§4.4#2ἔστι δʼ ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ κοῦφον)· ὁρῶμεν γάρ, καθάπερ εἴρηται πρότερον, ὅτι τὰ γεηρὰ πᾶσιν ὑφίσταται καὶ φέρεται πρὸς τὸ μέσον.
and similarly there is also the light.) For we see, as has been said before, that earthy things sink beneath all things and are carried toward the center.
ἀλλὰ μὴν ὥρισται τὸ μέσον.
But indeed, the center is defined.
εἰ τοίνυν ἔστι τι ὁ πᾶσιν ἐπιπολάζει, καθάπερ φαίνεται τὸ πῦρ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἀέρι ἄνω φερόμενον, ὁ δʼ ἀὴρ ἡσυχάζων, δῆλον ὅτι τοῦτο φέρεται πρὸς τὸ ἔσχατον.
If, therefore, there is something that rises to the surface of all things, just as fire is seen to be carried upward even in the air itself while the air is at rest, it is clear that this is carried toward the extremity.
ὥστε βάρος οὐδὲν οἷόν τʼ ἔχειν αὐτό· ὑφίστατο γὰρ ἂν ἄλλῳ· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, εἴη ἄν τι ἕτερον, ὃ φέρεται ἐπὶ το ἔσχατον, οὗ πᾶσι τοῖς φερομένοις ἐπιπολάσει.
So that it is impossible for it to have any heaviness; for it would sink beneath something else; and if this were so, there would be some other thing which is carried to the extremity, and which would rise to the surface of all carried things.
νῦν δʼ οὐδὲν φαίνεται.
But as it is, nothing is seen.
τὸ ἄρα πῦρ οὐδὲν ἔχει βάρος, οὐδὲ ἡ γῆ κουφότητα οὐδεμίαν, εἴπερ ὑφίσταται πᾶσι καὶ τὸ ὑφιστάμενον φέρεται ἐπὶ τὸ μέσον.
Therefore fire has no heaviness, nor has earth any lightness, if indeed earth sinks beneath all things and that which sinks beneath is carried to the center.
ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτι γʼ ἐστὶ μέσον πρὸς ὃ ἡ φορὰ τοῖς ἔχουσι βάρος καὶ ἀφʼ οὗ τοῖς κούφοις, δῆλον πολλαχόθεν, πρῶτον μὲν τῷ εἰς ἄπειρον μὴ ἐνδέχεσθαι φέρεσθαι μηθέν.
But indeed, that there is a center toward which the motion of things having heaviness is directed, and away from which that of light things is directed, is clear from many considerations: first, from the fact that nothing can be carried to infinity.
ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐθὲν ἀδύνατον, οὕτως οὐδὲ γίγνεται· ἡ δὲ φορὰ γένεσίς ποθέν ποι.
For just as nothing impossible exists, so too it does not come to be; and motion is a coming-to-be from somewhere to somewhere.
ἔπειτα πρὸς ὁμοίας φαίνεται γωνίας τὸ μὲν πῦρ ἄνω φερόμενον, ἡ δὲ γῇ κάτω καὶ πᾶν τὸ βάρος ἔχον.
Next, fire is seen to be carried upward, and earth and everything having heaviness downward, at similar angles.
ὥστʼ ἀνάγκη φέρεσθαι πρὸς τὸ μέσον.
So that it is necessary that they are carried toward the center.
τοῦτο δὲ πότερον συμβαίνει πρὸς τὸ τῆς γῆς μέσον ἢ πρὸς τὸ τοῦ παντός, ἐπεὶ ταὐτόν ἔστιν, ἄλλος λό γος.
But whether this happens toward the center of the earth or toward that of the universe, since they are the same, is another argument.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ πᾶσιν ὑφιστάμενον φέρεται πρὸς τὸ μέσον, ἀνάγκη τὸ πᾶσιν ἐπιπτολάζον φέρεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἔσχατον τῆς χώρας, ἐν ᾗ ποιοῦνται τὴν κίνησιν· ἐναντίον γὰρ τὸ μὲν μέσον τῷ ἐσχάτῳ, τὸ δὲ ὑφιστάμενον ἀεὶ τῷ ἐπιπολάζοντι.
And since that which sinks beneath all things is carried toward the center, it is necessary that what rises to the surface of all things is carried toward the extremity of the region in which they make their motion; for the center is contrary to the extremity, and that which sinks beneath is always contrary to that which rises to the surface.
διὸ καὶ εὐλόγως τὸ βαρὺ καὶ κοῦφον δύο ἐστίν· καὶ γὰρ οἱ τόποι δύο, τὸ μέσον καὶ τὸ ἔσχατον.
Wherefore also it is reasonable that the heavy and the light are two; for the places also are two, the center and the extremity.
ἔστι δὲ δή τι καὶ τὸ μεταξύ τούτων, ὃ πρὸς ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν λέγεται θάτερον· εἴ τι γὰρ ὡς ἔσχατον καὶ μέσον ἀμφοτέρων ἐστὶ τὸ μεταξύ, διὰ τοῦτο ἔστι τι καὶ ἄλλο βαρὺ καὶ κοῦφον, οἷον ὕδωρ καὶ ἀήρ᾿ φαμὲν δὲ τὸ μὲν περιέχον τοῦ εἴδους εἶναι, τὸ δὲ περιεχόμενον τῆς ὕλης.
And indeed there is also something intermediate between these, which in relation to each of them is called the other; for if that which is intermediate is as it were extremity and center of both, because of this there is also some other heavy and light, such as water and air. And we say that the container belongs to form, and the contained to matter.
ἔστι δʼ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς γένεσιν αὕτη ἡ διάστασις· καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ ποιῷ καὶ ἐν τῷ ποσῷ ἐστὶ τὸ μὲν ὡς εἶδος μᾶλλον, τὸ δʼ ὡς ὕλη.
And this distinction exists in all genera; for indeed in quality and in quantity there is that which is rather as form and that which is as matter.
καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τόπον ὡσαύτως τὸ μὲν ἄνω τοῦ ὡρισμένου, τὸ δὲ κάτω τῆς ὕλης.
And in things regarding place likewise, the upward belongs to the defined, and the downward to matter.
ὥστε καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὕλη τῇ τοῦ βαρέος καὶ κούφου, ᾗ μὲν τοιοῦτον δυνάμει, βαρέος ὕλη, ᾗ δὲ τοιοῦτον, κούφου·
So that even in the very matter of the heavy and the light, in so far as it is potentially such, it is the matter of the heavy, and in so far as it is potentially such, of the light.
καὶ ἔστι μὲν ἢ αὐτή, τὸ δʼ εἶναι οὐ ταὐτόν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ νοσερὸν καὶ τὸ ὑγιαστόν, τὸ δʼ εἶναι οὐ ταὐτόν· διόπερ οὐδὲ τὸ νοσώ δει εἶναι ἢ ὑγιεινῷ.
And it is the same matter, but its being is not the same, just as that which can be diseased and that which can be healthy are the same, but their being is not the same; wherefore neither is being diseased the same as being healthy.