Moreover, if there never was a time Of origin when earth and heaven were born, If they have always been from everlasting, Why then before the Theban war and Troy’s Destruction, have not other poets sung Of other deeds as well? Whither have vanished So many exploits of so many men? Why are they nowhere blossoming engrafted On the eternal monuments of fame? But in truth, as I think, this sum of things Is in its youth: the nature of the world Is recent, and began not long ago. Wherefore even now some arts are being wrought To their last polish, some are still in growth. Of late many improvements have been made In navigation, and musicians too Have given birth to new melodious sounds. Also this theory of the nature of things Has been discovered lately, and I myself Have only now been found the very first Able to turn it into our native words. Nevertheless, if you perchance believe That long ago these things were just the same, But that the generations of mankind Perished by scorching heat, or that their cities Fell in some great convulsion of the world, Or else that flooded by incessant rains Devouring rivers broke forth over the earth And swallowed up whole towns, so much the more Must you admit that there will come to pass A like destruction of earth and heaven too. For when things were assailed by such great maladies And dangers, if some yet more fatal cause Had whelmed them, they would then have been dissolved In havoc and vast ruin far and wide. And in no other way do we perceive That we are mortal, save that we all alike In turn fall sick of the same maladies As those whom Nature has withdrawn from life.