Greenblatt writes: ‘When in the nineteenth century he set out to solve the mystery of the origin of human species, Charles Darwin did not have to draw on Lucretius’ vision of an entirely natural, unplanned process of creation and destruction, endlessly renewed by sexual reproduction. That vision had directly influenced the evolutionary theories of Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin (’The Swerve, p. 262).’
Lucretius opens this topic with the formation
of the world (V. 416-431):
Sed quibus ille
modis coniectus materiai
fundarit
terr(am) et caelum pontique profunda,
solis lunai
cursus, ex ordine ponam.
Bailey
translates: ‘But by what means that gathering together of matter established
earth and sky and the depths of ocean, and the courses of sun and moon, I will
set forth in order’
nam certe neque
concilio primordia rerum
ordine se suo
quaeque sagaci mente locarunt
‘for in very
truth not by design did the first-beginning of things [Lucretius uses this
Latin term for the Greek atoms] place themselves each in their order
with foreseeing mind’
nec quos quaque
darent motus pepigere profecto,
‘nor indeed did
they make compact what movements each should start’
sed quia multa
modis multis primordia rerum
ex infinito iam
tempore percita plagis
‘but because many
first-beginnings of things in many ways, driven on by blows from time
everlasting until now’
ponderibusque
suis consuerunt concita ferri
‘and moved by
their own weight, have been wont to be born on’
omnimodisque
coir(e) atqu(e) omnia pertemptare,
quacumque inter
se possent congressa creare,
‘and to unite in
every way and essay everything that they might create, meeting one with
another’
propterea fit uti
magnum vulgata per aevum
‘therefore it
comes to pass that scattered abroad through a great age’
omne genus coetus
et motus experiundo
‘as they try
meetings and motions of every kind’
tandem convenient
ea quae conventa repente
magnarum rerum
fiunt exordia saepe,
‘at last those
come together, which, suddenly cast together, become often the beginnings of
great things’
terrai
maris et caeli generisqu(e) animantum.
‘of earth, sea
and sky, and the race of living things.’
***
Concerning his
use of Latin terms Lucretius says in the first book, I.136-139:
Nec m(e) animi
fallit Graior(um) obscura reperta
difficile
inlustrare Latinis versibus esse,
‘Nor does it pass
unnoticed of my mind that it is a hard task in Latin verses to set clearly in
the light the dark discoveries of the Greeks’
multa novis
verbis praesertim cum sit agendum
‘above all when
many things must be treated in new words’
propter egestatem
lingu(ae) et rerum novitatem.
‘because of the
poverty of our tongue and the newness of the themes’.
Concerning bodies
and atoms of which they are composed Lucretius writes at I. 483-486:
Corpora sunt
porro partim primordia rerum,
‘Bodies,
moreover, are in part the first-beginnings of things’
partim concilio
quae constant principiorum.
‘in part those
which are created by the union of first beginnings.’
sed quae sunt
rerum primordia, nulla potest vis
stinguere; nam
solido vincunt ea corpore demum.
‘Now the true
first-beginnings of things, no force can quench; for they by their solid body
prevail in the end.’
***
At V. 772-782
Lucretius summarises his description of the self-creation of the world –
mentioning in particular his theories concerning the eclipses of the sun and moon
- and introduces the theme of the creation of living things/beings:
Quod superest,
quoniam magni per caerula mundi
qua fieri
quicquid posset ratione resolvi,
‘For the rest,
since I have unfolded in what manner each thing could take place throughout the
blue vault of the great world,’
solis ut varios
cursus lunaeque meatus
noscere possemus
quae vis et causa cieret,
‘so that we might
learn what force and what cause started the diverse courses of the sun, and the
journeyings of the moon,’
quove modo
<possent> offecto lumin(e) obire
‘and in what way
they might go hiding with their lights obscured,’
et neque opinantis
tenebris obducere terras,
‘and shroud the
unexpecting earth in darkness,
cum quasi
conivent et aperto lumine rursum
omnia convisunt
clara loca candida luce,
‘when, as it
were, they wink and once again open their eye and look upon all places shining
with their clear rays,’
nunc rede(o) ad
mundi novitat(em) et mollia terrae
arva,
novo fetu quid prim(um) in luminis oras
toller(e)
et incertis crerint committere ventis.
‘now I return to
the youth of the world, and the soft fields of earth, and what first with new
power of creation they resolved to raise into the coasts of light and intrust
to the gusty winds.’
Lucretius’
description of ‘what the world in its youth and the soft fields of earth
resolved to raise into the coasts of light’ – i.e. his theory of the origin and
evolution of the living beings – I shall unfold, or begin to unfold, in my next
post.
***
A note for the
beginners – like myself – in reading Latin poetry:
Elision (from ēlīdō
-ere to eject) occurs when a vowel/diphthong at the end of a word is
followed by a word beginning with a vowel/diphthong; the former is ejected,
that is, it is not pronounced and does not count metrically. Elided vowels are enclosed
in parentheses for purposes of scansion. Since h does not count
metrically, elision also occurs when a word beginning with h is preceded
by a word ending in a vowel/diphthong [nesciaqu(e) humanis precibus
mansuescere corda, Vergil, Georgics 4.470]. Further elision occurs even
with words ending in a vowel plus m. This reflects the weak
pronunciation of final m in Latin. (Cavin Betts and Daniel Franklin, Beginning
Latin Poetry Reader, p. 259).
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