Lucretius: DE RERVM NATVRA LIBRI SEX

Avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante
trita solo. iuvat integros accedere fontis
atque haurire, iuvatque novos decerpere flores
insignemque meo capiti petere inde coronam,
unde prius nulli velarint tempora musae;
primum quod magnis doceo de rebus et artis
religionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo,
deinde quod obscura de re tam lucida pango
carmina musaeo contingens cuncta lepore.
id quoque enim non ab nulla ratione videtur;
nam vel uti pueris absinthia taetra medentes
cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum
contingunt mellis dulci flavoque liquore,
ut puerorum aetas inprovida ludificetur
labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum
absinthi laticem deceptaque non capiatur,
sed potius tali facto recreata valescat,
sic ego nunc, quoniam haec ratio plerumque videtur
tristior esse quibus non est tractata, retroque
volgus abhorret ab hac, volui tibi suaviloquenti
carmine Pierio rationem exponere nostram
et quasi musaeo dulci contingere melle;
si tibi forte animum tali ratione tenere
versibus in nostris possem, dum percipis omnem
naturam rerum ac persentis utilitatem.

I wander through the trackless places of the Pierids, trodden by no one’s
foot before. It delights me to approach untouched springs
and to draw them, and it delights me to pluck new flowers
and from there to seek a distinguished garland for my own head,
from where the Muses have before veiled no one’s temples;
first, because I teach about great matters and I proceed
to unloose the mind from the knots of religions’ art,
then because about a thing obscure I compose so lucid
songs, touching all with a Musean charm. And this too indeed does not seem without some reason;
for just as, when physicians try to give to boys the grim wormwood,
they first touch around the rims of the cups
with the sweet and tawny liquor of honey,
so that the unknowing age of boys be played with up to the lips,
meanwhile they may drain the bitter liquid
of wormwood, and, though deceived, not be ensnared,
but rather, by such a deed, restored, grow strong—
so I now, since this Reason for the most part seems
rather grim to those for whom it has not been handled, and the crowd
shrinks back from this, have wished to set forth our Reason to you in sweet-speaking
Pierian song and, as it were, to touch it with the sweet honey of the Muse;
if by such a method I could perhaps hold your mind
in my verses, while you grasp the whole nature of things and keenly sense its utility.

Sed quoniam docui cunctarum exordia rerum
qualia sint et quam variis distantia formis
sponte sua volitent aeterno percita motu
quoque modo possit res ex his quaeque creari,
[nunc agere incipiam tibi quod vehementer ad has res
attinet esse ea quae rerum simulacra vocamus,
quae quasi membranae vel cortex nominitandast,]
atque animi quoniam docui natura quid esset
et quibus e rebus cum corpore compta vigeret
quove modo distracta rediret in ordia prima,
nunc agere incipiam tibi, quod vehementer ad has res
attinet esse ea quae rerum simulacra vocamus,
quod speciem ac formam similem gerit eius imago,
cuius cumque cluet de corpore fusa vagari;
quae quasi membranae summo de corpore rerum
dereptae volitant ultroque citroque per auras,
atque eadem nobis vigilantibus obvia mentes
terrificant atque in somnis, cum saepe figuras
contuimur miras simulacraque luce carentum,
quae nos horrifice languentis saepe sopore
excierunt ne forte animas Acherunte reamur
effugere aut umbras inter vivos volitare
neve aliquid nostri post mortem posse relinqui,
cum corpus simul atque animi natura perempta
in sua discessum dederint primordia quaeque.
dico igitur rerum effigias tenuisque figuras
mittier ab rebus summo de cortice eorum;
id licet hinc quamvis hebeti cognoscere corde.
Principio quoniam mittunt in rebus apertis
corpora res multae, partim diffusa solute,
robora ceu fumum mittunt ignesque vaporem,
et partim contexta magis condensaque, ut olim
cum teretis ponunt tunicas aestate cicadae,
et vituli cum membranas de corpore summo
nascentes mittunt, et item cum lubrica serpens
exuit in spinis vestem; nam saepe videmus
illorum spoliis vepres volitantibus auctas.

But since I have taught what the beginnings of all things are like and how, differing in most various forms, they of their own accord flit about, impelled by eternal motion, and in what way each thing can be created from these, [now I shall begin to set forth to you what very much pertains to these matters, that there exist those things which we call simulacra of things, which, as it were, ought to be named membranes or cortex,] and since I have taught what the nature of the mind was, and from what things, joined with the body, it might thrive, and in what way, pulled apart, it would return into the first beginnings, now I shall begin to set forth to you what very much pertains to these matters, that there exist those things which we call simulacra of things, because the image bears a like aspect and form of that of which it is famed, having been shed from the body, to wander; which, as if membranes, torn from the surface of the bodies of things, flit to and fro through the breezes, and the same, meeting us while we are awake, terrify our minds, and in sleep, when we often behold wondrous figures and simulacra of those lacking light, which have often in horrible wise roused us languishing with sleep, lest perchance we suppose souls to flee from Acheron or shades to flit among the living, or that anything of us can be able to be left behind after death, when the body and the nature of the mind alike, destroyed, have given departure to their several first-beginnings. I say, therefore, that effigies of things and thin figures are sent forth from things, from the outermost cortex of them; this you may learn from here, however dull in heart. To begin with, since in open cases many things send out bodies, some diffused loosely—just as logs send out smoke and fires vapor—and some more woven-together and condensed, as once when cicadas in summer lay down their smooth tunics, and when calves, as they are born, send out membranes from the outermost of the body, and likewise when the slippery serpent strips off its vesture on thorns; for we often see the brambles grown with their spoils, fluttering.

quae quoniam fiunt, tenuis quoque debet imago
ab rebus mitti summo de corpore rerum.
nam cur illa cadant magis ab rebusque recedant
quam quae tenvia sunt, hiscendist nulla potestas;
praesertim cum sint in summis corpora rebus
multa minuta, iaci quae possint ordine eodem
quo fuerint et formai servare figuram,
et multo citius, quanto minus indupediri
pauca queunt et [quae] sunt prima fronte locata.
nam certe iacere ac largiri multa videmus,
non solum ex alto penitusque, ut diximus ante,
verum de summis ipsum quoque saepe colorem.

since these things come to pass, a thin image too ought to be sent
from things from the top surface of the bodies of things.
for why should those fall away more and withdraw from things
than the things which are thin—there is no power of gaping;
especially since upon the surfaces of things there are many minute bodies,
which can be cast off in the same order in which they were and preserve the figure of the form,
and much more quickly, the fewer they can be entangled,
and [which] are set on the foremost face.
for certainly we see many things to be cast and to give off,
not only from deep within and from on high, as we said above,
but from the very surfaces even the color itself, and often.

et volgo faciunt id lutea russaque vela
et ferrugina, cum magnis intenta theatris
per malos volgata trabesque trementia flutant;
namque ibi consessum caveai supter et omnem
scaenai speciem patrum matrumque deorsum
inficiunt coguntque suo fluitare colore.
et quanto circum mage sunt inclusa theatri
moenia, tam magis haec intus perfusa lepore
omnia conrident correpta luce diei.
ergo lintea de summo cum corpore fucum
mittunt, effigias quoque debent mittere tenvis
res quaeque, ex summo quoniam iaculantur utraque.

and commonly saffron-yellow and red awnings
and rust-colored ones, when stretched over great theaters,
spread over masts and beams they float, trembling;
for there the assembly of the cavea beneath and the whole
aspect of the stage, and of fathers and mothers down below,
they dye and compel to float with their own color.
and the more the walls of the theater are enclosed around,
so much the more these things within, suffused with charm,
all beam, the light of day having been seized.
therefore, since the linens from their topmost surface send out a stain,
they send; they ought also to send thin effigies,
each thing, since both shoot forth from the surface.

sunt igitur iam formarum vestigia certa,
quae volgo volitant subtili praedita filo
nec singillatim possunt secreta videri.
Praeterea omnis odor fumus vapor atque aliae res
consimiles ideo diffusae rebus abundant,
ex alto quia dum veniunt extrinsecus ortae
scinduntur per iter flexum, nec recta viarum
ostia sunt, qua contendant exire coortae.
at contra tenuis summi membrana coloris
cum iacitur, nihil est quod eam discerpere possit,
in promptu quoniam est in prima fronte locata.

Therefore there are now sure vestiges of forms,
which commonly flit about, endowed with a subtle filament,
nor can they, taken singly, be seen in isolation.
Moreover every odor, smoke, vapor, and other consimilar things
consimilar, therefore diffused, abound upon things,
because, while they come from on high, sprung extrinsically,
they are cleft along a bent path, nor are there straight mouths of the ways
by which, once arisen, they might strive to go out.
But on the contrary, the thin membrane of the topmost color
when it is cast, there is nothing that can tear it to pieces,
since it is at hand, located on the foremost front.

Postremo speculis in aqua splendoreque in omni
quae cumque apparent nobis simulacra, necessest,
quandoquidem simili specie sunt praedita rerum,
exin imaginibus missis consistere eorum.
[nam cur illa cadant magis ab rebusque recedant
quam quae tenuia sunt, hiscendist nulla potestas.]
sunt igitur tenues formarum illis similesque
effigiae, singillatim quas cernere nemo
cum possit, tamen adsiduo crebroque repulsu
reiectae reddunt speculorum ex aequore visum,
nec ratione alia servari posse videntur,
tanto opere ut similes reddantur cuique figurae.
Nunc age, quam tenui natura constet imago
percipe.

Finally, the simulacra which appear to us in mirrors, in water, and in every splendor, must,
since they are endowed with a similar species of things,
be constituted from images sent forth from them.
[for why should those fall away and withdraw from things more
than those which are tenuous? there is no power of gaping-splitting.]
there are therefore thin effigies of forms, like to them,
which no one can discern singly, yet by continuous and frequent rebound,
being cast back, they render the sight from the level surface of mirrors,
nor do they seem able to be preserved in any other way,
to such a degree that likenesses are rendered to each figure.
Now come, perceive of what slender nature an image
consists.

et in primis, quoniam primordia tantum
sunt infra nostros sensus tantoque minora
quam quae primum oculi coeptant non posse tueri,
nunc tamen id quoque uti confirmem, exordia rerum
cunctarum quam sint subtilia percipe paucis.
primum animalia sunt iam partim tantula, corum
tertia pars nulla possit ratione videri.
horum intestinum quodvis quale esse putandumst!

And first of all, since the first-beginnings are so far
beneath our senses and so much smaller
than those which our eyes first begin to be unable to behold,
now, however, that I may also confirm this, learn in a few words
how subtle the beginnings of all things are.
First, there are animals already some so tiny that their
third part can by no method be seen.
What must any intestine of these be thought to be like!

quid cordis globus aut oculi? quid membra? quid artus?

what of the globe of the heart or of the eye? what of the members? what of the limbs?

quantula sunt! quid praeterea primordia quaeque,
unde anima atque animi constet natura necessumst,
nonne vides quam sint subtilia quamque minuta?
praeterea quaecumque suo de corpore odorem
expirant acrem, panaces absinthia taetra
habrotonique graves et tristia centaurea,
quorum unum quidvis leviter si forte duobus
* * *
quin potius noscas rerum simulacra vagari
multa modis multis, nulla vi cassaque sensu?

how tiny they are! And besides, the several first-beginnings, from which it is necessary that the nature of the soul and of the mind consist, do you not see how subtle they are and how minute? Besides, whatever from its own body breathes out an acrid odor—panaces, the foul absinthes, the heavy habrotonon, and the grim centauries—of which any one, if by chance lightly to two
* * *
nay rather, why not learn that the simulacra of things wander, many in many modes, with no force and void of sense?

Sed ne forte putes ea demum sola vagari,
quae cumque ab rebus rerum simulacra recedunt,
sunt etiam quae sponte sua gignuntur et ipsa
constituuntur in hoc caelo, qui dicitur aer,
quae multis formata modis sublime feruntur,
ut nubes facile inter dum concrescere in alto
cernimus et mundi speciem violare serenam
aëra mulcentes motu; nam saepe Gigantum
ora volare videntur et umbram ducere late,
inter dum magni montes avolsaque saxa
montibus ante ire et solem succedere praeter,
inde alios trahere atque inducere belua nimbos.
nec speciem mutare suam liquentia cessant
et cuiusque modi formarum vertere in oras.
Nunc ea quam facili et celeri ratione genantur
perpetuoque fluant ab rebus lapsaque cedant
* * *
semper enim summum quicquid de rebus abundat,
quod iaculentur.

But lest you perhaps think that only those wander, whatever simulacra of things withdraw from things, there are also those which of their own accord are generated and themselves are constituted in this heaven, which is called air, which, formed in many modes, are borne aloft, as we see clouds easily at times coalesce on high and violate the serene aspect of the world, modulating the air by their motion; for often the faces of Giants seem to fly and to draw a shadow far and wide, at times great mountains and rocks torn from mountains to go on before and, in passing, to come up under the sun, then like a beast to drag and lead in other clouds. Nor do the liquid things cease to change their appearance and to turn into the borders of every sort of forms. Now by how easy and swift a rationale these are generated and flow perpetually from things and, slipping, withdraw
* * *
for always whatever from things overabounds at the surface, which they may hurl.

et hoc alias cum pervenit in res,
transit, ut in primis vestem; sed ubi aspera saxa
aut in materiam ligni pervenit, ibi iam
scinditur, ut nullum simulacrum reddere possit.
at cum splendida quae constant opposta fuerunt
densaque, ut in primis speculum est, nihil accidit horum;
nam neque, uti vestem, possunt transire, neque autem
scindi; quam meminit levor praestare salutem.
qua propter fit ut hinc nobis simulacra redundent.

and this also, when it in other cases comes into things,
passes through, as especially through a vestment; but when it arrives at rough rocks
or into the material of wood, there already
it is torn, so that it can render no simulacrum. But when the things set opposite
are shining and dense, as a mirror is above all, none of these things happens;
for neither can they pass through, as through a vestment, nor, however,
be torn; as smoothness, as one recalls, affords safety.
wherefore it comes about that from this side simulacra overflow back to us.

et quamvis subito quovis in tempore quamque
rem contra speculum ponas, apparet imago;
perpetuo fluere ut noscas e corpore summo
texturas rerum tenuis tenuisque figuras.
ergo multa brevi spatio simulacra genuntur,
ut merito celer his rebus dicatur origo.
et quasi multa brevi spatio summittere debet
lumina sol, ut perpetuo sint omnia plena,
sic ab rebus item simili ratione necessest
temporis in puncto rerum simulacra ferantur
multa modis multis in cunctas undique partis;
quandoquidem speculum quo cumque obvertimus oris,
res ibi respondent simili forma atque colore.

and although at any time suddenly you place any
thing opposite a mirror, an image appears;
so that you may know that from the topmost surface of the body there flow perpetually
the thin textures of things and thin figures.
therefore many simulacra are generated in a brief space,
so that rightly a swift origin is said for these things.
and just as the sun ought to send down many
lights, in a brief space, so that all things may be perpetually full,
so too from things by a similar reasoning it is necessary
that in a point of time the simulacra of things be borne
many in many modes into all parts on every side;
since to whatever edge we turn the mirror,
things there respond with similar form and color.

Praeterea modo cum fuerit liquidissima caeli
tempestas, perquam subito fit turbida foede,
undique uti tenebras omnis Acherunta rearis
liquisse et magnas caeli complesse cavernas.
usque adeo taetra nimborum nocte coorta
inpendent atrae Formidinis ora superne;
quorum quantula pars sit imago dicere nemost
qui possit neque eam rationem reddere dictis.
Nunc age, quam celeri motu simulacra ferantur,
et quae mobilitas ollis tranantibus auras
reddita sit, longo spatio ut brevis hora teratur,
in quem quaeque locum diverso numine tendunt,
suavidicis potius quam multis versibus edam;
parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruum quam
clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.

Moreover, when the sky’s weather has just now been most limpid,
very suddenly it becomes foully turbid,
so that on every side you would think all Acheron
had left its darknesses and filled the great caverns of the sky.
so far does the ghastly night of nimbus-clouds, once arisen,
the black visages of Dread, hang over from above;
of which what tiny part is an image there is no one
who can tell, nor render that rationale in words.
Now come, how with most swift motion the simulacra are borne,
and what mobility has been given to them as they swim the auras,
so that, over a long expanse, a brief hour is worn away,
to what place each tends with diverse numen,
I will set forth with sweet-speaking rather than with many verses;
as the small song of the swan is better than that clamor of cranes
scattered in the aetherial clouds of the south wind.

Principio persaepe levis res atque minutis
corporibus factas celeris licet esse videre.
in quo iam genere est solis lux et vapor eius,
propterea quia sunt e primis facta minutis,
quae quasi cuduntur perque aëris intervallum
non dubitant transire sequenti concita plaga;
suppeditatur enim confestim lumine lumen
et quasi protelo stimulatur fulgere fulgur.
qua propter simulacra pari ratione necessest
inmemorabile per spatium transcurrere posse
temporis in puncto, primum quod parvola causa
est procul a tergo quae provehat atque propellat,
quod super est, ubi tam volucri levitate ferantur,
deinde quod usque adeo textura praedita rara
mittuntur, facile ut quasvis penetrare queant res
et quasi permanare per aëris intervallum.

To begin with, very often one may see light things and things made of minute bodies to be swift.
in which class now is the light of the sun and its vapor, because they are made from first minima, which, as if beaten out, do not hesitate to pass through the interval of the air, driven on by a following stroke;
for straightway light is supplied to light, and, as in a continuous train, lightning is spurred to flash.
wherefore images, by a like rationale, must be able to run across an uncountable stretch in a point of time—first, because there is a very small cause far behind which carries forward and propels them;
moreover, since they are borne with such winged lightness;
then, because, being furnished with so rare a texture, they are sent forth so that they can easily penetrate any things and, as it were, percolate through the interval of the air.

Praeterea si quae penitus corpuscula rerum
ex altoque foras mittuntur, solis uti lux
ac vapor, haec puncto cernuntur lapsa diei
per totum caeli spatium diffundere sese
perque volare mare ac terras caelumque rigare.
quid quae sunt igitur iam prima fronte parata,
cum iaciuntur et emissum res nulla moratur?
quone vides citius debere et longius ire
multiplexque loci spatium transcurrere eodem
tempore quo solis pervolgant lumina caelum?

Moreover, if any tiny bodylets of things are sent out from deep within and to the outside, like the sun’s light and its vapor, these are perceived, having slipped forth in a point of the day, to diffuse themselves through the whole expanse of the sky and to fly over sea and lands and to irrigate the heaven.
what then of those which are already made ready at the very front, when they are cast and no thing delays what is emitted?
do you not see that they ought to go more swiftly and farther and to run through a manifold expanse of place in the same time in which the lights of the sun sweep through the sky?

Hoc etiam in primis specimen verum esse videtur,
quam celeri motu rerum simulacra ferantur,
quod simul ac primum sub diu splendor aquai
ponitur, extemplo caelo stellante serena
sidera respondent in aqua radiantia mundi.
iamne vides igitur quam puncto tempore imago
aetheris ex oris in terrarum accidat oras?
quare etiam atque etiam mitti fateare necessest
corpora quae feriant oculos visumque lacessant.

This too, among the first, seems to be a true specimen,
how with swift motion the simulacra of things are borne,
because as soon as first the splendor of the water
is set under the open sky, at once, with the heaven serene and star-studded,
the stars of the world respond, radiant, in the water.
Do you now see, therefore, how in a point of time an image
from the margins of the ether falls upon the margins of the lands?
Wherefore you must again and again admit that there are sent
bodies which strike the eyes and provoke the sight.

perpetuoque fluunt certis ab rebus odores,
frigus ut a fluviis, calor ab sole, aestus ab undis
aequoris, exesor moerorum litora circum,
nec variae cessant voces volitare per auras.
denique in os salsi venit umor saepe saporis,
cum mare versamur propter, dilutaque contra
cum tuimur misceri absinthia, tangit amaror.
usque adeo omnibus ab rebus res quaeque fluenter
fertur et in cunctas dimittitur undique partis
nec mora nec requies interdatur ulla fluendi,
perpetuo quoniam sentimus et omnia semper
cernere odorari licet et sentire sonare.

and odors flow perpetually from fixed things,
cold from rivers, heat from the sun, the surge from the waves
of the level sea, the gnawing-away of sea-walls around the shores,
nor do various voices cease to flit through the airs.
finally into the mouth there often comes a moisture of salty savor,
when we are moving about near the sea; and, conversely,
when we behold wormwood being diluted to be mixed, the bitterness touches.
to such a degree from all things each thing in a flowing manner
is borne forth and is sent out on every side into all parts,
nor is any delay nor rest interposed for the flowing,
since unceasingly we perceive, and it is always permitted
to discern, to smell, and to feel the sounding of things.

Praeterea quoniam manibus tractata figura
in tenebris quaedam cognoscitur esse eadem quae
cernitur in luce et claro candore, necessest
consimili causa tactum visumque moveri.
nunc igitur si quadratum temptamus et id nos
commovet in tenebris, in luci quae poterit res
accidere ad speciem quadrata, nisi eius imago?
esse in imaginibus qua propter causa videtur
cernundi neque posse sine his res ulla videri.

Moreover, since a figure handled by the hands
in the darkness is recognized to be the same as that which
is discerned in the light and clear candor, it is necessary
that by a similar cause touch and sight be moved.
Now therefore if we test a square and that
moves us in the dark, what thing in the light could
happen to a square aspect, unless its image?
For which reason the cause of seeing seems to be
in the images, and that without these no thing can be seen.

Nunc ea quae dico rerum simulacra feruntur
undique et in cunctas iaciuntur didita partis;
verum nos oculis quia solis cernere quimus,
propterea fit uti, speciem quo vertimus, omnes
res ibi eam contra feriant forma atque colore.
et quantum quaeque ab nobis res absit, imago
efficit ut videamus et internoscere curat;
nam cum mittitur, extemplo protrudit agitque
aëra qui inter se cumque est oculosque locatus,
isque ita per nostras acies perlabitur omnis
et quasi perterget pupillas atque ita transit.
propterea fit uti videamus quam procul absit
res quaeque.

Now those simulacra of things which I speak of are borne
from every side and are cast, disseminated, into all parts;
but since we are able to discern by the eyes alone,
therefore it comes about that, wherever we turn the gaze,
all things there strike it in return with form and with color.
and how far each thing is distant from us, the image
brings it about that we see and takes care that we distinguish;
for when it is sent, straightway it pushes forth and drives
the air which is placed wherever it is between itself and the eyes,
and thus it glides through our visual acies entirely
and, as it were, wipes over the pupils and so passes through.
therefore it comes about that we see how far away
each thing is.

et quanto plus aëris ante agitatur
et nostros oculos perterget longior aura,
tam procul esse magis res quaeque remota videtur.
scilicet haec summe celeri ratione geruntur,
quale sit ut videamus, et una quam procul absit.
Illud in his rebus minime mirabile habendumst,
cur, ea quae feriant oculos simulacra videri
singula cum nequeant, res ipsae perspiciantur.

and the more of air is agitated in front
and a longer aura brushes our eyes,
by so much more each thing remote seems to be far away.
assuredly these things are carried on by a supremely swift method,
so that we may see what sort it is, and at once how far off it is.
This in these matters is to be held least marvelous,
why, though the images which strike the eyes cannot be seen singly,
the things themselves are perceived clearly.

ventus enim quoque paulatim cum verberat et cum
acre fluit frigus, non privam quamque solemus
particulam venti sentire et frigoris eius,
sed magis unorsum, fierique perinde videmus
corpore tum plagas in nostro tam quam aliquae res
verberet atque sui det sensum corporis extra.
praeterea lapidem digito cum tundimus, ipsum
tangimus extremum saxi summumque colorem
nec sentimus eum tactu, verum magis ipsam
duritiem penitus saxi sentimus in alto.
Nunc age, cur ultra speculum videatur imago
percipe: nam certe penitus remmota videtur.

for indeed when the wind little by little lashes, and when
keen cold flows, we are not wont to feel each private
particle of the wind and of that cold,
but rather one-ward; and we see it come about likewise
that then the blows upon our body, as though some thing
were lashing and gave a sense of its own body from outside.
furthermore, when we thump a stone with a finger, we
touch the very extremity of the rock and its topmost color,
nor do we feel that by touch, but rather we feel the very
hardness of the rock deep within.
Now come, grasp why an image is seen beyond the mirror:
perceive; for surely it seems utterly removed.

quod genus illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur,
ianua cum per se transpectum praebet apertum,
multa facitque foris ex aedibus ut videantur;
is quoque enim duplici geminoque fit aëre visus.
primus enim citra postes tum cernitur aër,
inde fores ipsae dextra laevaque secuntur,
post extraria lux oculos perterget et aër
alter, et illa foris quae vere transpiciuntur.
sic ubi se primum speculi proiecit imago,
dum venit ad nostras acies, protrudit agitque
aëra qui inter se cumquest oculosque locatus,
et facit, ut prius hunc omnem sentire queamus
quam speculum; sed ubi [in] speculum quoque sensimus ipsum,
continuo a nobis in eum quae fertur imago
pervenit, et nostros oculos reiecta revisit
atque alium prae se propellens aëra volvit,
et facit ut prius hunc quam se videamus, eoque
distare ab speculo tantum semota videtur.

just as those things outside which are truly seen through,
when a door in itself offers an open prospect,
and makes many things outside to be seen from the house;
for that sight too is effected by a double and twin air.
for first the air on this side of the doorposts is discerned,
then the doors themselves follow, right and left,
afterward the external light and the air
the other, and those things outside which are truly seen through.
so, when first the image projected from the mirror has cast itself,
while it comes to our sight, it pushes and drives
the air which is set between it and our eyes,
and makes it so that we can sense all this first
than the mirror; but when we have sensed the mirror itself as well,
straightway the image which is borne from us onto it
arrives, and, cast back, revisits our eyes
and, rolling along another air and propelling it before itself,
it makes us see this first rather than itself, and hence
it seems to stand off by just so much, removed from the mirror.

quare etiam atque etiam minime mirarier est par
* * *
illis quae reddunt speculorum ex aequore visum,
aëribus binis quoniam res confit utraque.
Nunc ea quae nobis membrorum dextera pars est,
in speculis fit ut in laeva videatur eo quod
planitiem ad speculi veniens cum offendit imago,
non convertitur incolumis, sed recta retrorsum
sic eliditur, ut siquis, prius arida quam sit
cretea persona, adlidat pilaeve trabive,
atque ea continuo rectam si fronte figuram
servet et elisam retro sese exprimat ipsa.
fiet ut, ante oculus fuerit qui dexter, ut idem
nunc sit laevus et e laevo sit mutua dexter.

wherefore again and again it is by no means to be marveled at
* * *
at those things which render the sight from the surface of mirrors,
since each matter is made by twin airs.
Now that which for us is the right part of the limbs,
in mirrors comes to be seen as on the left for this reason: because
when the image, coming to the plane of the mirror, meets it,
it is not turned intact, but is driven straight backward
just as if someone, before a cretaceous persona were dry,
should dash it against a pier or a beam,
and it should straightway keep the figure straight if by the front
and, having been dashed, press itself out back again.
it will come about that the eye which previously was the right,
now is the left, and by mutual exchange from the left the right.

Fit quoque de speculo in speculum ut tradatur imago,
quinque etiam [aut] sex ut fieri simulacra suërint.
nam quae cumque retro parte interiore latebunt,
inde tamen, quamvis torte penitusque remota,
omnia per flexos aditus educta licebit
pluribus haec speculis videantur in aedibus esse.
usque adeo speculo in speculum translucet imago,
et cum laeva data est, fit rusum ut dextera fiat,
inde retro rursum redit et convertit eodem.

It also comes about that from mirror to mirror the image is transmitted,
so that even five [or] six simulacra may come to be.
for whatever shall lie hidden behind in the inner part,
from there nevertheless, although twisted and far withdrawn deep within,
all, drawn out through bent approaches, it will be possible
by means of several mirrors to be seen to be in the house.
to such a degree from mirror to mirror the image shines through,
and when the left has been given, it comes about again that it becomes the right,
then from there back again it returns and is converted to the same.

    Quin etiam quae cumque latuscula sunt speculorum
adsimili lateris flexura praedita nostri,
dextera ea propter nobis simulacra remittunt,
aut quia de speculo in speculum transfertur imago,
inde ad nos elisa bis advolat, aut etiam quod
circum agitur, cum venit, imago propterea quod
flexa figura docet speculi convertier ad nos.
    Indugredi porro pariter simulacra pedemque
ponere nobiscum credas gestumque imitari
propterea quia, de speculi qua parte recedas,
continuo nequeunt illinc simulacra reverti;
omnia quandoquidem cogit natura referri
ac resilire ab rebus ad aequos reddita flexus.
    Splendida porro oculi fugitant vitantque tueri.

    Nay more, whatever mirrors are somewhat broad,
endowed with a flexure of side like to our own side,
for that reason send back to us right‑handed images,
either because the image is transferred from speculum to speculum,
thence to us, having been dashed off twice, it flies, or even because
it is turned around as it comes, for the bent figure of the mirror
teaches that it is converted toward us.
    Moreover, you would suppose the images to step forward together and to
set foot with us and to imitate our gesture,
because, from whatever part of the mirror you withdraw,
straightway the images cannot return from there;
since nature compels all things to be borne back
and to resile from objects, restored to equal flexures.
    Moreover, the eyes flee bright things and avoid looking upon them.

sol etiam caecat, contra si tendere pergas,
propterea quia vis magnast ipsius et alte
aëra per purum simulacra feruntur
et feriunt oculos turbantia composituras.
Praeterea splendor qui cumque est acer adurit
saepe oculos ideo quod semina possidet ignis
multa, dolorem oculis quae gignunt insinuando.
lurida praeterea fiunt quae cumque tuentur
arquati, quia luroris de corpore eorum
semina multa fluunt simulacris obvia rerum,
multaque sunt oculis in eorum denique mixta,
quae contage sua palloribus omnia pingunt.

The sun too blinds, if you go on to face it,
because the force of it is very great and far
through the pure air the images are borne
and they strike the eyes, disturbing their compositions.
Moreover whatever brilliance is sharp sears
the eyes often for this reason: that it possesses many seeds of fire,
which, insinuating themselves, generate pain in the eyes.
Further, whatever the jaundiced look upon becomes lurid,
because from their body many seeds of luridness
flow to meet the images of things,
and many, finally, are mixed into their eyes,
which by their contagion paint everything with pallors.

E tenebris autem quae sunt in luce tuemur
propterea quia, cum propior caliginis aër
ater init oculos prior et possedit apertos,
insequitur candens confestim lucidus aër,
qui quasi purgat eos ac nigras discutit umbras
aëris illius; nam multis partibus hic est
mobilior multisque minutior et mage pollens.
qui simul atque vias oculorum luce replevit
atque pate fecit, quas ante obsederat aër
, continuo rerum simulacra secuntur,
quae sita sunt in luce, lacessuntque ut videamus.
quod contra facere in tenebris e luce nequimus
propterea quia posterior caliginis aër
crassior insequitur, qui cuncta foramina complet
obsiditque vias oculorum, ne simulacra
possint ullarum rerum coniecta moveri.

But out of darkness we behold the things which are in the light
for this reason: when the nearer air of murk,
black, first enters the eyes and occupies them opened,
there follows immediately the gleaming, shining air,
which as it were purges them and scatters the black shadows
of that air; for in many respects this one is
more mobile, and by many parts more minute and more potent.
and as soon as it has filled the ways of the eyes with light
and made open those which before the air
black had besieged, immediately the simulacra of things follow,
which are set in the light, and they provoke us to see.
which, on the contrary, we are unable to do in darkness from the light
because a subsequent, thicker air of murk
follows, which fills all the openings
and besieges the ways of the eyes, lest the simulacra
of any things, cast toward them, be able to move.

Quadratasque procul turris cum cernimus urbis,
propterea fit uti videantur saepe rutundae,
angulus optusus quia longe cernitur omnis
sive etiam potius non cernitur ac perit eius
plaga nec ad nostras acies perlabitur ictus,
aëra per multum quia dum simulacra feruntur,
cogit hebescere eum crebris offensibus aër.
hoc ubi suffugit sensum simul angulus omnis.
fit quasi ut ad turnum saxorum structa tuantur;
non tamen ut coram quae sunt vereque rutunda,
sed quasi adumbratim paulum simulata videntur.
Umbra videtur item nobis in sole moveri
et vestigia nostra sequi gestumque imitari,
aëra si credis privatum lumine posse
indugredi, motus hominum gestumque sequentem;
nam nihil esse potest aliud nisi lumine cassus
aër id quod nos umbram perhibere suëmus.

And when we discern from afar the square towers of a city,
it comes about that they often seem rotund,
because every obtuse angle is seen at a distance
or rather is not seen, and its plane perishes,
nor does the impact of its surface glide to our lines of sight,
because while the simulacra are carried through much air,
the air by frequent collisions forces it to grow dull.
when this at once escapes sensation, every angle as well.
it happens as if they are gazed at as constructed to a rounded pile of stones;
not, however, like those which are truly and actually rotund when before us,
but they seem, as it were, a little adumbrated and simulated.
Likewise a shadow appears to us to move in the sun
and to follow our footsteps and imitate our gesture,
if you believe that air deprived of light is able
to enter in, following the motions and gesture of men;
for it can be nothing else but air void of light,
that which we are wont to call “shadow.”

ni mirum, quia terra locis ex ordine certis
lumine privatur solis qua cumque meantes
officimus, repletur item quod liquimus eius,
propterea fit uti videatur, quae fuit umbra
corporis, e regione eadem nos usque secuta.
semper enim nova se radiorum lumina fundunt
primaque dispereunt, quasi in ignem lana trahatur.
propterea facile et spoliatur lumine terra
et repletur item nigrasque sibi abluit umbras.

No wonder, because the earth in places in fixed order
is deprived of the sun’s light wherever, as we pass along,
we obstruct it; likewise that part of it which we have left is refilled with it;
therefore it comes about that what was the shadow
of the body appears, in the same quarter over-against, to have followed us all the way.
for ever new lights of the rays pour themselves forth,
and the first are dissipated, as wool is drawn into fire.
therefore the earth is both easily stripped of light
and likewise refilled, and washes off from itself the black shadows.

Nec tamen hic oculos falli concedimus hilum.
nam quo cumque loco sit lux atque umbra tueri
illorum est; eadem vero sint lumina necne,
umbraque quae fuit hic eadem nunc transeat illuc,
an potius fiat paulo quod diximus ante,
hoc animi demum ratio discernere debet,
nec possunt oculi naturam noscere rerum.
proinde animi vitium hoc oculis adfingere noli.

Nor yet do we concede in the least that the eyes are deceived here.
for in whatever place light and shadow may be, to observe them
is theirs; but whether the lights are the same or not,
and whether the shadow which was here now passes over there as the same,
or rather what we said a little before comes to be,
this the mind’s reason ought in the end to discern,
nor can the eyes know the nature of things.
therefore do not impute this fault of the mind to the eyes.

Qua vehimur navi, fertur, cum stare videtur;
quae manet in statione, ea praeter creditur ire.
et fugere ad puppim colles campique videntur,
quos agimus praeter navem velisque volamus.
Sidera cessare aetheriis adfixa cavernis
cuncta videntur, et adsiduo sunt omnia motu,
quandoquidem longos obitus exorta revisunt,
cum permensa suo sunt caelum corpore claro.

The ship in which we are carried is borne along, when it seems to stand still;
that which remains in station is believed to be going past.
and hills and plains seem to flee toward the stern,
which we drive past beside the ship and with our sails we fly.
The stars, fixed to the ethereal caverns,
all seem to be at rest, and yet all are in assiduous motion,
since, once arisen, they revisit their long goings-down,
when with their own bright body they have traversed the heaven.

solque pari ratione manere et luna videtur
in statione, ea quae ferri res indicat ipsa.
Exstantisque procul medio de gurgite montis
classibus inter quos liber patet exitus ingens,
insula coniunctis tamen ex his una videtur.
atria versari et circum cursare columnae
usque adeo fit uti pueris videantur, ubi ipsi
desierunt verti, vix ut iam credere possint
non supra sese ruere omnia tecta minari.

and the sun too by equal reasoning seems to remain, and the moon,
in station; yet the very fact itself indicates that they are borne along.
And mountains standing out far off from the midst of the surge,
between which a free, vast exit lies open for the fleets,
yet one island, however, seems to be made from these when conjoined.
halls to revolve and columns to run around in a circuit
so far it comes about that they seem to boys, when they themselves
have ceased to turn, that they can scarcely now believe
that not all the roofs above are threatening to rush down upon them.

    Iamque rubrum tremulis iubar ignibus erigere alte
cum coeptat natura supraque extollere montes,
quos tibi tum supra sol montis esse videtur
comminus ipse suo contingens fervidus igni,
vix absunt nobis missus bis mille sagittae,
vix etiam cursus quingentos saepe veruti;
inter eos solemque iacent immania ponti
aequora substrata aetheriis ingentibus oris,
interiectaque sunt terrarum milia multa,
quae variae retinent gentes et saecla ferarum.
    At coniectus aquae digitum non altior unum,
qui lapides inter sistit per strata viarum,
despectum praebet sub terras inpete tanto,
a terris quantum caeli patet altus hiatus,
nubila despicere et caelum ut videare videre,
corpora mirande sub terras abdita caelo.
    Denique ubi in medio nobis ecus acer obhaesit
flumine et in rapidas amnis despeximus undas,
stantis equi corpus transversum ferre videtur
vis et in adversum flumen contrudere raptim,
et quo cumque oculos traiecimus omnia ferri
et fluere adsimili nobis ratione videntur.

    And now, when nature begins to raise on high the red radiance with tremulous fires
and to lift up the mountains above, over which the sun then seems to you
to be above, close at hand itself touching with its own fervid fire,
scarcely are they distant from us by 2,000 arrow-shots,
scarcely even often by 500 courses of the javelin;
and between them and the sun lie the immense levels of the sea
spread beneath the vast aetherial edges, and many thousands of lands
are interposed, which diverse nations and the races of beasts hold.
    But a pooling of water not higher than a single finger,
which stands between stones along the pavements of roads,
offers a prospect down beneath the earth with so great a plunge,
as far from the earth as the lofty hiatus of the sky extends,
so that you seem to look down upon clouds and to see the sky,
the bodies of heaven, wondrously, hidden beneath the earth.
    Finally, when our keen horse stuck fast for us
in mid-river and we looked down into the rapid waves of the stream,
the force seems to carry the standing horse’s body sideways
and to thrust it swiftly upstream against the river,
and wherever we cast our eyes, all things seem to be borne along
and to flow for us by a similar rationale.

Porticus aequali quamvis est denique ductu
stansque in perpetuum paribus suffulta columnis,
longa tamen parte ab summa cum tota videtur,
paulatim trahit angusti fastigia coni,
tecta solo iungens atque omnia dextera laevis
donec in obscurum coni conduxit acumen.
In pelago nautis ex undis ortus in undis
sol fit uti videatur obire et condere lumen;
quippe ubi nil aliud nisi aquam caelumque tuentur;
ne leviter credas labefactari undique sensus.
at maris ignaris in portu clauda videntur
navigia aplustris fractis obnitier undis.

Although a portico is, in the end, of an equal alignment
and standing perpetually, borne up by equal columns,
yet, when as a whole it is seen from the end along its long stretch,
it gradually draws the gables to the peak of a narrow cone,
joining the roof to the ground and all the right-hand with the left-hand
until it has led together into obscurity the apex of the cone.
Out on the deep, for sailors, risen from the waves and in the waves
the sun comes to seem to go down and to hide its light;
since there they behold nothing else but water and sky;
do not lightly believe that the senses are being shaken on every side.
but to those ignorant of the sea, in harbor the ships seem crippled
to brace against the waves with their aplusters broken.

nam quae cumque supra rorem salis edita pars est
remorum, recta est, et recta superne guberna;
quae demersa liquore obeunt, refracta videntur
omnia converti sursumque supina reverti
et reflexa prope in summo fluitare liquore.
    Raraque per caelum cum venti nubila portant
tempore nocturno, tum splendida signa videntur
labier adversum nimbos atque ire superne
longe aliam in partem ac vera ratione feruntur
    At si forte oculo manus uni subdita supter
pressit eum, quodam sensu fit uti videantur
omnia quae tuimur fieri tum bina tuendo,
bina lucernarum florentia lumina flammis
binaque per totas aedis geminare supellex
et duplicis hominum facies et corpora bina.
    Denique cum suavi devinxit membra sopore
somnus et in summa corpus iacet omne quiete,
tum vigilare tamen nobis et membra movere
nostra videmur, et in noctis caligine caeca
cernere censemus solem lumenque diurnum,
conclusoque loco caelum mare flumina montis
mutare et campos pedibus transire videmur,
et sonitus audire, severa silentia noctis
undique cum constent, et reddere dicta tacentes.

for whatever part of the oars that is raised above the briny dew
is straight, and the rudders above are straight;
the parts that go submerged in the liquid seem refracted,
all turned about and to return upturned upwards,
and, bent back, to float close to the surface of the liquid.
    And when, thin and scattered, the winds carry clouds through the sky
in the nighttime, then the splendid constellations seem
to glide against the rain-clouds and to go above,
far in a different direction than that in which by true account they are borne.
    But if by chance the hand, placed underneath, has pressed one eye,
by a certain sensation it comes to pass that all the things we behold
then seem to become double in the viewing—
two flourishing lights of lamps with their flames,
and the furniture through the whole house to be doubled,
and the double faces of men and twin bodies.
    Finally, when sleep has bound our limbs with sweet slumber
and the whole body lies in utmost repose,
then we seem to ourselves to be awake and to move our limbs,
and in the caliginous darkness of night we judge we discern
the sun and the light of day, and, though in an enclosed place,
we seem to change sky, sea, rivers, mountains,
and to cross fields on our feet, and to hear sounds,
though the severe silences of night stand firm on every side,
and, being silent, to render words.

Cetera de genere hoc mirande multa videmus,
quae violare fidem quasi sensibus omnia quaerunt,
ne quiquam, quoniam pars horum maxima fallit
propter opinatus animi, quos addimus ipsi,
pro visis ut sint quae non sunt sensibus visa;
nam nihil aegrius est quam res secernere apertas
ab dubiis, animus quas ab se protinus addit.
Denique nil sciri siquis putat, id quoque nescit
an sciri possit, quoniam nil scire fatetur.
hunc igitur contra minuam contendere causam,
qui capite ipse suo in statuit vestigia sese.

Other things of this kind, many marvelously we see,
which, as it were, all seek to violate the faith owed to the senses,
yet in vain, since the greatest part of these deceives
because of the opinions of the mind, which we ourselves add,
so that things not seen by the senses may be as if seen as sights;
for nothing is more troublesome than to separate things open and evident
from doubtful ones, which the mind straightway adds from itself.
Finally, if anyone thinks nothing can be known, he does not know this either—
whether it can be known—since he confesses to know nothing.
therefore against this man I will strive to lessen the case,
who with his own head sets down his footsteps.

et tamen hoc quoque uti concedam scire, at id ipsum
quaeram, cum in rebus veri nil viderit ante,
unde sciat quid sit scire et nescire vicissim,
notitiam veri quae res falsique crearit
et dubium certo quae res differre probarit.
invenies primis ab sensibus esse creatam
notitiem veri neque sensus posse refelli.
nam maiore fide debet reperirier illud,
sponte sua veris quod possit vincere falsa.

and yet this too, that I should concede he knows, but I will ask this very thing,
since he has seen nothing of the true in things before,
whence he knows what it is to know and, in turn, not to know,
what thing has created the notion of the true and of the false,
and what thing has proved that the doubtful differs from the certain.
you will find that the notion of the true has been created from the first, by the senses,
and that the senses cannot be refuted.
for with greater faith must that be discovered,
which of its own accord can, by truths, conquer false things.

quid maiore fide porro quam sensus haberi
debet? an ab sensu falso ratio orta valebit
dicere eos contra, quae tota ab sensibus orta est?
qui nisi sunt veri, ratio quoque falsa fit omnis.

What ought to be held with greater credence than the senses?
Or will reason, arisen from a false sense, avail
to speak against them, which is wholly arisen from the senses?
If these are not true, then all reason likewise becomes false.

An poterunt oculos aures reprehendere, an aures
tactus? an hunc porro tactum sapor arguet oris,
an confutabunt nares oculive revincent?
non, ut opinor, ita est.

Will the ears be able to reprehend the eyes, or will touch the ears?
Or will the taste of the mouth further arraign this touch,
or will the nostrils confute it, or will the eyes reconvict?
not so, as I opine, it is.

nam seorsum cuique potestas
divisast, sua vis cuiquest, ideoque necesse est
et quod molle sit et gelidum fervensve videre
et seorsum varios rerum sentire colores
et quae cumque coloribus sint coniuncta necessest.
seorsus item sapor oris habet vim, seorsus odores
nascuntur, seorsum sonitus. ideoque necesse est
non possint alios alii convincere sensus.

for separately to each the power has been divided, its own force to each there is, and therefore it is necessary
both to perceive what is soft and gelid or seething,
and separately to sense the various colors of things,
and it is necessary to sense whatever things are conjoined with colors.
separately likewise the taste of the mouth has its force, separately odors
arise, separately sounds. and therefore it is necessary
that the senses cannot refute one another.

nec porro poterunt ipsi reprehendere sese,
aequa fides quoniam debebit semper haberi.
proinde quod in quoquest his visum tempore, verumst.
Et si non poterit ratio dissolvere causam,
cur ea quae fuerint iuxtim quadrata, procul sint
visa rutunda, tamen praestat rationis egentem
reddere mendose causas utriusque figurae,
quam manibus manifesta suis emittere quoquam
et violare fidem primam et convellere tota
fundamenta quibus nixatur vita salusque.

nor furthermore will they themselves be able to refute themselves,
since equal credence ought always to be had. therefore whatever in each one has seemed at this time is true.
And if reason cannot dissolve the cause,
why things which have been square when near, from far off are seen
as round, nevertheless it is better, though lacking a rationale, to render wrongly
the causes of each figure, than to let slip anywhere the things
manifest to the hands, and to violate the primal faith and tear up by the roots the whole
foundations on which life and safety rest.

non modo enim ratio ruat omnis, vita quoque ipsa
concidat extemplo, nisi credere sensibus ausis
praecipitisque locos vitare et cetera quae sint
in genere hoc fugienda, sequi contraria quae sint.
illa tibi est igitur verborum copia cassa
omnis, quae contra sensus instructa paratast.
Denique ut in fabrica, si pravast regula prima,
normaque si fallax rectis regionibus exit,
et libella aliqua si ex parti claudicat hilum,
omnia mendose fieri atque obstipa necessu est
prava cubantia prona supina atque absona tecta,
iam ruere ut quaedam videantur velle, ruantque
prodita iudiciis fallacibus omnia primis,
sic igitur ratio tibi rerum prava necessest
falsaque sit, falsis quae cumque ab sensibus ortast.

not only would all reason collapse, but life itself
would at once fall down, unless you dared to trust the senses
and to avoid headlong places and the other things that are
in this kind to be fled, and to follow the things that are contrary.
therefore that entire abundance of words is empty for you,
which has been equipped and arrayed against the senses.
finally, as in a workshop, if the first rule is crooked,
and if the square, deceitful, departs from straight alignments,
and if some level limps by even a hair’s breadth on one side,
everything must be made amiss and awry—
crooked, sagging structures, leaning forward, leaning back, and out of tune—,
so that already some seem to want to collapse, and do collapse,
all betrayed by false first judgments,
thus, therefore, your reckoning of things must be crooked
and false, whatever has arisen from false senses.

Nunc alii sensus quo pacto quisque suam rem
sentiat, haud quaquam ratio scruposa relicta est.
Principio auditur sonus et vox omnis, in auris
insinuata suo pepulere ubi corpore sensum.
corpoream quoque enim [vocem] constare fatendumst
et sonitum, quoniam possunt inpellere sensus.

Now, in what way the other senses each perceive their own thing,
by no means has scrupulous reasoning been left aside.
In the beginning, sound and every voice is heard, when, insinuated
into the ears with their own body, they have struck the sense.
for it must be confessed that the [voice] and the sound are corporeal as well,
and consist of body, since they can impel the senses.

Praeterea radit vox fauces saepe facitque
asperiora foras gradiens arteria clamor,
quippe per angustum turba maiore coorta
ire foras ubi coeperunt primordia vocum.
scilicet expletis quoque ianua raditur oris.
haud igitur dubiumst quin voces verbaque constent
corporeis e principiis, ut laedere possint.

Moreover the voice scrapes the throats often and, going outwards, the shout makes the arteries rougher,
since, through a narrow place, when a larger throng has arisen,
the first-beginnings of voices have begun to go forth.
to be sure, even the door of the mouth is scraped when filled.
therefore it is by no means doubtful that voices and words consist
of corporeal first-beginnings, so that they can wound.

nec te fallit item quid corporis auferat et quid
detrahat ex hominum nervis ac viribus ipsis
perpetuus sermo nigrai noctis ad umbram
aurorae perductus ab exoriente nitore,
praesertim si cum summost clamore profusus.
ergo corpoream vocem constare necessest,
multa loquens quoniam amittit de corpore partem.
Asperitas autem vocis fit ab asperitate
principiorum et item levor levore creatur;
nec simili penetrant auris primordia forma,
cum tuba depresso graviter sub murmure mugit
et reboat raucum retro cita barbita bombum,
et [iam] Dauliades natae hortis ex Heliconis
cum liquidam tollunt lugubri voce querellam.

nor does it escape you likewise what of body it carries off and what it subtracts from the very sinews and strengths of men
a perpetual discourse drawn on to the shade of black night
from the arising splendor of dawn,
especially if it has been poured out with the utmost clamor.
therefore it is necessary that the voice be corporeal,
since by speaking much it loses a part from its body.
But the asperity of the voice arises from the asperity
of the first-beginnings, and likewise smoothness is created by smoothness;
nor do the first-beginnings penetrate the ears in a similar form,
when the trumpet bellows heavily with a pressed-down murmur,
and the swift barbita echoes back a hoarse boom behind,
and [now] the Daulian daughters from the gardens of Helicon,
when they raise a liquid lament with a mournful voice.

Hasce igitur penitus voces cum corpore nostro
exprimimus rectoque foras emittimus ore,
mobilis articulat nervorum daedala lingua,
formaturaque labrorum pro parte figurat.
hoc ubi non longum spatiumst unde illa profecta
perveniat vox quaeque, necessest verba quoque ipsa
plane exaudiri discernique articulatim;
servat enim formaturam servatque figuram.
at si inter positum spatium sit longius aequo,
aëra per multum confundi verba necessest
et conturbari vocem, dum transvolat auras.

Thus these voices from deep within we express with our body
and with the mouth set straight we send them forth outside,
the mobile, daedal tongue of the nerves articulates,
and the forming of the lips in part shapes the figure.
when there is not a long space from where those set out
for each voice to reach, it is necessary that the very words too
plainly be overheard and distinguished articulately;
for it preserves the formation and preserves the figure.
but if the space placed between be longer than is meet,
it is necessary that the words be confounded through much air
and the voice be disturbed, while it flies across the breezes.

ergo fit, sonitum ut possis sentire neque illam
internoscere, verborum sententia quae sit;
usque adeo confusa venit vox inque pedita.
Praeterea verbum saepe unum perciet auris
omnibus in populo missum praeconis ab ore.
in multas igitur voces vox una repente
diffugit, in privas quoniam se dividit auris
obsignans formam verbis clarumque sonorem.

therefore it comes about, that you can sense the sound yet not discern what the meaning of the words is;
to such a degree the voice comes confused and impeded.
Moreover a single word often strikes the ears,
sent to all in the populace from the herald’s mouth.
into many voices, therefore, one voice suddenly
diffuses, since it divides itself into private ears,
sealing to the words their form and clear sound.

at quae pars vocum non auris incidit ipsas,
praeter lata perit frustra diffusa per auras.
pars solidis adlisa locis reiecta sonorem
reddit et inter dum frustratur imagine verbi.
Quae bene cum videas, rationem reddere possis
tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola
saxa paris formas verborum ex ordine reddant.

but that part of the sounds which does not strike the ears themselves,
passing beyond is lost, vainly diffused through the broad airs.
a part, dashed against solid places and thrown back, gives back a sound
and sometimes deludes with an image of a word.
Which, when you see well, you can render the reason
yourself to yourself and to others, in what way through solitary places
rocks give back like forms of words in order.

palantis comites com montis inter opacos
quaerimus et magna dispersos voce ciemus.
sex etiam aut septem loca vidi reddere vocis,
unam cum iaceres: ita colles collibus ipsi
verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referri.
haec loca capripedes Satyros Nymphasque tenere
finitimi fingunt et Faunos esse locuntur,
quorum noctivago strepitu ludoque iocanti
adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi
chordarumque sonos fieri dulcisque querellas,
tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum,
et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan
pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans
unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hiantis,
fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam.

we seek our straggling companions among the shady mountains
and call the dispersed with a great voice.
I have even seen six or seven places give back the voice,
when you cast a single one: thus the hills to the hills themselves,
repulsing the words, would iterate the spoken things to be carried back.
the neighbors feign that goat-footed Satyrs and Nymphs inhabit these places
and speak that there are Fauns, by whose night-wandering
noise and jocant play they commonly affirm the tacit silences to be broken
and the sounds of strings to arise and sweet laments,
which the tibia pours forth, struck by the singers’ fingers,
and that the race of farmers far and wide becomes aware, when Pan,
shaking the piney veils of his half-beast head,
with hooked lip often runs over the gaping reeds,
lest the pipe cease to pour forth the sylvan Muse.

cetera de genere hoc monstra ac portenta loquontur,
ne loca deserta ab divis quoque forte putentur
sola tenere. ideo iactant miracula dictis
aut aliqua ratione alia ducuntur, ut omne
humanum genus est avidum nimis auricularum.
Quod super est, non est mirandum qua ratione,
per loca quae nequeunt oculi res cernere apertas,
haec loca per voces veniant aurisque lacessant,
conloquium clausis foribus quoque saepe videmus;
ni mirum quia vox per flexa foramina rerum
incolumis transire potest, simulacra renutant;
perscinduntur enim, nisi recta foramina tranant,
qualia sunt vitrei, species qua travolat omnis.

the rest speak of monsters and portents of this kind,
lest the deserted places perhaps be thought to be held by the gods alone.
for that reason they vaunt miracles in their sayings,
or are led by some other rationale, since the whole
human race is too avid of hearing.
As to what remains, it is not a marvel by what reasoning,
through places where the eyes are not able to discern things in the open,
voices come through these places and provoke the ears;
we often see colloquy even with doors shut;
no wonder, since voice can pass unharmed through the bent openings of things,
unharmed to cross, while the simulacra draw back;
for they are rent asunder, unless they traverse straight openings,
such as are those of glass, through which every semblance flies across.

praeterea partis in cunctas dividitur vox,
ex aliis aliae quoniam gignuntur, ubi una
dissuluit semel in multas exorta, quasi ignis
saepe solet scintilla suos se spargere in ignis.
ergo replentur loca vocibus abdita retro,
omnia quae circum fervunt sonituque cientur.
at simulacra viis derectis omnia tendunt,
ut sunt missa semel; qua propter cernere nemo
saepe supra potis est, at voces accipere extra.

moreover the voice is divided into all parts,
since from others others are generated, when one,
once arisen, has burst apart into many, just as fire
a spark is often wont to scatter itself into its own fires.
therefore the places hidden back within are filled with voices,
all things around seethe and are stirred by the sound.
but the simulacra all aim along straight ways,
as they have once been sent; wherefore no one
can often see beyond, but can receive voices from outside.

et tamen ipsa quoque haec, dum transit clausa [domorum>
vox optunditur atque auris confusa penetrat
et sonitum potius quam verba audire videmur.
Hoc, qui sentimus sucum, lingua atque palatum
plusculum habent in se rationis, plus operai.
principio sucum sentimus in ore, cibum cum
mandendo exprimimus, ceu plenam spongiam aquai
siquis forte manu premere ac siccare coëpit.

and yet even this itself, while it passes the closed parts of houses,
the voice is blunted and, confused, penetrates the ear,
and we seem to hear sound rather than words.
In this matter, as to how we sense sap, the tongue and the palate
have in themselves a little more of reason, more of work.
to begin with, we sense sap in the mouth, when by chewing we
press out the food, as if someone perchance began to squeeze and dry with the hand
a sponge full of water.

inde quod exprimimus per caulas omne palati
diditur et rarae per flexa foramina linguae,
hoc ubi levia sunt manantis corpora suci,
suaviter attingunt et suaviter omnia tractant
umida linguai circum sudantia templa;
at contra pungunt sensum lacerantque coorta,
quanto quaeque magis sunt asperitate repleta.
deinde voluptas est e suco fine palati;
cum vero deorsum per fauces praecipitavit,
nulla voluptas est, dum diditur omnis in artus;
nec refert quicquam quo victu corpus alatur,
dum modo quod capias concoctum didere possis
artubus et stomachi tumidum servare tenorem.
Nunc aliis alius qui sit cibus ut videamus,
expediam, quareve, aliis quod triste et amarumst,
hoc tamen esse aliis possit perdulce videri,
tantaque [in] his rebus distantia differitasque est,
ut quod aliis cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum;
est itaque ut serpens, hominis quae tacta salivis
disperit ac sese mandendo conficit ipsa.

thence what we squeeze out through all the passages of the palate
is distributed and through the winding foramina of the rarefied tongue,
when the bodies of the oozing juice are smooth,
they sweetly touch and sweetly handle all things
around the moist, sweating precincts of the tongue;
but on the contrary they sting the sense and lacerate it when arisen,
the more each is filled with roughness.
then the pleasure is from the juice at the boundary of the palate;
but when it has plunged downward through the fauces,
there is no pleasure, while it is distributed into the limbs;
nor does it matter at all by what victual the body is nourished,
provided only that what you take, having been concocted, you can distribute
to the limbs and preserve the stomach’s distended tenor.
Now, that we may see how for different beings a different food is,
I will set forth, and why what is harsh and bitter to some
can yet seem right-sweet to others,
and so great [in] these matters is distance and difference,
that what is food for some is for others a sharp venom;
thus it is as with a serpent, which, when touched by a man’s salivas,
perishes and by chewing brings destruction upon itself.

praeterea nobis veratrum est acre venenum,
at capris adipes et cocturnicibus auget.
id quibus ut fiat rebus cognoscere possis,
principio meminisse decet quae diximus ante,
semina multimodis in rebus mixta teneri.
porro omnes quae cumque cibum capiunt animantes,
ut sunt dissimiles extrinsecus et generatim
extima membrorum circumcaesura coërcet,
proinde et seminibus constant variantque figura.

furthermore for us hellebore is a harsh venom,
but in goats and in quails it increases fat.
that you may be able to know by what factors this comes to pass,
to begin with it is fitting to remember what we said before,
that seeds are held mingled in things in many ways.
further, all animate creatures whatsoever that take food,
inasmuch as they are dissimilar outwardly and by genus,
the outer circumscription of the limbs confines them;
accordingly they are composed of seeds and vary in figure.

semina cum porro distent, differre necessest
intervalla viasque, foramina quae perhibemus,
omnibus in membris et in ore ipsoque palato.
esse minora igitur quaedam maioraque debent,
esse triquetra aliis, aliis quadrata necessest,
multa rutunda, modis multis multangula quaedam.
namque figurarum ratio ut motusque reposcunt,
proinde foraminibus debent differe figurae
et variare viae proinde ac textura coërcet.

And since the seeds moreover are distinct, it must needs be that the intervals and the ways, the foramina which we term,
differ in all the members and in the mouth and in the palate itself.
Therefore certain must be smaller and others greater,
it is necessary that some be triquetrous, others quadrate,
many rotund, and some multangular in many modes.
For as the order of figures and their motions require,
accordingly the figures must differ for the foramina
and the ways vary likewise as the texture constrains.

hoc ubi quod suave est aliis aliis fit amarum,
illi, cui suave est, levissima corpora debent
contractabiliter caulas intrare palati,
at contra quibus est eadem res intus acerba,
aspera ni mirum penetrant hamataque fauces.
nunc facile est ex his rebus cognoscere quaeque.
quippe ubi cui febris bili superante coorta est
aut alia ratione aliquast vis excita morbi,
perturbatur ibi iam totum corpus et omnes
commutantur ibi positurae principiorum;
fit prius ad sensum [ut] quae corpora conveniebant
nunc non conveniant, et cetera sint magis apta,
quae penetrata queunt sensum progignere acerbum;
utraque enim sunt in mellis commixta sapore;
id quod iam supera tibi saepe ostendimus ante.

when this happens, that what is sweet to some becomes bitter to others,
for him to whom it is sweet, the very lightest bodies must
in a contractile way enter the passages of the palate;
but, conversely, for those to whom the same thing is bitter within,
doubtless rough and hooked ones penetrate the throat.
now it is easy from these matters to recognize each case.
for whenever a fever has arisen for someone, bile prevailing,
or by some other manner some force of disease has been aroused,
there the whole body is disturbed, and there all the placements
of the first-beginnings are changed;
it comes about first as to sensation [that] the bodies which used to fit
now do not fit, and that others are more apt,
which, having penetrated, can beget a harsh sensation;
for both sorts are commixed in the savor of honey;
a thing which already above we have often shown you before.

Nunc age, quo pacto naris adiectus odoris
tangat agam. primum res multas esse necessest
unde fluens volvat varius se fluctus odorum,
et fluere et mitti volgo spargique putandumst;
verum aliis alius magis est animantibus aptus,
dissimilis propter formas. ideoque per auras
mellis apes quamvis longe ducuntur odore,
volturiique cadaveribus; tum fissa ferarum
ungula quo tulerit gressum promissa canum vis
ducit, et humanum longe praesentit odorem
Romulidarum arcis servator, candidus anser.

Come now, I will set forth by what manner the nose is touched by the added odor.
first, it is necessary that there are many things whence, flowing, the varied wave of odors rolls itself,
and one must think that it both flows and is sent and is commonly scattered;
but one is more apt to some living beings than another, dissimilar on account of forms.
and therefore through the airs the bees, though far away, are led by the odor of honey,
and vultures by cadavers; then the cloven hoof of wild beasts, to where it has carried its step,
the far-reaching power of dogs leads, and from afar the guardian of the citadel of the Romulidae,
the white goose, perceives beforehand the human odor.

sic aliis alius nidor datus ad sua quemque
pabula ducit et a taetro resilire veneno
cogit, eoque modo servantur saecla ferarum.
Hic odor ipse igitur, naris qui cumque lacessit,
est alio ut possit permitti longius alter;
sed tamen haud quisquam tam longe fertur eorum
quam sonitus, quam vox, mitto iam dicere quam res
quae feriunt oculorum acies visumque lacessunt.
errabundus enim tarde venit ac perit ante
paulatim facilis distractus in aëris auras;
ex alto primum quia vix emittitur ex re;
nam penitus fluere atque recedere rebus odores
significat quod fracta magis redolere videntur
omnia, quod contrita, quod igni conlabefacta.

thus to some creatures one odor has been given, to others another, and it leads each to its own fodders and compels [them] to spring back from foul poison, and in this way the breeds of wild creatures are preserved.
Here, therefore, this odor itself, whichever provokes the nostrils,
is such that one kind can be permitted to go farther than another;
but yet none of them is borne so far
as sound, as voice—letting pass for now to say how far the things
which strike the keen sight of the eyes and tease the vision.
for, wandering, it comes slowly and perishes beforehand,
gradually, being easy to be torn apart into the breezes of the air;
first, because from deep within it is scarcely emitted out of a thing;
for that odors flow out from within and recede from things
is signified by the fact that all things seem to redolently smell more
when broken, when crushed, when loosened by fire.

deinde videre licet maioribus esse creatum
principiis quam vox, quoniam per saxea saepta
non penetrat, qua vox volgo sonitusque feruntur.
quare etiam quod olet non tam facile esse videbis
investigare in qua sit regione locatum;
refrigescit enim cunctando plaga per auras
nec calida ad sensum decurrunt nuntia rerum.
errant saepe canes itaque et vestigia quaerunt.

Then you may see that it is created from larger first-beginnings than voice,
since it does not penetrate through stony enclosures,
where voice and sound are commonly borne.
Wherefore you will also see that what smells is not so easy
to investigate in what region it is located;
for the blow cools by lingering through the airs
nor do the warm announcements of things run down to the sense.
Thus dogs often go astray and seek the tracks.

Nec tamen hoc solis in odoribus atque saporum
in generest, sed item species rerum atque colores
non ita conveniunt ad sensus omnibus omnes,
ut non sint aliis quaedam magis acria visu.
quin etiam gallum noctem explaudentibus alis
auroram clara consuetum voce vocare,
noenu queunt rapidi contra constare leones
inque tueri: ita continuo meminere fugai.
ni mirum quia sunt gallorum in corpore quaedam
semina, quae cum sunt oculis inmissa leonum,
pupillas interfodiunt acremque dolorem
praebent, ut nequeant contra durare feroces,
cum tamen haec nostras acies nil laedere possint,
aut quia non penetrant aut quod penetrantibus illis
exitus ex oculis liber datur, in remorando
laedere ne possint ex ulla lumina parte.

Nor yet is this only in odors and in the genus of savors, but likewise the species of things and their colors do not so agree to the senses, all to all, that there are not for some certain things more acrid to the view.
nay even the cock, with wings clapping out the night, accustomed with clear voice to call the dawn,
the swift lions are not able to stand against him and look upon him: thus at once they remember flight.
no wonder, because there are certain seeds in the body of cocks which, when they have been sent into the eyes of lions,
pierce the pupils and offer sharp pain, so that the fierce beasts cannot endure against him,
although these cannot harm our eyesight at all, either because they do not penetrate, or because, when they do penetrate,
a free exit is given out of the eyes, so that, in the delaying, they are not able to harm the lights from any part.

Nunc age, quae moveant animum res accipe, et unde
quae veniunt veniant in mentem percipe paucis.
principio hoc dico, rerum simulacra vagari
multa modis multis in cunctas undique partis
tenvia, quae facile inter se iunguntur in auris,
obvia cum veniunt, ut aranea bratteaque auri.
quippe etenim multo magis haec sunt tenvia textu
quam quae percipiunt oculos visumque lacessunt,
corporis haec quoniam penetrant per rara cientque
tenvem animi naturam intus sensumque lacessunt.

Now then, receive what things move the mind, and in brief grasp whence the things that come come into the mind.
First, I say this: simulacra of things wander
many, in many modes, into all parts on every side,
tenuous, which easily conjoin with one another in the air
when they come to meet, like a spider‑web and gold‑leaf.
For indeed these are by far more tenuous in texture
than those which are perceived by the eyes and provoke vision,
since these penetrate through the rarefied parts of the body and stir
the tenuous nature of the mind within and provoke sensation.

Centauros itaque et Scyllarum membra videmus
Cerbereasque canum facies simulacraque eorum
quorum morte obita tellus amplectitur ossa;
omnigenus quoniam passim simulacra feruntur,
partim sponte sua quae fiunt aëre in ipso,
partim quae variis ab rebus cumque recedunt
et quae confiunt ex horum facta figuris.
nam certe ex vivo Centauri non fit imago,
nulla fuit quoniam talis natura animata;
verum ubi equi atque hominis casu convenit imago,
haerescit facile extemplo, quod diximus ante,
propter subtilem naturam et tenvia texta.
cetera de genere hoc eadem ratione creantur.

Thus we see Centaurs and the limbs of Scyllas,
and Cerberean dog-faces and the images of those
whose bones the earth embraces when death has been undergone;
since simulacra of every kind are borne everywhere,
partly those which are formed of their own accord in the air itself,
partly those which withdraw from things of every sort,
and those which are confected from figures fashioned out of these.
For surely no image of a living Centaur is made,
since no such animate nature has existed;
but when by chance the image of a horse and of a man meets,
it sticks fast easily at once, as we said before,
on account of the subtle nature and the thin weavings.
The rest of this kind are produced by the same rationale.

quae cum mobiliter summa levitate feruntur,
ut prius ostendi, facile uno commovet ictu
quae libet una animum nobis subtilis imago;
tenvis enim mens est et mire mobilis ipsa.
haec fieri ut memoro, facile hinc cognoscere possis.
quatinus hoc simile est illi, quod mente videmus
atque oculis, simili fieri ratione necessest.

which, since they are borne with utmost lightness nimbly,
as I showed before, a single subtle image easily with one stroke
stirs our mind in whatever way it pleases; for the mind is tenuous
and itself wonderfully mobile. That these things happen as I recount,
you can easily from here come to know. Insofar as this is akin to that
which we see with the mind and with the eyes, it must be produced by a similar rationale.

Nunc igitur docui quoniam me forte leonum
cernere per simulacra, oculos quae cumque lacessunt,
scire licet mentem simili ratione moveri
per simulacra leonum [et] cetera quae videt aeque
nec minus atque oculi, nisi quod mage tenvia cernit.
nec ratione alia, cum somnus membra profudit,
mens animi vigilat, nisi quod simulacra lacessunt
haec eadem nostros animos quae cum vigilamus,
usque adeo, certe ut videamur cernere eum quem
rellicta vita iam mors et terra potitast.
hoc ideo fieri cogit natura, quod omnes
corporis offecti sensus per membra quiescunt
nec possunt falsum veris convincere rebus.

Now therefore, since I have taught that, whenever by chance I discern lions through simulacra—images whatever provoke the eyes—it is permitted to know that the mind is moved by a similar rationale
through simulacra of lions [and] the rest of things which it sees equally no less than the eyes, except that it discerns more tenuous things.
nor by any other rationale, when sleep has poured over the limbs,
does the mind of the spirit keep vigil, except that simulacra provoke
these same our minds as when we are awake, to such a degree, surely, that we seem to behold him whom
life has left and whom death and earth have now taken possession of.
nature compels this to happen for this reason, because all the senses
of the body, being affected, rest through the limbs and cannot convict the false by true things.

praeterea meminisse iacet languetque sopore,
nec dissentit eum mortis letique potitum
iam pridem, quem mens vivom se cernere credit.
quod super est, non est mirum simulacra moveri
bracchiaque in numerum iactare et cetera membra;
nam fit ut in somnis facere hoc videatur imago.
quippe, ubi prima perit alioque est altera nata
inde statu, prior hic gestum mutasse videtur.

moreover memory lies prostrate and languishes with slumber,
nor does it gainsay that he has long since come into possession of death and lethal doom,
the very one whom the mind believes it sees alive.
as to what remains, it is not a marvel that simulacra are moved
and toss the arms in rhythm and the other members;
for it comes about that in dreams the image seems to do this.
indeed, when the first has perished and another has been born from there
in a different position, the former seems to have changed its gesture.

scilicet id fieri celeri ratione putandumst:
tanta est mobilitas et rerum copia tanta
tantaque sensibili quovis est tempore in uno
copia particularum, ut possit suppeditare.
Multaque in his rebus quaeruntur multaque nobis
clarandumst, plane si res exponere avemus.
quaeritur in primis quare, quod cuique libido
venerit, extemplo mens cogitet eius id ipsum.

of course it must be thought to happen by a swift method:
so great is the mobility and so great the abundance of things,
and so great at any single sensible time is the supply of particles,
that it can furnish what is required.
And many things in these matters are inquired, and many things by us
must be made clear, plainly, if we are eager to set forth the matter.
it is asked first and foremost why, whatever desire has come to anyone,
straightway the mind thinks of that very thing.

anne voluntatem nostram simulacra tuentur
et simul ac volumus nobis occurrit imago,
si mare, si terram cordist, si denique caelum?
conventus hominum, pompam, convivia, pugnas,
omnia sub verbone creat natura paratque?
cum praesertim aliis eadem in regione locoque
longe dissimilis animus res cogitet omnis.

Or do the simulacra watch our will,
and as soon as we wish an image meets us,
if it is the sea, if the land is at heart, if finally the heaven?
gatherings of men, a pomp, banquets, combats—
does Nature at a word create and prepare all things?
especially since for others in the same region and place
a mind, far dissimilar, is thinking all sorts of things.

quid porro, in numerum procedere cum simulacra
cernimus in somnis et mollia membra movere,
mollia mobiliter cum alternis bracchia mittunt
et repetunt oculis gestum pede convenienti?
scilicet arte madent simulacra et docta vagantur,
nocturno facere ut possint in tempore ludos.
an magis illud erit verum?

What, moreover, when we discern in dreams simulacra proceeding in measure and moving soft limbs,
when soft arms nimbly send forth in alternation
and repeat for the eyes the gesture with a foot to match?
Surely the simulacra are steeped in art and wander trained,
so that they can put on performances in the night-time?
Or will that rather be true?

quia tempore in uno,
cum sentimus, id est cum vox emittitur una,
tempora multa latent, ratio quae comperit esse,
propterea fit uti quovis in tempore quaeque
praesto sint simulacra locis in quisque parata.
tanta est mobilitas et rerum copia tanta.
hoc ubi prima perit alioque est altera nata
inde statu, prior hic gestum mutasse videtur.

because in one time,
when we sense, that is, when one voice is emitted,
many times lie hidden, which reason has discovered to exist,
therefore it comes about that at any time whatsoever
the simulacra are at hand, each prepared in its respective places.
so great is the mobility and so great the copiousness of things.
when in this way the first perishes and another is born in its place,
then, from its position, the former here seems to have changed its gesture.

et quia tenvia sunt, nisi quae contendit, acute
cernere non potis est animus; proinde omnia quae sunt
praeterea pereunt, nisi quae ex se[se] ipse paravit.
ipse parat sese porro speratque futurum
ut videat quod consequitur rem quamque: fit ergo.
nonne vides oculos etiam, cum tenvia quae sunt
[praeterea pereunt, nisi quae ex se ipse paravit]
cernere coeperunt, contendere se atque parare,
nec sine eo fieri posse ut cernamus acute?

and because they are tenuous, unless it exerts itself, acutely
the mind is not able to discern; accordingly all the things that are
besides perish, unless what from himself [himself] he himself has prepared.
he himself prepares himself further and hopes that it will come to be
that he may see what follows upon each thing: therefore it happens.
do you not see the eyes too, when the things that are tenuous
[besides perish, unless what from himself he himself has prepared]
have begun to discern, to strain themselves and to make ready,
and that it cannot come to pass that we discern acutely without this?

et tamen in rebus quoque apertis noscere possis,
si non advertas animum, proinde esse quasi omni
tempore semotum fuerit longeque remotum.
cur igitur mirumst, animus si cetera perdit
praeter quam quibus est in rebus deditus ipse?
deinde adopinamur de signis maxima parvis
ac nos in fraudem induimus frustraminis ipsi.

and yet in things too that are open you can come to know,
if you do not advert the mind, that it is just as if at every
time it had been set apart and far removed. Why, therefore, is it a wonder,
if the mind loses the rest, except those things to which it is itself devoted?
then we opine from signs the greatest from the small,
and we lead ourselves into the fraud of the illusion itself.

Fit quoque ut inter dum non suppeditetur imago
eiusdem generis, sed femina quae fuit ante,
in manibus vir uti factus videatur adesse,
aut alia ex alia facies aetasque sequatur.
quod ne miremur sopor atque oblivia curant.
Illud in his rebus vitium vehementer Äinesse
effugere errorem vitareque praemetuenter,
lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata,
prospicere ut possimus, et ut proferre queamus
proceros passus, ideo fastigia posse
surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari,
bracchia tum porro validis ex apta lacertis
esse manusque datas utraque [ex] parte ministras,
ut facere ad vitam possemus quae foret usus.

It also comes to pass that sometimes an image is not supplied
of the same kind, but the female who was before,
in the hands a man as if made seems to be present,
or one face follows from another and one age from another.
Sleep and forgetfulness take care that we do not marvel at this.
That fault in these matters we must vehemently shun,
to escape the error and avoid it in fore-dread,
lest you make the lights of the eyes brightly created
so that we might look forth, and that we might be able to proffer
long strides; therefore that the declivities of the calves and thighs,
founded upon the feet, can be folded;
then moreover that the arms, fitted from sturdy upper arms,
have hands given on either side as ministers,
so that we could do the things which would be of use for life.

cetera de genere hoc inter quae cumque pretantur,
omnia perversa praepostera sunt ratione,
nil ideo quoniam natumst in corpore ut uti
possemus, sed quod natumst id procreat usum.
nec fuit ante videre oculorum lumina nata,
nec dictis orare prius quam lingua creatast,
sed potius longe linguae praecessit origo
sermonem multoque creatae sunt prius aures
quam sonus est auditus, et omnia denique membra
ante fuere, ut opinor, eorum quam foret usus;
haud igitur potuere utendi crescere causa.
at contra conferre manu certamina pugnae
et lacerare artus foedareque membra cruore
ante fuit multo quam lucida tela volarent,
et volnus vitare prius natura coëgit
quam daret obiectum parmai laeva per artem.

the rest of the things of this kind, whatever are vaunted among them,
are all with perverse, preposterous reason;
nothing therefore was born in the body in order that we might use it,
but what has been born, that engenders its use.
nor were the lights of the eyes born beforehand to see,
nor to entreat with words before the tongue was created,
but rather by far the origin of the tongue preceded discourse,
and much earlier were ears created than a sound was heard,
and, in fine, all the members were, as I think, before there was their use;
therefore the cause of using could not have grown them.
but on the contrary, to bring together by hand the contests of battle
and to lacerate the joints and defile the members with gore
was much earlier than that bright missiles should fly,
and nature compelled to avoid a wound earlier
than the left hand, by art, should offer the small-shield as an obstacle.

scilicet et fessum corpus mandare quieti
multo antiquius est quam lecti mollia strata,
et sedare sitim prius est quam pocula natum.
haec igitur possunt utendi cognita causa
credier, ex usu quae sunt vitaque reperta.
illa quidem seorsum sunt omnia, quae prius ipsa
nata dedere suae post notitiam utilitatis.

Of course, to commit the weary body to rest
is much more ancient than the soft strata of the bed,
and to allay thirst is earlier than cups were born.
therefore these things can be believed to have their known cause
in using—things which have been discovered from use and from life.
those indeed are all separate, which, themselves born earlier,
afterward gave the knowledge of their own utility.

quo genere in primis sensus et membra videmus;
quare etiam atque etiam procul est ut credere possis
utilitatis ob officium potuisse creari.
Illud item non est mirandum, corporis ipsa
quod natura cibum quaerit cuiusque animantis.
quippe etenim fluere atque recedere corpora rebus
multa modis multis docui, sed plurima debent
ex animalibus; [quae] quia sunt exercita motu,
multa per os exhalantur, cum languida anhelant,
multaque per sudorem ex alto pressa feruntur.

in which kind, first and foremost, we see the senses and the members;
wherefore again and again it is far from the case that you could believe
that they could have been created for the duty of utility.
Likewise, it is not to be wondered at, that the very nature
of the body of each living creature seeks food.
for indeed I have taught, in many ways, that bodies flow and recede from things,
and very many are due from living beings; [which] because they are exercised by motion,
many are exhaled through the mouth, when they pant languidly,
and many are carried out through sweat, pressed from the deep.

his igitur rebus rarescit corpus et omnis
subruitur natura, dolor quam consequitur rem.
propterea capitur cibus, ut suffulciat artus
et recreet vires inter datus, atque patentem
per membra ac venas ut amorem opturet edendi.
umor item discedit in omnia quae loca cumque
poscunt umorem; glomerataque multa vaporis
corpora, quae stomacho praebent incendia nostro,
dissupat adveniens liquor ac restinguit ut ignem,
urere ne possit calor amplius aridus artus.

by these things, therefore, the body rarefies and its whole
nature is undermined, a pain which follows this condition.
therefore food is taken, that it may underprop the limbs
and recreate the strengths when given at intervals, and that it may stop up
through the members and veins the gaping love of eating.
moisture likewise departs into whatever places
demand moisture; and many conglomerated bodies of vapor,
which furnish fires to our stomach, the arriving liquid
dissipates and extinguishes like a fire,
lest the dry heat can burn the limbs any longer.

sic igitur tibi anhela sitis de corpore nostro
abluitur, sic expletur ieiuna cupido.
Nunc qui fiat uti passus proferre queamus,
cum volumus, quareque datum sit membra movere
et quae res tantum hoc oneris protrudere nostri
corporis insuerit, dicam: tu percipe dicta.
dico animo nostro primum simulacra meandi
accidere atque animum pulsare, ut diximus ante.

thus therefore for you the panting thirst is washed off from our body, thus the hungry desire is filled.
Now how it comes to pass that we can put forth steps, when we wish, and for what reason it has been given to move the limbs, and what thing has made a habit to thrust forward so great a burden of our body, I will say: do you take in the words.
I say that to our mind first the simulacra of going befall and strike the mind, as we said before.

inde voluntas fit; neque enim facere incipit ullam
rem quisquam, [quam] mens providit quid velit ante.
id quod providet, illius rei constat imago,
ergo animus cum sese ita commovet ut velit ire
inque gredi, ferit extemplo quae in corpore toto
per membra atque artus animai dissita vis est;
et facilest factu, quoniam coniuncta tenetur.
inde ea proporro corpus ferit, atque ita tota
paulatim moles protruditur atque movetur.

thence will arises; for no one begins to do any
thing, [which] the mind has provided beforehand what it wants.
that which it provides, an image of that thing is constituted,
therefore when the mind so stirs itself that it wishes to go
and to step forth, it at once strikes the force of the soul which is spread
through the whole body through the members and joints; and it is easiest to do,
since it is held conjoined. then that in turn strikes the body, and thus the whole
mass little by little is thrust forward and is moved.

praeterea tum rarescit quoque corpus et aër,
scilicet ut debet qui semper mobilis extat,
per patefacta venit penetratque foramina largus,
et dispargitur ad partis ita quasque minutas
corporis. hic igitur rebus fit utrimque duabus,
corpus ut ac navis velis ventoque feratur.
nec tamen illud in his rebus mirabile constat,
tantula quod tantum corpus corpuscula possunt
contorquere et onus totum convertere nostrum;
quippe etenim ventus subtili corpore tenvis
trudit agens magnam magno molimine navem
et manus una regit quanto vis impete euntem
atque gubernaclum contorquet quo libet unum,
multaque per trocleas et tympana pondere magno
commovet atque levi sustollit machina nisu.

furthermore then the body too rarefies and the air,
as of course it ought, which ever is mobile,
through laid-open foramina it comes and penetrates in copious flow,
and is dispersed to each several minute parts
of the body. here therefore it happens by these two factors on both sides,
that the body, as a ship, is borne by sails and by wind.
nor yet in these matters does that stand as marvelous,
that such tiny corpuscles can
whirl so great a body and turn our whole burden;
for indeed the wind, thin with subtle body,
pushes, driving a great ship with great exertion,
and a single hand guides it, though going with so great force in onrush,
and twists the one rudder whither it pleases,
and many things through trocleas and tympana, with great weight,
a machine sets in motion and with light effort lifts up.

Nunc quibus ille modis somnus per membra quietem
inriget atque animi curas e pectore solvat,
suavidicis potius quom multis versibus edam,
parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruum quam
clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.
tu mihi da tenuis auris animumque sagacem,
ne fieri negites quae dicam posse retroque
vera repulsanti discedas pectore dicta,
tutemet in culpa cum sis neque cernere possis.
Principio somnus fit ubi est distracta per artus
vis animae partimque foras eiecta recessit
et partim contrusa magis concessit in altum;
dissoluuntur enim tum demum membra fluuntque.

Now by what modes sleep irrigates rest through the limbs
and loosens the cares of the mind from the breast,
I will set forth rather with many sweet-speaking verses,
even though small as it is, the swan’s song is better than
that clamor of cranes scattered in the aetherial clouds of the south wind.
give me delicate ears and a sagacious mind,
lest you deny that the things I say can be and, driving back,
depart from your breast the true words, you yourself being in the fault
when you cannot discern. In the beginning sleep comes to be when the force
of the soul has been scattered through the joints and in part cast out has withdrawn
outside, and in part, more compressed, has retired into the deep;
for then at last the limbs are dissolved and flow.

nam dubium non est, animai quin opera sit
sensus hic in nobis, quem cum sopor inpedit esse,
tum nobis animam perturbatam esse putandumst
eiectamque foras, non omnem; namque iaceret
aeterno corpus perfusum frigore leti.
quippe ubi nulla latens animai pars remaneret
in membris, cinere ut multa latet obrutus ignis,
unde reconflari sensus per membra repente
possit, ut ex igni caeco consurgere flamma?
Sed quibus haec rebus novitas confiat et unde
perturbari anima et corpus languescere possit,
expediam: tu fac ne ventis verba profundam.

for there is no doubt that this sense in us is by the operation of the soul,
which, when sleep hinders it to be,
then we must suppose the soul to be perturbed in us
and cast forth outside, not the whole; for the body would lie
bathed in the eternal cold of death.
indeed, if no hidden part of the soul were to remain
in the limbs, as much fire lies hidden, covered under ash,
whence could sense be rekindled through the limbs suddenly
as a flame rises up from blind fire?
But by what things this novelty is brought about and whence
the soul can be perturbed and the body languish,
I will expound: do you see to it that I do not pour words to the winds.

Principio externa corpus de parte necessum est,
aëriis quoniam vicinum tangitur auris,
tundier atque eius crebro pulsarier ictu,
proptereaque fere res omnes aut corio sunt
aut etiam conchis aut callo aut cortice tectae.
interiorem etiam partem spirantibus aër
verberat hic idem, cum ducitur atque reflatur.
quare utrimque secus cum corpus vapulet et cum
perveniant plagae per parva foramina nobis
corporis ad primas partis elementaque prima,
fit quasi paulatim nobis per membra ruina.

To begin with, from the external part it is necessary that the body, since, being near to the airy breezes, it is touched,
be pounded and frequently battered by their blow; and therefore almost all things are covered either with hide
or even with shells or with callus or with bark. The same air also lashes the inner part that breathes,
when it is drawn in and breathed back. Wherefore, when the body is flogged on both sides in turn, and when
the blows come through small openings to us, to the first parts of the body and the primal elements,
there comes to be, as it were, a ruin little by little through our limbs.

conturbantur enim positurae principiorum
corporis atque animi. fit uti pars inde animai
eliciatur et introrsum pars abdita cedat,
pars etiam distracta per artus non queat esse
coniuncta inter se neque motu mutua fungi;
inter enim saepit coetus natura viasque.
ergo sensus abit mutatis motibus alte.

for the positions of the principles of body and mind are thrown into confusion.
it comes about that a part of the soul is drawn out from there
and a hidden part withdraws inward,
a part too, distracted through the limbs, cannot be
conjoined among themselves nor discharge mutual function by motion;
for nature hedges in the gatherings and the pathways between.
therefore sense departs, with the motions changed, deep down.

et quoniam non est quasi quod suffulciat artus,
debile fit corpus languescuntque omnia membra,
bracchia palpebraeque cadunt poplitesque cubanti
saepe tamen summittuntur virisque resolvunt.
Deinde cibum sequitur somnus, quia, quae facit aër,
haec eadem cibus, in venas dum diditur omnis,
efficit. et multo sopor ille gravissimus exstat,
quem satur aut lassus capias, quia plurima tum se
corpora conturbant magno contusa labore.

and since there is, as it were, nothing to prop up the limbs,
the body becomes debile and all the members languish,
the arms and eyelids fall, and the knees to one reclining
are often let sink and unstring the strengths.
Then sleep follows food, because the same things which the air does,
this same the food, while it is all distributed into the veins,
effects. And by far that sleep is most heavy,
which you take when sated or wearied, because then very many
bodies throw themselves into disorder, bruised by great labor.

fit ratione eadem coniectus parte animai
altior atque foras eiectus largior eius,
et divisior inter se ac distractior intus.
Et quo quisque fere studio devinctus adhaeret
aut quibus in rebus multum sumus ante morati
atque in ea ratione fuit contenta magis mens,
in somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire:
causidici causas agere et componere leges,
induperatores pugnare ac proelia obire,
nautae contractum cum ventis degere bellum,
nos agere hoc autem et naturam quaerere rerum
semper et inventam patriis exponere chartis.
cetera sic studia atque artes plerumque videntur
in somnis animos hominum frustrata tenere.

it comes about by the same reasoning that the casting of a part of the soul
is loftier, and its ejection outward more ample,
and within it is more divided among itself and more distracted.
And to whatever pursuit each one is bound and clings by zeal,
or in what matters we have long before delayed,
and in that reasoning the mind has been more content,
in dreams we seem for the most part to go through the same:
advocates to plead causes and to compose laws,
imperators to fight and to enter upon battles,
sailors to wage a contracted war with the winds,
we to do this moreover, and to seek the nature of things
always and to set forth what we have found on our native pages.
thus the other pursuits and arts for the most part seem
in dreams to hold the minds of men in a delusive way.

et qui cumque dies multos ex ordine ludis
adsiduas dederunt operas, plerumque videmus,
cum iam destiterunt ea sensibus usurpare,
relicuas tamen esse vias in mente patentis,
qua possint eadem rerum simulacra venire;
per multos itaque illa dies eadem obversantur
ante oculos, etiam vigilantes ut videantur
cernere saltantis et mollia membra moventis
et citharae liquidum carmen chordasque loquentis
auribus accipere et consessum cernere eundem
scenaique simul varios splendere decores.
usque adeo magni refert studium atque voluntas,
et quibus in rebus consuerint esse operati
non homines solum sed vero animalia cuncta.
quippe videbis equos fortis, cum membra iacebunt,
in somnis sudare tamen spirareque semper
et quasi de palma summas contendere viris
aut quasi carceribus patefactis [edere voces>
venantumque canes in molli saepe quiete
iactant crura tamen subito vocisque repente
mittunt et crebro redducunt naribus auras.

and whoever for many days in succession at the games
have given assiduous labors, we very often see,
when they have now ceased to exercise those things with their senses,
that nevertheless the residual avenues of mind remain lying open,
by which the same simulacra of things can come;
accordingly through many days those same things hover
before the eyes, so that even waking they seem to
perceive dancers and one moving his soft limbs,
and to receive with their ears the limpid song of the cithara and the strings speaking,
and to behold the same sitting of the audience
and at the same time the various adornments of the stage shining.
usque adeo it greatly matters, zeal and will,
et in what things they have been accustomed to be occupied
not men alone but truly all animals.
for you will see brave horses, when their limbs are lying (at rest),
in dreams nevertheless to sweat and ever to breathe,
and as if for the palm to contend with utmost strengths,
or as if, the starting-gates thrown open, [to utter voices>
and the hunters’ hounds too, in gentle quiet,
yet toss their legs suddenly and at once send forth a cry,
and often draw back the airs with their nostrils.

ut vestigia si teneant inventa ferarum,
expergefactique secuntur inania saepe
cervorum simulacra, fugae quasi dedita cernant,
donec discussis redeant erroribus ad se.
at consueta domi catulorum blanda propago
discutere et corpus de terra corripere instant,
[iactant crura tamen subito vocisque repente
mittunt et crebro redducunt naribus auras
ut vestigia si teneant inventa ferarum
expergefactique secuntur inania saepe]
proinde quasi ignotas facies atque ora tuantur.
et quo quaeque magis sunt aspera seminiorum,
tam magis in somnis eadem saevire necessust.
at variae fugiunt volucres pinnisque repente
sollicitant divom nocturno tempore lucos,
accipitres somno in leni si proelia pugnas
edere sunt persectantes visaeque volantes.

as if they were holding the discovered tracks of wild-beasts,
and, awakened, they often follow empty phantoms
the simulacra of stags, as if they perceived them devoted to flight,
until, their errors shaken off, they return to themselves.
but the winsome offspring of whelps, accustomed at home,
press to shake themselves and to snatch the body up from the ground,
[they nonetheless toss their legs suddenly and suddenly
send forth a voice and often draw back the airs to their nostrils,
as if they were holding the discovered tracks of wild-beasts,
and, awakened, they often follow empty phantoms]
just as if they were gazing at unknown faces and features.
and the more rough the seeds-of-things are,
so much the more it is necessary that the same rage in dreams.
but various birds take flight and with their pinions suddenly
agitate the divine groves in the time of night,
if hawks, in gentle sleep, have been seen hotly pursuing to stage
battles and combats, and seen flying.

porro hominum mentes, magnis quae motibus edunt
magna, itidem saepe in somnis faciuntque geruntque,
reges expugnant, capiuntur, proelia miscent,
tollunt clamorem, quasi si iugulentur ibidem.
multi depugnant gemitusque doloribus edunt
et quasi pantherae morsu saevive leonis
mandantur, magnis clamoribus omnia complent.
multi de magnis per somnum rebus loquuntur
indicioque sui facti persaepe fuere.

furthermore the minds of men, which by great motions bring forth great things,
likewise often in sleep both do and carry on;
kings they storm, are captured, battles they mingle,
they lift a clamor, as if they were being slaughtered right there.
many fight it out and emit groans from pains,
and as if by the bite of a panther or a savage lion
they are chewed, with great clamors they fill everything.
many speak in sleep about great affairs
and have very often been an indication of their own deed.

multi mortem obeunt. multi, de montibus altis
ut quasi praecipitent ad terram corpore toto,
exterruntur et ex somno quasi mentibus capti
vix ad se redeunt permoti corporis aestu.
flumen item sitiens aut fontem propter amoenum
adsidet et totum prope faucibus occupat amnem.

many meet death. many, from high mountains
as if they headlong-precipitate to the ground with their whole body,
are terrified and from sleep, as if seized in their minds,
scarcely return to themselves, stirred by the body’s heat.
likewise a thirsty man, by a river or near a pleasant spring,
sits down and almost with his jaws occupies the whole stream.

puri saepe lacum propter si ac dolia curta
somno devincti credunt se extollere vestem,
totius umorem saccatum corporis fundunt,
cum Babylonica magnifico splendore rigantur.
tum quibus aetatis freta primitus insinuatur
semen, ubi ipsa dies membris matura creavit,
conveniunt simulacra foris e corpore quoque,
nuntia praeclari voltus pulchrique coloris,
qui ciet inritans loca turgida semine multo,
ut quasi transactis saepe omnibus rebus profundant
fluminis ingentis fluctus vestemque cruentent.
Sollicitatur id [in] nobis, quod diximus ante,
semen, adulta aetas cum primum roborat artus.

often, near a pure pool and by truncated casks,
bound by sleep they believe they are lifting their garment,
they pour out the sacked moisture of the whole body,
while they are drenched with Babylonian magnificence of splendor.
then, for those into whose age the tides first insinuate
the seed, when the very day has made the limbs mature,
simulacra come together from outside and from the body as well,
messengers of a distinguished countenance and of beautiful color,
which, goading, arouses the places turgid with much seed,
so that, as if all business were already transacted, they often pour forth
the surges of a vast river and stain the garment with it.
That [in] us is stirred, which we said before,
the seed, when adult age first strengthens the limbs.

namque alias aliud res commovet atque lacessit;
ex homine humanum semen ciet una hominis vis.
quod simul atque suis eiectum sedibus exit,
per membra atque artus decedit corpore toto,
in loca conveniens nervorum certa cietque
continuo partis genitalis corporis ipsas.
inritata tument loca semine fitque voluntas
eicere id quo se contendit dira lubido,
[incitat inritans loca turgida semine multo]
idque petit corpus, mens unde est saucia amore;
namque omnes plerumque cadunt in vulnus et illam
emicat in partem sanguis, unde icimur ictu,
et si comminus est, hostem ruber occupat umor.

for indeed at one time one thing stirs and provokes, at another time another;
ex man rouses the human seed one power of the man.
which, as soon as cast out from its own seats it goes forth,
through the members and joints it withdraws through the whole body,
coming together into certain places of the nerves and it immediately rouses
the very genital parts of the body.
the places, irritated, swell with seed, and there arises a will
to eject that to which dire libido strains itself,
[it incites, irritating the places swollen with much seed]
and the body seeks that whence the mind is wounded by love;
for indeed all things for the most part fall into the wound, and into that part
the blood flashes forth from which we are smitten by the blow,
and if it is at close quarters, the red humor seizes the enemy.

sic igitur Veneris qui telis accipit ictus,
sive puer membris muliebribus hunc iaculatur
seu mulier toto iactans e corpore amorem,
unde feritur, eo tendit gestitque coire
t iacere umorem in corpus de corpore ductum;
namque voluptatem praesagit muta cupido.
Haec Venus est nobis; hinc autemst nomen Amoris,
hinc illaec primum Veneris dulcedinis in cor
stillavit gutta et successit frigida cura;
nam si abest quod ames, praesto simulacra tamen sunt
illius et nomen dulce obversatur ad auris.
sed fugitare decet simulacra et pabula amoris
absterrere sibi atque alio convertere mentem
et iacere umorem coniectum in corpora quaeque
nec retinere semel conversum unius amore
et servare sibi curam certumque dolorem;
ulcus enim vivescit et inveterascit alendo
inque dies gliscit furor atque aerumna gravescit,
si non prima novis conturbes volnera plagis
volgivagaque vagus Venere ante recentia cures
aut alio possis animi traducere motus.

thus therefore he who receives the blow from the weapons of Venus,
whether a boy with womanly limbs hurls this at him,
or a woman, casting love from her whole body,
whence he is struck, thither he aims and longs to come together
t to cast the moisture into the body drawn from his body;
for dumb desire forebodes pleasure.
This is Venus for us; and from here is the name of Amor,
hence those drops of Venus’s sweetness first dripped into the heart
and chilly care has entered in;
for if what you love is absent, nevertheless its images are at hand,
and its sweet name keeps turning before the ears.
but it is proper to flee the images and the fodders of love,
to frighten them away from oneself and to turn the mind elsewhere,
and to cast the moisture thrown into whatever bodies,
and not to hold fast, once turned, by the love of one,
and to keep for oneself the care and a sure pain;
for the ulcer grows alive and becomes long-established by feeding it,
and day by day the frenzy swells and the hardship grows grievous,
if you do not throw the first wounds into confusion with new blows
and, wandering, treat the fresh ones beforehand with common-wandering Venus,
or can transfer the motions of the mind to another object.

Nec Veneris fructu caret is qui vitat amorem,
sed potius quae sunt sine poena commoda sumit;
nam certe purast sanis magis inde voluptas
quam miseris; etenim potiundi tempore in ipso
fluctuat incertis erroribus ardor amantum
nec constat quid primum oculis manibusque fruantur.
quod petiere, premunt arte faciuntque dolorem
corporis et dentes inlidunt saepe labellis
osculaque adfigunt, quia non est pura voluptas
et stimuli subsunt, qui instigant laedere id ipsum,
quod cumque est, rabies unde illaec germina surgunt.
sed leviter poenas frangit Venus inter amorem
blandaque refrenat morsus admixta voluptas.

Nor does he lack the fruit of Venus who avoids love,
but rather he takes the commodities which are without penalty;
for surely the pleasure is purer for the sound from that than for the wretched;
for indeed at the very time of possessing
the ardor of lovers fluctuates with uncertain errancies
and it is not settled with what first they may enjoy with eyes and hands.
what they have sought, they press with art and make a pain
of the body, and they often dash their teeth into the little lips
and affix kisses, because the pleasure is not pure
and there are stimuli beneath, which incite to wound that very thing,
whatever it is, whence those germs of frenzy arise.
but lightly Venus breaks the penalties in the midst of love
and the coaxing pleasure, admixed, restrains the bites.

namque in eo spes est, unde est ardoris origo,
restingui quoque posse ab eodem corpore flammam.
quod fieri contra totum natura repugnat;
unaque res haec est, cuius quam plurima habemus,
tam magis ardescit dira cuppedine pectus.
nam cibus atque umor membris adsumitur intus;
quae quoniam certas possunt obsidere partis,
hoc facile expletur laticum frugumque cupido.

for in that is the hope, whence is the origin of ardor,
that the flame can also be quenched by that same body.
which thing nature wholly repugns to be done contrariwise;
and this one thing it is, of which the more we have,
by so much the more the breast blazes with dire cupidity.
for food and moisture are taken up within into the members;
and since these can occupy certain parts,
the desire of liquids and of grains is easily filled.

ex hominis vero facie pulchroque colore
nil datur in corpus praeter simulacra fruendum
tenvia; quae vento spes raptast saepe misella.
ut bibere in somnis sitiens quom quaerit et umor
non datur, ardorem qui membris stinguere possit,
sed laticum simulacra petit frustraque laborat
in medioque sitit torrenti flumine potans,
sic in amore Venus simulacris ludit amantis,
nec satiare queunt spectando corpora coram
nec manibus quicquam teneris abradere membris
possunt errantes incerti corpore toto.
denique cum membris conlatis flore fruuntur
aetatis, iam cum praesagit gaudia corpus
atque in eost Venus ut muliebria conserat arva,
adfigunt avide corpus iunguntque salivas
oris et inspirant pressantes dentibus ora,
ne quiquam, quoniam nihil inde abradere possunt
nec penetrare et abire in corpus corpore toto;
nam facere inter dum velle et certare videntur.

but from a human face and beautiful complexion
nothing is given into the body for enjoyment except thin simulacra;
which poor little hope is often snatched away by the wind.
as a thirsty man, when he seeks to drink in sleep, and moisture
is not granted that could extinguish the ardor in his limbs,
but he seeks simulacra of liquids and toils in vain,
and midstream he thirsts, drinking in a torrenting river,
so in love Venus plays with the lover by simulacra;
nor can bodies be sated by gazing on them face to face,
nor can they scrape off anything with their hands from the tender limbs
as they wander, uncertain, over the whole body.
finally, when with limbs conjoined they enjoy the flower
of youth, now when the body forebodes joys,
and in them Venus is about to sow the muliebral fields,
they fasten themselves greedily upon the body and join the salivas
of the mouth and breathe in, pressing mouths with their teeth—
to no avail, since they can abrade nothing therefrom
nor penetrate and pass into the body with the whole body;
for at times they seem to wish to do and to strive for this.

usque adeo cupide in Veneris compagibus haerent,
membra voluptatis dum vi labefacta liquescunt.
tandem ubi se erupit nervis coniecta cupido,
parva fit ardoris violenti pausa parumper.
inde redit rabies eadem et furor ille revisit,
cum sibi quod cupiant ipsi contingere quaerunt,
nec reperire malum id possunt quae machina vincat.

so far do they cling greedily in the fastenings of Venus,
while their limbs, by the force of pleasure shaken, melt.
at length, when desire, shot into the sinews, has burst forth,
a small pause of violent ardor is made for a short while.
then the same rabies returns and that furor revisits,
when they seek that what they themselves desire should befall themselves,
nor can they find what contrivance might conquer that evil.

usque adeo incerti tabescunt volnere caeco.
Adde quod absumunt viris pereuntque labore,
adde quod alterius sub nutu degitur aetas,
languent officia atque aegrotat fama vacillans.
labitur interea res et Babylonia fiunt
unguenta et pulchra in pedibus Sicyonia rident,
scilicet et grandes viridi cum luce zmaragdi
auro includuntur teriturque thalassina vestis
adsidue et Veneris sudorem exercita potat.

to such a degree do the uncertain waste away with a blind wound.
Add that they consume their strength and perish with labor,
add that a lifetime is spent under another’s nod,
duties languish and fame, wavering, falls sick.
meanwhile the estate slips away, and Babylonian unguents are made,
and fair Sicyonian shoes smile on the feet,
of course also large emeralds with green light
are enclosed in gold, and the sea-blue garment is rubbed thin
continually, and, much exercised, it drinks the sweat of Venus.

et bene parta patrum fiunt anademata, mitrae,
inter dum in pallam atque Alidensia Ciaque vertunt.
eximia veste et victu convivia, ludi,
pocula crebra, unguenta, coronae, serta parantur,
ne quiquam, quoniam medio de fonte leporum
surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angat,
aut cum conscius ipse animus se forte remordet
desidiose agere aetatem lustrisque perire,
aut quod in ambiguo verbum iaculata reliquit,
quod cupido adfixum cordi vivescit ut ignis,
aut nimium iactare oculos aliumve tueri
quod putat in voltuque videt vestigia risus.
Atque in amore mala haec proprio summeque secundo
inveniuntur; in adverso vero atque inopi sunt,
prendere quae possis oculorum lumine operto.

and well-won patrimonies become anadems, miters,
sometimes they turn into a mantle and Alidensian and Cian stuffs.
with exquisite vesture and victuals, banquets, games,
frequent cups, unguents, crowns, garlands are prepared—
in vain, since from the very fount of charms
something bitter rises, which chokes even in the very flowers,
either when the mind itself, conscious, happens to bite itself back
that it passes life lazily and perishes in debaucheries,
or because she has hurled a word and left it in ambiguity,
which, fixed to the desirous heart, lives on like fire,
or because he thinks she tosses her eyes too much or gazes at another,
and he sees in her face the vestiges of a smile.
And in love these evils are found even at its own and most propitious;
but in adverse and needy love there are such things
as you could seize with the light of the eyes shut.

innumerabilia; ut melius vigilare sit ante,
qua docui ratione, cavereque, ne inliciaris.
nam vitare, plagas in amoris ne iaciamur,
non ita difficile est quam captum retibus ipsis
exire et validos Veneris perrumpere nodos.
et tamen implicitus quoque possis inque peditus
effugere infestum, nisi tute tibi obvius obstes
et praetermittas animi vitia omnia primum
aut quae corporis sunt eius, quam praepetis ac vis.

innumerable; so that it is better to keep watch beforehand,
in the method I have taught, and to beware lest you be enticed.
for to avoid being cast into the snares of love
is not so difficult as, once captured in the nets themselves,
to get out and break through the strong knots of Venus.
and yet, even entangled and ensnared, you can also
effuge the hostile thing, unless you yourself, meeting yourself, stand in your own way,
and you pass over first all the faults of her mind,
or those which are of her body—such is the headlong rush and force [of desire].

nam faciunt homines plerumque cupidine caeci
et tribuunt ea quae non sunt his commoda vere.
multimodis igitur pravas turpisque videmus
esse in deliciis summoque in honore vigere.
atque alios alii inrident Veneremque suadent
ut placent, quoniam foedo adflictentur amore,
nec sua respiciunt miseri mala maxima saepe.

for men, for the most part, blind with cupidity,
both do this and ascribe to things which are not truly so advantages for them.
in many modes, therefore, we see crooked and foul things
to be in delights and to flourish in highest honor.
and some men deride others and recommend Venus
as they please, since they are afflicted by foul love,
nor do the wretched often regard their own very great evils.

nigra melichrus est, inmunda et fetida acosmos,
caesia Palladium, nervosa et lignea dorcas,
parvula, pumilio, chariton mia, tota merum sal,
magna atque inmanis cataplexis plenaque honoris.
balba loqui non quit, traulizi, muta pudens est;
at flagrans, odiosa, loquacula Lampadium fit.
ischnon eromenion tum fit, cum vivere non quit
prae macie; rhadine verost iam mortua tussi.

the black one is “melichrus” (honey‑sweet); the unclean and fetid is “acosmos” (unadorned);
the gray‑eyed is “Palladian”; the sinewy and wooden is a “dorcas”;
tiny, a dwarf, “chariton mia,” she is all sheer salt; large and huge, a “cataplexis,” and full of honor.
lisping, she cannot speak; she “traulizes”; she is a modest mute;
but blazing, odious, loquacious, she becomes a “Lampadium.”
a “slender darling” she then is, when she cannot live for leanness
because of emaciation; “rhadine” in truth, already dead from a cough.

at nimia et mammosa Ceres est ipsa ab Iaccho,
simula Silena ac Saturast, labeosa philema.
cetera de genere hoc longum est si dicere coner.
sed tamen esto iam quantovis oris honore,
cui Veneris membris vis omnibus exoriatur;
nempe aliae quoque sunt; nempe hac sine viximus ante;
nempe eadem facit et scimus facere omnia turpi
et miseram taetris se suffit odoribus ipsa,
quam famulae longe fugitant furtimque cachinnant.

but she is excessive and mammose, a very Ceres herself thanks to Iacchus,
a Silenus simulacrum and stuffed full, a thick-lipped philema (kiss).
the rest of this kind would be long, if I should try to tell it.
but still, grant her now whatever honor of visage you please,
for whom a force of Venus arises in all her members;
surely there are others too; surely we lived without this one before;
surely this same one does—and we know she does—all the base things,
and she herself, wretched, suffumigates herself with foul odors,
from whom the maidservants flee far off and snicker on the sly.

at lacrimans exclusus amator limina saepe
floribus et sertis operit postisque superbos
unguit amaracino et foribus miser oscula figit;
quem si iam ammissum venientem offenderit aura
una modo, causas abeundi quaerat honestas
et meditata diu cadat alte sumpta querella
stultitiaque ibi se damnet, tribuisse quod illi
plus videat quam mortali concedere par est.
nec Veneres nostras hoc fallit; quo magis ipsae
omnia summo opere hos vitae poscaenia celant,
quos retinere volunt adstrictosque esse in amore,
ne quiquam, quoniam tu animo tamen omnia possis
protrahere in lucem atque omnis inquirere risus
et, si bello animost et non odiosa, vicissim
praetermittere [et] humanis concedere rebus.
Nec mulier semper ficto suspirat amore,
quae conplexa viri corpus cum corpore iungit
et tenet adsuctis umectans oscula labris;
nam facit ex animo saepe et communia quaerens
gaudia sollicitat spatium decurrere amoris.

but the weeping excluded lover often covers the thresholds
with flowers and garlands and anoints the proud doorposts
with amaracine, and upon the doors he fixes wretched kisses;
whom, if now, as dismissed, a single breeze should meet as he comes,
he straightway seeks honorable causes for going away
and the complaint long premeditated, once taken up, falls from deep within,
and there he condemns himself for stupidity, that he seems to have granted to her
more than it is proper to concede to a mortal.
nor do our Venuses fail to notice this; wherefore all the more they themselves
hide with utmost effort all these stage-scenes of life,
those whom they wish to retain and to have held fast in love—
in vain, since you can nevertheless with your mind
drag everything into the light and search out every smile,
and, if your spirit is fine and not odious, in return
to pass over [and] concede to human affairs.
Nor does a woman always sigh with a feigned love,
who, having embraced, joins her body with the man’s body
and holds, moistening kisses with lips drawn close;
for she often does it from the heart, and seeking common
joys she urges the course of love to run its span.

nec ratione alia volucres armenta feraeque
et pecudes et equae maribus subsidere possent,
si non, ipsa quod illarum subat, ardet abundans
natura et Venerem salientum laeta retractat.
nonne vides etiam quos mutua saepe voluptas
vinxit, ut in vinclis communibus excrucientur,
in triviis cum saepe canes discedere aventis
divorsi cupide summis ex viribus tendunt,
quom interea validis Veneris compagibus haerent?
quod facerent numquam, nisi mutua gaudia nossent,
quae iacere in fraudem possent vinctosque tenere.

nor by any other reason would birds, herds and wild beasts,
and flocks and mares be able to submit to males,
if not that their very nature, as it swells within them, burns abounding
and, glad, rehandles the Venus of the leapers.
do you not see even those whom mutual pleasure often
has bound, that in common bonds they are excruciated,
when often at the crossroads dogs, wishing to separate,
pull apart in opposite directions, eagerly with utmost strength,
quom meanwhile they stick fast in the strong fastenings of Venus?
which they would never do, unless they knew mutual joys,
which could lie in ambush as a fraud and hold them bound.

quare etiam atque etiam, ut dico, est communis voluptas.
Et commiscendo quom semine forte virilem
femina vim vicit subita vi corripuitque,
tum similes matrum materno semine fiunt,
ut patribus patrio. sed quos utriusque figurae
esse vides, iuxtim miscentes vulta parentum,
corpore de patrio et materno sanguine crescunt,
semina cum Veneris stimulis excita per artus
obvia conflixit conspirans mutuus ardor,
et neque utrum superavit eorum nec superatumst.

Wherefore again and again, as I say, the pleasure is common.
And when, in the commingling of seed, by chance the woman has overcome the manly force and has snatched it with sudden might,
then they become like the mothers by the maternal seed, as like the fathers by the paternal. But those whom you see to be of the figure of both,
mixing side by side the features of the parents,
in body grow from the paternal and maternal blood,
when the seeds, roused by the goads of Venus through the limbs,
have met and clashed, a mutual ardor conspiring,
and neither of the two has overcome nor has been overcome.

fit quoque ut inter dum similes existere avorum
possint et referant proavorum saepe figuras,
propterea quia multa modis primordia multis
mixta suo celant in corpore saepe parentis,
quae patribus patres tradunt a stirpe profecta.
inde Venus varia producit sorte figuras,
maiorumque refert voltus vocesque comasque;
quandoquidem nihilo magis haec [de] semine certo
fiunt quam facies et corpora membraque nobis.
et muliebre oritur patrio de semine saeclum
maternoque mares existunt corpore creti;
semper enim partus duplici de semine constat,
atque utri similest magis id quod cumque creatur,
eius habet plus parte aequa; quod cernere possis,
sive virum suboles sivest muliebris origo.

it also comes about that sometimes they can come forth like to their grandsires
and often recall the figures of their great‑grandsires,
because many first‑beginnings in many modes,
mixed, often hide in the parent’s own body,
which fathers hand down to fathers, sprung from the stock.
thence Venus brings forth figures by a varied lot,
and reproduces the visages, voices, and locks of the elders;
since by no whit more do these come to be [from] a fixed seed
than faces and bodies and limbs come to be for us.
and the womanly stock arises from the paternal seed,
and males come to exist begotten from the maternal body;
for the offspring always consists of a double seed,
and to whichever it is more similar, whatever is created,
it has more than an equal share of that; which you can discern,
whether the offspring is a man or the origin is womanly.

Nec divina satum genitalem numina cuiquam
absterrent, pater a gnatis ne dulcibus umquam
appelletur et ut sterili Venere exigat aevom;
quod plerumque putant et multo sanguine maesti
conspergunt aras adolentque altaria donis,
ut gravidas reddant uxores semine largo;
ne quiquam divom numen sortisque fatigant;
nam steriles nimium crasso sunt semine partim,
et liquido praeter iustum tenuique vicissim.
tenve locis quia non potis est adfigere adhaesum,
liquitur extemplo et revocatum cedit abortu.
crassius hinc porro quoniam concretius aequo
mittitur, aut non tam prolixo provolat ictu
aut penetrare locos aeque nequit aut penetratum
aegre admiscetur muliebri semine semen.

Nor do the divine powers forbid to anyone begotten the procreative principle,
lest he should ever be called father by sweet children
and pass his lifetime in barren Venus;
which most people suppose, and sorrowing with much blood
they sprinkle the altars and kindle the altars with gifts,
to make their wives gravid with abundant seed;
in vain they weary the divine power and the lots;
for some are sterile because their seed is too thick,
and conversely, beyond what is right, too fluid and thin.
since, being slender in the places, it is not able to fasten with adhesion,
it melts at once and, called back, yields in miscarriage.
next, when thicker, since it is sent more congealed than is meet,
either it does not fly forth with so long a stroke,
or it cannot penetrate the places equally, or, having penetrated,
the seed is with difficulty commingled with the female seed.

nam multum harmoniae Veneris differre videntur.
atque alias alii complent magis ex aliisque
succipiunt aliae pondus magis inque gravescunt.
et multae steriles Hymenaeis ante fuerunt
pluribus et nactae post sunt tamen unde puellos
suscipere et partu possent ditescere dulci.

for the harmonies of Venus seem to differ much.
and some men fill some women more, and from others
others receive the burden more and grow heavy.
and many were sterile in Hymenaeal unions before
and later, having met with several, nevertheless found whence they could
conceive children and be enriched by sweet childbirth.

et quibus ante domi fecundae saepe nequissent
uxoris parere, inventast illis quoque compar
natura, ut possent gnatis munire senectam.
usque adeo magni refert, ut semina possint
seminibus commisceri genitaliter apta
crassaque conveniant liquidis et liquida crassis.
atque in eo refert quo victu vita colatur;
namque aliis rebus concrescunt semina membris
atque aliis extenvantur tabentque vicissim.

and for those who before at home had often been unable
to beget from a fertile wife, there has been found for them too a matching
nature, so that they might be able to fortify their old age with children.
so greatly it matters, that the seeds can be commingled with seeds
genitally apt, and that the thick agree with the fluid and the fluid with the thick.
and in this it matters by what diet life is cultivated;
for by some things the seeds grow together in the limbs
and by others they are attenuated and waste away in turn.

et quibus ipsa modis tractetur blanda voluptas.
id quoque permagni refert; nam more ferarum
quadrupedumque magis ritu plerumque putantur
concipere uxores, quia sic loca sumere possunt
pectoribus positis sublatis semina lumbis.
nec molles opus sunt motus uxoribus hilum.

and by what modes the blandishing pleasure itself is handled.
this too matters very greatly; for in the manner of wild beasts
and rather in the rite of quadrupeds wives are for the most part thought
to conceive, because thus they can take their places,
with breasts set, the loins raised, to receive the seeds.
nor is there need of soft motions for wives a whit.

nam mulier prohibet se concipere atque repugnat,
clunibus ipsa viri Venerem si laeta retractat
atque exossato ciet omni pectore fluctus;
eicit enim sulcum recta regione viaque
vomeris atque locis avertit seminis ictum.
idque sua causa consuerunt scorta moveri,
ne complerentur crebro gravidaeque iacerent,
et simul ipsa viris Venus ut concinnior esset;
coniugibus quod nil nostris opus esse videtur.
Nec divinitus inter dum Venerisque sagittis
deteriore fit ut forma muliercula ametur;
nam facit ipsa suis inter dum femina factis
morigerisque modis et munde corpore culto,
ut facile insuescat secum [te] degere vitam.

for the woman prevents herself from conceiving and resists,
if she herself, glad, with her buttocks draws back the Venus of the man
and, with all her breast unboned, sets surges in motion;
for she casts out, in a straight line and path,
the furrow of the plowshare and turns aside from the places the stroke of the seed.
and for this cause harlots have been wont to move themselves,
lest they be filled often and lie pregnant,
and at the same time that Venus herself might be more well-adjusted for men;
which seems to be of no need for our spouses.
Nor is it sometimes by divine agency and by the arrows of Venus
that a little woman of worse form is loved;
for at times the woman herself, by her deeds
and compliant ways and with her body neatly groomed,
brings it about that [you] readily grow accustomed to pass life with her.

quod super est, consuetudo concinnat amorem;
nam leviter quamvis quod crebro tunditur ictu,
vincitur in longo spatio tamen atque labascit.
nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis
umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?

what remains, consuetude composes love;
for although that which is often beaten with a light blow,
is conquered nevertheless over a long span and gives way.
do you not see even drops of moisture falling upon rocks
to bore through rocks over a long span?