Addison: Barometri Descriptio

Qua penetrat fossor terrae caeca antra, metallo
Foecunda informi, rudibusque nitentia venis;
Dum stupet occultas gazas, nummosque futuros,
Eruit argenti latices, nitidumque liquorem;
Qui nullo effusus prodit vestigia tractu,
Nec terram signo revolubilis imprimit udo,
Sed fractus sparsim in globulos formam usque rotundam
Servat, et in teretes lapsans se colligit orbes.
Incertum qua sit natura, an negiligat ultra
Perficier, jubar et maturus inutile temnat;

As the miner pierces the earth’s blind caverns, fertile with crude metal and gleaming with rude veins,
while amazed at hidden treasures and the coins to come,
he digs up silver streams, a bright and shining liquor;
which, poured forth, leaves no trace of dragging,
nor does it, rolling back, impress the ground with a wet mark,
but, broken up, it preserves its shape in scattered little globes,
and, sliding, collects itself into smooth round orbs.
It is uncertain what its nature is, whether it neglects to be further completed,
whether it scorns even the dawnlight and, though ripe, contemns the useless;

An potius solis vis imperfecta relinquat
Argentum male coctum, divitiasque fluentes:
Quisquid erit, magno se jactat nobilis usu;
Nec deus effulsit magis aspectabilis olim,
Dum Danaen flavo circum pretiosus amictu
Ambiit, et, gratam suadente libidine formam,
Depluit irriguo liquefactum numen in auro.
Quin age, sume tubum fragilem, cui densior aer
Exclusus; fundo vitri subsidat in imo
Argenti stagnum; ut pluvia impendente metallum

Or rather let the imperfect force of the sun leave
silver ill-refined, and flowing riches behind:
Whatever it may be, noble goods boast themselves by great use;
Nor did a god ever shine more visible of old,
While, precious in a yellow cloak, he surrounded Danaë,
and, desire sweetly urging the form, he rained down
the divinity liquefied into gold by watery means.
Nay come then, take a fragile tube, from which denser air
is shut out; let a pool of silver settle in the bottom
of the glass; as with rain the pendent metal

Mobile descendat, vel contra, ubi postulat aestus,
Prodeat hinc liquor emergens, et rursus inane
Occupet ascensu, tubulumque excurrat in omnem.
Jam coeli faciem tempestatesque futuras
Conscia lympha monet, brumamque et frigora narrat.
Nam quoties liquor insurgit, vitreoque canali
Sublatum nequeunt ripae cohibere priores;
Tum laetos sperare dies licet, arva fatentur
aestantem, et large diffuso lumine rident.
Sin sese immodicum attollens argenteus humor,

Let the mobile one descend, or contrariwise, where the tide demands,
Let the liquid issue forth from here, emerging, and again by ascent
Occupy the void, and run through every little tube.
Now the lymph, conscious, warns of the face of the sky and of coming storms,
and tells of winter and of colds.
For as often as the liquid rises, the banks lifted up by the glass channel
cannot restrain the former; then it is permitted to hope for joyful days, the fields confess
that they are summering, and smile richly with diffused light.
But if the silvery humor, lifting itself immoderately,

Et nimium oppressus, contendat ad ardua vitri,
Jam sitiunt herbae, jam succos flamma feraces
Excoquit, et languent consumto prata virore.
Cum vero tenues nebulas spiracula terrae
Fundunt, et madidi fluitant super aequora fumi,
Pabula venturae pluviae; tum fusile pondus
Inferiora petit; nec certior ardea caelos
Indicat humentes, medias quando aetheris oras
Tranando, crassa fruitur sublimius aura,
Discutit et madidis rorantia nubila pennis.

And overly oppressed, let him strive to the glassy heights,
Now the herbs thirst, now the fruitful flame parches their juices
and the meadows languish with their verdure consumed.
But when thin mists pour forth, the breathings of the earth,
and damp fumes float above the waters,
tokens of the rain to come; then the fusible weight
seeks the lower places; nor is the heron a surer sign
of moist heavens, when, crossing the middle reaches of the air,
it enjoys the thicker breeze on high,
and with wet wings it scatters the clouds dripping with dew.

And, too heavily oppressed, strives toward the high airs of the sky,
Now the grasses grow thirsty, now the fruitful flame boils out their juices
and the meadows languish with their green consumed.
But when the thin mists pour forth the breathings of the earth
and the dank vapors float over the waters,
the fodder of the coming rain; then the fusile weight
seeks the lower places; nor is the heron more sure
when traversing the moist mid‑regions of the ether,
it enjoys a thicker breeze on high,
and scatters the dewy clouds that drip on its wet wings.

Nunc guttae agglomerant, dispersas frigora stipant
Particulas, rarusque in nimbum cogitur humor:
Prata virent, segetem foecundis imbribus aether
Irrigat, et bibulae radici alimenta ministrat.
Quin ubi plus aequo descendens uda metalli
Fundum amat, impatiens pluviae, metuensque procellam,
Agricolae caveant; non hoc impune colonus
Aspicit; ostendet mox foeta vaporibus aura
Collectas hyemes, tempestatemque sonoram.
At licet Argentum mole incumbente levatum

Now drops conglutinate, crowding together dispersed cold particles,
and scant moisture is driven into a cloud:
meadows green, the sky waters the crop with fruitful rains,
and supplies sustenance to the thirsty root.
Nay, when the wet of the metal, descending beyond parity,
loves the bottom, impatient of rain and fearing a storm,
let farmers beware; the tiller does not view this with impunity;
soon a fruitful breeze will reveal vapors gathered, and a sounding tempest.
But although Silver, raised by a mass leaning upon it

Subsidat, penitusque imo se condat in alveo,
Caetera quaeque tument; eversis flumina ripis
Expatiata ruunt, spumantibus aestuat undis
Diluvium, rapidique effusa licentia ponti.
Nulla tacet secreta poli mirabile vitrum
Quin varios coeli vultus et tempora prodit,
Ante refert, quando tenui velamine tutus
Incedes, quando sperabis frigidus ignem.
Augurio hoc fretus, quanquam atri nubila coeli
Dirumpunt, obscura diem, pluviasque minantur;

Let it sink, and bury itself deep down in the lowest bed,
while all the other things swell; with the banks overthrown the rivers
run riot and rush forth, the flood seethes with foaming waves
and, poured out, the licence of the rushing bridge spreads abroad.
No secret of the sky's wonderful glass is silent,
but it proclaims the various faces and seasons of the heavens,
it tells beforehand when, safe, you will walk with a thin veil,
when, chilled, you will hope for fire.
Relying on this augury, although the black clouds of the sky
burst, darken the day, and threaten rains;

Machina si neget, et sudum promittat apertum,
Audax carpat iter nimbo pendente viator;
Nec metuens imbrem, poscentes messor aristas
Prosternat: terrae jam bruma incumbit inermis,
Frigoraque haud nocitura cadunt, feriuntque paratos.

If the machine refuses, and promises an open sky,
the bold traveller snatches his way with the cloud hanging;
nor fearing the rain, the reaper, praying for the ears, lays them low:
now unarmed winter presses down upon the earth,
and colds that will not harm fall, and strike those prepared.