Di, cœptis (nam vos mutastis et illas)
aspirate meis primaque ab origine mundi
ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen!
The gods’ undertaking (for now you’re altered
and the others) you, first breathe with water,
Since from you were worlds and mankind founded,
To pass the right time, opportunity,
You’re to compose this lasting poetry:
Metres moral, versified prophecy.
mundi origo.
Genesis (The world’s origin.)
ante mare et terras et quod tegit omnia cælum
unus erat toto naturæ vultus in orbe,
quem dixere chaos: rudis indigestaque moles
nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eodem
non bene iunctarum discordia semina rerum.
Before lands and sea which covers ev’ry
One heav’n ’t was entir’ly of nature
On the worlds’ face, what fixed anarchy:
An unworked chaotic bulk and no-one
But an indolent weight accumulated,
And to the same person: unwell un’on,
Sowed disagreeable circumstances.
nullus adhuc mundo præbebat lumina Titan,
nec nova crescendo reparabat cornua Phœbe,
nec circumfuso pendebat in ære tellus
ponderibus librata suis, nec bracchia longo
margine terrarum porrexerat Amphitrite;
utque erat et tellus illic et pontus et ær,
sic erat instabilis tellus, innabilis unda,
lucis egens aer; nulli sua forma manebat,
obstabatque aliis aliud, quia corpore in uno
frigida pugnabant calidis, umentia siccis,
mollia cum duris, sine pondere, habentia pondus.
So far not yet the heavens surrounded
From Titan’s daylights sunshine offerēd,
Neither news appearing to be retrievēd,
By Apollo-Phœbus crescent-sided;
Nor poised in the balance, earth and sky be,
For each in respect of their own country,
Nor even countries with boundary,
Amphītrīte stretched out long arms: the sea;
Yonder earth and air, both sea and heaven,
’T was not firm ground, as water none can swim,
Needing daylight of the empyrean;
Obstructed and their appearance stays not,
Some others because by body in one,
They struggled with water wet, dry, cold, hot;
With the soft made supple, without burden,
Since they, of character possess, hold firm.
hanc Deus et melior litem natura diremit.
nam cælo terras et terris abscidit undas
et liquidum spisso secrevit ab ære cælum.
This, my God and better ’t is to offer,
Obtain fav’rable omens in nature,
Now for divides heaven from earth, and earth
Cut off, and from the thick waters flowing,
Separate away from the misty heaven.
quæ postquam evolvit cæcoque exemit acervo,
dissociata locis concordi pace ligavit:
ignea convexi vis et sine pondere cæli
emicuit summaque locum sibi fecit in arce;
proximus est ær illi levitate locoque;
densior his tellus elementaque grandia traxit
et pressa est gravitate sua; circumfluus umor
ultima possedit solidumque cœrcuit orbem.
After which, with the dark disentangled,
And heaps were freed from their separate states,
United, harmon’ous, bound by God’s grace,
Burning vaulted power and without weight,
Flashed out from the highest point of heaven,
And from on high itself a place create;
Next ’t is the air that with lightness in place,
And this earth, the elements - strong - contract,
And by having been compressed in its weight,
Fluid flowing round at farthest end had
Solidified and enclosed the whole world.
sic ubi dispositam quisquis fuit ille Deorum
congeriem secuit sectamque in membra redegit,
principio terram, ne non æqualis ab omni
parte foret, magni speciem glomeravit in orbis.
Thus where a heap had been all arrangēd,
That of the gods was cut and divided,
In parts were brought back to the beginning,
Earth indeed, not equal since ev’rything,
In portion piercēd: formed into a ball,
Into, and of a great sight was the world.
tum freta diffundi rapidisque tumescere ventis
iussit et ambitæ circumdare litora terræ;
addidit et fontes et stagna inmensa lacusque
fluminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis,
quæ, diversa locis, partim sorbentur ab ipsa,
in mare perveniunt partim campoque recepta
liberioris aquæ pro ripis litora pulsant.
Then the seas poured off, spread out rapidly,
Swiftly and the winds they began to swell,
’T was ordered and by having encircled been
Enclosed, shores of the earth added both wells:
Springs and still-waters immeasurable:
Lakes and rivers and shores slanting downhill,
Encompassed that from diff’rent directions,
In places be’ng swallowed after themselves,
To the ocean they reached a level plain,
Struck free from water, for shores and banks regain.
iussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,
fronde tegi silvas, lapidosos sugere montes,
utque duæ dextra cælum totidemque sinistra
parte secant zonæ, quinta est ardentior illis,
sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem
cura Dei, totidemque plagæ tellure premuntur.
It was ordered and having been extended
The plains being settled down subsided,
With leafy valleys covered in forests,
Mountains to arise as hard as stone,
Espec’lly two, at heaven’s right-hand side,
And on the left as many parts divide,
For those four ’t is compared a firey zone,
Thus rightly loaded, by be’ng enclosēd,
To the same place, care of God divided
Just as many zones be’ng squeezēd.
quarum quæ media est, non est habitabilis æstu:
nix tegit alta duas: totidem inter utrumque locavit
temperiemque dedit mixta cum frigore flamma.
And of those two, in the middle,
’T is from the heat: uninhabitable,
That the other ’t is covered in deep snow,
And whether between just as many placed,
The temp’rature caused by be’ng mingled
From the fire and with the winter’s cold.
inminet his ær. qui quanto est pondere terræ,
pondere aquæ levior tanto est onerosior igni.
The mist it overhangs on these so great
A mass of earth with such a heavy weight,
To the gentle waters: light in comparison
With a fire so great it is irksome.
iussit et humanas motura tonitrua mentes
illic et nebulas, illic consistere nubes
et cum fulminibus facientes fulgura ventos.
And in that manner the vapour: misty,
There it is to stand and yonder clouds freeze,
’T was ordered thunder shall shake humankind
And with winds causing lightning flash by design.
hic quoque non passim mundi fabricator habendum
æra permisit: vix nunc obsistitur illis,
cum sua quisque regant diverso flamina tractu,
quin lanient mundum: tanta est discordia fratrum.
At this point too it was not at random
The artific’er of the world He made,
Let the misty vapour pass: it had gone,
With difficulty be’ng put in the way
Those, while His guidance kept ev’ryone straight,
By having been turned away winds extent
Without wishing to tear the world apart,
’T is so great of brothers disagreement.
Eurus ad Auroram Nabatæaque regna recessit
Persidaque et radiis iuga subdita matutinis;
vesper et occiduo quæ litora sole tepescunt,
proxima sunt Zephyro; Scythiam septemque triones
horrifer invasit Boreas; contraria tellus
nubibus adsiduis pluviaque madescit ab Austro.
And so the wind from the East: Vulturnus
Near to Aurora, goddess of the dawn,
Mother of Aquilo, Auster, Favon’us,
In Nabathæan kingdoms had withdrawn,
And with beams of lights in the Persian heights,
By being plunged into the early morn’;
The evening star and setting in the West,
Whose shores with fair nature’s eye grow lukewarm,
By Favonius they are the nearest;
Aquilo’s chilling north-wind fell upon
Scythia, seven stars, the Big Dipper;
Unremittingly lands opposite, from
The south-west, got wet by rain-clouds: Auster.
hæc super inposuit liquidum et gravitate carentem
æthera nec quicquam terrenæ fæcis habentem.
Beyond this calmed clear liquid, and
Wanting, without the weight of air: heaven,
And no-one holding the dregs of the land.
vix ita limitibus dissæpserat omnia certis,
cum, quæ pressa diu fuerant caligine cæca,
sidera cœperunt tot effervescere cælo;
Not so very easily, with ev’ry
Path been separated off definitely
That long ago they had been pressed, misty,
They’d begun be’ng obscured, constellations,
To boil over with the whole of heaven;
neu regio foret ulla suis animalibus orba,
astra tenent cæleste solum formæque Deorum,
cesserunt nitidis habitandæ piscibus undæ,
terra fera cepit, volucres agitabilis ær.
Nor any reg’on mayhap’ be bereft,
For there due living beings, stars hold back
The Divine only and formed of the gods
They were changed: fish dwelling in waters, clear: bright
From the cruel earth, formed fly’ng birds to air: light.
sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altæ
deerat adhuc et quod dominari in cetera posset:
natus homo est, sive hunc Divino semine fecit
ille opifex rerum, mundi mellioris origo,
quam satus Iapeto mixtam pluvialibus undis
finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta Deorum.
From these a more sacred living creature
Of deep mind and more fit ’til now was missed,
And that in other respects to master,
He could, ’t was able to have the power.
Man’s born, made, without this seed Divine,
That the famous Craftsman of matter,
Of the world’s Founder: more kind;
Begotten by Iapetus, from rains
To billowing surges, the waters’ waves
’T was formed all together, by having been merged,
Into the likeness, of gods, whom govern.
pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram,
os homini sublime dedit, cælumque videre
iussit et erectos sidera tollere vultus:
sic, modo quæ fuerat et sine imagine, tellus
induit ignotas hominum conversa figuras.
Whereas animals, in other respects,
They tend to look downwards at the dry land;
Look to the sky: by having been made erect,
Was Order aloft, a very soul for man:
So ’t was just a moment ago it’d been,
And by a strange obscurity of men’s forms,
And without a heavenly likeness seen,
Had assumed the earth, by being transformed.
Copyright Mr. Maxwell Lewis Latham Cert.H.E. (litteræ humaniores) 2015 C.E. All intellectual property rights reserved.
