ii6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book n. 



and httvcixt and yo»^6ui and 5i«».«^:?«; ; but, from what I have fald, I hope 

 the meaning of all the terms upon this fubjed is fufficiently diftin- 



gulfhed, fuch as «<7.^««r<f, (Pxvtxficc, N«yj, vv*?^r>^it, ^txvoix, h^x, and tTTitrliifi^. A& 



to the terms jufl: now mentioned, vBdtri^xt and lixvoetf^xt, there can be no 

 difficulty in underftanding them, if we know what Nov? and ^,«t-w» are : 

 As little in underftanding what v«,j5-<,-, P(»i1#s, 5'««vov)t«, ^o|xe-1«,and t^iFinrx', for all 

 thefe words, by the analogy of the Greek language, have a determi- 

 ned fignlfication in reference to the verb from which thjy are derived ; 

 the firft, for example, fignifylng the adion of the verb, the reft de- 

 noting the fubjeds of that adion : And it is only to be obferved with 

 refped to vc-yirx, or the fubjeds of intelled, that they are of two kinds, 

 the one, material things, as they exift in nature ; but which, by the 

 operation of the mmd, that we call abflra^iotiy {upca^tTi-,, in the lan- 

 guage of Ariftotle), are made objeds of the intelled. Of this kind 

 are all mathematical entitles, and indeed almoft all the fubjeds of 

 fcience- The other kind of vcvtrx are immaterial fubftances, which ex.- 

 ift feparately from all matter, and therefore have no need to be ab- 

 ftraded from it by fo artificial an operation of our mind : For it may 

 be obferved, that though thefe abjira5led beings are not, as I have al- 

 ready obferved *, what the fchoolmen call entia raiionis^, yet they have 

 not the fame real exiftence that either corporeal or incorporeal fub- 

 ftances have. 



The abftradlon by which we form thofe notions, Is another opera- 

 tion of the human mtelleH^ which deferves our particular attention ; 

 for it is, as I have fliown, the foundation ot all the other operations ; 

 becaufe it b by it that intelled creates, as it were, fubjeds for itfelf, 

 and the firft fubjeds upon which it operates ; for the other kind of vo>,- 

 T^., that Is, immaterial fubftances, come not to be the objeds of intel- 

 le^l, till it has been for a long time exercifed upon the ideas of nb- 

 firaBion : And, though imititig be no doubt, as Ariftotle has obferved, 

 the great work of intelle8-\, yet it Is evident, from what Ijiave: 



faid 



* I'age 53. 



t Orig. and Prog, of Lang. vol. i. book i. cap. 6. p. 61. edit. 2. 



