Seneca: QUAESTIONES NATURALES

[1] Delectat te, quemadmodum scribis, Lucili uirorum optime, Sicilia et officium procurationis otiosae, delectabitque, si continere id intra fines suos uolueris nec efficere imperium quod est procuratio. Facturum hoc te non dubito; scio quam sis ambitioni alienus, quam familiaris otio et litteris. Turbam rerum hominumque desiderent qui se pati nesciunt: tibi tecum optime conuenit.

[1] As you write, Lucilius, best of men, Sicily and the office of a leisurely procuratorship delight you, and it will also delight, if you are willing to contain it within its own bounds and not make into an imperium what is a procuratorship. I do not doubt you will do this; I know how alien you are to ambition, how familiar to leisure and letters. Let those who do not know how to endure themselves desire a crowd of affairs and of men: it suits you excellently to be with yourself.

[2] Nec est mirum paucis istud contingere. Imperiosi nobis ipsi ac molesti sumus; modo amore nostri, modo taedio laboramus; infelicem animum nunc superbia inflamus, nunc cupiditate distendimus; alias uoluptate lassamus, alias sollicitudine exurimus; quod est miserrimum, numquam sumus singuli. Necesse est itaque assidua sit in tam magno uitiorum contubernio rixa.

[2] Nor is it a marvel that this befalls only a few. We are imperious and troublesome to ourselves; now we are afflicted by love of ourselves, now by tedium; we inflate the unhappy mind now with pride, now we distend it with cupidity; at one time we weary it with pleasure, at another we burn it up with solicitude; and, what is most miserable, we are never a single self. It is necessary, therefore, that in so great a companionship of vices there be an incessant quarrel.

[3] Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere consuesti; a turba te, quantum potes, separa, ne adulatoribus latus praebeas. Artifices sunt ad captandos superiores: par illis, etiamsi bene caueris, non eris. Sed mihi crede: proditioni, si capieris, ipse te trades.

[3] Therefore do, my Lucilius, what you are accustomed to do; separate yourself from the crowd, as much as you can, lest you offer your flank to adulators. They are artificers at capturing superiors: equal to them, even if you guard yourself well, you will not be. But believe me: to treachery, if you are captured, you yourself will hand yourself over.

[4] Habent hoc in se naturale blanditiae: etiam cum reiciuntur placent; saepe exclusae nouissime recipiuntur. Hoc enim ipsum imputant, quod repelluntur, et subigi ne contumelia quidem possunt. Incredibile est quod dicturus sum, sed tamen uerum: ea maxime quisque patet, qua petitur; fortasse enim ideo, quia patet, petitur.

[4] Blandishments have this natural property in themselves: even when they are rejected, they please; often, though excluded,
at the very last they are received. For they charge this very thing, that they are repelled,
and not even by contumely can they be subdued. It is incredible
what I am about to say, but nevertheless true: each man lies most open precisely where he is assailed;
for perhaps for this very reason, because it lies open, it is assailed.

[5] Sic ergo formare, ut scias non posse te consequi, ut sis impenetrabilis: cum omnia caueris, per ornamenta ferieris. Alius adulatione clam utetur, parce, alius ex aperto, palam, rusticitate simulata, quasi simplicitas illa, non ars sit. Plancus, artifex ante Vitellium maximus, aiebat non esse occulte nec ex dissimulato blandiendum: "Perit, inquit, procari, si latet."

[5] Thus, therefore, shape yourself, so that you know you cannot achieve being impenetrable: when you have guarded against everything, you will be struck through your ornaments. One will employ flattery secretly, sparingly; another from the open, openly, with simulated rusticity, as if that simplicity were not art. Plancus, the greatest artificer before Vitellius, used to say that one should not flatter covertly nor out of dissimulation: "Wooing perishes," he said, "if it lies hidden."

[6] Plurimum adulator, cum deprehensus est, proficit; plus etiamnunc, si obiurgatus est, si erubuit. Futuros multos in persona tua Plancos cogita et hoc non esse remedium tanti mali, nolle laudari. Crispus Passienus, quo ego nil cognoui subtilius in omnibus quidem rebus, maxime in distinguendis et curandis uitiis, saepe dicebat adulationi nos non claudere ostium sed operire, et quidem sic, quemadmodum opponi amicae solet: quae, si impulit, grata est; gratior, si effregit.

[6] The adulator, when he has been detected, makes very great progress; all the more, if he has been objurgated, if he has blushed. Think that there will be many Planci in your person, and that this is not a remedy for so great an evil, to be unwilling to be praised. Crispus Passienus, than whom I have known nothing subtler in all matters, especially in distinguishing and curing vices, often used to say that to adulation we do not shut the door but cover it—and indeed thus, in the way it is wont to be set against a mistress: who, if she has pushed it, is welcome; more welcome, if she has broken it in.

[7] Demetrium egregium uirum memini dicere cuidam libertino potenti facilem sibi esse ad diuitias uiam, quo die paenituisset bonae mentis. "Nec inuidebo, inquit, uobis hac arte, sed docebo eos, quibus quaesito opus est, quemadmodum non dubiam fortunam maris, non emendi uendendique litem subeant, non incertam fidem ruris, incertiorem fori temptent, quemadmodum non solum facili sed etiam hilari uia pecuniam faciant gaudentesque despolient."

[7] I remember Demetrius, an excellent man, saying to a certain powerful freedman that the road to riches would be easy for him on the day he repented of a good mind. "Nor will I begrudge you this art," he said, "but I will teach those who have need of gain, how they may not undergo the doubtful fortune of the sea, nor the lawsuit of buying and selling, nor try the uncertain credit of the countryside, still more uncertain of the forum; how they may make money not only by an easy but even by a cheerful road, and, rejoicing, despoil."

[8] "Te, inquit, longiorem Fido Annaeo iurabo et Apollonio pycte, quamuis staturam habeas pithecii cum Thraece compositi. Hominem quidem non esse ullum liberaliorem non mentiar, cum possis uideri omnibus donasse quicquid dereliquisti."

[8] "You," he says, "I will swear to be taller than Fidus Annaeus and Apollonius the pugilist, although you have the stature of a little ape compounded with a Thracian. I will not lie in saying that there is no man more liberal, since you can seem to have given to everyone whatever you left behind."

[9] Ita est, mi Iunior: quo apertior est adulatio, quo improbior, quo magis frontem suam perfricuit, cecidit alienam, hoc citius expugnat. Eo enim iam dementiae uenimus, ut qui parce adulatur, pro maligno sit.

[9] So it is, my Junior: the more open adulation is, the more improper, the more it has rubbed its own brow and cast down another’s, so much the sooner it takes by storm. For to such madness have we now come, that he who flatters sparingly is taken for ill‑intentioned.

[10] Solebam tibi dicere Gallionem si, fratrem meum, quem nemo non parum amat, etiam qui amare plus non potest, alia uitia non nosse, hoc eum odisse. Ab omni illum parte temptasti: ingenium suspicere coepisti omnium maximum et dignissimum, quod consecrari mallet quam conteri: pedes abstulit; frugalitatem laudare coepisti, quae sic a nostris moribus resiluit, ut illos nec habere nec damnare uideatur: prima statim uerba praecidit;

[10] I used to say to you that Gallio, yes, my brother, whom everyone loves too little, even one who cannot love more, if he does not know other vices, hates this one. From every side you tried him: you began to look up to his ingenium, the greatest of all and most worthy, which would prefer to be consecrated rather than ground down: he took to his heels; you began to praise frugality, which has so recoiled from our mores that it seems neither to have them nor to damn them: he cut off your very first words at once;

[11] coepisti mirari comitatem et in compositam suauitatem, quae illos quoque quos transit abducit, gratuitum etiam in obuios meritum (nemo enim mortalium uni tam dulcis est quam hic omnibus, cum interim - tanta naturalis boni uis est, ubi artem simulationemque non redolet - nemo non imputari sibi bonitatem publicam petitur): hoc quoque loco blanditiis tuis restitit, ut exclamares inuenisse te inexpugnabilem uirum aduersus insidias, quas nemo non in sinum recipit.

[11] you began to marvel at his comity and at a composed suavity, which even carries off those whom it merely passes by, a gratuitous benefaction even for those who meet him in the way (for no mortal is to one person so sweet as this man is to all, while meanwhile—so great is the force of natural good, where it does not reek of art and simulation—no one fails to seek that the public goodness be imputed to himself): in this point too he resisted your blandishments, so that you cried out that you had found a man inexpugnable against the snares which everyone else receives into his bosom.

[12] Eo quidem magis hanc eius prudentiam et in euitando ineuitabili malo pertinaciam te suspicere confessus es, quia speraueras posse apertis auribus recipi, quamuis blanda diceres, quia uera dicebas. Sed eo magis intellexit obstandum: semper enim falsis a uero petitur ueri ritas. Nolo tamen displiceas tibi, quasi male egeris minium et quasi ille aliquid iocorum aut doli suspicatus sit: non deprehendit te sed reppulit.

[12] All the more indeed you confessed that you look up to this prudence of his, and to his pertinacity in avoiding an inevitable evil, because you had hoped to be received with open ears, although you were saying charming things, because you were speaking truths. But so much the more he understood that resistance must be made: for always for falsehoods the authority of the true is sought from the true—veri ritas a vero petitur falsis. I do not, however, want you to be displeased with yourself, as if you had acted amiss too much, and as if he had suspected any jests or trickery: he did not catch you, but repelled you.

[13] Ad hoc exemplar componere. Cum quis ad te adulator accesserit, dicito: "Vis tu ista uerba, quae iam ab alio magistratu ad alium cum lictoribus transeunt, ferre ad aliquem, qui paria facturus uult quicquid dixerit audire? Ego nec decipere uolo nec decipi possum: laudari me a uobis, nisi laudaretis etiam malos, uellem". Quid autem necesse est in hoc descendere, ut te petere comminus possint?

[13] Conform yourself to this exemplar. When a flatterer has approached you, say: "Do you wish to carry those words, which now pass with the lictors from one magistrate to another, to someone who, being about to do equal deeds, wants to hear whatever you will have said? I neither wish to deceive nor can I be deceived: to be praised by you, if only you did not also praise even the wicked, I would wish." But what need is there to descend to this, so that they may be able to assail you at close quarters?

Longum inter uos interuallum sit.

Let there be a long interval between you.

[14] Cum cupieris bene laudari, quare hoc ulli debeas? Ipse te lauda, dic: Liberalibus me studiis tradidi. Quamquam paupertas alia suaderet et ingenium eo duceret ubi praesens studii pretium est, ad gratuita carmina deflexi me et ad salutare philosophiae contuli studium.

[14] When you have desired to be well praised, why do you owe this to anyone? Yourself
praise yourself, say: I have handed myself over to liberal studies. Although
poverty would urge other things and my genius would lead to that place where the present price of study
is, I turned myself to gratuitous songs and I have devoted my zeal to the health-giving
pursuit of philosophy.

[15] Ostendi in omne pectus cadere uirtutem et, eluctatus natalium angustias nec sorte me sed animo mensus, par maximis steti. Non mihi in amicitia Gaetulici Gaius fidem eripuit; non in aliorum persona infeliciter amatorum Messallina et Narcissus, diu publici hostes antequam sui, propositum meum potuerunt euertere: ceruicem pro fide opposui; nullum uerbum mihi, quod non salua bona conscientia procederet, excussum est; pro amicis omnia timui, pro me nihil, nisi ne parum bonus amicus fuissem.

[15] I have shown that virtue can fall into every breast, and, having struggled free of the narrowness of my birth and measuring myself not by lot but by spirit, I stood a peer to the greatest. In my friendship with Gaetulicus, Gaius did not wrest my loyalty from me; nor, in the person of others unhappily beloved, could Messalina and Narcissus—long public enemies before they were their own—overturn my purpose: I set my neck for loyalty; no word was shaken from me which did not proceed with my good conscience safe; for my friends I feared everything, for myself nothing, except lest I had been too little a good friend.

[16] Non mihi muliebres fluxere lacrimae; non e manibus ullius supplex pependi; nihil indecorum nec bono nec uiro feci. Periculis meis maior, paratus ire in ea quae minabantur, egi gratias fortunae, quod experiri uoluisset quanti aestimarem fidem (non debebat mihi paruo res tanta constare); ne examinaui quidem diu (neque enim paria pendebant), utrum satius esset me perire pro fide an fidem pro me;

[16] No womanish tears flowed from me; as a suppliant I hung from the hands of no one; I did nothing indecorous, neither for a good man nor for a man. Greater than my dangers, prepared to go into the things that were menacing, I gave thanks to Fortune, because she had wished to test how highly I esteemed fidelity (so great a matter ought not to cost me little); I did not even examine it for long (for the scales were not evenly balanced), whether it was preferable that I perish for fidelity or that fidelity for me;

[17] non praecipiti impetu in ultimum consilium, quo me eriperem furori potentium, misi. Uidebam apud Gaium tormenta, uidebam ignes, sciebam olim sub illo in eum statum res humanas decidisse, ut inter misericordiae exempla haberentur occisi: non tamen ferro incubui nec in mare aperto ore desilui, ne uiderer pro fide tantum mori posse.

[17] I did not, by a precipitate impulse, commit myself to the final counsel,
by which I might snatch myself from the fury of the powerful. I saw under
Gaius torments, I saw fires; I knew that formerly under him human affairs had fallen into
such a condition that the slain were counted among examples of mercy: yet I did not fall upon the sword nor did I leap into the sea
with open mouth, lest I should seem able only to die for fidelity.

[18] Adice inuictum muneribus animum et in tanto auaritiae certamme numquam suppositam manum lucro; adice uictus parsimoniam, sermonis modestiam se, aduersus minores humanitatem, aduersus maiores reuerentiam. Post haec ipse te consule, uerane an falsa memoraueris: si uera surit, coram magno teste laudatus es; si falsa, sine teste derisus es.

[18] Add an unconquered spirit to gifts, and in so great a contest of avarice
never a hand put underneath for lucre; add frugality of living, modesty of speech,
toward inferiors humaneness, toward superiors reverence. After these, consult
yourself, whether you have recalled things true or false: if they are true, you have
been praised before a great witness; if false, you have been mocked without a witness.

[19] Possum et ipse nunc uideri te aut captare aut experiri: utrumlibet crede et omnes timere a me incipe. Vergilianum illud exaudi "nusquam tuta fides", aut Ouidianum "qua terra patet, fera regnat Erinys: in facinus iurasse putes", aut illud Menandri (quis enim non in hoc magnitudinem ingenii sui concitauit, detestatus consensum humani generis tendentis ad uitia?): omnes ait malos uiuere et in scaenam uelut rusticus poeta prosiluit; non senem excipit, non puerum, non feminam, non uirum, et adicit non singulos peccare nec paucos, sed iam scelus esse contextum.

[19] I too can now seem either to be trying to ensnare you or to put you to the test: believe whichever, and begin, on my account, to fear everyone. Hear that Virgilian line, “nowhere is trust safe,” or the Ovidian, “wherever the earth extends, the wild Erinys reigns: you would think they had sworn into crime,” or that one of Menander (for who has not, on this theme, stirred up the magnitude of his genius, detesting the consensus of the human race tending toward vices?): he says that all live wickedly, and he leapt onto the stage like a rustic poet; he spares neither old man nor boy, neither woman nor man, and he adds that it is not individuals who sin, nor a few, but that by now crime has been woven into one fabric.

[20] Fugiendum ergo et in se recedendum est; immo etiam a se recedendum. Hoc tibi, etsi diuidimur mari, praestare temptabo, ut subinde te iniecta manu ad meliora perducam, et, ne solitudinem sentias, hinc tecum miscebo sermones: erimus una, qua parte optimi sumus; dabimus inuicem consilia non ex uultu audientis pendentia;

[20] Therefore one must flee and withdraw into oneself; nay, even away from oneself withdraw. This for you, although we are divided by the sea, I shall try to furnish, so that from time to time, with a hand laid upon you, I may lead you on to better things, and, lest you feel solitude, from here I will mingle discourses with you: we shall be together, in that part in which we are the best; we shall give counsels to one another not depending on the visage of the auditor;

[21] longe te ab ista prouincia abducam, ne forte magnam historiis esse fidem credas et placere tibi incipias, quotiens cogitaueris: "Hanc ego habeo sub meo iure prouinciam, quae maximarum urbium exercitus et sustinuit et fregit, cum inter Carthaginem et Romam ingentis belli pretium iacuit; quae quattuor Romanorum principum, id est totius imperii, uires contractas in unum locum uidit aluitque, Pompeii fortunam flexit, Caesaris fatigauit, Lepidi transtulit, omnium cepit;

[21] I will lead you far away from that province, lest perhaps you believe that great faith is owed to histories and begin to be pleased, whenever you have considered: "I have this province under my own jurisdiction, which has both withstood and broken the armies of the greatest cities, when it lay as the prize of a vast war between Carthage and Rome; which saw and nourished the forces of four leaders of the Romans, that is, of the whole empire, drawn together into one place, it bent Pompey’s fortune, wearied Caesar’s, transferred Lepidus’s, of all it seized the forces;

[22] quae illi ingenti spectaculo interfuit, ex quo liquere mortalibus posset quam uelox foret ad imum lapsus e summo, quamque diuersa uia magnam potentiam fortuna destrueret: uno enim tempore uidit Pompeium Lepidumque ex maximo fastigio aliter ad extrema deiectos, cum Pompeius alienum exercitum fugeret, Lepidus suum".

[22] which took part in that immense spectacle, from which it could become clear to mortals how swift would be the slide to the bottom from the summit, and by what different route Fortune would destroy great power: for at one and the same time it saw Pompey and Lepidus, from the highest pinnacle, cast down to the furthest extremes in different fashion, when Pompey was fleeing another’s army, Lepidus his own".

[1,1] Itaque, ut totum inde te abducam, quamuis multa habeat Sicilia in se circaque se mirabilia, omnes interim prouinciae tuae quaestiones praeteribo et in diuersum cogitationes tuas abstraham. Quaeram enim tecum id quod libro superiore distuli, quid ita Nilus aestiuis mensibus abundet. Cui Danuuium similem habere naturam philosophi tradiderunt, quod et fontis ignoti et aestate quam hieme maior sit.

[1,1] And so, to draw you wholly away from that, although Sicily has many marvels in itself and around itself, I will for the time pass over all the questions of your province and divert your thoughts in another direction. For I will inquire with you about that which I deferred in the previous book: why the Nile overflows in the summer months. To which philosophers have handed down that the Danube has a similar nature, in that it is both of unknown source and is greater in summer than in winter.

[1,2] Utrumque apparuit falsum: nam et caput eius in Germania esse comperimus, et aestate quidem incipit crescere sed, adhuc manente intra mensuram suam Nilo, primis caloribus, cum sol uehementior intra extrema ueris niues mollit, quas ante consumit quam tumescere Nilus incipiat; reliquo uero aestatis minuitur et ad hibernam magnitudinem redit atque ex ea demittitur. At Nilus ante exortum Caniculae augetur mediis aestibus ultra aequinoctium.

[1,2] Each appeared false: for we have found that its head is in Germany, and in summer indeed it begins to grow, but, with the Nile still remaining within its own measure, at the first heats, when the sun, more vehement within the extremities of spring, softens the snows, which he consumes before the Nile begins to swell; but for the rest of the summer it is diminished and returns to its winter magnitude and is let down from it. But the Nile, before the rising of the Dog-Star, is increased in the midst of the heats beyond the equinox.

[2,1] Hunc nobilissimum amnium natura extulit ante humani generis oculos et ita disposuit, ut eo tempore inundaret Aegyptum quo maxime usta feruoribus terra undas altius traheret, tantum usura quantum siccitati annuae sufficere possit. Nam in ea parte, quae in Aethiopiam uergit, aut nulli imbres sunt aut rari et qui insuetam aquis caelestibus terrain non adiuuent.

[2,1] Nature has brought forth this most noble of rivers before the eyes of the human race and has so arranged it that it floods Egypt at that time when the land, most scorched by burnings, would draw the waters higher, with so much interest as might suffice for the yearly drought. For in that part which inclines toward Ethiopia, either there are no rains or they are rare, and such as do not aid a land unaccustomed to heavenly waters.

[2,2] Unam, ut scis, Aegyptus in hoc spem suam habet: proinde aut sterilis annus aut fertilis est, prout ille magnus influxit aut parcior; "nemo aratorum respicit caelum". Quare non cum poeta meo iocor et illi Ouidium a suum impingo, qui ait "nec Pluuio supplicat herba Ioui"?

[2,2] Egypt, as you know, has its hope in this one thing: accordingly the year is either sterile or fertile, according as that great one has flowed in more, or more sparingly; "no one of the ploughmen looks to the sky." Why then should I not jest with my poet and pin upon him his own Ovid, who says "nor does the grass supplicate Rainy Jove"?

[2,3] Unde crescere incipiat si comprehendi posset, causae quoque incrementi inuenirentur: nunc uero magnas solitudines peruagatus et in paludes diffusus <flexibusque in>gentibus sparsus circa Philas primum ex uago et errante colligitur. Philae insula est aspera et undique prearupta; duobus in unum coituris amnibus bus cingitur, qui Nilo mutantur et eius nomen ferunt; urbem totam complectitur.

[2,3] If where it begins to grow could be comprehended, the causes
also of the increment would be found: but as it is, having ranged through great solitudes
and, diffused into marshes and scattered in huge meanders,
around Philae it is first gathered from a wandering and errant state. The island of Philae
is rough and precipitous on every side; by two rivers coalescing into one it is
girdled, which are changed into the Nile and bear its name; it
embraces the whole city.

[2,4] Ab hac Nilus magnus magis quam uiolentus egressus, Aethiopiam harenasque, per quas iter ad commercia Indici maris est, praelabitur. Excipiunt eum Cataractae, nobilis insigni spectaculo locus:

[2,4] From this, the Nile, great rather than violent, having emerged, glides past Ethiopia and the sands, through which there is a route to the commerce of the Indian Sea. The Cataracts receive him, a place renowned for a remarkable spectacle:

[2,5] ibi per arduas excisasque pluribus locis rupes Nilus insurgit et uires suas concitat. Frangitur enim occurrentibus saxis et per angusta eluctatus, ubicumque uincit aut uincitur, fluctuat et illic excitatis primum aquis, quas sine tumultu leni alueo duxerat, uiolentus et torrens per malignos transitus prosilit dissimilis sibi, quippe ad id lutosus et turbidus fluit; at ubi scopulos et acuta cautium uerberauit, spumat, et illi non ex natura sua sed ex iniuria loci color est, tandemque eluctatus obstantia in uastam altitudinem subito destitutus cadit cum ingenti circumiacentium regionum strepitu. Quem perferre gens ibi a Persis collocata non potuit obtusis assiduo fragore auribus et ob hoc sedibus ad quietiora translatis.

[2,5] there, through steep and in several places hewn-through crags, the Nile rises up and stirs up its own forces. For it is broken by the rocks that meet it, and, having struggled through narrows, wherever it conquers or is conquered, it heaves; and there the waters are first excited, which it had conducted without tumult in a gentle channel, and, violent and a torrent, it leaps forth through malign passes, unlike to itself, since to that point it flows muddy and turbid; but when it has lashed the rocks and the sharp crags, it foams, and its color is not from its own nature but from the injury of the place; and at last, having struggled out of the obstacles, suddenly left unsupported, it falls through a vast height with immense din of the surrounding regions. A people placed there by the Persians could not endure this, their ears blunted by the assiduous crash, and on this account their dwellings were transferred to quieter places.

[2,6] Inter miracula fluminis incredibilem incolarum audaciam accepi: bini paruula nauigia conscendunt, quorum alter nauem regit, alter exhaurit; deinde multum inter rapidam insaniam Nili et reciprocos fluctus uolutati tandem tenuissimos canales tenent, per quos angusta rupium effugiunt et, cum toto flumine effusi, nauigium ruens manu temperant magnoque spectantium metu in caput missi, cum iam adploraueris mersosque atque obrutos tanta mole credideris, longe ab eo, in quem cediderunt, loco nauigant tormenti modo missi; nec mergit illos cadens unda sed planis aquis tradit.

[2,6] Among the marvels of the river I have received the incredible audacity of the inhabitants: in pairs they board very small boats, of whom
one steers the ship, the other bails; then, much tossed between the rapid
frenzy of the Nile and the reciprocal waves, at last they seize the very slender
channels, through which they escape the narrow straits of the rocks, and, when
poured out into the whole river, they moderate by hand the rushing craft, and with great
fear of the onlookers, sent headlong, when already you would have bewailed and
believed them sunk and overwhelmed by so great a mass, far from the place into which
they had fallen they sail, sent after the manner of an engine of war; nor does the falling wave
plunge them, but delivers them to smooth waters.

[2,7] Primum incrementum Nili circa insulam, quam modo rettuli Philas uisitur: exiguo ab hac spatio petra diuiditur (Abaton Graeci uocant, nec illam ulli nisi antistites calcant); illa primum saxa auctum fluminis sentiunt. Post magnum deinde spatium duo eminent scopuli (Nili uenas uocant incolae) ex quibus magna uis funditur, non tamen quanta operire possit Aegyptum. In haec ora stipem sacerdotes et aurea dona praefecti, cum sollemne uenit sacrum, iaciunt.

[2,7] The first increment of the Nile is seen around the island which I have just mentioned, Philae: at a small distance from this a rock is split (the Greeks call it Abaton, and none save the priests tread upon it); those rocks are the first to feel the river augmented. Then, after a great space, two crags stand out (the inhabitants call them the veins of the Nile), from which a great force is poured, yet not so great as to be able to cover Egypt. Onto these shores the priests cast an offering and the prefects golden gifts, when the solemn sacred rite comes.

[2,8] Hinc iam manifestus nouarum uirium Nilus alto ac profundo alueo fertur, ne in latitudinem excedat, obiectu montium pressus. Circa Memphim demum liber et per campestria uagus in plura scinditur flumina manuque canalibus factis, ut sit modus in deriuantium potestate, per totam discurrit Aegyptum. Initio diducitur, deinde continuatis aquis in faciem lati ac turbidi maris stagnat: cursum illi uiolentiamque eripit latitudo regionum in quas extenditur dextra laeuaque totam amplexus Aegyptum.

[2,8] Hence now manifest with new powers the Nile in a high and deep channel is borne, lest it exceed into breadth, by the interposition of mountains pressed. Around Memphis at last, free and through the plains wandering, it is split into several rivers, and by human hand, canals having been made, so that the measure may be in the power of those diverting, it runs through the whole of Egypt. At the beginning it is drawn apart, then, the waters being made continuous, into the aspect of a broad and turbid sea it stagnates: the breadth of the regions robs it of course and violence into which it is extended, to the right and to the left embracing all Egypt.

[2,9] Quantum creuit Nilus, tantum spei in annum est; nec computatio fallit agricolam, adeo ad mensuram fluminis terra respondet, quam fertilem facit Nilus. Is harenoso ac sitienti solo et aquam inducit et terram: nam cum turbulentus fluat, omnem in siccis atque hiantibus locis faecem relinquit et, quicquid pingue secum tulit, arentibus locis allinit iuuatque agros duabus ex causis, et quod inundat et quod oblimat. Itaque quicquid non adiuit, sterile ac squalidum iacet; si creuit super debitum, nocuit.

[2,9] As much as the Nile has grown, so much is the hope for the year; nor does the computation deceive the farmer, so exactly does the land answer to the measure of the river, which the Nile makes fertile. To the sandy and thirsty soil it brings in both water and earth: for when it flows turbid, it leaves all its dregs in dry and gaping places and, whatever rich matter it has carried with it, it smears upon the parched places and thus helps the fields for two causes, both because it inundates and because it silts them up. And so whatever it has not aided lies sterile and squalid; if it has grown beyond the due measure, it has harmed.

[2,10] Mira itaque natura fluminis quod, cum ceteri amnes abluant terras et euiscerent, Nilus, tanto ceteris maior, adeo nihil exedit nec abradit, ut contra adiciat uires minimumque in eo sit, quod solum temperat: illato enim limo harenas saturat ac iungit, debetque illi Aegyptus non tantum fertilitatem terrarum, sed ipsas.

[2,10] Wonderful, therefore, is the nature of the river, that, while the other streams wash the lands and eviscerate them, the Nile, so much greater than the rest, to such a degree eats away nothing nor abrades, that on the contrary it adds strength, and the least in it is this, that it tempers the soil: for, with silt brought in, it saturates and binds the sands, and Egypt owes to it not only the fertility of the lands, but the lands themselves.

[2,11] Illa facies pulcherrima est cum iam se in agros Nilus ingessit: latent campi opertaeque sunt ualles, oppida insularum modo exstant, nullum mediterraneis nisi per nauigia commercium est maiorque est laetitia gentibus quo minus terrarum suarum uident.

[2,11] That spectacle is most beautiful when now the Nile has entered into the fields: the fields lie hidden and the valleys are covered, the towns stand forth in the manner of islands, the inlanders have no commerce except by ships, and the joy is greater for the peoples the less they see of their own lands.

[2,12] Sic quoque, cum se ripis continet Nilus, per septena ostia in mare emittitur: quodcumque ex his elegeris, mare est. Multos nihilominus ignobiles ramos in aliud atque aliud litus porrigit. Ceterum beluas marinis uel magnitudine uel noxa pares educat, et ex eo quantus sit aestimari potest quod ingentia animalia et pabulo sufficienti et ad uagandum loco continet.

[2,12] Thus also, when the Nile confines itself within its banks, it is emitted into the sea through seven mouths: whichever of these you choose, it is the sea. Nevertheless it stretches many undistinguished branches to this shore and that shore. Moreover it rears beasts equal to marine ones either in magnitude or in harmfulness, and from this how great it is can be estimated, from the fact that it contains enormous animals with fodder sufficient and with room to wander.

[2,13] Balbillus, uirorum optimus perfectusque in omni litterarum genere rarissime, auctor est, cum ipse praefectus obtineret Aegyptum, Heracleotico ostio Nili, quod est maximum, spectaculo sibi fuisse delphinorum a mari occurrentium et crocodillorum a flumine aduersum agmen agentium uelut pro partibus proelium; crocodillos ab animalibus placidis morsuque innoxiis uictos.

[2,13] Balbillus, the best of men and most perfect in every kind of letters, most rare, is an authority that, when he himself as prefect held Egypt, at the Heracleotic mouth of the Nile, which is the greatest, there was for him a spectacle of dolphins running in from the sea and of crocodiles from the river driving an opposing column, as if a battle for their respective sides; the crocodiles conquered by animals placid and harmless in bite.

[2,14] His superior pars corporis dura et impenetrabilis est etiam maiorum animalium dentibus, at inferior mollis ac tenera. Hanc delphini spinis, quas dorso eminentes gerunt, submersi uulnerabant et in aduersum enisi diuidebant; rescissis hoc modo pluribus ceteri uelut acie uersa refugerunt: fugax animal audaci, audacissimum timido!

[2,14] In these the upper part of the body is hard and impenetrable even to the teeth of larger animals, but the lower is soft and tender. This the dolphins, with the spines which they bear prominent on the back, while submerged were wounding and, straining upward against them, were dividing; with many thus cut open, the rest fled as if the battle-line were turned: a fugitive creature to the bold, most audacious to the timid!

[2,15] Nec illos Tentyritae generis aut sanguinis proprietate superant, sed contemptu et temeritate. Ultro enim insequuntur fugientesque iniecto trahunt laqueo: plerique pereunt, quibus minus praesens animus ad persequendum fuit.

[2,15] Nor do the Tentyritae surpass them by kind or by the property of blood, but by contempt and temerity. For they even pursue them, and, as they flee, with a cast noose they drag them along: very many perish, those whose presence of mind for pursuing was less.

[2,16] Nilum aliquando marinam aquam detulisse Theophrastus est’ auctor. Biennio continuo regnante Cleopatra non ascendisse, decimo regni anno et undecimo, constat. Significatam aiunt duobus rerum potientibus defectionem: Antonii enim Cleopatraeque defecit imperium.

[2,16] Theophrastus is the authority that the Nile at some time carried marine water. It is established that, while Cleopatra was reigning, for a continuous biennium it did not rise, and in the tenth year of the reign and the eleventh. They say a defection was signified by two wielding affairs: for the imperium of Antony and Cleopatra failed.

Per nouem annos non ascendisse Nilum superioribus saeculis Callimachus est auctor.

Callimachus is authority that in earlier ages the Nile did not rise for nine years.

[2,17] Sed nunc ad inspiciendas causas, propter quas aestate Nilus crescat, accedam et ab antiquissimis incipiam. Anaxagoras ait ex Aethiopiae iugis solutas niues ad Nilum usque decurrere. In eadem opinione omnis uetustas fuit: hoc Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides tradunt.

[2,17] But now to inspect the causes, on account of which in summer the Nile increases, I will approach, and from the most ancient I will begin. Anaxagoras says that from the ridges of Ethiopia loosened snows run down as far as the Nile. In the same opinion was all antiquity: this Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides hand down.

Sed falsum esse argumentis pluribus patet.

But that this is false is evident from several arguments.

[2,18] Primo Aethiopiam feruentissimam esse indicat hominum adustus color et Trogodytae, quibus subterraneae domus sunt. Saxa uelut igni feruescunt non tantum medio sed inclinato quoque die; ardens puluis nec humani uestigii patiens; argentum replumbatur; signorum coagmenta soluuntur; nullum materiae superadornatae manet operimentum. Auster quoque, qui ex illo tractu uenit, uentorum calidissimus est.

[2,18] First, that Ethiopia is most fervent is indicated by the scorched color of the people and by the Troglodytes, who have underground houses. The rocks seethe as if by fire not only at midday but also when the day is inclined; the burning dust does not even suffer a human footprint; the silver turns back into lead; the joints of statues are loosened; no covering remains on overlaid material. The South Wind also, which comes from that region, is the hottest of winds.

Nullum ex his animalibus quae latent bruma umquam reconditur, etiam per hiemes in summo et aperto serpens est. Alexandriae quoque, quae longe ab immodicis caloribus posita est, niues non cadunt; superiora pluuia carent.

None of those animals which lie hidden in winter is ever shut away, even through winters it is creeping on the surface and in the open. At Alexandria too, which is situated far from immoderate heats, snows do not fall; the upper regions lack rain.

[2,19] Quemadmodum ergo regio tantis subiecta feruoribus duraturas per totam aestatem niues recipit? Quas sane aliqui montes illic quoque excipiant: numquid magis quam Alpes, quam Thraciae iuga aut Caucasus? Atqui horum montium flumina uere et prima aestate intumescunt, deinde hibernis minora sunt: quippe uernis temporibus imbres niuem diluunt, reliquias eius primus calor dissipat.

[2,19] How then does a region subjected to such fervors receive snows that are to endure through the whole summer? Which, to be sure, some mountains there too may catch: any more than the Alps, than the ridges of Thrace or the Caucasus? And yet the rivers of these mountains swell in spring and in early summer, then in winter are smaller: for in vernal times the rains dissolve the snow, its remnants the first heat disperses.

[2,20] Nec Rhenus nec Rhodanus nec Hister nec Caystrus subiacens Tmolo aestate proueniunt: et illis altissimae, ut in septemtrionibus, iugiter sunt niues. Phasis quoque per idem tempus et Borysthenes crescerent, ut niues flumina possent contra aestatem magna producere.

[2,20] Neither the Rhine nor the Rhone nor the Danube nor the Cayster
lying beneath Tmolus swell in summer: and for them, as in the
north, very deep snows are continual. The Phasis likewise during the same
time and the Borysthenes would increase, if snows were able to produce
great rivers against the summer.

[2,21] Praeterea si haec causa attolleret Nilum, aestate prima plenissimus flueret; tunc enim maxime integrae adhuc niues ex mollissimoque tabes est: Nilus autem per menses quattuor liquitur et illi aequalis accessio est.

[2,21] Furthermore, if this cause were to raise the Nile, it would flow fullest in early summer; for then especially the snows are still intact and the thaw is at its softest: but the Nile runs high for four months, and its accession is uniform.

[2,22] Si Thaleti credis, etesiae descendenti Nilo resistunt et cursum eius acto contra ostia mari sustinent: ita reuerberatus in se recurrit nec crescit, sed exitu prohibitus resistit et quacumque mox potuit ui congestus erumpit. Euthymenes Massiliensis testimonium dicit: "Nauigaui, inquit, Atlanticum mare: inde Nilus fluit, maior, quamdiu etesiae tempus obseruant; tunc enim eicitur mare instantibus uentis. Cum resederunt, et pelagus conquiescit minorque descendenti inde uis Nilo est.

[2,22] If you believe Thales, the Etesians resist the Nile as it descends and, with the sea driven against its mouths, hold up its course: thus, reverberated, it runs back upon itself and does not increase, but, prohibited from exit, it halts, and wherever next it could, massed by force, it erupts. Euthymenes the Massilian offers testimony: "I sailed, he says, the Atlantic Ocean: from there the Nile flows, greater, so long as they observe the season of the Etesians; for then the sea is driven out by the pressing winds. When they have subsided, and the deep grows quiet, the force for the Nile descending thence is lesser.

Ceterum dulcis mari sapor est et similes Niloticis beluae".

Moreover, the taste in the sea is sweet, and the beasts are similar to the Nilotic ones".

[2,23] Quare ergo, si Nilum etesiae prouocant, et ante illos incipit incrementum eius et post eos durat? Praeterea non fit maior quo illi flauere uehementius, nec remittitur incitaturque prout illis impetus fuit: quod fieret, si illorum uiribus cresceret. Quid, quod etesiae litus Aegyptium uerberant et contra illos Nilus descendit, inde uenturus unde illi, si origo ab illis esset?

[2,23] Why therefore, if the Etesians provoke the Nile, does its increment begin before them and last after them? Moreover, it does not become greater the more vehemently they blew, nor is it remitted and incited according as their impetus was: which would happen, if it grew by their forces. What of the fact that the Etesians beat the Egyptian shore and the Nile descends against them, due to come from the quarter whence they come, if its origin were from them?

Praeterea ex mari purus et caeruleus efllueret, non ut nunc turbidus ueniret.

Moreover, from the sea it would efflux pure and cerulean, not as now it comes turbid.

[2,24] Adice quod testimonium eius testium turba coarguitur. Tunc erat mendacio locus; cum ignota essent externa, licebat illis fabulas mittere; nunc uero tota exteri maris ora mercatorum nauibus stringitur, quorum nemo narrat initium Nili aut mare saporis alterius: quod natura credi uetat, quia dulcissimum quodque et leuissimum sol trahit.

[2,24] Add
that his testimony is refuted by a crowd of witnesses. Then there was
room for mendacity; when external things were unknown, it was permitted
for them to send forth fables; now indeed the whole shore of the outer sea
is skirted by merchants’ ships, of whom no one narrates an origin of the Nile
or a sea of a different savor: which nature forbids to be believed, because the sun
draws off whatever is the sweetest and the lightest.

[2,25] Praeterea quare hieme non crescit? Et tunc potest uentis concitari mare aliquanto quidem maioribus: nam etesiae temperati sunt. Quod si e mari ferretur Atlantico, semel oppleret Aegyptum: at nunc per gradus crescit.

[2,25] Moreover, why does it not increase in winter? And then the sea can be stirred by winds indeed somewhat greater: for the Etesians are temperate. If, however, it were carried from the Atlantic sea, it would once for all fill up Egypt; but now it rises by degrees.

[2,26] Oenopides Chius ait hieme calorem sub terris contineri: ideo et specus calidos esse et tepidiorem puteis aquam, itaque uenas interno calore siccari. Sed in aliis terris augeri imbribus flumina; Nilum, quia nullo imbre adiuuetur, tenuari; deinde crescere per aestatem, quo tempore fripent interiora terrarum et redit rigor fontibus.

[2,26] Oenopides the Chian says that in winter the heat is contained beneath the earth; therefore caves are warm and the water in wells more tepid, and thus the veins are dried by internal heat. But in other lands the rivers are augmented by rains; the Nile, because it is aided by no rain, is thinned; then it grows during the summer, at which time the inner parts of the earth grow chilled and rigor returns to the springs.

[2,27] Quod si uerum esset, aestate flumina crescerent omnia, putei aestate abundarent. Deinde falsum est calorem hieme sub terris esse maiorem. At quare specus et putei tepent?

[2,27] But if this were true, in summer the rivers
would all increase, the wells would abound in summer. Then it is false
that the heat is greater under the earth in winter. But why are caves and
wells tepid?

Quia aera frigentem extrinsecus non recipiunt: ita non calorem habent, sed frigus excludunt. Ex eadem causa aestate refrigescunt, quia ad illos remotos seductosque calefactus non peruertit.

Because they do not receive from without the air that is growing cold: thus they do not have heat, but they exclude cold. For the same cause in summer they grow cool, because to those remote and secluded the heated air does not turn.

[2,28] Diogenes Apolloniates ait: "Sol umorem ad se rapit: hunc adsiccata tellus ex mari ducit, tum ex ceteris aquis. Fieri autem non potest, ut alia sicca sit tellus, alia abundet; sunt enim perforata omnia et inuicem peruia, et sicca ab umidis sumunt. Alioquin, nisi aliquid terra acciperet, exaruisset.

[2,28] Diogenes of Apollonia says: "The Sun draws moisture to itself: the desiccated earth draws this from the sea, then from the other waters. It cannot, however, come to pass that one stretch of earth be dry while another abounds; for all things are perforated and mutually pervious, and the dry take from the moist. Otherwise, unless the earth received some , it would have dried out."

Ergo undique sol trahit, sed ex his quae premit maxime; haec meridiana sunt.

Therefore from every side the sun draws, but most from those things which it most presses; these are the meridional ones.

[2,29] Terra cum exaruit, plus ad se umoris adducit: ut in lucernis oleum illo fluit ubi exuritur, sic aqua illo incumbit quo uis caloris et terrae aestuantis arcessit. Unde ergo trahit? Ex illis scilicet partibus semper hibernis: septentrionales exundant.

[2,29] When the earth has dried up, it draws more moisture to itself: as in lamps the oil flows there where it is burned up, so water bears down there whither the force of heat and of the seething earth summons. Whence, then, does it draw? From those, of course, regions always wintry: the northern ones overflow.

Ob hoc Pontus in infernum mare assidue fluit rapidus (non ut cetera maria alternatis ultro citro aestibus) in unam partem semper promus et torrens. Quod nisi facile his itineribus quod cuique deest redderetur, quod cuique superest emit, teretur, iam aut sicca essent omnia aut inundata".

For this reason the Pontus flows swiftly into the lower sea continually (not as the other seas with alternating tides to and fro), always in one direction, headlong and torrential. And unless by these routes what is lacking to each were readily restored, and what is surplus to each were bought up and worn away, by now either all things would be dry or inundated".

[2,30] Interrogare Diogenem libet quare, cum pertusa sint cuncta et inuicem commeant, non omnibus locis aestate maiora sint flumina. "Aegyptum sol magis percoquit: itaque Nilus magis crescit. Sed in ceteris quoque terris aliqua fluminibus fiat adiectio." Deinde quare ulla pars terrae sine umore est, cum omnis ad se ex aliis regionibus trahat, eo quidem magis quo calidior est?

[2,30] I am minded to question Diogenes why, since all things are perforated and come and go mutually, the rivers are not greater in all places in summer. “The sun parches Egypt more: therefore the Nile increases more. But in the other lands also some addition is made to the rivers.” Then why is any part of the earth without moisture, since every place draws to itself from other regions, all the more indeed the hotter it is?

Deinde quare Nilus dulcis est, si haec illi e mari unda est? Nec enim ulli flumini mini dulcior gustus...

Then why is the Nile sweet, if this wave comes to it from the sea? For indeed to no river is the taste sweeter...

[3,1] DE NUBIBUS

[3,1] ON CLOUDS

Grandinem hoc modo fieri si tibi affirmauero quo apud nos glacies fit, gelata nube tota, nimis audacem rem fecero. Itaque ex his me testibus numero secundae notae, qui uidisse quidem se negant; aut, quod historici faciunt, et ipse faciam: illi cum multa mentiti sunt ad arbitrium suum, unam aliquam rem nolunt spondere sed adiciunt: "Penes auctores fides erit".

If I affirm to you that hail is produced in this way in which among us ice is made, with the whole cloud frozen, I will have done a too audacious thing. Therefore I count myself among these witnesses of the second class, who indeed deny that they have seen; or, what historians do, I likewise will do: they, since they have lied many things at their own discretion, do not wish to pledge any single thing but add: "The credit will be with the authors".

[3,2] Ergo si mihi parum credis, Posidonius tibi auctoritatem promittit tam in illo quod praeteriit, quam in hoc quod secuturum est: grandinem enim fieri ex nube aquosa iam et in umorem uersa sic affirmabit tamquam interfuerit.

[3,2] Therefore, if you credit me too little, Posidonius promises you authority both in that which has passed, and in this which is to follow: for he will thus affirm, as though he had been present, that hail is formed from an aqueous cloud already turned into moisture.

[3,3] Quare autem rotunda sit grando, etiam sine magistro scire possis, cum adnotaueris stillicidium omne glomerari, quod et in speculis apparet, quae umorem halitu colligunt, et in poculis sparsis aliaque omni leuitate; non minus foliis si quae guttae adhaeserunt, in rotundum iacent.

[3,3] Why, moreover, hail is round you can know even without a teacher, when you have noted
that every drip conglomerates, which also appears on mirrors, which collect moisture by the breath,
and on sprinkled cups and on every other smooth surface; no less on leaves, if any drops have adhered,
they lie in the round.

[3,4] "Quid magis est saxo durum? Quid mollius unda? Dura tamen molli saxa cauantur aqua." Aut, ut alius poeta ait: "stillicidi casus lapidem cauat." Haec ipsa excauatio rotunda fit; ex quo apparet illud quoque huic simile esse quod cauat: locum enim sibi ad formam et habitum sui exsculpit.

[3,4] "What is harder than stone? What softer than water? Yet hard stones are hollowed out by soft water." Or, as another poet says: "the fall of dripping hollows the stone." This very excavation is made round; from which it is apparent that that which hollows it is likewise similar to it: for it carves out for itself a place according to its own form and habit.

[3,5] Praeterea potest, etiamsi non fuit grando talis, dum defertur, corrotundari et, totiens per spatium aeris densi deuoluta, aequabiliter atque in orbem teri. Quod nix pati non potest, quia non est tam solida, immo quia fusa est, et non per magnam altitudinem cadit sed circa terras initium eius est: ita non longus illi per aera sed ex proximo lapsus est.

[3,5] Moreover, it can happen that, even if the hail was not such at first, while it is being carried along, it is rounded off, and, having been rolled down so many times through a stretch of dense air, it is worn equably and into a globe. Which snow cannot undergo, because it is not so solid—rather, because it is loose—and it does not fall from a great altitude, but its beginning is around the earth: thus its fall through the air is not long for it, but is from close at hand.

[3,6] Quare non et ego mihi idem permittam quod Anaxagoras? Inter nullos magis quam inter philosophos esse debet aequa libertas: grando nihil aliud est quam suspensa glacies, nix [in] pruina pendens [congelatio]. Illud enim iam diximus, quod inter rorem et aquam interest, hoc inter pruinam et glaciem nec non inter niuem et grandinem interesse.

[3,6] Why should not I also permit to myself the same as Anaxagoras? Among none more than among philosophers there ought to be equal liberty: hail is nothing else than ice suspended, snow [in] hoarfrost hanging [congelation]. For we have already said this: that what difference there is between dew and water, this is between hoarfrost and ice, and likewise between snow and hail.

[4,1] Poteram me peracta quaestione dimittere sed bene mensum dabo et, quoniam coepi tibi molestus esse, quicquid in hoc loco quaeritur dicam; quaeritur autem quare hieme ningat, non grandinet, uere iam frigore infracto grando cadat. Nam, ut fallar tibi, uerum mihi quidem persuadetur, qui me usque ad mendacia haec leuiora, in quibus os percidi non oculi erui solent, credulum praesto:

[4,1] I could dismiss myself, the inquiry having been completed, but I will give good measure and, since I have begun to be troublesome to you, I will say whatever is asked in this place; what is asked, moreover, is why in winter it snows, not hails, but in spring, the cold now broken, hail falls. For, granted that I may be mistaken in your eyes, yet I am indeed persuaded of the truth, I who present myself as credulous even up to these lighter mendacities, in which the mouth is wont to be bruised, not the eyes to be gouged out:

[4,2] hieme aer riget et ideo nondum in aquam uertitur sed in niuem, cui aer propior est; cum uer coepit, maior inclinatio temporis sequitur et calidiore caelo maiora fiunt stillicidia. Ideo (ut ait Vergilius noster) "cum ruit imbriferum uer", uehementior mutatio est aeris undique patefacti et soluentis se ipso tempore adiuuante: ob hoc nimbi graues magis uastique quam pertinaces deferuntur.

[4,2] in winter the air is rigid, and therefore is not yet turned into
water but into snow, to which the air is nearer; when spring has begun,
a greater inclination of the season follows, and under a warmer sky larger
drop-falls are produced. Therefore (as our Vergil says) "when the rain-bearing
spring rushes down," there is a more vehement change of the air, opened on all sides and
loosening itself, with time itself helping: on this account cloud-bursts heavy and more
vast are borne along rather than persistent ones.

[4,3] Bruma lentas pluuias habet et tenues, quales saepe solent interuenire, cum pluuia rara et minuta niuem quoque admixtam habet; dicimus niualem diem, cum altum frigus et triste caelum est. Praeterea, aquilone flante aut suum caelum habente, minutae pluuiae sunt; austro imber improbior est et guttae pleniores.

[4,3] Midwinter has slow rains and thin, such as often are wont to intervene, when rare and minute rain has snow mixed in as well; we say a snowy day, when there is deep cold and a gloomy sky. Moreover, with the north wind blowing or having its own sky, the rains are minute; with the south wind the shower is more violent and the drops fuller.

[5,1] Rem a nostris positam nec dicere audeo, quia infirma uidetur, nec praeterire: quid enim mali est aliquid et faciliori iudici scribere? Immo si omnia argumenta ad obrussam coeperimus exigere, silentium indicetur: pauca enim admodum sunt sine aduersario; cetera, etiamsi uincunt, litigant.

[5,1] I neither dare to declare the matter set down by our own, because it seems infirm, nor to pass it by: for what harm is there in writing something also for an easier judgment?
Rather, if we begin to assay all arguments by the touchstone, let silence be declared: for very few indeed are without an adversary; the rest, even if they prevail, litigate.

[5,2] Aiunt uere, quicquid circa Scythiam et Pontum et septemtrionalem plagam glaciatum et astrictum est, relaxari; tunc flumina gelata discedere, tunc obrutos montes niuem soluere. Credibile est ergo frigidos spiritus inde fieri et uerno caelo remisceris.

[5,2] They say truly,
whatever around Scythia and Pontus and the septentrional region
has been frozen and bound is loosened; then the ice-bound rivers part,
then the mountains buried release their snow. It is credible, therefore,
that cold breaths arise from there and are mingled again with the vernal sky.

[5,3] Illud quoque adiciunt, quod nec sum expertus nec experiri cogito (tu quoque, censeo, si uolueris uerum exquirere, niuem in Care experiaris): minus algere aiunt pedes eorum, qui fixam et duram niuem calcant quam eorum, qui teneram et labefactam.

[5,3] They add this also, which I have neither experienced nor do I intend to experience (you also, I judge, if you wish to seek the truth, should try snow at Caere): they say that the feet of those who tread on fixed and hard snow feel less cold than those of those who tread on soft and loosened.

[5,4] Ergo, si non mentiuritur, quicquid ex illis septemtrionalibus locis iam disturbata niue et glacie frangente se fertur, id meridianae partis tepentem iam umidumque aera alligat et praestringit: ita quae pluuia futura erat, grando fit iniuria frigoris.

[5,4] Therefore, if it is not lying, whatever from those septentrional regions, now with the snow disturbed and the ice breaking, is borne along, that binds and constricts the already tepid and moist air of the meridional part: thus what was going to be rain becomes hail by the violence of the cold.

[6,1] Non tempero mihi quominus omnes nostrorum ineptias proferam. Quosdam peritos obseruandarum nubium esse affirmant et praedicere cum grando uentura sit. Hoc intellegere usu ipso potuerunt, cum colorem nubium notassent, quem grando totiens insequebatur.

[6,1] I do not restrain myself from bringing forth all the ineptitudes of our people. Some they affirm to be skilled in the observing of clouds
and in predicting when hail is going to come. This they were able to understand by experience itself, when they had noted the color of the clouds,
which hail so often followed.

[6,2] Illud incredibile, Cleonis fuisse publice praepositos chalazophylacas, speculatores uenturae grandinis. Hi cum signum dedissent adesse iam grandinem, quid expectas? ut homines ad paenulas discurrerent aut ad scorteas?

[6,2] That incredible thing: that under Cleon there were publicly appointed chalazophylakes (“hail-wardens”), lookouts for coming hail. When these had given the signal that the hail was already at hand, what do you expect? that men would run to their paenulas or to their hide-cloaks?

Immo pro se quisque alius agnum immolabat, alius pullum: protinus illae nubes alio declinabant, cum aliquid gustassent sanguinis.

Nay rather, each man on his own behalf—one immolated a lamb, another a chick: forthwith those clouds turned aside elsewhere, when they had tasted something of blood.

[6,3] Hoc rides? Accipe quod magis rideas: si quis nec agnum nec pullum habebat, quod sine damno fieri poterat, manus sibi afferebat, et, ne tu auidas aut crudeles existimes nubes, digitum suum bene acuto graphio pungebat et hoc sanguine litabat; nec minus ab huius agello grando se uertebat quam ab illo, in quo maioribus hostiis exorata erat.

[6,3] Do you laugh at this? Take something you’ll laugh at more: if someone
had neither lamb nor chick, he would lay hands upon himself—which could be done without harm—
and, lest you think the clouds avid or cruel,
he would prick his own finger with a well-sharpened stylus and with this blood
make a propitiatory offering; nor any less would the hail turn itself away from this man’s little field than
from that one, in which it had been won over by greater victims.

[7,1] Rationem huius rei quaerunt: alteri, ut homines sapientissimos decet, negant posse fieri ut cum grandine aliquis paciscatur et tempestates munusculis redimat, quamuis munera et deos uincant. Alteri suspicari ipsos aiunt esse in ipso sanguine uim quandam potentem auertendae nubis ac repellendae.

[7,1] They seek the rationale of this matter: some, as befits the most sapient men, deny that it can come to pass that anyone makes a pact with hail and buys off storms with little gifts, although gifts conquer even gods. Others say that they suspect that there is in the blood itself a certain force potent for averting and repelling the cloud.

[7,2] Sed quomodo in tam exiguo sanguine potest esse uis tanta, ut in altum penetret et illam sentiant nubes? Quanto expeditius erat dicere: mendacium et fabula est. At Cleonaei iudicia reddebant in illos quibus delegata erat cura prouidendae tempestatis, quod neglegentia eorum uineae uapulassent aut segetes procidissent.

[7,2] But how can there be so great a force in so exiguous a quantity of blood, that it penetrates aloft and the clouds sense it? How much more expeditious it was to say: it is a lie and a fable. But the Cleonaeans were rendering judgments against those to whom the care of providing against the storm had been delegated, because through their negligence the vineyards had been beaten or the crops had fallen down.

Et apud nos in XII tabulis cauetur "ne quis alienos fructus excantassit".

And among us too, in the 12 Tables it is provided: "that no one should bewitch another’s fruits."

[7,3] Rudis adhuc antiquitas credebat et attrahi cantibus imbres et repelli, quorum nihil posse fieri tam palam est, ut huius rei causa nullius philosophi schola intranda sit.

[7,3] Antiquity, still raw, believed that showers could be drawn by incantations and repelled, of which none can be done is so evident, that for the sake of this matter no philosopher’s school need be entered.

[8,1] Unam rem ad hoc adiciam et fauere te ac plaudere iuuabit. Aiunt niuem in ea parte aeris fieri quae prope terras est. Hanc enim plus habere caloris ex quattuor causis: una, quod omnis terrarum euaporatio, cum multum in se feruidi aridique habeat, hoc est calidior quo recentior; altera, quod radii solis a terra resiliunt et in se recurrunt: horum duplicatio proxima quaeque a terris calefacit, quae ideo plus habent teporis quia solem bis sentiunt; tertia causa est, quod magis superiora perflantur, at quaecumque depressa sunt minus uentis uerberantur.

[8,1] I will add one thing to this, and it will please you to favor and applaud.
They say that snow comes to be in that part of the air which is near the earth.
For this has more of heat from four causes: one, that
every evaporation of the lands, since it has much of something fervid and arid
in itself, is hotter the fresher it is; the second, that the rays of the sun
rebound from the earth and recur upon themselves: the duplication of these
warms whatever is nearest to the lands, which therefore have more tepid warmth because they feel the sun
twice; the third cause is that the higher regions are more thoroughly swept through,
but whatever is low-lying is less beaten by the winds.

[9,1] Accedit bis ratio Democriti: "Omne corpus, quo solidius est hoc calorem citius concipit, diutius seruat. Itaque si in sole posueris aeneum uas et uitreum [et argenteum], aeneo citius calor accedet, diutius haerebit." Adicit deinde quare hoc existimet fieri."His, inquit, corporibus, quae duriora et pressiora sunt, necesse est minora foramina esse et tenuiorem in singulis spiritum: sequitur ut, quemadmodum minora balnearia et minora miliaria citius calefiunt, sic haec foramina occulta et oculos effugientia et celerius feruorem sentiant et propter easdem angustias, quicquid receperunt, tardius reddant.". Haec longe praeparata ad id perducunt, de quo nunc quaeritur.

[9,1] There is added, for a second time, the reasoning of Democritus: "Every body, the more solid it is, the more quickly it conceives heat, the longer it preserves it. And so, if you should place in the sun a bronze vessel and a glass one [and a silver one], heat will come to the bronze more quickly, it will stick longer." He then adds why he thinks this happens. "In these bodies," he says, "which are harder and more pressed-together, it is necessary that the openings be smaller and the spirit in each thinner: it follows that, just as smaller bath-buildings and smaller milestones are warmed more quickly, so these hidden openings that escape the eyes both sense the fervor more swiftly and, because of the same narrownesses, whatever they have received, they return more slowly.". These things, prepared from far off, lead to that about which inquiry is now being made.

[10,1] Omnis aer quo propior est terris, hoc crassior. Quemadmodum in aqua et in omni umore faex ima est, ita in aere spississima quaeque desidunt. Iam autem probatum est omnia, quo crassioris solidiorisque materiae sunt, hoc fidelius custodire calorem receptum.

[10,1] All air, the closer it is to the earth, the thicker. Just as in water and in every moisture the dregs are at the bottom, so in the air the most dense parts settle down. Now it has been proved that all things, the more they are of thicker and more solid matter, the more faithfully they keep in custody the received heat.

Editior aer, quo longius a terrarum colluuie recessit, hoc sincerior puriorque est; itaque solem non retinet sed uelut per inane transmittit: ideo minus calefit.

Higher air, the farther it has withdrawn from the colluvium of the lands the more sincere and purer it is; and so it does not retain the sun but transmits it as though through a void: therefore it is heated less.

[11,1] Contra quidam aiunt cacumina montium hoc calidiora esse debere, quo propiora soli sunt: qui mihi uidentur errare, quod Apenninum et Alpes et alios notos ob eximiam altitudinem montes in tantum putant crescere, ut illorum magnitudo sentire solis uiciniam possit:

[11,1] On the contrary, some say that the summits of mountains ought to be the hotter, the nearer they are to the sun: who seem to me to err, because they think that the Apennine and the Alps and other mountains known on account of their exceptional altitude grow to such an extent that their magnitude can feel the sun’s vicinity:

[11,2] excelsa sunt ista, quamdiu nobis comparantur; at uero, ubi ad uniuersum respexeris, manifesta est omnium humilitas. Inter se uincuntur et uincunt; ceterum in tantum nihil attollitur, ut in collatione totius ulla sit uel maximis portio: quod nisi esset, non diceremus totum orbem terrarum pilam esse.

[11,2] those things are lofty, so long as they are compared with us; but indeed, when you look to the universe as a whole, the lowliness of all is manifest. Among themselves they are conquered and they conquer; moreover, nothing is raised to such an extent that, in the comparison of the whole, there is any portion even for the greatest: which, if it were not so, we would not say that the whole orb of the earth is a ball.

[11,3] Pilae proprietas est cum aequalitate quadam rotunditas, aequalitatem autem hanc accipe quam uides in lusoria pila: non multum illi commissurae et rimae [earum] nocent quo minus par sibi ab omni parte dicatur. Quomodo in hac pila nihil illa interualla officiunt ad speciem rotundi, sic ne in uniuerso quidem orbe terrarum editi montes, quorum altitudo totius mundi collatione consumitur.

[11,3] The property of a ball is a rotundity with a certain equality; and take this equality as that which you see in a play-ball: the joints and fissures [of them] do not do much harm to it, so as to prevent its being called equal to itself from every part. Just as in this ball those intervals do nothing to obstruct the appearance of the round, so neither in the universal orb of the lands do the raised mountains, whose height is consumed in the comparison with the whole world, hinder the appearance of roundness.

[11,4] Qui dicit altiorem montem, quia solem propius excipiat, magis calere debere, idem dicere potest longiorem hominem citius quam pusillum debere calefieri et caput citius quam pedes: at quisquis mundum mensura sua aestimauerit et terrain cogitauerit tenere puncti locum, intelleget nihil in illa posse ita eminere, ut caelestia magis sentiat, uelut in propinquum illis accesserit.

[11,4] He who says that a loftier mountain, because it receives the sun more nearly, ought to be hotter, can say likewise that a taller man ought to be heated more quickly than a little one, and the head more quickly than the feet: but whoever has estimated the world by its own measure and has considered that the earth holds the place of a point will understand that nothing on it can be so eminent as to feel the celestial things more, as though it had approached into proximity to them.

[11,5] Montes isti, quos suspicimus, et uertices aeterna niue obsessi nihilominus in imo sunt; et propius quidem est a sole mons quam campus aut uallis, sed sic quomodo est pilus pilo crassior. Isto enim modo et arbor alia magis quam alia dicetur uicina caelo. Quod est falsum, quia inter pusilla non potest magnum esse discrimen, nisi dum inter se comparantur.

[11,5] Those mountains, which we look up at, and the summits beset by eternal snow, are nonetheless at the bottom; and indeed a mountain is nearer to the sun than a plain or a valley, but only as one hair is thicker than another hair. For in that way one tree will be said to be nearer to the sky than another. Which is false, because among very small things there cannot be a great difference, except while they are compared among themselves.

Ubi ad collationem immensi corporis uentum est, nihil interest quanto sit alterum altero malus, quia, etiamsi magno discrimine, tamen minima uincuntur.

When it has come to the comparison with the immense body, it makes no difference by how much the one is worse than the other, because, even if by a great difference, nevertheless the smallest things are overcome.

[12,1] Sed ut ad propositum reuertar, propter has quas rettuli causas plerisque placuit in ea parte aeris niuem concipi quae uicina terris est, et ideo minus alligari quia minore rigore coit. Nam uicinus aer et plus habet frigoris quam ut in aquam imbremque transeat, et minus quam ut duretur in grandinem: hoc medio frigore non nimis intento niues fiunt coactis aquis.

[12,1] But so that I may revert to the proposed subject, on account of these causes which I have recounted it has pleased most people that snow be conceived in that part of the air which is adjacent to the lands, and therefore be less bound because it coalesces with a lesser rigor. For the neighboring air both has too much cold to pass into water and rain, and too little to be hardened into hail: by this middle cold, not overly intense, snows are made from compressed waters.

[13,1] "Quid istas, inquis, ineptias, quibus litteratior est quisque, non melior, tam operose persequeris? Quomodo fiant niues dicis, cum multo magis ad nos dici a te pertineat quare emendae non sint niues." Iubes me tandems cum luxuria litigare? Cotidianum istud et sine effectu iurgium est.

[13,1] "Why, you say, do you so laboriously pursue these ineptitudes, by which each person is made more literate, not better? How snows come to be you tell, when it much more pertains to us to be told by you why snows ought not to be bought." You bid me at last to litigate with luxury? That is a quotidian and ineffectual quarrel.

Litigemus tamen, etiamsi superior futura est: pugnantes ac reluctantes uincat.

Let us litigate nonetheless, even if she will be the superior: let her conquer us fighting and resisting.

[13,2] Quid porro? Hanc ipsam inspectionem naturae nihil iudicas ad id, quod uis, conferre? Cum quaeramus quomodo nix fiat et dicimus illam pruinae similem habere naturam, plus illi spiritus quam aquae inesse, non putas exprobrari illis, cum emere aquam turpe sit, si ne aquam quidem emunt?

[13,2] What then? Do you judge that this very inspection of nature contributes nothing to what you want? When we inquire how snow is made and say that it has a nature similar to hoarfrost, that there is in it more of spirit (air) than of water, do you not think it is being cast in their teeth—since to buy water is shameful—that they are not even buying water?

[13,3] Nos uero quaeramus potius quomodo fiant niues quam quomodo seruentur, quoniam non contenti uina diffundere, ueteraria per sapores aetatesque disponere, inuenimus quomodo stiparemus niuem, ut ea aestatem euinceret et contra anni feruorem defenderetur loci frigore. Quid hac diligentia consecuti sumus? Nempe ut gratuitam mercemur aquam: nobis dolet quod spiritum, quod solem emere non possumus, quod hic aer etiam delicatis diuitibusque ex facili nec emptus uenit.

[13,3] Let us, rather, inquire how snows come to be than how they are preserved, since, not content to pour out wines, to arrange the vintages by flavors and ages, we have found how we might pack snow, so that it might conquer the summer and, against the year’s fervor, be defended by the cold of the place. What have we attained by this diligence? Namely, to purchase water that is gratis: it pains us that we cannot buy breath, that we cannot buy the sun, that this air comes readily, even to the pampered and the wealthy, not purchased.

O quam nobis male est, quod quicquam a rerum natura in medio relictum est!

O how badly for us it is,
that anything has been left by the nature of things in common!

[13,4] Hoc quod illa fluere et patere omnibus uoluit, cuius haustum uitae publicum fecit, hoc quod tam homini quam feris auibusque et inertissimis animalibus in usum large ac beate profudit, contra se ingeniosa luxuria redegit ad pretium: adeo nihil illi potest placere nisi carum. Unum hoc erat quod diuites in aequum turbae deduceret, quo non possent antecedere pauperrimum: illi, cui diuitiae molestae sunt, excogitatum est quemadmodum etiam caperet aqua luxuriam.

[13,4] This thing which she willed to flow and to lie open to all, whose draught she made public for life, this which she poured out into use as lavishly and blissfully for man as for wild beasts and birds and the most inert animals, ingenious luxury has, to its own detriment, reduced to a price: to such a degree that nothing can please it unless it be dear. This was the one thing that would bring the rich down to equality with the crowd, in which they could not outstrip the poorest man: for the one to whom riches are burdensome, it has been contrived how even water might take on luxury.

[13,5] Unde ad hoc peruentum sit ut nulla nobis aqua satis frigida uideretur quae flueret, dicam. Quamdiu sanus et salubris cibi capax stomachus est impleturque, non premitur, naturalibus fomentis contentus est: ubi cotidianis cruditatibus perustus non temporis aestus sed suos sentit, ubi ebrietas continua uisceribus insedit et praecordia bile, in quam uertitur, torret, aliquid necessario quaeritur, quo aestus ille frangatur, qui ipsis aquis incalescit: remediis incitatur uitium. Itaque non aestate tantum sed et media hieme niuem bac causa bibunt.

[13,5] From where it has come to this point, that no water which flows seems to us sufficiently cold, I will say. As long as the stomach is sound and healthful, capable of food, and is filled, not pressed, it is content with natural fomentations; when, scorched by daily crudities, it feels not the heat of the season but its own; when continual ebriety has settled in the viscera and parches the precordia with bile, into which it is turned, something is necessarily sought by which that heat may be broken, which even with the waters themselves grows hot: by remedies the vice is incited. And so not in summer only but even in mid-winter they drink snow for this cause.

[13,6] Quae huius rei causa est nisi intestinum malum et luxu corrupta praecordia? Quibus nullum interuallum umquam, quo interquiescerent, datum est, sed prandia cenis usque in lucem perductis ingesta sunt et distentos copia ferculorum ac uarietate comessatio altius mersit; deinde numquam intermissa intemperantia quicquid animi decoxerat efferauit et in desiderium semper noui rigoris accendit.

[13,6] What is the cause of this, if not an internal malady and vitals corrupted by luxury? For such people no interval has ever been granted in which they might rest, but luncheons, carried on with dinners clear into daylight, have been crammed in; and carousal, by the abundance of courses and their variety, has plunged the over-stuffed more deeply; then an intemperance never intermitted has made savage whatever of spirit had boiled away and has kindled them into a craving for ever-new coldness.

[13,7] Itaque quamuis cenationem uelis ac specularibus muniant et igne multo doment hiemem, nihilominus stomachus ille solutus et aestu suo languidus quaerit aliquid quo erigatur. Nam sicut animo relictos stupentesque frigida spargimus, ut ad sensum sui redeant, ita uiscera istorum uitiis torpentia nihil sentiunt, nisi frigore illa uehementiore perusseris.

[13,7] And so, although they fortify the dining-room with awnings and glass panes,
and with much fire tame winter, nonetheless that stomach, loosened
and languid with its own heat, seeks something by which it may be braced. For just as
we sprinkle with cold water those bereft in mind and stupefied, so that they may return
to a sense of themselves, so the viscera of these men, torpid through vices, feel nothing, unless
you sear them with a more vehement cold.

[13,8] Inde est, inquam, quod ne niue quidem contenti sunt, sed glaciem, uelut certior illi ex solido rigor sit, exquirunt ac saepe repetitis aquis diluunt: quae non e summo tollitur sed, ut uim maiorem habeat et pertinacius frigus, ex abdito effoditur. Itaque ne unum quidem eius est pretium, sed habet institores aqua et annonam (pro pudor!) uariam.

[13,8] Hence it is, I say, that not even with snow are they content, but they seek ice, as though from the solid it had a surer rigor, and they rinse it with waters often repeated: which is not taken from the top but, that it may have greater force and a more pertinacious cold, is dug out from a hidden place. And so there is not even a single price for it, but water has hawkers and a (for shame!) variable market-price.

[13,9] Unguentarios Lacedaemonii urbe expulerunt et propere cedere finibus suis iusserunt, quia oleum disperderent: quid illi fecissent, si uidissent reponendae niuis officinas et tot iumenta portandae aquae deseruientia, cuius colorem saporemque paleis, quibus custodiunt, inquinant?

[13,9] The Lacedaemonians expelled the unguent-sellers from the city and ordered them promptly to withdraw from their borders, because they spoiled oil: what would they have done, if they had seen workshops for storing snow and so many beasts of burden serving to carry water, whose color and flavor they contaminate with the straw with which they keep it?

[13,10] At, dii boni, quam facile est extinguere sitim sanam! Sed quid sentire possunt emortuae fauces et occallatae cibis ardentibus? Quemadmodum nihil illis satis frigidum, sic nihil satis calidum est, sed ardentes boletos et raptim indumento suo mersatos demittunt paene fumantes, quos deinde restinguant niuatis potionibus.

[13,10] But, good gods, how easy
it is to extinguish a healthy thirst! But what can deadened
throats, calloused by burning foods, feel? Just as nothing is
cold enough for them, so nothing is hot enough, but they send down
blazing boletes, hastily plunged into their own sauce, almost smoking,
which they then quench with snow-chilled drinks.

Videbis, inquam, quosdam graciles et palliolo focalique circumdatos, pallentes et aegros non sorbere solum niuem sed etiam esse et frusta eius in scyphos suos deicere, ne tepescant inter ipsam bibendi moram.

You will see, I say, certain slender men, girt about with a little pallium and a throat-scarf, pallid and ailing, not only to sip snow but even to eat it, and to throw pieces of it into their cups, lest they grow tepid during the very delay of drinking.

[13,11] Sitim istam esse putas? Febris est, et quidem eo acrior quod non tactu uenarum nec in cutem effuso calore deprehenditur sed cor ipsum excoquit. Luxuria inuictum malum et ex molli fluidoque durum atque patiens.

[13,11] Do you think that is thirst? It is a fever, and indeed all the sharper because it is not detected by the touch of the veins nor by heat poured out upon the skin, but it sears the heart itself. Luxury is an unconquered evil, and, from what is soft and fluid, it becomes hard and enduring.

Non intellegis omnia consuetudine uim suam perdere? Itaque nix ista, in qua iam etiam natatis, eo peruenit usu et cotidiana stomachi seruitute, ut aquae locum obtineat. Aliquid adhuc quaerite illa frigidius, quia pro nihilo est familiaris rigor.

Do you not understand that all things lose their force through consuetude? Therefore that snow, in which you now even swim, has come, by use and by the stomach’s daily servitude, to occupy the place of water. Seek something still colder than that, since familiar rigor counts for nothing.