Authors/Aristotle/metaphysics/l4/c1

Chapter 1

Latin	English
METHAPHISICE ARISTOTILIS LIBER QUARTUS	Aristotle Metaphysics Book 4 (G)
ƿ Est scientia quaedam quae speculatur ens in quantum est ↵ ens et quae huic insunt secundum se.	Chapter 1. THERE is a science which investigates being as being and the attributes which belong to this in virtue of its own nature.
Haec autem nulli * in parte dictarum eadem; aliarum enim nulla intendit universaliter de ente in quantum est ens. Verum partem eius abscindentes aliquam circa * hanc speculantur * accidens, velut scientiarum ↵ mathematice.	Now this is not the same as any of the so-called special sciences; for none of these others treats universally of being as being. They cut off a part of being and investigate the attribute of this part; this is what the mathematical sciences for instance do.
Quoniam autem principia et extremas quaerimus causas, palam quia naturae cuiusdam ipsas secundum se esse est necesse. Si ergo et entium elementa quaerentes haec quesierunt principia, necesse et entis elementa esse non secundum accidens ↵ sed in quantum * entia. Unde et nobis entis in quantum est ens prime cause sunt accipiende.	Now since we are seeking the first principles and the highest causes, clearly there must be some thing to which these belong in virtue of its own nature. If then those who sought the elements of existing things were seeking these same principles, it is necessary that the elements must be elements of being not by accident but just because it is being. Therefore it is of being as being that we also must grasp the first causes.