§2.2περὶ δὲ τῆς τοῦ σπέρματος φύσεως ἀπορήσειεν ἄν τις.
About the nature of the semen one might raise a difficulty.
τὸ γὰρ σπέρμα ἐξέρχεται μὲν ἐκ τοῦ ζῴου παχὺ καὶ λευκόν, ψυχόμενον δὲ γίνεται ὑγρὸν ὥσπερ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ χρῶμα ὕδατος.
For the semen comes out from the animal thick and white, but when cooled it becomes fluid like water, and its colour is that of water.
ἄτοπον δὴ ἂν δόξειεν· οὐ γὰρ παχύνεται ὕδωρ θερμῷ, τὸ δ’ ἔσωθεν ἐκ θερμοῦ ἐξέρχεται παχύ, ψυχόμενον δὲ γίνεται ὑγρόν.
This indeed would seem strange; for water is not thickened by heat, yet semen comes out from within thick being hot, and when cooled becomes fluid.
καίτοι πήγνυταί γε τὰ ὑδατώδη· τὸ δὲ σπέρμα οὐ πήγνυται τιθέμενον ἐν τοῖς πάγοις ὑπαίθριον, ἀλλ’ ὑγραίνεται, ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐναντίου παχυνθέν.
And yet watery things do freeze; but semen does not freeze when placed in the frosts in the open air, but becomes fluid, as if it had been thickened by the opposite.
ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδ’ ὑπὸ θερμοῦ παχύνεσθαι εὔλογον.
But indeed, neither is it reasonable that it is thickened by heat.
ὅσα γὰρ γῆς πλεῖον ἔχει, ταῦτα συνίσταται καὶ παχύνεται ἑψόριενα, οἷον καὶ τὸ γάλα.
For those things which contain more of earth, these solidify and thicken when boiled, as for instance milk.
ἔδει οὖν ψυχόμενον στερεοῦσθαι.
It ought then to become solid when cooled.
νῦν δ’ οὐθὲν γίνεται στερεόν, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ὥσπερ ύδωρ.
But as it is, nothing becomes solid, but the whole is like water.
ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀπορία αὕτη ἐστίν.
Such, then, is the difficulty.
εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὕδωρ, τὸ ὕδωρ οὐ φαίνεται παχυνόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ, τὸ δ’ ἐξέρχεται παχὺ καὶ θερμὸν καὶ ἐκ θερμοῦ τοῦ σώματος· εἰ δ’ ἐκ γῆς ἢ μικτὸν γῆς καὶ ὕδατος, οὐχ ἔδει ὑγρὸν πᾶν γίνεσθαι καὶ ῾ὕδωρ.
For if it is water, water does not appear to be thickened by heat, but semen comes out thick and hot, and from a hot body; and if it is of earth or a mixture of earth and water, it ought not to become all fluid and water.
ἢ οὐ πάντα τὰ συμβαίνοντα διιηρήκαμεν.
Or have we not distinguished all the possibilities?
οὐ γὰρ μόνον παχύνεται τὸ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ γεώδους συνιστάμενον ὑγρόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οἷον καὶ ὁ ἀφρὸς γίνεται παχύτερος καὶ λευκός, καὶ ὅσιω ἂν ἐλάττους καὶ ἀδηλότεραι αἱ πομφόλυγες ὦσι, τοσούτῳ καὶ λευκότερος καὶ στιφρότερος ὁ ὄγκος φαίνεται.
For not only is the fluid composed of water and earthy matter thickened, but also that composed of water and pneuma, as for instance foam becomes thicker and white, and the smaller and more indistinct the bubbles are, the whiter and more solid the mass appears.
τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ ἕλαιον πάσχει· παχύνεται γὰρ τῷ πνεύματι μιγνύμενον· διὸ καὶ τὸ λευκαινόμοῦ μενον παχύτερον γίνεται, τοῦ ἐνότος ὑδατώδους ὑπὸ τοῦ θερδιακρινομένου καὶ γινομένου πνεύματος.
And the same happens also to oil; for it is thickened by being mixed with pneuma; therefore that which becomes white becomes thicker, as the watery element in it is separated by heat and becomes pneuma.
καὶ ἡ μολύβ δαινα μιγνυμένη ὕδατι ἢ καὶ ἐλαὶῳ ἐξ ὀλίγου τε πολὺν ὄγκον ποιεῖ καὶ ἐξ ὑγροῦ στιφρὸν καὶ ἐκ μέλανος λευκόν.
And white lead, when mixed with water or even with oil, makes a large volume from a small one, and from a fluid becomes solid, and from black, white.
αἴτιον δ’ ὅτι ἐγκαταμίγνυται πνεῦμα, ὃ τόν τε ὄγκον ποιεῖ καὶ τὴν λευκότητα διαφαίνει, ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ ἀφρῷ καὶ τῇ χιόνι· καὶ γὰρ ἡ χιών ἐστιν ἀφρός.
And the cause is that pneuma is mixed in, which makes the volume and shows the whiteness through, just as in foam and snow; for snow too is foam.
καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ὕδωρ τῷ ἐλαίῳ μιγνύμενον γίνεται παχὺ καὶ λευκόν· καὶ γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς τρίψεως ἐγκατακλείεται πνεῦμα, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἔλαιον ἔχει πνεῦμα πολύ· ἔστι γὰρ οὕτε γῆς οὔτε ὕδατος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος τὸ λιπαρόν.
And water itself, when mixed with oil, becomes thick and white; for by friction pneuma is enclosed, and oil itself has much pneuma; for the fatty element belongs neither to earth nor to water, but to pneuma.
διὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὕδατι ἐπιπολάζει· ὁ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ ὢν ἀήρ, ὥσπερ ἐν ἀγγείῳ, φέρει ἄνω καὶ ἐπιπολάζει καὶ αἴτιος τῆς κουφότητός ἐστιν.
Therefore also it floats upon the water; for the air inside it, as if in a vessel, carries it upwards and makes it float, and is the cause of its lightness.
καὶ ἐν τοῖς ψύχεσι δὲ καὶ πάγοις παχύνεται τὸ ἔλαιον, πήγνυται δ’ οὔ· διὰ μὲν γὰρ θερμότητα οὐ πήγνυται (ὁ γὰρ ἀὴρ θερμὸν καὶ ἄπηκτον), διὰ δὲ τὸ συνίστασθαι αὐτὸν καὶ πυκνοῦσθαι ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τοῦ ψύχους παχύτερον γίνεται τὸ ἔλαιον.
And in cold and frosts oil thickens, but does not freeze; it does not freeze because of heat (for air is hot and non-freezable), but because the air solidifies and condenses as if by the cold, the oil becomes thicker.
διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας καὶ τὸ σπέρμα ἔσωθεν μὲν ἐξέρχεται στιφρὸν καὶ λευκόν, ὑπὸ τῆς ἐντὸς θερμότητος πνεῦμα πολὺ ἔχον θερμόν, ἐξελθόντος δὲ ὅταν ἀποπνεύσιη τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ ψυχθῇ, ὑγρὸν γίνεται καὶ μέλαν· λείπεται γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ εἴ τι μικρὸν γεῶδες, ὥσπερ ἐν φλέγματι, καὶ ἐν τῷ σπέρματι ξηραινομένῳ.
For these causes the semen also comes out from within solid and white, having much hot pneuma because of the internal heat, but when it has come out and the heat has evaporated and the air cooled, it becomes fluid and black; for the water and whatever small earthy matter there is are left behind, just as in phlegm, and in semen when dried.
ἔστ μὲν οὖν τὸ σπέρμα κοινὸν πεύματος καὶ ὕδατος, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμά ἐστι θερμὸς ἀήρ· διὸ ὑγρὸν τὴν φύσιν, ὅτι ἐξ ὕδατος.
So the semen is a compound of pneuma and water, and pneuma is hot air; therefore it is fluid in its nature, because it is of water.
Κτησίας γὰρ ὁ Κνίδιος ἃ περὶ τοῦ σπέρματος τῶν ἐλεφάντων εἴρηκε, φανερός ἐστιν ἐψευσμένος.
For Ctesias of Cnidus is clearly wrong in what he said about the semen of elephants.
φησὶ γὰρ οὕτω σκληρύνεσθαι ξηραινόμενον ὥστε γίνεσθαι ἠλέκτρῳ ὅμοιον.
For he says that when dried it hardens so much that it becomes like amber.
τοῦτο δ’ οὐ γίνεται· μᾶλλον μὲν γὰρ ἕτερον ἑτέρου σπέρμα γεωδέστερον ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι, καὶ μάλιστα τοιοῦτον ὅσοις πολὺ γεῶδες ὑπάρχει κατὰ τὸν ὄγκον τὸν τοῦ σώματος.
But this does not happen; although indeed it is necessary for the semen of one animal to be more earthy than another, and especially so in those which have much earthy matter in proportion to the bulk of their body.
παχὺ δὲ καὶ λευκὸν διὰ τὸ μεμῖχθαι πνεῦμα.
But it is thick and white because of the mixture of pneuma.
καὶ γὰρ λευκόν ἐστι τὸ σπέρμα πάντων· Ἡρόδοτος γὰρ οὐκ ἀληθῆ λέγει, φάσκων μέλαιναν εἶναι τὴν τῶν Αἰθιόπων γονήν, ὥσπερ ἀναγκαῖον ὂν τῶν τὴν χρόαν μελάνων εἶναι πάντα μέλανα, καὶ ταῦθ’ ὁρῶν καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν ὄντας λευκούς.
For the semen of all is white; for Herodotus does not speak the truth when he says that the semen of the Ethiopians is black, as if it were necessary that everything of those black in skin should be black, and this when seeing that even their teeth are white.
αἴτιον δὲ τῆς λευκότητος τοῦ σπέρματος ὅτι ἐστὶν ἡ γονὴ ἀφρός, ὁ δ’ ἀφρὸς λευκόν, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ ἐξ ὀλιγίστων συγκείμενον μορίων καὶ οὕτω μικρῶν ὥσπερ ἑκάστης ἀοράτου τῆς πομφόλυγος οὔσης, ὅπερ συμβαίνει καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ ἐλαίου μιγυμένων καὶ τριβομένων, καθάπερ ἐλέχθη πρότερον.
And the cause of the whiteness of the semen is that the semen is foam, and foam is white, especially that which consists of the smallest parts, and so small as if each bubble were invisible, which is what happens also when water and oil are mixed and rubbed together, as was said before.
ἔοικε δὲ οὐδὲ τοὺς ἀρχαίους λανθάνειν ἀφρώδης ἡ τοῦ σπέρματος οὖσα φύσις· τὴν γοῦν κυρίαν θεὸν τῆς μιξεως ἀπὸ τῆς δυνάμεως ταύτης προσηγόρευσαν.
And it seems that the foamy nature of the semen did not escape the ancients either; at least, they named the goddess who presides over sexual union from this power.
Ἡ μὲν οὖν αἰτία τῆς λεχθείσης ἀπορίας εἴρηται, φανερὸν δὲ ὅτι διὰ τοῦτ’ οὐδὲ πήγνυται· ὁ γὰρ ἀὴρ ἄπηκτος.
The cause, then, of the difficulty mentioned has been stated, and it is clear that for this reason it does not freeze either; for air cannot be frozen.