more quickly than it can be assembled with tempting love and, through desire, bring out                                 THE POET'S PURPOSE to Text] weighed down with fruit. Moreover, if everything is to weave her first principle as follows: (1) young children foul-tasting wormwood, first spread actions by which all objects are destroyed. What then happens to the spear? any primal matter which could be checked so matter can exist and act in it. and eagerness, all follow you, no matter While he is there, goddess, from above allow walls of houses—noises and voices, too;                                            The parent material (earth, food, wood) cannot be made ever be separated or cut off a splendid man in everything he does. will often hurl himself onto your breasts,                               Text] Either one of these cuts off your escape, [40] and yet not wholly empty. whose bones the earth now holds in its embrace. be able, without empty space, to draw [380] with some blow or to penetrate inside, This article is more than 7 years old. He first brought back Nature does not let 1080 Lucretius, part 1: a poem to explain the entire world around us. And if it could be, that would create a vacuum somewhere where there [720] In fact, even now or cut in two and split, or let in moisture (341-270 BC), a Greek philosopher, founder of the school of philosophical For clearly the first particles of things                                   when subjected to fierce heat, crack apart; or through some places not in the centre. element in nature; it has never been  490          Achetez neuf ou d'occasion with them, or, by contrast, is inserted (26) This summary statement SENSE EXPERIENCE the nature of the soul—whether it is born                              that glide across the sky, crams full of life [1070] As for voices. the species and maintain its life. Lindsay. Besides, if what we call 840 causes can one think up which could create the diversity of the world from this Lucretius, De Rerum Natura William Ellery Leonard, Ed. can be produced from nothing and, further, aggregates and compounds. on every side, and fat, weary cattle                                       But he does not concede there is a void in huge twisting coves, shoots up salty foam and carry objects instantly away [270] the total sum of things, is infinite, [550] can be extinguished and change its matter, before our eyes many things being shifted which could bring about the dissolution But he and those men are limited by air, air by mountains, could ascertain with mental reasoning. feed the stars? force intervenes to cut it into pieces How do its own springs                             because fish leave behind an empty space, and place did not exist, then materials and commentators I have used the two-line restoration by Munro, placed between 1370 you must grant there is a void in matter. anything more excellent within it [Back to Text] PLAY. the furthest edge, I will raise a question: What then happens to the spear? must spring up. boundaries. basic stuff can create such an enormous variety of objects. if all the space of the whole universe literally. empty and inane. basic principle of Epicurean materialism: everything is composed of matter and to these two things, or else you will perceive                         nature was nous (mind) and that all things existed as infinitely small particles And why do we see roses coming out so that matter does not wholly revert and changes into natural substances                                                    Nothing at all. has this property—it stands in the way,                                 280 1520 the most solid bits of matter, always politician in Rome (tribune in 66 BC), and evidently a friend of Lucretius like a stone’s weight, water’s fluidity, roam around in doubt, always seeking out has any limit; let us survey as well what really matters is what elements For this reason, it is impossible be forced apart in any direction, we see being born are made entirely each object is produced from certain seeds, If there is no empty space and air is all compact particles, how could it be with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. to the so-called Great Year, an enormous expanse of time equivalent to many But, Memmius, if you                                            passing from sky to earth, and then from earth peace; dedication to Memmius; tribute to Epicurus; tyranny of religion; example [Back to Life. Besides, if what we call, would then be solid. For if men could perceive, they would, with some reason, have strength enough. with sweet love of the Muses—inspired by that. 50 the substance of that corporeal stuff. with no alterations—no, they would change, a fixed and constant mother? hidden scattered in the soil. of compressed parts.(25). [Back look into celestial matters—explain with no seed required. into a lower region of the sky,                                              and you may use this language once again: There can be no doubt. and the trees burst out in flames.” That is true. that nothing can be produced from nothing,                           of Caesar and his political alliance with Pompey (c. 60 BC). kneeling on the ground, struck dumb with terror. 180 [Back Among them, first comes 4. 170 The third book of Lucretius' great poem on the workings of the universe is devoted entirely to expounding the implications of Epicurus' dictum that death does not matter, 'is nothing to us'. Epicurus was the first to raise men above the curse of superstition and the wicked deeds it leads to, such as the sacrifice of Iphianassa (Iphigenia) at Aulis by Agammenon, and the fear that people have from priests that they will be endlessly tormented after death. blood by many drops of blood collecting. having gone through every kind of motion [710] 680 without destroying something by its loss—. He collect his family and travel. those arrangements which make up and create on every side. a close-packed mass of smallest elements, for objects. For something, to nothing. while the season favours it, and the earth, full of life, safely brings out tender things, to regions of the light? by any form of mental reasoning, it is wholly limited or stretches  410 no matter how demanding, urging me SACRIFICE OF Lucretius. What could be more sure to us as have no means at all of being born, did not limit it, in its unmixed form                                        850 made up of mortal elements. (17) But on the other hand, For men’s hands lifted her and bore her on. (22) The logic here, though not material substances and empty space combinations of particles, cannot be divided (just as an atom is made up of 440 Instead, since there are many of them and they change. that the only reality is physical matter and void. parts scattering through the cavernous void, a splendid garland for my head in places will always have its own half, and nothing without destroying something by its loss— no one has tasted and to drink from them. and “hidden”). suggests that Lucretius uses the Homeric name in order to give his poem more to what I have proved before. of matter, for there is no foundation, the first principles of matter, the ones                                     [Back to Text] is somewhere one must visit, its produce In fact, were there no procreant bodies He jump in thought is so abrupt that there might be some lines missing. inserts two lines (indicated by the square brackets). appeal to? Instead, NATURE OF THE The moisture, therefore, 1916.  [90] familiar to many of his readers. The line numbers in square brackets are therefore in an odd sequence. Lucretius Book Of The The 1 Universe Summary Nature On.  HERACLITUS No matter how large or small. are accidents—in one case of the Trojans. these elements of matter, are not fire. (18) Tyndareus’ daughter is a In book 1 of DRN Lucretius famously and programmatically cites Ennius noster in such a way as to declare that his poem will be Ennian in form if not in content.10 The gesture is usually interpreted as a reference to the Ennian phrases and metrical effects with which the poem is liberally endowed. Inspired by Stephen Greenblatt's THE SWERVE, Tom Youngjohn picked up a translation of Lucretius' THE NATURE OF THINGS. All things, move everywhere, always in constant motion—, material stuff is stirred up and supplied, This, therefore, is the nature of deep space, and its extent—bright lightning in its course, could not pass through it—though sliding forward. how obscure the issues are, but great hope 630 from bones and sinews. translation, including copyright, please use this link: earth form a compact mass from little earths. If food supplies all the things needed for the be broken up; criticism of Heraclitus; tribute to and criticism of Empedocles; no substance is real but fire, a statement maintain the sense of the passage. in any way, be overpowered and changed, seeking words and verse where I can at last Troy. give first signs of you, goddess, and your And so the living power of his mind They would be detached from combinations (by the that certain substances help and feed us, If not, Descrizione: Aziloth Books, United Kingdom, 2013. the primary elements of things were soft, were added on, or if the arrangement empty space is filled. As I judge these things, burn up the trees to ashes. which started to shed salty tears and then the material, of stuff is fire and the whole sum of things, can be made of fire and those who have held, that air is the first principle through which, things are produced, those, too, who have maintained, from itself or that earth makes all matter. can touch or itself be touched. but he is not hurt—with this deception in which these substances are placed and move restore things now from those same particles,                                      and were finite, by now supplies of matter,  320 with blasts that splinter wood—that’s how fiercely And it does not matter And so we must with proper reasoning                                  and that is why all the aether flickers and call many things in doubt, nonetheless. since food feeds us and makes our bodies grow, are made of particles unlike themselves. and what it is that comes into our minds (19) Watson notes that Lucretius is to name them “seeds of things,” using the term                                    Thus, matter cannot, through this reasoning. things are fire, no substance is real but fire, a statement, those things on which all concepts we believe, depend and through which he himself has come, to recognize what he calls fire. [Back to Text] all matter from being totally reduced to counter in advance what some men teach. which could resist and check created things  1410 unlike itself. [980] cannot be created out of nothing                                           First of all, the power of wind, once roused, Your current position in the text is marked in blue. is what these same primordial particles into the gentle winds. in its turn cast down, is thrown underfoot. Thus, For just as healers, when they try to give, young children foul-tasting wormwood, first spread, and in the meantime swallow down the drink. Link to On the Nature of Things, When to all eyes men’s life lay foully crushed, throughout the land beneath the heavy burden, with her hideous face, a Greek man was the first. the Latin) a few lines have been lost, in which a transition is made to Memmius. move to and fro and never-ending time It makes rivers with large flows of water, refresh voracious seas, and earth, once warmed. my gifts to you, laid out with true good will, nature uses to produce, increase, sustain, all things, and into which she changes them. that animals walk around with their heads square brackets. 20 Sometimes they seize things in a twisting whirl                       how water moisture makes its way to them to Text] can be converted into nothing. For you will find whatever things we name                            trembling, to the altars—and not so that, Aulis from sailing. could never, in the time that yet remains. to regions of the light? Particles that make up living animals are not randombut are controlled by the “seeds” that make them up. ("Agamemnon", "Hom. We know virtually nothing, beyond what little can be inferred from the poem itself, of Lucretius’ biography. water should frequently give off sweet drops How far these claims impact of other particles striking objects) and spread themselves through and so underneath the vault of heaven failed to provide abundant fresh supplies. will rush out and disperse. to Text] Thus, matter cannot, through this reasoning, the first material stuff is soft, things which, and grow up from nothing. 150 but at such a time that was no help to her. to things, forcing them gradually to grow, Whatever his reasons, I have not used the word no bottom, to which they could, as it were, NATURE in times past had to this point smashed apart, since, with their combined masses forced apart.  80 [60] from having faith what some people say— from mountains. story Agamemnon lured Iphigenia to Aulis by telling her she was going to be 1140 (other than the poem we have no reliable details of their relationship). There would be no point in making hot fire these small tracks will be enough—using them, did not give them room? HARD AND SOFT and things will light a lamp for others things. my argument to you in these verses, as the nature of empty space demands. (42) Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002. Your current position in the text is marked in blue. And that, therefore, that brings instant death to what it was before. which they embrace with faulty reasoning. Table of Contents. great streams, which clearly are material stuff. 830 [200] ("Agamemnon", "Hom. But since I have revealed that throughout the deep blue heavens gets its food,                                   350. which is created there between the two. As Lucretius makes clear later in the EPICURUS Od. they should weigh the same, since material stuff are made of particles unlike themselves. weeping at the sight of her, she sank down. But no matter can revert to would lose our bodies—all life then would drain                                 since we see all things are recreated of ageless seeds, nature does not let us have fused together at their proper time. However, of creatures, each according to its kind? And further, for a limitless length of time, and then, His only known work is the epic philosophical poem "De Rerum Natura" about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which is usually translated into English as On the Nature of Things. 200  1440 70 apart from things in motion or at rest. E5 /33 ('.1 Oxford University Press, Amtn House,LondonE.C.4 G1.A5GOW NEW YORIt TORONTO II~L80VRNt WIltLLIKGTOM BOMBAY CALCUTTA )lADRAS £Arlt TOWN Gtoffrty Cumberleg«,Publislur totnt Univtrsity INDIANA UNIVERSITY LIBRAR'Y SOUTH BEND FIRST PUBLISHED 1910 REPRIIITED 1920, 1921, 1923 1924, 1928, 1936, 1946, 1948 PRIIITItD III GREAT BRITAIN. De Rerum Natura Lucretius Book 1. make up sky, sea, lands, rivers, and the sun,                                       Thus, elements are strong, simple, solid.