Aristotle De caelo A 9. 278 a 28ff.

Author(s): Friedrich Solmsen

Source: Classical Philology, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Apr., 1952), pp. 94-95
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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 94 NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS
One can not tell how far the Roman
would go in his choice; he might possibly
include the first two, in spite of the fact
that they do not amount to much in size
or taste; he would be more likely to use the
thyroid gland, although it is not first class;
NOTES
1. Capt. 915: arripuit gladium, praetruncavit tribus
tegoribus glandia
Curc. 323: pernam, abdomen, sumen suis (sueris ?),
glandium
Ibid., 366: pernam, sumen, glandium
Men. 210f: glandionidam suillam, laridum pernoni-
dam, aut sincipitamenta porcina
Pseud. 166: pernam, callum, glandium, sumen
Stich. 360: pernam et glandium
Frg.vs. 47 (Lindsay): pernam, sunen, sueres, spetile,
callum, glandia
Ibid., 98: syncerasto ... pernis, glandio
2. 3. 82. 20; 7. 20. 4: apri glandulas
3. HN 8. 209: Hinc censoriarum legum paginae inter-
dictaque cenis abdomina, glandia, testi-
culi, vulvae, sincipita verrina ...
4. Such bits might come no doubt from beef, lamb,
ARISTOTLE DE CAELO A 9. 278 a 28ff.
In De caelo A 9 Aristotle seeks to prove
that our Universe is the only one that
exists. There is, in fact there can be, no
other Cosmos.1 It is true that the Cosmos
is not a pure form (s18o;) but "form in
matter" and that as a rule a "form" finds
its material realization in many different
individuals.2 Yet, in spite of this rule, our
Cosmos is unique because it can be shown
that all available cosmic matter, i. e., the
entire substance of the elements, has been
used up in its formation.3 To illustrate this
peculiar situation Aristotle imagines for a
moment the possibility that all flesh and
bone that exist were used up in the forma-
tion of one man; in that case no other man
could come into being.4 In point of fact,
this is the second of the two illustrations
which he uses; my reason for summarizing
it first is that the point which Aristotle
wishes to make is here brought out with
all desirable clarity and that I could not
say the same of the first illustration. The
first illustration operates with a set of con-
cepts that are familiar from other discuss-
ions of the relationship between pure form
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but in any case I would regard the thymus
gland, or "sweetbread," as a certainty.
0. J. TODD
UNIVEr, sITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
chicken, etc.; Apicius (3. 1. 117) includes in one of his
dishes glandulas (h)aedinas; hut the above authors
are obviously concentrating on pork.
5. HN 16. 185 (of texture of timbers): Quibus (sc. arbo-
ribus) sueit tubera sicut iss carmie glan-
dia ...
6. For this and the other pertinent physiological in-
formation I am indebted to a Scottish ham-curer in
Vancouver, and to Drs. Persson, Skelton, Latimer,
and Nichol of Burns' local packing plant.
7. HN 11. 175: Tonsillae in homine, in sue glandulae.
8. 7. 9. 1: amplae et glandulosae cervicis (of qualities to
look for in a boar). (Celsus 2. 1, 4. 1, 8. 4 is of no help,
as lie is dealing only with the human body.)
9. These are elongated in the small pig, reaching from
niear the heart to the thoracic cavity; as the hog
grows older, they contract to about 1 l to 2 inches.
and form in matter. The concepts are
"flesh" (ax&), "nose" (O'), "curved"
xu7r6?,ov), and "aquiline" or "hooknosed"
(TO ypi7rnv),5 and the sentence in question
reads in our MSS and editions as follows:
E YXo ST7V r ypU7OTrq XXCZOU)T, 'V 'PVL 7
acpxt, xd XCTV T -n ypu-Tt r , E
t 7~a) -e aopx V U7L y6o-~oa&T
S, XZCIM6v iv a@ Ocp xqV 6 v 7ZO VOL'0
U7&PinSV TXOC67 TO ypUirov, oiUOv0
St-j yp7rnOv OUT" EViZOLTO yEveaOCL
The word acpt is in place where it is
stated that flesh serves as matter for
aquilinity (xoc't ea-tv U, Tn ypu76T-T r,
acx?o); in the former part of the same con-
ditional clause it is out of place because
aquilinity (or the hooknosed) is simply a
curvature in the nose.7 Moreover in the
second conditional clause the hypothetical
possibility which Aristotle contemplates
becomes not only more precise in its details
but also more drastic and, sit venia verbo,
more humorous if out of all available
flesh one nose is formed which has the
quality of aquilinity. We thus arrive at
this text:
 NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS 95

EL YO? SaTLV -2 ypU707QIq xau)V 0T5 ?V pLVL are formed into something new,
[i~ a~p>'], XOCaL ?aTV ? -n ypTtrn6 " namely one man, and that in the basic
? & oca5v -@V aapxiv at y vor-To p (ap train of thought the elements are con-
MSS) xZOCt U'7O'&LV TaOU+ TO ypu7r6V, o'OVV &vceived as forming one Cosmos.8 Moreover
&CXX' OV> eX ypU7nOV OUT) eVUXQOL-O ye?vea&xt.. what Simplicius read in his copy of De
caelo and paraphrased by the words 'L -
Critics who are, or consider themselves, Tpq scLvo4 ,UOpcp) XOX Tro ypu7ZOV CXU'Tr f at-
emunctae naris may find the humor of the pLov eV acpx. r uxUzX yzv?aOcL, [LX o5a( Tr
Gargantuan nose rather gross or grotesque. &pLOPj, ?V oka-n yLVOLvo - 6aCpX appears to
Yet this is a matter of taste rather than a be the text as here emended.
basis for arguments. If arguments are still
FRIEDRICH SOLMSEN
needed I should stress the point that in the
parallel illustration flesh and bone, the CORNELL UNIVERSITY

NOTES

1. d6vcvaxov ycevoa%t nkelovg (scil. oi?Qavov6g) 277 b NV

is xotX6-Ong 27.6n4, Metaph. Z 5. 1030b 31 f. Unlike notXov
2. 277b 29-278a 22. and xaVtuxov, OLtOv and yQumv are qualities of the
3. 278a 25-28; for the actual proof O-Tr t &fravTog nose and cannot be thought of apart from the nose.
TOV pVGtOVoo xa' ataOT8O5T o1v;riTxs oawraog (scil. 6 x6o-
8. In another respect the structure of the basic
jio;) see 278b 8ff. thought and of the second illustration is simpler than
4. 278a 32-35. that of the first illustration. James Hutton has pointed
5. For other passages in which these concepts or out to me that they do not include anything correspond-
their antonyms, Omg&v and xoiXov, are used for similar ing to -rT yQVu6v of the first illustration. For the point
purposes see H. Bonitz, Index Aristotelicus (Berlin, 1870) which Aristotle wishes to make -rT yVuO6v is in fact less
s. v. yQ1I6v and Otx6v. essential than QCs and her WXv.
6. 278 a 28-32. 9. Simplicius In libros de caelo, ed. J. L. Heiberg
7. Just as the antonym, T6 OtL,ov (the "snubnosed") (Comment. in Arist. Graeca, VII), 278. 13ff.

ATHENS AND AEGINA

Nearly ten years elapsed after the of the Aeginetans' wrong-doing and in the
publication of the fourth volume of the thirty-first to mark out a precinct for
Cambridge Ancient History before anyone Aeacus and begin their war against the
ventured to attack E. M. Walker's brilliant Aeginetans and they should gain their
account' of what he termed the Unheralded wish" (Hdt.5.89). This was not, Walker
War. At length L. E. Law2 successfully thought, a vaticinium post eventum, but a
undermined several of Walker's argu- gloss on the text of the oracle, which can-
ments; and finally, J. L. Myres3 has shown not have used so precise a term as the
that -&xipux-7oq 706?z05 "cannot in any thirty-first year, but must have spoken of
case mean ... what E. M. Walker said it one generation. "It was in the year 458
meant ... : open official war by Athens on B.C. that the Athenians inflicted a decisive
Aegina ... for conduct so gross that no defeat at sea on the Aeginetans, and all but
formal declaration of war was ever de- annihilated their navy. It was then that
livered to Aegina." the success promised by the oracle was
A few points may be added to the dis- attained. If we reckon back 30 years from
cussion of a subject which is so difficult 458 B.C., we arrive at the year 488 B.C., the
and obscure that only the most thankful true date of the seizure of the sacred vessel.
praise need be accorded Walker's attempt When in the year 458 B.C. the devout
to solve the crucial difficulties. claimed the fulfilment of the oracle, they
1. "And when the Athenians were has- could point, in support of their contention,
tening to set forth against the Aeginetans,
to the date of the dedication of the precinct
there came an oracle from Delphi bidding of Aeacus, just 30 years before, the name
them refrain for thirty years from the time
of the archon in whose term of office the

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