Plotino - Tratado 32,5 (V, 5, 5) — O Uno engendra o resto das coisas, produzindo o ser em primeiro

5. Dícese que hay que remontarse hacia el Uno porque es lo que subsiste como Primero e idéntico, aunque otros seres unos provengan de El. Así, en el caso de los números, contamos con una unidad que permanece en sí misma y con otro ser que los produce, surgiendo el número con arreglo a esta misma unidad. Con mayor razón todavía, si se trata del Uno anterior a los demás seres, éste deberá permanecer en sí mismo; pero, aunque eso ocurra, no será una cosa diferente de El la que produzca los seres, sino que bastará con que El exista para que los seres sean engendrados. Pero, lo mismo que, en el caso de los números, la forma de la unidad podía tomarse como primera o segunda, porque cada una de las unidades que sigue a la unidad primera no participa en ella de igual manera, así también en lo que hace a las cosas posteriores al Primero podrá decirse que tienen algo de El, algo que debe considerarse como una forma. Allí, en los números, la participación en la unidad producía la cantidad; aquí, en cambio, la huella del Uno produce la esencia, de modo que el ser no es otra cosa que la huella del Uno. Si se dice, pues, que la palabra ser deriva de la palabra uno, hay grandes posibilidades de alcanzar la verdad. Porque el ser que llamamos el primero, tan sólo un poco se alejó del Uno y no quiso ya ir más adelante, volviéndose, entonces, hacia dentro y convirtiéndose así en la esencia y en el hogar de todos los demás seres. De modo que, quien habla del Uno apoyándose en el sonido mismo las palabras parece dar a indicar lo que procede de El, expresando la palabra ser en la medida de lo posible. En tal sentido, lo que proviene del Uno, es decir, el ser, conserva la imagen de la potencia de la que ha nacido. Y el lenguaje, movido por esta visión y este espectáculo, conserva en su imagen, pronunciando las palabras "ser, esencia hogar." Porque estas palabras quieren designar la existencia de lo que fue engendrado por el Uno, tratando de conservar así, en la medida de lo posible, la imagen de la generación del ser.

V. Revenons maintenant à l’assertion que nous avons émise plus haut, à savoir que le Premier reste toujours identique, quoique les autres êtres naissent de lui. La génération des nombres s’explique par l’immanence de l’unité el l’action d’un autre principe qui les forme à l’image de l’unité. A plus forte raison, le principe supérieur aux êtres est l’unité immanente; seulement ici, ce n’est pas un autre principe qui produit les êtres à l’image du Premier pendant que celui-ci demeure en lui-même, c’est le Premier lui-même qui engendre les êtres. De même que la forme de l’unité, qui est le principe des nombres, existe dans tous à des degrés divers, parce que les nombres postérieurs à l’unité participent d’elle inégalement ; de même, les êtres inférieurs au Premier ont tous en eux quelque chose de lui, qui constitue leur forme. Les nombres tiennent leur quantité de leur participation à l’unité. De même ici, les êtres doivent leur essence à la trace de l’Un qu’ils ont en eux, en sorte que leur être est cette trace de l’Un. On ne s’éloignerait pas de la vérité si l’on disait que le mot εἶναι, être, qui exprime l’essence, est dérivé du mot ἕν, un. En effet l’être, ὄν, a procédé immédiatement de l’Un et ne s’en est éloigné que fort peu; en se tournant vers son propre fond, il s’est posé, il est devenu et il est l’essence de tout. Celui qui énonce l’être, en appuyant sur ce mot, produit l’unité, en montrant que l’être, ὄν, provient de l’unité, ὄν, comme l’indique, autant qu’il est possible, ce mot ὄν, être. C’est ainsi que l’essence, οὐσία (07), et l’être, εἶναι, imitent autant qu’il est en eux le principe de la puissance duquel ils sont émanés. L’esprit, remarquant ces choses et guidé parleur contemplation, a imité ce qu’il voyait (08) en proférant les mots ὄν (être), εἶναι (exister), οὐσία (essence), ἑστία (Hestia ou Vesta) (09). En effet, ces sons essaient d’exprimer la nature de ce qui a été engendré par l’Un, au moyen de l’effort même que fait celui qui parle afin d’imiter, autant qu’il le peut, la génération de l’être.

PUNS ABOUT VESTA, TAKEN FROM THE CRATYLUS   OF PLATO.

5. Returning to our former assertion that the First ever remains identical, even though giving birth to other beings, the generation of numbers may be explained by the immanence of Unity, and by the action of another principle which forms them, as images of unity. So much the more must the Principle superior to beings be immanent Unity; but here it is the First himself who begets the beings, and not another principle who produces beings in the image of the First while this First would abide within Himself. Likewise the form of unity, which is the principle of numbers, exists within all in different degrees, because the numbers posterior to unity participate therein unequally. Likewise, the beings inferior to the First contain something of His nature, which something constitutes their form. Numbers derive their quantity from their participation in unity. Likewise here beings owe their being to their containing the trace of the One, so that their being is the trace of the One. Not far from the truth would we be in holding that essence, which is the (more common or) plainer nomenclature of being, is derived from he word "hen," which means one. Indeed essence proceeded immediately from the One, and has differentiated from Him but very little. Turning towards its own basis, it has settled, and both became and is the "being" of all. When a man pronounces essence ("on"), and emphasizes it, he unconsciously approximates the sound meaning one ("hen"), demonstrating that essence proceeds from unity, as indeed is indicated, so far as possible, by the word "on," which means essence. That is why "being" ("ousia") and essence ("einai") imitate so far as they can the principle of the Power from which they have emanated. The human mind, observing these similarities, and guided by their contemplation, imitated what it grasped by uttering the words "on," "einai," "ousia," and "hestia." Indeed, these sounds try to express the nature of what has been begotten by unity, by means of the very effort made by the speaker so as to imitate as well as possible the generation of being.

5. We return to our statement that The First remains intact even when other entities spring from it.

In the case of numbers, the unit remains intact while something else produces, and thus number arises in dependence on the unit: much more then does the unit, The One, remain intact in the principle which is before all beings; especially since the entities produced in its likeness, while it thus remains intact, owe their existence to no other, but to its own all-sufficient power.

And just as there is, primarily or secondarily, some form or idea from the monad in each of the successive numbers - the later still participating, though unequally, in the unit - so the series of Beings following upon The First bear, each, some form or idea derived from that source. In Number the participation establishes Quantity; in the realm of Being, the trace of The One establishes reality: existence is a trace of The One - our word for entity may probably be connected with that for unity.

What we know as Being, the first sequent upon The One, advanced a little outward, so to speak, then chose to go no further, turned inward again and comes to rest and is now the reality and hearth [ousia and hestia] of the universe. Pressing [with the rough breathing] on the word for Being [on] we have the word "hen" [one], an indication that in our very form of speech we tell, as far as may be, that Being [the weaker] is that which proceeds from [the stronger] The One. Thus both the thing that comes to be and Being itself are carriers of a copy, since they are outflows from the power of The primal One: this power sees and in its emotion tries to represent what it sees and breaks into speech "On"; "einai"; "ousia," "hestia" [Existent: Existence: Essence: Hestia or Hearth], sounds which labour to express the essential nature of the universe produced by the travail of the utterer and so to represent, as far as sounds may, the origin of reality.