106
" Ia și privește o specie-n viață în inșii ce-i are
Și vei găși că ei nu-s chiar cu totul de o înfățișare:
Nici nu ar fi un alt mijloc ca mama să-și știe copilul,
Apoi acesta pe mamă; și lucrul le este-n putință,
Căci se cunosc ca și oamenii desăvârșit între dânșii.
Astfel adesea vițelul în impodobitele temple
Cade jertfit lângă-altarul pe care tămâie-i aprinsă,
Iară din pieptu-i țâșnesc fumegânde șiroaie de sânge:
Însă cu suflet cernit a lui mamă cutreieră pajiști,
Cată-n țărână la urma copitelor mici despicate,
Ochii străpung oirce loc, tot crezând undeva că se poate
Puiul pierdut să-și găsească; oprindu-se, jalnicu-i muget
Umple pădurea stufoasă, dar fulger la staul se-ntoarce,
Dorul de micul ei drag săgetandu-i întreaga ființă.
Nici frunzisoare de sălcii, nici iarbă ce-n rouă-nvioară,
Nu pot nici râuri ce curg lunecând între largile maluri,
Sufletul să i-l desfete și chinu-i năprasnic s-abată;
Nici chiar vițeii ceilalți, care zburdă-n pășunea cea grasă,
Nu pot s-aline-al ei zbucium și gându-i aiurea să-ntoarcă;
Ea pe al ei și-l tot cată, pe-al ei într-atât îl cunoaște.
(Cartea a II-a, v. 347 - 366) "
― Lucretius , The Way Things Are
111
" But there is nothing sweeter than to dwell in towers that rise
On high, serene and fortified with teachings of the wise,
From which you may peer down upon the others as they stray
This way and that, seeking the path of life, losing their way:
The skirmishing of wits, the scramble for renown, the fight,
Each striving harder than the next, and struggling day and night,
To climb atop a heap of riches and lay claim to might.
O miserable minds of men! O hearts that cannot see!
Beset by such great dangers and in such obscurity
You spend your little lot of life! Don't you know it's plain
That all your nature yelps for is a body free from pain,
And, to enjoy pleasure, a mind removed from fear and care?
And so we see the body's needs are altogether spare -
Only the bare minimum to keep suffering at bay,
Yet which can furnish pleasures for us in a wide array. "
― Lucretius , The Way Things Are
115
" Ám mindazt, mit ilyenformán szoktak magyarázni,
Fordított módon s így visszásan magyaráznak,
Mert nem azért született testünkben semmi, hogy azzal
Élhessünk, de mi megszületett, azt vesszük igénybe,
Igy nem volt látás, míg nem lett fénye szemünknek,
S nem szóltunk szóval, míg nyelvünk nem született meg,
Sőt a beszédnél jóval előbb jött létre a nyelvünk,
És a fülünk hamarabb termett a helyére a hangnál
És hallásnál, így hát úgy vélem, hogy előbb volt
Meg valamennyi tagunk, szervünk, mint az, amire szolgál.
( IV. könyv, 813-822. sor) "
― Lucretius
116
" Mely vad volt, gondos, gyöngéd kezelésnek a révén,
Nap mint nap feljebb űzték a hegyekre az erdőt,
Hogy lent mindig több hely jusson a megművelésre.
Hogy számukra vetőföld, dús szőlő, patak és rét
Jusson a halmokon és rónákon, s közben olajfák
Kék sora futhasson szanaszét ágazva a dombok,
Völgyek, rónák hajlatain s azokat teleszője.
Mint ahogyan most változatos bájjal beborítva
Tündöklik minden megrakva nemes faju fákkal,
s dúsan termő cserjékkel bekerítve körösleg.
(V. könyv, 1356-1365. sor) "
― Lucretius
118
" That is especially true,
since our whole life is struggling in the dark.
For just as children in the dead of night
tremble and are afraid of everything,
so we, too, in the daylight, sometimes fear------80
things which should no more frighten us than those
which scare children in the dark, those terrors
they believe will happen. Therefore, this fear,
this darkness in the mind, must be dispelled,
not by the sun’s rays or shafts of daylight,------[60]
but by the face of nature and by reason. "
― Lucretius , The Way Things Are
120
" To start with, we know that in every part, in all directions and on either side, above and below and throughout all space,------1480 there is no limit, as I have explained,------[1050] and facts themselves announce it on their own— the nature of deep space is very clear. Since infinite space lies empty on all sides and seeds in countless numbers fly around through the deep universe in various ways, driven by eternal motion, we must not, in any way, now think it probable that only this one sphere of earth and sky have been created, that beyond us here------1490 all those many particles of matter do nothing at all, especially since earth was made by nature. Seeds of things themselves, jostling freely here and there in various ways and forced to random, confused collisions,------[1060] produced nothing—then finally those ones suddenly united which could become, every time, the beginnings of great things, land, sea, sky, the race of living beings. And so, to repeat myself, you must grant------1500 that there are other aggregates of matter similar to this in other places, which aether clutches in its keen embrace. "
― Lucretius , The Way Things Are