De odoribus

Theophrastus

Theophrastus, Concerning Odours, Hort, Harvard, 1927

II. Ἔχει δὲ ἕκαστον ὀσμὴν ἰδίαν καὶ ζώων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων ὅσα ὀσμώδη· πολλὰ [*](¹ And so here we have a term which possibly is applied only to the one class of ‘evil’ odours.) [*](2 Which is not an ‘evil’ odour.) [*](3 i.e. putridity is a quality which things acquire as they decay, and does not necessarily imply that they are them- selves formed out of decaying matter. In fact things so produced are not always ‘putrid. ’) [*](4 The sense is apparently that ‘lighter’ (or less solid) things exhale a lighter and pleasanter odour because in their)

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δ᾿ ἡμῖν οὐ φαίνεται διὰ τὸ χειρίστην ἔχειν τὴν αἴσθησιν ταύτην ὡς εἰπεῖν. ἐπεὶ τοῖς γε ἄλλοις καὶ τὰ παντελῶς ἄοδμα φαινόμενα δίδωσί τινα ὀσμήν, ὥσπερ αἱ κριθαὶ τοῖς ὑποζυγίοις αἱ ἐκ τῆς Κεδροπόλιος, ἃς οὐκ ἐσθίουσιν διὰ τὴν κακωδίαν. ἡμᾶς δὲ καὶ αἱ τῶν ζώων λανθάνουσιν τῶν ὀσμωδῶν δοκούντων. εὐωδίᾳ μὲν οὖν οὐθὲν φαίνεται καθ᾿ αὑτὸ χαίρειν ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅσα πρὸς τὴν τροφὴν καὶ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. πονεῖν δ᾿ ἔνια φαίνεται ταῖς ὀσμαῖς καὶ ταῖς εὐωδίαις, εἴπερ ἀληθὲς τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν γυπῶν καὶ τῶν κανθάρων. τοῦτο δὲ δῆλον ὡς δι᾿ ἐναντίωσιν τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς φύσεως. ὡς δὲ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἄμα δεῖ τὴν γε κρᾶσιν τὴν ἑκάστου καὶ τὴν τῆς ὀσμῆς λαμβάνειν δύναμιν.

Εἰσὶ μὲν οὖν ἔνιαι τῶν εὐόσμων καὶ ἐν ταῖς τροφαῖς, οἶον αἱ τῶν ἀκροδρύων καὶ ἀπίων καὶ μήλων· αὗται Φὰρ ἄνευ τῆς προσφορᾶς ἡδεῖαι, καὶ μᾶλλον ὡς εἰπεῖν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ᾿ ὥς γ᾿ ἀπλῶς διελεῖν αἱ μέν εἰσι καθ᾿ αὑτὰς αἱ δὲ κατὰ συμβεβηκός· αἱ μὲν τῶν χυλῶν καὶ τῆς τροφῆς κατὰ συμβεβηκός, αἱ δ᾿ ὥσπερ τῶν ἀνθῶν καθ᾿ αὑτάς. ὡς δ᾿ ἐπίπαν τὰ εὔοσμα, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον ἐλέχθη, δύσχυμα καὶ στρυφνὰ καὶ ὑπόπικρα. [*](¹ in Thrace. cf. Arist. H.A. 9. 36. Turn. quotes an illus- tration from Seriptor θαυμασίων ἀκουσμάτων 126.) [*](2 εὐωδίαις. ?εὐώδεσι.)

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ἔνια δὲ τῶν εὐχύμων καὶ κακώδη, καθάπερ καὶ τὸ Αἰγύπτιον καλούμενον σῦκον, γλυκὺ ὄν, καὶ εἰ μὴ πανταχοῦ ἀλλ᾿ ἐνιαχοῦ. καὶ ἡ ἄρκευθος ἐμφαίνει τινὰ τῇ μασήσει κακωδίαν γλυκεῖα οὖσα· τὸ δ᾿ οὖρον ποιεῖ εὐῶδες.

Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν ὀσμῶν αἱ μὲν ἐν φυτοῖς καὶ τοῖς τούτων μορίοις, οἷον κλωσὶ φύλλοις φλοιοῖς καρποῖς δακρύοις, αἱ δὲ ὥσπερ διείλομεν ἐν ζώοις καὶ φυτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀψύχοις, αὗται μὲν φανερὸν ὅτι πέψιν ἕκασται λαμβάνουσιν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις αἷς· καὶ τὸ εὐῶδες καὶ κακῶδες ἀκολουθεῖ κατὰ τὰς οἰκείας φύσεις, ἡ δὲ πέψις τῷ οἰκείῳ θερμῷ. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀψύχοις ταῖς τῶν ἁπλῶν δυνάμεσι καὶ γίνονται καὶ μεθίστανται καθάπερ οἱ χυμοί.