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

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 productions. For each belongs to the order of Limit, since both existence and number and form are all limit-like; so in this respect they are in the same series with one another. But the demiurgic brings forth production into multitude, while the other provides the processions of beings in a unitary way; and the one is form-producing, the other is substance-producing. Inasmuch, then, as these are distinct from one another, both form and being, in this respect the paternal is distinct from the demiurgic. But form is a kind of being. Therefore, being more universal and more causal, the paternal is beyond the demiurgic class, as being is beyond form. 158 Every anagogic cause among the gods differs both from the cathartic and from the convertive classes. For that this too must exist primarily in them is clear, since all the causes of all goods pre-exist there. But it pre-exists the cathartic, because the one releases from inferior things, while this one unites with superior things; and it has a more partial rank than the convertive, because everything that reverts, reverts either to itself or to the superior, but the activity of the anagogic is characterized by the reversion to the superior, as leading that which is reverted to the above and the more divine. 159 Every order of gods is from the first principles, Limit and Infinity; but one is more from the cause of Limit, another from that of Infinity. For every order proceeds from both, because the communications of the first causes extend through all secondary things. But in one place Limit prevails in the mixture, in another, Infinity; and thus the limit-like class is constituted, in which the things of Limit rule; and the infinity-like, in which the things of Infinity rule. 160 Every divine Intellect is unitary and perfect and primarily Intellect, producing from itself the other intellects also. For if it is divine, it is filled with the divine henads and is unitary; and if this, it is also perfect, being full of the divine goodness. And if these things are so, it is also primarily Intellect, inasmuch as it is united with the gods; for the deified Intellect is superior to every intellect. And being primarily Intellect, it itself gives hypostasis to the others; for from those that are primary, all that are secondary acquire their existence. 161 All that which is truly Being, suspended from the gods, is divine, intelligible, and unparticipated. For since that which is truly Being is the first of the things that participate in the divine unification, as has been shown, and it fills Intellect from itself (for Intellect also is a being, as being filled by Being), it is surely divine and intelligible; as being deified, it is divine, and as filling Intellect and being participated by it, it is intelligible. And Intellect is being through that which is primarily Being, but that which is primarily Being is itself separate from Intellect, because Intellect is after Being. But unparticipated things subsist before participated things; so also before Being that is coordinate with Intellect there pre-exists Being in itself and unparticipated. For it is intelligible not as being coordinated with Intellect, but as transcendently perfecting Intellect, because it both imparts to it its being and fills it with truly existing substance. 162 Every multitude of henads that illuminates that which is truly Being is hidden and intelligible; hidden, as being conjoined with the One, and intelligible, as being participated by Being. For all the gods are named from the things suspended from them, because it is possible to know from these their different hypostases, which are unknowable. For in itself everything divine is ineffable and unknowable, as being connate with the ineffable One; but from the differentiation of the participants it comes about that their properties too are known. Therefore those who illuminate that which is truly Being are intelligible, because that which is truly Being is an intelligible divine and unparticipated, pre-existing Intellect. For this would not be suspended from the very first gods, unless they too had a primary-acting hypostasis and a power perfective of the other gods, if indeed as the participants are to one another, so also are the existences of the things participated. 163 Every multitude of henads that is participated by the unparticipated Intellect is intellectual. For as Intellect is to that which is truly Being, so are these henads to the henads that

συνθέτων προέστηκε καὶ τῆς τάξεως καὶ τῆς κατ' ἀριθμὸν αὐτῶν διαιρέσεως, καὶ ἔστι τῆς αὐτῆς τῷ πα τρικῷ συστοιχίας ἐν μερικωτέροις γένεσιν. ἑκάτερον γὰρ τῆς τοῦ πέρατός ἐστι τάξεως, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡ ὕπαρ ξις καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς καὶ τὸ εἶδος περατοειδῆ πάντα ἐστίν· ὥστε ταύτῃ σύστοιχα ἀλλήλοις. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν δημιουργικὸν εἰς πλῆθος προάγει τὴν ποίησιν, τὸ δὲ ἑνοειδῶς παρέχεται τὰς τῶν ὄντων προόδους· καὶ τὸ μὲν εἰδοποιόν ἐστι, τὸ δὲ οὐσιοποιόν. ᾗ οὖν ταῦτα διέστηκεν ἀλλήλων, τό τε εἶδος καὶ τὸ ὄν, ταύτῃ τοῦ δημιουργικοῦ τὸ πατρικὸν διέστηκεν. ἔστι δέ τι ὂν τὸ εἶδος. ὁλικώτερον ἄρα καὶ αἰτιώτερον <ὄν,> τὸ πατρικόν ἐστιν ἐπέκεινα τοῦ δημιουργικοῦ γένους, ὡς τὸ ὂν τοῦ εἴδους. 158 Πᾶν τὸ ἀναγωγὸν αἴτιον ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ τοῦ καθαρ τικοῦ διαφέρει καὶ τῶν ἐπιστρεπτικῶν γενῶν. ὅτι μὲν γὰρ εἶναι δεῖ καὶ τοῦτο πρώτως ἐν ἐκείνοις δῆλον, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ὅλων ἀγαθῶν ἐκεῖ τὰ αἴτια πάντα προϋφέστηκεν. ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν καθαρτικοῦ προϋπάρχει, διότι τὸ μὲν ἀπολύει τῶν χειρόνων, τοῦτο δὲ συνάπτει τοῖς κρείττοσι· τοῦ δὲ ἐπιστρεπ τικοῦ μερικωτέραν ἔχει τάξιν, διότι πᾶν τὸ ἐπιστρέφον ἢ πρὸς ἑαυτὸ ἐπιστρέφει ἢ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον, τοῦ δὲ ἀναγωγοῦ τὸ ἐνέργημα κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἐπιστροφὴν χαρακτηρίζε ται, ὡς εἰς τὸ ἄνω καὶ τὸ θειότερον ἄγον τὸ ἐπιστρεφόμενον. 159 Πᾶσα τάξις θεῶν ἐκ τῶν πρώτων ἐστὶν ἀρχῶν, πέρατος καὶ ἀπειρίας· ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν πρὸς τῆς τοῦ πέρατος αἰτίας μᾶλλον, ἡ δὲ πρὸς τῆς ἀπειρίας. πᾶσα μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων πρόεισι, διότι τῶν πρώτων αἰτίων αἱ μεταδόσεις διήκουσι διὰ πάντων τῶν δευτέρων. ἀλλ' ὅπου μὲν τὸ πέρας ἐνδυναστεύει κατὰ τὴν μῖξιν, ὅπου δὲ τὸ ἄπειρον· καὶ οὕτω δὴ τὸ μὲν περατοειδὲς ἀποτελεῖται γένος, ἐν ᾧ τὰ τοῦ πέρατος κρατεῖ· τὸ δὲ ἀπειροειδές, ἐν ᾧ τὰ τῆς ἀπει ρίας. 160 Πᾶς ὁ θεῖος νοῦς ἑνοειδής ἐστι καὶ τέλειος καὶ πρώτως νοῦς, ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους νόας παράγων. εἰ γὰρ θεῖός ἐστι, πεπλήρωται τῶν θείων ἑνάδων καὶ ἔστιν ἑνοειδής· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, καὶ τέλειος, τῆς ἀγαθότητος τῆς θείας πλήρης ὑπάρχων. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα, καὶ πρώτως ἐστὶ νοῦς, ἅτε τοῖς θεοῖς ἡνωμένος· παντὸς γὰρ νοῦ κρείττων ὁ ἐκθεούμενος νοῦς. πρώτως δὲ ὢν νοῦς, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις αὐτὸς δίδωσι τὴν ὑπόστασιν· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν πρώτως ὄντων πάντα τὰ δευτέρως ὄντα τὴν ὕπαρξιν κέκτηται. 161 Πᾶν τὸ ὄντως ὂν τὸ τῶν θεῶν ἐξημμένον θεῖόν ἐστι νοητὸν καὶ ἀμέθεκτον. ἐπεὶ γὰρ πρῶτόν ἐστι τῶν τῆς θείας ἑνώσεως μετεχόντων τὸ ὄντως ὄν, ὡς δέδεικται, καὶ πληροῖ τὸν νοῦν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ (καὶ γὰρ ὁ νοῦς ὄν ἐστιν, ὡς τοῦ ὄντος πληρούμενος), θεῖόν ἐστι δήπου νοητόν· ὡς μὲν ἐκθεούμενον, θεῖον, ὡς δὲ πληρωτικὸν τοῦ νοῦ καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μετεχόμενον, νοητόν. καὶ ὁ μὲν νοῦς ὂν διὰ τὸ πρώτως ὄν, αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ πρώτως ὂν χωριστόν ἐστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ νοῦ, διότι μετὰ τὸ ὄν ἐστιν ὁ νοῦς. δὲ ἀμέθεκτα πρὸ τῶν μετεχομένων ὑφέστηκεν· ὥστε καὶ τοῦ συζύγου πρὸς τὸν νοῦν ὄντος προϋπάρχει τὸ καθ' αὑτὸ καὶ ἀμεθέκτως ὄν. νοητὸν γάρ ἐστιν οὐχ ὡς τῷ νῷ συντεταγμένον, ἀλλ' ὡς τελειοῦν ἐξῃρημένως τὸν νοῦν, διότι κἀκείνῳ τοῦ εἶναι μεταδίδωσι καὶ πληροῖ κἀκεῖνον τῆς ὄντως οὔσης οὐσίας. 162 Πᾶν τὸ καταλάμπον τὸ ὄντως ὂν πλῆθος τῶν ἑνάδων κρύφιον καὶ νοητόν ἐστι· κρύφιον μὲν ὡς τῷ ἑνὶ συνημμένον, νοητὸν δὲ ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄντος μετεχόμενον. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἐξημμένων πάντες οἱ θεοὶ καλοῦνται, διότι καὶ τὰς ὑποστάσεις αὐτῶν τὰς διαφόρους ἀπὸ τούτων, ἀγνώστους ὑπαρχούσας, γνῶναι δυνατόν. ἄρρητον γὰρ καθ' αὑτὸ πᾶν τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἄγνωστον, ὡς τῷ ἑνὶ τῷ ἀρρήτῳ συμφυές· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς τῶν μετεχόντων ἐξαλλαγῆς καὶ τὰς ἐκείνων ἰδιότητας γνωρίζε σθαι συμβαίνει. νοητοὶ δὴ οὖν εἰσιν οἱ τὸ ὄντως ὂν καταλάμ ποντες, διότι δὴ τὸ ὄντως ὂν νοητόν ἐστι θεῖον καὶ ἀμέθεκτον, τοῦ νοῦ προϋφεστηκός. οὐ γὰρ ἂν τοῦτο τῶν πρωτίστων ἐξῆπτο θεῶν, εἰ μὴ κἀκεῖνοι πρωτουργὸν εἶχον ὑπόστασιν καὶ δύναμιν τελειωτικὴν τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν, εἴπερ ὡς τὰ μετέχοντα πρὸς ἄλληλα, οὕτω καὶ αἱ τῶν μετεχομένων ἔχουσιν ὑπάρξεις. 163 Πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἑνάδων τὸ μετεχόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀμεθέκτου νοῦ νοερόν ἐστιν. ὡς γὰρ ἔχει νοῦς πρὸς τὸ ὄντως ὄν, οὕτως αἱ ἑνάδες αὗται πρὸς τὰς ἑνάδας τὰς