But how are they anterior to each other? It must be because here he
who commands is identical with him who is commanded. Now in commanding
he expresses one thing after another; for why are all things not
together? (Not so). If the command and he who commands were separate
entities, the things would have been produced in the same manner
as they have been expressed (by speech); but as the commander is
himself the first command, he does not express things (by speech),
he only produces them one after the other. If he were (by speech)
to express what he actually does, he would have to consider the
order; consequently, he would have to be separate from it. Is it
asked, how can the commander be identical with the command? He is not
simultaneously form and matter, but form alone (that is, the totality
of the reasons which are simultaneously present to him). Thus, the Soul
is both the potentiality and the actualization which occupy the second
rank after Intelligence. To have parts some of which are prior to
others suits only such objects as cannot be everything simultaneously.