CHAPTER XIX
ON THE DISTINCTION OF SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO SACRED TEACHING
| Oportet autem consequenter considerare quid secundum sacram doctrinam de distinctione spirituum sit tenendum: ubi et primum considerationi occurrit differentia boni et mali. Est enim apud multos receptum, esse quosdam spiritus bonos, quosdam vero malos: quod et auctoritate sacrae Scripturae comprobatur. De bonis enim spiritibus dicitur Hebr. I, 14: omnes sunt administratorii spiritus, in ministerium missi, propter eos qui hereditatem capiunt salutis. De malis autem spiritibus dicitur, Matthaei XII, 43, 45: cum immundus spiritus exierit ab homine, ambulat per loca arida quaerens requiem, et non invenit; et postea subditur: tunc vadit, et assumit septem alios spiritus nequiores se. Et quamvis, ut Augustinus narrat in nono de Civ. Dei, quidam posuerunt et bonos et malos spiritus deos esse, et similiter bonos et malos Daemones nominari, quidam tamen melius deos non nisi bonos asserunt, quos nos Angelos dicimus, Daemones autem secundum communem usum loquendi non nisi in malo accipitur: quod, ut dicit, rationabiliter accidit. Daemones enim in Graeco a scientia nominantur quae sine caritate, secundum sententiam apostoli, per superbiam inflat.
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104. Furthermore, we consequently consider next what we must hold according to Sacred Teaching concerning the distinction of spirits. Our first consideration is the difference between good and evil. For it has been accepted among many thinkers that certain spirits are good and certain others, evil. This is likewise proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture. For it is said about the good spirits in Hebrews 1:14: “They are all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who receive the inheritance of salvation.” About the evil spirits, however, it is said in Matthew 12:43,45: “And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest and finds none.” And afterwards it is added, “Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself.” And although, as Augustine narrates in the ninth book of
On the City of God,
certain thinkers posited both good and evil spirits to be gods, and likewise good and evil spirits to be called demons, nevertheless, others more correctly assert only the good spirits to be gods. These we call “angels”, whereas according to the received manner of speaking, “demons” are accepted only as evil. This distinction, as he says, is reasonable.
For the demons are named from the word “science” in Greek, which, without charity, according to the opinion of the Apostle,5 puffs up through pride.
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| Sed causa malitiae Daemonum non eadem ab omnibus assignatur. Quidam enim eos asserunt naturaliter malos tanquam a malo productos principio, sic etiam ut ipsorum natura sit mala: quod ad Manichaeorum errorem pertinet, ut patet ex dictis. Sed hunc errorem efficacissime Dionysius improbat, quarto capite de divinis nominibus, dicens: sed neque Daemones natura mali sunt. Quod probat, primo quidem, quia si naturaliter mali essent, simul oporteret dicere quod neque essent producti ex bono principio neque inter existentia computarentur, quia malum non est aliquid existens: nec si esset natura aliqua, causaretur a bono principio.
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105. But the cause of the wickedness of the demons is not assigned by all thinkers in the same way. For some of them assert that demons are naturally evil, as having been produced by an evil principle and thus their nature must be evil — which is part and parcel of the error of the Manicheans, as is clear from what has been said.
But Dionysius refutes this error most effectively in the fourth chapter of
On the Divine Names
when he says, “But neither are the demons evil by nature.” He proves this first, because if they were naturally evil, it would be necessary to say at one and the same time that neither had they been produced by a good principle nor should they be numbered among existing beings, since evil is not something existing, nor if there existed an evil nature, was it caused by a good principle.
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| Secundo, quia si sunt naturaliter mali: aut sibi ipsis, aut aliis: si sibi ipsis, se ipsos corrumperent, quod est impossibile; malum enim rationem corruptivi habet. Si vero sunt mali aliis, oporteret quod ea quibus sunt mali, corrumperent. Quod autem est naturaliter tale, est omnibus tale, et omnino tale. Sequeretur ergo quod omnia, et omnino corrumperent; quod est impossibile, tum quia quaedam sunt incorruptibilia, quae corrumpi non possunt, tum quia ea etiam quae corrumpuntur, non totaliter corrumpuntur. Non igitur ipsa natura Daemonum est mala.
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In the second place, because if they are evil by nature, they are evil to themselves or to others: if to themselves, they would destroy themselves (which is impossible), since evil has the nature of something corruptive; but if they axe evil to others, then they would have to destroy those things to which they are evil. However, what is such by nature, must be completely such with respect to all. It would follow therefore that they would destroy all things and this completely. This is impossible, both because certain beings are incorruptible and cannot be destroyed and also because those which are destroyed, are not destroyed completely. Therefore the nature itself of the demons is not evil.
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| Tertio, quia si essent naturaliter mali, non essent a Deo facti, quia bonum bona producit et subsistere facit; et hoc est impossibile, secundum id quod supra probatum est, quod oportet omnium Deum esse principium.
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In the third place, if they were naturally evil, they would not have been made by God because good produces good effects and makes them subsist. This is impossible according to that which has been proved above
namely, that God must be the source of all things.
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| Quarto, quia si Daemones semper eodem modo se habent, non sunt mali: quod enim est semper idem, boni est proprium. Si autem non semper mali, non natura mali.
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In the fourth place, because if the demons are always disposed in the same way, they are not evil, for that which is always the same, belongs to the good. If, however, they are not always evil, they are not evil by nature.
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| Quinto, quia non sunt omnino expertes boni, secundum quod sunt, et vivunt, et intelligunt, et aliquod bonum desiderant.
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In the fifth place, they are not completely devoid of good, for according as they are and live and have understanding, they desire some good.
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| Fuerunt autem alii ponentes Daemones naturaliter malos, non quia eorum natura sit mala, sed quia habent quamdam inclinationem naturalem ad malum, sicut Augustinus, decimo de civitate Dei introducit Porphyrium dicentem in epistola ad Anebontem quosdam opinari esse quoddam spirituum genus, cui exaudire sit proprium, natura fallax, omniforme, multimodum, simulans deos et Daemones, et ipsas animas defunctorum. Quae quidem opinio veritatem habere non potest, si ponatur Daemones incorporeos esse, et intellectus quosdam separatos. Cum enim omnis natura bona sit, impossibile est quod natura aliqua habeat inclinationem ad malum nisi sub ratione particularis boni. Nihil enim prohibet aliquid quod est particulariter bonum alicui naturae, intantum dici malum inquantum repugnat perfectioni nobilioris naturae, sicut furiosum esse, quoddam bonum est cani, quod tamen malum est homini rationem habenti. Possibile tamen est in homine secundum sensibilem et corporalem naturam, in qua cum brutis communicat, esse quamdam inclinationem ad furorem, qui est homini malum. Sed hoc de intellectuali natura dici non potest, quia intellectus ordinem habet ad bonum commune. Unde impossibile est in Daemonibus inveniri naturalem inclinationem ad malum, si essent pure intellectuales non habentes admixtionem naturae corporeae.
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106. Now there were others who held that the demons were naturally evil, not because their nature is evil, but because they have a certain natural inclination to evil, as Augustine advances in the tenth book of On the City of God
through Porphyry, who says in the Epistle to Anebontes: “Some men thought that there is a certain class of spirits which it is proper to obey and which is deceitful by nature in all forms and in many ways, imitating the gods and demons and the very souls of the dead.” This opinion cannot have any truth if it be posited that demons are incorporeal and certain separate intellects. For, since every nature is good, it is impossible that some nature should have an inclination to evil, except under the character of some particular good. For nothing prevents some thing which is good in a particular manner, to be called “bad” with respect to a certain nature, insofar as it is opposed to the perfection of a higher nature; just as to be raging is a certain good with respect to a dog – nevertheless, it is an evil with respect to man who has reason. Yet it is possible that there should be in man, according to his sensible and corporeal nature which he shares with brutes, a certain inclination to raging which is evil for man. But this cannot be said of an intellectual nature because the intellect has an order to the good in general. Accordingly, it is impossible for a natural inclination to evil to be found in demons, if they are
purely intellectual and have no admixture of a corporeal nature.
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| Sciendum est ergo quod Platonici posuerunt, ut etiam supra dictum est, Daemones esse animalia quaedam corporea, habentia intellectum; et inquantum habent corpoream et sensitivam naturam, sunt variis animae passionibus subiecti, sicut et homines, ex quibus inclinantur ad malum. Unde Apuleius in libro de Deo Socratis definiens Daemones, dixit eos esse genere animalia, animo passiva, mente rationalia, corpore aerea, tempore aeterna, et sicut ipse dicit, subiecta est mens Daemonum passionibus libidinum, formidinum, irarum, atque huiusmodi ceteris. Sic ergo Daemones etiam loco discernunt a diis, quos Angelos dicimus, aerea loca Daemonibus attribuentes, aetherea vero Angelis, sive diis.
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107. It must be known, therefore, that the Platonists posited, as has likewise been said above,
that the demons are certain corporeal animals which have an intellect. And inasmuch as they have a corporeal and sensible nature, they are subject to various passions of the soul, just as men are subject to passions, which incline them towards evil. Accordingly, when Apuleius was defining the demons in the book, On the God of Socrates
he said that they are “animals in genus, passible in soul, rational in mind, airy in body, eternal in time.” And just as he himself says: “The mind of the demons is subject to the passions of lusts, fears, and angers and all other such things. Therefore the demons are likewise locally separated from the gods — whom we call angels — attributing the airy places to the demons but the ethereal ones to the angels or gods.”
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| Hanc autem positionem quantum ad aliquid aliqui Ecclesiae doctores sequuntur. Augustinus enim III super Genes. ad litteram videtur dicere, vel sub dubio relinquere, quod Daemones aerea sunt animalia quoniam corporum aereorum natura vigent, et propterea morte non dissolvuntur, quia praevalet in eis elementum quod ad faciendum quam ad patiendum est aptius, scilicet aer. Et hoc idem in pluribus aliis locis dicit. Sed et Dionysius videtur in Daemonibus ponere ea quae ad sensibilem animam pertinent: dicit enim quarto capite de divinis nominibus, quod est in Daemonibus malum, furor irrationabilis, demens concupiscentia et phantasia proterva. Manifestum est autem phantasiam et concupiscentiam et iram sive furorem, non ad intellectum, sed ad sensitivae partem animae pertinere. Sed et quantum ad locum quidam cum eis consenserunt, putantes Daemones non caelestes vel supercaelestes Angelos fuisse, ut Augustinus narrat in tertio super Gen. ad litteram. Sed et Damascenus dicit in secundo libro Daemones ex his angelicis virtutibus fuisse qui terrestri ordini praeerant. Sed et apostolus ad Ephes. II, 2, nominat: Diabolum principem potestatis aeris huius.
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Certain of the Doctors of the Church follow this position in some respect. For in the third book of the Literal Commentary On Genesis,
Augustine seems to say or to leave unsettled that the demons are airy animals because they have the nature of airy bodies; and, for that reason, they are not destroyed by death, because there prevails in them an element, namely air, which is quite suitable both for acting as well as being acted upon — and he says the same thing in several other places. And Dionysius seems to posit in demons those attributes which belong to a sensible soul; for he says in the fourth chapter of On the Divine Names
that there is in demons an evil — “an irrational rage, a mad concupiscence, and wanton fancy.” And it is clear that fancy and concupiscence and anger or rage pertain not to the intellect but to a part of the sensitive soul. And with respect to place, certain doctors agreed with these thinkers because they did not consider the demons to be either celestial or super-celestial angels, as Augustine relates in the third book of the
Literal Commentary on Genesis.
And Damascene says in the Second Book
that the demons were among the angelic powers which were in command of the earthly order. And the Apostle in Ephesians (2:2) calls the devil a “prince of the power of this air.”
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| Sed occurrit hic aliud consideratione dignum. Cum enim unicuique speciei sit attributa materia secundum convenientiam suae formae, non videtur esse possibile quod in tota aliqua specie sit naturalis inclinatio ad id quod est malum illi speciei secundum rationem propriae formae; sicut non omnibus hominibus inest naturalis inclinatio ad immoderantiam concupiscentiae sive irae. Sic igitur non est possibile omnes Daemones habere naturalem inclinationem ad fallaciam et ad alia mala, etiam si omnes essent unius speciei. Multo minus ergo si singuli essent in singulis speciebus; quamvis, si sint corporei, nihil impedire videatur plures sub una specie contineri: poterit enim secundum diversitatem materiae diversitas individuorum unius speciei causari. Oportebit igitur dicere quod non omnes nec semper fuerunt mali, sed aliqui eorum mali esse inceperunt proprio arbitrio, passionum inclinationem sequentes. Unde et Dionysius dicit quod aversio, scilicet a Deo, est ipsis Daemonibus malum, et convenientius ipsis excessus, quia per superbiam ultra se ipsos sunt elati; et postea subdit quaedam ad poenam pertinentia, sicut non consecutio finis ultimi, et imperfectio per carentiam debitae perfectionis, et impotentia consequendi quod naturaliter desiderant, et infirmitas virtutis conservantis naturalem in eis ordinem revocantem a malo.
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108. But something presents itself here which is worthy of consideration. For, since matter is attributed to each species according to the suitability of its form, it does not seem possible that there should be in a whole of a given species a natural inclination to that which is evil for that species according to the nature of its proper form; just as there is not present in all men, a natural inclination to the immoderation of concupiscence or anger. Therefore, it is not possible that all demons should have a natural inclination to deception and to other evils, even if they were all of one species. Much less ‘ therefore, if there should be individuals in individual species; although if they are corporeal, nothing seems to prevent many of them from being contained under one species; for a diversity of individuals of one species could be caused according to a diversity of matter. Therefore we shall have to say that the demons were not always evil but some of them began to be evil, when by their own choice, they followed the inclination of the passions. And accordingly, Dionysius says in the fourth chapter of
On the Divine Names
that “aversion”, namely from God, “is an evil for the demons themselves, and it is a forsaking of those things which are fitting to them because they were carried away by pride beyond themselves.” And later on, he adds certain remarks pertaining to punishment as “not reaching the ultimate end” and imperfection through a lack of a due perfection, and “impotence” of pursuing that which they desire by nature and an “infirmity” of the power conserving in them, a natural order, calling them back from evil.
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| Augustinus etiam dicit in tertio super Genes. ad litteram, quod transgressores Angeli ante transgressionem suam fuerunt in superiori parte aeris propinqua caelo cum principe suo nunc Diabolo, tunc Archangelo, manifeste exprimens per transgressionem quamdam eos esse malos factos. Sed et Damascenus dicit in secundo libro, quod Diabolus non natura malus factus est, sed bonus existens et in bono genitus, liberi sui arbitrii electione versus est. Hoc insuper et Origenes in primo periarchon, et Augustinus in XI de civitate Dei, auctoritatibus sacrae Scripturae confirmant, inducentes id quod habetur Isaiae XIV, 12, dictum Diabolo sub similitudine regis Babylonis: quomodo cecidisti, Lucifer, qui mane oriebaris?; Et Ezechielis XXVIII, 12 ss., ad eum dicitur in persona regis Tyri: tu signaculum similitudinis, plenus sapientia, perfectus decore, in deliciis Paradisi Dei fuisti; et postea subditur: perfectus in viis tuis a die conditionis tuae, donec inventa est iniquitas in te. Solvit Augustinus ibidem quod dicitur Ioannis VIII, 44: ille homicida erat ab initio, et in veritate non stetit; et quod in canonica Ioannis dicitur, quod Diabolus ab initio peccat, referens hoc ad initium quo incepit peccare, vel ad initium conditionis humanae, quod deceptum hominem spiritualiter occidit.
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109. Augustine likewise says in the third book of the Literal Commentary On Genesis
that the transgressing angels were before their transgression, along with their leader, now a devil and formerly an archangel, in the higher part of the air near the heaven. He gives us clearly to understand that through their transgression, some of the angels were made evil. And Damascene says in the second book,
“The devil was not created evil in nature but, existing as good and begotten in the good, he used the election of his own choice.” In addition, both Origen in I
Peri Archon
and Augustine in Book XI of On the City of God
confirm this with texts of the Sacred Scriptures, when they introduce what is contained in Isaiah 14:12 about the devil under the likeness of the king of Babylon, “How have you fallen, O Lucifer, who rose in the morning?” And in Ezechiel 28:12,13,15 it is said to him in the person of the king of Tyre, “Seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, you were in the pleasures of the paradise of God.” And afterwards, it is added, “You were perfect in your ways from the day of your creation, until iniquity was found in you.” In the same place, Augustine
resolves what is said in John 8:44: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth”; and what is said in the canonical Epistle of St. John (1 Jn 3:8) that “the devil sinned from the beginning,” referring this to the “beginning” when he began to sin, or to the “beginning” of the human state when he killed man spiritually after having deceived him.
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| Huic autem sententiae consonare videtur Platonicorum opinio, qui Daemonum quosdam bonos quosdam malos dicunt, quasi eos proprio arbitrio bonos vel malos factos. Unde et Plotinus ulterius procedens dixit animas hominum Daemones esse et ex hominibus fieri Lares, si meriti boni sunt, Lemures autem si mali, seu Larvas; Manes autem deos dici, si incertum est bonorum eos seu malorum esse meritorum, sicut Augustinus introducit nono de civitate Dei. Quod quidem quantum ad hoc praemissae sanctorum assertioni concordat, quod pro meritis bonis vel malis aliquos Daemones bonos vel malos esse asserunt; quamvis non sit nostrae consuetudinis quod bonos spiritus Daemones, sed Angelos nominemus.
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110. Furthermore, the opinion of the Platonists, who say that certain demons are good and others are evil — as if having been made good or evil by their own free choice — seems to agree with this opinion.
Accordingly, Plotinus, proceeding further, says that the souls of men become demons and the Lares are made of men if the latter are of good merit; the Lemures or Larvae, however, if they are of evil merit, and they are called Manes, if it is uncertain whether they are of good or evil merit, as Augustine sets forth in IX of
On the City of God.
This opinion, agrees with the aforementioned position
of the saints in this that the latter assert some demons to be good and others evil because of good or evil merits, although it is not customary for us to call the good spirits “demons” but rather “angels.”
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| Quantum vero ad hoc quod dixit animas hominum mortuorum fieri Daemones, est erronea eius positio. Unde Chrysostomus dicit exponens id quod habetur Matthaei VIII, 28 quod duo habentes Daemonia exibant de monumentis: per hoc (inquit) quod de monumentis exibant perniciosum dogma imponere volebant, quod animae morientium Daemones fiunt. Unde et multi aruspicum occiderunt pueros ut animam eorum cooperantem haberent. Propter quod et daemoniaci clamant: quoniam anima illius ego sum. Non est autem anima defuncti quae clamat, sed Daemon effingit ut decipiat audientes: si enim in alterius corpus animam mortui possibile esset intrare, multo magis in corpus suum. Sed neque habet rationem iniqua passam animam cooperari iniqua sibi facienti; neque etiam rationabile est animam a corpore separatam hic iam oberrare. Iustorum enim animae in manu Dei sunt: sed et quae peccatorum sunt, confestim hinc abducuntur, ut manifestum est ex Lazaro et divite. Nec tamen putandum est Plotinum in hoc a Platonicorum opinione deviasse, ponentium Daemones esse aerea corpora, quod animas hominum post mortem fieri Daemones aestimabat; quia etiam animae hominum secundum Platonicorum opinionem praeter ista corpora corruptibilia habent quaedam aetherea corpora, quibus semper etiam post horum sensibilium corporum dissolutionem quasi incorruptibilibus uniuntur. Unde Proclus dicit in libro divinarum coelementationum: omnis anima participabilis corpore utitur primo perpetuo et habente hypostasim ingenerabilem et incorruptibilem. Et sic animae a corporibus separatae secundum eos aerea animalia esse non desinunt.
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As to what he says, namely that the souls of the dead become demons, his position is in error. Accordingly, Chrysostom,
expounding on what is contained in Matthew 8:28 that two men possessed with devils came out of the sepulchres says, “Through this fact, namely that they were going out of the sepulchres, they wanted to impose a pernicious doctrine, that the souls of the dying become demons. Accordingly, many soothsayers killed children so that they might have their cooperating soul. And because of this, many demoniacs shout that ‘I am that one’s soul.’ However, it is not the dead person’s soul which shouts, but the demon pretends so that he might deceive the hearers. For if it were possible for the soul of one dead to enter the body of another, it would be much more possible for it to enter its own body. Nor is it reasonable for a soul suffering iniquities to cooperate with the one that brings iniquities on it. Nor likewise is it reasonable that a soul separated from the body should still be wandering here. ‘The souls of the just are in the hand of God’ (Wis 3:1). But those which are of sinners are led away from here at once, as is evident from Lazarus and Dives.” Nevertheless, we must not think that in this respect, Plotinus deviated from the opinion of the Platonists who posited the demons to be airy bodies — namely, because Plotinus thought that the souls of men become demons after death — for according to the Platonists’ opinion, even the souls of men have, over and above these corruptible bodies, certain ethereal bodies to which they are always joined as to something incorruptible, even after the dissolution of these sensible bodies. Accordingly, Proclus says in the Book of the Divine Elementations
that “every soul capable of participating, uses the first and perpetual body and one having an ungenerated and incorruptible hypostasis.” And thus, according to them, the souls separated from the bodies, do not cease to be airy animals.
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| Sed secundum aliorum sanctorum sententiam, Daemones quos malos Angelos dicimus non solum fuerunt de inferiori Angelorum ordine sed etiam de superioribus ordinibus, quos incorporeos et immateriales esse ostendimus, ita quod inter eos unus est qui summus omnium fuit. Unde Gregorius in quadam homilia, exponens illud Ezech. XXVIII, 13: omnis lapis pretiosus operimentum eius, dicit quod princeps malorum Angelorum in aliorum Angelorum comparatione ceteris clarior fuit. Et in hoc consentire videtur illis qui deorum quosdam bonos quosdam malos esse asserebant, secundum quod dii Angeli nominantur. Unde et Iob IV, 18, dicitur: ecce qui serviunt ei non sunt stabiles, et in Angelis suis reperit pravitatem. Sed hoc multas difficultates habet. In substantia enim incorporea et intellectuali nullus appetitus esse videtur nisi intellectivus, qui quidem est simpliciter boni, ut per philosophum patet in decimosecundo metaphysicae. Nullus autem efficitur malus ex hoc quod eius intellectus tendit in hoc quod est simpliciter bonum, sed ex hoc quod tendit in aliquid quod est secundum quid bonum, ac si esset simpliciter bonum. Non ergo videtur esse possibile quod proprio appetitu aliqua incorporea et intellectualis substantia mala efficiatur.
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111. But according to the opinion of other Saints, the demons, whom we call evil angels, not only came from a lower order of angels but also from the higher orders, whom we have shown to be incorporeal and immaterial,
so that among them, there was one who was the highest of all. Accordingly, Gregory
explaining in a certain homily the words of Ezechiel 28:13 “Every precious stone has covering,” says that the leader of the evil angels was, in comparison with the other angels, more brilliant than the rest. And in this respect, he seems to agree with those who asserted some demons to be good and others to be evil, according to which demons are called angels. And therefore it is said in Job 4:18: “Behold they who serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness.” But this presents many difficulties. For in an incorporeal and intellectual substance, there seems to be no appetite except the intellectual, which is of that which is absolutely good, as appears through the Philosopher in XII
Metaphysics.
Now no one is made evil from the fact that his intellect tends toward that which is good absolutely, but from the fact that it tends toward a qualifiedly good thing, as though it were absolutely good. Therefore it does not seem possible that an incorporeal and intellectual substance should be made evil by its own appetite.
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| Rursus. Appetitus esse non potest nisi boni, vel apparentis boni; bonum enim est quod omnia appetunt. Ex hoc autem quod aliquis verum bonum appetit, non efficitur malus. Oportet igitur in omni eo qui per proprium appetitum malus efficitur, quod appetat apparens bonum tanquam vere bonum. Hoc autem non potest esse nisi in suo iudicio fallatur: quod non videtur posse contingere in substantia incorporea intellectuali, quae falsae apprehensionis capax, ut videtur, esse non potest. Nam et in nobis quando intelligimus aliquid, falsitas esse non potest. Unde Augustinus dicit in Lib. 83 quaestionum, quod omnis qui fallitur, id in quo fallitur, non intelligit. Unde et circa ea quae proprie intellectu capimus, sicut circa prima principia, nullus decipi potest. Impossibile igitur videtur quod aliqua incorporea et intellectualis substantia per proprium appetitum mala fiat.
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112. Again, appetite can be only of the good or of the seeming good, for the good is that which all beings seek and one is not rendered evil because he seeks the true good. Therefore, every individual who is made evil through his own appetite, must seek a seeming good as though it were truly good. This, however, cannot be unless he is deceived in his judgment, which does not seem capable of happening in an incorporeal and intellectual substance which, as it seems, cannot have a false apprehension. For even in our case, insofar as we understand something, there can be no falsity. Accordingly, Augustine says in the
Book of Eighty-Three Questions
“Everyone who is deceived, that, indeed, in which he is deceived, he does not understand.” And accordingly, concerning those things which we grasp properly by our intellect as well as concerning the first principles, no one can be deceived. Therefore it seems impossible that some incorporeal and intellectual substance should become evil through its own appetite.
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| Adhuc. Substantia quae est intellectualis naturae, a corpore separata, necesse est quod sit omnino a tempore absoluta. Natura enim uniuscuiusque rei ex eius operatione deprehenditur: operationis vero ratio cognoscitur ex obiecto. Intelligibile autem, inquantum huiusmodi, neque est hic, neque nunc sed abstractum sicut a loci dimensionibus ita et a temporum successione. Ipsa igitur intellectualis operatio, si per se consideretur, oportet quod sicut est abstracta ab omni corporali dimensione ita etiam excedat omnem successionem temporalem. Et si alicui intellectuali operationi continuum vel tempus adiungatur, hoc non est nisi per accidens, sicut in nobis accidit, inquantum intellectus noster a phantasmatibus abstrahit intelligibiles species quas etiam in eis considerat. Quod in substantia incorporea et intellectuali locum habere non potest. Relinquitur igitur quod huiusmodi substantiae operatio, et per consequens substantia, omnino sit extra omnem temporalem successionem. Unde et Proclus dicit, quod omnis intellectus in aeternitate substantiam habet, et potentiam et operationem; et in Lib. de causis dicitur, quod intelligentia parificatur aeternitati. Quidquid igitur substantiis illis incorporeis et intellectualibus convenit, semper et absque successione convenit illis. Aut igitur semper fuerunt malae, quod est contra praemissa aut nequaquam malae fieri potuerunt. Amplius.
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113. Furthermore, a substance which is of an intellectual nature and separate from a body must be absolutely free of time. For the nature of a thing is grasped from its operation while the character of an operation is known from its object. The intelligible, however, as such, is neither here nor now; but it is rather something abstracted both from the dimensions of place as well as from the succession of time. Therefore, the intellectual operation itself, if it be considered by itself, must likewise rise above all temporal succession just as it is abstracted from all corporeal dimension. And if a magnitude or time be joined to any intellectual operation, this happens only accidentally, just as it happens in our case, in so far as our intellect abstracts intelligible species from phantasms which it likewise considers in them-which can have no place in an incorporeal and intellectual substance. It remains therefore that the operation of such a substance and consequently the substance itself should be altogether outside all temporal succession. And accordingly, Proclus
says, “Every intellect has in eternity, substance, and power, and operation.” And in the Book
On Causes
it is said that understanding “is on a par with eternity.” Therefore, whatever befits those incorporeal and intellectual substances, befits them always and without succession. Therefore either they were always evil — which is against what has been set down — or they could in no way have been made evil.
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| Cum Deus sit ipsa essentia bonitatis, ut Dionysius dicit in primo capitulo de Div. Nom., necesse est quod tanto aliqua sint perfectius in participatione bonitatis firmata, quanto sunt Deo propinquiora. Manifestum est autem substantias intellectuales incorporeas supra omnia corpora esse. Si igitur suprema corpora, scilicet caelestia, non sunt susceptiva alicuius inordinationis vel mali, multo minus illae supercaelestes substantiae inordinationis et mali capaces esse non potuerunt. Unde et Dionysius dicit, quarto capite Cael. Hierar., quod sancti caelestium substantiarum ornatus super solum existentia, et irrationabiliter viventia, et ea quae secundum nos sunt rationalia, in participatione divinae traditionis sunt facti, et copiosiores habent ad Deum communiones, attenti manentes et semper ad superius, sicut est fas, in fortitudine divini et indeclinabilis amoris extenti. Hoc igitur videtur ordo rerum habere ut sicut inferiora corpora inordinationi et malo possunt esse subiecta, non autem caelestia corpora; ita etiam intellectus corporibus inferioribus uniti possunt subiici malo, non autem illae supercaelestes substantiae. Et hoc secuti esse videntur qui posuerunt Daemones quos malos Angelos dicimus, ex inferiori ordine et corporeos esse.
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114. Moreover, since God is the very essence of goodness, as Dionysius says in the first chapter of
On the Divine Names,
it is necessary that the closer they are to God, the more firmly are certain beings strengthened in the participation of goodness. But it is evident that intellectual, incorporeal substances are above all bodies. If, therefore, the highest bodies, namely, the heavenly bodies are not receptive of any disorder or evil, much less could those super-celestial substances be capable of disorder and evil. Accordingly, Dionysius says in the fourth chapter of the
Celestial Hierarchy,
“The holy ornaments of the celestial substances participated in the divine teaching in greater measure than those beings that only exist, those that live with an irrational life and those that we call rational; and they have more abundant communications with God, with their minds fixed and, as is befitting, stretched towards what is above them in the power of a love that is divine and unswerving.” The order of things then seems to have this, that just as the lower bodies can be subject to disorder and evil but not the heavenly bodies, so likewise, the intellects joined to the lower bodies can be subject to evil, but not those super-celestial substances. And this view those thinkers seemed to follow who posited that the demons, who for us are the bad angels, are from a lower order and corporeal.
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Please be relevant.