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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
113
Illud
in
his
rebus
vitium
vehementer
äinesse

effugere
errorem
vitareque
praemetuenter
,
lumina
ne
facias
oculorum
clara
creata
,
prospicere
ut
possimus
,
et
ut
proferre
queamus

proceros
passus
,
ideo
fastigia
posse

surarum
ac
feminum
pedibus
fundata
plicari
,
bracchia
tum
porro
validis
ex
apta
lacertis

esse
manusque
datas
utraque
parte
ministras
,
ut
facere
ad
vitam
possemus
quae
foret
usus
.
cetera
de
genere
hoc
inter
quae
cumque
pretantur
,
omnia
perversa
praepostera
sunt
ratione
,
nil
ideo
quoniam
natumst
in
corpore
ut
uti

possemus
,
sed
quod
natumst
id
procreat
usum
.
nec
fuit
ante
videre
oculorum
lumina
nata
,
nec
dictis
orare
prius
quam
lingua
creatast
,
sed
potius
longe
linguae
praecessit
origo

sermonem
multoque
creatae
sunt
prius
aures

quam
sonus
est
auditus
,
et
omnia
denique
membra

ante
fuere
,
ut
opinor
,
eorum
quam
foret
usus
;
haud
igitur
potuere
utendi
crescere
causa
.
at
contra
conferre
manu
certamina
pugnae

et
lacerare
artus
foedareque
membra
cruore

ante
fuit
multo
quam
lucida
tela
volarent
,
et
volnus
vitare
prius
natura
coëgit

quam
daret
obiectum
parmai
laeva
per
artem
.
scilicet
et
fessum
corpus
mandare
quieti

multo
antiquius
est
quam
lecti
mollia
strata
,
et
sedare
sitim
prius
est
quam
pocula
natum
.
haec
igitur
possunt
utendi
cognita
causa

credier
,
ex
usu
quae
sunt
vitaque
reperta
.
illa
quidem
seorsum
sunt
omnia
,
quae
prius
ipsa

nata
dedere
suae
post
notitiam
utilitatis
.
quo
genere
in
primis
sensus
et
membra
videmus
;
quare
etiam
atque
etiam
procul
est
ut
credere
possis

utilitatis
ob
officium
potuisse
creari
.
SOME VITAL FUNCTIONS
In these affairs
We crave that thou wilt passionately flee
The one offence, and anxiously wilt shun
The error of presuming the clear lights
Of eyes created were that we might see;
Or thighs and knees, aprop upon the feet,
Thuswise can bended be, that we might step
With goodly strides ahead; or forearms joined
Unto the sturdy uppers, or serving hands
On either side were given, that we might do
Life's own demands. All such interpretation
Is aft-for-fore with inverse reasoning,
Since naught is born in body so that we
May use the same, but birth engenders use:
No seeing ere the lights of eyes were born,
No speaking ere the tongue created was;
But origin of tongue came long before
Discourse of words, and ears created were
Much earlier than any sound was heard;
And all the members, so meseems, were there
Before they got their use: and therefore, they
Could not be gendered for the sake of use.
But contrariwise, contending in the fight
With hand to hand, and rending of the joints,
And fouling of the limbs with gore, was there,
O long before the gleaming spears ere flew;
And nature prompted man to shun a wound,
Before the left arm by the aid of art
Opposed the shielding targe. And, verily,
Yielding the weary body to repose,
Far ancienter than cushions of soft beds,
And quenching thirst is earlier than cups.
These objects, therefore, which for use and life
Have been devised, can be conceived as found
For sake of using. But apart from such
Are all which first were born and afterwards
Gave knowledge of their own utility-
Chief in which sort we note the senses, limbs:
Wherefore, again, 'tis quite beyond thy power
To hold that these could thus have been create
For office of utility.
114
Illud
item
non
est
mirandum
,
corporis
ipsa

quod
natura
cibum
quaerit
cuiusque
animantis
.
quippe
etenim
fluere
atque
recedere
corpora
rebus

multa
modis
multis
docui
,
sed
plurima
debent

ex
animalibus
;
quia
sunt
exercita
motu
,
multa
per
os
exhalantur
,
cum
languida
anhelant
,
multaque
per
sudorem
ex
alto
pressa
feruntur
.
his
igitur
rebus
rarescit
corpus
et
omnis

subruitur
natura
,
dolor
quam
consequitur
rem
.
propterea
capitur
cibus
,
ut
suffulciat
artus

et
recreet
vires
inter
datus
,
atque
patentem

per
membra
ac
venas
ut
amorem
opturet
edendi
.
umor
item
discedit
in
omnia
quae
loca
cumque

poscunt
umorem
;
glomerataque
multa
vaporis

corpora
,
quae
stomacho
praebent
incendia
nostro
,
dissupat
adveniens
liquor
ac
restinguit
ut
ignem
,
urere
ne
possit
calor
amplius
aridus
artus
.
sic
igitur
tibi
anhela
sitis
de
corpore
nostro

abluitur
,
sic
expletur
ieiuna
cupido
.

Likewise,
'Tis nothing strange that all the breathing creatures
Seek, even by nature of their frame, their food.
Yes, since I've taught thee that from off the things
Stream and depart innumerable bodies
In modes innumerable too; but most
Must be the bodies streaming from the living-
Which bodies, vexed by motion evermore,
Are through the mouth exhaled innumerable,
When weary creatures pant, or through the sweat
Squeezed forth innumerable from deep within.
Thus body rarefies, so undermined
In all its nature, and pain attends its state.
And so the food is taken to underprop
The tottering joints, and by its interfusion
To re-create their powers, and there stop up
The longing, open-mouthed through limbs and veins,
For eating. And the moist no less departs
Into all regions that demand the moist;
And many heaped-up particles of hot,
Which cause such burnings in these bellies of ours,
The liquid on arriving dissipates
And quenches like a fire, that parching heat
No longer now can scorch the frame. And so,
Thou seest how panting thirst is washed away
From off our body, how the hunger-pang
It, too, appeased.
115
Nunc
qui
fiat
uti
passus
proferre
queamus
,
cum
volumus
,
quareque
datum
sit
membra
movere

et
quae
res
tantum
hoc
oneris
protrudere
nostri

corporis
insuerit
,
dicam
:
tu
percipe
dicta
.
dico
animo
nostro
primum
simulacra
meandi

accidere
atque
animum
pulsare
,
ut
diximus
ante
.
inde
voluntas
fit
;
neque
enim
facere
incipit
ullam

rem
quisquam
,
mens
providit
quid
velit
ante
.
id
quod
providet
,
illius
rei
constat
imago
,
ergo
animus
cum
sese
ita
commovet
ut
velit
ire

inque
gredi
,
ferit
extemplo
quae
in
corpore
toto

per
membra
atque
artus
animai
dissita
vis
est
;
et
facilest
factu
,
quoniam
coniuncta
tenetur
.
inde
ea
proporro
corpus
ferit
,
atque
ita
tota

paulatim
moles
protruditur
atque
movetur
.
praeterea
tum
rarescit
quoque
corpus
et
aër
,
scilicet
ut
debet
qui
semper
mobilis
extat
,
per
patefacta
venit
penetratque
foramina
largus
,
et
dispargitur
ad
partis
ita
quasque
minutas

corporis
.
hic
igitur
rebus
fit
utrimque
duabus
,
corpus
ut
ac
navis
velis
ventoque
feratur
.
nec
tamen
illud
in
his
rebus
mirabile
constat
,
tantula
quod
tantum
corpus
corpuscula
possunt

contorquere
et
onus
totum
convertere
nostrum
;
quippe
etenim
ventus
subtili
corpore
tenvis

trudit
agens
magnam
magno
molimine
navem

et
manus
una
regit
quanto
vis
impete
euntem

atque
gubernaclum
contorquet
quo
libet
unum
,
multaque
per
trocleas
et
tympana
pondere
magno

commovet
atque
levi
sustollit
machina
nisu
.

Now, how it comes that we,
Whene'er we wish, can step with strides ahead,
And how 'tis given to move our limbs about,
And what device is wont to push ahead
This the big load of our corporeal frame,
I'll say to thee- do thou attend what's said.
I say that first some idol-films of walking
Into our mind do fall and smite the mind,
As said before. Thereafter will arises;
For no one starts to do a thing, before
The intellect previsions what it wills;
And what it there pre-visioneth depends
On what that image is. When, therefore, mind
Doth so bestir itself that it doth will
To go and step along, it strikes at once
That energy of soul that's sown about
In all the body through the limbs and frame-
And this is easy of performance, since
The soul is close conjoined with the mind.
Next, soul in turn strikes body, and by degrees
Thus the whole mass is pushed along and moved.
Then too the body rarefies, and air,
Forsooth as ever of such nimbleness,
Comes on and penetrates aboundingly
Through opened pores, and thus is sprinkled round
Unto all smallest places in our frame.
Thus then by these twain factors, severally,
Body is borne like ship with oars and wind.
Nor yet in these affairs is aught for wonder
That particles so fine can whirl around
So great a body and turn this weight of ours;
For wind, so tenuous with its subtle body,
Yet pushes, driving on the mighty ship
Of mighty bulk; one hand directs the same,
Whatever its momentum, and one helm
Whirls it around, whither ye please; and loads,
Many and huge, are moved and hoisted high
By enginery of pulley-blocks and wheels,
With but light strain.
116
Nunc
quibus
ille
modis
somnus
per
membra
quietem

inriget
atque
animi
curas
e
pectore
solvat
,
suavidicis
potius
quom
multis
versibus
edam
,
parvus
ut
est
cycni
melior
canor
,
ille
gruum
quam

clamor
in
aetheriis
dispersus
nubibus
austri
.
tu
mihi
da
tenuis
auris
animumque
sagacem
,
ne
fieri
negites
quae
dicam
posse
retroque

vera
repulsanti
discedas
pectore
dicta
,
tutemet
in
culpa
cum
sis
neque
cernere
possis
.
Principio
somnus
fit
ubi
est
distracta
per
artus

vis
animae
partimque
foras
eiecta
recessit

et
partim
contrusa
magis
concessit
in
altum
;
dissoluuntur
enim
tum
demum
membra
fluuntque
.
nam
dubium
non
est
,
animai
quin
opera
sit

sensus
hic
in
nobis
,
quem
cum
sopor
inpedit
esse
,
tum
nobis
animam
perturbatam
esse
putandumst

eiectamque
foras
,
non
omnem
;
namque
iaceret

aeterno
corpus
perfusum
frigore
leti
.
quippe
ubi
nulla
latens
animai
pars
remaneret

in
membris
,
cinere
ut
multa
latet
obrutus
ignis
,
unde
reconflari
sensus
per
membra
repente

possit
,
ut
ex
igni
caeco
consurgere
flamma
?

Now, by what modes this sleep
Pours through our members waters of repose
And frees the breast from cares of mind, I'll tell
In verses sweeter than they many are;
Even as the swan's slight note is better far
Than that dispersed clamour of the cranes
Among the southwind's aery clouds. Do thou
Give me sharp ears and a sagacious mind,-
That thou mayst not deny the things to be
Whereof I'm speaking, nor depart away
With bosom scorning these the spoken truths,
Thyself at fault unable to perceive.
Sleep chiefly comes when energy of soul
Hath now been scattered through the frame, and part
Expelled abroad and gone away, and part
Crammed back and settling deep within the frame-
Whereafter then our loosened members droop.
For doubt is none that by the work of soul
Exist in us this sense, and when by slumber
That sense is thwarted, we are bound to think
The soul confounded and expelled abroad-
Yet not entirely, else the frame would lie
Drenched in the everlasting cold of death.
In sooth, where no one part of soul remained
Lurking among the members, even as fire
Lurks buried under many ashes, whence
Could sense amain rekindled be in members,
As flame can rise anew from unseen fire?
117
Sed
quibus
haec
rebus
novitas
confiat
et
unde

perturbari
anima
et
corpus
languescere
possit
,
expediam
:
tu
fac
ne
ventis
verba
profundam
.
Principio
externa
corpus
de
parte
necessum
est
,
aëriis

quoniam
vicinum
tangitur
auris
,
tundier
atque
eius
crebro
pulsarier
ictu
,
proptereaque
fere
res
omnes
aut
corio
sunt

aut
etiam
conchis
aut
callo
aut
cortice
tectae
.
interiorem
etiam
partem
spirantibus
aër

verberat
hic
idem
,
cum
ducitur
atque
reflatur
.
quare
utrimque
secus
cum
corpus
vapulet
et
cum

perveniant
plagae
per
parva
foramina
nobis

corporis
ad
primas
partis
elementaque
prima
,
fit
quasi
paulatim
nobis
per
membra
ruina
.
conturbantur
enim
positurae
principiorum

corporis
atque
animi
.
fit
uti
pars
inde
animai

eliciatur
et
introrsum
pars
abdita
cedat
,
pars
etiam
distracta
per
artus
non
queat
esse

coniuncta
inter
se
neque
motu
mutua
fungi
;
inter
enim
saepit
coetus
natura
viasque
.
ergo
sensus
abit
mutatis
motibus
alte
.
et
quoniam
non
est
quasi
quod
suffulciat
artus
,
debile
fit
corpus
languescuntque
omnia
membra
,
bracchia
palpebraeque
cadunt
poplitesque
cubanti

saepe
tamen
summittuntur
virisque
resolvunt
.
Deinde
cibum
sequitur
somnus
,
quia
,
quae
facit
aër
,
haec
eadem
cibus
,
in
venas
dum
diditur
omnis
,
efficit
.
et
multo
sopor
ille
gravissimus
exstat
,
quem
satur
aut
lassus
capias
,
quia
plurima
tum
se

corpora
conturbant
magno
contusa
labore
.
fit
ratione
eadem
coniectus
parte
animai

altior
atque
foras
eiectus
largior
eius
,
et
divisior
inter
se
ac
distractior
intus
.

By what devices this strange state and new
May be occasioned, and by what the soul
Can be confounded and the frame grow faint,
I will untangle: see to it, thou, that I
Pour forth my words not unto empty winds.
In first place, body on its outer parts-
Since these are touched by neighbouring aery gusts-
Must there be thumped and strook by blows of air
Repeatedly. And therefore almost all
Are covered either with hides, or else with shells,
Or with the horny callus, or with bark.
Yet this same air lashes their inner parts,
When creatures draw a breath or blow it out.
Wherefore, since body thus is flogged alike
Upon the inside and the out, and blows
Come in upon us through the little pores
Even inward to our body's primal parts
And primal elements, there comes to pass
By slow degrees, along our members then,
A kind of overthrow; for then confounded
Are those arrangements of the primal germs
Of body and of mind. It comes to pass
That next a part of soul's expelled abroad,
A part retreateth in recesses hid,
A part, too, scattered all about the frame,
Cannot become united nor engage
In interchange of motion. Nature now
So hedges off approaches and the paths;
And thus the sense, its motions all deranged,
Retires down deep within; and since there's naught,
As 'twere, to prop the frame, the body weakens,
And all the members languish, and the arms
And eyelids fall, and, as ye lie abed,
Even there the houghs will sag and loose their powers.
Again, sleep follows after food, because
The food produces same result as air,
Whilst being scattered round through all the veins;
And much the heaviest is that slumber which,
Full or fatigued, thou takest; since 'tis then
That the most bodies disarrange themselves,
Bruised by labours hard. And in same wise,
This three-fold change: a forcing of the soul
Down deeper, more a casting-forth of it,
A moving more divided in its parts
And scattered more.
118
Et
quo
quisque
fere
studio
devinctus
adhaeret

aut
quibus
in
rebus
multum
sumus
ante
morati

atque
in
ea
ratione
fuit
contenta
magis
mens
,
in
somnis
eadem
plerumque
videmur
obire
:
causidici
causas
agere
et
componere
leges
,
induperatores
pugnare
ac
proelia
obire
,
nautae
contractum
cum
ventis
degere
bellum
,
nos
agere
hoc
autem
et
naturam
quaerere
rerum

semper
et
inventam
patriis
exponere
chartis
.
cetera
sic
studia
atque
artes
plerumque
videntur

in
somnis
animos
hominum
frustrata
tenere
.
et
qui
cumque
dies
multos
ex
ordine
ludis

adsiduas
dederunt
operas
,
plerumque
videmus
,
cum
iam
destiterunt
ea
sensibus
usurpare
,
relicuas
tamen
esse
vias
in
mente
patentis
,
qua
possint
eadem
rerum
simulacra
venire
;
per
multos
itaque
illa
dies
eadem
obversantur

ante
oculos
,
etiam
vigilantes
ut
videantur

cernere
saltantis
et
mollia
membra
moventis

et
citharae
liquidum
carmen
chordasque
loquentis

auribus
accipere
et
consessum
cernere
eundem

scenaique
simul
varios
splendere
decores
.
usque
adeo
magni
refert
studium
atque
voluntas
,
et
quibus
in
rebus
consuerint
esse
operati

non
homines
solum
sed
vero
animalia
cuncta
.
quippe
videbis
equos
fortis
,
cum
membra
iacebunt
,
in
somnis
sudare
tamen
spirareque
semper

et
quasi
de
palma
summas
contendere
viris

aut
quasi
carceribus
patefactis

venantumque
canes
in
molli
saepe
quiete

iactant
crura
tamen
subito
vocisque
repente

mittunt
et
crebro
redducunt
naribus
auras
.
ut
vestigia
si
teneant
inventa
ferarum
,
expergefactique
secuntur
inania
saepe

cervorum
simulacra
,
fugae
quasi
dedita
cernant
,
donec
discussis
redeant
erroribus
ad
se
.
at
consueta
domi
catulorum
blanda
propago

discutere
et
corpus
de
terra
corripere
instant
,
proinde
quasi
ignotas
facies
atque
ora
tuantur
.
et
quo
quaeque
magis
sunt
aspera
seminiorum
,
tam
magis
in
somnis
eadem
saevire
necessust
.
at
variae
fugiunt
volucres
pinnisque
repente

sollicitant
divom
nocturno
tempore
lucos
,
accipitres
somno
in
leni
si
proelia
pugnas

edere
sunt
persectantes
visaeque
volantes
.
porro
hominum
mentes
,
magnis
quae
motibus
edunt

magna
,
itidem
saepe
in
somnis
faciuntque
geruntque
,
reges
expugnant
,
capiuntur
,
proelia
miscent
,
tollunt
clamorem
,
quasi
si
iugulentur
ibidem
.
multi
depugnant
gemitusque
doloribus
edunt

et
quasi
pantherae
morsu
saevive
leonis

mandantur
,
magnis
clamoribus
omnia
complent
.
multi
de
magnis
per
somnum
rebus
loquuntur

indicioque
sui
facti
persaepe
fuere
.
multi
mortem
obeunt
.
multi
,
de
montibus
altis

ut
quasi
praecipitent
ad
terram
corpore
toto
,
exterruntur
et
ex
somno
quasi
mentibus
capti

vix
ad
se
redeunt
permoti
corporis
aestu
.
flumen
item
sitiens
aut
fontem
propter
amoenum

adsidet
et
totum
prope
faucibus
occupat
amnem
.
puri
saepe
lacum
propter
si
ac
dolia
curta

somno
devincti
credunt
se
extollere
vestem
,
totius
umorem
saccatum
corporis
fundunt
,
cum
Babylonica
magnifico
splendore
rigantur
.
tum
quibus
aetatis
freta
primitus
insinuatur

semen
,
ubi
ipsa
dies
membris
matura
creavit
,
conveniunt
simulacra
foris
e
corpore
quoque
,
nuntia
praeclari
voltus
pulchrique
coloris
,
qui
ciet
inritans
loca
turgida
semine
multo
,
ut
quasi
transactis
saepe
omnibus
rebus
profundant

fluminis
ingentis
fluctus
vestemque
cruentent
.

And to whate'er pursuit
A man most clings absorbed, or what the affairs
On which we theretofore have tarried much,
And mind hath strained upon the more, we seem
In sleep not rarely to go at the same.
The lawyers seem to plead and cite decrees,
Commanders they to fight and go at frays,
Sailors to live in combat with the winds,
And we ourselves indeed to make this book,
And still to seek the nature of the world
And set it down, when once discovered, here
In these my country's leaves. Thus all pursuits,
All arts in general seem in sleeps to mock
And master the minds of men. And whosoever
Day after day for long to games have given
Attention undivided, still they keep
(As oft we note), even when they've ceased to grasp
Those games with their own senses, open paths
Within the mind wherethrough the idol-films
Of just those games can come. And thus it is
For many a day thereafter those appear
Floating before the eyes, that even awake
They think they view the dancers moving round
Their supple limbs, and catch with both the ears
The liquid song of harp and speaking chords,
And view the same assembly on the seats,
And manifold bright glories of the stage-
So great the influence of pursuit and zest,
And of the affairs wherein 'thas been the wont
Of men to be engaged-nor only men,
But soothly all the animals. Behold,
Thou'lt see the sturdy horses, though outstretched,
Yet sweating in their sleep, and panting ever,
And straining utmost strength, as if for prize,
As if, with barriers opened now...
And hounds of huntsmen oft in soft repose
Yet toss asudden all their legs about,
And growl and bark, and with their nostrils sniff
The winds again, again, as though indeed
They'd caught the scented foot-prints of wild beasts,
And, even when wakened, often they pursue
The phantom images of stags, as though
They did perceive them fleeing on before,
Until the illusion's shaken off and dogs
Come to themselves again. And fawning breed
Of house-bred whelps do feel the sudden urge
To shake their bodies and start from off the ground,
As if beholding stranger-visages.
And ever the fiercer be the stock, the more
In sleep the same is ever bound to rage.
But flee the divers tribes of birds and vex
With sudden wings by night the groves of gods,
When in their gentle slumbers they have dreamed
Of hawks in chase, aswooping on for fight.
Again, the minds of mortals which perform
With mighty motions mighty enterprises,
Often in sleep will do and dare the same
In manner like. Kings take the towns by storm,
Succumb to capture, battle on the field,
Raise a wild cry as if their throats were cut
Even then and there. And many wrestle on
And groan with pains, and fill all regions round
With mighty cries and wild, as if then gnawed
By fangs of panther or of lion fierce.
Many amid their slumbers talk about
Their mighty enterprises, and have often
Enough become the proof of their own crimes.
Many meet death; many, as if headlong
From lofty mountains tumbling down to earth
With all their frame, are frenzied in their fright;
And after sleep, as if still mad in mind,
They scarce come to, confounded as they are
By ferment of their frame. The thirsty man,
Likewise, he sits beside delightful spring
Or river and gulpeth down with gaping throat
Nigh the whole stream. And oft the innocent young,
By sleep o'ermastered, think they lift their dress
By pail or public jordan and then void
The water filtered down their frame entire
And drench the Babylonian coverlets,
Magnificently bright. Again, those males
Into the surging channels of whose years
Now first has passed the seed (engendered
Within their members by the ripened days)
Are in their sleep confronted from without
By idol-images of some fair form-
Tidings of glorious face and lovely bloom,
Which stir and goad the regions turgid now
With seed abundant; so that, as it were
With all the matter acted duly out,
They pour the billows of a potent stream
And stain their garment.
119
Sollicitatur
id
nobis
,
quod
diximus
ante
,
semen
,
adulta
aetas
cum
primum
roborat
artus
.
namque
alias
aliud
res
commovet
atque
lacessit
;
ex
homine
humanum
semen
ciet
una
hominis
vis
.
quod
simul
atque
suis
eiectum
sedibus
exit
,
per
membra
atque
artus
decedit
corpore
toto
,
in
loca
conveniens
nervorum
certa
cietque

continuo
partis
genitalis
corporis
ipsas
.
inritata
tument
loca
semine
fitque
voluntas

eicere
id
quo
se
contendit
dira
lubido
,
idque
petit
corpus
,
mens
unde
est
saucia
amore
;
namque
omnes
plerumque
cadunt
in
vulnus
et
illam

emicat
in
partem
sanguis
,
unde
icimur
ictu
,
et
si
comminus
est
,
hostem
ruber
occupat
umor
.
sic
igitur
Veneris
qui
telis
accipit
ictus
,
sive
puer
membris
muliebribus
hunc
iaculatur

seu
mulier
toto
iactans
e
corpore
amorem
,
unde
feritur
,
eo
tendit
gestitque
coire

et
iacere
umorem
in
corpus
de
corpore
ductum
;
namque
voluptatem
praesagit
muta
cupido
.

And as said before,
That seed is roused in us when once ripe age
Has made our body strong...
As divers causes give to divers things
Impulse and irritation, so one force
In human kind rouses the human seed
To spurt from man. As soon as ever it issues,
Forced from its first abodes, it passes down
In the whole body through the limbs and frame,
Meeting in certain regions of our thews,
And stirs amain the genitals of man.
The goaded regions swell with seed, and then
Comes the delight to dart the same at what
The mad desire so yearns, and body seeks
That object, whence the mind by love is pierced.
For well-nigh each man falleth toward his wound,
And our blood spurts even toward the spot from whence
The stroke wherewith we are strook, and if indeed
The foe be close, the red jet reaches him.
Thus, one who gets a stroke from Venus' shafts-
Whether a boy with limbs effeminate
Assault him, or a woman darting love
From all her body- that one strains to get
Even to the thing whereby he's hit, and longs
To join with it and cast into its frame
The fluid drawn even from within its own.
For the mute craving doth presage delight.
120
Haec
Venus
est
nobis
;
hinc
autemst
nomen
Amoris
,
hinc
illaec
primum
Veneris
dulcedinis
in
cor

stillavit
gutta
et
successit
frigida
cura
;
nam
si
abest
quod
ames
,
praesto
simulacra
tamen
sunt

illius
et
nomen
dulce
obversatur
ad
auris
.
sed
fugitare
decet
simulacra
et
pabula
amoris

absterrere
sibi
atque
alio
convertere
mentem

et
iacere
umorem
coniectum
in
corpora
quaeque

nec
retinere
semel
conversum
unius
amore

et
servare
sibi
curam
certumque
dolorem
;
ulcus
enim
vivescit
et
inveterascit
alendo

inque
dies
gliscit
furor
atque
aerumna
gravescit
,
si
non
prima
novis
conturbes
volnera
plagis

volgivagaque
vagus
Venere
ante
recentia
cures

aut
alio
possis
animi
traducere
motus
.
THE PASSION OF LOVE
This craving 'tis that's Venus unto us:
From this, engender all the lures of love,
From this, O first hath into human hearts
Trickled that drop of joyance which ere long
Is by chill care succeeded. Since, indeed,
Though she thou lovest now be far away,
Yet idol-images of her are near
And the sweet name is floating in thy ear.
But it behooves to flee those images;
And scare afar whatever feeds thy love;
And turn elsewhere thy mind; and vent the sperm,
Within thee gathered, into sundry bodies,
Nor, with thy thoughts still busied with one love,
Keep it for one delight, and so store up
Care for thyself and pain inevitable.
For, lo, the ulcer just by nourishing
Grows to more life with deep inveteracy,
And day by day the fury swells aflame,
And the woe waxes heavier day by day-
Unless thou dost destroy even by new blows
The former wounds of love, and curest them
While yet they're fresh, by wandering freely round
After the freely-wandering Venus, or
Canst lead elsewhere the tumults of thy mind.