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Virgil & Lucretius / Passages translated by William Stebbing cover

Virgil & Lucretius / Passages translated by William Stebbing

Chapter 15: Things
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About This Book

Translated passages from Virgil and Lucretius gather mythic narrative, pastoral description, and philosophical lyricism: Virgilian selections recount underworld journeys and rural scenes—episodes like Orpheus and Eurydice, portrayals of Elysium and Tartarus, praise of Italy, and visions of a Golden Age—while Lucretian fragments set out natural-philosophical meditations, including a hymn to Venus, reflections on atoms and the fear of death, accounts of seasonality and origins, and observations on love and loss. The volume juxtaposes narrative myth and didactic reflection in concise poetic translations that emphasize mood, moral feeling, and elemental inquiry.

Things

Æneidos, Bk. I. v. 462

Sunt lacryma rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt

There is spirit immortal that mounts up on high,
Yet reaches longing hands back to hopes left to die;
There are things that are tears; there are tears that are things;
There are tears that are water, and tears that are wings!