For a self-motive being, is the cause of motion to those, which are moved by another, in the same manner as that which is immovable, inserts in all beings the power of moving.
And again, that which is moved only, must depend on those natures, which are indeed moved by another, but which are themselves endued with a motive-power.
For it is necessary that the chain of beings should be complete; every where connected by proper mediums, and deduced in an orderly and perpetual series, from the principle to the extremes.
All bodies therefore belong to those natures which are moved only, and are naturally passive; p.
18 since they are destitute of all inherent energy, on account of their sluggish nature, which participates of division, magnitude, and weight.
But of incorporeals some are divisible about bodies; while others are entirely free from such an affection about the lowest order of beings.
Hence such things, as are divided about the dead weight of bodies, whether they are material qualities or forms, belong to the orders of nature's moving, and at the same time moved.
For such as these because incorporeal, participate of a motive faculty; but because they are also divided about bodies, they are on this account exempt from incorporeal perfection; are filled with material inactivity, and require the energy of a self-motive nature.
Where then shall we find this self-motive essence?
For such things as are extended with magnitude, oppressed p.
19 by material weight, and inseparably reside in bodies, must necessarily either move only, or be moved by others.
But it is requisite, as we have before observed, that prior to this order, the self-motive essence should subsist.
And hence we conclude that there is another certain nature exempt from the passivity and imperfection of bodies, existing not only in the heavens, but in the ever-changing elements, from which the motion of bodies is primrily derived.
And this nature is no other than soul, from which animals derive their life and motive power; and which even affords an image of self-motion to the unstable order of bodies.
If then the self-motive essence is more ancient than that which is moved by another, but soul is primarily self-motive, hence soul must be more ancient than body; and all corporeal motion must be p.
20 the progeny of soul, and of her inherent energy.
It is necessary, therefore, that the heavens, with all their boundless contents, and their various natural motions (for a circular motion, is natural to such bodies), should be endued with governing souls, essentially more ancient than their revolving bodies.
According to the Platonic philosophers, therefore, these souls which orderly distinguish the universe and its contained parts, from their inherent cause of motion, give life and motion to every inanimate body.
But it is necessary that every motive essence, should either move all things rationally, or irrationally; that is, either according to the uniform and unerring laws of reason, or according to the brutal impulse of an irrational nature.
But the constant order observed in the periods of the celestial bodies, the convenience of positions, and the admirable laws p.
21 by which their revolutions are directed, plainly evince that their motions are governed by a rational nature.
If therefore, an intellectual and rational soul governs the universe, and if every thing eternally moved is under the directing influence of such a soul; may we not enquire whether it possesses this intellectual, perfect, and beneficent power, by participation, or essentially?
for if essentially, it is necessary that every soul should be intellectual, since every soul is naturally self-motive.
But if by participation, there must be another nature more ancient than soul, which operates entirely from energy; and whose essence is intelligence, on account of that uniform conception of universals, which it essentially contains.
Themes
◆Anamnesissoteriology
Platonic recollection: knowledge as the soul's recovery of what it knew before birth, with learning as remembering rather than acquisition.
The higher nature 'essentially contains' the conception of universals, suggesting innate knowledge.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The orderly series and connection of beings suggest a metaphysical interdependence throughout the cosmos.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Material inactivity and imperfection are defined by a lack of inherent energy compared to the perfection of soul.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
[auto] The passage details how 'governing souls' and a 'rational nature' direct the revolutions of celestial bodies according to laws.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
[auto] The text explicitly describes a 'chain of beings... deduced in an orderly and perpetual series, from the principle to the extremes.'