proceeds from the infinity of the divine power, multiplying itself and passing through all things, and pre-eminently demonstrating the unfailing in the processions of the secondary beings. For to what is it peculiar to multiply the things that proceed and to bring them forth into generation from the secret ambit in the causes, if not to the infinite power of the gods, through which all divine things are filled with generative goods, everything that is full producing another from itself according to its superabundant power? Therefore, the dominance of power is proper to a generative divinity, multiplying the powers of the things generated and making them fertile and rousing them to generate and bring into subsistence other things. For if each thing imparts to others its own property, which it has primarily, then surely everything that is fertile also imparts the fertile procession to the things after it and images the primordial infinity of the wholes, from which all generative power has proceeded, pre-eminently flowing forth the ever-flowing processions of the divine things. 153 All that is perfect in the gods is a cause of divine perfection. For just as the hypostases of beings are different from those of super-essential things, so too the perfections of the gods themselves according to their existence are different from those of beings, which are secondary after them; and the former are self-perfect and primary agents, because also the good is primarily in them, while the latter have perfection by participation. For these reasons, therefore, the perfection of the gods is one thing, and that of the deified is another. But that which is primarily perfect in the gods is a cause of perfection not only for the deified, but also for the gods themselves. For if, insofar as each is perfect, it has turned back to its own principle, that which is the cause of all divine reversion is perfective of the race of the gods. 154 All that is guardian in the gods preserves each thing in its own order, being unitarily exempt from secondary things and established in the first. For if the guarding power unchangeably preserves the measure of each thing's order and holds together all guarded things in their own perfection, it imparts to all superiority over inferior things, and establishes each thing unmixed and permanent upon itself, being a cause of undefiled purity for the guarded, and establishes them in their superiors. For everything perfect is that which holds fast to the first things, remains in itself, and is extended over inferior things. 155 All that is life-giving among divine beings is a generative cause of genesis, but not every fertile order is life-giving; for the generative is more universal than the life-giving and nearer to the principle. For generation indicates the cause that leads beings into multitude, while the life-giving power presents the divinity that furnishes all life. If, then, the one multiplies the hypostases of beings, and the other gives subsistence to the processions of life, as being is to life, so will the generative order be to the life-giving series. It will therefore be more universal and a cause of more things, and for this reason nearer to the principle. 156 All that is a cause of purity is contained in the guardian order, but conversely not all that is guardian is the same as the purificatory class. For purity imparts to all the gods unmixedness towards inferior things and undefilement in their providence for secondary things, while the guardian power both effects this and holds all things together in themselves and firmly places them in their superiors. The guardian is therefore more universal than the purificatory; for it is simply proper to a guardian power to maintain the same order of each thing with respect to itself, to what is before it, and to what is after it, but proper to purity to separate the better from the more deficient. And these things are primarily in the gods. For of that which is in all things, one cause must precede; and in general, the unitary measures of all goods are pre-established among them, and there is no good in secondary things which has not pre-existed in the gods (for from where would this be, and what cause would it have?). In them, therefore, is purity primarily, being a good, and the guardian power, and everything of this kind. 157 All that is paternal is for all a cause furnishing being and gives subsistence to the existences of beings; but all that is demiurgic, of the formal causation of

ἀπειρίαν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως πρόεισι, πολλαπλασιάζον ἑαυτὸ καὶ διὰ πάντων χωροῦν, καὶ τὸ ἀνέκλειπτον ἐν ταῖς τῶν δευτέρων προόδοις διαφερόντως ἐπιδεικνύμενον. τὸ γὰρ πληθύνειν τὰ προϊόντα καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν ταῖς αἰτίαις κρυφίας περιοχῆς προάγειν εἰς ἀπογεννήσεις τίνος ἐξαίρετόν ἐστιν ἢ τῆς ἀπείρου τῶν θεῶν δυνάμεως, δι' ἣν πάντα γονίμων ἀγαθῶν πεπλήρωται τὰ θεῖα, παντὸς τοῦ πλήρους ἄλλ' ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ παράγοντος κατὰ τὴν ὑπερπλήρη δύναμιν; γεννητικῆς οὖν θεότητος ἴδιον ἡ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπικράτεια, πολλαπλα σιάζουσα τὰς τῶν γεννωμένων δυνάμεις καὶ γονίμους ἀπεργα ζομένη καὶ ἀνεγείρουσα πρὸς τὸ γεννᾶν ἄλλα καὶ ὑφιστάνειν. εἰ γὰρ ἕκαστον τῆς οἰκείας ἰδιότητος, ἣν ἔχει πρώτως, τοῖς ἄλλοις μεταδίδωσι, πᾶν δήπου τὸ γόνιμον καὶ τοῖς μεθ' ἑαυτὸ τὴν γόνιμον ἐνδίδωσι πρόοδον καὶ τὴν ἀπειρίαν ἐνεικονίζεται τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀρχέγονον, ἀφ' ἧς πᾶσα γεννητικὴ προῆλθε δύναμις, τὰς ἀεννάους τῶν θείων προόδους ἐξῃρημένως ἀπορρέουσα. 153 Πᾶν τὸ τέλειον ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς τῆς θείας ἐστὶ τελειότητος αἴτιον. ὡς γὰρ ἄλλαι τῶν ὄντων εἰσὶν ὑποστάσεις, ἄλλαι τῶν ὑπερ ουσίων, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τελειότητες ἄλλαι μὲν αἱ τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν κατὰ τὴν ὕπαρξιν, ἄλλαι δὲ αἱ τῶν ὄντων δεύτεραι μετ' ἐκείνας· καὶ αἱ μὲν αὐτοτελεῖς καὶ πρωτουργοί, διότι καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐν ἐκείνοις πρώτως, αἱ δὲ κατὰ μέθεξιν ἔχουσαι τὸ τέλειον. ἄλλη μὲν οὖν διὰ ταῦτα ἡ τῶν θεῶν τελειότης καὶ ἄλλη τῶν ἐκθεου μένων. τὸ δὲ ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς πρώτως τέλειον οὐ μόνον τοῖς ἐκθεουμένοις τῆς τελειότητος αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς αὐτοῖς. εἰ γάρ, ᾗ τέλειον ἕκαστον, ἐπέστραπται πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἀρχήν, τὸ πάσης τῆς θείας ἐπιστροφῆς αἴτιον τελεσιουργόν ἐστι τοῦ τῶν θεῶν γένους. 154 Πᾶν τὸ φρουρητικὸν ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς ἕκαστον ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ τάξει διαφυλάττει τῶν δευτέρων ἑνοειδῶς ἐξῃρημένον καὶ τοῖς πρώτοις ἐνιδρυμένον. εἰ γὰρ ἡ φρουρὰ τὸ τῆς ἑκάστου τάξεως μέτρον ἀτρέπτως διασώζει καὶ συνέχει πάντα τὰ φρουρούμενα ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ τελειότητι, πᾶσιν ἐνδίδωσι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν καταδεεστέρων ὑπερ οχήν, καὶ ἄμικτον ἕκαστον ἵστησιν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ μονίμως, καθαρότητος ἀχράντου τοῖς φρουρουμένοις αἴτιον ὑπάρχον, καὶ ἐνιδρύει τοῖς ὑπερτέροις. τέλειον γὰρ πᾶν ἐστι τῶν μὲν πρώτων ἀντεχόμενον, ἐν ἑαυτῷ δὲ μένον, καὶ τῶν καταδεεστέρων ὑπερηπλωμένον. 155 Πᾶν μὲν τὸ ζωογόνον ἐν τοῖς θείοις γένεσιν αἴτιον γεννητικόν ἐστιν, οὐ πᾶσα δὲ ἡ γόνιμος τάξις ζωογόνος ἐστίν· ὁλικωτέρα γὰρ ἡ γεννητικὴ τῆς ζωογονικῆς καὶ ἐγγυτέρω τῆς ἀρχῆς. ἡ μὲν γὰρ γέννησις τὴν εἰς πλῆθος τὰ ὄντα προάγουσαν αἰτίαν δηλοῖ, ἡ δὲ ζωογονία τὴν χορηγὸν ἁπάσης ζωῆς θεότητα παρίστησιν. εἰ οὖν ἡ μὲν τῶν ὄντων πολλαπλασιάζει τὰς ὑποστάσεις, ἡ δὲ τὰς τῆς ζωῆς προόδους ὑφίστησιν, ὡς ἔχει τὸ ὂν πρὸς τὴν ζωήν, οὕτως ἡ γεννητικὴ τάξις ἕξει πρὸς τὴν ζωογόνον σειράν. ὁλικωτέρα δὴ οὖν ἔσται καὶ πλειόνων αἰτία, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐγγυτέρω τῆς ἀρχῆς. 156 Πᾶν μὲν τὸ τῆς καθαρότητος αἴτιον ἐν τῇ φρουρητικῇ περιέχεται τάξει, οὐκ ἔμπαλιν δὲ πᾶν τὸ φρουρητικὸν τῷ καθαρτικῷ γένει ταὐτόν. ἡ μὲν γὰρ καθαρότης τὸ ἀμιγὲς ἐνδίδωσι πρὸς τὰ χείρονα πᾶσι τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ τὸ ἄχραντον ἐν τῇ προνοίᾳ τῶν δευτέρων, ἡ δὲ φρουρὰ καὶ τοῦτο ἀπεργάζεται καὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς πάντα συνέχει καὶ σταθερῶς ἐντίθησι τοῖς ὑπερτέροις. ὁλικώτερον ἄρα τοῦ καθαρτικοῦ τὸ φρουρητικόν ἐστιν· ἴδιον γὰρ ἁπλῶς φρουρᾶς μὲν τὸ τὴν αὐτὴν ἑκάστου τάξιν διατηρεῖν πρός τε ἑαυτὸ καὶ τὰ πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ μετ' αὐτό, καθαρότητος δὲ τὸ ἐξαιρεῖν τῶν καταδεεστέρων τὰ κρείττονα. ταῦτα δέ ἐστι πρώτως ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς. τοῦ γὰρ ἐν πᾶσιν ὄντος δεῖ μίαν αἰτίαν προηγεῖσθαι· καὶ ὅλως πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὰ ἑνοειδῆ μέτρα παρ' ἐκείνοις προείληπται, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς δευτέροις ἀγαθόν, ὃ μὴ προϋφέστηκεν ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς (πόθεν γὰρ ἔσται τοῦτο, καὶ τίνα ἕξει τὴν αἰτίαν;). ἐν ἐκείνοις ἄρα καὶ ἡ καθαρότης πρώτως, ἀγαθὸν οὖσα, καὶ ἡ φρουρὰ καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι τοιοῦτον. 157 Πᾶν μὲν τὸ πατρικὸν αἴτιον τοῦ εἶναι πᾶσίν ἐστι χορη γὸν καὶ τὰς ὑπάρξεις τῶν ὄντων ὑφίστησι· πᾶν δὲ τὸ δημιουργι κὸν τῆς εἰδοποιίας τῶν