Would choke with brambles did not man resist,
Man, for the sake of life well used to groan
Over strong mattock and cleave earth with plough.
Unless the ploughshare turn the fruitful clods
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And we, working the soil, bring them to birth,
No plants can ever of their own accord
Spring up into the melting air above.
And even sometimes when with great labour won
They fill the smiling earth with leaf and flower,
Either the sun in heaven scorches them
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Or sudden rains destroy them, or chilling frosts,
And storms with violent whirlwinds harass them.
Consider now the wild beasts’ fearsome breed,
Enemies of mankind by land and sea,
Why does nature feed them? Why do the seasons bring
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Diseases? Why does death untimely stalk abroad?
And then the child, like sailor cast ashore
By cruel waves, lies naked on the ground,
Sans speech, sans all the aids that life requires,
When nature first into the shores of light
In throes has cast him from his mother’s womb,
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And fills the place with cries—as well he might
Seeing that so great ills await his life.
But flocks and herds and wild beasts live and grow
Without the aid of rattles; they don’t want
The baby talk of nurses petting them
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Nor change of clothing with the changing year,
Nor have they need of arms or lofty walls
To guard their goods, since earth all things to all
Brings forth in bounty and nature’s skill supplies.
Well now, in the first place since earth and water
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And the light breaths of air and burning heat,
From which we see this sum of things is made—
Since these have bodies which are born and die,
Of the whole world we must believe the same.
For things of which we see that their parts and limbs
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Consist of matter which is born and dies,
We know that these same things are certainly
Subject to birth and death. So when I see
The mighty members of the world consumed
And born again, why, then I may be sure
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That heaven and earth likewise had their beginning
And in destruction too will have their end.
Please do not think that I have begged the question
When I assume that earth and fire are mortal
And do not doubt that air and water perish,
And say that they are born and grow again.
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Take the earth first. A large part of it, burnt
By constant sun and beaten by myriad feet,
Breathes out a cloud of dust and flying mists
Which strong winds scatter abroad all through the air.
Part of the soil also is washed away
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By rain, and rivers scrape away their banks;
Besides, whatever the earth throws up returns
In due proportion; and since beyond doubt we see
The mother of all to be their common grave,
Therefore, my friend, you see the earth is diminished
And then in turn increased and grows again.
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And next, there is no need of words to say
How sea, rivers, and springs are always full
With waters new and streams forever flow:
The mighty fall of waters everywhere
Makes this quite plain. But the front part of the flood
Is lifted off and drawn away, and so
In total there is no excess of water;
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Partly because strong winds sweeping its surface
Diminish it, and the sun’s high rays unravel it,
Partly because it seeps through the earth below,
The brine is filtered off, and the mass of water
Oozes back and joins the rivers at their source,
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And thence, in a column of sweet water,
Over the ground it flows along the path
Cut once by liquid foot to guide the waters.
Air next I’ll speak of, which throughout its body
Changes innumerably hour by hour.
Always whatever flows off from things is carried
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Into the great ocean of the air; unless in turn
The air gave matter back to things again
And in their flux created them anew,
All would by now be dissolved and changed into air.
Therefore forever air is born from things
And falls back into things, since it is certain
That all things are continually in flux.
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The eternal sun, rich fountain of clear light,
Forever floods the sky with radiance new,
Swiftly supplying new light in place of old.
For the first flash of light that comes is lost,
Wherever it falls. As you may learn from this:
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As soon as clouds begin to front the sun
And as it were break in between its rays,
The lower part of them at once is lost,
And the earth is in shadow, wherever the clouds move;
So you may see things always need new light,
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That every burst of radiance perishes,
That in no other way could things be seen
In sunlight, did the fount of light itself
Cease ever to maintain a fresh supply.
And lights that shine at night on earth, these too—
Your hanging lamps and torches flaming bright,
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Flaring and flashing through the pitchy smoke—
In the same way, fed by the fire, they haste
To bring up new supplies of light, and on
And on they press, alive with flickering flames,
Seeming to pour an unbroken stream of light;
So speedily is its extinction hid
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By the swift birth of flame from all the fires.
So you must think that sun and moon and stars
Send out quick bursts of light one after another,
And always the first flash of flame is lost;
And none of these is indestructible.
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And stones—these too you see that time subdues,
And lofty towers fall, their masonry
All crumbling, and the shrines and images
Of gods, wearied by time, are cracked and fall.
Nor can their holy power extend the bounds
Of fate, nor struggle against nature’s laws.
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The monuments of men collapsed we see,
Should we look there for immortality;
And rocks roll down, from lofty mountains torn,
Unable to endure the strong force of time,
Of finite time. For certainly no shock
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Could make them suddenly break off and fall,
If from time infinite they had withstood
Intact the assault and torment of the years.
Look last at that which above and all around
Holds the whole earth in its embrace.
If it is this, as some declare, that makes
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All things from itself and takes them back again
When their time is finished, it must all consist
Of matter subject to both birth and death.
For that which from itself feeds other things
And nourishes them, must be diminished,
And made anew when it receives them back.
Now here’s another point. If earth and sky
Had no beginning or no time of birth
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But have been always everlasting, why
Before the Theban war and doom of Troy
Have other poets not sung other things?
Where have so many deeds of men so many times
Fallen from sight and mind, and nowhere flower
Implanted on eternal monuments?
In truth I think the world is young and new
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And in quite recent time its life began.
See even now some arts are being refined
And others springing up and growing; in ships
Many new things have now been done, and lately
Musicians found out tuneful harmonies.
Yes, and the nature and order of this world
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In recent time has been discovered, and this
I now myself the very first am found
Able to tell it in our native tongue.
But if perchance it may be your belief
That all these things existed once before,
But that mankind perished in burning fire
Or cities fell in some great upheaval of the world,
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Or tearing rivers fed by endless rains
Flooding the country overwhelmed the towns,
Why, all the more then you must be convinced
That earth and sky themselves will be destroyed.
For when such great afflictions, such great perils,
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Once shook the world, then if some more potent cause
More terrible had come upon it, there must have followed
Widespread destruction and a mighty fall.
And there’s no surer proof of our mortality
Than this, that we sicken of the same diseases
As those whom nature has recalled from life.
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Few things there are that last eternally.
First, solid bodies that repel assaults,
And allow nothing to penetrate them
And break apart the close-knit parts within,
Such as the atomic particles of matter
The nature of which we have described before;
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Next, things which last through all the length of time
Because no blow can hit them; such is the void,
Which stays untouched and nothing can ever strike it;
Next, things which have no space around them
Into which they can dissolve and be dispersed;
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Such is the eternal sum of the sum of things.
Outside it nowhere any place exists
Into which its elements can spring away,
And nothing exists to impact it or destroy it.
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But, as I have shown, the world is not composed
Of solid body, since void is mixed with things.
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Nor is it like the void. Nor are there lacking
Bodies which from the infinite spring forth
And rack this world with violent hurricanes
Or bring some other danger and disaster;
Nor is there lacking in the depths of space
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Room for the world’s walls fallen to fly apart;
Or they may perish struck by other force.
Therefore the door of death is never closed
To sky and sun and earth and sea’s deep waters.
No. It stands open, and with vast gaping mouth
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It waits for them.
Wherefore you must confess that these same things
Have had their birth; for nothing of mortal build
Could ever through infinite ages until now
Have scorned the mighty power of endless time.
Again, since the mighty members of the world
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So furiously fight among themselves
In most unrighteous war, do you not see
Some end to their long struggles may be given?
Perhaps the sun and universal heat
Will overcome, and drink the waters dry,
Which is their aim, though not so far achieved,
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So much the rivers supply and threaten in turn
To flood the world from ocean’s deep abyss.
In vain. Since winds that sweep across its surface
Diminish it, and the sun’s high rays unravel it,
Confident that they can dry up everything
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Before the waters can achieve their end.
Such war they breathe in equal combat locked
Seeking decision in a mighty cause.
Though once meanwhile fire won the victory,
And once, so legend tells, water reigned in the fields.
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For fire was lord, and burnt up all around,
When far from his course the Sun’s fierce horses hurled
Phaethon through the heavens and o’er the earth.
But the almighty sire to anger moved
With sudden thunderbolt the aspiring youth
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Struck from his chariot down to earth. The Sun
Meeting his fall, caught up the eternal lamp
That lights the world, brought back the scattered horses,
Reined them in, trembling, then to their proper courses
Guiding them back restored the world again.
At least that’s what the old Greek poets sang,
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And that is very far removed from truth.
For fire can triumph when from the infinite
The atoms of its matter issue forth
In greater mass than usual. And then
Either subdued somehow its force declines,
Or the world dies, burnt up by scorching blasts.
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Water likewise began once to prevail,
Massing its floods, so legend tells, and many
Races of men were overwhelmed; but then
That which had massed from out the infinite
Turned back, by some compelling force withdrawn,
The rains stopped, and the rivers checked their flow.
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Next in due order I’ll set out the ways
In which by assembly of matter were established
The earth, the sky, and the vast depths profound
Of sea, and courses of the sun and moon.
For sure, not by design or intelligence
Did primal atoms place themselves in order,
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Nor did they make contracts, you may be certain,
As to what movements each of them should make.
But many primal atoms in many ways
Moving through infinite time up to the present,
Clashing among themselves and carried by their own weight,
Have come together in every possible way,
Tried every combination that could be made;
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And so advancing through vast lengths of time,
Exploring every union and motion,
At length those of them came together
Which by a sudden conjunction interfused
Often become the beginnings of great things—
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Of earth and sea and sky and living creatures.
Then not the sun’s great wheel with bounteous light
Soaring aloft was seen, nor stars of heaven,
Nor sea nor sky nor earth at all nor air
Nor aught like things that in our world we know,
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But a strange storm and surging mighty mass
Of atoms of all kinds in conflict locked
Created turmoil, in their intervals
Connections, courses, weights, blows, meetings, motions,
Because by reason of their different shapes and patterns
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They could not all when joined together remain so,
Nor make the movements needed for their union.
Then parts began to separate, like things
Joining with like, and parcel out the world,
Fashion its limbs, set out its mighty parts—
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That is, to set apart high heaven from earth,
And the sea apart, spreading its separate waters,
And apart too the pure and separate fires of ether.
In the first place, all the particles of earth,
Being heavy and entangled, came together
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In the middle, and took the lowest positions.
And the more closely mixed they came together
The more they pressed out elements that could make
Sea, stars, sun, and moon, and the world’s great walls.
For all of these consist of elements
More round and smooth and smaller far than those
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Of earth. First therefore through its porous crust
Ether broke out and raised itself aloft,
Ether the fire-bringer, and many fires
It lightly drew with it. As oft we see
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With blush of morn the golden sun’s new beams
Colour the meadow grasses pearled with dew,
And lakes and living streams breathe out a mist,
And earth itself appears sometimes to smoke;
And then the vapours forming high above
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Thicken, and weave a web across the sky,
So in this way then ether light and thin
Thickened, and bent round curving everywhere
Expanding everywhere in all directions,
And thus fenced in the rest with keen embrace.
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Next the beginnings came of sun and moon,
Whose globes revolve in middle course on high.
Them neither earth nor mighty ether claimed,
Being not so heavy as to sink and lie
Nor light enough to rise through highest heaven,
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But in between they turn as living bodies
And take their place as parts of all the world;
As in our bodies too some limbs may stay
At rest, while others yet are moving.
And now, when these two orbs had been drawn off,
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Earth suddenly into the wide blue sea
Sank down, and filled the ditches with salt floods;
And day by day the more the tides of ether
And sun’s rays all around beat on the earth,
And to its farthest bounds with many blows
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Compressed it, so that forced towards its centre
It became solid, so much then the more
The salt sweat pressed out oozing from its body
Increased the sea, increased the swimming plains,
So much the more slipped out and flew away
On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) Page 22