Miscellanies 8.9.28
Summary: There are four kinds of cause (maker, matter, form, end); a thing's readiness to be affected is a cooperating condition, not the cause, and sustaining causes act at once while some initiating causes take time.
Greek text · Stählin 2
ἔτι τὸ μὴ κωλῦον κεχώρισται τοῦ γινομένου (διὰ τοῦτο γοῦν ἐπιτελεῖται, ὅτι τὸ δυνάμενον κωλύειν οὐ πάρεστιν), τὸ δὲ αἴτιον πρὸς τὸ γινόμενον· οὐκ ἂν οὖν εἴη αἴτιον τὸ μὴ κωλῦον. Τετραχῶς τὸ αἴτιον λέγεται τὸ ποιοῦν ὡς ὁ ἀνδριαντοποιός. καὶ ἡ ὕλη ὡς ὁ χαλκός, καὶ τὸ εἶδος ὡς ὁ χαρακτήρ, καὶ τὸ τέλος ὡς ἡ τιμὴ τοῦ γυμνασιάρχου. τῶν ὧν οὐκ ἄνευ λόγον ὁ χαλκὸς ἐπέχει πρὸς τὸ γενέσθαι τὸν ἀνδριάντα καὶ ὁμοίως ἐστὶν αἴτιον. πᾶν γὰρ οὗ χωρὶς οὐκ ἐνδεχόμενον γενέσθαι τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα, κατὰ ἀνάγκην ἐστὶν αἴτιον, αἴτιον δὲ οὐχ ἁπλῶς. οὐ γάρ ἐστι συνεκτικὸν τὸ οὗ μὴ ἄνευ. συνεργὸν δέ. πᾶν τὸ ἐνεργοῦν παρέχει τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα μετʼ ἐπιτηδειότητος τοῦ πάσχοντος· διατίθησι μὲν γὰρ τὸ αἴτιον, πάσχει δὲ ἕκαστον εἰς ὃ πέφυκέν τι. παρεκτικῆς τῆς ἐπιτηδειότητος οὔσης καὶ τῶν ὧν οὐκ ἄνευ λόγον ἐπεχούσης. ἄπρακτον οὖν τὸ αἴτιον ἄνευ τῆς ἐπιτηδειότητος, οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ αἰτία, ἀλλὰ συνεργός, ἐπεὶ πᾶν αἴτιον ἐν τῷ δρᾶν νοεῖται. αὑτὴν δὲ οὐκ ἂν ποιοίη ἡ γῆ. ὥστε οὐδὲ αἰτία ἂν εἴη ἑαυτῆς. καταγέλαστον δὲ τὸ λέγειν μὴ τὸ πῦρ αἴτιον τῆς καύσεως, ἀλλὰ τὰ ξύλα, μηδὲ τὴν μάχαιραν τῆς τομῆς, ἀλλὰ τὴν σάρκα. μηδὲ τοῦ καταπαλαισθῆναι τὸν ἀθλητὴν τὴν ἰσχὺν τοῦ ἀντιπάλου, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δὲ ἀσθένειαν. Τὸ συνεκτικὸν αἴτιον οὐ δεῖται χρόνου· τὸ γὰρ καυτήριον ἅμα τῷ κατὰ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπερεισθῆναι τὴν ἀλγηδόνα παρέχει. τῶν προκαταρκτικῶν τὰ μὲν χρόνου δεῖται, ἄχρις ἂν γένηται τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα, τὰ δὲ οὐ δεῖται, ὡς ἡ πτῶσις τοῦ κατάγματος. μή τι οὖν οὐ κατὰ στέρησιν χρόνου ἄχρονα λέγεται ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μείωσιν, ὡς καὶ τὸ ἐξαίφνης, μηδὲ αὐτὸ χωρὶς χρόνου γενόμενον.
English · Claude translation
Further, what does not hinder is separate from what comes about (it is accomplished precisely because what could hinder is not present), whereas the cause is related to what comes about; so what does not hinder would not be a cause. Cause is spoken of in four ways: the maker, as the sculptor; the matter, as the bronze; the form, as the shape; and the end, as the honor of the gymnasiarch. The bronze holds the place of a cause without which the statue does not come to be, and is likewise a cause. For everything without which the effect cannot come about is a cause of necessity, but not a cause simply; for the cause without which a thing does not happen is not sustaining, but cooperating. Everything active produces the effect together with the suitability of what is acted upon; for the cause disposes, and each thing is affected in the way it is naturally fitted to be. The suitability is productive, and holds the place of the cause without which a thing does not happen. The cause, then, is ineffective without suitability; yet suitability is not a cause, but cooperating, since every cause is understood in acting. And the earth would not make itself, so that it would not be its own cause either. It is ridiculous to say that not the fire is the cause of burning but the wood, nor the knife of cutting but the flesh, nor the opponent's strength of the athlete's being thrown but his own weakness. The sustaining cause does not need time; for the cautery produces pain at the moment it is pressed on the flesh. Of initiating causes, some need time until the effect comes about, others do not, as a fall for a fracture. Perhaps, then, these are called timeless not by privation of time but by its reduction, as with “suddenly,” which too does not come about without time.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The four causes are Aristotle's; the statue example follows Physics 2.3. A gymnasiarch was the official in charge of a gymnasium, honored with statues. “Suitability” renders ἐπιτηδειότης, the fitness of a thing to be acted upon. The sentence about the earth making itself is abrupt and its connection with the argument is unclear.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.9.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/9/28/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.9.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/9/28/).
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