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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
193
Fit
quoque
ut
involvat
venti
se
nubibus
ipse

vertex
conradens
ex
aeëre
semina
nubis

et
quasi
demissum
caelo
prestera
imitetur
;
hic
ubi
se
in
terras
demisit
dissoluitque
,
turbinis
immanem
vim
provomit
atque
procellae
.
sed
quia
fit
raro
omnino
montisque
necessest

officere
in
terris
,
apparet
crebrius
idem

prospectu
maris
in
magno
caeloque
patenti
.
Nubila
concrescunt
,
ubi
corpora
multa
volando

hoc
super
in
caeli
spatio
coiere
repente

asperiora
,
modis
quae
possint
indupedita

exiguis
tamen
inter
se
compressa
teneri
.
haec
faciunt
primum
parvas
consistere
nubes
;
inde
ea
comprendunt
inter
se
conque
gregantur

et
coniungendo
crescunt
ventisque
feruntur

usque
adeo
donec
tempestas
saeva
coortast
.
Fit
quoque
uti
montis
vicina
cacumina
caelo

quam
sint
quoque
magis
,
tanto
magis
edita
fument

adsidue
fulvae
nubis
caligine
crassa

propterea
quia
,
cum
consistunt
nubila
primum
,
ante
videre
oculi
quam
possint
tenvia
,
venti

portantes
cogunt
ad
summa
cacumina
montis
;
hic
demum
fit
uti
turba
maiore
coorta

et
condensa
queant
apparere
et
simul
ipso

vertice
de
montis
videantur
surgere
in
aethram
.
nam
loca
declarat
sursum
ventosa
patere

res
ipsa
et
sensus
,
montis
cum
ascendimus
altos
.

Into being
The clouds condense, when in this upper space
Of the high heaven have gathered suddenly,
As round they flew, unnumbered particles-
World's rougher ones, which can, though interlinked
With scanty couplings, yet be fastened firm,
The one on other caught. These particles
First cause small clouds to form; and, thereupon,
These catch the one on other and swarm in a flock
And grow by their conjoining, and by winds
Are borne along, along, until collects
The tempest fury. Happens, too, the nearer
The mountain summits neighbour to the sky,
The more unceasingly their far crags smoke
With the thick darkness of swart cloud, because
When first the mists do form, ere ever the eyes
Can there behold them (tenuous as they be),
The carrier-winds will drive them up and on
Unto the topmost summits of the mountain;
And then at last it happens, when they be
In vaster throng upgathered, that they can
By this very condensation lie revealed,
And that at same time they are seen to surge
From very vertex of the mountain up
Into far ether. For very fact and feeling,
As we up-climb high mountains, proveth clear
That windy are those upward regions free.
194
Praeterea
permulta
mari
quoque
tollere
toto

corpora
naturam
declarant
litore
vestis

suspensae
,
cum
concipiunt
umoris
adhaesum
.
quo
magis
ad
nubis
augendas
multa
videntur

posse
quoque
e
salso
consurgere
momine
ponti
;
nam
ratio
consanguineast
umoribus
omnis
.
Praeterea
fluviis
ex
omnibus
et
simul
ipsa

surgere
de
terra
nebulas
aestumque
videmus
,
quae
vel
ut
halitus
hinc
ita
sursum
expressa
feruntur

suffunduntque
sua
caelum
caligine
et
altas

sufficiunt
nubis
paulatim
conveniundo
;
urget
enim
quoque
signiferi
super
aetheris
aestus

et
quasi
densendo
subtexit
caerula
nimbis
.
Fit
quoque
ut
hunc
veniant
in
caelum
extrinsecus
illa

corpora
quae
faciunt
nubis
nimbosque
volantis
;
innumerabilem
enim
numerum
summamque
profundi

esse
infinitam
docui
,
quantaque
volarent

corpora
mobilitate
ostendi
quamque
repente

immemorabile
spatium
transire
solerent
.
haut
igitur
mirumst
,
si
parvo
tempore
saepe

tam
magnis
ventis
tempestas
atque
tenebrae

coperiant
maria
ac
terras
inpensa
superne
,
undique
quandoquidem
per
caulas
aetheris
omnis

et
quasi
per
magni
circum
spiracula
mundi

exitus
introitusque
elementis
redditus
extat
.

Besides, the clothes hung-out along the shore,
When in they take the clinging moisture, prove
That nature lifts from over all the sea
Unnumbered particles. Whereby the more
'Tis manifest that many particles
Even from the salt upheavings of the main
Can rise together to augment the bulk
Of massed clouds. For moistures in these twain
Are near akin. Besides, from out all rivers,
As well as from the land itself, we see
Up-rising mists and steam, which like a breath
Are forced out from them and borne aloft,
To curtain heaven with their murk, and make,
By slow foregathering, the skiey clouds.
For, in addition, lo, the heat on high
Of constellated ether burdens down
Upon them, and by sort of condensation
Weaveth beneath the azure firmament
The reek of darkling cloud. It happens, too,
That hither to the skies from the Beyond
Do come those particles which make the clouds
And flying thunderheads. For I have taught
That this their number is innumerable
And infinite the sum of the Abyss,
And I have shown with what stupendous speed
Those bodies fly and how they're wont to pass
Amain through incommunicable space.
Therefore, 'tis not exceeding strange, if oft
In little time tempest and darkness cover
With bulking thunderheads hanging on high
The oceans and the lands, since everywhere
Through all the narrow tubes of yonder ether,
Yea, so to speak, through all the breathing-holes
Of the great upper-world encompassing,
There be for the primordial elements
Exits and entrances.
195
Nunc
age
,
quo
pacto
pluvius
concrescat
in
altis

nubibus
umor
et
in
terras
demissus
ut
imber

decidat
,
expediam
.
primum
iam
semina
aquai

multa
simul
vincam
consurgere
nubibus
ipsis

omnibus
ex
rebus
pariterque
ita
crescere
utrumque

et
nubis
et
aquam
,
quae
cumque
in
nubibus
extat
,
ut
pariter
nobis
corpus
cum
sanguine
crescit
,
sudor
item
atque
umor
qui
cumque
est
denique
membris
.
concipiunt
etiam
multum
quoque
saepe
marinum

umorem
,
vel
uti
pendentia
vellera
lanae
,
cum
supera
magnum
mare
venti
nubila
portant
.
consimili
ratione
ex
omnibus
amnibus
umor

tollitur
in
nubis
.
quo
cum
bene
semina
aquarum

multa
modis
multis
convenere
undique
adaucta
,
confertae
nubes
umorem
mittere
certant

dupliciter
;
nam
vis
venti
contrudit
et
ipsa

copia
nimborum
turba
maiore
coacta

urget
et
e
supero
premit
ac
facit
effluere
imbris
.
praeterea
cum
rarescunt
quoque
nubila
ventis

aut
dissolvuntur
solis
super
icta
calore
,
mittunt
umorem
pluvium
stillantque
,
quasi
igni

cera
super
calido
tabescens
multa
liquescat
.
sed
vehemens
imber
fit
,
ubi
vehementer
utraque

nubila
vi
cumulata
premuntur
et
impete
venti
.
at
retinere
diu
pluviae
longumque
morari

consuerunt
,
ubi
multa
cientur
semina
aquarum

atque
aliis
aliae
nubes
nimbique
rigantes

insuper
atque
omni
vulgo
de
parte
feruntur
,
terraque
cum
fumans
umorem
tota
redhalat
.
hic
ubi
sol
radiis
tempestatem
inter
opacam

adversa
fulsit
nimborum
aspargine
contra
,
tum
color
in
nigris
existit
nubibus
arqui
.
Cetera
quae
sursum
crescunt
sursumque
creantur
,
et
quae
concrescunt
in
nubibus
,
omnia
,
prorsum

omnia
,
nix
venti
grando
gelidaeque
pruinae

et
vis
magna
geli
,
magnum
duramen
aquarum
,
et
mora
quae
fluvios
passim
refrenat
aventis
,
perfacilest
tamen
haec
reperire
animoque
videre
,
omnia
quo
pacto
fiant
quareve
creentur
,
cum
bene
cognoris
elementis
reddita
quae
sint
.

Now come, and how
The rainy moisture thickens into being
In the lofty clouds, and how upon the lands
'Tis then discharged in down-pour of large showers,
I will unfold. And first triumphantly
Will I persuade thee that up-rise together,
With clouds themselves, full many seeds of water
From out all things, and that they both increase-
Both clouds and water which is in the clouds-
In like proportion, as our frames increase
In like proportion with our blood, as well
As sweat or any moisture in our members.
Besides, the clouds take in from time to time
Much moisture risen from the broad marine,-
Whilst the winds bear them o'er the mighty sea,
Like hanging fleeces of white wool. Thuswise,
Even from all rivers is there lifted up
Moisture into the clouds. And when therein
The seeds of water so many in many ways
Have come together, augmented from all sides,
The close-jammed clouds then struggle to discharge
Their rain-storms for a two-fold reason: lo,
The wind's force crowds them, and the very excess
Of storm-clouds (massed in a vaster throng)
Giveth an urge and pressure from above
And makes the rains out-pour. Besides when, too,
The clouds are winnowed by the winds, or scattered
Smitten on top by heat of sun, they send
Their rainy moisture, and distil their drops,
Even as the wax, by fiery warmth on top,
Wasteth and liquefies abundantly.
But comes the violence of the bigger rains
When violently the clouds are weighted down
Both by their cumulated mass and by
The onset of the wind. And rains are wont
To endure awhile and to abide for long,
When many seeds of waters are aroused,
And clouds on clouds and racks on racks outstream
In piled layers and are borne along
From every quarter, and when all the earth
Smoking exhales her moisture. At such a time
When sun with beams amid the tempest-murk
Hath shone against the showers of black rains,
Then in the swart clouds there emerges bright
The radiance of the bow.
And as to things
Not mentioned here which of themselves do grow
Or of themselves are gendered, and all things
Which in the clouds condense to being- all,
Snow and the winds, hail and the hoar-frosts chill,
And freezing, mighty force- of lakes and pools
The mighty hardener, and mighty check
Which in the winter curbeth everywhere
The rivers as they go- 'tis easy still,
Soon to discover and with mind to see
How they all happen, whereby gendered,
When once thou well hast understood just what
Functions have been vouchsafed from of old
Unto the procreant atoms of the world.
196
Nunc
age
,
quae
ratio
terrai
motibus
extet

percipe
.
et
in
primis
terram
fac
ut
esse
rearis

supter
item
ut
supera
ventosis
undique
plenam

speluncis
multosque
lacus
multasque
lucunas

in
gremio
gerere
et
rupes
deruptaque
saxa
;
multaque
sub
tergo
terrai
flumina
tecta

volvere
vi
fluctus
summersos
ca
putandumst
;
undique
enim
similem
esse
sui
res
postulat
ipsa
.
his
igitur
rebus
subiunctis
suppositisque

terra
superne
tremit
magnis
concussa
ruinis
,
subter
ubi
ingentis
speluncas
subruit
aetas
;
quippe
cadunt
toti
montes
magnoque
repente

concussu
late
disserpunt
inde
tremores
.
et
merito
,
quoniam
plaustris
concussa
tremescunt

tecta
viam
propter
non
magno
pondere
tota
,
nec
minus
exultant
,
si
quidvis
cumque
viai

ferratos
utrimque
rotarum
succutit
orbes
.
Fit
quoque
,
ubi
in
magnas
aquae
vastasque
lucunas

gleba
vetustate
e
terra
provolvitur
ingens
,
ut
iactetur
aquae
fluctu
quoque
terra
vacillans
;
ut
vas
inter
non
quit
constare
,
nisi
umor

destitit
in
dubio
fluctu
iactarier
intus
.
Praeterea
ventus
cum
per
loca
subcava
terrae

collectus
parte
ex
una
procumbit
et
urget

obnixus
magnis
speluncas
viribus
altas
,
incumbit
tellus
quo
venti
prona
premit
vis
.
tum
supera
terram
quae
sunt
extructa
domorum

ad
caelumque
magis
quanto
sunt
edita
quaeque
,
inclinata
minent
in
eandem
prodita
partem

protractaeque
trabes
inpendent
ire
paratae
.
et
metuunt
magni
naturam
credere
mundi

exitiale
aliquod
tempus
clademque
manere
,
cum
videant
tantam
terrarum
incumbere
molem
!
quod
nisi
respirent
venti
,
nulla
refrenet

res
neque
ab
exitio
possit
reprehendere
euntis
;
nunc
quia
respirant
alternis
inque
gravescunt

et
quasi
collecti
redeunt
ceduntque
repulsi
,
saepius
hanc
ob
rem
minitatur
terra
ruinas

quam
facit
;
inclinatur
enim
retroque
recellit

et
recipit
prolapsa
suas
in
pondere
sedes
.
hac
igitur
ratione
vacillant
omnia
tecta
,
summa
magis
mediis
,
media
imis
,
ima
perhilum
.

Now come, and what the law of earthquakes is
Hearken, and first of all take care to know
That the under-earth, like to the earth around us,
Is full of windy caverns all about;
And many a pool and many a grim abyss
She bears within her bosom, ay, and cliffs
And jagged scarps; and many a river, hid
Beneath her chine, rolls rapidly along
Its billows and plunging boulders. For clear fact
Requires that earth must be in every part
Alike in constitution. Therefore, earth,
With these things underneath affixed and set,
Trembleth above, jarred by big down-tumblings,
When time hath undermined the huge caves,
The subterranean. Yea, whole mountains fall,
And instantly from spot of that big jar
There quiver the tremors far and wide abroad.
And with good reason: since houses on the street
Begin to quake throughout, when jarred by a cart
Of no large weight; and, too, the furniture
Within the house up-bounds, when a paving-block
Gives either iron rim of the wheels a jolt.
It happens, too, when some prodigious bulk
Of age-worn soil is rolled from mountain slopes
Into tremendous pools of water dark,
That the reeling land itself is rocked about
By the water's undulations; as a basin
Sometimes won't come to rest until the fluid
Within it ceases to be rocked about
In random undulations.
And besides,
When subterranean winds, up-gathered there
In the hollow deeps, bulk forward from one spot,
And press with the big urge of mighty powers
Against the lofty grottos, then the earth
Bulks to that quarter whither push amain
The headlong winds. Then all the builded houses
Above ground- and the more, the higher up-reared
Unto the sky- lean ominously, careening
Into the same direction; and the beams,
Wrenched forward, over-hang, ready to go.
Yet dread men to believe that there awaits
The nature of the mighty world a time
Of doom and cataclysm, albeit they see
So great a bulk of lands to bulge and break!
And lest the winds blew back again, no force
Could rein things in nor hold from sure career
On to disaster. But now because those winds
Blow back and forth in alternation strong,
And, so to say, rallying charge again,
And then repulsed retreat, on this account
Earth oftener threatens than she brings to pass
Collapses dire. For to one side she leans,
Then back she sways; and after tottering
Forward, recovers then her seats of poise.
Thus, this is why whole houses rock, the roofs
More than the middle stories, middle more
Than lowest, and the lowest least of all.
197
Est
haec
eiusdem
quoque
magni
causa
tremoris
.
ventus
ubi
atque
animae
subito
vis
maxima
quaedam

aut
extrinsecus
aut
ipsa
tellure
coorta

in
loca
se
cava
terrai
coniecit
ibique

speluncas
inter
magnas
fremit
ante
tumultu

versabunda
QUE
portatur
,
post
incita
cum
vis

exagitata
foras
erumpitur
et
simul
altam

diffindens
terram
magnum
concinnat
hiatum
.
in
Syria
Sidone
quod
accidit
et
fuit
Aegi

in
Peloponneso
,
quas
exitus
hic
animai

disturbat
urbes
et
terrae
motus
obortus
.
multaque
praeterea
ceciderunt
moenia
magnis

motibus
in
terris
et
multae
per
mare
pessum

subsedere
suis
pariter
cum
civibus
urbes
.
quod
nisi
prorumpit
,
tamen
impetus
ipse
animai

et
fera
vis
venti
per
crebra
foramina
terrae

dispertitur
ut
horror
et
incutit
inde
tremorem
;
frigus
uti
nostros
penitus
cum
venit
in
artus
,
concutit
invitos
cogens
tremere
atque
movere
.
ancipiti
trepidant
igitur
terrore
per
urbis
,
tecta
superne
timent
,
metuunt
inferne
cavernas

terrai
ne
dissoluat
natura
repente
,
neu
distracta
suum
late
dispandat
hiatum

idque
suis
confusa
velit
complere
ruinis
.
proinde
licet
quamvis
caelum
terramque
reantur

incorrupta
fore
aeternae
mandata
saluti
:
et
tamen
inter
dum
praesens
vis
ipsa
pericli

subdit
et
hunc
stimulum
quadam
de
parte
timoris
,
ne
pedibus
raptim
tellus
subtracta
feratur

in
barathrum
rerumque
sequatur
prodita
summa

funditus
et
fiat
mundi
confusa
ruina
.

Arises, too, this same great earth-quaking,
When wind and some prodigious force of air,
Collected from without or down within
The old telluric deeps, have hurled themselves
Amain into those caverns sub-terrene,
And there at first tumultuously chafe
Among the vasty grottos, borne about
In mad rotations, till their lashed force
Aroused out-bursts abroad, and then and there,
Riving the deep earth, makes a mighty chasm-
What once in Syrian Sidon did befall,
And once in Peloponnesian Aegium,
Twain cities which such out-break of wild air
And earth's convulsion, following hard upon,
O'erthrew of old. And many a walled town,
Besides, hath fall'n by such omnipotent
Convulsions on the land, and in the sea
Engulfed hath sunken many a city down
With all its populace. But if, indeed,
They burst not forth, yet is the very rush
Of the wild air and fury-force of wind
Then dissipated, like an ague-fit,
Through the innumerable pores of earth,
To set her all a-shake- even as a chill,
When it hath gone into our marrow-bones,
Sets us convulsively, despite ourselves,
A-shivering and a-shaking. Therefore, men
With two-fold terror bustle in alarm
Through cities to and fro: they fear the roofs
Above the head; and underfoot they dread
The caverns, lest the nature of the earth
Suddenly rend them open, and she gape,
Herself asunder, with tremendous maw,
And, all confounded, seek to chock it full
With her own ruins. Let men, then, go on
Feigning at will that heaven and earth shall be
Inviolable, entrusted evermore
To an eternal weal: and yet at times
The very force of danger here at hand
Prods them on some side with this goad of fear-
This among others- that the earth, withdrawn
Abruptly from under their feet, be hurried down,
Down into the abyss, and the Sum-of-Things
Be following after, utterly fordone,
Till be but wrack and wreckage of a world.
. . . . . .
198
Principio
mare
mirantur
non
reddere
maius

naturam
,
quo
sit
tantus
decursus
aquarum
,
omnia
quo
veniant
ex
omni
flumina
parte
.
adde
vagos
imbris
tempestatesque
volantes
,
omnia
quae
maria
ac
terras
sparguntque
rigantque
;
adde
suos
fontis
;
tamen
ad
maris
omnia
summam

guttai
vix
instar
erunt
unius
adaugmen
;
quo
minus
est
mirum
mare
non
augescere
magnum
.
Praeterea
magnam
sol
partem
detrahit
aestu
.
quippe
videmus
enim
vestis
umore
madentis

exsiccare
suis
radiis
ardentibus
solem
;
at
pelage
multa
et
late
substrata
videmus
.
proinde
licet
quamvis
ex
uno
quoque
loco
sol

umoris
parvam
delibet
ab
aequore
partem
,
largiter
in
tanto
spatio
tamen
auferet
undis
.
Tum
porro
venti
quoque
magnam
tollere
partem

umoris
possunt
verrentes
aequora
,
ventis

una
nocte
vias
quoniam
persaepe
videmus

siccari
mollisque
luti
concrescere
crustas
.
Praeterea
docui
multum
quoque
tollere
nubes

umorem
magno
conceptum
ex
aequore
ponti

et
passim
toto
terrarum
spargere
in
orbi
,
cum
pluit
in
terris
et
venti
nubila
portant
.
Postremo
quoniam
raro
cum
corpore
tellus

est
et
coniunctast
oras
maris
undique
cingens
,
debet
,
ut
in
mare
de
terris
venit
umor
aquai
,
in
terras
itidem
manare
ex
aequore
salso
;
percolatur
enim
virus
retroque
remanat

materies
umoris
et
ad
caput
amnibus
omnis

confluit
,
inde
super
terras
redit
agmine
dulci

qua
via
secta
semel
liquido
pede
detulit
undas
.
EXTRAORDINARY AND PARADOXICAL TELLURIC PHENOMENA
In chief, men marvel nature renders not
Bigger and bigger the bulk of ocean, since
So vast the down-rush of the waters be,
And every river out of every realm
Cometh thereto; and add the random rains
And flying tempests, which spatter every sea
And every land bedew; add their own springs:
Yet all of these unto the ocean's sum
Shall be but as the increase of a drop.
Wherefore 'tis less a marvel that the sea,
The mighty ocean, increaseth not. Besides,
Sun with his heat draws off a mighty part:
Yea, we behold that sun with burning beams
To dry our garments dripping all with wet;
And many a sea, and far out-spread beneath,
Do we behold. Therefore, however slight
The portion of wet that sun on any spot
Culls from the level main, he still will take
From off the waves in such a wide expanse
Abundantly. Then, further, also winds,
Sweeping the level waters, can bear off
A mighty part of wet, since we behold
Oft in a single night the highways dried
By winds, and soft mud crusted o'er at dawn.
Again, I've taught thee that the clouds bear off
Much moisture too, up-taken from the reaches
Of the mighty main, and sprinkle it about
O'er all the zones, when rain is on the lands
And winds convey the aery racks of vapour.
Lastly, since earth is porous through her frame,
And neighbours on the seas, girdling their shores,
The water's wet must seep into the lands
From briny ocean, as from lands it comes
Into the seas. For brine is filtered off,
And then the liquid stuff seeps back again
And all re-poureth at the river-heads,
Whence in fresh-water currents it returns
Over the lands, adown the channels which
Were cleft erstwhile and erstwhile bore along
The liquid-footed floods.
199
Nunc
ratio
quae
sit
,
per
fauces
montis
ut
Aetnae

expirent
ignes
inter
dum
turbine
tanto
,
expediam
;
neque
enim
mediocri
clade
coorta

flammae
tempestas
Siculum
dominata
per
agros

finitimis
ad
se
convertit
gentibus
ora
,
fumida
cum
caeli
scintillare
omnia
templa

cernentes
pavida
complebant
pectora
cura
,
quid
moliretur
rerum
natura
novarum
.
Hisce
tibi
in
rebus
latest
alteque
videndum

et
longe
cunctas
in
partis
dispiciendum
,
ut
reminiscaris
summam
rerum
esse
profundam

et
videas
caelum
summai
totius
unum

quam
sit
parvula
pars
et
quam
multesima
constet

nec
tota
pars
,
homo
terrai
quota
totius
unus
.
quod
bene
propositum
si
plane
contueare

ac
videas
plane
,
mirari
multa
relinquas
.
numquis
enim
nostrum
miratur
,
siquis
in
artus

accepit
calido
febrim
fervore
coortam

aut
alium
quemvis
morbi
per
membra
dolorem
?
opturgescit
enim
subito
pes
,
arripit
acer

saepe
dolor
dentes
,
oculos
invadit
in
ipsos
,
existit
sacer
ignis
et
urit
corpore
serpens

quam
cumque
arripuit
partem
repitque
per
artus
,
ni
mirum
quia
sunt
multarum
semina
rerum

et
satis
haec
tellus
morbi
caelumque
mali
fert
,
unde
queat
vis
immensi
procrescere
morbi
.
sic
igitur
toti
caelo
terraeque
putandumst

ex
infinito
satis
omnia
suppeditare
,
unde
repente
queat
tellus
concussa
moveri

perque
mare
ac
terras
rapidus
percurrere
turbo
,
ignis
abundare
Aetnaeus
,
flammescere
caelum
;
id
quoque
enim
fit
et
ardescunt
caelestia
templa

et
tempestates
pluviae
graviore
coortu

sunt
,
ubi
forte
ita
se
tetulerunt
semina
aquarum
.
'
at
nimis
est
ingens
incendi
turbidus
ardor
.'
scilicet
et
fluvius
qui
visus
maximus
ei
,
qui
non
ante
aliquem
maiorem
vidit
,
et
ingens

arbor
homoque
videtur
et
omnia
de
genere
omni

maxima
quae
vidit
quisque
,
haec
ingentia
fingit
,
cum
tamen
omnia
cum
caelo
terraque
marique

nil
sint
ad
summam
summai
totius
omnem
.

And now the cause
Whereby athrough the throat of Aetna's Mount
Such vast tornado-fires out-breathe at times,
I will unfold: for with no middling might
Of devastation the flamy tempest rose
And held dominion in Sicilian fields:
Drawing upon itself the upturned faces
Of neighbouring clans, what time they saw afar
The skiey vaults a-fume and sparkling all,
And filled their bosoms with dread anxiety
Of what new thing nature were travailing at.
In these affairs it much behooveth thee
To look both wide and deep, and far abroad
To peer to every quarter, that thou mayst
Remember how boundless is the Sum-of-Things,
And mark how infinitely small a part
Of the whole Sum is this one sky of ours-
O not so large a part as is one man
Of the whole earth. And plainly if thou viewest
This cosmic fact, placing it square in front,
And plainly understandest, thou wilt leave
Wondering at many things. For who of us
Wondereth if some one gets into his joints
A fever, gathering head with fiery heat,
Or any other dolorous disease
Along his members? For anon the foot
Grows blue and bulbous; often the sharp twinge
Seizes the teeth, attacks the very eyes;
Out-breaks the sacred fire, and, crawling on
Over the body, burneth every part
It seizeth on, and works its hideous way
Along the frame. No marvel this, since, lo,
Of things innumerable be seeds enough,
And this our earth and sky do bring to us
Enough of bane from whence can grow the strength
Of maladies uncounted. Thuswise, then,
We must suppose to all the sky and earth
Are ever supplied from out the infinite
All things, O all in stores enough whereby
The shaken earth can of a sudden move,
And fierce typhoons can over sea and lands
Go tearing on, and Aetna's fires o'erflow,
And heaven become a flame-burst. For that, too,
Happens at times, and the celestial vaults
Glow into fire, and rainy tempests rise
In heavier congregation, when, percase,
The seeds of water have foregathered thus
From out the infinite. "Aye, but passing huge
The fiery turmoil of that conflagration!"
So sayst thou; well, huge many a river seems
To him that erstwhile ne'er a larger saw;
Thus, huge seems tree or man; and everything
Which mortal sees the biggest of each class,
That he imagines to be "huge"; though yet
All these, with sky and land and sea to boot,
Are all as nothing to the sum entire
Of the all-Sum.
200
Nunc
tamen
illa
modis
quibus
inritata
repente

flamma
foras
vastis
Aetnae
fornacibus
efflet
,
expediam
.
primum
totius
subcava
montis

est
natura
fere
silicum
suffulta
cavernis
.
omnibus
est
porro
in
speluncis
ventus
et
aeër
.
ventus
enim
fit
,
ubi
est
agitando
percitus
aeër
.
hic
ubi
percaluit
cale
fecitque
omnia
circum

saxa
furens
,
qua
contingit
,
terramque
et
ab
ollis

excussit
calidum
flammis
velocibus
ignem
,
tollit
se
ac
rectis
ita
faucibus
eicit
alte
.
fert
itaque
ardorem
longe
longeque
favillam

differt
et
crassa
volvit
caligine
fumum

extruditque
simul
mirando
pondere
saxa
;
ne
dubites
quin
haec
animai
turbida
sit
vis
.
praeterea
magna
ex
parti
mare
montis
ad
eius

radices
frangit
fluctus
aestumque
resolvit
.
ex
hoc
usque
mari
speluncae
montis
ad
altas

perveniunt
subter
fauces
.
hac
ire
fatendumst

et
penetrare
mari
penitus
res
cogit
aperto

atque
efflare
foras
ideoque
extollere
flammam

saxaque
subiectare
et
arenae
tollere
nimbos
.
in
summo
sunt
vertice
enim
crateres
,
ut
ipsi

nominitant
,
nos
quod
fauces
perhibemus
et
ora
.

But now I will unfold
At last how yonder suddenly angered flame
Out-blows abroad from vasty furnaces
Aetnaean. First, the mountain's nature is
All under-hollow, propped about, about
With caverns of basaltic piers. And, lo,
In all its grottos be there wind and air-
For wind is made when air hath been uproused
By violent agitation. When this air
Is heated through and through, and, raging round,
Hath made the earth and all the rocks it touches
Horribly hot, and hath struck off from them
Fierce fire of swiftest flame, it lifts itself
And hurtles thus straight upwards through its throat
Into high heav'n, and thus bears on afar
Its burning blasts and scattereth afar
Its ashes, and rolls a smoke of pitchy murk
And heaveth the while boulders of wondrous weight-
Leaving no doubt in thee that 'tis the air's
Tumultuous power. Besides, in mighty part,
The sea there at the roots of that same mount
Breaks its old billows and sucks back its surf.
And grottos from the sea pass in below
Even to the bottom of the mountain's throat.
Herethrough thou must admit there go...
. . . . . .
And the conditions force [the water and air]
Deeply to penetrate from the open sea,
And to out-blow abroad, and to up-bear
Thereby the flame, and to up-cast from deeps
The boulders, and to rear the clouds of sand.
For at the top be "bowls," as people there
Are wont to name what we at Rome do call
The throats and mouths.