De Rerum Natura

Lucretius

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

  1. In chief, men marvel nature renders not
  2. Bigger and bigger the bulk of ocean, since
  3. So vast the down-rush of the waters be,
  4. And every river out of every realm
  5. Cometh thereto; and add the random rains
  6. And flying tempests, which spatter every sea
  7. And every land bedew; add their own springs:
  8. Yet all of these unto the ocean's sum
  9. Shall be but as the increase of a drop.
  10. Wherefore 'tis less a marvel that the sea,
  11. The mighty ocean, increaseth not. Besides,
  12. Sun with his heat draws off a mighty part:
  13. Yea, we behold that sun with burning beams
  14. To dry our garments dripping all with wet;
  15. And many a sea, and far out-spread beneath,
  16. Do we behold. Therefore, however slight
  17. The portion of wet that sun on any spot
  18. Culls from the level main, he still will take
  19. From off the waves in such a wide expanse
  20. Abundantly. Then, further, also winds,
  21. Sweeping the level waters, can bear off
  22. A mighty part of wet, since we behold
  23. Oft in a single night the highways dried
  24. By winds, and soft mud crusted o'er at dawn.
  25. Again, I've taught thee that the clouds bear off
  26. Much moisture too, up-taken from the reaches
  27. Of the mighty main, and sprinkle it about
  28. O'er all the zones, when rain is on the lands
  29. And winds convey the aery racks of vapour.
  30. Lastly, since earth is porous through her frame,
  31. And neighbours on the seas, girdling their shores,
  32. The water's wet must seep into the lands
  33. From briny ocean, as from lands it comes
  34. Into the seas. For brine is filtered off,
  35. And then the liquid stuff seeps back again
  36. And all re-poureth at the river-heads,
  37. Whence in fresh-water currents it returns
  38. Over the lands, adown the channels which
  39. Were cleft erstwhile and erstwhile bore along
  40. The liquid-footed floods.