Parental likeness

Use in the book

Aëtius asks how resemblances to parents and ancestors arise, and assigns them to predominance of generative seeds. Unlikeness is explained by the evaporation of heat in the seed. The heading includes ancestors, but the compressed answer does not explain distinct routes for immediate parental and more remote resemblance. Censorinus presents a different and more elaborate thermal table: equal parental heat produces a male like the father, equal cold a female like the mother; hotter paternal seed with colder maternal seed produces a boy resembling the mother, while the reverse produces a girl resembling the father. The combinations separate sex from visible resemblance instead of assuming they always follow the same parent. Their exact causal mechanics remain unspecified. Nor does epikrateia mean modern genetic dominance: it names an ancient predominance of generative material or its contribution. The neighbouring imagination theory offers yet another explanation of resemblance to someone other than the parents and should not be made to validate the thermal scheme.

Places to read

1. A 81 (testimony)23Aëtius, notice on likeness to parents and ancestors. Explains resemblance by predominance of generative seeds and unlikeness by loss of seed heat.
2. A 81 (testimony)23Censorinus, On the Birthday, parental-temperature notice. Gives four thermal combinations producing different pairings of sex and resemblance.
3. A 81 (testimony)23Aëtius, maternal-imagination notice. Provides a separate account of resemblance to non-parents.

Translation in this edition

The reporters preserve different theories or different compressions, not a verified common inheritance model. Censorinus' text contains corrections in this passage, and no genetic terminology should be silently imported into “predominance.”