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to the Shepherd; but also how the angels themselves are purified and perfected, he says in the discourse On the Celestial Hierarchy.

And that they are angels: Why they are called angels, and that they themselves are lights. The souls: Note that the souls are other after the angels

subordinate to them, and that they are immortal, since they were created essential lives; and that through the angels souls are led, those pursuing an angelic life; so also we have read in the Shepherd.

Good-principle: Note that the souls of the just are led up to the good-principle of all good things, that is, to God, and coming to be in participation of His illuminations, they intercede with boldness.

In the works On the Soul: The work On the Soul is sought. Of irrational souls: Of irrational and sentient souls, he says; and note that

soul is one thing, and life another. Those living amphibious lives: He calls reptiles those living amphibious lives, like frogs,

octopuses, but those buried in the earth, like moles and such things; and note that souls are after the angels, subordinate to them, and that they are immortal, since they were created essential lives; and that through the angels souls are led, those pursuing an angelic life, as has also been stated above.

Because of this essential state: And we have already said above that a state is an abiding quality; therefore, all things that are lifeless and soulless, were so produced through the goodness of God, endowed with a state, such as various stones, but also herbs and roots and earth and metals made for some useful purpose, and all things for medicine and our use; these, therefore, do not acquire their state from without, but in their substance they have received the quality of their state from God.

§ 3. And if also above all things: See how the privations in 14S_106 God are active hyperboles of affirmations, as without form,

without substance, without life, without mind; for these, having the concept of non-being, nevertheless in God who is super-essentially being according to the abstraction of all things (for He is none of the things that are) are understood pre-eminently; and in the following he clarifies it more perfectly.

And non-being itself: How does non-being desire the good? For if it is not, how does it desire? We say that he conceived non-being to be evil, as he demonstrates below; that even what is called evil comes to be for the sake of the good.

§ 4. And of the heavenly things: He says the cause of the heavenly principles and sub-terminations is the goodness of God; for God produced these through an excess of goodness; and heavenly principles and sub-terminations must be understood as the spherical creation of the heavens, subsisting circularly from a point, that is, a center, of the will of God; for the circular figure, beginning from itself, is terminated in itself; and he says the heavenly substance is without increase and without decrease, as being perfect and sufficient for that for which it came to be; wherefore he also calls it unalterable from its origin, not having deviated; and that is perfect which neither increases nor decreases. He has called them sub-terminations, and not complete terminations, because the motion is spherical, but does not properly have an end, but as it were an end in the return to the same place, as if from some beginning towards something, for instance, being borne to the East as an end. And note, that he says the heaven moves noiselessly and imperceptibly; but he speaks of the transitive multi-motion of some stars concerning the planets. And note this too, that he accepted that they alone move. Note also whence the temporal numberings arise.

And of the two luminaries, which the Oracles call great: 14S_108 He means the two luminaries, the sun and the moon; and he called them great, following David;

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Ποιμένι· ἀλλά καί αὐτοί οἱ ἄγγελοι πῶς καθαίρονται καί τελεσιουργοῦνταί φησιν ἐν τῷ Περί οὐρανίας ἱεραρχίας λόγῳ.

Καί εἶναι ἀγγέλους: ∆ιά τί ἄγγελοι λέγονται, καί ὅτι καί αὐτοί φῶτα. Αἱ ψυχαί: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι αἱ ψυχαί ἄλλαι μετά τούς ἀγγέλους εἰσίν

ὑποβεβηκυῖαι αὐτῶν, καί ὅτι ἀθάνατοί εἰσιν, ἅτε κτισθεῖσαι οὐσιώδεις ζωαί· καί ὅτι διά τῶν ἀγγέλων αἱ ψυχαί χειραγωγοῦνται, αἱ ζωήν ἀγγελικήν ἐπιτηδεύουσαι· οὕτω καί ἐν τῷ Ποιμένι ἀνέγνωμεν.

Ἀγαθαρχίαν: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἐπί τήν πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀγαθαρχίαν ἀνάγονται αἱ τῶν δικαίων ψυχαί, ἤγουν ἐπί τόν Θεόν, καί ἐν μετουσίᾳ τῶν ἐλλάμψεων αὐτοῦ γινόμεναι, παρρησιασμένως πρεσβεύουσι.

Ἐν τοῖς Περί ψυχῆς: Ζητεῖται τό Περί ψυχῆς. Ἀλόγων ψυχῶν: Ἀλόγων ψυχῶν καί αἰσθητικῶν φησι· καί σημείωσαι ὅτι

ἄλλο ψυχή, καί ἄλλο ζωή. Ἀμφιβίως λαχόντα: Τά ἑρπετά λέγει ἀμφιβίως λαχόντα, ὡς βάτραχοι,

ὀκτάποδες, ἐγκεχωσμένα δέ, ὡς ἀσπάλακες καί ὅσα τοιαῦτα· σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι αἱ ψυχαί εἰσι μετά τούς ἀγγέλους ὑποβεβηκυῖαι αὐτῶν, καί ὅτι ἀθάνατοί εἰσιν, ἅτε κτισθεῖσαι οὐσιώδεις ζωαί· καί ὅτι διά τῶν ἀγγέλων αἱ ψυχαί χειραγωγοῦνται, αἱ ζωήν ἀγγελικήν ἐπιτηδεύουσαι, καθά καί ἀνωτέρω λέλεκται.

∆ι' αὐτό τῆς οὐσιώδους ἕξεως: Καί ἤδη ἄνω εἴπομεν, ὅτι ἕξις ἐστί ποιότης ἔμμονος· ὅσα οὗν ἐστιν ἄζωα καί ἄψυχα, διά τήν ἀγαθότητα τοῦ Θεοῦ οὕτω παρήχθῃ, πεποιωμένα ἑκτικῶς, οἷον λίθοι διάφοροι, ἀλλά καί βοτάναι καί ρίζαι καί γῆ καί τά μεταλλικά περί τι χρήσιμον ποιωθέντα, καί ὅσα περί τήν ἰατρικήν καί τήν ἡμῶν χρῆσιν· ταῦτα οὗν οὐκ ἔξωθεν τήν ἕξιν κτῶνται, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ οὐσίᾳ καί τήν τῆς ἕξεως ποιότητα θεόθεν ἔλαχον.

§ 3. Εἰ δέ καί ὑπέρ πάντα: Ὅρα πῶς αἱ στερήσεις ἐπί 14S_106 Θεοῦ ὑπερβολαί εἰσι θέσεων δραστήριοι, καί ὡς ἀνείδεος,

ἀννούσιος, ἄζωος, ἄνους· ταῦτα γάρ ἔννοιαν ἔχοντα τοῦ μή ὄντος, ὅμως ἐν τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ὑπερουσίως ὄντι κατά τήν ἀφαίρεσιν ἁπάντων (οὐδέν γάρ ἐστι τῶν ὄντων) ὑπεροχικῶς νοοῦνται· ἐν δέ τοῖς ἑξῆς τελειότερον αὐτό σαφηνίζει.

Καί αὐτό τό μή ὄν: Πῶς τό μή ὄν ἐφίεται τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ; Εἰ γάρ μή ἔστιν αὐτό, πῶς ἐφίεται; Λέγομεν, ὅτι τό μή ὄν ἐνόησεν εἶναι τό κακόν, ὡς κάτω ἀποδεικνύει· ὅτι καί αὐτό τό λεγόμενον κακόν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἕνεκα γίνεται.

§ 4. Καί τῶν οὐρανίων: Τό αἴτιον τῶν οὐρανίων ἀρχῶν καί ὑποπερατώσεών φησιν εἶναι τήν ἀγαθότητα τοῦ Θεοῦ· καί ταῦτα γάρ δι ' ἀγαθότητος ὑπερβολήν παρήγαγεν ὁ Θεός· ἀρχάς δέ οὐρανίας καί ὑποπερατώσεις νοητέον τήν ἐκ σημείου, ἤτοι κέντρου, τοῦ θελήματος τοῦ Θεοῦ κυκλικῶς ὑποστᾶσαν τῶν οὐρανῶν σφαιροειδῆ δημιουργίαν· τό γάρ κυκλικόν σχῆμα ἀρχόμενον ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ, εἰς ἑαυτό περατοῦται· τήν δέ οὐρανίαν οὐσίαν ἀναυξῆ καί ἀμείωτόν φησιν, ὡς τελείως ἔχουσαν καί αὐτάρκως πρός ὅ γέγονε· διό καί ἀναλλοίωτον αὐτήν λέγει, ἐξ οὗ γέγονεν, οὐ παρατραπεῖσαν· τέλειον δέ ἐστιν, ὅ μήτε αὔξει, μήτε μειοῦται. Ὑποπερατώσεις δέ αὐτά κέκληκε, καί οὐκ ἀποπερατώσεις, διά τό σφαιρικήν μέν εἶναι τήν κίνησιν, οὐ κυρίως δέ πέρας ἔχειν, ἀλλ' οἱονεί πέρας τήν ἐπί τό αὐτό, ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος ἀρχῆς ἐπί τι, οἷον πέρας φέρεσθαι τυχόν ἀνατολήν. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι καί κινεῖσθαι ἀψόφως φησί καί ἀνεπαισθήτως τόν οὐρανόν· τό δ' ἐνίων ἀστέρων μεταβατικῆς πολυκινησίας περί τῶν πλανητῶν φησι. Σημείωσαι δέ καί τοῦτο, ὅτι αὐτούς μόνους ἐδέξατο κινεῖσθαι. Σημείωσαι δέ καί πόθεν αἱ χρονικαί ἀριθμήσεις.

Καί τῆς τῶν δύο φωστήρων, οὕς τά Λόγια καλεῖ μεγάλους: 14S_108 ∆ύο φωστῆρας τόν ἥλιον καί τήν σελήνην φησί· μεγάλους δέ εἶπεν ἑπόμενος τῷ ∆αβίδ·