92
" Though she thou lovest now be far away,
Yet idol-images of her are near
And the sweet name is floating in thy ear.
But it behooves to flee those images;
And scare afar whatever feeds thy love;
And turn elsewhere thy mind; and vent the sperm,
Within thee gathered, into sundry bodies,
Nor, with thy thoughts still busied with one love,
Keep it for one delight, and so store up
Care for thyself and pain inevitable.
For, lo, the ulcer just by nourishing
Grows to more life with deep inveteracy,
And day by day the fury swells aflame,
And the woe waxes heavier day by day-
Unless thou dost destroy even by new blows
The former wounds of love, and curest them
While yet they're fresh, by wandering freely round
After the freely-wandering Venus, or
Canst lead elsewhere the tumults of thy mind. "
― Lucretius , De Rerum Natura 4 (Classical Texts)
95
" In morbid mourning? Why bemoan your death and weep in sorrow?
For if you’ve relished the life that you have led, if you did not
Gather all your blessings, as it were, in a leaky pot
So that they’ve drained away and perished, with no chance to please,
Why not, like a banquet guest, who’s drunk life to the lees,
Depart, you dolt, and go to peaceful rest, your mind at ease?
But if all the good you got was wasted, poured away,
And life is hateful to you, why seek to extend its stay? –
All will just turn out wrong and perish profitless again.
Why do you not, instead, make an end of life and all its pain?
For there’s no further pleasure I can think up or invent
For you – it’s always the same. "
― Lucretius , The Way Things Are
96
" But the creator of things,------1890 nature herself, was the first example of sowing seed and the start of grafting, for berries and acorns fell down from trees and, in due season, produced underneath a crowd of seedlings. Then from nature, too, they got the idea of setting young shoots into branches and planting new saplings in the ground through all their fields. After that, they kept trying various ways of tilling pleasant fields and saw that with tender care------1900 and gentle cultivation earth would tame wild fruits. Day by day, men forced the forests to move further up the mountains, yielding------[1370] lower parts to farming, so they could have meadows, lakes, streams, grain fields, and rich vineyards on hills and plains, and dark bands of olives could run between, marking the divisions, spreading over hillocks, plains, and valleys, just as you now see all land divided with various fine things—men make it shine------1910 by arranging sweet orchard trees in rows, and, with fertile shrubs planted all around, keep them fenced in. "
― Lucretius , The Way Things Are