La embriología estoica

Abstract

The embryo, according to the Stoics, is a living creature, because it is a part of the womb, being nourished like a fruit. Nature (?????) is the tension of the breath (??????) that makes up plants, while the soul (????) is the tension of the breath that makes up animals. At birth, the breath, that was vegetable, becomes animal, as it cools because of the ambient air. The Neoplatonist Plotinus and Porphyry confront Stoic thesis, witnessed by Hierocles, that the breath changes from “nature” to “soul” when, thanks to cold, it becomes more subtle.