Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas,
alma Venus, caeli subter labentia signa
quae mare navigerum, quae terras frugiferentis
concelebras, per te quoniam genus omne animantum
concipitur visitque exortum lumina solis:
te, dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila caeli
adventumque tuum, tibi suavis daedala tellus
summittit flores, tibi rident aequora ponti
placatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum.
nam simul ac species patefactast verna diei
et reserata viget genitabilis aura favoni,
aeriae primum volucris te, diva, tuumque
significant initum perculsae corda tua vi.
inde ferae pecudes persultant pabula laeta
et rapidos tranant amnis: ita capta lepore
te sequitur cupide quo quamque inducere pergis.
denique per maria ac montis fluviosque rapacis
frondiferasque domos avium camposque virentis
omnibus incutiens blandum per pectora amorem
efficis ut cupide generatim saecla propagent.
quae quoniam rerum naturam sola gubernas
nec sine te quicquam dias in luminis oras
exoritur neque fit laetum neque amabile quicquam,
te sociam studeo scribendis versibus esse,
quos ego de rerum natura pangere conor
Memmiadae nostro, quem tu, dea, tempore in omni
omnibus ornatum voluisti excellere rebus.

Mother of all the Romans: pleasure of gods and men,
nourishing Venus: everything under the turning stars
—the sea that carries ships as well as the earth that bears crops—
is full of you: every living thing is conceived
through you and so comes into the daylight.
The winds flee you and the sky is apt to be cloudless
at your arrival, and under your feet the daedal earth
sends up her lovely flowers, and the sea’s surfaces
glitter placidly as the light gleams from the sky.
As soon as the face of spring puts in an appearance
and the fertilizing wind blows in from the west,
the birds of the air are the first to notice your coming
and your effluence strikes at their very hearts;
The wild cattle jump about in their pastures,
they plunge and swim over the rivers, delight has taken them.
They follow lustily wherever you lead them on.
Then throughout the seas, on the mountains, in hungry rivers,
in the bird’s leafy recesses, on the verdant plains,
deep inside every creature appetite stirs
as you provoke them to natural propagation.
Since you alone guide the working of nature,
without you nothing can come to these shores of light
and nothing is glad or amiable without you,
I seek your assistance as I write these verses
in which I shall try to explain nature to Memmius,
my friend whom you, Goddess, have always distinguished
with the best gifts which can be found for anyone.
 
 

*Translation adapted from http://www.cluon.com/~ea/DRN_I.html (9/2/97)
 

[FROM BOOK I]
Quod super est, vacuas auris animumque sagacem
semotum a curis adhibe veram ad rationem,
ne mea dona tibi studio disposta fideli,
intellecta prius quam sint, contempta relinquas.
nam tibi de summa caeli ratione deumque
disserere incipiam et rerum primordia pandam,
unde omnis natura creet res, auctet alatque,
quove eadem rursum natura perempta resolvat,
quae nos materiem et genitalia corpora rebus
reddunda in ratione vocare et semina rerum
appellare suemus et haec eadem usurpare
corpora prima, quod ex illis sunt omnia primis.

[ON RELIGION, BOOK I]
Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret
in terris oppressa gravi sub religione,
quae caput a caeli regionibus ostendebat
horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans,
primum Graius homo mortalis tollere contra
est oculos ausus primusque obsistere contra...

[MORE ON RELIGION, BOOK I]
Illud in his rebus vereor, ne forte rearis
impia te rationis inire elementa viamque
indugredi sceleris. quod contra saepius illa
religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta.
Aulide quo pacto Triviai virginis aram
Iphianassai turparunt sanguine foede
ductores Danaum delecti, prima virorum....
tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

[ON THE MOTION OF ATOMS THROUGH THE UNIVERSE]
Illud in his quoque te rebus cognoscere avemus,
corpora cum deorsum rectum per inane feruntur
ponderibus propriis, incerto tempore ferme
incertisque locis spatio depellere paulum,
tantum quod momen mutatum dicere possis.
quod nisi declinare solerent, omnia deorsum
imbris uti guttae caderent per inane profundum
nec foret offensus natus nec plaga creata
principiis; ita nihil umquam natura creasset.