[1035a]
[1]
If
then matter, form, and the combination of the two are distinct, and if
both matter and form and their combination are substance, there is one
sense in which even matter may be called "part" of a thing; and
another in which it is not, but the only parts are those elements of
which the formula of the form consists. E.g., flesh is not a part of
concavity, because flesh is the matter in which concavity is induced;
but it is a part of snubness. And bronze is part of the statue as a
concrete whole, but not of the statue in the sense of form.We may speak of the form (or
the thing as having a form) as an individual thing, but we may never
so speak of that which is material by itself. This is why the formula
of the circle does not contain that of the segments, whereas the
formula of the syllable does contain that of the letters; for the
letters are parts of the formula of the form; they are not matter; but
the segments are parts in the sense of matter in which the form is
induced. They approximate, however, more closely to the form than does
the bronze when roundness is engendered in bronze.But there is a sense in which not even
all the letters will be contained in the formula of the syllable; e.g.
particular letters on wax1 or sounds in the air; for
these too are part of the syllable in the sense that they are its
sensible matter.For even
if the line is divided and resolved into its halves, or if the man is
resolved into bones and muscles and flesh,
[20]
it does not follow that they are
composed of these as parts of their essence, but as their matter; and
these are parts of the concrete whole, but not of the form, or that to
which the formula refers. Hence they are not in the
formulae.Accordingly in some cases the formula will include the formula of
such parts as the above, but in others it need not necessarily contain
their formula, unless it is the formula of the concrete object. It is
for this reason that some things are composed of parts in the sense of
principles into which they can be resolved, while others are
not.All things
which are concrete combinations of form and matter (e.g. "the snub" or
the bronze circle) can be resolved into form and matter, and the
matter is a part of them; but such as are not concrete combinations
with matter, but are without matter—whose formulae refer to
the form only—cannot be resolved; either not at all, or at
least not in this way.Thus these material components are principles and parts of the
concrete objects, but they are neither parts nor principles of the
form. For this reason the clay statue can be resolved into clay, and
the sphere into bronze, and Callias into flesh and bones, and the
circle too into segments, because it is something which is combined
with matter.
1 i.e. written on a waxed tablet.
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