Lucretius : De rerum natura (The infinity of the Universe)

Posté par admin
dimanche 01 janvier 2006 [n° 953]

In aedibus Aldi–Aldus & Co


Lucretius. De rerum natura (1515). 1

This is the second Aldine edition of Lucretius, the first century B.C. Roman natural philosopher; its editor, Andrea Navagero was Aldus’s principal Latin editor for the period 1512-15 and one of the ablest editors of Latin of his time.

IN AEDIBVS ALDI THE LEGACY OF ALDUS MANUTIUS AND HIS PRESS
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De rerum natura (1515)

Book I – The Infinity of the Universe

“But since I’ve taught that bodies of matter, made
Completely solid, hither and thither fly
Forevermore unconquered through all time,
Now come, and whether to the sum of them
There be a limit or be none, for thee
Let us unfold; likewise what has been found
To be the wide inane, or room, or space
Wherein all things soever do go on,
Let us examine if it finite be
All and entire, or reach unmeasured round
And downward an illimitable profound.

Thus, then, the All that is is limited
In no one region of its onward paths,
For then ‘tmust have forever its beyond.
And a beyond ’tis seen can never be
For aught, unless still further on there be
A somewhat somewhere that may bound the same-
So that the thing be seen still on to where
The nature of sensation of that thing
Can follow it no longer. Now because
Confess we must there’s naught beside the sum,
There’s no beyond, and so it lacks all end.
It matters nothing where thou post thyself,
In whatsoever regions of the same;
Even any place a man has set him down
Still leaves about him the unbounded all
Outward in all directions; or, supposing
moment the all of space finite to be,
If some one farthest traveller runs forth
Unto the extreme coasts and throws ahead
A flying spear, is’t then thy wish to think
It goes, hurled off amain, to where ’twas sent
And shoots afar, or that some object there
Can thwart and stop it? For the one or other
Thou must admit; and take. Either of which
Shuts off escape for thee, and does compel
That thou concede the all spreads everywhere,
Owning no confines. Since whether there be
Aught that may block and check it so it comes
Not where ’twas sent, nor lodges in its goal,
Or whether borne along, in either view
‘Thas started not from any end. And so
I’ll follow on, and whereso’er thou set
The extreme coasts, I’ll query, “what becomes
Thereafter of thy spear?” ‘Twill come to pass
That nowhere can a world’s-end be, and that
The chance for further flight prolongs forever
The flight itself. Besides, were all the space
Of the totality and sum shut in
With fixed coasts, and bounded everywhere,
Then would the abundance of world’s matter flow
Together by solid weight from everywhere
Still downward to the bottom of the world,
Nor aught could happen under cope of sky,
Nor could there be a sky at all or sun-
Indeed, where matter all one heap would lie,
By having settled during infinite time.
But in reality, repose is given
Unto no bodies ‘mongst the elements,
Because there is no bottom whereunto
They might, as ’twere, together flow, and where
They might take up their undisturbed abodes.
In endless motion everything goes on
Forevermore; out of all regions, even
Out of the pit below, from forth the vast,
Are hurtled bodies evermore supplied.
The nature of room, the space of the abyss
Is such that even the flashing thunderbolts
Can neither speed upon their courses through,
Gliding across eternal tracts of time,
Nor, further, bring to pass, as on they run,
That they may bate their journeying one whit:
Such huge abundance spreads for things around-
Room off to every quarter, without end.
Lastly, before our very eyes is seen
Thing to bound thing: air hedges hill from hill,
And mountain walls hedge air; land ends the sea,
And sea in turn all lands; but for the All
Truly is nothing which outside may bound.
That, too, the sum of things itself may not
Have power to fix a measure of its own,
Great Nature guards, she who compels the void
To bound all body, as body all the void,
Thus rendering by these alternates the whole
An infinite; or else the one or other,
Being unbounded by the other, spreads,
Even by its single nature, ne’ertheless
Immeasurably forth….
Nor sea, nor earth, nor shining vaults of sky,
Nor breed of mortals, nor holy limbs of gods
Could keep their place least portion of an hour:
For, driven apart from out its meetings fit,
The stock of stuff, dissolved, would be borne
Along the illimitable inane afar,
Or rather, in fact, would never have once combined
And given a birth to aught, since, scattered wide,
It could not be united. For of truth
Neither by counsel did the primal germs
‘Stablish themselves, as by keen act of mind,
Each in its proper place; nor did they make,
Forsooth, a compact how each germ should move;
But since, being many and changed in many modes
Along the All, they’re driven abroad and vexed
By blow on blow, even from all time of old,
They thus at last, after attempting all
The kinds of motion and conjoining, come
Into those great arrangements out of which
This sum of things established is create,
By which, moreover, through the mighty years,
It is preserved, when once it has been thrown
Into the proper motions, bringing to pass
That ever the streams refresh the greedy main
With river-waves abounding, and that earth,
Lapped in warm exhalations of the sun,
Renews her broods, and that the lusty race
Of breathing creatures bears and blooms, and that
The gliding fires of ether are alive-
What still the primal germs nowise could do,
Unless from out the infinite of space
Could come supply of matter, whence in season
They’re wont whatever losses to repair.
For as the nature of breathing creatures wastes,
Losing its body, when deprived of food:
So all things have to be dissolved as soon
As matter, diverted by what means soever
From off its course, shall fail to be on hand.
Nor can the blows from outward still conserve,
On every side, whatever sum of a world
Has been united in a whole. They can
Indeed, by frequent beating, check a part,
Till others arriving may fulfil the sum;
But meanwhile often are they forced to spring
Rebounding back, and, as they spring, to yield,
Unto those elements whence a world derives,
Room and a time for flight, permitting them
To be from off the massy union borne
Free and afar. Wherefore, again, again:
Needs must there come a many for supply;
And also, that the blows themselves shall be
Unfailing ever, must there ever be
An infinite force of matter all sides round. ”

On the Nature of Things By Lucretius Written 50 B.C.E Translated by William Ellery Leonard

LUCRÈCE De la nature des choses (1515)

LUCRÈCE De la nature des choses

Lucretius une bibliographie introductive au livre 3 du De rerum natura 2

Livre I, IV. Infinité de l’univers et de ses constituants [1,951-1113]

[1,951] Tu sais déjà que les éléments de la matière sont solides, et voltigent éternellement, sans être vaincus par les âges: examinons à présent si la somme des atomes est bornée ou infinie; voyons de même si le vide que nous avons trouvé dans la nature, c’est-à-dire le lieu ou espace au sein duquel les corps agissent, est terminé de toutes parts, ou s’il a une étendue et une profondeur immenses.

Le grand tout ne se termine dans aucun sens; car autrement il aurait une extrémité. [1,960] Mais un corps ne peut en avoir, je pense, si on voit au-delà quelque chose qui le limite, et qui empêche la vue de passer outre. Or, puisqu’il faut avouer que rien n’existe au-delà du monde, le monde n’a donc aucune extrémité, et par conséquent il n’a ni fin ni mesure. Peu importent les régions où tu es placé: quelque lieu que tu occupes, un espace sans bornes te restera ouvert en tous sens. En supposant même que le grand tout finisse, si un homme va se placer au bout du monde, [1,970] comme le dernier point de ses dernières limites, et que de là il jette une flèche ailée; lequel aimes-tu mieux, ou que le trait, lancé avec force, aille là où il a été envoyé, et vole au loin; ou que je ne sais quoi l’arrête, et lui fasse obstacle? Car il faut choisir; et, quelque parti que tu prennes, tu ne peux nous échapper, et tu es réduit à accorder au monde une étendue infinie. En effet, soit que la flèche, arrêtée par un obstacle, ne puisse achever sa course et atteindre le but, soit qu’elle passe outre, elle ne part pas de l’extrémité du monde. [1,980] Je te poursuivrai ainsi; et, dans quelque lieu que tu fixes des bornes, je te demanderai ce qui arrivera à la flèche. Il arrivera que, pour lui faire place, les bornes reculeront, et le monde se prolongera sans cesse.

D’ailleurs, si des limites infranchissables emprisonnaient la nature de toutes parts, et que son étendue fût bornée, les corps solides, emportés par leur poids, tomberaient en masse vers le fond du monde: rien ne pourrait se faire sous la voûte du ciel, et le ciel même n’existerait pas, ainsi que la lumière du soleil, [1,990] puisque toute la matière, depuis des temps infinis, eût formé, en s’affaissant, une masse inerte. Mais on sait, au contraire, que les éléments ne connaissent pas le repos, parce que le monde n’a pas de fond où ils puissent s’entasser et fixer leur demeure. Ils se meuvent sans cesse pour enfanter toutes choses dans toutes les parties, et les gouffres inférieurs vomissent aussi des flots de matière perpétuellement agitée. Enfin, les yeux attestent que les corps sont limités par les corps: l’air coupe les montagnes, et les montagnes coupent l’air; [1,1000] la terre borne les ondes, et les ondes embrassent la terre: mais il n’existe, au-delà du monde, rien qui le termine. Telles sont donc l’immensité et la profondeur du vide, que les plus grands fleuves y couleraient pendant toute la durée des âges sans le parcourir, et sans être plus avancés au terme de leur course: tant il y a d’espace ouvert aux êtres, quand on ôte de toutes parts toutes les bornes au monde!

L’univers et l’espace (omne quod est) sont infinis [1,951-1007]


  1. Titus Lucretius Carus: On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura) Summary by Michael McGoodwin, prepared 1997 [back]
  2. La Bibliothèque des Sciences de l’Antiquité est une composante du Service Commun de la Documentation de Lille 3. [back]
Antiquity, Philosophy

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