LARGE AND SMALL ARE CONCEPTIONS BELONGING TO QUANTITY.

Should "large" and "small" be classified within the genus of quantity?

Yes: for the large is large by a certain dimension, and dimension is

not a relation. As to "greater" and "smaller," they belong to relation;

for a thing is greater or smaller in relation to something else, just

as when it is double. Why then do we sometimes say that a mountain is

large, and that a grain of millet is small? When we say that a mountain

is small, we use the latter term instead of smaller; for they who

use this expression themselves acknowledge that they call a mountain

small only by comparing it to other mountains, which implies that here

"little" stands for "smaller." Likewise, when we say that a grain of

millet is large, this does not mean "large" in any absolute sense, but

large only for a grain of millet; which implies that one compares it to

things of the same kind, and that here "large" means "larger."[383]

Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3 In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods · 第 362 / 442 题