§1.18#3μέγιστον δὲ τούτων τεκμήριον τεθεωρήκαμεν ἱκανῶς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐντόμων.
And we have sufficiently observed the greatest evidence of these things in the case of insects.
καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ ἐν πᾶσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τῶν πλείστων ἐν τῇ ὀχείᾳ τὸ θῆλυ εἰς τὸ ἄρρεν μέρος τι αὑτοῦ ἀποτείνει.
For even if not in all, yet in most of them, during copulation, the female extends a certain part of herself into the male.
διὸ καὶ τὴν ὀχείαν, καθάπερ εἴπομεν πρότερον, οὕτω ποιοῦνται· τὰ γὰρ κάτωθεν εἰς τὰ ἄνω φαίνεται ἐναφιέντα, οὐκ ἐν πᾶσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις τῶν τεθεωρημένων.
For this reason they also copulate in this way, as we said before; for the parts below appear to insert [something] into the parts above, not indeed in all, but in most of those that have been observed.
ὥστε φανερὸν ἂν εἴη ὅτι οὐδ᾽ ὅσα προΐεται γονὴν τῶν ἀρρένων, οὐ τὸ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπιέναι τῆς γενέσεως αἴτιόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἄλλον τινὰ τρόπον, περὶ οὗ σκεπτέον ὕστερον.
Consequently, it would be clear that even in the case of those males that emit semen, it is not the coming away from the whole that is the cause of generation, but some other way, which must be considered later.
καὶ γὰρ εἴπερ τὸ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπιέναι συνέβαινεν, ὥσπερ φασίν, οὐθὲν ἔδει ἀπὸ πάντων ἀξιοῦν ἀπιέναι, ἀλλὰ μόνον ἀπὸ τοῦ δημιουργοῦντος, οἷον ἀπὸ τοῦ τέκτονος ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης.
For even if the coming away from the whole did occur, as they say, there would be no need to claim that it comes away from all parts, but only from that which fashions, as from the carpenter and not from the material.
νῦν δ᾽ ὅμοιον λέγουσιν ὥσπερ κἂν εἰ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑποδημάτων· σχεδὸν γὰρ ὅμοιός τις υἱὸς τῷ πατρὶ ὅμοια φορεῖ.
But as it is, what they say is just as if one were to say that it comes away from the shoes; for a similar son wears shoes similar to his father's.
ὅτι δ᾽ ἡδονὴ σφοδρὰ γίνεται ἐν τῇ ὁμιλίᾳ τῇ τῶν ἀφροδισίων, οὐ τὸ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπιέναι αἴτιον, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι κνησμός ἐστιν ἰσχυρός· διὸ καὶ εἰ πολλάκις συμβαίνει ἡ ὁμιλία αὕτη, ἧττον γίνεται τὸ χαίρειν τοῖς πλησιάζουσιν.
And as for the intense pleasure that occurs in sexual intercourse, it is not the coming away from the whole that is the cause, but because there is a strong itching; hence if this intercourse occurs frequently, those who couple enjoy it less.
ἔτι πρὸς τῷ τέλει ἡ χαρά· ἔδει δὲ ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν μορίων, καὶ μὴ ἅμα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν μὲν τοῖς πρότερον ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὕστερον.
Furthermore, the joy occurs at the end; whereas it ought to occur in each of the parts, and not simultaneously, but in some earlier and in others later.
τοῦ δ᾽ ἐκ κολοβῶν γίνεσθαι κολοβὰ ἡ αὐτὴ αἰτία καὶ διὰ τί ὅμοια τοῖς γονεῦσιν.
And the cause of mutilated offspring being born from mutilated parents is the same as why they resemble their parents.
γίνεται δὲ καὶ οὐ κολοβὰ ἐκ κολοβῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἀνόμοια τοῖς τεκνώσασιν· περὶ ὧν ὕστερον τὴν αἰτίαν θεωρητέον· τὸ γὰρ πρόβλημα τοῦτ᾽ ἐκείνοις ταὐτόν ἐστιν.
But non-mutilated offspring are also born from mutilated parents, just as they also resemble those who begot them; the cause of these things must be considered later, for this problem is the same for them.
ἔτι εἰ τὸ θῆλυ μὴ προΐεται σπέρμα, τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου μηδ᾽ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπιέναι.
Further, if the female does not emit semen, by the same argument it does not come away from the whole.
κἂν εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπέρχεται, οὐθὲν ἄλογον τὸ μήδ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ θήλεος, ἀλλ᾽ ἄλλον τινὰ τρόπον αἴτιον εἶναι τὸ θῆλυ τῆς γενέσεως.
And even if it does not come away from the whole, there is nothing unreasonable in its not coming from the female either, but in the female being the cause of generation in some other way.
περὶ οὗ δὴ ἐχόμενόν ἐστιν ἐπισκέψασθαι, ἐπειδὴ φανερὸν ὅτι οὐκ ἀπὸ πάντων ἀποκρίνεται τὸ σπέρμα τῶν μορίων.
This indeed is what we must investigate next, since it is clear that the semen is not secreted from all the parts.
Ἀρχὴ δὲ καὶ ταύτης τῆς σκέψεως καὶ τῶν ἑπομένων πρῶτον λαβεῖν περὶ σπέρματος τί ἐστιν· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἔργῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸ συμβαινόντων ἔσται μᾶλλον εὐθεώρητον.
The starting-point of this inquiry and of those that follow is first to grasp what semen is; for in this way its functions and the things that happen concerning it will be more easily observed.
βούλεται δὲ τοιοῦτον τὴν φύσιν εἶναι τὸ σπέρμα, ἐξ οὗ τὰ κατὰ φύσιν συνιστάμενα γίνεται πρώτου, οὐ τῷ ἐξ ἐκείνου τι εἶναι τὸ ποιοῦν, οἷον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· γίγνεται γὰρ ἐκ τούτου, ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ σπέρμα.
Semen is intended to be of such a nature that from it, as the first thing, those things that are constituted according to nature come into being, not by some active factor being something from it, as in the case of man; for he comes into being from this, because this is the semen.
ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλαχῶς γίγνεται ἄλλο ἐξ ἄλλου· ἕτερον γὰρ τρόπον, ὡς ἐξ ἡμέρας φαμὲν νὺξ γίγνεται καὶ ἐκ παιδὸς ἀνήρ, ὅτι τόδε μετὰ τόδε ἄλλον δὲ τρόπον, ὡς ἐκ χαλκοῦ ἀνδριὰς καὶ ἐκ ζύλου κλίνη, καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα ὡς ἐξ ὕλης γίγνεσθαι τὰ γιγνόμενα λέγομεν, ἔκ τινος ἐνυπάρχοντος καὶ σχηματισθέντος τὸ ὅλον ἐστίν.
But since one thing comes to be from another in many ways: in one way, as we say night comes from day and a man from a boy, because this is after that; in another way, as a statue from bronze and a bed from wood, and all other things which we say come to be as from material, the whole being made from something that is inherent and has been shaped.
ἕτερον δὲ τρόπον ὡς ἐκ μουσικοῦ ἄμουσος καὶ ὡς ἐξ ὑγιοῦς κάμνων, καὶ ὅλως ὡς τὸ ἐναντίον ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου.
In another way, as an unmusical man from a musical one, and a sick man from a healthy one, and in general as the contrary from the contrary.
ἔτι δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα, ὡς Ἐπίχαρμος ποιεῖ τὴν ἐποικοδόμησιν, ἐκ τῆς διαβολῆς ἡ λοιδορία, ἐκ δὲ ταύτης ἡ μάχη, ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἔκ τινος ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κινήσεως.
And besides these, as Epicharmus makes the accumulation: from slander comes abuse, and from this a fight, and in all these the starting-point of the movement is from something.
τῶν δὲ τοιούτων ἐνίων μὲν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κινήσεώς ἐστιν, οἷον καὶ ἐν τοῖς νῦν εἰρημένοις (μέρος γάρ τι ἡ διαβολὴ τῆς πάσης ταραχῆς ἐστίν), ἐνίων δ᾽ ἔξω, οἷον αἱ τέχναι τῶν δημιουργουμένων καὶ ὁ λύχνος τῆς καιομένης οἰκίας.
And of such things, in some the starting-point of movement is in themselves, as in those just mentioned (for slander is a certain part of the whole disturbance), while in others it is outside, as the arts in the things fashioned, and the lamp in the house that is burned.
τὸ δὲ σπέρμα φανερὸν ὅτι δυοῖν τούτοιν ἐν θατέρῳ ἐστίν· ἢ γὰρ ὡς ἐξ ὕλης αὐτοῦ ἢ ὡς ἐκ πρώτου χινήσαντός τὸ γινόμενον οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὡς τόδε μετὰ τόδε, οἷον ἐκ τῶν Παναθηναίων ὁ πλοῦς, οὐδ’ ὡς ἐξ ἐναντίου·
Now it is clear that semen is in one of these two; for the thing that comes to be is either from it as material or as from the first mover.
φθειρομένου τε γὰρ γίγνεται τὸ ἐναντίον ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου, καὶ ἕτερόν τι δεῖ ὑποκεῖσθαι ἐξ οὗ ἔσται πρώτου ἐνυπάρχοντος.
For it is surely not as this after that, as the voyage after the Panathenaea, nor as from the contrary; for the contrary comes to be from the contrary when it perishes, and there must be some other underlying subject from which it will come to be as the first inherent thing.