§2Sit nunc aliunde res, ne Poenicum inter Romanos aut erubescat aut doleat.
Now let the matter come from elsewhere, lest any Carthaginian among the Romans should either blush or grieve.
Certe habitum vertere naturae totius sollemne munus est.
Certainly, to change dress is the solemn function of all nature.
Fungitur et ipse mundus interim iste quem incumbimus.
This very world which we inhabit also performs it in the meantime.
Viderit Anaximander, si plures putat, viderit, si quis uspiam alius, ad Meropas, ut Silenus penes aures Midae blatit, aptas sane grandioribus fabulis.
Let Anaximander see to it, if he thinks there are more worlds; let any other anywhere else see to it, among the Meropes, as Silenus babbles in the ears of Midas, things indeed suited for grander fables.
Sed et si quem Plato aestimat, cuius imago hic sit, etiam ille habeat necesse est proinde mutare.
But even if Plato estimates some world, of which this is the image, even that world must likewise change.
Quippe si mundus ex diversis substantiis officiisque constabit, ad formam eius quod mundus hic est; neque enim mundus, si non ut mundus proinde.
For if the world consists of diverse substances and offices, according to the form of that which this world is; for neither would it be a world, if not likewise as a world.
Diversa in unum ex demutatione diversa sunt.
Diverse things are diverse in one from change.
Denique diversitatis discordiam vices foederant.
In short, successions ally the discord of diversity.
Ita mutando erit mundus omnis qui ex diversitatibus corporatus et vicibus temperatus.
Thus by changing will every world exist, which is embodied from diversities and tempered by successions.
Nostra certe metatio, quod clausis, vel in totum Homericis oculis liquet, totum versiforme est.
Our own domain, which is clear even to closed, or entirely Homeric eyes, is wholly versatile.
Dies et nox invicem vertunt.
Day and night turn in turn.
Sol stationibus annuis, luna modulationibus menstruis variat.
The sun varies by annual stations, the moon by monthly modulations.
Siderum distincta confusio interdum deicit quid, interdum resuscitat.
The distinct confusion of the stars sometimes casts down something, sometimes revives it.
Caeli ambitus nunc subdivo splendidus. nunc nubilo sordidus; aut imbres ruunt, et si qua missilia cum imbribus; dehinc substillum, et denuo sudum.
The circuit of heaven is now splendid under the open sky, now dirty with clouds; or rains rush down, and whatever missiles come with the rains; then it drizzles, and then it is clear again.
Sic et mari fides infamis, dum et flabris aeque mutantibus de tranquillo probum. de flustris temperatum, et extemplo de decumanis inquietat.
In this way too, the faith of the sea is infamous, while with equally changing blasts from tranquil it becomes honest, from calm tempered, and suddenly disquiets with the tenth waves.
Sic et terram si recenseas temporatim vestiri amantem, prope sis eandem negare, memor viridem cum conspicis flavam, mox visurus et canam.
In this way too, if you survey the earth, which loves to be clothed seasonally, you would almost deny it is the same, when, mindful of it as green, you behold it yellow, and are soon to see it white.
Ceteri quoque eius ornatus quid non aliud ex alio mutant, et montium scapulae decurrendo, et fontium venae cavillando, et fluminum viae obhumando? Mutavit et totus orbis aliquando, aquis omnibus obsitus.
What other of its ornaments do not change, one from another, as the shoulders of the mountains slide down, the veins of the springs hollow out, and the ways of the rivers are buried? The whole world also changed once, covered with all waters.
Adhuc maris conchae et buccinae peregrinantur in montibus, cupientes Platoni probare etiam ardua fluitasse.
Still the shells and conchs of the sea travel on mountains, wishing to prove to Plato that even the heights floated.
Sed et enatando rursus in forma mutavit rursus orbis, alius idem.
But by swimming out again, the world changed again in form, another yet the same.
Mutat et nunc localiter habitus, cum situs laeditur, cum inter insulas nulla iam Delos, harenae Samos, et Sibylla non mendax, cum in Atlantico Libyam aut Asiam adaequans quaeritur, cum Italiae quondam latus Hadria Tyrrhenoque quassantibus mediotenus interceptum reliquias Siciliam facit, cum tota illa plaga discidii contentiosos aequorum coitus angustis retorquens novum vitii mari induit, non exspuentis naufragia, sed devorantis.
It changes even now its habit locally, when a site is injured, when among the islands there is no longer Delos, Samos is sand, and the Sibyl is not a liar, when in the Atlantic a land equaling Libya or Asia is sought, when what was once a side of Italy, cut off midway by the shaking of the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, makes Sicily its remains, when that whole tract of division, twisting the contentious couplings of the waters into narrow straits, puts a new vice upon the sea, not spitting out shipwrecks, but devouring them.
Patitur et continens de caelo aut de suo.
The continent also suffers from heaven or from its own.
Aspice ad Palaestinam.
Look at Palestine.
Qua Iordanis amnis finium arbiter, vastitas ingens, et orba regio, et frustra ager.
Where the Jordan river is the arbiter of boundaries, there is a huge waste, a bereft region, and a useless field.
Et urbes retro, et populi frequentes, et solus audiebat.
And cities of old, and frequent peoples, and it was heard of as unique.
Dehinc, ut deus censor est, impietas ignium meruit imbres: hactenus Sodoma, et nulla Gomorrha, et cinis omnia, et propinquitas maris iuxta cum solo mortem vivit.
Then, as God is censor, impiety deserved rains of fire: thus far Sodom, and no Gomorrah, and all is ashes, and the proximity of the sea lives death along with the soil.
Ex huiuscemodi nubilo et Tuscia Vulsinios pristinos deusta, quo magis de montibus suis Campania speret, erepta Pompeios.
From a cloud of this kind, Etruria also was burnt as to its ancient Vulsinii, that Campania might the more expect from its own mountains, having been robbed of Pompeii.
Sed absit.
But far be it.
Utinam et Asia secura iam sit de soli ingluvie! Utinam et Africa semel voraginem paverit, unicis castris fraudatis expiata! Multa et alia huiusmodi detrimenta habitum orbis novavere situsque movere.
May Asia also be safe now from the gluttony of the soil! May Africa have fed the abyss but once, expiated by the loss of a single camp! Many other such losses have renewed the habit of the world and moved its sites.
Bellis quoque plurimum licuit.
Wars also have been allowed very much.
Sed piget tristia non minus quam regnorum vices recensere, quotiens et ista mutaverint iam inde a Nino Beli progenie; si tamen Ninus regnare primus, ut autumat superiorum profanitas.
But it is tedious to review sad things no less than the successions of kingdoms, how many times even these have changed from Ninus, the offspring of Belus; if indeed Ninus was the first to reign, as the profanity of ancestors asserts.
Ferme apud vos ultra stilus non solet.
Generally among you, the pen does not go beyond.
Ab Assyriis, si forte, aevi historiae patescunt.
From the Assyrians, if at all, the histories of time lie open.
Qui vero divinas lectitamus, ab ipsius mundi natalibus competes sumus.
But we who read the divine scriptures are companions from the very birth of the world.
Sed laeta iam malo, quippe et laeta mutant.
But now I prefer cheerful things, for indeed even cheerful things change.
Denique si quid mare diluit, caelum deussit, terra subduxit, gladius detotondit, alias versura compensati redit.
In short, if the sea has washed away anything, heaven burnt, earth withdrawn, sword shorn, it returns compensated by exchange elsewhere.
Nam et primitus maiorem ambitum terra cassa et vacans hominum, et sicubi aliqua gens occuparat, sibimet soli erat.
For at first, the earth was of a greater circuit, empty and vacant of men, and wherever any nation had occupied it, it was for itself alone.
Itaque colere omnia se demum intellegens alibi stipantem copiam, alibi deserentem, runcare atque ruspare consuluit, ut inde velut ex surculis et propaginibus populi de populis, urbes de urbibus per ubique orbis pangerentur.
And so, understanding that it must finally cultivate all, seeing the abundance crowding in one place and deserting in another, it resolved to weed and dig, so that thence, as if from shoots and layers, peoples from peoples, cities from cities might be planted throughout the world.
Transvolavere redundantium gentium examina.
Swarms of redundant nations flew across.
Scythae exuberant Persas, Phoenices in Africam eructant, Romanos Phryges pariunt, Chaldaeum semen in Aegyptum educatur, dehinc cum inde transducitur, Iudaea gens est.
Scythians overflow into Persians, Phoenicians vomit into Africa, Phrygians give birth to Romans, the Chaldean seed is brought up into Egypt, and then when transferred thence, becomes the Judean nation.
Sic et Herculea posteritas Temeno pariter Peloponnesum occupando producunt.
Thus also the Heraclidae, by occupying the Peloponnesus with Temenus, likewise produce offspring.
Sic et Iones Nelei comites Asiam novis urbibus instruunt; sic et Corinthii cum Archia muniunt Syracusas.
Thus also the Ionians, companions of Neleus, furnish Asia with new cities; thus also the Corinthians with Archias fortify Syracuse.
Sed vanum iam antiquitas, quando curricula nostra coram.
But antiquity is now vain, when our own courses are before us.
Quantum reformavit orbis saeculum istud! quantum urbium aut produxit aut auxit aut reddidit praesentis imperii triplex virtus! Deo tot Augustis in unum favente, quot census transcripti? quot populi repugnati? quot ordines illustrati? quot barbari exclusi? Revera orbis cultissimum huius imperii rus est, eradicato omni aconito hostilitatis et cacto et rubo subdolae familiaritatis convulso, et amoenus super Alcinoi pometum et Midae rosetum.
How much has this age reshaped the world! How many cities has the triple virtue of the present empire either produced or increased or restored! With God favoring so many Augusti in unity, how many tax rolls have been rewritten? how many peoples subdued? how many ranks illustrated? how many barbarians excluded? In truth, the world is the most cultivated countryside of this empire, all aconite of hostility having been eradicated, and the cactus and bramble of insidious familiarity torn up, and it is pleasant beyond the orchard of Alcinous and the rose garden of Midas.
Laudans igitur orbem mutantem, quid denotas hominem?
Praising, therefore, a changing world, why do you censure a changing man?