§4.44 τῶν δὲ παθητικῶν, τοῦ ὑγροῦ καὶ τοῦ ξηροῦ, λεκτέον τὰ εἴδη.
4 Now we must speak of the forms of the passive factors, the wet and the dry.
εἰσὶν δ᾿ αἱ μὲν ἀρχαὶ τῶν σωμάτων αἱ παθητικαὶ ὑγρὸν καὶ ξηρόν, τὰ δ᾿ ἄλλα μεικτὰ μὲν ἐκ τούτων, ὁποτέρου δὲ μᾶλλον, τούτου μᾶλλον τὴν φύσιν ἐστίν, οἷον τὰ μὲν ξηροῦ μᾶλλον τὰ δ᾿ ὑγροῦ.
The passive principles of bodies are the wet and the dry, and other things are mixed from these, and whichever they have more of, they have more of its nature, as some have more of the dry and others of the wet.
πάντα δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐντελεχείᾳ ἔσται, τὰ δ᾿ ἐν τῷ ἀντικειμένῳ· ἔχει δ᾿ οὕτως τῆξις πρὸς τὸ τηκτόν.
And all things will exist either in actuality or in the opposite state; and this is the relation of liquefaction to the liquefiable.
ἐπεὶ δ᾿ ἐστὶν τὸ μὲν ὑγρὸν εὐόριστον, τὸ δὲ ξηρὸν δυσόριστον, ὅμοιόν τι τῷ ὄψῳ καὶ τοῖς ἡδύσμασι πρὸς ἄλληλα πάσχουσι· τὸ γὰρ ὑγρὸν τῷ ξηρῷ αἴτιον τοῦ ὁρίζεσθαι, καὶ ἑκάτερον ἑκατέρῳ οἷον κόλλα γίγνεται, ὥσπερ καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἐποίησεν ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς “ἄλφιτον ὕδατι κολλήσας. ” καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἐστιν τὸ ὡρισμένον σῶμα.
Since the wet is easily bounded and the dry is difficultly bounded, they undergo something similar to what food and seasonings undergo in relation to each other; for the wet is the cause of being bounded for the dry, and each becomes as it were a glue for the other, just as Empedocles also wrote in his physics: "gluing meal with water." And for this reason, the bounded body is from both.
λέγεται δὲ τῶν στοιχείων ἰδιαίτατα ξηροῦ μὲν γῆ, ὑγροῦ δὲ ὕδωρ.
And of the elements, earth is said to be most peculiar to the dry, and water to the wet.
διὰ τοῦτο ἅπαντά τε τὰ ὡρισμένα σώματα ἐνταῦθα οὐκ ἄνευ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος (ὁποτέρου δὲ πλέον, κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τούτου ἕκαστον φαίνεται)· καὶ ἐν γῇ καὶ ἐν ὕδατι ζῷα μόνον ἐστίν, ἐν ἀέρι δὲ καὶ πυρὶ οὐκ ἔστιν, ὅτι τῶν σωμάτων ὕλη ταῦτα.
For this reason, all bounded bodies here are not without earth and water (and each appears according to the power of whichever is more abundant); and only in earth and in water do animals exist, but not in air and in fire, because these are the matter of bodies.
τῶν δὲ σωματικῶν παθημάτων ταῦτα πρῶτα ἀνάγκη ὑπάρχειν τῷ ὡρισμένῳ, σκληρότητα ἢ μαλακότητα· ἀνάγκη γὰρ τὸ ἐξ ὑγροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ ἢ σκληρὸν εἶναι ἢ μαλακόν.
Of the bodily affections, these must first belong to the bounded, hardness or softness; for that which is from the wet and the dry must be either hard or soft.
ἔστι δὲ σκληρὸν μὲν τὸ μὴ ὑπεῖκον εἰς αὑτὸ κατὰ τὸ ἐπίπεδον, μαλακὸν δὲ τὸ ὑπεῖκον τῷ μὴ ἀντιπεριίστασθαι· τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ οὐ μαλακόν· οὐ γὰρ ὑπείκει τῇ θλίψει τὸ ἐπίπεδον εἰς βάθος, ἀλλ᾿ ἀντιπεριίσταται.
And the hard is that which does not yield into itself in respect of its surface, and the soft is that which yields by not shifting round to the sides; for water is not soft, since its surface does not yield to pressure in depth, but shifts round to the sides.
ἁπλῶς μὲν οὖν σκληρὸν ἢ μαλακὸν τὸ ἁπλῶς τοιοῦτον, πρὸς ἕτερον δὲ τὸ πρὸς ἐκεῖνο τοιοῦτον.
Absolutely, then, the hard or soft is that which is absolutely such, while in relation to another it is that which is such in relation to it.
πρὸς μὲν οὖν ἄλληλα ἀόριστά ἐστιν τῷ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον· ἐπεὶ δὲ πρὸς τὴν αἴσθησιν πάντα κρίνομεν τὰ αἰσθητὰ, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τὸ σκληρὸν καὶ τὸ μαλακὸν ἁπλῶς πρὸς τὴν ἁφὴν ὡρίκαμεν, ὡς μεσότητι χρώμενοι τῇ ἁφῇ· διὸ τὸ μὲν ὑπερβάλλον αὐτὴν σκληρόν, τὸ δ᾿ ἐλλεῖπον μαλακὸν εἶναί φαμεν.
Now in relation to each other they are indeterminate by the more and less; but since we judge all sensible things by sensation, it is clear that we have defined both the hard and the soft absolutely in relation to touch, using touch as a medium; wherefore we say that what exceeds it is hard, and what falls short of it is soft.
§4.55 ἀνάγκη δὲ σκληρὸν ἢ μαλακὸν εἶναι τὸ ὡρισμένον σῶμα οἰκείῳ ὅρῳ (ἢ γὰρ ὑπείκει ἢ μή)· ἔτι πεπηγὸς εἶνα (τούτῳ γὰρ ὁρίζεται)· ὥστ᾿ ἐπεὶ πᾶν μὲν τὸ ὡρισμένον καὶ συνεστὸς ἢ μαλακὸν ἢ σκληρόν, ταῦτα δὲ πήξει ἐστίν, ἄπαντ᾿ ἂν εἴη τὰ σώματα τὰ σύνθετα καὶ ὡρισμένα οὐκ ἄνευ πήξεως.
5 And the bounded body must be hard or soft by its own limit (for it either yields or does not); and further it must be solidified (for it is bounded by this); so that since every bounded and coherent thing is either soft or hard, and these are by solidification, all composite and bounded bodies would not be without solidification.
πήξεως οὖν πέρι ῥητέον.
Therefore we must speak about solidification.
ἔστιν δὴ τὰ αἴτια τὰ παρὰ τὴν ὕλην δύο, τό τε ποιοῦν καὶ τὸ πάθος (τὸ μὲν οὖν ποιοῦν ὡς ὅθεν ἡ κίνησις, τὸ δὲ πάθος ὡς εἶδος)· ὥστε καὶ πήξεως καὶ διαχύσεως, καὶ τοῦ ξηραίνεσθαι καὶ τοῦ ὑγραίνεσθαι.
Now the causes besides matter are two, the active and the passive (the active as that whence the movement comes, and the passive as form); so also for solidification and dissolution, and for drying and wetting.
ποιεῖ δὲ τὸ ποιοῦν δυσὶ δυνάμεσι, καὶ πάσχει παθήμασιν δυσίν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται· ποιεῖ μὲν θερμῷ καὶ ψυχρῷ, τὸ δὲ πάθος ἢ ἀπουσίᾳ ἢ παρουσίᾳ θερμοῦ ἢ ψυχροῦ.
And the active agent acts by two powers, and the passive suffers by two affections, as has been said; it acts by the hot and the cold, and the affection is either by the absence or the presence of the hot or the cold.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ πήγνυσθαι ξηραίνεσθαί πώς ἐστιν, περὶ τούτου εἴπωμεν πρῶτον.
Since solidifying is in a way drying, let us speak of this first.
τὸ δὴ πάσχον ἢ ὑγρὸν ἢ ξηρὸν ἢ ἐκ τούτων.
Now the passive factor is either wet or dry or from these.
τιθέμεθα δὲ ὑγροῦ σῶμα ὕδωρ, ξηροῦ δὲ γῆν· ταῦτα γὰρ τῶν ὑγρῶν καὶ τῶν ξηρῶν παθητικά.
And we set earth as the body of the dry, and water as the body of the wet; for these are the passive elements among the wet and dry.
διὸ καὶ τὸ ψυχρὸν τῶν παθητικῶν μᾶλλον· ἐν τούτοις γάρ ἐστιν· καὶ γὰρ ἡ γῇ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ψυχρὰ ὑπόκειται.
Wherefore the cold also belongs more to the passive; for it is in these; for both earth and water are assumed to be cold.
ποιητικὸν δὲ τὸ ψυχρὸν ὡς φθαρτικὸν ἢ ὡς κατὰ συμβεβηκός, καθάπερ εἴρηται πρότερον· ἐνίοτε γὰρ καὶ κάειν λέγεται καὶ θερμαίνειν τὸ ψυχρόν, οὐχ ὡς τὸ θερμόν, ἀλλὰ τῷ συνάγειν ἢ ἀντιπεριιστάναι τὸ θερμόν.
But the cold is active as destructive or as accidental, as was said before; for sometimes the cold is even said to burn and to heat, not in the same way as the hot, but by drawing together or shutting in the heat.
ξηραίνεται δὲ ὅσα ἐστὶν ὕδωρ καὶ ὕδατος εἴδη, ἢ ἔχει ὕδωρ εἴτ᾿ ἐπακτὸν εἴτε συμφυές (λέγω δὲ ἐπακτὸν μὲν οἷον ἐν ἐρίῳ, σύμφυτον δ᾿ οἷον ἐν γάλακτι).
And those things are dried which are water and forms of water, or have water either adventitious or connate (and I mean adventitious as in wool, and connate as in milk).
ὕδατος δ᾿ εἴδη τὰ τοιάδε, οἶνος, οὖρον, ὀρός, καὶ ὅλως ὅσα μηδεμίαν ἢ βραχεῖαν ἔχει ὑπόστασιν, μὴ διὰ γλισχρότητα· ἐνίοις γὰρ αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ ὑφίστασθαι μηδὲν ἡ γλισχρότης, ὥσπερ ἐλαίῳ ἢ πίττῃ.
And the forms of water are such as wine, urine, whey, and in general whatever has no or very little sediment, not because of viscosity; for in some, viscosity is the cause of nothing settling, as in oil or pitch.
ξηραίνεται δὲ πάντα ἢ θερμαινόμενα ἢ ψυχόμενα, ἀμφότερα δὲ θερμῷ καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐντὸς θερμότητος ἢ τῆς ἕξω· καὶ γὰρ τὰ τῇ ψύξει ξηραινόμενα, ὥσπερ ἱμάτιον, ἐὰν ᾗ κεχωρισμένον αὐτὸ καθʼ αὑτὸ τὸ ὑγρόν, ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐντὸς θερμοῦ συνεξατμίζοντος τὸ ὑγρὸν ξηραίνεται, ἂν ὀλίγον ᾖ τὸ ὑγρόν, ἐξιούσης τῆς θερμότητος ὑπὸ τοῦ περιεστῶτος ψυχροῦ.
And all things are dried either by being heated or by being cooled, but both by the hot, and by the internal heat or the external; for even those dried by cooling, such as a garment, if the wet is separated by itself, are dried by the internal hot evaporating the wet along with itself, and if the wet is little, as the heat goes out under the influence of the surrounding cold.
ξηραίνεται μὲν οὖν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἅπαντα ἢ θερμαινόμενα ἢ ψυχόμενα, καὶ πάντα θερμῷ, ἢ τῷ ἐντὸς ἢ τῷ ἐκτὸς συνεξατμίζοντι τὸ ὑγρόν (λέγω δʼ ἐκτὸς μὲν ὥσπερ τὰ ἐψόμενα, ἐντὸς δὲ ὅταν ἀφαιρεθέντος ὑφʼ ἧς ἔχει θερμότητος ἀναλωθῇ ἀποπνεούσης).
Therefore, as has been said, all things are dried either by being heated or by being cooled, and all by the hot, either the internal or the external evaporating the wet along with itself (and I mean external as in things being boiled, and internal when, the wet being removed, the heat which it has is consumed as it exhales).
περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ξηραίνεσθαι εἴρηται.
About drying, then, has been stated.