6. But if, independently of the things themselves, there be an One
in itself, and a Decad in itself; and if the intelligible entities
be unities, pairs, or triads, independently of what they are by
their being, what then is the nature of these Numbers? What is their
constitution? It must be admitted that a certain Reason presides over
the generation of these Numbers. It is therefore necessary clearly to
understand that in general, if intelligible forms at all exist, it is
not because the thinking principle first thought each of them, and
thereby gave them hypostatic existence. Justice, for instance, was
not born because the thinking principle thought what justice was; nor
movement, because it thought what movement was. Thus thought had to be
posterior to the thing thought, and the thought of justice to justice
itself. On the other hand, thought is anterior to the thing that owes
its existence to thought, since this thing exists only because it is
thought. If then justice were identical with such a thought, it would
be absurd that justice should be nothing else than its definition; for
in this case, the thinking of justice or movement, would amount to
a conception of these objects (by a definition). Now this would be
tantamount to conceiving the definition of a thing that did not exist,
which is impossible.