Page - 710 - in The Complete Plato

younger than they? I cannot tell you. You can at least tell me that others than the one are more than the one— other would have been one, but the others have multitude, and are more than one? They will have multitude. And a multitude implies a number larger than one? Of course. And shall we say that the lesser or the greater is the first to come or to have come into existence? The lesser. Then the least is the first? And that is the one? Yes. Then the one of all things that have number is the first to come into being; but all other things have also number, being plural and not singular. They have. And since it came into being first it must be supposed to have come into being prior to the others, and the others later; and the things which came into being later, are younger than that which preceded them? And so the other things will be younger than the one, and the one older than other things? True. What would you say of another question? Can the one have come into being contrary to its own nature, or is that impossible? Impossible. And yet, surely, the one was shown to have parts; and if parts, then a beginning, middle and end? Yes. And a beginning, both of the one itself and of all other things, comes into being first of all; and after the beginning, the others follow, until you reach the end? Certainly. And all these others we shall affirm to be parts of the whole and of the one, which, as soon as the end is reached, has become whole and one? 710