Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 4.973-983
“And whenever people give uninterrupted attention
To games many days in a row, we often see
That when they have stopped training their senses on this,
There are still certain pathways left open in the mind
Where the impressions of these things still may enter.
For many days later then, they see these same images
Before their eyes so that even when they are alert
They think they see dancers moving their soft limbs,
And their ears catch bits of the lyre’s liquid song or ringing chords
And along with it the marvelous props of the stage shine on”
Et quicumque dies multos ex ordine ludis
adsiduas dederunt operas, plerumque videmus,
cum iam destiterunt ea sensibus usurpare,
relicuas tamen esse vias in mente patentis,
qua possint eadem rerum simulacra venire.
per multos itaque illa dies eadem obversantur
ante oculos, etiam vigilantes ut videantur
cernere saltantis et mollia membra moventis,
et citharae liquidum carmen chordasque loquentis
auribus accipere, et consessum cernere eundem
scenaique simul varios splendere decores.
