Book 5
1
Perfect 〈or complete〉 means: (a) That outside which it is impossible to find even a single one of its parts; e.g., the complete time of each thing is that outside which it is impossible to find any time which is a part of it. (b) That which, in respect of goodness or excellence, cannot be surpassed in its kind; e.g., a doctor and a musician are perfect when they have no deficiency in respect of the form of their peculiar excellence.
2
And thus by an extension of the meaning we use the term in a bad connection, and speak of a perfect humbug and a perfect thief; since indeed we call them good— e.g. a good thief and a good humbug.
3
(c) And goodness is a kind of perfection. For each thing, and every substance, is perfect when, and only when, in respect of the form of its peculiar excellence, it lacks no particle of its natural magnitude. (d) Things which have attained their end, if their end is good, are called perfect; for they are perfect in virtue of having attained the end.
4
Hence, since the end is an ultimate thing, we extend the meaning of the term to bad senses, and speak of perishing perfectly or being perfectly destroyed, when the destruction or calamity falls short in no respect but reaches its extremity. Hence, by an extension of the meaning, death is called an end, because they are both ultimate things. And the ultimate object of action is also an end.
5
Things, then, which are called perfect in themselves are so called in all these senses; either because in respect of excellence they have no deficiency and cannot be surpassed, and because no part of them can be found outside them; or because, in general, they are unsurpassed in each particular class, and have no part outside. All other things are so called in virtue of these, because they either produce or possess something of this kind, or conform to it, or are referred in some way or other to things which are perfect in the primary sense.
