De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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At nox obruit ingenti caligine terras , aut ubi de longo cursu sol ultima caeli impulit atque suos efflavit languidus ignis concussos itere et labefactos aëre multo , aut quia sub terras cursum convortere cogit vis eadem , supra quae terras pertulit orbem . Tempore item certo roseam Matuta per oras aetheris auroram differt et lumina pandit , aut quia sol idem , sub terras ille revertens , anticipat caelum radiis accendere temptans , aut quia conveniunt ignes et semina multa confluere ardoris consuerunt tempore certo , quae faciunt solis nova semper lumina gigni ; quod genus Idaeis fama est e montibus altis dispersos ignis orienti lumine cerni , inde coire globum quasi in unum et conficere orbem . nec tamen illud in his rebus mirabile debet esse , quod haec ignis tam certo tempore possint semina confluere et solis reparare nitorem . multa videmus enim , certo quae tempore fiunt omnibus in rebus . florescunt tempore certo arbusta et certo dimittunt tempore florem . nec minus in certo dentes cadere imperat aetas tempore et inpubem molli pubescere veste et pariter mollem malis demittere barbam . fulmina postremo nix imbres nubila venti non nimis incertis fiunt in partibus anni . namque ubi sic fuerunt causarum exordia prima atque ita res mundi cecidere ab origine prima , conseque quoque iam redeunt ex ordine certo .
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But night o'erwhelms the lands with vasty murk Either when sun, after his diurnal course, Hath walked the ultimate regions of the sky And wearily hath panted forth his fires, Shivered by their long journeying and wasted By traversing the multitudinous air, Or else because the self-same force that drave His orb along above the lands compels Him then to turn his course beneath the lands. Matuta also at a fixed hour Spreadeth the roseate morning out along The coasts of heaven and deploys the light, Either because the self-same sun, returning Under the lands, aspires to seize the sky, Striving to set it blazing with his rays Ere he himself appear, or else because Fires then will congregate and many seeds Of heat are wont, even at a fixed time, To stream together- gendering evermore New suns and light. Just so the story goes That from the Idaean mountain-tops are seen Dispersed fires upon the break of day Which thence combine, as 'twere, into one ball And form an orb. Nor yet in these affairs Is aught for wonder that these seeds of fire Can thus together stream at time so fixed And shape anew the splendour of the sun. For many facts we see which come to pass At fixed time in all things: burgeon shrubs At fixed time, and at a fixed time They cast their flowers; and Eld commands the teeth, At time as surely fixed, to drop away, And Youth commands the growing boy to bloom With the soft down and let from both his cheeks The soft beard fall. And lastly, thunder-bolts, Snow, rains, clouds, winds, at seasons of the year Nowise unfixed, all do come to pass. For where, even from their old primordial start Causes have ever worked in such a way, And where, even from the world's first origin, Thuswise have things befallen, so even now After a fixed order they come round In sequence also. |
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Crescere itemque dies licet et tabescere noctes , et minui luces , cum sumant augmina noctis , aut quia sol idem sub terras atque superne imparibus currens amfractibus aetheris oras partit et in partis non aequas dividit orbem , et quod ab alterutra detraxit parte , reponit eius in adversa tanto plus parte relatus , donec ad id signum caeli pervenit , ubi anni nodus nocturnas exaequat lucibus umbras ; nam medio cursu flatus aquilonis et austri distinet aequato caelum discrimine metas propter signiferi posituram totius orbis , annua sol in quo concludit tempora serpens , obliquo terras et caelum lumine lustrans , ut ratio declarat eorum qui loca caeli omnia dispositis signis ornata notarunt . aut quia crassior est certis in partibus aër , sub terris ideo tremulum iubar haesitat ignis nec penetrare potest facile atque emergere ad ortus ; propterea noctes hiberno tempore longae cessant , dum veniat radiatum insigne diei . aut etiam , quia sic alternis partibus anni tardius et citius consuerunt confluere ignes , qui faciunt solem certa de surgere parte , propterea fit uti videantur dicere verum .
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Likewise, days may wax Whilst the nights wane, and daylight minished be Whilst nights do take their augmentations, Either because the self-same sun, coursing Under the lands and over in two arcs, A longer and a briefer, doth dispart The coasts of ether and divides in twain His orbit all unequally, and adds, As round he's borne, unto the one half there As much as from the other half he's ta'en, Until he then arrives that sign of heaven Where the year's node renders the shades of night Equal unto the periods of light. For when the sun is midway on his course Between the blasts of northwind and of south, Heaven keeps his two goals parted equally, By virtue of the fixed position old Of the whole starry Zodiac, through which That sun, in winding onward, takes a year, Illumining the sky and all the lands With oblique light- as men declare to us Who by their diagrams have charted well Those regions of the sky which be adorned With the arranged signs of Zodiac. Or else, because in certain parts the air Under the lands is denser, the tremulous Bright beams of fire do waver tardily, Nor easily can penetrate that air Nor yet emerge unto their rising-place: For this it is that nights in winter time Do linger long, ere comes the many-rayed Round Badge of the day. Or else because, as said, In alternating seasons of the year Fires, now more quick, and now more slow, are wont To stream together,- the fires which make the sun To rise in some one spot- therefore it is That those men seem to speak the truth [who hold A new sun is with each new daybreak born]. |
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Luna potest solis radiis percussa nitere inque dies magis lumen convertere nobis ad speciem , quantum solis secedit ab orbi , donique eum contra pleno bene lumine fulsit atque oriens obitus eius super edita vidit ; inde minutatim retro quasi condere lumen debet item , quanto propius iam solis ad ignem labitur ex alia signorum parte per orbem ; ut faciunt , lunam qui fingunt esse pilai consimilem cursusque viam sub sole tenere . est etiam quare proprio cum lumine possit volvier et varias splendoris reddere formas ; corpus enim licet esse aliud , quod fertur et una labitur omnimodis occursans officiensque , nec potis est cerni , quia cassum lumine fertur . versarique potest , globus ut , si forte , pilai dimidia ex parti candenti lumine tinctus , versandoque globum variantis edere formas , donique eam partem , quae cumque est ignibus aucta , ad speciem vertit nobis oculosque patentis ; inde minutatim retro contorquet et aufert luciferam partem glomeraminis atque pilai ; ut Babylonica Chaldaeum doctrina refutans astrologorum artem contra convincere tendit , proinde quasi id fieri nequeat quod pugnat uterque aut minus hoc illo sit cur amplectier ausis . denique cur nequeat semper nova luna creari ordine formarum certo certisque figuris inque dies privos aborisci quaeque creata atque alia illius reparari in parte locoque , difficilest ratione docere et vincere verbis , ordine cum tam certo multa creari . it Ver et Venus et Veneris praenuntius ante pennatus graditur , Zephyri vestigia propter Flora quibus mater praespargens ante viai cuncta coloribus egregiis et odoribus opplet . inde loci sequitur Calor aridus et comes una pulverulenta Ceres etesia flabra aquilonum . inde Autumnus adit , graditur simul Euhius Euan . inde aliae tempestates ventique secuntur , altitonans Volturnus et Auster fulmine pollens . tandem Bruma nives adfert pigrumque rigorem reddit . Hiemps sequitur crepitans hanc dentibus algu . quo minus est mirum , si certo tempore luna gignitur et certo deletur tempore rusus , cum fieri possint tam certo tempore multa .
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The moon she possibly doth shine because Strook by the rays of sun, and day by day May turn unto our gaze her light, the more She doth recede from orb of sun, until, Facing him opposite across the world, She hath with full effulgence gleamed abroad, And, at her rising as she soars above, Hath there observed his setting; thence likewise She needs must hide, as 'twere, her light behind By slow degrees, the nearer now she glides, Along the circle of the Zodiac, From her far place toward fires of yonder sun,- As those men hold who feign the moon to be Just like a ball and to pursue a course Betwixt the sun and earth. There is, again, Some reason to suppose that moon may roll With light her very own, and thus display The varied shapes of her resplendence there. For near her is, percase, another body, Invisible, because devoid of light, Borne on and gliding all along with her, Which in three modes may block and blot her disk. Again, she may revolve upon herself, Like to a ball's sphere- if perchance that be- One half of her dyed o'er with glowing light, And by the revolution of that sphere She may beget for us her varying shapes, Until she turns that fiery part of her Full to the sight and open eyes of men; Thence by slow stages round and back she whirls, Withdrawing thus the luminiferous part Of her sphered mass and ball, as, verily, The Babylonian doctrine of Chaldees, Refuting the art of Greek astrologers, Labours, in opposition, to prove sure- As if, forsooth, the thing for which each fights, Might not alike be true,- or aught there were Wherefore thou mightest risk embracing one More than the other notion. Then, again, Why a new moon might not forevermore Created be with fixed successions there Of shapes and with configurations fixed, And why each day that bright created moon Might not miscarry and another be, In its stead and place, engendered anew, 'Tis hard to show by reason, or by words To prove absurd- since, lo, so many things Can be create with fixed successions: Spring-time and Venus come, and Venus' boy, The winged harbinger, steps on before, And hard on Zephyr's foot-prints Mother Flora, Sprinkling the ways before them, filleth all With colours and with odours excellent; Whereafter follows arid Heat, and he Companioned is by Ceres, dusty one, And by the Etesian Breezes of the north; Then cometh Autumn on, and with him steps Lord Bacchus, and then other Seasons too And other Winds do follow- the high roar Of great Volturnus, and the Southwind strong With thunder-bolts. At last earth's Shortest-Day Bears on to men the snows and brings again The numbing cold. And Winter follows her, His teeth with chills a-chatter. Therefore, 'tis The less a marvel, if at fixed time A moon is thus begotten and again At fixed time destroyed, since things so many Can come to being thus at fixed time. Likewise, the sun's eclipses and the moon's Far occultations rightly thou mayst deem |
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Solis item quoque defectus lunaeque latebras pluribus e causis fieri tibi posse putandumst . nam cur luna queat terram secludere solis lumine et a terris altum caput obstruere ei , obiciens caecum radiis ardentibus orbem , tempore eodem aliut facere id non posse putetur corpus , quod cassum labatur lumine semper ? solque suos etiam dimittere languidus ignis tempore cur certo nequeat recreareque lumen , cum loca praeteriit flammis infesta per auras , quae faciunt ignis interstingui atque perire ? et cur terra queat lunam spoliare vicissim lumine et oppressum solem super ipsa tenere , menstrua dum rigidas coni perlabitur umbras , tempore eodem aliud nequeat succurrere lunae corpus vel supra solis perlabier orbem , quod radios inter rumpat lumenque profusum ? et tamen ipsa suo si fulget luna nitore , cur nequeat certa mundi languescere parte , dum loca luminibus propriis inimica per exit ? . |
As due to several causes. For, indeed, Why should the moon be able to shut out Earth from the light of sun, and on the side To earthward thrust her high head under sun, Opposing dark orb to his glowing beams- And yet, at same time, one suppose the effect Could not result from some one other body Which glides devoid of light forevermore? Again, why could not sun, in weakened state, At fixed time for-lose his fires, and then, When he has passed on along the air Beyond the regions, hostile to his flames, That quench and kill his fires, why could not he Renew his light? And why should earth in turn Have power to rob the moon of light, and there, Herself on high, keep the sun hid beneath, Whilst the moon glideth in her monthly course Athrough the rigid shadows of the cone?- And yet, at same time, some one other body Not have the power to under-pass the moon, Or glide along above the orb of sun, Breaking his rays and outspread light asunder? And still, if moon herself refulgent be With her own sheen, why could she not at times In some one quarter of the mighty world Grow weak and weary, whilst she passeth through Regions unfriendly to the beams her own? |
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Quod superest , quoniam magni per caerula mundi qua fieri quicquid posset ratione resolvi , solis uti varios cursus lunaeque meatus noscere possemus quae vis et causa cieret , quove modo offecto lumine obire et neque opinantis tenebris obducere terras , cum quasi conivent et aperto lumine rursum omnia convisunt clara loca candida luce , nunc redeo ad mundi novitatem et mollia terrae arva , novo fetu quid primum in luminis oras tollere et incertis crerint committere ventis . Principio genus herbarum viridemque nitorem terra dedit circum collis camposque per omnis , florida fulserunt viridanti prata colore , arboribusque datumst variis exinde per auras crescendi magnum inmissis certamen habenis . ut pluma atque pili primum saetaeque creantur quadripedum membris et corpore pennipotentum , sic nova tum tellus herbas virgultaque primum sustulit , inde loci mortalia saecla creavit multa modis multis varia ratione coorta . nam neque de caelo cecidisse animalia possunt , nec terrestria de salsis exisse lacunis . linquitur ut merito maternum nomen adepta terra sit , e terra quoniam sunt cuncta creata . multaque nunc etiam existunt animalia terris imbribus et calido solis concreta vapore ; quo minus est mirum , si tum sunt plura coorta et maiora , nova tellure atque aethere adulta . principio genus alituum variaeque volucres ova relinquebant exclusae tempore verno , folliculos ut nunc teretis aestate cicadae lincunt sponte sua victum vitamque petentes . tum tibi terra dedit primum mortalia saecla . multus enim calor atque umor superabat in arvis . hoc ubi quaeque loci regio opportuna dabatur , crescebant uteri terram radicibus apti ; quos ubi tempore maturo pate fecerat aetas infantum , fugiens umorem aurasque petessens , convertebat ibi natura foramina terrae et sucum venis cogebat fundere apertis consimilem lactis , sicut nunc femina quaeque cum peperit , dulci repletur lacte , quod omnis impetus in mammas convertitur ille alimenti . terra cibum pueris , vestem vapor , herba cubile praebebat multa et molli lanugine abundans . at novitas mundi nec frigora dura ciebat nec nimios aestus nec magnis viribus auras . omnia enim pariter crescunt et robora sumunt .
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ORIGINS OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE And now to what remains!- Since I've resolved By what arrangements all things come to pass Through the blue regions of the mighty world,- How we can know what energy and cause Started the various courses of the sun And the moon's goings, and by what far means They can succumb, the while with thwarted light, And veil with shade the unsuspecting lands, When, as it were, they blink, and then again With open eye survey all regions wide, Resplendent with white radiance- I do now Return unto the world's primeval age And tell what first the soft young fields of earth With earliest parturition had decreed To raise in air unto the shores of light And to entrust unto the wayward winds. In the beginning, earth gave forth, around The hills and over all the length of plains, The race of grasses and the shining green; The flowery meadows sparkled all aglow With greening colour, and thereafter, lo, Unto the divers kinds of trees was given An emulous impulse mightily to shoot, With a free rein, aloft into the air. As feathers and hairs and bristles are begot The first on members of the four-foot breeds And on the bodies of the strong-y-winged, Thus then the new Earth first of all put forth Grasses and shrubs, and afterward begat The mortal generations, there upsprung- Innumerable in modes innumerable- After diverging fashions. For from sky These breathing-creatures never can have dropped, Nor the land-dwellers ever have come up Out of sea-pools of salt. How true remains, How merited is that adopted name Of earth- "The Mother!"- since from out the earth Are all begotten. And even now arise From out the loams how many living things- Concreted by the rains and heat of the sun. Wherefore 'tis less a marvel, if they sprang In Long Ago more many, and more big, Matured of those days in the fresh young years Of earth and ether. First of all, the race Of the winged ones and parti-coloured birds, Hatched out in spring-time, left their eggs behind; As now-a-days in summer tree-crickets Do leave their shiny husks of own accord, Seeking their food and living. Then it was This earth of thine first gave unto the day The mortal generations; for prevailed Among the fields abounding hot and wet. And hence, where any fitting spot was given, There 'gan to grow womb-cavities, by roots Affixed to earth. And when in ripened time The age of the young within (that sought the air And fled earth's damps) had burst these wombs, O then Would Nature thither turn the pores of earth And make her spurt from open veins a juice Like unto milk; even as a woman now Is filled, at child-bearing, with the sweet milk, Because all that swift stream of aliment Is thither turned unto the mother-breasts. There earth would furnish to the children food; Warmth was their swaddling cloth, the grass their bed Abounding in soft down. Earth's newness then Would rouse no dour spells of the bitter cold, Nor extreme heats nor winds of mighty powers- For all things grow and gather strength through time In like proportions; and then earth was young. |
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Quare etiam atque etiam maternum nomen adepta terra tenet merito , quoniam genus ipsa creavit humanum atque animal prope certo tempore fudit omne quod in magnis bacchatur montibus passim , aëriasque simul volucres variantibus formis . sed quia finem aliquam pariendi debet habere , destitit , ut mulier spatio defessa vetusto . mutat enim mundi naturam totius aetas ex alioque alius status excipere omnia debet nec manet ulla sui similis res : omnia migrant , omnia commutat natura et vertere cogit . namque aliud putrescit et aevo debile languet , porro aliud crescit et contemptibus exit . sic igitur mundi naturam totius aetas mutat , et ex alio terram status excipit alter , quod potuit nequeat , possit quod non tulit ante . Multaque tum tellus etiam portenta creare conatast mira facie membrisque coorta , androgynem , interutras necutrumque utrimque remotum , orba pedum partim , manuum viduata vicissim , muta sine ore etiam , sine voltu caeca reperta , vinctaque membrorum per totum corpus adhaesu , nec facere ut possent quicquam nec cedere quoquam nec vitare malum nec sumere quod volet usus . cetera de genere hoc monstra ac portenta creabat , ne quiquam , quoniam natura absterruit auctum nec potuere cupitum aetatis tangere florem nec reperire cibum nec iungi per Veneris res . multa videmus enim rebus concurrere debere , ut propagando possint procudere saecla ; pabula primum ut sint , genitalia deinde per artus semina qua possint membris manare remissis , feminaque ut maribus coniungi possit , habere , mutua qui mutent inter se gaudia uterque .
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Wherefore, again, again, how merited Is that adopted name of Earth- The Mother!- Since she herself begat the human race, And at one well-nigh fixed time brought forth Each breast that ranges raving round about Upon the mighty mountains and all birds Aerial with many a varied shape. But, lo, because her bearing years must end, She ceased, like to a woman worn by eld. For lapsing aeons change the nature of The whole wide world, and all things needs must take One status after other, nor aught persists Forever like itself. All things depart; Nature she changeth all, compelleth all To transformation. Lo, this moulders down, A-slack with weary eld, and that, again, Prospers in glory, issuing from contempt. In suchwise, then, the lapsing aeons change The nature of the whole wide world, and earth Taketh one status after other. And what She bore of old, she now can bear no longer, And what she never bore, she can to-day. In those days also the telluric world Strove to beget the monsters that upsprung With their astounding visages and limbs- The Man-woman- a thing betwixt the twain, Yet neither, and from either sex remote- Some gruesome Boggles orphaned of the feet, Some widowed of the hands, dumb Horrors too Without a mouth, or blind Ones of no eye, Or Bulks all shackled by their legs and arms Cleaving unto the body fore and aft, Thuswise, that never could they do or go, Nor shun disaster, nor take the good they would. And other prodigies and monsters earth Was then begetting of this sort- in vain, Since Nature banned with horror their increase, And powerless were they to reach unto The coveted flower of fair maturity, Or to find aliment, or to intertwine In works of Venus. For we see there must Concur in life conditions manifold, If life is ever by begetting life To forge the generations one by one: First, foods must be; and, next, a path whereby The seeds of impregnation in the frame May ooze, released from the members all; Last, the possession of those instruments Whereby the male with female can unite, The one with other in mutual ravishments. |
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Multaque tum interiisse animantum saecla necessest nec potuisse propagando procudere prolem . nam quae cumque vides vesci vitalibus auris , aut dolus aut virtus aut denique mobilitas est ex ineunte aevo genus id tuta TA reservans . multaque sunt , nobis ex utilitate sua quae commendata manent , tutelae tradita nostrae . principio genus acre leonum saevaque saecla tutatast virtus , volpes dolus et fuga cervos . at levisomna canum fido cum pectore corda , et genus omne quod est veterino semine partum lanigeraeque simul pecudes et bucera saecla omnia sunt hominum tutelae tradita , Memmi ; nam cupide fugere feras pacemque secuta sunt et larga suo sine pabula parta labore , quae damus utilitatis eorum praemia causa . at quis nil horum tribuit natura , nec ipsa sponte sua possent ut vivere nec dare nobis utilitatem aliquam , quare pateremur eorum praesidio nostro pasci genus esseque tutum , scilicet haec aliis praedae lucroque iacebant indupedita suis fatalibus omnia vinclis , donec ad interitum genus id natura redegit .
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And in the ages after monsters died, Perforce there perished many a stock, unable By propagation to forge a progeny. For whatsoever creatures thou beholdest Breathing the breath of life, the same have been Even from their earliest age preserved alive By cunning, or by valour, or at least By speed of foot or wing. And many a stock Remaineth yet, because of use to man, And so committed to man's guardianship. Valour hath saved alive fierce lion-breeds And many another terrorizing race, Cunning the foxes, flight the antlered stags. Light-sleeping dogs with faithful heart in breast, However, and every kind begot from seed Of beasts of draft, as, too, the woolly flocks And horned cattle, all, my Memmius, Have been committed to guardianship of men. For anxiously they fled the savage beasts, And peace they sought and their abundant foods, Obtained with never labours of their own, Which we secure to them as fit rewards For their good service. But those beasts to whom Nature has granted naught of these same things- Beasts quite unfit by own free will to thrive And vain for any service unto us In thanks for which we should permit their kind To feed and be in our protection safe- Those, of a truth, were wont to be exposed, Enshackled in the gruesome bonds of doom, As prey and booty for the rest, until Nature reduced that stock to utter death. |
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Sed neque Centauri fuerunt nec tempore in ullo esse queunt duplici natura et corpore bino ex alienigenis membris compacta , potestas hinc illinc partis ut sat par esse potissit . id licet hinc quamvis hebeti cognoscere corde . principio circum tribus actis impiger annis floret equus , puer haut quaquam ; nam saepe etiam nunc ubera mammarum in somnis lactantia quaeret . post ubi equum validae vires aetate senecta membraque deficiunt fugienti languida vita , tum demum puerili aevo florenta iuventas officit et molli vestit lanugine malas ; ne forte ex homine et veterino semine equorum confieri credas Centauros posse neque esse , aut rapidis canibus succinctas semimarinis corporibus Scyllas et cetera de genere horum , inter se quorum discordia membra videmus ; quae neque florescunt pariter nec robora sumunt corporibus neque proiciunt aetate senecta nec simili Venere ardescunt nec moribus unis conveniunt neque sunt eadem iucunda per artus . quippe videre licet pinguescere saepe cicuta barbigeras pecudes , homini quae est acre venenum . flamma quidem cum corpora fulva leonum tam soleat torrere atque urere quam genus omne visceris in terris quod cumque et sanguinis extet , qui fieri potuit , triplici cum corpore ut una , prima leo , postrema draco , media ipsa , Chimaera ore foras acrem flaret de corpore flammam ? quare etiam tellure nova caeloque recenti talia qui fingit potuisse animalia gigni , nixus in hoc uno novitatis nomine inani , multa licet simili ratione effutiat ore , aurea tum dicat per terras flumina vulgo fluxisse et gemmis florere arbusta suësse aut hominem tanto membrorum esse impete natum , trans maria alta pedum nisus ut ponere posset et manibus totum circum se vertere caelum . nam quod multa fuere in terris semina rerum , tempore quo primum tellus animalia fudit , nil tamen est signi mixtas potuisse creari inter se pecudes compactaque membra animantum , propterea quia quae de terris nunc quoque abundant herbarum genera ac fruges arbustaque laeta non tamen inter se possunt complexa creari , sed res quaeque suo ritu procedit et omnes foedere naturae certo discrimina servant .
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But Centaurs ne'er have been, nor can there be Creatures of twofold stock and double frame, Compact of members alien in kind, Yet formed with equal function, equal force In every bodily part- a fact thou mayst, However dull thy wits, well learn from this: The horse, when his three years have rolled away, Flowers in his prime of vigour; but the boy Not so, for oft even then he gropes in sleep After the milky nipples of the breasts, An infant still. And later, when at last The lusty powers of horses and stout limbs, Now weak through lapsing life, do fail with age, Lo, only then doth youth with flowering years Begin for boys, and clothe their ruddy cheeks With the soft down. So never deem, percase, That from a man and from the seed of horse, The beast of draft, can Centaurs be composed Or e'er exist alive, nor Scyllas be- The half-fish bodies girdled with mad dogs- Nor others of this sort, in whom we mark Members discordant each with each; for ne'er At one same time they reach their flower of age Or gain and lose full vigour of their frame, And never burn with one same lust of love, And never in their habits they agree, Nor find the same foods equally delightsome- Sooth, as one oft may see the bearded goats Batten upon the hemlock which to man Is violent poison. Once again, since flame Is wont to scorch and burn the tawny bulks Of the great lions as much as other kinds Of flesh and blood existing in the lands, How could it be that she, Chimaera lone, With triple body- fore, a lion she; And aft, a dragon; and betwixt, a goat- Might at the mouth from out the body belch Infuriate flame? Wherefore, the man who feigns Such beings could have been engendered When earth was new and the young sky was fresh (Basing his empty argument on new) May babble with like reason many whims Into our ears: he'll say, perhaps, that then Rivers of gold through every landscape flowed, That trees were wont with precious stones to flower, Or that in those far aeons man was born With such gigantic length and lift of limbs As to be able, based upon his feet, Deep oceans to bestride or with his hands To whirl the firmament around his head. For though in earth were many seeds of things In the old time when this telluric world First poured the breeds of animals abroad, Still that is nothing of a sign that then Such hybrid creatures could have been begot And limbs of all beasts heterogeneous Have been together knit; because, indeed, The divers kinds of grasses and the grains And the delightsome trees- which even now Spring up abounding from within the earth- Can still ne'er be begotten with their stems Begrafted into one; but each sole thing Proceeds according to its proper wont And all conserve their own distinctions based In nature's fixed decree. |