On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) Page 8

  880

  For then it would be natural that corn

  Ground by the millstone’s crushing strength would show

  Some signs of blood or other substances

  Which find their nourishment within the body;

  And that, when we rub stone on stone, then blood should trickle,

  And grass and water likewise should emit

  885

  Drops sweet and flavoured like the milk of sheep.

  And often too when clods of earth are crumbled

  One should see various plants and corn and leaves

  Lurking in miniature amid the soil.

  890

  Lastly, when wood is broken one should see

  That ash and smoke and tiny flames lie hid.

  But plain facts show that none of this occurs.

  It follows therefore that one sort of thing

  Is not mixed with another in this way.

  No. But seeds common to many things

  In many ways must needs lie hid inside them.

  895

  ‘But often on great mountains’, you will say,

  ‘It happens that the high tops of tall trees

  Are rubbed together, forced by strong south winds,

  Until they blaze in bursting flower of flame.’

  900

  Agreed. But fire is not implanted in the wood,

  But there are many seeds of heat which the friction

  Concentrates, to make the forest fires.

  If flame were hiding in forests ready-made,

  Not for one moment could the fires be hid,

  905

  But everywhere they’ld burn the woods, turn trees to ashes.

  Now do you see the point I made before,

  That often it is a matter of great importance

  How these same atoms combine, in what positions

  They are held, what motions they give and take,

  910

  And that these same by quite small mutual changes

  Can make both fires and firs? As the words themselves

  Consist of elements a little changed

  When we say fires or firs with different sounds?

  And if you cannot explain the things you see

  915

  Without inventing tiny parts of matter

  Endowed with the same nature as the whole,

  This reasoning puts an end to all your atoms.

  They’ll simply shake their sides and rock with laughter,

  And salt tears run in rivers down their cheeks.

  920

  Come now, and learn what follows, and listen to it

  More keenly. I know how dark these matters are.

  But the high hope of fame has struck my heart

  Sharply with holy wand and filled my breast

  With sweet love of the Muses. Thus inspired

  With mind and purpose flourishing and free

  925

  A pathless country of the Pierides

  I traverse, where no foot has ever trod.

  A joy it is to come to virgin springs

  And drink, a joy it is to pluck new flowers

  To make a glorious garland for my head

  From fields whose blooms the Muses never picked

  To crown the brows of any man before.

  930

  First, since of matters high I make my theme,

  Proceeding to set free the minds of men

  Bound by the tight knots of religion.

  Next, since of things so dark in verse so clear

  I write, and touch all things with the Muses’ charm.

  In this no lack of purpose may be seen.

  935

  For as with children, when the doctors try

  To give them loathsome wormwood, first they smear

  Sweet yellow honey on the goblet’s rim,

  That childhood all unheeding may be deceived

  At the lip’s edge, and so drink up the juice

  Of bitter medicine, tricked but not betrayed,

  940

  And by such means gain health and strength again,

  So now do I: for oft my doctrine seems

  Distasteful to those that have not sampled it

  And most shrink back from it. My purpose is

  With the sweet voices of Pierian song

  945

  To expound my doctrine, and as it were to touch it

  With the delicious honey of the Muses;

  So in this way perchance my poetry

  Can hold your mind, while you attempt to grasp

  The nature of the world, and understand

  The great design and pattern of its making.

  950

  And now, since I have shown that primal atoms

  Completely solid unimpaired for ever

  Fly everywhere around, let us unfold

  Whether or not there is a limit to their number.

  Likewise the void which we have found to exist,

  Or place or space, in which all things occur,

  955

  Let us see whether its extent is limited

  Or stretches wide immeasurable and profound.

  We find then that the universe is not bounded

  In any direction. If it were, it would need to have

  An extremity. But nothing can have an extremity

  Unless there is something outside to limit it,

  960

  Something beyond to bound it, some clear point

  Further than which our senses cannot reach.

  Now since we must admit that there is nothing

  Beyond the sum of things, it has no extremity.

  Therefore it has no end, nor any limit.

  Nor does it matter in what part of it

  965

  You stand: wherever a man takes his place

  It stretches always boundless, infinite.

  Suppose moreover that the whole of space

  Were finite, if one ran right to the edge,

  Its farthest shore, and threw a flying lance,

  970

  Which would you rather say, that hurled amain

  It flies straight on, as aimed, far far away,

  Or that something can check it and block its path?

  One or the other you are bound to choose.

  But each cuts off your escape route, and compels you

  975

  To concede that the universe continues without end.

  For whether there is some object that can thwart

  Its flight, so that it cannot reach the boundary,

  Or whether it passes straight on unimpeded,

  Its starting point is not the boundary.

  And I’ll pursue you further, and I’ll ask,

  980

  Wherever you may place the furthest shore,

  What happens to the lance? The upshot is

  That nowhere in the universe can be

  A final edge, and no escape be found

  From the endless possibility of flight.

  And here’s another thing. If all the space

  In the universe stood shut in on all sides

  985

  By fixed and certain boundaries limited,

  The store of matter everywhere by now

  By its own solid weight borne down, compressed,

  Would all have flowed together to the bottom,

  And nothing could happen under the vault of heaven,

  No sky at all could be, not light of sun,

  Since all the sum of matter in a heap

  990

  Would lie, through ages infinite sunk down.

  But as it is, no rest for sure is given

  To primal atoms, since there is no bottom

  No base at all, on which they can as it were

  Accumulate and set up their abode.

  Always in everlasting motion all things move

  995

  In every part, and from below supplies come in

  Of matter, summon
ed from the infinite.

  Our eyes tell us that one thing bounds another.

  Air fences in the hills, the mountains air,

  And land sets bounds to sea, and sea to lands,

  1000

  But nothing outside it bounds the universe.

  Therefore there is a vast abyss of space

  So wide and deep that flashing thunderbolts

  Can neither in their courses traverse it

  Though they may fall through endless tracts of time,

  Nor by their travel make one whit the less

  The distance still to go. So huge extends

  1005

  Capacity of space on either side,

  No bounds at all, no limit anywhere.

  Further, nature prevents the universe

  From setting any limit to itself.

  Body is bounded by void and void by body,

  1010

  Thus in their interchange the universe

  Is infinite, or else one of the two,

  If the other does not bound it, by itself

  Must stretch away alone illimitable.

  Since space is infinite, so must matter be.

  Else neither sea nor land nor the bright realms of heaven

  Nor race of men nor holy forms of gods

  1015

  Could stand for one brief fraction of an hour,

  For matter, its close union all shattered,

  Would rush dissolving through the mighty void

  Or rather it could never have grown together

  So as to form anything, since thus dispersed

  It could never have been brought to form a union.

  1020

  For certainly not by design or mind’s keen grasp

  Did primal atoms place themselves in order,

  Nor did they make contracts, you may be sure,

  As to what movements each of them should make.

  But many primal atoms in many ways

  Throughout the universe from infinity

  Have changed positions, clashing among themselves,

  1025

  Tried every motion, every combination,

  And so at length they fall into that pattern

  On which this world of ours has been created.

  And this preserved through cycles of the years

  When once set going in appropriate movements

  1030

  Causes the rivers to refill the sea,

  The greedy sea, with lavish waters, and earth

  Warmed by the sun’s caress renews its fruits.

  And all the race of animals springs up

  And grows; the gliding fires of ether live.

  And this they could by no means do, unless

  1035

  A store of matter from the infinite

  Could spring, from which in turn in season due

  All that is lost could be made good again.

  For just as living creatures lacking food

  Lose flesh and waste away, so must all things

  Decay, as soon as matter, for some reason

  Turned from its course, has ceased to be supplied.

  1040

  Whatever world atoms have combined to form

  Blows from outside cannot preserve entire.

  They can strike it frequently and hold back a part

  Till others come and keep the whole filled up;

  1045

  Yet sometimes they must needs rebound, and give

  The primal atoms space and time for flight

  To freedom from the union they have created.

  Wherefore again and yet again I say

  That atoms in great numbers must come up;

  Indeed the blows themselves must fall away

  1050

  Unless the supply of matter is infinite.

  One thing you must reject from all belief,

  Good Memmius, is the theory which some hold,

  That all things press towards the centre of the universe,

  And that for this reason the world stands fast

  Without impacts from outside, and that the top

  1055

  And bottom are not free to move in any direction,

  Since everything is pressing towards the centre—

  If you can believe that anything rests upon itself—

  That all the heavy things below the earth

  Press upwards and rest upside down upon it,

  Like images of things reflected in water.

  1060

  And likewise they contend that animals

  Wander about head downwards and cannot fall

  Off from the earth into the sky below

  Any more than our bodies of themselves can fly

  Upwards into the regions of the sky;

  That when they see the sun, the stars of night

  1065

  Are what we see, and that they share the hours

  Of the wide heavens alternately with us,

  And pass nights corresponding to our days.

  But error has given these false ideas to fools,

  Embraced by them with reasoning askew.

  For since the universe is infinite,

  1070

  There can be no middle. And even if there were,

  Nothing could stand there, because it is the middle,

  Rather than fly apart for some different reason.

  For all the place and space which we call void

  Through middle, through non-middle, must give way

  1075

  To things, wherever their movements take them.

  Nor is there any place where bodies can go

  And lose their weights, and stand still in the void;

  Nor can void make resistance to anything

  But as its nature demands it must give way.

  1080

  Therefore things cannot by this means be held

  In combination, mastered by their longing for the middle.

  Besides, they do not claim that all bodies press

  Towards the middle, but only those of earth and water,

  The liquid of the sea and the great waves

  1085

  That pour down from the mountains, and those things

  That as it were an earthly frame contains.

  They tell us by contrast that air’s thin breaths

  And hot fires are all borne away from the middle;

  That all the ether twinkles with the stars

  And the sun’s flame feeds on the sky’s blue pastures

  1090

  Because fire flying upwards from the middle

  Gathers together there; and tall trees, they say,

  Could never bring high branches into leaf

  If food did not rise upward from the earth.

  [8 lines missing]

  But if it were the nature of air and fire

  To move always upwards, then there is a risk

  That suddenly the ramparts of the world

  Would burst asunder and like flying flames

  Rush headlong scattered through the empty void,

  And in like manner all the rest would follow,

  The thundering realms of sky rush down from above,

  1105

  Earth suddenly withdraw beneath our feet,

  And the whole world, its atoms all dissolved,

  Amid the confused ruin of heaven and earth

  Would vanish through the void of the abyss,

  And in a moment not one scrap be left

  But desert space and atoms invisible,

  1110

  For at whatever point you first allow

  Matter to fail, there stands the gate of death.

  And through it all the crowding throng of matter

  Will make its exit and pass all away.

  And so, led firmly on, without great toil

  You will understand these matters well and truly.

  For one thing makes another clear; and night

  1115

&nb
sp; Won’t snatch the path from you until you have seen

  Right to the heart of nature’s mysteries,

  So surely things will kindle light for things.

  BOOK TWO

  A joy it is, when the strong winds of storm

  Stir up the waters of a mighty sea,

  To watch from shore the troubles of another.

  No pleasure this in any man’s distress,

  But joy to see the ills from which you are spared,

  And joy to see great armies locked in conflict

  5

  Across the plains, yourself free from the danger.

  But nothing sweeter is than this: to dwell

  In quiet halls and lofty sanctuaries

  Well fortified by doctrines of the wise,

  And look thence down on others wandering

  And seeking all astray the path of life—

  10

  The clash of intellects, the fight for honours,

  The lust for wealth, the efforts night and day

  With toil and sweat to scale the heights of power.

  O wretched minds of men! O hearts so blind!

  How dark the life, how great the perils are

  15

  In which whatever time is given is passed!

  Do you not see that Nature cries for this,

  And only this, that pain from out the body

  Shall be removed away, and mind enjoy

  Sweet sense of pleasure, freed from care and fear?

  Therefore we see that human nature’s needs

  20

  Are small indeed: things that take pain away,

  And such as simple pleasures can supply.

  Nature herself demands nothing more sweet,

  If golden statues of young men be lacking

  Whose hands hold flaming torches through the house

  25

  Providing light for nightly revellings,

  If with no gleam of gold or flash of silver

  The hall shines bright, if no lyre echoes round

  High gilded ceilings and fine panelled walls,

  So long as men, lying in company together

  On the soft grass beside a flowing stream

  30

  Beneath a tall tree’s shade, at little cost

  Find pleasure for their bodies; most of all

  When weather smiles and the season of the year

  Scatters the meadows and green lanes with flowers.

  And fevers leave the body no more swiftly,

  If figured tapestries and purple sheets

  35

  Are what you toss on, than if you have to lie

  With plain plebeian blanket on your bed.

  Wherefore, since our bodies profit nothing

  From riches or noble birth or glory of kingdom,

  We must believe our minds also gain nothing.

  Unless perchance the sight of mimic war

  40

  When your fine legions throng the great Parade

  Strong in auxiliaries and cavalry,

  Alike in arms, alike with ardour fired,