'Let's Talk of Worms...'Author(s): Darwin and J. D. D.Source: The Classical Review, Vol. 37, No. 5/6 (Aug. - Sep., 1923), p. 97Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/697282 .
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The Classical Review AUGUST-SEPTEMBER, 1923
TWO TRANSLATIONS
'LET US EAT AND DRINK ...
IF I drink water while this doth last, May I never again drink wine: For how can a man, in his life of a span, Do anything better than dine ? We'll dine and drink, and say if we
think That anything better can be; And when we have dined, wish all man-
kind May dine as well as we.
T. L. PEACOCK.
Quis Baccho potior deus ? Dum cadi mihi suppetunt, Exul his aqua sit labris : Sin minus, mala Tantali
Viuum me sitis urat. Vitae summa iubet fugax Indulgere mero et cibis; Adque mala ubi uentum erit, Turn precabimur omnibus
Tam bene esse epulari. E. H.
" LET'S TALK OF WORMS...
WHEN we behold a wide, turf-covered
expanse, we should remember that its
smoothness, on which so much of its
beauty depends, is mainly due to all
the inequalities having been slowly
levelled by earth-worms. It is a mar-
vellous reflection that the whole of the
superficial mould over any such expanse has passed, and will again pass every few years, through the bodies of worms.
The plough is one of the most ancient
and valuable of man's inventions; but
long before he existed the land was in
fact regularly ploughed, and still con-
tinues to be thus ploughed, by earth-
worms. It may be doubted whether
there are many other animals which
have played so important a part in the
history of the world as have these lowly
organised creatures.-DARWIN.
Praeterea late florentis gramine campos cum uideas, nimirum oculis uenit inde
uoluptas praesertim quia plana patent campi
aequora circum: plana autem factast, quae quondam erat
aspera, tellus uermiculorum opera qui in terris inue-
niuntur. hi loca camporum pedetemptim leuia
reddunt; nam quae uestit humus molli quasi
cortice campum, transiit haec omnis per corpora uer-
miculorum transibitque iterum paucis uoluentibus
annis. rem tu, si reputes, merito mirabere
tantam. sunt antiqua hominum, sunt et prae-
clara reperta, praecipuasque meret laudes inuentor
aratri; ante tamen genitos homines, ut tempus
ad hoc fit, uermes usque suo uertebant uomere
glaebas. huic igitur summae uix ulla animalia
tantum contulerunt, quantum tam paucis sen-
sibus aucti uermiculi. J. D. D.
NO. CCXC. VOL. XXXVII. G
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