---
title: "On the Principle of Cold · De primo frigido"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "F. Fetherston, rev. William W. Goodwin"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. F. Fetherston, rev. William W. Goodwin, On the Principle of Cold · De primo frigido. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/"
---

# On the Principle of Cold · De primo frigido

*Plutarch, tr. F. Fetherston, rev. William W. Goodwin*

Is cold something real, and which element is coldest?

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg127, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: F. Fetherston, rev. William W. Goodwin, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg127.perseus-eng4). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Sections 1–14](https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/1.md)
2. [Sections 15–23](https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/2.md)

## 1. Sections 1–14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/1/#p-N

[¶0] 1. Is there then, Favorinus, any first or principal power or existence of cold, as fire is the principle of heat, by the presence and imparting of which all other things of the same nature become cold? Or rather is not cold the privation of heat, as they say darkness is the privation of light, and rest the privation of motion? In regard that cold seems to be firm and stable, and heat always in motion; and for that the refrigeration of hot things is not caused by the presence of any active power, but by the departure of the heat. For we find the heat go off in great quantity, and then that which remains grows cold. Thus the vapor which boiling water sends forth ceases also when the heat is gone. Therefore refrigeration, expelling the heat, diminishes the quantity, while nothing supplies the place of it.

> Greek: 1. εστι τις ἆρα τοῦ ψυχροῦ δύναμις, ὦ Φαβωρῖνε, πρώτη καὶ οὐσία, καθάπερ τοῦ θερμοῦ τὸ πῦρ, ἧς παρουσίᾳ τινὶ καὶ μετοχῇ γίνεται τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον ψυχρόν· ἢ μᾶλλον ἡ ψυχρότης στέρησὶς ἐστι θερμότητος, ὥσπερ τοῦ φωτὸς τὸ σκότος λέγουσι καὶ τῆς κινήσεως τὴν στάσιν; ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ ψυχρὸν ἔοικε στάσιμον εἶναι, κινητικὸν δὲ τὸ θερμόν· αἵ τε τῶν θερμῶν καταψύξεις οὐδεμιᾶς παρουσίᾳ γίγνονται δυνάμεως, ἀλλʼ ἐκστάσει θερμότητος· ἅμα γὰρ ἀπιοῦσα πολλὴ φαίνεται καὶ ψύχεται τὸ ὑπολειπόμενον· ὁ γὰρ ἀτμός, ὃν τὰ ζέοντα τῶν ὑδάτων μεθίησιν, ἀπιόντι τῷ θερμῷ συνεκπίπτει διὸ καὶ μειοῖ τὸ πλῆθος ἡ περίψυξις ἐκκρίνουσα τὸ θερμόν, ἑτέρου μηδενὸς ἐπεισιόντος.

[¶1] 2. First, we might question this way of arguing, as being that which would abolish several manifest faculties, as being neither qualities nor habits, but the privations of habits and qualities; so as to make ponderosity the privation of levity, hardness the privation of softness, black of white, bitter of sweet, and so with other things which are naturally opposed to each other in their power and not as a privation to a habit. Or else for this reason, because all privation is a thing altogether sluggish and without action, as blindness, deafness, silence, and death; for they are the departure of forms, and the utter defacings of substances, not being natures nor substances of themselves; but cold, wherever it resides, causes no less affections and alterations in bodies than heat. For many things are congealed by cold, many things thereby condensed. So that whatever is solid in it and difficult to be moved cannot be said to be sluggish and void of action, but firm and ponderous, as being supported by its own strength, which is endued with a power to preserve it in its proper station. Wherefore privation is the deficiency and departure of the opposite power, but many things are subject to be cold, though abounding with heat within themselves. And there are some things which cold the more condenses and consolidates the hotter they are, as iron quenched in water. The Stoics also affirm, that the spirit which is in the bodies of infants is quickened by refrigeration, and changing its Nature, turns to a soul. But this is a thing much to be disputed. Neither is it rational to believe that cold, which is the productive agent in many other things, can be a privation.

> Greek: 2. ἢ πρῶτον μὲν ἄν τις ὑπίδοιτο τοῦ λόγου τούτου τὸ πολλὰς τῶν ἐμφανῶν ἀναιρεῖν δυνάμεων, ὡς οὐ ποιότητας οὐδʼ ἕξεις ἕξεων δὲ καὶ ποιοτήτων στερήσεις, βαρύτητα μὲν κουφότητος καὶ σκληρότητα μαλακότητος τὸ μέλαν δὲ τοῦ λευκοῦ καὶ τὸ πικρὸν αξ τοῦ γλυκέος, καὶ ὧν ἕκαστον ἑκάστῳ πέφυκεν ἀντιδε πριιιιδο. ἀντικεῖσθαι κατὰ δύναμιν, οὐχ ὼγ ἕξει στέρησις· ἔπειθʼ ὅτι πᾶσα στέρησις ἀργόν ἐστι καὶ ἄπρακτον, ὡς τυφλότης; καὶ κωφότης καὶ σιωπὴ καὶ θάνατος; ἐκστάσεις γάρ εἰσιν εἰδῶν καὶ ἀναιρέσεις οὐσιῶν, οὐ φύσεις τινὲς οὐδʼ οὐσίαι καθʼ ἑαυτάς ἡ δὲ ψυχρότης οὐκ ἐλάττονα τῆς θερμότητος ἐγγιγνομένη τοῖς σώμασι πάθη καὶ μεταβολὰς ἐνεργάζεσθαι πέφυκε· καὶ γὰρ πήγνυται πολλὰ τῷ ψυχρῷ καὶ συγκρίνεται καὶ πυκνοῦται· καὶ τὸ στάσιμον αὐτῷ καὶ δυσκίνητον οὐκ ἀργόν ἐστιν, ἀλλʼ ἐμβριθὲς καὶ βέβαιον, ὑπὸ ῥώμης συνερειστικὸν καὶ συνεκτικὸν ἐχούσης; τόνον. ὅθεν ἡ μὲν στέρησις ἔκλειψις γίγνεται καὶ ὑποχώρησις τῆς ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως, ψύχεται δὲ πολλά, πολλῆς αὐτοῖς θερμότητος ἐνυπαρχούσης ἔνια δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον ἡ ψυχρότης, ἂν λάβῃ θερμότερα, πήγνυσι καὶ συνάγει, καθάπερ τὸν βαπτόμενον σίδηρον οἱ δὲ Στωικοὶ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα λέγουσιν ἐν τοῖς σώμασι τῶν βρεφῶν τῇ περιψύξει στομοῦσθαι καὶ μεταβάλλον ἐκ φύσεως γίγνεσθαι ψυχήν· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἀμφισβητήσιμον, ἑτέρων δὲ πολλῶν τὴν ψυχρότητα φαινομένην δημιουργὸν οὐκ ἄξιον ἡγεῖσθαι στέρησιν.

[¶2] 3. Besides, no privation is capable of more and less. Neither can any man say, that one among those that cannot see is more blind than another, or that one among those that cannot speak is more silent than another, or that any thing is more dead than another among those things that never had life. But in cold things there is more and less, and excess and diminution to several degrees; in a word, there is both intensity and remission as well as in hot things; because the matter suffers in some things more violently, in others more languidly, and therefore some things are hotter, some things colder than others, according to the nature of the matter. For there is no mixture of habit with privation. Neither does any power admit of privation opposite to it, nor associate with it in the same subject, but it withstands it altogether. Hot things allow themselves to be mixed with cold things to a certain degree, as black with white, heavy with light, and sour with sweet,—this community and harmony of colors, sounds, medicaments, and sauces generating several tastes and pleasures grateful to the senses. But the opposition of privation and habit is an antipathy never to be reconciled; the being of the one enforcing the destruction of the other. Which destruction, if it fall out seasonably, according to the opposition of contrary powers, the arts make great use of, but chiefly Nature, not only in her other creations, but especially in the alterations of the air, and in all other things of which the Deity being the adorner and dispenser obtains the attribute of harmonical and musical. Not that those attributes are given him for the disposal of deep and shrill, black and white, so as to make them agree together; but for his governing in the world the sympathies and antipathies of cold and heat in such a manner that they may unite and separate again, and for reducing both to a decent order, by taking that which we called “the overmuch” from both.

> Greek: 3. ἔτι στέρησις μὲν οὐδεμία δέχεται τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ ἧττον, οὐδʼ ἂν εἴποι τις ἕτερον ἑτέρου μᾶλλον πεπηρῶσθαι τῶν μὴ βλεπόντων ἢ σιωπᾶν τῶν μὴ φθεγγομένων ἢ τεθνάναι τῶν μὴ ζώντων. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ψυχροῖς πολὺ τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ ἧττον ἔνεστι καὶ τὸ λίαν καὶ τὸ μὴ λίαν καὶ ὅλως ἐπιτάσεις καὶ ἀνέσεις, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς θερμοῖς, διὰ τὸ τὴν ὕλην πῆ μὲν σφόδρα πῆ δʼ ἠρέμα πάσχουσαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων δυνάμεων ἕτερα μᾶλλον ἑτέρων καὶ θερμότερα καὶ ψυχρότερα παρέχειν ἐξ ἑαυτῆς. καὶ γὰρ ἕξεως μὲν οὐκ ἔστι μῖξις πρὸς στέρησιν οὐδʼ ἀναδέχεται δύναμις οὐδεμία τὴν ἀντικειμένην αὐτῇ στέρησιν ἐπιοῦσαν οὐδὲ ποιεῖ κοινωνὸν ἀλλʼ ἀντεξανίσταται θερμὰ δʼ ἐστίν,, ἄχρι οὗ κεραννύμενα ψυχροῖς ὑπομένει, καθάπερ μέλανα λευκοῖς καὶ βαρέσιν ὁζέα καὶ γλυκέσιν αὐστηρά, παρέχοντα τῇ κοινωνίᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ ἁρμονίᾳ χρωμάτων τε καὶ φθόγγων καὶ φαρμάκων καὶ ὄψων προσφιλεῖς πολλὰς καὶ φιλανθρώπους γενέσεις. ἡ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ στέρησιν καὶ ἕξιν ἀντίθεσις πολεμικὴ καὶ ἀσύμβατός ἐστιν, οὐσίαν θατέρου τὴν θατέρου φθορὰν ἔχοντος· τῇ δὲ κατὰ τὰς ἐναντίας δυνάμεις καιροῦ τυχούσῃ πολλὰ μὲν αἱ τέχναι χρῶνται, πλεῖστα δʼ ἡ φύσις ἔν τε ταῖς ἄλλαις γενέσεσι καὶ ταῖς περὶ τὸν ἀέρα τροπαῖς, καὶ ὅσα διακοσμῶν καὶ βραβεύων ὁ θεὸς ἁρμονικὸς καλεῖται καὶ μουσικὸς, οὐ βαρύτητας συναρμόττων καὶ ὀξύτητας οὐδὲ λευκὰ καὶ μέλανα συμφώνως ὁμιλοῦντα παρέχων ἀλλήλοις, ἀλλὰ τὴν τῆς θερμότητος καὶ ψυχρότητος ἐν κόσμῳ κοινωνίαν καὶ διαφορὰν, ὅπως συνοίσονταί τε μετρίως καὶ διοίσονται πάλιν, ἐπιτροπεύων καὶ τὸ ἄγαν ἑκατέρας ἀφαιρῶν εἰς τὸ δέον ἀμφοτέρας καθίστησι.

[¶3] 4. Then again, we find that there is the same sense and feeling of cold as of heat; but privation is neither to be seen, heard, or felt, neither is it known to any of the other senses. For the object of sense is substance; but where no substance appears, there we understand privation to be,—which is a negation of substance, as blindness of sight, silence of voice, and vacuity of corporeal substance. For there is no sense or perception of vacuity by feeling; but where there is no body to be felt, there a vacuity is implied. Neither do we hear silence; but where we do not hear any thing at all, there we imply silence. In like manner we have no perception of blindness, nakedness, or being unarmed; but we know them from the negation of our sense. Therefore if cold were a privation of heat, there would be no being sensible of cold; but only where heat ceased to be, there cold would be implied. But if, as heat is perceptible by the warmth and laxative softness of the flesh, so cold is no less perceptible by the contraction and condensation of it, it is from thence apparent, that there is some peculiar original and fountain of cold as well as heat.

> Greek: 4. καὶ μὴν ψυχροῦ μὲν αἴσθησις ἔστιν, ὥσπερ καὶ θερμοῦ· στέρησις δʼ οὔθʼ ὁρατὸν οὔτʼ ἀκουστὸν οὔθʼ ἁπτὸν οὔτε ταῖς ἄλλαις αἰσθήσεσι γνωστόν. οὐσίας γάρ τινος αἴσθησις ἦν ὅπου δʼ οὐσία μὴ φαίνεται, νοεῖται στέρησις, οὐσίας ἀπόφασις οὖσα, καθάπερ ὄψεως τυφλότης καὶ φωνῆς σιωπὴ καὶ σώματος ἐρημία καὶ κενόν. οὔτε γὰρ κενοῦ διʼ ἁφῆς αἴσθησις ἔστιν, ἀλλʼ ὅπου μὴ γίγνεται σώματος ἁφή, κενοῦ γίγνεται νόησις οὔτε σιγῆς ἀκούομεν, ἀλλά, κἂν μηδενὸς ἀκούωμεν, σιγὴν νοοῦμεν· ὡς δʼ αὔτως καὶ τυφλῶν καὶ γυμνῶν καὶ ἀόπλων οὐκ αἴσθησις ἔστιν ἀλλʼ αἰσθήσεως; ἀποφάσει νόησις 1 ἔδει τοίνυν μὴ γίγνεσθαι ψυχρῶν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλʼ ὅπου τὸ θερμὸν ἐπιλείπει νοεῖσθαι τὸ ψυχρόν, εἴπερ ἦν θερμοῦ στέρησις· εἰ δʼ, ὥσπερ τὸ θερμὸν ἀλέᾳ καὶ διακρίσει τῆς σαρκός, οὕτω συγκρίσει καὶ πυκνώσει τὸ ψυχρὸν αἰσθητόν ἐστι, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ ψυχρότητος ἰδία τις ἔστιν ἀρχὴ καὶ πηγὴ καθάπερ θερμότητος.

[¶4] 5. Further then, privation of every kind is something single and simply particular; but in substances there are several differences and efficacies. For silence is a thing but of one sort; but of sounds there are great variety, sometimes molesting, sometimes delightful to the sense. There are also the same differences in colors and figures, which vary as they occur to the senses. But that which is not to be felt, which is without color and void of quality, can never be distinguished, but is always like itself.

> Greek: 5. ἔτι τοίνυν ἕν τι καὶ ἁπλοῦν ἡ περὶ ἕκαστον εἶδος στέρησις, αἱ δʼ οὐσίαι πλείονας διαφορὰς καὶ δυνάμεις ἔχουσι μονοειδὲς γὰρ ἡ σιωπὴ ποικίλον δʼ ἡ φωνή, νῦν μὲν ἐνοχλοῦσα νῦν δὲ τέρπουσα τὴν αἴσθησιν. ἔχει δὲ τοιαύτας καὶ τὰ χρώματα καὶ τὰ σχήματα διαφοράς, ἐν αἷς ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλως τὸν προστυγχάνοντα διατίθησι τὸ δʼ ἀναφὲς καὶ ἄχρωστον καὶ ὅλως ἄποιον οὐκ ἔχει διαφοράν, ἀλλʼ ὅμοιόν ἐστιν.

[¶5] 6. Is cold therefore to be numbered among those privations that are not distinguished in their action? Rather the contrary, in regard that pleasures very great and beneficial to our bodies arise from cold things; as no less terrible mischiefs, pains, and stupefaction on the other side; which the heat does not always avoid and give way to, but many times enclosed within the body, withstands and opposes. Which contention of theirs is called quivering and shaking, at what time, if the cold overcome the heat, thence proceed numbness and stiffness of the limbs; but if the cold be vanquished by the heat, there follow a pleasing warmth and opening of the skin, which Homer expresses by the word ἰαίνεθαι. These things are past dispute; and chiefly by these passive qualities it is, that we find cold to be opposite to heat, as substance to substance, or passive quality to passive quality, not as negation or privation; neither is it the destruction or abolishing of hot, but a kind of nature and power tending to its destruction. Otherwise we should exempt the winter out of the seasons, and the north winds out of the number of the winds, as being privations of the warmer seasons and the southern gales, and not having any proper original.

> Greek: 6. ἆρʼ οὖν ἔοικε τοῖς στερητικοῖς τούτοις τὸ ψυχρόν, ὥστε μὴ ποιεῖν ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι διαφοράν, ἢ τοὐναντίον ἡδοναί τε μεγάλαι καὶ ὠφέλιμοι τοῖς σώμασιν ἀπὸ ψυχρῶν ὑπάρχουσι καὶ βλάβαι πάλιν νεανικαὶ καὶ πόνοι καὶ βαρύτητες, ὑφʼ ὧν οὐκ ἀεὶ φεύγει καὶ ἀπολείπει τὸ θερμὸν ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ἐγκαταλαμβανόμενον ἀνθίσταται καὶ μάχεται, τῇ μάχῃ δʼ αὐτῶν ὄνομα φρίκη καὶ τρόμος, ἡττωμένῳ δὲ τῷ θερμῷ τὸ πήγνυσθαι καὶ ναρκᾶν ἐπιγίνεται, κρατοῦν δὲ τοῦ ψυχροῦ διάχυσιν παρέχει καὶ ἀλέαν τῷ σώματι μεθʼ ἡδονῆς, ὅπερ Ὅμηρος ἰαίνεσθαι κέκληκεν; ἀλλὰ ταῦτά γε παντὶ δῆλα· καὶ τούτοις οὐχ ἥκιστα τοῖς πάθεσιν ἐνδείκνυται τὸ ψυχρόν, ὅτι πρὸς τὸ θερμὸν ὡς οὐσία πρὸς οὐσίαν ἢ πάθος πρὸς πάθος οὐχ ὡς ἀπόφασις ἀντίκειται καὶ στέρησις, οὐδὲ φθορὰ τίς ἐστι τοῦ θερμοῦ καὶ ἀναίρεσις ἀλλὰ φθαρτικὴ φύσις καὶ δύναμις. ἢ καὶ τὸν χειμῶνα τῶν ὡρῶν καὶ τὰ βόρεια τῶν πνευμάτων ἐξέλωμεν, ὡς στερήσεις ὄντα τῶν θερμῶν καὶ νοτίων ἰδίαν δʼ ἀρχὴν οὐκ ἔχοντα.

[¶6] 7. Now in regard there are four first bodies in the universe, which, by reason of their number, their being uncompounded, and their efficacy, are allowed for the most part to be the principles and beginnings of all other,— that is to say, fire and water, air and earth,—is there not the same necessity that there should be as many first and uncompounded qualities? And what are they but heat and cold, drought and moisture, by virtue of which it comes to pass that all the principles act and suffer? Thus, as there are in grammar lengthenings and shortenings of sounds, in music, deep and acute sounds, though not one of them is the privation of the other; we must leave the dry opposed to the moist principles, and the hot to the cold, if we intend to have the effects answerable to reason and what is visible in Nature. Unless, as it was the opinion of the ancient Anaximenes, we will not allow either cold or hot to be in substance, but only to be common passive qualities accompanying the alterations of the matter. For he affirms the contraction and condensation of the matter to be cold; but the rarefication and laxation of it (for by that word he calls it) to be hot. Whence it may not be improperly said, that a man breathes hot and cold at once. For the breath grows cold being compressed and thickened by the lips, but coming out of the open mouth it is hot, as being rarefied by that emission. But for this, Aristotle convinces the same person of ignorance; for that when we blow with the mouth open, we blow hot from our own bodies; but when we blow with compressed lips, we do not breathe forth the air from ourselves, but the air that is before our mouths, being cold, is thrust forward, and lights upon what is next it.

> Greek: 7. καὶ μὴν τεττάρων γε τῶν πρώτων ὄντων ἐν τῷ παντὶ σωμάτων, ἃ διὰ πλῆθος καὶ ἁπλότητα καὶ δύναμιν οἱ πλεῖστοι στοιχεῖα τῶν ἄλλων ὑποτίθενται καὶ ἀρχάς, πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος καὶ γῆς, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι καὶ ποιότητας εἶναι τὰς πρώτας καὶ ἁπλᾶς τοσαύτας. τίνες οὖν εἰσιν αὗται πλὴν θερμότης καὶ ψυχρότης καὶ ξηρότης καὶ ὑγρότης, αἷς τὰ στοιχεῖα πάσχειν ἅπαντα καὶ ποιεῖν πέφυκεν; ὡς δὲ τῶν ἐν γραμματικῇ στοιχείων βραχύτητὲς εἰσι καὶ μακρότητες, τῶν δʼ ἐν μουσικῇ βαρύτητες καὶ ὀξύτητες, οὐ θάτερα τῶν ἑτέρων στέρησις, οὕτως ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς σώμασιν ἀντιστοιχίαν ὑποληπτέον ὑγρῶν πρὸς ξηρὰ καὶ ψυχρῶν πρὸς θερμά, τὸ κατὰ λόγον ἅμα καὶ τὰ φαινόμενα διαφυλάττοντας· ἢ, καθάπερ Ἀναξιμένης ὁ παλαιὸς ᾤετο, μήτε τὸ ψυχρὸν ἐν οὐσίᾳ μήτε τὸ θερμὸν ἀπολείπωμεν, ἀλλὰ πάθη κοινὰ τῆς ὕλης ἐπιγιγνόμενα ταῖς μεταβολαῖς· τὸ γὰρ συστελλόμενον αὐτῆς καὶ πυκνούμενον ψυχρὸν εἶναί φησι· τὸ δʼ ἀραιὸν καὶ τὸ χαλαρόν, οὕτω πως ὀνομάσας καὶ τῷ ῥήματι, θερμόν. ὅθεν οὐκ ἀπεικότως λέγεσθαι τὸ καὶ θερμὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος καὶ ψυχρὰ μεθιέναι ψύχεται γὰρ ἡ πνσὴ πιεσθεῖσα καὶ πυκνωθεῖσα τοῖς χείλεσιν, ἀνειμένου δὲ τοῦ στόματος ἐκπίπτουσα γίγνεται θερμὸν ὑπὸ μανότητος. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν ἀγνόημα ποιεῖται τἀνδρὸς ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης· ἀνειμένου γὰρ τοῦ στόματος ἐκπνεῖσθαι τὸ θερμὸν ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, ὅταν δὲ συστρέψαντες τὰ χείλη φυσήσωμεν, οὐ τὸν ἐξ ἡμῶν ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀέρα τὸν πρὸ τοῦ στόματος ὠθεῖσθαι ψυχρὸν ὄντα καὶ προσεμπίπτειν.

[¶7] 8. But if we must grant that both heat and cold are substances, let us proceed a little farther in our discourse, and enquire what sort of substance is cold, and what is its first principle and nature. They then who affirm that there are certain irregular triangular figures in our body, and tell us also that shuddering, trembling, and quivering, and whatever else we suffer of the same nature, proceed from the roughness of those figures, if they mistake in the parts, nevertheless derive the beginning from whence they ought. For we ought to begin the question—as it were from Vesta— from the substance of all things. By which it chiefly appears wherein a philosopher differs from a physician, a husbandman, or a piper. For it is sufficient for these to contemplate the last causes. For if the consideration of the nearest causes of the affection go no farther than to find that the cause of a fever is intenseness of heat, or the lighting of some humor where it ought not to be, that the cause of blasting is the scorching heat of the sun after rain, and that the cause why pipes give a bass sound is the inclination of the pipes or the bringing them near one to another; this is enough for the artist to know in reference to his business. But when a philosopher for contemplation’s sake scrutinizes into the truth, the knowledge of remote causes is not the end but the beginning of his proceeding in search of the first and ultimate causes. Wherefore Plato and Democritus, enquiring after the cause of heat and gravity, did not stop at the consideration of earth and fire, but bringing things perceptible to sense to beginnings intelligible only by the mind, they went on even to the smallest, as it were the seeds of what they sought for.

> Greek: 8. εἰ δʼ ἀπολειπτέον οὐσίαν ψυχροῦ καὶ θερμοῦ, προάγωμεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἑξῆς τὸν λόγον, ἥτις ἐστὶν οὐσία καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ φύσις ψυχρότητος, ζητοῦντες· οἱ μὲν οὖν, τῶν σκαληνῶν καὶ τριγωνοειδῶν σχηματισμῶν ἐν τοῖς σώμασι κειμένων, τὸ ῥιγοῦν καὶ τρέμειν καὶ φρίττειν καὶ ὅσα συγγενῆ τοῖς πάθεσι τούτοις ὑπὸ τραχύτητος ἐγγίγνεσθαι λέγοντες, εἰ καὶ τοῖς κατὰ μέρος διαμαρτάνουσι, τὴν γοῦν ἀρχὴν ὅθεν δεῖ λαμβάνουσι δεῖ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἀφʼ ἑστίας τῆς τῶν ὅλων οὐσίας ἄρχεσθαι τὴν ζήτησιν. ᾧ καὶ μάλιστα δόξειεν ἂν ἰατροῦ καὶ γεωργοῦ καὶ αὐλητοῦ διαφέρειν ὁ φιλόσοφος. ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ ἐξαρκεῖ τὰ ἔσχατα τῶν αἰτίων θεωρῆσαι 1 τὸ γὰρ ἐγγυτάτω τοῦ πάθους αἴτιον ἂν συνοφθῇ, πυρετοῦ μὲν ἔντασις ἢ παρέμπτωσις ἐρυσίβης δʼ ἣλιοι πυριφλεγεῖς ἐπʼ ὄμβρῳ βαρύτητος δὲ κλίσις αὐλῶν καὶ συναγωγὴ πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἱκανόν ἐστι τῷ τεχνίτῃ πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον. τῷ δὲ φυσικῷ θεωρίας ἕνεκα μετιόντι τἀληθὲς ἡ τῶν ἐσχάτων γνῶσις οὐ τέλος ἐστὶν ἀλλʼ ἀρχὴ τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ πρῶτα καὶ ἀνωτάτω πορείας. διὸ καὶ Πλάτων ὀρθῶς καὶ Δημόκριτος αἰτίαν θερμότητος καὶ βαρύτητος ζητοῦντες οὐ κατέπαυσαν ἐν γῇ καὶ πυρὶ τὸν λόγον ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τὰς νοητὰς ἀναφέροντες ἀρχὰς τὰ αἰσθητὰ μέχρι τῶν ἐλαχίστων ὥσπερ σπερμάτων προῆλθον.

[¶8] 9. But it is much the better way for us in the first place to move forward upon those things which are perceptible to sense, wherein Empedocles, Strato, and the Stoics placed the substances of active qualities; the Stoics ascribing primitive cold to the air, Empedocles and Strato to the water; and perhaps there might be somebody else who might affirm the earth to be the substance of cold. But first let us consider the opinions of those already named. Seeing then that fire is both hot and bright, therefore there must be something opposite to fire which is cold and dark. For as dark is opposite to light, so is cold to hot. Besides, as dark confounds the sight, so cold confounds the feeling. But heat diffuses the sense of feeling, as light diffuses the sense of seeing. Therefore that which is first dark in nature is first cold. Now that the air is first dark, was not unknown to the poets; for that they call the air darkness:
The thickened air the fleet with darkness covered,
Nor could the moonlight be from heaven discovered.
And again:
Then darkness scattered and the fog dispelled,
The sun brake forth, and all the fight beheld.
They also call the air, when it is without light κνεφας, as being as it were κενὸν φάους (void of light.) The air collected and condensed into a cloud is called νέφος, from its negation of light (νή-φάος). The words also ἀχλύς and ὁμίκλη (mist), and whatever else restrains the perception of light from the sense, are but distinctions of the air; insomuch that the same part of it which is invisible and without color (ἀειδές and ἀρχωστον) is called Hades and Acheron. So that, as the air grows dark when the splendor of it fails, in like manner when heat fails, that which is left is no more than cold air, which by reason of its coldness is called Tartarus. And this Hesiod makes manifest, when he calls it Τάρταρον ἠερόεντα (or cloudy Tartarus); and when a man quakes and shivers for cold, he is said to tartarize. And so much for this.

> Greek: 9. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ ταυτὶ προανακινῆσαι βέλτιόν ἐστιν, ἐν οἷς Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τε καὶ Στράτων καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ τὰς οὐσίας τίθενται τῶν δυνάμεων, οἱ μὲν Στωικοὶ τῷ ἀέρι τὸ πρώτως ψυχρὸν ἀποδιδόντες, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δὲ καὶ Στράτων τῷ ὕδατι· τὴν δὲ γῆν ἴσως ἂν ἕτερος φανείη ψυχρότητος αἰτίαν ὑποτιθέμενος. πρότερον δὲ τὰ ἐκείνων σκοπῶμεν. ἐπεὶ τὸ πῦρ θερμὸν ἅμα καὶ λαμπρόν ἐστι, δεῖ τὴν ἀντικειμένην τῷ πυρὶ φύσιν ψυχρὰν τʼ εἶναι καὶ σκοτεινήν· ἀντίκειται γὰρ ὡς τῷ λαμπρῷ τὸ ζοφερὸν οὕτω τῷ. θερμῷ τὸ ψυχρόν· ἔστι γὰρ ὡς ὄψεως τὸ σκοτεινὸν οὕτω τὸ ψυχρὸν ἁφῆς συγχυτικόν, 1 ἡ δὲ θερμότης διαχεῖ τὴν αἴσθησιν τοῦ ἁπτομένου καθάπερ ἡ λαμπρότης τοῦ ὁρῶντος. τὸ ἄρα πρώτως σκοτεινὸν ἐν τῇ φύσει πρώτως καὶ ψυχρόν ἐστιν. ὅτι δʼ ἀὴρ τὸ πρώτως σκοτεινὸν ἐστιν, οὐδὲ τοὺς ποιητὰς; λέληθεν· ἀέρα γὰρ τὸ σκότος 1 καλοῦσιν
ἀὴρ γὰρ παρὰ νηυσὶ βαθεῖʼ ἦν οὐδὲ σελήνη
οὐρανόθεν προύφαινε·
καἴπάλιν
ἠέρα ἑσσάμενοι πᾶσαν φοιτῶσιν ἐπʼ αἶαν
καὶ πάλιν
αὐτίκα δʼ ἠέρα μὲν σκέδασεν καὶ ἀπῶσεν ὀμίχλην, ἠέλιος δʼ ἐπέλαμψε· μάχη δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσα φαάνθη.
καὶ γάρ κνέφας τὸν ἀφώτιστον ἀέρα καλοῦσι, κενόν, ὡς ἔοικε, φάους ὄντα· καὶ νέφος ὁ συμπεσὼν καὶ πυκνωθεὶς ἀὴρ ἀποφάσει φωτὸς κέκληται καλεῖται δὲ καὶ ἀχλὺς καὶ ὁμίχλη· καὶ ὅσα τοῦ φωτὸς οὐ παρέχει τῇ αἰσθήσει δίοψιν ἀέρος εἰσὶ διαφοραί· καὶ τὸ ἀειδὲς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄχρωστον Ἅιδης καὶ Ἀχέρων ἐπίκλησιν ἔσχεν. ὥσπερ οὖν αὐγῆς ἐπιλιπούσης σκοτεινὸς ἀήρ, οὕτω θερμοῦ μεταστάντος τὸ ἀπολειπόμενον ἀὴρ ψυχρὸς ἄλλο δʼ οὐδέν ἐστι· διὸ καὶ Τάρταρος οὗτος ὑπὸ ψυχρότητος κέκληται δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ Ἡσίοδος εἰπὼν
τάρταρά τʼ ἠερόεντα·
καὶ τὸ ῥιγοῦντα πάλλεσθαι καὶ τρέμειν ταρταρίζειν ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τοιοῦτον ἔχει λόγον.

[¶9] 10. But in regard corruption is the alteration of those things that are corrupted into that which is contrary to every one of them, let us consider whether it be a true saying, “The death of fire is the generation of air.” For fire dies like a living creature, being quenched by force or going out of its own accord. Now quenching makes the alteration of it into air more conspicuous. For smoke is a sort of air, or, according to Pindar, a fuliginous vapor and exhalation, “lashing the air with steaming smoke.” On the other side, when fire goes out for want of fuel, as in candles, you shall observe a thick and cloudy air ascending from the top of them. Moreover, the vapor steaming from our bodies upon the pouring of cold water after hot bathing or sweating sufficiently declares the alteration of extinguished heat into air, as being naturally opposite to air; whence it follows that the air was at first dark and cold.

> Greek: 10. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἡ φθορὰ μεταβολὴ τίς ἐστι τῶν φθειρομένων εἰς τοὐναντίον ἑκάστῳ, σκοπῶμεν εἰ καλῶς εἴρηται τὸ πυρὸς θάνατος ἀέρος γένεσις θνήσκει γὰρ καὶ πῦρ ὥσπερ ζῷον, ἢ βίᾳ σβεννύμενον ἢ διʼ αὑτοῦ μαραινόμενον. ἡ μὲν οὖν σβέσις ἐμφανεστέραν ποιεῖ τὴν εἰς ἀέρα μεταβολὴν αὐτοῦ· καὶ γὰρ ὁ καπνὸς ἀέρος ἐστὶν εἶδος καὶ ἡ κατὰ Πίνδαρον ἀέρα κνισᾶντι λακτίζοισα καπνῷ λιγνὺς καὶ ἀναθυμίασις. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ φθινούσης ἀτροφίᾳ φλογὸς ἰδεῖν ἔστιν, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν λύχνων,. τὸ ἄκρον εἰς ἀέρα καὶ γνοφώδη καὶ ζοφερὸν ἀπο χεόμενον. ἱκανῶς δʼ καὶ ὁ τῶν μετὰ λουτρὸν ἢ· πυρίαν περιχεαμένων ψυχρὸν ἀνιὼν ἀτμὸς ἐνδείκνυται τὴν εἰς ἀέρα τοῦ θερμοῦ φθειρομένου 1 μεταβολήν, ὡς φύσει πρὸς τὸ πῦρ ἀντικείμενον· ᾧ τὸ πρώτως τὸν ἀέρα σκοτεινὸν εἶναι καὶ ψυχρὸν ἠκολούθει.

[¶10] 11. Then again, congelation, which is the most forcible and violent of all things that befall our bodies by reason of cold, is the affection of water, but the action of air. For water of itself is easily diffused, loose in its parts, and not readily congealed together; but it is thickened and compressed by the air, by reason of the coldness of it. Which is the reason of the proverb:
But if the southern wind provoke the north,
Snow straight will cover all the earth.
For the southern wind preparing the moisture as matter, presently the north wind receives and congeals it. And this is manifest from the consideration of snow; for ere it falls, you shall observe a thin and sharp cold air breathing before it. Aristotle also tells us, that whetstones of lead [?] will melt and run in the winter through excess of freezing cold, merely upon the setting of the water near them. For it is probable that the air compresses and gripes the bodies so close together, that at length it breaks and crumbles them in pieces.

> Greek: 11. καὶ μὴν ἁπάντων γε τῶν γιγνομένων ὑπὸ ψυχρότητος ἐν τοῖς σώμασι σφοδρότατον καὶ. βιαιότατον ἡ πῆξις οὖσα πάθος μέν ἐστιν ὕδατος; ἔργον δʼ ἀέρος·ʼ αὐτὸ μὲν γὰρ καθʼ ἑαυτὸ τὸ ὕδωρ εὐδιάχυτον καὶ ἀπαγὲς καὶ ἀσύστατόν ἐστιν, ἐντείνεται δὲ καὶ συνάγεται τῷ ἀέρι σφιγγόμενον ὑπὸ ψυχρότητος διὸ καὶ λέλεκται
εἰ δὲ νότος βορέην προκαλέσσεται, αὐτίκα νίψει.
τοῦ γὰρ νότου καθάπερ ὕλην τὴν ὑγρότητα παρασκευάσαντος, ὁ βόρειος ἀὴρ ὑπολαβὼν ἔπηξε. καὶ δῆλόν ἐστι μάλιστα περὶ τὰς χιόνας· ἀέρα γὰρ μεθεῖσαι καὶ προαναπνεύσασαι λεπτὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν οὕτω ῥέουσιν· Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ καὶ τὰς ἀκόνας τοῦ μολίβδου τήκεσθαί φησι καὶ ῥεῖν ὑπὸ κρύους καὶ χειμῶνος, ὕδατος μόνου πλησιάζοντος αὐταῖς· ὁ δʼ ἀήρ, ὡς ἔοικε, συνελαύνων τὰ σώματα τῇ ψυχρότητι καταθραύει καὶ ῥήγνυσιν.

[¶11] 12. And therefore water drawn from a fountain soonest congeals; for the more of cold in the air overcomes the less of cold in the water. Thus if a man takes cold water out of a well and puts it into a vessel, and then lets the vessel down again into the well, so that it may not touch the water but hang for some time in the air, the water will be much colder. Whence it is apparent, that the coldness of the water is not the first cause of coldness, but the coldness of the air. For you do not find that any of your great rivers are ever thoroughly frozen, by reason of their depth. For the air doth not pierce through the whole; only so much as it can seize and embrace with its cold quality generally freezes, and no more. Therefore the barbarians never cross over frozen rivers till they have sent a fox before to try the depth of the ice. For if the ice be not very thick, but only superficial, the fox, perceiving it by the noise of the water floating underneath, returns. And some there are that melt the ice with hot water to make way for their lines, when they go to catch fish in winter. So that nothing suffers from cold in the depth of the water. Nevertheless, so great has been the alteration of the upper parts of the water by congelation, that several vessels riding in the stream have been bruised and broken by the forcible compressure and griping of the congelation; as we have heard from them who lately had their winter quarters with Caesar upon the Danube. And indeed, what happens to ourselves is sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this. For after hot bathings and sweatings, we are most sensible of cold, at what time, our bodies being open and the skin relaxed, we give a freer entrance to the cold together with the ambient air. And after the very same manner the water itself suffers. For it sooner freezes if it be first heated, as being thereby rendered more easy for the air to work upon. And therefore they who lade out scalding water, and let it fall again from a good height in the air, do it to no other purpose than to mix it with a great deal of air. And therefore, Favorinus, the arguments that attribute the first power of cold to the air are grounded upon these probabilities.

> Greek: 12. ἔτι τοίνυν τὰ μὲν ἀποσπασθέντα τῆς πηγῆς ὕδατα μᾶλλον πήγνυται μᾶλλον γὰρ ὁ ἀὴρ ἐπικρατεῖ τοῦ ἐλάττονος. ἂν. δέ τις ψυχρὸν ἐκ φρέατος ὕδωρ λαβὼν ἐν ἀγγείῳ καὶ καθεὶς αὖθις εἰς τὸ φρέαρ ὥστε μὴ ψαύειν τοῦ ὕδατος τὸ ἀγγεῖον ἀλλʼ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι κρέμασθαι, περιμείνῃ χρόνον οὐ πολύν, ἔσται ψυχρότερον τὸ ὕδωρ· μάλοστα δηλοῦται τὸ μὴ, τοῦ ὕδατος εἶναι τὴν πρώτην αἰτίαν τῆς ψυχρότητος ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἀέρος.· τῶν γε μὴν μεγάλων ποταμῶν οὐδεὶς πήγνυται διὰ βάθους· οὐ γὰρ καθίησιν εἰς ὅλον ὁ ἀήρ,. ἀλλʼ ὅσα τῇ ψυχρότητι περιλαμβάνει ψαύων καὶ πλησιάζων, ταῦθʼ ἵστησιν· ὅθεν οἱ βάρβαροι διαβαίνουσι πεζῇ, προβαλόντες ἀλώπεκας· ἄν γὰρ μὴ πολὺς ἀλλʼ ἐπιπόλαιος ὁ πάγος ᾖ, αἰσθανόμεναι τῷ ψόφῳ τοῦ ὑπορρέοντος ὕδατος ἀναστρέφουσιν ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ θηρεύουσιν ἰχθῦς, ὕδατι θερμῷ τοῦ πάγου παραλύοντες καὶ χαλῶντες; τό γε τὴν ὁρμιὰν δεξόμενον. οὕτως οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ τὸ ἐν βάθει πέπονθε. καίτοι τῶν ἄνω τοσαύτη γίγνεται μεταβολὴ διὰ τὴν πῆξιν, ὥστε συντρίβειν τὰ πλοῖα τὸ ὕδωρ ἀποβιαζόμενον εἰς ἑαυτὸ καὶ συνθλιβόμενον, ὡς ἱστοροῦσιν οἱ νῦν μετὰ τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἴστρου διαχειμάσαντες. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ περὶ. ἡμᾶς συμβαῖνον ἱκανὴν μαρτυρίαν δίδωσι μετὰ γὰρ τὰ λουτρὰ καὶ τὰς ἐξιδρώσεις περιψυχόμεθα μᾶλλον, τοῖς σώμασιν ἀνειμένοις καὶ διακεχυμένοις πολλὴν ψυχρότητα μετὰ τοῦ ἀέρος καταδεχόμενοι. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ πάσχει· ψύχεται γάρ, ἂν προθερμανθῇ, μᾶλλον, εὐπαθέστερον τῷ ἀέρι γενόμενον ὁπότε τὰ ζέοντα τῶν ὑδάτων ἀναρύτοντες καὶ μετεωρίζοντες οὐδὲν ἄλλο δήπου ποιοῦσιν ἢ πρὸς ἀέρα πολὺν ἀνακεραννύουσιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν τῷ ἀέρι τὴν πρώτην ἀποδιδοὺς τῆς ψυχρότητος δύναμιν, ὦ Φαβωρῖνε, λόγος ἐν τοιαύταις ἐστὶ πιθανότησιν.

[¶12] 13. Those that allow it to water lean upon principles of the same nature. And this was intimated by Empedocles, where he says:
Behold the sun, how warm he is,
And shining everywhere;
But rain and tempests cold and dark
With horror fill the air.
And thus opposing cold to heat, and dark to bright, he gives us to understand that black and cold are both of the same substance, as also are bright and hot. Now that black is proper to the water and not to the air, sense itself bears witness, nothing being darkened by the air, all things being clouded and blackened by water. So that if you throw the whitest wool that is, or a white garment into the water, it comes out black, and so remains, till the moisture be dried up again by the heat, or squeezed forth by presses or weights. Also when the ground is watered, the places that receive the drops grow black, the rest retaining their former color. And therefore the deepest waters, by reason of their quantity, always appear blackest, but the parts which are next the air afford a lovely and smiling brightness. But of all liquids, oil is the most transparent, because of the great quantity of air that is in it. And of this, the lightness of it is an unquestionable proof; the reason why it swims above all things, as carried upward by the air. Being poured forth upon the waves, it will cause calmness upon the sea, not because it is so slippery that the winds can have no power over it, as Aristotle thought, but because the waves will fall and sink when smitten by any moist body. And this is also peculiar to oil, that it shines and causes a transparency at the bottom of the water, while the watery humors are dispersed by the air. For being spurted out of the mouth into the sea, not only by those that sail in the night, but also by those that dive for sponges to the bottom of the sea, it will cast a light in the water. Water therefore has more of blackness than the air, but less of cold. Oil therefore, partaking more of air than most liquid things, is least cold, nor will it easily or suddenly freeze; for the air which is mixed with it will not suffer the congelation to grow hard. And therefore, as for needles, steel buckles, and such sort of small iron and steel wares, they never quench them in water but in oil, fearing lest the over-coldness of the water should make them too brittle. And indeed the truth is more truly enquired into from the consideration of these experiments, than those of colors. For hail, snow, and ice, as they are most transparent, so are most cold; and pitch, as it is hotter, so it is blacker and darker than honey.

> Greek: 13. ὁ δὲ τῷ ὕδατι λαμβάνει μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀρχὰς ὁμοίως, οὕτω πως τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους λέγοντος
ἠέλιον μὲν λαμπρὸν ὅρα καὶ θερμὸν ἁπάντῃ,
ὄμβρον δʼ ἐν πᾶσι δνοφόεντά τε ῥιγαλέον τε
τῷ γὰρ θερμῷ τὸ ψυχρὸν ὡς τῷ λαμπρῷ τὸ μέλαν ἀντιτάξας συλλογίσασθαι δέδωκεν, ὅτι τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ἐστὶ τὸ μέλαν καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν, ὡς τῆς αὐτῆς τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ τὸ θερμόν. ὅτι δʼ οὐ τοῦ ἀέρος τὸ μέλαν ἀλλὰ τοῦ ὕδατός ἐστιν, ἡ αἴσθησις ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ, τῷ μὲν ἀέρι μηδενὸς ὡς ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν μελαινομένου τῷ δʼ ὕδατι πάντων.. ἂν γὰρ τὸ λευκότατον ἐμβάλῃς ἔριον εἰς ὕδωρ ἢ ἱμάτιον, ἀναφαίνεται μέλαν καὶ διαμένει, μέχρι ἂν ὑπὸ θερμότητος ἐξικμασθῇ τὸ ὑγρὸν ἤ τισι στρέβλαις καὶ βάρεσιν ἐκπιεσθῇ τῆς τε γῆς ὕδατι ῥαινομένης, διαμελαίνουσιν οἱ καταλαμβανόμενοι ταῖς σταγόσι τόποι, τῶν ἄλλων ὁμοίων μενόντων. αὐτοῦ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ὕδατος σκοτεινότατον ὑπὸ πλήθους φαίνεται τὸ βαθύτατον, οἷς δʼ ἀὴρ πλησιάζει, ταῦτα περιλάμπεται καὶ διαγελᾷ. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ὑγρῶν διαφανὲς μάλιστα τοὔλαιόν ἐστι, πλείστῳ χρώμενον ἀέρι τούτου τεκμήριον κουφότης, διʼ ἣν ἐπιπολάζει πᾶσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος ἄνω φερόμενον, ποιεῖ δὲ καὶ τὴν γαλήνην ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ τοῖς κύμασιν ἐπιρραινόμενον, οὐ διὰ τὴν λειότητα τῶν ἀνέμων ἀπολισθαινόντων, ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης ἔλεγεν· ἀλλὰ παντὶ μὲν ὑγρῷ τὸ κῦμα διαχεῖται πληττόμενον, ἰδίως δὲ τοὔλαιον αὐγὴν καὶ καταφάνειαν ἐν βυθῷ παρέχει, διαστελλομένων τῷ ἀέρι τῶν ὑγρῶν· οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἐπιπολῆς τοῖς διανυκτερεύουσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ κάτω τοῖς σπογγοθήραις διαφυσώμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ φέγγος ἐνδίδωσιν. οὐ μᾶλλον οὖν τῷ ἀέρι τοῦ μέλανος ἢ τῷ ὕδατι μέτεστιν, ἧττον. δὲ τοῦ· ψυχροῦ. τὸ γοῦν ἔλαιον, ἀέρος πλείστου τῶν ὑγρῶν μετέχον, ἣκιστα ψυχρόν ἐστι καὶ πήγνυται μαλακῶς· ὁ γὰρ ἀὴρ ἐγκεκραμένος οὐκ ἐᾷ σκληρὰν γενέσθαι τὴν πῆξιν βελόνας δὲ καὶ πόρπας σιδηρᾶς καὶ τὰ λεπτὰ τῶν ἔργων οὐχ ὕδατι βάπτουσιν ἀλλʼ ἐλαίῳ, τὴν ἄγαν ψυχρότητα φοβούμενοι τοῦ· ὕδατος ὡς διαστρέφουσαν. ἀπὸ τούτων γὰρ δικαιότερὸν ἐστιν ἐξετάζεσθαι τὸν λόγον οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν χρωμάτων ἐπεὶ καὶ χιὼν καὶ χάλαζα καὶ κρύσταλλος ἅμα λαμπρότατα γίγνεται καὶ ψυχρότατα καὶ πάλιν πίττα θερμότερόν ἐστι μέλιτος καὶ σκοτωδέστερον.

[¶13] 14. This makes me admire at those who affirm the air to be cold because it is dark and obscure, unless it be because they find others affirming it to be hot because it is light. For dark is not so proper and familiar to cold, as heavy and stable; for many things that are void of heat partake of splendor and light, but there is nothing cold that is light, nimble, or apt to ascend upward. Even the clouds themselves, while they preserve the nature of air, tower aloft in the sky; but changing into moisture, they presently fall down, and having admitted coldness, they lose their lightness as well as their heat. And so on the other side, having regained their heat, they again return to motion, their substance being carried upward as soon as it is changed into air. Neither is the argument produced from corruption true. For nothing that perishes is corrupted into what is opposite, but by what is opposite to it; as fire extinguished by water changes into air. And therefore Aeschylus spake not merely like a tragedian but like a philosopher, when he said,
The water curb, that punishment of fire.
In like manner Homer opposed in battle Vulcan to the river, and Apollo to Neptune, more like a philosopher than a poet or mythologist. And Archilochus spoke not amiss of a woman whose thoughts were contrary to her words, when he said,
She, weaving subtle trains and sly vagaries,
Fire in one hand, in th’ other water carries.
Among the Persians there were several customs of supplication, of which the chiefest, and that which would admit of no refusal, was when the suppliant, taking fire in his hand and entering into a river, threatened, if his supplications were denied, to throw the fire into the water. But though his suit were granted him, yet he was punished for threatening, as being against the law and contrary to Nature. And this is a vulgar proverb in everybody’s mouth, to mix fire with water, spoken of those that would attempt impossibilities; to show that water is an enemy to fire, and being extinguished thereby, is destroyed and punished by it,—not by the air, which, upon the change and destruction of it, receives and entertains the substance of it. For if that into which the thing destroyed is changed be contrary to it, why does fire seem contrary to air more than water? For air changes into water by condensation, but into fire by dissipation; as, on the other side, water is turned into air by separation, into earth by condensation. Which, in my opinion, happens by reason of the propriety and near affinity between both, not from any thing of contrariety and hostility one to another. Others there are, that, which way soever they maintain it, spoil the argument. For it is most irrational to say that water is congealed by the air, when they never saw the air congealed in their lives. For clouds, fogs, and mists are no congelations, but thickenings and condensations of the air moist and full of vapors; but a dry air void of moisture never undergoes refrigeration to such a degree. For there are some mountains that never admit of a cloud, nor dew, nor mist, their tops being so high as to reach into an air that is pure and void of moisture. Whence it is manifest that it is the condensation and consistency below, which contributes that cold and moisture to the air which is mixed with it.

> Greek: 14. ὅμως δὲ θαυμάζω τῶν ἀξιούντων τὸν ἀέρα, ψυχρὸν εἶναι διὰ τὸ καὶ σκοτεινόν, εἰ μὴ συνορῶσιν ἑτέρους ἀξιοῦντας θερμὸν εἶναι διὰ τὸ καὶ κοῦφον. οὐ γὰρ οὕτω τῷ ψυχρῷ τὸ σκοτεινὸν ὡς τὸ βαρὺ καὶ στάσιμον οἰκεῖόν ἐστι καὶ συγγενὲς· πολλὰ γὰρ ἄμοιρα θερμότητος ὄντα μετέχει λαμπηδόνος, ἐλαφρὸν δὲ καὶ κοῦφον καὶ ἀνωφερὲς οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν ψυχρῶν.ʼ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ νέφη, μέχρι μὲν ἀέρος μᾶλλον προσήκει, μετεωρίζεται μεταβαλόντα δʼ εἰς ὑγρὸν εὐθὺς ὀλισθάνει καὶ τὸ κοῦφον οὐχ ἧττον ἢ τὸ θερμὸν ἀποβάλλει, ψυχρότητος ἐγγιγνομένης καὶ τοὐναντίον ὅταν θερμότης ἐπέλθῃ, πάλιν, ἀναστρέφει τὴν κίνησιν, ἅμα τῷ μεταβαλεῖν εἰς ἀέρα τῆς οὐσίας ἄνω φερομένης. καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ τὸ τῆς φθορᾶς ἀληθές ἐστιν· οὐ γὰρ εἰς τοὐναντίον ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐναντίου φθείρεται τῶν ἀπολλυμένων ἕκαστον, ὥσπερ τὸ πῦρ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος εἰς τὸν ἀέρα. τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ ὁ μὲν Αἰσχύλος εἰ καὶ τραγικῶς ἀλλʼ ἀληθῶς εἶπε
παύσυβριν δίκην πυρός·
Ὅμηρος δὲ τῷ ποταμῷ τὸν Ἥφαιστον καὶ τῷ Ποσειδῶνι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα κατὰ, τὴν μάχην φυσικῶς μᾶλλον ἢ μυθικῶς ἀντέταξεν. ὁ δ̓ Ἀρχίλοχος ἐπὶ τῆς τἀναντία φρονούσης οὐ κακῶς εἶπε
τῇ μὲν ὕδωρ ἐφόρει
δολοφρονέουσα χειρί, τἠτέρῃ δὲ πῦρ.
ἐν δὲ Πέρσαις τῶν ἱκετευμάτων μέγιστον ἦν καὶ ἀπαραίτητον, εἰ πῦρ λαβὼν ἱκετεύων καὶ ἐν ποταμῷ βεβηκὼς ἀπειλοίη μὴ τυχὼν τὸ πῦρ, εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ ἀφήσειν· ἐτύγχανε μὲν γὰρ ὧν ἐδεῖτο, τυχὼν δʼ ἐκολάζετο διὰ τὴν ἀπειλὴν ὡς παρὰ νόμον καὶ κατὰ τῆς φύσεως γενομένην. καὶ τοῦτο δὴ· τὸ πρόχειρον ἅπασι πῦρ ὕδατι μιγνύναι τὸ παροιμιαζόμενον ἐν τοῖς ἀδυνάτοις, μαρτυρεῖν ἔοικεν ὅτι τῷ πυρὶ τὸ ὕδωρ πολέμιόν ἐστι καὶ ὑπὸ τούτου φθείρεται καὶ κολάζεται σβεννύμενον, οὐχ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος τίον ὡς ὑπολαμβάνει τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ δέχεται μεταβάλλοντος· εἰ γὰρ αἰτία εἰς ὃ μεταβάλλει τὸ φθειρόμενον ἐναντίον ἐστί, τί μᾶλλον τῷ ἀέρι τὸ πῦρ ἢ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐναντίον φανεῖται; μεταβάλλει γὰρ εἰς ὕδωρ συνιστάμενος; εἰς δὲ πῦρ διακρινόμενος· ὥσπερ αὖ πάλιν τὸ ὕδωρ διακρίσει μὲν εἰς ἀέρα φθείρεται συγκρίσει δʼ εἰς γῆν, ὡς μὲν ἐγὼ νομίζω διʼ οἰκειότητα τὴν πρὸς, ἀμφότερα καὶ συγγένειαν, οὐχ ὡς ἐναντίον ἑκατέρῳ καὶ πολέμιον. ἐκεῖνοι δέ, ὁποτέρως ἂν εἴπωσι, τὸ ἐπιχείρημα διαφθείρουσι. πήγνυσθαί γε μὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος; φάναι τὸ ὕδωρ ἀλογώτατόν ἐστιν, αὐτὸν τὸν ἀέρα μηδαμοῦ πηγνύμενον ὁρῶντας. νέφη γὰρ καὶ ὁμίχλαι καὶ κνηκίδες οὐ πήξεις εἰσὶν ἀλλὰ συστάσεις καὶ παχύτητες ἀέρος διεροῦ καὶ ἀτμώδους ὁ δʼ ἄνικμος καὶ ξηρὸς οὐδʼ ἄχρι ταύτης τὴν κατάψυξιν ἐνδέχεται τῆς μεταβολῆς. ἔστι γὰρ ἃ τῶν ὀρῶν οὐ λαμβάνει 1 νέφος; οὐδὲ δρόσον οὐδʼ ὁμίχλην, εἰς καθαρὸν ἀέρα καὶ ἄμοιρον ὑγρότητος ἐξικνούμενα τοῖς ἄκροις ᾧ μάλιστα δῆλόν ἐστιν ὡς αἱ κάτω πυκνώσεις καὶ συστάσεις τῷ ἀέρι συμμεμιγμένον ὑγρὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν ἐνδιδοῦσι.

## 2. Sections 15–23

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-principle-of-cold/2/#p-N

[¶0] 15. Now that great rivers never freeze downwards is but consentaneous to reason. For those parts which are frozen above transmit no exhalation outward; for this, being penned up within and forced downward, affords heat to the moisture at the bottom. A clear demonstration of which is this, that when the ice is dissolved, you may observe a steam arising out of the water upwards in a very great quantity. And therefore the bodies of living creatures are warmest within in the winter, for that the heat is driven inward by the ambient cold. Now those upward exhalations and ascensions of the vapors deprive the waters not only of their heat but of their coolness. And therefore they that vehemently desire their drink to be cold never move the snow nor the moisture that is pressed out of it; for motion would deprive them both of the virtue which is required from them. Now that this virtue is not the virtue of air, but of water, a man may collect by reasoning thus from the beginning. First, it is not probable that the air, which is next the sky, and touching the fiery substance is also touched by it, should be endued with a contrary virtue; for otherwise it is not possible that the extremities of the one should touch and be contiguous to the extremities of the other. Nor is it agreeable to reason that Nature should constitute that which is corrupted next in order to that which corrupts, as if she were not the author of community and harmony but of combat and contention. For she makes use of contrary things in sustaining the universe; but she does not use them pure and unmixed, nor so that they will be in hostility; but she uses such as have alternately a certain position and order which is not destructive, but which inclines them to communicate and co-operate one with another, and to effect a harmony between the opposing qualities. And this is the nature of the air, being expanded under the fire above the water, contingent and adhering to both, neither hot in itself nor cold, but containing an intermixture and communion of hot and cold, harmlessly intermixed in herself; and lightly cherishing the contrary extremities.

> Greek: 15. τὰ δὲ κάτω τῶν μεγάλων ποταμῶν οὐ πήγνυται κατὰ λόγον. τὰ γὰρ ἄνω παγέντα τὴν ἀναθυμίασιν οὐ διίησιν, ἀλλʼ ἐγκαθειργνυμένη καὶ ἀποστρεφομένη θερμότητα παρέχει τοῖς διὰ βάθους ὑγροῖς· ἀπόδειξις δὲ τούτου τὸ λυομένου τοῦ πάγου πάλιν ἀτμὸν πολὺν ἐκ τῶν ὑγρῶν ἀναφέρεσθαι; διὸ καὶ τὰ τῶν ζῴων σώματα χειμῶνός ἐστι θερμότερα τῷ συνέχειν τὸ θερμὸν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ὑπὸ τῆς ἔξωθεν ψυχρότητος εἴσω συνελαυνόμενον. αἱ δʼ ἀναρύσεις καὶ μετεωρίσεις οὐ μόνον τὸ θερμὸν ἐξαιροῦσι τῶν ὑδάτων ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν· ὅθεν ἥκιστα τὰς χιόνας καὶ τὸ συνθλιβόμενον ὑγρὸν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν οἱ σφόδρα ψυχροῦ δεόμενοι κινοῦσιν· ἐκστατικὸν γὰρ ἀμφοῖν ἡ κίνησις. ὅτι δʼ οὐκ ἀέρος ἐστὶν ἀλλʼ ὕδατος ἡ τοιαύτη δύναμις, οὕτως ἄν τις ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἐπέλθοι. πρῶτον μὲν οὐκ εἰκός ἐστιν ἀέρα, τῷ αἰθέρι γειτνιῶντα καὶ ψαύοντα τῆς περιφορᾶς καὶ ψαυόμενον οὐσίας πυρώδους, τὴν ἐναντίαν ἔχειν δύναμιν οὔτε γὰρ ἄλλως δυνατὸν ἁπτόμενα καὶ συνεχῆ τοῖς πέρασιν ὄντα δύο σώματα μὴ πάσχειν ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων, εἰ δὲ πάσχειν, μὴ ἀναπίμπλασθαι τῆς τοῦ κρείττονος δυνάμεως τὸ ἧττον οὔτε τὴν φύσιν ἔχει λόγον ἐφεξῆς τῷ φθείροντι τάξαι τὸ φθειρόμενον, ὥσπερ οὐ κοινωνίας οὖσαν οὐδʼ ἁρμονίας ἀλλὰ πολέμου καὶ μάχης δημιουργόν. χρῆται μὲν γὰρ ἐναντίοις εἰς τὰ ὅλα πράγμασι χρῆται δʼ οὐκ ἀκράτοις οὐδʼ ἀντιτύποις, ἀλλʼ ἐναλλάξ τινα θέσιν καὶ τάξιν οὐκ ἀναιρετικὴν ἀλλὰ κοινωνικὴν διʼ ἑτέρων καὶ συνεργὸν ἐν μέσῳ παρεμπλεκομένην ἔχουσι καὶ ταύτην εἴληφεν ὁ ἀήρ, ὑποκεχυμένος τῷ πυρὶ πρὸ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ διαδιδοὺς; ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα καὶ συνάγων, οὔτε θερμὸς ὢν αὐτὸς οὔτε ψυχρὸς ἀλλὰ ψυχροῦ καὶ θερμοῦ μετακέρασμα καὶ κοινώνημα; μιγνυμένων ἐν αὐτῷ μῖξιν ἀβλαβῆ καὶ μαλακῶς ἀνιεῖσαν καὶ δεχομένην τὰς ἐναντίας ἀκρότητας.

[¶1] 16. Therefore the air is of an equal temper in all places, but winter is not in all places alike nor equally cold; but some parts of the habitable world are cold and moist, others hot and dry, not by chance, but because there is but one substance of heat and dryness. For the greatest part of Africa is hot and without water. But they that have travelled Scythia, Thrace, and the Pontic regions report them to be full of vast lakes, and large and deep rivers. And as for those regions lying between, those parts that join upon lakes and marshes are most cold by reason of the exhalations from the water. Posidouius therefore, affirming the freshness and moistness of the air of marshes to be the cause of its cold, has no way disturbed the probability of our argument, but rather added to the strength of it; for the air would not always be the colder the fresher it is, unless cold has its original from moisture. And therefore Homer much more truly shows us the fountain of cold, when he says,
Chill from the river blows the wind
Before the coming morn.
Then again it many times happens that our sense deceives us. So that when we feel cold garments or cold wool, we believe we feel them to be moist, by reason of the substance which is common to both, and of their natures which are coherent and familiar one with another. But in climates where the cold is extreme, it oftentimes breaks and cracks both pots and vessels, whether made of earth or brass,—none empty, but all full, the cold giving force and might to the liquor within,—which made Theophrastus say, that the air breaks those vessels, making use of the cold as of a hammer; whether more eloquently or more truly spoken, I leave you to judge. For then vessels full of pitch or milk should be more subject to be broken by the air. But water seems to be cold of itself, and that primitively too; for in respect of the coldness of it, it is opposite to the heat of the fire; as to drought in respect of its moisture, and to ponderosity in regard of its lightness. Lastly, fire is altogether of a dissipating and dividing nature; water, of a nature to fasten and contain, holding and joining together by virtue of its moisture. Which was the reason why Empedocles called fire “a pernicious contention,” but water a “tenacious friendship.” For the nourishment of fire is that which changes into fire, and it changes that which is as it were of kin and familiar to it. What is contrary to it, as water, cannot be changed by it, or at least only with great difficulty. True it is, that as for itself, as I may so say, it cannot be burned; but as for green wood and wet straw, it overcomes them with much struggling, while the heat and cold contending together, by reason of their moisture and their natural antipathy, produce only a dull flame, clouded with smoke, that makes little progress upon the materials.

> Greek: 16. ἔπειτα πανταχοῦ μέν ἐστιν ἀὴρ ἴσος, οὐ πανταχοῦ δὲ χειμὼν ὅμοιος οὐδὲ ψῦχος. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τὰ μέρη ψυχρὰ καὶ κάθυγρα, ταῦτα δὲ ξηρὰ καὶ θερμὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης οὐ κατὰ τύχην, ἀλλὰ τῷ μίαν οὐσίαν ψυχρότητος καὶ ὑγρότητος εἶναι. Λιβύης μὲν γὰρ ἔνθερμος πολλὴ καὶ ἄνυδρος, Σκυθίαν δὲ καὶ Θρᾴκην καὶ Πόντον οἱ πεπλανημένοι λίμνας τε μεγάλας ἔχειν καὶ ποταμοῖς διαρρεῖσθαι βαθέσι καὶ πολλοῖς ἱστοροῦσιν αὐτῶν τε τῶν ἐν μέσῳ τόπων τὰ παράλιμνα καὶ ἑλώδη ψῦχος ἔχει μάλιστα διὰ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ὑγρῶν ἀναθυμιάσεις Ποσειδώνιος δὲ τῆς ψυχρότητος αἰτίαν εἰπὼν τὸ πρόσφατον εἶναι τὸν ἕλειον ἀέρα καὶ νοτερὸν οὐκ ἔλυσε τὸ πιθανόν, ἀλλὰ πιθανώτερον ἐποίησεν οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐφαίνετο τοῦ ἀέρος ὁ πρόσφατος ἀεὶ ψυχρότερος, εἰ μὴ τὸ ψυχρὸν ἐν τοῖς. ὑγροῖς τὴν γένεσιν εἶχε. βέλτιον οὖν Ὅμηρος εἰπὼν
αὔρη δʼ ἐκ ποταμοῦ ψυχρὴ πνέει ἠῶθι πρό,
τὴν πηγὴν τῆς ψυχρότητος ἔδειξεν. ἔτι τοίνυν ἡ μὲν αἴσθησις πολλάκις ἡμᾶς ἐξαπατᾷ, ὅταν ἱματίων ἢ ἐρίων ψυχρῶν θιγγάνωμεν, οἰομένους ὑγρῶν θιγγάνειν διὰ τὸ κοινὴν ἀμφοτέροις οὐσίαν ὑπάρχειν καὶ τὰς φύσεις σύνεγγυς εἶναι καὶ οἰκείας. ἐν δὲ τοῖς δυσχειμέροις κλίμασι πολλὰ ῥηγνύει τὸ ψῦχος ἀγγεῖα καὶ χαλκᾶ καὶ κεραμεᾶ· κενὸν δʼ οὐδὲν ἀλλὰ πάντα πλήρη, βιαζομένου τῇ ψυχρότητι τοῦ ὕδατος. καίτοι φησὶ Θεόφραστος τὸν ἀέρα ῥηγνύειν τὰ ἀγγεῖα τῷ ὑγρῷ καθάπερ ἥλῳ χρώμενον· ὅρα δὲ μὴ τοῦτο κομψῶς μᾶλλον ἢ ἀληθῶς εἰρημένον ἐστίν· ἔδει γὰρ τὰ πίττης γέμοντα μᾶλλον ῥήγνυσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος καὶ τὰ γάλακτος.. ἀλλʼ ἔοικε τὸ ὕδωρ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχρὸν εἶναι καὶ πρώτως· ἀντίκειται γὰρ τῇ ψυχρότητι πρὸς τὴν θερμότητα τοῦ πυρός, ὥσπερ τῇ ὑγρότητι πρὸς τὴν ξηρότητα καὶ τῇ βαρύτητι πρὸς τὴν κουφότητα. καὶ ὅλως τὸ μὲν πῦρ διαστατικόν ἐστι· καὶ διαιρετικόν, τὸ δʼ ὕδωρ κολλητικὸν καὶ σχετικόν, τῇ ὑγρότητι συνέχον καὶ πῆττον· ᾗ καὶ παρέσχεν Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ὑπόνοιαν, ὡς τὸ μὲν πῦρ νεῖκος οὐλόμενον σχεδύνην δὲ φιλότητα τὸ ὑγρὸν ἑκάστοτε προσαγορεύων ἐπεὶ, τροφὴ μὲν· πυρὸς τὸ μεταβάλλον εἰς πῦρ, μεταβάλλει δὲ τὸ συγγενὲς; καὶ οἰκεῖον, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον δυσμετάβλητον, ὡς τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ αὐτὸ μὲν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἄκαυστόν ἐστιν, ὕλην δὲ καὶ πόαν νοτερὰν καὶ ξύλα βεβρεγμένα δυσκαῆ παρέχει, καὶ φλόγα ζοφερὰν καὶ ἀμβλεῖαν ὑπὸ χλωρότητος ἀναδίδωσι τῷ ψυχρῷ μαχόμενον πρὸς τὸ θερμὸν ὡς φύσει πολέμιον.

[¶2] 17. Compare these arguments with theirs, and consider them well. But Chrysippus, believing the air to be the primitive cold, because it is dark, makes mention only of those that say the water lies at farther distance from the sky than the air. And being desirous to give some answer to them, “If so,” says he, “we may as well affirm the earth to be primitively cold, because it is the farthest distant from the sky;” rejecting that, as altogether improbable and absurd. But for my part, I am of opinion that there might be many probable and rational arguments brought for the earth; beginning with that which Chrysippus chiefly makes use of for the air. What is this? First, that it is dark. For if he, assuming these two contrarieties of faculties, believes that the one follows the other of necessity, then there might be produced a thousand oppositions and repugnances of the earth in respect of the sky, which would of necessity follow upon this which we have mentioned. For it is not to be opposed only as heavy to light, or as that which tends downward to that which moves upward, or as slow and stable to swift and full of motion; but as that which is heaviest to that which is most thin, or lastly, as that which is immovable of itself to that which moves spontaneously, and as possessing the middle space to that which is in a perpetual circular motion. Would it not be absurd to aver that the opposition of heat to cold is accompanied with so many and such remarkable contrarieties? But fire is bright, the earth is dark, nay, the very darkest and most void of light of all things. The air first of all participates of light, is soonest altered, and being replenished with radiancy, diffuses the splendor of it far and near, and shows itself a vast body of light. For the sun rising, as one of the dithyrambic authors writes,
Presently doth fill
The spacious house of the air-prancing winds.
From thence the descending air disposes a part of her brightness to the sea and lakes, and the hidden depths of profound rivers laugh and smile so far as the air penetrates into them. Only the earth of all bodies remains without light, and impenetrable to the beams of the sun and moon. But it is cherished and comforted by them, and suffers a small part of it to be warmed and softened by entrance of the heat. But the solidness of it will not admit the brightness of light, only the surface of it is enlightened; but the innermost parts of it are called by the names of Darkness, Chaos, and Hades; and Erebus is nothing else but that same perpetual darkness and horror in the body of the earth. Besides, the mythologists tell us that Night was the daughter of the Earth; and the mathematicians show that it is the shadow of the earth eclipsing the body of the sun. For the air is filled with darkness by the earth, as with light by the sun; and that part of the air which is void of all light is that same length of the night which is caused by the shadow of the earth. And therefore both men and many beasts make use of the exterior air, and ramble in the dark, guided only by some footsteps of light and certain effluxes of a dim twinkling that are scattered through it; but he that keeps house and shuts himself up in his chamber, as being encompassed by the earth, remains altogether blind and without light. Also the hides and horns of beasts will not admit of light by reason of their solidness; but being burnished and shaved, they become transparent, the air being intermixed with them. Moreover, I am of opinion that the earth is everywhere by the poets said to be black, by reason of the darkness of it and want of light. So that the antithesis of light and darkness is much more remarkable in reference to the earth, than in respect of the air.

> Greek: 17. σκόπει δὲ καὶ ταῦτα παραβάλλων ἐκείνοις ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ Χρύσιππος οἰόμενος τὸν ἀέρα πρώτως ψυχρὸν εἶναι, διότι καὶ σκοτεινόν, ἐμνήσθη μόνον τῶν πλέον ἀφεστάναι τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ αἰθέρος ἢ τὸν ἀέρα λεγόντων, καὶ πρὸς αὐτούς τι βουλόμενος εἰπεῖν οὕτω μὲν ἄν ἔφη καὶ τὴν γῆν ψυχρὰν εἶναι πρώτως λέγοιμεν, ὅτι τοῦ αἰθέρος ἀφέστηκε πλεῖστον,ʼ ὡς ἀδόκιμόν τινα παντελῶς τοῦτον καὶ. ἄτοπον ἀπορρίψας τὸν λόγον ἐγώ μοι δοκῶ μηδὲ τὴν γῆν ἄμοιρον εἰκότων καὶ πιθανῶν ἀποφαίνειν, ποιησάμενος ἀρχὴν ᾧ μάλιστα Χρύσιππος ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀέρος κέχρηται. τί δὲ τοῦτʼ ἐστί; τὸ σκοτεινὸν ὄντα πρώτως εἶναι καὶ ψυχρὸν πρώτως. εἰ γὰρ δύο λαβὼν οὗτος ἀντιθέσεις δυνάμεων οἴεται τῇ ἑτέρᾳ καὶ τὴν ἑτέραν ἐξ ἀνάγκης; ἕπεσθαι, μυρίαι δήπουθὲν εἰσιν ἀντιτάξεις καὶ ἀντιπάθειαι πρὸς τὸν αἰθέρα τῆς γῆς,· αἷς καὶ ταύτην ἄν τις ἀκολουθεῖν ἀξιώσειεν. οὐ γὰρ ὡς βαρεῖα πρὸς κοῦφον καὶ καταρρεπὴς πρὸς ἀνωφερὲς ἀντίκειται μόνον, οὐδʼ ὡς πυκνὴ πρὸς ἀραιὸν οὐδʼ ὡς βραδεῖα καὶ στάσιμος πρὸς ὀξύρροπον καὶ κινητικόν, ἀλλʼ ὡς βαρυτάτη. πρὸς κουφότατον καὶ πυκνοτάτη πρὸς ἀραιότατον, καὶ τέλος ὡς ἀκίνητος ἐξ ἑαυτῆς πρὸς αὐτοκίνητον καὶ τὴν μέσην χώραν ἐπέχουσα πρὸς· ἀεὶ κυκλοφορούμενον. οὐκ ἄτοπον οὖν τηλικαύταις καὶ τοσαύταις ἀντιτάξεσι καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχρότητος καὶ θερμότητος ἕπεσθαι. ναί, ἀλλὰ τὸ πῦρ καὶ λαμπρόν ἐστιν. οὔτι μὴν σκοτεινὸν ἡ γῆ; σκοτεινότατον μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων καὶ ἀφεγγέστατον. ἀέρι μέν τοι μετοχὴ φωτός ἐστι πρώτῳ, καὶ τάχιστα τρέπεται καὶ ἀναπλησθεὶς διανέμει πανταχοῦ τὴν λαμπρότητα, σῶμα παρέχων τῆς αὐγῆς ἑαυτόν· ὁ γὰρ ἥλιος ἀνίσχων, ὥς τις εἶπε τῶν διθυραμβοποιῶν, εὐθὺς ἀνέπλησεν ἀεροβατᾶν μέγαν οἶκον ἀνέμων· ἐκ τούτου δὲ καὶ λίμνῃ καὶ θαλάττῃ μοῖραν αὐγῆς κατιὼν ἐνίησι καὶ βυθοὶ ποταμῶν διαγελῶσιν, ὅσον ἀέρος ἐξικνεῖται πρὸς αὐτούς. μόνη δʼ ἡ γῆ τῶν σωμάτων ἀεὶ ἀφώτιστός ἐστι καὶ ἄτρωτος ὑφʼ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης τῷ φωτίζοντι, θάλπεται δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ παρέχει χλιαίνειν ἐπʼ ὀλίγον βάθος ἐνδυομένῳ τῷ θερμῷ· τὸ δὲ λαμπρὸν οὐ παρίησιν ὑπὸ στερεότητος ἀλλʼ ἐπιπολῆς περιφωτίζεται; τὰ δʼ ἐντὸς ὄρφνη καὶ χάος καὶ Ἅιδης ὀνομάζεται καὶ τὸ ἔρεβος τοῦτʼ ἦν ἄρα,ʼ τὸ χθόνιον καὶ ἔγγαιον σκότος. τὴν δὲ νύκτα ποιηταὶ μὲν ἐκ γῆς γεγονέναι μυθολογοῦσι, μαθηματικοὶ δὲ γῆς σκιὰν οὖσαν ἀποδεικνύουσιν, ἀντιφραττούσης πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον· ὁ γὰρ ἀὴρ ἀναπίμπλαται σκότους ὑπὸ γῆς ὡς φωτὸς ὑφʼ ἡλίου· καὶ τὸ ἀφώτιστον αὐτοῦ μῆκός ἐστι νυκτός, ὅσον ἡ σκιὰ τῆς γῆς ἐπινέμεται. διὸ τῷ μὲν ἐκτὸς ἀέρι καὶ νυκτὸς οὔσης ἄνθρωποί τε χρῶνται καὶ θηρία πολλὰ νομὰς ποιούμενα διὰ σκότους, ἁμωσγέπως ἴχνη φωτὸς καὶ ἀπορροὰς αὐγῆς ἐνδιεσπαρμένας· ἔχοντος ὁ δʼ οἰκουρὸς; καὶ ὑπωρόφιος, ἅτε δὴ τῆς γῆς πανταχόθεν περιεχούσης, κομιδῇ τυφλός ἐστι καὶ ἀφώτιστος. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ δέρματα καὶ κέρατα ζῴων ὅλα μὲν οὐ διίησιν αὐγὴν ὑπὸ στερεότητος, ὅταν δὲ πρισθῇ καὶ καταξεσθῇ, γίγνεται διαφανῆ, παραμιχθέντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἀέρος. οἶμαι δὲ καὶ μέλαιναν ἑκάστοτε τὴν γῆν ὑπὸ τῶν ποιητῶν καλεῖσθαι διὰ τὸ σκοτῶδες καὶ τὸ ἀφώτιστον ὥστε καὶ τὴν πολυτίμητον ἀντίθεσιν τοῦ σκοτεινοῦ πρὸς τὸ λαμπρὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ ἀέρος ὑπάρχειν.

[¶3] 18. But this is nothing to the question. For we have shown that there are many cold things which are bright and transparent, and many hot things which are obscure and dark. But ponderosity, stability, density, and immutability are qualities more properly belonging to cold, of none of which the air partakes, but of all of which the earth has a far greater share than the water. And yet in all these things cold, by the judgment of sense itself, appears to be hard, to cause hardness, and to make resistance. For Theophrastus tells us of fish that have been frozen by extremity of cold, when they have chanced to bounce ashore, that their bodies have been broken and crumbled to pieces like a vessel of glass or potter’s clay. You yourself have heard at Delphi, how that certain persons ascending to the top of Parnassus to succor the Thyades that were overtaken with a violent storm of wind and hail, their coats were frozen so hard and into a substance so like wood, that being spread upon the ground they broke and crumbled to pieces. It also stiffens the nerves and deprives the tongue of motion, congealing the moist and softer parts of the body.

> Greek: 18. ἀλλʼ αὕτη μὲν ἀπήρτηται τοῦ ζητουμένου πολλὰ γὰρ δέδεικται ψυχρὰ τῶν λαμπρῶν ὄντα καὶ θερμὰ τῶν ἀμαυρῶν καὶ σκοτεινῶν. ἐκεῖναι δὲ συγγενέστεραι δυνάμεις ψυχρότητός εἰσι, τὸ ἐμβριθὲς τὸ πυκνὸν τὸ μόνιμον τὸ ἀμετάβλητον ὧν ἀέρι μὲν οὐδεμιᾶς, γῇ δὲ μᾶλλον ἢ ὕδατι πασῶν μέτεστι. καὶ μὴν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα τὸ ψυχρὸν αἰσθητῶς σκληρόν ἐστι καὶ σκληροποιὸν. καὶ ἀντίτυπον. ἰχθῦς μὲν γὰρ ἱστορεῖ Θεόφραστος ὑπὸ ῥίγους πεπηγότας, ἂν ἀφεθῶσιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, κατάγνυσθαι καὶ συντρίβεσθαι δίκην ὑελῶν ἢ κεραμεῶν σωμάτων., ἐν δὲ Δελφοῖς αὐτὸς ἢκουες ὅτι τῶν εἰς τὸν Παρνασὸν ἀναβάντων βοηθῆσαι ταῖς Θυιάσιν, ἀπειλημμέναις ὑπὸ πνεύματος χαλεποῦ καὶ χιόνος, οὕτως ἐγένοντο διὰ τὸν πάγον σκληραὶ καὶ ξυλώδεις αἱ χλαμύδες, ὡς καὶ θραύεσθαι διατεινομένας καὶ ῥήγνυσθαι. ποιεῖ δὲ καὶ νεῦρα δυσκαμπῆ καὶ γλῶτταν ἄναυδον ἀκινησίᾳ καὶ σκληρότητι τὸ ἄγαν ψῦχος, ἐκπηγνύον τὰ καὶ μαλακὰ τοῦ σώματος.

[¶4] 19. This being obvious to sight, let us consider the effect. Every faculty, wherever it prevails, changes into itself whatever it overcomes. Thus whatever is overcome by heat is set on fire; that which is vanquished by wind is changed into air. That which falls into water becomes well moistened, unless quickly saved. Of necessity, therefore, those things which are violently affected by cold must be changed into the primitive cold. For freezing is an excess of refrigeration; which congelation ends in alteration and petrifaction, when the cold, prevailing every way, congeals the liquid substance and presses forth the heat; so that the bottom of the earth is, as it were, a kind of congelation, and altogether ice. For there the cold inhabits simple and unmixed, and removed hard and rigid at the greatest distance from the sky. But as for those things which are conspicuous, as rocks and precipices, Empedocles believes them to be thrust forth and supported by the fire that burns in the bottom of the earth. Which appears the more, in regard that, wherever the heat is pressed forth and vanishes away, all those things are congealed or stiffened by the cold; and therefore congelations are called πάγοι (stiffened). And the extremities of many things where heat fails, growing black, make them look like brands when the fire is out. For cold congeals some things more, some things less; more especially such things wherein it is primitively existent. For as, if it be the nature of hot to render light, that which is hottest is lightest; if of moist to soften, that which is moistest is softest; so if it be the nature of cold to congeal, of necessity that which is coldest must be most congealed,—that is to say the earth,—and that which is most cold must be that which is by nature and primitively cold, which is no more than what is apparent to sense. For mud is colder than water, and earth being thrown upon fire puts it out. Your smiths also, when their iron is melted and red hot, strew upon it the dust of marble to cool it and stop the running of it too fluidly. Dust also cools the bodies of the wrestlers, and dries up their sweat.

> Greek: 19. ὧν βλεπομένων, σκόπει τὸ γιγνόμενον οὕτω. πᾶσα δήπου δύναμις, ἂν περιγένηται, πέφυκε μεταβάλλειν καὶ τρέπειν εἰς ἑαυτὴν τὸ νικώμενον τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ θερμοῦ κρατηθὲν ἐκπυροῦται, τὸ ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἐξαεροῦται, τὸ δʼ εἰς ὕδωρ ἐμπεσόν, ἂν μὴ διαφύγῃ,- καθυγραίνεται, συνδιαχεόμενον. ἀνάγκη δὴ καὶ τὰ ψυχόμενα κομιδῇ μεταβάλλειν εἰς τὸ πρώτως ψυχρόν ἔστι δʼ ὑπερβολὴ ψύξεως πῆξις, πῆξις δʼ εἰς ἀγνωσίαν τελευτᾷ καὶ λίθωσιν, ὅταν, παντάπασι τοῦ ψυχροῦ κρατήσαντος, ἐκπαγῇ μὲν τὸ ὑγρὸν ἐκθλιβῇ δὲ τὸ θερμόν. ὅθεν ἡ μὲν ἐν βάθει γῆ πάγος ἐστὶν ὡς εἰπεῖν καὶ κρύσταλλος ἅπασα τὸ γὰρ ψυχρὸν ἄκρατον οἰκουρεῖ καὶ ἀμάλακτον ἀπεωσμένον ἐκεῖ τοῦ αἰθέρος ἀπωτάτω ταυτὶ δὲ· τὰ ἐμφανῆ, κρημνοὺς καὶ σκοπέλους καὶ πέτρας, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς οἴεται τοῦ ἐν βάθει τῆς γῆς ἑστάναι καὶ ἀνέχεσθαι διερειδόμενα φλεγμαίνοντος· ἐμφαίνεται δὲ μᾶλλον, ὅσων τὸ θερμὸν ἐξεθλίβη καὶ διέπτατο, πάντα ταῦτα παντάπασιν ὑπὸ τῆς ψυχρότητος παγῆναι διὸ καὶ πάγοι καλοῦνται. καὶ τὰ ἄκρα πολλῶν ἐπιμελανθέντων, τὸ θερμὸν ἐξέπεσε, πυρικαύστοις ἰδεῖν προσέοικε πήγνυσι γὰρ τὸ ψυχρὸν τὰ μὲν μᾶλλον τὰ δʼ ἧττον, μάλιστα δʼ οἷς πρώτως ἐνυπάρχειν πέφυκεν. ὥσπερ γάρ, εἰ θερμοῦ τὸ κουφίζειν, θερμότατόν ἐστι τὸ κουφότατον· εἰ δʼ ὑγροῦ τὸ μαλάσσειν, ὑγρότατον τὸ μαλακώτατον· οὕτως, εἰ ψυχροῦ τὸ πηγνύειν, ἀνάγκη ψυχρότατον εἶναι τὸ μάλιστα πεπηγός, οἷον ἡ γῆ τὸ δὲ ψυχρότατον φύσει δήπου καὶ πρώτως ψυχρὸν ὥστε φύσει καὶ· πρώτως ψυχρὸν ἡ γῆ. τοῦτο δʼ ἀμέλει καὶ τῇ αἰσθήσει δῆλόν ἐστι καὶ γὰρ πηλὸς ὕδατοσψυχρότερος καὶ τὸ πῦρ γῆν ἐπιφοροῦντες ἀφανίζουσιν οἱ· δὲ χαλκεῖς τῷ πυρουμένῳ καὶ ἀνατηκομένῳ σιδήρῳ μάρμαρον καὶ λατύπην παραπάσσουσι, τὴν πολλὴν ῥύσιν ἐφιστάντες καὶ καταψύχοντες· ψύχει δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀθλητῶν κόνις σώματα καὶ κατασβέννυσι τοὺς ἱδρῶτας.

[¶5] 20. To go no farther, what means our own yearly practice to alter our lodgings and habitations, while we remove in the winter so far as we can into the upper parts of our buildings, but in the summer descend again and seek convenient refuge in the lower edifices, sometimes enjoying ourselves under ground in the very arms of the earth? Do we not do it, as being guided by our senses for coolness’s sake to the earth, and thereby acknowledging that to be the seat of primitive cold? And certainly our coveting to live near the sea in winter may be thought to be a kind of flight from the earth, since we seem to forsake it, as far as we can, by reason of the nipping frosts, and run to encircle themselves with the air of the sea for warmth’s sake; and then again in the summer, by reason of the scorching heat, we desire the earth-born upland air, not because it is cold of itself, but because it had its original and blossomed from the primitive natural cold, and is imbued with that power which is in the earth, as iron is imbued with the virtue of the water wherein it is quenched. Then again, of river waters we find those are the coldest that flow upon gravel and stones and fall down from mountains; and of well-waters, those which are in the deepest wells. For with these the exterior air is no longer mixed, by reason of the depth of the wells, and the other arise out of the pure and unmixed earth; like the river that falls from the mountain Taenarum, which they call the water of Styx, rising out of a rock with a parsimonious spring, but so cold that no other vessel except the hoof of an ass will hold it; for all other sorts of vessels it breaks and cracks to pieces.

> Greek: 20. ἡ δὲ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἡμᾶς μετάγουσα καὶ μετοικίζουσα χρεία τί βούλεται, χειμῶνος μὲν ἀπωτάτω φεύγουσα τῆς γῆς εἰς τὰ μετέωρα καὶ ἀπόγεια, θέρους δὲ πάλιν ἀντεχομένη τῶν κάτω καὶ ὑποδυομένη καὶ διώκουσα προσφόρους καταφυγάς, τιθεμένη τὴν δίαιταν ἐν ἀγκάλαις γῆς ἀγαπητῶς; ἆρʼ οὐχὶ ταῦτα ποιοῦμεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὑπὸ ψυχρότητος ὁδηγούμενοι τῇ αἰσθήσει καὶ τὸ πρώτως φύσει ψυχρὸν ἐπιγινώσκοντες; αἱ γοῦν παράλιοι χειμῶνος δίαιται τρόπον τινὰ γῆς φυγαί εἰσιν, ὡς ἀνυστὸν ἀπολειπόντων διὰ κρύος αὐτήν, τὸν δʼ ἔναλον ἀέρα καὶ πελάγιον θερμὸν ὄντα περιβαλλομένων εἶτʼ αὖθις ἐν θέρει τὸν γηγενῆ καὶ χερσαῖον ὑπὸ καύματος ποθοῦμεν, οὐκ αὐτὸν ὄντα ψυχρὸν ἀλλὰ τοῦ φύσει ψυχροῦ καὶ πρώτως ἀποβλαστάνοντα καὶ βεβαμμένον ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν γῇ δυνάμεως ὥσπερ βαφῇ σίδηρον. καὶ γὰρ. τῶν ῥυτῶν ὑδάτων τὰ πετραῖα καὶ ὀρεινὰ ψυχρότατα καὶ τῶν φρεατιαίων τὰ κοιλότατα· τούτοις μὲν γὰρ οὐκέτι μίγνυται διὰ βάθους ἔξωθεν ὁ ἀήρ, ἐκεῖνα δʼ ἐκπίπτει διὰ τῆς γῆς ἀμίκτου καὶ καθαρᾶς, ὡς τὸ περὶ Ταίναρον, ὃ δὴ Στυγὸς ὕδωρ καλοῦσιν, ἐκ πέτρας γλίσχρως συλλειβόμενον οὕτω ψυχρόν ἐστιν, ὥστε μηδὲν ἀγγεῖον ἄλλο μόνην δʼ ὁπλὴν ὄνου στέγειν· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα διακόπτει καὶ ῥήγνυσιν.

[¶6] 21. The physicians also tell us that the nature of all sorts of earth is binding and restrictive; and they number up several sorts of metals which are made use of in physic by reason of their styptic and binding qualities. For the element of earth is fit neither to cut nor to move, neither has it any points, neither is it subject to be softened or melted, but is firm and stable like a cube; and therefore it has both ponderosity and coldness, and the faculty to thicken and condense moist things; and it causes tremblings and quiverings in bodies by reason of its inequality; and if it get the better by the utter expulsion and extinguishing of the heat, it occasions a frozen and deadly habit of body. Therefore earth either does not consume by burning, or else burns with a very slow and difficult progress. But the air many times darts forth flame from itself; and being once set on fire, it grows fluid and flashes out in lightning. Heat also feeds upon moisture; for it is not the solid part of the wood, but the moist and oily part, that is combustible; which being consumed, the solid and dry is left behind in the ashes. Neither do they arrive at their mark, who, pretending to burn the ashes also, sprinkle them with oil and grease; for when the liquid is consumed, the earthy part remains, do what they can. Therefore, because the earth is not only of a nature not to be moved from its station, but also unalterable in its substance and always abiding in the habitation of the Gods, the ancients well called it Hestia or Vesta (from standing), by reason of its immobility and concretion; of which cold is the bond or ligament, as Archelaus the philosopher termed it, which nothing is able to unloosen or soften, as not being capable of heat and warmth. As for those who say they have been sensible of the cold of air and water, but never felt the earth so cold, they consider only the surface of the earth, which is a mixture of air, water, sun, and heat. They are no better than people who deny the aether to be naturally and primitively hot, but believe it to be either scalding water or red hot iron, because they feel and handle the one, but are not sensible of the pure and celestial fire. In like manner, neither do they see the earth which lies concealed at the bottom, though that be what is chiefly to be taken for the earth, separated from all other things. We may see some token of this lower earth in these rocks here about us, which from their depths send forth a cold vapor so sharp and vehement that it is hard to be endured. They also that desire cool drink throw small flint stones into water. For it becomes denser and quicker to the taste, through the cold which is carried upward fresh and unmixed from the stones.

> Greek: 21. ἔτι γε μὴν τῶν ἰατρῶν ἀκούομεν, ὡς πᾶσα γῆ τῷ γένει στύφειν καὶ ψύχειν πέφυκε καὶ πολλὰ τῶν μεταλλευομένων καταριθμοῦσι στυπτικὴν αὐτοῖς παρέχοντα καὶ σχετικὴν εἰς τὰς φαρμακείας δύναμιν· καὶ γὰρ τὸ στοιχεῖον αὐτῆς; οὐ τμητικὸν οὐδὲ κινητικὸν οὐδὲ λεῖπον οὐδʼ ἔχον ὀξύτητας οὐδὲ μαλθακὸν οὐδʼ εὐπερίχυτον γέγονεν, ἀλλʼ ἑδραῖον ὡς ὁ κύβος καὶ συνερειστικόν, ὅθεν αὐτή τε βρῖθος ἔσχε,· καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν, ὅπερ ἦν δύναμις αὐτῆς, τῷ πυκνοῦν καὶ συνωθεῖν καὶ ἀποθλίβειν τὰ ὑγρὰ φρίκας καὶ τρόμους διὰ τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν ἐνεργάζεται τοῖς σώμασιν· ἂν δʼ ἐπικρατήσῃ παντάπασι, τοῦ θερμοῦ φυγόντος ἢ σβεσθέντος, ἔστησε τὴν ἕξιν ἐκπαγεῖσαν καὶ νεκρωθεῖσαν. ὅθεν οὐδὲ κάεται γῆ τὸ παράπαν ἢ κάεται γλίσχρως καὶ μόγις. ἀὴρ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ πολλάκις φλόγας ἀναδίδωσι καὶ ῥεῖ καὶ διαστράπτει πυρούμενος· τῷ δʼ ὑγρῷ τροφῇ χρῆται τὸ θερμόν· οὐ γὰρ τὸ στερεὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ νοτερὸν τοῦ ξύλου καυστόν ἐστιν· ἐξικμασθέντος δὲ τούτου, τὸ στερεὸν καὶ ξηρὸν ἀπολείπεται τέφρα γενόμενον. οἱ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο φιλοτιμούμενοι μεταβάλλον ἀποδεῖξαι καὶ καταναλισκόμενον ἀναδεύοντες πολλάκις ἐλαίῳ καὶ στέατι φύροντες οὐδὲν περαίνουσιν, ἀλλʼ ὅταν ἐκκαῇ τὸ λιπαρόν, περίεστι πάντως καὶ διαμένει τὸ γεῶδες· ὅθεν οὐ κατὰ χώραν μόνον ἐξ ἕδρας ἀκίνητον οὖσαν αὐτὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ κατʼ οὐσίαν ἀμετάβλητον, Ἑστίαν, ἅτε δὴ μένουσαν ἐν θεῶν οἴκῳ, κλίτα προσηγόρευσαν οἱ παλαιοί, διὰ τὴν στάσιν καὶ πῆξιν· ἧς ἡ ψυχρότης δεσμός ἐστιν, ὡς Ἀρχέλαος ὁ φυσικὸς εἶπεν, οὐδενὸς χαλῶντος αὐτὴν οὐδὲ μαλάττοντος, ἅτε θερομένην καὶ ἀλεαινομένην οὖσαν. οἱ δὲ πνεύματος μὲν αἰσθάνεσθαι ψυχροῦ καὶ ὕδατος, γῆς δʼ ἧττον οἰόμενοι, τὴν ἔγγιστα γῆν ὁρῶσιν ἀέρων καὶ ὑδάτων καὶ ἡλίου καὶ θερμότητος ἀνάπλεων σύμμιγμα καὶ συμφόρημα γεγενημένην· καὶ οὐδὲν διαφέρουσι τῶν μὴ τὸν αἰθέρα φύσει καὶ πρώτως θερμὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ ζέον ὕδωρ ἢ τὸν διάπυρον σίδηρον ἀποφαινομένων, ὅτι τούτων μὲν ἅπτονται καὶ προσθιγγάνουσι, τοῦ δὲ πρώτου καθαροῦ καὶ οὐρανίου πυρὸς αἴσθησιν διʼ ἁφῆς οὐ λαμβάνουσιν, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ οὗτοι τῆς ἐν βάθει γῆς, ἣν μάλιστα γῆν ἄν τις νοήσειεν αὐτὴν καθʼ αὑτὴν ἀποκεκριμένην τῶν ἄλλων. δεῖγμα δʼ αὐτῆς ἐστι κἀνταῦθα περὶ τὰς πέτρας· πολὺ γὰρ ἐκ βάθους καὶ οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἀνασχέσθαι προσβάλλουσι κρύος;. οἱ δὲ ψυχροτέρου ποτοῦ δεόμενοι χάλικας ἐμβάλλουσιν εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ· γίγνεται γὰρ οὐλότερον καὶ στομοῦται παρὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν λίθων ψυχρότητα, πρόσφατον καὶ ἄκρατον ἀναφερομένην.

[¶7] 22. Therefore it was the opinion of the ancient philosophers and learned men, that terrestrial and celestial things were not to be mixed together, not so much out of a local consideration of uppermost and lowermost, in respect of place, but with a respect to the difference of faculties, attributing hot and splendent, swift and light to the immortal and sempiternal Nature, but believing dark and cold and slow to be the unhappy portion of the dead under the shackles of corruption. Since the body of a living creature, while it breathes and flourishes (as the poets say), enjoys both heat and life; but being deprived of these, and only the terrestrial parts remaining, presently cold and stiffness take place, as if heat were naturally existent in every thing else but only the earth.

> Greek: 22. τοὺς οὖν πάλαι σοφοὺς καὶ λογίους ἄμικτα θέσθαι τὰ ἐπίγεια καὶ τὰ οὐράνια χρὴ νομίζειν, οὐ τοῖς τόποις ὥσπερ ἐπὶ ζυγοῦ πρὸς τὰ κάτω καὶ ἄνω βλέποντας, ἀλλὰ τῇ διαφορᾷ τῶν δυνάμεων τὰ μὲν θερμὰ καὶ λαμπρὰ καὶ ταχέα καὶ κοῦφα τῇ θείᾳ καὶ ἀιδίῳ φύσει προσνέμοντας, τὰ δὲ σκοτεινὰ καὶ ψυχρὰ καὶ βραδέα φθιτῶν καὶ ἐνέρων οὐκ εὐδαίμονα κλῆρον ἀποφαίνοντας. ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ζῴου, μέχρι μὲν ἔμπνουν ἐστὶ καὶ θαλερόν, ὡς οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσι, θερμότητι χρῆται καὶ ζωῇ· γενόμενον δὲ τούτων ἔρημον καὶ ἀπολειφθὲν ἐν μόνῃ τῇ τῆς γῆς μοίρᾳ ψυχρότης εὐθὺς ἴσχει καὶ κρύος, ὡς ἐν παντὶ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ γεώδει κατὰ φύσιν θερμότητος ἐνυπαρχούσης ταῦτʼ, ὦ Φαβωρῖνε, τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὑφʼ ἑτέρων παράβαλλε·

[¶8] 23. These things, dear Favorinus, compare with what has been said by others; and if they neither come too short of probability nor too much exceed it, bid all their opinions farewell, as believing it much more becoming a philosopher to pause in dubious matters, rather than over hastily to side with any one particular party.

> Greek: 23. κἂν μήτε λείπηται τῇ πιθανότητι μήτε ὑπερέχῃ πολύ, χαίρειν ἔα τὰς δόξας, τὸ ἐπέχειν ἐν τοῖς ἀδήλοις τοῦ συγκατατίθεσθαι φιλοσοφώτερον ἡγούμενος.