And of those who assert the Ideas some make 'two' the
line-itself, and others make it the Form of the line; for in some
cases they say the Form and that of which it is the Form are the same,
e.g. 'two' and the Form of two; but in the case of 'line' they say
this is no longer so.
It follows then that there is one Form for many things whose
form is evidently different (a conclusion which confronted the
Pythagoreans also); and it is possible to make one thing the
Form-itself of all, and to hold that the others are not Forms; but
thus all things will be one.
We have pointed out, then, that the question of definitions
contains some difficulty, and why this is so. And so to reduce all
things thus to Forms and to eliminate the matter is useless labour;
for some things surely are a particular form in a particular matter,
or particular things in a particular state. And the comparison which
Socrates the younger used to make in the case of 'animal' is not
sound; for it leads away from the truth, and makes one suppose that
man can possibly exist without his parts, as the circle can without
the bronze. But the case is not similar; for an animal is something
perceptible, and it is not possible to define it without reference
to movement-nor, therefore, without reference to the parts' being in a
certain state. For it is not a hand in any and every state that is a
part of man, but only when it can fulfil its work, and therefore
only when it is alive; if it is not alive it is not a part.
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