Drossaart Lulofs (OCT, 1965) · Platt (1910)
Platt (1910)
Greek line numbers are exact. The translations carry no Bekker numbers of their own, so those beside the English are aligned to the Greek: upright = fixed (anchored to this point in the text), italic grey = approximate (interpolated estimate).
Book 4,Chapter 1 (763b20–766b26)
763b
20 Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς γενέσεως τῆς τῶν ζῴων εἴρηται
καὶ κοινῇ καὶ χωρὶς περὶ πάντων. ἐπεὶ δ' ἐν τοῖς τελειοτάτοις
αὐτῶν ἐστι τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν κεχωρισμένον, καὶ
ταύτας τὰς δυνάμεις ἀρχάς φαμεν εἶναι πάντων καὶ ζῴων
καὶ φυτῶν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν αὐτὰς ἀχωρίστους ἔχει τὰ δὲ
25 κεχωρισμένας, λεκτέον περὶ τῆς γενέσεως τῆς τούτων πρῶτον·
ἔτι γὰρ ἀτελῶν ὄντων ἐν τῷ γένει διορίζεται τὸ θῆλυ
καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν. πότερον δὲ καὶ πρὶν δήλην τὴν διαφορὰν εἶναι
πρὸς τὴν αἴσθησιν ἡμῶν τὸ μὲν θῆλυ τὸ δ' ἄρρεν ἐστίν, ἐν τῇ
μητρὶ λαβόντα τὴν διαφορὰν ἢ πρότερον, ἀμφισβητεῖται.
30 φασὶ γὰρ οἱ μὲν ἐν τοῖς σπέρμασιν εἶναι ταύτην τὴν ἐναντίωσιν
εὐθύς, οἷον Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ ἕτεροι τῶν φυσιολόγων·
γίγνεσθαί τε γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ἄρρενος τὸ σπέρμα, τὸ δὲ θῆλυ παρέχειν
τὸν τόπον, καὶ εἶναι τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν ἐκ τῶν δεξιῶν τὸ δὲ
θῆλυ ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν, καὶ τῆς ὑστέρας τὰ μὲν ἄρρενα ἐν τοῖς
20WE have thus spoken of the generation of animals both generally and separately in all the different classes. But, since male and female are distinct in the most perfect of them, and since we say that the sexes are first principles of all living things whether animals or plants, only in some of them the sexes are separated and in others not, therefore we must speak first of the origin of the sexes in the 25latter. For while the animal is still imperfect in its kind the distinction is already made between male and female.
It is disputed, however, whether the embryo is male or female, as the case may be, even before the distinction is plain to our senses, and further whether it is thus differentiated within the mother or even earlier. It is said by some, as by Anaxagoras and other of the physicists, that this 30antithesis exists from the beginning in the germs or seeds; for the germ, they say, comes from the male while the female only provides the place in which it is to be developed, and the male is from the right, the female from the left testis, and so also that the male embryo is in the right of the uterus, the female in the left.
It is disputed, however, whether the embryo is male or female, as the case may be, even before the distinction is plain to our senses, and further whether it is thus differentiated within the mother or even earlier. It is said by some, as by Anaxagoras and other of the physicists, that this 30antithesis exists from the beginning in the germs or seeds; for the germ, they say, comes from the male while the female only provides the place in which it is to be developed, and the male is from the right, the female from the left testis, and so also that the male embryo is in the right of the uterus, the female in the left.
764a
1 δεξιοῖς εἶναι τὰ δὲ θήλεα ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς. οἱ δ' ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ,
καθάπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς· τὰ μὲν γὰρ εἰς θερμὴν ἐλθόντα
τὴν ὑστέραν ἄρρενα γίγνεσθαί φησι τὰ δ' εἰς ψυχρὰν
θήλεα, τῆς δὲ θερμότητος καὶ τῆς ψυχρότητος τὴν τῶν
5 καταμηνίων αἰτίαν εἶναι ῥύσιν, ἢ ψυχροτέραν οὖσαν ἢ θερμοτέραν
καὶ παλαιοτέραν ἢ προσφατωτέραν. Δημόκριτος
δὲ ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης ἐν μὲν τῇ μητρὶ γίγνεσθαί φησι τὴν
διαφορὰν τοῦ θήλεος καὶ τοῦ ἄρρενος, οὐ μέντοι διὰ θερμότητά
γε ἢ ψυχρότητα τὸ μὲν γίγνεσθαι θῆλυ τὸ δ' ἄρρεν
10 ἀλλ' ὁποτέρου ἂν κρατήσῃ τὸ σπέρμα τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ μορίου
ἐλθὸν ᾧ διαφέρουσιν ἀλλήλων τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν.
τοῦτο γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ῥᾳθυμότερον ὑπείληφεν
οἰόμενος ψυχρότητι καὶ θερμότητι διαφέρειν μόνον ἀλλήλων,
ὁρῶν ὅλα τὰ μόρια μεγάλην ἔχοντα διαφορὰν τήν
15 τε τῶν αἰδοίων καὶ τὴν τῆς ὑστέρας. εἰ γὰρ πεπλασμένων
τῶν ζῴων, τοῦ μὲν τὰ μόρια ἔχοντος τὰ τοῦ θήλεος
τοῦ δὲ τὰ τοῦ ἄρρενος, καθάπερ εἰς κάμινον εἰς τὴν
ὑστέραν τεθείη, τὸ μὲν ἔχον ὑστέραν εἰς θερμὴν τὸ δὲ μὴ
ἔχον εἰς ψυχράν, ἔσται θῆλυ τὸ οὐκ ἔχον ὑστέραν καὶ ἄρρεν
20 τὸ ἔχον. τοῦτο δ' ἀδύνατον. ὥστε ταύτῃ γε βέλτιον ἂν λέγοι
Δημόκριτος· ζητεῖ γὰρ ταύτης τῆς γενέσεως τὴν διαφορὰν
καὶ πειρᾶται λέγειν—εἰ δὲ καλῶς ἢ μὴ καλῶς ἕτερος
λόγος. ἀλλὰ μὴν κἂν εἰ τῶν μορίων τῆς διαφορᾶς αἴτιον
ἡ θερμότης καὶ ἡ ψυχρότης τοῦτο λεκτέον ἦν τοῖς ἐκείνως
25 λέγουσιν· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὡς εἰπεῖν τὸ λέγειν περὶ γενέσεως
ἄρρενος καὶ θήλεος· τοῦτο γὰρ διαφέρει φανερῶς. οὐ μικρὸν
δὲ ἔργον τὸ ἀπ' ἐκείνης τῆς ἀρχῆς περὶ τῆς γενέσεως τούτων
τῶν μορίων τὴν αἰτίαν συναγαγεῖν, ὡς ἀναγκαῖον ἀκολουθεῖν
ψυχομένῳ μὲν τῷ ζῴῳ γίγνεσθαι τοῦτο τὸ μόριον ἣν
30 καλοῦσιν ὑστέραν, θερμαινομένῳ δὲ μὴ γίγνεσθαι. τὸν αὐτὸν
δὲ τρόπον καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰς τὴν ὁμιλίαν συντελούντων μορίων·
καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα διαφέρει καθάπερ εἴρηται πρότερον.
Ἔτι δὲ γίγνεται δίδυμα θῆλυ καὶ ἄρρεν ἅμα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ
μορίῳ πολλάκις τῆς ὑστέρας—καὶ τοῦθ' ἱκανῶς τεθεωρήκαμεν
35 ἐκ τῶν ἀνατομῶν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ζῳοτοκοῦσι, καὶ ἐν τοῖς
πεζοῖς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἰχθύσιν· περὶ ὧν εἰ μὲν μὴ συνεωράκει
εὐλόγως ἡμάρτανε ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν εἰπών, εἰ δ' ἑωρακώς,
1Others, as Empedocles, say that the differentiation takes place in the uterus; for he says that if the uterus is hot or cold what enters it becomes male or female, the cause of the heat or cold being the flow of the catamenia, according as it is colder or hotter, more ‘antique’ or more ‘recent’. Democritus of 5Abdera also says that the differentiation of sex takes place within the mother; that however it is not because of heat and cold that one embryo becomes female and another male, but that it depends on the question which parent it is whose semen prevails — not the whole of the semen, but that which has come from the part by which male and female differ from one another. This is a better 10theory, for certainly Empedocles has made a rather light-hearted assumption in thinking that the difference between them is due only to cold and heat, when he saw that there was a great difference in the whole of the sexual parts, the difference in fact between the male pudenda and the uterus. For suppose two animals already moulded in embryo, the one having all the parts of the female, the 15other those of the male; suppose them then to be put into the uterus as into an oven, the former when the oven is hot, the latter when it is cold; then on the view of Empedocles that which has no uterus will be female and that which has will be male. But this is impossible. Thus the theory of Democritus would be the better of the two, at least as far as this goes, for he seeks for the origin 20of this difference and tries to set it forth; whether he does so well or not is another question.
Again, if heat and cold were the cause of the difference of the parts, this ought to have been stated by those who maintain the view of Empedocles; for to explain the origin of male and female is practically the same thing as to explain this, which is the manifest difference between them. 25And it is no small matter, starting from temperature as a principle, to collect the cause of the origin of these parts, as if it were a necessary consequence for this part which they call the uterus to be formed in the embryo under the influence of cold but not under that of heat. The same applies also to the parts which serve for intercourse, since these also differ in the way stated 30previously.
Moreover male and female twins are often found together in the same part of the uterus; this we have observed sufficiently by dissection in all the vivipara, both land animals and fish. Now if Empedocles had not seen this it was only natural for him to fall into error in assigning this cause of his; but if he had seen it it is strange that he should still think the heat or cold 35of the uterus to be the cause, since on his theory both these twins would have become either male or female, but as it is we do not see this to be the fact.
Again, if heat and cold were the cause of the difference of the parts, this ought to have been stated by those who maintain the view of Empedocles; for to explain the origin of male and female is practically the same thing as to explain this, which is the manifest difference between them. 25And it is no small matter, starting from temperature as a principle, to collect the cause of the origin of these parts, as if it were a necessary consequence for this part which they call the uterus to be formed in the embryo under the influence of cold but not under that of heat. The same applies also to the parts which serve for intercourse, since these also differ in the way stated 30previously.
Moreover male and female twins are often found together in the same part of the uterus; this we have observed sufficiently by dissection in all the vivipara, both land animals and fish. Now if Empedocles had not seen this it was only natural for him to fall into error in assigning this cause of his; but if he had seen it it is strange that he should still think the heat or cold 35of the uterus to be the cause, since on his theory both these twins would have become either male or female, but as it is we do not see this to be the fact.
764b
1 ἄτοπον τὸ ἔτι νομίζειν αἰτίαν εἶναι τὴν τῆς ὑστέρας
θερμότητα ἢ ψυχρότητα· ἄμφω γὰρ ἂν ἐγίγνετο ἢ θήλεα
ἢ ἄρρενα, νῦν δὲ τοῦτ' οὐχ ὁρῶμεν συμβαῖνον. Λέγοντί τε
τὰ μόρια διεσπάσθαι τοῦ γιγνομένου (τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ
5 ἄρρενί φησιν εἶναι τὰ δ' ἐν τῷ θήλει, διὸ καὶ τῆς ἀλλήλων
ὁμιλίας ἐπιθυμεῖν) ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τῶν τοιούτων διῃρῆσθαι
τὸ μέγεθος καὶ γίγνεσθαι σύνοδον, ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ ψύξιν ἢ θερμασίαν.
ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῆς τοιαύτης αἰτίας τοῦ σπέρματος
τάχ' ἂν εἴη πολλὰ λέγειν· ὅλως γὰρ ἔοικεν ὁ τρόπος
10 τῆς αἰτίας πλασματώδης εἶναι. εἰ δ' ἐστὶ περὶ σπέρματος
οὕτως ἔχον ὥσπερ τυγχάνομεν εἰρηκότες, καὶ μήτ' ἀπὸ
παντὸς ἀπέρχεται μήθ' ὅλως τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος παρέχει
τοῖς γιγνομένοις ὕλην μηδεμίαν, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτον καὶ πρὸς
Δημόκριτον καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος οὕτω τυγχάνει λέγων ὁμοίως
15 ἀπαντητέον. οὔτε γὰρ διεσπασμένον ἐνδέχεται τὸ σῶμα
τοῦ σπέρματος εἶναι, τὸ μὲν ἐν τῷ θήλει τὸ δ' ἐν τῷ ἄρρενι,
καθάπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς φησιν εἰπών·
ἀλλὰ διέσπασται μελέων φύσις, ἡ μὲν ἐν ἀνδρός ... οὔτ' ἐξ ἑκατέρου πᾶν ἀποκρινόμενον
τῷ κρατῆσαί τι μέρος ἄλλου μέρους γίγνεσθαι τὸ
20 μὲν θῆλυ τὸ δ' ἄρρεν. ὅλως δὲ τό γε τὴν τοῦ μέρους ὑπεροχὴν
κρατήσασαν ποιεῖν θῆλυ βέλτιον μὲν ἢ μηθὲν φροντίσαντα
τὸ θερμὸν αἰτιᾶσθαι μόνον, τὸ μέντοι συμβαίνειν
ἅμα καὶ τὴν τοῦ αἰδοίου μορφὴν ἑτέραν δεῖται λόγου πρὸς
τὸ συνακολουθεῖν ἀεὶ ταῦτ' ἀλλήλοις. εἰ γὰρ ὅτι σύνεγγυς,
25 καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἕκαστον ἔδει μορίων ἀκολουθεῖν—ἑτέρῳ γὰρ
ἕτερον ἐγγὺς τῶν νικώντων—ὥστε ἅμα θῆλύ τ' ἂν ἦν καὶ
τῇ μητρὶ ἐοικὸς ἢ ἄρρεν καὶ τῷ πατρί. ἔτι ἄτοπον καὶ
τὸ μόνον ταῦτ' οἴεσθαι δεῖν γίγνεσθαι τὰ μόρια καὶ μὴ τὸ
σύνολον μεταβεβληκέναι σῶμα, καὶ μάλιστα καὶ πρῶτον τὰς
30 φλέβας περὶ ἃς ὡς περὶ ὑπογραφὴν τὸ σῶμα περίκειται
τὸ τῶν σαρκῶν. ἃς οὐ διὰ τὴν ὑστέραν εὔλογον γενέσθαι
ποιάς τινας, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον δι' ἐκείνας τὴν ὑστέραν· ὑποδοχὴ
γὰρ αἵματός τινος ἑκάτερον, προτέρα δ' ἡ τῶν φλεβῶν.
τὴν δὲ κινοῦσαν ἀρχὴν ἀναγκαῖον ἀεὶ προτέραν εἶναι
35 καὶ τῆς γενέσεως αἰτίαν τῷ ποιὰν εἶναί τινα. συμβαίνει
μὲν οὖν ἡ διαφορὰ τῶν μερῶν τούτων πρὸς ἄλληλα τοῖς θήλεσι
καὶ τοῖς ἄρρεσιν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀρχὴν οἰητέον οὐδ' αἰτίαν
1Again he says that the parts of the embryo are ‘sundered’, some being in the male and some in the female parent, which is why they desire intercourse with one another. If so it is necessary that the sexual parts like the rest should be separated from one another, already existing as masses of a certain 5size, and that they should come into being in the embryo on account of uniting with one another, not on account of cooling or heating of the semen. But perhaps it would take too long to discuss thoroughly such a cause as this which is stated by Empedocles, for its whole character seems to be fanciful. If, however, the facts about semen are such as we have actually stated, if it 10does not come from the whole of the body of the male parent and if the secretion of the male does not give any material at all to the embryo, then we must make a stand against both Empedocles and Democritus and any one else who argues on the same lines. For then it is not possible that the body of the embryo should exist ‘sundered’, part in the female parent and part in the male, 15as Empedocles says in the words: ‘But the nature of the limbs hath been sundered, part in the man’s . . . ’; nor yet that a whole embryo is drawn off from each parent and the combination of the two becomes male or female according as one part prevails over another.
And, to take a more general view, though it is better to say that the one part makes the embryo female by prevailing 20through some superiority than to assign nothing but heat as the cause without any reflection, yet, as the form of the pudendum also varies along with the uterus from that of the father, we need an explanation of the fact that both these parts go along with each other. If it is because they are near each other, then each of the other parts also ought to go with them, for one of 25the prevailing parts is always near another part where the struggle is not yet decided; thus the offspring would be not only female or male but also like its mother or father respectively in all other details.
Besides, it is absurd to suppose that these parts should come into being as something isolated, without the body as a whole having changed along with them. Take first and 30foremost the blood-vessels, round which the whole mass of the flesh lies as round a framework. It is not reasonable that these should become of a certain quality because of the uterus, but rather that the uterus should do so on account of them. For though it is true that each is a receptacle of blood of some kind, still the system of the vessels is prior to the other; the moving 35principle must needs always be prior to that which it moves, and it is because it is itself of a certain quality that it is the cause of the development.
And, to take a more general view, though it is better to say that the one part makes the embryo female by prevailing 20through some superiority than to assign nothing but heat as the cause without any reflection, yet, as the form of the pudendum also varies along with the uterus from that of the father, we need an explanation of the fact that both these parts go along with each other. If it is because they are near each other, then each of the other parts also ought to go with them, for one of 25the prevailing parts is always near another part where the struggle is not yet decided; thus the offspring would be not only female or male but also like its mother or father respectively in all other details.
Besides, it is absurd to suppose that these parts should come into being as something isolated, without the body as a whole having changed along with them. Take first and 30foremost the blood-vessels, round which the whole mass of the flesh lies as round a framework. It is not reasonable that these should become of a certain quality because of the uterus, but rather that the uterus should do so on account of them. For though it is true that each is a receptacle of blood of some kind, still the system of the vessels is prior to the other; the moving 35principle must needs always be prior to that which it moves, and it is because it is itself of a certain quality that it is the cause of the development.
765a
1 εἶναι ταύτην ἀλλ' ἑτέραν, κἂν εἰ μηθὲν ἀποκρίνεται σπέρμα
μήτε ἀπὸ τοῦ θήλεος μήτ' ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος, ἀλλ' ὅπως
δή ποτε συνίσταται [τὸ σπέρμα] τὸ γιγνόμενον. Ὁ δ' αὐτὸς
λόγος καὶ πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν ἀπὸ τῶν δεξιῶν
5 εἶναι τὸ δὲ θῆλυ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀριστερῶν, ὅσπερ καὶ πρὸς
Ἐμπεδοκλέα καὶ πρὸς Δημόκριτον. εἴτε γὰρ μηδεμίαν ὕλην
συμβάλλεται τὸ ἄρρεν οὐθὲν ἂν λέγοιεν οἱ λέγοντες οὕτως·
εἴτε καὶ συμβάλλεται καθάπερ φασίν, ὁμοίως ἀναγκαῖον
ἀπαντᾶν καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ἐμπεδοκλέους λόγον ὃς διορίζει τὸ
10 θῆλυ πρὸς τὸ ἄρρεν θερμότητι καὶ ψυχρότητι τῆς ὑστέρας.
οἱ δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιοῦσι τοῖς δεξιοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς ὁρίζοντες,
ὁρῶντες διαφέροντα τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν καὶ μορίοις
ὅλοις—ὧν διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν ὑπάρξει τοῖς ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν,
τοῖς δ' ἐκ τῶν δεξιῶν οὐχ ὑπάρξει τὸ σῶμα τὸ τῆς
15 ὑστέρας; ἂν γὰρ ἔλθῃ μὲν μὴ σχῇ δὲ τοῦτο τὸ μόριον,
ἔσται θῆλυ οὐκ ἔχον ὑστέραν καὶ ἄρρεν ἔχον, ἂν τύχῃ. ἔτι
δ' ὅπερ εἴρηται καὶ πρότερον, ὦπται καὶ θῆλυ ἐν τῷ δεξιῷ
μέρει τῆς ὑστέρας καὶ ἄρρεν ἐν τῷ ἀριστερῷ καὶ ἄμφω
ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ μέρει, καὶ τοῦτ' οὐχ ὅτι ἅπαξ ἀλλὰ πλεονάκις
20 [ἢ τὸ ἄρρεν μὲν ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς τὸ θῆλυ δ' ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς·
οὐχ ἧττον δὲ ἀμφότερα γίγνεται ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς]. παραπλησίως
δέ τινες πεπεισμένοι τούτοις εἰσὶ καὶ λέγουσιν
ὡς τὸν δεξιὸν ὄρχιν ἀποδουμένοις ἢ τὸν ἀριστερὸν συμβαίνει
τοῖς ὀχεύουσιν ἀρρενοτοκεῖν ἢ θηλυτοκεῖν· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ
25 Λεωφάνης ἔλεγεν. ἐπί τε τῶν ἐκτεμνομένων τὸν ἕτερον ὄρχιν
τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο συμβαίνειν τινές φασιν, οὐκ ἀληθῆ λέγοντες
ἀλλὰ μαντευόμενοι τὸ συμβησόμενον ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων
καὶ προλαμβάνοντες ὡς οὕτως ἔχον πρὶν γιγνόμενον
οὕτως ἰδεῖν, ἔτι δ' ἀγνοοῦντες ὡς οὐθὲν συμβάλλεται πρὸς
30 τὴν γένεσιν τῆς ἀρρενογονίας καὶ θηλυγονίας τὰ μόρια ταῦτα
τοῖς ζῴοις. τούτου δὲ σημεῖον ὅτι πολλὰ τῶν ζῴων αὐτά τε
θήλεα καὶ ἄρρενά ἐστι, καὶ γεννᾷ τὰ μὲν θήλεα τὰ δ'
ἄρρενα ὄρχεις οὐκ ἔχοντα, καθάπερ τὰ μὴ ἔχοντα πόδας,
οἷον τό τε τῶν ἰχθύων γένος καὶ τὸ τῶν ὄφεων. Τὸ μὲν
35 οὖν θερμότητα καὶ ψυχρότητα αἰτίαν οἴεσθαι τοῦ ἄρρενος
καὶ τοῦ θήλεος καὶ τὸ τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ἀπὸ τῶν δεξιῶν γίγνεσθαι
1The difference, then, of these parts as compared with each other in the two sexes is only a concomitant result; not this but something else must be held to be the first principle and the cause of the development of an embryo as male or female; this is so even if no semen is secreted by either male or female, but the embryo is 5formed in any way you please.
The same argument as that with which we meet Empedocles and Democritus will serve against those who say that the male comes from the right and the female from the left. If the male contributes no material to the embryo, there can be nothing in this view. If, as they say, he does contribute something of the sort, we must confront them in the same way as we did the theory of Empedocles, 10which accounts for the difference between male and female by the heat and cold of the uterus. They make the same mistake as he does, when they account for the difference by their ‘right and left’, though they see that the sexes differ actually by the whole of the sexual parts; for what reason then is the body of the uterus to exist in those embryos which come from the left and not in those from the right? For 15if an embryo have come from the left but has not acquired this part, it will be a female without a uterus, and so too there is nothing to stop another from being a male with a uterus! Besides as has been said before, a female embryo has been observed in the right part of the uterus, a male in the left, or again both at once in the same part, and this not only once but several times.
Some again, persuaded of the 20truth of a view resembling that of these philosophers, say that if a man copulates with the right or left testis tied up the result is male or female offspring respectively; so at least Leophanes asserted. And some say that the same happens in the case of those who have one or other testis excised, not speaking truth but vaticinating what will happen from probabilities and jumping at the conclusion that it is 25so before seeing that it proves to be so. Moreover, they know not that these parts of animals contribute nothing to the production of one sex rather than the other; a proof of this is that many animals in which the distinction of sex exists, and which produce both male and female offspring, nevertheless have no testes, as the footless animals; I mean the classes of fish and of serpents.
To suppose, then, either 30that heat and cold are the causes of male and female, or that the different sexes come from the right and left, is not altogether unreasonable in itself; for the right of the body is hotter than the left, and the concocted semen is hotter than the unconcocted; again, the thickened is concocted, and the more thickened is more fertile. Yet to put it in this way is to seek for the cause from too remote a 35starting-point; we must draw near the immediate causes in so far as it is possible for us.
The same argument as that with which we meet Empedocles and Democritus will serve against those who say that the male comes from the right and the female from the left. If the male contributes no material to the embryo, there can be nothing in this view. If, as they say, he does contribute something of the sort, we must confront them in the same way as we did the theory of Empedocles, 10which accounts for the difference between male and female by the heat and cold of the uterus. They make the same mistake as he does, when they account for the difference by their ‘right and left’, though they see that the sexes differ actually by the whole of the sexual parts; for what reason then is the body of the uterus to exist in those embryos which come from the left and not in those from the right? For 15if an embryo have come from the left but has not acquired this part, it will be a female without a uterus, and so too there is nothing to stop another from being a male with a uterus! Besides as has been said before, a female embryo has been observed in the right part of the uterus, a male in the left, or again both at once in the same part, and this not only once but several times.
Some again, persuaded of the 20truth of a view resembling that of these philosophers, say that if a man copulates with the right or left testis tied up the result is male or female offspring respectively; so at least Leophanes asserted. And some say that the same happens in the case of those who have one or other testis excised, not speaking truth but vaticinating what will happen from probabilities and jumping at the conclusion that it is 25so before seeing that it proves to be so. Moreover, they know not that these parts of animals contribute nothing to the production of one sex rather than the other; a proof of this is that many animals in which the distinction of sex exists, and which produce both male and female offspring, nevertheless have no testes, as the footless animals; I mean the classes of fish and of serpents.
To suppose, then, either 30that heat and cold are the causes of male and female, or that the different sexes come from the right and left, is not altogether unreasonable in itself; for the right of the body is hotter than the left, and the concocted semen is hotter than the unconcocted; again, the thickened is concocted, and the more thickened is more fertile. Yet to put it in this way is to seek for the cause from too remote a 35starting-point; we must draw near the immediate causes in so far as it is possible for us.
765b
1 ἢ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ἔχει τινὰ λόγον· θερμότερα γὰρ τὰ
δεξιὰ τοῦ σώματος τῶν ἀριστερῶν καὶ τὸ σπέρμα τὸ πεπεμμένον
θερμότερον, τοιοῦτον δὲ τὸ συνεστός, γονιμώτερον
δὲ τὸ συνεστὸς μᾶλλον. ἀλλὰ λίαν τὸ λέγειν οὕτω πόρρωθέν
5 ἐστιν ἅπτεσθαι τῆς αἰτίας, δεῖ δ' ὅτι μάλιστα προσάγειν
ἐκ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων ἐγγὺς τῶν πρώτων αἰτίων. Περὶ
μὲν οὖν ὅλου τε τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῶν μορίων, τί τε ἕκαστόν ἐστι
καὶ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν εἴρηται πρότερον ἐν ἑτέροις. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ
τὸ ἄρρεν καὶ τὸ θῆλυ διώρισται δυνάμει τινὶ καὶ ἀδυναμίᾳ·
10 τὸ μὲν γὰρ δυνάμενον πέττειν καὶ συνιστάναι τε καὶ ἐκκρίνειν
σπέρμα ἔχον τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ εἴδους ἄρρεν (λέγω δ'
ἀρχὴν οὐ τὴν τοιαύτην ἐξ ἧς ὥσπερ ὕλης γίγνεται τοιοῦτον
οἷον τὸ γεννῶν, ἀλλὰ τὴν κινοῦσαν πρώτην, ἐάν τ' ἐν αὐτῷ
ἐάν τ' ἐν ἄλλῳ τοῦτο δύνηται ποιεῖν), τὸ δὲ δεχόμενον μὲν
15 ἀδυνατοῦν δὲ συνιστάναι καὶ ἐκκρίνειν θῆλυ—ἔτι εἰ πᾶσα πέψις
ἐργάζεται θερμῷ, ἀνάγκη καὶ τῶν ζῴων τὰ ἄρρενα
τῶν θήλεων θερμότερα εἶναι. διὰ γὰρ ψυχρότητα καὶ ἀδυναμίαν
πολυαιμεῖ κατὰ τότους τινὰς τὸ θῆλυ μᾶλλον, καὶ
ἔστιν αὐτὸ τοὐναντίον σημεῖον ἢ δι' ἥνπερ αἰτίαν οἴονταί τινες
20 τὸ θῆλυ θερμότερον εἶναι τοῦ ἄρρενος, διὰ τὴν τῶν καταμηνίων
πρόεσιν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ αἷμα θερμόν, τὸ δὲ πλεῖον ἔχον
μᾶλλον. ὑπολαμβάνουσι δὲ τοῦτο γίγνεσθαι τὸ πάθος δι'
ὑπερβολὴν αἵματος καὶ θερμότητος, ὥσπερ ἐνδεχόμενον αἷμα
εἶναι πᾶν ὁμοίως, ἄνπερ μόνον ὑγρὸν ᾖ καὶ τὴν χρόαν
25 αἱματῶδες, καὶ οὐκ ἔλαττον γιγνόμενον καὶ καθαρώτερον
τοῖς εὐτροφοῦσιν. οἱ δ' ὥσπερ τὸ κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν περίττωμα,
τὸ πλεῖον τοῦ ἐλάττονος οἴονται σημεῖον εἶναι θερμῆς
φύσεως μᾶλλον. καίτοι τοὐναντίον ἐστίν· ὥσπερ γὰρ καὶ ἐκ
τῆς πρώτης τροφῆς ἐκ πολλῆς ὀλίγον ἀποκρίνεται τὸ χρήσιμον
30 ἐν ταῖς περὶ τοὺς καρποὺς ἐργασίαις, καὶ τέλος οὐθὲν
μέρος τὸ ἔσχατον πρὸς τὸ πρῶτον πλῆθός ἐστιν, οὕτω πάλιν
καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι διαδεχόμενα τὰ μέρη ταῖς ἐργασίαις
τὸ τελευταῖον πάμπαν μικρὸν ἐξ ἁπάσης γίγνεται τῆς τροφῆς.
τοῦτο δὲ ἐν μέν τισιν αἷμά ἐστιν ἐν δέ τισι τὸ ἀνάλογον.
35 Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ μὲν δύναται τὸ δ' ἀδυνατεῖ ἐκκρῖναι τὸ περίττωμα
καθαρόν, ἁπάσῃ δὲ δυνάμει ὄργανόν τί ἐστι, καὶ
1We have, then, previously spoken elsewhere of both the body as a whole and its parts, explaining what each part is and for what reason it exists. But (1) the male and female are distinguished by a certain capacity and incapacity. (For the male is that which can concoct the blood into semen and which can 5form and secrete and discharge a semen carrying with it the principle of form — by ‘principle’ I do not mean a material principle out of which comes into being an offspring resembling the parent, but I mean the first moving cause, whether it have power to act as such in the thing itself or in something else — but the female is that which receives semen, indeed, but cannot form it for 10itself or secrete or discharge it.) And (2) all concoction works by means of heat. Therefore the males of animals must needs be hotter than the females. For it is by reason of cold and incapacity that the female is more abundant in blood in certain parts of her anatomy, and this abundance is an evidence of the exact opposite of what some suppose, thinking that the female is hotter 15than the male for this reason, i.e. the discharge of the catamenia. It is true that blood is hot, and that which has more of it is hotter than that which has less. But they assume that this discharge occurs through excess of blood and of heat, as if it could be taken for granted that all blood is equally blood if only it be liquid and sanguineous in colour, and as if it might not 20become less in quantity but purer in quality in those who assimilate nourishment properly. In fact they look upon this residual discharge in the same light as that of the intestines, when they think that a greater amount of it is a sign of a hotter nature, whereas the truth is just the opposite. For consider the production of fruit; the nutriment in its first stage is abundant, but 25the useful product derived from it is small, indeed the final result is nothing at all compared to the quantity in the first stage. So is it with the body; the various parts receive and work up the nutriment, from the whole of which the final result is quite small. This is blood in some animals, in some its analogue. Now since (1) the one sex is able and the other is unable to 30reduce the residual secretion to a pure form, and (2) every capacity or power in an organism has a certain corresponding organ, whether the faculty produces the desired results in a lower degree or in a higher degree, and the two sexes correspond in this manner (the terms ‘able’ and ‘unable’ being used in more senses than one)— therefore it is necessary that both female and male should 35have organs. Accordingly the one has the uterus, the other the male organs.
766a
1 τῇ χεῖρον ἀποτελούσῃ ταὐτὸ καὶ τῇ βέλτιον, τὸ δὲ θῆλυ
καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν πλεοναχῶς λεγομένου τοῦ δυνατοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀδυνάτου
τοῦτον ἀντίκειται τὸν τρόπον, ἀνάγκη ἄρα καὶ τῷ θήλει
καὶ τῷ ἄρρενι εἶναι ὄργανον· τῷ μὲν οὖν ἡ ὑστέρα τῷ δ' ὁ
5 περίνεός ἐστιν. ἅμα δ' ἡ φύσις τήν τε δύναμιν ἀποδίδωσιν
ἑκάστῳ καὶ τὸ ὄργανον· βέλτιον γὰρ οὕτως. διὸ ἕκαστοι οἱ
τόποι ἅμα ταῖς ἐκκρίσεσι γίγνονται καὶ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν, ὥςπερ
οὔτ' ὄψις ἄνευ ὀφθαλμῶν οὔτ' ὀφθαλμὸς τελειοῦται ἄνευ
ὄψεως, καὶ κοιλία καὶ κύστις ἅμα τῷ δύνασθαι τὰ περιττώματα
10 γίγνεσθαι. ὄντος δὲ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐξ οὗ τε γίγνεται καὶ
αὔξεται—τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν ἡ τροφή—ἕκαστον ἂν γίγνοιτο τῶν μορίων
ἐκ τοιαύτης ὕλης ἧς δεκτικόν ἐστι καὶ τοιούτου περιττώματος.
ἔτι δὲ γίγνεται πάλιν ὥς φαμεν ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου πως.
τρίτον δὲ πρὸς τούτοις ληπτέον ὅτι εἴπερ ἡ φθορὰ εἰς τοὐναντίον,
15 καὶ τὸ μὴ κρατούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ δημιουργοῦντος ἀνάγκη
μεταβάλλειν εἰς τοὐναντίον. τούτων δ' ὑποκειμένων ἴσως ἂν
ἤδη μᾶλλον εἴη φανερὸν δι' ἣν αἰτίαν γίγνεται τὸ μὲν θῆλυ
τὸ δ' ἄρρεν. ὅταν γὰρ μὴ κρατῇ ἡ ἀρχὴ μηδὲ δύνηται πέψαι
δι' ἔνδειαν θερμότητος μηδ' ἀγάγῃ εἰς τὸ ἴδιον εἶδος
20 τὸ αὑτοῦ ἀλλὰ ταύτῃ ἡττηθῇ, ἀνάγκη εἰς τοὐναντίον μεταβάλλειν.
ἐναντίον δὲ τῷ ἄρρενι τὸ θῆλυ καὶ ταύτῃ ᾗ τὸ
μὲν ἄρρεν τὸ δὲ θῆλυ. ἐπεὶ δ' ἔχει διαφορὰν ἐν τῇ δυνάμει,
ἔχει καὶ τὸ ὄργανον διαφέρον ὥστ' εἰς τοιοῦτον μεταβάλλει.
ἑνὸς δὲ μορίου ἐπικαίρου μεταβάλλοντος ὅλη ἡ σύστασις
25 τοῦ ζῴου πολὺ τῷ εἴδει διαφέρει. ὁρᾶν δ' ἔξεστιν ἐπὶ
τῶν εὐνούχων οἳ ἑνὸς μορίου πηρωθέντος τοσοῦτον ἐξαλλάττουσι
τῆς ἀρχαίας μορφῆς καὶ μικρὸν ἐλλείπουσι τοῦ θήλεος τὴν
ἰδέαν. τούτου δ' αἴτιον ὅτι ἔνια τῶν μορίων ἀρχαί εἰσιν—ἀρχῆς
δὲ κινηθείσης πολλὰ ἀνάγκη μεθίστασθαι τῶν ἀκολουθούντων.
30 Εἰ οὖν τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν ἀρχή τις καὶ αἴτιον—ἔστι δ' ἄρρεν
ᾗ δύναταί τι, θῆλυ δὲ ᾗ ἀδυνατεῖ—τῆς δὲ δυνάμεως
ὅρος καὶ τῆς ἀδυναμίας τὸ πεπτικὸν εἶναι ἢ μὴ πεπτικὸν
τῆς ὑστάτης τροφῆς, ὃ ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἐναίμοις αἷμα καλεῖται
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις τὸ ἀνάλογον, τούτου δὲ τὸ αἴτιον ἐν τῇ
35 ἀρχῇ καὶ τῷ μορίῳ τῷ ἔχοντι τὴν τῆς φυσικῆς θερμότητος
ἀρχήν, ἀναγκαῖον ἄρα ἐν τοῖς ἐναίμοις συνίστασθαι καρδίαν
1Again, Nature gives both the faculty and the organ to each individual at the same time, for it is better so. Hence each region comes into being along with the secretions and the faculties, as e.g. the faculty of sight is not perfected without the eye, nor the eye without the faculty of sight; and so too the 5intestine and bladder come into being along with the faculty of forming the excreta. And since that from which an organ comes into being and that by which it is increased are the same (i.e. the nutriment), each of the parts will be made out of such a material and such residual matter as it is able to receive. In the second place, again, it is formed, as we say, in a certain sense, out of 10its opposite. Thirdly, we must understand besides this that, if it is true that when a thing perishes it becomes the opposite of what it was, it is necessary also that what is not under the sway of that which made it must change into its opposite. After these premisses it will perhaps be now clearer for what reason one embryo becomes female and another male. For when the first principle 15does not bear sway and cannot concoct the nourishment through lack of heat nor bring it into its proper form, but is defeated in this respect, then must needs the material which it works on change into its opposite. Now the female is opposite to the male, and that in so far as the one is female and the other male. And since it differs in its faculty, its organ also is different, so 20that the embryo changes into this state. And as one part of first-rate importance changes, the whole system of the animal differs greatly in form along with it. This may be seen in the case of eunuchs, who, though mutilated in one part alone, depart so much from their original appearance and approximate closely to the female form. The reason of this is that some of the parts are principles, 25and when a principle is moved or affected needs must many of the parts that go along with it change with it.
If then (1) the male quality or essence is a principle and a cause, and (2) the male is such in virtue of a certain capacity and the female is such in virtue of an incapacity, and (3) the essence or definition of the capacity and of the incapacity is ability or inability to 30concoct the nourishment in its ultimate stage, this being called blood in the sanguinea and the analogue of blood in the other animals, and (4) the cause of this capacity is in the first principle and in the part which contains the principle of natural heat — therefore a heart must be formed in the sanguinea (and the resulting animal will be either male or female), and in the other kinds 35which possess the sexes must be formed that which is analogous to the heart.
If then (1) the male quality or essence is a principle and a cause, and (2) the male is such in virtue of a certain capacity and the female is such in virtue of an incapacity, and (3) the essence or definition of the capacity and of the incapacity is ability or inability to 30concoct the nourishment in its ultimate stage, this being called blood in the sanguinea and the analogue of blood in the other animals, and (4) the cause of this capacity is in the first principle and in the part which contains the principle of natural heat — therefore a heart must be formed in the sanguinea (and the resulting animal will be either male or female), and in the other kinds 35which possess the sexes must be formed that which is analogous to the heart.
766b
1 καὶ ἢ ἄρρεν ἔσεσθαι ἢ θῆλυ τὸ γιγνόμενον, ἐν δὲ τοῖς
ἄλλοις γένεσιν οἷς ὑπάρχει τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν τὸ τῇ καρδίᾳ
ἀνάλογον. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀρχὴ τοῦ θήλεος καὶ τοῦ ἄρρενος καὶ ἡ
αἰτία αὕτη καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἐστίν. θῆλυ δ' ἤδη καὶ ἄρρεν ἐστὶν
5 ὅταν ἔχῃ καὶ τὰ μόρια οἷς διαφέρει τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος·
οὐ γὰρ καθ' ὁτιοῦν μέρος ἄρρεν οὐδὲ θῆλυ ὥσπερ οὐδ' ὁρῶν
καὶ ἀκοῦον. Ἀναλαβόντες δὲ πάλιν λέγομεν ὅτι τὸ μὲν
σπέρμα ὑπόκειται περίττωμα τροφῆς ὂν τὸ ἔσχατον (ἔσχατον
δὲ λέγω τὸ πρὸς ἕκαστον φερόμενον, διὸ καὶ ἔοικε τὸ
10 γεννώμενον τῷ γεννήσαντι· οὐθὲν γὰρ διαφέρει ἀφ' ἑκάστου
τῶν μορίων ἀπελθεῖν ἢ πρὸς ἕκαστον προσελθεῖν—ὀρθότερον
δ' οὕτως). διαφέρει δὲ τὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος σπέρμα ὅτι ἔχει ἀρχὴν
ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοιαύτην οἵαν κινεῖν †καὶ ἐν τῷ ζῴῳ† καὶ διαπέττειν
τὴν ἐσχάτην τροφήν, τὸ δὲ τοῦ θήλεος ὕλην μόνον.
15 κρατῆσαν μὲν οὖν εἰς αὑτὸ ἄγει, κρατηθὲν δ' εἰς τοὐναντίον
μεταβάλλει ἢ εἰς φθοράν. ἐναντίον δὲ τῷ ἄρρενι τὸ θῆλυ,
θῆλυ δὲ τῇ ἀπεψίᾳ καὶ τῇ ψυχρότητι τῆς αἱματικῆς τροφῆς.
ἡ δὲ φύσις ἑκάστῳ τῶν περιττωμάτων ἀποδίδωσι τὸ
δεκτικὸν μόριον. τὸ δὲ σπέρμα περίττωμα, τοῦτο δὲ τοῖς μὲν
20 θερμοτέροις καὶ ἄρρεσι τῶν ἐναίμων εὔογκον τῷ πλήθει, διὸ
τὰ δεκτικὰ μόρια πόροι ταύτης τῆς περιττώσεώς εἰσι τοῖς
ἄρρεσιν· τοῖς δὲ θήλεσι δι' ἀπεψίαν πλῆθος αἱματικόν
(ἀκατέργαστον γάρ), ὥστε καὶ μόριον δεκτικὸν ἀναγκαῖον
εἶναί τι, καὶ εἶναι τοῦτο ἀνόμοιον καὶ μέγεθος ἔχειν. διὸ
25 τῆς ὑστέρας τοιαύτη ἡ φύσις ἐστίν. τούτῳ δὲ τὸ θῆλυ διαφέρει
τῷ μορίῳ τοῦ ἄρρενος.
1This, then, is the first principle and cause of male and female, and this is the part of the body in which it resides. But the animal becomes definitely female or male by the time when it possesses also the parts by which the female differs from the male, for it is not in virtue of any part you please 5that it is male or female, any more than it is able to see or hear by possessing any part you please.
To recapitulate, we say that the semen, which is the foundation of the embryo, is the ultimate secretion of the nutriment. By ultimate I mean that which is carried to every part of the body, and this is also the reason why the offspring is like the parent. For it makes 10no difference whether we say that the semen comes from all the parts or goes to all of them, but the latter is the better. But the semen of the male differs from the corresponding secretion of the female in that it contains a principle within itself of such a kind as to set up movements also in the embryo and to concoct thoroughly the ultimate nourishment, whereas the 15secretion of the female contains material alone. If, then, the male element prevails it draws the female element into itself, but if it is prevailed over it changes into the opposite or is destroyed. But the female is opposite to the male, and is female because of its inability to concoct and of the coldness of the sanguineous nutriment. And Nature assigns to each of the secretions 20the part fitted to receive it. But the semen is a secretion, and this in the hotter animals with blood, i.e. the males, is moderate in quantity, wherefore the recipient parts of this secretion in males are only passages. But the females, owing to inability to concoct, have a great quantity of blood, for it cannot be worked up into semen. Therefore they must also have 25a part to receive this, and this part must be unlike the passages of the male and of a considerable size. This is why the uterus is of such a nature, this being the part by which the female differs from the male.
To recapitulate, we say that the semen, which is the foundation of the embryo, is the ultimate secretion of the nutriment. By ultimate I mean that which is carried to every part of the body, and this is also the reason why the offspring is like the parent. For it makes 10no difference whether we say that the semen comes from all the parts or goes to all of them, but the latter is the better. But the semen of the male differs from the corresponding secretion of the female in that it contains a principle within itself of such a kind as to set up movements also in the embryo and to concoct thoroughly the ultimate nourishment, whereas the 15secretion of the female contains material alone. If, then, the male element prevails it draws the female element into itself, but if it is prevailed over it changes into the opposite or is destroyed. But the female is opposite to the male, and is female because of its inability to concoct and of the coldness of the sanguineous nutriment. And Nature assigns to each of the secretions 20the part fitted to receive it. But the semen is a secretion, and this in the hotter animals with blood, i.e. the males, is moderate in quantity, wherefore the recipient parts of this secretion in males are only passages. But the females, owing to inability to concoct, have a great quantity of blood, for it cannot be worked up into semen. Therefore they must also have 25a part to receive this, and this part must be unlike the passages of the male and of a considerable size. This is why the uterus is of such a nature, this being the part by which the female differs from the male.
Book 4,Chapter 2 (766b27–767a35)
Διὰ τίνα μὲν οὖν αἰτίαν γίγνεται τὸ μὲν θῆλυ τὸ δ' ἄρρεν
εἴρηται. Τεκμήρια δὲ τὰ συμβαίνοντα τοῖς εἰρημένοις.
τά τε γὰρ νέα θηλυτόκα μᾶλλον τῶν ἀκμαζόντων, καὶ
30 τὰ πρεσβύτερα μᾶλλον· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ οὔπω τέλειον τὸ θερμὸν
τοῖς δ' ἀπολείπει. καὶ τὰ μὲν ὑγρότερα τῶν σωμάτων καὶ
γυναικικώτερα θηλυγόνα μᾶλλον, καὶ τὰ σπέρματα τὰ
ὑγρὰ τῶν συνεστηκότων. πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα γίγνεται δι' ἔνδειαν
θερμότητος φυσικῆς, καὶ τὸ βορείοις ἀρρενοτοκεῖν μᾶλλον
35 ὥστε καὶ περιττωματικώτερα. τὸ δὲ πλεῖον περίττωμα
δυσπεπτότερον· διὸ τοῖς μὲν ἄρρεσιν ὑγρότερον τὸ
We have thus stated for what reason the one becomes female and the other male. Observed facts confirm what we have said. For more females are produced by the young 30and by those verging on old age than by those in the prime of life; in the former the vital heat is not yet perfect, in the latter it is failing. And those of a moister and more feminine state of body are more wont to beget females, and a liquid semen causes this more than a thicker; now all these characteristics come of deficiency in natural heat.
Again, more males are 35born if copulation takes place when north than when south winds are blowing.
Again, more males are 35born if copulation takes place when north than when south winds are blowing.
767a
1 σπέρμα, ταῖς δὲ γυναιξὶν ἡ τῶν καταμηνίων ἔκκρισις. Καὶ
τὸ γίγνεσθαι δὲ τὰ καταμήνια κατὰ φύσιν φθινόντων τῶν
μηνῶν μᾶλλον διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν συμβαίνει. ψυχρότερος
γὰρ ὁ χρόνος οὗτος τοῦ μηνὸς καὶ ὑγροτέρος διὰ τὴν φθίσιν
5 καὶ τὴν ἀπόλειψιν τῆς σελήνης· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἥλιος ἐν ὅλῳ
τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ποιεῖ χειμῶνα καὶ θέρος, ἡ δὲ σελήνη ἐν τῷ
μηνί (τοῦτο δ' οὐ διὰ τὰς τροπάς, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν αὐξανομένου
συμβαίνει τοῦ φωτὸς τὸ δὲ φθίνοντος). φασὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ νομεῖς
διαφέρειν πρὸς θηλυγονίαν καὶ ἀρρενογονίαν οὐ μόνον
10 ἐὰν συμβαίνῃ τὴν ὀχείαν γίγνεσθαι βορείοις ἢ νοτίοις ἀλλὰ
κἂν ὀχευόμενα βλέπῃ πρὸς νότον ἢ βορέαν· οὕτω μικρὰν
ἐνίοτε ῥοπὴν αἰτίαν γίγνεσθαι τῆς ψυχρότητος καὶ θερμότητος,
ταῦτα δὲ τῆς γενέσεως. Διέστηκε μὲν οὖν ὅλως πρὸς
ἄλληλα τό τε θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν πρὸς τὴν ἀρρενογονίαν
15 καὶ θηλυγονίαν διὰ τὰς εἰρημένας αἰτίας, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ
δεῖ συμμετρίας πρὸς ἄλληλα· πάντα γὰρ τὰ γιγνόμενα
κατὰ τέχνην ἢ φύσιν λόγῳ τινί ἐστιν. τὸ δὲ θερμὸν λίαν μὲν
κρατοῦν ξηραίνει τὰ ὑγρά, πολὺ δὲ ἐλλεῖπον οὐ συνίστησιν,
ἀλλὰ δεῖ πρὸς τὸ δημιουργούμενον ἔχειν τοῦτον τὸν τοῦ μέσου
20 λόγον· εἰ δὲ μή, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἑψομένοις προσκάει μὲν τὸ
πλεῖον πῦρ, οὐχ ἕψει δὲ τὸ ἔλαττον, ἀμφοτέρως δὲ συμβαίνει
μὴ τελειοῦσθαι τὸ γιγνόμενον, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἄρρενος
μίξει καὶ τοῦ θήλεος δεῖ τῆς συμμετρίας. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο
πολλοῖς καὶ πολλαῖς συμβαίνει μετ' ἀλλήλων μὲν μὴ γεννᾶν,
25 διαζευχθεῖσι δὲ γεννᾶν, καὶ ὁτὲ μὲν νέοις ὁτὲ δὲ πρεσβυτέροις
οὖσι ταύτας γίγνεσθαι τὰς ὑπεναντιώσεις, ὁμοίως
περί τε γένεσιν καὶ ἀγονίαν καὶ ἀρρενογονίαν καὶ θηλυγονίαν.
διαφέρει δὲ καὶ χώρα χώρας εἰς ταῦτα καὶ ὕδωρ
ὕδατος διὰ τὰς αὐτὰς αἰτίας· ποιὰ γάρ τις ἡ τροφὴ γίγνεται
30 μάλιστα καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἡ διάθεσις διά τε τὴν κρᾶσιν
τοῦ περιεστῶτος ἀέρος καὶ τῶν εἰσιόντων, μάλιστα δὲ διὰ
τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος τροφήν· τοῦτο γὰρ πλεῖστον εἰσφέρονται, καὶ
ἐν πᾶσίν ἐστι τροφὴ τοῦτο, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ξηροῖς. διὸ καὶ τὰ
ἀτέραμνα ὕδατα καὶ ψυχρὰ τὰ μὲν ἀτεκνίαν ποιεῖ τὰ δὲ
35 θηλυτοκίαν.
1For in the latter case the animals produce more secretion, and too much secretion is harder to concoct; hence the semen of the males is more liquid, and so is the discharge of the catamenia.
Also the fact that the catamenia occur in the course of nature rather when the month is waning is due 5to the same causes. For this time of the month is colder and moister because of the waning and failure of the moon; as the sun makes winter and summer in the year as a whole, so does the moon in the month. This is not due to the turning of the moon, but it grows warmer as the light increases and colder as it wanes.
The shepherds also say that it not only makes a 10difference in the production of males and females if copulation takes place during northern or southerly winds, but even if the animals while copulating look towards the south or north; so small a thing will sometimes turn the scale and cause cold or heat, and these again influence generation.
The male and female, then, are distinguished generally, as compared 15with one another in connexion with the production of male and female offspring, for the causes stated. However, they also need a certain correspondence with one another to produce at all, for all things that come into being as products of art or of Nature exist in virtue of a certain ratio. Now if the hot preponderates too much it dries up the liquid; if it is very 20deficient it does not solidify it; for the artistic or natural product we need the due mean between the extremes. Otherwise it will be as in cooking; too much fire burns the meat, too little does not cook it, and in either case the process is a failure. So also there is need of due proportion in the mixture of the male and female elements. And for this cause it 25often happens to many of both sexes that they do not generate with one another, but if divorced and remarried to others do generate; and these oppositions show themselves sometimes in youth, sometimes in advanced age, alike as concerns fertility or infertility, and as concerns generation of male or female offspring.
One country also differs from another in these 30respects, and one water from another, for the same reasons. For the nourishment and the medical condition of the body are of such or such a kind because of the tempering of the surrounding air and of the food entering the body, especially the water; for men consume more of this than of anything else, and this enters as nourishment into all food, even solids. Hence 35hard waters cause infertility, and cold waters the birth of females.
Also the fact that the catamenia occur in the course of nature rather when the month is waning is due 5to the same causes. For this time of the month is colder and moister because of the waning and failure of the moon; as the sun makes winter and summer in the year as a whole, so does the moon in the month. This is not due to the turning of the moon, but it grows warmer as the light increases and colder as it wanes.
The shepherds also say that it not only makes a 10difference in the production of males and females if copulation takes place during northern or southerly winds, but even if the animals while copulating look towards the south or north; so small a thing will sometimes turn the scale and cause cold or heat, and these again influence generation.
The male and female, then, are distinguished generally, as compared 15with one another in connexion with the production of male and female offspring, for the causes stated. However, they also need a certain correspondence with one another to produce at all, for all things that come into being as products of art or of Nature exist in virtue of a certain ratio. Now if the hot preponderates too much it dries up the liquid; if it is very 20deficient it does not solidify it; for the artistic or natural product we need the due mean between the extremes. Otherwise it will be as in cooking; too much fire burns the meat, too little does not cook it, and in either case the process is a failure. So also there is need of due proportion in the mixture of the male and female elements. And for this cause it 25often happens to many of both sexes that they do not generate with one another, but if divorced and remarried to others do generate; and these oppositions show themselves sometimes in youth, sometimes in advanced age, alike as concerns fertility or infertility, and as concerns generation of male or female offspring.
One country also differs from another in these 30respects, and one water from another, for the same reasons. For the nourishment and the medical condition of the body are of such or such a kind because of the tempering of the surrounding air and of the food entering the body, especially the water; for men consume more of this than of anything else, and this enters as nourishment into all food, even solids. Hence 35hard waters cause infertility, and cold waters the birth of females.
Book 4,Chapter 3 (767a36–769b29)
Αἱ δ' αὐταὶ αἰτίαι καὶ τοῦ τὰ μὲν ἐοικότα γίγνεσθαι
τοῖς τεκνώσασι τὰ δὲ μὴ ἐοικότα, καὶ τὰ μὲν πατρὶ τὰ
The same causes must be held responsible for the following groups of facts.
767b
1 δὲ μητρὶ κατά τε ὅλον τὸ σῶμα καὶ κατὰ μόριον ἕκαστον,
καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς ἢ τοῖς προγόνοις, καὶ τούτοις ἢ τοῖς τυχοῦσι,
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄρρενα μᾶλλον τῷ πατρὶ τὰ δὲ θήλεα
τῇ μητρί, τὰ δ' οὐθενὶ τῶν συγγενῶν ὅμως δ' ἀνθρώπῳ γέ
5 τινι, τὰ δ' οὐδ' ἀνθρώπῳ τὴν ἰδέαν ἀλλ' ἤδη τέρατι. καὶ γὰρ ὁ
μὴ ἐοικὼς τοῖς γονεῦσιν ἤδη τρόπον τινὰ τέρας ἐστίν· παρεκβέβηκε
γὰρ ἡ φύσις ἐν τούτοις ἐκ τοῦ γένους τρόπον τινά.
ἀρχὴ δὲ πρώτη τὸ θῆλυ γίγνεσθαι καὶ μὴ ἄρρεν—ἀλλ' αὕτη
μὲν ἀναγκαία τῇ φύσει· δεῖ γὰρ σώζεσθαι τὸ γένος τῶν
10 κεχωρισμένων κατὰ τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν, ἐνδεχομένου δὲ
μὴ κρατεῖν ποτε τοῦ ἄρρενος, ἢ διὰ νεότητα ἢ γῆρας ἢ δι'
ἄλλην τινὰ αἰτίαν τοιαύτην, ἀνάγκη γίγνεσθαι θηλυτοκίαν ἐν
τοῖς ζῴοις. τὸ δὲ τέρας οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον πρὸς τὴν ἕνεκά του
καὶ τὴν τοῦ τέλους αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἀναγκαῖον,
15 ἐπεὶ τήν γ' ἀρχὴν ἐντεῦθεν δεῖ λαμβάνειν. εὐπέπτου
μὲν γὰρ οὔσης τῆς περιττώσεως ἐν τοῖς καταμηνίοις τῆς
σπερματικῆς καθ' αὑτὴν ποιήσει τὴν μορφὴν ἡ τοῦ ἄρρενος
κίνησις· τὸ γὰρ γονὴν λέγειν ἢ κίνησιν τὴν αὔξουσαν ἕκαστον
τῶν μορίων οὐθὲν διαφέρει, οὐδὲ τὴν αὔξουσαν ἢ τὴν συνιστᾶσαν
20 ἐξ ἀρχῆς· ὁ γὰρ αὐτὸς λόγος τῆς κινήσεως. ὥστε
κρατούσης μὲν ἄρρεν τε ποιήσει καὶ οὐ θῆλυ, καὶ ἐοικὸς τῷ
γεννῶντι ἀλλ' οὐ τῇ μητρί· μὴ κρατῆσαν δέ, καθ' ὁποίαν ἂν
μὴ κρατήσῃ δύναμιν, τὴν ἔλλειψιν ποιεῖ κατ' αὐτήν. λέγω
δ' ἑκάστην δύναμιν τόνδε τὸν τρόπον· τὸ γεννῶν ἐστιν οὐ μόνον
25 ἄρρεν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖον ἄρρεν οἷον Κορίσκος ἢ Σωκράτης, καὶ
οὐ μόνον Κορίσκος ἐστὶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄνθρωπος. καὶ τοῦτον δὴ
τὸν τρόπον τὰ μὲν ἐγγύτερον τὰ δὲ πορρώτερον ὑπάρχει τῷ
γεννῶντι καθὸ γεννητικόν, ἀλλ' οὐ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς οἷον εἰ
γραμματικὸς ὁ γεννῶν ἢ γείτων τινός. ἀεὶ δ' ἰσχύει πρὸς
30 τὴν γένεσιν μᾶλλον τὸ ἴδιον καὶ τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον. ὁ γὰρ
Κορίσκος καὶ ἄνθρωπός ἐστι καὶ ζῷον, ἀλλ' ἐγγύτερον τοῦ
ἰδίου τὸ ἄνθρωπος ἢ τὸ ζῷον. γεννᾷ δὲ καὶ τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον
καὶ τὸ γένος, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ
οὐσία. καὶ γὰρ τὸ γιγνόμενον γίγνεται μὲν καὶ ποιόν τι, ἀλλὰ καὶ
35 τόδε τι—καὶ τοῦθ' ἡ οὐσία. διόπερ ἀπὸ τῶν δυνάμεων ὑπάρχουσιν
αἱ κινήσεις ἐν τοῖς σπέρμασι πάντων τῶν τοιούτων,
δυνάμει δὲ καὶ τῶν προγόνων, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ ἐγγύτερον ἀεὶ
1(1) Some children resemble their parents, while others do not; some being like the father and others like the mother, both in the body as a whole and in each part, male and female offspring resembling father and mother respectively rather than the other way about. (2) They resemble their parents more than remoter ancestors, and resemble those 5ancestors more than any chance individual. (3) Some, though resembling none of their relations, yet do at any rate resemble a human being, but others are not even like a human being but a monstrosity. For even he who does not resemble his parents is already in a certain sense a monstrosity; for in these cases Nature has in a way departed from the type. The first departure indeed is that the offspring should become female 10instead of male; this, however, is a natural necessity. (For the class of animals divided into sexes must be preserved, and as it is possible for the male sometimes not to prevail over the female in the mixture of the two elements, either through youth or age or some other such cause, it is necessary that animals should produce female young). And the monstrosity, though not necessary in regard of a final cause and an end, yet is 15necessary accidentally. As for the origin of it, we must look at it in this way. If the generative secretion in the catamenia is properly concocted, the movement imparted by the male will make the form of the embryo in the likeness of itself. (Whether we say that it is the semen or this movement that makes each of the parts grow, makes no difference; nor again whether we say that it ‘makes them grow’ or ‘forms them from the 20beginning’, for the formula of the movement is the same in either case.) Thus if this movement prevail, it will make the embryo male and not female, like the father and not like the mother; if it prevail not, the embryo is deficient in that faculty in which it has not prevailed. By ‘each faculty’ I mean this. That which generates is not only male but also a particular male, e.g. Coriscus or Socrates, and it is not only Coriscus 25but also a man. In this way some of the characteristics of the father are more near to him, others more remote from him considered simply as a parent and not in reference to his accidental qualities (as for instance if the parent is a scholar or the neighbour of some particular person). Now the peculiar and individual has always more force in generation than the more general and wider characteristics. Coriscus is both a man and 30an animal, but his manhood is nearer to his individual existence than is his animalhood. In generation both the individual and the class are operative, but the individual is the more so of the two, for this is the only true existence. And the offspring is produced indeed of a certain quality, but also as an individual, and this latter is the true existence. Therefore it is from the forces of all such existences that the efficient 35movements come which exist in the semen; potentially from remoter ancestors but in a higher degree and more nearly from the individual (and by the individual I mean e.g.
768a
1 τῶν καθ' ἕκαστόν τινος· λέγω δὲ καθ' ἕκαστον τὸν Κορίσκον
καὶ τὸν Σωκράτην. ἐπεὶ δ' ἐξίσταται πᾶν οὐκ εἰς τὸ τυχὸν
ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ ἀντικείμενον, καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ γενέσει μὴ κρατούμενον
ἀναγκαῖον ἐξίστασθαι καὶ γίγνεσθαι τὸ ἀντικείμενον
5 καθ' ἣν δύναμιν οὐκ ἐκράτησε τὸ γεννῶν καὶ κινοῦν. ἐὰν μὲν
οὖν ᾗ ἄρρεν θῆλυ γίγνεται, ἐὰν δὲ ᾗ Κορίσκος ἢ Σωκράτης
οὐ τῷ πατρὶ ἐοικὸς ἀλλὰ τῇ μητρὶ γίγνεται· ἀντίκειται γὰρ
ὥσπερ τῷ ὅλως πατρὶ μήτηρ καὶ τῷ καθ' ἕκαστον γεννῶντι
ἡ καθ' ἕκαστον γεννῶσα. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐχομένας
10 δυνάμεις· ἀεὶ γὰρ εἰς τὸν ἐχόμενον μεταβαίνει μᾶλλον
τῶν προγόνων, καὶ ἐπὶ πατέρων καὶ ἐπὶ μητέρων. ἔνεισι δ'
αἱ μὲν ἐνεργείᾳ τῶν κινήσεων αἱ δὲ δυνάμει, ἐνεργείᾳ μὲν
αἱ τοῦ γεννῶντος καὶ τοῦ καθόλου οἷον ἀνθρώπου καὶ ζῴου, δυνάμει
δὲ αἱ τοῦ θήλεος καὶ τῶν προγόνων. μεταβάλλει μὲν
15 οὖν ἐξιστάμενον πρὸς τὰ ἀντικείμενα, λύονται δὲ αἱ κινήσεις
αἱ δημιουργοῦσαι εἰς τὰς ἐγγύς, οἷον ἡ τοῦ γεννῶντος ἂν λυθῇ
κίνησις ἐλαχίστῃ διαφορᾷ μεταβαίνει εἰς τὴν τοῦ πατρός,
δεύτερον δ' εἰς τὴν τοῦ πάππου· καὶ τοῦτον δὴ τὸν τρόπον [καὶ
ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρρένων] καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν θηλειῶν ἡ τῆς γεννώσης εἰς
20 τὴν τῆς μητρός, ἐὰν δὲ μὴ εἰς ταύτην εἰς τὴν τῆς τήθης·
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄνωθεν. Μάλιστα μὲν οὖν πέφυκεν ᾗ
ἄρρεν καὶ ᾗ πατὴρ ἅμα κρατεῖν καὶ κρατεῖσθαι· μικρὰ
γὰρ ἡ διαφορὰ ὥστ' οὐκ ἔργον ἅμα συμβῆναι ἀμφότερα·
ὁ γὰρ Σωκράτης ἀνὴρ τοιόσδε τις. διὸ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ τὰ
25 μὲν ἄρρενα τῷ πατρὶ ἔοικεν τὰ δὲ θήλεα τῇ μητρί, ἅμα
γὰρ εἰς ἄμφω ἔκστασις ἐγένετο· ἀντίκειται δὲ τῷ μὲν ἄρρενι
τὸ θῆλυ τῷ δὲ πατρὶ ἡ μήτηρ, ἡ δ' ἔκστασις εἰς τὰ ἀντικείμενα.
ἐὰν δ' ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος κρατήσῃ κίνησις
ἡ δ' ἀπὸ τοῦ Σωκράτους μὴ κρατήσῃ, ἢ αὕτη μὲν ἐκείνη δὲ
30 μή, τότε συμβαίνει γίγνεσθαι ἄρρενά τε μητρὶ ἐοικότα καὶ
θήλεα πατρί. ἐὰν δὲ λυθῶσιν αἱ κινήσεις, καὶ ᾗ μὲν ἄρρεν
μείνῃ, ἡ δὲ τοῦ Σωκράτους λυθῇ εἰς τὴν τοῦ πατρός, ἔσται
ἄρρεν τῷ πάππῳ ἐοικὸς ἢ τῶν ἄλλων τινὶ τῶν ἄνωθεν προγόνων
κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον· κρατηθέντος δὲ ᾗ ἄρρεν θῆλυ
35 ἔσται καὶ ἐοικὸς μάλιστα μὲν τῇ μητρί, ἐὰν δὲ καὶ αὕτη
λυθῇ ἡ κίνησις μητρὶ μητρὸς ἢ ἄλλῃ τινὶ τῶν ἄνωθεν ἔσται
1Coriscus or Socrates). Now since everything changes not into anything haphazard but into its opposite, therefore also that which is not prevailed over in generation must change and become the opposite, in respect of that particular force in which the paternal and efficient or moving element has not prevailed. If then 5it has not prevailed in so far as it is male, the offspring becomes female; if in so far as it is Coriscus or Socrates, the offspring does not resemble the father but the mother. For as ‘father’ and ‘mother’ are opposed as general terms, so also the individual father is opposed to the individual mother. The like applies also to the forces that come next in order, for the offspring always changes 10rather into the likeness of the nearer ancestor than the more remote, both in the paternal and in the maternal line.
Some of the movements exist in the semen actually, others potentially; actually, those of the father and the general type, as man and animal; potentially those of the female and the remoter ancestors. Thus the male and efficient principle, if it lose its own nature, changes to 15its opposites, but the movements which form the embryo change into those nearly connected with them; for instance, if the movement of the male parent be resolved, it changes by a very slight difference into that of his father, and in the next instance into that of his grandfather; and in this way not only in the male but also in the female line the movement of the female parent changes into that 20of her mother, and, if not into this, then into that of her grandmother; and similarly also with the more remote ancestors.
Naturally then it is most likely that the characteristics of ‘male’ and of the individual father will go together, whether they prevail or are prevailed over. For the difference between them is small so that there is no difficulty in both concurring, for Socrates is an 25individual man with certain characters. Hence for the most part the male offspring resemble the father, and the female the mother. For in the latter case the loss of both characters takes place at once, and the change is into the two opposites; now is opposed to male, and the individual mother to the individual father.
But if the movement coming from the male principle prevails while that coming 30from the individual Socrates does not, or vice versa, then the result is that male children are produced resembling the mother and female children resembling the father.
If again the movements be resolved, if the male character remain but the movement coming from the individual Socrates be resolved into that of the father of Socrates, the result will be a male child resembling its grandfather or 35some other of its more remote ancestors in the male line on the same principle.
Some of the movements exist in the semen actually, others potentially; actually, those of the father and the general type, as man and animal; potentially those of the female and the remoter ancestors. Thus the male and efficient principle, if it lose its own nature, changes to 15its opposites, but the movements which form the embryo change into those nearly connected with them; for instance, if the movement of the male parent be resolved, it changes by a very slight difference into that of his father, and in the next instance into that of his grandfather; and in this way not only in the male but also in the female line the movement of the female parent changes into that 20of her mother, and, if not into this, then into that of her grandmother; and similarly also with the more remote ancestors.
Naturally then it is most likely that the characteristics of ‘male’ and of the individual father will go together, whether they prevail or are prevailed over. For the difference between them is small so that there is no difficulty in both concurring, for Socrates is an 25individual man with certain characters. Hence for the most part the male offspring resemble the father, and the female the mother. For in the latter case the loss of both characters takes place at once, and the change is into the two opposites; now is opposed to male, and the individual mother to the individual father.
But if the movement coming from the male principle prevails while that coming 30from the individual Socrates does not, or vice versa, then the result is that male children are produced resembling the mother and female children resembling the father.
If again the movements be resolved, if the male character remain but the movement coming from the individual Socrates be resolved into that of the father of Socrates, the result will be a male child resembling its grandfather or 35some other of its more remote ancestors in the male line on the same principle.
768b
1 ἡ ὁμοιότης κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον. ὁ δ' αὐτὸς τρόπος καὶ
ἐπὶ τῶν μορίων· καὶ γὰρ τῶν μορίων τὰ μὲν τῷ πατρὶ
ἔοικε πολλάκις τὰ δὲ τῇ μητρὶ τὰ δὲ τῶν προγόνων τισίν·
ἔνεισι γὰρ καὶ τῶν μορίων αἱ μὲν ἐνεργείᾳ κινήσεις αἱ δὲ
5 δυνάμει, καθάπερ εἴρηται πολλάκις. καθόλου δὲ δεῖ λαβεῖν
ὑποθέσεις, μίαν μὲν τὴν εἰρημένην ὅτι ἔνεισι τῶν κινήσεων
αἱ μὲν δυνάμει αἱ δ' ἐνεργείᾳ, ἄλλας δὲ δύο ὅτι κρατούμενον
μὲν ἐξίσταται εἰς τὸ ἀντικείμενον, λυόμενον δὲ εἰς τὴν
ἐχομένην κίνησιν, καὶ ἧττον μὲν λυόμενον εἰς τὴν ἐγγὺς
10 μᾶλλον δὲ εἰς τὴν πορρώτερον. τέλος δ' οὕτω συγχέονται
ὥστε μηθενὶ ἐοικέναι τῶν οἰκείων καὶ συγγενῶν ἀλλὰ λείπεσθαι
τὸ κοινὸν μόνον καὶ εἶναι ἄνθρωπον. τούτου δ' αἴτιον
ὅτι πᾶσιν ἀκολουθεῖ τοῦτο τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον· καθόλου γὰρ ὁ
ἄνθρωπος, ὁ δὲ Σωκράτης πατὴρ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ ἥτις ποτ'
15 ἦν τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον. Αἴτιον δὲ τοῦ μὲν λύεσθαι τὰς κινήσεις
ὅτι τὸ ποιοῦν καὶ πάσχει ὑπὸ τοῦ πάσχοντος, οἷον τὸ
τέμνον ἀμβλύνεται ὑπὸ τοῦ τεμνομένου καὶ τὸ θερμαῖνον ψύχεται
ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμαινομένου, καὶ ὅλως τὸ κινοῦν ἔξω τοῦ
πρώτου ἀντικινεῖταί τινα κίνησιν οἷον τὸ ὠθοῦν ἀντωθεῖται
20 πως καὶ ἀντιθλίβεται τὸ θλῖβον, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ ὅλως ἔπαθε
μᾶλλον ἢ ἐποίησεν, καὶ ἐψύχθη μὲν τὸ θερμαῖνον ἐθερμάνθη
δὲ τὸ ψῦχον, ὁτὲ μὲν οὐθὲν ποιῆσαν ὁτὲ δὲ ἧττον ἢ
παθόν· εἴρηται δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς περὶ τοῦ ποιεῖν καὶ
πάσχειν διωρισμένοις, ἐν ποίοις ὑπάρχει τῶν ὄντων τὸ ποιεῖν
25 καὶ πάσχειν. Ἐξίσταται δὲ τὸ πάσχον καὶ οὐ κρατεῖται ἢ
δι' ἔλλειψιν δυνάμεως τοῦ πέττοντος καὶ κινοῦντος ἢ διὰ
πλῆθος καὶ ψυχρότητα τοῦ πεττομένου καὶ διοριζομένου· τῇ
μὲν γὰρ κρατοῦν τῇ δὲ οὐ κρατοῦν ποιεῖ πολύμορφον τὸ συνιστάμενον,
οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀθλητῶν συμβαίνει διὰ τὴν πολυφαγίαν·
30 διὰ πλῆθος γὰρ τροφῆς οὐ δυναμένης τῆς φύσεως
κρατεῖν ὥστ' ἀνάλογον αὔξειν καὶ διαμένειν ὁμοίαν τὴν μορφήν,
ἀλλοῖα γίγνεται τὰ μέρη καὶ σχεδὸν ἐνίοθ' οὕτως ὥστε
μηθὲν ἐοικέναι τῷ πρότερον. παραπλήσιον δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τὸ
νόσημα τὸ καλούμενον σατυριᾶν· καὶ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ διὰ ῥεύματος
35 [ἢ πνεύματος] ἀπέπτου πλῆθος εἰς μόρια τοῦ προσώπου
παρεμπεσόντος ἄλλου ζῴου καὶ σατύρου φαίνεται τὸ πρόσωπον.
1If the male principle be prevailed over, the child will be female and resembling most probably its mother, but, if the movement coming from the mother also be resolved, it will resemble its mother’s mother or the resemblance will be to some other of its more remote ancestors in the female line on the same 5principle.
The same applies also to the separate parts, for often some of these take after the father, and others after the mother, and yet others after some of the remoter ancestors. For, as has been often said already, some of the movements which form the parts exist in the semen actually and others potentially. We must grasp certain fundamental general principles, not only that 10just mentioned (that some of the movements exist potentially and others actually), but also two others, that if a character be prevailed over it changes into its opposite, and, if it be resolved, is resolved into the movement next allied to it — if less, into that which is near, if more, into that which is further removed. Finally, the movements are so confused together that 15there is no resemblance to any of the family or kindred, but the only character that remains is that common to the race, i.e. it is a human being. The reason of this is that this is closely knit up with the individual characteristics; ‘human being’ is the general term, while Socrates, the father, and the mother, whoever she may be, are individuals.
The reason why the movements are 20resolved is this. The agent is itself acted upon by that on which it acts; thus that which cuts is blunted by that which is cut by it, that which heats is cooled by that which is heated by it, and in general the moving or efficient cause (except in the case of the first cause of all) does itself receive some motion in return; e.g. what pushes is itself in a way pushed again and 25what crushes is itself crushed again. Sometimes it is altogether more acted upon than is the thing on which it acts, so that what is heating or cooling something else is itself cooled or heated; sometimes having produced no effect, sometimes less than it has itself received. (This question has been treated in the special discussion of action and reaction, where it is laid down in 30what classes of things action and reaction exist.) Now that which is acted on escapes and is not mastered by the semen, either through deficiency of power in the concocting and moving agent or because what should be concocted and formed into distinct parts is too cold and in too great quantity. Thus the moving agent, mastering it in one part but not in another, makes the embryo in 35formation to be multiform, as happens with athletes because they eat so much.
The same applies also to the separate parts, for often some of these take after the father, and others after the mother, and yet others after some of the remoter ancestors. For, as has been often said already, some of the movements which form the parts exist in the semen actually and others potentially. We must grasp certain fundamental general principles, not only that 10just mentioned (that some of the movements exist potentially and others actually), but also two others, that if a character be prevailed over it changes into its opposite, and, if it be resolved, is resolved into the movement next allied to it — if less, into that which is near, if more, into that which is further removed. Finally, the movements are so confused together that 15there is no resemblance to any of the family or kindred, but the only character that remains is that common to the race, i.e. it is a human being. The reason of this is that this is closely knit up with the individual characteristics; ‘human being’ is the general term, while Socrates, the father, and the mother, whoever she may be, are individuals.
The reason why the movements are 20resolved is this. The agent is itself acted upon by that on which it acts; thus that which cuts is blunted by that which is cut by it, that which heats is cooled by that which is heated by it, and in general the moving or efficient cause (except in the case of the first cause of all) does itself receive some motion in return; e.g. what pushes is itself in a way pushed again and 25what crushes is itself crushed again. Sometimes it is altogether more acted upon than is the thing on which it acts, so that what is heating or cooling something else is itself cooled or heated; sometimes having produced no effect, sometimes less than it has itself received. (This question has been treated in the special discussion of action and reaction, where it is laid down in 30what classes of things action and reaction exist.) Now that which is acted on escapes and is not mastered by the semen, either through deficiency of power in the concocting and moving agent or because what should be concocted and formed into distinct parts is too cold and in too great quantity. Thus the moving agent, mastering it in one part but not in another, makes the embryo in 35formation to be multiform, as happens with athletes because they eat so much.
769a
1 Διὰ τίνα μὲν οὖν αἰτίαν θήλεα καὶ ἄρρενα γίγνεται,
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐοικότα τοῖς γονεῦσι, θήλεά τε θήλεσι καὶ
ἄρρενα ἄρρεσι, τὰ δ' ἀνάπαλιν θήλεά τε τῷ πατρὶ καὶ
ἄρρενα τῇ μητρί, καὶ ὅλως τὰ μὲν τοῖς προγόνοις ἔοικε
5 τὰ δ' οὐθενί, καὶ ταῦτα καὶ καθ' ὅλον τὸ σῶμα καὶ τῶν
μορίων ἕκαστον, διώρισται περὶ πάντων. Εἰρήκασι δέ τινες
τῶν φυσιολόγων καὶ ἕτεροι περὶ τούτων διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν ὅμοια
καὶ ἀνόμοια γίγνεται τοῖς γονεῦσιν· δύο δὴ τρόπους λέγουσι
τῆς αἰτίας. ἔνιοι μὲν γάρ φασιν ἀφ' ὁποτέρου ἂν ἔλθῃ
10 σπέρμα πλέον τούτῳ γίγνεσθαι μᾶλλον ἐοικός, ὁμοίως παντί
τε πᾶν καὶ μέρει μέρος, ὡς ἀπιόντος ἀφ' ἑκάστου τῶν μορίων
σπέρματος· ἂν δ' ἴσον ἔλθῃ ἀφ' ἑκατέρου τούτων οὐδετέρῳ
γίγνεσθαι ὅμοιον. εἰ δὲ τοῦτ' ἔστι ψεῦδος καὶ μὴ ἀπὸ
παντὸς ἀπέρχεται δῆλον ὡς οὐδὲ τῆς ὁμοιότητος καὶ ἀνομοιότητος
15 αἴτιον ἂν εἴη τὸ λεχθέν. ἔτι δὲ πῶς ἅμα θῆλυ
μὲν πατρὶ ἐοικὸς ἄρρεν δὲ μητρὶ ἐοικὸς οὐκ εὐπόρως δύνανται
διορίζειν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὥσπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς λέγοντες
ἢ Δημόκριτος περὶ τοῦ θήλεος καὶ ἄρρενος τὴν αἰτίαν ἄλλον
τρόπον ἀδύνατα λέγουσιν· οἱ δὲ τῷ πλεῖον ἢ ἔλαττον
20 ἀπιέναι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος ἢ θήλεος, διὰ τοῦτο γίγνεσθαι
τὸ μὲν θῆλυ τὸ δ' ἄρρεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔχοιεν ἀποδεῖξαι τίνα τρόπον
τό τε θῆλυ τῷ πατρὶ ἐοικὸς ἔσται καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν τῇ μητρί·
ἅμα γὰρ ἐλθεῖν πλεῖον ἀπ' ἀμφοτέρων ἀδύνατον. ἔτι
δὲ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν ἐοικὸς γίγνεται τοῖς προγόνοις ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ
25 πολὺ καὶ τοῖς ἄποθεν; οὐ γὰρ ἀπ' ἐκείνων γ' ἀπελήλυθεν
οὐθὲν τοῦ σπέρματος. Ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον οἱ τὸν λειπόμενον τρόπον
λέγοντες περὶ τῆς ὁμοιότητος καὶ τἆλλα βέλτιον καὶ
τοῦτο λέγουσιν. εἰσὶ γάρ τινες οἵ φασι τὴν γονὴν μίαν οὖσαν
οἷον πανσπερμίαν εἶναί τινα πολλῶν· ὥσπερ οὖν εἴ τις κεράσειε
30 πολλοὺς χυμοὺς εἰς ἓν ὑγρὸν κἄπειτ' ἐντεῦθεν λαμβάνοι,
καὶ δύναιτ' ἂν λαμβάνειν μὴ ἴσον ἀεὶ ἀφ' ἑκάστου,
ἀλλ' ὁτὲ μὲν τοῦ τοιοῦδε πλεῖον ὁτὲ δὲ τοῦ τοιοῦδε, ὁτὲ δὲ τοῦ
μὲν λαβεῖν τοῦ δὲ μηθὲν λαβεῖν—τοῦτο συμβαίνειν καὶ ἐπὶ
τῆς γονῆς πολυμιγοῦς οὔσης· ἀφ' οὗ γὰρ ἂν τῶν γεννώντων
35 πλεῖστον ἐγγένηται, τούτῳ γίγνεσθαι τὴν μορφὴν ἐοικός. οὗτος
δὲ ὁ λόγος οὐ σαφὴς μὲν καὶ πλασματίας ἐστὶ πολλαχῇ,
1For owing to the quantity of their food their nature is not able to master it all, so as to increase and arrange their form symmetrically; therefore their limbs develop irregularly, sometimes indeed almost so much that no one of them resembles what it was before. Similar to this is also the disease known as satyrism, in which the face 5appears like that of a satyr owing to a quantity of unconcocted humour or wind being diverted into parts of the face.
We have thus discussed the cause of all these phenomena, (1) female and male offspring are produced, (2) why some are similar to their parents, female to female and male to male, and others the other way about, females being similar to the father and males to the mother, and in general why some are 10like their ancestors while others are like none of them, and all this as concerns both the body as a whole and each of the parts separately. Different accounts, however, have been given of these phenomena by some of the nature-philosophers; I mean why children are like or unlike their parents. They give two versions of the reason. Some say that the child is more like that parent of the two from whom comes more semen, 15this applying equally both to the body as a whole and to the separate parts, on the assumption that semen comes from each part of both parents; if an equal part comes from each, then, they say, the child is like neither. But if this is false, if semen does not come off from the whole body of the parents, it is clear that the reason assigned cannot be the cause of likeness and unlikeness. Moreover, they are hard 20put to it to explain how it is that a female child can be like the father and a male like the mother. For (1) those who assign the same cause of sex as Empedocles or Democritus say what is on other grounds impossible, and (2) those who say that it is determined by the greater or smaller amount of semen coming the male or female parent, and that this is why one child is male and another female, cannot show how the female 25is to resemble the father and the male the mother, for it is impossible that more should come from both at once. Again, for what reason is a child generally like its ancestors, even the more remote? None of the semen has come from them at any rate.
But those who account for the similarity in the manner which remains to be discussed, explain this point better, as well as the others. For there are some who say that 30the semen, though one, is as it were a common mixture (panspermia) of many elements; just as, if one should mix many juices in one liquid and then take some from it, it would be possible to take, not an equal quantity always from each juice, but sometimes more of one and sometimes more of another, sometimes some of one and none at all of another, so they say it is with the generative fluid, which is a mixture of 35many elements, for the offspring resembles that parent from which it has derived most.
We have thus discussed the cause of all these phenomena, (1) female and male offspring are produced, (2) why some are similar to their parents, female to female and male to male, and others the other way about, females being similar to the father and males to the mother, and in general why some are 10like their ancestors while others are like none of them, and all this as concerns both the body as a whole and each of the parts separately. Different accounts, however, have been given of these phenomena by some of the nature-philosophers; I mean why children are like or unlike their parents. They give two versions of the reason. Some say that the child is more like that parent of the two from whom comes more semen, 15this applying equally both to the body as a whole and to the separate parts, on the assumption that semen comes from each part of both parents; if an equal part comes from each, then, they say, the child is like neither. But if this is false, if semen does not come off from the whole body of the parents, it is clear that the reason assigned cannot be the cause of likeness and unlikeness. Moreover, they are hard 20put to it to explain how it is that a female child can be like the father and a male like the mother. For (1) those who assign the same cause of sex as Empedocles or Democritus say what is on other grounds impossible, and (2) those who say that it is determined by the greater or smaller amount of semen coming the male or female parent, and that this is why one child is male and another female, cannot show how the female 25is to resemble the father and the male the mother, for it is impossible that more should come from both at once. Again, for what reason is a child generally like its ancestors, even the more remote? None of the semen has come from them at any rate.
But those who account for the similarity in the manner which remains to be discussed, explain this point better, as well as the others. For there are some who say that 30the semen, though one, is as it were a common mixture (panspermia) of many elements; just as, if one should mix many juices in one liquid and then take some from it, it would be possible to take, not an equal quantity always from each juice, but sometimes more of one and sometimes more of another, sometimes some of one and none at all of another, so they say it is with the generative fluid, which is a mixture of 35many elements, for the offspring resembles that parent from which it has derived most.
769b
1 βούλεται δὲ καὶ βέλτιον λέγειν μὴ ἐνεργείᾳ ὑπάρχειν ἀλλὰ
κατὰ δύναμιν ἣν λέγει πανσπερμίαν· ἐκείνως μὲν γὰρ
ἀδύνατον, οὕτως δὲ δυνατόν. Οὐ ῥᾴδιον δὲ οὐδὲ τρόπον ἕνα τῆς
αἰτίας ἀποδιδόντας τὰς αἰτίας εἰπεῖν περὶ πάντων· τοῦ τε γίγνεσθαι
5 θῆλυ καὶ ἄρρεν, καὶ διὰ τί τὸ μὲν θῆλυ τῷ πατρὶ
πολλάκις <ὅμοιον> τὸ δ' ἄρρεν τῇ μητρί, καὶ πάλιν τῆς πρὸς
τοὺς προγόνους ὁμοιότητος, ἔτι δὲ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν ὁτὲ μὲν ἄνθρωπος
μὲν τούτων δ' οὐθενὶ προσόμοιος, ὁτὲ δὲ προϊὸν οὕτω
τέλος οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπος ἀλλὰ ζῷόν τι μόνον φαίνεται τὸ γιγνόμενον,
10 ἃ δὴ καὶ λέγεται τέρατα. Καὶ γὰρ ἐχόμενον τῶν
εἰρημένων ἐστὶν εἰπεῖν περὶ τῶν τοιούτων τὰς αἰτίας. τέλος γὰρ
τῶν μὲν κινήσεων λυομένων τῆς δ' ὕλης οὐ κρατουμένης μένει
τὸ καθόλου μάλιστα—τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶ τὸ ζῷον. τὸ δὲ γιγνόμενον
κριοῦ κεφαλήν φασιν ἢ βοὸς ἔχειν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις
15 ὁμοίως ἑτέρου ζῴου, μόσχον παιδὸς κεφαλὴν ἢ πρόβατον
βοός. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα συμβαίνει μὲν διὰ τὰς προειρημένας
αἰτίας, ἔστι δ' οὐθὲν ὧν λέγουσιν ἀλλ' ἐοικότα μόνον—ὅπερ
γίγνεται καὶ μὴ πεπηρωμένων. διὸ πολλάκις οἱ σκώπτοντες
εἰκάζουσι τῶν μὴ καλῶν ἐνίους τοὺς μὲν αἰγὶ φυσῶντι πῦρ
20 τοὺς δ' οἰῒ κυρίττοντι. φυσιογνώμων δέ τις ἀνῆγε πάσας εἰς
δύο ζῴων ἢ τριῶν ὄψεις, καὶ συνέπειθε πολλάκις λέγων.
ὅτι δ' ἐστὶν ἀδύνατον γίγνεσθαι τέρας τοιοῦτον, ἕτερον ἐν ἑτέρῳ
ζῷον, δηλοῦσιν οἱ χρόνοι τῆς κυήσεως πολὺ διαφέροντες ἀνθρώπου
καὶ προβάτου καὶ κυνὸς καὶ βοός· ἀδύνατον δ' ἕκαστον
25 γενέσθαι μὴ κατὰ τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους. Τὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦτον
τὸν τρόπον λέγεται τῶν τεράτων, τὰ δὲ τῷ πολυμερῆ τὴν
μορφὴν ἔχειν, πολύποδα καὶ πολυκέφαλα γιγνόμενα. Πάρεγγυς
δ' οἱ λόγοι τῆς αἰτίας καὶ παραπλήσιοι τρόπον τινά
εἰσιν οἵ τε περὶ τῶν τεράτων καὶ οἱ περὶ τῶν ἀναπήρων
30 ζῴων·
1Though this theory is obscure and in many ways fictitious, it aims at what is better expressed by saying that what is called ‘panspermia’ exists potentially, not actually; it cannot exist actually, but it can do so potentially. Also, if we assign only one sort of cause, it is not easy to explain all the 5phenomena, (1) the distinction of sex, (2) why the female is often like the father and the male like the mother, and again (3) the resemblance to remoter ancestors, and further (4) the reason why the offspring is sometimes unlike any of these but still a human being, but sometimes, (5) proceeding further on these lines, appears finally to be not even a human being but only some 10kind of animal, what is called a monstrosity.
For, following what has been said, it remains to give the reason for such monsters. If the movements imparted by the semen are resolved and the material contributed by the mother is not controlled by them, at last there remains the most general substratum, that is to say the animal. Then people say that the child has the head of a 15ram or a bull, and so on with other animals, as that a calf has the head of a child or a sheep that of an ox. All these monsters result from the causes stated above, but they are none of the things they are said to be; there is only some similarity, such as may arise even where there is no defect of growth. Hence often jesters compare some one who is not beautiful to a ‘goat 20breathing fire’, or again to a ‘ram butting’, and a certain physiognomist reduced all faces to those of two or three animals, and his arguments often prevailed on people.
That, however, it is impossible for such a monstrosity to come into existence — I mean one animal in another — is shown by the great difference in the period of gestation between man, sheep, dog, and ox, it being 25impossible for each to be developed except in its proper time.
This is the description of some of the monsters talked about; others are such because certain parts of their form are multiplied so that they are born with many feet or many heads.
The account of the cause of monstrosities is very close and similar in a way to that of the cause of animals being born defective in any 30part, for monstrosity is also a kind of deficiency.
For, following what has been said, it remains to give the reason for such monsters. If the movements imparted by the semen are resolved and the material contributed by the mother is not controlled by them, at last there remains the most general substratum, that is to say the animal. Then people say that the child has the head of a 15ram or a bull, and so on with other animals, as that a calf has the head of a child or a sheep that of an ox. All these monsters result from the causes stated above, but they are none of the things they are said to be; there is only some similarity, such as may arise even where there is no defect of growth. Hence often jesters compare some one who is not beautiful to a ‘goat 20breathing fire’, or again to a ‘ram butting’, and a certain physiognomist reduced all faces to those of two or three animals, and his arguments often prevailed on people.
That, however, it is impossible for such a monstrosity to come into existence — I mean one animal in another — is shown by the great difference in the period of gestation between man, sheep, dog, and ox, it being 25impossible for each to be developed except in its proper time.
This is the description of some of the monsters talked about; others are such because certain parts of their form are multiplied so that they are born with many feet or many heads.
The account of the cause of monstrosities is very close and similar in a way to that of the cause of animals being born defective in any 30part, for monstrosity is also a kind of deficiency.
Book 4,Chapter 4 (769b30–773a29)
καὶ γὰρ τὸ τέρας ἀναπηρία τίς ἐστιν. Δημόκριτος
μὲν οὖν ἔφησε γίγνεσθαι τὰ τέρατα διὰ τὸ δύο γονὰς πίπτειν,
τὴν μὲν πρότερον ὁρμήσασαν <καὶ μὴ ἐξελθοῦσαν> τὴν δ' ὕστερον
καὶ ταύτην [ἐξελθοῦσαν] ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὴν ὑστέραν, ὥστε συμφύεσθαι
καὶ ἐπαλλάττειν τὰ μόρια. ταῖς δ' ὄρνισιν ἐπεὶ συμβαίνει
35 ταχεῖαν γίγνεσθαι τὴν ὀχείαν ἀεί, τά τ' ᾠὰ καὶ τὴν χρόαν
αὐτῶν ἐπαλλάττειν φησίν. εἰ δὲ συμβαίνει ἐξ ἑνὸς σπέρματος
Democritus said that monstrosities arose because two emissions of seminal fluid met together, the one succeeding the other at an interval of time; that the later entering into the uterus reinforced the earlier so that the parts of the embryo grow together and get confused with one another. But in birds, he says, since copulation 35takes place quickly, both the eggs and their colour always cross one another.
770a
1 πλείω γίγνεσθαι καὶ μιᾶς συνουσίας, ὅπερ φαίνεται,
βέλτιον μὴ κύκλῳ περιιέναι παρέντας τὴν σύντομον· τοῖς
γὰρ τοιούτοις μάλιστ' ἀναγκαῖον τοῦτο συμβαίνειν ὅταν μὴ
διακριθῶσιν ἀλλ' ἅμα τὰ σπέρματα ἔλθωσιν. εἰ μὲν οὖν
5 αἰτιάσασθαι δεῖ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος γονήν, τοῦτον ἂν τὸν
τρόπον εἴη λεκτέον· ὅλως δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν αἰτίαν οἰητέον ἐν
τῇ ὕλῃ καὶ τοῖς συνισταμένοις κυήμασιν εἶναι. διὸ καὶ γίγνονται
τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν τεράτων ἐν μὲν τοῖς μονοτόκοις σπάνια
πάμπαν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολυτόκοις μᾶλλον, καὶ μάλιστ'
10 ἐν ὄρνισι, τῶν δ' ὀρνίθων ἐν ταῖς ἀλεκτορίσιν· αὗται γὰρ
πολυτοκοῦσιν οὐ μόνον τῷ πολλάκις τίκτειν ὥσπερ τὸ τῶν
περιστερῶν γένος ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ πολλὰ ἅμα ἔχειν κυήματα
καὶ πᾶσαν ὥραν ὀχεύεσθαι. διόπερ καὶ πολλὰ δίδυμα
τίκτουσιν· συμφύεται γὰρ διὰ τὸ πλησίον ἀλλήλων εἶναι
15 τὰ κυήματα καθάπερ ἐνίοτε πολλὰ τῶν περικαρπίων. τούτων
δὲ ὅσων μὲν ἂν αἱ λέκιθοι διορίζωνται κατὰ τὸν ὑμένα,
δύο γίγνονται νεοττοὶ κεχωρισμένοι περιττὸν οὐδὲν ἔχοντες,
—ὅσων δὲ συνεχεῖς καὶ μὴ διείργει μηθέν, ἐκ τούτων οἱ
νεοττοὶ γίγνονται τερατώδεις, σῶμα μὲν καὶ κεφαλὴν μίαν
20 ἔχοντες σκέλη δὲ τέτταρα καὶ πτέρυγας διὰ τὸ τὰ μὲν
ἄνωθεν ἐκ τοῦ λευκοῦ γίγνεσθαι καὶ πρότερον, ταμιευομένης ἐκ
τῆς λεκίθου τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοῖς, τὸ δὲ κάτω μόριον ὑστερίζειν
μέν, τὴν δὲ τροφὴν εἶναι μίαν καὶ ἀδιόριστον. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ
ὄφις ὦπται δικέφαλος διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν· ᾠοτοκεῖ γὰρ
25 καὶ πολυτοκεῖ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ γένος. σπανιώτερον δὲ τὸ τερατῶδες
ἐπ' αὐτῶν διὰ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς ὑστέρας· στοιχηδὸν γὰρ
κεῖται τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ᾠῶν διὰ τὸ μῆκος αὐτῆς. καὶ περὶ
τὰς μελίττας καὶ τοὺς σφῆκας οὐδὲν γίγνεται τοιοῦτον· ἐν κεχωρισμένοις
γὰρ κυτταρίοις ὁ τόκος ἐστὶν αὐτῶν. περὶ δὲ
30 τὰς ἀλεκτορίδας τοὐναντίον συμβέβηκεν, ᾗ καὶ δῆλον ὡς ἐν
τῇ ὕλῃ τὴν αἰτίαν δεῖ νομίζειν τῶν τοιούτων· καὶ γὰρ τῶν
ἄλλων ἐν τοῖς πολυτόκοις μᾶλλον. διὸ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ ἧττον·
ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ μονοτόκον ἐστὶ καὶ τελειογόνον, ἐπεὶ
καὶ τούτων ἐν οἷς τόποις πολύγονοι αἱ γυναῖκές εἰσι τοῦτο
35 συμβαίνει μᾶλλον, οἷον περὶ Αἴγυπτον. ἐν δὲ ταῖς αἰξὶ καὶ
τοῖς προβάτοις γίγνεται μᾶλλον· πολυτοκώτερα γάρ ἐστιν. ἔτι
δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς πολυσχιδέσιν· πολυτόκα γάρ ἐστι τὰ τοιαῦτα
1But if it is the fact, as it manifestly is, that several young are produced from one emission of semen and a single act of intercourse, it is better not to desert the short road to go a long way about, for in such cases it is absolutely necessary that this should occur when the semen is not separated but all enters the 5female at once.
If, then, we must attribute the cause to the semen of the male, this will be the way we shall have to state it, but we must rather by all means suppose that the cause lies in the material contributed by the female and in the embryo as it is forming. Hence also such monstrosities appear very rarely in animals producing only one young one, more frequently in those producing many, most of 10all in birds and among birds in the common fowl. For this bird produces many young, not only because it lays often like the pigeon family, but also because it has many embryos at once and copulates all the year round. Therefore it produces many double eggs, for the embryos grow together because they are near one another, as often happens with many fruits. In such double eggs, when the yolks are 15separated by the membrane, two separate chickens are produced with nothing abnormal about them; when the yolks are continuous, with no division between them, the chickens produced are monstrous, having one body and head but four legs and four wings; this is because the upper parts are formed earlier from the white, their nourishment being drawn from the yolk, whereas the lower part comes into being later 20and its nourishment is one and indivisible.
A snake has also been observed with two heads for the same reason, this class also being oviparous and producing many young. Monstrosities, however, are rarer among them owing to the shape of the uterus, for by reason of its length the numerous eggs are set in a line.
Nothing of the kind occurs with bees and wasps, because their brood is in separate cells. 25But in the fowl the opposite is the case, whereby it is plain that we must hold the cause of such phenomena to lie in the material. So, too, monstrosities are commoner in other animals if they produce many young. Hence they are less common in man, for he produces for the most part only one young one and that perfect; even in man monstrosities occur more often in regions where the women give birth to 30more than one at a time, as in Egypt. And they are commoner in sheep and goats, since they produce more young. Still more does this apply to the fissipeds, for such animals produce many young and imperfect, as the dog, the young of these creatures being generally blind. Why this happens and why they produce many young must be stated later, but in them Nature has made an advance towards the production 35of monstrosities in that what they generate, being imperfect, is so far unlike the parent; now monstrosities also belong to the class of things unlike the parent.
If, then, we must attribute the cause to the semen of the male, this will be the way we shall have to state it, but we must rather by all means suppose that the cause lies in the material contributed by the female and in the embryo as it is forming. Hence also such monstrosities appear very rarely in animals producing only one young one, more frequently in those producing many, most of 10all in birds and among birds in the common fowl. For this bird produces many young, not only because it lays often like the pigeon family, but also because it has many embryos at once and copulates all the year round. Therefore it produces many double eggs, for the embryos grow together because they are near one another, as often happens with many fruits. In such double eggs, when the yolks are 15separated by the membrane, two separate chickens are produced with nothing abnormal about them; when the yolks are continuous, with no division between them, the chickens produced are monstrous, having one body and head but four legs and four wings; this is because the upper parts are formed earlier from the white, their nourishment being drawn from the yolk, whereas the lower part comes into being later 20and its nourishment is one and indivisible.
A snake has also been observed with two heads for the same reason, this class also being oviparous and producing many young. Monstrosities, however, are rarer among them owing to the shape of the uterus, for by reason of its length the numerous eggs are set in a line.
Nothing of the kind occurs with bees and wasps, because their brood is in separate cells. 25But in the fowl the opposite is the case, whereby it is plain that we must hold the cause of such phenomena to lie in the material. So, too, monstrosities are commoner in other animals if they produce many young. Hence they are less common in man, for he produces for the most part only one young one and that perfect; even in man monstrosities occur more often in regions where the women give birth to 30more than one at a time, as in Egypt. And they are commoner in sheep and goats, since they produce more young. Still more does this apply to the fissipeds, for such animals produce many young and imperfect, as the dog, the young of these creatures being generally blind. Why this happens and why they produce many young must be stated later, but in them Nature has made an advance towards the production 35of monstrosities in that what they generate, being imperfect, is so far unlike the parent; now monstrosities also belong to the class of things unlike the parent.
770b
1 τῶν ζῴων καὶ οὐ τελειογόνα, καθάπερ ἡ κύων· τὰ γὰρ
πολλὰ τίκτει τυφλὰ τούτων. δι' ἣν δ' αἰτίαν τοῦτο συμβαίνει
καὶ δι' ἣν αἰτίαν πολυτοκοῦσιν ὕστερον λεκτέον. ἀλλὰ προωδοποίηται
τῇ φύσει πρὸς τὸ τερατοτοκεῖν τῷ μὴ γεννᾶν ὅμοια
5 διὰ τὴν ἀτέλειαν· ἔστι δὲ καὶ τὸ τέρας τῶν ἀνομοίων. διόπερ
ἐπαλλάττει τοῦτο τὸ σύμπτωμα τοῖς τοιούτοις τὴν φύσιν.
ἐν γὰρ τούτοις μάλιστα γίγνεται καὶ τὰ μετάχοιρα καλούμενα.
ταῦτα δ' ἐστὶ κατά τι πεπονθότα τερατῶδες· τὸ
γὰρ ἐκλείπειν ἢ προσεῖναί τι τερατῶδες. ἔστι γὰρ τὸ τέρας
10 τῶν παρὰ φύσιν τι, παρὰ φύσιν δ' οὐ πᾶσαν ἀλλὰ
τὴν ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ· περὶ γὰρ τὴν ἀεὶ καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀνάγκης
οὐθὲν γίγνεται παρὰ φύσιν, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ μὲν
οὕτω γιγνομένοις ἐνδεχομένοις δὲ καὶ ἄλλως, ἐπεὶ καὶ τούτων
ἐν ὅσοις συμβαίνει παρὰ τὴν τάξιν μὲν ταύτην, ἀεὶ
15 μέντοι μὴ τυχόντως, ἧττον εἶναι δοκεῖ τέρας διὰ τὸ καὶ τὸ
παρὰ φύσιν εἶναι τρόπον τινὰ κατὰ φύσιν, ὅταν μὴ κρατήσῃ
τὴν κατὰ τὴν ὕλην ἡ κατὰ τὸ εἶδος φύσις. διόπερ
οὔτε τὰ τοιαῦτα τέρατα λέγουσιν οὔτ' ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐν ὅσοις
εἴωθέ τι γίγνεσθαι, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς περικαρπίοις. ἔστι γάρ
20 τις ἄμπελος ἣν καλοῦσί τινες κάπνεον, ἣν ἂν ἐνέγκῃ μέλανας
βότρυας οὐ κρίνουσι τέρας διὰ τὸ πλειστάκις εἰωθέναι
ταύτην τοῦτο ποιεῖν. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι μεταξὺ λευκῆς ἐστι τὴν
φύσιν καὶ μελαίνης ὥστ' οὐ πόρρωθεν ἡ μετάβασις οὐδ'
ὡσπερανεὶ παρὰ φύσιν· οὐ γὰρ εἰς ἄλλην φύσιν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς
25 πολυτόκοις ταῦτα συμβαίνει διὰ τὸ τὴν πολυτοκίαν
ἐμποδίζειν τὰς τελειώσεις ἀλλήλων καὶ τὰς κινήσεις τὰς
γεννητικάς.
Περὶ δὲ τῆς πολυτοκίας καὶ τοῦ πλεονασμοῦ τοῦ τῶν
μερῶν, καὶ τῆς ὀλιγοτοκίας καὶ μονοτοκίας καὶ τῆς ἐνδείας
30 τῶν μερῶν ἀπορήσειεν ἄν τις. γίγνεται γὰρ ἐνίοτε τὰ μὲν
πλείους ἔχοντα δακτύλους τὰ δ' ἕνα μόνον, καὶ περὶ τὰ
ἄλλα μέρη τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον· καὶ γὰρ πλεονάζει καὶ κολοβὰ
γίγνεται. τὰ δὲ καὶ δύο ἔχοντα αἰδοῖα, τὸ μὲν ἄρρενος
τὸ δὲ θήλεος, καὶ ἐν ἀνθρώποις καὶ μάλιστα περὶ
35 τὰς αἶγας· γίγνονται γὰρ ἃς καλοῦσι τραγαίνας διὰ τὸ
θήλεος καὶ ἄρρενος ἔχειν αἰδοῖον—ἤδη δὲ καὶ κέρας αἲξ
ἔχουσα ἐγένετο πρὸς τῷ σκέλει. γίγνονται δὲ μεταβολαὶ καὶ
1Therefore this accident also often invades animals of such a nature. So, too, it is in these that the so-called ‘metachoera’ are most frequent, and the condition of these also is in a way monstrous, since both deficiency and excess are monstrous. For the monstrosity belongs to the 5class of things contrary to Nature, not any and every kind of Nature, but Nature in her usual operations; nothing can happen contrary to Nature considered as eternal and necessary, but we speak of things being contrary to her in those cases where things generally happen in a certain way but may also happen in another way. In fact, even in the case of 10monstrosities, whenever things occur contrary indeed to the established order but still always in a certain way and not at random, the result seems to be less of a monstrosity because even that which is contrary to Nature is in a certain sense according to Nature, whenever, that is, the formal nature has not mastered the material nature. Therefore they do 15not call such things monstrosities any more than in the other cases where a phenomenon occurs habitually, as in fruits; for instance, there is a vine which some call ‘capneos’; if this bear black grapes they do not judge it a monstrosity because it is in the habit of doing this very often. The reason is that it is in its nature intermediate between 20white and black; thus the change is not a violent one nor, so to say, contrary to Nature; at least, is it not a change into another nature. But in animals producing many young not only do the same phenomena occur, but also the numerous embryos hinder one another from becoming perfect and interfere with the generative motions imparted by the semen.
A 25difficulty may be raised concerning (1) the production of many young and the multiplication of the parts in a single young one, and (2) the production of few young or only one and the deficiency of the parts. Sometimes animals are born with too many toes, sometimes with one alone, and so on with the other parts, for they may be multiplied or they may be 30absent. Again, they may have the generative parts doubled, the one being male, the other female; this is known in men and especially in goats. For what are called ‘tragaenae’ are such because they have both male and female generative parts; there is a case also of a goat being born with a horn upon its leg. Changes and deficiencies are found also in the 35internal parts, animals either not possessing some at all, or possessing them in a rudimentary condition, or too numerous or in the wrong place.
A 25difficulty may be raised concerning (1) the production of many young and the multiplication of the parts in a single young one, and (2) the production of few young or only one and the deficiency of the parts. Sometimes animals are born with too many toes, sometimes with one alone, and so on with the other parts, for they may be multiplied or they may be 30absent. Again, they may have the generative parts doubled, the one being male, the other female; this is known in men and especially in goats. For what are called ‘tragaenae’ are such because they have both male and female generative parts; there is a case also of a goat being born with a horn upon its leg. Changes and deficiencies are found also in the 35internal parts, animals either not possessing some at all, or possessing them in a rudimentary condition, or too numerous or in the wrong place.
771a
1 πηρώσεις <καὶ πλεονασμοὶ> καὶ περὶ τὰ ἐντὸς μόρια τῷ ἢ μὴ ἔχειν
ἔνια ἢ κεκολοβωμένα ἔχειν καὶ πλείω καὶ μεθεστῶτα τοὺς τόπους.
καρδίαν μὲν οὖν οὐθὲν πώποτε ἐγένετο ζῷον οὐκ ἔχον, σπλῆνα
δ' οὐκ ἔχον καὶ δύο ἔχον, καὶ νεφρὸν ἕνα· ἧπαρ δ' οὐκ
5 ἔχον μὲν οὐθέν, οὐχ ὅλον δὲ ἔχον. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἐν τοῖς
τελειωθεῖσι καὶ ζῶσιν. εὑρίσκεται καὶ χολὴν οὐκ ἔχοντα,
πεφυκότα ἔχειν· τὰ δὲ πλείους ἔχοντα μιᾶς. ἤδη δ' ἐγένετο
καὶ μεθεστηκότα κατὰ τόπον—τὸ μὲν ἧπαρ ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς,
ὁ δὲ σπλὴν ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἔν γε
10 τετελεσμένοις ὦπται τοῖς ζῴοις ὥσπερ εἴρηται· ἐν δὲ τοῖς
τικτομένοις ἔχοντα πολλὴν καὶ παντοδαπὴν ταραχήν. τὰ
μὲν οὖν μικρὸν παρεκβαίνοντα τὴν φύσιν ζῆν εἴωθεν, τὰ δὲ
πλεῖον οὐ ζῆν ὅταν ἐν τοῖς κυρίοις τοῦ ζῆν γένηται τὸ παρὰ
φύσιν. Ἡ δὲ σκέψις ἐστὶν ἡ περὶ τούτων πότερον τὴν αὐτὴν
15 αἰτίαν δεῖ νομίζειν τῆς μονοτοκίας καὶ τῆς ἐνδείας τῶν μερῶν
καὶ τοῦ πλεονασμοῦ καὶ τῆς πολυτοκίας ἢ μὴ τὴν αὐτήν.
Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν διὰ τί τὰ μέν ἐστι πολυτόκα τὰ δὲ
μονοτόκα, τοῦτ' ἄν τις δόξειεν εὐλόγως θαυμάζειν. τὰ γὰρ
μέγιστα μονοτόκα τῶν ζῴων ἐστίν, οἷον ἐλέφας κάμηλος
20 ἵππος καὶ τὰ μώνυχα· τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν μείζω τῶν ἄλλων,
τὰ δὲ πολὺ διαφέρει κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος. κύων δὲ καὶ
λύκος καὶ τὰ πολυσχιδῆ πάντα πολυτόκα σχεδόν, καὶ τὰ
μικρὰ τῶν τοιούτων οἷον τὸ τῶν μυῶν γένος. τὰ δὲ δίχηλα
ὀλιγοτόκα πλὴν ὑός· αὕτη δὲ τῶν πολυτόκων ἐστίν. εὔλογον
25 γὰρ τὰ μὲν μεγάλα πλείω δύνασθαι γεννᾶν καὶ σπέρμα
φέρειν πλεῖον. αἴτιον δ' αὐτὸ τὸ θαυμαζόμενον τοῦ μὴ
θαυμάζειν· διὰ γὰρ τὸ μέγεθος οὐ πολυτοκοῦσιν· ἡ γὰρ
τροφὴ καταναλίσκεται τοῖς τοιούτοις εἰς τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος—τοῖς
δ' ἐλάττοσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγέθους ἡ φύσις ἀφελοῦσα
30 πρὸς τὸ περίττωμα προστίθησι τὸ σπερματικὸν τὴν
ὑπεροχήν. ἔτι δὲ τὸ γεννῆσαν σπέρμα πλεῖον μὲν τὸ τοῦ
μείζονος ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι, μικρὸν δὲ τὸ τῶν ἐλαττόνων.
πολλὰ μὲν οὖν μικρὰ γένοιτ' ἂν ἐν ταὐτῷ, μεγάλα δὲ
πολλὰ χαλεπόν. τοῖς δὲ μέσοις μεγέθεσι τὸ μέσον ἀπέδωκεν
35 ἡ φύσις. τοῦ μὲν οὖν τὰ μὲν εἶναι μεγάλα τῶν ζῴων
τὰ δ' ἐλάττω τὰ δὲ μέσα πρότερον εἰρήκαμεν τὴν αἰτίαν·
1No animal, indeed, has ever been born without a heart, but they are born without a spleen or with two spleens or with one kidney; there is no case again of total absence of the liver, but there are cases of its being incomplete. And all these phenomena have been seen in animals perfect and alive. Animals 5also which naturally have a gall-bladder are found without one; others are found to have more than one. Cases are known, too, of the organs changing places, the liver being on the left, the spleen on the right. These phenomena have been observed, as stated above, in animals whose growth is perfected; at the time of birth great confusion of every kind has been found. Those deficiency 10which only depart a little from Nature commonly live; not so those which depart further, when the unnatural condition is in the parts which are sovereign over life.
The question then about all these cases is this. Are we to suppose that a single cause is responsible for the production of a single young one and for the deficiency of the parts, and another but still a single 15cause for the production of many young and the multiplication of parts, or not?
In the first place it seems only reasonable to wonder why some animals produce many young, others only one. For it is the largest animals that produce one, e.g. the elephant, camel, horse, and the other solid-hoofed ungulates; of these some are larger than all other animals, while the others are of a 20remarkable size. But the dog, the wolf, and practically all the fissipeds, produce many, even the small members of the class, as the mouse family. The cloven-footed animals again produce few, except the pig, which belongs to those that produce many. This certainly seems surprising, for we should expect the large animals to be able to generate more young and to secrete more semen. But 25precisely what we wonder at is the reason for not wondering; it is just because of their size that they do not produce many young, for the nutriment is expended in such animals upon increasing the body. But in the smaller animals Nature takes away from the size and adds the excess so gained to the seminal secretion. Moreover, more semen must needs be used in generation by the 30larger animal, and little by the smaller. Therefore many small ones may be produced together, but it is hard for many large ones to be so, and to those intermediate in size Nature has assigned the intermediate number. We have formerly given the reason why some animals are large, some smaller, and some between the two, and speaking generally, with regard to the number of young produced, 35the solid-hoofed produce one, the cloven-footed few, the many-toed many.
The question then about all these cases is this. Are we to suppose that a single cause is responsible for the production of a single young one and for the deficiency of the parts, and another but still a single 15cause for the production of many young and the multiplication of parts, or not?
In the first place it seems only reasonable to wonder why some animals produce many young, others only one. For it is the largest animals that produce one, e.g. the elephant, camel, horse, and the other solid-hoofed ungulates; of these some are larger than all other animals, while the others are of a 20remarkable size. But the dog, the wolf, and practically all the fissipeds, produce many, even the small members of the class, as the mouse family. The cloven-footed animals again produce few, except the pig, which belongs to those that produce many. This certainly seems surprising, for we should expect the large animals to be able to generate more young and to secrete more semen. But 25precisely what we wonder at is the reason for not wondering; it is just because of their size that they do not produce many young, for the nutriment is expended in such animals upon increasing the body. But in the smaller animals Nature takes away from the size and adds the excess so gained to the seminal secretion. Moreover, more semen must needs be used in generation by the 30larger animal, and little by the smaller. Therefore many small ones may be produced together, but it is hard for many large ones to be so, and to those intermediate in size Nature has assigned the intermediate number. We have formerly given the reason why some animals are large, some smaller, and some between the two, and speaking generally, with regard to the number of young produced, 35the solid-hoofed produce one, the cloven-footed few, the many-toed many.
771b
1 μονοτόκα δέ, τὰ δ' ὀλιγοτόκα, τὰ δὲ πολυτόκα τῶν ζῴων
ἐστίν. ὡς μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ τὰ μὲν μώνυχα μονοτόκα, τὰ
δὲ δίχηλα ὀλιγοτόκα, τὰ δὲ πολυσχιδῆ πολυτόκα. τούτου
δ' αἴτιον ὅτι ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ τὰ μεγέθη διώρισται κατὰ τὰς
5 διαφορὰς ταύτας. οὐ μὴν ἔχει γ' οὕτως ἐπὶ πάντων· αἴτιον
γὰρ μέγεθος καὶ μικρότης τῶν σωμάτων τῆς ὀλιγοτοκίας
καὶ πολυτοκίας ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ μώνυχον ἢ πολυσχιδὲς ἢ δίχηλον
εἶναι τὸ γένος. τούτου δὲ μαρτύριον· ὁ γὰρ ἐλέφας
μέγιστον τῶν ζῴων, ἔστι δὲ πολυσχιδές, ἥ τε κάμηλος δίχηλον
10 τῶν λοιπῶν μέγιστον ὄν. οὐ μόνον δ' ἐν τοῖς πεζοῖς
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πτηνοῖς καὶ ἐν τοῖς πλωτοῖς τὰ μὲν μεγάλα
ὀλιγοτόκα ἐστὶ τὰ δὲ μικρὰ πολυτόκα διὰ τὴν
αὐτὴν αἰτίαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν φυτῶν οὐ τὰ μέγιστα φέρει
πλεῖστον καρπόν. Διὰ τί μὲν οὖν τῶν ζῴων τὰ μὲν πολυτόκα τὰ
15 δ' ὀλιγοτόκα τὰ δὲ μονοτόκα τὴν φύσιν ἐστὶν εἴρηται—τῆς δὲ νῦν
ῥηθείσης ἀπορίας μᾶλλον ἄν τις εὐλόγως θαυμάσειεν ἐπὶ τῶν πολυτοκούντων,
ἐπειδὴ φαίνεται πολλάκις ἀπὸ μιᾶς ὀχείας κυϊσκόμενα
τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν ζῴων. τὸ δὲ σπέρμα τὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος,
—εἴτε συμβάλλεται πρὸς τὴν ὕλην μόριον γιγνόμενον τοῦ
20 κυήματος καὶ τῷ τοῦ θήλεος σπέρματι μιγνύμενον, εἴτε καὶ
μὴ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀλλ' ὥσπερ φαμὲν συνάγον καὶ δημιουργοῦν
τὴν ὕλην τὴν ἐν τῷ θήλει καὶ τὸ περίττωμα τὸ
σπερματικόν, καθάπερ ὁ ὀπὸς τὴν ὑγρότητα τοῦ γάλακτος,
—διὰ τίνα ποτ' αἰτίαν οὐχ ἓν ἀποτελεῖ ζῷον μέγεθος ἔχον,
25 ὥσπερ ἐνταῦθα ὁ ὀπὸς οὐ κεχώρισται τῷ συνιστάναι ποσόν τι,
ἀλλ' ὅσῳπερ ἂν εἰς πλεῖον ἔλθῃ καὶ πλείων τοσούτῳ τὸ
πηγνύμενόν ἐστι μεῖζον; τὸ μὲν οὖν ἕλκειν φάναι τοὺς τόπους
τῆς ὑστέρας τὸ σπέρμα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πλείω γίγνεσθαι, διὰ
τὸ τῶν τόπων πλῆθος καὶ τὰς κοτυληδόνας οὐχ ἓν οὔσας, οὐθέν
30 ἐστιν· ἐν ταὐτῷ γὰρ γίγνονται τόπῳ ὑστέρας δύο πολλάκις,
ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολυτόκοις ὅταν πληρωθῇ τῶν ἐμβρύων
ἐφεξῆς κείμενα φαίνεται. τοῦτο δὲ δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἀνατομῶν
ἐστιν. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ καὶ τελειουμένων τῶν ζῴων ἔστιν ἑκάστου τι
μέγεθος καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλαττον, ὧν οὔτ' ἂν
35 μεῖζον γένοιτο οὔτ' ἔλαττον, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ διαστήματι
τοῦ μεγέθους λαμβάνουσι πρὸς ἄλληλα τὴν ὑπεροχὴν καὶ τὴν
1(The reason of this is that, generally speaking, their sizes correspond to this difference.) It is not so, however, in all cases; for it is the largeness and smallness of the body that is cause of few or many young being born, not the fact that the kind of animal has one, two, or 5many toes. A proof of this is that the elephant is the largest of animals and yet is many-toed, and the camel, the next largest, is cloven-footed. And not only in animals that walk but also in those that fly or swim the large ones produce few, the small many, for the same reason. In like manner also it is not the largest plants that bear most fruit.
We 10have explained then why some animals naturally produce many young, some but few, and some only one; in the difficulty now stated we may rather be surprised with reason at those which produce many, since such animals are often seen to conceive from a single copulation. Whether the semen of the male contributes to the material of the embryo by itself 15becoming a part of it and mixing with the semen of the female, or whether, as we say, it does not act in this way but brings together and fashions the material within the female and the generative secretion as the fig-juice does the liquid substance of milk, what is the reason why it does not form a single animal of considerable size? For certainly in 20the parallel case the fig-juice is not separated if it has to curdle a large quantity of milk, but the more the milk and the more the fig-juice put into it, so much the greater is the curdled mass. Now it is no use to say that the several regions of the uterus attract the semen and therefore more young than one are formed, because the regions are many 25and the cotyledons are more than one. For two embryos are often formed in the same region of the uterus, and they may be seen lying in a row in animals that produce many, when the uterus is filled with the embryos. (This is plain from the dissections.) Rather the truth is this. As animals complete their growth there are certain limits to their size, both 30upwards and downwards, beyond which they cannot go, but it is in the space between these limits that they exceed or fall short of one another in size, and it is within these limits that one man (or any other animal) is larger or smaller than another. So also the generative material from which each animal is formed is not without a quantitative limit 35in both directions, nor can it be formed from any quantity you please.
We 10have explained then why some animals naturally produce many young, some but few, and some only one; in the difficulty now stated we may rather be surprised with reason at those which produce many, since such animals are often seen to conceive from a single copulation. Whether the semen of the male contributes to the material of the embryo by itself 15becoming a part of it and mixing with the semen of the female, or whether, as we say, it does not act in this way but brings together and fashions the material within the female and the generative secretion as the fig-juice does the liquid substance of milk, what is the reason why it does not form a single animal of considerable size? For certainly in 20the parallel case the fig-juice is not separated if it has to curdle a large quantity of milk, but the more the milk and the more the fig-juice put into it, so much the greater is the curdled mass. Now it is no use to say that the several regions of the uterus attract the semen and therefore more young than one are formed, because the regions are many 25and the cotyledons are more than one. For two embryos are often formed in the same region of the uterus, and they may be seen lying in a row in animals that produce many, when the uterus is filled with the embryos. (This is plain from the dissections.) Rather the truth is this. As animals complete their growth there are certain limits to their size, both 30upwards and downwards, beyond which they cannot go, but it is in the space between these limits that they exceed or fall short of one another in size, and it is within these limits that one man (or any other animal) is larger or smaller than another. So also the generative material from which each animal is formed is not without a quantitative limit 35in both directions, nor can it be formed from any quantity you please.
772a
1 ἔλλειψιν, καὶ γίγνεται <ὁ μὲν> μείζων ὁ δ' ἐλάττων ἄνθρωπος καὶ
τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ὁτιοῦν, —οὕτω καὶ ἐξ ἧς γίγνεται ὕλης σπερματικῆς
οὐκ ἔστιν ἀόριστος οὔτ' ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖον οὔτ' ἐπὶ τὸ
ἔλαττον ὥστ' ἐξ ὁποσησοῦν γίγνεσθαι τῷ πλήθει. ὅσα γοῦν τῶν
5 ζῴων διὰ τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν πλεῖον προΐεται περίττωμα
ἢ εἰς ἑνὸς ζῴου ἀρχήν, οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἐκ ταύτης ἓν γίγνεσθαι
πάσης ἀλλὰ τοσαῦτα ὅσα τοῖς μεγέθεσιν ὥρισται τοῖς
ἱκνουμένοις, οὐδὲ τὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος σπέρμα ἢ ἡ δύναμις ἡ ἐν τῷ
σπέρματι οὐθὲν συστήσει πλεῖον ἢ ἔλαττον τοῦ πεφυκότος.
10 ὁμοίως τ' εἰ πλεῖον σπέρμα ἀφίησι τὸ ἄρρεν ἢ δυνάμεις
πλείους ἐν διαιρουμένῳ τῷ σπέρματι, οὐθὲν ποιήσει μεῖζον τὸ
πλεῖστον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον διαφθερεῖ καταξηραῖνον. οὐδὲ
γὰρ τὸ πῦρ θερμαίνει τὸ ὕδωρ μᾶλλον, ὅσῳπερ ἂν ᾖ
πλεῖον, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὅρος τις τῆς θερμότητος, ἧς ὑπαρχούσης ἐὰν
15 αὔξῃ τις τὸ πῦρ, θερμὸν μὲν οὐκέτι γίγνεται μᾶλλον, ἐξατμίζει
δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ τέλος ἀφανίζεται καὶ γίγνεται ξηρόν.
ἐπεὶ δὲ φαίνεται συμμετρίας δεῖσθαί τινος πρὸς ἄλληλα
τό τε περίττωμα τὸ τοῦ θήλεος καὶ τὸ παρὰ τοῦ ἄρρενος
(ὅσα προΐεται σπέρμα τῶν ἀρρένων), τὰ πολυτόκα τῶν
20 ζῴων εὐθὺς ἀφίησι τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν δυνάμενον πλείω συνιστάναι
μεριζόμενον, τὸ δὲ θῆλυ τοσοῦτον ὥστε πλείους γίγνεσθαι συστάσεις.
τὸ δ' ἐπὶ τοῦ γάλακτος παράδειγμα λεχθὲν οὐχ
ὅμοιόν ἐστιν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ σπέρματος θερμότης οὐ μόνον
συνίστησι ποσὸν ἀλλὰ καὶ ποιόν τι, ἡ δ' ἐν τῷ ὀπῷ καὶ τῇ
25 πυετίᾳ τὸ ποσὸν μόνον. τοῦ μὲν οὖν πολλὰ γίγνεσθαι τὰ κυήματα
καὶ μὴ συνεχὲς ἓν ἐκ πάντων ἐν τοῖς πολυτόκοις
τοῦτ' αὐτὸ αἴτιον ὅτι οὐκ ἐξ ὁποσουοῦν γίγνεται κύημα, ἀλλ'
ἐάν τε ὀλίγον ᾖ οὐκ ἔσται, ἐάν τε πολὺ λίαν· ὥρισται γὰρ
ἡ δύναμις καὶ τοῦ πάσχοντος καὶ τῆς θερμότητος τῆς ποιούσης.
30 ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς μονοτόκοις καὶ μεγάλοις τῶν
ζῴων οὐ πολλὰ γίγνεται ἐκ πολλοῦ περιττώματος· καὶ γὰρ
ἐν ἐκείνοις ἐκ ποσοῦ τινος ποσόν τι τὸ ἐργαζόμενόν ἐστιν. οὐ
προΐεται μὲν οὖν πλείω τοιαύτην ὕλην διὰ τὴν προειρημένην
αἰτίαν· ἣν δὲ προΐεται τοσαύτη κατὰ φύσιν ἐστὶν ἐξ ἧς ἓν
35 γίγνεται κύημα μόνον. ἐὰν δέ ποτε πλεῖον ἔλθῃ διτοκεῖ
τότε. διὸ καὶ δοκεῖ τερατώδη τὰ τοιαῦτ' εἶναι μᾶλλον, ὅτι
γίγνεται παρὰ τὸ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ καὶ τὸ εἰωθός. Ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος
1Whenever then an animal, for the cause assigned, discharges more of the female secretion than is needed for beginning the existence of a single animal, it is not possible that only one should be formed out of all this, but a number limited by the appropriate size in each case; nor will the semen of the male, 5or the power residing in the semen, form anything either more or less than what is according to Nature. In like manner, if the male emits more semen than is necessary, or more powers in different parts of the semen as it is divided, however much it is it will not make anything greater; on the contrary it will dry up the material of the female and destroy it. So fire also does not 10continue to make water hotter in proportion as it is itself increased, but there is a fixed limit to the heat of which water is capable; if that is once reached and the fire is then increased, the water no longer gets hotter but rather evaporates and at last disappears and is dried up. Now since it appears that the secretion of the female and that from the male need to stand in some 15proportionate relation to one another (I mean in animals of which the male emits semen), what happens in those that produce many young is this: from the very first the semen emitted by the male has power, being divided, to form several embryos, and the material contributed by the female is so much that several can be formed out of it. (The parallel of curdling milk, which we spoke 20of before, is no longer in point here, for what is formed by the heat of the semen is not only of a certain quantity but also of a certain quality, whereas with fig-juice and rennet quantity alone is concerned.) This then is just the reason why in such animals the embryos formed are numerous and do not all unite into one whole; it is because an embryo is not formed out of any quantity 25you please, but whether there is too much or too little, in either case there will be no result, for there is a limit set alike to the power of the heat which acts on the material and to the material so acted upon.
On the same principle many embryos are not formed, though the secretion is much, in the large animals which produce only one young one, for in them also both the material 30and that which works upon it are of a certain quantity. So then they do not secrete such material in too great quantity for the reason previously stated, and what they do secrete is naturally just enough for one embryo alone to be formed from it. If ever too much is secreted, then twins are born. Hence such cases seem to be more portentous, because they are contrary to the general 35and customary rule.
Man belongs to all three classes, for he produces one only and sometimes many or few, though naturally he almost always produces one.
On the same principle many embryos are not formed, though the secretion is much, in the large animals which produce only one young one, for in them also both the material 30and that which works upon it are of a certain quantity. So then they do not secrete such material in too great quantity for the reason previously stated, and what they do secrete is naturally just enough for one embryo alone to be formed from it. If ever too much is secreted, then twins are born. Hence such cases seem to be more portentous, because they are contrary to the general 35and customary rule.
Man belongs to all three classes, for he produces one only and sometimes many or few, though naturally he almost always produces one.
772b
1 ἐπαμφοτερίζει πᾶσι τοῖς γένεσιν· καὶ γὰρ μονοτοκεῖ
καὶ ὀλιγοτοκεῖ καὶ πολυτοκεῖ ποτε, μάλιστα δὲ μονοτόκον
τὴν φύσιν ἐστί—διὰ μὲν τὴν ὑγρότητα τοῦ σώματος
καὶ θερμότητα πολυτόκον (τοῦ γὰρ σπέρματος ἡ φύσις
5 ὑγρὰ καὶ θερμή), διὰ δὲ τὸ μέγεθος ὀλιγοτόκον καὶ μονοτόκον.
διὰ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τοὺς τῆς κυήσεως χρόνους μόνῳ τῶν
ζῴων ἀνωμάλους εἶναι συμβέβηκεν. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοις εἷς
ἐστιν ὁ χρόνος, τοῖς δ' ἀνθρώποις πλείους· καὶ γὰρ ἑπτάμηνα
καὶ δεκάμηνα γεννῶνται καὶ κατὰ τοὺς μεταξὺ χρόνους· καὶ
10 γὰρ τὰ ὀκτάμηνα ζῇ μέν, ἧττον δέ. τὸ δ' αἴτιον ἐκ τῶν
νῦν λεχθέντων συνίδοι τις ἄν, εἴρηται δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς
Προβλήμασιν. καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων διωρίσθω τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον.
Τῶν δὲ πλεοναζόντων μορίων παρὰ φύσιν τὸ αὐτὸ αἴτιον καὶ
τῆς διδυμοτοκίας. ἤδη γὰρ ἐν τοῖς κυήμασι συμβαίνει τὸ αἴτιον
15 ἐὰν πλείων ὕλη συστῇ ἢ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μορίου φύσιν·
τότε γὰρ συμβαίνει μὲν μόριον μεῖζον τῶν ἄλλων ἔχειν, οἷον
δάκτυλον ἢ χεῖρα ἢ πόδα ἤ τι τῶν ἄλλων ἀκρωτηρίων ἢ μελῶν,
ἢ σχισθέντος τοῦ κυήματος πλείω γίγνεσθαι καθάπερ ἐν
τοῖς ποταμοῖς αἱ δῖναι· καὶ γὰρ ἐν τούτοις τὸ φερόμενον ὑγρὸν
20 καὶ κίνησιν ἔχον ἂν ἀντικρούσῃ, δύο ἐξ ἑνὸς γίγνονται συστάσεις
ἔχουσαι τὴν αὐτὴν κίνησιν· τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ ἐπὶ
τῶν κυημάτων συμβαίνει. προσφύεται δὲ μάλιστα μὲν πλησίον
ἀλλήλων, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ πόρρω διὰ τὴν γιγνομένην ἐν τῷ
κυήματι κίνησιν, μάλιστα δὲ διὰ τὸ τὴν τῆς ὕλης ὑπεροχὴν
25 ὅθεν ἀφῃρέθη ἐκεῖ ἀποδιδόναι, τὸ δ' εἶδος ἔχειν ὅθεν ἐπλεόνασεν.
Ὅσα δὲ συμβαίνει τοιαῦτα ὥστε δύο ἔχειν αἰδοῖα, τὸ
μὲν ἄρρενος τὸ δὲ θήλεος, ἀεὶ μὲν τῶν πλεοναζόντων γίγνεται
τὸ μὲν κύριον τὸ δ' ἄκυρον τῷ κατὰ τὴν τροφὴν ἀεὶ ἀμαυροῦσθαι
ἅτε παρὰ φύσιν ὄν, προσπέφυκε δ' ὥσπερ τὰ φύματα·
30 καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα λαμβάνει τροφὴν καίπερ ὄντα ὑστερογενῆ καὶ
παρὰ φύσιν. γίγνεται δὲ κρατήσαντος μὲν τοῦ δημιουργοῦντος
ὅμοια δύο καὶ κρατηθέντος ὅλως· ἂν δὲ τῇ μὲν κρατήσῃ τῇ
δὲ κρατηθῇ, τὸ μὲν θῆλυ τὸ δὲ ἄρρεν· οὐθὲν γὰρ διαφέρει τοῦτο
λέγειν ἐπὶ τῶν μορίων ἢ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὅλου δι' ἣν αἰτίαν γίγνεται τὸ
35 μὲν θῆλυ τὸ δ' ἄρρεν. ὅσα δ' ἐλλείποντα γίγνεται τῶν τοιούτων
μορίων οἷον ἀκρωτηρίου τινὸς ἢ τῶν ἄλλων μελῶν, τὴν
αὐτὴν δεῖ νομίζειν αἰτίαν ἥνπερ καὶ ἐὰν ὅλον τὸ γιγνόμενον
1Because of the moisture and heat of his body he may produce many [for semen is naturally fluid and hot], but because of his size he produces few or one. On account of this it results that in man alone among animals the period of gestation is irregular; whereas the period is fixed in the rest, there are several 5periods in man, for children are born at seven months and at ten months and at the times between, for even those of eight months do live though less often than the rest. The reason may be gathered from what has just been said, and the question has been discussed in the Problems. Let this explanation suffice for these points.
The cause why the parts may be multiplied contrary to 10Nature is the same as the cause of the birth of twins. For the reason exists already in the embryo, whenever it aggregates more material at any point of itself than is required by the nature of the part. The result is then that either one of its parts is larger than the others, as a finger or hand or foot or any of the other extremities or limbs; or again if the embryo is cleft there may 15come into being more than one such part, as eddies do in rivers; as the water in these is carried along with a certain motion, if it dash against anything two systems or eddies come into being out of one, each retaining the same motion; the same thing happens also with the embryos. The abnormal parts generally are attached near those they resemble, but sometimes at a distance because 20of the movement — taking place in the embryo, and especially because of the excess of material returning to that place whence it was taken away while retaining the form of that part whence it arose as a superfluity.
In certain cases we find a double set of generative organs [one male and the other female]. When such duplication occurs the one is always functional but not the other, 25because it is always insufficiently supplied with nourishment as being contrary to Nature; it is attached like a growth (for such growths also receive nourishment though they are a later development than the body proper and contrary to Nature.) If the formative power prevails, both are similar; if it is altogether vanquished, both are similar; but if it prevail here and be vanquished 30there, then the one is female and the other male. (For whether we consider the reason why the whole animal is male or female, or why the parts are so, makes no difference.)
When we meet with deficiency in such parts, e.g. an extremity or one of the other members, we must assume the same cause as when the embryo is altogether aborted (abortion of embryos happens frequently).
Outgrowths 35differ from the production of many young in the manner stated before; monsters differ from these in that most of them are due to embryos growing together.
The cause why the parts may be multiplied contrary to 10Nature is the same as the cause of the birth of twins. For the reason exists already in the embryo, whenever it aggregates more material at any point of itself than is required by the nature of the part. The result is then that either one of its parts is larger than the others, as a finger or hand or foot or any of the other extremities or limbs; or again if the embryo is cleft there may 15come into being more than one such part, as eddies do in rivers; as the water in these is carried along with a certain motion, if it dash against anything two systems or eddies come into being out of one, each retaining the same motion; the same thing happens also with the embryos. The abnormal parts generally are attached near those they resemble, but sometimes at a distance because 20of the movement — taking place in the embryo, and especially because of the excess of material returning to that place whence it was taken away while retaining the form of that part whence it arose as a superfluity.
In certain cases we find a double set of generative organs [one male and the other female]. When such duplication occurs the one is always functional but not the other, 25because it is always insufficiently supplied with nourishment as being contrary to Nature; it is attached like a growth (for such growths also receive nourishment though they are a later development than the body proper and contrary to Nature.) If the formative power prevails, both are similar; if it is altogether vanquished, both are similar; but if it prevail here and be vanquished 30there, then the one is female and the other male. (For whether we consider the reason why the whole animal is male or female, or why the parts are so, makes no difference.)
When we meet with deficiency in such parts, e.g. an extremity or one of the other members, we must assume the same cause as when the embryo is altogether aborted (abortion of embryos happens frequently).
Outgrowths 35differ from the production of many young in the manner stated before; monsters differ from these in that most of them are due to embryos growing together.
773a
1 ἀμβλωθῇ—ἀμβλώσεις δὲ γίγνονται πολλαὶ τῶν κυημάτων.
Διαφέρουσι δ' αἱ μὲν παραφύσεις τῆς πολυτοκίας
τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον, τὰ δὲ τέρατα τούτων τῷ τὰ πολλὰ αὐτῶν
εἶναι σύμφυσιν. ἔνια δὲ καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον, ἐὰν ἐπὶ
5 μειζόνων γένωνται καὶ κυριωτέρων μορίων, οἷον ἔνια ἔχει δύο
σπλῆνας καὶ πλείους νεφρούς. ἔτι δὲ μεταστάσεις τῶν μορίων
παρατρεπομένων τῶν κινήσεών εἰσι καὶ τῆς ὕλης μεθισταμένης.
ἓν δ' εἶναι τὸ ζῷον τὸ τερατῶδες ἢ πλείω συμπεφυκότα
δεῖ νομίζειν κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν, οἷον εἰ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἡ
10 καρδία μόριον, τὸ μὲν μίαν ἔχον καρδίαν ἓν ζῷον, τὰ δὲ
πλεονάζοντα μόρια παραφύσεις, τὰ δὲ πλείω ἔχοντα δύο
μὲν εἶναι, συμπεφυκέναι δὲ διὰ τὴν τῶν κυημάτων σύναψιν.
Συμβαίνει δὲ πολλάκις καὶ τῶν οὐ δοκούντων ἀναπήρων
εἶναι ζῴων πολλοῖς ἤδη τετελειωμένοις τοὺς μὲν συμπεφυκέναι
15 τῶν πόρων τοὺς δὲ παρεκτετράφθαι. καὶ γὰρ θήλεσί
τισιν ἤδη τὸ στόμα τῶν ὑστερῶν συμπεφυκὸς διετέλεσεν, ἤδη
δ' ὥρας οὔσης τῶν καταμηνίων καὶ πόνων ἐπιγιγνομένων ταῖς
μὲν αὐτόματον ἐρράγη ταῖς δ' ὑπὸ ἀτρῶν διῃρέθη· τὰς δὲ
διαφθαρῆναι συνέπεσεν ἢ βίᾳ γενομένης τῆς ῥήξεως ἢ γενέσθαι
20 μὴ δυναμένης. καὶ τῶν παίδων ἐνίοις οὐ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ
συνέπεσε τὸ πέρας τοῦ αἰδοίου καὶ ὁ πόρος ᾗ διέρχεται τὸ
περίττωμα τὸ ἐκ τῆς κύστεως ἀλλ' ὑποκάτωθεν· διὸ καὶ
καθήμενοι οὐροῦσι, τῶν δὲ ὄρχεων ἀνεσπασμένων ἄνω δοκοῦσι
τοῖς ἄποθεν ἅμα θήλεος ἔχειν αἰδοῖον καὶ ἄρρενος. ἤδη δὲ
25 καὶ ὁ τῆς ξηρᾶς τροφῆς πόρος συμπεφυκὼς ἐπί τινων ζῴων
γέγονε, καὶ προβάτων καὶ ἄλλων, ἐπεὶ καὶ βοῦς ἐν Περίνθῳ
ἐγένετο ᾗ διὰ τῆς κύστεως λεπτὴ διηθουμένη τροφὴ διεχώρει,
καὶ ἀνατμηθέντος τοῦ ἀρχοῦ ταχὺ πάλιν συνεφύετο,
καὶ οὐκ ἐπεκράτουν διαιροῦντες.
1Some however are also of the following kind, when the monstrosity affects greater and more sovereign parts, as for instance some monsters have two spleens or more than two kidneys. Further, the parts may migrate, the movements which form the embryo being diverted and the material changing 5its place. We must decide whether the monstrous animal is one or is composed of several grown together by considering the vital principle; thus, if the heart is a part of such a kind then that which has one heart will be one animal, the multiplied parts being mere outgrowths, but those which have more than one heart will be two animals grown together through 10their embryos having been confused.
It also often happens even in many animals that do not seem to be defective and whose growth is now complete, that some of their passages may have grown together or others may have been diverted from the normal course. Thus in some women before now the os uteri has remained closed, so that when the time for the catamenia 15has arrived pain has attacked them, till either the passage has burst open of its own accord or the physicians have removed the impediment; some such cases have ended in death if the rupture has been made too violently or if it has been impossible to make it at all. In some boys on the other hand the end of the penis has not coincided with the end of the 20passage where the urine is voided, but the passage has ended below, so that they crouch sitting to void it, and if the testes are drawn up they appear from a distance to have both male and female generative organs. The passage of the solid food also has been closed before now in sheep and some other animals; there was a cow in Perinthus which passed fine matter, 25as if it were sifted, through the bladder, and when the anus was cut open it quickly closed up again nor could they succeed in keeping it open.
We have now spoken of the production of few and many young, and of the outgrowth of superfluous parts or of their deficiency, and also of monstrosities.
It also often happens even in many animals that do not seem to be defective and whose growth is now complete, that some of their passages may have grown together or others may have been diverted from the normal course. Thus in some women before now the os uteri has remained closed, so that when the time for the catamenia 15has arrived pain has attacked them, till either the passage has burst open of its own accord or the physicians have removed the impediment; some such cases have ended in death if the rupture has been made too violently or if it has been impossible to make it at all. In some boys on the other hand the end of the penis has not coincided with the end of the 20passage where the urine is voided, but the passage has ended below, so that they crouch sitting to void it, and if the testes are drawn up they appear from a distance to have both male and female generative organs. The passage of the solid food also has been closed before now in sheep and some other animals; there was a cow in Perinthus which passed fine matter, 25as if it were sifted, through the bladder, and when the anus was cut open it quickly closed up again nor could they succeed in keeping it open.
We have now spoken of the production of few and many young, and of the outgrowth of superfluous parts or of their deficiency, and also of monstrosities.
Book 4,Chapter 5 (773a30–774b4)
30 Περὶ μὲν οὖν ὀλιγοτοκίας καὶ πολυτοκίας καὶ περὶ παραφύσεως
τῶν πλεοναζόντων [ἢ ἐλλειπόντων] μορίων, ἔτι δὲ
περὶ τῶν τερατωδῶν εἴρηται. Τῶν δὲ ζῴων τὰ μὲν ὅλως
οὐκ ἐπικυΐσκεται τὰ δ' ἐπικυΐσκεται, καὶ τῶν ἐπικυϊσκομένων
τὰ μὲν δύναται τὰ κυήματα ἐκτρέφειν, τὰ δὲ ποτὲ
35 μὲν ποτὲ δ' οὔ. τοῦ δὲ μὴ ἐπικυΐσκεσθαι αἴτιον ὅτι μονοτόκα
Superfoetation does not occur at all in some animals but does 30in others; of the former some are able to bring the later formed embryo to birth, while others can only do so sometimes. The reason why it does not occur in some is that they produce only one young one, for it is not found in solid-hoofed animals and those larger than these, as owing to their size the secretion of the female is all used up for the one embryo.
773b
1 ἐστίν. τά τε γὰρ μώνυχα οὐκ ἐπικυΐσκεται καὶ τὰ
τούτων μείζονα· διὰ γὰρ τὸ μέγεθος τὸ περίττωμα ἀναλίσκεται
εἰς τὸ κύημα. πᾶσι γὰρ ὑπάρχει μέγεθος τούτοις
σώματος, τῶν δὲ μεγάλων καὶ τὰ ἔμβρυα μεγάλα
5 κατὰ λόγον ἐστίν· διὸ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἔμβρυον ἡλίκον
μόσχος ἐστίν. τὰ δὲ πολυτόκα ἐπικυΐσκεται διὰ τὸ καὶ τῶν
πλειόνων τοῦ ἑνὸς εἶναι θατέρῳ θάτερον ἐπικύημα. τούτων δ'
ὅσα μὲν μέγεθος ἔχει, καθάπερ ἄνθρωπος, ἐὰν μὲν ἡ ἑτέρα
ὀχεία τῆς ἑτέρας γένηται πάρεγγυς, ἐκτρέφει τὸ ἐπικυηθέν·
10 ἤδη γὰρ ὦπται τὸ τοιοῦτον συμβεβηκός. αἴτιον δὲ τὸ εἰρημένον·
καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ μιᾷ συνουσίᾳ πλεῖον τὸ ἀπιόν ἐστι
σπέρμα, ὃ μερισθὲν ποιεῖ πολυτοκεῖν, ὧν ὑστερίζει θάτερον.
ὅταν δ' ἤδη τοῦ κυήματος ηὐξημένου συμβῇ γίγνεσθαι τὴν
ὀχείαν ἐπικυΐσκεται μέν ποτε, ὀλιγάκις μέντοι διὰ τὸ τὴν
15 ὑστέραν συμμύειν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ μέχρι τῶν κυουμένων ταῖς
γυναιξίν. ἂν δὲ συμβῇ ποτε (καὶ γὰρ τοῦτ' ἤδη γέγονεν),
οὐ δύναται τελειοῦν, ἀλλὰ κυήματ' ἐκπίπτει παραπλήσια
τοῖς καλουμένοις ἐκτρώμασιν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν μονοτόκων
διὰ τὸ μέγεθος εἰς τὸ προϋπάρχον τὸ περίττωμα τρέπεται
20 πᾶν, οὕτω καὶ τούτοις, πλὴν ἐκείνοις μὲν εὐθύς, τούτοις
δ' ὅταν αὐξηθῇ τὸ ἔμβρυον· τότε γὰρ ἔχουσι παραπλησίως
τοῖς μονοτόκοις. ὁμοίως δὲ διὰ τὸ τὸν ἄνθρωπον φύσει πολυτόκον
εἶναι, καὶ περιεῖναί τι τῷ μεγέθει τῆς ὑστέρας καὶ
τοῦ περιττώματος, μὴ μέντοι τοσοῦτον ὥστε ἕτερον ἐκτρέφειν,
25 μόνα τῶν ζῴων ὀχείαν ἐπιδέχεται κυοῦντα γυνὴ καὶ ἵππος,
ἡ μὲν διὰ τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν ἡ δ' ἵππος διά τε τὴν τῆς
φύσεως στερρότητα καὶ τὸ περιεῖναί τι τῆς ὑστέρας μέγεθος,
πλέον μὲν ἢ τῷ ἑνί, ἔλαττον δὲ ἢ ὥστε ἄλλο ἐπικυΐσκεσθαι
τέλειον. ἔστι δὲ φύσει ἀφροδισιαστικὸν διὰ τὸ ταὐτὸ πεπονθέναι
30 τοῖς στερροῖς· ἐκεῖνά τε γὰρ τοιαῦτ' ἐστὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ
γίγνεσθαι κάθαρσιν (τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν ὥσπερ τοῖς ἄρρεσι τὸ ἀφροδισιάσαι)
καὶ αἱ ἵπποι αἱ θήλειαι ἥκιστα προΐενται κάθαρσιν.
ἐν πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς ζῳοτοκοῦσι τὰ στερρὰ τῶν θηλέων ἀφροδισιαστικὰ
διὰ τὸ παραπλησίως ἔχειν τοῖς ἄρρεσιν ὅταν συνειλεγμένον
35 μὲν ᾖ τὸ σπέρμα, μὴ ἀποκρινόμενον δέ. τοῖς
1For all these have large bodies, and when an animal is large its foetus is large in proportion, e.g. the foetus of the elephant is as big as a calf. But superfoetation occurs in those which produce many young because the production of more than one at a birth is itself a sort of superfoetation, 5one being added to another. Of these all that are large, as man, bring to birth the later embryo, if the second impregnation takes place soon after the first, for such an event has been observed before now. The reason is that given above, for even in a single act of intercourse the semen discharged is more than enough for one embryo, and this being divided 10causes more than one child to be born, the one of which is later than the other. But when the embryo has already grown to some size and it so happens that copulation occurs again, superfoetation sometimes takes place, but rarely, since the uterus generally closes in women during the period of gestation. If this ever happens (for this also has occurred) the mother 15cannot bring the second embryo to perfection, but it is cast out in a state like what are called abortions. For just as, in those animals that bear only one, all the secretion of the female is converted to the first formed embryo because of its size, so it is here also; the only difference is that in the former case this happens at once, in the latter when the foetus 20has attained to some size, for then they are in the same state as those that bear only one. In like manner, since man naturally would produce many young, and since the size of the uterus and the quantity of the female secretion are both greater than is necessary for one embryo, only not so much so as to bring to birth a second, therefore women and mares are 25the only animals which admit the male during gestation, the former for the reason stated, and mares both because of the barrenness of their nature and because their uterus is of superfluous size, too large for one but too small to allow a second embryo to be brought to perfection by superfoetation. And the mare is naturally inclined to sexual intercourse because 30she is in the same case as the barren among women; these latter are barren because they have no monthly discharge (which corresponds to the act of intercourse in males) and mares have exceedingly little. And in all the vivipara the barren females are so inclined, because they resemble the males when the semen has collected in the testes but is not being got rid of.
774a
1 γὰρ θήλεσιν ἡ τῶν καταμηνίων κάθαρσις σπέρματος ἔξοδός
ἐστιν· ἔστι γὰρ τὰ καταμήνια σπέρμα ἄπεπτον ὥσπερ εἴρηται
πρότερον. διὸ καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν ὅσαι πρὸς τὴν ὁμιλίαν
ἀκρατεῖς τὴν τοιαύτην, ὅταν πολυτοκήσωσι παύονται τῆς
5 πτοήσεως· ἐκκεκριμένη γὰρ ἡ σπερματικὴ περίττωσις οὐκέτι
ποιεῖ τῆς ὁμιλίας ταύτης ἐπιθυμίαν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὄρνισιν αἱ
θήλειαι τῶν ἀρρένων ἧττόν εἰσιν ἀφροδισιαστικαὶ διὰ τὸ πρὸς
τῷ ὑποζώματι τὰς ὑστέρας ἔχειν, τὰ δ' ἄρρενα τοὐναντίον·
ἀνεσπασμένους γὰρ ἔχει τοὺς ὄρχεις ἐντός, ὥστ' ἂν ᾖ τι γένος
10 τῶν τοιούτων ὀρνίθων φύσει σπερματικὸν ἀεὶ δεῖσθαι τῆς ὁμιλίας
ταύτης. τοῖς μὲν οὖν θήλεσι τὸ κάτω καταβαίνειν τὰς
ὑστέρας, τοῖς δ' ἄρρεσι τὸ ἀνασπᾶσθαι τοὺς ὄρχεις συμβαίνει
πρὸ ὁδοῦ πρὸς τὴν ὀχείαν. Δι' ἣν μὲν οὖν αἰτίαν τὰ μὲν οὐκ
ἐπικυΐσκεται παντελῶς τὰ δ' ἐπικυΐσκεται μέν, τὰ δὲ κυήματα
15 ἐκτρέφει ὁτὲ μὲν ὁτὲ δ' οὔ, καὶ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν τὰ μὲν
ἀφροδισιαστικὰ τὰ δ' οὐκ ἀφροδισιαστικὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἐστίν,
εἴρηται. Ἔνια δὲ τῶν ἐπικυϊσκομένων καὶ πολὺν χρόνον διαλειπούσης
τῆς ὀχείας δύναται τὰ κυήματα ἐκτρέφειν, ὅσων
σπερματικόν τε τὸ γένος ἐστὶ καὶ μὴ τὸ σῶμα μέγεθος ἔχει
20 καὶ τῶν πολυτόκων ἐστίν· διὰ μὲν γὰρ τὸ πολυτοκεῖν εὐρυχωρίαν
ἔχει τῆς ὑστέρας, διὰ δὲ τὸ σπερματικὸν εἶναι πολὺ
προΐεται περίττωμα τῆς καθάρσεως· διὰ δὲ τὸ μὴ τὸ σῶμα
μέγεθος ἔχειν ἀλλὰ πλείονι λόγῳ τὴν κάθαρσιν ὑπερβάλλειν
τῆς εἰς τὸ κύημα τροφῆς δύναταί τε συνίστασθαι ζῷα
25 καὶ ὕστερον καὶ ταῦτ' ἐκτρέφειν. ἔτι δ' αἱ ὑστέραι τῶν τοιούτων
οὐ συμμεμύκασι διὰ τὸ περιεῖναι περίττωμα τῆς καθάρσεως.
τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ γυναικῶν ἤδη συμβέβηκεν· γίγνεται
γάρ τισι κυούσαις κάθαρσις καὶ διὰ τέλους. ἀλλὰ ταύταις
μὲν παρὰ φύσιν (διὸ βλάπτει τὸ κύημα), τοῖς δὲ τοιούτοις
30 τῶν ζῴων κατὰ φύσιν· οὕτω γὰρ τὸ σῶμα συνέστηκεν
ἐξ ἀρχῆς, οἷον τὸ τῶν δασυπόδων· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπικυΐσκεται
τὸ ζῷον· οὔτε γὰρ τῶν μεγάλων ἐστὶ πολυτόκον τε (πολυσχιδὲς
γάρ, τὰ δὲ πολυσχιδῆ πολυτόκα) καὶ σπερματικόν.
δηλοῖ δ' ἡ δασύτης· ὑπερβάλλει γὰρ τοῦ τριχώματος
35 τὸ πλῆθος· καὶ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας καὶ ἐντὸς τῶν γνάθων
τοῦτ' ἔχει τρίχας μόνον τῶν ζῴων. ἡ δὲ δασύτης σημεῖον
1For the discharge of the catamenia is in females a sort of emission of semen, they being unconcocted semen as has been said before. Hence it is that those women also who are incontinent in regard to such intercourse cease from their passion for it when they have borne many 5children, for, the seminal secretion being then drained off, they no longer desire this intercourse. And among birds the hens are less disposed that way than the cocks, because the uterus of the hen-bird is up near the hypozoma; but with the cock-birds it is the other way, for their testes are drawn up within them, so that, if any kind of such 10birds has much semen naturally, it is always in need of this intercourse. In females then it encourages copulation to have the uterus low down, but in males to have the testes drawn up.
It has been now stated why superfoetation is not found in some animals at all, why it is found in others which sometimes bring the later embryos to birth and 15sometimes not, and why some such animals are inclined to sexual intercourse while others are not.
Some of those animals in which superfoetation occurs can bring the embryos to birth even if a long time elapses between the two impregnations, if their kind is spermatic, if their body is not of a large size, and if they bear many young. For because 20they bear many their uterus is spacious, because they are spermatic the generative discharge is copious, and because the body is not large but the discharge is excessive and in greater measure than is required for the nourishment wanted for the embryo, therefore they can not only form animals but also bring them to birth later on. Further, 25the uterus in such animals does not close up during gestation because there is a quantity of the residual discharge left over. This has happened before now even in women, for in some of them the discharge continues during all the time of pregnancy. In women, however, this is contrary to Nature, so that the embryo suffers, but in such animals it 30is according to Nature, for their body is so formed from the beginning, as with hares. For superfoetation occurs in these animals, since they are not large and they bear many young (for they have many toes and the many-toed animals bear many), and they are spermatic. This is shown by their hairiness, for the quantity of their hair is excessive, 35these animals alone having hair under the feet and within the jaws.
It has been now stated why superfoetation is not found in some animals at all, why it is found in others which sometimes bring the later embryos to birth and 15sometimes not, and why some such animals are inclined to sexual intercourse while others are not.
Some of those animals in which superfoetation occurs can bring the embryos to birth even if a long time elapses between the two impregnations, if their kind is spermatic, if their body is not of a large size, and if they bear many young. For because 20they bear many their uterus is spacious, because they are spermatic the generative discharge is copious, and because the body is not large but the discharge is excessive and in greater measure than is required for the nourishment wanted for the embryo, therefore they can not only form animals but also bring them to birth later on. Further, 25the uterus in such animals does not close up during gestation because there is a quantity of the residual discharge left over. This has happened before now even in women, for in some of them the discharge continues during all the time of pregnancy. In women, however, this is contrary to Nature, so that the embryo suffers, but in such animals it 30is according to Nature, for their body is so formed from the beginning, as with hares. For superfoetation occurs in these animals, since they are not large and they bear many young (for they have many toes and the many-toed animals bear many), and they are spermatic. This is shown by their hairiness, for the quantity of their hair is excessive, 35these animals alone having hair under the feet and within the jaws.
774b
1 πλήθους περιττώματός ἐστι, διὸ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ δασεῖς
ἀφροδισιαστικοὶ καὶ πολύσπερμοι μᾶλλόν εἰσι τῶν λείων. ὁ
μὲν οὖν δασύπους τὰ μὲν τῶν κυημάτων ἀτελῆ πολλάκις
ἔχει, τὰ δὲ προΐεται τετελειωμένα τῶν τέκνων.
1Now hairiness is a sign of abundance of residual matter, wherefore among men also the hairy are given to sexual intercourse and have much semen rather than the smooth. In the hare it often happens that some of the embryos are imperfect while others of its young are produced perfect.
Book 4,Chapter 6 (774b5–775b24)
5 Τῶν δὲ ζῳοτόκων τὰ μὲν ἀτελῆ προΐεται ζῷα τὰ δὲ
τετελειωμένα, τὰ μὲν μώνυχα τετελειωμένα καὶ τὰ δίχηλα,
τῶν δὲ πολυσχιδῶν ἀτελῆ τὰ πολλά. τούτου δ' αἴτιον ὅτι
τὰ μὲν μώνυχα μονοτόκα ἐστί, τὰ δὲ δίχηλα ἢ μονοτόκα
ἢ διτόκα ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, ῥᾴδιον δὲ τὰ ὀλίγα ἐκτρέφειν.
10 τῶν δὲ πολυσχιδῶν ὅσα ἀτελῆ τίκτει πάντα πολυτόκα·
διὸ νέα μὲν ὄντα δύναται τὰ κυήματα τρέφειν, ὅταν δ'
αὐξηθῇ καὶ λάβῃ μέγεθος οὐ δυναμένου τοῦ σώματος ἐκτρέφειν
προΐεται καθάπερ τὰ σκωληκοτόκα τῶν ζῴων. καὶ γὰρ
τούτων τὰ μὲν ἀδιάρθρωτα σχεδὸν γεννᾷ καθάπερ ἀλώπηξ
15 ἄρκτος λέων, παραπλησίως δ' ἔνια καὶ τῶν ἄλλων· τυφλὰ
δὲ πάντα σχεδόν, οἷον ταῦτά τε καὶ ἔτι κύων λύκος θώς.
μόνον δὲ πολυτόκον ὂν ἡ ὗς τελειοτοκεῖ, καὶ ἐπαλλάττει
τοῦτο μόνον· πολυτοκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ὡς τὰ πολυσχιδῆ, δίχηλον δ'
ἐστὶ καὶ μώνυχον· εἰσὶ γάρ που μώνυχες ὕες. πολυτοκεῖ μὲν
20 οὖν διὰ τὸ τὴν εἰς τὸ μέγεθος τροφὴν εἰς τὴν σπερματικὴν
ἀποκρίνεσθαι περίττωσιν· τοῦτο γὰρ ὡς μώνυχον ὂν οὐκ ἔχει
μέγεθος, ἅμα δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον—ὥσπερ ἀμφισβητοῦν τῇ φύσει
τῇ τῶν μωνύχων—δίχηλόν ἐστιν. διὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο καὶ
μονοτοκεῖ ποτε καὶ διτοκεῖ καὶ πολυτοκεῖ τὰ πλεῖστα, ἐκτρέφει
25 δ' εἰς τέλος διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος εὐβοσίαν· ἔχει γὰρ ὡς
πίειρα γῆ φυτοῖς ἱκανὴν καὶ δαψιλῆ τροφήν. Τίκτουσι δ'
ἀτελῆ καὶ τυφλὰ καὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων τινὲς ὅσοι πολυτοκοῦσιν
αὐτῶν μὴ σωμάτων ἔχοντες μέγεθος οἷον κορώνη κίττα
στρουθοὶ χελιδόνες, καὶ τῶν ὀλιγοτοκούντων ὅσα μὴ δαψιλῆ
30 τροφὴν συνεκτίκτει τοῖς τέκνοις οἷον φάττα καὶ τρυγὼν καὶ
περιστερά. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῶν χελιδόνων ἐάν τις ἔτι νέων ὄντων
ἐκκεντήσῃ τὰ ὄμματα πάλιν ὑγιάζονται· γιγνομένων
γὰρ ἀλλ' οὐ γεγενημένων φθείρονται, διόπερ φύονται καὶ
βλαστάνουσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς. ὅλως δὲ προτερεῖ μὲν τῆς τελειογονίας
35 διὰ τὴν ἀδυναμίαν τοῦ ἐκτρέφειν, ἀτελῆ δὲ γίγνεται διὰ
τὸ προτερεῖν. δῆλον δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπταμήνων· διὰ
Some of the vivipara 5produce their young imperfect, others perfect; the one-hoofed and cloven-footed perfect, most of the many-toed imperfect. The reason of this is that the one-hoofed produce one young one, and the cloven-footed either one or two generally speaking; now it is easy to bring the few to perfection. All the many-toed animals that bear their young imperfect give birth to many. Hence, 10though they are able to nourish the embryos while newly formed, their bodies are unable to complete the process when the embryos have grown and acquired some size. So they produce them imperfect, like those animals which generate a scolex, for some of them when born are scarcely brought into form at all, as the fox, bear, and lion, and some of the rest in like manner; and 15nearly all of them are blind, as not only the animals mentioned but also the dog, wolf, and jackal. The pig alone produces both many and perfect young, and thus here alone we find any overlapping; it produces many as do the many-toed animals, but is cloven-footed or solid-hoofed (for there certainly are solid-hoofed swine). They bear, then, many young because the nutriment which 20would otherwise go to increase their size is diverted to the generative secretion (for considered as a solid-hoofed animal the pig is not a large one), and also it is more often cloven-hoofed, striving as it were with the nature of the solid-hoofed animals. For this reason it produces sometimes only one, sometimes two, but generally many, and brings them to perfection before 25birth because of the good condition of its body, being like a rich soil — which has sufficient and abundant nutriment for plants.
The young of some birds also are hatched imperfect, that is to say blind; this applies to all small birds which lay many eggs, as crows and rooks, jays, sparrows, swallows, and to all those which lay few eggs without producing abundant nourishment 30along with the young, as ring-doves, turtle-doves, and pigeons. Hence if the eyes of swallows while still young be put out they recover their sight again, for the birds are still developing, not yet developed, when the injury is inflicted, so that the eyes grow and sprout afresh. And in general the production of young before they are perfect is owing to inability to continue 35nourishing them, and they are born imperfect because they are born too soon.
The young of some birds also are hatched imperfect, that is to say blind; this applies to all small birds which lay many eggs, as crows and rooks, jays, sparrows, swallows, and to all those which lay few eggs without producing abundant nourishment 30along with the young, as ring-doves, turtle-doves, and pigeons. Hence if the eyes of swallows while still young be put out they recover their sight again, for the birds are still developing, not yet developed, when the injury is inflicted, so that the eyes grow and sprout afresh. And in general the production of young before they are perfect is owing to inability to continue 35nourishing them, and they are born imperfect because they are born too soon.
775a
1 γὰρ τὸ ἀτελῆ εἶναι πολλάκις ἔνια αὐτῶν γίγνεται οὐδὲ τοὺς
πόρους ἔχοντά πω διηρθρωμένους, οἷον ὤτων καὶ μυκτήρων,
ἀλλ' ἐπαυξανομένοις διαρθροῦται, καὶ βιοῦσι πολλὰ τῶν τοιούτων.
Γίγνεται δὲ ἀνάπηρα μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ ἄρρενα
5 τῶν θηλέων, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐθὲν μᾶλλον. αἴτιον δ'
ὅτι ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πολὺ διαφέρει τὸ ἄρρεν τοῦ θήλεος τῇ
θερμότητι τῆς φύσεως, διὸ κινητικώτερά ἐστι κυούμενα τὰ
ἄρρενα τῶν θηλέων· διὰ δὲ τὸ κινεῖσθαι θραύεται μᾶλλον·
εὔφθαρτον γὰρ τὸ νέον διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν. διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ
10 ταύτην αἰτίαν καὶ τελειοῦται τὰ θήλεα τοῖς ἄρρεσιν οὐχ ὁχρόνῳ
διακρίνεται τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος, ἐξελθόντων δὲ πάντα
πρότερον ἐπιτελεῖται οἷον ἥβη καὶ ἀκμὴ καὶ γῆρας τοῖς
θήλεσιν ἢ τοῖς ἄρρεσιν· ἀσθενέστερα γάρ ἐστι καὶ ψυχρότερα
15 τὰ θήλεα τὴν φύσιν, καὶ δεῖ ὑπολαμβάνειν ὥσπερ ἀναπηρίαν
εἶναι τὴν θηλύτητα φυσικήν. ἔσω μὲν οὖν διακρίνεται
διὰ τὴν ψυχρότητα βραδέως (ἡ γὰρ διάκρισις πέψις ἐστί,
πέττει δ' ἡ θερμότης, εὔπεπτον δὲ τὸ θερμότερον), ἐκτὸς δὲ
διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν ταχὺ συνάπτει πρὸς τὴν ἀκμὴν καὶ τὸ
20 γῆρας· πάντα γὰρ τὰ ἐλάττω πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἔρχεται θᾶττον
ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τέχνην ἔργοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὑπὸ
φύσεως συνισταμένοις. διὰ τὸ εἰρημένον δ' αἴτιον καὶ ἐν
τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ διδυμοτοκούμενα θῆλυ καὶ ἄρρεν ἧττον
σώζεται, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐθὲν ἧττον· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ παρὰ
25 φύσιν τὸ ἰσοδρομεῖν, οὐκ ἐν ἴσοις χρόνοις γιγνομένης τῆς διακρίσεως
ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη τὸ ἄρρεν ὑστερεῖν ἢ τὸ θῆλυ προτερεῖν,
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐ παρὰ φύσιν. συμβαίνει δὲ καὶ διαφορὰ
περὶ τὰς κυήσεις ἐπί τε τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ζῴων· τὰ μὲν γὰρ εὐθηνεῖ μᾶλλον τοῖς σώμασι τὸν
30 πλεῖστον χρόνον, τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν αἱ πολλαὶ δυσφοροῦσι
περὶ τὴν κύησιν. ἔστι μὲν οὖν αἴτιόν τι τούτων καὶ διὰ τὸν
βίον· ἑδραῖαι γὰρ οὖσαι πλείονος γέμουσι περιττώματος, ἐπεὶ
ἐν οἷς ἔθνεσι πονητικὸς ὁ τῶν γυναικῶν βίος οὔθ' ἡ κύησις
ὁμοίως ἐπίδηλός ἐστι, τίκτουσί τε ῥᾳδίως κἀκεῖ καὶ πανταχοῦ
35 αἱ εἰωθυῖαι πονεῖν· ἀναλίσκει γὰρ ὁ πόνος τὰ περιττώματα,
ταῖς δ' ἑδραίαις ἐνυπάρχει πολλὰ τοιαῦτα διὰ τὴν
ἀπονίαν καὶ τὸ μὴ γίγνεσθαι καθάρσεις κυούσαις, ἥ τε ὠδὶς
1This is plain also with seven-months children, for since they are not perfected it often happens that even the passages, e.g. of the ears and nostrils, are not yet opened in some of them at birth, but only open later as they are growing, and many such infants survive.
In man males are more often 5born defective than females, but in the other animals this is not the case. The reason is that in man the male is much superior to the female in natural heat, and so the male foetus moves about more than the female, and on account of moving is more liable to injury, for what is young is easily injured since it is weak. For this same reason also the female foetus is not 10perfected equally with the male in man (but they are so in the other animals, for in them the female is not later in developing than the male). For while within the mother the female takes longer in developing, but after birth everything is perfected more quickly in females than in males; I mean, for instance, puberty, the prime of life, and old age. For females are weaker 15and colder in nature, and we must look upon the female character as being a sort of natural deficiency. Accordingly while it is within the mother it develops slowly because of its coldness (for development is concoction, and it is heat that concocts, and what is hotter is easily concocted); but after birth it quickly arrives at maturity and old age on account of its 20weakness, for all inferior things come sooner to their perfection or end, and as this is true of works of art so it is of what is formed by Nature. For the reason just given also twins are less likely to survive in man if one be male and one female, but this is not at all so in the other animals; for in man it is contrary to Nature that they should run an equal course, 25as their development does not take place in equal periods, but the male must needs be too late or the female too early; in the other animals, however, it is not contrary to Nature. A difference is also found between man and the other animals in respect of gestation, for animals are in better bodily condition most of the time, whereas in most women gestation is attended 30with discomfort. Their way of life is partly responsible for this, for being sedentary they are full of more residual matter; among nations where the women live a laborious life gestation is not equally conspicuous and those who are accustomed to work bear children easily both there and elsewhere; for work consumes the residual matter, but those who are sedentary have a 35great deal of it in them because not only is there no monthly discharge during pregnancy but also they do no work; therefore their travail is painful.
In man males are more often 5born defective than females, but in the other animals this is not the case. The reason is that in man the male is much superior to the female in natural heat, and so the male foetus moves about more than the female, and on account of moving is more liable to injury, for what is young is easily injured since it is weak. For this same reason also the female foetus is not 10perfected equally with the male in man (but they are so in the other animals, for in them the female is not later in developing than the male). For while within the mother the female takes longer in developing, but after birth everything is perfected more quickly in females than in males; I mean, for instance, puberty, the prime of life, and old age. For females are weaker 15and colder in nature, and we must look upon the female character as being a sort of natural deficiency. Accordingly while it is within the mother it develops slowly because of its coldness (for development is concoction, and it is heat that concocts, and what is hotter is easily concocted); but after birth it quickly arrives at maturity and old age on account of its 20weakness, for all inferior things come sooner to their perfection or end, and as this is true of works of art so it is of what is formed by Nature. For the reason just given also twins are less likely to survive in man if one be male and one female, but this is not at all so in the other animals; for in man it is contrary to Nature that they should run an equal course, 25as their development does not take place in equal periods, but the male must needs be too late or the female too early; in the other animals, however, it is not contrary to Nature. A difference is also found between man and the other animals in respect of gestation, for animals are in better bodily condition most of the time, whereas in most women gestation is attended 30with discomfort. Their way of life is partly responsible for this, for being sedentary they are full of more residual matter; among nations where the women live a laborious life gestation is not equally conspicuous and those who are accustomed to work bear children easily both there and elsewhere; for work consumes the residual matter, but those who are sedentary have a 35great deal of it in them because not only is there no monthly discharge during pregnancy but also they do no work; therefore their travail is painful.
775b
1 ἐπίπονός ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πόνος γυμνάζει τὸ πνεῦμα ὥστε δύνασθαι
κατέχειν ἐν ᾧ τὸ τίκτειν ἐστὶ ῥᾳδίως ἢ χαλεπῶς. ἔστι
μὲν οὖν ὥσπερ εἴρηται καὶ ταῦτα συμβαλλόμενα πρὸς τὴν
διαφορὰν τοῦ πάθους τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις καὶ ταῖς γυναιξί,
5 μάλιστα δ' ὅτι τοῖς μὲν αὐτῶν ὀλίγη γίγνεται κάθαρσις τοῖς
δ' οὐκ ἐπίδηλος ὅλως, ταῖς δὲ γυναιξὶ πλείστη τῶν ζῴων,
ὥστε μὴ γιγνομένης τῆς ἐκκρίσεως διὰ τὴν κύησιν ταῖς μὲν
ταραχὴν παρέχει· καὶ γὰρ μὴ κυούσαις ὅταν αἱ καθάρσεις
μὴ γίγνωνται νόσοι συμβαίνουσιν, καὶ τὸ πρῶτον δὲ
10 ταράττονται συλλαβοῦσαι μᾶλλον αἱ πλεῖσται τῶν γυναικῶν·
τὸ γὰρ κύημα κωλύειν μὲν δύναται τὰς καθάρσεις,
διὰ μικρότητα δὲ οὐδὲν ἀναλίσκει πλῆθος τοῦ περιττώματος
τὸ πρῶτον, ὕστερον δὲ κουφίζει μεταλαμβάνον· ἐν δὲ τοῖς
ἄλλοις ζῴοις διὰ τὸ ὀλίγον εἶναι σύμμετρον γίγνεται πρὸς
15 τὴν αὔξησιν τῶν ἐμβρύων, καὶ ἀναλισκομένων τῶν περιττωμάτων
τῶν ἐμποδιζόντων τὴν τροφὴν εὐημερεῖ τοῖς σώμασι
μᾶλλον. καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐνύδροις τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἐν τοῖς
ὄρνισιν. ἤδη δὲ μεγάλων γιγνομένων τῶν κυημάτων, ὅσοις
μηκέτι συμβαίνει ἡ εὐτροφία τῶν σωμάτων, αἴτιον τὸ τὴν
20 αὔξησιν τοῦ κυήματος δεῖσθαι πλείονος ἢ τῆς περιττωματικῆς
τροφῆς. ὀλίγαις δέ τισι τῶν γυναικῶν βέλτιον ἔχειν τὰ
σώματα συμβαίνει κυούσαις—αὗται δ' εἰσὶν ὅσαις μικρὰ τὰ
περιττώματα ἐν τῷ σώματι ὥστε καταναλίσκεσθαι μετὰ
τῆς εἰς τὸ ἔμβρυον τροφῆς.
1But work exercises them so that they can hold their breath, upon which depends the ease or difficulty of child-birth. These circumstances then, as we have said, contribute to cause the difference between women and the other animals in this state, but the most important thing is this: in some 5animals the discharge corresponding to the catamenia is but small, and in some not visible at all, but in women it is greater than in any other animal, so that when this discharge ceases owing to pregnancy they are troubled (for if they are not pregnant they are afflicted with ailments whenever the catamenia do not occur); and they are more troubled as a rule at 10the beginning of pregnancy, for the embryo is able indeed to stop the catamenia but is too small at first to consume any quantity of the secretion; later on it takes up some of it and so alleviates the mother. In the other animals, on the contrary, the residual matter is but small and so corresponds with the growth of the foetus, and as the secretions which hinder 15nourishment are being consumed by the foetus the mother is in better bodily condition than usual. The same holds good also with aquatic animals and birds. If it ever happens that the body of the mother is no longer in good condition when the foetus is now becoming large, the reason is that its growth needs more nourishment than the residual matter supplies. (In 20some few women it happens that the body is in a better state during pregnancy; these are women in whose body the residual matter is small so that it is all used up along with the nourishment that goes to the foetus.)
Book 4,Chapter 7 (775b25–776a14)
25 Περὶ δὲ τῆς καλουμένης μύλης ῥητέον ἣ γίγνεται μὲν
ὀλιγάκις ταῖς γυναιξί, γίγνεται δέ τισι τοῦτο τὸ πάθος κυούσαις.
τίκτουσι γὰρ ὃ καλοῦσι μύλην. ἤδη γὰρ συνέβη τινὶ γυναικὶ
συγγενομένῃ τῷ ἀνδρὶ καὶ δοξάσῃ συλλαβεῖν, τὸ μὲν
πρῶτον ὅ τε ὄγκος ηὐξάνετο τῆς γαστρὸς καὶ τἆλλα ἐγίγνετο
30 κατὰ λόγον, ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ χρόνος ἦν τοῦ τόκου οὔτ' ἔτικτεν οὔτε
ὁ ὄγκος ἐλάττων ἐγίγνετο, ἀλλ' ἔτη τρία ἢ τέτταρα οὕτω διετέλει
ἕως δυσεντερίας γενομένης καὶ κινδυνεύσασα ὑπ' αὐτῆς
ἔτεκε σάρκα ἣν καλοῦσι μύλην. ἐνίαις δὲ καὶ συγκαταγηράσκει
τοῦτο τὸ πάθος καὶ συναποθνήσκει. τὰ δὲ θύραζε
35 ἐξιόντα τῶν τοιούτων γίγνεται σκληρὰ οὕτως ὥστε μόλις διακόπτεσθαι
καὶ σιδήρῳ. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς τοῦ πάθους αἰτίας
εἴρηται ἐν τοῖς Προβλήμασιν· πάσχει γὰρ ταὐτὸν τὸ κύημα
We must also speak of what is known as mola uteri, which occurs rarely in women but still is found sometimes during pregnancy. For they produce what 25is called a mola; it has happened before now to a woman, after she had had intercourse with her husband and supposed she had conceived, that at first the size of her belly increased and everything else happened accordingly, but yet when the time for birth came on, she neither bore a child nor was her size reduced, but she continued thus for three or four years 30until dysentery came on, endangering her life, and she produced a lump of flesh which is called mola. Moreover this condition may continue till old age and death. Such masses when expelled from the body become so hard that they can hardly be cut through even by iron. Concerning the cause of this phenomenon we have spoken in the Problems; the same thing happens to 35the embryo in the womb as to meats half cooked in roasting, and it is not due to heat, as some say, but rather to the weakness of the maternal heat.
776a
1 ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς ἑψομένοις τὰ μωλυνόμενα, καὶ οὐ
διὰ θερμότητα, ὥσπερ τινές φασιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον δι' ἀσθένειαν
θερμότητος (ἔοικε γὰρ ἡ φύσις ἀσθενεῖν καὶ οὐ
δύνασθαι τελειῶσαι οὐδ' ἐπιθεῖναι τῇ γενέσει πέρας· διὸ καὶ
5 συγκαταγηράσκει ἢ πολὺν ἐμμένει χρόνον· οὔτε γὰρ ὡς
τετελεσμένον οὔθ' ὡς πάμπαν ἀλλότριον ἔχει τὴν φύσιν)·
τῆς γὰρ σκληρότητος ἡ ἀπεψία αἰτία· ἀπεψία γάρ τις
καὶ ἡ μώλυνσίς ἐστιν. Ἀπορίαν δ' ἔχει διὰ τί ποτ' ἐν τοῖς
ἄλλοις οὐχὶ γίγνεται ζῴοις, εἰ μή τι πάμπαν λέληθεν. αἴτιον
10 δὲ δεῖ νομίζειν ὅτι μόνον ὑστερικόν ἐστιν ἡ γυνὴ τῶν ἄλλων
ζῴων καὶ περὶ τὰς καθάρσεις πλεονάζει καὶ οὐ δύναται
πέττειν αὐτάς· ὅταν οὖν ἐκ δυσπέπτου ἰκμάδος συστῇ τὸ κύημα
τότε γίγνεται ἡ καλουμένη μύλη ἐν ταῖς γυναιξὶν εὐλόγως
ἢ μάλιστα ἢ μόναις.
1(For their nature seems to be incapable, and unable to perfect or to put the last touches to the process of generation. Hence it is that the mola remains in them till old age or at any rate for a long time, for in its nature it is neither perfect nor altogether a foreign body.) It 5is want of concoction that is the reason of its hardness, as with half-cooked meat, for this half-dressing of meat is also a sort of want of concoction.
A difficulty is raised as to why this does not occur in other animals, unless indeed it does occur and has entirely escaped observation. We must suppose the reason to be that woman alone among animals 10is subject to troubles of the uterus, and alone has a superfluous amount of catamenia and is unable to concoct them; when, then, the embryo has been formed of a liquid hard to concoct, then comes the so-called mola into being, and this happens naturally in women alone or at any rate more than in other animals.
A difficulty is raised as to why this does not occur in other animals, unless indeed it does occur and has entirely escaped observation. We must suppose the reason to be that woman alone among animals 10is subject to troubles of the uterus, and alone has a superfluous amount of catamenia and is unable to concoct them; when, then, the embryo has been formed of a liquid hard to concoct, then comes the so-called mola into being, and this happens naturally in women alone or at any rate more than in other animals.
Book 4,Chapter 8 (776a15–777a27)
15 Τὸ δὲ γάλα γίγνεται τοῖς θήλεσιν ὅσα ζῳοτοκεῖ ἐν αὑτοῖς
χρήσιμον μὲν εἰς τὸν χρόνον τὸν τοῦ τόκου· τῆς γὰρ
τροφῆς χάριν αὐτὸ τῆς θύραζε ἐποίησεν ἡ φύσις τοῖς ζῴοις
ὥστ' οὔτ' ἐλλείπειν αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τούτῳ οὐθὲν οὔθ' ὑπερβάλλειν
οὐθέν· ὅπερ καὶ φαίνεται συμπῖπτον ἂν μή τι γένηται
20 παρὰ φύσιν. τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἄλλοις ζῴοις διὰ τὸ τὸν
χρόνον ἕνα τῆς κυήσεως εἶναι πρὸς τοῦτον ἀπαντᾷ τὸν καιρὸν
ἡ πέψις αὐτοῦ· τοῖς δ' ἀνθρώποις ἐπεὶ πλείους οἱ χρόνοι
κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον ἀναγκαῖον ὑπάρχειν· διὸ πρὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ
μηνῶν ἄχρηστον τὸ γάλα ταῖς γυναιξί, τότε δ' ἤδη γίγνεται
25 χρήσιμον. εὐλόγως δὲ συμβαίνει καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀνάγκης
αἰτίαν πεπεμμένον εἰς τοὺς τελευταίους χρόνους· τὸ μὲν γὰρ
πρῶτον ἡ τοῦ τοιούτου περιττώματος ἀπόκρισις εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐμβρύων
ἀναλίσκεται γένεσιν· πάντων δ' ἡ τροφὴ τὸ γλυκύτατον
καὶ πεπεμμένον, ὥστ' ἀφαιρουμένης τῆς τοιαύτης δυνάμεως
30 ἀνάγκη τὸ λοιπὸν ἁλμυρὸν γίγνεσθαι καὶ δύσχυμον.
τελεουμένων δὲ τῶν κυημάτων πλέον τε τὸ περίττωμα τὸ περιγιγνόμενον
(ἔλαττον γὰρ τὸ ἀναλισκόμενον) καὶ γλυκύτερον,
οὐκ ἀφαιρουμένου ὁμοίως τοῦ εὐπέπτου. οὐ γὰρ ἔτι εἰς πλάσιν
τοῦ ἐμβρύου γίγνεται ἡ δαπάνη ἀλλ' εἰς μικρὰν αὔξησιν,
35 ὥσπερ ἑστηκὸς ἤδη διὰ τὸ τέλος ἔχειν τὸ ἔμβρυον· ἔστι γάρ
Milk is formed in the females of all internally 15viviparous animals, becoming useful for the time of birth. For Nature has made it for the sake of the nourishment of animals after birth, so that it may neither fail at this time at all nor yet be at all superfluous; this is just what we find happening, unless anything chance contrary to Nature. In the other animals the period of gestation does not 20vary, and so the milk is concocted in time to suit this moment, but in man, since there are several times of birth, it must be ready at the first of these; hence in women the milk is useless before the seventh month and only then becomes useful. That it is only concocted at the last stages is what we should expect to happen also as being due to a 25necessary cause. For at first such residual matter when secreted is used up for the development of the embryo; now the nutritious part in all things is the sweetest and the most concocted, and thus when all such elements are removed what remains must become of necessity bitter and ill-flavoured. As the embryo is perfecting, the residual matter left over 30increases in quantity because the part consumed by the embryo is less; it is also sweeter since the easily concocted part is less drawn away from it. For it is no longer expended on moulding the embryo but only on slightly increasing its growth, it being now fixed because it has reached perfection (for in a sense there is a perfection even of an embryo).
776b
1 τις καὶ κυήματος τελείωσις. διόπερ ἐξέρχεται καὶ μεταβάλλει
τὴν γένεσιν ὡς ἔχον τὰ αὑτοῦ καὶ οὐκέτι λαμβάνει
τὸ μὴ αὑτοῦ, ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ γίγνεται τὸ γάλα χρήσιμον. Εἰς
δὲ τὸν ἄνω τόπον καὶ τοὺς μαστοὺς συλλέγεται διὰ τὴν ἐξ
5 ἀρχῆς τάξιν τῆς συστάσεως. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄνω τοῦ ὑποζώματος
τὸ κύριον τῆς ζωῆς ἐστι, τὸ δὲ κάτω τῆς τροφῆς καὶ τοῦ
περιττώματος, ὅπως ὅσα πορευτικὰ τῶν ζῴων ἐν αὑτοῖς
ἔχοντα τὴν τῆς τροφῆς αὐτάρκειαν μεταβάλλῃ τοὺς τόπους.
ἐντεῦθεν δὲ καὶ ἡ σπερματικὴ περίττωσις ἀποκρίνεται διὰ
10 τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν ἐν τοῖς κατ' ἀρχὰς λόγοις. ἔστι δὲ τό
τε τῶν ἀρρένων περίττωμα καὶ τὰ καταμήνια τοῖς θήλεσιν
αἱματικῆς φύσεως. τούτου δ' ἀρχὴ καὶ τῶν φλεβῶν ἡ καρδία·
αὕτη δ' ἐν τοῖς μορίοις τούτοις. διὸ πρῶτον ἐνταῦθα
ἀναγκαῖον γίγνεσθαι τὴν μεταβολὴν ἐπίδηλον τῆς τοιαύτης
15 περιττώσεως. διόπερ αἵ τε φωναὶ μεταβάλλουσι καὶ τῶν
ἀρρένων καὶ τῶν θηλειῶν ὅταν ἄρχωνται σπέρμα φέρειν (ἡ
γὰρ ἀρχὴ τῆς φωνῆς ἐντεῦθεν· ἀλλοία δὲ γίγνεται ἀλλοίου
γιγνομένου τοῦ κινοῦντος), καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς μαστοὺς αἴρεται καὶ
τοῖς ἄρρεσιν ἐπιδήλως, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῖς θήλεσιν· διὰ γὰρ
20 τὸ κάτω τὴν ἔκκρισιν γίγνεσθαι πολλὴν κενὸς ὁ τόπος γίγνεται
ὁ τῶν μαστῶν αὐταῖς καὶ σομφός—ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοῖς κάτω
τοὺς μαστοὺς ἔχουσιν. γίγνεται μὲν οὖν ἐπίδηλος καὶ ἡ φωνὴ
καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς μαστοὺς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις τοῖς ἐμπείροις
περὶ ἕκαστον γένος, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαφέρει
25 πλεῖστον. αἴτιον δὲ τὸ πλείστην εἶναι τὴν περίττωσιν τοῖς θήλεσι
τούτοις τῶν θηλέων καὶ τοῖς ἄρρεσι τῶν ἀρρένων ὡς
κατὰ μέγεθος [ταῖς μὲν τὴν τῶν καταμηνίων, τοῖς δὲ τὴν
τοῦ σπέρματος πρόεσιν]. ὅταν οὖν μὴ λαμβάνῃ μὲν τὸ ἔμβρυον
τὴν τοιαύτην ἀπόκρισιν, κωλύῃ δὲ θύραζε βαδίζειν,
30 ἀναγκαῖον εἰς τοὺς κενοὺς τόπους ἀθροίζεσθαι τὸ περίττωμα
πᾶν, ὅσοιπερ ἂν ὦσιν ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πόρων. ἔστι δ' ἑκάστοις
τοιοῦτος ὁ τῶν μαστῶν τόπος δι' ἀμφοτέρας τὰς αἰτίας ἕνεκά
τε τοῦ βελτίστου γεγονὼς τοιοῦτος καὶ ἐξ ἀνάγκης· ἐνταῦθα δὲ
ἤδη συνίσταται καὶ γίγνεται πεπεμμένη τροφὴ τοῖς ζῴοις.
35 τῆς δὲ πέψεως ἔστι μὲν λαβεῖν τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν, ἔστι δὲ καὶ
1Therefore it comes forth from the mother and changes its mode of development, as now possessing what belongs to it; and no longer takes that which does not belong to it; and it is at this season that the milk becomes useful.
The milk collects in the upper part of the body and the 5breasts because of the original plan of the organism. For the part above the hypozoma is the sovereign part of the animal, while that below is concerned with nourishment and residual matter, in order that all animals which move about may contain within themselves nourishment enough to make them independent when they move from one place to another. From 10this upper part also is produced the generative secretion for the reason mentioned in the opening of our discussion. But both the secretion of the male and the catamenia of the female are of a sanguineous nature, and the first principle of this blood and of the blood-vessels is the heart, and the heart is in this part of the body. Therefore it is here 15that the change of such a secretion must first become plain. This is why the voice changes in both sexes when they begin to bear seed (for the first principle of the voice resides there, and is itself changed when its moving cause changes). At the same time the parts about the breasts are raised visibly even in males but still more in females, for the 20region of the breasts becomes empty and spongy in them because so much material is drained away below. This is so not only in women but also in those animals which have the mammae low down.
This change in the voice and the parts about the mammae is plain even in other creatures to those who have experience of each kind of animal, but is most remarkable 25in man. The reason is that in man the production of secretion is greatest in both sexes in proportion to their size as compared with other animals; I mean that of the catamenia in women and the emission of semen in men. When, therefore, the embryo no longer takes up the secretion in question but yet prevents its being discharged from the mother, it 30is necessary that the residual matter should collect in all those empty parts which are set upon the same passages. And such is the position of the mammae in each kind of animals for both causes; it is so both for the sake of what is best and of necessity.
It is here, then, that the nourishment in animals is now formed and becomes thoroughly concocted.
The milk collects in the upper part of the body and the 5breasts because of the original plan of the organism. For the part above the hypozoma is the sovereign part of the animal, while that below is concerned with nourishment and residual matter, in order that all animals which move about may contain within themselves nourishment enough to make them independent when they move from one place to another. From 10this upper part also is produced the generative secretion for the reason mentioned in the opening of our discussion. But both the secretion of the male and the catamenia of the female are of a sanguineous nature, and the first principle of this blood and of the blood-vessels is the heart, and the heart is in this part of the body. Therefore it is here 15that the change of such a secretion must first become plain. This is why the voice changes in both sexes when they begin to bear seed (for the first principle of the voice resides there, and is itself changed when its moving cause changes). At the same time the parts about the breasts are raised visibly even in males but still more in females, for the 20region of the breasts becomes empty and spongy in them because so much material is drained away below. This is so not only in women but also in those animals which have the mammae low down.
This change in the voice and the parts about the mammae is plain even in other creatures to those who have experience of each kind of animal, but is most remarkable 25in man. The reason is that in man the production of secretion is greatest in both sexes in proportion to their size as compared with other animals; I mean that of the catamenia in women and the emission of semen in men. When, therefore, the embryo no longer takes up the secretion in question but yet prevents its being discharged from the mother, it 30is necessary that the residual matter should collect in all those empty parts which are set upon the same passages. And such is the position of the mammae in each kind of animals for both causes; it is so both for the sake of what is best and of necessity.
It is here, then, that the nourishment in animals is now formed and becomes thoroughly concocted.
777a
1 τὴν ἐναντίαν· εὔλογον γὰρ καὶ μεῖζον ὂν τὸ ἔμβρυον πλείω
λαμβάνειν τροφὴν ὥστε ἔλαττον περιγίγνεσθαι περὶ τὸν χρόνον
τοῦτον· πέττεται δὲ θᾶττον τὸ ἔλαττον. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐστι
τὸ γάλα τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχον φύσιν τῇ ἀποκρίσει ἐξ ἧς γίγνεται
5 ἕκαστον, δῆλον, εἴρηται δὲ καὶ πρότερον. ἡ γὰρ αὐτὴ ὕλη
ἥ τε τρέφουσα καὶ ἐξ ἧς συνιστᾷ τὴν γένεσιν ἡ φύσις. ἔστι δὲ
τοῦτο ἡ αἱματικὴ ὑγρότης τοῖς ἐναίμοις· τὸ γὰρ γάλα πεπεμμένον
αἷμά ἐστιν ἀλλ' οὐ διεφθαρμένον. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δ'
ἢ οὐκ ὀρθῶς ὑπελάμβανεν ἢ οὐκ εὖ μετήνεγκε ποιήσας ὡς
10 τὸ γάλα μηνὸς ἐν ὀγδοάτου δεκάτῃ πύον ἔπλετο λευκόν.
σαπρότης γὰρ καὶ πέψις ἐναντίον, τὸ δὲ πύον σαπρότης τίς
ἐστιν, τὸ δὲ γάλα τῶν πεπεμμένων. οὐ γίγνονται δὲ οὔτε θηλαζομέναις
αἱ καθάρσεις κατὰ φύσιν οὔτε συλλαμβάνουσι θηλαζόμεναι·
κἂν συλλάβωσιν, ἀποσβέννυται τὸ γάλα διὰ
15 τὸ τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι φύσιν τοῦ γάλακτος καὶ τῶν καταμηνίων·
ἡ δὲ φύσις οὐ δύναται πολυχοεῖν οὕτως ὥστ' ἐπαμφοτερίζειν,
ἀλλ' ἂν ἐπὶ θάτερα γένηται ἡ ἀπόκρισις ἀναγκαῖον ἐπὶ
θάτερα ἐκλείπειν, ἐὰν μὴ γίγνηταί τι βίαιον καὶ παρὰ τὸ ὡς
ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ. τοῦτο δ' ἤδη παρὰ φύσιν· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς μὴ
20 ἀδυνάτοις ἄλλως ἔχειν ἀλλ' ἐνδεχομένοις τὸ κατὰ φύσιν
ἐστὶ τὸ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ. Καλῶς δὲ διώρισται τοῖς χρόνοις
καὶ ἡ γένεσις ἡ τῶν ζῴων· ὅταν γὰρ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος
μηκέτι ἱκανὴ ᾖ τῷ κυουμένῳ ἡ διὰ τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ τροφή, ἅμα
τὸ γάλα γίγνεται χρήσιμον πρὸς τὴν γιγνομένην τροφήν,
25 καὶ οὐκ εἰσιούσης διὰ τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ τροφῆς συμπίπτουσιν αὗται
αἱ φλέβες περὶ ἃς ὁ καλούμενος ὀμφαλός ἐστι χιτών,
καὶ διὰ ταῦτα καὶ τότε συμβαίνει θύραζε ἡ ἔξοδος.
1As for the cause of concoction, we may take that already given, or we may take the opposite, for it is a reasonable view also that the embryo being larger takes more nourishment, so that less is left over about this time, and the less is concocted more quickly.
That milk has the same nature as the 5secretion from which each animal is formed is plain, and has been stated previously. For the material which nourishes is the same as that from which Nature forms the animal in generation. Now this is the sanguineous liquid in the sanguinea, and milk is blood concocted (not corrupted; Empedocles either mistook the fact or made a bad metaphor when he composed the line: ‘On 10the tenth day of the eighth month the milk comes into being, a white pus’, for putrefaction and concoction are opposite things, and pus is a kind of putrefaction but milk is concocted). While women are suckling children the catamenia do not occur according to Nature, nor do they conceive; if they do conceive, the milk dries up. This is because the nature of the milk and 15of the catamenia is the same, and Nature cannot be so productive as to supply both at once; if the secretion is diverted in the one direction it must needs cease in the other, unless some violence is done contrary to the general rule. But this is as much as to say that it is contrary to Nature, for in all cases where it is not impossible for things to be otherwise than 20they generally are but where they may so happen, still what is the general rule is what is ‘according to Nature’.
The time also at which the young animal is born has been well arranged. For when the nourishment coming through the umbilical cord is no longer sufficient for the foetus because of its size, then at the same time the milk becomes useful for the nourishment of 25the newly-born animal, and the blood-vessels round which the so-called umbilical cord lies as a coat collapse as the nourishment is no longer passing through it; for these reasons it is at that time also that the young animal enters into the world.
That milk has the same nature as the 5secretion from which each animal is formed is plain, and has been stated previously. For the material which nourishes is the same as that from which Nature forms the animal in generation. Now this is the sanguineous liquid in the sanguinea, and milk is blood concocted (not corrupted; Empedocles either mistook the fact or made a bad metaphor when he composed the line: ‘On 10the tenth day of the eighth month the milk comes into being, a white pus’, for putrefaction and concoction are opposite things, and pus is a kind of putrefaction but milk is concocted). While women are suckling children the catamenia do not occur according to Nature, nor do they conceive; if they do conceive, the milk dries up. This is because the nature of the milk and 15of the catamenia is the same, and Nature cannot be so productive as to supply both at once; if the secretion is diverted in the one direction it must needs cease in the other, unless some violence is done contrary to the general rule. But this is as much as to say that it is contrary to Nature, for in all cases where it is not impossible for things to be otherwise than 20they generally are but where they may so happen, still what is the general rule is what is ‘according to Nature’.
The time also at which the young animal is born has been well arranged. For when the nourishment coming through the umbilical cord is no longer sufficient for the foetus because of its size, then at the same time the milk becomes useful for the nourishment of 25the newly-born animal, and the blood-vessels round which the so-called umbilical cord lies as a coat collapse as the nourishment is no longer passing through it; for these reasons it is at that time also that the young animal enters into the world.
Book 4,Chapter 9 (777a28–31)
Ἐπὶ κεφαλὴν δ' ἡ γένεσίς ἐστι τοῖς ζῴοις πᾶσιν ἡ
κατὰ φύσιν διὰ τὸ τὰ ἄνω τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ μείζω ἔχειν
30 ἢ τὰ κάτω. καθάπερ οὖν ἐν ζυγοῖς ἠρτημένα ἐξ αὐτοῦ
ῥέπει ἐπὶ τὸ βάρος· ἔχει δὲ τὰ μείζω πλεῖον βάρος.
The natural birth of all animals is head-foremost, because the parts above the umbilical cord are larger than those below. 30The body then, being suspended from the cord as in a balance, inclines towards the heavy end, and the larger parts are the heavier.
Book 4,Chapter 10 (777a32–778a12)
Οἱ δὲ χρόνοι τῆς κυήσεως ἑκάστῳ τῶν ζῴων ὡρισμένοι τυγχάνουσιν
ὡς μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ κατὰ τοὺς βίους· τῶν γὰρ
χρονιωτέρων καὶ τὰς γενέσεις εὔλογον εἶναι χρονιωτέρας. οὐ
35 μὴν τοῦτό γ' ἐστὶν αἴτιον ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ τοῦτο συμβέβηκεν·
The period of gestation is, as a matter of fact, determined generally in each animal in proportion to the length of its life. This we should expect, for it is reasonable that the development of the long-lived animals should take a longer time.
777b
1 τὰ γὰρ μείζω καὶ τελειότερα τῶν ἐναίμων ζῴων
καὶ ζῶσι πολὺν χρόνον—οὐ μέντοι τὰ μείζω πάντα μακροβιώτερα.
πάντων γὰρ ἄνθρωπος πλεῖστον ζῇ χρόνον πλὴν
ἐλέφαντος, ὅσων ἀξιόπιστον ἔχομεν τὴν πεῖραν· ἔλαττον δ'
5 ἐστὶ τὸ γένος τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἢ τὸ τῶν λοφούρων καὶ πολλῶν
ἄλλων. αἴτιον δὲ τοῦ μὲν εἶναι μακρόβιον ὁτιοῦν ζῷον τὸ
κεκρᾶσθαι παραπλησίως πρὸς τὸν περιέχοντα ἀέρα, καὶ δι'
ἄλλα συμπτώματ' ἄττα φυσικὰ περὶ ὧν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν, —τῶν
δὲ χρόνων τῶν περὶ τὴν κύησιν τὸ μέγεθος τῶν γεννωμένων·
10 οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ λαμβάνειν τὴν τελείωσιν τὰς
μεγάλας συστάσεις οὔτε ζῴων οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων ὡς εἰπεῖν οὐθενός.
διόπερ ἵπποι καὶ τὰ συγγενῆ ζῷα τούτοις ἐλάττω ζῶντα
χρόνον κυεῖ γε πλείω χρόνον· τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἐνιαύσιος ὁ τόκος
τῶν δὲ δεκάμηνος ὁ πλεῖστος. διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν δ' αἰτίαν
15 πολυχρόνιος καὶ ὁ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἐστὶ τόκος· διετὴς γὰρ ἡ
κύησις διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ μεγέθους. Εὐλόγως δὲ πάντων
οἱ χρόνοι καὶ τῶν κυήσεων καὶ γενέσεων καὶ τῶν βίων
μετρεῖσθαι βούλονται κατὰ φύσιν περιόδοις. λέγω δὲ περίοδον
ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα καὶ μῆνα καὶ ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς χρόνους
20 τοὺς μετρουμένους τούτοις, ἔτι δὲ τὰς τῆς σελήνης περιόδους.
εἰσὶ δὲ περίοδοι σελήνης πανσέληνός τε καὶ φθίσις καὶ τῶν
μεταξὺ χρόνων αἱ διχοτομίαι· κατὰ γὰρ ταύτας συμβάλλει
πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον· ὁ γὰρ μεὶς κοινὴ περίοδός ἐστιν ἀμφοτέρων.
ἔστι δὲ ἡ σελήνη ἀρχὴ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον κοινωνίαν
25 καὶ τὴν μετάληψιν τὴν τοῦ φωτός· γίγνεται γὰρ ὥςπερ
ἄλλος ἥλιος ἐλάττων· διὸ συμβάλλεται εἰς πάσας
τὰς γενέσεις καὶ τελειώσεις. αἱ γὰρ θερμότητες καὶ ψύξεις
μέχρι συμμετρίας τινὸς ποιοῦσι τὰς γενέσεις, μετὰ δὲ
ταῦτα τὰς φθοράς· τούτων δ' ἔχουσι τὸ πέρας καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς
30 καὶ τῆς τελευτῆς αἱ τούτων κινήσεις τῶν ἄστρων. ὥςπερ
γὰρ καὶ θάλατταν καὶ πᾶσαν ὁρῶμεν τὴν τῶν ὑγρῶν
φύσιν ἱσταμένην καὶ μεταβάλλουσαν κατὰ τὴν τῶν πνευμάτων
κίνησιν καὶ στάσιν, τὸν δ' ἀέρα καὶ τὰ πνεύματα
κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῆς σελήνης περίοδον, οὕτω καὶ τὰ
35 ἐκ τούτων φυόμενα καὶ τὰ ἐν τούτοις ἀκολουθεῖν ἀναγκαῖον·
1Yet this is not the cause of it, but the periods only correspond accidentally for the most part; for though the larger and more perfect sanguinea do live a long time, yet the larger are not all longer-lived. Man lives a longer time than any animal of which we have any credible 5experience except the elephant, and yet the human kind is smaller than that of the bushy-tailed animals and many others. The real cause of long life in any animal is its being tempered in a manner resembling the environing air, along with certain other circumstances of its nature, of which we will speak later; but the cause of the time of 10gestation is the size of the offspring. For it is not easy for large masses to arrive at their perfection in a small time, whether they be animals or, one may say, anything else whatever. That is why horses and animals akin to them, though living a shorter time than man, yet carry their young longer; for the time in the former is a year, but in 15the latter ten months at the outside. For the same reason also the time is long in elephants; they carry their young two years on account of their excessive size.
We find, as we might expect, that in all animals the time of gestation and development and the length of life aims at being measured by naturally complete periods. By a natural period 20I mean, e.g. a day and night, a month, a year, and the greater times measured by these, and also the periods of the moon, that is to say, the full moon and her disappearance and the halves of the times between these, for it is by these that the moon’s orbit fits in with that of the sun [the month being a period common to both].
The moon is a 25first principle because of her connexion with the sun and her participation in his light, being as it were a second smaller sun, and therefore she contributes to all generation and development. For heat and cold varying within certain limits make things to come into being and after this to perish, and it is the motions of the sun and moon that 30fix the limit both of the beginning and of the end of these processes. Just as we see the sea and all bodies of water settling and changing according to the movement or rest of the winds, and the air and winds again according to the course of the sun and moon, so also the things which grow out of these or are in these must needs follow suit.
We find, as we might expect, that in all animals the time of gestation and development and the length of life aims at being measured by naturally complete periods. By a natural period 20I mean, e.g. a day and night, a month, a year, and the greater times measured by these, and also the periods of the moon, that is to say, the full moon and her disappearance and the halves of the times between these, for it is by these that the moon’s orbit fits in with that of the sun [the month being a period common to both].
The moon is a 25first principle because of her connexion with the sun and her participation in his light, being as it were a second smaller sun, and therefore she contributes to all generation and development. For heat and cold varying within certain limits make things to come into being and after this to perish, and it is the motions of the sun and moon that 30fix the limit both of the beginning and of the end of these processes. Just as we see the sea and all bodies of water settling and changing according to the movement or rest of the winds, and the air and winds again according to the course of the sun and moon, so also the things which grow out of these or are in these must needs follow suit.
778a
1 κατὰ λόγον γὰρ ἀκολουθεῖν καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀκυροτέρων περιόδους
ταῖς τῶν κυριωτέρων. βίος γάρ τις καὶ πνεύματός ἐστι
καὶ γένεσις καὶ φθίσις. τῆς δὲ τῶν ἄστρων τούτων περιφορᾶς
τάχ' ἂν ἕτεραί τινες εἶεν ἀρχαί. βούλεται μὲν οὖν ἡ
5 φύσις τοῖς τούτων ἀριθμοῖς ἀριθμεῖν τὰς γενέσεις καὶ τὰς
τελευτάς, οὐκ ἀκριβοῖ δὲ διά τε τὴν τῆς ὕλης ἀοριστίαν
καὶ διὰ τὸ γίγνεσθαι πολλὰς ἀρχὰς αἳ τὰς γενέσεις τὰς
κατὰ φύσιν καὶ τὰς φθορὰς ἐμποδίζουσαι πολλάκις αἴτιαι
τῶν παρὰ φύσιν συμπιπτόντων εἰσίν.
10 Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς ἔσωθεν τροφῆς τῶν ζῴων καὶ τῆς
θύραζε γενέσεως εἴρηται, καὶ χωρὶς περὶ ἑκάστου καὶ κοινῇ
περὶ πάντων.
1For it is reasonable that the periods of the less important should follow those of the more important. For in a sense a wind, too, has a life and birth and death.
As for the revolutions of the sun and moon, they may perhaps depend on other principles. It is the aim, then, of Nature to 5measure the coming into being and the end of animals by the measure of these higher periods, but she does not bring this to pass accurately because matter cannot be easily brought under rule and because there are many principles which hinder generation and decay from being according to Nature, and often cause things to fall out contrary to Nature.
We have 10now spoken of the nourishment of animals within the mother and of their birth into the world, both of each kind separately and of all in common.
As for the revolutions of the sun and moon, they may perhaps depend on other principles. It is the aim, then, of Nature to 5measure the coming into being and the end of animals by the measure of these higher periods, but she does not bring this to pass accurately because matter cannot be easily brought under rule and because there are many principles which hinder generation and decay from being according to Nature, and often cause things to fall out contrary to Nature.
We have 10now spoken of the nourishment of animals within the mother and of their birth into the world, both of each kind separately and of all in common.