On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) (45 page)

And those whom flight had saved with mangled bodies

Pressed trembling palms over their ghastly sores,

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Calling on Orcus with heart-rending cries

Till cruel torments put an end to life,

With none to help, not knowing what wounds need.

But many thousands on the battlefield

One day did not destroy, nor did rough seas

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Dash ships and men together on the rocks.

Then all in vain, all useless, all for nothing,

The sea would rise and roar and then again

Lightly lay down her empty threats. No one

By quiet seas’ deceitful blandishments

And laughing waves was e’er enticed to ruin.

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The wicked art of seamanship lay hid.

Then lack of food brought fainting limbs to death,

Today, by contrast, plenty ’tis that kills.

Then men unknowing poured poison for themselves,

Today with greater skill they poison others.

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And then, when huts and skins and fire they had got themselves,

And woman joined with man had made a home,

And laws of married life were known to them,

And they saw loving children born to them,

Then first the human race began to soften.

Through fire their chilly limbs became less able

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To bear the cold with sky for covering;

Venus sapped their strength; and children easily

With winning smiles could break their parents’ will.

And neighbours then began to join in friendship,

Wishing to do no ill nor suffer harm,

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And sought protection for their womankind

And children, with stammering voice and gesture showing

That pity for the weak is right for all.

Not everywhere could harmony be born,

But the most part kept faithful to their bonds,

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Or else the human race had quite been lost

In the old days, nor could its progeny

Have passed till now through all the generations.

As for the various sounds of speech, ’twas nature

That made men utter them, and convenience

Found names for things, rather as we see children

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Driven to make gestures by their lack of speech

And point with finger at things in front of them.

For every creature feels the purposes

For which he can use the power that lies in him.

Before the budding horns sprout from its forehead

A calf will use them, butting angrily,

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And cubs of panthers and lions fight and scratch

With feet and claws, and use their mouths to bite

When teeth and claws have scarcely yet been formed.

And birds of every kind we see place trust

In their wings and seek unsteady aid from them.

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Therefore to think that someone then allotted

Names to things, and that men learnt words from him,

Is folly. Why should we think that this man had the power

To mark all things with voices and to utter

The various sounds of speech, and not believe

That others had the power to do the same?

Besides, if others had not used these sounds,

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Whence was the concept of this usefulness

Implanted in him, whence first came the power

To picture in his mind what he should do?

And one man could not compel many and force them

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That they should wish to learn the names of things.

One cannot easily in any way

Teach deaf men what to do. And to have sounds

Unheard before all meaningless in vain

Dinned into their ears, that they could not endure.

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Lastly, what is so very wonderful

If the human race, with vigorous voice and tongue

Endowed, should mark things out with voices

Differing according to their different feelings?

Dumb cattle and wild beasts of every kind

Make noises quite distinct and different

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When they are gripped by fear or pain, or joy

Wells up within them. And the evidence

For this lies in plain facts well known to all.

Angry Molossian hounds, when first they draw back

Their flabby jowls and bare their teeth and growl

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With rage suppressed, make sounds quite different

From when they bark and fill the place with din.

And when they lick their pups with loving tongue

And toss them with their paws and nibbling them

Pretend to make sweet tender mouthfuls of them,

Far different then the playful yelps they make

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From when they howl abandoned in the house

Or whimper cringing from the master’s whip.

In neighing too, there is a difference

When a young stallion in the prime of life

Pricked by the spurs of winged love runs wild

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Among the mares, and from his flaring nostrils

Snorts out his challenge to arms, and when he’s weak

At other times and neighs with quaking limbs.

Lastly, among the different types of birds,

Ospreys, sea hawks, and gulls amid the waves

Seeking their life and living from the sea,

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At other times make very different cries

From when they are fishing and struggling with their prey.

And some birds change their voices with the weather,

As ancient ravens do and flocks of rooks,

Or so they say, when they cry out for rain

To bring them water, or summon wind and storm.

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Therefore if animals are caused by different feelings,

Dumb though they be, to utter different sounds,

So much the more and with compelling reason

Must we suppose that men could in those days

Mark different things by different sounds of speech.

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Now here’s an answer to another question.

Fire was first brought to earth for mortal men

By lightning. From this every flame has spread.

For fire from on high fills many things, and makes them

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Blaze, when a stroke from heaven has kindled them.

But also when a branching tree struck by the wind

Swaying and surging leans against another,

Fire is pressed out by the strong force of friction

Until sometimes the gleam of flame springs forth

As bough rubs bough and trunk rubs trunk together.

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Fire may have come to men from either cause.

Then, to cook food and soften it by heat

It was the sun that taught them, since they saw,

Roaming the fields, how many things were softened

By its strong rays and vanquished by the heat.

And as the days passed, more and more they learnt

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To change their former life and way of living

By new inventions and by fire, well taught

By those pre-eminent in heart and mind.

Kings founded cities and built citadels,

Safeguard and refuge of their royal power.

Cattle and lands they divided, giving to each

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According to his talent and strength and beauty.

For beauty then was prized and strength had power.

Next property was established and gold was found,

And all the honour given to strength and beauty

Was quickly lost, for ’tis the general rule,

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Where riches call, the strong and handsome follow.

But if a man should guide his life by wisdom,

His greatest riches are a frugal life

And quiet mind. In that little there’s no poverty.

But men instead sought after fame and power

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To make a firm foundation for their fortune

And live in wealth a life of quiet content—

In vain. Since as they strove to reach the heights

They made a lonely path beset with danger,

And from the summit like a thunderbolt,

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Envy struck them down to a Hell of shame.

For envy as a rule like thunderbolts

Is wont to strike the summits, scorching all

That stand above the common range of things.

Far better therefore is it in obedience

To live a life of quiet than lust for kingdom

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And fell desire to hold the world subdued.

So let them sweat blood, wearied by fruitless toil,

Struggling along ambition’s narrow path.

Since all their wisdom comes from others’ lips

And they strive for things relying on what they hear