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Sextus Empiricus

Against the Professors, Books I-VI of Against the Learned Section 34

Section 583 of 757

Canonical reference 4.34

Ancient Greek

Hermann Mutschmann and Jürgen Mau, editors · adversus-grc

Ἀλλʼ εἴπερ ὁ ἀριθμὸς κατὰ πρόσθεσιν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ κατ᾿ ἀφαίρεσιν ὑφιστάμενος νοεῖται, ἐδείξαμεν δὲ ἡμεῖς ὅτι οὐθέτερόν ἐστι τούτων, ῥητέον μηδὲν εἶναι ἀριθμόν. ὅθεν τοσαῦτα καὶ πρὸς τοὺς γεωμέτρας καὶ ἀριθμητικοὺς ἀπορητικῶς διεξελθόντες ἀπʼ ἄλλης ἀρχῆς καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς μαθηματικοὺς ἀντίρρησιν ποιησόμεθα.

English AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

But if number is conceived as subsisting through addition, as I said, and subtraction, and we have shown that neither of these exists, we must say that no number exists. Hence, having examined so many difficulties against the geometers and arithmeticians, we shall begin from another starting point and conduct our refutation of the mathematicians.

French AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

Mais si, comme je l’ai dit, le nombre est conçu comme subsistant par addition et soustraction, et si nous avons montré qu’aucune de ces opérations n’existe, il faut dire qu’aucun nombre n’existe. Après avoir ainsi parcouru, sur le mode aporétique, ces arguments contre les géomètres et les arithméticiens, nous entreprendrons à partir d’un autre principe notre réfutation des mathématiciens.

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