In the beginning the Earth brought forth all kinds Of plants and growing verdure on hillsides And over all the plains: the flowering meadows Shone with green colour: next to the various trees Was given a mighty emulous impulse To shoot up into the air with unchecked growth. As feathers, hairs and bristles first are born On limbs of quadrupeds and on the bodies Of winged fowl, so the new Earth then put forth Grasses and brushwood first, and afterwards Gave birth to all the breeds of mortal things, That sprang up many in number, in many modes And divers fashions. For no animals Can have dropped from the sky, nor can land-creatures Have issued from the salt pools. Hence it is That with good reason the Earth has won the name Of Mother, since from the Earth all things are born. And many living creatures even now Rise from the soil, formed by rains, and the sun’s Fierce heat. Therefore the less strange it appears If then they arose more numerous and more large Fostered by a new earth and atmosphere. So first of all the varied families And tribes of birds would leave their eggs, hatched out In the spring season, as now the cicadas In summer-time leave of their own accord Their filmy skins in search of food and life. Then was the time when first the Earth produced The race of mortal men. For in the fields Plenteous heat and moisture would abound, So that wherever a fit place occurred, Wombs would grow, fastened to the earth by roots: And when the warmth of the infants in due time, Avoiding moisture and demanding air, Had broken these wombs open, then would Nature Turn to that place the porous ducts of the Earth, Compelling it to exude through open veins A milk-like liquid, just as nowadays After child-bearing every woman is filled With sweet milk; for with her too the whole flow Of nutriment sets streaming towards her breasts. Earth to these children furnished food, the heat Clothing, the grass a bed, well lined with rich Luxuriance of soft down. Moreover then The world in its fresh newness would give rise Neither to rigorous cold nor extreme heat, Nor violent storms of wind, for in a like Proportion all things grow and gather strength.