777 b 



ARISTOTLE 



rjixepav Kal vvKra Kal jjLrjva Kal iviavrov /cat rovs 



20 xpovovs rovs [xerpovfjievovs tovtols, en he ras" rr\s 



aeXiqviq'S TrepioSovs. elal Se Trepiohoi aeX-qvrjs 



TravcreXrjvo? re Kal i^Olais:^ Kal rcov fJiera^v -)(^p6vu)v 



at OL)(OTOiJiLaL- Kara yap ravrag avp-^dWei irpos 



Tov rjXiov 6 yap [xels Koivrj Trepiohos eariv apL<^o- 



repojv. eoTL he rj aeX-qvr) apx^ ^'^ '^V^ Trpos rov 



25 rjXiov Koivoiviav Kal rrjv [xerdX'qilfLV rrjv tov (/xjotos- 



ytveraL yap ojanep dXXos ■^Xtog eXdrTcov 8t6 



avpL^aXXeraL els Trdaas ra? yeveaeis Kal reXenvaeis . 



^ navaiXrjvos re koI (ftOloLS P : TravaeXrfVoi re Kai (jydiaeis villg. 



" i.e., full moon, new moon, first quarter and last quarter. 

 The meaning of avfj,pdXXei is obscure. The word occurs 

 twice in Meteor., once (345 b 6) in an astronomical context, 

 and once (376 b 24) in connexion with the rainbow, but 

 neither passage helps to elucidate the present statement. It 

 must, however, have some reference to the fact that the 

 month is a " joint period " of moon and sun (see note below), 

 so the rendering I have given may be offered as at any 

 rate not inapproprTate. The importance here attached to 

 the " bisections " of the times is found again in Theophr, 

 De signls 6, where it is said that times and seasons {e.g., the 

 year, the month, the day) are delimited by their bisections 

 (at SixoTo^lai biopO^ovai rag u)pas), the bisections of the month 

 being the full moons, the eighth days and the fourth days 

 {tov fiijva eKaarov . . . Sixorofj-ovai . . . at re TTavaeXrjvoi Kal ,al 

 dySdat /cat ai rerpaSe?, § 8) ; and changes of weather tend to 

 coincide with these divisions (§ 9). 



* Periodo.i is really a circuit or cycle. 



■^ This phrase, which he translates " the month being a 

 period common to both," is excised by Piatt on the ground 

 that it gives no sense, and that " a period common to both 

 sun and moon would be one which contained both the solar 

 and lunar periods exactly." The phrase is, however, in 

 Scot ; and, as it can be satisfactorily explained in view of 

 the context, it must be retained. The explanation is this : 

 the month, taken in the sense of a hmation, i.e., the period 

 from one new moon to another, or the time required by the 



478 



