Authors/Aristotle/physics/liber8
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| Greek | English |
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| Book VIII | |
| 250b11 1 Πότερον γέγονέ ποτε κίνησις οὐκ οὖσα πρότερον, καὶ φθείρεται πάλιν οὕτως ὥστε κινεῖσθαι μηδέν, ἢ οὔτ' ἐγένετο οὔτε φθείρεται, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ἦν καὶ ἀεὶ ἔσται, καὶ τοῦτ' ἀθάνατον καὶ ἄπαυστον ὑπάρχει τοῖς οὖσιν, οἷον ζωή τις οὖσα τοῖς φύσει συνεστῶσι πᾶσιν; | Chapter 1 It remains to consider the following question. Was there ever a becoming of motion before which it had no being, and is it perishing again so as to leave nothing in motion? Or are we to say that it never had any becoming and is not perishing, but always was and always will be? Is it in fact an immortal never-failing property of things that are, a sort of life as it were to all naturally constituted things? |
| 250b15 εἶναι μὲν οὖν κίνησιν πάντες φασὶν οἱ περὶ φύσεώς τι λέγοντες διὰ τὸ κοσμοποιεῖν καὶ περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς εἶναι τὴν θεωρίαν πᾶσαν αὐτοῖς, ἣν ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχειν μὴ κινήσεως οὔσης· | Now the existence of motion is asserted by all who have anything to say about nature, because they all concern themselves with the construction of the world and study the question of becoming and perishing, which processes could not come about without the existence of motion. |
| 250b18 ἀλλ' ὅσοι μὲν ἀπείρους τε κόσμους εἶναί φασιν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν γίγνεσθαι τοὺς δὲ φθείρεσθαι τῶν κόσμων, ἀεί φασιν εἶναι κίνησιν (ἀναγκαῖον γὰρ τὰς γενέσεις καὶ τὰς φθορὰς εἶναι μετὰ κινήσεως αὐτῶν)· ὅσοι δ' ἕνα <ἢ ἀεὶ> ἢ μὴ ἀεί, καὶ περὶ τῆς κινήσεως ὑποτίθενται κατὰ λόγον. | But those who say that there is an infinite number of worlds, some of which are in process of becoming while others are in process of perishing, assert that there is always motion (for these processes of becoming and perishing of the worlds necessarily involve motion), whereas those who hold that there is only one world, whether everlasting or not, make corresponding assumptions in regard to motion. |
| 250b21 εἰ δὴ ἐνδέχεταί ποτε μηδὲν κινεῖσθαι, διχῶς ἀνάγκη τοῦτο συμβαίνειν· ἢ γὰρ ὡς Ἀναξαγόρας λέγει (φησὶν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, ὁμοῦ πάντων ὄντων καὶ ἠρεμούντων τὸν ἄπειρον χρόνον, κίνησιν ἐμποιῆσαι τὸν νοῦν καὶ διακρῖναι), ἢ ὡς Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἐν μέρει κινεῖσθαι καὶ πάλιν ἠρεμεῖν, κινεῖσθαι μὲν ὅταν ἡ φιλία ἐκ πολλῶν ποιῇ τὸ ἓν ἢ τὸ νεῖκος πολλὰ ἐξ ἑνός, ἠρεμεῖν δ' ἐν τοῖς μεταξὺ χρόνοις, λέγων | If then it is possible that at any time nothing should be in motion, this must come about in one of two ways: either in the manner described by Anaxagoras, who says that all things were together and at rest for an infinite period of time, and that then Mind introduced motion and separated them; or in the manner described by Empedocles, according to whom the universe is alternately in motion and at rest-in motion, when Love is making the one out of many, or Strife is making many out of one, and at rest in the intermediate periods of time-his account being as follows: |
| οὕτως ᾗ μὲν ἓν ἐκ πλεόνων μεμάθηκε φύεσθαι, ἠδὲ πάλιν διαφύντος ἑνὸς πλέον' ἐκτελέθουσιν, (251a.) τῇ μὲν γίγνονταί τε καὶ οὔ σφισιν ἔμπεδος αἰών· ᾗ δὲ τάδ' ἀλλάσσοντα διαμπερὲς οὐδαμὰ λήγει, ταύτῃ δ' αἰὲν ἔασιν ἀκίνητοι κατὰ κύκλον. τὸ γὰρ "ᾗ δὲ τάδ' ἀλλάσσοντα" ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε λέγειν αὐτὸν ὑποληπτέον. | 'Since One hath learned to spring from Manifold, And One disjoined makes manifold arise, Thus they Become, nor stable is their life: But since their motion must alternate be, Thus have they ever Rest upon their round': for we must suppose that he means by this that they alternate from the one motion to the other. |
| 251a5 σκεπτέον δὴ περὶ τούτων πῶς ἔχει· | We must consider, then, how this matter stands, [for the discovery of the truth about it is of importance, not only for the study of nature, but also for the investigation of the First Principle.] |
| 251a8 πρὸ ἔργου γὰρ οὐ μόνον πρὸς τὴν περὶ φύσεως θεωρίαν ἰδεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν μέθοδον τὴν περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς πρώτης. ἀρξώμεθα δὲ πρῶτον ἐκ τῶν διωρισμένων ἡμῖν ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς πρότερον. φαμὲν δὴ τὴν κίνησιν εἶναι ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κινητοῦ ᾗ κινητόν. ἀναγκαῖον ἄρα ὑπάρχειν τὰ πράγματα τὰ δυνάμενα κινεῖσθαι καθ' ἑκάστην κίνησιν. καὶ χωρὶς δὲ τοῦ τῆς κινήσεως ὁρισμοῦ, πᾶς ἂν ὁμολογήσειεν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι κινεῖσθαι τὸ δυνατὸν κινεῖσθαι καθ' ἑκάστην κίνησιν, οἷον ἀλλοιοῦσθαι μὲν τὸ ἀλλοιωτόν, φέρεσθαι δὲ τὸ κατὰ τόπον μεταβλητόν, ὥστε δεῖ πρότερον καυστὸν εἶναι πρὶν κάεσθαι καὶ καυστικὸν πρὶν κάειν. | Let us take our start from what we have already laid down in our course on Physics. Motion, we say, is the fulfilment of the movable in so far as it is movable. Each kind of motion, therefore, necessarily involves the presence of the things that are capable of that motion. In fact, even apart from the definition of motion, every one would admit that in each kind of motion it is that which is capable of that motion that is in motion: thus it is that which is capable of alteration that is altered, and that which is capable of local change that is in locomotion: and so there must be something capable of being burned before there can be a process of being burned, and something capable of burning before there can be a process of burning. |
| 251a16 οὐκοῦν καὶ ταῦτα ἀναγκαῖον ἢ γενέσθαι ποτὲ οὐκ ὄντα ἢ ἀΐδια εἶναι. εἰ μὲν τοίνυν ἐγένετο τῶν κινητῶν ἕκαστον, ἀναγκαῖον πρότερον τῆς ληφθείσης ἄλλην γενέσθαι μεταβολὴν καὶ κίνησιν, καθ' ἣν ἐγένετο τὸ δυνατὸν κινηθῆναι ἢ κινῆσαι· εἰ δ' ὄντα προϋπῆρχεν ἀεὶ κινήσεως μὴ οὔσης, ἄλογον μὲν φαίνεται καὶ αὐτόθεν ἐπιστήσασιν, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἔτι προάγουσι τοῦτο συμβαίνειν ἀναγκαῖον. εἰ γὰρ τῶν μὲν κινητῶν ὄντων τῶν δὲ κινητικῶν ὁτὲ μὲν ἔσται τι πρῶτον κινοῦν, τὸ δὲ κινούμενον, ὁτὲ δ' οὐθέν, ἀλλ' ἠρεμεῖ, ἀναγκαῖον τοῦτο μεταβάλλειν πρότερον· ἦν γάρ τι αἴτιον τῆς ἠρεμίας· ἡ γὰρ ἠρέμησις στέρησις κινήσεως. ὥστε πρὸ τῆς πρώτης μεταβολῆς ἔσται μεταβολὴ προτέρα. | Moreover, these things also must either have a beginning before which they had no being, or they must be eternal. Now if there was a becoming of every movable thing, it follows that before the motion in question another change or motion must have taken place in which that which was capable of being moved or of causing motion had its becoming. To suppose, on the other hand, that these things were in being throughout all previous time without there being any motion appears unreasonable on a moment's thought, and still more unreasonable, we shall find, on further consideration. For if we are to say that, while there are on the one hand things that are movable, and on the other hand things that are motive, there is a time when there is a first movent and a first moved, and another time when there is no such thing but only something that is at rest, then this thing that is at rest must previously have been in process of change: for there must have been some cause of its rest, rest being the privation of motion. Therefore, before this first change there will be a previous change. |
| 251a28 τὰ μὲν γὰρ κινεῖ μοναχῶς, τὰ δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐναντίας κινήσεις, οἷον τὸ μὲν πῦρ θερμαίνει, ψύχει δ' οὔ, ἡ δ' ἐπιστήμη δοκεῖ τῶν ἐναντίων εἶναι μία. φαίνεται μὲν οὖν κἀκεῖ τι εἶναι ὁμοιότροπον· τὸ γὰρ ψυχρὸν θερμαίνει στραφέν πως καὶ ἀπελθόν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἁμαρτάνει ἑκὼν ὁ ἐπιστήμων, ὅταν ἀνάπαλιν χρήσηται τῇ ἐπι(251b.) στήμῃ. | For some things cause motion in only one way, while others can produce either of two contrary motions: thus fire causes heating but not cooling, whereas it would seem that knowledge may be directed to two contrary ends while remaining one and the same. Even in the former class, however, there seems to be something similar, for a cold thing in a sense causes heating by turning away and retiring, just as one possessed of knowledge voluntarily makes an error when he uses his knowledge in the reverse way. |
| 251b1 ἀλλ' οὖν ὅσα γε δυνατὰ ποιεῖν καὶ πάσχειν ἢ κινεῖν, τὰ δὲ κινεῖσθαι, οὐ πάντως δυνατά ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ὡδὶ ἔχοντα καὶ πλησιάζοντα ἀλλήλοις. ὥσθ' ὅταν πλησιάσῃ, κινεῖ, τὸ δὲ κινεῖται, καὶ ὅταν ὑπάρξῃ ὡς ἦν τὸ μὲν κινητικὸν τὸ δὲ κινητόν. εἰ τοίνυν μὴ ἀεὶ ἐκινεῖτο, δῆλον ὡς οὐχ οὕτως εἶχον ὡς ἦν δυνάμενα τὸ μὲν κινεῖσθαι τὸ δὲ κινεῖν, ἀλλ' ἔδει μεταβάλλειν θάτερον αὐτῶν· ἀνάγκη γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πρός τι τοῦτο συμβαίνειν, οἷον εἰ μὴ ὂν διπλάσιον νῦν διπλάσιον, μεταβάλλειν, εἰ μὴ ἀμφότερα, θάτερον. ἔσται ἄρα τις προτέρα μεταβολὴ τῆς πρώτης. | But at any rate all things that are capable respectively of affecting and being affected, or of causing motion and being moved, are capable of it not under all conditions, but only when they are in a particular condition and approach one another: so it is on the approach of one thing to another that the one causes motion and the other is moved, and when they are present under such conditions as rendered the one motive and the other movable. So if the motion was not always in process, it is clear that they must have been in a condition not such as to render them capable respectively of being moved and of causing motion, and one or other of them must have been in process of change: for in what is relative this is a necessary consequence: e.g. if one thing is double another when before it was not so, one or other of them, if not both, must have been in process of change. It follows then, that there will be a process of change previous to the first. |
| 251b10 πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸ πρότερον καὶ ὕστερον πῶς ἔσται χρόνου μὴ ὄντος; ἢ χρόνος μὴ οὔσης κινήσεως; | (Further, how can there be any 'before' and 'after' without the existence of time? Or how can there be any time without the existence of motion? |
| 251b12 εἰ δή ἐστιν ὁ χρόνος κινήσεως ἀριθμὸς ἢ κίνησίς τις, εἴπερ ἀεὶ χρόνος ἔστιν, ἀνάγκη καὶ κίνησιν ἀΐδιον εἶναι. | If, then, time is the number of motion or itself a kind of motion, it follows that, if there is always time, motion must also be eternal. |
| 251b13 ἀλλὰ μὴν περί γε χρόνου ἔξω ἑνὸς ὁμονοητικῶς ἔχοντες φαίνονται πάντες· ἀγένητον γὰρ εἶναι λέγουσιν. καὶ διὰ τούτου Δημόκριτός γε δείκνυσιν ὡς ἀδύνατον ἅπαντα γεγονέναι· τὸν γὰρ χρόνον ἀγένητον εἶναι. Πλάτων δὲ γεννᾷ μόνος· ἅμα μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν τῷ οὐρανῷ [γεγονέναι], τὸν δ' οὐρανὸν γεγονέναι φησίν. | But so far as time is concerned we see that all with one exception are in agreement in saying that it is uncreated: in fact, it is just this that enables Democritus to show that all things cannot have had a becoming: for time, he says, is uncreated. Plato alone asserts the creation of time, saying that it had a becoming together with the universe, the universe according to him having had a becoming. |
| 251b17 εἰ οὖν ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν καὶ εἶναι καὶ νοῆσαι χρόνον ἄνευ τοῦ νῦν, τὸ δὲ νῦν ἐστι μεσότης τις, καὶ ἀρχὴν καὶ τελευτὴν ἔχον ἅμα, ἀρχὴν μὲν τοῦ ἐσομένου χρόνου, τελευτὴν δὲ τοῦ παρελθόντος, ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ εἶναι χρόνον. τὸ γὰρ ἔσχατον τοῦ τελευταίου ληφθέντος χρόνου ἔν τινι τῶν νῦν ἔσται (οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔστι λαβεῖν ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ παρὰ τὸ νῦν), ὥστ' ἐπεί ἐστιν ἀρχή τε καὶ τελευτὴ τὸ νῦν, ἀνάγκη αὐτοῦ ἐπ' ἀμφότερα εἶναι ἀεὶ χρόνον. ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε χρόνον, φανερὸν ὅτι ἀνάγκη εἶναι καὶ κίνησιν, εἴπερ ὁ χρόνος πάθος τι κινήσεως. | Now since time cannot exist and is unthinkable apart from the moment, and the moment a kind of middle-point, uniting as it does in itself both a beginning and an end, a beginning of future time and an end of past time, it follows that there must always be time: for the extremity of the last period of time that we take must be found in some moment, since time contains no point of contact for us except the moment. Therefore, since the moment is both a beginning and an end, there must always be time on both sides of it. But if this is true of time, it is evident that it must also be true of motion, time being a kind of affection of motion.) |
| 251b28 ὁ δ' αὐτὸς λόγος καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἄφθαρτον εἶναι τὴν κίνησιν· καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ γενέσθαι κίνησιν συνέβαινεν προτέραν εἶναί τινα μεταβολὴν τῆς πρώ της, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα ὑστέραν τῆς τελευταίας· οὐ γὰρ ἅμα παύεται κινούμενον καὶ κινητὸν ὄν, οἷον καιόμενον καὶ καυστὸν ὄν (ἐνδέχεται γὰρ καυστὸν εἶναι μὴ καιόμενον), οὐδὲ (252a.) κινητικὸν καὶ κινοῦν. | The same reasoning will also serve to show the imperishability of motion: just as a becoming of motion would involve, as we saw, the existence of a process of change previous to the first, in the same way a perishing of motion would involve the existence of a process of change subsequent to the last: for when a thing ceases to be moved, it does not therefore at the same time cease to be movable-e.g. the cessation of the process of being burned does not involve the cessation of the capacity of being burned, since a thing may be capable of being burned without being in process of being burned-nor, when a thing ceases to be movent, does it therefore at the same time cease to be motive. |
| καὶ τὸ φθαρτικὸν δὴ δεήσει φθαρῆναι ὅταν φθείρῃ· καὶ τὸ τούτου φθαρτικὸν πάλιν ὕστερον· καὶ γὰρ ἡ φθορὰ μεταβολή τίς ἐστιν. | Again, the destructive agent will have to be destroyed, after what it destroys has been destroyed, and then that which has the capacity of destroying it will have to be destroyed afterwards, (so that there will be a process of change subsequent to the last,) for being destroyed also is a kind of change. |
| 252a4 εἰ δὴ ταῦτ' ἀδύνατα, δῆλον ὡς ἔστιν ἀΐδιος κίνησις, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁτὲ μὲν ἦν ὁτὲ δ' οὔ· καὶ γὰρ ἔοικε τὸ οὕτω λέγειν πλάσματι μᾶλλον. | If, then, the view which we are criticizing involves these impossible consequences, it is clear that motion is eternal and cannot have existed at one time and not at another: in fact such a view can hardly be described as anything else than fantastic. |
| 252a5 ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ λέγειν ὅτι πέφυκεν οὕτως καὶ ταύτην δεῖ νομίζειν εἶναι ἀρχήν, ὅπερ ἔοικεν Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἂν εἰπεῖν, ὡς τὸ κρατεῖν καὶ κινεῖν ἐν μέρει τὴν φιλίαν καὶ τὸ νεῖκος ὑπάρχει τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐξ ἀνάγκης, ἠρεμεῖν δὲ τὸν μεταξὺ χρόνον. τάχα δὲ καὶ οἱ μίαν ἀρχὴν ποιοῦντες, ὥσπερ Ἀναξαγόρας, οὕτως ἂν εἴποιεν. | And much the same may be said of the view that such is the ordinance of nature and that this must be regarded as a principle, as would seem to be the view of Empedocles when he says that the constitution of the world is of necessity such that Love and Strife alternately predominate and cause motion, while in the intermediate period of time there is a state of rest. Probably also those who like like Anaxagoras, assert a single principle (of motion) would hold this view. |
| 252a11 ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδέν γε ἄτακτον τῶν φύσει καὶ κατὰ φύσιν· ἡ γὰρ φύσις αἰτία πᾶσιν τάξεως. τὸ δ' ἄπειρον πρὸς τὸ ἄπειρον οὐδένα λόγον ἔχει· τάξις δὲ πᾶσα λόγος. τὸ δ' ἄπειρον χρόνον ἠρεμεῖν, εἶτα κινηθῆναί ποτε, τούτου δὲ μηδεμίαν εἶναι διαφοράν, ὅτι νῦν μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον, μηδ' αὖ τινὰ τάξιν ἔχειν, οὐκέτι φύσεως ἔργον. ἢ γὰρ ἁπλῶς ἔχει τὸ φύσει, καὶ οὐχ ὁτὲ μὲν οὕτως ὁτὲ δ' ἄλλως, οἷον τὸ πῦρ ἄνω φύσει φέρεται καὶ οὐχ ὁτὲ μὲν ὁτὲ δ' οὔ· ἢ λόγον ἔχει τὸ μὴ ἁπλοῦν. διόπερ βέλτιον ὡς Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, κἂν εἴ τις ἕτερος εἴρηκεν οὕτως ἔχειν, ἐν μέ ρει τὸ πᾶν ἠρεμεῖν καὶ κινεῖσθαι πάλιν· τάξιν γὰρ ἤδη τιν' ἔχει τὸ τοιοῦτον. | But that which is produced or directed by nature can never be anything disorderly: for nature is everywhere the cause of order. Moreover, there is no ratio in the relation of the infinite to the infinite, whereas order always means ratio. But if we say that there is first a state of rest for an infinite time, and then motion is started at some moment, and that the fact that it is this rather than a previous moment is of no importance, and involves no order, then we can no longer say that it is nature's work: for if anything is of a certain character naturally, it either is so invariably and is not sometimes of this and sometimes of another character (e.g. fire, which travels upwards naturally, does not sometimes do so and sometimes not) or there is a ratio in the variation. It would be better, therefore, to say with Empedocles and any one else who may have maintained such a theory as his that the universe is alternately at rest and in motion: for in a system of this kind we have at once a certain order. |
| 252a22 ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο δεῖ τὸν λέγοντα μὴ φάναι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν αὐτοῦ λέγειν, καὶ μὴ τίθεσθαι μηδὲν μηδ' ἀξιοῦν ἀξίωμ' ἄλογον, ἀλλ' ἢ ἐπαγωγὴν ἢ ἀπόδειξιν φέρειν· αὐτὰ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ αἴτια τὰ ὑποτεθέντα, οὐδὲ τοῦτ' ἦν τὸ φιλότητι ἢ νείκει εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῆς μὲν τὸ συνάγειν, τοῦ δὲ τὸ διακρίνειν. εἰ δὲ προσοριεῖται τὸ ἐν μέρει, λεκτέον ἐφ' ὧν οὕτως, ὥσπερ ὅτι ἔστιν τι ὃ συνάγει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἡ φιλία, καὶ φεύγουσιν οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἀλλήλους· τοῦτο γὰρ ὑποτίθεται καὶ ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ εἶναι· φαίνεται γὰρ ἐπί τινων οὕτως. τὸ δὲ καὶ δι' ἴσων χρόνων δεῖται λόγου τινός. | But even here the holder of the theory ought not only to assert the fact: he ought to explain the cause of it: i.e. he should not make any mere assumption or lay down any gratuitous axiom, but should employ either inductive or demonstrative reasoning. The Love and Strife postulated by Empedocles are not in themselves causes of the fact in question, nor is it of the essence of either that it should be so, the essential function of the former being to unite, of the latter to separate. If he is to go on to explain this alternate predominance, he should adduce cases where such a state of things exists, as he points to the fact that among mankind we have something that unites men, namely Love, while on the other hand enemies avoid one another: thus from the observed fact that this occurs in certain cases comes the assumption that it occurs also in the universe. Then, again, some argument is needed to explain why the predominance of each of the two forces lasts for an equal period of time. |
| 252a32 ὅλως δὲ τὸ νομίζειν ἀρχὴν εἶναι ταύτην ἱκανήν, εἴ τι αἰεὶ ἢ ἔστιν οὕτως ἢ γίγνεται, οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἔχει ὑπολαβεῖν, ἐφ' ὃ Δημόκριτος ἀνάγει τὰς περὶ φύσεως αἰτίας, ὡς οὕτω καὶ τὸ πρότερον ἐγίγνετο· τοῦ δὲ ἀεὶ οὐκ (252b.) ἀξιοῖ ἀρχὴν ζητεῖν, λέγων ἐπί τινων ὀρθῶς, ὅτι δ' ἐπὶ πάντων, οὐκ ὀρθῶς. καὶ γὰρ τὸ τρίγωνον ἔχει δυσὶν ὀρθαῖς ἀεὶ τὰς γωνίας ἴσας, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐστίν τι τῆς ἀϊδιότητος ταύτης ἕτερον αἴτιον· τῶν μέντοι ἀρχῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ἕτερον αἴτιον ἀϊδίων οὐσῶν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐδεὶς ἦν χρόνος οὐδ' ἔσται ὅτε κίνη σις οὐκ ἦν ἢ οὐκ ἔσται, εἰρήσθω τοσαῦτα. | But it is a wrong assumption to suppose universally that we have an adequate first principle in virtue of the fact that something always is so or always happens so. Thus Democritus reduces the causes that explain nature to the fact that things happened in the past in the same way as they happen now: but he does not think fit to seek for a first principle to explain this 'always': so, while his theory is right in so far as it is applied to certain individual cases, he is wrong in making it of universal application. Thus, a triangle always has its angles equal to two right angles, but there is nevertheless an ulterior cause of the eternity of this truth, whereas first principles are eternal and have no ulterior cause. Let this conclude what we have to say in support of our contention that there never was a time when there was not motion, and never will be a time when there will not be motion. |
| 252b7 Τὰ δὲ ἐναντία τούτοις οὐ χαλεπὸν λύειν. δόξειε δ' ἂν ἐκ τῶν τοιῶνδε σκοποῦσιν ἐνδέχεσθαι μάλιστα κίνησιν εἶναί ποτε μὴ οὖσαν ὅλως, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι οὐδεμία ἀΐδιος μεταβολή· μεταβολὴ γὰρ ἅπασα πέφυκεν ἔκ τινος εἴς τι, ὥστε ἀνάγκη πάσης μεταβολῆς εἶναι πέρας τὰ ἐναντία ἐν οἷς γίγνεται, εἰς ἄπειρον δὲ κινεῖσθαι μηδέν. | Chapter 2 The arguments that may be advanced against this position are not difficult to dispose of. The chief considerations that might be thought to indicate that motion may exist though at one time it had not existed at all are the following: First, it may be said that no process of change is eternal: for the nature of all change is such that it proceeds from something to something, so that every process of change must be bounded by the contraries that mark its course, and no motion can go on to infinity. |
| 252b12 ἔτι ὁρῶμεν ὅτι δυνατὸν κινηθῆναι μήτε κινούμενον μήτ' ἔχον ἐν ἑαυτῷ μηδεμίαν κίνησιν, οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀψύχων, ὧν οὔτε μέρος οὐδὲν οὔτε τὸ ὅλον κινούμενον ἀλλ' ἠρεμοῦν κινεῖταί ποτε· προσῆκεν δὲ ἢ ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι ἢ μηδέποτε, εἴπερ μὴ γίγνεται οὐκ οὖσα. | Secondly, we see that a thing that neither is in motion nor contains any motion within itself can be set in motion; e.g. inanimate things that are (whether the whole or some part is in question) not in motion but at rest, are at some moment set in motion: whereas, if motion cannot have a becoming before which it had no being, these things ought to be either always or never in motion. |
| 252b17 πολὺ δὲ μάλιστα τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμψύχων εἶναι φανερόν· οὐδεμιᾶς γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν ἐνούσης κινήσεως ἐνίοτε, ἀλλ' ἡσυχάζοντες ὅμως κινούμεθά ποτε, καὶ ἐγγίγνεται ἐν ἡμῖν ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἀρχὴ κινήσεως, κἂν μηθὲν ἔξωθεν κινήσῃ. τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀψύχων οὐχ ὁρῶμεν ὁμοίως, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ κινεῖ τι αὐτὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἕτερον· τὸ δὲ ζῷον αὐτό φαμεν ἑαυτὸ κινεῖν. ὥστ' εἴπερ ἠρεμεῖ ποτὲ πάμπαν, ἐν ἀκινήτῳ κίνησις ἂν γίγνοιτο ἐξ αὑτοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἔξωθεν. εἰ δ' ἐν ζῴῳ τοῦτο δυνατὸν γενέσθαι, τί κωλύει τὸ αὐτὸ συμβῆναι καὶ κατὰ τὸ πᾶν; εἰ γὰρ ἐν μικρῷ κόσμῳ γίγνεται, καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ· καὶ εἰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, κἀν τῷ ἀπείρῳ, εἴπερ ἐνδέχεται κινεῖσθαι τὸ ἄπειρον καὶ ἠρεμεῖν ὅλον. | Thirdly, the fact is evident above all in the case of animate beings: for it sometimes happens that there is no motion in us and we are quite still, and that nevertheless we are then at some moment set in motion, that is to say it sometimes happens that we produce a beginning of motion in ourselves spontaneously without anything having set us in motion from without. We see nothing like this in the case of inanimate things, which are always set in motion by something else from without: the animal, on the other hand, we say, moves itself: therefore, if an animal is ever in a state of absolute rest, we have a motionless thing in which motion can be produced from the thing itself, and not from without. Now if this can occur in an animal, why should not the same be true also of the universe as a whole? If it can occur in a small world it could also occur in a great one: and if it can occur in the world, it could also occur in the infinite; that is, if the infinite could as a whole possibly be in motion or at rest. |
| 252b28 τούτων δὴ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον λεχθέν, τὸ μὴ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀεὶ καὶ μίαν τῷ ἀριθμῷ εἶναι τὴν κίνησιν τὴν εἰς τὰ ἀντικείμενα, ὀρθῶς λέγεται. τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ἴσως ἀναγκαῖον, εἴπερ μὴ ἀεὶ μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι δυνατὸν τὴν τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἑνὸς κίνησιν· λέγω δ' οἷον πότερον τῆς μιᾶς χορδῆς εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς φθόγγος, ἢ ἀεὶ ἕτερος, ὁμοίως ἐχούσης καὶ κινουμένης. ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁποτέρως ποτ' ἔχει, οὐδὲν κωλύει τὴν αὐ(253a.) τὴν εἶναί τινα τῷ συνεχῆ εἶναι καὶ ἀΐδιον· δῆλον δ' ἔσται μᾶλλον ἐκ τῶν ὕστερον. | Of these objections, then, the first-mentioned motion to opposites is not always the same and numerically one a correct statement; in fact, this may be said to be a necessary conclusion, provided that it is possible for the motion of that which is one and the same to be not always one and the same. (I mean that e.g. we may question whether the note given by a single string is one and the same, or is different each time the string is struck, although the string is in the same condition and is moved in the same way.) But still, however this may be, there is nothing to prevent there being a motion that is the same in virtue of being continuous and eternal: we shall have something to say later that will make this point clearer. |
| 253a2 τὸ δὲ κινεῖσθαι μὴ κινούμενον οὐδὲν ἄτοπον, ἂν ὁτὲ μὲν ᾖ τὸ κινῆσον ἔξωθεν, ὁτὲ δὲ μή. τοῦτο μέντοι πῶς ἂν εἴη, ζητητέον, λέγω δὲ ὥστε τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ κινητικοῦ ὄντος ὁτὲ μὲν κινεῖσθαι ὁτὲ δὲ μή· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλλ' ἀπορεῖ ὁ τοῦτο λέγων ἢ διὰ τί οὐκ ἀεὶ τὰ μὲν ἠρεμεῖ τῶν ὄντων τὰ δὲ κινεῖται. | As regards the second objection, no absurdity is involved in the fact that something not in motion may be set in motion, that which caused the motion from without being at one time present, and at another absent. Nevertheless, how this can be so remains matter for inquiry; how it comes about, I mean, that the same motive force at one time causes a thing to be in motion, and at another does not do so: for the difficulty raised by our objector really amounts to this-why is it that some things are not always at rest, and the rest always in motion? |
| 253a7 μάλιστα δ' ἂν δόξειεν τὸ τρίτον ἔχειν ἀπορίαν, ὡς ἐγγιγνομένης οὐκ ἐνούσης πρότερον κινήσεως, τὸ συμβαῖνον ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμψύχων· ἠρεμοῦν γὰρ πρότερον μετὰ ταῦτα βαδίζει, κινήσαντος τῶν ἔξωθεν οὐδενός, ὡς δοκεῖ. τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶ ψεῦδος. ὁρῶμεν γὰρ ἀεί τι κινούμενον ἐν τῷ ζῴῳ τῶν συμφύτων· τούτου δὲ τῆς κινήσεως οὐκ αὐτὸ τὸ ζῷον αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ τὸ περιέχον ἴσως. αὐτὸ δέ φαμεν αὑτὸ κινεῖν οὐ πᾶσαν κίνησιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν κατὰ τόπον. οὐδὲν οὖν κωλύει, μᾶλλον δ' ἴσως ἀναγκαῖον, ἐν μὲν τῷ σώματι πολλὰς ἐγγίγνεσθαι κινήσεις ὑπὸ τοῦ περιέχοντος, τούτων δ' ἐνίας τὴν διάνοιαν ἢ τὴν ὄρεξιν κινεῖν, ἐκείνην δὲ τὸ ὅλον ἤδη ζῷον κινεῖν, οἷον συμβαίνει περὶ τοὺς ὕπνους· αἰσθητικῆς μὲν γὰρ οὐδεμιᾶς ἐνούσης κινήσεως, ἐνούσης μέντοι τινός, ἐγείρεται τὰ ζῷα πάλιν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ φανερὸν ἔσται καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐκ τῶν ἑπομένων. | The third objection may be thought to present more difficulty than the others, namely, that which alleges that motion arises in things in which it did not exist before, and adduces in proof the case of animate things: thus an animal is first at rest and afterwards walks, not having been set in motion apparently by anything from without. This, however, is false: for we observe that there is always some part of the animal's organism in motion, and the cause of the motion of this part is not the animal itself, but, it may be, its environment. Moreover, we say that the animal itself originates not all of its motions but its locomotion. So it may well be the case-or rather we may perhaps say that it must necessarily be the case-that many motions are produced in the body by its environment, and some of these set in motion the intellect or the appetite, and this again then sets the whole animal in motion: this is what happens when animals are asleep: though there is then no perceptive motion in them, there is some motion that causes them to wake up again. But we will leave this point also to be elucidated at a later stage in our discussion. |
| 253a22 3 Ἀρχὴ δὲ τῆς σκέψεως ἥπερ καὶ περὶ τῆς λεχθείσης ἀπορίας, διὰ τί ποτε ἔνια τῶν ὄντων ὁτὲ μὲν κινεῖται ὁτὲ δὲ ἠρεμεῖ πάλιν. ἀνάγκη δὴ ἤτοι πάντα ἠρεμεῖν ἀεί, ἢ πάντα ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι, ἢ τὰ μὲν κινεῖσθαι τὰ δ' ἠρεμεῖν, καὶ πάλιν τούτων ἤτοι τὰ μὲν κινούμενα κινεῖσθαι ἀεὶ τὰ δ' ἠρεμοῦντα ἠρεμεῖν, ἢ πάντα πεφυκέναι ὁμοίως κινεῖσθαι καὶ ἠρεμεῖν, ἢ τὸ λοιπὸν ἔτι καὶ τρίτον. ἐνδέχεται γὰρ τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ τῶν ὄντων ἀκίνητα εἶναι, τὰ δ' ἀεὶ κινούμενα, τὰ δ' ἀμφοτέρων μεταλαμβάνειν· ὅπερ ἡμῖν λεκτέον ἐστίν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔχει λύσιν τε πάντων τῶν ἀπορουμένων, καὶ τέλος ἡμῖν ταύτης τῆς πραγματείας ἐστίν. | Chapter 3 Our enquiry will resolve itself at the outset into a consideration of the above-mentioned problem-what can be the reason why some things in the world at one time are in motion and at another are at rest again? Now one of three things must be true: either all things are always at rest, or all things are always in motion, or some things are in motion and others at rest: and in this last case again either the things that are in motion are always in motion and the things that are at rest are always at rest, or they are all constituted so as to be capable alike of motion and of rest; or there is yet a third possibility remaining-it may be that some things in the world are always motionless, others always in motion, while others again admit of both conditions. This last is the account of the matter that we must give: for herein lies the solution of all the difficulties raised and the conclusion of the investigation upon which we are engaged. |
| 253a32 τὸ μὲν οὖν πάντ' ἠρεμεῖν, καὶ τούτου ζητεῖν λόγον ἀφέντας τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀρρωστία τίς ἐστιν διανοίας, καὶ περὶ ὅλου τινὸς ἀλλ' οὐ περὶ μέρους ἀμφισβήτησις· οὐδὲ μόνον πρὸς τὸν φυσικόν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς πάσας τὰς (253b.) ἐπιστήμας ὡς εἰπεῖν καὶ πάσας τὰς δόξας διὰ τὸ κινήσει χρῆσθαι πάσας. ἔτι δ' αἱ περὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν ἐνστάσεις, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὰ μαθήματα λόγοις οὐδέν εἰσιν πρὸς τὸν μαθηματικόν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οὕτως οὐδὲ περὶ τοῦ νῦν ῥηθέντος πρὸς τὸν φυσικόν· ὑπόθεσις γὰρ ὅτι ἡ φύσις ἀρχὴ τῆς κινήσεως. | To maintain that all things are at rest, and to disregard sense-perception in an attempt to show the theory to be reasonable, would be an instance of intellectual weakness: it would call in question a whole system, not a particular detail: moreover, it would be an attack not only on the physicist but on almost all sciences and all received opinions, since motion plays a part in all of them. Further, just as in arguments about mathematics objections that involve first principles do not affect the mathematician-and the other sciences are in similar case-so, too, objections involving the point that we have just raised do not affect the physicist: for it is a fundamental assumption with him that motion is ultimately referable to nature herself. |
| 253b6 σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ φάναι κινεῖσθαι πάντα ψεῦδος μέν, ἧττον δὲ τούτου παρὰ τὴν μέθοδον· ἐτέθη μὲν γὰρ ἡ φύσις ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἀρχή, καθάπερ κινήσεως, καὶ ἠρεμίας, ὅμως δὲ φυσικὸν ἡ κίνησις· | The assertion that all things are in motion we may fairly regard as equally false, though it is less subversive of physical science: for though in our course on physics it was laid down that rest no less than motion is ultimately referable to nature herself, nevertheless motion is the characteristic fact of nature: |
| 253b9 καί φασί τινες κινεῖσθαι τῶν ὄντων οὐ τὰ μὲν τὰ δ' οὔ, ἀλλὰ πάντα καὶ ἀεί, ἀλλὰ λανθάνειν τοῦτο τὴν ἡμετέραν αἴσθησιν· πρὸς οὓς καίπερ οὐ διορίζοντας ποίαν κίνησιν λέγουσιν, ἢ πάσας, οὐ χαλεπὸν ἀπαντῆσαι. | moreover, the view is actually held by some that not merely some things but all things in the world are in motion and always in motion, though we cannot apprehend the fact by sense-perception. Although the supporters of this theory do not state clearly what kind of motion they mean, |
| 253b13 οὔτε γὰρ αὐξάνεσθαι οὔτε φθίνειν οἷόν τε συνεχῶς, ἀλλ' ἔστι καὶ τὸ μέσον. ἔστι δ' ὅμοιος ὁ λόγος τῷ περὶ τοῦ τὸν σταλαγμὸν κατατρίβειν καὶ τὰ ἐκφυόμενα τοὺς λίθους διαιρεῖν· οὐ γὰρ εἰ τοσόνδε ἐξέωσεν ἢ ἀφεῖλεν ὁ σταλαγμός, καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ ἐν ἡμίσει χρόνῳ πρότερον· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἡ νεωλκία, καὶ οἱ σταλαγμοὶ οἱ τοσοιδὶ τοσονδὶ κινοῦσιν, τὸ δὲ μέρος αὐτῶν ἐν οὐδενὶ χρόνῳ τοσοῦτον. διαιρεῖται μὲν οὖν τὸ ἀφαιρεθὲν εἰς πλείω, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ἐκινήθη χωρίς, ἀλλ' ἅμα. φανερὸν οὖν ὡς οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἀεί τι ἀπιέναι, ὅτι διαιρεῖται ἡ φθίσις εἰς ἄπειρα, ἀλλ' ὅλον ποτὲ ἀπιέναι. | or whether they mean all kinds, it is no hard matter to reply to them: thus we may point out that there cannot be a continuous process either of increase or of decrease: that which comes between the two has to be included. The theory resembles that about the stone being worn away by the drop of water or split by plants growing out of it: if so much has been extruded or removed by the drop, it does not follow that half the amount has previously been extruded or removed in half the time: the case of the hauled ship is exactly comparable: here we have so many drops setting so much in motion, but a part of them will not set as much in motion in any period of time. The amount removed is, it is true, divisible into a number of parts, but no one of these was set in motion separately: they were all set in motion together. It is evident, then, that from the fact that the decrease is divisible into an infinite number of parts it does not follow that some part must always be passing away: it all passes away at a particular moment. |
| 253b23 ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπ' ἀλλοιώσεως ὁποιασοῦν· οὐ γὰρ εἰ μεριστὸν εἰς ἄπειρα τὸ ἀλλοιούμενον, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ ἀλλοίωσις, ἀλλ' ἀθρόα γίγνεται πολλάκις, ὥσπερ ἡ πῆξις. | Similarly, too, in the case of any alteration whatever if that which suffers alteration is infinitely divisible it does not follow from this that the same is true of the alteration itself, which often occurs all at once, as in freezing. |
| 253b26 ἔτι ὅταν τι νοσήσῃ, ἀνάγκη χρόνον γενέσθαι ἐν ᾧ ὑγιασθήσεται, καὶ μὴ ἐν πέρατι χρόνου μεταβάλλειν· ἀνάγκη δὲ εἰς ὑγίειαν μεταβάλλειν καὶ μὴ εἰς ἄλλο μηθέν. ὥστε τὸ φάναι συνεχῶς ἀλλοιοῦσθαι λίαν ἐστὶ τοῖς φανεροῖς ἀμφισβητεῖν. εἰς τοὐναντίον γὰρ ἡ ἀλλοίωσις· | Again, when any one has fallen ill, there must follow a period of time in which his restoration to health is in the future: the process of change cannot take place in an instant: yet the change cannot be a change to anything else but health. The assertion. therefore, that alteration is continuous is an extravagant calling into question of the obvious: for alteration is a change from one contrary to another. |
| 253b30 ὁ δὲ λίθος οὔτε σκληρότερος γίγνεται οὔτε μαλακώτερος. | Moreover, we notice that a stone becomes neither harder nor softer. |
| 253b31 κατά τε τὸ φέρεσθαι θαυμαστὸν εἰ λέληθεν ὁ λίθος κάτω φερόμενος ἢ μένων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. | Again, in the matter of locomotion, it would be a strange thing if a stone could be falling or resting on the ground without our being able to perceive the fact. |
| 253b33 ἔτι δ' ἡ γῆ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον ἐξ ἀνάγκης μένουσι μὲν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις τόποις, κινοῦνται δὲ βιαίως ἐκ τούτων· εἴπερ οὖν ἔνι' αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις τόποις, (254a.) ἀνάγκη μηδὲ κατὰ τόπον πάντα κινεῖσθαι. ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἀδύνατον ἢ ἀεὶ πάντα κινεῖσθαι ἢ ἀεὶ πάντα ἠρεμεῖν, ἐκ τούτων καὶ ἄλλων τοιούτων πιστεύσειεν ἄν τις. | Further, it is a law of nature that earth and all other bodies should remain in their proper places and be moved from them only by violence: from the fact then that some of them are in their proper places it follows that in respect of place also all things cannot be in motion. These and other similar arguments, then, should convince us that it is impossible either that all things are always in motion or that all things are always at rest. |
| 254a3 ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ ἐνδέχεται ἠρεμεῖν, τὰ δ' ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι, ποτὲ δ' ἠρεμεῖν καὶ ποτὲ κινεῖσθαι μηδέν. λεκτέον δ' ὅτι ἀδύνατον, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν εἰρημένων πρότερον, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων (ὁρῶμεν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν γιγνομένας τὰς εἰρημένας μεταβολάς), | Nor again can it be that some things are always at rest, others always in motion, and nothing sometimes at rest and sometimes in motion. This theory must be pronounced impossible on the same grounds as those previously mentioned: viz. that we see the above-mentioned changes occurring in the case of the same things. |
| 254a8 καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ὅτι μάχεται τοῖς φανεροῖς ὁ ἀμφισβητῶν· οὔτε γὰρ αὔξησις οὔθ' ἡ βίαιος ἔσται κίνησις, εἰ μὴ κινήσεται παρὰ φύσιν ἠρεμοῦν πρότερον. γένεσιν οὖν ἀναιρεῖ καὶ φθορὰν οὗτος ὁ λόγος. σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ κινεῖσθαι γίγνεσθαί τι καὶ φθείρεσθαι δοκεῖ πᾶσιν· εἰς ὃ μὲν γὰρ μεταβάλλει, γίγνεται τοῦτο ἢ ἐν τούτῳ, ἐξ οὗ δὲ μεταβάλλει, φθείρεται τοῦτο ἢ ἐντεῦθεν. ὥστε δῆλον ὅτι τὰ μὲν κινεῖται, τὰ δ' ἠρεμεῖ ἐνίοτε. | We may further point out that the defender of this position is fighting against the obvious, for on this theory there can be no such thing as increase: nor can there be any such thing as compulsory motion, if it is impossible that a thing can be at rest before being set in motion unnaturally. This theory, then, does away with becoming and perishing. Moreover, motion, it would seem, is generally thought to be a sort of becoming and perishing, for that to which a thing changes comes to be, or occupancy of it comes to be, and that from which a thing changes ceases to be, or there ceases to be occupancy of it. It is clear, therefore, that there are cases of occasional motion and occasional rest. |
| 254a15 τὸ δὲ πάντα ἀξιοῦν ὁτὲ μὲν ἠρεμεῖν ὁτὲ δὲ κινεῖσθαι, τοῦτ' ἤδη συναπτέον πρὸς τοὺς πάλαι λόγους. | We have now to take the assertion that all things are sometimes at rest and sometimes in motion and to confront it with the arguments previously advanced. |
| 254a16 ἀρχὴν δὲ πάλιν ποιητέον ἀπὸ τῶν νῦν διορισθέντων, τὴν αὐτὴν ἥνπερ ἠρξάμεθα πρότερον. ἢ γάρ τοι πάντα ἠρεμεῖ, ἢ πάντα κινεῖται, ἢ τὰ μὲν ἠρεμεῖ τὰ δὲ κινεῖται τῶν ὄντων. καὶ εἰ τὰ μὲν ἠρεμεῖ τὰ δὲ κινεῖται, ἀνάγκη ἤτοι πάντα ὁτὲ μὲν ἠρεμεῖν ὁτὲ δὲ κινεῖσθαι, <ἢ τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖν τὰ δὲ ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι>, ἢ τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖν τὰ δὲ ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι αὐτῶν, τὰ δ' ὁτὲ μὲν ἠρεμεῖν ὁτὲ δὲ κινεῖσθαι. | We must take our start as before from the possibilities that we distinguished just above. Either all things are at rest, or all things are in motion, or some things are at rest and others in motion. And if some things are at rest and others in motion, then it must be that either all things are sometimes at rest and sometimes in motion, or some things are always at rest and the remainder always in motion, or some of the things are always at rest and others always in motion while others again are sometimes at rest and sometimes in motion. |
| 254a23 ὅτι μὲν τοίνυν οὐχ οἷόν τε πάντ' ἠρεμεῖν, εἴρηται μὲν καὶ πρότερον, εἴπωμεν δὲ καὶ νῦν. εἰ γὰρ καὶ κατ' ἀλήθειαν οὕτως ἔχει καθάπερ φασί τινες, εἶναι τὸ ὂν ἄπειρον καὶ ἀκίνητον, ἀλλ' οὔτι φαίνεταί γε κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλὰ κινεῖσθαι πολλὰ τῶν ὄντων. εἴπερ οὖν ἔστιν δόξα ψευδὴς ἢ ὅλως δόξα, καὶ κίνησις ἔστιν, κἂν εἰ φαντασία, κἂν εἰ ὁτὲ μὲν οὕτως δοκεῖ ὁτὲ δ' ἑτέρως· ἡ γὰρ φαντασία καὶ ἡ δόξα κινήσεις τινὲς εἶναι δοκοῦσιν. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν περὶ τούτου σκοπεῖν, καὶ ζητεῖν λόγον ὧν βέλτιον ἔχομεν ἢ λόγου δεῖσθαι, κακῶς κρίνειν ἐστὶν τὸ βέλτιον καὶ τὸ χεῖρον, καὶ τὸ πιστὸν καὶ τὸ μὴ πιστόν, καὶ ἀρχὴν καὶ μὴ ἀρχήν. | Now we have said before that it is impossible that all things should be at rest: nevertheless we may now repeat that assertion. We may point out that, even if it is really the case, as certain persons assert, that the existent is infinite and motionless, it certainly does not appear to be so if we follow sense-perception: many things that exist appear to be in motion. Now if there is such a thing as false opinion or opinion at all, there is also motion; and similarly if there is such a thing as imagination, or if it is the case that anything seems to be different at different times: for imagination and opinion are thought to be motions of a kind. But to investigate this question at all-to seek a reasoned justification of a belief with regard to which we are too well off to require reasoned justification-implies bad judgement of what is better and what is worse, what commends itself to belief and what does not, what is ultimate and what is not. |
| 254a33 ὁμοίως δὲ ἀδύνατον καὶ τὸ πάντα κινεῖσθαι, ἢ τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι τὰ δ' ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖν. πρὸς ἅπαντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἱκανὴ μία πίστις· (254b.) ὁρῶμεν γὰρ ἔνια ὁτὲ μὲν κινούμενα ὁτὲ δ' ἠρεμοῦντα. ὥστε φανερὸν ὅτι ἀδύνατον ὁμοίως τὸ πάντα ἠρεμεῖν καὶ τὸ πάντα κινεῖσθαι συνεχῶς τῷ τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι τὰ δ' ἠρεμεῖν ἀεί. | It is likewise impossible that all things should be in motion or that some things should be always in motion and the remainder always at rest. We have sufficient ground for rejecting all these theories in the single fact that we see some things that are sometimes in motion and sometimes at rest. It is evident, therefore, that it is no less impossible that some things should be always in motion and the remainder always at rest than that all things should be at rest or that all things should be in motion continuously. |
| 254b4 λοιπὸν οὖν θεωρῆσαι πότερον πάντα τοιαῦτα οἷα κινεῖσθαι καὶ ἠρεμεῖν, ἢ ἔνια μὲν οὕτως, ἔνια δ' ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖ, ἔνια δ' ἀεὶ κινεῖται· τοῦτο γὰρ δεικτέον ἡμῖν. | It remains, then, to consider whether all things are so constituted as to be capable both of being in motion and of being at rest, or whether, while some things are so constituted, some are always at rest and some are always in motion: for it is this last view that we have to show to be true. |
| 254b7 Τῶν δὴ κινούντων καὶ κινουμένων τὰ μὲν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς κινεῖ καὶ κινεῖται, τὰ δὲ καθ' αὑτά, κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς μὲν οἷον ὅσα τε τῷ ὑπάρχειν τοῖς κινοῦσιν ἢ κινουμένοις καὶ τὰ κατὰ μόριον, τὰ δὲ καθ' αὑτά, ὅσα μὴ τῷ ὑπάρχειν τῷ κινοῦντι ἢ τῷ κινουμένῳ, μηδὲ τῷ μόριόν τι αὐτῶν κινεῖν ἢ κινεῖσθαι. τῶν δὲ καθ' αὑτὰ τὰ μὲν ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ δ' ὑπ' ἄλλου, καὶ τὰ μὲν φύσει τὰ δὲ βίᾳ καὶ παρὰ φύσιν. | Chapter 4 Now of things that cause motion or suffer motion, to some the motion is accidental, to others essential: thus it is accidental to what merely belongs to or contains as a part a thing that causes motion or suffers motion, essential to a thing that causes motion or suffers motion not merely by belonging to such a thing or containing it as a part. Of things to which the motion is essential some derive their motion from themselves, others from something else: and in some cases their motion is natural, in others violent and unnatural. |
| 254b14 τό τε γὰρ αὐτὸ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ κινούμενον φύσει κινεῖται, οἷον ἕκαστον τῶν ζῴων (κινεῖται γὰρ τὸ ζῷον αὐτὸ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ, ὅσων δ' ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐν αὐτοῖς τῆς κινήσεως, ταῦτα φύσει φαμὲν κινεῖσθαι· διὸ τὸ μὲν ζῷον ὅλον φύσει αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖ, τὸ μέντοι σῶμα ἐνδέχεται καὶ φύσει καὶ παρὰ φύσιν κινεῖσθαι· διαφέρει γὰρ ὁποίαν τε ἂν κίνησιν κινούμενον τύχῃ καὶ ἐκ ποίου στοιχείου συνεστηκός), καὶ τῶν ὑπ' ἄλλου κινουμένων τὰ μὲν φύσει κινεῖται τὰ δὲ παρὰ φύσιν, παρὰ φύσιν μὲν οἷον τὰ γεηρὰ ἄνω καὶ τὸ πῦρ κάτω, ἔτι δὲ τὰ μόρια τῶν ζῴων πολλάκις κινεῖται παρὰ φύσιν, παρὰ τὰς θέσεις καὶ τοὺς τρόπους τῆς κινήσεως. | Thus in things that derive their motion from themselves, e.g. all animals, the motion is natural (for when an animal is in motion its motion is derived from itself): and whenever the source of the motion of a thing is in the thing itself we say that the motion of that thing is natural. Therefore the animal as a whole moves itself naturally: but the body of the animal may be in motion unnaturally as well as naturally: it depends upon the kind of motion that it may chance to be suffering and the kind of element of which it is composed. And the motion of things that derive their motion from something else is in some cases natural, in other unnatural: e.g. upward motion of earthy things and downward motion of fire are unnatural. Moreover the parts of animals are often in motion in an unnatural way, their positions and the character of the motion being abnormal. |
| 254b24 καὶ μάλιστα τὸ ὑπό τινος κινεῖσθαι τὸ κινούμενον ἐν τοῖς παρὰ φύσιν κινουμένοις ἐστὶ φανερὸν διὰ τὸ δῆλον εἶναι ὑπ' ἄλλου κινούμενον. μετὰ δὲ τὰ παρὰ φύσιν τῶν κατὰ φύσιν τὰ αὐτὰ ὑφ' αὑτῶν, οἷον τὰ ζῷα· οὐ γὰρ τοῦτ' ἄδηλον, εἰ ὑπό τινος κινεῖται, ἀλλὰ πῶς δεῖ διαλαβεῖν αὐτοῦ τὸ κινοῦν καὶ τὸ κινούμενον· ἔοικεν γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς πλοίοις καὶ τοῖς μὴ φύσει συνισταμένοις, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις εἶναι διῃρημένον τὸ κινοῦν καὶ τὸ κινούμενον, καὶ οὕτω τὸ ἅπαν αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινεῖν. | The fact that a thing that is in motion derives its motion from something is most evident in things that are in motion unnaturally, because in such cases it is clear that the motion is derived from something other than the thing itself. Next to things that are in motion unnaturally those whose motion while natural is derived from themselves-e.g. animals-make this fact clear: for here the uncertainty is not as to whether the motion is derived from something but as to how we ought to distinguish in the thing between the movent and the moved. It would seem that in animals, just as in ships and things not naturally organized, that which causes motion is separate from that which suffers motion, and that it is only in this sense that the animal as a whole causes its own motion. |
| 254b33 μάλιστα δ' ἀπορεῖται τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς εἰρημένης τελευταίας διαιρέσεως· τῶν γὰρ ὑπ' ἄλλου κινουμένων τὰ μὲν παρὰ φύσιν ἐθήκαμεν κινεῖσθαι, τὰ δὲ λείπεται ἀντιθεῖναι (255a.) ὅτι φύσει. ταῦτα δ' ἐστὶν ἃ τὴν ἀπορίαν παράσχοι ἂν ὑπὸ τίνος κινεῖται, οἷον τὰ κοῦφα καὶ τὰ βαρέα. ταῦτα γὰρ εἰς μὲν τοὺς ἀντικειμένους τόπους βίᾳ κινεῖται, εἰς δὲ τοὺς οἰκείους, τὸ μὲν κοῦφον ἄνω τὸ δὲ βαρὺ κάτω, φύσει· τὸ δ' ὑπὸ τίνος οὐκέτι φανερόν, ὥσπερ ὅταν κινῶνται παρὰ φύσιν. | The greatest difficulty, however, is presented by the remaining case of those that we last distinguished. Where things derive their motion from something else we distinguished the cases in which the motion is unnatural: we are left with those that are to be contrasted with the others by reason of the fact that the motion is natural. It is in these cases that difficulty would be experienced in deciding whence the motion is derived, e.g. in the case of light and heavy things. When these things are in motion to positions the reverse of those they would properly occupy, their motion is violent: when they are in motion to their proper positions-the light thing up and the heavy thing down-their motion is natural; but in this latter case it is no longer evident, as it is when the motion is unnatural, whence their motion is derived. |
| 255a5 τό τε γὰρ αὐτὰ ὑφ' αὑτῶν φάναι ἀδύνατον· ζωτικόν τε γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τῶν ἐμψύχων ἴδιον, | It is impossible to say that their motion is derived from themselves: this is a characteristic of life and peculiar to living things. |
| 255a7 καὶ ἱστάναι ἂν ἐδύνατο αὐτὰ αὑτά (λέγω δ' οἷον, εἰ τοῦ βαδίζειν αἴτιον αὑτῷ, καὶ τοῦ μὴ βαδίζειν), | Further, if it were, it would have been in their power to stop themselves (I mean that if e.g. a thing can cause itself to walk it can also cause itself not to walk), |
| 255a9 ὥστ' εἰ ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὸ ἄνω φέρεσθαι τῷ πυρί, δῆλον ὅτι ἐπ' αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ κάτω. ἄλογον δὲ καὶ τὸ μίαν κίνησιν κινεῖσθαι μόνην ὑφ' αὑτῶν, εἴγε αὐτὰ ἑαυτὰ κινοῦσιν. ἔτι πῶς ἐνδέχεται συνεχές τι καὶ συμφυὲς αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖν; | and so, since on this supposition fire itself possesses the power of upward locomotion, it is clear that it should also possess the power of downward locomotion. Moreover if things move themselves, it would be unreasonable to suppose that in only one kind of motion is their motion derived from themselves. |
| 255a13 ᾗ γὰρ ἓν καὶ συνεχὲς μὴ ἁφῇ, ταύτῃ ἀπαθές· ἀλλ' ᾗ κεχώρισται, ταύτῃ τὸ μὲν πέφυκε ποιεῖν τὸ δὲ πάσχειν. οὔτ' ἄρα τούτων οὐθὲν αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖ (συμφυῆ γάρ), οὔτ' ἄλλο συνεχὲς οὐδέν, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη διῃρῆσθαι τὸ κινοῦν ἐν ἑκάστῳ πρὸς τὸ κινούμενον, οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀψύχων ὁρῶμεν, ὅταν κινῇ τι τῶν ἐμψύχων. | Again, how can anything of continuous and naturally connected substance move itself? In so far as a thing is one and continuous not merely in virtue of contact, it is impassive: it is only in so far as a thing is divided that one part of it is by nature active and another passive. Therefore none of the things that we are now considering move themselves (for they are of naturally connected substance), nor does anything else that is continuous: in each case the movent must be separate from the moved, as we see to be the case with inanimate things when an animate thing moves them. |
| ἀλλὰ συμβαίνει καὶ ταῦτα ὑπό τινος ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι· γένοιτο δ' ἂν φανερὸν διαιροῦσι τὰς αἰτίας. | It is the fact that these things also always derive their motion from something: what it is would become evident if we were to distinguish the different kinds of cause. |
| 255a18 ἔστιν δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κινούντων λαβεῖν τὰ εἰρημένα· τὰ μὲν γὰρ παρὰ φύσιν αὐτῶν κινητικά ἐστιν, οἷον ὁ μοχλὸς οὐ φύσει τοῦ βάρους κινητικός, τὰ δὲ φύσει, οἷον τὸ ἐνεργείᾳ θερμὸν κινητικὸν τοῦ δυνάμει θερμοῦ. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων. καὶ κινητὸν δ' ὡσαύτως φύσει τὸ δυνάμει ποιὸν ἢ ποσὸν ἢ πού, ὅταν ἔχῃ τὴν ἀρχὴν τὴν τοιαύτην ἐν αὑτῷ καὶ μὴ κατὰ συμβεβηκός (εἴη γὰρ ἂν τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ποιὸν καὶ ποσόν, ἀλλὰ θατέρῳ θάτερον συμβέβηκεν καὶ οὐ καθ' αὑτὸ ὑπάρχει). τὸ δὴ πῦρ καὶ ἡ γῆ κινοῦνται ὑπό τινος βίᾳ μὲν ὅταν παρὰ φύσιν, φύσει δ' ὅταν εἰς τὰς αὑτῶν ἐνεργείας δυνάμει ὄντα. | The above-mentioned distinctions can also be made in the case of things that cause motion: some of them are capable of causing motion unnaturally (e.g. the lever is not naturally capable of moving the weight), others naturally (e.g. what is actually hot is naturally capable of moving what is potentially hot): and similarly in the case of all other things of this kind. In the same way, too, what is potentially of a certain quality or of a certain quantity in a certain place is naturally movable when it contains the corresponding principle in itself and not accidentally (for the same thing may be both of a certain quality and of a certain quantity, but the one is an accidental, not an essential property of the other). So when fire or earth is moved by something the motion is violent when it is unnatural, and natural when it brings to actuality the proper activities that they potentially possess. |
| 255a30 ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ δυνάμει πλεοναχῶς λέγεται, τοῦτ' αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ φανερὸν εἶναι ὑπὸ τίνος τὰ τοιαῦτα κινεῖται, οἷον τὸ πῦρ ἄνω καὶ ἡ γῆ κάτω. | But the fact that the term 'potentially' is used in more than one sense is the reason why it is not evident whence such motions as the upward motion of fire and the downward motion of earth are derived. |
| 255a33 ἔστι δὲ δυνάμει ἄλλως ὁ μανθάνων ἐπιστήμων καὶ ὁ ἔχων ἤδη καὶ μὴ ἐνεργῶν. ἀεὶ δ', ὅταν ἅμα τὸ ποιητικὸν καὶ τὸ παθητικὸν ὦσιν, γίγνεται ἐνεργείᾳ τὸ δυ(255b.) νατόν, οἷον τὸ μανθάνον ἐκ δυνάμει ὄντος ἕτερον γίγνεται δυνάμει (ὁ γὰρ ἔχων ἐπιστήμην μὴ θεωρῶν δὲ δυνάμει ἐστὶν ἐπιστήμων πως, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς καὶ πρὶν μαθεῖν), ὅταν δ' οὕτως ἔχῃ, ἐάν τι μὴ κωλύῃ, ἐνεργεῖ καὶ θεωρεῖ, ἢ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἀντιφάσει καὶ ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ. | One who is learning a science potentially knows it in a different sense from one who while already possessing the knowledge is not actually exercising it. Wherever we have something capable of acting and something capable of being correspondingly acted on, in the event of any such pair being in contact what is potential becomes at times actual: e.g. the learner becomes from one potential something another potential something: for one who possesses knowledge of a science but is not actually exercising it knows the science potentially in a sense, though not in the same sense as he knew it potentially before he learnt it. And when he is in this condition, if something does not prevent him, he actively exercises his knowledge: otherwise he would be in the contradictory state of not knowing. |
| 255b5 ὁμοίως δὲ ταῦτ' ἔχει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν φυσικῶν· τὸ γὰρ ψυχρὸν δυνάμει θερμόν, ὅταν δὲ μεταβάλῃ, ἤδη πῦρ, καίει δέ, ἂν μή τι κωλύῃ καὶ ἐμποδίζῃ. | In regard to natural bodies also the case is similar. Thus what is cold is potentially hot: then a change takes place and it is fire, and it burns, unless something prevents and hinders it. |
| 255b8 ὁμοίως δ' ἔχει καὶ περὶ τὸ βαρὺ καὶ κοῦφον· τὸ γὰρ κοῦφον γίγνεται ἐκ βαρέος, οἷον ἐξ ὕδατος ἀήρ (τοῦτο γὰρ δυνάμει πρῶτον), καὶ ἤδη κοῦφον, καὶ ἐνεργήσει γ' εὐθύς, ἂν μή τι κωλύῃ. ἐνέργεια δὲ τοῦ κούφου τὸ ποὺ εἶναι καὶ ἄνω, κωλύεται δ', ὅταν ἐν τῷ ἐναντίῳ τόπῳ ᾖ. καὶ τοῦθ' ὁμοίως ἔχει καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ποσοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ποιοῦ. | So, too, with heavy and light: light is generated from heavy, e.g. air from water (for water is the first thing that is potentially light), and air is actually light, and will at once realize its proper activity as such unless something prevents it. The activity of lightness consists in the light thing being in a certain situation, namely high up: when it is in the contrary situation, it is being prevented from rising. The case is similar also in regard to quantity and quality. |
| 255b13 καίτοι τοῦτο ζητεῖται, διὰ τί ποτε κινεῖται εἰς τὸν αὑτῶν τόπον τὰ κοῦφα καὶ τὰ βαρέα. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι πέφυκέν ποι, καὶ τοῦτ' ἔστιν τὸ κούφῳ καὶ βαρεῖ εἶναι, τὸ μὲν τῷ ἄνω τὸ δὲ τῷ κάτω διωρισμένον. | But, be it noted, this is the question we are trying to answer-how can we account for the motion of light things and heavy things to their proper situations? The reason for it is that they have a natural tendency respectively towards a certain position: and this constitutes the essence of lightness and heaviness, the former being determined by an upward, the latter by a downward, tendency. |
| 255b17 δυνάμει δ' ἐστὶν κοῦφον καὶ βαρὺ πολλαχῶς, ὥσπερ εἴρηται· ὅταν τε γὰρ ᾖ ὕδωρ, δυνάμει γέ πώς ἐστι κοῦφον, καὶ ὅταν ἀήρ, ἔστιν ὡς ἔτι δυνάμει (ἐνδέχεται γὰρ ἐμποδιζόμενον μὴ ἄνω εἶναι)· ἀλλ' ἐὰν ἀφαιρεθῇ τὸ ἐμποδίζον, ἐνεργεῖ καὶ ἀεὶ ἀνωτέρω γίγνεται. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ ποιὸν εἰς τὸ ἐνεργείᾳ εἶναι μεταβάλλει· εὐθὺς γὰρ θεωρεῖ τὸ ἐπιστῆμον, ἐὰν μή τι κωλύῃ· καὶ τὸ ποσὸν ἐκτείνεται, ἐὰν μή τι κωλύῃ. ὁ δὲ τὸ ὑφιστάμενον καὶ κωλῦον κινήσας ἔστιν ὡς κινεῖ ἔστι δ' ὡς οὔ, οἷον ὁ τὸν κίονα ὑποσπάσας ἢ ὁ τὸν λίθον ἀφελὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀσκοῦ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι· κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς γὰρ κινεῖ, ὥσπερ καὶ ἡ ἀνακλασθεῖσα σφαῖρα οὐχ ὑπὸ τοῦ τοίχου ἐκινήθη ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τοῦ βάλλοντος. ὅτι μὲν τοίνυν οὐδὲν τούτων αὐτὸ κινεῖ ἑαυτό, δῆλον· ἀλλὰ κινήσεως ἀρχὴν ἔχει, οὐ τοῦ κινεῖν οὐδὲ τοῦ ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πάσχειν. | As we have said, a thing may be potentially light or heavy in more senses than one. Thus not only when a thing is water is it in a sense potentially light, but when it has become air it may be still potentially light: for it may be that through some hindrance it does not occupy an upper position, whereas, if what hinders it is removed, it realizes its activity and continues to rise higher. The process whereby what is of a certain quality changes to a condition of active existence is similar: thus the exercise of knowledge follows at once upon the possession of it unless something prevents it. So, too, what is of a certain quantity extends itself over a certain space unless something prevents it. The thing in a sense is and in a sense is not moved by one who moves what is obstructing and preventing its motion (e.g. one who pulls away a pillar from under a roof or one who removes a stone from a wineskin in the water is the accidental cause of motion): and in the same way the real cause of the motion of a ball rebounding from a wall is not the wall but the thrower. So it is clear that in all these cases the thing does not move itself, but it contains within itself the source of motion-not of moving something or of causing motion, but of suffering it. |
| 255b31 εἰ δὴ πάντα τὰ κινούμενα ἢ φύσει κινεῖται ἢ παρὰ φύσιν καὶ βίᾳ, καὶ τά τε βίᾳ καὶ παρὰ φύσιν πάντα ὑπό τινος καὶ ὑπ' ἄλλου, τῶν δὲ φύσει πάλιν τά θ' ὑφ' αὑτῶν κινούμενα ὑπό τινος κινεῖται καὶ τὰ μὴ ὑφ' αὑτῶν, οἷον τὰ κοῦφα καὶ τὰ βαρέα (256a.) (ἢ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ γεννήσαντος καὶ ποιήσαντος κοῦφον ἢ βαρύ, ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦ τὰ ἐμποδίζοντα καὶ κωλύοντα λύσαντος), ἅπαντα ἂν τὰ κινούμενα ὑπό τινος κινοῖτο. | If then the motion of all things that are in motion is either natural or unnatural and violent, and all things whose motion is violent and unnatural are moved by something, and something other than themselves, and again all things whose motion is natural are moved by something-both those that are moved by themselves and those that are not moved by themselves (e.g. light things and heavy things, which are moved either by that which brought the thing into existence as such and made it light and heavy, or by that which released what was hindering and preventing it); then all things that are in motion must be moved by something. |
| 256a4 Τοῦτο δὲ διχῶς· ἢ γὰρ οὐ δι' αὐτὸ τὸ κινοῦν, ἀλλὰ δι' ἕτερον ὃ κινεῖ τὸ κινοῦν, ἢ δι' αὐτό, καὶ τοῦτο ἢ πρῶτον μετὰ τὸ ἔσχατον ἢ διὰ πλειόνων, οἷον ἡ βακτηρία κινεῖ τὸν λίθον καὶ κινεῖται ὑπὸ τῆς χειρὸς κινουμένης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, οὗτος δ' οὐκέτι τῷ ὑπ' ἄλλου κινεῖσθαι. | Chapter 5 Now this may come about in either of two ways. Either the movent is not itself responsible for the motion, which is to be referred to something else which moves the movent, or the movent is itself responsible for the motion. Further, in the latter case, either the movent immediately precedes the last thing in the series, or there may be one or more intermediate links: e.g. the stick moves the stone and is moved by the hand, which again is moved by the man: in the man, however, we have reached a movent that is not so in virtue of being moved by something else. |
| 256a8 ἄμφω δὴ κινεῖν φαμέν, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον καὶ τὸ πρῶτον τῶν κινούντων, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ πρῶτον· ἐκεῖνο γὰρ κινεῖ τὸ τελευταῖον, ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτο τὸ πρῶτον, καὶ ἄνευ μὲν τοῦ πρώτου τὸ τελευταῖον οὐ κινήσει, ἐκεῖνο δ' ἄνευ τούτου, οἷον ἡ βακτηρία οὐ κινήσει μὴ κινοῦντος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. | Now we say that the thing is moved both by the last and by the first movent in the series, but more strictly by the first, since the first movent moves the last, whereas the last does not move the first, and the first will move the thing without the last, but the last will not move it without the first: e.g. the stick will not move anything unless it is itself moved by the man. |
| 256a13 εἰ δὴ ἀνάγκη πᾶν τὸ κινούμενον ὑπό τινός τε κινεῖσθαι, καὶ ἢ ὑπὸ κινουμένου ὑπ' ἄλλου ἢ μή, καὶ εἰ μὲν ὑπ' ἄλλου [κινουμένου], ἀνάγκη τι εἶναι κινοῦν ὃ οὐχ ὑπ' ἄλλου πρῶτον, εἰ δὲ τοιοῦτο τὸ πρῶτον, οὐκ ἀνάγκη θάτερον (ἀδύνατον γὰρ εἰς ἄπειρον ἰέναι τὸ κινοῦν καὶ κινούμενον ὑπ' ἄλλου αὐτό· τῶν γὰρ ἀπείρων οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν πρῶτον)—εἰ οὖν ἅπαν μὲν τὸ κινούμενον ὑπό τινος κινεῖται, τὸ δὲ πρῶτον κινοῦν κινεῖται μέν, οὐχ ὑπ' ἄλλου δέ, ἀνάγκη αὐτὸ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ κινεῖσθαι. | If then everything that is in motion must be moved by something, and the movent must either itself be moved by something else or not, and in the former case there must be some first movent that is not itself moved by anything else, while in the case of the immediate movent being of this kind there is no need of an intermediate movent that is also moved (for it is impossible that there should be an infinite series of movents, each of which is itself moved by something else, since in an infinite series there is no first term)-if then everything that is in motion is moved by something, and the first movent is moved but not by anything else, it much be moved by itself. |
| 256a21 ἔτι δὲ καὶ ὧδε τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον λόγον ἔστιν ἐπελθεῖν. πᾶν γὰρ τὸ κινοῦν τί τε κινεῖ καὶ τινί. ἢ γὰρ αὑτῷ κινεῖ τὸ κινοῦν ἢ ἄλλῳ, οἷον ἄνθρωπος ἢ αὐτὸς ἢ τῇ βακτηρίᾳ, καὶ ὁ ἄνεμος κατέβαλεν ἢ αὐτὸς ἢ ὁ λίθος ὃν ἔωσεν. ἀδύνατον δὲ κινεῖν ἄνευ τοῦ αὐτὸ αὑτῷ κινοῦντος τὸ ᾧ κινεῖ· ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν αὐτὸ αὑτῷ κινεῖ, οὐκ ἀνάγκη ἄλλο εἶναι ᾧ κινεῖ, ἂν δὲ ᾖ ἕτερον τὸ ᾧ κινεῖ, ἔστιν τι ὃ κινήσει οὐ τινὶ ἀλλ' αὑτῷ, ἢ εἰς ἄπειρον εἶσιν. εἰ οὖν κινούμενόν τι κινεῖ, ἀνάγκη στῆναι καὶ μὴ εἰς ἄπειρον ἰέναι· εἰ γὰρ ἡ βακτηρία κινεῖ τῷ κινεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς χειρός, ἡ χεὶρ κινεῖ τὴν βακτηρίαν· εἰ δὲ καὶ ταύτῃ ἄλλο κινεῖ, καὶ ταύτην ἕτερόν τι τὸ κινοῦν. ὅταν δή τινι κινῇ ἀεὶ ἕτερον, ἀνάγκη εἶναι πρότερον τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτῷ κινοῦν. εἰ οὖν κινεῖται μὲν τοῦτο, μὴ ἄλλο δὲ τὸ κινοῦν αὐτό, ἀνάγκη αὐτὸ αὑτὸ (256b.) κινεῖν· ὥστε καὶ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἤτοι εὐθὺς τὸ κινούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ αὑτὸ κινοῦντος κινεῖται, ἢ ἔρχεταί ποτε εἰς τὸ τοιοῦτον. | This same argument may also be stated in another way as follows. Every movent moves something and moves it with something, either with itself or with something else: e.g. a man moves a thing either himself or with a stick, and a thing is knocked down either by the wind itself or by a stone propelled by the wind. But it is impossible for that with which a thing is moved to move it without being moved by that which imparts motion by its own agency: on the other hand, if a thing imparts motion by its own agency, it is not necessary that there should be anything else with which it imparts motion, whereas if there is a different thing with which it imparts motion, there must be something that imparts motion not with something else but with itself, or else there will be an infinite series. If, then, anything is a movent while being itself moved, the series must stop somewhere and not be infinite. Thus, if the stick moves something in virtue of being moved by the hand, the hand moves the stick: and if something else moves with the hand, the hand also is moved by something different from itself. So when motion by means of an instrument is at each stage caused by something different from the instrument, this must always be preceded by something else which imparts motion with itself. Therefore, if this last movent is in motion and there is nothing else that moves it, it must move itself. So this reasoning also shows that when a thing is moved, if it is not moved immediately by something that moves itself, the series brings us at some time or other to a movent of this kind. |
| 256b3 πρὸς δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ ὧδε σκοποῦσι ταὐτὰ συμβήσεται ταῦτα. εἰ γὰρ ὑπὸ κινουμένου κινεῖται τὸ κινούμενον πᾶν, ἤτοι τοῦτο ὑπάρχει τοῖς πράγμασιν κατὰ συμ βεβηκός, ὥστε κινεῖν μὲν κινούμενον, οὐ μέντοι διὰ τὸ κινεῖσθαι αὐτό, ἢ οὔ, ἀλλὰ καθ' αὑτό. | And if we consider the matter in yet a third way we shall get this same result as follows. If everything that is in motion is moved by something that is in motion, ether this being in motion is an accidental attribute of the movents in question, so that each of them moves something while being itself in motion, but not always because it is itself in motion, or it is not accidental but an essential attribute. |
| 256b7 πρῶτον μὲν οὖν εἰ κατὰ συμβεβηκός, οὐκ ἀνάγκη κινεῖσθαι τὸ κινοῦν. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, δῆλον ὡς ἐνδέχεταί ποτε μηδὲν κινεῖσθαι τῶν ὄντων· οὐ γὰρ ἀναγκαῖον τὸ συμβεβηκός, ἀλλ' ἐνδεχόμενον μὴ εἶναι. ἐὰν οὖν θῶμεν τὸ δυνατὸν εἶναι, οὐδὲν ἀδύνατον συμβήσεται, ψεῦδος δ' ἴσως. ἀλλὰ τὸ κίνησιν μὴ εἶναι ἀδύνατον· δέδεικται γὰρ πρότερον ὅτι ἀνάγκη κίνησιν ἀεὶ εἶναι. | Let us consider the former alternative. If then it is an accidental attribute, it is not necessary that that is in motion should be in motion: and if this is so it is clear that there may be a time when nothing that exists is in motion, since the accidental is not necessary but contingent. Now if we assume the existence of a possibility, any conclusion that we thereby reach will not be an impossibility though it may be contrary to fact. But the nonexistence of motion is an impossibility: for we have shown above that there must always be motion. |
| 256b13 καὶ εὐλόγως δὲ τοῦτο συμβέβηκεν. τρία γὰρ ἀνάγκη εἶναι, τό τε κινούμενον καὶ τὸ κινοῦν καὶ τὸ ᾧ κινεῖ. τὸ μὲν οὖν κινούμενον ἀνάγκη κινεῖσθαι, κινεῖν δ' οὐκ ἀνάγκη· τὸ δ' ᾧ κινεῖ, καὶ κινεῖν καὶ κινεῖσθαι (συμμεταβάλλει γὰρ τοῦτο ἅμα καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ τῷ κινουμένῳ ὄν· δῆλον δ' ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τόπον κινούντων· ἅπτεσθαι γὰρ ἀλλήλων ἀνάγκη μέχρι τινός)· τὸ δὲ κινοῦν οὕτως ὥστ' εἶναι μὴ ᾧ κινεῖ, ἀκίνητον. ἐπεὶ δ' ὁρῶμεν τὸ ἔσχατον, ὃ κινεῖσθαι μὲν δύναται, κινήσεως δ' ἀρχὴν οὐκ ἔχει, καὶ ὃ κινεῖται μέν, οὐχ ὑπ' ἄλλου δὲ ἀλλ' ὑφ' αὑτοῦ, εὔλογον, ἵνα μὴ ἀναγκαῖον εἴπωμεν, καὶ τὸ τρίτον εἶναι ὃ κινεῖ ἀκίνητον ὄν. | Moreover, the conclusion to which we have been led is a reasonable one. For there must be three things-the moved, the movent, and the instrument of motion. Now the moved must be in motion, but it need not move anything else: the instrument of motion must both move something else and be itself in motion (for it changes together with the moved, with which it is in contact and continuous, as is clear in the case of things that move other things locally, in which case the two things must up to a certain point be in contact): and the movent-that is to say, that which causes motion in such a manner that it is not merely the instrument of motion-must be unmoved. Now we have visual experience of the last term in this series, namely that which has the capacity of being in motion, but does not contain a motive principle, and also of that which is in motion but is moved by itself and not by anything else: it is reasonable, therefore, not to say necessary, to suppose the existence of the third term also, that which causes motion but is itself unmoved. |
| 256b24 διὸ καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας ὀρθῶς λέγει, τὸν νοῦν ἀπαθῆ φάσκων καὶ ἀμιγῆ εἶναι, ἐπειδή γε κινήσεως ἀρχὴν αὐτὸν εἶναι ποιεῖ· οὕτω γὰρ μόνως ἂν κινοίη ἀκίνητος ὢν καὶ κρατοίη ἀμιγὴς ὤν. | So, too, Anaxagoras is right when he says that Mind is impassive and unmixed, since he makes it the principle of motion: for it could cause motion in this sense only by being itself unmoved, and have supreme control only by being unmixed. |
| 256b27 ἀλλὰ μὴν εἰ μὴ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀνάγκης κινεῖται τὸ κινοῦν, εἰ δὲ μὴ κινοῖτο, οὐκ ἂν κινοίη, ἀνάγκη τὸ κινοῦν, ᾗ κινεῖται, ἤτοι οὕτω κινεῖσθαι ὥς γε κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ εἶδος τῆς κινήσεως, ἢ καθ' ἕτερον. | We will now take the second alternative. If the movement is not accidentally but necessarily in motion-so that, if it were not in motion, it would not move anything-then the movent, in so far as it is in motion, must be in motion in one of two ways: it is moved either as that is which is moved with the same kind of motion, or with a different kind - |
| 256b31 λέγω δ' ἤτοι τὸ θερμαῖνον καὶ αὐτὸ θερμαίνεσθαι καὶ τὸ ὑγιάζον ὑγιάζεσθαι καὶ τὸ φέρον φέρεσθαι, ἢ τὸ ὑγιάζον φέρεσθαι, τὸ δὲ φέρον αὐξάνεσθαι. | either that which is heating, I mean, is itself in process of becoming hot, that which is making healthy in process of becoming healthy, and that which is causing locomotion in process of locomotion, or else that which is making healthy is, let us say, in process of locomotion, and that which is causing locomotion in process of, say, increase. |
| 256b34 ἀλλὰ φανερὸν ὅτι ἀδύνατον· δεῖ γὰρ μέχρι (257a.) τῶν ἀτόμων διαιροῦντα λέγειν, οἷον εἴ τι διδάσκει γεωμετρεῖν, τοῦτο διδάσκεσθαι γεωμετρεῖν τὸ αὐτό, ἢ εἰ ῥιπτεῖ, ῥιπτεῖσθαι τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τῆς ῥίψεως· ἢ οὕτως μὲν μή, ἄλλο δ' ἐξ ἄλλου γένους, οἷον τὸ φέρον μὲν αὐξάνεσθαι, τὸ δὲ τοῦτο αὖξον ἀλλοιοῦσθαι ὑπ' ἄλλου, τὸ δὲ τοῦτο ἀλλοιοῦν ἑτέραν τινὰ κινεῖσθαι κίνησιν. ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη στῆναι· πεπερασμέναι γὰρ αἱ κινήσεις. τὸ δὲ πάλιν ἀνακάμπτειν καὶ τὸ ἀλλοιοῦν φάναι φέρεσθαι τὸ αὐτὸ ποιεῖν ἐστὶ κἂν εἰ εὐθὺς ἔφη τὸ φέρον φέρεσθαι καὶ διδάσκεσθαι τὸ διδάσκον (δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι κινεῖται καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνωτέρω κινοῦντος τὸ κινούμενον πᾶν, καὶ μᾶλλον ὑπὸ τοῦ προτέρου τῶν κινούντων). ἀλλὰ μὴν τοῦτό γε ἀδύνατον· τὸ διδάσκον γὰρ συμβαίνει μανθάνειν, ὧν τὸ μὲν μὴ ἔχειν τὸ δὲ ἔχειν ἐπιστήμην ἀναγκαῖον. | But it is evident that this is impossible. For if we adopt the first assumption we have to make it apply within each of the very lowest species into which motion can be divided: e.g. we must say that if some one is teaching some lesson in geometry, he is also in process of being taught that same lesson in geometry, and that if he is throwing he is in process of being thrown in just the same manner. Or if we reject this assumption we must say that one kind of motion is derived from another; e.g. that that which is causing locomotion is in process of increase, that which is causing this increase is in process of being altered by something else, and that which is causing this alteration is in process of suffering some different kind of motion. But the series must stop somewhere, since the kinds of motion are limited; and if we say that the process is reversible, and that that which is causing alteration is in process of locomotion, we do no more than if we had said at the outset that that which is causing locomotion is in process of locomotion, and that one who is teaching is in process of being taught: for it is clear that everything that is moved is moved by the movent that is further back in the series as well as by that which immediately moves it: in fact the earlier movent is that which more strictly moves it. But this is of course impossible: for it involves the consequence that one who is teaching is in process of learning what he is teaching, whereas teaching necessarily implies possessing knowledge, and learning not possessing it. |
| 257a14 ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον τούτων ἄλογον, ὅτι συμβαίνει πᾶν τὸ κινητικὸν κινητόν, εἴπερ ἅπαν ὑπὸ κινουμένου κινεῖται τὸ κινούμενον· ἔσται γὰρ κινητόν, ὥσπερ εἴ τις λέγοι πᾶν τὸ ὑγιαστικὸν [καὶ ὑγιάζον] ὑγιαστὸν εἶναι, καὶ τὸ οἰκοδομητικὸν οἰκοδομητόν, ἢ εὐθὺς ἢ διὰ πλειόνων· λέγω δ' οἷον εἰ κινητὸν μὲν ὑπ' ἄλλου πᾶν τὸ κινητικόν, ἀλλ' οὐ ταύτην τὴν κίνησιν κινητὸν ἣν κινεῖ τὸ πλησίον, ἀλλ' ἑτέραν, οἷον τὸ ὑγιαστικὸν μαθητικόν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἐπαναβαῖνον ἥξει ποτὲ εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ εἶδος, ὥσπερ εἴπομεν πρότερον. τὸ μὲν οὖν τούτων ἀδύνατον, τὸ δὲ πλασματῶδες· ἄτοπον γὰρ τὸ ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὸ ἀλλοιωτικὸν αὐξητὸν εἶναι. | Still more unreasonable is the consequence involved that, since everything that is moved is moved by something that is itself moved by something else, everything that has a capacity for causing motion has as such a corresponding capacity for being moved: i.e. it will have a capacity for being moved in the sense in which one might say that everything that has a capacity for making healthy, and exercises that capacity, has as such a capacity for being made healthy, and that which has a capacity for building has as such a capacity for being built. It will have the capacity for being thus moved either immediately or through one or more links (as it will if, while everything that has a capacity for causing motion has as such a capacity for being moved by something else, the motion that it has the capacity for suffering is not that with which it affects what is next to it, but a motion of a different kind; e.g. that which has a capacity for making healthy might as such have a capacity for learn. the series, however, could be traced back, as we said before, until at some time or other we arrived at the same kind of motion). Now the first alternative is impossible, and the second is fantastic: it is absurd that that which has a capacity for causing alteration should as such necessarily have a capacity, let us say, for increase. |
| 257a27 οὐκ ἄρα ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι τὸ κινούμενον ὑπ' ἄλλου, καὶ τούτου κινουμένου· στήσεται ἄρα. ὥστε ἤτοι ὑπὸ ἠρεμοῦντος κινήσεται τὸ κινούμενον πρῶτον, ἢ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινήσει. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ εἴ γε δέοι σκοπεῖν πότερον αἴτιον κινήσεως καὶ ἀρχὴ τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν ἢ τὸ ὑπ' ἄλλου κινούμενον, ἐκεῖνο πᾶς ἂν θείη· τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ καθ' αὑτὸ ὂν ἀεὶ πρότερον αἴτιον τοῦ καθ' ἕτερον καὶ αὐτοῦ ὄντος. | It is not necessary, therefore, that that which is moved should always be moved by something else that is itself moved by something else: so there will be an end to the series. Consequently the first thing that is in motion will derive its motion either from something that is at rest or from itself. But if there were any need to consider which of the two, that which moves itself or that which is moved by something else, is the cause and principle of motion, every one would decide the former: for that which is itself independently a cause is always prior as a cause to that which is so only in virtue of being itself dependent upon something else that makes it so. |
| 257a33 ὥστε τοῦτο σκεπτέον λαβοῦσιν ἄλλην ἀρχήν, εἴ τι κινεῖ αὐτὸ αὑτό, πῶς κινεῖ καὶ τίνα τρόπον. | We must therefore make a fresh start and consider the question; if a thing moves itself, in what sense and in what manner does it do so? |
| ἀναγκαῖον δὴ τὸ κινούμενον ἅπαν εἶναι διαιρετὸν εἰς ἀεὶ διαιρετά· τοῦτο γὰρ δέδεικται πρότερον ἐν τοῖς (257b.) καθόλου τοῖς περὶ φύσεως, ὅτι πᾶν τὸ καθ' αὑτὸ κινούμενον συνεχές. | Now everything that is in motion must be infinitely divisible, for it has been shown already in our general course on Physics, that everything that is essentially in motion is continuous. |
| 257b2 ἀδύνατον δὴ τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν πάντῃ κινεῖν αὐτὸ αὑτό· φέροιτο γὰρ ἂν ὅλον καὶ φέροι τὴν αὐτὴν φοράν, ἓν ὂν καὶ ἄτομον τῷ εἴδει, καὶ ἀλλοιοῖτο καὶ ἀλλοιοῖ, ὥστε διδάσκοι ἂν καὶ μανθάνοι ἅμα, καὶ ὑγιάζοι καὶ ὑγιάζοιτο τὴν αὐτὴν ὑγίειαν. | Now it is impossible that that which moves itself should in its entirety move itself: for then, while being specifically one and indivisible, it would as a Whole both undergo and cause the same locomotion or alteration: thus it would at the same time be both teaching and being taught (the same thing), or both restoring to and being restored to the same health. |
| 257b6 ἔτι διώρισται ὅτι κινεῖται τὸ κινητόν· τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν δυνάμει κινούμενον, οὐκ ἐντελεχείᾳ, τὸ δὲ δυνάμει εἰς ἐντελέχειαν βαδίζει, ἔστιν δ' ἡ κίνησις ἐντελέχεια κινητοῦ ἀτελής. τὸ δὲ κινοῦν ἤδη ἐνεργείᾳ ἔστιν, οἷον θερμαίνει τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ὅλως γεννᾷ τὸ ἔχον τὸ εἶδος. ὥσθ' ἅμα τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ θερμὸν ἔσται καὶ οὐ θερμόν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον, ὅσων τὸ κινοῦν ἀνάγκη ἔχειν τὸ συνώνυμον. | Moreover, we have established the fact that it is the movable that is moved; and this is potentially, not actually, in motion, but the potential is in process to actuality, and motion is an incomplete actuality of the movable. The movent on the other hand is already in activity: e.g. it is that which is hot that produces heat: in fact, that which produces the form is always something that possesses it. Consequently (if a thing can move itself as a whole), the same thing in respect of the same thing may be at the same time both hot and not hot. So, too, in every other case where the movent must be described by the same name in the same sense as the moved. |
| 257b10 τὸ μὲν ἄρα κινεῖ τὸ δὲ κινεῖται τοῦ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦντος. | Therefore when a thing moves itself it is one part of it that is the movent and another part that is moved. |
| 257b13 ὅτι δ' οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν οὕτως ὥσθ' ἑκάτερον ὑφ' ἑκατέρου κινεῖσθαι, ἐκ τῶνδε φανερόν. | But it is not self-moving in the sense that each of the two parts is moved by the other part: the following considerations make this evident. |
| 257b15 οὔτε γὰρ ἔσται πρῶτον κινοῦν οὐδέν, εἴ γε αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινήσει ἑκάτερον (τὸ γὰρ πρότερον αἰτιώτερον τοῦ κινεῖσθαι τοῦ ἐχομένου καὶ κινήσει μᾶλλον· διχῶς γὰρ κινεῖν ἦν, τὸ μὲν τὸ ὑπ' ἄλλου κινούμενον αὐτό, τὸ δ' αὑτῷ· ἐγγύτερον δὲ τὸ πορρώτερον τοῦ κινουμένου τῆς ἀρχῆς ἢ τὸ μεταξύ)· | In the first place, if each of the two parts is to move the other, there will be no first movent. If a thing is moved by a series of movents, that which is earlier in the series is more the cause of its being moved than that which comes next, and will be more truly the movent: for we found that there are two kinds of movent, that which is itself moved by something else and that which derives its motion from itself: and that which is further from the thing that is moved is nearer to the principle of motion than that which is intermediate. |
| 257b20 ἔτι οὐκ ἀνάγκη τὸ κινοῦν κινεῖσθαι εἰ μὴ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ· κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἄρα ἀντικινεῖ θάτερον. ἔλαβον τοίνυν ἐνδέχεσθαι μὴ κινεῖν· ἔστιν ἄρα τὸ μὲν κινούμενον τὸ δὲ κινοῦν ἀκίνητον. | In the second place, there is no necessity for the movent part to be moved by anything but itself: so it can only be accidentally that the other part moves it in return. I take then the possible case of its not moving it: then there will be a part that is moved and a part that is an unmoved movent. |
| 257b23 ἔτι οὐκ ἀνάγκη τὸ κινοῦν ἀντικινεῖσθαι, ἀλλ' ἢ ἀκίνητόν γέ τι κινεῖν ἀνάγκη ἢ αὐτὸ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ κινούμενον, εἴπερ ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κίνησιν εἶναι. | In the third place, there is no necessity for the movent to be moved in return: on the contrary the necessity that there should always be motion makes it necessary that there should be some movent that is either unmoved or moved by itself. |
| 257b25 ἔτι ἣν κινεῖ κίνησιν, κινοῖτ' ἄν, ὥστε τὸ θερμαῖνον θερμαίνεται. | In the fourth place we should then have a thing undergoing the same motion that it is causing-that which is producing heat, therefore, being heated. |
| 257b26 ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ τοῦ πρώτως αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦντος οὔτε ἓν μόριον οὔτε πλείω κινήσει αὐτὸ αὑτὸ ἕκαστον. | But as a matter of fact that which primarily moves itself cannot contain either a single part that moves itself or a number of parts each of which moves itself. |
| 257b28 τὸ γὰρ ὅλον εἰ κινεῖται αὐτὸ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ, ἤτοι ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτοῦ τινὸς κινήσεται ἢ ἢ ὅλον ὑφ' ὅλου. εἰ μὲν οὖν τῷ κινεῖσθαί τι μόριον αὐτὸ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ, τοῦτ' ἂν εἴη τὸ πρῶτον αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν (χωρισθὲν γὰρ τοῦτο μὲν κινήσει αὐτὸ αὑτό, τὸ δὲ ὅλον οὐκέτι)· εἰ δὲ ὅλον ὑφ' ὅλου κινεῖται, κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἂν ταῦτα κινοῖ αὐτὰ ἑαυτά. ὥστε εἰ μὴ ἀναγκαῖον, εἰλήφθω μὴ κινούμενα (258a.) ὑφ' αὑτῶν. τῆς ὅλης ἄρα τὸ μὲν κινήσει ἀκίνητον ὂν τὸ δὲ κινηθήσεται· μόνως γὰρ οὕτως οἷόν τέ τι αὐτοκίνητον εἶναι. | For, if the whole is moved by itself, it must be moved either by some part of itself or as a whole by itself as a whole. If, then, it is moved in virtue of some part of it being moved by that part itself, it is this part that will be the primary self-movent, since, if this part is separated from the whole, the part will still move itself, but the whole will do so no longer. If on the other hand the whole is moved by itself as a whole, it must be accidentally that the parts move themselves: and therefore, their self-motion not being necessary, we may take the case of their not being moved by themselves. Therefore in the whole of the thing we may distinguish that which imparts motion without itself being moved and that which is moved: for only in this way is it possible for a thing to be self-moved. |
| 258a3 ἔτι εἴπερ ἡ ὅλη αὐτὴ αὑτὴν κινεῖ, τὸ μὲν κινήσει αὐτῆς, τὸ δὲ κινήσεται. ἡ ἄρα ΑΒ ὑφ' αὑτῆς τε κινηθήσεται καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς Α. | Further, if the whole moves itself we may distinguish in it that which imparts the motion and that which is moved: so while we say that AB is moved by itself, we may also say that it is moved by A. |
| 258a5 ἐπεὶ δὲ κινεῖ τὸ μὲν κινούμενον ὑπ' ἄλλου τὸ δ' ἀκίνη τον ὄν, καὶ κινεῖται τὸ μὲν κινοῦν τὸ δὲ οὐδὲν κινοῦν, τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν ἀνάγκη ἐξ ἀκινήτου εἶναι κινοῦντος δέ, καὶ ἔτι ἐκ κινουμένου μὴ κινοῦντος δ' ἐξ ἀνάγκης, ἀλλ' ὁπότερ' ἔτυχεν. | And since that which imparts motion may be either a thing that is moved by something else or a thing that is unmoved, and that which is moved may be either a thing that imparts motion to something else or a thing that does not, that which moves itself must be composed of something that is unmoved but imparts motion and also of something that is moved but does not necessarily impart motion but may or may not do so. |
| 258a9 ἔστω γὰρ τὸ Α κινοῦν μὲν ἀκίνητον δέ, τὸ δὲ Β κινούμενόν τε ὑπὸ τοῦ Α καὶ κινοῦν τὸ ἐφ' ᾧ Γ, τοῦτο δὲ κινούμενον μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Β, μὴ κινοῦν δὲ μηδέν· εἴπερ γὰρ καὶ διὰ πλειόνων ἥξει ποτὲ εἰς τὸ Γ, ἔστω δι' ἑνὸς μόνου. τὸ δὴ ἅπαν ΑΒΓ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖ. ἀλλ' ἐὰν ἀφέλω τὸ Γ, τὸ μὲν ΑΒ κινήσει αὐτὸ ἑαυτό, τὸ μὲν Α κινοῦν τὸ δὲ Β κινούμενον, τὸ δὲ Γ οὐ κινήσει αὐτὸ ἑαυτό, οὐδ' ὅλως κινήσεται. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδ' ἡ ΒΓ κινήσει αὐτὴ ἑαυτὴν ἄνευ τοῦ Α· τὸ γὰρ Β κινεῖ τῷ κινεῖσθαι ὑπ' ἄλλου, οὐ τῷ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ τινὸς μέρους. τὸ ἄρα ΑΒ μόνον αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖ. ἀνάγκη ἄρα τὸ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινοῦν ἔχειν τὸ κινοῦν ἀκίνητον δέ, καὶ τὸ κινούμενον μηδὲν δὲ κινοῦν ἐξ ἀνάγκης, | Thus let A be something that imparts motion but is unmoved, B something that is moved by A and moves G, G something that is moved by B but moves nothing (granted that we eventually arrive at G we may take it that there is only one intermediate term, though there may be more). Then the whole ABG moves itself. But if I take away G, AB will move itself, A imparting motion and B being moved, whereas G will not move itself or in fact be moved at all. Nor again will BG move itself apart from A: for B imparts motion only through being moved by something else, not through being moved by any part of itself. So only AB moves itself. That which moves itself, therefore, must comprise something that imparts motion but is unmoved and something that is moved but does not necessarily move anything else: |
| 258a20 ἁπτόμενα ἤτοι ἄμφω ἀλλήλων ἢ θατέρου θάτερον. | and each of these two things, or at any rate one of them, must be in contact with the other. |
| 258a21 εἰ μὲν οὖν συνεχές ἐστι τὸ κινοῦν (τὸ μὲν γὰρ κινούμενον ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι συνεχές), ἅψεται ἑκάτερον ἑκατέρου. δῆλον δὴ ὅτι τὸ πᾶν αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖ οὐ τῷ αὐτοῦ τι εἶναι τοιοῦτον οἷον αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινεῖν, ἀλλ' ὅλον κινεῖ αὐτὸ ἑαυτό, κινούμενόν τε καὶ κινοῦν τῷ αὐτοῦ τι εἶναι τὸ κινοῦν καὶ τὸ κινούμενον. οὐ γὰρ ὅλον κι νεῖ οὐδ' ὅλον κινεῖται, ἀλλὰ κινεῖ μὲν ἡ τὸ Α, κινεῖται δὲ ἡ τὸ Β μόνον [τὸ δὲ Γ ὑπὸ τοῦ Α οὐκέτι· ἀδύνατον γάρ]. | If, then, that which imparts motion is a continuous substance-that which is moved must of course be so-it is clear that it is not through some part of the whole being of such a nature as to be capable of moving itself that the whole moves itself: it moves itself as a whole, both being moved and imparting motion through containing a part that imparts motion and a part that is moved. It does not impart motion as a whole nor is it moved as a whole: it is A alone that imparts motion and B alone that is moved. It is not true, further, that G is moved by A, which is impossible. |
| 258a27 ἀπορίαν δ' ἔχει, ἐὰν ἀφέλῃ τις ἢ τῆς Α, εἰ συνεχὲς τὸ κινοῦν μὲν ἀκίνητον δέ, ἢ τῆς Β τῆς κινουμένης· ἡ λοιπὴ ἆρα κινήσει τῆς Α ἢ τῆς Β κινηθήσεται; εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο, οὐκ ἂν εἴη πρώ τως κινουμένη ὑφ' αὑτῆς ἡ τὸ ΑΒ· ἀφαιρεθείσης γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ΑΒ, ἔτι κινήσει αὑτὴν ἡ λοιπὴ ΑΒ. | Here a difficulty arises: if something is taken away from A (supposing that that which imparts motion but is unmoved is a continuous substance), or from B the part that is moved, will the remainder of A continue to impart motion or the remainder of B continue to be moved? If so, it will not be AB primarily that is moved by itself, since, when something is taken away from AB, the remainder of AB will still continue to move itself. |
| 258a32 ἢ δυνάμει μὲν (258b.) ἑκάτερον οὐδὲν κωλύει ἢ θάτερον, τὸ κινούμενον, διαιρετὸν εἶναι, ἐντελεχείᾳ δ' ἀδιαίρετον· ἐὰν δὲ διαιρεθῇ, μηκέτι εἶναι ἔχον τὴν αὐτὴν φύσιν· ὥστ' οὐδὲν κωλύει ἐν διαιρετοῖς δυνάμει πρώτως ἐνεῖναι. | Perhaps we may state the case thus: there is nothing to prevent each of the two parts, or at any rate one of them, that which is moved, being divisible though actually undivided, so that if it is divided it will not continue in the possession of the same capacity: and so there is nothing to prevent self-motion residing primarily in things that are potentially divisible. |
| 258b4 φανερὸν τοίνυν ἐκ τούτων ὅτι ἔστιν τὸ πρώτως κινοῦν ἀκίνητον· εἴτε γὰρ εὐθὺς ἵσταται τὸ κινούμενον, ὑπό τι νος δὲ κινούμενον, εἰς ἀκίνητον τὸ πρῶτον, εἴτε εἰς κινούμενον μέν, αὐτὸ δ' αὑτὸ κινοῦν καὶ ἱστάν, ἀμφοτέρως συμβαίνει τὸ πρώτως κινοῦν ἅπασιν εἶναι τοῖς κινουμένοις ἀκίνητον. | From what has been said, then, it is evident that that which primarily imparts motion is unmoved: for, whether the series is closed at once by that which is in motion but moved by something else deriving its motion directly from the first unmoved, or whether the motion is derived from what is in motion but moves itself and stops its own motion, on both suppositions we have the result that in all cases of things being in motion that which primarily imparts motion is unmoved. |
| 258b10 Ἐπεὶ δὲ δεῖ κίνησιν ἀεὶ εἶναι καὶ μὴ διαλείπειν, ἀνάγκη εἶναί τι ἀΐδιον ὃ πρῶτον κινεῖ, εἴτε ἓν εἴτε πλείω· καὶ τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀκίνητον. | Chapter 6 Since there must always be motion without intermission, there must necessarily be something, one thing or it may be a plurality, that first imparts motion, and this first movent must be unmoved. |
| 258b12 ἕκαστον μὲν οὖν ἀΐδιον εἶναι τῶν ἀκινήτων μὲν κινούντων δὲ οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν νῦν λόγον· | Now the question whether each of the things that are unmoved but impart motion is eternal is irrelevant to our present argument: |
| 258b13 ὅτι δ' ἀναγκαῖον εἶναί τι τὸ ἀκίνητον μὲν αὐτὸ πάσης ἐκτὸς μεταβολῆς, καὶ ἁπλῶς καὶ κατὰ συμβεβηκός, κινητικὸν δ' ἑτέρου, δῆλον ὧδε σκοποῦσιν. | but the following considerations will make it clear that there must necessarily be some such thing, which, while it has the capacity of moving something else, is itself unmoved and exempt from all change, which can affect it neither in an unqualified nor in an accidental sense. |
| 258b16 ἔστω δή, εἴ τις βούλεται, ἐπί τινων ἐνδεχόμενον ὥστε εἶναί ποτε καὶ μὴ εἶναι ἄνευ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς (τάχα γὰρ ἀναγκαῖον, εἴ τι ἀμερὲς ὁτὲ μὲν ἔστιν ὁτὲ δὲ μὴ ἔστιν, ἄνευ τοῦ μεταβάλλειν ὁτὲ μὲν εἶναι ὁτὲ δὲ μὴ εἶναι πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον). καὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν τῶν ἀκινήτων μὲν κινητικῶν δ' ἐνίας ὁτὲ μὲν εἶναι ὁτὲ δὲ μὴ εἶναι, ἐνδεχέσθω καὶ τοῦτο. ἀλλ' οὔ τί γε πάσας δυνατόν· | Let us suppose, if any one likes, that in the case of certain things it is possible for them at different times to be and not to be, without any process of becoming and perishing (in fact it would seem to be necessary, if a thing that has not parts at one time is and at another time is not, that any such thing should without undergoing any process of change at one time be and at another time not be). And let us further suppose it possible that some principles that are unmoved but capable of imparting motion at one time are and at another time are not. |
| 258b22 δῆλον γὰρ ὡς αἴτιον τοῖς αὐτὰ ἑαυτὰ κινοῦσίν ἐστί τι τοῦ ὁτὲ μὲν εἶναι ὁτὲ δὲ μή. τὸ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινοῦν ἅπαν ἔχειν ἀνάγκη μέγεθος, εἰ μηδὲν κινεῖται ἀμερές, τὸ δὲ κινοῦν οὐδεμία ἀνάγκη ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων. τοῦ δὴ τὰ μὲν γίγνεσθαι τὰ δὲ φθείρεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτ' εἶναι συνεχῶς, οὐδὲν αἴτιον τῶν ἀκινήτων μὲν μὴ ἀεὶ δ' ὄντων, οὐδ' αὖ τωνδὶ μὲν ταδί [κινούντων], τούτων δ' ἕτερα. τοῦ γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ συνεχοῦς οὔτε ἕκαστον αὐτῶν οὔτε πάντα αἴτια· τὸ μὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἔχειν ἀΐδιον καὶ ἐξ ἀνάγκης, τὰ δὲ πάντα ἄπειρα, καὶ οὐχ ἅμα πάντα ὄντα. δῆλον τοίνυν ὅτι, εἰ καὶ μυριάκις ἔνια [ἀρχαὶ] (259a.) τῶν ἀκινήτων μὲν κινούντων δέ, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν αὐτὰ ἑαυτὰ κινούντων, φθείρεται, τὰ δ' ἐπιγίγνεται, καὶ τόδε μὲν ἀκίνητον ὂν τόδε κινεῖ, ἕτερον δὲ τοδί, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἧττον ἔστιν τι ὃ περιέχει, καὶ τοῦτο παρ' ἕκαστον, ὅ ἐστιν αἴτιον τοῦ τὰ μὲν εἶναι τὰ δὲ μὴ καὶ τῆς συνεχοῦς μεταβολῆς· καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τούτοις, ταῦτα δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις αἴτια κινήσεως. εἴπερ οὖν ἀΐδιος ἡ κίνησις, ἀΐδιον καὶ τὸ κινοῦν ἔσται πρῶτον, εἰ ἕν· εἰ δὲ πλείω, πλείω τὰ ἀΐδια. | Even so, this cannot be true of all such principles, since there must clearly be something that causes things that move themselves at one time to be and at another not to be. For, since nothing that has not parts can be in motion, that which moves itself must as a whole have magnitude, though nothing that we have said makes this necessarily true of every movent. So the fact that some things become and others perish, and that this is so continuously, cannot be caused by any one of those things that, though they are unmoved, do not always exist: nor again can it be caused by any of those which move certain particular things, while others move other things. The eternity and continuity of the process cannot be caused either by any one of them singly or by the sum of them, because this causal relation must be eternal and necessary, whereas the sum of these movents is infinite and they do not all exist together. It is clear, then, that though there may be countless instances of the perishing of some principles that are unmoved but impart motion, and though many things that move themselves perish and are succeeded by others that come into being, and though one thing that is unmoved moves one thing while another moves another, nevertheless there is something that comprehends them all, and that as something apart from each one of them, and this it is that is the cause of the fact that some things are and others are not and of the continuous process of change: and this causes the motion of the other movents, while they are the causes of the motion of other things. Motion, then, being eternal, the first movent, if there is but one, will be eternal also: if there are more than one, there will be a plurality of such eternal movents. |
| 259a8 ἓν δὲ μᾶλλον ἢ πολλά, καὶ πεπερασμένα ἢ ἄπειρα, δεῖ νομίζειν. τῶν αὐτῶν γὰρ συμβαινόντων αἰεὶ τὰ πεπερασμένα μᾶλλον ληπτέον· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς φύσει δεῖ τὸ πεπερασμένον καὶ τὸ βέλτιον, ἂν ἐνδέχηται, ὑπάρχειν μᾶλλον. ἱκανὸν δὲ καὶ ἕν, ὃ πρῶτον τῶν ἀκινήτων ἀΐδιον ὂν ἔσται ἀρχὴ τοῖς ἄλλοις κινήσεως. | We ought, however, to suppose that there is one rather than many, and a finite rather than an infinite number. When the consequences of either assumption are the same, we should always assume that things are finite rather than infinite in number, since in things constituted by nature that which is finite and that which is better ought, if possible, to be present rather than the reverse: and here it is sufficient to assume only one movent, the first of unmoved things, which being eternal will be the principle of motion to everything else. |
| 259a13 φανερὸν δὲ καὶ ἐκ τοῦδε ὅτι ἀνάγκη εἶναί τι ἓν καὶ ἀΐδιον τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν. δέδεικται γὰρ ὅτι ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κίνησιν εἶναι. εἰ δὲ ἀεί, ἀνάγκη συνεχῆ εἶναι· καὶ γὰρ τὸ ἀεὶ συνεχές, τὸ δ' ἐφεξῆς οὐ συνεχές. ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε συνεχής, μία. μία δ' ἡ ὑφ' ἑνός τε τοῦ κινοῦντος καὶ ἑνὸς τοῦ κινουμένου· εἰ γὰρ ἄλλο καὶ ἄλλο κινήσει, οὐ συνεχὴς ἡ ὅλη κίνησις, ἀλλ' ἐφεξῆς. ἔκ τε δὴ τούτων πιστεύσειεν ἄν τις εἶναί τι πρῶτον ἀκίνητον, | The following argument also makes it evident that the first movent must be something that is one and eternal. We have shown that there must always be motion. That being so, motion must also be continuous, because what is always is continuous, whereas what is merely in succession is not continuous. But further, if motion is continuous, it is one: and it is one only if the movent and the moved that constitute it are each of them one, since in the event of a thing's being moved now by one thing and now by another the whole motion will not be continuous but successive. |
| 259a23 καὶ πάλιν ἐπιβλέψας ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρχάς [τῶν κινούντων]. τὸ μὲν δὴ εἶναι ἄττα τῶν ὄντων ἃ ὁτὲ μὲν κινεῖται ὁτὲ δὲ ἠρεμεῖ φανερόν. καὶ διὰ τούτου γέγονε δῆλον ὅτι οὔτε πάντα κινεῖται οὔτε πάντα ἠρεμεῖ οὔτε τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖ τὰ δὲ ἀεὶ κινεῖται· τὰ γὰρ ἐπαμφοτερί ζοντα καὶ δύναμιν ἔχοντα τοῦ κινεῖσθαι καὶ ἠρεμεῖν δείκνυσιν περὶ αὐτῶν. | Moreover a conviction that there is a first unmoved something may be reached not only from the foregoing arguments, but also by considering again the principles operative in movents. Now it is evident that among existing things there are some that are sometimes in motion and sometimes at rest. This fact has served above to make it clear that it is not true either that all things are in motion or that all things are at rest or that some things are always at rest and the remainder always in motion: on this matter proof is supplied by things that fluctuate between the two and have the capacity of being sometimes in motion and sometimes at rest. |
| 259a27 ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ μὲν τοιαῦτα δῆλα πᾶσι, βουλόμεθα δὲ δεῖξαι καὶ τοῖν δυοῖν ἑκατέρου τὴν φύσιν, ὅτι ἔστιν τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ ἀκίνητα τὰ δὲ ἀεὶ κινούμενα, προϊόντες δ' ἐπὶ τοῦτο καὶ θέντες ἅπαν τὸ κινούμενον ὑπό τινος κινεῖ σθαι, καὶ τοῦτ' εἶναι ἢ ἀκίνητον ἢ κινούμενον, καὶ κινούμενον ἢ ὑφ' αὑτοῦ ἢ ὑπ' ἄλλου ἀεί, προήλθομεν ἐπὶ τὸ λαβεῖν ὅτι τῶν κινουμένων ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ κινουμένων μὲν ὃ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ (259b.) κινεῖ, πάντων δὲ τὸ ἀκίνητον, ὁρῶμεν δὲ καὶ φανερῶς ὄντα τοιαῦτα ἃ κινεῖ αὐτὰ ἑαυτά, οἷον τὸ τῶν ἐμψύχων καὶ τὸ τῶν ζῴων γένος, | The existence of things of this kind is clear to all: but we wish to explain also the nature of each of the other two kinds and show that there are some things that are always unmoved and some things that are always in motion. In the course of our argument directed to this end we established the fact that everything that is in motion is moved by something, and that the movent is either unmoved or in motion, and that, if it is in motion, it is moved either by itself or by something else and so on throughout the series: and so we proceeded to the position that the first principle that directly causes things that are in motion to be moved is that which moves itself, and the first principle of the whole series is the unmoved. Further it is evident from actual observation that there are things that have the characteristic of moving themselves, e.g. the animal kingdom and the whole class of living things. |
| 259b3 ταῦτα δὲ καὶ δόξαν παρεῖχε μή ποτε ἐνδέχεται κίνησιν ἐγγίγνεσθαι μὴ οὖσαν ὅλως, διὰ τὸ ἐν τούτοις ὁρᾶν ἡμᾶς τοῦτο συμβαῖνον (ἀκίνητα γάρ ποτε ὄντα κινεῖ ται πάλιν, ὡς δοκεῖ), τοῦτο δὴ δεῖ λαβεῖν, ὅτι μίαν κίνησιν αὑτὰ κινεῖ, καὶ ὅτι ταύτην οὐ κυρίως· οὐ γὰρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸ αἴτιον, ἀλλ' ἔνεισιν ἄλλαι κινήσεις φυσικαὶ τοῖς ζῴοις, ἃς οὐ κινοῦνται δι' αὑτῶν, οἷον αὔξησις φθίσις ἀναπνοή, ἃς κινεῖται τῶν ζῴων ἕκαστον ἠρεμοῦν καὶ οὐ κινούμενον τὴν ὑφ' αὑτοῦ κίνησιν. τούτου δ' αἴτιον τὸ περιέχον καὶ πολλὰ τῶν εἰσιόντων, οἷον ἐνίων ἡ τροφή· πεττομένης μὲν γὰρ καθεύδουσιν, διακρινομένης δ' ἐγείρονται καὶ κινοῦσιν ἑαυτούς, τῆς πρώτης ἀρχῆς ἔξωθεν οὔσης, διὸ οὐκ ἀεὶ κινοῦνται συνεχῶς ὑφ' αὑτῶν· ἄλλο γὰρ τὸ κινοῦν, αὐτὸ κινούμενον καὶ μεταβάλλον πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν κινούντων ἑαυτά. ἐν πᾶσι δὲ τούτοις κινεῖται τὸ κινοῦν πρῶτον καὶ τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖν ὑφ' αὑτοῦ, κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς μέντοι· μεταβάλλει γὰρ τὸν τόπον τὸ σῶμα, ὥστε καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ σώματι ὂν καὶ τῇ μοχλείᾳ κινοῦν ἑαυτό. | This being so, then, the view was suggested that perhaps it may be possible for motion to come to be in a thing without having been in existence at all before, because we see this actually occurring in animals: they are unmoved at one time and then again they are in motion, as it seems. We must grasp the fact, therefore, that animals move themselves only with one kind of motion, and that this is not strictly originated by them. The cause of it is not derived from the animal itself: it is connected with other natural motions in animals, which they do not experience through their own instrumentality, e.g. increase, decrease, and respiration: these are experienced by every animal while it is at rest and not in motion in respect of the motion set up by its own agency: here the motion is caused by the atmosphere and by many things that enter into the animal: thus in some cases the cause is nourishment: when it is being digested animals sleep, and when it is being distributed through the system they awake and move themselves, the first principle of this motion being thus originally derived from outside. Therefore animals are not always in continuous motion by their own agency: it is something else that moves them, itself being in motion and changing as it comes into relation with each several thing that moves itself. (Moreover in all these self-moving things the first movent and cause of their self-motion is itself moved by itself, though in an accidental sense: that is to say, the body changes its place, so that that which is in the body changes its place also and is a self-movent through its exercise of leverage.) |
| 259b20 ἐξ ὧν ἔστιν πιστεῦσαι ὅτι εἴ τί ἐστι τῶν ἀκινήτων μὲν κινούντων δὲ καὶ αὑτὰ κατὰ συμβεβηκός, ἀδύνατον συνεχῆ κίνησιν κινεῖν. ὥστ' εἴπερ ἀνάγκη συνεχῶς εἶναι κίνησιν, εἶναί τι δεῖ τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀκίνητον καὶ κατὰ συμβεβηκός, εἰ μέλλει, καθάπερ εἴπομεν, ἔσεσθαι ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἄπαυστός τις καὶ ἀθάνατος κίνησις, καὶ μενεῖν τὸ ὂν αὐτὸ ἐν αὑτῷ καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ· τῆς γὰρ ἀρχῆς μενούσης ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ πᾶν μένειν συνεχὲς ὂν πρὸς τὴν ἀρχήν. | Hence we may confidently conclude that if a thing belongs to the class of unmoved movents that are also themselves moved accidentally, it is impossible that it should cause continuous motion. So the necessity that there should be motion continuously requires that there should be a first movent that is unmoved even accidentally, if, as we have said, there is to be in the world of things an unceasing and undying motion, and the world is to remain permanently self-contained and within the same limits: for if the first principle is permanent, the universe must also be permanent, since it is continuous with the first principle. |
| 259b28 οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ τὸ κινεῖσθαι κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ὑφ' αὑτοῦ καὶ ὑφ' ἑτέρου· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὑφ' ἑτέρου ὑπάρχει καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐνίαις ἀρχαῖς, ὅσα πλείους φέρεται φοράς, θάτερον δὲ τοῖς φθαρτοῖς μόνον. | (We must distinguish, however, between accidental motion of a thing by itself and such motion by something else, the former being confined to perishable things, whereas the latter belongs also to certain first principles of heavenly bodies, of all those, that is to say, that experience more than one locomotion.) |
| 259b32 ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε ἔστιν τι ἀεὶ τοιοῦτον, κινοῦν μέν τι ἀκίνητον δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ ἀΐδιον, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ὑπὸ τούτου (260a.) κινούμενον ἀΐδιον εἶναι. | And further, if there is always something of this nature, a movent that is itself unmoved and eternal, then that which is first moved by it must be eternal. |
| 260a1 ἔστιν δὲ τοῦτο δῆλον μὲν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ἂν ἄλλως εἶναι γένεσιν καὶ φθορὰν καὶ μεταβολὴν τοῖς ἄλλοις, εἰ μή τι κινήσει κινούμενον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀκίνητον [τὴν αὐτὴν] ἀεὶ τὸν αὐτὸν κινήσει τρόπον καὶ μίαν κίνησιν, ἅτε οὐδὲν αὐτὸ μεταβάλλον πρὸς τὸ κινούμενον. τὸ δὲ κινούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ κινουμένου μέν, ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀκινήτου δὲ κινουμένου ἤδη, διὰ τὸ ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως ἔχειν πρὸς τὰ πράγματα, οὐ τῆς αὐτῆς ἔσται κινήσεως αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἐν ἐναντίοις εἶναι τόποις ἢ εἴδεσιν ἐναντίως παρέξεται κινούμενον ἕκαστον τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ ὁτὲ μὲν ἠρεμοῦν ὁτὲ δὲ κινούμενον. | Indeed this is clear also from the consideration that there would otherwise be no becoming and perishing and no change of any kind in other things, which require something that is in motion to move them: for the motion imparted by the unmoved will always be imparted in the same way and be one and the same, since the unmoved does not itself change in relation to that which is moved by it. But that which is moved by something that, though it is in motion, is moved directly by the unmoved stands in varying relations to the things that it moves, so that the motion that it causes will not be always the same: by reason of the fact that it occupies contrary positions or assumes contrary forms at different times it will produce contrary motions in each several thing that it moves and will cause it to be at one time at rest and at another time in motion. |
| 260a11 φανερὸν δὴ γέγονεν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ ὃ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἠποροῦμεν, τί δή ποτε οὐ πάντα ἢ κινεῖται ἢ ἠρεμεῖ, ἢ τὰ μὲν κινεῖται ἀεὶ τὰ δ' ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖ, ἀλλ' ἔνια ὁτὲ μὲν ὁτὲ δ' οὔ. τούτου γὰρ τὸ αἴτιον δῆλόν ἐστι νῦν, ὅτι τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ ἀκινήτου κινεῖται ἀϊδίου, διὸ ἀεὶ κινεῖται, τὰ δ' ὑπὸ κινουμένου καὶ μεταβάλλοντος, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὰ ἀναγκαῖον μεταβάλλειν. τὸ δ' ἀκίνητον, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἅτε ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡσαύτως καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ διαμένον, μίαν καὶ ἁπλῆν κινήσει κίνησιν. | The foregoing argument, then, has served to clear up the point about which we raised a difficulty at the outset-why is it that instead of all things being either in motion or at rest, or some things being always in motion and the remainder always at rest, there are things that are sometimes in motion and sometimes not? The cause of this is now plain: it is because, while some things are moved by an eternal unmoved movent and are therefore always in motion, other things are moved by a movent that is in motion and changing, so that they too must change. But the unmoved movent, as has been said, since it remains permanently simple and unvarying and in the same state, will cause motion that is one and simple. |
| 260a20 Οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλην ποιησαμένοις ἀρχὴν μᾶλλον ἔσται περὶ τούτων φανερόν. σκεπτέον γὰρ πότερον ἐνδέχεταί τινα κίνησιν εἶναι συνεχῆ ἢ οὔ, καὶ εἰ ἐνδέχεται, τίς αὕτη, καὶ τίς πρώτη τῶν κινήσεων· δῆλον γὰρ ὡς εἴπερ ἀναγκαῖον μὲν ἀεὶ κίνησιν εἶναι, πρώτη δὲ ἥδε καὶ συνεχής, ὅτι τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν κινεῖ ταύτην τὴν κίνησιν, ἣν ἀναγκαῖον μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι καὶ συνεχῆ καὶ πρώτην. | Chapter 7 This matter will be made clearer, however, if we start afresh from another point. We must consider whether it is or is not possible that there should be a continuous motion, and, if it is possible, which this motion is, and which is the primary motion: for it is plain that if there must always be motion, and a particular motion is primary and continuous, then it is this motion that is imparted by the first movent, and so it is necessarily one and the same and continuous and primary. |
| 260a26 τριῶν δ' οὐσῶν κινήσεων, τῆς τε κατὰ μέγεθος καὶ τῆς κατὰ πάθος καὶ τῆς κατὰ τόπον, ἣν καλοῦμεν φοράν, ταύτην ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι πρώτην. ἀδύνατον γὰρ αὔξησιν εἶναι ἀλλοιώσεως μὴ προϋπαρχούσης· τὸ γὰρ αὐξανόμενον ἔστιν μὲν ὡς ὁμοίῳ αὐξάνεται, ἔστιν δ' ὡς ἀνομοίῳ· τροφὴ γὰρ λέγεται τῷ ἐναντίῳ τὸ ἐναντίον. προσγίγνεται δὲ πᾶν γιγνόμενον ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ. ἀνάγκη οὖν ἀλλοίωσιν εἶναι τὴν εἰς τἀναντία μεταβολήν. (260b.) ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε ἀλλοιοῦται, δεῖ τι εἶναι τὸ ἀλλοιοῦν καὶ ποιοῦν ἐκ τοῦ δυνάμει θερμοῦ ἐνεργείᾳ θερμόν. δῆλον οὖν ὅτι τὸ κινοῦν οὐχ ὁμοίως ἔχει, ἀλλ' ὁτὲ μὲν ἐγγύτερον ὁτὲ δὲ πορρώτερον τοῦ ἀλλοιουμένου ἐστίν. ταῦτα δ' ἄνευ φορᾶς οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ὑπάρχειν. εἰ ἄρα ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κίνησιν εἶναι, ἀνάγκη καὶ φορὰν ἀεὶ εἶναι πρώτην τῶν κινήσεων, καὶ φορᾶς, εἰ ἔστιν ἡ μὲν πρώτη ἡ δ' ὑστέρα, τὴν πρώτην. | Now of the three kinds of motion that there are-motion in respect of magnitude, motion in respect of affection, and motion in respect of place-it is this last, which we call locomotion, that must be primary. This may be shown as follows. It is impossible that there should be increase without the previous occurrence of alteration: for that which is increased, although in a sense it is increased by what is like itself, is in a sense increased by what is unlike itself: thus it is said that contrary is nourishment to contrary: but growth is effected only by things becoming like to like. There must be alteration, then, in that there is this change from contrary to contrary. But the fact that a thing is altered requires that there should be something that alters it, something e.g. that makes the potentially hot into the actually hot: so it is plain that the movent does not maintain a uniform relation to it but is at one time nearer to and at another farther from that which is altered: and we cannot have this without locomotion. If, therefore, there must always be motion, there must also always be locomotion as the primary motion, and, if there is a primary as distinguished from a secondary form of locomotion, it must be the primary form. |
| 260b7 ἔτι δὲ πάντων τῶν παθημάτων ἀρχὴ πύκνωσις καὶ μάνωσις· καὶ γὰρ βαρὺ καὶ κοῦφον καὶ μαλακὸν καὶ σκληρὸν καὶ θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν πυκνότητες δοκοῦσιν καὶ ἀραιότητες εἶναί τινες. πύκνωσις δὲ καὶ μάνωσις σύγκρισις καὶ διάκρισις, καθ' ἃς γένεσις καὶ φθορὰ λέγεται τῶν οὐσιῶν. συγκρινόμενα δὲ καὶ διακρινόμενα ἀνάγκη κατὰ τόπον μεταβάλλειν. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τοῦ αὐξανομένου καὶ φθίνοντος μεταβάλλει κατὰ τόπον τὸ μέγεθος. | Again, all affections have their origin in condensation and rarefaction: thus heavy and light, soft and hard, hot and cold, are considered to be forms of density and rarity. But condensation and rarefaction are nothing more than combination and separation, processes in accordance with which substances are said to become and perish: and in being combined and separated things must change in respect of place. And further, when a thing is increased or decreased its magnitude changes in respect of place. |
| 260b15 ἔτι καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἐπισκοποῦσιν ἔσται φανερὸν ὅτι ἡ φορὰ πρώτη. τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον, ὥσπερ ἐφ' ἑτέρων, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ κινήσεως ἂν λέγοιτο πλεοναχῶς. λέγεται δὲ πρότερον οὗ τε μὴ ὄντος οὐκ ἔσται τἆλλα, ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἄνευ τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ τὸ τῷ χρόνῳ, καὶ τὸ κατ' οὐσίαν. | Again, there is another point of view from which it will be clearly seen that locomotion is primary. As in the case of other things so too in the case of motion the word 'primary' may be used in several senses. A thing is said to be prior to other things when, if it does not exist, the others will not exist, whereas it can exist without the others: and there is also priority in time and priority in perfection of existence. Let us begin, then, with the first sense. |
| 260b19 ὥστ' ἐπεὶ κίνησιν μὲν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι συνεχῶς, εἴη δ' ἂν συνεχῶς ἢ συνεχὴς οὖσα ἢ ἐφεξῆς, μᾶλλον δ' ἡ συνεχής, καὶ βέλτιον συνεχῆ ἢ ἐφεξῆς εἶναι, τὸ δὲ βέλτιον ἀεὶ ὑπολαμβάνομεν ἐν τῇ φύσει ὑπάρχειν, ἂν ᾖ δυνατόν, δυνατὸν δὲ συνεχῆ εἶναι (δειχθήσεται δ' ὕστερον· νῦν δὲ τοῦτο ὑποκείσθω), καὶ ταύτην οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην οἷόν τε εἶναι ἀλλ' ἢ φοράν, ἀνάγκη τὴν φορὰν εἶναι πρώτην. οὐδεμία γὰρ ἀνάγκη οὔτε αὔξεσθαι οὔτε ἀλλοιοῦσθαι τὸ φερόμενον, οὐδὲ δὴ γίγνεσθαι ἢ φθείρεσθαι· τούτων δὲ οὐδεμίαν ἐνδέχεται τῆς συνεχοῦς μὴ οὔσης, ἣν κινεῖ τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν. | Now there must be motion continuously, and there may be continuously either continuous motion or successive motion, the former, however, in a higher degree than the latter: moreover it is better that it should be continuous rather than successive motion, and we always assume the presence in nature of the better, if it be possible: since, then, continuous motion is possible (this will be proved later: for the present let us take it for granted), and no other motion can be continuous except locomotion, locomotion must be primary. For there is no necessity for the subject of locomotion to be the subject either of increase or of alteration, nor need it become or perish: on the other hand there cannot be any one of these processes without the existence of the continuous motion imparted by the first movent. |
| 260b29 ἔτι χρόνῳ πρώτην· τοῖς γὰρ ἀϊδίοις μόνον ἐνδέχεται κινεῖσθαι ταύτην. | Secondly, locomotion must be primary in time: for this is the only motion possible for things. |
| 260b30 ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑνὸς μὲν ὁτουοῦν τῶν ἐχόντων γένεσιν τὴν φορὰν ἀναγκαῖον ὑστάτην εἶναι τῶν κινήσεων· μετὰ γὰρ τὸ γενέσθαι πρῶτον ἀλλοίωσις καὶ αὔξησις, φορὰ δ' ἤδη τετελειωμένων κίνησίς ἐστιν. (261a.) ἀλλ' ἕτερον ἀνάγκη κινούμενον εἶναι κατὰ φορὰν πρότερον, ὃ καὶ τῆς γενέσεως αἴτιον ἔσται τοῖς γιγνομένοις, οὐ γιγνόμενον, οἷον τὸ γεννῆσαν τοῦ γεννηθέντος, ἐπεὶ δόξειέ γ' ἂν ἡ γένεσις εἶναι πρώτη τῶν κινήσεων διὰ τοῦτο, ὅτι γενέσθαι δεῖ τὸ πρᾶγμα πρῶτον. τὸ δ' ἐφ' ἑνὸς μὲν ὁτουοῦν τῶν γιγνομένων οὕτως ἔχει, ἀλλ' ἕτερον ἀναγκαῖον πρότερόν τι κινεῖσθαι τῶν γιγνομένων ὂν αὐτὸ καὶ μὴ γιγνόμενον, καὶ τούτου ἕτερον πρότερον. ἐπεὶ δὲ γένεσιν ἀδύνατον εἶναι πρώτην (πάντα γὰρ ἂν εἴη τὰ κινούμενα φθαρτά), δῆλον ὡς οὐδὲ τῶν ἐφεξῆς κινήσεων οὐδεμία προτέρα· λέγω δ' ἐφεξῆς αὔξησιν, εἶτ' ἀλλοίωσιν καὶ φθί σιν καὶ φθοράν· πᾶσαι γὰρ ὕστεραι γενέσεως, ὥστ' εἰ μηδὲ γένεσις προτέρα φορᾶς, οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδεμία μεταβολῶν. | It is true indeed that, in the case of any individual thing that has a becoming, locomotion must be the last of its motions: for after its becoming it first experiences alteration and increase, and locomotion is a motion that belongs to such things only when they are perfected. But there must previously be something else that is in process of locomotion to be the cause even of the becoming of things that become, without itself being in process of becoming, as e.g. the begotten is preceded by what begot it: otherwise becoming might be thought to be the primary motion on the ground that the thing must first become. But though this is so in the case of any individual thing that becomes, nevertheless before anything becomes, something else must be in motion, not itself becoming but being, and before this there must again be something else. And since becoming cannot be primary-for, if it were, everything that is in motion would be perishable-it is plain that no one of the motions next in order can be prior to locomotion. By the motions next in order I mean increase and then alteration, decrease, and perishing. All these are posterior to becoming: consequently, if not even becoming is prior to locomotion, then no one of the other processes of change is so either. |
| 261a12 ὅλως τε φαίνεται τὸ γιγνόμενον ἀτελὲς καὶ ἐπ' ἀρχὴν ἰόν, ὥστε τὸ τῇ γενέσει ὕστερον τῇ φύσει πρότερον εἶναι. τελευταῖον δὲ φορὰ πᾶσιν ὑπάρχει τοῖς ἐν γενέσει. διὸ τὰ μὲν ὅλως ἀκίνητα τῶν ζώντων δι' ἔνδειαν [τοῦ ὀργάνου], οἷον τὰ φυτὰ καὶ πολλὰ γένη τῶν ζῴων, τοῖς δὲ τελειουμένοις ὑπάρχει. ὥστ' εἰ μᾶλλον ὑπάρχει φορὰ τοῖς μᾶλλον ἀπειληφόσιν τὴν φύσιν, καὶ ἡ κίνησις αὕτη πρώτη τῶν ἄλλων ἂν εἴη κατ' οὐσίαν, | Thirdly, that which is in process of becoming appears universally as something imperfect and proceeding to a first principle: and so what is posterior in the order of becoming is prior in the order of nature. Now all things that go through the process of becoming acquire locomotion last. It is this that accounts for the fact that some living things, e.g. plants and many kinds of animals, owing to lack of the requisite organ, are entirely without motion, whereas others acquire it in the course of their being perfected. Therefore, if the degree in which things possess locomotion corresponds to the degree in which they have realized their natural development, then this motion must be prior to all others in respect of perfection of existence: |
| 261a19 διά τε ταῦτα καὶ διότι ἥκιστα τῆς οὐσίας ἐξίσταται τὸ κινούμενον τῶν κινήσεων ἐν τῷ φέρεσθαι· κατὰ μόνην γὰρ οὐδὲν μεταβάλλει τοῦ εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἀλλοιουμένου μὲν τὸ ποιόν, αὐξανομένου δὲ καὶ φθίνοντος τὸ ποσόν. | and not only for this reason but also because a thing that is in motion loses its essential character less in the process of locomotion than in any other kind of motion: it is the only motion that does not involve a change of being in the sense in which there is a change in quality when a thing is altered and a change in quantity when a thing is increased or decreased. |
| 261a23 μάλιστα δὲ δῆλον ὅτι τὸ κινοῦν αὐτὸ αὑτὸ μάλιστα ταύτην κινεῖ κυρίως, τὴν κατὰ τόπον· καίτοι φαμὲν τοῦτο εἶναι τῶν κινουμένων καὶ κινούντων ἀρχὴν καὶ πρῶτον τοῖς κινουμένοις, τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν. ὅτι μὲν τοίνυν τῶν κινήσεων ἡ φορὰ πρώτη, φανερὸν ἐκ τούτων· | Above all it is plain that this motion, motion in respect of place, is what is in the strictest sense produced by that which moves itself; but it is the self-movent that we declare to be the first principle of things that are moved and impart motion and the primary source to which things that are in motion are to be referred. It is clear, then, from the foregoing arguments that locomotion is the primary motion. |
| 261a28 τίς δὲ φορὰ πρώτη, νῦν δεικτέον. ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὸ νῦν καὶ πρότερον ὑποτεθέν, ὅτι ἐνδέχεταί τινα κίνησιν εἶναι συνεχῆ καὶ ἀΐδιον, φανερὸν ἔσται τῇ αὐτῇ μεθόδῳ. | We have now to show which kind of locomotion is primary. The same process of reasoning will also make clear at the same time the truth of the assumption we have made both now and at a previous stage that it is possible that there should be a motion that is continuous and eternal. Now it is clear from the following considerations that no other than locomotion can be continuous. |
| 261a32 ὅτι μὲν οὖν τῶν ἄλλων κινήσεων οὐδεμίαν ἐνδέχεται συνεχῆ εἶναι, ἐκ τῶνδε φανερόν. ἅπασαι γὰρ ἐξ ἀντικειμένων εἰς ἀντικείμενά εἰσιν αἱ κινήσεις καὶ μεταβολαί, οἷον γενέσει μὲν καὶ φθορᾷ τὸ ὂν καὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν ὅροι, ἀλλοιώσει δὲ τὰ ἐναντία πάθη, αὐξήσει δὲ καὶ φθίσει ἢ μέγεθος καὶ μικρότης ἢ τελειότης μεγέθους καὶ ἀτέλεια· ἐναντίαι δ' αἱ (261b.) εἰς τὰ ἐναντία. τὸ δὲ μὴ αἰεὶ κινούμενον τήνδε τὴν κίνησιν, ὂν δὲ πρότερον, ἀνάγκη πρότερον ἠρεμεῖν. φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι ἠρεμήσει ἐν τῷ ἐναντίῳ τὸ μεταβάλλον. | Every other motion and change is from an opposite to an opposite: thus for the processes of becoming and perishing the limits are the existent and the non-existent, for alteration the various pairs of contrary affections, and for increase and decrease either greatness and smallness or perfection and imperfection of magnitude: and changes to the respective contraries are contrary changes. Now a thing that is undergoing any particular kind of motion, but though previously existent has not always undergone it, must previously have been at rest so far as that motion is concerned. It is clear, then, that for the changing thing the contraries will be states of rest. |
| 261b3 ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν μεταβολῶν· ἀντίκειται γὰρ φθορὰ καὶ γένεσις ἁπλῶς καὶ ἡ καθ' ἕκαστον τῇ καθ' ἕκαστον. ὥστ' εἰ ἀδύνατον ἅμα μεταβάλλειν τὰς ἀντικειμένας, οὐκ ἔσται συνεχὴς ἡ μεταβολή, ἀλλὰ μεταξὺ ἔσται αὐτῶν χρόνος. | And we have a similar result in the case of changes that are not motions: for becoming and perishing, whether regarded simply as such without qualification or as affecting something in particular, are opposites: therefore provided it is impossible for a thing to undergo opposite changes at the same time, the change will not be continuous, but a period of time will intervene between the opposite processes. |
| 261b7 οὐδὲν γὰρ διαφέρει ἐναντίας ἢ μὴ ἐναντίας εἶναι τὰς κατ' ἀντίφασιν μεταβολάς, εἰ μόνον ἀδύνατον ἅμα τῷ αὐτῷ παρεῖναι (τοῦτο γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ οὐδὲν χρήσιμον), | The question whether these contradictory changes are contraries or not makes no difference, provided only it is impossible for them both to be present to the same thing at the same time: the point is of no importance to the argument. |
| 261b10 οὐδ' εἰ μὴ ἀνάγκη ἠρεμῆσαι ἐν τῇ ἀντιφάσει, μηδ' ἐστὶν μεταβολὴ ἠρεμίᾳ ἐναντίον (οὐ γὰρ ἴσως ἠρεμεῖ τὸ μὴ ὄν, ἡ δὲ φθορὰ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὄν), ἀλλ' εἰ μόνον μεταξὺ γίγνεται χρόνος· οὕτω γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ μεταβολὴ συνεχής· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πρότερον ἡ ἐναντίωσις χρήσιμον, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ ἐνδέχεσθαι ἅμα ὑπάρχειν. | Nor does it matter if the thing need not rest in the contradictory state, or if there is no state of rest as a contrary to the process of change: it may be true that the non-existent is not at rest, and that perishing is a process to the non-existent. All that matters is the intervention of a time: it is this that prevents the change from being continuous: so, too, in our previous instances the important thing was not the relation of contrariety but the impossibility of the two processes being present to a thing at the same time. |
| 261b15 οὐ δεῖ δὲ ταράττεσθαι ὅτι τὸ αὐτὸ πλείοσιν ἔσται ἐναντίον, οἷον ἡ κίνησις καὶ στάσει καὶ κινήσει τῇ εἰς τοὐναντίον, ἀλλὰ μόνον τοῦτο λαμβάνειν, ὅτι ἀντίκειταί πως καὶ τῇ κινήσει καὶ τῇ ἠρεμίᾳ ἡ κίνησις ἡ ἐναντία, καθάπερ τὸ ἴσον καὶ τὸ μέτριον τῷ ὑπερέχοντι καὶ τῷ ὑπερεχομένῳ, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἅμα τὰς ἀντικειμένας οὔτε κινήσεις οὔτε μεταβολὰς ὑπάρχειν. | And there is no need to be disturbed by the fact that on this showing there may be more than one contrary to the same thing, that a particular motion will be contrary both to rest and to motion in the contrary direction. We have only to grasp the fact that a particular motion is in a sense the opposite both of a state of rest and of the contrary motion, in the same way as that which is of equal or standard measure is the opposite both of that which surpasses it and of that which it surpasses, and that it is impossible for the opposite motions or changes to be present to a thing at the same time. |
| 261b22 ἔτι δ' ἐπί τε τῆς γενέσεως καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ παντελῶς ἄτοπον ἂν εἶναι δόξειεν, εἰ γενόμενον εὐθὺς ἀνάγκη φθαρῆναι καὶ μηδένα χρόνον διαμεῖναι. ὥστε ἐκ τούτων ἂν ἡ πίστις γένοιτο ταῖς ἄλλαις· φυσικὸν γὰρ τὸ ὁμοίως ἔχειν ἐν ἁπάσαις. | Furthermore, in the case of becoming and perishing it would seem to be an utterly absurd thing if as soon as anything has become it must necessarily perish and cannot continue to exist for any time: and, if this is true of becoming and perishing, we have fair grounds for inferring the same to be true of the other kinds of change, since it would be in the natural order of things that they should be uniform in this respect. |
| 261b27 Ὅτι δ' ἐνδέχεται εἶναί τινα ἄπειρον, μίαν οὖσαν καὶ συνεχῆ, καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ κύκλῳ, λέγωμεν νῦν. | Chapter 8 Let us now proceed to maintain that it is possible that there should be an infinite motion that is single and continuous, and that this motion is rotatory motion. |
| 261b28 πᾶν μὲν γὰρ κινεῖται τὸ φερόμενον ἢ κύκλῳ ἢ εὐθεῖαν ἢ μικτήν, ὥστ' εἰ μηδ' ἐκείνων ἡ ἑτέρα συνεχής, οὐδὲ τὴν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν οἷόν τ' εἶναι συγκειμένην· | The motion of everything that is in process of locomotion is either rotatory or rectilinear or a compound of the two: consequently, if one of the former two is not continuous, that which is composed of them both cannot be continuous either. |
| 261b31 ὅτι δὲ τὸ φερόμενον τὴν εὐθεῖαν καὶ πεπερασμένην οὐ φέρεται συνεχῶς, δῆλον· ἀνακάμπτει γάρ, τὸ δ' ἀνακάμπτον τὴν εὐθεῖαν τὰς ἐναντίας κινεῖται κινήσεις· ἐναντία γὰρ κατὰ τόπον ἡ ἄνω τῇ κάτω καὶ ἡ εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν τῇ εἰς τοὔπισθεν καὶ ἡ εἰς ἀριστερὰ τῇ εἰς δεξιά· τόπου γὰρ ἐναντιώσεις αὗται. τίς δ' ἐστὶν ἡ μία καὶ (262a.) συνεχὴς κίνησις, διώρισται πρότερον, ὅτι ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ ἐν ἑνὶ χρόνῳ καὶ ἐν ἀδιαφόρῳ κατ' εἶδος (τρία γὰρ ἦν, τό τε κινούμενον, οἷον ἄνθρωπος ἢ θεός, καὶ ὅτε, οἷον χρόνος, καὶ τρίτον τὸ ἐν ᾧ· τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν τόπος ἢ πάθος ἢ εἶδος ἢ μέγεθος). τὰ δ' ἐναντία διαφέρει τῷ εἴδει, καὶ οὐχ ἕν· τόπου δ' αἱ εἰρημέναι διαφοραί. σημεῖον δ' ὅτι ἐναντία ἡ κίνησις ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ Α πρὸς τὸ Β τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ Β πρὸς τὸ Α, ὅτι ἱστᾶσιν καὶ παύουσιν ἀλλήλας, ἐὰν ἅμα γίγνωνται. καὶ ἐπὶ κύκλου ὡσαύτως, οἷον ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ Α ἐπὶ τὸ Β τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ Α ἐπὶ τὸ Γ (ἱστᾶσι γάρ, κἂν συνεχεῖς ὦσιν καὶ μὴ γίγνηται ἀνάκαμψις, διὰ τὸ τἀναντία φθείρειν καὶ κωλύειν ἄλληλα)· ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡ εἰς τὸ πλάγιον τῇ ἄνω. | Now it is plain that if the locomotion of a thing is rectilinear and finite it is not continuous locomotion: for the thing must turn back, and that which turns back in a straight line undergoes two contrary locomotions, since, so far as motion in respect of place is concerned, upward motion is the contrary of downward motion, forward motion of backward motion, and motion to the left of motion to the right, these being the pairs of contraries in the sphere of place. But we have already defined single and continuous motion to be motion of a single thing in a single period of time and operating within a sphere admitting of no further specific differentiation (for we have three things to consider, first that which is in motion, e.g. a man or a god, secondly the 'when' of the motion, that is to say, the time, and thirdly the sphere within which it operates, which may be either place or affection or essential form or magnitude): and contraries are specifically not one and the same but distinct: and within the sphere of place we have the above-mentioned distinctions. Moreover we have an indication that motion from A to B is the contrary of motion from B to A in the fact that, if they occur at the same time, they arrest and stop each other. And the same is true in the case of a circle: the motion from A towards B is the contrary of the motion from A towards G: for even if they are continuous and there is no turning back they arrest each other, because contraries annihilate or obstruct one another. On the other hand lateral motion is not the contrary of upward motion. |
| 262a12 μάλιστα δὲ φανερὸν ὅτι ἀδύνατον εἶναι συνεχῆ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς εὐθείας κίνησιν, ὅτι ἀνακάμπτον ἀναγκαῖον στῆναι, οὐ μόνον ἐπ' εὐθείας, ἀλλὰ κἂν κύκλον φέρηται. οὐ γὰρ ταὐτὸν κύκλῳ φέρεσθαι καὶ κύκλον· ἔστιν γὰρ ὁτὲ μὲν συνείρειν κινούμενον, ὁτὲ δ' ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐλθὸν ὅθεν ὡρμήθη ἀνακάμψαι πάλιν. ὅτι δ' ἀνάγκη ἵστασθαι, ἡ πίστις οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λόγου. ἀρχὴ δὲ ἥδε. τριῶν γὰρ ὄντων, ἀρχῆς μέσου τελευτῆς, τὸ μέσον πρὸς ἑκάτερον ἄμφω ἐστίν, καὶ τῷ μὲν ἀριθμῷ ἕν, τῷ λόγῳ δὲ δύο. ἔτι δὲ ἄλλο ἐστὶν τὸ δυνάμει καὶ τὸ ἐνεργείᾳ, ὥστε τῆς εὐθείας τῶν ἐντὸς τῶν ἄκρων ὁτιοῦν σημεῖον δυνάμει μέν ἐστι μέσον, ἐνεργείᾳ δ' οὐκ ἔστιν, ἐὰν μὴ διέλῃ ταύτῃ καὶ ἐπιστὰν πάλιν ἄρξηται κινεῖσθαι· οὕτω δὲ τὸ μέσον ἀρχὴ γίγνεται καὶ τελευτή, ἀρχὴ μὲν τῆς ὕστερον, τελευτὴ δὲ τῆς πρώτης (λέγω δ' οἷον ἐὰν φερόμενον τὸ Α στῇ ἐπὶ τοῦ Β καὶ πάλιν φέρηται ἐπὶ τὸ Γ). ὅταν δὲ συνεχῶς φέρηται, οὔτε γεγονέναι οὔτε ἀπογεγονέναι οἷόν τε τὸ Α κατὰ τὸ Β σημεῖον, ἀλλὰ μόνον εἶναι ἐν τῷ νῦν, ἐν χρόνῳ δ' οὐδενὶ πλὴν οὗ τὸ νῦν ἐστιν διαί ρεσις, ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ [τῷ ΑΒΓ]. (εἰ δὲ γεγονέναι τις θήσει καὶ ἀπογεγονέναι, ἀεὶ στήσεται τὸ Α φερόμενον· ἀδύνατον (262b.) γὰρ τὸ Α ἅμα γεγονέναι τε ἐπὶ τοῦ Β καὶ ἀπογεγονέναι. ἐν ἄλλῳ ἄρα καὶ ἄλλῳ σημείῳ χρόνου. χρόνος ἄρα ἔσται ὁ ἐν μέσῳ. ὥστε ἠρεμήσει τὸ Α ἐπὶ τοῦ Β. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων σημείων· ὁ γὰρ αὐτὸς λόγος ἐπὶ πάντων. ὅταν δὴ χρήσηται τὸ φερόμενον Α τῷ Β μέσῳ καὶ τελευτῇ καὶ ἀρχῇ, ἀνάγκη στῆναι διὰ τὸ δύο ποιεῖν, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ καὶ νοήσειεν.) ἀλλ' ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ Α σημείου ἀπογέγονε τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Γ γέγονεν, ὅταν τελευτήσῃ καὶ στῇ. | But what shows most clearly that rectilinear motion cannot be continuous is the fact that turning back necessarily implies coming to a stand, not only when it is a straight line that is traversed, but also in the case of locomotion in a circle (which is not the same thing as rotatory locomotion: for, when a thing merely traverses a circle, it may either proceed on its course without a break or turn back again when it has reached the same point from which it started). We may assure ourselves of the necessity of this coming to a stand not only on the strength of observation, but also on theoretical grounds. We may start as follows: we have three points, starting-point, middle-point, and finishing-point, of which the middle-point in virtue of the relations in which it stands severally to the other two is both a starting-point and a finishing-point, and though numerically one is theoretically two. We have further the distinction between the potential and the actual. So in the straight line in question any one of the points lying between the two extremes is potentially a middle-point: but it is not actually so unless that which is in motion divides the line by coming to a stand at that point and beginning its motion again: thus the middle-point becomes both a starting-point and a goal, the starting-point of the latter part and the finishing-point of the first part of the motion. This is the case e.g. when A in the course of its locomotion comes to a stand at B and starts again towards G: but when its motion is continuous A cannot either have come to be or have ceased to be at the point B: it can only have been there at the moment of passing, its passage not being contained within any period of time except the whole of which the particular moment is a dividing-point. To maintain that it has come to be and ceased to be there will involve the consequence that A in the course of its locomotion will always be coming to a stand: for it is impossible that A should simultaneously have come to be at B and ceased to be there, so that the two things must have happened at different points of time, and therefore there will be the intervening period of time: consequently A will be in a state of rest at B, and similarly at all other points, since the same reasoning holds good in every case. When to A, that which is in process of locomotion, B, the middle-point, serves both as a finishing-point and as a starting-point for its motion, A must come to a stand at B, because it makes it two just as one might do in thought. However, the point A is the real starting-point at which the moving body has ceased to be, and it is at G that it has really come to be when its course is finished and it comes to a stand. |
| 262b8 διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀπορίαν τοῦτο λεκτέον· ἔχει γὰρ ἀπορίαν τήνδε. εἰ γὰρ εἴη ἡ τὸ Ε τῇ Ζ ἴση καὶ τὸ Α φέροιτο συνεχῶς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄκρου πρὸς τὸ Γ, ἅμα δ' εἴη τὸ Α ἐπὶ τῷ Β σημείῳ, καὶ τὸ Δ φέροιτο ἀπὸ τῆς Ζ ἄκρας πρὸς τὸ Η ὁμαλῶς καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ τάχει τῷ Α, τὸ Δ ἔμπροσθεν ἥξει ἐπὶ τὸ Η ἢ τὸ Α ἐπὶ τὸ Γ· τὸ γὰρ πρότερον ὁρμῆσαν καὶ ἀπελθὸν πρότερον ἐλθεῖν ἀνάγκη. | So this is how we must meet the difficulty that then arises, which is as follows. Suppose the line E is equal to the line Z, that A proceeds in continuous locomotion from the extreme point of E to G, and that, at the moment when A is at the point B, D is proceeding in uniform locomotion and with the same velocity as A from the extremity of Z to H: then, says the argument, D will have reached H before A has reached G for that which makes an earlier start and departure must make an earlier arrival: the reason, then, for the late arrival of A is that it has not simultaneously come to be and ceased to be at B: otherwise it will not arrive later: for this to happen it will be necessary that it should come to a stand there. |
| 262b15 οὐ γὰρ ἅμα γέγονε τὸ Α ἐπὶ τῷ Β καὶ ἀπογέγονεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, διὸ ὑστερίζει. εἰ γὰρ ἅμα, οὐχ ὑστεριεῖ, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη ἔσται ἵστασθαι. οὐκ ἄρα θετέον, ὅτε τὸ Α ἐγένετο κατὰ τὸ Β, τὸ Δ ἅμα κινεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ Ζ ἄκρου (εἰ γὰρ ἔσται γεγονὸς τὸ Α ἐπὶ τοῦ Β, ἔσται καὶ τὸ ἀπογενέσθαι, καὶ οὐχ ἅμα), ἀλλ' ἦν ἐν τομῇ χρόνου καὶ οὐκ ἐν χρόνῳ. ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ἀδύνατον οὕτως λέγειν ἐπὶ τῆς συνεχοῦς· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ ἀνακάμπτοντος ἀνάγκη λέγειν οὕτως. εἰ γὰρ ἡ τὸ Η φέροιτο πρὸς τὸ Δ καὶ πάλιν ἀνακάμψασα κάτω φέροιτο, τῷ ἄκρῳ ἐφ' οὗ Δ τελευτῇ καὶ ἀρχῇ κέχρηται, τῷ ἑνὶ σημείῳ ὡς δύο· διὸ στῆναι ἀνάγκη· καὶ οὐχ ἅμα γέγονεν ἐπὶ τῷ Δ καὶ ἀπελήλυθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Δ· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἂν ἅμα εἴη καὶ οὐκ εἴη ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ νῦν. ἀλλὰ μὴν τήν γε πάλαι λύσιν οὐ λεκτέον· οὐ γὰρ ἐνδέχεται λέγειν ὅτι ἐστὶν κατὰ τὸ Δ ἡ τὸ Η ἐν τομῇ, οὐ γέγονε δὲ οὐδ' ἀπογέγονεν. ἀνάγκη γὰρ ἐπὶ τέλος ἐλθεῖν τὸ ἐνεργείᾳ ὄν, μὴ δυνάμει. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐν μέσῳ δυνάμει ἔστι, τοῦτο δ' ἐνεργείᾳ, καὶ τελευτὴ μὲν κάτωθεν, (263a.) ἀρχὴ δὲ ἄνωθεν· καὶ τῶν κινήσεων ἄρα ὡσαύτως. ἀνάγκη ἄρα στῆναι τὸ ἀνακάμπτον ἐπὶ τῆς εὐθείας. οὐκ ἄρα ἐνδέχεται συνεχῆ κίνησιν εἶναι ἐπὶ τῆς εὐθείας ἀΐδιον. | Therefore we must not hold that there was a moment when A came to be at B and that at the same moment D was in motion from the extremity of Z: for the fact of A's having come to be at B will involve the fact of its also ceasing to be there, and the two events will not be simultaneous, whereas the truth is that A is at B at a sectional point of time and does not occupy time there. In this case, therefore, where the motion of a thing is continuous, it is impossible to use this form of expression. On the other hand in the case of a thing that turns back in its course we must do so. For suppose H in the course of its locomotion proceeds to D and then turns back and proceeds downwards again: then the extreme point D has served as finishing-point and as starting-point for it, one point thus serving as two: therefore H must have come to a stand there: it cannot have come to be at D and departed from D simultaneously, for in that case it would simultaneously be there and not be there at the same moment. And here we cannot apply the argument used to solve the difficulty stated above: we cannot argue that H is at D at a sectional point of time and has not come to be or ceased to be there. For here the goal that is reached is necessarily one that is actually, not potentially, existent. Now the point in the middle is potential: but this one is actual, and regarded from below it is a finishing-point, while regarded from above it is a starting-point, so that it stands in these same two respective relations to the two motions. Therefore that which turns back in traversing a rectilinear course must in so doing come to a stand. Consequently there cannot be a continuous rectilinear motion that is eternal. |
| 263a3 τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον ἀπαντητέον καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐρωτῶντας τὸν Ζήνωνος λόγον, [καὶ ἀξιοῦντας,] εἰ ἀεὶ τὸ ἥμισυ διιέναι δεῖ, ταῦτα δ' ἄπειρα, τὰ δ' ἄπειρα ἀδύνατον διεξελθεῖν, ἢ ὡς τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον λόγον τινὲς ἄλλως ἐρωτῶσιν, ἀξιοῦντες ἅμα τῷ κινεῖσθαι τὴν ἡμίσειαν πρότερον ἀριθμεῖν καθ' ἕκαστον γιγνόμενον τὸ ἥμισυ, ὥστε διελθόντος τὴν ὅλην ἄπειρον συμβαίνει ἠριθμηκέναι ἀριθμόν· τοῦτο δ' ὁμολογουμένως ἐστὶν ἀδύνατον. | The same method should also be adopted in replying to those who ask, in the terms of Zeno's argument, whether we admit that before any distance can be traversed half the distance must be traversed, that these half-distances are infinite in number, and that it is impossible to traverse distances infinite in number-or some on the lines of this same argument put the questions in another form, and would have us grant that in the time during which a motion is in progress it should be possible to reckon a half-motion before the whole for every half-distance that we get, so that we have the result that when the whole distance is traversed we have reckoned an infinite number, which is admittedly impossible. |
| 263a11 ἐν μὲν οὖν τοῖς πρώτοις λόγοις τοῖς περὶ κινήσεως ἐλύομεν διὰ τοῦ τὸν χρόνον ἄπειρα ἔχειν ἐν αὑτῷ· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄτοπον εἰ ἐν ἀπείρῳ χρόνῳ ἄπειρα διέρχεταί τις· ὁμοίως δὲ τὸ ἄπειρον ἔν τε τῷ μήκει ὑπάρχει καὶ ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ. | Now when we first discussed the question of motion we put forward a solution of this difficulty turning on the fact that the period of time occupied in traversing the distance contains within itself an infinite number of units: there is no absurdity, we said, in supposing the traversing of infinite distances in infinite time, and the element of infinity is present in the time no less than in the distance. |
| 263a15 ἀλλ' αὕτη ἡ λύσις πρὸς μὲν τὸν ἐρωτῶντα ἱκανῶς ἔχει (ἠρωτᾶτο γὰρ εἰ ἐν πεπερασμένῳ ἄπειρα ἐνδέχεται διεξελθεῖν ἢ ἀριθμῆσαι), πρὸς δὲ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὐχ ἱκανῶς· ἂν γάρ τις ἀφέμενος τοῦ μήκους καὶ τοῦ ἐρωτᾶν εἰ ἐν πεπερασμένῳ χρόνῳ ἐνδέχεται ἄπειρα διεξελθεῖν, πυνθάνηται ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ χρόνου ταῦτα (ἔχει γὰρ ὁ χρόνος ἀπείρους διαιρέσεις), οὐκέτι ἱκανὴ ἔσται αὕτη ἡ λύσις, | But, although this solution is adequate as a reply to the questioner (the question asked being whether it is possible in a finite time to traverse or reckon an infinite number of units), nevertheless as an account of the fact and explanation of its true nature it is inadequate. For suppose the distance to be left out of account and the question asked to be no longer whether it is possible in a finite time to traverse an infinite number of distances, and suppose that the inquiry is made to refer to the time taken by itself (for the time contains an infinite number of divisions): then this solution will no longer be adequate, |
| 263a22 ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς λεκτέον, ὅπερ εἴπομεν ἐν τοῖς ἄρτι λόγοις. ἐὰν γάρ τις τὴν συνεχῆ διαιρῇ εἰς δύο ἡμίση, οὗτος τῷ ἑνὶ σημείῳ ὡς δυσὶ χρῆται· ποιεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸ ἀρχὴν καὶ τελευτήν. οὕτω δὲ ποιεῖ ὅ τε ἀριθμῶν καὶ ὁ εἰς τὰ ἡμίση διαιρῶν. οὕτω δὲ διαιροῦντος οὐκ ἔσται συνεχὴς οὔθ' ἡ γραμμὴ οὔθ' ἡ κίνησις· ἡ γὰρ συνεχὴς κίνησις συνεχοῦς ἐστιν, ἐν δὲ τῷ συνεχεῖ ἔνεστι μὲν ἄπειρα ἡμίση, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐντελεχείᾳ ἀλλὰ δυνάμει. ἂν δὲ ποιῇ ἐντελεχείᾳ, οὐ ποιήσει συνεχῆ, ἀλλὰ στήσει, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦντος τὰ ἡμίσεα φανερόν ἐστιν ὅτι συμβαίνει· τὸ γὰρ ἓν σημεῖον ἀνάγκη (263b.) αὐτῷ ἀριθμεῖν δύο· τοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἑτέρου τελευτὴ ἡμίσεος τοῦ δ' ἑτέρου ἀρχὴ ἔσται, ἂν μὴ μίαν ἀριθμῇ τὴν συνεχῆ, ἀλλὰ δύο ἡμισείας. ὥστε λεκτέον πρὸς τὸν ἐρωτῶντα εἰ ἐνδέχεται ἄπειρα διεξελθεῖν ἢ ἐν χρόνῳ ἢ ἐν μήκει, ὅτι ἔστιν ὡς, ἔστιν δ' ὡς οὔ. ἐντελεχείᾳ μὲν γὰρ ὄντα οὐκ ἐνδέχεται, δυνάμει δὲ ἐνδέχεται· ὁ γὰρ συνεχῶς κινούμενος κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἄπειρα διελήλυθεν, ἁπλῶς δ' οὔ· συμβέβηκε γὰρ τῇ γραμμῇ ἄπειρα ἡμίσεα εἶναι, ἡ δ' οὐσία ἐστὶν ἑτέρα καὶ τὸ εἶναι. | and we must apply the truth that we enunciated in our recent discussion, stating it in the following way. In the act of dividing the continuous distance into two halves one point is treated as two, since we make it a starting-point and a finishing-point: and this same result is also produced by the act of reckoning halves as well as by the act of dividing into halves. But if divisions are made in this way, neither the distance nor the motion will be continuous: for motion if it is to be continuous must relate to what is continuous: and though what is continuous contains an infinite number of halves, they are not actual but potential halves. If the halves are made actual, we shall get not a continuous but an intermittent motion. In the case of reckoning the halves, it is clear that this result follows: for then one point must be reckoned as two: it will be the finishing-point of the one half and the starting-point of the other, if we reckon not the one continuous whole but the two halves. Therefore to the question whether it is possible to pass through an infinite number of units either of time or of distance we must reply that in a sense it is and in a sense it is not. If the units are actual, it is not possible: if they are potential, it is possible. For in the course of a continuous motion the traveller has traversed an infinite number of units in an accidental sense but not in an unqualified sense: for though it is an accidental characteristic of the distance to be an infinite number of half-distances, this is not its real and essential character. |
| 263b9 δῆλον δὲ καὶ ὅτι ἐὰν μή τις ποιῇ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ διαιροῦν σημεῖον τὸ πρότερον καὶ ὕστερον ἀεὶ τοῦ ὑστέρου τῷ πράγματι, ἔσται ἅμα τὸ αὐτὸ ὂν καὶ οὐκ ὄν, καὶ ὅτε γέγονεν οὐκ ὄν. τὸ σημεῖον μὲν οὖν ἀμφοῖν κοινόν, καὶ τοῦ προτέρου καὶ τοῦ ὑστέρου, καὶ ταὐτὸν καὶ ἓν ἀριθμῷ, λόγῳ δ' οὐ ταὐτόν (τοῦ μὲν γὰρ τελευτή, τοῦ δ' ἀρχή)· τῷ δὲ πράγματι ἀεὶ τοῦ ὑστέρου πάθους ἐστίν. | It is also plain that unless we hold that the point of time that divides earlier from later always belongs only to the later so far as the thing is concerned, we shall be involved in the consequence that the same thing is at the same moment existent and not existent, and that a thing is not existent at the moment when it has become. It is true that the point is common to both times, the earlier as well as the later, and that, while numerically one and the same, it is theoretically not so, being the finishing-point of the one and the starting-point of the other: but so far as the thing is concerned it belongs to the later stage of what happens to it. |
| 263b15 χρόνος ἐφ' ᾧ ΑΓΒ, πρᾶγμα ἐφ' ᾧ Δ. τοῦτο ἐν μὲν τῷ Α χρόνῳ λευκόν, ἐν δὲ τῷ Β οὐ λευκόν· ἐν τῷ ἄρα Γ λευκὸν καὶ οὐ λευκόν. ἐν ὁτῳοῦν γὰρ τοῦ Α λευκὸν ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, εἰ πάντα τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ἦν λευκόν, καὶ ἐν τῷ Β οὐ λευκόν· τὸ δὲ Γ ἐν ἀμφοῖν. | Let us suppose a time ABG and a thing D, D being white in the time A and not-white in the time B. Then D is at the moment G white and not-white: for if we were right in saying that it is white during the whole time A, it is true to call it white at any moment of A, and not-white in B, and G is in both A and B. |
| 263b20 οὐκ ἄρα δοτέον ἐν παντί, ἀλλὰ πλὴν τοῦ τελευταίου νῦν ἐφ' οὗ τὸ Γ· τοῦτο δ' ἤδη τοῦ ὑστέρου. καὶ εἰ ἐγίγνετο οὐ λευκὸν καὶ ἐφθείρετο <τὸ> λευκὸν ἐν τῷ Α παντί, γέγονεν ἢ ἔφθαρται ἐν τῷ Γ. ὥστε λευκὸν ἢ μὴ λευκὸν ἐν ἐκείνῳ πρῶτον ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἢ ὅτε γέγονεν οὐκ ἔσται, καὶ ὅτε ἔφθαρται ἔσται, ἢ ἅμα λευκὸν καὶ οὐ λευκὸν καὶ ὅλως ὂν καὶ μὴ ὂν ἀνάγκη εἶναι. | We must not allow, therefore, that it is white in the whole of A, but must say that it is so in all of it except the last moment G. G belongs already to the later period, and if in the whole of A not-white was in process of becoming and white of perishing, at G the process is complete. And so G is the first moment at which it is true to call the thing white or not white respectively. Otherwise a thing may be non-existent at the moment when it has become and existent at the moment when it has perished: or else it must be possible for a thing at the same time to be white and not white and in fact to be existent and non-existent. |
| 263b26 εἰ δ' ὃ ἂν ᾖ πρότερον μὴ ὄν, ἀνάγκη γίγνεσθαι ὄν, καὶ ὅτε γίγνεται μὴ ἔστιν, οὐχ οἷόν τε εἰς ἀτόμους χρόνους διαιρεῖσθαι τὸν χρόνον. εἰ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Α τὸ Δ ἐγίγνετο λευκόν, γέγονε δ' ἅμα καὶ ἔστιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ ἀτόμῳ χρόνῳ ἐχομένῳ δ', ἐν τῷ Β—εἰ ἐν τῷ Α ἐγίγνετο, οὐκ ἦν, ἐν δὲ τῷ Β ἐστί—, γένεσιν δεῖ τινὰ εἶναι μεταξύ, ὥστε καὶ (264a.) χρόνον ἐν ᾧ ἐγίγνετο. οὐ γὰρ ὁ αὐτὸς ἔσται λόγος καὶ τοῖς μὴ ἄτομα λέγουσιν, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ χρόνου, ἐν ᾧ ἐγίγνετο, γέγονε καὶ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ ἐσχάτῳ σημείῳ, οὗ οὐδὲν ἐχόμενόν ἐστιν οὐδ' ἐφεξῆς· οἱ δὲ ἄτομοι χρόνοι ἐφεξῆς. φανερὸν δ' ὅτι εἰ ἐν τῷ Α ὅλῳ χρόνῳ ἐγίγνετο, οὐκ ἔστιν πλείων χρόνος ἐν ᾧ γέγονεν καὶ ἐγίγνετο ἢ ἐν ᾧ ἐγίγνετο μόνον παντί. οἷς μὲν οὖν ἄν τις ὡς οἰκείοις πιστεύσειε λόγοις, οὗτοι καὶ τοιοῦτοί τινές εἰσιν· | Further, if anything that exists after having been previously non-existent must become existent and does not exist when it is becoming, time cannot be divisible into time-atoms. For suppose that D was becoming white in the time A and that at another time B, a time-atom consecutive with the last atom of A, D has already become white and so is white at that moment: then, inasmuch as in the time A it was becoming white and so was not white and at the moment B it is white, there must have been a becoming between A and B and therefore also a time in which the becoming took place. On the other hand, those who deny atoms of time (as we do) are not affected by this argument: according to them D has become and so is white at the last point of the actual time in which it was becoming white: and this point has no other point consecutive with or in succession to it, whereas time-atoms are conceived as successive. Moreover it is clear that if D was becoming white in the whole time A, the time occupied by it in having become white in addition to having been in process of becoming white is no more than all that it occupied in the mere process of becoming white. These and such-like, then, are the arguments for our conclusion that derive cogency from the fact that they have a special bearing on the point at issue. |
| 264a8 λογικῶς δ' ἐπισκοποῦσι κἂν ἐκ τῶνδε δόξειέ τῳ ταὐτὸ τοῦτο συμβαίνειν. | If we look at the question from the point of view of general theory, the same result would also appear to be indicated by the following arguments. |
| 264a9 ἅπαν γὰρ τὸ κινούμενον συνεχῶς, ἂν ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἐκκρούηται, εἰς ὅπερ ἦλθεν κατὰ τὴν φοράν, εἰς τοῦτο καὶ ἐφέρετο πρότερον, οἷον εἰ ἐπὶ τὸ Β ἦλθε, καὶ ἐφέρετο ἐπὶ τὸ Β, καὶ οὐχ ὅτε πλησίον ἦν, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ὡς ἤρξατο κινεῖσθαι· τί γὰρ μᾶλλον νῦν ἢ πρότερον; ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων. τὸ δὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ Α [ἐπὶ τὸ Γ] φερόμενον, ὅταν ἐπὶ τὸ Γ ἔλθῃ, πάλιν ἥξει ἐπὶ τὸ Α συν εχῶς κινούμενον. | Everything whose motion is continuous must, on arriving at any point in the course of its locomotion, have been previously also in process of locomotion to that point, if it is not forced out of its path by anything: e.g. on arriving at B a thing must also have been in process of locomotion to B, and that not merely when it was near to B, but from the moment of its starting on its course, since there can be, no reason for its being so at any particular stage rather than at an earlier one. So, too, in the case of the other kinds of motion. Now we are to suppose that a thing proceeds in locomotion from A to G and that at the moment of its arrival at G the continuity of its motion is unbroken and will remain so until it has arrived back at A. |
| ὅτε ἄρα ἀπὸ τοῦ Α φέρεται πρὸς τὸ Γ, τότε καὶ εἰς τὸ Α φέρεται τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ Γ κίνησιν, ὥσθ' ἅμα τὰς ἐναντίας· ἐναντίαι γὰρ αἱ κατ' εὐθεῖαν. | Then when it is undergoing locomotion from A to G it is at the same time undergoing also its locomotion to A from G: consequently it is simultaneously undergoing two contrary motions, since the two motions that follow the same straight line are contrary to each other. |
| 264a18 ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἐκ τούτου μεταβάλλει ἐν ᾧ οὐκ ἔστιν. εἰ οὖν τοῦτ' ἀδύνατον, ἀνάγκη ἵστασθαι ἐπὶ τοῦ Γ. οὐκ ἄρα μία ἡ κίνησις· ἡ γὰρ διαλαμβανομένη στάσει οὐ μία. | With this consequence there also follows another: we have a thing that is in process of change from a position in which it has not yet been: so, inasmuch as this is impossible, the thing must come to a stand at G. Therefore the motion is not a single motion, since motion that is interrupted by stationariness is not single. |
| 264a21 ἔτι καὶ ἐκ τῶνδε φανερὸν καθόλου μᾶλλον περὶ πάσης κινήσεως. εἰ γὰρ ἅπαν τὸ κινούμενον τῶν εἰρημένων τινὰ κινεῖται κινήσεων καὶ ἠρεμεῖ τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἠρεμιῶν (οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἄλλη παρὰ ταύτας), τὸ δὲ μὴ αἰεὶ κινούμενον τήνδε τὴν κίνησιν (λέγω δ' ὅσαι ἕτεραι τῷ εἴδει, καὶ μὴ εἴ τι μόριόν ἐστιν τῆς ὅλης) ἀνάγκη πρότερον ἠρεμεῖν τὴν ἀντικειμένην ἠρεμίαν (ἡ γὰρ ἠρεμία στέρησις κινήσεως)· εἰ οὖν ἐναντίαι μὲν κινήσεις αἱ κατ' εὐθεῖαν, ἅμα δὲ μὴ ἐνδέχεται κινεῖσθαι τὰς ἐναντίας, τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ Α πρὸς τὸ Γ φερόμενον οὐκ ἂν φέροιτο ἅμα καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Γ πρὸς τὸ Α· ἐπεὶ δ' οὐχ ἅμα φέρεται, κινήσεται δὲ ταύτην τὴν κίνησιν, ἀνάγκη πρότερον ἠρεμῆσαι πρὸς τῷ Γ· αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ ἀντικειμένη ἠρεμία τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ Γ κινήσει. δῆλον τοίνυν (264b.) ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων ὅτι οὐκ ἔσται συνεχὴς ἡ κίνησις. | Further, the following argument will serve better to make this point clear universally in respect of every kind of motion. If the motion undergone by that which is in motion is always one of those already enumerated, and the state of rest that it undergoes is one of those that are the opposites of the motions (for we found that there could be no other besides these), and moreover that which is undergoing but does not always undergo a particular motion (by this I mean one of the various specifically distinct motions, not some particular part of the whole motion) must have been previously undergoing the state of rest that is the opposite of the motion, the state of rest being privation of motion; then, inasmuch as the two motions that follow the same straight line are contrary motions, and it is impossible for a thing to undergo simultaneously two contrary motions, that which is undergoing locomotion from A to G cannot also simultaneously be undergoing locomotion from G to A: and since the latter locomotion is not simultaneous with the former but is still to be undergone, before it is undergone there must occur a state of rest at G: for this, as we found, is the state of rest that is the opposite of the motion from G. The foregoing argument, then, makes it plain that the motion in question is not continuous. |
| 264b1 ἔτι δὲ καὶ ὅδε ὁ λόγος μᾶλλον οἰκεῖος τῶν εἰρημένων. ἅμα γὰρ ἔφθαρται τὸ οὐ λευκὸν καὶ γέγονε λευκόν. εἰ οὖν συνεχὴς ἡ ἀλλοίωσις εἰς λευκὸν καὶ ἐκ λευκοῦ καὶ μὴ μένει τινὰ χρόνον, ἅμα ἔφθαρται τὸ οὐ λευκὸν καὶ γέγονε λευκὸν καὶ γέγονεν οὐ λευκόν· τριῶν γὰρ ἔσται ὁ αὐτὸς χρόνος. | Our next argument has a more special bearing than the foregoing on the point at issue. We will suppose that there has occurred in something simultaneously a perishing of not-white and a becoming of white. Then if the alteration to white and from white is a continuous process and the white does not remain any time, there must have occurred simultaneously a perishing of not-white, a becoming of white, and a becoming of not-white: for the time of the three will be the same. |
| 264b6 ἔτι οὐκ εἰ συνεχὴς ὁ χρόνος, καὶ ἡ κίνησις, ἀλλ' ἐφεξῆς. πῶς δ' ἂν εἴη τὸ ἔσχατον τὸ αὐτὸ τῶν ἐναντίων, οἷον λευκότητος καὶ μελανίας; | Again, from the continuity of the time in which the motion takes place we cannot infer continuity in the motion, but only successiveness: in fact, how could contraries, e.g. whiteness and blackness, meet in the same extreme point? |
| 264b9 ἡ δ' ἐπὶ τῆς περιφεροῦς ἔσται μία καὶ συνεχής· οὐθὲν γὰρ ἀδύνατον συμβαίνει· τὸ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ Α κινούμενον ἅμα κινήσεται εἰς τὸ Α κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν πρόθεσιν (εἰς ὃ γὰρ ἥξει, καὶ κινεῖται εἰς τοῦτο), ἀλλ' οὐχ ἅμα κινήσεται τὰς ἐναντίας οὐδὲ τὰς ἀντικειμένας· οὐ γὰρ ἅπασα ἡ εἰς τοῦτο τῇ ἐκ τούτου ἐναντία οὐδ' ἀντικειμένη, ἀλλ' ἐναντία μὲν ἡ κατ' εὐθεῖαν (ταύτῃ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐναντία κατὰ τόπον, οἷον τὰ κατὰ διάμε τρον· ἀπέχει γὰρ πλεῖστον), ἀντικειμένη δὲ ἡ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ μῆκος. ὥστ' οὐδὲν κωλύει συνεχῶς κινεῖσθαι καὶ μηδένα χρόνον διαλείπειν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ κύκλῳ κίνησίς ἐστιν ἀφ' αὑτοῦ εἰς αὑτό, ἡ δὲ κατ' εὐθεῖαν ἀφ' αὑτοῦ εἰς ἄλλο· | On the other hand, in motion on a circular line we shall find singleness and continuity: for here we are met by no impossible consequence: that which is in motion from A will in virtue of the same direction of energy be simultaneously in motion to A (since it is in motion to the point at which it will finally arrive), and yet will not be undergoing two contrary or opposite motions: for a motion to a point and a motion from that point are not always contraries or opposites: they are contraries only if they are on the same straight line (for then they are contrary to one another in respect of place, as e.g. the two motions along the diameter of the circle, since the ends of this are at the greatest possible distance from one another), and they are opposites only if they are along the same line. Therefore in the case we are now considering there is nothing to prevent the motion being continuous and free from all intermission: for rotatory motion is motion of a thing from its place to its place, whereas rectilinear motion is motion from its place to another place. |
| 264b18 καὶ ἡ μὲν ἐν τῷ κύκλῳ οὐδέποτε ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς, ἡ δὲ κατ' εὐθεῖαν πολλάκις ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἀεὶ ἐν ἄλλῳ καὶ ἄλλῳ γιγνομένην ἐνδέχεται κινεῖσθαι συνεχῶς, τὴν δ' ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς πολλάκις οὐκ ἐνδέχεται· ἀνάγκη γὰρ ἅμα κινεῖσθαι τὰς ἀντικειμένας. ὥστ' οὐδ' ἐν τῷ ἡμικυκλίῳ οὐδ' ἐν ἄλλῃ περιφερείᾳ οὐδεμιᾷ ἐνδέχεται συνεχῶς κινεῖσθαι· πολλάκις γὰρ ἀνάγκη ταὐτὰ κινεῖσθαι καὶ τὰς ἐναντίας μεταβάλλειν μεταβολάς· οὐ γὰρ συνάπτει τῇ ἀρχῇ τὸ πέρας. ἡ δὲ τοῦ κύκλου συνάπτει, καὶ ἔστι μόνη τέλειος. | Moreover the progress of rotatory motion is never localized within certain fixed limits, whereas that of rectilinear motion repeatedly is so. Now a motion that is always shifting its ground from moment to moment can be continuous: but a motion that is repeatedly localized within certain fixed limits cannot be so, since then the same thing would have to undergo simultaneously two opposite motions. So, too, there cannot be continuous motion in a semicircle or in any other arc of a circle, since here also the same ground must be traversed repeatedly and two contrary processes of change must occur. The reason is that in these motions the starting-point and the termination do not coincide, whereas in motion over a circle they do coincide, and so this is the only perfect motion. |
| 264b28 φανερὸν δὲ ἐκ ταύτης τῆς διαιρέσεως ὅτι οὐδὲ τὰς ἄλλας ἐνδέχεται κινήσεις εἶναι συνεχεῖς· ἐν ἁπάσαις γὰρ ταὐτὰ συμβαίνει κινεῖσθαι πολλάκις, οἷον ἐν ἀλλοιώσει τὰ μεταξύ, καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ποσοῦ τὰ ἀνὰ μέσον μεγέθη, καὶ ἐν γενέσει καὶ φθορᾷ ὡσαύτως· οὐδὲν γὰρ διαφέρει ὀλίγα ἢ πολλὰ ποιῆσαι, ἐν (265a.) οἷς ἐστὶν ἡ μεταβολή, οὐδὲ μεταξὺ θεῖναί τι ἢ ἀφελεῖν· ἀμφοτέρως γὰρ συμβαίνει ταὐτὰ κινεῖσθαι πολλάκις. | This differentiation also provides another means of showing that the other kinds of motion cannot be continuous either: for in all of them we find that there is the same ground to be traversed repeatedly; thus in alteration there are the intermediate stages of the process, and in quantitative change there are the intervening degrees of magnitude: and in becoming and perishing the same thing is true. It makes no difference whether we take the intermediate stages of the process to be few or many, or whether we add or subtract one: for in either case we find that there is still the same ground to be traversed repeatedly. |
| 265a2 δῆλον οὖν ἐκ τούτων ὅτι οὐδ' οἱ φυσιολόγοι καλῶς λέγουσιν οἱ πάντα τὰ αἰσθητὰ κινεῖσθαι φάσκοντες ἀεί· κινεῖσθαι γὰρ ἀνάγκη τούτων τινὰ τῶν κινήσεων, καὶ μάλιστα κατ' ἐκείνους [ἐστὶν] ἀλλοιοῦσθαι· ῥεῖν γάρ φασιν ἀεὶ καὶ φθίνειν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν γένεσιν καὶ τὴν φθορὰν ἀλλοίωσιν λέγουσιν. ὁ δὲ λόγος νῦν εἴρηκε καθόλου περὶ πάσης κινήσεως ὅτι κατ' οὐδεμίαν κίνησιν ἐνδέχεται κινεῖσθαι συνεχῶς ἔξω τῆς κύκλῳ, ὥστε οὔτε κατ' ἀλλοίωσιν οὔτε κατ' αὔξησιν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὔτ' ἄπειρός ἐστι μεταβολὴ οὐδεμία οὔτε συνεχὴς ἔξω τῆς κύκλῳ φορᾶς ἔστω τοσαῦθ' ἡμῖν εἰρημένα. | Moreover it is plain from what has been said that those physicists who assert that all sensible things are always in motion are wrong: for their motion must be one or other of the motions just mentioned: in fact they mostly conceive it as alteration (things are always in flux and decay, they say), and they go so far as to speak even of becoming and perishing as a process of alteration. On the other hand, our argument has enabled us to assert the fact, applying universally to all motions, that no motion admits of continuity except rotatory motion: consequently neither alteration nor increase admits of continuity. We need now say no more in support of the position that there is no process of change that admits of infinity or continuity except rotatory locomotion. |
| 265a13 Ὅτι δὲ τῶν φορῶν ἡ κυκλοφορία πρώτη, δῆλον. πᾶσα γὰρ φορά, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον εἴπομεν, ἢ κύκλῳ ἢ ἐπ' εὐθείας ἢ μικτή. ταύτης δὲ ἀνάγκη προτέρας εἶναι ἐκείνας· ἐξ ἐκείνων γὰρ συνέστηκεν. τῆς δ' εὐθείας ἡ κύκλῳ· ἁπλῆ γὰρ καὶ τέλειος μᾶλλον. ἄπειρον μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν εὐθεῖαν φέρεσθαι (τὸ γὰρ οὕτως ἄπειρον οὐκ ἔστιν· ἅμα δ' οὐδ' εἰ ἦν, ἐκινεῖτ' ἂν οὐδέν· οὐ γὰρ γίγνεται τὸ ἀδύνατον, διελθεῖν δὲ τὴν ἄπειρον ἀδύνατον)· ἡ δ' ἐπὶ τῆς πεπερασμένης ἀνακάμπτουσα μὲν συνθετὴ καὶ δύο κινήσεις, μὴ ἀνακάμπτουσα δὲ ἀτελὴς καὶ φθαρτή. πρότερον δὲ καὶ φύσει καὶ λόγῳ καὶ χρόνῳ τὸ τέλειον μὲν τοῦ ἀτελοῦς, τοῦ φθαρτοῦ δὲ τὸ ἄφθαρτον. | Chapter 9 It can now be shown plainly that rotation is the primary locomotion. Every locomotion, as we said before, is either rotatory or rectilinear or a compound of the two: and the two former must be prior to the last, since they are the elements of which the latter consists. Moreover rotatory locomotion is prior to rectilinear locomotion, because it is more simple and complete, which may be shown as follows. The straight line traversed in rectilinear motion cannot be infinite: for there is no such thing as an infinite straight line; and even if there were, it would not be traversed by anything in motion: for the impossible does not happen and it is impossible to traverse an infinite distance. On the other hand rectilinear motion on a finite straight line is if it turns back a composite motion, in fact two motions, while if it does not turn back it is incomplete and perishable: and in the order of nature, of definition, and of time alike the complete is prior to the incomplete and the imperishable to the perishable. |
| 265a24 ἔτι προτέρα ἣν ἐνδέχεται ἀΐδιον εἶναι τῆς μὴ ἐνδεχομένης· τὴν μὲν οὖν κύκλῳ ἐνδέχεται ἀΐδιον εἶναι, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων οὔτε φορὰν οὔτε ἄλλην οὐδεμίαν· στάσιν γὰρ δεῖ γενέσθαι, εἰ δὲ στάσις, ἔφθαρται ἡ κίνησις. | Again, a motion that admits of being eternal is prior to one that does not. Now rotatory motion can be eternal: but no other motion, whether locomotion or motion of any other kind, can be so, since in all of them rest must occur and with the occurrence of rest the motion has perished. |
| 265a27 εὐλόγως δὲ συμβέβηκε τὸ τὴν κύκλῳ μίαν εἶναι καὶ συνεχῆ, καὶ μὴ τὴν ἐπ' εὐθείας· τῆς μὲν γὰρ ἐπ' εὐθείας ὥρισται καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος καὶ μέσον, καὶ πάντ' ἔχει ἐν αὑτῇ, ὥστ' ἔστιν ὅθεν ἄρξεται τὸ κινούμενον καὶ οὗ τελευτήσει (πρὸς γὰρ τοῖς πέρασιν ἠρεμεῖ πᾶν, ἢ ὅθεν ἢ οὗ), τῆς δὲ περιφεροῦς ἀόριστα· τί γὰρ μᾶλλον ὁποιονοῦν πέρας τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γραμμῆς; ὁμοίως γὰρ ἕκαστον καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ μέσον καὶ τέλος, ὥστ' ἀεί τε (265b.) εἶναι ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ ἐν τέλει καὶ μηδέποτε. διὸ κινεῖταί τε καὶ ἠρεμεῖ πως ἡ σφαῖρα· τὸν αὐτὸν γὰρ κατέχει τόπον. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι πάντα συμβέβηκε ταῦτα τῷ κέντρῳ· καὶ γὰρ ἀρχὴ καὶ μέσον τοῦ μεγέθους καὶ τέλος ἐστίν, ὥστε διὰ τὸ ἔξω εἶναι τοῦτο τῆς περιφερείας οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπου τὸ φερόμενον ἠρεμήσει ὡς διεληλυθός (ἀεὶ γὰρ φέρεται περὶ τὸ μέσον, ἀλλ' οὐ πρὸς τὸ ἔσχατον), διὰ δὲ τὸ τοῦτο μένειν ἀεί τε ἠρεμεῖ πως τὸ ὅλον καὶ κινεῖται συνεχῶς. | Moreover the result at which we have arrived, that rotatory motion is single and continuous, and rectilinear motion is not, is a reasonable one. In rectilinear motion we have a definite starting-point, finishing-point, middle-point, which all have their place in it in such a way that there is a point from which that which is in motion can be said to start and a point at which it can be said to finish its course (for when anything is at the limits of its course, whether at the starting-point or at the finishing-point, it must be in a state of rest). On the other hand in circular motion there are no such definite points: for why should any one point on the line be a limit rather than any other? Any one point as much as any other is alike starting-point, middle-point, and finishing-point, so that we can say of certain things both that they are always and that they never are at a starting-point and at a finishing-point (so that a revolving sphere, while it is in motion, is also in a sense at rest, for it continues to occupy the same place). The reason of this is that in this case all these characteristics belong to the centre: that is to say, the centre is alike starting-point, middle-point, and finishing-point of the space traversed; consequently since this point is not a point on the circular line, there is no point at which that which is in process of locomotion can be in a state of rest as having traversed its course, because in its locomotion it is proceeding always about a central point and not to an extreme point: therefore it remains still, and the whole is in a sense always at rest as well as continuously in motion. |
| 265b8 συμβαίνει δ' ἀντιστρόφως· καὶ γὰρ ὅτι μέτρον τῶν κινήσεων ἡ περιφορά, πρώτην ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὴν εἶναι (ἅπαντα γὰρ μετρεῖται τῷ πρώτῳ), καὶ διότι πρώτη, μέτρον ἐστὶν τῶν ἄλλων. | Our next point gives a convertible result: on the one hand, because rotation is the measure of motions it must be the primary motion (for all things are measured by what is primary): on the other hand, because rotation is the primary motion it is the measure of all other motions. |
| 265b11 ἔτι δὲ καὶ ὁμαλῆ ἐνδέχεται εἶναι τὴν κύκλῳ μόνην· τὰ γὰρ ἐπ' εὐθείας ἀνωμαλῶς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς φέρεται καὶ πρὸς τὸ τέλος· πάντα γὰρ ὅσῳπερ ἂν ἀφίστηται [πλεῖον] τοῦ ἠρεμοῦντος, φέρεται θᾶττον· τῆς δὲ κύκλῳ μόνης οὔτ' ἀρχὴ οὔτε τέλος ἐν αὐτῇ πέφυκεν, ἀλλ' ἐκτός. | Again, rotatory motion is also the only motion that admits of being regular. In rectilinear locomotion the motion of things in leaving the starting-point is not uniform with their motion in approaching the finishing-point, since the velocity of a thing always increases proportionately as it removes itself farther from its position of rest: on the other hand rotatory motion is the only motion whose course is naturally such that it has no starting-point or finishing-point in itself but is determined from elsewhere. |
| 265b16 ὅτι δ' ἡ κατὰ τόπον φορὰ πρώτη τῶν κινήσεων, μαρτυροῦσι πάντες ὅσοι περὶ κινήσεως πεποίηνται μνείαν· τὰς γὰρ ἀρχὰς αὐτῆς ἀποδιδόασιν τοῖς κινοῦσι τοιαύτην κίνησιν. διάκρισις γὰρ καὶ σύγκρισις κινήσεις κατὰ τόπον εἰσίν, οὕτω δὲ κινοῦσιν ἡ φιλία καὶ τὸ νεῖκος· τὸ μὲν γὰρ διακρίνει, τὸ δὲ συγκρίνει αὐτῶν. καὶ τὸν νοῦν δέ φησιν Ἀναξαγόρας διακρίνειν τὸν κινήσαντα πρῶτον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὅσοι τοιαύτην μὲν οὐδεμίαν αἰτίαν λέγουσιν, διὰ δὲ τὸ κενὸν κινεῖσθαί φασιν· καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι τὴν κατὰ τόπον κίνησιν κινεῖσθαι τὴν φύσιν λέγουσιν (ἡ γὰρ διὰ τὸ κενὸν κίνησις φορά ἐστιν καὶ ὡς ἐν τόπῳ), τῶν δ' ἄλλων οὐδεμίαν ὑπάρχειν τοῖς πρώτοις ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐκ τούτων οἴονται· αὐξάνεσθαι γὰρ καὶ φθίνειν καὶ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι συγκρινομένων καὶ διακρινομένων τῶν ἀτόμων σωμάτων φασίν. τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ ὅσοι διὰ πυκνότητα ἢ μανότητα κατασκευάζουσι γένεσιν καὶ φθοράν· συγκρίσει γὰρ καὶ διακρίσει ταῦτα διακοσμοῦσιν. ἔτι δὲ παρὰ τούτους οἱ τὴν ψυχὴν αἰτίαν ποιοῦντες κινήσεως· τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν ἀρχὴν εἶναί φασιν τῶν κινουμένων, κινεῖ δὲ τὸ ζῷον καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἔμ(266a.) ψυχον τὴν κατὰ τόπον αὑτὸ κίνησιν. καὶ κυρίως δὲ κινεῖσθαί φαμεν μόνον τὸ κινούμενον [τὴν] κατὰ τόπον [κίνησιν]· ἂν δ' ἠρεμῇ μὲν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ, αὐξάνηται δ' ἢ φθίνῃ ἢ ἀλλοιούμενον τυγχάνῃ, πῂ κινεῖσθαι, ἁπλῶς δὲ κινεῖσθαι οὔ φαμεν. | As to locomotion being the primary motion, this is a truth that is attested by all who have ever made mention of motion in their theories: they all assign their first principles of motion to things that impart motion of this kind. Thus 'separation' and 'combination' are motions in respect of place, and the motion imparted by 'Love' and 'Strife' takes these forms, the latter 'separating' and the former 'combining'. Anaxagoras, too, says that 'Mind', his first movent, 'separates'. Similarly those who assert no cause of this kind but say that 'void' accounts for motion-they also hold that the motion of natural substance is motion in respect of place: for their motion that is accounted for by 'void' is locomotion, and its sphere of operation may be said to be place. Moreover they are of opinion that the primary substances are not subject to any of the other motions, though the things that are compounds of these substances are so subject: the processes of increase and decrease and alteration, they say, are effects of the 'combination' and 'separation' of atoms. It is the same, too, with those who make out that the becoming or perishing of a thing is accounted for by 'density' or 'rarity': for it is by 'combination' and 'separation' that the place of these things in their systems is determined. Moreover to these we may add those who make Soul the cause of motion: for they say that things that undergo motion have as their first principle 'that which moves itself': and when animals and all living things move themselves, the motion is motion in respect of place. Finally it is to be noted that we say that a thing 'is in motion' in the strict sense of the term only when its motion is motion in respect of place: if a thing is in process of increase or decrease or is undergoing some alteration while remaining at rest in the same place, we say that it is in motion in some particular respect: we do not say that it 'is in motion' without qualification. |
| 266a5 ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἀεί τε κίνησις ἦν καὶ ἔσται τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον, καὶ τίς ἀρχὴ τῆς ἀϊδίου κινήσεως, ἔτι δὲ τίς πρώτη κίνησις, καὶ τίνα κίνησιν ἀΐδιον ἐνδέχεται μόνην εἶναι, καὶ τὸ κινοῦν πρῶτον ὅτι ἀκίνητον, εἴρηται. | Our present position, then, is this: We have argued that there always was motion and always will be motion throughout all time, and we have explained what is the first principle of this eternal motion: we have explained further which is the primary motion and which is the only motion that can be eternal: and we have pronounced the first movent to be unmoved. |
| 266a10 10 Ὅτι δὲ τοῦτ' ἀμερὲς ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι καὶ μηδὲν ἔχειν μέγεθος, νῦν λέγωμεν, πρῶτον περὶ τῶν προτέρων αὐτοῦ διορίσαντες. | Chapter 10 We have now to assert that the first movent must be without parts and without magnitude, beginning with the establishment of the premisses on which this conclusion depends. |
| 266a12 τούτων δ' ἓν μέν ἐστιν ὅτι οὐχ οἷόν τε οὐδὲν πεπερασμένον κινεῖν ἄπειρον χρόνον. τρία γὰρ ἔστιν, τὸ κινοῦν, τὸ κινούμενον, τὸ ἐν ᾧ τρίτον, ὁ χρόνος. ταῦτα δὲ ἢ πάντα ἄπειρα ἢ πάντα πεπερασμένα ἢ ἔνια, οἷον τὰ δύο ἢ τὸ ἕν. ἔστω δὴ τὸ Α τὸ κινοῦν, τὸ δὲ κινούμενον Β, χρόνος ἄπειρος ἐφ' οὗ Γ. τὸ δὴ Δ τῆς Β κινείτω τι μέρος, τὸ ἐφ' οὗ Ε. οὐ δὴ ἐν ἴσῳ τῷ Γ· ἐν πλείονι γὰρ τὸ μεῖζον. ὥστ' οὐκ ἄπειρος ὁ χρόνος ὁ τὸ Ζ. οὕτω δὴ τῇ Δ προστιθεὶς καταναλώσω τὸ Α καὶ τῇ Ε τὸ Β· τὸν δὲ χρόνον οὐ καταναλώσω ἀεὶ ἀφαιρῶν ἴσον· ἄπειρος γάρ· ὥστε ἡ πᾶσα Α τὴν ὅλην Β κινήσει ἐν πεπερασμένῳ χρόνῳ τοῦ Γ. οὐκ ἄρα οἷόν τε ὑπὸ πεπερασμένου κινεῖσθαι οὐδὲν ἄπειρον κίνησιν. | One of these premisses is that nothing finite can cause motion during an infinite time. We have three things, the movent, the moved, and thirdly that in which the motion takes place, namely the time: and these are either all infinite or all finite or partly-that is to say two of them or one of them-finite and partly infinite. Let A be the movement, B the moved, and G the infinite time. Now let us suppose that D moves E, a part of B. Then the time occupied by this motion cannot be equal to G: for the greater the amount moved, the longer the time occupied. It follows that the time Z is not infinite. Now we see that by continuing to add to D, I shall use up A and by continuing to add to E, I shall use up B: but I shall not use up the time by continually subtracting a corresponding amount from it, because it is infinite. Consequently the duration of the part of G which is occupied by all A in moving the whole of B, will be finite. Therefore a finite thing cannot impart to anything an infinite motion. It is clear, then, that it is impossible for the finite to cause motion during an infinite time. |
| 266a23 ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τὸ πεπερασμένον ἄπειρον κινεῖν χρόνον, φανερόν· ὅτι δ' ὅλως οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἐν πεπερασμένῳ μεγέθει ἄπειρον εἶναι δύναμιν, ἐκ τῶνδε δῆλον. ἔστω γὰρ ἡ πλείων δύναμις ἀεὶ ἡ τὸ ἴσον ἐν ἐλάττονι χρόνῳ ποιοῦσα, οἷον θερμαίνουσα ἢ γλυκαίνουσα ἢ ῥιπτοῦσα καὶ ὅλως κινοῦσα. ἀνάγκη ἄρα καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ πεπερασμένου μὲν ἄπειρον δ' ἔχοντος δύναμιν πάσχειν τι τὸ πάσχον, καὶ πλεῖον ἢ ὑπ' ἄλλου· πλείων γὰρ ἡ ἄπειρος. ἀλλὰ μὴν χρόνον γε οὐκ ἐνδέχεται εἶναι οὐδένα. εἰ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἐφ' οὗ Α χρόνος ἐν ᾧ ἡ ἄπειρος ἰσχὺς ἐθέρμανεν ἢ ἔωσεν, ἐν τῷ δὲ ΑΒ πεπερασμένη τις, πρὸς ταύτην (266b.) μείζω λαμβάνων ἀεὶ πεπερασμένην ἥξω ποτὲ εἰς τὸ ἐν τῷ Α χρόνῳ κεκινηκέναι· πρὸς πεπερασμένον γὰρ ἀεὶ προστιθεὶς ὑπερβαλῶ παντὸς ὡρισμένου, καὶ ἀφαιρῶν ἐλλείψω ὡσαύτως. ἐν ἴσῳ ἄρα χρόνῳ κινήσει τῇ ἀπείρῳ ἡ πεπερασμένη. τοῦτο δὲ ἀδύνατον· | It has now to be shown that in no case is it possible for an infinite force to reside in a finite magnitude. This can be shown as follows: we take it for granted that the greater force is always that which in less time than another does an equal amount of work when engaged in any activity-in heating, for example, or sweetening or throwing; in fact, in causing any kind of motion. Then that on which the forces act must be affected to some extent by our supposed finite magnitude possessing an infinite force as well as by anything else, in fact to a greater extent than by anything else, since the infinite force is greater than any other. But then there cannot be any time in which its action could take place. Suppose that A is the time occupied by the infinite power in the performance of an act of heating or pushing, and that AB is the time occupied by a finite power in the performance of the same act: then by adding to the latter another finite power and continually increasing the magnitude of the power so added I shall at some time or other reach a point at which the finite power has completed the motive act in the time A: for by continual addition to a finite magnitude I must arrive at a magnitude that exceeds any assigned limit, and in the same way by continual subtraction I must arrive at one that falls short of any assigned limit. So we get the result that the finite force will occupy the same amount of time in performing the motive act as the infinite force. But this is impossible. |
| 266b5 οὐδὲν ἄρα πεπερασμένον ἐνδέχε ται ἄπειρον δύναμιν ἔχειν. οὐ τοίνυν οὐδ' ἐν ἀπείρῳ πεπερασμένην· | Therefore nothing finite can possess an infinite force. So it is also impossible for a finite force to reside in an infinite magnitude. |
| 266b7 καίτοι ἐνδέχεται ἐν ἐλάττονι μεγέθει πλείω δύναμιν εἶναι· ἀλλ' ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν μείζονι πλείω. | It is true that a greater force can reside in a lesser magnitude: but the superiority of any such greater force can be still greater if the magnitude in which it resides is greater. |
| 266b8 ἔστω δὴ τὸ ἐφ' οὗ ΑΒ ἄπειρον. τὸ δὴ ΒΓ ἔχει δύναμίν τινα, ἣ ἔν τινι χρόνῳ ἐκίνησεν τὴν Δ, ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ ἐφ' οὗ ΕΖ. ἂν δὴ τῆς ΒΓ διπλασίαν λαμβάνω, ἐν ἡμίσει χρόνῳ τοῦ ΕΖ (ἔστω γὰρ αὕτη ἡ ἀναλογία), ὥστε ἐν τῷ ΖΘ κινήσει. οὐκοῦν οὕτω λαμβάνων ἀεὶ τὴν μὲν ΑΒ οὐδέποτε διέξειμι, τοῦ χρόνου δὲ τοῦ δοθέντος αἰεὶ ἐλάττω λήψομαι. ἄπειρος ἄρα ἡ δύναμις ἔσται· πάσης γὰρ πεπερασμένης ὑπερβάλλει δυνάμεως, εἴ γε πάσης πεπερασμένης δυνάμεως ἀνάγκη πεπερασμένον εἶναι καὶ τὸν χρόνον (εἰ γὰρ ἔν τινι ἡ τοσηδί, ἡ μείζων ἐν ἐλάττονι μὲν ὡρισμένῳ δὲ χρόνῳ κινήσει, κατὰ τὴν ἀντιστροφὴν τῆς ἀναλογίας)· ἄπειρος δὲ πᾶσα δύναμις, ὥσπερ καὶ πλῆθος καὶ μέγεθος τὸ ὑπερβάλλον παντὸς ὡρισμένου. | Now let AB be an infinite magnitude. Then BG possesses a certain force that occupies a certain time, let us say the time Z in moving D. Now if I take a magnitude twice as great at BG, the time occupied by this magnitude in moving D will be half of EZ (assuming this to be the proportion): so we may call this time ZH. That being so, by continually taking a greater magnitude in this way I shall never arrive at the full AB, whereas I shall always be getting a lesser fraction of the time given. Therefore the force must be infinite, since it exceeds any finite force. Moreover the time occupied by the action of any finite force must also be finite: for if a given force moves something in a certain time, a greater force will do so in a lesser time, but still a definite time, in inverse proportion. But a force must always be infinite-just as a number or a magnitude is-if it exceeds all definite limits. |
| 266b20 ἔστιν δὲ καὶ ὧδε δεῖξαι τοῦτο· ληψόμεθα γάρ τινα δύναμιν τὴν αὐτὴν τῷ γένει τῇ ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ μεγέθει, ἐν πεπερασμένῳ μεγέθει οὖσαν, ἣ καταμετρήσει τὴν ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ πεπερασμένην δύναμιν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἄπειρον εἶναι δύναμιν ἐν πεπερασμένῳ μεγέθει, οὐδ' ἐν ἀπείρῳ πεπερασμένην, ἐκ τούτων δῆλον. | This point may also be proved in another way-by taking a finite magnitude in which there resides a force the same in kind as that which resides in the infinite magnitude, so that this force will be a measure of the finite force residing in the infinite magnitude. It is plain, then, from the foregoing arguments that it is impossible for an infinite force to reside in a finite magnitude or for a finite force to reside in an infinite magnitude. |
| 266b27 περὶ δὲ τῶν φερομένων ἔχει καλῶς διαπορῆσαί τινα ἀπορίαν πρῶτον. εἰ γὰρ πᾶν τὸ κινούμενον κινεῖται ὑπὸ τινός, ὅσα μὴ αὐτὰ ἑαυτὰ κινεῖ, πῶς κινεῖται ἔνια συνεχῶς μὴ ἁπτομένου τοῦ κινήσαντος, οἷον τὰ ῥιπτούμενα; | But before proceeding to our conclusion it will be well to discuss a difficulty that arises in connexion with locomotion. If everything that is in motion with the exception of things that move themselves is moved by something else, how is it that some things, e.g. things thrown, continue to be in motion when their movent is no longer in contact with them? |
| 266b30 εἰ δ' ἅμα κινεῖ καὶ ἄλλο τι ὁ κινήσας, οἷον τὸν ἀέρα, ὃς κινούμενος κινεῖ, ὁμοίως ἀδύνατον τοῦ πρώτου μὴ ἁπτομένου μηδὲ κινοῦντος κινεῖσθαι, ἀλλ' ἅμα πάντα <καὶ> κινεῖσθαι καὶ (267a.) πεπαῦσθαι ὅταν τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν παύσηται, καὶ εἰ ποιεῖ, ὥσπερ ἡ λίθος, οἷόν τε κινεῖν ὃ ἐκίνησεν. | If we say that the movent in such cases moves something else at the same time, that the thrower e.g. also moves the air, and that this in being moved is also a movent, then it would be no more possible for this second thing than for the original thing to be in motion when the original movent is not in contact with it or moving it: all the things moved would have to be in motion simultaneously and also to have ceased simultaneously to be in motion when the original movent ceases to move them, even if, like the magnet, it makes that which it has moved capable of being a movent. |
| 267a2 ἀνάγκη δὴ τοῦτο μὲν λέγειν, ὅτι τὸ πρῶτον κινῆσαν ποιεῖ οἷόν τε κινεῖν ἢ τὸν ἀέρα [τοιοῦτον] ἢ τὸ ὕδωρ ἤ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον ὃ πέφυκε κινεῖν καὶ κινεῖσθαι· ἀλλ' οὐχ ἅμα παύεται κινοῦν καὶ κινούμενον, ἀλλὰ κινούμενον μὲν ἅμα ὅταν ὁ κινῶν παύσηται κινῶν, κινοῦν δὲ ἔτι ἐστίν. διὸ καὶ κινεῖ τι ἄλλο ἐχόμενον· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος. παύεται δέ, ὅταν ἀεὶ ἐλάττων ἡ δύναμις τοῦ κινεῖν ἐγγίγνηται τῷ ἐχομένῳ. τέλος δὲ παύεται, ὅταν μηκέτι ποιήσῃ τὸ πρότερον κινοῦν, ἀλλὰ κινούμενον μόνον. ταῦτα δ' ἀνάγκη ἅμα παύεσθαι, τὸ μὲν κινοῦν τὸ δὲ κινούμενον, καὶ τὴν ὅλην κίνησιν. | Therefore, while we must accept this explanation to the extent of saying that the original movent gives the power of being a movent either to air or to water or to something else of the kind, naturally adapted for imparting and undergoing motion, we must say further that this thing does not cease simultaneously to impart motion and to undergo motion: it ceases to be in motion at the moment when its movent ceases to move it, but it still remains a movent, and so it causes something else consecutive with it to be in motion, and of this again the same may be said. The motion begins to cease when the motive force produced in one member of the consecutive series is at each stage less than that possessed by the preceding member, and it finally ceases when one member no longer causes the next member to be a movent but only causes it to be in motion. The motion of these last two-of the one as movent and of the other as moved-must cease simultaneously, and with this the whole motion ceases. |
| 267a12 αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς ἐνδεχομένοις ὁτὲ μὲν κινεῖσθαι ὁτὲ δ' ἠρεμεῖν ἐγγίγνεται ἡ κίνησις, καὶ οὐ συνεχής, ἀλλὰ φαίνεται· ἢ γὰρ ἐφεξῆς ὄντων ἢ ἁπτομένων ἐστίν· οὐ γὰρ ἓν τὸ κινοῦν, ἀλλ' ἐχόμενα ἀλλήλων. διὸ ἐν ἀέρι καὶ ὕδατι γίγνεται ἡ τοιαύτη κίνησις, ἣν λέγουσί τινες ἀντιπερίστασιν εἶναι. ἀδύνατον δὲ ἄλλως τὰ ἀπορηθέντα λύειν, εἰ μὴ τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον. ἡ δ' ἀντιπερίστασις ἅμα πάντα κινεῖσθαι ποιεῖ καὶ κινεῖν, ὥστε καὶ παύεσθαι· νῦν δὲ φαίνεταί τι ἓν κινούμενον συνεχῶς· ὑπὸ τίνος οὖν; οὐ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ. | Now the things in which this motion is produced are things that admit of being sometimes in motion and sometimes at rest, and the motion is not continuous but only appears so: for it is motion of things that are either successive or in contact, there being not one movent but a number of movents consecutive with one another: and so motion of this kind takes place in air and water. Some say that it is 'mutual replacement': but we must recognize that the difficulty raised cannot be solved otherwise than in the way we have described. So far as they are affected by 'mutual replacement', all the members of the series are moved and impart motion simultaneously, so that their motions also cease simultaneously: but our present problem concerns the appearance of continuous motion in a single thing, and therefore, since it cannot be moved throughout its motion by the same movent, the question is, what moves it? |
| 267a21 ἐπεὶ δ' ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀνάγκη κίνησιν εἶναι συνεχῆ, αὕτη δὲ μία ἐστίν, ἀνάγκη δὲ τὴν μίαν μεγέθους τέ τινος εἶναι (οὐ γὰρ κινεῖται τὸ ἀμέγεθες) καὶ ἑνὸς καὶ ὑφ' ἑνός (οὐ γὰρ ἔσται συνεχής, ἀλλ' ἐχομένη ἑτέρα ἑτέρας καὶ διῃρημένη), τὸ δὴ κινοῦν εἰ ἕν, ἢ κινούμενον κινεῖ ἢ ἀκίνητον ὄν. | Resuming our main argument, we proceed from the positions that there must be continuous motion in the world of things, that this is a single motion, that a single motion must be a motion of a magnitude (for that which is without magnitude cannot be in motion), and that the magnitude must be a single magnitude moved by a single movent (for otherwise there will not be continuous motion but a consecutive series of separate motions), and that if the movement is a single thing, it is either itself in motion or itself unmoved: |
| 267a25 εἰ μὲν δὴ κινούμενον, συνακολουθεῖν δεήσει καὶ μεταβάλλειν αὐτό, ἅμα δὲ (267b.) κινεῖσθαι ὑπό τινος, ὥστε στήσεται καὶ ἥξει εἰς τὸ κινεῖσθαι ὑπὸ ἀκινήτου. τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ ἀνάγκη συμμεταβάλλειν, ἀλλ' ἀεί τε δυνήσεται κινεῖν (ἄπονον γὰρ τὸ οὕτω κινεῖν) | if, then, it is in motion, it will have to be subject to the same conditions as that which it moves, that is to say it will itself be in process of change and in being so will also have to be moved by something: so we have a series that must come to an end, and a point will be reached at which motion is imparted by something that is unmoved. Thus we have a movent that has no need to change along with that which it moves but will be able to cause motion always (for the causing of motion under these conditions involves no effort): |
| 267b3 καὶ ὁμαλὴς αὕτη ἡ κίνησις ἢ μόνη ἢ μάλιστα· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει μεταβολὴν τὸ κινοῦν οὐδεμίαν. δεῖ δὲ οὐδὲ τὸ κινούμενον πρὸς ἐκεῖνο ἔχειν μεταβολήν, ἵνα ὁμοία ᾖ ἡ κίνησις. | and this motion alone is regular, or at least it is so in a higher degree than any other, since the movent is never subject to any change. So, too, in order that the motion may continue to be of the same character, the moved must not be subject to change in respect of its relation to the movent. |
| 267b6 ἀνάγκη δὴ ἢ ἐν μέσῳ ἢ ἐν κύκλῳ εἶναι· αὗται γὰρ αἱ ἀρχαί. ἀλλὰ τάχιστα κινεῖται τὰ ἐγγύτατα τοῦ κινοῦντος. τοιαύτη δ' ἡ τοῦ κύκλου κίνησις· ἐκεῖ ἄρα τὸ κινοῦν. | Moreover the movent must occupy either the centre or the circumference, since these are the first principles from which a sphere is derived. But the things nearest the movent are those whose motion is quickest, and in this case it is the motion of the circumference that is the quickest: therefore the movent occupies the circumference. |
| 267b9 ἔχει δ' ἀπορίαν εἰ ἐνδέχεταί τι κινούμενον κινεῖν συνεχῶς, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὥσπερ τὸ ὠθοῦν πάλιν καὶ πάλιν, τῷ ἐφεξῆς εἶναι συνεχῶς· | There is a further difficulty in supposing it to be possible for anything that is in motion to cause motion continuously and not merely in the way in which it is caused by something repeatedly pushing (in which case the continuity amounts to no more than successiveness). |
| 267b11 ἢ γὰρ αὐτὸ δεῖ ἀεὶ ὠθεῖν ἢ ἕλκειν ἢ ἄμφω, ἢ ἕτερόν τι ἐκδεχόμενον ἄλλο παρ' ἄλλου, ὥσπερ πάλαι ἐλέχθη ἐπὶ τῶν ῥιπτουμένων, εἰ διαιρετὸς ὢν ὁ ἀὴρ [ἢ τὸ ὕδωρ] κινεῖ ἄλλος ἀεὶ κινούμενος. ἀμφοτέρως δ' οὐχ οἷόν τε μίαν εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἐχομένην. μόνη ἄρα συνεχὴς ἣν κινεῖ τὸ ἀκίνητον· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁμοίως ἔχον καὶ πρὸς τὸ κινούμενον ὁμοίως ἕξει καὶ συνεχῶς. | Such a movent must either itself continue to push or pull or perform both these actions, or else the action must be taken up by something else and be passed on from one movent to another (the process that we described before as occurring in the case of things thrown, since the air or the water, being divisible, is a movent only in virtue of the fact that different parts of the air are moved one after another): and in either case the motion cannot be a single motion, but only a consecutive series of motions. The only continuous motion, then, is that which is caused by the unmoved movent: and this motion is continuous because the movent remains always invariable, so that its relation to that which it moves remains also invariable and continuous. |
| 267b17 διωρισμένων δὲ τούτων φανερὸν ὅτι ἀδύνατον τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν καὶ ἀκίνητον ἔχειν τι μέγεθος. εἰ γὰρ μέγεθος ἔχει, ἀνάγκη ἤτοι πεπερασμένον αὐτὸ εἶναι ἢ ἄπειρον. ἄπειρον μὲν οὖν ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται μέγεθος εἶναι, δέδεικται πρότερον ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς· ὅτι δὲ τὸ πεπερασμένον ἀδύνατον ἔχειν δύναμιν ἄπειρον, καὶ ὅτι ἀδύνατον ὑπὸ πεπερασμένου κινεῖσθαί τι ἄπειρον χρόνον, δέδεικται νῦν. τὸ δέ γε πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀΐδιον κινεῖ κίνησιν καὶ ἄπειρον χρόνον. φανερὸν τοίνυν ὅτι ἀδιαίρετόν ἐστι καὶ ἀμερὲς καὶ οὐδὲν ἔχον μέγεθος. | Now that these points are settled, it is clear that the first unmoved movent cannot have any magnitude. For if it has magnitude, this must be either a finite or an infinite magnitude. Now we have already'proved in our course on Physics that there cannot be an infinite magnitude: and we have now proved that it is impossible for a finite magnitude to have an infinite force, and also that it is impossible for a thing to be moved by a finite magnitude during an infinite time. But the first movent causes a motion that is eternal and does cause it during an infinite time. It is clear, therefore, that the first movent is indivisible and is without parts and without magnitude. |
| 267b3 καὶ ὁμαλὴς αὕτη ἡ κίνησις ἢ μόνη ἢ μάλιστα· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει μεταβολὴν τὸ κινοῦν οὐδεμίαν. δεῖ δὲ οὐδὲ τὸ κινούμενον πρὸς ἐκεῖνο ἔχειν μεταβολήν, ἵνα ὁμοία ᾖ ἡ κίνησις. | and this motion alone is regular, or at least it is so in a higher degree than any other, since the movent is never subject to any change. So, too, in order that the motion may continue to be of the same character, the moved must not be subject to change in respect of its relation to the movent. |
| 267b6 ἀνάγκη δὴ ἢ ἐν μέσῳ ἢ ἐν κύκλῳ εἶναι· αὗται γὰρ αἱ ἀρχαί. ἀλλὰ τάχιστα κινεῖται τὰ ἐγγύτατα τοῦ κινοῦντος. τοιαύτη δ' ἡ τοῦ κύκλου κίνησις· ἐκεῖ ἄρα τὸ κινοῦν. | Moreover the movent must occupy either the centre or the circumference, since these are the first principles from which a sphere is derived. But the things nearest the movent are those whose motion is quickest, and in this case it is the motion of the circumference that is the quickest: therefore the movent occupies the circumference. |
| 267b9 ἔχει δ' ἀπορίαν εἰ ἐνδέχεταί τι κινούμενον κινεῖν συνεχῶς, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὥσπερ τὸ ὠθοῦν πάλιν καὶ πάλιν, τῷ ἐφεξῆς εἶναι συνεχῶς· | There is a further difficulty in supposing it to be possible for anything that is in motion to cause motion continuously and not merely in the way in which it is caused by something repeatedly pushing (in which case the continuity amounts to no more than successiveness). |
| 267b11 ἢ γὰρ αὐτὸ δεῖ ἀεὶ ὠθεῖν ἢ ἕλκειν ἢ ἄμφω, ἢ ἕτερόν τι ἐκδεχόμενον ἄλλο παρ' ἄλλου, ὥσπερ πάλαι ἐλέχθη ἐπὶ τῶν ῥιπτουμένων, εἰ διαιρετὸς ὢν ὁ ἀὴρ [ἢ τὸ ὕδωρ] κινεῖ ἄλλος ἀεὶ κινούμενος. ἀμφοτέρως δ' οὐχ οἷόν τε μίαν εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἐχομένην. μόνη ἄρα συνεχὴς ἣν κινεῖ τὸ ἀκίνητον· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁμοίως ἔχον καὶ πρὸς τὸ κινούμενον ὁμοίως ἕξει καὶ συνεχῶς. | Such a movent must either itself continue to push or pull or perform both these actions, or else the action must be taken up by something else and be passed on from one movent to another (the process that we described before as occurring in the case of things thrown, since the air or the water, being divisible, is a movent only in virtue of the fact that different parts of the air are moved one after another): and in either case the motion cannot be a single motion, but only a consecutive series of motions. The only continuous motion, then, is that which is caused by the unmoved movent: and this motion is continuous because the movent remains always invariable, so that its relation to that which it moves remains also invariable and continuous. |
| 267b17 διωρισμένων δὲ τούτων φανερὸν ὅτι ἀδύνατον τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν καὶ ἀκίνητον ἔχειν τι μέγεθος. εἰ γὰρ μέγεθος ἔχει, ἀνάγκη ἤτοι πεπερασμένον αὐτὸ εἶναι ἢ ἄπειρον. ἄπειρον μὲν οὖν ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται μέγεθος εἶναι, δέδεικται πρότερον ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς· ὅτι δὲ τὸ πεπερασμένον ἀδύνατον ἔχειν δύναμιν ἄπειρον, καὶ ὅτι ἀδύνατον ὑπὸ πεπερασμένου κινεῖσθαί τι ἄπειρον χρόνον, δέδεικται νῦν. τὸ δέ γε πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀΐδιον κινεῖ κίνησιν καὶ ἄπειρον χρόνον. φανερὸν τοίνυν ὅτι ἀδιαίρετόν ἐστι καὶ ἀμερὲς καὶ οὐδὲν ἔχον μέγεθος. | Now that these points are settled, it is clear that the first unmoved movent cannot have any magnitude. For if it has magnitude, this must be either a finite or an infinite magnitude. Now we have already'proved in our course on Physics that there cannot be an infinite magnitude: and we have now proved that it is impossible for a finite magnitude to have an infinite force, and also that it is impossible for a thing to be moved by a finite magnitude during an infinite time. But the first movent causes a motion that is eternal and does cause it during an infinite time. It is clear, therefore, that the first movent is indivisible and is without parts and without magnitude. |
| 267b3 καὶ ὁμαλὴς αὕτη ἡ κίνησις ἢ μόνη ἢ μάλιστα· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει μεταβολὴν τὸ κινοῦν οὐδεμίαν. δεῖ δὲ οὐδὲ τὸ κινούμενον πρὸς ἐκεῖνο ἔχειν μεταβολήν, ἵνα ὁμοία ᾖ ἡ κίνησις. | and this motion alone is regular, or at least it is so in a higher degree than any other, since the movent is never subject to any change. So, too, in order that the motion may continue to be of the same character, the moved must not be subject to change in respect of its relation to the movent. |
| 267b6 ἀνάγκη δὴ ἢ ἐν μέσῳ ἢ ἐν κύκλῳ εἶναι· αὗται γὰρ αἱ ἀρχαί. ἀλλὰ τάχιστα κινεῖται τὰ ἐγγύτατα τοῦ κινοῦντος. τοιαύτη δ' ἡ τοῦ κύκλου κίνησις· ἐκεῖ ἄρα τὸ κινοῦν. | Moreover the movent must occupy either the centre or the circumference, since these are the first principles from which a sphere is derived. But the things nearest the movent are those whose motion is quickest, and in this case it is the motion of the circumference that is the quickest: therefore the movent occupies the circumference. |
| 267b9 ἔχει δ' ἀπορίαν εἰ ἐνδέχεταί τι κινούμενον κινεῖν συνεχῶς, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὥσπερ τὸ ὠθοῦν πάλιν καὶ πάλιν, τῷ ἐφεξῆς εἶναι συνεχῶς· | There is a further difficulty in supposing it to be possible for anything that is in motion to cause motion continuously and not merely in the way in which it is caused by something repeatedly pushing (in which case the continuity amounts to no more than successiveness). |
| 267b11 ἢ γὰρ αὐτὸ δεῖ ἀεὶ ὠθεῖν ἢ ἕλκειν ἢ ἄμφω, ἢ ἕτερόν τι ἐκδεχόμενον ἄλλο παρ' ἄλλου, ὥσπερ πάλαι ἐλέχθη ἐπὶ τῶν ῥιπτουμένων, εἰ διαιρετὸς ὢν ὁ ἀὴρ [ἢ τὸ ὕδωρ] κινεῖ ἄλλος ἀεὶ κινούμενος. ἀμφοτέρως δ' οὐχ οἷόν τε μίαν εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἐχομένην. μόνη ἄρα συνεχὴς ἣν κινεῖ τὸ ἀκίνητον· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁμοίως ἔχον καὶ πρὸς τὸ κινούμενον ὁμοίως ἕξει καὶ συνεχῶς. | Such a movent must either itself continue to push or pull or perform both these actions, or else the action must be taken up by something else and be passed on from one movent to another (the process that we described before as occurring in the case of things thrown, since the air or the water, being divisible, is a movent only in virtue of the fact that different parts of the air are moved one after another): and in either case the motion cannot be a single motion, but only a consecutive series of motions. The only continuous motion, then, is that which is caused by the unmoved movent: and this motion is continuous because the movent remains always invariable, so that its relation to that which it moves remains also invariable and continuous. |
| 267b17 διωρισμένων δὲ τούτων φανερὸν ὅτι ἀδύνατον τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν καὶ ἀκίνητον ἔχειν τι μέγεθος. εἰ γὰρ μέγεθος ἔχει, ἀνάγκη ἤτοι πεπερασμένον αὐτὸ εἶναι ἢ ἄπειρον. ἄπειρον μὲν οὖν ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται μέγεθος εἶναι, δέδεικται πρότερον ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς· ὅτι δὲ τὸ πεπερασμένον ἀδύνατον ἔχειν δύναμιν ἄπειρον, καὶ ὅτι ἀδύνατον ὑπὸ πεπερασμένου κινεῖσθαί τι ἄπειρον χρόνον, δέδεικται νῦν. τὸ δέ γε πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀΐδιον κινεῖ κίνησιν καὶ ἄπειρον χρόνον. φανερὸν τοίνυν ὅτι ἀδιαίρετόν ἐστι καὶ ἀμερὲς καὶ οὐδὲν ἔχον μέγεθος. | Now that these points are settled, it is clear that the first unmoved movent cannot have any magnitude. For if it has magnitude, this must be either a finite or an infinite magnitude. Now we have already'proved in our course on Physics that there cannot be an infinite magnitude: and we have now proved that it is impossible for a finite magnitude to have an infinite force, and also that it is impossible for a thing to be moved by a finite magnitude during an infinite time. But the first movent causes a motion that is eternal and does cause it during an infinite time. It is clear, therefore, that the first movent is indivisible and is without parts and without magnitude. |
