Proclus prop 138 · creuzer page 204-206

Πάντων τῶν μετεχόντων τῆς θείας ἰδιότητος, ἐκθεουμένων, πρώτιστόν ἐστι καὶ ἀκρότατον τὸ ὄν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τοῦ νοῦ καὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἐπέκεινα τὸ ὄν, ὡς δέδεικται, εἴπερ πλείστων τοῦτο, μετὰ τὸ ἕν, αἴτιον, ἀκρότατον ἂν εἴη τὸ ὄν· τούτων μὲν γὰρ ἑνικώτερον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάντως σεμνότερον. ἄλλο δὲ πρὸ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστι πλὴν τοῦ ἑνός. πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ ἑνιαίου πλήθους τί ἄλλο, ἢ τὸ ἕν; πλῆθος δὲ ἑνιαῖον τὸ ὄν, ὡς ἐκ πέρατος ὂν καὶ ἀπείρου· καὶ ὅλως πρὸ τῆς οὐσίας τὸ ὑπερούσιον ὄν. ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν ταῖς εἰς τὰ δεύτερα ἐλλάμψεσι μόνον τὸ ἓν ἐπέκεινα φθάνει τοῦ ὄντος· τὸ δὲ ὂν εὐθὺς κατὰ τὸ ἕν. Τὸ γὰρ δυνάμει ὄν, οὔπω δὲ ὄν, ἕν ἐστι κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ φύσιν· καὶ τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο ἤδη ἐνεργείᾳ ὄν. Καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ἄρα τοῦ ὄντος ἐπέκεινα εὐθὺς τὸ μὴ ὄν, ὡς κρεῖττον τοῦ ὄντος, καὶ ἕν.

Of all the things that participate in the divine distinctive property and are thereby made gods, being is the very first and the highest. For if being is beyond both intellect and life, as has been shown, then, since it is the cause of the most things after the One, being would be the highest; for it is more unitary than these, and for that reason in every way more venerable. And there is nothing else before it except the One. For what else is before a unified manifold but the One? And being is a unified manifold, since it is composed of limit and the unlimited; and in general what is beyond essence is before essence. For in the irradiations into secondary things as well, the One alone reaches beyond being, while being comes immediately after the One. For what is potentially being, but not yet being, is one according to its own nature; and what comes after this is already being in actuality. And so among the principles too, immediately beyond being stands not-being, as better than being, and one.

The source of LdC 4, prima rerum creatarum est esse — already seeded in PLAN.md and here confirmed against the plate. ⚠ Bardenhewer's text prints ἐνθεουμένων; the plate reads ἐκθεουμένων. The plate governs (ἐκθεουμένων is also the sense the argument needs). Pairs with El. 89 (ἐκ πέρατός ἐστι καὶ ἀπείρου), which this proposition restates and which Thomas cites at the same place. Phase 3 translation notes. (a) The English follows the plate's ἐκθεουμένων ('are made gods'), not Bardenhewer's printed ἐνθεουμένων, per the reading already banked for this unit. (b) πλῆθος is 'manifold' throughout, matching the register's own model sentence. (c) καὶ ὅλως πρὸ τῆς οὐσίας τὸ ὑπερούσιον ὄν is genuinely ambiguous: ὄν may be the copula-participle ('what is beyond essence is before essence') or the substantive ('the being that is beyond essence is before essence'). The English takes the first, which is what the surrounding argument about the One and being requires; the second is defensible. (d) The clause ὡς ἐκ πέρατος ὂν καὶ ἀπείρου repeats El. 89's lemma, and the English repeats El. 89's English so the pairing Aquinas makes at LdC 4 is visible.

creuzer_numeral=ρλη΄ · apparatus notes (8)(9)(10) for this proposition fall on the foot of pp.204 and 206 and were not captured by the crops; transcribe before publication

In the crux Liber de causis, proposition 4