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Aristotle Metaphysics delta 6, 1016b17-21
Taran, Leonardo
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1995; 36, 4; ProQuest
pg. 379

Aristotle Metaphysics L\ 6, l016b17-21 

Leonardo Tardn 

C
HAPTER 6 of Metaphysics t':!. is devoted to Ev. 1 It opens 
with the statement that "'one'" is used either in an acciden­
tal sense or per se (1015bl6f), and then discusses the 

two: first the former (1015b17-36) and then the latter (1015b36-
l016b17). One result of what is said in 1015bl6-1016b17 is that 
'" one" has many different meanings. It is therefore intelligible 
that in the next section (1016b17-1017a2) Aristotle deals with 
the essence of unity. What is of concern here is the opening 
lines of this section, 1016b17-21, but the controversial part is 
the text and interpretation of 1016b17f. It will be useful to 
transcribe four different versions of these lines: 

(I) 'to bE Evt dvat apxil 'ttVt £CJ'ttv aple~<p dV<Xl. 
(II) 'to bE £v dvat apxft 'tLVt £CJ'ttv aple~OU dv<xl. 
(III) 'to bE £Vt dV<Xl apxft 'tlVl £CJ'tlV apte~Ou dvat. 
(IV) 'to bE (Vt dvat apxi1 ('tou) 'ttVt £CJ'tlV apte~<p dv<xt. 

(I) is the reading of E (Codex Parisinus Graecus 1853) and J 
(Codex Vindobonensis phil. gr. 100), which together constitute 
one of the two branches into which the primary manuscripts of 
the Metaphysics are divided; Jaeger calls it II. (II) is the text 
offered by Ab (Codex Laurentianus 87.12), the other branch of 
the tradition. (III) is the text adopted by Christ and by Ross in 
their respective editions of the Metaphysics. They conflate the 
readings of the two manuscript traditions by substituting £Vi for 

I I shall refer to the following editions, translations, and commentaries by 
the names of their authors alone: I. BEKKER, Aristotelis Opera (Berlin 1831); A. 
SCHWEGLER, Die Metaphysik des Aristoteles, I-IV (Tiibingen 1847-48); H. 
BONITZ, Aristotelis Mephysica, I-II (Bonn 1848-49), and Aristoteles, Meta­
physik, ed. E. Wellmann (Berlin 1890); W. CHRIST, Aristotelis Metaphysica2 

(Leipzig 1895); W. D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics, I-II (Oxford 1924; rev. 
1953), and tr., The Works of Aristotle, VIII: Metaphysica 2 (Oxford 1928); J. 
TRICOT, Aristotle, La Mhaphysique 2, I-II (Paris 1953); W. JAEGER, Aristotelis 
Metaphysica (Oxford 1957); G. REALE, Aristotele, Metafisica 2, I-III (Milan 
1993); C. KIRWAN, Aristotle, Metaphysics. Books r. tJ. and E2 (Oxford 1993). 

379 



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380 ARISTOTLE METAPHYSICS & 6, 1016b17-21 

EV in the first part of the sentence. 2 Finally, (IV) is Jaeger's text. 
He has adopted the version given by E and J but has inserted 
('tOu) after apxTJ. 3 

Now (III), the text of Christ and Ross, is grammatically 
possible but yields a meaning that is impossible. Ross translates 
it as follows (in the second edition of his translation of the 
Metaphysics): "'The essence of what is one is to be some kind of 
beginning of number." For Aristotle, however, "one" is not an 
apXTJ of number but the apXTJ of number. Thus to cite only 
two short passages, Metaphysics 1021a12f states, 'to b' EV 'tOU 
apt81lou apxil 1ea.t IlE'tpOV, and similarly 10S2b23f, bto 'to EV 
apt81lou apxil n apt8Iloc;.4 The rejection of (III) implicitly 
shows that (II), i.e., the text of Ab, also is impossible, for what 
was said against (III) applies also to (II) and, moreover, (II) has 
the (here) impossible reading 'to OE EV dvat: 'to bE EVt dvat is 
necessary, as Aristotle is discussing the essence of "one." Also 
Alexander's paraphrase (In Metaph. p.368.1Sf Hayduck, 'to £Vt 
dvat'to apxil apt81lou dvat £<J'ttv) shows that he had access to a 
text with 'to £Vt dvat, but the second part of the paraphrase 
cannot be right for reasons similar to those given against Christ 
and Ross above, and against Jaeger in what follows. 5 

As the £V\. of E and J is right, it is reasonable to follow these 
manuscripts for the rest of the text, too. This is what Jaeger 
(=IV) has done, but unfortunately he thought it necessary to 
insert ('tou) after apxTJ. This is not merely unnecessary but in 

2 Also Bekker, Schwe~ler, and Bonitz have all adopted a text that is a con­
flation of readings of A and E (J was not known to them), though a dif­
ferent one from that of Christ and Ross: 'to oi: [vI. dv<Xl apXlJ 'tlVi E<l'tlV 
apIBJ,Lou dv<Xl, which Bonitz translates, "Das Eins-sein ist Prinzip der Zahl fur 
etwas sein." But apart from the fact that the constitution of the text is rather 
arbitrary, it yields no reasonable sense as "fur etwas sein" by itself shows; 
observe also "Prinzip der Zahl" (cf objections against Christ and Ross). 

3 The text Jaeger adopted in his edition he had argued for in Hermes 52 
(1917) 504=Scripta Minora (Rome 1960) 123M. In my comments on Jaeger's 
text and interpretation I refer without distinction to both his edition and his 
earlier treatment. 

4 Cf also Aristotle's argument that one is not a number but the principle of 
number: Metaphysics 1087b33-1088a14 with my Speusippus of Athens (Lei­
den 1981) 35 with n.174, 36, 328. There is no need to discuss further the 
interpretations of Tricot, Reale, Kirwan, and others, because they have all 
adopted Ross' text. 

5 Asclepius, In Metaph. p.316,4 Hayduck, gives the following citation or 
paraphrase: 'to oi: EV dv<Xl apXlJ 'tlVi tonv apt9J,LaU Kal. 'taU dv<Xl. This is even 
further removed from the transmitted text than Alexander's paraphrase and 
yields no reasonable meaning in the context of what Aristotle is saying. 



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LEONARDO T ARAN 381 

fact gives the wrong sense for the following reasons: Jaeger's 
text would give 'to EVi dvcxi (anv apXTt ('tOu) nVi apl8~ii> dvm, 
but (i) 'to nVi apl8~ii> dVCXl is not (pace Jaeger) parallel to 'to 
av8po>7tcp dVCXl, (ii) the "essence of a particular number" is in 
itself questionable, (iii) the essence of one is not to be apxit of 
the" essence of number," and (iv) dVCXl is wanted grammatically 
elsewhere (i.e., x is to be y). 

We are left then with (1), 'to Of hi dvm apxit nvi (anv apl8~ii> 
dvcxl, which is the correct text and which means: "The essence 
of one is to be principle (i.e., beginning) for some number." 
This interpretation is supported by what follows (1016b18-21): 
'to 'Yap 1tpilnov J.1E'tPOV aPxit, ~ 'Yap 1tponcp "(VO)pi~OJ.1EV, 'tou'to 

.... , f' , ,'\ "'.... .... '\ 1tPo)'tOV J.1E't pOV ElCcxa'tou 'YEVOU~' cxpXll OUV 'tou "(VO)a'tOu 1tEpl 
ElCcxa'tOV 'to EV. OU 'tcxu'to Of (V 1t<xal 'to'i~ 'YEVECJl 'to EV. lC'tA.. And 
so the whole passage (1016b17-21) means: "The essence of one 
is to be principle (i.e., beginning) for some number, for the first 
measure is the beginning; for that by which we first know it is 
the first measure in each class. Therefore, in each class the one 
is the beginning of what is known; but the one is not the same 
in all classes, etc. " 

According to Aristotle, then, the primary meaning of "one" is 
to be a principle for some number, i.e., for any number, 
because for him numbers are congeries of abstract monads and 
"one" is therefore the first measure of such numbers. From 
this primary meaning of "what to be one is" depend by analogy 
the meanings of the different" ones" in the classes other than 
number; and also from the primary meaning as expressed in 
l016b17f ultimately depends Aristotle's doctrine that the one is 
the principle of number. (, The great importance of the point 
made in l016b17f for understanding Aristotle's doctrine of 
"one" and the presentation in the two standard editions of the 
Metaphysics used today of texts of l016b17f that cannot be 
right, as well as the failure of other modern editors to adopt the 
text of E and], have prompted the writing of this paper. 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

April,1996 

6 Cf the parallel passage Metaph. 1.1, esp. I052bI-7, 15-27, and n.b. that 
Book I begins by referring back to the discussion at d 6: cf I052aI5f with 
Ross' note on I052aI5.