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The City of God

Chapter 2.--That There is No Entity ¹ Contrary to the Divine, Because Nonentity Seems to Be that Which is Wholly Opposite to Him Who Supremely and Always is.

This may be enough to prevent any one from supposing, when we speak of the apostate angels, that they could have another nature, derived, as it were, from some different origin, and not from God. From the great impiety of this error we shall disentangle ourselves the more readily and easily, the more distinctly we understand that which God spoke by the angel when He sent Moses to the children of Israel: "I am that I am." ² For since God is the supreme existence, that is to say, supremely is, and is therefore unchangeable, the things that He made He empowered to be, but not to be supremely like Himself. To some He communicated a more ample, to others a more limited existence, and thus arranged the natures of beings in ranks. For as from sapere comes sapientia, so from esse comes essentia,--a new word indeed, which the old Latin writers did not use, but which is naturalized in our day, ³ that our language may not want an equivalent for the Greek ousia. For this is expressed word for word by essentia. Consequently, to that nature which supremely is, and which created all else that exists, no nature is contrary save that which does not exist. For nonentity is the contrary of that which is. And thus there is no being contrary to God, the Supreme Being, and Author of all beings whatsoever.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput II: Nullam essentiam deo esse contrariam, quia ab eo, qui summe et semper est, hoc in totum uidetur diuersum esse quod non est.

Haec dicta sint, ne quisquam, cum de angelis apostaticis loquimur, existimet eos aliam uelut ex alio principio habere potuisse naturam, nec eorum naturae auctorem deum. cuius erroris inpietate tanto quisque carebit expeditius et facilius, quanto perspicacius intellegere potuerit, quod per angelum deus dixit, quando Moysen mittebat ad filios Israel: ego sum, qui sum. cum enim deus summa essentia sit, hoc est summe sit, et ideo inmutabilis sit: rebus, quas ex nihilo creauit, esse dedit, sed non summe esse, sicut est ipse; et aliis dedit esse amplius, aliis minus, atque ita naturas essentiarum gradibus ordinauit - sicut enim ab eo, quod est sapere, uocatur sapientia, sic ab eo, quod est esse, uocatur essentia, nouo quidem nomine, quo usi ueteres non sunt Latini sermonis auctores, sed iam nostris temporibus usitato, ne deesset etiam linguae nostrae, quod Graeci appellant οὐσίαν; hoc enim uerbum e uerbo expressum est, ut diceretur essentia - ; ac per hoc ei naturae, quae summe est, qua faciente sunt quaecumque sunt, contraria natura non est, nisi quae non est. ei quippe, quod est, non esse contrarium est. et propterea deo, id est summae essentiae et auctori omnium qualiumcumque essentiarum, essentia nulla contraria est.