corpora tactu ex ineunte aevo nullo coniuncta colore , scire licet nostrae quoque menti corpora posse vorti in notitiam nullo circum lita fuco . denique nos ipsi caecis quaecumque tenebris tangimus , haud ullo sentimus tincta colore . Quod quoniam vinco fieri , nunc esse docebo . omnis enim color omnino mutatur in omnis ; 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 . proinde colore cave contingas semina rerum , ne tibi res redeant ad nihilum funditus omnes . Praeterea si nulla coloris principiis est reddita natura et variis sunt praedita formis , e quibus omnigenus gignunt variantque colores , propterea magni quod refert , semina quaeque cum quibus et quali positura contineantur et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque , perfacile extemplo rationem reddere possis , cur ea quae nigro fuerint paulo ante colore , marmoreo fieri possint candore repente , ut mare , cum magni commorunt aequora venti , vertitur in canos candenti marmore fluctus ; dicere enim possis , nigrum quod saepe videmus , materies ubi permixta est illius et ordo principiis mutatus et addita demptaque quaedam , continuo id fieri ut candens videatur et album . quod si caeruleis constarent aequora ponti seminibus , nullo possent albescere pacto ; nam quo cumque modo perturbes caerula quae sint , numquam in marmoreum possunt migrare colorem . sin alio atque alio sunt semina tincta colore , quae maris efficiunt unum purumque nitorem , ut saepe ex aliis formis variisque figuris efficitur quiddam quadratum unaque figura , conveniebat , ut in quadrato cernimus esse dissimiles formas , ita cernere in aequore ponti aut alio in quovis uno puroque nitore dissimiles longe inter se variosque colores . praeterea nihil officiunt obstantque figurae dissimiles , quo quadratum minus omne sit extra ; at varii rerum inpediunt prohibentque colores , quo minus esse uno possit res tota nitore . Tum porro quae ducit et inlicit ut tribuamus principiis rerum non numquam causa colores , occidit , ex albis quoniam non alba creantur , nec quae nigra cluent de nigris , sed variis ex . quippe etenim multo proclivius exorientur candida de nullo quam nigro nata colore aut alio quovis , qui contra pugnet et obstet .	ABSENCE OF SECONDARY QUALITIES Now come, this wisdom by my sweet toil sought Look thou perceive, lest haply thou shouldst guess That the white objects shining to thine eyes Are gendered of white atoms, or the black Of a black seed; or yet believe that aught That's steeped in any hue should take its dye From bits of matter tinct with hue the same. For matter's bodies own no hue the least- Or like to objects or, again, unlike. But, if percase it seem to thee that mind Itself can dart no influence of its own Into these bodies, wide thou wand'rest off. For since the blind-born, who have ne'er surveyed The light of sun, yet recognise by touch Things that from birth had ne'er a hue for them, 'Tis thine to know that bodies can be brought No less unto the ken of our minds too, Though yet those bodies with no dye be smeared. Again, ourselves whatever in the dark We touch, the same we do not find to be Tinctured with any colour. Now that here I win the argument, I next will teach . . . . . . Now, every colour changes, none except, And every... Which the primordials ought nowise to do. Since an immutable somewhat must remain, Lest all things utterly be brought to naught. For change of anything from out its bounds Means instant death of that which was before. Wherefore be mindful not to stain with colour The seeds of things, lest things return for thee All utterly to naught. But now, if seeds Receive no property of colour, and yet Be still endowed with variable forms From which all kinds of colours they beget And vary (by reason that ever it matters much With what seeds, and in what positions joined, And what the motions that they give and get), Forthwith most easily thou mayst devise Why what was black of hue an hour ago Can of a sudden like the marble gleam,- As ocean, when the high winds have upheaved Its level plains, is changed to hoary waves Of marble whiteness: for, thou mayst declare, That, when the thing we often see as black Is in its matter then commixed anew, Some atoms rearranged, and some withdrawn, And added some, 'tis seen forthwith to turn Glowing and white. But if of azure seeds Consist the level waters of the deep, They could in nowise whiten: for however Thou shakest azure seeds, the same can never Pass into marble hue. But, if the seeds- Which thus produce the ocean's one pure sheen- Be now with one hue, now another dyed, As oft from alien forms and divers shapes A cube's produced all uniform in shape, 'Twould be but natural, even as in the cube We see the forms to be dissimilar, That thus we'd see in brightness of the deep (Or in whatever one pure sheen thou wilt) Colours diverse and all dissimilar. Besides, the unlike shapes don't thwart the least The whole in being externally a cube; But differing hues of things do block and keep The whole from being of one resultant hue. Then, too, the reason which entices us At times to attribute colours to the seeds Falls quite to pieces, since white things are not Create from white things, nor are black from black, But evermore they are create from things Of divers colours. Verily, the white Will rise more readily, is sooner born Out of no colour, than of black or aught Which stands in hostile opposition thus.
44	Praeterea quoniam nequeunt sine luce colores esse neque in lucem existunt primordia rerum , scire licet quam sint nullo velata colore ; qualis enim caecis poterit color esse tenebris ? lumine quin ipso mutatur propterea quod recta aut obliqua percussus luce refulget ; pluma columbarum quo pacto in sole videtur , quae sita cervices circum collumque coronat ; namque alias fit uti claro sit rubra pyropo , inter dum quodam sensu fit uti videatur inter caeruleum viridis miscere zmaragdos . caudaque pavonis , larga cum luce repleta est , consimili mutat ratione obversa colores ; qui quoniam quodam gignuntur luminis ictu , scire licet , sine eo fieri non posse putandum est . Et quoniam plagae quoddam genus excipit in se pupula , cum sentire colorem dicitur album , atque aliud porro , nigrum cum et cetera sentit , nec refert ea quae tangas quo forte colore praedita sint , verum quali magis apta figura , scire licet nihil principiis opus esse colore , sed variis formis variantes edere tactus .	Besides, since colours cannot be, sans light, And the primordials come not forth to light, 'Tis thine to know they are not clothed with colour- Truly, what kind of colour could there be In the viewless dark? Nay, in the light itself A colour changes, gleaming variedly, When smote by vertical or slanting ray. Thus in the sunlight shows the down of doves That circles, garlanding, the nape and throat: Now it is ruddy with a bright gold-bronze, Now, by a strange sensation it becomes Green-emerald blended with the coral-red. The peacock's tail, filled with the copious light, Changes its colours likewise, when it turns. Wherefore, since by some blow of light begot, Without such blow these colours can't become. And since the pupil of the eye receives Within itself one kind of blow, when said To feel a white hue, then another kind, When feeling a black or any other hue, And since it matters nothing with what hue The things thou touchest be perchance endowed, But rather with what sort of shape equipped, 'Tis thine to know the atoms need not colour, But render forth sensations, as of touch, That vary with their varied forms.
45	Praeterea quoniam non certis certa figuris est natura coloris et omnia principiorum formamenta queunt in quovis esse nitore , cur ea quae constant ex illis non pariter sunt omnigenus perfusa coloribus in genere omni ? conveniebat enim corvos quoque saepe volantis ex albis album pinnis iactare colorem et nigros fieri nigro de semine cycnos aut alio quovis uno varioque colore . Quin etiam quanto in partes res quaeque minutas distrahitur magis , hoc magis est ut cernere possis evanescere paulatim stinguique colorem ; ut fit ubi in parvas partis discerpitur austrum : purpura poeniceusque color clarissimus multo , filatim cum distractum est , disperditur omnis ; noscere ut hinc possis prius omnem efflare colorem particulas , quam discedant ad semina rerum . Postremo quoniam non omnia corpora vocem mittere concedis neque odorem , propterea fit ut non omnibus adtribuas sonitus et odores : sic oculis quoniam non omnia cernere quimus , scire licet quaedam tam constare orba colore quam sine odore ullo quaedam sonituque remota , nec minus haec animum cognoscere posse sagacem quam quae sunt aliis rebus privata notare .	Besides, Since special shapes have not a special colour, And all formations of the primal germs Can be of any sheen thou wilt, why, then, Are not those objects which are of them made Suffused, each kind with colours of every kind? For then 'twere meet that ravens, as they fly, Should dartle from white pinions a white sheen, Or swans turn black from seed of black, or be Of any single varied dye thou wilt. Again, the more an object's rent to bits, The more thou see its colour fade away Little by little till 'tis quite extinct; As happens when the gaudy linen's picked Shred after shred away: the purple there, Phoenician red, most brilliant of all dyes, Is lost asunder, ravelled thread by thread; Hence canst perceive the fragments die away From out their colour, long ere they depart Back to the old primordials of things. And, last, since thou concedest not all bodies Send out a voice or smell, it happens thus That not to all thou givest sounds and smells. So, too, since we behold not all with eyes, 'Tis thine to know some things there are as much Orphaned of colour, as others without smell, And reft of sound; and those the mind alert No less can apprehend than it can mark The things that lack some other qualities.
46	Sed ne forte putes solo spoliata colore corpora prima manere , etiam secreta teporis sunt ac frigoris omnino calidique vaporis , et sonitu sterila et suco ieiuna feruntur , nec iaciunt ullum proprium de corpore odorem . sicut amaracini blandum stactaeque liquorem et nardi florem , nectar qui naribus halat , cum facere instituas , cum primis quaerere par est , quod licet ac possis reperire , inolentis olivi naturam , nullam quae mittat naribus auram , quam minime ut possit mixtos in corpore odores concoctosque suo contractans perdere viro , propter eandem rem debent primordia rerum non adhibere suum gignundis rebus odorem nec sonitum , quoniam nihil ab se mittere possunt , nec simili ratione saporem denique quemquam nec frigus neque item calidum tepidumque vaporem , cetera , quae cum ita sunt tamen ut mortalia constent , molli lenta , fragosa putri , cava corpore raro , omnia sint a principiis seiuncta necessest , inmortalia si volumus subiungere rebus fundamenta , quibus nitatur summa salutis ; ne tibi res redeant ad nihilum funditus omnes . Nunc ea quae sentire videmus cumque necessest ex insensilibus tamen omnia confiteare principiis constare . neque id manufesta refutant nec contra pugnant , in promptu cognita quae sunt , sed magis ipsa manu ducunt et credere cogunt ex insensilibus , quod dico , animalia gigni . quippe videre licet vivos existere vermes stercore de taetro , putorem cum sibi nacta est intempestivis ex imbribus umida tellus . Praeterea cunctas itidem res vertere sese . vertunt se fluvii in frondes et pabula laeta in pecudes , vertunt pecudes in corpora nostra naturam , et nostro de corpore saepe ferarum augescunt vires et corpora pennipotentum . ergo omnes natura cibos in corpora viva vertit et hinc sensus animantum procreat omnes , non alia longe ratione atque arida ligna explicat in flammas et in ignis omnia versat . iamne vides igitur magni primordia rerum referre in quali sint ordine quaeque locata et commixta quibus dent motus accipiantque ?	But think not haply that the primal bodies Remain despoiled alone of colour: so, Are they from warmth dissevered and from cold And from hot exhalations; and they move, Both sterile of sound and dry of juice; and throw Not any odour from their proper bodies. Just as, when undertaking to prepare A liquid balm of myrrh and marjoram, And flower of nard, which to our nostrils breathes Odour of nectar, first of all behooves Thou seek, as far as find thou may and can, The inodorous olive-oil (which never sends One whiff of scent to nostrils), that it may The least debauch and ruin with sharp tang The odorous essence with its body mixed And in it seethed. And on the same account The primal germs of things must not be thought To furnish colour in begetting things, Nor sound, since pow'rless they to send forth aught From out themselves, nor any flavour, too, Nor cold, nor exhalation hot or warm. . . . . . . The rest; yet since these things are mortal all- The pliant mortal, with a body soft; The brittle mortal, with a crumbling frame; The hollow with a porous-all must be Disjoined from the primal elements, If still we wish under the world to lay Immortal ground-works, whereupon may rest The sum of weal and safety, lest for thee All things return to nothing utterly. Now, too: whate'er we see possessing sense Must yet confessedly be stablished all From elements insensate. And those signs, So clear to all and witnessed out of hand, Do not refute this dictum nor oppose; But rather themselves do lead us by the hand, Compelling belief that living things are born Of elements insensate, as I say. Sooth, we may see from out the stinking dung Live worms spring up, when, after soaking rains, The drenched earth rots; and all things change the same: Lo, change the rivers, the fronds, the gladsome pastures Into the cattle, the cattle their nature change Into our bodies, and from our body, oft Grow strong the powers and bodies of wild beasts And mighty-winged birds. Thus nature changes All foods to living frames, and procreates From them the senses of live creatures all, In manner about as she uncoils in flames Dry logs of wood and turns them all to fire. And seest not, therefore, how it matters much After what order are set the primal germs, And with what other germs they all are mixed, And what the motions that they give and get?
47	Tum porro , quid id est , animum quod percutit , ipsum , quod movet et varios sensus expromere cogit , ex insensilibus ne credas sensile gigni ? ni mirum lapides et ligna et terra quod una mixta tamen nequeunt vitalem reddere sensum . illud in his igitur rebus meminisse decebit , non ex omnibus omnino , quaecumque creant res sensilia , extemplo me gigni dicere sensus , sed magni referre ea primum quantula constent , sensile quae faciunt , et qua sint praedita forma , motibus ordinibus posituris denique quae sint . quarum nil rerum in lignis glaebisque videmus ; et tamen haec , cum sunt quasi putrefacta per imbres , vermiculos pariunt , quia corpora materiai antiquis ex ordinibus permota nova re conciliantur ita ut debent animalia gigni . Deinde ex sensilibus qui sensile posse creari constituunt , porro ex aliis sentire sueti * * * mollia cum faciunt ; nam sensus iungitur omnis visceribus nervis venis , quae cumque videmus mollia mortali consistere corpore creta . sed tamen esto iam posse haec aeterna manere ; nempe tamen debent aut sensum partis habere aut similis totis animalibus esse putari . at nequeant per se partes sentire necesse est : namque animus sensus membrorum respuit omnis , nec manus a nobis potis est secreta neque ulla corporis omnino sensum pars sola tenere . linquitur ut totis animantibus adsimulentur , vitali ut possint consentire undique sensu . qui poterunt igitur rerum primordia dici et leti vitare vias , animalia cum sint , atque animalia sint mortalibus una eademque ? quod tamen ut possint , at coetu concilioque nil facient praeter volgum turbamque animantum , scilicet ut nequeant homines armenta feraeque inter sese ullam rem gignere conveniundo . sic itidem quae sentimus sentire necessest . quod si forte suum dimittunt corpore sensum atque alium capiunt , quid opus fuit adtribui id quod detrahitur ? tum praeterea , quod fudimus ante , quatinus in pullos animalis vertier ova cernimus alituum vermisque effervere terra , intempestivos quam putor cepit ob imbris , scire licet gigni posse ex non sensibus sensus .	But now, what is't that strikes thy sceptic mind, Constraining thee to sundry arguments Against belief that from insensate germs The sensible is gendered?- Verily, 'Tis this: that liquids, earth, and wood, though mixed, Are yet unable to gender vital sense. And, therefore, 'twill be well in these affairs This to remember: that I have not said Senses are born, under conditions all, From all things absolutely which create Objects that feel; but much it matters here Firstly, how small the seeds which thus compose The feeling thing, then, with what shapes endowed, And lastly what they in positions be, In motions, in arrangements. Of which facts Naught we perceive in logs of wood and clods; And yet even these, when sodden by the rains, Give birth to wormy grubs, because the bodies Of matter, from their old arrangements stirred By the new factor, then combine anew In such a way as genders living things. Next, they who deem that feeling objects can From feeling objects be create, and these, In turn, from others that are wont to feel . . . . . . When soft they make them; for all sense is linked With flesh, and thews, and veins- and such, we see, Are fashioned soft and of a mortal frame. Yet be't that these can last forever on: They'll have the sense that's proper to a part, Or else be judged to have a sense the same As that within live creatures as a whole. But of themselves those parts can never feel, For all the sense in every member back To something else refers- a severed hand, Or any other member of our frame, Itself alone cannot support sensation. It thus remains they must resemble, then, Live creatures as a whole, to have the power Of feeling sensation concordant in each part With the vital sense; and so they're bound to feel The things we feel exactly as do we. If such the case, how, then, can they be named The primal germs of things, and how avoid The highways of destruction?- since they be Mere living things and living things be all One and the same with mortal. Grant they could, Yet by their meetings and their unions all, Naught would result, indeed, besides a throng And hurly-burly all of living things- Precisely as men, and cattle, and wild beasts, By mere conglomeration each with each Can still beget not anything of new. But if by chance they lose, inside a body, Their own sense and another sense take on, What, then, avails it to assign them that Which is withdrawn thereafter? And besides, To touch on proof that we pronounced before, Just as we see the eggs of feathered fowls To change to living chicks, and swarming worms To bubble forth when from the soaking rains The earth is sodden, sure, sensations all Can out of non-sensations be begot.
48	Quod si forte aliquis dicet , dum taxat oriri posse ex non sensu sensus mutabilitate , aut aliquo tamquam partu quod proditur extra , huic satis illud erit planum facere atque probare , non fieri partum nisi concilio ante coacto , nec quicquam commutari sine conciliatu . Principio nequeunt ullius corporis esse sensus ante ipsam genitam naturam animantis , ni mirum quia materies disiecta tenetur aere fluminibus terris terraque creatis , nec congressa modo vitalis convenientes contulit inter se motus , quibus omnituentes accensi sensus animantem quamque tuentur . Praeterea quamvis animantem grandior ictus , quam patitur natura , repente adfligit et omnis corporis atque animi pergit confundere sensus . dissoluuntur enim positurae principiorum et penitus motus vitales inpediuntur , donec materies omnis concussa per artus vitalis animae nodos a corpore solvit dispersamque foras per caulas eiecit omnis ; nam quid praeterea facere ictum posse reamur oblatum , nisi discutere ac dissolvere quaeque ? fit quoque uti soleant minus oblato acriter ictu reliqui motus vitalis vincere saepe , vincere et ingentis plagae sedare tumultus inque suos quicquid rursus revocare meatus et quasi iam leti dominantem in corpore motum discutere ac paene amissos accendere sensus ; nam qua re potius leti iam limine ab ipso ad vitam possint conlecta mente reverti , quam quo decursum prope iam siet ire et abire ? Praeterea , quoniam dolor est , ubi materiai corpora vi quadam per viscera viva per artus sollicitata suis trepidant in sedibus intus , inque locum quando remigrant , fit blanda voluptas , scire licet nullo primordia posse dolore temptari nullamque voluptatem capere ex se ; quandoquidem non sunt ex ullis principiorum corporibus , quorum motus novitate laborent aut aliquem fructum capiant dulcedinis almae . haut igitur debent esse ullo praedita sensu .	But if one say that sense can so far rise From non-sense by mutation, or because Brought forth as by a certain sort of birth, 'Twill serve to render plain to him and prove There is no birth, unless there be before Some formed union of the elements, Nor any change, unless they be unite. In first place, senses can't in body be Before its living nature's been begot,- Since all its stuff, in faith, is held dispersed About through rivers, air, and earth, and all That is from earth created, nor has met In combination, and, in proper mode, Conjoined into those vital motions which Kindle the all-perceiving senses- they That keep and guard each living thing soever. Again, a blow beyond its nature's strength Shatters forthwith each living thing soe'er, And on it goes confounding all the sense Of body and mind. For of the primal germs Are loosed their old arrangements, and, throughout, The vital motions blocked,- until the stuff, Shaken profoundly through the frame entire, Undoes the vital knots of soul from body And throws that soul, to outward wide-dispersed, Through all the pores. For what may we surmise A blow inflicted can achieve besides Shaking asunder and loosening all apart? It happens also, when less sharp the blow, The vital motions which are left are wont Oft to win out- win out, and stop and still The uncouth tumults gendered by the blow, And call each part to its own courses back, And shake away the motion of death which now Begins its own dominion in the body, And kindle anew the senses almost gone. For by what other means could they the more Collect their powers of thought and turn again From very doorways of destruction Back unto life, rather than pass whereto They be already well-nigh sped and so Pass quite away? Again, since pain is there Where bodies of matter, by some force stirred up, Through vitals and through joints, within their seats Quiver and quake inside, but soft delight, When they remove unto their place again: 'Tis thine to know the primal germs can be Assaulted by no pain, nor from themselves Take no delight; because indeed they are Not made of any bodies of first things, Under whose strange new motions they might ache Or pluck the fruit of any dear new sweet. And so they must be furnished with no sense.