A Man's Limits Form His Character

'Figure is the limit of form.'

'Colour is the effluence of form, sensible, and in due proportion to the sight.'

'Figure is the only thing which always follows colour.'

'To what then do we give the name of figure? Try and answer. Suppose that when a person asked you this question either about figure or colour, you were to reply, Man, I do not understand what you want, or know what you are saying; he would look rather astonished and say: Do you not understand that I am looking for the 'simile in multis'? And then he might put the question in another form: Meno, he might say, what is that 'simile in multis' which you call figure, and which includes not only round and straight figures, but all?'

'Colour is an effluence of form, commensurate with sight, and palpable to sense.'

'I define figure to be that in which the solid ends; or, more concisely, the limit of solid.'

- Plato, "Meno" (selected excerpts)