Note 26 — Chapter VIII · PLATONIC COMPOSITIONS GENERALLY.

Plat. Epist. vii. 342 C. ὡς δὲ ἓν τοῦτο αὖ πᾶν θετέον, οὐκ ἐν φωναῖς οὐδ’ ἐν σωμάτων σχήμασιν ἀλλ’ ἐν ψυχαῖς ἐνόν, ᾧ δῆλον ἕτερον τε ὂν αὐτοῦ τοῦ κύκλου τῆς φύσεως, τῶν τε ἔμπροσθεν λεχθέντων τριῶν. τούτων δὲ ἐγγύτατα μὲν ξυγγενείᾳ καὶ ὁμοιότητι, τοῦ πέμπτου (i. e. τοῦ Αὐτὸ-κύκλου) νοῦς (the fourth stage) πεπλησίακε, τἄλλα δὲ πλέον ἀπέχει.

In Plato’s reckoning, ὁ νοῦς is counted as the fourth, in the ascending scale, from which we ascend to the fifth, τὸ νοούμενον, or νοητόν. Ὁ νοῦς and τὸ νοητὸν are cognate or homogeneous — according to a principle often insisted on in ancient metaphysics — like must be known by like. (Aristot. De Animâ, i. 2, 404, b. 15.)