Liber de causis, proposition 4

prop bardenhewer 4 · pattin prop 4 · bardenhewer page 166-168

Prima rerum creatarum est esse, et non est ante ipsum creatum aliud. quod est quia esse est supra sensum et supra animam et supra intelligentiam: et non est post causam primam latius neque prius causatum ipso. propter illud ergo factum est superius creatis rebus omnibus et uehementius unitum. et non est factum ita nisi propter suam propinquitatem esse puro et uni uero in quo non est multitudo aliquorum modorum. et esse creatum quamuis sit unum, tamen multiplicatur: scilicet quia ipsum recipit multiplicitatem. et ipsum quidem non est factum multa nisi quia ipsum, quamuis sit simplex et non sit in creatis simplicius ipso, tamen est compositum ex finito et infinito. quod est quia omne quod ex eo sequitur causam primam est achili id est intelligentia completa et ultima in potentia et reliquis bonitatibus, et formae intelligibiles in ipso sunt latiores et uehementius uniuersales. et quod ex eo est inferius est intelligentia, uerumtamen est sub illa intelligentia in complemento et uirtute et bonitatibus, et non sunt formae intelligibiles in illa ita dilatatae sicut est earum latitudo in illa intelligentia. et esse quidem creatum primum est intelligentia totum, uerumtamen intelligentia in ipso est diuersa per modum quem diximus. et quia diuersificatur intelligentia, fit illic forma intelligibilis diuersa: et sicut ex forma una propterea quod diuersificatur in mundo inferiori, proueniunt indiuidua infinita in multitudine, similiter ex esse causato primo propterea quod diuersificatur, adparent formae intelligibiles infinitae: uerumtamen quamuis diuersificentur, non seiunguntur ab inuicem, sicut est seiunctio indiuiduorum. quod est quoniam ipsae uniuntur absque corruptione et separantur absque seiunctione, quoniam sunt unum habens multitudinem et multitudo in unitate. et intelligentiae primae influunt supra intelligentias secundas bonitates quas recipiunt a causa prima et intendunt bonitatem in eis usquequo consequuntur ultimum earum. et intelligentiae superiores primae quae sequuntur causam primam, inprimunt formas secundas stantes quae non destruuntur, ita ut sit necessarium iterare eas uice alia. intelligentiae autem secundae inprimunt formas declines, separabiles, sicut est anima. ipsa namque est ex inpressione intelligentiae secundae quae sequitur esse creatum inferius. et non multiplicantur animae nisi per modum quo multiplicantur intelligentiae. quod est quia esse iterum animae habet finem, sed quod ex eo est inferius est infinitum. igitur animae quae sequuntur alachili id est intelligentiam sunt completae, perfectae, paucae declinationis et separationis, et animae quae sequuntur esse inferius sunt in complemento et declinatione sub animabus superioribus. et animae superiores etiam influunt bonitates quas recipiunt ab intelligentia super animas inferiores, et omnis anima recipiens ab intelligentia uirtutem plus, est super inpressionem fortior, et quod inpressum est ab ea est fixum, stans et est motus eius motus aequalis, continuus. et illa in qua ex ea est uirtus intelligentiae minus, est in inpressione sub animabus primis, et est quod ab ea inpressum est debile, euanescens, destructibile: uerumtamen quamuis sit ita, tamen permanet per generationem. iam ergo ostensum est quare factae sunt formae intelligibiles multae, et non est esse nisi unum simplex, et quare factae sunt multae animae quarum quaedam sunt fortiores quibusdam, et esse earum est unum, simplex in quo non est diuersitas.

The first of created things is being, and there is no other created thing before it. This is because being is above sense and above soul and above intellect; and after the first cause there is nothing more ample, nor anything caused before it. For that reason, therefore, it was made higher than all created things and more strongly unified. And it was made so only because of its nearness to pure being and to the true one, in which there is no multitude of any modes. And created being, although it is one, is nevertheless multiplied — that is, because it receives multiplicity. And it was not made many except because, although it is simple, and among created things there is nothing simpler than it, it is nevertheless composed of the finite and the infinite. This is because everything of it that follows immediately upon the first cause is achili, that is, intellect complete and ultimate in power and in the remaining goodnesses; and the intelligible forms in it are more ample and more strongly universal. And what of it is lower is intellect as well, yet it is below that intellect in completeness and in power and in goodnesses, and the intelligible forms in it are not extended so widely as their extent is in that intellect. And the first created being is wholly intellect, yet intellect in it is diverse in the way we have said. And because intellect is diversified, the intelligible form there becomes diverse. And just as from one form, because it is diversified in the lower world, individuals infinite in multitude come forth, so from the first caused being, because it is diversified, infinite intelligible forms appear. Yet although they are diversified, they are not sundered from one another as individuals are sundered. This is because they are united without corruption and are separated without sundering, since they are a one having multitude, and a multitude in unity. And the first intellects pour into the second intellects the goodnesses which they receive from the first cause, and they extend goodness in them until they reach the last of them. And the higher first intellects, which follow the first cause, impress second forms, standing forms which are not destroyed in such a way that it would be necessary to repeat them a second time. But the second intellects impress forms that decline and are separable, such as soul is; for soul comes from the impression of the second intellect which follows the lower created being. And souls are not multiplied except in the way in which intellects are multiplied. This is because the being of soul again has an end, but what is lower than it is infinite. Therefore the souls which follow alachili, that is, intellect, are complete, perfect, of little declination and separation; and the souls which follow the lower being are below the higher souls in completeness and in declination. And the higher souls also pour into the lower souls the goodnesses which they receive from intellect; and every soul that receives more power from intellect is the stronger in its impressing, and what is impressed by it is fixed and standing, and its motion is a motion even and continuous. And that soul in which there is less of the power of intellect is below the first souls in impressing, and what is impressed by it is weak, vanishing, destructible; yet although it is so, it endures through generation. Now, therefore, it has been shown why intelligible forms came to be many, though being is nothing but one and simple; and why many souls came to be, of which some are stronger than others, though their being is one and simple, and in it there is no diversity.

Plate-verified, longest section, spanning three pages (166-168, leaves n191-n193). The word 'achili' (transliterated Arabic term Bardenhewer discusses at length pp.247ff, glossed 'id est intelligentia completa et ultima') and 'alachili' both confirmed on the plate — the OCR gets these right, contrary to what might be expected of a transliterated technical term. ⚠ The eins/eius error recurs once more here: 'motus eins motus aequalis' for 'motus eius motus aequalis'. Corrected from the plate. Apparatus not captured (this section alone would carry a large apparatus block across three page-feet). Phase 3 translation notes. (a) 'Prima rerum creatarum est esse' is rendered 'The first of created things is being', matching El. 138's 'being is the very first and the highest' — esse is 'being', as at LdC 1. (b) 'compositum ex finito et infinito' is 'composed of the finite and the infinite'; El. 89's Greek behind it is ἐκ πέρατός ἐστι καὶ ἀπείρου, rendered there 'composed of limit and the unlimited'. The two English phrasings differ because the Latin words themselves differ, and the divergence is the medieval translator's; the crux page should show it rather than hide it. Likewise 'esse animae habet finem' is 'has an end', where the Greek behind the thought is πέρας, 'limit'. (c) formae intelligibiles is 'intelligible forms' here, whereas operatio intelligibilis at LdC 3 is 'the intellectual operation'. The Latin word is the same and the English is not: at LdC 3 it names the operation belonging to intelligentia, here it names forms as objects of intellect. Logged as a deliberate split in the Phase 3 report. (d) achili and alachili are left as the text transliterates them, with the Latin's own gloss following. (e) ⚠ 'ita ut sit necessarium iterare eas uice alia' is translated exactly as Bardenhewer prints it, but the argument requires the negative — these standing forms are not destroyed, so they need no repeating. Either the Latin has lost a non or the construction is looser than it looks. Flagged rather than emended. ⭐ RESOLVED 2026-09-09 — the flagged "missing non" is NOT a defect and needs no ruling. Phase 3 flagged `ita ut sit necessarium iterare eas uice alia` as saying the opposite of what the argument requires (forms that are NOT destroyed, and therefore need no renewing). Checked against the plate on both counts: 1. **Our transcription is correct.** Bardenhewer prints exactly this, with no `non`. Confirmed on leaf n192 (p.167, line 26). The OCR layer agrees. Nothing was dropped. 2. **Bardenhewer's own apparatus answers it**, same page, line 26: `ut non (ubi β) sit necessario b β`. Manuscripts **b and β read `ut non sit necessario`** — the explicit negative — against a/α's `ut sit necessarium`, which Bardenhewer printed. The negative IS attested; he chose the harder reading. 3. **The printed text is defensible as it stands**, and the English now reflects it: `non` scopes the whole `ita ut` result clause — 'not destroyed IN SUCH A WAY THAT it would be necessary to repeat them'. b/β make explicit what a/α compress. Both readings mean the same thing, so no emendation is warranted and no `[sic:]` may be fired. The variant is recorded here and belongs in the crux apparatus. ⚑ Note also line 24 of the same apparatus: **b and β begin a NEW CHAPTER at `intelligentiae`** — a section-division variant that bears on the LdC numbering concordance.

The printed text reads 'ita ut sit necessarium iterare eas uice alia', which the argument seems to contradict; the apparatus records that manuscripts b and β read the explicit negative, 'ut non sit necessario ... alia uice' (p.167, line 26). The English follows the printed text; the variant is in the apparatus.