De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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113 |
Illud in his rebus vitium vehementer äinesse effugere errorem vitareque praemetuenter , lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata , prospicere ut possimus , et ut proferre queamus proceros passus , ideo fastigia posse surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari , bracchia tum porro validis ex apta lacertis esse manusque datas utraque parte ministras , ut facere ad vitam possemus quae foret usus . cetera de genere hoc inter quae cumque pretantur , omnia perversa praepostera sunt ratione , nil ideo quoniam natumst in corpore ut uti possemus , sed quod natumst id procreat usum . nec fuit ante videre oculorum lumina nata , nec dictis orare prius quam lingua creatast , sed potius longe linguae praecessit origo sermonem multoque creatae sunt prius aures quam sonus est auditus , et omnia denique membra ante fuere , ut opinor , eorum quam foret usus ; haud igitur potuere utendi crescere causa . at contra conferre manu certamina pugnae et lacerare artus foedareque membra cruore ante fuit multo quam lucida tela volarent , et volnus vitare prius natura coëgit quam daret obiectum parmai laeva per artem . scilicet et fessum corpus mandare quieti multo antiquius est quam lecti mollia strata , et sedare sitim prius est quam pocula natum . haec igitur possunt utendi cognita causa credier , ex usu quae sunt vitaque reperta . illa quidem seorsum sunt omnia , quae prius ipsa nata dedere suae post notitiam utilitatis . quo genere in primis sensus et membra videmus ; quare etiam atque etiam procul est ut credere possis utilitatis ob officium potuisse creari .
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SOME VITAL FUNCTIONS In these affairs We crave that thou wilt passionately flee The one offence, and anxiously wilt shun The error of presuming the clear lights Of eyes created were that we might see; Or thighs and knees, aprop upon the feet, Thuswise can bended be, that we might step With goodly strides ahead; or forearms joined Unto the sturdy uppers, or serving hands On either side were given, that we might do Life's own demands. All such interpretation Is aft-for-fore with inverse reasoning, Since naught is born in body so that we May use the same, but birth engenders use: No seeing ere the lights of eyes were born, No speaking ere the tongue created was; But origin of tongue came long before Discourse of words, and ears created were Much earlier than any sound was heard; And all the members, so meseems, were there Before they got their use: and therefore, they Could not be gendered for the sake of use. But contrariwise, contending in the fight With hand to hand, and rending of the joints, And fouling of the limbs with gore, was there, O long before the gleaming spears ere flew; And nature prompted man to shun a wound, Before the left arm by the aid of art Opposed the shielding targe. And, verily, Yielding the weary body to repose, Far ancienter than cushions of soft beds, And quenching thirst is earlier than cups. These objects, therefore, which for use and life Have been devised, can be conceived as found For sake of using. But apart from such Are all which first were born and afterwards Gave knowledge of their own utility- Chief in which sort we note the senses, limbs: Wherefore, again, 'tis quite beyond thy power To hold that these could thus have been create For office of utility. |
114 |
Illud item non est mirandum , corporis ipsa quod natura cibum quaerit cuiusque animantis . quippe etenim fluere atque recedere corpora rebus multa modis multis docui , sed plurima debent ex animalibus ; quia sunt exercita motu , multa per os exhalantur , cum languida anhelant , multaque per sudorem ex alto pressa feruntur . his igitur rebus rarescit corpus et omnis subruitur natura , dolor quam consequitur rem . propterea capitur cibus , ut suffulciat artus et recreet vires inter datus , atque patentem per membra ac venas ut amorem opturet edendi . umor item discedit in omnia quae loca cumque poscunt umorem ; glomerataque multa vaporis corpora , quae stomacho praebent incendia nostro , dissupat adveniens liquor ac restinguit ut ignem , urere ne possit calor amplius aridus artus . sic igitur tibi anhela sitis de corpore nostro abluitur , sic expletur ieiuna cupido .
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Likewise, 'Tis nothing strange that all the breathing creatures Seek, even by nature of their frame, their food. Yes, since I've taught thee that from off the things Stream and depart innumerable bodies In modes innumerable too; but most Must be the bodies streaming from the living- Which bodies, vexed by motion evermore, Are through the mouth exhaled innumerable, When weary creatures pant, or through the sweat Squeezed forth innumerable from deep within. Thus body rarefies, so undermined In all its nature, and pain attends its state. And so the food is taken to underprop The tottering joints, and by its interfusion To re-create their powers, and there stop up The longing, open-mouthed through limbs and veins, For eating. And the moist no less departs Into all regions that demand the moist; And many heaped-up particles of hot, Which cause such burnings in these bellies of ours, The liquid on arriving dissipates And quenches like a fire, that parching heat No longer now can scorch the frame. And so, Thou seest how panting thirst is washed away From off our body, how the hunger-pang It, too, appeased. |
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Nunc qui fiat uti passus proferre queamus , cum volumus , quareque datum sit membra movere et quae res tantum hoc oneris protrudere nostri corporis insuerit , dicam : tu percipe dicta . dico animo nostro primum simulacra meandi accidere atque animum pulsare , ut diximus ante . inde voluntas fit ; neque enim facere incipit ullam rem quisquam , mens providit quid velit ante . id quod providet , illius rei constat imago , ergo animus cum sese ita commovet ut velit ire inque gredi , ferit extemplo quae in corpore toto per membra atque artus animai dissita vis est ; et facilest factu , quoniam coniuncta tenetur . inde ea proporro corpus ferit , atque ita tota paulatim moles protruditur atque movetur . praeterea tum rarescit quoque corpus et aër , scilicet ut debet qui semper mobilis extat , per patefacta venit penetratque foramina largus , et dispargitur ad partis ita quasque minutas corporis . hic igitur rebus fit utrimque duabus , corpus ut ac navis velis ventoque feratur . nec tamen illud in his rebus mirabile constat , tantula quod tantum corpus corpuscula possunt contorquere et onus totum convertere nostrum ; quippe etenim ventus subtili corpore tenvis trudit agens magnam magno molimine navem et manus una regit quanto vis impete euntem atque gubernaclum contorquet quo libet unum , multaque per trocleas et tympana pondere magno commovet atque levi sustollit machina nisu .
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Now, how it comes that we, Whene'er we wish, can step with strides ahead, And how 'tis given to move our limbs about, And what device is wont to push ahead This the big load of our corporeal frame, I'll say to thee- do thou attend what's said. I say that first some idol-films of walking Into our mind do fall and smite the mind, As said before. Thereafter will arises; For no one starts to do a thing, before The intellect previsions what it wills; And what it there pre-visioneth depends On what that image is. When, therefore, mind Doth so bestir itself that it doth will To go and step along, it strikes at once That energy of soul that's sown about In all the body through the limbs and frame- And this is easy of performance, since The soul is close conjoined with the mind. Next, soul in turn strikes body, and by degrees Thus the whole mass is pushed along and moved. Then too the body rarefies, and air, Forsooth as ever of such nimbleness, Comes on and penetrates aboundingly Through opened pores, and thus is sprinkled round Unto all smallest places in our frame. Thus then by these twain factors, severally, Body is borne like ship with oars and wind. Nor yet in these affairs is aught for wonder That particles so fine can whirl around So great a body and turn this weight of ours; For wind, so tenuous with its subtle body, Yet pushes, driving on the mighty ship Of mighty bulk; one hand directs the same, Whatever its momentum, and one helm Whirls it around, whither ye please; and loads, Many and huge, are moved and hoisted high By enginery of pulley-blocks and wheels, With but light strain. |
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Nunc quibus ille modis somnus per membra quietem inriget atque animi curas e pectore solvat , suavidicis potius quom multis versibus edam , parvus ut est cycni melior canor , ille gruum quam clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri . tu mihi da tenuis auris animumque sagacem , ne fieri negites quae dicam posse retroque vera repulsanti discedas pectore dicta , tutemet in culpa cum sis neque cernere possis . Principio somnus fit ubi est distracta per artus vis animae partimque foras eiecta recessit et partim contrusa magis concessit in altum ; dissoluuntur enim tum demum membra fluuntque . nam dubium non est , animai quin opera sit sensus hic in nobis , quem cum sopor inpedit esse , tum nobis animam perturbatam esse putandumst eiectamque foras , non omnem ; namque iaceret aeterno corpus perfusum frigore leti . quippe ubi nulla latens animai pars remaneret in membris , cinere ut multa latet obrutus ignis , unde reconflari sensus per membra repente possit , ut ex igni caeco consurgere flamma ?
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Now, by what modes this sleep Pours through our members waters of repose And frees the breast from cares of mind, I'll tell In verses sweeter than they many are; Even as the swan's slight note is better far Than that dispersed clamour of the cranes Among the southwind's aery clouds. Do thou Give me sharp ears and a sagacious mind,- That thou mayst not deny the things to be Whereof I'm speaking, nor depart away With bosom scorning these the spoken truths, Thyself at fault unable to perceive. Sleep chiefly comes when energy of soul Hath now been scattered through the frame, and part Expelled abroad and gone away, and part Crammed back and settling deep within the frame- Whereafter then our loosened members droop. For doubt is none that by the work of soul Exist in us this sense, and when by slumber That sense is thwarted, we are bound to think The soul confounded and expelled abroad- Yet not entirely, else the frame would lie Drenched in the everlasting cold of death. In sooth, where no one part of soul remained Lurking among the members, even as fire Lurks buried under many ashes, whence Could sense amain rekindled be in members, As flame can rise anew from unseen fire? |
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Sed quibus haec rebus novitas confiat et unde perturbari anima et corpus languescere possit , expediam : tu fac ne ventis verba profundam . Principio externa corpus de parte necessum est , aëriis quoniam vicinum tangitur auris , tundier atque eius crebro pulsarier ictu , proptereaque fere res omnes aut corio sunt aut etiam conchis aut callo aut cortice tectae . interiorem etiam partem spirantibus aër verberat hic idem , cum ducitur atque reflatur . quare utrimque secus cum corpus vapulet et cum perveniant plagae per parva foramina nobis corporis ad primas partis elementaque prima , fit quasi paulatim nobis per membra ruina . conturbantur enim positurae principiorum corporis atque animi . fit uti pars inde animai eliciatur et introrsum pars abdita cedat , pars etiam distracta per artus non queat esse coniuncta inter se neque motu mutua fungi ; inter enim saepit coetus natura viasque . ergo sensus abit mutatis motibus alte . et quoniam non est quasi quod suffulciat artus , debile fit corpus languescuntque omnia membra , bracchia palpebraeque cadunt poplitesque cubanti saepe tamen summittuntur virisque resolvunt . Deinde cibum sequitur somnus , quia , quae facit aër , haec eadem cibus , in venas dum diditur omnis , efficit . et multo sopor ille gravissimus exstat , quem satur aut lassus capias , quia plurima tum se corpora conturbant magno contusa labore . fit ratione eadem coniectus parte animai altior atque foras eiectus largior eius , et divisior inter se ac distractior intus .
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By what devices this strange state and new May be occasioned, and by what the soul Can be confounded and the frame grow faint, I will untangle: see to it, thou, that I Pour forth my words not unto empty winds. In first place, body on its outer parts- Since these are touched by neighbouring aery gusts- Must there be thumped and strook by blows of air Repeatedly. And therefore almost all Are covered either with hides, or else with shells, Or with the horny callus, or with bark. Yet this same air lashes their inner parts, When creatures draw a breath or blow it out. Wherefore, since body thus is flogged alike Upon the inside and the out, and blows Come in upon us through the little pores Even inward to our body's primal parts And primal elements, there comes to pass By slow degrees, along our members then, A kind of overthrow; for then confounded Are those arrangements of the primal germs Of body and of mind. It comes to pass That next a part of soul's expelled abroad, A part retreateth in recesses hid, A part, too, scattered all about the frame, Cannot become united nor engage In interchange of motion. Nature now So hedges off approaches and the paths; And thus the sense, its motions all deranged, Retires down deep within; and since there's naught, As 'twere, to prop the frame, the body weakens, And all the members languish, and the arms And eyelids fall, and, as ye lie abed, Even there the houghs will sag and loose their powers. Again, sleep follows after food, because The food produces same result as air, Whilst being scattered round through all the veins; And much the heaviest is that slumber which, Full or fatigued, thou takest; since 'tis then That the most bodies disarrange themselves, Bruised by labours hard. And in same wise, This three-fold change: a forcing of the soul Down deeper, more a casting-forth of it, A moving more divided in its parts And scattered more. |
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Et quo quisque fere studio devinctus adhaeret aut quibus in rebus multum sumus ante morati atque in ea ratione fuit contenta magis mens , in somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire : causidici causas agere et componere leges , induperatores pugnare ac proelia obire , nautae contractum cum ventis degere bellum , nos agere hoc autem et naturam quaerere rerum semper et inventam patriis exponere chartis . cetera sic studia atque artes plerumque videntur in somnis animos hominum frustrata tenere . et qui cumque dies multos ex ordine ludis adsiduas dederunt operas , plerumque videmus , cum iam destiterunt ea sensibus usurpare , relicuas tamen esse vias in mente patentis , qua possint eadem rerum simulacra venire ; per multos itaque illa dies eadem obversantur ante oculos , etiam vigilantes ut videantur cernere saltantis et mollia membra moventis et citharae liquidum carmen chordasque loquentis auribus accipere et consessum cernere eundem scenaique simul varios splendere decores . usque adeo magni refert studium atque voluntas , et quibus in rebus consuerint esse operati non homines solum sed vero animalia cuncta . quippe videbis equos fortis , cum membra iacebunt , in somnis sudare tamen spirareque semper et quasi de palma summas contendere viris aut quasi carceribus patefactis venantumque canes in molli saepe quiete iactant crura tamen subito vocisque repente mittunt et crebro redducunt naribus auras . ut vestigia si teneant inventa ferarum , expergefactique secuntur inania saepe cervorum simulacra , fugae quasi dedita cernant , donec discussis redeant erroribus ad se . at consueta domi catulorum blanda propago discutere et corpus de terra corripere instant , proinde quasi ignotas facies atque ora tuantur . et quo quaeque magis sunt aspera seminiorum , tam magis in somnis eadem saevire necessust . at variae fugiunt volucres pinnisque repente sollicitant divom nocturno tempore lucos , accipitres somno in leni si proelia pugnas edere sunt persectantes visaeque volantes . porro hominum mentes , magnis quae motibus edunt magna , itidem saepe in somnis faciuntque geruntque , reges expugnant , capiuntur , proelia miscent , tollunt clamorem , quasi si iugulentur ibidem . multi depugnant gemitusque doloribus edunt et quasi pantherae morsu saevive leonis mandantur , magnis clamoribus omnia complent . multi de magnis per somnum rebus loquuntur indicioque sui facti persaepe fuere . multi mortem obeunt . multi , de montibus altis ut quasi praecipitent ad terram corpore toto , exterruntur et ex somno quasi mentibus capti vix ad se redeunt permoti corporis aestu . flumen item sitiens aut fontem propter amoenum adsidet et totum prope faucibus occupat amnem . puri saepe lacum propter si ac dolia curta somno devincti credunt se extollere vestem , totius umorem saccatum corporis fundunt , cum Babylonica magnifico splendore rigantur . tum quibus aetatis freta primitus insinuatur semen , ubi ipsa dies membris matura creavit , conveniunt simulacra foris e corpore quoque , nuntia praeclari voltus pulchrique coloris , qui ciet inritans loca turgida semine multo , ut quasi transactis saepe omnibus rebus profundant fluminis ingentis fluctus vestemque cruentent .
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And to whate'er pursuit A man most clings absorbed, or what the affairs On which we theretofore have tarried much, And mind hath strained upon the more, we seem In sleep not rarely to go at the same. The lawyers seem to plead and cite decrees, Commanders they to fight and go at frays, Sailors to live in combat with the winds, And we ourselves indeed to make this book, And still to seek the nature of the world And set it down, when once discovered, here In these my country's leaves. Thus all pursuits, All arts in general seem in sleeps to mock And master the minds of men. And whosoever Day after day for long to games have given Attention undivided, still they keep (As oft we note), even when they've ceased to grasp Those games with their own senses, open paths Within the mind wherethrough the idol-films Of just those games can come. And thus it is For many a day thereafter those appear Floating before the eyes, that even awake They think they view the dancers moving round Their supple limbs, and catch with both the ears The liquid song of harp and speaking chords, And view the same assembly on the seats, And manifold bright glories of the stage- So great the influence of pursuit and zest, And of the affairs wherein 'thas been the wont Of men to be engaged-nor only men, But soothly all the animals. Behold, Thou'lt see the sturdy horses, though outstretched, Yet sweating in their sleep, and panting ever, And straining utmost strength, as if for prize, As if, with barriers opened now... And hounds of huntsmen oft in soft repose Yet toss asudden all their legs about, And growl and bark, and with their nostrils sniff The winds again, again, as though indeed They'd caught the scented foot-prints of wild beasts, And, even when wakened, often they pursue The phantom images of stags, as though They did perceive them fleeing on before, Until the illusion's shaken off and dogs Come to themselves again. And fawning breed Of house-bred whelps do feel the sudden urge To shake their bodies and start from off the ground, As if beholding stranger-visages. And ever the fiercer be the stock, the more In sleep the same is ever bound to rage. But flee the divers tribes of birds and vex With sudden wings by night the groves of gods, When in their gentle slumbers they have dreamed Of hawks in chase, aswooping on for fight. Again, the minds of mortals which perform With mighty motions mighty enterprises, Often in sleep will do and dare the same In manner like. Kings take the towns by storm, Succumb to capture, battle on the field, Raise a wild cry as if their throats were cut Even then and there. And many wrestle on And groan with pains, and fill all regions round With mighty cries and wild, as if then gnawed By fangs of panther or of lion fierce. Many amid their slumbers talk about Their mighty enterprises, and have often Enough become the proof of their own crimes. Many meet death; many, as if headlong From lofty mountains tumbling down to earth With all their frame, are frenzied in their fright; And after sleep, as if still mad in mind, They scarce come to, confounded as they are By ferment of their frame. The thirsty man, Likewise, he sits beside delightful spring Or river and gulpeth down with gaping throat Nigh the whole stream. And oft the innocent young, By sleep o'ermastered, think they lift their dress By pail or public jordan and then void The water filtered down their frame entire And drench the Babylonian coverlets, Magnificently bright. Again, those males Into the surging channels of whose years Now first has passed the seed (engendered Within their members by the ripened days) Are in their sleep confronted from without By idol-images of some fair form- Tidings of glorious face and lovely bloom, Which stir and goad the regions turgid now With seed abundant; so that, as it were With all the matter acted duly out, They pour the billows of a potent stream And stain their garment. |
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Sollicitatur id nobis , quod diximus ante , semen , adulta aetas cum primum roborat artus . namque alias aliud res commovet atque lacessit ; ex homine humanum semen ciet una hominis vis . quod simul atque suis eiectum sedibus exit , per membra atque artus decedit corpore toto , in loca conveniens nervorum certa cietque continuo partis genitalis corporis ipsas . inritata tument loca semine fitque voluntas eicere id quo se contendit dira lubido , idque petit corpus , mens unde est saucia amore ; namque omnes plerumque cadunt in vulnus et illam emicat in partem sanguis , unde icimur ictu , et si comminus est , hostem ruber occupat umor . sic igitur Veneris qui telis accipit ictus , sive puer membris muliebribus hunc iaculatur seu mulier toto iactans e corpore amorem , unde feritur , eo tendit gestitque coire et iacere umorem in corpus de corpore ductum ; namque voluptatem praesagit muta cupido .
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And as said before, That seed is roused in us when once ripe age Has made our body strong... As divers causes give to divers things Impulse and irritation, so one force In human kind rouses the human seed To spurt from man. As soon as ever it issues, Forced from its first abodes, it passes down In the whole body through the limbs and frame, Meeting in certain regions of our thews, And stirs amain the genitals of man. The goaded regions swell with seed, and then Comes the delight to dart the same at what The mad desire so yearns, and body seeks That object, whence the mind by love is pierced. For well-nigh each man falleth toward his wound, And our blood spurts even toward the spot from whence The stroke wherewith we are strook, and if indeed The foe be close, the red jet reaches him. Thus, one who gets a stroke from Venus' shafts- Whether a boy with limbs effeminate Assault him, or a woman darting love From all her body- that one strains to get Even to the thing whereby he's hit, and longs To join with it and cast into its frame The fluid drawn even from within its own. For the mute craving doth presage delight. |
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Haec Venus est nobis ; hinc autemst nomen Amoris , hinc illaec primum Veneris dulcedinis in cor stillavit gutta et successit frigida cura ; nam si abest quod ames , praesto simulacra tamen sunt illius et nomen dulce obversatur ad auris . sed fugitare decet simulacra et pabula amoris absterrere sibi atque alio convertere mentem et iacere umorem coniectum in corpora quaeque nec retinere semel conversum unius amore et servare sibi curam certumque dolorem ; ulcus enim vivescit et inveterascit alendo inque dies gliscit furor atque aerumna gravescit , si non prima novis conturbes volnera plagis volgivagaque vagus Venere ante recentia cures aut alio possis animi traducere motus .
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THE PASSION OF LOVE This craving 'tis that's Venus unto us: From this, engender all the lures of love, From this, O first hath into human hearts Trickled that drop of joyance which ere long Is by chill care succeeded. Since, indeed, Though she thou lovest now be far away, Yet idol-images of her are near And the sweet name is floating in thy ear. But it behooves to flee those images; And scare afar whatever feeds thy love; And turn elsewhere thy mind; and vent the sperm, Within thee gathered, into sundry bodies, Nor, with thy thoughts still busied with one love, Keep it for one delight, and so store up Care for thyself and pain inevitable. For, lo, the ulcer just by nourishing Grows to more life with deep inveteracy, And day by day the fury swells aflame, And the woe waxes heavier day by day- Unless thou dost destroy even by new blows The former wounds of love, and curest them While yet they're fresh, by wandering freely round After the freely-wandering Venus, or Canst lead elsewhere the tumults of thy mind. |