There is a farther difficulty to be noticed. How are you to define any matter not simple but essentially compound, where two or more elements coalesce into an indivisible whole, like hollow-nosedness out of nose and hollowness. Here we have hollow-nosedness and hollowness belonging to the nose per se, not as an affection or accessory; not as white belongs to Kallias or man, but as male belongs to animal, or equal to quantity, i.e., per se (p. 1030, b. 20). The subject is implicated with the predicate in one name, and you cannot enunciate the one apart from the other. Such predicates belong to their subject per se, but in a different sense (see Bonitz’s note). You cannot properly define them, in the sense given above (b. 27). If definitions of such are to be admitted, it must be in a different sense: Definition and τ.η.ε. being recognized both of them as πολλαχῶς λεγόμενα. Definition therefore is the mode of explanation which declares the τ.η.ε., and belongs to Essences, either exclusively, or at least primarily, directly, and chiefly (p. 1031, a. 7-14).
We have now to enquire — Whether each particular thing, and its τ.η.ε., are the same, or different (p. 1031, a. 15). This will assist us in the investigation of Essence; for apparently each thing is not different from its own Essence, and the τ.η.ε. is said to be the Essence of each thing.
In regard to subjects enunciated per accidens, the above two would seem to be distinct. White man is different from the being a white man. If these two were the same, the being a man would be the same as the being a white man; for those who hold this opinion affirm that man, and white man, are the same; and, if this be so, of course the being a man must also be the same as the being a white man. Yet this last inference is not necessary; for same is used in a different sense, when you say, Man and white man are the same, and when you say, The being a man and the being a white man are the same. But perhaps you may urge that the two predicates may become the same per accidens (i.e., by being truly predicated of the same subject); and that, because you say truly, Sokrates is white — Sokrates is musical, therefore you may also say truly, The being white is the same as the being musical. But this will be denied (δοκεῖ δ’ οὔ — p. 1031, a. 28).
In regard to subjects enunciated per se, the case is otherwise: here each thing is the same with its τ.η.ε. Suppose, e.g., there exist any Essentiæ (such as Plato and others make the Ideas) prior to all others; in that case, if the αὐτοαγαθόν were distinct from τὸ ἀγαθῷ εἶναι, and the αὐτοζῷον distinct from τὸ ζῴῳ εἶναι, there must be other Essences and Ideas anterior to the Platonic Ideas. If we believe τ.η.ε. to be Essentia, it must be an Essentia anterior and superior in dignity to these Ideas of Plato. Moreover, if the Essentiæ or Ideas, and the τ.η.ε., be disjoined (ἀπολελυμέναι — p. 1031, b. 3), the first will be uncognizable, and the last will be non-existent (τὰ δ’ οὐκ ἔσται — b. 4). For to have cognition of a thing, is, to know its τ.η.ε. This will be alike true of all τ.η.ε.; all of them are alike existent or alike non-existent (b. 9). If τὸ ὄντι εἶναι be not identical with τὸ ὄν, neither is τὸ ἀγαθῷ εἶναι identical with τὸ ἀγαθόν, &c. But that of which τὸ ἀγαθῷ εἶναι is not truly predicable, is not ἀγαθόν (b. 11).
Hence we see that of necessity τὸ ἀγαθόν is one and the same with τὸ ἀγαθῷ εἶναι; likewise τὸ καλόν, with τὸ καλῷ εἶναι; and so in all cases where the term enunciates a subject primarily and per se, not a predicate of some other and distinct subject (p. 1031, b. 13: ὅσα μὴ κατ’ ἄλλο λέγηται, ἀλλὰ καθ’ αὑτὰ καὶ πρῶτα). This last is the characteristic and sufficient mark, even if the Platonic Ideas be not admitted; and even more evidently so, if they be admitted (b. 14). It is at the same time clear that, if the Ideas be what Plato declares them to be, the individual perceivable subjects here cannot be Essences; for the Ideas are necessarily Essences, but not as predicable of a subject. If they were Essences, in this last sense, they would be Essences per participationem; which is inconsistent with what is said about them by Plato (ἔσονται γὰρ κατὰ μέθεξιν — b. 18).
These reasonings show that each separate thing, enunciated per se and not per accidens, is the same with its τ.η.ε.; that to know each thing, is, to know its τ.η.ε.; that, if you proceed to expose or lay them out, both are one and the same (ὥστε κατὰ τὴν ἔκθεσιν ἀνάγκη ἕν τι εἶναι ἄμφω — p. 1031, b. 21; with Bonitz’s explanation of ἔκθεσις in his Note).
But that which is enunciated per accidens (e.g., album, musicum) cannot be truly affirmed to be one and the same with its τ.η.ε., because it has a double signification: it signifies both the accident and the subject to which such accident belongs; so that in a certain aspect it is identical with its τ.η.ε., and in another aspect it is not identical therewith (p. 1031, b. 26). The being a man, and the being a white man, are not the same; but the subject for affection is the same in both (b. 28: οὐ ταὐτὸ, πάθει δὲ ταὐτό — obscure). The absurdity of supposing, that the τ.η.ε. of a thing is different from the thing itself, would appear plainly, if we gave a distinct name to the τ.η.ε. For there must be another τ.η.ε. above this, being the τ.η.ε. of the first τ.η.ε.; and it would be necessary to provide a new name for the second τ.η.ε.; and so forward, in an ascending march ad infinitum. What hinders us from admitting some things at once, as identical with their τ.η.ε., if the τ.η.ε. be Essentia? (b. 31). We see from the preceding reasoning that not only the thing itself is the same with its τ.η.ε., but that the rational explanation (λόγος) of both is the same; for One, and the being One, are one and the same not per accidens, but per se (p. 1032, a. 2). If they were different, you would have to ascend to a higher τ.η.ε. of the being One; and above this, to a higher still, without end (a. 4).
It is therefore clear that, in matters enunciated per se and primarily, each individual thing is one and the same with its τ.η.ε. The refutations brought by the Sophists against this doctrine, and the puzzles which they start, e.g., Whether Sokrates and the being Sokrates are the same, — may be cleared up by the explanations just offered (p. 1032, a. 8). It makes no difference what particular questions the objector asks: one is as easy to solve as another (a. 10).
Of things generated, some come by Nature, some by Art, some Spontaneously. All generated things are generated out of something, by something, and into or according to something (p. 1032, a. 12). The word something applies to each and all the Categories. Natural generation belongs to all the things whose generation comes from Nature (ἐκ φύσεως); having τὸ ἐξ οὗ — what we call Matter, τὸ ὑφ’ οὗ — one of the things existing by nature (τῶν φύσει τι ὄντων — a. 17), and τὸ τί, such as a man, a plant, or the like, which we call Essences in the fullest sense (μάλιστα οὐσίας). All things generated either by Nature or Art have Matter: it is possible that each of them may be, or may not be; and this is what we call Matter in each (a. 20). As an universal truth (καθόλου), Nature includes (1) That out of which, or Matter; (2) That according to which (καθ’ ὅ), every thing which is generated having a definite nature or Form, such as plant or animal; That by which, or nature characterized according to the Form, being the same Form as the thing generated but in another individual; for a man begets a man (a. 24).
The other generations are called Constructions (ποιήσεις), which are either from Art, or from Power, or from Intelligence. It is with these as with natural generations: some of them occur both by spontaneity and by chance (καὶ ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου καὶ ἀπὸ τύχης — p. 1032, a. 29; the principle of these last is apparently δύναμις, the second of the three principia announced just before (?)); both in the one and in the other, some products arise without seed as well as with seed, which we shall presently advert to.