Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  And yet with all this Ennius sets forth that there are Acherusian quarters, publishing it in immortal verses;

  120 etsi praeterea tamen esse Acherusia templa

  Ennius aeternis exponit versibus edens,

  quo neque permaneant animae neque corpora nostra,

  sed quaedam simulacra modis pallentia miris;

  unde sibi exortam semper florentis Homeri

  125 commemorat speciem lacrimas effundere salsas

  coepisse et rerum naturam expandere dictis.

  qua propter bene cum superis de rebus habenda

  nobis est ratio, solis lunaeque meatus

  qua fiant ratione, et qua vi quaeque gerantur

  130 in terris, tunc cum primis ratione sagaci

  unde anima atque animi constet natura videndum,

  et quae res nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes

  terrificet morbo adfectis somnoque sepultis,

  cernere uti videamur eos audireque coram,

  135 morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa.

  Nec me animi fallit Graiorum obscura reperta

  difficile inlustrare Latinis versibus esse,

  multa novis verbis praesertim cum sit agendum

  propter egestatem linguae et rerum novitatem;

  140 sed tua me virtus tamen et sperata voluptas

  suavis amicitiae quemvis efferre laborem

  suadet et inducit noctes vigilare serenas

  quaerentem dictis quibus et quo carmine demum

  clara tuae possim praepandere lumina menti,

  145 res quibus occultas penitus convisere possis.

  hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest

  non radii solis neque lucida tela diei

  discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.

  Principium cuius hinc nobis exordia sumet,

  150 nullam rem e nihilo gigni divinitus umquam.

  quippe ita formido mortalis continet omnis,

  quod multa in terris fieri caeloque tuentur,

  quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre

  possunt ac fieri divino numine rentur.

  quas ob res ubi viderimus nil posse creari

  de nihilo, tum quod sequimur iam rectius inde

  perspiciemus, et unde queat res quaeque creari

  155 et quo quaeque modo fiant opera sine divom.

  Nam si de nihilo fierent, ex omnibus rebus

  omne genus nasci posset, nil semine egeret.

  e mare primum homines, e terra posset oriri

  squamigerum genus et volucres erumpere caelo;

  [121] though in our passage thither neither our souls nor bodies hold together, but only certain idols pale in wondrous wise.

  From these places he tells us the ghost of everliving Homer uprose before him and began to shed salt tears and to unfold in words the nature of things.

  Wherefore we must well grasp the principle of things above, the principle by which the courses of the sun and moon go on, the force by which every thing on earth proceeds, but above all we must find out by keen reason what the soul and the nature of the mind consist of, and what thing it is-which meets us when awake and frightens our minds, if we are under the influence of disease; meets and frightens us too when we are buried in sleep; so that we seem to ‘see and hear speaking to us face to face them who are dead, whose bones earth holds in its embrace.

  Nor does my mind fail to perceive how hard it is to make clear in Latin verses the dark discoveries of the Greeks, especially as many points must be dealt with in new terms on account of the poverty of the language and the novelty of the questions.

  But yet your worth and the looked-for pleasure of sweet friendship prompt me to undergo any labor and lead me on to watch the clear nights through, seeking by what words and in ,what verse I may be able in the end to shed on your mind so clear a light that you can thoroughly scan hidden things.

  This terror then and darkness of mind must be dispelled not by the rays of the sun and glittering shafts of day, but by the aspect and the law of nature; the warp of whose design we shall begin with this first principle, nothing is ever gotten out of nothing by divine power.

  Fear in sooth holds so in check all mortals, because they see many operations go on in earth and heaven, the causes of which they can in no way understand, believing them therefore to be done by power divine.

  For these reasons when we shall have seen that nothing can be produced from nothing, we shall then more correctly ascertain that which we are seeking, both the elements out of which everything can be produced and the manner in which all things are done without the hand of the gods.

  If things came from nothing, any kind might be born of any thing, nothing would require seed.

  Men for instance might rise out of the sea, the scaly race out of the earth, and birds might burst out of the sky;

  armenta atque aliae pecudes, genus omne ferarum,

  incerto partu culta ac deserta tenerent.

  165 nec fructus idem arboribus constare solerent,

  sed mutarentur, ferre omnes omnia possent.

  quippe ubi non essent genitalia corpora cuique,

  qui posset mater rebus consistere certa?

  at nunc seminibus quia certis quaeque creantur,

  170 inde enascitur atque oras in luminis exit,

  materies ubi inest cuiusque et corpora prima;

  atque hac re nequeunt ex omnibus omnia gigni,

  quod certis in rebus inest secreta facultas.

  Praeterea cur vere rosam, frumenta calore,

  175 vites autumno fundi suadente videmus,

  si non, certa suo quia tempore semina rerum

  cum confluxerunt, patefit quod cumque creatur,

  dum tempestates adsunt et vivida tellus

  tuto res teneras effert in luminis oras?

  180 quod si de nihilo fierent, subito exorerentur

  incerto spatio atque alienis partibus anni,

  quippe ubi nulla forent primordia, quae genitali

  concilio possent arceri tempore iniquo.

  Nec porro augendis rebus spatio foret usus

  185 seminis ad coitum, si e nilo crescere possent;

  nam fierent iuvenes subito ex infantibus parvis

  e terraque exorta repente arbusta salirent.

  quorum nil fieri manifestum est, omnia quando

  paulatim crescunt, ut par est semine certo,

  190 crescentesque genus servant; ut noscere possis

  quicque sua de materia grandescere alique.

  Huc accedit uti sine certis imbribus anni

  laetificos nequeat fetus submittere tellus

  nec porro secreta cibo natura animantum

  195 propagare genus possit vitamque tueri;

  ut potius multis communia corpora rebus

  multa putes esse, ut verbis elementa videmus,

  quam sine principiis ullam rem existere posse.

  Denique cur homines tantos natura parare

  200 non potuit, pedibus qui pontum per vada possent

  transire et magnos manibus divellere montis

  multaque vivendo vitalia vincere saecla,

  si non, materies quia rebus reddita certast

  gignundis, e qua constat quid possit oriri?

  205 nil igitur fieri de nilo posse fatendumst,

  semine quando opus est rebus, quo quaeque creatae

  aeris in teneras possint proferrier auras.

  [163] horned and other herds, every kind of wild beasts would haunt with changing broad tilth and wilderness alike.

  Nor would the same fruits keep constant to trees, but would change; any tree might bear any fruit.

  For if there were not begetting bodies for each, how could things have a fixed unvarying mother?

  But in fact because things are all produced from fixed seeds, each thing is born and goes forth into the borders of light out of that in which resides its matter and first bodies; and for this reason all things cannot be gotten out of all things, because in particular things resides a distinct power.

/>   Again, why do we see the rose put forth in spring, corn in the season of heat, vines yielding at the call of autumn, if not because, when the fixed seeds of things have streamed together at the proper time, whatever is born discloses itself, while the due seasons are there and the quickened earth brings its weakly products in safety forth into the borders of light?

  But if they came from nothing, they would rise up suddenly at uncertain periods and unsuitable times of year, inasmuch as there would be no first-beginnings to be kept from a begetting union by the unpropitious season.

  No nor would time be required for the growth of things after the meeting of the seed, if they could increase out of nothing.

  Little babies would at once grow into men and trees in a moment would rise and spring out of the ground.

  But none of these events it is plain ever comes to pass, since all things grow step by step [at a fixed time], as is natural, [since they all grow] from a fixed seed and in growing preserve their kind; so that you may be sure that all things increase in size and are fed out of their own matter.

  Furthermore without fixed seasons of rain the earth is unable to put forth its gladdening produce, nor again if kept from food could the nature of living things continue its kind and sustain life; so that you may hold with greater truth that many bodies are common to many things, as we see letters common to different words, than that anything could come into being without first-beginnings.

  Again why could not nature have produced men of such a size and strength as to be able to wade on foot across the sea and rend great mountains with their hands and outlive many generations of living men, if not because an unchanging matter has been assigned for begetting things and what can arise out of this matter is fixed? We must admit therefore that nothing can come from nothing, since things require seed before they can severally be born and be brought out into the buxom fields of air.

  Postremo quoniam incultis praestare videmus

  culta loca et manibus melioris reddere fetus,

  210 esse videlicet in terris primordia rerum

  quae nos fecundas vertentes vomere glebas

  terraique solum subigentes cimus ad ortus;

  quod si nulla forent, nostro sine quaeque labore

  sponte sua multo fieri meliora videres.

  215 Huc accedit uti quicque in sua corpora rursum

  dissoluat natura neque ad nihilum interemat res.

  nam siquid mortale e cunctis partibus esset,

  ex oculis res quaeque repente erepta periret;

  nulla vi foret usus enim, quae partibus eius

  220 discidium parere et nexus exsolvere posset.

  quod nunc, aeterno quia constant semine quaeque,

  donec vis obiit, quae res diverberet ictu

  aut intus penetret per inania dissoluatque,

  nullius exitium patitur natura videri.

  225 Praeterea quae cumque vetustate amovet aetas,

  si penitus peremit consumens materiem omnem,

  unde animale genus generatim in lumina vitae

  redducit Venus, aut redductum daedala tellus

  unde alit atque auget generatim pabula praebens?

  230 unde mare ingenuei fontes externaque longe

  flumina suppeditant? unde aether sidera pascit?

  omnia enim debet, mortali corpore quae sunt,

  infinita aetas consumpse ante acta diesque.

  quod si in eo spatio atque ante acta aetate fuere

  235 e quibus haec rerum consistit summa refecta,

  inmortali sunt natura praedita certe.

  haud igitur possunt ad nilum quaeque reverti.

  Denique res omnis eadem vis causaque volgo

  conficeret, nisi materies aeterna teneret,

  240 inter se nexus minus aut magis indupedita;

  tactus enim leti satis esset causa profecto,

  quippe ubi nulla forent aeterno corpore, quorum

  contextum vis deberet dissolvere quaeque.

  at nunc, inter se quia nexus principiorum

  245 dissimiles constant aeternaque materies est,

  incolumi remanent res corpore, dum satis acris

  vis obeat pro textura cuiusque reperta.

  [207] Lastly, since we see that tilled grounds surpass untilled and yield a better produce by the labor of hands, we may infer that there are in the earth first-beginnings of things which by turning up the fruitful clods with the share and laboring the soil of the earth we stimulate to rise.

  But if there were not such, you would see all things without any labor of ours spontaneously come forth in much greater perfection.

  Moreover nature dissolves every thing back into its first bodies and does not annihilate things.

  For if aught were mortal in all its parts alike, the thing in a moment would be snatched away to destruction from before our eyes; since no force would be needed to produce disruption among its parts and undo their fastenings.

  Whereas in fact, as all things consist of an imperishable seed, nature suffers the destruction of nothing to be seen, until a force has encountered lit sufficient to dash things to pieces by a blow or to pierce through the void places within them and break them up.

  Again if time, whenever it makes away with things through age, utterly destroys them eating up all their matter, out of what does Venus bring back into the light of life the race of living things each after its kind, or, when they are brought back, out of what does earth manifold in works give them nourishment and increase, furnishing them with food each after its kind? Out of what do its own native fountains and extraneous rivers from far and wide keep full the sea? Out of what does ether feed the stars? For infinite time gone by and lapse of days must have eaten up all things which are of mortal body.

  Now if in that period of time gone by those things have existed, of which this sum of things is composed and recruited, they are possessed no doubt of an imperishable body, and cannot therefore any of them return to nothing.

  Again the same force and cause would destroy all things without distinction, unless everlasting matter held them together, matter more or less closely linked in mutual entanglement: a touch in sooth would be sufficient cause of death, inasmuch as any amount of force must of course undo the texture of things in which no parts at all were of an everlasting body.

  But in fact, because the fastenings of first-beginnings one with the other are unlike and matter is everlasting, things continue with body uninjured, until a force is found to encounter them strong enough to overpower the texture of each thing therefore never returns to nothing, but all things after disruption go back into the first bodies of matter.

  haud igitur redit ad nihilum res ulla, sed omnes

  discidio redeunt in corpora materiai.

  250 postremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater aether

  in gremium matris terrai praecipitavit;

  at nitidae surgunt fruges ramique virescunt

  arboribus, crescunt ipsae fetuque gravantur.

  hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum,

  255 hinc laetas urbes pueris florere videmus

  frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas,

  hinc fessae pecudes pinguis per pabula laeta

  corpora deponunt et candens lacteus umor

  uberibus manat distentis, hinc nova proles

  260 artubus infirmis teneras lasciva per herbas

  ludit lacte mero mentes perculsa novellas.

  haud igitur penitus pereunt quaecumque videntur,

  quando alit ex alio reficit natura nec ullam

  rem gigni patitur nisi morte adiuta aliena.

  265 Nunc age, res quoniam docui non posse creari

  de nihilo neque item genitas ad nil revocari,

  ne qua forte tamen coeptes diffidere dictis,

  quod nequeunt oculis rerum primordia cerni,

  accipe praeterea quae corpora tute necessest

  270 confiteare esse in rebus nec posse videri.

  Principio venti vis verberat incita corpus

  in
gentisque ruit navis et nubila differt,

  inter dum rapido percurrens turbine campos

  arboribus magnis sternit montisque supremos

  275 silvifragis vexat flabris: ita perfurit acri

  cum fremitu saevitque minaci murmure pontus.

  sunt igitur venti ni mirum corpora caeca,

  quae mare, quae terras, quae denique nubila caeli

  verrunt ac subito vexantia turbine raptant,

  280 nec ratione fluunt alia stragemque propagant

  et cum mollis aquae fertur natura repente

  flumine abundanti, quam largis imbribus auget

  montibus ex altis magnus decursus aquai

  fragmina coniciens silvarum arbustaque tota,

  285 nec validi possunt pontes venientis aquai

  vim subitam tolerare: ita magno turbidus imbri

  molibus incurrit validis cum viribus amnis,

  dat sonitu magno stragem volvitque sub undis

  grandia saxa, ruit qua quidquid fluctibus obstat.

  [248] Lastly, rains die, when father ether has tumbled them into the lap of mother earth; but then goodly crops spring up and boughs are green with leaves upon the trees, trees themselves grow and are laden with fruit; by them in turn our race and the race of wild beasts are fed, by them we see glad towns teem with children and the leafy forests ring on all sides with the song of new birds; through them cattle wearied with their load of fat lay their bodies down about the glad pastures and the white milky stream pours from the distended udders; through them a new brood with weakly limbs frisks and gambols over the soft grass, rapt in their young hearts with the pure new milk.

  None of the things therefore which seem to be lost is utterly lost, since nature replenishes one thing out of another and does not suffer any thing to be begotten, before she has been recruited by the death of some other.

  Now mark me: since I have taught that things cannot be born from nothing, cannot when begotten be brought back to nothing, that you may not haply yet begin in any shape to mistrust my words, because the first-beginnings of things cannot be seen by the eyes, take moreover this list of bodies which you must yourself admit are in the number of things and cannot be seen.