Page 24 - Book of Crates

“Know”, he answered, “that the ten that can be formed, answer to
the ten names that have been established by Democritus, and for each
of which it determined an operation. As for the unique matter that has
more effect than the ten, the philosophers refused to give it a particular
name; but had they given it one of them, it would not have been
possible to benefit from it because they did not indicate if the matter
was composed or simple. The one that would want to use the property
of this matter later, will have to show how it is composed, and why, in
spite of its composition, it is called unique.

“This is how milk only carries one name, although it contains four
natures, that assure the existence of their body and their spirit; they
only have one designation and only one nature. The philosophers
proceeded in this way: they mixed their ingredients and combined
them, in order to get a homogeneous product, which they do not have,
given that only one name. It is ensured that they made an oath between
them never to make known this thing to anyone who was not of their
company.”

“If they swore”, I retorted, “Not to reveal it, why do they blame
people and reproach them with their defect of intelligence, their
inability to find the true way of this science; why do they accuse these
people for undertaking some research on a topic of which they did not
want to give them any notion?”

“Did I not tell you”, he answered me, “that the Master of
Democritus had not taught him the combination of matters and that it
had left him in a poignant doubt in this respect? Also Democritus must
himself have studied the books, to make the research, to multiply the
experiences and the information, and experience serious disappoint-
ments, before arriving at the right way. From what he says, he did not
find anything more difficult than to obtain the homogeneous mixture,
suitable to carry out the combination of the matters”.

Then I said to him, “Leave aside the additional details; hasten to
describe the goal and be brief in your speech; separate all prolixity and
all unnecessary amplification.”

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