Book 1
5
Well, it is obvious that these thinkers too consider number to be a first principle, both as the materialSee Burnet, E.G.P 143-146. of things and as constituting their properties and states.i.e., as a formal principle. Cf. Ross ad loc. The elements of number, according to them, are the Even and the Odd. Of these the former is limited and the latter unlimited; Unity consists of both (since it is both odd and even)Either because by addition it makes odd numbers even and even odd (Alexander, Theo Smyrnaeus) or because it was regarded as the principle of both odd and even numbers (Heath).; number is derived from Unity; and numbers, as we have said, compose the whole sensible universe.
6
OthersZeller attributes the authorship of this theory to Philolaus. of this same school hold that there are ten principles, which they enunciate in a series of corresponding pairs: (1.) Limit and the Unlimited; (2.) Odd and Even; (3.) Unity and Plurality; (4.) Right and Left; (5.) Male and Female; (6.) Rest and Motion; (7.) Straight and Crooked; (8.) Light and Darkness; (9.) Good and Evil; (10.) Square and Oblong.
