Lucretius on the beginning of civilization

After people got themselves huts and skins and fire, they began to soften:

Inde casas postqu(am) ac pellis ignemque pararunt,

‘Then after they got themselves huts and skins and fire,’

et mulier coniuncta viro concessit in unum

‘and woman yoked with man retired to a single’

<lacunam indicavit Marullus>

<home, and the laws of marriage>

cognita sunt, prolemqu(e) ex se videre creatam,

‘were learnt, and they saw children sprung from them,’

tum genus humanum primum mollescere coepit.

‘then first the race of man began to soften.’

ignis enim curavit ut alsia corpora frigus

non ita iam possent caeli sub tegmine ferre,

‘For fire brought it about that their chilly limbs could not now so well bear cold under the roof of heaven,’

et Venus imminuit viris puerique parentum

blanditiis facil(e) ingenium fregere superbum.

‘and Venus lessened their strength, and children, by their winning ways, easily broke down the will of their parents.’

(1011-1018, translation Cyril Bailey)

 

Then neighbours began to make friendship one with another, with cries and gestures entrusted children and women to the charge of men, made compacts of unity, not to hurt or be harmed, and for the most part faithfully kept them:

tunc et amicitiem coeperunt iunger(e) aventes

finitim(i) inter se nec laedere nec violari,

‘Then, too, neighbours began eagerly to form friendship one with another, not to hurt or be harmed,’

et pueros commendarunt muliebreque saeclum,

‘and they commended to mercy children and the race of women,’

vocibus et gestu cum balbe significarent

'when with cries and gestures they taught by broken words’

imbecillor(um) ess(e) aequum misererier omnis.

‘that ‘tis right for all men to have pity on the week.’

nec tamen omnimodis poterat concordia gigni,

‘Yet not in all ways could unity be begotten,’

sed bona magnaque pars servabat foedera caste;

‘but a good part, the larger part, would keep their compacts loyally;’

aut genus humanum iam tum foret omne peremptum

‘or else the human race would even then have been all destroyed,’

nec potuisset adhuc perducere saecla propago.

‘nor could breeding have prolonged the generations until now.’

(1019-1027)

 

Nature constrained men to use different voices in their dealings with one another; ‘use shaped the names of things’, just as speechlessness leads the infants on to gesture:

At varios linguae sonitus natura subegit

mitter(e) et utilitas expressit nomina rerum,

‘But the diverse sounds of the tongue nature constrained men to utter, and use shaped the names of things,’

non alia longe ration(e) atqu(e) ipsa videtur

protraher(e) ad gestum pueros infantia linguae,

‘in a manner not far other than the very speechlessness of their tongue is seen to lead children on to gesture,’

cum facit ut digito quae sunt praesentia monstrent.

‘when it makes them point out with the finger the things that are before their eyes.’

(1028-1032)

 

Lucretius supports this insight into the beginning of language by proclaiming that everyone feels for what purpose he can use his own powers, as can be seen when we observe the behaviour of baby animals:

sentit enim vis quisque suas quoad possit abuti.

‘For everyone feels for what purpose he can use his own powers.’

cornua nata prius vitulo quam frontibus exstent,

‘Before the horns of a calf appear and sprout from his forehead,'

illis iratus petit atque infestus inurget.

‘he buts with them when angry, and pushes passionately.’

at catuli pantherarum scymnique leonum

‘But the whelps of panthers and lion-cubs’

unguibus ac pedibus iam tum morsuque repugnant,

‘already fight with claws and feet and biting,’

vix etiam cum sunt dentes unguesque creati.

‘when their teeth and claws are scarce yet formed.’

alituum porro genus alis omne videmus

fider(e) et a pinnis tremulum peter(e) auxiliatum.

‘Further, we see all the tribe of winged fowls trusting to their wings, and seeking an unsteady aid from their pinions.’

(1028-1040)

 

It is silly to think that somebody gave names to things and taught them to men:

Proinde putar(e) aliquem tum nomina distribuisse

‘Again, to think that any one then parcelled out names’

rebus et ind(e) homines didicisse vocabula prima,

‘to things, and that from him men learnt their first words,’

desiperest. nam cur hic posset cuncta notare

‘is mere folly. For why should he be able to mark off all things’

vocibus et varios sonitus emittere linguae,

by words, and to utter the diverse sounds of the tongue,

tempor(e) eod(em) alii facer(e) id non quisse putentur?

‘and at the same time others be thought unable to do this?’

praeterea si non alii quoque vocibus usi

inter se fuerant, und(e) insita notities est

utilitatis et unde dat(a) est huic prima potestas,

quid vellet facer(e) ut sciret animoque videret?

‘Moreover, if others too had not used words to one another, whence was implanted in him the concept of their use; whence was he given the first power to know and see in his mind what he wanted to do?’

Coger(e) item pluris unus victosque domare

non poterat, rer(um) ut perdiscere nomina vellent.

‘Likewise one man could not avail to constrain many, and vanquish them to his will, that they should be willing to learn all his names for things;’

nec ratione docer(e) ulla suadereque surdis,

quid sit opus facto, facilest; nequ(e) enim paterentur

‘nor indeed is it easy in any way to teach and persuade the deaf what it is needful to do; for they would not endure it,’

nec ration(e) ulla sibi ferrent amplius auris

vocis inauditos sonitus obtundere frustra.

‘nor in any way suffer the sounds of words unheard before to batter on their ears any more to no purpose.’

(1041-1055)

 

Clearly, men used their tongue and voice to mark different things with different sounds for their diverse feelings, just as dumb animals give forth diverse sounds for their diverse feelings in different situations:

postremo quid in hac mirabile tantoperest re,

‘Lastly, what is there so marvellous in this,’

si genus humanum, cui vox et lingua vigeret,

‘if the human race, with strong voice and tongue,’

pro vario sensu varia res voce notaret?

‘should mark off things with diverse sounds for diverse feelings?’

cum pecudes mutae, cum denique saecla ferarum

‘When the dumb cattle, yae and the races of wild beasts’

dissimilis soleant voces variasque ciere,

‘are wont to give forth diverse unlike sounds,’

cum metus aut dolor est et cum iam gaudia gliscunt.

‘when they are in fear or pain, or again when their joys grow strong.’

Quipp(e) etenim licet id rebus cognoscer(e) apertis.

‘Yea verily, this we may learn from things clear to see.’

irritata canum cum primum magna Molossum

mollia ricta fremunt duros nudantia dentis,

long(e) alio sonitu rabie restricta minantur,

et cum iam latrant et vocibus omnia complent.

‘When the large loose lips of Molossian dogs start to snarl in anger, bearing their hard teeth, thus drawn back in rage, they threaten with a noise far other than when they bark and fill all around with their clamour.’

at catulos blande cum lingua lambere temptant

‘Yet when they essay fondly to lick their cubs with their tongue,’

aut ub(i) eos iactant pedibus morsuque petentes

suspensis teneros imitantur dentibus haustus,

‘or when they toss them with their feet, and making for them with open mouth, feign gently to swallow them, checking their closing teeth’

long(e) alio pactu gannitu vocis adulant,

‘they fondle them with growling voice in a way far other’

et cum deserti baubantur in aedibus aut cum

‘than when left alone in the house they bay, or when’

plorantes fugiunt summisso corpore plagas.

‘whining they shrink from beating with cringing body.’

denique non hinnitus item differre videtur,

‘Again, is not neighing seen to differ likewise,’

inter equas ub(i) equus florent(i) aetate iuvencus

pinnigeri saevit calcaribus ictus amoris

‘when a young stallion in the flower of his years rages among the mares, pricked by the spur of winged love,’

et fremitum patulis sub naribus edit ad arma,

‘and from spreading nostrils snorts for the fray,’

et cum sic alias concussis artubus hinnit?

‘and when, it may be, at other times he whinnies with trembling limbs?’

postremo genus alituum variaeque volucres,

‘Lastly, the tribe of winged fowls and the diverse birds,'

accipitres atqu(e) ossifragae mergique marinis

fluctibus in salso victum vitamque petentes,

‘hawks and ospreys and gulls amid the sea-waves, seeking in the salt waters for life and livelihood,'

long(e) alias alio iaciunt in tempore voces,

‘utter at other times cries far other’

et cum de victu certant praedaque repugnant.

‘than when they are struggling for their food and fighting for their prey.’

et partim mutant cum tempestatibus una

raucisonos cantus, cornic(um) ut saecla vetusta

‘And some of them change their harsh notes with the weather as the long-lived tribes of crows’

corvorumque greges ub(i) aquam dicuntur et imbris

poscer(e) et interdum ventos aurasque vocare.

‘and flocks of rooks, when they are said to cry for water and rain, and anon to summon the winds and breezes.’

ergo si varii sensus animalia cogunt,

‘And so, if diverse feelings constrain animals,'

muta tamen cum sint, varias emittere voces,

‘though they are dumb, to utter diverse sounds,

quanto mortalis magis aequumst tum potuisse

dissimilis ali(a) atqu(e) alia res voce notare!

‘how much more likely is it that mortals should then have been able to mark off things unlike with one sound and another.’

(1056-1090)