§9οὐ 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.
Nevertheless, it is better to set in motion beforehand these sensible bodies, in which Empedocles, Straton, and the Stoics posit the substances of the powers—the Stoics ascribing the primarily cold to air, but Empedocles and Straton to water; while another might perhaps appear to hypothesize earth as the cause of coldness.
πρότερον δὲ τὰ ἐκείνων σκοπῶμεν.
But let us first examine their views.
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.
Since fire is both hot and bright, it is necessary that the nature opposed to fire be both cold and dark; for just as the dark is opposed to the bright, so is the cold to the hot.
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.
For indeed, just as the dark is confusing to the sight, so is the cold to the touch, and heat diffuses the sensation of the one who touches, just as brightness does that of the one who sees.
τὸ ἄρα πρώτως σκοτεινὸν ἐν τῇ φύσει πρώτως καὶ ψυχρόν ἐστιν.
Therefore, that which is primarily dark in nature is also primarily cold.
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.
And that air is the primarily dark has not escaped even the poets; for they call darkness 'air': "For there was a deep air [mist] about the ships, nor did the moon shine forth from heaven;" and again: "Clothed in air [mist], they roam over all the earth;" and again: "And straightway he scattered the air [mist] and pushed away the fog, and the sun shone forth, and all the battle was revealed." For indeed they call the unilluminated air 'dusk' (knephas), being, as it seems, empty of light; and 'cloud' (nephos), which is collapsed and condensed air, is so called from the negation of light; and it is also called 'mist' (achlys) and 'fog' (homichle); and whatever things do not afford to the sense a passage of light are varieties of air; and its invisible and colorless nature has received the name of Hades and Acheron.
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.
Just as, therefore, when light fails, the air is dark, so when heat departs, that which is left behind is cold air and nothing else; wherefore also this Tartarus is so called from coldness; and Hesiod also shows this when he says: "and misty Tartarus;" and to shake and tremble with cold is called 'tartarizein' [to chatter].
These things, then, have such an account.
§10ἐπεὶ 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.
And since destruction is a certain change of the things destroyed into their opposite, let us see if it is well said: "the death of fire is the birth of air"; for fire also dies like a living thing, either quenched by force or wasting away of itself.
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.
Now quenching makes its transformation into air more evident; for indeed smoke is a form of air, as well as the soot and exhalation, which, according to Pindar: "kicks the air with greasy smoke." Nevertheless, when a flame declines through lack of nourishment, as in the case of lamps, one can see its tip pouring out into dark and gloomy air.
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.
And the cold steam rising from those who pour cold water over themselves after a bath or steam-bath sufficiently indicates the transformation of the destroyed heat into air, as being by nature opposed to fire; from which it followed that air is primarily dark and cold.
§11καὶ 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.
And indeed, of all things produced by coldness in bodies, freezing, which is the most violent and forceful, is an affection of water, but an operation of air; for water by itself is easily diffused, non-cohesive, and unstable, but it is tightened and contracted by air, being compressed by coldness; wherefore it is also said: "But if the south wind calls forth the north wind, straightway it will snow." For since the south wind prepares the moisture as it were a material, the northern air, receiving it, freezes it.
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.
And this is especially clear in the case of snow; for having released and breathed out beforehand thin and cold air, they flow thus; and Aristotle says that even the leaden lumps melt and flow because of cold and winter, when water alone approaches them; but the air, as it seems, driving the bodies together by its coldness, shatters and breaks them.