this instance, to oppose theories pregnant with suggestion, and advantageous to the progress of science.
Note 3, p. 20. To the same point do they also come, &c.]
The writers here alluded to are said by Philoponus to be
Plato, Xenophanes and Alcmæon. Aristotle[1] observes
that, as nature is the origin of motion and change, it is
necessary, in order to comprehend motion, to understand
what nature is. Motion seems to be the property only of
continuity, and the infinite is displayed, first of all, in
what is continuous; and, therefore, in definitions of con-
tinuity, there is frequent reference to the infinite, as if all
continuity were infinitely divisible. Besides these reasons,
without place void and time, there cannot be motion.
But whatever is in motion, must have been moved by its
own or by some other power, and this motor may be the
second or third of a series, as the staff, for instance, which
moves the stone is moved itself by the hand, which is
moved by the man; and although the last of these may
be spoken of as the motor, yet the term is applicable rather
to the man, as being the first link in the chain. Thus,
the man who communicates motion by his will is, himself
at rest; and, therefore, it by no means follows, Aristotle
contends, that the motor should itself be in motion.
Note 4, p. 21. Homer has well represented, &c.] The term ἀλλοφρονέων, rendered "changing his mind," occurs but once in the Iliad, and there it refers, not to Hector, but to Euryalus vanquished in the funeral games; and
- ↑ Nat. Auscult. III. 1. VIII. 5.
