Second Section - The Rules

SECOND SECTION
THE RULES
1. This Section deals with Ten General Rules.
Rule One is about Possibility, & is signified by B.
Rule Two is about Definitions, & is signified by C.
Rule Three is about Materiality, & is signified by D.
Rule Four is about Formality, & is signified by E.
Rule Five is about Quantity, & is signified by F.
Rule Six is about Quality, & is signified by G.
Rule Seven is about Temporality, & is signified by H.
Rule Eight is about Locality, & is signified by I.
Rule Nine is about Modality, & is signified by K.
Rule Ten is about Instrumentality, & is signified by K.
2. My Son, you must mix these ten Rules with one another, & receive their meanings, & mix them with the Flowers & Beings of the Tree & with the Principles of this Science, & receive meanings from all these together by making affirmative or negative statements without introducing Contrariety into the mixture. And you will perform this mixture in the second figure, with its moveable circles, always taking care to preserve the species of the Rules with their natural properties.
B - Rule 1
Possibility
1. This Rule deals with Possibility, which we consider in three modes, namely: Affirmation, Doubt & Negation. Affirmation is used at the outset of your inquiry into the Truth, when you suppose that either one of two contrary statements could be true; & this supposition raises Doubt about the issues so that the intellect does not know whether the affirmative or the negative position is the true one. And as the intellect begins to doubt, it begins to think philosophically & seek out the truth, because it is lovable know the truth about things & because the knowable nature of things is apt to be understood by the intellect through its natural motion as it seeks out a goal or an intention determined by the will. But when the intellect, before duly determining whether or not something is true, assumes that a position must be affirmed because it is true, or that it must be denied because it is false, with no regard for supposing the said possibility, it then imprisons itself in its own obstinacy, & has no terms with which it can get to the truth by necessary reasons, be they natural or artificial.
Accordingly, the Author of this Art does not want anyone to expound this Art to such an obstinate intellect, or argue about it with same; nonetheless, he wishes that an attempt be made to use the process of this Art to extirpate, or remove this kind of intellect as much as possible from its obstinacy and obscurity by offering, for its objective consideration, some other necessary reasons which it finds believable and pleasing, & you can come back to the primary objects at some other time.
2. In this Art, this Rule is meant for investigating issues by putting the question "Whether or not?" For instance, we can ask Whether or not Angels exist, and other similar questions. And you must suppose either that they do exist, or that they do not, before you can find the necessary reasons for your choice.
3. Any supposition made in this way should be touched on by the three powers of the soul, namely: Memory, Intellect & Will while remembering, understanding & loving the Principles of this Art as you touch on them, & if these three powers comprehend the natures of the Principles better through affirmation than through negation, then accept the affirmative conclusion; & if not, then accept the negative, & this Rule applies in general to all Sciences.
C - Rule 2
Quiddity
1. This Rule concerns the Quiddity of things & regulates the intellect for inquiring into what things are, as when asking: "What is GOD?", or "What is Man?", or "What is Goodness?", & other questions like these. We consider this Rule in four modes.
The first mode consists in asking what something is in itself, as when asking: "What is GOD in himself?" or "What is Goodness in itself?"
The second mode consists in asking what something has in itself, for instance: "What does GOD have in Himself?" or "What does Goodness have in itself?" & so forth.
The third mode consists in asking what one thing is in another, for instance: "What is Goodness in Greatness?"
The fourth mode consists in asking what a thing has in other things, for instance: "What does GOD have in man?" & "What does this man have in his box?" & "What does the king have in this city?" & "What does Goodness have in Greatness?" & so on.
2. In this Art, this Rule is meant for regulating the intellect as it investigates the quiddity of things with these four modes. The intellect uses the four said species to survey the Principles of this Science as well as other principles implicitly contained in the Principles of this Art, while maintaining concordance between them & this Rule.
3. Moreover, the above Rule is included in this Art for the following purpose, namely: to regulate the Intellect so that it moves the Memory to remember, & the Will to love the definitions of the Principles, & so that it can apply these definitions to the objects of its enquiry, & derive further definitions & questions from them.
D - Rule 3
Materiality
1. This Rule concerns Materiality, it provides a doctrine for investigating the matter things are made of, & shows the way to carry out this investigation in three modes.
The first mode shows how to find out about things that exist freely and substantially on their own: like GOD, Who exists on his own and does not come from anything else, and Goodness, which exists on its own and does not come from anything else, inasmuch as it consists of its own essential bonifier, bonifiable and bonifying: & the same applies to Greatness and the other principles of substance.
The second mode concerns Materiality as in a whole consisting of its parts, for instance: substance consists of its own form and matter; & its form is a common form aggregated from the forms of its parts, & its matter is likewise aggregated from the matter of each part. And a part is a part of its whole; & a hammer is made of iron.
The third mode is possessive, as in asking: "What things belong to others?" For instance: the world belongs to GOD, because He created it. And a soldier belongs to the king; & the horse belongs to the soldier; & accidents belong to substance; & the likenesses received by the intellect belong to real objects. And second intentions belong to primary ones, for instance: the hammer belongs to the blacksmith. And the Goodness of Greatness belongs to general Goodness. And remote objects belong to near objects, for instance: the visibility of color belongs to the essential inner visibility of sight. And the same can be understood about the intelligibility of a stone, which belongs to the intelligibility of the intellect. And the same applies to evil, which belongs to the privation of Goodness; & to heat, which belongs to fire, & so on with other things like these.
2. With this Rule, we find out how some things naturally belong to others, & others to them. And it shows how to receive the terms of any question and to answer it in accordance with the nature of the terms & the way some things belong to other things. And with these terms we can select Cameras from the Table, suited to the terms of the question. If we ask, for instance, whether it is good that GOD exists, since this question deals with Goodness, we answer the question in terms of Goodness, associated with its most closely concordant terms like Greatness and Eternity: and so we can ask whether GOD's Existence would be good, great, durable, & so on with other similar issues.
E - Rule 4
Formality
1. This Rule, concerning Formality, is meant for investigating the form of things & their purpose by asking why they exist, & why they do what they do; & this question is answered in two modes, as some things exist on their own, and some things exist on account of other things.
In the first mode, for instance: GOD exists by himself & not on account of anything else. And He is GOD because Goodness, Greatness, Eternity &c. in him are one identical number, for if they were not one identical number, GOD could not be what He is. Further, GOD exists because He understands & loves himself, & his Goodness, his Magnitude, & his other Dignities with the entirety of his Essence & his Unity. Also, man's substance exists on its own, for inasmuch as it is what it is, it exists per se. And likewise with substantial Goodness, which is per se what it is; & so on with other similar things.
In the second mode, some things exist for others: for instance: man exists for remembering, understanding & loving GOD; & he knows, remembers & loves in order to follow the purpose for which he exists. And Goodness exists so that Greatness can be good, & Greatness exists so that Goodness can be great, & likewise with other things that are convertible through similar intentions. On the other hand, there is evil so that there might be good, & great evil so that there might be great good; however, the converse is not true, because good does not exist in order to ensure the existence of evil. Also, a knife is meant for cutting, & teeth are for eating, & eyes are for seeing, & the visibility of objects exists for their intelligibility, & the imagination exists for conserving the species abstracted by the intellect from sensible things, & so with other similar things, like second intentions, which are meant for primary ones.
2. This Rule shows how to give answers in a regulated way suited to the form of each question, by investigating the forms and purposes implicit in the terms of the question & mixing each principle with the others, while preserving the concordance of forms & intentions throughout the mixture. And these forms & intentions are signified by what we said about them in this Rule & in the definitions of the Principles & in their explanations. For instance, if we ask: "Why does GOD allow great evil to exist, as He himself is great Good?" The answer is that in this way, great good can be known for what it is. And so on with other similar things.
F - Rule 5
Quantity
1. This Rule concerns Quantity, and is meant to regulate the intellect in measuring the terms of a question so as to reach a conclusion. This is done in two modes: according to simple Quantity & compound Quantity. The first mode considers & measures the simple quantities of the Principles in terms of simplicity; the second mode considers & measures the compound quantities of the Principles in mixture.
With simple quantity, for instance: the quantity of Goodness is a simple principle with simple quantity due to its substantial simplicity, essence & nature.
With compound quantity, for instance: the quantity of Goodness reproduces itself in its own likenesses which it clothes with the other Principles of substance, so that Goodness is great, durable, powerful &c. And this multiple reproduction of quantities converts into a composition of many simple quantities all making up one compound quantity in which the quantities all exist within each other, & which is common to all other simple quantities, & to all substance by reason of Goodness. And the same applies to Greatness, & to the other principles of substance that have both simple & compound quantity. The simple & compound quantity which is within substance is invisible as such, but it appears in the visible figure displayed in the extremities of substance which are in contact with air, which is not of the essence of that substance, as for instance the substance of Peter, or Martin; & likewise with other similar things.
2. In this Art, this Rule is meant for measuring the quantities of the Principles in affirmative & negative answers to questions. For instance: when asking whether GOD exists, we should see whether Goodness, Greatness & the other Principles are more greatly remembered by memory, understood by the intellect & desired by the will when GOD's existence is affirmed, than when it is denied.
And once this investigation is done, the Art requires that the conclusion be formulated in accordance with the greater quantity of likenesses of the Principles multiplied in the powers of the soul, except for the likenesses of Contrariety & Minority which are concordant with privation.

G - Rule 6
Quality
1. This Rule deals with Quality, and is meant to guide the intellect in investigating the truth about the qualities of things, & this investigation is done in two modes: namely, by considering proper & appropriated Qualities.
We consider proper Qualities, as for instance: heat is the proper quality of fire, & moisture is the proper quality of air, and coldness of water, & dryness of earth. And as each element has its proper quality, each element is distinct from the other elements substantially, essentially & naturally, & the same applies to its proper parts: for instance, the Goodness of fire is not the same as the Goodness of air, nor is the Goodness of air the same as the Goodness of water, & so forth.
We consider appropriated Qualities, for instance: when a substance appropriates its proper quality to another substance, as when fire appropriates its heat to air to make the air warm, & air appropriates its moisture to water to make the water moist, & water appropriates its coldness to earth to make it cold, & earth its dryness to fire to make it dry. And the parts transit thus through one another substantially & accidentally, so that composition results from all these substances & accidents, & so that substance can be compounded & produced from all its parts substantially & accidentally, so that each element stands within substance as a simple element by reason of its proper quality, & is compounded by reason of its appropriated quality. And thus, substance remains simple on account of individuation & numerical unity, for instance: the substance of Martin is simply one substance. And the simplicity of unity is sustained in the simplicity of simple parts, as its composition is sustained in the composition of parts that are compounded by reason of their appropriated qualities.
2. Fire appropriates its heat to air, as heat is sustained in it: & the same with its Goodness, Greatness, duration, &c. And therefore fire enters into air both substantially & accidentally: & the heat that fire appropriates to air is both an active and a passive quality with regard to both elements. Heat is active inasmuch as fire gives heat; it is passive, inasmuch as air is heatable, & its heatability exists on account of the ignificability of fire. And the heat that air sends into water is an active quality with regard to air, & a passive quality with regard to water; & this is on account of the great concordance existing between fire & air, & of the great contrariety between fire & water. As fire appropriates its own heat to air and enables air to heat water, it makes water twice passive under the active heat of fire. Thus, air & fire do not substantiate the heat of water as an active quality of water when heating things in hot water, & therefore note that water, because it is contrary to fire, does not heat earth. And as fire is contrary to water, the heat of fire appropriated to water is a passive quality. Here, water becomes a medium through which earth is heated; & the things we said about fire & water also apply to air, earth & every part of substance.
3. This Rule regulates the intellect in investigating the Qualities of natural things according to what we said about Quality in substances and in their parts, by mixing each Principle with all the others, & each Rule with all the others, so that the parts are displayed in the mixture, showing how part each is clothed in its proper Qualities & its appropriated Qualities. And the answers to questions are weighed by considering this clothing, or habit.
H - Rule 7
Temporality
1. This Rule concerns Temporality, & we signify it with Rules C, D & K. There are four modes for investigating Time. The first consists in asking: "What is Time?" The second is: "What does Time consist of?" The third is: "How does Time exist in the principles, & the principles in time?" The fourth is: "What does Time exist with?" And the four modes are signified by the Rules we have described.
With the first mode we ask about the Quiddity of Time. Time is one simple part of the substance of the world in which substance stands with all its parts moved in Time. Without Time, nothing could move with motion sustained in beings that move from one place to another or into another. In this motion, the figure of Time is displayed in the form of generation & corruption, & through this figure the intellect attains the form and the quiddity of Time.
The second mode is signified by the mixture of the Principles, inasmuch as Time consists of itself and of something else, namely of the beginning, in which Time was created & initiated, & therefore Time consists of the beginning, & the beginning consists of Time, just as Goodness consists of Greatness, & Greatness consists of Goodness, & likewise with the other Principles.
The third mode deals with Situation, or how Time stands in the Principles & the Principles in Time; Time stands in Goodness just like Goodness in Greatness, namely: as Greatness is good by reason of Goodness, so does Time exist in Goodness by reason of Goodness, & conversely, Goodness exists in Time by resaon of Time. Hence, it follows that Goodness exists in the successive motion of days, nights, hours & minutes, as this motion is sustained in the present time while its figure appears in past & future things.
The fourth mode concerns Habituation, & signifies the things whereby Time is what it is & with which it exists within the parts of substance, & in motion external to substance, as Time exists with its own essential parts, namely: the temporificative, temporificable & temporifying. And Time exists with Goodness because it is good, with Greatness because it is great, & so on.
2. Considered in this way, this Rule provides a regulated & orderly process for the human intellect to follow in determining things that have to do with Time, for instance, if we ask: "Why didn't GOD create the world sooner?" This Art requires that the answer be based on the conditions of the Principles & Rules of this Art, & the things that go into the answer of a question must be remembered & understood according to the acquired habit of this Science; for if the answer is given before the respondent applies this habitually acquired Science, he can neither get any help from the virtue of a habitual knowledge of this Art, nor follow the final purpose of the Principles. Therefore this Art requires that the theory of this Science be considered before putting it into practice. For instance, Rule D indicates that before the world ever was, nothing existed but GOD alone; this is why the adverb "sooner" in the above question does not correspond to anything real, but is merely a likeness accepted by the intellect in terms of time & of some things preceding other things. And if "sooner", used in this question as an adverb, denoted anything real, Time would have existed even before the creation of the world, & this Time would be eternal, without any subject to sustain it, namely the substantial parts of this world, which are: Goodness, Greatness &c., so that the definitions of Beginning & of the other parts of substance would be destroyed.
I - Rule 8
Locality
1. This Rule deals with Locality in four modes, & there could be many more, but to deal with this Science as briefly as we can, let us signify these four modes with the three letters C, D & K which denote four Rules applied to the investigation of loci & other matters having to do with Locality.
The first mode uses Rule C to signify the Quiddity of Locus. Locus is one part of the substance of the world, in which all the parts of substance are located. And it is diffused & extended throughout all these parts; & due to its natural virtue it can be what it is in itself, & it can exist in other parts of substance, as it gives them its likeness, so it can be in them essentially, & they likewise in it, & every part can be in another. And the substance of the world can be in itself & in its parts, & its parts in it & in themselves.
The second mode signifies what Locus consists of. Locus consists of itself, although some loci consist of other loci, locus as such consists simply of itself & nothing else. Because locus was initiated in the instant it was created, it consists of its Beginning so that the Beginning can have a locus to sustain it. And the same applies to Goodness, which is a Locus of Greatness, so that Greatness has a Locus in which to be good, & likewise with the other Principles of substance, in which some loci consist of other loci. For instance, color & visibility are the loci of seeing, & the imagination is the locus of imagining. These Loci, some of which consist of others, are particular Loci existing within the universal Locus, where they remain invisible to the sense of sight. Nonetheless, they clearly appear within the universal Locus as Loci of intelligibility & understanding in the imagination in which they are imaginable. Now the universal locus transmits its likeness & the likenesses of its parts outside of substance, & this likeness can be sensed as shape. For instance, wine is in a locus in the jug that contains it; & the heat of pepper is in the Locus of the taste & substance of pepper.
The third mode considers Locus with Rule nine and shows how some things exist in others. This Rule signifies the modalities of beings, for instance: the bonifier has a mode of existing in the bonifiable so that bonifying can consist of the bonifier and bonifiable. And Goodness has a mode of being in Greatness so as to be good in itself on account of its great innate bonifier, bonifiable and bonifying.
The fourth mode deals with Habituation & signifies the things with which locus is what it is. Now locus exists with its essential parts, namely its innate locative, locatable and locating. And locus coexists with Goodness, so that Goodness can be the locus of Greatness, so that Greatness can be good, & conversely, so that Goodness can be great. And likewise, Locus coexists with wine so that wine can be contained in a bottle, & so that the bottle can contain something & not be a locus of emptiness. And likewise with other things, with which locus is what it is in itself & in them, & they are what they are in themselves & in it, & with themselves & with it.
2. This Rule, applied as described above, is a light that regulates and habituates the human intellect to respond decisively and conclusively to questions raised about locus.
Therefore, the Author of this Art wants decisions and judgments regarding Locus to be treated in the way described in the loci of this Science; & these Loci are the Figures, Definitions, Rules & Questions.
For instance, if we ask "Where was GOD before the world existed?" the Art wants us to recur to the said loci of this Art, & base the answer on them, for instance: Rule C signifies that GOD was within himself, & the definition of the Beginning mixed with this Rule of Locus, as well as the definition of Greatness signify that GOD was not in any locus before the world existed, but solely in himself.
K - Rule 9
Modality
1. This Rule concerns Modality, it regulates the intellect to inquire into the Modes of beings, & it is divided into four Parts.
The first Part shows the Mode whereby the parts of substance exist, for instance: Goodness is one part, Greatness is another part, & each has its way of being a part by reason of Difference as there is Difference between Goodness & Greatness, given that the distinct bonifier, bonifiable and bonifying are the essential parts of Goodness, while Greatness also has its distinct magnifier, magnifiable & magnifying as its essential parts, & likewise with the rest of the principles.
The second Part shows how various parts exist within each other, for instance: Goodness exists in Greatness & Duration inasmuch as it is great & durable, & conversely.
The third Part shows & declares the Mode whereby substance exists in its parts, & its parts in it, for instance: Goodness exists in Greatness, Duration & the other parts of substance, and it has its Mode of reproducing itself in the other parts, as the other parts have their Mode of reproducing themselves in Goodness. And through this reproduction, substance is multiplied, & this substance has its Mode of existing in its parts, just as its parts have their Mode of existing in it.
The fourth Part shows the Mode whereby substance reproduces its likeness & the likenesses of its parts in things external to itself. For instance: human substance has its Mode of doing good works with its Goodness, & great works with its Greatness. And as human substance is composed of the elemental, vegetal, sensual, imaginative, & rational powers, it has its Mode of understanding intelligible objects, imagining imaginable things, sensing sensible things, vegetating vegetal matter within itself, & generating other humans. Human substance also has its Mode of artificially using things external to itself, following the Modes which exist within substance, for instance: the will wants man to be virtuous in his ways of speaking, understanding, buying, selling & so on.
K1 - Rule 10
Instrumentality
1. This Rule deals with Instrumentality and shows the Instruments which exist in artificial & natural things. It is divided into four Parts.
The first Part, as for instance: Goodness, exists with its own essential properties, namely with its own bonifier, bonifiable and bonifying.
The second Part, as for instance: Goodness exists with the properties it appropriates from Greatness, Duration, Power & the other Principles; for without these it could neither exist, nor stand within substance, because it would have nothing to sustain it.
The third Part, as for instance: substance subsists with its substantial & accidental parts, with which it is what it is; & it acts within itself by reason of these parts.
The fourth Part: substance acts outside itself in other beings with its intrinsic likenesses, as for instance man, with his intrinsic reasons, acts out good, great & durable reasons externally to himself so that the outward similitudes reveal the assimilated beings which exist intrinsically within substance. And so man moves his feet with his will & with his feet he moves himself from place to place; & he moves a pen with his hand, ink with the pen & letters with the ink; & with the letters man moves his memory to remember, his intellect to understand, his will to love, his imagination to imagine, his senses to sense, his vegetative power to vegetate & his elemental power to element. And he also moves himself with the motion of the horse he rides & with the motion of the ship he sails; & he moves himself with the virtues to heavenly glory & with the vices to hellish punishment. And so on, with other things like these.
2. These Rules are most useful to know, because have they great signification due to the things each one contains in itself, as well as in the mixture of each Rule with all the other Rules; for they provide a mode for finding out the Truth of things, as well as their Goodness, Greatness & other Principles, given that in Rules B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,K & in their mixture, substantial Goodness is displayed more substantially than accidentally, so that substance can be more greatly & more nobly construed.
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