De docta ignorantia

Now that it is manifest how the infinite line is in infinite act all those things which in potency belong to finite lines, we have translatively in the maximum simply, in like manner, how the maximum itself is in maximal act all those things which in potency belong to absolute simplicity. For whatever is possible, this the maximum itself is in act maximally, not as it is from the possible, but as it is maximally; just as the triangle is educed from the line, and the infinite line is not a triangle as educed from a finite line, but is in act an infinite triangle, which is the same as the line. Moreover absolute possibility itself is in the maximum nothing other than the maximum itself in act, just as the infinite line is in act a sphere; otherwise in what is not maximum, for there potency is not act, just as a finite line is not a triangle. Hence a great speculation is seen here, which can be drawn concerning the maximum from this example: how it is such that the minimum in it is maximum, so that it surpasses through infinity every opposition altogether, from which principle as many negative truths can be elicited concerning it as could be written or read. Indeed every theology apprehensible by us is elicited from this great principle, on account of which that greatest scrutinizer of divine things, Dionysius the Areopagite, says in his Mystical Theology that the most blessed Bartholomew wonderfully understood theology, who said it is equally maximum and minimum; for he who understands this understands all things, and surpasses every created intellect. For God, who is this maximum itself, as the same Dionysius says in On the Divine Names, neither is to this one and is not to another, nor is in one place and is not in another; for as all things, so indeed also nothing of all things. For, as the same concludes at the end of the Mystical Theology, then he himself is above every positing the perfect and singular cause of all, and above the removal of all the excellence of him who is simply absolved from all and beyond all. Hence he concludes in the Epistle to Gaius that he is known above all mind and intelligence. And to this Rabbi Solomon says harmoniously that all the wise agreed that the sciences do not apprehend the creator, and nothing apprehends what he is except he himself; and our apprehension with respect to him is a defect of approaching his apprehension. And therefore the same concludes elsewhere: let the creator be praised, in the comprehension of whose essence the inquiry of the sciences is shortened, and wisdom is reputed ignorance, and elegance of words folly. And this is that learned ignorance which we seek, through which Dionysius strove to show in manifold ways that he alone can be found, by no other principle, I judge, than the aforesaid. Let our speculation, then, which we elicit from this, that infinite curvature is infinite straightness, be transferred into the maximum concerning its most simple and most infinite essence: since it is itself the most simple essence of all essences; and how all essences of things, which are, were, or will be, are in act always and eternally in that essence itself, and thus all essences are the essence itself of all; and how the essence itself of all is each one in such a way that it is at once all and none singularly; and how the maximal essence itself, as the infinite line is the most adequate measure of all lines, is in like manner the most adequate measure of all essences. For the maximum, to which the minimum is not opposed, is necessarily the most adequate measure of all things; not greater because minimum, not smaller because maximum. But everything measurable falls between maximum and minimum. The infinite essence is therefore the most adequate and most precise measure of all essences.

And further, that you may see this more clearly, consider: if an infinite line were constituted from infinite foot-lengths, and another from infinite two-foot lengths, they would nonetheless necessarily be equal, since the infinite is not greater than the infinite. Just as, therefore, one foot is not smaller in the infinite line than two feet, so the infinite line is not greater by one foot more than by two. Indeed, since every part of the infinite is infinite, then one foot of the infinite line is converted with the whole infinite just as two feet are. In like manner, since every essence in the greatest is the greatest itself, the maximum is nothing but the most adequate measure of all essences, nor is any other precise measure of any essence whatever found than it; for all others fall short and can be more precise, as has been most clearly shown above.