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but that as it proceeds it is partially cooled, and as it advances it is turned into water. In order that he might escape certain other things that seem to be absurd, and in addition to these the fact that higher things and those far removed from the earth appear colder, he supposed its nature to be twofold. All bodies, both of plants and of animals, have their generation from the coming together of these four elements; nature drawing the purest parts of the elements into the generation of these bodies. And Aristotle calls these bodies natural; not as though they were put together in a heap, but as being wholly mixed through the whole into a unity and making the body something one and other than themselves; for they are so united that it is not possible to distinguish them; nor to see the earth by itself, and the water and the air and the fire by themselves, because something one and other than these has been generated from the coming together of the four, as in the case of the four-drug remedy. For there too the four-drug remedy is something other than the things of which it is composed, though not in the same way. For the elements do not make bodies by the juxtaposition of the finest particles, as in the four-drug remedy; but by change and unity. Again, when bodies perish, they are resolved into the elements, and in this way all things remain perpetually and suffice for the generation of beings, never increasing nor diminishing; whence they say that the generation of one thing is the destruction of another, and the destruction of one thing is the generation of another, not only concerning the soul, as was said before, but also concerning the body. But it seems to Plato that the three elements change into one another, but that the earth remains unchangeable. For, likening to each element the solids of the rectilinear figures (to the earth the cubic figure, since it is the most immobile of the rest; to water the most difficult to move of the rest, the icosahedron; the most mobile, the pyramid, to fire; and the octahedron to air, which is more mobile than water but less mobile than fire), from these figures he makes his proof that the three change into one another, but that the earth does not undergo this. For the three, the pyramid and the octahedron and the icosahedron, are composed of scalene triangles, but the cube of equilateral triangles. Therefore, as many as are composed of scalene triangles, these can be changed into one another when they are dissolved and come together again; but neither can a cube, when dissolved, be changed into any of the other three figures (for it is composed of equilateral triangles, from which none of the other three can be formed), nor, again, any of the three figures into a cube. It is necessary, therefore, that the bodies which have been given form according to these figures should also be related to one another as those were. However, the earth did not remain unaffected but is divided by the finer-particled bodies, being resolved into its elements indeed, but not being changed into the things that divide it. For, coming together again into itself, it is restored, which is seen in water. For if you throw a little earth into water and stir it, the earth is dissolved into water; but if you stop stirring, when the water has settled, it sinks; in the same way must one also think about all the earth; this is not a change, but a separation of the things that have been mixed. And Plato says that the earth is also dissolved by the sharpness of fire; and having been dissolved it is carried in it or in a mass of air, that is, when air dissolves it, or in water when it is dissolved by water. But he speaks in another way, dividing each of the elements to have three qualities: fire has sharpness, rarity, motion; and the other extreme of the elements, that is, the earth, the opposite qualities to these: bluntness, density, rest, so that according to these qualities earth and fire are opposite (which was not the case according to the other qualities in pairs) and that qualities have been taken from each of the extremes and so the middle elements have been generated; for two qualities of fire are taken, rarity and motion, and one of earth, rarity, and air is composed, having as its specifying qualities bluntness, rarity, motion. Again, two qualities of earth are taken, bluntness and density; and of fire only one, the

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προϊὸν δὲ κατὰ μέρος ψύχεσθαι, καὶ προκόπτον ἐξυδατοῦσθαι. ἵνα δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ δοκοῦντα εἶναι ἄτοπα διαφύγῃ καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὸ τὰ ὑψηλότερα καὶ πολὺ τῆς γῆς ἀφεστῶτα ψυχρότερα φαίνεσθαι, διττὴν ὑπέθετο τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ. πάντα δὲ τὰ σώματα τὴν γένεσιν ἐκ τῆς συνόδου τῶν τεσσάρων τούτων στοιχείων ἔχει, τά τε τῶν φυτῶν καὶ τὰ τῶν ζῴων· τῆς φύσεως τὰ καθαρώτατα τῶν στοιχείων εἰς τὴν γένεσιν τούτων τῶν σωμάτων ἑλκούσης. καλεῖ δὲ ταῦτα τὰ σώματα Ἀριστοτέλης φυσικά· οὐ κατὰ σωρείαν συντιθεμένων αὐτῶν ἀλλ' ὅλων δι' ὅλου εἰς ἕνωσιν ἀνακιρναμένων καὶ ἕν τι καὶ ἄλλο παρ' ἑαυτὰ ποιούντων τὸ σῶμα· οὕτω γὰρ ἥνωται ὡς μὴ οἷόν τε εἶναι διακρῖναι αὐτά· μηδὲ ἰδίᾳ μὲν θεάσασθαι τὴν γῆν, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸν ἀέρα καὶ τὸ πῦρ, τῷ ἕν τι καὶ ἄλλο παρὰ ταῦτα ἐκ τῆς συνόδου τῶν τεσσάρων γεγενῆσθαι, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς τετραφαρμάκου. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἄλλο ἡ τετραφάρμακος παρὰ τὰ ἐξ ὧν σύγκειται, οὐχ ὁμοίως μέντοι. οὐ γὰρ κατὰ παράθεσιν τὴν τῶν λεπτομερεστάτων, ὡς ἐν τῇ τετραφαρμάκῳ, τὰ στοιχεῖα ποιεῖ τὰ σώματα· ἀλλὰ κατὰ μεταβολὴν καὶ ἑνότητα. πάλιν δὲ εἰς τὰ στοιχεῖα ἀναλύεται τὰ σώματα φθειρόμενα, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ διαμένει διηνεκῶς τὰ πάντα καὶ διαρκεῖ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὄντων γένεσιν μήτε πλεονάζοντά ποτε μήτε μειούμενα· ὅθεν καὶ τὴν ἄλλου γένεσιν ἄλλου φθορὰν εἶναί φασιν καὶ τὴν ἄλλου φθορὰν ἄλλου γένεσιν, οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν ὡς προείρηται ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα. Πλάτωνι δὲ δοκεῖ τὰ μὲν τρία στοιχεῖα μεταβάλλειν εἰς ἄλληλα. τὴν δὲ γῆν ἀμετάβλητον μένειν. ἀπεικάζων γὰρ ἑκάστῳ στοιχείῳ τὰ στερεώματα τῶν εὐθυγράμμων σχημάτων (τῇ μὲν γῇ τὸ κυβικὸν σχῆμα ἐπειδὴ ἀκινητότατον τῶν λοιπῶν ἐστιν, ὕδατι δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν τὸ δυσκινητότατον τὸ εἰκοσάεδρον, τὸ δὲ εὐκινητότατον τὸ πυραμοειδὲς τῷ πυρί, τὸ δὲ ὀκτάεδρον τῷ ἀέρι, ὅπερ ἐστὶν εὐκινητότερον μὲν ὕδατος δυσκινητότερον δὲ πυρός), ἐκ τούτων τῶν σχημάτων ποιεῖται τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ τὰ μὲν τρία εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβάλλειν, τὴν δὲ γῆν τοῦτο μὴ πάσχειν. τὰ μὲν γὰρ τρία, τήν τε πυραμίδα καὶ τὸ ὀκτάεδρον καὶ τὸ εἰκοσάεδρον, ἐκ σκαληνῶν τριγώνων συνίστασθαι, τὸν δὲ κύβον ἐξ ἰσοπλεύρων τριγώνων. ὅσα τοίνυν ἐκ τῶν σκαληνῶν συνέστη τριγώνων, ταῦτα δύνασθαι διαλυόμενα καὶ πάλιν συνιόντα εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβάλλεσθαι· μήτε δὲ κύβον διαλυθέντα εἴς τι τῶν ἄλλων τριῶν σχημάτων δύνασθαι μεταβάλλειν (ἐξ ἰσοπλεύρων γὰρ τριγώνων συνέστηκεν ἐξ ὧν οὐδὲν τῶν ἄλλων τριῶν συστῆναι δύναται), μήτ' αὖ τι τῶν τριῶν σχημάτων εἰς κύβον. ἀνάγκη οὖν καὶ τὰ εἰδοποιηθέντα σώματα κατὰ τὰ εἴδη ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχειν πρὸς ἄλληλα ὡς ἐκεῖνα εἶχεν. οὐ μὴν ἀπαθὴς ἔμεινεν ἡ γῆ ἀλλὰ διαιρεῖται ὑπὸ τῶν λεπτομερεστέρων σωμάτων ἀναστοιχειουμένη μὲν οὐ μὴν καὶ μεταβαλλομένη εἰς τὰ διαιροῦντα αὐτήν. πάλιν γὰρ συνιοῦσα εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀποκαθίσταται, ὅπερ φαίνεται ἐν τῷ ὕδατι. ἐὰν γὰρ εἰς ὕδωρ γῆν ὀλίγην βαλὼν ταράξῃς διαλύεται εἰς ὕδωρ ἡ γῆ· ἐὰν δὲ παύσῃ ταράττων στάσιν λαβόντος τοῦ ὕδατος ὑφιζάνει· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς γῆς δεῖ νοεῖν· οὐκ ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο μεταβολὴ ἀλλὰ διάκρισις τῶν μεμιγμένων. λέγει δὲ ὁ Πλάτων καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ὀξύτητος τοῦ πυρὸς λύεσθαι τὴν γῆν· ἡ δὲ λυθεῖσα φέρεται ἐν αὐτῷ ἢ ἐν ἀέρος ὄγκῳ, δηλονότι ὅταν ἀὴρ αὐτὴν διαλύσῃ, ἢ ἐν ὕδατι ὅταν ὑφ' ὕδατος λυθῇ. λέγει δὲ κατ' ἄλλον τρόπον διαιρῶν ἕκαστον τῶν στοιχείων τρεῖς ποιότητας ἔχειν· τὸ μὲν πῦρ ὀξύτητα μανότητα κίνησιν, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον ἄκρον τῶν στοιχείων τουτέστι τὴν γῆν τὰς ἐναντίας ταύταις ποιότητας ἀμβλύτητα πυκνότητα στάσιν, ὡς εἶναι κατὰ ταύτας τὰς ποιότητας ἐναντία τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸ πῦρ (ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν κατὰ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς ἐν συζυγίᾳ ποιότητας) εἰλῆφθαι δὲ ἀφ' ἑκατέρων τῶν ἄκρων ποιότητας καὶ οὕτως τὰ μέσα στοιχεῖα γεγενῆσθαι· λαμβάνονται γὰρ τοῦ μὲν πυρὸς δύο ποιότητες, ἡ μανότης καὶ ἡ κίνησις, μία δὲ τῆς γῆς, ἡ μανότης, καὶ συνίστα ται ὁ ἀὴρ εἰδοποιοὺς ἔχων ποιότητας ἀμβλύτητα μανότητα κίνησιν. πάλιν δύο λαμβάνονται ποιότητες τῆς γῆς, ἀμβλύτης καὶ πυκνότης· τοῦ δὲ πυρὸς μία μόνη ἡ