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 5,Chapter 1 (778a16–781a13)
778a
Περὶ δὲ τῶν παθημάτων οἷς διαφέρουσι τὰ μόρια τῶν
ζῴων θεωρητέον νῦν. λέγω δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα παθήματα τῶν
μορίων οἷον γλαυκότητα ὀμμάτων καὶ μελανίαν, καὶ φωνῆς
ὀξύτητα καὶ βαρύτητα, καὶ χρώματος [ἢ σώματος]
20 καὶ τριχῶν ἢ πτερῶν διαφοράς. τυγχάνει δὲ τῶν τοιούτων
ἔνια μὲν ὅλοις ὑπάρχοντα τοῖς γένεσιν, ἐνίοις δ' ὅπως ἔτυχεν,
οἷον μάλιστ' ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦτο συμβέβηκεν. ἔτι
δὲ κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἡλικιῶν μεταβολὰς τὰ μὲν ὁμοίως πᾶσιν
ὑπάρχει τοῖς ζῴοις τὰ δ' ὑπεναντίως, ὥσπερ περί τε φωνὰς
25 καὶ περὶ τριχῶν χρόας· τὰ μὲν γὰρ οὐ πολιοῦται πρὸς
τὸ γῆρας ἐπιδήλως, ὁ δ' ἄνθρωπος μάλιστα τοῦτο πάσχει
τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων. καὶ τὰ μὲν εὐθὺς ἀκολουθεῖ γενομένοις,
τὰ δὲ προϊούσης τῆς ἡλικίας γίγνεται δῆλα καὶ γηρασκόντων.
Περὶ δὲ τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων πάντων οὐκέτι τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον
30 δεῖ νομίζειν εἶναι τῆς αἰτίας. ὅσα γὰρ μὴ τῆς φύσεως
ἔργα κοινῇ μηδ' ἴδια τοῦ γένους ἑκάστου, τούτων οὐθὲν ἕνεκά του
τοιοῦτον οὔτ' ἐστιν οὔτε γίγνεται. ὀφθαλμὸς μὲν γὰρ ἕνεκά του,
γλαυκὸς δ' οὐχ ἕνεκά του πλὴν ἂν ἴδιον ᾖ τοῦ γένους τοῦτο τὸ
πάθος. οὔτε δ' ἐπ' ἐνίων πρὸς τὸν λόγον συντείνει τὸν τῆς οὐσίας,
35 ἀλλ' ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης γιγνομένων εἰς τὴν ὕλην καὶ τὴν
WE must now investigate the qualities by which the parts of animals differ. I mean such qualities of the parts as blueness and blackness in the eyes, height and depth of pitch in the voice, and differences in colour whether of the skin or of hair and feathers. Some such qualities are found to characterize the whole of a 20kind of animals sometimes, while in other kinds they occur at random, as is especially the case in man. Further, in connexion with the changes in the time of life, all animals are alike in some points, but are opposed in others as in the case of the voice and the colour of the hair, for some do not grow grey visibly in old age, while man is subject to this more than any other animal. And some of these 25affections appear immediately after birth, while others become plain as age advances or in old age.
Now we must no longer suppose that the cause of these and all such phenomena is the same. For whenever things are not the product of Nature working upon the animal kingdom as a whole, nor yet characteristic of each separate kind, then none of these things is such as it is or is so developed for any 30final cause. The eye for instance exists for a final cause, but it is not blue for a final cause unless this condition be characteristic of the kind of animal. In fact in some cases this condition has no connexion with the essence of the animal’s being, but we must refer the causes to the material and the motive principle or efficient cause, on the view that these things come into being by Necessity.
Now we must no longer suppose that the cause of these and all such phenomena is the same. For whenever things are not the product of Nature working upon the animal kingdom as a whole, nor yet characteristic of each separate kind, then none of these things is such as it is or is so developed for any 30final cause. The eye for instance exists for a final cause, but it is not blue for a final cause unless this condition be characteristic of the kind of animal. In fact in some cases this condition has no connexion with the essence of the animal’s being, but we must refer the causes to the material and the motive principle or efficient cause, on the view that these things come into being by Necessity.
778b
1 κινήσασαν ἀρχὴν ἀνακτέον τὰς αἰτίας. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐλέχθη
κατ' ἀρχὰς ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις λόγοις, οὐ διὰ τὸ γίγνεσθαι
ἕκαστον ποιόν τι, διὰ τοῦτο ποιόν τί ἐστιν ὅσα τεταγμένα
καὶ ὡρισμένα ἔργα τῆς φύσεώς ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον διὰ τὸ
5 εἶναι τοιαδὶ γίγνεται τοιαῦτα· τῇ γὰρ οὐσίᾳ ἡ γένεσις ἀκολουθεῖ
καὶ τῆς οὐσίας ἕνεκά ἐστιν, ἀλλ' οὐχ αὕτη τῇ γενέσει.
οἱ δ' ἀρχαῖοι φυσιολόγοι τοὐναντίον ᾠήθησαν· τούτου δ' αἴτιον
ὅτι οὐχ ἑώρων πλείους οὔσας τὰς αἰτίας, ἀλλὰ μόνον τὴν τῆς
ὕλης καὶ τὴν τῆς κινήσεως—καὶ ταύτας ἀδιορίστως· τῆς δὲ
10 τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς τοῦ τέλους ἀνεπισκέπτως εἶχον. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν
ἕκαστον ἕνεκά του, γίγνεται δ' ἤδη διά τε ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν
καὶ διὰ τὰς λοιπὰς ὅσαπερ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ ἐνυπάρχει τῷ
ἑκάστου ἤ ἐστιν ἕνεκά του ἢ οὗ ἕνεκα. τῶν δὲ μὴ τοιούτων ὅσων
ἐστὶ γένεσις, ἤδη τούτων τὸ αἴτιον ἐν τῇ κινήσει δεῖ καὶ τῇ
15 γενέσει ζητεῖν ὡς ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ συστάσει τὴν διαφορὰν λαμβανόντων.
ὀφθαλμὸν μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἕξει (τοιόνδε γὰρ
ζῷον ὑπόκειται ὄν), τοιόνδε δὲ ὀφθαλμὸν ἐξ ἀνάγκης μέν,
οὐ τοιαύτης δ' ἀνάγκης ἀλλ' ἄλλον τρόπον, ὅτι τοιονδὶ ἢ
τοιονδὶ ποιεῖν πέφυκε καὶ πάσχειν. Διωρισμένων δὲ τούτων
20 λέγωμεν περὶ τῶν ἐφεξῆς συμβαινόντων. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ὅταν
γένωνται τὰ παιδία πάντων, μάλιστα τῶνἀτελῆτικτόντων ἀτελ<ῆ τικτόντ>ων, καθεύδειν
εἴωθε διὰ τὸ καὶ ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ, ὅταν λάβῃ πρῶτον αἴσθησιν,
καθεύδοντα διατελεῖν. ἔχει δ' ἀπορίαν περὶ τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς
γενέσεως πότερον ἐγρήγορσις ὑπάρχει τοῖς ζῴοις πρότερον
25 ἢ ὕπνος. διὰ γὰρ τὸ φαίνεσθαι προϊούσης τῆς ἡλικίας
ἐγειρόμενα μᾶλλον εὔλογον τοὐναντίον ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς
γενέσεως ὑπάρχειν, τὸν ὕπνον. ἔτι δὲ διὰ τὸ τὴν μετάβασιν
ἐκ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι εἰς τὸ εἶναι διὰ τοῦ μεταξὺ γίγνεσθαι·
ὁ δ' ὕπνος εἶναι δοκεῖ τὴν φύσιν τῶν τοιούτων οἷον τοῦ ζῆν
30 καὶ τοῦ μὴ ζῆν μεθόριον, καὶ οὔτε μὴ εἶναι παντελῶς ὁ καθεύδων
οὔτ' εἶναι. τῷ γὰρ ἐγρηγορέναι τὸ ζῆν μάλισθ' ὑπάρχει
διὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν. εἰ δ' ἐστὶν ἀναγκαῖον ἔχειν αἴσθησιν
τὸ ζῷον, καὶ τότε πρῶτόν ἐστι ζῷον ὅταν αἴσθησις γένηται
πρῶτον, τὴν μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς διάθεσιν οὐχ ὕπνον ἀλλ' ὅμοιον
35 ὕπνῳ δεῖ νομίζειν, οἵανπερ ἔχει καὶ τὸ τῶν φυτῶν γένος·
1For, as was said originally in the outset of our discussion, when we are dealing with definite and ordered products of Nature, we must not say that each is of a certain quality because it becomes so, but rather that they become so and so because they are so and so, for the process 5of Becoming or development attends upon Being and is for the sake of Being, not vice versa.
The ancient Nature-philosophers however took the opposite view. The reason of this is that they did not see that the causes were numerous, but only saw the material and efficient and did not distinguish even these, while they made no inquiry at all into the 10formal and final causes.
Everything then exists for a final cause, and all those things which are included in the definition of each animal, or which either are means to an end or are ends in themselves, come into being both through this cause and the rest. But when we come to those things which come into being without falling under the heads just mentioned, 15their course must be sought in the movement or process of coming into being, on the view that the differences which mark them arise in the actual formation of the animal. An eye, for instance, the animal must have of necessity (for the fundamental idea of the animal is of such a kind), but it will have an eye of a particular kind of necessity in 20another sense, not the sense mentioned just above, because it is its nature to act or be acted on in this or that way.
These distinctions being drawn let us speak of what comes next in order. As soon then as the offspring of all animals are born, especially those born imperfect, they are in the habit of sleeping, because they continue sleeping also 25within the mother when they first acquire sensation. But there is a difficulty about the earliest period of development, whether the state of wakefulness exists in animals first, or that of sleep. Since they plainly wake up more as they grow older, it is reasonable to suppose that the opposite state, that of sleep, exists in the first stages of development. 30Moreover the change from not being to being must pass through the intermediate condition, and sleep seems to be in its nature such a condition, being as it were a boundary between living and not living, and the sleeper being neither altogether non-existent nor yet existent. For life most of all appertains to wakefulness, on account of sensation.
The ancient Nature-philosophers however took the opposite view. The reason of this is that they did not see that the causes were numerous, but only saw the material and efficient and did not distinguish even these, while they made no inquiry at all into the 10formal and final causes.
Everything then exists for a final cause, and all those things which are included in the definition of each animal, or which either are means to an end or are ends in themselves, come into being both through this cause and the rest. But when we come to those things which come into being without falling under the heads just mentioned, 15their course must be sought in the movement or process of coming into being, on the view that the differences which mark them arise in the actual formation of the animal. An eye, for instance, the animal must have of necessity (for the fundamental idea of the animal is of such a kind), but it will have an eye of a particular kind of necessity in 20another sense, not the sense mentioned just above, because it is its nature to act or be acted on in this or that way.
These distinctions being drawn let us speak of what comes next in order. As soon then as the offspring of all animals are born, especially those born imperfect, they are in the habit of sleeping, because they continue sleeping also 25within the mother when they first acquire sensation. But there is a difficulty about the earliest period of development, whether the state of wakefulness exists in animals first, or that of sleep. Since they plainly wake up more as they grow older, it is reasonable to suppose that the opposite state, that of sleep, exists in the first stages of development. 30Moreover the change from not being to being must pass through the intermediate condition, and sleep seems to be in its nature such a condition, being as it were a boundary between living and not living, and the sleeper being neither altogether non-existent nor yet existent. For life most of all appertains to wakefulness, on account of sensation.
779a
1 καὶ γὰρ συμβέβηκε κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον τὰ ζῷα φυτοῦ
βίον ζῆν—τοῖς δὲ φυτοῖς ὑπάρχειν ὕπνον ἀδύνατον· οὐθεὶς
γὰρ ὕπνος ἀνέγερτος, τὸ δὲ τῶν φυτῶν πάθος τὸ ἀνάλογον
τῷ ὕπνῳ ἀνέγερτον—καθεύδειν μὲν οὖν τὰ ζῷα τὸν πλείω
5 χρόνον ἀναγκαῖον διὰ τὸ τὴν αὔξησιν καὶ τὸ βάρος ἐπικεῖσθαι
τοῖς ἄνω τόποις (εἰρήκαμεν δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ καθεύδειν
τοιαύτην οὖσαν ἐν ἑτέροις)· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐγειρόμενα φαίνεται
καὶ ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ (δῆλον δὲ γίγνεται τοῦτο ἐν ταῖς ἀνατομαῖς
καὶ ἐν τοῖς ᾠοτοκουμένοις), εἶτ' εὐθὺς καθεύδουσι καὶ καταφέρονται
10 πάλιν. διόπερ καὶ ἐξελθόντα τὸν πολὺν διάγει χρόνον
καθεύδοντα. Καὶ ἐγρηγορότα μὲν οὐ γελᾷ τὰ παιδία,
καθεύδοντα δὲ καὶ δακρύει καὶ γελᾷ. συμβαίνουσι
γὰρ καὶ καθεύδουσιν αἰσθήσεις τοῖς ζῴοις, οὐ μόνον τὰ καλούμενα
ἐνύπνια ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τὸ ἐνύπνιον, καθάπερ τοῖς
15 ἀνισταμένοις καθεύδουσι καὶ πολλὰ πράττουσιν ἄνευ τοῦ ἐνυπνιάζειν.
εἰσὶ γάρ τινες οἳ καθεύδοντες ἀνίστανται καὶ πορεύονται
βλέποντες ὥσπερ ἐγρηγορότες. τούτοις γὰρ γίγνεται
τῶν συμβαινόντων αἴσθησις, οὐκ ἐγρηγορόσι μέν, οὐ μέντοι
ὡς ἐνύπνιον. τὰ δὲ παιδία ἐοίκασιν, ὥσπερ ἀνεπιστήμονα
20 τοῦ ἐγρηγορέναι, διὰ συνήθειαν ἐν τῷ καθεύδειν αἰσθάνεσθαι
καὶ ζῆν. προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῆς αὐξήσεως
εἰς τὸ κάτω μεταβαινούσης ἐγείρονταί τε μᾶλλον ἤδη καὶ
τὸν πλείω χρόνον οὕτω διάγουσιν. μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν ἄλλων
ζῴων ἐν ὕπνῳ τὸ πρῶτον διατελοῦσιν· ἀτελέστατα γὰρ γεννᾶται
25 τῶν τετελεσμένων καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν ἔχοντα μάλιστα
ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω μέρος τοῦ σώματος. Γλαυκότερα δὲ τὰ ὄμματα
τῶν παιδίων εὐθὺς γενομένων ἐστὶ πάντων, ὕστερον δὲ μεταβάλλει
πρὸς τὴν ὑπάρχειν μέλλουσαν φύσιν αὐτοῖς· ἐπὶ
δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων οὐ συμβαίνει τοῦτ' ἐπιδήλως. τούτου μὲν
30 οὖν αἴτιον τὸ μονόχροα τὰ ὄμματα τῶν ἄλλων εἶναι
μᾶλλον, οἷον οἱ βόες μελανόφθαλμοι, τὸ δὲ τῶν προβάτων
ὑδαρὲς πάντων, τῶν δὲ χαροπὸν ὅλον τὸ γένος ἢ γλαυκόν,
ἔνια δ' αἰγωπὰ καθάπερ καὶ τὸ τῶν αἰγῶν αὐτὸ πλῆθος.
τὰ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὄμματα πολύχροα συμβέβηκεν
35 εἶναι· καὶ γὰρ γλαυκοὶ καὶ χαροποὶ καὶ μελανόφθαλμοί
1But on the other hand, if it is necessary that the animal should have sensation and if it is then first an animal when it has acquired sensation, we ought to consider the original condition to be not sleep but only something resembling sleep, such a condition as we find 5also in plants, for indeed at this time animals do actually live the life of a plant. But it is impossible that plants should sleep, for there is no sleep which cannot be broken, and the condition in plants which is analogous to sleep cannot be broken.
It is necessary then for the embryo animal to sleep most of the time because the growth 10takes place in the upper part of the body, which is consequently heavier (and we have stated elsewhere that such is the cause of sleep). But nevertheless they are found to wake even in the womb (this is clear in dissections and in the ovipara), and then they immediately fall into a sleep again. This is why after birth also they spend 15most of their time in sleep.
When awake infants do not laugh, but while asleep they both laugh and cry. For animals have sensations even while asleep, not only what are called dreams but also others besides dreams, as those persons who arise while sleeping and do many things without dreaming. For there are some who get up while sleeping 20and walk about seeing just like those who are awake; these have perception of what is happening, and though they are not awake, yet this perception is not like a dream. So infants presumably have sense-perception and live in their sleep owing to previous habit, being as it were without knowledge of the waking state. As time goes on and 25their growth is transferred to the lower part of the body, they now wake up more and spend most of their time in that condition. Children continue asleep at first more than other animals, for they are born in a more imperfect condition than other animals that are produced in anything like a perfect state, and their growth has taken place 30more in the upper part of the body.
The eyes of all children are bluish immediately after birth; later on they change to the colour which is to be theirs permanently. But in the case of other animals this is not visible. The reason of this is that the eyes of other animals are more apt to have only one colour for each kind of animal; e.g.
It is necessary then for the embryo animal to sleep most of the time because the growth 10takes place in the upper part of the body, which is consequently heavier (and we have stated elsewhere that such is the cause of sleep). But nevertheless they are found to wake even in the womb (this is clear in dissections and in the ovipara), and then they immediately fall into a sleep again. This is why after birth also they spend 15most of their time in sleep.
When awake infants do not laugh, but while asleep they both laugh and cry. For animals have sensations even while asleep, not only what are called dreams but also others besides dreams, as those persons who arise while sleeping and do many things without dreaming. For there are some who get up while sleeping 20and walk about seeing just like those who are awake; these have perception of what is happening, and though they are not awake, yet this perception is not like a dream. So infants presumably have sense-perception and live in their sleep owing to previous habit, being as it were without knowledge of the waking state. As time goes on and 25their growth is transferred to the lower part of the body, they now wake up more and spend most of their time in that condition. Children continue asleep at first more than other animals, for they are born in a more imperfect condition than other animals that are produced in anything like a perfect state, and their growth has taken place 30more in the upper part of the body.
The eyes of all children are bluish immediately after birth; later on they change to the colour which is to be theirs permanently. But in the case of other animals this is not visible. The reason of this is that the eyes of other animals are more apt to have only one colour for each kind of animal; e.g.
779b
1 τινές εἰσιν, οἱ δ' αἰγωποί. ὥστε τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ὥσπερ οὐδ' ἀλλήλων
διαφέρουσιν οὕτως οὐδ' αὐτὰ αὑτῶν· οὐ γὰρ πέφυκε πλείους
μιᾶς ἴσχειν χρόας. μάλιστα δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ἵππος πολύχρων
ἐστίν· καὶ γὰρ ἑτερόγλαυκοί τινες αὐτῶν γίγνονται.
5 τοῦτο δὲ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων οὐθὲν πάσχει ζῴων ἐπιδήλως, ἄνθρωποι
δὲ γίγνονταί τινες ἑτερόγλαυκοι. Τοῦ μὲν οὖν τἆλλα
ζῷα νέα ὄντα καὶ πρεσβύτερα μηθὲν ἐπίδηλον μεταβάλλειν,
ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν παιδίων τοῦτο συμβαίνειν, ἱκανὴν οἰητέον
αἰτίαν εἶναι καὶ ταύτην ὅτι τῶν μὲν μονόχρων τῶν δὲ πολύχρων
10 τὸ μόριόν ἐστιν· τοῦ δὲ γλαυκότερα καὶ μὴ χρόαν
ἄλλην ἴσχειν αἴτιον ὅτι ἀσθενέστερα τὰ μόρια τῶν νέων,
ἀσθένεια δέ τις ἡ γλαυκότης. Δεῖ δὲ λαβεῖν καθόλου περὶ
τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν ὀμμάτων διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν τὰ μὲν γλαυκὰ
τὰ δὲ χαροπὰ τὰ δ' αἰγωπὰ τὰ δὲ μελανόμματ'
15 ἐστίν. τὸ μὲν οὖν ὑπολαμβάνειν τὰ μὲν γλαυκὰ πυρώδη,
καθάπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς φησι, τὰ δὲ μέλανα πλεῖον ὕδατος
ἔχειν ἢ πυρός, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὰ μὲν ἡμέρας οὐκ ὀξὺ βλέπειν,
τὰ γλαυκά, δι' ἔνδειαν ὕδατος, θάτερα δὲ νύκτωρ δι'
ἔνδειαν πυρός, οὐ λέγεται καλῶς, εἴπερ μὴ πυρὸς τὴν ὄψιν
20 θετέον ἀλλ' ὕδατος πᾶσιν. ἔτι δ' ἐνδέχεται τῶν χρωμάτων
τὴν αἰτίαν ἀποδοῦναι καὶ κατ' ἄλλον τρόπον, ἀλλ' εἴπερ
ἐστὶν ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη πρότερον ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ
τούτων ἔτι πρότερον ἐν τοῖς περὶ ψυχῆς διωρισμένοις, καὶ
ὅτι ὕδατος καὶ δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ὕδατος ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀέρος ἢ πυρὸς
25 τὸ αἰσθητήριον τοῦτ' ἔστι, ταύτην αἰτίαν ὑποληπτέον εἶναι
τῶν εἰρημένων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔχουσι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν πλέον
ὑγρόν, οἱ δ' ἔλαττον τῆς συμμέτρου κινήσεως, οἱ δὲ σύμμετρον.
τὰ μὲν οὖν ἔχοντα τῶν ὀμμάτων πολὺ τὸ ὑγρὸν
μελανόμματά ἐστι διὰ τὸ μὴ εὐδίοπτ' εἶναι τὰ πολλά,
30 γλαυκὰ δὲ τὰ ὀλίγον, καθάπερ φαίνεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάττης·
τὸ μὲν γὰρ εὐδίοπτον αὐτῆς γλαυκὸν φαίνεται, τὸ
δ' ἧττον ὑδατῶδες, τὸ δὲ μὴ διωρισμένον διὰ βάθος μέλαν
καὶ κυανοειδές. τὰ δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν ὀμμάτων τούτων τῷ μᾶλλον
ἤδη διαφέρει καὶ ἧττον. Τὴν δ' αὐτὴν αἰτίαν οἰητέον καὶ
35 τοῦ τὰ μὲν γλαυκὰ μὴ εἶναι ὀξυωπὰ τῆς ἡμέρας, τὰ δὲ
1cattle are dark-eyed, the eye of all sheep is pale, of others again the whole kind is blue or grey-eyed, and some are yellow (goat-eyed), as the majority of goats themselves, whereas the eyes of men happen to be of many colours, for they are blue or grey or dark in some cases and yellow in others. Hence, as 5the individuals in other kinds of animals do not differ from one another in the colour, so neither do they differ from themselves, for they are not of a nature to have more than one colour. Of the other animals the horse has the greatest variety of colour in the eye, for some of them are actually heteroglaucous; this phenomenon is not to be seen in any of the other animals, but man is 10sometimes heteroglaucous.
Why then is it that there is no visible change in the other animals if we compare their condition when newly born with their condition at a more advanced age, but that there is such a change in children? We must consider just this to be a sufficient cause, that the part concerned has only one colour in the former but several colours in the latter. And the reason 15why the eyes of infants are bluish and have no other colour is that the parts are weaker in the newly born and blueness is a sort of weakness.
We must also gain a general notion about the difference in eyes, for what reason some are blue, some grey, some yellow, and some dark. To suppose that the blue are fiery, as Empedocles says, while the dark have more water than fire in them, and that 20this is why the former, the blue, have not keen sight by day, viz. owing to deficiency of water in their composition, and the latter are in like condition by night, viz. owing to deficiency of fire — this is not well said if indeed we are to assume sight to be connected with water, not fire, in all cases. Moreover it is possible to render another account of the cause of the colours, 25but if indeed the fact is as was stated before in the treatise on the senses, and still earlier than that in the investigations concerning soul — if this sense organ is composed of water and if we were right in saying for what reason it is composed of water and not of air or fire — then we must assume the water to be the cause of the colours mentioned. For some eyes have too much liquid 30to be adapted to the movement, others have too little, others the due amount. Those eyes therefore in which there is much liquid are dark because much liquid is not transparent, those which have little are blue; (so we find in the sea that the transparent part of it appears light blue, the less transparent watery, and the unfathomable water is dark or deep-blue on account of its depth).
Why then is it that there is no visible change in the other animals if we compare their condition when newly born with their condition at a more advanced age, but that there is such a change in children? We must consider just this to be a sufficient cause, that the part concerned has only one colour in the former but several colours in the latter. And the reason 15why the eyes of infants are bluish and have no other colour is that the parts are weaker in the newly born and blueness is a sort of weakness.
We must also gain a general notion about the difference in eyes, for what reason some are blue, some grey, some yellow, and some dark. To suppose that the blue are fiery, as Empedocles says, while the dark have more water than fire in them, and that 20this is why the former, the blue, have not keen sight by day, viz. owing to deficiency of water in their composition, and the latter are in like condition by night, viz. owing to deficiency of fire — this is not well said if indeed we are to assume sight to be connected with water, not fire, in all cases. Moreover it is possible to render another account of the cause of the colours, 25but if indeed the fact is as was stated before in the treatise on the senses, and still earlier than that in the investigations concerning soul — if this sense organ is composed of water and if we were right in saying for what reason it is composed of water and not of air or fire — then we must assume the water to be the cause of the colours mentioned. For some eyes have too much liquid 30to be adapted to the movement, others have too little, others the due amount. Those eyes therefore in which there is much liquid are dark because much liquid is not transparent, those which have little are blue; (so we find in the sea that the transparent part of it appears light blue, the less transparent watery, and the unfathomable water is dark or deep-blue on account of its depth).
780a
1 μελανόμματα τῆς νυκτός. τὰ μὲν γὰρ γλαυκὰ δι' ὀλιγότητα
τοῦ ὑγροῦ κινεῖται μᾶλλον ὑπὸ τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ τῶν
ὁρατῶν ᾗ ὑγρὸν καὶ ᾗ διαφανές. ἔστι δ' ἡ τούτου τοῦ μορίου
κίνησις ὅρασις ᾗ διαφανὲς ἀλλ' οὐχ ᾗ ὑγρόν. τὰ δὲ μελανόμματα
5 διὰ πλῆθος τοῦ ὑγροῦ ἧττον κινεῖται. ἀσθενὲς
γὰρ τὸ νυκτερινὸν φῶς· ἅμα γὰρ καὶ δυσκίνητον ἐν τῇ
νυκτὶ ὅλως γίγνεται τὸ ὑγρόν. δεῖ δὲ οὔτε μὴ κινεῖσθαι
αὐτὸ οὔτε μᾶλλον ἢ ᾗ διαφανές· ἐκκρούει γὰρ ἡ ἰσχυροτέρα
κίνησις τὴν ἀσθενεστέραν. διὸ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἰσχυρῶν
10 χρωμάτων μεταβάλλοντες οὐχ ὁρῶσι, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου εἰς
τὸ σκότος ἰόντες· ἰσχυρὰ γὰρ οὖσα ἡ ἐνυπάρχουσα κίνησις
κωλύει τὴν θύραθεν—καὶ ὅλως οὔτε σθένουσα οὔτε ἀσθενὴς
ὄψις τὰ λαμπρὰ δύναται ὁρᾶν διὰ τὸ πάσχειν τι μᾶλλον
καὶ κινεῖσθαι τὸ ὑγρόν. δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀρρωστήματα
15 τῆς ὄψεως ἑκατέρας. τὸ μὲν γὰρ γλαύκωμα γίγνεται μᾶλλον
τοῖς γλαυκοῖς, οἱ δὲ νυκτάλωπες καλούμενοι τοῖς μελανοφθάλμοις.
ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν γλαύκωμα ξηρότης τις [μᾶλλον]
τῶν ὀμμάτων, διὸ καὶ συμβαίνει μᾶλλον γηράσκουσιν·
ξηραίνεται γὰρ ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ ἄλλο σῶμα καὶ ταῦτα
20 τὰ μόρια πρὸς τὸ γῆρας· ὁ δὲ νυκτάλωψ ὑγρότητος πλεονασμός,
διὸ τοῖς νεωτέροις γίγνεται μᾶλλον· ὑγρότερος γὰρ
ὁ ἐγκέφαλος τούτων. ἡ δὲ μέση τοῦ πολλοῦ καὶ τοῦ ὀλίγου
ὑγροῦ βελτίστη ὄψις· οὔτε γὰρ ὡς ὀλίγη οὖσα διὰ τὸ ταράττεσθαι
ἐμποδίζει τὴν τῶν χρωμάτων κίνησιν, οὔτε διὰ τὸ
25 πλῆθος παρέχει δυσκινησίαν. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τὰ εἰρημένα αἴτια
τοῦ ἀμβλὺ ἢ ὀξὺ ὁρᾶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ τοῦ δέρματος φύσις
τοῦ ἐπὶ τῇ κόρῃ καλουμένῃ· δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸ διαφανὲς εἶναι,
τοιοῦτον δ' ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τὸ λεπτὸν καὶ λευκὸν καὶ ὁμαλόν—λεπτὸν
μὲν ὅπως ἡ θύραθεν εὐθυπορῇ κίνησις, ὁμαλὸν
30 δ' ὅπως μὴ ἐπισκιάζῃ ῥυτιδούμενον (καὶ γὰρ διὰ
τοῦθ' οἱ γέροντες οὐκ ὀξὺ ὁρῶσιν· ὥσπερ γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἄλλο
δέρμα καὶ τὸ τοῦ ὄμματος ῥυτιδοῦταί τε καὶ παχύτερον
γίγνεται γηράσκουσιν), λευκὸν δὲ διὰ τὸ τὸ μέλαν μὴ εἶναι
διαφανές· αὐτὸ γὰρ τοῦτ' ἔστι τὸ μέλαν, τὸ μὴ διαφαινόμενον.
35 διόπερ οὐδ' οἱ λαμπτῆρες δύνανται φαίνειν ἐὰν ὦσιν
ἐκ τοιούτου δέρματος. Ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ γήρᾳ καὶ ταῖς νόσοις
1When we come to the eyes between these, they differ only in degree.
We must suppose the same cause also to be responsible for the fact that blue eyes are not keen-sighted by day nor dark eyes by night. Blue eyes, because there is little liquid in them, are too much moved by the light and by 5visible objects in respect of their liquidity as well as their transparency, but sight is the movement of this part in so far as it is transparent, not in so far as it is liquid. Dark eyes are less moved because of the quantity of liquid in them. And so they see less well in the dusk, for the nocturnal light is weak; at the same time also liquid is in general 10hard to move in the night. But if the eye is to see, it must neither not be moved at all nor yet more than in so far as it is transparent, for the stronger movement drives out the weaker. Hence it is that on changing from strong colours, or on going out of the sun into the dark, men cannot see, for the motion already existing in the eye, being strong, stops that 15from outside, and in general neither a strong nor a weak sight can see bright things because the liquid is acted upon and moved too much.
The same thing is shown also by the morbid affections of each kind of sight. Cataract attacks the blue-eyed more, but what is called ‘nyctalopia’ the dark-eyed. Now cataract is a sort of dryness of the eyes and therefore it 20is found more in the aged, for this part also like the rest of the body gets dry towards old age; but is an excess of liquidity and so is found more in the younger, for their brain is more liquid.
The sight of the eye which is intermediate between too much and too little liquid is the best, for it has neither too little so as to be disturbed and hinder the 25movement of the colours, nor too much so as to cause difficulty of movement.
Not only the above-mentioned facts are causes of seeing keenly or the reverse, but also the nature of the skin upon what is called the pupil. This ought to be transparent, and it is necessary that the transparent should be thin and white and even, thin that the movement coming from without 30may pass straight through it, even that it may not cast a shade the liquid behind it by wrinkling (for this also is a reason why old men have not keen sight, the skin of the eye like the rest of the skin wrinkling and becoming thicker in old age), and white because black is not transparent, for that is just what is meant by ‘black’, what is not shone through, 35and that is why lanterns cannot give light if they be made of black skin.
We must suppose the same cause also to be responsible for the fact that blue eyes are not keen-sighted by day nor dark eyes by night. Blue eyes, because there is little liquid in them, are too much moved by the light and by 5visible objects in respect of their liquidity as well as their transparency, but sight is the movement of this part in so far as it is transparent, not in so far as it is liquid. Dark eyes are less moved because of the quantity of liquid in them. And so they see less well in the dusk, for the nocturnal light is weak; at the same time also liquid is in general 10hard to move in the night. But if the eye is to see, it must neither not be moved at all nor yet more than in so far as it is transparent, for the stronger movement drives out the weaker. Hence it is that on changing from strong colours, or on going out of the sun into the dark, men cannot see, for the motion already existing in the eye, being strong, stops that 15from outside, and in general neither a strong nor a weak sight can see bright things because the liquid is acted upon and moved too much.
The same thing is shown also by the morbid affections of each kind of sight. Cataract attacks the blue-eyed more, but what is called ‘nyctalopia’ the dark-eyed. Now cataract is a sort of dryness of the eyes and therefore it 20is found more in the aged, for this part also like the rest of the body gets dry towards old age; but is an excess of liquidity and so is found more in the younger, for their brain is more liquid.
The sight of the eye which is intermediate between too much and too little liquid is the best, for it has neither too little so as to be disturbed and hinder the 25movement of the colours, nor too much so as to cause difficulty of movement.
Not only the above-mentioned facts are causes of seeing keenly or the reverse, but also the nature of the skin upon what is called the pupil. This ought to be transparent, and it is necessary that the transparent should be thin and white and even, thin that the movement coming from without 30may pass straight through it, even that it may not cast a shade the liquid behind it by wrinkling (for this also is a reason why old men have not keen sight, the skin of the eye like the rest of the skin wrinkling and becoming thicker in old age), and white because black is not transparent, for that is just what is meant by ‘black’, what is not shone through, 35and that is why lanterns cannot give light if they be made of black skin.
780b
1 διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας οὐκ ὀξὺ βλέπουσι, τὰ δὲ παιδία
δι' ὀλιγότητα τοῦ ὑγροῦ γλαυκὰ φαίνεται τὸ πρῶτον. ἑτερόγλαυκοι
δὲ γίγνονται μάλιστα οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ οἱ ἵπποι
διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν δι' ἥνπερ ὁ μὲν ἄνθρωπος πολιοῦται
5 μόνον, τῶν δ' ἄλλων ἵππος μόνος ἐπιδήλως γηράσκων λευκαίνεται
τὰς τρίχας. ἥ τε γὰρ πολιότης ἀσθένειά τίς ἐστι
τοῦ ὑγροῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ ἐγκεφάλῳ καὶ ἀπεψία, καὶ ἡ γλαυκότης·
τὸ γὰρ λίαν λεπτὸν ἢ λίαν παχὺ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει
δύναμιν—τὸ μὲν τῷ ὀλίγῳ τὸ δὲ τῷ πολλῷ ὑγρῷ. ὅταν
10 οὖν μὴ δύνηται ἀπαρτίσαι ἡ φύσις ὁμοίως ἢ πέψασα τὸ
ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ὑγρὸν ἢ μὴ πέψασα, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν τὸ δὲ
μή, τότε συμβαίνει γίγνεσθαι ἑτερογλαύκους. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ τὰ
μὲν ὀξυωπὰ εἶναι τῶν ζῴων τὰ δὲ μὴ δύο τρόποι τῆς
αἰτίας εἰσίν. διχῶς γὰρ λέγεται τὸ ὀξὺ σχεδόν, καὶ περὶ
15 τὸ ἀκούειν καὶ τὸ ὀσφραίνεσθαι ὁμοίως τοῦτ' ἔχει. λέγεται
γὰρ ὀξὺ ὁρᾶν ἓν μὲν τὸ πόρρωθεν δύνασθαι ὁρᾶν, ἓν δὲ
τὸ τὰς διαφορὰς ὅτι μάλιστα διαισθάνεσθαι τῶν ὁρωμένων.
ταῦτα δ' οὐχ ἅμα συμβαίνει τοῖς αὐτοῖς. ὁ γὰρ αὐτὸς
ἐπηλυγασάμενος τὴν χεῖρα ἢ δι' αὐλοῦ βλέπων τὰς μὲν
20 διαφορὰς οὐθὲν μᾶλλον οὐδ' ἧττον κρινεῖ τῶν χρωμάτων,
ὄψεται δὲ πορρώτερον· οἱ γοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀρυγμάτων καὶ φρεάτων
ἐνίοτε καὶ ἀστέρας ὁρῶσιν. ὥστ' εἴ τι τῶν ζῴων ἔχει μὲν
προβολὴν τοῦ ὄμματος πολλήν, τὸ δ' ἐν τῇ κόρῃ ὑγρὸν
μὴ καθαρὸν μηδὲ σύμμετρον τῇ κινήσει τῇ θύραθεν μηδὲ
25 τὸ ἐπιπολῆς δέρμα λεπτόν, τοῦτο περὶ μὲν τὰς διαφορὰς
οὐκ ἀκριβώσει τῶν χρωμάτων, πόρρωθεν δ' ἔσται ὁρατικὸν
[ὥσπερ εἰ καὶ ἐγγύθεν] μᾶλλον τῶν τὸ μὲν ὑγρὸν καθαρὸν
ἐχόντων καὶ τὸ σκέπασμα αὐτοῦ, μὴ ἐχόντων δ' ἐπισκύνιον
πρὸ τῶν ὀμμάτων μηθέν. —τοῦ μὲν γὰρ οὕτως ὀξὺ ὁρᾶν
30 ὥστε διαισθάνεσθαι τὰς διαφορὰς ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ὄμματί
ἐστιν ἡ αἰτία· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ἱματίῳ καθαρῷ καὶ αἱ μικραὶ
κηλῖδες ἔνδηλοι γίγνονται οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ καθαρᾷ
ὄψει καὶ αἱ μικραὶ κινήσεις δῆλαι καὶ ποιοῦσιν αἴσθησιν.
τοῦ δὲ τὰ πόρρωθεν ὁρᾶν καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πόρρωθεν ὁρατῶν
35 ἀφικνεῖσθαι κίνησιν ἡ θέσις αἰτία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν· τὰ μὲν
γὰρ ἐξόφθαλμα οὐκ εὐωπὰ πόρρωθεν, τὰ δ' ἐντὸς ἔχοντα
1It is for these reasons then that the sight is not keen in old age nor in the diseases in question, but it is because of the small amount of liquid that the eyes of children appear blue at first.
And the reason why men especially and horses occasionally are heteroglaucous is the same as the reason why 5man alone grows grey and the horse is the only other animal whose hairs whiten visibly in old age. For greyness is a weakness of the fluid in the brain and an incapacity to concoct properly, and so is blueness of the eyes; excess of thinness or of thickness produces the same effect, according as this liquidity is too little or too much. Whenever then Nature cannot make the 10eyes correspond exactly, either by concocting or by not concocting the liquid in both, but concocts the one and not the other, then the result is heteroglaucia.
The cause of some animals being keen-sighted and others not so is not simple but double. For the word ‘keen’ has pretty much a double sense (and this is the case in like manner with hearing and smelling). In one sense 15keen sight means the power of seeing at a distance, in another it means the power of distinguishing as accurately as possible the objects seen. These two faculties are not necessarily combined in the same individual. For the same person, if he shades his eyes with his hand or look through a tube, does not distinguish the differences of colour either more or less in any way, 20but he will see further; in fact, men in pits or wells sometimes see the stars. Therefore if any animal’s brows project far over the eye, but if the liquid in the pupil is not pure nor suited to the movement coming from external objects and if the skin over the surface is not thin, this animal will not distinguish accurately the differences of the colours but it will be able 25to see from a long distance (just as it can from a short one) better than those in which the liquid and the covering membrane are pure but which have no brows projecting over the eyes. For the cause of seeing keenly in the sense of distinguishing the differences is in the eye itself; as on a clean garment even small stains are visible, so also in a pure sight even small 30movements are plain and cause sensation. But it is the position of the eyes that is the cause of seeing things far off and of the movements in the transparent medium coming to the eyes from distant objects. A proof of this is that animals with prominent eyes do not see well at a distance, whereas those which have their eyes lying deep in the head can see things at a distance 35because the movement is not dispersed in space but comes straight to the eye.
And the reason why men especially and horses occasionally are heteroglaucous is the same as the reason why 5man alone grows grey and the horse is the only other animal whose hairs whiten visibly in old age. For greyness is a weakness of the fluid in the brain and an incapacity to concoct properly, and so is blueness of the eyes; excess of thinness or of thickness produces the same effect, according as this liquidity is too little or too much. Whenever then Nature cannot make the 10eyes correspond exactly, either by concocting or by not concocting the liquid in both, but concocts the one and not the other, then the result is heteroglaucia.
The cause of some animals being keen-sighted and others not so is not simple but double. For the word ‘keen’ has pretty much a double sense (and this is the case in like manner with hearing and smelling). In one sense 15keen sight means the power of seeing at a distance, in another it means the power of distinguishing as accurately as possible the objects seen. These two faculties are not necessarily combined in the same individual. For the same person, if he shades his eyes with his hand or look through a tube, does not distinguish the differences of colour either more or less in any way, 20but he will see further; in fact, men in pits or wells sometimes see the stars. Therefore if any animal’s brows project far over the eye, but if the liquid in the pupil is not pure nor suited to the movement coming from external objects and if the skin over the surface is not thin, this animal will not distinguish accurately the differences of the colours but it will be able 25to see from a long distance (just as it can from a short one) better than those in which the liquid and the covering membrane are pure but which have no brows projecting over the eyes. For the cause of seeing keenly in the sense of distinguishing the differences is in the eye itself; as on a clean garment even small stains are visible, so also in a pure sight even small 30movements are plain and cause sensation. But it is the position of the eyes that is the cause of seeing things far off and of the movements in the transparent medium coming to the eyes from distant objects. A proof of this is that animals with prominent eyes do not see well at a distance, whereas those which have their eyes lying deep in the head can see things at a distance 35because the movement is not dispersed in space but comes straight to the eye.
781a
1 τὰ ὄμματα ἐν κοίλῳ κείμενα ὁρατικὰ τῶν πόρρωθεν διὰ
τὸ τὴν κίνησιν μὴ σκεδάννυσθαι εἰς ἀχανὲς ἀλλ' εὐθυπορεῖν.
οὐθὲν γὰρ διαφέρει τὸ λέγειν ὁρᾶν, ὥσπερ τινές φασι, τῷ
τὴν ὄψιν ἐξιέναι (ἂν γὰρ μὴ ᾖ τι πρὸ τῶν ὀμμάτων, διασκεδαννυμένην
5 ἀνάγκη ἐλάττω προσπίπτειν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις
καὶ ἧττον τὰ πόρρωθεν ὁρᾶν), ἢ τὸ τῇ ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρωμένων
κινήσει ὁρᾶν. ὁμοίως γὰρ ἀνάγκη καὶ τὴν ὄψιν τῇ κινήσει
ὁρᾶν. μάλιστα μὲν οὖν ἑωρᾶτο ἂν τὰ πόρρωθεν εἰ ἀπὸ τῆς
ὄψεως εὐθὺς συνεχὴς ἦν πρὸς τὸ ὁρώμενον οἷον αὐλός· οὐ
10 γὰρ ἂν διελύετο ἡ κίνησις ἡ ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρατῶν· εἰ δὲ μή,
ὅσῳπερ ἂν ἐπὶ πλέον ἐπέχῃ τοσούτῳ ἀκριβέστερον τὰ πόρρωθεν
ὁρᾶν ἀνάγκη. Καὶ τῆς μὲν τῶν ὀμμάτων διαφορᾶς
ἔστωσαν αὗται αἱ αἰτίαι.
1For it makes no difference whether we say, as some do, that seeing is caused by the sight going forth from the eye — on that view, if there is nothing projecting over the eyes, the sight must be scattered and so less of it will fall on the objects of vision 5and things at a distance will not be seen so well — or whether we say that seeing is due to the movement coming from the objects; for the sight also must see, in a manner resembling the movement. Things at a distance, then, would be seen best if there were, so to say, a continuous tube straight from the sight to its object, 10for the movement from the object would not then be dissipated; but, if that is impossible, still the further the tube extends the more accurately must distant objects be seen.
Let these, then, be given as the causes of the difference in eyes.
Let these, then, be given as the causes of the difference in eyes.
Book 5,Chapter 2 (781a14–781b29)
Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον ἔχει καὶ περὶ τὴν ἀκοὴν καὶ
15 τὴν ὄσφρησιν· ἓν μὲν γάρ ἐστι τοῦ ἀκριβῶς ἀκούειν καὶ ὀςφραίνεσθαι
τὸ τὰς διαφορὰς τῶν ὑποκειμένων αἰσθητῶν ὅτι
μάλιστα αἰσθάνεσθαι πάσας, ἓν δὲ τὸ πόρρωθεν καὶ ἀκούειν
καὶ ὀσφραίνεσθαι. τοῦ μὲν οὖν τὰς διαφορὰς κρίνειν καλῶς
τὸ αἰσθητήριον αἴτιον, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ὄψεως, ἂν ᾖ καθαρὸν
20 αὐτό τε καὶ ἡ περὶ αὐτὸ μῆνιγξ. ⟦οἱ γὰρ πόροι τῶν
αἰσθητηρίων πάντων, ὥσπερ εἴρηται ἐν τοῖς περὶ αἰσθήσεως,
τείνουσι πρὸς τὴν καρδίαν, τοῖς δὲ μὴ ἔχουσι καρδίαν πρὸς
τὸ ἀνάλογον. ὁ μὲν οὖν τῆς ἀκοῆς, ἐπεί ἐστι τὸ αἰσθητήριον
ἀέρος, ᾗ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ σύμφυτον ποιεῖται ἐνίοις μὲν τὴν
25 σφύξιν τοῖς δὲ τὴν ἀναπνοὴν καὶ εἰσπνοήν, ταύτῃ περαίνει·
διὸ καὶ ἡ μάθησις γίγνεται τῶν λεγομένων ὥστ' ἀντιφθέγγεσθαι
τὸ ἀκουσθέν· οἷς γὰρ ἡ κίνησις εἰσῆλθε διὰ τοῦ αἰσθητηρίου
τοιαύτη πάλιν, οἷον ἀπὸ χαρακτῆρος τοῦ αὐτοῦ
καὶ ἑνός, διὰ τῆς φωνῆς γίγνεται ἡ κίνησις ὥσθ' ὃ ἤκουσε
30 τοῦτ' εἰπεῖν. καὶ χασμώμενοι καὶ ἐκπνέοντες ἧττον ἀκούουσιν ἢ
εἰσπνέοντες διὰ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ πνευματικῷ μορίῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ
αἰσθητηρίου εἶναι τοῦ τῆς ἀκοῆς, καὶ σείεσθαι καὶ κινεῖσθαι
ἅμα κινοῦντος τοῦ ὀργάνου τὸ πνεῦμα· κινεῖται γὰρ κινοῦν τὸ
ὄργανον. καὶ ἐν ταῖς ὑγραῖς ὥραις καὶ κράσεσι συμβαίνει
35 τὸ αὐτὸ πάθος * * * καὶ τὰ ὦτα πληροῦσθαι δοκεῖ πνεύματος
It is the same also with hearing and smell; to hear and smell accurately mean in one 15sense to perceive as precisely as possible all the distinctions of the objects of perception, in another sense to hear and smell far off. As with sight, so here the sense-organ is the cause of judging well the distinctions, if both that organ itself and the membrane round it be pure. For the passages of all the sense-organs, 20as has been said in the treatise on sensation, run to the heart, or to its analogue in creatures that have no heart. The passage of the hearing, then, since this sense-organ is of air, ends at the place where the innate spiritus causes in some animals the pulsation of the heart and in others respiration; wherefore also 25it is that we are able to understand what is said and repeat what we have heard, for as was the movement which entered through the sense-organ, such again is the movement which is caused by means of the voice, being as it were of one and the same stamp, so that a man can say what he has heard. And we hear less well during a 30yawn or expiration than during inspiration, because the starting-point of the sense-organ of hearing is set upon the part concerned with breathing and is shaken and moved as the organ moves the breath, for while setting the breath in motion it is moved itself. The same thing happens in wet weather or a damp atmosphere. . . .
781b
1 διὰ τὸ γειτνιᾶν †τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ τόπου†. ἡ μὲν οὖν
περὶ τὰς διαφορὰς ἀκρίβεια τῆς κρίσεως καὶ τῶν ψόφων
καὶ τῶν ὀσμῶν ἐν τῷ τὸ αἰσθητήριον καθαρὸν εἶναι καὶ τὸν
ὑμένα τὸν ἐπιπολῆς ἐστιν· πᾶσαι γὰρ αἱ κινήσεις διάδηλοι
5 καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ὄψεως καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων συμβαίνουσιν⟧.
καὶ τὸ πόρρωθεν δὲ αἰσθάνεσθαι, τὰ δὲ μὴ αἰσθάνεσθαι,
ὁμοίως συμβαίνει ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ὄψεως. τὰ γὰρ ἔχοντα
πρὸ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἐπὶ πολὺ οἷον ὀχετοὺς διὰ τῶν μορίων,
ταῦτα πόρρωθεν αἰσθητικά ἐστιν. διὸ ὅσων οἱ μυκτῆρες μακροί,
10 οἷον τῶν Λακωνικῶν κυνιδίων, ὀσφραντικά· ἄνω γὰρ
ὄντος τοῦ αἰσθητηρίου αἱ πόρρωθεν κινήσεις οὐ διασπῶνται
ἀλλ' εὐθυποροῦσιν, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἐπηλυγαζομένοις πρὸ τῶν
ὀμμάτων. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὅσοις τὰ ὦτα μακρὰ καὶ ἀπογεγεισσωμένα
πόρρωθεν, οἷα ἔχουσιν ἔνια τῶν τετραπόδων,
15 καὶ ἔσω τὴν ἑλίκην μακράν· καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα ἐκ πολλοῦ
λαμβάνοντα τὴν κίνησιν ἀποδίδωσι πρὸς τὸ αἰσθητήριον.
Τὴν μὲν οὖν πόρρωθεν ἀκρίβειαν τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἥκιστα ὡς
εἰπεῖν ἄνθρωπος ἔχει ὡς κατὰ μέγεθος τῶν ζῴων, τὴν δὲ
περὶ τὰς διαφορὰς μάλιστα πάντων εὐαίσθητον. αἴτιον δ'
20 ὅτι τὸ αἰσθητήριον καθαρὸν καὶ ἥκιστα γεῶδες καὶ σωματῶδες,
καὶ φύσει λεπτοδερμότατον τῶν ζῴων ὡς κατὰ
μέγεθος ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν. Εὐλόγως δ' ἀπείργασται ἡ φύσις
καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν φώκην· τετράπουν γὰρ ὂν καὶ ζῳοτόκον
οὐκ ἔχει ὦτα ἀλλὰ πόρους μόνον. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι ἐν ὑγρῷ
25 αὐτῇ ὁ βίος. τὸ γὰρ τῶν ὤτων μόριον πρόσκειται τοῖς πόροις
πρὸς τὸ σώζειν τὴν τοῦ πόρρωθεν ἀέρος κίνησιν· οὐθὲν οὖν
χρήσιμόν ἐστιν αὐτῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἀπεργάζοιτ' ἂν
δεχόμενα εἰς αὑτὰ ὑγροῦ πλῆθος. Καὶ περὶ μὲν ὄψεως καὶ
ἀκοῆς καὶ ὀσφρήσεως εἴρηται.
1And the ears seemed to be filled with air because their starting-point is near the region of breathing.
Accuracy then in judging the differences of sounds and smells depends on the purity of the sense-organ and of the membrane lying upon its surface, for then all the 5movements become clear in such cases, as in the case of sight. Perception and non-perception at a distance also depend on the same things with hearing and smell as with sight. For those animals can perceive at a distance which have channels, so to say, running through the parts concerned and projecting far in front of the sense-organs. 10Therefore all animals whose nostrils are long, as the Laconian hounds, are keen-scented, for the sense-organ being above them, the movements from a distance are not dissipated but go straight to the mark, just as the movements which cause sight do with those who shadow the eyes with the hand.
Similar is the case of animals whose 15ears are long and project far like the eaves of a house, as in some quadrupeds, with the internal spiral passage long; these also catch the movement from afar and pass it on to the sense-organ.
In respect of sense-perception at a distance, man is, one may say, the worst of all animals in proportion to his size, but in respect of judging 20the differences of quality in the objects he is the best of all. The reason is that the sense-organ in man is pure and least earthy and material, and he is by nature the thinnest-skinned of all animals for his size.
The workmanship of Nature is admirable also in the seal, for though a viviparous quadruped it has no ears but only 25passages for hearing. This is because its life is passed in the water; now the ear is a part added to the passages to preserve the movement of the air at a distance; therefore an ear is no use to it but would even bring about the contrary result by receiving a mass of water into itself.
We have thus spoken of sight, hearing, and smell.
Accuracy then in judging the differences of sounds and smells depends on the purity of the sense-organ and of the membrane lying upon its surface, for then all the 5movements become clear in such cases, as in the case of sight. Perception and non-perception at a distance also depend on the same things with hearing and smell as with sight. For those animals can perceive at a distance which have channels, so to say, running through the parts concerned and projecting far in front of the sense-organs. 10Therefore all animals whose nostrils are long, as the Laconian hounds, are keen-scented, for the sense-organ being above them, the movements from a distance are not dissipated but go straight to the mark, just as the movements which cause sight do with those who shadow the eyes with the hand.
Similar is the case of animals whose 15ears are long and project far like the eaves of a house, as in some quadrupeds, with the internal spiral passage long; these also catch the movement from afar and pass it on to the sense-organ.
In respect of sense-perception at a distance, man is, one may say, the worst of all animals in proportion to his size, but in respect of judging 20the differences of quality in the objects he is the best of all. The reason is that the sense-organ in man is pure and least earthy and material, and he is by nature the thinnest-skinned of all animals for his size.
The workmanship of Nature is admirable also in the seal, for though a viviparous quadruped it has no ears but only 25passages for hearing. This is because its life is passed in the water; now the ear is a part added to the passages to preserve the movement of the air at a distance; therefore an ear is no use to it but would even bring about the contrary result by receiving a mass of water into itself.
We have thus spoken of sight, hearing, and smell.
Book 5,Chapter 3 (781b30–784a22)
30 Τὰ δὲ τριχώματα διαφέρουσι καὶ πρὸς αὑτὰ τοῖς
ἀνθρώποις κατὰ τὰς ἡλικίας καὶ πρὸς τὰ γένη τῶν ἄλλων
ζῴων, ὅσαπερ ἔχει τρίχας αὐτῶν. ἔχει δ' ὅσαπερ ἐν
αὑτοῖς ζῳοτοκεῖ πάντα σχεδόν· καὶ γὰρ τὰ ἀκανθώδεις
ἔχοντα τῶν τοιούτων τριχῶν εἶδός τι ὑποληπτέον, οἷον
35 τάς τε τῶν χερσαίων ἐχίνων καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτόν ἐστι
30As for hair, men differ in this themselves at different ages, and also from all other kinds of animals that have hair. These are almost all which are internally viviparous, for even when the covering of such animals is spiny it must be considered as a kind of hair, as in the land hedgehog and any other such animal among the vivipara.
782a
1 τῶν ζῳοτόκων. εἰσὶ δὲ διαφοραὶ τῶν τριχῶν κατά τε σκληρότητα
καὶ μαλακότητα καὶ κατὰ μῆκος καὶ βραχύτητα
καὶ εὐθύτητα καὶ οὐλότητα καὶ πλῆθος καὶ ὀλιγότητα,
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ κατὰ τὰς χρόας, κατά τε λευκότητα καὶ μελανίαν
5 καὶ τὰς μεταξὺ τούτων. ἐνίαις δὲ τούτων τῶν διαφορῶν
καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἡλικίας διαφέρουσι νέα τε καὶ παλαιούμενα,
μάλιστα δὲ τοῦτ' ἐπίδηλον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· καὶ
γὰρ δασύνεται μᾶλλον πρεσβύτερα γιγνόμενα καὶ φαλακροῦνται
τῆς κεφαλῆς ἔνιοι τὰ πρόσθεν. καὶ παῖδες μὲν
10 ὄντες οὐ γίγνονται φαλακροί, —οὐδ' αἱ γυναῖκες· οἱ δ' ἄνδρες
προϊούσης ἤδη τῆς ἡλικίας. καὶ πολιοῦνται δὲ τὰς κεφαλὰς
γηράσκοντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι, τῶν δ' ἄλλων ζῴων οὐθενὶ τοῦθ' ὡς
εἰπεῖν γίγνεται ἐπίδηλον, μάλιστα δ' ἵππῳ τῶν ἄλλων. καὶ
φαλακροῦνται μὲν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὰ ἔμπροσθεν τῆς κεφαλῆς,
15 πολιοὶ δὲ πρῶτον γίγνονται τοὺς κροτάφους· φαλακροῦται δ'
οὐθεὶς οὔτε τούτους οὔτε τὰ ὅπισθεν τῆς κεφαλῆς. ὅσα δὲ τῶν
ζῴων μὴ ἔχει τρίχας ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀνάλογον αὐταῖς, οἷον ὄρνιθες
μὲν πτερὰ τὸ δὲ τῶν ἰχθύων γένος λεπίδας, καὶ τούτοις
συμβαίνει τῶν τοιούτων παθημάτων ἔνια κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν
20 λόγον. Τίνος μὲν οὖν ἕνεκα τὸ τῶν τριχῶν ἡ φύσις ἐποίησε
γένος τοῖς ζῴοις εἴρηται πρότερον ἐν ταῖς αἰτίαις ταῖς
περὶ τὰ μέρη τῶν ζῴων· τίνων δ' ὑπαρχόντων καὶ διὰ τίνας
ἀνάγκας συμβαίνει τούτων ἕκαστον δηλῶσαι τῆς μεθόδου
τῆς νῦν ἐστιν. Παχύτητος μὲν οὖν καὶ λεπτότητος αἴτιόν ἐστι μάλιστα
25 τὸ δέρμα· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ παχὺ τοῖς δὲ λεπτὸν καὶ
τοῖς μὲν μανὸν τοῖς δὲ πυκνόν ἐστιν. ἔτι δὲ συναίτιον καὶ
τῆς ἐνούσης ὑγρότητος ἡ διαφορά· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ὑπάρχει
λιπαρὰ τοῖς δ' ὑδατώδης. ὅλως μὲν γὰρ ἡ τοῦ δέρματος
φύσις ὑπόκειται γεώδης· ἐπιπολῆς γὰρ οὖσα ἐξατμίζοντος
30 τοῦ ὑγροῦ στερεὰ γίγνεται καὶ γεώδης, αἱ δὲ τρίχες καὶ τὸ
ἀνάλογον αὐταῖς οὐκ ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς γίγνονται ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ
δέρματος ἐξατμίζοντος καὶ ἀναθυνιωμένου ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῦ
ὑγροῦ. διὸ παχεῖαι μὲν ἐκ τοῦ παχέος λεπταὶ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ
λεπτοῦ δέρματος γίγνονται. ἂν μὲν οὖν ᾖ τὸ δέρμα μανότερον
35 καὶ παχύτερον, παχεῖαι διά τε τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ γεώδους καὶ
1Hairs differ in respect of hardness and softness, length and shortness, straightness and curliness, quantity and scantiness, and in addition to these qualities, in their colours, whiteness and blackness and the intermediate shades. They differ also in some of these respects 5according to age, as they are young or growing old. This is especially plain in man; the hair gets coarser as time goes on, and some go bald on the front of the head; children indeed do not go bald, nor do women, but men do so by the time their age is advancing. Human beings also go grey on the head as they grow old, but this is not 10visible in practically any other animal, though more so in the horse than others. Men go bald on the front of the head, but turn grey first on the temples; no one goes bald first on these or on the back of the head. Some such affections occur in a corresponding manner also in all animals which have not hair but something analogous to it, as 15the feathers of birds and scales in the class of fish.
For what purpose Nature has made hair in general for animals has been previously stated in the work dealing with the causes of the parts of animals; it is the business of the present inquiry to show under what circumstances and for what necessary causes each particular kind of hair 20occurs. The principal cause then of thickness and thinness is the skin, for this is thick in some animals and thin in others, rare in some and dense in others. The different quality of the included moisture is also a helping cause, for in some animals this is greasy and in others watery. For generally speaking the substratum of the skin 25is of an earthy nature; being on the surface of the body it becomes solid and earthy as the moisture evaporates. Now the hairs or their analogue are not formed out of the flesh but out of the skin moisture evaporating and exhaling in them, and therefore thick hairs arise from a thick skin and thin from thin. If then the skin is rarer and 30thicker, the hairs are thick because of the quantity of earthy matter and the size of the pores, but if it is denser they are thin because of the narrowness of the pores. Further, if the moisture be watery it dries up quickly and the hairs do not gain in size, but if it be greasy the opposite happens, for the greasy is not easily dried up.
For what purpose Nature has made hair in general for animals has been previously stated in the work dealing with the causes of the parts of animals; it is the business of the present inquiry to show under what circumstances and for what necessary causes each particular kind of hair 20occurs. The principal cause then of thickness and thinness is the skin, for this is thick in some animals and thin in others, rare in some and dense in others. The different quality of the included moisture is also a helping cause, for in some animals this is greasy and in others watery. For generally speaking the substratum of the skin 25is of an earthy nature; being on the surface of the body it becomes solid and earthy as the moisture evaporates. Now the hairs or their analogue are not formed out of the flesh but out of the skin moisture evaporating and exhaling in them, and therefore thick hairs arise from a thick skin and thin from thin. If then the skin is rarer and 30thicker, the hairs are thick because of the quantity of earthy matter and the size of the pores, but if it is denser they are thin because of the narrowness of the pores. Further, if the moisture be watery it dries up quickly and the hairs do not gain in size, but if it be greasy the opposite happens, for the greasy is not easily dried up.
782b
1 διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν πόρων εἰσίν· ἂν δὲ πυκνότερον, λεπταὶ
διὰ τὴν στενότητα τῶν πόρων. ἔτι δ' ἂν ᾖ ἡ ἰκμὰς ὑδατώδης
ταχὺ ἀναξηραινομένης οὐ λαμβάνουσι μέγεθος αἱ
τρίχες, ἂν δὲ λιπαρὰ τοὐναντίον· οὐ γὰρ εὐξήραντον τὸ λιπαρόν.
5 διόπερ ὅλως μὲν τὰ παχυδερμότερα παχυτριχώτερα
τῶν ζῴων, οὐ μέντοι τὰ μάλιστα μᾶλλον διὰ τὰς εἰρημένας
αἰτίας, οἷον τὸ τῶν ὑῶν γένος πρὸς τὸ τῶν βοῶν
πέπονθε καὶ πρὸς ἐλέφαντα καὶ πρὸς πολλὰ τῶν ἄλλων. διὰ
τὴν αὐτὴν δ' αἰτίαν καὶ αἱ ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ τρίχες τοῖς ἀνθρώποις
10 παχύταται· τοῦ γὰρ δέρματος τοῦτο παχύτατον
καὶ ἐπὶ πλείστῃ ὑγρότητι, ἔτι δ' ἔχει μανότητα πολλήν. αἴτιον
δὲ καὶ τοῦ μακρὰς [ἢ βραχείας] τὰς τρίχας <ἔχειν> τὸ
μὴ εὐξήραντον εἶναι τὸ ἐξατμίζον ὑγρόν. τοῦ δὲ μὴ εὐξήραντον
εἶναι δύ' αἰτίαι, τό τε ποσὸν καὶ τὸ ποιόν· ἄν τε γὰρ
15 πολὺ ᾖ τὸ ὑγρὸν οὐκ εὐξήραντον, καὶ ἂν λιπαρόν. καὶ διὰ
τοῦτο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αἱ ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς τρίχες μακρόταται·
ὁ γὰρ ἐγκέφαλος ὑγρὸς καὶ ψυχρὸς ὢν πολλὴν
παρέχει δαψίλειαν τοῦ ὑγροῦ. Εὐθύτριχα δὲ καὶ οὐλότριχα
γίγνεται διὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς θριξὶν ἀναθυμίασιν. ἂν μὲν γὰρ ᾖ
20 καπνώδης, θερμὴ οὖσα καὶ ξηρὰ οὔλην τὴν τρίχα ποιεῖ.
κάμπτεται γὰρ διὰ τὸ δύο φέρεσθαι φοράς· τὸ μὲν γὰρ
γεῶδες κάτω τὸ δὲ θερμὸν ἄνω φέρεται. εὐκάμπτου δ' οὔσης
δι' ἀσθένειαν στρέφεται· τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν οὐλότης τριχός. ἐνδέχεται
μὲν οὖν οὕτω λαβεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν, ἐνδέχεται δὲ καὶ
25 διὰ τὸ ὀλίγον ἔχειν τὸ ὑγρόν, πολὺ δὲ τὸ γεῶδες ὑπὸ τοῦ
περιέχοντος ξηραινομένας συσπᾶσθαι. κάμπτεται γὰρ τὸ
εὐθὺ ἐὰν ἐξατμίζηται καὶ συντρέχει ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρὸς
καιομένη θρίξ, ὡς οὔσης τῆς οὐλότητος συσπάσεως δι' ἔνδειαν
ὑγροῦ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ περιέχοντος θερμότητος. σημεῖον δ'
30 ὅτι καὶ σκληρότεραι αἱ οὖλαι τρίχες τῶν εὐθειῶν εἰσιν· τὸ
γὰρ ξηρὸν σκληρόν. εὐθύτριχα δὲ ὅσα ὑγρότητ' ἔχει πολλήν·
ῥέον γὰρ ἀλλ' οὐ στάζον προέρχεται ἐν ταύταις τὸ
ὑγρόν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οἱ μὲν ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ Σκύθαι καὶ Θρᾷκες
εὐθύτριχες· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ὑγροὶ καὶ ὁ περιέχων αὐτοὺς
35 ἀὴρ ὑγρός· Αἰθίοπες δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐν τοῖς θερμοῖς οὐλότριχες·
1Therefore the thicker-skinned animals are as a general rule thicker-haired for the causes mentioned; however, the thickest-skinned are not more so than other thick-skinned ones, as is shown by the class of swine compared to that of oxen and to 5the elephant and many others. And for the same reason also the hairs of the head in man are thickest, for this part of his skin is thickest and lies over most moisture and besides is very porous.
The cause of the hairs being long or short depends on the evaporating moisture not being easily dried. Of this 10there are two causes, quantity and quality; if the liquid is much it does not dry up easily nor if it is greasy. And for this reason the hairs of the head are longest in man, for the brain, being fluid and cold, supplies great abundance of moisture.
The hairs become straight or curly on account of the vapour 15arising in them. If it be smoke-like, it is hot and dry and so makes the hair curly, for it is twisted as being carried with a double motion, the earthy part tending downwards and the hot upwards. Thus, being easily bent, it is twisted owing to its weakness, and this is what is meant by curliness in 20hair. It is possible then that this is the cause, but it is also possible that, owing to its having but little moisture and much earthy matter in it, it is dried by the surrounding air and so coiled up together. For what is straight becomes bent, if the moisture in it is evaporated, and runs together as a hair 25does when burning upon the fire; curliness will then be a contraction owing to deficiency of moisture caused by the heat of the environment. A sign of this is the fact that curly hair is harder than straight, for the dry is hard. And animals with much moisture are straight-haired; for in these hairs the 30moisture advances as a stream, not in drops. For this reason the Scythians on the Black Sea and the Thracians are straight-haired, for both they themselves and the environing air are moist, whereas the Aethiopians and men in hot countries are curly-haired, for their brains and the surrounding air are dry.
The cause of the hairs being long or short depends on the evaporating moisture not being easily dried. Of this 10there are two causes, quantity and quality; if the liquid is much it does not dry up easily nor if it is greasy. And for this reason the hairs of the head are longest in man, for the brain, being fluid and cold, supplies great abundance of moisture.
The hairs become straight or curly on account of the vapour 15arising in them. If it be smoke-like, it is hot and dry and so makes the hair curly, for it is twisted as being carried with a double motion, the earthy part tending downwards and the hot upwards. Thus, being easily bent, it is twisted owing to its weakness, and this is what is meant by curliness in 20hair. It is possible then that this is the cause, but it is also possible that, owing to its having but little moisture and much earthy matter in it, it is dried by the surrounding air and so coiled up together. For what is straight becomes bent, if the moisture in it is evaporated, and runs together as a hair 25does when burning upon the fire; curliness will then be a contraction owing to deficiency of moisture caused by the heat of the environment. A sign of this is the fact that curly hair is harder than straight, for the dry is hard. And animals with much moisture are straight-haired; for in these hairs the 30moisture advances as a stream, not in drops. For this reason the Scythians on the Black Sea and the Thracians are straight-haired, for both they themselves and the environing air are moist, whereas the Aethiopians and men in hot countries are curly-haired, for their brains and the surrounding air are dry.
783a
1 ξηροὶ γὰρ οἱ ἐγκέφαλοι καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ ὁ περιέχων. Ἔστι
δ' ἔνια τῶν παχυδέρμων λεπτότριχα διὰ τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν
πρότερον· ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν λεπτότεροι οἱ πόροι ὦσιν τοσούτῳ
λεπτοτέρας ἀναγκαῖον γίγνεσθαι τὰς τρίχας. διὸ τὸ τῶν
5 προβάτων γένος τοιαύτας ἔχει τὰς τρίχας· τὸ γὰρ ἔριον
τριχῶν πλῆθός ἐστιν. ἔστι δ' ἔνια τῶν ζῴων ἃ μαλακὴν μὲν
ἔχει τὴν τρίχα, ἧττον δὲ λεπτήν, οἷον τὸ τῶν δασυπόδων
πρὸς τὸ τῶν προβάτων πέπονθεν. τῶν γὰρ τοιούτων ἐπιπολῆς
ἡ θρὶξ τοῦ δέρματος. διὸ μῆκος οὐκ ἴσχει ἀλλὰ συμβαίνει
10 παραπλήσιον ὥσπερ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν λίνων ξυόμενα· καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα
μῆκος μὲν οὐθὲν ἴσχει, μαλακὰ δ' ἐστὶ καὶ οὐ δέχεται
πλοκήν. τὰ δ' ἐν τοῖς ψυχροῖς πρόβατα τοὐναντίον πέπονθε
τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· οἱ μὲν γὰρ Σκύθαι μαλακότριχες, τὰ δὲ
πρόβατα τὰ Σαυροματικὰ σκληρότριχα. τούτου δ' αἴτιον
15 ταὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγρίων πάντων. ἡ γὰρ ψυχρότης σκληρύνει
διὰ τὸ ξηραίνειν πηγνύουσα· ἐκθλιβομένου γὰρ τοῦ θερμοῦ
συνεξατμίζει τὸ ὑγρὸν καὶ γίγνονται καὶ αἱ τρίχες καὶ
τὸ δέρμα γεῶδες καὶ σκληρόν. αἴτιον δὲ τοῖς μὲν ἀγρίοις ἡ
θυραυλία τοῖς δ' ὁ τόπος τοιοῦτος ὤν. σημεῖον δὲ καὶ τὸ
20 ἐπὶ τῶν ποντίων ἐχίνων συμβαῖνον οἷς χρῶνται πρὸς τὰς
στραγγουρίας. καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι διὰ τὸ ἐν ψυχρᾷ εἶναι τῇ θαλάττῃ
διὰ τὸ βάθος (καθ' ἑξήκοντα γὰρ καὶ ἔτι πλειόνων
γίγνονται ὀργυιῶν) αὐτοὶ μὲν μικροί, τὰς δὲ ἀκάνθας μεγάλας
ἔχουσι καὶ σκληράς—μεγάλας μὲν διὰ τὸ ἐνταῦθα
25 τὴν τοῦ σώματος τετράφθαι αὔξησιν (ὀλιγόθερμοι γὰρ ὄντες
καὶ οὐ πέττοντες τὴν τροφὴν πολὺ περίττωμα ἔχουσιν, αἱ δ'
ἄκανθαι καὶ αἱ τρίχες καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα γίγνονται ἐκ περιττώματος),
σκληρὰς δὲ καὶ λελιθωμένας διὰ τὴν ψυχρότητα
καὶ τὸν πάγον. τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ τἆλλα τὰ
30 φυόμενα σκληρότερα συμβαίνει γίγνεσθαι καὶ γεωδέστερα
καὶ λιθωδέστερα τὰ ἐν τοῖς προσβόρροις τῶν πρὸς νότον καὶ
τὰ προσήνεμα τῶν ἐν κοίλοις· ψύχεται γὰρ πάντα μᾶλλον
καὶ ἐξατμίζει τὸ ὑγρόν. σκληρύνει μὲν οὖν καὶ τὸ θερμὸν
καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν· ἐξατμίζεσθαι γὰρ ὑπ' ἀμφοτέρων
35 συμβαίνει τὸ ὑγρόν, ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ θερμοῦ καθ' αὑτὸ ὑπὸ δὲ
τοῦ ψυχροῦ κατὰ συμβεβηκός (μετὰ τοῦ θερμοῦ γὰρ συνεξέρχεται·
οὐθὲν γὰρ ὑγρὸν ἄνευ θερμοῦ). ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ψυχρὸν
1Some, however, of the thick-skinned animals are fine-haired for the cause previously stated, for the finer the pores are the finer must the hairs be. Hence the class of sheep have such hairs (for wool is only a multitude of hairs).
There are some animals whose hair is 5soft and yet less fine, as is the case with the class of hares compared with that of sheep; in such animals the hair is on the surface of the skin, not deeply rooted in it, and so is not long but in much the same state as the scrapings from linen, for these also are not long but are soft and do not admit of weaving.
The condition of 10sheep in cold climates is opposite to that of man; the hair of the Scythians is soft but that of the Sauromatic sheep is hard. The reason of this is the same as it is also all wild animals. The cold hardens and solidifies them by drying them, for as the heat is pressed out the moisture evaporates, and both hair and skin become earthy 15and hard. In wild animals then the exposure to the cold is the cause of hardness in the hair, in the others the nature of the climate is the cause. A proof of this is also what happens in the sea-urchins which are used as a remedy in stranguries. For these, too, though small themselves, have large and hard spines because the sea in which 20they live is cold on account of its depth (for they are found in sixty fathoms and even more). The spines are large because the growth of the body is diverted to them, since having little heat in them they do not concoct their nutriment and so have much residual matter and it is from this that spines, hairs, and such things are 25formed; they are hard and petrified through the congealing effect of the cold. In the same way also plants are found to be harder, more earthy, and stony, if the region in which they grow looks to the north than if it looks to the south, and those in windy places than those in sheltered, for they are all more chilled and their moisture 30evaporates.
Hardening, then, comes of both heat and cold, for both cause the moisture to evaporate, heat per se and cold per accidens (since the moisture goes out of things along with the heat, there being no moisture without heat), but whereas cold not only hardens but also condenses, heat makes a substance rarer.
For the same reason, 35as animals grow older, the hairs become harder in those which have hairs, and the feathers and scales in the feathered and scaly kinds.
There are some animals whose hair is 5soft and yet less fine, as is the case with the class of hares compared with that of sheep; in such animals the hair is on the surface of the skin, not deeply rooted in it, and so is not long but in much the same state as the scrapings from linen, for these also are not long but are soft and do not admit of weaving.
The condition of 10sheep in cold climates is opposite to that of man; the hair of the Scythians is soft but that of the Sauromatic sheep is hard. The reason of this is the same as it is also all wild animals. The cold hardens and solidifies them by drying them, for as the heat is pressed out the moisture evaporates, and both hair and skin become earthy 15and hard. In wild animals then the exposure to the cold is the cause of hardness in the hair, in the others the nature of the climate is the cause. A proof of this is also what happens in the sea-urchins which are used as a remedy in stranguries. For these, too, though small themselves, have large and hard spines because the sea in which 20they live is cold on account of its depth (for they are found in sixty fathoms and even more). The spines are large because the growth of the body is diverted to them, since having little heat in them they do not concoct their nutriment and so have much residual matter and it is from this that spines, hairs, and such things are 25formed; they are hard and petrified through the congealing effect of the cold. In the same way also plants are found to be harder, more earthy, and stony, if the region in which they grow looks to the north than if it looks to the south, and those in windy places than those in sheltered, for they are all more chilled and their moisture 30evaporates.
Hardening, then, comes of both heat and cold, for both cause the moisture to evaporate, heat per se and cold per accidens (since the moisture goes out of things along with the heat, there being no moisture without heat), but whereas cold not only hardens but also condenses, heat makes a substance rarer.
For the same reason, 35as animals grow older, the hairs become harder in those which have hairs, and the feathers and scales in the feathered and scaly kinds.
783b
1 οὐ μόνον σκληρύνει ἀλλὰ καὶ πυκνοῖ, τὸ δὲ θερμὸν μανότερον
ποιεῖ. Διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν δ' αἰτίαν καὶ πρεσβυτέρων γιγνομένων
τοῖς μὲν τρίχας ἔχουσι σκληρότεραι γίγνονται αἱ τρίχες
τοῖς δὲ πτερωτοῖς καὶ λεπιδωτοῖς τὰ πτερὰ καὶ αἱ
5 λεπίδες. τὰ γὰρ δέρματα γίγνεται σκληρότερα καὶ παχύτερα
πρεσβυτέρων γιγνομένων· ξηραίνεται γάρ, καὶ τὸ γῆράς
ἐστι κατὰ τοὔνομα γεηρὸν διὰ τὸ ἀπολείπειν τὸ θερμὸν
καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ τὸ ὑγρόν. Φαλακροῦνται δ' ἐπιδήλως οἱ ἄνθρωποι
μάλιστα τῶν ζῴων. ἔστι δέ τι καθόλου τὸ τοιοῦτον
10 πάθος· καὶ γὰρ τῶν φυτῶν τὰ μὲν ἀείφυλλα τὰ δὲ φυλλοβολεῖ,
καὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων οἱ φωλεύοντες ἀποβάλλουσι τὰ
πτερά. τοιοῦτον δέ τι πάθος καὶ ἡ φαλακρότης ἐστὶν ἐπὶ
τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὅσοις συμβαίνει φαλακροῦσθαι· κατὰ μέρος
μὲν γὰρ ἀπορρεῖ καὶ τὰ φύλλα τοῖς φυτοῖς πᾶσι καὶ τὰ
15 πτερὰ καὶ αἱ τρίχες τοῖς ἔχουσιν, ὅταν δ' ἀθρόον γένηται
τὸ πάθος λαμβάνει τὰς εἰρημένας ἐπωνυμίας· φαλακροῦσθαί
τε γὰρ λέγεται καὶ φυλλορροεῖν <καὶ πτερορρυεῖν>.
αἴτιον δὲ τοῦ πάθους ἔνδεια ὑγρότητος θερμῆς, τοιοῦτον δὲ
μάλιστα τῶν ὑγρῶν τὸ λιπαρόν· διὸ καὶ τῶν φυτῶν τὰ λιπαρὰ
20 ἀείφυλλα μᾶλλον. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν ἄλλοις
τὸ αἴτιον λεκτέον· καὶ γὰρ ἄλλα συναίτια τούτου τοῦ πάθους
αὐτοῖς. γίγνεται δὲ τοῖς μὲν φυτοῖς ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι τὸ πάθος
(αὕτη γὰρ ἡ μεταβολὴ κυριωτέρα τῆς ἡλικίας) καὶ τοῖς
φωλεύουσι δὲ τῶν ζῴων (καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα ἧττον τῶν ἀνθρώπων
25 ὑγρὰ καὶ θερμὰ τὴν φύσιν ἐστίν)· οἱ δ' ἄνθρωποι ταῖς
ἡλικίαις χειμῶνα καὶ θέρος ἄγουσιν. διὸ πρὶν ἀφροδισιάζειν
οὐ γίγνεται φαλακρὸς οὐδείς· τότε δὲ τοῖς τοιούτοις τὴν φύσιν
μᾶλλον. φύσει γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἐγκέφαλος ψυχρότατον τοῦ σώματος,
ὁ δ' ἀφροδισιασμὸς καταψύχει· καθαρᾶς γὰρ καὶ
30 φυσικῆς θερμότητος ἀπόκρισίς ἐστιν. εὐλόγως οὖν ὁ ἐγκέφαλος
αἰσθάνεται πρῶτον· τὰ γὰρ ἀσθενῆ καὶ φαύλως ἔχοντα
μικρᾶς αἰτίας καὶ ῥοπῆς ἐστιν. ὥστ' ἄν τις ἀναλογίσηται
ὅτι αὐτός τε ὀλιγόθερμος ὁ ἐγκέφαλος, ἔτι δ' ἀναγκαῖον
τὸ πέριξ δέρμα τοιοῦτον εἶναι μᾶλλον, καὶ τούτου τὴν τῶν
35 τριχῶν φύσιν ὅσῳ πλεῖστον ἀφέστηκεν, εὐλόγως ἂν δόξειε
τοῖς σπερματικοῖς περὶ ταύτην τὴν ἡλικίαν συμβαίνειν φαλακροῦσθαι.
διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν δ' αἰτίαν καὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸ
1For their skins become harder and thicker as they get older, for they are dried up, and old age, as the word denotes, is earthy because the heat fails and the moisture along with it.
Men go bald visibly more than any other animal, but 5still such a state is something general, for among plants also some are evergreens while others are deciduous, and birds which hibernate shed their feathers. Similar to this is the condition of baldness in those human beings to whom it is incident. For leaves are shed by all plants, from one part of 10the plant at a time, and so are feathers and hairs by those animals that have them; it is when they are all shed together that the condition is described by the terms mentioned, for it is called ‘going bald’ and ‘the fall of the leaf’ and ‘moulting’. The cause of the condition is deficiency of 15hot moisture, such moisture being especially the unctuous, and hence unctuous plants are more evergreen. (However we must elsewhere state the cause of this phenomena in plants, for other causes also contribute to it.) It is in winter that this happens to plants (for the change from summer to winter 20is more important to them than the time of life), and to those animals which hibernate (for these, too, are by nature less hot and moist than man); in the latter it is the seasons of life that correspond to summer and winter. Hence no one goes bald before the time of sexual intercourse, and at 25that time it is in those naturally inclined to such intercourse that baldness appears, for the brain is naturally the coldest part of the body and sexual intercourse makes men cold, being a loss of pure natural heat. Thus we should expect the brain to feel the effect of it first, for a little cause 30turns the scale where the thing concerned is weak and in poor condition. Thus if we reckon up these points, that the brain itself has but little heat, and further that the skin round it must needs have still less, and again that the hair must have still less than the skin inasmuch as it is furthest 35removed from the brain, we should reasonably expect baldness to come about this age upon those who have much semen.
Men go bald visibly more than any other animal, but 5still such a state is something general, for among plants also some are evergreens while others are deciduous, and birds which hibernate shed their feathers. Similar to this is the condition of baldness in those human beings to whom it is incident. For leaves are shed by all plants, from one part of 10the plant at a time, and so are feathers and hairs by those animals that have them; it is when they are all shed together that the condition is described by the terms mentioned, for it is called ‘going bald’ and ‘the fall of the leaf’ and ‘moulting’. The cause of the condition is deficiency of 15hot moisture, such moisture being especially the unctuous, and hence unctuous plants are more evergreen. (However we must elsewhere state the cause of this phenomena in plants, for other causes also contribute to it.) It is in winter that this happens to plants (for the change from summer to winter 20is more important to them than the time of life), and to those animals which hibernate (for these, too, are by nature less hot and moist than man); in the latter it is the seasons of life that correspond to summer and winter. Hence no one goes bald before the time of sexual intercourse, and at 25that time it is in those naturally inclined to such intercourse that baldness appears, for the brain is naturally the coldest part of the body and sexual intercourse makes men cold, being a loss of pure natural heat. Thus we should expect the brain to feel the effect of it first, for a little cause 30turns the scale where the thing concerned is weak and in poor condition. Thus if we reckon up these points, that the brain itself has but little heat, and further that the skin round it must needs have still less, and again that the hair must have still less than the skin inasmuch as it is furthest 35removed from the brain, we should reasonably expect baldness to come about this age upon those who have much semen.
784a
1 πρόσθιον μόνον γίγνονται φαλακροὶ καὶ τῶν ζῴων οἱ ἄνθρωποι
μόνοι—τὸ μὲν πρόσθιον ὅτι ἐνταῦθα ὁ ἐγκέφαλος, τῶν
δὲ ζῴων μόνον ὅτι πολὺ πλεῖστον ἔχει ἐγκέφαλον καὶ μάλιστα
ὑγρὸν ὁ ἄνθρωπος. καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες οὐ φαλακροῦνται·
5 παραπλησία γὰρ ἡ φύσις τῇ τῶν παιδίων· ἄγονα γὰρ
σπερματικῆς ἐκκρίσεως ἀμφότερα. καὶ εὐνοῦχος οὐ γίγνεται
φαλακρὸς διὰ τὸ εἰς τὸ θῆλυ μεταβάλλειν. καὶ τὰς ὑστερογενεῖς
τρίχας ἢ οὐ φύουσιν ἢ ἀποβάλλουσιν, ἂν τύχωσιν
ἔχοντες οἱ εὐνοῦχοι, πλὴν τῆς ἥβης· καὶ γὰρ αἱ γυναῖκες
10 τὰς μὲν οὐκ ἔχουσι τὰς δ' ἐπὶ τῇ ἥβῃ φύουσιν. ἡ δὲ πήρωσις
αὕτη ἐκ τοῦ ἄρρενος εἰς τὸ θῆλυ μεταβολή ἐστιν. Τοῦ δὲ
τὰ μὲν φωλεύοντα πάλιν δασύνεσθαι καὶ τὰ φυλλοβολήσαντα
πάλιν φύειν φύλλα, τοῖς δὲ φαλακροῖς μὴ ἀναφύεσθαι
πάλιν, αἴτιον ὅτι τοῖς μὲν αἱ ὧραι τροπαί εἰσι τοῦ
15 σώματος μᾶλλον, ὥστ' ἐπεὶ μεταβάλλουσιν αὗται μεταβάλλει
καὶ τὸ φύειν καὶ τὸ ἀποβάλλειν τοὺς μὲν τὰ
πτερὰ καὶ τὰς τρίχας, τὰ δὲ φύλλα τὰ φυτά. τοῖς δ'
ἀνθρώποις κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν γίγνεται χειμὼν καὶ θέρος καὶ
ἔαρ καὶ μετόπωρον, ὥστ' ἐπεὶ αἱ ἡλικίαι οὐ μεταβάλλουσιν
20 οὐδὲ τὰ πάθη τὰ διὰ ταύτας μεταβάλλει, καίπερ τῆς αἰτίας
ὁμοίας οὔσης. Καὶ περὶ μὲν τἆλλα πάθη τὰ τῶν τριχῶν
σχεδὸν εἴρηται.
1And it is for the same reason that the front part of the head alone goes bald in man and that he is the only animal to do so; the front part goes bald because the brain is there, and man is the only animal to go bald because his brain is much the largest and the 5moistest. Women do not go bald because their nature is like that of children, both alike being incapable of producing seminal secretion. Eunuchs do not become bald, because they change into the female condition. And as to the hair that comes later in life, eunuchs either do not grow it at all, or lose it if they happen to have it, with the 10exception of the pubic hair; for women also grow that though they have not the other, and this mutilation is a change from the male to the female condition.
The reason why the hair does not grow again in cases of baldness, although both hibernating animals recover their feathers or hair and trees that have shed their leaves grow 15leaves again, is this. The seasons of the year are the turning-points of their lives, rather than their age, so that when these seasons change they change with them by growing and losing feathers, hairs, or leaves respectively. But the winter and summer, spring and autumn of man are defined by his age, so that, since his ages do not 20return, neither do the conditions caused by them return, although the cause of the change of condition is similar in man to what it is in the animals and plants in question.
We have now spoken pretty much of all the other conditions of hair.
The reason why the hair does not grow again in cases of baldness, although both hibernating animals recover their feathers or hair and trees that have shed their leaves grow 15leaves again, is this. The seasons of the year are the turning-points of their lives, rather than their age, so that when these seasons change they change with them by growing and losing feathers, hairs, or leaves respectively. But the winter and summer, spring and autumn of man are defined by his age, so that, since his ages do not 20return, neither do the conditions caused by them return, although the cause of the change of condition is similar in man to what it is in the animals and plants in question.
We have now spoken pretty much of all the other conditions of hair.
Book 5,Chapter 4 (784a23–785a6)
Τῶν δὲ χρωμάτων αἴτιον τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ζῴοις καὶ
τοῦ μονόχροα εἶναι καὶ τοῦ ποικίλα ἡ τοῦ δέρματος φύσις·
25 τοῖς δ' ἀνθρώποις οὐδὲν πλὴν τῶν πολιῶν, οὐ τῶν διὰ γῆρας
ἀλλὰ τῶν διὰ νόσον· ἐν γὰρ τῇ καλουμένῃ λεύκῃ λευκαὶ
γίγνονται αἱ τρίχες—ἂν δ' αἱ τρίχες ὦσι λευκαὶ <διὰ γῆρας> οὐκ
ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ δέρματι ἡ λευκότης. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ
δέρματος φύονται· ἐκ νενοσηκότος οὖν καὶ λευκοῦ τοῦ δέρματος
30 καὶ ἡ θρὶξ συννοσεῖ, νόσος δὲ τριχὸς πολιότης ἐστίν. ἡ
δὲ δι' ἡλικίαν τῶν τριχῶν πολιότης γίγνεται δι' ἀσθένειαν καὶ
ἔνδειαν θερμότητος. καὶ γὰρ ἡλικία πᾶσα ῥέπει ἀποκλίνοντος
τοῦ σώματος ἐν τῷ γήρᾳ ἐπὶ ψύξιν· τὸ γὰρ γῆρας
ψυχρὸν καὶ ξηρόν ἐστιν. δεῖ δὲ νοῆσαι τὴν εἰς ἕκαστον μόριον
35 ἀφικνουμένην τροφὴν ὅτι πέττει μὲν ἡ ἐν ἑκάστῳ οἰκεία θερμότης,
But as to their colour, it is the nature of the skin that is the cause of this in other animals 25and also of their being uni-coloured or vari-coloured); but in man it is not the cause, except of the hair going grey through disease (not through old age), for in what is called leprosy the hairs become white; on the contrary, if the hairs are white the whiteness does not invade the skin. The reason is that the hairs grow out of skin; 30if, then, the skin is diseased and white the hair becomes diseased with it, and the disease of hair is greyness. But the greyness of hair which is due to age results from weakness and deficiency of heat. For as the body declines in vigour we tend to cold at every time of life, and especially in old age, this age being cold and dry.
784b
1 ἀδυνατούσης δὲ φθείρεται καὶ πήρωσις γίγνεται ἢ νόσος.
ἀκριβέστερον δὲ περὶ τῆς τοιαύτης αἰτίας ὕστερον λεκτέον ἐν
τοῖς περὶ αὐξήσεως καὶ τροφῆς. ὅσοις οὖν τῶν ἀνθρώπων
ὀλιγόθερμός ἐστιν ἡ τῶν τριχῶν φύσις καὶ πλείων ἡ εἰσιοῦσα
5 ὑγρότης ἐστί, τῆς οἰκείας θερμότητος ἀδυνατούσης πέττειν σήπεται
ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν τῷ περιέχοντι θερμότητος. γίγνεται δὲ σῆψις
ὑπὸ θερμότητος μὲν πᾶσα, οὐ τῆς συμφύτου δέ, ὥσπερ
εἴρηται ἐν ἑτέροις. ἔστι δ' ἡ σῆψις καὶ ὕδατος καὶ γῆς καὶ
τῶν σωματικῶν πάντων τῶν τοιούτων, διὸ καὶ τῆς γεώδους
10 ἀτμίδος οἷον ὁ λεγόμενος εὐρώς· καὶ γὰρ ὁ εὐρώς ἐστι σαπρότης
γεώδους ἀτμίδος. ὥστε καὶ ἡ ἐν ταῖς θριξὶ τοιαύτη
οὖσα τροφὴ οὐ πεττομένη σήπεται, καὶ γίγνεται ἡ καλουμένη
πολιά. λευκὴ δὲ ὅτι καὶ ὁ εὐρὼς μόνον τῶν σαπρῶν ὡς
εἰπεῖν λευκόν ἐστιν. αἴτιον δὲ τούτου ὅτι πολὺν ἔχει ἀέρα·
15 πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ γεώδης ἀτμὶς ἀέρος ἔχει δύναμιν παχέος.
ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀντεστραμμένον τῇ πάχνῃ ὁ εὐρώς ἐστιν· ἂν μὲν
γὰρ παγῇ ἡ ἀνιοῦσα ἀτμὶς πάχνη γίγνεται, ἐὰν δὲ σαπῇ
εὐρώς. διὸ καὶ ἐπιπολῆς ἐστιν ἄμφω· ἡ γὰρ ἀτμὶς ἐπιπολῆς.
καὶ εὖ δὴ οἱ ποιηταὶ ἐν ταῖς κωμῳδίαις μεταφέρουσι
20 σκώπτοντες τὰς πολιὰς καλοῦντες γήρως εὐρῶτα καὶ πάχνην.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ τῷ γένει τὸ δὲ τῷ εἴδει ταὐτόν ἐστιν, ἡ
μὲν πάχνη τῷ γένει (ἀτμὶς γὰρ ἄμφω), ὁ δὲ εὐρὼς τῷ
εἴδει (σῆψις γὰρ ἄμφω). σημεῖον δ' ὅτι τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· καὶ
γὰρ ἐκ νόσων πολλοῖς πολιαὶ ἀνέφυσαν, ὕστερον δ' ὑγιασθεῖσι
25 μέλαιναι ἀντὶ τούτων. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι ἐν τῇ ἀρρωστίᾳ,
ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ ὅλον σῶμα ἐν ἐνδείᾳ φυσικῆς θερμότητός
ἐστιν, οὕτω καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μορίων καὶ τὰ πάνυ μικρὰ μετέχει
τῆς ἀρρωστίας ταύτης. περίττωμα δὲ πολὺ ἐγγίγνεται
ἐν τοῖς σώμασι καὶ ἐν τοῖς μορίοις· διόπερ ἡ ἐν ταῖς σαρξὶν
30 ἀπεψία ποιεῖ τὰς πολιάς. ὑγιάναντες δὲ καὶ ἰσχύσαντες
πάλιν μεταβάλλουσι καὶ γίγνονται ὥσπερ ἐκ γερόντων νέοι·
διὸ καὶ τὰ πάθη συμμεταβάλλουσιν. ὀρθῶς δ' ἔχει καὶ λέγειν
τὴν μὲν νόσον γῆρας ἐπίκτητον, τὸ δὲ γῆρας νόσον φυσικήν·
ποιοῦσι γοῦν νόσοι τινὲς ταὐτὰ ἅπερ καὶ τὸ γῆρας.
35 Τοὺς δὲ κροτάφους πολιοῦνται πρῶτον. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὄπισθεν
1We must remember that the nutriment coming to each part of the body is concocted by the heat appropriate to the part; if the heat is inadequate the part loses its efficiency, and destruction or disease results. (We shall speak more in detail of causes in the treatise on growth 5and nutrition.) Whenever, then, the hair in man has naturally little heat and too much moisture enters it, its own proper heat is unable to concoct the moisture and so it is decayed by the heat in the environing air. All decay is caused by heat, not the innate heat but external heat, as has been stated elsewhere. And as there is a decay of 10water, of earth, and all such material bodies, so there is also of the earthy vapour, for instance what is called mould (for mould is a decay of earthy vapour). Thus also the liquid nutriment in the hair decays because it is not concocted, and what is called greyness results. It is white because mould also, practically alone among decayed things, 15is white. The reason of this is that it has much air in it, all earthy vapour being equivalent to thick air. For mould is, as it were, the antithesis of hoar-frost; if the ascending vapour be frozen it becomes hoar-frost, if it be decayed, mould. Hence both are on the surface of things, for vapour is superficial. And so the comic poets make a 20good metaphor in jest when they call grey hairs ‘mould of old age’ and For the one is generically the same as greyness, the other specifically; hoar-frost generically (for both are a vapour), mould specifically (for both are a form of decay). A proof that this is so is this: grey hairs have often grown on men in consequence of disease, and 25later on dark hairs instead of them after restoration to health. The reason is that in sickness the whole body is deficient in natural heat and so the parts besides, even the very small ones, participate in this weakness; and again, much residual matter is formed in the body and all its parts in illness, wherefore the incapacity in the flesh to 30concoct the nutriment causes the grey hairs. But when men have recovered health and strength again they change, becoming as it were young again instead of old; in consequence the states change also. Indeed, we may rightly call disease an acquired old age, old age a natural disease; at any rate, some diseases produce the same effects as old age.
785a
1 κενὰ ὑγρότητός ἐστι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ἐγκέφαλον, τὸ δὲ βρέγμα
πολλὴν ἔχει ὑγρότητα—τὸ δὲ πολὺ οὐκ εὔσηπτον. αἱ
δ' ἐν τοῖς κροτάφοις τρίχες οὔθ' οὕτως ὀλίγον ἔχουσιν ὑγρὸν
ὥστε πέττειν οὔτε πολὺ ὥστε μὴ σήπεσθαι· μέσος γὰρ ὢν
5 ὁ τόπος ἀμφοτέρων ἐκτὸς ἀμφοτέρων τῶν παθῶν ἐστιν. Περὶ
μὲν οὖν τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πολιότητος εἴρηται τὸ αἴτιον.
1Men go grey on the temples first, because the back of the head is empty of moisture owing to its containing no brain, and the ‘bregma’ has a great deal of moisture, a large quantity not being liable to decay; the hair on the temples however has neither so little that 5it can concoct it nor so much that it cannot decay, for this region of the head being between the two extremes is exempt from both states. The cause of greyness in man has now been stated.
Book 5,Chapter 5 (785a7–785b15)
Τοῖς δ' ἄλλοις ζῴοις τοῦ μὴ γίγνεσθαι διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν
ταύτην τὴν μεταβολὴν ἐπιδήλως τὸ αὐτὸ αἴτιον ὅπερ εἴρηται
καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς φαλακρότητος· ὀλίγον γὰρ ἔχουσι καὶ
10 <ἧττον> ὑγρὸν τὸν ἐγκέφαλον ὥστε μὴ ἐξαδυνατεῖν τὸ θερμὸν
πρὸς τὴν πέψιν. τοῖς δ' ἵπποις πάντων ἐπισημαίνει μάλιστα
ὧν ἴσμεν ζῴων ὅτι λεπτότατον τὸ ὀστοῦν ὡς κατὰ μέγεθος
ἔχουσι τὸ περὶ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον τῶν ἄλλων. τεκμήριον δ' ὅτι
καίριος ἡ πληγὴ εἰς τὸν τόπον τοῦτον γίγνεται αὐτοῖς· διὸ
15 καὶ Ὅμηρος οὕτως ἐποίησεν· ἵνα τε πρῶται τρίχες ἵππων
κρανίῳ ἐμπεφύασι, μάλιστα δὲ καίριόν ἐστιν. ῥᾳδίως οὖν
ἐπιρρεούσης τῆς ὑγρότητος διὰ τὴν λεπτότητα τοῦ ὀστοῦ, τῆς δὲ
θερμότητος ἐλλειπούσης διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἐπιπολιοῦνται αἱ τρίχες
αὗται. καὶ αἱ πυρραὶ δὲ θᾶττον πολιοῦνται τρίχες τῶν
20 μελαινῶν· ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ἡ πυρρότης ὥσπερ ἀρρωστία τριχός,
τὰ δ' ἀσθενῆ γηράσκει πάντα θᾶττον. μελαντέρας δὲ γίγνεσθαι
γηρασκούσας λέγεται τὰς γεράνους. αἴτιον δ' ἂν εἴη
τοῦ πάθους τὸ φύσει λεπτοτέραν αὐτῶν εἶναι τὴν τῶν πτερῶν
φύσιν, πλέον τε γηρασκόντων εἶναι τὸ ὑγρὸν ἐν τοῖς πτεροῖς
25 ἢ ὥστε εὔσηπτον εἶναι. Ὅτι δὲ γίγνεται ἡ πολιὰ σήψει
τινὶ καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν, ὥσπερ οἴονταί τινες, αὔανσις, σημεῖον
[τοῦ προτέρου ῥηθέντος] τὸ τὰς σκεπαζομένας τρίχας πίλοις ἢ
καλύμμασι πολιοῦσθαι θᾶττον (τὰ γὰρ πνεύματα κωλύει
τὴν σῆψιν, ἡ δὲ σκέπη ἄπνοιαν ποιεῖ) καὶ τὸ βοηθεῖν τὴν
30 ἄλειψιν τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ ἐλαίου μιγνυμένων. τὸ μὲν
γὰρ ὕδωρ ψύχει, τὸ δ' ἔλαιον μιγνύμενον κωλύει ξηραίνεσθαι
ταχέως· τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ εὐξήραντον. ὅτι δ' οὐκ ἔστιν
αὔανσις, οὐδ' ὥσπερ ἡ πόα αὐαινομένη λευκαίνεται οὕτω
καὶ ἡ θρίξ, σημεῖον ὅτι φύονται εὐθέως ἔνιαι πολιαί· αὖον
35 δ' οὐθὲν φύεται. λευκαίνονται δὲ καὶ ἐπ' ἄκρου πολλαί·
ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις καὶ λεπτοτάτοις ἐλαχίστη θερμότης
The reason why this change does not take place visibly on account of age in other animals is the same as that already given in the case of baldness; 10their brain is small and less fluid than in man, so that the heat required for concoction does not altogether fail. Among them it is most clear in horses of all animals that we know, because the bone about the brain is thinner in them than in others in proportion to their size. A sign of this is that a blow to this spot is fatal to 15them, wherefore Homer also has said: ‘where the first hairs grow on the skull of horses, and a wound is most fatal.’ As then the moisture easily flows to these hairs because of the thinness of the bone, whilst the heat fails on account of age, they go grey. The reddish hairs go grey sooner than the black, redness also being a sort of 20weakness of hair and all weak things ageing sooner. It is said, however, that cranes become darker as they grow old. The reason of this would be, if it should prove true, that their feathers are naturally moister than others and as they grow old the moisture in the feathers is too much to decay easily.
Greyness comes about by some sort 25of decay, and is not, as some think, a withering. (1) A proof of the former statement is the fact that hair protected by hats or other coverings goes grey sooner (for the winds prevent decay and the protection keeps off the winds), and the fact that it is aided by anointing with a mixture of oil and water. For, though water cools 30things, the oil mingled with it prevents the hair from drying quickly, water being easily dried up. (2) That the process is not a withering, that the hair does not whiten as grass does by withering, is shown by the fact that some hairs grow grey from the first, whereas nothing springs up in a withered state. Many hairs also whiten at the 35tip, for there is least heat in the extremities and thinnest parts.
Greyness comes about by some sort 25of decay, and is not, as some think, a withering. (1) A proof of the former statement is the fact that hair protected by hats or other coverings goes grey sooner (for the winds prevent decay and the protection keeps off the winds), and the fact that it is aided by anointing with a mixture of oil and water. For, though water cools 30things, the oil mingled with it prevents the hair from drying quickly, water being easily dried up. (2) That the process is not a withering, that the hair does not whiten as grass does by withering, is shown by the fact that some hairs grow grey from the first, whereas nothing springs up in a withered state. Many hairs also whiten at the 35tip, for there is least heat in the extremities and thinnest parts.
785b
1 ἐγγίγνεται. Τοῖς δ' ἄλλοις ζῴοις ὅσοις γίγνονται λευκαὶ αἱ
τρίχες, φύσει ἀλλ' οὐ πάθει συμβαίνει γίγνεσθαι τοῦτο. αἴτιον
δὲ τῶν χρωμάτων τὸ δέρμα τοῖς ἄλλοις· τῶν μὲν
γὰρ λευκῶν λευκὸν τὸ δέρμα, τῶν δὲ μελάνων μέλαν, τῶν
5 δὲ ποικίλων καὶ γιγνομένων ἐκ συμμίξεως τῇ μὲν λευκὸν
τῇ δὲ μέλαν φαίνεται ὄν. ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐθὲν αἴτιον
τὸ δέρμα· καὶ γὰρ οἱ λευκοὶ σφόδρα μελαίνας ἔχουσιν.
αἴτιον δ' ὅτι λεπτότατον πάντων δέρμα ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἔχει ὡς
κατὰ μέγεθος, διόπερ οὐθὲν ἰσχύει πρὸς τὴν τῶν τριχῶν μεταβολήν,
10 ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τὸ δέρμα καὶ μεταβάλλει
αὐτὸ τὴν χρόαν καὶ γίγνεται ὑπὸ ἡλίων καὶ πνευμάτων
μελάντερον· αἱ δὲ τρίχες οὐθὲν συμμεταβάλλουσιν. ἐν δὲ
τοῖς ἄλλοις τὸ δέρμα χώρας ἔχει δύναμιν διὰ τὸ πάχος·
διὸ αἱ μὲν τρίχες κατὰ τὸ δέρμα μεταβάλλουσι, τὰ δὲ
15 δέρματα οὐθὲν κατὰ τὰ πνεύματα καὶ τὸν ἥλιον.
1When the hairs of other animals are white, this is caused by nature, not by any affection. The cause of the colours in other animals is the skin; if they are white, the skin is white, if they are dark it is dark, if they are piebald in consequence of a mixture of the hairs, 5it is found to be white in the one part and dark in the other. But in man the skin is in no way the cause, for even white-skinned men have very dark hair. The reason is that man has the thinnest skin of all animals in proportion to his size and therefore it has not strength to change the hairs; on the contrary the skin itself changes its 10colour through its weakness and is darkened by sun and wind, while the hairs do not change along with it at all. But in the other animals the skin, owing to its thickness, has the influence belonging to the soil in which a thing grows, therefore the hairs change according to the skin but the skin does not change at all in consequence of 15the winds and the sun.
Book 5,Chapter 6 (785b16–786b6)
Τῶν δὲ ζῴων τὰ μέν ἐστι μονόχροα (λέγω δὲ μονόχροα
ὧν τὸ γένος ὅλον ἓν χρῶμα ἔχει οἷον λέοντες πυρροὶ
πάντες, καὶ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπ' ὀρνίθων καὶ ἐπ' ἰχθύων ἐστὶ καὶ
τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ὁμοίως), τὰ δὲ πολύχροα μέν, ὁλόχροα
20 δέ (λέγω δὲ ὧν τὸ σῶμα ὅλον τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει χρόαν, οἷον
βοῦς ἐστιν ὅλος λευκὸς ἢ ὅλος μέλας), τὰ δὲ ποικίλα.
τοῦτο δὲ διχῶς, τὰ μὲν τῷ γένει, ὥσπερ πάρδαλις καὶ
ταὼς καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων ἔνιοι οἷον αἱ καλούμεναι θρᾷτται, —
τῶν δὲ τὸ μὲν γένος ἅπαν οὐ ποικίλον, γίγνονται δὲ ποικίλοι
25 οἷον βόες καὶ αἶγες, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὄρνισιν οἷον αἱ περιστεραί·
καὶ ἄλλα δὲ γένη τὸ αὐτὸ πάσχει τῶν ὀρνίθων. μεταβάλλει
δὲ τὰ ὁλόχροα πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῶν μονοχρόων, καὶ εἰς
τὴν ἀλλήλων χρόαν τὴν ἁπλῆν, οἷον ἐκ λευκῶν μέλανα
καὶ ἐκ μελάνων λευκά, καὶ μεμιγμένα ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων,
30 διὰ τὸ ὅλῳ τῷ γένει ὑπάρχειν ἐν τῇ φύσει τὸ μὴ μίαν
ἔχειν χρόαν· εὐκίνητον γὰρ ὑπάρχει ἐπ' ἀμφότερα τὸ γένος
ὥστε καὶ εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβάλλειν καὶ ποικίλλεσθαι
μᾶλλον. τὰ δὲ μονόχροα τοὐναντίον· οὐ γὰρ μεταβάλλει
ἂν μὴ διὰ πάθος, καὶ τοῦτο σπάνιον· ἤδη γὰρ ὦπται καὶ
35 πέρδιξ λευκὴ καὶ κόραξ καὶ στρουθὸς καὶ ἄρκτος. συμβαίνει
δὲ ταῦτα ὅταν ἐν τῇ γενέσει διαστραφῇ· εὔφθαρτον γὰρ
Of animals some are uni-coloured (I mean by this term those of which the kind as a whole has one colour, as all lions are tawny; and this condition exists also in birds, fish, and the other classes of animals alike); others though many-coloured are yet whole-coloured (I mean those whose body as a whole has the same 20colour, as a bull is white as a whole or dark as a whole); others are vari-coloured. This last term is used in both ways; sometimes the whole kind is vari-coloured, as leopards and peacocks, and some fish, e.g. the so-called ‘thrattai’; sometimes the kind as a whole is not so, but such individuals are found in it, as with cattle and goats 25and, among birds, pigeons; the same applies also to other kinds of birds. The whole-coloured change much more than the uniformly coloured, both into the simple colour of another individual of the same kind (as dark changing into white and vice versa) and into both colours mingled. This is because it is a natural characteristic of the kind as 30a whole not to have one colour only, the kind being easily moved in both directions so that the colours both change more into one another and are more varied. The opposite holds with the uniformly coloured; they do not change except by an affection of the colour, and that rarely; but still they do so change, for before now white individuals 35have been observed among partridges, ravens, sparrows, and bears.
786a
1 καὶ εὐκίνητον τὸ μικρόν, τὸ δὲ γιγνόμενον τοιοῦτον· ἐν μικρῷ
γὰρ ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῖς γιγνομένοις. Μάλιστα δὲ μεταβάλλουσι
καὶ τὰ φύσει ὁλόχροα μὲν ὄντα τῷ γένει δὲ πολύχροα
διὰ τὰ ὕδατα· τὰ μὲν γὰρ θερμὰ λευκὴν ποιεῖ τὴν τρίχα
5 τὰ δὲ ψυχρὰ μέλαιναν ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν φυτῶν. αἴτιον
δ' ὅτι τὰ θερμὰ πνεύματος πλέον ἔχει ἢ ὕδατος, ὁ δ' ἀὴρ
διαφαινόμενος λευκότητα ποιεῖ καθάπερ καὶ τὸν ἀφρόν.
διαφέρει μὲν οὖν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ δέρματα τὰ διὰ πάθος
λευκὰ τῶν διὰ τὴν φύσιν, οὕτω καὶ ἐν ταῖς θριξὶν ἥ τε διὰ
10 νόσον καὶ ἡλικίαν, καὶ ἡ διὰ φύσιν λευκότης τῶν τριχῶν
τῷ τὸ αἴτιον ἕτερον εἶναι· τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἡ φυσικὴ θερμότης
ποιεῖ λευκὰς τὰς δ' ἡ ἀλλοτρία. τὸ δὲ λευκὸν ὁ ἀτμιδώδης
ἀὴρ παρέχεται ἐγκατακλειόμενος ἐν πᾶσιν. διὸ καὶ
ὅσα μὴ μονόχροά ἐστι τὰ ὑπὸ τὴν γαστέρα πάντα λευκότερά
15 ἐστιν. καὶ γὰρ θερμότερα καὶ ἡδυκρεώτερα πάντα τὰ
λευκὰ ὡς εἰπεῖν ἐστι διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ πέψις
γλυκέα ποιεῖ, τὴν δὲ πέψιν τὸ θερμόν. ἡ δ' αὐτὴ αἰτία
καὶ τῶν μονοχρόων μὲν μελάνων δ' ἢ λευκῶν· θερμότης
γὰρ καὶ ψυχρότης αἰτία τῆς φύσεως τοῦ δέρματος καὶ
20 τῶν τριχῶν· ἔχει γὰρ ἕκαστον τῶν μορίων θερμότητα οἰκείαν.
Ἔτι δ' αἱ γλῶτται διαφέρουσι τῶν ἁπλῶν τε καὶ
ποικίλων καὶ τῶν ἁπλῶν μὲν διαφερόντων δέ, οἷον λευκῶν
καὶ μελάνων. αἴτιον δὲ τὸ εἰρημένον πρότερον, ὅτι τὰ δέρματα
ποικίλα τῶν ποικίλων, καὶ τῶν λευκοτρίχων καὶ τῶν
25 μελανοτρίχων τῶν μὲν λευκὰ τῶν δὲ μέλανα. τὴν δὲ γλῶτταν
δεῖ ὑπολαβεῖν ὥσπερ ἓν μόριον τῶν ἐξωτερικῶν εἶναι,
μὴ ὅτι ἐν τῷ στόματι σκεπάζεται, ἀλλ' οἷον χεῖρα ἢ πόδα·
ὥστ' ἐπεὶ τῶν ποικίλων τὸ δέρμα οὐ μονόχρων, καὶ τοῦ
ἐπὶ τῇ γλώττῃ δέρματος τοῦτ' αἴτιον. Μεταβάλλουσι δὲ τὰ
30 χρώματα καὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων τινὲς καὶ τῶν τετραπόδων τῶν
ἀγρίων ἔνια κατὰ τὰς ὥρας. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι ὥσπερ οἱ ἄνθρωποι
κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν μεταβάλλουσι, τοῦτ' ἐκείνοις συμβαίνει
κατὰ τὰς ὥρας· μείζων γὰρ διαφορὰ αὕτη τῆς κατὰ
τὴν ἡλικίαν τροπῆς. Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ τὰ παμφαγώτερα ποικιλώτερα
35 ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον εἰπεῖν εὐλόγως, οἷον αἱ μέλιτται
1This happens when the course of development is perverted, for what is small is easily spoilt and easily moved, and what is developing is small, the beginning of all such things being on a small scale.
Change is especially found in those animals of which by nature the individual is 5whole-coloured but the kind many-coloured. This is owing to the water which they drink, for hot waters make the hair white, cold makes it dark, an effect found also in plants. The reason is that the hot have more air than water in them, and the air shining through causes whiteness, as also in froth. As, then, skins which are white by reason of some 10affection differ from those white by nature, so also in the hair the whiteness due to disease or age differs from that due to nature in that the cause is different; the latter are whitened by the natural heat, the former by the external heat. Whiteness is caused in all things by the vaporous air imprisoned in them. Hence also in all animals not 15uniformly coloured all the part under the belly is whiter. For practically all white animals are both hotter and better flavoured for the same reason; the concoction of their nutriment makes them well-flavoured, and heat causes the concoction. The same cause holds for those animals which are uniformly-coloured, but either dark or white; heat and cold are 20the causes of the nature of the skin and hair, each of the parts having its own special heat.
The tongue also varies in colour in the simply coloured as compared with the vari-coloured animals, and again in the simply coloured which differ from one another, as white and dark. The reason is that assigned before, that the skins of the vari-coloured 25are vari-coloured, and the skins of the white-haired and dark-haired are white and dark in each case. Now we must conceive of the tongue as one of the external parts, not taking into account the fact that it is covered by the mouth but looking on it as we do on the hand or foot; thus since the skin of the vari-coloured animals is not uniformly coloured, 30this is the cause of the skin on the tongue being also vari-coloured.
Some birds and some wild quadrupeds change their colour according to the seasons of the year. The reason is that, as men change according to their age, so the same thing happens to them according to the season; for this makes a greater difference to them than the change of age.
Change is especially found in those animals of which by nature the individual is 5whole-coloured but the kind many-coloured. This is owing to the water which they drink, for hot waters make the hair white, cold makes it dark, an effect found also in plants. The reason is that the hot have more air than water in them, and the air shining through causes whiteness, as also in froth. As, then, skins which are white by reason of some 10affection differ from those white by nature, so also in the hair the whiteness due to disease or age differs from that due to nature in that the cause is different; the latter are whitened by the natural heat, the former by the external heat. Whiteness is caused in all things by the vaporous air imprisoned in them. Hence also in all animals not 15uniformly coloured all the part under the belly is whiter. For practically all white animals are both hotter and better flavoured for the same reason; the concoction of their nutriment makes them well-flavoured, and heat causes the concoction. The same cause holds for those animals which are uniformly-coloured, but either dark or white; heat and cold are 20the causes of the nature of the skin and hair, each of the parts having its own special heat.
The tongue also varies in colour in the simply coloured as compared with the vari-coloured animals, and again in the simply coloured which differ from one another, as white and dark. The reason is that assigned before, that the skins of the vari-coloured 25are vari-coloured, and the skins of the white-haired and dark-haired are white and dark in each case. Now we must conceive of the tongue as one of the external parts, not taking into account the fact that it is covered by the mouth but looking on it as we do on the hand or foot; thus since the skin of the vari-coloured animals is not uniformly coloured, 30this is the cause of the skin on the tongue being also vari-coloured.
Some birds and some wild quadrupeds change their colour according to the seasons of the year. The reason is that, as men change according to their age, so the same thing happens to them according to the season; for this makes a greater difference to them than the change of age.
786b
1 μονόχροα μᾶλλον ἢ αἱ ἀνθρῆναι καὶ σφῆκες· εἰ γὰρ αἱ
τροφαὶ αἴτιαι τῆς μεταβολῆς, εὐλόγως αἱ ποικίλαι τροφαὶ
παντοδαπωτέρας ποιοῦσι τὰς κινήσεις καὶ τὰ περιττώματα
τῆς τροφῆς, ἐξ ὧν καὶ τρίχες καὶ πτερὰ καὶ δέρματα γίγνεται.
5 Καὶ περὶ μὲν χρωμάτων καὶ τριχῶν διωρίσθω τὸν
τρόπον τοῦτον.
1The more omnivorous animals are more vari-coloured to speak generally, and this is what might be expected; thus bees are more uniformly coloured than hornets and wasps. For if the food is responsible for the change we should expect varied food to increase the variety in 5the movements which cause the development and so in the residual matter of the food, from which come into being hairs and feathers and skins.
So much for colours and hairs.
So much for colours and hairs.
Book 5,Chapter 7 (786b7–788b2)
Περὶ δὲ φωνῆς, ὅτι τὰ μὲν βαρύφωνα τῶν ζῴων ἐστὶ
τὰ δ' ὀξύφωνα, τὰ δ' εὔτονα καὶ πρὸς ἀμφοτέρας ἔχοντα
τὰς ὑπερβολὰς συμμέτρως, ἔτι δὲ τὰ μὲν μεγαλόφωνα
10 τὰ δὲ μικρόφωνα καὶ λειότητι καὶ τραχύτητι καὶ εὐκαμψίᾳ
καὶ ἀκαμψίᾳ διαφέροντα ἀλλήλων, ἐπισκεπτέον διὰ
τίνας αἰτίας ὑπάρχει τούτων ἕκαστον. περὶ μὲν οὖν ὀξύτητος
καὶ βαρύτητος τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν οἰητέον εἶναι ἥνπερ ἐπὶ τῆς
μεταβολῆς ἣν μεταβάλλει νέα ὄντα καὶ πρεσβύτερα. τὰ
15 μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα πάντα νεώτερα ὄντα ὀξύτερον φθέγγεται,
τῶν δὲ βοῶν οἱ μόσχοι βαρύτερον. τὸ δ' αὐτὸ συμβαίνει
καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρρένων καὶ θηλειῶν· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς
ἄλλοις γένεσι τὸ θῆλυ ὀξύτερον φθέγγεται τοῦ ἄρρενος (μάλιστα
δ' ἐπίδηλον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦτο· μάλιστα γὰρ τούτοις
20 ταύτην τὴν δύναμιν ἀποδέδωκεν ἡ φύσις διὰ τὸ λόγῳ
χρῆσθαι μόνους τῶν ζῴων, τοῦ δὲ λόγου ὕλην εἶναι τὴν φωνήν),
ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν βοῶν τοὐναντίον· βαρύτερον γὰρ αἱ θήλειαι
φθέγγονται τῶν ταύρων. —τίνος μὲν οὖν ἕνεκα φωνὴν ἔχει τὰ
ζῷα καὶ τί ἐστι φωνὴ καὶ ὅλως ὁ ψόφος, τὰ μὲν ἐν τοῖς
25 περὶ αἰσθήσεως εἴρηται τὰ δ' ἐν τοῖς περὶ ψυχῆς. ἐπεὶ δὲ
βαρὺ μέν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ βραδεῖαν εἶναι τὴν κίνησιν, ὀξὺ δ' ἐν
τῷ ταχεῖαν, τοῦ δὴ βραδέως ἢ ταχέως πότερον τὸ κινοῦν αἴτιον
ἢ τὸ κινούμενον, ἔχει τινὰ ἀπορίαν. φασὶ γάρ τινες τὸ
μὲν πολὺ βραδέως κινεῖσθαι τὸ δ' ὀλίγον ταχέως, καὶ
30 ταύτην αἰτίαν εἶναι τοῦ τὰ μὲν βαρύφωνα εἶναι τὰ δ' ὀξύφωνα,
λέγοντες μέχρι τινὸς καλῶς, ὅλως δ' οὐ καλῶς. τῷ
μὲν γὰρ γένει ὀρθῶς ἔοικε λέγεσθαι τὸ βαρὺ ἐν μεγέθει
τινὶ εἶναι τοῦ κινουμένου. εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο, καὶ μικρὸν καὶ βαρὺ
φθέγξασθαι οὐ ῥᾴδιον, ὁμοίως δὲ οὐδὲ μέγα καὶ ὀξύ. καὶ
35 δοκεῖ γενναιοτέρας εἶναι φύσεως ἡ βαρυφωνία, καὶ ἐν τοῖς
As to the voice, it is deep in some animals, high in others, in others again well-pitched and in due proportion between both extremes. Again, in some it is loud, in others 10small, and it differs in smoothness and roughness, flexibility and inflexibility. We must inquire then into the causes of each of these distinctions.
We must suppose then that the same cause is responsible for high and deep voices as for the change which they undergo in passing from youth to age. The voice is higher in all other animals 15when younger, but in cattle that of calves is deeper. We find the same thing also in the male and female sexes; in the other kinds of animals the voice of the female is higher than that of the male (this being especially plain in man, for Nature has given this faculty to him in the highest degree because he alone of animals makes use of speech 20and the voice is the material of speech), but in cattle the opposite obtains, for the voice of cows is deeper than that of bulls.
Now the purpose for which animals have a voice, and what is meant by ‘voice’ and by ‘sound’ generally, has been stated partly in the treatise on sensation, partly in that on the soul. But since lowness of 25voice depends on the movement of the air being slow and its highness on its being quick, there is a difficulty in knowing whether it is that which moves or that which is moved that is the cause of the slowness or quickness. For some say that what is much is moved slowly, what is little quickly, and that the quantity of the air is the cause of 30some animals having a deep and others a high voice. Up to a certain point this is well said (for it seems to be rightly said in a general way that the depth depends on a certain amount of the air put in motion), but not altogether, for if this were true it would not be easy to speak both soft and deep at once, nor again both loud and high.
We must suppose then that the same cause is responsible for high and deep voices as for the change which they undergo in passing from youth to age. The voice is higher in all other animals 15when younger, but in cattle that of calves is deeper. We find the same thing also in the male and female sexes; in the other kinds of animals the voice of the female is higher than that of the male (this being especially plain in man, for Nature has given this faculty to him in the highest degree because he alone of animals makes use of speech 20and the voice is the material of speech), but in cattle the opposite obtains, for the voice of cows is deeper than that of bulls.
Now the purpose for which animals have a voice, and what is meant by ‘voice’ and by ‘sound’ generally, has been stated partly in the treatise on sensation, partly in that on the soul. But since lowness of 25voice depends on the movement of the air being slow and its highness on its being quick, there is a difficulty in knowing whether it is that which moves or that which is moved that is the cause of the slowness or quickness. For some say that what is much is moved slowly, what is little quickly, and that the quantity of the air is the cause of 30some animals having a deep and others a high voice. Up to a certain point this is well said (for it seems to be rightly said in a general way that the depth depends on a certain amount of the air put in motion), but not altogether, for if this were true it would not be easy to speak both soft and deep at once, nor again both loud and high.
787a
1 μέλεσι τὸ βαρὺ τῶν συντόνων βέλτιον· τὸ γὰρ βέλτιον ἐν
ὑπεροχῇ, ἡ δὲ βαρύτης ὑπεροχή τις. ἀλλ' ἐπειδή ἐστιν ἕτερον
τὸ βαρὺ καὶ τὸ ὀξὺ ἐν φωνῇ μεγαλοφωνίας καὶ μικροφωνίας
(ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ὀξύφωνα μεγαλόφωνα, καὶ μικρόφωνα
5 βαρύφωνα ὡσαύτως), ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν μέσον
τόνον τούτων—περὶ ὧν τίνι ἄν τις ἄλλῳ διορίσειεν (λέγω δὲ
μεγαλοφωνίαν καὶ μικροφωνίαν) ἢ πλήθει καὶ ὀλιγότητι τοῦ
κινουμένου; εἰ οὖν κατὰ τὸν λεγόμενον ἔσται διορισμὸν τὸ ὀξὺ
καὶ βαρύ, συμβήσεται τὰ αὐτὰ εἶναι βαρύφωνα καὶ μεγαλόφωνα
10 καὶ ὀξύφωνα καὶ μικρόφωνα. τοῦτο δὲ ψεῦδος.
αἴτιον δ' ὅτι τὸ μέγα καὶ τὸ μικρὸν καὶ τὸ πολὺ καὶ τὸ
ὀλίγον τὰ μὲν ἁπλῶς λέγεται τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἄλληλα. μεγαλόφωνα
μὲν οὖν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ πολὺ ἁπλῶς εἶναι τὸ κινούμενον,
μικρόφωνα δὲ ἐν τῷ ὀλίγον, βαρύφωνα δὲ καὶ ὀξύφωνα
15 ἐν τῷ πρὸς ἄλληλα ταύτην ἔχειν τὴν διαφοράν. ἐὰν μὲν
γὰρ ὑπερέχῃ τὸ κινούμενον τῆς τοῦ κινοῦντος ἰσχύος, ἀνάγκη
βραδέως φέρεσθαι τὸ φερόμενον, ἂν δ' ὑπερέχηται, ταχέως.
τὸ δ' ἰσχῦον διὰ τὴν ἰσχὺν ὁτὲ μὲν πολὺ κινοῦν βραδεῖαν
ποιεῖ τὴν κίνησιν, ὁτὲ δὲ διὰ τὸ κρατεῖν ταχεῖαν.
20 κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ λόγον καὶ τῶν κινούντων τὰ ἀσθενῆ τὰ
μὲν πλείω κινοῦντα τῆς δυνάμεως βραδεῖαν ποιεῖ τὴν κίνησιν,
τὰ δὲ δι' ἀσθένειαν ὀλίγον κινοῦντα ταχεῖαν. Αἱ μὲν οὖν αἰτίαι
τῶν ἐναντιώσεων αὗται τοῦ μήτε πάντα τὰ νέα ὀξύφωνα
εἶναι μήτε βαρύφωνα, μήτε τὰ πρεσβύτερα, μήτε
25 τὰ ἄρρενα καὶ θήλεα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ τοῦ τοὺς κάμνοντας
ὀξὺ φθέγγεσθαι καὶ τοὺς εὖ τὸ σῶμα ἔχοντας, ἔτι δὲ καὶ
γέροντας γιγνομένους μᾶλλον ὀξυφωνοτέρους γίγνεσθαι τῆς
ἡλικίας ἐναντίας οὔσης τῇ τῶν νέων. Τὰ μὲν οὖν πλεῖστα νεώτερα
ὄντα καὶ τὰ θήλεα δι' ἀδυναμίαν ὀλίγον κινοῦντα ἀέρα
30 ὀξύφωνά ἐστιν· ταχὺ γὰρ ὁ ὀλίγος φέρεται, τὸ δὲ ταχὺ
ὀξὺ ἐν φωνῇ. οἱ δὲ μόσχοι καὶ αἱ βόες αἱ θήλειαι, οἱ μὲν
διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν αἱ δὲ διὰ τὴν φύσιν τῆς θηλύτητος, οὐκ
ἰσχυρὸν ἔχουσι τὸ μόριον ᾧ κινοῦσι, πολὺ δὲ κινοῦντα βαρύφθογγά
1Again, the depth seems to belong to the nobler nature, and in songs the deep note is better than the high-pitched ones, the better lying in superiority, and depth of tone being a sort of superiority. But then depth and height in the voice are different from loudness and softness, and some 5high-voiced animals are loud-voiced, and in like manner some soft-voiced ones are deep-voiced, and the same applies to the tones lying between these extremes. And by what else can we define these (I mean loudness and softness of voice) except by the large and small amount of the air put in motion? If then height and depth are to be decided in accordance with the distinction 10postulated, the result will be that the same animals will be deep-and loud-voiced, and the same will be high-and not loud-voiced; but this is false.
The reason of the difficulty is that the words ‘great’ and ‘small’, ‘much’ and ‘little’ are used sometimes absolutely, sometimes relatively to one another. Whether an animal has a great (or loud) voice depends on the 15air which is moved being much absolutely, whether it has a small voice depends on its being little absolutely; but whether they have a deep or high voice depends on their being thus differentiated in relation to one another. For if that which is moved surpass the strength of that which moves it, the air that is sent forth must go slowly; if the opposite, quickly. 20The strong, then, on account of their strength, sometimes move much air and make the movement slow, sometimes, having complete command over it, make the movement swift. On the same principle the weak either move too much air for their strength and so make the movement slow, or if they make it swift move but little because of their weakness.
These, then, are the reasons 25of these contrarieties, that neither are all young animals high-voiced nor all deep-voiced, nor are all the older, nor yet are the two sexes thus opposed, and again that not only the sick speak in a high voice but also those in good bodily condition, and, further, that as men verge on old age they become higher-voiced, though this age is opposite to that of 30youth.
Most young animals, then, and most females set but little air in motion because of their want of power, and are consequently high-voiced, for a little air is carried along quickly, and in the voice what is quick is high.
The reason of the difficulty is that the words ‘great’ and ‘small’, ‘much’ and ‘little’ are used sometimes absolutely, sometimes relatively to one another. Whether an animal has a great (or loud) voice depends on the 15air which is moved being much absolutely, whether it has a small voice depends on its being little absolutely; but whether they have a deep or high voice depends on their being thus differentiated in relation to one another. For if that which is moved surpass the strength of that which moves it, the air that is sent forth must go slowly; if the opposite, quickly. 20The strong, then, on account of their strength, sometimes move much air and make the movement slow, sometimes, having complete command over it, make the movement swift. On the same principle the weak either move too much air for their strength and so make the movement slow, or if they make it swift move but little because of their weakness.
These, then, are the reasons 25of these contrarieties, that neither are all young animals high-voiced nor all deep-voiced, nor are all the older, nor yet are the two sexes thus opposed, and again that not only the sick speak in a high voice but also those in good bodily condition, and, further, that as men verge on old age they become higher-voiced, though this age is opposite to that of 30youth.
Most young animals, then, and most females set but little air in motion because of their want of power, and are consequently high-voiced, for a little air is carried along quickly, and in the voice what is quick is high.
787b
1 ἐστιν· βαρὺ γὰρ τὸ βραδέως φερόμενον, ὁ δὲ πολὺς
ἀὴρ φέρεται βραδέως. πολὺν δὲ κινοῦσι ταῦτα, τὰ δ'
ἄλλ' ὀλίγον, διὰ τὸ τὸ ἀγγεῖον δι' οὗ πρῶτον φέρεται τὸ
πνεῦμα τούτοις μὲν διάστημ' ἔχειν μέγα καὶ πολὺν ἀναγκάζεσθαι
5 ἀέρα κινεῖν, τοῖς δ' ἄλλοις εὐταμίευτον εἶναι.
προϊούσης δὲ τῆς ἡλικίας ἰσχύει μᾶλλον τοῦτο τὸ μόριον τὸ
κινοῦν ἐν ἑκάστοις, ὥστε μεταβάλλουσιν εἰς τοὐναντίον, καὶ τὰ
μὲν ὀξύφωνα βαρυφωνότερα γίγνεται αὐτὰ αὑτῶν, τὰ δὲ
βαρύφωνα ὀξυφωνότερα· διόπερ οἱ ταῦροι ὀξυφωνότεροι
10 τῶν μόσχων καὶ τῶν θηλειῶν βοῶν. ἔστι μὲν οὖν πᾶσιν ἡ
ἰσχὺς ἐν τοῖς νεύροις, διὸ καὶ τὰ ἀκμάζοντα ἰσχύει μᾶλλον·
ἄναρθρα γὰρ τὰ νέα μᾶλλον καὶ ἄνευρα. ἔτι δὲ τοῖς
μὲν νέοις οὔπω ἐπιτέταται, τοῖς δὲ γεγηρακόσιν ἤδη ἀνεῖται
ἡ συντονία· διὸ ἄμφω ἀσθενῆ καὶ ἀδύνατα πρὸς τὴν κίνησιν.
15 μάλιστα δ' οἱ ταῦροι νευρώδεις, καὶ ἡ καρδία· διόπερ
σύντονον ἔχουσι τοῦτο τὸ μόριον ᾧ κινοῦσι τὸ πνεῦμα ὥσπερ
χορδὴν τεταμένην νευρίνην. δηλοῖ δὲ τοιαύτη τὴν φύσιν οὖσα
ἡ καρδία τῶν βοῶν τῷ καὶ ὀστοῦν ἐγγίγνεσθαι ἐν ἐνίαις αὐτῶν·
τὰ δ' ὀστᾶ ζητεῖ τὴν τοῦ νεύρου φύσιν. Ἐκτεμνόμενα
20 δὲ πάντα εἰς τὸ θῆλυ μεταβάλλει, καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀνίεσθαι
τὴν ἰσχὺν τὴν νευρώδη ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ ὁμοίαν ἀφίησι φωνὴν
τοῖς θήλεσιν. ἡ δ' ἄνεσις παραπλησία γίγνεται ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ
τις χορδὴν κατατείνας σύντονον ποιήσειε τῷ ἐξάψαι τι βάρος,
οἷον δὴ ποιοῦσιν αἱ τοὺς ἱστοὺς ὑφαίνουσαι· καὶ γὰρ αὗται
25 τὸν στήμονα κατατείνουσι προσάπτουσαι τὰς καλουμένας
λαιάς. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἡ τῶν ὄρχεων φύσις προσήρτηται πρὸς
τοὺς σπερματικοὺς πόρους, οὗτοι δ' ἐκ τῆς φλεβὸς ἧς ἡ ἀρχὴ
ἐκ τῆς καρδίας πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ κινοῦντι τὴν φωνήν. διὸ καὶ
τῶν σπερματικῶν πόρων μεταβαλλόντων πρὸς τὴν ἡλικίαν
30 ἐν ᾗ ἤδη δύνανται τὸ σπέρμα ἐκκρίνειν συμμεταβάλλει
καὶ τοῦτο τὸ μόριον. τούτου δὲ μεταβάλλοντος καὶ ἡ φωνὴ
μεταβάλλει, μᾶλλον μὲν τοῖς ἄρρεσιν, συμβαίνει δὲ ταὐτὸ
καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν θηλειῶν ἀλλ' ἀδηλότερον, καὶ γίγνεται ὃ καλοῦσί
1But in calves and cows, in the one case because of their age, in the other because of their female nature, the part by which they set the air in motion is not strong; at the same time they set a great quantity in motion and so are deep-voiced; for that which 5is borne along slowly is heavy, and much air is borne along slowly. And these animals set much in movement whereas the others set but little, because the vessel through which the breath is first borne has in them a large opening and necessarily sets much air in motion, whereas in the rest the air is better dispensed. As 10their age advances this part which moves the air gains more strength in each animal, so that they change into the opposite condition, the high-voiced becoming deeper-voiced than they were, and the deep-voiced higher-voiced, which is why bulls have a higher voice than calves and cows. Now the strength of all animals is in their 15sinews, and so those in the prime of life are stronger, the young being weaker in the joints and sinews; moreover, in the young they are not yet tense, and in those now growing old the tension relaxes, wherefore both these ages are weak and powerless for movement. And bulls are particularly sinewy, even their hearts, and 20therefore that part by which they set the air in motion is in a tense state, like a sinewy string stretched tight. (That the heart of bulls is of such a nature is shown by the fact that a bone is actually found in some of them, and bones are naturally connected with sinew.)
All animals when castrated change to the female 25character, and utter a voice like that of the females because the sinewy strength in the principle of the voice is relaxed. This relaxation is just as if one should stretch a string and make it taut by hanging some weight on to it, as women do who weave at the loom, for they stretch the warp by attaching to it what are called 30‘laiai’. For in this way are the testes attached to the seminal passages, and these again to the blood-vessel which takes its origin in the heart near the organ which sets the voice in motion.
All animals when castrated change to the female 25character, and utter a voice like that of the females because the sinewy strength in the principle of the voice is relaxed. This relaxation is just as if one should stretch a string and make it taut by hanging some weight on to it, as women do who weave at the loom, for they stretch the warp by attaching to it what are called 30‘laiai’. For in this way are the testes attached to the seminal passages, and these again to the blood-vessel which takes its origin in the heart near the organ which sets the voice in motion.
788a
1 τινες τραγίζειν, ὅταν ἀνώμαλος ᾖ ἡ φωνή. μετὰ δὲ
ταῦτα καθίσταται εἰς τὴν τῆς ἐπιούσης ἡλικίας βαρύτητα ἢ
ὀξυφωνίαν. ἀφαιρουμένων δὲ τῶν ὄρχεων ἀνίεται ἡ κατάτασις
τῶν πόρων ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τῆς χορδῆς καὶ τοῦ στήμονος ἀφαιρουμένου
5 τοῦ βάρους. τούτου δ' ἀνιεμένου καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἡ κινοῦσα
τὴν φωνὴν ἐκλύεται κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον. διὰ μὲν οὖν ταύτην
τὴν αἰτίαν τὰ ἐκτεμνόμενα μεταβάλλει εἰς τὸ θῆλυ τήν τε
φωνὴν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην μορφὴν διὰ τὸ συμβαίνειν ἀνίεσθαι
τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐξ ἧς ὑπάρχει τῷ σώματι ἡ συντονία, ἀλλ' οὐχ
10 ὥσπερ τινὲς ὑπολαμβάνουσιν αὐτοὺς τοὺς ὄρχεις εἶναι σύναμμα
πολλῶν ἀρχῶν—ἀλλὰ μικραὶ μεταστάσεις μεγάλων
αἰτίαι γίγνονται, οὐ δι' αὑτάς, ἀλλ' ὅταν συμβαίνῃ ἀρχὴν
συμμεταβάλλειν. αἱ γὰρ ἀρχαὶ μεγέθει οὖσαι μικραὶ τῇ
δυνάμει μεγάλαι εἰσίν· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἀρχὴν εἶναι, τὸ
15 αὐτὴν μὲν αἰτίαν εἶναι πολλῶν, ταύτης δ' ἄλλο ἄνωθεν μηθέν.
Τῷ δὲ φύσει τὰ μὲν τοιαῦτα συνίστασθαι τῶν ζῴων ὥστε
βαρύφωνα εἶναι τὰ δ' ὀξύφωνα συμβάλλεται καὶ ἡ θερμότης
τοῦ τόπου καὶ ἡ ψυχρότης. τὸ μὲν γὰρ θερμὸν πνεῦμα
διὰ παχύτητα ποιεῖ βαρυφωνίαν, τὸ δὲ ψυχρὸν διὰ
20 λεπτότητα τοὐναντίον. δῆλον δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν αὐλῶν· οἱ
γὰρ θερμοτέρῳ τῷ πνεύματι χρώμενοι καὶ τοιοῦτον προϊέμενοι
οἷον οἱ αἰάζοντες βαρύτερον αὐλοῦσιν. τῆς δὲ τραχυφωνίας
αἴτιον καὶ τοῦ λείαν εἶναι τὴν φωνὴν καὶ πάσης
τῆς τοιαύτης ἀνωμαλίας τὸ τὸ μόριον καὶ τὸ ὄργανον δι'
25 οὗ φέρεται ἡ φωνὴ ἢ τραχὺ ἢ λεῖον εἶναι ἢ ὅλως ὁμαλὸν
ἢ ἀνώμαλον (δῆλον δ' ὅταν ὑγρότης τις ὑπάρχῃ περὶ τὴν
ἀρτηρίαν ἢ τραχύτης γένηται ὑπό τινος πάθους· τότε γὰρ καὶ ἡ
φωνὴ γίγνεται ἀνώμαλος)—τῆς δ' εὐκαμψίας <καὶ τῆς ἀκαμψίας>
ἂν μαλακὸν ἢ σκληρὸν ᾖ τὸ ὄργανον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ μαλακὸν δύναται
30 ταμιεύεσθαι καὶ παντοδαπὸν γίγνεσθαι, τὸ δὲ σκληρὸν
οὐ δύναται. καὶ τὸ μὲν μαλακὸν καὶ μικρὸν δύναται καὶ
μέγα φθέγγεσθαι, διὸ καὶ ὀξὺ καὶ βαρύ· ταμιεύεται γὰρ
ῥᾳδίως τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ αὐτὸ γιγνόμενον ῥᾳδίως μέγα
καὶ μικρόν· ἡ δὲ σκληρότης ἀταμίευτον. Περὶ μὲν οὖν φωνῆς
1Hence as the seminal passages change towards the age at which they are now able to secrete the semen, this part also changes along with them. As this changes, the voice again changes, more indeed in males, but the same thing happens in females too, only not so plainly, the result 5being what some call ‘bleating’ when the voice is uneven. After this it settles into the deep or high voice of the succeeding time of life. If the testes are removed the tension of the passages relaxes, as when the weight is taken off the string or the warp; as this relaxes, the organ which moves the voice is loosened in the same proportion. 10This, then, is the reason why the voice and the form generally changes to the female character in castrated animals; it is because the principle is relaxed upon which depends the tension of the body; not that, as some suppose, the testes are themselves a ganglion of many principles, but small changes are the causes of great ones, not per se but 15when it happens that a principle changes with them. For the principles, though small in size, are great in potency; this, indeed, is what is meant by a principle, that it is itself the cause of many things without anything else being higher than it for it to depend upon.
The heat or cold also of their habitat contributes to make some animals of 20such a character as to be deep-voiced, and others high-voiced. For hot breath being thick causes depth, cold breath being thin the opposite. This is clear also in pipe-playing, for if the breath of the performer is hotter, that is to say if it is expelled as by a groan, the note is deeper.
The cause of roughness and smoothness in the voice, and 25of all similar inequality, is that the part or organ through which the voice is conveyed is rough or smooth or generally even or uneven. This is plain when there is any moisture about the trachea or when it is roughened by any affection, for then the voice also becomes uneven.
Flexibility depends on the softness or hardness of the organ, for 30what is soft can be regulated and assume any form, while what is hard cannot; thus the soft organ can utter a loud or a small note, and accordingly a high or a deep one, since it easily regulates the breath, becoming itself easily great or small. But hardness cannot be regulated.
The heat or cold also of their habitat contributes to make some animals of 20such a character as to be deep-voiced, and others high-voiced. For hot breath being thick causes depth, cold breath being thin the opposite. This is clear also in pipe-playing, for if the breath of the performer is hotter, that is to say if it is expelled as by a groan, the note is deeper.
The cause of roughness and smoothness in the voice, and 25of all similar inequality, is that the part or organ through which the voice is conveyed is rough or smooth or generally even or uneven. This is plain when there is any moisture about the trachea or when it is roughened by any affection, for then the voice also becomes uneven.
Flexibility depends on the softness or hardness of the organ, for 30what is soft can be regulated and assume any form, while what is hard cannot; thus the soft organ can utter a loud or a small note, and accordingly a high or a deep one, since it easily regulates the breath, becoming itself easily great or small. But hardness cannot be regulated.
788b
1 ὅσα μὴ πρότερον ἐν τοῖς περὶ αἰσθήσεως διώρισται καὶ ἐν
τοῖς περὶ ψυχῆς τοσαῦτ' εἰρήσθω.
1Let this be enough on all those points concerning the voice which have not been previously discussed in the treatise on sensation and in that on the soul.
Book 5,Chapter 8 (788b3–789b20)
Περὶ δὲ ὀδόντων, ὅτι μὲν οὐχ ἑνὸς χάριν οὐδὲ πάντα
τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἕνεκα τὰ ζῷα ἔχουσιν ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν
5 τροφὴν τὰ δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἀλκὴν καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐν τῇ φωνῇ
λόγον, εἴρηται πρότερον· διότι δ' οἱ μὲν πρόσθιοι γίγνονται
πρότερον οἱ δὲ γόμφιοι ὕστερον, καὶ οὗτοι μὲν οὐκ ἐκπίπτουσιν
ἐκεῖνοι δ' ἐκπίπτουσι καὶ φύονται πάλιν, τοῖς
περὶ γενέσεως λόγοις τὴν αἰτίαν συγγενῆ δεῖ νομίζειν. Εἴρηκε
10 μὲν οὖν περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ Δημόκριτος, οὐ καλῶς δ' εἴρηκεν·
οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ πάντων σκεψάμενος καθόλου λέγει τὴν αἰτίαν.
φησὶ γὰρ ἐκπίπτειν μὲν διὰ τὸ πρὸ ὥρας γίγνεσθαι
τοῖς ζῴοις· ἀκμαζόντων γὰρ ὡς εἰπεῖν φύεσθαι κατά γε
φύσιν, τοῦ δὲ πρὸ ὥρας γίγνεσθαι τὸ θηλάζειν αἰτιᾶται. καίτοι
15 θηλάζει γε καὶ ὗς, οὐκ ἐκβάλλει δὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας· ἔτι
δὲ τὰ καρχαρόδοντα θηλάζει μὲν πάντα, οὐκ ἐκβάλλει δ'
ἔνια αὐτῶν πλὴν τοὺς κυνόδοντας, οἷον οἱ λέοντες. τοῦτο μὲν
οὖν ἥμαρτε καθόλου λέγων οὐ σκεψάμενος τὸ συμβαῖνον ἐπὶ
πάντων. δεῖ δὲ τοῦτο ποιεῖν· ἀνάγκη γὰρ τὸν λέγοντα καθόλου
20 τι λέγειν περὶ πάντων. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν φύσιν ὑποτιθέμεθα,
ἐξ ὧν ὁρῶμεν ὑποτιθέμενοι, οὔτ' ἐλλείπουσαν οὔτε μάταιον
οὐθὲν ποιοῦσαν τῶν ἐνδεχομένων περὶ ἕκαστον, ἀνάγκη δὲ τοῖς
μέλλουσι λαμβάνειν τροφὴν μετὰ τὴν [τοῦ γάλακτος] ἀπογαλάκτισιν
ἔχειν ὄργανα πρὸς τὴν ἐργασίαν τῆς τροφῆς—εἰ οὖν
25 συνέβαινεν, ὡς ἐκεῖνος λέγει, πρὸς ἥβην, ἐνέλειπεν ἂν ἡ
φύσις τῶν ἐνδεχομένων αὐτῇ τι ποιεῖν, καὶ τὸ τῆς φύσεως
ἔργον ἐγίγνετ' ἂν παρὰ φύσιν. τὸ γὰρ βίᾳ παρὰ φύσιν,
βίᾳ δέ φησι συμβαίνειν τὴν γένεσιν τῶν ὀδόντων. ὅτι μὲν οὖν
τοῦτ' οὐκ ἀληθὲς φανερὸν ἐκ τούτων καὶ τοιούτων ἄλλων. Γίγνονται
30 δὲ πρότερον οὗτοι τῶν πλατέων, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι καὶ τὸ
ἔργον τὸ τούτων πρότερον (πρότερον γάρ ἐστι τοῦ λεᾶναι τὸ
διελεῖν, εἰσὶ δ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἐπὶ τῷ λεαίνειν οὗτοι δ' ἐπὶ τῷ
διαιρεῖν), ἔπειθ' ὅτι τὸ ἔλαττον, κἂν ἅμα ὁρμηθῇ, θᾶττον
γίγνεσθαι πέφυκε τοῦ μείζονος. εἰσὶ δ' ἐλάττους οὗτοι τῷ μεγέθει
With regard to the teeth it has been stated previously that they do not exist for a single purpose nor for the same purpose in all animals, but in some for 5nutrition only, in others also for fighting and for vocal speech. We must, however, consider it not alien to the discussion of generation and development to inquire into the reason why the front teeth are formed first and the grinders later, and why the latter are not shed but the former are shed and grow again.
Democritus has spoken of these questions but not well, for he assigns the cause 10too generally without investigating the facts in all cases. He says that the early teeth are shed because they are formed in animals too early, for it is when animals are practically in their prime that they grow according to Nature, and suckling is the cause he assigns for their being found too early. Yet the pig also suckles but does not shed its teeth, and, further, all the animals with 15carnivorous dentition suckle, but some of them do not shed any teeth except the canines, e.g. lions. This mistake, then, was due to his speaking generally without examining what happens in all cases; but this is what we to do, for any one who makes any general statement must speak of all the particular cases.
Now we assume, basing our assumption upon what we see, that Nature never fails 20nor does anything in vain so far as is possible in each case. And it is necessary, if an animal is to obtain food after the time of taking milk is over, that it should have instruments for the treatment of the food. If, then, as Democritus says, this happened about the time of reaching maturity, Nature would fail in something possible for her to do. And, besides, the operation of Nature 25would be contrary to Nature, for what is done by violence is contrary to Nature, and it is by violence that he says the formation of the first teeth is brought about. That this view then is not true is plain from these and other similar considerations.
Now these teeth are developed before the flat teeth, in the first place because their function is earlier (for dividing comes before crushing, 30and the flat teeth are for crushing, the others for dividing), in the second place because the smaller is naturally developed quicker than the larger, even if both start together, and these teeth are smaller in size than the grinders, because the bone of the jaw is flat in that part but narrow towards the mouth.
Democritus has spoken of these questions but not well, for he assigns the cause 10too generally without investigating the facts in all cases. He says that the early teeth are shed because they are formed in animals too early, for it is when animals are practically in their prime that they grow according to Nature, and suckling is the cause he assigns for their being found too early. Yet the pig also suckles but does not shed its teeth, and, further, all the animals with 15carnivorous dentition suckle, but some of them do not shed any teeth except the canines, e.g. lions. This mistake, then, was due to his speaking generally without examining what happens in all cases; but this is what we to do, for any one who makes any general statement must speak of all the particular cases.
Now we assume, basing our assumption upon what we see, that Nature never fails 20nor does anything in vain so far as is possible in each case. And it is necessary, if an animal is to obtain food after the time of taking milk is over, that it should have instruments for the treatment of the food. If, then, as Democritus says, this happened about the time of reaching maturity, Nature would fail in something possible for her to do. And, besides, the operation of Nature 25would be contrary to Nature, for what is done by violence is contrary to Nature, and it is by violence that he says the formation of the first teeth is brought about. That this view then is not true is plain from these and other similar considerations.
Now these teeth are developed before the flat teeth, in the first place because their function is earlier (for dividing comes before crushing, 30and the flat teeth are for crushing, the others for dividing), in the second place because the smaller is naturally developed quicker than the larger, even if both start together, and these teeth are smaller in size than the grinders, because the bone of the jaw is flat in that part but narrow towards the mouth.
789a
1 τῶν γομφίων [καὶ] τῷ τὸ ὀστοῦν τῆς σιαγόνος ἐκεῖ μὲν
πλατὺ εἶναι, πρὸς δὲ τῷ στόματι στενόν. ἐκ μὲν οὖν τοῦ μείζονος
πλείω ἀναγκαῖον ἐπιρρεῖν τροφήν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ στενωτέρου
ἐλάττω. Τὸ δὲ θηλάζειν αὐτὸ μὲν οὐθὲν συμβάλλεται, ἡ
5 δὲ τοῦ γάλακτος θερμότης ποιεῖ θᾶττον βλαστάνειν τοὺς ὀδόντας.
σημεῖον δ' ὅτι καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν θηλαζόντων τὰ θερμοτέρῳ
γάλακτι χρώμενα τῶν παιδίων ὀδοντοφυεῖ θᾶττον·
αὐξητικὸν γὰρ τὸ θερμόν. Ἐκπίπτουσι δὲ γενόμενοι τοῦ μὲν
βελτίονος χάριν, ὅτι ταχὺ ἀμβλύνεται τὸ ὀξύ· δεῖ οὖν ἑτέρους
10 διαδέχεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἔργον. τῶν δὲ πλατέων οὐκ ἔστιν
ἀμβλύτης ἀλλὰ τῷ χρόνῳ τριβόμενοι λεαίνονται μόνον.
ἐξ ἀνάγκης δ' ἐκπίπτουσιν ὅτι τῶν μὲν ἐν πλατείᾳ τῇ σιαγόνι
καὶ ἰσχυρῷ ὀστῷ αἱ ῥίζαι εἰσί, τῶν δὲ προσθίων ἐν
λεπτῷ, διὸ ἀσθενεῖς καὶ εὐκίνητοι. φύονται δὲ πάλιν ὅτι
15 ἐν φυομένῳ ἔτι τῷ ὀστῷ ἡ ἐκβολὴ γίγνεται καὶ ἔτι ὥρας
οὔσης γίγνεσθαι ὀδόντας. τούτου δὲ σημεῖον ὅτι καὶ οἱ πλατεῖς
φύονται πολὺν χρόνον· οἱ γὰρ τελευταῖοι ἀνατέλλουσι περὶ
τὰ εἴκοσιν ἔτη, ἐνίοις δ' ἤδη καὶ γηράσκουσι γεγένηται οἱ
ἔσχατοι παντελῶς διὰ τὸ πολλὴν εἶναι τροφὴν ἐν τῇ εὐρυχωρίᾳ
20 τοῦ ὀστοῦ. τὸ δὲ πρόσθιον διὰ τὴν λεπτότητα ταχὺ
1From the greater part, therefore, must flow more nutriment to form the teeth, and from the narrower part less.
The act of sucking in itself contributes nothing to the formation of the teeth, but the heat of the milk makes them appear more quickly. 5A proof of this is that even in suckling animals those young which enjoy hotter milk grow their teeth quicker, heat being conducive to growth.
They are shed, after they have been formed, partly because it is better so (for what is sharp is soon blunted, so that a fresh relay is needed for the work, 10whereas the flat teeth cannot be blunted but are only smoothed in time by wearing down), partly from necessity because, while the roots of the grinders are fixed where the jaw is flat and the bone strong, those of the front teeth are in a thin part, so that they are weak and easily moved. They grow again 15because they are shed while the bone is still growing and the animal is still young enough to grow teeth. A proof of this is that even the flat teeth grow for a long time, the last of them cutting the gum at about twenty years of age; indeed in some cases the last teeth have been grown in quite old age.
The act of sucking in itself contributes nothing to the formation of the teeth, but the heat of the milk makes them appear more quickly. 5A proof of this is that even in suckling animals those young which enjoy hotter milk grow their teeth quicker, heat being conducive to growth.
They are shed, after they have been formed, partly because it is better so (for what is sharp is soon blunted, so that a fresh relay is needed for the work, 10whereas the flat teeth cannot be blunted but are only smoothed in time by wearing down), partly from necessity because, while the roots of the grinders are fixed where the jaw is flat and the bone strong, those of the front teeth are in a thin part, so that they are weak and easily moved. They grow again 15because they are shed while the bone is still growing and the animal is still young enough to grow teeth. A proof of this is that even the flat teeth grow for a long time, the last of them cutting the gum at about twenty years of age; indeed in some cases the last teeth have been grown in quite old age.
789b
1 λαμβάνει τέλος, καὶ οὐ γίγνεται περίττωμα ἐν αὐτῷ ἀλλ'
εἰς τὴν αὔξησιν ἀναλίσκεται ἡ τροφὴ τὴν οἰκείαν. Δημόκριτος
δὲ τὸ οὗ ἕνεκεν ἀφεὶς λέγειν πάντα ἀνάγει εἰς ἀνάγκην
οἷς χρῆται ἡ φύσις—οὖσι μὲν τοιούτοις, οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' ἕνεκά
5 τινος οὖσι καὶ τοῦ περὶ ἕκαστον βελτίονος χάριν. ὥστε γίγνεσθαι
μὲν οὐθὲν κωλύει οὕτω καὶ ἐκπίπτειν, ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ
ταῦτα ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ τέλος· ταῦτα δ' ὡς κινοῦντα καὶ ὡς ὄργανα
καὶ ὡς ὕλη αἴτια, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ τῷ πνεύματι ἐργάζεσθαι
τὰ πολλὰ εἰκὸς ὡς ὀργάνῳ—οἷον γὰρ ἔνια πολύχρηστά
10 ἐστι τῶν περὶ τὰς τέχνας, ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ χαλκευτικῇ
ἡ σφύρα καὶ ὁ ἄκμων, οὕτω καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἐν τοῖς
φύσει συνεστῶσιν. ὅμοιον δ' ἔοικε τὸ λέγειν τὰ αἴτια ἐξ
ἀνάγκης κἂν εἴ τις διὰ τὸ μαχαίριον οἴοιτο τὸ ὕδωρ ἐξεληλυθέναι
μόνον τοῖς ὑδρωπιῶσιν, ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τὸ ὑγιαίνειν
15 οὗ ἕνεκα τὸ μαχαίριον ἔτεμεν.
Περὶ μὲν οὖν ὀδόντων, διότι οἱ μὲν ἐκπίπτουσι καὶ γίγνονται
πάλιν οἱ δ' οὔ, καὶ ὅλως διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν γίγνονται εἴρηται.
εἴρηται δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ τὰ μόρια
παθημάτων ὅσα γίγνεσθαι συμβαίνει μὴ ἕνεκά του ἀλλ'
20 ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ διὰ τὴν αἰτίαν τὴν κινητικήν.
1This is because there is much nutriment in the broad part of the bones, whereas the front part being thin soon reaches perfection and no residual matter is found in it, the nutriment being consumed in its own growth.
Democritus, however, neglecting the final cause, reduces to necessity all the operations of Nature. 5Now they are necessary, it is true, but yet they are for a final cause and for the sake of what is best in each case. Thus nothing prevents the teeth from being formed and being shed in this way; but it is not on account of these causes but on account of the end (or final cause); these are causes only in the sense of being the moving and efficient instruments and the material. So it is 10reasonable that Nature should perform most of her operations using breath as an instrument, for as some instruments serve many uses in the arts, e.g. the hammer and anvil in the smith’s art, so does breath in the living things formed by Nature. But to say that necessity is the only cause is much as if we should think that the water has been drawn off from a dropsical patient on account of 15the lancet, not on account of health, for the sake of which the lancet made the incision.
We have thus spoken of the teeth, saying why some are shed and grow again, and others not, and generally for what cause they are formed. And we have spoken of the other affections of the parts which are found to occur not for any final end but of necessity and on account of the motive or efficient cause.
Democritus, however, neglecting the final cause, reduces to necessity all the operations of Nature. 5Now they are necessary, it is true, but yet they are for a final cause and for the sake of what is best in each case. Thus nothing prevents the teeth from being formed and being shed in this way; but it is not on account of these causes but on account of the end (or final cause); these are causes only in the sense of being the moving and efficient instruments and the material. So it is 10reasonable that Nature should perform most of her operations using breath as an instrument, for as some instruments serve many uses in the arts, e.g. the hammer and anvil in the smith’s art, so does breath in the living things formed by Nature. But to say that necessity is the only cause is much as if we should think that the water has been drawn off from a dropsical patient on account of 15the lancet, not on account of health, for the sake of which the lancet made the incision.
We have thus spoken of the teeth, saying why some are shed and grow again, and others not, and generally for what cause they are formed. And we have spoken of the other affections of the parts which are found to occur not for any final end but of necessity and on account of the motive or efficient cause.