§2.4Λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἡ τύχη καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον τῶν αἰτίων, καὶ πολλὰ καὶ εἶναι καὶ γίγνεσθαι διὰ τύχην καὶ διὰ τὸ αὐτόματον·
Spontaneity and chance are also said to be among causes, and many things are said both to be and to come to be because of chance and spontaneity.
τίνα οὖν τρόπον ἐν τούτοις ἐστὶ τοῖς αἰτίοις ἡ τύχη καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον, καὶ πότερον τὸ αὐτὸ ἡ τύχη καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον ἢ ἕτερον, καὶ ὅλως τί ἐστιν ἡ τύχη καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον, ἐπισκεπτέον.
We must therefore investigate in what manner chance and spontaneity are among these causes, and whether chance and spontaneity are the same or different, and in general what chance and spontaneity are.
ἔνιοι γὰρ καὶ εἰ ἔστιν ἢ μὴ ἀποροῦσιν·
For some even doubt whether they exist or not.
οὐδὲν γὰρ δὴ γίγνεσθαι ἀπὸ τύχης φασίν, ἀλλὰ πάντων εἶναί τι αἴτιον ὡρισμένον ὅσα λέγομεν ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου γίγνεσθαι ἢ τύχης, οἷον τοῦ ἐλθεῖν ἀπὸ τύχης εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν, καὶ καταλαβεῖν ὃν ἐβούλετο μὲν οὐκ ᾤετο δέ, αἴτιον τὸ βούλεσθαι ἀγοράσαι ἐλθόντα·
For they say that nothing comes to be from chance, but that there is some definite cause for all things that we say come to be from spontaneity or chance; for instance, of coming by chance to the market-place and meeting whom one wished but did not expect, the cause is the wishing to go and buy.
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀπὸ τύχης λεγομένων ἀεί τι εἶναι λαβεῖν τὸ αἶτιον, ἀλλʼ οὐ τύ. χην, ἐπεὶ εἴ γέ τι ἦν ἡ τύχη, ἄτοπον ἂν φανείη ὡς ἀληθῶς, καὶ ἀπορήσειν ἄν τις διὰ τί ποτʼ οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀρχαίων σοφῶν τὰ αἴτια περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς λέγων περὶ τύχης οὐδὲν διώρισεν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐδὲν ᾤοντο οὐδʼ ἐκεῖνοι εἶναι ἀπὸ τύχης.
And likewise in the case of the other things said to be from chance, they say it is always possible to find some cause, but not chance; since if chance were indeed something, it would seem truly absurd, and one might wonder why on earth none of the ancient wise men, when speaking of the causes concerning generation and corruption, defined anything about chance, but as it seems, they too thought that nothing is from chance.
ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο θαυμαστόν· πολλὰ γὰρ καὶ γίγνεται καὶ ἔστιν ἀπὸ τύχης καὶ ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου, ἃ οὐκ ἀγνοοῦντες ὅτι ἔστιν ἐπανενεγκεῖν ἕκαστον ἐπί τι αἴτιον τῶν γιγνομένων, καθάπερ ὁ παλαιὸς λόγος εἶπεν ὁ ἀναιρῶν τὴν τύχην, ὅμως τούτων τὰ μὲν εἶναί φασι πάντες ἀπὸ τύχης τὰ δʼ οὐκ ἀπὸ τύχης· διὸ καὶ ἁμῶς γέ πως ἦν ποιητέον αὐτοῖς μνείαν.
But this too is surprising: for many things both come to be and are from chance and from spontaneity, which, although not being ignorant that it is possible to refer each of the things that come to be to some cause (as the old argument said which did away with chance), yet of these things all say some are from chance and others not from chance; wherefore they ought to have made some mention of it in some way or other.
ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδʼ ἐκείνων γέ τι ᾤοντο εἶναι τὴν τύχην, οἷον φιλίαν ἢ νεῖκος ἢ νοῦν ἢ πῦρ ἢ ἄλλο γέ τι τῶν τοιούτων.
But indeed they did not think that chance was any of those things, such as friendship or strife or mind or fire or any other such thing.
ἄτοπον οὖν εἶτε μὴ ὑπελάμβανον εἶναι εἴτε οἰόμενοι παρέλειπον, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐνίοτε χρώμενοι, ὥσπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς οὐκ ἀεὶ τὸν ἀέρα ἀνωτάτω ἀποκρίνεσθαί φησιν, ἀλλʼ ὅπως ἂν τύχῃ.
It is absurd, then, whether they did not suppose it to exist or thought so but omitted it, and that too while sometimes using it, as Empedocles says that the air is not always separated uppermost, but as it may chance.
λέγει γοῦν ἐν τῇ κοσμοποιίᾳ ὡς “οὕτω συνέκυρσε θέων τοτέ, πολλάκι δʼ ἄλλως”· καὶ τὰ μόρια τῶν ζῴων ἀπὸ τύχης γενέσθαι τὰ πλεῖστά φησιν.
At any rate, he says in his cosmogony that "thus it happened to run at that time, but often otherwise"; and he says that most of the parts of animals came to be from chance.
εἰσὶ δέ τινες
οἳ καὶ τοὐρανοῦ τοῦδε καὶ τῶν κόσμων πάντων αἰτιῶνται τὸ αὐτόματον· ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου γὰρ γενέσθαι τὴν δίνην καὶ τὴν κίνησιν τὴν διακρίνασαν καὶ καταστήσασαν εἰς ταύτην τὴν τάξιν τὸ πᾶν.
And there are some who attribute to spontaneity the cause both of this heaven and of all the worlds; for they say that the vortex and the motion which separated and established the whole universe into this order came to be from spontaneity.
καὶ μάλα τοῦτό γε αὐτὸ θαυμάσαι ἄξιον· λέγοντες γὰρ τὰ μὲν ζῷα καὶ τὰ φυτὰ ἀπὸ τύχης μήτε εἶναι μήτε γίγνεσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἤτοι φύσιν ἢ νοῦν ἤ τι τοιοῦτον ἕτερον εἶνα τὸ αἴτιον (οὐ γὰρ ὅ τι ἔτυχεν ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος ἑκάστου γίγνεται, ἀλλʼ ἐκ μὲν τοῦ τοιουδὶ ἐλαία ἐκ δὲ τοῦ τοιουδὶ ἄνθρωπος), τὸν δʼ οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ θειότατα τῶν φανερῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτομάτου γενέσθαι, τοιαύτην δʼ αἰτίαν μηδεμίαν εἶναι οἵαν τῶν ζῴων καὶ τῶν φυτῶν.
And this very thing is indeed highly worthy of wonder: for while they say that animals and plants neither are nor come to be from chance, but that either nature or mind or some other such thing is the cause (for not just anything comes to be from each seed, but from this kind an olive, and from that kind a man), they say on the other hand that the heaven and the most divine of visible things came to be from spontaneity, and that there is no such cause as there is of animals and plants.
καίτοι εἰ οὕτως ἔχει, τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ ἄξιον ἐπιστάσεως, καὶ καλῶς ἔχει λεχθῆναί τι περὶ αὐτοῦ.
And yet if this is so, this very thing is worthy of attention, and it is well that something should be said about it.
πρὸς γὰρ τῷ καὶ ἄλλως ἄτοπον εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον, ἔτι ἀτοπώτερον τὸ λέγειν ταῦτα ὁρῶντας ἐν μὲν τῷ οὐρανῷ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου γιγνόμενον, ἐν δὲ τοῖς οὐκ ἀπὸ τύχης πολλὰ συμβαίνοντα ἀπὸ τύχης· καίτοι εἰκός γε ἦν τοὐναντίον γίγνεσθαι.
For besides the fact that what is said is otherwise absurd, it is still more absurd to say these things when they see nothing in the heaven coming to be from spontaneity, but many things happening from chance among those not from chance; and yet it was likely that the contrary should happen.
εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἶς δοκεῖ εἶναι μὲν
αἰτία ἡ τύχη, ἄδηλος δὲ ἀνθρωπίνῃ διανοίᾳ ὡς θεῖόν τι οὖσα καὶ δαιμονιώτερον.
And there are some to whom chance seems to be a cause, but one hidden to human mind, as being something divine and more demonic.
ὥστε σκεπτέον καὶ τί ἑκάτερον, καὶ εἰ ταὐτὸν ἢ ἕτερον τό τε αὐτόματον καὶ ἡ τύχη, καὶ πῶς εἰς τὰ διωρισμένα αἴτια ἐμπίπτουσιν.
So we must consider both what each is, and whether spontaneity and chance are the same or different, and how they fall into the defined causes.