PROPOSITION XXXI.

Unity is prior in order of nature to Multiplicity.

A little consideration will suffice to show that this Proposition is self-evident; for components must, in order of nature, be prior to the composite; -- parts must, in like manner, be prior to the whole. Composition presupposes components; otherwise, it would be a composition of Nothings, which would be no composition at all. But unities are components of the composite Multitude, -- parts of Multitude, considered as a whole: hence it is that, as St. Thomas more than once remarks, 'Unity or One enters into the quasi definition of Multitude; whereas, Multitude does not enter into the definition of Unity.'