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

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, stretching to both extremes, binds all around itself, conveying the gifts of the first and leading up the powers of the last, and implanting in all a communion and a bond with one another; for thus the whole order becomes one, composed of both those that fill and those that are filled, converging, as it were, upon the mean as upon a center. And the completion, returning again to the beginning and leading back the powers that have proceeded, provides resemblance and convergence to the whole order. And thus the entire cosmic order is one through the unitive power of the first <and> through the coherence in the mean and through the reversion of the processions from the end to the beginning. 149 Every multitude of divine henads is finite in number. For if it is nearest to the One, it cannot be infinite; for the infinite is not congenital with the One, but alien to it. For if even multitude as such stands apart from the One, it is clear that infinite multitude is entirely bereft of it; whence it is also powerless and inert. The multitude of the gods, therefore, is not infinite. It is therefore of the form of unity and finite, and more finite than any other multitude; for more than any other multitude it is akin to the One. If, then, the principle were a multitude, that which is nearer to the principle would have to be more of a multitude than that which is more remote (for what is nearer is more like it); but since the first is one, the multitude connected with it is less of a multitude than that which is more remote; but the infinite is not less of a multitude, but is a multitude in the highest degree. 150 Everything that proceeds in the divine orders is not of a nature to receive all the powers of its producer, nor in general do secondary things receive all the powers of those prior to them, but those prior things have certain powers exempt from the inferior and incomprehensible to those that come after them. For if the properties of the gods differ, those of the subordinate pre-exist in the superior, but those of the superior, being more universal, are not in the subordinate, but the superior give some powers to the things produced from them, but others they have pre-comprehended in themselves in an exempt manner. For it has been shown that those nearer the One are more universal, and those more remote are more particular; and the more universal have more comprehensive powers than the more particular; therefore those holding a secondary and more particular rank will not comprehend the power of the former. There is, therefore, in the superior something incomprehensible and undefinable for the subordinate. For each of the divine beings has been shown to be infinite neither to itself, nor, much more, to those above it, but to all those after it; and their infinity consists in their power; and the infinite is incomprehensible to those for which it is infinite; the inferior, therefore, do not participate in all the powers which the superior have pre-comprehended in themselves (for then the former would be comprehensible to the latter, just as the latter are to them). Therefore the latter do not have all the powers of the former, because they are more particular; nor do they have those which they do have in the same manner as the former, because of the infinity which makes the former transcend the inferior. 151 Everything paternal among the gods is primary-creative and presides in the order of the Good throughout all the divine orders. For it produces the existences of the secondary beings and their entire powers and substances in accordance with a single ineffable transcendence; for which reason it is also called paternal, manifesting the unified and good-like power of the One and the hypostatic cause of secondary beings. And in each order of the gods the paternal genus takes the lead, producing all things from itself and ordering them, inasmuch as it is ordered analogously to the Good. And some fathers are more universal, others more particular, just as the orders of the gods themselves differ in universality and particularity, according to the principle of causality; as many, therefore, as are the total processions of the gods, so many also are the differences of the fathers. For if in every order there is something analogous to the Good, the paternal must be in all of them, and each must proceed from the paternal unity. 152 Everything generative of the gods according to the

ἡ μὲν γάρ, ἑνικωτάτην ἔχουσα δύναμιν, εἰς πᾶσαν αὐτὴν διαπέμπει τὴν ἕνωσιν καὶ ἑνοῖ πᾶσαν ἄνωθεν, μένουσα ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς. ἡ δὲ μεσότης, ἐπ' ἄμφω τὰ ἄκρα διατείνουσα, συνδεῖ πᾶσαν περὶ ἑαυτήν, τῶν μὲν πρώτων διαπορθμεύουσα τὰς δόσεις, τῶν δὲ τελευταίων ἀνατείνουσα τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ πᾶσι κοινωνίαν ἐντιθεῖσα καὶ σύνδεσιν πρὸς ἄλληλα· μία γὰρ οὕτως ἡ ὅλη γίνεται διάταξις ἔκ τε τῶν πληρούντων καὶ τῶν πληρου μένων, ὥσπερ εἴς τι κέντρον εἰς τὴν μεσότητα συννευόντων. ἡ δὲ ἀποπεράτωσις, ἐπιστρέφουσα πάλιν εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὰς προελθούσας ἐπανάγουσα δυνάμεις, ὁμοιότητα καὶ σύννευσιν τῇ ὅλῃ τάξει παρέχεται. καὶ οὕτως ὁ σύμπας διάκοσμος εἷς ἐστι διὰ τῆς ἑνοποιοῦ τῶν πρώτων δυνάμεως <καὶ> διὰ τῆς ἐν τῇ μεσότητι συνοχῆς καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ τέλους εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν προόδων ἐπιστροφῆς. 149 Πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν θείων ἑνάδων πεπερασμένον ἐστὶ κατὰ ἀριθμόν. εἰ γὰρ ἐγγυτάτω τοῦ ἑνός ἐστιν, οὐκ ἂν ἄπειρον ὑπάρχοι· οὐ γὰρ συμφυὲς τῷ ἑνὶ τὸ ἄπειρον, ἀλλὰ ἀλλότριον. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος καθ' αὑτὸ ἀφίσταται τοῦ ἑνός, τὸ ἄπειρον πλῆθος δῆλον ὡς παντελῶς ἔρημον ἐκείνου· διὸ καὶ ἀδύναμον καὶ ἀδρανές. οὐκ ἄρα ἄπειρον τὸ τῶν θεῶν πλῆθος. ἑνοειδὲς ἄρα καὶ πεπερασμένον, καὶ παντὸς ἄλλου πλήθους μᾶλλον πεπε ρασμένον· παντὸς γὰρ ἄλλου πλήθους μᾶλλον τῷ ἑνὶ συγγενές. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἡ ἀρχὴ πλῆθος, ἔδει τὸ ἐγγυτέρω τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ πορρώτερον μᾶλλον εἶναι πλῆθος (ὁμοιότερον γὰρ τὸ ἐγγύτερον)· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἕν ἐστι τὸ πρῶτον, τὸ ἐκείνῳ συναφὲς πλῆθος ἧττον πλῆθος τοῦ πορρώτερον· τὸ δὲ ἄπειρον οὐχ ἧττον πλῆθος, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα πλῆθος. 150 Πᾶν τὸ προϊὸν ἐν ταῖς θείαις τάξεσι πάσας ὑποδέχεσθαι τὰς τοῦ παράγοντος δυνάμεις οὐ πέφυκεν, οὐδὲ ὅλως τὰ δεύτερα πάσας τὰς τῶν πρὸ αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' ἔχει τινὰς ἐκεῖνα τῶν κατα δεεστέρων ἐξῃρημένας δυνάμεις καὶ ἀπεριλήπτους τοῖς μετ' αὐτά. εἰ γὰρ αἱ τῶν θεῶν ἰδιότητες διαφέρουσιν, αἱ μὲν τῶν ὑφειμένων ἐν τοῖς ὑπερτέροις προϋπάρχουσιν, αἱ δὲ τῶν ὑπερτέρων, ὁλικωτέρων ὄντων, ἐν τοῖς ὑφειμένοις οὔκ εἰσιν, ἀλλὰ τὰς μὲν ἐνδίδωσι τὰ κρείττονα τοῖς ἀπ' αὐτῶν παραγο μένοις, τὰς δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς προείληφεν ἐξῃρημένως. δέδεικται γὰρ ὅτι ὁλικώτεροι μέν εἰσιν οἱ ἐγγυτέρω τοῦ ἑνός, μερικώτεροι δὲ οἱ πορρώτερον· οἱ δὲ ὁλικώτεροι τῶν μερικωτέρων περιληπτικω τέρας ἔχουσι δυνάμεις· οὐκ ἄρα τὴν ἐκείνων δύναμιν οἱ δευτέραν ἔχοντες τάξιν καὶ μερικωτέραν περιλήψονται. ἔστιν ἄρα ἐν τοῖς ὑπερτέροις ἀπερίληπτόν τι καὶ ἀπερίγραφον τοῖς ὑφειμένοις. καὶ γὰρ ἄπειρον ἕκαστον τῶν θείων οὕτως οὔτε ἑαυτῷ δέδεικται ὂν οὔτε τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτὸ πολλῷ πρότερον, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μεθ' ἑαυτὸ πᾶσιν· ἡ δὲ ἀπειρία κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν ἐν ἐκείνοις· τὸ δὲ ἄπειρον ἀπερίληπτον, οἷς ἐστιν ἄπειρον· οὐκ ἄρα πασῶν μετέχει τῶν δυνάμεων τὰ καταδεέστερα, ὧν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τὰ κρείττονα προείληφεν (ἦν γὰρ ἂν ἐκεῖνα περιληπτὰ τοῖς δευτέροις, ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ αὐτοῖς τὰ δεύτερα). οὔτε οὖν πάσας ἔχει ταῦτα τὰς ἐκείνων, διὰ τὸ μερικώτερον· οὔτε ἃς ἔχει, τὸν αὐτὸν ἐκείνοις ἔχει τρόπον, διὰ τὴν ἀπειρίαν τὴν ἐκεῖνα ὑπερφέρειν τῶν καταδεεστέρων ποιοῦσαν. 151 Πᾶν τὸ πατρικὸν ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς πρωτουργόν ἐστι καὶ ἐν τἀγαθοῦ τάξει προϊστάμενον κατὰ πάσας τὰς θείας διακοσμήσεις. τὰς γὰρ ὑπάρξεις τῶν δευτέρων καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ὅλας καὶ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτὸ παράγει κατὰ μίαν ἄρρητον ὑπεροχήν· διὸ καὶ πατρικὸν ἐπονομάζεται, τὴν ἡνωμένην καὶ ἀγαθοειδῆ τοῦ ἑνὸς δύναμιν ἐμφαῖνον καὶ τὴν ὑποστατικὴν τῶν δευτέρων αἰτίαν. καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην τῶν θεῶν τάξιν τὸ πατρικὸν ἡγεῖται γένος, παράγον ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ πάντα καὶ κοσμοῦν, ἅτε τῷ ἀγαθῷ τε ταγμένον ἀνάλογον. καὶ πατέρες οἱ μὲν ὁλικώτεροι, οἱ δὲ μερικώτεροι, καθάπερ καὶ αὐταὶ τῶν θεῶν αἱ τάξεις τῷ ὁλικωτέρῳ καὶ μερικωτέρῳ διαφέρουσι, κατὰ τὸν τῆς αἰτίας λόγον· ὅσαι οὖν αἱ ὅλαι τῶν θεῶν πρόοδοι, τοσαῦται καὶ αἱ τῶν πατέρων διαφορότητες. εἰ γὰρ ἔστι τι κατὰ πᾶσαν τάξιν ἀνάλογον τἀγαθῷ, δεῖ τὸ πατρικὸν ἐν πάσαις εἶναι, καὶ προϊέναι ἀπὸ τῆς πατρικῆς ἑνώσεως ἑκάστην. 152 Πᾶν τὸ γεννητικὸν τῶν θεῶν κατὰ τὴν