§16.1Fr. 16
Θ. ἐν τρίτῳ τῶν Φυσικῶν ἢ περὶ οὐρανοῦ τὰ γινόμενα διαιρεῖ οὕτως· ἢ γὰρ ὑπὸ ὁμοίου γίνεται ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου καὶ θερμὸν ὑπὸ θερμοῦ, ἢ ὑπὸ ἐναντίου ὡς ὁρῶμεν τοὺς κεραυνοὺς καὶ τὰς ἀστραπάς· ὑπὸ γὰρ ψυχρότητος ἡ τούτου τοῦ πυρὸς ἐν τῷ ἀέρι γένεσις ἀθροίζοντος εἰς ἐν τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς θερμὸν ἐκπυροῦντος· ἢ τρίτον ὑπὸ ἐντελεχείᾳ ὅλως ὄντος ὡς καὶ ὁ μώλωψ· ὑπὸ γὰρ ἐντελεχείᾳ οὔσης τῆς μάστιγος γίνεται, οὔτε δὲ ὁμοίας ἔτι οὔτε ἐναντίας τῷ γινομένῳ· καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου δέ φησι γινόμενα ὑπὸ ἐντελεχείας γίνεται· καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς οὔτε ὅμοιος οὔτε ἐναντίος τοῖς γινομένοις.
Fr. 16 Theophrastus, in the third book of his Physics or On the Heaven, divides things that come to be as follows: for either they come to be by what is like, as human by human and hot by hot; or by what is contrary, as we see thunderbolts and lightnings; for the generation of this fire in the air (which gathers into one the heat in them and sets it on fire) is by coldness; or thirdly, by what is entirely in actuality, as is also the welt; for it comes to be by the whip which is in actuality, being neither like nor contrary to what is coming to be; and he says that things that come to be by the sun also come to be by actuality; for the sun itself is neither like nor contrary to the things that come to be.