quippe etenim sumam hoc quoque uti finita per omne corpora iactari unius genitalia rei, unde, ubi, qua vi et quo pacto congressa coibunt materiae tanto in pelago turbaque aliena? non, ut opinor, habent rationem conciliandi; sed quasi naufragiis magnis multisque coortis disiectare solet magnum mare transtra cavernas antemnas proram malos tonsasque natantis, per terrarum omnis oras fluitantia aplustra ut videantur et indicium mortalibus edant, infidi maris insidias virisque dolumque ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant, subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti, sic tibi si finita semel primordia quaedam constitues, aevom debebunt sparsa per omnem disiectare aestus diversi materiai, numquam in concilium ut possint compulsa coire nec remorari in concilio nec crescere adaucta; quorum utrumque palam fieri manifesta docet res, et res progigni et genitas procrescere posse.
Indeed, if I should go so far as to assume that the bodies generative of this one thing were finite in number, tossed about through the universe, whence, where, by what force, in what manner will they meet and combine amidst such an ocean of matter, such an alien crowd? They have no way, I think, to combine; but as when many great shipwrecks have come about, the high sea is accustomed to toss asunder transoms, ribs, yards, prow, masts, and oars all swimming, so that the poop-fittings are seen floating around all the shores, and provide a warning for mortals, that they eschew the treacherous deep, with her snares, her violence, and her fraud, and never trust her at any time when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile: so if you once lay down that certain first-beginnings are finite in number, they must be scattered through all time and tossed asunder on the sundering tides of matter, so that never can they be driven together and come into combination together, nor remain in combination, nor grow by increase; both which things are openly shown by manifest facts to be done, namely that things can be brought forth and when produced can grow forth.
final_alignments\Lucretius_De_Rerum_Natura_Book2.json