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Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3

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Title: Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3

Author: Plotinus

Translator: Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie


        
Release date: June 13, 2013 [eBook #42932]
                Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLOTINOS: COMPLETE WORKS, V. 3 ***

VOLUME III.

WORKS OF PLOTINOS




    PLOTINOS
    Complete Works

    In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods;

    With
    BIOGRAPHY by PORPHYRY, EUNAPIUS, & SUIDAS,
    COMMENTARY by PORPHYRY,
    ILLUSTRATIONS by JAMBLICHUS & AMMONIUS,
    STUDIES in Sources, Development, Influence;
    INDEX of Subjects, Thoughts and Words.

    by
    KENNETH SYLVAN GUTHRIE,

    Professor in Extension, University of the South, Sewanee;
    A.M., Sewanee, and Harvard; Ph.D., Tulane, and Columbia.
    M.D., Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia.

    VOL. III
    Porphyrian Books, 34-45.

    COMPARATIVE LITERATURE PRESS
    P. O. Box 42, ALPINE, N.J., U.S.A.




    Copyright, 1918, by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie.
    All Rights, including that of Translation, Reserved.

    Entered at Stationers' Hall, by
    George Bell and Sons, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn, London.




SIXTH ENNEAD, BOOK SIX.

Of Numbers.


MANIFOLDNESS IS DISTANCE FROM UNITY, AND EVIL.

1. Does manifoldness consist in distance from unity? Is infinity
this distance carried to the extreme, because it is an innumerable
manifoldness? Is then infinity an evil, and are we ourselves evil when
we are manifold? (That is probable); or every being becomes manifold
when, not being able to remain turned towards itself, it blossoms out;
it extends while dividing; and thus losing all unity in its expansion,
it becomes manifoldness, because there is nothing that holds its parts
mutually united. If, nevertheless, there still remain something that
holds its parts mutually united, then, though blossoming out, (the
essence) remains, and becomes manifoldness.


HOW MANIFOLDNESS IS AN EVIL.

But what is there to be feared in magnitude? If (the essence) that has
increased could feel (it would feel that which in itself has become
evil; for) it would feel that it had issued from itself, and had even
gone to a great distance (from itself). No (essence), indeed, seeks
that which is other than itself; every (essence) seeks itself. The
movement by which (an essence) issues from itself is caused either by
"audacity," or necessity. Every (being) exists in the highest degree
not when it becomes manifold or great, but when it belongs to itself;
now this occurs when it concentrates upon itself. That which desires to
become great in some other manner is ignorant of that in which true
greatness consists; instead of proceeding towards its legitimate goal,
it turns towards the outside. Now, on the contrary, to turn towards
oneself, is to remain in oneself. The demonstration of this may be seen
in that which participates in greatness; if (the being) develop itself
so that each of its parts exist apart, each part will indeed exist, but
(the being) will no longer be what it originally was. To remain what it
is, all its parts must converge towards unity; so that, to be what it
was in its being, it should not be large, but single. When it possesses
magnitude, and quantity inheres in it, it is destroyed, while when it
possesses unity, it possesses itself. Doubtless the universe is both
great and beautiful; but it is beautiful only so far as the unity holds
it in from dissipating into infinity. Besides, if it be beautiful, it
is not because it is great, but because it participates in beauty; now,
if it need participation in beauty, it is only because it has become so
large. Indeed, isolated from beauty, and considered in itself as great,
it is ugly. From this point of view, what is great is with beauty in
the relation obtaining between matter and form, because what needs
adornment is manifold; consequently, what is great has so much more
need of being adorned and is so much more ugly (as it is great).


WHAT IS THE NUMBER OF THE INFINITE.

2. What opinion should we hold of that which is called the number of
infinity? We must begin by examining how it can be a number, if it be
infinite. Indeed, sense-objects are not infinite; consequently, the
number which inheres in them could not be infinite, and he who numbers
them, does not number infinity. Even if they were multiplied by two, or
by more, they still could always be determined; if they were multiplied
in respect of the past or the future, they would still be determined.
It might be objected that number is not infinite in an absolute manner,
but only (in a relative manner) in this sense, that it is always
possible to add thereto. But he who numbers does not create numbers;
they were already determined, and they existed (before being conceived
by him who was numbering them). As beings in the intelligible world are
determined, their number is also determined by the quantity of beings.
Just as we make man manifold by adding to him the beautiful, and other
things of the kind, we can make an image of number correspond to the
image of every intelligible being. Just as, in thought, we can multiply
a town that does not exist, so can we multiply numbers. When we number
the parts of time, we limit ourselves to applying to them the numbers
that we have in ourselves, and which, merely on that account, do not
cease remaining in us.


HOW THE INFINITE REACHED EXISTENCE.

3. How did the infinite, in spite of its infiniteness, reach existence?
For the things which have arrived at existence, and which subsist,
have been preparatorily contained in a number. Before answering this
question, we must examine whether, when it forms part of veritable
essences, multitude can be evil. On high, the manifoldness remains
united, and is hindered from completely being manifoldness, because
it is the one essence; but this is inferior to unity by this very
condition that it is manifoldness, and thus, is imperfect in respect
to unity. Therefore, though not having the same nature as the One, but
a nature somewhat degraded (in comparison with unity), manifoldness is
inferior to unity; but, by the effect of the unity which it derives
from the One (since it is the one essence), it still possesses a
venerable character, reduces to unity the manifold it contains, and
makes it subsist in an immutable manner.


HOW INFINITY CAN SUBSIST IN THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD.

How can infinity subsist in the intelligible world? Either it exists
among the genuine essences, and then is determined; or it is not
determined, and then it does not exist among the veritable essences,
but it must be classified among the things which exist in perpetual
becoming, such as time.[1] The infinite is determinate, but it is not
any the less infinite; for it is not the limit[2] which receives the
determination, but the infinite[3]; and between the boundary and the
infinite there is no intermediary that could receive the determination.
This infinite acts as if it were the idea of the boundary, but it is
contained by what embraces it exteriorly. When I say that it flees, I
do not mean that it passes from one locality to another, for it has no
locality; but I mean that space has existed from the very moment that
this infinite was embraced.[4] We must not imagine that what is called
the movement of the infinite consists in a displacement, nor admit that
the infinite by itself possesses any other of the things that could be
named; thus the infinite could neither move, nor remain still. Where
indeed would it halt, since the place indicated by the word "where"
is posterior to infinity? Movement is attributed to infinity only to
explain that the infinite has no permanency. Should we believe that the
infinite exists on high in one only and single place, or that it arises
there, and descends here below? No: for it is in respect to one only
and single place that we are enabled to conceive both what has risen
and does not descend, as well as that which descends.[5]


INFINITE IS CONCEIVED BY THE THOUGHT'S MAKING ABSTRACTION OF THE FORM.

How then can we conceive the infinite? By making abstraction of form
by thought. How will it be conceived? We may conceive of the infinite
as simultaneously being the contraries, and not being them. It will
have to be conceived as being simultaneously great and small; for the
infinite becomes both of these.[6] It may also be conceived as both
being moved, and being stable[7]; for the infinite becomes these two
things also. But before the infinite becomes these two contraries,
it is neither of them in any determinate manner; otherwise, you
would have determined it. By virtue of its nature, the infinite is
these things therefore in an indeterminate and infinite manner;
only on this condition will it appear to be these contrary things.
If, by applying your thought to the infinite, you do not entice
it into a determination, as into a net, you will see the infinite
escaping you, and you will not find anything in it that would be a
unity; otherwise, you would have determined it. If you represented
to yourself the infinite as a unity, it would seem to you manifold;
if you say that it is manifold, it will again make game of you; for,
all things do not form a manifold where no one thing is one. From
still another standpoint, the nature of the infinite is movement, and
according to another nature, stability; for its property of being
invisible by itself constitutes a movement which distinguishes it from
intelligence[8]; its property of not being able to escape, of being
exteriorly embraced, of being circumscribed within an unescapable
circle constitutes a sort of stability. Movement therefore cannot be
predicated of infinity, without also attributing stability to it.


HOW OTHER NUMBERS FORM PART OF THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD.

4. Let us now examine how the numbers form part of the intelligible
world. Are they inherent in the other forms? Or are they, since all
eternity, the consequences of the existence of these forms? In the
latter case, as the very essence possessed primary existence, we would
first conceive the monad; then, as movement and stability emanated from
it, we would have the triad; and each one of the remaining intelligible
entities would lead to the conception of some of the other numbers. If
it were not so, if a unity were inherent in each intelligible entity,
the unity inherent in the first Essence would be the monad; the unity
inherent in what followed it, if there be an order in the intelligible
entities, would be the "pair"; last, the unity inhering in some other
intelligible entity, such as, for instance, in ten, would be the decad.
Nevertheless this could not yet be so, each number being conceived as
existing in itself. In this case, will we be compelled to admit that
number is anterior to the other intelligible entities, or posterior
thereto? On this subject Plato[9] says that men have arrived to the
notion of number by the succession of days and nights, and he thus
refers the conception of number to the diversity of (objective) things.
He therefore seems to teach that it is first the numbered objects that
by their diversity produce numbers, that number results from movement
of the soul, which passes from one object to another, and that it is
thus begotten when the soul enumerates; that is, when she says to
herself, Here is one object, and there is another; while, so long as
she thinks of one and the same object, she affirms nothing but unity.
But when Plato says that being is in the veritable number, and that the
number is in the being,[10] he intends to teach that by itself number
possesses a hypostatic substantial existence, that it is not begotten
in the soul which enumerates, but that the variety of sense-objects
merely recalls to the soul the notion of number.


PYTHAGOREAN INTELLIGIBLE NUMBERS DISCUSSED.

5. What then is the nature of number? Is it a consequence, and
partially an aspect of each being, like man and one-man, essence and
one-essence? Can the same be said for all the intelligibles, and
is that the origin of all numbers? If so, how is it that on high
(in the intelligible world) the pair and triad exist? How are all
things considered within unity, and how will it be possible to reduce
number to unity, since it has a similar nature? There would thus be a
multitude of unities, but no other number would be reduced to unity,
except the absolute One. It might be objected that a pair is the
thing, or rather the aspect of the thing which possesses two powers
joined together, such as is a composite reduced to unity, or such as
the Pythagoreans conceived the numbers,[11] which they seem to have
predicated of other objects, by analogy. For instance, they referred
to justice as the (Tetrad, or) group-of-four,[12] and likewise for
everything else. Thus a number, as for instance a group-of-ten, would
be considered as a single (group of) unity, and would be connected
with the manifold contained in the single object. This, however, is an
inadequate account of our conception of "ten"; we speak of the objects
after gathering (ten) separate objects. Later, indeed, if these ten
objects constitute a new unity, we call the group a "decad." The same
state of affairs must obtain with intelligible Numbers. If such were
the state of affairs (answers Plotinos), if number were considered only
within objects, would it possess hypostatic existence? It might be
objected, What then would hinder that, though we consider white within
things, that nevertheless the White should (besides) have a hypostatic
substantial existence? For movement is indeed considered within
essence, and yet (it is agreed that) movement possesses a "hypostatic"
substantial existence within essence. The case of number, however,
is not similar to that of movement; for we have demonstrated that
movement thus considered in itself is something unitary.[13] Moreover,
if no more than such a hypostatic substantial existence be predicated
of number, it ceases to be a being, and becomes an accident, though
it would not even then be a pure accident; for what is an accident
must be something before becoming the accident (of some substance).
Though being inseparable therefrom, it must possess its own individual
nature in itself, like whiteness; and before being predicated of
something else, it already is what it is posited. Consequently, if
one be in every (being), one man is not identical with man; if "one"
be something different from "man"[14] and from every other (being),
if it be something common to all (beings), one must be anterior to
all men and to all other (beings), so that man and all other beings
may be one. The one is therefore anterior to movement, since movement
is one, and likewise anterior to essence, to allow for essence also
being one. This of course does not refer to the absolute Unity that is
recognized as superior to essence, but of the unity which is predicated
of every intelligible form. Likewise, above that of which the decad is
predicated subsists the "Decad in itself," for that in which the decad
is recognized could not be the Decad in itself.


THE INTELLIGIBLE UNITY AND DECAD EXIST BEFORE ALL NUMBERS ONE OR TEN.

Does unity therefore inhere in essences, and does it subsist with
them? If it inhere in essences, or if it be an accident, as health is
an accident of man, it must be something individual (like health). If
unity be an element of the composite, it will first have to exist
(individually), and be an unity in itself, so as to be able to unify
itself to something else; then, being blended with this other thing
that it has unified, it will not longer remain really one, and will
thereby even become double. Besides, how would that apply to the decad?
What need of the (intelligible) Decad has that which is already a
decad, by virtue of the power it possesses? Will it receive its form
from that Decad? If it be its matter, if it be ten and decad only
because of the presence of the Decad, the Decad will have first to
exist in itself, in the pure and simple state of (being a) Decad.


WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THESE INTELLIGIBLE NUMBERS?

6. But if, independently of the things themselves, there be an One
in itself, and a Decad in itself; and if the intelligible entities
be unities, pairs, or triads, independently of what they are by
their being, what then is the nature of these Numbers? What is their
constitution? It must be admitted that a certain Reason presides over
the generation of these Numbers. It is therefore necessary clearly to
understand that in general, if intelligible forms at all exist, it is
not because the thinking principle first thought each of them, and
thereby gave them hypostatic existence. Justice, for instance, was
not born because the thinking principle thought what justice was; nor
movement, because it thought what movement was. Thus thought had to be
posterior to the thing thought, and the thought of justice to justice
itself. On the other hand, thought is anterior to the thing that owes
its existence to thought, since this thing exists only because it is
thought. If then justice were identical with such a thought, it would
be absurd that justice should be nothing else than its definition; for
in this case, the thinking of justice or movement, would amount to
a conception of these objects (by a definition). Now this would be
tantamount to conceiving the definition of a thing that did not exist,
which is impossible.


JUSTICE, LIKE AN INTELLECTUAL STATUE, WAS BORN OF ITSELF.

The statement that in what is immaterial, knowledge and the known thing
coincide,[15] must not be understood to mean that it is the knowledge
of the thing which is the thing itself, nor that the reason which
contemplates an object is this object itself, but rather, conversely,
that it is the thing which, existing without matter, is purely
intelligible and intellection. I do not here mean the intellection
which is neither a definition nor an intuition of a thing; but I say
that the thing itself, such as it exists in the intelligible world,
is exclusively intelligence and knowledge. It is not (the kind of)
knowledge that applies itself to the intelligible, it is the (actual)
thing itself which keeps that knowledge (thereof possessed by reason)
from remaining different from it, just as the knowledge of a material
object remains different from that object; but it is a veritable (kind
of) knowledge, that is, a knowledge which is not merely a simple
image of the known thing, but really is the thing itself. It is not
therefore the thought of the movement which produced movement in
itself, but the movement in itself which produced the thought, so that
the thought thinks itself as movement, and as thought. On the one hand,
intelligible movement is thought by the intelligible Essence; on the
other hand, it is movement in itself because it is first--for there
is no movement anterior thereto; it is real movement, because it is
not the accident of a subject, but because it is the actualization of
the essence which moves, and possesses actualized (existence); it is
therefore "being," though it be conceived as different from essence.
Justice, for instance, is not the simple thought of justice; it is a
certain disposition of Intelligence, or rather it is an actualization
of a determinate nature. The face of Justice is more beautiful than the
evening or morning stars, and than all visible beauty.[16] Justice may
be imagined as an intellectual statue which has issued from itself and
which has manifested itself such as it is in itself; or rather, which
subsists essentially in itself.


INTELLIGENCE THINKS THINGS NOT BECAUSE THEY EXIST, BUT BECAUSE IT
POSSESSES THEM.

7. We must, in fact, conceive intelligible essences as subsisting in
one nature, and one single nature as possessing and embracing all
(things). There no one thing is separated from the others, as in the
sense-world, where the sun, moon, and other objects each occupy a
different locality; but all things exist together in one unity; such
is the nature of intelligence. The (universal) Soul imitates it,
in this respect, as does also the power called Nature, conformably
to which, and by virtue of which individuals are begotten each in
a different place, while she remains in herself. But, although all
things exist together (in the unity of Intelligence), each of them
is none the less different from the others. Now, these things which
subsist in Intelligence and "being," are seen by the Intelligence that
possesses them, not because it observes them, but because it possesses
them without feeling the need of distinguishing them from each other;
because from all eternity they have dwelt within it distinct from each
other. We believe in the existence of these things on the faith of
those who admire them, because they have participated therein. As to
the magnitude and beauty of the intelligible world, we can judge of
it by the love which the Soul feels for it, and if other things feel
love for the Soul, it is because she herself possesses an intellectual
nature, and that by her the other things can, to some extent, become
assimilated to Intelligence. How indeed could we admit that here below
was some organism gifted with beauty, without recognizing that the
Organism itself (the intelligible world[17]) possesses an admirable and
really unspeakable beauty? Further, the perfect Organism is composed of
all the organisms; or rather it embraces all the organisms; just as our
Universe is one, yet simultaneously is visible, because it contains all
the things which are in the visible universe.


WHAT AND HOW IS EVERY INTELLIGIBLE ENTITY.

8. Since then the (universal) Organism possesses primary existence,
since it is simultaneously organism, intelligence, and veritable
"Being"; and as we state that it contains all organisms, numbers,
justice, beauty, and the other similar beings--for we mean something
different by the Man himself, and Number itself, and Justice itself--we
have to determine, so far as it is possible in such things, what is the
condition and nature of each intelligible entity.


NUMBER MUST EXIST IN THE PRIMARY ESSENCE.

(To solve this problem) let us begin by setting aside sensation, and
let us contemplate Intelligence by our intelligence exclusively. Above
all, let us clearly understand that, as in us life and intelligence
do not consist of a corporeal mass, but in a power without mass,
likewise veritable "Being" is deprived of all corporeal extension,
and constitutes a power founded on itself. It does not indeed consist
in something without force, but in a power sovereignly vital and
intellectual, which possesses life in the highest degree, intelligence,
and being. Consequently, whatever touches this power participates in
the same characteristics according to the manner of its touch; in a
higher degree, if the touch be close; in a lower degree, if the touch
be distant. If existence be desirable, the completest existence (or,
essence) is more desirable still. Likewise, if intelligence deserve
to be desired, perfect Intelligence deserves to be desired above
everything; and the same state of affairs prevails in respect to life.
If then we must grant that the Essence is the first, and if we must
assign the first rank to Essence, the second to Intelligence, and the
third to the Organism,[18] as the latter seems already to contain all
things, and Intelligence justly occupies the second rank, because it
is the actualization of "Being"--then number could not enter into the
Organism, for before the organism already existed one and two ("Being"
and Intelligence). Nor could number exist in Intelligence, for before
Intelligence was "Being," which is both one and manifold. (Number
therefore must exist, or originate, in the primary Being.)


NUMBER FOLLOWS AND PROCEEDS FROM ESSENCE.

9. It remains for us to discover whether it were "Being," in the
process of division, that begat number, or whether it be the number
that divided "Being." (This is the alternative:) either "being,"
movement, stability, difference and identity produced number, or it is
number that produced all these (categories, or) genera. Our discussion
must start thus. Is it possible that number should exist in itself, or
must we contemplate two in two objects, three in three objects, and
so forth? The same question arises about unity as considered within
numbers; for if number can exist in itself independently of numbered
things,[19] it can also exist previously to the essences. Can number
therefore exist before the essences? It might be well preliminarily to
assert that number is posterior to the Essence, and proceeds therefrom.
But then if essence be one essence, and if two essences be two
essences, one will precede essence, and the other numbers will precede
the essences. (Would number then precede the essences) only in thought
and conception, or also in the hypostatic existence? We should think
as follows. When you think of a man as being one, or the beautiful as
being one, the one that is thus conceived in both (beings) is something
that is thought only afterward. Likewise, when you simultaneously
consider a dog and a horse, here also two is evidently something
posterior. But if you beget the man, if you beget the horse or the dog,
or if you produce them outside when they already exist in you, without
begetting them, nor producing them by mere chance (of seeing them), you
will say, "We should go towards one (being), then pass to another, and
thus get two; then make one more being, by adding my person." Likewise,
(beings) were not numbered after they were created, but before they
were created, when (the creator) decided how many should be created.


NUMBER SPLIT THE UNITY INTO PLURALITY; PYTHAGOREAN IDENTIFICATION OF
IDEAS AND NUMBERS.

The universal Number therefore existed before the essences (were
created); consequently, Number was not the essences. Doubtless, Number
was in Essence; but it was not yet the number of Essence; for Essence
still was one. But the power of Number, hypostatically existing within
it, divided it, and made it beget the manifold. Number is either the
being or actualization (of Essence); the very Organism and Intelligence
are number. Essence is therefore the unified number, while the essences
are developed number; Intelligence is the number which moves itself,
and the Organism is the number that contains. Since therefore Essence
was born from Unity, Essence, as it existed within Unity, must be
Number. That is why (the Pythagoreans[20]) called the ideas unities and
numbers.


TWO KINDS OF NUMBER: ESSENTIAL AND UNITARY.

Such then is "essential" Number (number that is "Being"). The other
kind of number, which is called a number composed of digits, or
"unities," is only an image of the former. The essential Number is
contemplated in the intelligible forms, and assists in producing them;
on the other hand, it exists primitively in essence, with essence, and
before the essences. The latter find therein their foundation, source,
root and principle.[21] Indeed, Number is the principle of Essence,
and rests in it, otherwise it would split up. On the contrary, the
One does not rest upon essence; otherwise essence would be one before
participating in the One; likewise, what participates in the decad
would be the decad already before participating in the decad.


ESSENCE IS A LOCATION FOR THE THINGS YET TO BE PRODUCED.

10. Subsisting therefore in the manifold, Essence therefore became
Number when it was aroused to multiplicity, because it already
contained within itself a sort of preformation or representation of
the essences which it was ready to produce, offering the essences, as
it were, a locality for the things whose foundation they were to be.
When we say, "so much gold," or, "so many other objects," gold is one,
and one does not thereby intend to make gold out of the number, but
to make a number out of the gold; it is because one already possesses
the number that one seeks to apply it to gold, so as to determine
its quality. If essences were anterior to Number, and if Number were
contemplated in them when the enumerating power enumerates the objects,
the number of the (beings), whatever it is, would be accidental,
instead of being determined in advance. If this be not the case, then
must number, preceding (the beings) determine how many of them must
exist; which means that, by the mere fact of the primitive existence of
the Number, the (beings) which are produced undergo the condition of
being so many, and each of them participates in unity whenever they are
one. Now every essence comes from Essence because essence, by itself,
is Essence; likewise, the One is one by itself. If every (being) be
one, and if the multitude of (beings) taken together form the unity
that is in them, they are one as the triad is one, and all beings also
are one; not as is the Monad (or Unity), but as is a thousand, or any
other number. He who, while enumerating, produced things, proclaims
that there are a thousand of them, claims to do no more than to tell
out what he learns from the things, as if he was indicating their
colors, while really he is only expressing a condition of his reason;
without which, he would not know how much of a multitude was present
there. Why then does he speak so? Because he knows how to enumerate;
which indeed he knows if he know the number, and this he can know only
if the number exist. But not to know what is the number, at least under
the respect of quantity, would be ridiculous, and even impossible.


AN OBJECT'S EXISTENCE IMPLIES A PREVIOUS MODEL IN ITSELF.

When one speaks of good things, one either designates objects which are
such by themselves, or asserts that the good is their attribute. If
one designate the goods of the first order,[22] one is speaking of the
first Hypostasis, or rank of existence; if one designate the things of
which the good is the attribute, this implies the existence of a nature
of the good which has been attributed to them, or which produces this
characteristic within them, or which is the Good in itself, or which,
producing the good, nevertheless dwells in its own nature. Likewise,
when, in connection with (beings), we speak of a decad, (or, group of
ten), one is either referring to the Decad in itself, or, referring
to the things of which the decad is an attribute, one is forced to
recognize the existence of a Decad in itself, whose being is that of a
decad. Consequently, the conferring of the name "decad" implies either
that these (beings) are the Decad in itself, or above them in another
Decad whose being is that of being a Decad in itself.


UNITY AND NUMBER PRECEDE THE ONE AND THE MANY BEINGS.

In general, everything which is predicated of an object either comes
to it from without, or is its actualization. Unless by nature it
be inconstant, being present now, and absent then, if it be always
present, it is a being when the object is a being. If it be denied that
its nature were that of a being, it will surely be granted that it is a
part of the essences, and that it is an essence. Now, if the object can
be conceived without the thing which is its actualization, this thing
nevertheless exists contemporaneously with it, even though in thought
it be conceived posteriorily. If the object cannot be conceived without
this thing, as man cannot be conceived of without one, in this case
one is not posterior to man, but is simultaneous, or even anterior,
since the man's subsistence is entirely dependent thereon. As to us, we
recognize that Unity and Number precede (Essence and the essences).


UNITY MUST EXIST IN THE INTELLIGIBLE BEFORE BEING APPLIED TO MULTIPLE
BEINGS.

11. It may be objected that the decad is nothing else than ten unities.
If the existence of the One be granted, why should we not also grant
the existence of ten unities? Since the supreme Unity (the unity of the
first Essence), possesses hypostatic existence, why should the case
not be the same with the other unities (the complex unities contained
within each of the essences)? It must not be supposed that the supreme
Unity is bound up with a single essence; for in this case each of the
other (beings) would no longer be one. If each of the other (beings)
must be one, then unity is common to all the (beings); that is that
single nature which may be predicated of the multiple (beings), and
which must, as we have explained it, subsist in itself (in the primary
essence) before the unity which resides in the multiple (beings).


THE SUPREME UNITY ADJUSTS ALL LOWER GROUP UNITIES.

As unity is seen in some one (being), and then in some other, if the
second unity possess hypostatic existence also, then the supreme Unity
(of the first Essence) will not alone possess hypostatic existence,
and there will be thus a multitude of unities (as there is a multitude
of beings). If the hypostatic existence of the first Unity be alone
acknowledged, this will exist either in the Essence in itself, or in
the One in itself. If it exist in the Essence in itself, the other
unities (which exist in the other beings) will then be such merely by
figure of speech, and will no longer be subordinated to the primary
unity; or number will be composed of dissimilar unities, and the
unities will differ from each other in so far as they are unities.
If the primary unity exist already in the Unity in itself, what need
would that Unity in itself have of that unity to be one? If all that be
impossible, we shall have to recognize the existence of the One which
is purely and simply one, which, by its "being" is entirely independent
of all the other beings, which is named the chief Unity, and is
conceived of as such. If unity exist on high (in the intelligible
world) without any object that may be called one, why might not another
One (the one of the first Being) subsist on high also? Why would
not all the (beings), each being a separate unity, not constitute a
multitude of unities, which might be the "multiple unity"? As the
nature (of the first Being) begets, or rather, as it has begotten (from
all eternity); or at least, as it has not limited itself to one of the
things it has begotten, thus rendering the unity (of the first Being)
somewhat continuous; if it circumscribe (what it produces) and promptly
ceases in its procession, it begets small numbers; if it advance
further, moving alone not in foreign matters, but in itself, it begets
large numbers. It thus harmonizes every plurality and every being with
every number, knowing well that, if each of the (beings) were not in
harmony with some number, either they would not exist, or they would
bear neither proportion, measure, nor reason.


ONE AND UNITY ARE WITHIN US; INDEPENDENTLY OF THE ONE OUTSIDE.

12. (Aristotle[23]) objects that "One" and "Unity" have no hypostatic
(or, genuine) existence. Everywhere the One is something that is one.
That is nothing but a simple modification experienced in our soul in
presence of each essence. We might as easily affirm that when we assert
"essence," this is but a simple modification of our soul, Essence (in
itself) being absolutely nothing. If it be insisted that Essence exists
because it excites and strikes our soul, which then represents it to
herself, we see that the soul is equally impressed by the One, and
represents Him to herself. Besides, we should ask (Aristotle) if this
modification or conception of our soul do not bear to us the aspect of
unity or the manifold? So much the more, we often say that an object
is not one; evidently we then are not deriving the notion of unity from
the object, because we are affirming that there is no unity in it.
Unity therefore dwells within us, and it is in us without the object of
which we predicate that it is some one thing.


THERE IS INDEED A UNITARY MODE OF EXISTENCE IN OUTSIDE OBJECTS.

It may be objected that having this unity in our soul depends on
receiving from the exterior object a notion and an image, which is a
conception furnished by this object. As the philosophers who profess
this opinion do not differentiate the species of one and of number,
and as they allow them no other hypostatic existence (than to be
conceived by our soul), if they (practically do) allow them any sort
of hypostatic existence, it will be very interesting to scrutinize the
opinions of these.[24] They then say that the notion or conception
that we have of the one or of the number derives from the objects
themselves, is a notion as much "a posteriori" as those of "that,"[25]
"something," "crowd," "festival," "army," or of "multitude"; for, just
as the manifold is nothing without the multiple objects, nor a festival
without the men gathered to celebrate the religious ceremony, thus
"the One" is nothing without the one object, when we posit the one,
conceiving it alone, having made an abstraction of everything else. The
partisans of this opinion will cite many examples of the same kind, as
the "right hand side," "the upper part," and their contraries. What
reality indeed (to speak as they do), can the "right hand side" possess
outside of a person who stands or sits here or there[26]? The case is
similar with "the upper side," which refers to a certain part of the
universe, and the "lower side" to another.[27] Our first answer to
this argument is that we will allow that there is a certain kind of
existence in the things themselves of which we have just spoken; but
that this mode of existence is not identical in all things, considered
either in respect to each other, or each in respect to the One which is
in all. Further, we intend to refute one by one these arguments that
have been opposed to us.


THE NOTION OF THE SUBJECT ONE DOES NOT COME FROM THE SUBJECT ITSELF.

13. To begin with, it is unreasonable to insist that the notion of
the subject one comes to us from the subject itself (which is one),
from the visible man, for instance, or from some other animal, or
even some stone. Evidently the visible man and the One are things
entirely different, which could not be identified[28]; otherwise,
our judgment would not be able (as it is) to predicate unity of the
non-man. Besides, as the judgment does not operate on emptiness for
the right side, and other such things, seeing a difference of position
when it tells us that an object is here, or there; likewise, it also
sees something when it says that an object is one; for it does not
experience there an affection that is vain, and it does not affirm
unity without some foundation. It cannot be believed that the judgment
says that an object is one because it sees that it is alone, and that
there is no other; for, while saying that there is no other, the
judgment implicitly asserts that the other is one. Further, the notions
of "other" and "different" are notions posterior to that of unity;
if the judgment did not rise to unity, it would not assert either
the "other" nor the "different"; when it affirms that an object is
alone, it says, "there is one only object"; and therefore predicates
unity before "only." Besides, the judgment which affirms is itself a
substantial (being) before affirming unity of some other (being); and
the (being) of which it speaks is one likewise before the judgment
either asserts or conceives anything about it. Thus (being) must be one
or many; if it be many, the one is necessarily anterior, since, when
the judgment asserts that plurality is present, it evidently asserts
that there is more than one; likewise, when it says that an army is
a multitude, it conceives of the soldiers as arranged in one single
corps. By this last example, it is plain that the judgment (in saying
one body), does not let the multitude remain multitude, and that it
thus reveals the existence of unity; for, whether by giving to the
multitude a unity which it does not possess, or by rapidly revealing
unity in the arrangement (which makes the body of the multitude), the
judgment reduces multitude to unity. It does not err here about unity,
any more than when it says of a building formed by a multitude of
stones that it is a unity; for, besides, a building is more unified
than an army.[29] If, further, unity inhere in a still higher degree in
that which is continuous, and in a degree still higher in what is not
divisible,[30] evidently that occurs only because the unity has a real
nature, and possesses existence; for there is no greater or less in
that which does not exist.


UNITY, THOUGH BY PARTICIPATION EXISTING IN SENSE-OBJECTS, IS
INTELLIGIBLE.

Just as we predicate being of every sense-thing, as well as of every
intelligible thing, we predicate it in a higher degree of intelligible
things, attributing a higher degree (of substantiality) to the (beings
that are veritable than to sense-objects), and to sense-objects than
to other genera (of physical objects); likewise, clearly seeing
unity in sense-objects in a degree higher than in the intelligible
(essences), we recognize the existence of unity in all its modes, and
we refer them all to Unity in itself. Besides, just as "being and
essence"[31] are nothing sensual, though sense-objects participate
therein, so unity, though by participation it inhere in sense-objects,
is not any the less an intelligible Unity. Judgment grasps it by an
intellectual conception; by seeing one thing (which is sensual) it also
conceives another which it does not see (because it is intelligible);
it therefore knew this thing in advance; and if judgment knew it in
advance, judgment was this thing, and was identical with that whose
existence it asserted. When it says, "a certain" object, it asserts the
unity, as, when it speaks of "certain" objects, it says that they are
two or more. If then one cannot conceive of any object whatever without
"one," "two," or some other number, it becomes possible to insist that
the thing without which nothing can be asserted or conceived, does not
at all exist. We cannot indeed deny existence to the thing without
whose existence we could not assert or conceive anything. Now that
which is everywhere necessary to speak and to conceive must be anterior
to speech and conception, so as to contribute to their production. If,
besides, this thing be necessary to the hypostatic existence of every
essence--for there is no essence that lacks unity--it must be anterior
to being, and being must be begotten by it. That is why we say "an
essence" instead of first positing "essence," and "a" only thereafter,
for there must be "one" in essence, to make "several" possible; but
(the converse is not true; for) unity does not contain essence, unless
unity itself produce it by applying itself to the begetting of it.
Likewise, the word "that" (when employed to designate an object) is
not meaningless; for instead of naming the object, it proclaims its
existence, its presence, its "being," or some other of its kinds of
"essence." The word "that" does not therefore express something without
reality, it does not proclaim an empty conception, but it designates an
object as definitely as some proper name.


UNITY ONLY AN ACCIDENT IN SENSE-THINGS, BUT SOMETHING IN ITSELF IN THE
INTELLIGIBLE.

14. As to those who consider unity as relative, they might be told
that unity could not lose its proper nature merely as a result of
the affection experienced by some other being without itself being
affected. It cannot cease being one without experiencing the privation
of unity by division into two or three. If, on being divided, a mass
become double without being destroyed in respect to its being a mass,
evidently, besides the subject, there existed unity; and the mass lost
it because the unity was destroyed by the division. So this same thing
which now is present, and now disappears, should be classified among
essences wherever it be found; and we must recognize that, though it
may be an accident of other objects, it nevertheless exists by itself,
whether it manifest in sense-objects, or whether it be present in
intelligent entities; it is only an accident in posterior (beings,
namely, the sense-objects); but it exists in itself in the intelligible
entities, especially in the first Essence, which is One primarily, and
only secondarily essence.


TWO IS NOT AN ADDITION TO ONE, BUT A CHANGE (REFUTATION OF ARISTOTLE).

The objection that unity, without itself experiencing anything, by the
mere addition of something else, is no longer one, but becomes double,
is a mistake.[32] The one has not become two, and is not that which
has been added to it, nor that to which something has been added. Each
of them remains one, such as it was; but two can be asserted of their
totality, and one of each of them separately. Two therefore, not any
more than "pair," is by nature a relation. If the pair consisted in
the union (of two objects), and if "being united" were identical with
"to duplicate," in this case the union, as well as the pair, would
constitute two. Now a "pair" appears likewise in a state contrary (to
that of the reunion of two objects); for two may be produced by the
division of a single object. Two, therefore, is neither reunion nor
division, as it would have to be in order to constitute a relation.


OBJECTS PARTICIPATE IN NUMBERS JUST AS THEY PARTICIPATE IN ALL
INTELLIGIBLE ENTITIES.

What then is the principal cause (by virtue of which objects
participate in numbers)? A being is one by the presence of one; double,
because of the presence of the pair; just as it is white because of the
presence of whiteness; beautiful, because of the presence of beauty;
and just by that of justice. If that be not admitted, we shall be
reduced to asserting that whiteness, beauty and justice are nothing
real, and that their only causes are simple relations; that justice
consists in some particular relation with some particular being; that
beauty has no foundation other than the affection that we feel; that
the object which seems beautiful possesses nothing capable of exciting
this affection either by nature, or by acquirement. When you see an
object that is one, and that you call single, it is simultaneously
great, beautiful, and susceptible of receiving a number of other
qualifications. Now why should unity not inhere in the object as
well as greatness and magnitude, sweetness and bitterness, and other
qualities? We have no right to admit that quality, whatever it be,
forms part of the number of beings, whilst quantity is excluded; nor
to limit quantity to continuous quantity, while discrete quantity is
excluded from the conception of quantity; and that so much the less as
continuous quantity is measured by discrete quantity. Thus, just as
an object is great because of the presence of magnitude, as it is one
by the presence of unity; so is it double because of the presence of
being a pair, and so forth.[33]


THE VERITABLE NUMBERS ARE INTELLIGIBLE ENTITIES.

Should we be asked to describe the operation of the participation of
objects in unity and in numbers, we shall answer that this question
connects with the more general problem of the participation of objects
in intelligible forms. Besides, we shall have to admit that the decad
presents itself under different aspects, according as it is considered
to exist either in discrete quantities, or in continuous quantities,
or in the reduction of many great forces to unity, or, last, into
the intelligible entities to which we are later raised. It is among
them, indeed, that are found the veritable Numbers (spoken of by
Plato,[10]) which, instead of being considered as discovered in other
(beings), exist within themselves; such is the Decad-in-itself, which
exists by itself, instead of simply being a decad[34] composed of some
intelligible entities.


NUMBER EXISTS BEFORE EVERY ANIMAL, AND THE UNIVERSAL ANIMAL.

15. (From the above discussion about the intelligibility of numbers)
let us now return to what we said in the beginning. The universal
(Being) is veritable Essence, Intelligence, and perfect living
Organism; and at the same time contains also all the living organisms.
Our universe, which also is an organism, by its unity imitates so
far as it can the unity of the perfect living Organism. I say, to
the extent of its capacity, because, by its nature, the sense-world
has departed from the unity of the intelligible world; otherwise, it
would not be the sense-world. Moreover, the universal living Organism
must be the universal Number; for if it were not a perfect number,
it would lack some number; and if it did not contain the total number
of living organisms, it would not be the perfect living Organism.
Number therefore exists before every living organism, and before the
universal living Organism. Man and the other living organisms are in
the intelligible world; so far as they are living organisms, and so far
as the intelligible world is the universal living Organism; for man,
even here below, is a part of the living Organism, so far as itself is
a living organism, and as the living Organism is universal; the other
living organisms are also in the living Organism, so far as each of
them is a living organism.


THE INTELLIGIBLE AS POTENTIAL AND ACTUALIZED IN THE SOUL.

Likewise, Intelligence, as such, contains all the individual
intelligences as its parts.[35] These, however, form a number.
Consequently, the number which is in the Intelligence does not occupy
the first degree. So far as the number is in Intelligence, it is equal
to the quantity of the actualizations of Intelligence. Now, these
actualizations are wisdom, justice, and the other virtues, science,
and all the (ideas) whose possession characterizes it as veritable
Intelligence. (If then science exist in the Intelligence) how does it
happen that it is not there in some principle other than itself? In
Intelligence the knower, the known, and science are one and the same
thing; and with everything else within it. That is why every (entity)
exists in the intelligible world in its highest degree. For instance,
within it, Justice is no accident, though it be one in the soul, as
such; for intelligible entities are in the soul (only in) potential
condition (so long as she remains no more than soul); and they are
actualized when the soul rises to Intelligence and dwells with it.[36]


NUMBER AS THE UNIVERSAL BOND OF THE UNIVERSE.

Besides Intelligence, and anterior thereto, exists Essence. It contains
Number, with which it begets (beings); for it begets them by moving
according to number, determining upon the numbers before giving
hypostatic existence to the (beings), just as the unity (of essence)
precedes its (existence), and interrelates it with the First (or,
absolute Unity). Numbers interrelate nothing else to the First; it
suffices for Essence to be interrelated with Him, because Essence, on
becoming Number, attaches all (beings) to itself. Essence is divided
not so far as it is a unity (for its unity is permanent); but having
divided itself conformably to its nature in as many things as it
decided on, it saw into how many things it had divided itself; and
through this (process) it begat the number that exists within itself;
for it divided itself by virtue of the potentialities of number, and it
begat as many (beings) as number comported.


THE GENERATION OF EVERYTHING REGULATED BY NUMBER.

The first and veritable Number is therefore the source and
principle[21] of hypostatic existence for beings. That is the reason
that even here below, the classified both discrete and continuous
quantity[38] and, with a different number, it is some other thing that
is begotten, or nothing more can be begotten. Such are the primary
Numbers, so far as they can be numbered. The numbers that subsist in
other things play two parts. So far as they proceed from the First,
they can be numbered; so far as they are below them, they measure other
things, they serve to enumerate both numbers and things which can be
enumerated. How indeed could you even say "ten" without the aid of
numbers within yourself?


DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH THESE INTELLIGIBLE NUMBERS.

16. The first objection might be, Where do you locate, or how do you
classify these primary and veritable Numbers? All the philosophers (who
follow Aristotle) classify numbers in the genus of quantity. It seems
that we have above treated of quantity, and classified both discrete
and continuous quantity[38] among other "beings." Here however we
seem to say that these Numbers form part of the primary Essences, and
add that there are, in addition, numbers that serve for enumerations.
We are now asked how we make these statements agree, for they seem
to give rise to several questions. Is the unity which is found among
sense-beings a quantity? Or is unity a quantity when repeated, while,
when considered alone and in itself, it is the principle of quantity,
but not a quantity itself? Besides, if unity be the principle of
quantity, does it share the nature of quantity, or has it a different
nature? Here are a number of points we ought to expound. We shall
answer these questions, and here is what we consider our starting-point.


UNITY CONTAINED IN SENSE-OBJECTS IS NOT UNITY IN ITSELF.

When, considering visible objects, by which we ought to begin, we
combine one (being) with another, as for instance, a horse and a dog,
or two men, and say that they form two; or, when considering a greater
number of men we say they are ten, and form a group of ten, this number
does not constitute being, nor an (accident) among sense-objects; it is
purely and simply a quantity. Dividing this group of ten by unity, and
making unity of its parts, you obtain and constitute the principle of
quantity (unity) for a unity thus derived from a group of ten.


NUMERALS PREDICATED OF THE MAN IN HIMSELF ARE ESSENTIAL.

But when you say that the Man considered in himself is a number, as,
for instance, a pair, because he is both animal and reasonable, we
have here no more than a simple modality. For, while reasoning and
enumerating we produce a quantity; but so far as there are here two
things (animal and reasonable), and as each of them is one, as each
completes the being of the man, and possesses unity; we are here using
and proclaiming another kind of number, the essential Number. Here the
pair is not posterior to things; it does not limit itself to expressing
a quantity which is exterior to essence; it expresses what is in the
very being of this essence, and contains its nature.


COLLECTIVE NOUNS USED AS PROOF OF INDEPENDENT EXISTENCE.

Indeed, it is not you who here below produce number when you by
discursive reason range through things that exist by themselves, and
which do not depend for their existence on your enumeration; for you
add nothing to the being of a man by enumerating him with another. That
is no unity, as in a "choric ballet." When you say, ten men, "ten"
exists only in you who are enumerating. We could not assert that "ten"
exists in the ten men you are enumerating, because these men are not
co-ordinated so as to form a unity; it is you yourself who produce ten
by enumerating this group of ten, and by making up a quantity. But
when you say, a "choric ballet," an "army," there is something which
exists outside of these objects, and within yourself.[39] How are we
to understand that the number exists in you? The number which existed
in you before you made the enumeration has another mode (of existence)
(than the number that you produce by enumeration). As to the number
which manifests itself in exterior objects and refers to the number
within yourself, it constitutes an actualization of the essential
numbers, or, is conformable to the essential Numbers; for, while
enumerating you produce a number, and by this actualization you give
hypostatic existence to quantity, as in walking you did to movement.


THE NUMBER WITHIN IS THE NUMBER CONSTITUTIVE OF OUR BEING.

In what sense does the number which is within us (before we enumerate)
have a mode (of existence) other (than the one we produce in
enumeration)? Because it is the number constitutive of our being,
which, as Plato says,[40] participates in number and harmony, and is a
number and harmony; for the soul is said to be neither a body nor an
extension; she therefore is a number, since she is a being. The number
of the body is a being of the same nature as the body; the number of
the soul consists in the beings which are incorporeal like souls. Then,
for the intelligible entities, if the animal itself be plurality, if
it be a triad, the triad that exists in the animal is essential. As to
the triad which subsists, not in the animal, but in essence, it is the
principle of being. If you enumerate the animal and the beautiful, each
of these two in itself is a unity; but (in enumerating them), you beget
number in yourself, and you conceive a certain quantity, the pair. If
(like the Pythagoreans) you say that virtue is a group of four, or
tetrad, it is one so far as its parts (justice, prudence, courage, and
temperance) contribute to the formation of a unity; you may add that
this group of four, or tetrad, is a unity, so far as it is a kind of
substrate; as to you, you connect this tetrad with the one that is
inside of you.[41]


HOW A NUMBER MAY BE CALLED INFINITE.[42]

17. As the reasons here advanced would seem to imply that every number
is limited, we may ask in which sense may a number be said to be
infinite? This conclusion is right, for it is against the nature of
number to be infinite. Why do people then often speak of a number as
infinite? Is it in the same sense that one calls a line infinite? A
line is said to be infinite, not that there really exists an infinite
line of this kind, but to imply the conception of a line as great as
possible, greater than any given line. Similarly with number. When
we know which is the number (of certain objects), we can double it
by thought, without, on that account, adding any other number to the
first. How indeed would it be possible to add to exterior objects the
conception of our imagination, a conception that exists in ourselves
exclusively? We shall therefore say that, among intelligible entities,
a line is infinite; otherwise, the intelligible line would be a simple
quantative expression. If however the intelligible line be not this, it
must be infinite in number; but we then understand the word "infinite"
in a sense other than that of having no limits that could not be
transcended. In what sense then is the word "infinite" here used? In
the sense that the conception of a limit is not implied in the being of
a line in itself.


INTELLIGIBLE LINE POSTERIOR TO NUMBER, AND EXISTS IN THE INTELLIGIBLE.

What then is the intelligible line, and where does it exist? It is
posterior to number[43]; for unity appears in the line, since this
starts from the unity (of the point), and because it has but one
dimension (length); now the measure of dimension is not a quantative
(entity). Where then does the intelligible Line exist? It exists only
in the intelligence that defines it; or, if it be a thing, it is but
something intellectual. In the intelligible world, in fact, everything
is intellectual, and such as the thing itself is. It is in this same
world, likewise, where is made the decision where and how the plane,
the solid, and all other figures are to be disposed. For it is not
we who create the figures by conceiving them. This is so because the
figure of the world is anterior to us, and because the natural figures
which are suitable to the productions of nature, are necessarily
anterior to the bodies, and in the intelligible world exist in the
state of primary figures, without determining limits, for these forms
exist in no other subjects; they subsist by themselves, and have no
need of extension, because the extension is the attribute of a subject.


THE INTELLIGIBLE SPHERICAL FIGURE THE PRIMITIVE ONE.

Everywhere, therefore, in essence, is a single (spherical) figure,[44]
and each of these figures (which this single figure implicitly
contained) has become distinct, either in, or before the animal. When
I say that each figure has become distinct, I do not mean that it has
become an extension, but that it has been assigned to some particular
animal; thus, in the intelligible world, each body has been assigned
its own characteristic figure, as, for instance, the pyramid to the
fire.[45] Our world seeks to imitate this figure, although it cannot
accomplish this, because of matter. There are other figures here below
that are analogous to the intelligible figures.


FIGURES PRE-EXIST IN THE INTELLIGIBLE.

But are the figures in the living Organism as such, or, if it cannot
be doubted that they are in the living Organism, do they anteriorly
exist in the Intelligence? If the Organism contained Intelligence,
the figures would be in the first degree in the Organism. But as it
is the Intelligence that contains the Organism, they are in the first
degree in Intelligence. Besides, as the souls are contained in the
perfect living Organism, it is one reason more for the priority of
the Intelligence. But Plato says,[46] "Intelligence sees the Ideas
comprised within the perfect living Organism." Now, if it see the
Ideas contained in the perfect living Organism, Intelligence must be
posterior to the latter. By the words "it sees" it should be understood
that the existence of the living Organism itself is realized in this
vision. Indeed, the Intelligence which sees is not something different
from the Organism which is seen; but (in Intelligence) all things form
but one. Only, thought has a pure and simple sphere, while the Organism
has an animated sphere.[47]


INFINITY IN NUMBER ARISES FROM POSSIBILITY OF INCREASING GREATEST
IMAGINABLE PHYSICAL NUMBER.

18. Thus, in the intelligible world, every number is finite. But we
can conceive of a number greater than any assigned number, and thus it
is that our mind, while considering the numbers, produces the (notion
of the) infinite. On the contrary, in the intelligible world, it is
impossible to conceive a number greater than the Number conceived (by
divine Intelligence); for on high Number exists eternally; no Number
is lacking, or could ever lack, so that one could never add anything
thereto.


AS UNMEASURED THE INTELLIGIBLE NUMBER MIGHT BE CALLED INFINITE.

Nevertheless, the intelligible Number might be called infinite in the
sense that it is unmeasured. By what, indeed, could it be measured?
The Number that exists on high is universal, simultaneous one and
manifold, constituting a whole circumscribed by no limit (a whole that
is infinite); it is what it is by itself. None of the intelligible
beings, indeed, is circumscribed by any limit. What is really limited
and measured is what is hindered from losing itself in the infinite,
and demands measure. But all of the intelligible (beings) are measures;
whence it results that they are all beautiful. So far as it is a living
organism, the living Organism in itself is beautiful, possessing an
excellent life, and lacking no kind of life; it does not have a life
mingled with death, it contains nothing mortal nor perishable. The
life of the living Organism in itself has no fault; it is the first
Life, full of vigor and energy, a primary Light whose rays vivify
both the souls that dwell on high, and those that descend here below.
This Life knows why it lives; it knows its principle and its goal;
for its principle is simultaneously its goal. Besides, universal
Wisdom, the universal Intelligence, which is intimately united to the
living Organism, which subsists in it and with it, still improves it;
heightening its hues as it were by the splendor of its wisdom, and
rendering its beauty more venerable. Even here below, a life full of
wisdom is that which is most venerable and beautiful, though we can
hardly catch a glimpse of such a life. On high, however, the vision of
life is perfectly clear; the (favored initiate) receives from Life both
capacity to behold and increased vitality; so that, thanks to a more
energetic life, the beholder receives a clearer vision, and he becomes
what he sees. Here below, our glance often rests on inanimate things,
and even when it turns towards living beings, it first notices in them
that which lacks life. Besides, the life which is hidden in them is
already mingled with other things. On high, on the contrary, all the
(beings) are alive, entirely alive, and their life is pure. If at the
first aspect you should look on something as deprived of life, soon the
life within it would burst out before your eyes.


ESSENCE ALONE POSSESSES SELF-EXISTENCE.

Contemplate therefore the Being that penetrates the intelligibles, and
which communicates to them an immutable life; contemplate the Wisdom
and Knowledge that resides within them, and you will not be able to
keep from deriding this inferior nature to which the vulgar human
beings attribute genuine "being." It is in this supreme "Being" that
dwell life and intelligence, and that the essences subsist in eternity.
There, nothing issues (from Essence), nothing changes or agitates it;
for there is nothing outside of it that could reach it; if a single
thing existed outside of ("being"), ("being") would be dependent on it.
If anything opposed to (essence) existed, this thing would escape the
action of ("being"); it would no longer owe its existence to ("being"),
but would constitute a common principle anterior to it, and would be
essence. Parmenides[48] therefore was right in saying that the Essence
was one; that it was immutable, not because there was nothing else
(that could modify it), but because it was essence. Alone, therefore,
does Essence possess self-existence. How then could one, to Essence,
refuse to attribute existence, or any of the things of which it is an
actualization, and which it constitutes? So long as it exists, it gives
them to itself; and since it exists always, these things therefore
eternally subsist within it.


THE POWER AND BEAUTY OF ESSENCE IS TO ATTRACT ALL THINGS.

Such are the power and beauty of Essence that it (charms and) attracts
all things, holding them as it were suspended, so that these are
delighted to possess even a trace of its perfection, and seek nothing
beyond, except the Good. For Essence is anterior to the Good in respect
to us (when we climb up from here below to the intelligible world).
The entire intelligible world aspires to the Life and Wisdom so as to
possess existence; all the souls, all the intelligences likewise aspire
to possess it; Essence alone is fully self-sufficient.




SECOND ENNEAD, BOOK EIGHT.

Of Sight; or of Why Distant Objects Seem Small.[49]

(OF PERSPECTIVE.)


VARIOUS THEORIES OF PERSPECTIVE.

1. What is the cause that when distant visible objects seem smaller,
and that, though separated by a great space, they seem to be close to
each other, while if close, we see them in their true size, and their
true distance? The cause of objects seeming smaller at a distance might
be that light needs to be focussed near the eye, and to be accommodated
to the size of the pupils[50]; that the greater the distance of the
matter of the visible object, the more does its form seem to separate
from it during its transit to the eyes; and that, as there is a form
of quantity as well as of quality, it is the reason (or, form) of the
latter which alone reaches the eye. On the other hand, (Epicurus)
thinks that we feel magnitude only by the passage and the successive
introduction of its parts, one by one; and that, consequently,
magnitude must be brought within our reach, and near us, for us to
determine its quantity.


QUALITY IS MORE ESSENTIAL THAN QUANTITY.

(Do objects at a distance seem smaller) because we perceive magnitude
only by accident, and because color is perceived first? In this case,
when an object is near, we perceive its colored magnitude; when at a
distance, we perceive first its color, not well enough distinguishing
its parts to gather exact knowledge of its quantity, because its
colors are less lively. Why should we be surprised at magnitudes
being similar to sounds, which grow weaker as their form decreases
in distinctness? As to sounds, indeed, it is the form that is sought
by the sense of hearing, and here intensity is noticed only as an
accident. But if hearing perceive magnitude only by accident, to what
faculty shall we attribute the primitive perception of intensity
in sound, just as primitive perception of magnitude in the visible
object is referable to the sense of touch? Hearing perceives apparent
magnitude by determining not the quantity but the intensity of sounds;
this very intensity of sounds, however, is perceived only by accident
(because it is its proper object). Likewise, taste does not by accident
feel the intensity of a sweet savor. Speaking strictly, the magnitude
of a sound is its extent. Now the intensity of a sound indicates its
extent only by accident, and therefore in an inexact manner. Indeed a
thing's intensity is identical with the thing itself. The multitude of
a thing's parts is known only by the extent of space occupied by the
object.


DIFFERENCES OF COLOR AID IN THE PERCEPTION OF MAGNITUDE.

It may be objected that a color cannot be less large, and that it
can only be less vivid. However, there is a common characteristic in
something smaller and less vivid; namely, that it is less than what
it is its being to be. As to color, diminution implies weakness;
as to size, smallness. Magnitude connected with color diminishes
proportionally with it. This is evident in the perception of a varied
object, as, for instance, in the perception of mountains covered with
houses, forests, and many other objects; here the distinctness of
detail affords a standard by which to judge of the whole. But when the
view of the details does not impress itself on the eye, the latter
no longer grasps the extent of the whole through measurement of the
extent offered to its contemplation by the details. Even in the case
where the objects are near and varied, if we include them all in one
glance without distinguishing all their parts, the more parts our
glance loses, the smaller do the objects seem. On the contrary, if we
distinguish all their details, the more exactly do we measure them,
and learn their real size. Magnitudes of uniform color deceive the eye
because the latter can no longer measure their extent by its parts; and
because, even if the eye attempt to do so, it loses itself, not knowing
where to stop, for lack of difference between the parts.


DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FORM IMPLIES THAT OF THE SIZE.

The distant object seems to us close because our inability to
distinguish the parts of the intervening space does not permit us to
determine exactly its magnitude. When sight can no longer traverse the
length of an interval by determining its quality, in respect to its
form, neither can it any longer determine its quantity in respect to
magnitude.


REFUTATION OF ARISTOTLE'S "VISUAL ANGLE" THEORY.

2. Some[51] hold that distant objects seem to us lesser only because
they are seen under a smaller visual angle. Elsewhere[52] we have shown
that this is wrong; and here we shall limit ourselves to the following
considerations. The assertion that a distant object seems less because
it is perceived under a smaller visual angle supposes that the rest
of the eye still sees something outside of this object, whether this
be some other object, or something external, such as the air. But if
we suppose that the eye sees nothing outside of this object, whether
this object, as would a great mountain, occupy the whole extent of the
glance, and permit nothing beyond it to be seen; or whether it even
extend beyond the sweep of the glance on both sides, then this object
should not, as it actually does, seem smaller than it really is, even
though it fill the whole extension of the glance. The truth of this
observation can be verified by a mere glance at the sky. Not in a
single glance can the whole hemisphere be perceived, for the glance
could not be extended widely enough to embrace so vast an expanse. Even
if we grant the possibility of this, and that the whole glance embraces
the whole hemisphere; still the real magnitude of the heaven is greater
than its apparent magnitude. How then by the diminution of the visual
angle could we explain the smallness of the apparent magnitude of the
sky, on the hypothesis that it is the diminution of the visual angle
which makes distant objects appear smaller?




FIRST ENNEAD, BOOK FIVE.

Does Happiness Increase With Time?[53]


HAPPINESS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DURATION OF TIME.

1. Does happiness increase with duration of time? No: for the feeling
of happiness exists only in the present. The memory of past happiness
could not add anything to happiness itself. Happiness is not a word,
but a state of soul. But a state of soul is a present (experience),
such as, for instance, the actualization of life.


HAPPINESS IS NOT THE SATISFACTION OF THE DESIRE TO LIVE.

2. Might happiness not be the satisfaction of the desire of living and
activity, inasmuch as this desire is ever present with us? (Hardly).
First, according to this hypothesis, the happiness of to-morrow would
ever be greater than that of to-day, and that of the following day
than that of the day before, and so on to infinity. In this case, the
measure of happiness would no longer be virtue (but duration). Then,
the beatitude of the divinities will also have to become greater from
day to day; it would no longer be perfect, and could never become
so.[54] Besides, desire finds its satisfaction in the possession of
what is present, both now, and in the future. So long as these present
circumstances exist, their possession constitutes happiness. Further,
as the desire of living can be no more than the desire to exist, the
latter desire can refer to the present only, inasmuch as real existence
(essence) inheres only in the present. Desire for a future time, or
for some later event, means no more than a desire to preserve what
one already possesses. Desire refers neither to the future nor the
past, but to what exists at present. What is sought is not a perpetual
progression in the future, but the enjoyment of what exists from the
present moment onward.


INCREASED HAPPINESS WOULD RESULT ONLY FROM MORE PERFECT GRASP.

3. What shall be said of him who lived happily during a longer period,
who has longer contemplated the same spectacle? If such longer
contemplation resulted in a clearer idea thereof, the length of time
has served some useful purpose; but if the agent contemplated it in the
same manner for the whole extent of time, he possesses no advantage
over him who contemplated it only once.


PLEASURE IS UNCONNECTED WITH HAPPINESS.

4. It might be objected that the former of these men enjoyed pleasure
longer than the other. This consideration has nothing to do with
happiness. If by this (enjoyed) pleasure we mean the free exercise
(of intelligence), the pleasure referred to is then identical with
the happiness here meant. This higher pleasure referred to is only to
possess what is here ever present; what of it is past is of no further
value.


LENGTH OF HAPPINESS DOES NOT AFFECT ITS QUALITY.

5. Would equal happiness be predicated of three men, one who had been
happy from his life's beginning to its end, the other only at its end,
and the third, who had been happy, but who ceased being such.[55] This
comparison is not between three men who are happy, but between one man
who is happy, with two who are deprived of happiness, and that at the
(present moment) when happiness (counts most). If then one of them have
any advantage, he possesses it as a man actually happy compared with
such as are not; he therefore surpasses the two others by the actual
possession of happiness.


IF UNHAPPINESS INCREASE WITH TIME, WHY SHOULD NOT HAPPINESS DO SO?

6. (It is generally agreed that) all calamities, sufferings, griefs
and similar evils are aggravated in proportion to their duration. If
then, in all these cases, evil be increased with time, why should not
the same circumstance obtain in the contrary case? Why should happiness
also not be increased?[56] Referring to griefs and sufferings, it might
reasonably be said that they are increased by duration. When, for
example, sickness is prolonged, and becomes a habitual condition, the
body suffers more and more profoundly as time goes on. If, however,
evil ever remain at the same degree, it does not grow worse, and
there is no need of complaining but of the present. Consideration of
the past evil amounts to considering the traces left by evil, the
morbid disposition whose intensity is increased by time, because its
seriousness is proportionate to its duration. In this case it is not
the length of time, but the aggravation of the evil which adds to
the misfortune. But the new degree (of intensity) does not subsist
simultaneously with the old, and it is unreasonable to predicate
an increase as summation of what is no more to what now is. On the
contrary, it is the fixed characteristic of happiness to have a fixed
term, to remain ever the same. Here also the only increase possibly
due to duration of time depends on the relation between an increase
in virtue and one in happiness; and the element to be reckoned with
here is not the number of years of happiness, but the degree of virtue
finally acquired.


AS ADDITION IS POSSIBLE WITH TIME, WHY CANNOT HAPPINESS INCREASE?

7. It might be objected that it is inconsistent to consider the present
only, exclusive of the past (as in the case of happiness), when we
do not do so in respect of time. For the addition of past to present
unquestionably lengthens time. If then we may properly say that time
becomes longer, why may we not say the same of happiness?--Were we to
do so, we would be applying happiness to divisions of time, while it
is precisely to bring out the indivisibility of happiness that it is
considered to be measured by the present exclusively. While considering
time, in respect of things that have vanished, such as, for instance,
the dead, it is perfectly reasonable to reckon the past; but it would
be unreasonable to compare past happiness with present happiness
in respect to duration, because it would be treating happiness as
something accidental and temporary. Whatever might be the length of
time that preceded the present, all that can be said of it is, that
it is no more. To regard duration while considering happiness is to
try to disperse and fraction something that is one and indivisible,
something that exists only in the present. That is why time is called
an image of eternity, inasmuch as it tends to destroy eternity's
permanence through its own dispersion.[57] By abstracting permanence
from eternity, and appropriating it, time destroys eternity; for a
short period, permanence may survive in association with time; but as
soon as it becomes fused with it, eternity perishes. Now as happiness
consists in the enjoyment of a life that is good, namely in that which
is proper to Essence (in itself), because none better exists, it must,
instead of time, have, as a measure, eternity itself, a principle
which admits neither increase nor diminution, which cannot be compared
to any length, whose nature it is to be indivisible, and superior to
time. No comparison, therefore, should be instituted between essence
and non-essence, eternity and time, the perpetual and the eternal;
nor should extension be predicated of the indivisible. If we regard
existence of Essence in itself, it will be necessary to regard it
entire; to consider it, not as the perpetuity of time, but as the very
life of eternity, a life which instead of consisting of a series of
centuries, exists entire since all centuries.


NOT EVEN MEMORIES OF THE PAST INCREASE HAPPINESS.

8. Somebody might object that by subsisting till the present, the
memory of the past adds something more to him who has long lived
happily. In this case it will be necessary to examine what is meant by
this memory. If it mean the memory of former wisdom, and if it mean
that he who would possess this memory would become wiser on account
of it, then this memory differs from our question (which studies
happiness, and not wisdom). If it mean the memory of pleasure, it
would imply that the happy man has need of much pleasure, and cannot
remain satisfied with what is present. Besides, there is no proof that
the memory of a past pleasure is at all pleasant; on the contrary, it
would be entirely ridiculous to remember with delight having tasted a
delicious dish the day before, and still more ridiculous remembering
such an enjoyment ten years ago. It would be just as ridiculous to
pride one self on having been a wise man last year.


NOT EVEN THE MEMORY OF VIRTUE INCREASES HAPPINESS.

9. Could not the memory of virtuous actions contribute to happiness?
No: for such a memory cannot exist in a man who has no virtue at
present, and who thereby is driven to seek out the memory of past
virtues.


LENGTH OF TIME IS OF NO IMPORTANCE, NOT EVEN AS OPPORTUNITY OF VIRTUE.

10. Another objection is that length of time would give opportunity
for doing many beautiful deeds; while this opportunity is denied him
who lives happily only a short period. This may be answered by denying
happiness to a man on the grounds of having done many beautiful
deeds. If several parts of time and several actions are to constitute
happiness, then it would be constituted by things that are no more,
that are past, and by present things; whereas our definition of
happiness limits it exclusively to the present. Then we considered
whether length of time add to happiness. There remains only to examine
whether happiness of long duration be superior because of yielding
opportunities of doing more beautiful deeds. To begin with, the man
who is inactive may be just as happy, if not more happy than he who is
active. Besides, it is not actions themselves which yield happiness;
(the sources of happiness) are states of mind, which are the principles
of beautiful actions. The wise man enjoys welfare while active, but not
because of this activity; he derives (this welfare) not from contingent
things, but from what he possesses in himself. For it might happen even
to a vicious man to save his fatherland, or to feel pleasure in seeing
it saved by some other. It is not then these activities which are the
causes of the enjoyment of happiness. True beatitude and the joys it
yields must be derived from the constant disposition of the soul. To
predicate it of activity, would be to make it depend on things alien to
virtue and the soul. The soul's actualization consists in being wise,
and in exercising her self-activity; this is true happiness.




SECOND ENNEAD, BOOK SEVEN.

About Mixture to the Point of Total Penetration.


REFUTATION OF ANAXAGORAS AND DEMOCRITUS.

1. The subject of the present consideration is mixture to the point
of total penetration of the different bodies. This has been explained
in two ways: that the two liquids are mingled so as mutually to
interpenetrate each other totally, or that only one of them penetrates
the other. The difference between these two theories is of small
importance. First we must set aside the opinion of (Anaxagoras and
Democritus[58]), who explain mixture as a juxtaposition, because this
is a crude combination, rather than a mixture.[59] Mixture should
render the whole homogeneous, so that even the smallest molecules might
each be composed of the various elements of the mixture.


REFUTATION OF ARISTOTLE AND ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS.

As to the (Peripatetic) philosophers who assert that in a mixture only
the qualities mingle, while the material extension of both bodies are
only in juxtaposition, so long as the qualities proper to each of
them are spread throughout the whole mass, they seem to establish the
rightness of their opinion by attacking the doctrine which asserts that
the two bodies mutually interpenetrate in mixture.[60] (They object)
that the molecules of both bodies will finally lose all magnitude
by this continuous division which will leave no interval between the
parts of either of the two bodies; for if the two bodies mutually
interpenetrate each other in every part, their division must become
continuous. Besides, the mixture often occupies an extent greater than
each body taken separately, and as great as if mere juxtaposition
had occurred. Now if two bodies mutually interpenetrate totally, the
resulting mixture would occupy no more place than any one of them
taken separately. The case where two bodies occupy no more space than
a single one of them is by these philosophers explained by the air's
expulsion, which permits one of the bodies to penetrate into the
pores of the other. Besides, in the case of the mixture of two bodies
of unequal extent, how could the body of the smaller extend itself
sufficiently to spread into all the parts of the greater? There are
many other such reasons.


REFUTATION OF THE STOICS.

We now pass to the opinions of (Zeno and the other Stoic)
philosophers,[61] who assert that two bodies which make up a mixture
mutually interpenetrate each other totally. They support this view
by observing that when the bodies interpenetrate totally, they are
divided without the occurrence of a continuous division (which would
make their molecules lose their magnitude). Indeed, perspiration
issues from the human body without its being divided or riddled with
holes. To this it may be objected that nature may have endowed our
body with a disposition to permit perspiration to issue easily. To
this (the Stoics) answer that certain substances (like ivory[62]),
which when worked into thin sheets, admit, in all their parts, a liquid
(oat-gruel) which passes from one surface to the other. As these
substances are bodies, it is not easy to understand how one element
can penetrate into another without separating its molecules. On the
other hand, total division must imply mutual destruction (because
their molecules would lose all magnitude whatever). When, however, two
mingled bodies do not together occupy more space than either of them
separately (the Stoics) seem forced to admit to their adversaries that
this phenomenon is caused by the displacement of air.


EXPLANATION OF MIXTURE THAT OCCUPIES MORE SPACE THAN ITS ELEMENTS.

In the case where the compound occupies more space than each element
separately, it might (though with little probability), be asserted,
that, since every body, along with its other qualities, implies size, a
local extension must take place. No more than the other qualities could
this increase perish. Since, out of both qualities, arises a new form,
as a compound of the mixture of both qualities; so also must another
size arise, the mixture combining the size out of both. Here (the
Peripatetics) might answer (the Stoics): "If you assert a juxtaposition
of substances, as well as of the masses which possess extension, you
are actually adopting our opinions. If however one of the masses, with
its former extension, penetrate the entire mass of the other, the
extension, instead of increasing, as in the case where one line is
added to another by joining their extremities, will not increase any
more than when two straight lines are made to coincide by superimposing
one on the other."


CASE OF MIXTURE OF UNEQUAL QUANTITIES.

The case of the mixture of a smaller quantity with a greater one, such
as of a large body with a very small one, leads (the Peripatetics)
to consider it impossible that the great body should spread in all
the parts of the small one. Where the mixture is not evident, the
(Peripatetics) might claim that the smaller body does not unite with
all the parts of the greater. When however the mixture is evident,
they can explain it by the extension of the masses, although it be
very doubtful that a small mass would assume so great an extension,
especially when we attribute to the composite body a greater extent,
without nevertheless admitting its transformation, as when water
transforms itself into air.


EVAPORATION MAY LEAD TO A THIRD THEORY OF MIXTURE.

2. What happens when a mass of water transforms itself into air? This
question demands particular treatment; for how can the transformed
element occupy a greater extension? (We shall not try to explain
it on either the Peripatetic or Stoic principles) because we have
sufficiently developed above the numerous reasons advanced by both
those schools. We had better now consider which of the two systems
we ourselves might adopt, and on which side lies reason. Besides, we
should consider whether, besides these both, there be not place for a
third opinion.


REFUTATION OF STOIC EXPLANATION OF EVAPORATION.

When water flows through wool, or when paper allows water to filter
through it, why does not the whole of the water pass through these
substances (without partly remaining within them)? If the water remain
therein partially, we shall not be able to unite the two substances
or masses. Shall we say that the qualities alone are confused (or,
mingled)? Water is not in juxtaposition with the paper, nor is lodged
in its pores; for the whole paper is penetrated thereby, and no
portion of the matter lacks that quality. If matter be united to
quality everywhere, water must everywhere be present in the paper.
If it be not water that everywhere is present in the paper, but only
(humidity which is) the quality of the water, where then is the water
itself? Why is not the mass the same? The matter that has insinuated
itself into the paper extends it, and increases its volume. Now this
augmentation of volume implies augmentation of mass; and the latter
implies that the water has not been absorbed by the book, and that the
two substances occupy different places (and do not interpenetrate each
other). Since one body causes another to participate in its quality,
why would it not also make it participate in its extension? By virtue
of this union with a different quality, one quality, united with a
different one, cannot, either remain pure, or preserve its earlier
nature; it necessarily becomes weaker. But one extension, added to
another extension, does not vanish.


REFUTATION OF PERIPATETIC EXPLANATION OF EVAPORATION.

One body is said to divide another, by penetrating it. This
assertion, however, demands demonstration, for it is more reasonable
to suppose that qualities may penetrate a body without dividing
it. Such demonstration is attempted by the claim that qualities
are incorporeal.[63] But if matter itself be as incorporeal as the
qualities, why could not some qualities along with the matter penetrate
into some other body? That some solids do not penetrate other bodies,
is due to their possession of qualities incompatible with that of
penetration. The objection that many qualities could not, along with
matter, penetrate some body, would be justified only if it were the
multitude of qualities that produced density; but if density be as much
of a quality as corporeity, the qualities will constitute the mixture
not in themselves alone, but only as they happen to be determined.
On the other hand, when matter does not lend itself to mixture, this
occurs not by virtue of its being matter, but as matter united to some
determinative quality. That is all the truer as matter is receptive to
any magnitude, not having any of its own. But enough of this.


THE BODY IS RATIONALIZED MATTER.

3. Since we have spoken of corporeity, it must be analyzed. Is it a
composite of all qualities, or does it constitute a form, a "reason,"
which produces the body by presence in matter? If the body be the
composite of all the qualities together with matter, this totality of
qualities will constitute corporeity. But if corporeity be a reason
which produces the body by approaching matter, doubtless it is a reason
which contains all the qualities. Now, if this reason be not at all a
definition of being, if it be a reason productive of the object, it
will not contain any matter. It is the reason which applies itself to
matter, and which, by its presence, produces the body there. Body is
matter with indwelling "reason." This "reason," being a form, may be
considered separately from matter, even if it were entirely inseparable
therefrom. Indeed, "reason" separated (from matter), and residing
in intelligence, is different (from "reason" united to matter); the
"Reason" which abides within Intelligence is Intelligence itself. But
this subject (I shall) refer to elsewhere.[64]




SIXTH ENNEAD, BOOK SEVEN.

How Ideas Multiplied, and the Good.[65]


A. HOW IDEAS MULTIPLY.


THE EYES WERE IMPLANTED IN MAN BY DIVINE FORESIGHT.

1. When the (higher) Divinity, or (some lower) divinity,[66] sent
souls down into generation, He gave to the face of man eyes suitable
to enlighten him,[67] and placed in the body the other organs suited
to the senses, foreseeing that (a living organism) would be able to
preserve itself only on condition of seeing, hearing and touching
contiguous objects, to enable it to select some, and to avoid others.


SENSES NOT GIVEN TO MAN BECAUSE OF EXPERIENCE OF MISFORTUNES.

But can you explain this divine foresight? You must not believe that He
would have begun by making (animals) who perished for lack of senses,
and that later (the divinity) gave senses to man and other animals so
that they could preserve themselves from death.[68]


NOR BECAUSE OF GOD'S FORESIGHT OF THESE MISFORTUNES.

It might, indeed, be objected that (the divinity) knew that the living
organism would be exposed to heat, cold, and other physical conditions;
and that as a result of this knowledge, to keep them from perishing,
He granted them, as tools, senses and organs. In our turn we shall
ask whether the divinity gave the organs to the living organisms
that already possessed the senses, or whether, He endowed souls with
senses and organs simultaneously. In the latter case, though they were
souls, they did not previously possess the sensitive faculties. But if
the souls possessed the sensitive faculties since the time they were
produced, and if they were produced (with these faculties) in order
to descend into generation, then it was natural for them to do so. In
this case it seems that it must be contrary to their nature to avoid
generation, and to dwell in the intelligible world. They would seem
made to belong to the body, and to live in evil. Thus divine Providence
would retain them in evil, and the divinity would arrive at this result
by reasoning; in any case, He would have reasoned.


FORESIGHT OF CREATION IS NOT THE RESULT OF REASONING.

If the divinity reason, we are forced to wonder what are the principles
of this reasoning; for, if it were objected that these principles are
derived from some other reasoning, we shall, nevertheless, in the
process of ascending, have to find something anterior to all reasoning;
namely, a point of departure. Now from whence are the principles of
reasoning derived? Either from the senses or the intelligence. (Could
the divinity have made use of principles derived from the senses?)
(When God created) there were no senses in existence yet; therefore
(the divinity must have reasoned) from principles derived from
Intelligence. But if the premises were conceptions of Intelligence,
then it was impossible for knowledge and reasoning to have some
sense-thing as object, as reasoning that has intelligible principles
and conclusion could not result in producing a conception of the
sense-(world). Therefore the foresight which presided over the creation
of a living being or of a whole world could not have been the result of
reasoning.[69]


BOTH REASONING AND FORESIGHT ARE ONLY FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS.

There is indeed no reasoning in the divinity. When we speak of it,
in connection with the divinity, it is only to explain that He has
regulated everything as might have been done by some wise man, who
would have reasoned about results. Attributing foresight to the
divinity indicates merely that He has disposed everything as might have
been done by some wise man who had foreseen results.[70] Indeed the
only use of reasoning is to put in order things whose existence is not
anterior to that of reasoning, every time that that (Intelligence),
the power superior to reasoning, is not strong enough. Likewise,
prevision is necessary in this case, because he who makes use of it
does not possess a power that would enable him to forego or do without
it. Prevision proposes to effect some one thing instead of another,
and seems to fear that that which it desires might not occur. But,
for a (being) which can do but one thing, both foresight and the
reasoning that decides between contraries, are useless; for there is
no need of reasoning when, of two contrary courses of action, one only
is possible. How would the Principle which is single, unitary and
simple, have need to reflect that He must do one thing, so that some
other might not take place, or to judge that the second would occur as
alternative to the first? How could He say that experience has already
demonstrated the utility of some one thing, and that it is well to make
use of it? If the divinity acted thus, then indeed would He have had
recourse to prevision, and consequently, to reasoning. It is on this
hypothesis that we said above that the divinity gave animals senses
and faculties; but it is quite a problem to know what and how He really
gave them.


IN GOD ALL THINGS WERE SIMULTANEOUS, THOUGH WHEN REALIZED THEY
DEVELOPED.

Indeed, if it be admitted that in the divinity no actualization is
imperfect, if it be impossible to conceive in Him anything that is not
total or universal, each one of the things that He contains comprises
within Himself all things. Thus as, to the divinity, the future is
already present, there could not be anything posterior to Him; but what
is already present in Him becomes posterior in some other (being). Now
if the future be already present in the divinity, it must be present
in Him as if what will happen were already known; that is, it must be
so disposed as to find itself sufficiently provided for, so as not to
stand in need of anything. Therefore, as all things existed already
within the divinity (when living beings were created), they had been
there from all eternity; and that in a manner such that it would later
be possible to say, "this occurred after that." Indeed, when the things
that are in the divinity later develop and reveal themselves, then one
sees that the one is after the other; but, so far as they exist all
together, they constitute the universal (Being), that is, the principle
which includes its own cause.


IN THE INTELLIGIBLE, EVERYTHING POSSESSES ITS REASON AS WELL AS ITS
FORM.

2. (By this process) we also know the nature of Intelligence, which
we see still better than the other things, though we cannot grasp
its magnitude. We admit, in fact, that it possesses the whatness
(essence[71]), of everything, but not its "whyness" (its cause); or,
if we grant (that this "cause" be in Intelligence), we do not think
that it is separated (from its "whatness" (or, essence[72]). Let
us suppose that, for instance, the man, or, if possible, the eye,
should offer itself to our contemplation (in the intelligible world)
as a statue, or as a part of it, would do. The man that we see on
high is both essence[73] and cause. As well as the eye, he must be
intellectual, and contain his cause. Otherwise, he could not exist in
the intelligible world. Here below, just as each part is separated from
the others, so is the cause separated (from the essence). On high, on
the contrary, all things exist in unity, and each thing is identical
with its cause. This identity may often be noticed even here below, as
for instance, in eclipses.[74] It would therefore seem probable that
in the intelligible world everything would, besides the rest, possess
its cause, and that its cause constitutes its essence. This must be
admitted; and that is the reason why those who apply themselves to
grasp the characteristic[75] of each being succeed (in also grasping
its cause). Indeed that which each (being) is, depends on the "cause of
such a form."[76] To repeat: not only is a (being's) form its cause,
(which is incontestable), but yet, if one analyses each form considered
in itself, its cause will be found. The only things which do not
contain their causes are those whose life is without reality, and whose
existence is shadowy.


INTELLIGENCE CONTAINS THE CAUSE OF ALL ITS FORMS.

What is the origin of the cause of what is a form, which is
characteristic of Intelligence? It is not from Intelligence, because
the form is not separable from Intelligence, combining with it to form
one single and same thing. If then Intelligence possess the forms
in their fulness, this fulness of forms implies that they contain
their cause. Intelligence contains the cause of each of the forms it
contains. It consists of all these forms taken together, or separately.
None of them needs discovery of the cause of its production, for
simultaneously with its production, it has contained the cause of its
hypostatic existence. As it was not produced by chance, it contains all
that belongs to its cause; consequently, it also possesses the whole
perfection of its cause. Sense-things which participate in form do not
only receive their nature from it, but also the cause of this nature.
If all the things of which this universe is composed be intimately
concatenated; and if the universe, containing all things, also contain
the cause of each of them; if its relation with them be the same as
that of the body with its organs, which do not mature successively, but
which, towards each other, are mutually related as cause and effect;
so much the more, in the intelligible world, must things have their
"causes," all of them in general in respect to the totality, and each
independently in respect to itself.


IN THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD EACH BEING IS ACCOMPANIED BY ITS WHYNESS.

Since all intelligible (entities) have a hypostatic consubstantial
existence affording no room for chance; and as they are not separated
from each other, things that are caused must bear these their causes
within themselves, and each of them has some sort of a cause, though
without really possessing one. If there be no cause for the existence
of the intelligibles; and if, though isolated from all causes, they be
self-sufficient; it can only be because they carry their cause along
with them, when they are considered in themselves. As they contain
nothing fortuitous, and as each of them is manifold, and as its cause
is all that they contain, we might assign this cause to themselves.
Thus in the intelligible world "being" is preceded, or rather
accompanied by its cause, which is still more "being" than cause,
or rather which becomes identified with it. What superfluousness,
indeed, could there be in intelligence, unless its conceptions
resemble imperfect productions? If its conceptions be perfect, one
could neither discover what they lack, nor define their cause, and,
since they possess everything, they also possess their cause. There,
"being" and cause are united; the presence of both is recognized
in each conception, in each actualization of intelligence. Let us,
for instance, consider the intelligible Man; he seems complete, in
his totality; all his attributes were his simultaneously from the
beginning; he was always entirely complete. It is the characteristic
of that which is generated not always to be what it ought to be, and
to need to acquire something. The intelligible Man is eternal; he is
therefore always complete; but that which becomes man must be generated
(being).


INTELLIGENCE DID NOT DELIBERATE BEFORE MAKING SENSE-MAN.

3. But why could Intelligence not have deliberated before producing
the sense-man? The (man we know by our senses) was (created) by
similitude to the (intelligible Man), nothing can be added to him,
nothing subtracted. It is a mere supposition to say that Intelligence
deliberates and reasons. The theory that things were created, implies
preliminary deliberation and reasoning; but (the latter becomes
impossible) in the case of eternal generation, for that which
originates eternally,[77] cannot be the object of a deliberation.
Intelligence could not deliberate without having forgotten the course
it had followed before; it cannot improve later on without implying
that its beginnings were not perfectly beautiful; had they been this,
they would have remained so. If things be beautiful, it is that they
represent their cause well; for even here below an object is beautiful
only if it possess all its legitimate possessions; that is, if it
possess its proper form. It is the form that contains everything;
the form contains the matter, in the sense that it fashions matter,
and leaves nothing formless therein. But it would contain something
formless if a man lacked some part, as, for instance, an organ such as
the eye.


BEING CONTAINS ITS CAUSE.

Thus, a thing is fully explained by the clearing up of its cause. Why
should there be eyebrows above the eye? That it may possess all that
is implied in its being. Were these parts of the body given to man to
protect him from dangers? That would be to establish within being a
principle charged to watch over being. The things of which we speak
are implied in the being that existed before them. Consequently, being
contains within itself the cause which, if distinct from being, is
nevertheless inseparable therefrom. All things are implied in each
other[100]; taken together, they form the total, perfect and universal
Being; their perfection is bound up with, and is inherent in their
cause; thus a (creature's) "being," its "characteristic" (to ti ên
einai), and its "cause" (why-ness) fall together. (Before asking an
important question we must premiss that) in the intelligible world
the cause that is complementary to a being is ultimately united to
it. We must also premiss that, by virtue of its perfection, divine
Intelligence contains the causes (as well as the beings[78]), so
that it is only "a posteriori" that we observe that things are well
regulated. If then the possession of senses, and indeed of particular
ones, be implied in the form of man by the eternal necessity and
perfection of divine Intelligence, then the intelligible Man was by
no means mere intelligence, receiving the senses when descending into
generation. (If then having senses be implied in the form of man), does
not Intelligence incline towards the things here below? In what do
these senses (which are attributed to the intelligible Man) consist?
Are these senses the potentiality of perceiving sense-objects? But it
would be absurd that, on high, man should from all eternity possess
the potentiality of feeling, yet feel only here below, and that this
potentiality should pass to actualization only when the soul became
less good (by its union to the body).


SUCH QUESTIONS DEMAND SCRUTINY OF THE INTELLIGIBLE MAN.

4. To answer these questions, we would have to go back to the nature
of the intelligible Man. Before defining the latter, however, it
would indeed be far better to begin by determining the nature of the
sense-man, on the supposition that we know the latter very well, while
perhaps of the former, we have only a very inexact notion.


DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MAN KNOWN BY THE SENSES AND THE INTELLIGIBLE MAN.

But there are some (Aristotelians or Peripatetics) who might think
that the intelligible Man and the sense-man form but one. Let us first
discuss this point. Does the sense-man have a being different from the
soul which produces him, and makes him live and reason? Is he the soul
that is disposed in some special manner? Is he the soul that uses the
body in some particular way? If man be a reasonable living organism,
and if the latter be composed of soul and body, this definition of man
will not be identical with that of the soul. If the man be defined as
being the composite of the reasonable soul and the body, how can he be
an immortal hypostatic existence? This definition suits the sense-man
only from the moment that the union of the soul and the body has
occurred; it expresses what will be, instead of setting forth what we
call the Man-in-himself; rather than being a real determination of his
characteristics, it would be only a description which would not reveal
the original being. Instead of defining form engaged in matter, it
indicates what is the composite of soul and body, after the union has
occurred. In this case, we do not yet know what is man considered in
his being, which is intelligible. To the claim that the definition of
sense-things should express something composite, it might be answered,
that we do acknowledge that we must not determine the consistence of
each thing. Now if it be absolutely necessary to define the forms
engaged in matter, we must also define the being that constitutes the
man; that is necessary especially for those (Peripateticians) who, by a
definition, mean a statement of a being's original "characteristics."


MAN DEFINED AS A REASONABLE SOUL.

What then is the "being" of man? This really is asking for the
"man-ness" of a man, something characteristic of him, and inseparable
from him. Is the genuine definition of a man that "he is a reasonable
animal"? Would not this rather be the definition of the composite
man? What is the being that produces the reasonable animal? In the
above definition of man, "reasonable animal" means "reasonable life";
consequently, man may be called the "reasonable life." But can life
exist without a soul? (No), for the soul will give the man reasonable
life; and in this case, instead of being a substance, man will be
only an actualization of the soul; or even, the man will be the soul
herself. But if man be the reasonable soul, what objection will there
be to his remaining man even when his soul should happen to pass into a
different body (as that of a brute animal)?


MAN AS A SOUL SUBSISTING IN A SPECIAL REASON.

5. Man must therefore have as "reason" (or, as essence), something else
than the soul. Still, in this case, man might be something composite;
that is, the soul would subsist in a particular "reason," admitting
that this "reason" was a certain actualization of the soul, though this
actualization could not exist without its producing principle. Now such
is the nature of the "seminal reasons." They do not exist without the
soul; for the generating reasons are not inanimate; and nevertheless
they are not the soul purely and simply. There is therefore nothing
surprising in the statement that these (human) beings are ("seminal)
reasons."


THESE REASONS ARE THE ACTUALIZATIONS OF THE SOUL WHICH BEGETS THE
ANIMAL.

Of which soul are these reasons,[79] which do not beget the man
(though they do beget the animal), then the actualization? Not of the
vegetative soul; they are the actualizations of the (reasonable) soul
which begets the animal,[80] which is a more powerful, and therefore
a more living soul. Man is constituted[81] by the soul disposed in
some manner, when present to matter disposed in some particular
fashion--since the soul is some particular thing, according as she is
in some particular disposition--even in the body. In the bodies, she
fashions a resembling form. So far as the nature of the body allows
it, she thus produces an image of the man, as the painter himself
makes an image of the body; she produces, I repeat, an inferior man
(the sense-man, the animal), which possesses the form of man, his
reasons, morals, dispositions, faculties, although in an imperfect
manner, because he is not the first man (the intellectual man). He has
sensations of another kind; sensations which, though they seem clear,
are obscure, if they be compared to the superior sensations of which
they are the images. The superior man (the reasonable man) is better,
has a diviner soul, and clearer sensations. It is he doubtless to whom
Plato refers (when he says, Man is the soul[82]); in his definition he
adds, "which makes use of the body," because the diviner man dominates
the soul which uses the body, and thus uses the body only in an
indirect manner.[83]


NATURE OF THE COMBINATION BEGOTTEN BY THE SOUL.

In fact, the soul attaches herself to the thing begotten by the soul,
because she was capable of feeling. The soul does this by vivifying it
more; or rather, the soul does not attach herself thereto, but draws it
to herself. She does not depart from the intelligible world, but even
while remaining in contact with it, she holds the inferior soul (which
constitutes the sense-man) suspended to herself; and by her reason she
blends herself with this reason (or, she unites herself to this being
by her "being"). That is why this man (known by the senses), who by
himself is obscure, is enlightened by this illumination.


THE THREE MEN IN EACH OF US.

6. What is the relation of the sense-power within the superior
Soul (or, in the rational soul)? Intelligible sensation perceives
(intelligible) objects that, speaking strictly, are not sensible,
and corresponds to the (intelligible) manner in which they are
perceivable. Thus (by this intelligible sense-power) the Soul perceives
the supersensual harmony and also the sensual, but in a manner such
as the sense-man perceives it, relating it so far as possible to the
superior harmony,[99] just as he relates the earthly fire to the
intelligible Fire, which is above, and which the superior Soul felt in
a manner suitable to the nature of this fire. If the bodies which are
here below were up there also, the superior Soul would feel them and
perceive them. The man who exists on high is a Soul disposed in some
particular manner, capable of perceiving these objects; hence the man
of the last degree (the sense-man) being the image of the intelligible
Man, has reasons (faculties) which are also images (faculties possessed
by the superior Man). The man who exists in the divine Intelligence
constitutes the Man superior to all men. He illuminates the second
(the reasonable man), who in his turn illuminates the third (the
sense-man). The man of this last degree somewhat possesses the two
others; he is not produced by them, he is rather united to them. The
man who constitutes us actualizes himself as the man of the last
degree. The third receives something of the second; and the second is
the actualization of the first.[84] Each man's nature depends on the
"man" according to whom he acts (the man is intellectual, reasonable,
or sensual according as he exercises intelligence, discursive reason,
or sensibility). Each one of us possesses the three men in one sense
(potentially); and does not possess them in another (in actualization;
that is, he does not simultaneously exercise intellect, reason, or
sense).


FATE OF THESE THREE MEN, IN BRUTALIZATION AND IN DIVINIZATION.

When the third life (the sense-power) which constitutes the third
man, is separated from the body, if the life that precedes it (the
discursive reason) accompany it without nevertheless being separated
from the intelligible world, then one may say that the second is
everywhere the third is. It might seem surprising that the latter, when
passing into the body of a brute, should drag along that part which
is the being of man. This being was all beings (potentially); only, at
different times, it acts through different faculties. So far as it is
pure, and is not yet depraved, it wishes to constitute a man, and it
is indeed a man that it constitutes; for to form a man is better (than
to form a brute), and it does what is best. It also forms guardians
of the superior order, but such as are still conformable to the being
constituent of manhood. The (intellectual) Man, who is anterior to this
being, is of a nature still more like that of the guardians, or rather,
he is already a divinity. The guardian attached to a divinity is an
image of him, as the sense-man is the image of the intellectual man
from whom he depends; for the principle to which man directly attaches
himself must not be considered as his divinity. There is a difference
here, similar to that existing between the souls, though they all
belong to the same order.[86] Besides, those guardians whom Plato
simply calls "guardians" (demons), should be called guardian-like, or
"demonic" beings.[87] Last, when the superior Soul accompanies the
inferior soul which has chosen the condition of a brute, the inferior
soul which was bound to the superior soul--even when she constituted
a man--develops the ("seminal) reason" of the animal (whose condition
she has chosen); for she possesses that "reason" in herself; it is her
inferior actualization.


ANIMAL SEMINAL REASONS MAY BE CONTRARY TO SOUL'S NATURE; THOUGH NOT TO
THE SOUL HERSELF.

7. It may however be objected that if the soul produce the nature of a
brute only when she is depraved and degraded, she was not originally
destined to produce an ox or a horse; then the ("seminal) reason" of
the horse, as well as the horse itself, will be contrary to the nature
(of the soul). No: they are inferior to her nature, but they are not
contrary to her. From her very origin, the soul was (potentially) the
("seminal) reason" of a horse or a dog. When permitted, the soul which
was to beget an animal, produces something better; when hindered, she
(only) produces what accords with the circumstances. She resembles the
artists who, knowing how to produce several figures, create either
the one they have received the order to create, or the one that is
most suited to the material at hand. What hinders the (natural and
generative) power of the universal Soul, in her quality of universal
("seminal) Reason," from sketching out the outlines of the body, before
the soul powers (or, individual souls) should descend from her into
matter? What hinders this sketch from being a kind of preliminary
illumination of matter? What would hinder the individual soul from
finishing (fashioning the body sketched by the universal Soul),
following the lines already traced, and organizing the members pictured
by them, and becoming that which she approached by giving herself some
particular figure, just as, in a choric ballet, the dancer confines
himself to the part assigned to him?


THE SENSE-WORLD AND THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD ARE CONNECTED BY THE
MANIFOLD TRIPLE NATURE OF MAN.

Such considerations have been arrived at merely as result of
scrutiny of the consequences of the principles laid down. Our
purpose was to discover how sensibility occurs in the man himself,
without intelligible things falling into generation. We recognized
and demonstrated that intelligible things do not incline towards
sense-things, but that, on the contrary, it is the latter that aspire
and rise to the former, and imitate them; that the sense-man derives
from the intellectual man the power of contemplating intelligible
entities, though the sense-man remain united to sense-things, as the
intellectual man remains united to the intelligible entities. Indeed,
intelligible things are in some respects sensual; and we may call them
such because (ideally) they are Bodies, but they are perceived in a
manner different from bodies. Likewise, our sensations are less clear
than the perception which occurs in the intelligible world, and that
we also call Sensation, because it refers to Bodies (which exist on
high only in an ideal manner). Consequently, we call the man here below
sensual because he perceives less well things which themselves are less
good; that is, which are only images of intelligible things. We might
therefore say that sensations here below are obscure thoughts, and that
the Thoughts on high are distinct Sensations. Such are our views about
sensibility.


INTELLIGIBLE ANIMALS DO NOT INCLINE TOWARDS THE SENSE-WORLD FOR THEY
ARE PRE-EXISTING, AND ARE DISTINCT FROM THEIR CREATING IMAGE.

8. (Now let us pass to the other question we asked). How does it
happen that all the Animals who, like the Horse itself, are contained
in divine Intelligence, do not incline towards the things here below
(by generating them)? Doubtless, to beget a horse, or any other animal
here below, divine Intelligence must hold its conception; nevertheless
it must not be believed that it first had the volition of producing
the horse, and only later its conception. Evidently, it could not have
wished to produce the horse, but because it already had the conception
thereof; and it could not have had the conception thereof but because
it had to produce the horse. Consequently, the Horse who was not
begotten preceded the horse who later was to be begotten. Since the
first Horse has been anterior to all generation, and was not conceived
to be begotten, it is not because the divine Intelligence inclines
towards the things here below, nor because it produces them, that it
contains the intelligible Horse and the other beings. The intelligible
entities existed already in Intelligence (before it begat) and the
sense-things were later begotten by necessary consequence; for it was
impossible that the procession should cease with the intelligibles. Who
indeed could have stopped this power of the (Intelligence) which is
capable of simultaneous procession, and of remaining within itself?


IRRATIONAL ANIMALS MUST EXIST WITHIN INTELLIGENCE, UNLESS MAN ALONE WAS
TO EXIST.

But why should these Animals (devoid of reason) exist in the divine
Intelligence? We might understand that animals endowed with reason
might be found within it; but does this multitude of irrational animals
seem at all admirable? Does it not rather seem something unworthy of
the divine Intelligence? Evidently the essence which is one must be
also manifold, since it is posterior to the Unity which is absolutely
simple; otherwise, instead of being inferior to it, it would fuse
with it. Being posterior to that Unity, it could not be more simple,
and must therefore be less so. Now as the unity was the One who is
excellent, essence had to be less unitary, since multiplicity is the
characteristic of inferiority. But why should essence not be merely
the "pair" (instead of the manifold)? Neither of the elements of the
Pair could any longer be absolutely one, and each would itself become a
further pair; and we might point out the same thing of each of the new
elements (in which each element of the primary Pair would have split
up). Besides, the first Pair contains both movement and stability; it
is also intelligence and perfect life. The character of Intelligence
is not to be one, but to be universal; it therefore contains all the
particular intelligences; it is all the intelligences, and at the
same time it is something greater than all. It possesses life not as
a single soul, but as a universal Soul, having the superior power of
producing individual souls. It is besides the universal living Organism
(or, Animal); consequently, it should not contain man alone (but also
all the other kinds of animals); otherwise, man alone would exist upon
the earth.


MANY ANIMALS ARE NOT SO IRRATIONAL AS DIFFERENT.

9. It may be objected that Intelligence might (well) contain the
ideas of animals of a higher order. But how can it contain the ideas
of animals that are vile, or entirely without reason? For we should
consider vile every animal devoid of reason and intelligence, since it
is to these faculties that those who possess them owe their nobility.
It is doubtless difficult to understand how things devoid of reason
and intelligence can exist in the divine Intelligence, in which are
all beings, and from which they all proceed. But before beginning the
discussion of this question, let us assume the following verities as
granted: Man here below is not what is man in the divine Intelligence,
any more than the other animals. Like them, in a higher form, he dwells
within (the divine Intelligence); besides, no being called reasonable
may be found within it, for it is only here below that reason is
employed; on high the only acts are those superior to discursive
reason.[88]

Why then is man here below the only animal who makes use of reason?
Because the intelligence of Man, in the intelligible world, is
different from that of other animals, and so his reason here below must
differ from their reason; for it can be seen that many actions of other
animals imply the use of judgment.

(In reply, it might be asked) why are not all animals equally
rational? And why are not all men also equally rational? Let us
reflect: all these lives, which represent as many movements; all
these intelligences, which form a plurality; could not be identical.
Therefore they had to differ among each other, and their difference
had to consist in manifesting more or less clearly life and
intelligence; those that occupy the first rank are distinguished by
primary differences; those that occupy the second rank, by secondary
differences; and so forth. Thus, amidst intelligences, some constitute
the divinities, others the beings placed in the second rank, and
gifted with reason; further, other beings that we here call deprived
of reason and intelligence really were reason and intelligence in the
intelligible world. Indeed, he who thinks the intelligible Horse, for
instance, is Intelligence, just as is the very thought of the horse.
If nothing but thought existed, there would be nothing absurd in that
this thought, while being intellectual, might, as object, have a being
devoid of intelligence. But since thought and the object thought fuse,
how could thought be intellectual unless the object thought were so
likewise? To effect this, Intelligence would, so to speak, have to
render itself unintelligent. But it is not so. The thing thought is
a determinate intelligence, just as it is a determinate life. Now,
just as no life, whatever it be, can be deprived of vitality, so no
determinate intelligence can be deprived of intellectuality. The very
intelligence which is proper to an animal, such as, for instance, man,
does not cease being intelligence of all things; whichever of its
parts you choose to consider, it is all things, only in a different
manner; while it is a single thing in actualization, it is all things
in potentiality. However, in any one particular thing, we grasp only
what it is in actualization. Now what is in actualization (that is, a
particular thing), occupies the last rank. Such, in Intelligence, for
instance, is the idea of the Horse. In its procession, Intelligence
continues towards a less perfect life, and at a certain degree
constitutes a horse, and at some inferior degree, constitutes some
animal still inferior; for the greater the development of the powers of
Intelligence, the more imperfect these become. At each degree in their
procession they lose something; and as it is a lower degree of essence
that constitutes some particular animal, its inferiority is redeemed
by something new. Thus, in the measure that life is less complete in
the animal, appear nails, claws, or horns, or teeth. Everywhere that
Intelligence diminishes on one side, it rises on another side by the
fulness of its nature, and it finds in itself the resources by which to
compensate for whatever it may lack.


APPARENT IMPERFECTIONS ARE ONLY LOWER FORMS OF PERFECTION.

10. But how can there be anything imperfect in the intelligible world?
Why does the intelligible Animal have horns? Is it for its defense?[89]
To be perfect and complete. It is to be perfect as an animal, perfect
as intelligence, and perfect as life; so that, if it lack one quality,
it may have a substitute. The cause of the differences, is that
what belongs to one being finds itself replaced in another being by
something else; so that the totality (of the beings) may result in the
most perfect Life, and Intelligence, while all the particular beings
which are thus found in the intelligible essence are perfect so far as
they are particular.


CO-EXISTENCE OF UNITY AND MULTIPLICITY DEMANDS ORGANIZATION IN SYSTEM.

The essence must be simultaneously one and manifold. Now it cannot be
manifold if all the things that exist within it be equal; it would
then be an absolute unity. Since therefore (essence) forms a composite
unity, it must be constituted by things which bear to each other
specific differences, such that its unity shall allow the existence of
particular things, such as forms and reasons (beings). The forms, such
as those of man, must contain all the differences that are essential
to them. Though there be a unity in all these forms, there are also
things more or less delicate (or highly organized), such as the eye or
the finger. All these organs, however, are implied in the unity of the
animal, and they are inferior only relatively to the totality. It was
better that things should be such. Reason (the essence of the animal)
is animal, and besides, is something different from the animal. Virtue
also bears a general character, and an individual one. The totality (of
the intelligible world) is beautiful, because what is common (to all
beings), does not offer any differences.


BUT HOW COULD THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD CONTAIN VEGETABLES OR METALS?

11. (The Timaeus of Plato[90]) states that heaven has not scorned to
receive any of the forms of the animals, of which we see so great
a number. The cause must be that this universe was to contain the
universality of things. Whence does it derive all the things it
contains? From on high? Yes, it received from above all the things that
were produced by reason, according to an intelligible form. But, just
as it contains fire and water, it must also contain plant-life. Now,
how could there be plant-life in the intelligible world? Are earth and
fire living entities within it? For they must be either living or dead
entities; in the latter case, not everything would be alive in the
intelligible world. In what state then do the above-mentioned objects
find themselves on high (in the intelligible world)?

First it can be demonstrated that plants contain nothing opposed to
reason; since, even here below, a plant contains a "reason" which
constitutes its life.[91] But if the essential "reason" of the plant,
which constitutes it, is a life of a particular kind, and a kind of
soul, and if this "reason" itself be a unity, is it the primary Plant?
No: the primary Plant, from which the particular plant is derived, is
above that "reason." The primary Plant is unity; the other is multiple,
and necessarily derives from this unity. If so, the primary Plant must
possess life in a still higher degree, and be the Plant itself from
which the plants here below proceed, which occupy the second or third
rank, and which derive from the primary Plant the traces of the life
they reveal.


HOW THE EARTH EXISTS IN THE INTELLIGIBLE.

But how does the earth exist in the intelligible world? What is its
essence? How can the earth in the intelligible world be alive there?
Let us first examine our earth, that is, inquire what is its essence?
It must be some sort of a shape, and a reason; for the reason of the
plant is alive, even here below. Is there then a living ("seminal)
reason" in the earth also? To discover the nature of the earth,
let us take essentially terrestrial objects, which are begotten or
fashioned by it. The birth of the stones, and their increase, the
interior formation of mountains, could not exist unless an animated
reason produced them by an intimate and secret work. This reason is
the "form of the earth,"[92] a form that is analogous to what is
called nature in trees. The earth might be compared to the trunk of a
tree, and the stone that can be detached therefrom to the branch that
can be separated from the trunk. Consideration of the stone which is
not yet dug out of the earth, and which is united to it as the uncut
branch is united to the tree, shows that the earth's nature, which
is a productive force, constitutes a life endowed with reason; and
it must be evident that the intelligible earth must possess life at
a still higher degree, that the rational life of the earth is the
Earth-in-itself, the primary Earth, from which proceeds the earth here
below.


THE FIRE AS IT IS IN THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD.

If fire also be a reason engaged in matter, and in this respect
resemble the earth, it was not born by chance. Whence would it
come?[93] Lucretius thought it came from rubbing (sticks or stones).
But fire existed in the universe before one body rubbed another;
bodies already possess fire when they rub up against one another; for
it must not be believed that matter possesses fire potentially, so
that it is capable of producing it spontaneously. But what is fire,
since the principle which produces the fire, giving it a form, must
be a "reason"? It is a soul capable of producing the fire, that is, a
"reason" and a life, which (fuse) into one thing. That is why Plato
says that in every object there is a soul[94]; that is, a power capable
of producing the sense-fire. Thus the principle which produces the fire
in our world is a "fiery life," a fire that is more real than ours.
Since then the intelligible Fire is a fire more real than ours, it also
possesses a moral life. The Fire-in-itself therefore possesses life.
There is a similar "reason" in the other elements, air and water. Why
should not these things be as animated as earth is? They are evidently
contained in the universal living Organism, and they constitute parts
thereof. Doubtless life is not manifest in them, any more than in the
earth; but it can be recognized in them, as it is recognized in the
earth, by its productions; for living beings are born in the fire, and
still more in the water, as is better known; others also are formed
in the air. The flames that we daily see lit and extinguished do not
manifest in the universal Soul (because of the shortness of their
duration); her presence is not revealed in the fire, because she does
not here below succeed in reaching a mass of sufficient permanency.


WATER AND AIR AS INTELLIGIBLE ENTITIES.

It is not otherwise with water and air. If by their nature these
elements were more consistent, they would reveal the universal Soul;
but as their essence is dispersed, they do not reveal the power that
animates them. In a similar case are the fluids occurring in our body,
as, for instance, the blood; the flesh, which seems animated, is formed
at the expense of the blood.[95] The latter must therefore enjoy the
presence of the soul, though it seem deprived of the (soul) because
(the blood) manifests no sensibility, opposes no resistance, and by its
fluidity easily separates itself from the soul that vivifies it, as
happens to the three elements already mentioned. Likewise the animals
which Nature forms out of condensed air feel without suffering.[96] As
fixed and permanent light penetrates the air so long as the air itself
is permanent, the soul also penetrates the atmosphere surrounding her
without being absorbed by it. Other elements are in the same case.


THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD IS A COMPLETE MODEL OF THIS OUR UNIVERSE.

12. We therefore repeat that since we admit that our universe is
modeled on the intelligible World, we should so much the more recognize
that the latter is the universal living Organism, which constitutes
all things because it consists of perfect essence. Consequently in the
intelligible world, the heavens also are an animated being, not even
lacking what here below are called the stars; indeed the latter are
what constitutes the heavens' essence. Neither is the Earth on high
something dead; for it is alive, containing all the Animals that walk
on the ground, and that are named terrestrial, as well as Vegetation
whose foundation is life. On high exist also the Sea and the Water in
universal condition, in permanent fluidity and animation, containing
all the Animals that dwell in the water. Air also forms part of the
intelligible world, with the Animals that inhabit the air, and which on
high possess a nature in harmony with it. How indeed could the things
contained in a living being not also themselves be living beings?
Consequently they are also such here below. Why indeed should not all
the animals necessarily exist in the intelligible World? The nature of
the great parts of this world indeed necessarily determines the nature
of the animals that these parts contain. Thus from the "having" and
"being" (existence and nature) of the intelligible world is derived
that of all the beings contained therein. These things imply each
other. To ask the reason for the existence of the Animals contained in
the intelligible world, is to ask why exists this very world itself,
or the universal living Organism, or, what amounts to the same thing,
why exist the universal Life, the universal Soul, in which are found no
fault, no imperfection, and from which everywhere overflows the fulness
of life.


ALL THINGS UNITED BY A COMMON SOURCE.

All these things derive from one and the same source; it is neither a
breath nor a single heat; but rather a single quality, which contains
and preserves within itself all the qualities, the sweetness of the
most fragrant perfumes, the flavor of the wine, and of the finest tasty
juices, the gleam of the most flashing colors, the softness of the
objects which flatter touch with the greatest delicacy, the rhythm and
harmony of all the kinds of sounds which can charm the hearing.


SIMPLICITY OF THE INTELLIGIBLE DOES NOT DENY COMPOSITENESS, BUT INFERS
HEIGHT OF SOURCE.

13. Neither Intelligence, nor the Soul that proceeds therefrom, are
simple; both contain the universality of things with their infinite
variety, so far as these are simple, meaning that they are not
composite, but that they are principles and actualizations; for, in
the intelligible world, the actualization of what occupies the last
rank is simple; the actualization of what occupies the first rank is
universal. Intelligence, in its uniform movement, always trends towards
similar and identical things; nevertheless, each of them is identical
and single, without being a part; it is on the contrary universal,
because what, in the intelligible world, is a part, is not a simple
unit, but a unity that is infinitely divisible. In this movement,
Intelligence starts from one object, and goes to another object which
is its goal. But does all that is intermediary resemble a straight
line, or to a uniform and homogeneous body? There would be nothing
remarkable about that; for if Intelligence did not contain differences,
if no diversity awoke it to life, it would not be an actualization; its
state would not differ from inactivity. If its movement were determined
in a single manner, it would possess but a single kind of (restricted)
life, instead of possessing the universal Life. Now it should contain
an universal and omnipresent Life; consequently, it must move, or
rather have been moved towards all (beings). If it were to move in a
simple and uniform manner, it would possess but a single thing, would
be identical with it, and no longer proceed towards anything different.
If however it should move towards something different, it would have
to become something different, and be two things. If these two things
were then to be identical, Intelligence would still remain one, and
there would be no progress left; if, on the contrary, these two things
were to be different, it would be proceeding with this difference, and
it would, by virtue of this difference joined to its divinity, beget
some third thing. By its origin, the latter is simultaneously identical
and different; not of some particular difference, but of all kinds
of difference, because the identity it contains is itself universal.
Thus being universal difference as well as universal identity, this
thing possesses all that is said to be different; for its nature
is to be universal differentiation (to spread over everything, to
become everything else). If all these differences preceded this
(Intelligence), the latter would be modified by them. If this be not
the case, Intelligence must have begotten all the differences, or
rather, be their universality.


INTELLIGENCE EVOLVES OVER THE FIELD OF TRUTH.

Essences ("beings") therefore cannot exist without an actualization
of Intelligence. By this actualization, after having produced some
("being"), Intelligence always produces some other one, somehow
carrying out the career which it is natural for veritable Intelligence
to carry out within itself; this career is that of the beings, of
which each corresponds to one of its evolutions, (or, it roams around
among beings, so that through its roaming around these beings unite
and form.) Since Intelligence is everywhere identical, its evolutions
imply permanence, and they make it move around the "field of truth"[97]
without ever issuing therefrom. It occupies this whole field, because
Intelligence has made itself the locality where its evolutions
operate, a locality which is identical with what it contains. This
field is varied enough to offer a career to be fulfilled; if it were
not universally and eternally varied, there would be a stopping-place
where variety would cease; and, were Intelligence to stop, it would
not think; and if it had never stopped, it would have existed without
thought (or, it would not exist). This however, is not the case;
therefore thought exists, and its universal movement produces the
fulness of universal "Being." Universal "Being," however, is the
thought that embraces universal Life, and which, after each thing, ever
conceives some other; because, since that which within it is identical
is all so different. It continually divides and ever finds something
different from the others. In its march, Intelligence ever progresses
from life to life, from animated (beings) to animated (beings); just
as some traveller, advancing on the earth, finds all that he travels
through to be earth, whatever variations thereof there may have been.
In the intelligible world, the life whose field one traverses is always
self-identical, but it is also always different. The result is that
(this sphere of operations) does not seem the same to us, because in
its evolution, which is identical, life experiences (or, traverses)
things which are not the same. That however does not change this life,
for it passes through different things in a uniform and identical
manner. If this uniformity and identity of Intelligence were not
applied to different things, Intelligence would remain idle; it would
no longer exist in actualization, and no more be actualization. Now
these different things constitute Intelligence itself. Intelligence is
therefore universal, because this universality forms its very nature.
Being thus universal, Intelligence is all things; there is nothing in
it which does not contribute to its universality; and everything is
different, so as to be able still to contribute to totality, by its
very difference. If there were no difference, if everything in it were
identical, the being of Intelligence would be diminished, inasmuch as
its nature would no more co-operate towards its harmonic consummation.


INTELLIGENCE CONTAINS THE INFINITE AS SIMULTANEOUSNESS OF ONE AND MANY
AND AS FRIENDSHIP.

14. By intellectual examples we can understand the nature of
Intelligence, and see that it could not be a unity which does not admit
any kind of difference. As example, consider the ("seminal) reason" of
a plant, and that of an animal. If it be only a unity, without any kind
of variety, it is not even a "reason," and what is born will be no more
than matter. This "reason" must therefore contain all the organs; and,
while embracing all matter, it must not leave any part of it to remain
identical with any other. For instance, the face does not form a single
mass; it contains the nose and the eyes. Nor is even the nose something
simple; it contains different parts whose variety make of it an organ;
if it were reduced to a state of absolute simplicity, it would be no
more than a mass. Thus Intelligence contains the infinite, because
it is simultaneously one and manifold; not indeed like a house, but
as is a ("seminal) reason" which is manifold interiorly. It contains
within, therefore, a sort of figure (or scheme) or even a picture, on
which are interiorly drawn or inscribed its powers and thoughts; their
division does not take place exteriorly, for it is entirely interior.
Thus the universal living Organism embraces other living beings,
within which may be discovered still smaller living beings, and still
smaller powers, and so on till we arrive at the "atomic form."[98]
All these forms are distinguished from each other by their division,
without ever having been confounded together, though they all occur in
the constitution of a single unity. Thus exists in the intelligible
world that union (by Empedocles) called "friendship"; but such union
is very different from that which exists in the sense-world.[163] In
fact, the latter is only the image of the first, because it is formed
of completely disparate elements. Veritable union however consists
in forming but a single (thing) without admitting of any separation
between (elements). Here below, however, objects are separated from
each other.


B. A STUDY OF THE GOOD.


ALL SOULS ARE UNITED BY THEIR HIGHEST, WITH INTELLIGENCE SHINING DOWN
FROM THE PEAK THEY FORM.

15. Who then will be able to contemplate this multiple and universal
Life, primary and one, without being charmed therewith, and without
scorning every other kind of life? For our lives here below, that
are so weak, impotent, incomplete, whose impurity soils other lives,
can be considered as nothing but tenebrous. As soon as you consider
these lives, you no longer see the others, you no longer live with
these other lives in which everything is living; which are relieved
of all impurity, and of all contact with evil. Indeed, evil reigns
here below only[164]; here where we have but a trace of Intelligence
and of the intelligible life. On the contrary, in the intelligible
world exists "that archetype which is beneficent (which possesses the
form of Good"), as says Plato,[101] because it possesses good by the
forms (that is, by the ideas). Indeed, the absolute Good is something
different from the Intelligence which is good only because its life
is passed in contemplating the Good. The objects contemplated by
Intelligence are the essences which have the form of Good, and which
it possesses from the moment it contemplates the Good. Intelligence
receives the Good, not such as the Good is in itself, but such as
Intelligence is capable of receiving it. The Good is indeed the
supreme principle. From the Good therefore, Intelligence derives its
perfection; to the Good Intelligence owes its begetting of all the
intelligible entities; on the one hand, Intelligence could not consider
the Good without thinking it; on the other, it must not have seen in
the Good the intelligible entities, otherwise, Intelligence itself
could not have begotten them. Thus Intelligence has, from the Good,
received the power to beget, and to fill itself with that which it has
begotten.[102] The Good does not Himself possess the things which He
thus donates; for He is absolutely one, and that which has been given
to Intelligence is manifold. Incapable in its plenitude to embrace, and
in its unity to possess the power it was receiving, Intelligence split
it up, thus rendering it manifold, so as to possess it at least in
fragments. Thus everything begotten by Intelligence proceeds from the
power derived from the Good, and bears its form; as intelligence itself
is good, and as it is composed of things that bear the form of Good, it
is a varied good. The reader may be assisted in forming a conception of
it by imagining a variegated living sphere, or a composite of animated
and brilliant faces. Or again, imagine pure souls, pure and complete
(in their essence), all united by their highest (faculties), and then
universal Intelligence seated on this summit, and illuminating the
whole intelligible region. In this simile, the reader who imagines
it considers it as something outside of himself; but (to contemplate
Intelligence) one has to become Intelligence, and then give oneself a
panorama of oneself.


INTELLIGENCE CONTAINS ALL THINGS THAT ARE CONFORMED TO THE GOOD.

16. Instead of stopping at this multiple beauty, it must be abandoned
to rise (to the Good), the supreme principle. By reasoning not
according to the nature of our world, but according to that of the
universal Intelligence, we should with astonishment ask ourselves
which is the principle that has begotten it, and how it did so.[103]
Each one (of the essences contained in the Intelligence) is a
(particular) form, and somehow has its own type. As their common
characteristic is to be assimilated to the Good, the consequence is
that Intelligence contains all the things conformable to the Good. It
possesses therefore the essence which is in all things; it contains all
the animals, as well as the universal Life within them, and all the
rest.


THE GOOD IS NOT ONLY THE CAUSE OF BEING, BUT ITS INTUITION AS WELL.

Why must these things be considered as goods, when considered from
this point of view? The solution of this problem may be arrived at
from the following consideration. When for the first time Intelligence
contemplated the Good, this its contemplation split the Good's unity
into multiplicity. Though itself were a single being, this its thought
divided the unity because of its inability to grasp it in its entirety.
To this it may be answered that Intelligence was not yet such the first
time it contemplated the Good. Did it then contemplate the Good without
intelligence? Intelligence did not yet see the Good; but Intelligence
dwelt near it, was dependent on it, and was turned towards it.[104]
Having arrived at its fulness, because it was operating on high, and
was trending towards the Good, the movement of Intelligence itself led
it to its fulness; since then it was, no longer a single movement, but
a movement perfect and complete. It became all things, and possessing
self-consciousness, it recognized that itself was all things. It thus
became intelligence, which possesses its fulness so as to contain what
it should see, and which sees by the light that it receives from Him
from whom it derives what it sees. That is why the Good is said to be
not only the cause of "being," but rather the cause of the vision of
"being." As for sense-objects, the sun is the cause that makes them
exist, and renders them visible, as it is also the cause of vision,
and as however the sun is neither the vision nor the visible objects,
likewise the Good is the cause of being and of intelligence,[105] it
is a light in respect of the beings that are seen and the Intelligence
that sees them; but it is neither the beings nor the Intelligence; it
is only their cause; it produces thought by shedding its light on the
beings and on Intelligence. It is thus that Intelligence has arrived
to fulness, and that on arriving at fulness it has become perfect and
has seen. That which preceded its fulness is its principle. But it has
another principle (which is the Good), which is somewhat exterior to
it, and which gave it its fulness, and while giving it this fulness
impressed on it the form (of itself, the Good).


ALL IS INTELLIGENCE; BUT THIS IS DIFFERENTIATED INTO UNIVERSAL AND
INDIVIDUAL.

17. How can (these beings) exist within Intelligence, and constitute
it, if they were neither in that which has given, nor in that which
has received this fulness, since, before receiving its fulness from
the Good, Intelligence had not yet received (these beings)? It is
not necessary that a principle should itself possess what it gives;
in intelligible things, it suffices to consider the giver superior,
and the receiver inferior; that (giving and receiving) is the content
of generation in the order of veritable beings.[106] What occupies
the front rank must be in actualization; posterior things must be
in potentiality of what precedes them. What occupies the front rank
is superior to what occupies the second rank; the giver, likewise
is superior to the gift, because it is better. If then there be a
Principle anterior to actualization, it must be superior both to
actualization and to life; and because it gave life to Intelligence it
is more beautiful, still more venerable than Life. Thus Intelligence
received life, without necessity for the principle from which it
received life having had to contain any variety. Life is the impress
of Him who gave it, but it is not his life. When Intelligence
glanced towards Him, it was indeterminate; as soon as it fixed its
glance on Him, it was determined by Him, although He himself had no
determination. As soon indeed as Intelligence contemplated the One,
Intelligence was determined by Him, and from Him it received its
determination, limit and form. The form exists in the receiver; the
giver has none of it. This determination has not been imposed from
without on Intelligence as is the case for the limit imposed on some
magnitude; it is the determination characteristic of that Life, which
is universal, multiple and infinite, because it has radiated from
the supreme Nature. That Life was not yet the life of any particular
principle; otherwise, it would have been determined as an individual
life. Nevertheless it has been determined, and by virtue of that
determination it is the life of a multiple unity. Each one of the
things that constitute its multiplicity has likewise been determined.
Indeed, life has been determined as multiplicity (of beings) because of
its own multiplicity; as unity, because of the very determination it
has received. What has been determined as unity? Intelligence, because
it is the determined life. What was determined as multiplicity? The
multiplicity of intelligences. Everything therefore is intelligence;
only, the Intelligence that is one is universal; while the
intelligences which form multiplicity are individual.


MULTIPLICITY OF INTELLIGENCES IMPLIES THEIR MUTUAL DIFFERENCES.

If universal Intelligence comprises all the individual intelligences,
might not the latter all be identical? No, for then there would be but
one of them. The multiplicity of the intelligences implies therefore a
difference between them.[107] But how does each differ from the others?
Its difference resides in its being one; for there is no identity
between the universal Intelligence, and any particular intelligence.
Thus, in Intelligence, life is universal power; the vision which
emanates from it is the power of all things; and then Intelligence
itself, when it is formed, manifests all these things to us. He who
is seated above all of them is their principle, though they do not
serve Him as foundation; for, on the contrary, He is the foundation
of the form of the first forms, without Himself having any forms. In
respect to the Soul, Intelligence plays the part that the First plays
in respect to Intelligence; Intelligence sheds its light on the Soul,
and, to determine her, rationalizes her by communicating that of which
itself is the trace. The Intellect, therefore, is the trace of the
First; and while it is a form which develops in plurality, the First
has no shape nor form, so as to give form to all the rest. If itself
were a form, Intelligence would be nothing more than the "reason"
(the soul).[108] That is why the First could not have contained any
multiplicity; otherwise, its multiplicity itself would have had to be
traced to some superior principle.


LIFE, INTELLIGENCE, AND IDEA BEAR THE FORM OF THE GOOD.

18. In what respects do the (entities) which are contained by
Intelligence seem to bear the form of the Good? Is it because each of
them is a form, or because each is beautiful, or perhaps for some other
reason? All that proceeds from the Good bears its characteristics or
impressions, or at least bears something derived from it, just as that
which is derived from the fire bears a trace of the fire,[109] and as
that which is derived from sweetness somehow betrays it. Now that,
which, in Intelligence, is derived from the Good is life, for life is
born from the actualization of the Good, and from Him again is derived
the beauty of forms. Therefore all these things, life, intelligence,
and idea will bear the form of Good.


THIS FORM OF THE GOOD MAY, HOWEVER, EXIST AT VARYING DEGREES.

But what element is common to them? It does not suffice for them to
proceed from the Good to have something identical; they must also have
some common characteristic; for a same principle may give rise to
different things; or again, one and the same thing may become different
while passing from the giving principle into the receivers; for there
is a difference between that which constitutes the first actualization,
and that which is given thereby. Thus, that which is in the things of
which we speak is already different. Nothing hinders the characteristic
of all these things (in life, intelligence and idea) from being the
form of Good, but this form exists at different degrees in each of them.


INTELLIGENCE AND LIFE ARE ONLY DIFFERENT DEGREES OF THE SAME REALITY.

In which of these things does the form of the Good inhere in the
highest degree? The solution of this problem depends on the following
one. Is life a good merely as such, even if it were life pure and
simple? Should we not rather limit that word "life" to the life which
derives from the Good, so that mere proceeding from the Good be a
sufficient characterization of life? What is the nature of this life?
Is it the life of the Good? No: life does not belong to the Good; it
only proceeds therefrom. If the characteristic of life be proceeding
from the Good, and if it be real life, evidently the result would be
that nothing that proceeds from the Good would deserve scorn, that
life as life should be considered good, that the same condition of
affairs obtains with the primary and veritable Intelligence, and that
finally each form is good and bears the form of Good. In this case,
each of these (life, intelligence and idea) possess a good which is
either common, or different, or which is of a different degree. Since
we have admitted that each of the above-mentioned things contains a
good in its being, then it is good chiefly because of this good. Thus
life is a good, not in so far as it is merely life, but in so far as
it is real life and proceeds from the Good. Intelligence likewise is
a good so far as it essentially is intelligence; there is therefore
some common element in life and intelligence. Indeed, when one and the
same attribute is predicated of different beings, although it form
an integral part of their being, it may be abstracted therefrom by
thought; thus from "man" and "horse" may be abstracted "animal"; from
"water" and "fire," "heat"; but what is common in these beings is a
genus, while what is common in intelligence and life, is one and the
same thing which inheres in one in the first degree, and in the other
in the second.


IS THE WORD GOOD A COMMON LABEL OR A COMMON QUALITY?

Is it by a mere play on words that life, intelligence and ideas are
called good? Does the good constitute their being, or is each good
taken in its totality? Good could not constitute the being of each
of them. Are they then parts of the Good? The Good, however, is
indivisible. The things that are beneath it are good for different
reasons. The primary actualization (that proceeds from the Good) is
good; likewise, the determination it receives is good, and the totality
of both things is good. The actualization is good because it proceeds
from the Good; the determination, because it is a perfection that
has emanated from the Good; and the combination of actualization and
determination because it is their totality. All these things thus are
derived from one and the same principle, but nevertheless they are
different. Thus (in a choric ballet) the voice and the step proceed
from one and the same person, in that they are all perfectly regulated.
Now they are well regulated because they contain order and rhythm.
What then is the content in the above-mentioned things that would make
them good? But perhaps it may be objected that if the voice and step
are well regulated, each one of them entirely owes it to some external
principle, since the order is here applied to the things that differ
from each other. On the contrary, the things of which we speak are each
of them good in itself. And why are they good? It does not suffice to
say that they are good because they proceed from the Good. Doubtless we
shall have to grant that they are precious from the moment that they
proceed from the Good, but reason demands that we shall determine that
of which their goodness consists.


GOOD CANNOT BE A DESIRE OF THE SOUL.

19. Shall the decision of what is good be entrusted to the desire
of the soul?[110] If we are to trust this affection of the soul, we
shall be declaring that whatever is desirable for her is good; but
we would not be seeking why the Good is desired. Thus, while we use
demonstrations to explain the nature of every entity, we would be
trusting to desire for the determination of the Good. Such a proceeding
would land us in several absurdities. First, the Good would only be an
attribute. Then, since our soul has several desires, and each of the
latter has different objects, we would not be able to decide which
of these objects would be the best, according to desire. It would be
impossible to decide what would be better before we know what is good.


NO NEED TO SEEK THE CAUSE OF GOOD AS IN THE INTELLIGIBLE THE CAUSE
COINCIDES WITH THE NATURE.

Shall we then define the good as the virtue characteristic of each
being (as say the Stoics)? In this case, by strictly following (the
course of dialectics) we would reduce the Good to being a form and a
reason. But, having arrived there, what should we answer if we were
asked on what grounds these things themselves are good? In imperfect
things, it seems easy to distinguish the good, even though it be not
pure; but in intelligible things we may not immediately succeed in
discovering the Good by comparison with the inferior things. As there
is no evil on high (in the intelligible world), and as excellent
things exist in themselves, we find ourselves embarrassed. Perhaps we
are embarrassed only because we seek the cause ("whyness") (of the
good), whereas the cause ("whyness") is here identical with the nature
("whatness"), as intelligible entities are good in themselves. Nor
would we have solved the problem if we were to assign some other cause
(of the Good), such as the divinity, to which our reason has not yet
forced us to repair. However, we cannot retire, and we must seek to
arrive by some other road to something satisfactory.


PYTHAGOREAN OPPOSITIONS ARE ALSO WORTHLESS AS EXPLANATIONS OF GOOD.

20. Since therefore we have given up desires as forms in the
determination of the nature and quality (of the good), shall we have
recourse to other rules, such as, for instance (the Pythagorean[104])
"oppositions," such as order and disorder, proportion and
disproportion, health and sickness, form and formlessness, being and
destruction, consistence and its lack? Who indeed would hesitate to
attribute to the form of good those characteristics which constitute
the first member of each of these opposition-pairs? If so, the
efficient causes of these characteristics will also have to be traced
to the good; for virtue, life, intelligence and wisdom are comprised
within the form of good, as being things desired by the soul that is
wise.


GOOD NOT DEFINED BY INTELLIGENCE, AS THE SOUL HAS OTHER ASPIRATIONS.

It will further be suggested (by followers of Aristotle) that we
stop at Intelligence, predicating goodness of it. For life and soul
are images of Intelligence. It is to Intelligence that the soul
aspires, it is according to Intelligence that the soul judges, it is
on Intelligence that the soul regulates herself, when she pronounces
that justice is better than injustice, in preferring every kind of
virtue to every kind of vice, and in holding in high estimation what
she considers preferable. Unfortunately, the soul does not aspire
to Intelligence exclusively. As might be demonstrated in a long
discussion, Intelligence is not the supreme goal to which we aspire,
and not everything aspires to Intelligence, whilst everything aspires
to the Good. The (beings) which do not possess intelligence do not
all seek to possess it, while those who do possess it, do not limit
themselves to it. Intelligence is sought only as the result of a train
of reasoning, whilst Good is desired even before reason comes into
play. If the object of desire be to live, to exist always, and to be
active, this object is not desired because of Intelligence, but because
of its being good, inasmuch as the Good is its principle and its goal.
It is only in this respect that life is desirable.


THE GOOD IS INTELLIGENCE AND PRIMARY LIFE.

21. What then is the one and only cause to whose presence is due the
goodness (of life, intelligence and idea)? Let us not hesitate to say:
Intelligence and primary Life bear the form of Good; it is on this
account alone that they are desirable; they bear the form of Good in
this respect, that the primary Life is the actualization of the Good,
or rather the actualization that proceeds from the Good, and that
intelligence is determination of this actualization. (Intelligence and
primary Life) are fascinating, and the soul seeks them because they
proceed from the Good; nevertheless the soul aspires to them (only)
because they fit her, and not because they are good in themselves. On
the other hand, the soul could not disdain them because they bear the
form of good; though[112] we can disdain something even though it be
suitable to us, if it be not a good besides.[112] It is true that we
permit ourselves to be allured by distant and inferior objects, and
may even feel for them a passionate love; but that occurs only when
they have something more than their natural condition, and when some
perfection descends on them from on high. Just as the bodies, while
containing a light mingled with their (substance), nevertheless need
illumination by some other light to bring out their colors,[113] so the
intelligible entities, in spite of the light that they contain, need to
receive some other more powerful light, so as to become visible, both
for themselves, and for others.


GOOD CONSISTS IN ILLUMINATION BY THE EXTREME.

22. When the soul perceives the light thus shed by the Good on
the intelligible entities, she flies towards them, tasting an
indescribable bliss in the contemplation of the light that illuminates
them. Likewise here below, we do not like the bodies for themselves,
but for the beauty that shimmers in them.[114] Each intelligible entity
owes its nature to none but to itself; but it only becomes desirable
when the Good, so to speak, illuminates and colors it, breathing
grace into the desired object, and inspiring love into the desiring
heart. As soon as the soul reacts to the influence of the Good, she
feels emotion, swells with fancy, is stung by desire, and love is born
within her.[115] Before reacting to the influence of good she feels no
transports when facing the beauty of Intelligence; for this beauty is
dead so long as it is not irradiated by the Good. Consequently the soul
still remains depressed and bowed down, cold and torpid, in front of
Intelligence. But as soon as she feels the gentle warmth of the Good,
she is refreshed, she awakes, and spreads her wings; and instead of
stopping to admire the Intelligence in front of her, she rises by the
aid of reminiscence to a still higher principle (the First). So long as
there is anything superior to what she possesses, she rises, allured
by her natural leaning for the Inspirer of love; so she passes through
the region of Intelligence, and stops at the Good because there is
nothing beyond. So long as she contemplates Intelligence, she surely
enjoys a noble and magnificent spectacle, but she does not yet fully
possess the object of her search. Such would be a human countenance,
which, in spite of its beauty, is not attractive, for lack of the
charm of grace. Beauty is, indeed, rather the splendor that enhalos
proportion, than proportion itself; and it is properly this splendor
which challenges love. Why indeed does beauty shine radiantly on the
face of a living person, and yet leave hardly a trace after death,
even when the complexion and features are not yet marred? Why, among
different statues, do the most life-like ones seem more beautiful than
others that may be better proportioned? Why is a living being, though
ugly, more beautiful than a pictured one, even though the latter were
the most handsome imaginable? The secret is that the living form seems
to us most desirable, because it possesses a living soul, because it is
most assimilated to the Good; because the soul is colored by the light
of the Good, and because, enlightened by the Good she is more wakeful
and lighter, and because in her turn she lightens the burdens, awakes,
and causes participation of the Good, so far as she may be able, in the
body within which she resides.


THE SUPREME IS THE GOOD BECAUSE OF HIS SUPREMACY.

23. Since it is this Principle which the soul pursues, which
illuminates Intelligence, and whose least trace arouses in us so great
an emotion, there is no ground for astonishment if it possess the power
of exerting its fascination on all beings, and if all rest in Him
without seeking anything beyond. If indeed everything proceeds from
this principle, then there is nothing better, and everything else is
below Him. Now, how could the best of beings fail to be the Good? If
the Good be entirely self-sufficient, and have need of nothing else,
what could it be except the One who was what He is before all other
things, when evil did not yet exist? If all evils be posterior to
Him, if they exist only in the objects that in no way participate in
the Good, and which occupy the last rank, if no evil exist among the
intelligibles, and if there be nothing worse than evil (just as there
is nothing better than the Good), then evils are in complete opposition
to this principle, and it could be nothing else. To deny the existence
of the Good, we would also have to deny the existence of evil; and
the result would be a complete indifference of choice between any two
particular things; which is absurd. All other things called good refer
to Him, while He refers to nothing else.


THE GOOD AS CREATOR AND PRESERVER.

But if this be the nature of the Good, what does He do? He made
Intelligence, and life. By the intermediation of Intelligence, He made
the souls and all the other beings that participate in Intelligence,
in Reason, or in Life. Moreover, who could express the goodness of Him
who is their source and principle? But what is He doing at the present
time? He preserves what He has begotten, He inspires the thought in
those who think, He vivifies the living, by His spirit,[116] He imparts
to all (beings) intelligence and life, and to those who are unable to
receive life, at least existence.


MANY FURTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GOOD; FOR THE INDIVIDUAL IT IS
ILLUMINATION.

24. And what is He doing for us? To answer this question, we would
still have to explain the light by which Intelligence is illuminated,
and in which the Soul participates. But we shall have to postpone this
discussion, and mention various other questions which may be asked.
Is the Good goodness, and does it receive this name because it is
desirable for some being? Is that which is desirable for some being the
good of this being, and do we call the Good that which is desirable
for all beings? Is being desirable not rather a simple characteristic
of the Good, and must not that which is desirable have a nature such
that it would deserve the name of Good?[117] Besides, do the beings
that desire the Good desire it because they receive from it something,
or merely because possession thereof causes bliss? If they do receive
something from it, what does it consist of? If the possession of the
Good give them joy, why should their joy come from possession of the
Good, rather than from possession of anything else? ls the Good such
by what is characteristic of it, or by something else? Is the Good an
attribute of some other being, or is the Good good for itself? Must not
the Good rather be good for others, without being good for itself? For
whom anyway is the Good good? For there is a certain nature (matter)
for which nothing is good.


ATTRIBUTING GOOD TO LIFE IS ONLY THE RESULT OF FEAR OF DEATH.

Nor can we ignore an objection raised by an opponent who is difficult
to convince (Plato's Philebus): "Well, my friends, what then is this
entity that you celebrate in such pompous terms, ceaselessly repeating
that life and intelligence are goods, although you said that the
Good is above them? What sort of a good might the Intellect be? What
sort of a good should (a man) have, who thinks the Ideas themselves,
contemplating everything in itself? Perhaps, indeed, a man, when he
enjoys these (Ideas and contemplations), might be deceived into calling
them a good merely because he happened to be in pleasant circumstances;
but should these circumstances become unpleasant, on what grounds would
he call them a good? Merely because they (possess) existence? But what
pleasure or benefit could this afford him? If he did not consider
self-love as the foundation thereof, what difference could there be
for him between existence and non-existence? It is therefore to this
natural physical error (of self-love), and to the fear of death, that
we must trace the cause of the ascription of good to intelligence and
life."[118]


PLATO'S ANSWER TO PHILEBUS: THERE ARE TWO GOODS, THE HUMAN AND THE
UNIVERSAL.

25. Plato therefore mingled the Good with pleasure, and did not
posit the Good exclusively in Intelligence, as he wrote in the
Philebus.[119] Appreciating this difficulty, he very rightly decided
on one hand that good did not consist in pleasure alone, and on the
other, that it did not consist in intelligence alone, inasmuch as he
failed to discover in it anything to arouse our desire. Perhaps Plato
had still another motive (in calling the Good a mixture), because he
thought that, with such a nature, the Good is necessarily full of
charm, desirable both for the seeker and the finder; whence it would
result that he who is not charmed has not found the Good, and that,
if he who desires be not happy, he evidently does not yet possess the
Good. It is not without a reason (that Plato formed this conception of
the Good); for he was not seeking to determine the universal Good, but
the good of man; and as such human good refers to (man, who is) a being
different from the absolute Good, then it becomes for him something
different from the Good in itself; and would therefore be defective and
composite. That is why (according to Plato), that which is alone and
single has no good, but is good in another and a higher sense.


THE ARISTOTELIAN SUPREME GOOD.[120]

The good must then be desirable; but it is good not because it is
desirable, but it is desirable because it is good.[121] Thus in the
order of beings, rising from the last to the First, it will be found
that the good of each of them is in the one immediately preceding,
so long as this ascending scale remain proportionate and increasing.
Then we will stop at Him who occupies the supreme rank, beyond which
there is nothing more to seek. That is the First, the veritable, the
sovereign Good, the author of all goodness in other beings. The good
of matter is form; for if matter became capable of sensation it would
receive it with pleasure. The good of the body is the soul; for without
her it could neither exist nor last. The good of the soul is virtue;
and then higher (waits), Intelligence. Last, the good of Intelligence
is the principle called the Primary nature. Each of these goods
produces something within the object whose good it is. It confers order
and beauty (as form does on matter); or life (as the soul does on the
body); or wisdom and happiness (as intelligence does on soul). Last,
the Good communicates to Intelligence its influx, and actualization
emanating from the Good, and shedding on Intelligence what has been
called the light of the Good. The nature of this we shall study later.


THE TRUE GOOD IMPLIES A COUNTERFEIT GOOD.

26. Recognition of goodness and so-called "possession" thereof consist
of enjoyment of the presence of good by the being who has received from
nature the faculty of sensation. How could it make a mistake about the
matter? The possibility of its being deceived implies the existence
of some counterfeit; in this case, the error of this being was caused
by that which resembled its good; for this being withdraws from what
had deceived it as soon as the Good presents itself. The existence of
a particular good for each being is demonstrated by its desire and
inclination. Doubtless, the inanimate being receives its good from
without; but, in the animated being, the desire spontaneously starts
to pursue the Good. That is why lifeless bodies are the objects of
solicitude and care of living beings, while the living beings watch
over themselves.


THE GOOD CANNOT BE PLEASURE WHICH IS CHANGEABLE AND RESTLESS.

Now when a being has attained the good it was pursuing it is sure of
possessing it as soon as it feels that it is better, feels no regret,
is satisfied, takes pleasure therein, and seeks nothing beyond. What
shows the insufficiency of pleasure is that one does not always like
the same thing; doubtless pleasure ever charms, but the object which
produces it is not the same; it is always the newest object that
pleases most. Now the good to which we aspire must not be a simple
affection, existing only in him who feels it; for he who mistakes
this affection for the Good remains unsatisfied, he has nothing but
an affection that somebody else might equally feel in presence of
the Good. Consequently no one will succeed in making himself enjoy a
pleasure he has not achieved[122]; such as, for instance, rejoicing in
the presence of an absent son; or, for a glutton to relish imaginary
food; or, for a lover, to tremble at the touch of his absent mistress,
or (to thrill in a theoretic) orgasm.


A THING'S GOOD IS ITS FORM; OR, ITS INTIMACY WITH ITSELF.

27. What is the essential of a being's nature? Form. Matter achieves
(recognition) through its form; and a soul's destiny is realized by the
virtue which is its form. Next we may ask whether this form be a good
for a being merely because it suits its (nature)? Does desire pursue
that which is suitable to it, or not? No: a being is suited by its
like; now, though a being seek and love its like, its possession does
not imply the possession of its good. Are we then not implying that
something is suitable to a being, on the strength of its being the good
of that being? The determination of what is suitable to a being belongs
to the superior Being of whom the lower being is a potentiality. When
a being is the potentiality of some other, the being needs the other;
now the Being which it needs because it is superior is, by that very
fact, its good. Of all things matter is the most indigent, and the form
suitable to it is the last of all; but, above it, one may gradually
ascend. Consequently, if a being be good for itself, so much the more
will it consider good what is its perfection and form, namely, the
being that is better than it, because of a superior nature, and of
supplying the good (of the lower being). But why should that which
a being receives from a superior Being be its good? Is it not this
because it is eminently suited to it? No: It is so merely because it is
a portion of the Good. That is why the purest and best Beings are those
that have most intimacy with themselves.[124] Besides it is absurd to
seek the cause why what is good, is good for itself; as if, by the mere
fact of its being good, it should betray its own nature and not love
itself. Nevertheless, speaking of simple beings, it might be asked
whether a being which does not contain several things different from
each other either possesses intimacy with itself, or can be good for
itself.


PLEASURE MAY ACCOMPANY THE GOOD, BUT THE GOOD IS INDEPENDENT THEREOF.

Now, if all that has been said be right, it is only a gradual upward
analysis that reveals the good that is suitable to the nature of
any being. Desire does not constitute the good, but is born from
its presence. Those who acquire the good receive something from it.
Pleasure accompanies the acquirement of good; but even should pleasure
not accompany the good, the good should, none the less be chosen, and
sought for its own sake.


MATTER IS IMPROVED BY FORM, THE DREAM OF THE GOOD.

28. Let us consider the implications of the principles we have studied.
If that which a being receives as good be everywhere a form, if the
good of matter be a form, we might ask ourselves whether matter,
granting it here the faculty of volition, would even wish to be a
form? Such a wish would be tantamount to a wish to be destroyed. (But
matter could not wish this), for every being seeks its own good. But
perhaps matter might not wish to be matter, but simply to be essence;
possessing which, matter would wish to free itself from all the evil
within it. But how can that which is evil (for such is the nature of
matter) desire the good?[125] Besides, we are not attributing desire
to matter itself. It was only to meet the exigencies of the discussion
that we employed the hypothesis which accorded sensibility to matter,
if indeed it can be granted to matter without destroying its nature.
We have at least shown that when form has come, as a dream of the
Good,[126] to unite itself to matter, the latter found itself in a
better condition.


MATTER IS NOT WICKEDNESS, BUT NEUTRAL EVIL.

All we have said above goes on the assumption that matter is the evil.
But if it were something else, as, for instance, malice, and if the
essence of matter were to receive sensation, would intimacy with what
is better still be the good of matter? But if it were not the malice
itself of matter which choose the good, it was what had become evil in
matter. If the essence (of matter) were identical with evil, how could
matter wish to possess this good? Would evil love itself, if it had
self-consciousness? But how could that which is not lovable be loved?
For we have demonstrated that a being's good does not consist in that
which is suitable to it. Enough about this, however.


THE GOOD IS A NATURE WHICH POSSESSES NO KIND OF FORM ITSELF.

But if the good be everywhere a form; if, in the measure that one
rises (along the ladder of beings), there is a progression in the
form--for the soul is more of a form than the form of the body; in the
soul herself there are graduated forms, and intelligence is more of a
form than the soul--the good follows a progression evidently inverse
to that of matter; the Good exists in that which is purified and
freed from matter, and exists there in proportion to its purity (from
matter); so it exists in the highest degree in that which lays aside
all materiality. Finally, the Good in itself, being entirely separated
from all matter; or rather, never having had any contact with it,
constitutes a nature which has no kind of form, and from which proceeds
the first form (Intelligence). But of this more later.[127]


THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE GOOD FROM PLEASURE PROVED BY THE TEMPERATE MAN.

29. Supposing then that the pleasure does not accompany the good, but
that anterior to pleasure there have existed something which would
have naturally given rise to it (because of its goodness); why then
might not the good be considered lovable? But the mere assertion that
good is lovable, already implies that it is accompanied by pleasure.
But supposing now that the good could exist without being lovable
(and consequently not accompanied by pleasure). In that case, even in
presence of the good, the being that possesses sensibility will not
know that the good is present. What would however hinder a being from
knowing the presence of the good without feeling any emotion at its
possession, which would exactly represent the case of the temperate
man who lacks nothing? The result would be that pleasure could not be
suitable to the First (being), not only because He is simple, but also
because pleasure results from the acquisition of what is lacking (and
the First lacks nothing, therefore could not feel pleasure).


EVEN SCORN OF LIFE IMPLIES THE EXISTENCE OF THE GOOD.

But, in order that this truth may appear in its full light, we shall
first have to clear away all the other opinions, and especially have
to refute the teaching opposite to ours. This is the question asked of
us: "What will be the fruit gathered by him who has the intelligence
necessary to acquire one of these goods (such as existence and life),
if on hearing them named, he be not impressed thereby, because he
does not understand them, either because they seem to him no more
than words, or because his conception of each of these things should
differ (from our view of them), or because in his search for the Good
he seeks some sense-object, such as wealth, or the like?" The person
who thus scorns these things (existence and life), thereby implicitly
recognizes that there is within him a certain good, but that, without
knowing in what it consists, he nevertheless values these things
according to his own notion of the Good; for it is impossible to say,
"that is not the good," without having some sort of knowledge of the
good,[128] or acquaintance therewith. The above speaker seems to betray
a suspicion that the Good in itself is above Intelligence. Besides, if
in considering the Good in itself, or the good which most approaches
it, he do not discern it, he will nevertheless succeed in getting a
conception of it by its contraries; otherwise, he would not even know
that the lack of intelligence is an evil, though every man desire to
be intelligent, and glory in being such, as is seen by the sensations
which aspire to become notions. If intelligence, and especially primary
Intelligence, be beautiful and venerable, what admiration might not
then be felt by him who could contemplate the generating principle,
the Father of Intelligence?[129] Consequently, he who affects to scorn
existence and life receives a refutation from himself and from all
the affections he feels. They who are disgusted of life are those who
consider not the true life, but the life which is mingled with death.


TWO INTERPRETATIONS OF PLATO'S OPINION ABOUT THE GOOD.

30. Now, rising in thought to the Good, we must examine whether
pleasure must be mingled with the Good to keep life from remaining
imperfect, even if we should, besides, contemplate the divine things,
and even Him who is their principle. When (Plato[119]) seems to
believe that the good is composed of intelligence, as subject, and
also of affection which wisdom makes the soul experience, he is not
asserting that this blend (of intelligence and pleasure) is either
the goal (of the soul), or the Good in itself. He only means that
intelligence is the good, and that we enjoy its possession. This is
a first interpretation of (Plato's) opinion about the Good. Another
interpretation is that to mingle intelligence with pleasure is to
make a single subject of both of them, so that in acquiring or in
contemplating such an intelligence we possess the good; for (according
to the partisans of this opinion), one of these things could not exist
in isolation, nor, supposing that it could so exist, it would not be
desirable as a good. But (shall we ask them), how can intelligence be
mingled with pleasure so as to form a perfect fusion therewith? Nobody
could be made to believe that the pleasure of the body could be mingled
with Intelligence; such pleasure is incompatible even with the joys of
the soul.


PLEASURE IS INDEED AN ACCESSORY TO ALL GOODS OF THE SOUL.

The element of truth in all this, however, is that every action,
disposition and life is joined by some accessory (pleasure or pain)
that unites with it. Indeed, sometimes action meets an obstacle to its
natural accomplishment, and life is affected by the mixture of a little
of its contrary, which limits its independence; sometimes, however,
action is produced without anything troubling its purity and serenity,
and then life flows along a tranquil course. Those who consider that
this state of intelligence is desirable, and preferable to everything
else, in their inability to express their thoughts more definitely,
say that it is mingled with pleasure. Such likewise is the meaning of
expressions used by those who apply to divine things terms intended
to express joy here below, and who say, "He is intoxicated with
nectar! Let us to the banquet! Jupiter smiles!"[130] This happy state
of intelligence is that which is the most agreeable, the most worthy
of our wishes, and of our love; nor is it transitory, and does not
consist in a movement; its principle is that which colors intelligence,
illumines it, and makes it enjoy a sweet serenity. That is why
Plato[131] adds to the mixture truth, and puts above it that which
gives measure. He also adds that the proportion and the beauty which
are in the mixture pass from there into the beautiful. That is the
good that belongs to us, that is the fate that awaits us. That is the
supreme object of desire, an object that we will achieve on condition
of drawing ourselves up to that which is best in us. Now this thing
full of proportion and beauty, this form composed (of the elements of
which we have spoken), is nothing else but a life full of radiance,
intelligence and beauty.


THE SOUL SCORNING ALL THINGS BELOW RISES TO THE GOOD.

31. Since all things have been embellished by Him who is above them,
and have received their light from Him; since Intelligence derives
from Him the splendor of its intellectual actualization; by which
splendor it illuminates nature; since from Him also the soul derives
her vital power, because she finds in Him an abundant source of life;
consequently, Intelligence has risen to Him, and has remained attached
to Him, satisfied in the bliss of His presence; consequently also the
soul, to the utmost of her ability, turned towards Him, for, as soon as
she has known Him and seen Him, she was, by her contemplation, filled
with bliss; and, so far as she could see Him, she was overwhelmed
with reverence. She could not see Him without being impressed with
the feeling that she had within herself something of Him; it was this
disposition of hers that led her to desire to see Him, as the image
of some lovable object makes one wish to be able to contemplate it
oneself. Here below, lovers try to resemble the beloved object, to
render their body more gracious, to conform their soul to their model,
by temperance and the other virtues to remain as little inferior as
possible to Him whom they love, for fear of being scorned by Him;
and thus they succeed in enjoying intimacy with Him.[132] Likewise,
the soul loves the Good, because, from the very beginning she is
provoked to love Him. When she is ready to love, she does not wait
for the beauties here below to give her the reminiscence of the Good;
full of love, even when she does not know what she possesses, she is
ever seeking; and inflamed with the desire to rise to the Good, she
scorns the things here below. Considering the beauties presented by
our universe, she suspects that they are deceptive, because she sees
them clothed upon with flesh, and united to our bodies, soiled by
the matter where they reside, divided by extension, and she does not
recognize them as real beauties, for she cannot believe that the latter
could plunge into the mire of these bodies, soiling and obscuring
themselves.[133] Last, when the soul observes that the beauties here
below are in a perpetual flux, she clearly recognizes that they derive
this splendor with which they shine, from elsewhere.[134] Then she
rises to the intelligible world; being capable of discovering what she
loves, she does not stop before having found it, unless she be made
to lose her love. Having arrived there, she contemplates all the true
beauties, the true realities[135]; she refreshes herself by filling
herself up with the life proper to essence. She herself becomes genuine
essence. She fuses with the Intelligible which she really possesses,
and in its presence she has the feeling (of having found) what she was
seeking so long.


THE AUTHOR OF THIS PERFECTION MUST BE ABOVE IT.

32. Where then is He who has created this venerable beauty, and this
perfect life? Where is He who has begotten "being"? Do you see the
beauty that shines in all these forms so various? It is well to dwell
there; but when one has thus arrived at beauty, one is forced to seek
the source of these essences and of their beauty. Their author Himself
cannot be any of them; for then He would be no more than some among
them, and a part of the whole. He is therefore none of the particular
forms, nor a particular power, nor all of the forms, nor all the powers
that are, or are becoming, in the universe; He must be superior to all
the forms and all the powers. The supreme Principle therefore has no
form; not indeed that He lacks any; but because He is the principle
from which all intellectual shapes are derived. Whatever is born--that
is, if there be anything such as birth--must, at birth, have been some
particular being, and have had its particular shape; but who could have
made that which was not made by anybody? He therefore is all beings,
without being any of them; He is none of the other beings because He is
anterior to all of them; He is all other beings because He is their
author. What greatness shall be attributed to the Principle who can do
all things? Will He be considered infinite? Even if He be infinite,
He will have no greatness, for magnitude occurs only among beings
of the lowest rank. The creator of magnitude could not himself have
any magnitude; and even what is called magnitude in "being" is not a
quantity. Magnitude can be found only in something posterior to being.
The magnitude of the Good is that there be nothing more powerful than
He, nothing that even equals Him. How indeed could any of the beings
dependent on Him ever equal Him, not having a nature identical with
His? Even the statement that God is always and everywhere does not
attribute to Him any measure, nor even, a lack of measure--otherwise,
He might be considered as measuring the rest; nor does it attribute to
Him any figure (or, outward appearance).


THE SUPREME IS LIMITLESS.

Thus the Divinity, being the object of desire, must be the most desired
and the most loved, precisely because He has no figure nor shape. The
love He inspires is immense; this love is limitless, because of the
limitlessness of its object. He is infinite, because the beauty of its
object surpasses all beauty. Not being any essence, how indeed could
the (divinity) have any determinate beauty? As supreme object of love,
He is the creator of beauty.[136] Being the generating power of all
that is beautiful, He is at the same time the flower in which beauty
blooms[137]: for He produces it, and makes it more beautiful still by
the superabundance of beauty which He sheds on her. He is therefore
simultaneously the principle and goal of beauty.[138] As principle of
beauty, He beautifies all that of which He is the principle. It is not
however by shape that He beautifies; what He produces has no shape, or,
to speak more accurately, He has a shape in a sense different from the
habitual meaning of this term. The shape which is no more than a shape
is a simple attribute of some substance, while the Shape that subsists
in itself is superior to shape. Thus, that which participates in beauty
was a shape; but beauty itself has none.


ABSOLUTE BEAUTY IS A FORMLESS SHAPE.

33. When we speak of absolute Beauty, we must therefore withdraw from
all determinate shape, setting none before the eyes (of our mind);
otherwise, we would expose ourselves to descending from absolute
beauty to something which does not deserve the name of beauty but by
virtue of an obscure and feeble participation[139]; while absolute
Beauty is a shapeless form, if it be at all allowed to be an idea (or
form). Thus you may approach the universal Shape only by abstraction.
Abstract even the form found in the reason (that is, the essence), by
which we distinguish one action from another. Abstract, for instance,
the difference that separates temperance from justice, though both be
beautiful. For by the mere fact that intelligence conceives an object
as something proper, the object that it conceives is diminished, even
though this object were the totality of intelligible entities; and,
on the other hand, if each of them, taken apart, have a single form,
nevertheless all taken together will offer a certain variety.


THE SUPREME IS ESSENTIAL BEAUTY; THE SHAPELESS SHAPER; TRANSCENDENT.

We still have to study the proper conception of Him who is superior
to the Intelligence that is so universally beautiful and varied, but
who Himself is not varied. To Him the soul aspires without knowing
why she wishes to possess Him; but reason tells us He is essential
beauty, since the nature of Him who is excellent and sovereignly
lovable cannot absolutely have any form. That is why the soul, whatever
object you may show her in your process of reducing an object to a
form, ever seeks beyond the shaping principle. Now reason tells us
in respect to anything that has a shape, that as a shape or form is
something measured (or limited), (anything shaped) cannot be genuinely
universal, absolute, and beautiful in itself, and that its beauty is
a mixture. Therefore though the intelligible entities be beautiful
(they are limited); while He who is essential beauty, or rather the
super-beautiful, must be unlimited, and consequently have no shape or
form. He who then is beauty in the first degree, and primary Beauty, is
superior to form, and the splendor of the intelligible (world) is only
a reflection of the nature of the Good.


THUS LOVE BEGINS PHYSICALLY BUT BECOMES SPIRITUAL.

This is proved by what happens to lovers; so far as their eyes remain
fixed on a sense-object, they do not yet love genuinely. Love is born
only when they rise above the sense-object, and arrive at representing
in their indivisible soul an image which has nothing more of sensation.
To calm the ardor that devours them they do indeed still desire to
contemplate the beloved object; but as soon as they come to understand
t

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