The Politics of Aristotle

by Aristotle

  [922a1] 43 · Why do we listen37 with greater pleasure to a solo sung to a flute than to one sung to a lyre?38 Is it because anything becomes still more pleasant when mingled with what is more pleasant?39 Now the flute is more pleasant than the lyre, so that singing would be more pleasant when it mingles with the flute than with the lyre. Further,40 that which is mingled is more pleasant than that which is [5] unmingled, if there is a simultaneous perception of both the elements. For wine is pleasanter than honey-wine, because natural mixtures are more thoroughly mingled than those which we make ourselves. For there is also wine which is mingled of bitter and sweet savours, as is shown by the so-called vinous pomegranates. Singing, [10] then, and the flute mingle with one another owing to their similarity, for they are both produced by breath. But the sound of the lyre, since it is not produced by breath or is less perceptible than the sound of the flute, mingles less well with the voice and, causing a contrast in the perception, has a less pleasing effect, as has been said of savours. Furthermore, the flute by its own sound and by its likeness to the [15] voice covers up many of the mistakes of the singer; but the sounds of the lyre, which are isolated and mingle less well with the voice, since they are observed show up the mistakes of the singing separately, actually41 providing as it were a standard for criticizing it. And when there are many mistakes in the singing, the combined effect [20] of the singing and the accompaniment must necessarily be worse.

  44 · Why is mese42 so called, though there is no middle of eight notes? Is it because in the old days the scales had seven notes, and seven has a middle? Again, since of the points which fall between two extremes the middle alone forms a kind of starting-point, that which lies between the points which verge towards either end in [25] an extended space, being also a starting-point—that will be the middle.43 And since nete and hypate are the extremes of the scale44 and the other sounds lie between them, of which the one which is called mese alone is the starting-point of the second tetrachord, the name mese is amply justified; for of the points lying between certain extremities, as has been shown, the middle alone forms a starting-point.

  45 · Why does a large chorus keep the rhythm better than a small one? Is it [30] because they look more to one man, their leader, and begin more slowly, and so more easily achieve unity? For mistakes occur more frequently in quick singing. Now a large chorus attends to its leader, and no one by differing from the rest would [35] render himself conspicuous by making himself heard above the rest: in a small chorus, on the other hand, individuals make themselves more conspicuous; they, therefore, vie with one another instead of looking to their leader.

  46 · Why do most men sing high when they sing out of tune? Is it because it is easier to sing a high note than a low note? They have at all events a tendency to [922b1] sing high and make mistakes in what they sing.

  47 · Why did the ancients, when they made the scales consist of seven strings, leave in hypate but not nete? Or should we say that they omitted not nete but what is now called paramese and the interval of a tone? They treated mese, [5] then, as the lower note of the upper ‘pycnon’; whence came the name mese. Or is it because it was the end of the upper tetrachord and the beginning of the lower, and was in pitch in an intermediate relation between the extreme notes?

  48 · Why do the choruses in tragedy not sing either in the Hypodorian or in [10] the Hypophrygian mode? Is it because these modes have very little of the kind of tune which is specially necessary to a chorus? Now the Hypophrygian mode has a character of action (hence in the Geryone the sortie and arming are composed in this mode); and the Hypodorian is magnificent and steadfast, and so is the most suitable of all the modes to accompaniment by the lyre. Now both these are [15] unsuited to the chorus and more proper for the characters on the stage; for the latter imitate heroes, and among the ancients the leaders alone were heroes, and the people, of whom the chorus consists, were mere men. So a mournful and quiet character and type of music are suited to the chorus, for they are human. These [20] characteristics belong to the other modes, but least to the Phrygian among them—for it is exciting and orgiastic. In accordance with this mode, then, we are affected in a certain way, and the weak are more readily affected than the strong; and so this mode is appropriate to choruses. When we use the Hypodorian and Hypophrygian modes, on the other hand, we are active, and action is not fitting for [25] choruses; for the chorus is in attendance and takes no active part, for it simply shows goodwill towards those with whom it is present.

  49 · Why is it that of the sounds which form a consonance the softer is the [30] lower note? Is it because melody is in its own nature soft and tranquil, but becomes harsh and full of movement by the admixture of rhythm? Now since the low note is soft and tranquil, and the high note full of movement, of the notes which maintain the same melody the lower would rather be softer in the same melody; for melody in itself,45 as has been shown, is soft.

  [35] 50 · Why is it that the sounds produced from two jars of the same size and quality, one empty and the other half-full, give an accord in the octave? Is it because the sound produced from the half-full jar is double that produced from the empty jar? This surely is just what happens in the pipes. For the quicker the [923a1] movement, the higher seems the note, and in larger spaces the air collects more slowly, and in double the space in double the time, and proportionately in the other spaces. A wine-skin too which is double the size of another, gives an accord in the octave with one which is half its size.

  BOOK XX

  PROBLEMS CONCERNING SHRUBS AND VEGETABLES

  [5] 1 · Why is it that celery can endure salt water, but the leek cannot? Is it because the roots of the latter are weak, but those of the former are strong, and that which is stronger is less liable to be affected?

  2 · What is the reason for the saying:

  Mint should neither be eaten nor planted in season of warfare?

  [10] Is it because mint has a cooling effect upon the body, as is shown by the corruption which it causes in the semen? This is opposed to courage and spirit, being the same in kind.

  3 · Why is it that some plants, though they have blossom, have no fruit, such as the cucumber and the pumpkin and the pomegranate? Or have they fruit, the [15] blossom being the fruit? For example the part which blossoms is a fruit-case, and the cucumber is a fruit-case.

  4 · Why is it that some plants are edible only after they have been boiled, while others can be eaten raw? Do the juices of such plants as are not at first edible become sweeter when the plants have been warmed by heat, whilst in others the juices are originally sweet, and these can be eaten raw? [20]

  5 · Why is it that some plants are boiled, others roasted? Is it because the moister plants are not dry enough, while the drier plants must not be further dried? Now anything which is boiled becomes moister and softer, and that which is less moist becomes dry if exposed to the fire.

  6 · Why are some plants edible and others inedible? Is it owing to their [25] juices? For plants which in their raw state have unconcocted juices and, when heated, do not undergo change, are inedible. Now those of which the juice is edible but somewhat strong are used as condiments; for plants which have a strong savour in a small compass serve to flavour those of which the savour is distributed over a large bulk.

  7 · Why is it that some plants live only until they have produced seeds and [30] having borne seeds dry up—grass, for instance, and the so-called herbs—while others do not, but bear seeds time after time? And of those which live only until they have produced seed why are the majority annuals, while horse-parsley produces its fruit in the second year and having done so dries up? Is it because all things flourish [35] until they are at their prime as far as their seed is concerned (for man too continues to grow until the age of thirty, sometimes in mass and sometimes in bulk), but when they can no longer produce seed, as in the case of man, they begin to dry up and grow old—in some cases slowly and in proportion? The reason why some forms of [923b1] life are long-lived and others shor
t-lived is to be the subject of another treatise. But since the perfection of the seed is the limit in all cases, it necessarily follows that the short-lived bear fruit only once or only a few times, and the long-lived many times; [5] so that the weakest bear only once and so necessarily dry up; and those of them which can bear seed in a year are annuals, whilst others, like horse-parsley, do so in the second year, both plants and trees alike.

  8 · Why is it that if one digs down to the roots of celery and surrounds them [10] with barley-husks, and puts earth over these and then waters the plants, the roots become very large? Is it because the barley-husks, being hot and spongy, hold the nourishment in a mass so that it does not rise upwards, but, being hot, causes concoction, and so considerable growth takes place? [15]

  9 · Why is it that if one buries gourds or pumpkins in the ground when they are still small, they become large? Is it because the wind and the sun dry everything up and prevent growth, and make everything smaller in bulk but closer in texture? (As can be seen in the difference between trees growing in windy and sunny1 [20] localities and those in hollow and moist places, the latter being large and spongy in texture, the former small and dense.) Now the burying of things in the earth is the contrary of this and produces a contrary result. (A similar difference occurs in [25] fruits placed in vessels; if cucumbers are placed in hollow fennel-stalks or boxes, and pomegranates or apples in earthenware jars, the apples become large and spongy, but the cucumbers become small and hard because they grow against a resisting surface.)2 The reason then is that the nutriment is increased, because it is not dispersed by the wind or dried up; for the covering of earth prevents it from being thus affected.

  [30] 10 · Why are the seeds of pungent plants more pungent than the roots and the leaves? Is it because everything is derived from the seed and distributed to the other parts from it, as it were pre-existing in it, as some contend, including the juices and odours, since the odours always become distinctive as soon as the seeds are [35] formed? If, therefore, the pungency in the rest of the plant is derived from the seed, it is only natural that it should be present in the greatest degree in the seed.3

  11 · Why are thin radishes more pungent? Is it because the larger radishes are more concocted owing to the lapse of time?

  [924a1] 12 · Why is it that the caper-plant will not grow easily in tilled ground—for the experiment has often been made of transplanting the roots or sowing the seed (for in some places it is more profitable than roses)—but grows best among the [5] tombs because the ground is most untrodden? As regards this and similar questions the principle must be accepted that all things do not come into being and grow from the same matter, but some things originally come into being and grow from the corruption of other things—for instance lice and the hair on the body when its [10] nutriment is corrupted and when the body is in a state of continual deterioration. As therefore in the body certain products are engendered from the excrement of nutriment (which means that concoction is incomplete), and since, when nature cannot prevail over the excrement, the commonest excretions are absorbed into the bladder and bowels, while from others living organisms are engendered (and so [15] these attain the greatest growth in old age and disease), so in the earth some products are engendered and grow from the concoction of nutriment, others from excretions and matter that is in a condition which is the opposite of concoction. Now tillage concocts the nutriment and makes it productive, and from this the cultivated [20] fruits are formed. The products, therefore, of this cultivation are called cultivated because they are benefited by art, undergoing as it were a kind of training. Plants, on the other hand, which cannot be so benefited or are formed from an opposite condition, are ‘wild’ and will not grow in a highly tilled soil. For tillage spoils them by trying to train them; for they are engendered from corruption. It is to this class that the caper-plant belongs.

  3 · Why is it that, when radishes are in their prime in the winter, if one cuts [25] off the leaves and heaps earth round them and treads it in so as to keep out the water, they grow to an extraordinary size in the summer? Is it because the heaping up of the earth round them secures them from becoming corrupted by preventing the water from rotting them, and the nutriment, which the plant used to send into the shoot, enters into the radish, so that it must either itself increase in size or send [30] out lateral shoots and grow other roots, as do onions? For onions, if they are not pulled up each year but are left in the ground during the winter, become multiplied. Now onions are among the plants which send out shoots laterally; but the radish does not do so, and must therefore increase in bulk, because it absorbs all the [35] nutriment.

  14 · Why is it that if one plants pumpkins or cucumbers near a well and, when they are ripe, lets them down into the well and covers them over, they remain green for a whole year? Is it because the vapour from the water cools them and prevents them from drying up and keeps them in good condition, and the covering of [924b1] them up fosters the breath which has formed in them? Their conservation is due to the fact that they still receive nutriment, because their roots are left undisturbed; for even if one removes the shoots, when they have borne fruit, and after cutting them away heaps earth round the roots and treads it down, the plant will produce early cucumbers, because the roots can survive; for the cucumber is not a biennial. [5] The plants themselves will bear fruit more quickly than seedlings, because the root, the most important part of their organism, is already present in their growth, whereas in seedlings the roots must grow first. Furthermore,4 the heaping of earth round the root engenders warmth, so that it is preserved and sends up a shoot more [10] quickly. So too if one sows cucumber seeds during the winter in small wicker baskets and waters them with hot water and carries them out into the sun and places them by the fire, very early cucumbers will be produced if one plants them out in the ground, as they are, in the baskets, when the proper season arrives.

  15 · Why are plants watered at dawn or at night or in the evening? Is it in [15] order that the sun may not consume the water? Or is it because, when the water is warm it corrupts the plants which are watered with it?

  16 · Why is it that sweet-smelling seeds and plants promote the flow of urine? Is it because they contain heat and are easily concocted, and such things have this effect? For the heat which is in them causes quick digestion, and their odour has no corporeal existence; for evil-smelling plants, such as garlic, owing to [20] their heat, promote the flow of urine, but their wasting effect is a more marked characteristic. But sweet-smelling seeds contain heat, because odour is entirely engendered by the presence of some heat; but evil-smelling things are unconcocted. Now anything which is to promote the flow of urine must be not only hot but also [25] easily concocted, so that it may accompany the liquids in their downward course and effect their digestion.

  17 · Why is it that vegetables which are produced from older seed (for example two or three years old) produce more stalk than those grown from fresh seeds? Is it because, just as in animals that which is at its prime produces semen [30] most readily, so too very old seeds lose their vigour by evaporation, and those which are produced from fresh seeds are too weak because they still contain excrement which is alien to them, but those which are of moderate age are strongest, because the moisture has left them, and so they produce seed more readily? And the production of seed is the same process as the production of stalk, since the seed comes from the stalk.

  [35] 18 · Why does rue grow best and most abundantly if it is grafted on to a fig-tree? Now it is grafted inside the bark and plastered with clay. Is it because the roots of the rue require heat and warmth (and this is why they are benefited by being surrounded with ashes), and the fig-tree contains heat? That this is so is [925a1] shown by the fact that its sap is the most pungent of all and by the amount of smoke which it produces when burnt. It therefore possesses the same kind of heat and moisture as ashes, so that if ashes benefit rue, it must necessarily flourish greatly when grafted on the fig-tree, since, whereas ashes giv
e off no fluid, the flow of liquid [5] from the fig-tree is continuous, its moisture being never exhausted.

  19 · Why do some plants always produce empty stalks? Are they among those plants which have to produce something other than stalk?

  20 · Why is it that in Attica, while all other fruits are very sweet, thyme is [10] very bitter, yet thyme is a kind of fruit? . . .5 so that the plants which grow there do not contain much moisture? In plants, then, which are naturally sweet, owing to the moderate quantity of moisture which they contain, when the sun has absorbed the greater part of it the remainder is easily concocted; for it is difficult for a large amount, but easy for a moderate amount, to be ripened. Fruits, therefore, which are [15] naturally sweet become more so; but in those which are naturally dry and not sweet, the natural moisture fails, because it is scanty, and is very far from being sweet. For the sun absorbs the sweetest and lightest part of it; and these fruits have no superfluous moisture, as have other fruits.