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Kendall K. Down
Mar 13, 2023, 4:36:07 AM3/13/23
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On the occasion of Constantine's 30th anniversary of coming to power,
Bishop Eusebius was invited to give an oration, an honour of which he
was so sensible that he appends it, in extenso, to his "Life of
Constantine".
I presume it was the sort of thing people expected in those days, but
the degree of sycophancy displayed in the Oration is sickening to us
today. However there was one section which I felt was amusing, for in it
Eusebius strays into a discourse on numbers (explaining why 30 was so
significant, you see) in which he draws on Pythogorean and Platonist
teachings to support his conclusions.
===========
The first of these, the triad, is the offspring of the unit, while
the unit is the mother of number itself, and presides over all months,
and seasons, and years, and every period of time. It may, indeed, be
justly termed the origin, foundation, and principle of all number, and
derives its name from its abiding character.[476] For, while every
other number is diminished or increased according to the subtraction or
addition of others, the unit alone continues fixed and steadfast,
abstracted from all multitude and the numbers which are formed from it,
and resembling that indivisible essence which is distinct from all
things beside, but by virtue of participation in which the nature of
all things else subsists.
For the unit is the originator of every number, since all multitude
is made up by the composition and addition of units; nor is it possible
without the unit to conceive the existence of number at all. But the
unit itself is independent of multitude, apart from and superior to all
number; forming, indeed, and making all, but receiving no increase from
any.
===========
What is so amusing is that clearly Eusebius had no concept of what we
would call decimals. He cannot conceive of anything less than the whole
number one - his whole analogy and possibly his whole world view would
be destroyed if he could be persuaded that there is both 1.0001 and
0.0009, to say nothing of the infinity of numbers which lies between
zero and one.
God bless,
Kendall K. Down
Bishop Eusebius was invited to give an oration, an honour of which he
was so sensible that he appends it, in extenso, to his "Life of
Constantine".
I presume it was the sort of thing people expected in those days, but
the degree of sycophancy displayed in the Oration is sickening to us
today. However there was one section which I felt was amusing, for in it
Eusebius strays into a discourse on numbers (explaining why 30 was so
significant, you see) in which he draws on Pythogorean and Platonist
teachings to support his conclusions.
===========
The first of these, the triad, is the offspring of the unit, while
the unit is the mother of number itself, and presides over all months,
and seasons, and years, and every period of time. It may, indeed, be
justly termed the origin, foundation, and principle of all number, and
derives its name from its abiding character.[476] For, while every
other number is diminished or increased according to the subtraction or
addition of others, the unit alone continues fixed and steadfast,
abstracted from all multitude and the numbers which are formed from it,
and resembling that indivisible essence which is distinct from all
things beside, but by virtue of participation in which the nature of
all things else subsists.
For the unit is the originator of every number, since all multitude
is made up by the composition and addition of units; nor is it possible
without the unit to conceive the existence of number at all. But the
unit itself is independent of multitude, apart from and superior to all
number; forming, indeed, and making all, but receiving no increase from
any.
===========
What is so amusing is that clearly Eusebius had no concept of what we
would call decimals. He cannot conceive of anything less than the whole
number one - his whole analogy and possibly his whole world view would
be destroyed if he could be persuaded that there is both 1.0001 and
0.0009, to say nothing of the infinity of numbers which lies between
zero and one.
God bless,
Kendall K. Down
Mike Davis
Mar 13, 2023, 7:26:09 AM3/13/23
to
'fractions' which can be accommodated into Eusebius's approach eg 3/78
gives a ratio expressed in 'integers'!
Or else it's an excuse for not having to share his pie for dinner...
Mike
--
Mike Davis
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