Authors/Aristotle/metaphysics/l10/c1

Chapter 1

Latin	English
METHAPHISICE ARISTOTILIS LIBER DECIMUS	Aristotle Metaphysics Book 10 (I)
ƿ Unum quia multis modis dicitur, in divisis de quotiens ↵ dictum est prius. Multipliciter vero dicto capitales modi sunt quatuor primorum et secundum se dictorum unum sed non secundum accidens. Continuum enim, aut simpliciter aut maxime quod natura et non tactu nec ligatione; et horum ↵ magis unum et prius cuius indivisibilior motus est et magis simplex.	Chapter 1. WE have said previously, in our distinction of the various meanings of words, that one has several meanings; the things that are directly and of their own nature and not accidentally called one may be summarized under four heads, though the word is used in more senses. (1) There is the continuous, either in general, or especially that which is continuous by nature and not by contact nor by being together; and of these, that has more unity and is prior, whose movement is more indivisible and simpler. (2)
Amplius tale et magis totum et habens aliquam formam et speciem, maxime autem si quid natura est tale et non vi, ut quaecumque visco aut clauo aut coniunctione, sed habet in se quod est causa sibi ut sit continuum.	That which is a whole and has a certain shape and form is one in a still higher degree; and especially if a thing is of this sort by nature, and not by force like the things which are unified by glue or nails or by being tied together, i.e. if it has in itself the cause of its continuity.
Tale vero in ↵Motum unum esse et indivisibile loco et tempore. Quare palam *, si quid per naturam motus habet principium primi primum, ut puta dico lationis circulationem, quia haec prima magnitudo una. Haec quidem itaque sic unum * continuum aut totum.	A thing is of this sort because its movement is one and indivisible in place and time; so that evidently if a thing has by nature a principle of movement that is of the first kind (i.e. local movement) and the first in that kind (i.e. circular movement), this is in the primary sense one extended thing. Some things, then, are one in this way, qua continuous or whole, and
Haec autem, si ratio una fuerit. Talia vero sunt ↵ quorum intelligentia una, talia autem quorum indivisibilis; indivisibilis vero eius quod indivisibile specie aut numero. Numero vero singulare indivisibile, specie vero quod nosciƿbili et scientie; quare unum utique erit primum quod substan↵tiis causa unius.	the other things that are one are those whose definition is one. Of this sort are the things the thought of which is one, i.e. those the thought of which is indivisible; and it is indivisible if the thing is indivisible in kind or in number. (3) In number, then, the individual is indivisible, and (4) in kind, that which in intelligibility and in knowledge is indivisible, so that that which causes substances to be one must be one in the primary sense.
Dicitur quidem igitur unum tot modis: continuum natura et totum et singulare et universale. Omnia vero ↵ haec unum per indivisibile esse, horum quidem motum, illorum autem intelligentiam aut rationem.	One , then, has all these meanings – the naturally continuous and the whole, and the individual and the universal. And all these are one because in some cases the movement, in others the thought or the definition is indivisible. [52b]
Oportet autem intelligere quia non similiter sumendum est dici qualia unum dicuntur, et quid est uni esse et quae ipsius * ratio. Dicitur enim unum tot modis, et unumquodque erit ↵ unum horum cuicumque extiterit horum aliquis modorum. Uni autem esse quandoque quidem horum alicui inerit, quandoque autem alii quod et magis propinquum nomini est, potentia vero illa. Sicut de elemento et causa, si oportet dicere * in rebus determinantem et nominis terminum reddentem. Est ↵ quidem enim ut elementum ignis (est autem forsan secundum se et infinitum aut aliquid aliud tale), est autem ut non. Non enim idem igni et elemento esse, sed ut quidem re et natura ignis elementum; nomen vero significat: eo quod hoc accide↵rit ipsi, quia est aliquid ex hoc ut primo inexistente. Sic et in causa et in uno et talibus omnibus. Propter quod et uni esse indivisibili est esse, quod quidem * hoc enti et inseparabili aut loco aut specie aut mente, aut et toto et determinato.	But it must be observed that the questions, what sort of things are said to be one, and what it is to be one and what is the definition of it, should not be assumed to be the same. One has all these meanings, and each of the things to which one of these kinds of unity belongs will be one; but to be one will sometimes mean being one of these things, and sometimes being something else which is even nearer to the meaning of the word one while these other things approximate to its application. This is also true of element or cause , if one had both to specify the things of which it is predicable and to render the definition of the word. For in a sense fire is an element (and doubtless also the indefinite or something else of the sort is by its own nature the element), but in a sense it is not; for it is not the same thing to be fire and to be an element, but while as a particular thing with a nature of its own fire is an element, the name element means that it has this attribute, that there is something which is made of it as a primary constituent. And so with cause and one and all such terms. For this reason, too, to be one means to be indivisible, being essentially one means a this and capable of being isolated either in place, or in form or thought; or perhaps to be whole and indivisible ;
Maxime vero in eo quod est metrum esse primum uniuscuiusque generis et maxime proprie quantitatis; hinc enim ad ↵ alia venit. Metrum etenim est quo quantitas cognoscitur; cognoscitur vero aut uno aut numero quantitas in quantum quantitas, numerus autem omnis uno. Quare omnis quantitas cognoscitur in quantum quantitas uno,	but it means especially to be the first measure of a kind , and most strictly of quantity; for it is from this that it has been extended to the other categories. For measure is that by which quantity is known; and quantity qua quantity is known either by a one or by a number, and all number is known by a one . Therefore all quantity qua quantity is known by the one,
et quo primo cognosciƿtur, hoc ipsum unum; quapropter unum numeri principium secundum quod numerus.	and that by which quantities are primarily known is the one itself; and so the one is the starting-point of number qua number.
Hinc autem et in aliis dicitur ↵ metrum quo primo unumquodque cognoscitur. Et metrum uniuscuiusque unum, in longitudine, in latitudine, in profunditate, in gravitate, in velocitate. Gravitas enim et velocitas commune in contrariis; duplex enim eorum utrumque, ut grave et quod est quantamcumque habens inclinationem et quod est habens excessum inclinationis, et velocitas et quantumcumque motum habens et excessum motus; est enim velocitas ↵ quaedam et tardi et gravitas levioris.	And hence in the other classes too measure means that by which each is first known, and the measure of each is a unit – in length, in breadth, in depth, in weight, in speed. (The words weight and speed are common to both contraries; for each of them has two meanings – weight means both that which has any amount of gravity and that which has an excess of gravity, and speed both that which has any amount of movement and that which has an excess of movement; for even the slow has a certain speed and the comparatively light a certain weight.)
In omnibus autem hiis metrum et principium unum aliquid et indivisibile, quoniam et in lineis utuntur quasi indivisibili pedali. Vbique namque metrum unum aliquid quaerunt et indivisibile; hoc autem quod simplex aut quali aut quanto. ↵ vbicumque quidem igitur videtur non esse aveerre aut addere, hoc est certum metrum. Quapropter numeros certissimum; uni↵tatem enim ponunt omnino indivisibilem. In aliis vero imitantur tale. A stadio enim et talento et semper maiore latebit utique et additum aliquid et ablatum magis quam a minore; quare a quo primo secundum sensum non contingit, hoc omnes ↵ faciunt metrum et humidorum et siccorum et gravitatis et magnitudinis; et tunc putant cognoscere quantum, quando cognoscunt per hoc metrum.	In all these, then, the measure and starting-point is something one and indivisible, since even in lines we treat as indivisible the line a foot long. For everywhere we seek as the measure something one and indivisible; and this is that which is simple either in quality or in quantity. Now where it is thought impossible to take away or to add, there the measure is exact (hence that of number is [53a] most exact; for we posit the unit as indivisible in every respect); but in all other cases we imitate this sort of measure. For in the case of a furlong or a talent or of anything comparatively large any addition or subtraction might more easily escape our notice than in the case of something smaller; so that the first thing from which, as far as our perception goes, nothing can be subtracted, all men make the measure, whether of liquids or of solids, whether of weight or of size; and they think they know the quantity when they know it by means of this measure.
Et motum autem simplici motu et velocissimo; paruissimum enim hic habet tempus. Qua↵propter in astrologia tale unum * principium et metrum; motum enim regularem supponunt et velocissimum eum qui ƿ * celi, ad quem alios iudicant. Et in musica diesis, quia minimum. Et in voce elementum. Et haec omnia unum aliquid ita, non ut commune aliquid quod unum sed sicut dictum est.	And indeed they know movement too by the simple movement and the quickest; for this occupies least time. And so in astronomy a one of this sort is the starting-point and measure (for they assume the movement of the heavens to be uniform and the quickest, and judge the others by reference to it), and in music the quarter-tone (because it is the least interval), and in speech the letter. And all these are ones in this sense – not that one is something predicable in the same sense of all of these, but in the sense we have mentioned.
↵ Non semper autem numero unum metrum, verum aliquando plura, ut dieses due, quae non secundum auditum sed in rationibus, et voces plures quibus mensuramus, et diameter duobus mensuratur et latus, et magnitudines omnes. Sic itaque metrum omnium quod unum, quia cognoscimus ex quibus est ↵ substantia, dividentes aut secundum quantitatem aut secundum speciem. Et ideo quod unum indivisibile, quia quod primum * singulorum indivisibile. Non similiter autem omne * indivisibile, ut pes et unitas, sed hoc quidem omnino, illud vero in indivisibilia ad sensum voluit, sicut dictum est iam; nam forsan omne continuum est divisibile.	But the measure is not always one in number – sometimes there are several; e.g. the quarter-tones (not to the ear, but as determined by the ratios) are two, and the articulate sounds by which we measure are more than one, and the diagonal of the square and its side are measured by two quantities, and all spatial magnitudes reveal similar varieties of unit. Thus, then, the one is the measure of all things, because we come to know the elements in the substance by dividing the things either in respect of quantity or in respect of kind. And the one is indivisible just because the first of each class of things is indivisible. But it is not in the same way that every one is indivisible e.g. a foot and a unit; the latter is indivisible in every respect, while the former must be placed among things which are undivided to perception, as has been said already – only to perception, for doubtless every continuous thing is divisible.
Semper autem cognatum est ↵ metrum. Magnitudinum quidem enim magnitudo, et secundum unumquodque longitudinis longitudo, latitudinis latitudo, vocis vox, gravitatis gravitas, unitatum unitas. Sic enim oportet accipere, sed non quod numerorum numerus, et quidem oportebat, si similiter; sed non similiter dignificat, ↵ sed ac si unitatum unitates dignificarent metrum sed non unitatem; numerus autem pluralitas unitatum est.	The measure is always homogeneous with the thing measured; the measure of spatial magnitudes is a spatial magnitude, and in particular that of length is a length, that of breadth a breadth, that of articulate sound an articulate sound, that of weight a weight, that of units a unit. (For we must state the matter so, and not say that the measure of numbers is a number; we ought indeed to say this if we were to use the corresponding form of words, but the claim does not really correspond – it is as if one claimed that the measure of units is units and not a unit; number is a plurality of units.)
Et scientiam autem metrum rerum dicimus et sensum propter idem, quia cognoscimus aliquid ipsis, quoniam mensurantur magis quam mensurant. Sed accidit nobis veluti si alio nos mensurante ↵ cognoscamus quanti sumus per cubitum ad tantum nostri adicere. Protagoras vero hominem omnium ait esse metrum, ƿ ac utique si scientem dicens aut sentientem; hos autem quia ↵ habent hic quidem sensum ille vero scientiam, quae dicimus esse metra eorum quae subiciuntur. Nihil itaque dicentes superhabundans videntur aliquid dicere.	Knowledge, also, and perception, we call the measure of things for the same reason, because we come to know something by them – while as a matter of fact they are measured rather than measure other things. But it is with us as if some one else measured us and we came to know how big we are by seeing that he applied the cubit-measure to such and such a fraction of us. But Protagoras says "man is the measure of all things", as if he had said the man who knows or [53b] the man who perceives ; and these because they have respectively knowledge and perception, which we say are the measures of objects. Such thinkers are saying nothing, then, while they appear to be saying something remarkable.
Quod quidem igitur uni esse maxime est secundum nomen quod determinant metrum quod↵dam, et maxime proprie quantitatis, deinde qualitatis, palam. Erit autem tale hoc quidem si est indivisibile secundum quantitatem, illud autem si secundum qualitatem; propter quod indivisibile est quod unum aut simpliciter aut in quantum unum.	Evidently, then, unity in the strictest sense, if we define it according to the meaning of the word, is a measure, and most properly of quantity, and secondly of quality. And some things will be one if they are indivisible in quantity, and others if they are indivisible in quality; and so that which is one is indivisible, either absolutely or qua one.