And similarly in the case of
substances; we say the Hermes is in the stone, and the half of the
line is in the line, and we say of that which is not yet ripe that
it is corn. When a thing is potential and when it is not yet potential
must be explained elsewhere.
8
We call 'substance' (1) the simple bodies, i.e. earth and fire and
water and everything of the sort, and in general bodies and the things
composed of them, both animals and divine beings, and the parts of
these. All these are called substance because they are not
predicated of a subject but everything else is predicated of them.-(2)
That which, being present in such things as are not predicated of a
subject, is the cause of their being, as the soul is of the being of
an animal.-(3) The parts which are present in such things, limiting
them and marking them as individuals, and by whose destruction the
whole is destroyed, as the body is by the destruction of the plane, as
some say, and the plane by the destruction of the line; and in general
number is thought by some to be of this nature; for if it is
destroyed, they say, nothing exists, and it limits all things.-(4) The
essence, the formula of which is a definition, is also called the
substance of each thing.
It follows, then, that 'substance' has two senses, (A) ultimate
substratum, which is no longer predicated of anything else, and (B)
that which, being a 'this', is also separable and of this nature is
the shape or form of each thing.
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