On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) (21 page)

Indeed, I will follow you in your argument

And say that whatever speaks and laughs and thinks

Must be composed of parts that do the same.

But if we see that this is raving madness,

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That a man can laugh who has no laughing atoms,

And think and proffer learned arguments

Though sprung from seeds not wise or eloquent,

Why should not things we see possessing feeling

Be made of seeds entirely without senses?

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Lastly, we are all sprung from heavenly seed,

All from the same one father, him from whom

Life-giving mother, kindly earth, receives

Sweet showers of moisture, by which fertilized

She brings forth shining crops and joyful trees,

Brings forth mankind and all the breed of beasts,

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And yields the food on which all feed their bodies,

To lead sweet lives and propagate their kind.

Wherefore she rightly has earned the name of mother.

And what before was made from earth returns

To earth, and what came down from ether’s shores

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Borne back again the halls of heaven receive.

And death does not destroy things when they die

So as to bring destruction to their atoms,

But breaks their combination everywhere,

And then makes new conjunctions, making all things

To change their shapes and colours and receive feeling,

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And in an instant yield it up again.

So you may recognize how much it matters

How these same atoms combine, in what positions,

What motions mutually they give and take.

Then you will not suppose that what we see

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Floating upon the surface of things, sometimes

Being brought to life, then dying suddenly,

Are qualities of everlasting atoms.

Moreover in my verse it matters much

How letters are arranged and linked with others.

The same denote sky, sea, land, rivers, sun,

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The same denote crops, trees, and animals,

And, if not all, by far the greater part

Are alike; but the position decides the meaning.

So with real things, when the combination of their atoms,

Their motions, order, forms, shapes, and positions

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Are changed, the thing itself must change.

Now give your mind, please, to true reasoning.

A new thing now is struggling urgently

To reach your ears, a new aspect of creation

Is striving to reveal itself.

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But nothing is so simple that at first

It is not more difficult to believe it than to doubt it,

And nothing so mighty and so marvellous

That men do not in time abate their wonder.

Take first the bright pure azure of the sky

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And all the sky contains—the wandering stars,

The moon, and glorious radiance of the sun—

If all these suddenly, unexpectedly,

For the first time appeared to mortal men,

What would they name more wonderful, what less likely

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That men before they saw it should believe it?

Nothing, I think—so marvellous the sight.

But now, long sated with this glorious vision,

Men do not care, and no one lifts his head

To look up to the shining realms of heaven.

Therefore forbear, dismayed by novelty,

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To thrust out reason from your mind. No. Weigh it

With judgement keen, and then if it seems true

Give in, or if false, gird yourself to fight.

For since the sum of space is infinite

Spreading beyond the ramparts of the world,

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The mind desires by reasoning to find

What may exist there far away, the bourne

To which the exploring intellect aspires,

To which the mind’s thrust flies forever free.

This is my first point. Everywhere around us

On either side, above, below, throughout the universe,

There is no end. I have proved this, and the facts themselves

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Shout it aloud. Deep space shines clear to see.

Now since space lies in all directions infinite

And seeds in number numberless for ever

Fly all around in countless different ways

Through an unfathomable universe

Perpetually driven by everlasting motion,

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It must be deemed in high degree unlikely

That this earth, this sky, alone have been created,

And all those bodies of matter outside do nothing.

And added proof of this lies in the fact

That nature made this world. The seeds of things

In random and spontaneous collision

In countless ways clashed, heedless, purposeless, in vain

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Until at last such particles combined

As suddenly united could become

The origins always of mighty things,

Of earth, sky, sea, and breeds of living creatures.

Wherefore again and again I say you must admit

That in other places other combinations

Of matter exist such as this world of ours

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Which ether holds in ardent fond embrace.

And note this too—when matter is abundant

And space is there, and nothing checks and hinders,

Then action and creation must take place.

And if there exists so great a store of atoms

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As all the years of life on earth could never number,

And if the same great force of nature stands

Ready to throw the seeds of things together

In the same way as they have here combined,

Then of necessity you must accept

That other earths exist, in other places,

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With varied tribes of men and breeds of beasts.

Add to this that nothing in the universe

Is born unique and grows unique, alone,

But all belong to a species, very many

Of the same kind. Consider animals:

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You’ll find this rule applies to the wild beasts

That roam the mountains, to the human race,

To the dumb shoals of fish, to all things that fly.

Therefore likewise one must accept that sky

And earth and sun, moon, sea, and all else that exists

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Are not unique, but in number numberless.

No less a deep-set boundary stone of life

Awaits them, no less from a birth their bodies sprang,

Than those that here on earth of every kind

Abound, and multiply their generations.

If you know these things well, you’ll see at once

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That nature is free, no slave to masters proud;

That nature by herself all things performs

By her own will without the aid of gods.

For—by the gods who in their tranquil peace

Live ever quiet in a life serene—

Who has the strength to rule the sum of things

Immeasurable, to hold beneath his hands

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Bridled and reined the unfathomable deep,

To turn the firmaments of all the heavens,

Warm all the fertile worlds with heavenly fires,

At all times present and in every place,

That can make darkness with his clouds, and shake

The sky serene with thunder, and with lightning

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Oft shatter his own temples and then departing

Let fly at deserts, raging with that bolt

That often spares the guilty, but brings death

To men whose lives are innocent and blameless?

Since the first natal hour of the world,

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The day when earth and sea were born, and sun

Had first its rising, atoms have been added

In multitudes from outside, many seeds

Added from out the mighty universe,

Thrown all together by its ceaseless motion;

That increase might be given to land and sea,

The realms of sky extend their bounds, and lift

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Their lofty buildings far above the earth;

That air might rise. For blows from every side

Supply to each thing its own special atoms.

All join their own kind; water goes to water,

Earth is increased by elements of earth,

And fires are forged by fire, and ether by ether,

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Until to the utmost limit of their growth

Nature at last has brought them, great perfectress,

Great mother and creatress of the world.