§4.9#2ἔστι δὲ καὶ σώματος ὕλη καὶ μεγάλου καὶ
μικροῦ ἡ αὐτή.
And the matter of a body, both of a large and of a small one, is the same.
δῆλον δέ· ὅταν γὰρ ἐξ ὕδατος ἀὴρ γένηται, ἡ αὐτὴ ὕλη οὐ προσλαβοῦσά τι ἄλλο ἐγένετο, ἀλλʼ ὃ ἦν δυνάμει, ἐνεργείᾳ ἐγένετο, καὶ πάλιν ὕδωρ ἐξ ἀέρος ὡσαύτως, ὁτὲ μὲν εἰς μέγεθος ἐκ μικρότητος, ὁτὲ δʼ εἰς μικρότητα ἐκ μεγέθους.
This is clear; for when air is generated from water, the same matter has become it without taking to itself anything else, but what it was potentially, it became in actuality. And again, water from air in the same way, sometimes into greatness from smallness, and sometimes into smallness from greatness.
ὁμοίως τοίνυν κἂν ὁ ἀὴρ πολὺς ὢν ἐν ἐλάττονι γίγνηται ὄγκῳ καὶ ἐξ ἐλάττονος μείζων, ἡ δυνάμει οὖσα ὕλη γίγνεται ἄμφω.
Accordingly, in the same way, even if the air, being much, comes to be in a smaller bulk, and from a smaller becomes larger, the matter which is potentially both becomes both.
ὥσπερ γὰρ καὶ ἐκ ψυχροῦ θερμὸν καὶ ἐκ θερμοῦ ψυχρὸν ἡ αὐτή, ὅτι ἦν δυνάμει, οὕτω καὶ ἐκ θερμοῦ μᾶλλον θερμόν, οὐδενὸς γενομένου ἐν τῇ ὕλῃ θερμοῦ ὃ οὐκ ἦν θερμὸν ὅτε ἧττον ἦν θερμόν, ὥσπερ γε οὐδʼ ἡ τοῦ μείζονος κύκλου περιφέρεια καὶ κυρτότης ἐὰν γίγνηται ἐλάττονος κύκλου, ἢ ἡ αὐτὴ οὖσα ἢ ἄλλη, ἐν οὐθενὶ ἐγγέγονε τὸ κυρτὸν ὃ ἦν οὐ κυρτὸν ἀλλʼ εὐθύ (οὐ γὰρ τῷ διαλείπειν τὸ ἧττον ἢ τὸ μᾶλλον ἔστιν)·
For just as the same matter becomes hot from cold and cold from hot, because it was so potentially, so too from hot it becomes more hot, without anything hot coming to be in the matter which was not hot when it was less hot. It is just as when the circumference and curvature of a larger circle becomes that of a smaller circle, whether it be the same or another; the curved has not come to be in any part, which was not curved but straight (for the less or the more is not by being intermittent).
οὐδʼ ἔστι τῆς φλογὸς λαβεῖν τι μέγεθος ἐν οὐ καὶ θερμότης καὶ λευκότης ἔνεστιν.
Nor is it possible to take any size of a flame in which both heat and whiteness are not present.
οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ ἡ πρότερον θερμότης πρὸς τὴν ὕστερον.
Accordingly, then, the former heat is related to the subsequent heat in this way.
ὥστε καὶ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ ἡ μικρότης τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ ὄγκου οὐ προσλαβούσης τι τῆς ὕλης ἐπεκτείνεται, ἀλλʼ ὅτι δυνάμει ἐστὶν ὕλη ἀμφοῖν·
Consequently, both the greatness and the smallness of the sensible bulk are expanded not because the matter has taken something to itself, but because the matter is potentially both.
ὥστʼ ἐστὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πυκνὸν καὶ μανόν, καὶ μία ὕλη αὐτῶν.
Therefore, the dense and the rare are the same, and their matter is one.
ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν πυκνὸν βαρύ, τὸ δὲ μανὸν κοῦφον.
And the dense is heavy, while the rare is light.
δύο γὰρ ἔστιν ἐφʼ ἑκατέρου, τοῦ τε πυκνοῦ καὶ τοῦ μανοῦ· τό τε γὰρ βαρὺ καὶ τὸ σκληρὸν πυκνὰ δοκεῖ εἶναι, καὶ τἀναντία μανὰ τό τε κοῦφον καὶ τὸ μαλακόν· διαφωνεῖ δὲ τὸ βαρὺ καὶ τὸ σκληρὸν ἐπὶ μολίβδου καὶ σιδήρου.
For there are two properties in each, the dense and the rare; for both the heavy and the hard seem to be dense, and their contraries, the light and the soft, to be rare; but the heavy and the hard disagree in the case of lead and iron.
ἐκ δὴ τῶν εἰρημένων φανερὸν ὡς οὔτʼ ἀποκεκριμένον
κενὸν ἔστιν, οὔθ᾿ ἁπλῶς οὔτʼ ἐν τῷ μανῷ, οὔτε δυνάμει, εἰ μή τις βούλεται πάντως καλεῖν κενὸν τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ φέρεσθαι.
It is clear then from what has been said that there is no separated void, either absolutely or in the rare, nor potentially, unless one wishes to call the cause of motion void in any case.
οὕτω δʼ ἡ τοῦ βαρέος καὶ κούφου ὕλη, ᾗ τοιαύτη, εἴη ἂν τὸ κενόν· τὸ γὰρ πυκνὸν καὶ τὸ μανὸν κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐναντίωσιν φορᾶς ποιητικά, κατὰ δὲ τὸ σκληρὸν καὶ μαλακὸν πάθους καὶ ἀπαθείας, καὶ οὐ φορᾶς ἀλλʼ ἑτεροιώσεως μᾶλλον.
But if so, the matter of the heavy and the light, in so far as it is of this character, would be the void; for the dense and the rare are, in respect of this contrariety, productive of motion, but in respect of the hard and the soft, productive of acting and being acted upon, and not of motion but rather of alteration.
καὶ περὶ μὲν κενοῦ, πῶς ἔστι καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἔστι, διωρίσθω τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον.
And regarding the void, how it exists and how it does not exist, let it be determined in this way.