On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) (55 page)

When we walk by the sea; and when we watch wormwood

Being mixed with water we sense its bitterness.

930

So does from all things always something flow

And everywhere into all parts spreads abroad.

And no delay nor rest is given this flow

Since we constantly feel it, and all things always

We can see and smell and hear the sound of them.

935

I now repeat, what my first book made quite clear,

That the structure of all objects is most porous.

To understand this fact is relevant

To many studies, but in none more than this

On which I now embark, it is most necessary

940

To establish that all objects which we see

Consist of nothing but atoms mixed with void.

In the first place, in caves the rocky roofs

Sweat moisture out and drip with oozing drops.

Sweat likewise oozes out from all our body,

The beard grows, and hair on every limb and member.

945

Food is diffused all through the veins, increasing

And nourishing the body’s furthest parts

Even to the nails. Cold also and warming heat

We feel to pass through bronze, we feel them pass

Through gold and silver, when we hold full cups.

950

And through the stone dividing walls of houses

Voices fly and smells, and cold, and the heat

Of fire that even iron penetrates.

Again, where the great corselet of the heavens

Embraces us, the seeds of clouds fly in,

And of disease that comes in from outside.

955

And storms arising from the earth and sky

Fall duly back into the sky and earth,

Since nothing exists without a porous texture.

We add to this that not all particles

Thrown off from objects have the same effect

Upon the senses, and not all are suited

960

In the same way to influence other things.

First, the sun bakes the earth and makes it dry;

But ice it melts, and snow upon high mountains

Lying deep piled is thawed by its strong rays.

And wax placed in its heat is liquefied.

965

Fire likewise makes bronze melt, turns gold to liquid,

But skins and flesh it shrivels and contracts.

Water hardens iron taken from the fire

But skins and flesh it softens when hardened by heat.

The bearded goats find the wild olive sweet

970

As if it were truly ambrosia and steeped in nectar,

Yet no leaf grows to human taste more bitter.

Pigs detest oil of marjoram and fear

All kinds of ointments, for to the bristly pig

What seems to us refreshing is rank poison.

975

But on the other hand, what is to us

Most loathsome filth, why, pigs delight in it

And love to roll their bodies in the mud.

This still remains, which it seems should be said

Before I approach the subject of my theme.

980

Since various different things have many pores

They must then be endowed with different natures

Each having its nature and its passages.

For instance, living beings have different senses

And each perceives the object proper to it;

985

By one sense sound comes in, and by another

Taste comes from flavour, and to another comes

The smell of odours wafting on the air.

Besides, one thing is seen to seep through stone,

Another through wood, another to pass through gold,

Another makes its way through glass or silver.

For images pass through glass and heat through silver,

And one thing passes through more quickly than another.

It is the nature of the passageways

That makes this happen, varying as it does

995

In many ways, as I have just explained,

For each thing has a different nature and texture.

And now, when all these things have been established,

And well laid down, prepared and ready for us,

It is easy to move on and state the reason

1000

And make plain the cause why iron is attracted.

Firstly, there must needs flow out from this stone

A multitude of atoms, like a stream,

That strikes and cleaves asunder all the air

That lies beneath the iron and the stone.

Now when this space is emptied, and a large

1005

Tract in the middle is left void, at once

The atoms of the iron gliding forward

Fall in a mass into the vacuum.

So the ring follows, its whole form moving forward.

And nothing has its primal elements

More closely intertwined and woven together,

1010

More strongly knit, than iron strong and cold.

No wonder then if all those atoms of iron

Flowing into the void must cause the ring to follow.

And this it does, and follows, until it comes

1015

Right to the stone and clings with hidden ties.

The same thing happens in all directions. Wherever

An empty space is made, the adjacent atoms

Whether they are at the sides or are above

At once are driven into the vacuum.

For they are struck by blows from other quarters

1020

And cannot rise into the air of their own accord.

Moreover, to facilitate the process,

Another thing occurs to aid the movement:

As soon as the air in front of the ring grows thinner,

And the space between becomes more void and empty,

1025

At once then all the air at the back of the ring

Pushes and drives it forward from behind.

For the surrounding air continually

Beats on things, but in this case the iron

Is driven forward because in one direction

There is a vacuum ready to receive it.

1030

This air of which I speak creeps subtly in

Through all the many pores within the iron

And reaching to its tiny particles

Propels it on, as wind drives sails and ship.

Moreover, every object must contain air

Within its body since the structure is porous,

1035

And air encompasses and bounds them all.

Therefore the air which deep within the iron

Lies hid, surges continually, and thus

Beats on the ring and drives it from within.

For certainly the ring is carried forward

1040

On the course on which it has once launched itself

By its first plunge into the vacuum.

It also happens at times that iron moves

Away from this stone, having the tendency

To flee and then pursue again in turns.

I have even seen Samothracian irons jump,

And iron filings in a copper bowl

1045

Go mad with this magnet stone placed underneath,

So frantic seem they to escape the stone.

That so much discord is created by the copper

Set in between is doubtless for this reason:

The stream of atoms flowing from the copper

Comes first, and occupies the open paths

1050

And passageways that lie inside the iron;

Later the stream comes from the stone and finds

The iron already quite filled up, and thus

No way to swim through as it did before.

It is compelled therefore to beat and push

The texture of the iron with its waves.

So it repels the iron from itself,

And working through the copper drives away

What otherwise it normally attracts.

1055

In this connection do not be surprised

That the stream from this stone has not the power

To influence other things as well as iron.

Some things stand firm by reason of their weight;

Gold is like this, but others being of substance

So porous that the stream flies through intact

Cannot be set in motion anywhere.

1060

Wood is a good example of this kind.

Between the two there lies the nature of iron;

When certain atoms of copper have entered it

The magnet stones repel it with their flow.

These properties are not so different

1065

From others that I could not readily

Produce a number of examples showing

Things which possess unique affinities.

First, only mortar can hold stone together.