Besides, there is nothing contingent, even in (that which is beneath
the First), namely, Essence-in-itself; for if any contingency
inhered in it, it itself would be contingent. But Essence cannot
be contingent, for not fortuitously is it what it is; nor does it
derive what it is from anything else, because the very nature of
Essence is to be Essence. This being the case, how could "He who is
above Essence" be considered as being what He is fortuitously? For He
begat Essence, and Essence is not what it is fortuitously, since it
exists in the same manner as "Being," which is what is "Being" and
Intelligence--otherwise, one might even say that Intelligence was
contingent, as if it could have been anything but what is its nature.
Thus He who does not issue from Himself, and does not incline towards
anything whatever, is what He is in the most special sense.