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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
161
Et
genus
humanum
multo
fuit
illud
in
arvis

durius
,
ut
decuit
,
tellus
quod
dura
creasset
,
et
maioribus
et
solidis
magis
ossibus
intus

fundatum
,
validis
aptum
per
viscera
nervis
,
nec
facile
ex
aestu
nec
frigore
quod
caperetur

nec
novitate
cibi
nec
labi
corporis
ulla
.
multaque
per
caelum
solis
volventia
lustra

volgivago
vitam
tractabant
more
ferarum
.
nec
robustus
erat
curvi
moderator
aratri

quisquam
,
nec
scibat
ferro
molirier
arva

nec
nova
defodere
in
terram
virgulta
neque
altis

arboribus
veteres
decidere
falcibus
ramos
.
quod
sol
atque
imbres
dederant
,
quod
terra
crearat

sponte
sua
,
satis
id
placabat
pectora
donum
.
glandiferas
inter
curabant
corpora
quercus

plerumque
;
et
quae
nunc
hiberno
tempore
cernis

arbita
puniceo
fieri
matura
colore
,
plurima
tum
tellus
etiam
maiora
ferebat
.
multaque
praeterea
novitas
tum
florida
mundi

pabula
dura
tulit
,
miseris
mortalibus
ampla
.
at
sedare
sitim
fluvii
fontesque
vocabant
,
ut
nunc
montibus
e
magnis
decursus
aquai

claricitat
late
sitientia
saecla
ferarum
.
denique
nota
vagis
silvestria
templa
tenebant

nympharum
,
quibus
e
scibant
umore
fluenta

lubrica
proluvie
larga
lavere
umida
saxa
,
umida
saxa
,
super
viridi
stillantia
musco
,
et
partim
plano
scatere
atque
erumpere
campo
.
necdum
res
igni
scibant
tractare
neque
uti

pellibus
et
spoliis
corpus
vestire
ferarum
,
sed
nemora
atque
cavos
montis
silvasque
colebant

et
frutices
inter
condebant
squalida
membra

verbera
ventorum
vitare
imbrisque
coacti
.
nec
commune
bonum
poterant
spectare
neque
ullis

moribus
inter
se
scibant
nec
legibus
uti
.
quod
cuique
obtulerat
praedae
fortuna
,
ferebat

sponte
sua
sibi
quisque
valere
et
vivere
doctus
.
et
Venus
in
silvis
iungebat
corpora
amantum
;
conciliabat
enim
vel
mutua
quamque
cupido

vel
violenta
viri
vis
atque
inpensa
libido

vel
pretium
,
glandes
atque
arbita
vel
pira
lecta
.
et
manuum
mira
freti
virtute
pedumque

consectabantur
silvestria
saecla
ferarum

missilibus
saxis
et
magno
pondere
clavae
.
multaque
vincebant
,
vitabant
pauca
latebris
;
saetigerisque
pares
subus
silvestria
membra

nuda
dabant
terrae
nocturno
tempore
capti
,
circum
se
foliis
ac
frondibus
involventes
.
nec
plangore
diem
magno
solemque
per
agros

quaerebant
pavidi
palantes
noctis
in
umbris
,
sed
taciti
respectabant
somnoque
sepulti
,
dum
rosea
face
sol
inferret
lumina
caelo
.
a
parvis
quod
enim
consuerant
cernere
semper

alterno
tenebras
et
lucem
tempore
gigni
,
non
erat
ut
fieri
posset
mirarier
umquam

nec
diffidere
,
ne
terras
aeterna
teneret

nox
in
perpetuum
detracto
lumine
solis
.
sed
magis
illud
erat
curae
,
quod
saecla
ferarum

infestam
miseris
faciebant
saepe
quietem
.
eiectique
domo
fugiebant
saxea
tecta

spumigeri
suis
adventu
validique
leonis

atque
intempesta
cedebant
nocte
paventes

hospitibus
saevis
instrata
cubilia
fronde
.
ORIGINS AND SAVAGE PERIOD OF MANKIND
But mortal man
Was then far hardier in the old champaign,
As well he should be, since a hardier earth
Had him begotten; builded too was he
Of bigger and more solid bones within,
And knit with stalwart sinews through the flesh,
Nor easily seized by either heat or cold,
Or alien food or any ail or irk.
And whilst so many lustrums of the sun
Rolled on across the sky, men led a life
After the roving habit of wild beasts.
Not then were sturdy guiders of curved ploughs,
And none knew then to work the fields with iron,
Or plant young shoots in holes of delved loam,
Or lop with hooked knives from off high trees
The boughs of yester-year. What sun and rains
To them had given, what earth of own accord
Created then, was boon enough to glad
Their simple hearts. Mid acorn-laden oaks
Would they refresh their bodies for the nonce;
And the wild berries of the arbute-tree,
Which now thou seest to ripen purple-red
In winter time, the old telluric soil
Would bear then more abundant and more big.
And many coarse foods, too, in long ago
The blooming freshness of the rank young world
Produced, enough for those poor wretches there.
And rivers and springs would summon them of old
To slake the thirst, as now from the great hills
The water's down-rush calls aloud and far
The thirsty generations of the wild.
So, too, they sought the grottos of the Nymphs-
The woodland haunts discovered as they ranged-
From forth of which they knew that gliding rills
With gush and splash abounding laved the rocks,
The dripping rocks, and trickled from above
Over the verdant moss; and here and there
Welled up and burst across the open flats.
As yet they knew not to enkindle fire
Against the cold, nor hairy pelts to use
And clothe their bodies with the spoils of beasts;
But huddled in groves, and mountain-caves, and woods,
And 'mongst the thickets hid their squalid backs,
When driven to flee the lashings of the winds
And the big rains. Nor could they then regard
The general good, nor did they know to use
In common any customs, any laws:
Whatever of booty fortune unto each
Had proffered, each alone would bear away,
By instinct trained for self to thrive and live.
And Venus in the forests then would link
The lovers' bodies; for the woman yielded
Either from mutual flame, or from the man's
Impetuous fury and insatiate lust,
Or from a bribe- as acorn-nuts, choice pears,
Or the wild berries of the arbute-tree.
And trusting wondrous strength of hands and legs,
They'd chase the forest-wanderers, the beasts;
And many they'd conquer, but some few they fled,
A-skulk into their hiding-places...
. . . . . .
With the flung stones and with the ponderous heft
Of gnarled branch. And by the time of night
O'ertaken, they would throw, like bristly boars,
Their wildman's limbs naked upon the earth,
Rolling themselves in leaves and fronded boughs.
Nor would they call with lamentations loud
Around the fields for daylight and the sun,
Quaking and wand'ring in shadows of the night;
But, silent and buried in a sleep, they'd wait
Until the sun with rosy flambeau brought
The glory to the sky. From childhood wont
Ever to see the dark and day begot
In times alternate, never might they be
Wildered by wild misgiving, lest a night
Eternal should possess the lands, with light
Of sun withdrawn forever. But their care
Was rather that the clans of savage beasts
Would often make their sleep-time horrible
For those poor wretches; and, from home y-driven,
They'd flee their rocky shelters at approach
Of boar, the spumy-lipped, or lion strong,
And in the midnight yield with terror up
To those fierce guests their beds of out-spread leaves.
162
Nec
nimio
tum
plus
quam
nunc
mortalia
saecla

dulcia
linquebant
lamentis
lumina
vitae
.
unus
enim
tum
quisque
magis
deprensus
eorum

pabula
viva
feris
praebebat
,
dentibus
haustus
,
et
nemora
ac
montis
gemitu
silvasque
replebat

viva
videns
vivo
sepeliri
viscera
busto
.
at
quos
effugium
servarat
corpore
adeso
,
posterius
tremulas
super
ulcera
tetra
tenentes

palmas
horriferis
accibant
vocibus
Orcum
,
donique
eos
vita
privarant
vermina
saeva

expertis
opis
,
ignaros
quid
volnera
vellent
.
at
non
multa
virum
sub
signis
milia
ducta

una
dies
dabat
exitio
nec
turbida
ponti

aequora
lidebant
navis
ad
saxa
virosque
.
nam
temere
in
cassum
frustra
mare
saepe
coortum

saevibat
leviterque
minas
ponebat
inanis
,
nec
poterat
quemquam
placidi
pellacia
ponti

subdola
pellicere
in
fraudem
ridentibus
undis
.
improba
navigii
ratio
tum
caeca
iacebat
.
tum
penuria
deinde
cibi
languentia
leto

membra
dabat
,
contra
nunc
rerum
copia
mersat
.
illi
inprudentes
ipsi
sibi
saepe
venenum

vergebant
,
nunc
dant
sollertius
ipsi
.

And yet in those days not much more than now
Would generations of mortality
Leave the sweet light of fading life behind.
Indeed, in those days here and there a man,
More oftener snatched upon, and gulped by fangs,
Afforded the beasts a food that roared alive,
Echoing through groves and hills and forest-trees,
Even as he viewed his living flesh entombed
Within a living grave; whilst those whom flight
Had saved, with bone and body bitten, shrieked,
Pressing their quivering palms to loathsome sores,
With horrible voices for eternal death-
Until, forlorn of help, and witless what
Might medicine their wounds, the writhing pangs
Took them from life. But not in those far times
Would one lone day give over unto doom
A soldiery in thousands marching on
Beneath the battle-banners, nor would then
The ramping breakers of the main seas dash
Whole argosies and crews upon the rocks.
But ocean uprisen would often rave in vain,
Without all end or outcome, and give up
Its empty menacings as lightly too;
Nor soft seductions of a serene sea
Could lure by laughing billows any man
Out to disaster: for the science bold
Of ship-sailing lay dark in those far times.
Again, 'twas then that lack of food gave o'er
Men's fainting limbs to dissolution: now
'Tis plenty overwhelms. Unwary, they
Oft for themselves themselves would then outpour
The poison; now, with nicer art, themselves
They give the drafts to others.
163
Inde
casas
postquam
ac
pellis
ignemque
pararunt

et
mulier
coniuncta
viro
concessit
in
unum

cognita
sunt
,
prolemque
ex
se
videre
creatam
,
tum
genus
humanum
primum
mollescere
coepit
.
ignis
enim
curavit
,
ut
alsia
corpora
frigus

non
ita
iam
possent
caeli
sub
tegmine
ferre
,
et
Venus
inminuit
viris
puerique
parentum

blanditiis
facile
ingenium
fregere
superbum
.
tunc
et
amicitiem
coeperunt
iungere
aventes

finitimi
inter
se
nec
laedere
nec
violari
,
et
pueros
commendarunt
muliebreque
saeclum
,
vocibus
et
gestu
cum
balbe
significarent

imbecillorum
esse
aequum
misererier
omnis
.
nec
tamen
omnimodis
poterat
concordia
gigni
,
sed
bona
magnaque
pars
servabat
foedera
caste
;
aut
genus
humanum
iam
tum
foret
omne
peremptum

nec
potuisset
adhuc
perducere
saecla
propago
.
BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION
Afterwards,
When huts they had procured and pelts and fire,
And when the woman, joined unto the man,
Withdrew with him into one dwelling place,
. . . . . .
Were known; and when they saw an offspring born
From out themselves, then first the human race
Began to soften. For 'twas now that fire
Rendered their shivering frames less staunch to bear,
Under the canopy of the sky, the cold;
And Love reduced their shaggy hardiness;
And children, with the prattle and the kiss,
Soon broke the parents' haughty temper down.
Then, too, did neighbours 'gin to league as friends,
Eager to wrong no more or suffer wrong,
And urged for children and the womankind
Mercy, of fathers, whilst with cries and gestures
They stammered hints how meet it was that all
Should have compassion on the weak. And still,
Though concord not in every wise could then
Begotten be, a good, a goodly part
Kept faith inviolate- or else mankind
Long since had been unutterably cut off,
And propagation never could have brought
The species down the ages.
164
At
varios
linguae
sonitus
natura
subegit

mittere
et
utilitas
expressit
nomina
rerum
,
non
alia
longe
ratione
atque
ipsa
videtur

protrahere
ad
gestum
pueros
infantia
linguae
,
cum
facit
ut
digito
quae
sint
praesentia
monstrent
.
sentit
enim
vim
quisque
suam
quod
possit
abuti
.
cornua
nata
prius
vitulo
quam
frontibus
extent
,
illis
iratus
petit
atque
infestus
inurget
.
at
catuli
pantherarum
scymnique
leonum

unguibus
ac
pedibus
iam
tum
morsuque
repugnant
,
vix
etiam
cum
sunt
dentes
unguesque
creati
.
alituum
porro
genus
alis
omne
videmus

fidere
et
a
pennis
tremulum
petere
auxiliatum
.
proinde
putare
aliquem
tum
nomina
distribuisse

rebus
et
inde
homines
didicisse
vocabula
prima
,
desiperest
.
nam
cur
hic
posset
cuncta
notare

vocibus
et
varios
sonitus
emittere
linguae
,
tempore
eodem
alii
facere
id
non
quisse
putentur
?
praeterea
si
non
alii
quoque
vocibus
usi

inter
se
fuerant
,
unde
insita
notities
est

utilitatis
et
unde
data
est
huic
prima
potestas
,
quid
vellet
facere
ut
sciret
animoque
videret
?
cogere
item
pluris
unus
victosque
domare

non
poterat
,
rerum
ut
perdiscere
nomina
vellent
.
nec
ratione
docere
ulla
suadereque
surdis
,
quid
sit
opus
facto
,
facilest
;
neque
enim
paterentur

nec
ratione
ulla
sibi
ferrent
amplius
auris

vocis
inauditos
sonitus
obtundere
frustra
.
postremo
quid
in
hac
mirabile
tantoperest
re
,
si
genus
humanum
,
cui
vox
et
lingua
vigeret
,
pro
vario
sensu
varia
res
voce
notaret
?
cum
pecudes
mutae
,
cum
denique
saecla
ferarum

dissimilis
soleant
voces
variasque
ciere
,
cum
metus
aut
dolor
est
et
cum
iam
gaudia
gliscunt
.
quippe
enim
licet
id
rebus
cognoscere
apertis
.
inritata
canum
cum
primum
magna
Molossum

mollia
ricta
fremunt
duros
nudantia
dentes
,
longe
alio
sonitu
rabies
stricta
minatur
,
et
cum
iam
latrant
et
vocibus
omnia
complent
;
at
catulos
blande
cum
lingua
lambere
temptant

aut
ubi
eos
lactant
,
pedibus
morsuque
potentes

suspensis
teneros
imitantur
dentibus
haustus
,
longe
alio
pacto
gannitu
vocis
adulant
,
et
cum
deserti
baubantur
in
aedibus
,
aut
cum

plorantis
fugiunt
summisso
corpore
plagas
.
denique
non
hinnitus
item
differre
videtur
,
inter
equas
ubi
equus
florenti
aetate
iuvencus

pinnigeri
saevit
calcaribus
ictus
Amoris

et
fremitum
patulis
sub
naribus
edit
ad
arma
,
et
cum
sic
alias
concussis
artibus
hinnit
?
postremo
genus
alituum
variaeque
volucres
,
accipitres
atque
ossifragae
mergique
marinis

fluctibus
in
salso
victum
vitamque
petentes
,
longe
alias
alio
iaciunt
in
tempore
voces
,
et
quom
de
victu
certant
praedaque
repugnant
.
et
partim
mutant
cum
tempestatibus
una

raucisonos
cantus
,
cornicum
ut
saecla
vetusta

corvorumque
gregis
ubi
aquam
dicuntur
et
imbris

poscere
et
inter
dum
ventos
aurasque
vocare
.
ergo
si
varii
sensus
animalia
cogunt
,
muta
tamen
cum
sint
,
varias
emittere
voces
,
quanto
mortalis
magis
aequumst
tum
potuisse

dissimilis
alia
atque
alia
res
voce
notare
!

But nature 'twas
Urged men to utter various sounds of tongue
And need and use did mould the names of things,
About in same wise as the lack-speech years
Compel young children unto gesturings,
Making them point with finger here and there
At what's before them. For each creature feels
By instinct to what use to put his powers.
Ere yet the bull-calf's scarce begotten horns
Project above his brows, with them he 'gins
Enraged to butt and savagely to thrust.
But whelps of panthers and the lion's cubs
With claws and paws and bites are at the fray
Already, when their teeth and claws be scarce
As yet engendered. So again, we see
All breeds of winged creatures trust to wings
And from their fledgling pinions seek to get
A fluttering assistance. Thus, to think
That in those days some man apportioned round
To things their names, and that from him men learned
Their first nomenclature, is foolery.
For why could he mark everything by words
And utter the various sounds of tongue, what time
The rest may be supposed powerless
To do the same? And, if the rest had not
Already one with other used words,
Whence was implanted in the teacher, then,
Fore-knowledge of their use, and whence was given
To him alone primordial faculty
To know and see in mind what 'twas he willed?
Besides, one only man could scarce subdue
An overmastered multitude to choose
To get by heart his names of things. A task
Not easy 'tis in any wise to teach
And to persuade the deaf concerning what
'Tis needful for to do. For ne'er would they
Allow, nor ne'er in anywise endure
Perpetual vain dingdong in their ears
Of spoken sounds unheard before. And what,
At last, in this affair so wondrous is,
That human race (in whom a voice and tongue
Were now in vigour) should by divers words
Denote its objects, as each divers sense
Might prompt?- since even the speechless herds, aye, since
The very generations of wild beasts
Are wont dissimilar and divers sounds
To rouse from in them, when there's fear or pain,
And when they burst with joys. And this, forsooth,
'Tis thine to know from plainest facts: when first
Huge flabby jowls of mad Molossian hounds,
Baring their hard white teeth, begin to snarl,
They threaten, with infuriate lips peeled back,
In sounds far other than with which they bark
And fill with voices all the regions round.
And when with fondling tongue they start to lick
Their puppies, or do toss them round with paws,
Feigning with gentle bites to gape and snap,
They fawn with yelps of voice far other then
Than when, alone within the house, they bay,
Or whimpering slink with cringing sides from blows.
Again the neighing of the horse, is that
Not seen to differ likewise, when the stud
In buoyant flower of his young years raves,
Goaded by winged Love, amongst the mares,
And when with widening nostrils out he snorts
The call to battle, and when haply he
Whinnies at times with terror-quaking limbs?
Lastly, the flying race, the dappled birds,
Hawks, ospreys, sea-gulls, searching food and life
Amid the ocean billows in the brine,
Utter at other times far other cries
Than when they fight for food, or with their prey
Struggle and strain. And birds there are which change
With changing weather their own raucous songs-
As long-lived generations of the crows
Or flocks of rooks, when they be said to cry
For rain and water and to call at times
For winds and gales. Ergo, if divers moods
Compel the brutes, though speechless evermore,
To send forth divers sounds, O truly then
How much more likely 'twere that mortal men
In those days could with many a different sound
Denote each separate thing.
165
Illud
in
his
rebus
tacitus
ne
forte
requiras
,
fulmen
detulit
in
terram
mortalibus
ignem

primitus
,
inde
omnis
flammarum
diditur
ardor
;
multa
videmus
enim
caelestibus
insita
flammis

fulgere
,
cum
caeli
donavit
plaga
vaporis
.
et
ramosa
tamen
cum
ventis
pulsa
vacillans

aestuat
in
ramos
incumbens
arboris
arbor
,
exprimitur
validis
extritus
viribus
ignis
,
emicat
inter
dum
flammai
fervidus
ardor
,
mutua
dum
inter
se
rami
stirpesque
teruntur
.
quorum
utrumque
dedisse
potest
mortalibus
ignem
.
inde
cibum
quoquere
ac
flammae
mollire
vapore

sol
docuit
,
quoniam
mitescere
multa
videbant

verberibus
radiorum
atque
aestu
victa
per
agros
.

Lest, perchance,
Concerning these affairs thou ponderest
In silent meditation, let me say
'Twas lightning brought primevally to earth
The fire for mortals, and from thence hath spread
O'er all the lands the flames of heat. For thus
Even now we see so many objects, touched
By the celestial flames, to flash aglow,
When thunderbolt has dowered them with heat.
Yet also when a many-branched tree,
Beaten by winds, writhes swaying to and fro,
Pressing 'gainst branches of a neighbour tree,
There by the power of mighty rub and rub
Is fire engendered; and at times out-flares
The scorching heat of flame, when boughs do chafe
Against the trunks. And of these causes, either
May well have given to mortal men the fire.
Next, food to cook and soften in the flame
The sun instructed, since so oft they saw
How objects mellowed, when subdued by warmth
And by the raining blows of fiery beams,
Through all the fields.
166
Inque
dies
magis
hi
victum
vitamque
priorem

commutare
novis
monstrabant
rebus
et
igni
,
ingenio
qui
praestabant
et
corde
vigebant
.
condere
coeperunt
urbis
arcemque
locare

praesidium
reges
ipsi
sibi
perfugiumque
,
et
pecudes
et
agros
divisere
atque
dedere

pro
facie
cuiusque
et
viribus
ingenioque
;
nam
facies
multum
valuit
viresque
vigebant
.
posterius
res
inventast
aurumque
repertum
,
quod
facile
et
validis
et
pulchris
dempsit
honorem
;
divitioris
enim
sectam
plerumque
secuntur

quam
lubet
et
fortes
et
pulchro
corpore
creti
.
quod
siquis
vera
vitam
ratione
gubernet
,
divitiae
grandes
homini
sunt
vivere
parce

aequo
animo
;
neque
enim
est
umquam
penuria
parvi
.
at
claros
homines
voluerunt
se
atque
potentes
,
ut
fundamento
stabili
fortuna
maneret

et
placidam
possent
opulenti
degere
vitam
,
ne
quiquam
,
quoniam
ad
summum
succedere
honorem

certantes
iter
infestum
fecere
viai
,
et
tamen
e
summo
,
quasi
fulmen
,
deicit
ictos

invidia
inter
dum
contemptim
in
Tartara
taetra
;
invidia
quoniam
ceu
fulmine
summa
vaporant

plerumque
et
quae
sunt
aliis
magis
edita
cumque
;
ut
satius
multo
iam
sit
parere
quietum

quam
regere
imperio
res
velle
et
regna
tenere
.
proinde
sine
in
cassum
defessi
sanguine
sudent
,
angustum
per
iter
luctantes
ambitionis
;
quandoquidem
sapiunt
alieno
ex
ore
petuntque

res
ex
auditis
potius
quam
sensibus
ipsis
,
nec
magis
id
nunc
est
neque
erit
mox
quam
fuit
ante
.

And more and more each day
Would men more strong in sense, more wise in heart,
Teach them to change their earlier mode and life
By fire and new devices. Kings began
Cities to found and citadels to set,
As strongholds and asylums for themselves,
And flocks and fields to portion for each man
After the beauty, strength, and sense of each-
For beauty then imported much, and strength
Had its own rights supreme. Thereafter, wealth
Discovered was, and gold was brought to light,
Which soon of honour stripped both strong and fair;
For men, however beautiful in form
Or valorous, will follow in the main
The rich man's party. Yet were man to steer
His life by sounder reasoning, he'd own
Abounding riches, if with mind content
He lived by thrift; for never, as I guess,
Is there a lack of little in the world.
But men wished glory for themselves and power
Even that their fortunes on foundations firm
Might rest forever, and that they themselves,
The opulent, might pass a quiet life-
In vain, in vain; since, in the strife to climb
On to the heights of honour, men do make
Their pathway terrible; and even when once
They reach them, envy like the thunderbolt
At times will smite, O hurling headlong down
To murkiest Tartarus, in scorn; for, lo,
All summits, all regions loftier than the rest,
Smoke, blasted as by envy's thunderbolts;
So better far in quiet to obey,
Than to desire chief mastery of affairs
And ownership of empires. Be it so;
And let the weary sweat their life-blood out
All to no end, battling in hate along
The narrow path of man's ambition;
Since all their wisdom is from others' lips,
And all they seek is known from what they've heard
And less from what they've thought. Nor is this folly
Greater to-day, nor greater soon to be,
Than' twas of old.
167
Ergo
regibus
occisis
subversa
iacebat

pristina
maiestas
soliorum
et
sceptra
superba
,
et
capitis
summi
praeclarum
insigne
cruentum

sub
pedibus
vulgi
magnum
lugebat
honorem
;
nam
cupide
conculcatur
nimis
ante
metutum
.
res
itaque
ad
summam
faecem
turbasque
redibat
,
imperium
sibi
cum
ac
summatum
quisque
petebat
.
inde
magistratum
partim
docuere
creare

iuraque
constituere
,
ut
vellent
legibus
uti
.
nam
genus
humanum
,
defessum
vi
colere
aevom
,
ex
inimicitiis
languebat
;
quo
magis
ipsum

sponte
sua
cecidit
sub
leges
artaque
iura
.
acrius
ex
ira
quod
enim
se
quisque
parabat

ulcisci
quam
nunc
concessumst
legibus
aequis
,
hanc
ob
rem
est
homines
pertaesum
vi
colere
aevom
.
inde
metus
maculat
poenarum
praemia
vitae
.
circumretit
enim
vis
atque
iniuria
quemque

atque
unde
exortast
,
ad
eum
plerumque
revertit
,
nec
facilest
placidam
ac
pacatam
degere
vitam

qui
violat
factis
communia
foedera
pacis
.
etsi
fallit
enim
divom
genus
humanumque
,
perpetuo
tamen
id
fore
clam
diffidere
debet
;
quippe
ubi
se
multi
per
somnia
saepe
loquentes

aut
morbo
delirantes
protraxe
ferantur

et
celata
in
medium
et
peccata
dedisse
.

And therefore kings were slain,
And pristine majesty of golden thrones
And haughty sceptres lay o'erturned in dust;
And crowns, so splendid on the sovereign heads,
Soon bloody under the proletarian feet,
Groaned for their glories gone- for erst o'er-much
Dreaded, thereafter with more greedy zest
Trampled beneath the rabble heel. Thus things
Down to the vilest lees of brawling mobs
Succumbed, whilst each man sought unto himself
Dominion and supremacy. So next
Some wiser heads instructed men to found
The magisterial office, and did frame
Codes that they might consent to follow laws.
For humankind, o'er wearied with a life
Fostered by force, was ailing from its feuds;
And so the sooner of its own free will
Yielded to laws and strictest codes. For since
Each hand made ready in its wrath to take
A vengeance fiercer than by man's fair laws
Is now conceded, men on this account
Loathed the old life fostered by force. 'Tis thence
That fear of punishments defiles each prize
Of wicked days; for force and fraud ensnare
Each man around, and in the main recoil
On him from whence they sprung. Not easy 'tis
For one who violates by ugly deeds
The bonds of common peace to pass a life
Composed and tranquil. For albeit he 'scape
The race of gods and men, he yet must dread
'Twill not be hid forever- since, indeed,
So many, oft babbling on amid their dreams
Or raving in sickness, have betrayed themselves
(As stories tell) and published at last
Old secrets and the sins.
168
Nunc
quae
causa
deum
per
magnas
numina
gentis

pervulgarit
et
ararum
compleverit
urbis

suscipiendaque
curarit
sollemnia
sacra
,
quae
nunc
in
magnis
florent
sacra
rebus
locisque
,
unde
etiam
nunc
est
mortalibus
insitus
horror
,
qui
delubra
deum
nova
toto
suscitat
orbi

terrarum
et
festis
cogit
celebrare
diebus
,
non
ita
difficilest
rationem
reddere
verbis
.
quippe
etenim
iam
tum
divom
mortalia
saecla

egregias
animo
facies
vigilante
videbant

et
magis
in
somnis
mirando
corporis
auctu
.
his
igitur
sensum
tribuebant
propterea
quod

membra
movere
videbantur
vocesque
superbas

mittere
pro
facie
praeclara
et
viribus
amplis
.
aeternamque
dabant
vitam
,
quia
semper
eorum

subpeditabatur
facies
et
forma
manebat
,
et
tamen
omnino
quod
tantis
viribus
auctos

non
temere
ulla
vi
convinci
posse
putabant
.
fortunisque
ideo
longe
praestare
putabant
,
quod
mortis
timor
haut
quemquam
vexaret
eorum
,
et
simul
in
somnis
quia
multa
et
mira
videbant

efficere
et
nullum
capere
ipsos
inde
laborem
.
praeterea
caeli
rationes
ordine
certo

et
varia
annorum
cernebant
tempora
verti

nec
poterant
quibus
id
fieret
cognoscere
causis
.
ergo
perfugium
sibi
habebant
omnia
divis

tradere
et
illorum
nutu
facere
omnia
flecti
.
in
caeloque
deum
sedes
et
templa
locarunt
,
per
caelum
volvi
quia
nox
et
luna
videtur
,
luna
dies
et
nox
et
noctis
signa
severa

noctivagaeque
faces
caeli
flammaeque
volantes
,
nubila
sol
imbres
nix
venti
fulmina
grando

et
rapidi
fremitus
et
murmura
magna
minarum
.

And now what cause
Hath spread divinities of gods abroad
Through mighty nations, and filled the cities full
Of the high altars, and led to practices
Of solemn rites in season- rites which still
Flourish in midst of great affairs of state
And midst great centres of man's civic life,
The rites whence still a poor mortality
Is grafted that quaking awe which rears aloft
Still the new temples of gods from land to land
And drives mankind to visit them in throngs
On holy days- 'tis not so hard to give
Reason thereof in speech. Because, in sooth,
Even in those days would the race of man
Be seeing excelling visages of gods
With mind awake; and in his sleeps, yet more-
Bodies of wondrous growth. And, thus, to these
Would men attribute sense, because they seemed
To move their limbs and speak pronouncements high,
Befitting glorious visage and vast powers.
And men would give them an eternal life,
Because their visages forevermore
Were there before them, and their shapes remained,
And chiefly, however, because men would not think
Beings augmented with such mighty powers
Could well by any force o'ermastered be.
And men would think them in their happiness
Excelling far, because the fear of death
Vexed no one of them at all, and since
At same time in men's sleeps men saw them do
So many wonders, and yet feel therefrom
Themselves no weariness. Besides, men marked
How in a fixed order rolled around
The systems of the sky, and changed times
Of annual seasons, nor were able then
To know thereof the causes. Therefore 'twas
Men would take refuge in consigning all
Unto divinities, and in feigning all
Was guided by their nod. And in the sky
They set the seats and vaults of gods, because
Across the sky night and the moon are seen
To roll along- moon, day, and night, and night's
Old awesome constellations evermore,
And the night-wandering fireballs of the sky,
And flying flames, clouds, and the sun, the rains,
Snow and the winds, the lightnings, and the hail,
And the swift rumblings, and the hollow roar
Of mighty menacings forevermore.