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Aristotle Bilingual Anthology : KNOWLEDGE OF PRINCIPLES AND CAUSES

from Aristotle's Metaphysics, * 980a-982a, translated by W. D. Ross, Greek Fonts


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Page 11

Hence also the possession of it might be justly regarded as beyond human power; for in many ways human nature is in bondage, so that according to Simonides 'God alone can have this privilege', and it is unfitting that man should not be content to seek the knowledge that is suited to him. If, then, there is something in what the poets say, and jealousy is natural to the divine power, it would probably occur in this case above all, and all who excelled in this knowledge would be unfortunate. But the divine power cannot be jealous (nay, according to the proverb, 'bards tell a lie'), nor should any other science be thought more honourable than one of this sort. For the most divine science is also most honourable; and this science alone must be, in two ways, most divine. For the science which it would be most meet for God to have is a divine science, and so is any science that deals with divine objects; and this science alone has both these qualities; for (1) God is thought to be among the causes of all things and to be a first principle, and (2) such a science either God alone can have, or God above all others. All the sciences, indeed, are more necessary than this, but none is better.

διὸ καὶ δικαίως ἂν οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνη νομίζοιτο αὐτῆς ἡ κτῆσις· πολλαχῇ γὰρ ἡ φύσις δούλη τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν͵ ὥστε κατὰ Σιμωνίδην θεὸς ἂν μόνος τοῦτ΄ ἔχοι γέρας͵ ἄνδρα δ΄ οὐκ ἄξιον μὴ οὐ ζητεῖν τὴν καθ΄ αὑτὸν ἐπιστήμην. εἰ δὴ λέγουσί τι οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ πέφυκε φθονεῖν τὸ θεῖον͵ ἐπὶ τούτου συμβῆναι μάλιστα εἰκὸς καὶ δυστυχεῖς εἶναι πάντας τοὺς περιττούς. ἀλλ΄ οὔτε τὸ θεῖον φθονερὸν ἐν δέχεται εἶναι͵ ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν πολλὰ ψεύδονται ἀοιδοί͵ οὔτε τῆς τοιαύτης ἄλλην χρὴ νομίζειν τιμιωτέραν. ἡ γὰρ θειοτάτη καὶ τιμιωτάτη· τοιαύτη δὲ διχῶς ἂν εἴη μόνη· ἥν τε γὰρ μάλιστ΄ ἂν ὁ θεὸς ἔχοι͵ θεία τῶν ἐπιστημῶν ἐστί͵ κἂν εἴ τις τῶν θείων εἴη. μόνη δ΄ αὕτη τούτων ἀμφοτέρων τετύχηκεν· ὅ τε γὰρ θεὸς δοκεῖ τῶν αἰτίων πᾶσιν εἶναι καὶ ἀρχή τις͵ καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην ἢ μόνος ἢ μάλιστ΄ ἂν ἔχοι ὁ θεός. ἀναγκαιότεραι μὲν οὖν πᾶσαι ταύτης͵ ἀμείνων δ΄ οὐδεμία.
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Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-Greece/aristotle_wisdom.asp?pg=11