Lucretius
Revision as of 14:52, 12 May 2007 by WikiAdmin (Talk | contribs) (New page: rightFrom ''De Rerum Natura'' (''On the Nature of Things''), by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretius Lucretius] (c.99-55 BC): :. . .I now ...)
From De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), by Lucretius (c.99-55 BC):
- . . .I now begin
- To teach you about images, so- called
- A subject of most relevant importance.
- These images are like a skin, a film,
- Peeled from the body's surface, and they fly
- This way and that across the air; they cause
- A terror in our minds, whether we wake
- Or in our sleep see fearful presences.
- The replicas of those who have left the light
- Haunt us and startle us horribly in dreams.
- Let me repeat: these images of things,
- These almost airy substances, are drawn
- From surfaces; you might call them film, or bark,
- Something like skin, that keeps the lock, the shape
- Of what it held before its wandering.
