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Of the first: He says 'of the first' meaning that which is more proper and that which first enters the mind, as for instance that God is Being, which He called Himself.

That which is beyond all: How one must use affirmations and negations concerning God, and that we make the affirmations from what is first and more akin to God, but the negations from what is last and more distant from Him.

The hypothetical affirmation: An affirmation is a declarative statement either of the universal, or of the contradictory, or of something conjoined, or compared, for instance 'God is life', 'God is goodness'. A hypothetical [affirmation], however, is a declarative statement indicating either the universal, or something contradictory, or conjoined. The hypothetical affirmation concerning God, therefore, is that 'God is life and goodness' rather than air and stone; but the negations are said by way of denial in opposition to the affirmation; for the affirmation is said by way of a hypothetical affirmation, as has been said, that God is life rather than air, but the negative negation is 'God is not drunken', 'He is not angry'; and in the case of affirmations we begin from the more akin; for life and goodness are more proper to God, rather than air and stone. But in the case of negations we ascend from the last things, for instance, that God is not expressed in word, and is not conceived by the mind, is more proper to God than not to be debauched or angry, and in general we begin from the second [type] of negation; for instance, God is not drunk more than He is not spoken; and God is not wroth more than He is not conceived by mind. Now, *kraipalē* is much and very strong drunkenness, being as it were a kind of *karapalē*, that is, that which shakes and strongly moves the *kara*, that is, the head. *Mēnis* is not any chance anger, but a persistent one. Therefore, ascending from the sensible to the intelligible, one must not understand all these incorporeal negations in a base manner, (14S_402> but in each of the things said to understand in addition what the blessed Dionysius himself said: for God is none of the things said, which we know or conceive, but neither is He any of the things which all the intelligible powers know; for all the things said are altogether from God and are His gifts; and how can He who provides for them properly be one of them? But we have gone through all these things in different ways in *On the Divine Names*; for all these things are as accidents and in the essences of things after God, but God is also beyond essence, and the cause of these things, therefore He is also beyond them, Otherwise: Life and goodness, behold, an affirmation, or a position; He is not debauched, nor is He wroth, behold, a denial, or a negation.

Or air and stone: Air, on the one hand, according to what is said in Kings, in a gentle breeze; but the prophet saw a stone. Therefore, life and goodness are more proper affirmations and declarations concerning God than these. Just as therefore also from negation, on the contrary, for instance to be debauched and to be wroth, are far from God and alien, but not to be spoken is more fitting to God and nearer, because He is beyond all mind and reason.

ON CHAPTER 4

Nor is He in a place: Necessarily the father through these things forewarned the

hearer, so that by the subsequent negations (14S_404> he should not think that the Divine does not exist at all, but in these he assumed its existence, and in those that it is none of the things that are, but super-essential.

ON CHAPTER 5

As it is neither soul, nor mind: These differ from one another, as in the

things above has been shown, imagination, opinion, reason, intellection, which are considered with respect to the mind. But it is to be additionally conceived that according to our reason He does not have reason; likewise also intellection according to that in intellectual creatures; and the things that follow must be understood in this way. Otherwise: And

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πρωτίστου: Πρωτίστου φησί τοῦ μᾶλλον οἰκειοτέρου καί τῇ ἐννοίᾳ προεισβάλλοντος, οἷον ὅτι ὤν ὁ Θεός, ὅπερ ἑαυτόν ὠνόμασεν.

Ὅτι τό ὑπέρ πᾶσαν: Πῶς δεῖ κεχρῆσθαι ταῖς θέσεσι καί ταῖς ἀφαιρέσεσιν ἐπί Θεοῦ, καί ὅτι τάς μέν θέσεις ἀπό τοῦ πρωτίστου καί μᾶλλον συγγενοῦς τῷ Θεῷ ποιούμεθα, τάς δέ ἀφαιρέσεις ἀπό τῶν ἐσχάτων καί μᾶλλον αὐτοῦ διεστηκότων.

Τήν ὑποθετικήν κατάφασιν: Κατάφασίς ἐστι λόγος ἀποφαντικός ἤ τοῦ καθόλου, ἤ τοῦ μαχομένου, ἤ συμπλεκομένου τινός, ἤ συγκρινομένου, οἷον 'ὁ Θεός ζωή ἐστιν', 'ὁ Θεός ἀγαθότης ἐστίν'. Ὑποθετική δέ ἐστι λόγος ἀποφαντικός ἤ τοῦ καθόλου, ἤ μαχομένου τινός, ἤ συμπλεκομένου δηλωτικός. Ἡ οὖν ὑποθετική κατάφασις ἐπί Θεοῦ, ὅτι 'ὁ Θεός ζωή ἐστι καί ἀγαθότης' μᾶλλον ἤ ἀήρ καί λίθος· αἱ δέ ἀφαιρέσεις κατά ἀπόφασιν λέγονται ἐναντίως τῇ θέσει· ἡ μέν γάρ θέσις κατά ὑποθετικήν, ὡς εἴρηται, κατάφασιν λέγεται, ὅτι ζωή ὁ Θεός ἤ ἀήρ, ἡ δέ ἀποφατική ἀφαίρεσις 'οὐ μεθύσκεται ὁ Θεός', 'οὐκ ὀργίζεται'· καί ἐπί τῶν θέσεων ἐκ τῶν συγγενεστέρων ἀρχόμεθα· οἰκειότερον γάρ Θεῷ ζωή καί ἀγαθότης μᾶλλον, ἤ ἀήρ καί λίθος. Ἐπί δέ τῶν ἀφαιρέσεων ἀπό τῶν ἐσχάτων ἄνιμεν, οἷον τό μή λόγῳ δηλοῦσθαι τόν Θεόν, καί τό μή νοεῖσθαι, οἰκειότερον μᾶλλον τῷ Θεῷ, ἤ τό μή κραιπαλᾶν, μηδέ ὀργίζεσθαι, καί ὅλως ἐκ τοῦ δευτέρου τῆς ἀφαιρέσεως ἀρχόμεθα· οἷον, οὐ μεθύει μᾶλλον ὁ Θεός ἤ οὐ λέγεται· καί οὐ μηνιᾷ μᾶλλον ὁ Θεός ἤ οὐ νοεῖται. Κραιπάλη μέν οὖν ἐστι ἡ πολλή καί σφοδροτάτη μέθη, οἱονεί καραπάλη τις οὖσα, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ τό κάρα, ἤτοι τήν κεφαλήν, πάλλουσα καί πάνυ κινοῦσα. Μῆνις δέ οὐχ ἡ τυχοῦσα ὀργή, ἀλλ' ἡ ἐπίμονος. Ἀπό γοῦν τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀνιόντας ἐπί τά νοητά, πάσας ταύτας τάς ἀσωμάτους ἀφαιρέσεις μή ταπεινῶς νοεῖν χρή, (14S_402> ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰρημένων προσυπακούειν, ὅπερ αὐτός ὁ μακάριος ∆ιονύσιος εἶπεν· οὐδέν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός τῶν εἰρημένων, ὧν ἡμεῖς γινώσκομεν ἤ νοοῦμεν, ἀλλ' οὔτε ὧν γινώσκουσιν αἱ νοηταί δυνάμεις πᾶσαι· πάντα γάρ τά εἰρημένα καθάπαξ ἐκ Θεοῦ εἰσι καί αὐτοῦ δωρεαί· καί πῶς αὐτός ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁ προνοούμενος αὐτῶν κυρίως; Πάντα δέ διαφόρως διεξήλθομεν ἐν τῷ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων· πάντα γάρ ταῦτα, ὡς συμβεβηκότα, καί ἐν οὐσίαις τῶν μετά Θεόν, ὁ δέ Θεός καί ὑπέρ οὐσίαν, καί τούτων αἴτιος, οὐκοῦν καί ὑπέρ αὐτά, Ἄλλως· Ζωή καί ἀγαθότης, ἰδού κατάφασις, ἤτοι θέσις· οὐ κραιπαλᾷ, οὐδέ μηνιᾷ, ἰδού ἀπόφασις, ἤτοι ἀφαίρεσις.

Ἤ ἀήρ καί λίθος: Ἀήρ μέν, κατά τό ἐν Βασιλείαις εἰρημένον, ἐν αὔρᾳ λεπτῇ· λίθον δέ ὁ προφήτης εἶδε. Τούτων οὖν οἰκειότερον μᾶλλον θέσεις καί δηλώσεις ἐπί Θεοῦ ἡ ζωή καί ἡ ἀγαθότης. Ὥσπερ οὖν καί ἐκ τῆς ἀφαιρέσεως ἐπί τοῦ ἐναντίου, οἷον τό κραιπαλᾷν καί μηνιᾷν, πόρρω Θεοῦ καί ἀλλότρια, τό δέ μήτε λέγεσθαι μᾶλλον πρέπον Θεῷ καί ἐγγυτέρω, διά τό ὑπέρ πάντα νοῦν τε καί λόγον.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ∆'

Οὐδέ ἐν τόπῳ ἐστίν: Ἀναγκαίως ὁ πατήρ διά τούτων προσησφαλίσατο τόν

ἀκροατήν, ὥστε μή ταῖς ἑξῆς ἀποφάσεσιν (14S_404> οἴεσθαι ὅλως μή εἶναι τό Θεῖον, ἀλλ' ἐν τούτοις μέν τό εἶναι αὐτό ὑπέθετο, ἐν ἐκείνοις δέ τό καί μηδέν τῶν ὄντων εἶναι, ἀλλ' ὑπερούσιον.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ε'

Ὡς οὔτε ψυχή ἐστιν, οὔτε νοῦς: ∆ιαφέρει ταῦτα ἀλλήλων, ὡς ἐν τοῖς

ἀνωτέρω δεδήλωται, φαντασία, δόξα, λόγος, νόησις, ἅ κατά τόν νοῦν θεωρεῖται. Προσεπινοητέον δέ τό κατά τόν ἡμέτερον λόγον μή ἔχειν λόγον· ὁμοίως καί νόησιν κατά τήν ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς κτίσμασι· καί τά ἑξῆς δέ οὕτως ἐκδέχεσθαι χρή. Ἄλλως· Καί