Chapter VII.—Simon’s System of a Threefold Emanation by Pairs.

For, he says, he is in the habit of considering that all these portions of the fire, both visible and invisible, are possessed of perception and a share of intelligence.603    νώματος αἶσαν: Miller has γνώμην ἴσην, which yields but little sense. The world, therefore, that which is generated, was produced from the unbegotten fire. It began, however, to exist, he says, according to the following manner. He who was begotten from the principle of that fire took six roots, and those primary ones, of the originating principle of generation.  And, he says that the roots were made from the fire in pairs, which roots he terms “Mind” and “Intelligence,” “Voice” and “Name,” “Ratiocination” and “Reflection.” And that in these six roots resides simultaneously the entire indefinite power potentially, (however) not actually. And this indefinite power, he says, is he who stood, stands, and will stand. Wherefore, whensoever he may be made into an image, inasmuch as he exists in the six powers, he will exist (there) substantially, potentially, quantitively, (and) completely. (And he will be a power) one and the same with the unbegotten and indefinite power, and not labouring under any greater deficiency than that unbegotten and unalterable (and) indefinite power. If, however, he may continue only potentially in the six powers, and has not been formed into an image, he vanishes, he says, and is destroyed in such a way as the grammatical or geometrical capacity in man’s soul. For when the capacity takes unto itself an art, a light of existent things is produced; but when (the capacity) does not take unto itself (an art), unskilfulness and ignorance are the results; and just as when (the power) was non-existent, it perishes along with the expiring man.

[12] Πάντα γάρ, φησίν, ἐνόμιζε τὰ μέρη τοῦ π(υ)ρός, τὰ [ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ] ἀόρατα, «φρόνησιν ἔχειν καὶ νώματος αἶσαν». Γέγονεν οὖν ὁ κόσμος ὁ γεννητὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου πυρός. ἤρξατο δέ, φησί, γίνεσθαι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον: ἓξ ῥίζας τὰς πρώτας τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς γενέσεως λαβὼν ὁ γεννητὸς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ πυρὸς ἐκείνου. γεγονέναι γὰρ τὰς ῥίζας [ταύτας] φησὶ κατὰ συζυγίαν ἀπ(ὸ) τοῦ πυρός, ἅστινας ῥίζας καλεῖ Νοῦν καὶ Ἐπίνοιαν, Φωνὴν καὶ Ὄνομα, Λογισμὸν καὶ Ἐνθύμησιν. εἶναι δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἓξ ῥίζαις ταύταις πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ τὴν ἀπέραντον δύναμιν δυνάμει, οὐκ ἐνεργείᾳ, ἥντινα ἀπέραντον δύναμιν [εἶναί] φησι τὸν ἑστῶτα [στάντα] στησόμενον. ὃς ἐὰν μὲν ἐξεικονισθῇ, ὢν ἐν ταῖς ἓξ δυνάμεσιν, ἔσται οὐσίᾳ, δυνάμει, μεγέθει, ἀποτελέσματι μία καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ τῇ ἀγεννήτῳ καὶ ἀπεράντῳ δυνάμει, οὐδὲν ὅλως ἔχουσα ἐνδεέστερον ἐκείνης τῆς ἀγεννήτου καὶ ἀπαραλ[λ]άκτου καὶ ἀπεράντου δυνάμεως. ἐὰν δὲ μείνῃ [τῇ] δυνάμει μόνον ἐν ταῖς ἓξ δυνάμεσι καὶ μὴ ἐξεικονισθῇ, ἀφανίζεται, φησί, καὶ ἀπόλλυται, οὕτως ὡς ἡ δύναμις ἡ γραμματικὴ [ἢ] ἡ γεωμετρικὴ ἐν ἀνθρώπου ψυχῇ: προσλαβοῦσα γὰρ ἡ δύναμις τεχν[ίτ]ην, φῶς τῶν γινομένων (γ)ίνεται, μὴ προσλαβοῦσα δέ, ἀτεχνία καὶ σκότος, καὶ ὡς ὅτι οὐκ ἦν, ἀποθνῄσκοντι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ συνδιαφθείρεται.