Book on Fossil Objects, Stones, and Gems

...temperate original: moderata; completing the sentence from the previous page: "the object is said to be shapely, beautiful, or well-formed, and temperate", (in Greek we say well-formed, well-ordered, and proportional original: εὔμορφα, εὔτακτα, & σύμμετρα); but if on the contrary, they are deformed or shapeless. Indeed, figure is usually spoken of in an absolute sense; because it is simpler, it has its own specific name and is easily depicted by anyone. Form has no specific name, not even for its internal nature, unless we invent one—as with "humanity" original: ἀνθρωπότης (anthrōpotēs) for a man, or "horse-ness" original: ἱππότης (hippotēs); an abstract quality defining the essence of a horse for a horse, just as the Platonists Followers of Plato who believed in ideal "Forms" or "Ideas" that exist beyond the physical world. used to invent them.

Nor is there a name for the external form, unless we use a circumlocution, such as "the form of an ox" or "the form of a horse." Some people also call this a "figure," whether improperly or by substituting the name of the genus for the species, as is commonly done. But regarding "figure" in its primary and proper sense, no one calls it by the name of "form," especially when referring to a single, solitary surface; for it is not customary to say "round form," "smooth form," "triangular form," or the like.

They err, according to the witness of Simplicius Simplicius of Cilicia, a 6th-century philosopher and commentator on Aristotle., who claim that "form" is proper to animals and "figure" to inanimate things. There are also those who attribute "form" to all natural things, and "figure" only to mathematical objects. We hold that in these matters, figure is said first...