56 AMONG THE GREEKS. 



chance/ even as it does not appear to be fortune or 

 chance that it frequently rains in winter. ... If these 

 things appear to be either by chance, or to be for 

 some purpose, — and we have shown that they can- 

 not be by chance, — then it follows that they must 

 be for some purpose. There is, therefore, a pur- 

 pose in things which are produced by, and exist 

 from, Nature. 



e. A Sequence of Purposive Productions. 



Since, also. Nature is twofold, consisting of mat- 

 ter and of form, the latter being an end for the sake 

 of which the rest subsists, form will also be a cause 

 for the sake of which natural productions subsist. 

 . . . Further still, it is necessary (i.e. according to 

 law) that germs should have been first produced, and 

 not immediately animals ; and that soft mass which 

 first subsisted was the germ. In plants, also, there 

 is purpose, but it is less distinct ; and this shows 

 that plants were produced in the same manner as 

 animals, not by chance, as by the union of olives 

 upon grape vines. Similarly, it may be argued, 

 that there should be an accidental generation (or 

 production) of the germs of things, but he who 

 asserts this subverts Nature herself, for Nature 

 produces those things which, being continually 

 moved by a certain principle contained in them,- 

 selves, arrive at a certain end. 



1 Compare Darwin : " I have spoken of variations sometimes as if they 

 were due to chance. This is a wholly incorrect expression; it merely serves 

 to acknowledge plainly our ignorance of the cause of each particular variation." 



