69.33 · An excess of earth

“If the earthy element predominates, the creature’s soul becomes dull. It lacks a bodily openness easily released, or a passage through which to spring forth, since the organs of perception have thickened. It remains within itself, fettered by weight and density. The body is solid, but inactive and heavy, moved by deliberate choice only with effort.”¹⁸⁹⁴

69.34 · A balanced constitution

“If the constitution of all the elements is proportionate, the creature is formed warm for action, light for movement, well tempered to the touch, and strong in its solidity.”¹⁸⁹⁵

69.35 · Birds, human beings, and intellect

“According to this account, creatures sharing in more fire and breath have become birds and live above among the elements from which they came. Those sharing in more fire, little breath, and equal portions of water and earth have become human beings; in them the excess of heat has turned into understanding. For the intellect in us is a kind of heat: it does not know how to burn, but [also] knows how to penetrate everything.”¹⁸⁹⁶

69.36 · The composition of wild beasts

“Those sharing in more water, more earth, a moderate amount of breath, [and] little fire have become wild beasts; through their surplus of heat they have become more vigorous than the others.”¹⁸⁹⁷

69.37 · The composition of creeping creatures

“Those sharing equally in earth and water have become creeping creatures. Through lack of fire they have become timid and without boldness; through their share of water, cold; through their share of earth, heavy and sluggish; and through their share of breath, readily moved, if movement lies ⟨within⟩ their choice.”¹⁸⁹⁸

69.38 · The composition of fish

“Those sharing in more moisture and little dryness have become fish. Through lack of heat and air they too are timid; through their abundance of moisture and the presence of earth, they dwell in dissolved earth and water because of their kinship with them.”¹⁸⁹⁹

69.39 · Quantity and bodily development

“Bodies too develop in age and size according to the portion of each element and the extent of that portion; the other living creatures have been fashioned to measure according to the smallness of their proportions, with regard to the activity corresponding to the measure of substance in each element.”¹⁹⁰⁰

69.40 · Health and the original blend

“Further, much-loved child, I say that, from a constitution formed in this way, so long as the blend produced at the first conjunction and the vapor exhaled from it preserve their own character, the creature is healthy: the hot element must receive no further heat, the airy no additional breath, the moist no additional moisture, and the earthy no additional density.”¹⁹⁰¹

69.41 · Alteration of the blend and illness

“For when it no longer remains within the measures it had at first, my child, but these increase, I mean not through ⟨the⟩ activity affecting extent, nor through the change of kind and bodies that occurs with growth, but through the constitutive blend of the elements, as we said before, so that heat increases too much or diminishes too much, and the other elements likewise, ⟨at⟩ that time [in this way] the creature becomes ill.”¹⁹⁰²

69.42 · Disturbance of soul and body

“When the hot and airy elements, which share the soul’s dwelling, are affected in this way, the creature falls into confused utterances and states of derangement; for the elements have become dense, and through them bodies are damaged.”¹⁹⁰³

69.43 · The work of each element

“The earthy element itself is the body’s consolidation; the moist is the fluid spread within it to hold it together; the airy is the source of movement in us; and fire awakens all these.”¹⁹⁰⁴

69.44 · The vapor draws the soul to itself

“Accordingly, the vapor produced from the first conjunction and blending of the elements, a kind of kindling and exhalation[, whatever its character,], mixes with the soul and draws it toward itself according to its own natural condition, whether good or otherwise.”¹⁹⁰⁵

69.45 · Preserving the original relation

“For by remaining in its original affinity and shared nurture with that vapor, the soul preserves its proper order.”¹⁹⁰⁶

69.46 · Additions from outside

“But when a further quantity beyond what was originally established is added from outside, whether to the entire compound, to several of its parts, or to one part, the vapor altered in consequence changes either the condition of the soul or that of the body.”¹⁹⁰⁷

69.47 · Upward and downward affinities

“For fire and breath, tending upward, rise toward the soul, which shares their region; moisture and earth, tending downward, settle upon the body, which shares their seat.”¹⁹⁰⁸