736 b 



ARISTOTLE 



(f)VTOv ^iov. inofxevcos 8e SrjXov otl /cat Trepl rrjs 

 atadrjTLKTjs XcKreov ^V)(fjs kol nepl rrjs vorjrtKfjs- 



15 TTaaas yap dvayKalov Svvdfjiei rrpoTepov €)(€lv r) 

 eve py eia. dvayKalov Be tJtol [x-rj ovaas vpoTepov 

 eyyiveadaL Trdaas, rj irdaas Trpov-nap^^^ovaa? , ■^ rds 

 jxev rds 8e /iij, Kal eyyiveadai 7) ev rfj vXr) [mt] 

 eiaeXdovaas ev rep rov dppevos aTTepfjuart, •^ ev- 

 ravda puev eKeWev eXOovaas, ev Se ro) dppevL r^ 



20 dvpadev eyyivofievag drrdaas r^ pLTjSejJiLav r) rds fxev 

 rds Be pLTj. OTL fiev roivvv ovx olov re Trdaas 

 irpovTrdp^eiv, (fyavepov eartv e/c tcDv tolovtcov. oaiov 

 ydp iariv dp^o^v^ rj eve py eia acoiiariKi], SrjXov on 

 ravras dvev acoixaros dhvvarov VTrdpxeiv, olov ^a- | 

 Si^etv dvev ttoScov ware Kal dvpadev elaievai " 



25 aBvvaTOV ovre ydp avrds KaO^ avrds elaievai \ 

 olov re dxojpiarovs ovaag, ovr^ ev aiop^ari elaievai' 



irpd^ecDv coniecerunt A.-W. 



" This elaborate scheme of possibilities is not really so over- 

 whelming as it looks, though the argument would have been 

 more lucid if Aristotle had explicitly named the several sorts 

 of Soul involved. It will be seen, however, that of the first 

 three possibilities, the last, (c), is the operative one ; in fact, 

 it is nutritive Soul which the material of the female (more 

 specifically, the fetation) possesses (see 736 a 32 ff., 737 a 23 ff ) ; 

 thus it remains for the other two, sentient and rational Souls, 

 to be feiipplied by the male (Aristotle explains in ch. 5 below 

 that the reason why a fetation can grow yet is unable to 

 develop fully into an animal is that it lacks sentient Soul, 

 which only the male can supplj^). Hence in the second series 

 of possibilities it is again the last one, (c), which is the operative 

 one : sentient Soul is present inside the male (i.e., the semen), 

 and it remains that rational Soul comes into being inside the 

 male (i.e., the semen) from some outside source, for it alone 

 is not afifected by the two considerations which preclude the 

 entry from outside of the other parts of Soul, whose activity 



168 



1 



I 



