Thus, a thing is fully explained by the clearing up of its cause. Why
should there be eyebrows above the eye? That it may possess all that
is implied in its being. Were these parts of the body given to man to
protect him from dangers? That would be to establish within being a
principle charged to watch over being. The things of which we speak
are implied in the being that existed before them. Consequently, being
contains within itself the cause which, if distinct from being, is
nevertheless inseparable therefrom. All things are implied in each
other[100]; taken together, they form the total, perfect and universal
Being; their perfection is bound up with, and is inherent in their
cause; thus a (creature's) "being," its "characteristic" (to ti ên
einai), and its "cause" (why-ness) fall together. (Before asking an
important question we must premiss that) in the intelligible world
the cause that is complementary to a being is ultimately united to
it. We must also premiss that, by virtue of its perfection, divine
Intelligence contains the causes (as well as the beings[78]), so
that it is only "a posteriori" that we observe that things are well
regulated. If then the possession of senses, and indeed of particular
ones, be implied in the form of man by the eternal necessity and
perfection of divine Intelligence, then the intelligible Man was by
no means mere intelligence, receiving the senses when descending into
generation. (If then having senses be implied in the form of man), does
not Intelligence incline towards the things here below? In what do
these senses (which are attributed to the intelligible Man) consist?
Are these senses the potentiality of perceiving sense-objects? But it
would be absurd that, on high, man should from all eternity possess
the potentiality of feeling, yet feel only here below, and that this
potentiality should pass to actualization only when the soul became
less good (by its union to the body).