§2.10#2Ἀεὶ δ᾿, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, συνεχὴς ἔσται ἡ γένεσις καὶ ἡ φθορά, καὶ οὐδέποτε ὑπολείψει δι᾿ ἣν εἴπομεν αἰτίαν.
And, as has been said, generation and destruction will always be continuous, and will never fail for the cause we have mentioned.
τοῦτο δ᾿ εὐλόγως συμβέβηκεν· ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐν ἅπασιν ἀεὶ τοῦ βελτίονος ὀρέγεσθαί φαμεν τὴν φύσιν, βέλτιον δὲ τὸ εἶναι ἢ τὸ μὴ εἶναι (τὸ δ᾿ εἶναι ποσαχῶς λέγομεν, ἐν ἄλλοις εἴρηται), τοῦτο δ᾿ ἀδύνατον ἐν ἅπασιν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὸ πόρρω τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀφίστασθαι, τῷ λειπομένῳ τρόπῳ συνεπλήρωσε τὸ ὅλον ὁ θεός, ἐνδελεχῆ3 ποιήσας τὴν γένεσιν· οὕτω γὰρ ἐν μάλιστα συνείροιτο τὸ εἶναι διὰ τὸ ἐγγύτατα εἶναι τῆς οὐσίας τὸ γίνεσθαι ἀεὶ καὶ τὴν γένεσιν.
And this has happened reasonably; for since we say that nature in all things always desires the better, and to be is better than not to be (in how many ways we speak of 'to be' has been said in other places), but this is impossible to belong to all things because of their standing far off from the principle, God completed the whole in the remaining way, by making generation uninterrupted3; for in this way 'to be' would be most closely linked together, because coming to be always and generation is closest to substance.
τούτου δ᾿ αἴτιον, ὥσπερ εἴρηται πολλάκις, ἡ κύκλῳ φορά· μόνη γὰρ συνεχής.
And the cause of this, as has been said many times, is the circular locomotion; for it alone is continuous.
διὸ καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα μεταβάλλει εἰς ἄλληλα κατὰ τὰ πάθη καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις, οἶον τὰ ἀπλᾶ σώματα, μιμεῖται τὴν κύκλῳ φοράν· ὅταν γὰρ ἐξ ὕδατος ἀὴρ γένηται καὶ ἐξ ἀέρος πῦρ καὶ πάλιν ἐκ πυρὸς ὕδωρ, κύκλῳ φαμὲν περιεληλυθέναι τὴν γένεσιν διὰ τὸ πάλιν ἀνακάμπτειν.
Wherefore also all the other things which change into one another according to their affections and powers, such as the simple bodies, imitate the circular locomotion; for when air comes to be from water, and fire from air, and again water from fire, we say that generation has gone round in a circle, because of its bending back again.
ὥστε καὶ ἡ εὐθεῖα φορὰ μιμουμένη τὴν κύκλῳ συνεχής ἐστιν.
So that even the straight locomotion, by imitating the circular, is continuous.
Ἅμα δὲ δῆλον ἐκ τούτων ὅ τινες ἀποροῦσιν, διὰ τί, ἑκάστου τῶν σωμάτων εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν φερομένου χώραν, ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ χρόνῳ οὐ διεστᾶσι τὰ σώματα.
At the same time, from these things is clear what some people puzzle over, why, since each of the bodies is carried to its own place, the bodies do not stand apart in infinite time.
αἴτιον γὰρ τούτου ἐστὶν ἡ εἰς ἄλληλα μετάβασις· εἰ γὰρ ἕκαστον ἔμενεν ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ χώρᾳ καὶ μὴ μετέβαλλεν ὑπὸ τοῦ πλησίον, ἤδῃ ἄν διεστήκεσαν.
For the cause of this is their transition into one another; for if each remained in its own place and did not change under the influence of its neighbor, they would have stood apart already.
μεταβάλλει μὲν οὖν διὰ τὴν φορὰν διπλῆν οὖσαν· διὰ δὲ τὸ μεταβάλλειν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται μένειν οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ἐν οὐδεμιᾷ χώρᾳ εταγμένῃ.
They change, then, because of the locomotion which is double; and because of their changing, it is not possible for any of them to remain in any ordained place.
Διότι μὲν οὖν ἔστι γένεσις καὶ φθορὰ καὶ διὰ τίν᾿ αἰτίαν, καὶ τί τὸ γενητὸν καὶ φθαρτόν, φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων.
Therefore, that there is generation and destruction, and for what cause, and what is the generable and destructible, is manifest from what has been said.
ἐπεὶ δ᾿ ἀνάγκη εἶναί τι τὸ κινοῦν, εἰ κίνησις ἔσται, ὥσπερ εἴρηται πρότερον τερον ἐν ἑτέροις, καὶ εἰ ἀεί, ὅτι ἀεί τι δεῖ εἶναι, καὶ εἰ συνεχής, ἓν τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἀκίνητον καὶ ἀγένητον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον· καὶ εἰ πλείους εἶεν αἱ κύκλῳ κινήσεις, πλείους μέν, πάσας δέ πως εἶναι ταύτας ἀνάγκη ὑπὸ μίαν ἀρχήν· συνεχοῦς δ᾿ ὄντος τοῦ χρόνου ἀνάγκη τὴν κίνησιν συνεχῆ εἶναι, εἶπερ ἀδύνατον χρόνον χωρὶς κινήσεως εἶναι.
But since it is necessary that there is something which moves, if there is to be motion, as has been said before in other places, and if always, that there must always be something, and if continuous, that it is one and the same, unmoved, ungenerated, and unaltered; and if the circular motions were many, though many, it is necessary that all of these are somehow under one principle; and, since time is continuous, it is necessary that motion is continuous, if indeed it is impossible for time to be without motion.
συνεχοῦς ἄρα τινὸς ἀριθμὸς ὁ χρόνος, τῆς κύκλῳ ἄρα, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἐν ἀρχῇ λόγοις διωρίσθη.
Time, then, is the number of some continuous thing, and therefore of the circular motion, just as was determined in our discussions at the beginning.
συνεχὴς δ᾿ ἡ κίνησις πότερον τῷ τὸ κινούμενον συνεχὲς εἶναι ἢ τῷ τὸ ἐν ᾧ κινεῖται, οἶον τὸν τόπον λέγω ἢ τὸ πάθος;
But is motion continuous because the thing moved is continuous, or because that in which it is moved (I mean, for instance, the place or the affection) is continuous?
δῆλον δὴ ὅτι τῷ τὸ κινούμενον· πῶς γὰρ τὸ πάθος συνεχὲς ἀλλ᾿ ἢ τῷ τὸ πρᾶγμα ᾧ συμβέβηκε συνεχὲς εἶναι;
Clearly, then, because the thing moved is continuous; for how is the affection continuous except because the thing to which it happens is continuous?
εἰ δὲ καὶ τῷ ἐν ὧ, μόνῳ τοῦτο τῷ τόπῳ ὑπάρχει· μέγεθος γάρ τι ἔχει.
And if also because of that in which it is moved, this belongs to place alone; for it has some magnitude.
τούτου δὲ τὸ κύκλῳ μόνον συνεχές, ὥστε αὐτὸ αὐτῷ ἀεὶ συνεχές.
But of this, only the circular is continuous, so that it is always continuous with itself.
τοῦτο ἄρα ἐστὶν ὃ ποιεῖ συνεχῆ κίνησιν, τὸ κύκλῳ σῶμα φερόμενον· ἡ δὲ κίνησις τὸν χρόνον.
This, then, is what makes motion continuous, namely the body carried along in a circle; and motion makes time continuous.