Chapter 62

The term to have is used in eight senses. Thus, either it will be as with a habit and disposition, or with some other quality, for we are said to have knowledge and virtue. Or it will be as with a quantity, for a piece of wood is said to have a length of three cubits. Or it will be as with a substance around a substance, which is a most general genus, and which may be around the whole body like a tunic or around some part thereof like a ring on the finger. Or it will be as with a part in a whole, for we are said to have a hand. Or as with something in a receptacle, as we say that the jar has wine in it. Or as with possessions, for we are said to have a house or a field. Moreover, we are also said to have a wife, and the wife is said to have a husband, but this kind of things seems to be different from having, because it is convertible. Thus, it no more means the husband having a wife than a wife having a husband, because, both being equal and without difference, neither prevails over the other. And even though the owner has possessions and the possessions have an owner, this is not the same as in the case of a man having a wife and a wife having a husband. This is because the owner is absolute possessor and controller of his possessions. For this reason, it is more properly said that the owner has his possessions, whereas the possessions are had.

It is clear that having is one of the equivocal terms. There are, furthermore, some who say that there are as many differences of having as there are of action and passion. Thus, just as the things which act and are acted upon will either be animate or inanimate, so is it in this case—that which has and that which is had will either be animate or inanimate. How, then, will diverse genera have the same differences? Well, one can reply that having is either around the whole object or around a part thereof, and, again, this: that it is either a means of defense or an ornament.

[49] {Περὶ τοῦ ἔχειν.} Τὸ ἔχειν κατὰ ὀκτὼ τρόπους λέγεται: _ἢ γὰρ ὡς ἕξιν ἢ διάθεσιν ἢ ἄλλην ποιότητα: λεγόμεθα γὰρ ἔχειν ἐπιστήμην καὶ ἀρετήν. _ἢ ὡς ποσόν: λέγεται γὰρ τρίπηχυ μέγεθος ἔχειν τὸ ξύλον. _ἢ ὡς οὐσίαν περὶ οὐσίαν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ γενικώτατον γένος. Τοῦτο δέ_ἢ περὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα ὡς χιτών_ἢ περί τι μέρος ὡς δακτύλιος ἐν δακτύλῳ_ἢ ὡς μέρος ἐν ὅλῳ: λεγόμεθα γὰρ ἔχειν χεῖρα: _ἢ ὡς ἐν ἀγγείῳ, ὡς λέγομεν οἶνον ἔχειν τὸ κεράμιον, _ἢ ὡς κτῆμα: λεγόμεθα γὰρ οἰκίαν ἔχειν ἢ ἀγρόν, λεγόμεθα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκα ἔχειν, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἄνδρα ἔχειν. Ἔοικε δὲ οὗτος ὁ τρόπος ἀλλότριος εἶναι τοῦ ἔχειν, ἐπειδὴ ἀντιστρέφει: οὐδὲν γὰρ μᾶλλον σημαίνει ἔχειν τὸν ἄνδρα γυναῖκα ἢ τὴν γυναῖκα ἄνδρα, οὐδὲ γὰρ ἕτερον ἑτέρου ἐπικρατεῖ, ἀλλ' ἴσως καὶ ἀδιαφόρως ἔχουσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ κτήτωρ ἔχει κτῆμα καὶ τὸ κτῆμα κτήτορα καὶ ἀντιστρέφει, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἀνὴρ γυναῖκα καὶ γυνὴ ἄνδρα: ὁ γὰρ κτήτωρ αὐτοκρατὲς καὶ κυριώτατόν ἐστι τοῦ κτήματος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον ὁ μὲν κτήτωρ ἔχειν λέγεται, τὸ δὲ κτῆμα ἔχεσθαι. Δῆλον δέ, ὅτι τὸ ἔχειν τῶν ὁμωνύμων ἐστί. Τινὲς τὰς αὐτὰς διαφορὰς λέγουσι τοῦ ἔχειν, ὅσας καὶ τοῦ ποιεῖν καὶ τοῦ πάσχειν: ὡς γὰρ τὰ ποιοῦντα καὶ πάσχοντα ἢ ἔμψυχά ἐστιν ἢ ἄψυχα, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἢ ἔμψυχόν ἐστι τὸ ἔχον καὶ τὸ ἐχόμενον ἢ ἄψυχον. Πῶς οὖν τῶν διαφόρων γενῶν αἱ αὐταὶ διαφοραὶ ἔσονται; Ἀλλ' ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὸ ἔχον ἢ περὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμά ἐστιν ἢ περὶ μέρος, καὶ πάλιν τοῦτο ἢ ἀμυντήριόν ἐστιν ἢ κόσμος.