第23章

For the perfect satisfaction is the same, and the highest power, and veneration, and renown, and pleasure; these are all held to be happiness.Page 86'What then? ' I asked.

'Are all these things, satisfaction, power, and the others, as it were, members of the body, happiness, or do they all bear their relation to the good, as members to a head? '

'I understand what you propose to examine, but I am waiting eagerly to hear what you will lay down.'

'I would have you take the following explanation,' she said.' If these were all members of the one body, happiness, they would differ individually.For this is the nature of particulars, to make up one body of different parts.But all these have been shewn to be one and the same.Therefore they are not as members; and further, this happiness will then appear to be joined together into a whole body out of one member, which is impossible.'

'That is quite certain,' said I,' but I would hear what is to come.'

'It is plain that the others have some relation to the good.It is for that reason, namely because it is held to be good, that this satisfaction is sought, and power likewise, and the others too; we may suppose the same of veneration, renown, and pleasure.The good then is the cause of the desire for all of these, and their consummation also.

Such a thing as has in itself no real or even pretended good, cannot ever be sought.On the other hand, such things as are not by nature good, but seem to be so, are sought as though they were truly good.Wherefore we may justly believe that Page 87their good quality is the cause of the desire for them, the very hinge on which they turn, and their consummation.The really important object of a desire, is that for the sake of which anything is sought, as a means.

For instance, if a man wishes to ride for the sake of his health, he does not so much desire the motion of riding, as the effect, namely health.

As, therefore, each of these things is desired for the sake of the good, the absolute good is the aim, rather than themselves.But we have agreed that the other things are desired for the sake of happiness, wherefore in this case too, it is happiness alone which is the object of the desire.

Wherefore it is plain that the essence of the good and of happiness is one and the same.'

'I cannot see how any one can think otherwise.'

'But we have shewn that God and true happiness are one and the same.'

'Yes.'

'Therefore,' said she,' we may safely conclude that the essence of God also lies in the absolute good and nowhere else.

'Come hither all who are the prey of passions, bound by their ruthless chains; those deceiving passions which blunt the minds of men.Here shall you find rest from your labours; here a haven lying in tranquil peace; this shall be a resting-place open to receive within itself all the miserable on earth.Not Page 88all the wealth of Tagus's golden sands, nor Hermus's gleaming strand, 1 nor Indus, nigh earth's hottest zone, mingling its emeralds and pearls, can bring light to the eyes of any soul, but rather plunge the soul more blindly in their shade.In her deepest caverns does earth rear all that pleases the eye and excites the mind.The glory by which the heavens move and have their being, has nought to do with the darknesses which bring ruin to the soul.Whosoever can look on this true light will scarce allow the sun's rays to be clear.'

'I cannot but agree with that,' I said,' for it all stands woven together by the strongest proofs.' Then she said,' At what would you value this, namely if you could find out what is the absolute good?

'

'I would reckon it,' I said,' at an infinite value, if I could find out God too, who is the good.'

'And that too I will make plain by most true reasoning, if you will allow to stand the conclusions we have just now arrived at.'

'They shall stand good.'

'Have I not shewn,' she asked,' that those upon the things which most men seek are for this reason not perfect goods, because they differ between the highest themselves; they are lacking to one another, and so cannot afford full, absolute good? But 88:1 -- The modern Sarabat, in Asia Minor, formerly auriferous.Page 89when they are gathered together, as it were, into one form and one operation, so that complete satisfaction, power, veneration, renown, and pleasure are all the same, then they become the true good.Unless they are all one and the same, they have no claim to be reckoned among the true objects of men's desires.'

'That has been proved beyond all doubt.'

'Then such things as differ among themselves are not goods, but they become so when they begin to be a single unity.Is it not then the case these become goods by the attainment of unity? '

'Yes,' I said,' it seems so.'

'But I think you allow that every good is good by participation in good? '

'Yes, I do.'

'Then by reason of this likeness both unity and good must be allowed to be the same thing; for such things as have by nature the same operation, have the same essence.'

'Undeniably.'

'Do you realise that everything remains existent so long as it keeps its unity, but perishes in dissolution as soon as it loses its unity? '

'How so? ' I asked.

'In the case of animals,' she said,' so long as mind and body remain united, you have what you call an animal.But as soon as this unity is dissolved by the separation of the two, the animal perishes and can plainly be no longer called an animal.In the case of the body, too, Page 90so long as it remains in a single form by the union of its members, the human figure is presented.But if the division or separation of the body's parts drags that union asunder, it at once ceases to be what it was.In this way one may go through every subject, and it will be quite evident that each thing exists individually, so long as it is one, but perishes so soon as it ceases to be one.'

'Yes, I see the same when I think of other cases.'

'Is there anything,' she then asked,' which, in so far as it acts by nature, ever loses its desire for self-preservation, and would voluntarily seek to come to death and corruption? '