The systematic discussion of syllables is derived from heathen philosophy.

5.  They have, however, been led into this error by their close study of heathen writers, who have respectively applied the terms “of whom” and “through whom” to things which are by nature distinct.  These writers suppose that by the term “of whom” or “of which” the matter is indicated, while the term “through whom” or “through which”⁷¹⁹

719 The ambiguity of gender in ἐξ οὗ and δι᾽ οὗ can only be expressed by giving the alternatives in English.

720 There are four causes or varieties of cause: 1.  The essence or quiddity (Form):  τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι. 2.  The necessitating conditions (Matter):  τὸ τίνων ὄντων ἀνάγκη τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι. 3.  The proximate mover or stimulator of change (Efficient):  ἡ τί πρῶτον ἐκίνησε. 4.  That for the sake of which (Final Cause or End):  τὸ τίνος ἕνεκα.  Grote’s Aristotle, I. 354. The four Aristotelian causes are thus:  1. Formal.  2. Material.  3. Efficient.  4. Final.  cf. Arist. Analyt. Post. II. xi., Metaph. I. iii., and Phys. II. iii.  The six causes of Basil may be referred to the four of Aristotle as follows: Aristotle. 1.  τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι 2.  τὸ ἐξ οὗ γίνεταί τι 3.  ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἡ πρώτη 4.  τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα Basil. 1.  καθ᾽ ὅ:  i.e., the form or idea according to which a thing is made. 2.  ἐξ οὗ:  i.e., the matter out of which it is made. 3.  ὑφ᾽ οὗ:  i.e., the agent, using means. δι᾽ οὗ:  i.e. the means. 4.  δι᾽ ὅ:  i.e., the end. εν ᾧ, or sine quâ non, applying to all.

721 προκαταρκτική.  cf. Plut. 2, 1056. B.D. προκαταρκτικὴ αἰτία ἡ εἱμαρμένη.

722 cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. viii. 9.  “Of causes some are principal, some preservative, some coöperative, some indispensable; e.g. of education the principal cause is the father; the preservative, the schoolmaster; the coöperative, the disposition of the pupil; the indispensable, time.”

For every one of these they have a distinct and peculiar use of terms, so that the maker is indicated in a different way from the instrument.  For the maker they think the proper expression is “by whom,” maintaining that the bench is produced “by” the carpenter; and for the instrument “through which,” in that it is produced “through” or by means of adze and gimlet and the rest.  Similarly they appropriate “of which” to the material, in that the thing made is “of” wood, while “according to which” shews the design, or pattern put before the craftsman.  For he either first makes a mental sketch, and so brings his fancy to bear upon what he is about, or else he looks at a pattern previously put before him, and arranges his work accordingly.  The phrase “on account of which” they wish to be confined to the end or purpose, the bench, as they say, being produced for, or on account of, the use of man.  “In which” is supposed to indicate time and place.  When was it produced?  In this time.  And where?  In this place.  And though place and time contribute nothing to what is being produced, yet without these the production of anything is impossible, for efficient agents must have both place and time.  It is these careful distinctions, derived from unpractical philosophy and vain delusion,⁷²³

723 ἐκ τῆς ματαιότητος καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης. cf. ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων, “vanity of vanities,” Ecc. i. 2, lxx.  In Arist. Eth. i. 2, a desire is said to be κενὴ καὶ ματαία, which goes into infinity,—everything being desired for the sake of something else,—i.e., κενη, void, like a desire for the moon, and ματαία, unpractical, like a desire for the empire of China.  In the text ματαιότης seems to mean heathen philosophy, a vain delusion as distinguished from Christian philosophy.

724 ἄψυχα ὄργανα.  A slave, according to Aristotle, Eth. Nich. viii. 7, 6, is ἔμψυχον ὄργανον.

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