But, now again to weave the tale begun,All nature, then, as self-sustained, consistsOf twain of things: of bodies and of voidIn which they're set, and where they're moved around.For common instinct of our race declaresThat body of itself exists: unlessThis primal faith, deep-founded, fail us not,Naught will there be whereunto to appealOn things occult when seeking aught to proveBy reasonings of mind. Again, withoutThat place and room, which we do call the inane,Nowhere could bodies then be set, nor goHither or thither at all- as shown before.Besides, there's naught of which thou canst declareIt lives disjoined from body, shut from void-A kind of third in nature. For whateverExists must be a somewhat; and the same,If tangible, however fight and slight,Will yet increase the count of body's sum,With its own augmentation big or small;But, if intangible and powerless everTo keep a thing from passing through itselfOn any side, 'twill be naught else but thatWhich we do call the empty, the inane.Again, whate'er exists, as of itself,Must either act or suffer action on it,Or else be that wherein things move and be:Naught, saving body, acts, is acted on;Naught but the inane can furnish room. And thus,Beside the inane and bodies, is no thirdNature amid the number of all things-Remainder none to fall at any timeUnder our senses, nor be seized and seenBy any man through reasonings of mind.Name o'er creation with what names thou wilt,Thou'lt find but properties of those first twain,Or see but accidents those twain produce.A property is that which not at allCan be disjoined and severed from a thingWithout a fatal dissolution: such,Weight to the rocks, heat to the fire, and flowTo the wide waters, touch to corporal things,Intangibility to the viewless void.But state of slavery, pauperhood, and wealth,Freedom, and war, and concord, and all elseWhich come and go whilst nature stands the same,We're wont, and rightly, to call accidents.Even time exists not of itself; but senseReads out of things what happened long ago,What presses now, and what shall follow after:No man, we must admit, feels time itself,Disjoined from motion and repose of things.Thus, when they say there "is" the ravishmentOf Princess Helen, "is" the siege and sackOf Trojan Town, look out, they force us notTo admit these acts existent by themselves,Merely because those races of mankind(Of whom these acts were accidents) long sinceIrrevocable age has borne away:For all past actions may be said to beBut accidents, in one way, of mankind,-In other, of some region of the world.Add, too, had been no matter, and no roomWherein all things go on, the fire of loveUpblown by that fair form, the glowing coalUnder the Phrygian Alexander's breast,Had ne'er enkindled that renowned strifeOf savage war, nor had the wooden horseInvolved in flames old Pergama, by a birthAt midnight of a brood of the Hellenes.And thus thou canst remark that every actAt bottom exists not of itself, nor isAs body is, nor has like name with void;But rather of sort more fitly to be calledAn accident of body, and of placeWherein all things go on.
Sed nunc ut repetam coeptum pertexere dictis,omnis ut est igitur per se natura duabusconstitit in rebus; nam corpora sunt et inane,haec in quo sita sunt et qua diversa moventur.corpus enim per se communis dedicat essesensus; cui nisi prima fides fundata valebit,haut erit occultis de rebus quo referentesconfirmare animi quicquam ratione queamus.tum porro locus ac spatium, quod inane vocamus,si nullum foret, haut usquam sita corpora possentesse neque omnino quoquam diversa meare;id quod iam supera tibi paulo ostendimus ante.praeterea nihil est quod possis dicere ab omnicorpore seiunctum secretumque esse ab inani,quod quasi tertia sit numero natura reperta.nam quod cumque erit, esse aliquid debebit id ipsumaugmine vel grandi vel parvo denique, dum sit;cui si tactus erit quamvis levis exiguusque,corporis augebit numerum summamque sequetur;sin intactile erit, nulla de parte quod ullamrem prohibere queat per se transire meantem,scilicet hoc id erit, vacuum quod inane vocamus.Praeterea per se quod cumque erit, aut faciet quidaut aliis fungi debebit agentibus ipsumaut erit ut possint in eo res esse gerique.at facere et fungi sine corpore nulla potest resnec praebere locum porro nisi inane vacansque.ergo praeter inane et corpora tertia per senulla potest rerum in numero natura relinqui,nec quae sub sensus cadat ullo tempore nostrosnec ratione animi quam quisquam possit apisci.Nam quae cumque cluent, aut his coniuncta duabusrebus ea invenies aut horum eventa videbis.coniunctum est id quod nusquam sine permitialidiscidio potis est seiungi seque gregari,pondus uti saxis, calor ignis, liquor aquai,tactus corporibus cunctis, intactus inani.servitium contra paupertas divitiaeque,libertas bellum concordia cetera quorumadventu manet incolumis natura abituque,haec soliti sumus, ut par est, eventa vocare.tempus item per se non est, sed rebus ab ipsisconsequitur sensus, transactum quid sit in aevo,tum quae res instet, quid porro deinde sequatur;nec per se quemquam tempus sentire fatendumstsemotum ab rerum motu placidaque quiete.denique Tyndaridem raptam belloque subactasTroiiugenas gentis cum dicunt esse, videndumstne forte haec per se cogant nos esse fateri,quando ea saecla hominum, quorum haec eventa fuerunt,inrevocabilis abstulerit iam praeterita aetas;namque aliud terris, aliud regionibus ipsiseventum dici poterit quod cumque erit actum.denique materies si rerum nulla fuissetnec locus ac spatium, res in quo quaeque geruntur,numquam Tyndaridis forma conflatus amoreignis Alexandri Phrygio sub pectore gliscensclara accendisset saevi certamina bellinec clam durateus Troiianis Pergama partuinflammasset equos nocturno Graiiugenarum;perspicere ut possis res gestas funditus omnisnon ita uti corpus per se constare neque essenec ratione cluere eadem qua constet inane,sed magis ut merito possis eventa vocarecorporis atque loci, res in quo quaeque gerantur.
Bodies, again,Are partly primal germs of things, and partlyUnions deriving from the primal germs.And those which are the primal germs of thingsNo power can quench; for in the end they conquerBy their own solidness; though hard it beTo think that aught in things has solid frame;For lightnings pass, no less than voice and shout,Through hedging walls of houses, and the ironWhite-dazzles in the fire, and rocks will burnWith exhalations fierce and burst asunder.Totters the rigid gold dissolved in heat;The ice of bronze melts conquered in the flame;Warmth and the piercing cold through silver seep,Since, with the cups held rightly in the hand,We oft feel both, as from above is pouredThe dew of waters between their shining sides:So true it is no solid form is found.But yet because true reason and nature of thingsConstrain us, come, whilst in few verses nowI disentangle how there still existBodies of solid, everlasting frame-The seeds of things, the primal germs we teach,Whence all creation around us came to be.First since we know a twofold nature exists,Of things, both twain and utterly unlike-Body, and place in which an things go on-Then each must be both for and through itself,And all unmixed: where'er be empty space,There body's not; and so where body bides,There not at all exists the void inane.Thus primal bodies are solid, without a void.But since there's void in all begotten things,All solid matter must be round the same;Nor, by true reason canst thou prove aught hidesAnd holds a void within its body, unlessThou grant what holds it be a solid. Know,That which can hold a void of things withinCan be naught else than matter in union knit.Thus matter, consisting of a solid frame,Hath power to be eternal, though all else,Though all creation, be dissolved away.Again, were naught of empty and inane,The world were then a solid; as, withoutSome certain bodies to fill the places held,The world that is were but a vacant void.And so, infallibly, alternate-wiseBody and void are still distinguished,Since nature knows no wholly full nor void.There are, then, certain bodies, possessed of powerTo vary forever the empty and the full;And these can nor be sundered from withoutBy beats and blows, nor from within be tornBy penetration, nor be overthrownBy any assault soever through the world-For without void, naught can be crushed, it seems,Nor broken, nor severed by a cut in twain,Nor can it take the damp, or seeping coldOr piercing fire, those old destroyers three;But the more void within a thing, the moreEntirely it totters at their sure assault.Thus if first bodies be, as I have taught,Solid, without a void, they must be thenEternal; and, if matter ne'er had beenEternal, long ere now had all things goneBack into nothing utterly, and allWe see around from nothing had been born-But since I taught above that naught can beFrom naught created, nor the once begottenTo naught be summoned back, these primal germsMust have an immortality of frame.And into these must each thing be resolved,When comes its supreme hour, that thus there beAt hand the stuff for plenishing the world.......So primal germs have solid singlenessNor otherwise could they have been conservedThrough aeons and infinity of timeFor the replenishment of wasted worlds.Once more, if nature had given a scope for thingsTo be forever broken more and more,By now the bodies of matter would have beenSo far reduced by breakings in old daysThat from them nothing could, at season fixed,Be born, and arrive its prime and top of life.For, lo, each thing is quicker marred than made;And so whate'er the long infinitudeOf days and all fore-passed time would nowBy this have broken and ruined and dissolved,That same could ne'er in all remaining timeBe builded up for plenishing the world.But mark: infallibly a fixed boundRemaineth stablished 'gainst their breaking down;Since we behold each thing soever renewed,And unto all, their seasons, after their kind,Wherein they arrive the flower of their age.
Corpora sunt porro partim primordia rerum,partim concilio quae constant principiorum.sed quae sunt rerum primordia, nulla potest visstinguere; nam solido vincunt ea corpore demum.etsi difficile esse videtur credere quicquamin rebus solido reperiri corpore posse.transit enim fulmen caeli per saepta domorumclamor ut ac voces, ferrum candescit in ignidissiliuntque fero ferventi saxa vapore;cum labefactatus rigor auri solvitur aestu,tum glacies aeris flamma devicta liquescit;permanat calor argentum penetraleque frigus,quando utrumque manu retinentes pocula ritesensimus infuso lympharum rore superne.usque adeo in rebus solidi nihil esse videtur.sed quia vera tamen ratio naturaque rerumcogit, ades, paucis dum versibus expediamusesse ea quae solido atque aeterno corpore constent,semina quae rerum primordiaque esse docemus,unde omnis rerum nunc constet summa creata.Principio quoniam duplex natura duarumdissimilis rerum longe constare repertast,corporis atque loci, res in quo quaeque geruntur,esse utramque sibi per se puramque necessest.nam qua cumque vacat spatium, quod inane vocamus,corpus ea non est; qua porro cumque tenet secorpus, ea vacuum nequaquam constat inane.sunt igitur solida ac sine inani corpora prima.Praeterea quoniam genitis in rebus inanest,materiem circum solidam constare necessest;nec res ulla potest vera ratione probaricorpore inane suo celare atque intus habere,si non, quod cohibet, solidum constare relinquas.id porro nihil esse potest nisi materiaiconcilium, quod inane queat rerum cohibere.materies igitur, solido quae corpore constat,esse aeterna potest, cum cetera dissoluantur.Tum porro si nil esset quod inane vocaret,omne foret solidum; nisi contra corpora certaessent quae loca complerent quae cumque tenerentomne quod est spatium, vacuum constaret inane.alternis igitur ni mirum corpus inanidistinctum, quoniam nec plenum naviter extatnec porro vacuum; sunt ergo corpora certa,quae spatium pleno possint distinguere inane.haec neque dissolui plagis extrinsecus ictapossunt nec porro penitus penetrata retexinec ratione queunt alia temptata labare;id quod iam supra tibi paulo ostendimus ante.nam neque conlidi sine inani posse videturquicquam nec frangi nec findi in bina secandonec capere umorem neque item manabile frigusnec penetralem ignem, quibus omnia conficiuntur.et quo quaeque magis cohibet res intus inane,tam magis his rebus penitus temptata labascit.ergo si solida ac sine inani corpora primasunt ita uti docui, sint haec aeterna necessest.Praeterea nisi materies aeterna fuisset,antehac ad nihilum penitus res quaeque redissentde nihiloque renata forent quae cumque videmus.at quoniam supra docui nil posse crearide nihilo neque quod genitumst ad nil revocari,esse inmortali primordia corpore debent,dissolui quo quaeque supremo tempore possint,materies ut subpeditet rebus reparandis.sunt igitur solida primordia simplicitatenec ratione queunt alia servata per aevomex infinito iam tempore res reparare.
Again, if bounds have not been set againstThe breaking down of this corporeal world,Yet must all bodies of whatever thingsHave still endured from everlasting timeUnto this present, as not yet assailedBy shocks of peril. But because the sameAre, to thy thinking, of a nature frail,It ill accords that thus they could remain(As thus they do) through everlasting time,Vexed through the ages (as indeed they are)By the innumerable blows of chance.So in our programme of creation, markHow 'tis that, though the bodies of all stuffAre solid to the core, we yet explainThe ways whereby some things are fashioned soft-Air, water, earth, and fiery exhalations-And by what force they function and go on:The fact is founded in the void of things.But if the primal germs themselves be soft,Reason cannot be brought to bear to showThe ways whereby may be created theseGreat crags of basalt and the during iron;For their whole nature will profoundly lackThe first foundations of a solid frame.But powerful in old simplicity,Abide the solid, the primeval germs;And by their combinations more condensed,All objects can be tightly knit and boundAnd made to show unconquerable strength.Again, since all things kind by kind obtainFixed bounds of growing and conserving life;Since Nature hath inviolably decreedWhat each can do, what each can never do;Since naught is changed, but all things so abideThat ever the variegated birds revealThe spots or stripes peculiar to their kind,Spring after spring: thus surely all that isMust be composed of matter immutable.For if the primal germs in any wiseWere open to conquest and to change, 'twould beUncertain also what could come to birthAnd what could not, and by what law to eachIts scope prescribed, its boundary stone that clingsSo deep in Time. Nor could the generationsKind after kind so often reproduceThe nature, habits, motions, ways of life,Of their progenitors.
denique si nullam finem natura parassetfrangendis rebus, iam corpora materiaiusque redacta forent aevo frangente priore,ut nihil ex illis a certo tempore possetconceptum summum aetatis pervadere finem.nam quidvis citius dissolvi posse videmusquam rursus refici; qua propter longa dieiinfinita aetas ante acti temporis omnisquod fregisset adhuc disturbans dissoluensque,numquam relicuo reparari tempore posset.at nunc ni mirum frangendi reddita finiscerta manet, quoniam refici rem quamque videmuset finita simul generatim tempora rebusstare, quibus possint aevi contingere florem.Huc accedit uti, solidissima materiaicorpora cum constant, possint tamen omnia reddi,mollia quae fiunt, aer aqua terra vapores,quo pacto fiant et qua vi quaeque gerantur,admixtum quoniam semel est in rebus inane.at contra si mollia sint primordia rerum,unde queant validi silices ferrumque creari,non poterit ratio reddi; nam funditus omnisprincipio fundamenti natura carebit.sunt igitur solida pollentia simplicitate,quorum condenso magis omnia conciliatuartari possunt validasque ostendere viris.porro si nullast frangendis reddita finiscorporibus, tamen ex aeterno tempore quaequenunc etiam superare necessest corpora rebus,quae non dum clueant ullo temptata periclo.at quoniam fragili natura praedita constant,discrepat aeternum tempus potuisse manereinnumerabilibus plagis vexata per aevom.Denique iam quoniam generatim reddita finiscrescendi rebus constat vitamque tenendi,et quid quaeque queant per foedera naturai,quid porro nequeant, sancitum quando quidem extat,nec commutatur quicquam, quin omnia constantusque adeo, variae volucres ut in ordine cunctaeostendant maculas generalis corpore inesse,inmutabilis materiae quoque corpus haberedebent ni mirum; nam si primordia rerumcommutari aliqua possent ratione revicta,incertum quoque iam constet quid possit oriri,quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuiquequa nam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens,nec totiens possent generatim saecla referrenaturam mores victum motusque parentum.
And then again,Since there is ever an extreme bounding point......Of that first body which our senses nowCannot perceive: That bounding point indeedExists without all parts, a minimumOf nature, nor was e'er a thing apart,As of itself,- nor shall hereafter be,Since 'tis itself still parcel of another,A first and single part, whence other partsAnd others similar in order lieIn a packed phalanx, filling to the fullThe nature of first body: being thusNot self-existent, they must cleave to thatFrom which in nowise they can sundered be.So primal germs have solid singleness,Which tightly packed and closely joined cohereBy virtue of their minim particles-No compound by mere union of the same;But strong in their eternal singleness,Nature, reserving them as seeds for things,Permitteth naught of rupture or decrease.Moreover, were there not a minimum,The smallest bodies would have infinites,Since then a half-of-half could still be halved,With limitless division less and less.Then what the difference 'twixt the sum and least?None: for however infinite the sum,Yet even the smallest would consist the sameOf infinite parts. But since true reason hereProtests, denying that the mind can think it,Convinced thou must confess such things there areAs have no parts, the minimums of nature.And since these are, likewise confess thou mustThat primal bodies are solid and eterne.Again, if Nature, creatress of all things,Were wont to force all things to be resolvedUnto least parts, then would she not availTo reproduce from out them anything;Because whate'er is not endowed with partsCannot possess those properties requiredOf generative stuff- divers connections,Weights, blows, encounters, motions, whereby thingsForevermore have being and go on.
Tum porro quoniam est extremum quodque cacumencorporis illius, quod nostri cernere sensusiam nequeunt, id ni mirum sine partibus extatet minima constat natura nec fuit umquamper se secretum neque post hac esse valebit,alterius quoniamst ipsum pars primaque et una,inde aliae atque aliae similes ex ordine partesagmine condenso naturam corporis explent;quae quoniam per se nequeunt constare, necessesthaerere unde queant nulla ratione revelli.sunt igitur solida primordia simplicitate,quae minimis stipata cohaerent partibus arte.non ex illorum conventu conciliata,sed magis aeterna pollentia simplicitate,unde neque avelli quicquam neque deminui iamconcedit natura reservans semina rebus.Praeterea nisi erit minimum, parvissima quaequecorpora constabunt ex partibus infinitis,quippe ubi dimidiae partis pars semper habebitdimidiam partem nec res praefiniet ulla.ergo rerum inter summam minimamque quod escit,nil erit ut distet; nam quamvis funditus omnissumma sit infinita, tamen, parvissima quae sunt,ex infinitis constabunt partibus aeque.quod quoniam ratio reclamat vera negatquecredere posse animum, victus fateare necessestesse ea quae nullis iam praedita partibus extentet minima constent natura. quae quoniam sunt,illa quoque esse tibi solida atque aeterna fatendum.Denique si minimas in partis cuncta resolvicogere consuesset rerum natura creatrix,iam nihil ex illis eadem reparare valeretpropterea quia, quae nullis sunt partibus aucta,non possunt ea quae debet genitalis haberemateries, varios conexus pondera plagasconcursus motus, per quas res quaeque geruntur.
And on such grounds it is that those who heldThe stuff of things is fire, and out of fireAlone the cosmic sum is formed, are seenMightily from true reason to have lapsed.Of whom, chief leader to do battle, comesThat Heraclitus, famous for dark speechAmong the silly, not the serious GreeksWho search for truth. For dolts are ever proneThat to bewonder and adore which hidesBeneath distorted words, holding that trueWhich sweetly tickles in their stupid ears,Or which is rouged in finely finished phrase.For how, I ask, can things so varied be,If formed of fire, single and pure? No whit'Twould help for fire to be condensed or thinned,If all the parts of fire did still preserveBut fire's own nature, seen before in gross.The heat were keener with the parts compressed,Milder, again, when severed or dispersed-And more than this thou canst conceive of naughtThat from such causes could become; much lessMight earth's variety of things be bornFrom any fires soever, dense or rare.This too: if they suppose a void in things,Then fires can be condensed and still left rare;But since they see such opposites of thoughtRising against them, and are loath to leaveAn unmixed void in things, they fear the steepAnd lose the road of truth. Nor do they see,That, if from things we take away the void,All things are then condensed, and out of allOne body made, which has no power to dartSwiftly from out itself not anything-As throws the fire its light and warmth around,Giving thee proof its parts are not compact.But if perhaps they think, in other wise,Fires through their combinations can be quenchedAnd change their substance, very well: behold,If fire shall spare to do so in no part,Then heat will perish utterly and all,And out of nothing would the world be formed.For change in anything from out its boundsMeans instant death of that which was before;And thus a somewhat must persist unharmedAmid the world, lest all return to naught,And, born from naught, abundance thrive anew.Now since indeed there are those surest bodiesWhich keep their nature evermore the same,Upon whose going out and coming inAnd changed order things their nature change,And all corporeal substances transformed,'Tis thine to know those primal bodies, then,Are not of fire. For 'twere of no availShould some depart and go away, and someBe added new, and some be changed in order,If still all kept their nature of old heat:For whatsoever they created thenWould still in any case be only fire.The truth, I fancy, this: bodies there areWhose clashings, motions, order, posture, shapesProduce the fire and which, by order changed,Do change the nature of the thing produced,And are thereafter nothing like to fireNor whatso else has power to send its bodiesWith impact touching on the senses' touch.Again, to say that all things are but fireAnd no true thing in number of all thingsExists but fire, as this same fellow says,Seems crazed folly. For the man himselfAgainst the senses by the senses fights,And hews at that through which is all belief,Through which indeed unto himself is knownThe thing he calls the fire. For, though he thinksThe senses truly can perceive the fire,He thinks they cannot as regards all else,Which still are palpably as clear to sense-To me a thought inept and crazy too.For whither shall we make appeal? for whatMore certain than our senses can there beWhereby to mark asunder error and truth?Besides, why rather do away with all,And wish to allow heat only, then denyThe fire and still allow all else to be?-Alike the madness either way it seems.
Quapropter qui materiem rerum esse putaruntignem atque ex igni summam consistere solo,magno opere a vera lapsi ratione videntur.Heraclitus init quorum dux proelia primus,clarus ⟨ob⟩ obscuram linguam magis inter inanisquamde gravis inter Graios, qui vera requirunt;omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque,inversis quae sub verbis latitantia cernunt,veraque constituunt quae belle tangere possuntauris et lepido quae sunt fucata sonore.Nam cur tam variae res possent esse, requiro,ex uno si sunt igni puroque creatae?nil prodesset enim calidum denserier ignemnec rare fieri, si partes ignis eandemnaturam quam totus habet super ignis haberent.acrior ardor enim conductis partibus esset,languidior porro disiectis ⟨dis⟩que supatis.amplius hoc fieri nihil est quod posse rearistalibus in causis, ne dum variantia rerumtanta queat densis rarisque ex ignibus esse.Id quoque: si faciant admixtum rebus inane,denseri poterunt ignes rarique relinqui;sed quia multa sibi cernunt contraria quae sintet fugitant in rebus inane relinquere purum,ardua dum metuunt, amittunt vera viainec rursum cernunt exempto rebus inaneomnia denseri fierique ex omnibus unumcorpus, nil ab se quod possit mittere raptim,aestifer ignis uti lumen iacit atque vaporem,ut videas non e stipatis partibus esse.Quod si forte alia credunt ratione potesseignis in coetu stingui mutareque corpus,scilicet ex nulla facere id si parte reparcent,occidet ad nihilum ni mirum funditus ardoromnis et ⟨e⟩ nihilo fient quae cumque creantur;nam quod cumque suis mutatum finibus exit,continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.proinde aliquid superare necesse est incolume ollis,ne tibi res redeant ad nilum funditus omnesde nihiloque renata vigescat copia rerum.Nunc igitur quoniam certissima corpora quaedamsunt, quae conservant naturam semper eandem,quorum abitu aut aditu mutatoque ordine mutantnaturam res et convertunt corpora sese,scire licet non esse haec ignea corpora rerum.nil referret enim quaedam decedere, abireatque alia adtribui mutarique ordine quaedam,si tamen ardoris naturam cuncta tenerent;ignis enim foret omnimodis quod cumque crearet.verum, ut opinor, itast: sunt quaedam corpora, quorumconcursus motus ordo positura figuraeefficiunt ignis mutatoque ordine mutantnaturam neque sunt igni simulata neque ullipraeterea rei quae corpora mittere possitsensibus et nostros adiectu tangere tactus.dicere porro ignem res omnis esse neque ullamrem veram in numero rerum constare nisi ignem,quod facit hic idem, perdelirum esse videtur.nam contra sensus ab sensibus ipse repugnatet labefactat eos, unde omnia credita pendent,unde hic cognitus est ipsi quem nominat ignem;credit enim sensus ignem cognoscere vere,cetera non credit, quae nilo clara minus sunt.quod mihi cum vanum tum delirum esse videtur;quo referemus enim? quid nobis certius ipsissensibus esse potest, qui vera ac falsa notemus?Praeterea quare quisquam magis omnia tollatet velit ardoris naturam linquere solam,quam neget esse ignis, ⟨aliam⟩ tamen esse relinquat?aequa videtur enim dementia dicere utrumque.
Thus whosoe'er have held the stuff of thingsTo be but fire, and out of fire the sum,And whosoever have constituted airAs first beginning of begotten things,And all whoever have held that of itselfWater alone contrives things, or that earthCreateth all and changes things anewTo divers natures, mightily they seemA long way to have wandered from the truth.Add, too, whoever make the primal stuffTwofold, by joining air to fire, and earthTo water; add who deem that things can growOut of the four- fire, earth, and breath, and rain;As first Empedocles of Acragas,Whom that three-cornered isle of all the landsBore on her coasts, around which flows and flowsIn mighty bend and bay the Ionic seas,Splashing the brine from off their gray-green waves.Here, billowing onward through the narrow straits,Swift ocean cuts her boundaries from the shoresOf the Italic mainland. Here the wasteCharybdis; and here Aetna rumbles threatsTo gather anew such furies of its flamesAs with its force anew to vomit fires,Belched from its throat, and skyward bear anewIts lightnings' flash. And though for much she seemThe mighty and the wondrous isle to men,Most rich in all good things, and fortifiedWith generous strength of heroes, she hath ne'erPossessed within her aught of more renown,Nor aught more holy, wonderful, and dearThan this true man. Nay, ever so far and pureThe lofty music of his breast divineLifts up its voice and tells of glories found,That scarce he seems of human stock create.Yet he and those forementioned (known to beSo far beneath him, less than he in all),Though, as discoverers of much goodly truth,They gave, as 'twere from out of the heart's own shrine,Responses holier and soundlier basedThan ever the Pythia pronounced for menFrom out the triped and the Delphian laurel,Have still in matter of first-elementsMade ruin of themselves, and, great men, greatIndeed and heavy there for them the fall:First, because, banishing the void from things,They yet assign them motion, and allowThings soft and loosely textured to exist,As air, dew, fire, earth, animals, and grains,Without admixture of void amid their frame.Next, because, thinking there can be no endIn cutting bodies down to less and lessNor pause established to their breaking up,They hold there is no minimum in things;Albeit we see the boundary point of aughtIs that which to our senses seems its least,Whereby thou mayst conjecture, that, becauseThe things thou canst not mark have boundary points,They surely have their minimums. Then, too,Since these philosophers ascribe to thingsSoft primal germs, which we behold to beOf birth and body mortal, thus, throughout,The sum of things must be returned to naught,And, born from naught, abundance thrive anew-Thou seest how far each doctrine stands from truth.And, next, these bodies are among themselvesIn many ways poisons and foes to each,Wherefore their congress will destroy them quiteOr drive asunder as we see in stormsRains, winds, and lightnings all asunder fly.
Quapropter qui materiem rerum esse putaruntignem atque ex igni summam consistere posse,et qui principium gignundis aera rebusconstituere aut umorem qui cumque putaruntfingere res ipsum per se terramve creareomnia et in rerum naturas vertier omnis,magno opere a vero longe derrasse videntur.adde etiam qui conduplicant primordia rerumaera iungentes igni terramque liquori,et qui quattuor ex rebus posse omnia renturex igni terra atque anima procrescere et imbri.quorum Acragantinus cum primis Empedocles est,insula quem triquetris terrarum gessit in oris,quam fluitans circum magnis anfractibus aequorIonium glaucis aspargit virus ab undisangustoque fretu rapidum mare dividit undisAeoliae terrarum oras a finibus eius.hic est vasta Charybdis et hic Aetnaea minanturmurmura flammarum rursum se colligere iras,faucibus eruptos iterum vis ut vomat ignisad caelumque ferat flammai fulgura rursum.quae cum magna modis multis miranda videturgentibus humanis regio visendaque ferturrebus opima bonis, multa munita virum vi,nil tamen hoc habuisse viro praeclarius in senec sanctum magis et mirum carumque videtur.carmina quin etiam divini pectoris eiusvociferantur et exponunt praeclara reperta,ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus.Hic tamen et supra quos diximus inferiorespartibus egregie multis multoque minores,quamquam multa bene ac divinitus invenientesex adyto tam quam cordis responsa dederesanctius et multo certa ratione magis quamPythia quae tripodi a Phoebi lauroque profatur,principiis tamen in rerum fecere ruinaset graviter magni magno cecidere ibi casu.Primum quod motus exempto rebus inaniconstituunt et res mollis rarasque relinquuntaera solem ignem terras animalia frugisnec tamen admiscent in eorum corpus inane;deinde quod omnino finem non esse secandiscorporibus facient neque pausam stare fragorinec prorsum in rebus minimum consistere qui⟨cquam⟩,cum videamus id extremum cuiusque cacumenesse quod ad sensus nostros minimum esse videtur,conicere ut possis ex hoc, quae cernere non quisextremum quod habent, minimum consistere ⟨rerum⟩.Huc accedit item, quoniam primordia rerummollia constituunt, quae nos nativa videmusesse et mortali cum corpore, funditus ut quidebeat ad nihilum iam rerum summa revertide nihiloque renata vigescere copia rerum;quorum utrumque quid a vero iam distet habebis.Deinde inimica modis multis sunt atque venenoipsa sibi inter se; quare aut congressa peribuntaut ita diffugient, ut tempestate coactafulmina diffugere atque imbris ventosque videmus.