Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 3 



were either feparated from matter^ or united with it *. And, accor- 

 ding to this divifion of things, they divided fpecidative ph'ilofophy^ 

 which, they faid, was either phyfics^ the fubjed: whereof were 

 things infeparablefrom matter^ both as they exifted in nature, and ac- 

 cording to our conception of them ; — or rnetaphyfics^ the fubjedl of 

 which was, what is entirely feparated from viatter^ both in its own 

 nature, and according to our conception of it ")'. 



Betwixt thefe they placed a third fcience, viz. Mathematics ; the fub- 

 je(Sl of which Vas, what did not exlft feparated from matter In its 

 own nature, but was, by the ad: of our minds, abftracted from mat- 

 ter^ and confidercd as exiPiing feparately : So that it was in one rc- 

 fpedl feparated from matter^ in another not feparated ; and, therefore, 

 was confidered by the antients as a fcience lying betwixt the other 

 two, and participating in fome fort of each. Of this kind they confi- 

 dered number Sindfgure to be ; the firft, being the fubje<5l of arithme- 

 tic, the fecond of geometry J, 



Mind, 



* The former of thefe Ariftotle calls x'^^cttcc, or uv.v r-za vxvig. The other he calls 

 ■«;)ij«g<ff-T6«, or ^iru. ryii Cxyh. Arifl. mctaphyf. lib. 6. chap. i. 



t Ariflotle, ibid. Where he fays, that the fubjeds of phyfics are, both by their na- 

 ture, and by our conceptions of them, fo much joined with matter^ that we cannot 

 define them, or give any account of them without it. For, fays he, we cannot tell 

 -what bone, flefli, a root, a leaf, bark, or, in general, what an animal or vegetable 

 is, without taking into our confideration the matter of which they are compofed, as 

 well as the form. 



X See Ariftotle in the paffage above quoted. See alfo Ammonius Hermeius's in- 

 troduftion to his comnuntary upon the ^ve ivcrds of Pcij.hyry, where he has ex- 

 plained this whole matter very fully and diflindly. Among other things, he tells u^, 

 that the mind, contemplating a circle, for example, of wood, or brafs, takes off, as 

 it were, i\\e foryn of it, without the matter^ as wax takes the impreflion of a feal : 



'><iu. ii\ -^fiiTi^Yi y.ai ix,o^ui)i Tcoi^' U-jtoh ^i^.'^ t«; vAi;j, ucrvf^ei xt^^of ;.«€»/ To iKTwrufta rev ^kktv 



