4

Four is the number of solid things in Sepharial's 1911 list for name totals, and Walton in 1914 repeats an old saying about a city standing on four squares. Agrippa's 1651 English reports that the Pythagoreans ranked the Tetractys above the other numbers as the foundation and root of the rest.

Disagreement begins once the writers pass judgment. Walton finds 4 heavy, crude and limited, and still recommends it for starting a venture because it is hard to turn aside. Cheasley's 1916 heading is Materiality, with endurance, concentration and home on the list and little patience for social trivia. Balliett in 1905 has the 4s constructing what the 1s design and working hard for what they earn.

Modern books recast all this as steadiness: routines, systems and follow-through, with a warning about rigidity attached. The early unease about a heavy, limited number has mostly dropped out of them. Whether a fondness for order feels like strength or confinement tends to depend on who set the order.