§2.4#4ἤδη γὰρ ἀρχὴν ταύτην ἄξιον ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ ζῴου καὶ τοῦ συστήματος, ὅταν δέηται τροφῆς· τὸ γὰρ δὴ ὂν αὐξάνεται.
For indeed, it is worthy to regard this as the principle of the animal and of its constitution, when it needs nourishment; for that which exists grows.
τροφὴ δὲ ζῴου ἡ ἐσχάτη αἷμα καὶ τὸ ἀνάλογον.
And the ultimate nourishment of an animal is blood, or its analogue.
τούτων δ᾽ ἀγγεῖον αἱ φλέβες· διὸ ἡ καρδία καὶ τούτων ἀρχή.
And the vessel for these is the blood-vessels; wherefore the heart is also the principle of these.
δῆλον δὲ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν ἱστοριῶν καὶ τῶν ἀνατομῶν.
And this is clear both from the 'Histories' and from the 'Dissecting Books'.
ἐπεὶ δὲ δυνάμει μὲν ἤδη ζῷον ἀτελὲς δέ, ἄλλοθεν ἀναγκαῖον λαμβάνειν τὴν τροφήν· διὸ χρῆται τῇ ὑστέρᾳ καὶ τῇ ἐχούσῃ, ὥσπερ γῇ φυτόν, τοῦ λαμβάνειν τροφήν, ἕως ἂν τελεωθῇ πρὸς τὸ εἶναι ἤδη ζῷον δυνάμει πορευτικόν.
But since the embryo is already potentially an animal, though an imperfect one, it must receive its nourishment from elsewhere; wherefore it uses the uterus and the mother that holds it, just as a plant uses the earth, in order to receive nourishment, until it is perfected so as to be already potentially a locomotive animal.
διὸ ἐκ τῆς καρδίας τὰς δύο φλέβας πρῶτον ἡ φύσις ὑπέγραψεν· ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων φλέβια ἀπήρτηται πρὸς τὴν ὑστέραν ὁ καλούμενος ὀμφαλός.
Therefore, nature first outlined the two blood-vessels from the heart; and from these, the so-called umbilical cord, which is fine blood-vessels, is suspended towards the uterus.
ἔστι γὰρ ὁ ὀμφαλὸς φλέψ, τοῖς μὲν μία, τοῖς δὲ πλείους τῶν ζῴων.
For the umbilical cord is a blood-vessel, single in some animals, and more than one in others.
περὶ δὲ ταύτας κέλυφος δερματικὸν [ὁ καλούμενος ὀμφαλός] διὰ τὸ δεῖσθαι σωτηρίας καὶ σκέπης τὴν τῶν φλεβῶν ἀσθένειαν.
And around these is a skin-like sheath [the so-called umbilical cord] because of the weakness of the blood-vessels requiring protection and covering.
αἱ δὲ φλέβες οἷον ῥίζαι πρὸς τὴν ὑστέραν συνάπτουσι, δι᾽ ὧν λαμβάνει τὸ κύημα τὴν τροφήν.
And these blood-vessels connect to the uterus like roots, through which the embryo receives its nourishment.
τούτου γὰρ χάριν ἐν ταῖς ὑστέραις μένει τὸ ζῷον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὡς Δημόκριτός φησιν, ἵνα διαπλάττηται τὰ μόρια κατὰ τὰ μόρια τῆς ἐχούσης.
For it is for this reason that the animal remains in the uterus, and not, as Democritus says, in order that the parts may be molded according to the parts of the mother that holds it.
τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ᾠοτοκούντων φανερόν· ἐκεῖνα γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ᾠοῖς λαμβάνει τὴν διάκρισιν, κεχωρισμένα τῆς μήτρας.
For this is clear in the case of oviparous animals; for those receive their differentiation in the eggs, separated from the womb.
ἀπορήσειε δ᾽ ἄν τις, εἰ τὸ αἷμα μὲν τροφή ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ καρδία πρώτη γίνεται ἔναιμος οὖσα, τὸ δ᾽ αἷμα τροφή, ἡ δὲ τροφὴ θύραθεν, πόθεν εἰσῆλθεν ἡ πρώτη τροφή;
But one might raise a puzzle: if blood is nourishment, and the heart is the first to become possessed of blood, and if blood is nourishment and nourishment comes from outside, where did the first nourishment enter?
ἢ τοῦτ᾽ οὐκ ἀληθές, ὡς πᾶσα θύραθεν, ἀλλ᾽ εὐθύς, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς τῶν φυτῶν σπέρμασιν ἔνεστί τι τοιοῦτον τὸ φαινόμενον πρῶτον γαλακτῶδες, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ ὕλῃ τῶν ζῴων τὸ περίττωμα τῆς συστάσεως τροφή ἐστιν.
Or is this not true, that all nourishment comes from outside, but rather, just as in the seeds of plants there is at first some such substance appearing milk-like, so also in the matter of animals the surplus of the coagulation is nourishment?
ἡ μὲν οὖν αὔξησις τῷ κυήματι γίνεται διὰ τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὅνπερ διὰ τῶν ῥιζῶν τοῖς φυτοῖς, καὶ τοῖς ζῴοις αὐτοῖς, ὅταν ἀπολυθῶσιν ἐκ τῆς ἐν αὑτοῖς τροφῆς· περὶ ὧν ὕστερον λεκτέον κατὰ τοὺς οἰκείους τῶν λόγων καιρούς.
Therefore, growth in the embryo takes place through the umbilical cord in the same way as through the roots in plants, and in the animals themselves when they are released from the nourishment within themselves; about which we must speak later at the appropriate moments in our discussions.
ἡ δὲ διάκρισις γίγνεται τῶν μορίων οὐχ ὥς τινες ὑπολαμβάνουσι, διὰ τὸ πεφυκέναι φέρεσθαι τὸ ὅμοιον πρὸς τὸ ὅμοιον (πρὸς γὰρ πολλαῖς ἄλλαις αἷς ὁ λόγος οὗτος ἔχει δυσχερείαις, συμβαίνει χωρὶς ἕκαστον γίνεσθαι τῶν μορίων τῶν ὁμοιομερῶν, οἷον ὀστᾶ καθ’ αὑτὰ καὶ νεῦρα, καὶ τὰς σάρκας καθ’ αὑτάς, εἴ τις ἀποδέξαιτο ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν)· ἀλλ’ ὅτι τὸ περίττωμα τὸ τοῦ θήλεος δυνάμει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν οἷον φύσει τὸ ζῷον, καὶ ἔνεστι δυνάμει τὰ μόρια, ἐνεργείᾳ δ’ οὐθέν, διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν γίνεται ἕκαστον αὐτῶν, καὶ ὅτι τὸ ποιητικὸν καὶ τὸ παθητικόν, ὅταν θίγωσιν ὃν τρόπον ἐστὶ τὸ μὲν ποιητικὸν τὸ δὲ παθητικόν (τὸν δὲ τρόπον λέγω τὸ ὣς καὶ οὗ καὶ ὅτε), εὐθὺς τὸ μὲν ποιεῖ τὸ δὲ πάσχει.
And the differentiation of the parts does not take place, as some suppose, because of a natural tendency for like to be carried to like (for in addition to many other difficulties which this view has, it would happen that each of the homoeomerous parts would be formed separately, as bones by themselves, sinews by themselves, and flesh by itself, if one were to accept this cause); but rather because the surplus of the female is potentially such as the animal is by nature, and the parts are present potentially, though none in actuality, for this reason each of them comes to be, and because the active and the passive, when they touch in the way that one is active and the other passive (and by 'way' I mean the how, where, and when), immediately the one acts and the other is acted upon.
ὕλην μὲν οὖν παρέχει τὸ θῆλυ, τὴν δ’ ἀρχὴν τῆς κινήσεως τὸ ἄρρεν.
Therefore, the female provides the matter, and the male provides the principle of movement.
ὥσπερ δὲ τὰ ὑπὸ τῆς τέχνης γινόμενα γίνεται διὰ τῶν ὀργάνων, ἔστι δ’ ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν διὰ τῆς κινήσεως αὐτῶν, αὕτη δ’ ἐστὶν ἡ ἐνέργεια τῆς τέχνης, ἡ δὲ τέχνη μορφὴ τῶν γινομένων ἐν ἄλλῳ, οὕτως ἡ τῆς θρεπτικῆς ψυχῆς δύναμις, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ζῴοις καὶ τοῖς φυτοῖς ὕστερον ἐκ τῆς τροφῆς ποιεῖ τὴν αὔξησιν, χρωμένη οἷον ὀργάνοις θερμότητι καὶ ψυχρότητι (ε᾽ν γὰρ τούτοις ἡ κίνησις ἐκείνης, καὶ λόγῳ τινὶ ἕκαστον γίνεται), οὕτω καὶ έξ ἀρχῆς συνίστησι τὸ φύσει γιγνόμενον.
And just as things made by art are made through instruments, or to speak more truly, through their movement, which is the actuality of the art, and art is the form of things made in another, so the power of the nutritive soul, just as it subsequently produces growth from nourishment in the animals and plants themselves, using heat and cold as instruments (for in these is its movement, and each part comes to be according to a certain proportion), so from the beginning it constitutes that which comes to be by nature.
ἡ γὰρ αὐτή ἐστιν ὕλη ᾗ αὐξάνεται καὶ ἐξ ἧς συνίσταται τὸ πρῶτον, ὥστε καὶ ἡ ποιοῦσα δύναμις ταὐτὸ τῷ ἐξ ἀρχῆς.
For the matter by which it grows and from which it is first constituted is the same, so that the producing power is also the same as that from the beginning.
μείζων δὲ αὕτη ἐστίν.
But this is greater.
εἰ οὖν αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ θρεπτικὴ ψυχή, αὕτη ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ γεννῶσα· καὶ τοῦτ’ ἐστὶν ἡ φύσις ἡ ἑκάστου, ἐνυπάρχουσα καὶ ἐν φυτοῖς καὶ ἐν ζῴοις πᾶσιν.
If, then, this is the nutritive soul, this is also that which generates; and this is the nature of each, present in both plants and all animals.
τὰ δ’ ἄλλα μόρια τῆς ψυχῆς τοῖς μὲν ὑπάρχει τοῖς δ’ οὐχ ὑπάρχει τῶν ζῴων.
But the other parts of the soul belong to some animals and not to others.
ἐν μὲν οὖν τοῖς φυτοῖς οὐ κεχώρισται τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ζῴοις ἐν οἷς κε χώρισται, προσδεῖται τοῦ θήλεος τὸ ἄρρεν.
In plants, therefore, the female is not separated from the male; but in those animals where they are separated, the male needs the female in addition.