But what element is common to them? It does not suffice for them to
proceed from the Good to have something identical; they must also have
some common characteristic; for a same principle may give rise to
different things; or again, one and the same thing may become different
while passing from the giving principle into the receivers; for there
is a difference between that which constitutes the first actualization,
and that which is given thereby. Thus, that which is in the things of
which we speak is already different. Nothing hinders the characteristic
of all these things (in life, intelligence and idea) from being the
form of Good, but this form exists at different degrees in each of them.