---
title: "Opinions of the Philosophers · Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις"
author: "Pseudo-Plutarch"
translator: "John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 6 of 6
url: https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/6/
cite: "Pseudo-Plutarch, tr. John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin, Opinions of the Philosophers · Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις, section 6. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/6/"
---

# Opinions of the Philosophers · Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις

*Pseudo-Plutarch, tr. John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin*

A summary of what the Greek philosophers thought about first principles, the gods, the heavens, the earth, the soul and the senses.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0094.tlg003, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0094.tlg003.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

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

## 6. Book V

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/6/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/6/#p-N

[¶0] 1. PLATO and the Stoics introduce divination as a divine enthusiasm, the soul itself being of a divine constitution, and this prophetic faculty being an inspiration, or an illapse of the divine knowledge into man; and sc likewise they explain interpretation by dreams. And these same admit many divisions of the art of divination. Xenophanes and Epicurus utterly refuse any such art of foretelling future contingencies. Pythagoras rejects all manner of divination which is by sacrifices. Aristotle and Dicaearchus admit only these two kinds of it, a fury by a divine inspiration, and dreams; they deny the immortality of the soul, yet they affirm that the mind of man hath a participation of something that is divine.

> Greek: 1. Πλάτων καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ τὴν μαντικὴν εἰσάγουσι κατὰ τὸ ἔνθεον, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐνθεαστικόν, καὶ τὸ ὀνειροπολικόν. οὗτοι τὰ πλεῖστα μέρη τῆς μαντικῆς ἐγκρίνουσι. Ξενοφάνης; καὶ Ἐπίκουρος ἀναιροῦσι τὴν μαντικήν. Πυθαγόρας δὲ μόνον τὸ θυτικὸν οὐκ ἐγκρίνει. Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ Δικαίαρχος τὸ κατʼ ἐνθουσιασμὸν μόνον παρεισάγουσι καὶ τοὺς ὀνείρους, ἀθάνατον μὲν εἶναι οὐ νομίζοντες τὴν ψυχὴν θείου δέ τινος μετέχειν αὐτήν.

[¶1] 2. DEMOCRITUS says that dreams are formed by the illapse of adventitious representations. Strato, that the irrational part of the soul in sleep becoming more sensible is moved by the rational part of it. Herophilus, that dreams which are caused by divine instinct have a necessary cause; but dreams which have their origin from a natural cause arise from the soul’s forming within itself the images of those things which are convenient for it, and which will happen; those dreams which are of a constitution mixed of both these have their origin from the fortuitous appulse of images, as when we see those things which please us; thus it happens many times to those persons who in their sleep imagine they embrace their mistresses.

> Greek: 2. Δημόκριτος τοὺς ὀνείρους γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὰς τῶν εἰδώλων παραστάσεις. Στράτων ἀλόγῳ φύσει τῆς διανοίας ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις αἰσθητικωτέρας μέν πως γινομένης, παρʼ αὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο τῷ γνωστικῷ κινουμένης. Ἡρόφιλος τῶν ὀνείρων τοὺς μὲν θεοπνεύστους,υς κατʼ ἀνάγκην γίνεσθαι τοὺς δὲ φυσικούς, ἀνειδωλοποιουμένης τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ συμφέρον αὑτῇ καὶ τὸ πρὸς τούτοις ἐσόμενον· τοὺς δὲ συγκραματικοὺς ἐκ τοῦ αὐτομάτου κατʼ εἰδώλων πρόσπτωσιν, ὅταν ἃ βουλόμεθα βλέπωμεν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν τὰς ἐρωμένας ὁρώντων ἐν ὕπνῳ γίνεται.

[¶2] 3. ARISTOTLE says, that seed is that thing which contains in itself a power of moving, whereby it is enabled to produce a being like unto that from whence it was emitted. Pythagoras, that seed is the sediment of that which nourisheth us, the froth of the purest blood, of the same nature as the blood and marrow of our bodies. Alcmaeon, that it is a part of the brain. Plato, that it is the deflux of the spinal marrow. Epicurus, that it is a fragment torn from the body and soul. Democritus, that it proceeds from all the parts of the body, and chiefly from the principal parts. as the flesh and muscles.

> Greek: 3. Ἀριστοτέλης. σπέρμα ἐστὶ τὸ δυνάμενον κινεῖν ἐν ἑαυτῷ εἰς τὸ ἀποτελέσαι τι τοιοῦτον, οἷόν ἐστι τὸ ἐξ οὗ συνεκρίθη. Πυθαγόρας ἀφρὸν τοῦ χρηστοτάτου αἵματος τὸ σπέρμα, περίττωμα τῆς τροφῆς, ὥσπερ τὸ αἷμα καὶ μυελόν. Ἀλκμαίων ἐγκεφάλου μέρος Πλάτων μυελοῦ τοῦ νωτιαίου ἀπόρροιαν. Ἐπίκουρος ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἀπόσπασμα. Δημόκριτος ἀφʼ ὅλων τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τῶν κυριωτάτων μερῶν, οἷον ὀστῶν σαρκῶν καὶ ἰνῶν.

[¶3] 4. LEUCIPPUS and Zeno say, that it is a body and a fragment of the soul. Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, that the spermatic faculty is incorporeal, as the mind is which moves the body; but the effused matter is corporeal. Strato and Democritus, that the very power is a body; for it is like spirit.

> Greek: 4. Λεύκιππος καὶ Ζήνων σῶμα· ψυχῆς γὰρ εἶναι ἀπόσπασμα. Πυθαγόρας Πλάτων Ἀριστοτέλης ἀσώματον μὲν εἶναι τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ σπέρματος ὥσπερ νοῦν τὸν κινοῦντα, σωματικὴν δὲ τὴν ὕλην τὴν προχεομένην. Στράτων καὶ Δημόκριτος καὶ τὴν δύναμιν σῶμα πνευματικὴ γάρ.

[¶4] 5. PYTHAGORAS, Epicurus, and Democritus say, that women have a seminal projection, but their spermatic vessels are inverted; and it is this that makes them have a venereal appetite. Aristotle and Plato, that they emit a material moisture, as sweat we see produced by exercise and labor; but that moisture has no spermatic power. Hippo, that women have a seminal emission, but not after the mode of men; it contributes nothing to generation, for it falls without the matrix; and therefore some women without coition, especially widows, give the seed. The same also asserts that from men the bones, from women the flesh proceeds.

> Greek: 5. Πυθαγόρας Ἐπίκουρος Δημόκριτος καὶ τὸ θῆλυ προΐεσθαι σπέρμα· ἔχει γὰρ παραστάτας ἀπεστραμμένους διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὄρεξιν ἔχει παρὰ τὰς χρήσεις Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ Ζήνων ὕλην μὲν ὑγρὰν προΐεσθαι οἱονεὶ ἀπὸ τῆς συγγυμνασίας ἱδρῶτας, οὐ μὴν σπέρμα πεπτικόν. ἵππων προΐεσθαι μὲν σπέρμα τὰς θηλείας οὐχ ἣκιστα τῶν ἀρρένων, μὴ μέντοι εἰς ζῳογονίαν τοῦτο συμβάλλεσθαι διὰ τὸ ἐκτὸς πίπτειν τῆς ὑστέρας· ὅθεν ἐνίας προΐεσθαι πολλάκις δίχα τῶν ἀνδρῶν σπέρμα, καὶ μάλιστα τὰς χηρευούσας. καὶ εἶναι τὰ μὲν ὀστᾶ παρὰ τοῦ ἄρρενος τὰς δὲ σάρκας παρὰ τῆς θηλείας.

[¶5] 6. ARISTOTLE says, that conception takes place when the womb is drawn forward by the natural purgation, and the monthly terms attract from the whole bulk part of the purest blood, and this is met by the genital seed of man. On the contrary, there is a failure by the impurity and inflation of the womb, by the passions of fear and grief, by the weakness of women, or the decay of strength in men.

> Greek: 6. Ἀριστοτέλης τὰς μὲν συλλήψεις γίνεσθαι προανελκομένης μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς καθάρσεως τῆς μήτρας, τῶν δὲ, καταμηνίων συνεπισπωμένων ἀπὸ τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου μέρος τι τοῦ καθαροῦ αἵματος, ᾧ συμβαίνειν τὸν τοῦ ἄρρενος γόνον· μὴ γίνεσθαι δὲ τὰς κυήσεις παρʼ ἀκαθαρσίαν τῆς μήτρας ἢ ἐμπνευμάτωσιν ἢ φόβον ἢ λύπην ἢ ἀσθένειαν τῶν γυναικῶν ἢ διʼ ἀτονίαν τῶν ἀνδρῶν, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἄρρενα καὶ θήλεα γίνεσθαι παρὰ θερμότητα καὶ ψυχρότητα ὅθεν ἱστορεῖται τοὺς μὲν πρώτους ἄρρενας πρὸς ἀνατολῇ καὶ μεσημβρίᾳ γεγενῆσθαι μᾶλλον ἐκ τῆς γῆς, τὰς δὲ θηλείας πρὸς ταῖς ἄρκτοις.

[¶6] 7. EMPEDOCLES affirms, that heat and cold give the difference in the generation of males and females. Hence is it, as histories acquaint us, that the first men had their original from the earth in the eastern and southern parts, and the first females in the northern parts thereof. Parmenides is of opinion perfectly contrariant. He affirms that men first sprouted out of the northern earth, for their bodies are more dense; women out of the southern, for theirs are more rare and fine. Hippo, that the more compacted and strong sperm, and the more fluid and weak, discriminate the sexes. Anaxagoras and Parmenides, that the seed of the man is naturally cast from his right side into the right side of the womb, or from the left side of the man into the left side of the womb; when there is an alteration in this course of nature, females are generated. Cleophanes, whom Aristotle makes mention of, assigns the generation of men to the right testicle, of women to the left. Leucippus gives the reason of it to the alteration or diversity of parts, according to which the man hath a yard, the female the matrix; as to any other reason he is silent. Democritus, that the parts which are common to both sexes are engendered indifferently by one or the other; but the peculiar parts by the one that is more prevalent. Hippo, that if the spermatic faculty be more effectual, the male, if the nutritive aliment, the female is generated.

> Greek: 7. Παρμενίδης ἀντιστρόφως· τὰ μὲν πρὸς ταῖς ἄρκτοις ἄρρενα βλαστῆσαι, τοῦ γὰρ πυκνοῦ μετέχειν πλείονος· τὰ δὲ πρὸς ταῖς μεσημβρίαις θήλεα παρὰ τὴν ἀραιότητα. Ἱππῶναξ παρὰ τὸ συνεστὼς καὶ ἰσχυρὸν ἢ πσρὰ τὸ ῥευστικόν τε καὶ ἀσθενέστερον σπέρμα. Ἀναξαγόρας Παρμενίδης τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν δεξιῶν καταβάλλεσθαι εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη τῆς μήτρας, τὰ δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν εἰς τὰ ἀριστερά· εἰ δʼ ἐναλλαγείη τὰ τῆς καταβολῆς, γίνεσθαι θήλεα. Λεωφάνης, οὗ μέμνηται Ἀριστοτέλης, τὰ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ δεξιοῦ διδύμου τὰ δʼ ἐκ τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ. Λεύκιππος διὰ τὴν παραλλαγὴν τῶν μορίων, καθʼ ἣν ὁ μὲν καυλὸν ἡ δὲ μήτραν ἔχει· τοσοῦτον γὰρ μόνον λέγει. Δημόκριτος τὰ μὲν κοινὰ μέρη ἐξ ὁποτέρου ἂν τύχῃ, τὰ δʼ ἰδιάζοντα καὶ κατʼ ἐπικράτειαν. Ἱππῶναξ, εἰ μὲν ἡ γονὴ κρατήσειεν, ἄρρεν εἰ δʼ ἡ τροφή, θῆλυ.

[¶7] 8. EMPEDOCLES believes that monsters receive their origination from the abundance or defect of seed, or from its division into parts which are superabundant, or from some perturbation in the motion, or else that there is an error by a lapse into an improper receptacle; and thus he presumes he hath given all the causes of monstrous conceptions. Strato, that it comes from addition, subtraction, or transposition of the seed, or the distension or inflation of the matrix. And some physicians say that the matrix suffers distortion, being distended with wind.

> Greek: 8. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τέρατα γίνεσθαι παρὰ πλεονασμὸν σπέρματος ἢ παρʼ ἔλλειψιν ἢ παρὰ τὴν τῆς κινήσεως ταραχὴν ἢ παρὰ τὴν εἰς πλείω διαίρεσιν ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀπονεύειν· οὕτω προειληφὼς φαίνεται σχεδόν τι πάσας τὰς αἰτιολογίας. Στράτων παρὰ πρόσθεσιν ἢ ἀφαίρεσιν ἢ μετάθεσιν ἢ πνευμάτωσιν. τῶν ἰατρῶν τινες παρὰ τὸ διαστρέφεσθαι τότε τὴν μήτραν ἐμπνευματουμένην.

[¶8] 9. DIOCLES the physician says that either no genital sperm is projected, or, if there be, it is in a less quantity than nature requires, or there is no prolific faculty in it; or there is a deficiency of a due proportion of heat, cold, moisture, and dryness; or there is a resolution of the generative parts. The Stoics attribute sterility to the obliquity of the yard, by which means it is not able to ejaculate in a due manner, or to the unproportionable magnitude of the parts, the matrix being so contracted as not to be in a capacity to receive. Erasistratus assigns it to the womb’s being more callous or more carneous, thinner or smaller, than nature does require.

> Greek: 9. Διοκλῆς ὁ ἰατρὸς ἢ παρὰ τὸ μηδʼ ὅλως ἐνίας σπέρμα προΐεσθαι ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἔλαττον τοῦ δέοντος ἢ διὰ τὸ τοιοῦτον, ἐν ᾧ τὸ ζῳοποιητικὸν οὐκ ἔστιν· ἢ διὰ θερμασίας ἢ ψύξεως ἢ ὑγρασίας ἢ ξηρότητος ἔνδειαν ἢ κατὰ παράλυσιν τῶν μορίων. οἱ δὲ Στωικοὶ κατὰ λοξότητα τοῦ καυλοῦ; μὴ δυναμένου τὸν γόνον εὐθυβολεῖν ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀσύμμετρον τῶν μορίων ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῆς μήτρας. Ἐρασίστρατος παρὰ τὴν μήτραν, ὅταν τύλους ἔχῃ καὶ σαρκώσεις, ἢ ἀραιοτέρα ᾖ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἢ· μικροτέρα.

[¶9] 10. EMPEDOCLES affirms, that the superabundance of sperm and the division of it causes the bringing forth of two or three infants. Asclepiades, that it is performed from the excellent quality of the sperm, after the manner that from the root of one barleycorn two or three stalks do grow; sperm that is of this quality is the most prolific. Erasistratus, that superfetation may happen to women as to irrational creatures; for, if the womb be well purged and very clean, then there may be divers births. The Stoics, that it ariseth from the various receptacles that are in the womb: when the seed illapses into the first and second of them at once, then there are conceptions upon conception; and so two or three infants are born.

> Greek: 10. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δίδυμα καὶ τρίδυμα γίνεσθαι κατὰ πλεονασμὸν καὶ περισχισμὸν τοῦ σπέρματος. Ἀσκληπιάδης παρὰ τὴν τῶν σπερμάτων διαφοράν, ὥσπερ τὰς κριθὰς τὰς διστίχους καὶ τριστίχουσʼ εἶναι γὰρ σπέρματα γονιμώτατα. Ἐρασίστρατος διὰ τὰς ἐπισυλλήψεις, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων· ὅταν γὰρ ἡ μήτρα ᾖ κεκαθαρμένη, τότε ἐπισύλληψιν δέχεσθαι. οἱ Στωικοὶ παρὰ τοὺς ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ τόπους ὅταν γὰρ εἰς πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον ἐμπέσῃ τὸ σπέρμα, τότε γίνεσθαι τὰς ἐπισυλλήψεις καὶ τὰ δίδυμα καὶ τὰ τρίδυμα.

[¶10] 11. EMPEDOCLES says, that the similitude of children to their parents proceeds from the vigorous prevalency of the generating sperm; the dissimilitude from the evaporation of the natural heat contained in the same. Parmenides, that when the sperm descends from the right side of the womb, then the infant gives the resemblance of the father; if from the left, it is stamped with the similitude of the mother. The Stoics, that the whole body and soul give the sperm; and hence arise the resemblances in the characters and figures of the children, as a painter in his copy imitates the colors which are in the picture before him. Women have a concurrent emission of seed; if the feminine seed have the predominancy, then the child resembles the mother; if the masculine, the father.

> Greek: 11. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ὁμοιότητας γίνεσθαι κατʼ ἐπικράτειαν τῶν σπερματικῶν γόνων, ἀνομοιότητας δὲ τῆς ἐν τῷ σπέρματι θερμασίας ἐξατμισθείσης. Παρμενίδης, ὅταν μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ δεξιοῦ μέρους τῆς μήτρας ὁ γόνος ἀποκριθῇ, τοῖς πατράσιν· ὅταν δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ, ταῖς μητράσιν. οἱ Στωικοὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ὅλου καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς φέρεσθαι τὰ σπέρματα, καὶ τὰς ὁμοιότητας ἀναπλάττεσθαι ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν γενῶν τοὺς τύπους καὶ τοὺς χαρακτῆρας, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ ζῳγράφον ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων χρωμάτων εἰκόνα τοῦ βλεπομένου. προΐεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα σπέρμα· κἂν μὲν ἐπικρατήσῃ τὸ τῆς γυναικός, ὅμοιον εἶναι τὸ γεννώμενον τῇ μητρί· ἐὰν δὲ τὸ τοῦ ἀνδρός, τῷ πατρί.

[¶11] 12. THE greatest part of physicians affirm, that this happens casually and fortuitously; for, when the sperm of the man and woman is too much refrigerated, then children carry a dissimilitude to their parents. Empedocles, that a woman’s imagination when she conceives impresses a shape upon the infant; for women have been enamored with images and statues, and the children which were born of them gave their similitudes. The Stoics, that the resemblances flow from the sympathy and consent of minds, by the insertion of effluvias and rays, not of images or pictures.

> Greek: 12. οἱ μὲν πλεῖστοι τῶν ἰατρῶν τυχικῶς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτομάτου, ὅταν διαψυχθῇ τὸ σπέρμα καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ τὸ τῆς γυναικός, ἀνόμοια γίνεσθαι τὰ παιδία. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τῇ κατὰ τὴν σύλληψιν φαντασίᾳ τῆς γυναικὸς μορφοῦσθαι τὰ βρέφη· πολλάκις γὰρ ἀνδριάντων καὶ εἰκόνων ἠράσθησαν γυναῖκες, καὶ ὅμοια τούτοις ἀπέτεκον. οἱ Στωικοὶ συμπαθείᾳ τῆς διανοίας κατὰ ῥευμάτων εἰσκρίσεις καὶ ἀκτίνων οὐκ εἰδώλων γίνεσθαι τὰς ἄλλων ὁμοιότητας.

[¶12] 13. THE physicians maintain, that sterility in women may arise from the womb; for if it be after any ways thus affected, there will be barrenness,—if it be more condensed, or more spongy, or more hardened, or more callous, or more carneous; or it may be from low spirits, or from an atrophy or vicious distemper of body; or, lastly, it may arise from a twisted or distorted configuration. Diocles holds that the sterility in men ariseth from some of these causes,—either that they cannot at all ejaculate any sperm, or if they do, it is less than nature doth require, or else there is no generative faculty in the sperm, or the genital members are flagging; or from the obliquity of the yard. The Stoics attribute the cause of sterility to the contrariant qualities and dispositions of those who lie with one another; but if it chance that these persons are separated, and there happen a conjunction of those who are of a suitable temperament, then there is a commixture according to nature, and by this means an infant is formed.

> Greek: 13. οἱ ἰατροὶ στεῖραι γίνεσθαι παρὰ τὴν μήτραν ἢ παρὰ τὸ πυκνοτέραν εἶναι ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀραιοτέραν ἢ παρὰ τὸ σκληροτέραν ἢ παρά τινας ἐπιπωρώσεις ἢ σαρκώσεις ἢ παρὰ μικροθυμίαν ἢ παρʼ ἀτροφίαν ἢ παρὰ καχεξίαν ἢ παρὰ τὸ διαστρέφεσθαι τὸν σχηματισμὸν ἢ διὰ παρασπασμόν. Διοκλῆς ἀγόνους τοὺς ἄνδρας ἢ παρὰ τὸ μηδʼ ὅλως ἐνίους σπέρμα προΐεσθαι ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἔλαττον τοῦ δέοντος· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἄγονον εἶναι. τὸ σπέρμα ἢ κατὰ παράλυσιν τῶν μορίων ἢ κατὰ λοξότητα τοῦ καυλοῦ, μὴ δυναμένου τὸν γόνον εὐθυβολεῖν, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀσύμμετρον τῶν μορίων πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῆς μήτρας οἱ Στωικοὶ αἰτιῶνται τὰς ἀσυμφύλους εἰς ἑκάτερον τῶν πλησιαζόντων δυνάμεις τε καὶ ποιότητας· αἷς ὅταν συμβῇ χωρισθῆναι μὲν ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων συνελθεῖν δʼ ἑτέροις ὁμοφύλοις, συνεκράθη τὸ κατὰ φύσιν καὶ βρέφος τελεσιουργεῖται.

[¶13] 14. ALCMAEON says, that the barrenness of the male mules ariseth from the thinness of the genital sperm, that is, the seed is too chill; the female mules are barren, for their womb does not open its mouth (as he expresses it). Empedocles, the matrix of the mule is so small, so depressed, so narrow, so invertedly growing to the belly, that the sperm cannot be regularly cast into it, and if it could, there would be no capacity to receive it. Diocles concurs in this opinion with him; for, saith he, in our anatomical dissection of mules we have seen that their matrices are of such configurations; and it is possible that there may be the same reason why some women are barren.

> Greek: 14. Ἀλκμαίων τῶν ἡμιόνων τοὺς μὲν ἄρρενας ἀγόνους παρὰ τὴν λεπτότητα τῆς θορῆς ἢ ψυχρότητα τὰς δὲ θηλείας παρὰ τὸ μὴ ἀναχάσκειν τὰς μήτρας, οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸς εἴρηκεν. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς διὰ τὴν σμικρότητα καὶ ταπεινότητα καὶ στενότητα τῆς μήτρας, κατεστραμμένως προσπεφυκυίας τῇ γαστρί, μήτε τοῦ σπέρματος; εὐθυβολοῦντος εἰς αὐτὴν μήτε, εἰ καὶ φθάσειεν, αὐτῆς ἐκδεχομένης. Διοκλῆς δὲ μαρτυρεῖ αὐτῷ λέγων· ἐν ταῖς ἀνατομαῖς πολλάκις ἑωράκαμεν τοιαύτην μήτραν τῶν ἡμιόνων· καὶ ἐνδέχεσθαι διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας εἶναι στείρας.

[¶14] 15. PLATO says, that the embryo is an animal; for, being contained in the mother’s womb, motion and aliment are imparted to it. The Stoics say that it is not an animal, but to be accounted part of the mother’s belly; like as we see the fruit of trees is esteemed part of the trees, until it be full ripe; then it falls and ceaseth to belong to the tree; and thus it is with the embryo. Empedocles, that the embryo is not an animal, yet whilst it remains in the belly it breathes. The first breath that it draws as an animal is when the infant is newly born; then the child having its moisture separated, the extraneous air making an entrance into the empty places, a respiration is caused in the infant by the empty vessels receiving of it. Diogenes, that infants are bred in the matrix inanimate, yet they have a natural heat; but presently, when the infant is cast into the open air, its heat draws air into the lungs, and so it becomes an animal. Herophilus acknowledgeth that infants have a natural, but not a respiratory motion, and that the nerves are the cause of that motion; that then they become animals, when being first born they suck in something of the air.

> Greek: 15. Πλάτων ζῷον τὸ ἔμβρυον καὶ γὰρ κινεῖσθαι ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ καὶ τρέφεσθαι καὶ αὔξεσθαι. οἱ Στωικοὶ μέρος εἶναι αὐτὸ τῆς γαστρί οὐ ζῷον· ὥσπερ γὰρ τοὺς καρποὺς μέρη τῶν φυτῶν ὄντας πεπαινομένους ἀπορρεῖν, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἔμβρυον. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς μὴ εἶναι μὲν ζῷον τὸ ἔμβρυον ἀλλʼ ἔμπνουν ὑπάρχειν ἐν τῇ γαστρί· πρώτην δʼ ἀναπνοὴν τοῦ ζῴου γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἀποκύησιν, τῆς μὲν ἐν τοῖς βρέφεσιν ὑγρασίας ἀποχώρησιν λαμβανούσης, πρὸς δὲ τὸ παρακενωθὲν ἐπεισόδου τοῦ ἐκτὸς ἀερώδους γινομένης εἰς τὰ παρανοιχθέντα τῶν ἀγγείων. Διογένης γεννᾶσθαι μὲν τὰ βρέφη ἄψυχα ἐν θερμασίᾳ δέ· ὅθεν τὸ ἔμφυτον θερμὸν τὸ ψυχρὸν εὐθέως, προχυθέντος τοῦ βρέφους, εἰς τὸν πνεύμονα ἐφέλκεσθαι. Ἡρόφιλος κίνησιν ἀπολείπει φυσικὴν τοῖς ἐμβρύοις οὐ πνευματικήν· τῆς δὲ κινήσεως αἴτια νεῦρα τότε δὲ ζῷα γίνεσθαι, ὅταν προχυθέντα προσλάβῃ τι τοῦ ἀέρος Δημόκριτος Ἐπίκουρος τὸ ἔμβρυον ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ διὰ τοῦ στόματος τρέφεσθαι·

[¶15] 16. DEMOCRITUS and Epicurus say, that the embryos in the womb receive their aliment by the mouth, for we perceive, as soon as ever the infant is born, it applies its mouth to the breast; in the wombs of women (our understanding concludes) there are little dugs, and the embryos have small mouths by which they receive their nutriment. The Stoics, that by the secundines and navel they partake of aliment, and therefore the midwife instantly after their birth binds the navel, and opens the infant’s mouth, that it may receive another sort of aliment. Alcmaeon, that they receive their nourishment from every part of the body; as a sponge sucks in water.

> Greek: 16. ὅθεν εὐθέως γεννηθὲν ἐπὶ τὸν μαστὸν φέρεσθαι τῷ στόματι· εἶναι γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ θηλάς τινας καὶ στόματα, διʼ ὧν τρέφεται. οἱ Στωικοὶ διὰ τοῦ. χορίου καὶ τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ ὅθεν τοῦτον εὐθέως ἀποδεῖν τὰς μαιουμένας καὶ ἀνευρύνειν τὸ στόμα, ἵνα ἑτέρα γένηται ἡ μελέτη τῆς τροφῆς. Ἀλκμαίων διʼ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος τρέφεσθαι ἀναλαμβάνειν γὰρ. αὐτῷ ὥσπερ σπογγιά τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τροφῆς θρεπτικά.

[¶16] 17. THE Stoics believe that the greater part is formed at the same time. Aristotle, as the keel of a ship is first made, so the first part that is formed is the loins. Alcmaeon, the head, for that is the commanding and the principal part of the body. The physicians, the heart, in which are the veins and arteries. Some think the great toe is first formed; others affirm the navel.

> Greek: 17. οἱ Στωικοὶ ἅμα ὅλον γίνεσθαι. Ἀριστοτέλης πρῶτον τὴν ὀσφὺν ὡς τρόπιν νεώς. Ἀλκμαίων τὴν κεφαλήν, ἐν ἔστι τὸ ἡγεμονικόν οἱ ἰατροὶ τὴν καρδίαν, ἐν ᾗ αἱ φλέβες καὶ αἱ ἀρτηρίαι. οἱ δὲ τὸν μέγαν δάκτυλον τοῦ ποδός ἄλλοι δὲ τὸν ὀμφαλόν.

[¶17] 18. EMPEDOCLES says, that when the human race took first its original from the earth, the sun was so slow in its motion that then one day in its length was equal to ten months, as now they are; in process of time one day became as long as seven months are; and there is the reason that those infants which are born at the end of seven months or ten months are born alive, the course of nature so disposing that the infant shall be brought to maturity in one day after that night in which it is begotten. Timaeus says, that we count not ten months but nine, by reason that we reckon the first conception from the retention of the menstruas; and so it may generally pass for seven months when really there are not seven; for it sometimes happens that even after conception a woman is purged in some degree. Polybus, Diocles, and the Empirics acknowledge that the eighth month gives a vital birth to the infant, though the life of it is more faint and languid; many therefore we see born in that month die out of mere weakness. Though we see many born in that month arrive at the state of man, yet (they affirm) if children be born in that month, none are willing to rear them. Aristotle and Hippocrates, that if the womb is grown full in seven months, then the child falls from the mother and is born alive; but if it falls from her but is not properly nourished, the navel being weak on account of the heavy burden of the infant, then it doth not thrive; but if the infant continues nine months in the womb, and then breaks forth from the woman, it is entire and perfect. Polybus, that a hundred and eighty-two days and a half suffice for the bringing forth of a living child; that is, six months, in which space of time the sun moves from one tropic to the other; and this is called seven months, for the days which are overplus in the sixth are accounted to give the seventh month. Those children which are born in the eighth month cannot live, for, the infant then falling from the womb, the navel, which is the cause of nourishment, is thereby too much stretched; and is the reason that the infant languishes and hath an atrophy. The astrologers, that eight months are enemies to every birth, seven are friends and kind to it. The signs of the zodiac are then enemies, when they fall upon those stars which are lords of houses; whatever infant is then born will have a life short and unfortunate. Those signs of the zodiac which are malevolent and injurious to generation are those pairs of which the last is reckoned the eighth from the first, as the first and the eighth, the second and the ninth, etc.; so is the Ram unsociable with Scorpio, the Bull with Sagittarius, the Twins with the Goat, the Crab with Aquarius, the Lion with Pisces, the Virgin with the Ram. Upon this reason those infants that are born in the seventh or tenth months are like to live, but those in the eighth month will die.

> Greek: 18. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, ὅτε ἐγεννᾶτο τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἐκ τῆς γῆς, τοσαύτην γενέσθαι τῷ μήκει τοῦ χρόνου διὰ τὸ βραδυπορεῖν τὸν ἥλιον τὴν ἡμέραν, ὁπόση νῦν ἐστιν ἡ δεκάμηνος· προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου, τοσαύτην γενέσθαι τὴν ἡμέραν, ὁπόση νῦν ἐστιν ἡ ἑπτάμηνος· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰ δεκάμηνα γόνιμα καὶ τὰ ἑπτάμηνα τῆς φύσεως τοῦ κόσμου οὕτω μεμελετηκυίας, αὔξεσθαι ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ᾗ τίθεται νυκτὶ τὸ βρέφος. Τίμαιος δʼ οὐ δώδεκα μῆνάς φησιν, ἐννέα δὲ νομίζεσθαι παρὰ τὰς ἐπισχέσεις τῶν μηνιαίων τῆς πρώτης συλλήψεως· οὕτω καὶ τὰ ἑπτάμηνα νομίζεσθαι, οὐκ ὄντα ἑπτάμηνα ἔγνω τε γὰρ καὶ μετὰ τὴν σύλληψιν πόσαι καθάρσεις. Πόλυβος Διοκλῆς οἱ Ἐμπειρικοὶ καὶ τὸν ὄγδοον μῆνα ἴσασι γόνιμον, ἀτονώτερον δέ πως τῷ πολλάκις διὰ τὴν ἀτονίαν πολλοὺς φθείρεσθαι καθολικώτερον δὲ μηδένα βούλεσθαι τὰ ὀκτάμηνα τρέφειν, γεγενῆσθαι δὲ πολλοὺς ὀκταμηνιαίους ἄνδρας ὁ δʼ Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ Ἱπποκράτης φασίν, ἐὰν ἐκπληρωθῇ ἡ μήτρα ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ μησί, τότε προκύπτειν καὶ γεννᾶσθαι γόνιμα· ἐὰν δὲ προκύψῃ μὲν μὴ τρέφηται δέ, ἀσθενοῦντος τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ διὰ τὸ ἐπίπονον αὐτῷ γεγενῆσθαι τὸ κύημα,· τότε τὸ ἔμβρυον ἄτροφον εἶναι ἐὰν δὲ μείνῃ τοὺς ἐννέα μῆνας ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ, προκῦψαν τότε ὁλόκληρόν ἐστι. Πόλυβος ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα δύο καὶ ἣμισυ ἡμέρας γίνεσθαι εἰς τὰ γόνιμα· εἶναι γὰρ ἑξάμηνον, ὅτι καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ἀπὸ τροπῶν ἐν τοσούτῳ χρόνῳ παραγίνεσθαι λέγεσθαι δʼ ἑπταμηνιαίους διὰ τὸ τὰς ἐλλειπούσας ἡμέρας τούτου τοῦ μηνὸς ἐν τῷ ἑπτὰ προσλαμβάνεσθαι· τὰ δʼ ὀκταμηνιαῖα μὴ ζῆν, ὅταν προκύψῃ μὲν τῆς μήτρας τὸ βρέφος, ἐπὶ πλέον δʼ ὁ ὀμφαλὸς βασανισθῇ· ἄτροφος γὰρ γίνεται ὡς τοῦ τρέφοντος αἴτιος. οἱ δὲ μαθηματικοὶ τοὺς ὀκτὼ μῆνας ἀσυνδέτους φασὶν εἶναι πάσης γενέσεως, τοὺς δʼ ἑπτὰ συνδετικούς· τὰ δʼ ἀσύνδετα ζῴδιά ἐστιν, ἐὰν τῶν οἰκοδεσποτούντων ἀστέρων τυγχάνῃ· ἐὰν γάρ τις τούτων τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὸν βίον κληρώσηται, δυστυχεῖς καὶ ἀχρόνους σημαίνει ἀσύνδετα δʼ ἐστὶ ζῴδια ὀκτὼ ἀριθμούμενα, οἷον κριὸς πρὸς σκορπίον ἀσύνδετος, ταῦρος πρὸς τοξότην ἀσύνδετος, δίδυμοι πρὸς αἰγόκερων, καρκίνος πρὸς ὑδροχόον, λέων πρὸς ἰχθύας, παρθένος πρὸς κριόν· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰ ἑπτάμηνα ὄντα καὶ δεκάμηνα γόνιμα εἶναι· τὰ δʼ ὀκτάμηνα διὰ τὸ ἀσύνδετον τοῦ κόσμου φθείρεσθαι.

[¶18] 19. THOSE philosophers who entertain the opinion that the world had an original do likewise assert that all animals are generated and corruptible. The followers of Epicurus, who gives an eternity to the world, affirm the generation of animals ariseth from the various permutation of parts mutually among themselves, for they are parts of this world. With them Anaxagoras and Euripides concur:
For nothing dies,
But different changes give their various forms. Anaximander’s opinion is, that the first animals were generated in moisture, and were enclosed in bark on which thorns grew; but in process of time they came upon dry land, and this thorny bark with which they were covered being broken, they lived for a short space of time. Empedocles says, that the first generation of animals and plants was by no means completed, for the parts were disjoined and would not admit of a union; the second preparation for their being generated was when their parts were united and appeared in the form of images; the third preparation for generation was when their parts mutually amongst themselves gave a being to one another; the fourth, when there was no longer a mixture of similar elements (like earth and water), but a union of animals among themselves,—in some the nourishment being made dense, in others female beauty provoking a lust of spermatic motion. All sorts of animals are discriminated by their proper temperament and constitution; some are carried by a proper appetite and inclination to water; some, which partake of a more fiery quality, to breathe in the air; those that are heavier incline to the earth; but those animals whose parts are of a just and equal temperament are fitted equally for all places.

> Greek: 19. καθʼ οὓς μὲν γενητὸς ὁ κόσμος, γενητὰ τὰ ζῷα καὶ φθαρτὰ εἰσιν. οἱ περὶ Ἐπίκουρον, καθʼ οὓς ἀγένητος, ἐκ μεταβολῆς τῆς ἀλλήλων γεννᾶσθαι τὰ ζῷα· μέρη γὰρ εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου ταῦτα. ὡς καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ Εὐριπίδης
θνῄσκει δʼ οὐδὲν τῶν γιγνομένων,
διακρινόμενον δʼ ἄλλο πρὸς ἄλλο
μορφὰς ἑτέρας ἀπέδειξεν. Ἀναξίμανδρος ἐν ὑγρῷ γεννηθῆναι τὰ πρῶτα ζῷα, φλοιοῖς· περιεχόμενα ἀκανθώδεσι προβαινούσης δὲ τῆς ἡλικίας ἀποβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὸ ξηρότερον καὶ περιρρηγνυμένου τοῦ φλοιοῦ ἐπʼ ὀλίγον χρόνον μεταβιῶναι. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὰς πρώτας γενέσεις τῶν ζῷωνʼκαὶ φυτῶν μηδαμῶς ὁλοκλήρους γενέσθαι, ἀσυμφυέσι δὲ τοῖς μορίοις διεζευγμένας, τὰς δὲ δευτέρας συμφυομένων τῶν μερῶν εἰδωλοφανεῖς, τὰς δὲ τρίτας τῶν ἀλληλοφυῶν τὰς δὲ τετάρτας οὐκέτι ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων οἷον ἐκ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀλλήλων ἤδη, τοῖς μὲν πυκνωθείσης τῆς τροφῆς, τοῖς δὲ. καὶ τῆς εὐμορφίας τῶν γυναικῶν ἐπερεθισμὸν τοῦ σπερματικοῦ κινήματος ἐμποιησάσης. τῶν δὲ ζῴων πάντων τὰ γένη διακριθῆναι διὰ τὰς ποιὰς κράσεις τὰ μὲν οἰκειότερα εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ τὴν ὁρμὴν ἔχειν, τὰ δʼ εἰς ἀέρα ἀναπνεῖν, ὅσʼ ἂν πυρῶδες ἔχῃ τὸ πλέον, τὰ δὲ βαρύτερα ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, τὰ δʼ ἰσόμοιρα τῇ κράσει πᾶσι τοῖς θώραξι πεφωνηκέναι.

[¶19] 20. THERE is a certain treatise of Aristotle, in which animals are distributed into four kinds, terrestrial, aqueous, fowl, and heavenly; and he calls the stars and the world also animals, yea, and God himself he defines to be an animal endowed with reason and immortal. Democritus and Epicurus esteem all animals rational which have their residence in the heavens. Anaxagoras says that animals have only that reason which is operative, but not that which is passive, which is justly styled the interpreter of the mind, and is like the mind itself. Pythagoras and Plato, that the souls of all those who are styled brutes are rational; but by the evil constitution of their bodies, and because they have a want of a discoursive faculty, they do not act rationally. This is manifested in apes and dogs, which have voice but not speech. Diogenes, that this sort of animals are partakers of intelligence and air, but by reason of the density in some parts of them, and by the superfluity of moisture in others, they enjoy neither understanding nor sense; but they are affected as madmen are, the commanding rational part being defectuous and impeached.

> Greek: 20. ἔστι πραγματεία Ἀριστοτέλους, ἐν ᾗ τέσσαρα γένη ζῴων φησί, χερσαῖα ἔνυδρα πτηνὰ οὐράνια καὶ γὰρ τὰ ἄστρα·. ζῷα λέγεσθαι καὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τῶν γηΐνων ζῷον λογικὸν ἀθάνατον. Δημόκριτος Ἐπίκουρος τὰ οὐράνια Ἀναξαγόρας πάντα τὰ ζῷα λόγον ἔχειν τὸν ἐνεργητικόν, τὸν δʼ οἱονεὶ νοῦν μὴ ἔχειν τὸν παθητικόν τὸν, λεγόμενον τοῦ νοῦ ἑρμηνέα. Πυθαγόρας Πλάτων λογικὰς μὲν εἶναι καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων καλουμένων τὰς ψυχάς, οὐ μὴν λογικῶς ἐνεργούσας παρὰ τὴν δυσκρασίαν τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν τὸ φραστικόν, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν πιθήκων καὶ τῶν κυνῶν ωοοῦσι μὲν γὰρ οὗτοι οὐ φράζουσι δέ. Διογένης μετέχειν μὲν αὐτὰ τοῦ νοητικοῦ μέρος·, διὰ δὲ τὸ τὰ μὲν πυκνότητι τὰ δὲ πλεονασμῷ τῆς ὑγρασίας μήτε διανοεῖσθαι μήτʼ αἰσθάνεσθαι, προσφερῶς αὐτὰ διακεῖσθαι τοῖς μεμηνόσι, παραπεπαικότος τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ.

[¶20] 21. EMPEDOCLES believes, that the joints of men begin to be formed from the thirty-sixth day, and their shape is completed in the nine and fortieth. Asclepiades, that male embryos, by reason of a greater natural heat, have their joints begun to be formed in the twenty-sixth day,— many even sooner,—and that they are completed in all their parts on the fiftieth day; the parts of the females are articulated in two months, but by the defect of heat are not consummated till the fourth; but the members of brutes are completed at various times, according to the commixture of the elements of which they consist.

> Greek: 21. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἄρχεσθαι τῆς διαρθρώσεως ἀπὸ ἕκτης καὶ τριακοστῆς, τελειοῦσθαι δὲ τοῖς μορίοις ἀπὸ πεντηκοστῆς μιᾶς δεούσης. Ἀσκληπιάδης; ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἀρρένων διὰ τὸ θερμότερα εἶναι τὴν διάρθρωσιν γίνεσθαι ἀπὸ ἕκτης καὶ εἰκοστῆς· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ἐνδοτέρω πληροῦσθαι δʼ ἐντὸς τῆς πεντηκοστῆς τοῖς μορίοις· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν θηλυκῶν ἐν διμήνῳ διαρθροῦσθαι ἐν τετραμήνῳ δὲ τελειοῦσθαι διὰ ἐνδεῖν τοῦ θερμοῦ· τὰ· δὲ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων ὁλοτελῆ παρὰ τὰς συγκράσεις τῶν στοιχείων.

[¶21] 22. EMPEDOCLES says, that the fleshy parts of us are constituted by the contemperation of the four elements in us; earth and fire mixed with a double proportion of water make the nerves; but when it happens that the nerves are refrigerated where they meet the air, then the nails are made; the bones are produced by two parts of water and the same of air, with four parts of fire and the same of earth, duly mixed together; sweat and tears flow from the liquefaction of these bodies of ours.

> Greek: 22. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὰς μὲν σάρκας γεννᾶσθαι ἐκ τῶν ἴσων τῇ κράσει τεττάρων στοιχείων τὰ δὲ νεῦρα πυρὸς καὶ γῆς, ὕδατι διπλασίονι μιχθέντων τοὺς δʼ ὄνυχας τοῖς ζῴοις γεννᾶσθαι, τῶν νεύρων καθὸ τῷ ἀέρι συνέτυχε περιψυχθέντων· ὀστᾶ δὲ δυεῖν μὲν ὕδατος καὶ τῆς ἔσω γῆς, τεττάρων δὲ πυρὸς καὶ γῆς τοσούτων συγκραθέντων μερῶν ἱδρῶτα δὲ καὶ δάκρυον γίνεσθαι τοῦ σωματικοῦ οὕτως ….

[¶22] 23. ALCMAEON says, that sleep is caused when the blood retreats to the concourse of the veins, but when the blood diffuses itself, then we awake; and when there is a total retirement of the blood, then men die. Empedocles, that a moderate cooling of the blood causeth sleep, but a total remotion of heat from blood causeth death. Diogenes, that when all the blood is so diffused as that it fills all the veins, and forces the air contained in them to the back and to the belly that is below it, the breast being thereby more heated, thence sleep arises; but if every thing that is airy in the breast forsakes the veins, then death succeeds. Plato and the Stoics, that sleep ariseth from the relaxation of the sensitive spirit, it not receiving such total remission as if it fell to the earth, but so that that spirit is carried about the intestine parts of the eyebrows, in which the principal part has its residence; but when there is a total remission of the sensitive spirit, then death ensues.

> Greek: 23. Ἡράκλειτος καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ ἄρχεσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τῆς τελειότητος περὶ τὴν δευτέραν ἑβδομάδα, περὶ ἣν ὁ σπερματικὸς κινεῖται ὀρρός· τὰ γὰρ δένδρα ἄρχεται τότε τελειότητος, ὅταν ἄρχηται γεννᾶν τὰ, σπέρματα, ἀτελῆ δʼ ἐστὶν ἄγονα καὶ ἄκαρπα ὄντα· τέλειος οὖν τότε ἄνθρωπος. περὶ δὲ τὴν δευτέραν ἑβδομάδα ἔννοια γίνεται καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ καὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτῶν.

[¶23] 24. HERACLITUS and the Stoics say, that men begin their completeness when the second septenary of years begins, about which time the seminal serum is emitted. Trees first begin their perfection when they give their seeds; till then they are immature, imperfect, and unfruitful. After the same manner a man is completed in the second septenary of years, and is capable of learning what is good and evil, and of discipline therein. ARISTOTLE’S opinion is, that both the soul and body sleep; and this proceeds from the moisture in the breast, which doth steam and arise in the manner of a vapor into the head, and from the aliment in the stomach, whose natural heat is cooled in the heart. Death is the perfect refrigeration of all heat in the body; but death is only of the body, and not of the soul, for the soul is immortal. Anaxagoras thinks, that sleep makes the operations of the body to cease; it is a corporeal passion and affects not the soul. Death is the separation of the soul from the body. Leucippus, that sleep is only of the body; but when the smaller particles cause immoderate evaporation from the soul’s heat, this makes death; but these affections of death and sleep are of the body, not of the soul. Empedocles, that death is nothing else but separation of those fiery parts by which man is composed, and according to this sentiment both body and soul die; but sleep is only a smaller separation of the fiery qualities.

> Greek: 24. Ἀλκμαίων ἀναχωρήσει τοῦ αἵματος εἰς τὰς αἱμόρρους φλέβας ὕπνον γίνεσθαί φησι, τὴν δʼ ἐξέγερσιν διαχύσει, τῇ δὲ παντελεῖ ἀναχωρήσει θάνατον. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὸν μὲν ὕπνον καταψύξει τοῦ ἐν τῷ αἵματι θερμοῦ συμμέτρῳ γίνεσθαι, τῆ δὲ παντελεῖ θάνατον. Διογένης, εἰ ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ αἷμα διαχεόμενον πληρώσει μὲν τὰς φλέβας τὸν δʼ ἐν αὐταῖς περιεχόμενον ἀέρα ὤσει εἰς τὰ στέρνα καὶ τὴν ὑποκειμένην γαστέρα, ὕπνον γεγενῆσθαι καὶ θερμότερον ὑπάρχειν τὸν θώρακα ἐὰν δʼ ἅπαν τὸ ἀερῶδες ἐκ τῶν φλεβῶν ἐκλίπῃ, θάνατον συντυγχάνειν. Πλάτων οἱ Στωικοὶ τὸν μὲν ὕπνον γίνεσθαι ἀνέσει τοῦ αἰσθητικοῦ πνεύματος οὐ κατʼ ἀναχαλασμόν, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, φερομένου δʼ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν μεσόφρυον· ὅταν δὲ παντελὴς γένηται ἡ ἄνεσις τοῦ αἰσθητικοῦ πνεύματος, τότε γεγενῆσθαι θάνατον. Ἀριστοτέλης κοινὸν μὲν τὸν ὕπνον σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς· αἴτιον δʼ αὐτῷ τὸ ἀναθυμιαθὲν ὑγρὸν· ἀπὸ τοῦ θώρακος εἰς τοὺς περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τόπους ἐκ τῆς ὑποκειμένης τροφῆς ἢ τὸ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ περιψυχθὲν θερμόν· τὸν δὲ θάνατον εἶναι παντελῆ κατάψυξιν· θάνατον δʼ εἶναι μόνου τοῦ σώματος οὐ ψυχῆς ταύτης γὰρ οὐχ ὑπάρχει θάνατος. Ἀναξαγόρας κατὰ κόπον τῆς σωματικῆς ἐνεργείας γίνεσθαι τὸν ὕπνον σωματικὸν γὰρ εἶναι τὸ πάθος οὐ ψυχικόν· εἶναι δὲ καὶ ψυχῆς θάνατον τὸν διαχωρισμόν. Λεύκιππος οὐ μόνον σώματος γίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ κράσει τοῦ λεπτομεροῦς πλείονι τῆς ἐκκράσεως τοῦ ψυχικοῦ θερμοῦ, τὸν πλεονασμὸν αἴτιον θανάτου· ταῦτα δʼ εἶναι πάθη σώματος οὐ ψυχῆς. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὸν θάνατον γεγενῆσθαι διαχωρισμὸν τοῦ πυρώδους καὶ γεώδους, ἐξ ὧν ἡ σύγκρισις τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ συνεστάθη· ὥστε κατὰ τοῦτο κοινὸν εἶναι τὸν θάνατον σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς· ὕπνον δὲ γίνεσθαι διαχωρισμὸν τοῦ πυρώδους Πλάτων Ἐμπεδοκλῆς καὶ τὰ φυτὰ ἔμψυχα ζῷα·

[¶24] 26. PLATO and Empedocles believe, that plants are animals, and are informed with a soul; of this there are clear arguments, for they have tossing and shaking, and their branches are extended; when the woodmen bend them they yield, but they return to their former straightness and strength again when they are let loose, and even draw up weights that are laid upon them. Aristotle doth grant that they live, but not that they are animals; for animals are affected with appetite, sense, and reason. The Stoics and Epicureans deny that they are informed with a soul; by reason that all sorts of animals have either sense, appetite, or reason; but plants move fortuitously, and not by means of any soul. Empedocles, that the first of all animals were trees, and they sprang from the earth before the sun in its glory enriched the world, and before day and night were distinguished; but by the harmony which is in their constitution they partake of a masculine and feminine nature; and they increase by that heat which is exalted out of the earth, so that they are parts belonging to it, as embryos in the womb are parts of the womb. Fruits in plants are excrescences proceeding from water and fire; but the plants which have a deficiency of water, when this is dried up by the heat of summer, lose their leaves; whereas they that have plenty thereof keep their leaves on still, as the olive, laurel, and palm. The differences of their moisture and juice arise from the difference of particles and various other causes, and they are discriminated by the various particles that feed them. And this is apparent in vines; for the excellence of wine flows not from the difference in the vines, but from the soil from whence they receive their nutriment.

> Greek: 26. φανερὸν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ σαλεύεσθαι καὶ ἐντετα μένους ἔχειν τοὺς κλάδους καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἐπαναγωγαῖς εἴκειν καὶ πάλιν σφοδρῶς ἀναχαλᾶσθαι, ὥστε καὶ συνανέλκειν βάρη. Ἀριστοτέλης ἔμψυχα μὲν οὐ μὴν ζῷα τὰ γὰρ ζῷα ὁρμητικὰ εἶναι καὶ αἰσθητικά, ἔνια δὲ καὶ λογικά. οἱ Στωικοὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ Ἐπικούρειοι οὐκ ἔμψυχα τινὰ γὰρ ψυχῆς ὁρμητικῆς εἶναι καὶ ἐπιθυμητικῆς, τινὰ δὲ καὶ λογικῆς· τὰ δὲ φυτὰ αὐτομάτως πως κεκινῆσθαι οὐ διὰ ψυχῆς. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς πρῶτα τὰ δένδρα τῶν ζῴων ἐκ γῆς ἀναδῦναί φησι, πρὶν τὸν ἥλιον περιαπλωθῆναι καὶ πρὶν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα διακριθῆναι διὰ δὲ συμμετρίαν τῆς κράσεως τὸν τοῦ ἄρρενος καὶ τοῦ θήλεος περιέχειν λόγον· αὔξεσθαι δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῇ γῇ θερμοῦ διαιρουμένου, ὥστε γῆς εἶναι μέρη, καθάπερ καὶ τὰ ἔμβρυα τὰ ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ τῆς μήτρας μέρη· τοὺς δὲ καρποὺς περιττώματα εἶναι τοῦ ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς ὕδατος καὶ πυρός· καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐλλιπὲς ἔχοντα τὸ ὑγρόν, ἐξικμαζομένου αὐτοῦ τῷ θέρει, φυλλορροεῖν, τὰ δὲ πλεῖον παραμένειν, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς δάφνης καὶ τῆς ἐλαίας καὶ τοῦ φοίνικος τὰς δὲ διαφορὰς τῶν χυμῶν παραλλαγὰς τῆς πολυμερείας καὶ τῶν φυτῶν γίνεσθαι, διαφόρους ἑχόντων τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ τρέφοντος ὁμοιομερείας, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀμπέλων· οὐ γὰρ αἱ διαφοραὶ τούτων χρηστικὸν οἶνον ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλʼ αἱ τοῦ τρέφοντος ἐδάφους.

[¶25] 27. EMPEDOCLES believes, that animals are nourished by the remaining in them of that which is proper to their own nature; they are augmented by the application of heat; and the subtraction of either of these makes them to languish and decay. The stature of men in this present age, if compared with the magnitude of those men which were first produced, is no other than a mere infancy. EMPEDOCLES says that the want of those elements which compose animals gives to them appetite, and pleasures spring from humidity. As to the motions of dangers and such like things, as perturbations, etc....

> Greek: 27. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τρέφεσθαι μὲν τὰ ζῷα διὰ τὴν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ οἰκείου, αὔξεσθαι δὲ διὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ θερμοῦ, μειοῦσθαι δὲ καὶ φθίνειν διὰ τὴν ἔκλειψιν ἑκατέρων· τοὺς δὲ νῦν ἀνθρώπους τοῖς πρώτοις συμβαλλομένους βρεφῶν ἐπέχειν τάξιν. Ἀναξαγόρας τρέφεσθαι μὲν Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὰς μὲν ὀρέξεις γίνεσθαι τοῖς ζῴοις κατὰ τὰς ἐλλείψεις τῶν ἀποτελούντων ἕκαστον στοιχείων, τὰς δʼ ἡδονὰς ἐξ ὑγροῦ καὶ τὰς τῶν κινδύνων καὶ ὁμοίων κινήσεις, τὰς δʼ ὀχλήσεις καὶ τὰς

[¶26] 29. ERASISTRATUS gives this definition of a fever: A fever is a quick motion of blood, not produced by our consent, which enters into the vessels proper unto the vital spirits. This we see in the sea; it is in a serene calm when nothing disturbs it, but is in motion when a violent preternatural wind blows upon it, and then it rageth and is circled with waves. After this manner it is in the body of man; when the blood is in a nimble agitation, then it falls upon those vessels in which the spirits are, and there being in an extraordinary heat, it fires the whole body. The opinion that a fever is an appendix to a preceding affection pleaseth him. Diodes proceeds after this manner: Those things which are internal and latent are manifested by those which externally break forth and appear; and it is clear to us that a fever is annexed to certain outward affections, for example, to wounds, inflaming tumors, inguinary abscesses.

> Greek: 29. Ἐρασίστρατος ὁρίζεται τὸν πυρετὸν οὕτως· πυρετὸς ἐστι κίνημα αἵματος παρεμπεπτωκότος εἰς τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀγγεῖα ἀπροαιρέτως γινόμενον· καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάττης, ὅταν μηδὲν αὐτὴν κινῇ, ἠρεμεῖ, ἀνέμου δʼ ἐμπνέοντος βιαίου παρὰ φύσιν, τότε ἐξ ὅλης κυκλεῖται, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι ὅταν κινηθῇ τὸ αἷμα, τότε ἐμπίπτει μὲν εἰς τὰ ἀγγεῖα τῶν πνευμάτων, πυρούμενον δὲ θερμαίνει τὸ ὅλον σῶμα, ἀρέσκει δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπιγέννημα εἶναι ὁ πυρετὸς …. Διοκλῆς δέ φησιν· ὄψις ἀδήλων τὰ φαινόμενα ἐστι δέ, οἷς φαινομένοις ὁρᾶται ὁ πυρετὸς ἐπιγενόμενος, τραύματα καὶ φλεγμοναὶ καὶ βουβῶνες.

[¶27] 30. ALCMAEON says that the preserver of health is an equal proportion of the qualities of heat, moisture, cold, dryness, bitterness, sweetness, and the other qualities; on the contrary, the prevailing empire of one above the rest is the cause of diseases and author of destruction. The efficient cause of disease is the excess of heat or cold, the material cause is superabundance or defect, the place is the blood or brain. But health is the harmonious commixture of the elements. Diodes, that sickness for the most part proceeds from the irregular disposition of the elements in the body, for that makes an ill habit or constitution of it. Erasistratus, that sickness is caused by the excess of food, indigestion, and corruptions; on the contrary, health is the moderation of the diet, and the taking that which is convenient and sufficient for us. It is the unanimous opinion of the Stoics that the want of heat brings old age, for (they say) those persons in whom heat more abounds live the longer. Asclepiades, that the Ethiopians soon grow old, and at thirty years of age are ancient men, their bodies being excessively heated and scorched by the sun; in Britain persons live a hundred and twenty years, on account of the coldness of the country, and because the people contain the fiery element within their bodies; for the bodies of the Ethiopians are more fine and thin, because they are relaxed by the sun’s heat, while they who live in northern countries have a contrary state of their bodies, for they are condensed and robust, and by consequence live the longer.

> Greek: 30. Ἀλκμαίων τῆς μὲν ὑγείας εἶναι συνεκτικὴν τὴν ἰσονομίαν τῶν δυνάμεων, ὑγροῦ ξηροῦ ψυχροῦ θερμοῦ πικροῦ γλυκέος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν· τὴν δʼ ἐν αὐτοῖς μοναρχίαν νόσου ποιητικήν· φθοροποιὸν γὰρ ἑκατέρου μοναρχία· καὶ νόσων αἰτία, ὡς μὲν ὑφʼ ἧς, ὑπερβολῇ θερμότητος ἢ ψυχρότητος· ὡς δʼ ἐξ ἧς, διὰ πλῆθος ἢ ἔνδειαν· ὡς δʼ ἐν οἷς, ἢ αἷμα ἐνδέον ἢ ἐγκέφαλος· τὴν δὲ ὑγείαν τὴν σύμμετρον τῶν ποιῶν κρᾶσιν. Διοκλῆς πλείστας τῶν νόσων διʼ ἀνωμαλίαν τῶν ἐν τῷ σώματι στοιχείων καὶ τοῦ καταστήματος Ἐρασίστρατος τὰς νόσους διὰ πλῆθος τροφῆς καὶ διʼ ἀπεψίας καὶ φθοράν, τὴν δʼ εὐταξίαν καὶ αὐτάρκειαν εἶναι ὑγείαν. οἱ Στωικοὶ συμφώνως τὸ γῆρας γεγενῆσθαι διὰ τὴν τοῦ θερμοῦ ἔλλειψιν οἱ γὰρ αὐτοὶ πλέον ἔχοντες τὸ θερμὸν ἐπὶ πλεῖον γηρῶσιν. Ἀσκληπιάδης Αἰθίοπάς φησι ταχέως γηράσκειν ἐτῶν τριάκοντα διὰ τὸ ὑπερθερμαίνεσθαι τὰ σώματα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου διαφλεχθέντας· ἐν Βρεττανίᾳ ἑκατὸν εἴκοσιν ἐτῶν γηρᾶν διὰ τὸ κατεψῦχθαι μὲν τοὺς τόπους, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς δὲ στέγειν τὸ πυρῶδες· τὰ μὲν γὰρ τῶν Αἰθιόπων σώματὰ εἰσιν ἀραιότερα διὰ τὸ ἀναχαλᾶσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου, τὰ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων πυκνά, διὰ τοῦτο οὖν καὶ πολυχρόνια.