Opening the text

Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"Plutarch

Philosophy

Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"

Name: Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"
Author: Plutarch

Plutarch

Classical literature; Essays; Ethics; Philosophy

Empedocles affirms, that the superabundance of sperm and the division
of it causes the bringing forth of two or three infants. Asclepiades,
that it is performed from the excellent quality of the sperm, after
the manner that from the root of one barleycorn two or three stalks do
grow; sperm that is of this quality is the most prolific. Erasistratus,
that superfetation may happen to women as to irrational creatures; for,
if the womb be well purged and very clean, then there may be divers
births. The Stoics, that it ariseth from the various receptacles that
are in the womb: when the seed illapses into the first and second of
them at once, then there are conceptions upon conception; and so two or
three infants are born.




CHAPTER XI.

WHENCE IT IS THAT CHILDREN REPRESENT THEIR PARENTS AND PROGENTITORS.


Empedocles says, that the similitude of children to their parents
proceeds from the vigorous prevalency of the generating sperm; the
dissimilitude from the evaporation of the natural heat contained in
the same. Parmenides, that when the sperm descends from the right side
of the womb, then the infant gives the resemblance of the father; if
from the left, it is stamped with the similitude of the mother. The
Stoics, that the whole body and soul give the sperm; and hence arise
the resemblances in the characters and figures of the children, as a
painter in his copy imitates the colors which are in the picture before
him. Women have a concurrent emission of seed; if the feminine seed
have the predominancy, then the child resembles the mother; if the
masculine, the father.




CHAPTER XII.

HOW IT COMES TO PASS THAT CHILDREN HAVE A GREATER SIMILITUDE WITH
STRANGERS THAN WITH THEIR PARENTS.


The greatest part of physicians affirm, that this happens casually and
fortuitously; for, when the sperm of the man and woman is too much
refrigerated, then children carry a dissimilitude to their parents.
Empedocles, that a woman’s imagination when she conceives impresses
a shape upon the infant; for women have been enamored with images
and statues, and the children which were born of them gave their
similitudes. The Stoics, that the resemblances flow from the sympathy
and consent of minds, by the insertion of effluvias and rays, not of
images or pictures.




CHAPTER XIII.

WHENCE ARISETH BARRENNESS IN WOMEN, AND IMPOTENCY IN MEN?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"Plutarch

Philosophy

Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"

Plutarch

Classical literature; Essays; Ethics; Philosophy

Empedocles affirms, that the superabundance of sperm and the division
of it causes the bringing forth of two or three infants. Asclepiades,
that it is performed from the excellent quality of the sperm, after
the manner that from the root of one barleycorn two or three stalks do
grow; sperm that is of this quality is the most prolific. Erasistratus,
that superfetation may happen to women as to irrational creatures; for,
if the womb be well purged and very clean, then there may be divers
births. The Stoics, that it ariseth from the various receptacles that
are in the womb: when the seed illapses into the first and second of
them at once, then there are conceptions upon conception; and so two or
three infants are born.




CHAPTER XI.

WHENCE IT IS THAT CHILDREN REPRESENT THEIR PARENTS AND PROGENTITORS.


Empedocles says, that the similitude of children to their parents
proceeds from the vigorous prevalency of the generating sperm; the
dissimilitude from the evaporation of the natural heat contained in
the same. Parmenides, that when the sperm descends from the right side
of the womb, then the infant gives the resemblance of the father; if
from the left, it is stamped with the similitude of the mother. The
Stoics, that the whole body and soul give the sperm; and hence arise
the resemblances in the characters and figures of the children, as a
painter in his copy imitates the colors which are in the picture before
him. Women have a concurrent emission of seed; if the feminine seed
have the predominancy, then the child resembles the mother; if the
masculine, the father.




CHAPTER XII.

HOW IT COMES TO PASS THAT CHILDREN HAVE A GREATER SIMILITUDE WITH
STRANGERS THAN WITH THEIR PARENTS.


The greatest part of physicians affirm, that this happens casually and
fortuitously; for, when the sperm of the man and woman is too much
refrigerated, then children carry a dissimilitude to their parents.
Empedocles, that a woman’s imagination when she conceives impresses
a shape upon the infant; for women have been enamored with images
and statues, and the children which were born of them gave their
similitudes. The Stoics, that the resemblances flow from the sympathy
and consent of minds, by the insertion of effluvias and rays, not of
images or pictures.




CHAPTER XIII.

WHENCE ARISETH BARRENNESS IN WOMEN, AND IMPOTENCY IN MEN?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"

Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"

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