11-14
On Mixtures 11-14 · The elements themselves11-14The elements themselves
When older writers say bodies are blended from the four, which "hot" and "cold" do they mean?
· · ·
γὰρ1
gàr
For
ἐπειδὰν2
epeidàn
whenwhenever
μὲν3
mèn
—
λέγωσι4
légōsi
they say
τὰ5
tà
the
σώματα6
sṓmata
bodies
κεκρᾶσθαι7
kekrâsthai
are blendedto have been mixed
ἐκ8
ek
from
θερμοῦ9
thermoû
the hot
καὶ10
kaì
and
ψυχροῦ11
psychroû
the cold
καὶ12
kaì
and
ξηροῦ13
xēroû
the dry
καὶ14
kaì
and
ὑγροῦ15
hygroû
the wet
, φασὶ16
phasì
they say
χρῆναι17
chrênai
one mustit is needful
ἀκούειν18
akoúein
understandto hear
τῶν19
tôn
the things
that are
ἄκρως20
ákrōs
absolutelyto the extreme
τοιούτων21
toioútōn
sosuch
, τουτέστι22
toutésti
that is
, τῶν23
tôn
the
στοιχείων24
stoicheíōn
elements
αὐτῶν25
autôn
themselves
: ἀέρος26
aéros
air
καὶ27
kaì
and
πυρὸς28
pyròs
fire
καὶ29
kaì
and
ὕδατος30
hýdatos
water
καὶ31
kaì
and
γῆς32
gês
earth
. For when they say the bodies are blended from the hot and the cold and the dry and the wet, they say one must understand the things that are absolutely so, that is, the elements themselves: air and fire and water and earth.
For when they say the bodies are blended from the hot and the cold and the dry and the wet, they say one must understand the things that are absolutely so, that is, the elements themselves: air and fire and water and earth.
Interpretation
For when they say that bodies are blended from the hot and the cold, the dry and the wet, they say you must understand the things that are absolutely so, that is, the elements themselves: air and fire and water and earth.
"They" are the older authorities of the first sentence. Galen reports their usage rather than inventing his own.
This is the first of two senses of "hot." In the first, the hot is something that is hot absolutely, akrōs, with nothing of its opposite in it. Only the four elements are like that. Each of them carries two of the qualities: fire hot and dry, air hot and wet, water cold and wet, earth cold and dry, a scheme Galen took over from Aristotle.
14-17
On Mixtures 14-17 · No animal is hot like fire14-17No animal is hot like fire
The second sense of "hot," the one a doctor actually uses.
· · ·
But when they say an animal or a plant is either hot or cold or dry or wet, they mean it no longer in the same way. For they say no animal can be absolutely hot like fire, nor absolutely wet like water.