284 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IL 



CHAP. XX. 



Chance numbered among the Caufes of Things — NeccJJary to inquire 

 ivhat fort of o Caufe it is — The common Opinion concerning Chance — 

 A Thing not by accident, hecauje ive do not knonv the Caufe of it — Ex^ 

 ajnplcs of that in the Weather, Dice, and Cards — Chance refers to an 

 End propo/ed by Nature or Man — Examples of this — Ihings happen- 

 inght{\(\ts that End not ahv ays fortuitous — Examples of this — Fortui- 

 tous, and by accident, not the fame — Different Names gi'uen, in Greek, 

 to ivhat happens befides the End intended by Nature, and that ivhich 

 is int elided by Man — Definition of Chance from the foregoing Invefti- 

 gilt ion — Conjequence of this Doctrine (p/^ Chance. 



HAVING faid fo much of caifes In general, and oi mind in 

 particular, before I conclude this Book, 1 will give fome account 

 of one caufe hitherto not mentioned, but which, by certain philofo- 

 phers, is thought the caufe of every thing in the univerle, and, by al- 

 iDofl: every body, is held to be the caufe of very many things that 

 daily happen, and particularly in human life ; I mean chance. And 

 it will not appear unconneded with mind, which I have infilled fo 

 much upon, if it be true, as I think it is, what Ariftotle fays, that 

 chance neccfljrily fuppofes mind, which is firft in the order of things, 

 and chance only an acceffory to it ; for Ariflotle, among many other 

 things that he has added to philofophy, is the firft, as far as I know, 

 who has given any rational and philofophical account of what is 



called 



