reentry

দেবী সরস্বতী

ঊর্মিলার স্বামী লক্ষণ

রাবণ

রবীন্দ্রনাথের ‘বিধির বাঁধন কাটবে তুমি এমনই শক্তিমান’ গানটিকে লক্ষ করে। গানটা লেখা হয়েছিল ১৯০৫ সালে, বঙ্গভঙ্গের প্রতিবাদে।

লাল পদ্ম, শ্বেত পদ্ম

মহামারি, মারি, প্লেগ, বসন্তরোগ, মড়ক

ইন্দ্রের সভা, অমরা, স্বর্গ, দেবালয়, বেহেশ্ত, জান্নাত

চুল, বিদ্যুৎ, সৌদামিনী

শেফালির শয্যায়

জ্যোৎস্নার জাগরণে

আরম্ভ করা হয়েছে এমন

লোভী, লোলুপ

পুরাতন, প্রাচীন

scrape, a colloquial twist

blind lairs, hiding places, of dog's aim, or truth

animus sagax: keen-scented mind

little tracks

"scrutiny by the eyes, however tense." The image in contenta seems to come from drawing a bow "together," i.e., so as to give an arrow the greatest possible impulse. See 1. 66; IV7.325.

Image seems to come from shutting a door in a person's face.

Line contains an important principle and definition, so phrased that it can easily be learned as an axiom. From the Epicurean point of view, tangere and tangi, like facere and fungi in 1. 443, mean "to act" and "to be acted upon" and are general terms for sensory experience. For every form of sensory experience, without regard to the organ involved, was believed to result from the actual impinging of physical stimuli upon physical sensoria. See II.434­441.

swirling eddy

procubuere: "have fallen forward," i.e., "have been borne along." The image, which has almost completely faded out, seems to come from the collapse of a victim or a dying person.

Note that the repetition of the relatives, each of which is followed by an accusative, suggests both rapidity of movement and inclusiveness of effect.

Often used by Lu- cretius, frequently in conjunction with r e r u m , to denote the "totality" of the universe. See II. 333, 502, 756; II.71.

i.e., from what source if not from the eternal atoms of fire which fly to the outside of the universe? For explanation of the presuppositions underlying the question see note on V. 416-563, especially II. 495-508; Epicurus, II.93.

Lucretius' second argument is that nothing could arise at all if there were not an underlying source of matter, i.e., the atoms.

"empty spaces," i.e., those parts of the object concerned where there are no atoms. This use of the plural is an untechnical an­ticipation of the technical use of the singular in the sense of "the void." See II. 329­–448.

"beat its way through." The image perhaps comes from clearing a passage through a crowd. See II. 152.

The idea goes back to Democritus. See Simplicius, De caelo, p. 294.33.

"the interweavings." For the metaphor, which comes from weaving, see II. 240, 244, 247.

"breaking-­up." As concilium is the Latin rendering of σύγκριση (note on 1. 183), so discidium translates διάλυση (Epicurus, I. 40­41).

In these lines Lucretius elaborates an axiom which is the com­plement of the doctrine set forth in 150­–214. As there could be no addi­tion to the sum of matter, so matter must preserve its complete integrity and must never be diminished. See Epicurus, 1.39. Lucretius seeks to estab­lish the truth of the axiom by four arguments.

Earth's surface

Plural perhaps suggests that the p r i m o r d i a are latent everywhere

In the last of the six proofs Lucretius assumes that plowing and harrowing bring up to life the primordia lying dormant in the earth, and that these stimulated primordia are the cause of the greater fertility of tilled fields

For the epithet see Ennius (Ann. 21): transnauit cita per teneras caliginis auras,

The endings -airier, -erier, -ier, and -trier of the passive infinitive are of unknown origin. These forms, common in Lucretius, are probably conscious archaisms, since even in Plautus' time they were being supplanted by the later and more familiar forms. Lucretius seems to have employed them for metrical convenience and for the antique flavor and dignity which they gave his style. See p. 136.

Note imperious tone. Lucretius will brook no denial.

Sibyl (Ovid,Met. XIV. 104), Tithonus (Homeric Hymn 238), and possibly Nestor (Homer, I l i a d , 1.247-252).

Lucretius probably has Polyphemus in mind (Homer, Odyssey, IX.481; Vergil, Aen. III.664-665) and possibly Orion (Vergil,op. cit.X. 762-765), Hercules (Apollodorus, The Library, II. 5.10).

This proof, the fifth in the series, is based on the assumed, and unproved, inability of Nature to go beyond certain definite limits. See note on I.75. The quality of the matter utilized determines the character of the thing produced. Accordingly, things cannot arise from nothing.

"gladdening." For meaning and authentic quality of adjective see Ennius (Eumenides, 152): uites laetificae pampinis pubescere submittere. For meaning see note on 1.8.

The fourth proof is based upon analogy. The earth is sterile without rain; without food living creatures cannot increase and multiply; an alphabet cannot exist without its elements, letters. Hence nothing can exist without first-beginning

"out of matter [atoms] suitable for itself." Materies is a collective noun standing for primordia. See use of semen in 11. 185, 189.

Note Epicurean appeal to testimony of the senses,

Phrase does not refer to union of semina and oua, but seems to describe the process of growth. During the period of growth, anybody would require additional first-­beginnings. Semen seems to be a collective noun for these additional primordia which must "come together" (i.e., coitum) and be added to the initial concilium, if the body is going to grow.

if anything could come from nothing, then there would be nothing to prevent things from coming into being at an inappropriate or unfavorable time—indeed, tempore iniquo (1.182), the same phrase that was used at 1.41 to describe the contemporary (for Lucretius) state of affairs in Rome. We have advanced from political reflection to commentary on the appropriate seasons for the growth and development of individual species.

I of course translate with the same Bengali phrase: protikul rritu.

In the third proof Lucretius states an impossible consequence of the assumption that something can arise from nothing. The instance here adduced to disprove the assumption is the incontestible fact of con­tinuous growth within the animal and vegetable kingdoms. This continuity implies, according to Lucretius, the existence of matter from which animals and plants receive constant nourishment.

This verse-paragraph contains the second proof. If there were not a definite or­der in which definite phenomena occurred—this order being due to a gen­eric secreta facultas—flowers and fruits and all res tenerae would be pro­duced out of season. Behind the argument lies an implied syllogism:<br> (a) All things that act in a fixed order come from first-beginnings,<br> (b) Flowers, etc, appear in a fixed order,<br> (c) Therefore, flowers, etc., come from first­ beginnings, i.e., do not arise from nothing.

union. The noun, the Latin rendering of Σύγκριση (Epicurus, 1.40), is technically used by Lucretius of the union of atoms con­stituting anything. See 11. 484, 517, 772, 1082; II. 110, 120, 563, 564, 920, 935; III. 805.

favorable seasons

Note the chiasmus: a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order. Here, the first clause ends with rose, and the second clause begins with corn. I created a chiasmus between rose-corn and wine.

"namely, that distinct things have a distinctive capacity." Reference is to the special constitution of the atoms, their shapes, order, Unkings, etc. There is no allusion to vitalism. The q u o d clause is in apposition to hac re.

These words, or sometimes simply at, are often used by Lucretius to mark the return from a false hypothesis to the evidence of the facts.

play between certis and secreta.

atoms

when created things come from the earth or from their mothers' bodies, they "rise into the borders of light." Ennius: tu [Romulus] produxisti nos [the Romans] intra luminis oras.

Venus is seemingly gone from the scene; there is, however, a certa mater (certain mother) for things that could not exist if anything could emerge from nothing. The poet notes that the primordia or atoms of things are able to work their generative magic when the seasons and the “lively earth” (1.178 vivida tellus) do their part.

Meaning depends on punctuation. If comma is inserted after quippe, quippe and qui must be taken closely together: "For how could things have individually a fixed and unchanging mother, when each thing did not have its special procreant elements?" If the comma is omitted, quippe must be construed closely with ubi: "Since, on that assumption, each kind of thing would not have its procreant elements, how could, etc." The latter hypothesis seems the simpler and more natural one.

Note verbal play in mater and materies.

break out of their shell in the middle of the sky.

"then on the basis of that principle we shall forthwith see fully, and more accurately than otherwise, that land which we are pursuing." The image seems to be nautical in character: in our journey toward the hind of freedom from superstition we have reached a point from which we can see the great truth, i.e., that atomic processes and not the Gods control the life of man.

Note incorporated antecedent. Similar fullness of expression regularly marked legal Latin.

For the thought see Diogenes of Oenoanda (fr. XXX, II. 2-15): “This fear [in this fragment Diogenes seems to mean fear in general] is at times clearly felt and at times vaguely felt. It is clearly felt when we avoid something which is obvious, such as fire, because we fear that through fire we shall meet with death. It is vaguely felt when the mind is occupied with some other phenomenon which has presented itself, and cannot throw even a little light upon the matter and when, accordingly, we are filled with dread.”

This word marks Lucretius' own addition to the age-old Epicurean argument. In the elaboration that follows (1.151-214), he makes no attempt to disprove the Stoic view that, while all things come from seeds, back of the seeds the ultimate cause is divinity.

For the image see Kipling (Song of the Wise Chil­dren, 11. 5–6): “Far to Southward they wheel and glance, The million molten spears of morn;” Housman (Last Poems, XLI, 11.5–6): “And where the light in lances Across the mead was laid ...;” and Melville (Moby Dick, Ch. CXXIV): “the invisible sun was only known by the spread intensity of his place; where his bayonet rays moved on in stacks.”

"spokes," i.e., the sun is regarded as a wheel.

Note absence of connectives, a stylistic phenomenon technically called "asyndeton." Here it tends to emphasize inclusiveness of statement.

Asyndeton is a writing style where conjunctions are omitted in a series of words, phrases or clauses. It is used to shorten a sentence and focus on its meaning. For example, Julius Caesar leaving out the word "and" between the sentences "I came. I saw. I conquered" asserts the strength of his victory.

"then on the basis of that principle we shall forthwith see fully, and more accurately than otherwise, that land which we are pursuing." The image seems to be nautical in character: in our journey toward the land of freedom from superstition we have reached a point from which we can see the great truth, i.e., that atomic processes and not the Gods control the life of man.

"break out of their shell," i.e., "hatch."

For the thought see Diogenes of Oenoanda (fr. XXX, 11. 2-15): "This fear [in this fragment Diogenes seems to mean fear in general] is at times clearly felt and at times vaguely felt. It is clearly felt when we avoid something which is obvious, such as fire,because we fear that through fire we shall meet with death. It is vaguely felt when the mind is occupied with some other phenomenon which has presented itself, and cannot throw even a little light upon the matter and when, <accordingly,> we are filled with dread." L

I invoke Allah here.

For Lucretius, the point is simple enough: mortals are terrified because they see many things occur for which they have no explanation, and so they reckon that some divinum numen is responsible (1.151–154).

Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus umquam (1.150).93 As the commentators have noted, Lucretius’ great first principle—the axiom that nothing is ever created out of nothing—is borrowed from Epicurus, with the addition of the concept of divine power that is embodied in the adverb divinitus. Nothing is created out of nothing by divine power.

seers. Latin usage from Ennius to Lucretius shows that the force of the word here is ironical and contemptuous.

In Latin literature, at least since the time of Ennius (Andromeda, 121), Trivia was regarded as the equivalent of Diana, i.e., Artemis. Originally a tree spirit, Diana acquired various other functions, being associated with the chase, the moon, childbirth, and crossroads. It is this last relationship that Trivia suggests. Lucretius seems to have used the name here because of its sound and its ancient associations. L

A third goddess is now introduced to the epic: Trivia, such as, Diana in her triple aspect as goddess of the heavens (= the moon); the earth (= the huntress), and the underworld (= the crone-like Hecate). F

a sailing ship in use (especially by Spain) from the 15th to the 18th centuries, originally as a warship, later for trade. Galleons were typically square-rigged and had three or more decks and masts. Carib fire = Caribbean fire, the tropical sun galleons = he ships as the seasons

লুক্রেতিউস অনুবাদ করতে শুরু করেছিলাম আজ থেকে দুই বছর আগে; আজ পর্যন্ত ছন্দটাই ঠিক করতে পারিনি। আজকে হঠাৎ মেঘলা আকাশে বিদ্যুৎ চমকের উদয় ঘটল বিষ্ণু দে-র এই কবিতার। আমি প্রথমে হোমারের ষট্‌মাত্রাকে বাংলাতে ছয়পদী দিয়ে অনুবাদের চেষ্টা করেছি, যেখানে প্রতি পদে ৪টা করে মাত্র, তারপর জীবনানন্দের রূপসী বাংলা পড়ে ছয়পদীকে ৮+৮+৬ এর ত্রিপদীতে রূপান্তরিত করেছি, কিন্তু কিছুতেই শান্তি পাচ্ছিলাম না। এখন বুঝলাম ষটমাত্রার জন্য ৬+৬+৬+৩/৪ এই রকম চারপদীর কোনো বিপল্প নেই।

ছিলো একদিন / কস্তুরীমৃগ / কৈশোরকের / চিত্তে = ৬+৬+৬+৩ তীব্র তড়িতে / মেলাতে চেয়েছি / ক্ষণিকাকে / চুম্বনে = ৬+৬+৬+৪

ঈনিয়াসের জননী / দেবদেবী আর মানু / ষের আনন্দ = ৮+৮+৬ ঈনিয়াসের জ / ননী দেবদেবী / আর মানুষের / আনন্দ = ৬+৬+৬+৪

বিপুলা ভিনাস / তুমি ভাসমান / তারাপটে শান্‌ / তিতে শুয়ে প্রাণ সঞ্চার / করো তরী-ভরা / সমুদ্র আর / ফলবতী ভূমিতে, তোমার / করুণায় সব / প্রজাতির জীব /

দ্বিপদী ১২+১০ ত্রিপদী ৮+৮+৬ চতুর্পদী ৬+৬+৬+৪

এ তেনেব্রিস তান্তিস তাম—অন্তিম অন্ধকারে; তান্তিস তাম-এর অনুপ্রাস অন্তিম অন্ধে। ক্লারুম এক্সস্তোল্লেরে লুমেন—আলোকবর্তিকা জ্বেলে; এখানে l-এর অনুপ্রাস আছে। লাইনটি শুরু হলো অন্তিম অন্ধকার আর T-এর অনুপ্রাস দিয়ে, শেষ হলো আলোকবর্তিকা আর L-এর অনুপ্রাস দিয়ে—এরই নাম সার্থক chiasmus/প্রতিঘাত। বাংলাতেও আলোর অংশে ল-এর অনুপ্রাস রাখা হয়েছে।

হেমচন্দ্র বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় (১৮৩৮–১৯০৩) মধুসূদনের (১৮২৪–৭৩) প্রভাবেই কি তার বীরবাহু নাটক লিখেছিলেন?

কালিদাসের অভিজ্ঞানশকুন্তলম-এর এক জায়গায় নীল পদ্মের দল/পাতা দিয়ে শাল্মলী/শিমুল গাছের লতা কাটার অসম্ভাব্যতার কথা আছে।

ময় এক দানব শিল্পী, যিনি কৌরবদের রাজধানী ইন্দ্রপ্রস্থে (বর্তমান দিল্লীর পুরান কিল্লার কাছে) যুধিষ্ঠিরের সভাগৃহ নির্মাণ করেছিলেন।

পাণ্ডবদের শিবির পাহারা দিয়েছিলেন শূলপাণি রুদ্রেশ্বর শিব।

মহাদেব হরের কোপানলে ভস্মীভূত হয়েছিল কামদেব মদন।

মানস সরোবরে; ব্রহ্মা কৈলাস পর্বতে তার মন দ্বারা এই সরোবর রচনা করেন, রামের জন্মস্থান অযোধ্যার দিকে যে পুণ্যতোয়া নদী গেছে তা এখান থেকেই উৎপন্ন, যে-কারণে তার নাম সরযূ—অন্য নাম গোগরা বা ঘর্ঘরা। [রারা ১.৯] ব্রহ্মপুত্র নদের নামকরণের রহস্যও কি ব্রহ্মার মানস সরোবরের মধ্যেই পাওয়া যাবে?

বাসুকি পৃথিবীর ভার বহন করেছিল।

বাল্মীকি আগে রত্ন চুরি করতেন বলে ছিলেন রত্নাকর, চুরি ছাড়ার পরও তিনি রত্নাকরই রয়ে গেছেন, তবে এখন বস্তুগত রত্নের বদলে সংগ্রহ করেন কাব্য রত্ন।

নারদ রামের কাহিনি বলে চলে যাবার পর বাল্মীকি জাহ্নবীর কাছে তমসা নদীর তীরে এসে সচ্চরিত্র মানুষের মনের মতো স্বচ্ছ পানি দেখে মুগ্ধ হয়ে যান এবং এতে স্নান করবেন মনস্থ করেন। কিন্তু বল্কল নিয়ে বনে ঘুরতে গিয়ে এক ব্যাধের (নিষাদ, ভারতের অস্ট্রো-এশীয় আদিবাসীদের প্রাচীন নাম) হাতে সংগমরত একটি ক্রৌঞ্চের (কোঁচ বক, heron, curlew, stork) মৃত্যু দেখে এবং তাতে ক্রৌঞ্চবধূর কান্না শুনে আকুল হয়ে গেয়ে উঠেন:

মা নিষাদ প্রতিষ্ঠাং ত্বমগমঃ শাশ্বতীঃ সমাঃ<br> যৎ ক্রৌঞ্চমিথুনাদেকমবধীঃ কামমোহিতম্‌

অর্থাৎ “নিষাদ, তুই কখনো প্রতিষ্ঠা লাভ করবি না, কারণ তুই ক্রৌঞ্চ-মিথুনের একটিকে কামমোহিত অবস্থায় বধ করেছিস।”

বলার পরই বুঝতে পারেন তিনি একটি ছন্দোবদ্ধ কবিতা রচনা করেছেন এবং শিষ্য ভরদ্বাজকে বলেন, “এই যে চরণবদ্ধ সমান অক্ষর বিশিষ্ট তন্ত্রীলয়ে গানের যোগ্য বাক্য আমার শোকাবেগে উৎপন্ন হয়েছে তা নিশ্চয় শ্লোক নামে খ্যাত হবে।” ‘রামায়ণে’ এই ক্ষণটিকেই ভারতে কবিতার জন্মের মুহূর্ত হিসেবে দেখানো হয়েছে। ভারতের একজন আদিবাসীকে শাপ দেয়ার মাধ্যমে ভারতে কবিতার জন্মের ব্যাপারটা ভেবে দেখার মতো।

সপ্তর্ষি মণ্ডল

সপ্তর্ষি মণ্ডল

এই কবিতার সর্বজনীনতা এইখানে যে, এখানে বাংলার বদলে যেকোনো স্থানের নাম জুড়ে দেয়া যায়। অবশ্যই জীবনানন্দ এখানে বাংলা ছাড়া আর কিছু ভাবতে পারেন না, কারণ তিনি বঙ্গে থাকতেন, বঙ্গের ঘাস দিয়ে গড়া তার শরীর, এবং যেকোনো কবিই কেবল তার নিজের প্রতিবেশকে চৈতন্যের ভাস্কর্যে পরিণত করেন। কিন্তু পাঠকের ক্ষেত্রে ব্যাপারটা অন্য রকম। যে জায়গায় দাঁড়িয়ে পাঠিক বাংলার মুখ পড়বেন সেই জায়গাটাই তার জন্য ‘বাংলার’ প্রতিস্থাপক হয়ে যাবে, বা বাংলা হয়ে যাবে তার বর্তমান বাসস্থানের প্রতীক। “তোমার ঐ শ্যামল বরণ কোমল মূর্তি মর্মে গাঁথা”—কে এই তুমি? দেশ নামক বিমূর্ত জাতীয়তা নয়, বরং মাটি পানি বাতাসের রক্তমাংসের শরীর, যেখানে বাস করি সেই স্থানের শরীর, বিমূর্ত বাংলাদেশের নয়, মূর্ত বঙ্গমাটির।

মেঘদূতের ইঙ্গিত?

This sentence describes the effects of Venus’ arrival on air, earth and sea, respectively. The repeated use of various forms of tu (you) and the repeated addresses to Venus create an aura of veneration.

Nature of Things, Περὶ Φύσεως. Anaximander, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Melissus, Empedocles, Philolaus, and Epicurus, each wrote a work with this same title.

Venus alone governs. See Parmenides fr. 12:

The narrower circles are filled with unmixed fire, and those surrounding them with night, and in the midst of these rushes their portion of fire. In the midst of these circles is the divinity that directs the course of all things; for she rules over all painful birth and all begetting, driving the female to the embrace of the male, and the male to that of the female.

Ancient Latin goddess who might have been brought to Rome from Ardea, and later identified with the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, hence becoming a daughter of Jupiter/Zeus, wife of Vulcan, lover of Mars, mother of Cupid. As Venus Verticordia, she was the protector of chastity in young girls, but as Venus Erycina (of Eryx in Sicily), she was associated with prostitutes. Homer identified Aeneas, the founder of the temple at Eryx, as the son of Venus, thus later making the Romans direct descendants of the goddess. Pompey dedicated a temple at Rome to Venus Victrix (bringer of victory), but Julius Caesar’s temple was dedicated to Venus Genetrix (begetting mother). The Julio-Claudian dynasty became the direct descendants of Venus through Aeneas. The planet that we call Venus now was associated with the Babylonian goddess of love Ishtar first, and acquired its current Latin name through Aphrodite.

For Lucretius, Venus is not only the Roman goddess and the patron goddess of the clan of Memmius, but also an animated dynamo, reproduction itself, the most mysterious, erotic, dynamic force in the universe, and also the personification of the Epicurean principle of pleasure. He brings Venus out of the superstitious religions of his time, and makes her the personification of the creative force, akin to the use of the goddess of night in Parmenides (fr. 12).

And Aeschylus writes (fr. 25):

The holy heaven yearns to wound the earth And yearning seizes earth to mate in wedlock. From the bed­loving heaven falls the rain And makes the earth swell. She brings forth for men The food sheep feed on and Demeter’s life; And from this drenching wedlock is fulfilled The forests’ bloom. Of this I [Aphrodite] am the cause.

alma (bn. bipula) might be another allusion to the Genetrix form of Venus.

growth or birth of the universe

The relative pronoun refers back to Venus of the first line.

Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound says: “Ο bright sky and Ο breezes swift of wing, Ο springs of rivers and the countless smile Of ocean's waves and the all ­mothering earth . . .;” and Whitman (With Husky­ Haughty Lips Ο Seal, 6) says, “Thy ample, smiling face, dash’d with the spar­kling dimples of the sun.”

voluptas (bn. anôndô) means darling or pleasure; notice the key Epicurean principle in the very first sentence; it also describes Venus as the embodiment of sexual desire.

Aeneas, the mythical father of the Roman race, was a Trojan born from the union of Aphrodite (Venus) and Anchises on the slopes of Mt. Ida in Anatolia; e. g. see the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite and the Annales (52–53) of Ennius. The odyssey of Aeneas from the fallen Troy to Italy is described in the first six books of Virgil’s Aeneid, and his victory over the Latins is described in the next six books. Aeneadum is genitive plural. genetrix can be wonderfully translated into Bengali using jônôni.

Lines 1–25 was imitated by Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene (4.10.44–47):

Great Venus, Queene of beautie and of grace,
The ioy of Gods and men, that vnder skie
Doest fayrest shine, and most adorne thy place,
That with thy smyling looke doest pacifie
The raging seas, and makst the stormes to flie;
Thee goddesse, thee the winds, the clouds doe feare,
And when thou spredst thy mantle forth on hie,
The waters play and pleasant lands appeare,
And heauens laugh, & all the world shews ioyous cheare.

Then doth the dædale earth throw forth to thee
Out of her fruitfull lap aboundant flowres,
And then all liuing wights, soone as they see
The spring breake forth out of his lusty bowres,
They all doe learne to play the Paramours;
First doe the merry birds, thy prety pages
Priuily pricked with thy lustfull powres,
Chirpe loud to thee out of their leauy cages,
And thee their mother call to coole their kindly rages.

Then doe the saluage beasts begin to play
Their pleasant friskes, and loath their wonted food;
The Lyons rore, the Tygres loudly bray,
The raging Buls rebellow through the wood,
And breaking forth, dare tempt the deepest flood,
To come where thou doest draw them with desire:
So all things else, that nourish vitall blood,
Soone as with fury thou doest them inspire,
In generation seeke to quench their inward fire.

As if Venus is wielding a goad or lash to drive the animals toward a mating carnival.

yes or finally; not again or moreover.

Both the adjective rapidos and the noun amnis connote large and destructive streams, which an animal would not dare to cross unless spurred on by an insatiable mating instinct.

by their mating songs, the birds announce your arrival

Birds also appear first in the order of creation, but Lucretius of course would not believe in such a creation story.

wonder-working earth. bn. with bismôy-kôrma. The phrase daedala tellus was taken over directly by Edmund Spenser (Faerie Queene, Book IV, Canto 10, Stanza 45, 1. 1) and by Shelley (Hymn of Pan, 25­–26): “sang of the dancing stars, sang of the daedal Earth.”

i. e. from the darkness of the earthly mold or a mother’s body. bn. from bhūmi-gôrbhô.

‘cause to teem with life.’ Notice the alliteration with concipitur (‘to form’) in the next line.

Lucretius often uses the verb labor (labentia as accusative neuter plural participle) to describe movements that are slow, majestic regular, and inevitable.

জননী

This description might have something to do with a painting or sculpture and, in turn, might have influenced Botticelli’s Marte e Venere.

Alludes to Memmius’ praetorship of 58 BCE.

Mars; the archaic Mavors form is used for alliteration with mors—death.

Memmius

Favonius, west wind.

Venus