16c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Chrysippus, part 1

Chrysippus. Concerning the elements derived from substance, he makes assertions of the following kind. Following Zeno, the leader of the school, he says that there are four elements, ⟨fire, air, water, and earth, from which everything is constituted, both animals⟩ and plants, the whole world and all that it contains, and into which they are dissolved. ⟨Fire is also⟩ called the element in the preeminent sense, because the rest are first constituted from it by transformation, and everything is finally dissolved into it by diffusion, while it does not admit of diffusion or dissolution into anything else.³⁵⁵

16c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Chrysippus, part 2

[The rest are constituted from it and, as they diffuse, finally end in it. Hence an element is also said to be that which first stands in such a condition as to give rise to a constitution from itself and itself receive the diffusion and dissolution of the rest into itself.]³⁵⁶ On this account fire is called an element independently, since it is not so called together with another; on the former account it is constitutive together with others. First comes the transformation from fire into air by condensation; second, from air into water; third, as water condenses still further in due proportion, into earth. Again, as earth dissolves and diffuses, the first diffusion is into water, the second from water into air, and the third and last into fire.³⁵⁷

16c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Chrysippus, part 3

⟨And⟩ everything fiery is called fire, everything airy air, and likewise for the rest. According to Chrysippus, then, “element” is used in three ways. In one way it means fire, because the rest are constituted from it by transformation and undergo dissolution into it. In another way it is used when we speak of the four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. For the rest are constituted through one, some, or all of these: through all four, as are animals and all compounds on earth; through two, as the moon is constituted through fire and air; or through one, as the sun is through fire alone, for the sun is pure fire.³⁵⁸

16c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Chrysippus, part 4

In a third sense “element” is spoken of ... as being that which first stands constituted in such a way as to give rise from itself to a process of generation proceeding along a path to its end, and from that end to receive dissolution back into itself along a like path.³⁵⁹

16c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Chrysippus, part 5

He said that such definitions of element had also been given: it is that which moves most readily through itself, and the principle ⟨and seminal⟩ reason, and the eternal power whose nature is such that it moves itself downward toward [earth,] the turning point, and from the turning point upward through the entire circuit, consuming everything into itself and restoring everything from itself again in an ordered course.³⁶⁰