Besides, Unity in itself is the first of all; but intelligence, forms
and essence are not primary. Every form is manifold and composite, and
consequently must be something posterior; for parts are prior to the
composite they constitute. Nor is intelligence primary, as appears from
the following considerations. For intelligence existence is necessarily
thought and the best intelligence which does not contemplate exterior
objects, must think what is above it; for, on turning towards itself,
it turns towards its principle. On the one hand, if intelligence be
both thinker and thought, it implies duality, and is not simple or
unitary. On the other hand, if intelligence contemplate some object
other than itself, this might be nothing more than some object better
than itself, placed above it. Even if intelligence contemplate itself
simultaneously with what is better than it, even so intelligence is
only of secondary rank. We may indeed admit that the intelligence which
has such a nature enjoys the presence of the Good, of the First, and
that intelligence contemplates the First; but nevertheless at the same
time intelligence is present to itself, and thinks itself as being all
things. Containing such a diversity, intelligence is far from unity.