Seneca: QUAESTIONES NATURALES

[1,1] Uentus est fluens aer. Quidam ita definierunt: uentus est aer fluens in unam partem. Haec definitio uidetur diligentior, quia numquam aer tam immobilis est ut non in aliqua sit agitatione; sic tranquillum mare dicitur, cum leuiter commouetur nec in unam partem inclinatur: itaque si legeris "cum placidum uentis staret mare", scito illud non stare sed succuti leuiter et dici tranquillum, quia nec hoc nec illo impetum capiat.

[1,1] Wind is flowing air. Some have thus defined it: wind is air flowing in one direction. This definition seems more precise, because the air is never so motionless that it is not in some agitation; thus the sea is called tranquil, when it is lightly stirred and does not incline in one direction: and so, if you should read “when the placid sea stood to the winds,” know that it is not standing but is lightly shaken and is called tranquil, because it takes on neither this nor that impetus.

[1,2] Idem et de aere iudicandum est, non esse umquam immobilem, etiamsi quietus sit. Quod ex hoc intellegas licet: cum sol in aliquem clausum locum infusus est, uidemus corpuscula minima in aduersum ferri, alia sursum, alia deorsum uarie concursantia.

[1,2] The same is to be judged also about air, that it is never immobile, even if it is quiet. This you may understand from this: when the sun is infused into some enclosed place, we see very small corpuscles being carried in opposite directions, some upward, others downward, colliding in various ways.

[1,3] Ergo ut parum diligenter comprehendet quod uult, qui dixerit: "fluctus est maris agitatio", quia tranquillum quoque agitatur, at ille abunde sibi cauerit, cuius definitio haec fuerit: "fluctus est maris in unam partem agitatio"; sic in hac quoque re, quam cum maxime quaerimus, non circumscribetur qui ita se gesserit ut dicat: "uentus est fluens in unam partem aer" aut "aer fluens impetu" aut "uis aeris in unam partem euntis" aut "cursus aeris aliquo concitatior".

[1,3] Therefore, he will have comprehended what he intends with too little diligence, who says: "a wave is an agitation of the sea," since even the tranquil sea is agitated, but he will have amply guarded himself, whose definition has been: "a wave is an agitation of the sea in one direction"; so also in this matter, which we are most especially now inquiring into, he will not be circumscribed who has conducted himself thus as to say: "wind is air flowing in one direction" or "air flowing with impetus" or "the force of air going in one direction" or "the course of air somewhat more stirred."

[1,4] Scio quid responderi pro altera definitione possit: quid necesse est adicere te "in unam partem"? Utique enim quod fluit in unam partem fluit; nemo aquam fluere dicit, si tantum intra se mouetur, sed si aliquo fertur: potest ergo aliquid moueri et non fluere, et e contrario non potest fluere nisi in unam partem.

[1,4] I know what can be answered on behalf of the other definition: what need is there for you to add "in one direction"? For indeed what flows, flows in one direction; no one says that water flows, if it is moved only within itself, but if it is carried somewhere: therefore something can be moved and not flow, and conversely it cannot flow unless in one direction.

[1,5] Sed siue haec breuitas satis a calumnia tuta est, hac utamur; siue aliquis circumspectior est, uerbo non parcat, cuius adiectio cauillationem omnem poterit excludere. Nunc ad ipsam rem accedamus, quoniam satis de formula disputatum est.

[1,5] But if this brevity is sufficiently safe from calumny, let us use this; or if someone is more circumspect, let him not spare a word, the addition of which will be able to exclude every cavillation. Now let us approach the matter itself, since enough has been disputed about the formula.

[2,1] Democritus ait, cum in angusto inani multa sint corpuscula, quae ille atomos uocat, sequi uentum; at contra quietum et placidum aeris statum esse, cum in multo inani pauca sint corpuscula. Nam quemadmodum in foro aut uico, quamdiu paucitas est, sine tumultu ambulatur, ubi turba in angustum concurrit, aliorum in alios incidentium rixa fit: sic in hoc quo circumdati sumus spatio, cum exiguum locum multa corpora impleuerint, necesse est alia aliis incidant et impellant ac repellantur implicenturque et comprimantur, ex quibus nascitur uentus, cum illa quae colluctabantur incubuere et diu fluctuata ac dubia inclinauere se. At ubi in magna laxitate corpora pauca uersantur, nec arietare possunt nec impelli.

[2,1] Democritus says that, when in a narrow void there are many little bodies, which he calls atoms, wind follows; but conversely there is a quiet and placid state of the air when, in a great deal of void, there are few corpuscles. For just as in a forum or a street, so long as there is thinness of numbers, one walks without tumult, but when a crowd runs together into a narrow space, a brawl arises of people falling upon one another: so in this space by which we are surrounded, when many bodies have filled a small place, it is necessary that some fall upon others, drive and be driven back, become entangled and compressed; from these things wind is born, when those that were wrestling have settled down and, long tossed and wavering, have inclined themselves. But where in great laxity few bodies move about, they can neither butt nor be driven.

[3,1] Hoc falsum esse uel ex eo colligas licet quod tunc minime uentus est, cum aer nubilo grauis est: atqui tunc plurima corpora se in angustum contulerunt, et inde est spissarum nubium grauitas.

[3,1] That this is false you may collect even from this, that then least of all is there wind, when the air is heavy with cloud: and yet then very many bodies have concentrated themselves into a narrow space, and from that is the gravity of thick clouds.

[3,2] Adice nunc quod circa flumina et lacus frequens nebula est artatis congestisque corporibus, nec tamen uentus est. Interdum uero tanta caligo effunditur ut conspectum in uicino stantium eripiat, quod non eueniret, nisi in paruum locum corpora se multa compellerent. Atqui nullum tempus magis quam nebulosum caret uento.

[3,2] Add now that around rivers and lakes there is frequent mist, with the corpora narrowed and heaped together, and yet there is no wind. Sometimes indeed so great a caliginous gloom is poured out that it snatches away the sight of those standing nearby, which would not occur unless many corpora were being driven together into a small space. And yet no time is more lacking in wind than misty weather.

[3,3] Adice nunc quod e contrario euenit ut sol matutinum aera spissum et umidum ortu suo tenuet; tunc surgit aura, cum datum est laxamentum corporibus et stipatio illorum ac turba resoluta est.

[3,3] Add now that, on the contrary, it happens that the morning sun attenuates the thick and humid air by its rising; then the breeze arises, when leeway has been granted to the bodies and the compression of them and the crowding has been loosened.

[4,1] Quo modo ergo, inquis, uenti fiunt, quoniam hoc negas fieri? - Non uno modo: alias enim terra ipsa magnam uim aeris eicit et ex abdito spirat, alias, cum magna et continua ex imo euaporatio in altum egit quae emiserat, mutatio ipsa halitus mixti in uentum uertitur.

[4,1] How then, you ask, are winds made, since you deny that this comes about? - Not in one way: at times indeed the earth itself ejects a great force of air and breathes out from the hidden depths; at other times, when a great and continuous evaporation from below has driven upward into the height what it had emitted, the very mutation of the mixed breath is converted into wind.

[4,2] Illud enim nec ut credam mihi persuaderi potest nec ut taceam: quomodo in nostris corporibus cibo fit inflatio (quae non sine magna narium iniuria emittitur et uentrem interdum cum sonos exonerat, interdum secretus), sic putant et hanc magnam rerum naturam alimenta mutantem emittere spiritum. Bene nobiscum agitur quod semper concoquit: alioquin immundius aliquid timeremus.

[4,2] For this, indeed, I can be persuaded neither to believe nor to keep silent about: just as in our bodies from food there is an inflation (which is emitted not without a great affront to the nostrils and sometimes relieves the belly with sounds, sometimes in secret), so they think that this great nature of things, changing its nourishment, emits breath. We are well off that it is always digesting; otherwise we would fear something more unclean.

[4,3] Numquid ergo hoc uerius est dicere, multa ex omni parte terrarum et assidua ferri corpuscula? Quae cum coaceruata sunt, deinde extenuari sole coeperunt, quia omne quod in angusto dilatatur, spatium maius desiderat, uentus existit.

[4,3] Is it then truer to say this, that many little bodies are carried constantly from every part
of the lands? When these have been heaped together,
then they begin to be thinned by the sun, since everything which is dilated in a narrow place
desires a greater space, wind comes into existence.

[5,1] Quid ergo? Hanc solam esse causam uenti existimo, aquarum terrarumque euaporationes; ex his grauitatem aeris fieri, deinde solui <solus> impetu, cum quae densa steterant, ut est necesse, extenuata nituntur in ampliorem locum? Ego uero et hanc iudico.

[5,1] What then? Do I think this alone to be the cause of wind—the evaporations of waters and of lands; that from these the gravity of the air is produced, then it is released <alone> by an impulse, when the things that had stood dense, as is necessary, when attenuated strive toward an ampler place? I indeed judge this also.

Ceterum illa est longe ualentior ueriorque, habere aera naturalem uim mouendi se nec aliunde concipere sed inesse illi, ut aliarum rerum, ita huius potentiam.

Moreover, that is far stronger and truer: that the air has a natural power of moving itself, and does not derive it from elsewhere, but that the potency of this, as of other things, is inherent in it.

[5,2] An hoc existimas, nobis quidem datas uires quibus nos moueremus, aera autem relictum inertem et inagitabilem esse, cum aqua motum suum habeat etiam uentis quiescentibus? Nec enim aliter animalia ederet; muscum quoque innasci aquis et herbosa quaedam uidemus summo innatantia: est ergo aliquid in aqua uitale.

[5,2] Or do you think this, that to us indeed powers have been given by which we might move ourselves, the air however left inert and inagitable, since water has its own motion even with the winds resting? For otherwise it would not bring forth animals; we also see moss being born in waters and certain herbaceous things floating on the surface: therefore there is something vital in water.

[6,1] De aqua dico? Ignis, qui omma consumit, quaedam creat et, quod uideri non potest simile ueri, tamen uerum est, animalia igne generari. Habet ergo aliquam uim uitalem aer et ideo modo spissat se modo expandit et purgat et alias contrahit diducit ac differt.

[6,1] Do I speak of water? Fire, which consumes all things, creates certain things
and—what cannot seem like the truth, yet is true—animals
are generated by fire. Therefore the air has some vital force, and for that reason at one time
it thickens itself, at another it expands, and it purges, and at other times it contracts, draws apart,
and disperses.

Hoc ergo interest inter aera et uentum quod inter lacum et flumen. Aliquando per se ipse sol causa uenti est fundens rigentem aera et ex denso coactoque explicans.

Therefore this is the difference between the air and the wind, that which is between a lake and a river.
Sometimes the sun by himself is the cause of wind, melting the stiffened air
and unfolding it out of what is dense and compacted.

[7,1] In uniuersum de uentis diximus: nunc uiritim incipiamus illos excutere. Fortasse apparebit quemadmodum fiant, si apparuerit quando et unde procedant. Primum ergo antelucanos flatus inspiciamus, qui aut ex fluminibus aut ex conuallibus aut aliquo sinu feruntur.

[7,1] In general we have spoken about winds: now let us begin to examine them individually. Perhaps it will appear how they are generated, if it becomes apparent when and whence they proceed. Therefore, first let us inspect the pre-dawn breaths,
which are borne either from rivers or from valleys
or from some inlet.

[7,2] Nullus ex his pertinax est sed cadit fortiore iam sole nec fert ultra terrarum conspectum. Hoc uentorum genus incipit uere, non ultra aestatem durat et inde maxime uenit ubi aquarum plurimum et montium est. Plana, licet abundent aquis, carent aura; hac, dico, quae pro uento ualet.

[7,2] None of these is persistent, but it falls
as the sun is already stronger, nor does it reach beyond the sight of the lands. This kind of
wind begins in spring, does not last beyond summer, and comes especially
from where there is very much water and mountains. The plains, although
they abound in waters, lack a breeze—this, I mean, one that has the force of a wind.

[8,1] Quomodo ergo talis flatus concipitur quem Graeci G-egkolpian uocant? Quicquid ex se paludes et flumina remittunt (id autem et multum est et assiduum), per diem solis alimentum est, nocte non exhauritur et montibus inclusum in unam regionem colligitur; cum illam impleuit et iam se non capit, exprimitur aliquo et in unam partem procedit: hinc uentus est. Itaque eo incumbit quo liberior exitus inuitat et loci laxitas, in quam coaceruata decurrant.

[8,1] How then is such a breath conceived, which the Greeks call G-egkolpian? Whatever marshes and rivers send forth from themselves (and that is both abundant and continual), by day is the sun’s nourishment, by night it is not exhausted and, shut in by mountains, is gathered into one region; when it has filled that and now cannot contain itself, it is pressed out somewhere and advances in one direction: hence there is wind. And so it leans that way which a freer outlet and the spaciousness of the place invite, into which the things heaped up run down.

[8,2] Huius rei argumentum est, quod prima noctis parte non spirat: incipit enim fieri illa collectio, quae circa lucem iam plena est; onerata quaerit quo defluat, et eo potissimum exit ubi plurimum uacui est et magna ac patens area. Adicit autem ei stimulos ortus solis feriens gelidum aera; nam etiam antequam appareat, lumine ipso ualet et nondum quidem radiis aera impellit, iam tamen lacessit et irritat luce praemissa;

[8,2] The argument for this is that in the first part of the night it does not blow: for that collection begins to be made, which around daybreak is already full; being burdened it seeks where it may flow down, and it goes out most especially to that place where there is the most empty space and a great and open area. Moreover, the rising of the sun adds goads to it, striking the gelid air; for even before it appears, it has force by its very light, and not yet indeed does it drive the air with its rays, yet already it provokes and irritates with the light sent ahead;

[8,3] nam cum ipse processit, alia superius rapiuntur, alia diffunduntur tepore: ideo non ultra matutinum illis datur fluere; omnis illorum uis conspectu solis extinguitur. Etiamsi uiolentiores flauere, circa medium tamen diem relanguescunt, nec unquam usque in meridiem aura producitur; alia autem imbecillior ac breuior est, prout ualentioribus minoribusue collecta causis est.

[8,3] for when the sun itself has proceeded, some things aloft are swept away, others are diffused by tepid warmth: therefore it is not granted to them to flow beyond the morning; all their force is extinguished in the sight of the sun. Even if they have blown more violently, yet around mid-day they grow languid again, nor is the breeze ever prolonged all the way to noon; but another is weaker and shorter, according as it has been collected from stronger or from lesser causes.

[9,1] Quare tamen tales uenti uere et aestate ualidiores sunt? - (leuissimi enim cetera parte anni nec qui uela impleant surgunt): quia uer aquosum est ex pluuialibus aquis, locisque ob umidam caeli naturam saturis et redundantibus maior euaporatio est.

[9,1] Why nevertheless are such winds stronger in spring and in summer? - (for during the rest of the year they arise very light and not such as to fill sails): because spring is watery from pluvial waters, and in places saturated and overflowing on account of the humid nature of the sky there is greater evaporation.

[9,2] At quare aestate aeque profunditur? Quia post occasum solis remanet diurnus calor et magna noctis parte perdurat; qui euocat exeuntia ac uehementius trahit quicquid ex his sponte reddi solet, deinde non tantum habet uirium ut quod euocauit absumat: ob hoc diutius corpuscula emanare solita et efflari <e> terra, <aera> ex se atque umorem mittunt.

[9,2] But why in summer is it likewise poured forth? Because after the setting
of the sun the diurnal heat remains and lasts through a great part of the night;
this evokes the things that go out and more vehemently draws whatever of these
is wont to be given off spontaneously, then it does not have so much strength
as to consume what it has evoked: on this account, for longer the corpuscles
accustomed to emanate and to be exhaled <from> the earth, <air> from themselves
and moisture they send forth.

[9,3] Facit autem uentum ortus non calore tantum sed etiam ictu: lux enim, ut dixi, quae solem antecedit, nondum aera calefacit sed percutit tantum, percussus autem in latus cedit. Quamquam ego ne illud quidem concesserim, lucem ipsam sine calore esse, cum ex calore sit:

[9,3] But the rising produces wind not by heat only but also by an impact: for the light, as I said, which precedes the sun, does not yet heat the air but only strikes it, and being struck it yields to the side. Although I would not grant even this, that light itself is without heat, since it is from heat:

[9,4] non habet forsitan tantum teporis, quantum tactu appareat, opus tamen suum facit et densa diducit ac tenuat; propterea loca, quae aliqua iniquitate naturae ita clausa sunt ut solem accipere non possint, illa quoque nubila et tristi luce calefiunt et per diem minus quam noctibus rigent.

[9,4] it perhaps does not have so much tepidness as would appear to the touch, yet it does its work and separates the dense and attenuates;
therefore places which, by some iniquity of nature, are so enclosed that
they cannot receive the sun, even they are warmed by a cloudy and gloomy light,
and during the day they are less rigid with cold than in the nights.

[9,5] Etiamnunc natura calor omnis abigit nebulas et a se repellit: ergo sol quoque idem facit, et ideo, ut quibusdam uidetur, inde flatus est unde sol.

[9,5] Even now the nature of every heat drives away the mists and repels them from itself: therefore the sun also does the same, and for that reason, as it seems to some, the wind is from the same place as the sun.

[10,1] Hoc falsum esse ex eo apparet quod aura in omnem partem uehit et contra ortum plenis uelis nauigatur: quod non eueniret, si semper uentus ferretur a sole. Etesiae quoque, qui in argumentum a quibusdam aduocantur, non nimis propositum adiuuant.

[10,1] That this is false is apparent from the fact that the breeze drives in every direction and that one sails against the sunrise with full sails: which would not happen, if the wind were always carried from the sun. The Etesians too, who are adduced in argument by some, do not overly aid the proposition.

[10,2] Dicam primum quid illis placeat, deinde cur displiceat mihi. Etesiae, inquiunt, hieme non sunt, quia breuissimis diebus sol desinit, priusquam frigus euincatur (itaque niues et ponuntur et durant): aestate incipiunt flare, cum et longius extenditur dies et recti in nos radii diriguntur.

[10,2] I will say first what pleases them, then why it displeases me. The Etesians, they say, are not in winter, because on the very shortest days the sun comes to an end before the cold is vanquished (and so snows are both laid down and endure); in summer they begin to blow, when both the day is extended longer and the rays are directed straight upon us.

[10,3] Ueri ergo simile est concussas calore magno niues plus umidi efflare, item terras exoneratas niue retectasque spirare liberius: ita plura ex septemtrionali parte caeli corpora exire et in haec loca, quae sunt summissiora ac tepidiora, deferri; sic impetum etesias sumere.

[10,3] Therefore it is likely that snows, shaken by great heat, exhale more of moisture, and likewise that lands relieved of snow and laid bare breathe more freely: thus more bodies from the septentrional part of the sky go forth and are borne into these places, which are lower-lying and more tepid; in this way the Etesians take on their impetus.

[10,4] Et ob hoc a solstitio illis initium est (ultraque ortum Caniculae non ualent), quia iam multum e frigida caeli parte in hanc egestum est ac sol mutato cursu in nostram rectior tendit et alteram partem aeris attrahit, alteram uero impellit. Sic ille etesiarum flatus aestatem frangit et a mensium feruentissimorum grauitate defendit.

[10,4] And on account of this their beginning is from the solstice (and beyond
the rising of the Dog-Star they do not prevail), because already much from the cold part of the sky has been discharged into this
region, and the sun, with its course changed, tends more directly toward us and draws one part
of the air, but drives the other. Thus that blowing of the Etesians breaks the summer
and defends it from the heaviness of the most fervent months.

[11,1] Nunc (quod promisi) dicendum est quare etesiae nos non adiuuent nec quicquam huic conferant causae. Diximus ante lucem auram incitari, eandem subsidere, cum illam sol attigit. Atqui etesiae ob hoc somniculosi a nautis et delicati uocantur quod, ut ait Gallio, "mane nesciunt surgere": eo tempore fere incipiunt prodire quo ne pertinax quidem aura est.

[11,1] Now (as I promised) it must be said why the Etesians do not help us nor contribute anything to this cause. We said that before light the breeze is stirred, and the same subsides when the sun has touched it. And yet the Etesians for this reason are called by sailors drowsy and delicate, because, as Gallio says, "in the morning they do not know how to get up": at about that time they for the most part begin to come forth, when not even the pertinacious breeze is.

Quod non accideret, si ut auram ita illos comminueret sol.

Which would not happen, if the sun were to diminish them just as it does the breeze.

[11,2] Adice nunc quod, si causa illis flatus esset spatium diei ac longitudo, et ante solstitium flarent, cum longissimi dies sunt et cum maxime niues tabescunt; Iulio enim mense iam despoliata sunt omnia aut certe admodum pauca iacent adhuc sub niue.

[11,2] Add now this, that, if the stretch of the day and its length were the cause of those blasts, they would blow even before the solstice, when the days are longest and when the snows most melt away; for in the month of July already all things are laid bare, or at least very few still lie beneath snow.

[12,1] Sunt quaedam genera uentorum quae ruptae nubes et in pronum solutae emittunt: hos Graeci uentos G-eknephias uocant. Qui hoc, ut puto, modo fiunt: cum magna inaequalitas ac dissimilitudo corporum, quae uapor terrenus emittit, in sublime eat et alia ex his corporibus sicca sint, alia umida, ex tanta discordia corporum inter se pugnantium, cum in unum conglobata sunt, uerisimile est quasdam cauas effici nubes et interualla inter illas relinqui fistulosa et in modum tibiae angusta.

[12,1] There are certain kinds of winds which broken clouds, loosened and let downward, send forth: the Greeks call these winds G-eknephias. These, as I think, come to be in this way: when a great inequality and dissimilarity of the bodies which terrene vapor emits goes aloft, and some of these bodies are dry, others moist, from so great a discord of bodies fighting among themselves, when they have been massed into one, it is likely that certain hollow clouds are formed and that intervals between them are left fistulous and narrow in the manner of a pipe.

[12,2] His interuallis tenuis includitur spiritus, qui maius desiderat spatium, cum euerberatus cursu parum libero incaluit et ob hoc amplior fit, scinditque cingentia et erumpit in uentum, qui fere procellosus est, quia superne demittitur, et in nos cadit uehemens et acer, quia non fusus nec per apertum uenit sed laborat et iter sibi ui ac pugna parat. Hic fere breuis flatus est, quia receptacula nubium, per quae ferebatur, ac munimenta perrumpit: ideo tumultuosus uenit, aliquando non sine igne ac sono caeli.

[12,2] Within these intervals a tenuous spirit is enclosed, which desires a greater space; when, buffeted in a course too little free, it has grown hot and on this account becomes ampler, it splits what encircles it and erupts into wind, which is generally tempestuous, because it is sent down from above, and it falls upon us vehement and keen, because it does not come diffused nor through open space but labors and prepares a path for itself by force and by struggle. This is generally a short blast, because it bursts through the receptacles of the clouds, through which it was being borne, and the bulwarks: therefore it comes tumultuous, sometimes not without fire and the sound of the sky.

[12,3] Hi uenti multo maiores diuturnioresque sunt, si alios quoque flatus ex eadem causa ruentes in se abstulerunt et in unum confluxere plures; sicut torrentes modicae magnitudinis sunt, quamdiu separatis suus cursus est, cum uero plures in se aquas conuerterunt, fluminum iustorum ac perennium magnitudinem excedunt:

[12,3] These winds are much greater and more enduring, if they have also drawn into themselves other blasts rushing from the same cause and several have flowed together into one; just as torrents are of moderate magnitude, as long as their course is their own, separate, but when they have turned many waters into themselves, they exceed the magnitude of true and perennial rivers:

[12,4] idem credibile est fieri et in procellis, ut breues sint, quamdiu singulae sunt; ubi uero sociauere uires et ex pluribus caeli partibus elisus spiritus eodem se contulit, et impetus illis accedit et mora.

[12,4] The same is believable to happen also in tempests: that they are brief, so long as they are single; but when they have joined their forces and the breath driven out from several parts of the sky has gathered into the same place, both impetus and duration are added to them.

[12,5] Facit ergo uentum resoluta nubes, quae pluribus modis soluitur: nonnumquam conglobatio[nem] illam spiritus rumpit, nonnumquam inclusi et in exitum nitentis luctatio, nonnumquam calor, quem modo sol facit, modo ipsa arietatio uagorumque inter se corporum attritus.

[12,5] Therefore a loosened cloud makes wind, which is dissolved in several modes: sometimes a spirit breaks that conglobation, sometimes the wrestling of what is enclosed and striving for an exit, sometimes heat, which at one time the sun produces, at another the very battering and the attrition of wandering bodies among themselves.

[13,1] Hoc loco, si tibi uidetur, quaeri potest cur turbo fiat. Euenire in fluminibus solet ut, quamdiu sine impedimento feruntur, simplex et rectum illis iter sit; ubi incurrerunt in aliquod saxum ad latus ripae prominens, retorqueantur et in orbem aquas sine exitu flectant, ita ut circumlata in se sorbeantur et uerticem efficiant.

[13,1] At this point, if it seems good to you, it can be asked why a whirlwind comes to be. It is wont to occur in rivers that, so long as they are borne along without impediment, their course is simple and straight; when they have run upon some rock projecting at the side of the bank, they are twisted back and bend the waters into a circle without an outlet, such that, carried around, they are sucked into themselves and produce a vortex.

[13,2] Sic uentus, quamdiu nihil obstitit, uires suas effundit: ubi aliquo promontorio repercussus est aut locorum coeuntium in canalem deuexum tenuemque collectus, saepius in se uolutatur similemque illis, quas diximus conuerti, aquis facit uerticem.

[13,2] Thus the wind, so long as nothing has stood in its way, pours out its own forces: when it has been struck back by some promontory or, collected by the coming-together of places into a sloping and narrow canal, more often
it rolls back upon itself and, like those waters which we said are turned,
makes a vortex.

[13,3] Hic uentus circumactus et eundem ambiens locum ac se ipsa uertigine concitans turbo est. Qui si pugnacior est ac diutius uolutatus, inflammatur et efficit quod G-prestera Graeci uocant: hic est igneus turbo. Ac fere omnia pericula uenti erupti de nubibus produnt, quibus armamenta rapiantur et totae naues in sublime tollantur.

[13,3] This wind, driven round and surrounding the same place and stirring itself by its own whirling, is a whirlwind. If it is more pugnacious and has been rolled about longer, it catches fire and produces what the Greeks call a prester: this is a fiery whirlwind. And generally all the dangers give proof of a wind erupted from the clouds, whereby the rigging is snatched away and whole ships are lifted aloft.

[13,4] Etiamnunc quidam uenti diuersos ex se generant et impulsum aera in alias quoque partes, quam in quas ipsi inclinauere, dispergunt. Illud quoque dicam quod mihi occurrit: quemadmodum stillicidia, quamuis iam inclinent se et labantur, nondum tamen efficere lapsum, sed ubi plura coiere et turba uires dedit, tunc fluere et ire dicuntur, sic, quamdiu leues sunt aeris motus agitati pluribus locis, nondum uentus est; tunc esse incipit; cum ommes illos miscuit et in unum impetum contulit. Spiritum a uento modus separat: uehementior enim spiritus uentus est, inuicem spiritus leniter fluens aer.

[13,4] Even now certain winds beget diverse ones from themselves and
the impelled air they also scatter into parts other than those toward which they themselves have inclined,
they disperse. I will also say this which occurs to me: just as
drippings, although they already incline and glide, do not yet
thereby effect a fall, but when more have come together and the crowd has given strength,
then they are said to flow and to go; so, as long as the motions of the air are light
and stirred in several places, it is not yet wind; then it begins to be,
when it has mixed all those and has brought them together into one impulse. Breath
from wind a measure separates: for a more vehement breath is wind,
and in turn, breath flowing gently is air.

[14,1] Repetam nunc quod in primo dixeram: edi e specu uentos recessuque interiore terrarum. Non tota solido contextu terra in imum usque fundatur, sed multis partibus caua et caecis suspensa latebris, <aliubi abundat aquas,> aliubi habet inania sine umore.

[14,1] I will now repeat what I said in the first: that winds are emitted from a cave and from the inner recess of the earth. The earth is not founded all the way down to the bottom in a solid contexture, but in many parts is hollow and suspended over blind hiding-places, <elsewhere it abounds in waters,> elsewhere it has voids without moisture.

[14,2] Ibi etiamsi nulla lux discrimen aeris monstrat, dicam tamen nubes nebulasque in obscuro consistere. Nam ne haec quidem supra terras, quia uidentur, sunt, sed quia sunt, uidentur: illic quoque nihilo minus ob id sunt, quod non uidentur, flumina; illic scias licet nostris paria sublabi, alia leniter ducta, alia in confragosis locis praecipitando sonantia. Quid ergo?

[14,2] There, even if no light shows the differentiation of the air,
I will nevertheless say that clouds and mists consist in the dark. For not even
these things above the earth exist because they are seen, but because they are,
they are seen: there too none the less, on that account, there are rivers, although they are not seen;
there you may know that streams equal to ours glide along, some gently led,
others in craggy places resounding as they plunge headlong. What then?

Non illud aeque dabis, esse aliquos et sub terra lacus et quasdam aquas sine exitu stagnare?

Will you not as readily grant this, that there are also lakes beneath the earth and that certain waters stagnate without an exit?

[14,3] Quae si ita sunt, necesse est et illud: aera onerari oneratumque incumbere et uentum propulsu suo concitare. Et ex illis ergo subterraneis nubibus sciemus nutriri inter obscura flatus, dum tantum uirium ceperint quanto aut terrae obstantiam auferant aut aliquod apertum ad hos efflatus iter occupent et per hanc cauernam in nostras sedes efferantur.

[14,3] If these things are so, it is necessary also that this be so: that the air is burdened, and, when burdened, it presses upon and by its own propulsion stirs up wind. And from those therefore subterranean clouds we shall know that blasts are nourished amid the obscurity, until they have taken on so much strength that they either remove the resistance of the earth or seize some open passage for these outbreathings and through this cavern are carried out into our abodes.

[14,4] Illud uero manifestum est, magnam esse sub terris uim sulphuris et aliorum non minus ignem alentium: per haec loca cum se exitum quaerens spiritus torsit, accendat flammam ipso affrictu necesse est, deinde flammis latius fusis, etiam si quid ignaui aeris erat, extenuatum moueri et uiam cum fremitu uasto atque impetu quaerere. Sed haec diligentius persequar, cum quaeram de motibus terrae.

[14,4] That, however, is manifest: there is a great force of sulfur under the earth, and of others no less fire-nourishing; through these places, when the spirit, seeking an exit, has twisted itself, it must ignite flame by the very friction, then, with the flames spread more widely, even if there was any sluggish air, thinned out it is set in motion and seeks a way with vast roar and onrush. But I will pursue these matters more diligently when I inquire concerning the motions of the earth.

[15,1] Nunc mihi permitte narrare fabulam. Asclepiodotus auctor est demissos quam plurimos a Philippo in metallum antiquum olim destitutum, ut explorarent quae ubertas eius esset, quis status, an aliquid futuris reliquisset uetus auaritia; descendisse illos cum multo lumine et multos duraturo dies, deinde longa uia fatigatos uidisse flumina ingentia et conceptus aquarum inertium uastos, pares nostris nec compressos quidem terra supereminente sed liberae laxitatis, non sine horrore uisos.

[15,1] Now permit me to narrate a fable. Asclepiodotus is authority that very many were sent down by Philip into an ancient mine once abandoned, to explore what its uberty (richness) was, what its status, whether old avarice had left anything for those to come; that they descended with much illumination, meant to last many days, then, wearied by a long way, saw immense rivers and vast accumulations of inert waters, equal to ours and not compressed, indeed, by overhanging earth but of free expanse, not seen without horror.

[15,2] Cum magna hoc legi uoluptate; intellexi enim saeculum nostrum non nouis uitiis sed iam inde antiquitus traditis laborare, nec nostra aetate primum auaritiam uenas terrarum lapidumque rimatam in tenebris male abstrusa quaesisse: illi maiores nostri, quos celebramus laudibus, quibus dissimiles esse nos querimur, spe ducti montes ceciderunt et supra lucrum sub ruina steterunt.

[15,2] I read this with great pleasure; for I understood that our age does not labor under new vices but under those handed down already from antiquity, nor that in our time first avarice, ransacking the veins of the earth and of stones, sought things ill-concealed in the darkness: those ancestors of ours, whom we celebrate with praises, whom we complain that we are unlike, led by hope brought mountains down, and stood over gain beneath a ruin.

[15,3] ante Philippum Macedonum<que> reges fuere qui pecuniam in altissimis usque latebris sequerentur et recto spiritu liberoque in illos se demitterent specus, in quos nullum noctium perueniret dierumque discrimen. A tergo lucem relinquere quae tanta spes fuit? Quae tanta necessitas hominem ad sidera erectum incuruauit et defodit et in fundum telluris intimae mersit, ut erueret aurum non minore periculo quaerendum quam possidendum?

[15,3] Before Philip and the kings of the Macedonians there were those who would pursue money even in the deepest hiding-places, and with upright spirit and free would lower themselves into those caves, into which no distinction of nights and days would reach. To leave the light behind one’s back—what hope was so great? What necessity so great bent a man, erected toward the stars, and buried him and plunged him into the bottom of the inmost earth, so that he might dig out gold, to be sought with no less peril than to be possessed?

[15,4] Propter hoc cuniculos egit et circa praedam lutulentam incertamque reptauit oblitus dierum, oblitus rerum naturae melioris, a qua se auertit. Ulli ergo mortuo terra tam grauis est quam istis, supra quos auaritia ingens terrarum pondus iniecit, quibus abstulit caelum, quos in imo, ubi illud malum uirus latitat, infodit? Illo descendere ausi sunt ubi nouam rerum positionem, terrarum pendentium habitus uentosque per caecum inanes experirentur et aquarum nulli fluentium horridos fontes et alteram perpetuamque noctem: deinde, cum ista fecerunt, inferos metuunt!

[15,4] On account of this he drove cuniculi and crawled around muddy and uncertain prey, forgetful of days, forgetful of the things of a better nature, from which he turned himself away. Is the earth, then, so heavy to any dead man as to those upon whom avarice has thrown the huge weight of the earth, from whom it has taken away the sky, whom it has buried in the lowest depths, where that evil poison lies hidden? They dared to descend there where they would experience a new position of things, the condition of hanging lands, and winds empty through a blind void, and the dreadful springs of waters flowing to nowhere, and another and perpetual night: then, when they have done these things, they fear the infernal regions!

[16,1] Sed ut ad id, de quo agitur, reuertar: uenti quattuor sunt, in ortum, occasum, meridiem septemtrionemque diuisi; ceteri, quos uariis nominibus appellamus, his applicantur. "Eurus ad Auroram Nabataeaque regna recessit Persidaque et radiis iuga subdita matutinis. Uesper et occiduo quae litora sole tepescunt proxima sunt zephyris.

[16,1] But, to return to that which is at issue: the winds are four, divided toward the east, west, south, and the Septentrion (north); the others, which we call by various names, are attached to these. "Eurus has withdrawn toward Aurora and the Nabataean realms and Persia and the ridges subjected to the morning rays. Vesper and the shores which grow warm by the setting sun are nearest to the Zephyrs.

Scythiam septemque triones horrifer inuasit boreas: contraria tellus nubibus assiduis pluuioque madescit ab austro."

Scythia and the Seven Triones the dread Boreas has invaded;
the opposite land is drenched with constant clouds
and rain from Auster."

[16,2] Uel, si breuius illos complecti mauis, in unam tempestatem, quod fieri nullo modo potest, congregentur: "una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis Africus" et, qui locum in illa rixa non habuit, Aquilo.

[16,2] Or, if you prefer to embrace them more briefly, let them be congregated into one tempest, which in no way can be done: "together Eurus and Notus rush, and Africus, frequent with squalls" and Aquilo, who had no place in that brawl.

[16,3] Quidam illos duodecim faciunt: quattuor enim caeli partes in ternas diuidunt et singulis uentis binos subpraefectos dant. Hac arte Uarro, uir diligens, illos ordinat, nec sine causa. Non enim eodem semper loco sol oritur aut occidit, sed alius est ortus occasusque aequinoctialis (bis autem aequinoctium est), alius solstitialis, alius hibernus.

[16,3] Certain persons make them twelve: for they divide the four parts of the sky into three each
and assign to individual winds two subprefects apiece. By this method Varro,
a diligent man, arranges them, and not without cause. For the sun does not always
rise or set in the same place, but the equinoctial rising and setting are one (and the equinox is twice), another is solstitial, another
hibernal.

[16,4] Qui surgit ab oriente aequinoctiali, subsolanus apud nos dicitur, Graeci illum G-aphelioten uocant. Ab oriente hiberno eurus exit, quem nostri uocauere uulturnum et Liuius hoc illum nomine appellat in illa pugna Romanis parum prospera, in qua Hannibal et contra solem orientera exercitum nostrum,et contra uentum constitutum uenti adiutorio ac fulgoris praestringentis oculos hostium uicit; Uarro quoque hoc nomen usurpat, sed et eurus iam ciuitate donatus est et nostro sermoni non tamquam alienus interuenit. Ab oriente solstitiali excitatum G-kaikian Graeci appellant, apud nos sine nomine est.

[16,4] The one that rises from the equinoctial east is called the Subsolanus among us; the Greeks call it G-aphelioten. From the winter east the Eurus issues, which our people have called Vulturnus, and Livy calls it by this name in that battle not very prosperous for the Romans, in which Hannibal defeated our army, drawn up both against the rising sun and against the wind, by the aid of the wind and of the glare dazzling the eyes of the enemy; Varro too employs this name, but “Eurus” as well has now been endowed with citizenship and enters our speech not as if a foreigner. From the solstitial east, the wind aroused is called by the Greeks G-kaikian; among us it is without a name.

[16,5] Aequinoctialis occidens fauonium mittit, quem zephyrum esse dicent tibi etiam qui Graece nesciunt loqui. A solstitiali occidente corus uenit, qui apud quosdam argestes dicitur: mihi non uidetur, quia cori uiolenta uis est et in unam partem rapax, argestes fere mollis est et tam euntibus communis quam redeuntibus. Ab occidente hiberno africus furibundus et ruens, apud Graecos G-lips dicitur.

[16,5] The equinoctial west sends Favonius, which even those who do not know how to speak Greek will tell you is Zephyrus. From the solstitial west Corus comes, which by some is called Argestes: it does not seem so to me, because Corus has a violent force and is rapacious in one direction, while Argestes is rather soft and as common to those going as to those returning. From the winter west Africus, raging and rushing, and among the Greeks it is called G-lips.

[16,6] A septemtrionali latere summus est aquilo, medius septemtrio, imus G-thrascias: huic deest apud nos uocabulum. A meridiano axe G-euronotos est; deinde G-notos, Latine auster; deinde G-leukonotos, qui apud nos sine nomine est.

[16,6] On the septentrional side the highest is aquilo, the middle septentrio, the lowest G-thrascias: for this there is lacking among us a term. From the meridian axis there is G-euronotos; then G-notos, in Latin auster; then G-leukonotos, which among us is without a name.

[17,1] Placet autem duodecim uentos esse, non quia ubique tot sunt (quosdam enim inclinatio terrarum excludit), sed quia plures nusquam sunt. Sic casus sex dicimus, non quia omne nomen men sex recipit, sed quia nullum plures quam sex.

[17,1] However, it pleases that there be twelve winds, not because everywhere there are so many (for the inclination of the lands excludes some), but because nowhere are there more. Thus we say six cases, not because every noun receives six, but because none more than six.

[17,2] Qui duodecim uentos esse dixerunt, hoc secuti sunt, totidem uentorum esse quot caeli discrimina. Caelum autem diuiditur in circulos quinque, qui per mundi cardines eunt: est septemtrionalis, est solstitialis, est aequinoctialis, est brumalis, est contrarius septemtrionali. His sextus accedit, qui superiorem partem mundi ab inferiore secernit (ut scis enim, dimidia pars mundi semper supra, dimidia infra est):

[17,2] Those who said there are twelve winds followed this: that there are just as many winds as there are divisions of the heaven. But the heaven is divided into five circles, which go through the pivots of the world: there is the septentrional, there is the solstitial, there is the equinoctial, there is the brumal, there is the one opposite
to the septentrional. To these a sixth is added, which separates the upper part of the world
from the lower (for, as you know, half of the world is always
above, half below):

[17,3] hanc lineam, quae inter aperta et occulta est, id est hunc circulum Graeci G-horizonta uocant, nostri finitorem esse dixerunt, alii finientem. Adiciendus est adhuc meridianus circulus, qui horizonta rectis angulis secat. Ex his quidam circuli in transuersa currunt et alios interuentu suo scindunt; necesse est autem tot aeris discrimina esse quot partes:

[17,3] this line, which is between the open and the hidden, that is, this circle the Greeks call “horizonta,” our own have said to be the “finitor,” others “the one that finishes/bounds.” To be added still is the meridian circle, which cuts the horizon at right angles. Of these, certain circles run crosswise and split others by their intervention; moreover, it is necessary that there be as many discriminations of the air as there are parts:

[17,4] ergo G-horizon, siue finiens circulus, quinque illos orbes quos modo dixi finiens, efficit decem partes, quinque ab ortu, quinque ab occasu; meridianus circulus, qui in horizonta incurrit, regiones duas adicit: sic duodecim aer discrimina accipit et totidem facit uentos.

[17,4] therefore the G-horizon, or the finishing circle, by finishing those five orbs which I just mentioned, makes 10 parts, five from the rising, five from the setting; the meridian circle, which runs into the horizonta, adds two regions: thus the air receives 12 distinctions and makes just so many winds.

[17,5] Quidam sunt quorundam locorum proprii, qui non transmittunt sed in proximum ferunt; non est illis a latere uniuersi mundi impetus: atabulus Apuliam infestat, Calabriam iapyx, Athenas sciron, Pamphyliam crageus, Galliam circius (cui aedificia quassanti tamen incolae gratias agunt, tamquam salubritatem caeli sui debeant ei: diuus certe Augustus templum illi, cum in Gallia moraretur, et uouit et fecit). Infinitum est, si singulos uelim persequi; nulla enim propemodum regio est quae non habeat aliquem flatum ex se nascentem et circa se cadentem.

[17,5] Certain winds are proper to certain places, which do not pass across but bear upon the neighboring region; they have no impetus from the side of the whole universe: the Atabulus infests Apulia, the Iapyx Calabria, the Sciron Athens, the Crageus Pamphylia, the Circius Gaul (to which, though it shakes buildings, the inhabitants nevertheless give thanks, as though they owed the salubrity of their sky to it: the deified Augustus, certainly, both vowed and built a temple to it, when he was staying in Gaul). It is infinite, if I should wish to pursue them singly; for there is hardly any region which does not have some blast arising from itself and falling down around itself.

[18,1] Inter cetera itaque prouidentiae opera hoc quoque aliquis ut dignum admiratione suspexerit: non enim ex una causa uentos aut inuenit aut per diuersa disposuit, sed primum ut aera non sinerent pigrescere sed assidua uexatione utilem redderent uitalemque tracturis,

[18,1] Among the other works of providence, therefore, let someone look up to this also as worthy of admiration: for he did not from a single cause either devise the winds or dispose them through diverse regions, but first, in order that they might not allow the air to grow sluggish, but by continual vexation make it useful and vital for those who draw it in,

[18,2] deinde ut imbres terris subministrarent idemque nimios compescerent. Nam modo adducunt nubes, modo deducunt, ut per totum orbem pluuiae diuidi possint: in Italiam auster impellit, aquilo in Africam reicit, etesiae non patiuntur apud nos nubes consistere; idem totam Indiam et Aethiopiam continuis per id tempus aquis irrigant.

[18,2] then that they might supply the lands with rains and likewise restrain those that are excessive. For now they draw clouds in, now they draw them off, so that rains may be divided throughout the whole orb: into Italy the south wind impels them, the north wind casts them back into Africa, the Etesian (winds) do not allow the clouds to settle among us; the same irrigate all India and Ethiopia with continuous waters during that season.

[18,3] Quid, quod fruges percoqui non possent, nisi flatu superuacua inmixta seruandis uentilarentur, nisi esset quod segetem excitaret et latentem frugem ruptis uelamentis suis (folliculos agricolae uocant) adaperiret?

[18,3] What of this: that the crops could not be thoroughly ripened, unless by a breath the superfluities mixed in with what is to be preserved were winnowed, unless there were something to rouse the standing crop and to open the hidden grain, its coverings having been broken (farmers call them husks)?

[18,4] Quid, quod omnibus inter se populis commercium dedit et gentes dissipatas locis miscuit? Ingens naturae beneficium, si illud in iniuriam suam non uertat hominum furor! Nunc quod de C. Mario uulgo dictatum est et a Tito Liuio positum, in incerto esse utrum illum magis nasci an non nasci reipublicae profuerit, dici etiam de uentis potest; adeo quicquid ex illis utile et necessarium est non potest his repensari quae in perniciem suam generis humani dementia excogitat.

[18,4] What of the fact that it gave commerce among all peoples with each other and mingled nations scattered by places? A vast benefit of nature, if the frenzy of men does not turn it to its own injury! Now what was commonly said about Gaius Marius and set down by Titus Livy—that it is uncertain whether it benefited the Republic more that he was born or not born—can also be said of the winds; so much so that whatever from them is useful and necessary cannot be counterbalanced against those things which the dementia of the human race devises to its own ruin.

[18,5] Sed non ideo non sunt ista natura bona, si uitio male utentium nocent: non in hoc prouidentia ac dispositor ille mundi deus aera uentis exercendum dedit et illos ab omni parte, ne quid esset situ squalidum, effudit, ut nos classes partem freti occupaturas compleremus milite armato et hostem in mari aut post mare quaereremus.

[18,5] But not for that reason are those things by nature not good, if through the vice of those using them ill they do harm: not for this did Providence and that disposer, the god of the world, give the air to be exercised by winds and pour them out from every part, lest anything be squalid with stagnation, that we should fill fleets, about to occupy a portion of the sea, with armed soldiery and seek the enemy on the sea or beyond the sea.

[18,6] Quae nos dementia exagitat et in mutuum componit exitium? Uela uentis damus bellum petituri et periclitamur periculi causa, incertam fortunam experimur, uim tempestatum nulla ope humana superabilem et mortem sine spe sepulturae.

[18,6] What madness agitates us and arranges us for mutual destruction? We give sails to the winds, being about to seek war, and we imperil ourselves for peril’s sake; we try uncertain fortune, the force of tempests insuperable by any human aid, and death without hope of sepulture.

[18,7] Non erat tanti, si ad pacem per ista ueheremur: nunc cum euaserimus tot scopulos latentes et insidias uadosi maris, cum effugerimus procellosos desuper montes, per quos praeceps in nauigantes uentus impingitur, cum inuolutos nubilo dies et nimbis ac tonitribus horridas noctes, cum turbinibus diuulsa nauigia, quis erit huius laboris ac metus fructus, quis nos fessos tot malis portus excipiet? Bellum scilicet et obuius in litore hostis et trucidandae gentes tracturaeque magna ex parte uictorem et antiquarum urbium flamma.

[18,7] It was not worth so much, if by these means we were being conveyed to peace: now, when we shall have escaped so many hidden reefs and the ambushes of the shallow sea, when we shall have fled the stormy mountains above, through which the wind, headlong, is dashed against those sailing, when days wrapped in cloud and nights dreadful with rain‑clouds and thunders, when ships torn asunder by whirlwinds—what will be the fruit of this toil and fear, what harbor will receive us, wearied by so many ills? War, forsooth, and an enemy meeting us on the shore, and peoples to be butchered and who, for the greater part, will drag the victor, and the flame of ancient cities.

[18,8] Quid in arma cogimus populos? Quid exercitus scribimus directuros aciem in mediis fluctibus? Quid maria inquietamus?

[18,8] Why do we drive the peoples to arms? Why do we enroll the armies about to set the battle-line in the midst of the billows? Why do we disquiet the seas?

Parum uidelicet ad mortes nostras terra late patet. Nimis delicate fortuna nos tractat, nimis dura dedit nobis corpora, felicem ualetudinem; non depopulatur nos casus incurrens, emetiri cuique annos suos ex commodo licet et ad senectutem decurrere: itaque eamus in pelagus et uocemus in nos fata cessantia.

Too little, evidently, does the earth spread wide for our deaths. Fortune treats us too delicately, has given us bodies too hard, a felicitous health; the onrushing Chance does not depopulate us, it is permitted for each to mete out his own years at convenience and to run down to senescence: therefore let us go into the pelagic deep and call upon ourselves the idling fates.

[18,9] Miseri, quid quaeritis? mortem, quae ubique superest? Petet illa uos et ex lectulo, sed innocentes petat; occupabit uos in uestra domo, sed occupet nullum molientes malum.

[18,9] Wretches, what are you seeking? death,
which everywhere abounds? That will seek you even from your little bed,
but let it seek you innocent; it will seize you in your own house, but let it seize
no one while machinating evil.

Hoc uero quid aliud quis dixerit quam insaniam, circumferre pericula et ruere in ignotos, iratum sine iniuria occurrentia deuastantem ac ferarum more occidere quem non oderis? Illis tamen in ultionem aut ex fame morsus est: nos sine ulla parsimonia nostri alienique sanguinis mouemus manum et nauigia deducimus, salutem committimus fluctibus, secundos optamus uentos, quorum felicitas est ad bella perferri.

But what else would someone call this than insanity: to carry perils about and to rush upon the unknown, you, angry without injury, devastating those who meet you and, after the manner of wild beasts, killing one whom you do not even hate? For them, however, the bite is either for vengeance or from hunger; we, with no parsimony of our own or of another’s blood, lift the hand and launch ships, commit our safety to the waves, and pray for favorable winds, whose “good fortune” is to convey us to wars.

[18,10] Quousque nos mala nostra rapuerunt? Parum est intra tra orbem suum furere: sic Persarum rex stolidissimus in Graeciam traiciet, quam exercitus non uincet, cum impleuerit. Sic Alexander ulterior Bactris et Indis uolet quaeretque quid sit ultra magnum mare, et indignabitur esse aliquid ultimum sibi.

[18,10] How far have our own evils snatched us away? It is too little to rage within one’s own circle: thus the most stolid king of the Persians will cross over into Greece, which an army will not conquer, when it has filled it. Thus Alexander will desire beyond the Bactrians and the Indians and will inquire what lies beyond the great sea, and he will be indignant that there is anything ultimate for himself.

Sic Crassum auaritia Parthis dabit, non horrebit reuocantis diras tribuni, non tempestates longissimi maris, non circa Euphratem praesaga fulmina et deos resistentes: per hominum et deorum iras ad aurum ibitur.

Thus avarice will deliver Crassus to the Parthians; he will not shudder at the dire curses of the recalling tribune, nor at the tempests of the very long sea, nor at the presaging thunderbolts around the Euphrates and the gods resisting: through the wraths of men and of gods, one will go to gold.

[18,11] Ergo non immerito quis dixerit rerum naturam melius acturam fuisse nobiscum, si uentos flare uetuisset et inhibito discursu furentium in sua quemque terra stare iussisset: si nihil aliud, certe suo quisque tantum ac suorum malo nasceretur; nunc parum mihi domestica, externis quoque laborandum est.

[18,11] Therefore not unjustly someone would have said that the nature of things would have acted better with us, if it had forbidden the winds to blow and, with the course of the furious inhibited, had ordered each man to stand in his own land: if nothing else, certainly each would be born only to his own harm and that of his own people; now my domestic matters are too little for me, with foreign ones too I must labor.

[18,12] Nulla terra tam longe remota est quae non emittere aliquod suum malum possit: unde scio an nunc aliquis magnae gentis in abdito dominus, fortunae indulgentia tumens, non contineat intra terminos arma, an paret classes ignota moliens? Unde scio hic mihi an ille uentus bellum inuehat? Magna pars erat pacis humanae maria praecludi.

[18,12] No land is so far remote
that it cannot emit some evil of its own: whence do I know whether
now some lord of a great nation in hiding, swelling with fortune’s indulgence,
does not confine his arms within boundaries, or is preparing
fleets, contriving unknown enterprises? Whence do I know whether this wind here will import
war upon me? A great part of human peace was that the seas be barred.

[18,13] Non tamen, ut paulo ante dicebam, queri possumus de auctore nostri deo, si beneficia eius corrumpimus et ut essent contraria effecimus. Dedit ille uentos ad custodiendam caeli terrarumque temperiem, ad euocandas supprimendasque aquas, ad alendos satorum atque arborum fructus, quos ad maturitatem cum aliis causis adducit ipsa iactatio attrahens cibum in summa et ne torpeant permouens.

[18,13] Nevertheless, as I was saying a little before, we cannot complain about the author, our God, if we corrupt his benefactions and have made them to be contrary. He gave the winds to guard the temper of the sky and of the lands, to call forth and to suppress the waters, to nourish the fruits of sowings and of trees, which to maturity the very agitation, together with other causes, brings, drawing nourishment to the surface and, lest they grow torpid, setting them in motion.

[18,14] Dedit uentos ad ulteriora noscenda: fuisset enim imperitum animal et sine magna experientia rerum homo, si circumscriberetur natalis soli fine. Dedit uentos, ut commoda cuiusque regionis fierent communia, non ut legiones equitemque gestarent nec ut perniciosa gentes arma transueherent.

[18,14] He gave the winds for learning what lies beyond: for man would have been an unskilled animal and without great experience of things, if he were confined within the boundary of his natal soil. He gave the winds, so that the commodities of each region might become common, not that they should carry legions and cavalry, nor that nations should transport pernicious arms.

[18,15] Si beneficia naturae utentium prauitate perpendimus, nihil non nostro malo accepimus: cui uidere expedit? cui loqui? cui non uita tormentum est?

[18,15] If we weigh the benefits of nature by the depravity of the users, we have accepted nothing not to our own harm: for whom is it expedient to see? for whom to speak? for whom is life not a torment?

Nihil inuenies tam manifestae utilitatis quod non in contrarium transeat culpa. Sic uentos quoque natura bono futuros inuenerat: ipsi illos contrarios fecimus.

You will find nothing of so manifest utility that does not, through fault, pass over into the contrary. Thus nature too had found the winds to be for good: we ourselves made them contrary.

[18,16] Omnes in aliquod nos malum ducunt. Non eadem est his et illis causa soluendi, sed iusta nulli. Diuersis enim irritamentis ad temptandum mare impellimur, utique alicui uitio nauigatur.

[18,16] All of them lead us into some evil. The cause of casting off is not the same for these men and for those, but it is just for none. For we are driven by diverse enticements to make trial of the sea; in any case, it is by some vice that one sails.

Egregie Plato dicit, qui nobis circa exitum iam testium loco dandus est, minima esse quae homines emant uita. Immo, Lucili carissime, si bene illorum furorem aestimaueris, id est nostrum (in eadem enim turba uolutamur), magis ridebis, cum cogitaueris uitae parari in quae uita consumitur.

Plato says excellently, who, now at his exit, ought to be given to us in the place of a witness,
that the things which men purchase with life are the least. Nay rather, dearest Lucilius, if you have well estimated their fury,
that is, ours (for we are rolled in the same crowd), you will laugh the more,
when you have considered that things are procured for life, for which life is consumed.