Understanding is incorporeal — and the beautiful cosmos is the 'material god,' not the Good
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Hermes — πᾶσα γὰρ ἐπιστήμη ἀσώματος, ὀργάνῳ χρωμένη αὐτῷ τῷ νοΐ, ὁ δὲ νοῦς τῷ σώματι. ἀμφότερα οὖν χωρεῖ εἰς σῶμα, τά τε νοητὰ καὶ τὰ ὑλικά. ἐξ ἀντιθέσεως γὰρ καὶ ἐναντιότητος δεῖ τὰ πάντα συνεστάναι· καὶ τοῦτο ἄλλως εἶναι ἀδύνατον.
Tat — Τίς οὖν ὁ ὑλικὸς θεὸς ὅδε;
Hermes — ῾Ο καλὸς κόσμος, οὐκ ἔστι δὲ ἀγαθός· ὑλικὸς γάρ, καὶ εὐπάθητος, καὶ πρῶτος μὲν πάντων παθητῶν, δεύτερος δὲ τῶν ὄντων καὶ αὐτοδεής, καὶ αὐτὸς ποτὲ μὲν γενόμενος, ἀεὶ δὲ ὤν, ὢν δὲ ἐν γενέσει, καὶ γινόμενος ἀεί, γένεσις τῶν ποιῶν καὶ τῶν ποσῶν· κινητὸς γάρ· πᾶσα γὰρ ὑλικὴ κίνησις γένεσίς ἐστιν.
For all understanding is incorporeal, using as its instrument the mind itself, and the mind uses the body. Both therefore enter into body, the intelligible and the material; for out of opposition and contrariety all things must be composed, and it is impossible for this to be otherwise. — Who then is this material god? — The beautiful cosmos; but it is not good, for it is material and easily affected, and first of all passible things, but second of the things that are and self-sufficient; itself at one time having come to be, but always being, and being in becoming, and always coming to be — the becoming of qualities and quantities; for it is movable, since all material motion is a becoming.
For all understanding is incorporeal, using the mind itself as its instrument, and the mind uses the body; so both — the intelligible and the material — enter into body, since all things must be composed of opposition and contrariety, and it cannot be otherwise. Tat asks: who then is this material god? Hermes: the beautiful cosmos — but it is not good, for it is material and easily affected, first of all passible things, second of the things that are and self-sufficient; itself once having come to be but always being, and being in becoming, always coming to be: the becoming of qualities and quantities. For it is movable, and all material motion is a becoming.
The treatise turns from the soul to the cosmos, and draws a line it will not let blur: the world is beautiful but not good. First the epistemology: 'all understanding is incorporeal (πᾶσα ἐπιστήμη ἀσώματος),' and it works through a chain of instruments — understanding uses the mind, the mind uses the body. So 'both enter into body, the intelligible and the material (τά τε νοητὰ καὶ τὰ ὑλικά),' because everything real 'must be composed of opposition and contrariety (ἐξ ἀντιθέσεως… καὶ ἐναντιότητος).' This is the old Heraclitean-Empedoclean principle — a world is a tension of opposites — made the structural law of all composite being.
Then Tat's sharp question ('who is this material god?') and Hermes's exact answer: 'the beautiful cosmos (ὁ καλὸς κόσμος), but it is not good (οὐκ ἔστι δὲ ἀγαθός).' The distinction between καλός (beautiful) and ἀγαθός (good) — usually fused in the Greek ideal kalos-kagathos — is here prised apart and made metaphysical. The cosmos is a god, and beautiful, but disqualified from being 'the Good' because it is 'material and easily affected (ὑλικὸς καὶ εὐπάθητος),' 'first of all passible things (πρῶτος πάντων παθητῶν),' caught in the flux the treatise keeps circling. The paradoxical formula — 'itself once having come to be, but always being, and being in becoming, and always coming to be (ποτὲ μὲν γενόμενος, ἀεὶ δὲ ὤν… καὶ γινόμενος ἀεί)' — captures the cosmos's peculiar rank: everlasting, yet everlastingly in flux, 'the becoming of qualities and quantities (γένεσις τῶν ποιῶν καὶ τῶν ποσῶν).' It endures forever, but only by never ceasing to change; and that ceaseless material motion is exactly why it is becoming, not being — beautiful, divine, and still short of the Good.
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