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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
25
Sed
quoniam
docui
solidissima
materiai

corpora
perpetuo
volitare
invicta
per
aevom
,
nunc
age
,
summai
quaedam
sit
finis
eorum

nec
ne
sit
,
evolvamus
;
item
quod
inane
repertumst

seu
locus
ac
spatium
,
res
in
quo
quaeque
gerantur
,
pervideamus
utrum
finitum
funditus
omne

constet
an
immensum
pateat
vasteque
profundum
.
Omne
quod
est
igitur
nulla
regione
viarum

finitumst
;
namque
extremum
debebat
habere
.
extremum
porro
nullius
posse
videtur

esse
,
nisi
ultra
sit
quod
finiat
,
ut
videatur

quo
non
longius
haec
sensus
natura
sequatur
.
nunc
extra
summam
quoniam
nihil
esse
fatendum
,
non
habet
extremum
,
caret
ergo
fine
modoque
.
nec
refert
quibus
adsistas
regionibus
eius
;
usque
adeo
,
quem
quisque
locum
possedit
,
in
omnis

tantundem
partis
infinitum
omne
relinquit
.
Praeterea
si
iam
finitum
constituatur

omne
quod
est
spatium
,
si
quis
procurrat
ad
oras

ultimus
extremas
iaciatque
volatile
telum
,
id
validis
utrum
contortum
viribus
ire

quo
fuerit
missum
mavis
longeque
volare
,
an
prohibere
aliquid
censes
obstareque
posse
?
alterutrum
fatearis
enim
sumasque
necessest
.
quorum
utrumque
tibi
effugium
praecludit
et
omne

cogit
ut
exempta
concedas
fine
patere
.
nam
sive
est
aliquid
quod
probeat
efficiatque

quo
minus
quo
missum
est
veniat
finique
locet
se
,
sive
foras
fertur
,
non
est
a
fine
profectum
.
hoc
pacto
sequar
atque
,
oras
ubi
cumque
locaris

extremas
,
quaeram
:
quid
telo
denique
fiet
?
fiet
uti
nusquam
possit
consistere
finis

effugiumque
fugae
prolatet
copia
semper
.
Praeterea
spatium
summai
totius
omne

undique
si
inclusum
certis
consisteret
oris

finitumque
foret
,
iam
copia
materiai

undique
ponderibus
solidis
confluxet
ad
imum

nec
res
ulla
geri
sub
caeli
tegmine
posset

nec
foret
omnino
caelum
neque
lumina
solis
,
quippe
ubi
materies
omnis
cumulata
iaceret

ex
infinito
iam
tempore
subsidendo
.
at
nunc
ni
mirum
requies
data
principiorum

corporibus
nullast
,
quia
nil
est
funditus
imum
,
quo
quasi
confluere
et
sedes
ubi
ponere
possint
.
semper
in
adsiduo
motu
res
quaeque
geruntur

partibus
in
cunctis
,
infernaque
suppeditantur

ex
infinito
cita
corpora
materiai
.
Postremo
ante
oculos
res
rem
finire
videtur
;
aer
dissaepit
collis
atque
aera
montes
,
terra
mare
et
contra
mare
terras
terminat
omnis
;
omne
quidem
vero
nihil
est
quod
finiat
extra
.

But since I've taught that bodies of matter, made
Completely solid, hither and thither fly
Forevermore unconquered through all time,
Now come, and whether to the sum of them
There be a limit or be none, for thee
Let us unfold; likewise what has been found
To be the wide inane, or room, or space
Wherein all things soever do go on,
Let us examine if it finite be
All and entire, or reach unmeasured round
And downward an illimitable profound.
Thus, then, the All that is is limited
In no one region of its onward paths,
For then 'tmust have forever its beyond.
And a beyond 'tis seen can never be
For aught, unless still further on there be
A somewhat somewhere that may bound the same-
So that the thing be seen still on to where
The nature of sensation of that thing
Can follow it no longer. Now because
Confess we must there's naught beside the sum,
There's no beyond, and so it lacks all end.
It matters nothing where thou post thyself,
In whatsoever regions of the same;
Even any place a man has set him down
Still leaves about him the unbounded all
Outward in all directions; or, supposing
A moment the all of space finite to be,
If some one farthest traveller runs forth
Unto the extreme coasts and throws ahead
A flying spear, is't then thy wish to think
It goes, hurled off amain, to where 'twas sent
And shoots afar, or that some object there
Can thwart and stop it? For the one or other
Thou must admit and take. Either of which
Shuts off escape for thee, and does compel
That thou concede the all spreads everywhere,
Owning no confines. Since whether there be
Aught that may block and check it so it comes
Not where 'twas sent, nor lodges in its goal,
Or whether borne along, in either view
'Thas started not from any end. And so
I'll follow on, and whereso'er thou set
The extreme coasts, I'll query, "what becomes
Thereafter of thy spear?" 'Twill come to pass
That nowhere can a world's-end be, and that
The chance for further flight prolongs forever
The flight itself. Besides, were all the space
Of the totality and sum shut in
With fixed coasts, and bounded everywhere,
Then would the abundance of world's matter flow
Together by solid weight from everywhere
Still downward to the bottom of the world,
Nor aught could happen under cope of sky,
Nor could there be a sky at all or sun-
Indeed, where matter all one heap would lie,
By having settled during infinite time.
But in reality, repose is given
Unto no bodies 'mongst the elements,
Because there is no bottom whereunto
They might, as 'twere, together flow, and where
They might take up their undisturbed abodes.
In endless motion everything goes on
Forevermore; out of all regions, even
Out of the pit below, from forth the vast,
Are hurtled bodies evermore supplied.
26
est
igitur
natura
loci
spatiumque
profundi
,
quod
neque
clara
suo
percurrere
fulmina
cursu

perpetuo
possint
aevi
labentia
tractu

nec
prorsum
facere
ut
restet
minus
ire
meando
;
usque
adeo
passim
patet
ingens
copia
rebus

finibus
exemptis
in
cunctas
undique
partis
.
Ipsa
modum
porro
sibi
rerum
summa
parare

ne
possit
,
natura
tenet
,
quae
corpus
inane

et
quod
inane
autem
est
finiri
corpore
cogit
,
ut
sic
alternis
infinita
omnia
reddat
,
aut
etiam
alterutrum
,
nisi
terminet
alterum
eorum
,
simplice
natura
pateat
tamen
inmoderatum
,
nec
mare
nec
tellus
neque
caeli
lucida
templa

nec
mortale
genus
nec
divum
corpora
sancta

exiguum
possent
horai
sistere
tempus
;
nam
dispulsa
suo
de
coetu
materiai

copia
ferretur
magnum
per
inane
soluta
,
sive
adeo
potius
numquam
concreta
creasset

ullam
rem
,
quoniam
cogi
disiecta
nequisset
.
nam
certe
neque
consilio
primordia
rerum

ordine
se
suo
quaeque
sagaci
mente
locarunt

nec
quos
quaeque
darent
motus
pepigere
profecto

sed
quia
multa
modis
multis
mutata
per
omne

ex
infinito
vexantur
percita
plagis
,
omne
genus
motus
et
coetus
experiundo

tandem
deveniunt
in
talis
disposituras
,
qualibus
haec
rerum
consistit
summa
creata
,
et
multos
etiam
magnos
servata
per
annos

ut
semel
in
motus
coniectast
convenientis
,
efficit
ut
largis
avidum
mare
fluminis
undis

integrent
amnes
et
solis
terra
vapore

fota
novet
fetus
summissaque
gens
animantum

floreat
et
vivant
labentis
aetheris
ignes
.
quod
nullo
facerent
pacto
,
nisi
materiai

ex
infinito
suboriri
copia
posset
,
unde
amissa
solent
reparare
in
tempore
quaeque
.
nam
vel
uti
privata
cibo
natura
animantum

diffluit
amittens
corpus
,
sic
omnia
debent

dissolui
simul
ac
defecit
suppeditare

materies
aliqua
ratione
aversa
viai
.
nec
plagae
possunt
extrinsecus
undique
summam

conservare
omnem
,
quae
cumque
est
conciliata
.
cudere
enim
crebro
possunt
partemque
morari
,
dum
veniant
aliae
ac
suppleri
summa
queatur
;
inter
dum
resilire
tamen
coguntur
et
una

principiis
rerum
spatium
tempusque
fugai

largiri
,
ut
possint
a
coetu
libera
ferri
.
quare
etiam
atque
etiam
suboriri
multa
necessest
,
et
tamen
ut
plagae
quoque
possint
suppetere
ipsae
,
infinita
opus
est
vis
undique
materiai
.

The nature of room, the space of the abyss
Is such that even the flashing thunderbolts
Can neither speed upon their courses through,
Gliding across eternal tracts of time,
Nor, further, bring to pass, as on they run,
That they may bate their journeying one whit:
Such huge abundance spreads for things around-
Room off to every quarter, without end.
Lastly, before our very eyes is seen
Thing to bound thing: air hedges hill from hill,
And mountain walls hedge air; land ends the sea,
And sea in turn all lands; but for the All
Truly is nothing which outside may bound.
That, too, the sum of things itself may not
Have power to fix a measure of its own,
Great nature guards, she who compels the void
To bound all body, as body all the void,
Thus rendering by these alternates the whole
An infinite; or else the one or other,
Being unbounded by the other, spreads,
Even by its single nature, ne'ertheless
Immeasurably forth....
Nor sea, nor earth, nor shining vaults of sky,
Nor breed of mortals, nor holy limbs of gods
Could keep their place least portion of an hour:
For, driven apart from out its meetings fit,
The stock of stuff, dissolved, would be borne
Along the illimitable inane afar,
Or rather, in fact, would ne'er have once combined
And given a birth to aught, since, scattered wide,
It could not be united. For of truth
Neither by counsel did the primal germs
'Stablish themselves, as by keen act of mind,
Each in its proper place; nor did they make,
Forsooth, a compact how each germ should move;
But since, being many and changed in many modes
Along the All, they're driven abroad and vexed
By blow on blow, even from all time of old,
They thus at last, after attempting all
The kinds of motion and conjoining, come
Into those great arrangements out of which
This sum of things established is create,
By which, moreover, through the mighty years,
It is preserved, when once it has been thrown
Into the proper motions, bringing to pass
That ever the streams refresh the greedy main
With river-waves abounding, and that earth,
Lapped in warm exhalations of the sun,
Renews her broods, and that the lusty race
Of breathing creatures bears and blooms, and that
The gliding fires of ether are alive-
What still the primal germs nowise could do,
Unless from out the infinite of space
Could come supply of matter, whence in season
They're wont whatever losses to repair.
For as the nature of breathing creatures wastes,
Losing its body, when deprived of food:
So all things have to be dissolved as soon
As matter, diverted by what means soever
From off its course, shall fail to be on hand.
Nor can the blows from outward still conserve,
On every side, whatever sum of a world
Has been united in a whole. They can
Indeed, by frequent beating, check a part,
Till others arriving may fulfil the sum;
But meanwhile often are they forced to spring
Rebounding back, and, as they spring, to yield,
Unto those elements whence a world derives,
Room and a time for flight, permitting them
To be from off the massy union borne
Free and afar. Wherefore, again, again:
Needs must there come a many for supply;
And also, that the blows themselves shall be
Unfailing ever, must there ever be
An infinite force of matter all sides round.
27
Illud
in
his
rebus
longe
fuge
credere
,
Memmi
,
in
medium
summae
quod
dicunt
omnia
niti

atque
ideo
mundi
naturam
stare
sine
ullis

ictibus
externis
neque
quoquam
posse
resolvi

summa
atque
ima
,
quod
in
medium
sint
omnia
nixa
,
ipsum
si
quicquam
posse
in
se
sistere
credis
,
et
quae
pondera
sunt
sub
terris
omnia
sursum

nitier
in
terraque
retro
requiescere
posta
,
ut
per
aquas
quae
nunc
rerum
simulacra
videmus
;
et
simili
ratione
animalia
suppa
vagari

contendunt
neque
posse
e
terris
in
loca
caeli

reccidere
inferiora
magis
quam
corpora
nostra

sponte
sua
possint
in
caeli
templa
volare
;
illi
cum
videant
solem
,
nos
sidera
noctis

cernere
et
alternis
nobiscum
tempora
caeli

dividere
et
noctes
parilis
agitare
diebus
.
sed
vanus
stolidis
haec
* * *
amplexi
quod
habent
perv
* * *
nam
medium
nihil
esse
potest
* * *
infinita
;
neque
omnino
,
si
iam
medium
sit
,
possit
ibi
quicquam
consistere
* * *
quam
quavis
alia
longe
ratione
* * *
omnis
enim
locus
ac
spatium
,
quod
in
ane
vocamus
,
per
medium
,
per
non
medium
,
concedere
debet

aeque
ponderibus
,
motus
qua
cumque
feruntur
.
nec
quisquam
locus
est
,
quo
corpora
cum
venerunt
,
ponderis
amissa
vi
possint
stare
in
inani
;
nec
quod
inane
autem
est
ulli
subsistere
debet
,
quin
,
sua
quod
natura
petit
,
concedere
pergat
.
haud
igitur
possunt
tali
ratione
teneri

res
in
concilium
medii
cuppedine
victae
.

And in these problems, shrink, my Memmius, far
From yielding faith to that notorious talk:
That all things inward to the centre press;
And thus the nature of the world stands firm
With never blows from outward, nor can be
Nowhere disparted- since all height and depth
Have always inward to the centre pressed
(If thou art ready to believe that aught
Itself can rest upon itself ); or that
The ponderous bodies which be under earth
Do all press upwards and do come to rest
Upon the earth, in some way upside down,
Like to those images of things we see
At present through the waters. They contend,
With like procedure, that all breathing things
Head downward roam about, and yet cannot
Tumble from earth to realms of sky below,
No more than these our bodies wing away
Spontaneously to vaults of sky above;
That, when those creatures look upon the sun,
We view the constellations of the night;
And that with us the seasons of the sky
They thus alternately divide, and thus
Do pass the night coequal to our days,
But a vain error has given these dreams to fools,
Which they've embraced with reasoning perverse
For centre none can be where world is still
Boundless, nor yet, if now a centre were,
Could aught take there a fixed position more
Than for some other cause 'tmight be dislodged.
For all of room and space we call the void
Must both through centre and non-centre yield
Alike to weights where'er their motions tend.
Nor is there any place, where, when they've come,
Bodies can be at standstill in the void,
Deprived of force of weight; nor yet may void
Furnish support to any,- nay, it must,
True to its bent of nature, still give way.
Thus in such manner not at all can things
Be held in union, as if overcome
By craving for a centre.
28
Praeterea
quoniam
non
omnia
corpora
fingunt

in
medium
niti
,
sed
terrarum
atque
liquoris

umorem
ponti
magnasque
e
montibus
undas
,
et
quasi
terreno
quae
corpore
contineantur
,
at
contra
tenuis
exponunt
aeris
auras

et
calidos
simul
a
medio
differrier
ignis
,
atque
ideo
totum
circum
tremere
aethera
signis

et
solis
flammam
per
caeli
caerula
pasci
,
quod
calor
a
medio
fugiens
se
ibi
conligat
omnis
,
nec
prorsum
arboribus
summos
frondescere
ramos

posse
,
nisi
a
terris
paulatim
cuique
cibatum

ne
volucri
ritu
flammarum
moenia
mundi

diffugiant
subito
magnum
per
inane
soluta

et
ne
cetera
consimili
ratione
sequantur

neve
ruant
caeli
tonitralia
templa
superne

terraque
se
pedibus
raptim
subducat
et
omnis

inter
permixtas
rerum
caelique
ruinas

corpora
solventes
abeat
per
inane
profundum
,
temporis
ut
puncto
nihil
extet
reliquiarum

desertum
praeter
spatium
et
primordia
caeca
.
nam
qua
cumque
prius
de
parti
corpora
desse

constitues
,
haec
rebus
erit
pars
ianua
leti
,
hac
se
turba
foras
dabit
omnis
materiai
.
Haec
sic
pernosces
parva
perductus
opella
;
namque
alid
ex
alio
clarescet
nec
tibi
caeca

nox
iter
eripiet
,
quin
ultima
naturai

pervideas
:
ita
res
accendent
lumina
rebus
.

But besides,
Seeing they feign that not all bodies press
To centre inward, rather only those
Of earth and water (liquid of the sea,
And the big billows from the mountain slopes,
And whatsoever are encased, as 'twere,
In earthen body), contrariwise, they teach
How the thin air, and with it the hot fire,
Is borne asunder from the centre, and how,
For this all ether quivers with bright stars,
And the sun's flame along the blue is fed
(Because the heat, from out the centre flying,
All gathers there), and how, again, the boughs
Upon the tree-tops could not sprout their leaves,
Unless, little by little, from out the earth
For each were nutriment...
. . . . . .
Lest, after the manner of the winged flames,
The ramparts of the world should flee away,
Dissolved amain throughout the mighty void,
And lest all else should likewise follow after,
Aye, lest the thundering vaults of heaven should burst
And splinter upward, and the earth forthwith
Withdraw from under our feet, and all its bulk,
Among its mingled wrecks and those of heaven,
With slipping asunder of the primal seeds,
Should pass, along the immeasurable inane,
Away forever, and, that instant, naught
Of wrack and remnant would be left, beside
The desolate space, and germs invisible.
For on whatever side thou deemest first
The primal bodies lacking, lo, that side
Will be for things the very door of death:
Wherethrough the throng of matter all will dash,
Out and abroad.
These points, if thou wilt ponder,
Then, with but paltry trouble led along...
. . . . . .
For one thing after other will grow clear,
Nor shall the blind night rob thee of the road,
To hinder thy gaze on nature's Farthest-forth.
Thus things for things shall kindle torches new.
29
Liber
Secundus
BOOK II
30
Suave
,
mari
magno
turbantibus
aequora
ventis

e
terra
magnum
alterius
spectare
laborem
;
non
quia
vexari
quemquamst
iucunda
voluptas
,
sed
quibus
ipse
malis
careas
quia
cernere
suavest
.
suave
etiam
belli
certamina
magna
tueri

per
campos
instructa
tua
sine
parte
pericli
;
sed
nihil
dulcius
est
,
bene
quam
munita
tenere

edita
doctrina
sapientum
templa
serena
,
despicere
unde
queas
alios
passimque
videre

errare
atque
viam
palantis
quaerere
vitae
,
certare
ingenio
,
contendere
nobilitate
,
noctes
atque
dies
niti
praestante
labore

ad
summas
emergere
opes
rerumque
potiri
.
o
miseras
hominum
mentes
,
o
pectora
caeca
!
qualibus
in
tenebris
vitae
quantisque
periclis

degitur
hoc
aevi
quod
cumquest
!
nonne
videre

nihil
aliud
sibi
naturam
latrare
,
nisi
ut
qui

corpore
seiunctus
dolor
absit
,
mente
fruatur

iucundo
sensu
cura
semota
metuque
?
ergo
corpoream
ad
naturam
pauca
videmus

esse
opus
omnino
:
quae
demant
cumque
dolorem
,
delicias
quoque
uti
multas
substernere
possint

gratius
inter
dum
,
neque
natura
ipsa
requirit
,
si
non
aurea
sunt
iuvenum
simulacra
per
aedes

lampadas
igniferas
manibus
retinentia
dextris
,
lumina
nocturnis
epulis
ut
suppeditentur
,
nec
domus
argento
fulget
auroque
renidet

nec
citharae
reboant
laqueata
aurataque
templa
,
cum
tamen
inter
se
prostrati
in
gramine
molli

propter
aquae
rivum
sub
ramis
arboris
altae

non
magnis
opibus
iucunde
corpora
curant
,
praesertim
cum
tempestas
adridet
et
anni

tempora
conspergunt
viridantis
floribus
herbas
.
nec
calidae
citius
decedunt
corpore
febres
,
textilibus
si
in
picturis
ostroque
rubenti

iacteris
,
quam
si
in
plebeia
veste
cubandum
est
.
quapropter
quoniam
nihil
nostro
in
corpore
gazae

proficiunt
neque
nobilitas
nec
gloria
regni
,
quod
super
est
,
animo
quoque
nil
prodesse
putandum
;
si
non
forte
tuas
legiones
per
loca
campi

fervere
cum
videas
belli
simulacra
cientis
,
subsidiis
magnis
et
opum
vi
constabilitas
,
ornatas
armis
stlattas
pariterque
animatas
,
his
tibi
tum
rebus
timefactae
religiones

effugiunt
animo
pavidae
mortisque
timores

tum
vacuum
pectus
lincunt
curaque
solutum
.
quod
si
ridicula
haec
ludibriaque
esse
videmus
,
re
veraque
metus
hominum
curaeque
sequaces

nec
metuunt
sonitus
armorum
nec
fera
tela

audacterque
inter
reges
rerumque
potentis

versantur
neque
fulgorem
reverentur
ab
auro

nec
clarum
vestis
splendorem
purpureai
,
quid
dubitas
quin
omnis
sit
haec
rationis
potestas
,
omnis
cum
in
tenebris
praesertim
vita
laboret
?
nam
vel
uti
pueri
trepidant
atque
omnia
caecis

in
tenebris
metuunt
,
sic
nos
in
luce
timemus

inter
dum
,
nihilo
quae
sunt
metuenda
magis
quam

quae
pueri
in
tenebris
pavitant
finguntque
futura
.
hunc
igitur
terrorem
animi
tenebrasque
necessest

non
radii
solis
neque
lucida
tela
diei

discutiant
,
sed
naturae
species
ratioque
.
PROEM
'Tis sweet, when, down the mighty main, the winds
Roll up its waste of waters, from the land
To watch another's labouring anguish far,
Not that we joyously delight that man
Should thus be smitten, but because 'tis sweet
To mark what evils we ourselves be spared;
'Tis sweet, again, to view the mighty strife
Of armies embattled yonder o'er the plains,
Ourselves no sharers in the peril; but naught
There is more goodly than to hold the high
Serene plateaus, well fortressed by the wise,
Whence thou may'st look below on other men
And see them ev'rywhere wand'ring, all dispersed
In their lone seeking for the road of life;
Rivals in genius, or emulous in rank,
Pressing through days and nights with hugest toil
For summits of power and mastery of the world.
O wretched minds of men! O blinded hearts!
In how great perils, in what darks of life
Are spent the human years, however brief!-
O not to see that nature for herself
Barks after nothing, save that pain keep off,
Disjoined from the body, and that mind enjoy
Delightsome feeling, far from care and fear!
Therefore we see that our corporeal life
Needs little, altogether, and only such
As takes the pain away, and can besides
Strew underneath some number of delights.
More grateful 'tis at times (for nature craves
No artifice nor luxury), if forsooth
There be no golden images of boys
Along the halls, with right hands holding out
The lamps ablaze, the lights for evening feasts,
And if the house doth glitter not with gold
Nor gleam with silver, and to the lyre resound
No fretted and gilded ceilings overhead,
Yet still to lounge with friends in the soft grass
Beside a river of water, underneath
A big tree's boughs, and merrily to refresh
Our frames, with no vast outlay- most of all
If the weather is laughing and the times of the year
Besprinkle the green of the grass around with flowers.
Nor yet the quicker will hot fevers go,
If on a pictured tapestry thou toss,
Or purple robe, than if 'tis thine to lie
Upon the poor man's bedding. Wherefore, since
Treasure, nor rank, nor glory of a reign
Avail us naught for this our body, thus
Reckon them likewise nothing for the mind:
Save then perchance, when thou beholdest forth
Thy legions swarming round the Field of Mars,
Rousing a mimic warfare- either side
Strengthened with large auxiliaries and horse,
Alike equipped with arms, alike inspired;
Or save when also thou beholdest forth
Thy fleets to swarm, deploying down the sea:
For then, by such bright circumstance abashed,
Religion pales and flees thy mind; O then
The fears of death leave heart so free of care.
But if we note how all this pomp at last
Is but a drollery and a mocking sport,
And of a truth man's dread, with cares at heels,
Dreads not these sounds of arms, these savage swords
But among kings and lords of all the world
Mingles undaunted, nor is overawed
By gleam of gold nor by the splendour bright
Of purple robe, canst thou then doubt that this
Is aught, but power of thinking?- when, besides
The whole of life but labours in the dark.
For just as children tremble and fear all
In the viewless dark, so even we at times
Dread in the light so many things that be
No whit more fearsome than what children feign,
Shuddering, will be upon them in the dark.
This terror then, this darkness of the mind,
Not sunrise with its flaring spokes of light,
Nor glittering arrows of morning can disperse,
But only nature's aspect and her law.
31
Nunc
age
,
quo
motu
genitalia
materiai

corpora
res
varias
gignant
genitasque
resolvant

et
qua
vi
facere
id
cogantur
quaeque
sit
ollis

reddita
mobilitas
magnum
per
inane
meandi
,
expediam
:
tu
te
dictis
praebere
memento
.
nam
certe
non
inter
se
stipata
cohaeret

materies
,
quoniam
minui
rem
quamque
videmus

et
quasi
longinquo
fluere
omnia
cernimus
aevo

ex
oculisque
vetustatem
subducere
nostris
,
cum
tamen
incolumis
videatur
summa
manere

propterea
quia
,
quae
decedunt
corpora
cuique
,
unde
abeunt
minuunt
,
quo
venere
augmine
donant
.
illa
senescere
,
at
haec
contra
florescere
cogunt
,
nec
remorantur
ibi
.
sic
rerum
summa
novatur

semper
,
et
inter
se
mortales
mutua
vivunt
.
augescunt
aliae
gentes
,
aliae
minuuntur
,
inque
brevi
spatio
mutantur
saecla
animantum

et
quasi
cursores
vitai
lampada
tradunt
.
ATOMIC MOTIONS
Now come: I will untangle for thy steps
Now by what motions the begetting bodies
Of the world-stuff beget the varied world,
And then forever resolve it when begot,
And by what force they are constrained to this,
And what the speed appointed unto them
Wherewith to travel down the vast inane:
Do thou remember to yield thee to my words.
For truly matter coheres not, crowds not tight,
Since we behold each thing to wane away,
And we observe how all flows on and off,
As 'twere, with age-old time, and from our eyes
How eld withdraws each object at the end,
Albeit the sum is seen to bide the same,
Unharmed, because these motes that leave each thing
Diminish what they part from, but endow
With increase those to which in turn they come,
Constraining these to wither in old age,
And those to flower at the prime (and yet
Biding not long among them). Thus the sum
Forever is replenished, and we live
As mortals by eternal give and take.
The nations wax, the nations wane away;
In a brief space the generations pass,
And like to runners hand the lamp of life
One unto other.
32
Si
cessare
putas
rerum
primordia
posse

cessandoque
novos
rerum
progignere
motus
,
avius
a
vera
longe
ratione
vagaris
.
nam
quoniam
per
inane
vagantur
,
cuncta
necessest

aut
gravitate
sua
ferri
primordia
rerum

aut
ictu
forte
alterius
.
nam
cum
cita
saepe

obvia
conflixere
,
fit
ut
diversa
repente

dissiliant
;
neque
enim
mirum
,
durissima
quae
sint

ponderibus
solidis
neque
quicquam
a
tergibus
obstet
.
et
quo
iactari
magis
omnia
materiai

corpora
pervideas
,
reminiscere
totius
imum

nil
esse
in
summa
,
neque
habere
ubi
corpora
prima

consistant
,
quoniam
spatium
sine
fine
modoquest

inmensumque
patere
in
cunctas
undique
partis

pluribus
ostendi
et
certa
ratione
probatumst
.
quod
quoniam
constat
,
ni
mirum
nulla
quies
est

reddita
corporibus
primis
per
inane
profundum
,
sed
magis
adsiduo
varioque
exercita
motu

partim
intervallis
magnis
confulta
resultant
,
pars
etiam
brevibus
spatiis
vexantur
ab
ictu
.
et
quae
cumque
magis
condenso
conciliatu

exiguis
intervallis
convecta
resultant
,
indupedita
suis
perplexis
ipsa
figuris
,
haec
validas
saxi
radices
et
fera
ferri

corpora
constituunt
et
cetera
de
genere
horum
.
paucula
quae
porro
magnum
per
inane
vagantur
,
cetera
dissiliunt
longe
longeque
recursant

in
magnis
intervallis
;
haec
aera
rarum

sufficiunt
nobis
et
splendida
lumina
solis
.
multaque
praeterea
magnum
per
inane
vagantur
,
conciliis
rerum
quae
sunt
reiecta
nec
usquam

consociare
etiam
motus
potuere
recepta
.
Cuius
,
uti
memoro
,
rei
simulacrum
et
imago

ante
oculos
semper
nobis
versatur
et
instat
.
contemplator
enim
,
cum
solis
lumina
cumque

inserti
fundunt
radii
per
opaca
domorum
:
multa
minuta
modis
multis
per
inane
videbis

corpora
misceri
radiorum
lumine
in
ipso

et
vel
ut
aeterno
certamine
proelia
pugnas

edere
turmatim
certantia
nec
dare
pausam
,
conciliis
et
discidiis
exercita
crebris
;
conicere
ut
possis
ex
hoc
,
primordia
rerum

quale
sit
in
magno
iactari
semper
inani
.
dum
taxat
,
rerum
magnarum
parva
potest
res

exemplare
dare
et
vestigia
notitiai
.
Hoc
etiam
magis
haec
animum
te
advertere
par
est

corpora
quae
in
solis
radiis
turbare
videntur
,
quod
tales
turbae
motus
quoque
materiai

significant
clandestinos
caecosque
subesse
.
multa
videbis
enim
plagis
ibi
percita
caecis

commutare
viam
retroque
repulsa
reverti

nunc
huc
nunc
illuc
in
cunctas
undique
partis
.
scilicet
hic
a
principiis
est
omnibus
error
.
prima
moventur
enim
per
se
primordia
rerum
,
inde
ea
quae
parvo
sunt
corpora
conciliatu

et
quasi
proxima
sunt
ad
viris
principiorum
,
ictibus
illorum
caecis
inpulsa
cientur
,
ipsaque
proporro
paulo
maiora
lacessunt
.
sic
a
principiis
ascendit
motus
et
exit

paulatim
nostros
ad
sensus
,
ut
moveantur

illa
quoque
,
in
solis
quae
lumine
cernere
quimus

nec
quibus
id
faciant
plagis
apparet
aperte
.

But if thou believe
That the primordial germs of things can stop,
And in their stopping give new motions birth,
Afar thou wanderest from the road of truth.
For since they wander through the void inane,
All the primordial germs of things must needs
Be borne along, either by weight their own,
Or haply by another's blow without.
For, when, in their incessancy so oft
They meet and clash, it comes to pass amain
They leap asunder, face to face: not strange-
Being most hard, and solid in their weights,
And naught opposing motion, from behind.
And that more clearly thou perceive how all
These mites of matter are darted round about,
Recall to mind how nowhere in the sum
Of All exists a bottom,- nowhere is
A realm of rest for primal bodies; since
(As amply shown and proved by reason sure)
Space has no bound nor measure, and extends
Unmetered forth in all directions round.
Since this stands certain, thus 'tis out of doubt
No rest is rendered to the primal bodies
Along the unfathomable inane; but rather,
Inveterately plied by motions mixed,
Some, at their jamming, bound aback and leave
Huge gaps between, and some from off the blow
Are hurried about with spaces small between.
And all which, brought together with slight gaps,
In more condensed union bound aback,
Linked by their own all inter-tangled shapes,-
These form the irrefragable roots of rocks
And the brute bulks of iron, and what else
Is of their kind...
The rest leap far asunder, far recoil,
Leaving huge gaps between: and these supply
For us thin air and splendour-lights of the sun.
And many besides wander the mighty void-
Cast back from unions of existing things,
Nowhere accepted in the universe,
And nowise linked in motions to the rest.
And of this fact (as I record it here)
An image, a type goes on before our eyes
Present each moment; for behold whenever
The sun's light and the rays, let in, pour down
Across dark halls of houses: thou wilt see
The many mites in many a manner mixed
Amid a void in the very light of the rays,
And battling on, as in eternal strife,
And in battalions contending without halt,
In meetings, partings, harried up and down.
From this thou mayest conjecture of what sort
The ceaseless tossing of primordial seeds
Amid the mightier void- at least so far
As small affair can for a vaster serve,
And by example put thee on the spoor
Of knowledge. For this reason too 'tis fit
Thou turn thy mind the more unto these bodies
Which here are witnessed tumbling in the light:
Namely, because such tumblings are a sign
That motions also of the primal stuff
Secret and viewless lurk beneath, behind.
For thou wilt mark here many a speck, impelled
By viewless blows, to change its little course,
And beaten backwards to return again,
Hither and thither in all directions round.
Lo, all their shifting movement is of old,
From the primeval atoms; for the same
Primordial seeds of things first move of self,
And then those bodies built of unions small
And nearest, as it were, unto the powers
Of the primeval atoms, are stirred up
By impulse of those atoms' unseen blows,
And these thereafter goad the next in size:
Thus motion ascends from the primevals on,
And stage by stage emerges to our sense,
Until those objects also move which we
Can mark in sunbeams, though it not appears
What blows do urge them.