Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  Thus often the woolly flocks as they crop the glad pastures on a hill, creep on whither the grass jeweled with fresh dew summons and invites each, and the lambs fed to the full gambol and playfully butt; all which objects appear to us from a distance to be blended together and to rest like a white spot on a green hill.

  Again when mighty legions fill with their movements all parts of the plains waging the mimicry of war, the glitter then lifts itself up to the sky, and the whole earth round gleams with brass and beneath a noise is raised by the mighty trampling of men and the mountains stricken by the shouting re-echo the voices to the stars of heaven, and horsemen fly about and suddenly wheeling scour across the middle of the plains, shaking them with the vehemence of their charge.

  et tamen est quidam locus altis montibus, unde

  stare videntur et in campis consistere fulgor.

  Nunc age, iam deinceps cunctarum exordia rerum

  qualia sint et quam longe distantia formis,

  335 percipe, multigenis quam sint variata figuris;

  non quo multa parum simili sint praedita forma,

  sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant.

  nec mirum; nam cum sit eorum copia tanta,

  ut neque finis, uti docui, neque summa sit ulla,

  340 debent ni mirum non omnibus omnia prorsum

  esse pari filo similique adfecta figura.

  Praeterea genus humanum mutaeque natantes

  squamigerum pecudes et laeta armenta feraeque

  et variae volucres, laetantia quae loca aquarum

  345 concelebrant circum ripas fontisque lacusque,

  et quae pervolgant nemora avia pervolitantes,

  quorum unum quidvis generatim sumere perge;

  invenies tamen inter se differre figuris.

  nec ratione alia proles cognoscere matrem

  350 nec mater posset prolem; quod posse videmus

  nec minus atque homines inter se nota cluere.

  nam saepe ante deum vitulus delubra decora

  turicremas propter mactatus concidit aras

  sanguinis expirans calidum de pectore flumen;

  355 at mater viridis saltus orbata peragrans

  novit humi pedibus vestigia pressa bisulcis,

  omnia convisens oculis loca, si queat usquam

  conspicere amissum fetum, completque querellis

  frondiferum nemus adsistens et crebra revisit

  360 ad stabulum desiderio perfixa iuvenci,

  nec tenerae salices atque herbae rore vigentes

  fluminaque ulla queunt summis labentia ripis

  oblectare animum subitamque avertere curam,

  nec vitulorum aliae species per pabula laeta

  365 derivare queunt animum curaque levare;

  usque adeo quiddam proprium notumque requirit.

  [330] And yet there is some spot on the high hills, seen from which they appear to stand still and to rest on the plains as a bright spot.

  Now mark and next in order apprehend of what kind and how widely differing in their forms are the beginnings of all things, how varied by manifold diversities of shape; not that a scanty number are possessed of a like form, but because as a rule they do not all resemble one the other.

  And no wonder; for since there is so great a store of them that, as I have shown, there is no end or sum, they must sure enough not one and all be marked by an equal bulk and like shape, one with another.

  Let the race of man pass before you in review, and the mute swimming shoals of the scaly tribes and the blithe herds and wild beasts and the different birds which haunt the gladdening watering spots about river-banks and springs and pools, and those which flit about and throng the pathless woods: then go and take any, one you like in any one kind, and you will yet find that they differ in their shapes, every one from every other.

  And in no other way could child recognize mother or mother child; and this we see that they all can do, and that they are just as well known to one another as human beings are.

  Thus often in front of the beauteous shrines of the gods a calf falls sacrificed beside the incense-burning altars, and spurts from its breast a warm stream of blood; but the bereaved mother as she ranges over the green lawns knows the footprints stamped on the ground by the cloven hoofs, scanning with her eyes every spot to see if she can anywhere behold her lost youngling: then she fills with her moanings the leafy wood each time she desists from her search and again and again goes back to the stall pierced to the heart by the loss of her calf; nor can the soft willows and grass quickened with dew and yon rivers gliding level with their banks comfort her mind and put away the care that has entered into her, nor can other forms of calves throughout the glad pastures divert her mind and ease it of its care: so persistently she seeks something special and known.

  Again the tender kids with their shaking voices know their horned dams and the butting lambs the flocks of bleating sheep;

  praeterea teneri tremulis cum vocibus haedi

  cornigeras norunt matres agnique petulci

  balantum pecudes; ita, quod natura resposcit,

  370 ad sua quisque fere decurrunt ubera lactis.

  Postremo quodvis frumentum non tamen omne

  quidque suo genere inter se simile esse videbis,

  quin intercurrat quaedam distantia formis.

  concharumque genus parili ratione videmus

  375 pingere telluris gremium, qua mollibus undis

  litoris incurvi bibulam pavit aequor harenam.

  quare etiam atque etiam simili ratione necessest,

  natura quoniam constant neque facta manu sunt

  unius ad certam formam primordia rerum,

  380 dissimili inter se quaedam volitare figura.

  Perfacile est animi ratione exsolvere nobis

  quare fulmineus multo penetralior ignis

  quam noster fluat e taedis terrestribus ortus;

  dicere enim possis caelestem fulminis ignem

  385 subtilem magis e parvis constare figuris

  atque ideo transire foramina quae nequit ignis

  noster hic e lignis ortus taedaque creatus.

  praeterea lumen per cornum transit, at imber

  respuitur. quare, nisi luminis illa minora

  390 corpora sunt quam de quibus est liquor almus aquarum?

  et quamvis subito per colum vina videmus

  perfluere, at contra tardum cunctatur olivom,

  aut quia ni mirum maioribus est elementis

  aut magis hamatis inter se perque plicatis,

  395 atque ideo fit uti non tam diducta repente

  inter se possint primordia singula quaeque

  singula per cuiusque foramina permanare.

  Huc accedit uti mellis lactisque liquores

  iucundo sensu linguae tractentur in ore;

  400 at contra taetra absinthi natura ferique

  centauri foedo pertorquent ora sapore;

  ut facile agnoscas e levibus atque rutundis

  esse ea quae sensus iucunde tangere possunt,

  at contra quae amara atque aspera cumque videntur,

  405 haec magis hamatis inter se nexa teneri

  proptereaque solere vias rescindere nostris

  sensibus introituque suo perrumpere corpus.

  omnia postremo bona sensibus et mala tactu

  dissimili inter se pugnant perfecta figura;

  [368] thus they run, as nature craves, each without fail to its own udder of milk.

  Lastly in the case of any kind of corn you like you will yet find that any one grain is not so similar to any other in the same kind, but that there runs through them some difference to distinguish the forms.

  On a like principle of difference we see the class of shells paint the lap of earth, when the sea with gentle waves beats on the thirsty sand of the winding shore.

  Therefore again and again I say it is necessary for like reasons that first-beginnings of things, since they exist by nature and are not made by hand after the exact model of one, should fly about with sha
pes in some cases differing one from the other.

  It is right easy for us on such a principle to explain why the fire of lightning has much more power to pierce than ours which is born of earthly pinewood: you may say that the heavenly fire of lightning subtle as it is, is formed of smaller shapes and therefore passes through openings which this our fire cannot pass, born, as it is of woods and sprung from pine.

  Again light passes through horn, but rain is thrown off. Why?

  But that those first bodies of light are smaller than those of which the nurturing liquid of water is made.

  And quickly as we see wines flow through a strainer, sluggish oil on the other hand is slow to do so, because sure enough it consists of elements either larger in size or more hooked and tangled in one another, and therefore it is that the first-beginnings of things cannot so readily be separated from each other and severally stream through the several openings of any thing.

  Moreover the liquids honey and milk excite a pleasant sensation of tongue when held in the mouth; but on the other hand the nauseous nature of wormwood and of harsh centaury writhes the mouth with a noisome flavor; so that you may easily see that the things which are able to affect the senses pleasantly consist of smooth and round elements; while all those on the other hand which are found to be bitter and harsh, are held in connection by particles that are more hooked and for this reason are wont to tear open passages into our senses and in entering in to break through the body.

  All things in short, which are agreeable to the senses and all which are unpleasant to the feeling are mutually repugnant, formed as they are out of an unlike first shape;

  410 ne tu forte putes serrae stridentis acerbum

  horrorem constare elementis levibus aeque

  ac musaea mele, per chordas organici quae

  mobilibus digitis expergefacta figurant;

  neu simili penetrare putes primordia forma

  415 in nares hominum, cum taetra cadavera torrent,

  et cum scena croco Cilici perfusa recens est

  araque Panchaeos exhalat propter odores;

  neve bonos rerum simili constare colores

  semine constituas, oculos qui pascere possunt,

  420 et qui conpungunt aciem lacrimareque cogunt

  aut foeda specie foedi turpesque videntur.

  omnis enim, sensus quae mulcet cumque, tibi res

  haut sine principiali aliquo levore creatast;

  at contra quae cumque molesta atque aspera constat,

  425 non aliquo sine materiae squalore repertast.

  Sunt etiam quae iam nec levia iure putantur

  esse neque omnino flexis mucronibus unca,

  sed magis angellis paulum prostantibus, ut quae

  titillare magis sensus quam laedere possint,

  430 fecula iam quo de genere est inulaeque sapores.

  Denique iam calidos ignis gelidamque pruinam

  dissimili dentata modo conpungere sensus

  corporis, indicio nobis est tactus uterque.

  tactus enim, tactus, pro divum numina sancta,

  435 corporis est sensus, vel cum res extera sese

  insinuat, vel cum laedit quae in corpore natast

  aut iuvat egrediens genitalis per Veneris res,

  aut ex offensu cum turbant corpore in ipso,

  semina confundunt inter se concita sensum;

  440 ut si forte manu quamvis iam corporis ipse

  tute tibi partem ferias atque experiare.

  qua propter longe formas distare necessest

  principiis, varios quae possint edere sensus.

  Denique quae nobis durata ac spissa videntur,

  445 haec magis hamatis inter sese esse necessest

  et quasi ramosis alte compacta teneri.

  in quo iam genere in primis adamantina saxa

  prima acie constant ictus contemnere sueta

  et validi silices ac duri robora ferri

  450 aeraque quae claustris restantia vociferantur.

  [409] lest haply you suppose that the harsh grating of the creaking saw consists of the elements as smooth as those of tuneful melodies which musicians wake into life with nimble fingers and give shape to on strings; or suppose that the first-beginnings are of like shape which pass into the nostrils of men, when noisome carcasses are burning, and when the stage is fresh sprinkled with Cilician saffron, while the altar close by exhales Panchaean odors; or decide that the pleasant colors of things which are able to feast the eyes are formed of a seedlike to the seed of those which make the pupil smart and force it to shed tears or from their disgusting aspect look hideous and foul.

  For every shape which gratifies the senses has been formed not without a smoothness in its elements; but on the other hand whatever is painful and harsh has been produced not without some roughness of matter.

  There are too some elements which are with justice thought to be neither smooth nor altogether hooked with barbed points, but rather to have minute angles slightly projecting, so that they can tickle rather than hurt the senses; of which class tartar of wine is formed and the flavors of elecampane.

  Again that hot fires and cold frost have fangs of a dissimilar kind wherewith to pierce the senses, is proved to us by the touch of each.

  For touch, touch, ye holy divinities of the gods, the body’s feeling is, either when an extraneous thing makes its way in, or when a thing which is born in the body hurts it, or gives pleasure as it issues forth by the birth-bestowing ways of Venus, or when from some collision the seeds are disordered within the body and distract the feeling by their mutual disturbance; as if haply you were yourself to strike with the hand any part of the body you please and so make trial.

  Wherefore the shapes of the first-beginnings must differ widely, since they are able to give birth to different feelings.

  Again things which look to us hard and dense must consist of particles more hooked together, and be held in union because welded all through with branch-like elements.

  In this class first of all diamond stones stand in foremost line inured to despise blows, and stout blocks of basalt and the strength of hard iron and brass bolts which scream out as they hold fast to their staples.

  Those things which are liquid and of fluid body ought to consist more of smooth and round elements;

  illa quidem debent e levibus atque rutundis

  esse magis, fluvido quae corpore liquida constant.

  namque papaveris haustus itemst facilis quod aquarum;

  nec retinentur enim inter se glomeramina quaeque

  455 et perculsus item proclive volubilis exstat.

  omnia postremo quae puncto tempore cernis

  diffugere ut fumum nebulas flammasque, necessest,

  si minus omnia sunt e levibus atque rotundis,

  at non esse tamen perplexis indupedita,

  460 pungere uti possint corpus penetrareque saxa,

  nec tamen haerere inter se; quod cumque videmus

  sensibus dentatum, facile ut cognoscere possis

  non e perplexis, sed acutis esse elementis.

  sed quod amara vides eadem quae fluvida constant,

  465 sudor uti maris est, minime mirabile debet

  * * *

  nam quod fluvidus est, e levibus atque rotundis

  est, sed levibus sunt hamata admixta doloris

  corpora. nec tamen haec retineri hamata necessust:

  scilicet esse globosa tamen, cum squalida constent,

  470 provolvi simul ut possint et laedere sensus.

  et quo mixta putes magis aspera levibus esse

  principiis, unde est Neptuni corpus acerbum,

  est ratio secernendi seorsumque videndi,

  umor dulcis ubi per terras crebrius idem

  475 percolatur, ut in foveam fluat ac mansuescat;

  linquit enim supera taetri primordia viri,

  aspera quo magis in terris haerescere possint.

  Quod quoniam docui, pergam conectere rem quae

  ex hoc apta fidem ducat, primordia rerum

/>   480 finita variare figurarum ratione.

  quod si non ita sit, rursum iam semina quaedam

  esse infinito debebunt corporis auctu.

  namque in eadem una cuiusvis iam brevitate

  corporis inter se multum variare figurae

  485 non possunt. fac enim minimis e partibus esse

  corpora prima tribus, vel paulo pluribus auge;

  nempe ubi eas partis unius corporis omnis,

  summa atque ima locans, transmutans dextera laevis,

  omnimodis expertus eris, quam quisque det ordo

  490 formai speciem totius corporis eius,

  quod super est, si forte voles variare figuras,

  addendum partis alias erit. inde sequetur,

  adsimili ratione alias ut postulet ordo,

  si tu forte voles etiam variare figuras.

  [452] for the several drops have no mutual cohesion and their onward course too has a ready flow downwards.

  All things lastly which you see disperse themselves in an instant, as smoke mists and flames, if they do not consist entirely of smooth and round, must yet not be held fast by closely tangled elements, so that they may be able to pierce the body and enter it with biting power, yet not stick together: thus you may easily know, that whatever we see the senses have been able to allay, consists not of tangled but of pointed elements.

  Do not however hold it to be wonderful that some things which are fluid you see to be likewise bitter, for instance the sea’s moisture: because it is fluid, it consists of smooth and round particles, and many rough bodies mixed up with these produce pains; and yet they must not be hooked so as to hold together: you are to know that though rough, they are yet spherical, so that while they roll freely on, they may at the same time hurt the senses.

  And that you may more readily believe that with smooth are mixed rough first-beginnings from which Neptune’s’ body is made bitter, there is a way of separating these, and of seeing how the fresh water, when it is often filtered through the earth, flows by itself into a trench and sweetens; for it leaves above the first-beginnings of the nauseous saltness, inasmuch as the rough particles can more readily stay behind in the earth.