Sincethatwhichiscompoundedoutofsomethingsothatthe
wholeisone，notlikeaheapbutlikeasyllable-nowthesyllable
isnotitselements，baisnotthesameasbanda，norisflesh
fireandearthforwhentheseareseparatedthewholes，i。e。the
fleshandthesyllable，nolongerexist，buttheelementsofthe
syllableexist，andsodofireandearth；thesyllable，then，is
something-notonlyitselementsthevowelandtheconsonantbutalso
somethingelse，andthefleshisnotonlyfireandearthorthehot
andthecold，butalsosomethingelse:-if，then，thatsomethingmust
itselfbeeitheranelementorcomposedofelements，1ifitisan
elementthesameargumentwillagainapply；forfleshwillconsist
ofthisandfireandearthandsomethingstillfurther，sothatthe
processwillgoontoinfinity。But2ifitisacompound，clearly
itwillbeacompoundnotofonebutofmorethanoneorelsethat
onewillbethethingitself，sothatagaininthiscasewecanuse
thesameargumentasinthecaseoffleshorofthesyllable。Butit
wouldseemthatthis’other’issomething，andnotanelement，and
thatitisthecausewhichmakesthisthingfleshandthatasyllable。
Andsimilarlyinallothercases。Andthisisthesubstanceofeach
thingforthisistheprimarycauseofitsbeing；andsince，while
somethingsarenotsubstances，asmanyasaresubstancesareformed
inaccordancewithanatureoftheirownandbyaprocessofnature，
theirsubstancewouldseemtobethiskindof’nature’，whichisnot
anelementbutaprinciple。Anelement，ontheotherhand，isthat
intowhichathingisdividedandwhichispresentinitasmatter；
e。g。aandbaretheelementsofthesyllable。
WEmustreckonuptheresultsarisingfromwhathasbeensaid，and
computethesumofthem，andputthefinishingtouchtoourinquiry。
Wehavesaidthatthecauses，principles，andelementsofsubstances
aretheobjectofoursearch。Andsomesubstancesarerecognizedby
everyone，butsomehavebeenadvocatedbyparticularschools。Those
generallyrecognizedarethenaturalsubstances，i。e。fire，earth，
water，air，&c。，thesimplebodies；secondplantsandtheirparts，and
animalsandthepartsofanimals；andfinallythephysicaluniverse
anditsparts；whilesomeparticularschoolssaythatFormsandthe
objectsofmathematicsaresubstances。Butthereareargumentswhich
leadtotheconclusionthatthereareothersubstances，theessence
andthesubstratum。Again，inanotherwaythegenusseemsmore
substantialthanthevariousspccies，andtheuniversalthanthe
particulars。AndwiththeuniversalandthegenustheIdeasare
connected；itisinvirtueofthesameargumentthattheyare
thoughttobesubstances。Andsincetheessenceissubstance，and
thedefinitionisaformulaoftheessence，forthisreasonwehave
discusseddefinitionandessentialpredication。Sincethedefinition
isaformula，andaformulahasparts，wehadtoconsideralsowith
respecttothenotionof’part’，whatarepartsofthesubstanceand
whatarenot，andwhetherthepartsofthesubstancearealsopartsof
thedefinition。Further，too，neithertheuniversalnorthegenusisa
substance；wemustinquirelaterintotheIdeasandtheobjectsof
mathematics；forsomesaythesearesubstancesaswellasthesensible
substances。
Butnowletusresumethediscussionofthegenerallyrecognized
substances。Thesearethesensiblesubstances，andsensiblesubstances
allhavematter。Thesubstratumissubstance，andthisisinonesense
thematterandbymatterImeanthatwhich，notbeinga’this’
actually，ispotentiallya’this’，andinanothersensetheformula
orshapethatwhichbeinga’this’canbeseparatelyformulated，and
thirdlythecomplexofthesetwo，whichaloneisgeneratedand
destroyed，andis，withoutqualification，capableofseparate
existence；forofsubstancescompletelyexpressibleinaformula
someareseparableandsomeareseparableandsomearenot。
Butclearlymatteralsoissubstance；forinalltheopposite
changesthatoccurthereissomethingwhichunderliesthechanges，
e。g。inrespectofplacethatwhichisnowhereandagainelsewhere，
andinrespectofincreasethatwhichisnowofonesizeandagain
lessorgreater，andinrespectofalterationthatwhichisnow
healthyandagaindiseased；andsimilarlyinrespectofsubstance
thereissomethingthatisnowbeinggeneratedandagainbeing
destroyed，andnowunderliestheprocessasa’this’andagain
underliesitinrespectofaprivationofpositivecharacter。Andin
thischangetheothersareinvolved。Butineitheroneortwoofthe
othersthisisnotinvolved；foritisnotnecessaryifathinghas
matterforchangeofplacethatitshouldalsohavematterfor
generationanddestruction。
Thedifferencebetweenbecominginthefullsenseandbecoming
inaqualifiedsensehasbeenstatedinourphysicalworks。
Sincethesubstancewhichexistsasunderlyingandasmatteris
generallyrecognized，andthisthatwhichexistspotentially，it
remainsforustosaywhatisthesubstance，inthesenseof
actuality，ofsensiblethings。Democritusseemstothinkthereare
threekindsofdifferencebetweenthings；theunderlyingbody，the
matter，isoneandthesame，buttheydiffereitherinrhythm，i。e。
shape，orinturning，i。e。position，orininter-contact，i。e。
order。Butevidentlytherearemanydifferences；forinstance，some
thingsarecharacterizedbythemodeofcompositionoftheirmatter，
e。g。thethingsformedbyblending，suchashoney-water；andothersby
beingboundtogether，e。g。bundle；andothersbybeinggluedtogether，
e。g。abook；andothersbybeingnailedtogether，e。g。acasket；and
othersinmorethanoneoftheseways；andothersbyposition，e。g。
thresholdandlintelforthesedifferbybeingplacedinacertain
way；andothersbytime，e。g。dinnerandbreakfast；andothersby
place，e。g。thewinds；andothersbytheaffectionspropertosensible
things，e。g。hardnessandsoftness，densityandrarity，drynessand
wetness；andsomethingsbysomeofthesequalities，othersbythem
all，andingeneralsomebyexcessandsomebydefect。Clearly，
then，theword’is’hasjustasmanymeanings；athingisa
thresholdbecauseitliesinsuchandsuchaposition，anditsbeing
meansitslyinginthatposition，whilebeingicemeanshavingbeen
solidifiedinsuchandsuchaway。Andthebeingofsomethingswill
bedefinedbyallthesequalities，becausesomepartsofthemare
mixed，othersareblended，othersareboundtogether，othersare
solidified，andothersusetheotherdifferentiae；e。g。thehandor
thefootrequiressuchcomplexdefinition。Wemustgrasp，then，the
kindsofdifferentiaeforthesewillbetheprinciplesofthebeing
ofthings，e。g。thethingscharacterizedbythemoreandtheless，or
bythedenseandtherare，andbyothersuchqualities；forall
theseareformsofexcessanddefect。Andanythingthatis
characterizedbyshapeorbysmoothnessandroughnessischaracterized
bythestraightandthecurved。Andforotherthingstheirbeing
willmeantheirbeingmixed，andtheirnotbeingwillmeanthe
opposite。
Itisclear，then，fromthesefactsthat，sinceitssubstanceis
thecauseofeachthing’sbeing，wemustseekinthesedifferentiae
whatisthecauseofthebeingofeachofthesethings。Nownoneof
thesedifferentiaeissubstance，evenwhencoupledwithmatter，yetit
iswhatisanalogoustosubstanceineachcase；andasinsubstances
thatwhichispredicatedofthematteristheactualityitself，inall
otherdefinitionsalsoitiswhatmostresemblesfullactuality。
E。g。ifwehadtodefineathreshold，weshouldsay’woodorstone
insuchandsuchaposition’，andahouseweshoulddefineas
’bricksandtimbersinsuchandsuchaposition’，orapurposemay
existaswellinsomecases，andifwehadtodefineiceweshould
say’waterfrozenorsolidifiedinsuchandsuchaway’，andharmony
is’suchandsuchablendingofhighandlow’；andsimilarlyinall
othercases。
Obviously，then，theactualityortheformulaisdifferentwhen
thematterisdifferent；forinsomecasesitisthecomposition，in
othersthemixing，andinotherssomeotheroftheattributeswe
havenamed。Andso，ofthepeoplewhogoinfordefining，thosewho
defineahouseasstones，bricks，andtimbersarespeakingofthe
potentialhouse，forthesearethematter；butthosewhopropose’a
receptacletoshelterchattelsandlivingbeings’，orsomethingofthe
sort，speakoftheactuality。Thosewhocombinebothofthesespeakof
thethirdkindofsubstance，whichiscomposedofmatterandformfor
theformulathatgivesthedifferentiaeseemstobeanaccountof
theformoractuality，whilethatwhichgivesthecomponentsisrather
anaccountofthematter；andthesameistrueofthekindof
definitionswhichArchytasusedtoaccept；theyareaccountsofthe
combinedformandmatter。E。g。whatisstillweather？Absenceof
motioninalargeexpanseofair；airisthematter，andabsenceof
motionistheactualityandsubstance。Whatisacalm？Smoothnessof
sea；thematerialsubstratumisthesea，andtheactualityorshapeis
smoothness。Itisobviousthen，fromwhathasbeensaid，whatsensible
substanceisandhowitexists-onekindofitasmatter，anotheras
formoractuality，whilethethirdkindisthatwhichiscomposedof
thesetwo。
Wemustnotfailtonoticethatsometimesitisnotclear
whetheranamemeansthecompositesubstance，ortheactualityor
form，e。g。whether’house’isasignforthecompositething，’a
coveringconsistingofbricksandstoneslaidthusandthus’，orfor
theactualityorform，’acovering’，andwhetheralineis’twonessin
length’or’twoness’，andwhetherananimalissoulinabody’or’a
soul’；forsoulisthesubstanceoractualityofsomebody。’Animal’
mightevenbeappliedtoboth，notassomethingdefinablebyone
formula，butasrelatedtoasinglething。Butthisquestion，while
importantforanotherpurpose，isofnoimportancefortheinquiry
intosensiblesubstance；fortheessencecertainlyattachestothe
formandtheactuality。For’soul’and’tobesoul’arethesame，
but’tobeman’and’man’arenotthesame，unlesseventhebare
soulistobecalledman；andthusononeinterpretationthething
isthesameasitsessence，andonanotheritisnot。
Ifweexaminewefindthatthesyllabledoesnotconsistofthe
lettersjuxtaposition，noristhehousebricksjuxtaposition。
Andthisisright；forthejuxtapositionormixingdoesnotconsistof
thosethingsofwhichitisthejuxtapositionormixing。Andthe
sameistrueinallothercases；e。g。ifthethresholdis
characterizedbyitsposition，thepositionisnotconstitutedby
thethreshold，butratherthelatterisconstitutedbytheformer。Nor
ismananimalbiped，buttheremustbesomethingbesidesthese，if
thesearematter，-somethingwhichisneitheranelementinthewhole
noracompound，butisthesubstance；butthispeopleeliminate，and
stateonlythematter。If，then，thisisthecauseofthething’s
being，andifthecauseofitsbeingisitssubstance，theywillnot
bestatingthesubstanceitself。