166 Aristotle and his school
(Pr. 953 a 27 ), but in this interpretation this becomes more easy to under-
stand:phusispresents Aristotle with a possibility to explain the fact that a
certain creativity is required in the intellectual area of philosophy as well,
and that in this respect there is a difference between great minds (theperit-
toi) and average minds (themesoi,cf.Pr. 954 b 24 ). This explanation is
actually used in the text of theProblemata, but can also be found in several
short statements in Aristotle’s authentic writings. A direct relationship be-
tween bodily constitution and intelligence is for instance made inDe. an.
421 a 23 ff., where Aristotle states that people with soft flesh (malakosarkoi)
are more intelligent (euphueis) than people with hard flesh (sklerosarkoi ̄ );
and in two instances inParts of Animals( 648 a 2 ff. and 650 b 18 ff.), where he
writes that the quality of the blood determines the degree of intelligence.
In this respect chapters 12 – 15 of the second book of theRhetoricare of
particular importance, in which the ‘ethopoietic’ effects of youth and old
age and ‘noble descent’ (eugeneia) are discussed; in particular chapter 15
oneugeneia(with its clear relationship tophusisin the sense of a ‘natural
predisposition’) is significant. Melancholics are not mentioned in this pas-
sage, but it demonstrates precisely the same thought structure as that used
to describe melancholics: most of the people of noble descent (eugeneis)
belong to the category of ‘the simple-minded’ (euteleis, 1390 b 24 ; cf. the
use of melancholics as an example ofeuteleisinDiv. somn. 463 b 17 ), but
some become ‘exceptional’ (perittoi): ‘There is a change in the generations
of men as in those who move from one place to another, and sometimes the
generation is good, and during certain intervals the men are exceptional,
and then they decline again’K 1
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In this passage, similarly to the melancholic’s ‘instability’, reference is
made to the quick decline of theeugeneis, either to ‘those who are by
character more inclined to madness’ (examples for this are the descendants
of Alcibiades and Dionysus) or to stupidity and obtusenessK"<
) !#o 1390 b 27 – 30 ). It appears that these two forms of degeneration
correspond very well with both the ‘manic-passionate’ and ‘depressive-cold’
expressions of the melancholic nature inPr. 30. 1 (see in particular 954 b
28 – 34 ).
A consideration of the physiological aspect to people’s mental processes
and ethical behaviour, as is done frequently in theProblemata,^89 turns out
(^89) On this tendency of theProblemata,which is sometimes unfortunately referred to as ‘materialistic’,
see Flashar ( 1962 ) 329 ff.