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indefinite, since it is possible for nothing at all to be conceived along with it in any one of the enumerated ways. For according to whatever principle or manner we might say that something else, different in essence, can be compared to it, we take away from it the whole principle of its whole infinity. But if something with which another thing different in essence co-exists from eternity cannot be infinite, in no way can a dyad be infinite. For the monads within it, co-existing with each other by juxtaposition (14∆_242> define each other, with neither permitting the other to be seen indefinitely, having it lying beside, but not extending beyond, and they fittingly take from each other the principle of infinity.

But if, as has been shown, a dyad cannot be infinite, clearly it is not without beginning, for the beginning of every dyad is the monad; but if it is not without beginning, it is not motionless, for it is moved in number from monads by union, and receives its being into them by division; but if it is not motionless, it is not the beginning of anything else. For that which is moved is not a beginning, but from a beginning, that is, from that which moves it. But the Monad alone is properly motionless, because it is neither a number, nor numerable, nor numbered (for the monad is neither a part nor a whole nor a relation), and properly without beginning, because it has nothing prior to itself, from which, being moved, it receives its being as a monad, and properly infinite, because it has nothing co-existing or co-numbered with it, and properly a beginning, because it happens to be the cause of everything, both of number, and of what is numbered, and of what is numerable, as it is removed from every relation and every part and whole, and properly and truly, and primarily and solely and simply, but thus, being both the first and only monad. And in saying this, we do not signify the blessed divinity as it is, being infinitely and in every way and principle and manner and by every mind and word and name entirely unapproachable and inaccessible, but we provide for ourselves a definition of faith in it that is firm and for us both attainable and suitable.

For the divine word does not proclaim this, I mean the name of monad, as entirely representative of the divine and blessed essence, but as indicative of its perfect simplicity which is beyond all quantity and quality, and of any relation whatsoever, so that we might know that it is not some whole composed of parts, nor some part from some whole. For the divinity is above all division and composition and part and whole, (14∆_244> because it is without quantity, and removed from all existence by position and from the concept which defines how it is, because it is without quality, and free and released from all connection and affinity toward anything else, for it is without relation, having nothing before it or with it or after it, as it is beyond all things, and is not arrayed with any of the beings 1188 in any principle or manner.

And perhaps having understood this, the great and divine Dionysius says: "Therefore, also, the divinity above all things, hymned as both monad and triad, is neither a monad nor a triad, known by us or by any other being, but so that we might truly hymn both its super-unified nature and its God-begetting nature, we have named with the triadic and unitary name of God the One beyond name, and to beings the One beyond being. " Therefore, no one who wishes to live piously through truth will be able to say that a dyad or a multitude is without beginning, or that anything at all is a beginning. For one God will be revealed to him through all the contemplative power and knowledge according to reason and intellect, existing beyond all infinity, and in no way whatsoever to any of the beings, except to be known by faith alone, and this from his own works that he is, not what he is being known, and both maker and creator of every age and time and of all things in age and time, conceiving nothing at all along with him from eternity in any manner whatsoever, knowing that neither of the things that are simultaneous in existence with each other from eternity

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ἀόριστον, ὡς οὐδενός τό παράπαν καθ᾿ ἕνα τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων τρόπων συνεπινοηθῆναι αὐτῷ δυναμένου. Καθ᾿ ὅν γάρ ἄν εἴποιμεν λόγον ἤ τρόπον δύνασθαί τι ἕτερον αὐτῷ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν διάφορον παραβάλλεσθαι, τόν ὅλον τῆς ὅλης ἀπειρίας αὐτῷ συναφαιρούμεθα λόγον. Εἰ δέ ἄπειρόν τι εἶναι οὐ δύναται ᾧ ἐξ ἀϊδίου συνυπάρχει ἕτερόν τι κατ᾿ οὐσίαν διάφορον, ἄπειρον εἶναι οὐδαμῶς ἐνδέχεται δυάδα. Αἱ γάρ κατ᾿ αὐτήν μονάδες ἀλλήλαις κατά παράθεσιν συνυπάρχουσαι (14∆_242> ἀλλήλας ὁρίζουσιν, οὐδετέρας τήν ἑτέραν ἀορίστως ὁρᾶσθαι συγχωρούσης, παρακειμένην, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑπερβαίνουσαν ἐχούσης, καί τόν τῆς ἀπειρίας εἰκότως ἀλλήλων συναφαιροῦνται λόγον.

Εἰ δέ ἄπειρον, ὡς δέδεικται, μή ἐνδέχεται εἶναι δυάδα, οὔτε ἄναρχον δηλονότι, ἀρχή γάρ πάσης δυάδος μονάς· εἰ δέ μή ἄναρχον οὐδέ ἀκίνητον, κινεῖται γάρ τῷ ἀριθμῷ ἐκ μονάδων κατ᾿ ἕνωσιν, καί εἰς αὐτά κατά διαίρεσιν τό εἶναι λαμβάνουσα· εἰ δέ μή ἀκίνητον, οὐδέ ἄλλου τινός ἀρχήν εἶναι. Τό γάρ κινούμενον οὐκ ἀρχή, ἀλλ᾿ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, δηλαδή τοῦ κινοῦντος. Μονάς δέ μόνη κυρίως ἀκίνητος, ὅτι μήτε ἀριθμός ἐστι, μήτε ἀριθμητόν ἤ ἀριθμούμενον (οὔτε γάρ μέρος ἤ ὅλον ἤ σχέσις ἐστίν ἡ μονάς), καί κυρίως ἄναρχος, ὅτι μηδέτερον ἑαυτῆς ἔχει πρεσβύτερον, ἐξ οὗ κινουμένη δέχεται τό εἶναι μονάς, καί ἄπειρον κυρίως, ὅτι μηδέν ἔχει συνυπάρχον ἤ συναριθμούμενον, καί ἀρχή κυρίως, ὅτι παντός καί ἀριθμοῦ καί ἀριθμουμένου καί ἀριθμητοῦ αἰτία τυγχάνει, ὡς πάσης σχέσεως καί παντός μέρους καί ὅλου ἐξῃρημένη, καί κυρίως καί ἀληθῶς, πρώτως δέ καί μόνως καί ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ᾿ οὕπως, πρώτη τε μονάς ὑπάρχουσα καί μόνη. Καί τοῦτο λέγοντες οὐκ αὐτήν ὡς ἔστι σημαίνομεν τήν μακαρίαν θεότητα, ἀπείρως κατά πάντα καί λόγον καί τρόπον καί νῷ καί λόγῳ παντί καί ὀνόματι ἀπρόσιτον οὖσαν παντελῶς καί ἀπροσπέλαστον, ἀλλ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς ὅρον τῆς εἰς αὐτήν πίστεως παρέχομεν βάσιμον καί ἡμῖν ἐφικτόν τε καί πρόσφορον.

Οὐ γάρ ὡς παραστατικόν πάντως τοῦτο, φημί δέ τό τῆς μονάδος ὄνομα, τῆς θείας καί μακαρίας οὐσίας ὁ θεῖος διαγορεύει λόγος, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἐνδεικτικόν τῆς παντελοῦς αὐτῆς ἁπλότητος τῆς ἐπέκεινα πάσης ποσότητός τε καί ποιότητος, καί τῆς οἱασδήποτε σχέσεως, ἵνα γνῶμεν ὄτι μή ὅλον τί ἐστιν ὡς ἐκ μερῶν τινων, μηδέ τι μέρος ἐστίν ἐξ ὄλου τινός. Ὑπεράνω γάρ πάσης διαιρέσεώς τε καί συνθέσεως καί μέρους καί ὅλου ἡ θεότης, (14∆_244> ὅτι ἄποσον, καί πάσης τῆς κατά θέσιν ὑπάρξεως καί τῆς πῶς εἶναι αὐτήν ὁριζομένης ἐννοίας ἀπῳκισμένη, ὅτι ἄποιον, καί τῆς πρός ἄλλο πᾶν πάσης συναφείας τε καί οἰκειότητος ἐλευθέρα καί ἄφετος, ἄσχετον γάρ τό πρό αὐτῆς ἤ μετ᾿ αὐτῆς ἤ μετ᾿ αὐτήν οὐκ ἔχουσα, ὡς πάντων ἐπέκεινα, καί μηδενί τῶν ὄντων 1188 κατ᾿ οὐδένα λόγον ἤ τρόπον συντεταγμένη.

Καί τοῦτο τυχόν ἐννοήσας ὁ μέγας καί θεῖος ∆ιονύσιός φησι· "∆ιό καί μονάς ὑμνουμένη καί τριάς, ἡ ὑπέρ πάντα θεότης, οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε μονάς, οὔτε τριάς, ἤ πρός ἡμῶν ἤ ἄλλου τινός διεγνωσμένη, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα καί τό ὑπερηνωμένον αὐτῆς καί τό θεογόνον ἀληθῶς ὑμνήσωμεν, τῇ τριαδικῇ καί ἑνιαία θεονυμίᾳ τήν ὑπερώνυμον ὠνομάσαμεν, καί τοῖς οὖσι τήν ὑπερούσιον. " Οὐδαμῶς οὖν τις δυάδα ἤ πλῆθος ἄναρχον, ἤ ἀρχήν τό σύνολόν τινος εἶναι λέγειν δυνήσεται, ζῇν εὐσεβῶς δι᾿ ἀληθείας βεβουλημένος. Εἷς γάρ διά πάσης τῆς κατά λόγον καί νοῦν θεωρητικῆς δυνάμεως καί ἐπιστήμης αὐτῷ Θεός ἀναφανήσεται, πάσης ἀπειρίας ὑπάρχων ἐπέκεινα, καί μηδενί καθόλου τῶν ὄντων καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν, πλήν τοῦ διά πίστεως μόνον γινώσκεσθαι, καί τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων ὅτι ἐστίν, οὐχ ὅτι ποτέ ἐστι διεγνωσμένος, καί παντός αἰῶνος καί χρόνου καί πάντων τῶν ἐν αἰῶνι καί χρόνῳ ποιητής τε καί δημιουργός, οὐδέν τό παράπαν ἐξ ἀϊδίου καθ᾿ ὁντιναοῦν τρόπον αὐτῷ συνεπινοῶν, εἰδώς ὅτι μηδέτερον τῶν ἅμα κατά τήν ὕπαρξιν ἀλλήλοις ἐξ ἀϊδίου