And now that I have shown you how the sky’s Mansions are mortal, and that heaven is formed Of a body that had birth, and since of all That takes place and must needs take place therein I have unravelled most, give further heed To what remains. Since once I have made bold To mount the glorious chariot of the Muses,[I] I will now tell how in the upper air Tempests of wind arise; how all sinks down To rest once more: the turmoil that has been Vanishes, when its fury is appeased. And I will explain all else that mortals see Coming to pass on earth and in the sky, Such sights as often hold them in terrified Suspense of mind, humiliating themselves With fear of gods, and bow them grovelling Down to the ground, because they are compelled Through ignorance of the causes to assign All such things to the empire of the gods, Acknowledging their power to be supreme. For those who have learnt rightly that the gods Lead a life free from care, if yet they wonder By what means all things can be carried on, Such above all as are perceived to happen In the ethereal regions overhead, They are borne back again into their old Religious fears, and adopt pitiless lords, Whom in their misery they believe to be Almighty; for they are ignorant of what can And what cannot exist; in fine they know not Upon what principle each thing has its powers Limited, and its deep-set boundary stone. And therefore all the more they are led astray By blind reasoning. So that if you cannot Fling from your mind and banish far away All such belief in falsehoods that degrade The deities, and consist not with their peace, Then, thus by you disparaged and profaned, Oft will their holy godheads do you hurt; Not that their sovereign power can be impaired, So that in anger they should stoop to exact Fierce penalties, but because you yourself Will fancy that those placid beings throned In serene peace, can verily be tossed By great billows of wrath: nor will you enter With a calm breast the temples of the gods, Nor yet will you be able to receive In tranquil peace of spirit those images Which from their holy bodies, heralding Their divine beauty, float into men’s minds. And to what kind of life these errors lead May be imagined. Such credulity The most veracious reasoning alone Can drive far from us. And though to that end I have set forth much already, yet more still Remains for me to adorn in polished verses. The inward law and aspect of the heavens Must now be grasped: tempests and vivid lightnings, Their action and what cause sets them in motion, Must be described; lest, when you have mapped the sky Into augural divisions, you should then Quake in dismay, beholding from what quarter The flash sped in its flight, or on which side