Quantity

Use in the book

The Aristotelian account of motion groups increase and decrease under quantity, alteration under quality, and locomotion under place. Moderatus describes the monad as the limit reached when subtraction diminishes a numerical multitude. Strato’s definition of time as the quantity in motion and rest uses quantity in yet another setting: what is measured need not be a collection of bodily pieces.

Places to read

1. I.19.1.5Quantitative change is distinguished from qualitative and local change.
2. Arith.8Subtraction reaches the monad as a boundary of quantity.
3. I.8.40b.2Strato’s definition connects time with quantity in motion and rest.

Translation in this edition

“Quantity” preserves the general category; “amount” can clarify a particular application. The entry does not assume that every quantity is discrete number.

Use in the book

Aristotle and the Theophrastean report at A28 agree that the enduring four change in respect of more and fewer through combination and separation. This is not yet a complete doctrine that every substance is exhaustively defined by a numerical recipe. It marks the level at which the roots can vary while remaining eternal.

Aëtius at A44 makes the contrast explicit by classifying generation as quantitative aggregation rather than qualitative alteration. The passage groups several different thinkers and must not be read as proof that all their accounts of quantity are identical. A332 adds proportion and blending, which introduces relations among quantities rather than mere accumulation. The ratio accounts elsewhere in the volume can elaborate that possibility, but cannot be read backward into every occurrence of “more” and “fewer.”

The headword helps preserve three related but distinct claims: varying amounts of constituents, assembling bodies from fine material, and determining a compound through a proportion. The reports support comparison among them without erasing their differences.

Places to read

1. A 28 (testimony)Aristotle, Metaphysics A 3; Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus. Explains changes among enduring roots through more and fewer in combination and separation.
2. A 44 (testimony)Aëtius I 24,2 (D. 320). Contrasts quantitative aggregation with qualitative alteration.
3. A 33 (testimony)2Aëtius I 3,20. Connects the formation of the All with proportion and blending.

Translation in this edition

“More and fewer” need not mean an ancient atomic count. The notices do not give an exact unit, and the sub-elemental particle reports remain separately contested.

Use in the book

Quantity concerns extension and the multiplicity of spatial parts. Ficino considers whether it is simply matter's extension or a form by which a higher cause extends matter. In either case, it does not explain effective action upon another body as quality does. The contrast is concrete: approaching something large does not make one large, whereas approaching something hot can make one hot. Quality can also move a sense before that sense judges quantity, as color and light make a wall's magnitude perceptible. The argument carefully separates the amount of a quality from its character or intensity. A white body's partition changes extent without necessarily changing the defining character of whiteness; concentrated heat can be more powerful than dispersed heat. “Dimension” is also distinguished from matter in the discussion of celestial forms that possess the former without the latter. These are claims within Ficino's argument, not a simple equation of quantity with modern mathematical measurement.

A related distinction at I.3.15 separates decrementum, decrease in extent, from remissio, weakening of intensity. Quality can undergo both; substantial corporeal form can decrease without undergoing the latter. Ficino uses the contrast to argue for incorporeal substantial form subject to neither kind of diminution. The fuller hierarchy of forms therefore depends on two distinct senses of “less,” not two interchangeable labels for quantitative shrinking.

Further passage references. I.2.1–I.2.4234, I.2.9–I.2.1723456789; I.3.19, I.3.25–I.3.292345; I.5.26; I.3.15

Places to read

1. I.2.1–4234Matter, dimensions, and bodily bulk are distinguished from active efficacy.
2. I.2.17Partition changes extent without necessarily changing the character of whiteness.
3. I.3.15Decrease and remission distinguish three grades of form.
4. I.5.26The account differentiates celestial dimension from matter.

Translation in this edition

The supplied “remission of intensity” at I.3.15 clarifies a distinction that plain “decrease” would erase. I.2.17 likewise preserves qualitative character while denying equal extent after division. The contrast between dimensions and matter in I.5.26 must remain an argument in Ficino’s hierarchy, not a modern physics assertion.

exilis / exiguus / parvitas

exilis / exiguus / parvitas. Printed forms: exiguam; exilem; parvas; parvitatem; parvum.

Slight, small, or littleness. The corporeal fabric has bounded magnitude yet can be divided into ever smaller parts, contrasting with indivisible fullness. References: II.6.13. See Quantity and dimension.

linea / longum / latum / profundum

linea / longum / latum / profundum. Printed forms: latum; linea; lineae; linearum; longum; profundum.

Line and the three dimensions, or rays from a center in an analogy. Spatial lines can misrepresent divinity, while a center and lines can clarify dependence if kept analogical. References: II.6.13, II.6.17, II.8.5. See Quantity and dimension.

longum / latum / profundum

longum / latum / profundum. Printed forms: latum; longum; profundum.

Length, breadth and depth as dimensions. Three-dimensional extension belongs to body by nature; some qualities of points, numbers or powers are offered as unextended counterexamples. References: I.2.16. See Quantity and dimension.

magnum / magnitudo / maior

magnum / magnitudo / maior. Printed forms: magnitudinem; Magnum; magnumque; maiorem.

Greatness or greater extent, power, or perfection depending on context. True greatness is contrasted with bodily magnitude divisible into small parts; no quantitative size is assigned to God. References: II.1.4, II.6.13, II.10.5. See Quantity and dimension.

piger

piger. Printed forms: pigras.

Sluggish or inert. Dimensions are called sluggish relative to the effective motion of quality and time, supporting the reported a-fortiori argument. References: II.6.20. See Quantity and dimension.

quantitas / dimensio

quantitas / dimensio. Printed forms: dimensio; dimensionem; dimensiones; dimensioni; quantitatis.

Quantity and extension in dimensions. Dimensional contact differs from incorporeal efficacy; imagination falsely turns divine rays into three-dimensional lines. References: II.6.1, II.6.13, II.6.15. See Quantity and dimension.

quantitas / extensio / dimensio

quantitas / extensio / dimensio. Printed forms: extensa; Extensio; extensione; quantitatem; quantitati; quantitatis.

Quantity / extension / dimension. Both divisibility and fixed position obstruct whole multiple presence; soul is argued to be free of these restrictions. References: III.2.13, III.2.16, III.2.17. See Quantity and dimension.