Light everywhere, no fire — love blending opposites; the moon and the ensouled world
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Nous — ἀναπληροῦντας, φωτὸς δὲ πάντα πλήρη, πῦρ δὲ οὐδαμοῦ, ἡ γὰρ φιλία καὶ ἡ σύγκρασις τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ τῶν ἀνομοίων φῶς γέγονε καταλαμπόμενον ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνεργείας, παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ γεννήτορος καὶ πάσης τάξεως ἄρχοντος καὶ ἡγεμόνος τῶν ἑπτὰ κόσμων· σελήνην δὲ ἐκείνων πρόδρομον πάντων, ὄργανον τῆς φύσεως, τὴν κάτω ὕλην μεταβάλλουσαν· τήν τε γῆν μέσην τοῦ παντὸς ὑποστάθμην τοῦ καλοῦ κόσμου ἱδρυμένην, τροφὸν καὶ τιθηνὴν τῶν ἐπιγείων. θέασαι δὲ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀθανάτων ζώων ὅσον ἐστί, καὶ τὸ τῶν θνητῶν· μέσην δὲ ἀμφοτέρων, τῶν τε ἀθανάτων καὶ τῶν θνητῶν, τὴν σελήνην περιπορευομένην. πάντα δὲ πλήρη ψυχῆς καὶ πάντα ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἰδίως κινούμενα, τὰ μὲν περὶ τὸν οὐρανόν, τὰ δὲ περὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ μήτε τὰ δεξιὰ ἐπὶ τὰ ἀριστερὰ μήτε τὰ ἀριστερὰ ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιὰ μήτε τὰ ἄνω κάτω μήτε τὰ κάτω ἄνω.
…filling it up; and all things full of light, but fire nowhere; for the love and the blending of the opposites and unlikes has become light, illumined by the activity of God — begetter of all good and ruler of all order and leader of the seven worlds; and the moon, forerunner of them all, the instrument of nature, transforming the lower matter; and the earth midmost of the All, the settled base of the beautiful cosmos, set fast, nurse and foster-mother of the earthly things. Behold also the multitude of the immortal living beings, how great it is, and that of the mortals; and midway between both, the immortal and the mortal, the moon going her round. And all things are full of soul, and all moved by it, each in its own way — some about the heaven, some about the earth; and neither the right toward the left nor the left toward the right, neither the things above below nor the things below above.
The seven worlds fill out the Aeon. All things are full of light, but of fire nowhere; for the love and blending of opposites and unlikes has become light, illumined by the activity of God — begetter of all good, ruler of all order and leader of the seven worlds. The moon is forerunner of them all, the instrument of nature, transforming the lower matter; and the earth, set midmost of the All as the settled base of the beautiful cosmos, is nurse and foster-mother of earthly things. Behold too the multitude of the immortal living beings, how great it is, and that of the mortals; and midway between both, immortal and mortal, the moon going her round. All things are full of soul, and all moved by it, each in its own way — some about heaven, some about earth; and neither the right toward the left nor the left toward the right, neither the things above below nor the things below above.
The vision opens outward into a luminous cosmology. 'All things are full of light, but fire nowhere (φωτὸς… πάντα πλήρη, πῦρ δὲ οὐδαμοῦ)' — a careful distinction: the world blazes, yet not with the destructive element. Where does the light come from? From concord: 'the love and blending of the opposites and unlikes (ἡ φιλία καὶ ἡ σύγκρασις τῶν ἐναντίων) has become light.' The φιλία is Empedocles' cosmic Love, the power that mingles what strife would sunder; the Hermetist makes its work visible — the reconciliation of contraries is not a grey compromise but a radiance, 'illumined by the activity of God,' who is 'begetter of all good and ruler of all order and leader of the seven worlds.'
Then the eye descends through the spheres to the two bodies that frame our world. The moon is 'forerunner of them all (πρόδρομον πάντων), the instrument of nature (ὄργανον τῆς φύσεως), transforming the lower matter' — the swiftest sphere, the boundary-body through which change is worked on the sublunar realm. And the earth sits 'midmost of the All as the settled base (ὑποστάθμην) of the beautiful cosmos,' 'nurse and foster-mother (τροφὸν καὶ τιθηνὴν) of the earthly things.' The two maternal words are Plato's, from the Timaeus' 'nurse of becoming'; the densest, lowest body is also the one that feeds all life. Between these, midway 'between both the immortal and the mortal,' the moon makes her monthly round — the exact hinge of the two orders.
The close is the treatise's most sweeping affirmation of a living universe: 'all things are full of soul (πάντα… πλήρη ψυχῆς), and all moved by it, each in its own way (ἰδίως).' Nothing is dead matter; every region moves by soul according to its own manner, some about heaven, some about earth. And the order holds without confusion — 'neither the right toward the left nor the left toward the right, neither the things above below nor the below above.' The cosmos is not chaos in motion but a vast choreography, every body ensouled and every soul keeping its lane. The vision Nous shows is of a world that is alive through and through, and orderly precisely because it is alive.
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