LUCRETIUS
Hymn to VenusTiti Lucretii CariDe Rerum Natura, Bk.I.vv. 1-48
Titi Lucretii CariDe Rerum Natura, Bk.I.vv. 1-48
Goddess! in whom our Rome is proud to traceNursing Mother of an Imperial race;Who ’neath the constellations, as they range,Heav’n’s standard-bearers, in soft interchangeOf night’s watches, rulest how, when, and where.In Ocean’s finny depths, in upper air,And teeming soil, Life, urgent to be born,Shall at thy smile burst forth to greet the morn,All without thee was gusty darkness;thenA sudden rapture stirs in Gods and Men!Thou comest! Winds fall; the sky no more low’rs:Earth embroiders herself with fragrant flow’rs;Billows that had been rolling mountains high,Ripple laughter to greet a sapphire sky.Wherever thou art is spring; thine the keyThat sets the prisoned wanton west-wind freeTo beat time to thy approach; and note howBirds, thy heralds, by fits skim to and fro;While, more fiercely-smitten, herds that had beenContent to graze their pastures rich and green,Toss hoofs and horns, breast headlong streams; and whereIt pleases Thee follow, whitherso’er!Venus, all provident, and kind, and wise,Nought in sea, torrent, hill escapes thy eyes;No green plain, no tree that invites a nest.With soothing touch in every breathing breastThou layest seed of love, yet with such skill,A forethought so unerring, and a willSo tenderly sure, that never a sparkStrays from its order, but knows each its mark;Kind choosing kind, species species, race race,Till Being grows, age to age, in emulous grace!Alone thou steerest Nature on her course!Failing Thee, lost the aye marshalling forceTo wash blind atoms on the shores of Light,Where each shall take up Life in its due right,To use it at its best, and for the best,Joy for itself, harmony for the rest?A theme, which it might well have seemed in vainTo attempt with powers of mortal brain;Then least, when Rome—how lately!—claimed of allHer children service at the trumpet’s call.Ev’n still she aches with pangs that she has borne,Glooming dumbly with fear they may return.But, Goddess, I trust! greatly dare to ask:“Shed thy eternal charm upon my task:Bid warfare cease; uplift thy sovereign hand;And blissful Peace will brood o’er sea and land.What can resist Thee?Mars with his alarms?Where lies the God but in thy lovely arms?Slender throat thrown back, see, his hungry eyesFeed upon thine with ever fresh surprise!Queen, he is thine; wound deeply as thou wilt;Sweeter smart than all the blood he has spilt!Cling round him; fold in thy divine embrace;Lift tow’rds his the appeal of thy bright face;Whisper love’s little nothings, till deep calmSteep his whole being in a honeyed balm;And he forget ’twas his murderous carSpread frenzy through our streets of civil War!”But the fever has abated; so longAs it is stayed, I will resume my song;—The more gladly if it be heard by OneWhom Venus willed long back a Paragon,Adorned with all the gifts that mortal manHas owed her since Humanity began.A Memmius is by that illustrious namePledged not to stand aloof from Rome aflame;And thou didst thy part; but, the crisis past,Thou now, my Lord and Friend, art free at last.Yet weigh all well;I have toiled hard to learn,And with pains equal held it my concern,When I myself was satisfied, to findMeans to pass truths into another mind.No less a duty, if thou undertake,Wilt thou betray, if thou should then forsake!Away with mean cares; give, if aught, thy whole—The sum of Reason—that which makes the Soul!
Goddess! in whom our Rome is proud to traceNursing Mother of an Imperial race;Who ’neath the constellations, as they range,Heav’n’s standard-bearers, in soft interchangeOf night’s watches, rulest how, when, and where.In Ocean’s finny depths, in upper air,And teeming soil, Life, urgent to be born,Shall at thy smile burst forth to greet the morn,All without thee was gusty darkness;thenA sudden rapture stirs in Gods and Men!Thou comest! Winds fall; the sky no more low’rs:Earth embroiders herself with fragrant flow’rs;Billows that had been rolling mountains high,Ripple laughter to greet a sapphire sky.Wherever thou art is spring; thine the keyThat sets the prisoned wanton west-wind freeTo beat time to thy approach; and note howBirds, thy heralds, by fits skim to and fro;While, more fiercely-smitten, herds that had beenContent to graze their pastures rich and green,Toss hoofs and horns, breast headlong streams; and whereIt pleases Thee follow, whitherso’er!Venus, all provident, and kind, and wise,Nought in sea, torrent, hill escapes thy eyes;No green plain, no tree that invites a nest.With soothing touch in every breathing breastThou layest seed of love, yet with such skill,A forethought so unerring, and a willSo tenderly sure, that never a sparkStrays from its order, but knows each its mark;Kind choosing kind, species species, race race,Till Being grows, age to age, in emulous grace!Alone thou steerest Nature on her course!Failing Thee, lost the aye marshalling forceTo wash blind atoms on the shores of Light,Where each shall take up Life in its due right,To use it at its best, and for the best,Joy for itself, harmony for the rest?A theme, which it might well have seemed in vainTo attempt with powers of mortal brain;Then least, when Rome—how lately!—claimed of allHer children service at the trumpet’s call.Ev’n still she aches with pangs that she has borne,Glooming dumbly with fear they may return.But, Goddess, I trust! greatly dare to ask:“Shed thy eternal charm upon my task:Bid warfare cease; uplift thy sovereign hand;And blissful Peace will brood o’er sea and land.What can resist Thee?Mars with his alarms?Where lies the God but in thy lovely arms?Slender throat thrown back, see, his hungry eyesFeed upon thine with ever fresh surprise!Queen, he is thine; wound deeply as thou wilt;Sweeter smart than all the blood he has spilt!Cling round him; fold in thy divine embrace;Lift tow’rds his the appeal of thy bright face;Whisper love’s little nothings, till deep calmSteep his whole being in a honeyed balm;And he forget ’twas his murderous carSpread frenzy through our streets of civil War!”But the fever has abated; so longAs it is stayed, I will resume my song;—The more gladly if it be heard by OneWhom Venus willed long back a Paragon,Adorned with all the gifts that mortal manHas owed her since Humanity began.A Memmius is by that illustrious namePledged not to stand aloof from Rome aflame;And thou didst thy part; but, the crisis past,Thou now, my Lord and Friend, art free at last.Yet weigh all well;I have toiled hard to learn,And with pains equal held it my concern,When I myself was satisfied, to findMeans to pass truths into another mind.No less a duty, if thou undertake,Wilt thou betray, if thou should then forsake!Away with mean cares; give, if aught, thy whole—The sum of Reason—that which makes the Soul!
Goddess! in whom our Rome is proud to traceNursing Mother of an Imperial race;Who ’neath the constellations, as they range,Heav’n’s standard-bearers, in soft interchangeOf night’s watches, rulest how, when, and where.In Ocean’s finny depths, in upper air,And teeming soil, Life, urgent to be born,Shall at thy smile burst forth to greet the morn,All without thee was gusty darkness;thenA sudden rapture stirs in Gods and Men!Thou comest! Winds fall; the sky no more low’rs:Earth embroiders herself with fragrant flow’rs;Billows that had been rolling mountains high,Ripple laughter to greet a sapphire sky.Wherever thou art is spring; thine the keyThat sets the prisoned wanton west-wind freeTo beat time to thy approach; and note howBirds, thy heralds, by fits skim to and fro;While, more fiercely-smitten, herds that had beenContent to graze their pastures rich and green,Toss hoofs and horns, breast headlong streams; and whereIt pleases Thee follow, whitherso’er!Venus, all provident, and kind, and wise,Nought in sea, torrent, hill escapes thy eyes;No green plain, no tree that invites a nest.With soothing touch in every breathing breastThou layest seed of love, yet with such skill,A forethought so unerring, and a willSo tenderly sure, that never a sparkStrays from its order, but knows each its mark;Kind choosing kind, species species, race race,Till Being grows, age to age, in emulous grace!Alone thou steerest Nature on her course!Failing Thee, lost the aye marshalling forceTo wash blind atoms on the shores of Light,Where each shall take up Life in its due right,To use it at its best, and for the best,Joy for itself, harmony for the rest?
Goddess! in whom our Rome is proud to trace
Nursing Mother of an Imperial race;
Who ’neath the constellations, as they range,
Heav’n’s standard-bearers, in soft interchange
Of night’s watches, rulest how, when, and where.
In Ocean’s finny depths, in upper air,
And teeming soil, Life, urgent to be born,
Shall at thy smile burst forth to greet the morn,
All without thee was gusty darkness;
then
A sudden rapture stirs in Gods and Men!
Thou comest! Winds fall; the sky no more low’rs:
Earth embroiders herself with fragrant flow’rs;
Billows that had been rolling mountains high,
Ripple laughter to greet a sapphire sky.
Wherever thou art is spring; thine the key
That sets the prisoned wanton west-wind free
To beat time to thy approach; and note how
Birds, thy heralds, by fits skim to and fro;
While, more fiercely-smitten, herds that had been
Content to graze their pastures rich and green,
Toss hoofs and horns, breast headlong streams; and where
It pleases Thee follow, whitherso’er!
Venus, all provident, and kind, and wise,
Nought in sea, torrent, hill escapes thy eyes;
No green plain, no tree that invites a nest.
With soothing touch in every breathing breast
Thou layest seed of love, yet with such skill,
A forethought so unerring, and a will
So tenderly sure, that never a spark
Strays from its order, but knows each its mark;
Kind choosing kind, species species, race race,
Till Being grows, age to age, in emulous grace!
Alone thou steerest Nature on her course!
Failing Thee, lost the aye marshalling force
To wash blind atoms on the shores of Light,
Where each shall take up Life in its due right,
To use it at its best, and for the best,
Joy for itself, harmony for the rest?
A theme, which it might well have seemed in vainTo attempt with powers of mortal brain;Then least, when Rome—how lately!—claimed of allHer children service at the trumpet’s call.Ev’n still she aches with pangs that she has borne,Glooming dumbly with fear they may return.But, Goddess, I trust! greatly dare to ask:“Shed thy eternal charm upon my task:Bid warfare cease; uplift thy sovereign hand;And blissful Peace will brood o’er sea and land.What can resist Thee?Mars with his alarms?Where lies the God but in thy lovely arms?Slender throat thrown back, see, his hungry eyesFeed upon thine with ever fresh surprise!Queen, he is thine; wound deeply as thou wilt;Sweeter smart than all the blood he has spilt!Cling round him; fold in thy divine embrace;Lift tow’rds his the appeal of thy bright face;Whisper love’s little nothings, till deep calmSteep his whole being in a honeyed balm;And he forget ’twas his murderous carSpread frenzy through our streets of civil War!”
A theme, which it might well have seemed in vain
To attempt with powers of mortal brain;
Then least, when Rome—how lately!—claimed of all
Her children service at the trumpet’s call.
Ev’n still she aches with pangs that she has borne,
Glooming dumbly with fear they may return.
But, Goddess, I trust! greatly dare to ask:
“Shed thy eternal charm upon my task:
Bid warfare cease; uplift thy sovereign hand;
And blissful Peace will brood o’er sea and land.
What can resist Thee?
Mars with his alarms?
Where lies the God but in thy lovely arms?
Slender throat thrown back, see, his hungry eyes
Feed upon thine with ever fresh surprise!
Queen, he is thine; wound deeply as thou wilt;
Sweeter smart than all the blood he has spilt!
Cling round him; fold in thy divine embrace;
Lift tow’rds his the appeal of thy bright face;
Whisper love’s little nothings, till deep calm
Steep his whole being in a honeyed balm;
And he forget ’twas his murderous car
Spread frenzy through our streets of civil War!”
But the fever has abated; so longAs it is stayed, I will resume my song;—The more gladly if it be heard by OneWhom Venus willed long back a Paragon,Adorned with all the gifts that mortal manHas owed her since Humanity began.A Memmius is by that illustrious namePledged not to stand aloof from Rome aflame;And thou didst thy part; but, the crisis past,Thou now, my Lord and Friend, art free at last.Yet weigh all well;I have toiled hard to learn,And with pains equal held it my concern,When I myself was satisfied, to findMeans to pass truths into another mind.No less a duty, if thou undertake,Wilt thou betray, if thou should then forsake!Away with mean cares; give, if aught, thy whole—The sum of Reason—that which makes the Soul!
But the fever has abated; so long
As it is stayed, I will resume my song;—
The more gladly if it be heard by One
Whom Venus willed long back a Paragon,
Adorned with all the gifts that mortal man
Has owed her since Humanity began.
A Memmius is by that illustrious name
Pledged not to stand aloof from Rome aflame;
And thou didst thy part; but, the crisis past,
Thou now, my Lord and Friend, art free at last.
Yet weigh all well;
I have toiled hard to learn,
And with pains equal held it my concern,
When I myself was satisfied, to find
Means to pass truths into another mind.
No less a duty, if thou undertake,
Wilt thou betray, if thou should then forsake!
Away with mean cares; give, if aught, thy whole—
The sum of Reason—that which makes the Soul!