Authors/Aristotle/metaphysics/l5/c4

Chapter 4 Nature

Latin	English
Natura vero dicitur uno quidem modo nascentium generatio, ut si quis extendens dicat le Y. Vno vero ex quo generatur primum quod nascitur inexistente. Amplius unde motus primus in quolibet natura entium * in ipso in quantum ipsum ↵ existit. Nasci vero dicuntur quaecumque augmentum habent per alterum in tangendo et * connasci aut adnasci, ut embria. differt autem connascentia a tactu; hic enim nihil praeter tactum alterum * necesse esse, in simul natis autem est ali↵quid unum idem in ambobus quod facit pro tangi simul nasci et unum esse secundum continuum et quantum, sed non secundum quale. Amplius autem natura dicitur ex quo primo aut est aut fit aliquid entium natura, inordinato existente et immutabili a sua propria potestate, ut statue et uasorum ereo↵rum es natura dicitur, et ligneorum lignum, similiter autem et ƿ in aliis; ex hiis enim est unumquodque saluata prima materia. Hoc enim modo et existentium natura elementa dicunt esse naturam, alii ignem, alii terram, alii aquam, alii aerem, alii aliud aliquid tale dicentes, alii quaedam horum alii vero hec omnia. ↵ amplius autem alio modo dicitur natura existentium natura substantia, ut dicentes naturam primam compositionem esse, * ut Empedocles dicit quod “ natura nullius est inexistentium, ↵ sed solum mixtio et permutatio permixtorum est, natura vero in hominibus nominatur”. Quapropter et quaecumque natura sunt aut fiunt, iam existente ex quo * nata sunt fieri aut esse, non dicimus naturam habere, si non habent speciem et formam. ↵ natura quidem igitur quod ex hiis utrisque est, ut animalia et eorum partes.	Chapter 4. Nature means (1) the genesis of growing things – the meaning which would be suggested if one were to pronounce the u in phusis long. (2) That immanent part of a growing thing, from which its growth first proceeds. (3) The source from which the primary movement in each natural object is present in it in virtue of its own essence. Those things are said to grow which derive increase from something else by contact and either by organic unity, or by organic adhesion as in the case of embryos. Organic unity differs from contact; for in the latter case there need not be anything besides the contact, but in organic unities there is something identical in both parts, which makes them grow together instead of merely touching, and be one in respect of continuity and quantity, though not of quality.(4) Nature means the primary material of which any natural object consists or out of which it is made, which is relatively unshaped and cannot be changed from its own potency, as e.g. bronze is said to be the nature of a statue and of bronze utensils, and wood the nature of wooden things; and so in all other cases; for when a product is made out of these materials, the first matter is preserved throughout. For it is in this way that people call the elements of natural objects also their nature, some naming fire, others earth, others air, others water, others something else of the sort, and some naming more than one of these, and others all of them. (5) Nature means the essence of natural objects, as with those who say the nature is the primary mode of composition, or as Empedocles says: [15a] "Nothing that is has a nature, But only mixing and parting of the mixed, And nature is but a name given them by men". Hence as regards the things that are or come to be by nature, though that from which they naturally come to be or are is already present, we say they have not their nature yet, unless they have their form or shape. That which comprises both of these exists by nature, e.g. the animals and their parts;
* Natura autem materia prima; et haec dupliciter, aut quae ad ipsum prima aut omnino prima, ut operum ereorum ad ipsa quidem primum es, totaliter vero forsan aqua, ↵ si omnia liquabilia aqua. Et species et substantia; hoc autem est finis generationis. Methaphora vero iam et omnino omnis substantia natura dicitur propter hanc, quia et natura substantia quaedam est.	and not only is the first matter nature (and this in two senses, either the first, counting from the thing, or the first in general; e.g. in the case of works in bronze, bronze is first with reference to them, but in general perhaps water is first, if all things that can be melted are water), but also the form or essence, which is the end of the process of becoming. (6) By an extension of meaning from this sense of nature every essence in general has come to be called a nature , because the nature of a thing is one kind of essence.
Ex dictis igitur prima natura et proprie dicta est substantia quae principium motus habentium in se in quantum ipsa; mate↵ria namque, quia huius est susceptiva, esse dicitur natura, et generationes et nasci, quia sunt ab hac motus. Et principium motus natura existentium haec est, inexistens aut potestate aut actu.	From what has been said, then, it is plain that nature in the primary and strict sense is the essence of things which have in themselves, as such, a source of movement; for the matter is called the nature because it is qualified to receive this, and processes of becoming and growing are called nature because they are movements proceeding from this. And nature in this sense is the source of the movement of natural objects, being present in them somehow, either potentially or in complete reality.