(Now though there are many more blessings connected with the substance of the god and apparent to us, which show that he is midway between the intelligible and the mundane gods(682) let us proceed to his last visible province. His first province then in the last of the worlds is, as though by way of a pattern, to give form and personality to the sun’s angels.(683) Next is his province of generating the world of sense‐ perception, of which the more honourable part contains the cause of the heavens and the heavenly bodies, while the inferior part guides this our world of becoming, and from eternity contains in itself the uncreated cause of that world. Now to describe all the properties of the substance of this god, even though the god himself should grant one to comprehend them, is impossible, seeing that even to grasp them all with the mind is, in my opinion, beyond our power.) Ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλὰ διεληλύθαμεν, ἐπιθετέον ὥσπερ σφραγῖδα τῷ λόγῳ τῷδε μέλλοντας ἐφ᾽ ἕτερα μεταβαίνειν οὐκ ἐλάττονος [D] τῆς θεωρίας δεόμενα. τίς οὖν ἡ σφραγὶς καὶ οἷον ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τὰ πάντα περιλαμβάνουσα ἡ περὶ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ θεοῦ νόησις, αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ἐπὶ νοῦν θείη βουλομένοις ἐν βραχεῖ συνελεῖν τήν τε αἰτίαν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς προῆλθε, καὶ αὐτὸς ὅστις ἐστί, τίνων τε ἀποπληροῖ τὸν ἐμφανῆ κόσμον. ῥητέον οὖν ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς μὲν προῆλθε τοῦ θεοῦ εἷς ἀφ᾽ ἑνὸς τοῦ νοητοῦ κόσμου βασιλεὺς Ἥλιος, [142] τῶν νοερῶν θεῶν μέσος ἐν μέσοις τεταγμένος κατὰ παντοίαν μεσότητα, τὴν ὁμόφρονα καὶ φίλην καὶ τὰ διεστῶτα συνάγουσαν, εἰς ἕνωσιν ἄγων τὰ τελευταῖα τοῖς πρώτοις, τελειότητος καὶ συνοχῆς καὶ γονίμου ζωῆς καὶ τῆς ἑνοειδοῦς οὐσίας τὰ μέσα ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ, τῷ τε αἰσθητῷ κόσμῳ παντοίων ἀγαθῶν προηγούμενος,(684) οὐ μόνον δι᾽ ἧς αὐτὸς αὐγῆς περιλάμπει κοσμῶν καὶ φαιδρύνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν τῶν ἡλιακῶν ἀγγέλων(685) ἑαυτῷ συνυποστήσας καὶ τὴν ἀγέννητον αἰτίαν [B] τῶν γινομένων περιέχων, ἔτι τε πρὸ ταύτης τῶν ἀιδίων σωμάτων τὴν ἀγήρω καὶ μόνιμον τῆς ζωῆς αἰτίαν.