The Metaphysics of Aristotle

than for the ignorance it displays; for either he never read these books, or he read them without attention. He read them not with the eye of a philosopher, but with that ambitious spirit which seeks fame in innovation and applause in singularity. That this censure is no less just than severe will be immediately obvious from the following observations.

According to Dr. Gillies, that book of the Metaphysics which was considered by the ancients as the 5th should stand as the 1st. The 10th book is, for him, the 2nd; the 2nd and 4th are the 3rd; the 1st and 3rd are the 4th; the 6th, 7th, and 11th are the 5th; the 8th is the 6th; the 9th is the 7th; the 13th is the 8th; the 14th is the 9th; and the 12th is the 10th. A reader moderately skilled in the philosophy of Aristotle, upon seeing the metaphysical writings of the StagiriteA common epithet for Aristotle, who was born in Stagira. thus disposed, would imagine that Dr. Gillies—when he disturbed the order of these books—had just emerged from the "Chaos" of Milton, attended by Confusion and Uproar, Rumor and Chance, Havoc and Ruin. For, in the first place, in the second chapter of the 10th book, Aristotle quotes what he has said in the 7th book: "If," says he, "nothing of universals can be essence, as we have asserted in our discourses respecting essence and being, etc."original: "Ει δε μηδεν των καθολου δυνατον ουσιαν ειναι, καθαπερ εν τοις περι ουσίας, και τοι περι του οντος ειρηται λογοις, κ.τ.λ." (If it is impossible for any universal to be an essence, as has been said in our discussions concerning essence and being, etc.) The reader will find that this is asserted by Aristotle in the 7th book, and that he there discourses concerning being and essence. Thus, according to Dr. Gillies, since this 10th book should stand as the 2nd, and the 7th as the 5th in order, Aristotle either quotes a book which he had not yet written, or was ignorant that when one book depends on another, the dependent book should be placed prior to the one on which it depends! Again: according to Dr. Gillies, that book which was considered as the 4th by the ancients ought