De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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Nunc age , cur ultra speculum videatur imago percipe : nam certe penitus remmota videtur . quod genus illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur , ianua cum per se transpectum praebet apertum , multa facitque foris ex aedibus ut videantur ; is quoque enim duplici geminoque fit aëre visus . primus enim citra postes tum cernitur aër , inde fores ipsae dextra laevaque secuntur , post extraria lux oculos perterget et aër alter , et illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur . sic ubi se primum speculi proiecit imago , dum venit ad nostras acies , protrudit agitque aëra qui inter se cumquest oculosque locatus , et facit , ut prius hunc omnem sentire queamus quam speculum ; sed ubi speculum quoque sensimus ipsum , continuo a nobis in eum quae fertur imago pervenit , et nostros oculos reiecta revisit atque alium prae se propellens aëra volvit , et facit ut prius hunc quam se videamus , eoque distare ab speculo tantum semota videtur . quare etiam atque etiam minime mirarier est par illis quae reddunt speculorum ex aequore visum , aëribus binis quoniam res confit utraque . Nunc ea quae nobis membrorum dextera pars est , in speculis fit ut in laeva videatur eo quod planitiem ad speculi veniens cum offendit imago , non convertitur incolumis , sed recta retrorsum sic eliditur , ut siquis , prius arida quam sit cretea persona , adlidat pilaeve trabive , atque ea continuo rectam si fronte figuram servet et elisam retro sese exprimat ipsa . fiet ut , ante oculus fuerit qui dexter , ut idem nunc sit laevus et e laevo sit mutua dexter .
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Now come, and why beyond a looking-glass An image may be seen, perceive. For seen It soothly is, removed far within. 'Tis the same sort as objects peered upon Outside in their true shape, whene'er a door Yields through itself an open peering-place, And lets us see so many things outside Beyond the house. Also that sight is made By a twofold twin air: for first is seen The air inside the door-posts; next the doors, The twain to left and right; and afterwards A light beyond comes brushing through our eyes, Then other air, then objects peered upon Outside in their true shape. And thus, when first The image of the glass projects itself, As to our gaze it comes, it shoves ahead And drives along the air that's in the space Betwixt it and our eyes, and brings to pass That we perceive the air ere yet the glass. But when we've also seen the glass itself, Forthwith that image which from us is borne Reaches the glass, and there thrown back again Comes back unto our eyes, and driving rolls Ahead of itself another air, that then 'Tis this we see before itself, and thus It looks so far removed behind the glass. Wherefore again, again, there's naught for wonder . . . . . . In those which render from the mirror's plane A vision back, since each thing comes to pass By means of the two airs. Now, in the glass The right part of our members is observed Upon the left, because, when comes the image Hitting against the level of the glass, 'Tis not returned unshifted; but forced off Backwards in line direct and not oblique,- Exactly as whoso his plaster-mask Should dash, before 'twere dry, on post or beam, And it should straightway keep, at clinging there, Its shape, reversed, facing him who threw, And so remould the features it gives back: It comes that now the right eye is the left, The left the right. |
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Fit quoque de speculo in speculum ut tradatur imago , quinque etiam sex ut fieri simulacra suërint . nam quae cumque retro parte interiore latebunt , inde tamen , quamvis torte penitusque remota , omnia per flexos aditus educta licebit pluribus haec speculis videantur in aedibus esse . usque adeo speculo in speculum translucet imago , et cum laeva data est , fit rusum ut dextera fiat , inde retro rursum redit et convertit eodem . Quin etiam quae cumque latuscula sunt speculorum adsimili lateris flexura praedita nostri , dextera ea propter nobis simulacra remittunt , aut quia de speculo in speculum transfertur imago , inde ad nos elisa bis advolat , aut etiam quod circum agitur , cum venit , imago propterea quod flexa figura docet speculi convertier ad nos . Indugredi porro pariter simulacra pedemque ponere nobiscum credas gestumque imitari propterea quia , de speculi qua parte recedas , continuo nequeunt illinc simulacra reverti ; omnia quandoquidem cogit natura referri ac resilire ab rebus ad aequos reddita flexus . Splendida porro oculi fugitant vitantque tueri . sol etiam caecat , contra si tendere pergas , propterea quia vis magnast ipsius et alte aëra per purum simulacra feruntur et feriunt oculos turbantia composituras . Praeterea splendor qui cumque est acer adurit saepe oculos ideo quod semina possidet ignis multa , dolorem oculis quae gignunt insinuando . lurida praeterea fiunt quae cumque tuentur arquati , quia luroris de corpore eorum semina multa fluunt simulacris obvia rerum , multaque sunt oculis in eorum denique mixta , quae contage sua palloribus omnia pingunt .
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An image too may be From mirror into mirror handed on, Until of idol-films even five or six Have thus been gendered. For whatever things Shall hide back yonder in the house, the same, However far removed in twisting ways, May still be all brought forth through bending paths And by these several mirrors seen to be Within the house, since nature so compels All things to be borne backward and spring off At equal angles from all other things. To such degree the image gleams across From mirror unto mirror; where 'twas left It comes to be the right, and then again Returns and changes round unto the left. Again, those little sides of mirrors curved Proportionate to the bulge of our own flank Send back to us their idols with the right Upon the right; and this is so because Either the image is passed on along From mirror unto mirror, and thereafter, When twice dashed off, flies back unto ourselves; Or else the image wheels itself around, When once unto the mirror it has come, Since the curved surface teaches it to turn To usward. Further, thou might'st well believe That these film-idols step along with us And set their feet in unison with ours And imitate our carriage, since from that Part of a mirror whence thou hast withdrawn Straightway no images can be returned. Further, our eye-balls tend to flee the bright And shun to gaze thereon; the sun even blinds, If thou goest on to strain them unto him, Because his strength is mighty, and the films Heavily downward from on high are borne Through the pure ether and the viewless winds, And strike the eyes, disordering their joints. So piecing lustre often burns the eyes, Because it holdeth many seeds of fire Which, working into eyes, engender pain. Again, whatever jaundiced people view Becomes wan-yellow, since from out their bodies Flow many seeds wan-yellow forth to meet The films of things, and many too are mixed Within their eye, which by contagion paint All things with sallowness. |
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E tenebris autem quae sunt in luce tuemur propterea quia , cum propior caliginis aër ater init oculos prior et possedit apertos , insequitur candens confestim lucidus aër , qui quasi purgat eos ac nigras discutit umbras aëris illius ; nam multis partibus hic est mobilior multisque minutior et mage pollens . qui simul atque vias oculorum luce replevit atque pate fecit , quas ante obsederat aër ATER , continuo rerum simulacra secuntur , quae sita sunt in luce , lacessuntque ut videamus . quod contra facere in tenebris e luce nequimus propterea quia posterior caliginis aër crassior insequitur , qui cuncta foramina complet obsiditque vias oculorum , ne simulacra possint ullarum rerum coniecta moveri . Quadratasque procul turris cum cernimus urbis , propterea fit uti videantur saepe rutundae , angulus optusus quia longe cernitur omnis sive etiam potius non cernitur ac perit eius plaga nec ad nostras acies perlabitur ictus , aëra per multum quia dum simulacra feruntur , cogit hebescere eum crebris offensibus aër . hoc ubi suffugit sensum simul angulus omnis . fit quasi ut ad turnum saxorum structa tuantur ; non tamen ut coram quae sunt vereque rutunda , sed quasi adumbratim paulum simulata videntur . Umbra videtur item nobis in sole moveri et vestigia nostra sequi gestumque imitari , aëra si credis privatum lumine posse indugredi , motus hominum gestumque sequentem ; nam nihil esse potest aliud nisi lumine cassus aër id quod nos umbram perhibere suëmus . ni mirum , quia terra locis ex ordine certis lumine privatur solis qua cumque meantes officimus , repletur item quod liquimus eius , propterea fit uti videatur , quae fuit umbra corporis , e regione eadem nos usque secuta . semper enim nova se radiorum lumina fundunt primaque dispereunt , quasi in ignem lana trahatur . propterea facile et spoliatur lumine terra et repletur item nigrasque sibi abluit umbras .
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Again, we view From dark recesses things that stand in light, Because, when first has entered and possessed The open eyes this nearer darkling air, Swiftly the shining air and luminous Followeth in, which purges then the eyes And scatters asunder of that other air The sable shadows, for in large degrees This air is nimbler, nicer, and more strong. And soon as ever 'thas filled and oped with light The pathways of the eyeballs, which before Black air had blocked, there follow straightaway Those films of things out-standing in the light, Provoking vision- what we cannot do From out the light with objects in the dark, Because that denser darkling air behind Followeth in, and fills each aperture And thus blockades the pathways of the eyes That there no images of any things Can be thrown in and agitate the eyes. And when from far away we do behold The squared towers of a city, oft Rounded they seem,- on this account because Each distant angle is perceived obtuse, Or rather it is not perceived at all; And perishes its blow nor to our gaze Arrives its stroke, since through such length of air Are borne along the idols that the air Makes blunt the idol of the angle's point By numerous collidings. When thuswise The angles of the tower each and all Have quite escaped the sense, the stones appear As rubbed and rounded on a turner's wheel- Yet not like objects near and truly round, But with a semblance to them, shadowily. Likewise, our shadow in the sun appears To move along and follow our own steps And imitate our carriage- if thou thinkest Air that is thus bereft of light can walk, Following the gait and motion of mankind. For what we use to name a shadow, sure Is naught but air deprived of light. No marvel: Because the earth from spot to spot is reft Progressively of light of sun, whenever In moving round we get within its way, While any spot of earth by us abandoned Is filled with light again, on this account It comes to pass that what was body's shadow Seems still the same to follow after us In one straight course. Since, evermore pour in New lights of rays, and perish then the old, Just like the wool that's drawn into the flame. Therefore the earth is easily spoiled of light And easily refilled and from herself Washeth the black shadows quite away. |
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Nec tamen hic oculos falli concedimus hilum . nam quo cumque loco sit lux atque umbra tueri illorum est ; eadem vero sint lumina necne , umbraque quae fuit hic eadem nunc transeat illuc , an potius fiat paulo quod diximus ante , hoc animi demum ratio discernere debet , nec possunt oculi naturam noscere rerum . proinde animi vitium hoc oculis adfingere noli . Qua vehimur navi , fertur , cum stare videtur ; quae manet in statione , ea praeter creditur ire . et fugere ad puppim colles campique videntur , quos agimus praeter navem velisque volamus . Sidera cessare aetheriis adfixa cavernis cuncta videntur , et adsiduo sunt omnia motu , quandoquidem longos obitus exorta revisunt , cum permensa suo sunt caelum corpore claro . solque pari ratione manere et luna videtur in statione , ea quae ferri res indicat ipsa . Exstantisque procul medio de gurgite montis classibus inter quos liber patet exitus ingens , insula coniunctis tamen ex his una videtur . atria versari et circum cursare columnae usque adeo fit uti pueris videantur , ubi ipsi desierunt verti , vix ut iam credere possint non supra sese ruere omnia tecta minari . Iamque rubrum tremulis iubar ignibus erigere alte cum coeptat natura supraque extollere montes , quos tibi tum supra sol montis esse videtur comminus ipse suo contingens fervidus igni , vix absunt nobis missus bis mille sagittae , vix etiam cursus quingentos saepe veruti ; inter eos solemque iacent immania ponti aequora substrata aetheriis ingentibus oris , interiectaque sunt terrarum milia multa , quae variae retinent gentes et saecla ferarum .
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And yet in this we don't at all concede That eyes be cheated. For their task it is To note in whatsoever place be light, In what be shadow: whether or no the gleams Be still the same, and whether the shadow which Just now was here is that one passing thither, Or whether the facts be what we said above, 'Tis after all the reasoning of mind That must decide; nor can our eyeballs know The nature of reality. And so Attach thou not this fault of mind to eyes, Nor lightly think our senses everywhere Are tottering. The ship in which we sail Is borne along, although it seems to stand; The ship that bides in roadstead is supposed There to be passing by. And hills and fields Seem fleeing fast astern, past which we urge The ship and fly under the bellying sails. The stars, each one, do seem to pause, affixed To the ethereal caverns, though they all Forever are in motion, rising out And thence revisiting their far descents When they have measured with their bodies bright The span of heaven. And likewise sun and moon Seem biding in a roadstead,- objects which, As plain fact proves, are really borne along. Between two mountains far away aloft From midst the whirl of waters open lies A gaping exit for the fleet, and yet They seem conjoined in a single isle. When boys themselves have stopped their spinning round, The halls still seem to whirl and posts to reel, Until they now must almost think the roofs Threaten to ruin down upon their heads. And now, when nature begins to lift on high The sun's red splendour and the tremulous fires, And raise him o'er the mountain-tops, those mountains- O'er which he seemeth then to thee to be, His glowing self hard by atingeing them With his own fire- are yet away from us Scarcely two thousand arrow-shots, indeed Oft scarce five hundred courses of a dart; Although between those mountains and the sun Lie the huge plains of ocean spread beneath The vasty shores of ether, and intervene A thousand lands, possessed by many a folk And generations of wild beasts. Again, |
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At coniectus aquae digitum non altior unum , qui lapides inter sistit per strata viarum , despectum praebet sub terras inpete tanto , a terris quantum caeli patet altus hiatus , nubila despicere et caelum ut videare videre , corpora mirande sub terras abdita caelo . Denique ubi in medio nobis ecus acer obhaesit flumine et in rapidas amnis despeximus undas , stantis equi corpus transversum ferre videtur vis et in adversum flumen contrudere raptim , et quo cumque oculos traiecimus omnia ferri et fluere adsimili nobis ratione videntur . Porticus aequali quamvis est denique ductu stansque in perpetuum paribus suffulta columnis , longa tamen parte ab summa cum tota videtur , paulatim trahit angusti fastigia coni , tecta solo iungens atque omnia dextera laevis donec in obscurum coni conduxit acumen . In pelago nautis ex undis ortus in undis sol fit uti videatur obire et condere lumen ; quippe ubi nil aliud nisi aquam caelumque tuentur ; ne leviter credas labefactari undique sensus . at maris ignaris in portu clauda videntur navigia aplustris fractis obnitier undis . nam quae cumque supra rorem salis edita pars est remorum , recta est , et recta superne guberna ; quae demersa liquore obeunt , refracta videntur omnia converti sursumque supina reverti et reflexa prope in summo fluitare liquore . Raraque per caelum cum venti nubila portant tempore nocturno , tum splendida signa videntur labier adversum nimbos atque ire superne longe aliam in partem ac vera ratione feruntur
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A pool of water of but a finger's depth, Which lies between the stones along the pave, Offers a vision downward into earth As far, as from the earth o'erspread on high The gulfs of heaven; that thus thou seemest to view Clouds down below and heavenly bodies plunged Wondrously in heaven under earth. Then too, when in the middle of the stream Sticks fast our dashing horse, and down we gaze Into the river's rapid waves, some force Seems then to bear the body of the horse, Though standing still, reversely from his course, And swiftly push up-stream. And wheresoe'er We cast our eyes across, all objects seem Thus to be onward borne and flow along In the same way as we. A portico, Albeit it stands well propped from end to end On equal columns, parallel and big, Contracts by stages in a narrow cone, When from one end the long, long whole is seen,- Until, conjoining ceiling with the floor, And the whole right side with the left, it draws Together to a cone's nigh-viewless point. To sailors on the main the sun he seems From out the waves to rise, and in the waves To set and bury his light- because indeed They gaze on naught but water and the sky. Again, to gazers ignorant of the sea, Vessels in port seem, as with broken poops, To lean upon the water, quite agog; For any portion of the oars that's raised Above the briny spray is straight, and straight The rudders from above. But other parts, Those sunk, immersed below the water-line, Seem broken all and bended and inclined Sloping to upwards, and turned back to float Almost atop the water. And when the winds Carry the scattered drifts along the sky In the night-time, then seem to glide along The radiant constellations 'gainst the clouds And there on high to take far other course From that whereon in truth they're borne. And then, |
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At si forte oculo manus uni subdita supter pressit eum , quodam sensu fit uti videantur omnia quae tuimur fieri tum bina tuendo , bina lucernarum florentia lumina flammis binaque per totas aedis geminare supellex et duplicis hominum facies et corpora bina . Denique cum suavi devinxit membra sopore somnus et in summa corpus iacet omne quiete , tum vigilare tamen nobis et membra movere nostra videmur , et in noctis caligine caeca cernere censemus solem lumenque diurnum , conclusoque loco caelum mare flumina montis mutare et campos pedibus transire videmur , et sonitus audire , severa silentia noctis undique cum constent , et reddere dicta tacentes . Cetera de genere hoc mirande multa videmus , quae violare fidem quasi sensibus omnia quaerunt , ne quiquam , quoniam pars horum maxima fallit propter opinatus animi , quos addimus ipsi , pro visis ut sint quae non sunt sensibus visa ; nam nihil aegrius est quam res secernere apertas ab dubiis , animus quas ab se protinus addit .
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If haply our hand be set beneath one eye And press below thereon, then to our gaze Each object which we gaze on seems to be, By some sensation twain- then twain the lights Of lampions burgeoning in flowers of flame, And twain the furniture in all the house, Two-fold the visages of fellow-men, And twain their bodies. And again, when sleep Has bound our members down in slumber soft And all the body lies in deep repose, Yet then we seem to self to be awake And move our members; and in night's blind gloom We think to mark the daylight and the sun; And, shut within a room, yet still we seem To change our skies, our oceans, rivers, hills, To cross the plains afoot, and hear new sounds, Though still the austere silence of the night Abides around us, and to speak replies, Though voiceless. Other cases of the sort Wondrously many do we see, which all Seek, so to say, to injure faith in sense- In vain, because the largest part of these Deceives through mere opinions of the mind, Which we do add ourselves, feigning to see What by the senses are not seen at all. For naught is harder than to separate Plain facts from dubious, which the mind forthwith Adds by itself. |
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Denique nil sciri siquis putat , id quoque nescit an sciri possit , quoniam nil scire fatetur . hunc igitur contra minuam contendere causam , qui capite ipse suo in statuit vestigia sese . et tamen hoc quoque uti concedam scire , at id ipsum quaeram , cum in rebus veri nil viderit ante , unde sciat quid sit scire et nescire vicissim , notitiam veri quae res falsique crearit et dubium certo quae res differre probarit . invenies primis ab sensibus esse creatam notitiem veri neque sensus posse refelli . nam maiore fide debet reperirier illud , sponte sua veris quod possit vincere falsa . quid maiore fide porro quam sensus haberi debet ? an ab sensu falso ratio orta valebit dicere eos contra , quae tota ab sensibus orta est ? qui nisi sunt veri , ratio quoque falsa fit omnis . An poterunt oculos aures reprehendere , an aures tactus ? an hunc porro tactum sapor arguet oris , an confutabunt nares oculive revincent ? non , ut opinor , ita est . nam seorsum cuique potestas divisast , sua vis cuiquest , ideoque necesse est et quod molle sit et gelidum fervensve videre et seorsum varios rerum sentire colores et quae cumque coloribus sint coniuncta necessest . seorsus item sapor oris habet vim , seorsus odores nascuntur , seorsum sonitus . ideoque necesse est non possint alios alii convincere sensus . nec porro poterunt ipsi reprehendere sese , aequa fides quoniam debebit semper haberi . proinde quod in quoquest his visum tempore , verumst .
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Again, if one suppose That naught is known, he knows not whether this Itself is able to be known, since he Confesses naught to know. Therefore with him I waive discussion- who has set his head Even where his feet should be. But let me grant That this he knows,- I question: whence he knows What 'tis to know and not-to-know in turn, And what created concept of the truth, And what device has proved the dubious To differ from the certain?- since in things He's heretofore seen naught of true. Thou'lt find That from the senses first hath been create Concept of truth, nor can the senses be Rebutted. For criterion must be found Worthy of greater trust, which shall defeat Through own authority the false by true; What, then, than these our senses must there be Worthy a greater trust? Shall reason, sprung From some false sense, prevail to contradict Those senses, sprung as reason wholly is From out the senses?- For lest these be true, All reason also then is falsified. Or shall the ears have power to blame the eyes, Or yet the touch the ears? Again, shall taste Accuse this touch or shall the nose confute Or eyes defeat it? Methinks not so it is: For unto each has been divided off Its function quite apart, its power to each; And thus we're still constrained to perceive The soft, the cold, the hot apart, apart All divers hues and whatso things there be Conjoined with hues. Likewise the tasting tongue Has its own power apart, and smells apart And sounds apart are known. And thus it is That no one sense can e'er convict another. Nor shall one sense have power to blame itself, Because it always must be deemed the same, Worthy of equal trust. And therefore what At any time unto these senses showed, The same is true. |
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Et si non poterit ratio dissolvere causam , cur ea quae fuerint iuxtim quadrata , procul sint visa rutunda , tamen praestat rationis egentem reddere mendose causas utriusque figurae , quam manibus manifesta suis emittere quoquam et violare fidem primam et convellere tota fundamenta quibus nixatur vita salusque . non modo enim ratio ruat omnis , vita quoque ipsa concidat extemplo , nisi credere sensibus ausis praecipitisque locos vitare et cetera quae sint in genere hoc fugienda , sequi contraria quae sint . illa tibi est igitur verborum copia cassa omnis , quae contra sensus instructa paratast . Denique ut in fabrica , si pravast regula prima , normaque si fallax rectis regionibus exit , et libella aliqua si ex parti claudicat hilum , omnia mendose fieri atque obstipa necessu est prava cubantia prona supina atque absona tecta , iam ruere ut quaedam videantur velle , ruantque prodita iudiciis fallacibus omnia primis , sic igitur ratio tibi rerum prava necessest falsaque sit , falsis quae cumque ab sensibus ortast .
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And if the reason be Unable to unravel us the cause Why objects, which at hand were square, afar Seemed rounded, yet it more availeth us, Lacking the reason, to pretend a cause For each configuration, than to let From out our hands escape the obvious things And injure primal faith in sense, and wreck All those foundations upon which do rest Our life and safety. For not only reason Would topple down; but even our very life Would straightaway collapse, unless we dared To trust our senses and to keep away From headlong heights and places to be shunned Of a like peril, and to seek with speed Their opposites! Again, as in a building, If the first plumb-line be askew, and if The square deceiving swerve from lines exact, And if the level waver but the least In any part, the whole construction then Must turn out faulty- shelving and askew, Leaning to back and front, incongruous, That now some portions seem about to fall, And falls the whole ere long- betrayed indeed By first deceiving estimates: so too Thy calculations in affairs of life Must be askew and false, if sprung for thee From senses false. So all that troop of words Marshalled against the senses is quite vain. |