§14.4τοῦ μὲν οὖν περιττοῦ γένεσιν οὔ φασιν, ὡς δηλονότι τοῦ ἀρτίου οὔσης γενέσεως· τὸν δʼ ἄρτιον πρῶτον ἐξ ἀνίσων τινὲς κατασκευάζουσι τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ μικροῦ ἰσασθέντων.
Therefore they say there is no generation of the odd, as if clearly there were a generation of the even; and some construct the first even number from unequals—from the great and small when these are equalized.
ἀνάγκη οὖν πρότερον ὑπάρχειν τὴν ἀνισότητα αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἰσασθῆναι· εἰ δʼ ἀεὶ ἦσαν ἰσασμένα, οὐκ ἂν ἦσαν ἄνισα πρότερον (τοῦ γὰρ ἀεὶ οὐκ ἔστι πρότερον οὐθέν), ὥστε φανερὸν ὅτι οὐ τοῦ θεωρῆσαι ἕνεκεν ποιοῦσι τὴν γένεσιν τῶν ἀριθμῶν.
Therefore, the inequality must belong to them prior to their being equalized; and if they were always equalized, they would not have been unequal prior to this (for there is nothing prior to what is always), so that it is clear that they do not make the generation of numbers for the sake of mere theoretical consideration.
—ἔχει δʼ ἀπορίαν καὶ εὐπορήσαντι ἐπιτίμησιν πῶς ἔχει πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ καλὸν τὰ στοιχεῖα καὶ αἱ ἀρχαί· ἀπορίαν μὲν ταύτην, πότερόν ἐστί τι ἐκείνων οἷον βουλόμεθα λέγειν αὐτὸ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ ἄριστον, ἢ οὔ, ἀλλʼ ὑστερογενῆ.
And there is a difficulty, and for one who has solved it, a censure, as to how the elements and the principles are related to the good and the beautiful; the difficulty is this: whether any of those elements is what we wish to call the good itself and the best, or not, but rather is late-born.
παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τῶν θεολόγων ἔοικεν ὁμολογεῖσθαι τῶν νῦν τισίν, οἳ οὔ φασιν, ἀλλὰ προελθούσης τῆς τῶν ὄντων φύσεως καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐμφαίνεσθαι (τοῦτο δὲ ποιοῦσιν εὐλαβούμενοι ἀληθινὴν δυσχέρειαν ἣ συμβαίνει τοῖς λέγουσιν, ὥσπερ ἔνιοι, τὸ ἓν ἀρχήν· ἔστι δʼ ἡ δυσχέρεια οὐ διὰ τὸ τῇ ἀρχῇ τὸ εὖ ἀποδιδόναι ὡς ὑπάρχον, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ τὸ ἓν ἀρχὴν καὶ ἀρχὴν ὡς στοιχεῖον καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἑνός),—οἱ δὲ ποιηταὶ οἱ ἀρχαῖοι ταύτῃ ὁμοίως, ᾗ βασιλεύειν καὶ ἄρχειν φασὶν οὐ τοὺς πρώτους, οἷον νύκτα καὶ οὐρανὸν ἢ χάος ἢ ὠκεανόν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Δία· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τούτοις μὲν διὰ τὸ μεταβάλλειν τοὺς ἄρχοντας τῶν ὄντων συμβαίνει τοιαῦτα λέγειν, ἐπεὶ οἵ γε μεμιγμένοι αὐτῶν τῷ μὴ μυθικῶς πάντα λέγειν, οἷον Φερεκύδης καὶ ἕτεροί τινες, τὸ γεννῆσαν πρῶτον ἄριστον τιθέασι, καὶ οἱ Μάγοι, καὶ τῶν ὑστέρων δὲ σοφῶν οἷον Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τε καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας, ὁ μὲν τὴν φιλίαν στοιχεῖον ὁ δὲ τὸν νοῦν ἀρχὴν ποιήσας.
For among the theologians, some of the present day seem to agree, who say that it is not, but that it is only when the nature of existing things has advanced that the good and the beautiful also appear (and they do this to avoid a real difficulty which happens to those who say, as some do, that the one is a principle; but the difficulty arises not because they attribute goodness to the principle as belonging to it, but because they make the one a principle, and a principle in the sense of an element, and number from the one), — while the ancient poets agree with this in so far as they say that not the first things, such as night and heaven or chaos or ocean, but Zeus rules and governs; not but what it happens to these to speak in this way because they change the rulers of existing things, since those of them who are mixed, in that they do not say everything mythically, such as Pherecydes and some others, posit the first generator as the best, and so do the Magi, and of the later wise men also Empedocles and Anaxagoras, the former making friendship an element and the latter making intellect a principle.
τῶν δὲ τὰς ἀκινήτους οὐσίας εἶναι λεγόντων οἱ μέν φασιν αὐτὸ τὸ ἓν τὸ ἀγαθὸν αὐτὸ εἶναι· οὐσίαν μέντοι τὸ ἓν αὐτοῦ ᾤοντο εἶναι μάλιστα. —ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀπορία αὕτη, ποτέρως δεῖ λέγειν·
And of those who say that unchangeable substances exist, some say that the one itself is the good itself; yet they thought that its substance was chiefly the one. — This, then, is the difficulty: in which of the two ways we should speak.
θαυμαστὸν δʼ εἰ τῷ πρώτῳ καὶ ἀϊδίῳ καὶ αὐταρκεστάτῳ τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ πρῶτον οὐχ ὡς ἀγαθὸν ὑπάρχει, τὸ αὔταρκες καὶ ἡ σωτηρία.
But it is wonderful if to the first, eternal, and most self-sufficient thing, this very thing does not belong first as a good, namely self-sufficiency and preservation.
ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐ διʼ ἄλλο τι ἄφθαρτον ἢ διότι εὖ ἔχει, οὐδʼ αὔταρκες, ὥστε τὸ μὲν φάναι τὴν ἀρχὴν τοιαύτην εἶναι εὔλογον ἀληθὲς εἶναι, τὸ μέντοι ταύτην εἶναι τὸ ἕν, ἢ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο, στοιχεῖόν γε καὶ στοιχεῖον ἀριθμῶν, ἀδύνατον.
Indeed, it is indestructible for no other reason than because it is in a good state, nor is it self-sufficient; so that to say that the principle is of such a nature is reasonable and true, but to say that this principle is the one, or if not this, at least an element, and an element of numbers, is impossible.
συμβαίνει γὰρ πολλὴ δυσχέρεια—ἣν ἔνιοι φεύγοντες ἀπειρήκασιν, οἱ τὸ ἓν μὲν ὁμολογοῦντες ἀρχὴν εἶναι πρώτην καὶ στοιχεῖον, τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ δὲ τοῦ μαθηματικοῦ —ἅπασαι γὰρ αἱ μονάδες γίγνονται ὅπερ ἀγαθόν τι, καὶ πολλή τις εὐπορία ἀγαθῶν.
For a great difficulty arises—which some, in trying to escape, have given up, namely those who agree that the one is the first principle and element, but of mathematical number—for all the units become what is a certain good, and there arises a great abundance of goods.
ἔτι εἰ τὰ εἴδη ἀριθμοί, τὰ εἴδη πάντα ὅπερ ἀγαθόν τι· ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτου βούλεται τιθέτω τις εἶναι ἰδέας· εἰ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἀγαθῶν μόνον, οὐκ ἔσονται οὐσίαι αἱ ἰδέαι, εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν οὐσιῶν, πάντα τὰ ζῷα καὶ τὰ φυτὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ τὰ μετέχοντα.
Further, if the forms are numbers, all the forms are what is a certain good; but let one posit ideas of whatever he pleases; for if they are only of goods, the ideas will not be substances, but if they are also of substances, all animals and plants and the things that participate in them will be good.
ταῦτά τε δὴ συμβαίνει ἄτοπα, καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον στοιχεῖον, εἴτε πλῆθος ὂν εἴτε τὸ ἄνισον καὶ μέγα καὶ μικρόν, τὸ κακὸν αὐτό (διόπερ ὁ μὲν ἔφευγε τὸ ἀγαθὸν προσάπτειν τῷ ἑνὶ ὡς ἀναγκαῖον ὄν, ἐπειδὴ ἐξ ἐναντίων ἡ γένεσις, τὸ κακὸν τὴν τοῦ πλήθους φύσιν εἶναι· οἱ δὲ λέγουσι τὸ ἄνισον τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ φύσιν)·
These absurdities indeed follow, and also that the contrary element, whether it is multiplicity or the unequal and great and small, is evil itself (wherefore one avoided attributing the good to the one as being necessary, since generation is from contraries, that the nature of multiplicity is evil; while others say that the unequal is the nature of evil).
συμβαίνει δὴ πάντα τὰ ὄντα μετέχειν τοῦ κακοῦ ἔξω ἑνὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἑνός, καὶ μᾶλλον ἀκράτου μετέχειν τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς ἢ τὰ μεγέθη, καὶ τὸ κακὸν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ χώραν εἶναι, καὶ μετέχειν καὶ ὀρέγεσθαι τοῦ φθαρτικοῦ· φθαρτικὸν γὰρ τοῦ ἐναντίου τὸ ἐναντίον.
It follows, then, that all existing things participate in evil except the one itself, and that numbers participate in pure evil more than magnitudes do, and that evil is the place of the good, and participates in and desires that which is destructive of it; for the contrary is destructive of the contrary.
καὶ εἰ ὥσπερ ἐλέγομεν ὅτι ἡ ὕλη ἐστὶ τὸ δυνάμει ἕκαστον, οἷον πυρὸς τοῦ ἐνεργείᾳ τὸ δυνάμει πῦρ, τὸ κακὸν ἔσται αὐτὸ τὸ δυνάμει ἀγαθόν.
And if, as we were saying, matter is that which is each thing in potentiality—for example, potential fire is that of actual fire—evil will be the potential good itself.
ταῦτα δὴ πάντα συμβαίνει, τὸ μὲν ὅτι ἀρχὴν πᾶσαν στοιχεῖον ποιοῦσι, τὸ δʼ ὅτι τἀναντία ἀρχάς, τὸ δʼ ὅτι τὸ ἓν ἀρχήν, τὸ δʼ ὅτι τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς τὰς πρώτας οὐσίας καὶ χωριστὰ καὶ εἴδη.
All these things indeed follow, partly because they make every principle an element, partly because they make contraries principles, partly because they make the one a principle, and partly because they make numbers the primary substances, both separate and forms.