Note 134 — Chapter III · * OTHER COMPANIONS OF SOKRATES.
Reading edition
Aristot. Physic. i. 2, 185, b. 26-36.
Lykophron and some others anterior to Aristotle proposed to elude the difficulty, by ceasing to use the substantive verb as copula in predication: instead of saying Σωκράτης ἐστὶ λευκός, they said either Σωκράτης λευκός, simply, or Σωκράτης λελεύκωται.
This is a remarkable evidence of the difficulty arising, even in these early days of logic, about the logical function of the copula.