Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §179.1

Remarkable Superiority of Male Pheasants over Females

Passage 185 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Aristotle or Theophrastus points out that the superiority of male pheasants over females is disproportionate and much greater.

§179.1Fr. 179 Ἀριστοτέλης δʼ ἢ Θεόφραστος ἐν τοῖς ὑπομνήμασι τῶν φασιανῶν φησὶν οὐ κατὰ λόγον ἡ ὑπερυχὴ τῶν ἀρρένων ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μείζων.
Fr. 179 Aristotle or Theophrastus, in his notes on pheasants, says that the superiority of the males is not in proportion, but much greater.

Notes

  1. §179.1ὑπερυχή — The word `ὑπερυχή` in the manuscript is extremely rare and is generally interpreted as a scribal error or variant for `ὑπεροχή` ("superiority", "preeminence"), referring to the physical or visual superiority of male pheasants over females.
  2. §179.1οὐ κατὰ λόγον ... ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μείζων — A contrastive construction with the copula (`estin`) omitted. `kata logon` means "in proportion" or "correspondingly", which with the negation means "disproportionate". The entire phrase means that the superiority of the males is not merely proportionate but far greater.

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §179.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:179.1

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