§29.1Διὰ τί, ὅταν φέρωσιν ἐπὶ ξύλου ἤ τινος τοιούτου δύο ἄνθρωποι ἴσον βάρος, οὐχ ὁμοίως θλίβονται, ἐὰν μὴ ἐπὶ τῷ μέσῳ ᾖ τὸ βάρος, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὅσῳ ἄν ἐγγύτερον ᾖ τῶν φερόντων;
Why is it that, when two men carry an equal weight on a piece of wood or something of the sort, they are not pressed upon equally if the weight is not in the middle, but rather the closer it is to one of the carriers, the more that person is pressed?
Ἥ διότι μοχλὸς μὲν γίνεταιοὕτως ἐχόντωντὸ ξύλον, τὸ δὲ βάρος ὑπομόχλιον, ὁ δὲ ἐγγύτερος τοῦ βάρους τῶν φερόντων τὸ βάρος τὸ κινούμενον, ἄτερος δὲ τῶν φερόντων τὸ βάρος ὁ κινῶν.
Or is it because, when things are thus, the wood becomes a lever, the weight the fulcrum, the one of the carriers who is closer to the weight becomes the weight to be moved, and the other of the carriers becomes the mover?
§29.2Ὄσῳ γὰρ πλέον ἀπέχει τοῦ βάρους,τοσούτῳ ῥᾷον κινεῖ, καὶ θλίβει μᾶλλον τὸν ἕτερον εἰς τὸ κάτω, ὥσπερ ἀντερείδοντος τοῦ βάρους τοῦ ἐπικειμένου καὶ γινομένου ὑπομοχλίου.
For the further he is from the weight, the more easily he moves it, and the more he presses the other downward, as if the weight placed upon them were resisting and becoming a fulcrum.
Ἐν μέσῳ δὲ ὑποκειμένου τοῦ βάρους, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ἅτερος θατέρῳ γίνεται βάρος, οὐδὲ κινεῖ, ἀλλ’ ὁμοίως ἑκάτερος ἑκατέρῳ γίνεται βάρος.
But when the weight is placed in the middle, neither of them becomes a weight to the other, nor does he move him, but each becomes a weight to the other equally.