§1.18#2εἶτα πῶς καὶ διέσπασται τὰ ἄνω καὶ κάτω καὶ δεξιὰ καὶ ἀριστερὰ καὶ πρόσθια καὶ ὀπίσθια;
Then how are the upper and lower, right and left, front and back also torn apart?
πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἄλογά ἐστιν.
For all these things are unreasonable.
ἔτι τὰ μέρη τὰ μὲν δυνάμει τὰ δὲ πάθεσι διώρισται, τὰ μὲν ἀνομοιομερῆ τῷ δύνασθαί τι ποιεῖν, οἷον γλῶττα καὶ χείρ, τὰ δ᾽ ὁμοιομερῆ σκληρότητι καὶ μαλακότητι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς τοιούτοις πάθεσιν, ὀυ πάντως οὖν ἔχον αἷμα οὐδὲ σάρξ.
Furthermore, the parts are distinguished, some by their capacity, others by their properties: the non-uniform parts by being able to do something, as the tongue and the hand, and the uniform parts by hardness, softness, and other such properties; therefore, semen does not by any means contain blood or flesh as such.
δῆλον τοίνυν ὅτι ἀδύνατον τὸ ἀπελθὸν εἶναι συνώνυμον τοῖς μέρεσιν, οἷον αἷμα ἀπὸ αἷματος ἢ σάρκα ἀπὸ σαρκός.
It is clear, then, that it is impossible for that which comes away to be synonymous with the parts, as blood from blood or flesh from flesh.
ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γ᾽ ἐξ ἑτέρου τινὸς ὄντος αἷμα γίνεται, οὐδ᾽ ἂν τῆς ὁμοιότητος αἴτιον εἴη, ὡς λέγουσιν οἱ φάσκοντες οὕτω, τὸ ἀπελθεῖν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν μορίων.
But if blood comes to be from something else that exists, then the coming away from all the parts would not be the cause of the resemblance, as those who assert this claim.
ἱκανὸν γὰρ ἀφ᾽ ἑνὸς ἀπιέναι μόνον, εἴπερ μὴ ἐξ αἵματος αἷμα γίγνεται.
For it is sufficient to come away from one part only, if blood does not come to be from blood.
διὰ τί γὰρ οὐκ ἂν καὶ ἅπαντα ἐξ ἑνὸς γίγνοιτο;
For why should not all parts also come to be from one?
ὁ αὐτὸς γὰρ λόγος ἔοικεν εἶναι οὗτος τῷ Ἀναξαγόρου, τῷ μηθὲν γίγνεσθαι τῶν ὁμοιομερῶν· πλὴν ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἐπὶ πάντων, οὗτοι δ᾽ ἐπὶ τῆς γενέσεως τῶν ζῴων τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν ἔπειτα τίνα τρόπον αὐξηθήσεται ταῦτα τὰ ἀπελθόντα ἀπὸ παντός;
For this argument seems to be the same as that of Anaxagoras, namely that none of the uniform parts comes into being; except that he does this in the case of all things, whereas they do it in the case of the generation of animals. Next, in what way will these things that have come away from the whole grow?
Ἀναξαγόρας μὲν γὰρ εὐλόγως φησὶ σάρκας ἐκ τῆς τροφῆς προσιέναι ταῖς σαρξίν· τοῖς δὲ ταῦτα μὲν μὴ λέγουσιν, ἀπὸ παντὸς δ᾽ ἀπιέναι φάσκουσι πῶς ἑτέρου προσγιγνομένου ἔσται μεῖζον, εἰ μένει τὸ προσελθόν;
For Anaxagoras reasonably says that flesh from the food is added to the flesh; but for those who do not say this, but assert that it comes away from the whole, how will it become larger when something else is added, if that which has been added remains?
ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε δύναται μεταβάλλειν τὸ προσελθόν, διὰ τί οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸ σπέρμα τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ὥστ᾽ ἐξ αὐτοῦ δυνατὸν εἶναι γίνεσθαι αἷμα καὶ σάρκας, ἀλλὰ μὴ αὐτὸ εἶναι ἐκεῖνο καὶ αἷμα καὶ σάρκας;
But if indeed that which is added can change, why is the semen not of such a nature from the very beginning that blood and flesh can come to be from it, instead of its being itself already blood and flesh?
οὐ γὰρ δὴ οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἐνδέχεται λέγειν, ὡς τῇ κατακεράσει αὐξάνεται ὕστερον οἷον οἶνος ὕδατος προσεγχυθέντος.
For surely it is not possible to say this either, that it grows later by mixture, as wine when water is poured into it.
αὐτὸ γὰρ ἂν πρῶτον μάλιστα ἦν ἕκαστον ἄκρατον ὄν· νῦν δὲ ὕστερον μᾶλλον καὶ σὰρξ καὶ ὀστοῦν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστόν ἐστι μορίων.
For in that case, each part would have been most itself at first, when it was unmixed; but as it is, it is rather later that it is flesh and bone and each of the other parts.
τοῦ δὲ σπέρματος φάναι τι νεῦρον εἶναι καὶ ὀστοῦν λίαν ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς τὸ λεγόμενον.
And to say that some part of the semen is sinew and bone is a saying too far beyond us.
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις εἰ τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν ἐν τῇ κυήσει διαφέρει, καθάπερ Ἑμπεδοκλῆς λέγει "ἐν δ᾽ ἐχύθη καθαροῖσι· τὰ μὲν τελέθουσι γυναῖκες, ψύχεος ἀντιάσαντα. "φαίνονται δ’ οὖν μεταβάλλουσαι γυναῖκες καὶ ἄνδρες, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀγόνων γόνιμοι, οὕτω καὶ ἐκ θηλυτόκων ἀρρενοτόκοι, ὡς οὐκ ἐν τῷ ἀπελθεῖν ἀπὸ παντὸς ἢ μὴ τῆς αἰτίας οὔσης, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ σύμμετρον ἢ ἀσύμμετρον εἶναι τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀπιόν, ἢ καὶ δι᾽ ἄλλην τινὰ τοιαύτην αἰτίαν.
In addition to these things, if the female and the male differ in gestation, just as Empedocles says, "and they were poured into pure [places]; some become women, having met with cold." But at any rate, women and men are seen to change, just as from infertile to fertile, so also from being parents of females to being parents of males, which shows that the cause does not lie in coming away from the whole or not, but in the coming away from the woman and the man being symmetrical or asymmetrical, or indeed through some other such cause.
δῆλον τοίνυν, εἰ τοῦτο θήσομεν οὕτως, ὅτι οὐ τῷ ἀπελθεῖν ἀπό τινος τὸ θῆλυ, ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ τὸ μέρος ὃ ἔχει ἴδιον τό τε ἄρρεν καὶ τὸ θῆλυ, εἴπερ τὸ αὐτὸ σπέρμα καὶ θῆλυ καὶ ἄρρεν δύναται γίγνεσθαι ὡς οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ μορίου ἐν τῷ σπέρματι.
It is clear then, if we assume this to be so, that the female does not become so by coming away from some part, so that neither does the part which the male and the female have as their own [come away from that part], since the same semen can become both female and male, as though that part were not present in the semen.
τί οὖν διαφέρει ἐπὶ τούτου λέγειν ἢ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων μορίων;
What difference, then, is there in saying this of this part or of the other parts?
εἰ γὰρ μηδ᾽ ἀπὸ τῆς ὑστέρας σπέρμα γίνεται, ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἂν εἴη μορίων.
For if semen does not come even from the uterus, the same argument would apply to the other parts as well.
ἔτι ἔνια γίνεται τῶν ζῴων οὔτ’ ἐξ ὁμογενῶν οὔτε τῷ γένει διαφόρων, οἷον αἱ μυῖαι καὶ τὰ γένη τῶν καλουμένων ψυχῶν.
Further, some of the animals come into being neither from animals of the same kind nor from those of different kinds, as flies and the kinds of the so-called butterflies.
ἐκ δὲ τούτων γίνεται μὲν ζῷα, οὐκέτι δ᾽ ὅμοια τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ γένος τι σκωλήκων.
And from these, animals come into being, but no longer resembling them in nature, but a certain kind of larvae.
δῆλον οὖν ὅτι οὐκ ἀπὸ ἂν ἦν, εἴπερ τοῦ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπιέναι σημεῖόν ἐστιν ἡ ὁμοιότης.
It is clear, then, that it would not be from [the whole], if indeed resemblance is a sign of coming away from the whole.
ἔτι ἀπὸ μιᾶς συνουσίας καὶ τῶν ζῴων ἔνια γεννᾷ πολλά, τὰ δὲ φυτὰ καὶ παντάπασιν· δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ἀπὸ μιᾶς κινήσεως τὸν ἐπέτειον πάντα φέρει καρπόν.
Further, from a single intercourse some of the animals generate many offspring, and plants do so altogether; for it is clear that from a single movement plants bear all their annual fruit.
καίτοι πῶς δυνατόν, εἰ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπεκρίνετο τὸ σπέρμα;
And yet how is this possible, if the semen were secreted from the whole?
μίαν γὰρ ἀπόκρισιν ἀπὸ μιᾶς ἀναγκαῖον γίνεσθαι συνουσίας καὶ μιᾶς διακρίσεως.
For it is necessary that a single secretion should come from a single intercourse and a single separation.
ἐν δὲ ταῖς ὑστέραις χωρίζεσθαι ἀδύνατον· ἤδη γὰρ ὥσπερ ἀπὸ νέου φυτοῦ ἢ ζῴου, οὐ σπέρματος εἴη ἡ διαχώρισις.
And it is impossible for it to be divided in the uterus; for in that case, the division would already be as if from a new plant or animal, not from semen.
ἔτι τὰ ἀποφυτευόμενα ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ φέρει σπέρμα· δῆλον οὖν ὅτι καὶ πρὶν ἀποφυτευθῆναι ἀπὸ τοὺ αὐτοῦ μεγέθους ἔφερε τὸν καρπόν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ παντὸς τοῦ φυτοῦ ἀπῄει τὸ σπέρμα.
Further, cuttings when planted bear seed from themselves; it is clear then that even before they were cut off, they bore the fruit from that same size, and the seed did not come away from the whole plant.