Fobes (1919) · Webster (1923)
Webster (1923)
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 1,Chapter 1 (338a20–339a10)
338a
20 Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν πρώτων αἰτίων τῆς φύσεως καὶ περὶ πάσης
κινήσεως φυσικῆς, ἔτι δὲ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἄνω φορὰν
διακεκοσμημένων ἄστρων καὶ περὶ τῶν στοιχείων τῶν
σωματικῶν, πόσα τε καὶ ποῖα, καὶ τῆς εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβολῆς,
καὶ περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς τῆς κοινῆς εἴρηται
25 πρότερον. λοιπὸν δ' ἐστὶ μέρος τῆς μεθόδου ταύτης ἔτι θεωρητέον,
ὃ πάντες οἱ πρότεροι μετεωρολογίαν ἐκάλουν· ταῦτα
20We have already discussed the first causes of nature, and all natural motion, also the stars ordered in the motion of the heavens, and the physical element-enumerating and specifying them and showing how they change into one another-and becoming and perishing in general. 25There remains for consideration a part of this inquiry which all our predecessors called meteorology. It is concerned with events that are natural, though their order is less perfect than that of the first of the elements of bodies.
338b
20 δ' ἐστὶν ὅσα συμβαίνει κατὰ φύσιν μέν, ἀτακτοτέραν μέντοι
τῆς τοῦ πρώτου στοιχείου τῶν σωμάτων, περὶ τὸν γειτνιῶντα
μάλιστα τόπον τῇ φορᾷ τῇ τῶν ἄστρων, οἷον περί τε γάλακτος
καὶ κομητῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκπυρουμένων καὶ κινουμένων φασμάτων,
ὅσα τε θείημεν ἂν ἀέρος εἶναι κοινὰ πάθη καὶ ὕδατος,
25 ἔτι δὲ γῆς ὅσα μέρη καὶ εἴδη καὶ πάθη τῶν μερῶν, ἐξ ὧν
περί τε πνευμάτων καὶ σεισμῶν θεωρήσαιμεν ἂν τὰς αἰτίας
They take place in the region nearest to the motion of the stars. Such are the milky way, and comets, and the movements of meteors. It studies also all the affections we may call common to air and water, and 25the kinds and parts of the earth and the affections of its parts. 20These throw light on the causes of winds and earthquakes and all the consequences the motions of these kinds and parts involve.
339a
1 καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν γιγνομένων κατὰ τὰς κινήσεις τὰς τούτων·
ἐν οἷς τὰ μὲν ἀποροῦμεν, τῶν δὲ ἐφαπτόμεθά τινα
τρόπον· ἔτι δὲ περὶ κεραυνῶν πτώσεως καὶ τυφώνων καὶ
πρηστήρων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐγκυκλίων, ὅσα διὰ πῆξιν
5 συμβαίνει πάθη τῶν αὐτῶν σωμάτων τούτων. διελθόντες δὲ
περὶ τούτων, θεωρήσωμεν εἴ τι δυνάμεθα κατὰ τὸν ὑφηγημένον
τρόπον ἀποδοῦναι περὶ ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν, καθόλου τε
καὶ χωρίς· σχεδὸν γὰρ τούτων ῥηθέντων τέλος ἂν εἴη γεγονὸς
τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν προαιρέσεως πάσης. ὧδ' οὖν ἀρξάμενοι
10 λέγωμεν περὶ αὐτῶν πρῶτον.
1Of these things some puzzle us, while others admit of explanation in some degree. Further, the inquiry is concerned with the falling of thunderbolts and with whirlwinds and fire-winds, and further, 5the recurrent affections produced in these same bodies by concretion. When the inquiry into these matters is concluded let us consider what account we can give, in accordance with the method we have followed, of animals and plants, both generally and in detail. When that has been done we may say that the whole of our original undertaking will have been carried out.
After this introduction let us begin 10by discussing our immediate subject.
After this introduction let us begin 10by discussing our immediate subject.
Book 1,Chapter 2 (339a11–32)
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ διώρισται πρότερον ἡμῖν μία μὲν ἀρχὴ τῶν
σωμάτων, ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκεν ἡ τῶν ἐγκυκλίως φερομένων σωμάτων
φύσις, ἄλλα δὲ τέτταρα σώματα διὰ τὰς τέτταρας
ἀρχάς, ὧν διπλῆν εἶναί φαμεν τὴν κίνησιν, τὴν μὲν
15 ἀπὸ τοῦ μέσου τὴν δ' ἐπὶ τὸ μέσον· τεττάρων δ' ὄντων τούτων,
πυρὸς καὶ ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος καὶ γῆς, τὸ μὲν τούτοις
πᾶσιν ἐπιπολάζον εἶναι πῦρ, τὸ δ' ὑφιστάμενον γῆν· δύο
δὲ ἃ πρὸς αὑτὰ τούτοις ἀνάλογον ἔχει (ἀὴρ μὲν γὰρ πυρὸς
ἐγγυτάτω τῶν ἄλλων, ὕδωρ δὲ γῆς)· ὁ δὴ περὶ τὴν γῆν
20 ὅλος κόσμος ἐκ τούτων συνέστηκε τῶν σωμάτων· περὶ οὗ τὰ
συμβαίνοντα πάθη φαμὲν εἶναι ληπτέον. ἔστιν δ' ἐξ ἀνάγκης
συνεχὴς οὗτος ταῖς ἄνω φοραῖς, ὥστε πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν
δύναμιν κυβερνᾶσθαι ἐκεῖθεν· ὅθεν γὰρ ἡ τῆς κινήσεως
ἀρχὴ πᾶσιν, ἐκείνην αἰτίαν νομιστέον πρώτην. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις
25 ἡ μὲν ἀίδιος καὶ τέλος οὐκ ἔχουσα τῷ τόπῳ τῆς κινήσεως,
ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ἐν τέλει· ταῦτα δὲ τὰ σώματα πάντα πεπερασμένους
διέστηκε τόπους ἀλλήλων. ὥστε τῶν συμβαινόντων
περὶ αὐτὸν πῦρ μὲν καὶ γῆν καὶ τὰ συγγενῆ τούτοις ὡς ἐν
ὕλης εἴδει τῶν γιγνομένων αἴτια χρὴ νομίζειν (τὸ γὰρ ὑποκείμενον
30 καὶ πάσχον τοῦτον προσαγορεύομεν τὸν τρόπον), τὸ
δ' οὕτως αἴτιον ὅθεν ἡ τῆς κινήσεως ἀρχή, τὴν τῶν ἀεὶ
κινουμένων αἰτιατέον δύναμιν.
11We have already laid down that there is one physical element which makes up the system of the bodies that move in a circle, and besides this four bodies owing their existence to the four principles, the motion of these latter bodies being of two kinds: 15either from the centre or to the centre. These four bodies are fire, air, water, earth. Fire occupies the highest place among them all, earth the lowest, and two elements correspond to these in their relation to one another, air being nearest to fire, water to earth. The 20whole world surrounding the earth, then, the affections of which are our subject, is made up of these bodies. This world necessarily has a certain continuity with the upper motions: consequently all its power and order is derived from them. (For the originating principle of all motion is the first cause. Besides, 25that clement is eternal and its motion has no limit in space, but is always complete; whereas all these other bodies have separate regions which limit one another.) So we must treat fire and earth and the elements like them as the material causes of the events in this world (meaning by material what is subject 30and is affected), but must assign causality in the sense of the originating principle of motion to the influence of the eternally moving bodies.
Book 1,Chapter 3 (339a33–341a36)
ἀναλαβόντες οὖν τὰς ἐξ ἀρχῆς θέσεις καὶ τοὺς εἰρημένους
πρότερον διορισμούς, λέγωμεν περί τε τῆς τοῦ γάλακτος
35 φαντασίας καὶ περὶ κομητῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα τυγχάνει
τούτοις ὄντα συγγενῆ. φαμὲν δὴ πῦρ καὶ ἀέρα καὶ ὕδωρ
καὶ γῆν γίγνεσθαι ἐξ ἀλλήλων, καὶ ἕκαστον ἐν ἑκάστῳ ὑπάρχειν
33Let us first recall our original principles and the distinctions already drawn and then 35explain the 'milky way' and comets and the other phenomena akin to these.
Fire, air, water, earth, we assert, originate from one another, and each of them exists potentially in each, as all things do that can be resolved into a common and ultimate substrate.
Fire, air, water, earth, we assert, originate from one another, and each of them exists potentially in each, as all things do that can be resolved into a common and ultimate substrate.
339b
1 τούτων δυνάμει, ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἷς ἕν τι καὶ
ταὐτὸν ὑπόκειται, εἰς ὃ δὴ ἀναλύονται ἔσχατον. πρῶτον μὲν
οὖν ἀπορήσειεν ἄν τις περὶ τὸν καλούμενον ἀέρα, τίνα τε χρὴ
λαβεῖν αὐτοῦ τὴν φύσιν ἐν τῷ περιέχοντι κόσμῳ τὴν γῆν,
5 καὶ πῶς ἔχει τῇ τάξει πρὸς τἆλλα τὰ λεγόμενα στοιχεῖα
τῶν σωμάτων. ὁ μὲν γὰρ δὴ τῆς γῆς ὄγκος πηλίκος ἄν τις
εἴη πρὸς τὰ περιέχοντα μεγέθη, οὐκ ἄδηλον· ἤδη γὰρ
ὦπται διὰ τῶν ἀστρολογικῶν θεωρημάτων ἡμῖν ὅτι πολὺ
καὶ τῶν ἄστρων ἐνίων ἐλάττων ἐστίν. ὕδατος δὲ φύσιν συνεστηκυῖαν
10 καὶ ἀφωρισμένην οὔθ' ὁρῶμεν οὔτ' ἐνδέχεται κεχωρισμένην
εἶναι τοῦ περὶ τὴν γῆν ἱδρυμένου σώματος, οἷον τῶν
τε φανερῶν, θαλάττης καὶ ποταμῶν, κἂν εἴ τι κατὰ βάθους
ἄδηλον ἡμῖν ἐστιν. τὸ δὲ δὴ μεταξὺ τῆς γῆς τε καὶ
τῶν ἐσχάτων ἄστρων πότερον ἕν τι νομιστέον εἶναι σῶμα τὴν
15 φύσιν ἢ πλείω, κἂν εἰ πλείω, πόσα, καὶ μέχρι ποῦ διώρισται
τοῖς τόποις; ἡμῖν μὲν οὖν εἴρηται πρότερον περὶ τοῦ
πρώτου στοιχείου, ποῖόν τι τὴν δύναμίν ἐστιν, καὶ διότι πᾶς ὁ
περὶ τὰς ἄνω φορὰς κόσμος ἐκείνου τοῦ σώματος πλήρης
ἐστί. καὶ ταύτην τὴν δόξαν οὐ μόνον ἡμεῖς τυγχάνομεν ἔχοντες,
20 φαίνεται δὲ ἀρχαία τις ὑπόληψις αὕτη καὶ τῶν πρότερον
ἀνθρώπων· ὁ γὰρ λεγόμενος αἰθὴρ παλαιὰν εἴληφε
τὴν προσηγορίαν, ἣν Ἀναξαγόρας μὲν τῷ πυρὶ ταὐτὸν ἡγήσασθαί
μοι δοκεῖ σημαίνειν· τά τε γὰρ ἄνω πλήρη πυρὸς
εἶναι, κἀκεῖνος τὴν ἐκεῖ δύναμιν αἰθέρα καλεῖν ἐνόμισεν,
25 τοῦτο μὲν ὀρθῶς νομίσας· τὸ γὰρ ἀεὶ σῶμα θέον ἅμα καὶ θεῖόν
τι τὴν φύσιν ἐοίκασιν ὑπολαβεῖν, καὶ διώρισαν ὀνομάζειν
αἰθέρα τὸ τοιοῦτον ὡς ὂν οὐδενὶ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν τὸ αὐτό· οὐ
γὰρ δὴ φήσομεν ἅπαξ οὐδὲ δὶς οὐδ' ὀλιγάκις τὰς αὐτὰς
δόξας ἀνακυκλεῖν γιγνομένας ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλ' ἀπειράκις.
30 ὅσοι δὲ πῦρ καθαρὸν εἶναί φασι τὸ περιέχον καὶ μὴ
μόνον τὰ φερόμενα σώματα, τὸ δὲ μεταξὺ γῆς καὶ τῶν
ἄστρων ἀέρα, θεωρήσαντες ἂν τὰ νῦν δεικνύμενα διὰ τῶν
μαθημάτων ἱκανῶς ἴσως ἂν ἐπαύσαντο ταύτης τῆς παιδικῆς
δόξης· λίαν γὰρ ἁπλοῦν τὸ νομίζειν μικρὸν τοῖς μεγέθεσιν
35 εἶναι τῶν φερομένων ἕκαστον, ὅτι φαίνεται θεωροῦσιν ἐντεῦθεν
ἡμῖν οὕτως. εἴρηται μὲν οὖν καὶ πρότερον ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὸν
ἄνω τόπον θεωρήμασι· λέγωμεν δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον καὶ νῦν.
1The first difficulty is raised by what is called the air. What are we to take its nature to be in the world surrounding the earth? 5And what is its position relatively to the other physical elements. (For there is no question as to the relation of the bulk of the earth to the size of the bodies which exist around it, since astronomical demonstrations have by this time proved to us that it is actually far smaller than some individual stars. As for the water, 10it is not observed to exist collectively and separately, nor can it do so apart from that volume of it which has its seat about the earth: the sea, that is, and rivers, which we can see, and any subterranean water that may be hidden from our observation.) The question is really about that which lies between the earth and the nearest stars. Are we to consider it to be one kind of body 15or more than one? And if more than one, how many are there and what are the bounds of their regions?
We have already described and characterized the first element, and explained that the whole world of the upper motions is full of that body.
This is an opinion we are not alone in holding: 20it appears to be an old assumption and one which men have held in the past, for the word ether has long been used to denote that element. Anaxagoras, it is true, seems to me to think that the word means the same as fire. For he thought that the upper regions were full of fire, and that men referred to those regions when they spoke of ether. 25In the latter point he was right, for men seem to have assumed that a body that was eternally in motion was also divine in nature; and, as such a body was different from any of the terrestrial elements, they determined to call it 'ether'.
For the um opinions appear in cycles among men not once nor twice, but infinitely often.
30Now there are some who maintain that not only the bodies in motion but that which contains them is pure fire, and the interval between the earth and the stars air: but if they had considered what is now satisfactorily established by mathematics, they might have given up this puerile opinion. For it is altogether childish to suppose that the moving bodies 35are all of them of a small size, because they so to us, looking at them from the earth.
This a matter which we have already discussed in our treatment of the upper region, but we may return to the point now.
We have already described and characterized the first element, and explained that the whole world of the upper motions is full of that body.
This is an opinion we are not alone in holding: 20it appears to be an old assumption and one which men have held in the past, for the word ether has long been used to denote that element. Anaxagoras, it is true, seems to me to think that the word means the same as fire. For he thought that the upper regions were full of fire, and that men referred to those regions when they spoke of ether. 25In the latter point he was right, for men seem to have assumed that a body that was eternally in motion was also divine in nature; and, as such a body was different from any of the terrestrial elements, they determined to call it 'ether'.
For the um opinions appear in cycles among men not once nor twice, but infinitely often.
30Now there are some who maintain that not only the bodies in motion but that which contains them is pure fire, and the interval between the earth and the stars air: but if they had considered what is now satisfactorily established by mathematics, they might have given up this puerile opinion. For it is altogether childish to suppose that the moving bodies 35are all of them of a small size, because they so to us, looking at them from the earth.
This a matter which we have already discussed in our treatment of the upper region, but we may return to the point now.
340a
1 εἰ γὰρ τά τε διαστήματα πλήρη πυρὸς καὶ τὰ σώματα
συνέστηκεν ἐκ πυρός, πάλαι φροῦδον ἂν ἦν ἕκαστον τῶν ἄλλων
στοιχείων. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδ' ἀέρος γε μόνου πλήρη· πολὺ
γὰρ ἂν ὑπερβάλλοι τὴν ἰσότητα τῆς κοινῆς ἀναλογίας πρὸς
5 τὰ σύστοιχα σώματα, κἂν εἰ δύο στοιχείων πλήρης ὁ μεταξὺ
γῆς τε καὶ οὐρανοῦ τόπος ἐστίν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὡς εἰπεῖν μόριον
ὁ τῆς γῆς ἐστιν ὄγκος, ἐν ᾧ συνείληπται πᾶν καὶ τὸ
τοῦ ὕδατος πλῆθος, πρὸς τὸ περιέχον μέγεθος. ὁρῶμεν δ'
οὐκ ἐν τοσούτῳ μεγέθει γιγνομένην τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῶν ὄγκων,
10 ὅταν ἐξ ὕδατος ἀὴρ γένηται διακριθέντος ἢ πῦρ ἐξ ἀέρος·
ἀνάγκη δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν ἔχειν λόγον ὃν ἔχει τὸ τοσονδὶ καὶ
μικρὸν ὕδωρ πρὸς τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γιγνόμενον ἀέρα, καὶ τὸν πάντα
πρὸς τὸ πᾶν ὕδωρ. διαφέρει δ' οὐδὲν οὐδ' εἴ τις φήσει μὲν
μὴ γίγνεσθαι ταῦτα ἐξ ἀλλήλων, ἴσα μέντοι τὴν δύναμιν
15 εἶναι· κατὰ τοῦτον γὰρ τὸν τρόπον ἀνάγκη τὴν ἰσότητα τῆς
δυνάμεως ὑπάρχειν τοῖς μεγέθεσιν αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ κἂν εἰ
γιγνόμενα ἐξ ἀλλήλων ὑπῆρχεν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὔτ' ἀὴρ οὔτε
πῦρ συμπεπλήρωκε μόνον τὸν μεταξὺ τόπον, φανερόν ἐστι·
λοιπὸν δὲ διαπορήσαντας εἰπεῖν πῶς τέτακται τὰ δύο πρὸς
20 τὴν τοῦ πρώτου σώματος θέσιν, λέγω δὲ ἀέρα τε καὶ πῦρ,
καὶ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν ἡ θερμότης ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνωθεν ἄστρων
γίγνεται τοῖς περὶ τὴν γῆν τόποις. περὶ ἀέρος οὖν εἰπόντες
πρῶτον, ὥσπερ ὑπεθέμεθα, λέγωμεν οὕτω καὶ περὶ τούτων
πάλιν. εἰ δὴ γίγνεται ὕδωρ ἐξ ἀέρος καὶ ἀὴρ ἐξ ὕδατος,
25 διὰ τίνα ποτ' αἰτίαν οὐ συνίσταται νέφη κατὰ τὸν ἄνω τόπον;
προσῆκε γὰρ μᾶλλον ὅσῳ πορρώτερον ὁ τόπος τῆς
γῆς καὶ ψυχρότερος, διὰ τὸ μήθ' οὕτω πλησίον εἶναι τῶν
ἄστρων θερμῶν ὄντων μήτε τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀνακλωμένων
ἀκτίνων, αἳ κωλύουσι πλησίον τῆς γῆς συνίστασθαι, διακρίνουσαι
30 τῇ θερμότητι τὰς συστάσεις· γίγνονται γὰρ αἱ τῶν
νεφῶν ἀθροίσεις, οὗ λήγουσιν ἤδη διὰ τὸ σχίζεσθαι εἰς
ἀχανὲς αἱ ἀκτῖνες. ἢ οὖν οὐκ ἐξ ἅπαντος τοῦ ἀέρος πέφυκεν
ὕδωρ γίγνεσθαι, ἢ εἰ ὁμοίως ἐξ ἅπαντος, ὁ περὶ τὴν
γῆν οὐ μόνον ἀήρ ἐστιν ἀλλ' οἷον ἀτμίς, διὸ πάλιν συνίσταται
35 εἰς ὕδωρ. ἀλλὰ μὴν εἰ τοσοῦτος ὢν ὁ ἀὴρ ἅπας ἀτμίς
ἐστι, δόξειεν ἂν πολὺ ὑπερβάλλειν ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος φύσις καὶ
ἡ τοῦ ὕδατος, εἴπερ τά τε διαστήματα τῶν ἄνω πλήρη ἐστὶ
1If the intervals were full of fire and the bodies consisted of fire every one of the other elements would long ago have vanished.
However, they cannot simply be said to be full of air either; for even if there were two elements to fill the space between the earth and the heavens, the air would far exceed the quantitu required to maintain its proper proportion 5to the other elements. For the bulk of the earth (which includes the whole volume of water) is infinitesimal in comparison with the whole world that surrounds it. Now we find that the excess in volume is not proportionately great 10where water dissolves into air or air into fire. Whereas the proportion between any given small quantity of water and the air that is generated from it ought to hold good between the total amount of air and the total amount of water. Nor does it make any difference if any one denies that the elements originate from one another, but asserts that they 15are equal in power. For on this view it is certain amounts of each that are equal in power, just as would be the case if they actually originated from one another.
So it is clear that neither air nor fire alone fills the intermediate space.
It remains to explain, after a preliminary discussion of difficulties, the relation of the two elements air and fire 20to the position of the first element, and the reason why the stars in the upper region impart heat to the earth and its neighbourhood. Let us first treat of the air, as we proposed, and then go on to these questions.
Since water is generated from air, and air from water, 25why are clouds not formed in the upper air? They ought to form there the more, the further from the earth and the colder that region is. For it is neither appreciably near to the heat of the stars, nor to the rays relected from the earth. It is these that dissolve any formation 30by their heat and so prevent clouds from forming near the earth. For clouds gather at the point where the reflected rays disperse in the infinity of space and are lost. To explain this we must suppose either that it is not all air which water is generated, or, if it is produced from all air alike, that what immediately surrounds the earth is not mere air, but a sort of vapour, and that its vaporous nature is the reason why it condenses back 35to water again. But if the whole of that vast region is vapour, the amount of air and of water will be disproportionately great.
However, they cannot simply be said to be full of air either; for even if there were two elements to fill the space between the earth and the heavens, the air would far exceed the quantitu required to maintain its proper proportion 5to the other elements. For the bulk of the earth (which includes the whole volume of water) is infinitesimal in comparison with the whole world that surrounds it. Now we find that the excess in volume is not proportionately great 10where water dissolves into air or air into fire. Whereas the proportion between any given small quantity of water and the air that is generated from it ought to hold good between the total amount of air and the total amount of water. Nor does it make any difference if any one denies that the elements originate from one another, but asserts that they 15are equal in power. For on this view it is certain amounts of each that are equal in power, just as would be the case if they actually originated from one another.
So it is clear that neither air nor fire alone fills the intermediate space.
It remains to explain, after a preliminary discussion of difficulties, the relation of the two elements air and fire 20to the position of the first element, and the reason why the stars in the upper region impart heat to the earth and its neighbourhood. Let us first treat of the air, as we proposed, and then go on to these questions.
Since water is generated from air, and air from water, 25why are clouds not formed in the upper air? They ought to form there the more, the further from the earth and the colder that region is. For it is neither appreciably near to the heat of the stars, nor to the rays relected from the earth. It is these that dissolve any formation 30by their heat and so prevent clouds from forming near the earth. For clouds gather at the point where the reflected rays disperse in the infinity of space and are lost. To explain this we must suppose either that it is not all air which water is generated, or, if it is produced from all air alike, that what immediately surrounds the earth is not mere air, but a sort of vapour, and that its vaporous nature is the reason why it condenses back 35to water again. But if the whole of that vast region is vapour, the amount of air and of water will be disproportionately great.
340b
1 σώματός τινος, καὶ πυρὸς μὲν ἀδύνατον διὰ τὸ κατεξηράνθαι
ἂν τἆλλα πάντα, λείπεται δ' ἀέρος καὶ τοῦ περὶ τὴν
γῆν πᾶσαν ὕδατος· ἡ γὰρ ἀτμὶς ὕδατος διάκρισίς ἐστιν.
περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων ἠπορήσθω τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· ἡμεῖς δὲ
5 λέγωμεν ἅμα πρός τε τὰ λεχθησόμενα διορίζοντες καὶ
πρὸς τὰ νῦν εἰρημένα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄνω καὶ μέχρι σελήνης
ἕτερον εἶναι σῶμά φαμεν πυρός τε καὶ ἀέρος, οὐ μὴν
ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῷ γε τὸ μὲν καθαρώτερον εἶναι τὸ δ' ἧττον εἰλικρινές,
καὶ διαφορὰς ἔχειν, καὶ μάλιστα ᾗ καταλήγει
10 πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα καὶ πρὸς τὸν περὶ τὴν γῆν κόσμον. φερομένου
δὲ τοῦ πρώτου στοιχείου κύκλῳ καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ σωμάτων,
τὸ προσεχὲς ἀεὶ τοῦ κάτω κόσμου καὶ σώματος
τῇ κινήσει διακρινόμενον ἐκπυροῦται καὶ ποιεῖ τὴν θερμότητα.
δεῖ δὲ νοεῖν οὕτως καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξαμένους. τὸ γὰρ
15 ὑπὸ τὴν ἄνω περιφορὰν σῶμα οἷον ὕλη τις οὖσα καὶ δυνάμει
θερμὴ καὶ ψυχρὰ καὶ ξηρὰ καὶ ὑγρά, καὶ ὅσα
ἄλλα τούτοις ἀκολουθεῖ πάθη, γίγνεται τοιαύτη καὶ ἔστιν
ὑπὸ κινήσεως καὶ ἀκινησίας, ἧς τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν
εἰρήκαμεν πρότερον. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ μέσου καὶ περὶ τὸ
20 μέσον τὸ βαρύτατόν ἐστιν καὶ ψυχρότατον ἀποκεκριμένον,
γῆ καὶ ὕδωρ· περὶ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ἐχόμενα τούτων, ἀήρ
τε καὶ ὃ διὰ συνήθειαν καλοῦμεν πῦρ, οὐκ ἔστι δὲ πῦρ·
ὑπερβολὴ γὰρ θερμοῦ καὶ οἷον ζέσις ἐστὶ τὸ πῦρ. ἀλλὰ
δεῖ νοῆσαι τοῦ λεγομένου ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἀέρος τὸ μὲν περὶ τὴν
25 γῆν οἷον ὑγρὸν καὶ θερμὸν εἶναι διὰ τὸ ἀτμίζειν τε καὶ
ἀναθυμίασιν ἔχειν γῆς, τὸ δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦτο θερμὸν ἤδη καὶ
ξηρόν. ἔστιν γὰρ ἀτμίδος μὲν φύσις ὑγρὸν καὶ θερμόν, ἀναθυμιάσεως
δὲ θερμὸν καὶ ξηρόν· καὶ ἔστιν ἀτμὶς μὲν δυνάμει
οἷον ὕδωρ, ἀναθυμίασις δὲ δυνάμει οἷον πῦρ. τοῦ μὲν
30 οὖν ἐν τῷ ἄνω τόπῳ μὴ συνίστασθαι νέφη ταύτην ὑποληπτέον
αἰτίαν εἶναι, ὅτι οὐκ ἔνεστιν ἀὴρ μόνον ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον
οἷον πῦρ. οὐδὲν δὲ κωλύει καὶ διὰ τὴν κύκλῳ φορὰν
κωλύεσθαι συνίστασθαι νέφη ἐν τῷ ἀνωτέρω τόπῳ· ῥεῖν γὰρ
ἀναγκαῖον ἅπαντα τὸν κύκλῳ ἀέρα, ὅσος μὴ ἐντὸς τῆς
35 περιφερείας λαμβάνεται τῆς ἀπαρτιζούσης ὥστε τὴν γῆν
σφαιροειδῆ εἶναι πᾶσαν· φαίνεται γὰρ καὶ νῦν ἡ τῶν ἀνέμων
γένεσις ἐν τοῖς λιμνάζουσι τόποις τῆς γῆς, καὶ οὐχ
1For the spaces left by the heavenly bodies must be filled by some element. This cannot be fire, for then all the rest would have been dried up. Consequently, what fills it must be air and the water that surrounds the whole earth-vapour being water dissolved.
After this exposition of the difficulties involved, 5let us go on to lay down the truth, with a view at once to what follows and to what has already been said. The upper region as far as the moon we affirm to consist of a body distinct both from fire and from air, but varying degree of purity and in kind, especially towards its limit 10on the side of the air, and of the world surrounding the earth. Now the circular motion of the first element and of the bodies it contains dissolves, and inflames by its motion, whatever part of the lower world is nearest to it, and so generates heat. From another point of view we may look at the motion as follows. 15The body that lies below the circular motion of the heavens is, in a sort, matter, and is potentially hot, cold, dry, moist, and possessed of whatever other qualities are derived from these. But it actually acquires or retains one of these in virtue of motion or rest, the cause and principle of which has already been explained. So at the centre and round it 20we get earth and water, the heaviest and coldest elements, by themselves; round them and contiguous with them, air and what we commonly call fire. It is not really fire, for fire is an excess of heat and a sort of ebullition; but in reality, of what we call air, 25the part surrounding the earth is moist and warm, because it contains both vapour and a dry exhalation from the earth. But the next part, above that, is warm and dry. For vapour is naturally moist and cold, but the exhalation warm and dry; and vapour is potentially like water, the exhalation potentially like fire. 30So we must take the reason why clouds are not formed in the upper region to be this: that it is filled not with mere air but rather with a sort of fire.
However, it may well be that the formation of clouds in that upper region is also prevented by the circular motion. For the air round the earth is necessarily all of it in motion, except that which is cut off inside 35the circumference which makes the earth a complete sphere. In the case of winds it is actually observable that they originate in marshy districts of the earth; and they do not seem to blow above the level of the highest mountains.
After this exposition of the difficulties involved, 5let us go on to lay down the truth, with a view at once to what follows and to what has already been said. The upper region as far as the moon we affirm to consist of a body distinct both from fire and from air, but varying degree of purity and in kind, especially towards its limit 10on the side of the air, and of the world surrounding the earth. Now the circular motion of the first element and of the bodies it contains dissolves, and inflames by its motion, whatever part of the lower world is nearest to it, and so generates heat. From another point of view we may look at the motion as follows. 15The body that lies below the circular motion of the heavens is, in a sort, matter, and is potentially hot, cold, dry, moist, and possessed of whatever other qualities are derived from these. But it actually acquires or retains one of these in virtue of motion or rest, the cause and principle of which has already been explained. So at the centre and round it 20we get earth and water, the heaviest and coldest elements, by themselves; round them and contiguous with them, air and what we commonly call fire. It is not really fire, for fire is an excess of heat and a sort of ebullition; but in reality, of what we call air, 25the part surrounding the earth is moist and warm, because it contains both vapour and a dry exhalation from the earth. But the next part, above that, is warm and dry. For vapour is naturally moist and cold, but the exhalation warm and dry; and vapour is potentially like water, the exhalation potentially like fire. 30So we must take the reason why clouds are not formed in the upper region to be this: that it is filled not with mere air but rather with a sort of fire.
However, it may well be that the formation of clouds in that upper region is also prevented by the circular motion. For the air round the earth is necessarily all of it in motion, except that which is cut off inside 35the circumference which makes the earth a complete sphere. In the case of winds it is actually observable that they originate in marshy districts of the earth; and they do not seem to blow above the level of the highest mountains.
341a
1 ὑπερβάλλειν τὰ πνεύματα τῶν ὑψηλῶν ὀρῶν. ῥεῖ δὲ
κύκλῳ διὰ τὸ συνεφέλκεσθαι τῇ τοῦ ὅλου περιφορᾷ. τὸ μὲν
γὰρ πῦρ τῷ ἄνω στοιχείῳ, τῷ δὲ πυρὶ ὁ ἀὴρ συνεχής ἐστιν·
ὥστε καὶ διὰ τὴν κίνησιν κωλύεται συγκρίνεσθαι εἰς ὕδωρ,
5 ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ὅ τι ἂν βαρύνηται μόριον αὐτοῦ ἐκθλιβομένου εἰς
τὸν ἄνω τόπον τοῦ θερμοῦ κάτω φέρεται, ἄλλα δ' ἐν μέρει
συναναφέρεται τῷ ἀναθυμιωμένῳ πυρί, καὶ οὕτω συνεχῶς τὸ
μὲν ἀέρος διατελεῖ πλῆρες ὂν τὸ δὲ πυρός, καὶ ἀεὶ ἄλλο
καὶ ἄλλο γίγνεται ἕκαστον αὐτῶν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ μὴ γίγνεσθαι
10 νέφη μηδ' εἰς ὕδωρ σύγκρισιν, καὶ πῶς δεῖ λαβεῖν
περὶ τοῦ μεταξὺ τόπου τῶν ἄστρων καὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ τίνος
ἐστὶν σώματος πλήρης, τοσαῦτα εἰρήσθω. περὶ δὲ τῆς γιγνομένης
θερμότητος, ἣν παρέχεται ὁ ἥλιος, μᾶλλον μὲν καθ'
ἑαυτὸ καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐν τοῖς περὶ αἰσθήσεως προσήκει λέγειν
15 (πάθος γάρ τι τὸ θερμὸν αἰσθήσεώς ἐστιν), διὰ τίνα δ' αἰτίαν
γίγνεται μὴ τοιούτων ὄντων ἐκείνων τὴν φύσιν, λεκτέον καὶ
νῦν. ὁρῶμεν δὴ τὴν κίνησιν ὅτι δύναται διακρίνειν τὸν ἀέρα
καὶ ἐκπυροῦν, ὥστε καὶ τὰ φερόμενα τηκόμενα φαίνεσθαι
πολλάκις. τὸ μὲν οὖν γίγνεσθαι τὴν ἀλέαν καὶ τὴν θερμότητα
20 ἱκανή ἐστιν παρασκευάζειν καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου φορὰ μόνον·
ταχεῖάν τε γὰρ δεῖ καὶ μὴ πόρρω εἶναι. ἡ μὲν οὖν τῶν
ἄστρων ταχεῖα μὲν πόρρω δέ, ἡ δὲ τῆς σελήνης κάτω μὲν
βραδεῖα δέ· ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου ἄμφω ταῦτα ἔχει ἱκανῶς. τὸ δὲ
μᾶλλον γίγνεσθαι ἅμα τῷ ἡλίῳ αὐτῷ τὴν θερμότητα εὔλογον,
25 λαμβάνοντας τὸ ὅμοιον ἐκ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν γιγνομένων·
καὶ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τῶν βίᾳ φερομένων ὁ πλησιάζων
ἀὴρ μάλιστα γίγνεται θερμός. καὶ τοῦτ' εὐλόγως συμβαίνει·
μάλιστα γὰρ ἡ τοῦ στερεοῦ διακρίνει κίνησις αὐτόν. διά τε
ταύτην οὖν τὴν αἰτίαν ἀφικνεῖται πρὸς τόνδε τὸν τόπον ἡ
30 θερμότης, καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸ περιέχον πῦρ τὸν ἀέρα διαρραίνεσθαι
τῇ κινήσει πολλάκις καὶ φέρεσθαι βίᾳ κάτω. σημεῖον
δ' ἱκανὸν ὅτι ὁ ἄνω τόπος οὐκ ἔστι θερμὸς οὐδ' ἐκπεπυρωμένος
καὶ αἱ διαδρομαὶ τῶν ἀστέρων. ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ οὐ γίγνονται,
κάτω δέ· καίτοι τὰ μᾶλλον κινούμενα καὶ θᾶττον, ἐκπυροῦται
35 θᾶττον. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὁ ἥλιος, ὅσπερ μάλιστα εἶναι δοκεῖ
θερμός, φαίνεται λευκὸς ἀλλ' οὐ πυρώδης ὤν.
1It is the revolution of the heaven which carries the air with it and causes its circular motion, fire being continuous with the upper element and air with fire. Thus its motion is a second reason why that air is not condensed into water.
5But whenever a particle of air grows heavy, the warmth in it is squeezed out into the upper region and it sinks, and other particles in turn are carried up together with the fiery exhalation. Thus the one region is always full of air and the other of fire, and each of them is perpetually in a state of change.
So much to explain why 10clouds are not formed and why the air is not condensed into water, and what account must be given of the space between the stars and the earth, and what is the body that fills it.
As for the heat derived from the sun, the right place for a special and scientific account of it is in the treatise about sense, 15since heat is an affection of sense, but we may now explain how it can be produced by the heavenly bodies which are not themselves hot.
We see that motion is able to dissolve and inflame the air; indeed, moving bodies are often actually found to melt. 20Now the sun's motion alone is sufficient to account for the origin of terrestrial warmth and heat. For a motion that is to have this effect must be rapid and near, and that of the stars is rapid but distant, while that of the moon is near but slow, whereas the sun's motion combines both conditions in a sufficient degree. That most heat should be generated where the sun is present is easy to understand 25if we consider the analogy of terrestrial phenomena, for here, too, it is the air that is nearest to a thing in rapid motion which is heated most. This is just what we should expect, as it is the nearest air that is most dissolved by the motion of a solid body.
This then is one reason why 30heat reaches our world. Another is that the fire surrounding the air is often scattered by the motion of the heavens and driven downwards in spite of itself.
Shooting-stars further suffix to prove that the celestial sphere is not hot or fiery: for they do not occur in that upper region but below: yet the more and the faster a thing moves, the more apt it is 35to take fire. Besides, the sun, which most of all the stars is considered to be hot, is really white and not fiery in colour.
5But whenever a particle of air grows heavy, the warmth in it is squeezed out into the upper region and it sinks, and other particles in turn are carried up together with the fiery exhalation. Thus the one region is always full of air and the other of fire, and each of them is perpetually in a state of change.
So much to explain why 10clouds are not formed and why the air is not condensed into water, and what account must be given of the space between the stars and the earth, and what is the body that fills it.
As for the heat derived from the sun, the right place for a special and scientific account of it is in the treatise about sense, 15since heat is an affection of sense, but we may now explain how it can be produced by the heavenly bodies which are not themselves hot.
We see that motion is able to dissolve and inflame the air; indeed, moving bodies are often actually found to melt. 20Now the sun's motion alone is sufficient to account for the origin of terrestrial warmth and heat. For a motion that is to have this effect must be rapid and near, and that of the stars is rapid but distant, while that of the moon is near but slow, whereas the sun's motion combines both conditions in a sufficient degree. That most heat should be generated where the sun is present is easy to understand 25if we consider the analogy of terrestrial phenomena, for here, too, it is the air that is nearest to a thing in rapid motion which is heated most. This is just what we should expect, as it is the nearest air that is most dissolved by the motion of a solid body.
This then is one reason why 30heat reaches our world. Another is that the fire surrounding the air is often scattered by the motion of the heavens and driven downwards in spite of itself.
Shooting-stars further suffix to prove that the celestial sphere is not hot or fiery: for they do not occur in that upper region but below: yet the more and the faster a thing moves, the more apt it is 35to take fire. Besides, the sun, which most of all the stars is considered to be hot, is really white and not fiery in colour.
Book 1,Chapter 4 (341b1–342a33)
341b
1 τούτων δὲ διωρισμένων, λέγωμεν διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν αἵ τε
φλόγες αἱ καιόμεναι φαίνονται περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ οἱ διαθέοντες
ἀστέρες καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι ὑπό τινων δαλοὶ καὶ αἶγες·
ταῦτα γὰρ πάντ' ἐστὶν τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν,
5 διαφέρει δὲ τῷ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον. ἀρχὴ δέ ἐστιν καὶ τούτων
καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων ἥδε. θερμαινομένης γὰρ τῆς γῆς ὑπὸ
τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν ἀναθυμίασιν ἀναγκαῖον γίγνεσθαι μὴ ἁπλῆν, ὥς
τινες οἴονται, ἀλλὰ διπλῆν, τὴν μὲν ἀτμιδωδεστέραν τὴν δὲ
πνευματωδεστέραν, τὴν μὲν τοῦ ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ γῇ ὑγροῦ
10 ἀτμίδα, τὴν δ' αὐτῆς τῆς γῆς οὔσης ξηρᾶς καπνώδη· καὶ τούτων
τὴν μὲν πνευματώδη ἐπιπολάζειν διὰ τὸ θερμόν, τὴν δὲ
ὑγροτέραν ὑφίστασθαι διὰ τὸ βάρος. καὶ διὰ ταῦτα τοῦτον
τὸν τρόπον κεκόσμηται τὸ πέριξ· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τὴν
ἐγκύκλιον φοράν ἐστιν τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ξηρόν, ὃ λέγομεν πῦρ
15 (ἀνώνυμον γὰρ τὸ κοινὸν ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς καπνώδους διακρίσεως·
ὅμως δὲ διὰ τὸ μάλιστα πεφυκέναι τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐκκαίεσθαι
τῶν σωμάτων οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον χρῆσθαι τοῖς ὀνόμασιν),
ὑπὸ δὲ ταύτην τὴν φύσιν ἀήρ. δεῖ δὴ νοῆσαι οἷον
ὑπέκκαυμα τοῦτο ὃ νῦν εἴπομεν πῦρ περιτετάσθαι τῆς περὶ
20 τὴν γῆν σφαίρας ἔσχατον, ὥστε μικρᾶς κινήσεως τυχὸν ἐκκαίεσθαι
πολλάκις ὥσπερ τὸν καπνόν· ἔστι γὰρ ἡ φλὸξ
πνεύματος ξηροῦ ζέσις. ᾗ ἂν οὖν μάλιστα εὐκαίρως ἔχῃ ἡ
τοιαύτη σύστασις, ὅταν ὑπὸ τῆς περιφορᾶς κινηθῇ πως, ἐκκάεται.
διαφέρει δ' ἤδη κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὑπεκκαύματος θέσιν
25 ἢ τὸ πλῆθος· ἂν μὲν γὰρ πλάτος ἔχῃ καὶ μῆκος τὸ ὑπέκκαυμα,
πολλάκις ὁρᾶται καιομένη φλὸξ ὥσπερ ἐν ἀρούρᾳ
καιομένης καλάμης, ἐὰν δὲ κατὰ μῆκος μόνον, οἱ καλούμενοι
δαλοὶ καὶ αἶγες καὶ ἀστέρες. ἐὰν μὲν πλέον τὸ
ὑπέκκαυμα ᾖ κατὰ τὸ μῆκος ἢ τὸ πλάτος, ὅταν μὲν οἷον
30 ἀποσπινθηρίζῃ ἅμα καιόμενον (τοῦτο δὲ γίγνεται διὰ τὸ παρεκπυροῦσθαι,
κατὰ μικρὰ μέν, ἐπ' ἀρχὴν δέ), αἲξ καλεῖται,
ὅταν δ' ἄνευ τούτου τοῦ πάθους, δαλός. ἐὰν δὲ τὰ μήκη τῆς
ἀναθυμιάσεως κατὰ μικρά τε καὶ πολλαχῇ διεσπαρμένα
ᾖ καὶ ὁμοίως κατὰ πλάτος καὶ βάθος, οἱ δοκοῦντες ἀστέρες
35 διάττειν γίγνονται. ὁτὲ μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ τῆς κινήσεως ἡ ἀναθυμίασις
ἐκκαιομένη γεννᾷ αὐτά· ὁτὲ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ διὰ τὴν ψύξιν
1Having determined these principles let us explain the cause of the appearance in the sky of burning flames and of shooting-stars, and of 'torches', and 'goats', as some people call them. All these phenomena are one and the same thing, and are due to the same cause, 5the difference between them being one of degree.
The explanation of these and many other phenomena is this. When the sun warms the earth the evaporation which takes place is necessarily of two kinds, not of one only as some think. One kind is rather of the nature of vapour, the other of the nature of a windy exhalation. That which rises from the moisture contained in the earth and on its surface 10is vapour, while that rising from the earth itself, which is dry, is like smoke. Of these the windy exhalation, being warm, rises above the moister vapour, which is heavy and sinks below the other. Hence the world surrounding the earth is ordered as follows. First below the circular motion comes the warm and dry element, which we call fire, 15for there is no word fully adequate to every state of the fumid evaporation: but we must use this terminology since this element is the most inflammable of all bodies. Below this comes air. We must think of what we just called fire as being spread round 20the terrestrial sphere on the outside like a kind of fuel, so that a little motion often makes it burst into flame just as smoke does: for flame is the ebullition of a dry exhalation. So whenever the circular motion stirs this stuff up in any way, it catches fire at the point at which it is most inflammable. The result differs according to the disposition 25and quantity of the combustible material. If this is broad and long, we often see a flame burning as in a field of stubble: if it burns lengthwise only, we see what are called 'torches' and 'goats' and shooting-stars. Now when the inflammable material is longer than it is broad sometimes it seems 30to throw off sparks as it burns. (This happens because matter catches fire at the sides in small portions but continuously with the main body.) Then it is called a 'goat'. When this does not happen it is a 'torch'. But if the whole length of the exhalation is scattered in small parts and in many directions and in breadth and depth alike, we get what are called shooting-stars.
35The cause of these shooting-stars is sometimes the motion which ignites the exhalation.
The explanation of these and many other phenomena is this. When the sun warms the earth the evaporation which takes place is necessarily of two kinds, not of one only as some think. One kind is rather of the nature of vapour, the other of the nature of a windy exhalation. That which rises from the moisture contained in the earth and on its surface 10is vapour, while that rising from the earth itself, which is dry, is like smoke. Of these the windy exhalation, being warm, rises above the moister vapour, which is heavy and sinks below the other. Hence the world surrounding the earth is ordered as follows. First below the circular motion comes the warm and dry element, which we call fire, 15for there is no word fully adequate to every state of the fumid evaporation: but we must use this terminology since this element is the most inflammable of all bodies. Below this comes air. We must think of what we just called fire as being spread round 20the terrestrial sphere on the outside like a kind of fuel, so that a little motion often makes it burst into flame just as smoke does: for flame is the ebullition of a dry exhalation. So whenever the circular motion stirs this stuff up in any way, it catches fire at the point at which it is most inflammable. The result differs according to the disposition 25and quantity of the combustible material. If this is broad and long, we often see a flame burning as in a field of stubble: if it burns lengthwise only, we see what are called 'torches' and 'goats' and shooting-stars. Now when the inflammable material is longer than it is broad sometimes it seems 30to throw off sparks as it burns. (This happens because matter catches fire at the sides in small portions but continuously with the main body.) Then it is called a 'goat'. When this does not happen it is a 'torch'. But if the whole length of the exhalation is scattered in small parts and in many directions and in breadth and depth alike, we get what are called shooting-stars.
35The cause of these shooting-stars is sometimes the motion which ignites the exhalation.
342a
1 συνισταμένου ἀέρος ἐκθλίβεται καὶ ἐκκρίνεται τὸ θερμόν, διὸ
καὶ ἔοικεν ἡ φορὰ ῥίψει μᾶλλον αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκκαύσει.
ἀπορήσειε γὰρ ἄν τις πότερον ὥσπερ ἡ ὑπὸ τοὺς λύχνους
τιθεμένη ἀναθυμίασις ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν φλογὸς ἅπτει
5 τὸν κάτωθεν λύχνον (θαυμαστὴ γὰρ καὶ τούτου ἡ ταχυτής
ἐστιν καὶ ὁμοία ῥίψει, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἄλλου καὶ ἄλλου γιγνομένου
πυρός), ἢ ῥίψεις τοῦ αὐτοῦ τινος σώματός εἰσιν αἱ διαδρομαί.
ἔοικε δὴ δι' ἄμφω· καὶ γὰρ οὕτως ὡς ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ
λύχνου γίγνεται, καὶ ἔνια διὰ τὸ ἐκθλίβεσθαι ῥιπτεῖται,
10 ὥσπερ οἱ ἐκ τῶν δακτύλων πυρῆνες, ὥστε καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν
καὶ εἰς τὴν θάλατταν φαίνεσθαι πίπτοντα, καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ'
ἡμέραν καὶ αἰθρίας οὔσης. κάτω δὲ ῥιπτεῖται διὰ τὸ τὴν πύκνωσιν
εἰς τὸ κάτω ῥέπειν τὴν ἀπωθοῦσαν. διὸ καὶ οἱ κεραυνοὶ
κάτω πίπτουσιν <, τοῦ πυρὸς ἄνω φερομένου κατὰ φύσιν>· πάντων γὰρ τούτων ἡ γένεσις οὐκ
15 ἔκκαυσις ἀλλ' ἔκκρισις ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκθλίψεώς ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ κατὰ
φύσιν γε τὸ θερμὸν ἄνω πέφυκε φέρεσθαι πᾶν. ὅσα μὲν
οὖν μᾶλλον ἐν τῷ ἀνωτάτω τόπῳ συνίσταται, ἐκκαιομένης
γίγνεται τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως, ὅσα δὲ κατώτερον, ἐκκρινομένης
διὰ τὸ συνιέναι καὶ ψύχεσθαι τὴν ὑγροτέραν ἀναθυμίασιν·
20 αὕτη γὰρ συνιοῦσα καὶ κάτω ῥέπουσα ἀπωθεῖ
πυκνουμένη καὶ κάτω ποιεῖ τοῦ θερμοῦ τὴν ῥῖψιν· διὰ δὲ
τὴν θέσιν τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως, ὅπως ἂν τύχῃ κειμένη τοῦ
πλάτους καὶ τοῦ βάθους, οὕτω φέρεται ἢ ἄνω ἢ κάτω ἢ
εἰς τὸ πλάγιον. τὰ πλεῖστα δ' εἰς τὸ πλάγιον διὰ τὸ δύο
25 φέρεσθαι φοράς, βίᾳ μὲν κάτω, φύσει δ' ἄνω· πάντα
γὰρ κατὰ τὴν διάμετρον φέρεται τὰ τοιαῦτα. διὸ καὶ τῶν
διαθεόντων ἀστέρων ἡ πλείστη λοξὴ γίγνεται φορά. πάντων
δὴ τούτων αἴτιον ὡς μὲν ὕλη ἡ ἀναθυμίασις, ὡς δὲ τὸ κινοῦν
ὁτὲ μὲν ἡ ἄνω φορά, ὁτὲ δ' ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος συγκρινομένου
30 πῆξις. πάντα δὲ κάτω ταῦτα σελήνης γίγνεται. σημεῖον δ'
ἡ φαινομένη αὐτῶν ταχυτὴς ὁμοία οὖσα τοῖς ὑφ' ἡμῶν
ῥιπτουμένοις, ἃ διὰ τὸ πλησίον εἶναι ἡμῶν πολὺ δοκεῖ τῷ
τάχει παραλλάττειν ἄστρα τε καὶ ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην.
1At other times the air is condensed by cold and squeezes out and ejects the hot element; making their motion look more like that of a thing thrown than like a running fire. For the question might be raised whether the 'shooting' of a 'star' is the same thing as when you put an exhalation below a lamp and it lights 5the lower lamp from the flame above. For here too the flame passes wonderfully quickly and looks like a thing thrown, and not as if one thing after another caught fire. Or is a 'star' when it 'shoots' a single body that is thrown? Apparently both cases occur: sometimes it is like the flame from the lamp and sometimes bodies are projected by being squeezed out (10like fruit stones from one's fingers) and so are seen to fall into the sea and on the dry land, both by night and by day when the sky is clear. They are thrown downwards because the condensation which propels them inclines downwards. Thunderbolts fall downwards for the same reason: their origin is never 15combustion but ejection under pressure, since naturally all heat tends upwards.
When the phenomenon is formed in the upper region it is due to the combustion of the exhalation. When it takes place at a lower level it is due to the ejection of the exhalation by the condensing and cooling of the moister evaporation: 20for this latter as it condenses and inclines downward contracts, and thrusts out the hot element and causes it to be thrown downwards. The motion is upwards or downwards or sideways according to the way in which the evaporation lies, and its disposition in respect of breadth and depth. In most cases the direction is sideways because two 25motions are involved, a compulsory motion downwards and a natural motion upwards, and under these circumstances an object always moves obliquely. Hence the motion of 'shooting-stars' is generally oblique.
So the material cause of all these phenomena is the exhalation, the efficient cause sometimes the upper motion, sometimes the contraction and condensation of the air. 30Further, all these things happen below the moon. This is shown by their apparent speed, which is equal to that of things thrown by us; for it is because they are close to us, that these latter seem far to exceed in speed the stars, the sun, and the moon.
When the phenomenon is formed in the upper region it is due to the combustion of the exhalation. When it takes place at a lower level it is due to the ejection of the exhalation by the condensing and cooling of the moister evaporation: 20for this latter as it condenses and inclines downward contracts, and thrusts out the hot element and causes it to be thrown downwards. The motion is upwards or downwards or sideways according to the way in which the evaporation lies, and its disposition in respect of breadth and depth. In most cases the direction is sideways because two 25motions are involved, a compulsory motion downwards and a natural motion upwards, and under these circumstances an object always moves obliquely. Hence the motion of 'shooting-stars' is generally oblique.
So the material cause of all these phenomena is the exhalation, the efficient cause sometimes the upper motion, sometimes the contraction and condensation of the air. 30Further, all these things happen below the moon. This is shown by their apparent speed, which is equal to that of things thrown by us; for it is because they are close to us, that these latter seem far to exceed in speed the stars, the sun, and the moon.
Book 1,Chapter 5 (342a34–342b24)
φαίνεται δέ ποτε συνιστάμενα νύκτωρ αἰθρίας οὔσης
35 πολλὰ φάσματα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, οἷον χάσματά τε καὶ
βόθυνοι καὶ αἱματώδη χρώματα. αἴτιον δὲ ἐπὶ τούτων τὸ
34Sometimes on a fine night we see 35a variety of appearances that form in the sky: 'chasms' for instance and 'trenches' and blood-red colours. These, too, have the same cause.
342b
1 αὐτό· ἐπεὶ γὰρ φανερός ἐστι συνιστάμενος ὁ ἄνω ἀὴρ ὥστ'
ἐκπυροῦσθαι, καὶ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν ὁτὲ μὲν τοιαύτην γίγνεσθαι
ὥστε φλόγα δοκεῖν καίεσθαι, ὁτὲ δὲ οἷον δαλοὺς φέρεσθαι
καὶ ἀστέρας, οὐδὲν ἄτοπον εἰ χρωματίζεται ὁ αὐτὸς οὗτος
5 ἀὴρ συνιστάμενος παντοδαπὰς χρόας· διά τε γὰρ πυκνοτέρου
διαφαινόμενον ἔλαττον φῶς καὶ ἀνάκλασιν δεχόμενος
ὁ ἀὴρ παντοδαπὰ χρώματα ποιήσει, μάλιστα δὲ φοινικοῦν
ἢ πορφυροῦν, διὰ τὸ ταῦτα μάλιστα ἐκ τοῦ πυρώδους καὶ
λευκοῦ φαίνεσθαι μειγνυμένων κατὰ τὰς ἐπιπροσθήσεις, οἷον
10 ἀνίσχοντα τὰ ἄστρα καὶ δυόμενα, ἐὰν ᾖ καῦμα, καὶ διὰ
καπνοῦ φοινικᾶ φαίνεται. καὶ τῇ ἀνακλάσει δὲ ποιήσει,
ὅταν τὸ ἔνοπτρον ᾖ τοιοῦτον ὥστε μὴ τὸ σχῆμα ἀλλὰ τὸ
χρῶμα δέχεσθαι. τοῦ δὲ μὴ πολὺν χρόνον μένειν ταῦτα
ἡ σύστασις αἰτία ταχεῖα οὖσα. τὰ δὲ χάσματα ἀναρρηγνυμένου
15 τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκ κυανοῦ καὶ μέλανος ποιεῖ τι βάθος
ἔχειν δοκεῖν. πολλάκις δ' ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ δαλοὶ
ἐκπίπτουσιν, ὅταν συγκριθῇ μᾶλλον· συνιὸν δ' ἔτι χάσμα
δοκεῖ. ὅλως δ' ἐν τῷ μέλανι τὸ λευκὸν πολλὰς ποιεῖ ποικιλίας,
οἷον ἡ φλὸξ ἐν τῷ καπνῷ. ἡμέρας μὲν οὖν ὁ ἥλιος
20 κωλύει, νυκτὸς δ' ἔξω τοῦ φοινικοῦ τὰ ἄλλα δι' ὁμόχροιαν
οὐ φαίνεται. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν διαθεόντων ἀστέρων καὶ τῶν
ἐκπυρουμένων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων φασμάτων
ὅσα ταχείας ποιεῖται τὰς φαντασίας, ταύτας ὑπολαβεῖν
δεῖ τὰς αἰτίας.
1For we have seen that the upper air condenses into an inflammable condition and that the combustion sometimes takes on the appearance of a burning flame, sometimes that of moving torches and stars. So it is not surprising that this same 5air when condensing should assume a variety of colours. For a weak light shining through a dense air, and the air when it acts as a mirror, will cause all kinds of colours to appear, but especially crimson and purple. For these colours generally appear when fire-colour and white are combined by superposition. Thus on a hot day, or through a smoky, medium, 10the stars when they rise and set look crimson. The light will also create colours by reflection when the mirror is such as to reflect colour only and not shape.
These appearances do not persist long, because the condensation of the air is transient.
'Chasms' get their appearance of depth from 15light breaking out of a dark blue or black mass of air. When the process of condensation goes further in such a case we often find 'torches' ejected. When the 'chasm' contracts it presents the appearance of a 'trench'.
In general, white in contrast with black creates a variety of colours; like flame, for instance, through a medium of smoke. But by day the sun 20obscures them, and, with the exception of crimson, the colours are not seen at night because they are dark.
These then must be taken to be the causes of 'shooting-stars' and the phenomena of combustion and also of the other transient appearances of this kind.
These appearances do not persist long, because the condensation of the air is transient.
'Chasms' get their appearance of depth from 15light breaking out of a dark blue or black mass of air. When the process of condensation goes further in such a case we often find 'torches' ejected. When the 'chasm' contracts it presents the appearance of a 'trench'.
In general, white in contrast with black creates a variety of colours; like flame, for instance, through a medium of smoke. But by day the sun 20obscures them, and, with the exception of crimson, the colours are not seen at night because they are dark.
These then must be taken to be the causes of 'shooting-stars' and the phenomena of combustion and also of the other transient appearances of this kind.
Book 1,Chapter 6 (342b25–344a4)
25 περὶ δὲ τῶν κομητῶν καὶ τοῦ καλουμένου γάλακτος
λέγωμεν, διαπορήσαντες πρὸς τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων εἰρημένα
πρῶτον. Ἀναξαγόρας μὲν οὖν καὶ Δημόκριτός φασιν
εἶναι τοὺς κομήτας σύμφασιν τῶν πλανήτων ἀστέρων, ὅταν
διὰ τὸ πλησίον ἐλθεῖν δόξωσι θιγγάνειν ἀλλήλων. τῶν δ'
30 Ἰταλικῶν τινες καλουμένων Πυθαγορείων ἕνα λέγουσιν
αὐτὸν εἶναι τῶν πλανήτων ἀστέρων, ἀλλὰ διὰ πολλοῦ τε
χρόνου τὴν φαντασίαν αὐτοῦ εἶναι καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν ἐπὶ
μικρόν, ὅπερ συμβαίνει καὶ περὶ τὸν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ ἀστέρα· διὰ
γὰρ τὸ μικρὸν ἐπαναβαίνειν πολλὰς ἐκλείπει φάσεις, ὥστε
35 διὰ χρόνου φαίνεσθαι πολλοῦ. παραπλησίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ
οἱ περὶ Ἱπποκράτην τὸν Χῖον καὶ τὸν μαθητὴν αὐτοῦ Αἰσχύλον
25Let us go on to explain the nature of comets and the 'milky way', after a preliminary discussion of the views of others.
Anaxagoras and Democritus declare that comets are a conjunction of the planets approaching one another and so appearing to touch one another.
30Some of the Italians called Pythagoreans say that the comet is one of the planets, but that it appears at great intervals of time and only rises a little above the horizon. This is the case with Mercury too; because it only rises a little above the horizon it often fails to be seen and consequently 35appears at great intervals of time.
A view like theirs was also expressed by Hippocrates of Chios and his pupil Aeschylus.
Anaxagoras and Democritus declare that comets are a conjunction of the planets approaching one another and so appearing to touch one another.
30Some of the Italians called Pythagoreans say that the comet is one of the planets, but that it appears at great intervals of time and only rises a little above the horizon. This is the case with Mercury too; because it only rises a little above the horizon it often fails to be seen and consequently 35appears at great intervals of time.
A view like theirs was also expressed by Hippocrates of Chios and his pupil Aeschylus.
343a
1 ἀπεφήναντο, πλὴν τήν γε κόμην οὐκ ἐξ αὑτοῦ φασιν
ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ πλανώμενον διὰ τὸν τόπον ἐνίοτε λαμβάνειν
ἀνακλωμένης τῆς ἡμετέρας ὄψεως ἀπὸ τῆς ἑλκομένης ὑγρότητος
ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον. διὰ δὲ τὸ ὑπολείπεσθαι
5 βραδύτατα τῷ χρόνῳ διὰ πλείστου χρόνου φαίνεσθαι τῶν
ἄλλων ἄστρων, ὡς ὅταν ἐκ ταὐτοῦ φανῇ ὑπολελειμμένον
ὅλον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ κύκλον· ὑπολείπεσθαι δ' αὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς
ἄρκτον καὶ πρὸς νότον. ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ μεταξὺ τόπῳ τῶν
τροπικῶν οὐχ ἕλκειν τὸ ὕδωρ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν διὰ τὸ κεκαῦσθαι
10 ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου φορᾶς· πρὸς δὲ νότον ὅταν φέρηται, δαψίλειαν
μὲν ἔχειν τῆς τοιαύτης νοτίδος, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μικρὸν
εἶναι τὸ ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς τμῆμα τοῦ κύκλου, τὸ δὲ κάτω
πολλαπλάσιον, οὐ δύνασθαι τὴν ὄψιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φέρεσθαι
κλωμένην πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον οὔτε τῷ τροπικῷ τόπῳ πλησιάζοντος
15 οὔτ' ἐπὶ θεριναῖς τροπαῖς ὄντος τοῦ ἡλίου· διόπερ ἐν
τούτοις μὲν τοῖς τόποις οὐ γίγνεσθαι κομήτην αὐτόν· ὅταν
δὲ πρὸς βορέαν ὑπολειφθεὶς τύχῃ, λαμβάνειν κόμην διὰ
τὸ μεγάλην εἶναι τὴν περιφέρειαν τὴν ἄνωθεν τοῦ ὁρίζοντος,
τὸ δὲ κάτω μέρος τοῦ κύκλου μικρόν· ῥᾳδίως γὰρ τὴν ὄψιν
20 τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀφικνεῖσθαι τότε πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον. πᾶσιν δὲ
τούτοις τὰ μὲν κοινῇ συμπίπτει λέγειν ἀδύνατα, τὰ δὲ
χωρίς. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τοῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι τῶν πλανωμένων
ἐστὶν εἷς ἀστέρων ὁ κομήτης· οἱ γὰρ πλανώμενοι πάντες ἐν
τῷ κύκλῳ ὑπολείπονται τῷ τῶν ζῳδίων, κομῆται δὲ πολλοὶ
25 ἑωραμένοι εἰσὶν ἔξω τοῦ κύκλου. εἶτα καὶ πλείους ἑνὸς
ἅμα γεγένηνται πολλάκις. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις, εἰ διὰ τὴν ἀνάκλασιν
τὴν κόμην ἴσχουσι, καθάπερ φησὶν Αἰσχύλος καὶ
Ἱπποκράτης, ἔδει ποτὲ φαίνεσθαι καὶ ἄνευ κόμης τὸν ἀστέρα
τοῦτον, ἐπειδήπερ ὑπολείπεται μὲν καὶ εἰς ἄλλους τόπους,
30 τὴν δὲ κόμην ἴσχει οὐ πανταχοῦ· νῦν δ' οὐδεὶς ὦπται παρὰ
τοὺς πέντε ἀστέρας· οὗτοι δὲ πολλάκις ἅμα πάντες μετέωροι
φαίνονται ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὁρίζοντος. καὶ φανερῶν δὲ ὄντων αὐτῶν
ἁπάντων καὶ μὴ φαινομένων πάντων, ἀλλ' ἐνίων ὄντων
πρὸς τῷ ἡλίῳ, οὐδὲν ἧττον κομῆται φαίνονται γιγνόμενοι
35 πολλάκις. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἀληθές, ὡς ἐν τῷ πρὸς
ἄρκτον τόπῳ γίγνεται κομήτης μόνον, ἅμα καὶ τοῦ ἡλίου
1Only they say that the tail does not belong to the comet iself, but is occasionally assumed by it on its course in certain situations, when our sight is reflected to the sun from the moisture attracted by the comet. 5It appears at greater intervals than the other stars because it is slowest to get clear of the sun and has been left behind by the sun to the extent of the whole of its circle before it reappears at the same point. It gets clear of the sun both towards the north and towards the south. In the space between the tropics it does not draw water to itself because that region is dried up 10by the sun on its course. When it moves towards the south it has no lack of the necessary moisture, but because the segment of its circle which is above the horizon is small, and that below it many times as large, it is impossible for the sun to be reflected to our sight, either when it approaches the southern tropic, 15or at the summer solstice. Hence in these regions it does not develop a tail at all. But when it is visible in the north it assumes a tail because the arc above the horizon is large and that below it small. For under these circumstances there is nothing to prevent 20our vision from being reflected to the sun.
These views involve impossibilities, some of which are common to all of them, while others are peculiar to some only.
This is the case, first, with those who say that the comet is one of the planets. For all the planets appear in the circle of the zodiac, whereas many comets 25have been seen outside that circle. Again more comets than one have often appeared simultaneously. Besides, if their tail is due to reflection, as Aeschylus and Hippocrates say, this planet ought sometimes to be visible without a tail since, as they 30it does not possess a tail in every place in which it appears. But, as a matter of fact, no planet has been observed besides the five. And all of them are often visible above the horizon together at the same time. Further, comets are 35often found to appear, as well when all the planets are visible as when some are not, but are obscured by the neighbourhood of the sun. Moreover the statement that a comet only appears in the north, with the sun at the summer solstice, is not true either.
These views involve impossibilities, some of which are common to all of them, while others are peculiar to some only.
This is the case, first, with those who say that the comet is one of the planets. For all the planets appear in the circle of the zodiac, whereas many comets 25have been seen outside that circle. Again more comets than one have often appeared simultaneously. Besides, if their tail is due to reflection, as Aeschylus and Hippocrates say, this planet ought sometimes to be visible without a tail since, as they 30it does not possess a tail in every place in which it appears. But, as a matter of fact, no planet has been observed besides the five. And all of them are often visible above the horizon together at the same time. Further, comets are 35often found to appear, as well when all the planets are visible as when some are not, but are obscured by the neighbourhood of the sun. Moreover the statement that a comet only appears in the north, with the sun at the summer solstice, is not true either.
343b
1 ὄντος περὶ θερινὰς τροπάς· ὅ τε γὰρ μέγας κομήτης ὁ γενόμενος
περὶ τὸν ἐν Ἀχαΐᾳ σεισμὸν καὶ τὴν τοῦ κύματος
ἔφοδον ἀπὸ δυσμῶν τῶν ἰσημερινῶν ἀνέσχεν, καὶ πρὸς νότον
ἤδη πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν. ἐπὶ δ' ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησιν Εὐκλέους
5 τοῦ Μόλωνος ἐγένετο κομήτης ἀστὴρ πρὸς ἄρκτον μηνὸς Γαμηλιῶνος
περὶ τροπὰς ὄντος τοῦ ἡλίου χειμερινάς· καίτοι
τοσοῦτον ἀνακλασθῆναι καὶ αὐτοὶ τῶν ἀδυνάτων εἶναί φασι.
κοινὸν δὲ καὶ τούτοις καὶ τοῖς τὴν σύναψιν λέγουσιν πρῶτον
μὲν ὅτι καὶ τῶν ἀπλανῶν λαμβάνουσι κόμην τινές. καὶ
10 τοῦτ' οὐ μόνον Αἰγυπτίοις πιστεῦσαι δεῖ, καίτοι κἀκεῖνοί φασιν,
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐφεωράκαμεν· τῶν γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἰσχίῳ
τοῦ κυνὸς ἀστήρ τις ἔσχε κόμην, ἀμαυρὰν μέντοι· ἀτενίζουσιν
μὲν γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν ἀμυδρὸν ἐγίγνετο τὸ φέγγος, παραβλέπουσι
δ' ἠρέμα τὴν ὄψιν πλέον. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἅπαντες οἱ
15 καθ' ἡμᾶς ὠμμένοι ἄνευ δύσεως ἠφανίσθησαν ἐν τῷ ὑπὲρ τοῦ
ὁρίζοντος τόπῳ ἀπομαρανθέντες κατὰ μικρὸν οὕτως, ὥστε
μήτε ἑνὸς ἀστέρος ὑπολειφθῆναι σῶμα μήτε πλειόνων, ἐπεὶ
καὶ ὁ μέγας ἀστὴρ περὶ οὗ πρότερον ἐμνήσθημεν ἐφάνη μὲν
χειμῶνος ἐν πάγοις καὶ αἰθρίαις ἀφ' ἑσπέρας, ἐπὶ Ἀστείου
20 ἄρχοντος, καὶ τῇ μὲν πρώτῃ οὐκ ὤφθη ὡς προδεδυκὼς τοῦ
ἡλίου, τῇ δ' ὑστεραίᾳ ὤφθη· ὅσον ἐνδέχεται γὰρ ἐλάχιστον
ὑπελείφθη, καὶ εὐθὺς ἔδυ· τὸ δὲ φέγγος ἀπέτεινε μέχρι τοῦ
τρίτου μέρους τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οἷον ἅλμα· διὸ καὶ ἐκλήθη ὁδός.
ἐπανῆλθε δὲ μέχρι τῆς ζώνης τοῦ Ὠρίωνος, καὶ ἐνταυθοῖ
25 διελύθη. καίτοι Δημόκριτός γε προσπεφιλονείκηκεν τῇ δόξῃ
τῇ αὑτοῦ· φησὶ γὰρ ὦφθαι διαλυομένων τῶν κομητῶν ἀστέρας
τινάς. τοῦτο δὲ οὐχ ὁτὲ μὲν ἔδει γίγνεσθαι ὁτὲ δὲ οὔ,
ἀλλ' ἀεί. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοί φασι καὶ τῶν
πλανήτων καὶ πρὸς αὑτοὺς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀπλανεῖς γίγνεσθαι
30 συνόδους, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἑωράκαμεν τὸν ἀστέρα τὸν τοῦ Διὸς τῶν
ἐν τοῖς διδύμοις συνελθόντα τινὶ ἤδη καὶ ἀφανίσαντα,
ἀλλ' οὐ κομήτην γενόμενον. ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου φανερόν·
οἱ γὰρ ἀστέρες κἂν εἰ μείζους καὶ ἐλάττους φαίνονται,
ἀλλ' ὅμως ἀδιαίρετοί γε καθ' ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι δοκοῦσιν. ὥσπερ
35 οὖν καὶ εἰ ἦσαν ἀδιαίρετοι, ἁψάμενοι οὐδὲν ἂν ἐποίησαν μέγεθος
μεῖζον, οὕτως καὶ ἐπειδὴ οὐκ εἰσὶν μὲν φαίνονται δὲ
1The great comet which appeared at the time of the earthquake in Achaea and the tidal wave rose due west; and many have been known to appear in the south. Again in the archonship of Euclees, 5son of Molon, at Athens there appeared a comet in the north in the month Gamelion, the sun being about the winter solstice. Yet they themselves admit that reflection over so great a space is an impossibility.
An objection that tells equally against those who hold this theory and those who say that comets are a coalescence of the planets is, first, the fact that some of the fixed stars too get a tail. 10For this we must not only accept the authority of the Egyptians who assert it, but we have ourselves observed the fact. For a star in the thigh of the Dog had a tail, though a faint one. If you fixed your sight on it its light was dim, but if you just glanced at it, it appeared brighter. Besides, all the comets that have been seen 15in our day have vanished without setting, gradually fading away above the horizon; and they have not left behind them either one or more stars. For instance the great comet we mentioned before appeared to the west in winter in frosty weather when the sky was clear, in the 20archonship of Asteius. On the first day it set before the sun and was then not seen. On the next day it was seen, being ever so little behind the sun and immediately setting. But its light extended over a third part of the sky like a leap, so that people called it a 'path'. This comet receded as far as Orion's belt and there 25dissolved. Democritus however, insists upon the truth of his view and affirms that certain stars have been seen when comets dissolve. But on his theory this ought not to occur occasionally but always. Besides, the Egyptians affirm that 30conjunctions of the planets with one another, and with the fixed stars, take place, and we have ourselves observed Jupiter coinciding with one of the stars in the Twins and hiding it, and yet no comet was formed. Further, we can also give a rational proof of our point. 35It is true that some stars seem to be bigger than others, yet each one by itself looks indivisible.
An objection that tells equally against those who hold this theory and those who say that comets are a coalescence of the planets is, first, the fact that some of the fixed stars too get a tail. 10For this we must not only accept the authority of the Egyptians who assert it, but we have ourselves observed the fact. For a star in the thigh of the Dog had a tail, though a faint one. If you fixed your sight on it its light was dim, but if you just glanced at it, it appeared brighter. Besides, all the comets that have been seen 15in our day have vanished without setting, gradually fading away above the horizon; and they have not left behind them either one or more stars. For instance the great comet we mentioned before appeared to the west in winter in frosty weather when the sky was clear, in the 20archonship of Asteius. On the first day it set before the sun and was then not seen. On the next day it was seen, being ever so little behind the sun and immediately setting. But its light extended over a third part of the sky like a leap, so that people called it a 'path'. This comet receded as far as Orion's belt and there 25dissolved. Democritus however, insists upon the truth of his view and affirms that certain stars have been seen when comets dissolve. But on his theory this ought not to occur occasionally but always. Besides, the Egyptians affirm that 30conjunctions of the planets with one another, and with the fixed stars, take place, and we have ourselves observed Jupiter coinciding with one of the stars in the Twins and hiding it, and yet no comet was formed. Further, we can also give a rational proof of our point. 35It is true that some stars seem to be bigger than others, yet each one by itself looks indivisible.
344a
1 ἀδιαίρετοι, καὶ συνελθόντες οὐδὲν φανοῦνται μείζους τὸ μέγεθος
ὄντες. ὅτι μὲν οὖν αἱ λεγόμεναι περὶ αὐτῶν αἰτίαι
ψευδεῖς οὖσαι τυγχάνουσιν, εἰ μὴ διὰ πλειόνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ
διὰ τούτων ἱκανῶς δῆλόν ἐστιν.
1Consequently, just as, if they really had been indivisible, their conjunction could not have created any greater magnitude, so now that they are not in fact indivisible but look as if they were, their conjunction will not make them look any bigger.
Enough has been said, without further argument, to show that the causes brought forward to explain comets are false.
Enough has been said, without further argument, to show that the causes brought forward to explain comets are false.
Book 1,Chapter 7 (344a5–345a10)
5 ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῶν ἀφανῶν τῇ αἰσθήσει νομίζομεν ἱκανῶς
ἀποδεδεῖχθαι κατὰ τὸν λόγον, ἐὰν εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν ἀναγάγωμεν,
ἔκ τε τῶν νῦν φαινομένων ὑπολάβοι τις ἂν ὧδε
περὶ τούτων μάλιστα συμβαίνειν· ὑπόκειται γὰρ ἡμῖν τοῦ
κόσμου τοῦ περὶ τὴν γῆν, ὅσον ὑπὸ τὴν ἐγκύκλιόν ἐστιν φοράν,
10 εἶναι τὸ πρῶτον μέρος ἀναθυμίασιν ξηρὰν καὶ θερμήν·
αὕτη δὲ αὐτή τε καὶ τοῦ συνεχοῦς ὑπ' αὐτὴν ἀέρος ἐπὶ πολὺ
συμπεριάγεται περὶ τὴν γῆν ὑπὸ τῆς φορᾶς καὶ τῆς κινήσεως
τῆς κύκλῳ· φερομένη δὲ καὶ κινουμένη τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον,
ᾗ ἂν τύχῃ εὔκρατος οὖσα, πολλάκις ἐκπυροῦται· διό
15 φαμεν γίγνεσθαι καὶ τὰς τῶν σποράδων ἀστέρων διαδρομάς.
ὅταν οὖν εἰς τὴν τοιαύτην πύκνωσιν ἐμπέσῃ διὰ τὴν ἄνωθεν
κίνησιν ἀρχὴ πυρώδης, μήτε οὕτω πολλὴ λίαν ὥστε ταχὺ
καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐκκαίειν, μήθ' οὕτως ἀσθενὴς ὥστε ἀποσβεσθῆναι
ταχύ, ἀλλὰ πλείων καὶ ἐπὶ πολύ, ἅμα δὲ κάτωθεν
20 συμπίπτῃ ἀναβαίνειν εὔκρατον ἀναθυμίασιν, ἀστὴρ τοῦτο
γίγνεται κομήτης, ὅπως ἂν τὸ ἀναθυμιώμενον τύχῃ ἐσχηματισμένον·
ἐὰν μὲν γὰρ πάντῃ ὁμοίως, κομήτης, ἐὰν δ'
ἐπὶ μῆκος, καλεῖται πωγωνίας. ὥσπερ δὲ ἡ τοιαύτη φορὰ
ἀστέρος φορὰ δοκεῖ εἶναι, οὕτως καὶ ἡ μονὴ ἡ ὁμοία ἀστέρος
25 μονὴ δοκεῖ εἶναι· παραπλήσιον γὰρ τὸ γιγνόμενον οἷον εἴ
τις εἰς ἀχύρων θημῶνα καὶ πλῆθος ὤσειε δαλὸν ἢ πυρὸς
ἀρχὴν ἐμβάλοι μικράν· φαίνεται γὰρ ὁμοία καὶ ἡ τῶν
ἀστέρων διαδρομὴ τούτῳ· ταχὺ γὰρ διὰ τὴν εὐφυΐαν τοῦ
ὑπεκκαύματος διαδίδωσιν ἐπὶ μῆκος. εἰ δὴ τοῦτο μείνειε
30 καὶ μὴ καταμαρανθείη διελθόν, ᾗ μάλιστα ἐπύκνωσε τὸ
ὑπέκκαυμα, γένοιτ' ἂν ἀρχὴ τῆς φορᾶς ἡ τελευτὴ τῆς
διαδρομῆς. τοιοῦτον ὁ κομήτης ἐστὶν ἀστήρ, ὥσπερ διαδρομὴ
ἀστέρος, ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ πέρας καὶ ἀρχήν. ὅταν μὲν οὖν ἐν
αὐτῷ τῷ κάτω τόπῳ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς συστάσεως ᾖ, καθ' ἑαυτὸν
35 φαίνεται κομήτης· ὅταν δ' ὑπὸ τῶν ἄστρων τινός, ἢ τῶν
ἀπλανῶν ἢ τῶν πλανήτων, ὑπὸ τῆς κινήσεως συνιστῆται ἡ
5We consider a satisfactory explanation of phenomena inaccessible to observation to have been given when our account of them is free from impossibilities. The observations before us suggest the following account of the phenomena we are now considering. 10We know that the dry and warm exhalation is the outermost part of the terrestrial world which falls below the circular motion. It, and a great part of the air that is continuous with it below, is carried round the earth by the motion of the circular revolution. In the course of this motion it often ignites wherever it may happen to be of the right consistency, 15and this we maintain to be the cause of the 'shooting' of scattered 'stars'. We may say, then, that a comet is formed when the upper motion introduces into a gathering of this kind a fiery principle not of such excessive strength as to burn up much of the material quickly, nor so weak as soon to be extinguished, but stronger and capable of burning up much material, 20and when exhalation of the right consistency rises from below and meets it. The kind of comet varies according to the shape which the exhalation happens to take. If it is diffused equally on every side the star is said to be fringed, if it stretches out in one direction it is called bearded. We have seen that when a fiery principle of this kind moves we seem to have a shooting-star: 25similarly when it stands still we seem to have a star standing still. We may compare these phenomena to a heap or mass of chaff into which a torch is thrust, or a spark thrown. That is what a shooting-star is like. The fuel is so inflammable that the fire runs through it quickly in a line. Now if this fire were to persist 30instead of running through the fuel and perishing away, its course through the fuel would stop at the point where the latter was densest, and then the whole might begin to move. Such is a comet-like a shooting-star that contains its beginning and end in itself.
When the matter begins to gather in the lower region independently 35the comet appears by itself.
When the matter begins to gather in the lower region independently 35the comet appears by itself.
344b
1 ἀναθυμίασις, τότε κομήτης γίγνεται τούτων τις· οὐ γὰρ πρὸς
αὐτοῖς ἡ κόμη γίγνεται τοῖς ἄστροις, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ αἱ ἅλῳ
περὶ τὸν ἥλιον φαίνονται καὶ τὴν σελήνην παρακολουθοῦσαι,
καίπερ μεθισταμένων, ὅταν οὕτως ᾖ πεπυκνωμένος
5 ὁ ἀὴρ ὥστε τοῦτο γίγνεσθαι τὸ πάθος ὑπὸ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου πορείαν,
οὕτω καὶ ἡ κόμη τοῖς ἄστροις οἷον ἅλως ἐστίν· πλὴν ἡ
μὲν γίγνεται δι' ἀνάκλασιν τοιαύτη τὴν χρόαν, ἐκεῖ δ' ἐπ'
αὐτῶν τὸ χρῶμα φαινόμενόν ἐστιν. ὅταν μὲν οὖν κατ' ἀστέρα
γένηται ἡ τοιαύτη σύγκρισις, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀνάγκη φαίνεσθαι
10 φορὰν κινούμενον τὸν κομήτην ἥνπερ φέρεται ὁ ἀστήρ· ὅταν
δὲ συστῇ καθ' αὑτόν, τότε ὑπολειπόμενοι φαίνονται. τοιαύτη
γὰρ ἡ φορὰ τοῦ κόσμου τοῦ περὶ τὴν γῆν. τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα
μηνύει μὴ εἶναι ἀνάκλασίν τινα τὸν κομήτην, ὡς ἅλω ἐν
ὑπεκκαύματι καθαρῷ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν ἀστέρα γιγνομένην,
15 καὶ μὴ ὡς λέγουσιν οἱ περὶ Ἱπποκράτην, πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον,
ὅτι καὶ καθ' αὑτὸν γίγνεται κομήτης πολλάκις καὶ πλεονάκις
ἢ περὶ τῶν ὡρισμένων τινὰς ἀστέρων. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς
ἅλω τὴν αἰτίαν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν· περὶ δὲ τοῦ πυρώδη τὴν σύστασιν
αὐτῶν εἶναι τεκμήριον χρὴ νομίζειν ὅτι σημαίνουσι
20 γιγνόμενοι πλείους πνεύματα καὶ αὐχμούς· δῆλον γὰρ
ὅτι γίγνονται διὰ τὸ πολλὴν εἶναι τὴν τοιαύτην ἔκκρισιν,
ὥστε ξηρότερον ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τὸν ἀέρα, καὶ διακρίνεσθαι
καὶ διαλύεσθαι τὸ διατμίζον ὑγρὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῆς
θερμῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως, ὥστε μὴ συνίστασθαι ῥᾳδίως εἰς ὕδωρ.
25 σαφέστερον δ' ἐροῦμεν καὶ περὶ τούτου τοῦ πάθους, ὅταν καὶ
περὶ πνευμάτων λέγειν ᾖ καιρός. ὅταν μὲν οὖν πυκνοὶ καὶ
πλείους φαίνωνται, καθάπερ λέγομεν, ξηροὶ καὶ πνευματώδεις
γίγνονται οἱ ἐνιαυτοὶ ἐπιδήλως· ὅταν δὲ σπανιώτεροι
καὶ ἀμαυρότεροι τὸ μέγεθος, ὁμοίως μὲν οὐ γίγνεται τὸ τοιοῦτον,
30 οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ γίγνεταί τις ὑπερβολὴ
πνεύματος ἢ κατὰ χρόνον ἢ κατὰ μέγεθος, ἐπεὶ καὶ ὅτε ὁ
ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ἔπεσε λίθος ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος, ὑπὸ πνεύματος
ἀρθεὶς ἐξέπεσε μεθ' ἡμέραν· ἔτυχε δὲ καὶ τότε κομήτης
ἀστὴρ γενόμενος ἀφ' ἑσπέρας. καὶ περὶ τὸν μέγαν ἀστέρα
35 τὸν κομήτην ξηρὸς ἦν ὁ χειμὼν καὶ βόρειος, καὶ τὸ κῦμα
δι' ἐναντίωσιν ἐγένετο πνευμάτων· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ κόλπῳ
1But when the exhalation is constituted by one of the fixed stars or the planets, owing to their motion, one of them becomes a comet. The fringe is not close to the stars themselves. Just as haloes appear to follow the sun and the moon as they move, and encircle them, 5when the air is dense enough for them to form along under the sun's course, so too the fringe. It stands in the relation of a halo to the stars, except that the colour of the halo is due to reflection, whereas in the case of comets the colour is something that appears actually on them.
Now when this matter gathers in relation to a star the comet necessarily appears to follow 10the same course as the star. But when the comet is formed independently it falls behind the motion of the universe, like the rest of the terrestrial world. It is this fact, that a comet often forms independently, indeed oftener than round one of the regular stars, that makes it impossible to maintain that a comet is a sort of reflection, 15not indeed, as Hippocrates and his school say, to the sun, but to the very star it is alleged to accompany-in fact, a kind of halo in the pure fuel of fire.
As for the halo we shall explain its cause later.
The fact that comets 20when frequent foreshadow wind and drought must be taken as an indication of their fiery constitution. For their origin is plainly due to the plentiful supply of that secretion. Hence the air is necessarily drier and the moist evaporation is so dissolved and dissipated by the quantity of the hot exhalation as not readily to condense into water.-25But this phenomenon too shall be explained more clearly later when the time comes to speak of the winds.-So when there are many comets and they are dense, it is as we say, and the years are clearly dry and windy. When they are fewer and fainter this effect does not appear in the same degree, 30though as a rule the is found to be excessive either in duration or strength. For instance when the stone at Aegospotami fell out of the air-it had been carried up by a wind and fell down in the daytime-then too a comet happened to have appeared in the west. And at the time of the great 35comet the winter was dry and north winds prevailed, and the wave was due to an opposition of winds.
Now when this matter gathers in relation to a star the comet necessarily appears to follow 10the same course as the star. But when the comet is formed independently it falls behind the motion of the universe, like the rest of the terrestrial world. It is this fact, that a comet often forms independently, indeed oftener than round one of the regular stars, that makes it impossible to maintain that a comet is a sort of reflection, 15not indeed, as Hippocrates and his school say, to the sun, but to the very star it is alleged to accompany-in fact, a kind of halo in the pure fuel of fire.
As for the halo we shall explain its cause later.
The fact that comets 20when frequent foreshadow wind and drought must be taken as an indication of their fiery constitution. For their origin is plainly due to the plentiful supply of that secretion. Hence the air is necessarily drier and the moist evaporation is so dissolved and dissipated by the quantity of the hot exhalation as not readily to condense into water.-25But this phenomenon too shall be explained more clearly later when the time comes to speak of the winds.-So when there are many comets and they are dense, it is as we say, and the years are clearly dry and windy. When they are fewer and fainter this effect does not appear in the same degree, 30though as a rule the is found to be excessive either in duration or strength. For instance when the stone at Aegospotami fell out of the air-it had been carried up by a wind and fell down in the daytime-then too a comet happened to have appeared in the west. And at the time of the great 35comet the winter was dry and north winds prevailed, and the wave was due to an opposition of winds.
345a
1 βορέας κατεῖχεν, ἔξω δὲ νότος ἔπνευσε μέγας. ἔτι δ' ἐπ'
ἄρχοντος Νικομάχου ἐγένετο ὀλίγας ἡμέρας κομήτης
περὶ τὸν ἰσημερινὸν κύκλον, οὐκ ἀφ' ἑσπέρας ποιησάμενος
τὴν ἀνατολήν, ἐφ' ᾧ τὸ περὶ Κόρινθον πνεῦμα γενέσθαι
5 συνέπεσεν. τοῦ δὲ μὴ γίγνεσθαι πολλοὺς μηδὲ πολλάκις
κομήτας, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐκτὸς τῶν τροπικῶν ἢ ἐντός, αἴτιος
ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ ἡ τῶν ἀστέρων κίνησις, οὐ μόνον ἐκκρίνουσα
τὸ θερμόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διακρίνουσα τὸ συνιστάμενον. μάλιστα
δ' αἴτιον ὅτι τὸ πλεῖστον εἰς τὴν τοῦ γάλακτος ἀθροίζεται
10 χώραν.
1For in the gulf a north wind blew and outside it a violent south wind. Again in the archonship of Nicomachus a comet appeared for a few days about the equinoctial circle (this one had not risen in the west), and simultaneously with it 5there happened the storm at Corinth.
That there are few comets and that they appear rarely and outside the tropic circles more than within them is due to the motion of the sun and the stars. For this motion does not only cause the hot principle to be secreted but also dissolves it when it is gathering. But the chief reason is that most of this stuff collects in the 10region of the milky way.
That there are few comets and that they appear rarely and outside the tropic circles more than within them is due to the motion of the sun and the stars. For this motion does not only cause the hot principle to be secreted but also dissolves it when it is gathering. But the chief reason is that most of this stuff collects in the 10region of the milky way.
Book 1,Chapter 8 (345a11–346b15)
ὅπως δὲ καὶ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν γίγνεται καὶ τί ἐστι τὸ
γάλα, λέγωμεν ἤδη. προδιέλθωμεν δὲ καὶ περὶ τούτου τὰ
παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων εἰρημένα πρῶτον. τῶν μὲν οὖν καλουμένων
Πυθαγορείων φασί τινες ὁδὸν εἶναι ταύτην οἱ μὲν τῶν ἐκπεσόντων
15 τινὸς ἀστέρων, κατὰ τὴν λεγομένην ἐπὶ Φαέθοντος
φθοράν, οἱ δὲ τὸν ἥλιον τοῦτον τὸν κύκλον φέρεσθαί ποτέ
φασιν· οἷον οὖν διακεκαῦσθαι τὸν τόπον τοῦτον ἤ τι τοιοῦτον
ἄλλο πεπονθέναι πάθος ὑπὸ τῆς φορᾶς αὐτῶν. ἄτοπον δὲ τὸ
μὴ συννοεῖν ὅτι εἴπερ τοῦτ' ἦν τὸ αἴτιον, ἔδει καὶ τὸν τῶν
20 ζῳδίων κύκλον οὕτως ἔχειν, καὶ μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν τοῦ γάλακτος·
ἅπαντα γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ φέρεται τὰ πλανώμενα καὶ
οὐχ ὁ ἥλιος μόνος. δῆλος δ' ἡμῖν ἅπας ὁ κύκλος· αἰεὶ γὰρ
αὐτοῦ φανερὸν ἡμικύκλιον τῆς νυκτός. ἀλλὰ πεπονθὼς οὐδὲν
φαίνεται τοιοῦτον, πλὴν εἴ τι συνάπτει μόριον αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν
25 τοῦ γάλακτος κύκλον. οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Δημόκριτον
φῶς εἶναι τὸ γάλα λέγουσιν ἄστρων τινῶν· τὸν γὰρ
ἥλιον ὑπὸ τὴν γῆν φερόμενον οὐχ ὁρᾶν ἔνια τῶν ἄστρων. ὅσα
μὲν οὖν περιορᾶται ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, τούτων μὲν οὐ φαίνεσθαι τὸ φῶς
(κωλύεσθαι γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτίνων)· ὅσοις δ' ἀντιφράττει
30 ἡ γῆ ὥστε μὴ ὁρᾶσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου, τὸ τούτων οἰκεῖον
φῶς εἶναί φασι τὸ γάλα. φανερὸν δ' ὅτι καὶ τοῦτ'
ἀδύνατον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ γάλα ἀεὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς
ἐστιν ἄστροις (φαίνεται γὰρ μέγιστος ὢν κύκλος), ὑπὸ δὲ
τοῦ ἡλίου ἀεὶ ἕτερα τὰ οὐχ ὁρώμενα διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐν ταὐτῷ
35 μένειν τόπῳ. ἔδει οὖν μεθισταμένου τοῦ ἡλίου μεθίστασθαι
καὶ τὸ γάλα· νῦν δὲ οὐ φαίνεται τοῦτο γιγνόμενον. πρὸς
11Let us now explain the origin, cause, and nature of the milky way. And here too let us begin by discussing the statements of others on the subject.
(1) Of the so-called Pythagoreans some say that this is the path of one of the stars that fell 15from heaven at the time of Phaethon's downfall. Others say that the sun used once to move in this circle and that this region was scorched or met with some other affection of this kind, because of the sun and its motion.
But it is absurd not to see that if this were the reason the circle of the 20Zodiac ought to be affected in the same way, and indeed more so than that of the milky way, since not the sun only but all the planets move in it. We can see the whole of this circle (half of it being visible at any time of the night), but it shows no signs of any such affection except where a part of it touches the circle of the milky way.
(2) 25Anaxagoras, Democritus, and their schools say that the milky way is the light of certain stars. For, they say, when the sun passes below the earth some of the stars are hidden from it. Now the light of those on which the sun shines is invisible, being obscured by the of the sun. But the milky way is the peculiar light of those stars which are shaded by 30the earth from the sun's rays.
This, too, is obviously impossible. The milky way is always unchanged and among the same constellations (for it is clearly a greatest circle), whereas, since the sun does not remain in the same 35place, what is hidden from it differs at different times. Consequently with the change of the sun's position the milky way ought to change its position too: but we find that this does not happen.
(1) Of the so-called Pythagoreans some say that this is the path of one of the stars that fell 15from heaven at the time of Phaethon's downfall. Others say that the sun used once to move in this circle and that this region was scorched or met with some other affection of this kind, because of the sun and its motion.
But it is absurd not to see that if this were the reason the circle of the 20Zodiac ought to be affected in the same way, and indeed more so than that of the milky way, since not the sun only but all the planets move in it. We can see the whole of this circle (half of it being visible at any time of the night), but it shows no signs of any such affection except where a part of it touches the circle of the milky way.
(2) 25Anaxagoras, Democritus, and their schools say that the milky way is the light of certain stars. For, they say, when the sun passes below the earth some of the stars are hidden from it. Now the light of those on which the sun shines is invisible, being obscured by the of the sun. But the milky way is the peculiar light of those stars which are shaded by 30the earth from the sun's rays.
This, too, is obviously impossible. The milky way is always unchanged and among the same constellations (for it is clearly a greatest circle), whereas, since the sun does not remain in the same 35place, what is hidden from it differs at different times. Consequently with the change of the sun's position the milky way ought to change its position too: but we find that this does not happen.
345b
1 δὲ τούτοις, εἰ καθάπερ δείκνυται νῦν ἐν τοῖς περὶ ἀστρολογίαν
θεωρήμασιν, τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου μέγεθος μεῖζόν ἐστιν
ἢ τὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ τὸ διάστημα πολλαπλασίως μεῖζον
τὸ τῶν ἄστρων πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἢ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου, καθάπερ τὸ
5 τοῦ ἡλίου πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἢ τὸ τῆς σελήνης, οὐκ ἂν πόρρω που
τῆς γῆς ὁ κῶνος ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου συμβάλλοι τὰς ἀκτῖνας,
οὐδ' ἂν ἡ σκιὰ πρὸς τοῖς ἄστροις εἴη τῆς γῆς, ἡ καλουμένη
νύξ· ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη πάντα τὸν ἥλιον τὰ ἄστρα περιορᾶν,
καὶ μηδενὶ τὴν γῆν ἀντιφράττειν αὐτῶν. ἔτι δ' ἐστὶν τρίτη τις
10 ὑπόληψις περὶ αὐτοῦ· λέγουσιν γάρ τινες ἀνάκλασιν εἶναι τὸ
γάλα τῆς ἡμετέρας ὄψεως πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸν
ἀστέρα τὸν κομήτην. ἀδύνατον δὲ καὶ τοῦτο· εἰ μὲν γὰρ τό
τε ὁρῶν ἠρεμοίη καὶ τὸ ἔνοπτρον καὶ τὸ ὁρώμενον ἅπαν, ἐν
τῷ αὐτῷ σημείῳ τοῦ ἐνόπτρου τὸ αὐτὸ φαίνοιτ' ἂν μέρος
15 τῆς ἐμφάσεως· εἰ δὲ κινοῖτο τὸ ἔνοπτρον καὶ τὸ ὁρώμενον
ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ μὲν ἀποστήματι πρὸς τὸ ὁρῶν καὶ ἠρεμοῦν, πρὸς
ἄλληλα δὲ μήτε ἰσοταχῶς μηδ' ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἀεὶ διαστήματι,
ἀδύνατον τὴν αὐτὴν ἔμφασιν ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἶναι μέρους
τοῦ ἐνόπτρου. τὰ δ' ἐν τῷ τοῦ γάλακτος κύκλῳ φερόμενα
20 ἄστρα κινεῖται καὶ ὁ ἥλιος πρὸς ὃν ἡ ἀνάκλασις, μενόντων
ἡμῶν, καὶ ὁμοίως καὶ ἴσον πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀπέχοντα,
αὐτῶν δ' οὐκ ἴσον· ὁτὲ μὲν γὰρ μέσων νυκτῶν ὁ δελφὶς
ἐπιτέλλει, ὁτὲ δὲ ἕωθεν, τὰ δὲ μόρια τοῦ γάλακτος τὰ
αὐτὰ μένει ἐν ἑκάστῳ. καίτοι οὐκ ἔδει, εἰ ἦν ἔμφασις, ἀλλὰ
25 μὴ ἐν αὐτοῖς τι ἦν τοῦτο τὸ πάθος τοῖς τόποις. ἔτι δὲ νύκτωρ
ἐν ὕδατι καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐνόπτροις τὸ μὲν γάλα ἐμφαίνεται
θεωροῦσι, τὸ δὲ τὴν ὄψιν ἀνακλᾶσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον
πῶς δυνατόν; ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὔτε ὁδὸς τῶν πλανήτων οὐδενὸς οὔτε
φῶς ἐστι τῶν μὴ ὁρωμένων ἄστρων οὔτ' ἀνάκλασις, ἐκ τούτων
30 φανερόν. σχεδὸν δὲ ταῦτ' ἐστὶν μόνον τὰ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν παραδεδομένα
παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων. ἡμεῖς δὲ λέγωμεν ἀναλαβόντες
τὴν ὑποκειμένην ἀρχὴν ἡμῖν. εἴρηται γὰρ πρότερον ὅτι τὸ
ἔσχατον τοῦ λεγομένου ἀέρος δύναμιν ἔχει πυρός, ὥστε τῇ
κινήσει διακρινομένου τοῦ ἀέρος ἀποκρίνεσθαι τοιαύτην σύστασιν
35 οἵαν καὶ τοὺς κομήτας ἀστέρας εἶναί φαμεν. τοιοῦτον δὴ
δεῖ νοῆσαι γιγνόμενον ὅπερ ἐπ' ἐκείνων, ὅταν μὴ αὐτὴ
1Besides, if astronomical demonstrations are correct and the size of the sun is greater than that of the earth and the distance of the stars from the earth many times greater than that of the sun (just as the 5sun is further from the earth than the moon), then the cone made by the rays of the sun would terminate at no great distance from the earth, and the shadow of the earth (what we call night) would not reach the stars. On the contrary, the sun shines on all the stars and the earth screens none of them.
(3) There is a third 10theory about the milky way. Some say that it is a reflection of our sight to the sun, just as they say that the comet is.
But this too is impossible. For if the eye and the mirror and the whole of the object were severally at rest, then the same part 15of the image would appear at the same point in the mirror. But if the mirror and the object move, keeping the same distance from the eye which is at rest, but at different rates of speed and so not always at the same interval from one another, then it is impossible for the same image always to appear in the same part of the mirror. Now the constellations included in the circle of the milky way 20move; and so does the sun, the object to which our sight is reflected; but we stand still. And the distance of those two from us is constant and uniform, but their distance from one another varies. For the Dolphin sometimes rises at midnight, sometimes in the morning. But in each case the same parts of the milky way are found near it. But if it were a reflection and 25not a genuine affection of these this ought not to be the case.
Again, we can see the milky way reflected at night in water and similar mirrors. But under these circumstances it is impossible for our sight to be reflected to the sun.
These considerations 30show that the milky way is not the path of one of the planets, nor the light of imperceptible stars, nor a reflection. And those are the chief theories handed down by others hitherto.
Let us recall our fundamental principle and then explain our views. We have already laid down that the outermost part of what is called the air is potentially fire and that therefore when the air is dissolved by motion, there is separated off a kind of matter-and 35of this matter we assert that comets consist.
(3) There is a third 10theory about the milky way. Some say that it is a reflection of our sight to the sun, just as they say that the comet is.
But this too is impossible. For if the eye and the mirror and the whole of the object were severally at rest, then the same part 15of the image would appear at the same point in the mirror. But if the mirror and the object move, keeping the same distance from the eye which is at rest, but at different rates of speed and so not always at the same interval from one another, then it is impossible for the same image always to appear in the same part of the mirror. Now the constellations included in the circle of the milky way 20move; and so does the sun, the object to which our sight is reflected; but we stand still. And the distance of those two from us is constant and uniform, but their distance from one another varies. For the Dolphin sometimes rises at midnight, sometimes in the morning. But in each case the same parts of the milky way are found near it. But if it were a reflection and 25not a genuine affection of these this ought not to be the case.
Again, we can see the milky way reflected at night in water and similar mirrors. But under these circumstances it is impossible for our sight to be reflected to the sun.
These considerations 30show that the milky way is not the path of one of the planets, nor the light of imperceptible stars, nor a reflection. And those are the chief theories handed down by others hitherto.
Let us recall our fundamental principle and then explain our views. We have already laid down that the outermost part of what is called the air is potentially fire and that therefore when the air is dissolved by motion, there is separated off a kind of matter-and 35of this matter we assert that comets consist.
346a
1 καθ' αὑτὴν γένηται ἡ τοιαύτη ἔκκρισις, ἀλλ' ὑπό τινος τῶν
ἄστρων ἢ τῶν ἐνδεδεμένων ἢ τῶν πλανωμένων· τότε γὰρ οὗτοι
φαίνονται κομῆται διὰ τὸ παρακολουθεῖν αὐτῶν τῇ
φορᾷ ὥσπερ τῷ ἡλίῳ τὴν τοιαύτην σύγκρισιν, ἀφ' ἧς διὰ
5 τὴν ἀνάκλασιν τὴν ἅλω φαίνεσθαί φαμεν, ὅταν οὕτω τύχῃ
κεκραμένος ὁ ἀήρ. ὃ δὴ καθ' ἕνα συμβαίνει τῶν ἀστέρων,
τοῦτο δεῖ λαβεῖν γιγνόμενον περὶ ὅλον τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν
ἄνω φορὰν ἅπασαν· εὔλογον γάρ, εἴπερ ἡ ἑνὸς ἄστρου κίνησις,
καὶ τὴν τῶν πάντων ποιεῖν τι τοιοῦτον καὶ ἐκριπίζειν ἀέρα
10 καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι καθ' ὃν τόπον πυκνότατα καὶ πλεῖστα
καὶ μέγιστα τυγχάνουσιν ὄντα τῶν ἄστρων. ὁ μὲν οὖν τῶν
ζῳδίων διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου φορὰν καὶ τὴν τῶν πλανητῶν
διαλύει τὴν τοιαύτην σύστασιν· διόπερ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν
κομητῶν ἐκτὸς γίγνονται τῶν τροπικῶν. ἔτι δ' οὔτε περὶ τὸν ἥλιον
15 οὔτε περὶ σελήνην γίγνεται κόμη· θᾶττον γὰρ διακρίνουσιν ἢ
ὥστε συστῆναι τοιαύτην σύγκρισιν. οὗτος δ' ὁ κύκλος ἐν ᾧ τὸ
γάλα φαίνεται τοῖς ὁρῶσιν, ὅ τε μέγιστος ὢν τυγχάνει
καὶ τῇ θέσει κείμενος οὕτως ὥστε πολὺ τοὺς τροπικοὺς ὑπερβάλλειν.
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἄστρων ὁ τόπος πλήρης ἐστὶν τῶν
20 μεγίστων καὶ λαμπροτάτων, καὶ ἔτι τῶν σποράδων καλουμένων
(τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν καὶ τοῖς ὄμμασιν ἰδεῖν φανερόν), ὥστε
διὰ ταῦτα συνεχῶς καὶ ἀεὶ ταύτην πᾶσαν ἀθροίζεσθαι τὴν
σύγκρισιν. σημεῖον δέ· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κύκλου πλέον τὸ
φῶς ἐστιν ἐν θατέρῳ ἡμικυκλίῳ τῷ τὸ δίπλωμα ἔχοντι· ἐν
25 τούτῳ γὰρ πλείω καὶ πυκνότερά ἐστιν ἄστρα ἢ ἐν θατέρῳ,
ὡς οὐ δι' ἑτέραν τιν' αἰτίαν γιγνομένου τοῦ φέγγους ἢ διὰ τὴν
τῶν ἄστρων φοράν· εἰ γὰρ ἔν τε τῷ κύκλῳ τούτῳ γίγνεται ἐν
ᾧ τὰ πλεῖστα κεῖται τῶν ἄστρων, καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κύκλου ἐν ᾧ
μᾶλλον φαίνεται καταπεπυκνῶσθαι καὶ μεγέθει καὶ πλήθει
30 ἀστέρων, ταύτην εἰκὸς ὑπολαβεῖν οἰκειοτάτην αἰτίαν εἶναι
τοῦ πάθους. θεωρείσθω δ' ὅ τε κύκλος καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ ἄστρα
ἐκ τῆς ὑπογραφῆς. τοὺς δὲ σποράδας καλουμένους οὕτω μὲν
εἰς τὴν σφαῖραν οὐκ ἔσται τάξαι διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν διὰ τέλους
ἔχειν φανερὰν ἕκαστον θέσιν, εἰς δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέπουσίν
35 ἐστι δῆλον· ἐν μόνῳ γὰρ τούτῳ τῶν κύκλων τὰ μεταξὺ
πλήρη τοιούτων ἀστέρων ἐστίν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις διαλείπει
1We must suppose that what happens is the same as in the case of the comets when the matter does not form independently but is formed by one of the fixed stars or the planets. Then these stars appear to be fringed, because matter of this kind follows their course. In the same way, a certain kind of matter follows the sun, and we explain the halo 5as a reflection from it when the air is of the right constitution. Now we must assume that what happens in the case of the stars severally happens in the case of the whole of the heavens and all the upper motion. For it is natural to suppose that, if the motion of a single star excites a flame, that of all the stars should have a similar result, 10and especially in that region in which the stars are biggest and most numerous and nearest to one another. Now the circle of the zodiac dissolves this kind of matter because of the motion of the sun and the planets, and for this reason most comets are found outside the tropic circles. Again, no fringe appears round the sun 15or moon: for they dissolve such matter too quickly to admit of its formation. But this circle in which the milky way appears to our sight is the greatest circle, and its position is such that it extends far outside the tropic circles. Besides the region is full of the 20biggest and brightest constellations and also of what called 'scattered' stars (you have only to look to see this clearly). So for these reasons all this matter is continually and ceaselessly collecting there. A proof of the theory is this: In the circle itself the light is stronger in that half where the milky way is divided, and in 25it the constellations are more numerous and closer to one another than in the other half; which shows that the cause of the light is the motion of the constellations and nothing else. For if it is found in the circle in which there are most constellations and at that point in the circle at which they are densest and contain the biggest and the most 30stars, it is natural to suppose that they are the true cause of the affection in question. The circle and the constellations in it may be seen in the diagram. The so-called 'scattered' stars it is not possible to set down in the same way on the sphere because none of them have an evident permanent position; but if you look up to the sky 35the point is clear.
346b
1 φανερῶς. ὥστ' εἴπερ καὶ περὶ τοῦ φαίνεσθαι κομήτας ἀποδεχόμεθα
τὴν αἰτίαν ὡς εἰρημένην μετρίως, καὶ περὶ τοῦ γάλακτος
τὸν αὐτὸν ὑποληπτέον τρόπον ἔχειν· ὃ γὰρ ἐκεῖ
περὶ ἕνα ἐστὶν πάθος ἡ κόμη, τοῦτο περὶ κύκλον τινὰ συμβαίνει
5 γίγνεσθαι τὸ αὐτό, καὶ ἔστιν τὸ γάλα, ὡς εἰπεῖν
οἷον ὁριζόμενον, ἡ τοῦ μεγίστου διὰ τὴν ἔκκρισιν κύκλου κόμη.
διὸ καθάπερ πρότερον εἴπομεν, οὐ πολλοὶ οὐδὲ πολλάκις γίγνονται
κομῆται, διὰ τὸ συνεχῶς ἀποκεκρίσθαι καὶ ἀποκρίνεσθαι
καθ' ἑκάστην περίοδον εἰς τοῦτον τὸν τόπον αἰεὶ τὴν
10 τοιαύτην σύστασιν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν γιγνομένων ἐν τῷ περὶ
τὴν γῆν κόσμῳ τῷ συνεχεῖ ταῖς φοραῖς εἴρηται, περί τε
τῆς διαδρομῆς τῶν ἄστρων καὶ τῆς ἐκπιμπραμένης φλογός,
ἔτι δὲ περί τε κομητῶν καὶ τοῦ καλουμένου γάλακτος· σχεδὸν
γάρ εἰσιν τοσαῦτα τὰ πάθη τὰ φαινόμενα περὶ τὸν τόπον
15 τοῦτον.
1For in this circle alone are the intervals full of these stars: in the other circles there are obvious gaps. Hence if we accept the cause assigned for the appearance of comets as plausible we must assume that the same kind of thing holds good of the milky way. For the fringe which in the former case is an affection of a single star here 5forms in the same way in relation to a whole circle. So if we are to define the milky way we may call it 'a fringe attaching to the greatest circle, and due to the matter secreted'. This, as we said before, explains why there are few comets and why they appear rarely; it is because at each revolution of the heavens this matter has always been and is always being separated off and gathered into this region.
10We have now explained the phenomena that occur in that part of the terrestrial world which is continuous with the motions of the heavens, namely, shooting-stars and the burning flame, comets and the milky way, these being the chief affections that appear in 15that region.
10We have now explained the phenomena that occur in that part of the terrestrial world which is continuous with the motions of the heavens, namely, shooting-stars and the burning flame, comets and the milky way, these being the chief affections that appear in 15that region.
Book 1,Chapter 9 (346b16–347a12)
περὶ δὲ τοῦ τῇ θέσει μὲν δευτέρου τόπου μετὰ τοῦτον,
πρώτου δὲ περὶ τὴν γῆν, λέγωμεν· οὗτος γὰρ κοινὸς ὕδατός
τε τόπος καὶ ἀέρος καὶ τῶν συμβαινόντων περὶ τὴν ἄνω
γένεσιν αὐτοῦ. ληπτέον δὲ καὶ τούτων τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς
20 αἰτίας πάντων ὁμοίως. ἡ μὲν οὖν ὡς κινοῦσα καὶ κυρία καὶ
πρώτη τῶν ἀρχῶν ὁ κύκλος ἐστίν, ἐν ᾧ φανερῶς ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου
φορὰ διακρίνουσα καὶ συγκρίνουσα τῷ γίγνεσθαι πλησίον ἢ
πορρώτερον αἰτία τῆς γενέσεως καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς ἐστι. μενούσης
δὲ τῆς γῆς, τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν ὑγρὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκτίνων καὶ
25 ὑπὸ τῆς ἄλλης τῆς ἄνωθεν θερμότητος ἀτμιδούμενον φέρεται
ἄνω· τῆς δὲ θερμότητος ἀπολιπούσης τῆς ἀναγούσης αὐτό,
καὶ τῆς μὲν διασκεδαννυμένης πρὸς τὸν ἄνω τόπον, τῆς δὲ
καὶ σβεννυμένης διὰ τὸ μετεωρίζεσθαι πορρώτερον εἰς τὸν
ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς ἀέρα, συνίσταται πάλιν ἡ ἀτμὶς ψυχομένη
30 διά τε τὴν ἀπόλειψιν τοῦ θερμοῦ καὶ τὸν τόπον, καὶ γίγνεται
ὕδωρ ἐξ ἀέρος· γενόμενον δὲ πάλιν φέρεται πρὸς τὴν γῆν.
ἔστι δ' ἡ μὲν ἐξ ὕδατος ἀναθυμίασις ἀτμίς, ἡ δ' ἐξ ἀέρος
εἰς ὕδωρ νέφος· ὁμίχλη δὲ νεφέλης περίττωμα τῆς εἰς
ὕδωρ συγκρίσεως. διὸ σημεῖον μᾶλλόν ἐστιν εὐδίας ἢ
35 ὑδάτων· οἷον γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ὁμίχλη νεφέλη ἄγονος. γίγνεται
δὲ κύκλος οὗτος μιμούμενος τὸν τοῦ ἡλίου κύκλον· ἅμα γὰρ
16Let us go on to treat of the region which follows next in order after this and which immediately surrounds the earth. It is the region common to water and air, and the processes attending the formation of water above take place in it. We must consider the principles and 20causes of all these phenomena too as before. The efficient and chief and first cause is the circle in which the sun moves. For the sun as it approaches or recedes, obviously causes dissipation and condensation and so gives rise to generation and destruction. Now the earth remains but the moisture surrounding it is made to evaporate by the sun's rays 25and the other heat from above, and rises. But when the heat which was raising it leaves it, in part dispersing to the higher region, in part quenched through rising so far into the upper air, 30then the vapour cools because its heat is gone and because the place is cold, and condenses again and turns from air into water. And after the water has formed it falls down again to the earth.
The exhalation of water is vapour: air condensing into water is cloud. Mist is what is left over when a cloud condenses into water, and is therefore rather a sign of fine weather than 35of rain; for mist might be called a barren cloud. So we get a circular process that follows the course of the sun.
The exhalation of water is vapour: air condensing into water is cloud. Mist is what is left over when a cloud condenses into water, and is therefore rather a sign of fine weather than 35of rain; for mist might be called a barren cloud. So we get a circular process that follows the course of the sun.
347a
1 ἐκεῖνος εἰς τὰ πλάγια μεταβάλλει καὶ οὗτος ἄνω καὶ κάτω.
δεῖ δὲ νοῆσαι τοῦτον ὥσπερ ποταμὸν ῥέοντα κύκλῳ ἄνω καὶ
κάτω, κοινὸν ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος· πλησίον μὲν γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ
ἡλίου ὁ τῆς ἀτμίδος ἄνω ῥεῖ ποταμός, ἀφισταμένου δὲ ὁ
5 τοῦ ὕδατος κάτω. καὶ τοῦτ' ἐνδελεχὲς ἐθέλει γίγνεσθαι κατά
γε τὴν τάξιν· ὥστ' εἴπερ ᾐνίττοντο τὸν ὠκεανὸν οἱ πρότερον,
τάχ' ἂν τοῦτον τὸν ποταμὸν λέγοιεν τὸν κύκλῳ ῥέοντα περὶ
τὴν γῆν. ἀναγομένου δὲ τοῦ ὑγροῦ αἰεὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ θερμοῦ δύναμιν
καὶ πάλιν φερομένου κάτω διὰ τὴν ψύξιν πρὸς τὴν
10 γῆν, οἰκείως τὰ ὀνόματα τοῖς πάθεσιν κεῖται καί τισιν διαφοραῖς
αὐτῶν· ὅταν μὲν γὰρ κατὰ μικρὰ φέρηται, ψακάδες,
ὅταν δὲ κατὰ μείζω μόρια, ὑετὸς καλεῖται.
1For according as the sun moves to this side or that, the moisture in this process rises or falls. We must think of it as a river flowing up and down in a circle and made up partly of air, partly of water. When the sun is near, the stream of vapour flows upwards; when it recedes, 5the stream of water flows down: and the order of sequence, at all events, in this process always remains the same. So if 'Oceanus' had some secret meaning in early writers, perhaps they may have meant this river that flows in a circle about the earth.
So the moisture is always raised by the heat and descends to the earth again when it gets cold. 10These processes and, in some cases, their varieties are distinguished by special names. When the water falls in small drops it is called a drizzle; when the drops are larger it is rain.
So the moisture is always raised by the heat and descends to the earth again when it gets cold. 10These processes and, in some cases, their varieties are distinguished by special names. When the water falls in small drops it is called a drizzle; when the drops are larger it is rain.
Book 1,Chapter 10 (347a13–347b11)
ἐκ δὲ τοῦ καθ' ἡμέραν ἀτμίζοντος ὅσον ἂν μὴ μετεωρισθῇ
δι' ὀλιγότητα τοῦ ἀνάγοντος αὐτὸ πυρὸς πρὸς τὸ
15 ἀναγόμενον ὕδωρ, πάλιν καταφερόμενον ὅταν ψυχθῇ νύκτωρ,
καλεῖται δρόσος καὶ πάχνη, πάχνη μὲν ὅταν ἡ
ἀτμὶς παγῇ πρὶν εἰς ὕδωρ συγκριθῆναι πάλιν (γίγνεται δὲ
χειμῶνος, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς χειμερινοῖς τόποις), δρόσος
δ' ὅταν συγκριθῇ εἰς ὕδωρ ἡ ἀτμίς, καὶ μήθ' οὕτως ἔχῃ ἡ
20 ἀλέα ὥστε ξηρᾶναι τὸ ἀναχθέν, μήθ' οὕτω ψῦχος ὥστε παγῆναι
τὴν ἀτμίδα αὐτὴν διὰ τὸ ἢ τὸν τόπον ἀλεεινότερον ἢ
τὴν ὥραν εἶναι· γίγνεται γὰρ μᾶλλον ἡ δρόσος ἐν εὐδίᾳ καὶ
ἐν τοῖς εὐδιεινοτέροις τόποις, ἡ δὲ πάχνη, καθάπερ εἴρηται,
τοὐναντίον· δῆλον γὰρ ὡς ἡ ἀτμὶς θερμότερον ὕδατος (ἔχει
25 γὰρ τὸ ἀνάγον ἔτι πῦρ), ὥστε πλείονος ψυχρότητος αὐτὴν
πῆξαι. γίγνεται δ' ἄμφω αἰθρίας τε καὶ νηνεμίας· οὔτε γὰρ
ἀναχθήσεται μὴ οὔσης αἰθρίας, οὔτε συστῆναι δύναιτ' ἂν ἀνέμου
πνέοντος. σημεῖον δ' ὅτι γίγνεται ταῦτα διὰ τὸ μὴ πόρρω
μετεωρίζεσθαι τὴν ἀτμίδα· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ὄρεσιν οὐ γίγνεται
30 πάχνη. αἰτία δὲ μία μὲν αὕτη, ὅτι ἀνάγεται ἐκ τῶν κοίλων
καὶ ἐφύδρων τόπων, ὥστε καθάπερ φορτίον φέρουσα
πλέον ἡ ἀνάγουσα θερμότης ἢ καθ' ἑαυτὴν οὐ δύναται μετεωρίζειν
ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον αὐτὸ τοῦ ὕψους, ἀλλ' ἐγγὺς ἀφίησι
πάλιν· ἑτέρα δ' ὅτι καὶ ῥεῖ μάλιστα ὁ ἀὴρ ῥέων ἐν
35 τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς, ὃς διαλύει τὴν σύστασιν τὴν τοιαύτην. γίγνεται δ'
ἡ δρόσος πανταχοῦ νοτίοις, οὐ βορείοις, πλὴν ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ.
ἐκεῖ δὲ τοὐναντίον· βορείοις μὲν γὰρ γίγνεται, νοτίοις δ' οὐ
13Some of the vapour that is formed by day does not rise high because the ratio of the fire that is raising it 15to the water that is being raised is small. When this cools and descends at night it is called dew and hoar-frost. When the vapour is frozen before it has condensed to water again it is hoar-frost; and this appears in winter and is commoner in cold places. It is dew when the vapour has condensed into water and the heat is not so great 20as to dry up the moisture that has been raised nor the cold sufficient (owing to the warmth of the climate or season) for the vapour itself to freeze. For dew is more commonly found when the season or the place is warm, whereas the opposite, as has been said, is the case with hoar-frost. For obviously vapour is warmer than water, 25having still the fire that raised it: consequently more cold is needed to freeze it.
Both dew and hoar-frost are found when the sky is clear and there is no wind. For the vapour could not be raised unless the sky were clear, and if a wind were blowing it could not condense.
The fact that hoar-frost is not found on mountains contributes to prove that these phenomena occur because the vapour does not rise high. 30One reason for this is that it rises from hollow and watery places, so that the heat that is raising it, bearing as it were too heavy a burden cannot lift it to a great height but soon lets it fall again. A second reason is that the motion of the air is more pronounced 35at a height, and this dissolves a gathering of this kind.
Everywhere, except in Pontus, dew is found with south winds and not with north winds. There the opposite is the case and it is found with north winds and not with south. The reason is the same as that which explains why dew is found in warm weather and not in cold.
Both dew and hoar-frost are found when the sky is clear and there is no wind. For the vapour could not be raised unless the sky were clear, and if a wind were blowing it could not condense.
The fact that hoar-frost is not found on mountains contributes to prove that these phenomena occur because the vapour does not rise high. 30One reason for this is that it rises from hollow and watery places, so that the heat that is raising it, bearing as it were too heavy a burden cannot lift it to a great height but soon lets it fall again. A second reason is that the motion of the air is more pronounced 35at a height, and this dissolves a gathering of this kind.
Everywhere, except in Pontus, dew is found with south winds and not with north winds. There the opposite is the case and it is found with north winds and not with south. The reason is the same as that which explains why dew is found in warm weather and not in cold.
347b
1 γίγνεται. αἴτιον δ' ὁμοίως ὥσπερ ὅτι εὐδίας μὲν γίγνεται,
χειμῶνος δ' οὔ· ὁ μὲν γὰρ νότος εὐδίαν ποιεῖ, ὁ δὲ βορέας
χειμῶνα· ψυχρὸς γάρ, ὥστ' ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως
σβέννυσι τὴν θερμότητα. ἐν δὲ τῷ Πόντῳ ὁ μὲν
5 νότος οὐχ οὕτως ποιεῖ εὐδίαν ὥστε γίγνεσθαι ἀτμίδα, ὁ δὲ
βορέας διὰ τὴν ψυχρότητα ἀντιπεριιστὰς τὸ θερμὸν ἀθροίζει,
ὥστε πλέον ἀτμίζει μᾶλλον. πολλάκις δὲ τοῦτο καὶ
ἐν τοῖς ἔξω τόποις ἰδεῖν γιγνόμενον ἔστιν· ἀτμίζει γὰρ τὰ
φρέατα βορείοις μᾶλλον ἢ νοτίοις· ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν βόρεια
10 σβέννυσιν πρὶν συστῆναί τι πλῆθος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς νοτίοις ἐᾶται
ἀθροίζεσθαι ἡ ἀναθυμίασις. αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ οὐ πήγνυται,
καθάπερ ἐν τῷ περὶ τὰ νέφη τόπῳ.
1For the south wind brings warm, and the north, wintry weather. For the north wind is cold and so quenches the heat of the evaporation. But in Pontus 5the south wind does not bring warmth enough to cause evaporation, whereas the coldness of the north wind concentrates the heat by a sort of recoil, so that there is more evaporation and not less. This is a thing which we can often observe in other places too. Wells, for instance, give off more vapour in a north than in a south wind. Only the north winds 10quench the heat before any considerable quantity of vapour has gathered, while in a south wind the evaporation is allowed to accumulate.
Water, once formed, does not freeze on the surface of the earth, in the way that it does in the region of the clouds.
Water, once formed, does not freeze on the surface of the earth, in the way that it does in the region of the clouds.
Book 1,Chapter 11 (347b12–33)
ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ τρία φοιτᾷ
σώματα συνιστάμενα διὰ τὴν ψύξιν, ὕδωρ καὶ χιὼν
καὶ χάλαζα. τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν δύο ἀνάλογον καὶ διὰ τὰς
15 αὐτὰς αἰτίας γίγνεται τοῖς κάτω, διαφέροντα τῷ μᾶλλον
καὶ ἧττον καὶ πλήθει καὶ ὀλιγότητι· χιὼν γὰρ καὶ πάχνη
ταὐτόν, καὶ ὑετὸς καὶ δρόσος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πολὺ τὸ δ'
ὀλίγον. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὑετὸς ἐκ πολλῆς ἀτμίδος γίγνεται ψυχομένης·
τούτου δ' αἴτιον ὅ τε τόπος πολὺς καὶ ὁ χρόνος
20 ὤν, ἐν ᾧ συλλέγεται καὶ ἐξ οὗ. τὸ δ' ὀλίγον ἡ δρόσος·
ἐφήμερος γὰρ ἡ σύστασις καὶ ὁ τόπος μικρός· δηλοῖ τε ἥ
τε γένεσις οὖσα ταχεῖα καὶ βραχὺ τὸ πλῆθος. ὁμοίως δὲ
καὶ πάχνη καὶ χιών· ὅταν γὰρ παγῇ τὸ νέφος, χιών ἐστιν,
ὅταν δ' ἡ ἀτμίς, πάχνη. διὸ ἢ ὥρας ἢ χώρας ἐστὶν σημεῖον
25 ψυχρᾶς· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐπήγνυτο ἔτι πολλῆς ἐνούσης θερμότητος,
εἰ μὴ ἐπεκράτει τὸ ψῦχος· ἐν γὰρ τῷ νέφει ἔτι ἔνεστιν
πολὺ θερμὸν τὸ ὑπόλοιπον τοῦ ἐξατμίσαντος ἐκ τῆς γῆς
τὸ ὑγρὸν πυρός. χάλαζα δ' ἐκεῖ μὲν γίγνεται, ἐν δὲ τῷ
πλησίον τῆς γῆς ἀτμίζοντι τοῦτ' ἐκλείπει· καθάπερ γὰρ εἴπομεν,
30 ὡς μὲν ἐκεῖ χιών, ἐνταῦθα γίγνεται πάχνη, ὡς δ'
ἐκεῖ ὑετός, ἐνταῦθα δρόσος· ὡς δ' ἐκεῖ χάλαζα, ἐνταῦθα
οὐκ ἀνταποδίδωσι τὸ ὅμοιον. τὸ δ' αἴτιον εἰποῦσι περὶ χαλάζης
ἔσται δῆλον.
12From the latter there fall three bodies condensed by cold, namely rain, snow, hail. Two of these correspond to the phenomena on the lower level and are 15due to the same causes, differing from them only in degree and quantity.
Snow and hoar-frost are one and the same thing, and so are rain and dew: only there is a great deal of the former and little of the latter. For rain is due to the cooling of a great amount of vapour, for the region from which and the time during which the vapour is collected 20are considerable. But of dew there is little: for the vapour collects for it in a single day and from a small area, as its quick formation and scanty quantity show.
The relation of hoar-frost and snow is the same: when cloud freezes there is snow, when vapour freezes there is hoar-frost. Hence snow is a sign of a 25cold season or country. For a great deal of heat is still present and unless the cold were overpowering it the cloud would not freeze. For there still survives in it a great deal of the heat which caused the moisture to rise as vapour from the earth.
Hail on the other hand is found in the upper region, but the corresponding phenomenon in the vaporous region near the earth is lacking. For, as we said, 30to snow in the upper region corresponds hoar-frost in the lower, and to rain in the upper region, dew in the lower. But there is nothing here to correspond to hail in the upper region. Why this is so will be clear when we have explained the nature of hail.
Snow and hoar-frost are one and the same thing, and so are rain and dew: only there is a great deal of the former and little of the latter. For rain is due to the cooling of a great amount of vapour, for the region from which and the time during which the vapour is collected 20are considerable. But of dew there is little: for the vapour collects for it in a single day and from a small area, as its quick formation and scanty quantity show.
The relation of hoar-frost and snow is the same: when cloud freezes there is snow, when vapour freezes there is hoar-frost. Hence snow is a sign of a 25cold season or country. For a great deal of heat is still present and unless the cold were overpowering it the cloud would not freeze. For there still survives in it a great deal of the heat which caused the moisture to rise as vapour from the earth.
Hail on the other hand is found in the upper region, but the corresponding phenomenon in the vaporous region near the earth is lacking. For, as we said, 30to snow in the upper region corresponds hoar-frost in the lower, and to rain in the upper region, dew in the lower. But there is nothing here to correspond to hail in the upper region. Why this is so will be clear when we have explained the nature of hail.
Book 1,Chapter 12 (347b34–349a11)
δεῖ δὲ λαβεῖν ἅμα καὶ τὰ συμβαίνοντα περὶ τὴν γένεσιν
35 αὐτῆς, τά τε μὴ πλανῶντα καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντ' εἶναι παράλογα.
ἔστι μὲν γὰρ ἡ χάλαζα κρύσταλλος, πήγνυται δὲ
τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ χειμῶνος· αἱ δὲ χάλαζαι γίγνονται ἔαρος μὲν
34But we must go on to collect the facts bearing on the origin 35of it, both those which raise no difficulties and those which seem paradoxical.
Hail is ice, and water freezes in winter; yet hailstorms occur chiefly in spring and autumn and less often in the late summer, but rarely in winter and then only when the cold is less intense.
Hail is ice, and water freezes in winter; yet hailstorms occur chiefly in spring and autumn and less often in the late summer, but rarely in winter and then only when the cold is less intense.
348a
1 καὶ μετοπώρου μάλιστα, εἶτα δὲ καὶ τῆς ὀπώρας, χειμῶνος
δ' ὀλιγάκις, καὶ ὅταν ἧττον ᾖ ψῦχος. καὶ ὅλως δὲ γίγνονται
χάλαζαι μὲν ἐν τοῖς εὐδιεινοτέροις τόποις, αἱ δὲ χιόνες
ἐν τοῖς ψυχροτέροις. ἄτοπον δὲ καὶ τὸ πήγνυσθαι ὕδωρ ἐν
5 τῷ ἄνω τόπῳ· οὔτε γὰρ παγῆναι δυνατὸν πρὶν γενέσθαι
ὕδωρ, οὔτε τὸ ὕδωρ οὐδένα χρόνον οἷόν τε μένειν μετέωρον ὄν.
ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδ' ὥσπερ αἱ ψακάδες ἄνω μὲν ὀχοῦνται διὰ
μικρότητα, ἐνδιατρίψασαι δ' ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀέρος, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ
τοῦ ὕδατος γῆ καὶ χρυσὸς διὰ μικρομέρειαν πολλάκις ἐπιπλέουσιν,
10 οὕτως ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀέρος τὸ ὕδωρ, συνελθόντων δὲ πολλῶν
μικρῶν μεγάλαι καταφέρονται ψακάδες· τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ
ἐνδέχεται γενέσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς χαλάζης· οὐ γὰρ συμφύεται τὰ
πεπηγότα ὥσπερ τὰ ὑγρά. δῆλον οὖν ὅτι ἄνω τοσοῦτον ὕδωρ
ἔμεινεν· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐπάγη τοσοῦτον. τοῖς μὲν οὖν δοκεῖ τοῦ πάθους
15 αἴτιον εἶναι τούτου καὶ τῆς γενέσεως, ὅταν ἀπωσθῇ τὸ
νέφος εἰς τὸν ἄνω τόπον μᾶλλον ὄντα ψυχρὸν διὰ τὸ λήγειν
ἐκεῖ τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τῶν ἀκτίνων ἀνακλάσεις, ἐλθὸν
δ' ἐκεῖ πήγνυσθαι τὸ ὕδωρ· διὸ καὶ θέρους μᾶλλον καὶ
ἐν ταῖς ἀλεειναῖς χώραις γίγνεσθαι τὰς χαλάζας, ὅτι ἐπὶ
20 πλέον τὸ θερμὸν ἀνωθεῖ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τὰς νεφέλας. συμβαίνει
δ' ἐν τοῖς σφόδρα ὑψηλοῖς ἥκιστα γίγνεσθαι χάλαζαν·
καίτοι ἔδει, ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν χιόνα ὁρῶμεν ἐπὶ τοῖς
ὑψηλοῖς μάλιστα γιγνομένην. ἔτι δὲ πολλάκις ὦπται νέφη
φερόμενα σὺν ψόφῳ πολλῷ παρ' αὐτὴν τὴν γῆν, ὥστε φοβερὸν
25 εἶναι τοῖς ἀκούουσιν καὶ ὁρῶσιν ὡς ἐσομένου τινὸς μείζονος.
ὁτὲ δὲ καὶ ἄνευ ψόφου τοιούτων ὀφθέντων νεφῶν χάλαζα
γίγνεται πολλὴ καὶ τὸ μέγεθος ἄπιστος, καὶ τοῖς
σχήμασιν οὐ στρογγύλη, διὰ τὸ μὴ πολὺν χρόνον γίγνεσθαι
τὴν φορὰν αὐτῆς ὡς πλησίον τῆς πήξεως γενομένης τῆς γῆς,
30 ἀλλ' οὐχ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοί φασιν. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἀναγκαῖον ὑπὸ
τοῦ μάλιστ' αἰτίου τῆς πήξεως μεγάλας γίγνεσθαι χαλάζας·
κρύσταλλος γὰρ ἡ χάλαζα, καὶ τοῦτο παντὶ δῆλον. μεγάλαι
δ' εἰσὶν αἱ τοῖς σχήμασιν μὴ στρογγύλαι. τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶ σημεῖον
τοῦ παγῆναι πλησίον τῆς γῆς· αἱ γὰρ φερόμεναι
35 πόρρωθεν διὰ τὸ φέρεσθαι μακρὰν περιθραυόμεναι γίγνονται
τό τε σχῆμα περιφερεῖς καὶ τὸ μέγεθος ἐλάττους. ὅτι μὲν
1And in general hailstorms occur in warmer, and snow in colder places. Again, there is a difficulty about water freezing in 5the upper region. It cannot have frozen before becoming water: and water cannot remain suspended in the air for any space of time. Nor can we say that the case is like that of particles of moisture which are carried up owing to their small size and rest on the iar (10the water swimming on the air just as small particles of earth and gold often swim on water). In that case large drops are formed by the union of many small, and so fall down. This cannot take place in the case of hail, since solid bodies cannot coalesce like liquid ones. Clearly then drops of that size were suspended in the air or else they could not have been so large when frozen.
Some think that the 15cause and origin of hail is this. The cloud is thrust up into the upper atmosphere, which is colder because the reflection of the sun's rays from the earth ceases there, and upon its arrival there the water freezes. They think that this explains why hailstorms are commoner in summer and in warm countries; 20the heat is greater and it thrusts the clouds further up from the earth. But the fact is that hail does not occur at all at a great height: yet it ought to do so, on their theory, just as we see that snow falls most on high mountains. Again clouds have often been observed moving with a great noise close to the earth, terrifying 25those who heard and saw them as portents of some catastrophe. Sometimes, too, when such clouds have been seen, without any noise, there follows a violent hailstorm, and the stones are of incredible size, and angular in shape. This shows that they have not been falling for long and that they were frozen near to the earth, 30and not as that theory would have it. Moreover, where the hailstones are large, the cause of their freezing must be present in the highest degree: for hail is ice as every one can see. Now those hailstones are large which are angular in shape. And this shows that they froze close to the earth, for those that fall 35far are worn away by the length of their fall and become round and smaller in size.
Some think that the 15cause and origin of hail is this. The cloud is thrust up into the upper atmosphere, which is colder because the reflection of the sun's rays from the earth ceases there, and upon its arrival there the water freezes. They think that this explains why hailstorms are commoner in summer and in warm countries; 20the heat is greater and it thrusts the clouds further up from the earth. But the fact is that hail does not occur at all at a great height: yet it ought to do so, on their theory, just as we see that snow falls most on high mountains. Again clouds have often been observed moving with a great noise close to the earth, terrifying 25those who heard and saw them as portents of some catastrophe. Sometimes, too, when such clouds have been seen, without any noise, there follows a violent hailstorm, and the stones are of incredible size, and angular in shape. This shows that they have not been falling for long and that they were frozen near to the earth, 30and not as that theory would have it. Moreover, where the hailstones are large, the cause of their freezing must be present in the highest degree: for hail is ice as every one can see. Now those hailstones are large which are angular in shape. And this shows that they froze close to the earth, for those that fall 35far are worn away by the length of their fall and become round and smaller in size.
348b
1 οὖν οὐ τῷ ἀπωθεῖσθαι εἰς τὸν ἄνω τόπον τὸν ψυχρὸν ἡ πῆξις
συμβαίνει, δῆλον· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ὁρῶμεν ὅτι γίγνεται ἀντιπερίστασις
τῷ θερμῷ καὶ ψυχρῷ ἀλλήλοις (διὸ ἔν τε ταῖς
ἀλέαις ψυχρὰ τὰ κάτω τῆς γῆς καὶ ἀλεεινὰ ἐν τοῖς πάγοις),
5 τοῦτο δεῖ νομίζειν καὶ ἐν τῷ ἄνω γίγνεσθαι τόπῳ, ὥστ'
ἐν ταῖς ἀλεεινοτέραις ὥραις ἀντιπεριιστάμενον εἴσω τὸ ψυχρὸν
διὰ τὴν κύκλῳ θερμότητα ὁτὲ μὲν ταχὺ ὕδωρ ἐκ
νέφους ποιεῖ· διὸ καὶ αἱ ψακάδες πολὺ
μείζους ἐν ταῖς ἀλεειναῖς γίγνονται ἡμέραις ἢ ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι,
10 καὶ ὕδατα λαβρότερα· λαβρότερα μὲν γὰρ λέγεται
ὅταν ἀθροώτερα, ἀθροώτερα δὲ διὰ τὸ τάχος τῆς πυκνώσεως.
(τοῦτο δὲ γίγνεται αὐτὸ τοὐναντίον ἢ ὡς Ἀναξαγόρας
λέγει· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὅταν εἰς τὸν ψυχρὸν ἀέρα ἐπανέλθῃ
φησὶ τοῦτο πάσχειν, ἡμεῖς δ' ὅταν εἰς τὸν θερμὸν
15 κατέλθῃ, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν μάλιστα.) ὅταν δ' ἔτι μᾶλλον
ἀντιπεριστῇ ἐντὸς τὸ ψυχρὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἔξω θερμοῦ, ὕδωρ
ποιῆσαν ἔπηξεν καὶ γίγνεται χάλαζα. συμβαίνει δὲ τοῦτο
ὅταν θᾶττον ᾖ ἡ πῆξις ἢ ἡ τοῦ ὕδατος φορὰ ἡ κάτω· εἰ
γὰρ φέρεται μὲν ἐν τοσῷδε χρόνῳ, ἡ δὲ ψυχρότης σφοδρὰ
20 οὖσα ἐν ἐλάττονι ἔπηξεν, οὐδὲν κωλύει μετέωρον παγῆναι,
ἐὰν ἡ πῆξις ἐν ἐλάττονι γίγνηται χρόνῳ τῆς κάτω
φορᾶς. καὶ ὅσῳ δ' ἂν ἐγγύτερον καὶ ἀθροωτέρα γένηται
ἡ πῆξις, τά τε ὕδατα λαβρότερα γίγνεται καὶ αἱ ψακάδες
καὶ αἱ χάλαζαι μείζους διὰ τὸ βραχὺν φέρεσθαι
25 τόπον. καὶ οὐ πυκναὶ αἱ ψακάδες αἱ μεγάλαι πίπτουσιν
διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν. ἧττον δὲ τοῦ θέρους γίγνεται ἢ ἔαρος
καὶ μετοπώρου, μᾶλλον μέντοι ἢ χειμῶνος, ὅτι ξηρότερος
ὁ ἀὴρ τοῦ θέρους· ἐν δὲ τῷ ἔαρι ἔτι ὑγρός, ἐν δὲ τῷ μετοπώρῳ
ἤδη ὑγραίνεται. γίγνονται δέ ποτε, καθάπερ εἴρηται,
30 καὶ τῆς ὀπώρας χάλαζαι διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν. συμβάλλεται
δ' ἔτι πρὸς τὴν ταχυτῆτα τῆς πήξεως καὶ τὸ
προτεθερμάνθαι τὸ ὕδωρ· θᾶττον γὰρ ψύχεται. διὸ πολλοὶ
ὅταν τὸ ὕδωρ ψῦξαι ταχὺ βουληθῶσιν, εἰς τὸν ἥλιον
τιθέασι πρῶτον, καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν Πόντον ὅταν ἐπὶ τοῦ κρυστάλλου
35 σκηνοποιῶνται πρὸς τὰς τῶν ἰχθύων θήρας (θηρεύουσι
γὰρ διακόπτοντες τὸν κρύσταλλον), ὕδωρ θερμὸν περιχέουσι
1It clearly follows that the congelation does not take place because the cloud is thrust up into the cold upper region.
Now we see that warm and cold react upon one another by recoil. Hence in warm weather the lower parts of the earth are cold and in a frost they are warm. 5The same thing, we must suppose, happens in the air, so that in the warmer seasons the cold is concentrated by the surrounding heat and causes the cloud to go over into water suddenly. (For this reason rain-drops are much larger on warm days than in winter, 10and showers more violent. A shower is said to be more violent in proportion as the water comes down in a body, and this happens when the condensation takes place quickly,-though this is just the opposite of what Anaxagoras says. He says that this happens when the cloud has risen into the cold air; whereas we say that it happens when the cloud has 15descended into the warm air, and that the more the further the cloud has descended). But when the cold has been concentrated within still more by the outer heat, it freezes the water it has formed and there is hail. We get hail when the process of freezing is quicker than the descent of the water. For if the water falls in a certain time and the cold is sufficient 20to freeze it in less, there is no difficulty about its having frozen in the air, provided that the freezing takes place in a shorter time than its fall. The nearer to the earth, and the more suddenly, this process takes place, the more violent is the rain that results and the larger the raindrops and the hailstones because of the shortness of 25their fall. For the same reason large raindrops do not fall thickly. Hail is rarer in summer than in spring and autumn, though commoner than in winter, because the air is drier in summer, whereas in spring it is still moist, and in autumn it is beginning to grow moist. 30It is for the same reason that hailstorms sometimes occur in the late summer as we have said.
The fact that the water has previously been warmed contributes to its freezing quickly: for so it cools sooner. 35Hence many people, when they want to cool hot water quickly, begin by putting it in the sun.
Now we see that warm and cold react upon one another by recoil. Hence in warm weather the lower parts of the earth are cold and in a frost they are warm. 5The same thing, we must suppose, happens in the air, so that in the warmer seasons the cold is concentrated by the surrounding heat and causes the cloud to go over into water suddenly. (For this reason rain-drops are much larger on warm days than in winter, 10and showers more violent. A shower is said to be more violent in proportion as the water comes down in a body, and this happens when the condensation takes place quickly,-though this is just the opposite of what Anaxagoras says. He says that this happens when the cloud has risen into the cold air; whereas we say that it happens when the cloud has 15descended into the warm air, and that the more the further the cloud has descended). But when the cold has been concentrated within still more by the outer heat, it freezes the water it has formed and there is hail. We get hail when the process of freezing is quicker than the descent of the water. For if the water falls in a certain time and the cold is sufficient 20to freeze it in less, there is no difficulty about its having frozen in the air, provided that the freezing takes place in a shorter time than its fall. The nearer to the earth, and the more suddenly, this process takes place, the more violent is the rain that results and the larger the raindrops and the hailstones because of the shortness of 25their fall. For the same reason large raindrops do not fall thickly. Hail is rarer in summer than in spring and autumn, though commoner than in winter, because the air is drier in summer, whereas in spring it is still moist, and in autumn it is beginning to grow moist. 30It is for the same reason that hailstorms sometimes occur in the late summer as we have said.
The fact that the water has previously been warmed contributes to its freezing quickly: for so it cools sooner. 35Hence many people, when they want to cool hot water quickly, begin by putting it in the sun.
349a
1 τοῖς καλάμοις διὰ τὸ θᾶττον πήγνυσθαι· χρῶνται
γὰρ τῷ κρυστάλλῳ ὥσπερ τῷ μολύβδῳ, ἵν' ἠρεμῶσιν οἱ
κάλαμοι. θερμὸν δὲ γίγνεται ταχὺ τὸ συνιστάμενον ὕδωρ ἔν τε
ταῖς χώραις καὶ ταῖς ὥραις ταῖς ἀλεειναῖς. γίγνεται δὲ καὶ
5 περὶ τὴν Ἀραβίαν καὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν τοῦ θέρους τὰ ὕδατα
καὶ οὐ τοῦ χειμῶνος, καὶ ταῦτα ῥαγδαῖα, καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς
ἡμέρας πολλάκις, διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν· ταχὺ γὰρ ψύχεται
τῇ ἀντιπεριστάσει, ἣ γίγνεται διὰ τὸ ἀλεεινὴν εἶναι
τὴν χώραν ἰσχυρῶς. περὶ μὲν οὖν ὑετοῦ καὶ δρόσου καὶ νιφετοῦ
10 καὶ πάχνης καὶ χαλάζης, διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν γίγνεται καὶ τίς
ἡ φύσις αὐτῶν ἐστιν, εἰρήσθω τοσαῦτα.
1So the inhabitants of Pontus when they encamp on the ice to fish (they cut a hole in the ice and then fish) pour warm water round their reeds that it may freeze the quicker, for they use the ice like lead to fix the reeds. Now it is in hot countries and seasons that the water which forms soon grows warm.
It is for the same reason that 5rain falls in summer and not in winter in Arabia and Ethiopia too, and that in torrents and repeatedly on the same day. For the concentration or recoil due to the extreme heat of the country cools the clouds quickly.
So much for an account of the nature and causes of rain, dew, snow, 10hoar-frost, and hail.
It is for the same reason that 5rain falls in summer and not in winter in Arabia and Ethiopia too, and that in torrents and repeatedly on the same day. For the concentration or recoil due to the extreme heat of the country cools the clouds quickly.
So much for an account of the nature and causes of rain, dew, snow, 10hoar-frost, and hail.
Book 1,Chapter 13 (349a12–351a18)
περὶ δὲ ἀνέμων καὶ πάντων πνευμάτων, ἔτι δὲ ποταμῶν
καὶ θαλάττης λέγωμεν, πρῶτον καὶ περὶ τούτων διαπορήσαντες
πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτούς· ὥσπερ γὰρ καὶ περὶ ἄλλων,
15 οὕτως καὶ περὶ τούτων οὐδὲν παρειλήφαμεν λεγόμενον
τοιοῦτον ὃ μὴ κἂν ὁ τυχὼν εἴπειεν. εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἵ φασι
τὸν καλούμενον ἀέρα κινούμενον μὲν καὶ ῥέοντα ἄνεμον εἶναι,
συνιστάμενον δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον πάλιν νέφος καὶ ὕδωρ, ὡς
τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως οὔσης ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, καὶ τὸν
20 ἄνεμον εἶναι κίνησιν ἀέρος. διὸ καὶ τῶν σοφῶς βουλομένων
λέγειν τινὲς ἕνα φασὶν ἄνεμον εἶναι πάντας τοὺς ἀνέμους,
ὅτι συμπέπτωκε καὶ τὸν ἀέρα τὸν κινούμενον ἕνα
καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι πάντα, δοκεῖν δὲ διαφέρειν οὐδὲν διαφέροντα
διὰ τοὺς τόπους ὅθεν ἂν τυγχάνῃ ῥέων ἑκάστοτε,
25 παραπλησίως λέγοντες ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις οἴοιτο καὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς
πάντας ἕνα ποταμὸν εἶναι. διὸ βέλτιον οἱ πολλοὶ
λέγουσιν ἄνευ ζητήσεως τῶν μετὰ ζητήσεως οὕτω λεγόντων·
εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ μιᾶς ἀρχῆς ἅπαντες ῥέουσι, κἀκεῖ τὰ πνεύματα
τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, τάχα λέγοιεν ἄν τι οἱ λέγοντες
30 οὕτως· εἰ δ' ὁμοίως ἐνταῦθα κἀκεῖ, δῆλον ὅτι τὸ κόμψευμα
ἂν εἴη τοῦτο ψεῦδος, ἐπεὶ τοῦτό γε προσήκουσαν ἔχει σκέψιν,
τί τ' ἐστὶν ὁ ἄνεμος, καὶ γίγνεται πῶς, καὶ τί τὸ κινοῦν,
καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ πόθεν αὐτῶν, καὶ πότερον ἄρ' ὥσπερ ἐξ
ἀγγείου δεῖ λαβεῖν ῥέοντα τὸν ἄνεμον, καὶ μέχρι τούτου
35 ῥεῖν ἕως ἂν κενωθῇ τὸ ἀγγεῖον, οἷον ἐξ ἀσκῶν ἀφιέμενον,
12Let us explain the nature of winds, and all windy vapours, also of rivers and of the sea. But here, too, we must first discuss the difficulties involved: for, as in other matters, 15so in this no theory has been handed down to us that the most ordinary man could not have thought of.
Some say that what is called air, when it is in motion and flows, is wind, and that this same air when it condenses again becomes cloud and water, implying that the nature of wind and water is the same. 20So they define wind as a motion of the air. Hence some, wishing to say a clever thing, assert that all the winds are one wind, because the air that moves is in fact all of it one and the same; they maintain that the winds appear to differ owing to the region from which the air may happen to flow on each occasion, but really do not differ at all. 25This is just like thinking that all rivers are one and the same river, and the ordinary unscientific view is better than a scientific theory like this. If all rivers flow from one source, and the same is true in the case of the winds, there might be some truth in this theory; 30but if it is no more true in the one case than in the other, this ingenious idea is plainly false. What requires investigation is this: the nature of wind and how it originates, its efficient cause and whence they derive their source; whether one ought to think of the wind as issuing from a sort of vessel and flowing 35until the vessel is empty, as if let out of a wineskin, or, as painters represent the winds, as drawing their source from themselves.
Some say that what is called air, when it is in motion and flows, is wind, and that this same air when it condenses again becomes cloud and water, implying that the nature of wind and water is the same. 20So they define wind as a motion of the air. Hence some, wishing to say a clever thing, assert that all the winds are one wind, because the air that moves is in fact all of it one and the same; they maintain that the winds appear to differ owing to the region from which the air may happen to flow on each occasion, but really do not differ at all. 25This is just like thinking that all rivers are one and the same river, and the ordinary unscientific view is better than a scientific theory like this. If all rivers flow from one source, and the same is true in the case of the winds, there might be some truth in this theory; 30but if it is no more true in the one case than in the other, this ingenious idea is plainly false. What requires investigation is this: the nature of wind and how it originates, its efficient cause and whence they derive their source; whether one ought to think of the wind as issuing from a sort of vessel and flowing 35until the vessel is empty, as if let out of a wineskin, or, as painters represent the winds, as drawing their source from themselves.
349b
1 ἢ καθάπερ καὶ οἱ γραφεῖς γράφουσιν, ἐξ αὑτῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν
ἀφιέντας. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν ποταμῶν γενέσεως
δοκεῖ τισιν ἔχειν· τὸ γὰρ ἀναχθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου ὕδωρ
πάλιν ὑόμενον ἀθροισθὲν ὑπὸ γῆν ῥεῖν ἐκ κοιλίας μεγάλης,
5 ἢ πάντας μιᾶς ἢ ἄλλον ἄλλης· καὶ οὐ γίγνεσθαι ὕδωρ
οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ τὸ συλλεχθὲν ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος εἰς τὰς τοιαύτας
ὑποδοχάς, τοῦτο γίγνεσθαι τὸ πλῆθος τὸ τῶν ποταμῶν. διὸ
καὶ μείζους ἀεὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος ῥεῖν ἢ τοῦ θέρους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν
ἀενάους εἶναι τοὺς δ' οὐκ ἀενάους· ὅσων μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος
10 τῆς κοιλίας πολὺ τὸ συλλεγόμενον ὕδωρ ἐστίν, ὥστε
διαρκεῖν καὶ μὴ προαναλίσκεσθαι πρὶν ἐπελθεῖν τὸ ὄμβριον
ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι πάλιν, τούτους μὲν ἀενάους εἶναι διὰ τέλους,
ὅσοις δὲ ἐλάττους αἱ ὑποδοχαί, τούτους δὲ δι' ὀλιγότητα τοῦ
ὕδατος φθάνειν ξηραινομένους πρὶν ἐπελθεῖν τὸ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ,
15 κενουμένου τοῦ ἀγγείου. καίτοι φανερόν, εἴ τις βούλεται
ποιήσας οἷον ὑποδοχὴν πρὸ ὀμμάτων τῷ καθ' ἡμέραν ὕδατι
ῥέοντι συνεχῶς νοῆσαι τὸ πλῆθος· ὑπερβάλλοι γὰρ ἂν τῷ
μεγέθει τὸν τῆς γῆς ὄγκον ἢ οὐ πολὺ ἂν ἐλλείποι τὸ δεχόμενον
πᾶν τὸ ῥέον ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν ἐνιαυτόν. ἀλλὰ δῆλον
20 ὅτι συμβαίνει μὲν καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα πολλαχοῦ τῆς γῆς,
οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' ἄτοπον εἴ τις μὴ νομίζει διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν
ὕδωρ ἐξ ἀέρος γίγνεσθαι δι' ἥνπερ ὑπὲρ γῆς καὶ ἐν τῇ
γῇ. ὥστ' εἴπερ κἀκεῖ διὰ ψυχρότητα συνίσταται ὁ ἀτμίζων
ἀὴρ εἰς ὕδωρ, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ γῇ ψυχρότητος τὸ
25 αὐτὸ τοῦτο δεῖ νομίζειν συμβαίνειν, καὶ γίγνεσθαι μὴ μόνον
τὸ ἀποκεκριμένον ὕδωρ ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ τοῦτο ῥεῖν, ἀλλὰ
καὶ γίγνεσθαι συνεχῶς. ἔτι δὲ τοῦ μὴ γιγνομένου ἀλλ' ὑπάρχοντος
ὕδατος καθ' ἡμέραν μὴ τοιαύτην εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν
τῶν ποταμῶν, οἷον ὑπὸ γῆν λίμνας τινὰς ἀποκεκριμένας,
30 καθάπερ ἔνιοι λέγουσιν, ἀλλ' ὁμοίως ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῷ ὑπὲρ
γῆς τόπῳ μικραὶ συνιστάμεναι ῥανίδες, καὶ πάλιν αὗται
ἑτέραις, τέλος μετὰ πλήθους καταβαίνει τὸ ὑόμενον ὕδωρ,
οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐκ μικρῶν συλλείβεσθαι τὸ πρῶτον καὶ
εἶναι οἷον πιδώσης εἰς ἓν τῆς γῆς τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν ποταμῶν.
35 δηλοῖ δ' αὐτὸ τὸ ἔργον· οἱ γὰρ τὰς ὑδραγωγίας ποιοῦντες
1We find analogous views about the origin of rivers. It is thought that the water is raised by the sun and descends in rain and gathers below the earth and so flows from a great reservoir, 5all the rivers from one, or each from a different one. No water at all is generated, but the volume of the rivers consists of the water that is gathered into such reservoirs in winter. Hence rivers are always fuller in winter than in summer, and some are perennial, others not. 10Rivers are perennial where the reservoir is large and so enough water has collected in it to last out and not be used up before the winter rain returns. Where the reservoirs are smaller there is less water in the rivers, and they are dried up and 15their vessel empty before the fresh rain comes on.
But if any one will picture to himself a reservoir adequate to the water that is continuously flowing day by day, and consider the amount of the water, it is obvious that a receptacle that is to contain all the water that flows in the year would be larger than the earth, or, at any rate, not much smaller.
Though it is evident 20that many reservoirs of this kind do exist in many parts of the earth, yet it is unreasonable for any one to refuse to admit that air becomes water in the earth for the same reason as it does above it. If the cold causes the vaporous air to condense into water above the earth 25we must suppose the cold in the earth to produce this same effect, and recognize that there not only exists in it and flows out of it actually formed water, but that water is continually forming in it too.
Again, even in the case of the water that is not being formed from day to day but exists as such, we must not suppose 30as some do that rivers have their source in definite subterranean lakes. On the contrary, just as above the earth small drops form and these join others, till finally the water descends in a body as rain, so too we must suppose that in the earth the water at first trickles together little by little, and that the sources of the rivers drip, as it were, out of the earth and then unite. 35This is proved by facts. When men construct an aqueduct they collect the water in pipes and trenches, as if the earth in the higher ground were sweating the water out.
But if any one will picture to himself a reservoir adequate to the water that is continuously flowing day by day, and consider the amount of the water, it is obvious that a receptacle that is to contain all the water that flows in the year would be larger than the earth, or, at any rate, not much smaller.
Though it is evident 20that many reservoirs of this kind do exist in many parts of the earth, yet it is unreasonable for any one to refuse to admit that air becomes water in the earth for the same reason as it does above it. If the cold causes the vaporous air to condense into water above the earth 25we must suppose the cold in the earth to produce this same effect, and recognize that there not only exists in it and flows out of it actually formed water, but that water is continually forming in it too.
Again, even in the case of the water that is not being formed from day to day but exists as such, we must not suppose 30as some do that rivers have their source in definite subterranean lakes. On the contrary, just as above the earth small drops form and these join others, till finally the water descends in a body as rain, so too we must suppose that in the earth the water at first trickles together little by little, and that the sources of the rivers drip, as it were, out of the earth and then unite. 35This is proved by facts. When men construct an aqueduct they collect the water in pipes and trenches, as if the earth in the higher ground were sweating the water out.
350a
1 ὑπονόμοις καὶ διώρυξι συνάγουσιν, ὥσπερ ἂν ἰδιούσης
τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ὑψηλῶν. διὸ καὶ τὰ ῥεύματα τῶν ποταμῶν
ἐκ τῶν ὀρῶν φαίνεται ῥέοντα, καὶ πλεῖστοι καὶ μέγιστοι
ποταμοὶ ῥέουσιν ἐκ τῶν μεγίστων ὀρῶν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ
5 αἱ κρῆναι αἱ πλεῖσται ὄρεσιν καὶ τόποις ὑψηλοῖς γειτνιῶσιν·
ἐν δὲ τοῖς πεδίοις ἄνευ ποταμῶν ὀλίγαι γίγνονται
πάμπαν. οἱ γὰρ ὀρεινοὶ καὶ ὑψηλοὶ τόποι, οἷον σπόγγος
πυκνὸς ἐπικρεμάμενοι, κατὰ μικρὰ μὲν πολλαχῇ δὲ διαπιδῶσι
καὶ συλλείβουσι τὸ ὕδωρ· δέχονταί τε γὰρ τοῦ κατιόντος
10 ὕδατος πολὺ πλῆθος (τί γὰρ διαφέρει κοίλην καὶ
ὑπτίαν ἢ πρηνῆ τὴν περιφέρειαν εἶναι καὶ κυρτήν; ἀμφοτέρως
γὰρ τὸν ἴσον ὄγκον περιλήψεται σώματος) καὶ τὴν
ἀνιοῦσαν ἀτμίδα ψύχουσι καὶ συγκρίνουσι πάλιν εἰς ὕδωρ·
διό, καθάπερ εἴπομεν, οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν ποταμῶν ἐκ τῶν μεγίστων
15 φαίνονται ῥέοντες ὀρῶν. δῆλον δ' ἐστὶ τοῦτο θεωμένοις
τὰς τῆς γῆς περιόδους· ταύτας γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ πυνθάνεσθαι παρ'
ἑκάστων οὕτως ἀνέγραψαν, ὅσων μὴ συμβέβηκεν αὐτόπτας
γενέσθαι τοὺς λέγοντας. ἐν μὲν οὖν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ πλεῖστοι μὲν ἐκ
τοῦ Παρνασσοῦ καλουμένου φαίνονται ῥέοντες ὄρους καὶ μέγιστοι
20 ποταμοί, τοῦτο δ' ὁμολογεῖται πάντων εἶναι μέγιστον τὸ ὄρος τῶν
πρὸς τὴν ἕω τὴν χειμερινήν· ὑπερβάντι γὰρ ἤδη τοῦτο φαίνεται
ἡ ἔξω θάλαττα, ἧς τὸ πέρας οὐ δῆλον τοῖς ἐντεῦθεν.
ἐκ μὲν οὖν τούτου ῥέουσιν ἄλλοι τε ποταμοὶ καὶ ὁ Βάκτρος καὶ
ὁ Χοάσπης καὶ ὁ Ἀράξης· τούτου δ' ὁ Τάναϊς ἀποσχίζεται
25 μέρος ὢν εἰς τὴν Μαιῶτιν λίμνην. ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἰνδὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ,
πάντων τῶν ποταμῶν ῥεῦμα πλεῖστον. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Καυκάσου
ἄλλοι τε ῥέουσι πολλοὶ καὶ κατὰ πλῆθος καὶ κατὰ
μέγεθος ὑπερβάλλοντες, καὶ ὁ Φᾶσις· ὁ δὲ Καύκασος μέγιστον
ὄρος τῶν πρὸς τὴν ἕω τὴν θερινήν ἐστιν καὶ πλήθει καὶ
30 ὕψει. σημεῖα δὲ τοῦ μὲν ὕψους ὅτι ὁρᾶται καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν καλουμένων
βαθέων καὶ εἰς τὴν λίμνην εἰσπλεόντων, ἔτι δ' ἡλιοῦται
τῆς νυκτὸς αὐτοῦ τὰ ἄκρα μέχρι τοῦ τρίτου μέρους ἀπό
τε τῆς ἕω καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας· τοῦ δὲ πλήθους ὅτι
πολλὰς ἔχον ἕδρας, ἐν αἷς ἔθνη τε κατοικεῖ πολλὰ καὶ
35 λίμνας εἶναί φασι μεγάλας, ἀλλ' ὅμως πάσας τὰς ἕδρας
εἶναί φασι φανερὰς μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης κορυφῆς. ἐκ δὲ
1Hence, too, the head-waters of rivers are found to flow from mountains, and from the greatest mountains there flow the most numerous and greatest rivers. 5Again, most springs are in the neighbourhood of mountains and of high ground, whereas if we except rivers, water rarely appears in the plains. For mountains and high ground, suspended over the country like a saturated sponge, make the water ooze out and trickle together in minute quantities but in many places. They receive 10a great deal of water falling as rain (for it makes no difference whether a spongy receptacle is concave and turned up or convex and turned down: in either case it will contain the same volume of matter) and, they also cool the vapour that rises and condense it back into water.
Hence, as we said, we find that the greatest rivers 15flow from the greatest mountains. This can be seen by looking at itineraries: what is recorded in them consists either of things which the writer has seen himself or of such as he has compiled after inquiry from those who have seen them.
In Asia we find that the most numerous and greatest rivers flow from the mountain called Parnassus, 20admittedly the greatest of all mountains towards the south-east. When you have crossed it you see the outer ocean, the further limit of which is unknown to the dwellers in our world. Besides other rivers there flow from it the Bactrus, the Choaspes, the Araxes: from the last a branch separates off 25and flows into lake Maeotis as the Tanais. From it, too, flows the Indus, the volume of whose stream is greatest of all rivers. From the Caucasus flows the Phasis, and very many other great rivers besides. Now the Caucasus is the greatest of the mountains that lie to the northeast, both as regards its extent and 30its height. A proof of its height is the fact that it can be seen from the so-called 'deeps' and from the entrance to the lake. Again, the sun shines on its peaks for a third part of the night before sunrise and again after sunset. Its extent is proved by the fact that thought contains many inhabitable regions which are occupied by many nations and in which 35there are said to be great lakes, yet they say that all these regions are visible up to the last peak. From Pyrene (this is a mountain towards the west in Celtice) there flow the Istrus and the Tartessus.
Hence, as we said, we find that the greatest rivers 15flow from the greatest mountains. This can be seen by looking at itineraries: what is recorded in them consists either of things which the writer has seen himself or of such as he has compiled after inquiry from those who have seen them.
In Asia we find that the most numerous and greatest rivers flow from the mountain called Parnassus, 20admittedly the greatest of all mountains towards the south-east. When you have crossed it you see the outer ocean, the further limit of which is unknown to the dwellers in our world. Besides other rivers there flow from it the Bactrus, the Choaspes, the Araxes: from the last a branch separates off 25and flows into lake Maeotis as the Tanais. From it, too, flows the Indus, the volume of whose stream is greatest of all rivers. From the Caucasus flows the Phasis, and very many other great rivers besides. Now the Caucasus is the greatest of the mountains that lie to the northeast, both as regards its extent and 30its height. A proof of its height is the fact that it can be seen from the so-called 'deeps' and from the entrance to the lake. Again, the sun shines on its peaks for a third part of the night before sunrise and again after sunset. Its extent is proved by the fact that thought contains many inhabitable regions which are occupied by many nations and in which 35there are said to be great lakes, yet they say that all these regions are visible up to the last peak. From Pyrene (this is a mountain towards the west in Celtice) there flow the Istrus and the Tartessus.
350b
1 τῆς Πυρήνης (τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν ὄρος πρὸς δυσμὴν ἰσημερινὴν ἐν τῇ
Κελτικῇ) ῥέουσιν ὅ τε Ἴστρος καὶ ὁ Ταρτησσός. οὗτος μὲν οὖν
ἔξω στηλῶν, ὁ δ' Ἴστρος δι' ὅλης τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον
πόντον. τῶν δ' ἄλλων ποταμῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι πρὸς ἄρκτον
5 ἐκ τῶν ὀρῶν τῶν Ἀρκυνίων· ταῦτα δὲ καὶ ὕψει καὶ
πλήθει μέγιστα περὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτόν ἐστιν. ὑπ' αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν
ἄρκτον ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐσχάτης Σκυθίας αἱ καλούμεναι Ῥῖπαι,
περὶ ὧν τοῦ μεγέθους λίαν εἰσὶν οἱ λεγόμενοι λόγοι μυθώδεις·
ῥέουσι δ' οὖν οἱ πλεῖστοι καὶ μέγιστοι μετὰ τὸν Ἴστρον τῶν
10 ἄλλων ποταμῶν ἐντεῦθεν, ὥς φασιν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ
τὴν Λιβύην οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν ὀρῶν, ὅ τε Αἰγὼν
καὶ ὁ Νύσης, οἱ δὲ μέγιστοι τῶν διωνομασμένων, ὅ τε Χρεμέτης
καλούμενος, ὃς εἰς τὴν ἔξω ῥεῖ θάλατταν, καὶ τοῦ
Νείλου τὸ ῥεῦμα τὸ πρῶτον, ἐκ τοῦ Ἀργυροῦ καλουμένου ὄρους.
15 τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν τόπον ὁ μὲν Ἀχελῷος ἐκ Πίνδου,
καὶ ὁ Ἴναχος ἐντεῦθεν, ὁ δὲ Στρυμὼν καὶ Νέσσος καὶ
ὁ Ἕβρος ἅπαντες τρεῖς ὄντες ἐκ τοῦ Σκόμβρου· πολλὰ δὲ
ῥεύματα καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ῥοδόπης ἐστίν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς
ἄλλους ποταμοὺς εὕροι τις ἂν ῥέοντας· ἀλλὰ μαρτυρίου χάριν
20 τούτους εἴπομεν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὅσοι αὐτῶν ῥέουσιν ἐξ ἑλῶν, τὰ
ἕλη ὑπὸ ὄρη κεῖσθαι συμβαίνει πάντα σχεδὸν ἢ τόπους
ὑψηλοὺς ἐκ προσαγωγῆς. ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐ δεῖ νομίζειν οὕτω γίγνεσθαι
τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν ποταμῶν ὡς ἐξ ἀφωρισμένων κοιλιῶν,
φανερόν· οὔτε γὰρ ἂν ὁ τόπος ἱκανὸς ἦν ὁ τῆς γῆς
25 ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὥσπερ οὐδ' ὁ τῶν νεφῶν, εἰ τὸ ὂν ἔδει ῥεῖν
μόνον, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸ μὲν ἀπῄει τὸ δ' ἐγίγνετο, ἀλλ' αἰεὶ
ἀπὸ ὄντος ἐταμιεύετο· τό τε ὑπὸ τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἔχειν τὰς
πηγὰς μαρτυρεῖ διότι τῷ συρρεῖν εἰς ὀλίγον καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν
ἐκ πολλῶν νοτίδων διαδίδωσιν ὁ τόπος καὶ γίγνονται
30 οὕτως αἱ πηγαὶ τῶν ποταμῶν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοιούτους εἶναι
τόπους ἔχοντας πλῆθος ὕδατος, οἷον λίμνας, οὐδὲν ἄτοπον,
πλὴν οὔτι τηλικαύτας ὥστε τοῦτο συμβαίνειν, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον
ἢ εἴ τις οἴοιτο τὰς φανερὰς εἶναι πηγὰς τῶν ποταμῶν·
σχεδὸν γὰρ ἐκ κρηνῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι ῥέουσιν. ὅμοιον οὖν τὸ ἐκείνας
35 καὶ τὸ ταύτας νομίζειν εἶναι τὸ σῶμα τὸ τοῦ ὕδατος
πᾶν. ὅτι δ' εἰσὶν τοιαῦται φάραγγες καὶ διαστάσεις τῆς γῆς,
1The latter flows outside the pillars, while the Istrus flows through all Europe into the Euxine. Most of the remaining rivers flow northwards 5from the Hercynian mountains, which are the greatest in height and extent about that region. In the extreme north, beyond furthest Scythia, are the mountains called Rhipae. The stories about their size are altogether too fabulous: however, they say that the most and (after the Istrus) 10the greatest rivers flow from them. So, too, in Libya there flow from the Aethiopian mountains the Aegon and the Nyses; and from the so-called Silver Mountain the two greatest of named rivers, the river called Chremetes that flows into the outer ocean, and the main source of the Nile. 15Of the rivers in the Greek world, the Achelous flows from Pindus, the Inachus from the same mountain; the Strymon, the Nestus, and the Hebrus all three from Scombrus; many rivers, too, flow from Rhodope.
All other rivers would be found to flow in the same way, but 20we have mentioned these as examples. Even where rivers flow from marshes, the marshes in almost every case are found to lie below mountains or gradually rising ground.
It is clear then that we must not suppose rivers to originate from definite reservoirs: for the whole earth, 25we might almost say, would not be sufficient (any more than the region of the clouds would be) if we were to suppose that they were fed by actually existing water only and it were not the case that as some water passed out of existence some more came into existence, but rivers always drew their stream from an existing store. Secondly, the fact that rivers rise at the foot of mountains proves that a place transmits the water it contains by gradual percolation of many drops, little by little, and that 30this is how the sources of rivers originate. However, there is nothing impossible about the existence of such places containing a quantity of water like lakes: only they cannot be big enough to produce the supposed effect. To think that they are is just as absurd as if one were to suppose that rivers drew all their water from the sources we see (for most rivers do flow from springs). 35So it is no more reasonable to suppose those lakes to contain the whole volume of water than these springs.
All other rivers would be found to flow in the same way, but 20we have mentioned these as examples. Even where rivers flow from marshes, the marshes in almost every case are found to lie below mountains or gradually rising ground.
It is clear then that we must not suppose rivers to originate from definite reservoirs: for the whole earth, 25we might almost say, would not be sufficient (any more than the region of the clouds would be) if we were to suppose that they were fed by actually existing water only and it were not the case that as some water passed out of existence some more came into existence, but rivers always drew their stream from an existing store. Secondly, the fact that rivers rise at the foot of mountains proves that a place transmits the water it contains by gradual percolation of many drops, little by little, and that 30this is how the sources of rivers originate. However, there is nothing impossible about the existence of such places containing a quantity of water like lakes: only they cannot be big enough to produce the supposed effect. To think that they are is just as absurd as if one were to suppose that rivers drew all their water from the sources we see (for most rivers do flow from springs). 35So it is no more reasonable to suppose those lakes to contain the whole volume of water than these springs.
351a
1 δηλοῦσιν οἱ καταπινόμενοι τῶν ποταμῶν. συμβαίνει δὲ τοῦτο
πολλαχοῦ τῆς γῆς, οἷον τῆς μὲν Πελοποννήσου πλεῖστα τοιαῦτα
περὶ τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν ἐστίν. αἴτιον δὲ διὰ τὸ ὀρεινὴν οὖσαν
μὴ ἔχειν ἐκροὰς ἐκ τῶν κοίλων εἰς θάλατταν· πληρούμενοι
5 γὰρ οἱ τόποι καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντες ἔκρυσιν αὑτοῖς εὑρίσκονται
τὴν δίοδον εἰς βάθος, ἀποβιαζομένου τοῦ ἄνωθεν ἐπιόντος
ὕδατος. περὶ μὲν οὖν τὴν Ἑλλάδα μικρὰ τοιαῦτα παντελῶς
ἐστιν γιγνόμενα· ἀλλ' ἥ γε ὑπὸ τὸν Καύκασον λίμνη, ἣν
καλοῦσιν οἱ ἐκεῖ θάλατταν· αὕτη γὰρ ποταμῶν
10 πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων εἰσβαλλόντων οὐκ ἔχουσα ἔκρουν φανερὸν
ἐκδίδωσιν ὑπὸ γῆν κατὰ Κοραξούς, περὶ τὰ καλούμενα
βαθέα τοῦ Πόντου· ταῦτα δ' ἐστὶν ἄπειρόν τι τῆς θαλάττης
βάθος· οὐδεὶς γοῦν πώποτε καθεὶς ἐδυνήθη πέρας εὑρεῖν. ταύτῃ
δὲ πόρρω τῆς γῆς σχεδὸν περὶ τριακόσια στάδια πότιμον
15 ἀναδίδωσιν ὕδωρ ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον, οὐ συνεχῆ δέ, ἀλλὰ τριςσαχῇ.
καὶ περὶ τὴν Λιγυστικὴν οὐκ ἐλάττων τοῦ Ῥοδανοῦ καταπίνεταί
τις ποταμός, καὶ πάλιν ἀναδίδωσιν κατ' ἄλλον τόπον·
ὁ δὲ Ῥοδανὸς ποταμὸς ναυσιπέρατός ἐστιν.
1That there exist such chasms and cavities in the earth we are taught by the rivers that are swallowed up. They are found in many parts of the earth: in the Peloponnesus, for instance, there are many such rivers in Arcadia. The reason is that Arcadia is mountainous and there are no channels from its valleys to the sea. So 5these places get full of water, and this, having no outlet, under the pressure of the water that is added above, finds a way out for itself underground. In Greece this kind of thing happens on quite a small scale, but the lake at the foot of the Caucasus, which the inhabitants of these parts call a sea, is considerable. 10Many great rivers fall into it and it has no visible outlet but issues below the earth off the land of the Coraxi about the so-called 'deeps of Pontus'. This is a place of unfathomable depth in the sea: at any rate no one has yet been able to find bottom there by sounding. At this spot, about three hundred stadia from land, 15there comes up sweet water over a large area, not all of it together but in three places. And in Liguria a river equal in size to the Rhodanus is swallowed up and appears again elsewhere: the Rhodanus being a navigable river.
Book 1,Chapter 14 (351a19–353a28)
οὐκ αἰεὶ δ' οἱ αὐτοὶ τόποι τῆς γῆς οὔτ' ἔνυγροί εἰσιν
20 οὔτε ξηροί, ἀλλὰ μεταβάλλουσιν κατὰ τὰς τῶν ποταμῶν γενέσεις
καὶ τὰς ἀπολείψεις· διὸ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἤπειρον μεταβάλλει
καὶ τὴν θάλατταν, καὶ οὐκ αἰεὶ τὰ μὲν γῆ τὰ
δὲ θάλαττα διατελεῖ πάντα τὸν χρόνον, ἀλλὰ γίγνεται
θάλαττα μὲν ὅπου χέρσος, ἔνθα δὲ νῦν θάλαττα, πάλιν
25 ἐνταῦθα γῆ. κατὰ μέντοι τινὰ τάξιν νομίζειν χρὴ ταῦτα
γίγνεσθαι καὶ περίοδον. ἀρχὴ δὲ τούτων καὶ αἴτιον ὅτι καὶ
τῆς γῆς τὰ ἐντός, ὥσπερ τὰ σώματα τῶν φυτῶν καὶ
ζῴων, ἀκμὴν ἔχει καὶ γῆρας. πλὴν ἐκείνοις μὲν οὐ κατὰ μέρος
ταῦτα συμβαίνει πάσχειν, ἀλλ' ἅμα πᾶν ἀκμάζειν
30 καὶ φθίνειν ἀναγκαῖον· τῇ δὲ γῇ τοῦτο γίγνεται κατὰ μέρος
διὰ ψύξιν καὶ θερμότητα. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν αὔξεται καὶ φθίνει
διὰ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν περιφοράν, διὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τὴν
δύναμιν τὰ μέρη τῆς γῆς λαμβάνει διαφέρουσαν, ὥστε μέχρι
τινὸς ἔνυδρα δύναται διαμένειν, εἶτα ξηραίνεται καὶ γηράσκει
35 πάλιν· ἕτεροι δὲ τόποι βιώσκονται καὶ ἔνυδροι γίγνονται
κατὰ μέρος. ἀνάγκη δὲ τῶν μὲν τόπων γιγνομένων ξηροτέρων
19The same parts of the earth are not always moist 20or dry, but they change according as rivers come into existence and dry up. And so the relation of land to sea changes too and a place does not always remain land or sea throughout all time, but where there was dry land there comes to be sea, and where there is now sea, 25there one day comes to be dry land. But we must suppose these changes to follow some order and cycle. The principle and cause of these changes is that the interior of the earth grows and decays, like the bodies of plants and animals. Only in the case of these latter the process does not go on by parts, but each of them necessarily grows 30or decays as a whole, whereas it does go on by parts in the case of the earth. Here the causes are cold and heat, which increase and diminish on account of the sun and its course. It is owing to them that the parts of the earth come to have a different character, that some parts remain moist for a certain time, and then dry up and grow old, 35while other parts in their turn are filled with life and moisture.
351b
1 τὰς πηγὰς ἀφανίζεσθαι, τούτων δὲ συμβαινόντων
τοὺς ποταμοὺς πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ μεγάλων μικρούς, εἶτα τέλος
γίγνεσθαι ξηρούς, τῶν δὲ ποταμῶν μεθισταμένων καὶ ἔνθεν
μὲν ἀφανιζομένων ἐν ἄλλοις δ' ἀνάλογον γιγνομένων μεταβάλλειν
5 τὴν θάλατταν· ὅπου μὲν γὰρ ἐξωθουμένη ὑπὸ τῶν
ποταμῶν ἐπλεόναζεν, ἀπιοῦσαν ξηρὰν ποιεῖν ἀναγκαῖον, ὅπου
δὲ τοῖς ῥεύμασιν πληθύουσα ἐξηραίνετο προσχουμένη, πάλιν
ἐνταῦθα λιμνάζειν. ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ γίγνεσθαι πᾶσαν τὴν φυσικὴν
περὶ τὴν γῆν γένεσιν ἐκ προσαγωγῆς καὶ ἐν χρόνοις
10 παμμήκεσι πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν ζωήν, λανθάνει ταῦτα γιγνόμενα,
καὶ πρότερον ὅλων τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀπώλειαι γίγνονται καὶ
φθοραὶ πρὶν μνημονευθῆναι τὴν τούτων μεταβολὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς
εἰς τέλος. μέγισται μὲν οὖν φθοραὶ γίγνονται καὶ τάχισται
ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις, ἄλλαι δὲ νόσοις, αἱ δὲ ἀφορίαις, καὶ
15 ταύταις αἱ μὲν μεγάλαι αἱ δὲ κατὰ μικρόν, ὥστε λανθάνουσι
τῶν γε τοιούτων ἐθνῶν καὶ αἱ μεταναστάσεις διὰ τὸ
τοὺς μὲν λείπειν τὰς χώρας, τοὺς δὲ ὑπομένειν μέχρι τούτου
μέχριπερ ἂν μηκέτι δύνηται τρέφειν ἡ χώρα πλῆθος μηδέν.
ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης οὖν ἀπολείψεως εἰς τὴν ὑστέραν εἰκὸς
20 γίγνεσθαι μακροὺς χρόνους, ὥστε μηδένα μνημονεύειν, ἀλλὰ
σῳζομένων ἔτι τῶν ὑπομενόντων ἐπιλελῆσθαι διὰ χρόνου
πλῆθος. τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον χρὴ νομίζειν καὶ τοὺς κατοικισμοὺς
λανθάνειν πότε πρῶτον ἐγένοντο τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἑκάστοις
εἰς τὰ μεταβάλλοντα καὶ γιγνόμενα ξηρὰ ἐξ ἑλωδῶν καὶ
25 ἐνύδρων· καὶ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα κατὰ μικρὸν ἐν πολλῷ γίγνεται
χρόνῳ ἡ ἐπίδοσις, ὥστε μὴ μνημονεύειν τίνες πρῶτοι καὶ
πότε καὶ πῶς ἐχόντων ἦλθον τῶν τόπων, οἷον συμβέβηκεν
καὶ τὰ περὶ Αἴγυπτον· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος ἀεὶ ξηρότερος ὁ τόπος
φαίνεται γιγνόμενος καὶ πᾶσα ἡ χώρα τοῦ ποταμοῦ
30 πρόσχωσις οὖσα τοῦ Νείλου, διὰ δὲ τὸ κατὰ μικρὸν ξηραινομένων
τῶν ἑλῶν τοὺς πλησίον εἰσοικίζεσθαι τὸ τοῦ χρόνου
μῆκος ἀφῄρηται τὴν ἀρχήν. φαίνεται οὖν καὶ τὰ στόματα
πάντα, πλὴν ἑνὸς τοῦ Κανωβικοῦ, χειροποίητα καὶ οὐ
τοῦ ποταμοῦ ὄντα, καὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἡ Αἴγυπτος Θῆβαι καλούμεναι.
35 δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρος, οὕτως πρόσφατος ὢν ὡς εἰπεῖν
πρὸς τὰς τοιαύτας μεταβολάς· ἐκείνου γὰρ τοῦ τόπου
1Now when places become drier the springs necessarily give out, and when this happens the rivers first decrease in size and then finally become dry; and when rivers change and disappear in one part and come into existence correspondingly in another, 5the sea must needs be affected.
If the sea was once pushed out by rivers and encroached upon the land anywhere, it necessarily leaves that place dry when it recedes; again, if the dry land has encroached on the sea at all by a process of silting set up by the rivers when at their full, the time must come when this place will be flooded again.
But the whole vital process of the earth takes place so gradually and in periods of time 10which are so immense compared with the length of our life, that these changes are not observed, and before their course can be recorded from beginning to end whole nations perish and are destroyed. Of such destructions the most utter and sudden are due to wars; but pestilence or famine cause them too. 15Famines, again, are either sudden and severe or else gradual. In the latter case the disappearance of a nation is not noticed because some leave the country while others remain; and this goes on until the land is unable to maintain any inhabitants at all. So 20a long period of time is likely to elapse from the first departure to the last, and no one remembers and the lapse of time destroys all record even before the last inhabitants have disappeared. In the same way a nation must be supposed to lose account of the time when it first settled in a land that was changing from a marshy and 25watery state and becoming dry. Here, too, the change is gradual and lasts a long time and men do not remember who came first, or when, or what the land was like when they came. This has been the case with Egypt. Here it is obvious that the land is continually getting drier and that the whole country is a 30deposit of the river Nile. But because the neighbouring peoples settled in the land gradually as the marshes dried, the lapse of time has hidden the beginning of the process. However, all the mouths of the Nile, with the single exception of that at Canopus, are obviously artificial and not natural. And Egypt was nothing more than what is called Thebes, 35as Homer, too, shows, modern though he is in relation to such changes. For Thebes is the place that he mentions; which implies that Memphis did not yet exist, or at any rate was not as important as it is now.
If the sea was once pushed out by rivers and encroached upon the land anywhere, it necessarily leaves that place dry when it recedes; again, if the dry land has encroached on the sea at all by a process of silting set up by the rivers when at their full, the time must come when this place will be flooded again.
But the whole vital process of the earth takes place so gradually and in periods of time 10which are so immense compared with the length of our life, that these changes are not observed, and before their course can be recorded from beginning to end whole nations perish and are destroyed. Of such destructions the most utter and sudden are due to wars; but pestilence or famine cause them too. 15Famines, again, are either sudden and severe or else gradual. In the latter case the disappearance of a nation is not noticed because some leave the country while others remain; and this goes on until the land is unable to maintain any inhabitants at all. So 20a long period of time is likely to elapse from the first departure to the last, and no one remembers and the lapse of time destroys all record even before the last inhabitants have disappeared. In the same way a nation must be supposed to lose account of the time when it first settled in a land that was changing from a marshy and 25watery state and becoming dry. Here, too, the change is gradual and lasts a long time and men do not remember who came first, or when, or what the land was like when they came. This has been the case with Egypt. Here it is obvious that the land is continually getting drier and that the whole country is a 30deposit of the river Nile. But because the neighbouring peoples settled in the land gradually as the marshes dried, the lapse of time has hidden the beginning of the process. However, all the mouths of the Nile, with the single exception of that at Canopus, are obviously artificial and not natural. And Egypt was nothing more than what is called Thebes, 35as Homer, too, shows, modern though he is in relation to such changes. For Thebes is the place that he mentions; which implies that Memphis did not yet exist, or at any rate was not as important as it is now.
352a
1 ποιεῖται μνείαν ὡς οὔπω Μέμφιος οὔσης ἢ ὅλως ἢ οὐ τηλικαύτης.
τοῦτο δ' εἰκὸς οὕτω συμβαίνειν· οἱ γὰρ κάτωθεν τόποι
τῶν ἄνωθεν ὕστερον ᾠκίσθησαν· ἑλώδεις γὰρ ἐπὶ πλείω
χρόνον ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τοὺς ἐγγύτερον τῆς προσχώσεως διὰ
5 τὸ λιμνάζειν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις ἀεὶ μᾶλλον. μεταβάλλει
δὲ τοῦτο καὶ πάλιν εὐθενεῖ· ξηραινόμενοι γὰρ οἱ τόποι ἔρχονται
εἰς τὸ καλῶς ἔχειν, οἱ δὲ πρότερον εὐκραεῖς ὑπερξηραινόμενοί
ποτε γίγνονται χείρους. ὅπερ συμβέβηκε τῆς
Ἑλλάδος καὶ περὶ τὴν Ἀργείων καὶ Μυκηναίων χώραν· ἐπὶ
10 μὲν γὰρ τῶν Τρωικῶν ἡ μὲν Ἀργεία διὰ τὸ ἑλώδης εἶναι
ὀλίγους ἐδύνατο τρέφειν, ἡ δὲ Μυκηναία καλῶς εἶχεν (διὸ
ἐντιμοτέρα ἦν), νῦν δὲ τοὐναντίον διὰ τὴν προειρημένην αἰτίαν·
ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀργὴ γέγονεν καὶ ξηρὰ πάμπαν, τῆς δὲ τὰ
τότε διὰ τὸ λιμνάζειν ἀργὰ νῦν χρήσιμα γέγονεν. ὥσπερ
15 οὖν ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ τόπου συμβέβηκεν ὄντος μικροῦ, ταὐτὸ δεῖ
νομίζειν τοῦτο συμβαίνειν καὶ περὶ μεγάλους τόπους καὶ χώρας
ὅλας. οἱ μὲν οὖν βλέποντες ἐπὶ μικρὸν αἰτίαν οἴονται
τῶν τοιούτων εἶναι παθημάτων τὴν τοῦ ὅλου μεταβολὴν ὡς
γιγνομένου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· διὸ καὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἐλάττω γίγνεσθαί
20 φασιν ὡς ξηραινομένην, ὅτι πλείους φαίνονται τόποι
τοῦτο πεπονθότες νῦν ἢ πρότερον. ἔστιν δὲ τούτων τὸ μὲν ἀληθὲς
τὸ δ' οὐκ ἀληθές· πλείους μὲν γάρ εἰσιν οἱ πρότερον ἔνυδροι
νῦν δὲ χερσεύοντες, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον· πολλαχῇ
γὰρ σκοποῦντες εὑρήσουσιν ἐπεληλυθυῖαν τὴν θάλατταν.
25 ἀλλὰ τούτου τὴν αἰτίαν οὐ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου γένεσιν οἴεσθαι
χρή· γελοῖον γὰρ διὰ μικρὰς καὶ ἀκαριαίας μεταβολὰς
κινεῖν τὸ πᾶν, ὁ δὲ τῆς γῆς ὄγκος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος οὐδέν
ἐστι δή που πρὸς τὸν ὅλον οὐρανόν· ἀλλὰ πάντων τούτων αἴτιον
ὑποληπτέον ὅτι γίγνεται διὰ χρόνων εἱμαρμένων, οἷον ἐν
30 ταῖς κατ' ἐνιαυτὸν ὥραις χειμών, οὕτως περιόδου τινὸς μεγάλης
μέγας χειμὼν καὶ ὑπερβολὴ ὄμβρων. αὕτη δὲ οὐκ ἀεὶ
κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς τόπους, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ καλούμενος ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος
κατακλυσμός· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος περὶ τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν
ἐγένετο τόπον μάλιστα, καὶ τούτου περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τὴν
35 ἀρχαίαν. αὕτη δ' ἐστὶν ἡ περὶ Δωδώνην καὶ τὸν Ἀχελῷον·
1That this should be so is natural, since the lower land came to be inhabited later than that which lay higher. For the parts that lie nearer to the place where the river is depositing the silt are necessarily marshy for a longer time since 5the water always lies most in the newly formed land. But in time this land changes its character, and in its turn enjoys a period of prosperity. For these places dry up and come to be in good condition while the places that were formerly well-tempered some day grow excessively dry and deteriorate. This happened to the land of Argos and Mycenae in Greece. 10In the time of the Trojan wars the Argive land was marshy and could only support a small population, whereas the land of Mycenae was in good condition (and for this reason Mycenae was the superior). But now the opposite is the case, for the reason we have mentioned: the land of Mycenae has become completely dry and barren, while the Argive land that was formerly barren owing to the water has now become fruitful. 15Now the same process that has taken place in this small district must be supposed to be going on over whole countries and on a large scale.
Men whose outlook is narrow suppose the cause of such events to be change in the universe, in the sense of a coming to be of the world as a whole. Hence 20they say that the sea being dried up and is growing less, because this is observed to have happened in more places now than formerly. But this is only partially true. It is true that many places are now dry, that formerly were covered with water. But the opposite is true too: for if they look they will find that there are many places where the sea has invaded the land. 25But we must not suppose that the cause of this is that the world is in process of becoming. For it is absurd to make the universe to be in process because of small and trifling changes, when the bulk and size of the earth are surely as nothing in comparison with the whole world. Rather we must take the cause of all these changes to be that, just as winter occurs in 30the seasons of the year, so in determined periods there comes a great winter of a great year and with it excess of rain. 35But this excess does not always occur in the same place.
Men whose outlook is narrow suppose the cause of such events to be change in the universe, in the sense of a coming to be of the world as a whole. Hence 20they say that the sea being dried up and is growing less, because this is observed to have happened in more places now than formerly. But this is only partially true. It is true that many places are now dry, that formerly were covered with water. But the opposite is true too: for if they look they will find that there are many places where the sea has invaded the land. 25But we must not suppose that the cause of this is that the world is in process of becoming. For it is absurd to make the universe to be in process because of small and trifling changes, when the bulk and size of the earth are surely as nothing in comparison with the whole world. Rather we must take the cause of all these changes to be that, just as winter occurs in 30the seasons of the year, so in determined periods there comes a great winter of a great year and with it excess of rain. 35But this excess does not always occur in the same place.
352b
1 οὗτος γὰρ πολλαχοῦ τὸ ῥεῦμα μεταβέβληκεν· ᾤκουν γὰρ οἱ
Σελλοὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι τότε μὲν Γραικοὶ νῦν δ'
Ἕλληνες. ὅταν οὖν γένηται τοιαύτη ὑπερβολὴ ὄμβρων,
νομίζειν χρὴ ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον διαρκεῖν, καὶ ὥσπερ νῦν τοῦ
5 ἀενάους εἶναί τινας τῶν ποταμῶν τοὺς δὲ μὴ οἱ μέν φασιν
αἴτιον εἶναι τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ὑπὸ γῆς χασμάτων, ἡμεῖς
δὲ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ὑψηλῶν τόπων καὶ τὴν πυκνότητα καὶ
ψυχρότητα αὐτῶν (οὗτοι γὰρ πλεῖστον καὶ δέχονται ὕδωρ
καὶ στέγουσιν καὶ ποιοῦσιν· ὅσοις δὲ μικραὶ αἱ ἐπικρεμάμεναι
10 τῶν ὀρῶν συστάσεις ἢ σομφαὶ καὶ λιθώδεις καὶ ἀργιλώδεις,
τούτους δὲ προαπολείπειν), οὕτως οἴεσθαι δεῖν τότε, ἐν
οἷς ἂν γένηται ἡ τοιαύτη τοῦ ὑγροῦ φορά, οἷον ἀενάους ποιεῖν
τὰς ὑγρότητας τῶν τόπων μᾶλλον. τῷ χρόνῳ δὲ ταῦτα
ξηραίνεται γιγνόμενα μᾶλλον, θάτερα δ' ἐλάττω τὰ ἔφυδρα,
15 ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ πάλιν ἡ καταβολὴ τῆς περιόδου τῆς αὐτῆς.
ἐπεὶ δ' ἀνάγκη τοῦ ὅλου γίγνεσθαι μέν τινα μεταβολήν,
μὴ μέντοι γένεσιν καὶ φθοράν, εἴπερ μένει τὸ πᾶν, ἀνάγκη,
καθάπερ ἡμεῖς λέγομεν, μὴ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀεὶ τόπους ὑγρούς τ'
εἶναι θαλάττῃ καὶ ποταμοῖς καὶ ξηρούς. δηλοῖ δὲ τὸ γιγνόμενον·
20 οὓς γάρ φαμεν ἀρχαιοτάτους εἶναι τῶν ἀνθρώπων
Αἰγυπτίους, τούτων ἡ χώρα πᾶσα γεγονυῖα φαίνεται καὶ
οὖσα τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἔργον. καὶ τοῦτο κατά τε τὴν χώραν αὐτὴν
ὁρῶντι δῆλόν ἐστιν, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν
τεκμήριον ἱκανόν· ταύτην γὰρ τῶν βασιλέων τις ἐπειράθη
25 διορύττειν (οὐ γὰρ μικρὰς εἶχεν ἂν αὐτοῖς ὠφελείας πλωτὸς
πᾶς ὁ τόπος γενόμενος· λέγεται δὲ πρῶτος Σέσωστρις
ἐγχειρῆσαι τῶν παλαιῶν), ἀλλ' εὗρεν ὑψηλοτέραν οὖσαν τὴν
θάλατταν τῆς γῆς· διὸ ἐκεῖνός τε πρότερον καὶ Δαρεῖος
ὕστερον ἐπαύσατο διορύττων, ὅπως μὴ διαφθαρῇ τὸ ῥεῦμα
30 τοῦ ποταμοῦ συμμιγείσης τῆς θαλάττης. φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι θάλαττα
πάντα μία ταύτῃ συνεχὴς ἦν. διὸ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν
Λιβύην τὴν Ἀμμωνίαν χώραν ταπεινότερα φαίνεται καὶ
κοιλότερα παρὰ λόγον τῆς κάτωθεν χώρας· δῆλον γὰρ ὡς
ἐγχώσεως μὲν γενομένης ἐγένοντο λίμναι καὶ χέρσος, χρόνου
35 δὲ γενομένου τὸ ἐναπολειφθὲν καὶ λιμνάσαν ὕδωρ ξηρανθέν
1The deluge in the time of Deucalion, for instance, took place chiefly in the Greek world and in it especially about ancient Hellas, the country about Dodona and the Achelous, a river which has often changed its course. Here the Selli dwelt and those who were formerly called Graeci and now Hellenes. When, therefore, such an excess of rain occurs we must suppose that it suffices for a long time. We have seen that 5some say that the size of the subterranean cavities is what makes some rivers perennial and others not, whereas we maintain that the size of the mountains is the cause, and their density and coldness; for great, dense, and cold mountains catch and keep and create most water: whereas if 10the mountains that overhang the sources of rivers are small or porous and stony and clayey, these rivers run dry earlier. We must recognize the same kind of thing in this case too. Where such abundance of rain falls in the great winter it tends to make the moisture of those places almost everlasting. But as time goes on places of the latter type dry up more, while those of the former, moist type, do so less: 15until at last the beginning of the same cycle returns.
Since there is necessarily some change in the whole world, but not in the way of coming into existence or perishing (for the universe is permanent), it must be, as we say, that the same places are not for ever moist through the presence of sea and rivers, nor for ever dry. And the facts prove this. The whole land of the Egyptians, 20whom we take to be the most ancient of men, has evidently gradually come into existence and been produced by the river. This is clear from an observation of the country, and the facts about the Red Sea suffice to prove it too. One of their kings tried 25to make a canal to it (for it would have been of no little advantage to them for the whole region to have become navigable; Sesostris is said to have been the first of the ancient kings to try), but he found that the sea was higher than the land. So he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest 30the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. So it is clear that all this part was once unbroken sea. 35For the same reason Libya-the country of Ammon-is, strangely enough, lower and hollower than the land to the seaward of it.
Since there is necessarily some change in the whole world, but not in the way of coming into existence or perishing (for the universe is permanent), it must be, as we say, that the same places are not for ever moist through the presence of sea and rivers, nor for ever dry. And the facts prove this. The whole land of the Egyptians, 20whom we take to be the most ancient of men, has evidently gradually come into existence and been produced by the river. This is clear from an observation of the country, and the facts about the Red Sea suffice to prove it too. One of their kings tried 25to make a canal to it (for it would have been of no little advantage to them for the whole region to have become navigable; Sesostris is said to have been the first of the ancient kings to try), but he found that the sea was higher than the land. So he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest 30the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. So it is clear that all this part was once unbroken sea. 35For the same reason Libya-the country of Ammon-is, strangely enough, lower and hollower than the land to the seaward of it.
353a
1 ἐστιν ἤδη φροῦδον. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Μαιῶτιν
λίμνην ἐπιδέδωκε τῇ προσχώσει τῶν ποταμῶν τοσοῦτον,
ὥστε πολλῷ ἐλάττω μεγέθει πλοῖα νῦν εἰσπλεῖν πρὸς τὴν
ἐργασίαν ἢ ἔτος ἑξηκοστόν· ὥστε ἐκ τούτου ῥᾴδιον ἀναλογίσασθαι
5 ὅτι καὶ τὸ πρῶτον, ὥσπερ αἱ πολλαὶ τῶν λιμνῶν,
καὶ αὕτη ἔργον ἐστὶ τῶν ποταμῶν, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον πᾶσαν
ἀνάγκη γενέσθαι ξηράν. ἔτι δὲ ὁ Βόσπορος ἀεὶ μὲν ῥεῖ
διὰ τὸ προσχοῦσθαι, καὶ ἔστιν ἔτι ταῦτα καὶ τοῖς ὄμμασιν
ἰδεῖν ὅν τινα συμβαίνει τρόπον· ὅτε γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας
10 ᾐόνα ποιήσειεν ὁ ῥοῦς, τὸ ὄπισθεν λίμνη ἐγίγνετο μικρὰ τὸ
πρῶτον, εἶτ' ἐξηράνθη ἄν, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο ἄλλη ἡ ἀπὸ ταύτης ᾐών,
καὶ λίμνη ἀπὸ ταύτης· καὶ τοῦτο ἀεὶ οὕτως συνέβαινεν ὁμοίως·
τούτου δὲ γιγνομένου πολλάκις ἀνάγκη χρόνου προϊόντος ὥςπερ
ποταμὸν γενέσθαι, τέλος δὲ καὶ τοῦτον ξηρόν. φανερὸν
15 τοίνυν, ἐπεὶ ὅ τε χρόνος οὐχ ὑπολείψει καὶ τὸ ὅλον ἀίδιον,
ὅτι οὔτε ὁ Τάναϊς οὔτε ὁ Νεῖλος ἀεὶ ἔρρει, ἀλλ' ἦν
ποτε ξηρὸς ὁ τόπος ὅθεν ῥέουσιν· τὸ γὰρ ἔργον ἔχει αὐτῶν
πέρας, ὁ δὲ χρόνος οὐκ ἔχει. ὁμοίως δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν
ἄλλων ἁρμόσει ποταμῶν λέγειν. ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴπερ καὶ οἱ ποταμοὶ
20 γίγνονται καὶ φθείρονται καὶ μὴ ἀεὶ οἱ αὐτοὶ τόποι τῆς
γῆς ἔνυδροι, καὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἀνάγκη μεταβάλλειν ὁμοίως.
τῆς δὲ θαλάττης τὰ μὲν ἀπολειπούσης τὰ δ' ἐπιούσης ἀεὶ
φανερὸν ὅτι τῆς πάσης γῆς οὐκ ἀεὶ τὰ αὐτὰ τὰ μέν ἐστιν θάλαττα
τὰ δ' ἤπειρος, ἀλλὰ μεταβάλλει τῷ χρόνῳ πάντα.
25 διότι μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἀεὶ ταὐτὰ οὔτε χερσεύει τῆς γῆς οὔτε
πλωτά ἐστιν, καὶ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν ταῦτα συμβαίνει, εἴρηται·
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ διὰ τί οἱ μὲν ἀέναοι οἱ δ' οὒ τῶν ποταμῶν
εἰσιν.
1For it is clear that a barrier of silt was formed and after it lakes and dry land, but in course of time the water that was left behind in the lakes dried up and is now all gone. Again the silting up of the lake Maeotis by the rivers has advanced so much that the limit to the size of the ships which can now sail into it to trade is much lower than it was sixty years ago. Hence it is easy to infer 5that it, too, like most lakes, was originally produced by the rivers and that it must end by drying up entirely.
Again, this process of silting up causes a continuous current through the Bosporus; and in this case we can directly observe the nature of the process. Whenever the current from the Asiatic shore 10threw up a sandbank, there first formed a small lake behind it. Later it dried up and a second sandbank formed in front of the first and a second lake. This process went on uniformly and without interruption. Now when this has been repeated often enough, in the course of time the strait must become like a river, and in the end the river itself must dry up.
So it is clear, 15since there will be no end to time and the world is eternal, that neither the Tanais nor the Nile has always been flowing, but that the region whence they flow was once dry: for their effect may be fulfilled, but time cannot. And this will be equally true of all other rivers. But if rivers 20come into existence and perish and the same parts of the earth were not always moist, the sea must needs change correspondingly. And if the sea is always advancing in one place and receding in another it is clear that the same parts of the whole earth are not always either sea or land, but that all this changes in course of time.
25So we have explained that the same parts of the earth are not always land or sea and why that is so: and also why some rivers are perennial and others not.
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Again, this process of silting up causes a continuous current through the Bosporus; and in this case we can directly observe the nature of the process. Whenever the current from the Asiatic shore 10threw up a sandbank, there first formed a small lake behind it. Later it dried up and a second sandbank formed in front of the first and a second lake. This process went on uniformly and without interruption. Now when this has been repeated often enough, in the course of time the strait must become like a river, and in the end the river itself must dry up.
So it is clear, 15since there will be no end to time and the world is eternal, that neither the Tanais nor the Nile has always been flowing, but that the region whence they flow was once dry: for their effect may be fulfilled, but time cannot. And this will be equally true of all other rivers. But if rivers 20come into existence and perish and the same parts of the earth were not always moist, the sea must needs change correspondingly. And if the sea is always advancing in one place and receding in another it is clear that the same parts of the whole earth are not always either sea or land, but that all this changes in course of time.
25So we have explained that the same parts of the earth are not always land or sea and why that is so: and also why some rivers are perennial and others not.
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