De Rerum Natura |
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
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137 |
Aëra nunc igitur dicam , qui corpore toto innumerabiliter privas mutatur in horas . semper enim , quod cumque fluit de rebus , id omne aëris in magnum fertur mare ; qui nisi contra corpora retribuat rebus recreetque fluentis , omnia iam resoluta forent et in aëra versa . haut igitur cessat gigni de rebus et in res reccidere , adsidue quoniam fluere omnia constat .
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Now, then, of air I'll speak, which hour by hour in all its body Is changed innumerably. For whatso'er Streams up in dust or vapour off of things, The same is all and always borne along Into the mighty ocean of the air; And did not air in turn restore to things Bodies, and thus recruit them as they stream, All things by this time had resolved been And changed into air. Therefore it never Ceases to be engendered off of things And to return to things, since verily In constant flux do all things stream. |
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Largus item liquidi fons luminis , aetherius sol , inrigat adsidue caelum candore recenti suppeditatque novo confestim lumine lumen . nam primum quicquid fulgoris disperit ei , quo cumque accidit . id licet hinc cognoscere possis , quod simul ac primum nubes succedere soli coepere et radios inter quasi rumpere lucis , extemplo inferior pars horum disperit omnis terraque inumbratur qua nimbi cumque feruntur ; ut noscas splendore novo res semper egere et primum iactum fulgoris quemque perire nec ratione alia res posse in sole videri , perpetuo ni suppeditet lucis caput ipsum . quin etiam nocturna tibi , terrestria quae sunt , lumina , pendentes lychni claraeque coruscis fulguribus pingues multa caligine taedae consimili properant ratione , ardore ministro , suppeditare novom lumen , tremere ignibus instant , instant , nec loca lux inter quasi rupta relinquit : usque adeo properanter ab omnibus ignibus ei exitium celeri celeratur origine flammae . sic igitur solem lunam stellasque putandum ex alio atque alio lucem iactare subortu et primum quicquid flammarum perdere semper , inviolabilia haec ne credas forte vigere .
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Likewise, The abounding well-spring of the liquid light, The ethereal sun, doth flood the heaven o'er With constant flux of radiance ever new, And with fresh light supplies the place of light, Upon the instant. For whatever effulgence Hath first streamed off, no matter where it falls, Is lost unto the sun. And this 'tis thine To know from these examples: soon as clouds Have first begun to under-pass the sun, And, as it were, to rend the rays of light In twain, at once the lower part of them Is lost entire, and earth is overcast Where'er the thunderheads are rolled along- So know thou mayst that things forever need A fresh replenishment of gleam and glow, And each effulgence, foremost flashed forth, Perisheth one by one. Nor otherwise Can things be seen in sunlight, lest alway The fountain-head of light supply new light. Indeed your earthly beacons of the night, The hanging lampions and the torches, bright With darting gleams and dense with livid soot, Do hurry in like manner to supply With ministering heat new light amain; Are all alive to quiver with their fires,- Are so alive, that thus the light ne'er leaves The spots it shines on, as if rent in twain: So speedily is its destruction veiled By the swift birth of flame from all the fires. Thus, then, we must suppose that sun and moon And stars dart forth their light from under-births Ever and ever new, and whatso flames First rise do perish always one by one- Lest, haply, thou shouldst think they each endure Inviolable. |
139 |
Denique non lapides quoque vinci cernis ab aevo , non altas turris ruere et putrescere saxa , non delubra deum simulacraque fessa fatisci nec sanctum numen fati protollere finis posse neque adversus naturae foedera niti ? denique non monimenta virum dilapsa videmus , non ruere avolsos silices a montibus altis nec validas aevi vires perferre patique finiti ? neque enim caderent avolsa repente , ex infinito quae tempore pertolerassent omnia tormenta aetatis , privata fragore .
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Again, perceivest not How stones are also conquered by Time?- Not how the lofty towers ruin down, And boulders crumble?- Not how shrines of gods And idols crack outworn?- Nor how indeed The holy Influence hath yet no power There to postpone the Terminals of Fate, Or headway make 'gainst Nature's fixed decrees? Again, behold we not the monuments Of heroes, now in ruins, asking us, In their turn likewise, if we don't believe They also age with eld? Behold we not The rended basalt ruining amain Down from the lofty mountains, powerless To dure and dree the mighty forces there Of finite time?- for they would never fall Rended asudden, if from infinite Past They had prevailed against all engin'ries Of the assaulting aeons, with no crash. |
140 |
Denique iam tuere hoc , circum supraque quod omne continet amplexu terram : si procreat ex se omnia , quod quidam memorant , recipitque perempta , totum nativum mortali corpore constat . nam quod cumque alias ex se res auget alitque , deminui debet , recreari , cum recipit res .
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Again, now look at This, which round, above, Contains the whole earth in its one embrace: If from itself it procreates all things- As some men tell- and takes them to itself When once destroyed, entirely must it be Of mortal birth and body; for whate'er From out itself giveth to other things Increase and food, the same perforce must be Minished, and then recruited when it takes Things back into itself. |
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Praeterea si nulla fuit genitalis origo terrarum et caeli semperque aeterna fuere , cur supera bellum Thebanum et funera Troiae non alias alii quoque res cecinere poëtae ? quo tot facta virum totiens cecidere neque usquam aeternis famae monimentis insita florent ? verum , ut opinor , habet novitatem summa recensque naturast mundi neque pridem exordia cepit . quare etiam quaedam nunc artes expoliuntur , nunc etiam augescunt ; nunc addita navigiis sunt multa , modo organici melicos peperere sonores , denique natura haec rerum ratioque repertast nuper , et hanc primus cum primis ipse repertus nunc ego sum in patrias qui possim vertere voces . Quod si forte fuisse ante hac eadem omnia credis , sed periise hominum torrenti saecla vapore , aut cecidisse urbis magno vexamine mundi , aut ex imbribus adsiduis exisse rapaces per terras amnes atque oppida coperuisse . tanto quique magis victus fateare necessest exitium quoque terrarum caelique futurum ; nam cum res tantis morbis tantisque periclis temptarentur , ibi si tristior incubuisset causa , darent late cladem magnasque ruinas . nec ratione alia mortales esse videmur , inter nos nisi quod morbis aegrescimus isdem atque illi quos a vita natura removit .
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Besides all this, If there had been no origin-in-birth Of lands and sky, and they had ever been The everlasting, why, ere Theban war And obsequies of Troy, have other bards Not also chanted other high affairs? Whither have sunk so oft so many deeds Of heroes? Why do those deeds live no more, Ingrafted in eternal monuments Of glory? Verily, I guess, because The Sum is new, and of a recent date The nature of our universe, and had Not long ago its own exordium. Wherefore, even now some arts are being still Refined, still increased: now unto ships Is being added many a new device; And but the other day musician-folk Gave birth to melic sounds of organing; And, then, this nature, this account of things Hath been discovered latterly, and I Myself have been discovered only now, As first among the first, able to turn The same into ancestral Roman speech. Yet if, percase, thou deemest that ere this Existed all things even the same, but that Perished the cycles of the human race In fiery exhalations, or cities fell By some tremendous quaking of the world, Or rivers in fury, after constant rains, Had plunged forth across the lands of earth And whelmed the towns- then, all the more must thou Confess, defeated by the argument, That there shall be annihilation too Of lands and sky. For at a time when things Were being taxed by maladies so great, And so great perils, if some cause more fell Had then assailed them, far and wide they would Have gone to disaster and supreme collapse. And by no other reasoning are we Seen to be mortal, save that all of us Sicken in turn with those same maladies With which have sickened in the past those men Whom nature hath removed from life. |
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Praeterea quae cumque manent aeterna necessust aut , quia sunt solido cum corpore , respuere ictus nec penetrare pati sibi quicquam quod queat artas dissociare intus partis , ut materiai corpora sunt , quorum naturam ostendimus ante , aut ideo durare aetatem posse per omnem , plagarum quia sunt expertia , sicut inane est , quod manet intactum neque ab ictu fungitur hilum , aut etiam quia nulla loci sit copia circum , quo quasi res possint discedere dissoluique , sicut summarum summa est aeterna , neque extra qui locus est quo dissiliant neque corpora sunt quae possint incidere et valida dissolvere plaga . at neque , uti docui , solido cum corpore mundi naturast , quoniam admixtumst in rebus inane , nec tamen est ut inane , neque autem corpora desunt , ex infinito quae possint forte coorta corruere hanc rerum violento turbine summam aut aliam quamvis cladem inportare pericli , nec porro natura loci spatiumque profundi deficit , exspargi quo possint moenia mundi , aut alia quavis possunt vi pulsa perire . haut igitur leti praeclusa est ianua caelo nec soli terraeque neque altis aequoris undis , sed patet immani et vasto respectat hiatu . quare etiam nativa necessumst confiteare haec eadem ; neque enim , mortali corpore quae sunt , ex infinito iam tempore adhuc potuissent inmensi validas aevi contemnere vires .
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Again, Whatever abides eternal must indeed Either repel all strokes, because 'tis made Of solid body, and permit no entrance Of aught with power to sunder from within The parts compact- as are those seeds of stuff Whose nature we've exhibited before; Or else be able to endure through time For this: because they are from blows exempt, As is the void, the which abides untouched, Unsmit by any stroke; or else because There is no room around, whereto things can, As 'twere, depart in dissolution all,- Even as the sum of sums eternal is, Without or place beyond whereto things may Asunder fly, or bodies which can smite, And thus dissolve them by the blows of might. But not of solid body, as I've shown, Exists the nature of the world, because In things is intermingled there a void; Nor is the world yet as the void, nor are, Moreover, bodies lacking which, percase, Rising from out the infinite, can fell With fury-whirlwinds all this sum of things, Or bring upon them other cataclysm Of peril strange; and yonder, too, abides The infinite space and the profound abyss- Whereinto, lo, the ramparts of the world Can yet be shivered. Or some other power Can pound upon them till they perish all. Thus is the door of doom, O nowise barred Against the sky, against the sun and earth And deep-sea waters, but wide open stands And gloats upon them, monstrous and agape. Wherefore, again, 'tis needful to confess That these same things are born in time; for things Which are of mortal body could indeed Never from infinite past until to-day Have spurned the multitudinous assaults Of the immeasurable aeons old. |
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Denique tantopere inter se cum maxima mundi pugnent membra , pio nequaquam concita bello , nonne vides aliquam longi certaminis ollis posse dari finem , vel cum sol et vapor omnis omnibus epotis umoribus exsuperarint ? quod facere intendunt , neque adhuc conata patrantur ; tantum suppeditant amnes ultraque minantur omnia diluviare ex alto gurgite ponti : ne quiquam , quoniam verrentes aequora venti deminuunt radiisque retexens aetherius sol , et siccare prius confidunt omnia posse quam liquor incepti possit contingere finem . tantum spirantes aequo certamine bellum magnis de rebus cernere certant , cum semel interea fuerit superantior ignis et semel , ut fama est , umor regnarit in arvis . ignis enim superavit et ambiens multa perussit , avia cum Phaethonta rapax vis solis equorum aethere raptavit toto terrasque per omnis . at pater omnipotens ira tum percitus acri magnanimum Phaethonta repenti fulminis ictu deturbavit equis in terram , Solque cadenti obvius aeternam succepit lampada mundi disiectosque redegit equos iunxitque trementis , inde suum per iter recreavit cuncta gubernans , scilicet ut veteres Graium cecinere poëtae . quod procul a vera nimis est ratione repulsum . ignis enim superare potest ubi materiai ex infinito sunt corpora plura coorta ; inde cadunt vires aliqua ratione revictae , aut pereunt res exustae torrentibus auris . umor item quondam coepit superare coortus , ut fama est , hominum vitas quando obruit undis ; inde ubi vis aliqua ratione aversa recessit , ex infinito fuerat quae cumque coorta , constiterunt imbres et flumina vim minuerunt .
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Again, since battle so fiercely one with other The four most mighty members the world, Aroused in an all unholy war, Seest not that there may be for them an end Of the long strife?- Or when the skiey sun And all the heat have won dominion o'er The sucked-up waters all?- And this they try Still to accomplish, though as yet they fail,- For so aboundingly the streams supply New store of waters that 'tis rather they Who menace the world with inundations vast From forth the unplumbed chasms of the sea. But vain- since winds (that over-sweep amain) And skiey sun (that with his rays dissolves) Do minish the level seas and trust their power To dry up all, before the waters can Arrive at the end of their endeavouring. Breathing such vasty warfare, they contend In balanced strife the one with other still Concerning mighty issues,- though indeed The fire was once the more victorious, And once- as goes the tale- the water won A kingdom in the fields. For fire o'ermastered And licked up many things and burnt away, What time the impetuous horses of the Sun Snatched Phaethon headlong from his skiey road Down the whole ether and over all the lands. But the omnipotent Father in keen wrath Then with the sudden smite of thunderbolt Did hurl the mighty-minded hero off Those horses to the earth. And Sol, his sire, Meeting him as he fell, caught up in hand The ever-blazing lampion of the world, And drave together the pell-mell horses there And yoked them all a-tremble, and amain, Steering them over along their own old road, Restored the cosmos,- as forsooth we hear From songs of ancient poets of the Greeks- A tale too far away from truth, meseems. For fire can win when from the infinite Has risen a larger throng of particles Of fiery stuff; and then its powers succumb, Somehow subdued again, or else at last It shrivels in torrid atmospheres the world. And whilom water too began to win- As goes the story- when it overwhelmed The lives of men with billows; and thereafter, When all that force of water-stuff which forth From out the infinite had risen up Did now retire, as somehow turned aside, The rain-storms stopped, and streams their fury checked. |
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Sed quibus ille modis coniectus materiai fundarit terram et caelum pontique profunda , solis lunai cursus , ex ordine ponam . 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 primordia rerum ex infinito iam tempore percita plagis ponderibusque suis consuerunt concita ferri omnimodisque coire atque omnia pertemptare , quae cumque inter se possent congressa creare , propterea fit uti magnum volgata per aevom omnigenus coetus et motus experiundo tandem conveniant ea quae coniecta repente magnarum rerum fiunt exordia saepe , terrai maris et caeli generisque animantum .
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FORMATION OF THE WORLD AND ASTRONOMICAL QUESTIONS But in what modes that conflux of first-stuff Did found the multitudinous universe Of earth, and sky, and the unfathomed deeps Of ocean, and courses of the sun and moon, I'll now in order tell. For of a 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, lo, because primordials of things, Many in many modes, astir by blows From immemorial aeons, in motion too By their own weights, have evermore been wont To be so borne along and in all modes To meet together and to try all sorts Which, by combining one with other, they Are powerful to create: because of this It comes to pass that those primordials, Diffused far and wide through mighty aeons, The while they unions try, and motions too, Of every kind, meet at the last amain, And so become oft the commencements fit Of mighty things- earth, sea, and sky, and race Of living creatures. |