Three Greek and Roman passages on propagation, minima and the senses.

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1. THEOPHRASTUS, De sensibus, the Democritus section (c. 320 BCE).
   Text: G. M. Stratton, Theophrastus and the Greek Physiological Psychology
   before Aristotle (London/New York, 1917), public domain; archive.org item
   theophrastusgree00stra. Angle brackets are Stratton's supplements.
   Retrieved 2026-09-18.

  Democritus has no uniform account of all <the sen- sory objects>: some he distinguishes by the size <of their atoms>, others by the shape, and a few by the <atomic> order and position. Plato, on the other hand, refers nearly all of them to effects in us, and to our perceptive faculty. Consequently each of these authors would seem to speak directly counter to his own postulate. For the one of them, who would have sensory

  te ore sre ed: ot Dosnaeoas τ te ντονν ee, : ew doe eel area nines Shake ere e eoa te ted te εἶν 7 4 . ‘ shade Εἰ = 3, <QE-UBRARY AMOANVI-4 «ΗΝ. = os NN ΞΙ Ξ Ξ ΡᾺ “ant i nertncne™ Ξ ἘΠ νὰ <HE-UNIVE “UNI a bel So crow <XEUBRARYQ¢ WE ΟΝ oN E-LIBRARY, Vi

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2. SEXTUS EMPIRICUS, Pyrrhoneion Hypotyposeis III.32 (c. 200 CE),
   the doxography of material principles.
   Text: Sexti Empirici Opera, rec. H. Mutschmann, vol. I (Teubner, 1912),
   public domain; archive.org item rsoperarecensuit01sextuoft. OCR of the
   Greek, kept as served; accents and breathings are unreliable.
   Retrieved 2026-09-18.

  ἀέρα ὕδωρ γῆν — περὶ γὰρ τῆς τερατο- λογουμένης ἀποίου παρά τισιν ὕλης. ἣν οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ xova-. λαμβάνειν διαβεβαιοῦνται, τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; οἱ δὲ περὶ κυκλοφορητικὸν σῶμα, Δημόκριτος δὲ καὶ Ἐπί- κουρος ἀτόμους, ᾿Δἀναξαγόρας δὲ ὁ Κλαζομένιος ὁμοιομερείας. Διόδωρος δὲ ὁ ἐπικληϑεὶς Κρόνο ἐλάχιστα καὶ ἀμερῆ σώματα, Ἡρακλείδης δὲ ὃ Ποντικὸς καὶ ᾿᾿σκληπιάδης ὃ Βιϑυνὸς ἀνάρμου. ὄγκους. oí δὲ περὶ Πυϑαγόραν τοὺς ἀριϑμούς. 0 δὲ μαϑηματικοὶ τὰ πέρατα τῶν σωμάτων, Στράτω: δὲ ὁ φυσικὸς τὰς ποιότητ

  The clause of interest: Διόδωρος δὲ ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς Κρόνος ἐλάχιστα καὶ
  ἀμερῆ σώματα — 'Diodorus surnamed Cronus [posits] least and partless
  bodies'. The list runs: Democritus and Epicurus, atoms; Anaxagoras,
  homoiomeries; Diodorus Cronus, least partless bodies; Heraclides and
  Asclepiades, unjointed masses; the Pythagoreans, numbers.

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3. VITRUVIUS, De architectura V.3.6-7 (c. 25 BCE).
   Text: Joseph Gwilt's translation (London, 1826), public domain, as hosted
   by LacusCurtius. Retrieved 2026-09-18.

  The voice arises from flowing breath, sensible to the hearing through its percussion on the air. It is propelled by an infinite number of circles similar to those generated in standing water when a stone is cast therein, which, increasing as they recede from the centre, extend to a great distance, if the narrowness of the place or some obstruction do not prevent their spreading to the extremity; for when impeded by obstructions, the first recoil affects all that follow. 7. In the same manner the voice spreads in a circular direction. But, whereas the circles in water only spread horizontally, the voice, on the contrary, extends vertically as well as horizontally. Wherefore, as is the case with the motion of water, so with the voice, if no obstacle disturb the first undulation, not only the second and following one, but all of them will, without reverberation, reach the ears of those at bottom and those at top. 8. On this account the antient º architects, following nature as their guide, and reflecting on the properties of the voice, regulated the true ascent of steps in a theatre, and contrived, by musical proportions and mathematical rules, whatever its effect might be on the stage ( scena ), to make it fall on the ears of the au

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