Περὶ τοῦ πρώτως ψυχροῦ

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intro – intro intro – intro intro – intro 1 – 1 2 – 2 3 – 3 3 – 4 5 – 6 7 – 7 8 – 8 9 – 9 9 – 9 10 – 10 11 – 11 12 – 12 13 – 13 14 – 14 14 – 14 15 – 15 15 – 15 16 – 16 16 – 16 16 – 16 17 – 17 18 – 18 19 – 19 20 – 20 21 – 21 21 – 21 22 – 23

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INTRODUCTION

intro This little essay, or open letter to Favorinus, is not written in a controversial spirit, though a few sharp comments are made from time to time. Having established (chapters 5-7) that an element of Cold really exists, Plutarch proceeds to consider what that element may be. Since fire is obviously excluded, can it be air, as the Stoics believe (8-12), or water, as Empedocles, and an early Peripatetic, Strato, hold (13-16)? Or, indeed, may it be earth itself (17-22)? This latter opinion is apparently put forward by Plutarch as an original contribution to theoretical physics and there is no reason to believe it is not his. The essay closes, however, with a recommendation to scepticism,See J. Schröter, Plutarchs Stellung zur Skepsis (Greifswald, 1911), pp. 23 and 40. He compares other recomendations to the suspension of judgement, such as Mor. 430 f - 431 a. Cf. also Hartman, De Plutarcho, pp. 253 f. so that our author may not have regarded his attempted proof as cogent, as indeed it is not.