Note 303 — Chapter IX · ON THE WORLD AND THE MOVEMENTS OF RATIONAL CREATURES, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD; AND ON THE CAUSES OF THEM.

The original of this passage is found in Justinian’s Epistle to Menas, Patriarch of Constantinople, apud finem. “In that beginning which is cognisable by the understanding, God, by His own will, caused to exist as great a number of intelligent beings as was sufficient; for we must say that the power of God is finite, and not, under pretence of praising Him, take away His limitation. For if the divine power be infinite, it must of necessity be unable to understand even itself, since that which is naturally illimitable is incapable of being comprehended. He made things therefore so great as to be able to apprehend and keep them under His power, and control them by His providence; so also He prepared matter of such a size (τοσαύτην ὕλην) as He had the power to ornament.”