§12ἔτι τοίνυν τὰ μὲν ἀποσπασθέντα τῆς πηγῆς ὕδατα μᾶλλον πήγνυται μᾶλλον γὰρ ὁ ἀὴρ ἐπικρατεῖ τοῦ ἐλάττονος.
Furthermore, water that has been drawn away from its spring freezes more easily; for the air dominates the smaller amount more.
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.
And if someone takes cold water from a well in a vessel, and lowers it again into the well so that the vessel does not touch the water but hangs in the air, and waits for not much time, the water will be colder; this most clearly demonstrates that the primary cause of coldness does not belong to the water but to the air.
· 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;
At any rate, none of the great rivers freezes to its depth; for the air does not penetrate to the whole depth, but only arrests those parts which it encompasses with cold by touching and approaching them; whence the barbarians cross on foot, putting forward foxes; for if the ice is not thick but superficial, the foxes, perceiving by the sound of the water flowing underneath, turn back; and some even hunt fish, dissolving the ice with warm water and clearing a space to receive the fishing-line.
τό γε τὴν ὁρμιὰν δεξόμενον. οὕτως οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ τὸ ἐν βάθει πέπονθε.
Thus, that which is in the depth has suffered nothing from the cold.
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.
And yet, such a great change occurs in the upper parts due to freezing that the water, being forced back into itself and compressed, shatters ships, as those who recently wintered with Caesar on the Ister relate.
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.
Furthermore, what happens to ourselves gives sufficient testimony; for after baths and sweatings we get colder, because, our bodies being relaxed and diffused, we receive much coldness along with the air.
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.
And this very same thing water also suffers; for it becomes colder if it has been heated beforehand, having become more susceptible to the air; when people scoop up and raise aloft boiling water, they surely do nothing else than mix it with much air.
ὁ μὲν οὖν τῷ ἀέρι τὴν πρώτην ἀποδιδοὺς τῆς ψυχρότητος δύναμιν, ὦ Φαβωρῖνε, λόγος ἐν τοιαύταις ἐστὶ πιθανότησιν.
Therefore, Favorinus, the argument which attributes the primary power of coldness to the air rests on such probabilities.
§13ὁ 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.
But the argument which attributes it to water also takes its principles similarly, with Empedocles speaking somewhat as follows: "Behold the sun, bright and hot everywhere, but the rain, dark and freezing in all things." For by opposing the cold to the hot as the black to the bright, he has allowed us to infer that the black and the cold belong to the same substance, just as the bright and the hot belong to the same.
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.
And that the black belongs not to the air but to water, sensation bears witness, since by air, to speak simply, nothing is blackened, but by water, all things.
. 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.
For if you cast the whitest wool or garment into water, it appears black and remains so until the moisture is evaporated by heat or squeezed out by certain presses and weights; and when the earth is sprinkled with water, the places reached by the drops turn black, while the other similar parts remain as they were.
αὐτοῦ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ὕδατος σκοτεινότατον ὑπὸ πλήθους φαίνεται τὸ βαθύτατον, οἷς δʼ ἀὴρ πλησιάζει, ταῦτα περιλάμπεται καὶ διαγελᾷ.
Indeed, of water itself, the deepest part appears darkest because of its abundance, but those parts which the air approaches are illuminated and gleam.
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.
Of other liquids, oil is the most transparent, using the most air; proof of this is its lightness, because of which it floats on all of them, being carried upward by the air, and it also produces a calm on the sea when sprinkled upon the waves, not because of its smoothness causing the winds to slip off, as Aristotle said; but while in every liquid the wave is dispersed when struck, oil in particular affords brightness and visibility in the deep, because the liquids are separated by the air; for not only on the surface to those who pass the night, but also down below to the sponge-divers, when blown out from the mouth, it gives light in the sea.
οὐ μᾶλλον οὖν τῷ ἀέρι τοῦ μέλανος ἢ τῷ ὕδατι μέτεστιν, ἧττον. δὲ τοῦ· ψυχροῦ.
Therefore, the black belongs no more to the air than to the water, and the cold even less.
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.
At least, oil, which partakes of the most air among liquids, is the least cold and freezes softly; for the air mixed in does not allow the freezing to become hard; and they temper iron needles, buckles, and delicate works not in water but in oil, fearing the excessive cold of the water as distorting them.
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.
For it is more just that the argument be examined from these things, and not from colors; since both snow and hail and ice are at once most bright and most cold, and conversely, pitch is hotter than honey and darker.