Lucretius

Lucretius
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.
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