Liber Chaos

C - Species
C - Species in the Chaos
1. When the creator of all things produced species from the first degree of Chaos into the second, God was specificative, and man, lion, eagle, whale, apple and other things like these were specificable, and so were the other species in the third degree, as God specified the said species from the first degree into the second.

2. The first human etc. were specificable in the second degree of Chaos, due to the influx of the first into the second; and then the second human, the second lion etc. were specificable in the third, and so on through successive degrees until now, and thus we understand that species is something universal or common.

3. When a branch of apple is grafted onto a pear tree, there is transmutation of the form and matter of one species into the form and matter of another species, and as the lower form and matter do not have a germ into which the vegetative power can instill the lower species, and given that virtue must ascend in the form and matter of the lower species, as this virtue receives benefit from the Chaos, then growth of the upper species is produced in the essence of the upper species because the upper species has the germ through which proceeds the virtue of the matter and form which make up the subject of this virtue, and this shows that the first degree of Chaos flows into the third through the species created by God in the second.

4. The heat of igneity in the first degree of Chaos whereby the heater heats its own heatable, i.e. the form its own matter, is a species universal or common to other instances of heat which are accidental to air, water and earth as fire heats air, water and earth by accident in the first and third degree of Chaos, and the same likewise applies to the difference and virtue which is universal to the difference between the heater and the heatable in the essence of air, and the same with the other elements.

5. Reason deduces the species of heat from many individual hot supposites, and then it deems that this species has no existence apart from the supposites, but when the memory remembers that the first degree of Chaos existed before the second, as the heat of fire in this first degree heats its own heatable as well as the heatable of air, water and earth existing in the first degree, then the intellect understands that the species of heat is something real, or else the first degree would not be prior to the second, which is impossible; the same can be likewise understood about difference, virtue, quantity etc.

6. In a similar way, reason deduces the species of wheat from many grains, and then it deems that it has no real existence apart from the grains, but as the intellect understands the distinction to be drawn between the first degree of Chaos and the second, it further understands that the beginning of species was created in the first degree and its end in the second, and that it is now in the third, and that the middle of this species exists between the first degree and the second, and then reason reasons rationally as it judges that the species of wheat is something real apart from its individuals, or else it would not have begun in the first degree of Chaos, nor would it have any medium consisting of the influx of the first degree of Chaos into the second and from the second into the third.

7. If species had no existing principles, its natural reproductive appetite would never have existed and species would only exist in the second degree of Chaos; thus the reproduction of species in the third degree would not be natural, which is impossible, and therefore species must be something real in its natural principles, whose end was in the second degree and is now in the third.

8. Vegetal species were initiated in the first degree of Chaos, the sensitive power was brought into the second degree through creation and joined to another power, i.e. the vegetative, and from these, species were produced such as man, lion, eagle etc.

9. From the first degree of Chaos flows a certain Chaos called the vegetative power comprising in itself four species in a state of confusion, namely the appetitive, the retentive, the digestive and the expulsive, all specified in the third degree of Chaos; and likewise, in the second degree of Chaos, a certain Chaos was created, i.e. the common sense comprising in itself five powers, namely sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. These five powers are distinctly specified in the third degree of Chaos where they exist in individuals of animal species.

10. As T discourses through the Demonstrative Art, it is clearly obvious that in the production of animal species from the conjunction of the vegetative and sensitive powers, the power of sight was joined to light, hearing to voice, smell to air, taste to appetite, and touch to the influence of species.

11. In the second degree of Chaos the sensitive and vegetative were so combined that animal species were produced from the second degree into the third by the generating agent, or else flesh would never be born from flesh, i.e. one sensitive power from another, but rather, the sensitive would transit from the second degree into the third without the vegetative and the sensitive would have to be created anew in every degree, nor would there be any transmutation from bread into flesh, which is impossible and shows that the sensitive-vegetative power comes from the generating agent.

12. When God the Creator produced the human species in the second degree of Chaos, He created a certain confused Chaos made of essential memory, essential intelligence and essential will, namely the soul, which He specified in the human species as form with regard to the sensitive and vegetative powers in the human species, and this form is called the rational soul beneath which the sensitive and vegetative powers stand while with its essential form it informs the form of the sensitive and vegetative and as with its rational matter it materializes the matter of the sensitive and vegetative, so that they are one supposite existing within the human species.

13. As the first degree of Chaos exists everywhere throughout the third, each species transmits its influence and reproduces its likeness outwardly, for instance a stone transmits its influence and likeness outwardly in the figure of coldness; fire transmits its heat and light outwardly; or an apple by way of fragrance reproduces its essence in a figure which proceeds from within its substance, and this must occur because the first degree of Chaos flows into the third, and with its influx it transits through all the species, and in its transit it extracts the likenesses of these species from them, like a ray of sunlight shining through blue glass produces a blue color on the ground upon which it shines through the glass.

14. Species is incorruptible, because it is always renewed from one supposite to the next, so that when one supposite is corrupted, another supposite is generated as the first degree of Chaos incessantly transits into the third and as the elements transit through one another with the likeness of one species into another, as we said.

D - Difference
D - Difference in the Chaos
1. Difference in the first degree of Chaos is universal, given that in igneity there is form and matter, whence there is difference between the agent and the patient in the essence of this Chaos, and the same applies to aereity etc. from which the Chaos is produced, so that there is one universal substantial difference composed of the ignificative and the ignificable, the aerificative and the aerificable and so forth.

2. The ignificative acts in one way in its natural matter, namely its own ignificable, but in another way in remote matter, namely in the matter of air, water and earth. The same applies likewise to air etc. and this is because the matter of fire is passive under the form of fire in a way in which it is not passive under the form of air etc. The same applies to air etc. which shows clearly enough that difference is something universal in the first degree of Chaos.

3. In the first degree of Chaos, as form acts, it depures itself from matter and consequently, as matter is passive, it is depured from form, whence follow the diversificative and the diversificable in the subject, namely the third Chaos, which is produced from form and matter; now the diversificative is form and the diversificable is matter, and consequently, the Chaos is a diversified thing.

4. As the form of Chaos acts and differentiates itself from matter, this form differentiates itself from matter by accident, whence follows the universal difference between substance and accident, i.e. between substantial form and accidental form; now substantial form is the action of Chaos with the essence of all the elementatives and accidental form is the quantification, qualification etc. of the substantial form; and similarly there is substantial and accidental difference in the matter of Chaos, now the substantial one is the passion aggregated from the essence of all the elementables and the accidental one is the quantificability, qualificability etc. of this matter according to the ways in which the essences of air, water and earth are passive under the ignificative, and likewise with the other elements, and this shows clearly enough that universal difference exists in the Chaos substantially and accidentally.

5. God, to whom praise and glory be given, produced from the essence of this substantial difference in the first degree of Chaos all the substantial natural differences in the second and third degrees of Chaos, thus giving the upper universal difference a way to influence all the differences in the second degree of Chaos and in the third, and the same likewise applies to the differences among the accidents, or nine predicates, now from this supreme universal difference of accidents in the Chaos God produced difference between quantity, quality etc. in men, lions etc.

6. As God was creating the first degree of Chaos, He created all species in it in potentiality, and He brought them to act as He was creating the second degree of Chaos, so that through the generation of the second they would be reduced from the first to the third, and thus the difference which exists between one species and another in the third degree was something real, and hence, as it now exists in the third degree, it must be something real, or else it would have existed neither in potentiality in the first degree, nor as an accidental form, nor could it have diversified itself through near and remote matter.

7. Given that in God there are Ideas as He knows all past, present and future things; in the first, second and third degrees of Chaos, difference is diffused through species and individuals substantially and accidentally, universally and in particulars. Therefore difference is clearly something real and an object of God's Ideas in the first, second and third degree of Chaos, otherwise there could not be any Ideas in God; however, we do not mean that there are many Ideas, as this plurality only refers to representation, given that the Chaos is situated and habituated with the five universals and ten predicates throughout its first, second and third degrees, difference is present in it, which can be adequately understood as FG discourse with T through its five universals and ten predicates.

8. In a wheat grain, difference is potentially universal to many future differences in many grains which can be generated from it, now the difference between the form and matter of this grain is universal to all the differences which exist between quantity, quality and so forth, as well as between one quality and another etc. namely between heat and cold and so forth.

9. Universal and particular differences are seen to exist in the grain which gets corrupted as it generates other grains, now inasmuch as this grain is particular, it has particular difference, which is corrupted along with the grain as it is numerically identical, but because this grain communicates itself to many grains when it generates them from itself and from the influence of the first degree of Chaos, it follows that the universal difference in this grain is the essence of many future grains, so that particular difference is corrupted and its essence is restored in many future grains in other numerical identities of new, proper and specific essences.

10. Just as difference descends from the first degree of Chaos to the third through generation, so does it revert from the third to the first through corruption, and all this occurs in one and the same locus, given that the first degree of Chaos is omnipresent within the lunar sphere, and hence the generated difference, at the time of its corruption, reverts through the four species of mixture to the first degree, or else, if the corrupted grain's essence vanished into nothingness, the first degree of Chaos could naturally be annihilated, which is impossible.

11. Difference is universal to the point that no one grain is numerically identical to another, nor are they without dissimilarities, although they belong to one and the same species, and this is because in the corrupted grain from which many grains are generated, there were countless parts situated in the single numerical identity of this grain, all the more as the first Chaos never ceases instilling into the essence of every generating grain, countless distinct and diverse parts which will be situated in the great many grains to be generated in the future, and the very same applies likewise to metals and animals.

12. In a grain, no difference is as universal as that of substance, now this grain is but one substance aggregated from one form and one matter, but its difference is diffused through countless parts situated in this grain by the four elements as each of these parts has a numerical identity distinct from the others, however none of them on its own is a body or a substance, but together, without distinction, they are all one substance with one numerical identity.

13. In elemented things, substance differs in one way from quantity, in another way from quality and so forth; and thus, as said above, we can note that in the difference between substance and difference, substance is one thing with one numerical identity and difference is another thing, although it is essentially inseparable because one cannot possibly exist without the other.

14. The essence of substance is pure form and pure matter, and hence the difference between form and matter is substantial, and therefore form and matter are the essence of this difference as they coexist with this difference as one and the same substantial essence, but because this difference is not the same as the ones between quantity, quality etc. this substantial difference is something universal from whose virtue all accidental differences spring, but because this difference is distinguished and distinctly diffused in countless parts, it moves away from the substantial essence and actually has accidental being as it exists under accidental forms, i.e. under quantity, quality etc.

15. Substantial difference is the one which refers to species, like the difference between man and lion etc. and to individuals, like between this man and that man, this lion and that lion and so forth; and this springs from the generality of the difference between substantial form and matter making up substance.

E - Property
E - The Properties of Chaos
1. In the first degree of Chaos God was proprificative and all properties were proprificable by way of creation; first they existed in potentiality in the first degree of Chaos, then they came to act in the second degree of Chaos through generation and creation, but they came into act from the first degree of Chaos into the third by way of generation.

2. As defined in God's Ideas, properties are habituated, situated and seeded in the Chaos where the properties of the first Chaos exist as universals to all the properties which are in the third and were in the second, as we see in fire: now heat, light, lightness and igneity are universal to all that pertains to heat, light and lightness in a fiery supposite. The same applies likewise to the other elements.

3. Properties exist in a state of confusion in the first degree of Chaos, but they are specified in the third by means of the second, for instance, laughter was a property of the first man, and barking was a property of the first dog, and heating of the first pepper and so forth.

4. The ignificative has its own ignificable and conversely, but in the essence of air, the ignificative has its ignificable by accident, so that the property which is in the essence of fire due to fiery form and matter is substantial whereas the property made of fiery form and airy matter is accidental; the same applies likewise to the properties of the other elements.

5. Action is proper to form and passivity is proper to matter, and because in the Chaos there is one universal form made of the four forms, and one universal matter from the four matters of which the prime Chaos is composed, therefore in the prime Chaos there is both property and improperty, from which follow property and improperty in the third Chaos; there is property inasmuch as fire is hot per se but dry on account of earth, but there improperty inasmuch as fire can be cooled by earth, and the same applies likewise to the other elements.

6. Given that property in the first degree of Chaos is something common, but something specific in the third, property is universal or common in the first degree of Chaos beyond the particulars it has in the third degree, and therefore it is clear that the universal of nature is something real and common.

7. The intense property of simple form and simple matter in the essence of fire is universal to the extended property which exists in the essence of fire, and this is because intense active property and intense passive property are essential parts of the extended compound property which is produced by both of them.

8. The extended property which exists in a pepper in the fourth degree of heat is universal to the other extended properties of the other elements ordered, situated and habituated under the property of fire, or else the fire in the pepper would not predominate in the property of the fourth degree over the other elements compounded in this pepper, which is impossible.

9. Given that fire is hot per se and dry by accident, it is proper for it to ascend and descend; it therefore ascends because its sphere is above, and it descends because the sphere of earth is below; therefore it is proper for it to ascend by the first intention and to descend by the second intention.

10. Given that the essence of fire is substantial, it is proper for it to have a body, but given that it is confused in the first degree of Chaos with the essences of the other elements, it is improper for it to have a body on its own in the first degree of Chaos. Now as fire wants to be a body on its own, but as it cannot achieve this with its own essence, it seeks to have a body in the elemented things in which its property has the majority over the other elements.

11. In a sanguine subject, moisture and heat have the property of generating whereas dryness and cold have the property of corrupting; but because moisture and warmth prevail over dryness and cold in a sanguine subject, the dry and cold properties convert into their improperties, inasmuch as moisture and warmth want another new form potentially present in the matter in which they exist on account of some property.

12. When similar properties exist within the same supposite, some attract others, i.e. the major attract the minor, always in the following way: heat in the fourth degree attracts to itself the heat which is in the third, second and first and heat in the third likewise attracts heat in the second and first, and the one in the second attracts the one in the first.

13. The properties of the first degree come to the third in a confused and potential state, but in the third degree one property is more specified than another according to the way the germs or pores through which the first degree of Chaos instills its essence into the third, exist in greater property and specification, as in a choleric subject in whom there is more heat than moisture, or in a sanguine one in whom there is more moisture than any other element.

14. A supposite which generates another, as for instance a wheat grain or something similar, instills its property into the thing it generates, but not the same numerical identity, because the generator and the generated are numerically distinct, and because the generated subject cannot receive the entire property of the generating one - for then it would be numerically identical with it - when the generating subject is corrupted, the residue of property it cannot instill into the generated subject reverts to the first degree of Chaos.

15. Inasmuch as the first degree finds form in the third degree more disposed than matter, form gives more of its property to the generation and a male is generated, similar to the father; but if it finds matter more disposed than form, a female similar to the mother is generated.

16. It is proper for the vegetative to vegetate, it is likewise proper for the sensitive to sense; and just as the vegetative has properties in one way through appetite, in another way through retention etc. the sensitive likewise has the property of sight in one way, the property of hearing in another way and so forth.

F - Accidents
F - The Accidents of Chaos
1. Because, as we said, in the first degree of Chaos there is igneity which has in itself the ignificative and the ignificable, accidents arise, namely quantity, quality, relation etc. The accidents which are intense and proper to igneity are universal to those accidents which are produced from the ignificative and the ignificable in the essence of air, water and earth, and the same applies likewise to the other elements.

2. Quantity, quality etc. in the first degree of Chaos are accidents created and seeded in the substance of the first degree of Chaos and they are instilled into the third by means of the second as supposites are produced from which accidents arise, which are generated as particulars and are universals as they corrupt themselves so as to generate a great many accidents from themselves; now as a supposite is corrupted, each accident communicates itself to a great many numerically distinct accidents so that there is reproduction of supposites through which the first degree instills its essence through accidents into the third degree.

3. The form of fire is quantificative, qualificative etc. and its matter is qualifiable, quantifiable etc. and thus quantity, quality etc. are not sufficient for being a substantiated supposite of the essence of quantity, quality etc. but they are instruments through which form and matter join together to make up one essence of igneity in the first degree of Chaos, in which the accidents of air, water and earth accidentally arise, i.e. through the confused mixture of the four essences in the first degree of Chaos.

4. In the elemented supposite which is the first degree of Chaos there is by accident one intense active quantity, i.e. through the four universal forms which produce one universal form under which stands one universal matter produced from four universal matters, and from their intense quantities, namely the intense quantity of the universal form and the intense quantity of the universal matter there accidentally arises in the substance of the Chaos, extended quantity which exists as a quantificative accident universal to all the natural quantities in the third degree of Chaos.

5. In a wheat grain, intense active quantity is composed of the intense quantity of the forms of air, fire, water and earth; and likewise, intense passive quantity is produced from the four matters of the four elements. Now from these two intense quantities there results by accident one extended quantity under which the wheat grain's substance is quantified as the first degree of Chaos instills its accidents into the third, in accordance with similitude, natural habituation and situation.

6. The beginning, middle and end of form and matter consist in making up substance, and the beginning, middle and end of accidents consist in their presence in substance, but as the end of substance is diverse from the end of accidents, so are the beginning and the middle of substance diverse from the beginning and the middle of accidents, hence it follows that there is a difference between the essence of substance and the essence of accidents.

7. There are two kinds of accidents: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic accidents are the ones within the essence of substance, like the quantificative, which is a form limited by passive quantity, and this quantificative is the first degree of Chaos inasmuch as it is a natural quantificative agent producing a quantified result in the third degree of Chaos, given that the substance of the supposite can receive both active and passive intense quantity; an intrinsic accident is that quality which the ignificative has in its own ignificable. An extrinsic accident is when the ignificative qualifies its heat in the essence of air, water and earth; also, an extrinsic accident is a quality present on the outer surface of substance, like color etc.

8. The more intrinsic an accident is, the closer it is to the essence of substance, and the more extrinsic it is, the more distant it is from the essence of substance. This is why the accidents interior to substance are very hidden from us and invisible, although they do appear to us outside of substance, like the heat of hot water does by accident when it is sensed in water outside the essence of fire, and not within the essence of simple fire; and likewise with the coldness of water sensed in earth and in stones but not in simple water, and this shows that simple accidents are present in the simple elements and compound ones in the compound elements.

9. In a supposite, form is so extremely simple as an active part and matter as a passive part that without instruments, form cannot act and matter cannot be passive; therefore they have instruments by accident, but as they are not of the essence of substance, generation and corruption proceed within substance through accidents, and if these were of the essence of substance, there could be no corruption of supposites as form would have its own matter and vice versa.

10. Because accidents arise in the virtue of substance from form and matter as they come from the first Chaos and are specified through form and matter in the third Chaos, active and passive accidental forms are composed, like heat, which is active in fire on account of the calefactive but passive in water due to the frigefactive, and so forth.

11. In a wheat grain, a great many accidents transit confusedly through one specific quantity, one specific quality and so forth, with which the proper specific form and the proper specific matter are the essence of this grain, and this is because the first degree of Chaos conserves the third through its influence, as it conserves the accidents and the radical moisture of this grain with its confused accidents subject to the parts which transit through the grain. And this is enough about the five universals of the first, second and third degrees of Chaos, now let us turn to the subject matter of the ten predicates.

G - Substance
The Ten Predicates of the Chaos
G - First, The Substance of Chaos

1. The prime Chaos is substantiated because all four elements together with all their elementals are one substance, which is the prime Chaos, or the first degree of Chaos, and as forms incessantly act in matters, the Chaos is incessantly substantiated and substantiable as it exists as one substance composed of igneity, aereity, aqueity and terreity.

2. In the first degree of Chaos there are countless substances of the third degree, and through generation, each and every one is substantiated and substantiable up to the ultimate point before it begins to decline toward corruption, and this is because the elements from which substance is produced incessantly transit through each other in this substance, as we have noted in many places in this book.

3. In the first and third Chaos, essence belongs equally to two things, namely substance and accidents; now the essence of substance is specific form and matter making up a specific supposite numerically identical to its own essence, just like the first degree of Chaos is one in numerical identity with its essence, namely igneity, aqueity etc. And just like every supposite in the third degree of Chaos is numerically identical to its specific essential form and matter, likewise the quantity of the first degree of Chaos is numerically identical to its own essence, which is the essential quantity of igneity, aereity, aqueity, terreity, and the same with the other accidents of the prime Chaos.

4. The same applies likewise to the third Chaos, now the quantity of each and every elemented supposite is numerically identical to its own essence, namely the essential quantity of fire, air etc. And this shows clearly enough that substance and accidents differ as two essentially different parts, namely the substance and its accidents which proceed from it essentially and virtually

5. As the first degree of Chaos communicates itself to the third, the third is substantiable in various species, while the first is substantiative, and works together with the generating agent in the third degree of Chaos, as we see in a wheat grain or some other supposite; now the prime Chaos, or the first degree (which is the same thing) and the form of the grain both act on the matter of the first and third degrees of Chaos so that the substance of the grain can exist.

6. In substance there is a substantial agent and a substantial patient, namely substantial form and substantial matter, and hence the substantial agent acts on the substantial patient with the agent's accidents, namely quantity, quality etc. as it quantifies, qualifies itself etc. in action, whereas the patient is passive under the agent with the patient's accidents, i.e. while it quantifies, qualifies itself etc. in passion, as we see in fire: now its form heats and illuminates its matter, and this form is a bright, hot agent that can be calefactive and illuminative within its own substance, and the same applies likewise to the other elements.

7. In every elemented thing there is one substantial form and one substantial matter: this form is composed of four substantial forms, and likewise, the matter is composed of four substantial matters, and given that every form with its matter and its quantities, qualities etc. is present in every other form as the supreme virtue of mixture blends them into one substance, all the substantial and accidental parts are so efficaciously blended and joined that there is no way any single minute part can exist without the others, and as one cannot exist without others, it can neither be seen or touched without the others, but the entire being aggregated from diverse parts is visible and tangible, and as when water is mixed with wine, each tiniest part of the water is contained in every tiniest part of the wine and conversely, they both appear to be only one substance, and likewise, due to the maximal mixture and union of substance with its accidents and conversely, it would seem that there is no difference between the essence of substance and the essence of accidents in this substance.

8. All the substantial and accidental parts are so situated in an elemented thing that all of them, both substantial and accidental, are containers and contained, or else place, time, quantity, quality etc. would not be sufficient for the mixture of substantial parts, nor would the substantial parts suffice for the mixture of the accidental ones, nor consequently would there be perfect mixture in substance, which is impossible.

9. All substantial and accidental parts exist so that substance can exist; however, the substantial parts exist in substance by the first intention, and the accidental parts by the second intention, or else substance would not be prior to accidents in natural intention, which is impossible, and shows that the essence of substance is not the same as the essence of accidents.

10. Matter has greater appetite for the common parts of form in substance than for the quantities, qualities etc. of these parts, and in the same way the common form in substance has greater appetite for the common parts of matter than the quantities, qualities etc. of these parts, and this is because form and matter are one being identical to substance but they are not identical to accidents, nor do they belong to the same species as accidents; and this shows that the major virtue of substance consists in form and matter, whereas the minor virtue consists in accidents.

11. In the first degree, Chaos is one confused substance created in the beginning; but in the second degree, the essence of this universal substance was specified and individuated through creation into many substances and then further specified and individuated through generation into countless substances, and we understand that the same applies to the individuation of accidents.

12. The substance of a generating grain individuates itself into many grains through the generative virtue of the first degree of Chaos individuating itself in this grain through the third degree; now from the parts of the generating first degree which transit through the grain, and from the parts of the generating grain are produced many grains of the species of the generating one which communicates its own proper substance to them, but not the same numerically identical substance, or else there would be no renovation and generation.

13. Like the water from a dead and putrefied fish which had been substantially composed under the species of the fish reverts to the water which contains this putrid matter, likewise the substance of a corrupted grain in the soil reverts to the first degree of Chaos, which is diffused everywhere, both substantially and accidentally as a naturally substantial and essential thing, and because its essential substance is diffused everywhere, it receives in itself the substantial essence of the putrefied grain, and likewise, because its accidental essence is diffused everywhere, it absorbs the accidental essence of the grain, and therefore the substance and accidents of the grain, as they discard their specific being, revert from the third to the first degree of Chaos which is diffused everywhere, so the first degree can have the matter and potential to conserve the specificity of the third degree.

14. Like the substance of a man is produced from the first degree into the third in accordance with both substantial and accidental specific parts which are objects of Ideas, likewise, after a man's death they revert to the first degree, where they are then conserved by means of Ideas while awaiting the day of resurrection when the same parts will be brought back to the third degree of Chaos so that the entire human substance will then exist as the selfsame substance which it previously was with all its parts, or else there would be no true resurrection, nor would any kind of justice be truly an object of God's Ideas, which is impossible.

H - Quantity
H - The Quantity of Chaos
1. The quantity of the prime Chaos is composed of the intense quantity of both active and passive igneity, aereity etc. and extended into the substance of Chaos in action as well as in passion; and the same applies likewise to the other accidents of Chaos.

2. The quantity of the first degree of Chaos is diffused, divided and distinguished into infinite particular quantities in the third degree as we see for instance in the quantities of men, lions, eagles, whales, olives, olive trees and other things like these, and each of these quantities is produced from the quantity of its universal, namely the quantity which is in the first degree of Chaos.

3. In form and matter, igneity is quantified, aereity is quantified and so are the other essences in the prime Chaos, therefore quantity is intensively divided by accident and extensively composed by accident; now form and matter are substantial things, and as God created matter and form He also created accidents, namely the prime qualities, and made one supposite comprising form, matter and accidents; thus, one extended quantity was made from the intense quantity of form and matter and the quantity of accidents, and this extended quantity has both substantial and accidental components, because it is made of intense substantial and accidental quantities which are also ingredients of the extended quantity inasmuch as it is accidental as well.

4. In the third degree of Chaos there is one form composed of four forms and one matter composed of four matters, as can be seen in a peppercorn or in other species, and hence, if extended quantity were of the essence of this form and of the essence of this matter, the peppercorn would contain one common formal and material quantity composed of contrary quantities, and consequently, form would have its own matter in itself and vice versa so perfectly that no corruption could occur in this grain, but because extended quantity cannot be of the essence of form and matter, there is corruption and subsequent generation in the third Chaos due to the increase or decrease in quantity of the form and matter which substantiate the third Chaos by means of accidents.

5. The quantity of heat, brightness, lightness etc. in the third Chaos is divided by accident into action and passion; now the form of fire quantifies its heat, brightness and lightness in matter, and hence, if extended quantity were of the essence of form and matter, the supposite would be essentiated from the quantity of heat and lightess as well as from the quantity of form and matter, in which case quantity would be the genus, but matter and form would be the species, and the quantificative and the quantifiable, would be just one intense quantity generating a supposite substantiated by mere quantity, which is impossible.

6. Quantity arose in the prime Chaos in this way: in the beginning, God created form and matter, which are intensively quantified per se; now as form is action and matter is passion, the quantity of form is active per se and the quantity of matter is passive, and thus the extension of igneity, aereity etc. is quantified by accidents whose substantial subject is the Chaos.

7. Quantity in the prime Chaos gives rise to quantity in the third, like in a pepper which is an accidentally quantified supposite made of substantial form and matter; and hence, in generation, form and matter are followed by the innate substantial quantity they have in themselves as form and matter, but the quantity in their quality, relation etc. is accidental. Nor can any part of quality etc. be substantial, for then substantial and accidental quantities would be so intimately joined that accidental quantity could not resist substantial quantity, which is impossible.

8. Just as quantity arises in the third Chaos from essential quantity in the prime Chaos, so likewise, when it is corrupted in the third, it reverts to the first, and as a generating agent substantially generates a generated offspring of its own species, so the generating agent likewise quantifies its generated product and qualifies it, and so with the other accidents, and hence only the prime Chaos and the third, through the mediation of God and heaven, can generate new forms in matter, from which new accidental forms, namely quantity, quality etc. accidentally arise.

9. The intense quantity of form and matter, and the intense quantity of quality, relation etc. are essences of quantity extended through form, through matter, through quality, through relation etc. but only form and matter are the very essence of the supposite; and this is how substantial and accidental, continuous and discrete, intense and extended quantity arise.

10. Substantial quantity is intense and gives rise to extended quantity which is accidental and accidentally quantifies the extension of form and matter.

11. Continuous quantity and intense quantity are one and the same thing; but discrete quantity, as we said, is the one with substantial parts, every one of which is present and contained in every other part and vice versa throughout the entirety of the prime Chaos and the third.

12. The essence of substance and the essence of quantity are so intimately blended, as each exists in the other, that the intellect can hardly apprehend the difference between the essence of substance and that of quantity, as we see in wine mixed with water: now the parts of water and the parts of wine enter so subtly into each other that the essences of wine and water seem to be one identical essence, so that the sense of sight, when looking at this body which is quantified both inside and outside, cannot sense any difference between the essences, but this deficiency is repaired by intellectual training.

13. Just as form and matter are inside substance while displaying their figure outside of substance, so likewise their quantity is inside substance but its figure appears outside; and just as a blind man has no way of judging colors, likewise the sense of sight has no way of judging the essence of quantity, for it can only sense its outwardly apparent figure.

The things we said show how essential, formal quantity hides within substance and its predicates, while its figure is displayed externally. The same is likewise understood about the other points essentially and formally present within the substance of Chaos and displaying their figures through the third Chaos and outside substance.

I - Relation
I - Relation in Chaos
1. The prime Chaos had the potential to communicate itself to species even before there was a second Chaos, and the second Chaos had to be created, that is to say, made by the Creator from the prime Chaos, so that the prime Chaos could attain the end for which it was created; therefore the prime and the second Chaos were related to each other by way of generation and creation; the relation between the second and the third Chaos follows in a similar way: there had to be a third degree, but it could not exist without the second, therefore the second was necessary, and this shows clearly enough that the prime Chaos and the second are related to each other, immediately by way of generation and through a medium by way of creation.

2. All four essences of the prime Chaos are mixed in utter confusion, and many specifications arise from this blend, whence follows the relation between proper form, proper matter and remote matter, as between the ignificative of igneity and the ignificable of aereity etc. or else there could not be any universal essence of the prime Chaos, nor any other essences derived from it through specification.

3. Creator and creature are related to each other in the first, second and third Chaos: the first Chaos was created from nothing, and likewise the second in the first, and then the third likewise in the first and second, and the third comes from the generating agent and involves the generation that the third receives from the first and second.

4. The confusion of the first Chaos and the confusion of the third are related to each other: now the confusion of the first, as it flows into the third, cannot communicate itself to the third unless the third, in receiving it, surrenders to confusion, as we see in a generating wheat grain which must die and return to a confused state in the ground before it can produce grains generated from itself in specific forms, and this is why the first and third Chaos are relatively opposed, namely the first by way of confusion and the third by way of specification, as we can see in the confused mass of bread, wine and meat digested in the stomach to produce specification in blood. In turn, blood enters confusion to produce nutritive specification through the organs and limbs into flesh, nerves, bones and marrow.

5. In a wheat grain present in the third Chaos, form is related to matter because form is action and matter is passion, whence relation follows by accident, as something not substantial, but accidental; now form is substantial and active whereas matter is substantial and passive, whence relation arises by accident, without adding anything substantial to form and matter, although it adds something accidental, namely the action of form and the passion of matter, so that the relation between form and matter implies the action of form and the passion of matter as form is formificative and matter is formificable.

6. Ignificative being is a substantial formal point; ignificable being is a substantial material point; these two points give rise to substantially aggregated substance; but understand that this must involve the other elements. Likewise, the relative point is accidental because it accidentally denotes substantial action, and the relatable point is also accidental because it denotes substantial passion; and just as a rational being's ability to laugh is accidental, and properly denotes something real by denoting human substance, so likewise, relation is intended to denote active form and passive matter, or else form and matter could be described or denoted without relation, which is incongruous.

7. A father in the human species must be a man, and likewise, a son in the human species must be a man, whence relation follows by accident to signify the operation whereby the one begets and the other is begotten; and the essence of this relation is paternity and filiation, where paternity denotes the one who begets and filiation denotes the one who is begotten, which shows that substance exists by the first intention but accidents and relation exist by the second intention, in order to denote substantial operation in distinct substantial supposites.

K - Quality
K - Qualities of Chaos
1. One quality extended through the entire prime Chaos is produced from the quality of igneity, the quality of aereity etc. and it is the genus of all the qualities in the third Chaos, and in the third Chaos it divides into species, namely heat, moisture etc. as well as whiteness, blackness and so forth. Hence, just as one universal accidental form is aggregated from many simple accidental forms, for instance, one universal quality from many simple qualities, so likewise it is divided into many parts, or accidental forms, whose subject is substantial form and matter.

2. In a colored supposite aggregated from many substantial parts all of the same color, like whiteness in snow, such whiteness, although it is intensely and extensively one, is nonetheless not present in its entirety on each punctual part, given that all the parts are not in the same place, which shows clearly enough that the single general quality in the prime Chaos is deployed in the third Chaos into many distinct parts in supposites like men, lions, olive trees etc. All these parts flow in from the pre existing prime quality and when they are corrupted in supposites, they revert to the prime quality of the prime Chaos, i.e. its common qualifying quality.

3. In the third Chaos, for instance in a wheat grain, the aerificative and its aerificable are the essence of air, and the aerificative is humidificative while its matter is humidificable so that the essence of air is qualified by accident to resist earth which is accidentally dry and apt to digest and mortify the essence of air, so that mixture and composition can proceed and destroy the rawness of prime matter; the same applies likewise to the other elements, and shows that the essence of substance does not arise from the qualificative and the qualifiable, but rather that the essence of extended quality springs accidentally from intense active and passive quality.

4. In a wheat grain, form gives being to matter so that it exists under form and so that both are the essence in this specifically identified grain, as form acts substantially while matter is substantially passive in making up the substance of this grain. But because matter needs to be moistened, heated, cooled and dried, accidental forms arise and accidentally exist in this grain's substance where they enter into one another, for as the elements interpenetrate, their parts also interpenetrate to give rise to composition. Hence, as form acts substantially and accidentally while matter is substantially and accidentally passive, as we said, substance is clearly different from quality and vice versa, which is to say that substantial action is form and substantial passion is matter, and that accidental action and passion arise when form acts substantially on substantially passive matter by accidentally heating, moistening, cooling and drying the matter.

5. Just as God, may He be praised and honored, gave to the power of sight perceptive virtue to perceive objects by looking at them, so likewise did He give active virtue to the form of fire so it can act on matter by heating it, and to the form of air so it can act on matter by moistening it, and so with the other elements, or else there could not be any generation or corruption, as without heating, moistening etc. form and matter could never be joined or separated; this is self evident.

6. One common quality was created in the prime Chaos, then specified in the second and then likewise in the third. For instance, a generative wheat grain's specific moisture and specific heat provide intense essence to the grains generated from its quality's entity, which is reproduced because the essential quality of the prime Chaos is instilled by generative virtue into this grain as it participates with substantial essence in generating a substantiated and qualified product.

7. In wine mixed with water, every part of wine and water only has the color of wine, and although the color of wine is more intense in some parts than the color of water, this greater intensity is invisible due to a maximal blending of the parts. Similarly, the moisture of air is more intense in the essence of air than in that of water, and just as the color of wine enfolds the parts of both essences, so likewise, the extended quality of Chaos has varying degrees of intensity in all its various parts, and we can see that individuated quality is more intense in some parts than in others.

8. The light of fire is perceived by sight, its heat by touch, and the dryness of earth when it is hit with a stick is perceived by hearing and touch which sense its hardness, just as taste senses the sweetness of an apple and smell senses its fragrance; all these things are accidental figures external to substance while they exist hidden formally within substance, and thus there is really more to qualities than what the senses can perceive.

L - Action
L - The Action of Chaos
1. There are two kinds of action: substantial and accidental. The substantial action of prime Chaos is composed of the ignificative, aerificative etc. and it is the universal or common form which divides into individuals of species in the third Chaos. Accidental action of the prime Chaos is the action of the ignificative, not in its own essence, but in the essences of the other elements, and the same applies to them. This accidental form is universal to all the individual accidental forms in the third Chaos where it divides itself into individual accidents present in supposites where each element is active in the others, and this shows how action is divided in the prime Chaos and in the third.

2. The universal action of the prime Chaos, is form acting on its own matter so that each elementative acts on its own elementable; it is a universal motive power that moves all particular powers in the third Chaos, and hence, we also understand that there is yet another universal motive power whereby each elementative acts on the essences of the other elements, and under which all particular accidental motive powers in the third degree are moved.

3. The substantial form of each element is the same thing as its purely substantial action, but because this form, while it acts substantially on its own matter, also acts accidentally on alien matters, namely those of the other elements, accidental action follows accidentally, as we see in fire whose form acts on the matter of air etc. with its heat and light by heating and lighting it, and therefore the form of air acts by accident with heat and light on its own matter, as it acts on the entire essence so as to contain the matter. The form of air also acts on its own matter substantially inasmuch as this form is totally imbued and infused throughout the entirety of its own matter. And this applies likewise to the other elements, which shows that there is both substantial and accidental action.

4. Each element has a dual action, sensible and insensible. The insensible action is the one which can in no way be sensed by any corporeal sense, and this is the one whereby simple fire acts on its own proper simple matter resulting in a simple element; but the sensible action is the one whereby the entire supposite aggregated from the four elements is sensibly hot, or cold and so forth.

5. Substantial action, which is substantial form, is quantified in itself and in its own matter, and it is qualified by accident in other remote forms and other remote matters when each element acts in the others, as we see when heat accidentally acts on moisture, and so forth.

6. Given that the action of the prime Chaos is diffused throughout the entirety of the Chaos, it flows universally into the third Chaos, and its influx is received by the third Chaos in particular ways, because the third Chaos is distinctly divided into species and supposites. This shows that universal or common action is real, and that it divides itself as the third Chaos receives it, and disperses itself into the parts which come into action in the third Chaos.

7. In the third Chaos there is a certain agent which receives matter from the prime Chaos, in which there is likewise another agent which gives it. Therefore the prime Chaos, under the recipient's action, enters into the action and passion of the third, whence arises the mixture of both degrees of Chaos, as we see in a wheat grain generating many grains, when its form receives influence from the first Chaos and acts on its own matter as the first Chaos enters formally and materially into the form and matter of the generating grain, while the form of this grain acts by reproducing and many similar grains of its own species.

8. In the form of fire there is intense active heat with which form acts on its own matter in which there is intense passive heat, so that throughout the entire essence of fire there is extended heat composed of action and passion, and under it, fire is essentially present in supposites together with the essences of the other elements.

9. The action of the prime Chaos is incessant and incorruptible everywhere within the lunar sphere. In the third Chaos it is incessant but corruptible as some supposites fall into corruption, given that as a supposite is destroyed, its action is deprived of its individual being and reverts to the prime Chaos while the parts of the deprived supposite enter into the mixture of the prime Chaos, whence they later revert to the third Chaos under some other numerically different individual supposite.

M - Passion
M - The Passion of Chaos
1. We understand that the things said about substantial and accidental action apply in a relative way to substantial and accidental passion in the first and third Chaos, in both of which they are mutually related.

2. Substantial passion is prime matter: we see in the prime Chaos that the ignificable is the proper passion of the ignificative, and that the same follows in the third Chaos. Now the appetite of substantial passion is numerically identical to substantial prime matter, or else matter would not be pure passion but rather an agent acting with appetite, which is impossible; they must therefore be identical, just as the action of substantial form is numerically identical to its substantial appetite to signify that form, action and appetite are one identical substance and essence reflecting God's essence, which is one without a second in Paternity, Filiation and Procession without any distinction or passion.

3. Passive accidental appetite is clearly different from matter, given that air's matter has substantial appetite for air's form, it has more appetite for this action than for the accidental action of fire, and likewise it prefers the action of fire to that of water, and thus, accidental passion arises, as there is a difference between matter and passive accidental appetite.

4. Air's matter has no appetite for undergoing the action of earth, rather it hates - so to say - this action, and due to this hatred, the matter of air is accidentally active, albeit by means of air's form, which the form of earth hates, and acts against in air's own matter by drying it, which shows that action arises accidentally in matter, and consequently passion accidentally arises in form, and this is the original source of accidents in substance in the third degree of Chaos.

5. Generation follows matter's substantial appetite for its own form; but corruption follows matter's accidental appetite for an alien form, and this is because appetite is greater in proper form and matter than in remote form and matter, and the same applies likewise to the other accidents.

6. Proper matter, as it communicates itself to its proper form, is passive. We see this in the prime Chaos whose matter is passive as it communicates itself to the third, but when it communicates itself to an improper form, it is accidentally active in resisting this form, as we see when fire's matter in the prime Chaos resists water's form in the third Chaos, as in pepper in which fire is predominant, but if fire's form did not resist water's matter, it would not be as close to its own form; now if fire resisted water with its own form in a merely accidental way, there would be no substantial but only accidental resistance, and substantial contrariety would be destroyed, which is impossible; and there would be no substantial passion in corruption, which is also impossible.

7. From major action, major passion follows and vice versa, and consequently, mobile power is greater in substantial than in accidental passion, which shows that natural motion is intrinsic to substance, and is the substantial motion from which accidental motion arises.

8. Passion which has its own proper action - or form - has the appetite of this form, and as it has this appetite within itself, it has form within itself; therefore passion - or matter - which has in itself its own form with its action and appetite is complete and perfect, but when its form wants to act in alien matter, then matter falls into corruption right away, as its passion, namely its being and its appetite are diminished until it is entirely corrupted in the third Chaos and gives back to the first the parts of matter that return to the confusion of the first Chaos.

9. Passion is of two kinds: universal and particular. Universal passion is when a grain is corrupted, and passive under its own form and under the forms of the elements which corrupt it. Particular passion is when elemental matter is passive under its own proper form for which it has an appetite, and vice versa.

10. From the complementarity of substantial passion and action, substance arises and therefore form and matter exist to make up substance, but not vice versa. Therefore substance is neither passive nor active per se, but only inasmuch as it is a generating agent, or inasmuch as it is aggregated from substantial action and passion. Here, we note how the accidents of substance are in action and passion, which exist so that substance can exist, and not vice versa.

11. Whenever form is generated, it is passionable, and as it is generated, it is at once passionative and its proper matter is passionable, and thus we understand that both have one and the same identity, i.e. that of one specific supposite in which there is no cessation of this substantial action and passion, nor consequently any cessation of accidental action and passion; now as form moves itself in matter and as form moves matter in itself, accidents are moved throughout the entirety of substance and in one another.

12. Vegetal and sensible passions were created in the prime Chaos, and they flow at all times into the third, as for instance in a lion whose vegetated matter endowed with senses is aggregated from passion and appetite, and this passion and appetite are identical to its passive vegetation and sensation, just as they are identical to the passive parts of the elements of which the matter is composed and aggregated. This shows that substantial passion is the lion's matter composed of several - so to say - passive points of the elements, and of passive vegetated and sensed appetite, and this kind of matter exists under the form of a lion, which form is identical to action and to the vegetative and sensitive appetite from whose form and matter the lion is aggregated and produced in the third degree of Chaos; and when it is corrupted, the said points revert to the prime Chaos.

13. There is accidental passion in vegetated beings endowed with senses, as we see when a lion senses hunger, thirst, heat and cold on account of vegetation and sensation, and likewise when it senses things by seeing, hearing, touching and imagining given that the lion is accidentally visible, tangible, audible and imaginable.

14. In man there is the matter of the soul and the matter of the body, as well as the form of the soul and the form of the body; and in the matter there is a dual passion, namely substantial and accidental: substantial passion is when the body's matter is passive under the body's form and the soul's matter is passive under the soul's form, whereas accidental passion is when the body's matter is passive under the soul's form and the soul's matter is passive under the body's form.