and to existence that is not necessary, then what they call composition would be indispensable to every existent. It would therefore not be impossible, but necessary. No existent could exist without these meanings, which they call composition, and denying them would amount to denying existence—the very essence of sophistry. This is why people have described their doctrine as beginning in sophistry and ending in heresy.

The sixteenth point concerns his statement:

“At most, someone might say that those parts do not admit of separation or dissolution. Yet this does not prevent it from being, in itself, a composite made up of parts. Similarly, the philosopher says that the celestial sphere is a body, although it does not admit of rupture and rejoining. This does not prevent one from believing it to be a body possessing length, breadth, and depth.”

He may be answered as follows: This is like someone saying that affirming attributes amounts to affirming accidents, and that accidents subsist only in something that occupies space. The most that can be said is that those attributes are inseparable from their subject, never leaving or departing from it. This is why some have declined to call them accidents, arguing that an accident is something that does not endure, but arises and passes away, whereas those attributes