Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  Nor do the several minute bodies of heat pass on one by one, but closely entangled and massed together; whereby at one and the same time they are pulled back by one another and are impeded from without; so that they are forced to travel more slowly.

  But the first-beginnings which are of solid singleness, when they pass through empty void and nothing delays them from without and they themselves, single from the nature of their parts, are borne with headlong endeavor towards the one single spot to which their efforts tend, must sure enough surpass in velocity and be carried along much more swiftly than the light of the sun, and race through many times the extent of space in the same time in which the beams of the sun fill the heaven throughout. [nor follow up the several first-beginnings to see by what law each thing goes on.]

  165 nec persectari primordia singula quaeque,

  ut videant qua quicque geratur cum ratione.

  At quidam contra haec, ignari materiai,

  naturam non posse deum sine numine reddunt

  tanto opere humanis rationibus atmoderate

  170 tempora mutare annorum frugesque creare

  et iam cetera, mortalis quae suadet adire

  ipsaque deducit dux vitae dia voluptas

  et res per Veneris blanditur saecla propagent,

  ne genus occidat humanum. quorum omnia causa

  175 constituisse deos cum fingunt, omnibus rebus

  magno opere a vera lapsi ratione videntur.

  nam quamvis rerum ignorem primordia quae sint,

  hoc tamen ex ipsis caeli rationibus ausim

  confirmare aliisque ex rebus reddere multis,

  180 nequaquam nobis divinitus esse creatam

  naturam mundi: tanta stat praedita culpa.

  quae tibi posterius, Memmi, faciemus aperta;

  nunc id quod super est de motibus expediemus.

  Nunc locus est, ut opinor, in his illud quoque rebus

  185 confirmare tibi, nullam rem posse sua vi

  corpoream sursum ferri sursumque meare.

  ne tibi dent in eo flammarum corpora frudem;

  sursus enim versus gignuntur et augmina sumunt

  et sursum nitidae fruges arbustaque crescunt,

  190 pondera, quantum in se est, cum deorsum cuncta ferantur.

  nec cum subsiliunt ignes ad tecta domorum

  et celeri flamma degustant tigna trabesque,

  sponte sua facere id sine vi subiecta putandum est.

  quod genus e nostro com missus corpore sanguis

  195 emicat exultans alte spargitque cruorem.

  nonne vides etiam quanta vi tigna trabesque

  respuat umor aquae? nam quo magis ursimus altum

  derecta et magna vi multi pressimus aegre,

  [165] But some in opposition to this, ignorant of matter, believe that nature cannot without the providence of the gods, in such nice conformity to the ways of men, vary the seasons of the year and bring forth crops, ay and all the other things, which divine pleasure, the guide of life, prompts men to approach, escorting them in person and enticing them by her fondlings to continue their races through the arts of Venus, that mankind may not come to an end.

  Now when they suppose that the gods designed all things for the sake of men, they seem to me in all respects to have strayed most widely from true reason.

  For even if I did not know what first-beginnings are, yet this, judging by the very arrangements of heaven, I would venture to maintain, that the nature of the world has by no means been made for us by divine power: so great are the defects with which it stands encumbered.

  All which, Memmius, we will hereafter make clear to you: we will now go on to explain what remains to be told of motions.

  Now methinks is the place herein to prove this point also, that no bodily thing can by its own power be borne upwards and travel upwards; that the bodies of flames may not in this manner lead you into error.

  For they are begotten with an upward tendency, and in the same direction receive increase, and goodly crops and trees grow upwards, though their weights, so far as in them is, all tend downwards.

  And when fires leap to the roofs of houses and with swift flame lick up rafters and beams, we are not to suppose that they do so spontaneously without a force pushing them up.

  Even thus blood discharged from our body spurts out and springs upon high and scatters gore about.

  See you not too with what force the liquid of water spits out logs and beams?

  The more deeply we have pushed them sheer down and have pressed them in, many of us together, with all our might and much painful effort, with the greater avidity it vomits them up and casts them forth, so that they rise and start out more than half their length.

  tam cupide sursum removet magis atque remittit,

  200 plus ut parte foras emergant exiliantque.

  nec tamen haec, quantum est in se, dubitamus, opinor,

  quin vacuum per inane deorsum cuncta ferantur.

  sic igitur debent flammae quoque posse per auras

  aeris expressae sursum succedere, quamquam

  205 pondera, quantum in se est, deorsum deducere pugnent.

  nocturnasque faces caeli sublime volantis

  nonne vides longos flammarum ducere tractus

  in quas cumque dedit partis natura meatum?

  non cadere in terras stellas et sidera cernis?

  210 sol etiam caeli de vertice dissipat omnis

  ardorem in partis et lumine conserit arva;

  in terras igitur quoque solis vergitur ardor.

  transversosque volare per imbris fulmina cernis,

  nunc hinc nunc illinc abrupti nubibus ignes

  215 concursant; cadit in terras vis flammea volgo.

  Illud in his quoque te rebus cognoscere avemus,

  corpora cum deorsum rectum per inane feruntur

  ponderibus propriis, incerto tempore ferme

  incertisque locis spatio depellere paulum,

  220 tantum quod momen mutatum dicere possis.

  quod nisi declinare solerent, omnia deorsum

  imbris uti guttae caderent per inane profundum

  nec foret offensus natus nec plaga creata

  principiis; ita nihil umquam natura creasset.

  225 Quod si forte aliquis credit graviora potesse

  corpora, quo citius rectum per inane feruntur,

  incidere ex supero levioribus atque ita plagas

  gignere, quae possint genitalis reddere motus,

  avius a vera longe ratione recedit.

  230 nam per aquas quae cumque cadunt atque aera rarum,

  haec pro ponderibus casus celerare necessest

  propterea quia corpus aquae naturaque tenvis

  aeris haud possunt aeque rem quamque morari,

  sed citius cedunt gravioribus exsuperata;

  235 at contra nulli de nulla parte neque ullo

  tempore inane potest vacuum subsistere rei,

  quin, sua quod natura petit, concedere pergat;

  omnia qua propter debent per inane quietum

  aeque ponderibus non aequis concita ferri.

  240 haud igitur poterunt levioribus incidere umquam

  ex supero graviora neque ictus gignere per se,

  qui varient motus, per quos natura gerat res.

  [199] And yet methinks we doubt not that these, so far as in them is, are all borne downwards through the empty void.

  In the same way flames also ought to be able, when squeezed out, to mount upward through the air, although their weights, so far as in them is, strive to draw them down.

  See you not too that the nightly meteors of heaven as they fly aloft draw after them long trails of flames in whatever direction nature has given them a passage?

  Do you not perceive stars and constellations fall to the earth?

  The sun also from the height of heaven sheds its heat on all sides and sows the fields with light; to the earth, therefore, as well, the sun’s heat tends.

  Lightnings also you see fly athwart the rains: now from this side n
ow from that, fires burst from the clouds and rush about; the force of flame falls to the earth all round.

  This point too, herein we wish you to apprehend: when bodies are borne downwards sheer through void by their own weights, at quite uncertain times and uncertain spots they push themselves a little from their course: you just and only just can call it a change of inclination.

  If they were not used to swerve, they would all fall down, like drops of rain, through the deep void, and no clashing would have been begotten nor blow produced among the first beginnings: thus nature never would have produced aught.

  But if haply any one believes that heavier bodies, as they are carried more quickly sheer through space, can fall from above on the lighter and so beget blows able to produce begetting motions, he goes most widely astray from true reason.

  For whenever bodies fall through water and thin air, they must quicken their descents in proportion to their weights, because the body of water and subtle nature of air cannot retard everything in equal degree, but more readily give way, overpowered by the heavier: on the other hand empty void cannot offer resistance to anything in any direction at any time, but must, as its nature craves, continually give way; and for this reason all things must be moved and borne along with equal velocity though of unequal weights through the unresisting void.

  Therefore heavier things will never be able to fall from above on lighter nor of themselves to beget blows sufficient to produce the varied motions by which nature carries on things.

  quare etiam atque etiam paulum inclinare necessest

  corpora; nec plus quam minimum, ne fingere motus

  245 obliquos videamur et id res vera refutet.

  namque hoc in promptu manifestumque esse videmus,

  pondera, quantum in se est, non posse obliqua meare,

  ex supero cum praecipitant, quod cernere possis;

  sed nihil omnino recta regione viai

  250 declinare quis est qui possit cernere sese?

  Denique si semper motu conectitur omnis

  et vetere exoritur motus novus ordine certo

  nec declinando faciunt primordia motus

  principium quoddam, quod fati foedera rumpat,

  255 ex infinito ne causam causa sequatur,

  libera per terras unde haec animantibus exstat,

  unde est haec, inquam, fatis avolsa voluntas,

  per quam progredimur quo ducit quemque voluptas,

  declinamus item motus nec tempore certo

  260 nec regione loci certa, sed ubi ipsa tulit mens?

  nam dubio procul his rebus sua cuique voluntas

  principium dat et hinc motus per membra rigantur.

  nonne vides etiam patefactis tempore puncto

  carceribus non posse tamen prorumpere equorum

  265 vim cupidam tam de subito quam mens avet ipsa?

  omnis enim totum per corpus materiai

  copia conciri debet, concita per artus

  omnis ut studium mentis conixa sequatur;

  ut videas initum motus a corde creari

  270 ex animique voluntate id procedere primum,

  inde dari porro per totum corpus et artus.

  nec similest ut cum inpulsi procedimus ictu

  viribus alterius magnis magnoque coactu;

  nam tum materiem totius corporis omnem

  275 perspicuumst nobis invitis ire rapique,

  donec eam refrenavit per membra voluntas.

  iamne vides igitur, quamquam vis extera multos

  pellat et invitos cogat procedere saepe

  praecipitesque rapi, tamen esse in pectore nostro

  280 quiddam quod contra pugnare obstareque possit?

  cuius ad arbitrium quoque copia materiai

  cogitur inter dum flecti per membra per artus

  et proiecta refrenatur retroque residit.

  [243] Wherefore again and again I say bodies must swerve a little; and an yet not more than the least possible; lest we be found to be imagining oblique motions and this the reality should refute.

  For this we see to be plain and evident, that weights, so far as in them is, cannot travel obliquely, when they fall from above, at least so far as you can perceive; but that nothing swerves in any case from the straight course, who is there that can perceive? Again if all motion is ever linked together and a new motion ever springs from another in a fixed order and first-beginnings do not by swerving make some commencement of motion to break through the decrees of fate, that cause follow not cause from everlasting, whence have all living creatures here on earth, whence, I ask, has been wrested from the fates the power by which we go forward whither the will leads each, by which likewise we change the direction of our motions neither at a fixed time nor fixed place, but when and where the mind itself has prompted?

  For beyond a doubt, in these things his own will makes for each a beginning and from this beginning motions are welled through the limbs.

  See you not too, when the barriers are thrown open at a given moment, that yet the eager powers of the horses cannot start forward so instantaneously as the mind itself desires?

  The whole store of matter through the whole body must be sought out, in order that stirred up through all the frame it may follow with undivided effort the bent of the mind; so that you see the beginning of motion is born from the heart, and the action first commences in the will of the mind and next is transmitted through the whole body and frame.

  Quite different is the case when we move on propelled by a stroke inflicted by the strong might and strong compulsion of another; for then it is quite clear that all the matter of the whole body moves and is hurried on against our inclination, until the will has reined it in throughout the limbs.

  Do you see then in this case that, though an outward force often pushes men on and compels them frequently to advance against their will and to be hurried headlong on, there yet is something in our breast sufficient to struggle against and resist it? And when ,too, this something chooses, the store of matter is compelled sometimes to change its course through the limbs and frame, and after it has been forced forward, is reined in and settles back into its place.

  quare in seminibus quoque idem fateare necessest,

  285 esse aliam praeter plagas et pondera causam

  motibus, unde haec est nobis innata potestas,

  de nihilo quoniam fieri nihil posse videmus.

  pondus enim prohibet ne plagis omnia fiant

  externa quasi vi; sed ne res ipsa necessum

  290 intestinum habeat cunctis in rebus agendis

  et devicta quasi cogatur ferre patique,

  id facit exiguum clinamen principiorum

  nec regione loci certa nec tempore certo.

  Nec stipata magis fuit umquam materiai

  295 copia nec porro maioribus intervallis;

  nam neque adaugescit quicquam neque deperit inde.

  qua propter quo nunc in motu principiorum

  corpora sunt, in eodem ante acta aetate fuere

  et post haec semper simili ratione ferentur,

  300 et quae consuerint gigni gignentur eadem

  condicione et erunt et crescent vique valebunt,

  quantum cuique datum est per foedera naturai.

  nec rerum summam commutare ulla potest vis;

  nam neque quo possit genus ullum materiai

  305 effugere ex omni quicquam est extra, neque in omne

  unde coorta queat nova vis inrumpere et omnem

  naturam rerum mutare et vertere motus.

  Illud in his rebus non est mirabile, quare,

  omnia cum rerum primordia sint in motu,

  310 summa tamen summa videatur stare quiete,

  praeter quam siquid proprio dat corpore motus.

  omnis enim longe nostris ab sensibus infra

  primorum natura iacet; qua propter, ubi ipsa

  cernere iam nequeas, motus quoque surpere debent;

  315 praesertim cum, quae possimus cernere, celent

  saepe tamen motus spatio diducta locorum.
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  nam saepe in colli tondentes pabula laeta

  lanigerae reptant pecudes, quo quamque vocantes

  invitant herbae gemmantes rore recenti,

  320 et satiati agni ludunt blandeque coruscant;

  omnia quae nobis longe confusa videntur

  et velut in viridi candor consistere colli.

  praeterea magnae legiones cum loca cursu

  camporum complent belli simulacra cientes,

  325 fulgor ubi ad caelum se tollit totaque circum

  aere renidescit tellus supterque virum vi

  excitur pedibus sonitus clamoreque montes

  icti reiectant voces ad sidera mundi

  et circum volitant equites mediosque repente

  330 tramittunt valido quatientes impete campos;

  [284] Wherefore in seeds too you must admit the same, admit that besides blows and weights there is a cause of motions, from which this power of free action has been begotten in us, since we see that nothing can come from nothing.

  For weight forbids that all things be done by blows through as it were an outward force; but that the mind itself does not feel an internal necessity in all its actions and is not as it were overmastered and compelled to bear and put up with this, is caused by a minute swerving of first beginnings at no fixed part of space and no fixed time.

  Nor was the store of matter ever more closely massed nor held apart by larger spaces between; for nothing is either added to its bulk or lost to it.

  Wherefore the bodies of the first-beginnings in time gone by moved in the same way in which now they move, and will ever hereafter be borne along in like manner, and the things which have been wont to be begotten will be begotten after the same law and will be and will grow and will wax in strength so far as is given to each by the decrees of nature.

  And no force can change the sum of things; for there is nothing outside, either into which any kind of matter can escape out of the universe or out of which a new supply can arise and burst into the universe and change all the nature of things and alter their motions.

  And herein you need not wonder at this, that though the first-beginnings of things are all in motion, yet the sum is seen to rest in supreme repose, unless where a thing exhibits motions with its individual body.

  For all the nature of first things lies far away from our senses beneath their ken; and therefore since they are themselves beyond what you can see, they must withdraw from sight their motion as well; and the more so that the things which we can see, do yet often conceal their motions when a great distance off.