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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
201
Sunt
aliquot
quoque
res
quarum
unam
dicere
causam

non
satis
est
,
verum
pluris
,
unde
una
tamen
sit
;
corpus
ut
exanimum
siquod
procul
ipse
iacere

conspicias
hominis
,
fit
ut
omnis
dicere
causas

conveniat
leti
,
dicatur
ut
illius
una
;
nam
que
eum
ferro
nec
frigore
vincere
possis

interiisse
neque
a
morbo
neque
forte
veneno
,
verum
aliquid
genere
esse
ex
hoc
quod
contigit
ei

scimus
.
item
in
multis
hoc
rebus
dicere
habemus
.
Nilus
in
aestatem
crescit
campisque
redundat

unicus
in
terris
,
Aegypti
totius
amnis
.
is
rigat
Aegyptum
medium
per
saepe
calorem
,
aut
quia
sunt
aestate
aquilones
ostia
contra
,
anni
tempore
eo
,
qui
etesiae
esse
feruntur
,
et
contra
fluvium
flantes
remorantur
et
undas

cogentes
sursus
replent
coguntque
manere
.
nam
dubio
procul
haec
adverso
flabra
feruntur

flumine
,
quae
gelidis
ab
stellis
axis
aguntur
;
ille
ex
aestifera
parti
venit
amnis
ab
austro

inter
nigra
virum
percocto
saecla
colore

exoriens
penitus
media
ab
regione
diei
.
est
quoque
uti
possit
magnus
congestus
harenae

fluctibus
adversis
oppilare
ostia
contra
,
cum
mare
permotum
ventis
ruit
intus
harenam
;
quo
fit
uti
pacto
liber
minus
exitus
amnis

et
proclivis
item
fiat
minus
impetus
undis
.
fit
quoque
uti
pluviae
forsan
magis
ad
caput
ei

tempore
eo
fiant
,
quo
etesia
flabra
aquilonum

nubila
coniciunt
in
eas
tunc
omnia
partis
.
scilicet
,
ad
mediam
regionem
eiecta
diei

cum
convenerunt
,
ibi
ad
altos
denique
montis

contrusae
nubes
coguntur
vique
premuntur
.
forsitan
Aethiopum
penitus
de
montibus
altis

crescat
,
ubi
in
campos
albas
descendere
ningues

tabificis
subigit
radiis
sol
omnia
lustrans
.

There be, besides, some thing
Of which 'tis not enough one only cause
To state- but rather several, whereof one
Will be the true: lo, if thou shouldst espy
Lying afar some fellow's lifeless corse,
'Twere meet to name all causes of a death,
That cause of his death might thereby be named:
For prove thou mayst he perished not by steel,
By cold, nor even by poison nor disease,
Yet somewhat of this sort hath come to him
We know- And thus we have to say the same
In divers cases.
Toward the summer, Nile
Waxeth and overfloweth the champaign,
Unique in all the landscape, river sole
Of the Aegyptians. In mid-season heats
Often and oft he waters Aegypt o'er,
Either because in summer against his mouths
Come those northwinds which at that time of year
Men name the Etesian blasts, and, blowing thus
Upstream, retard, and, forcing back his waves,
Fill him o'erfull and force his flow to stop.
For out of doubt these blasts which driven be
From icy constellations of the pole
Are borne straight up the river. Comes that river
From forth the sultry places down the south,
Rising far up in midmost realm of day,
Among black generations of strong men
With sun-baked skins. 'Tis possible, besides,
That a big bulk of piled sand may bar
His mouths against his onward waves, when sea,
Wild in the winds, tumbles the sand to inland;
Whereby the river's outlet were less free,
Likewise less headlong his descending floods.
It may be, too, that in this season rains
Are more abundant at its fountain head,
Because the Etesian blasts of those northwinds
Then urge all clouds into those inland parts.
And, soothly, when they're thus foregathered there,
Urged yonder into midmost realm of day,
Then, crowded against the lofty mountain sides,
They're massed and powerfully pressed. Again,
Perchance, his waters wax, O far away,
Among the Aethiopians' lofty mountains,
When the all-beholding sun with thawing beams
Drives the white snows to flow into the vales.
202
Nunc
age
,
Averna
tibi
quae
sint
loca
cumque
lacusque
,
expediam
,
quali
natura
praedita
constent
.
principio
,
quod
Averna
vocantur
nomine
,
id
ab
re

inpositumst
,
quia
sunt
avibus
contraria
cunctis
,
e
regione
ea
quod
loca
cum
venere
volantes
,
remigii
oblitae
pennarum
vela
remittunt

praecipitesque
cadunt
molli
cervice
profusae

in
terram
,
si
forte
ita
fert
natura
locorum
,
aut
in
aquam
,
si
forte
lacus
substratus
Averni
.
is
locus
est
Cumas
aput
,
acri
sulpure
montis

oppleti
calidis
ubi
fumant
fontibus
aucti
.
est
et
Athenaeis
in
moenibus
,
arcis
in
ipso

vertice
,
Palladis
ad
templum
Tritonidis
almae
,
quo
numquam
pennis
appellunt
corpora
raucae

cornices
,
non
cum
fumant
altaria
donis
;
usque
adeo
fugitant
non
iras
Palladis
acris

pervigili
causa
,
Graium
ut
cecinere
poeëtae,
sed
natura
loci
opus
efficit
ipsa
suapte
.
in
Syria
quoque
fertur
item
locus
esse
videri
,
quadripedes
quoque
quo
simul
ac
vestigia
primum

intulerint
,
graviter
vis
cogat
concidere
ipsa
,
manibus
ut
si
sint
divis
mactata
repente
.
omnia
quae
naturali
ratione
geruntur
,
et
quibus
e
fiant
causis
apparet
origo
;
ianua
ne
pote
eis
Orci
regionibus
esse

credatur
,
post
hinc
animas
Acheruntis
in
oras

ducere
forte
deos
manis
inferne
reamur
,
naribus
alipedes
ut
cervi
saepe
putantur

ducere
de
latebris
serpentia
saecla
ferarum
.
quod
procul
a
vera
quam
sit
ratione
repulsum

percipe
;
nam
de
re
nunc
ipsa
dicere
conor
.

Now come; and unto thee I will unfold,
As to the Birdless spots and Birdless tarns,
What sort of nature they are furnished with.
First, as to name of "birdless,"- that derives
From very fact, because they noxious be
Unto all birds. For when above those spots
In horizontal flight the birds have come,
Forgetting to oar with wings, they furl their sails,
And, with down-drooping of their delicate necks,
Fall headlong into earth, if haply such
The nature of the spots, or into water,
If haply spreads thereunder Birdless tarn.
Such spot's at Cumae, where the mountains smoke,
Charged with the pungent sulphur, and increased
With steaming springs. And such a spot there is
Within the walls of Athens, even there
On summit of Acropolis, beside
Fane of Tritonian Pallas bountiful,
Where never cawing crows can wing their course,
Not even when smoke the altars with good gifts,-
But evermore they flee- yet not from wrath
Of Pallas, grieved at that espial old,
As poets of the Greeks have sung the tale;
But very nature of the place compels.
In Syria also- as men say- a spot
Is to be seen, where also four-foot kinds,
As soon as ever they've set their steps within,
Collapse, o'ercome by its essential power,
As if there slaughtered to the under-gods.
Lo, all these wonders work by natural law,
And from what causes they are brought to pass
The origin is manifest; so, haply,
Let none believe that in these regions stands
The gate of Orcus, nor us then suppose,
Haply, that thence the under-gods draw down
Souls to dark shores of Acheron- as stags,
The wing-footed, are thought to draw to light,
By sniffing nostrils, from their dusky lairs
The wriggling generations of wild snakes.
How far removed from true reason is this,
Perceive thou straight; for now I'll try to say
Somewhat about the very fact.
203
Principio
hoc
dico
,
quod
dixi
saepe
quoque
ante
,
in
terra
cuiusque
modi
rerum
esse
figuras
;
multa
,
cibo
quae
sunt
,
vitalia
multaque
,
morbos

incutere
et
mortem
quae
possint
adcelerare
.
et
magis
esse
aliis
alias
animantibus
aptas

res
ad
vitai
rationem
ostendimus
ante

propter
dissimilem
naturam
dissimilisque

texturas
inter
sese
primasque
figuras
.
multa
meant
inimica
per
auris
,
multa
per
ipsas

insinuant
naris
infesta
atque
aspera
tactu
,
nec
sunt
multa
parum
tactu
vitanda
neque
autem

aspectu
fugienda
saporeque
tristia
quae
sint
.
Deinde
videre
licet
quam
multae
sint
homini
res

acriter
infesto
sensu
spurcaeque
gravisque
;
arboribus
primum
certis
gravis
umbra
tributa

usque
adeo
,
capitis
faciant
ut
saepe
dolores
,
siquis
eas
subter
iacuit
prostratus
in
herbis
.
est
etiam
magnis
Heliconis
montibus
arbos

floris
odore
hominem
taetro
consueta
necare
.
scilicet
haec
ideo
terris
ex
omnia
surgunt
,
multa
modis
multis
multarum
semina
rerum

quod
permixta
gerit
tellus
discretaque
tradit
.
nocturnumque
recens
extinctum
lumen
ubi
acri

nidore
offendit
nares
,
consopit
ibidem
,
concidere
et
spumas
qui
morbo
mittere
suevit
.
castoreoque
gravi
mulier
sopita
recumbit
,
et
manibus
nitidum
teneris
opus
effluit
ei
,
tempore
eo
si
odoratast
quo
menstrua
solvit
.
multaque
praeterea
languentia
membra
per
artus

solvunt
atque
animam
labefactant
sedibus
intus
.
denique
si
calidis
etiam
cunctere
lavabris

plenior
et
lueris
,
solio
ferventis
aquai

quam
facile
in
medio
fit
uti
des
saepe
ruinas
!
carbonumque
gravis
vis
atque
odor
insinuatur

quam
facile
in
cerebrum
,
nisi
aqua
praecepimus
ante
!
at
cum
membra
domans
percepit
fervida
febris
,
tum
fit
odor
vini
plagae
mactabilis
instar
.
nonne
vides
etiam
terra
quoque
sulpur
in
ipsa

gignier
et
taetro
concrescere
odore
bitumen
,
denique
ubi
argenti
venas
aurique
secuntur
,
terrai
penitus
scrutantes
abdita
ferro
,
qualis
expiret
Scaptensula
subter
odores
?
quidve
mali
fit
ut
exalent
aurata
metalla
!
quas
hominum
reddunt
facies
qualisque
colores
!
nonne
vides
audisve
perire
in
tempore
parvo

quam
soleant
et
quam
vitai
copia
desit
,
quos
opere
in
tali
cohibet
vis
magna
necessis
?
hos
igitur
tellus
omnis
exaestuat
aestus

expiratque
foras
in
apertum
promptaque
caeli
.

And, first,
This do I say, as oft I've said before:
In earth are atoms of things of every sort;
And know, these all thus rise from out the earth-
Many life-giving which be good for food,
And many which can generate disease
And hasten death, O many primal seeds
Of many things in many modes- since earth
Contains them mingled and gives forth discrete.
And we have shown before that certain things
Be unto certain creatures suited more
For ends of life, by virtue of a nature,
A texture, and primordial shapes, unlike
For kinds alike. Then too 'tis thine to see
How many things oppressive be and foul
To man, and to sensation most malign:
Many meander miserably through ears;
Many in-wind athrough the nostrils too,
Malign and harsh when mortal draws a breath;
Of not a few must one avoid the touch;
Of not a few must one escape the sight;
And some there be all loathsome to the taste;
And many, besides, relax the languid limbs
Along the frame, and undermine the soul
In its abodes within. To certain trees
There hath been given so dolorous a shade
That often they gender achings of the head,
If one but be beneath, outstretched on the sward.
There is, again, on Helicon's high hills
A tree that's wont to kill a man outright
By fetid odour of its very flower.
And when the pungent stench of the night-lamp,
Extinguished but a moment since, assails
The nostrils, then and there it puts to sleep
A man afflicted with the falling sickness
And foamings at the mouth. A woman, too,
At the heavy castor drowses back in chair,
And from her delicate fingers slips away
Her gaudy handiwork, if haply she
Hath got the whiff at menstruation-time.
Once more, if thou delayest in hot baths,
When thou art over-full, how readily
From stool in middle of the steaming water
Thou tumblest in a fit! How readily
The heavy fumes of charcoal wind their way
Into the brain, unless beforehand we
Of water 've drunk. But when a burning fever,
O'ermastering man, hath seized upon his limbs,
Then odour of wine is like a hammer-blow.
And seest thou not how in the very earth
Sulphur is gendered and bitumen thickens
With noisome stench?- What direful stenches, too,
Scaptensula out-breathes from down below,
When men pursue the veins of silver and gold,
With pick-axe probing round the hidden realms
Deep in the earth?- Or what of deadly bane
The mines of gold exhale? O what a look,
And what a ghastly hue they give to men!
And seest thou not, or hearest, how they're wont
In little time to perish, and how fail
The life-stores in those folk whom mighty power
Of grim necessity confineth there
In such a task? Thus, this telluric earth
Out-streams with all these dread effluvia
And breathes them out into the open world
And into the visible regions under heaven.
204
Sic
et
Averna
loca
alitibus
summittere
debent

mortiferam
vim
.
de
terra
quae
surgit
in
auras
,
ut
spatium
caeli
quadam
de
parte
venenet
;
quo
simul
ac
primum
pennis
delata
sit
ales
,
impediatur
ibi
caeco
correpta
veneno
,
ut
cadat
e
regione
loci
,
qua
derigit
aestus
.
quo
cum
conruit
,
hic
eadem
vis
illius
aestus

reliquias
vitae
membris
ex
omnibus
aufert
.
quippe
etenim
primo
quasi
quendam
conciet
aestum
;
posterius
fit
uti
.
cum
iam
cecidere
veneni

in
fontis
ipsos
,
ibi
sit
quoque
vita
vomenda
,
propterea
quod
magna
mali
fit
copia
circum
.
Fit
quoque
ut
inter
dum
vis
haec
atque
aestus
Averni
aeëra

,
qui
inter
avis
cumquest
terramque
locatus
.
discutiat
,
prope
uti
locus
hic
linquatur
inanis
.
cuius
ubi
e
regione
loci
venere
volantis
,
claudicat
extemplo
pinnarum
nisus
inanis

et
conamen
utrimque
alarum
proditur
omne
.
hic
ubi
nixari
nequeunt
insistereque
alis
,
scilicet
in
terram
delabi
pondere
cogit

natura
,
et
vacuum
prope
iam
per
inane
iacentes

dispergunt
animas
per
caulas
corporis
omnis
.

Thus, too, those Birdless places must up-send
An essence bearing death to winged things,
Which from the earth rises into the breezes
To poison part of skiey space, and when
Thither the winged is on pennons borne,
There, seized by the unseen poison, 'tis ensnared,
And from the horizontal of its flight
Drops to the spot whence sprang the effluvium.
And when 'thas there collapsed, then the same power
Of that effluvium takes from all its limbs
The relics of its life. That power first strikes
The creatures with a wildering dizziness,
And then thereafter, when they're once down-fallen
Into the poison's very fountains, then
Life, too, they vomit out perforce, because
So thick the stores of bane around them fume.
Again, at times it happens that this power,
This exhalation of the Birdless places,
Dispels the air betwixt the ground and birds,
Leaving well-nigh a void. And thither when
In horizontal flight the birds have come,
Forthwith their buoyancy of pennons limps,
All useless, and each effort of both wings
Falls out in vain. Here, when without all power
To buoy themselves and on their wings to lean,
Lo, nature constrains them by their weight to slip
Down to the earth, and lying prostrate there
Along the well-nigh empty void, they spend
Their souls through all the openings of their frame.
. . . . . .
205
frigidior
porro
in
puteis
aestate
fit
umor
,
arescit
quia
terra
calore
et
semina
si
qua

forte
vaporis
habet
proprie
,
dimittit
in
auras
.
quo
magis
est
igitur
tellus
effeta
calore
,
fit
quoque
frigidior
qui
in
terrast
abditus
umor
.
frigore
cum
premitur
porro
omnis
terra
coitque

et
quasi
concrescit
,
fit
scilicet
ut
coeundo

exprimat
in
puteos
si
quem
gerit
ipsa
calorem
.
Esse
apud
Hammonis
fanum
fons
luce
diurna

frigidus
et
calidus
nocturno
tempore
fertur
.
hunc
homines
fontem
nimis
admirantur
et
acri

sole
putant
subter
terras
fervescere
partim
,
nox
ubi
terribili
terras
caligine
texit
.
quod
nimis
a
verast
longe
ratione
remotum
.
quippe
ubi
sol
nudum
contractans
corpus
aquai

non
quierit
calidum
supera
de
reddere
parte
,
cum
superum
lumen
tanto
fervore
fruatur
,
qui
queat
hic
supter
tam
crasso
corpore
terram

perquoquere
umorem
et
calido
focilare
vapore
?
praesertim
cum
vix
possit
per
saepta
domorum

insinuare
suum
radiis
ardentibus
aestum
.
quae
ratiost
igitur
?
ni
mirum
terra
magis
quod

rara
tenet
circum
fontem
quam
cetera
tellus

multaque
sunt
ignis
prope
semina
corpus
aquai
.
hoc
ubi
roriferis
terram
nox
obruit
undis
,
extemplo
penitus
frigescit
terra
coitque
.
hac
ratione
fit
ut
,
tam
quam
compressa
manu
sit
,
exprimat
in
fontem
quae
semina
cumque
habet
ignis
,
quae
calidum
faciunt
laticis
tactum
atque
vaporem
.
inde
ubi
sol
radiis
terram
dimovit
obortus

et
rare
fecit
calido
miscente
vapore
,
rursus
in
antiquas
redeunt
primordia
sedes

ignis
et
in
terram
cedit
calor
omnis
aquai
.
frigidus
hanc
ob
rem
fit
fons
in
luce
diurna
.
praeterea
solis
radiis
iactatur
aquai

umor
et
in
lucem
tremulo
rarescit
ab
aestu
;
propterea
fit
uti
quae
semina
cumque
habet
ignis

dimittat
;
quasi
saepe
gelum
,
quod
continet
in
se
,
mittit
et
exsolvit
glaciem
nodosque
relaxat
.

Further, the water of wells is colder then
At summer time, because the earth by heat
Is rarefied, and sends abroad in air
Whatever seeds it peradventure have
Of its own fiery exhalations.
The more, then, the telluric ground is drained
Of heat, the colder grows the water hid
Within the earth. Further, when all the earth
Is by the cold compressed, and thus contracts
And, so to say, concretes, it happens, lo,
That by contracting it expresses then
Into the wells what heat it bears itself.
'Tis said at Hammon's fane a fountain is,
In daylight cold and hot in time of night.
This fountain men be-wonder over-much,
And think that suddenly it seethes in heat
By intense sun, the subterranean, when
Night with her terrible murk hath cloaked the lands-
What's not true reasoning by a long remove:
I' faith when sun o'erhead, touching with beams
An open body of water, had no power
To render it hot upon its upper side,
Though his high light possess such burning glare,
How, then, can he, when under the gross earth,
Make water boil and glut with fiery heat?-
And, specially, since scarcely potent he
Through hedging walls of houses to inject
His exhalations hot, with ardent rays.
What, then's, the principle? Why, this, indeed:
The earth about that spring is porous more
Than elsewhere the telluric ground, and be
Many the seeds of fire hard by the water;
On this account, when night with dew-fraught shades
Hath whelmed the earth, anon the earth deep down
Grows chill, contracts; and thuswise squeezes out
Into the spring what seeds she holds of fire
(As one might squeeze with fist), which render hot
The touch and steam of the fluid. Next, when sun,
Up-risen, with his rays has split the soil
And rarefied the earth with waxing heat,
Again into their ancient abodes return
The seeds of fire, and all the Hot of water
Into the earth retires; and this is why
The fountain in the daylight gets so cold.
Besides, the water's wet is beat upon
By rays of sun, and, with the dawn, becomes
Rarer in texture under his pulsing blaze;
And, therefore, whatso seeds it holds of fire
It renders up, even as it renders oft
The frost that it contains within itself
And thaws its ice and looseneth the knots.
206
Frigidus
est
etiam
fons
,
supra
quem
sita
saepe

stuppa
iacit
flammam
concepto
protinus
igni
,
taedaque
consimili
ratione
accensa
per
undas

conlucet
,
quo
cumque
natans
impellitur
auris
.
ni
mirum
quia
sunt
in
aqua
permulta
vaporis

semina
de
terraque
necessest
funditus
ipsa

ignis
corpora
per
totum
consurgere
fontem

et
simul
exspirare
foras
exireque
in
auras
,
non
ita
multa
tamen
,
calidus
queat
ut
fieri
fons
;
praeterea
dispersa
foras
erumpere
cogit

vis
per
aquam
subito
sursumque
ea
conciliari
.
quod
genus
endo
marist
Aradi
fons
,
dulcis
aquai

qui
scatit
et
salsas
circum
se
dimovet
undas
;
et
multis
aliis
praebet
regionibus
aequor

utilitatem
opportunam
sitientibus
nautis
,
quod
dulcis
inter
salsas
intervomit
undas
.
sic
igitur
per
eum
possunt
erumpere
fontem

et
scatere
illa
foras
;
in
stuppam
semina
quae
cum

conveniunt
aut
in
taedai
corpore
adhaerent
,
ardescunt
facile
extemplo
,
quia
multa
quoque
in
se

semina
habent
ignis
stuppae
taedaeque
tenentes
.
nonne
vides
etiam
,
nocturna
ad
lumina
linum

nuper
ubi
extinctum
admoveas
,
accendier
ante

quam
tetigit
flammam
,
taedamque
pari
ratione
?
multaque
praeterea
prius
ipso
tacta
vapore

eminus
ardescunt
quam
comminus
imbuat
ignis
.
hoc
igitur
fieri
quoque
in
illo
fonte
putandumst
.

There is, moreover, a fountain cold in kind
That makes a bit of tow (above it held)
Take fire forthwith and shoot a flame; so, too,
A pitch-pine torch will kindle and flare round
Along its waves, wherever 'tis impelled
Afloat before the breeze. No marvel, this:
Because full many seeds of heat there be
Within the water; and, from earth itself
Out of the deeps must particles of fire
Athrough the entire fountain surge aloft,
And speed in exhalations into air
Forth and abroad (yet not in numbers enow
As to make hot the fountain). And, moreo'er,
Some force constrains them, scattered through the water,
Forthwith to burst abroad, and to combine
In flame above. Even as a fountain far
There is at Aradus amid the sea,
Which bubbles out sweet water and disparts
From round itself the salt waves; and, behold,
In many another region the broad main
Yields to the thirsty mariners timely help,
Belching sweet waters forth amid salt waves.
Just so, then, can those seeds of fire burst forth
Athrough that other fount, and bubble out
Abroad against the bit of tow; and when
They there collect or cleave unto the torch,
Forthwith they readily flash aflame, because
The tow and torches, also, in themselves
Have many seeds of latent fire. Indeed,
And seest thou not, when near the nightly lamps
Thou bringest a flaxen wick, extinguished
A moment since, it catches fire before
'Thas touched the flame, and in same wise a torch?
And many another object flashes aflame
When at a distance, touched by heat alone,
Before 'tis steeped in veritable fire.
This, then, we must suppose to come to pass
In that spring also.
207
Quod
super
est
,
agere
incipiam
quo
foedere
fiat

naturae
,
lapis
hic
ut
ferrum
ducere
possit
,
quem
Magneta
vocant
patrio
de
nomine
Grai
,
Magnetum
quia
sit
patriis
in
finibus
ortus
.
hunc
homines
lapidem
mirantur
;
quippe
catenam

saepe
ex
anellis
reddit
pendentibus
ex
se
.
quinque
etenim
licet
inter
dum
pluresque
videre

ordine
demisso
levibus
iactarier
auris
,
unus
ubi
ex
uno
dependet
supter
adhaerens

ex
alioque
alius
lapidis
vim
vinclaque
noscit
;
usque
adeo
permananter
vis
pervalet
eius
.
Hoc
genus
in
rebus
firmandumst
multa
prius
quam

ipsius
rei
rationem
reddere
possis
,
et
nimium
longis
ambagibus
est
adeundum
;
quo
magis
attentas
auris
animumque
reposco
.
Principio
omnibus
ab
rebus
,
quas
cumque
videmus
,
perpetuo
fluere
ac
mitti
spargique
necessest

corpora
quae
feriant
oculos
visumque
lacessant
.
perpetuoque
fluunt
certis
ab
rebus
odores
;
frigus
ut
fluviis
,
calor
a
sole
,
aestus
ab
undis

aequoris
,
exesor
moerorum
,
litora
propter
;
nec
varii
cessant
sonitus
manare
per
auras
;
denique
in
os
salsi
venit
umor
saepe
saporis
,
cum
mare
versamur
propter
,
dilutaque
contra

cum
tuimur
misceri
absinthia
,
tangit
amaror
.
usque
adeo
omnibus
ab
rebus
res
quaeque
fluenter

fertur
et
in
cunctas
dimittitur
undique
partis

nec
mora
nec
requies
interdatur
ulla
fluendi
,
perpetuo
quoniam
sentimus
et
omnia
semper

cernere
odorari
licet
et
sentire
sonare
.

Now to other things!
And I'll begin to treat by what decree
Of nature it came to pass that iron can be
By that stone drawn which Greeks the magnet call
After the country's name (its origin
Being in country of Magnesian folk).
This stone men marvel at; and sure it oft
Maketh a chain of rings, depending, lo,
From off itself! Nay, thou mayest see at times
Five or yet more in order dangling down
And swaying in the delicate winds, whilst one
Depends from other, cleaving to under-side,
And ilk one feels the stone's own power and bonds-
So over-masteringly its power flows down.
In things of this sort, much must be made sure
Ere thou account of the thing itself canst give,
And the approaches roundabout must be;
Wherefore the more do I exact of thee
A mind and ears attent.
First, from all things
We see soever, evermore must flow,
Must be discharged and strewn about, about,
Bodies that strike the eyes, awaking sight.
From certain things flow odours evermore,
As cold from rivers, heat from sun, and spray
From waves of ocean, eater-out of walls
Along the coasts. Nor ever cease to seep
The varied echoings athrough the air.
Then, too, there comes into the mouth at times
The wet of a salt taste, when by the sea
We roam about; and so, whene'er we watch
The wormwood being mixed, its bitter stings.
To such degree from all things is each thing
Borne streamingly along, and sent about
To every region round; and nature grants
Nor rest nor respite of the onward flow,
Since 'tis incessantly we feeling have,
And all the time are suffered to descry
And smell all things at hand, and hear them sound.
208
Nunc
omnis
repetam
quam
raro
corpore
sint
res

commemorare
;
quod
in
primo
quoque
carmine
claret
.
quippe
etenim
,
quamquam
multas
hoc
pertinet
ad
res

noscere
,
cum
primis
hanc
ad
rem
protinus
ipsam
,
qua
de
disserere
adgredior
,
firmare
necessest

nil
esse
in
promptu
nisi
mixtum
corpus
inani
.
principio
fit
ut
in
speluncis
saxa
superna

sudent
umore
et
guttis
manantibus
stillent
.
manat
item
nobis
e
toto
corpore
sudor
,
crescit
barba
pilique
per
omnia
membra
,
per
artus
.
diditur
in
venas
cibus
omnis
,
auget
alitque

corporis
extremas
quoque
partis
unguiculosque
.
frigus
item
transire
per
aes
calidumque
vaporem

sentimus
,
sentimus
item
transire
per
aurum

atque
per
argentum
,
cum
pocula
plena
tenemus
.
denique
per
dissaepta
domorum
saxea
voces

pervolitant
,
permanat
odor
frigusque
vaposque

ignis
,
qui
ferri
quoque
vim
penetrare
sueëvit
,
denique
qua
circum
caeli
lorica
coeërcet,
morbida
visque
simul
,
cum
extrinsecus
insinuatur
;
et
tempestate
in
terra
caeloque
coorta

in
caelum
terrasque
remotae
iure
facessunt
;
quandoquidem
nihil
est
nisi
raro
corpore
nexum
.

Now will I seek again to bring to mind
How porous a body all things have- a fact
Made manifest in my first canto, too.
For, truly, though to know this doth import
For many things, yet for this very thing
On which straightway I'm going to discourse,
'Tis needful most of all to make it sure
That naught's at hand but body mixed with void.
A first ensample: in grottos, rocks o'erhead
Sweat moisture and distil the oozy drops;
Likewise, from all our body seeps the sweat;
There grows the beard, and along our members all
And along our frame the hairs. Through all our veins
Disseminates the foods, and gives increase
And aliment down to the extreme parts,
Even to the tiniest finger-nails. Likewise,
Through solid bronze the cold and fiery heat
We feel to pass; likewise, we feel them pass
Through gold, through silver, when we clasp in hand
The brimming goblets. And, again, there flit
Voices through houses' hedging walls of stone;
Odour seeps through, and cold, and heat of fire
That's wont to penetrate even strength of iron.
Again, where corselet of the sky girds round
. . . . . .
And at same time, some Influence of bane,
When from Beyond 'thas stolen into [our world].
And tempests, gathering from the earth and sky,
Back to the sky and earth absorbed retire-
With reason, since there's naught that's fashioned not
With body porous.