210 W. A. WALLACE 



to educe them from potency to act, as would be the case if 

 they were produced through alteration.^^ 



In this division, then, the first group of accidents are such 

 that, when not present in the subject, the subject is simply 

 in potency to them. This means for Theodoric that even when 

 all impediments are removed, they are still not actually present 

 in the subject, but require an extrinsic agent to educe them 

 from potency to act, and this agent further presupposes a 

 subject already existing with this potency.'* The second class 

 of accidents, found in the organic world, also presupposes a 

 subject already constituted in a determined species. Since, 

 however, they come to be from some causal principle within 

 the subject itself, they likewise are not made actually present 

 by the generator, although their principle is from the gene- 

 rator.^' As to the third class — which is of main interest here 

 insofar as it includes gravity and levity — it is manifest that 

 their subjects are not simply in potency to them, although it 

 might happen that the subject be accidentally in potency to 

 them should they be blocked by an impediment, if the accident 

 be of such type that it could be impeded. But in any case 

 they do not require an essential mover to educe them from 

 potency to act. They are already generated with the species, 

 and their essential mover was the generator while actually 

 generating.'^ 



^^Cap. 39, M 17vb, T 185r, U 145vb. 



" Cap. 40, M 18ra, T 185r, U 146ra. 



" Ibid. 



^^ Cap. 41, M ISra, T 185r-v, U 146ra-b: Ea autem que sunt tercii generis, 

 secundum es que predicta sunt de hoc genere, manifestum est quod res habens suam 

 completam speciem non est in potencia simpliciter et per se ad aliquam talium disposi- 

 cionem, sed forte erit in potencia secundum accidens, scilicet propter impedimentum, 

 si fuerit talis disposicio cui possit accidere impedimentum. . . . Hinc est quod 

 gravia et levia habencia suam speciem non moventur nisi a motore accidentali qui est 

 removens prohibens, et non a generante, si vere et proprie loquamur de huiusmodi 

 motis et motuum eorum principiis. Sed tunc solummodo et vere moventur a gene- 

 rante ad huiusmodi naturalia accidencia, cum per mocionem generantis secundum 

 substanciam exeunt de potencia ad actum sue forme substancialis. Actio enim 

 generantis, ut predictum est, simul terminatur ad speciem rei et huiusmodi per se 

 accidencia. . . . 



