Kitap 14
15
There is no reason to doubt whether the Pythagoreans do or do not introduce it; for they clearly state that when the One had been constituted—whether out of planes or superficies or seed or out of something that they cannot explain—immediately the nearest part of the Infinite began to be drawn in and limited by the Limit.Cf. Aristot. Physics 3.4, Aristot. Physics 4.6, and Burnet, E.G.P. sect. 53.
16
However, since they are here explaining the construction of the universe and meaning to speak in terms of physics, although we may somewhat criticize their physical theories, it is only fair to exempt them from the present inquiry; for it is the first principles in unchangeable things that we are investigating, and therefore we have to consider the generation of this kind of numbers.
1
TheyThe Platonists. say that there is no generation of odd numbers,This statement was probably symbolical. They described the odd numbers as ungenerated because they likened them to the One, the principle of pure form (Ross ad loc.). which clearly implies that there is generation of even ones; and some hold that the even is constructed first out of unequals—the Great and Small—when they are equalized.Cf. Aristot. Met. 13.7.5. Therefore the inequality must apply to them before they are equalized. If they had always been equalized they would not have been unequal before; for there is nothing prior to that which has always been.
2
Hence evidently it is not for the sake of a logical theory that they introduce the generation of numbers
2
A difficulty, and a discredit to those who make light of the difficulty, arises out of the question how the elements and first principles are related to the the Good and the Beautiful. The difficulty is this: whether any of the elements is such as we mean when weAristotle speaks as a Platonist. See Introduction. speak of the Good or the Supreme Good, or whether on the contrary these are later in generation than the elements.
