Chap. IV. A N T I E N T M E T A P H Y S I C S. 33 



froni capahUity to hahit^ fuch a change heing for the better, and beln"- 

 the perfection of the thing, not the deftrudion, is not faid to be 

 fuffering \ and, in general, that term is not applied, but to a change 

 that is accompanied with fome deQrLi£lion,(p()«^«, as, for example, when 

 black is changed to ivhite^ there is a deflrudtion of the black ; and, 

 in general, when any quality of a fubjc6t is changed, there is a de- 

 ftrudtion of the quality from which the change is. Therefore, in 

 fuch cafes, there is fuffering ; but, in all other changes, there is only 

 alteratioTiy or «AAa<«5-«5, except in the change above mentioned, from 

 none7itity to entity ; for that is not even alteration^ which is only 

 from one fpecies of quality, or accident, to another, the fubjedt re- 

 maining tbe fame *. 



All change mufi: be produced by fomc caufe ; the idea of change 

 :is therefore necelTariiy conneded with the dodrine of caufes j in treat- 

 ing of which, Ariftotle has excelled all the philofophers that went before 

 him ; nor has there been any thing worth obferving added to his difcoveries 

 fince. And, as it belongs to the firft philofophy to know the firft 

 <:au(es and principles of things, it is of neceffity that the metaphyfi- 

 cian fhould know the nature oi 2l cauje^ and be able to diftinguifh 

 the different kinds of them. 



The general idea of a caufe is, That^ ivithout nvhich, another 

 ihing^ called the effed, cannot he ; and it is divided by Arillotle into 

 four kinds, known by the name of the material^ the formal^ the effi- 

 cicnt^ and xh'^ fnal. The firft is, that of which any thing it, made : 

 Thus, hqfs or marble are the material caufes of a flatue \ earthy air, 

 fre, and ivater^ 01 all natural bodies. The formal cauje is the form, 

 idea^ architype-, or pattern of a thing ; for all thefe words Ariftotle ufes 

 to txprefs it. Thus, the idea of the artift is the formal caufe of the 

 ftatue ; ^nd of all natural lubftances, if we do not fuppofe them the 

 work of chance, \.\\^ formal caufe are the ideas of the divine mind ; and 



E this 



t £| HSd^rtareiD^tvoti «j n5(»7r»?ro<«^syflV, t«v «vtou VTrtxHfUJov fittHTtfi See PhiloponuSj 



