Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius

by Titus Lucretius Carus

  In this way then we must suppose that all things are supplied out of the infinite to the whole heaven and earth in quantity sufficient to allow the earth in a moment to be shaken and stirred, and a rapid hurricane to scour over sea and land, the fire of Aetna to overflow, the heaven to be in flames; for that too is seen and the heavenly quarters are on fire; and rain-storms gather in a heavier mass, when the seeds of water have haply come together for such an end.

  “Ay, but the stormy rage of the conflagration is too gigantic.”

  Yes, and so any river you like is greatest to him who has never before seen any greater, and thus a tree and a man seem gigantic, and in the case of all things of all kinds the greatest a man has seen he fancies to be gigantic, though yet all things with heaven and earth and sea included are nothing to the whole sum of the universal sum.

  680 Nunc tamen illa modis quibus inritata repente

  flamma foras vastis Aetnae fornacibus efflet,

  expediam. primum totius subcava montis

  est natura fere silicum suffulta cavernis.

  omnibus est porro in speluncis ventus et aeër.

  685 ventus enim fit, ubi est agitando percitus aeër.

  hic ubi percaluit cale fecitque omnia circum

  saxa furens, qua contingit, terramque et ab ollis

  excussit calidum flammis velocibus ignem,

  tollit se ac rectis ita faucibus eicit alte.

  690 fert itaque ardorem longe longeque favillam

  differt et crassa volvit caligine fumum

  extruditque simul mirando pondere saxa;

  ne dubites quin haec animai turbida sit vis.

  praeterea magna ex parti mare montis ad eius

  695 radices frangit fluctus aestumque resolvit.

  ex hoc usque mari speluncae montis ad altas

  perveniunt subter fauces. hac ire fatendumst

  * * *

  et penetrare mari penitus res cogit aperto

  atque efflare foras ideoque extollere flammam

  700 saxaque subiectare et arenae tollere nimbos.

  in summo sunt vertice enim crateres, ut ipsi

  nominitant, nos quod fauces perhibemus et ora.

  Sunt aliquot quoque res quarum unam dicere causam

  non satis est, verum pluris, unde una tamen sit;

  705 corpus ut exanimum siquod procul ipse iacere

  conspicias hominis, fit ut omnis dicere causas

  conveniat leti, dicatur ut illius una;

  nam neque eum ferro nec frigore vincere possis

  interiisse neque a morbo neque forte veneno,

  710 verum aliquid genere esse ex hoc quod contigit ei

  scimus. item in multis hoc rebus dicere habemus.

  Nilus in aestatem crescit campisque redundat

  unicus in terris, Aegypti totius amnis.

  is rigat Aegyptum medium per saepe calorem,

  715 aut quia sunt aestate aquilones ostia contra,

  anni tempore eo, qui etesiae esse feruntur,

  et contra fluvium flantes remorantur et undas

  cogentes sursus replent coguntque manere.

  [680] And now at last I will explain in what ways yon flame roused to fury in a moment blazes forth from the huge furnaces of Aetna. And first the nature of the whole mountain is hollow underneath, underpropped throughout with caverns of basalt rocks.

  Furthermore in all caves are wind and air; for wind is produced, when the air has been stirred and put in motion.

  When this air has been thoroughly heated and raging about has imparted its heat to all the rocks round, wherever it comes in contact with them, and to the earth, and has struck out from them fire burning with swift flames, it rises up and then forces itself out on high straight through the gorges; and so carries its heat far and scatters far its ashes and rolls on smoke of a thick pitchy blackness and flings out at the same time stones of prodigious weight; leaving no doubt that this is the stormy force of air.

  Again the sea to a great extent breaks its waves and sucks back its surf at the roots of that mountain.

  Caverns reach from this sea as far as the deep gorges of the mountain below.

  Through these you must admit [that air mixed up with water passes; and] the nature of the case compels [this air to enter in from that] open sea and pass right within and then go out in blasts and so lift up flame and throw out stones and raise clouds of sand; for on the summit are craters, as they name them in their own language; what we call gorges and mouths.

  There are things too not a few for which it is not sufficient to assign one cause; you must give several, one of which at the same time is the real cause.

  For instance should you see the lifeless body of a man lying at some distance, it would be natural to mention all the different causes of death, in order that the one real cause of that man’s death be mentioned among them.

  Thus you may be able to prove that he has not died by steel or cold or from disease or haply from poison; yet we know that it is something of this kind which has befallen him; and so in many other cases we may make the same remark.

  The Nile rises every summer and overflows the plains, that one sole river throughout the whole land of Egypt.

  It waters Egypt often in the middle of the hot season, either because in summer there are north winds opposite its mouths, which at that time of year go by the name of etesian winds.

  nam dubio procul haec adverso flabra feruntur

  720 flumine, quae gelidis ab stellis axis aguntur;

  ille ex aestifera parti venit amnis ab austro

  inter nigra virum percocto saecla colore

  exoriens penitus media ab regione diei.

  est quoque uti possit magnus congestus harenae

  725 fluctibus adversis oppilare ostia contra,

  cum mare permotum ventis ruit intus harenam;

  quo fit uti pacto liber minus exitus amnis

  et proclivis item fiat minus impetus undis.

  fit quoque uti pluviae forsan magis ad caput ei

  730 tempore eo fiant, quo etesia flabra aquilonum

  nubila coniciunt in eas tunc omnia partis.

  scilicet, ad mediam regionem eiecta diei

  cum convenerunt, ibi ad altos denique montis

  contrusae nubes coguntur vique premuntur.

  735 forsitan Aethiopum penitus de montibus altis

  crescat, ubi in campos albas descendere ningues

  tabificis subigit radiis sol omnia lustrans.

  Nunc age, Averna tibi quae sint loca cumque lacusque,

  expediam, quali natura praedita constent.

  740 principio, quod Averna vocantur nomine, id ab re

  inpositumst, quia sunt avibus contraria cunctis,

  e regione ea quod loca cum venere volantes,

  remigii oblitae pennarum vela remittunt

  praecipitesque cadunt molli cervice profusae

  745 in terram, si forte ita fert natura locorum,

  aut in aquam, si forte lacus substratus Averni.

  is locus est Cumas aput, acri sulpure montis

  oppleti calidis ubi fumant fontibus aucti.

  est et Athenaeis in moenibus, arcis in ipso

  750 vertice, Palladis ad templum Tritonidis almae,

  quo numquam pennis appellunt corpora raucae

  cornices, non cum fumant altaria donis;

  usque adeo fugitant non iras Palladis acris

  pervigili causa, Graium ut cecinere poeëtae,

  755 sed natura loci opus efficit ipsa suapte.

  [717] Blowing up the river they retard it and driving the waters backwards fill its channel full and force the river to stand still; for beyond a doubt these blasts which start from the icy constellations of the pole are carried right up the stream.

  That river comes from the south out of the heat-fraught country, rising far up from the central region of day among races of men black in their sun-baked complexion.

  It is quite possible too that the great accumulation of sand may bar up the mouths against the opposing wa
ves, when the sea stirred up by the winds throws up the sand within the channel; whereby the outlet of the river is rendered less free and the current of the waters at the same time less rapid in its downward flow.

  It may be also that the rains are more frequent at its source in that season, because the etesian blasts of the north winds drive all the clouds together into those parts at that time.

  And, you are to know, when they have been driven on to the central region of day and have gathered together, then the clouds jammed close against the high mountains are massed together and violently compressed.

  Perhaps too it gets its increase high up from the lofty mountains of the Ethiopians, when the all-surveying sun with his thawing rays constrains the white snows to descend into the plains.

  Now mark, and I will make clear to you what kind of nature the several Avernian places and lakes possess.

  First of all, as to the name Avemian by which they are called, it has been given to them from their real nature, because they are noxious to all birds; for when they have arrived in flight just opposite those spots, they forget to row with their wings, they drop their sails and fall with soft neck outstretched headlong to the earth, if so be that the nature of the ground admit of that, or into the water, if so be that a lake of Avernus spreads below.

  There is such a spot at Cumae, where the mountains are charged with acrid sulfur, and smoke enriched with hot springs.

  Such a spot there also is within the Athenian walls, on the very summit of the citadel, beside the temple of bountiful Tritonian Pallas; which croaking crows never come near on the wing; no not when the high altars smoke with offerings: so constantly they fly, not before the sharp wrath of Pallas for the sake of yon vigil kept, as the poets of the Greeks have sung, but the nature of the place suffices by its own proper power.

  in Syria quoque fertur item locus esse videri,

  quadripedes quoque quo simul ac vestigia primum

  intulerint, graviter vis cogat concidere ipsa,

  manibus ut si sint divis mactata repente.

  760 omnia quae naturali ratione geruntur,

  et quibus e fiant causis apparet origo;

  ianua ne pote eis Orci regionibus esse

  credatur, post hinc animas Acheruntis in oras

  ducere forte deos manis inferne reamur,

  765 naribus alipedes ut cervi saepe putantur

  ducere de latebris serpentia saecla ferarum.

  quod procul a vera quam sit ratione repulsum

  percipe; nam de re nunc ipsa dicere conor.

  Principio hoc dico, quod dixi saepe quoque ante,

  770 in terra cuiusque modi rerum esse figuras;

  multa, cibo quae sunt, vitalia multaque, morbos

  incutere et mortem quae possint adcelerare.

  et magis esse aliis alias animantibus aptas

  res ad vitai rationem ostendimus ante

  775 propter dissimilem naturam dissimilisque

  texturas inter sese primasque figuras.

  multa meant inimica per auris, multa per ipsas

  insinuant naris infesta atque aspera tactu,

  nec sunt multa parum tactu vitanda neque autem

  780 aspectu fugienda saporeque tristia quae sint.

  Deinde videre licet quam multae sint homini res

  acriter infesto sensu spurcaeque gravisque;

  arboribus primum certis gravis umbra tributa

  usque adeo, capitis faciant ut saepe dolores,

  785 siquis eas subter iacuit prostratus in herbis.

  est etiam magnis Heliconis montibus arbos

  floris odore hominem taetro consueta necare.

  scilicet haec ideo terris ex omnia surgunt,

  multa modis multis multarum semina rerum

  790 quod permixta gerit tellus discretaque tradit.

  nocturnumque recens extinctum lumen ubi acri

  nidore offendit nares, consopit ibidem,

  concidere et spumas qui morbo mittere suevit.

  castoreoque gravi mulier sopita recumbit,

  795 et manibus nitidum teneris opus effluit ei,

  tempore eo si odoratast quo menstrua solvit.

  [756] In Syria too as well a spot, we are told, is found to exist of such a sort that as soon as ever even four-footed beasts have entered in, its mere natural power forces them to fall down heavily, just as if they were felled in a moment as sacrifices to the manes gods.

  Now all these things go on by a natural law, and it is quite plain whence spring the causes from which they are produced; that the gate of Orcus be not haply believed to exist in such spots; and next we imagine that the manes gods from beneath do haply draw souls down from them to the borders of Acheron; as wing-footed stags are supposed often by their scent to draw out from their holes the savage serpent-tribes.

  How widely opposed to true reason this is, now learn; for now I essay to tell of the real fact.

  First of all I say, as I have often said before, that in the earth are elements of things of every kind: many, which serve for food, helpful to life; and many whose property it is to cause diseases and hasten death.

  And we have shown before that one thing is more adapted to one, another thing to another living creature for the purposes of life, because of their natures and their textures and their primary elements being all unlike the one to the other.

  Many which are noxious pass through the ears, many make their way too through the nostrils, dangerous and harsh when they come in contact; and not a few are to be shunned by the touch, and not a few to be avoided by the sight, and others are nauseous in taste.

  Again you may see how many things are for man of a virulently noxious sensation and are nauseous and oppressive; to certain trees for instance has been given so very oppressive a shade that they often cause headaches when a man has lain down under them extended on the grass.

  There is a tree too on the great hills of Helicon which has the property of killing a man by the noisome scent of its flower.

  All these things you are to know rise up out of the earth, because it contains many seeds of many things in many ways mixed up together and gives them out in a state of separation.

  Again when a newly extinguished night-light encounters the nostrils with its acrid stench, it sends to sleep then and there a man who from disease is subject to falling down and foaming at the mouth.

  A woman is put to sleep by oppressive castor and falls back in her seat, and her gay work drops out of her soft hands, if she has smelt it at the time when she has her monthly discharges.

  multaque praeterea languentia membra per artus

  solvunt atque animam labefactant sedibus intus.

  denique si calidis etiam cunctere lavabris

  800 plenior et lueris, solio ferventis aquai

  quam facile in medio fit uti des saepe ruinas!

  carbonumque gravis vis atque odor insinuatur

  quam facile in cerebrum, nisi aqua praecepimus ante!

  at cum membra domans percepit fervida febris,

  805 tum fit odor vini plagae mactabilis instar.

  nonne vides etiam terra quoque sulpur in ipsa

  gignier et taetro concrescere odore bitumen,

  denique ubi argenti venas aurique secuntur,

  terrai penitus scrutantes abdita ferro,

  810 qualis expiret Scaptensula subter odores?

  quidve mali fit ut exalent aurata metalla!

  quas hominum reddunt facies qualisque colores!

  nonne vides audisve perire in tempore parvo

  quam soleant et quam vitai copia desit,

  815 quos opere in tali cohibet vis magna necessis?

  hos igitur tellus omnis exaestuat aestus

  expiratque foras in apertum promptaque caeli.

  Sic et Averna loca alitibus summittere debent

  mortiferam vim. de terra quae surgit in auras,

  820 ut spatium caeli quadam de parte venenet;

  quo simul ac primum pennis delata sit ales,

  impediatur ibi caeco corrept
a veneno,

  ut cadat e regione loci, qua derigit aestus.

  quo cum conruit, hic eadem vis illius aestus

  825 reliquias vitae membris ex omnibus aufert.

  quippe etenim primo quasi quendam conciet aestum;

  posterius fit uti. cum iam cecidere veneni

  in fontis ipsos, ibi sit quoque vita vomenda,

  propterea quod magna mali fit copia circum.

  830 Fit quoque ut inter dum vis haec atque aestus Averni

  aeëra, qui inter avis cumquest terramque locatus.

  discutiat, prope uti locus hic linquatur inanis.

  cuius ubi e regione loci venere volantis,

  claudicat extemplo pinnarum nisus inanis

  835 et conamen utrimque alarum proditur omne.

  hic ubi nixari nequeunt insistereque alis,

  scilicet in terram delabi pondere cogit

  natura, et vacuum prope iam per inane iacentes

  dispergunt animas per caulas corporis omnis.

  * * *

  [796] And many things besides relax through all the frame the fainting limbs and shake the soul in its seats within.

  Then too if you linger long in the hot baths when you are somewhat full and do bathe, how liable you are to tumble down in a fit while seated in the midst of the hot water!

  Again, how readily do the oppressive power and fumes of charcoal make their way into the brain, if we have not first taken water! But when burning violently it has filled the chambers of a house, the fumes of the virulent substance act on the nerves like a murderous blow.

  See you not too that even within the earth sulfur is generated and asphalt forms incrustations of a noisome stench? See you not, when they are following up the veins of silver and gold and searching with the pick quite into the bowels of the earth, what stenches Scaptensula exhales from below?

  Then what mischief do gold mines exhale! To what state do they reduce men’s faces and what a complexion they produce!