Miscellanies 8.9.32
Summary: One cause can produce opposite effects depending on its strength or on the thing it acts on, as the sun melts wax but hardens clay; causes are also classed as evident or hidden, and hidden ones as knowable by signs or wholly unknowable.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ τῶν ἐναντίων αἴτιον γίνεται, ποτὲ μὲν παρὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ αἰτίου καὶ τὴν δύναμιν. ποτὲ δὲ παρὰ τὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα τοῦ πάσχοντος. παρὰ μὲν τὴν ποιὰν δύναμιν· ἡ αὐτὴ χορδὴ παρὰ τὴν ἐπίτασιν ἢ τὴν ἄνεσιν ὀξὺν ἢ βαρὺν ἀποδίδωσι τὸν φθόγγον. παρὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα τῶν πασχόντων· τὸ μέλι γλυκάζει μὲν τοὺς ὑγιαίνοντας, πικράζει δὲ τοὺς πυρέσσοντας, καὶ εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς οἶνος τοὺς μὲν εἰς ὀργήν, τοὺς δὲ εἰς διάχυσιν ἄγει, καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ἥλιος τήκει μὲν τὸν κηρόν, ξηραίνει δὲ τὸν πηλόν. Τῶν οὖν αἰτίων τὰ μέν ἐστι πρόδηλα, τὰ [δὲ] ἐπιλογισμῷ λαμβανόμενα, τὰ δὲ ἄδηλα, τὰ [δὲ] ἀναλογισμῷ. καὶ τῶν ἀδήλων τὰ μὲν πρὸς καιρὸν ἄδηλα, τὰ κατὰ μέν τινα καιρὸν ἀποκεκρυμμένα, κατὰ δέ τινα πάλιν ἔκδηλα βλεπόμενα, τὰ δὲ φύσει ἄδηλα, τὰ κατὰ μηδένα καιρὸν πρόδηλα γενέσθαι δυνάμενα. καὶ τῶν μὲν φύσει τὰ μέν καταληπτά, ἅπερ οὐκ ἄδηλά τινες ἐκάλουν διὰ σημείων ἀναλογιστικῶς λαμβανόμενα, καθάπερ ἡ συμμετρία τῶν λόγῳ θεωρητῶν πόρων, τὰ δὲ ἀκατάληπτα, τὰ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον ὑπὸ κατάληψιν πεσεῖν δυνάμενα, ἃ δὴ καὶ ἄδηλα ἐν τῷ καθάπαξ λέγεται. Καὶ τὰ μὲν προκαταρκτικά, τὰ δὲ συνεκτικά, τὰ δὲ συναίτια, τὰ δὲ συνεργά. καὶ τὰ μὲν τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν, τὰ δὲ τοῦ παρὰ φύσιν, τὰ δὲ νόσου, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ὑποβεβηκὸς τὰ μὲν παθῶν, τὰ δὲ τοῦ μεγέθους αὐτῶν, τὰ δὲ χρόνων καὶ καιρῶν.
English · Claude translation
The same thing becomes the cause of contrary effects, sometimes because of the magnitude and power of the cause, sometimes because of the suitability of what is acted upon. Because of a certain power: the same string, according to its tightening or loosening, gives a high or a low note. Because of the suitability of those acted upon: honey tastes sweet to the healthy but bitter to those with fever; one and the same wine leads some to anger, others to good cheer; and the same sun melts wax but dries clay. Of causes, then, some are evident, grasped by observation; others are non-evident, grasped by analogical reasoning. And of the non-evident, some are non-evident for a time, hidden at one time but seen plainly again at another; others are non-evident by nature, which can at no time become evident. And of those non-evident by nature, some are apprehensible, which some used to call not non-evident, being grasped analogically through signs, like the proportion of the pores that are observable by reason; others are inapprehensible, which can in no way fall under apprehension, and these are called non-evident absolutely. And some causes are initiating, some sustaining, some joint causes, some cooperating. And some are causes of what is according to nature, some of what is contrary to nature, some of disease; and at a lower level, some of affections, some of their magnitude, some of times and seasons.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The classification draws on ancient medical theory. “Observation” renders ἐπιλογισμός and “analogical reasoning” ἀναλογισμός, terms of the Empiricist and Rationalist physicians. The “pores observable by reason” are the invisible passages in the body posited by some physicians. Stählin brackets two occurrences of δέ; the sentence is translated accordingly.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.9.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/9/32/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.9.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/9/32/).
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