g. the
circle is 'a plane figure'. But of the things which have no matter,
either intelligible or perceptible, each is by its nature
essentially a kind of unity, as it is essentially a kind of
being-individual substance, quality, or quantity (and so neither
'existent' nor 'one' is present in their definitions), and the essence
of each of them is by its very nature a kind of unity as it is a
kind of being-and so none of these has any reason outside itself,
for being one, nor for being a kind of being; for each is by its
nature a kind of being and a kind of unity, not as being in the
genus 'being' or 'one' nor in the sense that being and unity can exist
apart from particulars.
Owing to the difficulty about unity some speak of 'participation',
and raise the question, what is the cause of participation and what is
it to participate; and others speak of 'communion', as Lycophron
says knowledge is a communion of knowing with the soul; and others say
life is a 'composition' or 'connexion' of soul with body. Yet the same
account applies to all cases; for being healthy, too, will on this
showing be either a 'communion' or a 'connexion' or a 'composition' of
soul and health, and the fact that the bronze is a triangle will be
a 'composition' of bronze and triangle, and the fact that a thing is
white will be a 'composition' of surface and whiteness. The reason
is that people look for a unifying formula, and a difference,
between potency and complete reality. But, as has been said, the
proximate matter and the form are one and the same thing, the one
potentially, and the other actually.
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