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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
33
Nunc
quae
mobilitas
sit
reddita
materiai

corporibus
,
paucis
licet
hinc
cognoscere
,
Memmi
.
primum
aurora
novo
cum
spargit
lumine
terras

et
variae
volucres
nemora
avia
pervolitantes

aera
per
tenerum
liquidis
loca
vocibus
opplent
,
quam
subito
soleat
sol
ortus
tempore
tali

convestire
sua
perfundens
omnia
luce
,
omnibus
in
promptu
manifestumque
esse
videmus
.
at
vapor
is
,
quem
sol
mittit
,
lumenque
serenum

non
per
inane
meat
vacuum
;
quo
tardius
ire

cogitur
,
aerias
quasi
dum
diverberat
undas
;
nec
singillatim
corpuscula
quaeque
vaporis

sed
complexa
meant
inter
se
conque
globata
;
qua
propter
simul
inter
se
retrahuntur
et
extra

officiuntur
,
uti
cogantur
tardius
ire
.
at
quae
sunt
solida
primordia
simplicitate
,
cum
per
inane
meant
vacuum
nec
res
remoratur

ulla
foris
atque
ipsa
suis
e
partibus
unum
,
unum
,
in
quem
coepere
,
locum
conixa
feruntur
,
debent
ni
mirum
praecellere
mobilitate

et
multo
citius
ferri
quam
lumina
solis

multiplexque
loci
spatium
transcurrere
eodem

tempore
quo
solis
pervolgant
fulgura
caelum
.
* * *
nec
persectari
primordia
singula
quaeque
,
ut
videant
qua
quicque
geratur
cum
ratione
.
At
quidam
contra
haec
,
ignari
materiai
,
naturam
non
posse
deum
sine
numine
reddunt

tanto
opere
humanis
rationibus
atmoderate

tempora
mutare
annorum
frugesque
creare

et
iam
cetera
,
mortalis
quae
suadet
adire

ipsaque
deducit
dux
vitae
dia
voluptas

et
res
per
Veneris
blanditur
saecla
propagent
,
ne
genus
occidat
humanum
.
quorum
omnia
causa

constituisse
deos
cum
fingunt
,
omnibus
rebus

magno
opere
a
vera
lapsi
ratione
videntur
.
nam
quamvis
rerum
ignorem
primordia
quae
sint
,
hoc
tamen
ex
ipsis
caeli
rationibus
ausim

confirmare
aliisque
ex
rebus
reddere
multis
,
nequaquam
nobis
divinitus
esse
creatam

naturam
mundi
:
tanta
stat
praedita
culpa
.
quae
tibi
posterius
,
Memmi
,
faciemus
aperta
;
nunc
id
quod
super
est
de
motibus
expediemus
.

Now what the speed to matter's atoms given
Thou mayest in few, my Memmius, learn from this:
When first the dawn is sprinkling with new light
The lands, and all the breed of birds abroad
Flit round the trackless forests, with liquid notes
Filling the regions along the mellow air,
We see 'tis forthwith manifest to man
How suddenly the risen sun is wont
At such an hour to overspread and clothe
The whole with its own splendour; but the sun's
Warm exhalations and this serene light
Travel not down an empty void; and thus
They are compelled more slowly to advance,
Whilst, as it were, they cleave the waves of air;
Nor one by one travel these particles
Of the warm exhalations, but are all
Entangled and enmassed, whereby at once
Each is restrained by each, and from without
Checked, till compelled more slowly to advance.
But the primordial atoms with their old
Simple solidity, when forth they travel
Along the empty void, all undelayed
By aught outside them there, and they, each one
Being one unit from nature of its parts,
Are borne to that one place on which they strive
Still to lay hold, must then, beyond a doubt,
Outstrip in speed, and be more swiftly borne
Than light of sun, and over regions rush,
Of space much vaster, in the self-same time
The sun's effulgence widens round the sky.
. . . . . .
Nor to pursue the atoms one by one,
To see the law whereby each thing goes on.
But some men, ignorant of matter, think,
Opposing this, that not without the gods,
In such adjustment to our human ways,
Can nature change the seasons of the years,
And bring to birth the grains and all of else
To which divine Delight, the guide of life,
Persuades mortality and leads it on,
That, through her artful blandishments of love,
It propagate the generations still,
Lest humankind should perish. When they feign
That gods have stablished all things but for man,
They seem in all ways mightily to lapse
From reason's truth: for ev'n if ne'er I knew
What seeds primordial are, yet would I dare
This to affirm, ev'n from deep judgment based
Upon the ways and conduct of the skies-
This to maintain by many a fact besides-
That in no wise the nature of the world
For us was builded by a power divine-
So great the faults it stands encumbered with:
The which, my Memmius, later on, for thee
We will clear up. Now as to what remains
Concerning motions we'll unfold our thought.
34
Nunc
locus
est
,
ut
opinor
,
in
his
illud
quoque
rebus

confirmare
tibi
,
nullam
rem
posse
sua
vi

corpoream
sursum
ferri
sursumque
meare
.
ne
tibi
dent
in
eo
flammarum
corpora
frudem
;
sursus
enim
versus
gignuntur
et
augmina
sumunt

et
sursum
nitidae
fruges
arbustaque
crescunt
,
pondera
,
quantum
in
se
est
,
cum
deorsum
cuncta
ferantur
.
nec
cum
subsiliunt
ignes
ad
tecta
domorum

et
celeri
flamma
degustant
tigna
trabesque
,
sponte
sua
facere
id
sine
vi
subiecta
putandum
est
.
quod
genus
e
nostro
com
missus
corpore
sanguis

emicat
exultans
alte
spargitque
cruorem
.
nonne
vides
etiam
quanta
vi
tigna
trabesque

respuat
umor
aquae
?
nam
quo
magis
ursimus
altum

derecta
et
magna
vi
multi
pressimus
aegre
,
tam
cupide
sursum
removet
magis
atque
remittit
,
plus
ut
parte
foras
emergant
exiliantque
.
nec
tamen
haec
,
quantum
est
in
se
,
dubitamus
,
opinor
,
quin
vacuum
per
inane
deorsum
cuncta
ferantur
.
sic
igitur
debent
flammae
quoque
posse
per
auras

aeris
expressae
sursum
succedere
,
quamquam

pondera
,
quantum
in
se
est
,
deorsum
deducere
pugnent
.
nocturnasque
faces
caeli
sublime
volantis

nonne
vides
longos
flammarum
ducere
tractus

in
quas
cumque
dedit
partis
natura
meatum
?
non
cadere
in
terras
stellas
et
sidera
cernis
?
sol
etiam
caeli
de
vertice
dissipat
omnis

ardorem
in
partis
et
lumine
conserit
arva
;
in
terras
igitur
quoque
solis
vergitur
ardor
.
transversosque
volare
per
imbris
fulmina
cernis
,
nunc
hinc
nunc
illinc
abrupti
nubibus
ignes

concursant
;
cadit
in
terras
vis
flammea
volgo
.

Now is the place, meseems, in these affairs
To prove for thee this too: nothing corporeal
Of its own force can e'er be upward borne,
Or upward go- nor let the bodies of flames
Deceive thee here: for they engendered are
With urge to upwards, taking thus increase,
Whereby grow upwards shining grains and trees,
Though all the weight within them downward bears.
Nor, when the fires will leap from under round
The roofs of houses, and swift flame laps up
Timber and beam, 'tis then to be supposed
They act of own accord, no force beneath
To urge them up. 'Tis thus that blood, discharged
From out our bodies, spurts its jets aloft
And spatters gore. And hast thou never marked
With what a force the water will disgorge
Timber and beam? The deeper, straight and down,
We push them in, and, many though we be,
The more we press with main and toil, the more
The water vomits up and flings them back,
That, more than half their length, they there emerge,
Rebounding. Yet we never doubt, meseems,
That all the weight within them downward bears
Through empty void. Well, in like manner, flames
Ought also to be able, when pressed out,
Through winds of air to rise aloft, even though
The weight within them strive to draw them down.
Hast thou not seen, sweeping so far and high,
The meteors, midnight flambeaus of the sky,
How after them they draw long trails of flame
Wherever Nature gives a thoroughfare?
How stars and constellations drop to earth,
Seest not? Nay, too, the sun from peak of heaven
Sheds round to every quarter its large heat,
And sows the new-ploughed intervales with light:
Thus also sun's heat downward tends to earth.
Athwart the rain thou seest the lightning fly;
Now here, now there, bursting from out the clouds,
The fires dash zig-zag- and that flaming power
Falls likewise down to earth.
35
Illud
in
his
quoque
te
rebus
cognoscere
avemus
,
corpora
cum
deorsum
rectum
per
inane
feruntur

ponderibus
propriis
,
incerto
tempore
ferme

incertisque
locis
spatio
depellere
paulum
,
tantum
quod
momen
mutatum
dicere
possis
.
quod
nisi
declinare
solerent
,
omnia
deorsum

imbris
uti
guttae
caderent
per
inane
profundum

nec
foret
offensus
natus
nec
plaga
creata

principiis
;
ita
nihil
umquam
natura
creasset
.
Quod
si
forte
aliquis
credit
graviora
potesse

corpora
,
quo
citius
rectum
per
inane
feruntur
,
incidere
ex
supero
levioribus
atque
ita
plagas

gignere
,
quae
possint
genitalis
reddere
motus
,
avius
a
vera
longe
ratione
recedit
.
nam
per
aquas
quae
cumque
cadunt
atque
aera
rarum
,
haec
pro
ponderibus
casus
celerare
necessest

propterea
quia
corpus
aquae
naturaque
tenvis

aeris
haud
possunt
aeque
rem
quamque
morari
,
sed
citius
cedunt
gravioribus
exsuperata
;
at
contra
nulli
de
nulla
parte
neque
ullo

tempore
inane
potest
vacuum
subsistere
rei
,
quin
,
sua
quod
natura
petit
,
concedere
pergat
;
omnia
qua
propter
debent
per
inane
quietum

aeque
ponderibus
non
aequis
concita
ferri
.
haud
igitur
poterunt
levioribus
incidere
umquam

ex
supero
graviora
neque
ictus
gignere
per
se
,
qui
varient
motus
,
per
quos
natura
gerat
res
.
quare
etiam
atque
etiam
paulum
inclinare
necessest

corpora
;
nec
plus
quam
minimum
,
ne
fingere
motus

obliquos
videamur
et
id
res
vera
refutet
.
namque
hoc
in
promptu
manifestumque
esse
videmus
,
pondera
,
quantum
in
se
est
,
non
posse
obliqua
meare
,
ex
supero
cum
praecipitant
,
quod
cernere
possis
;
sed
nihil
omnino
recta
regione
viai

declinare
quis
est
qui
possit
cernere
sese
?
Denique
si
semper
motu
conectitur
omnis

et
vetere
exoritur
motus
novus
ordine
certo

nec
declinando
faciunt
primordia
motus

principium
quoddam
,
quod
fati
foedera
rumpat
,
ex
infinito
ne
causam
causa
sequatur
,
libera
per
terras
unde
haec
animantibus
exstat
,
unde
est
haec
,
inquam
,
fatis
avolsa
voluntas
,
per
quam
progredimur
quo
ducit
quemque
voluptas
,
declinamus
item
motus
nec
tempore
certo

nec
regione
loci
certa
,
sed
ubi
ipsa
tulit
mens
?
nam
dubio
procul
his
rebus
sua
cuique
voluntas

principium
dat
et
hinc
motus
per
membra
rigantur
.
nonne
vides
etiam
patefactis
tempore
puncto

carceribus
non
posse
tamen
prorumpere
equorum

vim
cupidam
tam
de
subito
quam
mens
avet
ipsa
?
omnis
enim
totum
per
corpus
materiai

copia
conciri
debet
,
concita
per
artus

omnis
ut
studium
mentis
conixa
sequatur
;
ut
videas
initum
motus
a
corde
creari

ex
animique
voluntate
id
procedere
primum
,
inde
dari
porro
per
totum
corpus
et
artus
.
nec
similest
ut
cum
inpulsi
procedimus
ictu

viribus
alterius
magnis
magnoque
coactu
;
nam
tum
materiem
totius
corporis
omnem

perspicuumst
nobis
invitis
ire
rapique
,
donec
eam
refrenavit
per
membra
voluntas
.
iamne
vides
igitur
,
quamquam
vis
extera
multos

pellat
et
invitos
cogat
procedere
saepe

praecipitesque
rapi
,
tamen
esse
in
pectore
nostro

quiddam
quod
contra
pugnare
obstareque
possit
?
cuius
ad
arbitrium
quoque
copia
materiai

cogitur
inter
dum
flecti
per
membra
per
artus

et
proiecta
refrenatur
retroque
residit
.
quare
in
seminibus
quoque
idem
fateare
necessest
,
esse
aliam
praeter
plagas
et
pondera
causam

motibus
,
unde
haec
est
nobis
innata
potestas
,
de
nihilo
quoniam
fieri
nihil
posse
videmus
.
pondus
enim
prohibet
ne
plagis
omnia
fiant

externa
quasi
vi
;
sed
ne
res
ipsa
necessum

intestinum
habeat
cunctis
in
rebus
agendis

et
devicta
quasi
cogatur
ferre
patique
,
id
facit
exiguum
clinamen
principiorum

nec
regione
loci
certa
nec
tempore
certo
.

In these affairs
We wish thee also well aware of this:
The atoms, as their own weight bears them down
Plumb through the void, at scarce determined times,
In scarce determined places, from their course
Decline a little- call it, so to speak,
Mere changed trend. For were it not their wont
Thuswise to swerve, down would they fall, each one,
Like drops of rain, through the unbottomed void;
And then collisions ne'er could be nor blows
Among the primal elements; and thus
Nature would never have created aught.
But, if perchance be any that believe
The heavier bodies, as more swiftly borne
Plumb down the void, are able from above
To strike the lighter, thus engendering blows
Able to cause those procreant motions, far
From highways of true reason they retire.
For whatsoever through the waters fall,
Or through thin air, must quicken their descent,
Each after its weight- on this account, because
Both bulk of water and the subtle air
By no means can retard each thing alike,
But give more quick before the heavier weight;
But contrariwise the empty void cannot,
On any side, at any time, to aught
Oppose resistance, but will ever yield,
True to its bent of nature. Wherefore all,
With equal speed, though equal not in weight,
Must rush, borne downward through the still inane.
Thus ne'er at all have heavier from above
Been swift to strike the lighter, gendering strokes
Which cause those divers motions, by whose means
Nature transacts her work. And so I say,
The atoms must a little swerve at times-
But only the least, lest we should seem to feign
Motions oblique, and fact refute us there.
For this we see forthwith is manifest:
Whatever the weight, it can't obliquely go,
Down on its headlong journey from above,
At least so far as thou canst mark; but who
Is there can mark by sense that naught can swerve
At all aside from off its road's straight line?
Again, if ev'r all motions are co-linked,
And from the old ever arise the new
In fixed order, and primordial seeds
Produce not by their swerving some new start
Of motion to sunder the covenants of fate,
That cause succeed not cause from everlasting,
Whence this free will for creatures o'er the lands,
Whence is it wrested from the fates,- this will
Whereby we step right forward where desire
Leads each man on, whereby the same we swerve
In motions, not as at some fixed time,
Nor at some fixed line of space, but where
The mind itself has urged? For out of doubt
In these affairs 'tis each man's will itself
That gives the start, and hence throughout our limbs
Incipient motions are diffused. Again,
Dost thou not see, when, at a point of time,
The bars are opened, how the eager strength
Of horses cannot forward break as soon
As pants their mind to do? For it behooves
That all the stock of matter, through the frame,
Be roused, in order that, through every joint,
Aroused, it press and follow mind's desire;
So thus thou seest initial motion's gendered
From out the heart, aye, verily, proceeds
First from the spirit's will, whence at the last
'Tis given forth through joints and body entire.
Quite otherwise it is, when forth we move,
Impelled by a blow of another's mighty powers
And mighty urge; for then 'tis clear enough
All matter of our total body goes,
Hurried along, against our own desire-
Until the will has pulled upon the reins
And checked it back, throughout our members all;
At whose arbitrament indeed sometimes
The stock of matter's forced to change its path,
Throughout our members and throughout our joints,
And, after being forward cast, to be
Reined up, whereat it settles back again.
So seest thou not, how, though external force
Drive men before, and often make them move,
Onward against desire, and headlong snatched,
Yet is there something in these breasts of ours
Strong to combat, strong to withstand the same?-
Wherefore no less within the primal seeds
Thou must admit, besides all blows and weight,
Some other cause of motion, whence derives
This power in us inborn, of some free act.-
Since naught from nothing can become, we see.
For weight prevents all things should come to pass
Through blows, as 'twere, by some external force;
But that man's mind itself in all it does
Hath not a fixed necessity within,
Nor is not, like a conquered thing, compelled
To bear and suffer,- this state comes to man
From that slight swervement of the elements
In no fixed line of space, in no fixed time.
36
Nec
stipata
magis
fuit
umquam
materiai

copia
nec
porro
maioribus
intervallis
;
nam
neque
adaugescit
quicquam
neque
deperit
inde
.
qua
propter
quo
nunc
in
motu
principiorum

corpora
sunt
,
in
eodem
ante
acta
aetate
fuere

et
post
haec
semper
simili
ratione
ferentur
,
et
quae
consuerint
gigni
gignentur
eadem

condicione
et
erunt
et
crescent
vique
valebunt
,
quantum
cuique
datum
est
per
foedera
naturai
.
nec
rerum
summam
commutare
ulla
potest
vis
;
nam
neque
quo
possit
genus
ullum
materiai

effugere
ex
omni
quicquam
est
extra
,
neque
in
omne

unde
coorta
queat
nova
vis
inrumpere
et
omnem

naturam
rerum
mutare
et
vertere
motus
.

Nor ever was the stock of stuff more crammed,
Nor ever, again, sundered by bigger gaps:
For naught gives increase and naught takes away;
On which account, just as they move to-day,
The elemental bodies moved of old
And shall the same hereafter evermore.
And what was wont to be begot of old
Shall be begotten under selfsame terms
And grow and thrive in power, so far as given
To each by Nature's changeless, old decrees.
The sum of things there is no power can change,
For naught exists outside, to which can flee
Out of the world matter of any kind,
Nor forth from which a fresh supply can spring,
Break in upon the founded world, and change
Whole nature of things, and turn their motions about.
37
Illud
in
his
rebus
non
est
mirabile
,
quare
,
omnia
cum
rerum
primordia
sint
in
motu
,
summa
tamen
summa
videatur
stare
quiete
,
praeter
quam
siquid
proprio
dat
corpore
motus
.
omnis
enim
longe
nostris
ab
sensibus
infra

primorum
natura
iacet
;
qua
propter
,
ubi
ipsa

cernere
iam
nequeas
,
motus
quoque
surpere
debent
;
praesertim
cum
,
quae
possimus
cernere
,
celent

saepe
tamen
motus
spatio
diducta
locorum
.
nam
saepe
in
colli
tondentes
pabula
laeta

lanigerae
reptant
pecudes
,
quo
quamque
vocantes

invitant
herbae
gemmantes
rore
recenti
,
et
satiati
agni
ludunt
blandeque
coruscant
;
omnia
quae
nobis
longe
confusa
videntur

et
velut
in
viridi
candor
consistere
colli
.
praeterea
magnae
legiones
cum
loca
cursu

camporum
complent
belli
simulacra
cientes
,
fulgor
ubi
ad
caelum
se
tollit
totaque
circum

aere
renidescit
tellus
supterque
virum
vi

excitur
pedibus
sonitus
clamoreque
montes

icti
reiectant
voces
ad
sidera
mundi

et
circum
volitant
equites
mediosque
repente

tramittunt
valido
quatientes
impete
campos
;
et
tamen
est
quidam
locus
altis
montibus
,
unde

stare
videntur
et
in
campis
consistere
fulgor
.

Herein wonder not
How 'tis that, while the seeds of things are all
Moving forever, the sum yet seems to stand
Supremely still, except in cases where
A thing shows motion of its frame as whole.
For far beneath the ken of senses lies
The nature of those ultimates of the world;
And so, since those themselves thou canst not see,
Their motion also must they veil from men-
For mark, indeed, how things we can see, oft
Yet hide their motions, when afar from us
Along the distant landscape. Often thus,
Upon a hillside will the woolly flocks
Be cropping their goodly food and creeping about
Whither the summons of the grass, begemmed
With the fresh dew, is calling, and the lambs,
Well filled, are frisking, locking horns in sport:
Yet all for us seem blurred and blent afar-
A glint of white at rest on a green hill.
Again, when mighty legions, marching round,
Fill all the quarters of the plains below,
Rousing a mimic warfare, there the sheen
Shoots up the sky, and all the fields about
Glitter with brass, and from beneath, a sound
Goes forth from feet of stalwart soldiery,
And mountain walls, smote by the shouting, send
The voices onward to the stars of heaven,
And hither and thither darts the cavalry,
And of a sudden down the midmost fields
Charges with onset stout enough to rock
The solid earth: and yet some post there is
Up the high mountains, viewed from which they seem
To stand- a gleam at rest along the plains.
38
Nunc
age
,
iam
deinceps
cunctarum
exordia
rerum

qualia
sint
et
quam
longe
distantia
formis
,
percipe
,
multigenis
quam
sint
variata
figuris
;
non
quo
multa
parum
simili
sint
praedita
forma
,
sed
quia
non
volgo
paria
omnibus
omnia
constant
.
nec
mirum
;
nam
cum
sit
eorum
copia
tanta
,
ut
neque
finis
,
uti
docui
,
neque
summa
sit
ulla
,
debent
ni
mirum
non
omnibus
omnia
prorsum

esse
pari
filo
similique
adfecta
figura
.
Praeterea
genus
humanum
mutaeque
natantes

squamigerum
pecudes
et
laeta
armenta
feraeque

et
variae
volucres
,
laetantia
quae
loca
aquarum

concelebrant
circum
ripas
fontisque
lacusque
,
et
quae
pervolgant
nemora
avia
pervolitantes
,
quorum
unum
quidvis
generatim
sumere
perge
;
invenies
tamen
inter
se
differre
figuris
.
nec
ratione
alia
proles
cognoscere
matrem

nec
mater
posset
prolem
;
quod
posse
videmus

nec
minus
atque
homines
inter
se
nota
cluere
.
nam
saepe
ante
deum
vitulus
delubra
decora

turicremas
propter
mactatus
concidit
aras

sanguinis
expirans
calidum
de
pectore
flumen
;
at
mater
viridis
saltus
orbata
peragrans

novit
humi
pedibus
vestigia
pressa
bisulcis
,
omnia
convisens
oculis
loca
,
si
queat
usquam

conspicere
amissum
fetum
,
completque
querellis

frondiferum
nemus
adsistens
et
crebra
revisit

ad
stabulum
desiderio
perfixa
iuvenci
,
nec
tenerae
salices
atque
herbae
rore
vigentes

fluminaque
ulla
queunt
summis
labentia
ripis

oblectare
animum
subitamque
avertere
curam
,
nec
vitulorum
aliae
species
per
pabula
laeta

derivare
queunt
animum
curaque
levare
;
usque
adeo
quiddam
proprium
notumque
requirit
.
praeterea
teneri
tremulis
cum
vocibus
haedi

cornigeras
norunt
matres
agnique
petulci

balantum
pecudes
;
ita
,
quod
natura
resposcit
,
ad
sua
quisque
fere
decurrunt
ubera
lactis
.
Postremo
quodvis
frumentum
non
tamen
omne

quidque
suo
genere
inter
se
simile
esse
videbis
,
quin
intercurrat
quaedam
distantia
formis
.
concharumque
genus
parili
ratione
videmus

pingere
telluris
gremium
,
qua
mollibus
undis

litoris
incurvi
bibulam
pavit
aequor
harenam
.
quare
etiam
atque
etiam
simili
ratione
necessest
,
natura
quoniam
constant
neque
facta
manu
sunt

unius
ad
certam
formam
primordia
rerum
,
dissimili
inter
se
quaedam
volitare
figura
.
ATOMIC FORMS AND THEIR COMBINATIONS
Now come, and next hereafter apprehend
What sorts, how vastly different in form,
How varied in multitudinous shapes they are-
These old beginnings of the universe;
Not in the sense that only few are furnished
With one like form, but rather not at all
In general have they likeness each with each,
No marvel: since the stock of them's so great
That there's no end (as I have taught) nor sum,
They must indeed not one and all be marked
By equal outline and by shape the same.
. . . . . .
Moreover, humankind, and the mute flocks
Of scaly creatures swimming in the streams,
And joyous herds around, and all the wild,
And all the breeds of birds- both those that teem
In gladsome regions of the water-haunts,
About the river-banks and springs and pools,
And those that throng, flitting from tree to tree,
Through trackless woods- Go, take which one thou wilt,
In any kind: thou wilt discover still
Each from the other still unlike in shape.
Nor in no other wise could offspring know
Mother, nor mother offspring- which we see
They yet can do, distinguished one from other,
No less than human beings, by clear signs.
Thus oft before fair temples of the gods,
Beside the incense-burning altars slain,
Drops down the yearling calf, from out its breast
Breathing warm streams of blood; the orphaned mother,
Ranging meanwhile green woodland pastures round,
Knows well the footprints, pressed by cloven hoofs,
With eyes regarding every spot about,
For sight somewhere of youngling gone from her;
And, stopping short, filleth the leafy lanes
With her complaints; and oft she seeks again
Within the stall, pierced by her yearning still.
Nor tender willows, nor dew-quickened grass,
Nor the loved streams that glide along low banks,
Can lure her mind and turn the sudden pain;
Nor other shapes of calves that graze thereby
Distract her mind or lighten pain the least-
So keen her search for something known and hers.
Moreover, tender kids with bleating throats
Do know their horned dams, and butting lambs
The flocks of sheep, and thus they patter on,
Unfailingly each to its proper teat,
As nature intends. Lastly, with any grain,
Thou'lt see that no one kernel in one kind
Is so far like another, that there still
Is not in shapes some difference running through.
By a like law we see how earth is pied
With shells and conchs, where, with soft waves, the sea
Beats on the thirsty sands of curving shores.
Wherefore again, again, since seeds of things
Exist by nature, nor were wrought with hands
After a fixed pattern of one other,
They needs must flitter to and fro with shapes
In types dissimilar to one another.
39
Perfacile
est
animi
ratione
exsolvere
nobis

quare
fulmineus
multo
penetralior
ignis

quam
noster
fluat
e
taedis
terrestribus
ortus
;
dicere
enim
possis
caelestem
fulminis
ignem

subtilem
magis
e
parvis
constare
figuris

atque
ideo
transire
foramina
quae
nequit
ignis

noster
hic
e
lignis
ortus
taedaque
creatus
.
praeterea
lumen
per
cornum
transit
,
at
imber

respuitur
.
quare
,
nisi
luminis
illa
minora

corpora
sunt
quam
de
quibus
est
liquor
almus
aquarum
?
et
quamvis
subito
per
colum
vina
videmus

perfluere
,
at
contra
tardum
cunctatur
olivom
,
aut
quia
ni
mirum
maioribus
est
elementis

aut
magis
hamatis
inter
se
perque
plicatis
,
atque
ideo
fit
uti
non
tam
diducta
repente

inter
se
possint
primordia
singula
quaeque

singula
per
cuiusque
foramina
permanare
.

. . . . . .
Easy enough by thought of mind to solve
Why fires of lightning more can penetrate
Than these of ours from pitch-pine born on earth.
For thou canst say lightning's celestial fire,
So subtle, is formed of figures finer far,
And passes thus through holes which this our fire,
Born from the wood, created from the pine,
Cannot. Again, light passes through the horn
On the lantern's side, while rain is dashed away.
And why?- unless those bodies of light should be
Finer than those of water's genial showers.
We see how quickly through a colander
The wines will flow; how, on the other hand,
The sluggish olive-oil delays: no doubt,
Because 'tis wrought of elements more large,
Or else more crook'd and intertangled. Thus
It comes that the primordials cannot be
So suddenly sundered one from other, and seep,
One through each several hole of anything.
40
Huc
accedit
uti
mellis
lactisque
liquores

iucundo
sensu
linguae
tractentur
in
ore
;
at
contra
taetra
absinthi
natura
ferique

centauri
foedo
pertorquent
ora
sapore
;
ut
facile
agnoscas
e
levibus
atque
rutundis

esse
ea
quae
sensus
iucunde
tangere
possunt
,
at
contra
quae
amara
atque
aspera
cumque
videntur
,
haec
magis
hamatis
inter
se
nexa
teneri

proptereaque
solere
vias
rescindere
nostris

sensibus
introituque
suo
perrumpere
corpus
.
omnia
postremo
bona
sensibus
et
mala
tactu

dissimili
inter
se
pugnant
perfecta
figura
;
ne
tu
forte
putes
serrae
stridentis
acerbum

horrorem
constare
elementis
levibus
aeque

ac
musaea
mele
,
per
chordas
organici
quae

mobilibus
digitis
expergefacta
figurant
;
neu
simili
penetrare
putes
primordia
forma

in
nares
hominum
,
cum
taetra
cadavera
torrent
,
et
cum
scena
croco
Cilici
perfusa
recens
est

araque
Panchaeos
exhalat
propter
odores
;
neve
bonos
rerum
simili
constare
colores

semine
constituas
,
oculos
qui
pascere
possunt
,
et
qui
conpungunt
aciem
lacrimareque
cogunt

aut
foeda
specie
foedi
turpesque
videntur
.
omnis
enim
,
sensus
quae
mulcet
cumque
,
tibi
res

haut
sine
principiali
aliquo
levore
creatast
;
at
contra
quae
cumque
molesta
atque
aspera
constat
,
non
aliquo
sine
materiae
squalore
repertast
.
Sunt
etiam
quae
iam
nec
levia
iure
putantur

esse
neque
omnino
flexis
mucronibus
unca
,
sed
magis
angellis
paulum
prostantibus
,
ut
quae

titillare
magis
sensus
quam
laedere
possint
,
fecula
iam
quo
de
genere
est
inulaeque
sapores
.
Denique
iam
calidos
ignis
gelidamque
pruinam

dissimili
dentata
modo
conpungere
sensus

corporis
,
indicio
nobis
est
tactus
uterque
.
tactus
enim
,
tactus
,
pro
divum
numina
sancta
,
corporis
est
sensus
,
vel
cum
res
extera
sese

insinuat
,
vel
cum
laedit
quae
in
corpore
natast

aut
iuvat
egrediens
genitalis
per
Veneris
res
,
aut
ex
offensu
cum
turbant
corpore
in
ipso
,
semina
confundunt
inter
se
concita
sensum
;
ut
si
forte
manu
quamvis
iam
corporis
ipse

tute
tibi
partem
ferias
atque
experiare
.
qua
propter
longe
formas
distare
necessest

principiis
,
varios
quae
possint
edere
sensus
.
Denique
quae
nobis
durata
ac
spissa
videntur
,
haec
magis
hamatis
inter
sese
esse
necessest

et
quasi
ramosis
alte
compacta
teneri
.
in
quo
iam
genere
in
primis
adamantina
saxa

prima
acie
constant
ictus
contemnere
sueta

et
validi
silices
ac
duri
robora
ferri

aeraque
quae
claustris
restantia
vociferantur
.
illa
quidem
debent
e
levibus
atque
rutundis

esse
magis
,
fluvido
quae
corpore
liquida
constant
.
namque
papaveris
haustus
itemst
facilis
quod
aquarum
;
nec
retinentur
enim
inter
se
glomeramina
quaeque

et
perculsus
item
proclive
volubilis
exstat
.
omnia
postremo
quae
puncto
tempore
cernis

diffugere
ut
fumum
nebulas
flammasque
,
necessest
,
si
minus
omnia
sunt
e
levibus
atque
rotundis
,
at
non
esse
tamen
perplexis
indupedita
,
pungere
uti
possint
corpus
penetrareque
saxa
,
nec
tamen
haerere
inter
se
;
quod
cumque
videmus

sensibus
dentatum
,
facile
ut
cognoscere
possis

non
e
perplexis
,
sed
acutis
esse
elementis
.
sed
quod
amara
vides
eadem
quae
fluvida
constant
,
sudor
uti
maris
est
,
minime
mirabile
debet

* * *
nam
quod
fluvidus
est
,
e
levibus
atque
rotundis

est
,
sed
levibus
sunt
hamata
admixta
doloris

corpora
.
nec
tamen
haec
retineri
hamata
necessust
:
scilicet
esse
globosa
tamen
,
cum
squalida
constent
,
provolvi
simul
ut
possint
et
laedere
sensus
.
et
quo
mixta
putes
magis
aspera
levibus
esse

principiis
,
unde
est
Neptuni
corpus
acerbum
,
est
ratio
secernendi
seorsumque
videndi
,
umor
dulcis
ubi
per
terras
crebrius
idem

percolatur
,
ut
in
foveam
fluat
ac
mansuescat
;
linquit
enim
supera
taetri
primordia
viri
,
aspera
quo
magis
in
terris
haerescere
possint
.

And note, besides, that liquor of honey or milk
Yields in the mouth agreeable taste to tongue,
Whilst nauseous wormwood, pungent centaury,
With their foul flavour set the lips awry;
Thus simple 'tis to see that whatsoever
Can touch the senses pleasingly are made
Of smooth and rounded elements, whilst those
Which seem the bitter and the sharp, are held
Entwined by elements more crook'd, and so
Are wont to tear their ways into our senses,
And rend our body as they enter in.
In short all good to sense, all bad to touch,
Being up-built of figures so unlike,
Are mutually at strife- lest thou suppose
That the shrill rasping of a squeaking saw
Consists of elements as smooth as song
Which, waked by nimble fingers, on the strings
The sweet musicians fashion; or suppose
That same-shaped atoms through men's nostrils pierce
When foul cadavers burn, as when the stage
Is with Cilician saffron sprinkled fresh,
And the altar near exhales Panchaean scent;
Or hold as of like seed the goodly hues
Of things which feast our eyes, as those which sting
Against the smarting pupil and draw tears,
Or show, with gruesome aspect, grim and vile.
For never a shape which charms our sense was made
Without some elemental smoothness; whilst
Whate'er is harsh and irksome has been framed
Still with some roughness in its elements.
Some, too, there are which justly are supposed
To be nor smooth nor altogether hooked,
With bended barbs, but slightly angled-out,
To tickle rather than to wound the sense-
And of which sort is the salt tartar of wine
And flavours of the gummed elecampane.
Again, that glowing fire and icy rime
Are fanged with teeth unlike whereby to sting
Our body's sense, the touch of each gives proof.
For touch- by sacred majesties of Gods!-
Touch is indeed the body's only sense-
Be't that something in-from-outward works,
Be't that something in the body born
Wounds, or delighteth as it passes out
Along the procreant paths of Aphrodite;
Or be't the seeds by some collision whirl
Disordered in the body and confound
By tumult and confusion all the sense-
As thou mayst find, if haply with the hand
Thyself thou strike thy body's any part.
On which account, the elemental forms
Must differ widely, as enabled thus
To cause diverse sensations.
And, again,
What seems to us the hardened and condensed
Must be of atoms among themselves more hooked,
Be held compacted deep within, as 'twere
By branch-like atoms- of which sort the chief
Are diamond stones, despisers of all blows,
And stalwart flint and strength of solid iron,
And brazen bars, which, budging hard in locks,
Do grate and scream. But what are liquid, formed
Of fluid body, they indeed must be
Of elements more smooth and round- because
Their globules severally will not cohere:
To suck the poppy-seeds from palm of hand
Is quite as easy as drinking water down,
And they, once struck, roll like unto the same.
But that thou seest among the things that flow
Some bitter, as the brine of ocean is,
Is not the least a marvel...
For since 'tis fluid, smooth its atoms are
And round, with painful rough ones mixed therein;
Yet need not these be held together hooked:
In fact, though rough, they're globular besides,
Able at once to roll, and rasp the sense.
And that the more thou mayst believe me here,
That with smooth elements are mixed the rough
(Whence Neptune's salt astringent body comes),
There is a means to separate the twain,
And thereupon dividedly to see
How the sweet water, after filtering through
So often underground, flows freshened forth
Into some hollow; for it leaves above
The primal germs of nauseating brine,
Since cling the rough more readily in earth.
Lastly, whatso thou markest to disperse
Upon the instant- smoke, and cloud, and flame-
Must not (even though not all of smooth and round)
Be yet co-linked with atoms intertwined,
That thus they can, without together cleaving,
So pierce our body and so bore the rocks.
Whatever we see...
Given to senses, that thou must perceive
They're not from linked but pointed elements.