§1.21περὶ μὲν τούτων διωρίσθω τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον.
\nLet these matters be defined in this manner.
ἅμα δ᾽ ἐκ τούτων φανερόν, περὶ ὧν ἐχόμενόν ἐστιν ἐπισκέψασθαι, πῶς ποτὲ συμβάλλεται εἰς τὴν γένεσιν τὸ ἄρρεν, καὶ πῶς αἴτιόν ἐστι τοῦ γινομένου τὸ σπέρμα τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος, πότερον ὡς ἐνυπάρχον καὶ μόριον ὂν εὐθὺς τοῦ γινομένου σώματος, μιγνύμενον τῇ ὕλῃ τῇ παρὰ τοῦ θήλεος, ἢ τὸ μὲν σῶμα οὐθὲν κοινωνεῖ τοῦ σπέρματος, ἡ δ᾽ ἐν αὐτῷ δύναμις καὶ κίνησις· αὕτη μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ποιοῦσα, τὸ δὲ συνιστάμενον καὶ λαμβάνον τὴν μορφὴν τὸ τοῦ ἐν τῷ θήλει περιττώματος λοιπόν.
And at the same time, from these things it is clear, concerning which points it is our next business to investigate, how on earth the male contributes to generation, and how the semen from the male is the cause of that which is produced: whether as being inherent and being immediately a part of the body that is produced, mixing with the matter from the female, or whether the physical body of the semen does not contribute at all, but only the power and movement in it; for this is what acts, while that which is coagulated and takes the form is the remainder of the residue in the female.\nAnd it appears so both according to the argument and in the facts.
κατά τε δὴ τὸν λόγον οὕτω φαίνεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων. καθόλου τε γὰρ ἐπισκοποῦσιν οὐ φαίνεται γιγνόμενον ἓν ἐκ τοῦ παθητικοῦ καὶ τοῦ ποιοῦντος ὡς ἐνυπάρχοντος ἐν τῷ γινομένῳ τοῦ ποιοῦντος, οὐδ᾽ ὅλως δὴ ἐκ τοῦ κινουμένου καὶ κινοῦντος.
For to those who consider it generally, it does not appear that one thing is produced from the passive and the active in such a way that the active is inherent in the product, nor indeed generally from that which is moved and that which moves.
ἀλλὰ μὴν τό γε θῆλυ, ᾗ θῆλυ, παθητικόν, τὸ δ᾽ ἄρρεν, ιἧ ἄρρεν, ποιητικὸν καὶ ὅθεν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κινήσεως.
But indeed the female, as female, is passive, and the male, as male, is active and that from which the principle of movement comes.
ὥστε ἂν ληφθῇ τὰ ἄκρα ἑκατέρων, ᾗ τὸ μὲν ποιητικὸν καὶ κινοῦν, τὸ δὲ παθητικὸν καὶ κινούμενον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τούτων τὸ γιγνόμενον ἕν, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ οὕτως ὡς ἐκ τοῦ τέκτονος καὶ ξύλου ἡ κλίνη, ἢ ὡς ἐκ τοῦ κηροῦ καὶ τοῦ εἴδους ἡ σφαῖρα.
So if the extremes of each are taken, in so far as one is active and moving, and the other passive and moved, the product is not one out of these except either as the bed from the carpenter and the wood, or the sphere from the wax and the form.
δῆλον ἄρα ὅτι οὔτ᾽ ἀνάγκη ἀπιέναι τι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος, οὔτ᾽ εἴ τι ἀπέρχεται, διὰ τοῦτο ἐκ τούτου ὡς ἐνυπάρχοντος τὸ γιγνόμενόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐκ κινήσαντος καὶ τοῦ εἴδους, ὡς καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἰατρικῆς ὁ ὑγιασθείς. συμβαίνει δ᾽ ὁμολογούμενα τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων.
It is clear then that neither is it necessary that anything should come away from the male, nor, if anything does come away, is the product for this reason made out of it as something inherent, but as from that which moves and from the form, just as the healthy person is from the medical art.\nAnd things agreeing with the argument happen also in the facts.
διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἔνια τῶν ἀρρένων καὶ συνδυαξομένων τοῖς θήλεσιν οὐδὲ μόριον οὐθὲν φαίνεται προϊέμενα εἰς τὸ θῆλυ, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον τὸ θῆλυ, εἰς τὸ ἄρρεν, ὃ συμβαίνει ἐνίοις τῶν ἐντόμων.
For because of this, some of the males, even when copulating with the females, do not appear to emit even any part of themselves into the female, but on the contrary, the female emits into the male, which happens in some of the insects.
ὃ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς προϊεμένοις ἀπεργάζεται τὸ σπέρμα ἐν τῷ θήλει, τοῦτο ἡ ἐν τῷ ζῴῳ αὐτῷ ὑγρότης καὶ δύναμις ἀπεργάζεται, εἰσ φέροντος τοῦ θήλεος τὸ δεκτικὸν τοῦ περιττώματος μόριον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν ζῴων συμπλέκεται μὲν ποοῦν μέχρι ἂν συστήσῃ, ὥσπερ ἡ γονή· διαλυθέντα δὲ προΐεται τὸ κύημα ταχέως.
For that which, in those animals that emit semen, the semen effects in the female, this is effected by the moisture and power in the animal itself, while the female inserts the part receptive of the residue. And because of this, such animals remain coupled, acting until they have coagulated the matter, just like the semen; and having separated, they emit the fetation quickly.
γεννᾷ γὰρ ἀτελές· σκωληκοτοκεῖ γὰρ παντα τὰ τοιαῦτα. μέγιστον δὲ σημεῖον τὸ συμβαῖνον. περὶ τοὺς ὄρνιθας καὶ τὸ τῶν ἰχθύων γένος τῶν ᾠοτόκων τοῦ μήτε ἀπὸ πάντων εἶναι τὸ σπέρμα τῶν μορίων, μήτε προΐεσθαι τὸ ἄρρεν τοιοῦτόν τι μόριον ὃ ἔσται ἐνυπάρχον τῷ γεννηθέντι, ἀλλὰ μόνον τῇ δυνάμει τῇ ἐν τῇ γονῇ ζῳοποιεῖν, ὥσπερ εἴπομεν ἐπὶ τῶν ἐντόμων, ἐν οἷς τὸ θῆλυ προΐεται εἰς τὸ ἄρρεν.
For they generate something imperfect; for all such things produce larvae.\nAnd the greatest sign of the fact that the semen is not from all the parts, nor does the male emit any such part which will be inherent in the offspring, but only by the power in the semen does it quicken, just as we said in the case of insects in which the female emits into the male, is that which happens in the case of birds and the genus of oviparous fishes.
ἐάν τε γὰρ ὑπηνέμια τύχῃ κύουσα ἡ ὄρνις, ἐὰν μετὰ ταῦτα ὀχεύηται μήπω μεταβεβληκότος τοῦ ᾠοῦ ἐκ τοῦ ὠχρὸν ὅλον εἶναι εἰσ τὸ λευκαίνεσθαι, γόνιμα γίνεται ἀντὶ ὑπηνεμίων· ἐάν τε ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρου ὠχευμένη καὶ ἔτι ὠχροῦ ὄντος, κατὰ τὸν ὕστερον ὀχεύσαντα τὸ γένος ἀποβαίνει πᾶν τὸ τῶν νεοττῶν.
For if a bird happens to be pregnant with wind-eggs, if after this she is trodden when the egg has not yet changed from being entirely yellow to becoming white, they become fertile instead of wind-eggs; and if she has been trodden by another while the egg is still yellow, the whole breed of chicks turns out according to the latter treader.
διὸ ἔνιος τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τῶν περὶ τὰς ὄρνιθας τὰς γενναίας σπουδαζόντων ποιοῦσι, μεταβάλλοντες τὰ πρῶτα ὀχεῖα καὶ τὰ ὕστερα, ὡς οὐ συμμιγνύμενον καὶ ἐνυπάρχον, οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἐλθὸν τὸ σπέρμα.
Therefore some of those who are keen on well-bred birds do in this way, changing the first sires and the subsequent ones, knowing that the semen is not mixed and inherent, nor does it come from the whole body.
ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοῖν γὰρ ἂν ἦλθεν, ὥστ᾽ εἶχεν ἂν δὶς ταὐτὰ μέρη.
For it would have come from both, so that the chick would have had the same parts twice.
ἀλλὰ τῇ δυνάμει τὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος σπέρμα τὴν ἐν τῷ θήλει ὕλην καὶ τροφὴν ποιάν τινα κατασκευάζει.
But by its power the semen of the male fashions the matter and nourishment in the female into a certain quality.
τοῦτο γὰρ ἐνδέχεται ποιεῖν τὸ ὕστερον ἐπεισελθὸν ἐκ τοῦ θερμᾶναι καὶ πέψαι· λαμβάνει γὰρ τροφὴν τὸ ᾠὸν ἕως ἂν αὐξάνηται. τὸ δ᾽ αὐτὸ συμβαίνει καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἰχθύων γένεσιν τῶν ᾠοτοκουμένων.
For that which enters afterwards is able to do this by warming and concocting; for the egg receives nourishment as long as it grows.\nThe same thing happens also concerning the generation of oviparous fishes.
ὅταν γὰρ ἀποτέκῃ τὰ ᾠὰ ἡ θήλεια, ὁ ἄρρην ἐπιρραίνει τὸν θορόν· καὶ ὧν μὲν ἂν ἐφάψηται, γόνιμα ταῦτα γίνεται τὰ ᾠᾴ, ὧν δ᾽ ἂν μή, ἄγονα, ὡς οὐκ εἰς τὸ ποσὸν συμβαλλομένου τοῖς ζῴοις τοῦ ἄρρενος, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὸ ποιόν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὔτ’ ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀπέρχεται τὸ σπέρμα τοῖς προϊεμένοις σπέρμα τῶν ζῴων, οὔτε τὸ θῆλυ πρὸς τὴν γένεσιν οὕτω συμβάλλεται τοῖς συνισταμένοις ὡς τὸ ἄρρεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν ἀρχὴν κινήσεως, τὸ δὲ θῆλυ τὴν ὕλην, δῆλον ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων.
For when the female has spawned the eggs, the male sprinkles them with milt; and those which it touches become fertile eggs, but those which it does not, infertile, as the male contributes to the animals not in respect of quantity, but of quality.\nThat, then, the semen does not come from the whole body in those animals that emit semen, nor does the female contribute in the same way as the male to the generation of the things constituted, but the male provides the principle of movement and the female the matter, is clear from what has been said.
διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο οὔτ᾽ αὐτὸ καθ᾽ αὑτὸ γεννᾷ τὸ θῆλυ· δεῖται γὰρ ἀρχῆς καὶ τοῦ κινήσοντος καὶ διοριοῦντος.
For because of this, the female does not generate by itself; for it needs a principle and that which will move and determine it.
ἀλλ᾽ ἐνίοις γε τῶν ζῴων, οἷον τοῖς ὄρνισι, μέχρι τινὸς ἡ φύσις δύναται γεννᾶν· αὗται γὰρ συνιστᾶσι μέν, ἀτελῆ δὲ συνιστᾶσι τὰ καλούμενα ὑπηνέμια ᾠά.
But in some of the animals, such as birds, nature is able to generate up to a certain point; for these do form indeed, but they form imperfect things, the so-called wind-eggs.