From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe participle rheumatizomenōn describes people affected by a flowing discharge or catarrh.
- In this workAëtius reports that odour enters with breaths from the lung, but when breathing becomes heavy one fails to perceive through roughness, as happens in those with catarrh.
- In this editionThe apparatus prints κατά from the pseudo-Plutarch branch against Stobaeus's καὶ τήν.
- A place to readUses catarrh and heavy breathing to illustrate failure to perceive odour.
Meaning
The participle rheumatizomenōn describes people affected by a flowing discharge or catarrh. Trachytēs is roughness. In this notice they designate a bodily condition used as evidence about diminished smell, without supplying a modern diagnosis.
Use in the book
Aëtius reports that odour enters with breaths from the lung, but when breathing becomes heavy one fails to perceive through roughness, as happens in those with catarrh. The example is significant because it places a qualification on any simple equation of stronger breathing with stronger smell. The condition of the passage or sense must matter as well as the movement of air.
Theophrastus's objections at §21 independently emphasize that inhaling abundantly does not help an unhealthy or unopened sense. The two passages can be compared as evidence that impairment was central to ancient argument about olfaction. Yet their precise explanations should not be harmonized into a complete anatomy of obstruction. The catarrh notice does not tell us exactly what structure is roughened or which physiological event causes the loss.
Places to read
- A 94 (testimony)Aëtius. Uses catarrh and heavy breathing to illustrate failure to perceive odour.
- A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical)2Theophrastus, On the Senses 21. Emphasizes the condition of the sensory apparatus rather than inhaled quantity alone.
Translation in this edition
The apparatus prints κατά from the pseudo-Plutarch branch against Stobaeus's καὶ τήν. The causal translation “by reason of roughness” therefore depends on the adopted reading.