De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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Praeterea si inmortalis natura animai constat et in corpus nascentibus insinuatur , cur super ante actam aetatem meminisse nequimus nec vestigia gestarum rerum ulla tenemus ? nam si tanto operest animi mutata potestas , omnis ut actarum exciderit retinentia rerum , non , ut opinor , id ab leto iam longius errat ; qua propter fateare necessest quae fuit ante interiisse , et quae nunc est nunc esse creatam . Praeterea si iam perfecto corpore nobis inferri solitast animi vivata potestas tum cum gignimur et vitae cum limen inimus , haud ita conveniebat uti cum corpore et una cum membris videatur in ipso sanguine cresse , sed vel ut in cavea per se sibi vivere solam convenit , ut sensu corpus tamen affluat omne . quare etiam atque etiam neque originis esse putandumst expertis animas nec leti lege solutas ; nam neque tanto opere adnecti potuisse putandumst corporibus nostris extrinsecus insinuatas , quod fieri totum contra manifesta docet res ænamque ita conexa est per venas viscera nervos ossaque , uti dentes quoque sensu participentur ; morbus ut indicat et gelidai stringor aquai et lapis oppressus subitis e frugibus asperæ nec , tam contextae cum sint , exire videntur incolumes posse et salvas exsolvere sese omnibus e nervis atque ossibus articulisque , quod si forte putas extrinsecus insinuatam permanare animam nobis per membra solere , tanto quique magis cum corpore fusa peribit ; quod permanat enim , dissolvitur , interit ergo ; dispertitur enim per caulas corporis omnis . ut cibus , in membra atque artus cum diditur omnis , disperit atque aliam naturam sufficit ex se , sic anima atque animus quamvis integra recens corpus eunt , tamen in manando dissoluuntur , dum quasi per caulas omnis diduntur in artus particulae quibus haec animi natura creatur , quae nunc in nostro dominatur corpore nata ex illa quae tunc periit partita per artus .
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And besides, If soul immortal is, and winds its way Into the body at the birth of man, Why can we not remember something, then, Of life-time spent before? why keep we not Some footprints of the things we did of, old? But if so changed hath been the power of mind, That every recollection of things done Is fallen away, at no o'erlong remove Is that, I trow, from what we mean by death. Wherefore 'tis sure that what hath been before Hath died, and what now is is now create. Moreover, if after the body hath been built Our mind's live powers are wont to be put in, Just at the moment that we come to birth, And cross the sills of life, 'twould scarcely fit For them to live as if they seemed to grow Along with limbs and frame, even in the blood, But rather as in a cavern all alone. (Yet all the body duly throngs with sense.) But public fact declares against all this: For soul is so entwined through the veins, The flesh, the thews, the bones, that even the teeth Share in sensation, as proven by dull ache, By twinge from icy water, or grating crunch Upon a stone that got in mouth with bread. Wherefore, again, again, souls must be thought Nor void of birth, nor free from law of death; Nor, if, from outward, in they wound their way, Could they be thought as able so to cleave To these our frames, nor, since so interwove, Appears it that they're able to go forth Unhurt and whole and loose themselves unscathed From all the thews, articulations, bones. But, if perchance thou thinkest that the soul, From outward winding in its way, is wont To seep and soak along these members ours, Then all the more 'twill perish, being thus With body fused- for what will seep and soak Will be dissolved and will therefore die. For just as food, dispersed through all the pores Of body, and passed through limbs and all the frame, Perishes, supplying from itself the stuff For other nature, thus the soul and mind, Though whole and new into a body going, Are yet, by seeping in, dissolved away, Whilst, as through pores, to all the frame there pass Those particles from which created is This nature of mind, now ruler of our body, Born from that soul which perished, when divided Along the frame. |
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quapropter neque natali privata videtur esse die natura animae nec funeris expers . Semina praeterea linquontur necne animai corpore in exanimo ? quod si lincuntur et insunt , haut erit ut merito inmortalis possit haberi , partibus amissis quoniam libata recessit . sin ita sinceris membris ablata profugit , ut nullas partis in corpore liquerit ex se , unde cadavera rancenti iam viscere vermes expirant atque unde animantum copia tanta exos et exanguis tumidos perfluctuat artus ? quod si forte animas extrinsecus insinuari ? vermibus et privas in corpora posse venire credis nec reputas cur milia multa animarum conveniant unde una recesserit , hoc tamen est ut quaerendum videatur et in discrimen agendum , utrum tandem animae venentur semina quaeque vermiculorum ipsaeque sibi fabricentur ubi sint , an quasi corporibus perfectis insinuentur . at neque cur faciant ipsae quareve laborent dicere suppeditat . neque enim , sine corpore cum sunt , sollicitae volitant morbis alguque fameque ; corpus enim magis his vitiis adfine laborat , et mala multa animus contage fungitur eius . sed tamen his esto quamvis facere utile corpus , cum subeant ; at qua possint via nulla videtur . haut igitur faciunt animae sibi corpora et artus . nec tamen est ut qui perfectis insinuentur corporibus ; neque enim poterunt suptiliter esse conexae neque consensu contagia fient .
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Wherefore it seems that soul Hath both a natal and funeral hour. Besides are seeds of soul there left behind In the breathless body, or not? If there they are, It cannot justly be immortal deemed, Since, shorn of some parts lost, 'thas gone away: But if, borne off with members uncorrupt, 'Thas fled so absolutely all away It leaves not one remainder of itself Behind in body, whence do cadavers, then, From out their putrid flesh exhale the worms, And whence does such a mass of living things, Boneless and bloodless, o'er the bloated frame Bubble and swarm? But if perchance thou thinkest That souls from outward into worms can wind, And each into a separate body come, And reckonest not why many thousand souls Collect where only one has gone away, Here is a point, in sooth, that seems to need Inquiry and a putting to the test: Whether the souls go on a hunt for seeds Of worms wherewith to build their dwelling places, Or enter bodies ready-made, as 'twere. But why themselves they thus should do and toil 'Tis hard to say, since, being free of body, They flit around, harassed by no disease, Nor cold nor famine; for the body labours By more of kinship to these flaws of life, And mind by contact with that body suffers So many ills. But grant it be for them However useful to construct a body To which to enter in, 'tis plain they can't. Then, souls for self no frames nor bodies make, Nor is there how they once might enter in To bodies ready-made- for they cannot Be nicely interwoven with the same, And there'll be formed no interplay of sense Common to each. |
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Denique cur acris violentia triste leonum seminium sequitur , volpes dolus , et fuga cervos ? a patribus datur et patrius pavor incitat artus , et iam cetera de genere hoc cur omnia membris ex ineunte aevo generascunt ingenioque , si non , certa suo quia semine seminioque vis animi pariter crescit cum corpore quoque ? quod si inmortalis foret et mutare soleret corpora , permixtis animantes moribus essent , effugeret canis Hyrcano de semine saepe cornigeri incursum cervi tremeretque per auras aëris accipiter fugiens veniente columba , desiperent homines , saperent fera saecla ferarum . illud enim falsa fertur ratione , quod aiunt inmortalem animam mutato corpore flecti ; quod mutatur enim , dissolvitur , interit ergo ; traiciuntur enim partes atque ordine migrant ; quare dissolui quoque debent posse per artus , denique ut intereant una cum corpore cunctae . sin animas hominum dicent in corpora semper ire humana , tamen quaeram cur e sapienti stulta queat fieri , nec prudens sit puer ullus , nec tam doctus equae pullus quam fortis equi vis . scilicet in tenero tenerascere corpore mentem confugient . quod si iam fit , fateare necessest mortalem esse animam , quoniam mutata per artus tanto opere amittit vitam sensumque priorem . quove modo poterit pariter cum corpore quoque confirmata cupitum aetatis tangere florem vis animi , nisi erit consors in origine prima ? quidve foras sibi vult membris exire senectis ? an metuit conclusa manere in corpore putri et domus aetatis spatio ne fessa vetusto obruat ? at non sunt immortali ulla pericla .
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Again, why is't there goes Impetuous rage with lion's breed morose, And cunning with foxes, and to deer why given The ancestral fear and tendency to flee, And why in short do all the rest of traits Engender from the very start of life In the members and mentality, if not Because one certain power of mind that came From its own seed and breed waxes the same Along with all the body? But were mind Immortal, were it wont to change its bodies, How topsy-turvy would earth's creatures act! The Hyrcan hound would flee the onset oft Of antlered stag, the scurrying hawk would quake Along the winds of air at the coming dove, And men would dote, and savage beasts be wise; For false the reasoning of those that say Immortal mind is changed by change of body- For what is changed dissolves, and therefore dies. For parts are re-disposed and leave their order; Wherefore they must be also capable Of dissolution through the frame at last, That they along with body perish all. But should some say that always souls of men Go into human bodies, I will ask: How can a wise become a dullard soul? And why is never a child's a prudent soul? And the mare's filly why not trained so well As sturdy strength of steed? We may be sure They'll take their refuge in the thought that mind Becomes a weakling in a weakling frame. Yet be this so, 'tis needful to confess The soul but mortal, since, so altered now Throughout the frame, it loses the life and sense It had before. Or how can mind wax strong Coequally with body and attain The craved flower of life, unless it be The body's colleague in its origins? Or what's the purport of its going forth From aged limbs?- fears it, perhaps, to stay, Pent in a crumbled body? Or lest its house, Outworn by venerable length of days, May topple down upon it? But indeed For an immortal perils are there none. |
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Denique conubia ad Veneris partusque ferarum esse animas praesto deridiculum esse videtur , expectare immortalis mortalia membra innumero numero certareque praeproperanter inter se quae prima potissimaque insinuetur ; si non forte ita sunt animarum foedera pacta , ut quae prima volans advenerit insinuetur prima neque inter se contendant viribus hilum . Denique in aethere non arbor , non aequore in alto nubes esse queunt nec pisces vivere in arvis nec cruor in lignis neque saxis sucus inesse . certum ac dispositumst ubi quicquid crescat et insit . sic animi natura nequit sine corpore oriri sola neque a nervis et sanguine longius esse . quod si posset enim , multo prius ipsa animi vis in capite aut umeris aut imis calcibus esse posset et innasci quavis in parte soleret , tandem in eodem homine atque in eodem vase manere . quod quoniam nostro quoque constat corpore certum dispositumque videtur ubi esse et crescere possit sorsum anima atque animus , tanto magis infitiandum totum posse extra corpus durare genique . quare , corpus ubi interiit , periisse necessest confiteare animam distractam in corpore toto . quippe etenim mortale aeterno iungere et una consentire putare et fungi mutua posse desiperest ; quid enim diversius esse putandumst aut magis inter se disiunctum discrepitansque , quam mortale quod est inmortali atque perenni iunctum in concilio saevas tolerare procellas ? praeterea quaecumque manent aeterna necessest aut quia sunt solido cum corpore respuere ictus nec penetrare pati sibi quicquam quod queat artas dissociare intus partis , ut materiai corpora sunt , quorum naturam ostendimus ante , aut ideo durare aetatem posse per omnem , plagarum quia sunt expertia sicut inanest , quod manet intactum neque ab ictu fungitur hilum , aut etiam quia nulla loci sit copia circum , quo quasi res possint discedere dissoluique , sicut summarum summast aeterna , neque extra quis locus est quo diffugiant neque corpora sunt quae possint incidere et valida dissolvere plaga .
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Again, at parturitions of the wild And at the rites of Love, that souls should stand Ready hard by seems ludicrous enough- Immortals waiting for their mortal limbs In numbers innumerable, contending madly Which shall be first and chief to enter in!- Unless perchance among the souls there be Such treaties stablished that the first to come Flying along, shall enter in the first, And that they make no rivalries of strength! Again, in ether can't exist a tree, Nor clouds in ocean deeps, nor in the fields Can fishes live, nor blood in timber be, Nor sap in boulders: fixed and arranged Where everything may grow and have its place. Thus nature of mind cannot arise alone Without the body, nor exist afar From thews and blood. But if 'twere possible, Much rather might this very power of mind Be in the head, the shoulders or the heels, And, born in any part soever, yet In the same man, in the same vessel abide. But since within this body even of ours Stands fixed and appears arranged sure Where soul and mind can each exist and grow, Deny we must the more that they can have Duration and birth, wholly outside the frame. For, verily, the mortal to conjoin With the eternal, and to feign they feel Together, and can function each with each, Is but to dote: for what can be conceived Of more unlike, discrepant, ill-assorted, Than something mortal in a union joined With an immortal and a secular To bear the outrageous tempests? Then, again, Whatever abides eternal must indeed Either repel all strokes, because 'tis made Of solid body, and permit no entrance Of aught with power to sunder from within The parts compact- as are those seeds of stuff Whose nature we've exhibited before; Or else be able to endure through time For this: because they are from blows exempt, As is the void, the which abides untouched, Unsmit by any stroke; or else because There is no room around, whereto things can, As 'twere, depart in dissolution all,- Even as the sum of sums eternal is, Without or place beyond whereto things may Asunder fly, or bodies which can smite, And thus dissolve them by the blows of might. |
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Quod si forte ideo magis inmortalis habendast , quod vitalibus ab rebus munita tenetur , aut quia non veniunt omnino aliena salutis , aut quia quae veniunt aliqua ratione recedunt pulsa prius quam quid noceant sentire queamus , praeter enim quam quod morbis cum corporis aegret , advenit id quod eam de rebus saepe futuris macerat inque metu male habet curisque fatigat , praeteritisque male admissis peccata remordent . adde furorem animi proprium atque oblivia rerum , adde quod in nigras lethargi mergitur undas .
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But if perchance the soul's to be adjudged Immortal, mainly on ground 'tis kept secure In vital forces- either because there come Never at all things hostile to its weal, Or else because what come somehow retire, Repelled or ere we feel the harm they work, . . . . . . For, lo, besides that, when the frame's diseased, Soul sickens too, there cometh, many a time, That which torments it with the things to be, Keeps it in dread, and wearies it with cares; And even when evil acts are of the past, Still gnaw the old transgressions bitterly. Add, too, that frenzy, peculiar to the mind, And that oblivion of the things that were; Add its submergence in the murky waves Of drowse and torpor. |
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Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum , quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur . et vel ut ante acto nihil tempore sensimus aegri , ad confligendum venientibus undique Poenis , omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu horrida contremuere sub altis aetheris auris , in dubioque fuere utrorum ad regna cadendum omnibus humanis esset terraque marique , sic , ubi non erimus , cum corporis atque animai discidium fuerit , quibus e sumus uniter apti , scilicet haud nobis quicquam , qui non erimus tum , accidere omnino poterit sensumque movere , non si terra mari miscebitur et mare caelo . et si iam nostro sentit de corpore postquam distractast animi natura animaeque potestas , nil tamen est ad nos , qui comptu coniugioque corporis atque animae consistimus uniter apti . nec , si materiem nostram collegerit aetas post obitum rursumque redegerit ut sita nunc est , atque iterum nobis fuerint data lumina vitae , pertineat quicquam tamen ad nos id quoque factum , interrupta semel cum sit repetentia nostri . et nunc nil ad nos de nobis attinet , ante qui fuimus , iam de illis nos adficit angor . nam cum respicias inmensi temporis omne praeteritum spatium , tum motus materiai multimodi quam sint , facile hoc adcredere possis , semina saepe in eodem , ut nunc sunt , ordine posta haec eadem , quibus e nunc nos sumus , ante fuisse . nec memori tamen id quimus reprehendere mente ; inter enim iectast vitai pausa vageque deerrarunt passim motus ab sensibus omnes . debet enim , misere si forte aegreque futurumst ; ipse quoque esse in eo tum tempore , cui male possit accidere . id quoniam mors eximit , esseque prohibet illum cui possint incommoda conciliari , scire licet nobis nihil esse in morte timendum nec miserum fieri qui non est posse , neque hilum differre an nullo fuerit iam tempore natus , mortalem vitam mors cum inmortalis ademit .
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FOLLY OF THE FEAR OF DEATH Therefore death to us Is nothing, nor concerns us in the least, Since nature of mind is mortal evermore. And just as in the ages gone before We felt no touch of ill, when all sides round To battle came the Carthaginian host, And the times, shaken by tumultuous war, Under the aery coasts of arching heaven Shuddered and trembled, and all humankind Doubted to which the empery should fall By land and sea, thus when we are no more, When comes that sundering of our body and soul Through which we're fashioned to a single state, Verily naught to us, us then no more, Can come to pass, naught move our senses then- No, not if earth confounded were with sea, And sea with heaven. But if indeed do feel The nature of mind and energy of soul, After their severance from this body of ours, Yet nothing 'tis to us who in the bonds And wedlock of the soul and body live, Through which we're fashioned to a single state. And, even if time collected after death The matter of our frames and set it all Again in place as now, and if again To us the light of life were given, O yet That process too would not concern us aught, When once the self-succession of our sense Has been asunder broken. And now and here, Little enough we're busied with the selves We were aforetime, nor, concerning them, Suffer a sore distress. For shouldst thou gaze Backwards across all yesterdays of time The immeasurable, thinking how manifold The motions of matter are, then couldst thou well Credit this too: often these very seeds (From which we are to-day) of old were set In the same order as they are to-day- Yet this we can't to consciousness recall Through the remembering mind. For there hath been An interposed pause of life, and wide Have all the motions wandered everywhere From these our senses. For if woe and ail Perchance are toward, then the man to whom The bane can happen must himself be there At that same time. But death precludeth this, Forbidding life to him on whom might crowd Such irk and care; and granted 'tis to know: Nothing for us there is to dread in death, No wretchedness for him who is no more, The same estate as if ne'er born before, When death immortal hath ta'en the mortal life. |
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Proinde ubi se videas hominem indignarier ipsum , post mortem fore ut aut putescat corpore posto aut flammis interfiat malisve ferarum , scire licet non sincerum sonere atque subesse caecum aliquem cordi stimulum , quamvis neget ipse credere se quemquam sibi sensum in morte futurum ; non , ut opinor , enim dat quod promittit et unde nec radicitus e vita se tollit et eicit , sed facit esse sui quiddam super inscius ipse . vivus enim sibi cum proponit quisque futurum , corpus uti volucres lacerent in morte feraeque , ipse sui miseret ; neque enim se dividit illim nec removet satis a proiecto corpore et illum se fingit sensuque suo contaminat astans . hinc indignatur se mortalem esse creatum nec videt in vera nullum fore morte alium se , qui possit vivus sibi se lugere peremptum stansque iacentem lacerari urive dolere . nam si in morte malumst malis morsuque ferarum tractari , non invenio qui non sit acerbum ignibus inpositum calidis torrescere flammis aut in melle situm suffocari atque rigere frigore , cum summo gelidi cubat aequore saxi , urgerive superne obrutum pondere terrae .
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Hence, where thou seest a man to grieve because When dead he rots with body laid away, Or perishes in flames or jaws of beasts, Know well: he rings not true, and that beneath Still works an unseen sting upon his heart, However he deny that he believes. His shall be aught of feeling after death. For he, I fancy, grants not what he says, Nor what that presupposes, and he fails To pluck himself with all his roots from life And cast that self away, quite unawares Feigning that some remainder's left behind. For when in life one pictures to oneself His body dead by beasts and vultures torn, He pities his state, dividing not himself Therefrom, removing not the self enough From the body flung away, imagining Himself that body, and projecting there His own sense, as he stands beside it: hence He grieves that he is mortal born, nor marks That in true death there is no second self Alive and able to sorrow for self destroyed, Or stand lamenting that the self lies there Mangled or burning. For if it an evil is Dead to be jerked about by jaw and fang Of the wild brutes, I see not why 'twere not Bitter to lie on fires and roast in flames, Or suffocate in honey, and, reclined On the smooth oblong of an icy slab, Grow stiff in cold, or sink with load of earth Down-crushing from above. |
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' Iam iam non domus accipiet te laeta neque uxor optima , nec dulces occurrent oscula nati praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent . non poteris factis florentibus esse tuisque praesidium . misero misere ' aiunt 'omnia ademit una dies infesta tibi tot praemia vitae .' illud in his rebus non addunt 'nec tibi earum iam desiderium rerum super insidet una .' quod bene si videant animo dictisque sequantur , dissoluant animi magno se angore metuque . ' tu quidem ut es leto sopitus , sic eris aevi quod super est cunctis privatus doloribus aegris ; at nos horrifico cinefactum te prope busto insatiabiliter deflevimus , aeternumque nulla dies nobis maerorem e pectore demet .' illud ab hoc igitur quaerendum est , quid sit amari tanto opere , ad somnum si res redit atque quietem , cur quisquam aeterno possit tabescere luctu . Hoc etiam faciunt ubi discubuere tenentque pocula saepe homines et inumbrant ora coronis , ex animo ut dicant : 'brevis hic est fructus homullis ; iam fuerit neque post umquam revocare licebit .' tam quam in morte mali cum primis hoc sit eorum , quod sitis exurat miseros atque arida torrat , aut aliae cuius desiderium insideat rei . nec sibi enim quisquam tum se vitamque requiret , cum pariter mens et corpus sopita quiescunt ; nam licet aeternum per nos sic esse soporem , nec desiderium nostri nos adficit ullum , et tamen haud quaquam nostros tunc illa per artus longe ab sensiferis primordia motibus errant , cum correptus homo ex somno se colligit ipse . multo igitur mortem minus ad nos esse putandumst , si minus esse potest quam quod nihil esse videmus ; maior enim turbae disiectus materiai consequitur leto nec quisquam expergitus extat , frigida quem semel est vitai pausa secuta .
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"Thee now no more The joyful house and best of wives shall welcome, Nor little sons run up to snatch their kisses And touch with silent happiness thy heart. Thou shalt not speed in undertakings more, Nor be the warder of thine own no more. Poor wretch," they say, "one hostile hour hath ta'en Wretchedly from thee all life's many guerdons," But add not, "yet no longer unto thee Remains a remnant of desire for them" If this they only well perceived with mind And followed up with maxims, they would free Their state of man from anguish and from fear. "O even as here thou art, aslumber in death, So shalt thou slumber down the rest of time, Released from every harrying pang. But we, We have bewept thee with insatiate woe, Standing beside whilst on the awful pyre Thou wert made ashes; and no day shall take For us the eternal sorrow from the breast." But ask the mourner what's the bitterness That man should waste in an eternal grief, If, after all, the thing's but sleep and rest? For when the soul and frame together are sunk In slumber, no one then demands his self Or being. Well, this sleep may be forever, Without desire of any selfhood more, For all it matters unto us asleep. Yet not at all do those primordial germs Roam round our members, at that time, afar From their own motions that produce our senses- Since, when he's startled from his sleep, a man Collects his senses. Death is, then, to us Much less- if there can be a less than that Which is itself a nothing: for there comes Hard upon death a scattering more great Of the throng of matter, and no man wakes up On whom once falls the icy pause of life. This too, O often from the soul men say, Along their couches holding of the cups, With faces shaded by fresh wreaths awry: "Brief is this fruit of joy to paltry man, Soon, soon departed, and thereafter, no, It may not be recalled."- As if, forsooth, It were their prime of evils in great death To parch, poor tongues, with thirst and arid drought, Or chafe for any lack. |