ἐπεὶ δέ ἐστιν
 1 μελλοι] -λει ‘Reg. a’ || 6 προς το ειπ be || 8 om τε a || 11 om αν ‘Or. 1’
|| 12 λεγοι] -ει ‘Reg. a tres Colb. Or. 1’ ut vid || τρεις ουδε τεσσαρες]
τρια ουδε -ρα cde : τρεις ουδε -ρας b || 16 om γαρ d || εστιν] + ειπειν c 
 2. ἀποχρώντως] ‘sufficiently,’
‘adequately.’ 
 4. οὐδὲ ἐκεῖ] in the case of incorporeal
existences. 
 ib. μέχρι τοῦ εἰπεῖν] In accordance
with the double meaning of all
such words, μέχρι has here the inclusive
sense (‘so long as’), not the
exclusive (‘until’). It is much less
common when μ. is used prepositionally,
as here. Οὐ στήσεται μέχρι τ.
εἰ. ‘will not stop short with saying.’
Cp. § 16, 31. 
 5. πολυπραγμονῶν] ‘inquiring’
The word does not necessarily imply
censure, esp. in the later Greek.
Cyril Jer. uses it of God (Procat.
§ 2). The τοῦ ὄντος does not specially
refer to God (ὁ ὤν), but quite
generally to any existing thing which
is under discussion. 
 8. ἀπειπεῖν] ‘to reject,’ ‘deny.’ 
 ib. ἵνα ἔκ τε] depends on δεὸ. 
 ib. ὧν οὔκ ἐστι] by attraction for
τούτων ἃ οὐκ ἑ. ; so directly after,
τῆς οὗ ἐστὶ θ. for τῆς τούτου ὅ ἐστι. 
 11. τὰ πέντε δὶς ὅσα ἑ.] ‘how many
twice five is.’ 
 13. τῶν ἐντὸς δεκάδος ἢ δ. ἀ.] ‘of
the numbers below ten or between the
multiples of ten.’ 
 15. ἐρείδοL . . . εἰd] ‘satisfy . . . with’;
lit. ‘plant firmly . . . upon.’ 
 19. ἤ] This elliptical and idio-
matic
use of ἤ suggests the alternative,
‘deny this if you can; or let us
take it as self-evident and pass on.’
The μὲν is strictly answered by ἐπεὶ
δέ, and there ought not to be such a
break between them as is indicated
by the usual division of chapters. 

 
ἀσώματον ἡμῖν τὸ θεῖον, μικρόν τι προσεξετάσωμεν.
πότερον οὐδαμοῦ τοῦτο, ἢ ἔστιν ὅπου; εἰ μὲν γὰρ
οὐδαμοῦ, ζητήσαι τις ἃν τῶν ἄγαν ἐξεταστικῶν, πῶς ἂν
καὶ εἴη. εἰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ ὃν οὐδαμοῦ, τὸ μηδαμοῦ τυχὸν
οὐδὲ ὄν. εἰ δέ ἐστί που, πάντως ἐπείπερ ἐστὶν ἢ ἐν 
τῷ παντὶ ἢ ὑπὲρ τὸ πᾶν. ἀλλ’ εἰ μὲν ἐν τῷ παντί,
ἤ τινι, ἢ πανταχοῦ. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἔν τινι, ὑπ’ ἐλάττονος
περιγραφήσεται τοῦ τινός, εἰ δὲ πανταχοῦ, ὑπὸ πλείονος
καὶ ἄλλου πολλοῦ, λέγω δὲ τὸ περιεχόμενον τοῦ περιέχοντος,
εἰ τὸ πᾶν ὑπὸ τοῦ παντὸς μέλλοι περισχεθήσεσθαι, 
καὶ μηδένα τόπον εἶναι περιγραφῆς ἐλεύθερον. ταῦτα μέν
 10. 3 τις ἀν’] om ἀν’ d ΙΙ 7 η τινι] ἐν τινι e || 10 μέλλοι] -λει d 
 10. Gr. makes a digression to
enquire how God is related to space. 
 2. ἐστιν ὅπου] ‘somewhere,’ like
ἐστιν ὧν in i 5. 
 3. πῶς ἂν καἰ εἴη] ‘how it can
exist at all.’ 
 5. πάντως ἐπείπερ ἐστὶν ἢ... ἤ] ‘it
must of course be because it is either
...or.’ 
 7. ἤ τινι, ἢ πανταχοῦ] ‘it must
reside either in α section of the universe,
or extending throughout the
whole: The passage which follows
is characterized by Gr. himself (in
§ 11) as σκολιὸν γριφοειδές. Editors,
therefore, and translators may
be excused if they have made nonsense
of it by wrong punctuation
and by impossible renderings. The
drift, however, is plain enough. Gr.
places his opponent in a dilemma.
If the Divine Being is located in a
section of the universe, it is circumscribed
by something relatively small
τοῦ τινός=the supposed section,
ἐλάττονος in comparison with τὸ
πᾶν); a notion which is manifestly
absurd. If on the other hand it is
located in the universe at large, yet
still (ex hypothesi) within the universe,
then, though the thing which
circumscribes it is relatively great
πλ. καὶ ἄλλου πολλοῦ=‘greater than
other great things’), yet none
less it is as much circumscribed as
in the former case. This follows
from the very statement that τὸ θεῖον
is ‘in’ the universe, which at once
involves the relation of the thing
containing to the thing contpined
(grammatically τὸ περιεχόμενον is in
apposition to the subject of περιγραφήσεται,
and τοῦ περιέχοντος to
ἐλάττονος τοῦ τινός and to πλείονος
respectively). To complete the argument,
however, it is necessary to
postulate εἰ...μέλλοι) that the universe
is not positively infinite but
contained within itself if within nothing
else, and that as it consists of
space-relations it cannot he exempt
from the possibility of circumscription.
(The grammar of the last
clause is apparently irregular, and
some word like χρὴ must be supplied
from μέλλοι; but it is possible that
Gr. intends μέλλοι to stand absolutely
and impersonally in both clauses
(=‘it is to be a ’), making τό
πᾶν περισχ. ace. and inf., like μ.
τόπον εἶναι). 

 
εἰ ἐν τῷ παντί. καὶ ποῦ πρὶν γενέσθαι τὸ πᾶν; οὐδὲ γὰρ
τοῦτο μικρὸν εἰς ἀπορίαν. εἰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τὸ πᾶν, ἆρ᾿ οὐδὲν ἦν
τὸ διορίζον αὐτὸ τοῦ παντός; ποῦ δὲ τὸ ὑπὲρ τοῦτο; καὶ
πῶς ἐνοήθη τὸ ὑπεραῖρον καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενον, οὐκ ὄντος
 ὅρου τινὸς τοῦ τέμνοντος ταῦτα καὶ διορίζοντος; ἢ χρὴ
πάντως εἶναι τὸ μέσον, καὶ ᾧ περατοῦται τὸ πᾶν καὶ τὸ
ὑπὲρ τὸ πᾶν; καὶ τί ἄλλο τοῦτο ἢ τόπος ἐστίν, ὅνπερ
ἐφύγομεν; καὶ οὔπω λέγω τὸ περιγραπτὸν πάντως εἶναι
τὸ θεῖον, καὶ εἰ διανοίᾳ καταληπτόν· ἓν γὰρ περιγραφῆς
 εἶδος καὶ ἡ κατάληψις.