Elements of Theology

 as one subsisting, but according to participation not one, the one will be multiplied, just as the multiplicity is unified through the one. Therefore

 activity is better than that which is not self-sufficient but has the cause of its perfection dependent on another substance. For if all beings by nat

 it desires that also, how most of all the good? or if it does not desire, how does it not desire the cause of all things, having proceeded from it? Bu

 is itself, and the mover and the moved are one and the same. For either it moves in one part and is moved in another part, or as a whole it moves and

 beginning from a monad, it proceeds into a multitude coordinate with the monad, and the multitude of every order is led back to one monad. For the mon

 the one being divided. But if it is in one of all things, it will no longer be of all things, but of one. If, therefore, it is both common to those ab

 the thing produced is other than it. Therefore, that which begets is established as unchangeable and undiminished, multiplying itself through a genera

 from something and reverting has a cyclical activity. For if it reverts to that from which it proceeds, it joins the end to the beginning, and the mot

 procession. For since each occurs through likeness, that which has proceeded immediately from something has also reverted immediately to it (for the l

 has reverted to itself according to nature and is perfect in its reversion to itself, and would have its being from itself for that to which the reve

 the self-subsistent is set apart from things measured by time in respect to its substance. For if the self-subsistent is ungenerated, it would not be

 having received the power to produce from the cause which is superior to it, it has from that cause its being the cause of those things of which it is

 Thus the producer in relation to the produced, taken in relation to each other, but that which is able to do more has a greater and more universal pow

 a cause has pre-contained in itself the effect, being primarily what that is secondarily or in the thing produced the producer (for this too, partici

 suffers from the former) and when the second in turn acts, that also co-acts, because whatever the second does, the more causal also co-begets with i

 being, or needing it somehow in order to be, would be in this respect more imperfect than the effect. But that which is in the result is a co-cause ra

 passible, being in every way divisible, and in every way to infinity. But the incorporeal, being simple, is impassible for the indivisible can neithe

 undiminished it contains in itself. But surely infinity in respect to magnitude and in respect to multitude is a complete privation and a falling away

 set apart and if all things enter into it, yet it has something hidden and incomprehensible to secondary things and if it unfolds the powers within

 but nowhere for thus it would be divided and separate from itself, if indeed one part of it is everywhere and in all things, but the other part nowhe

 all things. For since each thing exists either according to cause or according to existence or according to participation, in the first the rest exist

 a turning back as if through similars, dissimilar <being>. For the one is similar as a particular to a particular, the other is kindred as being of th

 a hypostasis but no longer a henad, it would be assigned to another order on account of the alteration of its property. 115 Every god is supra-essenti

 supra-essential, being nothing other than the one for each is not one thing, and then good, but only good, just as it is not one thing, and then one,

 is and in beings has the power of apprehending truth (for it both grasps thoughts and has its subsistence in acts of intellection) but the gods are b

 having set the same before itself, is most self-sufficient and such is all that is divine. Therefore it needs neither other things, being goodness-it

 is more unified than beings. All divine genera, therefore, are bound together by their proper intermediaries, and the first do not proceed immediately

 of a henad working, with which it is connate. This, then, is that which in itself defines the being that partakes of it and shows essentially the supr

 to the gods so that, while they are present to all things in the same way, all things are not present to them in the same way, but as each is able, i

 For the one, having a most unitive power, sends itself through the entire union and unifies all from above, while remaining in itself. But the mean, s

 proceeds from the infinity of the divine power, multiplying itself and passing through all things, and pre-eminently demonstrating the unfailing in th

 presides over composites and of their order and of their division according to number, and is of the same series as the paternal in more partial produ

 they have intelligible [qualities]. In the same way, therefore, that those, by illuminating Being, are intelligible, so also these, by illuminating th

 and sees itself. But seeing that it is thinking and seeing, it knows that it is Intellect in actuality and knowing this, it knows that it thinks, and

 Therefore it has the causes of all things intellectually. So that every intellect is all things intellectually, both the things before it and the thin

 more akin, contracted in quantity, in power surpasses the things after it and conversely the things further from the one. Therefore, those that are h

 on the one hand, but being only intellectual, is participated by souls that are neither divine nor come to be in a state of change from intellect to u

 by its very being, if the participant is suitable, it immediately becomes ensouled and living, not by the soul reasoning and choosing, nor giving life

 and to the soul that substantiates the essential principles of all things in it for everything that produces by its being, which it is primarily, thi

 of the motions it will also have restorations for every period of the eternal things is restorative. 200 Every period of a soul is measured by time

 the relation to the secondary ones, which the divine has to the intellectual, and this to the psychical and the quantities of the lower ones are grea

 it admits of every kind of change, being moved together with their own ruling causes. But indeed that it is also indivisible, is clear. For everything

the one being divided. But if it is in one of all things, it will no longer be of all things, but of one. If, therefore, it is both common to those able to participate and the same for all, it will be prior to all things; and this is unparticipated. 24 Everything that participates is inferior to that which is participated in, and that which is participated in is inferior to the unparticipated. For the participant, being imperfect before participation, but becoming perfect through participation, is in every way secondary to that which is participated in, inasmuch as it is perfect by having participated. For in the respect that it was imperfect, in this respect it is inferior to that which was participated in, which makes it perfect. And that which is participated in, being of a certain thing and not of all things, has in turn received a subordinate existence to that which is of all things and not of a certain thing; for the one is more akin to the cause of all things, while the other is less akin. Therefore, the unparticipated leads the participated, and these lead the participants. For, to speak concisely, the one is a unity prior to the many; that which is participated in is in the many, at once a unity and not a unity; while every participant is at once not a unity and a unity. 25 Everything that is perfect proceeds to the generation of things which it is able to produce, itself imitating the one principle of all things. For just as that principle, through its own goodness, is the unific cause of the subsistence of all beings (for the good and the one are the same, so that to act in the mode of the good is the same as to act in the mode of unity), so also the things after it, through their own perfection, hasten to generate other things inferior to their own substance. For perfection is a certain portion of the good, and the perfect, insofar as it is perfect, imitates the good. But that was the cause of the subsistence of all things; so that the perfect is naturally productive of the things it is able to produce. And the more perfect, by as much as it is more perfect, is the cause of more things. For the more perfect participates more in the good; and this is nearer to the good; and this is more akin to the cause of all things; and this is the cause of more things. But the less perfect, by as much as it is less perfect, is by so much the cause of fewer things. For being more remote from that which produces all things, it is the cause of the subsistence of fewer things. For to cause all things to subsist or to order or to perfect or to cohere or to vivify or to create—to do each of these things for more is akin, but to do them for fewer is more alien. From these things, then, it is clear that what is most remote from the principle of all things is sterile and the cause of nothing; for if it generates something and has something after itself, it is clear that it would no longer be most remote, but that which it produced would be further from that principle, while it itself is nearer by virtue of producing and because it is another thing, imitating the productive cause of all beings. 26 Every productive cause of other things, while itself remaining in itself, produces the things after it and in succession. For if it imitates the One, and that immovably causes the subsistence of the things after it, then every producing thing likewise has its cause of producing. But indeed, the One also causes subsistence immovably. For if it were through motion, either the motion is in itself, and being moved it will no longer be one, changing from the one; or if the motion is after it, this too will be from the one, and either this proceeds to infinity, or the one will produce immovably. And every producing thing will imitate the One and the productive cause of all things. For from that which is primarily in every way comes that which is not primarily; so also from the productive cause of all things comes the productive cause of some things. And therefore, every producing thing, while remaining in itself, produces the things that follow. Therefore, while the producing agents remain undiminished, the secondary things are produced by them; for it is impossible for that which is in any way diminished to remain as it is. 27 Everything that produces is productive of secondary things through perfection and an overabundance of power. For if it produced not on account of being perfect, but through a lack of power, it would not be able to keep its own rank unmoved. For that which, through lack and weakness, furnishes being to another, furnishes subsistence to that other by its own turning and alteration. But everything that produces remains as it is; and while it remains, that which is after it proceeds. Being, therefore, full and perfect, it causes secondary things to subsist immovably and without diminution, being itself what it is and neither changing into them nor being diminished. For the thing produced is not a division of the producer; for this would not be proper to generation, nor to generative causes. Nor is it a transition; for it does not become matter for that which proceeds from it; for it remains as it is, and the

τοῦ ἑνὸς μερισθέντος. εἰ δὲ ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν πάντων, οὐκέτι τῶν πάντων ἔσται, ἀλλ' ἑνός. εἰ οὖν καὶ κοινὸν τῶν μετέχειν δυναμένων καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πάντων, πρὸ τῶν πάντων ἔσται· τοῦτο δὲ ἀμέθεκτον. 24 Πᾶν τὸ μετέχον τοῦ μετεχομένου καταδεέστερον, καὶ τὸ μετεχόμενον τοῦ ἀμεθέκτου. τὸ μὲν γὰρ μετέχον, πρὸ τῆς μεθέξεως ἀτελὲς ὄν, τέλειον δὲ τῇ μεθέξει γενόμενον, δεύτερόν ἐστι πάντως τοῦ μετεχομένου, καθὸ τέλειόν ἐστι μετασχόν. ᾗ γὰρ ἀτελὲς ἦν, ταύτῃ τοῦ μετασχεθέντος, ὃ ποιεῖ τέλειον αὐτό, καταδεέστερον. τὸ δὲ μετεχόμενον, τινὸς ὂν καὶ οὐ πάντων, τοῦ πάντων ὄντος καὶ οὐ τινὸς πάλιν ὑφειμένην ἔλαχεν ὕπαρξιν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ τῷ πάντων αἰτίῳ συγγενέστερον, τὸ δὲ ἧττον συγγενές. ἡγεῖται ἄρα τὸ μὲν ἀμέθεκτον τῶν μετεχομένων, ταῦτα δὲ τῶν μετεχόντων. ὡς γὰρ συνελόντι φάναι, τὸ μέν ἐστιν ἓν πρὸ τῶν πολλῶν· τὸ δὲ μετεχόμενον ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἓν ἅμα καὶ οὐχ ἕν· τὸ δὲ μετέχον πᾶν οὐχ ἓν ἅμα καὶ ἕν. 25 Πᾶν τὸ τέλειον εἰς ἀπογεννήσεις πρόεισιν ὧν δύναται παράγειν, αὐτὸ μιμούμενον τὴν μίαν τῶν ὅλων ἀρχήν. ὡς γὰρ ἐκείνη διὰ τὴν ἀγαθότητα τὴν ἑαυτῆς πάντων ἐστὶν ἑνιαίως ὑποστατικὴ τῶν ὄντων (ταὐτὸν γὰρ τἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ ἕν, ὥστε καὶ τὸ ἀγαθοειδῶς τῷ ἑνιαίως ταὐτόν), οὕτω καὶ τὰ μετ' ἐκείνην διὰ τὴν τελειότητα τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἄλλα γεννᾶν ἐπείγεται καταδεέστερα τῆς ἑαυτῶν οὐσίας. ἥ τε γὰρ τελειότης τἀγαθοῦ μοῖρά τίς ἐστι καὶ τὸ τέλειον, ᾗ τέλειον, μιμεῖται τἀγαθόν. ἐκεῖνο δὲ πάντων ἦν ὑποστατικόν· ὥστε καὶ τὸ τέλειον ὧν δύναται παρακτικόν ἐστι κατὰ φύσιν. καὶ τὸ μὲν τελειότερον, ὅσῳ περ ἂν ᾖ τελειότερον, τοσούτῳ πλειόνων αἴτιον. τὸ γὰρ τελειότερον μᾶλλον τἀγαθοῦ μετέχει· τοῦτο δέ, ἐγγυτέρω τἀγα θοῦ· τοῦτο δέ, συγγενέστερον τῷ πάντων αἰτίῳ· τοῦτο δέ, πλειόνων αἴτιον. τὸ δὲ ἀτελέστερον, ὅσῳ περ ἂν ἀτελέστερον ᾖ, τοσῷδε μᾶλλον ἐλαττόνων αἴτιον. πορρώτερον γὰρ ὂν τοῦ πάντα παράγοντος, ἐλαττόνων ἐστὶν ὑποστατικόν. τῷ γὰρ πάντα ὑφιστάνειν ἢ κοσμεῖν ἢ τελειοῦν ἢ συνέχειν ἢ ζωοποιεῖν ἢ δημιουργεῖν τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ πλειόνων ἕκαστα τούτων δρᾶν συγ γενές, τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ ἐλαττόνων ἀλλοτριώτερον. ἐκ δὴ τούτων φανερὸν ὅτι τὸ πορρώτατον τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν πάντων ἄγονόν ἐστι καὶ οὐδενὸς αἴτιον· εἰ γάρ τι γεννᾷ καὶ ἔχει τι μεθ' ἑαυτό, δῆλον ὡς οὐκέτ' ἂν εἴη πορρώτατον, ἀλλ' ὃ παρ ήγαγε πορρωτέρω ἐκείνης, αὐτὸ δὲ ἐγγύτερον τῷ παράγειν καὶ ὅτι ἄλλο, μιμούμενον τὴν πάντων παρακτικὴν τῶν ὄντων αἰτίαν. 26 Πᾶν τὸ παρακτικὸν αἴτιον ἄλλων μένον αὐτὸ ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ παράγει τὰ μετ' αὐτὸ καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς. εἰ γὰρ μιμεῖται τὸ ἕν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἀκινήτως ὑφίστησι τὰ μετ' αὐτό, καὶ πᾶν τὸ παράγον ὡσαύτως ἔχει τὴν τοῦ παράγειν αἰτίαν. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸ ἓν ἀκινήτως ὑφίστησιν. εἰ γὰρ διὰ κινήσεως, ἢ ἐν αὐτῷ ἡ κίνησις, καὶ κινούμενον οὐδὲ ἓν ἔτι ἔσται, μεταβάλλον ἐκ τοῦ ἕν· ἢ εἰ μετ' αὐτὸ ἡ κίνησις, καὶ αὐτὴ ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἔσται, καὶ ἢ ἐπ' ἄπειρον, ἢ ἀκινήτως παράξει τὸ ἕν. καὶ πᾶν τὸ παράγον μιμήσεται τὸ ἓν καὶ τὴν παρακτικὴν τῶν ὅλων αἰτίαν. ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ πρώτως πανταχοῦ τὸ μὴ πρώτως· ὥστε καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πάντων παρακτικοῦ τὸ τινῶν παρακτικόν. καὶ ἅπαν ἄρα τὸ παράγον μένον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ παράγει τὰ ἐφεξῆς. ἀνελαττώτων ἄρα τῶν παραγόντων μενόντων, τὰ δεύτερα παράγεται ὑπ' αὐτῶν· τὸ γὰρ ὁπωσοῦν ἐλαττούμενον μένειν ἀδύνατον οἷόν ἐστιν. 27 Πᾶν τὸ παράγον διὰ τελειότητα καὶ δυνάμεως περιουσίαν παρακτικόν ἐστι τῶν δευτέρων. εἰ γὰρ μὴ διὰ τὸ τέλειον, ἀλλ' ἐλλεῖπον κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν παρήγαγεν, οὐδ' ἂν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τάξιν ἀκίνητον ἠδύνατο φυλάττειν. τὸ γὰρ δι' ἔλλειψιν καὶ ἀσθένειαν ἄλλῳ τὸ εἶναι παρεχόμενον τῇ ἑαυτοῦ τροπῇ καὶ ἀλλοιώσει τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐκείνῳ παρέχεται. μένει δὲ οἷόν ἐστι πᾶν τὸ παράγον· καὶ μένοντος, τὸ μετ' αὐτὸ πρόεισι. πλῆρες ἄρα καὶ τέλειον ὑπάρχον, τὰ δεύτερα ὑφίστησιν ἀκινήτως καὶ ἀνελαττώτως, αὐτὸ ὂν ὅπερ ἐστὶ καὶ οὔτε μεταβάλλον εἰς ἐκεῖνα οὔτε ἐλαττούμενον. οὐ γὰρ ἀπομερισμός ἐστι τοῦ παράγοντος τὸ παραγόμενον· οὐδὲ γὰρ γενέσει τοῦτο προσῆκεν, οὐδὲ τοῖς γεννητικοῖς αἰτίοις. οὐδὲ μετάβασις· οὐ γὰρ ὕλη γίνεται τοῦ προϊόντος· μένει γὰρ οἷόν ἐστι, καὶ τὸ