is in potentiality, but not in actuality; but the amount taken always exceeds any definite quantity. But this number is not definite, nor does infinity remain but it comes to be, just as time and the number of time. If infinity does not remain but it comes to be, just as time and the number of time, then nothing infinite is ungenerated. And if everything infinite is generated, then all other things in which the infinite is said to be are also generated. If what happens to the infinite of necessity happens to those things in which infinity exists, and it happens to the infinite to come to be and to be begun, then time is generated and has a beginning; and likewise also motion, of which time is the number. 23. From the fourth book of the same treatise. For that which is not is nowhere. How then is matter, being nothing, being neither substance nor a being nor a 'this something'? 24. From the same book. And Hesiod would seem to speak correctly, having made Chaos first. For he says, "Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth," as if it were necessary for a place to exist first for beings, because of the belief, like that of the many, that all things are somewhere and in a place. And if it is such, the power of place would be something marvelous and prior to all things; for that without which nothing else exists, must of necessity be first of all other things. If, therefore, place is first and the things in place are later by natural necessity, as Hesiod said and Aristotle testified to the correctness of the argument, how is it not among the impossibilities to say that the heaven, which is in place, is ungenerated? For this is equivalent to saying that the generated is before the ungenerated. 25. From the same book. First, then, one must understand that place would not be sought, if there were not motion with respect to place; for it is for this reason that we think heaven especially is in place, because it is always in motion. If it is impossible for the ungenerated to need the movable both for its being and for its being moved, then it is impossible for the heaven to be ungenerated; for it needs place both for its being and for its being moved. 20. From the same book. For place has magnitude, but no body. If place has finite intervals and magnitude, then place is generated; but if infinite, then either in potentiality or in actuality. But if in potentiality, then place is generated, just as time and the number of time; but if in actuality, then the argument is false that says that nothing can be actually infinite. If it is by some providence that place is what it is and has what it has, then place is generated and of the
μέν ἐστιν, ἐνεργείᾳ δὲ οὔ· ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ὑπερβάλλει τὸ λαμβα νόμενον παντὸς ὡρισμένου πλήθους. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁριστὸς οὗτος ὁ ἀριθμός, οὐδὲ μένει ἡ ἀπειρία ἀλλὰ γίνεται, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ χρόνος καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς τοῦ χρόνου. Eἰ οὐ μένει ἡ ἀπειρία ἀλλὰ γίνεται, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ χρόνος καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς τοῦ χρόνου, οὐδὲν ἄρα ἄπειρον ἀγένητον. Eἰ δὲ πᾶν ἄπειρον γενητόν, γενητὰ ἄρα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ἐν οἷς λέγεται εἶναι τὸ ἄπειρον. Eἰ τὸ συμβαῖνον τῷ ἀπείρῳ ἐξ ἀνάγκης συμβαίνει κκείνοις ἐν οἷς ἐστιν ἡ ἀπειρία, συμ βαίνει δὲ τῷ ἀπείρῳ τὸ γενέσθαι καὶ τὸ εἶναι ἠργμένον, γε νητὸς ἄρα ὁ χρόνος καὶ ἠργμένος· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἡ κίνησις, ἧς ὁ χρόνος ἐστὶν ἀριθμός. κγ. Ἐκ τοῦ τετάρτου λόγου τῆς αὐτῆς πραγματείας. Τὸ γὰρ μὴ ὂν οὐδαμοῦ εἶναι. Πῶς οὖν ἡ ὕλη μηδὲν οὖσα, μήτε οὖσα μήτε ὂν μήτε τόδε τι; κδ. Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. ∆όξειε δ' ἂν καὶ Ἡσίοδος ὀρθῶς λέγειν, ποιήσας πρῶ τον τὸ χάος. Λέγει γοῦν Πάντων μὲν πρώτιστα χάος γέ νετ', αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα γαῖ' εὐρύστερνος", ὡς δέον πρῶτον ὑπάρ ξαι χώραν τοῖς οὖσι, διὰ τὸ νομίζειν, ὥσπερ οἱ πολλοί, πάντα εἶναί που καὶ ἐν τόπῳ. Eἰ δέ ἐστι τοιοῦτον, θαυ μαστή τις ἂν εἴη ἡ τοῦ τόπου δύναμις καὶ προτέρα πάν των· οὗ γὰρ ἄνευ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδέν ἐστιν, ἐκεῖνο τῶν ἄλλων ἀνάγκη πρῶτον εἶναι. Eἰ τοίνυν πρῶτος ὁ τόπος καὶ ὕστερα τὰ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ φυσικῇ ἀνάγκῃ, καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ Ἡσίοδος καὶ ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης προσεμαρτύρησε τῇ τοῦ λόγου ὀρθότητι, πῶς οὐκ ἔστι τῶν ἀδυνάτων τὸ τὸν ὄντα ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὐρανὸν λέγειν ἀγένητον; Τοῦτο γὰρ ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ λέγειν πρὸ τοῦ ἀγενήτου εἶναι τὸ γενητόν. κε. Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν δεῖ κατανοῆσαι ὅτι οὐκ ἂν ἐζητεῖτο ὁ τόπος, εἰ μὴ ἡ κίνησις ἦν ἡ κατὰ τὸν τόπον· διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν οἰόμεθα μάλιστα ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, ὅτι ἀεὶ ἐν κινήσει. Eἰ ἀδύνατόν ἐστι τὸ ἀγένητον πρὸς τὸ εἶναί τε καὶ πρὸς τὸ κινηθῆναι δεῖσθαι τοῦ κινητοῦ, ἀδύνατον ἄρα τὸν οὐρανὸν εἶναι ἀγένητον· ἐπιδέεται γὰρ τοῦ τόπου πρὸς τὸ εἶναί τε καὶ πρὸς τὸ κινηθῆναι. κ. Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. Μέγεθος μὲν γὰρ ἔχει ὁ τόπος, σῶμα δὲ οὐθέν. Eἰ μὲν πεπερασμένα ἔχει ὁ τόπος τὰ διαστήματα καὶ τὸ μέγεθος, γενητὸς ἄρα ὁ τόπος· εἰ δὲ ἄπειρα, ἢ ἄρα δυ νάμει ἢ ἐνεργείᾳ. Ἀλλὰ εἰ μὲν δυνάμει, ἔστι γενητὸς ἄρα ὁ τόπος, ὥσπερ ὁ χρόνος καὶ ὁ τοῦ χρόνου ἀριθμός· εἰ δὲ ἐνεργείᾳ, ψευδὴς ἄρα ὁ λόγος ὁ λέγων μηδὲν ἐνεργείᾳ δύνα σθαι εἶναι ἄπειρον. Eἰ κατὰ μὲν πρόνοιάν τινός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος ὅ ἐστι καὶ ἔχει ὃ ἔχει, γενητὸς ἄρα ὁ τόπος καὶ τῆς