De Rerum Natura

Lucretius

Lucretius. De Rerum Natura. William Ellery Leonard. E. P. Dutton. 1916.

  1. Now [hear] how easy and how swift they be
  2. Engendered, and perpetually flow off
  3. From things and gliding pass away....
  4. . . . . . .
  5. For ever every outside streams away
  6. From off all objects, since discharge they may;
  7. And when this outside reaches other things,
  8. As chiefly glass, it passes through; but where
  9. It reaches the rough rocks or stuff of wood,
  10. There 'tis so rent that it cannot give back
  11. An image. But when gleaming objects dense,
  12. As chiefly mirrors, have been set before it,
  13. Nothing of this sort happens. For it can't
  14. Go, as through glass, nor yet be rent- its safety,
  15. By virtue of that smoothness, being sure.
  16. 'Tis therefore that from them the images
  17. Stream back to us; and howso suddenly
  18. Thou place, at any instant, anything
  19. Before a mirror, there an image shows;
  20. Proving that ever from a body's surface
  21. Flow off thin textures and thin shapes of things.
  22. Thus many images in little time
  23. Are gendered; so their origin is named
  24. Rightly a speedy. And even as the sun
  25. Must send below, in little time, to earth
  26. So many beams to keep all things so full
  27. Of light incessant; thus, on grounds the same,
  28. From things there must be borne, in many modes,
  29. To every quarter round, upon the moment,
  30. The many images of things; because
  31. Unto whatever face of things we turn
  32. The mirror, things of form and hue the same
  33. Respond. Besides, though but a moment since
  34. Serenest was the weather of the sky,
  35. So fiercely sudden is it foully thick
  36. That ye might think that round about all murk
  37. Had parted forth from Acheron and filled
  38. The mighty vaults of sky- so grievously,
  39. As gathers thus the storm-clouds' gruesome night,
  40. Do faces of black horror hang on high-
  41. Of which how small a part an image is
  42. There's none to tell or reckon out in words.
  1. Now come; with what swift motion they are borne,
  2. These images, and what the speed assigned
  3. To them across the breezes swimming on-
  4. So that o'er lengths of space a little hour
  5. Alone is wasted, toward whatever region
  6. Each with its divers impulse tends- I'll tell
  7. In verses sweeter than they many are;
  8. Even as the swan's slight note is better far
  9. Than that dispersed clamour of the cranes
  10. Among the southwind's aery clouds. And first,
  11. One oft may see that objects which are light
  12. And made of tiny bodies are the swift;
  13. In which class is the sun's light and his heat,
  14. Since made from small primordial elements
  15. Which, as it were, are forward knocked along
  16. And through the interspaces of the air
  17. To pass delay not, urged by blows behind;
  18. For light by light is instantly supplied
  19. And gleam by following gleam is spurred and driven.
  20. Thus likewise must the images have power
  21. Through unimaginable space to speed
  22. Within a point of time,- first, since a cause
  23. Exceeding small there is, which at their back
  24. Far forward drives them and propels, where, too,
  25. They're carried with such winged lightness on;
  26. And, secondly, since furnished, when sent off,
  27. With texture of such rareness that they can
  28. Through objects whatsoever penetrate
  29. And ooze, as 'twere, through intervening air.
  1. Besides, if those fine particles of things
  2. Which from so deep within are sent abroad,
  3. As light and heat of sun, are seen to glide
  4. And spread themselves through all the space of heaven
  5. Upon one instant of the day, and fly
  6. O'er sea and lands and flood the heaven, what then
  7. Of those which on the outside stand prepared,
  8. When they're hurled off with not a thing to check
  9. Their going out? Dost thou not see indeed
  10. How swifter and how farther must they go
  11. And speed through manifold the length of space
  12. In time the same that from the sun the rays
  13. O'erspread the heaven? This also seems to be
  14. Example chief and true with what swift speed
  15. The images of things are borne about:
  16. That soon as ever under open skies
  17. Is spread the shining water, all at once,
  18. If stars be out in heaven, upgleam from earth,
  19. Serene and radiant in the water there,
  20. The constellations of the universe-
  21. Now seest thou not in what a point of time
  22. An image from the shores of ether falls
  23. Unto the shores of earth? Wherefore, again,
  24. And yet again, 'tis needful to confess
  25. With wondrous...
  26. . . . . . .
  1. Bodies that strike the eyes, awaking sight.
  2. From certain things flow odours evermore,
  3. As cold from rivers, heat from sun, and spray
  4. From waves of ocean, eater-out of walls
  5. Around the coasts. Nor ever cease to flit
  6. The varied voices, sounds athrough the air.
  7. Then too there comes into the mouth at times
  8. The wet of a salt taste, when by the sea
  9. We roam about; and so, whene'er we watch
  10. The wormword being mixed, its bitter stings.
  11. To such degree from all things is each thing
  12. Borne streamingly along, and sent about
  13. To every region round; and nature grants
  14. Nor rest nor respite of the onward flow,
  15. Since 'tis incessantly we feeling have,
  16. And all the time are suffered to descry
  17. And smell all things at hand, and hear them sound.
  1. Besides, since shape examined by our hands
  2. Within the dark is known to be the same
  3. As that by eyes perceived within the light
  4. And lustrous day, both touch and sight must be
  5. By one like cause aroused. So, if we test
  6. A square and get its stimulus on us
  7. Within the dark, within the light what square
  8. Can fall upon our sight, except a square
  9. That images the things? Wherefore it seems
  10. The source of seeing is in images,
  11. Nor without these can anything be viewed.
  12. Now these same films I name are borne about
  13. And tossed and scattered into regions all.
  14. But since we do perceive alone through eyes,
  15. It follows hence that whitherso we turn
  16. Our sight, all things do strike against it there
  17. With form and hue. And just how far from us
  18. Each thing may be away, the image yields
  19. To us the power to see and chance to tell:
  20. For when 'tis sent, at once it shoves ahead
  21. And drives along the air that's in the space
  22. Betwixt it and our eyes. And thus this air
  23. All glides athrough our eyeballs, and, as 'twere,
  24. Brushes athrough our pupils and thuswise
  25. Passes across. Therefore it comes we see
  26. How far from us each thing may be away,
  27. And the more air there be that's driven before,
  28. And too the longer be the brushing breeze
  29. Against our eyes, the farther off removed
  30. Each thing is seen to be: forsooth, this work
  31. With mightily swift order all goes on,
  32. So that upon one instant we may see
  33. What kind the object and how far away.
  34. Nor over-marvellous must this be deemed
  35. In these affairs that, though the films which strike
  36. Upon the eyes cannot be singly seen,
  37. The things themselves may be perceived. For thus
  38. When the wind beats upon us stroke by stroke
  39. And when the sharp cold streams, 'tis not our wont
  40. To feel each private particle of wind
  41. Or of that cold, but rather all at once;
  42. And so we see how blows affect our body,
  43. As if one thing were beating on the same
  44. And giving us the feel of its own body
  45. Outside of us. Again, whene'er we thump
  46. With finger-tip upon a stone, we touch
  47. But the rock's surface and the outer hue,
  48. Nor feel that hue by contact- rather feel
  49. The very hardness deep within the rock.
  1. Now come, and why beyond a looking-glass
  2. An image may be seen, perceive. For seen
  3. It soothly is, removed far within.
  4. 'Tis the same sort as objects peered upon
  5. Outside in their true shape, whene'er a door
  6. Yields through itself an open peering-place,
  7. And lets us see so many things outside
  8. Beyond the house. Also that sight is made
  9. By a twofold twin air: for first is seen
  10. The air inside the door-posts; next the doors,
  11. The twain to left and right; and afterwards
  12. A light beyond comes brushing through our eyes,
  13. Then other air, then objects peered upon
  14. Outside in their true shape. And thus, when first
  15. The image of the glass projects itself,
  16. As to our gaze it comes, it shoves ahead
  17. And drives along the air that's in the space
  18. Betwixt it and our eyes, and brings to pass
  19. That we perceive the air ere yet the glass.
  20. But when we've also seen the glass itself,
  21. Forthwith that image which from us is borne
  22. Reaches the glass, and there thrown back again
  23. Comes back unto our eyes, and driving rolls
  24. Ahead of itself another air, that then
  25. 'Tis this we see before itself, and thus
  26. It looks so far removed behind the glass.
  27. Wherefore again, again, there's naught for wonder
  28. . . . . . .
  29. In those which render from the mirror's plane
  30. A vision back, since each thing comes to pass
  31. By means of the two airs. Now, in the glass
  32. The right part of our members is observed
  33. Upon the left, because, when comes the image
  34. Hitting against the level of the glass,
  35. 'Tis not returned unshifted; but forced off
  36. Backwards in line direct and not oblique,-
  37. Exactly as whoso his plaster-mask
  38. Should dash, before 'twere dry, on post or beam,
  39. And it should straightway keep, at clinging there,
  40. Its shape, reversed, facing him who threw,
  41. And so remould the features it gives back:
  42. It comes that now the right eye is the left,
  43. The left the right.
  1. An image too may be
  2. From mirror into mirror handed on,
  3. Until of idol-films even five or six
  4. Have thus been gendered. For whatever things
  5. Shall hide back yonder in the house, the same,
  6. However far removed in twisting ways,
  7. May still be all brought forth through bending paths
  8. And by these several mirrors seen to be
  9. Within the house, since nature so compels
  10. All things to be borne backward and spring off
  11. At equal angles from all other things.
  12. To such degree the image gleams across
  13. From mirror unto mirror; where 'twas left
  14. It comes to be the right, and then again
  15. Returns and changes round unto the left.
  16. Again, those little sides of mirrors curved
  17. Proportionate to the bulge of our own flank
  18. Send back to us their idols with the right
  19. Upon the right; and this is so because
  20. Either the image is passed on along
  21. From mirror unto mirror, and thereafter,
  22. When twice dashed off, flies back unto ourselves;
  23. Or else the image wheels itself around,
  24. When once unto the mirror it has come,
  25. Since the curved surface teaches it to turn
  26. To usward. Further, thou might'st well believe
  27. That these film-idols step along with us
  28. And set their feet in unison with ours
  29. And imitate our carriage, since from that
  30. Part of a mirror whence thou hast withdrawn
  31. Straightway no images can be returned.
  32. Further, our eye-balls tend to flee the bright
  33. And shun to gaze thereon; the sun even blinds,
  34. If thou goest on to strain them unto him,
  35. Because his strength is mighty, and the films
  36. Heavily downward from on high are borne
  37. Through the pure ether and the viewless winds,
  38. And strike the eyes, disordering their joints.
  39. So piecing lustre often burns the eyes,
  40. Because it holdeth many seeds of fire
  41. Which, working into eyes, engender pain.
  42. Again, whatever jaundiced people view
  43. Becomes wan-yellow, since from out their bodies
  44. Flow many seeds wan-yellow forth to meet
  45. The films of things, and many too are mixed
  46. Within their eye, which by contagion paint
  47. All things with sallowness.
  1. Again, we view
  2. From dark recesses things that stand in light,
  3. Because, when first has entered and possessed
  4. The open eyes this nearer darkling air,
  5. Swiftly the shining air and luminous
  6. Followeth in, which purges then the eyes
  7. And scatters asunder of that other air
  8. The sable shadows, for in large degrees
  9. This air is nimbler, nicer, and more strong.
  10. And soon as ever 'thas filled and oped with light
  11. The pathways of the eyeballs, which before
  12. Black air had blocked, there follow straightaway
  13. Those films of things out-standing in the light,
  14. Provoking vision- what we cannot do
  15. From out the light with objects in the dark,
  16. Because that denser darkling air behind
  17. Followeth in, and fills each aperture
  18. And thus blockades the pathways of the eyes
  19. That there no images of any things
  20. Can be thrown in and agitate the eyes.
  21. And when from far away we do behold
  22. The squared towers of a city, oft
  23. Rounded they seem,- on this account because
  24. Each distant angle is perceived obtuse,
  25. Or rather it is not perceived at all;
  26. And perishes its blow nor to our gaze
  27. Arrives its stroke, since through such length of air
  28. Are borne along the idols that the air
  29. Makes blunt the idol of the angle's point
  30. By numerous collidings. When thuswise
  31. The angles of the tower each and all
  32. Have quite escaped the sense, the stones appear
  33. As rubbed and rounded on a turner's wheel-
  34. Yet not like objects near and truly round,
  35. But with a semblance to them, shadowily.
  36. Likewise, our shadow in the sun appears
  37. To move along and follow our own steps
  38. And imitate our carriage- if thou thinkest
  39. Air that is thus bereft of light can walk,
  40. Following the gait and motion of mankind.
  41. For what we use to name a shadow, sure
  42. Is naught but air deprived of light. No marvel:
  43. Because the earth from spot to spot is reft
  44. Progressively of light of sun, whenever
  45. In moving round we get within its way,
  46. While any spot of earth by us abandoned
  47. Is filled with light again, on this account
  48. It comes to pass that what was body's shadow
  49. Seems still the same to follow after us
  50. In one straight course. Since, evermore pour in
  51. New lights of rays, and perish then the old,
  52. Just like the wool that's drawn into the flame.
  53. Therefore the earth is easily spoiled of light
  54. And easily refilled and from herself
  55. Washeth the black shadows quite away.
  1. And yet in this we don't at all concede
  2. That eyes be cheated. For their task it is
  3. To note in whatsoever place be light,
  4. In what be shadow: whether or no the gleams
  5. Be still the same, and whether the shadow which
  6. Just now was here is that one passing thither,
  7. Or whether the facts be what we said above,
  8. 'Tis after all the reasoning of mind
  9. That must decide; nor can our eyeballs know
  10. The nature of reality. And so
  11. Attach thou not this fault of mind to eyes,
  12. Nor lightly think our senses everywhere
  13. Are tottering. The ship in which we sail
  14. Is borne along, although it seems to stand;
  15. The ship that bides in roadstead is supposed
  16. There to be passing by. And hills and fields
  17. Seem fleeing fast astern, past which we urge
  18. The ship and fly under the bellying sails.
  19. The stars, each one, do seem to pause, affixed
  20. To the ethereal caverns, though they all
  21. Forever are in motion, rising out
  22. And thence revisiting their far descents
  23. When they have measured with their bodies bright
  24. The span of heaven. And likewise sun and moon
  25. Seem biding in a roadstead,- objects which,
  26. As plain fact proves, are really borne along.
  27. Between two mountains far away aloft
  28. From midst the whirl of waters open lies
  29. A gaping exit for the fleet, and yet
  30. They seem conjoined in a single isle.
  31. When boys themselves have stopped their spinning round,
  32. The halls still seem to whirl and posts to reel,
  33. Until they now must almost think the roofs
  34. Threaten to ruin down upon their heads.
  35. And now, when nature begins to lift on high
  36. The sun's red splendour and the tremulous fires,
  37. And raise him o'er the mountain-tops, those mountains-
  38. O'er which he seemeth then to thee to be,
  39. His glowing self hard by atingeing them
  40. With his own fire- are yet away from us
  41. Scarcely two thousand arrow-shots, indeed
  42. Oft scarce five hundred courses of a dart;
  43. Although between those mountains and the sun
  44. Lie the huge plains of ocean spread beneath
  45. The vasty shores of ether, and intervene
  46. A thousand lands, possessed by many a folk
  47. And generations of wild beasts. Again,
  1. A pool of water of but a finger's depth,
  2. Which lies between the stones along the pave,
  3. Offers a vision downward into earth
  4. As far, as from the earth o'erspread on high
  5. The gulfs of heaven; that thus thou seemest to view
  6. Clouds down below and heavenly bodies plunged
  7. Wondrously in heaven under earth.
  8. Then too, when in the middle of the stream
  9. Sticks fast our dashing horse, and down we gaze
  10. Into the river's rapid waves, some force
  11. Seems then to bear the body of the horse,
  12. Though standing still, reversely from his course,
  13. And swiftly push up-stream. And wheresoe'er
  14. We cast our eyes across, all objects seem
  15. Thus to be onward borne and flow along
  16. In the same way as we. A portico,
  17. Albeit it stands well propped from end to end
  18. On equal columns, parallel and big,
  19. Contracts by stages in a narrow cone,
  20. When from one end the long, long whole is seen,-
  21. Until, conjoining ceiling with the floor,
  22. And the whole right side with the left, it draws
  23. Together to a cone's nigh-viewless point.
  24. To sailors on the main the sun he seems
  25. From out the waves to rise, and in the waves
  26. To set and bury his light- because indeed
  27. They gaze on naught but water and the sky.
  28. Again, to gazers ignorant of the sea,
  29. Vessels in port seem, as with broken poops,
  30. To lean upon the water, quite agog;
  31. For any portion of the oars that's raised
  32. Above the briny spray is straight, and straight
  33. The rudders from above. But other parts,
  34. Those sunk, immersed below the water-line,
  35. Seem broken all and bended and inclined
  36. Sloping to upwards, and turned back to float
  37. Almost atop the water. And when the winds
  38. Carry the scattered drifts along the sky
  39. In the night-time, then seem to glide along
  40. The radiant constellations 'gainst the clouds
  41. And there on high to take far other course
  42. From that whereon in truth they're borne. And then,
  1. If haply our hand be set beneath one eye
  2. And press below thereon, then to our gaze
  3. Each object which we gaze on seems to be,
  4. By some sensation twain- then twain the lights
  5. Of lampions burgeoning in flowers of flame,
  6. And twain the furniture in all the house,
  7. Two-fold the visages of fellow-men,
  8. And twain their bodies. And again, when sleep
  9. Has bound our members down in slumber soft
  10. And all the body lies in deep repose,
  11. Yet then we seem to self to be awake
  12. And move our members; and in night's blind gloom
  13. We think to mark the daylight and the sun;
  14. And, shut within a room, yet still we seem
  15. To change our skies, our oceans, rivers, hills,
  16. To cross the plains afoot, and hear new sounds,
  17. Though still the austere silence of the night
  18. Abides around us, and to speak replies,
  19. Though voiceless. Other cases of the sort
  20. Wondrously many do we see, which all
  21. Seek, so to say, to injure faith in sense-
  22. In vain, because the largest part of these
  23. Deceives through mere opinions of the mind,
  24. Which we do add ourselves, feigning to see
  25. What by the senses are not seen at all.
  26. For naught is harder than to separate
  27. Plain facts from dubious, which the mind forthwith
  28. Adds by itself.
  1. Again, if one suppose
  2. That naught is known, he knows not whether this
  3. Itself is able to be known, since he
  4. Confesses naught to know. Therefore with him
  5. I waive discussion- who has set his head
  6. Even where his feet should be. But let me grant
  7. That this he knows,- I question: whence he knows
  8. What 'tis to know and not-to-know in turn,
  9. And what created concept of the truth,
  10. And what device has proved the dubious
  11. To differ from the certain?- since in things
  12. He's heretofore seen naught of true. Thou'lt find
  13. That from the senses first hath been create
  14. Concept of truth, nor can the senses be
  15. Rebutted. For criterion must be found
  16. Worthy of greater trust, which shall defeat
  17. Through own authority the false by true;
  18. What, then, than these our senses must there be
  19. Worthy a greater trust? Shall reason, sprung
  20. From some false sense, prevail to contradict
  21. Those senses, sprung as reason wholly is
  22. From out the senses?- For lest these be true,
  23. All reason also then is falsified.
  24. Or shall the ears have power to blame the eyes,
  25. Or yet the touch the ears? Again, shall taste
  26. Accuse this touch or shall the nose confute
  27. Or eyes defeat it? Methinks not so it is:
  28. For unto each has been divided off
  29. Its function quite apart, its power to each;
  30. And thus we're still constrained to perceive
  31. The soft, the cold, the hot apart, apart
  32. All divers hues and whatso things there be
  33. Conjoined with hues. Likewise the tasting tongue
  34. Has its own power apart, and smells apart
  35. And sounds apart are known. And thus it is
  36. That no one sense can e'er convict another.
  37. Nor shall one sense have power to blame itself,
  38. Because it always must be deemed the same,
  39. Worthy of equal trust. And therefore what
  40. At any time unto these senses showed,
  41. The same is true.
  1. And if the reason be
  2. Unable to unravel us the cause
  3. Why objects, which at hand were square, afar
  4. Seemed rounded, yet it more availeth us,
  5. Lacking the reason, to pretend a cause
  6. For each configuration, than to let
  7. From out our hands escape the obvious things
  8. And injure primal faith in sense, and wreck
  9. All those foundations upon which do rest
  10. Our life and safety. For not only reason
  11. Would topple down; but even our very life
  12. Would straightaway collapse, unless we dared
  13. To trust our senses and to keep away
  14. From headlong heights and places to be shunned
  15. Of a like peril, and to seek with speed
  16. Their opposites! Again, as in a building,
  17. If the first plumb-line be askew, and if
  18. The square deceiving swerve from lines exact,
  19. And if the level waver but the least
  20. In any part, the whole construction then
  21. Must turn out faulty- shelving and askew,
  22. Leaning to back and front, incongruous,
  23. That now some portions seem about to fall,
  24. And falls the whole ere long- betrayed indeed
  25. By first deceiving estimates: so too
  26. Thy calculations in affairs of life
  27. Must be askew and false, if sprung for thee
  28. From senses false. So all that troop of words
  29. Marshalled against the senses is quite vain.
  1. And now remains to demonstrate with ease
  2. How other senses each their things perceive.
  3. Firstly, a sound and every voice is heard,
  4. When, getting into ears, they strike the sense
  5. With their own body. For confess we must
  6. Even voice and sound to be corporeal,
  7. Because they're able on the sense to strike.
  8. Besides voice often scrapes against the throat,
  9. And screams in going out do make more rough
  10. The wind-pipe- naturally enough, methinks,
  11. When, through the narrow exit rising up
  12. In larger throng, these primal germs of voice
  13. Have thus begun to issue forth. In sooth,
  14. Also the door of the mouth is scraped against
  15. [By air blown outward] from distended [cheeks].
  16. . . . . . .
  17. And thus no doubt there is, that voice and words
  18. Consist of elements corporeal,
  19. With power to pain. Nor art thou unaware
  20. Likewise how much of body's ta'en away,
  21. How much from very thews and powers of men
  22. May be withdrawn by steady talk, prolonged
  23. Even from the rising splendour of the morn
  24. To shadows of black evening,- above all
  25. If 't be outpoured with most exceeding shouts.
  26. Therefore the voice must be corporeal,
  27. Since the long talker loses from his frame
  28. A part.
  29. Moreover, roughness in the sound
  30. Comes from the roughness in the primal germs,
  31. As a smooth sound from smooth ones is create;
  32. Nor have these elements a form the same
  33. When the trump rumbles with a hollow roar,
  34. As when barbaric Berecynthian pipe
  35. Buzzes with raucous boomings, or when swans
  36. By night from icy shores of Helicon
  37. With wailing voices raise their liquid dirge.
  1. Thus, when from deep within our frame we force
  2. These voices, and at mouth expel them forth,
  3. The mobile tongue, artificer of words,
  4. Makes them articulate, and too the lips
  5. By their formations share in shaping them.
  6. Hence when the space is short from starting-point
  7. To where that voice arrives, the very words
  8. Must too be plainly heard, distinctly marked.
  9. For then the voice conserves its own formation,
  10. Conserves its shape. But if the space between
  11. Be longer than is fit, the words must be
  12. Through the much air confounded, and the voice
  13. Disordered in its flight across the winds-
  14. And so it haps, that thou canst sound perceive,
  15. Yet not determine what the words may mean;
  16. To such degree confounded and encumbered
  17. The voice approaches us. Again, one word,
  18. Sent from the crier's mouth, may rouse all ears
  19. Among the populace. And thus one voice
  20. Scatters asunder into many voices,
  21. Since it divides itself for separate ears,
  22. Imprinting form of word and a clear tone.
  23. But whatso part of voices fails to hit
  24. The ears themselves perishes, borne beyond,
  25. Idly diffused among the winds. A part,
  26. Beating on solid porticoes, tossed back
  27. Returns a sound; and sometimes mocks the ear
  28. With a mere phantom of a word.
  1. When this
  2. Thou well hast noted, thou canst render count
  3. Unto thyself and others why it is
  4. Along the lonely places that the rocks
  5. Give back like shapes of words in order like,
  6. When search we after comrades wandering
  7. Among the shady mountains, and aloud
  8. Call unto them, the scattered. I have seen
  9. Spots that gave back even voices six or seven
  10. For one thrown forth- for so the very hills,
  11. Dashing them back against the hills, kept on
  12. With their reverberations. And these spots
  13. The neighbouring country-side doth feign to be
  14. Haunts of the goat-foot satyrs and the nymphs;
  15. And tells ye there be fauns, by whose night noise
  16. And antic revels yonder they declare
  17. The voiceless silences are broken oft,
  18. And tones of strings are made and wailings sweet
  19. Which the pipe, beat by players' finger-tips,
  20. Pours out; and far and wide the farmer-race
  21. Begins to hear, when, shaking the garmentings
  22. Of pine upon his half-beast head, god-Pan
  23. With puckered lip oft runneth o'er and o'er
  24. The open reeds,- lest flute should cease to pour
  25. The woodland music! Other prodigies
  26. And wonders of this ilk they love to tell,
  27. Lest they be thought to dwell in lonely spots
  28. And even by gods deserted. This is why
  29. They boast of marvels in their story-tellings;
  30. Or by some other reason are led on-
  31. Greedy, as all mankind hath ever been,
  32. To prattle fables into ears.
  1. Again,
  2. One need not wonder how it comes about
  3. That through those places (through which eyes cannot
  4. View objects manifest) sounds yet may pass
  5. And assail the ears. For often we observe
  6. People conversing, though the doors be closed;
  7. No marvel either, since all voice unharmed
  8. Can wind through bended apertures of things,
  9. While idol-films decline to- for they're rent,
  10. Unless along straight apertures they swim,
  11. Like those in glass, through which all images
  12. Do fly across. And yet this voice itself,
  13. In passing through shut chambers of a house,
  14. Is dulled, and in a jumble enters ears,
  15. And sound we seem to hear far more than words.
  16. Moreover, a voice is into all directions
  17. Divided up, since off from one another
  18. New voices are engendered, when one voice
  19. Hath once leapt forth, outstarting into many-
  20. As oft a spark of fire is wont to sprinkle
  21. Itself into its several fires. And so,
  22. Voices do fill those places hid behind,
  23. Which all are in a hubbub round about,
  24. Astir with sound. But idol-films do tend,
  25. As once sent forth, in straight directions all;
  26. Wherefore one can inside a wall see naught,
  27. Yet catch the voices from beyond the same.
  1. Nor tongue and palate, whereby we flavour feel,
  2. Present more problems for more work of thought.
  3. Firstly, we feel a flavour in the mouth,
  4. When forth we squeeze it, in chewing up our food,-
  5. As any one perchance begins to squeeze
  6. With hand and dry a sponge with water soaked.
  7. Next, all which forth we squeeze is spread about
  8. Along the pores and intertwined paths
  9. Of the loose-textured tongue. And so, when smooth
  10. The bodies of the oozy flavour, then
  11. Delightfully they touch, delightfully
  12. They treat all spots, around the wet and trickling
  13. Enclosures of the tongue. And contrariwise,
  14. They sting and pain the sense with their assault,
  15. According as with roughness they're supplied.
  16. Next, only up to palate is the pleasure
  17. Coming from flavour; for in truth when down
  18. 'Thas plunged along the throat, no pleasure is,
  19. Whilst into all the frame it spreads around;
  20. Nor aught it matters with what food is fed
  21. The body, if only what thou take thou canst
  22. Distribute well digested to the frame
  23. And keep the stomach in a moist career.
  24. Now, how it is we see some food for some,
  25. Others for others....
  26. . . . . . .
  27. I will unfold, or wherefore what to some
  28. Is foul and bitter, yet the same to others
  29. Can seem delectable to eat,- why here
  30. So great the distance and the difference is
  31. That what is food to one to some becomes
  32. Fierce poison, as a certain snake there is
  33. Which, touched by spittle of a man, will waste
  34. And end itself by gnawing up its coil.
  35. Again, fierce poison is the hellebore
  36. To us, but puts the fat on goats and quails.
  37. That thou mayst know by what devices this
  38. Is brought about, in chief thou must recall
  39. What we have said before, that seeds are kept
  40. Commixed in things in divers modes. Again,
  41. As all the breathing creatures which take food
  42. Are outwardly unlike, and outer cut
  43. And contour of their members bounds them round,
  44. Each differing kind by kind, they thus consist
  45. Of seeds of varying shape. And furthermore,
  46. Since seeds do differ, divers too must be
  47. The interstices and paths (which we do call
  48. The apertures) in all the members, even
  49. In mouth and palate too. Thus some must be
  50. More small or yet more large, three-cornered some
  51. And others squared, and many others round,
  52. And certain of them many-angled too
  53. In many modes. For, as the combination
  54. And motion of their divers shapes demand,
  55. The shapes of apertures must be diverse
  56. And paths must vary according to their walls
  57. That bound them. Hence when what is sweet to some,
  58. Becomes to others bitter, for him to whom
  59. 'Tis sweet, the smoothest particles must needs
  60. Have entered caressingly the palate's pores.
  61. And, contrariwise, with those to whom that sweet
  62. Is sour within the mouth, beyond a doubt
  63. The rough and barbed particles have got
  64. Into the narrows of the apertures.
  65. Now easy it is from these affairs to know
  66. Whatever...
  67. . . . . . .
  68. Indeed, where one from o'er-abundant bile
  69. Is stricken with fever, or in other wise
  70. Feels the roused violence of some malady,
  71. There the whole frame is now upset, and there
  72. All the positions of the seeds are changed,-
  73. So that the bodies which before were fit
  74. To cause the savour, now are fit no more,
  75. And now more apt are others which be able
  76. To get within the pores and gender sour.
  77. Both sorts, in sooth, are intermixed in honey-
  78. What oft we've proved above to thee before.
  1. Now come, and I will indicate what wise
  2. Impact of odour on the nostrils touches.
  3. And first, 'tis needful there be many things
  4. From whence the streaming flow of varied odours
  5. May roll along, and we're constrained to think
  6. They stream and dart and sprinkle themselves about
  7. Impartially. But for some breathing creatures
  8. One odour is more apt, to others another-
  9. Because of differing forms of seeds and pores.
  10. Thus on and on along the zephyrs bees
  11. Are led by odour of honey, vultures too
  12. By carcasses. Again, the forward power
  13. Of scent in dogs doth lead the hunter on
  14. Whithersoever the splay-foot of wild beast
  15. Hath hastened its career; and the white goose,
  16. The saviour of the Roman citadel,
  17. Forescents afar the odour of mankind.
  18. Thus, diversly to divers ones is given
  19. Peculiar smell that leadeth each along
  20. To his own food or makes him start aback
  21. From loathsome poison, and in this wise are
  22. The generations of the wild preserved.
  23. Yet is this pungence not alone in odours
  24. Or in the class of flavours; but, likewise,
  25. The look of things and hues agree not all
  26. So well with senses unto all, but that
  27. Some unto some will be, to gaze upon,
  28. More keen and painful. Lo, the raving lions,
  29. They dare not face and gaze upon the cock
  30. Who's wont with wings to flap away the night
  31. From off the stage, and call the beaming morn
  32. With clarion voice- and lions straightway thus
  33. Bethink themselves of flight, because, ye see,
  34. Within the body of the cocks there be
  35. Some certain seeds, which, into lions' eyes
  36. Injected, bore into the pupils deep
  37. And yield such piercing pain they can't hold out
  38. Against the cocks, however fierce they be-
  39. Whilst yet these seeds can't hurt our gaze the least,
  40. Either because they do not penetrate,
  41. Or since they have free exit from the eyes
  42. As soon as penetrating, so that thus
  43. They cannot hurt our eyes in any part
  44. By there remaining.
  45. To speak once more of odour;
  46. Whatever assail the nostrils, some can travel
  47. A longer way than others. None of them,
  48. However, 's borne so far as sound or voice-
  49. While I omit all mention of such things
  50. As hit the eyesight and assail the vision.
  51. For slowly on a wandering course it comes
  52. And perishes sooner, by degrees absorbed
  53. Easily into all the winds of air;-
  54. And first, because from deep inside the thing
  55. It is discharged with labour (for the fact
  56. That every object, when 'tis shivered, ground,
  57. Or crumbled by the fire, will smell the stronger
  58. Is sign that odours flow and part away
  59. From inner regions of the things). And next,
  60. Thou mayest see that odour is create
  61. Of larger primal germs than voice, because
  62. It enters not through stony walls, wherethrough
  63. Unfailingly the voice and sound are borne;
  64. Wherefore, besides, thou wilt observe 'tis not
  65. So easy to trace out in whatso place
  66. The smelling object is. For, dallying on
  67. Along the winds, the particles cool off,
  68. And then the scurrying messengers of things
  69. Arrive our senses, when no longer hot.
  70. So dogs oft wander astray, and hunt the scent.
  1. Now mark, and hear what objects move the mind,
  2. And learn, in few, whence unto intellect
  3. Do come what come. And first I tell thee this:
  4. That many images of objects rove
  5. In many modes to every region round-
  6. So thin that easily the one with other,
  7. When once they meet, uniteth in mid-air,
  8. Like gossamer or gold-leaf. For, indeed,
  9. Far thinner are they in their fabric than
  10. Those images which take a hold on eyes
  11. And smite the vision, since through body's pores
  12. They penetrate, and inwardly stir up
  13. The subtle nature of mind and smite the sense.
  14. Thus, Centaurs and the limbs of Scyllas, thus
  15. The Cerberus-visages of dogs we see,
  16. And images of people gone before-
  17. Dead men whose bones earth bosomed long ago;
  18. Because the images of every kind
  19. Are everywhere about us borne- in part
  20. Those which are gendered in the very air
  21. Of own accord, in part those others which
  22. From divers things do part away, and those
  23. Which are compounded, made from out their shapes.
  24. For soothly from no living Centaur is
  25. That phantom gendered, since no breed of beast
  26. Like him was ever; but, when images
  27. Of horse and man by chance have come together,
  28. They easily cohere, as aforesaid,
  29. At once, through subtle nature and fabric thin.
  30. In the same fashion others of this ilk
  31. Created are. And when they're quickly borne
  32. In their exceeding lightness, easily
  33. (As earlier I showed) one subtle image,
  34. Compounded, moves by its one blow the mind,
  35. Itself so subtle and so strangely quick.
  36. That these things come to pass as I record,
  37. From this thou easily canst understand:
  38. So far as one is unto other like,
  39. Seeing with mind as well as with the eyes
  40. Must come to pass in fashion not unlike.
  41. Well, now, since I have shown that I perceive
  42. Haply a lion through those idol-films
  43. Such as assail my eyes, 'tis thine to know
  44. Also the mind is in like manner moved,
  45. And sees, nor more nor less than eyes do see
  46. (Except that it perceives more subtle films)
  47. The lion and aught else through idol-films.
  48. And when the sleep has overset our frame,
  49. The mind's intelligence is now awake,
  50. Still for no other reason, save that these-
  51. The self-same films as when we are awake-
  52. Assail our minds, to such degree indeed
  53. That we do seem to see for sure the man
  54. Whom, void of life, now death and earth have gained
  55. Dominion over. And nature forces this
  56. To come to pass because the body's senses
  57. Are resting, thwarted through the members all,
  58. Unable now to conquer false with true;
  59. And memory lies prone and languishes
  60. In slumber, nor protests that he, the man
  61. Whom the mind feigns to see alive, long since
  62. Hath been the gain of death and dissolution.
  63. And further, 'tis no marvel idols move
  64. And toss their arms and other members round
  65. In rhythmic time- and often in men's sleeps
  66. It haps an image this is seen to do;
  67. In sooth, when perishes the former image,
  68. And other is gendered of another pose,
  69. That former seemeth to have changed its gestures.
  70. Of course the change must be conceived as speedy;
  71. So great the swiftness and so great the store
  72. Of idol-things, and (in an instant brief
  73. As mind can mark) so great, again, the store
  74. Of separate idol-parts to bring supplies.
  75. It happens also that there is supplied
  76. Sometimes an image not of kind the same;
  77. But what before was woman, now at hand
  78. Is seen to stand there, altered into male;
  79. Or other visage, other age succeeds;
  80. But slumber and oblivion take care
  81. That we shall feel no wonder at the thing.