Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  180 suavidicis potius quam multis versibus edam;

  parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruum quam

  clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.

  Principio persaepe levis res atque minutis

  corporibus factas celeris licet esse videre.

  185 in quo iam genere est solis lux et vapor eius,

  propterea quia sunt e primis facta minutis,

  quae quasi cuduntur perque aëris intervallum

  non dubitant transire sequenti concita plaga;

  suppeditatur enim confestim lumine lumen

  190 et quasi protelo stimulatur fulgere fulgur.

  qua propter simulacra pari ratione necessest

  inmemorabile per spatium transcurrere posse

  temporis in puncto, primum quod parvola causa

  est procul a tergo quae provehat atque propellat,

  195 quod super est, ubi tam volucri levitate ferantur,

  deinde quod usque adeo textura praedita rara

  mittuntur, facile ut quasvis penetrare queant res

  et quasi permanare per aëris intervallum.

  Praeterea si quae penitus corpuscula rerum

  200 ex altoque foras mittuntur, solis uti lux

  ac vapor, haec puncto cernuntur lapsa diei

  per totum caeli spatium diffundere sese

  perque volare mare ac terras caelumque rigare.

  quid quae sunt igitur iam prima fronte parata,

  205 cum iaciuntur et emissum res nulla moratur?

  [165] since to whatever part of them we present a mirror before their surfaces, other things correspond to these in the mirror of a like shape and like color.

  Moreover, though the state of heaven has just before been of unsullied purity, with exceeding suddenness it becomes so hideously overcast, that you might imagine all its darkness had abandoned Acheron throughout and filled up the great vaults of heaven: in such numbers do faces of black horror rise up from amid the frightful night of storm clouds and hang over us on high.

  Now there is no one who can tell how small a fraction of these an image is, or express that sum in language.

  Now mark: how swift the motion is with which idols are borne along, and what velocity is assigned to them as they glide through the air, so that but a short hour is spent on a journey through long space, whatever the spot towards which they go with a movement of varied tendency, all this I will tell in sweetly worded rather than in many verses; as the short song of the swan is better than the loud noise of cranes scattered abroad amid the ethereal clouds of the south.

  First of all we may very often observe that things which are light and made of minute bodies are swift.

  Of this kind are the light of the sun and its heat, because they are made of minute first things which are knocked forward so to speak and do not hesitate to pass through the space of air between, ever driven on by a blow following behind; for light on the instant is supplied by fresh light and brightness goaded to show its brightness in what you might call an ever on-moving team.

  Therefore in like manner idols must be able to scour in a moment of time through space unspeakable, first because they are exceeding small and there is a cause at their back to carry and impel them far forward; where moreover they move on with such winged lightness; next because when emitted they are possessed of so rare a texture, that they can readily pass through any things and stream as it were through the space of air between.

  Again, if those minute bodies of things which are given out from the inmost depths of these things, as the light and heat of the sun, are seen in a moment of time to glide and spread themselves through the length and breadth of heaven, fly over sea and lands and flood the heaven, what then of those which stand ready posted in front rank, when they are discharged and nothing obstructs their egress?

  quone vides citius debere et longius ire

  multiplexque loci spatium transcurrere eodem

  tempore quo solis pervolgant lumina caelum?

  Hoc etiam in primis specimen verum esse videtur,

  210 quam celeri motu rerum simulacra ferantur,

  quod simul ac primum sub diu splendor aquai

  ponitur, extemplo caelo stellante serena

  sidera respondent in aqua radiantia mundi.

  iamne vides igitur quam puncto tempore imago

  215 aetheris ex oris in terrarum accidat oras?

  quare etiam atque etiam mitti fateare necessest

  corpora quae feriant oculos visumque lacessant.

  perpetuoque fluunt certis ab rebus odores,

  frigus ut a fluviis, calor ab sole, aestus ab undis

  220 aequoris, exesor moerorum litora circum,

  nec variae cessant voces volitare per auras.

  denique in os salsi venit umor saepe saporis,

  cum mare versamur propter, dilutaque contra

  cum tuimur misceri absinthia, tangit amaror.

  225 usque adeo omnibus ab rebus res quaeque fluenter

  fertur et in cunctas dimittitur undique partis

  nec mora nec requies interdatur ulla fluendi,

  perpetuo quoniam sentimus et omnia semper

  cernere odorari licet et sentire sonare.

  230 Praeterea quoniam manibus tractata figura

  in tenebris quaedam cognoscitur esse eadem quae

  cernitur in luce et claro candore, necessest

  consimili causa tactum visumque moveri.

  nunc igitur si quadratum temptamus et id nos

  235 commovet in tenebris, in luci quae poterit res

  accidere ad speciem quadrata, nisi eius imago?

  esse in imaginibus qua propter causa videtur

  cernundi neque posse sine his res ulla videri.

  Nunc ea quae dico rerum simulacra feruntur

  240 undique et in cunctas iaciuntur didita partis;

  verum nos oculis quia solis cernere quimus,

  propterea fit uti, speciem quo vertimus, omnes

  res ibi eam contra feriant forma atque colore.

  [206] How much faster, you see, and farther must they travel, scouring through many times the same amount of space in the same time that the sunlight takes to spread over heaven !

  This too appears to be an eminently true proof of the velocity with which idols of things are borne along: as soon as ever the brightness of water is set down in the open air, if the heaven is starry, in a moment the clear radiant constellations of ether imaged in the water correspond to those in the heaven.

  Now do you see in what a moment of time an image drops down from the borders of heaven to the borders of earth? Therefore, again and again I repeat you must admit that bodies capable of striking the eyes and of provoking vision [constantly travel] with a marvelous [velocity].

  Smells too incessantly stream from certain things; as does cold from rivers, heat from the sun, spray from the waves of the sea, that enter into walls near the shore.

  Various sounds also cease not to fly through the air.

  Then too a moist salt flavor often comes into the mouth, when we are moving about beside the sea; and when we look on at the mixing of a decoction of wormwood, its bitterness affects us.

  In such a constant stream from all things the several qualities are carried and are transmitted in all directions round, and no delay, no respite in the flow is ever granted, since we constantly have feeling, and may at any time see smell and hear the sound of anything.

  Again since a particular figure felt by the hands in the dark is known to be the same which is seen in the bright light of day, touch and sight must be excited by a quite similar cause.

  Well then if we handle a square thing and it excites our attention in the dark, in the daylight what square thing will be able to fall on our sight, except the image of that thing? Therefore the cause of it is plain lies in images and no thing can be perceived without them.

  Well, the idols of things I speak of are borne along all round and are discharged and transmitted in all directions; but because we can see with the eyes a
lone, the consequence is that, to whatever point we turn our sight, there all the several things meet and strike it with their shape and color.

  et quantum quaeque ab nobis res absit, imago

  245 efficit ut videamus et internoscere curat;

  nam cum mittitur, extemplo protrudit agitque

  aëra qui inter se cumque est oculosque locatus,

  isque ita per nostras acies perlabitur omnis

  et quasi perterget pupillas atque ita transit.

  250 propterea fit uti videamus quam procul absit

  res quaeque. et quanto plus aëris ante agitatur

  et nostros oculos perterget longior aura,

  tam procul esse magis res quaeque remota videtur.

  scilicet haec summe celeri ratione geruntur,

  255 quale sit ut videamus, et una quam procul absit.

  Illud in his rebus minime mirabile habendumst,

  cur, ea quae feriant oculos simulacra videri

  singula cum nequeant, res ipsae perspiciantur.

  ventus enim quoque paulatim cum verberat et cum

  260 acre fluit frigus, non privam quamque solemus

  particulam venti sentire et frigoris eius,

  sed magis unorsum, fierique perinde videmus

  corpore tum plagas in nostro tam quam aliquae res

  verberet atque sui det sensum corporis extra.

  265 praeterea lapidem digito cum tundimus, ipsum

  tangimus extremum saxi summumque colorem

  nec sentimus eum tactu, verum magis ipsam

  duritiem penitus saxi sentimus in alto.

  Nunc age, cur ultra speculum videatur imago

  270 percipe: nam certe penitus remmota videtur.

  quod genus illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur,

  ianua cum per se transpectum praebet apertum,

  multa facitque foris ex aedibus ut videantur;

  is quoque enim duplici geminoque fit aëre visus.

  275 primus enim citra postes tum cernitur aër,

  inde fores ipsae dextra laevaque secuntur,

  post extraria lux oculos perterget et aër

  alter, et illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur.

  sic ubi se primum speculi proiecit imago,

  280 dum venit ad nostras acies, protrudit agitque

  aëra qui inter se cumquest oculosque locatus,

  et facit, ut prius hunc omnem sentire queamus

  quam speculum; sed ubi in speculum quoque sensimus ipsum,

  continuo a nobis in eum quae fertur imago

  285 pervenit, et nostros oculos reiecta revisit

  atque alium prae se propellens aëra volvit,

  et facit ut prius hunc quam se videamus, eoque

  distare ab speculo tantum semota videtur.

  [243] And the image gives the power to see and the means to distinguish how far each thing is distant from us; for as soon as ever it is discharged, it pushes before it and impels all the air which lies between it and the eyes; and thus that air all streams through our eyes and brushes so to say the pupils and so passes through.

  The consequence is that we see how far distant each thing is.

  And the greater the quantity of air which is driven on before it and the larger the current which brushes our eyes, the more distant each different thing is seen to be.

  You must know these processes go on with extreme rapidity, so that at one and the same moment we see what like a thing is and how far distant it is.

  And this must by no means be deemed strange herein that, while the idols which strike the eyes cannot be seen one at a time, the things themselves are seen.

  For thus when the wind too beats us with successive strokes and when piercing cold streams, we are not wont to feel each single particle of that wind and cold, but rather the whole result; and then we perceive blows take effect on our body just as if something or other were beating it and giving us a sensation of its body outside.

  Again when we thump a stone with a finger, we touch merely the outermost color on the surface of the stone, and yet we do not feel that color by our touch, but rather we feel the very hardness of the stone seated in its inmost depths.

  Now mark, and learn why the image is seen beyond the mirror; for without doubt it is seen withdrawn far within.

  The case is just the same as with things which are viewed in their reality beyond a door, when it offers through it an unobstructed prospect and lets many things outside be seen from a house.

  That vision too is effected by two separate airs: first there is an air seen in such a case inside the doorway; next come the leaves of the door right and left; next a light outside brushes the eyes, then a second air, then those things outside which are viewed in their reality.

  Thus when the image of the mirror has first discharged itself, in coming to our sight it pushes forward and impels all the air which lies between it and the eyes, and enables us to see the whole of it before the mirror.

  But when we have perceived the mirror as well, at once the image which is conveyed from us reaches the mirror and then is reflected and comes back to our eyes, and drives on and rolls in front of it a second air and lets us see this before itself, and for this reason it looks so far withdrawn from the mirror.

  quare etiam atque etiam minime mirarier est par

  * * *

  290 illis quae reddunt speculorum ex aequore visum,

  aëribus binis quoniam res confit utraque.

  Nunc ea quae nobis membrorum dextera pars est,

  in speculis fit ut in laeva videatur eo quod

  planitiem ad speculi veniens cum offendit imago,

  295 non convertitur incolumis, sed recta retrorsum

  sic eliditur, ut siquis, prius arida quam sit

  cretea persona, adlidat pilaeve trabive,

  atque ea continuo rectam si fronte figuram

  servet et elisam retro sese exprimat ipsa.

  300 fiet ut, ante oculus fuerit qui dexter, ut idem

  nunc sit laevus et e laevo sit mutua dexter.

  Fit quoque de speculo in speculum ut tradatur imago,

  quinque etiam aut sex ut fieri simulacra suërint.

  nam quae cumque retro parte interiore latebunt,

  305 inde tamen, quamvis torte penitusque remota,

  omnia per flexos aditus educta licebit

  pluribus haec speculis videantur in aedibus esse.

  usque adeo speculo in speculum translucet imago,

  et cum laeva data est, fit rusum ut dextera fiat,

  310 inde retro rursum redit et convertit eodem.

  Quin etiam quae cumque latuscula sunt speculorum

  adsimili lateris flexura praedita nostri,

  dextera ea propter nobis simulacra remittunt,

  aut quia de speculo in speculum transfertur imago,

  315 inde ad nos elisa bis advolat, aut etiam quod

  circum agitur, cum venit, imago propterea quod

  flexa figura docet speculi convertier ad nos.

  Indugredi porro pariter simulacra pedemque

  ponere nobiscum credas gestumque imitari

  320 propterea quia, de speculi qua parte recedas,

  continuo nequeunt illinc simulacra reverti;

  omnia quandoquidem cogit natura referri

  ac resilire ab rebus ad aequos reddita flexus.

  Splendida porro oculi fugitant vitantque tueri.

  325 sol etiam caecat, contra si tendere pergas,

  propterea quia vis magnast ipsius et alte

  [288] Wherefore again and again I repeat there is no cause at all to wonder why the images give back the reflection from the surface of mirrors in the spot they do, since in both the given cases the result is produced by two airs.

  To proceed, the right side of our body is seen in mirrors to be on the left, because when the image comes and strikes on the plane of the mirror, it is not turned back unaltered, but is beaten out in a right line backwards, just as if you were to take a plaster mask before it is dry and dash it on a pillar or beam, and it forthwith were to
preserve the lines of its features undistorted in front and were to strike out an exact copy of itself straight backwards.

  The result will be that the eye which was right will now be left; and conversely the left become the right.

  An image may also be so transmitted from one mirror to another that five or six idols are often produced.

  And thus all the things which lurk in the inmost corners of a house, however far they are withdrawn into tortuous recesses, may yet be all brought out through winding passages by the aid of a number of mirrors and be seen to be in the house.

  So unfailingly does the image reflect itself from mirror to mirror; and when the left side is presented, it becomes the right in the new image; then it is changed back again and turns round to what it was.

  Moreover all little sides of mirrors which possess a curvature resembling our side, send back to us idols with their right corresponding to our right either for this reason, because the image is transmitted from one mirror to another, and then after it has been twice struck out flies to us, or else because the image, when it has come to the mirror, wheels about, because the curved shape of the mirror teaches it to turn round and face us.

  Again you would think that idols step out and put down their foot at the same time with us and mimic our action, because from before whatever part of a mirror you move away, from that part forthwith no idols can be reflected; since nature constrains all things, when they are carried back and recoil from things, to be given back at angles equal to those at which they impinged.

  Bright things again the eyes eschew and shun to look upon: the sun even blinds them, if you persist in turning them towards it, because its power is great and idols are borne through the clear air with great downward force from on high, and strike the eyes, and disorder their fastenings.

  aëra per purum simulacra feruntur

  et feriunt oculos turbantia composituras.

  Praeterea splendor qui cumque est acer adurit

  330 saepe oculos ideo quod semina possidet ignis

  multa, dolorem oculis quae gignunt insinuando.

  lurida praeterea fiunt quae cumque tuentur

  arquati, quia luroris de corpore eorum

  semina multa fluunt simulacris obvia rerum,

  335 multaque sunt oculis in eorum denique mixta,

  quae contage sua palloribus omnia pingunt.

  E tenebris autem quae sunt in luce tuemur