Titus Lucretius Carus war ein römischer Dichter und Philosoph in der Tradition des Epikureismus.
Sein wahrscheinlich unvollendetes Werk De rerum natura ist eine der Hauptquellen zur Philosophie Epikurs, die ansonsten nur in Fragmenten überliefert ist.
Wikipedia
„Denn wir sehen, dass nichts von nichts entstehen kann.“
De Rerum Natura II, 287; meist zitiert als "Von nichts kommt nichts"
Original lat.: "de nihilo quoniam fieri nihil posse videmus."; meist zitiert als "de/ex nihilo nihil fit" oder "nihil de/ex nihilo fit"
„Uns scheint, dass nichts aus nichts geschaffen werden kann.“
De Rerum Natura I, 155f; siehe auch: "Denn wir sehen, daß nichts von nichts entstehen kann."
Original lat.: "viderimus nil posse creari de nihilo"
„Woraus folgt, dass alles ohne Götter geschieht.“
De Rerum Natura I, 158
Original lat.: "quo quaeque modo fiant opera sine divom"
“Besides we feel that mind to being comes
Along with body, with body grows and ages.
For just as children totter round about
With frames infirm and tender, so there follows
A weakling wisdom in their minds; and then,
Where years have ripened into robust powers,
Counsel is also greater, more increased
The power of mind; thereafter, where already
The body's shattered by master-powers of eld,
And fallen the frame with its enfeebled powers,
Thought hobbles, tongue wanders, and the mind gives way;
All fails, all's lacking at the selfsame time.
Therefore it suits that even the soul's dissolved,
Like smoke, into the lofty winds of air;
Since we behold the same to being come
Along with body and grow, and, as I've taught,
Crumble and crack, therewith outworn by eld.”
Praeterea gigni pariter cum corpore et una
crescere sentimus pariterque senescere mentem.
nam vel ut infirmo pueri teneroque vagantur
corpore, sic animi sequitur sententia tenvis.
inde ubi robustis adolevit viribus aetas,
consilium quoque maius et auctior est animi vis.
post ubi iam validis quassatum est viribus aevi
corpus et obtusis ceciderunt viribus artus,
claudicat ingenium, delirat lingua labat mens,
omnia deficiunt atque uno tempore desunt.
ergo dissolui quoque convenit omnem animai
naturam, ceu fumus, in altas aëris auras;
quando quidem gigni pariter pariterque videmus
crescere et, ut docui, simul aevo fessa fatisci.
Book III, lines 445–458 (tr. W. E. Leonard)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Never trust her at any time, when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.”
Infidi maris insidis virisque dolumque
ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant
subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti.
Book II, lines 557–559 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“So rolling time changes the seasons of things. What was of value, becomes in turn of no worth.”
Sic volvenda aetas commutat tempora rerum.
Quod fuit in pretio, fit nullo denique honore.
Book V, lines 1276–1277 (tr. Bailey)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Life is one long struggle in the dark.”
Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret.
Book II, line 54 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Nothing can be produced from nothing.”
Nil posse creari
de nihilo<!--nilo?-->.
Nil posse creari
de nihilo.
Book I, lines 156–157 (tr. Munro)
Variant translations:
Nothing can be created from nothing.
Nothing can be created out of nothing.
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“For no fact is so simple we believe it at first sight,
And there is nothing that exists so great or marvellous
That over time mankind does not admire it less and less.”
Sed neque tam facilis res ulla est, quin ea primum
difficilis magis ad credendum constet, itemque
nil adeo magnum neque tam mirabile quicquam,
quod non paulatim minuant mirarier omnes.
Book II, lines 1026–1029 (tr. Stallings)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“To none is life given in freehold; to all on lease.”
Vitaque mancipio, nulli datur, omnibus usu.
Book III, line 971 (tr. R. E. Latham)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“So far as it goes, a small thing may give an analogy of great things, and show the tracks of knowledge.”
Dum taxat, rerum magnarum parva potest res
exemplare dare et vestigia notitiai.
Dum taxat, rerum magnarum parva potest res
exemplare dare et vestigia notitiae.
Book II, lines 123–124 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“So potent was Religion in persuading to do wrong.”
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
Book I, line 101 (tr. Alicia Stallings)
H. A. J. Munro's translation:
So great the evils to which religion could prompt!
W. H. D. Rouse's translation:
So potent was Superstition in persuading to evil deeds.
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.”
Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis
e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem;
non quia vexari quemquamst jucunda voluptas,
sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.
Book II, lines 1–4 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Custom renders love attractive; for that which is struck by oft-repeated blows however lightly, yet after long course of time is overpowered and gives way. See you not too that drops of water falling on rocks after long course of time scoop a hole through these rocks?”
Consuetudo concinnat amorem;
nam leviter quamvis quod crebro tunditur ictu,
vincitur in longo spatio tamen atque labascit.
Nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis
umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?
Book IV, lines 1283–1287 (tr. Munro)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Superstition is now in her turn cast down and trampled underfoot, whilst we by the victory are exalted high as heaven.”
Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim
opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.
Book I, lines 78–79 (tr. W. H. D. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Nay, even suppose when we have suffered fate,
The soul could feel in her divided state,
What's that to us? for we are only we,
While souls and bodies in one frame agree.
Nay, though our atoms should revolve by chance,
And matter leap into the former dance;
Though time our life and motion could restore,
And make our bodies what they were before,
What gain to us would all this bustle bring?
The new-made man would be another thing;
When once an interrupting pause is made,
That individual being is decayed.
We, who are dead and gone, shall bear no part
In all the pleasures, nor shall feel the smart,
Which to that other mortal shall accrue,
Whom of our matter, time shall mould anew.
For backward if you look, on that long space
Of ages past, and view the changing face
Of matter, tossed and variously combined
In sundry shapes, ’tis easy for the mind
From thence t' infer that seeds of things have been
In the same order as they now are seen:
Which yet our dark remembrance cannot trace,
Because a pause of life, a gaping space
Has come betwixt, where memory lies dead,
And all the wandering motions from the sense are fled.”
Et si iam nostro sentit de corpore postquam
distractast animi natura animaeque potestas,
tamen est ad nos, qui comptu coniugioque
corporis atque animae consistimus uniter apti.
nec, si materiem nostram collegerit aetas
post obitum rursumque redegerit ut sita nunc est,
atque iterum nobis fuerint data lumina vitae,
quicquam tamen ad nos id quoque factum,
interrupta semel cum sit repetentia nostri.
et nunc nil ad nos de nobis attinet, ante
qui fuimus, [neque] iam de illis nos adficit angor.
nam cum respicias inmensi temporis omne
praeteritum spatium, tum motus materiai
quam sint, facile hoc adcredere possis,
saepe in eodem, ut nunc sunt, ordine posta
haec eadem, quibus e nunc nos sumus, ante fuisse.
nec memori tamen id quimus reprehendere mente;
inter enim iectast vitai pausa vageque
deerrarunt passim motus ab sensibus omnes.
Book III, lines 843–860 (tr. John Dryden)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
Original: (la) Quae bene cognita si teneas, natura videtur
Libera continuo, dominis privata superbis,
ipsa sua per se sponte omnia dis agere expers.
Book II, lines 1090–1092 (tr. Munro)
