§5.2#1αἴτιον λέγεται ἕνα μὲν τρόπον ἐξ οὗ γίγνεταί τι ἐνυπάρχοντος, οἷον ὁ χαλκὸς τοῦ ἀνδριάντος καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος τῆς φιάλης καὶ τὰ τούτων γένη· ἄλλον δὲ τὸ εἶδος καὶ τὸ παράδειγμα, τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ τί ἦν εἶναι καὶ τὰ τούτου γένη (οἷον τοῦ διὰ πασῶν τὸ δύο πρὸς ἓν καὶ ὅλως ὁ ἀριθμός) καὶ τὰ μέρη τὰ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ. ἔτι ὅθεν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἡ πρώτη ἢ τῆς ἠρεμήσεως, οἷον ὁ βουλεύσας αἴτιος, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ τέκνου καὶ ὅλως τὸ ποιοῦν τοῦ ποιουμένου καὶ τὸ μεταβλητικὸν τοῦ μεταβάλλοντος. ἔτι ὡς τὸ τέλος· τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα, οἷον τοῦ περιπατεῖν ἡ ὑγίεια.
"Cause" means: (1) in one sense, that from which, as something inherent, a thing comes to be, for example, the bronze of the statue, the silver of the bowl, and the genera of these; (2) in another sense, the form or the pattern, and this is the formula (logos) of the essence (the what-it-was-to-be) and its genera (for example, of the octave, the relation of two to one, and number in general) and the parts in the formula; (3) further, that from which the first beginning of change or of rest comes, for example, the adviser is a cause, and the father is cause of the child, and in general the maker is cause of what is made, and that which causes change of that which is changed; (4) further, as the end (telos); and this is that for the sake of which, for example, health is the cause of walking.
διὰ τί γὰρ περιπατεῖ;
For why does he walk?
φαμέν. ἵνα ὑγιαίνῃ. καὶ εἰπόντες οὕτως οἰόμεθα ἀποδεδωκέναι τὸ αἴτιον.
We say, "in order to be healthy," and in speaking thus we think we have given the cause.
καὶ ὅσα δὴ κινήσαντος ἄλλου μεταξὺ γίγνεται τοῦ τέλους, οἷον τῆς ὑγιείας ἡ ἰσχνασία ἢ ἡ κάθαρσις ἢ τὰ φάρμακα ἢ τὰ ὄργανα· πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τοῦ τέλους ἕνεκά ἐστι, διαφέρει δὲ ἀλλήλων ὡς ὄντα τὰ μὲν ὄργανα τὰ δʼ ἔργα.
And also whatever things come to be between the moving cause and the end, for example, in the case of health, thinning, purging, drugs, or instruments; for all these are for the sake of the end, though they differ from one another in that some are instruments and others are actions.
τὰ μὲν οὖν αἴτια σχεδὸν τοσαυταχῶς λέγεται, συμβαίνει δὲ πολλαχῶς λεγομένων τῶν αἰτίων καὶ πολλὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ αἴτια εἶναι οὐ κατὰ συμβεβηκός (οἷον τοῦ ἀνδριάντος καὶ ἡ ἀνδριαντοποιητικὴ καὶ ὁ χαλκὸς οὐ καθʼ ἕτερόν τι ἀλλʼ ᾗ ἀνδριάς· ἀλλʼ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ὡς ὕλη τὸ δʼ ὡς ὅθεν ἡ κίνησις), καὶ ἀλλήλων αἴτια (οἷον τὸ πονεῖν τῆς εὐεξίας καὶ αὕτη τοῦ πονεῖν· ἀλλʼ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ὡς τέλος τὸ δʼ ὡς ἀρχὴ κινήσεως).
Causes, then, are spoken of in about so many ways, and since they are spoken of in many ways, it follows that there are many causes of the same thing, and not accidentally (for example, both the art of sculpture and the bronze are causes of the statue, not in virtue of anything else but qua statue; yet not in the same way, but the one as matter, the other as that from which the motion comes); and things can be causes of each other (for example, laboring is the cause of good condition, and this of laboring; yet not in the same way, but the one as end, the other as beginning of motion).
ἔτι δὲ ταὐτὸ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐστίν· ὃ γὰρ παρὸν αἴτιον τουδί, τοῦτʼ ἀπὸν αἰτιώμεθα ἐνίοτε τοῦ ἐναντίου, οἷον τὴν ἀπουσίαν τοῦ κυβερνήτου τῆς ἀνατροπῆς, οὗ ἦν ἡ παρουσία αἰτία τῆς σωτηρίας· ἄμφω δέ, καὶ ἡ παρουσία καὶ ἡ στέρησις, αἴτια ὡς κινοῦντα. —ἅπαντα δὲ τὰ νῦν εἰρημένα αἴτια εἰς τέτταρας τρόπους πίπτει τοὺς φανερωτάτους.
Further, the same thing is the cause of contraries; for that which by its presence is the cause of this, we sometimes blame by its absence for the contrary, for example, the absence of the pilot for the shipwreck, of whom the presence was the cause of safety; and both, the presence and the privation, are causes as moving things. — All the causes now mentioned fall into four most obvious classes.
τὰ μὲν γὰρ στοιχεῖα τῶν συλλαβῶν καὶ ἡ ὕλη τῶν σκευαστῶν καὶ τὸ πῦρ καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάντα τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τὰ μέρη τοῦ ὅλου καὶ αἱ ὑποθέσεις τοῦ συμπεράσματος ὡς τὸ ἐξ οὗ αἴτιά ἐστιν· τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν ὡς τὸ ὑποκείμενον, οἷον τὰ μέρη, τὰ δὲ ὡς τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, τό τε ὅλον καὶ ἡ σύνθεσις καὶ τὸ εἶδος.
For the letters of syllables, the matter of manufactured things, fire and earth and all such things of bodies, the parts of the whole, and the hypotheses of the conclusion are causes as "that from which" things come to be; and of these, some are causes as the substrate (for example, the parts), others as the essence (the what-it-was-to-be), namely, the whole, the synthesis, and the form.