§1.10#2Ἔστι δή, ὡς ἔφαμεν, τῶν ὄντων τὰ μὲν ποιητικά, τὰ δ᾿ ὑπὸ τούτων παθητικά.
As we said, among the things that exist, some are active and others are passive under these.
τὰ μὲν οὖν ἀντιστρέφει, ὅσων ἡ αὐτὴ ὕλη ἐστί, καὶ ποιητικὰ ἀλλήλων καὶ παθητικὰ ὑπ᾿ ἀλλήλων· τὰ δὲ ποιεῖ ἀπαθῆ ὄντα, ὅσων μὴ ἡ αὐτὴ ὕλη.
Now, those which have the same matter are reciprocal, being both active upon one another and passive under one another; but those which do not have the same matter act while being impassive.
τούτων μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔστι μίξις· διὸ οὐδ᾿ ἡ ἰατρικὴ ποιεῖ ὑγίειαν οὐδ᾿ ἡ ὑγίεια μιγνυμένη τοῖς σώμασιν.
Of these, then, there is no mixture; wherefore neither does medicine produce health, nor does health, by being mixed with bodies, [produce health].
τῶν δὲ ποιητικῶν καὶ παθητικῶν ὅσα εὐδιαίρετα, πολλὰ μὲν ὀλίγοις καὶ μεγάλα μικροῖς συντιθέμενα οὐ ποιεῖ μίξιν, ἀλλ᾿ αὔξησιν τοῦ κρατοῦντος· μεταβάλλει γὰρ θάτερον εἰς τὸ κρατοῦν, οἷον σταλαγμὸς οἴνου μυρίοις χοεῦσιν ὕδατος οὐ μίγνυται· λύεται γὰρ τὸ εἶδος καὶ μεταβάλλει εἰς τὸ πᾶν ὕδωρ.
But of the active and passive things, those which are easily divisible, when many are combined with few, or large with small, do not produce mixture, but rather an increase of the dominant; for one changes into the dominant, just as a drop of wine does not mix with ten thousand choes of water; for its form is dissolved and changes into the whole of the water.
ὅταν δὲ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ἰσάζῃ πως, τότε μεταβάλλει μὲν ἑκάτερον εἰς τὸ κρατοῦν ἐκ τῆς αὑτοῦ φύσεως, οὐ γίνεται δὲ θάτερον, ἀλλὰ μεταξὺ καὶ κοινόν.
But when they are somehow equalized in their potentialities, then each changes from its own nature towards the dominant, but one does not become the other, but rather something intermediate and common.
Φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι ταῦτ᾿ ἐστὶ μικτὰ ὅσα ἐναντίωσιν ἔχει τῶν ποιούντων· ταῦτα γὰρ δὴ ὑπ᾿ ἀλλήλων ἐστὶ παθητικά.
It is clear, then, that those things are mixable which have contrariety among those that act; for these are indeed passive under one another.
καὶ μικρὰ δὲ μικροῖς παρατιθέμενα μίγνυται μᾶλλον· ῥᾷον γὰρ καὶ θᾶττον ἄλληλα μεθίστησιν.
And small things placed alongside small things mix more; for they more easily and quickly change one another.
τὸ δὲ πολὺ καὶ ὑπὸ πολλοῦ χρονίως τοῦτο δρᾷ.
But much [acting] under much does this over a long time.
διὸ τὰ εὐόριστα τῶν διαιρετῶν καὶ παθητικῶν μικτά (διαιρεῖται γὰρ εἰς μικρὰ ταῦτα ῥᾳδίως· τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ εὐορίστῳ εἶναι), οἷον τὰ ὑγρὰ μικτὰ μάλιστα τῶν σωμάτων· εὐόριστον γὰρ μάλιστα τὸ ὑγρὸν τῶν διαιρετῶν, ἐὰν μὴ γλίσχρον ᾖ· ταῦτα γὰρ δὴ πλείω καὶ μείζω μόνον ποιεῖ τὸν ὄγκον.
Therefore, those of the divisible and passive things that are easily bounded are mixable (for these are easily divided into small parts; for this was what it meant to be easily bounded), just as liquids are the most mixable of bodies; for liquid is the most easily bounded of the divisible things, unless it is sticky; for these indeed only make the bulk more and larger.
ὅταν δ᾿ ᾖ θάτερον μόνον παθητικὸν ἢ σφόδρα, τὸ δὲ πάμπαν ἡρέμα, ἢ οὐδὲν πλεῖον τὸ μιχθὲν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἢ μικρόν, ὅπερ συμβαίνει περὶ τὸν καττίτερον καὶ τὸν χαλκόν.
But when one is only passive or extremely so, while the other is only mildly passive, the thing mixed from both is either nothing more or only slightly so, which is what happens in the case of tin and bronze.
ἔνια γὰρ ψελλίζεται πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν ὄντων καὶ ἐπαμφοτερίζει· φαίνεται γάρ πως καὶ μικτὰ ἠρέμα, καὶ ὡς θάτερον μὲν δεκτικὸν θάτερον δ᾿ εἶδος.
For some of the things that exist falter (stutter) towards one another and equivocate; for they appear in a way to be both slightly mixed, and as if one is receptive and the other is form.
ὅπερ ἐπὶ τούτων συμβαίνει· ὁ γὰρ καττίτερος ὡς πάθος τι ὢν ἄνευ ὕλης τοῦ χαλκοῦ σχεδὸν ἀφανίζεται, καὶ μιχθεὶς ἄπεισι χρωματίσας μόνον.
This is what happens in their case; for tin, being as if it were a certain affection without the matter of the bronze, almost disappears, and having been mixed, goes away having only colored it.
ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο συμβαίνει καὶ ἐφ᾿ ἑτέρων.
And this same thing happens also in the case of others.
Φανερὸν τοίνυν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ ὅτι ἔστι μίξις καὶ τί ἐστι καὶ διὰ τί, καὶ ποῖα μικτὰ τῶν ὄντων, ἐπείπερ ἐστὶν ἔνια τοιαῦτα οἷα παθητικά τε ὑπ᾿ ἀλλήλων καὶ εὐόριστα καὶ εὐδιαίρετα· ταῦτα γὰρ οὔτ᾿ ἐφθάρθαι ἀνάγκη μεμιγμένα οὔτ᾿ ἔτι ταὐτὰ ἁπλῶς εἶναι, οὔτε σύνθεσιν εἶναι τὴν μίξιν αὐτῶν, οὔτε πρὸς τὴν αἴσθησιν· ἀλλ᾿ ἔστι μικτὸν μὲν ὃ ἂν εὐόριστον ὂν παθητικὸν ᾖ καὶ ποιητικὸν καὶ τοιούτῳ μικτόν (πρὸς ὁμώνυμον γὰρ τὸ μικτόν), ἡ δὲ μίξις τῶν μικτῶν ἀλλοιωθέντων ἕνωσις.
It is clear, then, from what has been said, both that mixture exists, and what it is and why, and what kinds of things among those that exist are mixable, since indeed there are some such things as are passive under one another, easily bounded, and easily divisible; for it is not necessary that these, when mixed, have been destroyed, nor that they are still simply the same, nor is their mixture a composition, nor is it in relation to perception; but that is mixable which, being easily bounded, is passive and active, and is mixable with such a thing (for the mixable is mixable with its homonym), and mixture is the unification of the mixables having been altered.