§17σκόπει 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.
Consider these things also, comparing them with those. Since Chrysippus, thinking that air is primarily cold because it is also dark, mentioned only those who say that water is further removed from the aether than air, and wishing to say something to them, said, 'In this way,' he said, 'we might also say that the earth is primarily cold, because it is furthest removed from the aether,' rejecting this argument as altogether unacceptable and absurd, I think I can show that the earth is not without probability and plausibility, making my beginning from the very principle that Chrysippus used most on behalf of air.
τί δὲ τοῦτʼ ἐστί;
And what is this?
τὸ σκοτεινὸν ὄντα πρώτως εἶναι καὶ ψυχρὸν πρώτως.
That what is dark is primarily dark and primarily cold.
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,·
For if he, taking two oppositions of powers, thinks that the one necessarily follows the other, there are surely ten thousand oppositions and antipathies of the earth toward the aether, which one might claim this coldness also follows.
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·
For it is not only opposed as heavy to light and downward-tending to upward-tending, nor as dense to rare, nor as slow and stationary to swift-moving and active, but as heaviest to lightest, and densest to rarest, and finally as inactive of itself to self-moving, and as occupying the middle place to that which is always in circular motion.
ἀεὶ κυκλοφορούμενον. οὐκ ἄτοπον οὖν τηλικαύταις καὶ τοσαύταις ἀντιτάξεσι καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχρότητος καὶ θερμότητος ἕπεσθαι.
It is not absurd, then, that with such and so many oppositions, that of coldness and heat should also follow.
ναί, ἀλλὰ τὸ πῦρ καὶ λαμπρόν ἐστιν.
Yes, but fire is also bright.
οὔτι μὴν σκοτεινὸν ἡ γῆ;
Is the earth not dark?
σκοτεινότατον μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων καὶ ἀφεγγέστατον.
Nay, it is the darkest of all and most devoid of light.
ἀέρι μέν τοι μετοχὴ φωτός ἐστι πρώτῳ, καὶ τάχιστα τρέπεται καὶ ἀναπλησθεὶς διανέμει πανταχοῦ τὴν λαμπρότητα, σῶμα παρέχων τῆς αὐγῆς ἑαυτόν·
Air, however, has the first participation in light, and changes most quickly, and, being filled, distributes brightness everywhere, presenting itself as the body of the beam.
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.
For the sun rising, as one of the dithyrambic poets said, 'immediately filled the great house of the air-treading winds.' And from this, the sun, going down, sends a portion of light both to lake and sea, and the depths of rivers smile, as much as the air reaches them.
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·
But the earth alone of bodies is always unlighted and unhurt by the sun and moon in their illuminating, though it is warmed by them and allows itself to be heated to a small depth as the heat enters.
τὸ δὲ λαμπρὸν οὐ παρίησιν ὑπὸ στερεότητος ἀλλʼ ἐπιπολῆς περιφωτίζεται;
But it does not let the brightness pass through because of its solidity, but is illuminated only on the surface.
τὰ δʼ ἐντὸς ὄρφνη καὶ χάος καὶ Ἅιδης ὀνομάζεται καὶ τὸ ἔρεβος τοῦτʼ ἦν ἄρα,ʼ τὸ χθόνιον καὶ ἔγγαιον σκότος.
Its interior is called gloom, chaos, and Hades, and this was indeed 'Erebus,' the subterranean and earthly darkness.
τὴν δὲ νύκτα ποιηταὶ μὲν ἐκ γῆς γεγονέναι μυθολογοῦσι, μαθηματικοὶ δὲ γῆς σκιὰν οὖσαν ἀποδεικνύουσιν, ἀντιφραττούσης πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον·
And poets mythologize that night was born from earth, while mathematicians demonstrate that night is the shadow of the earth, as it obstructs the sun.
ὁ γὰρ ἀὴρ ἀναπίμπλαται σκότους ὑπὸ γῆς ὡς φωτὸς ὑφʼ ἡλίου· καὶ τὸ ἀφώτιστον αὐτοῦ μῆκός ἐστι νυκτός, ὅσον ἡ σκιὰ τῆς γῆς ἐπινέμεται.
For the air is filled with darkness by the earth, as it is filled with light by the sun; and its unlighted length is night, as far as the shadow of the earth extends.
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·
Therefore, even when it is night, men and many wild beasts make use of the outer air, grazing through the darkness, because it has, in some way or other, scattered traces of light and outpourings of brightness.
ἔχοντος ὁ δʼ οἰκουρὸς; καὶ ὑπωρόφιος, ἅτε δὴ τῆς γῆς πανταχόθεν περιεχούσης, κομιδῇ τυφλός ἐστι καὶ ἀφώτιστος.
But the air that stays at home and under the roof, inasmuch as the earth surrounds it on every side, is utterly blind and unlighted.
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.
Moreover, the skins and horns of animals do not let the light pass through as a whole because of their solidity, but when they are sawn and polished, they become transparent, the air being mixed with them.
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.
And I think that the earth is constantly called 'black' by the poets because of its dark and unlighted nature; so that the highly valued opposition of the dark to the bright belongs to the earth rather than to the air.