§7#1Πάλιν ἐπὶ τούσδε τοὺς φιλοσόφους ἔλθωμεν, ἀποφαινομένους προπετῶς περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ κενῷ σωμάτων ἑστώτων ἢ κάτω φερομένων.
Let us return again to these philosophers, who declare rashly about bodies in the void, whether they are standing still or being carried downwards.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχιτέκτων οὗτος οὐκ ἂν ἀπεφήνατο, πρὶν εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ κενὸν ἐξελθὼν τοῦ κόσμου τῇ πείρᾳ βασανίσαι τὸ πρᾶγμα, καὶ θεάσασθαι σαφῶς, εἴτε μένειν κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον ἕκαστον τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ σωμάτων, εἴτε καὶ μεθίστασθαι.
For this architect would not have declared, before having gone out into the void itself of the cosmos to test the matter by experience, and to see clearly, whether each of the bodies in it remains in the same place, or also moves.
τοιαύταις γὰρ ἀρχαῖς εἰς τὰς ἀποδείξεις οἶδα χρωμένους αὐτοὺς, ἐναργέσι τε καὶ ἀναντιλέκτοις ὑπὸ πάντων ὁμολογουμέναις· ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ φιλοσοφοῦντες, περὶ ὧν οὐδεμίαν ἐναργῶς γνῶσιν ἔχετε, ταῦθ’ ὡς ἐναργῶς γνωσθῆναι δυνάμενα.
For I know that they use such principles for proofs, being clear and uncontested, agreed upon by all; but you who philosophize, though you have no clear knowledge about these things, <assert> them as being able to be clearly known.
ἤκουσα πρώτην ἀπιστούντοιν δυοῖν φιλοσόφοιν· ἐδόκει γὰρ αὐτῶν τῷ μὲν ἑτέρῳ τὸ ὕδωρ τῶν ξύλων βαρύτερον εἶναι, τῷ δ’ ἑτέρῳ τὰ ξύλα τοῦ ὕδατος, ἑκάτερός τε λόγους ἔλεγε μακροὺς, ἐμβλέπων ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω.
I heard recently two philosophers disagreeing; for to one of them water seemed to be heavier than wood, and to the other wood than water, and each spoke long words, looking up and down.
κεφάλαιον δὴ τοῦ μὲν ἑτέρου τῶν φιλοσόφων, τὴν πεπιλημένην οὐσίαν βαρυτέραν εἶναι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ξύλα τοῦ ὕδατος, τοῦ δ’ ἑτέρου, ἔλαττον ἔχειν κενὸν τὰ ξύλα.
The main point indeed of the one of the philosophers was that the compressed substance is heavier, and because of this, wood is heavier than water; and of the other, that wood has less void.
καὶ ταῦτα ἔλεγον διὰ μακρῶν ἐξηκόντων λόγων, οὐκ ἀποδεικτικῶν, ποιούμενοι τὰς πίστεις, ὥσπερ ἀδύνατον ἐν αἰσθήσει διαγνῶναι τὸ πρᾶγμα, καθάπερ ἡμᾶς οἶσθα ποιοῦντας.
And they said these things through long, drawn-out arguments, not demonstrative ones, making their proofs, as if it were impossible to discern the matter by perception, just as you know we do.
οἱ δὲ φιλόσοφοι λέγειν ἔτι βουλόμενον αὐτὸν ἠρώτησαν, ὅστις ὁ τρόπος εἴη, καθ’ ὃν ἐναργῶς διαγινώσκεται, πότερόν ἐστι βαρύτερον· οὐ γὰρ δὴ διὰ ζυγοῦ γε δυνατὸν ἔφασαν γενέσθαι τοῦτο, καθάπερ οὐδὲ δι’ ἀγγείου πληρουμένου· στῆσαι μὲν γὰρ οἷόν τέ ἐστι τὸ ξύλον, οὐ μὴν πληρῶσαι τό γε ἀγγεῖον ἐξ αὐτοῦ, τοῦ ὕδατος αὖ πληροῦσθαι δύνασθαι.
But the phi- losophers asked him, while he still wished to speak, what the method was by which it is clearly discerned which of the two is heavier; for they said this was certainly not possible by means of a balance, just as it was not by means of a filled vessel; for it is possible to weigh the wood, but not indeed to fill the vessel with it, whereas water, on the other hand, is able to fill it.
τοιαῦτ’ οὖν αὐτῶν λεγόντων, ὥσπερ εἰώθασι, γελάσας ὁ ἀρχιτέκτων ἔφη· Τοιοῦτοι διὰ παντὸς ὑμεῖς οἱ δοξόσοφοι πάντες ἐστὲ, τὰ μὲν ἔξω τοῦ κόσμου γιγνώσκειν οἰόμενοι, περὶ ὧν εἰκάσαι μέν ἐστιν ἐνδεχόμενον, γνῶναι δ’ ἐπιστημονικῶς οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ, τὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα, καὶ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἐνίοτε γιγνωσκόμενα, παντάπασιν ἀγνοοῦντες, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ τὸ νῦν προκείμενον, ὕδατός τε καὶ ξύλων σταθμὸν ἀντεξετάσαι. δεηθέντων οὖν ἁπάντων τῶν παρόντων εἰπεῖν τὸν ἀρχιτέκτονα, πῶς ἐπιστημονικῶς καὶ βεβαίως ἀντεξετασθήσεται τὸ τοῦ ξύλου τῷ τοῦ ὕδατος, ὁ μὲν διῆλθεν ἐν τάχει τε καὶ σαφῶς, ὡς ἅπαντας τοὺς παρόντας νοῆσαι, πλὴν μόνων τῶν φιλοσόφων· ἐκεῖνος δὲ καὶ δεύτερον ἠναγκάσθη καὶ τρίτον εἰπεῖν τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον, ὥστε μόγις ἐνόησαν.
So when they said such things, as they are accustomed to do, the architect laughed and said: "You opinion-wise people are all always like this, thinking you know things outside the cosmos, about which it is possible to conjecture, but not allowed to know scientifically, while completely ignorant of such things, which are sometimes known even to ordinary people, just like this very thing now set before us, to compare the weight of water and wood." Then, when all those present begged the architect to say how the weight of the wood would be scientifically and firmly compared with that of the water, he explained quickly and clearly, so that all those present understood, except only the philosophers; but he was forced to tell the same explanation both a second and a third time, so that they understood with difficulty.
ὁ μὲν ἀρχιτέκτων, Εἰκότως, ἔφη, λέγουσι πάμπολλοι, πλὴν δοξοσοφίας οὐδὲν τούτοις ὑπάρχειν· οἱ δ’ ἀνόητοι μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἀγνώστοις ἅπασιν ἐλέγχονται, δοξόσοφοι δ’ ἐν τοῖς γνωστοῖς. ἐγὼ δὲ διαδεξάμενος αὐτὸν τὸν λόγον, εὐλόγως ἔφην τοῦτο συμβαίνειν αὐτοῖς.
The architect said: "Naturally very many say that they possess nothing except conceit; for the foolish indeed are exposed in all unknown things, but the opinion-wise in the known ones." And I, taking up his speech, said that this happened to them with good reason.