Dear Venus that beneath the gliding1 stars
Makest to teem2 the many-voyaged main
And fruitful lands — for all of living things
Through thee alone are evermore conceived,
Through thee are risen to visit the great sun —
Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,
Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,
For thee the daedal Earth bears scented4 flowers,
For thee waters of the unvexed deep
Smile, and the hollows of the serene7 sky
Glow with diffused8 radiance for thee!
For soon as comes the springtime face of day,
And procreant gales9 blow from the West unbarred,
First fowls10 of air, smit to the heart by thee,
Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,
And leap the wild herds12 round the happy fields
Or swim the bounding torrents13. Thus amain,
Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee
Whithersoever thou walkest forth15 to lead,
And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams,
Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains,
Kindling16 the lure17 of love in every breast,
Thou bringest the eternal generations forth,
Kind after kind. And since ’tis thou alone
Guidest the Cosmos18, and without thee naught19
Is risen to reach the shining shores of light,
Nor aught of joyful20 or of lovely born,
Thee do I crave21 co-partner in that verse
Which I presume on Nature to compose
For Memmius mine, whom thou hast willed to be
Peerless in every grace at every hour —
Wherefore indeed, Divine one, give my words
Immortal23 charm. Lull24 to a timely rest
O’er sea and land the savage25 works of war,
For thou alone hast power with public peace
To aid mortality; since he who rules
The savage works of battle, puissant26 Mars,
How often to thy bosom27 flings his strength
O’ermastered by the eternal wound of love —
And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,
Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee,
Pastures on love his greedy sight, his breath
Hanging upon thy lips. Him thus reclined
Fill with thy holy body, round, above!
Pour from those lips soft syllables28 to win
Peace for the Romans, glorious Lady, peace!
For in a season troublous to the state
Neither may I attend this task of mine
With thought untroubled, nor mid29 such events
The illustrious scion30 of the Memmian house
Neglect the civic31 cause.
Whilst human kind
Throughout the lands lay miserably32 crushed
Before all eyes beneath Religion — who
Would show her head along the region skies,
Glowering33 on mortals with her hideous34 face —
A Greek it was who first opposing dared
Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,
Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning’s stroke
Nor threatening thunder of the ominous36 sky
Abashed37; but rather chafed38 to angry zest39
His dauntless heart to be the first to rend40
The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.
And thus his will and hardy41 wisdom won;
And forward thus he fared afar, beyond
The flaming ramparts of the world, until
He wandered the unmeasurable All.
Whence he to us, a conqueror43, reports
What things can rise to being, what cannot,
And by what law to each its scope prescribed,
Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.
Wherefore Religion now is under foot,
And us his victory now exalts44 to heaven.
I know how hard it is in Latian verse
To tell the dark discoveries of the Greeks,
Chiefly because our pauper-speech must find
Strange terms to fit the strangeness of the thing;
Yet worth of thine and the expected joy
Of thy sweet friendship do persuade me on
To bear all toil45 and wake the clear nights through,
Seeking with what of words and what of song
I may at last most gloriously uncloud
For thee the light beyond, wherewith to view
The core of being at the centre hid.
And for the rest, summon to judgments46 true,
Unbusied ears and singleness of mind
Withdrawn47 from cares; lest these my gifts, arranged
For thee with eager service, thou disdain48
Before thou comprehendest: since for thee
I prove the supreme49 law of Gods and sky,
And the primordial50 germs of things unfold,
Whence Nature all creates, and multiplies
And fosters all, and whither she resolves
Each in the end when each is overthrown51.
This ultimate stock we have devised to name
Procreant atoms, matter, seeds of things,
Or primal52 bodies, as primal to the world.
I fear perhaps thou deemest that we fare
An impious road to realms of thought profane53;
But ’tis that same religion oftener far
Hath bred the foul54 impieties55 of men:
As once at Aulis, the elected chiefs,
Foremost of heroes, Danaan counsellors,
Defiled56 Diana’s altar, virgin57 queen,
With Agamemnon’s daughter, foully58 slain59.
She felt the chaplet round her maiden60 locks
And fillets, fluttering down on either cheek,
And at the altar marked her grieving sire,
The priests beside him who concealed61 the knife,
And all the folk in tears at sight of her.
With a dumb terror and a sinking knee
She dropped; nor might avail her now that first
’Twas she who gave the king a father’s name.
They raised her up, they bore the trembling girl
On to the altar — hither led not now
With solemn rites62 and hymeneal choir63,
But sinless woman, sinfully foredone,
A parent felled her on her bridal day,
Making his child a sacrificial beast
To give the ships auspicious64 winds for Troy:
Such are the crimes to which Religion leads.
And there shall come the time when even thou,
Forced by the soothsayer’s terror-tales, shalt seek
To break from us. Ah, many a dream even now
Can they concoct65 to rout66 thy plans of life,
And trouble all thy fortunes with base fears.
I own with reason: for, if men but knew
Some fixed67 end to ills, they would be strong
By some device unconquered to withstand
Religions and the menacings of seers.
But now nor skill nor instrument is theirs,
Since men must dread68 eternal pains in death.
For what the soul may be they do not know,
Whether ’tis born, or enter in at birth,
And whether, snatched by death, it die with us,
Or visit the shadows and the vasty caves
Of Orcus, or by some divine decree
Enter the brute69 herds, as our Ennius sang,
Who first from lovely Helicon brought down
A laurel wreath of bright perennial70 leaves,
Renowned72 forever among the Italian clans73.
Yet Ennius too in everlasting74 verse
Proclaims those vaults75 of Acheron to be,
Though thence, he said, nor souls nor bodies fare,
But only phantom76 figures, strangely wan42,
And tells how once from out those regions rose
Old Homer’s ghost to him and shed salt tears
And with his words unfolded Nature’s source.
Then be it ours with steady mind to clasp
The purport77 of the skies — the law behind
The wandering courses of the sun and moon;
To scan the powers that speed all life below;
But most to see with reasonable eyes
Of what the mind, of what the soul is made,
And what it is so terrible that breaks
On us asleep, or waking in disease,
Until we seem to mark and hear at hand
Dead men whose bones earth bosomed78 long ago.
Substance is Eternal
This terror, then, this darkness of the mind,
Not sunrise with its flaring79 spokes80 of light,
Nor glittering arrows of morning can disperse81,
But only Nature’s aspect and her law,
Which, teaching us, hath this exordium:
Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
Fear holds dominion82 over mortality
Only because, seeing in land and sky
So much the cause whereof no wise they know,
Men think Divinities are working there.
Meantime, when once we know from nothing still
Nothing can be create, we shall divine
More clearly what we seek: those elements
From which alone all things created are,
And how accomplished83 by no tool of Gods.
Suppose all sprang from all things: any kind
Might take its origin from any thing,
No fixed seed required. Men from the sea
Might rise, and from the land the scaly84 breed,
And, fowl11 full fledged come bursting from the sky;
The horned cattle, the herds and all the wild
Would haunt with varying offspring tilth and waste;
Nor would the same fruits keep their olden trees,
But each might grow from any stock or limb
By chance and change. Indeed, and were there not
For each its procreant atoms, could things have
Each its unalterable mother old?
But, since produced from fixed seeds are all,
Each birth goes forth upon the shores of light
From its own stuff, from its own primal bodies.
And all from all cannot become, because
In each resides a secret power its own.
Again, why see we lavished85 o’er the lands
At spring the rose, at summer heat the corn,
The vines that mellow86 when the autumn lures87,
If not because the fixed seeds of things
At their own season must together stream,
And new creations only be revealed
When the due times arrive and pregnant earth
Safely may give unto the shores of light
Her tender progenies? But if from naught
Were their becoming, they would spring abroad
Suddenly, unforeseen, in alien months,
With no primordial germs, to be preserved
From procreant unions at an adverse88 hour.
Nor on the mingling89 of the living seeds
Would space be needed for the growth of things
Were life an increment90 of nothing: then
The tiny babe forthwith would walk a man,
And from the turf would leap a branching tree —
Wonders unheard of; for, by Nature, each
Slowly increases from its lawful91 seed,
And through that increase shall conserve92 its kind.
Whence take the proof that things enlarge and feed
From out their proper matter. Thus it comes
That earth, without her seasons of fixed rains,
Could bear no produce such as makes us glad,
And whatsoever93 lives, if shut from food,
Prolongs its kind and guards its life no more.
Thus easier ’tis to hold that many things
Have primal bodies in common (as we see
The single letters common to many words)
Than aught exists without its origins.
Moreover, why should Nature not prepare
Men of a bulk to ford94 the seas afoot,
Or rend the mighty95 mountains with their hands,
Or conquer Time with length of days, if not
Because for all begotten96 things abides98
The changeless stuff, and what from that may spring
Is fixed forevermore? Lastly we see
How far the tilled surpass the fields untilled
And to the labour of our hands return
Their more abounding102 crops; there are indeed
Within the earth primordial germs of things,
Which, as the ploughshare turns the fruitful clods
And kneads the mould, we quicken into birth.
Else would ye mark, without all toil of ours,
Spontaneous generations, fairer forms.
Confess then, naught from nothing can become,
Since all must have their seeds, wherefrom to grow,
Wherefrom to reach the gentle fields of air.
Hence too it comes that Nature all dissolves
Into their primal bodies again, and naught
Perishes ever to annihilation.
For, were aught mortal in its every part,
Before our eyes it might be snatched away
Unto destruction; since no force were needed
To sunder103 its members and undo104 its bands.
Whereas, of truth, because all things exist,
With seed imperishable, Nature allows
Destruction nor collapse105 of aught, until
Some outward force may shatter by a blow,
Or inward craft, entering its hollow cells,
Dissolve it down. And more than this, if Time,
That wastes with eld the works along the world,
Destroy entire, consuming matter all,
Whence then may Venus back to light of life
Restore the generations kind by kind?
Or how, when thus restored, may daedal Earth
Foster and plenish with her ancient food,
Which, kind by kind, she offers unto each?
Whence may the water-springs, beneath the sea,
Or inland rivers, far and wide away,
Keep the unfathomable ocean full?
And out of what does Ether feed the stars?
For lapsed106 years and infinite age must else
Have eat all shapes of mortal stock away:
But be it the Long Ago contained those germs,
By which this sum of things recruited lives,
Those same infallibly can never die,
Nor nothing to nothing evermore return.
And, too, the selfsame power might end alike
All things, were they not still together held
By matter eternal, shackled107 through its parts,
Now more, now less. A touch might be enough
To cause destruction. For the slightest force
Would loose the weft of things wherein no part
Were of imperishable stock. But now
Because the fastenings of primordial parts
Are put together diversely and stuff
Is everlasting, things abide99 the same
Unhurt and sure, until some power comes on
Strong to destroy the warp110 and woof of each:
Nothing returns to naught; but all return
At their collapse to primal forms of stuff.
Lo, the rains perish which Ether-father throws
Down to the bosom of Earth-mother; but then
Upsprings the shining grain, and boughs111 are green
Amid the trees, and trees themselves wax big
And lade themselves with fruits; and hence in turn
The race of man and all the wild are fed;
Hence joyful cities thrive with boys and girls;
And leafy woodlands echo with new birds;
Hence cattle, fat and drowsy112, lay their bulk
Along the joyous113 pastures whilst the drops
Of white ooze114 trickle115 from distended116 bags;
Hence the young scamper117 on their weakling joints118
Along the tender herbs, fresh hearts afrisk
With warm new milk. Thus naught of what so seems
Perishes utterly119, since Nature ever
Upbuilds one thing from other, suffering naught
To come to birth but through some other’s death.
. . . . . .
And now, since I have taught that things cannot
Be born from nothing, nor the same, when born,
To nothing be recalled, doubt not my words,
Because our eyes no primal germs perceive;
For mark those bodies which, though known to be
In this our world, are yet invisible:
The winds infuriate lash120 our face and frame,
Unseen, and swamp huge ships and rend the clouds,
Or, eddying121 wildly down, bestrew the plains
With mighty trees, or scour122 the mountain tops
With forest-crackling blasts. Thus on they rave22
With uproar123 shrill124 and ominous moan. The winds,
’Tis clear, are sightless bodies sweeping125 through
The sea, the lands, the clouds along the sky,
Vexing126 and whirling and seizing all amain;
And forth they flow and pile destruction round,
Even as the water’s soft and supple127 bulk
Becoming a river of abounding floods,
Which a wide downpour from the lofty hills
Swells128 with big showers, dashes headlong down
Fragments of woodland and whole branching trees;
Nor can the solid bridges bide100 the shock
As on the waters whelm: the turbulent stream,
Strong with a hundred rains, beats round the piers129,
Crashes with havoc130, and rolls beneath its waves
Down-toppled masonry131 and ponderous132 stone,
Hurling134 away whatever would oppose.
Even so must move the blasts of all the winds,
Which, when they spread, like to a mighty flood,
Hither or thither135, drive things on before
And hurl133 to ground with still renewed assault,
Or sometimes in their circling vortex seize
And bear in cones136 of whirlwind down the world:
The winds are sightless bodies and naught else —
Since both in works and ways they rival well
The mighty rivers, the visible in form.
Then too we know the varied137 smells of things
Yet never to our nostrils138 see them come;
With eyes we view not burning heats, nor cold,
Nor are we wont139 men’s voices to behold140.
Yet these must be corporeal141 at the base,
Since thus they smite142 the senses: naught there is
Save body, having property of touch.
And raiment, hung by surf-beat shore, grows moist,
The same, spread out before the sun, will dry;
Yet no one saw how sank the moisture in,
Nor how by heat off-driven. Thus we know,
That moisture is dispersed143 about in bits
Too small for eyes to see. Another case:
A ring upon the finger thins away
Along the under side, with years and suns;
The drippings from the eaves will scoop144 the stone;
The hooked ploughshare, though of iron, wastes
Amid the fields insidiously145. We view
The rock-paved highways worn by many feet;
And at the gates the brazen146 statues show
Their right hands leaner from the frequent touch
Of wayfarers147 innumerable who greet.
We see how wearing-down hath minished these,
But just what motes148 depart at any time,
The envious149 nature of vision bars our sight.
Lastly whatever days and nature add
Little by little, constraining151 things to grow
In due proportion, no gaze however keen
Of these our eyes hath watched and known. No more
Can we observe what’s lost at any time,
When things wax old with eld and foul decay,
Or when salt seas eat under beetling152 crags.
Thus Nature ever by unseen bodies works.
The Void
But yet creation’s neither crammed153 nor blocked
About by body: there’s in things a void —
Which to have known will serve thee many a turn,
Nor will not leave thee wandering in doubt,
Forever searching in the sum of all,
And losing faith in these pronouncements mine.
There’s place intangible, a void and room.
For were it not, things could in nowise move;
Since body’s property to block and check
Would work on all and at an times the same.
Thus naught could evermore push forth and go,
Since naught elsewhere would yield a starting place.
But now through oceans, lands, and heights of heaven,
By divers109 causes and in divers modes,
Before our eyes we mark how much may move,
Which, finding not a void, would fail deprived
Of stir and motion; nay155, would then have been
Nowise begot97 at all, since matter, then,
Had staid at rest, its parts together crammed.
Then too, however solid objects seem,
They yet are formed of matter mixed with void:
In rocks and caves the watery156 moisture seeps158,
And beady drops stand out like plenteous tears;
And food finds way through every frame that lives;
The trees increase and yield the season’s fruit
Because their food throughout the whole is poured,
Even from the deepest roots, through trunks and boughs;
And voices pass the solid walls and fly
Reverberant159 through shut doorways160 of a house;
And stiffening161 frost seeps inward to our bones.
Which but for voids for bodies to go through
’Tis clear could happen in nowise at all.
Again, why see we among objects some
Of heavier weight, but of no bulkier size?
Indeed, if in a ball of wool there be
As much of body as in lump of lead,
The two should weigh alike, since body tends
To load things downward, while the void abides,
By contrary nature, the imponderable.
Therefore, an object just as large but lighter162
Declares infallibly its more of void;
Even as the heavier more of matter shows,
And how much less of vacant room inside.
That which we’re seeking with sagacious quest
Exists, infallibly, commixed with things —
The void, the invisible inane163.
Right here
I am compelled a question to expound164,
Forestalling165 something certain folk suppose,
Lest it avail to lead thee off from truth:
Waters (they say) before the shining breed
Of the swift scaly creatures somehow give,
And straightway open sudden liquid paths,
Because the fishes leave behind them room
To which at once the yielding billows stream.
Thus things among themselves can yet be moved,
And change their place, however full the Sum —
Received opinion, wholly false forsooth.
For where can scaly creatures forward dart166,
Save where the waters give them room? Again,
Where can the billows yield a way, so long
As ever the fish are powerless to go?
Thus either all bodies of motion are deprived,
Or things contain admixture of a void
Where each thing gets its start in moving on.
Lastly, where after impact two broad bodies
Suddenly spring apart, the air must crowd
The whole new void between those bodies formed;
But air, however it stream with hastening gusts167,
Can yet not fill the gap at once — for first
It makes for one place, ere diffused through all.
And then, if haply any think this comes,
When bodies spring apart, because the air
Somehow condenses, wander they from truth:
For then a void is formed, where none before;
And, too, a void is filled which was before.
Nor can air be condensed in such a wise;
Nor, granting it could, without a void, I hold,
It still could not contract upon itself
And draw its parts together into one.
Wherefore, despite demur169 and counter-speech,
Confess thou must there is a void in things.
And still I might by many an argument
Here scrape together credence170 for my words.
But for the keen eye these mere171 footprints serve,
Whereby thou mayest know the rest thyself.
As dogs full oft with noses on the ground,
Find out the silent lairs172, though hid in brush,
Of beasts, the mountain-rangers, when but once
They scent5 the certain footsteps of the way,
Thus thou thyself in themes like these alone
Can hunt from thought to thought, and keenly wind
Along even onward173 to the secret places
And drag out truth. But, if thou loiter loth
Or veer174, however little, from the point,
This I can promise, Memmius, for a fact:
Such copious175 drafts my singing tongue shall pour
From the large well-springs of my plenished breast
That much I dread slow age will steal and coil
Along our members, and unloose the gates
Of life within us, ere for thee my verse
Hath put within thine ears the stores of proofs
At hand for one soever question broached176.
Nothing Exists Per Se Except Atoms and the Void
But, now again to weave the tale begun,
All nature, then, as self-sustained, consists
Of twain of things: of bodies and of void
In which they’re set, and where they’re moved around.
For common instinct of our race declares
That body of itself exists: unless
This primal faith, deep-founded, fail us not,
Naught will there be whereunto to appeal
On things occult when seeking aught to prove
By reasonings of mind. Again, without
That place and room, which we do call the inane,
Nowhere could bodies then be set, nor go
Hither or thither at all — as shown before.
Besides, there’s naught of which thou canst declare
It lives disjoined from body, shut from void —
A kind of third in nature. For whatever
Exists must be a somewhat; and the same,
If tangible154, however fight and slight,
Will yet increase the count of body’s sum,
With its own augmentation big or small;
But, if intangible and powerless ever
To keep a thing from passing through itself
On any side, ’twill be naught else but that
Which we do call the empty, the inane.
Again, whate’er exists, as of itself,
Must either act or suffer action on it,
Or else be that wherein things move and be:
Naught, saving body, acts, is acted on;
Naught but the inane can furnish room. And thus,
Beside the inane and bodies, is no third
Nature amid the number of all things —
Remainder none to fall at any time
Under our senses, nor be seized and seen
By any man through reasonings of mind.
Name o’er creation with what names thou wilt177,
Thou’lt find but properties of those first twain,
Or see but accidents those twain produce.
A property is that which not at all
Can be disjoined and severed178 from a thing
Without a fatal dissolution: such,
Weight to the rocks, heat to the fire, and flow
To the wide waters, touch to corporal things,
Intangibility to the viewless void.
But state of slavery, pauperhood, and wealth,
Freedom, and war, and concord179, and all else
Which come and go whilst nature stands the same,
We’re wont, and rightly, to call accidents.
Even time exists not of itself; but sense
Reads out of things what happened long ago,
What presses now, and what shall follow after:
No man, we must admit, feels time itself,
Disjoined from motion and repose180 of things.
Thus, when they say there “is” the ravishment
Of Princess Helen, “is” the siege and sack
Of Trojan Town, look out, they force us not
To admit these acts existent by themselves,
Merely because those races of mankind
(Of whom these acts were accidents) long since
Irrevocable age has borne away:
For all past actions may be said to be
But accidents, in one way, of mankind —
In other, of some region of the world.
Add, too, had been no matter, and no room
Wherein all things go on, the fire of love
Upblown by that fair form, the glowing coal
Under the Phrygian Alexander’s breast,
Had ne’er enkindled that renowned strife182
Of savage war, nor had the wooden horse
Involved in flames old Pergama, by a birth
At midnight of a brood of the Hellenes.
And thus thou canst remark that every act
At bottom exists not of itself, nor is
As body is, nor has like name with void;
But rather of sort more fitly to be called
An accident of body, and of place
Wherein all things go on.
Character of the Atoms
Bodies, again,
Are partly primal germs of things, and partly
unions deriving183 from the primal germs.
And those which are the primal germs of things
No power can quench184; for in the end they conquer
By their own solidness; though hard it be
To think that aught in things has solid frame;
For lightnings pass, no less than voice and shout,
Through hedging walls of houses, and the iron
White-dazzles in the fire, and rocks will burn
With exhalations fierce and burst asunder185.
Totters186 the rigid187 gold dissolved in heat;
The ice of bronze melts conquered in the flame;
Warmth and the piercing cold through silver seep157,
Since, with the cups held rightly in the hand,
We oft feel both, as from above is poured
The dew of waters between their shining sides:
So true it is no solid form is found.
But yet because true reason and nature of things
Constrain150 us, come, whilst in few verses now
I disentangle how there still exist
Bodies of solid, everlasting frame —
The seeds of things, the primal germs we teach,
Whence all creation around us came to be.
First since we know a twofold nature exists,
Of things, both twain and utterly unlike —
Body, and place in which an things go on —
Then each must be both for and through itself,
And all unmixed: where’er be empty space,
There body’s not; and so where body bides101,
There not at all exists the void inane.
Thus primal bodies are solid, without a void.
But since there’s void in all begotten things,
All solid matter must be round the same;
Nor, by true reason canst thou prove aught hides
And holds a void within its body, unless
Thou grant what holds it be a solid. Know,
That which can hold a void of things within
Can be naught else than matter in union knit.
Thus matter, consisting of a solid frame,
Hath power to be eternal, though all else,
Though all creation, be dissolved away.
Again, were naught of empty and inane,
The world were then a solid; as, without
Some certain bodies to fill the places held,
The world that is were but a vacant void.
And so, infallibly, alternate-wise
Body and void are still distinguished188,
Since nature knows no wholly full nor void.
There are, then, certain bodies, possessed189 of power
To vary forever the empty and the full;
And these can nor be sundered190 from without
By beats and blows, nor from within be torn
By penetration191, nor be overthrown
By any assault soever through the world —
For without void, naught can be crushed, it seems,
Nor broken, nor severed by a cut in twain,
Nor can it take the damp, or seeping192 cold
Or piercing fire, those old destroyers three;
But the more void within a thing, the more
Entirely193 it totters at their sure assault.
Thus if first bodies be, as I have taught,
Solid, without a void, they must be then
Eternal; and, if matter ne’er had been
Eternal, long ere now had all things gone
Back into nothing utterly, and all
We see around from nothing had been born —
But since I taught above that naught can be
From naught created, nor the once begotten
To naught be summoned back, these primal germs
Must have an immortality194 of frame.
And into these must each thing be resolved,
When comes its supreme hour, that thus there be
At hand the stuff for plenishing the world.
. . . . . .
So primal germs have solid singleness
Nor otherwise could they have been conserved195
Through aeons and infinity196 of time
For the replenishment197 of wasted worlds.
Once more, if nature had given a scope for things
To be forever broken more and more,
By now the bodies of matter would have been
So far reduced by breakings in old days
That from them nothing could, at season fixed,
Be born, and arrive its prime and top of life.
For, lo, each thing is quicker marred198 than made;
And so whate’er the long infinitude
Of days and all fore3-passed time would now
By this have broken and ruined and dissolved,
That same could ne’er in all remaining time
Be builded up for plenishing the world.
But mark: infallibly a fixed bound
Remaineth stablished ‘gainst their breaking down;
Since we behold each thing soever renewed,
And unto all, their seasons, after their kind,
Wherein they arrive the flower of their age.
Again, if bounds have not been set against
The breaking down of this corporeal world,
Yet must all bodies of whatever things
Have still endured from everlasting time
Unto this present, as not yet assailed199
By shocks of peril200. But because the same
Are, to thy thinking, of a nature frail201,
It ill accords that thus they could remain
(As thus they do) through everlasting time,
Vexed6 through the ages (as indeed they are)
By the innumerable blows of chance.
So in our programme of creation, mark
How ’tis that, though the bodies of all stuff
Are solid to the core, we yet explain
The ways whereby some things are fashioned soft —
Air, water, earth, and fiery202 exhalations —
And by what force they function and go on:
The fact is founded in the void of things.
But if the primal germs themselves be soft,
Reason cannot be brought to bear to show
The ways whereby may be created these
Great crags of basalt and the during iron;
For their whole nature will profoundly lack
The first foundations of a solid frame.
But powerful in old simplicity203,
Abide the solid, the primeval germs;
And by their combinations more condensed,
All objects can be tightly knit and bound
And made to show unconquerable strength.
Again, since all things kind by kind obtain
Fixed bounds of growing and conserving204 life;
Since Nature hath inviolably decreed
What each can do, what each can never do;
Since naught is changed, but all things so abide
That ever the variegated205 birds reveal
The spots or stripes peculiar206 to their kind,
Spring after spring: thus surely all that is
Must be composed of matter immutable207.
For if the primal germs in any wise
Were open to conquest and to change, ‘twould be
Uncertain also what could come to birth
And what could not, and by what law to each
Its scope prescribed, its boundary stone that clings
So deep in Time. Nor could the generations
Kind after kind so often reproduce
The nature, habits, motions, ways of life,
Of their progenitors208.
And then again,
Since there is ever an extreme bounding point
. . . . . .
Of that first body which our senses now
Cannot perceive: That bounding point indeed
Exists without all parts, a minimum
Of nature, nor was e’er a thing apart,
As of itself — nor shall hereafter be,
Since ’tis itself still parcel of another,
A first and single part, whence other parts
And others similar in order lie
In a packed phalanx, filling to the full
The nature of first body: being thus
Not self-existent, they must cleave209 to that
From which in nowise they can sundered be.
So primal germs have solid singleness,
Which tightly packed and closely joined cohere210
By virtue211 of their minim particles —
No compound by mere union of the same;
But strong in their eternal singleness,
Nature, reserving them as seeds for things,
Permitteth naught of rupture212 or decrease.
Moreover, were there not a minimum,
The smallest bodies would have infinites,
Since then a half-of-half could still be halved213,
With limitless division less and less.
Then what the difference ‘twixt the sum and least?
None: for however infinite the sum,
Yet even the smallest would consist the same
Of infinite parts. But since true reason here
Protests, denying that the mind can think it,
Convinced thou must confess such things there are
As have no parts, the minimums of nature.
And since these are, likewise confess thou must
That primal bodies are solid and eterne.
Again, if Nature, creatress of all things,
Were wont to force all things to be resolved
Unto least parts, then would she not avail
To reproduce from out them anything;
Because whate’er is not endowed with parts
Cannot possess those properties required
Of generative stuff — divers connections,
Weights, blows, encounters, motions, whereby things
Forevermore have being and go on.
Confutation of Other Philosophers
And on such grounds it is that those who held
The stuff of things is fire, and out of fire
Alone the cosmic sum is formed, are seen
Mightily214 from true reason to have lapsed.
Of whom, chief leader to do battle, comes
That Heraclitus, famous for dark speech
Among the silly, not the serious Greeks
Who search for truth. For dolts215 are ever prone216
That to bewonder and adore which hides
Beneath distorted words, holding that true
Which sweetly tickles217 in their stupid ears,
Or which is rouged218 in finely finished phrase.
For how, I ask, can things so varied be,
If formed of fire, single and pure? No whit14
‘Twould help for fire to be condensed or thinned,
If all the parts of fire did still preserve
But fire’s own nature, seen before in gross.
The heat were keener with the parts compressed,
Milder, again, when severed or dispersed —
And more than this thou canst conceive of naught
That from such causes could become; much less
Might earth’s variety of things be born
From any fires soever, dense168 or rare.
This too: if they suppose a void in things,
Then fires can be condensed and still left rare;
But since they see such opposites of thought
Rising against them, and are loath219 to leave
An unmixed void in things, they fear the steep
And lose the road of truth. Nor do they see,
That, if from things we take away the void,
All things are then condensed, and out of all
One body made, which has no power to dart
Swiftly from out itself not anything —
As throws the fire its light and warmth around,
Giving thee proof its parts are not compact.
But if perhaps they think, in other wise,
Fires through their combinations can be quenched220
And change their substance, very well: behold,
If fire shall spare to do so in no part,
Then heat will perish utterly and all,
And out of nothing would the world be formed.
For change in anything from out its bounds
Means instant death of that which was before;
And thus a somewhat must persist unharmed
Amid the world, lest all return to naught,
And, born from naught, abundance thrive anew.
Now since indeed there are those surest bodies
Which keep their nature evermore the same,
Upon whose going out and coming in
And changed order things their nature change,
And all corporeal substances transformed,
’Tis thine to know those primal bodies, then,
Are not of fire. For ’twere of no avail
Should some depart and go away, and some
Be added new, and some be changed in order,
If still all kept their nature of old heat:
For whatsoever they created then
Would still in any case be only fire.
The truth, I fancy, this: bodies there are
Whose clashings, motions, order, posture221, shapes
Produce the fire and which, by order changed,
Do change the nature of the thing produced,
And are thereafter nothing like to fire
Nor whatso else has power to send its bodies
With impact touching222 on the senses’ touch.
Again, to say that all things are but fire
And no true thing in number of all things
Exists but fire, as this same fellow says,
Seems crazed folly223. For the man himself
Against the senses by the senses fights,
And hews224 at that through which is all belief,
Through which indeed unto himself is known
The thing he calls the fire. For, though he thinks
The senses truly can perceive the fire,
He thinks they cannot as regards all else,
Which still are palpably as clear to sense —
To me a thought inept225 and crazy too.
For whither shall we make appeal? for what
More certain than our senses can there be
Whereby to mark asunder error and truth?
Besides, why rather do away with all,
And wish to allow heat only, then deny
The fire and still allow all else to be? —
Alike the madness either way it seems.
Thus whosoe’er have held the stuff of things
To be but fire, and out of fire the sum,
And whosoever have constituted air
As first beginning of begotten things,
And all whoever have held that of itself
Water alone contrives226 things, or that earth
Createth all and changes things anew
To divers natures, mightily they seem
A long way to have wandered from the truth.
Add, too, whoever make the primal stuff
Twofold, by joining air to fire, and earth
To water; add who deem that things can grow
Out of the four — fire, earth, and breath, and rain;
As first Empedocles of Acragas,
Whom that three-cornered isle227 of all the lands
Bore on her coasts, around which flows and flows
In mighty bend and bay the Ionic seas,
Splashing the brine from off their gray-green waves.
Here, billowing onward through the narrow straits,
Swift ocean cuts her boundaries from the shores
Of the Italic mainland. Here the waste
Charybdis; and here Aetna rumbles228 threats
To gather anew such furies of its flames
As with its force anew to vomit229 fires,
Belched230 from its throat, and skyward bear anew
Its lightnings’ flash. And though for much she seem
The mighty and the wondrous231 isle to men,
Most rich in all good things, and fortified232
With generous strength of heroes, she hath ne’er
Possessed within her aught of more renown71,
Nor aught more holy, wonderful, and dear
Than this true man. Nay, ever so far and pure
The lofty music of his breast divine
Lifts up its voice and tells of glories found,
That scarce he seems of human stock create.
Yet he and those forementioned (known to be
So far beneath him, less than he in all),
Though, as discoverers of much goodly truth,
They gave, as ’twere from out of the heart’s own shrine233,
Responses holier and soundlier based
Than ever the Pythia pronounced for men
From out the tripod and the Delphian laurel,
Have still in matter of first-elements
Made ruin of themselves, and, great men, great
Indeed and heavy there for them the fall:
First, because, banishing234 the void from things,
They yet assign them motion, and allow
Things soft and loosely textured235 to exist,
As air, dew, fire, earth, animals, and grains,
Without admixture of void amid their frame.
Next, because, thinking there can be no end
In cutting bodies down to less and less
Nor pause established to their breaking up,
They hold there is no minimum in things;
Albeit236 we see the boundary point of aught
Is that which to our senses seems its least,
Whereby thou mayst conjecture237, that, because
The things thou canst not mark have boundary points,
They surely have their minimums. Then, too,
Since these philosophers ascribe to things
Soft primal germs, which we behold to be
Of birth and body mortal, thus, throughout,
The sum of things must be returned to naught,
And, born from naught, abundance thrive anew —
Thou seest how far each doctrine238 stands from truth.
And, next, these bodies are among themselves
In many ways poisons and foes239 to each,
Wherefore their congress will destroy them quite
Or drive asunder as we see in storms
Rains, winds, and lightnings all asunder fly.
Thus too, if all things are create of four,
And all again dissolved into the four,
How can the four be called the primal germs
Of things, more than all things themselves be thought,
By retroversion, primal germs of them?
For ever alternately are both begot,
With interchange of nature and aspect
From immemorial time. But if percase
Thou think’st the frame of fire and earth, the air,
The dew of water can in such wise meet
As not by mingling to resign their nature,
From them for thee no world can be create —
No thing of breath, no stock or stalk of tree:
In the wild congress of this varied heap
Each thing its proper nature will display,
And air will palpably be seen mixed up
With earth together, unquenched heat with water.
But primal germs in bringing things to birth
Must have a latent, unseen quality,
Lest some outstanding alien element
Confuse and minish in the thing create
Its proper being.
But these men begin
From heaven, and from its fires; and first they feign240
That fire will turn into the winds of air,
Next, that from air the rain begotten is,
And earth created out of rain, and then
That all, reversely, are returned from earth —
The moisture first, then air thereafter heat —
And that these same ne’er cease in interchange,
To go their ways from heaven to earth, from earth
Unto the stars of the aethereal world —
Which in no wise at all the germs can do.
Since an immutable somewhat still must be,
Lest all things utterly be sped to naught;
For change in anything from out its bounds
Means instant death of that which was before.
Wherefore, since those things, mentioned heretofore,
Suffer a changed state, they must derive241
From others ever unconvertible,
Lest an things utterly return to naught.
Then why not rather presuppose there be
Bodies with such a nature furnished forth
That, if perchance they have created fire,
Can still (by virtue of a few withdrawn,
Or added few, and motion and order changed)
Fashion the winds of air, and thus all things
Forevermore be interchanged with all?
“But facts in proof are manifest,” thou sayest,
“That all things grow into the winds of air
And forth from earth are nourished, and unless
The season favour at propitious242 hour
With rains enough to set the trees a-reel
Under the soak of bulking thunderheads,
And sun, for its share, foster and give heat,
No grains, nor trees, nor breathing things can grow.”
True — and unless hard food and moisture soft
Recruited man, his frame would waste away,
And life dissolve from out his thews and bones;
For out of doubt recruited and fed are we
By certain things, as other things by others.
Because in many ways the many germs
Common to many things are mixed in things,
No wonder ’tis that therefore divers things
By divers things are nourished. And, again,
Often it matters vastly with what others,
In what positions the primordial germs
Are bound together, and what motions, too,
They give and get among themselves; for these
Same germs do put together sky, sea, lands,
Rivers, and sun, grains, trees, and breathing things,
But yet commixed they are in divers modes
With divers things, forever as they move.
Nay, thou beholdest in our verses here
Elements many, common to many worlds,
Albeit thou must confess each verse, each word
From one another differs both in sense
And ring of sound — so much the elements
Can bring about by change of order alone.
But those which are the primal germs of things
Have power to work more combinations still,
Whence divers things can be produced in turn.
Now let us also take for scrutiny243
The homeomeria of Anaxagoras,
So called by Greeks, for which our pauper-speech
Yieldeth no name in the Italian tongue,
Although the thing itself is not o’erhard
For explanation. First, then, when he speaks
Of this homeomeria of things, he thinks
Bones to be sprung from littlest bones minute,
And from minute and littlest flesh all flesh,
And blood created out of drops of blood,
Conceiving gold compact of grains of gold,
And earth concreted out of bits of earth,
Fire made of fires, and water out of waters,
Feigning244 the like with all the rest of stuff.
Yet he concedes not any void in things,
Nor any limit to cutting bodies down.
Wherefore to me he seems on both accounts
To err35 no less than those we named before.
Add too: these germs he feigns245 are far too frail —
If they be germs primordial furnished forth
With but same nature as the things themselves,
And travail246 and perish equally with those,
And no rein108 curbs247 them from annihilation.
For which will last against the grip and crush
Under the teeth of death? the fire? the moist?
Or else the air? which then? the blood? the bones?
No one, methinks, when every thing will be
At bottom as mortal as whate’er we mark
To perish by force before our gazing eyes.
But my appeal is to the proofs above
That things cannot fall back to naught, nor yet
From naught increase. And now again, since food
Augments248 and nourishes the human frame,
’Tis thine to know our veins249 and blood and bones
And thews are formed of particles unlike
To them in kind; or if they say all foods
Are of mixed substance having in themselves
Small bodies of thews, and bones, and also veins
And particles of blood, then every food,
Solid or liquid, must itself be thought
As made and mixed of things unlike in kind —
Of bones, of thews, of ichor and of blood.
Again, if all the bodies which upgrow
From earth, are first within the earth, then earth
Must be compound of alien substances
Which spring and bloom abroad from out the earth.
Transfer the argument, and thou may’st use
The selfsame words: if flame and smoke and ash
Still lurk250 unseen within the wood, the wood
Must be compound of alien substances
Which spring from out the wood.
Right here remains251
A certain slender means to skulk252 from truth,
Which Anaxagoras takes unto himself,
Who holds that all things lurk commixed with all
While that one only comes to view, of which
The bodies exceed in number all the rest,
And lie more close to hand and at the fore —
A notion banished253 from true reason far.
For then ’twere meet that kernels254 of the grains
Should oft, when crunched255 between the might of stones,
Give forth a sign of blood, or of aught else
Which in our human frame is fed; and that
Rock rubbed on rock should yield a gory256 ooze.
Likewise the herbs ought oft to give forth drops
Of sweet milk, flavoured like the uddered sheep’s;
Indeed we ought to find, when crumbling257 up
The earthy clods, there herbs, and grains, and leaves,
All sorts dispersed minutely in the soil;
Lastly we ought to find in cloven wood
Ashes and smoke and bits of fire there hid.
But since fact teaches this is not the case,
’Tis thine to know things are not mixed with things
Thuswise; but seeds, common to many things,
Commixed in many ways, must lurk in things.
“But often it happens on skiey hills” thou sayest,
“That neighbouring tops of lofty trees are rubbed
One against other, smote258 by the blustering259 south,
Till all ablaze260 with bursting flower of flame.”
Good sooth — yet fire is not ingraft in wood,
But many are the seeds of heat, and when
Rubbing together they together flow,
They start the conflagrations261 in the forests.
Whereas if flame, already fashioned, lay
Stored up within the forests, then the fires
Could not for any time be kept unseen,
But would be laying all the wildwood waste
And burning all the boscage. Now dost see
(Even as we said a little space above)
How mightily it matters with what others,
In what positions these same primal germs
Are bound together? And what motions, too,
They give and get among themselves? how, hence,
The same, if altered ‘mongst themselves, can body
Both igneous262 and ligneous263 objects forth —
Precisely264 as these words themselves are made
By somewhat altering their elements,
Although we mark with name indeed distinct
The igneous from the ligneous. Once again,
If thou suppose whatever thou beholdest,
Among all visible objects, cannot be,
Unless thou feign bodies of matter endowed
With a like nature — by thy vain device
For thee will perish all the germs of things:
’Twill come to pass they’ll laugh aloud, like men,
Shaken asunder by a spasm265 of mirth,
Or moisten with salty tear-drops cheeks and chins.
The Infinity of the Universe
Now learn of what remains! More keenly hear!
And for myself, my mind is not deceived
How dark it is: But the large hope of praise
Hath strook with pointed266 thyrsus through my heart;
On the same hour hath strook into my breast
Sweet love of the Muses268, wherewith now instinct,
I wander afield, thriving in sturdy thought,
Through unpathed haunts of the Pierides,
Trodden by step of none before. I joy
To come on undefiled fountains there,
To drain them deep; I joy to pluck new flowers,
To seek for this my head a signal crown
From regions where the Muses never yet
Have garlanded the temples of a man:
First, since I teach concerning mighty things,
And go right on to loose from round the mind
The tightened269 coils of dread religion;
Next, since, concerning themes so dark, I frame
Songs so pellucid270, touching all throughout
Even with the Muses’ charm — which, as ‘twould seem,
Is not without a reasonable ground:
But as physicians, when they seek to give
Young boys the nauseous wormwood, first do touch
The brim around the cup with the sweet juice
And yellow of the honey, in order that
The thoughtless age of boyhood be cajoled
As far as the lips, and meanwhile swallow down
The wormwood’s bitter draught271, and, though befooled,
Be yet not merely duped, but rather thus
Grow strong again with recreated health:
So now I too (since this my doctrine seems
In general somewhat woeful unto those
Who’ve had it not in hand, and since the crowd
Starts back from it in horror) have desired
To expound our doctrine unto thee in song
Soft-speaking and Pierian, and, as ’twere,
To touch it with sweet honey of the Muse267 —
If by such method haply I might hold
The mind of thee upon these lines of ours,
Till thou see through the nature of all things,
And how exists the interwoven frame.
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
A 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, hurled272 off amain, to where ’twas sent
And shoots afar, or that some object there
Can thwart273 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 lodges274 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 query275, “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 abodes276.
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 tracts277 of time,
Nor, further, bring to pass, as on they run,
That they may bate278 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 rendering279 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 ne’er have once combined
And given a birth to aught, since, scattered280 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
Rebounding281 back, and, as they spring, to yield,
Unto those elements whence a world derives282,
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.
And in these problems, shrink, my Memmius, far
From yielding faith to that notorious talk:
That all things inward to the centre press;
And thus the nature of the world stands firm
With never blows from outward, nor can be
Nowhere disparted — since all height and depth
Have always inward to the centre pressed
(If thou art ready to believe that aught
Itself can rest upon itself ); or that
The ponderous bodies which be under earth
Do all press upwards283 and do come to rest
Upon the earth, in some way upside down,
Like to those images of things we see
At present through the waters. They contend,
With like procedure, that all breathing things
Head downward roam about, and yet cannot
Tumble from earth to realms of sky below,
No more than these our bodies wing away
Spontaneously to vaults of sky above;
That, when those creatures look upon the sun,
We view the constellations284 of the night;
And that with us the seasons of the sky
They thus alternately divide, and thus
Do pass the night coequal to our days,
But a vain error has given these dreams to fools,
Which they’ve embraced with reasoning perverse285
For centre none can be where world is still
Boundless286, nor yet, if now a centre were,
Could aught take there a fixed position more
Than for some other cause ‘tmight be dislodged.
For all of room and space we call the void
Must both through centre and non-centre yield
Alike to weights where’er their motions tend.
Nor is there any place, where, when they’ve come,
Bodies can be at standstill in the void,
Deprived of force of weight; nor yet may void
Furnish support to any — nay, it must,
True to its bent287 of nature, still give way.
Thus in such manner not at all can things
Be held in union, as if overcome
By craving288 for a centre.
But besides,
Seeing they feign that not all bodies press
To centre inward, rather only those
Of earth and water (liquid of the sea,
And the big billows from the mountain slopes,
And whatsoever are encased, as ’twere,
In earthen body), contrariwise, they teach
How the thin air, and with it the hot fire,
Is borne asunder from the centre, and how,
For this all ether quivers with bright stars,
And the sun’s flame along the blue is fed
(Because the heat, from out the centre flying,
All gathers there), and how, again, the boughs
Upon the tree-tops could not sprout289 their leaves,
Unless, little by little, from out the earth
For each were nutriment . . .
. . . . . .
Lest, after the manner of the winged flames,
The ramparts of the world should flee away,
Dissolved amain throughout the mighty void,
And lest all else should likewise follow after,
Aye, lest the thundering vaults of heaven should burst
And splinter upward, and the earth forthwith
Withdraw from under our feet, and all its bulk,
Among its mingled290 wrecks291 and those of heaven,
With slipping asunder of the primal seeds,
Should pass, along the immeasurable inane,
Away forever, and, that instant, naught
Of wrack292 and remnant would be left, beside
The desolate293 space, and germs invisible.
For on whatever side thou deemest first
The primal bodies lacking, lo, that side
Will be for things the very door of death:
Wherethrough the throng294 of matter all will dash,
Out and abroad.
These points, if thou wilt ponder,
Then, with but paltry295 trouble led along . . .
. . . . . .
For one thing after other will grow clear,
Nor shall the blind night rob thee of the road,
To hinder thy gaze on nature’s Farthest-forth.
Thus things for things shall kindle181 torches new.
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收听单词发音
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1
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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2
teem
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| vi.(with)充满，多产 | |
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3
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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4
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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6
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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7
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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13
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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17
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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18
cosmos
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| n.宇宙；秩序，和谐 | |
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19
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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20
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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21
crave
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| vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求 | |
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22
rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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23
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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24
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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25
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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26
puissant
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| adj.强有力的 | |
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27
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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29
mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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30
scion
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| n.嫩芽，子孙 | |
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31
civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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32
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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33
glowering
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| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
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34
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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39
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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40
rend
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| vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取 | |
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41
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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42
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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43
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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44
exalts
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| 赞扬( exalt的第三人称单数 )； 歌颂； 提升； 提拔 | |
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45
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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46
judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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47
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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48
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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49
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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50
primordial
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| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
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51
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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52
primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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53
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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54
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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55
impieties
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| n.不敬( impiety的名词复数 )；不孝；不敬的行为；不孝的行为 | |
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56
defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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57
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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58
foully
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| ad.卑鄙地 | |
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59
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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60
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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61
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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62
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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63
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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64
auspicious
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| adj.吉利的；幸运的，吉兆的 | |
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65
concoct
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| v.调合，制造 | |
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66
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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67
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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68
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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69
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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70
perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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71
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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72
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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73
clans
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| 宗族( clan的名词复数 )； 氏族； 庞大的家族； 宗派 | |
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74
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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75
vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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76
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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77
purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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78
bosomed
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| 胸部的 | |
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79
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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80
spokes
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| n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 | |
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81
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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82
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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83
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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84
scaly
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| adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的 | |
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85
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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87
lures
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| 吸引力，魅力（lure的复数形式） | |
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88
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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89
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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90
increment
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| n.增值，增价；提薪，增加工资 | |
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91
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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92
conserve
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| vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭 | |
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93
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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94
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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95
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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96
begotten
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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97
begot
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去式 )；产生，引起 | |
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98
abides
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| 容忍( abide的第三人称单数 )； 等候； 逗留； 停留 | |
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99
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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100
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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101
bides
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| v.等待，停留( bide的第三人称单数 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临 | |
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102
abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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103
sunder
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| v.分开；隔离；n.分离，分开 | |
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104
undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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105
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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106
lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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107
shackled
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| 给（某人）带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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108
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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109
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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110
warp
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| vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见 | |
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111
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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112
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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113
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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114
ooze
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| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
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115
trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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116
distended
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| v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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117
scamper
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| v.奔跑，快跑 | |
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118
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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119
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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120
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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121
eddying
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| 涡流，涡流的形成 | |
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122
scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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123
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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124
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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125
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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126
vexing
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| adj.使人烦恼的，使人恼火的v.使烦恼( vex的现在分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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127
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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128
swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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129
piers
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| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
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130
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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131
masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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132
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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133
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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134
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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135
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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136
cones
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| n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒 | |
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137
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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138
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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139
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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140
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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141
corporeal
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| adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的 | |
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142
smite
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| v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿 | |
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143
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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144
scoop
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| n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出 | |
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145
insidiously
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| 潜在地，隐伏地，阴险地 | |
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146
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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147
wayfarers
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| n.旅人，（尤指）徒步旅行者( wayfarer的名词复数 ) | |
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148
motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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149
envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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150
constrain
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| vt.限制，约束；克制，抑制 | |
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151
constraining
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| 强迫( constrain的现在分词 )； 强使； 限制； 约束 | |
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152
beetling
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| adj.突出的，悬垂的v.快速移动( beetle的现在分词 ) | |
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153
crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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154
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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155
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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156
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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157
seep
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| v.渗出，渗漏；n.渗漏，小泉，水（油）坑 | |
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158
seeps
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| n.（液体）渗( seep的名词复数 )；渗透；渗出；漏出v.（液体）渗( seep的第三人称单数 )；渗透；渗出；漏出 | |
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159
reverberant
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| a.起回声的 | |
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160
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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161
stiffening
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| n. (使衣服等)变硬的材料, 硬化 动词stiffen的现在分词形式 | |
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162
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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163
inane
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| adj.空虚的，愚蠢的，空洞的 | |
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164
expound
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| v.详述；解释；阐述 | |
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165
forestalling
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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166
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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167
gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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168
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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169
demur
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| v．表示异议，反对 | |
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170
credence
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| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
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171
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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172
lairs
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| n.（野兽的）巢穴，窝( lair的名词复数 )；（人的）藏身处 | |
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173
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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174
veer
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| vt.转向，顺时针转，改变；n.转向 | |
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175
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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176
broached
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| v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 )；打开并开始用；用凿子扩大（或修光）；（在桶上）钻孔取液体 | |
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177
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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178
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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179
concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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180
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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181
kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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182
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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183
deriving
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| v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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184
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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185
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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186
totters
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的第三人称单数 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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187
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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188
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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189
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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190
sundered
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| v.隔开，分开( sunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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191
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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192
seeping
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| v.（液体）渗( seep的现在分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出 | |
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193
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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194
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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195
conserved
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| v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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196
infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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197
replenishment
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| n.补充(货物) | |
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198
marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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199
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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200
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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201
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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202
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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203
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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204
conserving
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| v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的现在分词 ) | |
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205
variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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206
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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207
immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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208
progenitors
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| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
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209
cleave
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| v．(clave；cleaved)粘着，粘住；坚持；依恋 | |
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210
cohere
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| vt.附着，连贯，一致 | |
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211
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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212
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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213
halved
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| v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊 | |
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214
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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215
dolts
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| n.笨蛋，傻瓜( dolt的名词复数 ) | |
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216
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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217
tickles
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| （使）发痒( tickle的第三人称单数 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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218
rouged
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| 胭脂，口红( rouge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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219
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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220
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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221
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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222
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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223
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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224
hews
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的第三人称单数 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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225
inept
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| adj.不恰当的，荒谬的，拙劣的 | |
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226
contrives
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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227
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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228
rumbles
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| 隆隆声，辘辘声( rumble的名词复数 ) | |
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229
vomit
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| v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物 | |
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230
belched
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| v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气） | |
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231
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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232
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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233
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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234
banishing
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的现在分词 ) | |
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235
textured
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| adj.手摸时有感觉的, 有织纹的 | |
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236
albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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237
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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238
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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239
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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240
feign
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| vt.假装，佯作 | |
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241
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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242
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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243
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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244
feigning
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| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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245
feigns
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| 假装，伪装( feign的第三人称单数 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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246
travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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247
curbs
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的第三人称单数 ) | |
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248
augments
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| 增加，提高，扩大( augment的名词复数 ) | |
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249
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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250
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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251
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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252
skulk
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| v.藏匿；潜行 | |
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253
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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254
kernels
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| 谷粒( kernel的名词复数 )； 仁； 核； 要点 | |
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255
crunched
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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256
gory
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| adj.流血的；残酷的 | |
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257
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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258
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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259
blustering
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| adj.狂风大作的，狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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260
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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261
conflagrations
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| n.大火（灾）( conflagration的名词复数 ) | |
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262
igneous
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| adj.火的，火绒的 | |
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263
ligneous
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| adj.木质的，木头的 | |
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264
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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265
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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266
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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267
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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268
muses
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的第三人称单数 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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269
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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270
pellucid
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| adj.透明的，简单的 | |
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271
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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272
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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273
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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274
lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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275
query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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276
abodes
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| 住所( abode的名词复数 )； 公寓； （在某地的）暂住； 逗留 | |
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277
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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278
bate
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| v.压制；减弱；n.（制革用的）软化剂 | |
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279
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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280
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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281
rebounding
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| 蹦跳运动 | |
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282
derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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283
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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284
constellations
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| n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人） | |
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285
perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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286
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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287
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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288
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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289
sprout
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| n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条 | |
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290
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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291
wrecks
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| n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉 | |
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292
wrack
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| v.折磨；n.海草 | |
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293
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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294
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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295
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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