of something other than yourself. Yet you do not apprehend that form through another form. Rather, just as you apprehend that thing through it, you also apprehend the form through itself, without forms multiplying within you. Rather, it may be only your considerations concerning yourself and that form that multiply through combination.

“If this is how matters stand with what proceeds from you with another’s participation, what, then, do you suppose is the case of a rational being with regard to what proceeds from it by virtue of its own essence, without anything else intervening?”

He said:

“Do not suppose that your being a substrate for that form is a condition of your apprehending it. You apprehend your own essence, even though you are not a substrate for it. Rather, your being a substrate for that form is only a condition of the form’s being present to you, which in turn is a condition of your apprehending it. If that form becomes present to you in another way, without inhering in you, apprehension takes place without inherence in you.

“It is known that a thing’s being present to its agent, insofar as this constitutes its presence to another, is no less than its being present to its recipient. Thus, the essential effects