Proclus prop 12 · creuzer page 20-22

Πάντων τῶν ὄντων ἀρχὴ καὶ αἰτία πρωτίστη τὸ ἀγαθόν ἐστιν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀπὸ μιᾶς αἰτίας πάντα πρόεισιν, ἐκείνην τὴν αἰτίαν ἢ τἀγαθὸν χρὴ λέγειν ἢ τἀγαθοῦ κρεῖττον. Ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὲν κρείττων ἐκείνη τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, πότερον ἥκει τι καὶ ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνης εἰς τὰ ὄντα καὶ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὄντων, ἢ οὐδέν; καὶ εἰ μὲν μηδέν, ἄτοπον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔτι φυλάττοιμεν αὐτὴν ἐν αἰτίας τάξει· δέον πανταχοῦ παρεῖναί τι τοῖς αἰτίοις ἐκ τῆς αἰτίας, καὶ διαφερόντως ἐκ τῆς πρωτίσης, ἐξ ἧς πάντα ἐξήρτηται, καὶ δι᾽ ἣν ἔστιν ἕκαστα τῶν ὄντων. Εἰ δὲ ἔστι μετουσία κἀκείνοις τοῖς οὖσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ τἀγαθοῦ, ἔσται τι τῆς ἀγαθότητος κρεῖσσον ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν, ἐφῆκον ἀπὸ τῆς πρωτίστης αἰτίας.

Of all beings the principle and the very first cause is the Good. For if all things proceed from a single cause, that cause must be called either the Good or something higher than the Good. But if it is higher than the Good, does anything come from it too into beings and into the nature of beings, or nothing? And if nothing, that is absurd; for we would no longer be keeping it in the rank of a cause, since in every case something must be present to the things caused from the cause, and especially from the very first cause, on which all things depend and through which each of the beings is. But if there is a participation in it as well for those beings, just as there is of the Good, then there will be in beings something better than goodness, come down from the very first cause.

Thomas's comparandum for the FIRST SENTENCE of LdC 8 (Bardenhewer: 'Zu dem ersten Satze vergleicht Thomas die 12. These des Lehrbuches'). ⚠ LdC 8 has NO source in the Elements — Bardenhewer states flatly '§ 8 findet sich in dieser Fassung in dem Lehrbuche nicht' and calls it a short précis of the book's own system. So on the LdC 8 crux page, El. 12 and El. 180 are comparanda supplied by Aquinas, not ancestors, and the page must say so. Phase 3 translation notes. Creuzer prints δέον πανταχοῦ παρεῖναί τι τοῖς αἰτίοις ἐκ τῆς αἰτίας, where the sense requires the things caused (αἰτιατοῖς) rather than the causal things (αἰτίοις); the English renders the sense as printed by Creuzer's own facing Latin takes it, 'to the things caused', and does not emend the Greek. Creuzer likewise prints ἐκ τῆς πρωτίσης for πρωτίστης a line later, an obvious typographic slip left standing in the Greek.

creuzer_numeral=ιβ΄ · proof continues past p.22; only the lemma and the first movement are transcribed, which is what the LdC 8 margin needs. Extend if the crux page is later built to show the full proof.

In the crux Liber de causis, proposition 8