下载辰思小说免费APP
Ingeneral，itisabsurdtomakethefactthatthethingsof
thisearthareobservedtochangeandnevertoremaininthesame
state，thebasisofourjudgementaboutthetruth。Forinpursuingthe
truthonemuststartfromthethingsthatarealwaysinthesamestate
andsuffernochange。Sucharetheheavenlybodies；forthesedonot
appeartobenowofonenatureandagainofanother，butare
manifestlyalwaysthesameandshareinnochange。
Further，ifthereismovement，thereisalsosomethingmoved，
andeverythingismovedoutofsomethingandintosomething；it
followsthatthatthatwhichismovedmustfirstbeinthatoutof
whichitistobemoved，andthennotbeinit，andmoveintothe
otherandcometobeinit，andthatthecontradictorystatements
arenottrueatthesametime，asthesethinkersasserttheyare。
Andifthethingsofthisearthcontinuouslyflowandmovein
respectofquantity-ifoneweretosupposethis，althoughitisnot
true-whyshouldtheynotendureinrespectofquality？Forthe
assertionofcontradictorystatementsaboutthesamethingseemsto
havearisenlargelyfromthebeliefthatthequantityofbodiesdoes
notendure，which，ouropponentshold，justifiestheminsayingthat
thesamethingbothisandisnotfourcubitslong。Butessence
dependsonquality，andthisisofdeterminatenature，thoughquantity
isofindeterminate。
Further，whenthedoctororderspeopletotakesomeparticular
food，whydotheytakeit？Inwhatrespectis’thisisbread’truer
than’thisisnotbread’？Andsoitwouldmakenodifferencewhether
oneateornot。Butasamatteroffacttheytakethefoodwhichis
ordered，assumingthattheyknowthetruthaboutitandthatitis
bread。Yettheyshouldnot，iftherewerenofixedconstantnature
insensiblethings，butallnaturesmovedandflowedforever。
Again，ifwearealwayschangingandneverremainthesame，what
wonderisitiftous，astothesick，thingsneverappearthesame？
(Fortothemalso，becausetheyarenotinthesameconditionas
whentheywerewell，sensiblequalitiesdonotappearalike；yet，
forallthat，thesensiblethingsthemselvesneednotshareinany
change，thoughtheyproducedifferent，andnotidentical，sensations
inthesick。Andthesamemustsurelyhappentothehealthyifthe
afore-saidchangetakesplace。)Butifwedonotchangebutremainthe
same，therewillbesomethingthatendures。
Asforthosetowhomthedifficultiesmentionedaresuggestedby
reasoning，itisnoteasytosolvethedifficultiestotheir
satisfaction，unlesstheywillpositsomethingandnolongerdemand
areasonforit；foritisonlythusthatallreasoningandall
proofisaccomplished；iftheypositnothing，theydestroy
discussionandallreasoning。Thereforewithsuchmenthereisno
reasoning。Butasforthosewhoareperplexedbythetraditional
difficulties，itiseasytomeetthemandtodissipatethecausesof
theirperplexity。Thisisevidentfromwhathasbeensaid。
Itismanifest，therefore，fromtheseargumentsthatcontradictory
statementscannotbetrulymadeaboutthesamesubjectatonetime，
norcancontrarystatements，becauseeverycontrarietydependson
privation。Thisisevidentifwereducethedefinitionsof
contrariestotheirprinciple。
Similarly，nointermediatebetweencontrariescanbepredicatedof
oneandthesamesubject，ofwhichoneofthecontrariesis
predicated。Ifthesubjectiswhiteweshallbewronginsayingit
isneitherblacknorwhite，forthenitfollowsthatitisandis
notwhite；forthesecondofthetwotermswehaveputtogetheris
trueofit，andthisisthecontradictoryofwhite。
Wecouldnotberight，then，inacceptingtheviewseitherof
HeraclitusorofAnaxagoras。Ifwewere，itwouldfollowthat
contrarieswouldbepredicatedofthesamesubject；forwhen
Anaxagorassaysthatineverythingthereisapartofeverything，he
saysnothingissweetanymorethanitisbitter，andsowithany
otherpairofcontraries，sinceineverythingeverythingispresent
