ARISTOTLE AND THE EARLIER PERIPATETICS vol.I by Eduard Zeller, B.F.C.Costelloe 1897

'
rnrsics 483
material, but a phenomenon occasioned, by the transmutation
of moist and dry substance (air and earth). 1
Again, while each of the elements exhibits two essential
properties, one of which in each case is its proper and
distinctive characteristic—the dryness of earth, the cold
of water, the ' moisture ' or fluidity of air, the warmth of
fire. 2 Since, finally, each element includes a passive
and an active quality, 3 it follows that all act upon and
are acted on by one another, that they mingle and are
transformed into one another—a process, indeed, which
would not otherwise be conceivable. 4 Each element
may pass into all the rest, for everything goes from
be a region of fire, as he was
forced to hold there was, if ' fire
included only visible flame.
1
Meteor, ii. 2, 355, a, 9 :
y
fiiv yap (p\b£ 5ia ffwe^ovs vypov
Kal ^7]pov iLGTafia\\6vTti>v yiyyerat
Kai oi rpecperai [with which that
which is improperly called rpotpii.
Long. Tit. 3, 465, b, 24, Vita et
M. c. 5, 470, a, 2, does not conflict]
oh yhp ' 7} alrij odea Biapevei
ovBeva xpdpov &s eltretv. Ibid. c.
3, 357, b, 31 : KaBdirep to tuv
pt6vTav vSdrtov Kal to ttjs (pKoybs
peB/ia. Vita et M. c. 5, 470, a, 2.
2
Gen. et Corr. ii. 3, 331, a-,
3 : ov fi^jv oAV ottAcSs 76 TeTTopo
01/ra [t& (TToix^ta] epos e'/caoTfJy
eoTi, yri juec \i\pov fiaWov $1
tyvypov, iiSaip Se tyv%pov fj.a\\ov
if vypov, oAfp S' vypov fiaWov ^
Bepfiov, irvp Se Bepfiov fiaWoy ^
|7)po5. Meteor, iv. 4, 382, a, 3.
In the latter passage Aristotle
says, among other things, that
earth and water alone are inhabited
by living beings (on which
vide below), because they alone
are Sxrj tuv tro>fi.6.Tu>v. For
although cold is held by Aristotle
to be the primary quality of
water, moisture of air, he yet tells
us here : \eyerat Se tuv aroi-^ioiv
IStairaTa Zflpov fiev 77), vypov Se
HSciip . . . TiQepeda Se vypov aatfxa
SSaip, |7)poD Se 77J1/ (iv. 4, 5, 382,
a, 3, h, 3) ; and since dryness
and moisture are regarded as the
passive or material qualities (see
p. 480, supra), earth and water
are held to be the matter of all
bodies. Fire, on the other hand,
represents in a special sense
the element of form (Gen. et
Corr. i. 8, 335, a, 9 sqq.), for here,
as elsewhere, the containing element
stands to the contained in
the relation of form to matter
(Be Casio, iv. 4, 312, a, 11)
Similarly, more reality is attributed
to heat than to cold, inas.
much as the former is a positive,
the latter a negative, attribute
;
the one is classed as being, the
other as not-being ( Gen. et Corr.
i. 3, 318, b, 14).
3
See pp. 479 sq. supra.
4
Gen. et Corr. ii. 2, 329, b,
22, c. 7, and elsewhere ; see pp.
450 sq. supra.
1 1 2
484 ARISTOTLE
opposite to opposite ; but the elements are all opposed
to eacli other just in the same way as their distinctive
properties (warmth, cold, dryness, and moisture) are
opposed. The more complete this opposition is, the
more difficult and the slower is the process of transition
from one to the other ; the less complete, the easier.
Therefore, when two elements exhibit respectively a
conflict of both their essential properties, the process is
slower and more difficult than when they have one
property in common and conflict only in respect of the
other. In the latter case the alteration of one property
in one of them occasions a complete transmutation into
the other ; while in the former case we only gain one
step by such a change—for only the element intermediate
between the two that are opposed is produced, and
it requires a second transmutation before the metamorphosis
is complete. For instance, by removing the
cold of water, we obtain air ; but it is only when the
humidity common to water and air has been removed
that we obtain fire. If the humidity of water disappears,
earth is produced; but in order to generate
fire, the coldness common to earth and water must be
withdrawn. Hence it follows that the elements which
are wholly opposed to one another are metamorphosed
by an indirect process ; those which are but partially
opposed are transformed directly. Fire passes directly
into air or earth, indirectly into water ; air directly into
fire or water, indirectly into earth; water directly
into air or earth, indirectly into fire ; earth directly
into water or fire, indirectly into air. 1 Thus all the
1
Gen. et Corr. ii. 4.