ἐν ἅπασι
δ᾿ ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ σαπροῦ κακωδία καὶ ἐν φυτοῖς
καὶ ἐν ζώοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀψύχοις· ἐν ἅπασι δὲ
διαφθειρομένοις ὧν μὴ ἡ σύστασις εὐθὺς ἐκ
τοιαύτης ὕλης· ἔχει γὰρ ἔνια καὶ τὴν τῆς ὕλης
ὀσμήν, οὐ μὴν ἐπὶ πάντων γε τοῦτ᾿ ἀκολουθεῖ.
πολλὰ γὰρ οὐ κακώδη τὰ ἐκ τῶν σαπρῶν, ὡς
οὐδ᾿ οἱ μύκητες οἱ ἐκ τῆς κόπρου φυόμενοι· τὰ δ᾿
ἐκ σήψεως φυόμενα καὶ συνιστάμενα κακώδη.
εὔοσμα μὲν οὖν ὡς ἀπλῶς εἰπεῖν τὰ πεπεμμένα
καὶ λεπτὰ καὶ ἥκιστα γεώδη· τὸ γὰρ τῆς ὀσμῆς
ἐν ἀναπνοῇ· κακώδη δὲ δηλονότι τἀναντία. πολλὰ
δὲ ὥσπερ τῶν γλυκέων ἐμφαίνει τινὰ πικρότητα,
καὶ τῶν εὐωδῶν βαρύτητα ταῖς ὀσμαῖς. II. Ἔχει δὲ ἕκαστον ὀσμὴν ἰδίαν καὶ ζώων
καὶ φυτῶν καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων ὅσα ὀσμώδη· πολλὰ
 ¹ And so here we have a term which possibly is applied
only to the one class of ‘evil’ odours. 
 2 Which is not an ‘evil’ odour. 
 3 i.e. putridity is a quality which things acquire as they
decay, and does not necessarily imply that they are them-
selves formed out of decaying matter. In fact things so
produced are not always ‘putrid. ’ 
 4 The sense is apparently that ‘lighter’ (or less solid)
things exhale a lighter and pleasanter odour because in their 

 
δ᾿ ἡμῖν οὐ φαίνεται διὰ τὸ χειρίστην ἔχειν τὴν
αἴσθησιν ταύτην ὡς εἰπεῖν. ἐπεὶ τοῖς γε ἄλλοις
καὶ τὰ παντελῶς ἄοδμα φαινόμενα δίδωσί τινα
ὀσμήν, ὥσπερ αἱ κριθαὶ τοῖς ὑποζυγίοις αἱ ἐκ τῆς
Κεδροπόλιος, ἃς οὐκ ἐσθίουσιν διὰ τὴν κακωδίαν.
ἡμᾶς δὲ καὶ αἱ τῶν ζώων λανθάνουσιν τῶν ὀσμωδῶν
δοκούντων. εὐωδίᾳ μὲν οὖν οὐθὲν φαίνεται
καθ᾿ αὑτὸ χαίρειν ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅσα πρὸς τὴν
τροφὴν καὶ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. πονεῖν δ᾿ ἔνια
φαίνεται ταῖς ὀσμαῖς καὶ ταῖς εὐωδίαις, εἴπερ
ἀληθὲς τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν γυπῶν καὶ τῶν κανθάρων.
τοῦτο δὲ δῆλον ὡς δι᾿ ἐναντίωσιν τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς
φύσεως. ὡς δὲ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἄμα δεῖ τὴν γε
κρᾶσιν τὴν ἑκάστου καὶ τὴν τῆς ὀσμῆς λαμβάνειν
δύναμιν.