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Sextus Empiricus

Against the Professors, Books I-VI of Against the Learned Section 156

Section 156 of 757

Canonical reference 1.156

Ancient Greek

Hermann Mutschmann and Jürgen Mau, editors · adversus-grc

πῶς γὰρ ἀσώματον ἔτι ἔστι τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτο παρὰ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸ κενόν, πολλῆς | καὶ ἀνηνύτου γενομένης παρὰ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις περὶ αὐτοῦ διαμάχης; εὶ μέν γὰρ κινεῖται, σῶμά ἐστιν τὸ γὰρ κινούμενον σῶμα· εἰ δέ μένει, δεχόμενον μὲν τὰ εἰς αὐτὸ φερόμενα σώματα καὶ μὴ ἀντιτυποῦν κενὸν γε- νήσεται, κενοῦ γὰρ ἴδιον τὸ μὴ ἀντιτυπεῖν, ἀντιτυποῦν δέ τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸ φερομένοις σῶμά ἐστιν, ἰδίωμα γὰρ σώμα- τος τὸ ἀντιτυπεῖν.

English AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

For how can there still be some other incorporeal thing of this kind besides body and void, when extensive and endless controversy about it has arisen among philosophers? If it moves, it is body, for what moves is body. If it remains at rest, then if it receives bodies moving into it without resisting, it will be void, for nonresistance is peculiar to void; but if it resists bodies moving into it, it is body, for resistance is a property of body.

French AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

Comment pourrait-il encore exister quelque autre incorporel de ce genre, en dehors du corps et du vide, alors qu’un conflit considérable et interminable s’est élevé à son sujet parmi les philosophes ? S’il se meut, il est un corps, car ce qui se meut est un corps. S’il demeure immobile et reçoit les corps dirigés vers lui sans leur résister, il sera le vide, car le propre du vide est de ne pas résister. S’il résiste aux corps dirigés vers lui, il est un corps, car la résistance est une propriété du corps.

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