§1.44 τούτων δὲ διωρισ μέφνων, λέγωμεν διὰ τίνʼ αἰτίαν αἵ τε φλόγες αἱ καιόμεναι φαίνονται περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ οἱ διαθέοντες ἀστέρες καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι ὑπό τινων δαλοὶ καὶ αἶγες·
4 These matters having been defined, let us state for what cause the burning flames are seen in the sky, and the shooting stars, and those called by some torches and goats.
ταῦτα γὰρ πάντʼ ἐστὶν τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν, διαφέρει δὲ τῷ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον.
For all these are the same thing and due to the same cause, but differ in degree (more and less).
ἀρχὴ δέ ἐστιν καὶ τούτων καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων ἥδε. θερμαινομένης γὰρ τῆς γῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν ἀναθυμίασιν ἀναγκαῖον γίγνεσθαι μὴ ἀπλῆν, ὥς τινες οἴονται, ἀλλὰ διπλῆν, τὴν μὲν ἀτμιδωδεστέραν τὴν δὲ πνευματωδεστέραν, τὴν μὲν τοῦ ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ γῇ ὑγροῦ ἀτμίδα, τὴν δʼ αὐτῆς τῆς γῆς οὔσης ξηρᾶς καπνώδη·
And the principle both of these and of many other things is this: for when the earth is heated by the sun, the exhalation must necessarily be not simple, as some think, but double—one more vaporous, the other more windy, the one being vapor from the moisture in the earth and on the earth, the other being smoky from the earth itself being dry.
καὶ τούτων τὴν μὲν πνευματώδη ἐπιπολάζειν διὰ τὸ θερμόν, τὴν δὲ ὑγροτέραν ὑφίστασθαι διὰ τὸ βάρος.
And of these, the windy one floats on top because of its heat, while the wetter one sinks below because of its weight.
καὶ διὰ ταῦτα τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον κεκόσ μηται τὸ πέριξ· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐγκύκλιον φοράν ἐστιν τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ξηρόν, ὃ λέγομεν πῦρ (ἀνώνυμον γὰρ τὸ κοινὸν ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς καπνώδους διακρίσεως· ὅμως δὲ διὰ τὸ μάλιστα πεφυκέναι τὸ τοιοῦτονἐκ τῶν σωμάτων οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον χρῆσθαι τοῖς ὀνόμασιν), ὑπὸ δὲ ταύτην τὴν φύσιν ἀήρ.
And because of these, the surrounding region is ordered in this manner: for first, below the circular motion is the hot and dry, which we call fire (for the common element over all the smoky separation is nameless; nevertheless, because such a thing is most naturally produced from these bodies, we must use the names in this way), and below this nature is air.
δεῖ δὴ νοῆσαι οἷον ὑπέκκαυμα τοῦτο ὃ νῦν εἴπομεν πῦρ περιτετάσθαι τῆς περὶ τὴν γῆν σφαίρας ἔσχατον, ὥστε μικρᾶς κινήσεως τυχὸν ἐκκαίεσθαι πολλάκις ὥσπερ τὸν καπνόν· ἔστι γὰρ ἡ φλὸξ πνεύματος ξηροῦ ζέσις.
We must understand that this which we have now called fire is stretched around the outermost part of the sphere about the earth as a kind of fuel, so that, meeting with a small motion, it often bursts into flame just like smoke; for flame is the boiling of dry wind.
ᾗ ἄν οὖν μάλιστα εὐκαίρως ἔχη ἡ τοιαύτη σύστασις, ὅταν ὑπὸ τῆς περιφορᾶς κινηθῇ πως, ἐκκάεται.
Therefore, wherever such a configuration is most favorably situated, when it is moved in some way by the circular motion, it bursts into flame.
διαφέρει δʼ ἤδη κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὑπεκκαύματος θέσιν ἢ τὸ πλῆθος· ἂν μὲν γὰρ πλὰτος ἔχῃ καὶ μῆκος τὸ ὑπέκκαιυμα, πολλάκις ὁρᾶται καιομένη φλὸξ ὥσπερ ἐν ἀρούρᾳ καιομέφνης καλάμης, ἐὰν δὲ κατὰ μῆκος μόνον, οἱ καλούμενοι δαλοὶ καὶ αἶγες καὶ ἀστέρες.
But it differs according to the position or the quantity of the fuel: for if the fuel has width and length, a burning flame is often seen as of straw burning in a field; but if only in length, the so-called torches and goats and stars appear.
ἐὰν μὲν πλέον τὸ ὑπέκκαυμα ᾖ κατὰ τὸ μῆκος ἢ τὸ πλάτος, ὅταν μὲν οἷον ἀποσπινθηρίζῃ ἄμμα καιόμενον (τοῦτο δὲ γίγνεται διὰ τὸ παρεκπυροῦσθαι, κατὰ μικρὰ μέν, ἐπʼ ἀρχὴν δέ), αἲξ καλεῖται, ὅταν δʼ ἄνευ τούτου τοῦ πάθους, δαλός.
If the fuel is greater in length than in width, when the burning knot, as it were, sparks (which happens because of its catching fire laterally, in small parts but towards the source), it is called a goat; but when without this affection, a torch.
ἐὰν δὲ τὰ μήκη τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως κατὰ μικρά τε καὶ πολλαχῇ διεσπαρμένα ᾖ καὶ ὁμοίως κατὰ πλάτος καὶ βάθος, οἱ δοκοῦντες ἀστέρες διάττειν γίγνονται.
And if the lengths of the exhalation are scattered in small pieces and in many places, and likewise in width and depth, there come to be the stars that seem to shoot.
ὁτὲ μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ τῆς κινήσεως ἡ ἀναθυμίασις ἐκκαιομένη γεννᾷ αὐτά· ὁτὲ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ διὰ τὴν ψύξιν συνισταμένου ἀέρος ἐκθλίβεται καὶ ἐκκρίνεται τὸ θερμόν, διὸ καὶ ἔοικεν ἡ φορὰ ῥίψει μᾶλλον αὐτῶν, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐκκαύσει.
Sometimes, then, the exhalation being set on fire by the motion generates them; and sometimes, because of the air condensing through cooling, the hot is squeezed out and secreted, which is why their motion resembles a throwing rather than a burning.
ἀπορήσειε γὰρ ἄν τις πότερον ὥσπερ ἡ ὑπὸ τοὺς λύχνους τιθεμένη ἀναθυμίασις ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν φλογὸς ἅπτει τὸν κάτωθεν λύχνον (θαυμαστὴ γὰρ καὶ τούτου ἡ ταχυτής ἐστιν καὶ ὁμοία ῥίψει, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὡς ἄλλου καὶ ἄλλου γιγνομένου πυρός), ἢ ῥίψεις τοῦ αὐτοῦ τινος σώμματός εἰσιν αἱ διαὅρομαί.
For one might puzzle whether, just as the exhalation placed under lamps lights the lamp below from the flame above (for the speed of this too is wonderful and like a throwing, yet not as of different fire coming to be in succession), or whether the runs are throwings of some same body.
ἔοικε δὴ διʼ ἄμφω· καὶ γὰρ οὕτως ὡς ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ λύχνου γίγνεται, καὶ ἔνια διὰ τὸ ἐκθλίβεσθαι ῥιπτεῖται, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐκ τῶν δακτύλων πυρῆνες, ὥστε καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ εἰς τὴν θάλατταν φαίνεσθαι πίπτοντα, καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ’ ἡμέραν καὶ αἶθρίας οὔσης.
It seems indeed to be due to both: for some happen in the way that comes from the lamp, and others are thrown by being squeezed out, just like fruit-stones squeezed from the fingers, so that they are seen falling both onto the earth and into the sea, both by night and by day and when the sky is clear.
κάτω δὲ ῥιπτεῖται διὰ τὸ τὴν πύκνωσιν εἰς τὸ κάτω ῥέπειν τὴν ἀπωθοῦσαν.
And it is thrown downward because the condensation which pushes it away inclines downward.
διὸ καὶ οἱ κεραυνοὶ κάτω πίπτουσιν, τοῦ πυρὸς ἄνω φερομένου κατὰ φύσιν· πάντων γὰρ τούτων ἡ γένεσις οὐκ ἔκκαυσις ἀλλʼ ἔκκρισις ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκθλίψεώς ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ κατὰ φύσιν γε τὸ θερμὸν ἄνω πέφυκε φέρεσθαι πᾶν.
Therefore also thunderbolts fall downward, although fire by nature is carried upward; for the generation of all these is not a burning but a secretion by being squeezed out, since by nature all hot is naturally carried upward.
ὅσα μὲν οὖν μᾶλλον ἐν τῷ ἀνωτάτω τόπῳ συνίσταται, ἐκκαιομένης γίγνεται τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως, ὅσα δὲ κατώτερον, ἐκκρινομένης διὰ τὸ συνιέναι καὶ ψύχεσθαι τὴν ὑγροτέραν ἀναθυμίασιν· αὕτη γὰρ συνιοῦσα καὶ κάτω ῥέπουσα ἀπωθεῖ πυκνουμένη καὶ κάτω ποιεῖ τοῦ θερμοῦ τὴν ῥῖψιν·
So those which are formed more in the highest region come to be through the exhalation being set on fire, but those lower down, through secretion because the wetter exhalation gathers and cools; for this, gathering and inclining downward, pushes away as it condenses, and causes the throwing of the hot downward.
διὰ δὲ τὴν θέσιν τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως, ὅπως ἄν τύχη κειμένη τοῦ πλάτους καὶ τοῦ βάθους, οὕτω φέρεται ἄνω ἢ κάτω ἢ εἰς τὸ πλάγιον.
And because of the position of the exhalation, however it happens to lie in width and depth, so it is carried upward or downward or obliquely.
τὰ πλεῖστα δʼ εἰς τὸ πλάγιον διὰ τὸ δύο φέρεσθαι φοράς, βίᾳ μὲν κάτω, φύσει δʼ ἄνω· πάντα γὰρ κατὰ τὴν διάμετρον φέρεται τὰ τοιαῦτα.
But most are carried obliquely because two motions are carried: by force downward, and by nature upward; for all such things are carried along the diagonal.
διὸ καὶ τῶν διαθεόντων ἀστέρων ἡ πλείστη λοξὴ γίγνεται φορά.
Therefore, the motion of most of the shooting stars also becomes oblique.
πάντων δὴ τούτων αἴτιον ὡς μὲν ὕλη ἡ ἀναθυμίασις, ὡς δὲ τὸ κινοῦν ὁτὲ μὲν ἡ ἄνω φορά, ὁτὲ δʼ ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος συγκρινομένου πῇξις.
Of all these, then, the cause as matter is the exhalation, and as the moving cause, sometimes the upper motion, and sometimes the solidification of the condensing air.
πάντα δὲ κάτω ταῦτα σελήνης γίγνεται.
And all these occur below the moon.
σημεῖον δʼ ἡ φαινομένη αὐτῶν ταχυτὴς ὁμοία οὖσα τοῖς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν ῥιπτουμένοις, ἃ διὰ τὸ πλησίον εἶναι ἡμῶν πολὺ δοκεῖ τῷ τάχει παραλλάττειν ἄστρα τε καὶ ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην.
And a sign is their apparent speed, which is similar to things thrown by us, which, because of being near us, seem to far surpass the stars, the sun, and the moon in speed.