第56章

And therefore kings were slain, And pristine majesty of golden thrones And haughty sceptres lay o'erturned in dust;And crowns, so splendid on the sovereign heads, Soon bloody under the proletarian feet, Groaned for their glories gone- for erst o'er-much Dreaded, thereafter with more greedy zest Trampled beneath the rabble heel.Thus things Down to the vilest lees of brawling mobs Succumbed, whilst each man sought unto himself Dominion and supremacy.So next Some wiser heads instructed men to found The magisterial office, and did frame Codes that they might consent to follow laws.

For humankind, o'er wearied with a life Fostered by force, was ailing from its feuds;And so the sooner of its own free will Yielded to laws and strictest codes.For since Each hand made ready in its wrath to take A vengeance fiercer than by man's fair laws Is now conceded, men on this account Loathed the old life fostered by force.'Tis thence That fear of punishments defiles each prize Of wicked days; for force and fraud ensnare Each man around, and in the main recoil On him from whence they sprung.Not easy 'tis For one who violates by ugly deeds The bonds of common peace to pass a life Composed and tranquil.For albeit he 'scape The race of gods and men, he yet must dread 'Twill not be hid forever- since, indeed, So many, oft babbling on amid their dreams Or raving in sickness, have betrayed themselves (As stories tell) and published at last Old secrets and the sins.

But nature 'twas Urged men to utter various sounds of tongue And need and use did mould the names of things, About in same wise as the lack-speech years Compel young children unto gesturings, Making them point with finger here and there At what's before them.For each creature feels By instinct to what use to put his powers.

Ere yet the bull-calf's scarce begotten horns Project above his brows, with them he 'gins Enraged to butt and savagely to thrust.

But whelps of panthers and the lion's cubs With claws and paws and bites are at the fray Already, when their teeth and claws be scarce As yet engendered.So again, we see All breeds of winged creatures trust to wings And from their fledgling pinions seek to get A fluttering assistance.Thus, to think That in those days some man apportioned round To things their names, and that from him men learned Their first nomenclature, is foolery.

For why could he mark everything by words And utter the various sounds of tongue, what time The rest may be supposed powerless To do the same? And, if the rest had not Already one with other used words, Whence was implanted in the teacher, then, Fore-knowledge of their use, and whence was given To him alone primordial faculty To know and see in mind what 'twas he willed?

Besides, one only man could scarce subdue An overmastered multitude to choose To get by heart his names of things.A task Not easy 'tis in any wise to teach And to persuade the deaf concerning what 'Tis needful for to do.For ne'er would they Allow, nor ne'er in anywise endure Perpetual vain dingdong in their ears Of spoken sounds unheard before.And what, At last, in this affair so wondrous is, That human race (in whom a voice and tongue Were now in vigour) should by divers words Denote its objects, as each divers sense Might prompt?- since even the speechless herds, aye, since The very generations of wild beasts Are wont dissimilar and divers sounds To rouse from in them, when there's fear or pain, And when they burst with joys.And this, forsooth, 'Tis thine to know from plainest facts: when first Huge flabby jowls of mad Molossian hounds, Baring their hard white teeth, begin to snarl, They threaten, with infuriate lips peeled back, In sounds far other than with which they bark And fill with voices all the regions round.

And when with fondling tongue they start to lick Their puppies, or do toss them round with paws, Feigning with gentle bites to gape and snap, They fawn with yelps of voice far other then Than when, alone within the house, they bay, Or whimpering slink with cringing sides from blows.

Again the neighing of the horse, is that Not seen to differ likewise, when the stud In buoyant flower of his young years raves, Goaded by winged Love, amongst the mares, And when with widening nostrils out he snorts The call to battle, and when haply he Whinnies at times with terror-quaking limbs?

Lastly, the flying race, the dappled birds, Hawks, ospreys, sea-gulls, searching food and life Amid the ocean billows in the brine, Utter at other times far other cries Than when they fight for food, or with their prey Struggle and strain.And birds there are which change With changing weather their own raucous songs-As long-lived generations of the crows Or flocks of rooks, when they be said to cry For rain and water and to call at times For winds and gales.Ergo, if divers moods Compel the brutes, though speechless evermore, To send forth divers sounds, O truly then How much more likely 'twere that mortal men In those days could with many a different sound Denote each separate thing.

And now what cause Hath spread divinities of gods abroad Through mighty nations, and filled the cities full Of the high altars, and led to practices Of solemn rites in season- rites which still Flourish in midst of great affairs of state And midst great centres of man's civic life, The rites whence still a poor mortality Is grafted that quaking awe which rears aloft Still the new temples of gods from land to land And drives mankind to visit them in throngs On holy days- 'tis not so hard to give Reason thereof in speech.Because, in sooth, Even in those days would the race of man Be seeing excelling visages of gods With mind awake; and in his sleeps, yet more-Bodies of wondrous growth.And, thus, to these Would men attribute sense, because they seemed To move their limbs and speak pronouncements high, Befitting glorious visage and vast powers.