As for the second portion of time and motion being simultaneous with the first, its invalidity is known by the unequivocal judgments of reason.

This is known concerning all causal agents that act by nature or by will, as well as whatever acquires causal efficacy through religious law or otherwise. When a man says to his wife, “You are divorced,” or to his slave, “You are free,” divorce and emancipation do not take effect simultaneously with his utterance declaring them, but immediately afterward.

If he says, “If I divorce such-and-such a woman, then such-and-such another woman is divorced,” the second woman is divorced only immediately after the first woman’s divorce, not simultaneously with the act of divorcing the first. This is the position of the overwhelming majority of scholars, past and present. Yet a small group of later scholars, whose reasoning these people led astray, supposed that divorce takes effect simultaneously with the utterance. The overwhelming majority of scholars regard this as an error.

Likewise, if he says, “When I die, you are free,” the slave whose emancipation is conditional upon his master’s death becomes free immediately after that death, not simultaneously with it.

The same applies to perceptible, physical matters. When someone says, “I broke the vessel, and it shattered,” or “I cut the rope, and it came apart,” the object’s shattering or coming apart occurs immediately after the agent’s act of breaking or cutting. Hence, when the object is not receptive to the action, one says, “I cut it, but it did not come apart; I broke it, but it did not break,” just as one says, “I taught him, but he did not learn.”

Expressions such as “teaching,” “cutting,” and “breaking” may refer to the complete action that necessarily entails its effect. This is like a complete cause that necessarily entails its effect and admits of no exceptions. They may also refer to a causal factor that necessitates an effect but whose efficacy depends upon certain conditions; in this case, its requisite effect may fail to occur.