It might here be objected that there could not be in the universe
anything bad or contrary to nature; and it must be acknowledged that
even what seems less good still has its utility. If this seem to
admit that things that are less good contribute to the perfection
of the universe, and that there is no necessity that all things be
beautiful,[263] it is only because the very contraries contribute
to the perfection of the universe, and so the world could not exist
without them. It is likewise with all living beings. The ("seminal)
reason" necessarily produces and forms what is better; what is
less good is contained in the "potentiality" of the "reasons," and
"actualized" in the begotten beings. The (universal) Soul has,
therefore, no need to busy herself therewith, nor to cause the
"reasons" to become active. For the "reasons" successfully subdue
matter to what is better (the forms), even though matter alters what it
receives by imparting a shock to the "reasons" that proceed from the
higher principles. All things, therefore, form a harmonious totality
because they simultaneously proceed from matter, and the "reasons"
which beget them.