On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics)

by Ronald Melville

  Starts to break up a cloud, but cannot do it;

  It then depresses it, and it becomes

  Like a column let down from the sky into the sea,

  Slowly, as though a fist thrust by an arm

  Were pushing something down, and spreading it

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  Into the waves; then when the wind has burst it

  It rushes out upon the sea, and makes

  A wondrous boiling in the waves below.

  For the whirlwind turns as it comes down, and brings

  The cloud down with it, a soft and yielding body.

  But as soon as it has thrust the teeming cloud

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  Down to the ocean’s surface, then at once

  The whirlwind plunges into the water and stirs up

  The sea all round and makes it boil and roar.

  Sometimes a whirlwind wraps itself in a cloud

  Scraping together seeds of cloud from the air,

  And behaves like a prester let down from the sky.

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  When this has reached the earth and broken up

  It vomits out a monstrous violence

  Of mighty whirling wind and rushing storm.

  But since this occurs quite rarely, and on land

  The view of it must often be blocked by mountains,

  It is seen most frequently upon the sea

  With its wide prospect and its open sky.

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  Clouds form when in the expanse of sky above

  Many flying atoms come together

  All at once, and these are rougher, and so although

  They tangle together lightly, that is enough

  To hold them firmly fixed and joined together.

  From these at first small clouds are formed; these then

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  Take hold of one another and band together,

  Then join and grow, and the winds drive them on

  Until in time a furious storm builds up.

  Now let us look at clouds on mountain tops.

  The closer the crests are neighbours to the heavens,

  The more from their exalted seats they smoke

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  With the thick darkness of the tawny cloud.

  This is because when first the clouds are formed,

  Before the eye can see them, so thin they are,

  Winds drive and lift them to the mountain tops.

  At length then, massed together and condensing,

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  They become visible, and appear to rise

  From the mountains’ very top into the ether.

  For our own senses and the facts themselves

  Make evident to us when we climb high mountains

  That these lofty places are open to the winds.

  And nature makes a constant stream of atoms

  To rise up from the surface of the sea,

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  As is shown by clothes that hung out on the shore

  Grow damp and sticky. This suggests that clouds

  Also can grow by receiving many atoms

  That rise up from the ocean’s briny swell,

  For these possess a similar kind of moisture.

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  Besides, from all rivers and from the earth itself

  We see mists and vapours rise, which, drawn up from them

  Like breath, move upwards and fill all the sky

  With gloom, and gradually as they come together

  Bring up supplies to the high clouds above.

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  For the heat also of the starry ether

  Presses down on them from above, condensing them,

  And weaves a curtain of cloud beneath the blue.

  Lastly, those atoms which make clouds and storm-rack

  Sometimes come into our sky from outside.

  For I have proved that their number is innumerable,

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  And that the sum of space is infinite,

  And I have shown the great velocity

  With which the atoms fly, and how in an instant

  They cover distances beyond all telling.

  No wonder is it then if storm and darkness

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  Often so swiftly, with great thunderclouds

  Poised overhanging, cover land and sea,

  Since everywhere through the channels of the ether

  And as it were through all the breathing-holes

  Of the great world around, the atoms are free

  To make their exits and their entrances.

  Now let me demonstrate how rainy moisture

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  Condenses in clouds high above, and falls

  In a shower of rain upon the earth beneath.

  First you will concede that many atoms of water

  Rise up together with the clouds themselves

  From things of every kind, and in this way

  Both grow together, the clouds and whatever water

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  Is in the clouds, just as our bodies grow

  Concurrently with the blood and sweat and whatever

  Moisture there may in fact be in the limbs.

  Also the clouds often take up a quantity

  Of sea water, like hanging fleeces of wool,

  When the winds drive them above the mighty ocean.

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  In a similar way moisture rises to the clouds

  From every river. And when into the clouds

  Many atoms of water have in many ways

  Joined up together, increasing everywhere,

  The clouds stuffed full strive to discharge the moisture;

  For two reasons: the wind compresses them,

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  And the clouds themselves, collecting into a mass

  Larger than usual bear down and press

  Down from above and make the showers flow out.

  Besides, when clouds are thinned out by the wind

  And dissipated by the sun’s heat from above,

  They send out rainy moisture, and drip, as wax

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  Over a hot fire melts and liquefies.

  A downpour comes when clouds are strongly pressed

  By both these forces: by their own mass piled up

  And by the strong power of the rushing winds.

  Long and persistent rain occurs when atoms of water

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  Are set in motion in great multitude

  And clouds on clouds are carried streaming down

  In universal rainfall everywhere

  And all the earth smokes and breathes back the moisture.

  And when the sun amidst the gloomy storm

  Shines with its rays upon the falling drops

  From black clouds opposite, then there stand out

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  Amid the clouds the colours of the rainbow.

  And all those other things that grow above

  And are created above and collect in the clouds,

  All, absolutely all of these, snow, wind,

  Hail, freezing front, and ice’s mighty power,

  Great hardener of waters, impediment

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  That everywhere reins back the eager rivers—

  To find these out and picture in your mind

  How they are all produced and why they are made

  Is very easy, once you have fully grasped

  The different natures of their elements.

  Come now, and learn the causes of earthquakes.

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  First, you must get into your mind that the earth

  Below us, as above, is everywhere

  Full of windy caves; and many lakes and pools

  She bears in her bosom, and rocks and beetling cliffs,

  And many hidden rivers beneath earth’s back

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  Roll their rough currents over sunken rocks.

  For the facts themselves require that everywhere

  Earth should be like herself, above an
d below.

  With these things therefore joined to it below

  And placed beneath it, earth trembles with the shock

  Of vast collapse and ruin when age and time

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  Have undermined the mighty caves below.

  Whole mountains fall, and from the mighty shock

  Tremors spread abroad in an instant far and wide;

  Quite naturally, since buildings by the roadside

  Tremble with the shock of waggons passing by

  Of no great weight, and jump when the iron-shod wheels

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  On either side jolt over stones or potholes.

  And sometimes also when some enormous lump

  Weakened by time rolls forward from the earth

  Into some huge wide pool, the earth itself

  Sways shaken by the wave of water, as a jar

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  Sometimes cannot stand still unless the water

  Inside has stopped from moving to and fro.

  Besides, when through the hollows below the earth

  A wind collects, and thrusting in one direction

  Bears down and drives into the lofty caverns,

  The earth leans under the impact of the wind.

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  The houses that are built up on the earth,

  And all the more the more they tower to heaven,

  Lean dangerously, bulging and pushing forward

  In the same direction, and the beams askew

  Hang in the air projecting, ready to go.

  And yet men fear to believe that the great world

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  Has waiting for it some disastrous hour

  Of ruin and destruction, though they see

  So great and mighty a mass of earth lean over!

  And yet unless the winds abate, no power

  Could curb the world’s rush to ruin and hold it back.

  But since in fact the winds alternately

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  Abate and gather strength, and as it were

  Collect their forces and rally, and then retreat

  Repulsed again, more often for this reason

  Earth threatens to fall than it actually does fall.

  For it leans forward and then again springs back,

  And after falling forward it recovers

  Its proper place and stands in balance again.

  This is how all buildings totter, the top

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  More than the middle, the middle more than the base;

  The base itself is hardly moved at all.

  These mighty tremors have another cause.

  When wind and some great sudden force of air

  Either from outside or within the earth itself

  Has hurled itself into earth’s hollow places

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  And there, inside the mighty caverns, first it roars

  Tumultuously and rushes whirling round,

  Then with its violence intensified

  And agitated, out it bursts, and cleaves

  Earth to its depths and makes a mighty chasm.

  This is what happened at Sidon in Syria

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  And Aegeum in the Peloponnese. Both cities

  Were rocked and torn by such an issue of air,

  And demolished by the earthquake that took place.

  And many another city wall has fallen

  By mighty movements of the earth, and many

  Cities of men with all their citizens

  Have sunk down to the bottom of the sea.

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  But if no burst occurs, yet the strong wind

  And violent force of air is disturbed

  Through all the many passages of the earth,

  Like a shudder, and this creates the tremor,

  Just as when cold comes deep into our limbs

  It shakes them and makes them tremble against their will.

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  So in their cities men are disquieted

  By twofold terror: they fear the houses above,

  They dread the caverns beneath, lest suddenly

  Earth fling them open, or splitting wide apart

  With gaping jaws create a mighty chasm

  And fill it with the ruins it has made.

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  Therefore let them believe, however they please,

  That earth and sky are incorruptible

  And stand destined to everlasting life,

  Yet sometimes comes a very present danger

  To stab them with the fear that suddenly

  Earth may withdraw beneath their feet and fall

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  Into the abyss, and all the sum of things

  Follow in total collapse, and then may come

  The ruin and confusion of the world.

  Some people wonder that nature does not cause

  The sea to increase in size, since into it

  Runs down so great a flow of water, and since the rivers

  All flow into it from every part of the globe.

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  And add the wandering showers and flying storms

  That spatter and water every land and sea;

  Add too the sea’s own springs; yet all of these

  Compared to the sea’s great mass will scarcely equal

  The addition to it of a single drop.

  This makes it then the less a matter for wonder

  That the great sea does not grow greater still.

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  The sun’s heat also draws a great part off.

  For certainly we see clothes dripping with water

  Dried by the strong rays of the burning sun.

  But seas are many, and spread wide below;

  Therefore, however small a part the sun

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  May sip from off the surface of the sea

  In any single place, yet from that vast expanse

  Abundant store of water is drawn off.

  Also much water may be taken up

  By winds that sweep the surface of the sea,

  Since very often in a single night

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  We see the roads dry out and the soft mud

  Form into hard crusts all along the way.

  Besides, I have shown that clouds also lift off

  A mass of moisture from the ocean’s surface

  Which on the whole world everywhere they sprinkle

  When rains fall on the earth and wind drives the clouds.

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  Last, since the earth is of a porous texture,

  And everywhere, joined closely to the sea,

  Encompasses its shores on every side,

  Then, just as water comes from land to sea,

  So it must ooze from the salt sea into the earth.

  The brine is filtered off, and the mass of water

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  Oozes back and joins the rivers at their source,

  And thence in a column of sweet water

  Over the ground it flows, along the path

  Once cut by liquid foot to guide the waters.

  And now the fires that from Mount Etna’s throat

  Breathe out at times in such a furious storm

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  I shall explain. No ordinary disaster

  The flaming tempest wrought that reigned supreme

  Over the fields of Sicily, and neighbouring nations

  Looked on it with amaze, as all the heavens

  Filled with black smoke and flashing flames of fire

  They saw, and trembled, wondering in fear

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  What new things nature might be forging for the world.

  These things, my friend, with vision wide and deep

  Must be surveyed, and in every part descried.

  You must remember that the sum of things

  Is deep beyond all telling. You must see

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  How small a part, how infinitesimal,

  Our world is of the total universe,
r />   A part less large than just one single man

  Is of the whole great earth on which he lives.

  If you will keep this firmly in your mind,

  And clearly comprehend and clearly see it,

  There are many things at which you’ll cease to wonder.

  For is there anyone that feels surprise

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  If fever rising with its burning fire

  Attacks the limbs, or if some other pain

  Afflicts the body, caused by some disease?

  The foot swells suddenly; sometimes a stab of pain

  Shoots into the teeth or even into the eyes.

  The fiery rash breaks out, creeping over the body,

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  And burns whatever part it seizes on,

  Crawling relentlessly across the limbs.

  All this is caused by the multitude of atoms;

  For sure this earth and sky of ours contain

  Sufficient store of noxious disease

  To spawn a growth of ills immeasurable.

  In this way we must think that heaven and earth

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  Are from the infinite supplied with all that’s needed

  For earth to move and quake in sudden shock

  And the swift whirlwind scour the land and sea,

  The fires of Etna flow, the sky to flame.

  For this does happen, and the realms of heaven

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  Are set on fire; and a heavier fall

  Of rain storms down, when by some chance the atoms

  Of water have been massed and concentrated.

  ‘But surely this tumultuous conflagration

  Is much too huge for such an origin.’

  Well, any river may appear immense

  To a man who has never seen a greater one;

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  So does a tree or a man; and everything,

  When a man has seen no larger, he thinks vast.

  But all these things, with earth and sea and sky

  Added together, are as nothing compared

  With the sum total of the universe.

  Now, none the less, I shall explain the ways

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  In which the flame excited suddenly

  Blasts out from Etna’s mighty furnaces.

  First, the whole mountain is hollow underneath,

  Supported mostly on caverns in the rock.

  In all the caves there is both air and wind;

  For air makes wind when strongly agitated.

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  Now when the wind has grown extremely hot,

  And heated in fury all the rocks around

  Wherever it touches, and also the earth,

  And struck from them hot fires and rushing flames,

  It rises, and straight through the mountain’s throat

  Hurls itself upward in a mighty blast.

  Then far and wide the heat is spread, and wide

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  The fall of ashes; and in darkness thick

  It rolls its smoke, and all the while throws out

  Rocks of amazing weight. Beyond a doubt