Denique iam quoniam generatim reddita finis crescendi rebus constat vitamque tenendi, et quid quaeque queant per foedera naturai, quid porro nequeant, sancitum quandoquidem extat, nec commutatur quicquam, quin omnia constant usque adeo variae volucres ut in ordine cunctae ostendant maculas generalis corpore inesse, inmutabili materiae quoque corpus habere debent nimirum; nam si primordia rerum commutari aliqua possent ratione revicta, incertum quoque iam constet quid possit oriri, quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens, nec totiens possent generatim saecla referre naturam mores victum motusque parentum.
Again, since a limit has been fixed for the growth of things after their kind and for their tenure of life, and since it stands decreed what each can do by the ordinances of nature, and also what each cannot do, and since nothing changes, but all things are constant to such a degree that all the different birds show in succession marks upon their bodies to distinguish their kind, they must also have beyond a doubt a body of immutable matter. For if the first-beginnings of things could be changed, being in any way overmastered, it would also now remain uncertain what could arise and what could not, in a word in what way each thing has its power limited and its deep-set boundary mark, nor could the generations so often repeat after their kind the nature, manners, living, and movements of their parents.
final_alignments\Lucretius_De_Rerum_Natura_Book1.json