past non-existence. There’s nothing impossible about that, unless of course we think that the past is necessary and unalterable. Here another interpretation presents itself.12 Damian follows Boethius’ lead in holding that God is eternal in the strongest sense of not being subject to time at all (§17, 618c). This means that, even if Rome’s existence is necessary from our point of view, because it lies in our past, it may not be necessary from God’s point of view. He stands outside of time, surveying all things at once. For Him, then, the past is no more necessary than the future.
