On the Nature of Things E-Book

Titus Lucretius Carus

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura) is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a broader Roman audience. The poem explores Epicurean physics through poetic language and metaphors. Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 15 October 99 BC – c. 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher, mainly known for his masterpiece On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura).

Leseprobe

ON THE NATURE OF THINGS

By Titus Lucretius Carus

CONTENTS

BOOK I

SUBSTANCE IS ETERNAL

THE VOID

NOTHING EXISTS per se EXCEPT ATOMS AND THE VOID

CHARACTER OF THE ATOMS

CONFUTATION OF OTHER PHILOSOPHERS

THE INFINITY OF THE UNIVERSE

BOOK II

PROEM

ATOMIC MOTIONS

ATOMIC FORMS AND THEIR COMBINATIONS

INFINITE WORLDS

BOOK III

PROEM

NATURE AND COMPOSITION OF THE MIND

THE SOUL IS MORTAL

FOLLY OF THE FEAR OF DEATH

BOOK IV

PROEM

EXISTENCE AND CHARACTER OF THE IMAGES

THE SENSES AND MENTAL PICTURES

SOME VITAL FUNCTIONS

THE PASSION OF LOVE

BOOK V

PROEM

THE WORLD IS NOT ETERNAL

ORIGINS OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE

ORIGINS AND SAVAGE PERIOD OF MANKIND

BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION

BOOK VI

PROEM

GREAT METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA, ETC.

THE PLAGUE ATHENS

BOOK I

PROEM

     Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,     Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars     Makest to teem the many-voyaged main     And fruitful lands—for all of living things     Through thee alone are evermore conceived,     Through thee are risen to visit the great sun—     Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,     Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,     For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers,     For thee waters of the unvexed deep     Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky     Glow with diffused radiance for thee!     For soon as comes the springtime face of day,     And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred,     First fowls of air, smit to the heart by thee,     Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,     And leap the wild herds round the happy fields     Or swim the bounding torrents. Thus amain,     Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee     Whithersoever thou walkest forth to lead,     And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams,     Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains,     Kindling the lure of love in every breast,     Thou bringest the eternal generations forth,     Kind after kind. And since 'tis thou alone     Guidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught     Is risen to reach the shining shores of light,     Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born,     Thee do I crave co-partner in that verse     Which I presume on Nature to compose     For Memmius mine, whom thou hast willed to be     Peerless in every grace at every hour—     Wherefore indeed, Divine one, give my words     Immortal charm. Lull to a timely rest     O'er sea and land the savage works of war,     For thou alone hast power with public peace     To aid mortality; since he who rules     The savage works of battle, puissant Mars,     How often to thy bosom flings his strength     O'ermastered by the eternal wound of love—     And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,     Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee,     Pastures on love his greedy sight, his breath     Hanging upon thy lips. Him thus reclined     Fill with thy holy body, round, above!     Pour from those lips soft syllables to win     Peace for the Romans, glorious Lady, peace!     For in a season troublous to the state     Neither may I attend this task of mine     With thought untroubled, nor mid such events     The illustrious scion of the Memmian house     Neglect the civic cause.                            Whilst human kind     Throughout the lands lay miserably crushed     Before all eyes beneath Religion—who     Would show her head along the region skies,     Glowering on mortals with her hideous face—     A Greek it was who first opposing dared     Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,     Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke     Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky     Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest     His dauntless heart to be the first to rend     The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.     And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;     And forward thus he fared afar, beyond     The flaming ramparts of the world, until     He wandered the unmeasurable All.     Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports     What things can rise to being, what cannot,     And by what law to each its scope prescribed,     Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.     Wherefore Religion now is under foot,     And us his victory now exalts to heaven.     I know how hard it is in Latian verse     To tell the dark discoveries of the Greeks,     Chiefly because our pauper-speech must find     Strange terms to fit the strangeness of the thing;     Yet worth of thine and the expected joy     Of thy sweet friendship do persuade me on     To bear all toil and wake the clear nights through,     Seeking with what of words and what of song     I may at last most gloriously uncloud     For thee the light beyond, wherewith to view     The core of being at the centre hid.     And for the rest, summon to judgments true,     Unbusied ears and singleness of mind     Withdrawn from cares; lest these my gifts, arranged     For thee with eager service, thou disdain     Before thou comprehendest: since for thee     I prove the supreme law of Gods and sky,