De Rerum Natura

Lucretius

Lucretius. De Rerum Natura. William Ellery Leonard. E. P. Dutton. 1916.

  1. Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,
  2. Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars
  3. Makest to teem the many-voyaged main
  4. And fruitful lands- for all of living things
  5. Through thee alone are evermore conceived,
  6. Through thee are risen to visit the great sun-
  7. Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,
  8. Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,
  9. For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers,
  10. For thee waters of the unvexed deep
  11. Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky
  12. Glow with diffused radiance for thee!
  13. For soon as comes the springtime face of day,
  14. And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred,
  15. First fowls of air, smit to the heart by thee,
  16. Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,
  17. And leap the wild herds round the happy fields
  18. Or swim the bounding torrents. Thus amain,
  19. Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee
  20. Whithersoever thou walkest forth to lead,
  21. And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams,
  22. Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains,
  23. Kindling the lure of love in every breast,
  24. Thou bringest the eternal generations forth,
  25. Kind after kind. And since 'tis thou alone
  26. Guidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught
  27. Is risen to reach the shining shores of light,
  28. Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born,
  29. Thee do I crave co-partner in that verse
  30. Which I presume on Nature to compose
  31. For Memmius mine, whom thou hast willed to be
  32. Peerless in every grace at every hour-
  33. Wherefore indeed, Divine one, give my words
  34. Immortal charm. Lull to a timely rest
  35. O'er sea and land the savage works of war,
  36. For thou alone hast power with public peace
  37. To aid mortality; since he who rules
  38. The savage works of battle, puissant Mars,
  39. How often to thy bosom flings his strength
  40. O'ermastered by the eternal wound of love-
  41. And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,
  42. Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee,
  43. Pastures on love his greedy sight, his breath
  44. Hanging upon thy lips. Him thus reclined
  45. Fill with thy holy body, round, above!
  46. Pour from those lips soft syllables to win
  47. Peace for the Romans, glorious Lady, peace!
  48. For in a season troublous to the state
  49. Neither may I attend this task of mine
  50. With thought untroubled, nor mid such events
  51. The illustrious scion of the Memmian house
  52. Neglect the civic cause.
  1. And for the rest, summon to judgments true,
  2. Unbusied ears and singleness of mind
  3. Withdrawn from cares; lest these my gifts, arranged
  4. For thee with eager service, thou disdain
  5. Before thou comprehendest: since for thee
  6. I prove the supreme law of Gods and sky,
  7. And the primordial germs of things unfold,
  8. Whence Nature all creates, and multiplies
  9. And fosters all, and whither she resolves
  10. Each in the end when each is overthrown.
  11. This ultimate stock we have devised to name
  12. Procreant atoms, matter, seeds of things,
  13. Or primal bodies, as primal to the world.