26 Lucretius, De rerum natura, Book IV (Lines 54–126)
Introductory Context This section of Book IV provides the physical evidence for Lucretius’ theory of simulacra. As Albert Einstein observed in his 1923 foreword, Lucretius demonstrates a “firm confidence” in the “causal connectedness” of the world, using visible phenomena—like the skins shed by cicadas—to explain the invisible mechanics of vision. This rigorous scientific inquiry would have been presented in the “wonderfully elegant” italic type of the 1515 Aldine edition, a volume David Attenborough identifies as a primary example of how human experience is “handed down from generation to generation”.
Parallel Text: The Emission of Images and the Limits of Sensation
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Hermann Diels (1923) Latin Text
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Parallel English Translation
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DE SIMVLACRIS (Continued)
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54 Principio quoniam mittunt in rebus apertis
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54 First, since many things in the open world emit
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55 Corpora res multae, partim diffusa solute,
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55 bodies, some loosely diffused,
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56 robora ceu fumum mittunt ignesque uaporem,
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56 as logs emit smoke and fires emit heat,
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57 et partim contexta magis condensaque, ut olim
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57 and some more closely woven and dense, as when
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58 cum teretis ponunt tunicas aestate cicadae,
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58 the cicadas lay aside their smooth films in summer,
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59 et uituli cum membranas de corpore summo
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59 and when calves at birth drop the membranes
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60 nascentes mittunt, et item cum lubrica serpens
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60 from their body’s surface, and as the slippery serpent
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61 exuit in spinis uestem: nam saepe uidemus
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61 leaves its vesture among the thorns; for we often see
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62 illorum spoliis uepres uolitantibus auctas.
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62 the briars enriched with their flying spoils.
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63 quae quoniam fiunt, tenuis quoque debet imago
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63 Since these things occur, a thin image must also
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64 ab rebus mittit, summo de corpore rerum.
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64 be sent from things, from the surface of objects.
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…
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…
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110 Nunc age, quam tenui natura constet imago
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110 Come now, learn how thin is the nature of an image.
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111 percipe. et in primis, quoniam primordia tantum
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111 And first, since the first-beginnings are so far
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112 sunt infra nostros sensus tantoque minora
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112 below our senses and so much smaller
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113 quam quae primum oculi coeptant non posse tueri,
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113 than those things which the eyes first begin to lose,
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114 nunc tarnen id quoque uti confirmem, exordia rerum
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114 yet that I may confirm this also, learn in a few words
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115 cunctarum quam sint suptilia percipe paucis.
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115 how subtle are the beginnings of all things.
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115a QVAM PARVA SINT ANIMALIA
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115a ON THE SMALLNESS OF ANIMALS
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116 Primum animalia sunt iam partim tantula, corum
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116 First, there are some animals already so small,
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117 tertia pars nulla possit ratione uideri.
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117 that a third part of them could by no means be seen.
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118 horum intestinum quoduis quale esse putandumst!
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118 What must we think of any internal organ of these!
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119 quid cordis globus aut oculi? quid membra? quid artus?
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119 What of the heart’s ball or the eyes? What of the limbs?
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120 quantula sunt, quid praeterea primordia quaeque,
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120 How small they are! What of the various first-beginnings
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121 unde anima atque animi constet natura necessumst,
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121 from which the nature of the soul and mind must consist?
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122 nonne uides quam sint subtilia quamque minuta?
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122 Do you not see how subtle and minute they are?
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126 habrotonique graues et tristia centaurea,
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126 and heavy southernwood and bitter centaury,
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Critical Apparatus (Diels, 1923)
Testimonia
- Line 51: Cited by Nonius (199, 35) regarding the term membranae.
- Lines 61–62: Cited by Nonius (231, 17 and 458, 3) for the description of the serpent’s shed skin.
- Line 118: Nonius (209, 15) cites this line regarding the diminutive size of animal organs.
Codices (Manuscript Variants)
- Line 51: Nonius and the Italian codices read quae quasi, whereas O reads Qui quasi and Q reads Quasi.
- Line 53: O reads fusca, but Q correctly preserves fusa (spread out).
- Line 62: Nonius (458) reads uere for uepres (briars).
- Line 116: Diels follows Lachmann in reading corum for eorum to maintain the archaic flavor of the archetype.
- Line 118: Nonius reads horum and eis (for esse), while O and Q read Harum and esse.
