§4.5#2τοῖς γὰρ θήλεσιν ἡ τῶν καταμηνίων κάθαρσις σπέρματος ἔξοδός ἐστιν· ἔστι γὰρ τὰ καταμήνια σπέρμα ἄπεπτον, ὥσπερ εἴρηται πρότερον.
in females, the discharge of the catamenia is an exit of semen; for the catamenia are unconcocted semen, as has been said before.
διὸ καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν ὅσαι πρὸς τὴν ὁμιλίαν ἀκρατεῖς τὴν τοιαύτην, ὅταν πολυτοκήσωσι, παύονται τῆς πτοήσεως· ἐκκεκριμένη γὰρ ἡ σπερματικὴ περίττωσις οὐκέτι ποιεῖ τῆς ὁμιλίας ταύτης ἐπιθυμίαν.
Wherefore also those women who are incontinent with regard to such intercourse, when they have borne many children, cease from their excitement; for when the seminal residue has been excreted, it no longer produces the desire for this intercourse.
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὄρνισιν αἱ θήλειαι τῶν ἀρρένων ἧττόν εἰσιν ἀφροδισιαστικαὶ διὰ τὸ πρὸς τῷ ὑποζώματι τὰς ὑστέρας ἔχειν, τὰ δ᾽ ἄρρενα τοὐναντίον· ἀνεσπασμένους γὰρ ἔχει τοὺς ὄρχεις ἐντός, ὥστ᾽ ἂν ᾖ τὸ γένος τῶν τοιούτων ὀρνίθων φύσει σπερματικόν, ἀεὶ δεῖσθαι τῆς ὁμιλίας ταύτης.
Among birds, the females are less prone to sexual desire than the males, because they have their uterus near the diaphragm, whereas the males are the opposite; for they have their testes drawn up inside, so that if the kind of such birds is by nature seminal, they always stand in need of this intercourse.
τοῖς μὲν οὖν θήλεσι τὸ κάτω καταβαίνειν τὰς ὑστέρας, τοῖς δ᾽ ἄρρεσι τὸ ἀνασπᾶσθαι τοὺς ὄρχεις συμβαίνει πρὸ ὁδοῦ πρὸς τὴν ὀχείαν.
Therefore, the descending of the uterus for the females, and the drawing up of the testes for the males, happen as a convenient preparation for coitus.
δι᾽ ἣν μὲν οὖν αἰτίαν τὰ μὲν οὐκ ἐπικυΐσκεται παντελῶς, τὰ δ᾽ ἐπικυΐσκεται μέν, τὰ δὲ κυήματα ἐκτρέφει ὁτὲ μὲν ὁτὲ δ᾽ οὔ, καὶ διὰ τίν᾽ αἰτίαν τὰ μὲν ἀφροδισιαστικὰ τὰ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀφροδισιαστικὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἐστίν, εἴρηται.
For what cause, then, some do not undergo superfetation at all, while others do, and bring the embryos to maturity at one time but not at another, and for what cause some of these animals are prone to sexual desire while others are not, has been said.
ἔνια δὲ τῶν ἐπικυϊσκομένων καὶ πολὺν χρόνον διαλειπούσης τῆς ὀχείας δύναται τὰ κυήματα ἐκτρέφειν, ὅσων σπερματικόν τε τὸ γένος ἐστὶ καὶ μὴ τὸ σῶμα μέγεθος ἔχει καὶ τῶν πολυτόκων ἐστίν.
But some of those that undergo superfetation are able to bring the embryos to maturity even when a long time has intervened between the coitus, namely, those whose kind is seminal, whose body is not large, and which are polytocous.
διὰ μὲν γὰρ τὸ πολυτοκεῖν εὐρυχωρίαν ἔχει τῆς ὑστέρας, διὰ δὲ τὸ σπερματικὸν εἶναι πολὺ προΐεται περίττωμα τῆς καθάρσεως· διὰ δὲ τὸ μὴ τὸ σῶμα μέγεθος ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ πλείονι λόγῳ τὴν κάθαρσιν ὑπερβάλλειν τῆς εἰς τὸ κύημα τροφῆς, δύναταί τε συνίστασθαι ζῷα καὶ ὕστερον καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἐκτρέφειν.
For owing to their being polytocous they have roominess in the uterus, and owing to their being seminal they discharge much residue of the catamenia; and because their body is not large, but the discharge exceeds the food for the embryo by a far greater proportion, animals can be formed even later, and they can bring these to maturity.
ἔτι δ᾽ αἱ ὑστέραι τῶν τοιούτων οὐ συμμεμύκασι διὰ τὸ περιεῖναι περίττωμα τῆς καθάρσεως.
Furthermore, the uterus of such animals does not close, because there is surplus residue of the catamenia.
τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ γυναικῶν ἤδη συμβέβηκεν· γίνεται γάρ τισι κυούσαις κάθαρσις καὶ διὰ τέλους.
And this has already happened in women too; for some pregnant women have the discharge even to the end.
ἀλλὰ ταύταις μὲν παρὰ φύσιν (διὸ βλάπτει τὸ κύημα), τοῖς δὲ τοιούτοις τῶν ζῴων κατὰ φύσιν· οὕτω γὰρ τὸ σῶμα συνέστηκεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, οἷον τὸ τῶν δασυπόδων.
But in them it is contrary to nature (wherefore it harms the embryo), whereas in such animals it is according to nature; for their body has been so constituted from the beginning, as, for instance, that of the hare.
τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπικυΐσκεται τὸ ζῷον· οὔτε γὰρ τῶν μεγάλων ἐστὶ πολυτόκον τε (πολυσχιδὲς γάρ, τὰ δὲ πολυσχιδῆ πολυτόκα) καὶ σπερματικόν.
For this animal undergoes superfetation; for it is not of the large ones, and is polytocous (for it is fissiped, and fissipeds are polytocous) and seminal.
δηλοῖ δ᾽ ἡ δασύτης· ὑπερβάλλει γὰρ τοῦ τριχώματος τὸ πλῆθος· καὶ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας καὶ ἐντὸς τῶν γνάθων τοῦτ᾽ ἔχει τρίχας μόνον τῶν ζῴων.
The hairiness shows this; for the quantity of its hair is excessive; for it is the only animal that has hair under its feet and inside its jaws.
ἡ δὲ δασύτης σημεῖον πλήθους περιττώματός ἐστι, διὸ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπον οἱ δασεῖς ἀφροδισιαστικοὶ καὶ πολύσπερμοι μᾶλλόν εἰσι τῶν λείων.
And hairiness is a sign of an abundance of residue, wherefore also among men, hairy individuals are more prone to sexual desire and have more semen than smooth ones.
ὁ μὲν οὖν δασύπους τὰ μὲν τῶν κυημάτων ἀτελῆ πολλάκις ἔχει, τὰ δὲ προΐεται τετελειωμένα τῶν τέκνων.
The hare, therefore, often has some of its embryos incomplete, but discharges others of its young fully developed.