So that the varying courses of the sun
And wanderings of the moon, what force and cause
775
Impels them we can better understand,
And in what way their light dies in eclipse
And darkness brings o’er unexpecting earth
As first they blink and then with open eyes
View all again shining with brilliant light,
I now return to the childhood of the world
780
And the soft fields of earth, and tell what first
Into the shores of light they chose to bring
Newborn, and offer to the fickle winds.
In the beginning earth gave birth to plants
After their kind, and ringed with shining green
The hills and plains. The flowering meadows shone
785
With verdure. Then between the various trees
A mighty race began, all galloping
To be the first to shoot up into the sky.
As feathers, hair, and bristles sprout from bodies
Of animals four-footed and from birds
Strong on the wing, so then the newborn earth
First thrust forth herbs and shrubs, and then created
790
The mortal creatures in their generations,
Of many kinds from many sources sprung.
For animals cannot have fallen from the sky
Nor creatures of the land come from salt pools.
So it remains that earth does well deserve
The name of mother which we give to her,
795
Since from the earth all things have been created.
Even now many animals come up from earth
Formed by the rains and warm heat of the sun,
So it’s no wonder if many and larger ones
Sprang and grew up when earth and air were young.
800
First the winged things, the varied race of birds,
Were hatched from eggs in springtime, just as now
In summer cicadas from their smooth round shells
Crawl out in search of sustenance and life.
For earth then first gave birth to mortal creatures.
805
In the fields were warmth and moisture everywhere
And so wherever a suitable place occurred
Wombs would grow, held by roots into the soil;
These in maturing time young offspring broke
Fleeing from moisture now and seeking air;
810
Then nature opened there the pores of earth
And made it from its veins pour out a juice
Like milk, as now when a woman has borne a child
Her breasts fill with sweet milk since all the force
Of nourishment in her flows into the breasts.
815
Earth furnished food for the children, warmth for their clothes,
And herbs for bed all covered in soft down.
The world when young knew neither freezing cold
Nor scorching heat nor furious blasts of wind,
For at the same pace all things equally
Increase and reach their peak of strength together.
820
Wherefore again and again does earth deserve
The name of mother given to her, for she
Herself alone created the human race
And at an appointed time herself produced
All animals that range the mountains wide
And fowls of the air in all their varied forms.
825
But since an end must come to all her bearing
She ceased, like a woman worn out by old age.
For time doth change the nature of the world;
One state of things must pass into another;
Nothing remains the same. All things move on.
830
All things does nature turn, transform, and change.
One thing decays, grows faint and weak with age;
Another grows, and is despised no more.
So therefore time the whole nature of the world
Changes, and one state of the earth yields place to another,
835
So that what it bore before it cannot bear,
But can bear what it did not bear before.
And many monsters in those days did earth
Try to create, most strange in form and aspect,
Hermaphrodites, halfway ’twixt man and woman
Yet being neither, and cut off from both;
And creatures without feet, or bereft of hands,
840
Some dumb and mouthless, some eyeless and blind,
Some crippled, all their limbs stuck to their bodies,
Unable to do anything, go anywhere,
Nor avoid ill nor take what they might need.
And other monsters of like kind earth made,
845
In vain, since nature scared away their growth,
Nor could they reach the longed-for flower of age,
Nor find food nor be joined in acts of Venus.
For any things we see must needs combine
Before by procreation living beings
850
Can hammer out the pattern of their kind.
First they need food, then the life-bringing seed
From limbs lying limp must find a way to flow;
And male and female cannot join together
Unless they have means to make their shared delights.
In those days many breeds of animals
855
Must have died out, unable by procreation
To hammer out a chain of progeny.
All those that you see drawing the breath of life
Either by guile or courage or by speed
From the beginning of time have been preserved.
And there are many which their usefulness
860
Has commended to us, entrusted to our protection.
Courage has kept the savage lion safe,
Cunning the fox and speed the fleeing stag.
The dog, our faithful watchman of the night,
And beasts of burden of all kinds, and sheep
865
With woolly fleeces also, and horned cattle,
All these have man’s protection, Memmius.
Gladly they fled the beasts of prey and sought
Peace and good victuals without labour won
Which we supply them in reward for service.
870
But those on which nature no such qualities
Bestowed, no means to fend for themselves, no use
That might persuade us to give them sustenance
To live in safety under our protection,
All these to prey or profit victims lay,
875
Bound by the shackles of their destiny
Till nature brought destruction to their kind.
Centaurs never existed, nor at any time
Can there be creatures of a double nature
Composed of alien limbs and twofold body
880
Such that the two parts live in balance together.
And here is proof the dullest brain can grasp.
First, the horse reaches its vigorous prime
At about three years; by no means so the boy.
For even at that age oft he will in sleep
Seek the soft comfort of his mother’s breasts.
885
And later, when the horse’s strong limbs fail
Wearied by age, and faint as life recedes,
Then long-delayed the flower of boyhood comes,
And youth begins, and clothes his cheeks with down.
Think not therefore that Centaurs can be formed
890
From seed of man and horse that bears the rider,
Or Scyllas, half-fish, girt with rabid dogs,
And all the other
monsters of that kind
Composed of members incompatible;
Which neither reach their flower and prime of life
895
Together, nor fail as old age weakens them,
Nor burn with Venus equally, nor join
In the same habits, nor the same pleasures feel.
In fact you may see that often bearded goats
Grow fat on hemlock which to man is poison.
900
Again, since fire burns lions’ tawny bodies
No less than all things made of flesh and blood,
How could the Chimaera, three bodies joined in one,
Lion in front, serpent behind, goat in the middle,
905
Belch from its body blasts of burning flame?
Wherefore, if anyone pretends that beasts
Of such a kind could have been brought to birth
And made, when earth was young and heaven new,
Relying on that empty concept ‘new’,
Let him continue with his nonsense,
910
Let him believe that rivers ran with gold,
That trees bore jewels for blossom, that a man
Was born with such a mighty stretch of limbs
That he could set his stride across the sea
And turn the whole sky round him with his hands.
915
Though many seeds of things were in the soil
At the time when earth first brought forth animals,
That is no proof that beasts of compound form
Could have been made, from alien bodies joined.
Things which now spring abundantly from earth,
920
All breeds of plants, and crops, and smiling woodlands
Cannot be interbred and woven together,
But each proceeds on its appointed way
And by fixed laws of nature stays distinct.
And in those days the men that roamed the earth
925
Were hardier by far, as was most fitting,
Since hard earth made them. Larger bones they had
And solider, with stronger sinews fitted;
And neither heat nor cold could readily
Subdue them, nor strange food, nor ills of body.
930
Through many lustres of the circling sun
They led their lives, wide-wandering like wild beasts.
No sturdy arm then steered the curving plough,
No one knew how to work the fields with iron,
Or to set cuttings into the soil, or use
935
The hook to cut dead branches from the trees.
What sun and rain had given them, what earth
Created for them of her own accord,
That was a gift enough to bring content.
Mostly amid the oaks they stayed their hunger
With acorns; and the berries which now you see
940
In winter on arbutus ripening red
Earth then bore larger and more plentiful.
And many other foods young flowering earth
Then bore for them, hard foods, but food enough
To meet poor mortals’ needs.
Rivers and springs called them to quench their thirst,
945
As now in the high hills the waterfalls
Call from afar the thirsting tribes of beasts.
They made their homes amid the woodland realms
Of nymphs, known to them in their wanderings,
Where well they knew the living waters still
Washed the wet rocks in their abundant flow,
950
Wet rocks, and dripped down o’er the verdant moss,
Or bubbling up broke out across the plain.
Nor yet they knew how to work things with fire
Nor skins for clothes, the spoils of animals,
But woods and forests and the mountain caves
955
They made their homes, and hid their uncouth limbs
Beneath the bushes, when they must needs
Seek shelter from the lash of wind and rain.
They could not look to any common good
Nor guide their lives by custom or by law.
What nature gave a man for prey, he kept,
960
Taught that his own will gave him strength to live.
And Venus coupled lovers in the woods;
Mutual desire attracted them, or else
The strength of man and overpowering lust
Forced her, or else he won her by a bribe
Of acorns or arbutus or choice pears.
965
And with their marvellous powers of hand and foot
They hunted the beasts that roamed the woods and plains,
With stones for missiles or with heavy clubs.
Many they killed; from few they hid themselves.
When night came o’er them, naked on the ground
970
Like bristling hogs they laid their woodland limbs
And made a coverlet of leaves and branches.
Nor, wandering frightened in the shades of night,
Sought they with wailing loud the sun and day,
But buried in sleep they waited quietly
975
Until the sun with rosy torch again
Spread his new morning light across the sky.
For since from childhood always to their sight
Darkness and light returned alternately,
This brought no wonder to their minds, no cause
To tremble lest the earth be held in night
980
Perpetual, the sun’s bright light withdrawn.
Much more they worried that the hours of rest
Brought danger from marauding animals.
Driven from home, they fled their rocky shelters
At the approach of foaming boar, or lion,
985
And at dead of night they’ld yield their leaf-strewn beds
In terror to their savage visitors.
Nor did poor mortals much more then than now
Leave the sweet light of life with sad lament.
More often then one single man might die
990
Caught by wild beasts and torn, devoured alive,
Filling the woods and hills with screams, seeing
His living flesh buried in a living tomb.
And those whom flight had saved with mangled bodies
Pressed trembling palms over their ghastly sores,
995
Calling on Orcus with heart-rending cries
Till cruel torments put an end to life,
With none to help, not knowing what wounds need.
But many thousands on the battlefield
One day did not destroy, nor did rough seas
1000
Dash ships and men together on the rocks.
Then all in vain, all useless, all for nothing,
The sea would rise and roar and then again
Lightly lay down her empty threats. No one
By quiet seas’ deceitful blandishments
And laughing waves was e’er enticed to ruin.
1005
The wicked art of seamanship lay hid.
Then lack of food brought fainting limbs to death,
Today, by contrast, plenty ’tis that kills.
Then men unknowing poured poison for themselves,
Today with greater skill they poison others.
1010
And then, when huts and skins and fire they had got themselves,
And woman joined with man had made a home,
And laws of married life were known to them,
And they saw loving children born to them,
Then first the human race began to soften.
Through fire their chilly limbs became less able
1015
To bear the cold with sky for covering;
>
Venus sapped their strength; and children easily
With winning smiles could break their parents’ will.
And neighbours then began to join in friendship,
Wishing to do no ill nor suffer harm,
1020
And sought protection for their womankind
And children, with stammering voice and gesture showing
That pity for the weak is right for all.
Not everywhere could harmony be born,
But the most part kept faithful to their bonds,
1025
Or else the human race had quite been lost
In the old days, nor could its progeny
Have passed till now through all the generations.
As for the various sounds of speech, ’twas nature
That made men utter them, and convenience
Found names for things, rather as we see children
1030
Driven to make gestures by their lack of speech
And point with finger at things in front of them.
For every creature feels the purposes
For which he can use the power that lies in him.
Before the budding horns sprout from its forehead
A calf will use them, butting angrily,
1035
And cubs of panthers and lions fight and scratch
With feet and claws, and use their mouths to bite
When teeth and claws have scarcely yet been formed.
And birds of every kind we see place trust
In their wings and seek unsteady aid from them.
1040
Therefore to think that someone then allotted
Names to things, and that men learnt words from him,
Is folly. Why should we think that this man had the power
To mark all things with voices and to utter
The various sounds of speech, and not believe
That others had the power to do the same?
Besides, if others had not used these sounds,
1045
Whence was the concept of this usefulness
Implanted in him, whence first came the power
To picture in his mind what he should do?
And one man could not compel many and force them
1050
That they should wish to learn the names of things.
One cannot easily in any way
Teach deaf men what to do. And to have sounds
Unheard before all meaningless in vain
Dinned into their ears, that they could not endure.
1055
Lastly, what is so very wonderful
If the human race, with vigorous voice and tongue
Endowed, should mark things out with voices
Differing according to their different feelings?
Dumb cattle and wild beasts of every kind
Make noises quite distinct and different
1060
When they are gripped by fear or pain, or joy
Wells up within them. And the evidence
For this lies in plain facts well known to all.
On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) Page 24