De rerum natura

NOTES. 95
ipsi of the Mss. All medicines are poison ; and Lucr. is contrasting
the skill of doctors, in graduating a dose of what would be fatal in
large quantities, with the ignorance which led uncivillsed men to poison
themselves. dare and uti are both technically used of doctors. From
biSovai, which is used like darey comes our 'dose*.
loii— 1027.
Nejct thty cavie to tise huts, skins, andfire which softencd
iheir bodies, ivhile family life and the caresses of children made them
less harsh and cruel. The next step ivas friendship among neigh-
bours, and agreements which, if not in all cases, at least in many,
were respected.
loii. ignemque: the discovery of fire is described in detail below
(11. 1091—1104); after finishing his first sketch of the narrative, Lucr.
seems to have thought more should be said on so important a subject.
Darwin says ' the discovery of fire, probably the greatest, excepting lan
guage, made by man, dates from before the dawn of history '.
1012. The line in italics was written by Munro to supply the place
of a lost line of the original.
* lecti sodalia iura, ' the bigj^ing tiesjDf wediock '.
10 14. primum is an adverb.
1015. curavit = effecit; often so used by Lucr.
1016. non ita iam, ovKiri 6/J.oius, ' no longer as before '. non
iam = oiiK4Ti, nondum^oSird).
1018. ingenium fregere superbum, ' broke down the haughty
temper '.
^
1020. inter se goes with iungere. Compare the account given in
Plato (Rep. 358 e) of the origin of justice : fio/cet 'KvaiTekeLV ^wOidOai.
oKKriKoii fi.Tfr' d5iKetv p.rfr' d.5iKH(x6ai.
loii. * commendarunt, sc. homines supplied out oi finitimi; ' jnen
• !tKk ff] jrot£ction (pr *.
J027. balbe * ' stammeringlv '. properly applies only to \h& pueri;
comp. Hor. Ep. ii i n6 os tenerum pueri balbumque. sipiificarent,
sc.pueri et midieres.
sative .
1023. imbecillorum : misereri takes a genitive, miserari an accu-
1024. - ommmodis', '
word, see n. to 1. 190.
w
ithout ex«^tion'; for the formation of the
1025. botia magnaque=bene magna; comp. plcno bcne, L 708.
caste=- intemerate. ^ ^
» ^-^.
9-2