Anonymous (Kalam fi mahd al-khair) prop bardenhewer 4 · pattin prop 4 · bardenhewer page 65-69

انّ اوّل الاشياء المبتدعة الانّيّة وليس من ورائها مبتدع آخر وذلك انّ الانّيّة فوق الحسّ وفوق النفس وفوق العقل وليس بعد العلّة الاولى اوسع ولا اكثر معلولات منها ولذلك صارت اعلا الاشياء المبتدعة كلّها واشدّها اتّحادا وانّما صارت كذلك لقربها من الانّيّة المحضة الواحد الحقّ الذى ليس فيه كثرة من الجهات الاشخاص والانّيّة المبتدعة وان كانت واحدة فانّها تتكثّر اعنى انّها تقبل الكثير وانّما صارت كثيرة لانّها وان كانت بسيطة وليس فى المبتدعات ابسط منها فانّها مركّبة من نهاية ولانهاية وذلك انّ كلّ ما كان منها يلى العلّة الاولى فهو عقل تامّ كامل فى غاية القوّة وسائر الفضائل والصور العقليّة فيه اوسع واشدّ كلّيّة والاسفل منه فهو عقل ايضا الّا انّه دون ذلك العقل فى التمام والقوّة والفضائل وليست الصور العقليّة فيه اوسع كسعتها فى ذلك العقل والانّيّة المبتدعة الاولى عقل كلّها الّا انّ العقل فيها مختلف بالنوع الذى ذكرنا فلمّا اختلف العقل صار هناك صور عقليّة مختلفة وكما ان الصورة الواحدة اذا اختلفت فى العالم السفلىّ حدث منها اشخاص لا نهاية لها فى الكثرة كذلك الانّيّة الاولى المبتدعة لمّا اختلفت ظهر الصور التى لا نهاية لها الّا انّها وان اختلفت فانّها لا تتباين بعضها من بعض كمباينة الاشخاص وذلك انّها تتّحد من غير تفاسد وتنفرق من غير تباين لانّها واحد ذات كثرة وكثرة وحدانيّة والعقول الأوّل تفيض على العقول الثوانى الفضائل التى تنال من العلّة الاولى وتسلك الفضائل فيها الى ان تبلغ آخرها والعقول العالية الاول التى تلى العلّة الاولى تؤثّر الصور الثابتة القائمة التى لا تدثر فيحتاج الى إعادتها مرّة آخرة وامّا العقول الثوانى فتؤثّر الصور المائلة الزائلة كما هى النفس فانّها من تأثير العقول الثوانى التى تلى الانّيّة المبتدعة سفلا وانّما كثرت الانفس بالنوع الذى به تكثّرت العقول وذلك انّ انّيّة النفس ايضا ذات نهاية وما كان منها سفلا فغير متناهٍ فالانفس التى تلى العقل تامّة كاملة قليلة الميل والزوال والانفس التى تلى الانّيّة سفلا هى فى التمام والكمال دون الانفس العالية والانفس العالية تفيض بالفضائل التى تقبل من العقل على الانفس السفليّة وكلّ نفس تقبل من العقل قوّة اكثر فهى على التأثير اقوى ويكون المؤثّر منها ثابتا باقيا ويكون حركته حركةً مستديرة متّصلة وما كان منها قوّة العقل فيه اقلّ يكون فى التأثير دون الانفس الاول ويكون المؤثّر منها ضعيفا مستحيلا داثرا الّا انّه وان كان كذلك فانّه يدوم بالكون فقد استبان لم صارت الصور العقليّة كثيرة وانّما هى انّيّة واحدة مبسوطة ولم صارت الانفس كثيرة بعضها اقوى من بعض وانّيّتها واحدة مبسوطة لا خلاف فيها

The first of created things is being, and there is no other created thing before it. That is because being is above sense and above soul and above intellect, and after the first cause there is nothing wider than it nor with more things caused by it. For that reason it came to be the highest of all created things and the most strongly unified. And it came to be so only because of its nearness to the pure being, the true One, in which there is no multiplicity of the aspects of individuals. Created being, although it is one, is yet multiplied — I mean that it receives the many. And it came to be many only because, although it is simple, and there is nothing among created things simpler than it, it is composed of the finite and the infinite. For everything among them that is next to the first cause is a complete and perfect intellect, at the utmost of power, and the other excellences, and the intellectual forms in it are wider and more strongly universal; and what is lower than it is intellect also, except that it is below that intellect in completeness and power and the excellences, and the intellectual forms in it are not as wide as their width in that intellect. And created being, the first, is all of it intellect, except that intellect in it differs in the manner we have mentioned. And when intellect differed, there came to be there differing intellectual forms. And just as the one form, when it differs in the lower world, individuals without end in multitude arise from it, so the first created being, when it differed, the forms which have no end appeared — except that they, although they differ, are not distinct one from another as individuals are distinct; that is because they are united without corruption and are separated without distinction, because they are one that has multiplicity, and a multiplicity that has unity. And the first intellects pour upon the second intellects the excellences they receive from the first cause, and the excellences pass through them until they reach the last of them. And the high first intellects, which are next to the first cause, effect the fixed abiding forms which do not pass away, so as to need to be made over again; but the second intellects effect the inclining, passing forms, such as soul is, for soul is from the effect of the second intellects which are next to created being, below. And souls came to be many only in the manner in which intellects came to be many; that is because the being of soul also has an end, and what of it is lower is without end. So the souls which are next to intellect are complete and perfect, of little inclination and passing away; and the souls which are next to being, below, are below the high souls in completeness and perfection. And the high souls pour upon the lower souls the excellences they receive from intellect. And every soul that receives more power from intellect is stronger upon its effect, and what it effects is fixed and abiding, and its motion is a continuous circular motion. And what of them has less of the power of intellect in it is below the first souls in its effect, and what it effects is weak, alterable, passing away — except that, though it be so, it endures by coming to be. It has now become clear why the intellectual forms came to be many, though being is one and simple; and why souls came to be many, some stronger than others, though their being is one and simple, with no difference in it.

Plate-verified: transcribed line by line from the page images of Bardenhewer 1882 (leaves n83-n104 of archive.org diepseudoaristo00bardgoog).

In the crux Liber de causis, proposition 4