Moreover we are sprung, all we that live,
From heavenly seed: there is, for all, that same
One father[C]; from whom when the bounteous Earth,
Our mother, has drunk in the liquid drops
Of moisture, then by him impregnated
She bears bright crops and glad trees and the race
Of men, bears every species of wild beast,
Furnishing food with which all feed their bodies,
And lead a pleasant life, and propagate
Their offspring. Wherefore justly she has won
The name of mother. Also that which once
Came from the earth, sinks back into the earth,
And what was sent down from the coasts of aether,
Returning thither, is received once more
Into the mansions of the sky. So death
Does not demolish things in such a way
As to destroy the particles of matter,
But only dissipates their union,
Then recombines one element with another,
And so brings it to pass that all things change
Their shapes, alter their colours, and receive
Sensations, then in a moment yield them up.
Thus you may learn how greatly it signifies
Both with what others and in what positions
The same primordial atoms are held bound;
Also what motions they are mutually
Imparting and receiving: and thus too
You need no more suppose that what we see
Hovering upon the surfaces of things,
Or now being born, then suddenly perishing,[D]
Can be inherent qualities in atoms
That are eternal. Nay, in my verses even
It is of moment with what other letters
And in what order each one has been placed.
If not all, yet by far the greater part
Are similar letters: but as their position
Varies, so do the words sound different.
Thus too with actual things, whenever change
Takes place in the collisions motions order
Shape and position of their material atoms,
Then also must the things themselves be changed.

Now to true reasoning turn your mind, I pray;
For a new theme is struggling urgently
To reach your ears, a new aspect of things
Would now reveal itself. But there is naught
So easy, that at first it will not seem
Difficult of belief, and likewise naught
So mighty, naught so wondrous, but that all
Little by little abate their wonder at it.
Consider first the colour of the heavens,
So bright and pure, and all that they contain,
The stars wandering everywhere, the moon
And the surpassing radiance of the sun;
If all these sights were now for the first time
To be revealed to mortals suddenly
And without warning, what could have been described
That would have seemed more marvellous than such things,
Or that humanity could less have dared
Beforehand to believe might come to pass?
Nothing, I think: so wonderful had been
This spectacle. Yet think how no one now,
Wearied to satiety at the sight,
Deigns to look up at the sky’s shining quarters.
Cease therefore to cast reason from your mind
Terrified by mere novelty, but rather
Weigh facts with eager judgment; and if then
They appear true, surrender; if they seem
A falsehood, gird yourself to prove them so.
For since the sum of space outside, beyond
This world’s walls, must be infinite, the mind seeks
To reason as to what may else exist
Yonder in regions whither the intellect
Is constantly desiring to prospect,
And whither the projection of our thought
Reaches in free flight of its own accord.

Now first of all we find that everywhere
In all directions, horizontally,
Below and above throughout the universe
There is no limit, as I have demonstrated.
Indeed the facts themselves proclaim the truth,
And the deep void reveals its nature clearly.
Since then on all sides vacant space extends
Illimitably, and seeds in countless number
And sum immeasurable flit to and fro
Eternally driven on in manifold modes
Of motion, we must deem it in no wise
Probable that this single globe of earth
And this one heaven alone have been created,
While outside all those particles of matter
Are doing nothing: the more so that this world
Was formed by nature, as the seeds of things,
Casually colliding of their own
Spontaneous motion, flocked in manifold ways
Together, vainly, without aim or result,
Until at last such particles combined
As, suddenly thrown together, might become
From time to time the rudiments of great things,
Earth, sea, sky, and the race of living creatures.
Therefore beyond all question we are bound
To admit that elsewhere other aggregates
Of matter must exist, resembling this
Which in its greedy embrace our aether holds.
Moreover, when much matter is at hand,
And space is there, nor any obstacle
Nor cause of hindrance, then you may be sure
Things must be forming and dissolving there.
Now if there be so vast a store of seeds
That the whole lifetime of all conscious beings
Would fail to count them, and if likewise nature
Abides the same, and so can throw together
The seeds of things each into its own place,
In the same manner as they were thrown together
Into our world, then you must needs admit
That in other regions there are other earths,
And diverse stocks of men and kinds of beasts.

Besides in the whole universe there exists

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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