§1.7#2φανερὸν οὖν ὡς, εἴπερ εἰσὶν αἰτίαι καὶ ἀρχαὶ τῶν
φύσει ὄντων, ἐξ ὧν πρώτων εἰσὶ καὶ γεγόνασι μὴ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἀλλʼ ἕκαστον ὃ λέγεται κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν, ὅτι γίγνεται πᾶν ἔκ τε τοῦ ὑποκειμένου καὶ τῆς μορφῆς·
Therefore, it is clear that, if indeed there are causes and principles of things which exist by nature, from which first they exist and have come to be not by accident but each as what is spoken of according to its substance, everything comes to be from both the subject and the form.
σύγκειται γὰρ ὁ μουσικὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἀνθρώπου καὶ μουσικοῦ τρόπον τινά· διαλύσεις γὰρ εἰς τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐκείνων.
For the musical human is composite in a way of human and musical; for you will analyze it into the definitions of those.
δῆλον οὖν ὡς γίγνοιτʼ ἂν τὰ γιγνόμενα ἐκ τούτων.
It is clear, then, that things which come to be would come to be from these.
ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν ὑποκείμενον ἀριθμῷ μὲν ἕν, εἴδει δὲ δύο (ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ χρυσὸς καὶ ὅλως ἡ ὕλη ἀριθμητή· τόδε γάρ τι μᾶλλον, καὶ οὐ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γίγνεται τὸ γιγνόμενον· ἡ δὲ στέρησις καὶ ἡ ἐναντίωσις συμβεβηκός· ἓν δὲ τὸ εἶδος, οἷον ἡ τάξις ἢ ἡ μουσικὴ ἢ τῶν ἄλλων τι τῶν οὕτω κατηγορουμένων.
But the subject is one in number, though two in form (for human, gold, and in general matter is countable; for it is more of a 'this particular thing', and that which comes to be does not come to be from it by accident; whereas privation and contrariety are accidental); but the form is one, such as order or music or any of the other things thus predicated.
διὸ ἔστι μὲν ὡς δύο λεκτέον εἶναι τὰς ἀρχάς, ἔστι δʼ ὡς τρεῖς· καὶ ἔστι μὲν ὡς τἀναντία, οἷον εἴ τις λέγοι τὸ μουσικὸν καὶ τὸ ἄμουσον ἢ τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ψυχρὸν ἢ τὸ ἡρμοσμένον καὶ τὸ ἀνάρμοστον, ἔστι δʼ ὡς οὔ ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων γὰρ πάσχειν τἀναντία ἀδύνατον.
Therefore, in one way the principles must be said to be two, and in another way three; and in one way they are the contraries, as if one were to say the musical and the unmusical, or the hot and the cold, or the tuned and the untuned, but in another way they are not; for it is impossible for contraries to be acted upon by one another.
λύεται δὲ καὶ τοῦτο διὰ τὸ ἄλλο εἶναι τὸ ὑποκείμενον· τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ ἐναντίον.
And this is also resolved because the subject is something else; for this is not contrary.
ὥστε οῦτε πλείους τῶν ἐναντίων αἱ ἀρχαὶ τρόπον τινά, ἀλλὰ δύο ὡς εἰπεῖν τῷ ἀριθμῶ, οὔτʼ οὖ παντελῶς δύο διὰ τὸ ἕτερον ὑπάρχειν τὸ εἶναι αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ τρεῖς· ἕτερον γὰρ τὸ ἀνθρώπῳ καὶ τὸ ἀμούσῳ εἶναι, καὶ τὸ ἀσχηματίστῳ καὶ χαλκῷ.
So that the principles are in a way not more than the contraries, but two in number, so to speak, yet on the other hand not entirely two because their being is different, but three; for being a human is different from being unmusical, and being shapeless is different from being bronze.
πόσαι μὲν οὖν αἱ ἀρχαὶ τῶν περὶ γένεσιν φυσικῶν,
καὶ πῶς ποσαί, εἴρηται· καὶ δῆλόν ἐστιν ὅτι δεῖ ὑπὸκεῖσθαί τι τοῖς ἐναντίοις καὶ τἀναντία δύο εἶναι.
How many, then, are the principles of natural things concerning coming to be, and in what way they are so many, has been said; and it is clear that something must underlie the contraries and that the contraries must be two.
τρόπον δέ τινα ἄλλον οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον· κανὸν γὰρ ἔσται τὸ ἕτερον τῶν ἐναντίων ποιεῖν τῇ ἀπουσίᾳ καὶ παρουσίᾳ τὴν μεταβολήν.
But in another way it is not necessary; for one of the contraries will be sufficient to produce the change by its absence and presence.
ἡ δὲ ὑποκειμένη φύσις ἐπιστητὴ κατʼ ἀναλογίαν.
But the underlying nature is knowable by analogy.
ὡς γὰρ πρὸς ἀνδριάντα χαλκὸς ἢ πρὸς κλίνην ξύλον ἢ πρὸς τῶν ἄλλων τι τῶν ἐχόντων μορφὴν τὸ ἄμορφον ἔχει πρὶν λαβεῖν τὴν μορφήν, οὕτως αὕτη πρὸς οὐσίαν ἔχει καὶ τὸ τόδε τι καὶ τὸ ὄν.
For as bronze is to a statue, or wood to a bed, or the shapeless before receiving form to any other of the things that have form, so this stands to substance, to the 'this particular thing', and to being.
μία μὲν οὖν ἀρχὴ αὕτη, οὐχ οὕτω μία οὖσα οὐδὲ οὕτως ὂν ὡς τὸ τόδε τι, μία δὲ ἧς ὁ λόγος, ἔτι δὲ τὸ ἐναντίον τούτῳ, ἡ στέρησις.
This, then, is one principle, though not being one nor being in the same way as a 'this particular thing', but one of which there is a definition, and furthermore its contrary, privation.
ταῦτα δὲ πῶς δύο καὶ πῶς πλείω, εἴρηται ἐν τοῖς ἄνω.
How these are two and how more, has been said above.
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἐλέχθη ὅτι ἀρχαὶ τἀναντία μόνον, ὕστερον δʼ ὅτι ἀνάγκη καὶ ἄλλο τι ὑποκεῖσθαι καὶ εἶναι τρία· ἐκ δὲ τῶν νῦν φανερὸν τίς ἡ διαφορὰ τῶν ἐναντίων, καὶ πῶς ἔχουσιν αἱ ἀρχαὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλας, καὶ τί τὸ ὑποκείμενον.
First, then, it was said that only the contraries are principles, but later that there must also be something else underlying and they must be three; and from what has been said now, it is clear what the difference is between the contraries, how the principles are related to each other, and what the subject is.
πότερον δὲ οὐσία τὸ εἶδος ἢ τὸ ὑποκείμενον, οὔπω δῆλον.
But whether form or the subject is substance is not yet clear.
ἀλλʼ ὅτι αἱ ἀρχαὶ τρεῖς καὶ πῶς τρεῖς, καὶ τίς ὁ τρόπος αὐτῶν, δῆλον.
But that the principles are three, and how they are three, and what their manner is, is clear.
πόσαι μὲν οὖν καὶ τίνες εἰσὶν αἱ ἀρχαί, ἐκ τούτων θεωρείσθωσαν.
How many, then, and what the principles are, let them be examined from these.