On the Nature of Things/The Discourses/The Meditations Quotes

“When at last with limbs intertwined
They enjoy the flower of their youth
And the body anticipates already the pleasure to come
And they have reached the oint at which Venus
Sows seed in the field of womankind,
They tighten against each other avidly
Mingling the saliva in their mouths
And, pressing lips against teeth,
Each inhales the breath of the other-
In vain, since nothing can detach from her body,
He cannot penetrate it with his entire body,
Losing himself in that body.”
― Lucretius, On the Nature of Things/The Discourses/The Meditations

“My discourse on the lofty law of gods and heavens above,
And shall reveal the building blocks all things are fashioned of,
Nature's prime particles, from which she nourishes and grows
All things, and into which once more she makes them decompose.
We term them in philosophy, according to our needs,
Matter, atoms, generative bodies, elements, and seeds
And first-beginnings since it is from these that all proceeds.”
― Lucretius, On the Nature of Things/The Discourses/The Meditations