Short Art

predicate, just as when it is said: man is an animal. For between man and animal there are middle terms, namely life and his body, without which he cannot be an animal. Also, there is the middle of measurement, which exists through an act existing between the agent and the object of the action, such as loving between the lover and the beloved. And furthermore, there is the middle of the extremities, just as a line existing between two points; and this angle of the middle is a general scale for the intellect. The angles of the end have three species. The first is the end of privation, which indeed signifies a deprived habit and those things which are in past time. The second species is the end of termination, which signifies limits, such as the two points at which a line is terminated, just as loving is terminated in the lover and the beloved. The third species is the end of perfection, which is the ultimate end, such as man, who exists to multiply his species and to understand, love, remember, and cherish God and suchlike; and this angle of the end is a general scale for the intellect. The third triangle is of majority, equality, and minority, and it is general to all things according to their own mode; for whatever exists is either in majority, equality, or minority. Majority has three species. The first is when there is a majority between substance and substance, such as the substance of the heavens, which is greater than the substance of fire. The second species is when there is a majority between substance and accident