§99.
9.
Γίνεται δὲ καὶ τόδε· ἔστιν ὅτε τὰ τέκνα λεπτὰ καὶ ἀσθενέα γίνεται, ἐκ πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς παχέων τε καὶ ἰσχυρῶν ἐόντων·
This also happens: sometimes children are born thin and weak, even though both the father and the mother are stout and strong.
κἢν μὲν πολλῶν ἤδη γενομένων τῶν παιδίων τοιοῦτον γένηται, δῆλον ὅτι ἐν τῇσι μήτρῃσιν ἐνόσησε τὸ ἔμβρυον, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς, εἰ τῆς αὔξης. αὐτοῦ ἔξω παρῄει, τῶν μητρέων χανουσέων μᾶλλον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀσθενὲς ἐγένετο·
If this happens when many children have already been born, it is clear that the embryo became diseased in the womb, and that, owing to the mother, if what was needed for its growth passed outside because the womb gaped too much, it became weak for this reason.
νοσέει δὲ τῶν ζώων ἕκαστον κατὰ τὴν ἰσχὺν ἑωυτοῦ.
Each of the animals becomes diseased according to its own strength.
Ἢν δὲ πάντα τὰ γενόμενα παιδία ἀσθενέα ἔῃ, αἱ μῆτραι αἴτιαί εἰσι, στενότεραι ἐοῦσαι τοῦ καιροῦ·
But if all the children born are weak, the womb is the cause, being narrower than is appropriate.
ἢν γὰρ μὴ ἔχῃ εὐρυχωρίην ἔνθα τὸ ἔμβρυον θρέψεται, ἀνάγκη ἐστὶν αὐτὸ λεπτὸν γενέσθαι, ἅτε οὐκ ἔχον τῇ αὔξῃ τὴν αὐτὴν εὐρυχωρίῃν ἢν δὲ ἔχῃ.
For if the embryo does not have ample room where it is to be nourished, it must of necessity become thin, since it does not have the same ample room for its growth.
εὐρυχωρίην καὶ μὴ νοσήσῃ, ἐπιεικές ἐστι μεγάλων τοκέων μέγα τέκνον γενέσθαι.
But if it has ample room and does not become diseased, it is reasonable that a large child is born from large parents.
Ἔχει δὲ οὕτως, ὥσπερ εἴ τις σίκυον ἤδη ἀπηνθηκότα, ἐόντα δὲ νεογνὸν καὶ προσεόντα τῷ σικυηλάτῳ, θεὶς ἐς ἀρυστῆρα, ἔσται τοῦ ἀρυστῆρος τῷ κοίλῳ ἴσος καὶ ὅμοιος·
The case is just as if someone, having placed a cucumber that has already shed its blossom, being newborn and still attached to its plant, into a ladle, it will become equal and similar to the cavity of the ladle.
ἢν δέ, τις ἐς ἄγγος θῇ μέγα, ὅ τι ἐπιεικές ἐστι σίκυον χαδέειν, ἀλλὰ μὴ πολλῷ κάρτα μέζον τῆς φύσιος τοῦ σικύου, ἴσος ἔσται ὁ σίκους τοῦ ἄγγεος τῷ κοίλῳ καὶ ὅμοιος· ἐρίζει γὰρ ἐν τῇ αὔξῃ τῷ κοίλῳ τοῦ ἄγγεος.
And if someone places it in a large vessel, which is suitable for holding a cucumber but not much larger than the natural size of the cucumber, the cucumber will become equal and similar to the cavity of the vessel; for in its growth it contends against the cavity of the vessel.
Σχεδὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν καὶ πάντα τὰ φυόμενα οὕτως ἔχει, ὅκως. ἄν τις καταναγκάσῃ αὐτά.
To speak generally, almost all growing things turn out in this way, however one constrains them.
Οὕτω δὴ καὶ τῷ παιδίῳ, ἢν μὲν εὐρυχωρίη οἱ ἔῃ· ἐν τῇ αὔξῃ, μέζον γίνεται· ἢν δὲ στενοχωρίη, ἔλασσον.
So indeed it is also for the child: if there is ample room for it in its growth, it becomes larger; but if there is narrow room, smaller.
§1010.
10.
Τὸ δὲ πηρωθὲν ἐν τῇσι μήτρῃσι παιδίον φημὶ αὐτὸ ἢ φλασθὲν πηρωθῆναι τῆς μητρὸς πληγείσης κατὰ τὸ ἔμβρυον, ἢ πεσούσης, ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς βιαίου παθήματος προσγενομένου τῇ μητρί· ἢν δὲ φλασθῇ, ταύτῃ πηροῦται τὸ παιδίον· ἢν δὲ μᾶλλον φλασθῇ τὸ ἔμβρυον, τοῦ ὑμένος ῥαγέντος τοῦ περιέχοντος αὐτὸ, φθείρεται τὸ ἔμβρυον·
As for a child deformed in the womb, I say that it is deformed either by being bruised because the mother was struck near the embryo, or fell, or some other violent accident happened to the mother; and if it is bruised, the child is deformed in that part; but if the embryo is bruised more severely, so that the membrane surrounding it is ruptured, the embryo is destroyed.
ἢ ἑτέρῳ τρόπῳ τοιῷδε πηροῦται τὰ παιδία, ἐπὴν ἐν τῇσι μήτρῃσι κατὰ τὸ χωρίον καθ’ ὅ τι καὶ ἐπηρώθη στενὸν ἔῃ, ἀνάγκη ἐν στενῷ κινευμένου τοῦ σώματος πηροῦσθαι κατ’ ἐκεῖνο τὸ χωρίον·
Or children are deformed in another such way: when the space in the womb is narrow at the very part where the child is actually deformed, it is necessary that as the body moves in a narrow space, it becomes deformed in that part.
ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν δένδρων ἅσσα ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐόντα μὴ ἔχει εὐρυχωρίην. ἀλλ’ ὑπὸ λίθου ἢ ὑπό τευ ἄλλου ἀποληφθῇ, ἀνατέλλον σκολιὸν γίνεται, ἢ τῇ μὲν παχὺ, τῇ δὲ λεπτόν· οὕτω δὴ ἔχει καὶ τὸ παιδίον, ἢν ἐν τῇσι μήτρῃσι κατά τι τοῦ σώματος στενότερον ἔῃ τὸ ἕτερον τοῦ ἑτέρου.
Just as those parts of trees which, being in the earth, do not have ample room, but are blocked by a stone or something else, grow up crooked, or thick in one part and thin in another; so indeed it is also with the child, if in the womb one part of its body is narrower than another.
§1111.
11.
Ὅτι δὲ, πεπηρωμένων ἀνθρώπων, ὑγιέα γίνονται τὰ παιδία, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον συμβαίνει· ἔχει γὰρ τὸν ἀριθμὸν πάντα τὸ πεπηρωμένον τῷ ὑγιεῖ·
That healthy children are born from deformed people is what happens for the most part; for the deformed person has all the parts in number just as the healthy one.
ἐπὴν δέ τί οἱ νόσημα προσπέσῃ καὶ τοῦ ὑγροῦ αὐτοῦ, ἀφ’ οὗ τὸ σπέρμα γίνεται, τέσσαρες ἰδέαι ἐοῦσαι. ὁκόσαι ἐν φύσει ὑπῆρξαν, τὴν γονὴν οὐχ ὅλην παρέχουσιν, ἀσθενέστερον δὲ τὸ κατὰ τὸ πεπηρωμένον, οὐ θαῦμα δέ μοι δοκέει εἶναι καὶ πηρωθῆναι, καθάπερ ὁ τοκεύς.
But when some disease falls upon him, and of that very fluid from which the seed is produced, the four forms which exist in nature do not supply the seed whole, but that which corresponds to the deformed part is weaker, it does not seem to me to be a wonder that a child is also born deformed, just like the parent.
Ταῦτα δέ μοι ἐς τοῦτο εἰρέαται· ἀναβήσομαι δ’ αὖθις ὀπίσω ἐς τὸν λόγον ὃν ἔλεγον.
These things have been said by me on this point; but I shall go back again to the argument which I was speaking of.