erm to which it is
joined; and it would follow that God was solitary, against what is
above stated (A. 2). A syncategorematical term imports the order
of the predicate to the subject; as this expression "every one" or
"no one"; and likewise the term "alone," as excluding every other
_suppositum_ from the predicate. Thus, when we say, "Socrates alone
writes," we do not mean that Socrates is solitary, but that he has no
companion in writing, though many others may be with him. In this way
nothing prevents the term "alone" being joined to any essential term
in God, as excluding the predicate from all things but God; as if we
said "God alone is eternal," because nothing but God is eternal.

Reply Obj. 1: Although the angels and the souls of the saints are
always with God, nevertheless, if plurality of persons did not exist
in God, He would be alone or solitary. For solitude is not removed by
association with anything that is extraneous in nature; thus anyone
is said to be alone in a garden, though many plants and animals are
with him in the garden. Likewise, God would be alone or solitary,
though angels and men were with Him, supposing that several persons
were not within Him. Therefore the society of angels and of souls
does not take away absolute solitude from God; much less does it
remove respective solitude, in reference to a predicate.

Reply Obj. 2: This expression "alone," properly speaking, does not
affect the predicate, which is taken formally, for it refers to the
_suppositum,_ as excluding any other suppositum from the one which it
qualifies. But the adverb "only," being exclusive, can be applied
either to subject or predicate. For we can say, "Only Socrates"--that
is, no one else--"runs: and Socrates runs only"--that is, he does
nothing else. Hence it is not properly said that the Father is God
alone, or the Trinity is God alone, unless some implied meaning be
assumed in the predicate, as, for instance, "The Trinity is God Who
alone is God." In that sense it can be true to say that the Father is
that God Who alone is God, if the relative be referred to the
predicate, and not to the _suppositum._ So, when Augustine says that
the Father is not God alone, but that the Trinity is God alone, he
speaks expositively, as he might explain the words, "To the King of
ages, invisible, the only God," as applying not to the Father, but to
the Trinity alone.

Reply Obj. 3: In both ways can the term "alone" be joined to an