§19τί οὖν ὄντως ὄν ἐστι;
What, then, is that which really is?
τὸ ἀίδιον καὶ ἀγένητον καὶ ἄφθαρτον, ᾧ χρόνος μεταβολὴν οὐδὲ εἷς, ἐπάγει.
That which is eternal, unbegotten, and incorruptible, upon which time brings not even a single change.
κινητὸν γάρ τι καὶ κινουμένῃ συμφανταζόμενον ὕλῃ καὶ ῥέον ἀεὶ καὶ μὴ στέγον, ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖον φθορᾶς καὶ γενέσεως, ὁ χρόνος· οὗ γε δὴ τὸ μὲν
ἔπειτα
καὶ τὸ
πρότερον
καὶ τὸ
ἔσται
λεγόμενον καὶ τὸ
γέγονεν
, αὐτόθεν ἐξομολόγησίς ἐστι τοῦ μὴ ὄντος·
For time is something mobile and appearing together with moving matter, always flowing and holding nothing, like a vessel of corruption and generation; of which indeed the terms 'hereafter' and 'before', and 'it will be' and 'it has been', are of themselves a direct confession of non-existence.
τὸ γὰρ ἐν τῷ εἶναι τὸ μηδέπω γεγονὸς ἢ πεπαυμένον ἤδη τοῦ εἶναι λέγειν ὡς ἔστιν, εὔηθες καὶ ἄτοπον.
For to say that that which has not yet come to be, or that which has already ceased to be, exists in being, is silly and absurd.
ᾧ δὲ μάλιστα τὴν νόησιν ἐπερείδοντες τοῦ χρόνου, τὸ
ἐνέστηκε
καὶ τὸ
πάρεστι
καὶ τὸ
νῦν
φθεγγόμεθα, τοῦτʼ αὖ πάλιν ἅπαν ἐκλυόμενος ὁ λόγος ἀπόλλυσιν.
And that upon which we especially rest our conception of time, when we utter 'it is imminent', 'it is present', and 'now', this in turn reason, by dissolving it, entirely destroys.
ἐκθλίβεται γὰρ εἰς τὸ μέλλον καὶ τὸ παρῳχημένον ὥσπερ ἀκμὴ βουλομένοις ἰδεῖν, ἐξ ἀνάγκης διιστάμενον.
For it is squeezed out into the future and the past, like a sharp point to those who wish to see it, necessarily splitting apart.
εἰ δὲ ταὐτὰ τῷ μετροῦντι πέπονθεν ἡ μετρουμένη φύσις, οὐδὲν αὐτῆς μένον οὐδʼ ὄν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ γιγνόμενα πάντα καὶ φθειρόμενα κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν χρόνον συννέμησιν.
And if the nature which is measured suffers the same as that which measures it, there is nothing of it that remains or exists, but all things are becoming and perishing according to their association with time.
ὅθεν οὐδʼ ὅσιόν ἐστιν οὐδʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄντος λέγειν, ὡς ἦν ἢ ἔσται· ταῦτα γὰρ ἐγκλίσεις τινές εἰσι καὶ μεταβάσεις καὶ παραλλάξεις τοῦ μένειν ἐν τῷ εἶναι μὴ πεφυκότος.
Whence it is not even impious to say of that which exists that 'it was' or 'it will be'; for these are certain deviations and transitions and variations of that which is not born to remain in being.
§20ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς, χρὴ φάναι, καὶ ἔστι κατʼ οὐδένα χρόνον ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τὸν ἀκίνητον καὶ ἄχρονον καὶ ἀνέγκλιτον καὶ οὗ πρότερον οὐδέν ἐστιν οὐδʼ ὕστερον οὐδὲ μέλλον οὐδὲ παρῳχημένον οὐδὲ πρεσβύτερον οὐδὲ νεώτερον ἀλλʼ εἷς ὢν ἑνὶ τῷ νῦν τὸ ἀεὶ πεπλήρωκε, καὶ μόνον ἐστὶ τὸ κατὰ τοῦτον ὄντως ὄντως ὄν, οὐ γεγονὸς οὐδʼ ἐσόμενον οὐδʼ ἀρξάμενον οὐδὲ παυσόμενον.
But we must say 'the god is', and he is according to no time, but according to the motionless, timeless, and unwavering eternity, wherein there is nothing before nor after, nor future nor past, nor older nor younger, but being one, with a single 'now' he has filled the 'always'; and only that which is according to this is really existent, not having come to be, nor about to be, nor having begun, nor about to cease.
οὕτως οὖν αὐτὸν δεῖ σεβομένους ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ προσαγορεύειν, ἢ καὶ νὴ Δία, ὡς ἔνιοι τῶν παλαιῶν,
εἶἕν.
Thus, then, must we worship, salute, and address him, or indeed, by Zeus, as some of the ancients did, with 'Thou art one'.
οὐ γὰρ πολλὰ τὸ θεῖόν ἐστιν, ὡς ἡμῶν ἕκαστος ἐκ μυρίων διαφορῶν ἐν πάθεσι γιγνομένων, ἄθροισμα παντοδαπὸν καὶ πανηγυρικῶς μεμιγμένον· ἀλλʼ ἓν εἶναι δεῖ τὸ ὄν, ὥσπερ ὂν τὸ ἕν.
For the divine is not many things, as each of us is, made of myriad differences arising in passions, an all-sorts gathering and confusedly mixed assembly; but that which exists must be one, just as that which is one exists.
ἡ δʼ ἑτερότης, διαφορᾷ τοῦ ὄντος, εἰς γένεσιν ἐξίσταται τοῦ μὴ ὄντος.
But otherness, by difference from that which exists, departs into the generation of that which does not exist.
ὅθεν εὖ καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἔχει τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ τὸ δεύτερον καὶ τὸ τρίτον.
Whence the first of the god's names, and the second, and the third, are well suited.
Ἀπόλλων μὲν γὰρ οἷον ἀρνούμενος τὰ πολλὰ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἀποφάσκων ἐστίν, Ἰήιος δʼ ὡς εἷς καὶ μόνος· Φοῖβον δὲ δήπου τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ ἁγνὸν οἱ παλαιοὶ πᾶν ὠνόμαζον, ὡς ἔτι Θεσσαλοὶ τοὺς ἱερέας ἐν ταῖς ἀποφράσιν ἡμέραις αὐτοὺς ἐφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἔξω διατρίβοντας, οἶμαι,
φοιβονομεῖσθαι
λέγουσι.
For 'Apollo' is as it were denying the many and negating the multitude; and 'Ieios' as being one and alone; and 'Phoebus' indeed the ancients used to call everything pure and holy, as even now the Thessalians say, I believe, that their priests, when they spend their time outside by themselves on ill-omened days, 'keep Phoebus-fashion'.
τὸ δʼ ἓν εἰλικρινὲς καὶ καθαρόν· ἑτέρου γὰρ μίξει πρὸς ἕτερον ὁ μιασμός, ὥς που καὶ Ὅμηρος
ἐλέφαντα
τινὰ φοινισσόμενον βαφῇ
μιαίνεσθαι
φησί· καὶ τὰ μιγνύμενα τῶν χρωμάτων οἱ βαφεῖς φθείρεσθαι καί
φθοράν
τὴν μῖξιν ὀνομάζουσιν.
And the one is unmixed and pure; for defilement is by the mixture of one thing with another, as somewhere Homer also says that a piece of ivory stained with purple dye is 'defiled'; and dyers say that mixed colors are 'destroyed', and they call the mixture 'destruction'.
οὐκοῦν ἕν τʼ εἶναι καὶ ἄκρατον ἀεὶ τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ καὶ καθαρῷ προσήκει.
Therefore, to be one and always unmixed belongs to the incorruptible and pure.