Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  propterea quia, cum propior caliginis aër

  ater init oculos prior et possedit apertos,

  340 insequitur candens confestim lucidus aër,

  qui quasi purgat eos ac nigras discutit umbras

  aëris illius; nam multis partibus hic est

  mobilior multisque minutior et mage pollens.

  qui simul atque vias oculorum luce replevit

  345 atque pate fecit, quas ante obsederat aër

  ATER, continuo rerum simulacra secuntur,

  quae sita sunt in luce, lacessuntque ut videamus.

  quod contra facere in tenebris e luce nequimus

  propterea quia posterior caliginis aër

  350 crassior insequitur, qui cuncta foramina complet

  obsiditque vias oculorum, ne simulacra

  possint ullarum rerum coniecta moveri.

  Quadratasque procul turris cum cernimus urbis,

  propterea fit uti videantur saepe rutundae,

  355 angulus optusus quia longe cernitur omnis

  sive etiam potius non cernitur ac perit eius

  plaga nec ad nostras acies perlabitur ictus,

  aëra per multum quia dum simulacra feruntur,

  cogit hebescere eum crebris offensibus aër.

  360 hoc ubi suffugit sensum simul angulus omnis.

  fit quasi ut ad turnum saxorum structa tuantur;

  non tamen ut coram quae sunt vereque rutunda,

  sed quasi adumbratim paulum simulata videntur.

  Umbra videtur item nobis in sole moveri

  365 et vestigia nostra sequi gestumque imitari,

  aëra si credis privatum lumine posse

  indugredi, motus hominum gestumque sequentem;

  nam nihil esse potest aliud nisi lumine cassus

  aër id quod nos umbram perhibere suëmus.

  370 ni mirum, quia terra locis ex ordine certis

  lumine privatur solis qua cumque meantes

  officimus, repletur item quod liquimus eius,

  propterea fit uti videatur, quae fuit umbra

  corporis, e regione eadem nos usque secuta.

  [327] Moreover any vivid brightness often bums the eyes, because it contains many seeds of fire which make a way in and beget pain in the eyes.

  Again whatever the jaundiced look at becomes a greenish-yellow, because many seeds of greenish-yellow stream from their body and meet the idols of things, and many too are mixed up in their eyes, and these by their infection tinge all things with sallow hues.

  Again we see out of the dark things which are in the light for this reason: when the black air of darkness being the nearer has first entered and taken possession of the open eyes, the bright white air follows straightway after and cleanses them so to say and dispels the black shadows of the other air; for this is a great deal more nimble, a great deal more subtle and more efficacious.

  As soon as it has filled with light and opened up the passages of the eyes which the black air had before blocked up, forthwith the idols of things which are situated in the light follow and excite them so that we see.

  This we cannot do conversely in the dark out of the light, because the grosser air of darkness follows behind and quite fills all the openings and blocks up the passages of the eyes, not letting the idols of any things at all be thrown into the eyes to move them.

  Again when we descry far off the square towers of a town, they often appear to be round for this reason: all the angles are seen from a distance to look obtuse, or rather are not seen at all, and their blow is lost and their stroke never makes its way to our sight, because while the idols are borne on through much air, the air by repeated collisions blunts the stroke perforce.

  When in this way all the angles have together eluded the sense, the stone structures are rounded off as if by the lathe; yet they do not look like the things which are close before us and really round, but somewhat resembling them as in shadowy outline.

  Our shadow likewise seems to move in the sunshine and to follow our steps and mimic our action; if you think forsooth that air deprived of life can step, imitating the motions and the actions of men; for that which we are wont to term shadow can be nothing but air devoid of light.

  Sure enough, because the earth in certain spots successively is deprived of light wherever we intercept it in moving about, while that part of it which we have quitted is filled with light, therefore that which was the shadow of our body, seems to have always followed us unchanged in a direct line with us.

  375 semper enim nova se radiorum lumina fundunt

  primaque dispereunt, quasi in ignem lana trahatur.

  propterea facile et spoliatur lumine terra

  et repletur item nigrasque sibi abluit umbras.

  Nec tamen hic oculos falli concedimus hilum.

  380 nam quo cumque loco sit lux atque umbra tueri

  illorum est; eadem vero sint lumina necne,

  umbraque quae fuit hic eadem nunc transeat illuc,

  an potius fiat paulo quod diximus ante,

  hoc animi demum ratio discernere debet,

  385 nec possunt oculi naturam noscere rerum.

  proinde animi vitium hoc oculis adfingere noli.

  Qua vehimur navi, fertur, cum stare videtur;

  quae manet in statione, ea praeter creditur ire.

  et fugere ad puppim colles campique videntur,

  390 quos agimus praeter navem velisque volamus.

  Sidera cessare aetheriis adfixa cavernis

  cuncta videntur, et adsiduo sunt omnia motu,

  quandoquidem longos obitus exorta revisunt,

  cum permensa suo sunt caelum corpore claro.

  395 solque pari ratione manere et luna videtur

  in statione, ea quae ferri res indicat ipsa.

  Exstantisque procul medio de gurgite montis

  classibus inter quos liber patet exitus ingens,

  insula coniunctis tamen ex his una videtur.

  400 atria versari et circum cursare columnae

  usque adeo fit uti pueris videantur, ubi ipsi

  desierunt verti, vix ut iam credere possint

  non supra sese ruere omnia tecta minari.

  Iamque rubrum tremulis iubar ignibus erigere alte

  405 cum coeptat natura supraque extollere montes,

  quos tibi tum supra sol montis esse videtur

  comminus ipse suo contingens fervidus igni,

  vix absunt nobis missus bis mille sagittae,

  vix etiam cursus quingentos saepe veruti;

  410 inter eos solemque iacent immania ponti

  aequora substrata aetheriis ingentibus oris,

  interiectaque sunt terrarum milia multa,

  quae variae retinent gentes et saecla ferarum.

  [374] For new rays of light ever pour in and the old are lost, just as if wool were drawn into the fire.

  Therefore the earth is readily stripped of light, and again filled, and cleanses itself from black shadows.

  And yet in all this we do not admit that the eyes are cheated one whit, for it is their province to observe in what spot soever light and shade are; but whether the lights are still the same or not, and whether it is the same shadow which was in this spot that is now passing to that, or whether what we said a little before is not rather the fact, this the reason of the mind, and only it, has to determine; nor can the eyes know the nature of things.

  Do not then fasten upon the eyes this frailty of the mind.

  The ship in which we are sailing moves on while seeming to stand still; that one which remains at its moorings is believed to be passing by.

  The hills and fields seem to be dropping astern, past which we are driving our ship and flying under sail.

  The stars all seem to be at rest fast fixed to the ethereal vaults, and yet are all in constant motion, since they rise and then go back to their far-off places of setting after they have traversed the length of heaven with their bright bodies.

  In like manner sun and moon seem to stay in one place, bodies which simple fact proves
are carried on.

  And though between mountains rising up afar off from amid the waters there opens out for fleets a free passage of wide extent, yet a single island seems to be formed out of them united into one.

  When children have stopped turning round themselves, the halls appear to them to whirl about and the pillars to course round to such a degree, that they can scarce believe that the whole roof is not threatening to tumble down upon them.

  Again when nature begins to raise on high the sun’s beam ruddy with bickering fires and to lift it up above the mountains, those hills above which the sun then seems to you to be, as blazing close at hand he dyes them with his own fire, are distant from us scarce two thousand arrow-flights, yea often scarce five hundred casts of a javelin; and yet between them and the sun lie immense levels of sea, spread out below the huge borders of ether, and many thousands of lands are between, held by divers peoples and races of wild beasts.

  At coniectus aquae digitum non altior unum,

  415 qui lapides inter sistit per strata viarum,

  despectum praebet sub terras inpete tanto,

  a terris quantum caeli patet altus hiatus,

  nubila despicere et caelum ut videare videre,

  corpora mirande sub terras abdita caelo.

  420 Denique ubi in medio nobis ecus acer obhaesit

  flumine et in rapidas amnis despeximus undas,

  stantis equi corpus transversum ferre videtur

  vis et in adversum flumen contrudere raptim,

  et quo cumque oculos traiecimus omnia ferri

  425 et fluere adsimili nobis ratione videntur.

  Porticus aequali quamvis est denique ductu

  stansque in perpetuum paribus suffulta columnis,

  longa tamen parte ab summa cum tota videtur,

  paulatim trahit angusti fastigia coni,

  430 tecta solo iungens atque omnia dextera laevis

  donec in obscurum coni conduxit acumen.

  In pelago nautis ex undis ortus in undis

  sol fit uti videatur obire et condere lumen;

  quippe ubi nil aliud nisi aquam caelumque tuentur;

  435 ne leviter credas labefactari undique sensus.

  at maris ignaris in portu clauda videntur

  navigia aplustris fractis obnitier undis.

  nam quae cumque supra rorem salis edita pars est

  remorum, recta est, et recta superne guberna;

  440 quae demersa liquore obeunt, refracta videntur

  omnia converti sursumque supina reverti

  et reflexa prope in summo fluitare liquore.

  Raraque per caelum cum venti nubila portant

  tempore nocturno, tum splendida signa videntur

  445 labier adversum nimbos atque ire superne

  longe aliam in partem ac vera ratione feruntur

  At si forte oculo manus uni subdita supter

  pressit eum, quodam sensu fit uti videantur

  omnia quae tuimur fieri tum bina tuendo,

  450 bina lucernarum florentia lumina flammis

  binaque per totas aedis geminare supellex

  et duplicis hominum facies et corpora bina.

  Denique cum suavi devinxit membra sopore

  somnus et in summa corpus iacet omne quiete,

  455 tum vigilare tamen nobis et membra movere

  nostra videmur, et in noctis caligine caeca

  [414] Then a puddle of water not more than a finger-breadth deep, which stands between the stones in the streets, offers a prospect beneath the earth of a reach as vast, as that with which the high yawning maw of heaven opens out above the earth; so that you seem to discern clouds and see the bodies of birds far withdrawn into that wondrous sky beneath the earth.

  Again when our stout horse has stuck in the middle of a river and we have looked down on the swift waters of the stream, some force seems to carry athwart the current the body of the horse which is standing still and to force it rapidly up the stream; and to whatever point we cast our eyes about, all things seem to be carried on and to be flowing in the same way as we are.

  Again although a portico runs in parallel lines from one end to the other and stands supported by equal columns along its whole extent, yet when, from the top of it, it is seen in its entire length, it gradually forms the contracted top of a narrowing cone, until uniting roof with floor and all the right side with the left it has brought them together into the vanishing point of a cone.

  To sailors on the sea the sun appears to rise out of the waters and in the waters to set and bury his light; just because they behold nothing but water and sky; that you may not lightly suppose the credit of the senses to be shaken on all hands.

  Then to people unacquainted with the sea ships in harbor seem to be all askew and with poop fittings broken to be pressing up against the water.

  For whatever part of the oars is raised above the saltwater is straight, and the rudders in their upper half are straight: the parts which are sunk below the water-level appear to be broken and bent round and to slope up and turn back towards the surface and to be so much twisted back as well nigh to float on the top of the water.

  And when the winds carry the thinly scattered clouds across heaven in the night time, then do the glittering signs appear to glide athwart the rack and to be travelling on high in a direction quite different to their real course.

  Then if our hand chance to be placed beneath one eye and press it below, through a certain sensation all things which we look at appear then to become double as we look; the light of lamps brilliant with flames to be double, double too the furniture through the whole house, double men’s faces and men’s bodies.

  Again when sleep has chained down our limbs in sweet slumber and the whole body is sunk in profound repose, yet then we seem to ourselves to be awake and to be moving our limbs, and mid the thick darkness of night we think we see the sun and the daylight;

  cernere censemus solem lumenque diurnum,

  conclusoque loco caelum mare flumina montis

  mutare et campos pedibus transire videmur,

  460 et sonitus audire, severa silentia noctis

  undique cum constent, et reddere dicta tacentes.

  Cetera de genere hoc mirande multa videmus,

  quae violare fidem quasi sensibus omnia quaerunt,

  ne quiquam, quoniam pars horum maxima fallit

  465 propter opinatus animi, quos addimus ipsi,

  pro visis ut sint quae non sunt sensibus visa;

  nam nihil aegrius est quam res secernere apertas

  ab dubiis, animus quas ab se protinus addit.

  Denique nil sciri siquis putat, id quoque nescit

  470 an sciri possit, quoniam nil scire fatetur.

  hunc igitur contra minuam contendere causam,

  qui capite ipse suo in statuit vestigia sese.

  et tamen hoc quoque uti concedam scire, at id ipsum

  quaeram, cum in rebus veri nil viderit ante,

  475 unde sciat quid sit scire et nescire vicissim,

  notitiam veri quae res falsique crearit

  et dubium certo quae res differre probarit.

  invenies primis ab sensibus esse creatam

  notitiem veri neque sensus posse refelli.

  480 nam maiore fide debet reperirier illud,

  sponte sua veris quod possit vincere falsa.

  quid maiore fide porro quam sensus haberi

  debet? an ab sensu falso ratio orta valebit

  dicere eos contra, quae tota ab sensibus orta est?

  485 qui nisi sunt veri, ratio quoque falsa fit omnis.

  An poterunt oculos aures reprehendere, an aures

  tactus? an hunc porro tactum sapor arguet oris,

  an confutabunt nares oculive revincent?

  non, ut opinor, ita est. nam seorsum cuique potestas

  490 divisast, sua vis cuiquest, ideoque necesse est

  et quod molle sit et gelidum fervensve videre

  et seorsum varios rerum sentire colores

  et quae cumque color
ibus sint coniuncta necessest.

  seorsus item sapor oris habet vim, seorsus odores

  495 nascuntur, seorsum sonitus. ideoque necesse est

  non possint alios alii convincere sensus.

  [457] and though in a confined room, we seem to be passing to new climates seas rivers and mountains and to be crossing plains on foot and to hear noises, though the austere silence of night prevails all round, and to be uttering speech though quite silent.

  Many are the other marvels of this sort we see, which all seek to shake as it were the credit of the senses: quite in vain, since the greatest part of these cases cheats us on account of the mental suppositions which we add of ourselves, taking those things as seen which have not been seen by the senses.

  For nothing is harder than to separate manifest facts from doubtful which straightway the mind adds on of itself.

  Again if a man believe that nothing is known, he knows not whether this even can be known, since he admits he knows nothing.

  I will therefore decline to argue the case against him who places himself with head where his feet should be.

  And yet granting that he knows this, I would still put this question, since he has never yet seen any truth in things, whence he knows what knowing and not knowing severally are, and what it is that has produced the knowledge of the true and the false and what has proved the doubtful to differ from the certain.

  You will find that from the senses first has proceeded the knowledge of the true and the false and that the senses cannot be refuted.

  For that which is of itself to be able to refute things false by true things must from the nature of the case be proved to have the higher certainty.

  Well then, what must fairly be accounted of higher certainty than sense?

  Shall reason founded on false sense be able to contradict them, wholly founded as it is on the senses?

  And if they are not true, then all reason as well is rendered false.

  Or shall the ears be able to take the eyes to task, or the touch the ears? Again shall the taste call in question this touch, or the nostrils refute or the eyes controvert it? Not so, I guess; for each apart has its own distinct office, each its own power; and therefore we must perceive what is soft and cold or hot by one distinct faculty, by another perceive the different colors of things and thus see all objects which are conjoined with color.

  Taste too has its faculty apart; smells spring from one source, sounds from another.