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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
145
Hic
neque
tum
solis
rota
cerni
lumine
largo

altivolans
poterat
nec
magni
sidera
mundi

nec
mare
nec
caelum
nec
denique
terra
neque
aër

nec
similis
nostris
rebus
res
ulla
videri
,
sed
nova
tempestas
quaedam
molesque
coorta
.
diffugere
inde
loci
partes
coepere
paresque

cum
paribus
iungi
res
et
discludere
mundum

membraque
dividere
et
magnas
disponere
partes

omnigenis
e
principiis
,
discordia
quorum

intervalla
vias
conexus
pondera
plagas

concursus
motus
turbabat
proelia
miscens

propter
dissimilis
formas
variasque
figuras
,
quod
non
omnia
sic
poterant
coniuncta
manere

nec
motus
inter
sese
dare
convenientis
,
hoc
est
,
a
terris
altum
secernere
caelum
,
et
sorsum
mare
,
uti
secreto
umore
pateret
,
seorsus
item
puri
secretique
aetheris
ignes
.

In that long-ago
The wheel of the sun could nowhere be discerned
Flying far up with its abounding blaze,
Nor constellations of the mighty world,
Nor ocean, nor heaven, nor even earth nor air.
Nor aught of things like unto things of ours
Could then be seen- but only some strange storm
And a prodigious hurly-burly mass
Compounded of all kinds of primal germs,
Whose battling discords in disorder kept
Interstices, and paths, coherencies,
And weights, and blows, encounterings, and motions,
Because, by reason of their forms unlike
And varied shapes, they could not all thuswise
Remain conjoined nor harmoniously
Have interplay of movements. But from there
Portions began to fly asunder, and like
With like to join, and to block out a world,
And to divide its members and dispose
Its mightier parts- that is, to set secure
The lofty heavens from the lands, and cause
The sea to spread with waters separate,
And fires of ether separate and pure
Likewise to congregate apart.
146
Quippe
etenim
primum
terrai
corpora
quaeque
,
propterea
quod
erant
gravia
et
perplexa
,
coibant

in
medio
atque
imas
capiebant
omnia
sedes
;
quae
quanto
magis
inter
se
perplexa
coibant
,
tam
magis
expressere
ea
quae
mare
sidera
solem

lunamque
efficerent
et
magni
moenia
mundi
;
omnia
enim
magis
haec
e
levibus
atque
rutundis

seminibus
multoque
minoribus
sunt
elementis

quam
tellus
.
ideo
per
rara
foramina
terrae

partibus
erumpens
primus
se
sustulit
aether

ignifer
et
multos
secum
levis
abstulit
ignis
,
non
alia
longe
ratione
ac
saepe
videmus
,
aurea
cum
primum
gemmantis
rore
per
herbas

matutina
rubent
radiati
lumina
solis

exhalantque
lacus
nebulam
fluviique
perennes

ipsaque
ut
inter
dum
tellus
fumare
videtur
;
omnia
quae
sursum
cum
conciliantur
,
in
alto

corpore
concreto
subtexunt
nubila
caelum
.
sic
igitur
tum
se
levis
ac
diffusilis
aether

corpore
concreto
circum
datus
undique
saepsit

et
late
diffusus
in
omnis
undique
partis

omnia
sic
avido
complexu
cetera
saepsit
.
hunc
exordia
sunt
solis
lunaeque
secuta
,
interutrasque
globi
quorum
vertuntur
in
auris
;
quae
neque
terra
sibi
adscivit
nec
maximus
aether
,
quod
neque
tam
fuerunt
gravia
ut
depressa
sederent
,
nec
levia
ut
possent
per
summas
labier
oras
,
et
tamen
interutrasque
ita
sunt
,
ut
corpora
viva

versent
et
partes
ut
mundi
totius
extent
;
quod
genus
in
nobis
quaedam
licet
in
statione

membra
manere
,
tamen
cum
sint
ea
quae
moveantur
.
his
igitur
rebus
retractis
terra
repente
,
maxuma
qua
nunc
se
ponti
plaga
caerula
tendit
,
succidit
et
salso
suffudit
gurgite
fossas
.
inque
dies
quanto
circum
magis
aetheris
aestus

et
radii
solis
cogebant
undique
terram

verberibus
crebris
extrema
ad
limina
fartam

in
medio
ut
propulsa
suo
condensa
coiret
,
tam
magis
expressus
salsus
de
corpore
sudor

augebat
mare
manando
camposque
natantis
,
et
tanto
magis
illa
foras
elapsa
volabant

corpora
multa
vaporis
et
aëris
altaque
caeli

densabant
procul
a
terris
fulgentia
templa
.
sidebant
campi
,
crescebant
montibus
altis

ascensus
;
neque
enim
poterant
subsidere
saxa

nec
pariter
tantundem
omnes
succumbere
partis
.

For, lo,
First came together the earthy particles
(As being heavy and intertangled) there
In the mid-region, and all began to take
The lowest abodes; and ever the more they got
One with another intertangled, the more
They pressed from out their mass those particles
Which were to form the sea, the stars, the sun,
And moon, and ramparts of the mighty world-
For these consist of seeds more smooth and round
And of much smaller elements than earth.
And thus it was that ether, fraught with fire,
First broke away from out the earthen parts,
Athrough the innumerable pores of earth,
And raised itself aloft, and with itself
Bore lightly off the many starry fires;
And not far otherwise we often see
. . . . . .
And the still lakes and the perennial streams
Exhale a mist, and even as earth herself
Is seen at times to smoke, when first at dawn
The light of the sun, the many-rayed, begins
To redden into gold, over the grass
Begemmed with dew. When all of these are brought
Together overhead, the clouds on high
With now concreted body weave a cover
Beneath the heavens. And thuswise ether too,
Light and diffusive, with concreted body
On all sides spread, on all sides bent itself
Into a dome, and, far and wide diffused
On unto every region on all sides,
Thus hedged all else within its greedy clasp.
Hard upon ether came the origins
Of sun and moon, whose globes revolve in air
Midway between the earth and mightiest ether,-
For neither took them, since they weighed too little
To sink and settle, but too much to glide
Along the upmost shores; and yet they are
In such a wise midway between the twain
As ever to whirl their living bodies round,
And ever to dure as parts of the wide Whole;
In the same fashion as certain members may
In us remain at rest, whilst others move.
When, then, these substances had been withdrawn,
Amain the earth, where now extend the vast
Cerulean zones of all the level seas,
Caved in, and down along the hollows poured
The whirlpools of her brine; and day by day
The more the tides of ether and rays of sun
On every side constrained into one mass
The earth by lashing it again, again,
Upon its outer edges (so that then,
Being thus beat upon, 'twas all condensed
About its proper centre), ever the more
The salty sweat, from out its body squeezed,
Augmented ocean and the fields of foam
By seeping through its frame, and all the more
Those many particles of heat and air
Escaping, began to fly aloft, and form,
By condensation there afar from earth,
The high refulgent circuits of the heavens.
The plains began to sink, and windy slopes
Of the high mountains to increase; for rocks
Could not subside, nor all the parts of ground
Settle alike to one same level there.
147
Sic
igitur
terrae
concreto
corpore
pondus

constitit
atque
omnis
mundi
quasi
limus
in
imum

confluxit
gravis
et
subsedit
funditus
ut
faex
;
inde
mare
,
inde
aër
,
inde
aether
ignifer
ipse

corporibus
liquidis
sunt
omnia
pura
relicta

et
leviora
aliis
alia
,
et
liquidissimus
aether

atque
levissimus
aërias
super
influit
auras

nec
liquidum
corpus
turbantibus
aëris
auris

commiscet
;
sinit
haec
violentis
omnia
verti

turbinibus
,
sinit
incertis
turbare
procellis
,
ipse
suos
ignis
certo
fert
impete
labens
.
nam
modice
fluere
atque
uno
posse
aethera
nisu

significat
Pontos
,
mare
certo
quod
fluit
aestu

unum
labendi
conservans
usque
tenorem
.

Thus, then, the massy weight of earth stood firm
With now concreted body, when (as 'twere)
All of the slime of the world, heavy and gross,
Had run together and settled at the bottom,
Like lees or bilge. Then ocean, then the air,
Then ether herself, the fraught-with-fire, were all
Left with their liquid bodies pure and free,
And each more lighter than the next below;
And ether, most light and liquid of the three,
Floats on above the long aerial winds,
Nor with the brawling of the winds of air
Mingles its liquid body. It doth leave
All there- those under-realms below her heights-
There to be overset in whirlwinds wild,-
Doth leave all there to brawl in wayward gusts,
Whilst, gliding with a fixed impulse still,
Itself it bears its fires along. For, lo,
That ether can flow thus steadily on, on,
With one unaltered urge, the Pontus proves-
That sea which floweth forth with fixed tides,
Keeping one onward tenor as it glides.
148
Motibus
astrorum
nunc
quae
sit
causa
canamus
.
principio
magnus
caeli
si
vortitur
orbis
,
ex
utraque
polum
parti
premere
aëra
nobis

dicendum
est
extraque
tenere
et
claudere
utrimque
;
inde
alium
supra
fluere
atque
intendere
eodem

quo
volvenda
micant
aeterni
sidera
mundi
;
aut
alium
supter
,
contra
qui
subvehat
orbem
,
ut
fluvios
versare
rotas
atque
austra
videmus
.
est
etiam
quoque
uti
possit
caelum
omne
manere

in
statione
,
tamen
cum
lucida
signa
ferantur
,
sive
quod
inclusi
rapidi
sunt
aetheris
aestus

quaerentesque
viam
circum
versantur
et
ignes

passim
per
caeli
volvunt
summania
templa
,
sive
aliunde
fluens
alicunde
extrinsecus
aër

versat
agens
ignis
,
sive
ipsi
serpere
possunt
,
quo
cuiusque
cibus
vocat
atque
invitat
euntis
,
flammea
per
caelum
pascentis
corpora
passim
.
nam
quid
in
hoc
mundo
sit
eorum
ponere
certum

difficilest
;
sed
quid
possit
fiatque
per
omne

in
variis
mundis
varia
ratione
creatis
,
id
doceo
plurisque
sequor
disponere
causas
,
motibus
astrorum
quae
possint
esse
per
omne
;
e
quibus
una
tamen
sit
et
haec
quoque
causa
necessest
,
quae
vegeat
motum
signis
;
sed
quae
sit
earum

praecipere
haud
quaquamst
pedetemptim
progredientis
.

Now let us sing what makes the stars to move.
In first place, if the mighty sphere of heaven
Revolveth round, then needs we must aver
That on the upper and the under pole
Presses a certain air, and from without
Confines them and encloseth at each end;
And that, moreover, another air above
Streams on athwart the top of the sphere and tends
In same direction as are rolled along
The glittering stars of the eternal world;
Or that another still streams on below
To whirl the sphere from under up and on
In opposite direction- as we see
The rivers turn the wheels and water-scoops.
It may be also that the heavens do all
Remain at rest, whilst yet are borne along
The lucid constellations; either because
Swift tides of ether are by sky enclosed,
And whirl around, seeking a passage out,
And everywhere make roll the starry fires
Through the Summanian regions of the sky;
Or else because some air, streaming along
From an eternal quarter off beyond,
Whileth the driven fires, or, then, because
The fires themselves have power to creep along,
Going wherever their food invites and calls,
And feeding their flaming bodies everywhere
Throughout the sky. Yet which of these is cause
In this our world 'tis hard to say for sure;
But what can be throughout the universe,
In divers worlds on divers plan create,
This only do I show, and follow on
To assign unto the motions of the stars
Even several causes which 'tis possible
Exist throughout the universal All;
Of which yet one must be the cause even here
Which maketh motion for our constellations.
Yet to decide which one of them it be
Is not the least the business of a man
Advancing step by cautious step, as I.
149
Terraque
ut
in
media
mundi
regione
quiescat
,
evanescere
paulatim
et
decrescere
pondus

convenit
atque
aliam
naturam
supter
habere

ex
ineunte
aevo
coniunctam
atque
uniter
aptam

partibus
aëriis
mundi
,
quibus
insita
vivit
.
propterea
non
est
oneri
neque
deprimit
auras
,
ut
sua
cuique
homini
nullo
sunt
pondere
membra

nec
caput
est
oneri
collo
nec
denique
totum

corporis
in
pedibus
pondus
sentimus
inesse
;
at
quae
cumque
foris
veniunt
inpostaque
nobis

pondera
sunt
laedunt
,
permulto
saepe
minora
.
usque
adeo
magni
refert
quid
quaeque
queat
res
.
sic
igitur
tellus
non
est
aliena
repente

allata
atque
auris
aliunde
obiecta
alienis
,
sed
pariter
prima
concepta
ab
origine
mundi

certaque
pars
eius
,
quasi
nobis
membra
videntur
.
Praeterea
grandi
tonitru
concussa
repente

terra
supra
quae
se
sunt
concutit
omnia
motu
;
quod
facere
haut
ulla
posset
ratione
,
nisi
esset

partibus
aëriis
mundi
caeloque
revincta
;
nam
communibus
inter
se
radicibus
haerent

ex
ineunte
aevo
coniuncta
atque
uniter
aucta
.
Nonne
vides
etiam
quam
magno
pondere
nobis

sustineat
corpus
tenuissima
vis
animai
,
propterea
quia
tam
coniuncta
atque
uniter
apta
est
?
Denique
iam
saltu
pernici
tollere
corpus

quid
potis
est
nisi
vis
animae
,
quae
membra
gubernat
?
iamne
vides
quantum
tenuis
natura
valere

possit
,
ubi
est
coniuncta
gravi
cum
corpore
,
ut
aër

coniunctus
terris
et
nobis
est
animi
vis
?

And that the earth may there abide at rest
In the mid-region of the world, it needs
Must vanish bit by bit in weight and lessen,
And have another substance underneath,
Conjoined to it from its earliest age
In linked unison with the vasty world's
Realms of the air in which it roots and lives.
On this account, the earth is not a load,
Nor presses down on winds of air beneath;
Even as unto a man his members be
Without all weight- the head is not a load
Unto the neck; nor do we feel the whole
Weight of the body to centre in the feet.
But whatso weights come on us from without,
Weights laid upon us, these harass and chafe,
Though often far lighter. For to such degree
It matters always what the innate powers
Of any given thing may be. The earth
Was, then, no alien substance fetched amain,
And from no alien firmament cast down
On alien air; but was conceived, like air,
In the first origin of this the world,
As a fixed portion of the same, as now
Our members are seen to be a part of us.
Besides, the earth, when of a sudden shook
By the big thunder, doth with her motion shake
All that's above her- which she ne'er could do
By any means, were earth not bounden fast
Unto the great world's realms of air and sky:
For they cohere together with common roots,
Conjoined both, even from their earliest age,
In linked unison. Aye, seest thou not
That this most subtle energy of soul
Supports our body, though so heavy a weight,-
Because, indeed, 'tis with it so conjoined
In linked unison? What power, in sum,
Can raise with agile leap our body aloft,
Save energy of mind which steers the limbs?
Now seest thou not how powerful may be
A subtle nature, when conjoined it is
With heavy body, as air is with the earth
Conjoined, and energy of mind with us?
150
Nec
nimio
solis
maior
rota
nec
minor
ardor

esse
potest
,
nostris
quam
sensibus
esse
videtur
.
nam
quibus
e
spatiis
cumque
ignes
lumina
possunt

adiicere
et
calidum
membris
adflare
vaporem
,
nil
magnis
intervallis
de
corpore
libant

flammarum
,
nihil
ad
speciem
est
contractior
ignis
.
proinde
,
calor
quoniam
solis
lumenque
profusum

perveniunt
nostros
ad
sensus
et
loca
fulgent
,
forma
quoque
hinc
solis
debet
filumque
videri
,
nil
adeo
ut
possis
plus
aut
minus
addere
vere
.
lunaque
sive
notho
fertur
loca
lumine
lustrans
,
sive
suam
proprio
iactat
de
corpore
lucem
,
quidquid
id
est
,
nihilo
fertur
maiore
figura

quam
,
nostris
oculis
qua
cernimus
,
esse
videtur
.
nam
prius
omnia
,
quae
longe
semota
tuemur
aëra

per
multum
,
specie
confusa
videntur

quam
minui
filum
.
quapropter
luna
necesse
est
,
quandoquidem
claram
speciem
certamque
figuram

praebet
,
ut
est
oris
extremis
cumque
notata
,
quanta
quoquest
,
tanta
hinc
nobis
videatur
in
alto
.
postremo
quos
cumque
vides
hinc
aetheris
ignes
,
scire
licet
perquam
pauxillo
posse
minores

esse
vel
exigua
maioris
parte
brevique
.
quandoquidem
quos
cumque
in
terris
cernimus
,
dum
tremor
clarus
dum
cernitur
ardor
eorum
,
perparvom
quiddam
inter
dum
mutare
videntur

alteram
utram
in
partem
filum
,
quo
longius
absunt
.

Nor can the sun's wheel larger be by much
Nor its own blaze much less than either seems
Unto our senses. For from whatso spaces
Fires have the power on us to cast their beams
And blow their scorching exhalations forth
Against our members, those same distances
Take nothing by those intervals away
From bulk of flames; and to the sight the fire
Is nothing shrunken. Therefore, since the heat
And the outpoured light of skiey sun
Arrive our senses and caress our limbs,
Form too and bigness of the sun must look
Even here from earth just as they really be,
So that thou canst scarce nothing take or add.
And whether the journeying moon illuminate
The regions round with bastard beams, or throw
From off her proper body her own light,-
Whichever it be, she journeys with a form
Naught larger than the form doth seem to be
Which we with eyes of ours perceive. For all
The far removed objects of our gaze
Seem through much air confused in their look
Ere minished in their bigness. Wherefore, moon,
Since she presents bright look and clear-cut form,
May there on high by us on earth be seen
Just as she is with extreme bounds defined,
And just of the size. And lastly, whatso fires
Of ether thou from earth beholdest, these
Thou mayst consider as possibly of size
The least bit less, or larger by a hair
Than they appear- since whatso fires we view
Here in the lands of earth are seen to change
From time to time their size to less or more
Only the least, when more or less away,
So long as still they bicker clear, and still
Their glow's perceived.
151
Illud
item
non
est
mirandum
,
qua
ratione

tantulus
ille
queat
tantum
sol
mittere
lumen
,
quod
maria
ac
terras
omnis
caelumque
rigando

compleat
et
calido
perfundat
cuncta
vapore
.
nam
licet
hinc
mundi
patefactum
totius
unum

largifluum
fontem
scatere
atque
erumpere
lumen
,
ex
omni
mundo
quia
sic
elementa
vaporis

undique
conveniunt
et
sic
coniectus
eorum

confluit
,
ex
uno
capite
hic
ut
profluat
ardor
.
nonne
vides
etiam
quam
late
parvus
aquai

prata
riget
fons
inter
dum
campisque
redundet
?
est
etiam
quoque
uti
non
magno
solis
ab
igni
aëra

percipiat
calidis
fervoribus
ardor
,
opportunus
ita
est
si
forte
et
idoneus
aër
,
ut
queat
accendi
parvis
ardoribus
ictus
;
quod
genus
inter
dum
segetes
stipulamque
videmus

accidere
ex
una
scintilla
incendia
passim
.
forsitan
et
rosea
sol
alte
lampade
lucens

possideat
multum
caecis
fervoribus
ignem

circum
se
,
nullo
qui
sit
fulgore
notatus
,
aestifer
ut
tantum
radiorum
exaugeat
ictum
.

Nor need there be for men
Astonishment that yonder sun so small
Can yet send forth so great a light as fills
Oceans and all the lands and sky aflood,
And with its fiery exhalations steeps
The world at large. For it may be, indeed,
That one vast-flowing well-spring of the whole
Wide world from here hath opened and out-gushed,
And shot its light abroad; because thuswise
The elements of fiery exhalations
From all the world around together come,
And thuswise flow into a bulk so big
That from one single fountain-head may stream
This heat and light. And seest thou not, indeed,
How widely one small water-spring may wet
The meadow-lands at times and flood the fields?
'Tis even possible, besides, that heat
From forth the sun's own fire, albeit that fire
Be not a great, may permeate the air
With the fierce hot- if but, perchance, the air
Be of condition and so tempered then
As to be kindled, even when beat upon
Only by little particles of heat-
Just as we sometimes see the standing grain
Or stubble straw in conflagration all
From one lone spark. And possibly the sun,
Agleam on high with rosy lampion,
Possesses about him with invisible heats
A plenteous fire, by no effulgence marked,
So that he maketh, he, the Fraught-with-fire,
Increase to such degree the force of rays.
152
Nec
ratio
solis
simplex
recta
patescit
,
quo
pacto
aestivis
e
partibus
aegocerotis

brumalis
adeat
flexus
atque
inde
revertens

canceris
ut
vertat
metas
ad
solstitialis
,
lunaque
mensibus
id
spatium
videatur
obire
,
annua
sol
in
quo
consumit
tempora
cursu
.
non
,
inquam
,
simplex
his
rebus
reddita
causast
.
nam
fieri
vel
cum
primis
id
posse
videtur
,
Democriti
quod
sancta
viri
sententia
ponit
,
quanto
quaeque
magis
sint
terram
sidera
propter
,
tanto
posse
minus
cum
caeli
turbine
ferri
;
evanescere
enim
rapidas
illius
et
acris

imminui
supter
viris
,
ideoque
relinqui

paulatim
solem
cum
posterioribus
signis
,
inferior
multo
quod
sit
quam
fervida
signa
.
et
magis
hoc
lunam
:
quanto
demissior
eius

cursus
abest
procul
a
caelo
terrisque
propinquat
,
tanto
posse
minus
cum
signis
tendere
cursum
.
flaccidiore
etiam
quanto
iam
turbine
fertur

inferior
quam
sol
,
tanto
magis
omnia
signa

hanc
adipiscuntur
circum
praeterque
feruntur
.
propterea
fit
ut
haec
ad
signum
quodque
reverti

mobilius
videatur
,
ad
hanc
quia
signa
revisunt
.
fit
quoque
ut
e
mundi
transversis
partibus
aër

alternis
certo
fluere
alter
tempore
possit
,
qui
queat
aestivis
solem
detrudere
signis

brumalis
usque
ad
flexus
gelidumque
rigorem
,
et
qui
reiciat
gelidis
a
frigoris
umbris

aestiferas
usque
in
partis
et
fervida
signa
.
et
ratione
pari
lunam
stellasque
putandumst
,
quae
volvunt
magnos
in
magnis
orbibus
annos
,
aëribus

posse
alternis
e
partibus
ire
.
nonne
vides
etiam
diversis
nubila
ventis

diversas
ire
in
partis
inferna
supernis
?
qui
minus
illa
queant
per
magnos
aetheris
orbis

aestibus
inter
se
diversis
sidera
ferri
?

Nor is there one sure cause revealed to men
How the sun journeys from his summer haunts
On to the mid-most winter turning-points
In Capricorn, the thence reverting veers
Back to solstitial goals of Cancer; nor
How 'tis the moon is seen each month to cross
That very distance which in traversing
The sun consumes the measure of a year.
I say, no one clear reason hath been given
For these affairs. Yet chief in likelihood
Seemeth the doctrine which the holy thought
Of great Democritus lays down: that ever
The nearer the constellations be to earth
The less can they by whirling of the sky
Be borne along, because those skiey powers
Of speed aloft do vanish and decrease
In under-regions, and the sun is thus
Left by degrees behind amongst those signs
That follow after, since the sun he lies
Far down below the starry signs that blaze;
And the moon lags even tardier than the sun:
In just so far as is her course removed
From upper heaven and nigh unto the lands,
In just so far she fails to keep the pace
With starry signs above; for just so far
As feebler is the whirl that bears her on,
(Being, indeed, still lower than the sun),
In just so far do all the starry signs,
Circling around, o'ertake her and o'erpass.
Therefore it happens that the moon appears
More swiftly to return to any sign
Along the Zodiac, than doth the sun,
Because those signs do visit her again
More swiftly than they visit the great sun.
It can be also that two streams of air
Alternately at fixed periods
Blow out from transverse regions of the world,
Of which the one may thrust the sun away
From summer-signs to mid-most winter goals
And rigors of the cold, and the other then
May cast him back from icy shades of chill
Even to the heat-fraught regions and the signs
That blaze along the Zodiac. So, too,
We must suppose the moon and all the stars,
Which through the mighty and sidereal years
Roll round in mighty orbits, may be sped
By streams of air from regions alternate.
Seest thou not also how the clouds be sped
By contrary winds to regions contrary,
The lower clouds diversely from the upper?
Then, why may yonder stars in ether there
Along their mighty orbits not be borne
By currents opposite the one to other?