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§ 2. According to power, uninclined: He said uninclined, that is, not descending from its own height; for He does not create by inclining into power, but being motionless and unbending in His own strength, He brings forth existing things. Perhaps one should also say "unclosed" meaning not being closed; for which reason he adds "and unlimited"; for it is not closed off, as though lacking power in some respect, but the power of God is always open in its capacity to do all things.

And empowers weakness: He calls these material and terrestrial bodies "weakness," which he also calls the last echoes, as we have often said above, because they dimly and according to their own capacity participate in the power of God. And concerning our own bodies it has been said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," but this must also be considered in the other animals, as in the case of gnats and flies and such things, how much strength they have in their own stings, such weak and despised creatures, having been empowered by God the creator; whence also in Joel the divine prophet God says concerning the locust and the locust-larva and the caterpillar, "my great power," and how the infinite power of God reaches even to these, he says, with wonderful and most true images. But you will find the same also in inanimate things, observing in grasses and herbs and metals harmful and beneficial powers; and most are fragile (14S_286>, and others are strong and unyielding, like the diamond. Otherwise. He speaks of weakness being empowered in these, the weakest of animals, which have this power of truly being, or weakness must be considered the inanimate and completely motionless nature, which has received its essential power, that is, the power to be at all, from God.

§ 3. And this itself, if it is permissible: That is, it was not possible for anything at all to exist, unless the divine power had substantiated this.

It has power for being: He understands power not only as the strength for subsisting, but it also signifies the capacity for being in a certain way. And he calls a "distribution" of power the procession of the providence and goodness of God outwards to created things, for the being and production of things that exist. And he says the first power is that of "beings"; and these are the so-called intelligible and incorporeal beings, as they are immortal, and with the intelligible beings one must also class the intellectual ones, such as the psychic and rational beings now so-called; for reason is mind, according to which the soul, by a step down after the angels, is called intellectual. Then also, a power subordinate to this is the sensitive power, that of animate, non-rational beings; then the vital and vegetative power, that of all plants and herbs, according to which vegetative life they flourish; and after all these, the essential power, that is, that of inanimate things, such as metallic and more earthy things, which power, constituting and making them endure in being, also gives the power of qualities—of hot or cold or of the subsequent mixtures—and either to benefit, or to benefit in such-and-such a way. And the appetitive powers, for rational beings always to be able to will and desire, it is God who provides, and he empowers for friendship things that are united and for communion, that is, the seeds of all things, or the elements proceeding symmetrically toward conjunction (14S_288> and mixing with one another and gently approaching, he brings into power for generating like perceptible things. So, when this union and mixture of the elements united in friendship, as we have said, turns to difference and separation, the distinguished parts are separated for the generations of animals and plants and so on, and this distinction, or separation, receives from God power for being and for the production of the being of things that come to be according to their kind. Therefore, the combinations and distinctions, he called unions and friendships, and the kinds, unconfused and unmixed, he named distinction. Note that even the angelic powers have their desire from God.

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§ 2. Κατά δύναμιν ἄκλιτον: Ἄκλιτον ἔφη, τουτέστι τῆς οἰκείας ἀκρότητος μή ὑποκατιοῦσαν· οὐ γάρ κλινόμενος εἰς δύναμιν δημιουργεῖ, ἀλλ' ἀκίνητος καί ἄκαμπτος ὑπάρχων τῆς ἰδίας ἰσχύος παράγει τά ὄντα. Τάχα δέ λεκτέον ἄκλειτον καί τό οἷον μή κλειόμενον· διό ἐπάγει καί ἀπεριόριστον· οὐ γάρ κλείεται, ὡς ἀδυναμοῦσα ἔν τινι, ἀλλ' ἀεί ἀνέῳγεν ἐν δυνάμει τοῦ πάντα ποιεῖν ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμις.

Καί τήν ἀσθένειαν δυναμοῖ: Ἀσθένειαν καλεῖ τά ὑλικά ταῦτα καί περίγεια σώματα, ἅτινα καί ἔσχατα ἀπηχήματά φησι, καθά πολλάκις ἀνωτέρω ἔφημεν, διά τό ἀμυδρῶς καί κατά τήν οἰκείαν ἐπιτηδειότητα μετέχειν τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καί περί μέν τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς σωμάτων εἴρηται, «πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με Χριστῷ», θεωρητέον δέ τοῦτο καί ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ζώοις, ὡς ἐπί τῶν ἐμπίδων καί τῶν μυιῶν καί τῶν τοιούτων, ὁπόσον ἰσχύουσιν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις κέντροις, τά οὕτως ἀσθενῆ καί ἐξουθενημένα ζῶα, ἐνδυναμωθέντα παρά τοῦ ποιήσαντος Θεοῦ· ὅθεν καί ἐν Ἰωήλ τῷ θείῳ προφήτῃ φησίν ὁ Θεός περί ἀκρίδος καί βρούχου καί κάμπης, «ἡ δύναμίς μου ἡ μεγάλη», καί πῶς ἄχρι τούτων τό ἀπειροδύναμον τοῦ Θεοῦ φθάνει, φησίν εἰκόνας θαυμαστάς καί ἀληθεστάτας. Ἀλλά καί ἐν τοῖς ἀψύχοις τό αὐτό εὑρήσεις, ἐν πόαις καί βοτάναις καί μετάλλοις θεωρῶν δυνάμεις βλαπτικάς καί ὠφελίμους· καί εὔθρυπτα (14S_286> τά πλείω, καί ἄλλα ἰσχυρά καί ἀνένδοτα, ὡς τόν ἀδάμαντα. Ἄλλως. Ἀσθένειαν δυναμουμένην ἐν τούτοις τά ἀσθενέστατα τῶν ζώων φησί, ταύτην ἔχοντα τοῦ ὄντως εἶναι τήν δύναμιν, ἤ ἀσθένειαν οἰητέον τήν ἄψυχον καί πάντῃ ἀκίνητον φύσιν, ἥτις τήν οὐσιώδη, τουτέστι τήν τοῦ ὅλως εἶναι δύναμιν, εἴληφεν ἐκ Θεοῦ.

§ 3. Καί αὐτό δέ, εἰ θέμις: Τουτέστιν, οὐκ ἦν δυνατόν εἶναί τι ὅλως, μή τοῦτο τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ὑποστησαμένης.

∆ύναμιν εἰς τό εἶναι ἔχει: Τήν δύναμιν οὐ μόνον τήν εἰς τό συνεστάναι ἰσχύν νοεῖ, ἀλλά καί τήν ἐπιτηδειότητα εἰς τό τοιῶσδε εἶναι δύναμιν σημαίνει. ∆ιάδοσιν δέ καλεῖ δυνάμεως τήν εἰς τά ἔξω περί τά ὄντα πρόοδον τῆς προνοίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἀγαθότητος, εἰς τό εἶναι τά ὄντα καί παραχθῆναι. Καί πρώτην μέν δύναμίν φησι τήν τῶν ὄντων· ταῦτα δέ εἰσι τά νοητά καί ἀσώματα ὄντα λεγόμενα, ὡς ἀθάνατα, τοῖς δέ γε νοητοῖς καί τά νοερά συγκατατακτέον, ὡς ψυχικάς τάς καί λογικάς νῦν λεγομένας· ὁ γάρ λόγος νοῦς ἐστι, καθ' ὅν ἡ ψυχή καθ' ὑπόβασιν μετά τούς ἀγγέλους νοερά λέγεται. Εἶτα καί ταύτης ὑφειμένη δύναμις ἡ αἰσθητική, ἡ τῶν ἐμψύχων ἀλόγων· εἶτα ἡ ζωτική καί ἡ φυτική, ἡ τῶν φυτῶν ἁπάντων καί βοτανῶν, καθ' ἥν φυτικήν ζωήν ἀνθοῦσι· μετά δέ πάσας ἡ οὐσιώδης δύναμις, τουτέστιν ἡ τῶν ἀψύχων, οἷον τῶν μεταλλικῶν καί γεωδεστέρων, ἥτις δύναμις ἡ συνιστῶσα καί εἰς τό εἶναι διαρκεῖν ποιοῦσα, καί τήν τῶν ποιοτήτων δύναμιν δίδωσι θερμῶν ἤ ψυχρῶν ἤ τῶν ἑξῆς κράσεων, καί ἤτοι ὠφελεῖν, ἤ τοιῶσδε ὠφελεῖν. Καί τάς ὀρεκτικάς δέ δυνάμεις, τοῦ θέλειν ἀεί τά λογικά δύνασθαι καί ἐπιθυμεῖν, ὁ χορηγῶν ἐστι Θεός, καί δυναμοῖ πρός φιλίαν τά ἡνωμένα καί πρός κοινωνίαν, τουτέστι τά σπέρματα πάντων, ἤτοι τά στοιχεῖα συμμέτρως πρός σύνοδον ὁδεύοντα (14S_288> καί πρός ἄλληλα μιγνύμενα καί πλησιάζοντα πρᾴως, εἰς δύναμιν ἄγει τοῦ τά αἰσθητά ὅμοια γεννᾷν. Τῆς γοῦν ἑνώσεως ταύτης καί τοῦ μίγματος τῶν ἡνωμένων εἰς φιλίαν, ὡς ἔφημεν, στοιχείων τρεπομένου εἰς διαφοράν καί χωρισμόν, διακρινόμενα τά μέρη χωρίζεται εἰς γενέσεις καί ζώων καί φυτῶν καί τῶν ἑξῆς, καί λαμβάνει θεόθεν ἡ διάκρισις αὕτη, ἤτοι ὁ χωρισμός, δύναμιν εἰς τό εἶναι καί παραγωγήν τοῦ εἶναι τά κατ' εἶδος γινόμενα. Τάς οὖν συγκρίσεις καί διακρίσεις, ἑνώσεις καί φιλίας ἔφη, καί ἀσύγχυτα καί ἀσύμφυρτα τά εἴδη διάκρισιν ὠνόμασε. Σημείωσαι, ὡς καί αὐτήν τήν ἔφεσιν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἔχουσιν αἱ ἀγγελικαί δυνάμεις.