Articulation

Use in the book

Aëtius says human articulation begins on the thirty-sixth day and completion in the parts occurs from the forty-ninth. Oribasius, drawing on Athenaeus, places the first visibly distinguished whole body at four nine-day periods, or at the latest about forty days after adding four, then says Empedocles agrees about complete differentiation. He further attributes faster formation to males than females and to the right side than the left. The apparent agreement is the medical writer's claim; the surviving figures do not line up transparently with Aëtius' onset-versus-completion distinction. One should preserve thirty-six, forty, and forty-nine rather than convert them into a single consistent schedule. The attribution demonstrates that Empedocles could be invoked in later medical discussions of development, not that the cited timetable is accurate or that the observers used modern dating methods.

Places to read

1. A 83 (testimony)Aëtius. Gives day thirty-six for the start of articulation and day forty-nine for completion of parts.
2. A 83 (testimony)Oribasius, from Athenaeus. Gives thirty-six or forty days for visible differentiation, claims agreement, and adds sex and laterality differences.

Translation in this edition

The edition says the numbers are multiples of seven but immediately has to exempt thirty-six; forty is also present. A universal heptadic scheme is not established by these reports. Usener's proposed change of a preposition can also affect how the Aëtian endpoint is expressed.