Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  For these reasons they escort in arms the great mother, or else because they mean by this sign that the goddess preaches to men to be willing with arms and valor to defend their country and be ready to be a safeguard and an ornament to their parents.

  All which, well and beautifully as it is set forth and told, is yet widely removed from true reason.

  For the nature of gods must ever in itself of necessity enjoy immortality together with supreme of repose, far removed and withdrawn from our concerns; since exempt from every pain, exempt from all dangers, strong in its own resources, not wanting aught of us, it is neither gained by favors nor moved by anger.

  And here if any one thinks proper to call the sea Neptune and corn Ceres and chooses rather to misuse the name of Bacchus than to utter the term that belongs to that liquor, let us allow him to declare that the earth is mother of the gods, if he only forbear in earnest to stain his mind with foul religion.

  The earth however is at all times without feeling, and because it receives into it the first– beginnings of many things, it brings them forth in many ways into the light of the sun.

  And so the woolly flocks and the martial breed of horses and homed herds, though often cropping the grass from one field beneath the same canopy of heaven and slaking their thirst from one stream of water, yet have all their life a dissimilar appearance and retain the nature of their parents and severally imitate their ways each after its kind:

  tanta est in quovis genere herbae materiai

  dissimilis ratio, tanta est in flumine quoque.

  Hinc porro quamvis animantem ex omnibus unam

  ossa cruor venae calor umor viscera nervi

  670 constituunt, quae sunt porro distantia longe,

  dissimili perfecta figura principiorum.

  Tum porro quae cumque igni flammata cremantur.

  si nil praeterea, tamen haec in corpore tradunt,

  unde ignem iacere et lumen submittere possint

  675 scintillasque agere ac late differre favillam.

  cetera consimili mentis ratione peragrans

  invenies igitur multarum semina rerum

  corpore celare et varias cohibere figuras.

  Denique multa vides, quibus et color et sapor una

  reddita sunt cum odore in primis pleraque poma.

  haec igitur variis debent constare figuris;

  nidor enim penetrat qua fucus non it in artus,

  fucus item sorsum, sorsum sapor insinuatur

  685 sensibus; ut noscas primis differre figuris.

  dissimiles igitur formae glomeramen in unum

  conveniunt et res permixto semine constant.

  Quin etiam passim nostris in versibus ipsis

  multa elementa vides multis communia verbis,

  690 cum tamen inter se versus ac verba necesse est

  confiteare alia ex aliis constare elementis;

  non quo multa parum communis littera currat

  aut nulla inter se duo sint ex omnibus isdem,

  sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant.

  695 sic aliis in rebus item communia multa

  multarum rerum cum sint, primordia rerum

  dissimili tamen inter se consistere summa

  possunt; ut merito ex aliis constare feratur

  humanum genus et fruges arbustaque laeta.

  700 Nec tamen omnimodis conecti posse putandum est

  omnia; nam volgo fieri portenta videres,

  semiferas hominum species existere et altos

  inter dum ramos egigni corpore vivo

  multaque conecti terrestria membra marinis,

  705 tum flammam taetro spirantis ore Chimaeras

  pascere naturam per terras omniparentis.

  [665] so great is the diversity of matter in any kind of herbage, so great in every river.

  And hence, too, any one you please out of the whole number of living creatures is made up of bones, blood, vein, heat, moisture, flesh, sinews; and these things again differ widely from one another and are composed of first-beginnings of unlike shape.

  Furthermore whatever things are set on fire and burned, store up in their body, if nothing else, at least those particles, out of which they may radiate fire and send out light and make sparks fly and scatter embers all about.

  If you will go over all other things by a like process of reasoning, you will thus find that they conceal in their body the seeds of many things and contain elements of various shapes.

  Again you see many things to which are given at once both color and taste together with smell; especially those many offerings [which are burned on the altars].

  These must therefore be made up of elements of different shapes; for smell enters in where color passes not into the frame, color too in one way, taste in another makes its entrance into the senses; so that you know they differ in the shapes of their first elements.

  Therefore unlike forms unite into one mass and things are made up of a mixture of seed.

  Throughout moreover these very verses of ours you see many elements common to many words, though yet you must admit that the verses and words one with another are different and composed of different elements; not that but few letters which are in common run through them or that no two words or verses one with another are made up entirely of the same, but because as a rule they do not all resemble one the other.

  Thus also though in other things there are many first-beginnings common to many things, yet they can make up one with the other a quite dissimilar whole; so that men and corn and joyous trees may fairly be said to consist of different elements.

  And yet we are not to suppose that all things can be joined together in all ways; for then you would see prodigies produced on all hands, forms springing up half man half beast and sometimes tall boughs sprouting from the living body, and many limbs of land-creatures joined with those of sea-animals, nature too throughout the all-bearing lands feeding chimeras which breathed flames from noisome mouth.

  quorum nil fieri manifestum est, omnia quando

  seminibus certis certa genetrice creata

  conservare genus crescentia posse videmus.

  710 scilicet id certa fieri ratione necessust.

  nam sua cuique cibis ex omnibus intus in artus

  corpora discedunt conexaque convenientis

  efficiunt motus; at contra aliena videmus

  reicere in terras naturam, multaque caecis

  715 corporibus fugiunt e corpore percita plagis,

  quae neque conecti quoquam potuere neque intus

  vitalis motus consentire atque imitari.

  sed ne forte putes animalia sola teneri

  legibus his, quaedam ratio res terminat omnis

  720 nam vel uti tota natura dissimiles sunt

  inter se genitae res quaeque, ita quamque necessest

  dissimili constare figura principiorum;

  non quo multa parum simili sint praedita forma,

  sed quia non volgo paria omnibus omnia constant.

  725 semina cum porro distent, differre necessust

  intervalla vias conexus pondera plagas

  concursus motus; quae non animalia solum

  corpora seiungunt, sed terras ac mare totum

  secernunt caelumque a terris omne retentant.

  730 Nunc age dicta meo dulci quaesita labore

  percipe, ne forte haec albis ex alba rearis

  principiis esse, ante oculos quae candida cernis,

  aut ea quae nigrant nigro de semine nata;

  nive alium quemvis quae sunt inbuta colorem,

  735 propterea gerere hunc credas, quod materiai

  corpora consimili sint eius tincta colore;

  nullus enim color est omnino materiai

  corporibus, neque par rebus neque denique dispar.

  in quae corpora si nullus tibi forte videtur

  740 posse animi iniectus fieri, procul avius erras.

  nam cum caecigeni, solis qui lumina numquam

  dispexere, tamen cognoscant corpora tactu

/>   ex ineunte aevo nullo coniuncta colore,

  scire licet nostrae quoque menti corpora posse

  745 vorti in notitiam nullo circum lita fuco.

  denique nos ipsi caecis quaecumque tenebris

  tangimus, haud ullo sentimus tincta colore.

  Quod quoniam vinco fieri, nunc esse docebo.

  [706] It is plain however that nothing of the sort is done, since we see that all things produced from fixed seeds and a fixed mother can in growing preserve the marks of their kind.

  This you are to know must take place after a fixed law.

  For the particles suitable for each thing from all kinds of food when inside the body pass into the frame and joining on produce the appropriate motions; but on the other hand we see nature throw out on the earth those that are alien, and many things with their unseen bodies fly out of the body impelled by blows: those I mean which have not been able to join on to any part nor when inside to feel in unison with and adopt the vital motions.

  But lest you haply suppose that living things alone are bound by these conditions, such a law keeps all things within their limits.

  For even as things begotten are in their whole nature all unlike one the other, thus each must consist of first-beginnings of unlike 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.

  Again since the seeds differ, there must be a difference in the spaces between, the passages, the connections, the weights, the blows, the clashings, the motions; all which not only disjoin living bodies, but hold apart the lands and the whole sea, and keep all heaven away from the earth.

  Now mark, and apprehend precepts amassed by my welcome toil, lest haply you deem that those things which you see with your eyes to be bright, because white are formed of white principles, or that the things which are black are born from black seed, or that things which are steeped in any other color bear that color because the bodies of matter are dyed with a color like to it.

  For the bodies of matter have no color at all either like to the things or unlike.

  But if haply it seems to you that no impression of the mind can throw itself into these bodies, you wander far astray.

  For since men born blind who have never beheld the light of the sun, yet recognize bodies by touch, though linked with no color for them from their first birth, you are to know that bodies can fall under the ken of our mind too, though stained with no color. Again, whatever things we ourselves touch in the thick darkness, we do not perceive to be dyed with any color.

  And since I prove that this is the case, I will now show that there are things [which are possessed of no color].

  omnis enim color omnino mutatur in omnis;

  750 quod facere haud ullo debent primordia pacto;

  immutabile enim quiddam superare necessest,

  ne res ad nihilum redigantur funditus omnes;

  nam quod cumque suis mutatum finibus exit,

  continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.

  755 proinde colore cave contingas semina rerum,

  ne tibi res redeant ad nihilum funditus omnes.

  Praeterea si nulla coloris principiis est

  reddita natura et variis sunt praedita formis,

  e quibus omnigenus gignunt variantque colores,

  760 propterea magni quod refert, semina quaeque

  cum quibus et quali positura contineantur

  et quos inter se dent motus accipiantque,

  perfacile extemplo rationem reddere possis,

  cur ea quae nigro fuerint paulo ante colore,

  765 marmoreo fieri possint candore repente,

  ut mare, cum magni commorunt aequora venti,

  vertitur in canos candenti marmore fluctus;

  dicere enim possis, nigrum quod saepe videmus,

  materies ubi permixta est illius et ordo

  770 principiis mutatus et addita demptaque quaedam,

  continuo id fieri ut candens videatur et album.

  quod si caeruleis constarent aequora ponti

  seminibus, nullo possent albescere pacto;

  nam quo cumque modo perturbes caerula quae sint,

  775 numquam in marmoreum possunt migrare colorem.

  sin alio atque alio sunt semina tincta colore,

  quae maris efficiunt unum purumque nitorem,

  ut saepe ex aliis formis variisque figuris

  efficitur quiddam quadratum unaque figura,

  780 conveniebat, ut in quadrato cernimus esse

  dissimiles formas, ita cernere in aequore ponti

  aut alio in quovis uno puroque nitore

  dissimiles longe inter se variosque colores.

  praeterea nihil officiunt obstantque figurae

  785 dissimiles, quo quadratum minus omne sit extra;

  at varii rerum inpediunt prohibentque colores,

  quo minus esse uno possit res tota nitore.

  Tum porro quae ducit et inlicit ut tribuamus

  principiis rerum non numquam causa colores,

  790 occidit, ex albis quoniam non alba creantur,

  nec quae nigra cluent de nigris, sed variis ex.

  [749] Well any color without any exception changes into any other; and this first-beginnings ought in no wise to do: something unchangeable must remain over, that all things be not utterly reduced to nothing.

  For whenever a thing changes and quits its proper limits, at once this change of state is the death of that which it was before.

  Therefore mind not to dye with color the seeds of things, that you may not have all things altogether returning to nothing.

  Moreover, if no quality of color is assigned to first-beginnings and they are yet possessed of varied shapes out of which they beget colors of every kind and change them about by reason that it makes a great difference with what other seeds and in what position the seeds are severally held in union and what motions they mutually impart and receive, you can explain at once with the greatest ease why those things which just before were of a black color, may become all at once of marble whiteness; as the sea, when mighty winds have stirred up its waters, is changed into white waves of the brightness of marble: you may say that when the matter of that which we often see to be black has been mixed up anew and the arrangement of its first-beginnings has been changed and some have been added and some been taken away, the immediate result is that it appears bright and white.

  But if the waters of the sea consisted of azure seeds, they could in no wise become white; for however much you jumble together seeds which are azure, they can never pass into a marble color.

  But if the seeds which make up the one unmixed brightness of the sea are dyed some with one, some with other colors, just as often out of different forms and varied shapes something square and of a uniform figure is made up, in that case it were natural that as we see unlike forms contained in the square, so we should see in the water of the sea or in any other one and unmixed brightness colors widely unlike and different to one another.

  Moreover the unlike figures do not in the least hinder or prevent the whole figure from being a square on the outside; but the various colors of things are a let and hindrance to the whole things being of a uniform brightness.

  Then too the reason which leads and draws us on sometimes to assign colors to the first-beginnings of things, falls to the ground, since white things are not produced from white, nor those which are black from black, but out of things of various colors.

  quippe etenim multo proclivius exorientur

  candida de nullo quam nigro nata colore

  aut alio quovis, qui contra pugnet et obstet.

  795 Praeterea quoniam nequeunt sine luce colores

  esse neque in lucem existunt primordia rerum,

  scire licet quam sint nullo velata colore;

  qualis enim caecis poterit color esse tenebris?

  lumine quin ipso mutatur propterea quod

  800 recta aut obliqua percussus luce refulget;

  pluma columbarum quo pac
to in sole videtur,

  quae sita cervices circum collumque coronat;

  namque alias fit uti claro sit rubra pyropo,

  inter dum quodam sensu fit uti videatur

  805 inter caeruleum viridis miscere zmaragdos.

  caudaque pavonis, larga cum luce repleta est,

  consimili mutat ratione obversa colores;

  qui quoniam quodam gignuntur luminis ictu,

  scire licet, sine eo fieri non posse putandum est.

  810 Et quoniam plagae quoddam genus excipit in se

  pupula, cum sentire colorem dicitur album,

  atque aliud porro, nigrum cum et cetera sentit,

  nec refert ea quae tangas quo forte colore

  praedita sint, verum quali magis apta figura,

  815 scire licet nihil principiis opus esse colore,

  sed variis formis variantes edere tactus.

  Praeterea quoniam non certis certa figuris

  est natura coloris et omnia principiorum

  formamenta queunt in quovis esse nitore,

  820 cur ea quae constant ex illis non pariter sunt

  omnigenus perfusa coloribus in genere omni?

  conveniebat enim corvos quoque saepe volantis

  ex albis album pinnis iactare colorem

  et nigros fieri nigro de semine cycnos

  825 aut alio quovis uno varioque colore.

  Quin etiam quanto in partes res quaeque minutas

  distrahitur magis, hoc magis est ut cernere possis

  evanescere paulatim stinguique colorem;

  ut fit ubi in parvas partis discerpitur austrum:

  [790] For white things will much more readily rise up and be born from no color than from a black or any other color which thwarts and opposes it.

  Moreover since colors cannot exist without light and first-beginnings of things do not come out into the light, you may be sure they are clothed with no color.

  For what color can there be in total darkness? Nay it changes in the light itself according as its brightness comes from a straight or slanting stroke of light.

  After this fashion the down which encircles and crowns the nape and throat of doves shows itself in the sun: at one time it is ruddy with the hue of bright pyropus; at another it appears by a certain way of looking at it to blend with coral-red green emeralds.