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being both concept and image. And by saying 'the things that are' he shows that they were brought wholly into existence, and by adding 'and the very being of the things that are', he signified their permanence.

§ 5. And it is in itself: These things must not be thought to be said about the cause of all things, but about the intelligible, intellectual, sensible, and other things that have been brought into being creatively from him; for as we have said before, God is before being, for he is pre-existent; but 'to be' has a certain kind of indication of a pre-existing cause. God is therefore called pre-existent, and for the rest he is also called Being, as the cause of all things; then that all things are from him. Therefore 'to be' subsisted conceptually by participation in his 'pre-being', not as if God were divided into 'to be' and 'to pre-be', but his will which brought beings into being, this is said to be pre-subsistent being in God, and since this divine will was preordained for creation to be, reasonably, before the other things of which beings partake of God, a certain more ancient principle, that of being, is conceived as God himself; for first something is, and then it is both life and wisdom. For the invisible and highest minds (14S_222> first partook of being, and thus of life and wisdom. For just as with us a certain primary matter subsisted, from which we are, so also in the case of the incorporeal minds, as it were a matter, is conceived the very being of each one through a form of life, and by which it is substanced into life and wisdom and likeness. And we have discussed above both likeness and identity, the powers that lead up to God, by which they are made like him, being near to him, and of these, in subordination, the things that come after them partake, themselves also first partaking of being. And understand the principles of beings to be the first subsistent essences in creation, called principles, not because beings come from them, as from elements, but because, as has been said, they were created before those after them; for example, in the case of intelligible things the principle of creation is thrones, and so on, but in the case of sensible things the principle of creation is heaven and earth; "for in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth"; for these are the first-created of sensible things. Then also in another way the ideas and the paradigms, which are the self-sufficient eternal thoughts of the eternal God, as we said before, are conceived as, so to speak, elements and principles and an immaterial and incorporeal matter of those who partake even of the ideas themselves, such as the created incorporeal orders; for life-itself and wisdom-itself and order-itself and the other things in God are paradigms, of which the creatures partake, as lines drawn straight from a point, that is, a center, to the circle.

Therefore of all things, reasonably: God gave this name to himself, saying, "I am who I am"; therefore before the other things which are said of him, such as life and wisdom and the like, (14S_224> he is reasonably proclaimed. And by saying 'to pre-be' and 'to super-be', he indicated that God is without beginning and entirely incomprehensible in his being, who also by the preordination of his own ineffable knowledge pre-established that all things should be at all; for the mind immediately at first applies itself to this, to being, and then so considers that they are in some way. Therefore he indicated simply 'to be', not 'how to be', by saying 'being in itself', just as in succession, saying life-itself, likeness-itself, and the things with them, he introduced 'to be life at all' and simply 'to live', but not 'this or that kind of life', and the other things likewise, are predicated first of this, 'to be'.

And if you wish, of living things: Just as, in a certain way, in the case of qualities, the qualities-in-themselves pre-exist, as it were; then occurring, they produce qualities, so also understand these things, for example, whiteness-of-a-body-itself, when it comes upon a body, whitens it; so also understand the things said here analogously, that the pre-existing God, that is, life, gives life to all things that partake of him.

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ἔννοιάν τε καί φαντασίαν ὑπάρχων. ∆ιά δέ τοῦ εἰπεῖν 'τά ὄντα' τό ὅλως αὐτά πρός ὕπαρξιν ἀχθῆναι δηλοῖ, τό δέ 'καί αὐτό τό εἶναι τῶν ὄντων' προσθείς, τήν διαμονήν αὐτῶν ἐσήμανε.

§ 5. Καί ἔστιν αὐτό καθ' αὑτό: Ταῦτα οὐ δεῖ νομίζειν περί τοῦ τῶν ἁπάντων αἰτίου λέγεσθαι, ἀλλά περί τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δημιουργικῶς ὑποστάντων νοητῶν τε καί νοερῶν καί αἰσθητῶν καί λοιπῶν· καθά γάρ προειρήκαμεν, ὁ Θεός πρό τοῦ εἶναι καί γάρ ἐστι προών· τό δέ εἶναι οἷον ἔμφασιν ἔχει τινά προϋπόντος αἰτίου. Προών μέν οὖν λέγεται ὁ Θεός, καί λοιπόν λέγεται καί ὤν, ὡς ἁπάντων αἴτιος· εἶτα τό εἶναι τά πάντα ἐξ αὐτοῦ. Τό οὖν εἶναι κατ' ἐπίνοιαν ἐκ μετοχῆς ὑπέστη τοῦ προεῖναι αὐτου, οὐχ ὡς μερισθέντος τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τό εἶναι καί προεῖναι, ἀλλά τό θέλημα αὐτοῦ τό παραγαγόν εἰς τό εἶναι τά ὄντα, τοῦτο λέγεται εἶναι προϋποστάν ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, καί τούτου τοῦ θείου θελήματος εἰς τό εἶναι κτίσιν προορισθέντος, εἰκότως πρό τῶν ἄλλων, ὧν μετέχει τά ὄντα τοῦ Θεοῦ, πρεσβυτέρα τις ἀρχή ἡ τοῦ εἶναι, ἐπινοεῖται αὐτός ὁ Θεός· πρῶτον γάρ ἐστί τι, καί τότε ἐστί καί ζωή καί σοφία. Οἱ γοῦν ἀόρατοι καί ἀνώτατοι νόες (14S_222> πρῶτον τοῦ εἶναι μετέσχον, καί οὕτω ζωῆς καί σοφίας. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἐφ' ἡμῶν πρώτη τις ὑπέστη ὕλη, ἀφ' ἧς ἔσμέν, οὕτω καί ἐπί τῶν ἀσωμάτων νοῶν, οἱονεί ὕλη, νοεῖται αὐτό τό ὄν ἑκάστου διά ζωῆς εἶδος, καί καθ' ὅ οὐσίωται εἰς ζωήν καί σοφίαν καί ὁμοιότητα. Ὁμοιότητα δέ καί ἄνω διεξήλθομεν καί ταὐτότητα, τάς ἀναγωγούς ἐπί Θεόν δυνάμεις, καθ' ἅς ὁμοιοῦνται αὐτῷ προσεχεῖς αὐτῷ οὖσαι, καί τούτων καθ' ὑπόβασιν μετέχουσι τά μετά ταῦτα πρῶτον καί αὐτά τοῦ εἶναι μετέχοντα. Ἀρχάς δέ τῶν ὄντων τάς πρώτας ὑποστάσεις ἐν τῇ κτίσει οὐσίας νόησον, ἀρχάς λεγομένας, οὐχ ὅτι ἐξ αὐτῶν τά ὄντα, ὡς ἀπό στοιχείων, ἀλλ' ὅτι, καθά εἴρηται, πρό τῶν μετ' αὐτάς ἐδημιουργήθησαν· οἷον ἐπί μέν τῶν νοητῶν ἀρχή κτίσεως θρόνοι, καί οὕτω τά ἑξῆς, ἐπί δέ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀρχή κτίσεως οὐρανός καί γῆ· «ἐν ἀρχῇ γάρ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεός τόν οὐρανόν καί τήν γῆν»· τῶν γάρ αἰσθητῶν πρωτόκτιστα ταῦτα. Εἶτα καί ἄλλως αἱ ἰδέαι καί τά παραδείγματα, ἅπερ εἰσί νοήσεις αὐτοτελεῖς ἀΐδιοι τοῦ ἀϊδίου Θεοῦ, καθά προέφημεν, ἐπινοοῦνται οἱονεί στοιχεῖα καί ἀρχαί καί ὕλη ἄϋλος καί ἀσώματος τῶν μετεχόντων καί αὐτῶν τῶν ἰδεῶν, οἷον τῶν παραχθεισῶν ἀσωμάτων τάξεων· ἡ γάρ αὐτοζωή καί αὐτοσοφία καί αὐτόταξις καί τἄλλα τά ἐν Θεῷ παραδείγματά εἰσιν, ὧν μετέχουσιν αἱ δημιουργίαι, ὡς σημείου, ἤτοι κέντρου, αἱ κατ' εὐθεῖαν γραμμαί ἐπί τόν κύκλον φερόμεναι.

Πάντων οὖν εἰκότως: Ἑαυτῷ ταύτην τήν προσηγορίαν ἔθετο ὁ Θεός, εἰπών, «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν»· διό πρό τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσα περί αὐτοῦ λέγεται, οἷον ζωῆς καί σοφίας καί τῶν τοιοῦτων, (14S_224> εἰκότως ἀναγορεύεται. Τῷ δέ εἰπεῖν 'προεῖναι' καί 'ὑπερεῖναι', τό ἄναρχον καί πάντῃ ἀκατανόητον τοῦ εἶναι τόν Θεόν ὑφηγήσατο, ὅς καί τῷ προορισμῷ τῆς οἰκείας ἀρρήτου γνώσεως προϋπεστήσατο τό ὅλως εἶναι τά πάντα· τούτῳ γάρ ἀθρόῳ κατά πρώτην προσβολήν ἐπιβάλλει ὁ νοῦς τῷ εἶναι, εἰθ' οὕτω τό ὁπωσοῦν εἶναι αὐτά θεωρεῖ. Τό οὖν ἁπλῶς εἶναι, οὐ τό πῶς εἶναι ἐδήλωσεν, εἰπών καθ' αὑτό τό εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἑξῆς τήν αὐτοζωήν, τήν αὐτοομοιότητα, καί τά σύν αὐτοῖς εἰπών, τό ὅλως εἶναι ζωήν, καί ἁπλῶς τό ζῇν, οὐχί δέ τήν τοιάνδε ζωήν εἰσηγήσατο, καί τά ἄλλά δέ ὁμοίως, τοῦτο πρῶτον κατηγοροῦνται τό εἶναι.

Καί εἰ βούλει τῶν ζώντων: Ὥσπερ λόγῳ τινί ἐπί τῶν ποιοτήτων οἱονεί προΰπεισιν αἱ αὐτοποιότητες· εἶτα συμβαίνουσαι ποιοῦσιν, οὕτω καί ταῦτα νόει, οἷον ἡ αὐτοσώματος λευκότης, ἐπιγενομένη σώματι, λευκαίνει τοῦτο· οὕτω καί τά εἰρημένα ὧδε νόησον ἀναλόγως, ὅτι προϋπών ὁ Θεός, ἤτοι ἡ ζωή, ζωοῖ πάντα τά αὐτοῦ μετέχοντα.