De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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145 |
Hic neque tum solis rota cerni lumine largo altivolans poterat nec magni sidera mundi nec mare nec caelum nec denique terra neque aër nec similis nostris rebus res ulla videri , sed nova tempestas quaedam molesque coorta . diffugere inde loci partes coepere paresque cum paribus iungi res et discludere mundum membraque dividere et magnas disponere partes omnigenis e principiis , discordia quorum intervalla vias conexus pondera plagas concursus motus turbabat proelia miscens propter dissimilis formas variasque figuras , quod non omnia sic poterant coniuncta manere nec motus inter sese dare convenientis , hoc est , a terris altum secernere caelum , et sorsum mare , uti secreto umore pateret , seorsus item puri secretique aetheris ignes .
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In that long-ago The wheel of the sun could nowhere be discerned Flying far up with its abounding blaze, Nor constellations of the mighty world, Nor ocean, nor heaven, nor even earth nor air. Nor aught of things like unto things of ours Could then be seen- but only some strange storm And a prodigious hurly-burly mass Compounded of all kinds of primal germs, Whose battling discords in disorder kept Interstices, and paths, coherencies, And weights, and blows, encounterings, and motions, Because, by reason of their forms unlike And varied shapes, they could not all thuswise Remain conjoined nor harmoniously Have interplay of movements. But from there Portions began to fly asunder, and like With like to join, and to block out a world, And to divide its members and dispose Its mightier parts- that is, to set secure The lofty heavens from the lands, and cause The sea to spread with waters separate, And fires of ether separate and pure Likewise to congregate apart. |
146 |
Quippe etenim primum terrai corpora quaeque , propterea quod erant gravia et perplexa , coibant in medio atque imas capiebant omnia sedes ; quae quanto magis inter se perplexa coibant , tam magis expressere ea quae mare sidera solem lunamque efficerent et magni moenia mundi ; omnia enim magis haec e levibus atque rutundis seminibus multoque minoribus sunt elementis quam tellus . ideo per rara foramina terrae partibus erumpens primus se sustulit aether ignifer et multos secum levis abstulit ignis , non alia longe ratione ac saepe videmus , aurea cum primum gemmantis rore per herbas matutina rubent radiati lumina solis exhalantque lacus nebulam fluviique perennes ipsaque ut inter dum tellus fumare videtur ; omnia quae sursum cum conciliantur , in alto corpore concreto subtexunt nubila caelum . sic igitur tum se levis ac diffusilis aether corpore concreto circum datus undique saepsit et late diffusus in omnis undique partis omnia sic avido complexu cetera saepsit . hunc exordia sunt solis lunaeque secuta , interutrasque globi quorum vertuntur in auris ; quae neque terra sibi adscivit nec maximus aether , quod neque tam fuerunt gravia ut depressa sederent , nec levia ut possent per summas labier oras , et tamen interutrasque ita sunt , ut corpora viva versent et partes ut mundi totius extent ; quod genus in nobis quaedam licet in statione membra manere , tamen cum sint ea quae moveantur . his igitur rebus retractis terra repente , maxuma qua nunc se ponti plaga caerula tendit , succidit et salso suffudit gurgite fossas . inque dies quanto circum magis aetheris aestus et radii solis cogebant undique terram verberibus crebris extrema ad limina fartam in medio ut propulsa suo condensa coiret , tam magis expressus salsus de corpore sudor augebat mare manando camposque natantis , et tanto magis illa foras elapsa volabant corpora multa vaporis et aëris altaque caeli densabant procul a terris fulgentia templa . sidebant campi , crescebant montibus altis ascensus ; neque enim poterant subsidere saxa nec pariter tantundem omnes succumbere partis .
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For, lo, First came together the earthy particles (As being heavy and intertangled) there In the mid-region, and all began to take The lowest abodes; and ever the more they got One with another intertangled, the more They pressed from out their mass those particles Which were to form the sea, the stars, the sun, And moon, and ramparts of the mighty world- For these consist of seeds more smooth and round And of much smaller elements than earth. And thus it was that ether, fraught with fire, First broke away from out the earthen parts, Athrough the innumerable pores of earth, And raised itself aloft, and with itself Bore lightly off the many starry fires; And not far otherwise we often see . . . . . . And the still lakes and the perennial streams Exhale a mist, and even as earth herself Is seen at times to smoke, when first at dawn The light of the sun, the many-rayed, begins To redden into gold, over the grass Begemmed with dew. When all of these are brought Together overhead, the clouds on high With now concreted body weave a cover Beneath the heavens. And thuswise ether too, Light and diffusive, with concreted body On all sides spread, on all sides bent itself Into a dome, and, far and wide diffused On unto every region on all sides, Thus hedged all else within its greedy clasp. Hard upon ether came the origins Of sun and moon, whose globes revolve in air Midway between the earth and mightiest ether,- For neither took them, since they weighed too little To sink and settle, but too much to glide Along the upmost shores; and yet they are In such a wise midway between the twain As ever to whirl their living bodies round, And ever to dure as parts of the wide Whole; In the same fashion as certain members may In us remain at rest, whilst others move. When, then, these substances had been withdrawn, Amain the earth, where now extend the vast Cerulean zones of all the level seas, Caved in, and down along the hollows poured The whirlpools of her brine; and day by day The more the tides of ether and rays of sun On every side constrained into one mass The earth by lashing it again, again, Upon its outer edges (so that then, Being thus beat upon, 'twas all condensed About its proper centre), ever the more The salty sweat, from out its body squeezed, Augmented ocean and the fields of foam By seeping through its frame, and all the more Those many particles of heat and air Escaping, began to fly aloft, and form, By condensation there afar from earth, The high refulgent circuits of the heavens. The plains began to sink, and windy slopes Of the high mountains to increase; for rocks Could not subside, nor all the parts of ground Settle alike to one same level there. |
147 |
Sic igitur terrae concreto corpore pondus constitit atque omnis mundi quasi limus in imum confluxit gravis et subsedit funditus ut faex ; inde mare , inde aër , inde aether ignifer ipse corporibus liquidis sunt omnia pura relicta et leviora aliis alia , et liquidissimus aether atque levissimus aërias super influit auras nec liquidum corpus turbantibus aëris auris commiscet ; sinit haec violentis omnia verti turbinibus , sinit incertis turbare procellis , ipse suos ignis certo fert impete labens . nam modice fluere atque uno posse aethera nisu significat Pontos , mare certo quod fluit aestu unum labendi conservans usque tenorem .
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Thus, then, the massy weight of earth stood firm With now concreted body, when (as 'twere) All of the slime of the world, heavy and gross, Had run together and settled at the bottom, Like lees or bilge. Then ocean, then the air, Then ether herself, the fraught-with-fire, were all Left with their liquid bodies pure and free, And each more lighter than the next below; And ether, most light and liquid of the three, Floats on above the long aerial winds, Nor with the brawling of the winds of air Mingles its liquid body. It doth leave All there- those under-realms below her heights- There to be overset in whirlwinds wild,- Doth leave all there to brawl in wayward gusts, Whilst, gliding with a fixed impulse still, Itself it bears its fires along. For, lo, That ether can flow thus steadily on, on, With one unaltered urge, the Pontus proves- That sea which floweth forth with fixed tides, Keeping one onward tenor as it glides. |
148 |
Motibus astrorum nunc quae sit causa canamus . principio magnus caeli si vortitur orbis , ex utraque polum parti premere aëra nobis dicendum est extraque tenere et claudere utrimque ; inde alium supra fluere atque intendere eodem quo volvenda micant aeterni sidera mundi ; aut alium supter , contra qui subvehat orbem , ut fluvios versare rotas atque austra videmus . est etiam quoque uti possit caelum omne manere in statione , tamen cum lucida signa ferantur , sive quod inclusi rapidi sunt aetheris aestus quaerentesque viam circum versantur et ignes passim per caeli volvunt summania templa , sive aliunde fluens alicunde extrinsecus aër versat agens ignis , sive ipsi serpere possunt , quo cuiusque cibus vocat atque invitat euntis , flammea per caelum pascentis corpora passim . nam quid in hoc mundo sit eorum ponere certum difficilest ; sed quid possit fiatque per omne in variis mundis varia ratione creatis , id doceo plurisque sequor disponere causas , motibus astrorum quae possint esse per omne ; e quibus una tamen sit et haec quoque causa necessest , quae vegeat motum signis ; sed quae sit earum praecipere haud quaquamst pedetemptim progredientis .
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Now let us sing what makes the stars to move. In first place, if the mighty sphere of heaven Revolveth round, then needs we must aver That on the upper and the under pole Presses a certain air, and from without Confines them and encloseth at each end; And that, moreover, another air above Streams on athwart the top of the sphere and tends In same direction as are rolled along The glittering stars of the eternal world; Or that another still streams on below To whirl the sphere from under up and on In opposite direction- as we see The rivers turn the wheels and water-scoops. It may be also that the heavens do all Remain at rest, whilst yet are borne along The lucid constellations; either because Swift tides of ether are by sky enclosed, And whirl around, seeking a passage out, And everywhere make roll the starry fires Through the Summanian regions of the sky; Or else because some air, streaming along From an eternal quarter off beyond, Whileth the driven fires, or, then, because The fires themselves have power to creep along, Going wherever their food invites and calls, And feeding their flaming bodies everywhere Throughout the sky. Yet which of these is cause In this our world 'tis hard to say for sure; But what can be throughout the universe, In divers worlds on divers plan create, This only do I show, and follow on To assign unto the motions of the stars Even several causes which 'tis possible Exist throughout the universal All; Of which yet one must be the cause even here Which maketh motion for our constellations. Yet to decide which one of them it be Is not the least the business of a man Advancing step by cautious step, as I. |
149 |
Terraque ut in media mundi regione quiescat , evanescere paulatim et decrescere pondus convenit atque aliam naturam supter habere ex ineunte aevo coniunctam atque uniter aptam partibus aëriis mundi , quibus insita vivit . propterea non est oneri neque deprimit auras , ut sua cuique homini nullo sunt pondere membra nec caput est oneri collo nec denique totum corporis in pedibus pondus sentimus inesse ; at quae cumque foris veniunt inpostaque nobis pondera sunt laedunt , permulto saepe minora . usque adeo magni refert quid quaeque queat res . sic igitur tellus non est aliena repente allata atque auris aliunde obiecta alienis , sed pariter prima concepta ab origine mundi certaque pars eius , quasi nobis membra videntur . Praeterea grandi tonitru concussa repente terra supra quae se sunt concutit omnia motu ; quod facere haut ulla posset ratione , nisi esset partibus aëriis mundi caeloque revincta ; nam communibus inter se radicibus haerent ex ineunte aevo coniuncta atque uniter aucta . Nonne vides etiam quam magno pondere nobis sustineat corpus tenuissima vis animai , propterea quia tam coniuncta atque uniter apta est ? Denique iam saltu pernici tollere corpus quid potis est nisi vis animae , quae membra gubernat ? iamne vides quantum tenuis natura valere possit , ubi est coniuncta gravi cum corpore , ut aër coniunctus terris et nobis est animi vis ?
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And that the earth may there abide at rest In the mid-region of the world, it needs Must vanish bit by bit in weight and lessen, And have another substance underneath, Conjoined to it from its earliest age In linked unison with the vasty world's Realms of the air in which it roots and lives. On this account, the earth is not a load, Nor presses down on winds of air beneath; Even as unto a man his members be Without all weight- the head is not a load Unto the neck; nor do we feel the whole Weight of the body to centre in the feet. But whatso weights come on us from without, Weights laid upon us, these harass and chafe, Though often far lighter. For to such degree It matters always what the innate powers Of any given thing may be. The earth Was, then, no alien substance fetched amain, And from no alien firmament cast down On alien air; but was conceived, like air, In the first origin of this the world, As a fixed portion of the same, as now Our members are seen to be a part of us. Besides, the earth, when of a sudden shook By the big thunder, doth with her motion shake All that's above her- which she ne'er could do By any means, were earth not bounden fast Unto the great world's realms of air and sky: For they cohere together with common roots, Conjoined both, even from their earliest age, In linked unison. Aye, seest thou not That this most subtle energy of soul Supports our body, though so heavy a weight,- Because, indeed, 'tis with it so conjoined In linked unison? What power, in sum, Can raise with agile leap our body aloft, Save energy of mind which steers the limbs? Now seest thou not how powerful may be A subtle nature, when conjoined it is With heavy body, as air is with the earth Conjoined, and energy of mind with us? |
150 |
Nec nimio solis maior rota nec minor ardor esse potest , nostris quam sensibus esse videtur . nam quibus e spatiis cumque ignes lumina possunt adiicere et calidum membris adflare vaporem , nil magnis intervallis de corpore libant flammarum , nihil ad speciem est contractior ignis . proinde , calor quoniam solis lumenque profusum perveniunt nostros ad sensus et loca fulgent , forma quoque hinc solis debet filumque videri , nil adeo ut possis plus aut minus addere vere . lunaque sive notho fertur loca lumine lustrans , sive suam proprio iactat de corpore lucem , quidquid id est , nihilo fertur maiore figura quam , nostris oculis qua cernimus , esse videtur . nam prius omnia , quae longe semota tuemur aëra per multum , specie confusa videntur quam minui filum . quapropter luna necesse est , quandoquidem claram speciem certamque figuram praebet , ut est oris extremis cumque notata , quanta quoquest , tanta hinc nobis videatur in alto . postremo quos cumque vides hinc aetheris ignes , scire licet perquam pauxillo posse minores esse vel exigua maioris parte brevique . quandoquidem quos cumque in terris cernimus , dum tremor clarus dum cernitur ardor eorum , perparvom quiddam inter dum mutare videntur alteram utram in partem filum , quo longius absunt .
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Nor can the sun's wheel larger be by much Nor its own blaze much less than either seems Unto our senses. For from whatso spaces Fires have the power on us to cast their beams And blow their scorching exhalations forth Against our members, those same distances Take nothing by those intervals away From bulk of flames; and to the sight the fire Is nothing shrunken. Therefore, since the heat And the outpoured light of skiey sun Arrive our senses and caress our limbs, Form too and bigness of the sun must look Even here from earth just as they really be, So that thou canst scarce nothing take or add. And whether the journeying moon illuminate The regions round with bastard beams, or throw From off her proper body her own light,- Whichever it be, she journeys with a form Naught larger than the form doth seem to be Which we with eyes of ours perceive. For all The far removed objects of our gaze Seem through much air confused in their look Ere minished in their bigness. Wherefore, moon, Since she presents bright look and clear-cut form, May there on high by us on earth be seen Just as she is with extreme bounds defined, And just of the size. And lastly, whatso fires Of ether thou from earth beholdest, these Thou mayst consider as possibly of size The least bit less, or larger by a hair Than they appear- since whatso fires we view Here in the lands of earth are seen to change From time to time their size to less or more Only the least, when more or less away, So long as still they bicker clear, and still Their glow's perceived. |
151 |
Illud item non est mirandum , qua ratione tantulus ille queat tantum sol mittere lumen , quod maria ac terras omnis caelumque rigando compleat et calido perfundat cuncta vapore . nam licet hinc mundi patefactum totius unum largifluum fontem scatere atque erumpere lumen , ex omni mundo quia sic elementa vaporis undique conveniunt et sic coniectus eorum confluit , ex uno capite hic ut profluat ardor . nonne vides etiam quam late parvus aquai prata riget fons inter dum campisque redundet ? est etiam quoque uti non magno solis ab igni aëra percipiat calidis fervoribus ardor , opportunus ita est si forte et idoneus aër , ut queat accendi parvis ardoribus ictus ; quod genus inter dum segetes stipulamque videmus accidere ex una scintilla incendia passim . forsitan et rosea sol alte lampade lucens possideat multum caecis fervoribus ignem circum se , nullo qui sit fulgore notatus , aestifer ut tantum radiorum exaugeat ictum .
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Nor need there be for men Astonishment that yonder sun so small Can yet send forth so great a light as fills Oceans and all the lands and sky aflood, And with its fiery exhalations steeps The world at large. For it may be, indeed, That one vast-flowing well-spring of the whole Wide world from here hath opened and out-gushed, And shot its light abroad; because thuswise The elements of fiery exhalations From all the world around together come, And thuswise flow into a bulk so big That from one single fountain-head may stream This heat and light. And seest thou not, indeed, How widely one small water-spring may wet The meadow-lands at times and flood the fields? 'Tis even possible, besides, that heat From forth the sun's own fire, albeit that fire Be not a great, may permeate the air With the fierce hot- if but, perchance, the air Be of condition and so tempered then As to be kindled, even when beat upon Only by little particles of heat- Just as we sometimes see the standing grain Or stubble straw in conflagration all From one lone spark. And possibly the sun, Agleam on high with rosy lampion, Possesses about him with invisible heats A plenteous fire, by no effulgence marked, So that he maketh, he, the Fraught-with-fire, Increase to such degree the force of rays. |
152 |
Nec ratio solis simplex recta patescit , quo pacto aestivis e partibus aegocerotis brumalis adeat flexus atque inde revertens canceris ut vertat metas ad solstitialis , lunaque mensibus id spatium videatur obire , annua sol in quo consumit tempora cursu . non , inquam , simplex his rebus reddita causast . nam fieri vel cum primis id posse videtur , Democriti quod sancta viri sententia ponit , quanto quaeque magis sint terram sidera propter , tanto posse minus cum caeli turbine ferri ; evanescere enim rapidas illius et acris imminui supter viris , ideoque relinqui paulatim solem cum posterioribus signis , inferior multo quod sit quam fervida signa . et magis hoc lunam : quanto demissior eius cursus abest procul a caelo terrisque propinquat , tanto posse minus cum signis tendere cursum . flaccidiore etiam quanto iam turbine fertur inferior quam sol , tanto magis omnia signa hanc adipiscuntur circum praeterque feruntur . propterea fit ut haec ad signum quodque reverti mobilius videatur , ad hanc quia signa revisunt . fit quoque ut e mundi transversis partibus aër alternis certo fluere alter tempore possit , qui queat aestivis solem detrudere signis brumalis usque ad flexus gelidumque rigorem , et qui reiciat gelidis a frigoris umbris aestiferas usque in partis et fervida signa . et ratione pari lunam stellasque putandumst , quae volvunt magnos in magnis orbibus annos , aëribus posse alternis e partibus ire . nonne vides etiam diversis nubila ventis diversas ire in partis inferna supernis ? qui minus illa queant per magnos aetheris orbis aestibus inter se diversis sidera ferri ?
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Nor is there one sure cause revealed to men How the sun journeys from his summer haunts On to the mid-most winter turning-points In Capricorn, the thence reverting veers Back to solstitial goals of Cancer; nor How 'tis the moon is seen each month to cross That very distance which in traversing The sun consumes the measure of a year. I say, no one clear reason hath been given For these affairs. Yet chief in likelihood Seemeth the doctrine which the holy thought Of great Democritus lays down: that ever The nearer the constellations be to earth The less can they by whirling of the sky Be borne along, because those skiey powers Of speed aloft do vanish and decrease In under-regions, and the sun is thus Left by degrees behind amongst those signs That follow after, since the sun he lies Far down below the starry signs that blaze; And the moon lags even tardier than the sun: In just so far as is her course removed From upper heaven and nigh unto the lands, In just so far she fails to keep the pace With starry signs above; for just so far As feebler is the whirl that bears her on, (Being, indeed, still lower than the sun), In just so far do all the starry signs, Circling around, o'ertake her and o'erpass. Therefore it happens that the moon appears More swiftly to return to any sign Along the Zodiac, than doth the sun, Because those signs do visit her again More swiftly than they visit the great sun. It can be also that two streams of air Alternately at fixed periods Blow out from transverse regions of the world, Of which the one may thrust the sun away From summer-signs to mid-most winter goals And rigors of the cold, and the other then May cast him back from icy shades of chill Even to the heat-fraught regions and the signs That blaze along the Zodiac. So, too, We must suppose the moon and all the stars, Which through the mighty and sidereal years Roll round in mighty orbits, may be sped By streams of air from regions alternate. Seest thou not also how the clouds be sped By contrary winds to regions contrary, The lower clouds diversely from the upper? Then, why may yonder stars in ether there Along their mighty orbits not be borne By currents opposite the one to other? |