Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  For as the relation between the shapes of seeds and their motions require, the openings also must differ accordingly in their shapes; and the passages must vary, as varies the texture formed by the seeds which bound them.

  hoc ubi quod suave est aliis aliis fit amarum,

  illi, cui suave est, levissima corpora debent

  660 contractabiliter caulas intrare palati,

  at contra quibus est eadem res intus acerba,

  aspera ni mirum penetrant hamataque fauces.

  nunc facile est ex his rebus cognoscere quaeque.

  quippe ubi cui febris bili superante coorta est

  665 aut alia ratione aliquast vis excita morbi,

  perturbatur ibi iam totum corpus et omnes

  commutantur ibi positurae principiorum;

  fit prius ad sensum ut quae corpora conveniebant

  nunc non conveniant, et cetera sint magis apta,

  670 quae penetrata queunt sensum progignere acerbum;

  utraque enim sunt in mellis commixta sapore;

  id quod iam supera tibi saepe ostendimus ante.

  Nunc age, quo pacto naris adiectus odoris

  tangat agam. primum res multas esse necessest

  675 unde fluens volvat varius se fluctus odorum,

  et fluere et mitti volgo spargique putandumst;

  verum aliis alius magis est animantibus aptus,

  dissimilis propter formas. ideoque per auras

  mellis apes quamvis longe ducuntur odore,

  680 volturiique cadaveribus; tum fissa ferarum

  ungula quo tulerit gressum promissa canum vis

  ducit, et humanum longe praesentit odorem

  Romulidarum arcis servator, candidus anser.

  sic aliis alius nidor datus ad sua quemque

  685 pabula ducit et a taetro resilire veneno

  cogit, eoque modo servantur saecla ferarum.

  Hic odor ipse igitur, naris qui cumque lacessit,

  est alio ut possit permitti longius alter;

  sed tamen haud quisquam tam longe fertur eorum

  690 quam sonitus, quam vox, mitto iam dicere quam res

  quae feriunt oculorum acies visumque lacessunt.

  errabundus enim tarde venit ac perit ante

  paulatim facilis distractus in aëris auras;

  ex alto primum quia vix emittitur ex re;

  695 nam penitus fluere atque recedere rebus odores

  significat quod fracta magis redolere videntur

  omnia, quod contrita, quod igni conlabefacta.

  [658] For this reason when that which is sweet to some becomes bitter to others, for that creature to whom it is sweet the smoothest bodies must enter the cavities of the palate with power to feel them all over; but on the other hand in the case of those to whom the same thing is bitter within, rough and barbed seeds sure enough pass down the throat.

  It is easy now from these principles to understand all particular cases: thus when a fever has attacked any one from too great a flow of bile, or a violent disease has been excited in any other way, thereupon the whole body is disordered and all the arrangements of particles then and there changed; the consequence of which is that the bodies which before were suited to excite sensation, suit no more; and those fit it better, which are able to make their way in and beget a bitter sense.

  Both kinds for instance are mixed up in the flavor of honey: a point we have often proved before.

  Now mark me, and I will discuss the way in which the contact of smell affects the nostrils: and first there must be many things from which a varied flow of smells streams and rolls on; and we must suppose that they thus stream and discharge and disperse themselves among all things alike; but one smell fits itself better to one creature, another to another on account of their unlike shapes; and therefore bees are drawn on by the smell of honey through the air to a very great distance, and so are vultures by carcasses.

  Also the onward-reaching power of scent in dogs leads them whithersoever the cloven hoof of wild beasts has carried them in their course; and the smell of man is felt far away by the savior of the Romans’ citadel, the bright white goose.

  Thus different scents assigned to different creatures led each to its appropriate food and constrain them to recoil from nauseous poison, and in this way the races of beasts are preserved.

  Of all these different smells then which strike the nostrils one may reach to a much greater distance than another; though none of them is carried so far as sound, as voice, to say nothing of things which strike the eyesight and provoke vision.

  For in its mazy course each comes slowly on and is sooner lost, being gradually dispersed into the readily receiving expanse of air; first because coming out of its depths it with difficulty discharges itself from the thing: for the fact that all things are found to have a stronger smell when crushed, when pounded, when broken up by fire, shows that odors stream and withdraw from the inner parts of things:

  deinde videre licet maioribus esse creatum

  principiis quam vox, quoniam per saxea saepta

  700 non penetrat, qua vox volgo sonitusque feruntur.

  quare etiam quod olet non tam facile esse videbis

  investigare in qua sit regione locatum;

  refrigescit enim cunctando plaga per auras

  nec calida ad sensum decurrunt nuntia rerum.

  705 errant saepe canes itaque et vestigia quaerunt.

  Nec tamen hoc solis in odoribus atque saporum

  in generest, sed item species rerum atque colores

  non ita conveniunt ad sensus omnibus omnes,

  ut non sint aliis quaedam magis acria visu.

  710 quin etiam gallum noctem explaudentibus alis

  auroram clara consuetum voce vocare,

  noenu queunt rapidi contra constare leones

  inque tueri: ita continuo meminere fugai.

  ni mirum quia sunt gallorum in corpore quaedam

  715 semina, quae cum sunt oculis inmissa leonum,

  pupillas interfodiunt acremque dolorem

  praebent, ut nequeant contra durare feroces,

  cum tamen haec nostras acies nil laedere possint,

  aut quia non penetrant aut quod penetrantibus illis

  720 exitus ex oculis liber datur, in remorando

  laedere ne possint ex ulla lumina parte.

  Nunc age, quae moveant animum res accipe, et unde

  quae veniunt veniant in mentem percipe paucis.

  principio hoc dico, rerum simulacra vagari

  725 multa modis multis in cunctas undique partis

  tenvia, quae facile inter se iunguntur in auris,

  obvia cum veniunt, ut aranea bratteaque auri.

  quippe etenim multo magis haec sunt tenvia textu

  quam quae percipiunt oculos visumque lacessunt,

  730 corporis haec quoniam penetrant per rara cientque

  tenvem animi naturam intus sensumque lacessunt.

  Centauros itaque et Scyllarum membra videmus

  Cerbereasque canum facies simulacraque eorum

  quorum morte obita tellus amplectitur ossa;

  735 omnigenus quoniam passim simulacra feruntur,

  partim sponte sua quae fiunt aëre in ipso,

  partim quae variis ab rebus cumque recedunt

  et quae confiunt ex horum facta figuris.

  [698] next you may see that smell is formed of larger first-beginnings than voice, since it does not pass through stone walls, through which voice and sound are borne without fail.

  For this reason also you will find that it is not so easy to trace out in what quarter a thing which smells is situated; for the blow cools down as it loiters through the air, and the courier particles of things are no longer hot when they finish their race to sense; for which reason dogs are often at fault and lose the scent.

  But what I have said is not found in smells and in the class of flavors only, but also the forms and colors of things are not all so well suited to the senses of all, but that some will be more distressing to the sight tha
n others.

  Moreover ravenous lions cannot face and bear to gaze upon a cock with flapping wings putting night to rout and wont to summon morning with shrill voice: in such wise they at once bethink themselves of flight, because sure enough in the body of cocks are certain seeds, and these, when they have been discharged into the eyes of lions, bore into the pupils and cause such sharp pain that courageous though they be, they cannot continue to face them; while at the same time these things cannot hurt at all our sight, either because they do not enter in or because the moment they enter a free passage out of the eyes is granted them, so that they cannot by staying behind hurt the eyes in any part!

  Now mark, and hear what things move the mind, and learn in a few words whence the things which come into it do come.

  I say first of all, that idols of things wander about many in number in many ways in all directions round, extremely thin; and these when they meet, readily unite, like a cobweb or piece of gold-leaf.

  For these idols are far thinner in texture than those which take possession of the eyes and provoke vision; since these enter in through the porous parts of the body and stir the fine nature of the mind within and provoke sensation.

  Therefore we see Centaurs and limbs of Scyllas and Cerberus-like faces of dogs and idols of those who are dead, whose bones earth holds in its embrace; since idols of every kind are everywhere borne about, partly those which are spontaneously produced within the air, partly all those which withdraw from various things and those which are formed by compounding the shapes of these.

  nam certe ex vivo Centauri non fit imago,

  740 nulla fuit quoniam talis natura animata;

  verum ubi equi atque hominis casu convenit imago,

  haerescit facile extemplo, quod diximus ante,

  propter subtilem naturam et tenvia texta.

  cetera de genere hoc eadem ratione creantur.

  745 quae cum mobiliter summa levitate feruntur,

  ut prius ostendi, facile uno commovet ictu

  quae libet una animum nobis subtilis imago;

  tenvis enim mens est et mire mobilis ipsa.

  haec fieri ut memoro, facile hinc cognoscere possis.

  750 quatinus hoc simile est illi, quod mente videmus

  atque oculis, simili fieri ratione necessest.

  Nunc igitur docui quoniam me forte leonum

  cernere per simulacra, oculos quae cumque lacessunt,

  scire licet mentem simili ratione moveri

  755 per simulacra leonum et cetera quae videt aeque

  nec minus atque oculi, nisi quod mage tenvia cernit.

  nec ratione alia, cum somnus membra profudit,

  mens animi vigilat, nisi quod simulacra lacessunt

  haec eadem nostros animos quae cum vigilamus,

  760 usque adeo, certe ut videamur cernere eum quem

  rellicta vita iam mors et terra potitast.

  hoc ideo fieri cogit natura, quod omnes

  corporis offecti sensus per membra quiescunt

  nec possunt falsum veris convincere rebus.

  765 praeterea meminisse iacet languetque sopore,

  nec dissentit eum mortis letique potitum

  iam pridem, quem mens vivom se cernere credit.

  quod super est, non est mirum simulacra moveri

  bracchiaque in numerum iactare et cetera membra;

  770 nam fit ut in somnis facere hoc videatur imago.

  quippe, ubi prima perit alioque est altera nata

  inde statu, prior hic gestum mutasse videtur.

  scilicet id fieri celeri ratione putandumst:

  tanta est mobilitas et rerum copia tanta

  775 tantaque sensibili quovis est tempore in uno

  copia particularum, ut possit suppeditare.

  Multaque in his rebus quaeruntur multaque nobis

  clarandumst, plane si res exponere avemus.

  [739] For assuredly no image of Centaur is formed out of a live one, since no such nature of living creature ever existed; but when images of a horse and a man have by chance come together, they readily adhere at once, as we said before, on account of their fine nature and thin texture.

  All other things of the kind are produced in like fashion.

  And when these from extreme lightness are borne on with velocity, as I showed before, any one subtle composite image you like readily moves the mind by a single stroke; for the mind is fine and is itself wondrously nimble.

  That all this is done as I relate you may easily learn from what follows.

  So far as the one is like another, seeing with the mind and seeing with the eyes must be produced in a like way.

  Well then since I have shown that I perceive for instance a lion by means of idols which provoke the eyes, you may be sure that the mind is moved in a like way, which by means of idols sees a lion or anything else just as well as the eyes, with this difference that it perceives much thinner idols.

  And when sleep has prostrated the body, for no other reason does the mind’s intelligence wake, except because the very same idols provoke our minds which provoke them when we are awake, and to such a degree that we seem without a doubt to perceive him whom life has left and death and earth gotten hold of.

  This nature constrains to come to pass because all the senses of the body are then hampered and at rest throughout the limbs and cannot refute the unreal by real things.

  Moreover memory is prostrate and relaxed in sleep and protests not that he has long been in the grasp of death and destruction whom the mind believes it sees alive.

  Furthermore it is not strange that idols move and throw about their arms and other limbs in regular measure: for sometimes in sleep an image is seen to do this: when the first to wit has gone and a second then been born in another posture, that former one seems to have altered its attitude.

  This remember you must assume to take place with exceeding celerity: so great is the velocity, so great the store of things; so great in any one unit of time that sense can seize is the store of particles, out of which the supply may go on.

  And here many questions present themselves and many points must be cleared up by us, if we desire to give a plain exposition of things.

  quaeritur in primis quare, quod cuique libido

  780 venerit, extemplo mens cogitet eius id ipsum.

  anne voluntatem nostram simulacra tuentur

  et simul ac volumus nobis occurrit imago,

  si mare, si terram cordist, si denique caelum?

  conventus hominum, pompam, convivia, pugnas,

  785 omnia sub verbone creat natura paratque?

  cum praesertim aliis eadem in regione locoque

  longe dissimilis animus res cogitet omnis.

  quid porro, in numerum procedere cum simulacra

  cernimus in somnis et mollia membra movere,

  790 mollia mobiliter cum alternis bracchia mittunt

  et repetunt oculis gestum pede convenienti?

  scilicet arte madent simulacra et docta vagantur,

  nocturno facere ut possint in tempore ludos.

  an magis illud erit verum? quia tempore in uno,

  795 cum sentimus, id est cum vox emittitur una,

  tempora multa latent, ratio quae comperit esse,

  propterea fit uti quovis in tempore quaeque

  praesto sint simulacra locis in quisque parata.

  tanta est mobilitas et rerum copia tanta.

  800 hoc ubi prima perit alioque est altera nata

  inde statu, prior hic gestum mutasse videtur.

  et quia tenvia sunt, nisi quae contendit, acute

  cernere non potis est animus; proinde omnia quae sunt

  praeterea pereunt, nisi quae ex sese ipse paravit.

  805 ipse parat sese porro speratque futurum

  ut videat quod consequitur rem quamque: fit ergo.

  nonne vides oculos etiam, cum tenvia quae sunt

  praeterea pereunt, nisi quae ex se ipse paravit

  cernere coeperunt, contendere se atque parare,

 
810 nec sine eo fieri posse ut cernamus acute?

  et tamen in rebus quoque apertis noscere possis,

  si non advertas animum, proinde esse quasi omni

  tempore semotum fuerit longeque remotum.

  cur igitur mirumst, animus si cetera perdit

  815 praeter quam quibus est in rebus deditus ipse?

  deinde adopinamur de signis maxima parvis

  ac nos in fraudem induimus frustraminis ipsi.

  Fit quoque ut inter dum non suppeditetur imago

  eiusdem generis, sed femina quae fuit ante,

  820 in manibus vir uti factus videatur adesse,

  aut alia ex alia facies aetasque sequatur.

  quod ne miremur sopor atque oblivia curant.

  Illud in his rebus vitium vehementer Äinesse

  effugere errorem vitareque praemetuenter,

  825 lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata,

  [779] The first question is why, when the wish has occurred to any one to think of a thing, his mind on the instant thinks of that very thing.

  Do idols observe our will, and so soon as we will does an image present itself to us, if sea, if earth, ay or heaven is what we wish?

  Assemblies of men, a procession, feasts, battles, everything in short does nature at command produce and provide? And though to increase the marvel the mind of others in the same spot and room is thinking of things all quite different.

  What again are we to say, when we see in sleep idols advance in measured tread and move their pliant limbs, when in nimble wise they put out each pliant arm in turn and represent to the eyes over and over again an action with foot that moves in time?

  Idols to wit are imbued with art and move about well-trained, to be able in the night-time to exhibit such plays.

  Or will this rather be the truth? Because in one unit of time, when we can perceive it by sense and while one single word is uttered, many latent times are contained which reason finds to exist, therefore in any time you please all the several idols are at hand ready prepared in each several place.

  And because they are so thin, the mind can see distinctly only those which it strains itself to see; therefore all that there are besides are lost, save only those for which it has made itself ready.

  Moreover, it makes itself ready and hopes to see that which follows upon each thing; therefore the result does follow.

  Do you not see that the eyes also, when they essay to discern things which are thin and fine, strain themselves and make themselves ready, and without that we cannot see distinctly?