Lying deep piled is thawed by its strong rays.
And wax placed in its heat is liquefied.
965
Fire likewise makes bronze melt, turns gold to liquid,
But skins and flesh it shrivels and contracts.
Water hardens iron taken from the fire
But skins and flesh it softens when hardened by heat.
The bearded goats find the wild olive sweet
970
As if it were truly ambrosia and steeped in nectar,
Yet no leaf grows to human taste more bitter.
Pigs detest oil of marjoram and fear
All kinds of ointments, for to the bristly pig
What seems to us refreshing is rank poison.
975
But on the other hand, what is to us
Most loathsome filth, why, pigs delight in it
And love to roll their bodies in the mud.
This still remains, which it seems should be said
Before I approach the subject of my theme.
980
Since various different things have many pores
They must then be endowed with different natures
Each having its nature and its passages.
For instance, living beings have different senses
And each perceives the object proper to it;
985
By one sense sound comes in, and by another
Taste comes from flavour, and to another comes
The smell of odours wafting on the air.
Besides, one thing is seen to seep through stone,
Another through wood, another to pass through gold,
Another makes its way through glass or silver.
For images pass through glass and heat through silver,
And one thing passes through more quickly than another.
It is the nature of the passageways
That makes this happen, varying as it does
995
In many ways, as I have just explained,
For each thing has a different nature and texture.
And now, when all these things have been established,
And well laid down, prepared and ready for us,
It is easy to move on and state the reason
1000
And make plain the cause why iron is attracted.
Firstly, there must needs flow out from this stone
A multitude of atoms, like a stream,
That strikes and cleaves asunder all the air
That lies beneath the iron and the stone.
Now when this space is emptied, and a large
1005
Tract in the middle is left void, at once
The atoms of the iron gliding forward
Fall in a mass into the vacuum.
So the ring follows, its whole form moving forward.
And nothing has its primal elements
More closely intertwined and woven together,
1010
More strongly knit, than iron strong and cold.
No wonder then if all those atoms of iron
Flowing into the void must cause the ring to follow.
And this it does, and follows, until it comes
1015
Right to the stone and clings with hidden ties.
The same thing happens in all directions. Wherever
An empty space is made, the adjacent atoms
Whether they are at the sides or are above
At once are driven into the vacuum.
For they are struck by blows from other quarters
1020
And cannot rise into the air of their own accord.
Moreover, to facilitate the process,
Another thing occurs to aid the movement:
As soon as the air in front of the ring grows thinner,
And the space between becomes more void and empty,
1025
At once then all the air at the back of the ring
Pushes and drives it forward from behind.
For the surrounding air continually
Beats on things, but in this case the iron
Is driven forward because in one direction
There is a vacuum ready to receive it.
1030
This air of which I speak creeps subtly in
Through all the many pores within the iron
And reaching to its tiny particles
Propels it on, as wind drives sails and ship.
Moreover, every object must contain air
Within its body since the structure is porous,
1035
And air encompasses and bounds them all.
Therefore the air which deep within the iron
Lies hid, surges continually, and thus
Beats on the ring and drives it from within.
For certainly the ring is carried forward
1040
On the course on which it has once launched itself
By its first plunge into the vacuum.
It also happens at times that iron moves
Away from this stone, having the tendency
To flee and then pursue again in turns.
I have even seen Samothracian irons jump,
And iron filings in a copper bowl
1045
Go mad with this magnet stone placed underneath,
So frantic seem they to escape the stone.
That so much discord is created by the copper
Set in between is doubtless for this reason:
The stream of atoms flowing from the copper
Comes first, and occupies the open paths
1050
And passageways that lie inside the iron;
Later the stream comes from the stone and finds
The iron already quite filled up, and thus
No way to swim through as it did before.
It is compelled therefore to beat and push
The texture of the iron with its waves.
So it repels the iron from itself,
And working through the copper drives away
What otherwise it normally attracts.
1055
In this connection do not be surprised
That the stream from this stone has not the power
To influence other things as well as iron.
Some things stand firm by reason of their weight;
Gold is like this, but others being of substance
So porous that the stream flies through intact
Cannot be set in motion anywhere.
1060
Wood is a good example of this kind.
Between the two there lies the nature of iron;
When certain atoms of copper have entered it
The magnet stones repel it with their flow.
These properties are not so different
1065
From others that I could not readily
Produce a number of examples showing
Things which possess unique affinities.
First, only mortar can hold stone together.
Bulls’ glue joins wood so fast that frequently
The grain of planks gapes with a natural fault
1070
Before the bonds of glue can loose their grip.
The juices of the vine will mix with water
When heavy pitch and light olive oil refuse.
The dye of the sea-purple from the shell
Combined with wool can never be parted from it,
1075
Not though with Neptune’s mighty flood you labour
To make it new, not though the whole wide sea
Should wish with all its waves to wash it out.
And gold to gold one thing alone can bond,
And bronze to bronze only by tin is joined.
How many things like this are to be found!
1080
But to what purpose? Ways so roundabout
You do not need, nor ways so long;
nor I
Ought to spend so much labour on this point,
But briefly in few words sum up my theme:
When things have mutually opposing textures
So that the hollows in the one conform
To the projections of the other, and
1085
The converse too holds good, then union is most perfect.
And some things also may be held in union
Linked as it were by hooks and rings; and this
It rather seems is what occurs between iron and magnet.
Now I’ll explain the nature of diseases,
1090
And the source from which the power of pestilence
With sudden onset blasts a storm of death
Upon the race of men, and flocks and herds.
First, I have shown above that there are atoms
Of many things needful to support our life,
And, in contrast, many must fly around
1095
That bring disease and death. When these some chance
Has massed together, and the atmosphere
Has been disordered by them, the air becomes diseased.
And all this power of pestilence and plague
Either comes in from without, down from above,
Like clouds and mists, or often forms and springs
1100
From the earth itself, when damp has made it rot,
Struck by unseasonable rains and sun.
You can see also that unaccustomed climates
And waters make their mark on travellers
Far from home and country, because things are so different.
1105
How different the climate of the Britons
Must be from Egypt, where the world’s great pole
Leans sideways; and how different from Pontus
The clime must be of Cadiz, and right on
To lands where black men live, burnt black by sun!
And as we see four separate climes distinguished
1110
By the four winds and quarters of the heavens,
So do the colours and the looks of men
Differ most widely, and diseases fall
After their kind upon the varying nations.
There is the elephant disease which by the Nile
Is bred, in middle-Egypt and nowhere else.
1115
In Attica the feet are attacked, and in Achaea
The eyes. To other members other places
Are hostile, due to the variations of the air.
So when an atmosphere that’s alien to us
Comes on, and baleful air begins to creep,
1120
Like mist and cloud it spreads, wherever it goes
Carrying disorder and compelling change.
And when it reaches our region of the sky
It corrupts it, making it like itself, and hostile.
So therefore this new plague and pestilence
1125
Without warning either falls upon the waters
Or else remains suspended in the air,
And when the breath of air is mixed with it
We must likewise absorb it in our body.
1130
In similar manner the plague often comes
To cattle, and a murrain to bleating sheep.
Nor does it matter whether we travel abroad
To unhealthy places, changing the cloak of sky
That covers us, or whether Nature herself
Brings an infected atmosphere to us,
1135
Or something else to which we are unaccustomed,
Which by its newness has the power to attack.
In days of old such manner of disease
And tide of death fell on the realms of Cecrops,
Laid waste the fields, turned highways into deserts,
And drained the city of its citizens.
1140
Deep in the land of Egypt was its source,
And traversing a wide expanse of air
And swimming plains, it came at length to fall
And lie on all the people of Pandion.
And then in companies and in battalions
They made surrender to disease and death.
First were their heads inflamed with burning heat
1145
And the two eyes all glowing red and bloodshot.
Then throats turned black inside sweated with blood,
And swelling ulcers blocked the voice’s path,
And then the tongue, the mind’s interpreter,
Weakened by pain oozed blood, and scarce could move,
Lying heavy within the mouth and rough to touch.
1150
Next, when disease had passed down through the throat
And filled the chest, and poured its flood of ill
Right to the victim’s sorrowing heart, why then,
Then truly all the barriers of life
Collapsed. The breath rolled out a noisome stench
Like that of rotting corpses lying unburied;
1155
And all the power of mind and all the body
Began to faint, being on death’s very threshold.
Constant companion of these intolerable woes
Was torment of anxiety, and laments
Were mixed with groans as mind and body suffered.
And night and day incessant retching shook them
1160
Convulsing limbs and muscles, and exhausting
Bodies already wearied by disease.
You could not observe the surface of the body
To be burning with excessive heat, but rather
It gave a warm sensation to the hand,
1165
And at the same time all of it was red
With ulcers as if burnt into it, as when
The accursed fire spreads out across the limbs.
But in their inward parts men burnt to the bones;
A flame burnt in the stomach as in a furnace;
And there was nothing however light or thin
1170
That could help their bodies, but only wind and cold.
Some cast their burning limbs into cold streams,
Throwing their bodies naked into the water.
Many hurled themselves headlong into wells, their mouths
Gaping to reach the water as they fell.
1175
Dry thirst unquenchable, drenching their bodies,
Made streams of water no better than a trickle.
Nor was there any respite to their pain;
Their bodies lay exhausted; medicine
Muttered beside the bed in silent fear,
As all the while they rolled their staring eyes,
1180
Sleepless, and burning with the fell disease.
Then many signs of death began to appear.
A mind disquieted with fear and sorrow,
A gloomy brow, a furious frenzied face,
Ears troubled and full of noises, breath confused
1185
And either panting fast or deep and laboured.
The neck all sodden with a shining sweat;
A small thin spittle, yellowish and salt,
Drawn by hoarse coughing hardly through the throat.
Then hands began to twitch and limbs to tremble,
1190
And upwards from the feet by slow degrees
Cold crept on. Then at the final hour
Nostrils were pinched, the nose drawn to a point,
Eyes sunken, temples hollow, cold the skin
And hand, mouth grinning, forehead tensed.
1195
No long time after, limbs lay stiff in death.
On the eighth shining of the sun did most,
Or with the ninth day’s lamp, give up their lives.
If a man chanced to escape the ruin of death
Yet later from foul ulce
rs and black flux
1200
From the bowels, a lingering death awaited him.
Or else a copious stream of putrid blood
With violent headache flowed out through the nostrils,
And all his body’s strength flowed into it.
And if a man survived this savage flux
1205
Of noisome blood, yet into his limbs and sinews
And even the genital parts the plague went on.
Some in their grievous fear of death’s dark gates
Severed their manly parts to save their lives;
And some without their hands or feet yet still
1210
Clung on to life, and others lost their eyes,
So strongly had the fear of death assailed them.
And some oblivion of everything
Took hold of, that they knew not who they were.
And although bodies piled on bodies lay
1215
In multitudes unburied, birds and beasts
Avoided them, warned by the piercing stench,
Or, having tasted, died a speedy death.
In truth in those dark days scarce any bird
Was to be seen, nor from the forests came
1220
Wild beasts in search of prey; for nearly all
Were sickening with the deadly plague and dying.
Among the first, man’s faithful friends the dogs
Lay stretched in every street, fighting in vain
For life the pestilence wrenched out of them.
The lonely funerals, one racing with another,
1225
Were rushed without a mourner to the grave.
There was no sure and general remedy.
For what had given to one the power to draw
The breath of life into his lips, and see
The realms of heaven, this to another was
Destruction and a minister of death.
One thing most woeful and most pitiful
1230
Was this: that when a man saw himself
Caught by the plague, as if condemned to death
Losing all heart he lay in misery,
And so expecting death died where he lay.
Unceasing the contagion of the plague
1235
Seized in its grasp first one man then another,
Like flocks of fleecy sheep or horned cattle.
This was the chief cause of death piled on death.
And if from greed for life and fear of death
Men shunned the sick-beds of those dear to them,
In no long time avenging negligence
1240
Brought punishment, a foul and evil death,
Bereft of help, deserted, all alone.
But those that stood to help the plague destroyed,
And toil, which honour drove them to endure,
Hearing the pleading voices of the weary,
Listening to the sad voice of complaint.
1245
In this way all the noblest met their death.
On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) Page 30