Kitap 13
22
Again, they hold that spatial magnitudes and the like have a certain limit; e.g. the first or indivisible line, then the 2, and so on; these too extending up to 10.The indivisible line or point was connected with 1, the line with 2, the plane with 3 and the solid with 4 (Aristot. Met. 14.3.9); and 1+2+3+4=10.
22
Again, if number is separable, the question might be raised whether Unity is prior, or 3 or 2.
23
Now if we regard number as composite, Unity is prior; but if we regard the universal or form as prior, number is prior, because each unit is a material part of number, while number is the form of the units. And there is a sense in which the right angle is prior to the acute angle—since it is definite and is involved in the definition of the acute angle—and another sense in which the acute angle is prior, because it is a part of the other, i.e., the right angle is divided into acute angles.
24
Thus regarded as matter the acute angle and element and unit are prior; but with respect to form and substance in the sense of formula, the right angle, and the whole composed of matter and form, is prior. For the concrete whole is nearer to the form or subject of the definition, although in generation it is posterior.Cf. Aristot. Met. 7.10, 11.
24
In what sense, then, is the One a first principle? Because, they say, it is indivisible.
