Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  For no doubt it must be conceded that many bodies ebb away and withdraw from things; but still more must join them, until they have touched the utmost point of growth.

  Then piece by piece age breaks their powers and matured strength and wastes away on the side of decay.

  For the larger a thing is and the wider, as soon as its growth is stopped, at once it sheds abroad and discharges from it more bodies in all directions round; and its food is not readily transmitted into all its arteries and is not enough, in proportion to the copious exhalations which the thing throws off, to enable a like amount to rise up and be supplied.

  For food must keep all things entire by renewing them, food must uphold, food sustain all things: all in vain, since the arteries refuse to hold what is sufficient, and nature does not furnish the needful amount.

  With good reason therefore all things perish, when they have been rarefied by the ebb of particles and succumb to blows without, since food sooner or later fails advanced age, and bodies never cease to destroy a thing by thumping it from without and to overpower it by aggressive blows.

  In this way then the walls too of the great world around shall be stormed and fall to decay and crumbling ruin.

  Yes and even now the age is enfeebled and the earth exhausted by bearing scarce produces little living creatures, she who produced all races and gave birth to the huge bodies of wild beasts.

  haud, ut opinor, enim mortalia saecla superne

  aurea de caelo demisit funis in arva

  1155 nec mare nec fluctus plangentis saxa crearunt,

  sed genuit tellus eadem quae nunc alit ex se.

  praeterea nitidas fruges vinetaque laeta

  sponte sua primum mortalibus ipsa creavit,

  ipsa dedit dulcis fetus et pabula laeta;

  1160 quae nunc vix nostro grandescunt aucta labore,

  conterimusque boves et viris agricolarum,

  conficimus ferrum vix arvis suppeditati:

  usque adeo parcunt fetus augentque laborem.

  iamque caput quassans grandis suspirat arator

  1165 crebrius, in cassum magnos cecidisse labores,

  et cum tempora temporibus praesentia confert

  praeteritis, laudat fortunas saepe parentis.

  tristis item vetulae vitis sator atque vietae

  temporis incusat momen saeclumque fatigat,

  1170 et crepat, antiquum genus ut pietate repletum

  perfacile angustis tolerarit finibus aevom,

  cum minor esset agri multo modus ante viritim;

  nec tenet omnia paulatim tabescere et ire

  ad capulum spatio aetatis defessa vetusto.

  [1153] For methinks no golden chain let down to earth from heaven above the races of mortal beings, nor did the sea and waves which lash the rocks produce them, but the same earth bare them which now feeds them out of herself.

  Moreover she first spontaneously of herself produced for mortals goodly corn-crops and joyous vineyards; of herself gave sweet fruits and glad pastures; which now-a-days scarce attain any size when furthered by our labor: we exhaust the oxen and the strength of the husbandmen; we wear out our iron, scarcely fed after all by the tilled fields; so niggardly are they of their produce and after so much labor do they let it grow.

  And now the aged plowman shakes his head and sighs again and again to think that the labors of his hands have come to nothing; and when he compares present times with times past, he often praises the fortunes of his sire and harps on the theme, how the men of old rich in piety comfortably supported life on a scanty plot of ground, since the allotment of land to each man was far less of yore than now.

  The sorrowful planter too of the exhausted and shriveled vine impeaches the march of time and wearies heaven, and comprehends not that all things are gradually wasting away and passing to the grave, quite forspent by age and length of days.

  Liber Tertius — BOOK III.

  E tenebris tantis tam clarum extollere lumen

  qui primus potuisti inlustrans commoda vitae,

  te sequor, o Graiae gentis decus, inque tuis nunc

  ficta pedum pono pressis vestigia signis,

  5 non ita certandi cupidus quam propter amorem

  quod te imitari aveo; quid enim contendat hirundo

  cycnis, aut quid nam tremulis facere artubus haedi

  consimile in cursu possint et fortis equi vis?

  tu, pater, es rerum inventor, tu patria nobis

  10 suppeditas praecepta, tuisque ex, inclute, chartis,

  floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant,

  omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta,

  aurea, perpetua semper dignissima vita.

  nam simul ac ratio tua coepit vociferari

  15 naturam rerum divina mente coorta

  diffugiunt animi terrores, moenia mundi

  discedunt. totum video per inane geri res.

  apparet divum numen sedesque quietae,

  quas neque concutiunt venti nec nubila nimbis

  20 aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina

  cana cadens violat semperque innubilus aether

  integit et large diffuso lumine ridet:

  omnia suppeditat porro natura neque ulla

  res animi pacem delibat tempore in ullo.

  25 at contra nusquam apparent Acherusia templa,

  nec tellus obstat quin omnia dispiciantur,

  sub pedibus quae cumque infra per inane geruntur.

  his ibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas

  percipit atque horror, quod sic natura tua vi

  [1] THEE, who first was able amid such thick darkness to raise on high so bright a beacon and shed a light on the true interests of life, thee I follow, glory of the Greek race, and plant now my footsteps firmly fixed in thy imprinted marks, not so much from a desire to rival thee as that from the love I bear thee I yearn to imitate thee; for why need the swallow contend with swans, or what likeness is there between the feats of racing performed by kids with tottering limbs and by the powerful strength of the horse? Thou, father, art discoverer of things, thou furnishest us with fatherly precepts, and like as bees sip of all things in the flowery lawns, we, o glorious being, in like manner feed from out thy pages upon all the golden maxims, golden I say, most worthy ever of endless life.

  For soon as thy philosophy issuing from a godlike intellect has begun with loud voice to proclaim the nature of things, the terrors of the mind are dispelled, the walls of the world part asunder, I see things in operation throughout the whole void: the divinity of the gods is revealed and their tranquil abodes which neither winds do shake nor clouds drench with rains nor snow congealed by sharp frosts harms with hoary fall: an ever-cloudless ether overcanopies them, and they laugh with light shed largely round.

  Nature too supplies all their wants and nothing ever impairs their peace of mind.

  But on the other hand the Acherusian quarters are nowhere to be seen, though earth is no bar to all things being descried, which are in operation underneath our feet throughout the void.

  At all this a kind of godlike delight mixed with shuddering awe comes over me to think that nature by thy power is laid thus visibly open, is thus unveiled on every side.

  30 tam manifesta patens ex omni parte retecta est.

  Et quoniam docui, cunctarum exordia rerum

  qualia sint et quam variis distantia formis

  sponte sua volitent aeterno percita motu,

  quove modo possint res ex his quaeque creari,

  35 hasce secundum res animi natura videtur

  atque animae claranda meis iam versibus esse

  et metus ille foras praeceps Acheruntis agendus,

  funditus humanam qui vitam turbat ab imo

  omnia suffundens mortis nigrore neque ullam

  40 esse voluptatem liquidam puramque relinquit.

  nam quod saepe homines morbos magis esse timendos

  infamemque ferunt vitam quam Tartara leti

  et se scire animi naturam sanguinis esse,

&nb
sp; aut etiam venti, si fert ita forte voluntas,

  45 nec prosum quicquam nostrae rationis egere,

  hinc licet advertas animum magis omnia laudis

  iactari causa quam quod res ipsa probetur.

  extorres idem patria longeque fugati

  conspectu ex hominum, foedati crimine turpi,

  50 omnibus aerumnis adfecti denique vivunt,

  et quo cumque tamen miseri venere parentant

  et nigras mactant pecudes et manibus divis

  inferias mittunt multoque in rebus acerbis

  acrius advertunt animos ad religionem.

  55 quo magis in dubiis hominem spectare periclis

  convenit adversisque in rebus noscere qui sit;

  nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo

  eliciuntur et eripitur persona amanare.

  denique avarities et honorum caeca cupido,

  60 quae miseros homines cogunt transcendere fines

  iuris et inter dum socios scelerum atque ministros

  noctes atque dies niti praestante labore

  ad summas emergere opes, haec vulnera vitae

  non minimam partem mortis formidine aluntur.

  65 turpis enim ferme contemptus et acris egestas

  semota ab dulci vita stabilique videtur

  et quasi iam leti portas cunctarier ante;

  unde homines dum se falso terrore coacti

  effugisse volunt longe longeque remosse,

  70 sanguine civili rem conflant divitiasque

  conduplicant avidi, caedem caede accumulantes,

  crudeles gaudent in tristi funere fratris

  et consanguineum mensas odere timentque.

  consimili ratione ab eodem saepe timore

  [30] And now since I have shown what-like the beginnings of all things are and how diverse with varied shapes as they fly spontaneously driven on in everlasting motion, and how all things can be severally produced out of these, next after these questions the nature of the mind and soul should methinks be cleared up by my verses and that dread of Acheron be driven headlong forth, troubling as it does the life of man from its inmost depths and over spreading all things with the blackness of death, allowing no pleasure to be pure and unalloyed.

  For as to what men often give out that diseases and a life of shame are more to be feared than Tartarus’ place of death, and that they know the soul to be of blood or it maybe of wind, if haply their choice so direct, and that they have no need at all of our philosophy, you may perceive for the following reasons that all these boasts are thrown out more for glory’s sake than because the thing is really believed.

  These very men, exiles from their country and banished far from the sight of men, live degraded by foul charge of guilt, sunk in a word in every kind of misery, and whithersoever the poor wretches are come, they yet do offer sacrifices to the dead and slaughter black sheep and make libations to the gods manes, and in times of distress turn their thoughts to religion much more earnestly.

  Wherefore you can better test the man in doubts and dangers and mid adversity learn who he is; for then and not till then the words of truth are forced out from the bottom of his heart: the mask is torn off, the reality is left.

  Avarice again and blind lust of honors which constrain unhappy men to overstep the bounds of right and sometimes as partners and agents of crimes to strive night and day with surpassing effort to struggle up to the summit of power, these sores of life are in no small measure fostered by the dread of death.

  For foul scorn and pinching want in every case are seen to be far removed from a life of pleasure and security and to be a loitering so to say before the gates of death.

  And while men driven on by an unreal dread wish to escape far away from these and keep them far from them, they amass wealth by civil bloodshed and greedily double their riches piling up murder on murder; cruelly triumph in the sad death of a brother and hate and fear the tables of kinsfolk.

  Often likewise from the same fear envy causes them to pine:

  75 macerat invidia ante oculos illum esse potentem,

  illum aspectari, claro qui incedit honore,

  ipsi se in tenebris volvi caenoque queruntur.

  intereunt partim statuarum et nominis ergo.

  et saepe usque adeo, mortis formidine, vitae

  80 percipit humanos odium lucisque videndae,

  ut sibi consciscant maerenti pectore letum

  obliti fontem curarum hunc esse timorem:

  hunc vexare pudorem, hunc vincula amicitiai

  rumpere et in summa pietate evertere suadet:

  85 nam iam saepe homines patriam carosque parentis

  prodiderunt vitare Acherusia templa petentes.

  nam vel uti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis

  in tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus

  inter dum, nihilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam

  90 quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura.

  hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest

  non radii solis neque lucida tela diei

  discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.

  Primum animum dico, mentem quem saepe vocamus,

  95 in quo consilium vitae regimenque locatum est,

  esse hominis partem nihilo minus ac manus et pes

  atque oculei partes animantis totius extant.

  * * *

  sensum animi certa non esse in parte locatum,

  verum habitum quendam vitalem corporis esse,

  100 harmoniam Grai quam dicunt, quod faciat nos

  vivere cum sensu, nulla cum in parte siet mens;

  ut bona saepe valetudo cum dicitur esse

  corporis, et non est tamen haec pars ulla valentis,

  sic animi sensum non certa parte reponunt;

  105 magno opere in quo mi diversi errare videntur.

  Saepe itaque, in promptu corpus quod cernitur, aegret,

  cum tamen ex alia laetamur parte latenti;

  et retro fit ubi contra sit saepe vicissim,

  cum miser ex animo laetatur corpore toto;

  110 non alio pacto quam si, pes cum dolet aegri,

  in nullo caput interea sit forte dolore.

  Praeterea molli cum somno dedita membra

  effusumque iacet sine sensu corpus honustum,

  est aliud tamen in nobis quod tempore in illo

  115 multimodis agitatur et omnis accipit in se

  laetitiae motus et curas cordis inanis.

  [75] they make moan that before their very eye she is powerful, he attracts attention, who walks arrayed in gorgeous dignity, while they are wallowing in darkness and dirt.

  Some wear themselves to death for the sake of statues and a name.

  And often to such a degree through dread of death does hate of life and of the sight of daylight seize upon mortals, that they commit self-murder with a sorrowing heart, quite forgetting that this fear is the source of their cares, [this fear which urges men to every sin] prompts this one to put all shame to route, another to burst asunder the bonds of friendship, and in fine to overturn duty from its very base; since often ere now men have betrayed country and dear parents in seeking to shun the Acherusian quarters.

  For even as children are flurried and dread all things in the thick darkness, thus we in the daylight fear at times things not a whit more to be dreaded than what children shudder at in the dark and fancy sure to be.

  This terror therefore and darkness of mind must be dispelled not by the rays of the sun and glittering shafts of day, but by the aspect and law of nature.

  First then I say that the mind which we often call the understanding, in which dwells the directing and governing principle of life, is no less part of the man than hand and foot and eyes are parts of the whole living creature.

  [Some however affirm] that the sense of the mind does not dwell in a distinct part, but is a certain vital state of the body, which the Greeks call harmonia, because by it, they say, we live with sense, though the understanding is in no one part; just as when
good health is said to belong to the body, though yet it is not any one part of the man in health.

  In this way they do not assign a distinct part to the sense of the mind; in all which they appear to me to be grievously at fault in more ways than one.

  Often times the body which is visible to sight, is sick, while yet we have pleasure in another hidden part; and oftentimes the case is the very reverse, the man who is unhappy in mind feeling pleasure in his whole body; just as if, while a sick man’s foot is pained, the head meanwhile should, be in no pain at all.

  Moreover when the limbs are consigned to soft sleep and the burdened body lies diffused without sense, there is yet a something else in us which during that time is moved in many ways and admits into it all the motions of joy and unreal cares of the heart.

  Nunc animam quoque ut in membris cognoscere possis

  esse neque harmonia corpus sentire solere,

  principio fit uti detracto corpore multo

  120 saepe tamen nobis in membris vita moretur.

  Atque eadem rursum, cum corpora pauca caloris

  diffugere forasque per os est editus aër,

  deserit extemplo venas atque ossa relinquit;

  noscere ut hinc possis non aequas omnia partis

  125 corpora habere neque ex aequo fulcire salutem,

  sed magis haec, venti quae sunt calidique vaporis

  semina, curare in membris ut vita moretur.

  est igitur calor ac ventus vitalis in ipso

  corpore, qui nobis moribundos deserit artus.

  130 quapropter quoniam est animi natura reperta

  atque animae quasi pars hominis, redde harmoniai

  nomen, ad organicos alto delatum Heliconi,

  sive aliunde ipsi porro traxere et in illam

  transtulerunt, proprio quae tum res nomine egebat.

  135 quidquid id est, habeant: tu cetera percipe dicta.

  Nunc animum atque animam dico coniuncta teneri

  inter se atque unam naturam conficere ex se,

  sed caput esse quasi et dominari in corpore toto

  consilium, quod nos animum mentemque vocamus.

  140 idque situm media regione in pectoris haeret.

  hic exultat enim pavor ac metus, haec loca circum

  laetitiae mulcent: hic ergo mens animusquest.

  cetera pars animae per totum dissita corpus