[145a]
or are not the parts included by the whole?” “They must be so.” “But surely that which includes is a limit.” “Of course.” “Then the existent one is, apparently, both one and many, a whole and parts, limited and of infinite number.” “So it appears.” “Then if limited it has also extremes ?” “Certainly.” “Yes, and if it is a whole, will it not have a beginning, a middle, and an end? Or can there be any whole without these three? And if any one of these is wanting, will it still be a whole?” “It will not.”
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925.
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