§2.14.114 Βλεφαρίδας δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν βλεφάρων ἔχουσιν ὅσα τρίχας ἔχουσιν, ὄρνιθες δὲ καὶ τῶν φολιδωτῶν οὐδέν· οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσι τρίχας.
14 Those animals that have hair have eyelashes on their eyelids, but birds and none of the scaled animals have them; for they do not have hair.
περὶ γὰρ τοῦ στρουθοῦ τοῦ Λιβυκοῦ τὴν αἰτίαν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔχει βλεφαρίδας τὸ ζῷον.
As for the Libyan ostrich, we shall state the cause later; for this animal has eyelashes.
καὶ τῶν ἐχόντων τρέχας ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα οἱ ἄνθρωποι μόνον ἔχουσιν.
And of those that have hair, humans alone have them on both eyelids.
τὰ γὰρ τετράποδα τν ζῴων ἐν τοῖς ὑπτίοις οὐκ ἔχει τρίχας, ἀλλʼ ἐν τοῖς πρανέσι μᾶλλον· οἱ δʼ ἄνθρωποι τοὐναντίον ἐν τοῖς ὑπτίοις μἀλλον ἢ ἐν τοῖς πρανέσιν.
For quadrupeds do not have hair on their underparts, but rather on their upperparts; whereas humans, on the contrary, have it more on their underparts than on their upperparts.
σκέπης γὰρ χάριν αἱ τρίχες ὑπάρχουσι τοῖς ἔχουσιν· τοῖς μὲν οὖν τετράποσι τὰ πρανῆ δεῖται μἀλλον τῆς σκέπης, τὰ δὲ πρόσθια τιμιωτερα μέν, ἀλλὰ λεάζει διὰ τὴν κάμψιν·
For hair exists for the sake of protection for those that have it; in quadrupeds, therefore, the upperparts require protection more, while their front parts, though more honorable, are smooth because of their bending.
τοῖς δʼ ἀνθρώποις ἐπεὶ ἐξ ἴσου διὰ τὴν ὀρθότητα τὰ πρόσθια τοῖς ὀπισθίοις, τοῖς τιμιωτέροις ὑπέγραψεν ἡ φύσις τὴν βοήθειαν· ἀεὶ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων αἰτία τού βελτίονός ἐστιν.
But in humans, since because of their upright posture the front and the back are equal, nature assigned this help to the more honorable parts; for the cause of the better is always found among the possibilities.
§2.14.22 καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῶν τετραπόδωον οὐθὲν οὔτε βλεφαρίδα ἔχει τὴν κάτωθεν, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τοῦτο τὸ βλέφαρον ἐνίοις παραφύονται μαναὶ τρίχες, οὔτʼ ἐν ταῖς μασχάλαις οὔτʼ ἐπὶ τῆς ἥβης, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀλλʼ ἀντὶ τούτων τὰ μὲν καθʼ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα πρανὲς δεδάσυνται ταῖς θριξίν, οἷον τὸ τῶν κυνῶν γένος, τὰ δὲ λοφιὰν ἔχει, καθάπερ ἵπποι καὶ τὰ τοιαύῦτα τῶν ζῴων, τὰ δὲ χαίτην, ὥσπερ ὸ ἄρρην λέωυ.
2 And for this reason, none of the quadrupeds has a lower eyelash, but under this eyelid in some of them thin hairs grow alongside, nor do they have hair in their armpits or on their pubes as humans do; but instead of these, some are shaggy with hair on the whole of their upperparts, like the dog kind, while others have a crest (or ridge of hair), like horses and similar animals, and others have a mane, like the male lion.
§2.14.3ἔτι δʼ ὅσα κέρκους 3 ἔχει μῆκος ἐχούσας, καὶ ταύτας ἐπικεκόσμηκεν ἡ φύσις θριξί, τοῖς μὲν μικρὸν ἔχουσι τὸν στόλον μακραῖς, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἕπποις, τοῖς δὲ μακρὸν βραχείαις, καὶ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἄλλου σήματος φύσιν· πανταχοῦ γὰρ ἀποδίὅωσι λαβούσα ἑτέρωσθεν πρὸς ἄλλο μὸριον.
3 Furthermore, for all those that have tails of any length, nature has adorned these too with hair; with long hair for those that have a short tail-bone, like horses, and with short hair for those that have a long tail-bone, and according to the nature of the rest of the body; for everywhere nature distributes to one part by taking from another.
ὅσοις δὲ τὸ σάμα ὅασύ λίαν πεποίηκε, τούτοις ἐνδεῶς ἔχει τὰ περὶ τὴν κέρκον, οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν ἄρκτων συμβέβηκεν.
But for those whose body she has made excessively shaggy, the parts around the tail are deficient, as has happened in the case of bears.
§2.14.4τὴν δὲ κεφαλὴν ἅνθρωπός ἐστι 4 τῶν ζῴων δασύτατον, ἐξ ἀνάγκης μὲν διὰ τὴν ὑγρότητα τού ἐγκεφάλου καὶ διὰ τὰς ῥαφάς (ὅπου γὰρ ὑγρὸν καὶ θερμὸν πλεῖστον, ἐνταῦθʼ ἀναγκαῖον πλείστην εἶναι τὴν ἔκφυσιν), ἕνεκεν δὲ βοηθείας, ὅπωος σκεπάζωσι φυλάττουσαι τὰς ὑπερβολὰς τού τε ψύχους καὶ τῆς ἀλέας.
4 Man is the shaggiest of all animals on the head; of necessity indeed because of the moisture of the brain and because of the sutures (for where there is most moisture and heat, there must necessarily be the greatest outgrowth), but for the sake of protection, so that they may shelter it, guarding against the excesses of both cold and heat.
πλεῖστος δʼ ὤν καὶ ὑγρότατος ὁ τῶν ἀνθρύπων ἐγκέφαλος πλείστης καὶ της φυλακῆς δεῖται· τὸ γὰρ ὑγρὸτατον καὶ ζεῖ καὶ ψύχεται μάλιστα, τὸ δ᾿ ἐναντίως ἔχον ἀπαθέστερὸν ἐστιν.
And the brain of humans, being the largest and moistest, requires the greatest protection; for that which is moistest both boils and cools most of all, whereas that which is in the opposite state is less susceptible.
§2.14.5ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων παρεκβῆναι συμβέβηκεν ἐχομένοις 5 τῆς περὶ τὰς βλεφαρίδας αἰτίας, διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν αὐτῶν, ὥστε περὶ τν λοιπῶν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις καιροῖς ἀποδοτέον τὴν μνείαν.
5 But we have happened to digress about these matters while keeping to the cause of eyelashes, owing to their relationship, so that we must pay our tribute of mention to the remaining parts at their proper times.