The Complaint of NatureThe complaint of nature, Yale studies in English, v. 36 (1908), Translation of De planctu natura. by Douglas M. Moffat. Pagination preserved in etext form. |
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Page 11
... desert places . The swan , herald of its own death , foretold with its honey- 230 sweet lyre of music the stopping of its life . There on the peacock Nature had rained so great a treasure- PROSE I ] 11 The Complaint of Nature.
... desert places . The swan , herald of its own death , foretold with its honey- 230 sweet lyre of music the stopping of its life . There on the peacock Nature had rained so great a treasure- PROSE I ] 11 The Complaint of Nature.
Page 12
... death aroused itself from the dead . The bird of concord1 paid tribute to Nature by dec- imating its brood . There lived sparrows , shrunk to low , pygmean atoms ; while the crane opposite went 240 to the excess of gigantic size . The ...
... death aroused itself from the dead . The bird of concord1 paid tribute to Nature by dec- imating its brood . There lived sparrows , shrunk to low , pygmean atoms ; while the crane opposite went 240 to the excess of gigantic size . The ...
Page 15
... death by enemies . The lion murmured songs of its roar- 1 Migne has ab hostibus somnum mortis incurrebat , ' met through enemies the sleep of death . ' A. is to the same effect . ing in the ears of its offspring , and by PROSE I ] 15 ...
... death by enemies . The lion murmured songs of its roar- 1 Migne has ab hostibus somnum mortis incurrebat , ' met through enemies the sleep of death . ' A. is to the same effect . ing in the ears of its offspring , and by PROSE I ] 15 ...
Page 16
... death to the dogs for many an injury . The dog rent the winds with unsubstantial wounds , and bit the air with im- patient tooth . The stag and doe , light in fleetness of foot , gained life by their running , and cheated the 390 wicked ...
... death to the dogs for many an injury . The dog rent the winds with unsubstantial wounds , and bit the air with im- patient tooth . The stag and doe , light in fleetness of foot , gained life by their running , and cheated the 390 wicked ...
Page 23
... death , I struggled between the two . She , kindly raising me , strengthened my dizzy steps with the comfort of her supporting hands , and , encircling me in her embrace and sweet- ening my lips with modest kisses , made me well , who ...
... death , I struggled between the two . She , kindly raising me , strengthened my dizzy steps with the comfort of her supporting hands , and , encircling me in her embrace and sweet- ening my lips with modest kisses , made me well , who ...
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Common terms and phrases
¹ Reading Alain Alain de Lille another's anvils appearance avarice Bacchus banished beauty Ben Jonson birth body Charybdis chastity cithara clothed cloud coin color command concubinage countenance Cupid Cypris delight diadem divine dost earth edited with Introduction Emending Ennius evil face faith false falsehood Favonius favor flattery flatulence flood flowers garments gave gender Generosity Genius gifts glory Glossary grief guile hair hand harmonious head heaven Hippolytus honey honor human Hymen Jonson kiss labor light lust lyre madness majesty marriage marvelous matter METRE Migne mind mother mystery Nature ness night numbers Old English passion peace Ph.D picture Planctu plebeian poverty praise predicate pride PROSE reason rejoiced riches scorned Scylla seemed shine shipwreck silence sleep solemn song sorrow speech splendor stars stones stray suffer sweet tears thee thine things thou tunic Tyndaris Venus vices virgin virtue wandering wanton wealth wisdom Zephyrus
Popular passages
Page 49 - ... if it does not transgress the determined boundaries of the dual activity, or its heat boil to too great a degree. But if its spark shoots into a flame, or its little spring rises to a torrent, the rankness of the growth demands the pruning-knife, and the swelling «• and excess requires...
Page 3 - Natwa, in order to call attention to the prevalence of homosexual feeling; he also associated the neglect of women with sodomy. "Man is made woman," he writes; "he blackens the honor of his sex, the craft of magic Venus makes him of double gender"; nobly beautiful youths have "turned their hammers of love to the office of anvils," and "many kisses lie untouched on maiden lips.
Page 3 - ... orphan. The sex of active nature trembles shamefully at the way in which it declines into passive nature. Man is made woman, he blackens the honor of his sex, the craft of magic Venus makes him of double gender. He is both predicate and subject, he »• becomes likewise of two declensions, he pushes the laws of grammar too far.
Page 45 - ... in the outskirt world I stationed Venus, who is skilled in — the knowledge of making, as under-deputy of my work, in order that she, un^der my judgment and guidance, and with the assisting activity of her husband Hymen and her son Cupid, by laboring at the various...