Full text of Bohn translation of De rerum natura
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Full text of Bohn translation of De rerum natura
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LUCEETIUS
ov
THE NATURE OF THINGS,
METRICALLY T&ANSLATEO
BY JOHN MASON GOOD.
BOOK I.
Fabent of Rome ! by gods and men beloved, Benignant Venus ! thou, the sail-clad main And fruitful earth, as round the seasons roll, With life who swellest, for by thee all live. And, living, hail the cheerful light of day : — 5
Thee, goddess, at thy glad approach, the winds, The tempests fly : dedalian Earth to thee Pours forth her sweetest flowerets : Ocean laughs, And the blue heavens in cloudless splendour decked. For, when the Spring first opes her frolic eye, 10
And genial zephyrs long locked up respire, Thee, goddess, then, th' aerial birds confess, To rapture stung through every shivering plume : Thee, the wild herds ; hence, o'er the joyous glebe Bounding at large; or, with undaunted chest, 15
Stemming the torrent tides. Through all that lives So, by thy charms, thy blandishments o'erpowered. Springs the warm wish thy footsteps to pursue : Till through the seas, the mountains, and the floods. The verdant meads, and woodlands filled with song, 20 Spurred by desire each palpitating tribe Hastes, at thy shrine, to plant the future race.
Since, then, with universal sway thou rul'st. And thou alone ; nor aught without thee springs.
304 LUCRETIUS. BOOK I.
Aught gay or lovely ; thee I woo to guide 25
Aright my flowing song, that aims to paint
To Memmius' view the essences op things :
Memmius, my friend, by thee, from earliest youth,
O goddess ! led, and trained to every grace.
Then, O, vouchsafe thy favour, power divine ! 30
And with immortal eloquence inspire.
Quell, too, the fury of the hostile world,
And lull to peace, that all the strain may hear.
For peace is thine : on thy soft bosom he,
The warlike field who sways, almighty Maks, 35
Struck by triumphant Love's eternal wound.
Reclines full frequent : with uplifted gaze
On thee he feeds his longing, lingering eyes.
And all his soul hangs quivering from thy lips.
O ! while thine arms in fond embraces clasp 40
His panting members, sovereign of the heart !
Ope thy bland voice, and intercede for Rome.
For, while th' unsheathed sword is brandished, vain
And all unequal is the poet's song ;
And vain th' attempt to claim his patron's ear. 45
Son of the Memmu ! thou, benignant, too, Freed from all cares, with vacant ear attend ; Nor turn, contemptuous, ere the truths I sing. For thee first harmonized, are full perceived. Lo ! to thy view I spread the rise of things ; 50
Unfold th' immortals, and their blest abodes : How Nature all creates, sustains, matures, And how, at length, dissolves ; what forms the mass, Termed by the learned. Matter, Seeds of Things, And generative Atoms, or, at times, 55
Atoms primordial, as hence all proceeds.
Far, far from mortals, and their vain concerns. In peace perpetual dwell th' immortal gods : Each self-dependent, and from human wants Estranged for ever. There, nor pain pervades, 60
Nor danger threatens ; every passion sleeps ; Vice no revenge, no rapture virtue prompts.
Not thus mankind. Them long the tyrant power Of Superstition swayed, uplifting proud Her head to heaven, and with horrific limbs 65
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OF THINGa. 305
Brooding o'er earth ; till he, the man of Greece,
Auspicious rose, who first the combat dared.
And broke in twain the monster's iron rod.
No thunder him, no fell revenge pursued
Of heaven incensed, or deities in arms. 70
Urged rather, hence, with more determined soul.
To burst through Nature's portals, from the crowd
With jealous caution closed ; the flaming walls
Of heaven to scale, and dart his dauntless eye,
Till the vast whole beneath him stood displayed. 75
Hence taught he us, triumphant, what might spring.
And what forbear : what powers inherent lurk.
And where their bounds and issues. And, hence, we,
Triumphant too, o'er Superstition rise,
Contemn her terrors, and unfold the heavens. 80
Nor deem the truths Philosophy reveals Corrupt the mind, or prompt to impious deeds. No : Superstition may, and nought so soon. But Wisdom never. Superstition 'twas Urged the fell Grecian chiefs, with virgin blood, 85
To stain the virgin altar. Barbarous deed ! And fatal to their laurels ! AuLis saw. For there Diana reigns, th' unholy rite. Around she looked ; the pride of Grecian maids, The lovely Iphigenia, round she looked, — 90
Her lavish tresses, spuming still the bond Of sacred fillet, flaunting o'er her cheeks, — And sought, in vain, protection. She surveyed Near her, her sad, sad sire ; th' officious priests Repentant half, and hiding their keen steel, 95
And crowds of gazers weeping as they viewed. Dumb with alarm, with supplicating knee. And lifted eye, she sought compassion still ; Fruitless and unavailing : vain her youth. Her innocence, and beauty ; vain the boast 100
Of regal birth ; and vain that first herself Lisped the dear name of Father, eldest bom. Forced from her suppliant posture, straight she viewed The altar full prepared : not there to blend Connubial vows, and light the bridal torch ; 105
But, at the moment when mature in charms.
306 LUCRETIUS. BOOK I.
While Hymen called aload, to fall, e'en then,
A father's victim, and the price to pay
Of Grecian navies, favoured thus with gales. —
Such are the crimes that Superstition prompts ! 110
And dost thou still resist us ? trusting still The fearful tale by priests and poets told ? — I, too, could feign such fables ; and combine As true to fact, and of as potent spell. To freeze thy blood, and harrow every nerve. — 115
Nor wrong th' attempt. Were mortal man assured Eternal death would close this life of woe. And nought remain of curse beyond the grave, E'en then religion half its force would lose ; Vice no alarm, and virtue feel no hope. 120
But, whilst the converse frights him, man will dread Eternal pain, and flee from impious deeds. Yet doubtful is the doctrine, and unknown Whether, co-eval with th' external frame. The soul first lives, when lives the body first, 125
Or boasts a date anterior : whether doomed To common ruin, and one common grave. Or through the gloomy shades, the lakes, the caves, Of Erebus to wander : or, perchance, As Ennius taught, immortal bard, whose brows 1 30
Unfading laurels bound, and still whose verse All Rome recites, entranced — perchance condemned The various tribes of brutes, with ray divine. To animate and quicken : though the bard. In deathless melody, has elsewhere sung 1 35
Of AcHERUSiAN temples, where, nor soul Nor body dwells, but images of men. Mysterious shaped ; in wondrous measure wan. Here Homer's spectre roamed, of endless fame Possest : his briny tears the bard surveyed, 1 40
And drank the dulcet precepts from his lips.
Such are the various creeds of men. And hence The philosophic sage is called t' explain. Not the mere phases of the heavens alone. The sun's bright path, the moon's perpetual change, 145 And powers of earth productive, but to point. In terms appropriate, the dissevering lines
BOOK I. ON THE NATUBE OP THINGS. 307
'Twixt mind and brutal life ; and prove precise Whence spring those shadowy forms, which, e'en in hours Wakeful and calm, but chief when dreams molest, 150
Or dire disease, we see, or think we^ see, Though the dank grave have long their bones inhumed.
Tet not unknown to me how hard the task Such deep obscurities of Greece t' unfold In Latin numbers ; to combine new terms, 155
And strive with all our poverty of tongue. — But such thy virtue, and the friendship pure My bosom bears, that arduous task I dare ; And yield the sleepless night, in hope to cull Some happy phrase, some wdl-selected verse, 160
Meet for the subject ; to dispel each shade, And bid the mystic doctrine hail the day. For shades there are, and terrors of the soul. The day can ne'er disperse, though blazing strong With all the sun's bright javelins. These alone 165
To Nature yield, and Reason ; and, combined, This is the precept they for ever teach,
That NOUGHT PROM NOUGHT BY POWER DIVINE HAS RISEN.
But the blind fear, the superstition vain Of mortals uninformed, when spring, perchance, 170
In heaven above, or earth's sublunar scene. Events to them impervious, instant deem Some power supernal present, and employed. — Admit this truth, that nought prom nothing springs. And all is clear. Developed, then, we trace, 175
Through Nature's boundless realm, the rise of things. Their modes, and powers innate ; nor need from heaven Some god's descent to rule each rising fact.
Could things from nought proceed, then whence the use Of generative atoms, binding strong 180
Kinds to their kinds perpetual ? Man himself Might spring from ocean ; from promiscuous earth The finny race, or feathery tribes of heaven : Prone down the skies the bellowing herds might bound. Or frisk from cloud to cloud: while flocks, and beasts 185 Pierce and most savage, undefined in birth. The field or forest might alike display. Each tree, inconstant to our hopes, would bend
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308 LUCRETIUS. BOOK I.
With foreign frui't : and all things all things yield. Whence but from elemental seeds that act 190
With trath, and power precise, can causes spring Powerful and true themselves ? But grant such seeds, And all, as now, through Nature's wide domain. In time predicted, and predicted place, Must meet the day concordant ; must assume 195
The form innately stampt, and prove alone Why all from all things never can proceed.
Whence does the balmy rose possess the spring ? The yellow grain the summer? or, the vine With purple clusters, cheer th' autumnal hours ? 200
Whence, true to time, if such primordial seeds Act not harmonious, can aught here surveyed, Aught in its season, rear its tender form, And the glad earth protrude it to the day ? But, if from nought things rise, then each alike, 205
In every spot, at every varying mon'th, Must spring discordant ; void of primal seeds To check all union till th' allotted hour.
Nor space for growth would then be needful : all Springing from nought, and still from nought supplied. 210 The puny babe would start abrupt to man ; And trees umbrageous, crowned with fruit mature. Burst, instant, from the greensward. But such facts Each day opposes ; and, opposing, proves That all things gradual swell from seeds defined, 215
Of race and rank observant, and intent T' evince th' appropriate matter whence they thrive.
But matter thus appropriate, or e'en space For growth mature, form not the whole required. The timely shower from heaven must add benign 220
Its influence too, ere yet the teeming earth Emit her joyous produce ; or, the ranks Of man and reptile, thence alone sustained. May spring to life, and propagate their kinds. Say rather, then, in much that meets the view, 225
That various powers combine, concordant all, Common and elemental, as in words Such elemental letters, — than contend. That void of genial atoms, aught exists.
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 309
Why formed not Nature man with ample powers 230 To fathom, with his feet, th' unbottomed main ? To root up mountains with his mighty hands ? 'Or live o'er lapsing ages victor still ? Why, but because primordial matter, fixt . And limited in act, to all is dealt 235
Of things created, whence their forms expand. And hence again we learn, and prove express. Nought springs from nought, and that, from seeds precise, Whate'er is formed must meet th' ethereal day.
Mark how the cultured soil the soil excels 240
Uncultured, richer in autumnal fruits. Here, too, the latent principle of things, Freed by the plough, the fertile glebe that turns And subjugates the sod, exert their power, And swell the harvest : else, spontaneous, all 245
Would still ascend by labour unimproved.
And as from nought the genial seeds of things Can never rise, so Nature that dissolves Their varying forms, to nought can ne'er reduce.
Were things destructible throughout, then all 250
Abrupt would perish, passing from the sight ; Nor foreign force be wanting to disjoin Their vital parts, or break th' essential bond. But since, from seeds eternal all things rise. Till force like this prevail, vdth sudden stroke 255
Crushing the living substance, or within Deep entering each interstice, to dissolve. All active, Nature no destruction views.
Were time the total to destroy of all By age decayed, — say whence could Venus' self 260
The ranks renew of animated life ? Or, if renewed, whence earth's dedalian power Draw the meet foods to nurture, and mature ? Whence springs and rivers, with perpetual course, The deep supply ? or, ether feed the stars ? 265
Whate'er could perish, ever-during time, And rolling ages, must have long destroy 'd. But if, through rolling ages, and the lapse Of ever-during time, stiU firm at base. Material things have stood, then must that base 270
310 LUCHKTIUS. BOOK I.
Exist immortal, and the fates defj.
Thus, too, the same efficient force applied Alike must all things rupture, if, within. No substance dwelled eternal to maintain In close, and closer, links their varying bonds. 275
E'en the least touch, — for every cause alike Must break their textures, equal in effect. If no imperishable power opposed, — E'en touch were then irrevocable death. But since, with varying strength, the seeds within 280
Adhere, of form precise, and prove express Their origin eternal, — free from ill. And undivided must those forms endure. Till some superior force the compact cleave. Thus things to nought dissolve not ; but, subdued, 285 Alone return to elemental seeds.
When, on the bosom of maternal Earth, His showers redundant genial Ether pours. The dulcet drops seem lost : but harvests rise. Jocund and lovely ; and, with foliage fresh, 290
Smiles every tree, and bends beneath its fruit. Hence man and beast are nourished ; hence overflow Our joyous streets with crowds of frolic youth ; And with fresh songs th' umbrageous groves resound. Hence the herds fatten, and repose at ease, 295
O'er the gay meadows, their unwieldy forms ; While from each full-distended udder drops The candid milk spontaneous ; and hence, too. With tottering footsteps, o'er the tender grass. Gambol their wanton young, each little heart 300
Quivering beneath the genuine nectar quaffed.
So nought can perish, that the sight surveys. With utter death ; but Nature still renews Each from the other, nor can form afresh One substance, till another be destroyed. 305
But come, my friend, and, since the muse has sung Things cannot spring from, or return to nought. Lest thou should'st urge, still sceptic, that no eye Their generative atoms e'er has traced ; Mark in what scenes thyself must own, perforce, 310
Still atoms dwell, though viewless still to sense.
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 311
And, first, th' excited wind torments the deep ; Wrecks the tough bark, and tears the shivering clouds : Now, with wide whirlwind, prostrating alike O'er the waste champaign, trees, and bending blade ; 315 And now, perchance, with forest-rending force. Rocking the mighty mountains on their base. So vast its fury ! — But that fury flows Alone from viewless atoms, that, combined, Thus form the fierce tornado, raging wild 320
O'er heaven, and earth, and ocean's dread domain. As when a river, down its verdant banks Soft-gliding, sudden from the mountains round Swells with the rushing rain — the placid stream AU limit loses, and, with furious force, 325
In its resistless tide, bears down, at once. Shrubs, shattered trees, and bridges, weak alike Before the tumbling torrent : such its power ! — Loud roars the raging flood, and triumphs still. O'er rocks, and mounds, and all that else contends. 330 So roars th' enraged wind : so, like a flood. Where'er it aims, before its mighty tide. Sweeps all created things : or round, and round. In its vast vortex curls their tortured forms. — Though viewless, then, the matter thus that acts, 335
Still there is matter : and, to Reason's ken, Conspicuous as the visual texture traced In the wild wave that emulates its strength.
Next, what keen eye e'er followed, in their course. The light- winged odoubs ? or developed clear 340
The mystic forms of cold, or heat intense ? Or sound through ether fleeting ? — ^yet, though far From human sight removed, by all confessed Alike material ; since alike the sense They touch impulsive ; and since nought can touch 345 But matter ; or, in turn, be touched itself.
Thus, too, the garment that along the shore, Lashed by the main, imbibes the briny dew. Dries in the sunbeam : but, alike unseen, Falls the moist ether, or again flies off 350
£ntire, abhorrent of the red-eyed noon*
312 LUCRETIUS. BOOK I.
So fine the attenuated spray that floats In the pure breeze ; so fugitive to sight.
A thousand proofs spring up. The ring that decks The fair one's finger, by revolving years, 355
Wastes imperceptibly. The dropping shower Scoops the rough rock. The plough's attempered share Decays : and the thick pressure of the crowd. Incessant passing, wears the stone-paved street. E'en the gigantic forms of solid brass, 360
Placed at our portals, from the frequent touch Of devotees and strangers, now display The right hand lessened of its proper bulk. — All lose, we view, by friction, their extent ; But, in what time, what particles they lose, 365
This envious Nature from our view conceals.
Thus, too, both Time and Nature give to things A gradual growth : but never yet the sight That gradual growth explored ; nor marked their fall, Still gradual too, by age, or sure decay : 370
Nor traced what portions of incumbent rock. Loaded with brine, the caustic wave dissolves. — So fine the particles that form the world.
Yet not corporeal is the whole produced By Nature. In created things exists, 375
Search where thou wilt, an incorporeal void. This mark, and half philosophy is thine. Doubtful no longer shalt thou wander : taught Th' entire of things, and by our verse convinced. And know this void is space untouched and pure. 380
Were space like this vouchsafed not, nought could move : Corporeal forms would still resist, and strive With forms corporeal, nor consent to jrield ; While the great progress of creation ceased. But what more clear in earth or heaven sublime, 385
Or the vast ocean, than, in various modes, That various matter moves ? which, but for space, 'Twere vain t' expect: and vainer yet to look For procreative power, educing still Kinds from their kinds through all revolving time. 390
True, things are solid deemed : but know that those
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 313
Deemed so the most are rare and unconjoined.
From rocks, and caves, translucent lymph distils,
And, from the tough bark, drops the healing balm.
The genial meal, with mystic power, pervades 395
Each avenue of life ; and the grove swells,
And yields its various fruit, sustained alone
From the pure food propelled through root and branch.
Sound pierces marble ; through reclusest walls
The bosom-tale transmits : and the keen frost 400
E'en to the marrow winds^ its sinuous way. —
Destroy all vacuum, then, close every pore,
And, if thou canst, for such events account.
Say, why of equal bulk, in equal scale. Are things oft found unequal in their poise ? 405
O'er the light wool the grosser lead prevails With giant force. But were th' amount alike Of matter each contained, alike the weight Would prove perpetual : for, from matter sole, Flows weight, and moment, ever prone to earth : 410
While vacant space nor weight nor moment knows. Where things surpoise, then, though of equal bulk. There matter most resides : but where ascends The beam sublime, the rising substance holds A smaller share, and larger leaves the void. 415
Hence draws the sage his creed : in all produced Finds vacuum still, and calls that vacuum space.
But some there are such doctrines who deny : And urge in proof, deceptive, that we wave Not through imagined pores admits the race 420
With glitt'ring scales — ^but yields at once, and opes The liquid path ; and occupies, in turn. The space behind the aureat fish deserts. Thus, too, that all things act : the spot possessed Exchanging sole, while each continues full. 425
Believe them not. K nought of space the wave Give to its gilded tenants, how, resolve, Feel they the power t' advance ? and if t' advance They know not, how can, next, the wave thus yield ? — Or matter ne'er can move, then, or within 430
Some VOID must mix through all its varjring forms, Whence springs alone the power of motion first.
314 LUCRETroS. BOOK I.
When force mechanic severs, and, abrupt, Drives two broad bodies distant, quick between Flows the light air, and fills the vacuum formed. 435
But ne'er so rapid can the light air flow As to forbid all void ; since, step by step. It still must rush till the whole space be closed. ' Nor credit those who urge such bodies sole Can part because the liquid air, compress'd 440
To closer texture, gives the needed space. Such feeble reas'ners, in opposing void, A double void confess : for, first, perforce, A void they own, where void was none before. Betwixt the substance severed ; and bring next 445
A proof surmountless that the air itself Thronged with a prior void : else how, to bounds Of closer texture, could it e'er contract ?
A thousand facts crowd round me : to the same Converging all. But ample these, I ween, 450
Though but the footsteps of the mighty whole, To fix thy faith, and guide thee to the rest. For as the hound, when once the tainted dew His nostrils taste, pursues the vagrant fox O'er hills, and dales, and drags him from his lair ; 455
So may'st thou trace from fact associate fact, i
Through every maze, through every doubtful shade. Till Truth's bright form, at length, thy labours crown.
Nor tardy be the toil, for much remains. So oft, O Memmius ! from the sacred fount 460
By wisdom fed, so largely have I drank, And such the dulcet doctrines yet untold, That age may first unman us, and break down The purple gates of life, ere the bold muse Exhaust the boundless subject. Haste we, then, 465
Each pulse is precious, haste we to proceed.
Know, then, th' entire op nature sole consists Of SPACE and body : this the substance moved. And that the area of its motive power. That there is body, every sense we boast 470
Demonstrates strong : and, if we trust not sense. Source of all science, then the mind itself. Perplexed and hopeless, must still wander on.
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 315
In reasoning lost, to every doubt a prey.
And were not space, were vacuum not allowed, 47o
In nought could bodies, then, their powers display
Of various action : each compressing each
To motion fatal, as already sung.
Nor is there aught such vacant space besides. And MATTER close-embodied, can be traced 480
A substance forming discrepant from each. Search where thou wilt, whatever occurs to view. Of bulk minute, or large, though e'en its form Change with the hour, if tangible it prove. This stamps it matter, and forbids all doubt. 4S6
But if intangible, throughout if still To matter pervious, act where'er it may, 'Tis then void space, and can be nought besides.
All things, moreo'er, a substance must evince Acting, or suffering act ; or, form the sphere 490
In which to act or suffer. But to act. Or suffer action, must be matter's sole ; While SPACE alone that needed sphere admits.
Nought, then, 'twixt space and matter can subsist Of INTERMEDIATE SUBSTANCE : nought be traced 495
By keenest efforts of th' external sense, Or by the meditating mind deduced. All else we meet with or conceive but these Are mere conjunctions, or events attached. And know the learned by conjunctions name 500
Those powers in each perpetual that inhere. And ne'er can part till void or matter cease* Thus heat to fire, fluidity to streams. Weight to the rock, to all of matter touch. And want of touch to space. While Discord, Peace, 505 Oppression, Freedom, Poverty, and Wealth, And aught that else, of matter, and of space Lives independent, though engendered hence. Are termed, and justly, by the wise events.
E'en TIME, that measures all things, of itself 5 10
Exists not ; from the mind alone produced. As, link by link, contemplating minute. Things present, past, or future : for, of time.
316 LUCRETIUS. BOOK I.
From these disjoined, in motion, or at rest
Tranquil and still, what mortal can conceive? 515
Thus spring events to birth. The rape renowned Of beauteous Helen, or the fall of Troy, Though deemed existences, yet of themselves Existed never : on material things.
On place and persons acting, or coerced, 520
Alone dependent. These revolving years Have long th' irrevocable doom assigned: And rape and conquest, as events that claimed From these existence, now exist no more. —
Had ne'er been formed the matter, or the space, 525
Whose power conjunctive gave those scenes to be ; No fire had e'er, from lovely Helen's eyes, Glanced through the bosom of the Trojan youth, And kindled the fierce flames of storied war : No giant horse the fell Achaian throngs 530
Poured forth at night, subverting Prlaji's realm. Mark, then, how different facts exist and blend From void or matter ; and how justly termed Of place and body the derived events.
Know, too, that bodies, in their frame consist, 535
Part, of primordial atoms uncombined, And part combined and blending : these alone Pervious and rare ; while those so solid formed No force create can sever, or dissolve.
Nor deem such solids doubtful : though so deemed 540 By sages oft, who plausibly object That sound, that thunder, that the voice itself Breaks through domestic walls : that rigid steel Admits the blaze, and whitens : vitreous rocks Melt in the fierce volcano : gold and brass 545
Forego their icy hardness, and alike Yield in the fiery conflict, and dissolve : That e'en the silver chalice, fiU'd with lymph Fervid or cold, unlocks its secret pores. And warms, at once, or chills th' embracing hand. 550
Hence deem they matter pervious all, and void Of solid substance. But attend, benign, And, since right reason, and the frame of things
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 317
Demand the verse, the muse shall briefly prove
The seeds, the principles of matter all 555
Both soUd, and eternal, whence alone
Springs the stupendous fabric of the world.
Of SPACE, of MATTER, as already sung, Th' ENTIRE of things consists, by nature formed Distinct and adverse ; and existing pure 560
Each uncontrolled of each. Where matter dwells Void space can ne'er be found, nor matter found, Search where thou wHt, where space resides and reigns. As space is vacant then, material seeds Must solid prove, perforce, and free from void. 565
Thus, too, as vacuum dwells in all produced. Some solid substance must that vacuum bound : Nor aught of vacuum can created things Be proved to enclose, if solids not exist. Whose power alone can such enclosures form. 570
But solids must be matter ; the prime seeds Of all surveyed, harmonious in their act. And undecayed when all decays around.
Were there no space, th' entire of things would prove One boundless solid : and were nought conceived 575
Of viewless seeds, close Ailing, void of space. Each spot possest, all then were vacuum blank. Thus each from each, from matter space exists Distinct and clear : since never all is void. Nor ever full ; but this from that preserved 580
By countless atoms acting though unseen. These, as already sung, no powers can pierce : O'er blows external, o'er each vain attempt Of penetrative solvents, or aught else Philosophy reveals, triumphant still. 585
For nought can break, of vacuum all devoid. Or melt, or moulder, or within admit Vapour, or cold, or power of pungent heat. By which dissolves this fabric of the world. 'Tis vacuum lays the base : as this exists, 590
Augments, or lessens, things alone decay. What then is solid, and from vacuum free. Must undecayed, and still eternal live.
Were matter not eternal, ages since
318 LUCKETIUS. BOOK I.
AH had returned to nothing whence it sprang, 696
And from that nothing all again revived.
But since from nothing nought can ever rise.
As proved ahove, nor aught to nothing shrink.
Seeds there must be of ever-during date,
To which, perpetual, things dissolve, or whence 600
Flows the fresh pabulum that all repairs.
But seeds thus simple must be solid too ;
Else unpreserved through countless ages past,
And useless to recruit th' exhausted world.
Else friction, too, had injured : each by each 605
Through myriad years abraded, and reduced. Till nought conceptible had lived to rear, Each in its time, the progenies of earth : For all is wasted easier than renewed. And hence, had all been thus disturbed, dissolved, 610 And frittered through the long anterior lapse Of countless ages, future time in vain Would strive the ruined fragments to repair. But what more obvious than that bounds exist To matter decompounding, primal seeds 616
To forms defined coercing ; since again All springs to birth, harmonious, kinds from kinds, * True to their times, and perfect in their powers ?
Yet, though the principles of matter thus Prove firm and solid, its component forms, 620
As air, earth, vapour, or translucent stream. May still be soft and pliant, as combined. E'en from their birth, with less, or larger void. But had those principles themselves been reared Pliant and soft, then whence the sturdy steel, 626
The close-compacted flint, or aught besides, Of equal texture, traced through Nature's realm ? Thus simple solids must be still confest ; And all be soft, or rigid, as of these In more or less concentrate mode composed. 630
To all has Nature given a bound precise Of being and perfection ; and promulged, To every varjdng rank, her varying laws ; Urging to this, from that restraining firm. Nought suffers change : the feathery tribes of heaven 635
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 319
Bear, on their glossy plumes, through every class,
The same fixt hues that first those classes stamped.
Hence matter too, through all its primal seeds,
Is proved immutable : for if, o'ercome
By aught of foreign force, those seeds could change, 640
All would be doubtful ; nor the mind conceive
What might exist, or what might never live :
Nor why, decide, such variance in their powers.
And final terms of life, or instinct strong.
Through every age, still urging every race 645
To each pursuit, each action of their sires.
Know, too, each seed, each substance is composed Of points extreme no sense can e'er detect : Points that, perforce, minutest of themselves. To parts can ne'er divide : nor self-educed, 650
Nor, but as formed, existing, else destroyed. Parts such can hold not : each the first, pure part. Itself, of other substance : which, when joined Alone by kindred parts, in order due. Forms, from such junction, the prime seeds of things. 655 But e'en such parts, though by the mind as parts Conceived, disjoined can ne'er exist ; and thence Adhere by firm, indissoluble bond.
Thus seeds are simple solids, formed compact Of points extreme, that never can recede : 660
Not lab'ring jointly to produce some end. But potent from simplicity alone. And hence eternal : equally unprone To waste or sever ; and by nature kept To feed the suffering fabric of the world. 665
Did no such points exist, extreme and least. Each smallest atom would be, then, combined Of parts all infinite ; for every part Parts still would boast, dividing without end. And, say, what difference could there, then, subsist 670 'Twixt large and small ? for though th' entire op things Should infinite be deemed, each smallest speck Still parts as infinite would hold embraced. But since at this the reasoning mind revolts. Then must it own, o'erpowered, that points exist 675
Least by their nature, and of parts devoid :
320 LUCRETIUS. BOOK I.
And solid, hence, and of eternal date.
Hence seeds arise, the last, least parts conceived Of actual being : the extremest points To which creative Nature all resolves. 680
Which, if not least, if still of parts possest, Could ne'er, with close exactitude, renew The universal frame : all, all would rise Of weight diverse, and ever varying form. Casual in tie, in motion undefined. 685
Yet should we grant that matter, without end, For ever wastes ; e'en then, from earliest time, Some matter must have triumphed undecayed. Cohering still : but what can thus cohere, What brave the unnumbered repercussions felt 690
Through ages now evolved, can ne'er decay : Alike the future conquering as the past.
Hence those who deem the fabric of the world Educed from fire, itself the source of all. Far wander from the truth. Thus deemed the sage, 695 Chief of his sect, and fearless in the fight. Famed Heraclitus ; by the leam'd esteemed Of doubtful phrase, mysterious ; but revered By crowds of Grecians, flimsy, and untaught. For such th' obscure applaud ; delighted most 700
With systems dark, and most believing true The silver sounds that charm th' enchanted ear. But whence, I ask, if all from fire proceed Unmixed and simple, spring created things So various in their natures ? Urge not here 705
That fire condenses now, and now expands ; For if the same, divided or entire. Its parts condensed a heat can only prove More fierce ; and less when rarefied, and thin. Still all is FIRE. Nor canst thou e'er conceive 710
From fire that aught can spring but fire itself. Much less, in fire made dense alone, or rare, Trace the vast variance of created things. . Dense, too, and rare a vacuum must imply. As urged already; yet full well convinced 715
What straits surround them if a void exist. Such sages doubt, but, doubting, still deny :
BOOK L ON THE NATUBE OF THINGS. 321
Fearful of danger, yet averse from truth.
Such, too, reflect not that from things create,
Should void withdraw, the whole at once were dense, 720
One solid substance all, and unempowered
Aught from itself t' eject, as light, and smoke
Flies from the purple flame ; evincing clear
Its parts unsolid, and conmiixt with void.
But should it still, perchance, be urged, that flres 725
Perish by junction, and their substance change,
Then must that changing substance waste to nought ;
And thus from nought th' entire of nature spring.
For what once changes, by the change alone
Subverts immediate its anterior life. 730
But still, victorious, something must exist,
Or all to nought would perish ; and, in turn,
From nought regerminate to growth mature.
Yet though, most certain, things there are exist That never change, the seeds of all surveyed, 735
Whose presence, absence, or arrangement new That ALL new-models, certain 'tis, alike. Those seeds can ne'er be fibe. For what avails Such absence, presence, or arrangement new Of igneous matter, if the whole throughout 740
Alike be igneous ? Change howe'er it may. Through every variance all must still be flame. — Ask'st thou whence fire proceeds then ? As I deem, From certain seeds to certain motions urged, Or forms, or combinations ; which, when changed, 745 Change too their nature ; and, though yielding fire, Not fire resembling, or aught else perceived By human sense, or tangible to touch. ^
To hold, moreo'er, as Heraclitus held. That all is fire, and nought besides exists 750
Through Nature's boundless fabric, is to rave. T' oppose the mental sense, erroneous oft. To sense external, whence all knowledge flows. And whence himself first traced that flame exists. To sense he trusts, when sense discloses fire, 755
And yet distrusts in things disclosed as clear. Can there, in man, be conduct more absurd ! — Where shall we turn us ? Where, if thus we fly
322 LUCBETins. book l
Those senses chief that sever true firom false ? — Why, rather, too, should all that else exists 760
Be thus denied, and fire alone maintained,
Than fire denied, and all maintained besides ?
Tenets alike preposterous and wild.
Hence those, in fire, who trace the rise of things.
And nought but fire ; or those for aib who strive 765
As source of all ; or those the dimpling streak
Who fondly fancy ; or the ponderous eabtb,
For each has armed its champions in its turn.
Alike wide wander from unerring truth.
Nor wanders less the sage who air with fire 770
Would fain commix, or limpid stream with eabth ;
Or those the whole who join, fire, ether, eakth^
And pregnant showers, and thence the world deduce.
Thus suDg Empedocles, in honest fame
First of his sect ; whom Agrigentum bore 775
In cloud-capt Sicily. Its sinuous shores
Th' Ionian main, with hoarse, unwearied wave.
Surrounds, and sprinkles with its briny dew :
And, from]the fair JEolian fields, divides
With narrow frith that spurns the impetuous surge. 780
Here vast Charybdis raves : here -^tna rears
His infant thunders, his dread jaws unlocks.
And heaven and earth with fiery ruin threats.
Here many a wonder, many a scene sublime.
As on he journeys, checks the traveller's steps ; 785
And shows, at once, a land in harvests rich.
And rich in sages of illustrious fame.
But nought so wonderous, so illustrious nought,
So fair, so pure, so lovely, can it boast,
Empedocles, as thou ! whose song divine, 790
By all rehearsed, so clears each mystic lore,
That scarce mankind believed thee bom of man.
Yet e'en Empedocles, and those above,
Already sung, of far inferior fame.
Though doctrines frequent from their bosoms flowed 795
Like inspiration, sager and more true
Than e'er the Pythian maid, with laurels crowned,
Spoke from the tripod at Apollo's shrine ;
E'en these mistook the principles of things.
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 323
And greatly wandered in attempt so great. 800
And, first, they deemed that motion might exist
From VOID exempt : that things might still be rare,
Still soften, as earth, ether, fire, or fruits.
Or e'en the ranks of animated life,
Though VOID commixed not with their varying frames. 805
Then, too, they held no final term ordained
To comminuting atoms : which, through time,
Still crumbled on, and never could be least.
Though from such points as sense itself surveys.
Extreme and least, conjecture we may form 810
Of points extreme, impalpable to sight.
Least in themselves, that never can divide.
With them, moreo'er, the seeds of things were formed Soft, and unsolid : but whate'er is soft. Whatever unsolid, as at first they spring 815
From other substance, must perforce decay. So all to nought would perish, and again From nought regerminate to growth mature : Doctrines the muse already has disproved. Such seeds, too, must be foes ; created each 820
To each adverse ; and hence can never meet But sure perdition waits : or, chance, they part, Disperst abrupt, as, in contending storms. Wind, rain, and thunder scatter, and are lost.
But, from such four-fold foes, could all things spring, 825 And, sprung, to such dissolve — why rather term Those jarring powers the primal seeds of things, Than things of them ? since, in alternate course. Each fiows from each : th' alternate form is seized, Th' alternate nature, through perennial time. 830
Yet could'st thou deem such powers adverse might blend. And earth with fire, with ether lymph commix, And still retain their natures unimpaired ; Whilst thus retained, no living form could rise Traced through creation, animate, or void, 835
As springs the verdant shrub, of reasoning soul. For each its nature, through the varying mass, Would still evince, and earth with air commix. In ceaseless strife, — and fire with crystal lymph. But primal seeds, whene'er the form of things 840
Y 2
324 LucsBTins. book l
Mutual they gender, mast, perforce, assume An unobtrusive nature, close concealed. Lest aught superior rise, of power adverse^ And thus th' harmonious union be destroyed.
Such sages, too, from heaven, imd heaven's bright fires Maintain that all proceeds : that fire drawn hence 846
Converts to ether, ether into showersi And showers benign to earth : and hence again. That all from earth returns : first liquid dew. Then air, and heat conclusive ; changing thus^ 850
In ceaseless revolution, changing thus From heaven to earth, from earth to heaven sublime : A change primordial seeds could ne'er sustain. So something still must, void of change, exist ; Or all would perish, all to nought return ; 856
For what once changes, by the change alone Subverts immediate its anterior life. Since, then, as sung above, these all commute Each into each, some seeds must still be owned That ne'er can change, or all to nought would waste. 860 Hold rather, then, such seeds exist, endowed With powers so curious that, as now combined. If fire they form, combine them but anew. Add, or deduct, give motion, or subtract. And all is air ; and changing thus, and changed, 865
That things from things perpetual take their rise.
Nor urge, still sceptic, that each hour displays All life protruded from the genial earth : Fed by the balmy air ; by heaven's own fire Matured ; and saved from pestilence and death 870
Alone by showers benignant : and that hence Man, beast, and herbs alike exist, and thrive. The fact we own : we own from solid food, And crystal streams, man draws his daily breath. Of nerve, of bone, of being else deprived : 875
But, owning, add, the compounds meet for man, For brute, for herbage, differ in their kind^ By different tastes discerned : and differ thus. And only thus, as formed from various seeds, To all things common, but in various modes 880
Combined, and fitted to each rising want.
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 325
Nor small of import are the modes diverse
In which those seeds approach, recede, or blend :
Since heaven, and earth, and suns, and seas immense.
Herbs, instinct, reason, aU are hence derived : 885
The mode but changed, the matter still the same.
Thus, though the lines, these doctrines that recite.
Flow from the same fixt elemental types.
Yet line from line, in sense, in sound compared.
Egregious differs. Re-arranged alone, 890
Such the vast power by graphic types possest !
Start not when told, then, that the seeds of things
Boast powers superior, and can all create.
From such mistakes, detected and exposed. Now turn we : and in order next survey 895
Those docrines first the Grecian schools imbibed From sapient Anaxagoras, by them Termed Homceomery ; a phrase ourselves. In tongue deficient, never can translate. But these its institutes : that bone from bones, 900
Minute, and embryon, nerve from nerves arise. And blood from blood, by countless drops increased. Gold, too, from golden atoms, earths concrete From earths extreme ; from fiery matters fire. And lymph from limpid dew. And thus throughout 905 From primal kinds that kinds perpetual spring. Yet void he granted not in aught create, Nor POINTS extreme that never can divide. In both erroneous, and with those deceived Classed in our numbers, and opposed above. 910
Too feeble, too, the rudiments he chose, J£ rudiments they be, that hold, at once. The powers of things, and form the things themselves. All toil alike, and perish void of aid : For, when the hour of dissolution draws, 915
Say, which- can baffle the dread fangs of death ? Can ether, lymph, or fire ? can nerve, or bones ? In each the strife were vain : since all produced, Surveyed, or viewless, impotent alike. Must yield to fate, and perish unredeemed. 920
But things produced to nought can never fall. Or fallen, regerminate, as proved above.
326 LUCBETIUS. BOOK I.
Food rears the body, and its growth sustains : But well we know its tendons, nerves, and blood. Hence all matured, are foreign and unlike. 925
If, then, each food be compound, if commixt With miniatures of aU, of blood and nerve. Of bone and veins ; each food compact, or moist. Of parts unlike must then itself consist ; Of bone, of blood, of tendon, vein, and nerve. 930
Thus all things spring from earth : but if in earth All lurk enveloped, earth of forms consists Strange, and discordant, panting for the day. Change still the picture, and the same still flows : In timbers, thus, if smoke, flame, ashes blend, 935
Then, too, those timbers hostile parts comprise.
But, here, the ready answer, framed of yore. By him, the founder of the system, springs: That, though in aU things all things lurk commixt, What most prevails, what boasts the largest share, 940 Lies superficial, and is noticed chief. Fruitless remark, unsolid, and untrue. For still, at times, when crushed to dust minute Beneath the ponderous mill-stone's mighty orb The crumbling com with human blood must weep, 945 Or aught besides of fluid found in man, ' And stain with hues obscene : and still, at times. Each herb unfold the balmy milk so sweet. That swells the fleecy flock, or odorous kine. The furrowed glebe, the labouring plough beneath, 950 Must, too, develope, in its secret womb, Plants, fruits, and foliage, oft dispersed, and hid : And, to the woodman, the cleft stock disclose With ashes smoke, and smoke commixt with fire. These, facts deny : in things things ne'er exist ; 955
But seeds of things, in various modes arranged. Various themselves : whence rises all surveyed.
But should'st thou urge that oft beneath the storm. When rubbed by many a repercussion rude, Branch against branch^ the forest's topmost height 960 Has blazed from tree to tree ; the fact we grant : Not, with each trunk, that native fires combine ; But that perpetual friction quick collects
BOOK I. ON THE NATIIBE OF THINGS. 327
Their seeds dispersed ; hence gathering ten-fold force,
And flame engendering. For could fire itself 965
A part constituent of the forest form,
No hour could hide the mischief; every tree
Would hlaze, and bum till boundless ruin reigned.
See, then, as earlier sung, how much imports Th' arrangement, motion, magnitude, and form 970
Of primal seeds combined : and how the same, Transposed but little, fuel quick convert To flame, bright blazing up the swarthy flue : As FLUE and fuel, terms of different sound. Of different sense, their letters but transposed, 975
Each into each converts with magic speed.
But should'st thou urge that all things still may flow From primal seeds, and yet those seeds possess The form, the nature of the things themselves ; The scheme falls self-destroyed. — For then, must seeds 980 Hold powers adverse ; and laugh, and shake their sides, While tears of anguish down their cheeks distiL
Come, now, and mark perspicuous what remains. Obscure the subject : but the thirst of fame Bums all my bosom ; and through every nerve 985
Darts the proud love of letters, and the muse. I feel th' inspiring power ; and roam resolved Through paths Pierian never trod before. Sweet are the springing founts with nectar new ; Sweet the new flowers that bloom : but sweeter still 990 Those -flowers to pluck, and weave a roseate wreath. The muses yet to mortals ne'er have deigned. With joy the subject I pursue ; and free The captived mind from Superstition's yoke. With joy th' obscure illume ; in liquid verse, 995
Graceful, and clear, depicting all surveyed : By reason guided. For as oft, benign, The sapient nurse, when anxious to enforce On the pale boy, the wormwood's bitter draught, With luscious honey tints the goblet's edge, 1000
Deceiving thus, while yet unused to guile, His unsuspecting, lip ; till deep he drinks. And gathers vigour from the venial cheat : So I, since dull the subject, and the world
328 LUOBBTIUS. BOOK L
Abashed recoils, would fain, in honeyed phrase^ 1005
Tuned by the muses, to thine ear recite
Its vast concerns ; if haply I may hope
To fix thine audience, wlule the flowing verse
Unfolds the nature, and the forms of things.
Taught then, ahready that material seeds 1010
Are soHd, and o'er time triumphant live, Attend, benignant, while we next decide Their number, or if infinite ; and tell, Since void throughout exists, assigning space For place and motion, if th' entire of things 1015
Be bounded, or unfathomed, and immense.
Th' ENTIRE of things, then, bounds can never know : Else parts possest of farthest and extreme. But parts can only be extreme, beyond Where other substance springs, those parts extreme 1020 Binding, though sense the limit ne'er can trace. If, then, some other substance rise, the first Forms not th' entire of things. Whate'er it be That other substance still must part compose. Vain too is distance : the vast Whole alike 1025
To all extends, embracing, and embraced.
Yet grant th' entire of things of bound possest Say, to what point shall yon keen archer, placed E'en on its utmost verge, his dart direct ? Shall aught obstruct it, or the path be clear ? 1030
Take which thou wilt : some substance choose, possest Of power t' impede, and check its rapid race : Or let it fly unconquered, nor restraint E'en once encounter : thou must still confess Th' entire of nature nought of limit knows. 1035
Throughout the dart I'll chase ; and when, at length, Th' acceded bound is gained. 111 still demand What yet obstructs it ; still new proofs adduce That the vast whole is boundless ; and that flight Still beyond flight for ever might be urged. 1040
Were, too, th' entire of nature thus conflned. Thus circumscribed precise, from its own weight Long since, all matter to the extremest depth Had sunk supine : nor aught the skies beneath. Nor skies themselves, with countless stars adorned 1045
BOOK I. OK THE NATURE OF THINGS. 329
And sun's unsuffering splendour, had remained.
Down, down th' accumulated mass had fallen
From earliest time, devoid of power to rise.
But nought of rest supine material seeds
Evince through nature ; since no depth exists 1050
Extreme, and fathomable where those seeds
Might fix collected in inert repose.
All, all is action : the vast whole alike
Moves in each part ; and, from material seeds.
Draws, undiminished, its eternal food. 1065
Things, to the sense, are circumscribed by things. Air bounds the hills, and hills the liquid air : Earth ocean, ocean earth : but the vast whole What fancied scene can bound ? O'er its broad realm, Immeasured, and immeasurably spread, 1060
From age to age resplendent lightnings urge. In vain their flight perpetual ; distant, stiU, And ever distant from the verge of things. So vast the space on opening space that swells. Through every part so infinite alike. 1065
Ask thy own reason. It will prove at once Th' ENTIRE of nature never can have bounds. Void must perforce bound matter, matter void ; Thus mutual, one illimitable whole
Forming for ever. For were each of each 1070
Free and unshackled, uncombined, and pure In their own essence, not one short-lived hour Could earth, or ocean, the refulgent fane Of heaven sublime, or mortal forms, or those The gods themselves inhabit, then subsist. 1075
Freed from all order, disarranged, and rude. Through boundless vacuum the drear mass of things Would quick be borne : or, rather, nought had risen From the crude chaos, joyless, and inert. For never, doubtless, firom result of thought, 1080
Or mutual compact, could primordial seeds First harmonize, or move with powers precise. But ever changing, ever changed, and vext, From earliest time, through ever-during space, With ceaseless repercussion, every mode 1085
Of motion, magnitude, and shape essayed ;
330 LUCRETIUS. BOOK I.
At length th' unwieldy mass the form assumed
Of things created. Persevering, thus,
Through many an age, unnumhered springs the deep
Feed with perpetual tides : hy the warm sun 1090
Sustained, and cherished, earth renews her fruits,
And man, and heast survive ; and ether glows
With Hving lights innum'rous : scenes throughout
Twere vain t' expect, from all eternal time.
Had no primordi^ seeds, in stores immense, 1095
Been ever nigh to renovate the world.
For as, of food deprived, the languid frame
Of man must perish, so th* entire of things
Must instant cease, should once primordial seeds
Their aid withhold, or deviate in their course. 1 100
Nor deem from mutual impulse, things with things
Can sole their forms preserve ; th' eternal seeds
May, hence, he oft restrained, and e'en perchance^
Their flight delayed, till, from th' exhaustless store.
Fresh seeds drrive the fainting frame to feed : 1 105
But from concussion, frequent, they rehound,
Dissolve all tie, and leave to transient rest
The common matter whence each suhstance springs.
Hence must incalculahle seeds exist
Ceaseless in act ; and the vast whole derive 1110
Alone from houndless matter impulse due.
But fly, O Memmius, fly the sect deceived. Who teach that things, with gravitation firm. To the vast centre of th' entire, alike, Unerring press : the world who fain would prove 1115 Void of external impulse, may subsist, And nought its post desert, profound, or high. Since of such gravitating power possest. For canst thou deem that aught may thus sustain, And poise itself? that aught of solid weight, 1120
Placed at earth's utmost depth, could upwards strive Reversed ; and to the surface — (in the stream As spreads the downwards shadow) — still adhere ? For thus such sages hold : thus man, and beast Subsist, they teach, inverted, earth beneath : 1 125
From their firm station, down their deeper skies As unexposed to fall, as towards the heavens
BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 331
Ourselyes to mount sublime : by them the sun,
When night to us unfolds his stars, surveyed ;
And equ^ measuring, in alternate course, 1130
With us, their months, their darkness, and their day.
Such are the specious fancies error feigns.
In idle hour, to minds perverse and vain.
Where all is infinite, what spot precise
Can e'er be central ? or were centre owned, 1 135
Why towards such spot should matter rather tend,
Than elsewhere more remote, and deeper still ?
For vacant space, through every part alike.
Central or not, must yield to things compact.
And ponderous, as their varying weight compels ; 1140
Nor through the boundless void one point exists
Where things may rest, as if of weight deprived.
No power it boasts t' uphold ; but still recedes.
As Nature prompts, and opes the needed path.
Hence, by the love alone of centre struck, 1145
Th' harmonious frame of things could ne'er be formed.
Moreo'er such sages urge not that the whole Strives towards the centre equal ; but terrene Alone, and fluid matters ; tlie deep main, The mountain cataract, and the forms produced 1150
From earth Dedalian : while the breezy air. And the light flame, far from such centre stray, Through ether trembling, and, with lambent fire. Feeding, through time, the sun's refulgent blaze ; As feeds maternal earth the myriad forms 1 155
Of herbs, and trees, and animated life. From her own bosom nurtured, and sustained. Thus, too, they teach that heaven, with bound subUme, Encircles all things, lest the world's wide walls. And all enveloped, volatile as flame, 1 160
Burst every bond, and dissipate, and die : Lest heaven in thunders perish, and below The baseless earth forsake us, downward urged : And loose, and lifeless, man's disseVring frame, Mixt with the rushing wreck of earth, and skies, 1165 Waste through all space profound ; till nought remain, Nought, in a moment, of aU now surveyed, But one blank void, one mass of seeds inert.
I
332 LUCBETIUS. BOOK D.
For once to act, when primal atoms fail,
Fail where they may, the doors of death are ope, 1170
And the vast whole unbounded ruin whelms.
These subjects if, with trivial toil, thou scan. Each, each illuming, midnight shall no more Thy path obstruct ; but Nature's utmost depths Shme as the day : so things irradiate things. 1175
BOOK n.
How sweet to stand, when tempests tear the main.
On the firm cliff, and mark the seaman's toil !
Not that another's danger soothes the soul.
But from such toil how sweet to feel secure !
How sweet, at distance from the strife, to view 5
Contending hosts, and hear the clash of war !
But sweeter far on Wisdom's height serene.
Upheld by Truth, to fix our firm abode ;
To watch the giddy crowd that, deep below.
For ever wander in pursuit of bliss ; 10
To mark the strife for honours, and renown.
For wit and wealth, insatiate, ceaseless urged.
Day after day, with labour unrestrained.
O wretched mortals ! — race perverse and blind ! Through what dread dark, what perilous pursuits, 15
Pass ye this round of being ! — know ye not Of all ye toil for Nature nothing asks. But for the body freedom from disease. And sweet, unanxious quiet, for the mind ?
And little claims the body to be sound : 20
But little serves to strew the paths we tread With joys beyond e'en Nature's utmost wish. What though the dome be wanting, whose proud walls A thousand lamps irradiate, propt sublime By frolic forms of youths in massy gold, 25
Flinging their splendours o'er the midnight feast : Though gold and silver blaze not o'er the board.
BOOK n. ox THE NATURE OF THINGS. 333
Nor music echo round the gaudy roof?
Yet listless laid the velvet grass along
Near gliding streams, by shadowy trees o'er-arched, ^30
Such pomps we need not ; such still less when spring
Leads forth her laughing train, and the warm year
Paints the green meads with roseat flowers profuse.
On down reclined, or wrapped in purple robe,
The thirsty fever bums with heat as fierce 35
As when its victim on a pallet pants.
Since, then, nor wealth, nor splendour, nor the boast Of birth illustrious, nor e'en regal state Avails the body, so the free-bom mind Their aid as little asks. Unless, perchance, 40
The warlike host thou deem, for thee arrayed In martial pomp, and o'er the fiery field Panting for glory ; and the gorgeous fleet. For thee unmoored, and ardent, — can dispel Each superstitious terror ; from the breast 45
Root out the dread of death, and lull to peace The cares, the tumults that distract thy soul. But if all this be idle, if the cares. The TERRORS still that haunt and harass man. Dread not the din of arms — o'er kings and chiefs 50
Press unabashed, unawed by glittering pomp. The purple robe unheeding — canst thou doubt Man pants for these from poverty of mind, Wandering in darkness, and through life misled ?
For as the boy, when midnight veils the skies, 55
Trembles, and starts at all things, so, full oft, E'en in the noon men start at forms as void Of real danger as the phantoms false By darkness conjured, and the school-boy's dread. A terror this the radiant darts of day 60
Can ne'er disperse : to trath's pure fight alone. And wisdom yielding, intellectual suns.
Come, then, and mark how seeds primordial form Created things, and how, when formed, dissolve : Their force, their action, whence, and power to move, 65 Pass, and repass, through all th' immense of space : Benign attend, while thus the muse explains.
Doubtless no substance boasts a bond within
334 LUCBETIUS. BOOK IL
IndiBSoluble, since each gradual wastes,
And, in the lapse of time, flies off entire, 70
By age o'erpowered. Yet the great mass of things
Still meets the view uninjured, from the stores
Sustained of primal atoms. These, as oft
Their punctual flight they take, each form decrease,
And, as they join, augment : hence things attain 75
Their growth mature, and thence their sure decay.
Thus, void of rest, the changeful world renews.
And man on man lives mutual ; nations thus
Flourish, or fade ; a few brief years roll round.
And sire to son, through every reasoning rank, 80
Yields, like a racer o'er the busy course.
His lamp of life, and instant disappears.
Who deems primordial atoms e'er can rest. And, resting, urge through matter motion still. Far wanders from the truth. Primordial seeds, 85
Through space unfathomed as their flight they wing. From their own gravitating power must pass, Or blows extrinsic ; each o'er each, alike. Casual prevails : for oft the mass of seeds That prone descends, with seeds repugnant meet 90
In contest tough, and distant far rebound. Nor wondrous this, of firmest texture formed. And nought t' obstruct the retro-cursive flight And though thou trace the seeds unequal heaped Of primal matter, still, reflect, th' entire 95
Knows nought of bottom, nought of spot profound Where they may rest collected : space throughout Boundless exists, as, in our earlier verse. Decisive proved, on every side immense.
Since, then, primordial seeds through space profound Repose can never know : but rather, urged 101
To ceaseless motions, varying and adverse. By the rude conflict part far off" rebound. And part with speed unite, the severing blow Surmounted soon. Hence those, through trivial space 105 Briefly repelled, the vigorous bond scarce broke. With quick reunion intertwining strong, Form the rude base of flints, and rigid steel. And matters firm alike.: while those beyond.
BOOK II
Far wandering through the void, of feebler link 110
Mutual possest, the liquid air create,
And the pure light the sun perpetual pours.
Nor these the whole compose. For seeds there are That through the boundless void for ever stray, Of social bond abhorrent, and in turn 115
Refused all compact in the frame of things : Not unresembling, if aright I deem, Those motes minute that, when th' obtrusive sun Peeps through some crevice in the shuttered shade, The day-dark hall illuming, float amain 120
In his bright beam, and wage eternal war. There may'st thou view them, now in crowds combine, Now part discordant, o'er the restless scene Urging the pigmy battle ; and may'st hence Learn what vast contests oft mid primal seeds, 125
Ceaseless, prevail, through boundless space propelled. Thus things minute instruct us, and unfold The laws, at times, of things momentous most.
Such motes, moreo'er, and let the sage remark Impress thy judgment, agitated thus 130
In the pure sun -beam, from the strife alone Prove, in their primal seeds, some motion lurks Unseen, and secret, whence the pigmy mass Draws motion first. For oft the curious eye Sees the light goss, by viewless force subdued, 135
Turn from the path selected, backwards urged. Now here, now there, through every point propelled. Such the perplexing power of primal seeds.
From seeds all motion springs ; by impulse hence Through molecules minute of seeds conjoined, 140
Nearest in power, protruded, though unseen. Hence urged again, in turn, through things create Of ampler form, till soon the sense itself The congregated action marks distinct. As in the lucid beam's light woof we trace 145
Still motion visual, though unseen its source.
Nor small the motive power of primal seeds. This, Memmius, should'st thou doubt, we thus confirm : ' When firstyAurora, o'er the dewy earth. Spreads her soft light, and through the pathless grove 150
336 LUCRETIUS. BOOK D.
A thousand songsters ope their liquid throats^
All ether charming — sudden we survey
Th' effusive sun, as with a garment, deck
With his own radiance all created things ;
Instant in speed, unbounded in his blaze. 165
But the bright fluid, the pure stream he throws,
Flows not without resistance ; many a wave.
Through space profound, ethereal checks its flight ;
And many a self-engendered power perverse,
Beared from its complex frame : perpetual hence 160
Lags the light fluid, doomed to double strife.
But primal atoms. Arm and solid sole
From pure simplicity, when through void space
Free and unchecked their easy course they wing.
One in themselves, at once their goal attain. 165
Hence than the rapid light more rapid still
Rush they, in equal hour through ampler space
Urged, than the beams that gild the glowing vault.
No pause for council need they, no delay.
Nor deep research to sever right from wrong, 170
Or prove what path their duty bids pursue.
Yet some there are, untaught, who dare contend Primordial matter ne'er without the gods Thus, in nice symmetry, to please mankind. Could form th' alternate seasons, rear the fruits 175
That gladden life, or urge those gentler joys, Gray Pleasure, guide and goddess of the world, Prompts in the panting breast, lest every* tribe Should fail on earth, the rites of Venus spurned. These from the gods, as sovereign cause of all, 1 80
Such sophists trace, wide wandering from the truth. For, though the rise of things I ne'er could prove, Yet dare I, from the heaven's defective frame, And many a scene alike perverse, affirm No power divine this mass material reared 185
With ills so pregnant. This, in order due, The muse shall full demonstrate : turn we now To what of motion yet remains unsung.
And here, O Menmiius ! mark this precept well ; That nought corporeal, of itself, can e'er 190
Ascend sublime through regions urged above.
BOOK n. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 337
Nor let th' aspiring flame, with specious boast,
Heedless deceive thee. True, with upward flight,
E'en from the first, its spreading spires unfold ; 195
And fruits and plants their growth still upwards urge.
Yet as the weight by all possest, below
Drives all things, deem not thou, when the bright blaze
Flames through th' aflrighted house, the crackHng roof
Tumbling precipitate, then deem not thou 200
It mounts spontaneous but from foreign force.
Thus, from the wounded vein, the vital blood
Ascends, and pours its purple strength sublime :
And springs not thus the ponderous trunk immersed
In the clear stream, rejected by the wave ? 205
Though deep we plunge it, with redoubled force
Still back it bounds, and, o'er th' elastic tide.
Rears half its solid bulk. Yet doubt we not.
Spite of such facts, that all things, uncontrolled,
Through space tend downward. From control alone 210
The lambent flame thus mounts, towards heaven impelled.
Else prone from native weight. Falls not, at night.
The mimic star^ the meteor trailing long
Its line of fire, whene'er, amid the gloom,
Th' elastic ether opes the needed path ? • 215
The mid-day sun flings down his rays direct
And sows the fields with light : and the dread flash,
When thunder rends the skies, though wide it dart.
Now here, now there, amid the rushing rain.
Its forky fires — spends its chief strength on earth. 220
This, too, regard intent ; that primal seeds. When down direct their potent path they urge. In time uncertain, and uncertain space, Oft from the right decline — yet so minute Veer they, no fancy less can e'er conceive. 225
Without this devious curve primordial seeds Would drop successive, like the crystal shower, Void of all contest, all re-active blow. Whence Nature sole her world of wonders works.
If, then, there be, who deem the seeds of things 230 More ponderous, as their rectilinear course Speeds through the void, the lighter soon may reach, Aiid thus the repercussive war commeuoe, —
338 LUCBETIUS. BOOK II.
Far err they from the truth. For though, when urged
Through the pure air, or clear translucent wave, 235
Doubtless, all ponderous forms more swift descend ;
This, from the variance of resistance sole,
Flows, by such fluids formed 'gainst things unlike.
The grosser quick o'erpowering. But pure space.
In every part, in every hour the same, 240
Throughout resists not, the demanded path
Yielding submissive. Hence, in equal time,
Through the blank void, unequal weights descend
Of every fancied variance : and hence, too,
The grosser ne'er the lighter urged below 245
Can gain, triumphant ; or the contest rouse
Whence spring new motions, and all nature lives.
Hence doubly flows it why the seeds of things
Should from the right decline ; yet, in degree.
The least conceptibly, lest we should deem 250
The line oblique which Nature ne'er assumes.
For nought more obvious, as the sight confirms.
Than that all weights, their downward course at will
Steering, obliquely never can descend ;
But what keen sight of man can prove precise 255
That the swift cadence ne'er declines at all ?
Had all one motion uniform, the new
Th' anterior skilful copying, if throughout
Primordial seeds declined not, rousing hence
Fresh springs of action, potent to subvert 260
The bonds of fate, and break the rigid chain
Of cause on cause, eternal, — whence, resolve,
Flows through the world this freedom of the mind ?
This power to act, though fate the deed forbid.
Urged by the will alone ? The free-born mind 265
Acts, or forbears, spontaneous ; its own time,
Its place, alike uncertain : these the will.
Doubtless, alone determines, and, at once.
Flies the fleet motion through th' assenting frame.
Dost thou not see, as down the barrier drops * 270
That reins the racer, instant though he dart,
Not half so instant darts he as liis soul
Ambitious covets ? Deep through all his frame
Th' elastic nerves must first the wish convey
BOOK n. ON THE I^ATURE OF THINGS. 339
Ere yet the consentaneous flight succeed. 275
Hence, obvious, springs all motion from the heart,
Boused by the mind's resolve, and instant urged
Through every nerve, through every quivering limb.
A force far different this than e'er prevails
When aught without coerces. Passive, then, 280
Bends all the frame th' extrinsic power beneath.
Borne down reluctant ; till th' awakening will
Unchains each member, and resumes her right.
For oft, though foreign force, with tyrant sway.
Rule us, resistless, headlong hurrying down— 285
Say — ^lurks no adverse something in the breast
Proud to withstand ? full oft, at whose control.
Swift flows the nervous tide from limb to limb.
Bursting each bond — and, oft, as swift retires ?
Hence firm maintain we primal seeds some cause 290
Must feel of rising motion unbestowed .
By weight, or blow reactive, whence alone
Upsprings this secret power by man possest :
Nought forming nought, as reason proves precise.
For weight forbids the credence that alone 295
Things by reaction move ; yet, lest the mind
Bend to a stern necessity within,
And, like a slave, determine but by force,—
Though urged by weight, in time, in place unflxt,
Each primal atom trivial still declines. 300
Nor interstitial more, nor more compact. Was e'er this frame of matter ; nor augment Primaeval seeds, nor e'er admit decay. Hence every movement in anterior time That e'er subsisted, still subsists the same, 305
And will through endless ages : all begot. Begotten must be, punctual to their kinds. Exist, increase, and perish ; following firm The laws by Nature framed ; nor aught of power. Act where it may, can change th' entire of things. 310 For nought expands of spot where primal seeds From the vast whole may fly ; or e'er afresh. Armed with new powers, re-enter, adverse thus To Nature's plans, disorganizing all.
Nor this stupendous, that, though primal a^^^ '^^^^
z 2
340 LUCRBTnTS. BOOK IL
MoTe on incessant, and, throogfa different farms.
Boose different actions, the vast whole to sense
Bests undisturbed. For far bejond all ken.
Lies the prime base impalpable of things.
As this elndes all vision, so, alike, 320
Its motion too elude. E'en oft the sight
No motion marks where still the moving scene
Springs obvious, bj the distance sole concealed. —
The fleecy flocks, o'er yonder hill that browse
From glebe to glebe, where'er, impearled with dew, 325
The jocund clover cdls them, and the lambs
That round them gambol, saturate with milk.
Proving their frontlets in the mimic fray —
Press, at this distance, on the sight confused.
One white mass forming o'er the verdant steep. 330
Thus, too, when warlike squadrons crowd the field.
Horrent in arms, with horses scarce restrained.
Shaking the solid glebe, while the bright pomp
Flames through the skies, and gilds the glowing earth.
While groans the ground beneath their mighty tread, 335
And hills and heavens re-echo to their shouts —
Viewed from afar, the splendid scene that spreads
Seems void of motion, to the fields affixt.
Ck>me now, my friend, and, next, perspicuous mark What countless shapes primordial seeds assume, 340
How vast their variance : for, though myriads swarm Of equal figures, oft unlike they meet. Nor wondrous this, since, such th' abundance formed. No bounds can chain, no numbers e'er compute. «
Hence, not unfrequent, each from each, through space, 345 Musjb meet diverse, unkindred in their frames.
Thus Nature varies ; man, and brutal beast, And herbage gay, and silver fishes mute. And all the tribes of heaven, o'er many a sea. Through many a grove that wing, or urge their song 350 Near many a bank of fountain, lake or rill, Search where thou wilt, each differs in his kind, In form, in figure differs. Hence alone. Knows the fond mother her appropriate young, Th* appropriate young their mother, 'mid the brutes, 355 As clear discerned as man's sublimer race.
BOOK II. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 341
Thus oft before the sacred shrine, perfumed
With breathing frankincense, th' affrighted calf
Pours o'er the altar, from his breast profound,
The purple flood of life. But wandering wild 360
0*er the green sward, the dam, bereft of hope.
Beats with her cloven hoof th' indented dale,
Each spot exploring, if, perchance, she still
May trace her idol ; through th' umbrageous grove,
With well-known voice, she moans ; and oft re-seeks, 36^
Urged by a mother's love, the accustomed stall.
Nor shade for her, nor dew-distended glebe.
Nor stream soft gliding down its banks abrupt,
Yields aught of solace ; nor the carking care
Averts, that preys within ; nor the gay young 370
Of others soothe her o'er the joyous green :
So deep she longs, so lingers for her own.
Thus equal known, thus longed for, seek, in turn,
The tender heifer, tremulous of voice.
And the gay bleating lamb, their homed dams, 375
Lured by the milky fount that nurtures life.
The com, moreo'er, the yellow harvest yields, Matures not all alike ; — e'en the same kind In size oft varying to the curious eye. Thus vary, too, th' enamelled shells, that paint 380
The bending shore ; whose thirsty sands drink deep The main's soft waves, redundant rolled along. Hence doubly flows it why the seeds of things, Compact by nature, by mechanic art Shaped not to one fixt model, each from each 385
Should differ oft in figure through the void. Illumined thus, the mind with ease decides Why heaven's electric flash a subtler power Boasts, than the flame by torches fed below : That formed than this of atoms finer far, 390
Triumphant piercing many a pore minute By the dull taper's blaze essayed in vain.
Light, the clear glass pervades, while lymph recoils : Whence springs the difference, but that subtler seeds Bear the bright sun-beam than the fountain form ? 395 Free through the strainer flows the sparkling wine, While the slow oil hangs heavy : in its course
M2 LUCRETIUS. BOOK H.
Checked, or by atoms of a grosser frame,
Or more perplexed, and tangled ; each from each
Hence severing tardy, and, with toil extreme, 400
Transuding separate through th' attenuate lawn.
Thus vary tastes : and while the dulcet draught Of milk or honey charms the enchanted lip, The wormwood straight convulses, by the tongue Abhorred, and writhing every sapid nerve. 405
Hence may'st thou learn those seeds that rouse, combined, A joyous flavour, round exist, and smooth ; While those that form the bitter, and austere, Are hook'd, or jagged, and their path propel ^ •
Alone by wounding, hostile to the sense. 410
Thus all things live ; from primal atoms reared Of shape diverse, as deep within they ope Some secret source of pleasure or of pain. So deem not thou the saw's discordant scream. Horrid, and harsh, flows from the same smooth seeds 415 That wake the strain mellifluous, when the fair, With flying fingers, sweeps th' accordant lyre. Nor deem those atoms like, from putrid scenes That spring malignant, and the essential sweets Breathed from Cilician saffron, or the blaze 420
Of fragrant altars fed from orient groves. Nor canst thou form from the same source those hues, On which the vision feeds with fond delight. And those abhorred, and hideous, or the germs Pungent and keen, that rouse the sight to tears. 425
'Twere vain t' attempt : for all the soul that wakes To various pleasure, boasts a base rotund ; While pain but springs from atoms hook'd and harsh.
Yet seeds there are between ; not smooth complete. Nor deeply jagged, but with angles shaped 430
Just peeping o'er the surface. These the nerves Pain not, but titillate ; a sense perceived When sweets with bitters, sours with sweets combine. As oft in sauces, catered to the taste From the pale inula, or grape's soft grounds. 435
But fires and frosts spring different ; from a base Unlike indented, though indented each. This if thou doubt, the touch shall quick decide.
BOOK II. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 343
For TOUCH, O TOUCH ! ye powers of heaven supreme I Touch forms the genuine sense whence chief we trace 440 Whatever without insinuates, or within Springs up innate, injurious in th' escape, Or, like the genial tide by Venus roused. Pregnant with pleasure ; or, perchance, the frame Affecting inly, as th' essential seeds 445
Collect tumultuous, urged to civil strife. A feeling, this, full oft educed amain Whene'er th' uplifted palm, from sport or ire. Lets fall its vengeance o'er the reddening cheek. Hence, from effects so various, various too 450
Must be the forms to primal seeds assigned.
There are, moreo'er, that hard exist, and dense ; From atoms, these, more crook'd and clinging spring, Like tangled branches intertwined throughout. Such, mid the foremost, shines the diamond's blaze, 455 Fearless of insult, such the valid flint, The steel's enduring vigour, and the brass Discordant creaking from the public gates. While those, reversed, a fluent power that boast Swell into birth from seeds rotund, and smooth, 460
Unlinked th' essential globules, and with ease Poured headlong down, dissevering as they fall. Those, too, that quick fly off, as clouds or smoke, Or lambent flame, if not from seeds educed Hotund, and polished, doubtless, in their make 465
Nought know perplext, or hook'd, since armed with power To pierce the Parian marble, nor to view Cohering equal, like th' embracing brier : Not jagged, but pointed, hence, the base they own.
Nor wondrous this ; that things of fluent frame 470
As the broad ocean, oft should strike the sense With taste unlovely ; for, though round and smooth The genial atoms whence all fluids flow, * Still, seeds discordant oft will intermix. Rough, though globose, and by the tongue abhorred, 475 Though fltted still the fluent mass to form. This to confirm, to prove with polished seeds Seeds harsh full oft combine, whence springs alone The main's disflavour — from the briny wave
344 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IL
The nauseous mass subtract, and all is sweet. 480
Thus Nature acts : through many a thirsty sand
The surge she filters, i^shening in its course.
Till freed, at length, from every acrid power,
Tangled, and fixt behind, the dulcet lymph
Resprings to view, a calm and lucid pool. 485
This proved, what follows, as a truth derived, But that the forms of seeds, though varying much. Ne'er vary endless ; not imfrequent, else. Full many a seed must boast a bulk immense : For many a difiering figure ne'er can lurk 490
In things minute. Deem, then, primordial seeds Three fancied parts comprise, or grant e'en more, Invert their order, let the right be left. Depress the loftiest, the profound exalt, — Soon will the pigmy mass exhaust complete 495
Its tiny change of figures : would'st thou, then, Augment the variance, thou must add, perforce, New primal matter, hence augmented sole. Thus from fresh forms increase of size must flow Perpetual ; nor the seeds of things in shape 500
Can differ endless, or e'en once evince A bulk immense, as erst the Muse has proved.
Already else the purple woof superb Of Meliboea, robbing for its dye
The Syrian coasts, — already, dropt with gold, 505
The peacock's laughing plumage else had sunk By gaudier hues o'erpowered. The balmy myrrh. The luscious honey never more had urged A boast unrivalled ; e'en the swan's soft dirge Had ceased, and Ph(ebus dropt his liquid lyre : 510
All things o'er all prevailing undefined.
Thus those by sense abhorred, as these beloved. To more abhorred would yield ; each still o'er each, In sight or sound, in taste or smell diverse More hateful reared, more hideous, and obscene. 515
But since such powers exist not, since a bound Is stampt on all things, we must own, convinced. That primal seeds in shape are bounded too.
From frost to fire, from fire to winter's &ost, All, all has limits : heat and cold intense 520
BOOK II. ON THE NATUKE OP THINGS. 345
Th' extremes creating ; while progressive warmth
Fills up, between, the modalated scale.
Thus each degree, though varying, varies not
For ever, by extremes adverse confined.
Combustion here, and there the polar ice. 525
But mark this truth, a truth connected close. That all primordial seeds, of shape alike. Alike are endless ; for though few the forms Those seeds admit, yet finite were themselves Th' ENTIRE of things, a doctrine erst disproved, 530
Were finite too, by bounds surmountless chain^.
Come, then, while thus, in short, but sweetest verse. We prove them infinite ; prove hence alone The world's vast fabric lives, cemented strong By blows re-active unremitted urged. 535
Few are the forms the casual sight surveys Of brutes exotic ; and, with us, but small Their unproHfic power : yet foreign cUmes, And realms far distant, view each class complete, Boundless in number. Thus, though seldom here 540 Heaves the huge elephant his ponderous limbs. Prince of the savage tribes ; yet myriads guard, As with an ivory mound, all India's sons ; A mound no power can pierce. Such the vast stores That Nature boasts in orders deemed most rare. 545
Yet could Creation's utmost scope produce A form unparalleled by all that breathes. Alone and individual, — ^were the base Not infinite whence first the monster sprang, How sprang he then at all ? nor birth were his, 550
Nor e'en, though bom, the power to nurture life. But grant the primal atoms whence alone Such individual springs, were finite found. How, when, and where, by what concerted plan. What power innate, could e'er those atoms meet, 555
Through ocean, scattered of ungenial seeds ? These time could never join. As when the main. Worked into ftiry, many a mighty ship Wrecks ruthless, and towards every coast impels Masts, yards, and streamers, cordage, sails, and helms^ 560 And planks disparted, teaching as they fioat
346 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IX.
What dangers lurk unseen ; what snares to lore
Unthinking mortals ; — and forewarning load
To fly the smooth temptation, nor e'en once
Trust the false waves, though decked in loudest langh : 566
So, should'st thou make the primal seeds of aught
Once finite, instant the tumultuous war
Of adverse atoms, through the boundless void
Drives them far distant — never more to meet.
Or met, cohere, or e'en, cohering, grow ; 570
Facts without which Creation's self would fail,
As all must thus proceed, augment, mature.
And hence the primal seeds of all that live
Must, too, be boundless, whence each want is fed.
Nor can the mortal motions that wear out 575
The varied forms of things, with utter doom, Prevail for ever : nor e'en those, reversed. Of genial power, that quicken into life. Can, through perpetual time, that life sustain. Thus war eternal, midst the seeds of things, 580
With equal triumph reigns ; now here, now there. The vital powers o'ercoming, and o'ercome. The sigh funereal mingles with the bleat Of babes just bursting to the light of heaven ; Nor night o'er day, nor mom o'er night prevails, 585
But marks the discord — Infancy's shrill cry Mixt with sick moans, the apparitors of Death.
This too, attentive, treasure in thy mind : That nought the sight surveys, the soul conceives, Flows from one class of primal seeds alone. 590
Whate'er exists is compound ; and the more The latent powers, the energies it boasts, The more complex its nature ; reared to life From seeds more various, and of various shape.
First Earth herself th' essential atoms holds 595
Of streams and fountains, whence the main renews ; Holds in herself the secret seeds of fires. Oft the brown heath wide-parching, unperceived, And oft, like ^tna, blazing to the day : And holds each embryon, whence, to glad mankind, 600 Springs the gay com, the blossomed fruit-tree springs, Or whence the brutal tribes that roam at large
BOOK n. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 347
Draw their green banquets, and possess their shades.
Hence mighty Mother op th' Immortal Gods,
Of brutes, and men, is Earth full frequent feigned. 605
Her the sage bards of Greece, in ancient song. Paint drawn by lions in a car sublime : Hence, teaching how, in ether poised, she hangs, Unpropt by aught beneath ; the savage beasts They yoked and reined, to demonstrate how sure 610
The wildest young a mother's cares may tame ; And, with a mural crown her brows they bound, Since with her towers she guards man's civic rights. Thus deckt, tremendous, round from realm to realm. Still moves the solemn pomp, by all adored. 615
Her many a state, from holiest legends, call Parent of Ida ; and with Phrygian nymphs Surround, her fair attendants ; Phrygian termed, Since these the climes where first, as fame reports. The field was cultured, and the harvest rose. 620
Her priests are eunuchs — emblem this devised To teach that sons rebellious to their sires, Or those the sacred fame that dare traduce Of her who bore them, never shall themselves, Worthless and vile, by gods and men abhorred, 625
Boast aught of babe to glad their longing sight. With vigorous hand the clamorous drum they rouse And wake the sounding cymbal : the hoarse horn Pours forth its threatening music, and the pipe With Phrygian airs distracts the maddening mind, 630 While arms of blood the fierce enthusiasts wield To fright th' unrighteous crowds, and bend profound Their impious souls before the power divine.
Thus moves the pompous idol through the streets. Scattering mute blessings, while the throngs devout 635 Strew, in return, their silver and their brass, Loading the paths with presents, and o'ershade The heavenly form, and all th' attending train With dulcet sprays of roses, pluckt profuse. A band select before them, by the Greeks 640
CuRETES called, from Phrygian parents sprung, Sport with fantastic chains, the measured dance Weaving infuriate, charmed with human bloody
348 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IL
And madly shaking their tremendous crests.
These picture, haply, the Dict^an train, 645
Alike CuRETES termed, as fame reports,
Who drowned the infant cries of Jove in Cretb,
When round the boy divine, in arms they danced.
Boys still themselves, and beat to measured sounds
Their clashing shields, lest Saturn the shrill shriek 650
Should trace, and Rh^ba shed eternal tears.
Thus these the matron-goddess now precede :
Or else, perchance, they paint how every breast
Should burn with patriot fire, and every arm
Prove the firm guardian of a parent's years. 655
All these, though pageants well-devised, and bold. Will wander still from philosophic fact. For, far from mortals, and their vain concerns. In peace perpetual dwell th' immortal gods : Each self-dependent, and from human wants 660
Estranged for ever. There no pain pervades, Nor dangers threaten ; every passion sleeps, Vice no revenge, and virtue draws no boon.
Meantime the earth sensation never knows ; But, blest with the rude principles of things, 665
In various mode hence various forms she rears. Call, if thou choose it, the resounding deep Neptune, and Ceres term the golden grain ; Be Bacchus wine, its vulgar source forgot, And e'en this mass of senseless earth define 670
Parent of gods ; no harm ensues, — but mark, 'Tis fiction all, by vital facts disproved.
Thus varies earth in product ; and, aUke In primal seeds, thus varies all she bears. The steed, the steer, the fleecy flock that range 675
Beneath the same pure sky, from the same fount Their thirst that quench, and o'er the flowery lawn Crop the same herbage, differ still, through time. In form generic ; each parental stamp Retaining close, from sire to sire propelled. 680
Such the vast variance of primordial seeds ; Through every herb, through every fountain such. Each form, moreo'er, of animated life Compounded, flows from muscle, bone, and nerve,
BOOK n. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 349
Vein, heat, and moistnre ; yet e'en these comprise 685 Full many an atom, each, of shape unlike.
Thus fire itself is complex ; for if nought Deep blend besides, the germs, at least, combine Of heat, smoke, ashes, and translucent light : And reasoning thus, thy vigorous mind may deem 690 Still powers beyond lurk deeper, though unknown.
Of the same substance, as the fragrant gums Burnt o'er the altar to th' offended gods, Emits both taste and odour, hence from seeds Educed, of various figures ; odours oft 695
Piercing the nerves that tastes essay in vain. And tastes where odours fail : facts that evince Their forms diverse ; and prove that seeds unlike Rear the mixt mass difiused through all that lives. —
Mark but these fluent numbers ; many a type 700
To many a term is common ; but the terms. The numbers culled, as differing these from those, From different types evolve : not so diverse That the same type recurs not through the whole, Or that, recurring, it recurs alone 705
From types too bounded ; but from types alike Free to each term, yet ever new combined. Flows the vast change, th' harmonious system flows. Thus, through the world, the primal seeds of all, To all things common, re-arranged diverse, 710
In myriad forms shoot forth ; and herbs, and men. And trees umbrageous own the same fixt source.
Yet not in endless modes combine the seeds Of things at random ; many a monster else Would start tremendous, the fair frame of man 715
Sprout forth half formed, and trunks of trees have souls. Shapes then would swarm half earthly, half marine, And Nature's all-prolific womb propel, With breath of fire, Chimaeras ; things the sight Meets never, since from seeds, and powers precise, 720 All spring to life, and thus preserve their kinds.
Then all must spring, since all, from every food, To every tribe adapted, straight digests ; And, blending with each limb, the train renews Of acts appropriate ; while th' ungenial mass 1*1^
3W LUCRETIUS. BOOK H.
Meets earth unchanged ; or if, perchance, absorbed. Flies off impalpable through pores extreme. Void of all union, and for life unfit.
Nor deem each animated tribe alone Such laws avows — all nature feels their force. 730
For since the difference 'twixt created things Is total, their primordial seeds in form Must differ too : not that they ne'er commix Of equal shape, but e'en when mixt that still. From re-arrangement, the result is changed. 735
Nor only in their forms thus vary seeds Primordial ; but, alike, in weight, and power. In concourse, motion, intervening space. And close connexion ; changes that define. Not men and brutes alone, but bound secure 740
From ocean earth, and earth from heaven sublime.
But haste we, many a truth lies yet unsung Culled from my own loved labours. Deem not thou, When aught of substance black or white the view Solicits obvious, — deem not, in the germs 745
Of embryon matter, black or white inheres. Or aught besides of tint, where aught occurs, Rousing the vision ; since the seeds of things Live void of colours actual or conceived. This should'st thou doubt, contending nought exists 750 Through the wide world but must evince some hue. The doubt flows groundless. He, whose sightless orb Ne'er drank the day enlightened, still perceives Whate'er exists, though tints elude his ken. Hence not essential colours to the form 755
Of things created : frequent e'en ourselves. Mid the deep shade of night, by touch alone Prove what surrounds us, every hue extinct.
All hues, moreo'er, to all by turns convert ; A change primordial seeds can ne'er sustain ; 760
Since something still through nature must exist All change defying, lest th' entire surveyed Fall into nought ; for that which once admits Mutation dies, its pristine powers destroyed. — Tinge, then, with caution, the prime seeds of things, 765 Lest, hence, thou ope the doors of death to all.
BOOK n, ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 351
But though material atoms thus live void Of hue ; still many a differing form is theirs, Whence hues they gender, and their variance stamp. Much, then, import th' arrangement, and the powers, 770 The kinds, connexions of primordial seeds, Positions, impulse, and effects impelled ; Since, hence, with ease the mind may, instant, trace Why what is black this moment, should, the next. Pour o'er the view with alabaster dye. 775
Thus, when loud tempests tear the tortured main, The dashing surge is robed in dazzling white, This may'st thou fathom hence, and prove precise Why, oft though black, from combinations new Of its primordial atoms, added these, 780
And those withdrawn, oft, too, the deep should wear A vest contrasted, whitening. to the day. But were its primal atoms tinged themselves Black, or but blue, concussion ne'er could change The fixt result ; nor turn the black or blue 785
To the pure polish of the marble bust. Nor urge from seeds of varying tints, perchance. Springs, when combined, the main's resplendent face ; As in the cube mechanic many ^ shape Diverse unites to rear its ffame complete. 790
For as the keen sight in the cube surveys Those varying figures, so the splendid deep, Or aught of equal lustre, would evince The varying tinctures whence that lustre flows. The differing forms, moreo'er, the cube contains 795
Mar not its unity, but differing hues A blended tinge create, by each diversed.
A cause like this, too, all effect destroys ; Since white or black springs not from seeds so dyed, But seeds commixt of various dyes possest. 800
Though, doubtless, white flows rather from the want Of each existent tincture, than from seeds With black, in part, imbued, or aught besides Of equal contrast, and as firm a foe.
And, since all colours live but in the light, 805
Were hues essential to the seeds of things These, too, would die in darkness : for, resolve,
352 LUCBETIUS BOOK IL
What hues exist beneath the midnight gloom?
Hues bom of sun-beams, changing but their shades
As, playful, changes the refracted ray? 810
Thus the gay pigeon, as his plumes he waves,
Drinks in new tinctures from the noon-tide blaze :
Now glows the ruby, and now, tinged with blae;^
Sports the green emerald o'er his glossy neck.
Thus, too, the peacock, as direct, or bent 815
Falls the full beam, wears each prismatic dye.
Since, then, th* impinging light each hue creates.
So, without light, each, instant, must expire.
And as the stimulus the sight that strikes
Varies, from things that varying dyes educe, 820
Black, white, or aught besides, and nought imports,
Change how it may, th' existing hue, but sole
The different figures whence those hues are reared :
Hence useless colours to the seeds of things.
From varying forms by varying frictions roused. 825
Since, too, no seeds defined with tints are stained Defined alike, and every shape concurs In all that springs, whatever the hue evinced. Whence flows it, then, that every class alike Reflects not every tincture ? — whence that crows 830
Robe not in white from seedl that white create ? Or that the downy swan, in black arrayed. Or hues as hideous, ne'er the sight appals ?
As things, moreover, to parts minute divide, Th' anterior tincture fades. Thus fades away, 835
To dust impalpable reduced, the dye Of gold refulgent : thus the Tyrian woof. Frittered to threads, its purple pride foregoes ; Hence proving clear that hues from things concrete Evanish total ere to seeds dissolved. 840
From many a substance sound, or odour fine. Flies never ; nor the race of man bestows Odours, or sounds on all things. Judge then, hence. That, since not all things the keen sight discerns, Full many a substance, too, as void exists 845
Of varying hues, as these of scent, or sound : Things, than which nought the mind more clear perceives, Whate'er the powers possest of, or denied.
BOOK II. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 353
Nor deem primordial seeds devoid alone Of hues prismatic. Heat, and cold severe, 850
Moisture, and sound, these, too, they never know ; Nor aught of fluent odours, to the sense Hateful or sweet. Thus when, to please thfe fair. Some rich perfume the skilful artist plans, Drawn from the fragrant nard, the dulcet powers 855
Of marjoram, and myrrh, with studious heed From the pure olive first a juice he seeks Void of all scent, for nature such prepares, Lest, with th' effluvia thus selected choice, Aught else combine, and mar th' harmonious whole. 860
Thus void of scent primordial seeds must spring. Thus void of sound ; and hence nor scent, nor sound, Can give to things created : for themselves Nought can transmit but what themselves possess. And hence, moreover, the powers of heat, or cold, 865
Vapour, or taste, these never can bestow, Nor aught alike destructive, aught surveyed. Viscous, unfirm, or fragile ; aught educed From bodies soft, putrescent, or relaxed ; These thou must sever from primordial seeds 870
If things created on a base be built Immortal, whence the world's vast fabric lives, And nought to nought can waste with utter death.
This full premised, now, Memmius, mark what flows ; That all the sentient forms the sight surveys, 875
Whatever their powers, from senseless atoms spring. This every fact of every day, if scanned. Far from resisting, proves a truth most firm ; That sentient things, things void of sense create.
Thus into life th' insensate dunghill rears 880
The race of worms, when once the mingling shower Wakes the warm ferment through the putrid mass, Thus all things change to all things ; foliage, fruits. And the gay glebe to flocks, and herds convert ; And flocks, and herds to man ; and man, in turn, 885
Feeds the foul strength of birds, and barbarous beasts. From every food, thus Nature's chemic power Builds up the forms of life ; in every class Thus wakes the senses every class avows ;
2 A
3o4 LUCBETIUS. BOOK IL
As through the winter-stack full oft she spreads 890
The rushing blase, and turns the whole to fire. — Seest thou not hence, then, of what vast concern The modes in which primordial seeds combine. Act, or re-aot, give motion, or accept ?
This creed what hinders ? what perverts thy mind, 895 And locks thy senses from a truth so plain That sentient things from things insensate flow ? What but that sto^s, and stones, and earth's dull clod. Boast no sensation though alike educed ? — Yet mark, attentive, the sage muse ne'er yet 900
Has urged that all things doubtless must alike Spring forth percipient, and with sense endued : But that of vast concern, as hence alone, Sensation ceaseless flows — the modes diverse Of motion, order, form, with which, through time, 905 Primordial atoms blend : — modes the dull clod Knows not, its frame unorganized and rude. Though the dull clod, or sapless root as dull, When the moist shower the putrid strife has roused. Themselves the vermin race in crowds create : 910
Changed, then, their nature, from arrangements new. And full empowered perceptive life to rear.
Those, too, who hold that sentient forms throughout Spring but from sentient seeds, those seeds must deem Soft and unsolid, since unsolid all, 915
And soft each region, where sensation reigns, Th' interior bowels, and the flesh without ; And hence such seeds must doubtless waste to nought.
Yet grant their dates eternal : such must then The total sense possess of things they rear, 920
Or sense of separate parts : but parts alone Have no perception, nor alone can live. ^
Each leans on each ; the loose dismembered hand Drops powerless ; nor can aught itself sustain. From the full form, the total sense that flows. 925
What then remains but that each seed exists An animal complete, endowed throughout With vital functions ? but resolve, how then Prove they the immortal principles of things ? Whence draw the power, possest by nought that breathes,
BOOK n. ON THB NATUBE OP THINGS. 355
To live through time, and brave the attacks of fate ? 931
But grant e'en this : their combination still No forms could rear, but those of sentient life ; Nor men, nor herds, nor savage beasts produce Aught but themselves ; the sense generic shown . 935 Varjdng as varies the generic frame.
Nor urge that sentient ^eeds, at times, perchance. Lose all sensation, and insensate live ; Why with an attribute so soon destroyed Robe them at all then ? Rather, mark how soon 940
The insensate yolk incipient life betrays. And springs a vital chick : mark, as the muse Has earlier sung, how from the warm ferment Of earths putrescent, by the clouds bedewed, The vermin nations rise, with soul replete, 945
Thus spreading sense where sense was none before.
Nor deem sensation senseless seeds create Sole from some change anterior, long educed Ere into birth the sentient being springs. What more fallacious ? since nor birth complete 950
Nor aught of change can Nature's self create But from the sympathy of primal seeds : Nor, till the frame percipient be combined. Can e'er perception flow ; since wide through space. In earth, in air, in streams, and lambent Are, 955
Are spread the rude materials, unarranged. And void of social bond, whence first exists Each vital motion, whence each guardian sense Springs, and the complicated frame protects.
When too, abrupt, falls some tremendous blow, 960
Throughout the system suffers, every sense Of soul and body discomposed alike. Then fails the arrangement of primordial seeds. Each vital action fails ; and, shook severe Through every limb, the principles of life 965
Dissolve each fond connexion, quit their post, And through th' external pores fly ofl* at large. For what but this can force extreme effect ? The dread solution, and the death of all.
But oft, when less the violence displayed, 970
The vital motions left may triumph still,
2 A 2
356 LucBETnrs. book n.
And quell the mighty tumult, and recall,
From the rude grasp of fate, each active power
Marshalled anew, and everj sense relume.
For else, why rather should those powers retreat 975
Back from destruction with recruited strength,
Than still proceed, and burst the bars of life ?
As pain, too^ springs when, midst th' interior frame, Or limbs extreme, by sudden force convulsed Each vital atom shakes through all its course, 980
But yields to pleasure when the shock subsides, — Since primal seeds can ne'er such shock sustain, — No pain they know, nor e'er the fruit can pluck Of dear delight ; hence nought of sense is theirs.
But if, that things sensation may possess, 985
Their seeds primordial must possess the same,— Say, from what seeds, then, springs the race of man ? From those, forsooth, incited quick to laugh. Those down whose cheeks perpetual tears distil. And those deep-versed in causes and effects, 990
Discussing grave the seeds that rear themselves. For grant this system, and whatever exists Must spring from seeds minuter, endless urged. And draw, progressive, every power displayed Of thought, or laughter, from the parent stock. 995
This if thou smile at, and contend that things With power endowed of laughter, speech, and thought Still rise from seeds that no such powers avow. Why not concede, then, sentient things alike May flow from seeds of total sense devoid ? 1000
All spring from heaven, ethereal, all that live : The sire of all is Ether : he, full oft, In dulcet drops descends of genial rain And the bland Earth impregnates. Timely, then, %
Rises the glossy blade, the joyous leaf 1005
Shoots forth, and man and beast, in countless tribes. Fed from the various banquet of the fields, Live their gay hours, and propagate their kinds. Maternal, hence, is Earth most justly named. Thus all things rise, thus all again return : 1010
Earth takes what earth bestowed ; and back to heaven Remount the ethereal dews from heaven that fell.
BOOK n. ON THE NATtJEB OP THINGS. 357
Yet death destroys not the prime seeds of things,
But scatters only ; atoms hence commix
With stranger atoms, every form commutes, 1015
And every tint ; perception springs amain,
And, instantaneous, wastes again to nought.
Of such vast moment are the modes diverse
In which primordial seeds their posts arrange,
Act, and re-act, give motion, and accept : 1020
For deem not seeds thus floating most minute
Through the vast whole, now obvious to the view,
Now quick disperst, can ne'er eternal live.
Such then the moment, as already urged,
With which the types, these numbers that compose, 1025
Change their positions, and retreat, or blend.
Thus the same letters, or with variance small,
Heaven, earth, and water, seas, and suns express.
Fruits, plants, and mortals ; common are the tjrpes,
The terms but change from combinations new. 1030
Thus change material things : their primal seeds
In site, connexion, interval of space.
Position, motion, weight, attractive power.
In these as varying, varies the result.
Now bend thy mind to truths profounder still : 1035 For stranger doctrines must assault thine ear, And a new scene of wonders yet unfold. Whate'er is new, though obvious and defined. Grains not an easy credence ; but when once Flies the fresh novelty, th' unsteady soul 1040
Yields its full faith to facts mysterious most.
The vault of heaven cerulean, spangled thick With stars, and with th' effulsive lustre cheered Of sun and moon refulgent — were at once This scene celestial o'er the race of man 1045
To burst abrupt — how would the nations start ! What wonders, then, be traced ! with what vast toil Would e'en the sage the prospect preconceive ! Yet now, full sated with the scene sublime, Man scarce lifts up his listless eyes to heaven. 1050
Cease, then, alarmed by aught profound, or strange. Right reason to reject ; weigh well the proofs Each scheme advances ; if by truth upheld
358 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IL
Embrace the doctrine ; but, if fiedse, abjure.
Urged thus, by truth, — ^beyond the world's wide walls 1055
Since space spreads boundless, the redundant mind.
Free in its flights, pants, ardent, to discern
What fills those realms where sight can never soar.
And first, th' entire of things, above, below. Search where thou wilt on every side alike 1060
Spreads unconfined : this, as already taught, Right reason proves, and many a clamorous fact. Then deem not thou, since thus perpetual space Flows infinite, and infinite the seeds That, from exhaustless founts, in endless modes 1065
Fly through the void, by endless motions urged. Deem not this visual system of the heavens Alone exists, unparalleled by aught, And that all matter elsewhere sleeps supine. Since too of its own nature the vast mass 1070
Sprang forth spontaneous, rousing every power To every mode of motion, rashly oft. Oft vain and fruitless, tiU, at length, it formed Th' unchanging rudiments of things sublime. And heaven, and earth, and main, and mortals rose : — 1075 Hence doubly flows it, other systems still. Like ours, must deck the vast ethereal void. Enfolded in its avaricious grasp.
Ample, moreo'er, the matter thus required. The place at hand, the cause efficient full, 1080
Whence new creations may for ever spring. Since, then, so boundless the great mass of seeds That endless ages ne'er could cast th' amount, — Since the same power presides, the nature stiU That reared this visual system, and alike 1085
Those seeds can mould to systems such as ours — The fact flows doubtless, mid the void immense, That other worlds in other parts must rise. Peopled with reasoning, and with brutal tribes.
Add, too, that nought, through universal space, 1090 Springs single, the sole progeny produced. The sole sustained ; still countless every class, Those, chief, percipient : the wild mountain herds, The race of man consociate, the mute fish
BOOK n. ON THE NATUBB OF THINGS. 359
With quivering fin, and all th' aerial tribes. 1095
Hence, too, nor heaven, nor earth, nor sun, nor moon,
Nor the broad main, nor aught besides, alone
Can live, but each unlimited in kind.
Each the same substance, the same seeds of death,
Bears in its frame, that stamp the ranks diverse II 00
More obvious, gendered by connubial love.
These truths avowed, all Nature shines at once, Free in her acts, no tyrant to control, Self-potent, and uninfluenced by the gods. For, O ye powers divine I whose tranquil lives 1 105
Flow free from care, with ceaseless sunshine blest, — Who the vast whole could guide, midst all your ranks ? Who grasp the reins that curb th' entire op things ? Turn the broad heavens, and pour, through countless worlds, Th' ethereal fire that feeds their vital throngs ? 1110
Felt every moment, felt in every place. Who form the louring clouds ? the lightning dart, And roll the clamorous thunder, oft in twain Rending the concave ?— or, full deep retired, Who point, in secret, the mysterious shaft 1115
That, while the guilty triumphs, prostrates stem The fairest forms of innocence and worth ?
Long after the wide world had risen, the sun Shot his young beams, and earth and sea rejoiced In infant being — still primordial seeds, 1120
From the vast compass of th' entire, conjoined ; Conjoined from every part ; hence earth and main Increased ; hence the broad mansions of the heavens Spread wider ; and th' ethereal dome was filled With new-born air; for all, harmonious, blend 1125
Kinds with their kinds, and thence those kinds augment. Earth from the seeds of earth, from fiery, fire. Air from aerial, from the dewy, dew : Till all-prolific Nature rears at length To full perfection the vast frame of things, 1130
And the gorged system can no more absorb Than what flies casual from th' external pores. Then boasts the whole completion ; Nature, then, Restrains all progress, every power matured.
For all with gradual growth that swells, and thus 1 135
360 LUCRETIUS. BOOK H.
Climbs, bj degrees, the scale of life adult.
Far less emits than wliat its frame receives.
Wide through the system flows the genial food
Towards every part disperst : yet not so wide
That much transudes external, and the day 1140
Thus loses larger than the day digests.
For still, though much evanish, ampler still
The nutriment that spreads, till the full form
Gains, by degrees, its point of perfect power. —
Then back, by gradual march, its strength declines, 1145
Its fond perfection, and, from day to day.
Melts all its vigour. — This the ceaseless course
Of things created. But those chief, with speed.
Waste into nought that boast a bulk immense ;
Since wider, here, the surface whence, each hour, 1 150
Flies off the light effluvium, nor with ease
Winds the fresh food through all the mighty mass,
By ceaseless strife exhausted, and a store
Asking far ampler than the i^tore received.
Thus all must perish, unsupplied within, llo5
And, from without, by blows tumultuous urged ;
Blows that, resistless, from whate'er adjoins.
Ply their full vigour till the victim yields.
Thus shall the world's wide walls hereafter sink In boundless ruins : thus, though yet sustained 1160
By food appropriate, and preserved entire. For not for ever will her powers digest The due recruit, nor Nature's hand supply. —
E'en now her glory fades, and the faint earth. That erst upreared such giant forms of life 11 65
In every class profuse, — scarce now protrudes, With utmost toil, a scant and puny race. For deem not thou some golden chain from heaven Each tribe conducted down to realms below ; Nor from the boisterous billows of the main 1 170
That mortals sprung : Earth from herself produced The various ranks that still herself sustains.
Then, too, spontaneous, from the soil she reared Those luscious fruits, those vines that gladden life ; And crowned with pasture, and with glossy corn, 1 175
Those fields where man now toils almost in vain :
BOOK ni. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 361
Where faints the steer, the plonghman faints fatigued,
And the keen share so wastes, mechanic art
Can scarce supply th' exhaustion : — such the call
For labour now, so foods forbear to rise. 1180
Thus musing, the rude husbandman shakes oft
His weary head ; his thriftless pains bewails.
Thriftless too sure : and, while his wandering thought
Weighs, with the present, the fair times elapsed,
Envies the lot the men of yore enjoyed. 1 185
Then, luckless planter of degenerate vines !
His day he curses, then all heaven he tires.
Muttering that earlier times, though virtuous more.
Should, thus, have more been favoured, — ^thus have reared
An ampler harvest e'en from narrower farms,— 1190
Heedless that all things by degrees must fail.
Worn out by age, and doomed to certain death.
BOOK in.
O Glory of the Greeks ! who first didst chase
The mind's dread darkness with celestial day.
The worth illustrating of human life —
Thee, glad, I follow — ^with firm foot resolved
To tread the path imprinted by thy steps ; 5
Not urged by competition, but, alone.
Studious thy toils to copy ; for, in powers.
How can the swallow with the swan contend ?
Or the young kid, all tremulous of limb.
Strive with the strength, the fleetness of the horse; 10
Thou, sire of science ! with paternal truths
Thy sons enrichest : from thy peerless page,
Illustrious chief ! as from the flowery field
Th' industrious bee culls honey, we alike
Cull many a golden precept — ^golden each — 15
And each most worthy everlasting life.
For as the doctrines of thy godlike mind Prove into birth how nature first uprose,
362 LUCRETIUS. BOOK OL
All terrors vanish ; the blae walls of heaven
Fly instant — and the boundless void throughout 20
Teems with created things. Then too we trace
The powers immortal, and their blest abodes ;
Scenes where the winds rage never — unobscured
By clouds, or snow white drifting, — and o'erspread
With laughing ether, and perennial day. 25
There nature fills each want, nor aught up-springs
To mar th' eternal harmony of soul. —
Yet nought exists of hell's infernal reign :
Nor hides the solid earth the scenes from sight
Spread through the void beneath. — On these vast themes 20
As deep I ponder, a sublime delight,
A sacred horror sways me — Nature thus
By thy keen skill through all her depths unveiled.
Since, then, we £rst have sung the make minute Of primal seeds ; how, in spontaneous course Z5
Re-active urged, their various figures fly, And, hence, how all things into life ascend. Next let our daring verse the frame unfold Of soul, and reasoning mind ; — and chase, far chase Those fears of future torment that distract 40
Man's total being ; with the gloom of death Tinge all things ; nor e'en suffer once the tide Of present joy to flow serene and pure.
For though, full oft, men boast they far prefer Death to disease, or infamy of name, 45
Assert they know the soul but springs from blood. Or, if the humour urge them, is but air. And hence, that useless all the lore we bring : — Oft flows the boast from love of praise alone. For when of home debarred, from every haunt 50
Of man cut off, with conscious guilt o'erpowered. Midst every ill such boasters still survive : Still fell new victims, and th' infernal powers Implore with black oblations ; through their breast Religion thus with ten-fold force propelled. 55
Through doubtful dangers, hence, through straits severe Pursue the race of man ; then sole ascends Truth from the lowliest bosom, then alone Flies all profession, and the fact unfolds.
BOOK m. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 363
E'en restless avarice, and love of fame, 60
So oft to deeds unrighteous that seduce. And spread the growing guilt from man to man, By ceaseless toil urged on, and night and day, Striving the crowd t' o'ertop — these pests of life Draw half their vigour from the dread of death. 66
For infamy, contempt, and want severe. These chief embitter mortals ; these, they deem. Death's foremost train ; and, studious these to shun, Far off they fly, still wand'ring from the right. Urged on by fear, and kindle civil broils, 70
And murder heap on murder, doubling thus. Ceaseless, their stores insatiate : raptured high When breathes a brother his last, languid groan ; And with mistrust, through every nerve alarmed. Joining the feast some jovial kinsman forms. 75
From the same source, the same deep dread of death. Springs Enyt poisoning all things : mortals, hence, Lament to power that this, to glory that, Crown'd with the people's plaudits should ascend. While all unnoticed, mid the crowd obscure 80
Themselves still jostle ; pining every hour. For names, for statues ; and, full oft, so strong From dread of death, hate they the light of heaven. That, sick at heart, through their own breast they plunge The fatal steel : heedless that this alone, 85
This pungent dread, engenders all their cares, Nips the keen sense of shame — ^turns friends to foes. And bursts the bonds that harmonize the heart. For, goaded hence, hell ever in his sight, Man oft betrays his country ; and, for gold, 90
Yields up the reverend form that gave him birth. For as the boy, when midnight veils the skies. Trembles and starts at all things — so, full oft. E'en in the noon, men start at forms as void Of real danger as the phantoms false 95
By darkness conjured, and the schoolboy's dread. A terror this the radiant darts of day Can ne'er disperse. To truth's pure light alone. And wisdom yielding, intellectual suns.
First, then, the mind, the spirit named at times^ VQ^
364 LUCRETIUS. BOOK in.
That which controls, which measures sentient life.
Forms of this mortal make a part as clear
As the keen eye, the finger, or the foot
Here cleave we firm, though many a sage contends
The mental sense no part specific frames, 105
But springs the vital product of the whole.
This the Greek schools term harmony — ^a sense
Of living power while still th' essential soul
No point appropriates — ^as corporeal health
Flows not from sections, but the form entire. 110
Thus, deem they, springs the mind ; a tenet fraught.
If right we judge, with error most absurd.
For oft th' external frame disease sustains,
While all escapes within : and thus, reversed,
The mind oft sickens while the body thrives : 115
As, when the gout the tortured foot inflames,
The distant head still boasts its wonted ease.
When, too, sweet sleep o'er all the wearied limbs
Spreads his soft mantle, and locks every sense.
Still something stirs within us — something urged, 120
E'en then, to various motions, and alive
To joy's glad impulse, or fictitious fears.
Yet more ; to prove the soul a part exists Constituent of the body — to subvert This fancied harmony — mark oft how life 125
Mid the dread loss of many a limb endures ; While instant as the vital heat but ebbs, The vital breath flies ofl" — pulsation stops, And heart and limb all lifeless lie alike. Hence may'st thou judge that not in every part 130
Dwells the same portion of percipient power. Nor health from each flows equal ; but that those Chief nurture life, and check its flight abrupt. Reared from aerial seeds, or fluent heat. As these exist, then, heat and vital air, 135
Health through the members sickens or abounds.
This proved precise — that soul, that mind exists Part of the body — let such sages still Hold the term harmony — deduced, perchance, From the sweet chords of Helicon ; let such 140
Still something mean, whate'er that something be.
BOOK in. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 365
No name of theirs expresses : thou, meanwhile, Quitting such contests, mark what yet remains. ^
The soul, the mind, then, one same substance forms Minutely blended ; but, in vulgar phrase, 145
That call we mind, or spirit, which pervades. As chief, the heart's deep avenues, and rules The total frame. Here grief, and terror spring, Here pleasure plays ; and here we hence conceive Dwells mind, or spirit ; while the remnant soul, 150
Through every limb diffused, the mind's dread nod Obeys, and yields submissive to its will. Of its own powers, mind reasons and exults, While soul, like flesh, can never rouse alone. As oft the head, or eye, some anguish keen 155
Sustains, while yet the general frame escapes, So, in itself, the mind, full oft, endures Rapture or pain, while yet the soul at large. Spread through the members, nought of change perceives. But when the mind some shock severe subdues, 160
The total soul then sympathizes : then. Should deadly horror sway o'er all the frame Spreads the cold sweat, the livid paleness spreads. Clouds dim the sight, the palsied tongue is mute. Tingles the ear, and every limb dissolves. 165
Oft, too, from mental terror faints the frame : Whence may'st thou mark how close the bond that kniti The soul and spirit ; this exciting that. And that, when roused, deep-rousing every nerve.
Hence prove we, too, that both alike exist 1 70
Corporeal : — hence, since every member yields With quick submission to the joint behest : Since bursts from sleep the body, since the face Obsequious varies, and the total man Feels the full sway profound ; for nought can act 175
Where touch subsists not, nor can touch subsist Void of corporeal base : — can we, then, doubt That soul, that spirit must corporeal spring ?
In all, moreo'er, of ease or anguish keen The body feels, the assenting mind partakes. 180
Thais, when some deadly dart through many a nerve. Mid many a bone, tremendous, winds its way
366 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IIL
Quick faints the spirit : — a fond wish to die
Now sways, and now the native love of life.
]V4*aterial, hence, the mental frame must live, 185
Since by material arms so soon assailed.
Now list attentive, while we next unfold Its make mysterious, and to sight educe.
First, then, we finn maintain the mind results From seeds of matter, most minute and smooth. 190
This hence we prove, that nought so swiftly speeds As what the mind determines and completes ; The mind, whose keen rapidity o'erpowers All that the sight marks instantaneous most. But what thus rapid moves, from seeds must spring 195 Most exquisitely subtile, and rotund, Roused into action by minutest force. Thus moves the fluent stream, urged on with ease. Since reared from atoms polished, and exile, While the tough honey, of compacter frame, 200
More tardy flows, and ampler force demands. For more tenacious here the total mass. From heavier seeds engendered, tenuous less. And less globose. Thus zephyr's gentlest breath Wide scatters, oft, the seeds the poppy rears, 205
Heaped in the sun-beam, — while the grosser mass Of congregated stones, or missile darts Feels no impression. Hence material things Move brisk or sluggish, as from atoms reared Light and globose, or denser, and more rough. 210
Since then the mind, in every act, we trace Most voluble, from seeds of subtlest size, Eotund and light, its mystic mal^e must spring : A fact, O friend to truth ! thou oft shalt find Of utmost moment in what yet remains. 215
Hence learn we, too, of what attenuate frame The mind consists ; and to what trivial space Must shrink its texture if compacted close — That, when in death the wearied body sleeps. And soul and spirit wander from their post, 220
E'en then the sight no diminution marks In weight or figure ; death usurping sole The warm-breathed vapour, and the vital sense.
BOOK III
From seeds minutest, hence, the soul entire Must flow, — through all the frame profusely poured ; 225 And, e'en when fled, still leaving every limb Its wonted weight, its figure most precise. So, from the juice of Bacchus, when flies off^ Its flower ethereal, from the light perfume When mounts the essential spirit, or from man 230
Th' excreted lymph exhales — ^the curious eye Nought marks diminished, — the same weight survives, Th' same fixt bulk, since from minutest seeds Springs the light scent, the ethereal spirit springs.
Hence doubly flows it why the mind's pure frame 235 Must, too, be reared from seeds of subtlest size, — Hence, as its flight to visual change creates. But bulk alike, and substance still endure.
Yet not unmixt its nature : the light gas Breathed from the dying, in its texture blends 240
Heat, air, and vapour, ever each with each Compacted ; vapour, in its ample pores. Absorbing heat, and heat ethereal air.
Triple the substance, hence, the soul that builds ; Yet e'en the whole perception ne'er can form ; 245
For nought in each subsists of power t' excite Those sensile motions whence perception flows. Hence some fourth substance, doubtless, must we deem, Conjoint existing ; which, though void of name, Springs from minutest atoms, lightest most 250
And most attenuate ; deep-endowed with power Of fleetest speed, and hence, that first begets Those sensile movements that the frame pervade. This first begets, as formed from subtlest seeds. Next heat the incipient action, vapour next 255
Partakes, and air posterior, till the soul Rouses throughout : then flows the blood, then feels Each vital organ, — ^till, through every bone. E'en to its central marrow, winds, in turn. The sinuous rapture, or the sense of pain. 260
Yet pain, thus deep within, can never pierce With keen corrosion, but the total man Shakes from his basis — ^life no more subsists. And the light soul through every pore flies oC
368 LUCBETIUS. BOOK ID.
Hence less profound descends, in general ills, 265
Th' excited action, and man still survives.
And here, in phrase appropriate, would we prove In what firm bonds, what various modes, the make Of each with each commixes, but the dearth Of terms select restrains us ; yet attend 270
While thus our utmost efforts we essay.
Each primal substance, then, with each coheres In every act so firm that nought conceived Can sever ; nought can central space admit ; But as the powers they live of one joint frame. 275
As the fresh victim blends in every limb Heat, taste, and odour, while the total builds But one compacted mass, so here, alike. But one same nature flows from heat and air, And mystic vapour, and the power unnamed 280
That rears the incipient stimulus, and first Darts sentient motion through the quivering frame. Far from all vision this profoundly lurks. Through the whole system's utmost depth diffused. And lives as soul of e'en the soul itself. 285
As with each limb the general spirit blends, Though ne'er discerned, so subtle and so few Its primal seeds — so, through the spirit, spreads This form ineffable, this mystic power, Soul of the soul, and lord of mortal man. 290
Thus, too, commixt must vapour, heat, and air, Live through each limb united ; and, though oft Each rise o'er each triumphant, still uprear One frame harmonious, lest the power of air. Of heat, or vapour, each from each disjoined, 295
Mar all sensation, and fly off dissolved.
Heat springs superior in the mind enraged, When burns the total system, and the eye Darts forth its lurid lightnings : vapour chill The ascendance gains when fear the frame pervades, 300 And ruthless Horror, shivering every limb ; While the pure air, of tranquillizing power, Smooths all the visage, and the soul serenes. Heat sways, as urged already, in the form With acrid breast, that rouses soon to ire ; 305
BOOK in. ON THE NATUBB OF THINGS. 369
Chief in the rampant lion, whose proud heart
Bursts with impetuous roaring, nor can bound
Th' infuriate tide that ceaseless raves within.
For ampler vapour mark the timid deer :
Quick spreads its chilling dew through every limb 310
In many a tremor quivering ; while the ox
Proves, through his placid life, a temper formed
From air supreme. Him ne'er the torch of ire
Maddens abrupt in clouds and smoke involved,
Nor shuddering fear transfixes ; but, remote, 315
'Twixt both he stands, and lifts his honest front.
The trembling deer, the lion gaunt and grim.
Thus varies man : though education trim Add its bland polish, frequent still we trace • The first deep print of nature on the soul, 320
Nor aught can all — erase it : ever, .whence. This yields to sudden rage, to terror that. While oft a third beyond all right betrays A heart of mercy. Thus, in various modes, The moral temper, and S3rmphonious life 325
Must differ ; thus from many a cause occult The sage can ne'er resolve, nor human speech Find phrase t' explain ; so boundless, so complex, The primal sources whence the variance flows ! Yet this the muse may dictate that so few 330
The native traces wisdom ne'er can rase, Man still may emulate the gods in bliss.
Thus through each limb th' impressive spirit spreads. Lord of the body, the prime fount of health. Thus with each limb in league so close combines 335
Nought void of death can sever them in twain. As the clear frankincense its fond perfume Can ne'er desert till both together die, So, from the flesh, the spirit and the soul Part not till each one common fate dissolve. 340
So live they mutual, so, from earliest birth. In intertwined existence, that apart. Nor this nor that perception can possess, The joint result of each, by effort joint First kindled, and through all the frame diffused. 345
This frame, moreo'er, alone can never spring,
2 B
370 LtrcKETros. book m.
Can never thrive, the dread attack of death
Can never conquer. For, with aim sublime.
Though the light vapour from the tepid Ijmph
Fly off profuse, while yet the lymph itself 350
Exists uninjured — the deserted limbs
Not harmless, thus, can bear the soul's escape,
Doomed to one ruin, and one common grave.
So, from their first crude birth, the vital acts
Of soul and body each solicits each 355
With fond contagion, from the earliest hour
The new-formed fetus quickens in the womb.
No power can sever them devoid of death. —
Since life but fiows, then, from the two combined.
Combined alone their natures must subsist. 360
Hence those who hold the body never feels, But sole the spirit through the body poured. Each vital fact oppose : for how, resolve. Could man e'er deem the body crowned with sense But from such facts instructed and confirmed ? 366
True — body feels not when the spirit flies. For sense from each springs mutual, and, in death, Not sense alone is lost, but much besides.
To deem the eyes, then, of themselves survey Nought in existence, while th' interior mind 370
Looks at all nature through them as alone Through loop-holes, is to trifle — sight itself The creed absurd opposing every hour. For oft the eye-ball dares not meet the day, The flood of light overpowering : but were eyes 375
The mind's mere loop-holes, toil were never theirs. Then too, each portal the reflected beam Must more obstruct than usher ; — and, removed, Th' exulting mind must drink a double day.
Nor be the sacred doctrine here advanced 380
Urged by Democritus, that soul extends Atom for atom, through the total frame. With grosser body : for as less of size The soul's primordial seeds than those that rear Th' organic structure, so in number too 385
Yield they, — less freely through the limbs diffused. Hence ma/st thou rather deem the soul's pure seeds
BOOK in. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 371
Placed at such interyals as just suffice
To rouse alone when needful, through the frame,
Percipient tnotions. For full oft the dust 390
Blown by the breeze, or fine fugacious chalk,
Lights on the limbs unheeded : so, at eve.
The dews we feel not, nor the silky threads
By dexterous spider spun from spray to spray
That twine around us, — nor the tattered web 395
From some old roof that on the hair descends,
Nor the soft down of feathers, nor the goss
Sportive and light, that scarcely falls at last.
Nor live we conscious, frequent, of the tread
Of animalcules, or the secret path, 400
O'er all our frame, the busy gnat pursues.
For many a primal seed, that rears at large
Each member, must be stimulated first.
Ere the keen atoms of the soul, hence roused,
Engender sense, through every severing space . 405
Blending, rebounding, and reblending still.
But 'tis the mind guards chief the gates of life, And than the soul with ampler vigour sways. For, without mind or spirit, soul itself In no one portion through the man can live 410
E'en for a moment : as companion fond With speed it follows, dissipated wide. And leaves the limbs beneath the ice of death : While he whose mind, whose spirit safe subsists. Still holds existence, though th' exterior form 415
Throughout be mangled ; e'en though much of soul, Though every limb be lost, he still survives Deep in the remnant trunk ; the vital air Still breathes, and lingers out his joyless hours. Thus, though the visual orb be wounded, still, 420
If safe the central pupil, sight remains : Where'er descends the blow, should this alone Elude its vengeance, ruin ne'er ensues. But, if of this the least existent point Once suffer, though the total else escape, 425
Light fails immediate*, and dread darkness reigns. Such the connexion 'twixt the soul and mind.
Now mark profound : to teach thee how this ««v>!^
2 B 2
%J ,^
XTCSETXCS. BOOK HL
lU^tn. ankie sms: periBL. — sexr tae maae 430
SifitL pour iLTtL zmniba^ tboBr TIiHSinong iBVtii W4JI wijTtJrr. sdc witi: sweetes; iabciiir fnllnd
Here ^ liik'e impon : and was ^wheti we nzge
Ti«e bifiL is OKirtaL ti:i§ tbe xoiiid inchiiipis : 435
?> jcL ti*eir join: bood. tadr ek»e oonnexian socfa.
I' ix sft. Xiftving prav«d. taez^ this jctcennate power Ff (Hi: feubtiest atoms reared, minuipr £0* 1 liHB tiiUve of water, aooke. or booram misL ^Aijfjh mucL in «peed h conqoexs. and. irr forse 440
Fiur Ik:^ ii rous^ 10 actiao-— for inll ofi K'eD tije Ikint piianiasmE of soch forms alone 'ILe soul excites, af when, in deep repoBe. TLh fragrant altar emoke^. and Taponrs rich Kioe to tii^ view — a seiiBe. no doubt, indneed 44d
> rom the liglit phantasme of substantial fomiB Floating around us — this already proved,
- Judge next, feince h'mph when bursts th" endomng vase.
yiowa at each fracture, since fugacious smoke, hiii<;« vapourg vanish into viewless air, 450
Judge how the soul must dissipate amain. How booner perish, and its primal seeds Sp<:cdi<ir diohoh e, wiien once the flesh tbev quit. Foj' uliLvji this fle&h, the vase the soul that bounds, iiouudu it no more when bruised by fordgn foixje, 455
Or of itij life-bhx>d robbed, — ^bow canst thou deem 'I'Jj' unsolid etlAcr, or that aught more rare 'i'han flesh itself^ the soul can e'er confine?
'l^iui miud, iJioreo'er, as every hour confirms. Springs with the body, with the body grows, 460
A lid yields ahke to years. The tottering babe. Weakly of limb, betrays a mind as weak : JiiiL, as his strength matures, his vigorous soul iiipens ia reason, till in equal hour,
As age o'ereoraes, rfnd every organ fails, 465
Kail too his mental powers : then raves the tongue, Tiiu judgment raves, the total man declines, And, in a moment, all alike expires, llenoe the whole nature of this reasonin^: frame
BOOK in. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 373
Must all dissolve, as smoke in ambient air, 470
Hence since, as urged above, all springs alike. All ripens gradual, and together droops.
As, too, the body feels full oft the force Of bitter pains, and many a huge disease — So strives the mind with grief, and cruel care, 475
Hence proved partaker of one common fate.
In many an ill, moreo'er, the flesh sustains, The judgment suffers: the distracted wretch Now raving wild, and sinking, now profound In stupid slumber ; his fixt eyeballs stare, 480
His head hangs heavy, sound no more is heard. Nor the fond visage noticed e'en of those, Who yet, yet calling back to life, bedew With many a tear his mouth and cheeks suffused. Hence must the mind too, with the body cease, 485
Since by diseases thus alike transfixt^ For grief, for sickness, equal, the dread work Of death accomplish, as each hour confirms.
Why, too, when once the pungent power of wine Flies through the system, and the blood inflames, 490
Why torpid grows each organ ? reels each limb ? Falters the tongue ? rebels the maddening mind ? Why swim the eyes ? and hiccough, noise and strife, And each consociate ill their force combine ? Why but that deep the frantic bowl disturbs, 495
Ev'n in the body, the secluded mind ? But what can once be thus disturbed — what once Impeded — should the hostile power augment, Must perish, doubtless, void of future days.
Oft, too, some wretch, before our startled sight, 500 Struck, as with lightning, by some keen disease, Drops sudden : — by the dread attack o'erpowered, He foams, he groans, he trembles, and he faints ; Now rigid, now convulsed, his labouring lungs Heave quick, and quivers each exhausted limb. 505
Spread through the frame, so deep the dire disease Perturbs his spirit ; as the briny main Foams through each wave beneath the tempest's ire. He groans, since every member smarts with pain, And fi'om his inmost breast, with wontless toil, 510
374 LucaETius. book in.
Confused, and harsh, articalation springs.
He raves, since soul and spirit are alike
Disturbed throughout, and severed each from each.
As urged above, distracted by the bane.
But when, at length, the morbid cause declines, 615
And the fermenting humours from the heart
Flow back — ^with staggering foot the man first treads,
Led gradual on to intellect and strength.
Since, then, the soul such various ills endures. E'en in this solid frame, — such various modes 520
Feeb of severe distraction— canst thou deem, In the wide air unsheltered and forlorn. Mid boisterous winds, it ever could exist ?
And as the mind, like body, when diseased Heals oft, and owns the genial power of drugs, 525
Hence springs a proof that mind is mortal too. For he the secret soul, or aught besides, Who fain would change, must lessen or augment Its primal atoms, or combine anew :
But things immortal ne'er can be transposed, 530
Ne'er take addition, or encounter loss. For what once changes, by the change alone Subverts immediate its anterior life.
Sickening, or healed, then, by balsamic herbs, The seeds of death alike the soul betrays. 535
So triumph facts o'er all the sophist's art Precluding answer, doubly silenced here.
Of man, moreo'er, by slow degrees, we mark. Limb after limb consume : first the pale toes. The nails grow livid ; in succession next 540
The feet, and legs ; till gradual, o'er the frame, Creeps the chill track of death. — Since, then, the soul Thus suffers, nor one moment can resist Sound, and entire, its make must mortal prove. But should'st thou deem, when thus assailed, it shrinks 545 Back through each member, to one point condensed — Then must that point, towards which the soul retreats, Throng with increased sensation : but as this Time ne'er evinces, it must still disperse Like tattered shreds by every wind destroyed. 550
Yet grant the converse, and the soul allow
BOOK m* ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 375
In those concentrates, gradual who decline ; —
Say what imports it whether wide it waste
From limb to limb, or perish from one point ?
Still more and more sensation fails, and life 555
Less and still less its dwindled power sustains.
Since, too, the mind forms part of man, and dwells In one fixt spot, as dwells the eye or ear, Or aught besides of sense that governs life ; And since, moreover, the sight, the hand, the nose, 560 Once severed from us, feel not, nor exist. Dissolving instant — so the mind alike Lives not alone without th' exterior frame. Which like a vessel holds it, or aught else. If aught there be, of bond compacter still. 665
So to the body cleaves th' adhesive mind.
The vital power, moreover, of each subsists Alone conjoint, for mutual is their life. Nor without body can the soul fulfil
Its destined functions, nor the body live 570
Of soul devoid, participant of sense. As the bare eye, when rooted from its orb. Sees nought around it, spirit thus and soul Nought can accomplish singly ; — hence diffused Through every vessel, organ, bone, and nerve^ 575
Of all that breathes. Nor part their primal seeds With long interstice, fatal to the power Of resilition ; rather so confined, As sensile motions fits them best t' excite : Such as, at death, when mixt with vacant air, 580
'Twere vain to expect, of all restraint devoid. For air itself must body first become Compact and vital, ere the secret soul Its pores can tenant, or those motions urge, Urged, during life, through all the sentient frame. 585 Hence doubly fiows it why the soul and mind, One in themselves, of body when disrobed, And scattered boundless, instant should dissolve.
Since, too, the body the departed soul Endures not, but with putrid smell decays, 590
Canst thou, then, doubt the soul, when thus effused, Like smoke flies total, every seed disperst ?
376 LUCRETIUS. BOOK DI.
And that th' external frame thus sinks defiled
In putrid death, since from their wonted posts
Urged 'off, through every passage, every pore, 595
Press the percipient seeds, from every Umb,
From every memhrane o'er the system spread ?
And seest thou not, from many a fact hence proved.
That through the total body lives the soul,
And e'en in body severs, seed from seed, 600
Ere thence expelled, and scattered into air ?
E'en during life the fractured soul seems oft From force abrupt half-hurried from her home ; Each vital function failing, and the face, As though in death, all pallid, changed, and wan. 605
Such the deep swoon evinces, when within Sinks the faint spirit, and each prostrate power Pants for its final doom. Such then the force That mind and body oft alike unnerves That, but the least augmented, death ensues. 610
Can, then, the soul, thus impotent of frame. When once disrobed, abandoned, and exposed. Through the wide air, to every boisterous breeze. Can it then triumph, dost thou firmly deem. Not o'er all time, but e'en one moment live? 615
Nor do the dying e'er the soul perceive Eush out entire, when exiled from the heart, The bronchial tube first filling, then the throat, And mouth successive ; but at once it fails In its own region, as each sense alike 620
Fails in its destined theatre of power. Were, too, its date immortal, man no more. At his last hour, would mourn the severing blow: Charmed to throw off his vesture, like the snake, Or, like the stag his antlers, and be free. 625
Why, too, are wisdom and the mind restrained To one sole organ, while the feet, the hands. These never gender ? why but that each spot Exists for some fixt function — nor can e'er Pervert its destined view ? while, through the whole, 630 Nice order reigns by nought preposterous marred. So flows the tide of things, nor water fire. Through time, creates, nor fire the sparry frost.
BOOK DI. * ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 377
Were, too, the soul immortal, and possest Of ancient powers when severed from the flesh, 635
Then with new organs must it, or we err, Be instant re-endowed ; for thus alone Th' infernal shades can tread the shores of hell. Thus painters feign them, and the hards renowned Of ancient times — thoughtless that eyes, and nose, 640 And hands, and mouth, to the divided soul Can jie'er pertain, nor e'en the sense of sound.
And since the total system soul pervades. And vital action — when some blow severe Midway divides it, part from part, abrupt, 645
Then must the soul alike be cleft in twain. Driven with the mangled body. But what thus Admits partition, and to foreign force Yields e'en but once, immortal ne'er can be.
Oft, arm'd with scythes, the warlike car, we read, 650 Hot with repeated slaughters, so abrupt Severs a limb, that o'er the field it lies With life long quivering, while the hero still Fights on, of pain unconscious : his high soul Absorbed so total, he nor heeds the loss 655
Of his broad shield, or shield-supporting hand. Whirled in the strife of coursers, and of cars. From this the sword-arm drops, while still the rock He climbs impetuous ; that, perchance, to earth Felled, on one leg yet vainly strives to rise ; 660
While, at his side, his amputated foot Its trembling toes still moves. Thus, too, the head. Whene'er dissevered from the vital trunk. Still keeps its look of life, with open eye Still stares, till all the gradual soul expire. 665
So should thy blade some serpent's length of tail Divide, quick-brandishing its furious tongue, The severed parts writhe, agonized, and broad Scatter the purple fluid ; while himself Looks round revengeful, and, from pain severe, 670
Gnashes the segments of his mangled frame.
Shall we then say that each divided part A perfect soul contains ? then with such souls The total form, ere injured^ must have thronged.
378 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IIL
Hence severs, then, the soul, though close combined, 675 Anterior, with the body ; and hence, too, Both, must alike be mortal, since alike To parts divisible with equal ease.
Grant, too, the soul immortal, and infused. At earliest birth, within us — whence, resolve, 680
This full oblivion of all past events, All former life ? — for if the soul so change. That nought remains of memory in its make, #
A change so total differs scarce from death. Thus, what before existed, must have ceased, 685
And on its ruins sprung what now exists.
If the light soul, moreo'er, then only join The full-formed body, when that body first Springs into birth, and treads the porch of life, Ne'er can it then, as though diffused at large, 690
E'en with the vital blood, through all the frame, Grow with each growing member : but confined. As in a den, in solitude must dwell. From the first hour exciting equal sense. Hence doubly flows it, souls can ne'er exist 695
Of birth devoid, nor free from final fate. Nor could they, as each daily fact confirms, If from without infused, the total frame Fit with such nice precision : for so close Blend they with every organ, bone, and nerve, 700
That e'en th' enamelled tooth sensation shares ; As oft its ache evinces, or the approach Of ice abrupt ; or when, beneath its gripe, Grate some harsh pebble mid the subject food. Nor thus connected could they e'er retreat 705
Safe, and uninjured through the sinuous paths Of organs, membranes, vesseb, bones, and nerves.
But, from without, th' insinuating soul. If still thou deem through all this frame diffused. Then, since diffused, much surer must it fail ; 710
For what thus flows diffusive, must dissolve. And perish, doubtless, forced through every pore. As vanish foods, through every mazy gland, Through every limb when urged, to different forms Converting gradual, so the mind, the soul 715
BOOK m. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 379
Howe'er entire, when first the flesh it meets
Dissolves by junction ; for through every sluice,
Through every organ intricate and fine,
Must percolate its atoms, severed hence.
And decomposed, — and hence the base alone 720
Of that which after sways th' external frame.
Thus must the soul a natal day possess. And final grave, an origin and end.
Fly, too, at death, the soul's pure'seeds entire. Or with the body are there still that rest ? 725
If aught remain, then idly must thou deem The soul immortal, since diminished thus, And shorn of substance ; but if all escape, If not an atom loiter — whence, I ask. Rears the putrescent carcass, in its womb, 780
The race of worms ? or sport o'er every limb The boneless, bloodless crowds of things unnamed ?
If from without thou deem their souls they draw, To each a soul entire, unheeding here What throngs must flock where dwelt but one before, 735 Pause yet one moment ere thou thus resolve : Such souls must, then, the vermin seeds themselves Have wise-selected, and their fabrics reared. Or into bodies entered ready formed. But nor can reason, if themselves have raised 740
The wretched buildings, for the toil account. Nor tell why thus for hunger, and disease. And shivering cold they thirst, or aught besides Of ill the body to the soul supplies.
Yet grant them anxious for such vile abodes, 745
Still must the structure far exceed their powers. Hence reared not by themselves. Nor from without Could they insinuate into bodies formed ; Since nor adapted to their sinuous pores. Nor framed for intercourse, and mutual act 750
Whence springs the fury that pervades throughout The ruthless breed of lions ? whence the craft The fox evinces, or the stag's wild fear. From sire to son through every race propelled ? Whence these and equaJ passions traced at large, 755
From life's first dawn, generic, through each class ?
380 LUCRETIUS. BOOK m.
Whence but that some fixt power of mind descends,
E'en with the lineal seed, through all begot.
Evolving gradual with the gradual growth ?
For were the soul immortal, changing oft 760
To different bodies, different tempers, then,
Must mark each order ; the Hyrcanian dog
Oft, then, must dread the high-horned stag's approach ;
Hawks fly from doves, e'en man himself turn brute.
And the orute tribes, preposterous, rule the world. 765
Nor heed the sophistry which here contends That souls oft change the body's change to meet : For that which changes must dissolve, and die. Severed its parts, its order all destroyed. Hence souls must, too, dissolve through every limb, 770 And with the body share one common fate.
But should'st thou urge that human souls their flight To human forms restrain — then, since once wise. To folly why relapse ? why spring not boys Replete with wisdom ? nor displays the colt 775
The skilful paces of the steed mature ? Why but that some fixt power of mind descends E'en with the lineal seed through all begot, Evolving gradual with the gradual growth ? Nor think the soul, too, weakens in a weak 780
And puny system, since most surely then Doomed to destruction ; by the change sustained Shorn of its vigour, and interior sense.
Why, if endeared not by one common birth. Thus should it pant in equal hour to reach 785
Perfection with the body ? or, reversed, Why long for freedom when the frame decays ? Fears, then, the soul confinement after death Mid the foul members ? or the dangerous fall Of its own tottering mansion ? But, reflect, 790
What lives immortal, danger ne'er can know.
What, too, so idle, as that souls should throng Round each vile intercourse, or beast that bears : Immortal souls ! contesting who shall first Enter the feeble fetus ; if, perchance, 795
This not decides them, and all strife precludes. That who first gains it, claims a prior right.
BOOK in. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 381
Trees not in ether, not in ocean clouds,
Nor in the fields can fishes e*er exist ;
Nor blood in planks, nor vital juice in stones : 800
But all springs definite in scenes defined.
So in the bosom lives, and there alone,
Mixt with its blood, and nerves, the secret mind :
There only lives, — for could it roam at all.
Then rather should we through the body's self, 805
The heel, or shoulder, or where else it chose.
Oft trace it wandering, than forlorn abroad.
Since e'en in body, then, the soul and mind
Are fixt thus definite — ^we amply prove
That out of body these can ne'er exist : 810
That when the flesh its certain doom sustains,
The soul must, too, through every limb dissolve.
To deem, moreo'er, that mortal can combine With aught immortal, — can together live Concordant, and in mutual duties blend, 816
Is full delirium. Can there be conceived Aught more unmeet, incongruous, or absurd, Than with a mortal that a frame should mix Immortal, doom'd to all its weight of woe ?
What lives immortal, too, must so exist, 820
Or from its own solidity, empowered Each blow to conquer, undivided still, As primal atoms, long anterior sung ; Or since, like vacuum, of all friction void. Free from all touch, by impulse unimpaired ; 825
Or from the want of circling space, in which The severing atoms may dissolve and fall ; Such want the boundless whole of nature proves. And hence eternal — for no place beyond Spreads, where its seeds could waste ; nor, from without, Can foreign force e'er enter to destroy. 831
But nor, as urged above, exists the mind All solid, since in all things void combines. Nor yet all vacuum ; nor, from the profound. Are wanting powers adverse that, into act 835
Once roused tempestuous, the whole mind derange, Or sever total ; — nor deficient space Spread widely round, through which, in countless modes^
382 LUCRETIUS. BOOK m.
The mental frame may crumble, and dissolve ;
Hence not precluded from the gates of death. 840
But shoidd'st thou still the soul immortal deem. Since guarded deep from many a mortal wound. Safe from full many an insult that assails The health exterior, and since many a blow. Aimed at its powers, discomfited recoils 846
Ere scarce ourselves the dread approach perceive. Still far thou wanderest ; for the common woes Excluding that from body draw their birth. Yet pines she anxious for to-morrow's fate, Yet shakes with dread, with carking care consmnes, 850 Or smarts from conscience of committed crimes. Add, too, that madness is her own — ^that oft All memory fails, and o'er each torpid power. Creeps the dull pool of lethargy profound.
Hence, death is nought, and justly claims our scorn, 8^ Since with the body thus the soul decays. And as we now, through long anterior time, Look back indifferent on the Punic hosts That threatened Rome, when, with the din of war. All shook tremendous heaven's high cope beneath, 860 And doubtful hung the scale which power should rule Earth, main, and mortals, with unrivalled sway ; So when we cease, and soul and body once Meet their joint doom whose union formed our lives. No ill shall then molest us, — nought alarm 866
Our scattered senses, and dissevered frame. Though earth with main, or main commix with skies.
E'en could the soul, the spirit still survive The wreck corporeal, and perception boast. To us what boots it, who exist alone 870
The joint result of soul and body mixt ? To us what boots it should some future time Collect our atoms, the dismantled frame Restore entire, and e'en with life relume, When once the memory of ourselves is fled ? 875
We heed not now what erst, in time elapsed. We have been, nor with anxious heart explore What from our dust hereafter may arise : For if thou weigh th' eternal tract of time
BOOK m. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 383
Evolved already, and the countless modes 880
In which all matter moves, thou canst not doubt
That oft its atoms have the form assumed
We bear ourselves this moment — ^though the mind
Recalls not now those scenes of being past ;
For many a pause the discontinuous chain 885
Of life has severed, and full many a mode
Of motion sprung to every s^nse adverse.
He to whom pain hereafter is decreed
Must then exist whene'er that pain arrives.
But as the man, whose atoms erst have lived, 890
Lives now unconscious of ills then sustained.
By death since decomposed, and every power
Of sense and memory scattered — hence we prove'
Death holds no sting t' alarm us ; that the man
To be who ceases, ceases from all woe ; 895
Nor aught imports it that he e'er was bom.
When death immortal claims his mortal life.
Should'st thou, then, mark some fool indignant burn At this alone, that, when existence fails. His corse may moulder, or in flames consume, 900
Or sate, perchance, the jaws of savage beasts — Believe him not : — some secret dread still lurks Of future pain, though e'en his lips deny That sense or thought can after death exist. Thus, if I err not, he conceals his creed, 905
Believes not life all-ceases, but that still Some future self his present will survive. For he who, living, shudders at the thought That birds or beasts his frame may soon devour, That frame divides not, but his self confounds 910
With his own future corse, whose dread decay This self, he deems, must witness and partake. Hence heaves his heart indignant at the doom Of mortal man : heedless that, after death. No other self shall then himself bemoan, 915
Nor feel the tooth that tears his mangled limbs. If, too, the tiger's tusk, the vulture's beak. Be deemed an ill — what lighter ill results From the red fury of the funeral pyre ? The fulsome tide of honey, o'er the frame 92Q
384 LUCRETIUS. BOOK 10.
Poured, cold and stiffening in the marble tomb ?
Or the sunk grave, by earth's vast pressure crushed ?
- But thy dear home shall never greet thee more !
No more the best of wives ! — thy babes beloved. Whose haste half-met thee, emulous to snatch 925
The dulcet kiss that roused thy secret soul. Again shall never hasten ! — nor thine arm, With deed heroic, guard thy country's weal ! — O mournful, mournful fate ! " thy friends exclaim^ " One envious hour of these invalued joys 930
Robs thee for ever ! " — But they add not here, " It robs thee, too, of all desire of joy :" A truth, once uttered, that the mind would free From every dread, and trouble. " Thou art safe ! The sleep of death protects thee ! and secures 935
From all th' unnumbered woes of mortal life ! While we, alas ! the sacred um around That holds thine ashes, shall insatiate weep. Nor time destroy th' eternal grief we feel ! " What then has death, if death be mere repose, 940
And quiet only in a peaceful grave. What has it thus to mar this life of man ?
Yet mar it does. E'en o'er the festive board. The glass while grasping, and with garlands crowned. The thoughtless maniacs oft indignant roar, 945
" How short the joys of wine ! — e'en while we drink Life ceases, and to-morrow ne'er returns ! " As if, in death, the worst such wretches feared Were thirst unquenched, parching every nerve, Or deemed their passions would pursue them still. 950 Not anxious, thus, mankind the world resign At evening hour when soul and body rest ; Nor would they though that rest were ne'er to end : Nor thus the day's desire pursues their dreams ; Though then the seeds of sense not wander far 955
From sensile movements, scarcely, oft, allayed. And quick resumed when starts the soul at morn. Of much less moment, then, should death be held Than sleep, if aught can less than that which ne'er Moment excites whatever ; for the crowd 960
Of sensile seeds are wider here disperst ;
BOOK in. ON THE NATURE OlP THINGS. 385
Nor wakes he e'er to action, and the day, Whose frame once feels the chilling pause of life.
Were then the Nature op Created Things To rise abrupt, and thus repining man 965
Address — " O mortal ! whence these useless fears ? This weak, superfluous sorrow ? why th' approach Dread*st thou of death ? For if the time elapsed Have smiled propitious, and not all its gifts, As though adventured in a leaky vase, 970
Been idly wasted, profitless, and vain — Why quitt'st thou not, thou fool ! the feast of life Filled, — and with mind all panting for repose ? But if thyself have squandered every boon. And of the past grown weary — ^why demand 975
More days to kill, more blessings to pervert, Nor rather headlong hasten to thine end ? For nothing further can my powers devise To please thee ; — ^things for ever things succeed Unchanged, — and would do, though revolving years 980 Should spare thy vigour, and thy brittle frame Live o'er all time : e'en amplier would'st thou then Mark how unvaried all creation moves." — Were Nature thus t' address us, could we fail To feel the justice of her keen rebuke ? 985
So true the picture, the advice so sage !
But to the wretch who moans th' approach of death With grief unmeasured, louder might she raise Her voice severe — " Vile coward ! dry thine eyes — Hence with thy snivelling sorrows, and depart ! " 990
Should he, moreo'er, have past man's mid-day hour— " What ! thou lament ? already who hast reaped An ample harvest ? by desiring thus The past once more, the present thou abhorr'st. And life flies on imperfect, unenjoyed, 995
And death untimely meets thee, ere thy soul, Cloyed with the banquet, is prepared to rise. Leave, then, to others bliss thy years should shun ; Come, cheerful leave it, since still leave thou must." Justly I deem might Nature thus reprove : 1000
For, through creation, old to young resigns. And this from that matures ; nor aught descends
2 c
386 LUCBETIX78. BOOK IIL
To the dread gulfs, the fjEmcied shades of heU.
The mass material must survive entire
To feed succeeding ages, which, in turn, 1005
Like thee shall flourish, and like thee shall die ;
Nor more the present ruins than the past.
Thus things from things ascend ; and life exists
To none a freehold, but a use to alL
Reflect, moreo'er, how less than nought to as lOlO
Weighs the long portion of eternal time Fled ere our birth : so, too, the future weighs When death dissolves us. What of horror, then. Dwells there in death ? what gloomy, what austere ? Can there be elsewhere slumber half so sound ? 1015
The tales of hell exist not in the grave, But here, and curse us living. Tantalus, With broad, rough rock impending o'er his head. And crazed with terror, there is never seen : But terror dwells with mortals — fate thej fear, 1020
And fortune, and a host of fancied gods.
Nor Tityus there exists, the prey of birds. Nor, though he did, could these the victim's breast Consume for ever ; e'en though his wide bulk. Not thrice three acres merely might extend, 1025
But cover the vast globe ; nor could he bear Eternal pain, nor yield perpetual food. But he is Tityus, and by vultures torn. Whose anxious breast the rage of love devours ; Or aught of passion equal in its force. 1030
Here, too, is Sisyphus — ^the man who pants For public honours, and the giddy crowd Caresses ever, ever but in vain. For thus to toil for power, itself at best A bubble, and that bubble ne'er to boast, 1035
Yet still toil on — is doubtless to roll back, Up the high hill, the huge, stern, struggling stone ; That which, the steep peak once urged up, rebounds Rapid, resistless, over all the plain.
Then, too, to feed th' ungrateful mind, and fill 1040
With every good, while still it craves for more, (As feed mankind the seasons in their turn, With fruits, and endless beauties, while themselves
BOOK ni. ON THE NATXJEE OP THINGS. 387
Still riot on, and never have enough,)
This, or I err, the fable well unfolds, 1045
Feigned of the damsels doomed, in flower of youth,
To fill for ever the still leaking urn.
The FuBiES, Cerberus, and Hell itself Of light devoid, and belching from its jaws Tremendous fires, live not, nor can they live : 1050
But well they paint the dread of justice here For crimes atrocious, the reward of guilt, The scourge, the wheel, the block, the dungeon deep, The base-born hangman, the Tarpeian 0115" j Which, though the villain 'scape, his conscious soul 1055 Still fears perpetual, torturing all his days. And still foreboding heavier pangs at death. Hence earth itself to fools becomes a hell.
Thus ponder oft, retired : Angus the good. E'en he has closed his eyes on mortal things ; 1060
A man, thou coward ! worthier far than thou ! Thousands, moreo'er, like him of crowns possest. Have fall'n like him, and all their pomp resigned.
E'en he who wandered o'er the mighty main. Led on his legions, and first oped the way 1065
To tread on foot th' unfathomed gulfs below. He who thus braved the billows, and the storms. Has closed his eye-lids, and his soul resigned. —
SciPio, the war's dread thunderbolt, the scourge Of ransacked Tyre, sleeps, like the slave, inhumed. 1070
Add, too, the founders of the graceful arts. And schools erudite ; — add th' immortal bards ; Add Homer's self the muses' realm who rules ; These all, like meaner mortals, rest in peace. —
When hoary hairs Democritus forewarned 1075
His mental powers were hastening to decay. Quick he uprose, and midway met his fate. —
E'en he is fallen, his lamp of life extinct, Th' illustrious Epicurus, whose vast mind Triumphant rose o'er all men, and excelled, 1080
As, in the heavens, the sun excels the stars.
And dost thou murmur, and indignant die. Whose life, while living, scarcely death exceeds ? Thou ! who in sleep devourest half thy da^^^
2 c 2
388 ixcBsncs. book m.
XnA^ eVn swike, who aioRst;^ diwrniag still, 1085
And tDrtanng all th j miad with Twim aliBns ? Tboa ! who lamentest; oft, vnkiiowiB^ ^^JV Urged ofi, with fear in t niFin r e d dee^ And in a maze of mental errors lost?
Did men bat think, and oft to think Aej aeem, 1090 That from themaelTes their heaTiest ammw* And knew thej too whaxe ihas thpnMr Jf ea These boeom rafierings — addom shoold we ae& life spent as now each paasing hour portnjs. An pant perpetual Fes' thej know not what, 1095
Nor learn bj searching— rhangii^ their abodes^ As thoi^h the change would JeAve their load behind.
This, from mere listleasness, his maa^ioB fiies ; Straight he returns ; — ^'tis listless all abroad. That to his rilla posts» with rapid whe^s, 1100
As though the boildi]^ were in flames^ and called His instant aid. — ^No socmer treads his foot The soondii^ hall, than, on the sofa thrown. He jawns disgusted — or indulges sleep. And seeks oblivion ; or, perchance, he starts, 1105
And towards the town drives back with equal speed.
Thus each his self would fly, that self which still Haunts every step, and every pain creates, Heedless of what torments him : which if dear The wanderer traced, his restless soul, at once 1 1 10
The world forsaking, and the world's vain boasts, Would scan the Nature op Created Things. For little weighs the passing hour of time When with eternity compared, that state Which, after death, to mortab yet remains. 1115
Through what vast woes this wild desire of life Drives us, afraid ! what dangers, and what toils ! Yet death still hastens, nor can mortal man, With all his efforts, turn th* unerring shaft.
Life, through its circuit too, is still the same, 1 120
Nor can it boast one source of new delight. The bliss we covet seems, at distant view, To all superior ; but, when once possest. It cloys, we spurn it, and another call. Yet the same thirst of life corrodes us still, 1 125
BOOK IV
Though doubtful of to-morrow, and the fate To-morrow brings^-our blessing, or our curse. E'en could we life elongate, we should ne'er Subtract one moment from the reign of death, Nor the deep slumber of the grave curtail. 1130
O'er ages could we triumph — death alike . Remains eternal — nor of shorter date To him who yesterday the light forsook. Than him who died full many a year before. •
BOOK IV.
PiEKiAN paths I tread untrod before.
Sweet are the springing founts with nectar new,
Sweet the new flowers that bloom ; but sweeter still
Those flowers to pluck, and weave a roseate wreath
The muses yet to mortals ne'er have deigned. 5
With joy the subject I pursue, and free
The captive mind from Superstition's yoke :
With joy th' obscure illume ; in liquid verse,
Graceful and clear, depicting all surveyed :
By reason guided. For as oft, benign, 10
The sapient nurse, when anxious to enforce
On the pale boy the wormwood's bitter draught,
With luscious honey tints the goblet's edge.
Deceiving thus, while yet unused to guile,
His unsuspecting lip, till deep he drinks, 15
And gathers vigour from the venial cheat ; —
So I, since dull the subject, and the world
Abashed recoils ; would fain, in honeyed phrase,
Tuned by the muses, to thine ear recite
Its vast concerns ; if haply I may hope 20
To fix thine audience, while the flowing verse
Unfolds the nature, and the use of things.
Since, then, our earlier strain the fact has proved Of seeds primordial ; how, in various forms. Oft differing each from each, at will they roam, 2^
390 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IV.
Urged on by ceaseless motion, — proved the mode
Whence all existing, thence exists alone :
Since, too, the mind's deep nature we have traced.
Whence first it springs, with body how unites.
And how^ when severed, to primordial seeds 30
Again it lapses ; — ^haste we next t' unfold
Those forms minute, a theme connected close,
Termed by the learned images of things :
Forms that, like pellicles, when once thrown off
Clear from the surface of whate'er exists, 35
Float unrestrained through ether. Fearful these
Oft through the day, when obvious to the sense.
But chief at midnight, when in dreams we view
Dire shapes and apparitions, from the light
Shut out for ever, and each languid limb 40
With horror gaunt convulsing in its sleep.
For deem not thou the soul can e'er escape
From hell profound ; that spectres of the dead
Can haunt the living ; or that aught we feel
One hour survives when once the stroke of fate 45
Severs the mind from body, and remands
Each to th' appropriate atoms whence they sprang.
Hence hold we firm that effigies of things. Fine, filmy floscules from the surface fiy, Like peels, or membranes, of whate'er exists ; 50
The form precise, how wide soe'er diffused, Maintaining still the parent body boasts. This e'en the dull may learn ; since sight itself Marks the light film from many a substance urged. Oft loosely floating, as the fume impure 55
From crackling faggots, or the brighter blaze Of red, resplendent furnace ; oft compact. And firm of texture as the silken veil Thrown from the grasshopper, when summer wanes. By many a month worn out ; or that the calf 60
Casts on his birth-day ; or the spotted robe Rent from the snake, that trembles on the brier, The brier full oft with spoils like these bedeckt. Since these exist, then, floscules rarer still May, too, be exiled from the face of things : 65
For why the grosser, palpable to sight.
BOOK IV. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 391
Should rather thus exfoliate, than the flake
Of finer texture that all sight eludes,
The mind discerns not ; for such viewless flakes
Live, doubtless, o'er each surface loose diffused, 70
Ranged ever equal, and with ampler ease
Dispelled, since gendered of a lighter frame,
And in the front of objects fixt supreme.
For sight not merely bodies marks minute
Thrown from th' interior, or the base profound, 75
As proved already, but, like rainbow hues,
Poured from the surface. This the crowd surveys
Oft in the theatre, whose curtains broad,
Bedecked with crimson, yellow, or the tint
Of steel cerulean, from their fluted heights 80
Wave tremulous ; and, o'er the scene beneath.
Each marble statue, and the rising rows
Of rank and beauty, fling their tint superb.
While as the walls, with ampler shade repel
The garish noon-beam, every object round 85
Laughs with a deeper dye, and wears profuse
A lovelier lustre, ravished from the day.
As then the trembling drapery ejects
Hues from its surface, superflcial too
From every substance effigies minute 90
Must stream perpetual, each alike discharged.
And hence from all things vestiges there are
Of subtlest texture hovering through the void,
All sight evading when but simply poured.
Each essence, vapour, fume, or aught alike 95
Attenuate, hence alone flows void of form, That, gendered deep within, through tortuous paths Loose, and disjoined, it struggles to the day ; While the light quintessence of utmost hues Streams unobstructed as supremely placed. 100
The main, moreo'er, the mirror, or aught else Of polished front, each object full reflects With perfect semblance. Whence this semblance fair But from supernal images expelled ? These, as more gross, we mark ; yet why the gross 105 Should rather thus exfoliate than the flake Of subtler texture, reason ne'er can prove.
392 LUCBETIUS. BOOK IT.
Hence effigies there are from all things poured
Of nice resemblance, and the £Edrest web ;
Which, though, when single, from the sight conoealedy 110
When close reflected in perpetual stream
From the clear mirror, obvious meet the view.
Nor can the sophist other cause adduce
Whence springs the picture so correctly just.
Come, now, and mark with what attenuate frame 115 Such pictures live. This the prime seeds of things So fugitive to sense, so less than aught The keenest sight can pierce, perchance may proTe, How subtle these, then, thus the muse explains.
First, there are insects so minute, the view 120
Not half their puny members can discern. What here are organs ? what intestines here ? The globule what that forms their heart or eye ? Their tiny limbs ? their tendons ? but o'er all What the nice atoms whence the soul proceeds ? 125
Each part so subtile, so minute the whole.
Next, each wild herb that from its branches pours Ungrateful odours, southernwood severe. The rueful wormwood, centaury, or that Famed for all cures, termed all-heal by the crowd, 130 These, by the lightest finger brushed, emit Myriads of effigies in various modes Void of all strength, wide hovering unperceived. Such who can calculate ? what powers of mind Scan their light textures, or their woof unfold ? 135
Yet deem not thou such images alone From things themselves emane ; spontaneous, too, Spring they in heaven above, combining strange, Borne through th' aerial realms in modes diverse, Their forms for ever shifting, till at length 140
Nought lives on earth the phantoms never ape. Hence clouds concrete, th' aerial vault serene Shadowing with moisture, grateful as it moves : Hence, shapes gigantic spread, protruding broad Their interposing features ; mountains hence, 145
And mountain-rocks, torn from their base abrupt, Seem oft to hover, blotting now the sun With front opposed, now deep diffused behind.
BOOK IV. ON THE NATUBE OF THINGS. 393
Gendering fresh clouds, a monster each to view.
Mark, now, how swift such phantoms form — how swift Exhale from all things, and, when formed, dissolve. 151 A steam there is that from the face of things Pours forth perpetual. This, when urged amain On porous textures, as the clothes we wear, Pierces entire : when bold with wood, or stone 155
It dares conflict, the subtile membrane breaks, Nor aught returns of semblance ; but when flung On dense and splendid objects (foremost such Shines the pure mirror) nought of these ensues : For then nor pierces the light lymph, nor quick 1 60
Breaks ere the mirror give the semblance sound. Hence springs the vision, every object hence, Opposed to splendours, pours perpetual forth Its mimic likeness ; and, perpetual too. Hence the pure effluence that the likeness yields 165
Must fleetly rush, reiterated urged. As from the sun each moment many a ray Must flow that things with lustre may be filled, So from each object many an image light Streams without end ; for, turn howe'er thou please 170 The splendid plate, still the same semblance springs. Punctual in form, appropriate in its dyes.
Oft, too, the lucid front of heaven serene Blackens abrupt ; in subtlest vapours veiled So blackens, fancy may conceive all hell 175
Had with his direst shades the welkin stormed. Shivering with horror every human nerve. But what such vapours to the films of things ? These who can calculate ? what powers of mind Scan their light textures, or their woof unfold ? 180
Thus proved attenuate, mark, benignant, next. Their keen rapidity : with what vast speed Fleet they through ether, with elastic wing Conquering dull time, urged various to their goals. This shall the muse in melodies evince 185
More sweet than prolix ; as the swan's lone dirge Flows forth superior to the clamorous croak Of countless cranes, by every wind disperst.
Know, then, th' attenuate substance must move quick*.
394 LUCBETIUS. BOOK IV.
•
But few th' exceptions. Hence the rapid race 190
Of light, and lustre from th' effusive sun,
Since these, too, spring from atoms most minutey
With ease protruded, by posterior force
Urged on ; for light for ever light succeeds,
And floods of splendour floods of splendour drive. 195
Hence, from like cause, the semblances of things
Through countless space must instantaneous rush ;
For equal powers propellant press behind.
And the same texture rears them that pervades
Forms most compact, and Alls th' aerial void. 200
If, too, those particles of things that lurk
Deep in th' interior, oft sublimely bound.
And quit the surface, as the sun's pure light,
And lustre fair, if instant these we view
Rush through all space, o'er earth and main diffuse, 205
And heaven's high arch, by utmost lightness winged ; .
Say, what the speed of atoms placed supreme.
Poured from the front of things, by nought delayed ?
Seest thou not these, in the same point of time,
With swifter flight through ampler bounds must dart 210
Than the blue radiance that through ether streams ?
To proofs thus cogent of the rapid race Of insubstantial semblances, adjoin This fact decisive ; that, when once at night, Beneath the spangled concave, gleams the vase 215
Filled from the bubbling brook, the curious eye Marks in the lymph, responsive, every star That strews with silver all the radiant pole. Seest thou not hence, then, in what point of time Th* ethereal image darts from heaven to earth ? 220
Hence doubly flows it such stupendous forms Must crowd th' horizon, and the sight compel, Of things defined born ceaseless. From the sun Thus heat exhales, cold, dewy damp from streams, And the rough spray from ocean, with fierce fang 225
Gnawing the mound that dares resist its waves. Thus sounds, too, hover in the breezy air ; And, when the beach we traverse, oft the tongue Smarts with the briny vapour : or if chance. By dexterous leech, fell wormwood near be bruised, 230
BOOK IV. ON THE NATUEE OP THINGS. 395
We taste th* essential bitter, and abhor.
Thus some light effluence streams from all create,
Streams forth for ever, void of dull repose,
Towards every point diffused : for man perceives.
Where'er his station, sight alike exists, 235
The sense of fluent odours, and of sounds.
And as, moreo'er, th' essajdng hand decides Oft in the dark an object as precise As the keen eye at mid-day, — Whence we deem Touch and the sight by equal causes swayed. 240
Thus, if a cube we handle, and, at night. Its shape assure us, what but the mere shape Proves the same substance is a cube by day ? — Hence shapes, hence images alone create All we survey, of vision the sole cause : 245
And hence from every object forms like these Towards every point must radiate ; since the eye, Source of all sight, where'er its orb inclines. Sees all that moves, in shape and hue precise : And since such semblances alone decide 250
How distant dwells each substance we discern. These sole decide ; for every film exhaled Drives on immediate the recumbent air Placed 'twixt the visual orb and object viewed. Then fleets its total column, o'er the ball 255
Rushing amain, till all its gradual length Strikes on the sentient pupil, and retires. Hence how far distant judge we things exist ; And as an ampler air, and larger tide Of friction goad the vision, cautious, thus, 260
Deem more remote th' objective substance lies. While such the speed evinced, at once we teU The thing surveyed, its distance and its kind.
Nor wondrous this, that, though, when singly urged, Each separate image viewless strikes the sight, 265
The parent form springs obvious. When severe Blows the fresh breeze, each particle of wind. Of bitter cold the sense can ne'er discern. But the full body rather : then the frame Shrinks as though blows from some exterior foe 270
Were plied perpetual, every nerve assailed.
396 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IV.
When, too, the finger o'er the polished spar
Lets fall its weight, it touches then alone
The crystal hues, and surface ; yet nor hues
Nor surface feels it, but the hardness sole 276
Its total body boasts, compact and firm.
Now next unfold we whence the semblance seen In the clear mirror, far beyond recedes, Or so pretends, deceptive. Sleights like these We trace for ever when th' attentive eye 280
Peeps in some hall, beyond th' unfolded doors. And through their vista marks the scene without. In both a twin, a double tide of air Strikes on the vision. In the mansion thus First floats th' interior ether, bounded close 285
By the broad portals opening right and left, Then light external, and another air Assail the pupil, and the real scene At last developes. Thus the semblance too, The mirror's self projects, as towards the sight 290
It yet, yet tends, the midway air protrudes Placed 'twixt the visual orb and object viewed ; Whence first th' aerial tide assaults us ere Conspicuous springs the mirror ; which surveyed, Next instant flows the semblance from ourselves 295
Ceaseless exhaled, and from the splendid plate Reflected punctual, visiting in turn The sentient eye-ball, and in turn its tide Of air first forcing o'er the goaded view ; Thus doubly distant, and the glass beyond 300
Painting the mimic image we discern. Hence not the meanest marvel can attach To forms refiected from the fulgent plain Through two-fold airs, by the twin tide resolved.
The part, too, of the semblance that to us 305
The right creates, seems, in the mirror, left : Hence springs the vision, that when once the film Strikes on the level radiance, it rebounds Unaltered never, by th' elastic blow
In every trait reversed : as when we dash, 310
'Gainst some broad beam, the new-made mask of clay Soft yet, and pliant, if with front direct
BOOK IV. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 397
It bear the blow, the hollow frame inverts : Each feature then transposes, the right eye Claims the left side, the left the right usurps. 315
From mirror, too, to mirror may we spread The playful image, till its like, with ease, Be thrice, or ampler doubled ; and till nought Lurk so retired, so deep behind, so hid In tortuous angles, but that many a plate, 320
Rightly disposed, may yet through every maze Drag forth the latent landscape, and at large E'en in the mansion's central depths display. So glides from glass to glass the semblance true By each transposed in order, right and left 325
Changing alternate, and again restored.
Mirrors there are, moreo'er, of shape rotund With flexile sides like mortals, that present To right or left each object free from change. Thus solve the problem that the convex plate, 330
Like a twin mirror, twice the scene reflects *
Ere yet it touch the vision ; or, perchance, Th' approaching image turns completely round, A turn the flexile splendour proves precise. —
Then the light image, too, with us affects 335
To move responsive, every gesture caught. Hence the deception, that whate'er the part Of the pure plate relinquished, thence no more Flies the fleet semblance ; fate's eternal laws Deciding ceaseless that the film propelled 340
Must bear each variance of the parent form.
Such are the sleights of mirrors. Mark we next, How hates the eye-ball every gaudy glare ; How darkens in the sun when poured direct ; Such his vast power. Yet here that power alike 345
Flows from a stream of effigies through heaven Impetuous flung, the tender pupil oft Wounding severely ; and, at times, so fierce Rushes the radiant tide, the total orb Bums with the fiery particles contained. 350
The jaundiced thus, not unaccordant, see All clad in yeUow, many a yellow seed Forced from their frames, the semblances of thin^ii
398 ujCBxncs, book it.
Accosting frequent ; and the lurid eje.
Deep, too, imbued with its conti^pioiis hne, 356
Fainting each image that its disc assails.
Things in the light, though in the daik oaraelTes, We mark cofispicnons ; for as the Uack air Adjoining, first usurps th' expanded eye. Quick flows th' illumined tide, fincmi every shade 360
Purging the pupil, formed of finer seeds, More potent far, more voluble in act Hence as at once the visual orb it dears, Till then obstructed, and with lustre fills. Each floating image, in the light exhaled, 365
Next rushes, and its stimulus applies. But when, reversed, from day to dark we look. We see not, for the stream of shadowy air That last arrives, of grosser texture wrought, Filb every avenue, each optic nerve 370
Clogs, and the semblances of things arrests.
View yon square turrets, too, that guard our state From hills remote, and each appears rotund. Hence solve the vision ; that, at distance seen. All angles soften ; first surveyed obtuse, 375
Then fading total ; the dilated orb Attaining never, or devoid of force : For the light image, through the fluttering air As swift it glides, abrades at every point. Hence, as each angle flies the prying sight, 380
Cylindric seems the structure, distant far From the true circle, but cylindric still.
The shade, moreover, moves with us in the sun. Attends our steps, and every gesture apes ; Moves, or so seems, if terms like these apply 385
To aught like shadow, the mere void alone Of light, and lustre. Such the phase evinced. Thou thus resolve it ; that, whene'er we walk Beneath the solar blaze aslant propelled. Our interposing limbs perforce liiust hide 390
The heavenly ray from spots illumined else, And still illumed the moment we forsake : Hence must the shadow with the moving frame Seem, too, to move most punctual ; for the streams
BOOK IV. ON THE NAT17BE OP THINGS. 399
Of new-born radiance that for ever flow 395
Die instant, as the filaments of wool
In fiercest flames, bj streams succeeded still :
Whence quick of light may every spot be robbed,
And quick relumed, the negro shade expelled.
Yet deem not thou from this, or aught besides, 400
The vision e'er can err : its office sole Tells where is shine or shadow, while the rest. Whether the shining current live the same. Or change perpetual ; whether the dark shade Wait on each step progressive, or the dogm 405
Just urged be truth, — all this the mind done Weighs, and determines ; for th' exterior sight Scans not the powers of things ; so blame not thou Th' unerring vision for the mind's defects.
Th' advancing bark seems to the crew at rest ; 410
At rest, advancing ; and the hills and vales. Near which we voyage, seem compelled astern.
Thus seem the stars, though reason proves their flight, Fixt to th' ethereal vault, o'er whose broad bounds Their lucid course they steer, and rise and set 415
Alternate ; thus the sun and moon alike Move not to sight, though moving without end.
The mountain rocks, whose severed sides admit Whole fleets between, look in the distant deep But one continuous chain, one solid isle. 420
So to the wanton boy, whom many a twirl Makes dizzy, pillars, pictures, walls alike Roll rapid round, and menace with their fall.
When first the rosy dawn, with trembling fires, Peeps o'^ the mountains, mountains where the sun 425 Rests all his rising radiance, — ^the bright pomp Seems scarce two thousand bow-shots from ourselves ; Oft might five hundred reach it : yet between These rich-wrought mountains and the solar disc Spreads many an ocean, many a heaven unknown, 430 Of span immense, and many a mighty realm Peopled with nations, and the brutal tribes. So in the puny pools inch-high that fill, When showers descend, the hollows in our streets, A prospect opens, earth as deep below ^^^
400 LUCBBTIUS. BOOK lY.
As bends o'er earth th' ethereal vault sublime :
Where maj'st thou trace the flitting clouds, the heayens^
And heavenly orbs in wondrous guise displayed.
Thus, too, when mounted on the mettled steed. Full in the stream then plunge, — ^if midway o*er 440
Thou rest — ^the stationary steed seems still With the broad torrent struggling, up the tide Urging his dauntless chest, while all around With equal motion looks alike o'erpowered.
The pillared portico, whose aisle throughout 445
In breadth ne'er varies, propt through all its course With equal columns, from its entrance viewed Seems lessening gradual, side approaching side. And ceiling floor, till at its utmost bound All, like the cone, ends in a point acute. 450
To those at sea the restless sun ascends, And sets in ocean, quenching there his fires ; For nought but skies and ocean meet their view : So blame not thou that thus the sight reports.
E'en while in port the bark, to those unskilled, 455
Oft seems distrest, and with disabled arms Against the tide contending : for though straight Looks the tough length of oar the brine above, And straight the helm superior, all below Seems broke abrupt, refracted by the wave, 460
Inversed, and floating near the rory brim.—
When through the welkin the wild winds at night Drive the light clouds, the starry gems of heaven Seem forced athwart them, in perplext career Urged rapid on, wide wandering from their paths. 465
If but one eye-ball lightly thou compress Below, with casual finger, all around Looks instant double ; every taper flames With double lights, with double garniture The mansion labours, and each friend assumes, 470
Preposterous sight ! two faces, and two forms.
So, too, when sleep his opiate wand has stretched And lulled each limb in soft and sound repose, Still watchful seem we, every member still Feels in full motion : wrapt in midnight gloom 475
The cheerful day stiU smiles : though close pent up.
BOOK IV. ON THE NATUBS OP THINGS. 401
O'er main, and mountains, hills and heavens we roam, Tread with firm foot the champaign ; grave debates Hear mid the noiseless solitude that reigns. And e'en while silent loudly make reply. 480
These, and a thousand visions, strange alike, Assault our senses, and would fain deceive. But vain th' attempt : since, though full oft we err, 'Tis mind misguides us with results unsound, That deeming seen which ne'er the sight surveys. 485
For nought more arduous than to sever forms True, from ideal by the mind begot.
Who holds that nought is known, denies he knows E'en this, thus owning that he nothing knows. With such I ne'er could reason, who, with face 490
Hetorted, treads the ground just trod before. Yet grant e'en this he knows ; since nought exists Of truth in things, whence learns he what to know. Or what not know ? what things can give him first The notion crude of what is false, or true ? 495
What prove aught doubtful, or of doubt devoid ?
Search, and this earliest notion thou wilt find Of truth and falsehood from the senses drawn. Nor aught can e'er refute them : for what once. By truths opposed, their falsehood can detect, 500
Must claim a trust far ampler than themselves. Yet what than these an ampler trust can claim ? Can reason, bom forsooth of erring sense, Impeach those senses whence along it springs ? And which, if false, itself can ne'er be true. 505
Can sight correct the ears ? can ears the touch ? Or touch the tongue's fine flavour ? or, o'er all. Can smell triumphant rise ? absurd the thought. For every sense a separate function boastSj A power prescribed ; and hence or soft or hard, 510
Or hot or cold, to its appropriate sense Alone appeals. The gaudy train of hues. With their light shades, appropriate thus alike Perceive we ; tastes appropriate powers possess ; Appropriate, sounds and odours: and hence, too, 515
One sense another ne'er can contravene. Nor e'en correct itself; since^ every hour,
2 D
402 LUCRETItJS. BOOK IV.
In every act each claims an eqnal faith :
So what the senses notice must be true. —
E'en though the mind no real cause could urge 520
Why what is square when present, when remote
Cylindric seems, 'twere dangerous less t' adopt
A cause unsound, than rashly yield at once
All that we grasp of truth and surety most.
Rend all reliance, and root up, forlorn, 525
The first, firm principles of life and health.
For not alone fails reason, life itself
Ends instant, if the senses thou disturb ;
And dare some dangerous precipice, or aught
Against warned equal, spuming what is safe. 530
Hence all against the senses urged is vaiii,
Mere idle rant, and hollow pomp of words.
As, in a building, if the first lines err. If aught impede the plummet, or the rule From its just angles deviate but a hair, 536
The total edifice must rise untrue, Recumbent, curved, o'erhanging, void of grace. Tumbling, or tumbled from this first defect. So must all reason prove unsound, deduced From things created, if the senses err. 540
Thus perfect sight, unfold we next, a task "Not arduous, how each other sense perceives.
Sound, and the voice, then, first are felt when deep Pierce their light corpuscles the mazy ear. And rouse impulsive ; for corporeal, too, 545
Are sound and voice, since each the sense impels. Thus voice full oft abrades the palate ; sound. Forth issuing from the lungs, th' aerial tube Roughens : for when the vocal atoms press With thfong unusual through the bronchial straits, 550 Th' elastic stream their tender tunics goads. And the whole passage smarts with pain severe. Hence, doubtless, voice and words sonorous spring From seeds corporeal, armed with power to wound.
Nor here forget how much the speaker wastes, 555
How faints enervate, shorn of vital force, Who from the dawn harangues tiU night's black shade ; How doubly wastes if loud th' oration urged.
BOOK IV. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 403
Corporeal, hence, the voice must prove, since he
Who long debates, corporeal loss sustains. 560
Roughness, moreo'er, of voice, from atoms rough.
From smooth it& suavity perpetual flows :
Nor of like figure wind they through the ear
When roars the deep-toned trumpet, or the horn
With hoarse, harsh gamut strains its serpent throat ; 565
And when the swan, amid the pangs of d^ath.
Pours o'er Parnassus his last, liquid dirge.
The vocal tide thus reared, when from the lungs Sublime we press it through the bronchial duct, The tongue daedalian, and vivacious lips 570
Mould it to words, articulated nice. And when not far th' irruptive voice is thrown It strikes emphatic, and is heard distinct. Unchanged, uninjured every primal seed.
But when at distance urged, the severing air 575
Must break each sentence, and the wandering voice Through the long medium all connexion lose. And thus, though sounds attract us, we collect Nought they should teach, so blended and destroyed.
When, mid the gaping throng, the crier loud 580
Bawls out his mandate, each its purport hears. Hence, too, the voice to vocicles minute Severs abrupt, since every ear alike Drinks in each tone with equal clearness felt ; While what its nerve ne'er reaches, wide diffused, 585 Wastes through all ether ; or, if aught, perchance, Strike some compact enclosure, it rebounds In faithless speech, mere semblances of words.
Whence may'st thou solve, ingenuous ! to the world The rise of echoes, formed in desert scenes, 590
Mid rocks, and mountains, mocking every sound. When late we wander through their solemn glooms, And, with loud voice, some lost companion call. And oft re-echoes echo till the peal Ring seven times round : so rock to rock repels 595
The mimic shout, re-iterated close.
Here haunt the goat-foot satyrs, and the nymphs. As rustics tell, and fauns whose frolic dance And midnight revels oft, they say, are heard
2 D 2
404 LUCBBTIUa. BOOK IV.
Breaking the noiseless silence ; while soft strains 600
Melodious issue, and the vocal band
Strike to their madrigals the plaintive lyre.
Such, feign they, sees the shepherd, obvious ofit,
Led on by Pan, with pine-leaf garland crowned.
And seven-mouthed reed his labouring lip beneath, 605
Waking the woodland muse with ceaseless song.
These, and a thousand legends wilder still
Recount they ; haply lest their desert homes
Seem of the gods abandoned, boastful hence
Of sights prodigious ; or by cause, perchance, 610
More trivial urged, for ne'er was tale so wild
Feigned, but the crowd would drink with greedy ears.
Nor strange, moreover, conceive it that the voice Full many a scene should pierce, the nerve of sound Rousing, where sight's keen gaze can never reach. 615 For voice unhurt through flexile tubes can wind ; But the light image never ; since the pore When not direct, as that of lucid glass Which all transmits, abrades it and destroys. —
Voice through the total scene, too, spreads alike ; 620 Since, when once formed, to vocicles minute It breaks innumerous, as sparks at night To countless sparklings ; hence the scene throughout Overflows with sound, through every winding felt. Yet visual images, when once propelled, 625
Rush but in lines direct ; whence none can see Things pent above, though voice th' enclosure pierce. Yet voice itself, thus piercing, faints obtuse. Heard indistinct, and rather sound than sense.
To TASTES proceed we : whence the tongue's nice powers Spring, and the curious palate, full t' unfold. — 631
First tastes the tongue, then, when the sturdy teeth Wring from the food its juices ; as though sponge, Pregnant with water, by th' embracing hand Were squeezed to dryness. O'er the pores perplext 635 Of tongue and palate next th' excreted lymph Rushes amain ; and, when from atoms reared Smooth and rotund, the masticating sense Through its moist temple swells with dear delight : But when the rough assail it, it recoils 640
BOOK rv. ON THE NATUltB OP THINGS. 405
And shrinks abhorrent, wounded in the strife.
Last, flows the trickling pleasure, or the pain.
Back towards the tonsils where the gorge first opes ;
There flows and ceases, nothing felt beyond
Of joy or suffering through the frame diffused. 645
For nought imports it what the food employed,
If but the stomach into genial tides
Concoct it sole, and pour through every limb.
Oft find we, too, that various frames demand As various viands ; and that what to some 650
Seems harsh and hateful, some perpetual deem Delicious most ; while e'en so vast, at times. The strange discordance, that what poisons this To that proves healthful, and prolongates life. Thus dies the snake that human spitde tastes, 655
Worked into madness, self-destroyed ; and thus Wild hellebore, that goats and quails matures. By man once swallowed stamps his instant fate.
These facts to solve, thy mind must first retrace A doctrine earlier urged, that aU things hold 660
Deep in their texture seeds unlike of form ; And that each sentient class by food sustained. Since large the variance of its outer make. And stamp generic, must from nutrient seeds Of form unlike be reared, and powers diverse. 665
But if its seeds thus differ, different too Must prove in shape the fine absorbent pores Whence draws the frame its nurture, o'er the tongue Spread bibulous, the palate, and the limbs ; Now large, now small, triangular, rotund, 670
Squares, polygons, in every changeful mode. For to the varying seed the varying duct With nicest adaptation must respond. And, hence, when foods of bitter taste to some Prove sweet to others, where the flavour charms, 675
The smoothest seeds alone the palate drinks. Through all its pores inebriate ; while, reversed. Where aught offends, those jagged more and rough Fierce the nice tubes, and tear their tender mouths.
Thus all alike springs obvious. When the frame, 680 From bile o'erflowing, or some cause as fierce^
406 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IV.
Sickens with fever, every organ shakes
With tumult dire, through all its texture changed.
Hence atoms erst apportioned, now no more
Apportioned prove ; while those far readier fit 685
That rouse the sense to hatred and disgust :
Tor both in all things lurk, as urged above,
E'en in the sweets Hyblaean honey boasts.
But come, for odours call us, and the powers That sway th' obsequious nostrils. Odours fine, 690
Wave after wave, flow forth in ceaseless tide From many a substance, many a living tribe Attracting different, as diversely reared. Hence bees, through distant ether, wind the scent Of honeyed flowrets ! vultures, foul of maw, 695
Track the vile carcass ; the vivacious hound Hunts o'er the hills the cloven-footed foe ; And the white goose, preserver of our state, The haunts explores of mortals. Odours hence From odours differing, every brutal tribe 700
Its food selects, from baneful poison flies, And through all time maintains its rank entire.
Thus varjring scents the varying nostrils wound. To different distance urged ; yet none so far As voice or sounds, not here those films to name 705
That strike the pupil, and solicit sight. For scents roam tardy, in uncertain path, And die with ease beneath the breath of heaven. Since from the depth of things with labour flung. For that thus deep they rise thou thus may'st prove : 710 That all when frittered, into dust reduced. Or probed by fire, an ampler essence yield. Then spring they, too, from particles more gross. Since void of power the firm flint wall to pierce. Pierced oft by sounds, by voices. Doubtful hence 715 Feel we full frequent, though in scents immersed, From what point flows the perfume ; for the stream Chills as it loiters, and with languid force Excites the dubious nostrils ; and hence, too. Oft the fleet pack wide wanders mid the chase. 720
Nor tastes alone, nor odours different strike The different tribes percipient ; the light hues.
BOOK IV. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 407
The semblances of things, diversely, too,
Pungent, or bland, the conscious sight assault.
The lion, thus, the cock's indignant eye 725
Flies, nor can e'er encounter, loud of wing.
Who drives the shadows, and the lazy dawn
Wakes with shrill clarion iterated oft.
For seeds there are that in the warlike cock
Of power peculiar lurk, which when once urged 730
Against the lion's sight, with wound severe
Tear the keen pupil ; whence the tortured beast
Dares not the shock ; while yet the human eye
Escapes uninjured, since the puny darts
Pierce not, or, piercing, through the yielding pores 735
Find a free entrance, and as free retire.
Now mark while briefly, next, the muse displays What forms the mind excite, and through the soul Rush viewless. First be this imprinted deep, ' That light, innumerous semblances of things, 740
Towards every point, in modes innumerous press, , Combining soon through ether when they meet, As the wove woof of spiders, or the threads Fine-wrought of filmy gold. For slenderer far Of these the texture than aught e'er that strikes 745
Conspicuous on the pupil, since with ease Pierce they the porous body, reach, recluse, Th' attenuate mind, and stimulate the sense. Hence Centaurs see we, Scyllas, and the face Of dogs- Cerberean, or the spectres pale 750
Of those whose bones the tomb has long embraced. For countless effigies of countless kinds Float vagrant round us, self-engendered, now In air sublime, now flung from all that lives. And now combined in many a monster form : 755
For the wild semblance of a Centaur yet Ne'er flowed from Centaurs living, nature such Creating never ; but when once in air A man's light image with a horse's meets. Quick they cohere, as just maintained, since reared 760 Of subtlest texture, and the phantom springs. Thus spring, too, kindred phantoms, by their make All volatile, and, with percussion joint,
408 LUCRBTIUS. BOOK IV.
Rousing the mind, soon roused, since reared itself
Of subtlest textore, and yivacious most. 765
Thus all with ease developes. As the mind Sees but the features sight surveyed before. Each into act some equtd cause must prompt. — Since the fierce lion, as the muse has taught. Sight, then, surveys from semblances alpne, 770
Nought but mere semblances the mind can rouae ; Hence seen the same, or but attenuate more. Thus only, when the limbs dissolve in sleep. The wakeful spirit of the mind descries Trains of unreal objects, -moved throughout 775
By the same images the day displays ; So moved that those oft obvious seem to spring Whom long the grave has folded in its grasp : A creed e'en urged by nature, since, profound, '
Through the still frame then slumbers every sense, 780 Void of all power to mark the true from false ; Nor rouses the dull meoiory to clear The fancied scene, or prove the forms we see Erewhile fell victims to oblivious fate. —
Nor wondrous deem it that such forms should move, 785 Or wave their hands,- as dreams full oft disclose. Or trip their frolic feet to numerous time. For the light image stays not, but flows on In streams successive ; hence when this to that Yields of diverse arrangement, fit)m the change, 790
Rapid as thought, the first seems moving sole. So vast their powers of action ; such the stores Of things create, the countless phantoms such Flung through each moment's least capacious point.
Yet many a question themes like these excite, 795
Deep thought demanding ere illumined clear.
Whence springs it that the mind, with instant haste. Thinks on whate'er the wayward will resolves ? If heaven the heart, if earth, or main, possess. Pomps, spectacles, or senates, feasts, or fights, 800
Does Nature then her images create Prompt to the moment ? whence that mortals placed In the same country, in the self-same spot. On difierent themes employ the thoughtful mind ?
BOOK IV. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 409
Whence, too, those graceful attitudes, in turn, 805
The changeful phantoms oft in dreams disclose ? The dexile arm that, through the measured dance, To arm voluptuous answers ? and the foot To foot symphonious, exquisitely true ? Taste, then, the phantoms science? are they taught 810 Thus loose to wanton mid the night's dead hours ? Or flows it not much rather that each space Of time minutest, e'en while the fleet lip Sounds but a syllable, of parts consists Minuter still, within whose rapid reign 815
Kush they in swarms, towards every point propelled ? So vast their powers of action ; such the stores Of things create. And hence when this to that Yields of diverse arrangement, from the change The first alone seems moving to the sight. 820
Then, too, so fine their texture, that the mind. Save when profound it pries, their separate forms Can ne'er distinguish ; hence, unnoticed, waste Those the dull mind prepares not to survey. For thus prepares it ceaseless, and expects 825
The coming vision, hence surveyed alone.
E'en seest thou not the pupil, when it first Kens some fine object, all its orb contracts. And strains ere yet the figure full disclose ? Thus, too, in scenes more.obvious, if thy soul 830
Thou bend not to the vision, it remains As though from thee far distant and disjoined. What wonder each light image, then, should die Viewless, the mind ne'er rouses to survey. Then things minute, too, large full oft we deem 835
Wide wandering from the fact, and self-deceived.
And oft a form the present phantom wears Unlike th' anterior, woman now, and now The bolder sex, or shaped with dififerent age, And features fresh, while still oblivion deep, 840
And languid rest restrain us from surprise.
Yet fly abhorrent, here, with vigour fiy Their creed who hold that every organ sprang To use self-destined : that the pupil rose Conscious of vision ; that the legs, the thighs 84.<5
410 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IT.
On the firm foot upreared their columns, versed
Previous in paces ; that the flexile arm
Hence nerved with strength its muscles ; and the hands
Hung on each side, the messengers of life.
This, and whate'er such sophists else affirm, 850
Is futile all, preposterous, and wild.
For nought so knows its office as to act
When first produced, but all produced alone
Learns it progressive. The nice power to see
Lived not before the eye-ball ; to debate 855
With graceful speech before the tongue was formed.
The tongue long first created ; nor to hear
Ere rose the sense of sound ; nor aught besides
Of organ could anticipate its use.
Hence urged by use, no organ ever sprang. 860
Wars, we admit, with aU their ills, began. And savage blows were dealt, and tides of blood Flowed forth obscene, ere yet the lucid spear Was hurled indignant ; and to fly its force Preceded long the left hand's sturdy shield. 865
Thus, too, repose the weary members claimed, Long ere the down displayed its soft expanse ; And the parched lip was slaked ere goblets rose.
Doubtless such instruments from use foreseen Were gradual framed, as life and nature called, 870
But nought besides ; for all created else First sprang, and then their proper use explored. The senses chief, and active limbs of man. — Hence far the creed reject, then, that affirms These e'er produced from office pre-conceived. 875
Nor is it wondrous that each form that breathes Should, from its nature, need diurnal food : Since, as we erst have taught, in many a mode Full many an atom flies from all create ; From ranks percipient most, by toil fatigued. 880
For ceaseless vapour here the skin bedews. Flung forth profound, and quick the labouring lungs Part with their vital spirit ; hence the frame Sinks all exhausted ; faintness preys profuse O'er every power, and ruin stares around. 885
So foods are claimed the languid limbs to brace,
BOOK IV. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 411
To fill with strength recruited, and appease
The craving hunger that subdues the soul.
So, too, the goblet spreads its liquid stores
Where'er those stores are sought, with grateful draught
Quenching the fiery stomach, and absorbed 891
Through all the members, freshening as it fiows.
Hence dies the raging hunger ; and the thirst,
Panting no more, is drowned in fiuent bliss.
Now next unfold we, thou the doctrine mark, 895
How the firm foot advances at our will ? Whence draw the lips their motion ? and within What this strange power the body's bulk that drives ? —
First, then, we hold — a precept urged before — That the light images that rove around 900
Beset, and strike the mind ; hence springs the will Determined instant ; for no mortal aught Can e'er commence but what th' interior mind Wills, and decides ; and what the mind thus wills Th' assailing image governs by its form. 905
So when the mind, thus roused, resolves to walk, Quick through the total soul, the soul diffused O'er all the system, the commotion felt It spreads percussive, spreads with instant ease, Since close the bond between them ; and, in turn, 910
Urged by the soul, the body final moves, Feels the propulsion, and its power obeys.
Then, too, the frame expands, and the light air All volatile, through every path, and pore, Each aperture minutest, ampler flows ; 915
And hence from two-fold force, as sails the bark With wind and canvass, man majestic moves.
Nor strange conceive it that such trivial powers Should turn the body, and its bulk direct. For the pure gale, of subtlest atoms reared, 920
With force immense the mightiest ship propels ; While one light hand, one slender helm, with ease Guides its vast burden o'er the bending main. And, armed with wheels, and pulleys, the firm crane Lifts loads at will, the groaning ground that crush. 925
Now by what means soft sleep bedews the limbs, And from the mind drives every carking cax^)
412 LUCRETIUS. BOOK IT.
This next the muse in melodies shall sing
More sweet than prolix ; as the swan's lone dirge
Flows forth superior to the clamorous croak 930
Of countless cranes, by every wind disperst.
Hear thou attentive, and with mind acute,
Lest aught appear incongruous, and thy breast
Recoil abhorrent from the truths we teach,
Foe to the creed from ignorance alone. 935
Sleep, then, occurs when fades through every limb The soul's sensorial power, part by fatigue Wasted through ether, and concentred part Deep in each vital organ ; till, at length. Lax grow the members, listless, and dissolved. 940
For pow.er sensorial doubtless from the soul Derives ; and hence, when sleep the senses locks, Th' enfeebled soul itself to reason seems Worn out, and all ejected into air.
Yet not entire : for then this mortal make 945
Must sink subdued in death's eternal ice. No latent atom left, as sparks that lurk Li smothered embers, whence its powers afresh Might blaze, triumphant, with recovered flame.
Yet by what means this wondrous change results, 950 Whence fails the soul, and all the body droops. Now mark, nor let the dictates waste in air.
Know then all ether, that around us flows. Beats on the body, open to its force. With ceaseless repercussion. Nature hence, 955
To check its fury, oft the tender frame With skin surrounds, hair, bark, or painted shells. Nor ceases here th' assault ; the breeze inhaled Winds, too, through aU the system, and each duct Lashes amain with every fleeting breath. 960
Since with a two-fold foe, then, Nature, thus. Through all her depths, through all her pores minute, Strives ceaseless, ruin by degrees must threat : For each primordial seed is deep deranged Of mind and body : while th' enfeebled soul, 965
By transudation shorn, concentrates part Li the deep vitals, and in part still roams Through sJl the limbs distracted, seed from seed
BOOK lY. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 413
Severed, to join all powerless, or resume
Their wonted action ; hence each varying sense, 970
The fount sensorial failing, must itsehT
Fail too abrupt, the total body droop.
The limbs grow languid, listless hang the hands.
Totter the knees, and the faint eye-lids falL
Thus food, alike, when through the frame it pours 975 Its stream salubrious, since the toiling air It mocks in action, slumber too excites. And heavier far his sleep whom diet full. Or long fatigue o'erpowers, for ampler, then, Th' intestine labour, and the soul flies off 980
Ampler external ; while the remnant shrinks Profounder part, and part through every limb Strays more distracted, of all bond devoid.
Thus slumber issues ; and whate'er the thoughts That chief subdue us, the concerns that claim 985
Our ceaseless care, or what the mind explores With patient pause, in dreams we still pursue. The lawyer, thus, o'er briefs and statutes pores ; New wars the soldier wages ; with the winds Strives the vain mariner ; while we the laws 990
Of nature scan perpetual, and how best. When traced, to paint them in our native tongue.
So various lores beside, and arts diverse Haunt, oft, in sleep the cheated mind of man. He who from eve to eve, assiduous, long 995
Has marked the public stage, though now no more It strikes his senses, through his porous frame Still the light images admits that float Countless around him. Hence, for many a day. E'en while awake, the scene before his eyes 1000
Seems still renewed ; the light-deckt dancers move Their modulated limbs, the living lyre He hears entranced, from every fluent string Speaking impassioned ; he the throng surveys. And all the pageantry the drama boasts. 1005
Of such vast import are the plans pursued. The thoughts indulged, the customs deep impressed Of man not merely, but of brutes as weU. For the nerved steed, as o'er the glebe he lies. Oft sweats, and pants laborious in liia s\eei^, \^\^
414 LUCBETIUS. BOOK IT.
As though amam contending for the palm.
So, too, the hound, amid his soft repose. Oft starts abrupt, and howls, and snuf& the breeze With ceaseless nostrils, as though fuU at hand He tracked the antlered trembler. And, at times, 1015 E'en while awake, with vigour he pursues Vain semblances of deer as though themselves Started before him, till the phantoms void Vanish at length, and truth regain her sway. E*en the soft lap-dog his inglorious sleep 1020
Breaks not imfrequent, rousing all erect, Urged by the semblance of some face unknown. And as of harsher seeds the trains are formed Of floating phantoms, with augmented force Strike they the mind. Hence birds, with flight abrupt, 1025 Oft to the centre of the sacred groves At midnight hurry, in their dreams disturbed By hideous sight of hawks, on outstretched wing. Prowling aloft all active for the pounce.
Then what vast toils engage men when asleep ! 1030 How pants the mind beneath superb exploits ! Kings strive with kings in combat ; or at large Contend, surrender, pour the cries of death ; While some fight on, though wounded, loading still All heaven with groans, as though to atoms torn 1035
By some huge lion, or remorseless pard. Some, too, aloud their machinations tell, And thus in sleep full oft themselves accuse. Some on their death-bed seem ; and some to leap Headlong from precipices ; by the fright IO40
Awoke, of reason so bereft, the mind Scarce with the day resumes its wonted reign.
While, oft, the dreamer, all athirst, overhangs Some joyous stream, and drinks the total tide. So boys asleep, too, deeming near at hand 1045
The public sewer, or close appropriate vase, Oft lift their skirts the native brine t' eject, And stain with saflron all the purple bed.
As the remaining portion of Good's Translation of this book has already been given at page 182, it has been deemed unnecessary to reprint it in its place here.
BOOK V
BOOK V.
Who, from Lis burning breast, a strain may strike
Meet for the boundless majesty of things ?
Things now developed ? who, in words alone,
May pour forth praises worthy his desert
Whose matchless mind such wonders first disclosed ? 5
No mortal, doubtless. For, of things explored.
Such the majestic dignity, the sage
Must, so to speak, have been a god indeed :
A god, illustrious Memmius ! he who first
The rules of life devised, now termed by aU, 10
Sole, solid Wisdom ; he whose happy art
From such wild waves, such shades of ten-fold night.
Leads us to truth, tranquillity, and day.
What are to him the gods of earlier times ? Ceres, who taught the fruits of earth to rear, 15
As fame reports ? or Bacchus, first who stole The vine's purpureal spirit ? foods mankind Without may flourish, and, through many a clime. This moment know not ; but of virtue void, And purity of heart, man ill can thrive. 20
Hence ampler far his claim to rites divine Whose dulcet solaces whole nations feel. Soothing the wounded spirit as they flow.
Should'st thou with him e'en Hercules compare, Famed for exploits, from reason far thou err'st. 25
For what were now to us, with all their threats, Nemjea's lion, or th' Arcadian boar ? The bull of Crete, or hydra-headed snake That reared, o'er Lerna's banks, his dreadful fangs ? Or what ta us the triple-breasted strength 30
Of three-faced Geryon, or the horses wild Of Diomed, o'er Ismara, and Thrace, And all Bistonia, snorting ceaseless fire ? Wbat woes could these now menace ? or the birds With huge, uncleanly talons that defiled 35
The climes of Arcady ? or, feller still, Th' enormous dragon that, with eye severe, Clung round the tree of vegetable gold,
416 LUCKETIUS. BOOK Y.
And in Hesperia kept the glittering fruit ? How now could such affect us ? fixt remote 40
O'er boundless seas, beyond th* Atlantic shores. Where never mortal else, refined or rude, Dared urge his desperate sail ? E'en though alive, Unconquered still, from monsters such as these What need we dread ? Nought, doubtless, or I err. 45
For savage monsters crowd the world e'en now. Fearful and gaunt; and hills, and groves remote^ And pathless woods re-echo to their roar ; Scenes, still, our feet with ease may ever shun. But, with tlie mind unpurged, what tumults dir^ 50
What dangers inly rage ! what hosts of cares. From various lusts, convulse the total man ! What terrors throng ! what dread destruction flows From pomp, pride, passion, indolence, and vice ! He, then, that these o'erpowers, and from the breast 55 Drives, not by arms, but precepts sage and pure- Say — ought not this man with the gods to rank ? Since of themselves, too, and in strain divine, Much to the race of mortals he disclosed. And oped the nature of created things. 60
His steps I follow ; and, by him illumed. Unlock the laws whence first the world uprose ; Laws that still guide it, and to utmost time Will guide resistless ; whence the human soul Was stampt corporeal, impotent to live 66
Age after age triumphant o'er decay. Proving that nought but phantoms cheat the mind, When oft in sleep we deem the dead appear.
What then, in order, waits us but to sing How Nature's perishable system sprang, 70
As sure of fate as erst of natal hour ; How, from the mass material, heaven and earth. Sun, moon, and stars, harmonious swelled to life ; What animated tribes, from age to age. Have peopled space, and what have never lived : . 75
Whence man, in various tongues, the power possessed Of naming all surveyed ; whence the deep fear. Felt through the soul, of potentates divine, Urging the nations to the culture dread
BOOK V. ON THE NATOBB OP THINGS. 417
Of lakes, groves, altars, images, and fanes. 80
Ours, too, the task to show how Nature bends, With power presiding, the reluctant sun And moon through all their courses ; lest thou deem These of themselves, 'twixt heaven and earth, fulfil Their ceaseless rounds ; renewing, as they roll, 85
Fruits, and the sentient tribes ; or hold the gods Guide the vast frame, unwearied, and unseen. For he who justly deems th' immortals live Safe, and at ease, yet fluctuates in his mind How things are swayed, how chiefly those discerned 90 In heaven sublime, — to superstition back Lapses, and rears a tyrant host, and, then, Ckmceives, dull reasoner ! they can all things do ; While yet himself nor knows what may be done Nor what may never ; nature powers defined 95
Stamping on all, and bounds that none can pass.
Firsts to delay no more then, we maintain That earth, air, ocean, these stupendous scenes. These triple bodies so diversely reared. These, Memmius ! these one common day shall doom 100 ' To utter ruin ; when, for ages propt.
The world's vast system shall itself dissolve.
Nor hid from me how new the creed we teach. How wondrous to the mind, that heaven and earth Should perish ever ; or how hard the task 105
By words alone such tenets to confirm. For thus thou e'er wilt find it when thy tongue Opes some fresh subject sight has ne'er surveyed. Nor touch developed, the main roads belief Treads to the breast, and temple of the mind. 1 10
Yet will I strive ; facts, haply, shall themselves Aid me, and thou the world's vast fabric own By dread convulsions shortly must be shook. May fortune's smile this hour from us avert ! And truth, not feeling, the tremendous roar 115
Teach, with which all to ruin then shall rush !
Yet on this theme before the muse unlock Her mystic treasures, sager and more true Than e'er the Pythian maid, with laurels crowned, Spoke from the tripod at Apollo's shrine, — 120
2 E
418 LUCRETIUS. BOOK T.
Some salutary precepts would I add.
Lest, chained by superstition, thou shoold'st deem
Heaven, earth, and ocean, sun, moon, stars exist
Grods in their frame, and of eternal date.
And fear for those the vengeance that pursued 125
The race gigantic, who, with lettered lore.
Shako the world's walls, the radiant eye of heaven
Quench, and th' immortals sketch in mortal terms.
For tliese, so far from arrogating, proud.
Celestial honours, and the rank of gods, 130
Full proof exhibit, rather, how devoid
Of vital action matter may exist,
And that not every compound frame alike
Boasts the high powers of intellect and mind.
Trees not in ether, not in ocean clouds, 133
Nor in the fields can fishes e'er exist ; Nor blood in planks, nor vital juice in stones ; But all springs definite in scenes defined. So in the bosom lives, and there alone, Mixt with its blood and nerves, the secret mind. 140
There only lives ; for, could it roam at all. Then rather should we through the body's self, The heel or shoulder, or where else it chose. Oft trace it wandering than forlorn abroad. Since, e'en in body then, the soul and mind 145
Are fixt thus definite, we amply prove That out of body, and a reasoning frame, In putrid glebes of earth, or solar fire, In air, or water, sense can never dwell. And hence these ne'er divinity can boast, 150
Since e'en devoid of animated life.
Nor deem the sacred mansion of the gods O'er aught extend of this material frame : For their immortal nature, far removed From human sense, from matter gross and dull, 155
Scarce by the mind's pure spirit can be traced. Hence, as no touch of matter these can reach, Their finer textures never can impress Material objects, for whate'er exists
Intangible, itself can never touch. 160
And, thus, th' immortal regions must from ours
BOOK V. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 419
Wide vary, congruous to their purer frames : As soon the muse in ampler verse shall prove.
T* assert moreo'er the gods for mortal man Reared this vast fabric, and that duty, hence, 165
Bids us extol the workmanship divine. Deem it immortal, and of deathless date, And that most impious is it to arraign Aught thus constructed by the gods themselves From earliest time, for man's perpetual use ; 170
Most impious, though in words alone, to shake The world's firm basis, — such conceits to feign, To talk thus idly, Memmius, is to rave. For what vast gain can e'er th' immortal powers. Blest in themselves, from human praise derive 175
To rouse them in our favour ? what new hope, Such ages after of unsullied peace, Could tempt them once to linger for a change ? New scenes to welcome, joyless proves the past ; But where no ill can rise, where every hour, 180
Age after age, propitious still must glide, How can the breast here burn for what is new ? Dragged they their lives in darkness, then, and woe Till sprang th' illumined world ? or, if ne'er born. What cause could man have marshalled for complaint ? 185 Bom, it behoves him, doubtless, to remain In life while life one blessing can afford ; But what of vital joy ne'er tasted, ne'er Ranked with the living, how can such object. And with what reason, that it ne'er was formed? 190
Whence could the gods the model, too, deduce Of things create, the portraiture of man ? Or in their minds how first the notion spring ? Whence, too, the powers of atoms could they learn. Changing their act as in position changed, 195
If nature ne'er the visual world had reared ? Atoms, innumerous, that in countless modes, From time eternal have been so convulsed By repercussions, by intrinsic weight So urged and altered, and, in every form 200
Combined, evincing still some action new.
In every mass some effort to create,
2 E 2
422 LUCRETIUS. BOOK V.
Whence winds again the dulcet tide throagh paths 286 Its liquid feet have printed oft before.
To air now turn we, varying every hour In every mode : for all that pours profuse From things perpetual, the vast ocean joins Of air sublime ; which if to things again 290
Paid not, thus balancing the loss sustained, All into air would dissipate and die. Hence, bom from things, to things air still returns Ceaseless, as prove their fluctuating forms.
Then, too, th' ethereal sun, exhaustless fount 295
Of liquid light, all heaven with flame bedews, And pours o'er lustre lustre ever new. For, fall where'er it may, th' impinging beam Dies in the contest instant. This full clear See we, whene'er by interposing clouds, 300
The solar disc is blotted, and its rays Fractured abrupt ; for the bright stream below Then fades, and all the sickening scene is shade. Hence may'st thou learn that things for ever claim New radiance, and that every wave propelled 305
Wastes instantaneous — while alone survives Perpetual shine from rays perpetual poured.
So from our earthly lights, too, trimmed at eve, The pendant lamp, the taper, or the torch Flaring bituminous through clouds of smoke, 310
Stream new-born lustres from their several fires With brandish ceaseless, ceaseless or the scene Would instant frown with discontinuous blaze. So rapid rush they ! such the headlong speed With which the present triumphs o'er the past. 315
So sun, moon, stars alike are deemed t' eject, Birth after birth, still fresh-engendered rays. Glittering through time with light that never lives.
E'en seest thou not how stones themselves decay ? How turrets totter, and the rigid rock 320
Crumbles in time to dust ? how yield, at length, Fanes, altars, images by age worn out ? Nor can the gods resist th' impending fate. Or war with nature. Moulder not, moreo'er, The marble tombs of heroes? as though each 325
BOOK V. ON THE NATUEE OF THINGS. 423
Sought, like the form it clasps, an early end.
And rush not oft huge crags, from mountain heights
Hurled headlong, powerless to resist the rage
Of finite time ? for had they flourished firm
From time eternal, they had floujrished still. 330
View this vast concave that above, around, Folds all creation in its mighty grasp ; This whence, as some tell, all first rose, and where All shall at last return — this too exists Create and mortal ; for whatever augments 335
Aught else, and nurtures, must itself decrease. Repaired alone by tnatters re-absorbed.
Yet grant this heaven, this earth the heaven surrounds, Time ne'er produced, eternal of themselves — Whence ere the Theban war, and fate of Troy, 340
Have earlier bards no earlier actions sung ? Whence fell each chief unhonoured ? and his deeds Shut from the tablet of immortal fame ? But, or I err, the world's vast scope exists New from its nature, and of recent birth : 345
For many a liberal art now first unfolds. And much is still progressive ; genius much. E'en at this hour, to navigation adds ; Nor minstrels long have struck the dulcet lyre : While the vast science of the Rise of Things 350
Throughout is novel ; and, among the first, I first am numbered who the lore devised. And taught its dictates in our native tongue.
Yet should'st thou deem that all things erst ensued As now, but that the race of men unknown, 355
With all their records, conflagrations dire Swept from the world, or earthquakes deep ingulfed, Or floods, rapacious from perpetual rains. Drowned, and their towns and citadels dissolved : Then flows it doubly thou must own, convinced, 360
That heaven and earth hereafter may decay. For since such woes, such dangers can assail Created things, when once the cause augments Perdition boundless must perforce ensue. Nor by aught else can we ourselves decide 365
Mortal, but that with maladies we droop
424 LUCBETIUS. BOOK. T.
Like those whom Natttbe ceaseless calls from life.
What lives immortal, too, must so exist Or from its own solidity, empowered
Each blow to conquer, undivided still 370
As primal atoms, long interior sung ; Or since, like vacuum, of all friction void. Free from all touch, by impulse unimpaired ; Or from the want of circling space in which The severing atoms may dissolve and fall : 375
Such want the boundless whole of nature proves. And hence eternal , for no place beyond Spreads where its seeds could waste ; nor from without Can foreign force e'er enter to destroy. But nor, as urged above, exists the world 380
All solid, since in all things void combines. Nor yet all vacuum ; nor, from the profound^ Are wanting powers adverse that, into act Once roused tempestuous, may the world derange. Or sever total ; nor deficient space 385
Spread widely round, through which, in countless modesi The frame mundane may crumble and dissolve ; Hence not precluded from the gates of death Is heaven, or earth, or sun, or main immense, Gates in full view, unfolded wide to each. 390
Hence too, since mortal, each alike exists Of frame created ; for no mortal make Could, from eternal time, the rage have borne Of countless ages urgent to devour.
And since, moreo'er, the world's vast members strive 395 In ruthless war, contending each with each, Seest thou not clear some final shock must soon Decide the contest ? that the fiery sun Perchance may conquer, and each flood drink up Till nought survive ; as oft disposed he seems ; 400
Yet idly. For so vast the stores supplied From springs perpetual, such the boundless main, A daily deluge threats us ; yet alike Threats us in vain ; for much the winnowing winds Skim from the surface, and th' ethereal sun 405
Such draughts exhales insatiate, that the world With drought than deluge rather must expire :
BOOK V. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 425
So Strive they equal, so with powers alike
Pant for the lists. And hence, as fame reports,
Flame triumphed once, and once the boisterous waves 410
Leaped o'er their boundaries, and the world ingulfed.
Flame triumphed, and the total orb was fire
When the wild fury of the solar steeds
Whirled through the heavens, and o'er th' astounded earth
Ill-fated Phaeton, whom, deep-incensed, 415
Almighty Jove hurled headlong from the skies.
While Phcebus caught th' eternal lamp, restrained
Abrupt the trembling coursers, reined afresh.
And into peace re-organized the world.
So feign the bards of Greece, devoid alike 420
Of truth and reason. Yet the power of fire
Doubtless might triumph, should the fiery seeds
Collect too largely from th' abyss of things :
When or some fiercer force their rage must quell,
Or the red siroc bum the world to dust. 425
Thus, too, th' insurgent waters once o'erpowered. As fables tell, and deluged many a state ; Till, in its turn, the congregated waves By cause more potent conquered, heaven restrained Its ceaseless torrents, and the floods decreased. 430
But from this boundless mass of matter first How heaven, and earth, and ocean, sun, and moon. Rose in nice order, now the muse shall tell. For never, doubtless, from result of thought, Or mutual compact, could primordial seeds 435
First harmonize, or move with powers precise. But countless crowds in countless manners urged, From time eternal, by intrinsic weight, And ceaseless repercussion, to combine In all the possibilities of forms, 440
Of actions, and connexions, and exert In every change some effort to create — Reared the rude frame at length, abruptly reared. Which, when once gendered, must the basis prove Of things sublime ; and whence eventual rose 445
Heaven, earth, and ocean, and the tribes of sense.
Yet now nor sun on fiery wheel was seen Riding sublime, nor stars adorned the pole.
426 ixcKsnrs. book t.
Nor hearen, nor earth, nor air, nor oeeu liTed,
Xor aught of project mortal 9%fat amveys ; 450
Bat one rast chaoe boiateroiBr wad confmed.
Tet order hence began ; the mingled mass
Unreiled its rarioos powers ; co^enial parts
Parts joined congenial ; and the risii^ world
Gradual eTolred : its mightj members each 455
From each dirided, and matored complete
From seeds appropriate ; whose wild discord erst^
Beared by their strange diversities of form.
With ruthless war so broke their proper piAha^
Their motions^ intervals, conjunctions, weights, 460
And repercussions, nought of genial act
Till now could follow, nor the seeds themselTes,
E'en though conjoined, in mutual bond cohere.
Thus air, secreted, rose o'er labouring earth ;
Secreted, ocean flowed ; and the pure fire, 465
Secreted too, towards ether sprang sublime.
But first the seeds terrene, since ponderous most. And most perplext, in close embraces dung. And towards the centre conglobating sunk. And, as the bond grew firmer, ampler forth 470
Pressed thej the fluent essences that reared Sun, moon, and stars, and main, and heaven's high walls. For these of atoms lighter far consist. Subtler, and more rotund than those of earth. Whence, from the pores terrene, with foremost haste 475 Rushed the bright ether, towering high, and swift Streams of pure fire attracting as it flowed. Not diflering wide from what full oft we view When, at the dawn, the golden-tressed sun Flames o'er the meadows rich with rory gems, 480
And from the mountains, lakes, and teeming glebes. Draws many a vapour ; which, when once aloft By the chill air condensed, to clouds concretes, And with its filmy drapery veils the heavens. So the light ether, as from every point 485
Fluent it rose, concreted, and a bound Gradual assumed, and, thus assuming, grasped In its vast compass all th' evolving world.
Then mounted, next, the base of sun, and moon.
BOOK V. ON TflE NATURE OF THINGS. 427
'Twixt earth and ether, in the midway air, 490
Rolling their orbs ; for into neither these
Could blend harmonious, since too light with earth
To sink deprest, while yet too ponderous far
To fly with ether towards the realms extreme :
So 'twixt the two they hovered ; vital there 495
Moving for ever, parts of the vast whole ;
As move for ever in the frame of man
Some active organs, while some oft repose.
These from the mass discharged, much next of earth Subsided sudden, and the gulf disclosed 500
Where ocean rolls his blue and briny tide. And as th' ethereal gas, and solar blaze Flowed more profuse, and lashed, with ceaseless rage. The porous surface, firmer thus condensed Towards its own centre, the corrosive lymph 505
Ampler transuded ; and with livelier streams Filled the wide hollow of the liquid plains : And ampler, too, th' attenuate textures rushed Of air, and fire, and, borne on swifter wing. High reared the radiant temples of the sky. 510
Low sunk the vales, the mountains still sublime Stood, for no power their rocky base could shake, Nor equal settled e'en the softer soils. So all was formed : the ponderous bulk of earth Concentred close, and to the lowliest base 515
Fell, the foul faeces of th' unfolding world : While ocean, air, and ether filled with fire, Sprang from the remnant atoms more refined. Yet these, too, differed ; for, though liquid all, And light, yet ether far the rest surpassed, 520
Most light, most liquid, and in heaven sublime Hence loftiest towered it, never mingling once With the rude tumults of the lowlier air : For whirlwinds this, and wayward tempests, oft, Shatter abrupt, while ether glides through time 525
In one smooth course, and bears its fires along ; As flows th' undevious Euxine, and preserves One ceaseless tenor, limpid and serene.
How move the stars, now next the muse shall sing. And first, if heaven's vast orb we deem. revoVsr^ ^*^^
428 UTcseiius. book t.
Round the fizt earth, same subtle gas, perchano^ Bounds it on all sides, and wifii two-fodd Btreara, Whirls round its poles ; the cm i tait urged above Steering the course the gliding planets point. Themselves hence soon propelled ; wfaHe that below S2S Flows adverse, and the nether inhere drives on. As drives the tide the miirs unwearied wtoeL
Yet, if unmoved the heavenly orb we deem. Its £res may still revolve : some resdess seeds Of all-elastic ether, dose pent up, 540
Panting for ease, may agitate tbor ballsy And round the sky's refulgent concave whiri. Or air absorbed extrinsic may, alike, With restless rage compel them ; <»* themselves Each choose his various path as food invites^ 546
Their lucid lamps recruiting through the heaivais. But of these causes which in this world rules 'Tis hard t' affirm ; whence rather here we teach What through th' EIntire of Natube may subast Mid various worlds to various models framed, 550
And strive t' unfold whate'er may haply bend. In different systems, different stars, than aught Assign precise for either. One alone Of those now numbered, one sole cause propels The stars of earth, but which that cause the sage 555
Yet dares not name, who treads with cautious foot.
But, that this mass terrene might hold unmoved The world's mid regions, its excess of weight, From its own centre downwards, gradual ceased ; And all below a different power assumed 560
From earliest birth, a nature more attuned To the pure air on which it safe reposed. Hence earth to air no burden proves, nor deep Grinds it with pressure ; as the limbs no load Feel to the body, to the neck no weight 565
Th* incumbent head, nor e'en the total form Minutest labour to the feet below : While yet each foreign substance, though but light, Grieves oft severely instant as imposed ; So vast th' importance things their like should join. 570 For from a distance earth was never brought,
BOOK V. ON THE NATUBE OP THINGS. 429
And into air at once abruptly hurled ;
But both sprang equal when the world first rose,
Each part of each as limb with limb combines.
When, too, with thunder shake the realms above 57o Earth feels the dread concussion, and rebounds ; Eflfect which ne*er could flow did nought of tie Bind it to ether, and the world of air : For each to each, as with commingled roots, Cleave from their birth, congenial, and conjoined. 580
Seest thou not, ceaseless, how th' attenuate soul Bears up the ponderous body, since alike Conjoined, congenial ; when the total frame Leaps up abrupt, whence flows the salient force But from the soul the members that commands ? 585
Seest thou not hence, then, what the subtlest power May compass when with ponderous frames conjunct. As earth with air, or with the body mind ?
Nor less, nor larger much the solar wheel Measures than meets the view : far be the space 590
Of utmost length through which aught igneous throws Its liquid heat, its lustre o'er the limbs. While these yet reach us it can ne'er so far Lie that the distance should curtail its size. Since, then, the sun flings down his fires, profuse, 595 His light on all things, he must still exist Nor less, nor larger than the vision views.
Thus too the moon, shine she with borrowed blaze, Or pour essential splendour from herself, Moves with the magnitude the sight surveys. 600
For all discerned through tracts of air remote Grows first confused and indistinct of form Ere yet its size diminish ; but the moon, Sitice traced precise through e'en her utmost orb, Must prove the sphere the sight descries sublime. 605
Th' ethereal stars, moreo'er — since lights terrene Receding gradual, while they yet maintain Their lambent fires, their radiance unimpaired. Scarce obvious dwindle, — must themselves alike In size scarce vary from the form they show. 610
Nor deem it strange that so minute a sun Should pour forth flame sufficient heaven to fill.
430 LUCRETTOS. BOOK T.
And earth, and ocean, and wfaate'er exists
Tinge with its glittering dew ; for, from abroad
The myriad sec^ of fire dispersed at large 615
Through all things, here as to their foontaiB flow.
And hence well forth o'er all th' exulting world
In boundless flood : seest thou how small a spring
Feeds with its liquid treasures meads, full ofi^
X)f amplest breadth, and all their glebe o'erflows ? 620
Or the small globe of solar flame, perchance^ Th' eflnsive air may flre, than aught be^des Ignited easier by th' impinging ray ; As oft some casual spark the field inflames Of full-ripe com, or stubble crisp and sear. 625
Or haply stores, impalpable to sight. Of latent heat the rosy lamp surround, Whence amply draws it its eternal blaze.
Nor trace we clear by what unvarying law. When summer fades, the sun his downward path. 630
Bends towards the wintry goat, and thence, in tarn, Reclimbs the heavens, and, from the red crab, poars The sultry solstice ; or, why seems the moon O'er the same space to voyage every month The toiling sun claims twelve t' achieve complete. 635
These nought unfolds decisive ; for the dogm Of sage Democritus we, first, may deem Haply efficient, that the radiant signs. As nearer earth aflEixed, less rapid far Roll in the heaven's vast whirlpool, heaven below 640
Gradual its race relaxing ; whence the sun And solar satellites must more and more Be backwards left, deserted, since full deep Lie they beneath the blue ethereal fires : While the bright moon lies deeper still, and hence 645 Still powerless more, as nearer earth's low bounds. To match the speed the loftier signs display. As tardier moves she in her proner path Than moves the sun, as swifter o'er her rolls The wondrous vortex of sublimest heaven. 650
Whence seems she speedier through each sign t' advance. While o'er herself each sign but fleeter flies.
Or different airs, perchance, at times defined,
BOOK V. ON THE NATUBE OF THINGS. 431
Rush, o'er the converse hemispheres of earth ;
This the moon driving from the summer fires 655
Down towards the wintry arc, and realms of ice ;
And that, alternate, raising her again
From frost's drear solstice to the sultry signs.
Thus moves the sun too, haply, and the stars
Alternate thus, by converse airs propelled, 660
Roll their vast rounds, and fill the mighty year.
Seest thou not oft, from different winds, the clouds
Above borne different from the clouds below ?
Why then, alike, may different streams of air
Bend not the stars, the planets through their paths ? 665
Then night, at length, the world with darkness shrouds. Or since the sun, at heaven's remotest verge. Tired with his toil, his remnant lamp blows out. Curtailed already by the race achieved Through long concussive air ; or the same power 670
Still dnves his restless axle earth beneath. That, through the day, propelled his orb sublime.
Then the young moknino, too, at hour precise Leads through th' ethereal realms the rosy dawn, New light diffusing ; either since the sun, 675
Th' inferior earth encompassed, now once more Tries his fresh strength, and with proj edited rays Anticipates his orb ; or that the seeds Of embryo-fires, in full divan convened At punctual periods in the purple east, 680
Gradual condense, and rear the solar blaze. For thus, we learn, from Ida's top surveyed. Seem they, the flames diffused conglobing firm Till springs, at length, the radiant orb complete.
Nor strange conceive it that the seeds of fire 685
Should thus assemble, and, at hour precise, Renew the solar splendour : facts like these All nature wide displays ; at hour precise Blossoms the shrub, at hour precise its bloom Loses deciduous ; fixt, determined time 690
Throws from the boy his infant teeth, arrays In downy puberty, and, o'er his cheeks. Flings the first feathers of th' unripened beard. Clouds, thunders, tempests, rains, and gelid snows,
432 LVCSETitrs. book t.
At punctual seasons all alike recur. 695
For as the train of causes first oprose, And the joong world its earliest features fbond. Things follow things in order most exact
And daj elongates, and the night oontracts. And night augments, and daj curtails its course^ 700
Since the same sun, earth under and above Revolving, ether with unequal curve Cleaves, and to parts of magnitude unlike Severs the globe ; alternate this o'er that Prevailing gradual till the nodes he reach 705
Where night and daj assimilate their reigns. For, in the central realms 'twixt north and sooth. His utmost wanderings, midway, heaven divides : So traverse winds the &tar-enamelled path Through which his mazy steps the seasons lead, 710
With ray oblique illuming earth and sky. For thus they hold the heavenly orb who mtak Throughout arranged with constellations fair. Or, earth beneath, the atmosphere, perchance. Hangs, in fixt places, heavier ; whence the seeds 715
Of congregating fires, with toil immense, Wade through, and later weave the trembling dawn : And whence, through winter, long the tedious night Drawls, ere the day-star rears his radiant front. Or, haply, the young fires that frame the sun 720
More swift or tardy towards the purple east Alternate rush, as round the seasons roll.
The moon may shine by solar lustres struck. Her argent front augmenting every day As from the sun she wanders, till, at length, 725
Now full opposed, her total disc is light. And, rising east, she marks his westward fall : Then step by step retracting, earth beneath. Her full-blown lamp, as towards the sun she curves, Through all the remnant of the radiant signs ; 730
As deems the sage who holds her form globose, And that below the solar orb her path Punctual she winds ; and sound the doctrine seems.
Yet may the moon with lustre all her own Shine, every phase unfolding, if, in front, 735
BOOK V. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 483
Some other orb attend her, through her course
Gliding complete, in every mode convolved,
While viewless still to sight since reared opaque.
Or she may still, if spherical of form,
Each change disclose, though luminous but half: 740
For, as she self-revolves, her gradual lamp
Must grow till all her bright side beams complete ;
Then, rolling still, as gradual must she close
Her lucid eye, till all opposed is shade ;
As teach Chaldean magi, striving strong 746
The schools of Greece t' o'erpower, as though the ci'ieeds
Waged endless war, or this than that adduced
Proofs more conclusive to th' unbiassed mind.
Why too may not each rising moon be new ? Its time, form, place, by nicest order swayed, 750
And, springing daily, daily too decay, Still reproduced for ever ? this to solve Both words and reasoning arduous find alike. Since things throughout in order flow precise.
Spring comes, and Venus, and, with foot advanced^ 755 The light-winged Zephyr, harbinger beloved, Maternal Flora strewing, ere she treads, O'er every footstep blooms of choicest hue, And the glad Ether loading with perfumes. Then Heat succeeds, the parched Etesian breeze, 760 And dust-discoloured Ceres ; Autumn, then. Follows, and tipsy Bacchus arm in arm, And Storms and Tempests ; Eurus roars amain ; And the red South brews thunders : till, at length, Cold shuts the scene, and Winter's train prev^, 765 Snows, hoary Sleet, and Frost with chattering teeth. Whence scarce stupendous seems it that the moon Should punctual rise, and, rising, punctual die, Since things at large, so punctual, things succeed.
Thus, too, to various causes may'st thou charge 770 The sun's eclipse, or shade of lunar light. For why should rather, 'twixt the sun and earth. The moon rush rampant, and with shadowy orb^ Shut from mankind the radiant fount of day, Than aught besides that haply may subsist 775
Rolling sublime, but ever void of iUght ?
2 F
434 LUCRETIUS, BOOK T
Why may not, too, in time and place prescribed.
The sun himself grow languid, his bright beam
Powerless to poor, till now the spot he pass
That thus obstructs his glory and renews ? 78<
And why, moreo'er, should earth alone arrest Light from the labouring moon, and, riding high. Blindfold the solar disc, the lunar sphere. Still loftier, gliding through her shadowy cone;, While nought of body else, *twixt moon and sun 78^
Rushing, can quench the ray profusely dealt ? So,' if the moon herself be lustrous, why May ne'er that lustre languish tiU the bound Joyous she pass that poisons all her lamp ?
Thus having traced the causes obvious most "790
That sway the sapphire heavens ; whence the bright sun, The moon fulfil their courses, and the shade How reared that oft their radiant front enwraps, E[iding abrupt, as though their eyes now winked. And now re-opened, o'er the face of things 795
Shedding afresh clear floods of lucid white ; Once more return we to the world's pure prime, , Her fields yet liquid, and the tribes survey First she put forth, and trusted to the winds.
And first the race she reared of verdant herbs, 80C
Glistening o'er every hill ; the fields at large Shone with the verdant tincture, and the trees Felt the deep impulse, and with outstretched arms Broke from their bonds rejoicing. As the down Shoots from the winged nations, or from beasts 80o
Bristles or hair, so poured the new-bom earth Plants, fruits, and herbage. Then, in order next. Raised she the sentient tribes, in various modes. By various powers distinguished : for nor heaven Down dropped them, nor from ocean's briny waves 81C Sprang they, terrestrial sole ; whence, justly, Earth Claims the dear name of mother, since alone Flowed from herself whate'er the sight surveys.
E'en now oft rears she many a sentient tribe. By showers and sun-shine ushered into day. 815
Whence less stupendous tribes should then have risen More, and of ampler make, herself new-formed.
BOOK V. ON THE NATUEE OF THINGS. 435
In flower of youth, and Ether all mature.
Of these birds first, of wing and plume diverse. Broke their light shells in spring-time : as in spring 820 Still breaks the grasshopper his curious web, And seeks, spontaneous, foods and vital air.
Then rushed the ranks of mortals ; for the soil, Exuberant then, with warmth and moisture teemed. So, o'er each scene appropriate, myriad wombs 825
Shot, and expanded, to the genial sward By fibres fixt ; and as, in ripened hour, Their liquid orbs the daring fetus broke Of breath impatient, nature here transformed Th' assenting earth, and taught her opening veins 830 With juice to flow lacteal ; as the fair Now with sweet milk o'erflows, whose raptured breast First hails the stranger-babe, since all absorbed Of nurture, to the genial tide converts. Earth fed the nursling, the warm ether clothed, 835
And the soft downy grass his couch composed.
For the fresh world, as yet, no chills severe, No parching heats, nor boisterous whirlwinds knew ; These, like all else, by time alone matured.
Hence the dear name of mother, o'er and o'er, 840
Earth claims most justly, since the race of man Long bore she of herself, each brutal tribe Wild-wandering o'er the mountains, and the birds Gray-winged, that cleave, diverse, the liquid air. Yet drew, at length, the moment when herself 845
Could bear no longer ; like her daughters since, By age divested of parturient power. For age the total world transforms, from state To state for ever passing ; nought remains Long its own like ; all migrates sight surveys, 850
Varying each hour, from change to change propelled. This grows and ripens, and with age corrupts ; That, from its ruins, springs, and perfects life. So time transmutes the total world's vast frame. From state to state urged on, now void of powers 855
Erst known, and boasting those unknown before.
Hence, doubtless, earth prodigious forms at first Gendered, of face and members most grotesG^ue \
2 F 2
436 LU€RBTnJB. BOOK T.
Monsters half-man, half-woman, not from each
Distant, yet neither total ; shapes unsound, 860
Footless, and handless, void of mouth or eye.
Or from misj unction, maimed, of limh with limb :
To act all impotent, or flee from harm.
Or nurture take their loathsome days t' extend.
These sprang at first, and things alike uncouth ; 865 Yet vainly ; for abhorrent nature quick Checked their vile growth ; so life's consummate flower Ne'er reached they, foods appropriate never cropped, Nor tasted joys venereal. For with cause Cause ceaseless must combine, or nought can rise 870
Of race generic ; genial foods must spring And genial organs, from the total frame The vital seeds concocted to collect ; And male must blend with female, and the bliss Educed prove mutual, ere effect can flow. 875
Hence, doubtless, many a tribe has sunk supprest, Powerless its kind to gender. For whatever Feeds on the living ether, craft or speed, Or courage stem, from age to age preserves In ranks uninjured : while full many a class 880
Man guards himself, incited by their use.
In strength ferocious thus the lion trusts. In guile the fox, the stag in peerless flight ; While the light-slumbering dog, of heart sincere. The bounding courser, herds, and fleecy flocks, 885
These, Memmius, these protection claim from man. For these the baser broods fly anxious, fond Of quiet soft, and meals themselves ne'er bought ; Boons we bestow from certainty of gain. But those such powers that boast not, void of means 890 Formed, for defence, nor tribute to mankind Repaying ever — ^why should human aid To such be lent, redeeming them from death ? These, from their native bondage, must perforce Fall to the feller sports, and victims rude, 895
Till the whole order cease, from earth extinct.
Yet Centaurs lived not ; nor could shapes like these Live ever, from two different natures reared. Discordant limbs, and powers by powers reversed.
BOOK V. ON THB NATUBE OF THINGS. 437
E'en this the dullest thns with ease may learn. 900
The steed, o'er whom the year has thrice revolved, Grows firm and vigorous ; but the babe a babe StiU proves, and haply still explores, asleep. The dulcet breast whose stores were late his own. When, too, the steed's strong fibres faint with age, 905 And every member feels the coming fate. Youth o'er the boy his fairest flower expands, And the soft down sprouts earliest from his chin. Deem not that nuin, then, and the servile horse. Seeds mixt with seeds, can Centaubs e'er create ; 910 Or, false aUke, that Sctllas e'er exist, Hfdf-maid, half-mastiff; or aught else of shape Engendered equal, dissonant of limb. Whose flowery strength at different age matures. And fades as different ; whose connubial fires 915
Bum not the same ; whose total tempers jar, And from discordant foods who nurture Hfe : For hemlock, oft, rank poison to mankind. Fattens the bearded goat with foul repast.
So, too, since flame the lion's tawny skin 920
As fiercely bums as aught of brute besides. Whence, when three natures into one combine. The front a lion forming, the vile rump A dragon, and the midst a goat grotesque, Hence termed Chimera, can the breathing lungs 925
Pour streams of fire innocuous from the mouth ?
Hence those who hold, when heaven and earth were new. Urged by that newness as their total proof. Such monsters rose, and shapes alike absurd. On equal ground might feign the world's first floods 930 Were liquid gold, her eariiest blossoms peark, And the first men such massy limbs displayed That seas might rush beneath each ample stride. And their vast fingers twirl the heaven's high orb. But though, conmiixt, then various seeds of things 935 Thronged through the teeming soil, it flows not hence That tribes unlike sprang forth with blended limbs. Still from the soil herbs, fruits, and trees diverse Shoot in profusion ; but each separate class Ne'er blends preposterous. Things thio\k^\Myo^ ^va((»^%^S^
438 LUCRETIUS. BOOK T.
In firm, undevious order, and maintain, To nature true, their fixt generic stamp.
Yet man's first sons, as o'er the fields they trod. Reared from the hardy earth, were hardier far ; Strong built with ampler bones, with muscles nerved 945 Broad and substantial ; to the power of heat, Of cold, of YBijing viands, and disease. Each hour superior ; the wild lives of beasts Leading, while many a lustre o'er them rolled. Nor crooked plough-share knew they, nor to drive, 950 Deep through the soil, the rich-returning spade ; Nor how the tender seedling to re-plant. Nor from the fruit-tree prune the withered branch. What showers bestowed, what earth spontaneous bore, And suns matured, their craving breasts appeased. 955 But acorn-meals chief culled they from the shade Of forest-oaks ; and, in their wintry months, The wild wood-whortle with its purple fruit Fed them, then larger and more amply poured. And many a boon besides, now long extinct, 960
The fresh-formed earth her hapless offspring dealt.
Then floods, and fountains, too, their thirst to slake, Called them, as now the cataract abrupt Calls, when athirst, the desert's savage tribes. And, through the night still wandering, they the caves 965 Thronged of the wood-nymphs, whence the babbling well Gushed oft profuse, and down its pebbly sides. Its pebbly sides with verdant moss o'erspread, Oozed slow, or sought, redundant sought, the plains.
Nor knew they yet the crackling blaze t' excite, 970
Or clothe their limbs with furs, or savage hides. But groves concealed them, woods, and hollow hills ; And, when rude rains, or bitter blasts o'erpowered. Low bushy shrubs their squalid members wrapped.
Nor public weal they boasted, nor the bonds 975
Sacred of laws, and order ; what loose chance Offered, each seized instinctive ; for himself. His life, his limbs, instructed sole to care.
Wild in the forests they fulfilled their loves, Or urged by mutual raptures, or the male, 980
Stung by fierce lust the female form subdued,
BOOK V. ON THE NATUBE OF THINGS. 439
Or bought her favours by the tempting bait Of acoms, crabs, or berries blushing deep.
And in their keen rapidity of hand And foot confiding, oft the savage train 985
With missile stones they hunted, or the force Of clubs enormous ; many a tribe they felled, Yet some in caves shunned, cautious ; where, at night. Thronged they, like bristly swine ; their naked limbs With herbs and leaves entwining. Nought of fear 990 Urged them to quit the darkness, and recall, With clamorous cries, the sunshine and the day : But sound they sunk in deep, oblivious sleep. Till o'er the mountains blushed the roseate dawn. For, from their birth, with ceaseless sight they traced 995 Night and the noon alternate, nor e'eft once Sprang the dread thought that such alternate night Would ere long reign eternal, and the noon O'er their closed eye-balls never glitter more. This ne'er distressed them, but the fear alone 1000
Some ruthless monster might their dreams molest. The foamy boar, or lion, from their caves Drive them aghast beneath the midnight shade, And seize their leaf- wrought couches for themselves.
Yet then scarce more of mortal race than now 1005
Left the sweet lustre of the liquid day. Some, doubtless, oft the prowling monsters gaunt Grasped in their jaws, abrupt ; whence, through the groves, The woods, the mountains, they vociferous groaned, Destined thus Hving to a living tomb. 1010
And some, by flight though saved from present fate, Covering their fetid ulcers with their haiids. Prone o'er the ground death-still, with horrid voice. Called, till vile worms devoured them, void of aid. And all unskilled their deadly pangs t' appease. 1015
But thousands, then, the pomps of war beneath. Fell not at once ; nor ocean's boisterous waves Wrecked, o'er rough rocks, whole fleets and countless crews* Nor ocean then, though oft to frenzy wrought, Could aught indulge but inefiectual ire : 1020
Nor, lulled to calms, could e'er his traitor face Lead, o'er the laughing waves, mistrustful man.
440 I.1CCXETIU8. BOOK T.
Untaught tiie drngerons seienee of the seas. Then want eonsomed their lai^nid membera, noir FoIl-gcH^ged exoesB ilevo m 's ib : thej themaehres 1Q25
Fed, heedlesB, oft with poiacns : ofter still Men DOW for others mix the fatal cop.
Yet when, at length, rode hots thej first devised. And fires, and gsrments ; and, in union sweet, Man wedded woman, the pore joys indulged 1030
Of chaste oonnulnal love, and diildren rose, The rough barbarians softened. The warm hearth Their ftames so melted they no more could bear. As erst, th' uncovered skies ; the nuptial bed Broke thdr wild vigour, and the fond caress 1036
Of prattling children from the boscmi chased Their stem ferocious manners. Neighbours now Joined in the bonds of ftiendship, and resolved The softer sex to cherish, and thdr babes ; And owned bj gestures, signs, and sounds uncouth, 1040 ^was just the weaklier to protect from harm. Yet all such bonds obeyed not ; but the good. The larger part their faith still uncorropt Kept, or the race of man had long expired, Nor sire to son transferred the life received. 1045
Then nature, next, the tongue's innomerous tones Urged them to try ; and sage convenience soon To things applied them : as the embryo speech Of infants first the aid of gesture claims, And pointing finger to define its sense. 1050
For all their proper powers perceive, and feel The use intended. The young calf, whose horns Ne'er yet have sprouted, with his naked front Butts when enraged : the lion-whelp or pard With claws and teeth contends, ere teeth or claws 1055 Scarce spring conspicuous : while the pinioned tribes Trust to their wings, and, from th' expanded down Draw, when first fledged, a tremulous defence. But to maintain that one devised alone Terms for all nature, and th' incipient tongue 1060
Taught to the gazers round him, is to rave. For how should he this latent power possess Of naming all things, and inventing speech.
BOOK V. ON THE NATX7BE OF THINGS. 441
If never mortal felt the same besides ?
And, if none else had e'er adopted sounds, 1065
Whence sprang the knowledge of their use ? or how
Could this first linguist to the crowds around
Teach what he meaned ? his sole unaided arm
Could ne'er o'erpower them, and compel to learn
The vocal science, nor could aught avail 1070
Of eloquence or wisdom : nor with ease
Would the vain babbler have been long allowed
To pour his noisy jargon o'er their ears.
But why so wondrous seems it that mankind. With voice and tongue endowed, to notice things 1075 That voice should vary with the things themselves, When the mute herds, and beasts ferocious, urged By grief, or fear, or soft, emollient joy. Press from their lungs sounds various and unlike ? This every hour displays. When half-enraged 1080
The rude Molossian mastiff, her keen teeth Baring tremendous, with far different tone Threats, than when roused to madness more extreme. Or when she barks, and fills the world with roar. Thus when her fearless whelps, too, she with tongue 1085 Lambent caresses, and with antic paw. And tooth restrained, pretending still to bite, Gtunbols, soft yelping tones of tender love — Far differ then those accents from the din Urged clamorous through the mansion when alone, 1090 Or the shrill howl her trembling bosom heaves When, with slunk form, she waits th' impending blow.
Neighs not the steed, too, different, when at large. Mid the young mares, in life's luxuriant prime. Pierced by the goads of pinioned love, he raves, — 1095 And when his full-blown nostrils snort for war. And every quivering limb the tumult hails ?
So, too, the feathery tribes of wing diverse, Osprey, or hawk, or cliff-delighted gull Gathering its vittd nurture from the deep, 1 100
Far different sounds at different times protrude Than when they strive, in hostile guise, for prey. E'en with the seasons some, as fame reports. Change their hoarse accents, as the social rook,
442 LucRETros. book v.
And time-triumphant raven, when for showers, 1 105
Or limpid rills they croak ; or, sultry, pant, ' Beneath the dog-star, for the freshening breeze.
. Since then such various feelings can compel Kinds the most mute such various sounds to eject. How just ensues it that the race of man 1 1 10
Should things diverse by countless tones denote ?
If through such subjects thou would'st farther pry, Know, then, that fire from thunder earliest sprang. Each flame hence gendered. For full many a scene Worked into blaze, th' ethereal flash beneath, 1115
See we the moment the dread shock is dealt. Oft see we, too, when, waving in the winds. Trees war with trees, the repercussion fierce 'Twixt branch and branch, stupendous, heat evolve^ Heat oft by flame succeeded; whence, perchance, 1120 From both mankind their primal fires deduced.
But from the sun first learned they to prepare The cultured meal hot-hissing o'er the hearth. For all. the plains produced the genial sun They saw subjecting, by perpetual warmth 1 125
Matured, and sweetened : whence the wiser part First dared the change, and taught their wondering peers The powers of coction, and the crackling blaze.
Those, too, elected rulers, now began Towns to project, and raise the massy fort, 1130
Heedful of distant dangers. Into shares Their herds and lands they severed ; and on those Chief famed for beauty, eloquence, or strength. Allotted ampler portions : for the form Much then availed, and much the potent arm. 1135
But wealth ere long was fashioned, gold uprose, And half the power of strength, and beauty fled. And still the brave, the beauteous still, too oft, Alike to riches bow the servile knee.
Yet truest riches, would mankind their breasts 1140 Bend to the precept, in a little lie, With mind well-poised ; here want can never come. But men will grasp at fame, will pant for power. As here though fortune fixed her firmest foot. And, these once gained, all else were peace and joy. 1145
BOOK V. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 443
Fools thus to reason ! for the total path
Whoe'er attempts finds thronged with toils and pain ;
And Envy oft, like lightning, many a wretch *
E'en on its summit fixt, and free from fear.
Abrupt hurls headlong into gulfs profound. 1 150
Whence safer seems it far in low estate
Peaceful to serve, than reign, and rule mankind.
But, vainlj wearied, let them their life-blood
Sweat out, thus labouring up the tortuous steep,
O'er which, like lightning. Envy brews her storms, 11 55
Fond of high stations — since to tales they trust
Told them by others, while each sense possest
Belies the daring fiction ; men not more
Thus act, nor will do, than they erst have done.
But kings, and tyrants fell, their thrones reversed^ 1160 Their sceptres shivered, and the sparkling crown That decked their temples, to the dust condemned. Weeping its fate beneath the people's tread. Soon roused to trample what too much they fear. So to the rabble sunk, and ranks most vile, 11 65
The power supreme ; in one gross scramble all Striving for office, and superior sway. Yet order hence re-issued : some, at length. New magistracies planned, new laws devised. And all concurred t' obey them : for the strife 1170
'Twixt man and man exhausted all their strength ; Hence easier led, spontaneous, to the yoke Of equal rule and justice. Passion oft Boused them, they saw, to vengeance too severe, Broils heaped o'er broils the most ferocious tired, 1175 And ceaseless fear marred all the bliss of life. For force and rapine in their craftiest nets Oft their own sons entangle, and the plague Ten-fold recoils ; nor can the wretch with ease Live blest and tranquil whose atrocious soul 1180
Bursts the dear bonds of peace and social love. For, though from men, from gods, his guilt he hide, Detection fears he still ; since oft in dreams. In deep deliriums oft, th' unshackled tongue Tells crimes aloud for ever else concealed. 11 85
Next learn what cause, through many a m\%\xt^ x^^iSksci^
444 LUCRETIUS. BOOK T.
The system first of gods, and altars reared ; Whence the dread rites with solemn pomp pursued
- When aught momentous man presumes t^ attempt ;
The sacred horror, whence, that, through the woiid, 1190 Builds temples, statues, feasts and fasts ordains. This to resolye the muse not arduous deems.
For the first mortals effigies of gods Oft traced awake, when mused the mind profound. Yet, mid their dreams, still ofter, and in shape 1 195
More vast and wondrous ; these of sense possest Quick they conceived, since moved thej every limb, And spoke majestic with enormous voice Worthy their matchless make. Immortal life Next they bestowed, since with unvarying face, 1200
Unvarying form, the phantoms ever rose (As rise they must) ; and o'er such massy strength No power, they deemed, could triumph. Blest supreme Then, too, they held them, since the dread ai death Such ne'er could haunt, and deeds stupendous oft 1205 Seemed they, in dreams, with utmost ease f achieye.
Each various phase, moreo'er, the heavens disclose, ISach various season, punctual to its hour They marked incessant ; and, the cause unknown. These to the gods, with subterfuge most prompt, 1210
Nodding omnific, idly they referred.
And in the heavens their blest abodes they placed. Their awful temples, since both sun and moon Here radiant reign ; sun, moon, and day, and night. And night's dread fires, and meteors wandering wild, 1215 And swift-plumed lightnings, showers, and crystal dews, Clouds, snows, winds, thunders, hail, and countless storms. Through ether threatening with tremendous roar.
hapless mortals ! that could first ascribe Such facts, such furies to th' immortal gods. 1220
What myriad groans then reared ye for yourselves ! What wounds for us ! what tears for men unborn !
No : — it can ne'er be piety to turn To stocks and stones with deep- veiled visage ; light O'er every altar incense ; o'er the dust 1225
Fall prostrate, and, with outstretched arms, invoke Through every tempk every god that reigns,
BOOK V. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 445
Soothe them with blood, and lavish vows on vows.
This rather thou term piety, to mark
With calm, untrembling soul each scene ordained. 1230
For when we, doubtful, heaven's high arch survey,
The firm, fixt ether, star-embossed, and pause
O'er the sun's path, and pale, meandering moon.
Then superstitious cares, erewhile represt
By cares more potent, lift their hydra-head. 1236
" What ! from the gods, then, flows this power immense
That sways, thus various, the bright host of stars ? " —
(For dubious reason still the mind perturbs :)
" This wondrous world how formed they ? to what end
Doomed ? through what period can its labouring walls
Bear the vast toil, the motions now sustained ? 1241
Or have th' immortals framed it free from death,
In firm, undevious course empowered to glide
O'er the broad ravage of eternal time ? "
Then, too, what breast recoils not with the dread 1245 Of gods like these ? who, with unshuddering limbs. Can view them dart o'er earth their forky flash, And roll their deep-toned thunder ? shrink not then Whole lands, whole nations ? o'er his shivering throne Starts not the tyrant, through each tendon starts, 1250 Mad with the sense of perfidies and blood. And in the storm contemplating his due ? —
Then faints not, too, the warlike chief who guides B[is fleet o'er ocean, when around him roars The maniac whirlwind ? falls he not profound 1255
Mid his vast elephants, and victor hosts. And tempts the gods with vows, and prays, aghast,. For winds appeased, and soft succeeding gales ? Yet vainly : for the wild tornado oft Hurls him all headlong to the gates of hell. 1260
So, from his awful shades some Power unseen O'erthrows all human greatness ! treads to dust Bods, ensigns, crowns — ^the proudest pomps of state. And laughs at all the mockery of man !
When, too, the total earth beneath us quakes, 1265
And tottering towns loud tumble, or so threat, What wonder men their littleness should feel, And to the gods all power and might ^Qtv\>^,
446 LUCEETIUS. BCXMi: T.
Whenoe rale they, ceaseless, this stopendons ^^orid ?
This clear discussed, learn next that silver, gold, 1270 Lead, hardier copper, iron, first were traced When, o'er the hills, some conflagration dire Burned from its basis the deep-rooted grove ; By lightnings haplj kindled, or the craft Of hosts contending o'er the woodland scenes, 1275
A double fear thus striking through their foes : Or by the shepherd's wish his bounds t* enlarge O'er tracts of specious promise ; or, perchance. Wild beasts to slaughter, and their spoils possess ; For such, with fire, and guileful pit, mankind 1280
First caught, ere hounds were marshalled to the chace, Or round the copse the mazy net-work drawn. —
Whate'er the cause, when now the unctuous flame Had from their utmost roots, with hideous crash. Felled the tall trees, and, with its torrid heat, 1285
The soil deep-reddened, rills of liquid gold. Lead, silver, copper, through its fervid pores Glided amain, and every hollow filled. These when, condensed, long after men surveyed Glistening in earth, attracted by the glare, 1290
The splendid mass they dug ; and marked, surprised. Each formed alike, and, to the channeled bed Where late it lay, adapted most precise. Then instant deemed they, liquefied by flame. The power were theirs each various shape t' assume, 1295 Drawn dexterous out, of point or edge acute ; The power unrivalled theirs each tool to frame Art needs to fell the forest, and its trees Mould into planks or beams ; to cleave, or smooth, Pierce, hollow, scoop, whate'er the plan conceived. 1300
Nor strove they less such instruments t' obtain From gold, or silver, than stern copper's strength. Yet vainly : for their softer texture failed. Powerless to bear the sturdy toil required. Whence copper chief they courted, while all gold 1305
Neglected lay, too blunt and dull for use. Now triumphs gold, while copper sinks despised. So rolling years the seasons change of things : What once was valued loses all its worth,
BOOK V. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 447
And what was worthless rises in its stead, 1310
Swells into notice daily, every hour
Blooms with new praise, and captive leads the world.
And hence how first the vigorous iron charmed. Thyself, Memmius, may'st with ease deduce.
Man's earliest arms were fingers, teeth, and nails, 1315 And stones, and fragments from the branching woods. Then fires and flames they joined, detected soon ; Then copper next ; and last, as latest traced. The tjrrant iron, than the copper vein Less freely found, and sturdier to subdue. 1320
Hence first with copper ploughed they ; in the waves Mixed of wild warfare, dealt its deadly wounds. And ransacked fields, and cattle ; for th' unarmed Soon yielded all things to the armed foe. But, by degrees, the blade of iron gleamed, 1325
Triumphant rising o'er the copper tool. With iron sole the genial soil they clove. And with its fury tried the doubtful fray.
First, too, on horse-back strove the martial chief. The reins his left hand guiding, and his right 1330
Ruling the battle : then appeared he next Drawn by twin steeds in warlike car sublime, Both hands in action, by the driver sped. Then twins to twins he joined, and to the car Fixed the curved scythe. And next the Ttrian tribes Taught the huge elephant^ with fortress loins 1336
And lithe proboscis, to delight in wounds, And break the hostile squadrons. Step by step So Discord poured her plagues accurst o'er man. And heightened daily all the woes of war. 1340
Some too, as story tells, wild bulls and boars Trained to the strife, and taught to fkce the foe. While the rude Farthians marshalled, mid their ranks. Troops of fierce lions, by their keepers led, To chain or loose them as the combat called. 1345
Yet vain th' attempt ; for, maddened by the blood Promiscuous spilt, o'er friends and foes alike Rushed they voracious, shaking their dread crests ; Nor could the horseman his affiighted steed Calm, or goad on the battle to renew. 1350
448 LUCRBTIUS. J900K Y.
Wide sprang the forest-tyrants, all in front Instant o'erpowering ; and, full oft, behind Tumbling abrupt, the backward crowds, aghast. Fixed they to earth, vain-grappling, — by their paws And teeth terrific torn alike to death. 13^
Then, too, the boars, high tossed th' infuriate bulls. Or crushed them with their hoofs ; or through the steeds Drove doep their gory horns, i^palled and faint, Or 'gainst the ground their frantic foreheads dashed. While the mad boars against their owners aimed 1860
' Their tusks remorseless, tinging with their blood Th' unbroken darts, (the broken thefy themselves Tinged with their own blood, trailing o'er the ground,) In one joint tumult slaughtering man and hcHrse. And though the steed strove oft by sudden start, 1365
Sidelong, to fiy the fang, or pranced erect Beating th' unsolid air, 'twas idle all. Since, rent through many a tendon, down he sunk. Shaking the champaign. Thus the beasts they deemed At home tamed amply, mid the battle's rage, 1370
Its wounds, its shrieks, its terrors, and its toils, Frantic once more surveyed they, void of rule. All, rampant, raved alike, as frequent now Raves the young elephant to arms unused. Trampling his keepers with tremendous crush. 1375
Thus men, perchance, have fought ; or, rather, thus Their fights have planned in secret, pausing deep O'er the dread ills such schemes were sure t' unfold. Whence, if such wars have raged, 'tis safer far. Amid the various worlds through space that throng, 1380 To leave their seat uncertain, than towards earth Specific point, or aught of world besides. Yet must they, doubtless, have been waged from hope Far less of conquest than revenge, each host Unarmed, unmarshalled, and of death assured. 1385
The rude-stitched hide preceded the wove vest, Planned after iron, and with ii:on wrought : For without this the loom had ne'er been framed. Its shuttles, treadles, sley, and creaking beam.
Yet men first used the distaff, and the wheel, 1390
Ere learned the female race ; since males throughout
BOOK V. ON THE NATUBS OF THINGS. 449
Prove prompter far, more dexterous, and expert ;
Till the rough swain, at length, such labours mocked
As sole the woman's province, sterner toils
The man's rude strength demanding, hardier arts 1395
His form to harden, nerved with double force.
But Nature's self th' untutored race first taught To sow, to graft 5 for acorns ripe they saw. And purple berries, shattered from the trees, Soon yield a lineage like the trees themselves. 1400
Whence learned they, curious, through the stem mature To thrust the tender slip, and o'er the soil Plant the fresh shoots that first disordered sprang.
Then, too, new cultures tried they, and, with joy. Marked the boon earth, by ceaseless care caressed, 1405 Each barbarous fruitage sweeten and subdue. So loftier still and loftier up the hills Drove they the woodlands daily, broadening thus The cultured foreground, that the sight might trace Meads, corn-fields, rivers, lakes, and vineyards gay, 1410 O'er hills and mountains thrown ; while through the dales, The downs, the slopes, ran lavish and distinct The purple realm of olives ; as with hues Distinct, though various still the landscape swells Where blooms the dulcet apple, mid the tufts 1415
Of trees diverse that blend their joyous shades.
And from the liquid warblings of the birds Learned they their first rude notes, ere music yet To the rapt ear had tuned the measured verse ; And Zephtk, whispering through the hollow reeds, 1420 Taught the fir^t swains the hollow reeds to sound : Whence woke they soon those tender-trembling tones Which the sweet pipe, when by the fingers prest, Pours o'er the hills, the vales, and woodlands wild, ELaunts of lone shepherds, and the rural gods. 1425
So growing time points, ceaseless, something new. And human skill evolves it into day.
Thus soothed they every care, with music, thus. Closed every meal, for rests the bosom then. And oft they threw them on the velvet grass, 1430
Near gliding streams, by shadowy trees o'er-arched, And void of costly wealth found still the means
2 Q
4iS0 UrCBBlIElL BOOK T.
To gladdea life. Bm
Ltd forth her hwghing
Painted the meads widi roseate flopwera firfbir — 143»
Ttum mirthy and wit, and wilea, and
Flowed from the heart ; for tiien tiie
Warmest inspired them : then
Taught round their heads, their ahoehierg^
Foliage, and flowers, and garlands richiy- diglit ; 1440
To loose, innumerous time thdr limhs to
And licat, with sturdy foot, maternal earth ;
While many a smile, and many a lai^liler
Told all was new, and wondrcHis moch
Thus wakeful lived they, cheating of its rest 1445
Tho drowsy midnight ; with the jocund dance
Mixing gay converse, madrigals, and strains
Run o^r the reeds with hroad recnmhent Hp :
Am, wakeful still, our revellers through night
Load on their defter dance to time precise ; 1450
Vet cull not costlier sweets, with all their art,
Tiittu the rude offspring earth in woodlands hore.
Thus what first strikes us, while ourselves as yet Know nought superior, every charm combines. Hut when aught else of ampler boast succeeds 1455
W(j slight tho former, every wish transferred. ThuN acorns soon disgusted ; the coarse couch < )i' herbs and leaves was banished, and the hides ( H' savage boasts deemed barbarous, and uncouth. Yot the vaHt envy such these first inspired 1460
'I'lioir earliest wearer by the faithless crowd Fell, and the garb, ferocious fought for still. Rent into tatters, perished void of use.
Then man for skins contended : purple now And gold for ever plunge him into war ; 1465
Far slenderer pretext ! for, such skins without, Tho nuked throngs had dreaded every blast : Hut us no ills can menace, though deprived ( )i' purple woof brocaded stiff with gold. While humbler vests still proffer their defence. 1470
V(it vainly, vainly toil earth's restless tribes. With fruitless cares corroding every hour ; Untaught the lust of wishing where to bound,
BOOK VI
And where true pleasure ceases ; rendering time
One joyless main, where sail they, void of helm, 1475
Courting for ever tumults, storms, and strife.
But, through the heavens, the wakeful sun and moon Driving, meanwhile, their radiant cars sublime. Taught first to mortals how the seasons rolled. And things rose punctual ruled by punctual laws. 1480
Now many a fort they reared, and into shares Severed the cultured earth ; the daring bark O'er ocean now its light-winged canvass spread. And state with state in social compact joined: While rising bards, the types of sound just traced, 1485 Stamped each exploit, and told to times unborn. Whence nought of earlier date, as facts precise, Kjiow we, alone by reason led to guess.
Thus navigation, agriculture, arms, Laws, buildings, high-ways, drapery, all esteemed 1490 Useful to life, or to the bosom dear. Song, painting, sculpture — their perpetual need. And long experience fashioned and refined.
So growing time points ceaseless something new, And human skill evolves it into day : 1495
And art, harmonious, ever aiding art, All reach, at length, perfection's topmost point.
BOOK VI.
Athens, of peerless name, to savage man
First taught the blessings of the cultured field.
His life re-modelled, and with laws secured.
She, too, the soul's sweet solaces first oped
When erst the sage she reared, whose boundless breast 5
Swelled with all science, and whose lips promulged ;
Raised, such th' applause his heavenly dictates drew.
Raised after death, in glory to the skies.
For when he saw with what vast ease mankind
Food, health, enjoyment, length of days obtained, 10
2 o 2
452 LUCBETIUS. - BOOK VI.
How wealth full oft o'erflowed them with its tide,
How honours thronged on honours, and a race
With every virtue gifted, round them rose.
While still their hearts beat anxious, and their minds
Raged with complaints, vexations, and alarms,—-^ \5
Then deemed the sage the mental vase itself
Unsound throughout ; despoiling, hence, the power
Of all that entered, useful cfr beloved ;
Fractured, perchance, or porous, and each boon
Wasting profuse the moment it arrived ; 20
Or, from innate corruption, all received
Poisoning perpetual through its total frame.
With truth-instilling precepts, hence, the soul Purged he, the bounds of wishing and of fear Pointed precise, and showed to mortal man 25
The good supreme his heart would fain possess. He oped its essence, he the path disclosed, Narrow, but straight, that leads us where it dwells. He, too, evinced what ills on life must wait ; What casual spring, from nature what uprise, 30
At random roaming, or by fate compelled. And how such ills the soul may best resist ; Nor sink, as frequent sinks the world, ingulfed In boundless tides of turbulence and care. For as the boy, when midnight veils the skies, 35
Trembles and starts at all things, so full oft E*en in the noon men start at things as void Of real danger as the phantoms false By darkness conjured and the school-boy's dread. A terror this the radiant darts of day 40
Can ne'er disperse, to Truth's pure light alone And Wisdom yielding, intellectual suns. Whence, with more haste, our subject we resume.
Since this vast globe, then, mortal we have proved Begot, and mortal ether, and that all 45
Beared punctual from their atoms must dissolve, Mark what remains, attentive ; since once more The master of the gale invites to mount The daring bark majestic, and each storm Soothes with his fostering favour as we sail. 50
This mark attentive : for whate'er in heaven.
BOOK VL ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 453
In earth man sees mysterious, shakes his mind,
With sacred awe o'erwheUns him, and his soul
Bows to the dust ; the cause of things concealed
Once from his vision, instant to the gods 55
All empire he transfers, all rule supreme,
And doubtful whence they spring, with headlong haste
Calls them the workmanship of powers divine.
For he who, justly, deems th* immortals live
Safe, and at ease, yet fluctuates in his mind 60
How things are swayed ; how, chiefly, those discerned
In heaven sublime, — ^to superstition back
Lapses, and rears a tyrant host, and then
Conceives, duU reasoner, they can aU things do.
While yet himself nor knows what may be done, 65
Nor what may never, nature powers defined
Stamping on all, and bounds that none can pass :
Hence wide, and wider errs he as he walks.
These notions if thou chase not, driving far Thoughts of the gods unworthy, and adverse 70
To the pure peace they covet, thou wilt oft Foretaste the heavenly vengeance that thou dread'st. Not that the majesty of powers like these Rage e'er can violate, or dire revenge Bouse into action ; but that thou thyself 75
Hence thy own ease wilt shipwreck with the storms Of passions fierce and foul ; nor e'er approach With hallowed heart the temples they possess. Nor, deeply musing, mark with soul serene The sacred semblances their forms emit, 80
Traced by the spirit, thus of gods assured. Judge, then, thyself what life must hence ensue.
Such life the wisdom we propound rejects : Whence, though already much the muse has sung. Much still remains that claims her noblest powers ; 85 Much of the heavens, and scenes that roU sublime, Of storms, and thunders — what their dread effect, And how produced : lest, mid the rending skies. Fear-struck, thou ask whence flows this winged fire? Where speeds its fury ? by what means empowered 90 To pierce through walls, and then triumphant die ? And, doubtful whence it springs, with headlong ha&iA
454 LUCHETIUS. BOOK YL
Deem it the workmanship of hands divine.
Muse, most expert ! beloved of gods and inen. Calliope ! O, aid me as I tread 95
Now the last limits of the path prescribed. That the bright crown wil^ plaudits I may claim.
First the blue cope of heaven vrith thunder shakes When, borne through ether, clouds with clouds contend By winds adversely driven ; for nought of sound 100
Strikes us where pure the concave ; but where thick Clouds heaped o'er clouds, there, measured by their mass, The deep-toned peal with broadening bellow roars.
Then less compact their texture than the frame Of wood or stone, while less diffused by far 105
Than the loose web of mists, or light- winged smoke. For else, like those, plumb downward must they rush With flight abrupt, or swifl as these dissolve, Powerless to buoy the measured hail or snow.
Then, too, resound they through the sapphire vault, 110 As ofb resound the flickering curtains drawn O'er the thronged theatre from beam to beam. And oft to fragments frittered by the blast, Like crackling scrolls they rattle through the skies : Whence peals the thunder, as the fluttering sheet 1 15
Of parchment crisp, or canvass broad unfurled, Lashed by the tempest, and to tatters torn.
And frequent the flerce clouds with front direct Fight not, but jostle side-long, with the strife Their total tracts abrading ; whence the harsh, 120
The long-drawn murmur that the soul appals Ere yet the full-mouthed clangour burst its bounds.
Then things with thunder oft, perchance, may quake, And heaven's high walls be shattered through their cope. When air elastic, by capacious clouds 125
Absorbed redundant, once ferments abrupt. Broadening their central hollows as it spreads, And close their sides condensing, till, at lengthy Rends the pent power its prison, and aloft Roars o'er the world the repercussive shock. 130
Nor wondrous this, since, flUed with vapour, e'en The bursting bladder loud alike resounds.
Oft, too, perchance, the bickering blast itself,
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 455
Borne 'gainst the clouds direct, the crash creates :
For ragged oft in various shapes they fly, 135
Bamous and wavy, hence sonorous too ;
As when the north-east whistles through the groves
The leaves aU rustle, and the branches crack :
Or, haply else, the horizontal gust,
Urged on abrupt, may rend the cloud in twain. 140
For what its force here oft on earth we learn.
On earth where gentler, but where still its rage
Boots up the forest headlong from its base.
Worked into billows, too, the clouds, at times. Conflicting murmur as the torrent tide 145
Of streams or ocean by the tempest tost.
Oft springs the roar, too, when from cloud to doud Darts the blue lightning sudden : these, if filled With limpid vapour, instant the fierce flash Quench with vast clamour, as the red-hot steel 150
Fresh from the forge wide hisses when the smith Deep drowns its fury in the gelid pool.
But if the cloud be sear, with blaze abrupt Flames it sonorous ; as, when blown by storms^ Fires the loose brand the laurel-crested hiUs, 155
Decrepitating loud, for louder nought In conflagration crackles than the tree Sacred to Phcebus on the Delphio mount.
While not unfrequent may the din resound From ice or hail-clouds, by the whizzing wind 160
Lashed till they fracture, and, with clattering crash, FaUs the dread avalanche, down dashed amain.
But the blue lightning springs from seeds of fire With seeds conflicting mid the war of clouds. As when the flint with flint, or steel, contends, 165
Swift flows the flash, and sparkles all around.
Then earlier see we, too, the rushing blaze Than hear the roar, since far the fluent films Of sight move speedier than of laggard sound. As, when the woodman fells some branch remote, 170
It drops conspicuous ere the bounding blow Strike on the ear — so the keen lightning far Anticipates the thunder, though alike Beared from one cause, from one concussion reared.
456 LUCRBItUS. BOOK 71.
Or haply hence the winged lustre springs 175
Trembling amid the tempest ; that when air. Pent in the hollow of a cloud, ferments, That hollow broadening, as already sung, And close its sides condensing, the pent air Heats from its motion ; as, from motion, heats 180
All sight surreys ; worked oft to flame, and oft Melted, as melt the missile balls, at times. Of lead shot rapid. Heated thus, at length, Th' expanded air bursts sudden from its tomb. Scattering long trails of corruscating fire. 186
Then rolls the dread explosion, after heard. Since sound than light far tardier meets the sense. Tet scenes like these in clouds alone exist Of utmost depth, whirled mass o'er mass immense.
Nor such conceive exist not, but that sole 190
Breadth they possess, of substance ever void. For mark what clouds of mountain-bulk the winds Drive thwart the welkin when the tempests rave ; Or climb the giddy cliff, and, e'en in calms^ View what vast loads, accumulated deep, 195
Roll, tire o'er tire, through ether ; and thou, then. Must own their magnitudes, and well may'st deem What caves stupendous through such hanging rocks Spread ; what wild winds possess them, through the storm Roaring amid their bondage, as, at night, 200
Roar through their dens, the savage beasts of prey. How strive they stem, now here, now there convolved, Through every point, for freedom, and the seeds Of latent fire elicit as they roll
Till the full fiame concentrate, and the blaze 205
Shoot o'er the heavens as now the big cloud bursts.
Hence, too, perchance, the golden-tressed stream Of liquid fire through ether oft may play : That the pure texture of the cloud itself Holds many an igneous atom whence, when dry, 210
Springs the bright flame, the splendid hues evinced. For from the sun such seeds the clouds must drink. Poured down perpetual, or their rainbow skirts No lustre e'er could redden. These when once To narrower spheres the lashing winds compress^ 215
BOOK yi. ON THE NATUKE OF THINGS. • 457
Forth from theit pores the radiant atoms start, And wave the serpent-brandish through the skies.
Thus springs the flash, too, when the fibnj clouds Abrade beneath the whirlwind : for, so thin Wears oft their web by friction, the red seeds 220
Drop, unconfined, wide-glittering. But the blaze Then noiseless spreads, innocuous, and serene.
What next ensues, the substance what that forms The bolt, at times, the mystic meteor shoots. This its own stroke betrays, its caustic scathe, 225
And the foul scent of sulphur steaming round ; Marks not of wind, or shower, but fire alone : While, oft, the volant mischief we behold Domes, towers, and temples kindling into fiame.
This igneous shaft, then. Nature rears, recluse, 230
From subtlest fires, from atoms most minute. Vivacious most, that nought can e'er resist. For e'en through walls it pierces, as the power Of voice or sound, through rocks and soHd brass ; The solid brass hence, instant, turned to stream. 235
While oft the vase it empties of its wine. Yet leaves uninjured ; loosening all around, And wide each pore relaxing, that within May wind its heat mysterious, and to seeds Primal, resolve and scatter all contained. 240
Effect the solar lustre in an age Could ne'er accomplish — 'SO superior this In force severe, and keen vivacious flight.
Next whence these fires are gendered, and the power Peerless they boast e'en ramparts to subvert, 245
Whole towns to tumble, and their splintered beams Whirl through the heavens, — the hero's tomb dispart, Shattered to dust, and prostrate o'er the ground Sheep, and the shepherd, breathless all aHke — Whence these, and equal wonders they achieve 250
Haste we to solve, nor longer urge delay.
From dense, dark clouds reared mass o'er mass sublime. Spring, then, these missile fires : for when the cope Smiles all serene, or but o'ershadowed light. Such ne'er we mark ; since daily ether first 255
Blackens throughout, beneath the clustering cro^rd.
458 LUCBBTIUS. BOOK VI.
So blackens fancy might conceive all hell
Had, with his direst shades, the welkin stormed.
Shivering with horror every human nerve,
Ere yet the tempest forge lus glittering bolts. 260
Oft, too, o'er ocean, like a flood of pitch. Some negro cloud prone rushes from the skies, Dire leader of the darkness, followed close By hurricanes and thunders, and itself With fire surcharged, and fierce fermenting'air, 265
Driving appalled each mortal to his home. Whence high through ether must the tempest reach, Piled cloud o'er cloud, the sun obstructing deep. Or ne'er such ten-fold darkness could be reared. Nor rush those headlong torrents that o'erpower 270
Oft every stream, and drown the cultured plains.
These all with fires, with furious airs are filled. Whence spring the flash, and repercussive roar. For, as we erst have sung, fuU many a seed Igneous, the hollow-bosomed clouds contain, 275
Aiid many alike absorb they from the sun. These, when th' aerial tide, expanding still. Has from the cloud's condensing frame exprest, And with their fury its own rage combined. Then springs the fiery vortex, and within 280
Forges profound, and points its deadly darts. Doubly enkindled, by the boisterous air Rapid convolved, and touch of fiery seeds : Then springs, and raves, and ripens, till, at length. Grown full mature the shackling cloud it cleaves, 285
And down abrupt, with vibratory flash Diflused o'er all things, flings the missile fate. Roars next the deep-toned clangour, as though heaven Through all its walls were shattered ; earth below Shakes with the mighty shock, from cloud to cloud 290 Redoubling still through all th' infuriate vault : While, loosened by the conflict, prone descends Th' accumulated torrent, broad and deep, As though all ether into floods were turned. And a new deluge menaced man and beast. 2d5
Such the vast uproar when the red-hot storm Bursts forth abrupt, and hurls its fiery bolts.
BOOK VT. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 459
Oft, too, th' external whirlwind, as it flies, Against the cloud strikes sudden, that within Holds the ripe tempest, and its form divides. 300
And, hence released, the fiery vortex quick. The vivid bolt, descends, now here, now there, In varying path, apportioned to its strength.
And oft the gas projected, though at first Void of combustion, in its course inflames, 305
Itapid and long ; forsaking, as it flies. Its grosser atoms impotent of speed. And, from th' abraded air, those more minute Collecting, prompt th' incipient blaze to rouse. As when, swift- winged, the ball of missile lead 310
Heats, by degrees its gross unkindling parts Losing, and fires by atoms gained from air.
Nor seldom may the stroke itself excite The dread combustion, as with fury flies. Void of all flash, the fulminating bolt. 315
For, from itself, the shock may seeds alike Igneous elicit, and the substance struck, — Instant combined ; as, when with steel we ply The sparry flint, the spark immediate springs. Nor luQgers sluggish from the steel's cold touch. 320
So by the bolt each substance struck must flame. Inflammable if gendered ; nor, though cold Its elemental air, can hence delay Once rise, since urged so rapid in its flight ; Flight that, if powerless of itself to fire, 325
Alone, must warm the mischief in its fall.
So speeds th' aerial shaft, its wing so fleet, So fierce its fell encounter ; mid the clouds So vnde its infant forces it collects.
And strives, impatient of restraint, t' escape ! 330
Till, grown mature, the'fuU-distended cloud Bursts instantaneous, and, with matchless might. Rushes the rampant meteor, as the storm Of rocks and darts, from giant-engines hurled.
Then too most light, most subtle are its seeds : 335
Whence nought can e'er resist it, and, with ease, Winds it, unchecked, through pores minutest traced. Void of delay, and peerless in its speed.
460 LUCBETIUS. BOOK YL
All, too, of weight possessed, below must tend E'en from their nature : but when once to -weight 340
Its power propulsion adds, the substance urged In force, in fleetness doubled must descend. Direct in travel, and more potent far Borne towards the spot that feels its final brunt.
Where long the flight, moreo'er, the substance winged Augments in haste, and swift, and swifter still 346
Flows ever on, and sturdier strikes its blow : For seed with seed condenses as they rush. Pressed to one central focus, till, at length. Falls with full force th' agglomerated shock : 3o0
Joined too, perchance, by atoms drawn firom air Whose ceaseless lash gave pinions to its speed.
Then many a frame the missile bolt pervades^ And leaves unhurt, its pores the liquid fire Transpiercing unresisted ; while, reversed, 355
Full many a frame it shatters, since the seeds Igneous vnth those th' objective mark that rear, AjDd stamp it solid, in close conflict meet.
Thus brass with ease, thus, instantaneous, gold Melt its light seeds, its principles minute 360
Deep-winding sinuous, and, when wound, at once Bursting each bond, and solving the stern mass.
But chief in autumn, and when spring expands Her flowery carpet, earth vnth thunder shakes. And heaven's high arch with trembling stars inlaid. 365 For few the fires that warm the wintry months. And soft the gales of summer, nor so dense Throng then the gathering clouds ; but, 'twixt the two When roll the zodiac-lustres, every cause Concentrates close the clamorous storm demands ; 370
The frith of time then reached that heat and cold Blends, whose joint power alone the flash creates. The reign of discord, and the rage of air Tumultuous torn 'twixt winds and rival fires. For heat's first rise and cold's ulterior verge 375
Rear the young spring ; whence things with things diverse Must meet, and, meeting, into wrath ferment : While cold's first chills, and heat's last lingering beams. Mutual convolved, create th' autumnal times,
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 461
Still summer striving with stern winter's rage. 380
Whence spring, whence autumn claim alike the term
Of Warrior- Seasons, thus to fight attached.
Nor wondrous, then, that thunders here should rise,
And storms defile the concave, by the war
Doubtful, disturbed, of whirlwind, rain, and fire. 385
Hence ma/st thou clear the thunder's essence trace, And its vast force develope ; from thy hands Hurling the Tuscan legends that pretend Vainly each purpose of the gods t' unfold, And thus decide whence fiows this winged fire ; 390
Where speeds its fury ; by what means empowered To pierce through walls, and then, triumphant, die ; Or what portends its brandish when displayed.
For if from Jove, or Jove's associates, flow The roar tremendous, shattering heaven's high arch ; 395 If these, at will, the flaming bolt direct, — Why 'scapes the guilty from its vengeful stroke, Nor falls, transpierced, a monument to man ? Or, rather, why, beneath the fiery storm, Sinks he unconscious of committed crime, 400
Void of all blame, yet victim to its ire ?
Why seek the gods, too, solitary scenes And labour fruitless ? need they, then, essay Their wontless arms, and nerve them for the fight ? Why thus their sire's tremendous wrath exhaust 405
O'er the bare ground ? or why himself permit, Nor, for his foes, the fiery bolt restrain ?
Why waves the god, moreo'er, the serpent-flash. Why rolls the thunder ne'er in cloudless skies ? When throng the gathering clouds, adown the storm 410 Descends he first, that, from a nearer point, With surer aim, his javelin he may dait ? Yet why attack the ocean ? o'er the waves Waste his wild ire, the floods, and liquid fields ?
If, too, he mean mankind the bolt should miss, 415
Why form its structure viewless to the sight ? While, if he hope to strike us unprepared. Why fiash, conspicuous, and invite escape ? Why first fill heaven with groans and darkness dire ? — .
Then, canst thou deem lum competent at once 420
462 IXJUIEltOS. BOOK TL
Throogh TirioaB poinls to llii i wfcf ? or tke imet
Dar^st tboa deoj that manj a itijtal hait
Falls at the Bsme dread mameot? while Hie
Ceafideas, such £m^ renews, and proves
That as die shower at oooe o'er maaj a soene 42d
Bushes amaiii, so darts th' ethereal dafL
And why, moreo'er, the temples of tiie gods^ Why his own altars, with the fieiy stcRm Fells he, promiscaoos? into atoms why Rends their best stataes ; and, with frantic aim, 490
E'en from himself his image-hcMioiirs wrest ? Or o'er the hills why horls he chief his ire. The rocks abmpt, and moostains most sablime ?
Hence, with mach ease, the meteor may we trace Termed, from its essence, Prester by the Grkkks, 435 That oft from heaven wide hovers o'er the deep. Like a vast column, gradual from the skies. Prone o'er the waves, descends it ; the vext tide Boiling amain beneath its mighty whirl. And with destruction sure the stoutest ship 440
Threatening that dares the boisterous scene approach. Thus solve th' appearance ; that the maniac wind. In cloud tempestuous pent, when unempowered To burst its bondage, oft the doud itself Stretches cylindric, like a spiral tube 445
From heaven forced gradual downwards to the deep ; As though some viewless hand, its frame transpierced. With outspread palm had thrust it from above. This, when, at length, the captived tempest rends. Forth flows it, fiery, o'er the main, and high 450
Boils from its base th' exaggerated tide. For, as the cone descends, from every point A dread tornado lashes it without, In gyre perpetual, through its total fall : Till, ocean gained, the congregated storm 455
Gives its full fury to th' uplifted vaves, Tortured, and torn, loud howling nudst the fray.
Oft, too, the whirlwind from the clouds around Fritters some fragments, and itself involves Deep in a cloudy pellicle, and close 460
Mimics the prester, lengthening slow from heaven ;
BOOK VI. ON THE NATT7RE OF THINGS. 463
Till, earth attained, th' involving web abrupt
Bursts, and the wbirlwind vomits and the storm.
Yet, as on earth the mountains' pointed tops
Break oft the texture, tubes like these, at land 465
Far rarer form than o'er the marble main.
The rise of clouds next calls us. When in heaven Meet various bodies subtile and sublimed, Of jagged figure, instant they cohere; Not strong the junction, but cohesive still. 470
Thus spring the lighter clouds ; and these conjoined, Comprest, condensed, and congregated close, Urged by the winds, to boundless bulk augment. Till broad o'er ether frowns the finished storm.
Chief o'er the mountain-tops, as nearest heaven, 475 In tide perpetual smoke the yellow steams That clouds engender, here conspicuous first. For, undiscemed at birth, the winnowing wind Here in huge masses, palpable to view. Dense, and redundant, drives them, whence aloft 480
Mount they embodied from the humid height. For fact itself demonstrates, as we climb The tall, steep cliff, that breezy scenes like these Ope the best path for vapours to the skies.
Then from the seas that nature much selects 485
Prove the light garments fluttering o'er the strand That catch the rising moisture ; doubtless whence Much, too, the clouds from ocean's restless brine Draw ceaseless forth, their airy base to build : For, as the blood, so fluids all transpire. 490
Thus from each river, e'en from earth itself, We trace th' ascending moisture, and the mist. Like vital breath, borne upwards : which, when once Firmly condensed, and congregated close, Veil cdl the heavens with clouds, and darkness deep ; 495 While tides of rushing ether closer still Drive the light woof, and weave a thicker shade.
¥hen, too, perchance, the primal seeds of things. Borne from without, the mingled mass may join. And swell the cloudy drapery. These how wide 500
Diflused through space, how countless their amount. With what vast speed, what instantaneous flight
464 LUCRETIUS. BOOK YI.
O'erpower they every distance, we erewhile
At large developed. Nought of wonder, then.
That storms, and blackness, gendered e'en above, 505
Should oft abrupt o'er mountains, plains, and seas
Of amplest breadth, their dreary mantle stretch ;
Since through aU ether's nice, innumerous pores.
O'er the wide world like spiracles bespread,
The thronging atoms enter and retire. 510
Come, now, and next, how rain in clouds sublime Forms, and o'er earth in genial showers descends. Attentive, learn. And, first, the muse shall show That seeds at once of clouds and water rise From all created, whence alike augment 515
Water and cloud, and all that cloud contains, As with its frame augments the vital blood, Or aught besides of moisture through the limbs. Then, too, the cloudy fioscules, as they fly . O'er the broad main, the briny dew imbibe, 520
As pendant fleeces from the new-shorn flock. While from each stream, alike, their spongy webs Drink the light moisture ; which, when once comprest. Atom with atom, in innumerous modes, Innumerous masses, the redundant clouds, 525
Prest by the winds, strive doubly to discharge : For, while such pressure bursts them, their own weight, Cloud thronged o'er cloud, compels the falling shower.
Then, too^ abraded by the winnowing winds. Or by the sun relaxed, the cloudy film 530
Pours down its moisture, as the strainer thick Of woof redoubled, near the solvent fire, Drops o'er the vase its juices clear-refined. But fierce the torrent falls when fierce at once Clouds press o'er clouds, -and winds with winds contend. 535
And much the rain persists, and long its stay, When countless crowd th' irriguous seeds above. Profuse the louring vapours, and the clouds Roll multitudinous, of bound devoid. And all the smoking earth the wet rehales. 540
And when the sun, amid the rushing shower, Gleams from a point all adverse to the storm, The crystal moisture, as it falls, his rays
BOOK VI. ON THE NATUBE OP THINGS. 465
Ceaseless reflects, and rears the gaudy bow.
Thas all, through heaven, that forms or floats sublime, Or in the clouds concretes, wind, hail, and snows, 546
And hoary pearl, and frost's stupendous power. Stem hardener of {he waters, the restraint That chains the rivers panting to be free. These all the mind may hence, with ease, unfold ; 550
Their rise develope, why created solve, Taught by the seeds that form their various frames.
Next learn the cause why earth's Arm frame, at times, Quakes wide around. And, first, conceive her shaped Below as upwards ; filled with roaring winds, 555
Fissures, and caverns, crags, and pools profound. And fractured rocks, through all her bosom spread : While, mid her hollows, boundless rivers roll, Wave after wave, and hide their secret heads : For fact itself proves earth throughout the same. 560
These truths premised, earth trembles, then, profound, Shook into ruins, when the rage of time, Deep down the caves immensely scooped below, Tumbles th' incumbent hills ; abrupt they fall With vast concussion, while, from scene to scene, 565
Winds the dread tremour, propagated quick : And well may wind ; since e'en the sluggish wain, Though filled but half, as o'er the street it rolls, Shakes every mansion ; since, alike disturbed. Quake they when, near, the light aerial car 570
Drawn by fleet coursers whirls its rattling wheels.
Earth trembles, too, when, undermined by age, Wide into lakes of boundless breadth beneath Th' incumbent glebe sinks sudden, her vast shell By the deep dash far staggered, as the bowl 575
Reels, filled with fluid, when its fluid rocks.
And when the winds, that oft her hollows crowd. Rush all collected, with fermenting force. Towards one vext quarter, — ^where the fight prevails Earth nods o'erpowered ; each building reared above 580 Totters throughout, while those of loftier height Dread instant ruin, their connecting beams Disjointed, torn, and tumbling from their posts. And shrink mankind, then, from the creed t\vaX ^wwi
2 H
466 LUCRETIUS. BOOK VL
Some ruthless conflict the wide world itself 585
Shall crush with wreck unbounded — ^while they see Earth shook so largely through her inmost mass ? E'en now, should ne'er such winds their rage relax, Their boisterous ferment, nought of power opposed Could stem th' assault, and instant fate must flow. 590 But as, by turns, these labour, and forbear, Now firm advance, and now, exhausted, fly. Earth ofter far is menaced than destroyed. For, from her centre thrown, she straight returns. Confirms her balance, and her course resumes ; 595
While, mid the shock, each building reels ; the high Most, less the low, the lowliest least of all.
Hence, too, the mighty tremour : that when wind. Or air elastic, into tumult worked,
Upreared within, or entering from above, 600
Still towards one point of earth's vast caverns pours. Whirled in wild vortex, its enormous force At length bursts sudden — and the solid soil Fractures amain, with broad tremendous yawn. Such Syrian Sedon saw, and ^gium such, 605
Pride of More an plains. What earthquakes dire. What towns o'erthrown has this disruption sole Of frantic air engendered ! what vast walls Have tumbled from their base ! what peopled ports Deep down the main in common ruin sunk ! 610
E'en should th' elastic vapour the stern soil Cleave not abrupt, yet, issuing through its pores. Earth trembles still, with quivering horror shook, As shakes the frame, through every limb convulsed. When cold severe assaults us unprepared. 615
A twofold terror, then, mankind appals ; Above, the buildings menace, and, below. The shuddering ground threats instant into depths Boundless to sink, or ope its giant jaws And, in a moment, swallow fdl that lives. 620
E'en those who hold that heaven and earth exist Each incorrupt, and of eternal date. Touched by the present danger, then betray Strong latent dread lest earth forsake their feet, Down plunging headlong to th' abyss below ; 625
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 467
Lest nature fail, and, o'er the total world, Void of all bounds promiscuous ruin rush.
Next why the main o'erflows not let us solve. And, first, man wondrous deems it the hoarse fall Of mountain cataracts, the ceaseless press 630
Of streams innumerous from innumerous points. Year after year, its limits never swell. Yet add to these whatever from heaven descends In showers and tempests, scattered wide alike O'er earth and ocean, every fountain add, 635
And still the vast accumulated mass, Weighed with the deep, would scarce a drop exceed. Whence nought stupendous that it ne'er augments.
Next, daily, much the solar heat exhales. For as the sun o'er humid garments pours 640
His beams profuse, with instant haste they dry. But broad and spacious spreads the liquid main ; Whence, from each spot though small the lymph absorbed, Yet large th' amount its total surface yields.
Then, too, the flickering winds with ceaseless wing 645 Winnow an ample portion. Such their power Oft, in a night, the swampiest paths they cleanse. Brush off the wet, and harden all the mire.
And earlier have we taught that every cloud Imbibes, luxurious, the redundant dew 650
Raised from the face of ocean ; and o'er earth, Lashed by the breeze, in copious showers distils.
And as this mass terrene of frame consists Porous throughout, and with a thousand coasts Girds all the deep— since to the deep it sends, 655
In part, its fluids, doubtless so, alike. Part still retreats, and, percolated pure, Fresh bubbles distant at some fountain-head. Whence winds again the dulcet tide through paths Its liquid feet have printed oft before. 660
Now next explain we whence, from Etna's jaws. Bursts the bright storm of wild projectile fire ; Storm that, once kindled o'er Sicilia's plains, Raves with no common ruin, as around From many a realm the general eye it draws, 665
And strikes the general heart with dread severe,
2 H 2
468 LUCRETirSb book tl
Wondering, beneath the dingj-flariiig eope. What new adventure Nature means f mddeve.
Such facts f unfold thj mind most deem '"'^ wide, And long expatiate o'er their separate parts ; 670
Recall the doctrine that th' EimRE of Thdtgs Throughout is boundless ; and how small, reflect. One system sole when with th' Ehtirb oompoued With systems thronging ; systems so ccHn|riex That each to all weighs less than man to earth. 675
A creed once rooted that will raise thee oft O'er vulgar wonders, and each fact evolve.
Who strange conceives it that this mortal frame Should rage, at times, with fever, or aught else Of keen disease through all the body spread ? 680
That gout the foot should madden ? ache severe Torture the teeth, or wound the visual orb ? Or tliat the halbwed erysipelas O'er every limb should traU his serpent fires ? Here nought lurks wondrous : for from various seeds 685 Spring they, confest, in various modes combined ; While heaven and earth alone such seeds adverse Amply supply to rear the tyrant iU. — Doem, then, alike, that heaven and earth themselves Draw from the boundless whole the stores evinced 690 When, with wild horror, quakes the world abrupt ; 0*er earth and main when rushing whirlwinds sweep, Or heaven inflames with fires from -^tna thrown. For heaven thus blazes from the seeds of fire Countless collected, as the ponderous storm 695
Falls in full shower when aqueous atoms throng.
" But far too vast the sparkling deluge poured !" And vast alike to him the stream must flow. In earlier life who ne*er so vast has seen : And vast each tree, each sentient tribe, and all 700
Till now ne'er witnessed ; while each sight so vast, While heaven, earth, main, united ne'er augment The boundless compass of th' unbounded whole.
Explain we, then, from JEtna's forge immense How flows the fiery deluge when enraged. 705
And, first, the mighty mount is scooped throughout^ High arched with sparry columns : winds and airs
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 469
Fill all its caves, for agitated air
To wind converts, resistless in its might.
This, when once heated, and its torrid hreath 710
Has heated, too, the mingled mass around
Of rocks, and earths sulphureous, and a flood
Of frantic flame engendered — bursts abrupt,
And, through the mountain's monster-jaws, ejects
Towards every point its embers, and its blaze ; 715
Belches whole atmospheres of smoke, and high
Hurls from its base huge crags of weight immense.
To air incensed such wonders, all, resolve.
Then to the main, too, spreads th' enormous hill Its roots profound, the rough, rebellowing surge 720
Baffling at each encounter : for thus far Doubtless extend its glimmering halls, and hence Draws it, at times, fresh stores of maddening wind ; An ampler storm hence brewing, and its flames. Its focks, its sands projecting wider still : 725
While, at its top, the whirlwind craters throng, By us termed aptly its voracious jaws. Thus many a cause we bring ; for many a cause Oft it behoves us, though but one subsist. • As when, at distance, some dead corse thou view'st 730 Stretched o'er the ground, full many a cause thy mind Must state whence fell it ere it state the true. For whether poison triumph or disease. Cold, or the sword, it ne'er can prove remote ; Though of such deaths thou learn, from those informed, 735 One here prevail. — Thus judge of things at large.
The Nile now calls us, pride of Egypt's plains : Sole stream on earth its boundaries that o'erflows Punctual, and scatters plenty. When the year Now glows with perfect summer, leaps its tide 740
Broad o'er the champaign, for the north- wind now, Th' Etesian breeze, against its mouth direct Blows with perpetual winnow ; every surge Hence loiters slow, the total current swells. And wave o'er wave its loftiest bank surmounts. 745
For that the fixt monsoon that now prevails Flows from the cold stars of the northern pole None e'er can doubt ; while rolls the Nile adverse
470 LAUBKUL&. BOOK TL
Fcdl &iiin. t^ 3011^ firaBLiaiiiiiscif toKvidliest,
Bunts of die EiBiDP'-tEibeff; jet fiv bejcnd 750
TboL oeeon^ iuipLyr bj tii unfeiMWB bieeae Slawn w^ its rtiwiTip^ Ibewcs witib erexy wmTe Hngs of higfa. auxifey snd ^hbs its wonted course : Wbaice lUBxawezv ^3«v ^ cxk to tike main^ 755
AmiwicL le^fbcce ^e tscdjr^reiBi deaeencb.
^, towanis its jbmrtiia, mrngkBrniaa^ pendumo^ FilL as ch. Ktfsta^ fimsy now wide u nf uried, ¥t^ die 1% dbods perpcftnai firaaa the north Far o^er the zed eqnsfeor; where, cQodenaedy 760
PDoderoa^ and kyw^ agabist the kiDs thej strike. And ^led their treaasres o'er the rising flood. Ov frooL the ExHrap-nfeounkaina^ tibe bnght son Xow foil matnred, with deep diaaolTii^ raj Mar m^ th' aggkanerate anows^ and down the fdains 765 DriTe them, augmenting hence^ tih' jncipiqit stream.'
Bat eooie^ di' Atbxsi be^on ; and the mose Their natorev next, their dqpdia^ their kd^es shall pierce.
And first, their name finom powo* adverse to birds Draw thej : for when the featheij people once 770
Tooch bot their c<Mifines, instant thej forget Their pinioned oars, their plom j sails relax. And down, plmnb down, profuse^ with floent neck Flange thej to earth, if earth their bottom form. Or into po^s, if pool the mystic d^yth. 775
Soch the dread gulf at Crxjs, bdching high Fames of hot solphar o'er the mountains round. Such, too, at Athsxs, deep within her walls, Steams firom the tower, Minebta's temple near ; Where never raven, e'en when victims smoke 780
O'er the red altar, shows his jetty plumes. Yet not restrained, as Grecian poets sing. By wrath of Pallas o'er the tell-tale spy Profusely lavished, but the place alone. Such place in Stbia, too, as fame reports, 785
The traveller traces, o'er whose dire domains The brute that treads drops instant, as though felled In prompt oblation to th' infernal powers.
These all subsist from Nature's general laws,
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 471
And whence their source their earliest rise unfolds ; 790
Lest we should judge them the first gates of hell,
And through such portals deem th' infernal gods
Draw the pale spirit to the shades below ;
As, with their breath, the foot-winged deer, 'tis said,
Draw fix)m the furze the spotted race of snakes ; 795
A creed how false our numbers now shall prove.
First we maintain, then, and have earlier oft Maintained the same, that Nature's primal seeds In shape wide vaiy, whence the frame of things Much holds nutritious, baneful much, and big 800
With certain fate ; while di£ferent foods, to kinds Di£ferent themselves, an ampler nurture yield, As reared with bond, with texture reared unlike. This have we erst decided. Sounds abhorred Wound the vext ear ; the shuddering nostrils drink 805 Oft atoms harsh and hateful to their smell ; Nor fewer far the bodies touch rejects ; Hostile to sight, or grievous to the taste.
Then, too, how frequent things with power adverse, Noxious to life, e'en man himself oppress. 810
Thus there are trees whose shade malignant strikes With instant head-ache all, in idle hour. Who loosely throw them on the grass beneath. While some, o'er Helicon, a blossom bear Of scent so deadly, few the smell survive. 815
These spring from earth ; for earth within her holds Innumerous seeds of things innumerous, joined In countless modes, and yields them as they blend.
The midnight taper, as its dying snu£f Pours o'er the nostrils, stupifies with sleep 820
Deep as, the brain, when apoplexy numbs. So stupid swoons the maid, too, who in hour Of full, o'erflowing nature, castor gross Scents, floating round ; and from her graceful hands Drops, loosely drops the polished work she plies. 825
But endless are the substances that, thus. Melt all the members, and the soul subvert If long thou loiter in the public bath. Or bathe at home o'erloaded with repast. Wilt thou not faint, unsinewed by the warmth ? 830
472 LUCBBTIUS. BOOK YL
Dies not each sense beneath the charcoal-fume If from the brook we drink not ere thej fail ? While the foul gas, that from fermenting must Springs, like a blow deep stuns us with its force.
Then breeds not earth, imbedded in herself 835
Bitumens, sulphurs, ever steaming forth In dews malignant ? from the mines profound Of gold, or silver, rise not such o'er those Who delve, unblest, amid their rigid veins ? What ills hence issue ! o'er the miner's limbs 840
What ghastly hues I what horrors o'er his face ! Hast thou not heard how soon existence fails. How languid life, mid wretches thus condemned ? — These vapours all earth genders in herself, And breathes through many an opening to the day. 845
Thus breathe th' Ayerni through their openings dire Fumes reared from earth, and fatal found to birds. Tainting far round the heavenly breeze that blows. Here, as the plumy people first approach. The fluent bane arrests them, and below 850
Deep plunges headlong down th' envenomed gulf. Where their last pulse soon fails through every limb. A wontless thrill, a giddiness of brain First feel they, falling, till, profounder sunk. Life flows amain, since more condensed th' assault. 855
Then, too, perchance th' Ayerni may, at times, With deadly blast the total air dissolve. Full nigh to vacuum, 'twixt the flutterer spread And earth beneath ; whence, once the spot attained. Vain prove his wings, each utmost eflbrt vain 860
To prop the parent body : robbed abrupt Of buoyant ether, powerless, and forlorn, Down, like a weight, he tumbles through the void, And from each pore his airy soul exhales.
In wells profound the gurgling Ijrmph that springs, 865 Springs chilliest in the summer : — for all earth Expands beneath the sun-beams, and emits The seeds of fire far prompter to the day : Whence more her surface burns with heat evolved, And colder flows the fountain deep-concealed. 870
While, mid the wintry frosts, her frame contracts,
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 473
Condenses closer, and, condensing, strains The fiery atoms into caves and wells.
A fount, 'tis rumoured, near the temple purls Of Jove Ammonian, tepid through the night, 875
And cold' at noon-day : and th' astounded sage Stares at the fact, and deems the punctual sun Strikes through the world's vast centre, as the shades Of midnight shroud us, and with ray reverse Maddens the well-spring :— creed absurd and false. 880 For if, full blazing o'er the naked tide. Poured from above in fierce meridian might. No heat he gender — how can his deep orb Flame through earth's solid substance, and the lymph Lash into fervour ? how — since e'en at noon 885
Scarce can his rage the cottage wall transpierce ?
Dost thou the cause demand, then ? clearly hence. That round the fountain earth more spongy spreads And seeds of fire throng ampler ; whence, when night Pours o'er the world his dew-distilling shades, 890
The chilled, contracting soil here strains abrupt^ As though comprest by fingers, towards the fount Such seeds profusely, and the bubbling wave Proves to the touch, the taste more tepid proves. But when, reversed, the sun with new-bom beam 895
Earth rarefies, and quickens, back profound - Fly the young fire-seeds to their native haunts, The fount forsaking ; whence the sparkling tide Tastes in the day more frigid than at night.
Then, too, the crystal fluid, by the sun 900
Thrilled, deep dilates beneath his trembling ray. And yields its embryo fires ; as, when congealed. Yields it alike its frost beneath the blaze, Melts all its ice, and every bondage bursts.
A fount there is, too, which, though cold itself, 905
With instant flare the casual flax inflames Thrown o'er its surface ; and the buoyant torch Kindles alike immediate, o'er its pool Steering the course th' ethereal breeze propels. Nor wondrous this ; for countless seeds of heat 910
Throng through the water, raised from earth profound. And thence, in turn, projected into air :
474 LUCRETIUS. BOOK TL
Tet ne'er so active as the wave to warm.
Some latent energy the seeds, moreo'er. Thus scattered, forces to the water's hrim 916
Sadden, and there concentrates ; as, at times^ Springs the fresh fount amid th' unbounded main, ^d db*ives the brine broad circling as it flows. Nor thus unfrequent to the thirsty crew Does bounteous nature ope the dulcet draught, 920
High-spouting freshness through the world of salt. So through the well-spring that the flax inflames Burst forth the lurking fire-seeds to the daj. Commingling with its fibres ; which achieyed. Or with the torch once blended, all is blaze ; 926
Themselves alike high-charged with latent fire.
When, just extinct, the taper we apply To one full blazing, seest thou not how soon, E'en ere it touch, th' extinguished snuff relumes ? Relumes not thus the torch, too ? and alike 930
Full many a substance, useless to recount, At distance kindled ere the fiame arrive ? So acts the fountain, such the cause concealed.
And next explain we by what curious law The stone termed magnet by the Greeks, attracts 936 Th' obsequious iron ; magnet termed since first Mid the Magnetes men its power descried.
Vast is the wonder, mid th* admiring crowd. This stone excites ; for oft a pendant chain Forms it of rings unlinked and loosely joined. 940
And frequent see they, sporting in the breeze, Such rings quintupled, in succession long. The lowHer cleaving to the sphere above, And this to that, proclaiming, as it hangs, Its deep-felt conscience of the magnet's power. 945
Such the resistless energy it boasts.
In facts like these fuU many a truth profound First must we prove, ere yet their power thou trace. And many a maze unravel ; — thou with heed List, then, for now thy closest ear we claim. 950
And, first, from all things bodies most minute Flow forth for ever, scattered, and diffused. Wounding the pupil, and compelling sight.
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OP THINGS. 475
From forms defined spring odours ; from the sun
Thus heat exhales ; cold, dewy damp from streams, 955
And the rough spray from ocean, with fierce fang
Gnawing the mound that dares resist its waves.
Thus sounds, too, flutter through the breezy air ;
And when the beach we traverse, oft the tongue
Smarts with the briny vapour ; or, at hand, 960
If the bruised wormwood yield its acrid juice,
We taste th' essential bitter and abhor.
Thus some light effluence streams from all create,
Streams forth for ever, void of dull repose.
Towards every point difiused ; for man perceives, 965
Where'er his station ; sight alike exists,
The sense of fluent odours, and of sounds.
This thus premised, recall we next to mind How rare the frame of all things, as erewhile Conspicuous proved we in our earliest strain. 970
A theme, though ever useful, useful most Found, when compelled, as now, to re-affirm That nought exists but matter mixt with void.
For, first, the roofs of rocky caverns sweat With dews, and crystals ; and the frame of man 975
Throws through each pore the perspirable lymph. Beard through the visage permeates, through each limb Peeps the young down, and every meal imbibe.d Flows through the veins profuse, and feeds, augments. And quickens all things e'en to th' utmost nails. 980
Cold the tense brass, and heat alike transpierce : So pierce they gold, and silver, as the vase Proves, filled with fluids by the fingers clasped. Through the stone wall voice winds its sinuous way. And frosts, and odours, and the power of heat : 985
Heat that pervades e'en steel, and through the helm Rushes, where rests it round the fretted neck. So rushes, too, contagion from without Deep through each quivering organ. The red storm In heaven engendered pierces earth profound ; 990
Or, if in earth it ripen, heaven above Shakes with the shock through all its shattering walls. For nought combines through nature void of pores.
Then not unvarying in exterior shape
476 LUCSBTICS. BOOK TL
All atoms flow from all things ; nor alike 995
On all things act they, with eflfect nnchanged.
The heam that boms and dries the nuMSt^ied earth. Flaxes the frost, o'er mountains piled snUime Rolls, in loose tide, the macerated snows^ And with its effluence melts th' adhesive wax. lOOO
Fire fuses gold and copper, but contracts The flesh of beeves and shrivels their tou^ hides. Red from the flame, steel hardens in the pool. But hides and flesh relax. The bearded goat On the wild olive most luxurious feasts, 1005
Deems it all nectar, all ambrosia deems, While nought so hateful to the mouth of man. Swine fly perfumes, sweet nuujoram is death. Scents that, with us, the spirit oft revive. While the gross slough, mere filth among ourselves, 1010 To them proves cleanliness ; and deep within Plunge thej, all joyous mid its miry waves.
This, too, the muse should notice ere we yet Full on the magnet enter ; that, as things Oft various classes hold of pores within, 1015
Each class from each must di£fer, and a breadth, A shape possess, appropriate to itself. For many a sense each vital tribe endows. Various, empowered as various parts t' achieve And mark its proper objects as they rise. 1020
Thus sounds by one assail us, this conveys Taste from each juice, and streams of odour that. So the firm stone some substances transpierce. Some wood, some gold, some silver, crystal some. Heat those pervading, the light image this. 1025
And thus through all things different objects rush With ease far different ; nature to their forms, Tlieir powers diverse, as long anterior proved, Th' appropriate duct adapting most exact.
These axioms thus premised, then, and maintained, 1030 All else flows obvious, and the total cause Unfolds spontaneous that the steel compels.
First, from the magnet countless atoms stream In tide perpetual, chasing the mid air 'Twixt the stern iron placed, and stone itself. 1035
BOOK VL ON THE NATURE OF THINGS. 477
This space once emptied, and a total void
Formed broad between, abrupt the seeds of steel,
Thrown forth alike, usurp it, close conjoined.
Dragging the ring resistless as they rush.
For nought exists with primal seeds more harled, 1040
More clinched, more tangled in commutual bonds
Than the cold steel, all horror to the touch.
Whence wondrous less the doctrine thus announced,
That from the steel those atoms ne'er can part.
Urged through the vacuum, but the ring succeeds : 1045
Abrupt succeeds it, gains the stone abrupt.
And fixt and firm in mystic league coheres.
So flies it, too, towards every point alike.
Borne upwards, or transverse, where'er the void
Spreads round the magnet, following, in its course, 1050
llie seeds that nearest touch the vacant sphere.
Themselves hence foremost prest from strife within,
And powerless, else, through ether e'er t' ascend.
Hence, too, the ring draws pinions in its flight : That as, at once, secedes th' anterior air, 1055
And forms the void, th' elastic tide behind Drives it, perpetual plying at its back. For air encircles all things ; but alone Can act coercive, and the steel protrude, When first the momentary void exists, 1060
Opes its pure passage, and admits it free. Then potent acts it ; through the total ring, Through every pore, its puny atoms darts, Chasing the steel as winds the bark impel.
Then air, moreo'er, whate'er exists, within 1065
Holds, doubtless ; since of tenuous frame composed, And by surrounding air for ever lashed. Whence air through iron roves, too, deep-concealed, Ceaseless in action, and the docile ring Plies with internal tempest, doubly hence 1070
Borne towards the void where centres all its aim ; Armed with new speed, new succour for the flight.
Oft from the magnet, too, the steel recedes, Repelled by turns, and re-attracted close.
And oft in brazen vessels may we mark 1075
Ringlets of Samothrace, or fragments fine
478 LLdUEnUH. BOOK TL
Stni^k from the Tilid iron, boundii^
When dose bdow the magnet pmnts its ponrefs.
So vast th' aTeraon, e*en the brass beneadi.
Feel thej at times ; the diseord sodi induoed. 1080
Thoa thos lesolTe the pioblan : that the hraas
first throws, as nearest^ its attenuate breath.
And fills the pores of iron ; which when, nezl^
The stream magnetic reaches, it in Tain
Toils to transpierce, each avenne posseat. 1065
Checked in its coarse, with wave p er petual, henoe^
The rings, the raspings beats it^ and above
Far off repulses, else embracing strong.
Nor strange conceiTe it the magnetic stream Nought drives besides: for powers there are resist, 1090 Like the firm gold, confiding in their weight ; While some a frame so loose present and rare The rushing vapour permeates, void of touch. Such frame all timbers offer. But the steel Springs 'twixt the two : and hence, when through its pcnres Clogged with the brass effluvium, the full flood 1096
Flung from the magnet dashes it sublime.
Nor are such unions through created things Discerned unfrequent, nor severe the task To point affinities of equal strength. 1100
Lime onlj stones connects ; the strong steer-glae Joins planks so firm, a bond so valid rears, The closest-textured table through its veins Will easier sever than the glue desist.
The vine's pure juice in close alliance dares 1 105
League with the fountain ; while the ponderous pitch The light-winged oil refuses. With tiie fleece The purple murex so minutely blends Nought e'er can part them : no— though e'en thoa toil Day after day with all great Neptune's waves : 1110
No^his whole sea the stain would ne'er wash out.
One cement sole with gold concentrates gold. And nought but pewter brass with brass unites.
Such facts how numerous ! but why more recite ? To thee 'twere labour useless, and perplext ; 1115
And to the muse unjust ; for much remains, Much, though but few the numbers we design.
BOOK VI. ON THE NATUKE OF THINGS. 479
Where things once fit with textures reared reverse, Rare and o'ercharged, and this to that, and that Responds to this, alternate, they combine 1120
With firmest junction: but combine they, too. Oft as though hooks and ringlets formed the bond : And thus, perchance, the magnet meets the steel.
Now whence diseases rise, the morbid power What, that, once gendered, spreads its baneful blast 1125 O'er man's pale offspring, and the brutal throngs, , Next will we sing. Already hast thou heard Tiiat seeds exist, from many a substance flung, To life salubrious, yet, too oft, reversed. Noxious, and big with death. When spring the last 1130 Through heaven full flocking, all the vital air Sickens immediate, through its texture changed. And thus full flock they, their pestiferous power Fanning around them, from intrinsic birth In heaven itself begot as mists or clouds ; 1 135
Or breathed from earth, when once her soddened soil t^erments corrupted, plied by ceaseless rains Untimely poured, and hot succeeding suns.
Seest thou not, oft, the restless crowds that rove Far from their homes, their countries, tried severe 1140 With the new stream they drink, the heaven inhale ? From the dread change such sickness sole results. How wide must Britain differ in her clime From Egypt's tribes, o'er whom the northern pole Gleams never ! orient Pontus, how, from those 1145
Far westward, scattered o'er the Gadian isles, Or the swart Ethiop, blackening in his blaze ! And since the world's vast quarters, each from each, As various heavens and atmospheres divide, So man himself in tincture, face, and form 1 150
Alike must vary, and disease sustained.
High up the Nile, mid Egypt's central plains, Springs the dread leprosy, and there alone. Grout clogs the feet in Attica ; the sight Fails in Achaia : different regions, thus, 1 155
With different organs wage eternal war. As urged by atmospheres of frame unlike.
But when the heaven, of poisonous power to us,
480 LUCBETIUS. BOOK YL
First moves remote, its hostile effluence creeps
Slow, like a mist or vapour ; all around 1 IGO
Transforming as it passes, till, at length.
Beached our own region, it the total scene
Taints, and assimilates, and loads with death.
Abrupt then falls the new, pestiferous bane, Broad o'er the fountains, or the food invades 1165
Of man, or beast, the pasture or the grain. Or, haply, still along the breezy air It floats commingled ; whence, with every breath. Drink we alike the poison through our veins. And hence the murrain that assaults, at times, 1170
The lusty herd, the blight that thins our flocks. Nor aught imports it whether, urged by gain. We change the covering of the skies, and seek Ourselves the noxious climate, or its breeze Meet us spontaneous ; or aught else assail 1 175
Of nature new, and strange to every sense.
A plague like this, a tempest big with fate, Once ravaged Athens, and her sad domains ; Unpeopled all her city, and her paths Swept with destruction. For amid the realms 1180
Begot of Egypt, many a mighty tract Of ether traversed, many a flood o'erpast. At length, here fixed it ; o'er the hapless realm Of Cecrops hovering, and th' astonished race Dooming by thousands to disease and death. 1 185
The head first flamed with inward heat ; the eyes Reddened with fire suffused ; the purple jaws Sweated with bloody ichor ; ulcers foul Crept o'er the vocal path, obstructing close ; And the prompt tongue, expounder of the mind, 1 190
O'erflowed with gore, enfeebled in its post, Hoarse in its accent, harsh beneath the touch.
And when the morbid effluence through the throat Had reached the lungs, and filled the faltering heart, Then all the powers of life were loosened ; forth 1 195
Crept the spent breath most fetid from the mouth, As steams the putrid carcass : every power Failed through the soul— the body — and alike Lay they liquescent at the gates of death.
BOOK VI. ON THE NATURE OB* THINGS. 481
Wiile with these dread, insufferable ills 1200
A restless anguish joined, companion close,
And sighs commixt with groans ; and hiccough deep.
And keen convulsive twitchings ceaseless urged,
Day after day, o'er every tortured limb,
The wearied wretch still wearying with assault. 1205
Yet ne'er too hot the system could'st thou mark Outwards, but rather tepid to the touch : Tinged still with purple-dye, and brandished o'er With trails of caustic ulcers, like the blaze Of erysipelas. But all within 1210
Burned to the bone ; the bosom heaved with flames Fierce as a furnace, nor would once endure The lightest vest thrown loosely o'er the limbs. All to the winds, and many to the waves, Careless, resigned them ; in the gelid stream 1215
Plunging their fiery bodies, to be cooled : While some, wide -gasping, into wells profound Rushed all abrupt ; and such the red-hot thirst Unquenchable that parched them, amplest showers Seemed but as dew-drops to th' unsated tongue. 1220
Nor e'er relaxed the sickness ; the racked frame Lay all-exhausted, and, in silence dread, Appalled, and doubtful, mused the Healing Art. For the broad eye-balls, burning with disease, Rolled in full stare, for ever void of sleep, 1225
And told the pressing danger ; nor alone Told it, for many a kindred symptom thronged. The mind's pure spirit, all despondent, raved ; The brow severe ; the visage fierce and wild ; The ears distracted, filled with ceaseless sounds ; 1230
Frequent the breath ; or ponderous oft, and rare ; The neck with pearls bedewed of glistening sweat ; Scanty the spittle, thin, of saflron dye, Salt, with hoarse cough scarce laboured from the throat. The limbs each trembled ; every tendon twitched 1235 Spread o'er the hands ; and from the feet extreme O'er all the frame a gradual coldness crept. Then, towards the last, the nostrils close collapsed ; The nose acute ; eyes hollow ; temples scooped ; Frigid the skin, retracted ; o'er the mouth \1^
2 I
482 LUCRETIUS. BOOK TL
A ghastly grin ; the shrivelled forehead tense ; The limbs outstretched, for instant death prepared ; Till with the eighth descending sun, for few Beached his ninth lustre, life for ever ceased.
And though, at times, th' infected death escaped 1245 From sanious organs, or the lapse profuse Of black-tinged feces, fate pursued them still. Hectic and void of strength, consumption pale Preyed on their vitals ; or, with head-ache keen. Oft from the nostrils tides of blood corrupt 1250
Poured unrestrained, and wasted them to shades.
And, e'en o'er these triumphant, frequent still Fixed the morbific matter on the limbs, Or seized the genial organs ; and to some The grave so hideous, they consented life 1255
E'en with th' excision of their sexual powers Dearly to ransom : some their being bought By loss of feet or hands ; and some escaped Void of all vision ; such their dread of death. And in oblivion some so deep were drowned 12G0
Themselves they knew not, nor their lives elapsed.
And though, unburied, corse o'er corse the streets Oft thronged promiscuous, still the plumy tribes. The forest monsters, either far aloof Kept, the foul stench repulsing, or if once 1265
Dared they the plunder, instant fate pursued.
Nor feathery flocks at noon, nor beasts at night Their native woods deserted ; with the pest Remote they languished, and full frequent died. But chief the dog his generous strength resigned, 1270 Tainting the highways, while the ruthless bane Through every limb his sickening spirit drove.
With eager strife th' enormous grave was snatched, By friends untended : nor was aught of curt Discerned specific ; for what here recalled 1275
To day's bright regions the vanescent soul. And gave the living ether to the lips, Proved poison there, and ten-fold stamped the fate.
But this the direst horror, that when once Man felt th' infection, as though full forewarned 1280
Of sure destruction, melancholy deep
BOOK YI. ON THE I7ATUBB OF THINGS. 483
Preyed o'er his heart, his total courage failed, Death sole he looked for, and his doom was death.
Thus seized the dread, unmitigated pest Man after man, and day succeeding day, 1285
With taint voracious : like the herds they fell Of bellowing beeves, or flocks of timorous sheep : On funeral funeral hence for ever piled. E'en he who fled th' afflicted, urged by love Of life too fond, and trembling for his fate, 1290
Repented soon severely, and himself Sunk in his guilty solitude, devoid Of friends, of succour, hopeless, and forlorn. While those who nursed them, to the pious task Housed by their prayers, with piteous moans commixt, 1295 Fell irretrievable : the best, by far. The worthiest, thus most frequent met their doom.
From ceaseless sepulchres, where each with each Vied in the duteous labour, they returned Faint, sad, and weeping ; and from grief alone 1 300
Oft to their beds resistless were they driven. Nor lived the mortal then, who ne'er was tried With death, with sickness, or severest woe.
Then thei rude herdsman, shepherd, and the man Of sturdiest strength, who drove the plough afield, 1305 Languished remote ; and in their wretched cots Sunk, the sad victims of disease and want : O'er breathless sires their breathless offspring lay, Or sires and mothers o'er the race they bore.
Nor small the misery through the city oft 1310
That poured from distant hamlets ; for in throngs Full flocked the sickening peasants for relief From every point diseased ; and every space. And every building crowded ; heightening hence The rage of death, the hillocks of the dead. 1315
Some, parched with thirst, beneath th' eternal spout
Dropped of the public conduits ; in the stream
Wallowing unwearied, and its dulcet draught
Deep-drinking till they bursted. Staggering, some
Threw o'er the highways, and the streets they trod, 1320
Their languid limbs ; dready half extinct.
Horrid with fetor, stiff with blotches foul,
2 I 2
484 LUCBETIU8. BOOK YL
With rags obscene scarce covered ; o'er the bones
Skin only, nought but skin ; and drowned alike
Within and outwards, with putrescent grume. 1325
At length the temples of the gods themselves, Changed into cham^ and their sacred shrines Thronged with the dead : for superstition now, The power of altars, half their sway had lost, Whehned in the pressure of the present woe. 1330
Nor longer now the costly rites prevailed Of ancient burial, erst punctilious kept : For all roved restless, with distracted mind, From scene to scene ; and worn with grief and toil Gave to their firiends th' interment chance allowed. 1335 |
And direst exigence impelled them oft, Headlong, to deeds most impious ; for the pyres Funereal seized they, reared not by themselves^ And with loud dirge, and wailing wild, o'er these Placed their own dead ; amid th' unhallowed blaze 1340 With blood contending, rather than resign The tomb thus gained, or quit th' enkindling cc»rse.
THE END.
