Dēnique cūr ācrīs violentia trīste leōnum
sēminium sequitur, volpēs dolus, et fuga cervōs?
ā patribus datur et [ā] patrius pavor incitat artūs,
et iam cētera dē genere hoc cūr omnia membrīs
ex ineunte aevō generāscunt ingeniōque,745
sī nōn, certa suō quia sēmine sēminiōque
vīs animī pariter crēscit cum corpore quōque?
quod sī inmortālīs foret et mūtāre solēret
corpora, permixtīs animantēs mōribus essent,
effugeret canis Hyrcānō dē sēmine saepe750
cornigeri incursum cervī tremeretque per aurās
āëris accipiter fugiēns veniente columbā,
dēsiperent hominēs, saperent fera saecla ferārum.
illud enim falsā fertur ratiōne, quod aiunt
inmortālem animam mūtātō corpore flectī;755
quod mūtātur enim, dissolvitur, interit ergō;
trāiciuntur enim partēs atque ōrdine migrant;
quārē dissoluī quoque dēbent posse per artūs,
dēnique ut intereant ūnā cum corpore cūnctae.
sīn animās hominum dīcent in corpora semper760
īre hūmāna, tamen quaeram cūr ē sapientī
stulta queat fierī, nec prūdēns sit puer ūllus,
[sī nōn, certa suō quia sēmine sēminiōque]
nec tam doctus equae pullus quam fortis equī vīs.
scīlicet in tenerō tenerāscere corpore mentem765
cōnfugient. quod sī iam fit, fateāre necessest
mortālem esse animam, quoniam mūtāta per artūs
tantō opere āmittit vītam sēnsumque priōrem.
quōve modō poterit pariter cum corpore quōque
cōnfirmāta cupītum aetātis tangere flōrem770
vīs animī, nisi erit cōnsors in orīgine prīmā?
quidve forās sibi vult membrīs exīre senectīs?
an metuit conclūsa manēre in corpore putrī
et domus aetātis spatiō nē fessa vetustō
obruat? at nōn sunt immortālī ūlla perīcla.775
notes
741-775: Each species has its own characteristic way of classifying threats. This shows that the animus grows up with the corpus, and does not enter fully-formed from outside. The objection that heredity is accounted for by the fact that a human animus (for example) can enter a only a human body is answered with the observation that the animus itself changes over time, and is not a pre-formed and eternal thing. If it were, children would be instantly wise and would not have to grow into their wisdom. This evidence that the animus changes and strengthens as it grows, again argues that the animus is mortal.
742-747: et (line 742) joins sequitur to [datur ... et ... incitat ... et generascunt] (lines 742-745); the cur is repeated in line 744, but belongs to all the clauses leading up to si non ... quia in line 746. membris (line 744) and ingenio- (line 745) are local ablatives.
748: foret = esset. mutare ... / corpora travel from one body (at death) to another (at birth).
750: Hyrcano the dogs of Hyrcania, on the Caspian Sea, seem to have been famous for ferocity.
755: immortalem emphasizes the essential inconsistency of the argument; for Lucr. that which is immortal is also unchanging.
756: quod = hoc quod.
757: ordine migrant "depart from their assigned positions;" the metaphor is slightly military; ablative of separation is one of several constructions possible with migro.
759: intereant result.
760: dicent the subject is a group of imagined philosophical interlocutors.
762: stulta modifies an understood anima, as does sapienti.
764: equae pullus "a mare's colt". cp. line 8 fortis equi vi "a mighty horse;"
766: confugient "take refuge in/resort to [the following argument]," authorizing indirect discourse. fateare general second person singular: "it is necessary that you admit;" necessest is often used with the simple subjunctive (as well as accusative and infinitive; and ut and subjunctive), and Lucr. uses this phrase ten times in DRN, almost always at the end of the line. Cf. 470, 578.
771: in origine prima, i.e., right from the start, from birth.
772: vult subject is anima.
773: metuit has two different yet parallel complements: (a.) manere, an object infinitive, and (b.) ne ... obruat, a clause of fearing. conclusa : circumstantial participle: "does it fear to remain, since it is enclosed in a rotting body?"