2. (Aristotle[189]) suggests that in each of the individual beings
which are one, being is identical with unity. Are not being and essence
identical with unity, in every being and in every essence, in a manner
such that on discovering essence, unity also is discovered? Is not
being in itself unity in itself, so that if being be intelligence,
unity also must be intelligence, as intelligence which, being essence
in the highest degree, is also unity in the first degree, and which,
imparting essence to other things, also imparts unity to them? What
indeed could unity be, apart from essence and being? As "man," and "a
man" are equivalent,[190] essence must be identical with unity; or,
unity is the number of everything considered individually; and as one
object joined to another is spoken of as two, so an object alone is
referred to as one.