Sincethatwhichiscompoundedoutofsomethingsothatthe
wholeisone,notlikeaheapbutlikeasyllable-nowthesyllable
isnotitselements,baisnotthesameasbanda,norisflesh
fireandearthforwhentheseareseparatedthewholes,i。e。the
fleshandthesyllable,nolongerexist,buttheelementsofthe
syllableexist,andsodofireandearth;thesyllable,then,is
something-notonlyitselementsthevowelandtheconsonantbutalso
somethingelse,andthefleshisnotonlyfireandearthorthehot
andthecold,butalsosomethingelse:-if,then,thatsomethingmust
itselfbeeitheranelementorcomposedofelements,1ifitisan
elementthesameargumentwillagainapply;forfleshwillconsist
ofthisandfireandearthandsomethingstillfurther,sothatthe
processwillgoontoinfinity。But2ifitisacompound,clearly
itwillbeacompoundnotofonebutofmorethanoneorelsethat
onewillbethethingitself,sothatagaininthiscasewecanuse
thesameargumentasinthecaseoffleshorofthesyllable。Butit
wouldseemthatthis’other’issomething,andnotanelement,and
thatitisthecausewhichmakesthisthingfleshandthatasyllable。
Andsimilarlyinallothercases。Andthisisthesubstanceofeach
thingforthisistheprimarycauseofitsbeing;andsince,while
somethingsarenotsubstances,asmanyasaresubstancesareformed
inaccordancewithanatureoftheirownandbyaprocessofnature,
theirsubstancewouldseemtobethiskindof’nature’,whichisnot
anelementbutaprinciple。Anelement,ontheotherhand,isthat
intowhichathingisdividedandwhichispresentinitasmatter;
e。g。aandbaretheelementsofthesyllable。
WEmustreckonuptheresultsarisingfromwhathasbeensaid,and
computethesumofthem,andputthefinishingtouchtoourinquiry。
Wehavesaidthatthecauses,principles,andelementsofsubstances
aretheobjectofoursearch。Andsomesubstancesarerecognizedby
everyone,butsomehavebeenadvocatedbyparticularschools。Those
generallyrecognizedarethenaturalsubstances,i。e。fire,earth,
water,air,&c。,thesimplebodies;secondplantsandtheirparts,and
animalsandthepartsofanimals;andfinallythephysicaluniverse
anditsparts;whilesomeparticularschoolssaythatFormsandthe
objectsofmathematicsaresubstances。Butthereareargumentswhich
leadtotheconclusionthatthereareothersubstances,theessence
andthesubstratum。Again,inanotherwaythegenusseemsmore
substantialthanthevariousspccies,andtheuniversalthanthe
particulars。AndwiththeuniversalandthegenustheIdeasare
connected;itisinvirtueofthesameargumentthattheyare
thoughttobesubstances。Andsincetheessenceissubstance,and
thedefinitionisaformulaoftheessence,forthisreasonwehave
discusseddefinitionandessentialpredication。Sincethedefinition
isaformula,andaformulahasparts,wehadtoconsideralsowith
respecttothenotionof’part’,whatarepartsofthesubstanceand
whatarenot,andwhetherthepartsofthesubstancearealsopartsof
thedefinition。Further,too,neithertheuniversalnorthegenusisa
substance;wemustinquirelaterintotheIdeasandtheobjectsof
mathematics;forsomesaythesearesubstancesaswellasthesensible
substances。
Butnowletusresumethediscussionofthegenerallyrecognized
substances。Thesearethesensiblesubstances,andsensiblesubstances
allhavematter。Thesubstratumissubstance,andthisisinonesense
thematterandbymatterImeanthatwhich,notbeinga’this’
actually,ispotentiallya’this’,andinanothersensetheformula
orshapethatwhichbeinga’this’canbeseparatelyformulated,and
thirdlythecomplexofthesetwo,whichaloneisgeneratedand
destroyed,andis,withoutqualification,capableofseparate
existence;forofsubstancescompletelyexpressibleinaformula
someareseparableandsomeareseparableandsomearenot。
Butclearlymatteralsoissubstance;forinalltheopposite
changesthatoccurthereissomethingwhichunderliesthechanges,
e。g。inrespectofplacethatwhichisnowhereandagainelsewhere,
andinrespectofincreasethatwhichisnowofonesizeandagain
lessorgreater,andinrespectofalterationthatwhichisnow
healthyandagaindiseased;andsimilarlyinrespectofsubstance
thereissomethingthatisnowbeinggeneratedandagainbeing
destroyed,andnowunderliestheprocessasa’this’andagain
underliesitinrespectofaprivationofpositivecharacter。Andin
thischangetheothersareinvolved。Butineitheroneortwoofthe
othersthisisnotinvolved;foritisnotnecessaryifathinghas
matterforchangeofplacethatitshouldalsohavematterfor
generationanddestruction。
Thedifferencebetweenbecominginthefullsenseandbecoming
inaqualifiedsensehasbeenstatedinourphysicalworks。
Sincethesubstancewhichexistsasunderlyingandasmatteris
generallyrecognized,andthisthatwhichexistspotentially,it
remainsforustosaywhatisthesubstance,inthesenseof
actuality,ofsensiblethings。Democritusseemstothinkthereare
threekindsofdifferencebetweenthings;theunderlyingbody,the
matter,isoneandthesame,buttheydiffereitherinrhythm,i。e。
shape,orinturning,i。e。position,orininter-contact,i。e。
order。Butevidentlytherearemanydifferences;forinstance,some
thingsarecharacterizedbythemodeofcompositionoftheirmatter,
e。g。thethingsformedbyblending,suchashoney-water;andothersby
beingboundtogether,e。g。bundle;andothersbybeinggluedtogether,
e。g。abook;andothersbybeingnailedtogether,e。g。acasket;and
othersinmorethanoneoftheseways;andothersbyposition,e。g。
thresholdandlintelforthesedifferbybeingplacedinacertain
way;andothersbytime,e。g。dinnerandbreakfast;andothersby
place,e。g。thewinds;andothersbytheaffectionspropertosensible
things,e。g。hardnessandsoftness,densityandrarity,drynessand
wetness;andsomethingsbysomeofthesequalities,othersbythem
all,andingeneralsomebyexcessandsomebydefect。Clearly,
then,theword’is’hasjustasmanymeanings;athingisa
thresholdbecauseitliesinsuchandsuchaposition,anditsbeing
meansitslyinginthatposition,whilebeingicemeanshavingbeen
solidifiedinsuchandsuchaway。Andthebeingofsomethingswill
bedefinedbyallthesequalities,becausesomepartsofthemare
mixed,othersareblended,othersareboundtogether,othersare
solidified,andothersusetheotherdifferentiae;e。g。thehandor
thefootrequiressuchcomplexdefinition。Wemustgrasp,then,the
kindsofdifferentiaeforthesewillbetheprinciplesofthebeing
ofthings,e。g。thethingscharacterizedbythemoreandtheless,or
bythedenseandtherare,andbyothersuchqualities;forall
theseareformsofexcessanddefect。Andanythingthatis
characterizedbyshapeorbysmoothnessandroughnessischaracterized
bythestraightandthecurved。Andforotherthingstheirbeing
willmeantheirbeingmixed,andtheirnotbeingwillmeanthe
opposite。
Itisclear,then,fromthesefactsthat,sinceitssubstanceis
thecauseofeachthing’sbeing,wemustseekinthesedifferentiae
whatisthecauseofthebeingofeachofthesethings。Nownoneof
thesedifferentiaeissubstance,evenwhencoupledwithmatter,yetit
iswhatisanalogoustosubstanceineachcase;andasinsubstances
thatwhichispredicatedofthematteristheactualityitself,inall
otherdefinitionsalsoitiswhatmostresemblesfullactuality。
E。g。ifwehadtodefineathreshold,weshouldsay’woodorstone
insuchandsuchaposition’,andahouseweshoulddefineas
’bricksandtimbersinsuchandsuchaposition’,orapurposemay
existaswellinsomecases,andifwehadtodefineiceweshould
say’waterfrozenorsolidifiedinsuchandsuchaway’,andharmony
is’suchandsuchablendingofhighandlow’;andsimilarlyinall
othercases。
Obviously,then,theactualityortheformulaisdifferentwhen
thematterisdifferent;forinsomecasesitisthecomposition,in
othersthemixing,andinotherssomeotheroftheattributeswe
havenamed。Andso,ofthepeoplewhogoinfordefining,thosewho
defineahouseasstones,bricks,andtimbersarespeakingofthe
potentialhouse,forthesearethematter;butthosewhopropose’a
receptacletoshelterchattelsandlivingbeings’,orsomethingofthe
sort,speakoftheactuality。Thosewhocombinebothofthesespeakof
thethirdkindofsubstance,whichiscomposedofmatterandformfor
theformulathatgivesthedifferentiaeseemstobeanaccountof
theformoractuality,whilethatwhichgivesthecomponentsisrather
anaccountofthematter;andthesameistrueofthekindof
definitionswhichArchytasusedtoaccept;theyareaccountsofthe
combinedformandmatter。E。g。whatisstillweather?Absenceof
motioninalargeexpanseofair;airisthematter,andabsenceof
motionistheactualityandsubstance。Whatisacalm?Smoothnessof
sea;thematerialsubstratumisthesea,andtheactualityorshapeis
smoothness。Itisobviousthen,fromwhathasbeensaid,whatsensible
substanceisandhowitexists-onekindofitasmatter,anotheras
formoractuality,whilethethirdkindisthatwhichiscomposedof
thesetwo。
Wemustnotfailtonoticethatsometimesitisnotclear
whetheranamemeansthecompositesubstance,ortheactualityor
form,e。g。whether’house’isasignforthecompositething,’a
coveringconsistingofbricksandstoneslaidthusandthus’,orfor
theactualityorform,’acovering’,andwhetheralineis’twonessin
length’or’twoness’,andwhetherananimalissoulinabody’or’a
soul’;forsoulisthesubstanceoractualityofsomebody。’Animal’
mightevenbeappliedtoboth,notassomethingdefinablebyone
formula,butasrelatedtoasinglething。Butthisquestion,while
importantforanotherpurpose,isofnoimportancefortheinquiry
intosensiblesubstance;fortheessencecertainlyattachestothe
formandtheactuality。For’soul’and’tobesoul’arethesame,
but’tobeman’and’man’arenotthesame,unlesseventhebare
soulistobecalledman;andthusononeinterpretationthething
isthesameasitsessence,andonanotheritisnot。
Ifweexaminewefindthatthesyllabledoesnotconsistofthe
lettersjuxtaposition,noristhehousebricksjuxtaposition。
Andthisisright;forthejuxtapositionormixingdoesnotconsistof
thosethingsofwhichitisthejuxtapositionormixing。Andthe
sameistrueinallothercases;e。g。ifthethresholdis
characterizedbyitsposition,thepositionisnotconstitutedby
thethreshold,butratherthelatterisconstitutedbytheformer。Nor
ismananimalbiped,buttheremustbesomethingbesidesthese,if
thesearematter,-somethingwhichisneitheranelementinthewhole
noracompound,butisthesubstance;butthispeopleeliminate,and
stateonlythematter。If,then,thisisthecauseofthething’s
being,andifthecauseofitsbeingisitssubstance,theywillnot
bestatingthesubstanceitself。