Finally, we must not look for the categories of situation and passivity in God, for they simply are not to be found in Him.
Have I now made clear the difference between the categories? Some denote the reality of a thing; others its accidental circumstances; the former declare that a thing is something; the latter say nothing about its being anything, but simply attach to it, so to speak, something external. Those categories which describe a thing in terms of its substance may be called substantial categories; when they apply to things as subjects they are called accidents. In reference to God, who is not a subject at all, it is only possible to employ the category of substance.
[20] Gilbert de la Porrée in his commentary on the _De Trin._ makes Boethius's meaning clear. "Quod igitur in illo substantiam nominamus, non est subiectionis ratione quod dicitur, sed ultra omnem quae accidentibus est subiecta substantiam est essentia, absque omnibus quae possunt accidere solitaria omnino." (Migne, _P.L._ lxiv. 1283). Cf. Aug. _De Trin._ vii. 10.
[22] The doctrine is Augustine's, cf. _De Ciu. Dei_, xi. 6, xii. 16; but Boethius's use of _sempiternitas_, as well as his word-building, seem to be peculiar to himself. Claudianus Mamertus, speaking of applying the categories to God, uses _sempiternitas_ as Boethius uses _aeternitas_. Cf. _De Statu Animae_ i. 19. Apuleius seems to use both terms interchangeably, e.g. _Asclep._ 29-31. On Boethius's distinction between time and eternity see _Cons._ v. pr. 6, and Rand, _i er dem B. zugeschr. Trakt. de fide_, pp. 425 ff, and Brandt in _Theol. Littzg._, 1902, p. 147.
Age nunc de relatiuis speculemur pro quibus omne quod dictum est sumpsimus ad disputationem; maxime enim haec non uidentur secundum se facere praedicationem quae perspicue ex alieno aduentu constare perspiciuntur. Age enim, quoniam dominus ac seruus relatiua sunt, uideamus utrumne ita sit ut secundum se sit praedicatio an minime. Atqui si auferas seruum, abstuleris et dominum; at non etiam si auferas albedinem, abstuleris quoque album, sed interest, quod albedo accidit albo, qua sublata perit nimirum album. At in domino, si seruum auferas, perit uocabulum quo dominus uocabatur; sed non accidit seruus domino ut albedo albo, sed potestas quaedam qua seruus coercetur. Quae quoniam sublato deperit seruo, constat non eam per se domino accidere sed per seruorum quodam modo extrinsecus accessum.