Ab Lucretio Caro -

[V. Claudius Iohannes (alio nomine JKN)]

... Sic rerum summa novatur

semper, et inter se mortales mutua vivunt.

augescunt aliae gentes, aliae minuuntur,

inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum

et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.

 

Thus the sum of things is ever being renewed, and mortals live dependent one upon another. Some nations increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and, like runners, pass on the torch of life.

 

De Rerum Natura, Book II, lines 75-79.

 

[corrections 2016-Ian.-14]