quem sive ex nullis repetentem semina rebus natali quoque egere placet, semperque fuisse et fore, principio pariter fatoque carentem; seu permixta chaos rerum primordia quondam discrevit partu, mundumque enixa nitentem fugit in infernas caligo pulsa tenebras; sive individuis, in idem reditura soluta, principiis natura manet post saecula mille, et paene ex nihilo summa est nihilumque futurum, caecaque materies caelum perfecit et orbem; sive ignis fabricavit opus flammaeque micantes, quae mundi fecere oculos habitantque per omne corpus et in caelo vibrantia fulmina fingunt; seu liquor hoc peperit, sine quo riget arida rerum materies ipsumque vorat, quo solvitur, ignem; aut neque terra patrem novit nec flamma nec aer aut umor, faciuntque deum per quattuor artus et mundi struxere globum prohibentque requiri ultra se quicquam, cum per se cuncta crearint, frigida nec calidis desint aut umida siccis, spiritus aut solidis, sitque haec discordia concors quae nexus habilis et opus generabile fingit atque omnis partus elementa capacia reddit: semper erit pugna ingeniis, dubiumque manebit quod latet et tantum supra est hominemque deumque.
Some hold that the universe does not derive its elements from any source but is devoid of origin, that it ever was and ever shall be, without beginning as it is without end; it may be that ages ago chaos in travail separated the mingled elements of matter and that, having given birth to the shining universe, the darkness fled, banished to infernal gloom; perhaps nature after a thousand ages remains an aggregate of indivisible atoms, though doomed to dissolve and return to the same form, and the total sum is made up of practically nothing and will become nothing, and it is lifeless matter which has produced heaven and earth; possibly the universe was constructed out of fire and flickering flames, which have formed the eyes of heaven and dwell throughout the whole system and shape the lightning which flashes in the skies; the skies, perchance, were born of water, without which matter is parched and hardened and which quenches the very fire by which it is destroyed; else it may be that neither earth nor fire nor air nor water acknowledges a begetter, but themselves constitute a godhead of four elements, which have formed the sphere of the universe and ban all search for a source beyond them, having created all things from themselves, so that cold combines with hot, wet with dry, and airy with solid, and the discord is one of harmony, allowing apt unions and generative activity and enabling the elements to produce all things. These questions will always cause dispute among men of genius, and uncertainty is bound to attend that which is hidden from us and is so far above the ken of man and god.
final_alignments\Manilius_Astronomica_Book1.json