Simplicius on Aristotle Physics 2.4

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τὸ δὲ “καθάπερ ὁ παλαιὸς λόγος ὁ ἀναιρῶν τὴν τύχην” (Arist. Phys. 196a 14) πρὸς Δημόκριτον ἔοικεν εἰρῆσθαι· ἐκεῖνος 68 A 68 D-K γὰρ κἂν τῆι κοσμοποιίαι ἐδόκει τῆι τύχηι κεχρῆσθαι, ἀλλ’ ἐν τοῖς μερικωτέροις οὐδένος φησιν εἶναι τὴν τύχην αἰτίαν ἀναφέρων εἰς ἄλλας αἰτίας, οἷον τοῦ θησαυρὸν εὑρεῖν τὸ σκάπτειν ἢ τὴν φυτείαν τῆς ἐλαίας, τοῦ δὲ καταγῆναι τοῦ φαλακροῦ τὸ κρανίον τὸν ἀετὸν ῥίψαντα τὴν χελώνην, ὅπως τὸ χελώνιον ῥαγῆι. οὕτως γὰρ ὁ Εὔδημος fr. 54a Wehrli. ἱστορεῖ.

But the statement ‘as in the old argument, the one that abolishes chance’, seems to have been made with Democritus in mind. For even though he seems to have employed chance in his account of creation, nonetheless, in the particulars, he claims that chance is not the cause of anything, referring to other causes instead, such as digging being the cause of finding treasure or planting of the olive, and the cause of a bald man’s head being cracked open is the eagle’s throwing the tortoise in order to break its shell. For thus Eudemus recounts.

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