Liber de causis, proposition 2

prop 88 · creuzer page 134

Πᾶν τὸ ὄντως ὂν ἢ πρὸ αἰῶνός ἐστιν, ἢ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι, ἢ μετέχον αἰῶνος. Ὅτι μὲν γάρ ἐστι πρὸ αἰῶνος, δέδεικται. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι. ὁ γὰρ αἰὼν τὸ ἀεὶ μετὰ τοῦ ὄντος ἔχει καὶ τὸ μετέχον αἰῶνος. τὸ γὰρ αἰώνιον πᾶν μεθέξει καὶ τοῦ ἀεὶ καὶ τοῦ ὄντος. τοῦτο μὲν κατὰ μέθεξιν ἄμφω ἔχει, καὶ τὸ ἀεὶ καὶ τὸ ὄν. ὁ δὲ αἰὼν τὸ μὲν ἀεὶ πρώτως, τὸ δὲ ὂν κατὰ μέθεξιν· τὸ δὲ ὂν αὐτὸ πρώτως ὄν ἐστιν.

Everything that is truly being is either before eternity, or in eternity, or participating in eternity. That there is what is before eternity has been shown. But there is also what is in eternity, for eternity holds the always together with being; and there is what participates in eternity. For everything eternal will participate both in the always and in being. This last has both by participation, both the always and being; eternity has the always primarily and being by participation; and being itself is being primarily.

Thomas's cited source for LdC 2 (the threefold placing of true being relative to eternity). Creuzer's note (3) records that the printed edition had a lacuna sign *** here which he filled from codex A — so this sentence is Creuzer's supplement, and any English must not present it as uncontested. Phase 3 translation note — editorial supplement, do not read as uncontested text. Creuzer's note (3) states that the printed edition carried a lacuna sign (***) between αἰῶνος and τοῦτο μὲν and that he filled it from codex A. On the text as printed, that locates the supplement exactly at the sentence 'τὸ γὰρ αἰώνιον πᾶν μεθέξει καὶ τοῦ ἀεὶ καὶ τοῦ ὄντος' — rendered here as 'For everything eternal will participate both in the always and in being.' The English translates it because Creuzer's text carries it, but on any crux page it is Creuzer's supplement from a single manuscript, not transmitted text. Creuzer's note (1) further records that the edition read πάντως τὸ ὄντως ὄν in the lemma, where A gives πᾶν τὸ ὄντως, which is what he prints and what is translated. αἰών is 'eternity' and αἰώνιος 'eternal' here, as at El. 87.

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prop 87 · creuzer page 132

Πᾶν μὲν τὸ αἰώνιον ὄν ἐστιν, οὐ πᾶν δὲ τὸ ὂν αἰώνιον. καὶ γὰρ τοῖς γεννητοῖς ὑπάρχει πως τοῦ ὄντος μέθεξις, καθ᾽ ὅσον οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα τὸ μηδαμῶς ὄν. εἰ δὲ μή ἐστι τὸ γινόμενον οὐδαμῶς ὄν, ἔστι πως ὄν. Τὸ δὲ αἰώνιον οὐδαμῇ τοῖς γεννητοῖς ὑπάρχει, καὶ μάλισθ᾽ ὅσα μηδὲ τῆς κατὰ χρόνον τὸν ὅλον ἀϊδιότητος μετείληφεν. ἀλλὰ μὴν πᾶν τὸ αἰώνιον ἀεί ἐστι. Μετέχει γὰρ αἰῶνος, ὃς τὸ ἀεί τι εἶναι δίδωσιν, ὑφ᾽ ὧν ἂν μετέχηται. Τὸ ἄρα ὂν ὑπὸ πλειόνων μετέχεται, ἢ ὁ αἰών. ἐπέκεινα ἄρα τοῦ αἰῶνος τὸ ὄν. οἷς μὲν γὰρ τοῦ αἰῶνος μέτεστι, καὶ τοῦ ὄντος· οἷς δὲ τοῦ ὄντος, οὐ πᾶσι καὶ αἰῶνος.

Everything eternal is being, but not every being is eternal. For even things that come to be have in some way a participation in being, in so far as they are not what is in no way being; and if what comes to be is not in no way being, then it is in some way being. But the eternal belongs in no way to things that come to be, and least of all to those that have not even shared in everlastingness through the whole of time. And indeed everything eternal always is. For it participates in eternity, which gives always to be to whatever participates in it. Being, then, is participated in by more things than eternity is. Being, therefore, is beyond eternity. For the things that have a share in eternity have a share in being as well; but not all the things that have a share in being have a share in eternity too.

Source of LdC 2's proof that the first cause stands above eternity. Bardenhewer: 'Der Beweis für die Stellung der ersten Ursache vor und über der Ewigkeit ... findet sich in dem Lehrbuche § 87.' The operative clause is ἐπέκεινα ἄρα τοῦ αἰῶνος τὸ ὄν. Creuzer's note (4) on the facing proposition gathers the whole doxography for this argument (Plato Phileb.; Arist. Metaph. X.10; Plotinus; Porphyry Sent. 33 and 36; Proclus Theol. Plat. II.1) and is worth quoting in the crux headnote. Phase 3 translation note — glossary departure, deliberate. The glossary fixes ἀΐδιος as 'eternal', but this proposition turns on Proclus's distinction between αἰών / αἰώνιος (timeless eternity) and ἀϊδιότης (perpetuity through the whole of time). 'Eternal' and 'eternity' are therefore reserved here for the αἰών family, and ἀϊδιότης is rendered 'everlastingness' — the glossary's own reading for Latin sempiternus. Collapsing the two would destroy the argument that being is beyond eternity, which is the sentence LdC 2 is built on.

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