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.

METERhexameter

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

  1. According to Lucretius, what role does friendship play in human history and society?
  2. Do you agree with this theory or are other foundations for social integration (more) plausible?

 

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