Excerpts
"On
the Nature
of
the Universe",
by
Lucretius
[Titus Lucretius Carus],
from
about
55 B.C.,
introduced
by
Ronald E. Latham,
Penguin Books,
1951,
pages 171 - 175].
Book V
"Cosmology and Sociology"
Who
has such power
within his breast
that he
could build up
a song
worthy
of
this high theme
and
these discoveries?
Who has
such
mastery of words
that
he could praise
as
he deserves
the Man
who produced
such treasures
from
his breast
and
bequeathed them
to us?
No one,
I believe,
whose Body
is
of Mortal growth.
If I am
to suit
my language
to
the majesty
of
his revelations,
he was
a god --
a god indeed,
my noble Memmius --
who
first discovered
that
Rule of Life
that now
is
called
Philosophy,
who
by his
Art
rescued Life
from
such
a stormy Sea,
so black
a Night,
and
steered it
into such
a calm
and sun-lit Haven.
Only compare
with
his achievement
those
ancient discoveries
of other Mortals
that rank
as
the work of gods.
Ceres,
it is said,
taught Men
to use
Cereals,
and
Bacchus
the juice
of the Grape;
yet
without
these things
we could
go on living,
as
we are told
that
some tribes
live
even now.
[55 B.C.]
But Life
could not
be
well lived
till
our breasts
were
swept clean.
Therefore
that Man
has
a better claim
to be called
a god
whose Gospel,
broadcast
through
the length
and breadth
of empires,
is
even now
bringing
soothing solace
to
the Minds of Men.
As
for Hercules,
if you think
his deeds
will
challenge comparison,
you
will stray
farther still
from
the path
of Truth.
The gaping jaws
of
that Nemean Lion,
or
the bristly
Arcadian Boar --
what harm
could they
do us
now?
Or
the Cretan Bull
and
the Hydra
with its
palisade
of venomous Snakes,
the pest
of Lerna?
What
would it matter
to us
if Geryon,
with
the triple strength
of
his three Bodies,
still lorded it
in farthest Spain,
or
the foul Birds
haunted
the Stymphalian mere,
or
Thracian Diomede's
Horses
breathed fire
from
their nostrils
on the Balkan slopes
of Ismara?
Or
if the scaly,
fierce-eyed Serpent
guarded still
the
lustrous golden Apples
of
the Hesperides,
hugging
the Tree-trunk
with huge coils,
there
by
the forbidding
Atlantic shore
where
none of us
ever goes
nor
even
the Natives venture?
And
the other
Monsters
of this sort
that
met their death --
if they
had
not been
mastered,
what
harm
would they do
alive?
None
at all,
that
I can see.
Even now
the World swarms
with
wild beasts,
enough
and
to spare --
a thrill of Terror
lurking
in thickets
on
the Mountain side
or
in the depths
of Forests.
Only,
we have
little occasion
to
go near
their haunts.
But,
if our breasts
are not
swept clean,
then
indeed
what
distracting
and
disruptive
Forces
we must let in!
And,
when
a Man
harbors these,
what sharp stabs
of Desire
with
their
answering Fears
tear him
to pieces!
Pride,
Meanness,
Lust,
Self-indulgence,
Boredom --
what Casualties
they
inflict!
The Man
who
has defeated
all these Enemies
and
banished them
from
his Mind,
by Words
not
by Weapons,
is surely
entitled
to
a place
among the gods.
Remember too,
what
inspired Words
he himself
has uttered
about
the Immortal gods,
and
how
by his Teaching
he
has laid bare
the Causes of things.
Treading
in
his footsteps,
I have been
running Arguments
to earth
and
explaining
in my Verses
the necessity
that
compels everything
to
abide by
the Compact
under which
it
was Created.
For nothing
has power
to break
the
binding Laws
of Eternity.
As
an instance
of this,
I have shown
that
the Mind
in particular
is
a Natural growth:
it is
composed of
a Body
that
had first
to
be Born,
and
it cannot remain
intact
for all time;
but
we are misled
by images
in Sleep,
when
we fancy we see
someone
whose Life
has left him.
The
next stage
in the Argument
is this.
I must first
demonstrate
that
the World also
was Born
and
is composed
of
a mortal Body.
Then
I must deal
with the
concourse
of
Matter
that laid
the foundation
of Land,
Sea and Sky,
Stars and Sun
and
the globe
of the Moon.
I must show
what
living things
have existed
on Earth,
and
which
have
never been Born;
how
the Human Race
began
to employ
various Utterances
among themselves
for
denoting
various Things;
and
how there
crept into
their Minds
that
Fear
of the gods
which,
all the World over,
sanctifies
Temples
and
Lakes,
Groves
and
Altars
and
Images
of
the gods.
After that,
I will explain
by
what Forces
Nature
steers
the courses
of
the Sun
and
the journeyings
of
the Moon,
so that
we
shall
not suppose
that
they run
their
yearly races
between
Heaven and Earth
of
their own
Free Will
with
the amiable intention
of
promoting
the growth
of
Crops
and
Animals,
or
that they
are
rolled round
in furtherance
of
some
Divine Plan.
For
it may happen
that Men
who
have learnt
the Truth
about
the
carefree existence
of
the gods
fall
to wondering
by
what Power
the Universe
is
kept going,
especially those
movements
that
are seen
overhead
in
the borderland
of Ether.
Then
the
poor Creatures
are plunged
back
into
their old
Superstitions
and
saddle themselves
with
cruel Masters
whom
they Believe
to be
All-Powerful.
All this
because
they
do not know
what
Can Be
and
what Cannot:
how
a Limit
is fixed
to the Power
of
everything
and
an
immovable
Frontier Post.
And now,
Memmius,
I will not
hold you off
any longer
with
promises.
First of all,
then,
cast your eyes
on Seas,
Lands
and Sky.
These
three bodies
so different
in Nature,
three
distinct Forms,
three Fabrics
such as
you behold --
all these
a single Day
will
blot out.
The whole
Substance
and
Structure
of the World,
upheld
through
many years,
will
crash.
I am
well aware
how novel
and
strange
in its
impact
on the Mind
is this
impending demolition
of
Heaven and Earth,
and
how
hard it is
for my Words
to
carry conviction.
This is
always so
when
you bring
to Men's ears
something
outside
their Experience --
something
you
cannot
set
before their Eyes
or
lay hold of
by Hand,
which is
the shortest highway
for
Belief
to
enter
the Human breast
and
the compartments
of
the Mind.
But,
for
all that,
I will
proclaim it.
It may be
that Force
will
be given
to my Arguments
by
the Event itself;
that
your own eyes
will see
those
violent Earthquakes
in
a brief space
dash
the whole World
to fragments.
From
such a Fate
may
guiding Fortune
steer
us clear!
May Reason
rather than
the
Event itself
convince you
that
the whole World
can collapse
with
one ear-splitting
crack!
Before
I attempt
to
utter oracles
on
this theme,
with
more sanctity
and
far surer Reason
than
those
the
Delphic Prophetess
pronounces,
drugged
by
the Laurel fumes
from
Apollo's tripod,
I will first
set
your Mind
at rest
with
words of Wisdom.
Do
not imagine,
under
the spell
of Superstition,
that Lands
and Sun
and Sky,
Sea,
Stars and Moon,
must endure
forever
because
they
are endowed
with
a Divine Body.
Do not
for
that Reason
think it
Right
that
punishment
appropriate
to
a monstrous Crime
should
be imposed,
as on
the rebellious Titans,
on
all those
who
by
their Reasoning
breach
the ramparts
of the World
and
seek
to darken
Heaven's
brightest luminary,
the Sun,
belittling
with
Mortal Speech
Immortal Beings.
In fact
these Objects
are
so far
from Divinity,
so Unworthy
of
a place
among the gods,
that
they
may rather
serve
to
impress upon us
the Type
of
the Lifeless
and
the Insensible.
Obviously,
it is
only
with
certain Bodies
that Mind
and
Intelligence
can
co-exist.
A Tree
cannot exist
in
the Ether,
or
Clouds
in
the salt Sea,
as
Fishes
cannot live
in the Fields
or
Blood
flow
in Wood
or
Sap
in Stones.
There is
a determined
and allotted
place
for
the growth
and presence
of
everything.
So Mind
cannot
arise alone
without
a Body
or
apart from
Sinews
and Blood.
If it could
do this,
then surely
it could
much more
readily
function
in Head
or
Shoulders
or
the tips
of the Heels
or
be Born
in
any other part,
so long as it
was held
in
the same
container,
that is
to say,
in
the same Man.
Since,
however,
even in
the Human Body
we see
a determined
and
allotted place
set aside
for
the growth
and presence
of
Spirit and Mind,
we have
even
stronger grounds
for
denying
that
they can
survive
apart from
all
Body
or
Animal Form
in
the crumbling clods
of
Earth
or
the fire of the Sun
or
in Water
or
the high borderland
of
Ether.
These objects,
therefore,
are
not endowed
with
Divine Consciousness,
since
they cannot
even
possess
Living Spirits.
Furthermore,
you must
not
suppose
that
the
Holy dwelling-places
of
the gods
are
anywhere
within the limits
of
the World.
For
the
flimsy Nature
of
the gods,
far removed
from
our Senses,
is
scarcely visible
even
to
the perception
of
the Mind.
Since
it eludes
the Touch
and
pressure
of
our Hands,
it can
have no contact
with
anything
that
is tangible
to us.
For
what cannot
be
Touched
cannot Touch.
Therefore
their
dwelling-places
also
must be
unlike ours,
of
the
same
flimsy texture
as
their Bodies,
as
I will
prove to you
at length
later on.
+++
from
the Nature
of
the Universe",
Lucretius
[Titus Lucretius Carus],
from
about
55 B.C.,
translated
andintroduced
by
Ronald E. Latham,
1951,
pages 171 - 175].
Book V
"Cosmology and Sociology"
has such power
within his breast
that he
could build up
a song
worthy
of
this high theme
and
these discoveries?
Who has
such
mastery of words
that
he could praise
as
he deserves
the Man
who produced
such treasures
from
his breast
and
bequeathed them
to us?
No one,
I believe,
whose Body
is
of Mortal growth.
If I am
to suit
my language
to
the majesty
of
his revelations,
he was
a god --
a god indeed,
my noble Memmius --
who
first discovered
that
Rule of Life
that now
is
called
Philosophy,
who
by his
Art
rescued Life
from
such
a stormy Sea,
so black
a Night,
and
steered it
into such
a calm
and sun-lit Haven.
Only compare
with
his achievement
those
ancient discoveries
of other Mortals
that rank
as
the work of gods.
Ceres,
it is said,
taught Men
to use
Cereals,
and
Bacchus
the juice
of the Grape;
yet
without
these things
we could
go on living,
as
we are told
that
some tribes
live
even now.
[55 B.C.]
But Life
could not
be
well lived
till
our breasts
were
swept clean.
Therefore
that Man
has
a better claim
to be called
a god
whose Gospel,
broadcast
through
the length
and breadth
of empires,
is
even now
bringing
soothing solace
to
the Minds of Men.
As
for Hercules,
if you think
his deeds
will
challenge comparison,
you
will stray
farther still
from
the path
of Truth.
The gaping jaws
of
that Nemean Lion,
or
the bristly
Arcadian Boar --
what harm
could they
do us
now?
Or
the Cretan Bull
and
the Hydra
with its
palisade
of venomous Snakes,
the pest
of Lerna?
What
would it matter
to us
if Geryon,
with
the triple strength
of
his three Bodies,
still lorded it
in farthest Spain,
or
the foul Birds
haunted
the Stymphalian mere,
or
Thracian Diomede's
Horses
breathed fire
from
their nostrils
on the Balkan slopes
of Ismara?
Or
if the scaly,
fierce-eyed Serpent
guarded still
the
lustrous golden Apples
of
the Hesperides,
hugging
the Tree-trunk
with huge coils,
there
by
the forbidding
Atlantic shore
where
none of us
ever goes
nor
even
the Natives venture?
And
the other
Monsters
of this sort
that
met their death --
if they
had
not been
mastered,
what
harm
would they do
alive?
None
at all,
that
I can see.
Even now
the World swarms
with
wild beasts,
enough
and
to spare --
a thrill of Terror
lurking
in thickets
on
the Mountain side
or
in the depths
of Forests.
Only,
we have
little occasion
to
go near
their haunts.
But,
if our breasts
are not
swept clean,
then
indeed
what
distracting
and
disruptive
Forces
we must let in!
And,
when
a Man
harbors these,
what sharp stabs
of Desire
with
their
answering Fears
tear him
to pieces!
Pride,
Meanness,
Lust,
Self-indulgence,
Boredom --
what Casualties
they
inflict!
The Man
who
has defeated
all these Enemies
and
banished them
from
his Mind,
by Words
not
by Weapons,
is surely
entitled
to
a place
among the gods.
Remember too,
what
inspired Words
he himself
has uttered
about
the Immortal gods,
and
how
by his Teaching
he
has laid bare
the Causes of things.
Treading
in
his footsteps,
I have been
running Arguments
to earth
and
explaining
in my Verses
the necessity
that
compels everything
to
abide by
the Compact
under which
it
was Created.
For nothing
has power
to break
the
binding Laws
of Eternity.
As
an instance
of this,
I have shown
that
the Mind
in particular
is
a Natural growth:
it is
composed of
a Body
that
had first
to
be Born,
and
it cannot remain
intact
for all time;
but
we are misled
by images
in Sleep,
when
we fancy we see
someone
whose Life
has left him.
The
next stage
in the Argument
is this.
I must first
demonstrate
that
the World also
was Born
and
is composed
of
a mortal Body.
Then
I must deal
with the
concourse
of
Matter
that laid
the foundation
of Land,
Sea and Sky,
Stars and Sun
and
the globe
of the Moon.
I must show
what
living things
have existed
on Earth,
and
which
have
never been Born;
how
the Human Race
began
to employ
various Utterances
among themselves
for
denoting
various Things;
and
how there
crept into
their Minds
that
Fear
of the gods
which,
all the World over,
sanctifies
Temples
and
Lakes,
Groves
and
Altars
and
Images
of
the gods.
After that,
I will explain
by
what Forces
Nature
steers
the courses
of
the Sun
and
the journeyings
of
the Moon,
so that
we
shall
not suppose
that
they run
their
yearly races
between
Heaven and Earth
of
their own
Free Will
with
the amiable intention
of
promoting
the growth
of
Crops
and
Animals,
or
that they
are
rolled round
in furtherance
of
some
Divine Plan.
For
it may happen
that Men
who
have learnt
the Truth
about
the
carefree existence
of
the gods
fall
to wondering
by
what Power
the Universe
is
kept going,
especially those
movements
that
are seen
overhead
in
the borderland
of Ether.
Then
the
poor Creatures
are plunged
back
into
their old
Superstitions
and
saddle themselves
with
cruel Masters
whom
they Believe
to be
All-Powerful.
All this
because
they
do not know
what
Can Be
and
what Cannot:
how
a Limit
is fixed
to the Power
of
everything
and
an
immovable
Frontier Post.
And now,
Memmius,
I will not
hold you off
any longer
with
promises.
First of all,
then,
cast your eyes
on Seas,
Lands
and Sky.
These
three bodies
so different
in Nature,
three
distinct Forms,
three Fabrics
such as
you behold --
all these
a single Day
will
blot out.
The whole
Substance
and
Structure
of the World,
upheld
through
many years,
will
crash.
I am
well aware
how novel
and
strange
in its
impact
on the Mind
is this
impending demolition
of
Heaven and Earth,
and
how
hard it is
for my Words
to
carry conviction.
This is
always so
when
you bring
to Men's ears
something
outside
their Experience --
something
you
cannot
set
before their Eyes
or
lay hold of
by Hand,
which is
the shortest highway
for
Belief
to
enter
the Human breast
and
the compartments
of
the Mind.
But,
for
all that,
I will
proclaim it.
It may be
that Force
will
be given
to my Arguments
by
the Event itself;
that
your own eyes
will see
those
violent Earthquakes
in
a brief space
dash
the whole World
to fragments.
From
such a Fate
may
guiding Fortune
steer
us clear!
May Reason
rather than
the
Event itself
convince you
that
the whole World
can collapse
with
one ear-splitting
crack!
Before
I attempt
to
utter oracles
on
this theme,
with
more sanctity
and
far surer Reason
than
those
the
Delphic Prophetess
pronounces,
drugged
by
the Laurel fumes
from
Apollo's tripod,
I will first
set
your Mind
at rest
with
words of Wisdom.
Do
not imagine,
under
the spell
of Superstition,
that Lands
and Sun
and Sky,
Sea,
Stars and Moon,
must endure
forever
because
they
are endowed
with
a Divine Body.
Do not
for
that Reason
think it
Right
that
punishment
appropriate
to
a monstrous Crime
should
be imposed,
as on
the rebellious Titans,
on
all those
who
by
their Reasoning
breach
the ramparts
of the World
and
seek
to darken
Heaven's
brightest luminary,
the Sun,
belittling
with
Mortal Speech
Immortal Beings.
In fact
these Objects
are
so far
from Divinity,
so Unworthy
of
a place
among the gods,
that
they
may rather
serve
to
impress upon us
the Type
of
the Lifeless
and
the Insensible.
Obviously,
it is
only
with
certain Bodies
that Mind
and
Intelligence
can
co-exist.
A Tree
cannot exist
in
the Ether,
or
Clouds
in
the salt Sea,
as
Fishes
cannot live
in the Fields
or
Blood
flow
in Wood
or
Sap
in Stones.
There is
a determined
and allotted
place
for
the growth
and presence
of
everything.
So Mind
cannot
arise alone
without
a Body
or
apart from
Sinews
and Blood.
If it could
do this,
then surely
it could
much more
readily
function
in Head
or
Shoulders
or
the tips
of the Heels
or
be Born
in
any other part,
so long as it
was held
in
the same
container,
that is
to say,
in
the same Man.
Since,
however,
even in
the Human Body
we see
a determined
and
allotted place
set aside
for
the growth
and presence
of
Spirit and Mind,
we have
even
stronger grounds
for
denying
that
they can
survive
apart from
all
Body
or
Animal Form
in
the crumbling clods
of
Earth
or
the fire of the Sun
or
in Water
or
the high borderland
of
Ether.
These objects,
therefore,
are
not endowed
with
Divine Consciousness,
since
they cannot
even
possess
Living Spirits.
Furthermore,
you must
not
suppose
that
the
Holy dwelling-places
of
the gods
are
anywhere
within the limits
of
the World.
For
the
flimsy Nature
of
the gods,
far removed
from
our Senses,
is
scarcely visible
even
to
the perception
of
the Mind.
Since
it eludes
the Touch
and
pressure
of
our Hands,
it can
have no contact
with
anything
that
is tangible
to us.
For
what cannot
be
Touched
cannot Touch.
Therefore
their
dwelling-places
also
must be
unlike ours,
of
the
same
flimsy texture
as
their Bodies,
as
I will
prove to you
at length
later on.
+++
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