Book V - Part 06 - Origins And Savage Period Of Mankind Poem Rhyme Scheme

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But mortal man	A
Was then far hardier in the old champaign	B
As well he should be since a hardier earth	C
Had him begotten builded too was he	D
Of bigger and more solid bones within	E
And knit with stalwart sinews through the flesh	F
Nor easily seized by either heat or cold	G
Or alien food or any ail or irk	H
And whilst so many lustrums of the sun	I
Rolled on across the sky men led a life	J
After the roving habit of wild beasts	K
Not then were sturdy guiders of curved ploughs	L
And none knew then to work the fields with iron	M
Or plant young shoots in holes of delved loam	N
Or lop with hooked knives from off high trees	O
The boughs of yester year What sun and rains	P
To them had given what earth of own accord	Q
Created then was boon enough to glad	R
Their simple hearts Mid acorn laden oaks	S
Would they refresh their bodies for the nonce	T
And the wild berries of the arbute tree	D
Which now thou seest to ripen purple red	U
In winter time the old telluric soil	V
Would bear then more abundant and more big	W
And many coarse foods too in long ago	X
The blooming freshness of the rank young world	Y
Produced enough for those poor wretches there	Z
And rivers and springs would summon them of old	G
To slake the thirst as now from the great hills	A2
The water's down rush calls aloud and far	B2
The thirsty generations of the wild	C2
So too they sought the grottos of the Nymphs	D2
The woodland haunts discovered as they ranged	E2
From forth of which they knew that gliding rills	D2
With gush and splash abounding laved the rocks	D2
The dripping rocks and trickled from above	F2
Over the verdant moss and here and there	Z
Welled up and burst across the open flats	D2
As yet they knew not to enkindle fire	G2
Against the cold nor hairy pelts to use	D2
And clothe their bodies with the spoils of beasts	D2
But huddled in groves and mountain caves and woods	D2
And 'mongst the thickets hid their squalid backs	D2
When driven to flee the lashings of the winds	D2
And the big rains Nor could they then regard	H2
The general good nor did they know to use	D2
In common any customs any laws	D2
Whatever of booty fortune unto each	I2
Had proffered each alone would bear away	J2
By instinct trained for self to thrive and live	K2
And Venus in the forests then would link	L2
The lovers' bodies for the woman yielded	M2
Either from mutual flame or from the man's	D2
Impetuous fury and insatiate lust	N2
Or from a bribe as acorn nuts choice pears	D2
Or the wild berries of the arbute tree	D
And trusting wondrous strength of hands and legs	D2
They'd chase the forest wanderers the beasts	D2
And many they'd conquer but some few they fled	U
A skulk into their hiding places	D2
	-
With the flung stones and with the ponderous heft	O2
Of gnarled branch And by the time of night	P2
O'ertaken they would throw like bristly boars	D2
Their wildman's limbs naked upon the earth	C
Rolling themselves in leaves and fronded boughs	D2
Nor would they call with lamentations loud	Q2
Around the fields for daylight and the sun	I
Quaking and wand'ring in shadows of the night	P2
But silent and buried in a sleep they'd wait	R2
Until the sun with rosy flambeau brought	S2
The glory to the sky From childhood wont	T2
Ever to see the dark and day begot	S2
In times alternate never might they be	D
Wildered by wild misgiving lest a night	P2
Eternal should posses the lands with light	P2
Of sun withdrawn forever But their care	Z
Was rather that the clans of savage beasts	D2
Would often make their sleep time horrible	U2
For those poor wretches and from home y driven	I
They'd flee their rocky shelters at approach	V2
Of boar the spumy lipped or lion strong	W2
And in the midnight yield with terror up	X2
To those fierce guests their beds of out spread leaves	D2
	-
And yet in those days not much more than now	Y2
Would generations of mortality	D
Leave the sweet light of fading life behind	Z2
Indeed in those days here and there a man	A
More oftener snatched upon and gulped by fangs	D2
Afforded the beasts a food that roared alive	K2
Echoing through groves and hills and forest trees	D2
Even as he viewed his living flesh entombed	A3
Within a living grave whilst those whom flight	P2
Had saved with bone and body bitten shrieked	B3
Pressing their quivering palms to loathsome sores	D2
With horrible voices for eternal death	C3
Until forlorn of help and witless what	D3
Might medicine their wounds the writhing pangs	D2
Took them from life But not in those far times	D2
Would one lone day give over unto doom	E3
A soldiery in thousands marching on	F3
Beneath the battle banners nor would then	G3
The ramping breakers of the main seas dash	H3
Whole argosies and crews upon the rocks	D2
But ocean uprisen would often rave in vain	B
Without all end or outcome and give up	X2
Its empty menacings as lightly too	I3
Nor soft seductions of a serene sea	D
Could lure by laughing billows any man	A
Out to disaster for the science bold	G
Of ship sailing lay dark in those far times	D2
Again 'twas then that lack of food gave o'er	G2
Men's fainting limbs to dissolution now	Y2
'Tis plenty overwhelms Unwary they	J2
Oft for themselves themselves would then outpour	J3
The poison now with nicer art themselves	D2
They give the drafts to others	D2

Lucretius

Book V - Part 06 - Origins And Savage Period Of Mankind Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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