Works of Aristotle, Vol. 2 (Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption)

time the holders of the theory of which we are speaking do
incidentally raise physical questions, though Nature is not
their subject : so it will perhaps be as well to spend a few
words on them, especially as the inquiry is not without
scientific interest.

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20 }The most pertinent question with which to begin will be
this : underlinedIn what sense is it asserted that all things are one?
For 'is' is used in many senses. Do they mean that all
things 'are' substance or quantities or qualities? And, further,
are all things one substance—one man, one horse, or one
25soul—or quality and that one and the same—white or hot
or something of the kind ? These are all very different
doctrines and all impossible to maintain.

}For if both substance and quantity and quality are, then,
whether these exist independently of each other or not,
Being will be many.

If on the other hand it is asserted that all things are
quality or quantity, then, whether substance exists or not,
30 [an absurdity results, if indeed the impossible can properly
be called absurd. For none of the others can exist in-
dependently : underlinedsubstance alone is independent ; for everything
is predicated of substance as subject. Now Melissus says
that Being is circledinfinite. It is then a quantity. For the
infinite is in the category of quantity, whereas substance
or quality or affection cannot be infinite except through