§4.6#1Τῶν δὲ ζῳοτόκων τὰ μὲν ἀτελῆ προΐεται ζῷα τὰ δὲ τετελειωμένα, τὰ μὲν μώνυχα τετελειωμένα καὶ τὰ διχηλά, τῶν δὲ πολυσχιδῶν ἀτελῆ πολλά.
the viviparous animals, some discharge incomplete young and others complete ones; the solid-hoofed and cloven-hoofed animals discharge them complete, but many of the polydactylous ones discharge them incomplete.
τούτου δ᾽ αἴτιον ὅτι τὰ μὲν μώνυχα μονοτόκα ἐστί, τὰ δὲ διχηλὰ ἢ μονοτόκα ἢ διτόκα ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, ῥᾴδιον δὲ τὰ ὀλίγα ἐκτρέφειν.
The cause of this is that the solid-hoofed are monotocous, and the cloven-hoofed are either monotocous or bitocous for the most part, and it is easy to bring a few to completion.
τῶν δὲ πολυσχιδῶν ὅσα ἀτελῆ τίκτει, πάντα πολυτόκα· διὸ νέα μὲν ὄντα δύναται τὰ κυήματα ἐκτρέφειν, ὅταν δ᾽ αὐξηθῇ καὶ λάβῃ μέγεθος, οὐ δυναμένου τοῦ σώματος ἐκτρέφειν προΐεται καθάπερ τὰ σκωληκοτόκα τῶν ζῴων.
But among the polydactylous, those that bring forth incomplete young are all polytocous; wherefore, while the embryos are still young, they are able to nourish them, but when they have grown and taken on size, as the parent body is unable to complete them, they discharge them just like the vermiparous animals.
καὶ γὰρ τούτων τὰ μὲν ἀδιάρθρωτα σχεδὸν γεννᾷ, καθάπερ ἀλώπηξ ἄρκτος λέων, παραπλησίως δ᾽ ἔνια καὶ τῶν ἄλλων· τυφλὰ δὲ πάντα σχεδόν, οἷον ταῦτά τε καὶ ἔτι κύων λύκος θώς.
For indeed, some of these bring forth their young almost unarticulated, as the fox, bear, and lion, and similarly some of the others; and almost all of them are born blind, as these and furthermore the dog, wolf, and jackal.
μόνον δὲ πολυτόκον ὂν ἡ ὗς τελειοτοκεῖ, καὶ ἐπαλλάττει τοῦτο μόνον· πολυτοκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ὡς τὰ πολυσχιδῆ, διχηλὸν δ᾽ ἐστὶ καὶ μώνυχον· εἰσὶ γάρ που μώνυχες ὕες.
The pig alone, though being polytocous, brings its young to perfection, and this animal alone overlaps (exhibits an overlapping character); for it is polytocous like the polydactylous, but is cloven-hoofed and solid-hoofed, since there are indeed solid-hoofed pigs somewhere.
πολυτοκεῖ μὲν σὖν διὰ τὸ τὴν εἰς τὸ μέγεθος τροφὴν εἰς τὴν σπερματικὴν ἀποκρίνεσθαι περίττωσιν· τοῦτο γὰρ ὡς μώνυχον οὐκ ἔχει μέγεθος.
It is polytocous, therefore, because the nourishment that would go to size is secreted into the seminal residue; for like a solid-hoofed animal, it does not have great size.
ἅμα δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον, ὥσπερ ἀμφισβητοῦν τῇ φυσει τῇ τῶν μωνύχων, διχηλόν ἐστιν.
At the same time, it is rather cloven-hoofed, as if disputing with the nature of the solid-hoofed.
διὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο καὶ μονοτοκεῖ καὶ διτοκεῖ καὶ πολυτοκεῖ τὰ πλεῖστα, ἐκτρέφει δ᾽ εἰς τέλος διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος εὐβοσίαν· ἔχει γὰρ ὡς πίειρα γῆ φυτοῖς ἱκανὴν καὶ δαψιλῆ τροφήν.
For this reason, therefore, it produces sometimes one, sometimes two, but most often many young, and brings them to completion owing to the well-nourished state of its body; for like a rich soil for plants, it possesses sufficient and abundant nourishment.
τίκτουσι δ᾽ ἀτελῆ καὶ τυφλὰ καὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων τινές, ὅσοι πολυτοκοῦσιν αὐτῶν μὴ σωμάτων ἔχοντες μέγεθος, οἷον κορώνη κίττα στρουθοὶ χελιδόνες, καὶ τῶν ὀλιγοτοκούντων ὅσα μὴ δαψιλῆ τροφὴν συνεκτίκτει τοῖς τέκνοις, οἷον φάττα καὶ τρυγὼν καὶ περιστερά.
Some of the birds also lay eggs that hatch into incomplete and blind young, namely, those that are polytocous without having a large body, such as the crow, jay, sparrow, and swallow, and of those that are oligotocous, such as do not produce abundant nourishment along with their young, as the ring-dove, turtle-dove, and pigeon.
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῶν χελιδόνων ἐάν τις ἔτι νέων ὄντων ἐκκεντήσῃ τὰ ὄμματα, πάλιν ὑγιάζονται· γινομένων γὰρ ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γεγενημένων φθείρεται, διόπερ φύονται καὶ βλαστάνουσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς.
And because of this, if one pricks out the eyes of swallows while they are still young, they get well again; for the eyes are destroyed while they are in the process of formation, not after they have been completed, wherefore they grow and sprout afresh from the beginning.
ὅλως δὲ προτερεῖ μὲν τῆς τελειογονίας διὰ τὴν ἀδυναμίαν τοῦ ἐκτρέφειν, ἀτελῆ δὲ γίνεται διὰ τὸ προτερεῖν.
In general, birth takes place before the complete development because of the inability to nourish, and the young are incomplete because they are born prematurely.
δῆλον δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἑπταμήνων· διὰ γὰρ τὸ ἀτελῆ εἶναι πολλάκις ἔνια αὐτῶν γίνεται οὐδὲ τοὺς πόρους ἔχοντά πω διηρθρωμένους, οἷον ὤτων καὶ μυκτήρων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπαυξανομένοις διαρθροῦται, καὶ βιοῦσι πολλὰ τῶν τοιούτων.
And this is clear also in the case of seven-month children; for because they are incomplete, some of them are often born without even their passages, such as of the ears and nostrils, being yet articulated, but as they grow these become articulated, and many of such children survive.
γίνεται δὲ ἀνάπηρα μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ ἄρρενα τῶν θηλέων, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐθὲν μᾶλλον.
Deformed young are produced among humans more in the males than the females, but among other animals this is not more so.
αἴτιον δ᾽ ὅτι ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πολὺ διαφέρει τὸ ἄρρεν τοῦ θήλεος τῇ θερμότητι τῆς φύσεως, διὸ κινητικώτερά ἐστι κυούμενα τὰ ἄρρενα τῶν θηλέων· διὰ δὲ τὸ κινεῖσθαι θραύεται μᾶλλον· εὔθραυστον γὰρ τὸ νέον διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν.
The cause is that among humans the male differs much from the female in the heat of its nature, wherefore the male embryos move more than the female ones; and because of their movement they get broken more, for what is young is easily broken because of its weakness.
διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ ταύτην αἰτίαν καὶ τελειοῦται τὰ θήλεα τοῖς ἄρρεσιν οὐχ ὁμοίως ἐν ταῖς γυναιξίν· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ μητρὶ ἐν πλείονι χρόνῳ διακρίνεται τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος, ἐξελθόντων δὲ πάντα πρότερον ἐπιτελεῖται, οἷον ἥβη καὶ ἀκμὴ καὶ γῆρας, τοῖς θήλεσιν ἢ τοῖς ἄρρεσιν.
For this same cause, also, the females are not completed in the same manner as the males in women; for within the mother the female is differentiated in a longer time than the male, but after birth everything is completed earlier in the females than in the males, such as puberty, prime of life, and old age.