Τὸ ἓν πάντα καὶ οὐδὲ ἕν· ἀρχὴ γὰρ πάντων οὐ πάντα, ἀλλ’ ἐκείνης πάντα· ἐκεῖ γὰρ οἷον ἀνέδραμε· μᾶλλον δὲ οὔπω ἔστιν, ἀλλ’ ἔσται. πῶς οὖν ἐξ ἁπλοῦ ἑνὸς οὐδεμιᾶς ἐν ταὐτῷ φαινομένης ποικιλίας, οὐ διπλόης ὁτουοῦν; ἢ ὅτι οὐδὲν ἦν ἐν αὐτῷ, διὰ τοῦτο ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντα, καὶ ἵνα τὸ ὂν ᾖ, διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸ οὐκ ὄν, γεννητὴς δὲ αὐτοῦ· καὶ πρώτη οἷον γέννησις αὕτη· ὂν γὰρ τέλειον τῷ μηδὲν ζητεῖν μηδὲ ἔχειν μηδὲ δεῖσθαι οἷον ὑπερερρύη καὶ τὸ ὑπερπλῆρες αὐτοῦ πεποίηκεν ἄλλο· τὸ δὲ γενόμενον εἰς αὐτὸ ἐπεστράφη καὶ ἐπληρώθη καὶ ἐγένετο πρὸς αὐτὸ βλέπον καὶ νοῦς οὕτως. καὶ ἡ μὲν πρὸς ἐκεῖνο στάσις αὐτοῦ τὸ ὂν ἐποίησεν, ἡ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸ θέα τὸν νοῦν.
The One is all things and not a single one of them. For the principle of all things is not all things; but all things are its, for they have run back, as it were, to it—or rather they are not yet There, but will be. How, then, do they come from a simple One, in which there appears no variety, no doubleness of any kind? Or rather: because there was nothing in it, for that very reason all things come from it; and so that being may be, it is for that reason not being, but being’s begetter. And this is, as it were, the first begetting. Being perfect—because it seeks nothing, has nothing, needs nothing—it overflowed, as it were, and its superabundance made something else. What came into being turned back toward it, was filled, and became Intellect by looking toward it. Its standing still in relation to that made being; its gaze toward that made Intellect.
ἐπεὶ οὖν ἔστη πρὸς αὐτό, ἵνα ἴδῃ, ὁμοῦ νοῦς γίνεται καὶ ὄν. οὕτως οὖν ὢν οἷον ἐκεῖνος τὰ ὅμοια ποιεῖ δύναμιν προχέας πολλήν· εἶδος δὲ καὶ τοῦτο αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ τὸ πρὸ αὐτοῦ πρότερον προέχεε. καὶ αὕτη ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας ἐνέργεια ψυχὴ τοῦτο μένοντος ἐκείνου γενομένη· καὶ γὰρ ὁ νοῦς μένοντος τοῦ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο. ἡ δὲ οὐ μένουσα ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ κινηθεῖσα ἐγέννα εἴδωλον. ἐκεῖ μὲν οὖν βλέπουσα, ὅθεν ἐγένετο, πληροῦται, προελθοῦσα δὲ εἰς κίνησιν ἄλλην καὶ ἐναντίαν γεννᾷ εἴδωλον αὑτῆς αἴσθησιν καὶ φύσιν τὴν ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς. οὐδὲν δὲ τοῦ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἀπήρτηται οὐδ’ ἀποτέτμηται.
Since, then, it stood still in relation to that in order to see, it becomes Intellect and being at once. Being in this way like that, it makes things like itself, pouring out much power. This too is a form of it, just as what came before it had poured it out before. This activity from its being is Soul, which came to be while Intellect remained; for Intellect, too, came to be while what was before it remained. But Soul does not make while remaining; it was moved, and generated an image. Looking There, where it came from, it is filled; going out into another, opposite motion, it generates an image of itself: perception, and the nature in plants. But nothing is detached or cut off from what is before it.
διὸ καὶ δοκεῖ καὶ ἡ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴ μέχρι φυτῶν φθάνειν· τρόπον γάρ τινα φθάνει, ὅτι αὐτῆς τὸ ἐν φυτοῖς· οὐ μὴν πᾶσα ἐν φυτοῖς, ἀλλὰ γενομένη ἐν φυτοῖς οὕτως ἐστίν, ὅτι ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον προέβη εἰς τὸ κάτω ὑπόστασιν ἄλλην ποιησαμένη τῇ προόδῳ· καὶ προθυμίᾳ τοῦ χείρονος· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ πρὸ τούτου τὸ νοῦ ἐξηρτημένον μένειν τὸν νοῦν ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ ἐᾷ.
That is why the human soul also seems to reach down as far as plants. In a way it does, since the soul in plants is its own. Not that it is all in plants; but having come to be in plants, it is there in this sense: it has advanced so far downward, making another hypostasis by its procession and by its eagerness for the worse. For even what is before this, the part dependent on Intellect, lets Intellect remain by itself.
πρόεισιν οὖν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς εἰς ἔσχατον καταλειπομένου ἀεὶ ἑκάστου ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἕδρᾳ, τοῦ δὲ γεννωμένου ἄλλην τάξιν λαμβάνοντος τὴν χείρονα· ἕκαστον μέντοι ταὐτὸν γίνεται ᾧ ἂν ἐπίσπηται, ἕως ἂν ἐφέπηται. ὅταν οὖν ψυχὴ ἐν φυτῷ γίνηται, ἄλλο ἐστὶν οἷον μέρος ἐν φυτῷ, τὸ τολμηρότατον καὶ ἀφρονέστατον καὶ προεληλυθὸς μέχρι τοσούτου· ὅταν δ’ ἐν ἀλόγῳ, ἡ τοῦ αἰσθάνεσθαι δύναμις κρατήσασα ἤγαγεν· ὅταν δὲ εἰς ἄνθρωπον, ἢ ὅλως ἐν λογικῷ ἡ κίνησις, ἢ ἀπὸ νοῦ ὡς νοῦν οἰκεῖον ἐχούσης καὶ παρ’ αὑτῆς βούλησιν τοῦ νοεῖν ἢ ὅλως κινεῖσθαι. πάλιν δὴ ἀναστρέφωμεν· ὅταν φυτοῦ ἢ τὰ παραφυόμενα ἢ κλάδων τὰ ἄνω τις τέμῃ, ἡ ἐν τούτοις ψυχὴ ποῖ ἀπελήλυθεν; ἢ ὅθεν· οὐ γὰρ ἀποστᾶσα τόπῳ. ἓν οὖν τῇ ἀρχῇ.
So it proceeds from the beginning to the last, each thing always left in its own seat, while what is generated takes another, lower rank. Yet each becomes the same as what it follows, for as long as it follows. When soul comes to be in a plant, then, there is something else in the plant, as it were a part: the most reckless and senseless part, which has advanced so far. When it is in an irrational animal, the power of perception has prevailed and led it there. When it comes into a human being, the motion is either wholly in the rational part, or it comes from intellect, since soul has an intellect of its own and, of itself, the will to think, or in general to move. Let us turn back again. When someone cuts off a plant’s side shoots or the tops of its branches, where has the soul in them gone? Or rather: back to where it came from, for it did not depart in place. So it is one with its principle.
εἰ δὲ τὴν ῥίζαν διακόψειας ἢ καύσειας, ποῦ τὸ ἐν τῇ ῥίζῃ; ἐν ψυχῇ οὐκ εἰς ἄλλον τόπον ἐλθούσῃ. ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ᾖ, ἀλλ’ ἐν ἄλλῳ, εἰ ἀναδράμοι· εἰ δὲ μή, ἐν ἄλλῃ φυτικῇ, οὐ γὰρ στενοχωρεῖται· εἰ δ’ ἀναδράμοι, ἐν τῇ πρὸ αὐτῆς δυνάμει. ἀλλ’ ἐκείνη ποῦ; ἐν τῇ πρὸ αὐτῆς· ἡ δὲ μέχρι νοῦ, οὐ τόπῳ, οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐν τόπῳ ἦν· ὁ δὲ νοῦς πολὺ μᾶλλον οὐκ ἐν τόπῳ, ὥστε οὐδὲ αὐτή. οὐδαμοῦ οὖν οὖσα, ἀλλ’ ἐν τῷ ὃ μηδαμοῦ καὶ πανταχοῦ οὕτως ἐστίν. εἰ δὲ προελθοῦσα εἰς τὸ ἄνω σταίη ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ πρὶν πάντη εἰς τὸ ἀνωτάτω γενέσθαι, μέσον ἔχει βίον καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ μέρει αὑτῆς ἕστηκε.
And if you cut through the root or burned it, where is what was in the root? In soul, which did not go to another place. But even if it stays in the same place, it is in something else, if it has run back up. If not, it is in another plant-soul, for it is not short of room. And if it has run back up, it is in the power before it. But where is that? In the one before it; and that one reaches up to Intellect—not in place, for none of it was in place. And Intellect, much more, is not in place, so that neither is soul. So it is nowhere, but in what is nowhere, and in this way it is everywhere as well. And if, going upward, it stops in between, before arriving altogether at the very highest, it has an intermediate life and is settled in that part of itself.
πάντα δὲ ταῦτα ἐκεῖνος καὶ οὐκ ἐκεῖνος· ἐκεῖνος μέν, ὅτι ἐξ ἐκείνου· οὐκ ἐκεῖνος δέ, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ μένων ἔδωκεν. ἔστιν οὖν οἷον ζωὴ μακρὰ εἰς μῆκος ἐκταθεῖσα, ἕτερον ἕκαστον τῶν μορίων τῶν ἐφεξῆς, συνεχὲς δὲ πᾶν αὑτῷ, ἄλλο δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τῇ διαφορᾷ, οὐκ ἀπολλύμενον ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τὸ πρότερον. τί οὖν ἡ ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς γενομένη; οὐδὲν γεννᾷ; ἢ ἐν ᾧ ἔστι. σκεπτέον δὲ πῶς ἀρχὴν ἄλλην λαβόντας.
All these things are that one and are not that one. They are that one because they come from it; they are not that one because that one gave while remaining by itself. It is like a long life stretched out lengthwise: each of the successive parts is different, but the whole is continuous with itself; one part differs from another, yet the earlier is not lost in the later. What, then, of the soul that has come to be in plants? Does it generate nothing? Or rather, it generates that in which it is. But we must consider how, taking another starting point.