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De Rerum Natura

Perseus Latin · Perseus Latin · 9,784 sections

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   Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,

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   Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars

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   Makest to teem the many-voyaged main

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   And fruitful lands- for all of living things

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   Through thee alone are evermore conceived,

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   Through thee are risen to visit the great sun-

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   Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,

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   Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,

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   For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers,

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    For thee waters of the unvexed deep

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    Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky

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    Glow with diffused radiance for thee!

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    For soon as comes the springtime face of day,

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    And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred,

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    First fowls of air, smit to the heart by thee,

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    Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,

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    And leap the wild herds round the happy fields

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    Or swim the bounding torrents. Thus amain,

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    Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee

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    Whithersoever thou walkest forth to lead,

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    And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams,

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    Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains,

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    Kindling the lure of love in every breast,

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    Thou bringest the eternal generations forth,

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    Kind after kind. And since 'tis thou alone

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    Guidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught

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    Is risen to reach the shining shores of light,

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    Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born,

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    Thee do I crave co-partner in that verse

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    Which I presume on Nature to compose

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    For Memmius mine, whom thou hast willed to be

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    Peerless in every grace at every hour-

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    Wherefore indeed, Divine one, give my words

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    Immortal charm. Lull to a timely rest

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    O'er sea and land the savage works of war,

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    For thou alone hast power with public peace

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    To aid mortality; since he who rules

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    The savage works of battle, puissant Mars,

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    How often to thy bosom flings his strength

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    O'ermastered by the eternal wound of love-

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    And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,

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    Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee,

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    Pastures on love his greedy sight, his breath

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    Hanging upon thy lips. Him thus reclined

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    Fill with thy holy body, round, above!

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    Pour from those lips soft syllables to win

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    Peace for the Romans, glorious Lady, peace!

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    For in a season troublous to the state

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    Neither may I attend this task of mine

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    With thought untroubled, nor mid such events

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    The illustrious scion of the Memmian house

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    Neglect the civic cause.

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    And for the rest, summon to judgments true,

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    Unbusied ears and singleness of mind

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    Withdrawn from cares; lest these my gifts, arranged

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    For thee with eager service, thou disdain

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    Before thou comprehendest: since for thee

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    I prove the supreme law of Gods and sky,

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    And the primordial germs of things unfold,

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    Whence Nature all creates, and multiplies

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    And fosters all, and whither she resolves

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    Each in the end when each is overthrown.

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    This ultimate stock we have devised to name

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    Procreant atoms, matter, seeds of things,

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    Or primal bodies, as primal to the world.

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    Whilst human kind

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    Throughout the lands lay miserably crushed

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    Before all eyes beneath Religion- who

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    Would show her head along the region skies,

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    Glowering on mortals with her hideous face-

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    A Greek it was who first opposing dared

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    Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,

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    Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke

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    Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky

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    Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest

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    His dauntless heart to be the first to rend

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    The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.

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    And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;

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    And forward thus he fared afar, beyond

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    The flaming ramparts of the world, until

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    He wandered the unmeasurable All.

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    Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports

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    What things can rise to being, what cannot,

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    And by what law to each its scope prescribed,

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    Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.

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    Wherefore Religion now is under foot,

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    And us his victory now exalts to heaven.

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    I fear perhaps thou deemest that we fare

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    An impious road to realms of thought profane;

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    But 'tis that same religion oftener far

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    Hath bred the foul impieties of men:

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    As once at Aulis, the elected chiefs,

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    Foremost of heroes, Danaan counsellors,

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    Defiled Diana's altar, virgin queen,

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    With Agamemnon's daughter, foully slain.

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    She felt the chaplet round her maiden locks

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    And fillets, fluttering down on either cheek,

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    And at the altar marked her grieving sire,

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    The priests beside him who concealed the knife,

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     And all the folk in tears at sight of her.

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Perseus Latin. CTS URN phi0550.phi001.perseus-eng1. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.