Numenius of Apamea: The Father of Neo-Platonism

...part of the soul derives from reason and God. For the world is created out of (a commingling of) God and matter.

17. Providence Cures the Reluctance of Matter.

Therefore, according to Plato, the world owes its good qualities to the generosity of a paternal divinity, while its evils are due to the evil constitution of matter, acting as a mother. This fact makes it evident that the Stoics, when they assert that everything arises from the motion of the stars, in vain attribute the cause of evil to a certain "perversity." For even the stars are of fire and are heavenly "bodies." Matter, however, is the nurse or feeder; and consequently, whatever disturbs the motion of the stars so as to confuse its purposefulness or efficiency, must derive its origin from matter, which contains much unmoderated (desire) and unforeseen (impulse), chance, and passion.

If then, as is taught in the Timaeus (10) of Plato, God so perfects matter as to effect order out of disordered and turbulent motion, then it must have derived this confused contrariness from chance, or from an unfortunate fate, not from the normalizing intentions of Providence.

Therefore, according to Pythagoras, the Soul of Matter is not without substance, as is believed by a majority; and it opposes Providence, plotting how to attack its decisions by the power of its maliciousness.

On the other hand, Providence is the work and function of the Divinity, while blind and fortuitous "rashness" derives from matter; consequently it is evident that, according to Pythagoras, the whole world is created by the commingling of God and matter, and of Providence and chance. However, after matter has been organized...