PART I: CONCERNING GOD.
Page: 6

existence in general; we must also show why there are exactly
twenty men, neither more nor less: for a cause must be assigned
for the existence of each individual. Now this cause cannot be
contained in the actual nature of man, for the true definition of
man does not involve any consideration of the number twenty.
Consequently, the cause for the existence of these twenty men,
and, consequently, of each of them, must necessarily be sought
externally to each individual. Hence we may lay down the absolute
rule, that everything which may consist of several individuals
must have an external cause. And, as it has been shown already
that existence appertains to the nature of substance, existence
must necessarily be included in its definition; and from its
definition alone existence must be deducible. But from its
definition (as we have shown, Notes ii., iii.), we cannot infer
the existence of several substances; therefore it follows that
there is only one substance of the same nature. Q.E.D.

IX. The more reality or being a thing has, the greater the
number of its attributes (Def. iv.).

X. Each particular attribute of the one substance must be
conceived through itself.

>>>>>Proof--An attribute is that which the intellect perceives of
substance, as constituting its essence (Def. iv.), and,
therefore, must be conceived through itself (Def. iii.). Q.E.D.

*****Note--It is thus evident that, though two attributes are, in
fact, conceived as distinct--that is, one without the help of the
other--yet we cannot, therefore, conclude that they constitute
two entities, or two different substances. For it is the nature
of substance that each of its attributes is conceived through
itself, inasmuch as all the attributes it has have always existed
simultaneously in it, and none could be produced by any other;
but each expresses the reality or being of substance. It is,
then, far from an absurdity to ascribe several attributes to one
substance: for nothing in nature is more clear than that each
and every entity must be conceived under some attribute, and that
its reality or being is in proportion to the number of its