s: Here in the lands of earth are seen to change


s: From time to time their size to less or more


s: So long as still they bicker clear, and still


s: Can yet send forth so great a light as fills


s: Oceans and all the lands and sky aflood,


s: The world at large. For it may be, indeed,


s: That one vast-flowing well-spring of the whole


s: Wide world from here hath opened and out-gushed,


s: And shot its light abroad; because thuswise


s: From all the world around together come,


s: That from one single fountain-head may stream


s: This heat and light. And seest thou not, indeed,


s: How widely one small water-spring may wet


s: The meadow-lands at times and flood the fields?


s: From forth the sun's own fire, albeit that fire


s: With the fierce hot--if but, perchance, the air


s: Just as we sometimes see the standing grain


s: From one lone spark. And possibly the sun,


s: Possesses about him with invisible heats


s: A plenteous fire, by no effulgence marked,


s: So that he maketh, he, the Fraught-with-fire,


s: Increase to such degree the force of rays.


s: Nor is there one sure cause revealed to men


s: How the sun journeys from his summer haunts


s: On to the mid-most winter turning-points


s: In Capricorn, the thence reverting veers


s: How 'tis the moon is seen each month to cross


s: I say, no one clear reason hath been given


s: For these affairs. Yet chief in likelihood


s: Seemeth the doctrine which the holy thought


s: Of great Democritus lays down: that ever


s: The nearer the constellations be to earth


s: The less can they by whirling of the sky


s: Be borne along, because those skiey powers


s: Left by degrees behind amongst those signs


s: That follow after, since the sun he lies


s: Far down below the starry signs that blaze;


s: From upper heaven and nigh unto the lands,


s: In just so far she fails to keep the pace


s: With starry signs above; for just so far


s: As feebler is the whirl that bears her on,


s: (Being, indeed, still lower than the sun),


s: Circling around, o'ertake her and o'erpass.


s: Therefore it happens that the moon appears


s: More swiftly than they visit the great sun.


s: Blow out from transverse regions of the world,


s: Of which the one may thrust the sun away


s: From summer-signs to mid-most winter goals


s: And rigors of the cold, and the other then


s: May cast him back from icy shades of chill


s: Even to the heat-fraught regions and the signs


s: We must suppose the moon and all the stars,


s: Which through the mighty and sidereal years


s: Roll round in mighty orbits, may be sped


s: By streams of air from regions alternate.


s: Seest thou not also how the clouds be sped


s: The lower clouds diversely from the upper?


s: Then, why may yonder stars in ether there


s: But night o'erwhelms the lands with vasty murk


s: Either when sun, after his diurnal course,


s: Hath walked the ultimate regions of the sky


s: And wearily hath panted forth his fires,


s: Shivered by their long journeying and wasted


s: Or else because the self-same force that drave


s: Him then to turn his course beneath the lands.


s: The coasts of heaven and deploys the light,


s: Either because the self-same sun, returning


s: Under the lands, aspires to seize the sky,


s: Striving to set it blazing with his rays


s: Fires then will congregate and many seeds


s: New suns and light. Just so the story goes


s: That from the Idaean mountain-tops are seen


s: Which thence combine, as 'twere, into one ball


s: And form an orb. Nor yet in these affairs


s: Is aught for wonder that these seeds of fire


s: Can thus together stream at time so fixed


s: And shape anew the splendour of the sun.


s: For many facts we see which come to pass


s: At fixed time in all things: burgeon shrubs


s: They cast their flowers; and Eld commands the teeth,


s: And Youth commands the growing boy to bloom


s: With the soft down and let from both his cheeks


s: The soft beard fall. And lastly, thunder-bolts,


s: Snow, rains, clouds, winds, at seasons of the year


s: For where, even from their old primordial start


s: And where, even from the world's first origin,


s: Thuswise have things befallen, so even now


s: Whilst the nights wane, and daylight minished be


s: Whilst nights do take their augmentations,


s: Either because the self-same sun, coursing


s: The coasts of ether and divides in twain


s: As round he's borne, unto the one half there


s: As much as from the other half he's ta'en,


s: Until he then arrives that sign of heaven


s: Where the year's node renders the shades of night


s: For when the sun is midway on his course


s: Between the blasts of northwind and of south,


s: Heaven keeps his two goals parted equally,


s: Of the whole starry Zodiac, through which


s: That sun, in winding onward, takes a year,


s: With oblique light--as men declare to us


s: Those regions of the sky which be adorned


s: Or else, because in certain parts the air


s: Under the lands is denser, the tremulous


s: For this it is that nights in winter time


s: Do linger long, ere comes the many-rayed


s: Round Badge of the day. Or else because, as said,


s: Fires, now more quick, and now more slow, are wont


s: To stream together,--the fires which make the sun


s: To rise in some one spot--therefore it is


s: That those men seem to speak the truth [who hold


s: A new sun is with each new daybreak born].


s: The moon she possibly doth shine because


s: Strook by the rays of sun, and day by day


s: May turn unto our gaze her light, the more


s: She hath with full effulgence gleamed abroad,


s: Hath there observed his setting; thence likewise


s: She needs must hide, as 'twere, her light behind


s: By slow degrees, the nearer now she glides,


s: From her far place toward fires of yonder sun,--


s: As those men hold who feign the moon to be


s: Betwixt the sun and earth. There is, again,


s: Some reason to suppose that moon may roll


s: With light her very own, and thus display


s: The varied shapes of her resplendence there.


s: Borne on and gliding all along with her,


s: Which in three modes may block and blot her disk.


s: Like to a ball's sphere--if perchance that be--


s: One half of her dyed o'er with glowing light,


s: She may beget for us her varying shapes,


s: Thence by slow stages round and back she whirls,


s: Of her sphered mass and ball, as, verily,


s: As if, forsooth, the thing for which each fights,


s: Might not alike be true,--or aught there were


s: Wherefore thou mightest risk embracing one


s: More than the other notion. Then, again,


s: Of shapes and with configurations fixed,


s: And why each day that bright created moon


s: In its stead and place, engendered anew,


s: 'Tis hard to show by reason, or by words


s: To prove absurd--since, lo, so many things


s: Spring-time and Venus come, and Venus' boy,


s: And hard on Zephyr's foot-prints Mother Flora,


s: Sprinkling the ways before them, filleth all


s: And by the Etesian Breezes of the north;


s: Then cometh Autumn on, and with him steps


s: Lord Bacchus, and then other Seasons too


s: And other Winds do follow--the high roar


s: Of great Volturnus, and the Southwind strong


s: With thunder-bolts. At last earth's Shortest-Day


s: Bears on to men the snows and brings again


s: The numbing cold. And Winter follows her,


s: His teeth with chills a-chatter. Therefore, 'tis


s: At fixed time destroyed, since things so many


s: Likewise, the sun's eclipses and the moon's


s: Far occultations rightly thou mayst deem


s: Earth from the light of sun, and on the side


s: To earthward thrust her high head under sun,


s: Opposing dark orb to his glowing beams--


s: And yet, at same time, one suppose the effect


s: Could not result from some one other body


s: Which glides devoid of light forevermore?


s: Again, why could not sun, in weakened state,


s: At fixed time for-lose his fires, and then,


s: Beyond the regions, hostile to his flames,


s: That quench and kill his fires, why could not he


s: Renew his light? And why should earth in turn


s: Have power to rob the moon of light, and there,


s: Herself on high, keep the sun hid beneath,


s: Whilst the moon glideth in her monthly course


s: Athrough the rigid shadows of the cone?--


s: And yet, at same time, some one other body


s: Not have the power to under-pass the moon,


s: Breaking his rays and outspread light asunder?


s: With her own sheen, why could she not at times


s: Grow weak and weary, whilst she passeth through


s: Regions unfriendly to the beams her own?


s: And now to what remains!--Since I've resolved


s: By what arrangements all things come to pass


s: Through the blue regions of the mighty world,--


s: And the moon's goings, and by what far means


s: They can succumb, the while with thwarted light,


s: And veil with shade the unsuspecting lands,


s: When, as it were, they blink, and then again


s: Resplendent with white radiance--I do now


s: And tell what first the soft young fields of earth


s: To raise in air unto the shores of light


s: In the beginning, earth gave forth, around


s: The hills and over all the length of plains,


s: The race of grasses and the shining green;


s: With greening colour, and thereafter, lo,


s: Unto the divers kinds of trees was given


s: As feathers and hairs and bristles are begot


s: The first on members of the four-foot breeds


s: And on the bodies of the strong-y-winged,


s: Thus then the new Earth first of all put forth


s: The mortal generations, there upsprung--


s: These breathing-creatures never can have dropped,


s: Out of sea-pools of salt. How true remains,


s: Of earth--"The Mother!"--since from out the earth


s: From out the loams how many living things--


s: Concreted by the rains and heat of the sun.


s: Wherefore 'tis less a marvel, if they sprang


s: Matured of those days in the fresh young years


s: Of earth and ether. First of all, the race


s: Of the winged ones and parti-coloured birds,


s: Hatched out in spring-time, left their eggs behind;


s: Do leave their shiny husks of own accord,


s: Seeking their food and living. Then it was


s: This earth of thine first gave unto the day


s: And hence, where any fitting spot was given,


s: There 'gan to grow womb-cavities, by roots


s: Affixed to earth. And when in ripened time


s: The age of the young within (that sought the air


s: And fled earth's damps) had burst these wombs, O then


s: Would Nature thither turn the pores of earth


s: And make her spurt from open veins a juice


s: Is filled, at child-bearing, with the sweet milk,


s: Because all that swift stream of aliment


s: Is thither turned unto the mother-breasts.


s: There earth would furnish to the children food;


s: Warmth was their swaddling cloth, the grass their bed


s: Abounding in soft down. Earth's newness then


s: Would rouse no dour spells of the bitter cold,


s: Nor extreme heats nor winds of mighty powers--


s: For all things grow and gather strength through time


s: In like proportions; and then earth was young.


s: Is that adopted name of Earth--The Mother!--


s: And at one well-nigh fixed time brought forth


s: Each breast that ranges raving round about


s: But, lo, because her bearing years must end,


s: She ceased, like to a woman worn by eld.


s: The whole wide world, and all things needs must take


s: One status after other, nor aught persists


s: To transformation. Lo, this moulders down,


s: A-slack with weary eld, and that, again,


s: Prospers in glory, issuing from contempt.


s: In suchwise, then, the lapsing aeons change


s: The nature of the whole wide world, and earth


s: She bore of old, she now can bear no longer,


s: And what she never bore, she can to-day.


s: Strove to beget the monsters that upsprung


s: With their astounding visages and limbs--


s: The Man-woman--a thing betwixt the twain,


s: Yet neither, and from either sex remote--


s: Some gruesome Boggles orphaned of the feet,


s: Without a mouth, or blind Ones of no eye,


s: Or Bulks all shackled by their legs and arms


s: Thuswise, that never could they do or go,


s: Nor shun disaster, nor take the good they would.


s: Was then begetting of this sort--in vain,


s: Since Nature banned with horror their increase,


s: In works of Venus. For we see there must


s: First, foods must be; and, next, a path whereby


s: May ooze, released from the members all;


s: Last, the possession of those instruments


s: The one with other in mutual ravishments.


s: Perforce there perished many a stock, unable


s: Breathing the breath of life, the same have been


s: Even from their earliest age preserved alive


s: By speed of foot or wing. And many a stock


s: Valour hath saved alive fierce lion-breeds


s: Cunning the foxes, flight the antlered stags.


s: Light-sleeping dogs with faithful heart in breast,


s: Of beasts of draft, as, too, the woolly flocks


s: Have been committed to guardianship of men.


s: For anxiously they fled the savage beasts,


s: And peace they sought and their abundant foods,


s: Obtained with never labours of their own,


s: For their good service. But those beasts to whom


s: Nature has granted naught of these same things--


s: Beasts quite unfit by own free will to thrive


s: In thanks for which we should permit their kind


s: Those, of a truth, were wont to be exposed,


s: Enshackled in the gruesome bonds of doom,


s: Nature reduced that stock to utter death.


s: But Centaurs ne'er have been, nor can there be


s: Creatures of twofold stock and double frame,


s: Yet formed with equal function, equal force


s: In every bodily part--a fact thou mayst,


s: However dull thy wits, well learn from this:


s: The horse, when his three years have rolled away,


s: Flowers in his prime of vigour; but the boy


s: Not so, for oft even then he gropes in sleep


s: An infant still. And later, when at last


s: The lusty powers of horses and stout limbs,


s: Now weak through lapsing life, do fail with age,


s: Lo, only then doth youth with flowering years


s: Begin for boys, and clothe their ruddy cheeks


s: With the soft down. So never deem, percase,


s: That from a man and from the seed of horse,


s: The beast of draft, can Centaurs be composed


s: The half-fish bodies girdled with mad dogs--


s: Nor others of this sort, in whom we mark


s: Members discordant each with each; for ne'er


s: At one same time they reach their flower of age


s: Or gain and lose full vigour of their frame,


s: And never burn with one same lust of love,


s: Nor find the same foods equally delightsome--


s: Sooth, as one oft may see the bearded goats


s: Is violent poison. Once again, since flame


s: Is wont to scorch and burn the tawny bulks


s: Of the great lions as much as other kinds


s: Of flesh and blood existing in the lands,


s: How could it be that she, Chimaera lone,


s: And aft, a dragon; and betwixt, a goat--


s: Might at the mouth from out the body belch


s: Infuriate flame? Wherefore, the man who feigns


s: When earth was new and the young sky was fresh


s: Into our ears: he'll say, perhaps, that then


s: Rivers of gold through every landscape flowed,


s: That trees were wont with precious stones to flower,


s: With such gigantic length and lift of limbs


s: Deep oceans to bestride or with his hands


s: For though in earth were many seeds of things


s: In the old time when this telluric world


s: First poured the breeds of animals abroad,


s: Still that is nothing of a sign that then


s: Such hybrid creatures could have been begot


s: Have been together knit; because, indeed,


s: The divers kinds of grasses and the grains


s: And the delightsome trees--which even now


s: Spring up abounding from within the earth--


s: Can still ne'er be begotten with their stems


s: And all conserve their own distinctions based


s: Was then far hardier in the old champaign,


s: As well he should be, since a hardier earth


s: And knit with stalwart sinews through the flesh,


s: Nor easily seized by either heat or cold,


s: Rolled on across the sky, men led a life


s: Not then were sturdy guiders of curved ploughs,


s: And none knew then to work the fields with iron,


s: Or plant young shoots in holes of delved loam,


s: Or lop with hooked knives from off high trees


s: The boughs of yester-year. What sun and rains


s: To them had given, what earth of own accord


s: Their simple hearts. Mid acorn-laden oaks


s: Would they refresh their bodies for the nonce;


s: And the wild berries of the arbute-tree,


s: Which now thou seest to ripen purple-red


s: Would bear then more abundant and more big.


s: The blooming freshness of the rank young world


s: Produced, enough for those poor wretches there.


s: And rivers and springs would summon them of old


s: To slake the thirst, as now from the great hills


s: The water's down-rush calls aloud and far


s: So, too, they sought the grottos of the Nymphs--


s: The woodland haunts discovered as they ranged--


s: From forth of which they knew that gliding rills


s: With gush and splash abounding laved the rocks,


s: The dripping rocks, and trickled from above


s: Over the verdant moss; and here and there


s: Welled up and burst across the open flats.


s: Against the cold, nor hairy pelts to use


s: And clothe their bodies with the spoils of beasts;


s: But huddled in groves, and mountain-caves, and woods,


s: And 'mongst the thickets hid their squalid backs,


s: When driven to flee the lashings of the winds


s: And the big rains. Nor could they then regard


s: The general good, nor did they know to use


s: Had proffered, each alone would bear away,


s: By instinct trained for self to thrive and live.


s: And Venus in the forests then would link


s: The lovers' bodies; for the woman yielded


s: Either from mutual flame, or from the man's


s: Or from a bribe--as acorn-nuts, choice pears,


s: And trusting wondrous strength of hands and legs,


s: They'd chase the forest-wanderers, the beasts;


s: And many they'd conquer, but some few they fled,


s: With the flung stones and with the ponderous heft


s: Of gnarled branch. And by the time of night


s: O'ertaken, they would throw, like bristly boars,


s: Their wildman's limbs naked upon the earth,


s: Rolling themselves in leaves and fronded boughs.


s: Nor would they call with lamentations loud


s: Around the fields for daylight and the sun,


s: Quaking and wand'ring in shadows of the night;


s: But, silent and buried in a sleep, they'd wait


s: Until the sun with rosy flambeau brought


s: The glory to the sky. From childhood wont


s: Wildered by wild misgiving, lest a night


s: Eternal should possess the lands, with light


s: Of sun withdrawn forever. But their care


s: Was rather that the clans of savage beasts


s: Would often make their sleep-time horrible


s: For those poor wretches; and, from home y-driven,


s: They'd flee their rocky shelters at approach


s: Of boar, the spumy-lipped, or lion strong,


s: And in the midnight yield with terror up


s: To those fierce guests their beds of out-spread leaves.


s: And yet in those days not much more than now


s: Leave the sweet light of fading life behind.


s: Indeed, in those days here and there a man,


s: More oftener snatched upon, and gulped by fangs,


s: Afforded the beasts a food that roared alive,


s: Echoing through groves and hills and forest-trees,


s: Even as he viewed his living flesh entombed


s: Within a living grave; whilst those whom flight


s: Had saved, with bone and body bitten, shrieked,


s: Pressing their quivering palms to loathsome sores,


s: With horrible voices for eternal death--


s: Until, forlorn of help, and witless what


s: Might medicine their wounds, the writhing pangs


s: Took them from life. But not in those far times


s: Beneath the battle-banners, nor would then


s: The ramping breakers of the main seas dash


s: Whole argosies and crews upon the rocks.


s: But ocean uprisen would often rave in vain,


s: Of ship-sailing lay dark in those far times.


s: Again, 'twas then that lack of food gave o'er


s: Men's fainting limbs to dissolution: now


s: Oft for themselves themselves would then outpour


s: The poison; now, with nicer art, themselves


s: When huts they had procured and pelts and fire,


s: And when the woman, joined unto the man,


s: Withdrew with him into one dwelling place,


s: Were known; and when they saw an offspring born


s: From out themselves, then first the human race


s: Began to soften. For 'twas now that fire


s: Rendered their shivering frames less staunch to bear,


s: And Love reduced their shaggy hardiness;


s: And children, with the prattle and the kiss,


s: Soon broke the parents' haughty temper down.


s: Then, too, did neighbours 'gin to league as friends,


s: And urged for children and the womankind


s: Mercy, of fathers, whilst with cries and gestures


s: They stammered hints how meet it was that all


s: Should have compassion on the weak. And still,


s: Though concord not in every wise could then


s: Long since had been unutterably cut off,


s: And propagation never could have brought


s: 'Twas lightning brought primevally to earth


s: The fire for mortals, and from thence hath spread


s: O'er all the lands the flames of heat. For thus


s: Even now we see so many objects, touched


s: By the celestial flames, to flash aglow,


s: When thunderbolt has dowered them with heat.


s: Beaten by winds, writhes swaying to and fro,


s: Pressing 'gainst branches of a neighbour tree,


s: There by the power of mighty rub and rub


s: Is fire engendered; and at times out-flares


s: The scorching heat of flame, when boughs do chafe


s: Against the trunks. And of these causes, either


s: May well have given to mortal men the fire.


s: Next, food to cook and soften in the flame


s: The sun instructed, since so oft they saw


s: How objects mellowed, when subdued by warmth


s: And by the raining blows of fiery beams,


s: Would men more strong in sense, more wise in heart,


s: Teach them to change their earlier mode and life


s: As strongholds and asylums for themselves,


s: And flocks and fields to portion for each man


s: After the beauty, strength, and sense of each--


s: For beauty then imported much, and strength


s: Had its own rights supreme. Thereafter, wealth


s: Discovered was, and gold was brought to light,


s: Which soon of honour stripped both strong and fair;


s: The rich man's party. Yet were man to steer


s: He lived by thrift; for never, as I guess,


s: But men wished glory for themselves and power


s: Even that their fortunes on foundations firm


s: Might rest forever, and that they themselves,


s: In vain, in vain; since, in the strife to climb


s: On to the heights of honour, men do make


s: Their pathway terrible; and even when once


s: They reach them, envy like the thunderbolt


s: At times will smite, O hurling headlong down


s: To murkiest Tartarus, in scorn; for, lo,


s: All summits, all regions loftier than the rest,


s: Smoke, blasted as by envy's thunderbolts;


s: And let the weary sweat their life-blood out


s: Since all their wisdom is from others' lips,


s: And all they seek is known from what they've heard


s: And less from what they've thought. Nor is this folly


s: And haughty sceptres lay o'erturned in dust;


s: And crowns, so splendid on the sovereign heads,


s: Groaned for their glories gone--for erst o'er-much


s: Dreaded, thereafter with more greedy zest


s: Trampled beneath the rabble heel. Thus things


s: Down to the vilest lees of brawling mobs


s: Succumbed, whilst each man sought unto himself


s: Some wiser heads instructed men to found


s: Codes that they might consent to follow laws.


s: Fostered by force, was ailing from its feuds;


s: Yielded to laws and strictest codes. For since


s: Each hand made ready in its wrath to take


s: A vengeance fiercer than by man's fair laws


s: Loathed the old life fostered by force. 'Tis thence


s: That fear of punishments defiles each prize


s: Of wicked days; for force and fraud ensnare


s: On him from whence they sprung. Not easy 'tis


s: The bonds of common peace to pass a life


s: Composed and tranquil. For albeit he 'scape


s: The race of gods and men, he yet must dread


s: 'Twill not be hid forever--since, indeed,


s: So many, oft babbling on amid their dreams


s: Or raving in sickness, have betrayed themselves


s: Urged men to utter various sounds of tongue


s: And need and use did mould the names of things,


s: About in same wise as the lack-speech years


s: Making them point with finger here and there


s: At what's before them. For each creature feels


s: By instinct to what use to put his powers.


s: Ere yet the bull-calf's scarce begotten horns


s: Project above his brows, with them he 'gins


s: But whelps of panthers and the lion's cubs


s: With claws and paws and bites are at the fray


s: Already, when their teeth and claws be scarce


s: All breeds of winged creatures trust to wings


s: And from their fledgling pinions seek to get


s: That in those days some man apportioned round


s: To things their names, and that from him men learned


s: For why could he mark everything by words


s: And utter the various sounds of tongue, what time


s: To do the same? And, if the rest had not


s: Whence was implanted in the teacher, then,


s: Fore-knowledge of their use, and whence was given


s: To know and see in mind what 'twas he willed?


s: Besides, one only man could scarce subdue


s: To get by heart his names of things. A task


s: And to persuade the deaf concerning what


s: 'Tis needful for to do. For ne'er would they


s: Of spoken sounds unheard before. And what,


s: That human race (in whom a voice and tongue


s: Were now in vigour) should by divers words


s: Denote its objects, as each divers sense


s: Might prompt?--since even the speechless herds, aye, since


s: To rouse from in them, when there's fear or pain,


s: And when they burst with joys. And this, forsooth,


s: 'Tis thine to know from plainest facts: when first


s: Huge flabby jowls of mad Molossian hounds,


s: Baring their hard white teeth, begin to snarl,


s: They threaten, with infuriate lips peeled back,


s: In sounds far other than with which they bark


s: And fill with voices all the regions round.


s: And when with fondling tongue they start to lick


s: Their puppies, or do toss them round with paws,


s: Feigning with gentle bites to gape and snap,


s: They fawn with yelps of voice far other then


s: Than when, alone within the house, they bay,


s: Or whimpering slink with cringing sides from blows.


s: Again the neighing of the horse, is that


s: Not seen to differ likewise, when the stud


s: In buoyant flower of his young years raves,


s: Goaded by winged Love, amongst the mares,


s: And when with widening nostrils out he snorts


s: Whinnies at times with terror-quaking limbs?


s: Lastly, the flying race, the dappled birds,


s: Hawks, ospreys, sea-gulls, searching food and life


s: Than when they fight for food, or with their prey


s: Struggle and strain. And birds there are which change


s: With changing weather their own raucous songs--


s: Or flocks of rooks, when they be said to cry


s: For winds and gales. Ergo, if divers moods


s: Compel the brutes, though speechless evermore,


s: To send forth divers sounds, O truly then


s: How much more likely 'twere that mortal men


s: In those days could with many a different sound


s: Through mighty nations, and filled the cities full


s: Of the high altars, and led to practices


s: Of solemn rites in season--rites which still


s: Flourish in midst of great affairs of state


s: And midst great centres of man's civic life,


s: Is grafted that quaking awe which rears aloft


s: Still the new temples of gods from land to land


s: And drives mankind to visit them in throngs


s: Reason thereof in speech. Because, in sooth,


s: Even in those days would the race of man


s: With mind awake; and in his sleeps, yet more--


s: Bodies of wondrous growth. And, thus, to these


s: Would men attribute sense, because they seemed


s: To move their limbs and speak pronouncements high,


s: Befitting glorious visage and vast powers.


s: And men would give them an eternal life,


s: Were there before them, and their shapes remained,


s: And chiefly, however, because men would not think


s: Beings augmented with such mighty powers


s: Could well by any force o'ermastered be.


s: And men would think them in their happiness


s: Excelling far, because the fear of death


s: At same time in men's sleeps men saw them do


s: Themselves no weariness. Besides, men marked


s: The systems of the sky, and changed times


s: To know thereof the causes. Therefore 'twas


s: They set the seats and vaults of gods, because


s: Across the sky night and the moon are seen


s: To roll along--moon, day, and night, and night's


s: And the night-wandering fireballs of the sky,


s: And flying flames, clouds, and the sun, the rains,


s: Snow and the winds, the lightnings, and the hail,


s: And the swift rumblings, and the hollow roar


s: And coupled thereto rigours of fierce wrath!


s: What groans did men on that sad day beget


s: Even for themselves, and O what wounds for us,


s: What tears for our children's children! Nor, O man,


s: Under the veil, still to be seen to turn


s: Forward to fall, to spread upturned palms


s: Before the shrines of gods, nor yet to dew


s: Altars with profuse blood of four-foot beasts,


s: Nor vows with vows to link. But rather this:


s: And mind at peace. For when we gaze aloft


s: Upon the skiey vaults of yon great world


s: And ether, fixed high o'er twinkling stars,


s: And into our thought there come the journeyings


s: Of sun and moon, O then into our breasts,


s: O'erburdened already with their other ills,


s: Begins forthwith to rear its sudden head


s: One more misgiving: lest o'er us, percase,


s: That rolls, with varied motion, round and round


s: The far white constellations. For the lack


s: Of aught of reasons tries the puzzled mind:


s: Whether was ever a birth-time of the world,


s: How far the ramparts of the world can still


s: Outstand this strain of ever-roused motion,


s: Endowed, they can through endless tracts of age


s: Glide on, defying the o'er-mighty powers


s: What man is there whose mind with dread of gods


s: Cringes not close, whose limbs with terror-spell


s: Crouch not together, when the parched earth


s: Quakes with the horrible thunderbolt amain,


s: And across the mighty sky the rumblings run?


s: Do not the peoples and the nations shake,


s: And haughty kings do they not hug their limbs,


s: Strook through with fear of the divinities,


s: Lest for aught foully done or madly said


s: When, too, fierce force of fury-winds at sea


s: With his stout legions and his elephants,


s: Doth he not seek the peace of gods with vows,


s: And beg in prayer, a-tremble, lulled winds


s: And friendly gales?--in vain, since, often up-caught


s: For all his mouthings, to the shoals of doom.


s: And visibly grindeth with its heel in mire


s: The lictors' glorious rods and axes dire,


s: Having them in derision! Again, when earth


s: And shaken cities ruin down, or threaten


s: That mortal generations abase themselves,


s: Now for the rest: copper and gold and iron


s: Discovered were, and with them silver's weight


s: And power of lead, when with prodigious heat


s: The conflagrations burned the forest trees


s: Of lightning from the sky, or else because


s: Men, warring in the woodlands, on their foes


s: Invited, men desired to clear rich fields


s: And turn the countryside to pasture-lands,


s: Or slay the wild and thrive upon the spoils.


s: (For hunting by pit-fall and by fire arose


s: Before the art of hedging the covert round


s: With net or stirring it with dogs of chase.)


s: Howso the fact, and from what cause soever


s: The flamy heat with awful crack and roar


s: Had there devoured to their deepest roots


s: The forest trees and baked the earth with fire,


s: Then from the boiling veins began to ooze


s: To shine with splendour-sheen upon the ground,


s: Much taken with that lustrous smooth delight,


s: They 'gan to pry them out, and saw how each


s: Had got a shape like to its earthy mould.


s: Then would it enter their heads how these same lumps,


s: Or figure of things be run, and how, again,


s: If hammered out, they could be nicely drawn


s: To sharpest points or finest edge, and thus


s: Yield to the forgers tools and give them power


s: To chop the forest down, to hew the logs,


s: To shave the beams and planks, besides to bore


s: And punch and drill. And men began such work


s: At first as much with tools of silver and gold


s: As with the impetuous strength of the stout copper;


s: But vainly--since their over-mastered power


s: Like copper, such hard labour. In those days


s: Copper it was that was the thing of price;


s: And gold lay useless, blunted with dull edge.


s: Now lies the copper low, and gold hath come


s: That rolling ages change the times of things:


s: What erst was of a price, becomes at last


s: Succeeds to glory, issuing from contempt,


s: And day by day is sought for more and more,


s: And, when 'tis found, doth flower in men's praise,


s: How nature of iron discovered was, thou mayst


s: Of thine own self divine. Man's ancient arms


s: Were hands, and nails and teeth, stones too and boughs--


s: Breakage of forest trees--and flame and fire,


s: As soon as known. Thereafter force of iron


s: And copper discovered was; and copper's use


s: Was known ere iron's, since more tractable


s: With copper to rouse the hurly waves of war,


s: To straw the monstrous wounds, and seize away


s: Another's flocks and fields. For unto them,


s: The sword of iron succeeded, and the shape


s: With iron to cleave the soil of earth they 'gan,


s: And guide him with the rein, and play about


s: With right hand free, oft times before he tried


s: Whereinto clomb the men-at-arms. And next


s: The Punic folk did train the elephants--


s: The serpent-handed, with turrets on their bulks--


s: To dure the wounds of war and panic-strike


s: The mighty troops of Mars. Thus Discord sad


s: In war's grim business; and essayed to send


s: Outrageous boars against the foes. And some


s: Sent on before their ranks puissant lions


s: With armed trainers and with masters fierce


s: To guide and hold in chains--and yet in vain,


s: Since fleshed with pell-mell slaughter, fierce they flew,


s: And blindly through the squadrons havoc wrought,


s: Shaking the frightful crests upon their heads,


s: Now here, now there. Nor could the horsemen calm


s: Their horses, panic-breasted at the roar,


s: And rein them round to front the foe. With spring


s: Now here, now there; and whoso came apace


s: Against them, these they'd rend across the face;


s: And others unwitting from behind they'd tear


s: Down from their mounts, and twining round them, bring


s: Tumbling to earth, o'ermastered by the wound,


s: And with those powerful fangs and hooked claws


s: Fasten upon them. Bulls would toss their friends,


s: And trample under foot, and from beneath


s: Rip flanks and bellies of horses with their horns,


s: And with a threat'ning forehead jam the sod;


s: And boars would gore with stout tusks their allies,


s: Splashing in fury their own blood on spears


s: Splintered in their own bodies, and would fell


s: For there the beasts-of-saddle tried to scape


s: The savage thrusts of tusk by shying off,


s: In vain--since there thou mightest see them sink,


s: Their sinews severed, and with heavy fall


s: Bestrew the ground. And such of these as men


s: Were in the thick of action seen to foam


s: In fury, from the wounds, the shrieks, the flight,


s: The panic, and the tumult; nor could men


s: Aught of their numbers rally. For each breed


s: And various of the wild beasts fled apart


s: Hither or thither, as often in wars to-day


s: Grievously mangled, after they have wrought


s: Upon their friends so many a dreadful doom.


s: (If 'twas, indeed, that thus they did at all:


s: But scarcely I'll believe that men could not


s: With mind foreknow and see, as sure to come,


s: We, then, may hold as true in the great All,


s: In divers worlds on divers plan create,--


s: One certain earth.) But men chose this to do


s: Less in the hope of conquering than to give


s: Even though thereby they perished themselves,


s: Since weak in numbers and since wanting arms.


s: Now, clothes of roughly inter-plaited strands


s: Since iron is needful in the weaving art,


s: Nor by no other means can there be wrought


s: Such polished tools--the treadles, spindles, shuttles,


s: And sounding yarn-beams. And nature forced the men,


s: Before the woman kind, to work the wool:


s: For all the male kind far excels in skill,


s: The rugged farmer folk jeered at such tasks,


s: And so were eager soon to give them o'er


s: To women's hands, and in more hardy toil


s: Mother of things, was the first seed-sower


s: And primal grafter; since the berries and acorns,


s: Dropping from off the trees, would there beneath


s: Put forth in season swarms of little shoots;


s: Hence too men's fondness for ingrafting slips


s: Upon the boughs and setting out in holes


s: The young shrubs o'er the fields. Then would they try


s: Ever new modes of tilling their loved crofts,


s: And mark they would how earth improved the taste


s: Of the wild fruits by fond and fostering care.


s: And day by day they'd force the woods to move


s: Still higher up the mountain, and to yield


s: The place below for tilth, that there they might,


s: On plains and uplands, have their meadow-plats,


s: Cisterns and runnels, crops of standing grain,


s: O'er hillocks, intervales, and plains might run


s: Marking the plotted landscape; even as now


s: Thou seest so marked with varied loveliness


s: All the terrain which men adorn and plant


s: With rows of goodly fruit-trees and hedge round


s: Was earlier far 'mongst men than power to make,


s: By measured song, melodious verse and give


s: Delight to ears. And whistlings of the wind


s: Athrough the hollows of the reeds first taught


s: They learned sweet plainings, such as pipe out-pours,


s: When heard through unpathed groves and forest deeps


s: And woodsy meadows, through the untrod haunts


s: Of shepherd folk and spots divinely still.


s: Thus time draws forward each and everything


s: And reason uplifts it to the shores of light.


s: These tunes would soothe and glad the minds of mortals


s: When sated with food,--for songs are welcome then.


s: And often, lounging with friends in the soft grass


s: A big tree's branches, merrily they'd refresh


s: Their frames, with no vast outlay--most of all


s: If the weather were smiling and the times of the year


s: Were painting the green of the grass around with flowers.


s: Then jokes, then talk, then peals of jollity


s: Would circle round; for then the rustic muse


s: Was in her glory; then would antic Mirth


s: Prompt them to garland head and shoulders about


s: With chaplets of intertwined flowers and leaves,


s: And to dance onward, out of tune, with limbs


s: Clownishly swaying, and with clownish foot


s: To beat our mother earth--from whence arose


s: Such frolic acts were in their glory then,


s: Being more new and strange. And wakeful men


s: Found solaces for their unsleeping hours


s: With puckered lips along the tuned reeds,


s: Whence, even in our day do the watchmen guard


s: These old traditions, and have learned well


s: To keep true measure. And yet they no whit


s: In olden times. For what we have at hand--


s: If theretofore naught sweeter we have known--


s: That chiefly pleases and seems best of all;


s: But then some later, likely better, find


s: Destroys its worth and changes our desires


s: Abandoned were those beds with grasses strewn


s: And with the leaves beladen. Thus, again,


s: Fell into new contempt the pelts of beasts--


s: Erstwhile a robe of honour, which, I guess,


s: That the first wearer went to woeful death


s: By ambuscades,--and yet that hairy prize,


s: And splashed by blood, was ruined utterly


s: 'Twas pelts, and of to-day 'tis purple and gold


s: That cark men's lives with cares and weary with war.


s: Wherefore, methinks, resides the greater blame


s: With us vain men to-day: for cold would rack,


s: Without their pelts, the naked sons of earth;


s: The purple vestment, broidered with gold


s: Make shift with some mean garment of the Plebs.


s: Forever and wastes in idle cares his years--


s: Because, of very truth, he hath not learnt


s: What the true end of getting is, nor yet


s: At all how far true pleasure may increase.


s: From the far bottom mighty waves of war.


s: But sun and moon, those watchmen of the world,


s: With their own lanterns traversing around


s: The mighty, the revolving vault, have taught


s: Return again, and that the Thing takes place


s: Already would they pass their life, hedged round


s: By the strong towers; and cultivate an earth


s: All portioned out and boundaried; already


s: Would the sea flower and sail-winged ships;


s: Confederates and allies, when poets began


s: Nor long ere this had letters been devised--


s: On what has gone before, except where reason


s: Tillings of fields, walls, laws, and arms, and roads,


s: Dress and the like, all prizes, all delights


s: Of finer life, poems, pictures, chiselled shapes


s: Of polished sculptures--all these arts were learned


s: As men walked forward step by eager step.


s: Thus time draws forward each and everything


s: And reason uplifts it to the shores of light.


s: Grow clear by intellect, till with their arts


s: They've now achieved the supreme pinnacle.


s: 'Twas Athens first, the glorious in name,


s: The sheaves of harvest, and re-ordered life,


s: And decreed laws; and she the first that gave


s: A man of heart so wise, who whilom poured


s: All wisdom forth from his truth-speaking mouth;


s: The glory of whom, though dead, is yet to-day,


s: For when saw he that well-nigh everything


s: Which needs of man most urgently require


s: Was ready to hand for mortals, and that life,


s: As far as might be, was established safe,


s: That men were lords in riches, honour, praise,


s: And that they yet, O yet, within the home,


s: Still had the anxious heart which vexed life


s: And raved perforce with angry plaints, then he,


s: Then he, the master, did perceive that 'twas


s: The vessel itself which worked the bane, and all,


s: However wholesome, which from here or there


s: Spoilt from within,--in part, because he saw


s: The vessel so cracked and leaky that nowise


s: 'T could ever be filled to brim; in part because


s: He marked how it polluted with foul taste


s: The master, then by his truth-speaking words,


s: Purged the breasts of men, and set the bounds


s: The supreme good whither we all endeavour,


s: And showed the path whereby we might arrive


s: Thereunto by a little cross-cut straight,


s: And what of ills in all affairs of mortals


s: (Whether by chance or force), since nature thus


s: Had destined; and from out what gates a man


s: Should sally to each combat. And he proved


s: Roll in its bosom the grim waves of care.


s: For just as children tremble and fear all


s: In the viewless dark, so even we at times


s: Dread in the light so many things that be


s: No whit more fearsome than what children feign,


s: Shuddering, will be upon them in the dark.


s: This terror then, this darkness of the mind,


s: Not sunrise with its flaring spokes of light,


s: Nor glittering arrows of morning can disperse,


s: Wherefore the more will I go on to weave


s: And since I've taught thee that the world's great vaults


s: Of frame e'en born in time, and whatsoe'er


s: The most I have unravelled; what remains


s: Do thou take in, besides; since once for all


s: Which were, are changed now, with fury stilled;


s: All other movements through the earth and sky


s: In quaking thoughts!), and which abase their minds


s: With dread of deities and press them crushed


s: Down to the earth, because their ignorance


s: For even those men who have learned full well


s: That godheads lead a long life free of care,


s: If yet meanwhile they wonder by what plan


s: Things can go on (and chiefly yon high things


s: Observed o'erhead on the ethereal coasts),


s: Harsh masters, deemed almighty,--wretched men,


s: And by what law to each its scope prescribed,


s: Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.


s: Wherefore the more are they borne wandering on


s: By blindfold reason. And, Memmius, unless


s: From out thy mind thou spuest all of this


s: And casteth far from thee all thoughts which be


s: As by thy thought degraded,--not, indeed,


s: That essence supreme of gods could be by this


s: So outraged as in wrath to thirst to seek


s: Thou plaguest with the notion that the gods,


s: Even they, the Calm Ones in serene repose,


s: Do roll the mighty waves of wrath on wrath;


s: Nor wilt thou enter with a serene breast


s: Shrines of the gods; nor wilt thou able be


s: In tranquil peace of mind to take and know


s: Those images which from their holy bodies


s: What sort of life will follow after this


s: 'Tis thine to see. But that afar from us


s: Veriest reason may drive such life away,


s: In polished verses, albeit hath issued forth


s: By reason grasped; there are the tempest times


s: And the bright lightnings to be hymned now--


s: Even what they do and from what cause soe'er


s: They're borne along--that thou mayst tremble not,


s: Even as to whence the flying flame hath come,


s: Or to which half of heaven it turns, or how


s: Through walled places it hath wound its way,


s: How it hath speeded forth from thence amain--


s: Point out the course before me, as I race


s: On to the white line of the utmost goal,


s: That I may get with signal praise the crown,


s: With thunder are shaken the blue deeps of heaven,


s: Because the ethereal clouds, scudding aloft,


s: Together clash, what time 'gainst one another


s: The winds are battling. For never a sound there comes


s: The clouds foregather, thence more often comes


s: A crash with mighty rumbling. And, again,


s: Clouds cannot be of so condensed a frame


s: As stones and timbers, nor again so fine


s: As mists and flying smoke; for then perforce


s: They'd either fall, borne down by their brute weight,


s: Like stones, or, like the smoke, they'd powerless be


s: Frore snows and storms of hail. And they give forth


s: O'er skiey levels of the spreading world


s: A sound on high, as linen-awning, stretched


s: O'er mighty theatres, gives forth at times


s: A cracking roar, when much 'tis beaten about


s: Betwixt the poles and cross-beams. Sometimes, too,


s: And imitates the tearing sound of sheets


s: Of paper--even this kind of noise thou mayst


s: In thunder hear--or sound as when winds whirl


s: With lashings and do buffet about in air


s: A hanging cloth and flying paper-sheets.


s: For sometimes, too, it chances that the clouds


s: Cannot together crash head-on, but rather


s: Move side-wise and with motions contrary


s: Graze each the other's body without speed,


s: From whence that dry sound grateth on our ears,


s: So long drawn-out, until the clouds have passed


s: In following wise all things seem oft to quake


s: At shock of heavy thunder, and mightiest walls


s: There on the instant to have sprung apart,


s: Riven asunder, what time a gathered blast


s: Of the fierce hurricane hath all at once


s: Compelleth by its spinning whirl the cloud


s: To grow all hollow with a thickened crust


s: Surrounding; for thereafter, when the force


s: And the keen onset of the wind have weakened


s: That crust, lo, then the cloud, to-split in twain,


s: Gives forth a hideous crash with bang and boom.


s: No marvel this; since oft a bladder small,


s: Filled up with air, will, when of sudden burst,


s: Why clouds make sounds, as through them blow the winds:


s: We see, borne down the sky, oft shapes of clouds


s: Rough-edged or branched many forky ways;


s: And 'tis the same, as when the sudden flaws


s: Of north-west wind through the dense forest blow,


s: Making the leaves to sough and limbs to crash.


s: It happens too at times that roused force


s: Of the fierce hurricane to-rends the cloud,


s: Breaking right through it by a front assault;


s: For what a blast of wind may do up there


s: Is manifest from facts when here on earth


s: A blast more gentle yet uptwists tall trees


s: And sucks them madly from their deepest roots.


s: Besides, among the clouds are waves, and these


s: Give, as they roughly break, a rumbling roar;


s: As when along deep streams or the great sea


s: Breaks the loud surf. It happens, too, whenever


s: That straightaway the cloud, if full of wet,


s: Extinguishes the fire with mighty noise;


s: Sizzles, when speedily we've plunged its glow


s: Down the cold water. Further, if a cloud


s: More dry receive the fire, 'twill suddenly


s: Kindle to flame and burn with monstrous sound,


s: As if a flame with whirl of winds should range


s: Upburning with its vast assault those trees;


s: Nor is there aught that in the crackling flame


s: Consumes with sound more terrible to man


s: Oft, too, the multitudinous crash of ice


s: And down-pour of swift hail gives forth a sound


s: Among the mighty clouds on high; for when


s: The wind hath packed them close, each mountain mass


s: And mixed with hail-stones, breaks and booms...


s: Likewise, it lightens, when the clouds have struck,


s: By their collision, forth the seeds of fire:


s: As if a stone should smite a stone or steel,


s: For light then too leaps forth and fire then scatters


s: The shining sparks. But with our ears we get


s: The thunder after eyes behold the flash,


s: From this example too: when markest thou


s: Some man far yonder felling a great tree


s: Thine eye beholds the swinging stroke before


s: The blow gives forth a sound athrough thine ears:


s: We hear the thunder, which discharged is


s: At same time with the fire and by same cause,


s: The clouds suffuse with leaping light the lands,


s: And the storm flashes with tremulous elan:


s: When the wind hath invaded a cloud, and, whirling there,


s: Hath wrought (as I have shown above) the cloud


s: Just as thou seest how motion will o'erheat


s: A leaden ball, hurtling through length of space,


s: Even melts. Therefore, when this same wind a-fire


s: Hath split black cloud, it scatters the fire-seeds,


s: Which, so to say, have been pressed out by force


s: Of sudden from the cloud;--and these do make


s: The pulsing flashes of flame; thence followeth


s: Unto the sight of eyeballs. This takes place--


s: As know thou mayst--at times when clouds are dense


s: Deceived because we see how broad their base


s: From underneath, and not how high they tower.


s: When winds shall bear athwart the horizon's blue


s: Clouds like to mountain-ranges moving on,


s: Thou seest them one upon the other massed


s: And burdening downward, anchored in high repose,


s: With the winds sepulchred on all sides round:


s: Then canst thou know their mighty masses, then


s: Canst view their caverns, as if builded there


s: Of beetling crags; which, when the hurricanes


s: Then, prisoned in clouds, they rave around


s: With mighty roarings, and within those dens


s: Bluster like savage beasts, and now from here,


s: And now from there, send growlings through the clouds,


s: And seeking an outlet, whirl themselves about,


s: And roll from 'mid the clouds the seeds of fire,


s: Wheel flame around, until from bursted cloud


s: In forky flashes they have gleamed forth.


s: Again, from following cause it comes to pass


s: That yon swift golden hue of liquid fire


s: Darts downward to the earth: because the clouds


s: Themselves must hold abundant seeds of fire;


s: For, when they be without all moisture, then


s: And a resplendent. And, indeed, they must


s: Even from the light of sun unto themselves


s: Take multitudinous seeds, and so perforce


s: Redden and pour their bright fires all abroad.


s: And therefore, when the wind hath driven and thrust,


s: Hath forced and squeezed into one spot these clouds,


s: They pour abroad the seeds of fire pressed out,


s: Which make to flash these colours of the flame.


s: Likewise, it lightens also when the clouds


s: Grow rare and thin along the sky; for, when


s: The wind with gentle touch unravels them


s: And breaketh asunder as they move, those seeds


s: Which make the lightnings must by nature fall;


s: At such an hour the horizon lightens round


s: Without the hideous terror of dread noise


s: What sort of nature thunderbolts possess


s: Is by their strokes made manifest and by


s: The brand-marks of their searing heat on things,


s: And by the scorched scars exhaling round


s: The heavy fumes of sulphur. For all these


s: Are marks, O not of wind or rain, but fire.


s: Again, they often enkindle even the roofs


s: With swift flame hold a fierce dominion.


s: Know thou that nature fashioned this fire


s: Subtler than fires all other, with minute


s: And dartling bodies,--a fire 'gainst which there's naught


s: Can in the least hold out: the thunderbolt,


s: The mighty, passes through the hedging walls


s: Through stones, through bronze it passes, and it melts


s: Upon the instant bronze and gold; and makes,


s: Likewise, the wines sudden to vanish forth,


s: Its heat arriving renders loose and porous


s: Readily all the wine--jar's earthen sides,


s: And winding its way within, it scattereth


s: Could not accomplish, however puissant he


s: Now in what manner engendered are these things,


s: How fashioned of such impetuous strength


s: As to cleave towers asunder, and houses all


s: Timbers and beams, and heroes' monuments


s: And to o'erthrow the cattle everywhere,--


s: Yes, by what force the lightnings do all this,


s: All this and more, I will unfold to thee,


s: The bolts of thunder, then, must be conceived


s: Up-piled aloft; for, from the sky serene


s: None are sent forth forever. That 'tis so


s: Beyond a doubt, fact plain to sense declares:


s: To wit, at such a time the densed clouds


s: So mass themselves through all the upper air


s: That we might think that round about all murk


s: Had parted forth from Acheron and filled


s: The mighty vaults of sky--so grievously,


s: As gathers thus the storm-clouds' gruesome might,


s: When tempest begins its thunderbolts to forge.


s: Of pitch hurled down from heaven, and far away


s: Bulging with murkiness, down on the waves


s: Falls with vast uproar, and draws on amain


s: The darkling tempests big with thunderbolts


s: And hurricanes, itself the while so crammed


s: Tremendously with fires and winds, that even


s: Back on the lands the people shudder round


s: And seek for cover. Therefore, as I said,


s: The storm must be conceived as o'er our head


s: Towering most high; for never would the clouds


s: O'erwhelm the lands with such a massy dark,


s: To shut the round sun off. Nor could the clouds,


s: As on they come, engulf with rain so vast


s: And fields to float, if ether were not thus


s: Furnished with lofty-piled clouds. Lo, then,


s: Here be all things fulfilled with winds and fires--


s: Hence the long lightnings and the thunders loud.


s: How cavernous clouds hold seeds innumerable


s: From off the sunbeams and the heat of these


s: Take many still. And so, when that same wind


s: (Which, haply, into one region of the sky


s: Collects those clouds) hath pressed from out the same


s: The many fiery seeds, and with that fire


s: Hath at the same time inter-mixed itself,


s: O then and there that wind, a whirlwind now,


s: Deep in the belly of the cloud spins round


s: In narrow confines, and sharpens there inside


s: Repeated touch of fire. Thereafter, when


s: And the fierce impulse of the fire hath sped


s: Splinter the cloud, and the aroused flash


s: To engulf the earth. Then fearfully a quake


s: Pervades the lands, and 'long the lofty skies


s: Run the far rumblings. For at such a time


s: Nigh the whole tempest quakes, shook through and through,


s: And roused are the roarings,--from which shock


s: Comes such resounding and abounding rain,


s: To summon the fields back to primeval floods:


s: So big the rains that be sent down on men


s: What time the thunder-clap, from burning bolt


s: That cracks the cloud, flies forth along. At times


s: The force of wind, excited from without,


s: With a ripe thunderbolt. And when that wind


s: Hath splintered that cloud, then down there cleaves forthwith


s: Yon fiery coil of flame which still we call,


s: Even with our fathers' word, a thunderbolt.


s: The same thing haps toward every other side


s: Whither that force hath swept. It happens, too,


s: That sometimes force of wind, though hurtled forth


s: Without all fire, yet in its voyage through space


s: Igniteth, whilst it comes along, along,--


s: Pass, like the others, through the bulks of air,--


s: And, scraping together out of air itself


s: Some smaller bodies, carries them along,


s: And these, commingling, by their flight make fire:


s: Grows hot upon its aery course, the while


s: When force of wind, a-cold and hurtled forth


s: Without all fire, hath strook somewhere amain--


s: No marvel, because, when with terrific stroke


s: 'Thas smitten, the elements of fiery-stuff


s: Can stream together from out the very wind


s: And, simultaneously, from out that thing


s: Which then and there receives the stroke: as flies


s: The fire when with the steel we hack the stone;


s: Nor yet, because the force of steel's a-cold,


s: Under the stroke its seeds of radiance hot.


s: And therefore, thuswise must an object too


s: 'Thas been adapt and suited to the flames.


s: Yet force of wind must not be rashly deemed


s: That force which is discharged from on high


s: With such stupendous power; but if 'tis not


s: Upon its course already kindled with fire,


s: It yet arriveth warmed and mixed with heat.


s: And, now, the speed and stroke of thunderbolt


s: Is so tremendous, and with glide so swift


s: Those thunderbolts rush on and down, because


s: Their roused force itself collects itself


s: First always in the clouds, and then prepares


s: For the huge effort of their going-forth;


s: Next, when the cloud no longer can retain


s: Their force is pressed out, and therefore flies


s: Hurled from the powerful Roman catapults.


s: Note, too, this force consists of elements


s: Both small and smooth, nor is there aught that can


s: With ease resist such nature. For it darts


s: Between and enters through the pores of things;


s: Flies shooting onward with a swift elan.


s: Next, since by nature always every weight


s: Bears downward, doubled is the swiftness then


s: And that elan is still more wild and dread,


s: When, verily, to weight are added blows,


s: So that more madly and more fiercely then


s: That blocks its path, following on its way.


s: Then, too, because it comes along, along


s: Which still increases as it goes, and ever


s: Augments the bolt's vast powers and to the blow


s: All of the thunder's seeds of fire, to sweep


s: In a straight line unto one place, as 'twere,--


s: Casting them one by other, as they roll,


s: Into that onward course. Again, perchance,


s: In coming along, it pulls from out the air


s: Some certain bodies, which by their own blows


s: It comes through objects leaving them unharmed,


s: It goes through many things and leaves them whole,


s: Athrough their pores. And much it does transfix,


s: Have fallen upon the atoms of these things


s: Brass it unbinds and quickly fuseth gold,


s: And, when once in, quickly unbind all knots


s: And loosen all the bonds of union there.


s: And most in autumn is shaken the house of heaven,


s: The house so studded with the glittering stars,


s: And the whole earth around--most too in spring


s: When flowery times unfold themselves: for, lo,


s: In the cold season is there lack of fire,


s: And winds are scanty in the hot, and clouds


s: Have not so dense a bulk. But when, indeed,


s: The seasons of heaven are betwixt these twain,


s: Then all concur; for then both cold and heat


s: Are mixed in the cross-seas of the year,


s: Billows, infuriate with the fires and winds--


s: Of which the both are needed by the cloud


s: For the first part of heat and last of cold


s: Is the time of spring; wherefore must things unlike


s: Do battle one with other, and, when mixed,


s: The latest heat mixed with the earliest chill--


s: The time which bears the name of autumn--then


s: Likewise fierce cold-spells wrestle with fierce heats.


s: On this account these seasons of the year


s: Are nominated "cross-seas."--And no marvel


s: If in those times the thunderbolts prevail


s: And storms are roused turbulent in heaven,


s: Since then both sides in dubious warfare rage


s: Tumultuously, the one with flames, the other


s: With winds and with waters mixed with winds.


s: This, this it is, O Memmius, to see through


s: The very nature of fire-fraught thunderbolt;


s: O this it is to mark by what blind force


s: Inquiring tokens of occult will of gods,


s: Even as to whence the flying flame hath come,


s: Or to which half of heaven it turns, or how


s: Through walled places it hath wound its way,


s: How it hath speeded forth from thence amain,


s: Or what the thunderstroke portends of ill


s: And other gods shake those refulgent vaults


s: Whither it pleases each, why smite they not


s: Mortals of reckless and revolting crimes,


s: That such may pant from a transpierced breast


s: O he self-conscious of no foul offence--


s: Involved in flames, though innocent, and clasped


s: Up-caught in skiey whirlwind and in fire?


s: Nay, why, then, aim they at eternal wastes,


s: And spend themselves in vain?--perchance, even so


s: To exercise their arms and strengthen shoulders?


s: Doth he himself allow it, nor spare the same


s: Marks of his lightnings most on mountain tops?


s: Then for what reason shoots he at the sea?--


s: What sacrilege have waves and bulk of brine


s: And floating fields of foam been guilty of?


s: Besides, if 'tis his will that we beware


s: Against the lightning-stroke, why feareth he


s: To grant us power for to behold the shot?


s: And, contrariwise, if wills he to o'erwhelm us,


s: Quite off our guard, with fire, why thunders he


s: Off in yon quarter, so that we may shun?


s: And the far din and rumblings? And O how


s: Canst thou believe he shoots at one same time


s: That divers strokes have happened at one time?


s: And often still it must, that, even as showers


s: And rains o'er many regions fall, so too


s: Dart many thunderbolts at one same time.


s: Clap upon clap, when skies are cloudless all?


s: Or, say, doth he, so soon as ever the clouds


s: Have come thereunder, then into the same


s: Descend in person, that from thence he may


s: Near-by decide upon the stroke of shaft?


s: And his own thrones of splendour, and to-breaks


s: Easy it is from these same facts to know


s: In just what wise those things (which from their sort


s: The Greeks have named "bellows") do come down,


s: For it haps that sometimes from the sky descends


s: Round which the surges seethe, tremendously


s: Of ships are caught within that tumult then


s: This haps when sometimes wind's aroused force


s: Can't burst the cloud it tries to, but down-weighs


s: That cloud, until 'tis like a column from sky


s: Upon the seas pushed downward--gradually,


s: As if a Somewhat from on high were shoved


s: By fist and nether thrust of arm, and lengthened


s: Far to the waves. And when the force of wind


s: Hath rived this cloud, from out the cloud it rushes


s: Down on the seas, and starts among the waves


s: A wondrous seething, for the eddying whirl


s: Descends and downward draws along with it


s: That cloud of ductile body. And soon as ever


s: 'Thas shoved unto the levels of the main


s: That laden cloud, the whirl suddenly then


s: Plunges its whole self into the waters there


s: And rouses all the sea with monstrous roar,


s: Constraining it to seethe. It happens too


s: Itself in clouds, scraping from out the air


s: The seeds of cloud, and counterfeits, as 'twere,


s: The "bellows" pushed from heaven. And when this shape


s: Hath dropped upon the lands and burst apart,


s: Of whirlwind and of blast. Yet since 'tis formed


s: At most but rarely, and on land the hills


s: Must block its way, 'tis seen more oft out there


s: The clouds condense, when in this upper space


s: Of the high heaven have gathered suddenly,


s: As round they flew, unnumbered particles--


s: World's rougher ones, which can, though interlinked


s: With scanty couplings, yet be fastened firm,


s: The one on other caught. These particles


s: First cause small clouds to form; and, thereupon,


s: These catch the one on other and swarm in a flock


s: And grow by their conjoining, and by winds


s: The tempest fury. Happens, too, the nearer


s: The mountain summits neighbour to the sky,


s: The more unceasingly their far crags smoke


s: With the thick darkness of swart cloud, because


s: When first the mists do form, ere ever the eyes


s: Can there behold them (tenuous as they be),


s: The carrier-winds will drive them up and on


s: Unto the topmost summits of the mountain;


s: And then at last it happens, when they be


s: In vaster throng upgathered, that they can


s: And that at same time they are seen to surge


s: Into far ether. For very fact and feeling,


s: As we up-climb high mountains, proveth clear


s: That windy are those upward regions free.


s: Besides, the clothes hung-out along the shore,


s: When in they take the clinging moisture, prove


s: Even from the salt upheavings of the main


s: Of massed clouds. For moistures in these twain


s: Are near akin. Besides, from out all rivers,


s: Up-rising mists and steam, which like a breath


s: Are forced out from them and borne aloft,


s: To curtain heaven with their murk, and make,


s: By slow foregathering, the skiey clouds.


s: The reek of darkling cloud. It happens, too,


s: That hither to the skies from the Beyond


s: Do come those particles which make the clouds


s: And flying thunderheads. For I have taught


s: And I have shown with what stupendous speed


s: Those bodies fly and how they're wont to pass


s: Therefore, 'tis not exceeding strange, if oft


s: In little time tempest and darkness cover


s: With bulking thunderheads hanging on high


s: The oceans and the lands, since everywhere


s: Through all the narrow tubes of yonder ether,


s: Yea, so to speak, through all the breathing-holes


s: In the lofty clouds, and how upon the lands


s: 'Tis then discharged in down-pour of large showers,


s: Will I persuade thee that up-rise together,


s: With clouds themselves, full many seeds of water


s: From out all things, and that they both increase--


s: Both clouds and water which is in the clouds--


s: In like proportion, as our frames increase


s: In like proportion with our blood, as well


s: As sweat or any moisture in our members.


s: Besides, the clouds take in from time to time


s: Much moisture risen from the broad marine,--


s: Whilst the winds bear them o'er the mighty sea,


s: Like hanging fleeces of white wool. Thuswise,


s: Moisture into the clouds. And when therein


s: Have come together, augmented from all sides,


s: The close-jammed clouds then struggle to discharge


s: Their rain-storms for a two-fold reason: lo,


s: The wind's force crowds them, and the very excess


s: Of storm-clouds (massed in a vaster throng)


s: And makes the rains out-pour. Besides when, too,


s: The clouds are winnowed by the winds, or scattered


s: Smitten on top by heat of sun, they send


s: Their rainy moisture, and distil their drops,


s: Even as the wax, by fiery warmth on top,


s: But comes the violence of the bigger rains


s: When violently the clouds are weighted down


s: The onset of the wind. And rains are wont


s: And clouds on clouds and racks on racks outstream


s: From every quarter, and when all the earth


s: Smoking exhales her moisture. At such a time


s: When sun with beams amid the tempest-murk


s: Hath shone against the showers of black rains,


s: Then in the swart clouds there emerges bright


s: Not mentioned here which of themselves do grow


s: Or of themselves are gendered, and all things


s: Which in the clouds condense to being--all,


s: Snow and the winds, hail and the hoar-frosts chill,


s: And freezing, mighty force--of lakes and pools


s: When once thou well hast understood just what


s: Functions have been vouchsafed from of old


s: Now come, and what the law of earthquakes is


s: Hearken, and first of all take care to know


s: That the under-earth, like to the earth around us,


s: She bears within her bosom, ay, and cliffs


s: And jagged scarps; and many a river, hid


s: Its billows and plunging boulders. For clear fact


s: Requires that earth must be in every part


s: Alike in constitution. Therefore, earth,


s: With these things underneath affixed and set,


s: Trembleth above, jarred by big down-tumblings,


s: When time hath undermined the huge caves,


s: The subterranean. Yea, whole mountains fall,


s: There quiver the tremors far and wide abroad.


s: And with good reason: since houses on the street


s: Begin to quake throughout, when jarred by a cart


s: Of no large weight; and, too, the furniture


s: Within the house up-bounds, when a paving-block


s: Gives either iron rim of the wheels a jolt.


s: It happens, too, when some prodigious bulk


s: Of age-worn soil is rolled from mountain slopes


s: That the reeling land itself is rocked about


s: Sometimes won't come to rest until the fluid


s: When subterranean winds, up-gathered there


s: In the hollow deeps, bulk forward from one spot,


s: And press with the big urge of mighty powers


s: Against the lofty grottos, then the earth


s: Bulks to that quarter whither push amain


s: The headlong winds. Then all the builded houses


s: Above ground--and the more, the higher up-reared


s: Wrenched forward, over-hang, ready to go.


s: Yet dread men to believe that there awaits


s: So great a bulk of lands to bulge and break!


s: And lest the winds blew back again, no force


s: Could rein things in nor hold from sure career


s: On to disaster. But now because those winds


s: Blow back and forth in alternation strong,


s: And then repulsed retreat, on this account


s: Earth oftener threatens than she brings to pass


s: Collapses dire. For to one side she leans,


s: Then back she sways; and after tottering


s: Forward, recovers then her seats of poise.


s: Thus, this is why whole houses rock, the roofs


s: More than the middle stories, middle more


s: Than lowest, and the lowest least of all.


s: Arises, too, this same great earth-quaking,


s: When wind and some prodigious force of air,


s: The old telluric deeps, have hurled themselves


s: In mad rotations, till their lashed force


s: Aroused out-bursts abroad, and then and there,


s: Riving the deep earth, makes a mighty chasm--


s: Twain cities which such out-break of wild air


s: And earth's convulsion, following hard upon,


s: O'erthrew of old. And many a walled town,


s: They burst not forth, yet is the very rush


s: To set her all a-shake--even as a chill,


s: When it hath gone into our marrow-bones,


s: Sets us convulsively, despite ourselves,


s: A-shivering and a-shaking. Therefore, men


s: Through cities to and fro: they fear the roofs


s: Above the head; and underfoot they dread


s: The caverns, lest the nature of the earth


s: And, all confounded, seek to chock it full


s: With her own ruins. Let men, then, go on


s: Feigning at will that heaven and earth shall be


s: Prods them on some side with this goad of fear--


s: This among others--that the earth, withdrawn


s: Abruptly from under their feet, be hurried down,


s: Down into the abyss, and the Sum-of-Things


s: Till be but wrack and wreckage of a world.


s: Bigger and bigger the bulk of ocean, since


s: Cometh thereto; and add the random rains


s: And flying tempests, which spatter every sea


s: And every land bedew; add their own springs:


s: Wherefore 'tis less a marvel that the sea,


s: The mighty ocean, increaseth not. Besides,


s: Sun with his heat draws off a mighty part:


s: Yea, we behold that sun with burning beams


s: To dry our garments dripping all with wet;


s: And many a sea, and far out-spread beneath,


s: Culls from the level main, he still will take


s: From off the waves in such a wide expanse


s: Oft in a single night the highways dried


s: By winds, and soft mud crusted o'er at dawn.


s: Again, I've taught thee that the clouds bear off


s: Much moisture too, up-taken from the reaches


s: Of the mighty main, and sprinkle it about


s: O'er all the zones, when rain is on the lands


s: And winds convey the aery racks of vapour.


s: Lastly, since earth is porous through her frame,


s: And neighbours on the seas, girdling their shores,


s: The water's wet must seep into the lands


s: From briny ocean, as from lands it comes


s: Into the seas. For brine is filtered off,


s: And then the liquid stuff seeps back again


s: Whence in fresh-water currents it returns


s: Over the lands, adown the channels which


s: Were cleft erstwhile and erstwhile bore along


s: Whereby athrough the throat of Aetna's Mount


s: Such vast tornado-fires out-breathe at times,


s: I will unfold: for with no middling might


s: Of neighbouring clans, what time they saw afar


s: The skiey vaults a-fume and sparkling all,


s: And filled their bosoms with dread anxiety


s: Of what new thing nature were travailing at.


s: To look both wide and deep, and far abroad


s: To peer to every quarter, that thou mayst


s: Remember how boundless is the Sum-of-Things,


s: Of the whole Sum is this one sky of ours--


s: Of the whole earth. And plainly if thou viewest


s: This cosmic fact, placing it square in front,


s: And plainly understandest, thou wilt leave


s: Wondereth if some one gets into his joints


s: A fever, gathering head with fiery heat,


s: Grows blue and bulbous; often the sharp twinge


s: Seizes the teeth, attacks the very eyes;


s: Out-breaks the sacred fire, and, crawling on


s: It seizeth on, and works its hideous way


s: Along the frame. No marvel this, since, lo,


s: And this our earth and sky do bring to us


s: Enough of bane from whence can grow the strength


s: We must suppose to all the sky and earth


s: All things, O all in stores enough whereby


s: And fierce typhoons can over sea and lands


s: Go tearing on, and Aetna's fires o'erflow,


s: And heaven become a flame-burst. For that, too,


s: Happens at times, and the celestial vaults


s: The seeds of water have foregathered thus


s: From out the infinite. "Aye, but passing huge


s: The fiery turmoil of that conflagration!"


s: So sayst thou; well, huge many a river seems


s: To him that erstwhile ne'er a larger saw;


s: Thus, huge seems tree or man; and everything


s: Which mortal sees the biggest of each class,


s: That he imagines to be "huge"; though yet


s: All these, with sky and land and sea to boot,


s: At last how yonder suddenly angered flame


s: Aetnaean. First, the mountain's nature is


s: With caverns of basaltic piers. And, lo,


s: In all its grottos be there wind and air--


s: For wind is made when air hath been uproused


s: Is heated through and through, and, raging round,


s: Hath made the earth and all the rocks it touches


s: Horribly hot, and hath struck off from them


s: Fierce fire of swiftest flame, it lifts itself


s: And hurtles thus straight upwards through its throat


s: Into high heav'n, and thus bears on afar


s: Its ashes, and rolls a smoke of pitchy murk


s: And heaveth the while boulders of wondrous weight--


s: Leaving no doubt in thee that 'tis the air's


s: Tumultuous power. Besides, in mighty part,


s: The sea there at the roots of that same mount


s: Breaks its old billows and sucks back its surf.


s: Even to the bottom of the mountain's throat.


s: And the conditions force [the water and air]


s: Thereby the flame, and to up-cast from deeps


s: The boulders, and to rear the clouds of sand.


s: For at the top be "bowls," as people there


s: Are wont to name what we at Rome do call


s: To state--but rather several, whereof one


s: Will be the true: lo, if thou shouldst espy


s: Lying afar some fellow's lifeless corse,


s: 'Twere meet to name all causes of a death,


s: That cause of his death might thereby be named:


s: For prove thou mayst he perished not by steel,


s: By cold, nor even by poison nor disease,


s: Yet somewhat of this sort hath come to him


s: We know--And thus we have to say the same


s: Either because in summer against his mouths


s: Come those northwinds which at that time of year


s: Men name the Etesian blasts, and, blowing thus


s: Fill him o'erfull and force his flow to stop.


s: For out of doubt these blasts which driven be


s: Are borne straight up the river. Comes that river


s: From forth the sultry places down the south,


s: With sun-baked skins. 'Tis possible, besides,


s: His mouths against his onward waves, when sea,


s: Wild in the winds, tumbles the sand to inland;


s: Whereby the river's outlet were less free,


s: Likewise less headlong his descending floods.


s: It may be, too, that in this season rains


s: Because the Etesian blasts of those northwinds


s: Then urge all clouds into those inland parts.


s: And, soothly, when they're thus foregathered there,


s: Then, crowded against the lofty mountain sides,


s: They're massed and powerfully pressed. Again,


s: When the all-beholding sun with thawing beams


s: Drives the white snows to flow into the vales.


s: As to the Birdless spots and Birdless tarns,


s: What sort of nature they are furnished with.


s: First, as to name of "birdless,"--that derives


s: Unto all birds. For when above those spots


s: In horizontal flight the birds have come,


s: Forgetting to oar with wings, they furl their sails,


s: And, with down-drooping of their delicate necks,


s: If haply spreads thereunder Birdless tarn.


s: Such spot's at Cumae, where the mountains smoke,


s: Charged with the pungent sulphur, and increased


s: With steaming springs. And such a spot there is


s: Where never cawing crows can wing their course,


s: Not even when smoke the altars with good gifts,--


s: But evermore they flee--yet not from wrath


s: As poets of the Greeks have sung the tale;


s: Is to be seen, where also four-foot kinds,


s: As soon as ever they've set their steps within,


s: Collapse, o'ercome by its essential power,


s: As if there slaughtered to the under-gods.


s: Lo, all these wonders work by natural law,


s: And from what causes they are brought to pass


s: Let none believe that in these regions stands


s: Haply, that thence the under-gods draw down


s: Souls to dark shores of Acheron--as stags,


s: The wing-footed, are thought to draw to light,


s: By sniffing nostrils, from their dusky lairs


s: The wriggling generations of wild snakes.


s: How far removed from true reason is this,


s: Perceive thou straight; for now I'll try to say


s: In earth are atoms of things of every sort;


s: And know, these all thus rise from out the earth--


s: Many life-giving which be good for food,


s: Of many things in many modes--since earth


s: Contains them mingled and gives forth discrete.


s: And we have shown before that certain things


s: For ends of life, by virtue of a nature,


s: A texture, and primordial shapes, unlike


s: For kinds alike. Then too 'tis thine to see


s: Malign and harsh when mortal draws a breath;


s: And some there be all loathsome to the taste;


s: And many, besides, relax the languid limbs


s: There hath been given so dolorous a shade


s: That often they gender achings of the head,


s: If one but be beneath, outstretched on the sward.


s: There is, again, on Helicon's high hills


s: A tree that's wont to kill a man outright


s: And when the pungent stench of the night-lamp,


s: Extinguished but a moment since, assails


s: The nostrils, then and there it puts to sleep


s: A man afflicted with the falling sickness


s: And foamings at the mouth. A woman, too,


s: At the heavy castor drowses back in chair,


s: And from her delicate fingers slips away


s: Hath got the whiff at menstruation-time.


s: Once more, if thou delayest in hot baths,


s: From stool in middle of the steaming water


s: The heavy fumes of charcoal wind their way


s: Of water 've drunk. But when a burning fever,


s: O'ermastering man, hath seized upon his limbs,


s: Then odour of wine is like a hammer-blow.


s: And seest thou not how in the very earth


s: Sulphur is gendered and bitumen thickens


s: With noisome stench?--What direful stenches, too,


s: Scaptensula out-breathes from down below,


s: When men pursue the veins of silver and gold,


s: With pick-axe probing round the hidden realms


s: Deep in the earth?--Or what of deadly bane


s: The mines of gold exhale? O what a look,


s: And what a ghastly hue they give to men!


s: And seest thou not, or hearest, how they're wont


s: The life-stores in those folk whom mighty power


s: In such a task? Thus, this telluric earth


s: Out-streams with all these dread effluvia


s: And breathes them out into the open world


s: And into the visible regions under heaven.


s: Thus, too, those Birdless places must up-send


s: An essence bearing death to winged things,


s: Which from the earth rises into the breezes


s: There, seized by the unseen poison, 'tis ensnared,


s: Drops to the spot whence sprang the effluvium.


s: And when 'thas there collapsed, then the same power


s: Of that effluvium takes from all its limbs


s: The relics of its life. That power first strikes


s: The creatures with a wildering dizziness,


s: And then thereafter, when they're once down-fallen


s: Life, too, they vomit out perforce, because


s: So thick the stores of bane around them fume.


s: Again, at times it happens that this power,


s: Dispels the air betwixt the ground and birds,


s: Leaving well-nigh a void. And thither when


s: In horizontal flight the birds have come,


s: Forthwith their buoyancy of pennons limps,


s: All useless, and each effort of both wings


s: Falls out in vain. Here, when without all power


s: To buoy themselves and on their wings to lean,


s: Lo, nature constrains them by their weight to slip


s: Down to the earth, and lying prostrate there


s: Along the well-nigh empty void, they spend


s: Their souls through all the openings of their frame.


s: Further, the water of wells is colder then


s: At summer time, because the earth by heat


s: The more, then, the telluric ground is drained


s: Within the earth. Further, when all the earth


s: Is by the cold compressed, and thus contracts


s: And, so to say, concretes, it happens, lo,


s: Into the wells what heat it bears itself.


s: 'Tis said at Hammon's fane a fountain is,


s: In daylight cold and hot in time of night.


s: And think that suddenly it seethes in heat


s: Night with her terrible murk hath cloaked the lands--


s: What's not true reasoning by a long remove:


s: I' faith when sun o'erhead, touching with beams


s: Though his high light possess such burning glare,


s: How, then, can he, when under the gross earth,


s: Make water boil and glut with fiery heat?--


s: And, specially, since scarcely potent he


s: Through hedging walls of houses to inject


s: What, then's, the principle? Why, this, indeed:


s: The earth about that spring is porous more


s: Than elsewhere the telluric ground, and be


s: Many the seeds of fire hard by the water;


s: On this account, when night with dew-fraught shades


s: Hath whelmed the earth, anon the earth deep down


s: Grows chill, contracts; and thuswise squeezes out


s: Into the spring what seeds she holds of fire


s: (As one might squeeze with fist), which render hot


s: The touch and steam of the fluid. Next, when sun,


s: Up-risen, with his rays has split the soil


s: And rarefied the earth with waxing heat,


s: The seeds of fire, and all the Hot of water


s: The fountain in the daylight gets so cold.


s: By rays of sun, and, with the dawn, becomes


s: Rarer in texture under his pulsing blaze;


s: And, therefore, whatso seeds it holds of fire


s: The frost that it contains within itself


s: And thaws its ice and looseneth the knots.


s: There is, moreover, a fountain cold in kind


s: Take fire forthwith and shoot a flame; so, too,


s: A pitch-pine torch will kindle and flare round


s: Afloat before the breeze. No marvel, this:


s: Because full many seeds of heat there be


s: Within the water; and, from earth itself


s: Athrough the entire fountain surge aloft,


s: Forth and abroad (yet not in numbers enow


s: As to make hot the fountain). And, moreo'er,


s: Some force constrains them, scattered through the water,


s: Forthwith to burst abroad, and to combine


s: Which bubbles out sweet water and disparts


s: From round itself the salt waves; and, behold,


s: Yields to the thirsty mariners timely help,


s: Belching sweet waters forth amid salt waves.


s: Just so, then, can those seeds of fire burst forth


s: Athrough that other fount, and bubble out


s: They there collect or cleave unto the torch,


s: Forthwith they readily flash aflame, because


s: The tow and torches, also, in themselves


s: And seest thou not, when near the nightly lamps


s: Thou bringest a flaxen wick, extinguished


s: 'Thas touched the flame, and in same wise a torch?


s: When at a distance, touched by heat alone,


s: This, then, we must suppose to come to pass


s: Of nature it came to pass that iron can be


s: By that stone drawn which Greeks the magnet call


s: This stone men marvel at; and sure it oft


s: From off itself! Nay, thou mayest see at times


s: And swaying in the delicate winds, whilst one


s: Depends from other, cleaving to under-side,


s: And ilk one feels the stone's own power and bonds--


s: So over-masteringly its power flows down.


s: In things of this sort, much must be made sure


s: Ere thou account of the thing itself canst give,


s: Must be discharged and strewn about, about,


s: Bodies that strike the eyes, awaking sight.


s: From certain things flow odours evermore,


s: As cold from rivers, heat from sun, and spray


s: Along the coasts. Nor ever cease to seep


s: Then, too, there comes into the mouth at times


s: The wet of a salt taste, when by the sea


s: We roam about; and so, whene'er we watch


s: The wormwood being mixed, its bitter stings.


s: To such degree from all things is each thing


s: To every region round; and nature grants


s: Nor rest nor respite of the onward flow,


s: And smell all things at hand, and hear them sound.


s: How porous a body all things have--a fact


s: For, truly, though to know this doth import


s: For many things, yet for this very thing


s: On which straightway I'm going to discourse,


s: 'Tis needful most of all to make it sure


s: That naught's at hand but body mixed with void.


s: A first ensample: in grottos, rocks o'erhead


s: Sweat moisture and distil the oozy drops;


s: Likewise, from all our body seeps the sweat;


s: There grows the beard, and along our members all


s: And along our frame the hairs. Through all our veins


s: Disseminates the foods, and gives increase


s: Even to the tiniest finger-nails. Likewise,


s: Through solid bronze the cold and fiery heat


s: We feel to pass; likewise, we feel them pass


s: Through gold, through silver, when we clasp in hand


s: The brimming goblets. And, again, there flit


s: Voices through houses' hedging walls of stone;


s: Odour seeps through, and cold, and heat of fire


s: That's wont to penetrate even strength of iron.


s: Again, where corselet of the sky girds round


s: And at same time, some Influence of bane,


s: When from Beyond 'thas stolen into [our world].


s: And tempests, gathering from the earth and sky,


s: Back to the sky and earth absorbed retire--


s: With reason, since there's naught that's fashioned not


s: The particles which be from things thrown off


s: Are furnished with same qualities for sense,


s: A first ensample: the sun doth bake and parch


s: The earth; but ice he thaws, and with his beams


s: Compels the lofty snows, up-reared white


s: Then, wax, if set beneath the heat of him,


s: Melts to a liquid. And the fire, likewise,


s: Will melt the copper and will fuse the gold,


s: But hides and flesh it shrivels up and shrinks.


s: The water hardens the iron just off the fire,


s: But hides and flesh (made hard by heat) it softens.


s: 'Twere nectar-steeped and shed ambrosia;


s: Than which is naught that burgeons into leaf


s: More bitter food for man. A hog draws back


s: For marjoram oil, and every unguent fears


s: Fierce poison these unto the bristled hogs,


s: Yet unto us from time to time they seem,


s: As 'twere, to give new life. But, contrariwise,


s: Though unto us the mire be filth most foul,


s: To hogs that mire doth so delightsome seem


s: That they with wallowing from belly to back


s: Which best it seems to tell of, ere I go


s: The many pores, those pores must be diverse


s: Its very shape, its own direction fixed.


s: And so, indeed, in breathing creatures be


s: The several senses, of which each takes in


s: And savour of smell into a third. Moreover,


s: One sort through rocks we see to seep, and, lo,


s: One sort to pass through wood, another still


s: Through gold, and others to go out and off


s: Through silver and through glass. For we do see


s: Through some pores form-and-look of things to flow,


s: Through others heat to go, and some things still


s: To speedier pass than others through same pores.


s: Of verity, the nature of these same paths,


s: Because of unlike nature and warp and woof


s: Of cosmic things, constrains it so to be.


s: Wherefore, since all these matters now have been


s: 'Twill not be hard to render clear account


s: By means of these, and the whole cause reveal


s: Whereby the magnet lures the strength of iron.


s: First, stream there must from off the lode-stone seeds


s: The stone and iron. And when is emptied out


s: This space, and a large place between the two


s: Is made a void, forthwith the primal germs


s: Of iron, headlong slipping, fall conjoined


s: By reason thereof doth follow after and go


s: Thuswise with all its body. And naught there is


s: More thoroughly knit or tighter linked coheres


s: Than nature and cold roughness of stout iron.


s: Wherefore, 'tis less a marvel what I said,


s: From out the iron collect in larger throng


s: Without the ring itself do follow after.


s: And this it does, and followeth on until


s: 'Thath reached the stone itself and cleaved to it


s: That air in front of the ring, and space between


s: Is emptied more and made a void, forthwith


s: Conveys it onward, pushing from the rear.


s: Drub things unmoved, but here it pushes forth


s: The iron, because upon one side the space


s: Lies void and thus receives the iron in.


s: Winding athrough the iron's abundant pores


s: Shoves it and pushes, as wind the ship and sails.


s: The same doth happen in all directions forth:


s: From whatso side a space is made a void,


s: Whether from crosswise or above, forthwith


s: They're set a-going by poundings from elsewhere,


s: Nor by themselves of own accord can they


s: Rise upwards into the air. Again, all things


s: Must in their framework hold some air, because


s: They are of framework porous, and the air


s: Thus, then, this air in iron so deeply stored


s: And therefore drubs upon the ring sans doubt


s: In sooth, that ring is thither borne along


s: To where 'thas once plunged headlong--thither, lo,


s: Unto the void whereto it took its start.


s: It happens, too, at times that nature of iron


s: Shrinks from this stone away, accustomed


s: By turns to flee and follow. Yea, I've seen


s: Seethe furiously, when underneath was set


s: The magnet stone. So strongly iron seems


s: To crave to flee that rock. Such discord great


s: Because, forsooth, when first the tide of brass


s: The iron's open passage-ways, thereafter


s: Cometh the tide of the stone, and in that iron


s: Findeth all spaces full, nor now hath holes


s: To swim through, as before. 'Tis thus constrained


s: With its own current 'gainst the iron's fabric


s: To dash and beat; by means whereof it spues


s: Forth from itself--and through the brass stirs up--


s: The things which otherwise without the brass


s: Marvel thou not that from this stone the tide


s: Prevails not likewise other things to move


s: With its own blows: for some stand firm by weight,


s: As gold; and some cannot be moved forever,


s: Because so porous in their framework they


s: That there the tide streams through without a break,


s: Of which sort stuff of wood is seen to be.


s: Therefore, when iron (which lies between the two)


s: Then do the streams of that Magnesian rock


s: Of this same sort am ill prepared to name


s: To one another adapt. Thou seest, first,


s: How lime alone cementeth stones: how wood


s: Only by glue-of-bull with wood is joined--


s: Crack open along the weakness of the grain


s: Ere ever those taurine bonds will lax their hold.


s: The vine-born juices with the water-springs


s: Are bold to mix, though not the heavy pitch


s: With the light oil-of-olive. And purple dye


s: Of shell-fish so uniteth with the wool's


s: Away forever--nay, though thou gavest toil


s: To restore the same with the Neptunian flood,


s: Nay, though all ocean willed to wash it out


s: With all its waves. Again, gold unto gold


s: Doth not one substance bind, and only one?


s: And is not brass by tin joined unto brass?


s: And other ensamples how many might one find!


s: What then? Nor is there unto thee a need


s: Of such long ways and roundabout, nor boots it


s: For me much toil on this to spend. More fit


s: Things many: things whose textures fall together


s: Of this thing to the solid parts of that,


s: And those of that to solid parts of this--


s: Such joinings are the best. Again, some things


s: Can be the one with other coupled and held,


s: Linked by hooks and eyes, as 'twere; and this


s: Seems more the fact with iron and this stone.


s: Now, of diseases what the law, and whence


s: Upon the race of man and herds of cattle


s: Kindle a devastation fraught with death,


s: I will unfold. And, first, I've taught above


s: That seeds there be of many things to us


s: Life-giving, and that, contrariwise, there must


s: Fly many round bringing disease and death.


s: When these have, haply, chanced to collect


s: That Influence of bane, that pestilence,


s: Or from Beyond down through our atmosphere,


s: Like clouds and mists, descends, or else collects


s: From earth herself and rises, when, a-soak


s: And beat by rains unseasonable and suns,


s: Our earth hath then contracted stench and rot.


s: Are by the strangeness of the clime and waters


s: Distempered?--since conditions vary much.


s: For in what else may we suppose the clime


s: (Where totters awry the axis of the world),


s: From Gades' and from climes adown the south,


s: With sun-baked skins? Even as we thus do see


s: Four climes diverse under the four main-winds


s: And under the four main-regions of the sky,


s: So, too, are seen the colour and face of men


s: There is the elephant-disease which down


s: The divers spots to divers parts and limbs


s: That causes this. Thus when an atmosphere,


s: They creep and wind like unto mist and cloud,


s: They disarrange and force to change its state.


s: It happens, too, that when they've come at last


s: Into this atmosphere of ours, they taint


s: Therefore, asudden this devastation strange,


s: Or other meat of men and feed of flocks.


s: In the atmosphere itself; and when therefrom


s: And sickness, too, upon the sluggish sheep.


s: To regions adverse to ourselves and change


s: The atmospheric cloak, or whether nature


s: To us or something strange to our own use


s: Which can attack us soon as ever it come.


s: 'Twas such a manner of disease, 'twas such


s: Whilom reduced the plains to dead men's bones,


s: Unpeopled the highways, drained of citizens


s: The Athenian town. For coming from afar,


s: Reaches of air and floating fields of foam,


s: At last on all Pandion's folk it swooped;


s: Whereat by troops unto disease and death


s: Were they o'er-given. At first, they'd bear about


s: A skull on fire with heat, and eyeballs twain


s: Red with suffusion of blank glare. Their throats,


s: Black on the inside, sweated oozy blood;


s: And the walled pathway of the voice of man


s: Was clogged with ulcers; and the very tongue,


s: The mind's interpreter, would trickle gore,


s: Next when that Influence of bane had chocked,


s: Down through the throat, the breast, and streamed had


s: E'en into sullen heart of those sick folk,


s: Then, verily, all the fences of man's life


s: Began to topple. From the mouth the breath


s: Would roll a noisome stink, as stink to heaven


s: And, lo, thereafter, all the body's strength


s: And every power of mind would languish, now


s: And anxious anguish and ululation (mixed


s: The intolerable torments. Night and day,


s: Alway their thews and members, breaking down


s: With sheer exhaustion men already spent.


s: And yet on no one's body couldst thou mark


s: The skin with o'er-much heat to burn aglow,


s: Would offer a warmish feeling, and thereby


s: Show red all over, with ulcers, so to say,


s: Inbranded, like the "sacred fires" o'erspread


s: Along the members. The inward parts of men,


s: In truth, would blaze unto the very bones;


s: A flame, like flame in furnaces, would blaze


s: Within the stomach. Nor couldst aught apply


s: Unto their members light enough and thin


s: For shift of aid--but coolness and a breeze


s: Ever and ever. Some would plunge those limbs


s: Many would headlong fling them deeply down


s: The water-pits, tumbling with eager mouth


s: That whelmed their parched bodies, lo, would make


s: A goodly shower seem like to scanty drops.