Just finished my first assignment for Roman Philosophy. I had to translate the first 50 lines of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. A beautiful poem so far...
"Mother of Aeneas’ descendents, the delight of men and gods, gracious Venus, who fills with life the ship-bearing sea beneath the gliding stars of heaven, who enlivens the fruitful lands, because it is through you that every race of animals is conceived and, once arisen, beholds the rays of the sun; from you, oh goddess, from you the winds take flight and the clouds flee your approach, for you the variegated earth sends up pleasant flowers, for you the sea’s surface laughs and the calm sky shines with its light widely spread. But for as soon as your vernal face is revealed to the day and the generative breeze of airy Zephyrus, having been unsealed, first flourishes, the birds, oh goddess, make you and your arrival known, struck through their hearts by your power. Thence wild beasts and herds leap over the fertile pastures and swim across the swift rivers: thus are you, seized by grace, eagerly followed wherever you proceed to lead on each one. Then through the seas and mountains and rushing rivers and the leafy homes of birds and the thriving fields you, striking alluring passion through the hearts of all things, accomplish these things so that generations may propagate according to their race. And since you alone govern the nature of these things, then without you neither does anything rise into the bright realms of the light nor does anything become fertile or lovely, I desire you to be my ally for the writing of these verses, which I am trying to arrange concerning the nature of things, I of the descendents of Memmio, whom you, oh goddess, in all our time desired to excel, being illustrious in all affairs. Therefore bestow more of your eternal pleasantry, oh goddess, upon these words. Meanwhile bring about that the harsh duties of warfare across the seas and all lands may rest in slumber. For you alone are able to please mortals with tranquil peace, seeing that valiant Mars rules the harsh duties of war, Mars, who often lets himself sink into your lap, subdued by the eternal wound of passion, and thus looking up, his shapely neck laid back, he, longingly gazing at you, oh goddess, feeds his greedy vision, and the breath of the supine deity hangs out of your mouth. You, oh goddess, having embraced from above this reclining god with your sacred body, pour forth pleasant words from your mouth seeking quiet peace, oh illustrious one, for us Romans. For neither can we do this with an even mind in this adverse time of the country, nor can the illustrious offspring of Memmius in such matters be neglectful in his duty to the common welfare. "
