Page:Plays of Roswitha (1923) St. John.djvu/181

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SAPIENTIA
139

added together, come to 6. For the same reason 28, 496, and 8000 are called "perfect."

HADRIAN. And what of the other numbers?

SAPIENTIA. They are all either augmented or diminished.

HADRIAN. And that "evenly even" number of which you spoke?

SAPIENTIA. That is one which can be divided into two equal parts, and these parts again into two equal parts, and so on in succession until we come to indivisible unity: 8 and 16 and all numbers obtained by doubling them are examples.

HADRIAN. Continue. We have not heard yet of the "evenly uneven" number.

SAPIENTIA. One which can be divided by two, but the parts of which after that are indivisible: 10 is such a number, and all others obtained by doubling odd numbers. They differ from the "evenly even" numbers because in them only the minor term can be divided, whereas in the "evenly even" the major term is also capable of division. In the first type, too, all the parts are evenly even in name and in quantity, whereas in the second type when the division is even the quotient is uneven, and vice versa.

HADRIAN. I am not familiar with these terms, and divisors and quotients alike mean nothing to me.[1]

  1. It has been my duty to preserve this rather tiresome numerical discourse, which no doubt Roswitha