13 Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 5.1011-1018
Titus Lucretius Carus (died mid to late 50s BCE) composed a six-book Latin hexameter poem, De rerum natura or “On the Nature of Things”, sought to defend Epicurean philosophy. His description of how atomic ‘swerve’ allows for free will and his passionate critique of the fear of death (Book 3) are justifiably famous. In this passage, Lucretius describes how friendship was the impetus for the development of civilization.
METER: hexameter
| 1011 | Inde casās postquam ac pellīs ignemque parārunt | DSSSDS |
| et mulier coniūncta virō concessit in ūnum… | DSDSDS | |
| … [there is a corrupted line that discussed parents having children] | ||
| tum genus hūmānum prīmum mollēscere coepit. | DSSSDS | |
| 1015 | ignis enim cūrāvit, ut alsia corpora frīgus | DSDDDS |
| nōn ita iam possent caelī sub tegmine ferre, | DSSSDS | |
| et Venus inminuit vīrīs puerīque parentum | DDSDDS | |
| blanditiīs facile ingenium frēgēre superbum. | DDDSDS | |
Modus Prosaicus
Deinde hominēs casās et pellēs (id est vestēs) et ignem parāvērunt et quoque uxor virō coniūncta est at fēmina et vir in ūnum domum concessit. Tunc genus hūmānum prīmum mollēscere coepit. Ignis corpora hominum fēcit ut corpora frīgus sub caelī tegmine nōn iam possent ferre. Et Venus vīrēs suās dīminuit. Et puerī et puellae blanditiīs parentum īngenium superbum facile frēgērunt.
| 1011 | parā(vē)runt: syncopated perfect.
pellīs: epic poets are fond of the alternative spelling of the accusative plural. |
| 1012 | ūnum: [domum]. |
| 1015 | enim…ut: not all ut clauses express purpose. Here, enim helps “trigger” the noun clause clause, “fire took care/saw to it (cūrāvit) that…”; enim is much richer than the English “for” or “in fact”, it introduces a clause that proves or shows the grounds of a preceding assertion. How would you express this in English? (Review “The Logic of Latin” if you need guidance).
frīgus: neuter; how do you know that it is NOT the subject of its clause? cūrāvit: for cūrō in the sense of “take care” compare come valediction in Roman letters, cūrā ut valeās (“take care that you are well”). |
| 1017 | vīrīs: acc. pl., like pellīs in 1011; note that vīrīs is NOT the same as virīs (dat. or abl. plural of a different word!). Which word is which?
parentum: gen. pl. limiting not puerī (the boys of parents?) but ingenium in line 1017. |
| 1018 | facile: the neuter is used adverbially here, as often (rather than agreeing with ingenium, which is modified by the emphatic superbum at the end of the line). Does it make you optimistic or pessimistic to learn that the very first parents were overindulgent of their children?
frēgēre: see parārunt in 1011 and vīdēre in 1013.
|
After humans established functional (if overly tolerant) households, it will be amicitia that knits together neighbors into communities.
| 1019 | tunc et amīcitiam coepērunt iungere aventēs | DDSSDS |
| 1020 | fīnitimī inter sē nec laedere nec violārī,
et puerōs commendārunt muliēbreque saeclum, |
DDSSDS |
| vōcibus et gestū cum balbē significārent | DSSDDS
DSSSDS |
|
| imbēcillōrum esse aequum miserērier omnīs. | SSSDDS | |
| nec tamen omnimodīs poterat concordia gignī, | DDDSDS | |
| 1025 | sed bona magnaque pars servābat foedera castē; | DDSSDS |
| aut genus hūmānum iam tum foret omne perēmptum | DSSDDS | |
| nec potuisset adhūc perdūcere saecla propāgō. | DDSDDS | |
Modus Prosaicus (a brief prose paraphrase of the poem)
Tunc hominēs fīnitimī (i.e., quī iuxtim habitant) amīcitiam iungere coepērunt, aventēs (i.e., volentēs) inter sē nec laedere nec violārī, et commendāvērunt sibi puerōs suōs et mulierēs, cum significārent vōcibus balbīs et gestū esse aequum omnēs miserērī imbēcillōrum (i.e., hominēs quī sunt impotentēs). Sed tamen concordia nōn omnibus modīs poterat gignī (i.e., fīerī aut esse). Sed bona et magna pars foedera castē servābat. Sī foedera nōn servāvissent, omne genus hūmānum iam tum foret perēmptum (i.e., esset dēlētum) nec propāgō potuisset adhūc saecula perdūcere.
| 1019 | aventēs: similar in meaning to volentēs; does the participle have circumstantial force here? causal? concessive? conditional? |
| 1021 | commendā(vē)runt: syncopated perfect.
muliebre…saeclum: saeclum = saeculum; typically means “age” or “generation” (as in 1027), but Lucretius uses it in the sense of race or type, i.e., womanly sphere, thus womanly race or womanfolk. |
| 1022 | gestū: ecce! a fourth declension noun in its natural habitat! How do you know this ablative is not the object of cum? The preposition cum rarely follows its object unless that object is a personal pronoun (e.g., mēcum). |
| 1023 | miserērier: the archaic or poetic form of the passive infinitive (-ier for the -ī that ends the passive infinitive of all conjugations); remember that verbs of remembering and forgetting often take the genitive.
esse aequum: the infinitive in an indirect statement introduced by significārent; why is significārent verb subjunctive? omnīs: note the macron! How does omnīs differ from omnis? |
| 1024 | gignī: a 3rd conjugation passive infinitive (the hardest passive infinitive to spot). |
| 1026 | foret…perēmptum: foret = esset (AG 170a); a potential optative (AG 445–6), as is potuisset, “would have… and “wouldn’t have…”; remember that the present and perfect potential subjunctive refer to the future, while the pluperfect, as here, refers to the past; context can help determine the best translation of many English options: should, would, might, could….
omne: modifies genus, but here with adverbial force, “utterly”, “entirely”. |
Interrogata
- According to Lucretius, what role does friendship play in human history and society?
- Do you agree with this theory or are other foundations for social integration (more) plausible?
