And this is the case for any single one of the things that come to be, but it is necessary for something else to be moved previously among the things that come to be, which is itself not something that comes to be, and another before that. If this thing that is increasing is subject to generation, and locomotion increases by the quantity of its motion, locomotion is not eternal; for the body in locomotion has different places, in which, by extending the displacement of its own parts, its movement causes the increase of the motion of locomotion. If locomotion contains its increase in the quantity of its motion, how can it be said that locomotion is prior to the motion of increase? If it is impossible for that which has not begun and is not finite to receive increase by addition, then locomotion, which is always becoming greater in the quantity of its motion, is not without a beginning. If locomotion has its being in coming to be and ceasing to be, then locomotion is not eternal, whose being is always preceded by not-being; for every motion occurs through a change of that which is not yet, but is about to be. If all locomotion is finite with respect to the past, and everything finite has by necessity also begun, and everything that has begun is subject to generation, then locomotion is subject to generation. And if the locomotion is not prior to the body being moved, then the body being moved is also subject to generation. If among eternal things one only moves, and another only is moved eternally with the motion of locomotion, how is it not among the impossible things for that which is without a beginning to be moved with a motion that has a beginning? If that without which none of the others exist is first of the others both in substance and in time, how then is it ungenerated? For it was posited that the first mover is first of all and ungenerated, and moreover that the heaven and the things in the heaven, both appearing and moving, are all ungenerated; which is absurd, to say that something ungenerated is before some eternal thing among the eternal things. If the first mover moves the continuous motion, but it moves neither the motion according to nature nor the motion contrary to nature—the former as being superfluous, as was said, and the latter as being secondary to the motion according to nature—then nothing moves the continuous motion. If, of the eternally moving things, neither is the motion prior to the things being moved, nor are the things being moved prior to the motion, and every motion is according to a change of that which is not yet but is about to be, then all things being moved will have their being from a change of that which is not yet but is about to be. If in the case of one of the things that come to be, locomotion is the last of the motions, but it is necessary for another thing moving with locomotion to be prior, which is also the cause of generation, being ungenerated, how is it possible for the same thing to be the cause of generation according to nature and of generation beyond nature? For the one who first generated was not generated. And yet the thing moved previously was moved in this way at the generation of the thing that first came to be, as it was moved later at the generation of the things from that one. Either, then, that which is thus moved ungeneratedly is not the cause of all generation, or the first mover does not move the continuous motion, since a difference of generation is observed among the things that come to be,
Τὸ δὲ ἐφ' ἑνὸς μὲν ὁτουοῦν τῶν γιγνομένων οὕτως ἔχει, ἀλλ' ἕτερον ἀναγκαῖον πρότερόν τι κινεῖσθαι τῶν γιγνο μένων, ὂν αὐτὸ καὶ μὴ γιγνόμενον, καὶ τούτου ἕτερον πρό τερον. Eἰ τὸ αὐξανόμενον τοῦτό ἐστι γενητόν, αὐξάνει δὲ ἡ φορὰ τῷ ποσῷ τῆς κινήσεως, οὐκ ἀΐδιος ἡ φορά· τὸ γὰρ φερόμενον σῶμα ἔχει τόπους διαφόρους, ἐν οἷς κατατεῖνον τὴν μετάστασιν τῶν αὑτοῦ μερῶν φερόμενον ποιεῖ τῆς κατὰ φορὰν κινήσεως τὴν αὔξησιν. Eἰ ἐν αὑτῇ ἔχει ἡ φορὰ τῷ ποσῷ τῆς κινήσεως τὴν αὔξησιν, πῶς λέγεται ἡ φορὰ τῆς κατ' αὔξησιν κινήσεως εἶναι πρώτη; Eἰ ἀδύνατόν ἐστι τὸ μὴ ἠργμένον καὶ πεπερασμένον δέξασθαι τῇ προσθήκῃ τὴν αὔξη σιν, οὐκ ἄρα ἄναρχος ἡ φορά, τῷ ποσῷ τῆς κινήσεως ἀεὶ μείζων γινομένη. Eἰ ἡ φορὰ ἐν τῷ γίνεσθαι καὶ ἀπογί νεσθαι τὸ εἶναι ἔχει, οὐκ ἄρα ἀΐδιος ἡ φορά, ἧς ἀεὶ προη γεῖται τοῦ εἶναι τὸ μὴ εἶναι· πᾶσα γὰρ κίνησις κατὰ μετα βολὴν γίνεται τοῦ μήπω ὄντος, ἀλλὰ μέλλοντος. Eἰ πᾶσα φορὰ τῷ παρελθόντι πεπερασμένον ἐστί, τὸ δὲ πεπερασμέ νον πᾶν ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ ἠργμένον, τὸ δὲ ἠργμένον πᾶν γε νητόν, γενητὴ ἄρα ἡ φορά. Καὶ εἰ ἡ φορὰ τοῦ φερομένου σώματος οὐκ ἔστι προτέρα, γενητὸν ἄρα καὶ τὸ φερόμενον. Eἰ ἐν τοῖς ἀϊδίοις τὸ μὲν μόνον κινεῖ, τὸ δὲ μόνον κινεῖται ἀϊδίως τὴν κατὰ φορὰν κίνησιν, πῶς οὐκ ἔστι τῶν ἀδυνάτων τὸ ἄναρχον ἠργμένην κινεῖσθαι κίνησιν; Eἰ τὸ οὗ ἄνευ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδέν ἐστι τοῦτο οὐσίᾳ τε καὶ χρόνῳ τῶν ἄλλων πρῶ τόν ἐστι, πῶς οὖν ἐστιν ἀγένητον; Ἐτέθη γὰρ τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν πάντων πρῶτον εἶναι καὶ ἀγένητον, ἔτι δὲ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ φαινόμενά τε καὶ κινούμενα εἶναι ἀγέ νητα πάντα· ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἄτοπον, τὸ λέγειν ἀγένητόν τι εἶναι πρό τινος ἀϊδίου ἐν τοῖς ἀϊδίοις. Eἰ τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν τὴν συνεχομένην κίνησιν κινεῖ, κινεῖ δὲ οὔτε τὴν κατὰ φύσιν οὔτε τὴν παρὰ φύσιν, ἐκείνην μὲν ὡς περιττήν, καθὼς ἐῤ ῥέθη, ταύτην δὲ ὡς δευτέραν οὖσαν τῆς κατὰ φύσιν κινήσεως, οὐκ ἄρα κινεῖ τὴν συνεχῆ κίνησιν οὐδέν. Eἰ τῶν ἀϊδίων κινουμένων οὔτε ἡ κίνησις προτέρα τῶν κινουμένων, οὔτε τὰ κινούμενα πρότερα τῆς κινήσεως, ἔστι δὲ ἡ κίνησις πᾶσα κατὰ μεταβολὴν τοῦ μήπω ὄντος ἀλλὰ μέλλοντος, ἔσται ἄρα τὰ κινούμενα πάντα ἐκ μεταβολῆς τοῦ μήπω ὄντος, ἀλλὰ μέλλοντος, τὸ εἶναι ἔχοντα. Eἰ ἐφ' ἑνὸς τῶν γινομένων ἡ φορὰ ὑστάτη τῶν κινήσεων, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη ἕτερον κινούμενον κατὰ φορὰν εἶναι πρότερον, ὃ καὶ τῆς γενέσεως αἴτιον ἀγέ νητον ὄν, πῶς ἐνδέχεται τὸ αὐτὸ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν γενέσεως αἴτιον εἶναι, καὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν γενέσεως; Ὁ γὰρ πρώ τως γεννήσας οὐκ ἐγεννήθη. Καίτοι τὸ πρότερον κινού μενον οὕτως ἐκινεῖτο ἐπὶ τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ πρώτως γινομέ νου, ὡς ὕστερον ἐκινήθη ἐπὶ τῆς γενέσεως τῶν ἐξ ἐκείνου. Ἢ ἄρα οὐκ ἔστιν αἴτιον τῆς πάσης γενέσεως τὸ οὕτως κι νούμενον ἀγενήτως, ἢ οὐ κινεῖ τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν τὴν συνεχῆ κίνησιν, διαφορᾶς γενέσεως ἐν τοῖς γιγνομένοις θεωρουμένης,