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Aristotle Bilingual Anthology : GOD

from Aristotle's Metaphysics, * 1072a21-1073a12, translated by W. D. Ross, Greek Fonts


ELPENOR EDITIONS IN PRINT
Page 3

That a final cause may exist among unchangeable entities is shown by the distinction of its meanings. For the final cause is (a) some being for whose good an action is done, and (b) something at which the action aims; and of these the latter exists among unchangeable entities though the former does not. The final cause, then, produces motion as being loved, but all other things move by being moved. Now if something is moved it is capable of being otherwise than as it is. Therefore if its actuality is the primary form of spatial motion, then in so far as it is subject to change, in this respect it is capable of being otherwise,-in place, even if not in substance. But since there is something which moves while itself unmoved, existing actually, this can in no way be otherwise than as it is. For motion in space is the first of the kinds of change, and motion in a circle the first kind of spatial motion; and this the first mover produces. The first mover, then, exists of necessity; and in so far as it exists by necessity, its mode of being is good, and it is in this sense a first principle. For the necessary has all these senses-that which is necessary perforce because it is contrary to the natural impulse, that without which the good is impossible, and that which cannot be otherwise but can exist only in a single way.

ὅτι δ΄ ἔστι τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα ἐν τοῖς ἀκινήτοις͵ ἡ διαίρεσις δηλοῖ· ἔστι γὰρ τινὶ τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα καὶ τινός͵ ὧν τὸ μὲν ἔστι τὸ δ΄ οὐκ ἔστι. κινεῖ δὴ ὡς ἐρώμενον͵ κινούμενα δὲ τἆλλα κινεῖ. εἰ μὲν οὖν τι κινεῖται͵ ἐνδέχεται καὶ ἄλλως ἔχειν͵ ὥστ΄ εἰ [ἡ] φορὰ πρώτη ἡ ἐνέργειά ἐστιν͵ ᾗ κινεῖται ταύτῃ γε ἐνδέχεται ἄλλως ἔχειν͵ κατὰ τόπον͵ καὶ εἰ μὴ κατ΄ οὐσίαν· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔστι τι κινοῦν αὐτὸ ἀκίνητον ὄν͵ ἐνεργείᾳ ὄν͵ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἄλλως ἔχειν οὐδαμῶς. φορὰ γὰρ ἡ πρώτη τῶν μεταβολῶν͵ ταύτης δὲ ἡ κύκλῳ· ταύτην δὲ τοῦτο κινεῖ. ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἄρα ἐστὶν ὄν· καὶ ᾗ ἀνάγκῃ͵ καλῶς͵ καὶ οὕτως ἀρχή. τὸ γὰρ ἀναγκαῖον τοσαυταχῶς͵ τὸ μὲν βίᾳ ὅτι παρὰ τὴν ὁρμήν͵ τὸ δὲ οὗ οὐκ ἄνευ τὸ εὖ͵ τὸ δὲ μὴ ἐνδεχόμενον ἄλλως ἀλλ΄ ἁπλῶς.

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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/aristotle_god.asp?pg=3