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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=450303" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Book VI - Part 01 - Proem</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Twas Athens first, the glorious in name, <br>That whilom gave to hapless sons of men <br>The sheaves of harvest, and re-ordered life, <br>And decreed laws; and she the first that gave <br>Life its sweet solaces, when she begat <br>A man of heart so wise, who whilom poured <br>All wisdom forth from his truth-speaking mouth; <br>The glory of whom, though dead, is yet to-day, <br>Because of those discoveries divine <br>Renowned of old, exalted to the sky. <br>For when saw he that well-nigh everything <br>Which needs of man most urgently require <br>Was ready to hand for mortals, and that life, <br>As far as might be, was established safe, <br>That men were lords in riches, honour, praise, <br>And eminent in goodly fame of sons, <br>And that they yet, O yet, within the home, <br>Still had the anxious heart which vexed life <br>Unpausingly with torments of the mind, <br>And raved perforce with angry plaints, then he, <br>Then he, the master, did perceive that 'twas <br>The vessel itself which worked the bane, and all, <br>However wholesome, which from here or there <br>Was gathered into it, was by that bane <br>Spoilt from within- in part, because he saw <br>The vessel so cracked and leaky that nowise <br>'Tcould ever be filled to brim; in part because <br>He marked how it polluted with foul taste <br>Whate'er it got within itself. So he, <br>The master, then by his truth-speaking words, <br>Purged the breasts of men, and set the bounds <br>Of lust and terror, and exhibited <br>The supreme good whither we all endeavour, <br>And showed the path whereby we might arrive <br>Thereunto by a little cross-cut straight, <br>And what of ills in all affairs of mortals <br>Upsprang and flitted deviously about <br>(Whether by chance or force), since Nature thus <br>Had destined; and from out what gates a man <br>Should sally to each combat. And he proved <br>That mostly vainly doth the human race <br>Roll in its bosom the grim waves of care. <br>For just as children tremble and fear all <br>In the viewless dark, so even we at times <br>Dread in the light so many things that be <br>No whit more fearsome than what children feign, <br>Shuddering, will be upon them in the dark. <br>This terror then, this darkness of the mind, <br>Not sunrise with its flaring spokes of light, <br>Nor glittering arrows of morning can disperse, <br>But only Nature's aspect and her law. <br>Wherefore the more will I go on to weave <br>In verses this my undertaken task. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">And since I've taught thee that the world's great vaults <br>Are mortal and that sky is fashioned <br>Of frame e'en born in time, and whatsoe'er <br>Therein go on and must perforce go on </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The most I have unravelled; what remains <br>Do thou take in, besides; since once for all <br>To climb into that chariot' renowned </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of winds arise; and they appeased are <br>So that all things again... </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Which were, are changed now, with fury stilled; <br>All other movements through the earth and sky <br>Which mortals gaze upon (O anxious oft <br>In quaking thoughts!), and which abase their minds <br>With dread of deities and press them crushed <br>Down to the earth, because their ignorance <br>Of cosmic causes forces them to yield <br>All things unto the empery of gods <br>And to concede the kingly rule to them. <br>For even those men who have learned full well <br>That godheads lead a long life free of care, <br>If yet meanwhile they wonder by what plan <br>Things can go on (and chiefly yon high things <br>Observed o'erhead on the ethereal coasts), <br>Again are hurried back unto the fears <br>Of old religion and adopt again <br>Harsh masters, deemed almighty,- wretched men, <br>Unwitting what can be and what cannot, <br>And by what law to each its scope prescribed, <br>Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time. <br>Wherefore the more are they borne wandering on <br>By blindfold reason. And, Memmius, unless <br>From out thy mind thou spewest all of this <br>And casteth far from thee all thoughts which be <br>Unworthy gods and alien to their peace, <br>Then often will the holy majesties <br>Of the high gods be harmful unto thee, <br>As by thy thought degraded,- not, indeed, <br>That essence supreme of gods could be by this <br>So outraged as in wrath to thirst to seek <br>Revenges keen; but even because thyself <br>Thou plaguest with the notion that the gods, <br>Even they, the Calm Ones in serene repose, <br>Do roll the mighty waves of wrath on wrath; <br>Nor wilt thou enter with a serene breast <br>Shrines of the gods; nor wilt thou able be <br>In tranquil peace of mind to take and know <br>Those images which from their holy bodies <br>Are carried into intellects of men, <br>As the announcers of their form divine. <br>What sort of life will follow after this <br>'Tis thine to see. But that afar from us <br>Veriest reason may drive such life away, <br>Much yet remains to be embellished yet <br>In polished verses, albeit hath issued forth <br>So much from me already; lo, there is <br>The law and aspect of the sky to be <br>By reason grasped; there are the tempest times <br>And the bright lightnings to be hymned now- <br>Even what they do and from what cause soe'er <br>They're borne along- that thou mayst tremble not, <br>Marking off regions of prophetic skies <br>For auguries, O foolishly distraught, <br>Even as to whence the flying flame hath come, <br>Or to which half of heaven it turns, or how <br>Through walled places it hath wound its way, <br>Or, after proving its dominion there, <br>How it hath speeded forth from thence amain- <br>Whereof nowise the causes do men know, <br>And think divinities are working there. <br>Do thou, Calliope, ingenious Muse, <br>Solace of mortals and delight of gods, <br>Point out the course before me, as I race <br>On to the white line of the utmost goal, <br>That I may get with signal praise the crown, <br>With thee my guide!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Lucretius">Lucretius</a><div class=q>
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That whilom gave to hapless sons of men 
The sheaves of harvest, and re-ordered life, 
And decreed laws; and she the first that gave 
Life its sweet solaces, when she begat 
A man of heart so wise, who wh..."></div>
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