De primo frigido

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. XII. Cherniss, Harold and William C. Helmbold, translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1957 (printing).

And what is the meaning of our demand for a yearly change of habitation ? In winter we retreat to the loftiest parts of our houses, those farthest from the earth, while in summer we require the lower parts, submerging ourselves and going in quest of comfortable retreats, as we make the best of a life in the embrace of mother earth. Since we do this, are we not guided to the earth by our perception of its coldness ? Do we not acknowledge it as the natural seat of primordial cold ? And surely our living by the sea in the winter is, in a way, an escape from the earth, since we abandon the land as far as possible because of the frost and wrap ourselves in salt sea air because it is warm. Then again, in the summer by reason of the heat, we long for the earth-born, upland air, not

because it is itself chilly, but because it has sprung from the naturally and primordially cold and has been imbued with its earthy power, as steel is tempered by being plunged in water.[*](Cf.Mor. 433 a and 946 c supra.) And of flowing waters, also, the coldest are those that fall from rocks or mountains, and of well waters the deepest are the coldest; the air from outside does not, in the case of these wells, affect the water, so deep are they, while any such streams burst forth through pure unmixed earth, like the one at Taenarum,[*](Plutarch knew that the mouth of Hades was at Taenarum (Pindar, Pythian, iv. 44) and transferred the Styx to that place. For its water see Frazer on Pausanias, viii. 18. 4. According to Antigonus, Hist. Mirab. 158 (ed. Keller) no receptacle except one of horn can contain the water; he adds, All that taste of it die. ) which they call the water of Styx: it flows from the rock in a trickle, but so cold that no vessel except an ass’s hoof can contain it - all others it bursts and breaks apart.

We are, further, informed by physicians that generically earth is by nature astringent and cold, and they enumerate many metals that provide a styptic, staying effect for medicinal use. The element of earth is not sharp or mobile or slender or priekly or soft or ductile, but solid and compact like a cube.[*](Cf.Mor. 288 e and Plato, Timaeus, 55 d-e.) This is how it came to have weight; and the cold, which is its true power, by thickening, compressing, and squeezing out the humidity of bodies, induces shivering and shaking through its inequality[*](Cf. 948 b supra.); and if it becomes complete master and expels or extinguishes all the heat, it fixes the body in a frozen and corpselike condition. This is the reason why earth does not burn at all, or burns only grudgingly

and with difficulty. Air, on the other hand, often shoots forth flames from itself and, turning into fire, makes streams and flashes of lightning. Heat feeds on moisture,[*](Cf.Mor. 649 b, 687 a, 696 b; Aristotle, Metaphysics, A 3 (983 b 23 ff.); Pseudo-Aristotle, Problemata, 949 b 29.) for it is not the solid part of wood, but the damp part, that is combustible; and when this is distilled, the solid, dry part remains behind, reduced to ashes.[*](Cf.Mor. 696 b.) Those who emulously strive to prove that this too is changed and consumed, sprinkling it, perhaps, with oil or kneading it with suet and setting it alight, accomplish nothing; for when the oily part is consumed, the earthy remains as a permanent residue, do what they may. Not only, therefore, because the earth is physically immovable from its station, but also because it is unalterable in essence, it was quite appropriately called Hestia[*](Cf. Plato, Phaedrus, 247 a and 948 b supra with the note. For earth as Hestia see also Dio Chrys. xxxvi. 46 (L.C.L.) with Crosby’s note; Dion. Hal. ii. 66. 3; Ovid, Fasti, vi. 267; Koster, Mnemosyne, Suppl. iii (1951), p. 7, n. 6.) by the ancients - in as much as she remains in the home of the gods - because of its stationary and compact nature; and coldness is what binds it together, as Archelaüs[*](Diels-Kranz, Frag. der Vorsok. 5, ii, p. 48.) the natural philosopher declared, since nothing can relax or soften it, as a substance that is subject to heating or warming might be loosened.

As for those who suppose that they feel cold air and water, but are less sensible of earth’s coldness, what they perceive is that portion of earth which is closest to them and has come to be a medley, a congeries, abounding in air and water, sun and heat. There is no difference between such people and those who

declare that the aether[*](Cf. 951 d supra.) is not naturally and primordially hot, but rather that scalding water or red hot iron are - because they can feel and touch these, but are unable to touch and feel the primordially pure and heavenly fire. Nor likewise are these persons able to touch and feel the earth at its bottommost, which is what we particularly mean by earth - earth set off alone by itself, without admixture of any other element. But we can see a sample of such earthiness in that statement about the cliffs[*](Cf. 954 c-d supra.) that display from deep down so intense a cold that it can scarcely be endured. Then, too. those who want a colder drink throw pebbles into the water,[*](Cf.Mor. 690 f - 691 c.) which becomes thicker and denser through the coldness that streams upward, fresh and undiluted, from the stones.

We must, therefore, believe that the reason why ancient learned men held that there is no commerce between earthly and celestial things was not that they distinguished up and down by relative position, as we do in the case of scales; but rather it was the difference in powers that led them to assign such things as are hot and bright, swift and buoyant, to the eternal and imperishable part of nature, while darkness and cold and slowness they considered the unhappy heritage of transitory and submerged beings. Then too, the body of a living creature, as long as it; breathes and flourishes, does, as the poets say, enjoy both warmth and life[*](Perhaps some such passage as Homer, Iliad, xxii. 363 is meant.); but when these forsake it and it is abandoned in the realm of earth alone, immediately frigidity and congelation seize upon it,

since warmth naturally resides in anything else rather than in the earthy.

Compare these statements, Favorinus, with the pronouncements of others; and if these notions of mine are neither less probable nor much more plausible than those of others, say farewell to dogma, being convinced as you are that it is more philosophic to suspend judgement when the truth is obscure than to take sides.[*](See the introduction to this essay.)