Nature of Things | Page 3

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OF THE NATURE OF THINGS BY TITUS LUCRETIUS CARUS

A METRICAL TRANSLATION BY WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD

BOOK I
PROEM
Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men, Dear Venus that beneath
the gliding stars Makest to teem the many-voyaged main And fruitful
lands- for all of living things Through thee alone are evermore
conceived, Through thee are risen to visit the great sun- Before thee,
Goddess, and thy coming on, Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,
For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers, For thee waters of the
unvexed deep Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky Glow with
diffused radiance for thee! For soon as comes the springtime face of
day, And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred, First fowls of
air, smit to the heart by thee, Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,
And leap the wild herds round the happy fields Or swim the bounding
torrents. Thus amain, Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee
Whithersoever thou walkest forth to lead, And thence through seas and
mountains and swift streams, Through leafy homes of birds and
greening plains, Kindling the lure of love in every breast, Thou bringest
the eternal generations forth, Kind after kind. And since 'tis thou alone
Guidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught Is risen to reach the

shining shores of light, Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born, Thee do I
crave co-partner in that verse Which I presume on Nature to compose
For Memmius mine, whom thou hast willed to be Peerless in every
grace at every hour- Wherefore indeed, Divine one, give my words
Immortal charm. Lull to a timely rest O'er sea and land the savage
works of war, For thou alone hast power with public peace To aid
mortality; since he who rules The savage works of battle, puissant Mars,
How often to thy bosom flings his strength O'ermastered by the eternal
wound of love- And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,
Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee, Pastures on love his
greedy sight, his breath Hanging upon thy lips. Him thus reclined Fill
with thy holy body, round, above! Pour from those lips soft syllables to
win Peace for the Romans, glorious Lady, peace! For in a season
troublous to the state Neither may I attend this task of mine With
thought untroubled, nor mid such events The illustrious scion of the
Memmian house Neglect the civic cause. Whilst human kind
Throughout the lands lay miserably crushed Before all eyes beneath
Religion- who Would show her head along the region skies, Glowering
on mortals with her hideous face- A Greek it was who first opposing
dared Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand, Whom nor the fame of
Gods nor lightning's stroke Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky
Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest His dauntless heart to be the
first to rend The crossbars at the gates of Nature old. And thus his will
and hardy wisdom won; And forward thus he fared afar, beyond The
flaming ramparts of the world, until He wandered the unmeasurable All.
Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports What things can rise to being,
what cannot, And by what law to each its scope prescribed, Its
boundary stone that clings so deep in Time. Wherefore Religion now is
under foot, And us his victory now exalts to heaven. I know how hard it
is in Latian verse To tell the dark discoveries of the Greeks, Chiefly
because our pauper-speech must find Strange terms to fit the
strangeness of the thing; Yet worth of thine and the expected joy Of thy
sweet friendship do persuade me on To bear all toil and wake the clear
nights through, Seeking with what of words and what of song I may at
last most gloriously uncloud For thee the light beyond, wherewith to
view The core of