Numbers

Pythagoras looked on numbers as influential principles.

1 is Unity, and represents Deity, which has no parts.

2 is Diversity, and therefore disorder. The principle of strife and all evil.

3 is Perfect Harmony, or the union of unity and diversity.

4 is Perfection. It is the first square (2 x 2 = 4).

5 is the prevailing number in Nature and Art.

6 is Justice (Perfect Harmony being 3, which multiplied by Trinity = 6).

7 is the climacteric number in all diseases. Called the Medical Number (2 syl.).

2. The Romans dedicated the second month to Pluto, and the second day of the month to the Manes. They believed it to be the most fatal number of all.

⁂ 4 and 6 are omitted, not being prime numbers; 4 is the multiple of 2, and 6 is the multiple of 3.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.