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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



7574
Lucretius Carus, On The Nature Of Things, 3.117-3.253
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Nunc animum atque animam dico coniuncta teneriMind and soul, I say, are held conjoined one with other, And form one single nature of themselves; But chief and regnant through the frame entire Is still that counsel which we call the mind, And that cleaves seated in the midmost breast. Here leap dismay and terror; round these haunts Be blandishments of joys; and therefore here The intellect, the mind. The rest of soul, Throughout the body scattered, but obeys- Moved by the nod and motion of the mind. This, for itself, sole through itself, hath thought; This for itself hath mirth, even when the thing That moves it, moves nor soul nor body at all. And as, when head or eye in us is smit By assailing pain, we are not tortured then Through all the body, so the mind alone Is sometimes smitten, or livens with a joy, Whilst yet the soul's remainder through the limbs And through the frame is stirred by nothing new. But when the mind is moved by shock more fierce, We mark the whole soul suffering all at once Along man's members: sweats and pallors spread Over the body, and the tongue is broken, And fails the voice away, and ring the ears, Mists blind the eyeballs, and the joints collapse,- Aye, men drop dead from terror of the mind. Hence, whoso will can readily remark That soul conjoined is with mind, and, when 'Tis strook by influence of the mind, forthwith In turn it hits and drives the body too. And this same argument establisheth That nature of mind and soul corporeal is: For when 'tis seen to drive the members on, To snatch from sleep the body, and to change The countenance, and the whole state of man To rule and turn,- what yet could never be Sans contact, and sans body contact fails- Must we not grant that mind and soul consist Of a corporeal nature?- And besides Thou markst that likewise with this body of ours Suffers the mind and with our body feels. If the dire speed of spear that cleaves the bones And bares the inner thews hits not the life, Yet follows a fainting and a foul collapse, And, on the ground, dazed tumult in the mind, And whiles a wavering will to rise afoot. So nature of mind must be corporeal, since From stroke and spear corporeal 'tis in throes. Now, of what body, what components formed Is this same mind I will go on to tell. First, I aver, 'tis superfine, composed Of tiniest particles- that such the fact Thou canst perceive, if thou attend, from this:
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Nil adeo fieri celeri ratione videturNothing is seen to happen with such speed As what the mind proposes and begins; Therefore the same bestirs itself more swiftly Than aught whose nature's palpable to eyes. But what's so agile must of seeds consist Most round, most tiny, that they may be moved, When hit by impulse slight. So water moves, In waves along, at impulse just the least- Being create of little shapes that roll; But, contrariwise, the quality of honey More stable is, its liquids more inert, More tardy its flow; for all its stock of matter Cleaves more together, since, indeed, 'tis made Of atoms not so smooth, so fine, and round. For the light breeze that hovers yet can blow High heaps of poppy-seed away for thee Downward from off the top; but, contrariwise, A pile of stones or spiny ears of wheat It can't at all. Thus, in so far as bodies Are small and smooth, is their mobility; But, contrariwise, the heavier and more rough, The more immovable they prove. Now, then, Since nature of mind is movable so much, Consist it must of seeds exceeding small And smooth and round. Which fact once known to thee, Good friend, will serve thee opportune in else. This also shows the nature of the same, How nice its texture, in how small a space 'Twould go, if once compacted as a pellet: When death's unvexed repose gets hold on man And mind and soul retire, thou markest there From the whole body nothing ta'en in form, Nothing in weight. Death grants ye everything, But vital sense and exhalation hot. Thus soul entire must be of smallmost seeds, Twined through the veins, the vitals, and the thews, Seeing that, when 'tis from whole body gone, The outward figuration of the limbs Is unimpaired and weight fails not a whit. Just so, when vanished the bouquet of wine, Or when an unguent's perfume delicate Into the winds away departs, or when From any body savour's gone, yet still The thing itself seems minished naught to eyes, Thereby, nor aught abstracted from its weight- No marvel, because seeds many and minute Produce the savours and the redolence In the whole body of the things.
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quare etiam atque etiam mentis naturam animaequeAnd so, Again, again, nature of mind and soul 'Tis thine to know created is of seeds The tiniest ever, since at flying-forth It beareth nothing of the weight away. Yet fancy not its nature simple so. For an impalpable aura, mixed with heat, Deserts the dying, and heat draws off the air; And heat there's none, unless commixed with air: For, since the nature of all heat is rare, Through it many seeds of air must move. Thus nature of mind is triple; yet those all Suffice not for creating sense- since mind Accepteth not that aught of these can cause Sense-bearing motions, and much less the thoughts A man revolves in mind. So unto these Must added be a somewhat, and a fourth; That somewhat's altogether void of name; Than which existeth naught more mobile, naught More an impalpable, of elements More small and smooth and round. That first transmits Sense-bearing motions through the frame, for that Is roused the first, composed of little shapes; Thence heat and viewless force of wind take up The motions, and thence air, and thence all things Are put in motion; the blood is strook, and then The vitals all begin to feel, and last To bones and marrow the sensation comes- Pleasure or torment. Nor will pain for naught Enter so far, nor a sharp ill seep through, But all things be perturbed to that degree That room for life will fail, and parts of soul Will scatter through the body's every pore. Yet as a rule, almost upon the skin These motion aIl are stopped, and this is why We have the power to retain our life. Now in my eagerness to tell thee how They are commixed, through what unions fit They function so, my country's pauper-speech Constrains me sadly. As I can, however, I'll touch some points and pass.
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Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

2 results
1. Lucretius Carus, On The Nature of Things, 1.146-1.397, 1.418-1.583, 1.599-1.634, 2.184-2.293, 2.522-2.568, 2.700-2.729, 3.94-3.116, 3.118-3.253, 3.262-3.336, 3.350-3.369, 3.417-3.869 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

2. Diogenes of Oenoanda, Fragments, 29, 2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)



Subjects of this text:

subject book bibliographic info
animus, in lucretiuss epicurean theory of sight Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
atomic complex (athroisma)' Inwood and Warren, Body and Soul in Hellenistic Philosophy (2020) 108
atomism Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
body-environment approach (bea), in lucretius epicurean theory of sight Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
body (human), and knowledge acquisition/cognition Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
cognition/cognitive Fuhrer and Soldo, Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature (2024) 111
cognition Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
death/tod Fuhrer and Soldo, Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature (2024) 97, 111
death Inwood and Warren, Body and Soul in Hellenistic Philosophy (2020) 108
emotion Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
exercise/übung Fuhrer and Soldo, Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature (2024) 111
lucretius Inwood and Warren, Body and Soul in Hellenistic Philosophy (2020) 108
mind, in lucretius epicurean theory of sight Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
mirror-/symmetry-argument Fuhrer and Soldo, Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature (2024) 97
partition of soul, epicurean bipartition of soul Inwood and Warren, Body and Soul in Hellenistic Philosophy (2020) 108
perception, lucretius epicurean theory of perception/the senses Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
rationality/irrationality Fuhrer and Soldo, Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature (2024) 111
roman religion/polytheism Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
senses, in lucretius epicurean theory of sight Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
senses, lucretius epicurean theory of the senses Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 54
senses Fuhrer and Soldo, Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature (2024) 97
soul (anima/psyché/seele) Fuhrer and Soldo, Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature (2024) 97, 111