Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  And yet you may observe even in things which are plain before us, that if you do not attend, it is just as if the thing were all the time away and far distant?

  What wonder then, if the mind loses all other things save those with which it is itself earnestly occupied?

  Then too from small indications we draw the widest inferences and by our own fault entangle ourselves in the meshes of self-delusion.

  Sometimes it happens too that an image of the same kind is not supplied, but what before was a woman, turns out in our hands to have changed into a man; or a different face and age succeed to the first.

  But sleep and forgetfulness prevent us from feeling surprise at this.

  And herein you should desire with all your might to shun the weakness, with a lively apprehension to avoid the mistake of supposing that the bright lights of the eyes were made in order that we might see;

  prospicere ut possimus, et ut proferre queamus

  proceros passus, ideo fastigia posse

  surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari,

  bracchia tum porro validis ex apta lacertis

  830 esse manusque datas utraque ex parte ministras,

  ut facere ad vitam possemus quae foret usus.

  cetera de genere hoc inter quae cumque pretantur,

  omnia perversa praepostera sunt ratione,

  nil ideo quoniam natumst in corpore ut uti

  835 possemus, sed quod natumst id procreat usum.

  nec fuit ante videre oculorum lumina nata,

  nec dictis orare prius quam lingua creatast,

  sed potius longe linguae praecessit origo

  sermonem multoque creatae sunt prius aures

  840 quam sonus est auditus, et omnia denique membra

  ante fuere, ut opinor, eorum quam foret usus;

  haud igitur potuere utendi crescere causa.

  at contra conferre manu certamina pugnae

  et lacerare artus foedareque membra cruore

  845 ante fuit multo quam lucida tela volarent,

  et volnus vitare prius natura coëgit

  quam daret obiectum parmai laeva per artem.

  scilicet et fessum corpus mandare quieti

  multo antiquius est quam lecti mollia strata,

  850 et sedare sitim prius est quam pocula natum.

  haec igitur possunt utendi cognita causa

  credier, ex usu quae sunt vitaque reperta.

  illa quidem seorsum sunt omnia, quae prius ipsa

  nata dedere suae post notitiam utilitatis.

  855 quo genere in primis sensus et membra videmus;

  quare etiam atque etiam procul est ut credere possis

  utilitatis ob officium potuisse creari.

  Illud item non est mirandum, corporis ipsa

  quod natura cibum quaerit cuiusque animantis.

  860 quippe etenim fluere atque recedere corpora rebus

  multa modis multis docui, sed plurima debent

  ex animalibus; quae quia sunt exercita motu,

  multa per os exhalantur, cum languida anhelant,

  multaque per sudorem ex alto pressa feruntur.

  865 his igitur rebus rarescit corpus et omnis

  subruitur natura, dolor quam consequitur rem.

  [826] and that the tapering ends of the shanks and hams are attached to the feet as a base in order to enable us to step out with long strides; or again that the forearms were slung to the stout upper arms and ministering hands given us on each side, that we might be able to discharge the needful duties of life.

  Other explanations of like sort which men give, one and all put effect for cause through wrongheaded reasoning; since nothing was born in the body that we might use it, but that which is born begets itself a use: thus seeing did not exist before the eyes were born, nor the employment of speech ere the tongue was made; but rather the birth of the tongue was long anterior to language and the ears were made long before sound was heard, and all the limbs, I trow, existed before there was any employment for them: they could not therefore have grown for the purpose of being used.

  But on the other hand, engaging in the strife of battle and mangling the body and staining the limbs with gore were in vogue long before glittering darts ever flew; and nature prompted to shun a wound or ever the left arm by the help of art held up before the person the defense of a shield.

  Yes, and consigning the tired body to rest is much older than a soft-cushioned bed, and the slaking of thirst had birth before cups.

  These things therefore which have been invented in accordance with the uses and wants of life, may well be believed to have been discovered for the purpose of being used.

  Far otherwise is it with all those things which first were born, then afterwards made known the purposes to which they might be put; at the head of which class we see the senses and the limbs.

  Wherefore again and again I repeat, it is quite impossible to believe that they could have been made for the duties which they discharge.

  It ought likewise to cause no wonder that the nature of the body of each living creature absolutely requires food I have shown that bodies ebb away and withdraw from things, many in number in many ways; but most numerous must be those which withdraw from living things; for because these are tried by active motion, and many particles are pressed out from the depths of the frame and carried off by sweating, many breathed out through the mouth, when they pant from exhaustion, from such causes the body becomes rarefied and the whole nature undermined;

  propterea capitur cibus, ut suffulciat artus

  et recreet vires inter datus, atque patentem

  per membra ac venas ut amorem opturet edendi.

  870 umor item discedit in omnia quae loca cumque

  poscunt umorem; glomerataque multa vaporis

  corpora, quae stomacho praebent incendia nostro,

  dissupat adveniens liquor ac restinguit ut ignem,

  urere ne possit calor amplius aridus artus.

  875 sic igitur tibi anhela sitis de corpore nostro

  abluitur, sic expletur ieiuna cupido.

  Nunc qui fiat uti passus proferre queamus,

  cum volumus, quareque datum sit membra movere

  et quae res tantum hoc oneris protrudere nostri

  880 corporis insuerit, dicam: tu percipe dicta.

  dico animo nostro primum simulacra meandi

  accidere atque animum pulsare, ut diximus ante.

  inde voluntas fit; neque enim facere incipit ullam

  rem quisquam, quam mens providit quid velit ante.

  885 id quod providet, illius rei constat imago,

  ergo animus cum sese ita commovet ut velit ire

  inque gredi, ferit extemplo quae in corpore toto

  per membra atque artus animai dissita vis est;

  et facilest factu, quoniam coniuncta tenetur.

  890 inde ea proporro corpus ferit, atque ita tota

  paulatim moles protruditur atque movetur.

  praeterea tum rarescit quoque corpus et aër,

  scilicet ut debet qui semper mobilis extat,

  per patefacta venit penetratque foramina largus,

  895 et dispargitur ad partis ita quasque minutas

  corporis. hic igitur rebus fit utrimque duabus,

  corpus ut ac navis velis ventoque feratur.

  nec tamen illud in his rebus mirabile constat,

  tantula quod tantum corpus corpuscula possunt

  900 contorquere et onus totum convertere nostrum;

  quippe etenim ventus subtili corpore tenvis

  trudit agens magnam magno molimine navem

  et manus una regit quanto vis impete euntem

  atque gubernaclum contorquet quo libet unum,

  905 multaque per trocleas et tympana pondere magno

  commovet atque levi sustollit machina nisu.

  [866] and this state is attended by pain.

  Food therefore is taken in order to give support to the frame and recruit the strength by its infusion, and to close up the open-mouthed craving for
meat throughout limbs and veins.

  The moisture too passes into all the parts which call for moisture; and many accumulated bodies of heat which cause a burning in our stomach, the approach of liquid scatters and quenches as if they were fire, so that dry heat can no longer parch the frame.

  In this way then you see gasping thirst is drenched out of our body, in this way the hungry craving is satisfied.

  Now how it comes to pass that we are able to step out when we please, and how it is given us to move about our limbs, and what cause is wont to push forward the great load of this our body I will tell: do you take in my words.

  I say that idols of walking first present themselves to our mind and strike on the mind, as we said before: then the will arises; for no one begins to do anything, until his mind has first determined what it wills.

  From the very fact that it determines such thing, there is an image of that thing.

  When therefore the mind bestirs itself in such a way as to will to walk and step out, it strikes at the same moment the force of the soul which is spread over the whole body throughout the limbs and frame; and this is easily done, since the whole is held in close union with the mind.

  Next the soul in its turn strikes the body, and thus the whole mass by degrees is pushed on and set in motion.

  Then again, the body becomes also rarefied, and the air, as you see its nature is, being always so nimble in moving, comes and passes in great quantity through the opened pores and is thus distributed into the most minute parts of the body.

  In this way then by these two causes acting in two ways the body like a ship is carried on by sails and wind.

  And herein it need not excite any surprise that such very minute bodies can steer so great a body and turn about the whole of this our load; for wind though fine with subtle body drives and pushes on a large ship of large moving mass and one hand directs it however great the speed at which it is going and one rudder steers it to any point you like; and by means of blocks of pulleys and tread-wheels a machine stirs many things of great weight and raises them up with slight effort.

  Nunc quibus ille modis somnus per membra quietem

  inriget atque animi curas e pectore solvat,

  suavidicis potius quom multis versibus edam,

  910 parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruum quam

  clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.

  tu mihi da tenuis auris animumque sagacem,

  ne fieri negites quae dicam posse retroque

  vera repulsanti discedas pectore dicta,

  915 tutemet in culpa cum sis neque cernere possis.

  Principio somnus fit ubi est distracta per artus

  vis animae partimque foras eiecta recessit

  et partim contrusa magis concessit in altum;

  dissoluuntur enim tum demum membra fluuntque.

  920 nam dubium non est, animai quin opera sit

  sensus hic in nobis, quem cum sopor inpedit esse,

  tum nobis animam perturbatam esse putandumst

  eiectamque foras, non omnem; namque iaceret

  aeterno corpus perfusum frigore leti.

  925 quippe ubi nulla latens animai pars remaneret

  in membris, cinere ut multa latet obrutus ignis,

  unde reconflari sensus per membra repente

  possit, ut ex igni caeco consurgere flamma?

  Sed quibus haec rebus novitas confiat et unde

  930 perturbari anima et corpus languescere possit,

  expediam: tu fac ne ventis verba profundam.

  Principio externa corpus de parte necessum est,

  aëriis quoniam vicinum tangitur auris,

  tundier atque eius crebro pulsarier ictu,

  935 proptereaque fere res omnes aut corio sunt

  aut etiam conchis aut callo aut cortice tectae.

  interiorem etiam partem spirantibus aër

  verberat hic idem, cum ducitur atque reflatur.

  quare utrimque secus cum corpus vapulet et cum

  940 perveniant plagae per parva foramina nobis

  corporis ad primas partis elementaque prima,

  fit quasi paulatim nobis per membra ruina.

  conturbantur enim positurae principiorum

  corporis atque animi. fit uti pars inde animai

  945 eliciatur et introrsum pars abdita cedat,

  pars etiam distracta per artus non queat esse

  coniuncta inter se neque motu mutua fungi;

  inter enim saepit coetus natura viasque.

  ergo sensus abit mutatis motibus alte.

  [907] Now by what means yon sleep lets a stream of repose over the limbs and dispels from the breast the cares of the mind, 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.

  Do you lend me a nice ear and a keen mind, that you may not deny what I say to be possible and secede with breast disdainfully rejecting the words of truth, you yourself being in fault the while and unable to discern.

  Sleep mainly takes place when the force of the soul has been scattered about through the frame, and in part has been forced abroad and taken its departure, and in part has been thrust back and has withdrawn into the depths of the body: after that the limbs are relaxed and droop.

  For there is no doubt that this sense exists in us by the agency of the soul; and when sleep obstructs the action of this sense, then we must assume that our soul has been disordered and forced abroad; not indeed all; for then the body would lie steeped in the everlasting chill of death.

  Where no part of the soul remained behind concealed in the limbs, as fire remains concealed when buried under much ash, whence could sense be suddenly rekindled through the limbs, as flame can spring up from hidden fire?

  But by what means this change of condition is accomplished and from what the soul can be disordered and the body grow faint, I will explain: do you mind that I waste not my words on the wind.

  In the first place the body in its outer side, since it is next to and is touched by the air, must be thumped and beaten by its repeated blows; and for this reason all things as a rule are covered either by a hide or else by shells or by a callous skin or by bark.

  When creatures breathe, this air at the same time buffets the inner side also, as it is inhaled and exhaled.

  Therefore since the body is beaten on both sides alike and blows arrive by means of the small apertures at the primal parts and primal elements of our body, there gradually ensues a sort of breaking up throughout our limbs, the arrangements of the first-beginnings of body and mind getting disordered.

  Then next a part of the soul is forced out and apart withdraws into the inner recesses; a part too scattered about through the frame cannot get united together and so act and be acted upon by motion; for nature intercepts all communication and blocks up all the passages;

  950 et quoniam non est quasi quod suffulciat artus,

  debile fit corpus languescuntque omnia membra,

  bracchia palpebraeque cadunt poplitesque cubanti

  saepe tamen summittuntur virisque resolvunt.

  Deinde cibum sequitur somnus, quia, quae facit aër,

  955 haec eadem cibus, in venas dum diditur omnis,

  efficit. et multo sopor ille gravissimus exstat,

  quem satur aut lassus capias, quia plurima tum se

  corpora conturbant magno contusa labore.

  fit ratione eadem coniectus parte animai

  960 altior atque foras eiectus largior eius,

  et divisior inter se ac distractior intus.

  Et quo quisque fere studio devinctus adhaeret

  aut quibus in rebus multum sumus ante morati

  atque in ea ratione fuit contenta magis mens,

  965 in somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire:

  causidici causas agere et componere leges,

  induperatores pugnare ac proelia obire,

  nautae contractum cum ventis degere bellum,
<
br />   nos agere hoc autem et naturam quaerere rerum

  970 semper et inventam patriis exponere chartis.

  cetera sic studia atque artes plerumque videntur

  in somnis animos hominum frustrata tenere.

  et qui cumque dies multos ex ordine ludis

  adsiduas dederunt operas, plerumque videmus,

  975 cum iam destiterunt ea sensibus usurpare,

  relicuas tamen esse vias in mente patentis,

  qua possint eadem rerum simulacra venire;

  per multos itaque illa dies eadem obversantur

  ante oculos, etiam vigilantes ut videantur

  980 cernere saltantis et mollia membra moventis

  et citharae liquidum carmen chordasque loquentis

  auribus accipere et consessum cernere eundem

  scenaique simul varios splendere decores.

  usque adeo magni refert studium atque voluntas,

  985 et quibus in rebus consuerint esse operati

  non homines solum sed vero animalia cuncta.

  quippe videbis equos fortis, cum membra iacebunt,

  in somnis sudare tamen spirareque semper

  et quasi de palma summas contendere viris

  990 aut quasi carceribus patefactis edere voces

  [950] and therefore sense retires deep into the frame as the motions are all altered.

  And since there is nothing as it were to lend support to the frame, the body becomes weak and all the limbs are faint, the arms and eyelids droop and the hams even in bed often give way under you and relax their powers.

  Then sleep follows on food, because food produces just the same effects as air, while it is distributed into all the veins; and that sleep is much the heaviest which you take when full or tired, because then the greatest number of bodies fall into disorder, bruised by much exertion.

  On the same principle the soul comes in part to be forced more deeply into the frame, and there is also a more copious emission of it abroad, and at the same time it is more divided and scattered in itself within you.

  And generally to whatever pursuit a man is closely tied down and strongly attached, on whatever subject we have previously much dwelt, the mind having been put to a more than usual strain in it, during sleep we for the most part fancy that we are engaged in the same; lawyers think they plead causes and draw up covenants of sale, generals that they fight and engage in battle, sailors that they wage and carry on war with the winds, we think we pursue our task and investigate the nature of things constantly and consign it when discovered to writings in our native tongue.