§3.8#18 Ὅλως δὲ τὸ πειρᾶσθαι τὰ ἀπλᾶ σώματα σχηματίζειν ἄλογόν ἐστι, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι συμβήσεται μὴ ἀναπληροῦσθαι τὸ ὅλον· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις τρία σχήματα δοκεῖ συμπληροῦν τὸν τόπον, τρίγωνον καὶ τετράγωνον καὶ ἑξάγωνον, ἐν δὲ τοῖς στερεοῖς δύο μόνον, πυραμὶς καὶ κύβος· ἀνάγκη δὲ πλείω τούτων λαμβάνειν διὰ τὸ πλείω τα στοιχεῖα ποιεῖν.
8 In general, to attempt to give shapes to the simple bodies is unreasonable. First, because it will turn out that the whole is not filled up; for among planes, three shapes seem to fill up space, namely the triangle, the square, and the hexagon, but among solids, only two, namely the pyramid and the cube; and it is necessary to assume more than these because they make the elements more numerous.
ἔπειτα φαίνεται πάντα μὲν τὰ ἁπλᾶ σώματα σχηματιζόμενα τῷ περιέχοντι τόπῳ, μάλιστα δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ ὁ ἀήρ.
Secondly, it is apparent that all the simple bodies are shaped by the place enclosing them, and especially water and air.
διαμένειν μὲν οὖν τὸ τοῦ στοιχείου σχῆμα ἀδύνατον· οὐ γὰρ ἄν ἥπτετο πανταχῇ τοῦ περιέχοντος τὸ ὅλον.
Therefore, it is impossible for the shape of the element to remain unchanged; for otherwise it would not touch the enclosing whole at every point.
ἀλλὰ μὴν εἰ μεταρρυθμισθήσεται, οὐκέτι ἔσται ὕδωρ, εἴπερ τῷ σχήματι διέφερεν.
But indeed, if it is to change its shape, it will no longer be water, if indeed it differed by its shape.
ὥστε φανερὸν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὡρισμένα τὰ σχήματα αὐτοῦ.
So it is manifest that its shapes are not defined.
ἀλλʼ ἔοικεν ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ τοῦτο σημαίνειν ἡμῖν, ὃ καὶ κατὰ λόγον ἐστίν· ὥσπερ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἀειδὲς καὶ ἄμορφον δεῖ τὸ ὑποκείμενον εἶναι· μάλιστα γὰρ ἂν οὕτω δύναιτο ῥυθμίζεσθαι, καθάπερ ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ γέγραπται, τὸ πανδεχές. οὕτω καὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα δεῖ νομίζειν ὥσπερ ὕλην εἶναι τοῖς συνθέτοις· διὸ καὶ δύναται μεταβάλλειν εἰς ἄλληλα χωριζομένων τῶν κατὰ πάθη διαφορῶν.
Rather, nature itself seems to indicate this to us, which is also reasonable; for just as in other things, the underlying substrate must be without shape and form; for in this way it could most of all be shaped, just as has been written in the *Timaeus* concerning the "all-receptive." Thus we must also think of the elements as being like matter for composite things; which is why they are also able to change into one another when the differences in respect of properties are separated.
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πῶς ἐνδέχεται γίγνεσθαι σάρκα καὶ ὀστοῦν ἢ ὁτιοῦν σῶμα τῶν συνεχῶν;
In addition to these, how is it possible for flesh and bone or any continuous body whatsoever to come to be?
οὕτε γὰρ ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν στοιχείων ἐγχωρεῖ διὰ τὸ μὴ γίγνεσθαι συνεχὲς ἐκ τῆς συνθέσεως, οὔτʼ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιπέδων συντιθεμένων· τὰ γὰρ στοιχεῖα γεννᾶται τῇ συνθέσει καὶ οὐ τὰ ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων.
For it is neither possible from the elements themselves, because a continuous body does not come to be from composition, nor from planes being composed; for it is the elements that are generated by composition, and not the things made from the elements.
ὥστʼ ἐάν τις ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι βούληται καὶ μὴ ἐκ παρόδου τοὺς λόγους ἀποδέχεσθαι τοὺς τοιούτους, ἀναιροῦντας ὄψεται τὴν γένεσιν ἐκ τῶν ὄντων.
So that if anyone wishes to be exact in his reasoning and not to accept such arguments in a passing way, he will see that they destroy generation from what exists.
ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ πρὸς τὰ πάθη τε καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ τὰς κινήσεις ἀσύμφωνα τὰ σχήματα τοῖς σώμασιν, εἰς ἃ μάλιστα βλέψαντες οὕτω διένειμαν.
Moreover, the shapes are also discordant with the bodies in respect of their properties, powers, and movements, with a view to which they especially made this division.
οἷον ἐπεὶ τὸ πῦρ εὐκίνητόν ἐστι θερμαντικὸν καὶ καυστικόν, οἱ μὲν ἐποίησαν αὐτὸ σφαῖραν, οἱ δὲ πυραμίδα· ταῦτα γὰρ εὐκινητότατα μὲν διὰ τὸ ἐλαχίστων ἅπτεσθαι καὶ ἥκιστα βεβηκέναι, θερμαντικώτατα δὲ καὶ καυστικώτατα, διότι τὸ μὲν ὅλον ἐστὶ γωνία, τὸ δὲ ὀξυγωνιώτατον, καίει δὲ καὶ θερμαίνει ταῖς γωνίαις, ὡς φασίν.
For instance, since fire is mobile, heating, and burning, some made it a sphere, others a pyramid; for these are most mobile because they touch at fewest points and are least stable, and they are most heating and burning, because the one is all angle and the other is most acute-angled, and they burn and heat by their angles, as they say.
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν κατὰ τήν κίνησιν ἀμφότεροι διημαρτήκασιν· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἔστιν εὐκινητότατα ταῦτα τῶν σχημάτων, ἀλλʼ οὐ τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς κίνησιν εὐκίνητα· ἡ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ πυρὸς ἄνω καὶ κατʼ εὐθεῖαν, ταῦτα δʼ εὐκίνητα κύκλῳ, τὴν καλουμένην κύλισιν.
First of all, then, with respect to movement, both have erred; for even if these are the most mobile of shapes, yet they are not mobile with the movement of fire; for the movement of fire is upward and in a straight line, whereas these are mobile in a circle, in the so-called rolling movement.
εἴπειτʼ εἰ ἔστιν ἡ γῇ κύβος διὰ τὸ βεβηκέναι καὶ μένειν, μένει δʼ οὐ πανταχοῦ ἀλλʼ ἐν τῷ αὑτῆς τόπῳ, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου φέρεται μὴ κωλυομένη, καὶ τὸ πῦρ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὡσαύτως, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τὸ πῦρ καὶ ἕκαστον τῶν στοιχείων ἐν μὲν τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ τόπῳ σφαῖρα ἔσται ἢ πυραμές, ἐν δὲ τῷ οἰκείῳ κύβος.
Secondly, if earth is a cube because of its being stable and remaining so, and yet it does not remain so everywhere but only in its own place, while it is moved from a foreign place if not prevented, and fire and the others likewise, it is clear that both fire and each of the elements will be a sphere or a pyramid in a foreign place, and a cube in its own place.