§4.4.1Εἰ τὸ νοερὸν ἡμῖν κοινόν, καὶ ὁ λόγος, καθʼ ὃν λογικοί ἐσμεν, κοινός·
If the intellectual faculty is common to us, then the reason, by virtue of which we are rational beings, is also common.
εἰ τοῦτο, καὶ ὁ προστακτικὸς τῶν ποιητέων ἢ μὴ λόγος κοινός·
If this is so, then the reason which prescribes what is to be done or not done is also common.
εἰ τοῦτο, καὶ ὁ νόμος κοινός·
If this is so, then law is also common.
εἰ τοῦτο, πολῖταί ἐσμεν·
If this is so, we are citizens.
εἰ τοῦτο, πολιτεύματός τινος μετέχομεν·
If this is so, we are partakers of some constitution.
εἰ τοῦτο, ὁ κόσμος ὡσανεὶ πόλις ἐστί·
If this is so, the universe is as it were a city.
τίνος γὰρ ἄλλου φήσει τις τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πᾶν γένος κοινοῦ πολιτεύματος μετέχειν;
For of what other common constitution can anyone say that the whole human race partakes?
ἐκεῖθεν δέ, ἐκ τῆς κοινῆς ταύτης πόλεως, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ νοερὸν καὶ λογικὸν καὶ νομικὸν ἡμῖν ἢ πόθεν;
And from there, from this common city, do we derive our intellectual, rational, and legal faculty, or from where else?
ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ γεῶδές μοι ἀπό τινος γῆς ἀπομεμέρισται καὶ τὸ ὑγρὸν ἀφʼ ἑτέρου στοιχείου καὶ τὸ πνευματικὸν ἀπὸ πηγῆς τινος καὶ τὸ θερμὸν καὶ πυρῶδες ἔκ τινος ἰδίας πηγῆς (οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ μηδενὸς ἔρχεται, ὥσπερ μηδʼ εἰς τὸ οὐκ ὂν ἀπέρχεται), οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὸ νοερὸν ἥκει ποθέν.
For just as my earthy part has been allotted to me from some earth, and the liquid part from another element, and the pneumatic part from some source, and the hot and fiery part from some proper source of its own (for nothing comes from nothing, just as nothing returns to non-existence), so too the intellectual faculty must come from somewhere.