All these orders, likewise, which are distributed according to the parts of time, energize according to the whole of time; this whole containing in itself triple powers, one of which is _perfective_ of all motion, the second _connects_ and _guards_ things which are governed by it, and the third _unfolds_ divine natures into light. For, as all such things as are not eternal, are led round in a circle, the wholeness or the monad of time, perfects and connects their essence, and discloses to them the united infinity of eternity, evolving the contracted multitude which subsists in eternal natures; whence also this apparent time, as Timæus says, unfolds to us the measures of divine periods, perfects sensibles, and guards things which are generated in their proper numbers. Time, therefore, possesses triple powers prior to souls, viz. _the perfective_, _the connective_, and _the unfolding_, according to a similitude to eternity. For eternity, possessing a middle order in intelligibles, _perfects_ the order posterior to itself, supplying it with union, but _unfolds into light_ that which is prior to itself, producing into multitude its ineffable union, and _connects_ the middle bond of intelligibles, and guards all things intransitively through its power. Time, therefore, receiving supernally the triple powers of eternity, imparts them to souls. Eternity, however, possesses this triad unitedly; but time both unitedly and distributively; and souls distributively alone. Hence, of souls, some are characterized according to one, and others according to another power of time; some imitating its _unfolding_, others its _perfective_, and others its _connective_ power. Thus also with respect to the Fates, some of these being adapted to give completion and perfection to things, are said to sing the past, always indeed energizing, and always singing, their songs being intellections, and fabricative energies about the world: for _the past_ is the source of _completion_. Others again of these are adapted to _connect_ things _present_; for they guard the essence and the generation of these. And others are adapted to _unfold the future_; for they lead into essence and to an end that which as yet is not.