Act and effect

Meaning

These two Latin forms distinguish an action in the work from its attained result. In Part II: matter and the work · unit 26 the question is when and for how long each action should occur, but the anonymous treatise declines to prescribe a certain period. Philosophical writers reach the result at different speeds. 'Effect' here is therefore an achieved outcome, not simply an observable event detached from the work's goal. The aligned English makes the distinction accessible as 'each action' and 'the result'. The passage redirects attention from a fixed timetable to observing nature and maintaining the proper mean; it does not promise that identical actions always produce the same result on a schedule.