ts.--Munro. 3. o...decus: Epicurus, who
is praised in many passages. (See Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_,
p. 298 ff.) His bold and, comprehensive thinking is characterized as
follows (1. 72-74):

Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra
processit longe flammantia moenia mundi
atque omne inmensum peragravit mente animoque.

6, 7. quid...cycnis: for in what respect could the swallow vie with
swans? 8. consimile...et: that could compare with. 16. terrores: of
superstition. To remove these by demonstrating the uncontested supremacy
in the universe of natural law is Lucretius' main purpose. moenia ff.:
Lucretius thinks of the earth as at rest in the centre of our system,--
or mundus,--surrounded by the air in which move the moon and the sun.
The air is encompassed by the fiery aether,--or flammantia moenia mundi,
'the flaming walls of the world,'--which, as it rotates, carries the
stars with it. Beyond is the 'illimitable inane' (inmensum inane) in
which are set an infinite number of other worlds, and in the midst of
these the dwellings where the gods 'live the great life...center'd in
eternal calm' (deos securum agere aevom, 6. 58). To the poet's
instructed vision aether opens and earth becomes transparent. 18-24.
Inspired by _Odyssey_, 6. 42-45. Cf. Tennyson, _Lucretius_:

The Gods, who haunt
The lucid interspace of world and world,
Where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind,
Nor ever falls the least white star of snow,
Nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans,
Nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar
Their sacred everlasting calm!

and his description of the

island-valley of Avilion,
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly

in the _Passing of Arthur_. Observe the melody of the Latin due to the
skilful alliteration, and cf. Munro's translation of it for a like
effect.

25. nusquam apparent: Lucretius has proved that they do not exist. 26.
nec...dispiciantur: though earth is no bar to all things being
descried.--Munro. 28, 29. voluptas adque horror:
delight mixed with shuddering awe.--Munro.

_3._ 1-4. Zephyr and Flora precede Spring and Venus. viai: genitive of
archaic form dependent on cuncta, translate as all the way. 5. loci:
partitive genitive after inde; translate the two words by then. 8.
aliae...ventique: other stormy winds, i.e. Volturnus and Auster. 10.
bruma: midwinter.

_4._ 1. Ergo: because of visions of the night and day and because