There are certain people who think, when they hear that it was Plato's opinion that the world neither had a beginning in time nor would it ever disappear, that in this way the created world is coeternal with its creator. But from these considerations, they do not think correctly. For it is one thing to be drawn out through a life that has no end (this is what Plato assigned to the world), and quite another to have embraced the entire presentness of a life which has no end at one and the same time (this is what perfectly clearly is appropriate to the divine mind). Further, God ought not to be seen as more ancient and glorious than created things by measurement of time, but rather by the distinctive character of his own simple nature.
[Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, Relihan, tr., Hackett (Indianapolis: 2001) p. 145 (Book V, Prose 6).]
