=To Establish that not One of the Faculties of the Soul Originates
out of a Combination (Blending) of the Elements, but on the
contrary Comes upon Them from Outside.=
All the various things that are, however composite they may be,
and whatever form may have come about in the compound, will be (a)
either inclining towards some one of the forms of the simples, or
else will not be so. And if they be not so inclining, they will be
(b) either resulting from an aggregate (or mean) of the forms of the
simples, according to the degree of disproportion and deviation of the
constituents from equality, or else (c) they will not be assimilated to
any one of the simples, but there will be made (generated, produced)
a form exceeding the requirement of the forms of the simples, both in
regard to the measure of its simplicity and in regard to the measure
of its complexity. An example of the first division is the bitterish
taste on compounding aloe, which is overpoweringly bitter, and honey,
which is feebly sweet. An example of the second division is the color
grey, holding an equal relationship to both of the extremes (contrasts)
blackness and whiteness, which results on compounding a white and a
black opposite. An example of the third of the said divisions is the
seal’s stamp (imprint) remaining in the clay (mortar, putty) which is
composed of dry dust and liquid water on their being mixed up together;
for it is known that the imprint remaining in the putty is not in
pursuance to the requirement of the forms of the simples, neither
whether they be considered in respect of the resultant compound, nor
whether they be considered in respect of the simple constituents taken
singly.
To recapitulate:--it is known that the first division, if it be
produced, from simples whose forms are opposed (contrary) not through
mechanical mixture (commingling) but through[10] blending (alloy,
amalgam)--it is clear I say in such cases that the overpowered
contraries will no longer have an existence of their own, nor an
existence of the effects peculiar to them, because of the impossibility
of two contraries working together in one and the same carrier
(medium), but the utmost effects they can exert will be to introduce a
decrease in the strength of the overpowering constituent, and nothing
more; and it is known that the second division, in what proportions
soever it be found, imposes reciprocity and equality both passive
and active, that is to say the manifold workings that the forms of
the simples necessarily exert and the corresponding effects that
these forms suffer mutually one from the other must of necessity be
reciprocal, and in the ratio of their respective proportions and
strengths; and lastly, it is known that the third division, if it
comes about, will not have resulted from the intrinsic (very) self
of the compound, since it in no way at all belongs to it, neither in
consideration of its simple nor of its composite form. Hence it is
gained (got, acquired) from without.
It is now necessary, since we have prefixed these premisses, that we go
deeper into our pursuit, so we say:--
That the soul has only come forth [for us through the foregoing
contemplations] in compound bodies whose forms are opposed and in
none others; nor will its manifestation in them be devoid (divested)
of one of the three divisions; but it is not of the first division;
else it is heat or coldness, dryness or moisture (dampness), in any
of which soever a decrease has more or less come about; and how shall
any one of these powers be fit to put forth from itself multifarious
psychical deeds, given the fact of the decrease (defect) occasioned
in the very composition, and given also what it would have expended
in that decrease out of its strength? nay, how shall any one of these
powers cause motion save towards one direction alone? and wherefore
has it become necessary to effect mutual exclusion (displacement) among
psychical movements so that their mutual exclusion (displacement)
shall engender a dullness (or weariness), since in the effect
(influence) of one identical thing there does not arise exclusion;
nor is it of the second division, since the existence of the second
division is an impossibility, and this because the elements, however
much they may be compounded, under (proportionate) equality of the
powers, this necessitates in them the stoppage (cessation) of all the
effects attaching to each one of the two, and thus if the compound
were left alone (abandoned to itself) it would never have to move,
neither upwards--else the heat is the overpowerer and the cold is
the one overpowered--nor downwards--else the cold is the overpowerer
and the heat is the one overpowered--nay nor even would it remain at
rest in one of the four spots of space (wherein dwell all the four
elements)--else Nature which attracts towards itself is the overpowerer
therein--whereas it has been asserted that all of them are equal both
to overpower and to be overpowered, and this is a contradiction:
Therefore this body (such a body) is neither still nor moving,--whereas
every body which is surrounded by another body is either still
or moving,--and this too is a contradiction; and what leads to
contradiction is itself a contradiction; so then our assertion that
the elements may possibly be compounded under equality of the powers is
a contradiction, and hence its opposite, to wit our saying that such is
impossible, is true [reduction ad absurdam]. Wherefore the coming forth
of the soul, i.e., its combination with body, occurs only after the
method of the third division; and it has been already said that what is
after the method of the third division is gained from outside: The soul
then is got from without--which is what we wished to show.