On the Monad

From The Theology of Arithmetic by Iamblichus (4th century A.D.)

Everything has been organized by the monad, because it contains everything potentially: for even if they are not yet actual, nevertheless the monad holds seminally the principals which are within all numbers, including those which are within the dyad…it is demonstrably…beginning, middle and end of all things…

Just as without the monad there is in general no composition of anything, so also without it there is no knowledge of anything whatsoever, since it is a pure light, most authoritative over everything in general, and it is sun-like and ruling, so that in each of these respects it resembles God, and especially because it has the power of making things cohere and combine, even when they are composed of many ingredients and are very different from on another, just as he made this universe harmonious and unified out of things which are likewise opposed.