§12.10#1ἐπισκεπτέον δὲ καὶ ποτέρως ἔχει ἡ τοῦ ὅλου φύσις τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ ἄριστον, πότερον κεχωρισμένον τι καὶ αὐτὸ καθʼ αὑτό, ἢ τὴν τάξιν. ἢ ἀμφοτέρως ὥσπερ στράτευμα;
We must also investigate in which of the two ways the nature of the whole contains the good and the best: whether as something separate and by itself, or as the order of the parts, or in both ways, like an army.
καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ τάξει τὸ εὖ καὶ ὁ στρατηγός, καὶ μᾶλλον οὗτος· οὐ γὰρ οὗτος διὰ τὴν τάξιν ἀλλʼ ἐκείνη διὰ τοῦτόν ἐστιν.
For the well-being of an army is found both in its order and in its general, and more especially in the latter; for the general does not exist because of the order, but the order because of him.
πάντα δὲ συντέτακταί πως, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁμοίως, καὶ πλωτὰ καὶ πτηνὰ καὶ φυτά· καὶ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει ὥστε μὴ εἶναι θατέρῳ πρὸς θάτερον μηδέν, ἀλλʼ ἔστι τι.
And all things are ordered together in some way, but not in the same way, both swimming things and flying things and plants; and things are not in such a condition that there is no relation between one thing and another, but there is some relation.
πρὸς μὲν γὰρ ἓν ἅπαντα συντέτακται, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν οἰκίᾳ τοῖς ἐλευθέροις ἥκιστα ἔξεστιν ὅ τι ἔτυχε ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἢ τὰ πλεῖστα τέτακται, τοῖς δὲ ἀνδραπόδοις καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις μικρὸν τὸ εἰς τὸ κοινόν, τὸ δὲ πολὺ ὅ τι ἔτυχεν· τοιαύτη γὰρ ἑκάστου ἀρχὴ αὐτῶν ἡ φύσις ἐστίν.
For all things are ordered together toward one goal; but it is as in a household, where the free men have the least freedom to do as they happen to do, but all or most of their actions are ordered, while the slaves and beasts can do little for the common good, but for the most part do what they happen to do; for the nature of each of them is a principle of this sort.
λέγω δʼ οἷον εἴς γε τὸ διακριθῆναι ἀνάγκη ἅπασιν ἐλθεῖν, καὶ ἄλλα οὕτως ἔστιν ὧν κοινωνεῖ ἅπαντα εἰς τὸ ὅλον.
I mean, for example, that all must at least come to be dissolved, and there are other things of this kind in which all share for the whole.
—ὅσα δὲ ἀδύνατα συμβαίνει ἢ ἄτοπα τοῖς ἄλλως λέγουσι, καὶ ποῖα οἱ χαριεστέρως λέγοντες, καὶ ἐπὶ ποίων ἐλάχισται ἀπορίαι, δεῖ μὴ λανθάνειν.
But we must not fail to notice what impossible or absurd consequences result for those who speak otherwise, and what views are held by those who speak more elegantly, and in which views there are the fewest difficulties.
πάντες γὰρ ἐξ ἐναντίων ποιοῦσι πάντα.
For all thinkers make all things out of contraries.
οὔτε δὲ τὸ πάντα οὔτε τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίων ὀρθῶς, οὔτʼ ἐν ὅσοις τὰ ἐναντία ὑπάρχει, πῶς ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων ἔσται, οὐ λέγουσιν· ἀπαθῆ γὰρ τὰ ἐναντία ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων.
But neither "all things" nor "out of contraries" is correct; nor do they explain how, in the things in which contraries are present, things will come to be out of the contraries; for contraries cannot be acted upon by one another.
ἡμῖν δὲ λύεται τοῦτο εὐλόγως τῷ τρίτον τι εἶναι.
For us, however, this is solved in a reasonable way by the fact that there is a third thing.
οἱ δὲ τὸ ἕτερον τῶν ἐναντίων ὕλην ποιοῦσιν, ὥσπερ οἱ τὸ ἄνισον τῷ ἴσῳ ἢ τῷ ἑνὶ τὰ πολλά.
But others make one of the contraries matter, as those do who make the unequal matter for the equal, or the many for the one.
λύεται δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον· ἡ γὰρ ὕλη ἡ μία οὐδενὶ ἐναντίον.
But this also is solved in the same way; for the single matter is contrary to nothing.
ἔτι ἅπαντα τοῦ φαύλου μεθέξει ἔξω τοῦ ἑνός· τὸ γὰρ κακὸν αὐτὸ θάτερον τῶν στοιχείων.
Further, all things except the One will participate in the bad; for the bad itself is one of the two elements.
οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι οὐδʼ ἀρχὰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ κακόν· καίτοι ἐν ἅπασι μάλιστα τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀρχή.
Other thinkers do not even make the good and the bad principles; yet in all things the good is pre-eminently a principle.
οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ὀρθῶς ὅτι ἀρχήν, ἀλλὰ πῶς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀρχὴ οὐ λέγουσιν, πότερον ὡς τέλος ἢ ὡς κινῆσαν ἢ ὡς εἶδος.
Others, again, are right in holding that the good is a principle, but they do not say how the good is a principle, whether as an end, or as a mover, or as form.
ἀτόπως δὲ καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς· τὴν γὰρ φιλίαν ποιεῖ τὸ ἀγαθόν, αὕτη δʼ ἀρχὴ καὶ ὡς κινοῦσα (συνάγει γάρ) καὶ ὡς ὕλη· μόριον γὰρ τοῦ μίγματος.
Empedocles also speaks absurdly; for he makes Love the Good, but this is a principle both as a mover (for it binds together) and as matter, since it is a part of the mixture.
εἰ δὴ καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ συμβέβηκεν καὶ ὡς ὕλῃ ἀρχῇ εἶναι καὶ ὡς κινοῦντι, ἀλλὰ τό γʼ εἶναι οὐ ταὐτό.
Now even if it belongs to the same thing to be a principle both as matter and as a mover, still their being is not the same.
κατὰ πότερον οὖν φιλία;
In respect of which of these, then, is Love a principle?
ἄτοπον δὲ καὶ τὸ ἄφθαρτον εἶναι τὸ νεῖκος· τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶν αὐτῷ ἡ τοῦ κακοῦ φύσις.
It is also absurd that Strife should be imperishable; but this is for him the very nature of the bad.