On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) (24 page)

Or rising in such a way that a unity

Is made of all; for else must heat and wind

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Apart, and the power of air apart, destroy

The senses and apart dissolve them.

That heat is also in the mind when anger

Boils, and fire flashes fiercely from the eyes;

And cold is too, fear’s chill companion, when

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It makes the flesh to creep and shakes the limbs.

And then there is that calm and peaceful air

Which comes from tranquil heart and face serene.

But more of heat there is in those whose hearts

And bitter minds flash easily into wrath.

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Lions are most like this, that growl and roar

And cannot contain the fury in their breasts.

But the cold mind of the stag has more of wind

That sends cold airs more quickly through his flesh

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Which cause a quivering movement in the limbs.

But the cow lives more by peaceful air. She’s not

Too much excited by the smokey torch

Of anger spreading darkness all around,

Nor pierced and frozen with cold shafts of fear.

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She stands between the two—stags and fierce lions.

So also is it with the race of men.

By schooling many achieve an equal gloss,

But the character they’re born with still remains.

And faults you cannot tear up by the roots,

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So that one man can hold his temper better,

Another be less of a coward or a third

Accept insults too readily. For men

In many other ways must differ, and

Their habits follow from their different natures.

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I cannot now explain the causes of these

Or list the names of all those primal things

Which give to nature such variety.

One thing for sure I can affirm is this:

The traces of these things which stay in us

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Beyond the power of reason to expel

Are so minute that nothing can prevent

Our living lives on earth like those of gods.

This spirit then is contained in every body,

Itself the body’s guardian, and source

Of its existence; for with common roots

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They cling together, and without destruction

Cannot be torn apart, like frankincense,

You can’t tear out the scent from lumps of it

Without its very nature being destroyed.

So from the body if mind and spirit be

Withdrawn, total collapse of all must follow,

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So interwoven are the elements

From their first origin, which constitute

Their common life; and neither body nor mind

Has power of feeling, one without the other,

But by the joint movements of both united

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Sensation is kindled for us in the flesh.

Besides, a body is never born by itself

Nor grows, nor ever lasts long after death.

For not as water when it gives off heat

Does not disintegrate, but remains entire,

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Not thus I say can the body endure division

From the spirit which has left it. But utterly

It perishes convulsed and rots away.

Likewise, when life begins, in a mother’s limbs

And womb, body and spirit learn so well

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The ways of life, that if they are separated

Damage and ruin follow instantly.

So since their life depends upon this unity

Their nature also must be unified.

Also, if anyone denies that body can feel

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And believes that spirit, mixed through the whole body,

Creates this motion which we name feeling,

He fights against things manifest and true.

For who can ever make clear what it is

For the body to feel, if not the obvious

Experience which the body has given us?

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But once the spirit has left it, then the body

Lacks feeling in every part, because it loses

That which in life was not its property;

And many other things it loses too.

Moreover to say that eyes can see nothing

But through them mind looks out, as through a door,

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Is difficult, when sense clearly rejects it.

For sense propels us to the object seen;

Especially since we often cannot see

Bright things because of glaring brightness, a thing

Which never happens with doors. For an open door

Through which we look presents no difficulty.

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Moreover, if our eyes act as a door

Well, take the eyes away, doorposts and all,

And then You’ll find the mind should see more clearly.

Now here’s a thing you never could accept,

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A view held by the great Democritus,

That primal atoms of body and mind are placed

One beside one alternately in pairs

And in this manner bind the frame together.

For, while the seeds of spirit are much smaller

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Than those which make our body and our flesh,

Also they are fewer in number and are placed

Only at wide intervals through the frame.

The intervals at which these atoms lie

Equal in size the size of the smallest thing

That can produce sensation in our bodies.

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Sometimes we do not feel a speck of dust

Clinging to the body, or chalk-powder whitening

Our limbs, nor mist at night; nor spider’s webs

When we move into them, or the web’s fine threads

Falling upon our heads, nor feathers of birds

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Or flying thistledown, which are so light

They scarce can fall to the ground. A caterpillar

Or other creeping thing, we can’t feel it walking;

Nor the separate footsteps of a gnat or fly.

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So fine it is that many particles

Must be moved in us before, spread through our limbs,

The first beginnings of spirit can be touched

And feel, and bouncing across those intervals

Combine and couple and spring apart in turn.

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The mind more strongly holds the barriers

Of life, than does the spirit, and is lord

Of life more than the spirit is. For without

Mind and intelligence no particle

Of spirit for the smallest length of time

Can stay in our limbs, but all too easily

Follows its companions into the air away

And leaves the limbs cold in the chill of death.

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But he remains in life to whom the mind

And intelligence remain. Though he may be

A mutilated trunk dismembered, and

The spirit fled and banished from the limbs,

Yet he lives, and breathes the air of life. Cut off

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If not from all yet from the greater part

Of the spirit, yet he lingers, and clings to life.

Consider the eye, if it is cut all round,

Provided that the pupil stays unhurt

The lively power of seeing abides intact;

Unless, that is, you damage the whole eyeball

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And slicing round it leave it quite cut out,

For that results in ruin to them both.

But if that tiny spot in the middle of the eye

Is eaten through, at once the light is out

And darkness follows, however bright it be

With eyeball safe. Such is the bond by which

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The mind and spirit are forever bound.

Well now, that you may know that mind and spirit

Are born in living creatures and are mortal,

Verses which I with labour sweet and long

Have wrought, I’ll give you, worthy of your name.

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Please now apply both these names to one thing;

When for example I speak of spirit and show

That it is mortal, understand me also

To speak of mind since it is one with the other

And the whole is combined. First, as I have shown

That it is thin, composed of tiny atoms,

And of much smaller elements consists

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Than the liquid of water, or cloud or smoke,

For it moves far more quickly and behaves

As if struck by some more delicate force, for dreams

Of smoke and mist can move it, imaginations

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We have in sleep of altars burning and smoke

Coming from them (since beyond doubt these are