If something after the One exist, it is no more the simple One, but
the multiple One. Whence is this derived? Evidently from the First,
for it could not be supposed that it came from chance; that would
be to admit that the First is not the principle of everything. How
then is the multiple One derived from the First? If the First be not
only perfect, but the most perfect, if it be the first Power, it must
surely, in respect to power, be superior to all the rest, and the other
powers must merely imitate it to the limit of their ability. Now we
see that all that arrives to perfection cannot unfruitfully remain in
itself, but begets and produces. Not only do beings capable of choice,
but even those lacking reflection or soul have a tendency to impart
to other beings, what is in them; as, for instance, fire emits heat,
snow emits cold; and plant-juices (dye and soak) into whatever they
happen to touch. All things in nature imitate the First principle by
seeking to achieve immortality by procreation, and by manifestation
of their qualities. How then would He who is sovereignly perfect, who
is the supreme Good, remain absorbed in Himself, as if a sentiment of
jealousy hindered Him from communicating Himself, or as if He were
powerless, though He is the power of everything? How then would He
remain principle of everything? He must therefore beget something, just
as what He begets must in turn beget. There must therefore be something
beneath the First. Now this thing (which is immediately beneath the
First), must be very venerable, first because it begets everything
else, then because it is begotten by the First, and because it must,
as being the Second, rank and surpass everything else.