Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  non ita difficilest rationem reddere verbis.

  quippe etenim iam tum divom mortalia saecla

  1170 egregias animo facies vigilante videbant

  et magis in somnis mirando corporis auctu.

  his igitur sensum tribuebant propterea quod

  membra movere videbantur vocesque superbas

  mittere pro facie praeclara et viribus amplis.

  1175 aeternamque dabant vitam, quia semper eorum

  subpeditabatur facies et forma manebat,

  et tamen omnino quod tantis viribus auctos

  non temere ulla vi convinci posse putabant.

  fortunisque ideo longe praestare putabant,

  1180 quod mortis timor haut quemquam vexaret eorum,

  et simul in somnis quia multa et mira videbant

  efficere et nullum capere ipsos inde laborem.

  [1142] Next a portion of them taught men to elect legal officers, and drew up codes, to induce men to obey the laws.

  For mankind, tired out with a life of brute force, lay exhausted from its feuds; and therefore the more readily it submitted of its own freewill to laws and stringent codes.

  For as each one moved by anger took measures to avenge himself with more severity than is now permitted by equitable laws, for this reason men grew sick of a life of brute force.

  Thence fear of punishment mars the prizes of life; for violence and wrong enclose all who commit them in their meshes and do mostly recoil on him from whom they began; and it is not easy for him who by his deeds transgresses the terms of the public peace to pass a tranquil and a peaceful existence.

  For though he eludes God and man, yet he cannot but feel a misgiving that his secret can be kept for ever; seeing that many by speaking in their dreams or in the wanderings of disease have often we are told betrayed themselves and have disclosed their hidden deeds of evil and their sins.

  And now what cause has spread over great nations the worship of the divinities of the gods and filled towns with altars and led to the performance of stated sacred rites, rites now in fashion on solemn occasions and in solemn places, from which even now, is implanted in mortals a shuddering awe which raises new temples of the gods over the whole earth and prompts men to crowd them on festive days, all this it is not so difficult to explain in words.

  Even then in sooth the races of mortal men would see in waking mind glorious forms, would see them in sleep of yet more marvelous size of body.

  To these then they would attribute sense, because they seemed to move their limbs and to utter lofty words suitable to their glorious aspect and surpassing powers.

  And they would give them life everlasting, because their face would ever appear before them and their form abide; yes and yet without all this, because they would not believe that beings possessed of such powers could lightly be overcome by any force.

  And they would believe them to be preeminent in bliss, because none of them was ever troubled with the fear of death, and because at the same time in sleep they would see them perform many miracles, yet feel on their part no fatigue from the effort.

  praeterea caeli rationes ordine certo

  et varia annorum cernebant tempora verti

  1185 nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis.

  ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia divis

  tradere et illorum nutu facere omnia flecti.

  in caeloque deum sedes et templa locarunt,

  per caelum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,

  1190 luna dies et nox et noctis signa severa

  noctivagaeque faces caeli flammaeque volantes,

  nubila sol imbres nix venti fulmina grando

  et rapidi fremitus et murmura magna minarum.

  O genus infelix humanum, talia divis

  1195 cum tribuit facta atque iras adiunxit acerbas!

  quantos tum gemitus ipsi sibi, quantaque nobis

  volnera, quas lacrimas peperere minoribus nostris!

  nec pietas ullast velatum saepe videri

  vertier ad lapidem atque omnis accedere ad aras

  1200 nec procumbere humi prostratum et pandere palmas

  ante deum delubra nec aras sanguine multo

  spargere quadrupedum nec votis nectere vota,

  sed mage pacata posse omnia mente tueri.

  nam cum suspicimus magni caelestia mundi

  1205 templa super stellisque micantibus aethera fixum,

  et venit in mentem solis lunaeque viarum,

  tunc aliis oppressa malis in pectora cura

  illa quoque expergefactum caput erigere infit,

  ne quae forte deum nobis inmensa potestas

  1210 sit, vario motu quae candida sidera verset;

  temptat enim dubiam mentem rationis egestas,

  ecquae nam fuerit mundi genitalis origo,

  et simul ecquae sit finis, quoad moenia mundi

  et taciti motus hunc possint ferre laborem,

  1215 an divinitus aeterna donata salute

  perpetuo possint aevi labentia tractu

  inmensi validas aevi contemnere viris.

  praeterea cui non animus formidine divum

  contrahitur, cui non correpunt membra pavore,

  1220 fulminis horribili cum plaga torrida tellus

  contremit et magnum percurrunt murmura caelum?

  non populi gentesque tremunt, regesque superbi

  corripiunt divum percussi membra timore,

  ne quod ob admissum foede dictumve superbe

  1225 poenarum grave sit solvendi tempus adauctum?

  summa etiam cum vis violenti per mare venti

  induperatorem classis super aequora verrit

  cum validis pariter legionibus atque elephantis,

  non divom pacem votis adit ac prece quaesit

  1230 ventorum pavidus paces animasque secundas?

  [1183] Again they would see the system of heaven and the different seasons of the years come round in regular succession, and could not find out by what causes this was done; therefore they would seek a refuge in handing over all things to the gods and supposing all things to be guided by their nod.

  And they placed in heaven the abodes and realms of the gods, because night and moon are seen to roll through heaven, moon day and night and night’s austere constellations and night-wandering meteors of the sky and flying bodies of flame, clouds, sun, rains, snow, winds, lightnings, hail, and rapid rumblings and loud threatful thunderclaps.

  O hapless race of men, when that they charged the gods with such acts and coupled with them bitter wrath!

  What groanings did they then beget for themselves, what wounds for us, what tears for our children’s children!

  No act is it of piety to be often seen with veiled head to turn to a stone and approach every altar and fall prostrate on the ground and spread out the palms before the statues of the gods and sprinkle the altars with much blood of beasts and link vow on to vow, but rather to be able to look on all things with a mind at peace.

  For when we turn our gaze on the heavenly quarters of the great upper world and ether fast above the glittering stars, and direct our thoughts to the courses of the sun and moon, then into our breasts burdened with other ills that fear as well begins to exalt its reawakened head, the fear that we may haply find the power of the gods to be unlimited, able to wheel the bright stars in their varied motion; for lack of power to solve the question troubles the mind with doubts, whether there was ever a birth-time of the world, and whether likewise there is to be any end; how far the walls of the world can endure this strain of restless motion; or whether gifted by the grace of the gods with an everlasting existence they may glide on through a never-ending tract of time and defy the strong powers of immeasurable ages.

  Again, who is there whose mind does not shrink into itself with fear of the gods, whose limbs do not cower in terror, when the parched earth rocks with the appalling thunder stroke and rattlings run through the great heaven?

  Do not peoples and nations quake, and proud monarchs shrink into themselves
smitten with fear of the gods, lest for any foul transgression or overweening word the heavy time of reckoning has arrived at its fulness?

  When too the utmost fury of the headstrong wind passes over the sea and sweeps over its waters the commander of a fleet together with his mighty legions and elephants, does he not draw near with vows to seek the mercy of the gods and ask in prayer with fear and trembling a lull in the winds and propitious gales;

  ne quiquam, quoniam violento turbine saepe

  correptus nihilo fertur minus ad vada leti.

  usque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam

  opterit et pulchros fascis saevasque secures

  1235 proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur.

  denique sub pedibus tellus cum tota vacillat

  concussaeque cadunt urbes dubiaeque minantur,

  quid mirum si se temnunt mortalia saecla

  atque potestatis magnas mirasque relinquunt

  1240 in rebus viris divum, quae cuncta gubernent?

  Quod super est, aes atque aurum ferrumque repertumst

  et simul argenti pondus plumbique potestas,

  ignis ubi ingentis silvas ardore cremarat

  montibus in magnis, seu caelo fulmine misso,

  1245 sive quod inter se bellum silvestre gerentes

  hostibus intulerant ignem formidinis ergo,

  sive quod inducti terrae bonitate volebant

  pandere agros pinguis et pascua reddere rura,

  sive feras interficere et ditescere praeda;

  1250 nam fovea atque igni prius est venarier ortum

  quam saepire plagis saltum canibusque ciere.

  quicquid id est, qua cumque e causa flammeus ardor

  horribili sonitu silvas exederat altis

  a radicibus et terram percoxerat igni,

  1255 manabat venis ferventibus in loca terrae

  concava conveniens argenti rivus et auri,

  aeris item et plumbi. quae cum concreta videbant

  posterius claro in terra splendere colore,

  tollebant nitido capti levique lepore,

  1260 et simili formata videbant esse figura

  atque lacunarum fuerant vestigia cuique.

  tum penetrabat eos posse haec liquefacta calore

  quamlibet in formam et faciem decurrere rerum,

  et prorsum quamvis in acuta ac tenvia posse

  1265 mucronum duci fastigia procudendo,

  ut sibi tela parent silvasque ut caedere possint

  materiemque dolare et levia radere tigna

  et terebrare etiam ac pertundere perque forare.

  [1230] but all in vain, since often caught up in the furious hurricane he is borne nonetheless to the shoals of death?

  So constantly does some hidden power trample on human grandeur and is seen to tread under its heel and make sport for itself of the renowned rods and cruel axes.

  Again, when the whole earth rocks under their feet and towns tumble with the shock or doubtfully threaten to fall, what wonder that mortal men abase themselves and make over to the gods in things hereon earth high prerogatives and marvelous powers, sufficient to govern all things?

  To proceed, copper and gold and iron were discovered and at the same time weighty silver and the substance of lead, when fire with its heat had burnt up vast forests on the great hills, either by a discharge of heaven’s lightning, or else because men waging with one another a forest-war had carried fire among the enemy in order to strike terror, or because drawn on by the goodness of the soil they would wish to clear rich fields and bring the country into pasture, or else to destroy wild beasts and enrich themselves with the booty; for hunting with the pitfall and with fire came into use before the practice of enclosing the lawn with toils and stirring it with dogs.

  Whatever the fact is, from whatever cause the heat of flame had swallowed up the forests with a frightful crackling from their very roots and had thoroughly baked the earth with fire, there would run from the boiling veins and collect into the hollows of the ground a stream of silver and gold, as well as of copper and lead.

  And when they saw these afterwards cool into lumps and glitter on the earth with a brilliant gleam, they would lift them up attracted by the bright and polished luster, and they would see them to be molded in a shape the same as the outline of the cavities in which each lay.

  Then it would strike them that these might be melted by heat and cast in any form or shape soever, and might by hammering out be brought to tapering points of any degree of sharpness and fineness, so as to furnish them with tools and enable them to cut the forests and hew timber and plane smooth the planks, and also to drill and pierce and bore.

  nec minus argento facere haec auroque parabant

  1270 quam validi primum violentis viribus aeris,

  ne quiquam, quoniam cedebat victa potestas

  nec poterant pariter durum sufferre laborem.

  nam fuit in pretio magis aes aurumque iacebat

  propter inutilitatem hebeti mucrone retusum;

  1275 nunc iacet aes, aurum in summum successit honorem.

  sic volvenda aetas commutat tempora rerum.

  quod fuit in pretio, fit nullo denique honore;

  porro aliud succedit et e contemptibus exit

  inque dies magis adpetitur floretque repertum

  1280 laudibus et miro est mortalis inter honore.

  Nunc tibi quo pacto ferri natura reperta

  sit facilest ipsi per te cognoscere, Memmi.

  arma antiqua manus ungues dentesque fuerunt

  et lapides et item silvarum fragmina rami

  1285 et flamma atque ignes, post quam sunt cognita primum.

  posterius ferri vis est aerisque reperta.

  et prior aeris erat quam ferri cognitus usus,

  quo facilis magis est natura et copia maior.

  aere solum terrae tractabant, aereque belli

  1290 miscebant fluctus et vulnera vasta serebant

  et pecus atque agros adimebant; nam facile ollis

  omnia cedebant armatis nuda et inerma.

  inde minutatim processit ferreus ensis

  versaque in obprobrium species est falcis ahenae,

  1295 et ferro coepere solum proscindere terrae

  exaequataque sunt creperi certamina belli.

  et prius est armatum in equi conscendere costas

  et moderarier hunc frenis dextraque vigere

  quam biiugo curru belli temptare pericla.

  1300 et biiugo prius est quam bis coniungere binos

  et quam falciferos armatum escendere currus.

  inde boves Lucas turrito corpore, tetras,

  anguimanus, belli docuerunt volnera Poeni

  sufferre et magnas Martis turbare catervas.

  1305 sic alid ex alio peperit discordia tristis,

  horribile humanis quod gentibus esset in armis,

  inque dies belli terroribus addidit augmen.

  Temptarunt etiam tauros in moenere belli

  expertique sues saevos sunt mittere in hostis.

  [1269] And they would set about these works just as much with silver and gold at first as with the overpowering strength of stout copper, but in vain, since their force would fail and give way and not be able like copper to stand the severe strain.

  At that time copper was in higher esteem and gold would lie neglected on account of its uselessness, with its dull blunted edge: now copper lies neglected, gold has mounted up to the highest place of honor.

  Thus time as it goes round changes the seasons of things.

  That which was in esteem falls at length into utter disrepute; and then another thing mounts up and issues out of its degraded state and every day is more and more coveted and blossoms forth high in honor when discovered and is in marvelous repute with men.

  And now, Memmius, it is easy for you to find out by yourself in what way the nature of iron was discovered.

  Arms of old were hands nails and teeth and stones and boughs broken off from the forests, and flame and fire, as soon as they had becom
e known.

  Afterwards the force of iron and copper was discovered; and the use of copper was known before that of iron, as its nature is easier to work and it is found in greater quantity.

  With copper they would labor the soil of the earth, with copper stir up the billows of war and deal about wide-gaping wounds and seize cattle and lands; for every thing defenseless and unarmed would readily yield to them with arms in hand.

  Then by slow steps the sword of iron gained ground and the make of the copper sickle became a byword; and with iron they began to plow through the earth’s soil, and the struggles of wavering war were rendered equal.

  And the custom of mounting in arms on the back of a horse and guiding him with reins and showing prowess with the right hand is older than that of tempting the risks of war in a two-horsed chariot; and yoking a pair of horses is older than yoking four or mounting in arms scythed chariots.

  Next the Poeni taught the lucan kine with towered body, hideous of aspect, with snake-like hand, to endure the wounds of war and to disorder the mighty ranks of Mars.

  Thus sad discord begat one thing after another, to affright nations of men under arms, and every day made some addition to the terrors of war.

  They made trial of bulls too in the service of war and essayed to send savage boars against the enemy.

  1310 et validos partim prae se misere leones

  cum doctoribus armatis saevisque magistris,

  qui moderarier his possent vinclisque tenere,

  ne quiquam, quoniam permixta caede calentes

  turbabant saevi nullo discrimine turmas,

  1315 terrificas capitum quatientis undique cristas,

  nec poterant equites fremitu perterrita equorum

  pectora mulcere et frenis convertere in hostis.

  inritata leae iaciebant corpora saltu

  undique et adversum venientibus ora patebant

  1320 et nec opinantis a tergo deripiebant

  deplexaeque dabant in terram volnere victos,

  morsibus adfixae validis atque unguibus uncis.

  iactabantque suos tauri pedibusque terebant

  et latera ac ventres hauribant supter equorum

  1325 cornibus et terram minitanti mente ruebant.

  et validis socios caedebant dentibus apri

  tela infracta suo tinguentes sanguine saevi

  in se fracta suo tinguentes sanguine tela,