Indeed, that which is identical in things other than the One, may no
doubt be similar to the One, but cannot be the One. The One must exist
alone in itself, thus to be grasped in other things, unless we should
claim that its (nature) consists in subsisting with other things.
Under this hypothesis, there will not exist either anything absolutely
simple, nor anything composite. Nothing absolutely simple will exist,
since that which is simple could not subsist by itself; neither could
anything composite exist, since nothing simple will exist. For if no
simple thing possess existence, if there be no simple unity, subsisting
by itself, which could serve as support to the composite, if none of
these things be capable of existing by itself, let alone communicating
to others, since it does not exist; we must conclude that that which,
of all these things, is composite, could not exist, since it would be
made up out of elements that do not exist, and which are absolutely
nothing. Therefore, if we insist on the existence of the manifold, we
are implying the existence of the One before the manifold. Now since
that which thinks is multiple, the principle that is not manifold will
not think. But as this Principle is the first, then Intelligence and
thought are entities later than the first.