EARLIER AND LATER EXIST ONLY IN WHAT IS BEGOTTEN; NOT IN THEIR SEMINAL REASON.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Plotinus and Guthrie, Kenneth Sylvan
It may be answered that the conceptions of earlier and later apply only to things which are becoming; in the Soul, on the contrary, there is no past; all the ("seminal) reasons" are simultaneously present to her, as has already been said. On the contrary, in begotten things, the parts do not exist simultaneously, because they do not all exist together, although they all exist together within the ("seminal) reasons." For instance, the feet or the hands exist together in the ("seminal) reasons," but in the body they are separate. Nevertheless, these parts are equally separated, but in a different manner, in the ("seminal) reason," as they are equally anterior to each other in a different manner. If however they be thus separate in the ("seminal) reason," they then differ in nature.