On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
same as the Good, inasmuch as all things, in all causation, desire the Beautiful and Good; nor is there anything in the world but hath a share in the Beautiful and Good. Moreover our Discourse will dare to aver that even the Non-Existent ! shares in the Beautiful and Good, for Non-Existence2 is itself beautiful and good when, by the Negation of all Attributes, it is ascribed Super-Essentially to God. This One Good and Beautiful is in Its oneness the Cause of all the many beautiful and good things. Hence comes the bare existence of all things, and hence their unions,3 their differentiations, their identities, their differences,4 their similarities, their dissimilarities, their communions of opposite things, the unconfused distinctions of their interpenetrating elements;® the providences of the Superiors,7 the interdependence of the Co-ordinates, the responses of the Inferiors,$ the states of permanence wherein all keep their own identity. And hence again the intercommunion of all things according to the power of each; their harmonies and sympathies (which do not merge them) and the co-ordinations of the whole universe ;! the mixture of elements therein and the indestructible ligaments of things; the ceaseless succession of the recreative process in Minds and Souls and in Bodies; for all have rest and movement in That Which, above all rest and all movement, grounds each one in its own natural laws and moves each one to its own proper movement.2
1 τὸ μὴ vvy—i.e. that mere nothingness which is manifested either as (1) formless “matter” or (2) evil. See Intr., p. 20.
2 Evil is non-existent in one sense. The Good is Non-Existent in another: Cf. Pp. 00, n°11.
4 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes articulated into parts, and hence each thing is identical with itself and distinct from everything else.
5 e.g. Moisture interpenetrates the solid earth.
6 e.g. In a piece of wet ground the water is water and the earth is earth.
7 ai πρόνοιαι τῶν ὑπερτέρων. Lit. “the providences,” etc., e.g. the influence of the light without which, D. holds, the material world could not exist. Or this and the following may refer to different ranks of angels, or to angels and men.
8 ai ἐπιστροφαί Tay καταδεεστέρων. Lit. “the conversions,” etc. e.g. Matter (according to his theory) responds to the influence of the light. And men are influenced by angels, and the lower angels by the higher.
same as the Good, since all things, in every kind of causation, desire the Beautiful and Good; nor is there anything in the world that does not share in the Beautiful and Good. Our Discourse will even dare to affirm that the Non-Existent1 shares in the Beautiful and Good, for Non-Existence2 is itself beautiful and good when, by the Negation of all Attributes, it is ascribed Super-Essentially to God.
This One Good and Beautiful is in Its oneness the Cause of all the many beautiful and good things. From It comes the bare existence of all things, and from It their unions,3 their differentiations, their identities, their differences,4 their similarities, their dissimilarities, their communions of opposite things, the unconfused distinctions of their interpenetrating elements;® the providences of the Superiors,7 the interdependence of the Co-ordinates, the responses of the Inferiors,8 and the states of permanence in which all keep their own identity.
From It again comes the intercommunion of all things according to the power of each; their harmonies and sympathies (which do not merge them) and the co-ordination of the whole universe;1 the mixture of elements within it and the indestructible ligaments of things; the ceaseless succession of the recreative process in Minds and Souls and in Bodies. For all have rest and movement in That Which, above all rest and all movement, grounds each one in its own natural laws and moves each one to its own proper movement.2
1 τὸ μὴ vvy — i.e. that mere nothingness which is manifested either as (1) formless “matter” or (2) evil. See Intr., p. 20.
2 Evil is non-existent in one sense; the Good is Non-Existent in another. Cf. Pp. 00, n°11.
4 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes are articulated into parts, and hence each thing is identical with itself and distinct from everything else.
5 e.g. Moisture interpenetrates the solid earth.
6 e.g. In a piece of wet ground the water is water and the earth is earth.
7 ai πρόνοιαι τῶν ὑπερτέρων. Literally “the providences,” etc., e.g. the influence of the light, without which, D. holds, the material world could not exist. Or this and the following phrase may refer to different ranks of angels, or to angels and men.
8 ai ἐπιστροφαί Tay καταδεεστέρων. Literally “the conversions,” etc. e.g. Matter (according to his theory) responds to the influence of the light. And men are influenced by angels, and the lower angels by the higher.