8. This is how Plato establishes three degrees in the hierarchy
of being[243]: "Everything is around the king of all." He is here
speaking of first rank entities. He adds, "What is of the second order
is around the second principle; and what is of the third order is
around the third principle." Plato[244] further says that "God is the
father of the cause." By cause, he means Intelligence; for, in the
system of Plato, it is Intelligence which plays the part of demiurgic
creator. Plato adds that it is this power that forms the Soul in the
cup.[245] As the cause is intelligence, Plato applies the name of
father to the absolute Good, the principle superior to Intelligence and
superior to "Being." In several passages he calls the Idea "existence
and intelligence." He therefore really teaches that Intelligence is
begotten from the Good, and the Soul from Intelligence. This teaching,
indeed, is not new; it has been taught from the most ancient times, but
without being brought out in technical terms. We claim to be no more
than the interpreters of the earlier philosophers, and to show by the
very testimony of Plato that they held the same views as we do.