But  let  us  see  what  precisely  is  Mr  Green's
doctrine  on  the  subject  of  relation.  Here  we
must  rely  on  quotations  of  the  author's  exact


134  KNOWING  AND   BEING.
words/  for  these  are  not,  as  a  rule,  translatable
into  ordinary  language  without  transparent  con-
tradiction. The  following  are  the  chief  points : —

(1.)  The  main  point  in  relation  is  "  the  unity  of
the  manifold."  "Abstract  the  many  relations
from  the  one  thing,  and  there  is  nothing.  They,
being  many,  determine  or  constitute  its  definite
unity.  It  is  not  the  case  that  it  first  exists  in  its
unity,  and  then  is  brought  into  various  relations.
Without  the  relations  it  would  not  exist  at  all."
-(P.  31.)

(2.)  "  The  one  relation  is  a  unity  of  the  many
things.  They  in  their  manifold  being  make  the
one  relation.  If  these  relations  really  exist,  there
is  a  real  unity  of  the  manifold, — a  real  multi-
plicity of  that  which  is  one.
