Note 126 — Concerning that which is Eternal, for the Purpose of demonstrating the Eternity of the World.

In the Greek θανατου is erroneously printed, instead of αθανατου, which the reader will evidently perceive must be the true reading. But though this is sufficiently obvious to those who understand the proposition; yet Portus, who seldom attends to the meaning, has, from not rectifying this mistake, given the most ridiculous translation of this concluding sentence, that can possibly be imagined. The original is: τὸ δὲ ὄν τῆς ζωῆς περιληπτικώτερον, καὶ του θανάτου, (lege αθανατου) ἅρα τὸ ἀΐδιον. The translation of Portus: “Illud vero, quod est, vitam, et mortem magis complectitur, vel, ipsum vero ens, plura complectitur, et latius patet, quam vita et mors. Ergo ipsum eternum est illud, quod non recipit ipsum non esse, et quod semper est;” i.e. “But that which is, comprehends in a greater degree, life and death; or being itself comprehends more, and is of greater extent than life and death. Therefore, eternity itself, is that which does not receive non-being, and which always is.”