Chapter VIII: Book VI: , lines 1-95

In ancient days Athens of glorious name
Was first to spread abroad corn-bearing crops
Among unhappy mortals, and to frame
Their lives in a new mould and give them laws.
She also first bestowed a kindly solace
For life, when she gave birth to one endowed
With so great intellect, that man who once
Poured forth all wisdom from truth-telling lips;
Whose glory, even when his light was quenched,
Because of his divine discoveries
Undimmed by time was noised abroad, and now
Is lifted high as heaven. For when he saw
That well nigh all those things which need demands
For man’s subsistence had been now provided,
And that so far as it seemed possible
Life was established in security,
That men through wealth and honours and renown
Had attained power and affluence, and grown proud
In their children’s good name, yet that not one
At home possessed a heart the less care-stricken,
But ceaselessly despite his wiser mind
Tormenting all his days, could not refrain
From petulant rage and wearisome complaint;
Then did he understand it was the vessel
Itself that was the cause of imperfection,
And by its imperfection all those things
That came within it, gathered from outside,
Though ne’er so excellent, were spoiled therein;
In part because he saw that there were holes
Through which it leaked, so that by no means ever
Might it be filled full; partly that he perceived
How as with a foul savour it defiled
All things within it which had entered there.
And so with truthful words he purged men’s hearts,
And fixed a limit to desire and fear;
Then setting forth what was the highest good
Which we all strive to attain, he pointed out
The path along which by a slender track
We might in a straight course arrive at it;
Likewise he showed what evils there must be
In mortal affairs on every side, arising
And flying this way and that, whether it were
By natural chance or force, since it was Nature
Which has ordained it so; and by what gates
To meet each evil men must sally forth:
Also he proved how mostly without cause
Mankind set darkly tossing in their hearts
The sad billows of care. For just as children
In the blind darkness tremble and are afraid
Of all things, so we sometimes in the light
Fear things that are no whit more to be dreaded
Than those which children shudder at in the dark,
Imagining that they will come to pass.
This terror then and darkness of the mind
Must needs be scattered not by the sun’s beams
And day’s bright arrows, but by contemplation
Of Nature’s aspect and her inward laws.

And now that I have shown you how the sky’s
Mansions are mortal, and that heaven is formed
Of a body that had birth, and since of all
That takes place and must needs take place therein
I have unravelled most, give further heed
To what remains. Since once I have made bold
To mount the glorious chariot of the Muses,[I]
I will now tell how in the upper air
Tempests of wind arise; how all sinks down
To rest once more: the turmoil that has been
Vanishes, when its fury is appeased.
And I will explain all else that mortals see
Coming to pass on earth and in the sky,
Such sights as often hold them in terrified
Suspense of mind, humiliating themselves
With fear of gods, and bow them grovelling
Down to the ground, because they are compelled
Through ignorance of the causes to assign
All such things to the empire of the gods,
Acknowledging their power to be supreme.
For those who have learnt rightly that the gods
Lead a life free from care, if yet they wonder
By what means all things can be carried on,
Such above all as are perceived to happen
In the ethereal regions overhead,
They are borne back again into their old
Religious fears, and adopt pitiless lords,
Whom in their misery they believe to be
Almighty; for they are ignorant of what can
And what cannot exist; in fine they know not
Upon what principle each thing has its powers
Limited, and its deep-set boundary stone.
And therefore all the more they are led astray
By blind reasoning. So that if you cannot
Fling from your mind and banish far away
All such belief in falsehoods that degrade
The deities, and consist not with their peace,
Then, thus by you disparaged and profaned,
Oft will their holy godheads do you hurt;
Not that their sovereign power can be impaired,
So that in anger they should stoop to exact
Fierce penalties, but because you yourself
Will fancy that those placid beings throned
In serene peace, can verily be tossed
By great billows of wrath: nor will you enter
With a calm breast the temples of the gods,
Nor yet will you be able to receive
In tranquil peace of spirit those images
Which from their holy bodies, heralding
Their divine beauty, float into men’s minds.
And to what kind of life these errors lead
May be imagined. Such credulity
The most veracious reasoning alone
Can drive far from us. And though to that end
I have set forth much already, yet more still
Remains for me to adorn in polished verses.
The inward law and aspect of the heavens
Must now be grasped: tempests and vivid lightnings,
Their action and what cause sets them in motion,
Must be described; lest, when you have mapped the sky
Into augural divisions, you should then
Quake in dismay, beholding from what quarter
The flash sped in its flight, or on which side
It vanished; in what manner it pierced through
Into walled places, and how, having played
The tyrant there, it leapt forth and was gone.
Yet of these operations by no means
Can men perceive the causes, and so fancy
That they must come to pass by power divine.
O Muse of knowledge, solace of mankind
And the delight of gods, Calliope,
Point the track out before me as I speed
Towards the white line of my final goal,
That so with thee to guide me I may win
The glorious crown of victory and its praise.

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WISDOM AND DESTINY. Translated by Alfred Sutro.

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JOYZELLE. Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.

SISTER BEATRICE, AND ARDIANE AND BARBE BLEUE. Translated by Bernard
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THE LIFE OF THE BEE
HOURS OF GLADNESS

GILBERT MURRAY’S

Translations of the Plays of EURIPIDES, ARISTOPHANES and SOPHOCLES

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EURIPIDES

ALCESTIS
I BACCHÆ
II ELECTRA
I HIPPOLYTUS
II IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS
II MEDEA
RHESUS
I TROJAN WOMEN

ARISTOPHANES

FROGS

SOPHOCLES

ŒDIPUS, KING OF THEBES

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FOOTNOTES:

[A] A few lines seem to have been lost here.

[B] Epicurus.

[C] The aether.

[D] Colour, sensation, etc.

[E] Cupido.

[F] The text is corrupt and the meaning obscure.

[G] Bacchus.

[H] Elephants.

[I] The text is here corrupt, and several lines are probably lost.