Chapter II.

The different ideas of philosophers on the subject of happiness. He proves, first, from the Gospel that it rests on the knowledge of God and the pursuit of good works; next, that it may not be thought that this idea was adopted from the philosophers, he adds proofs from the witness of the prophets.

4. The philosophers have made a happy life to depend, either (as Hieronymus345    Eccles. iii. 7.    Hieronymus, often mentioned by Cicero. Cf. Cic. de Finib. II. 3.—He lived about b.c. 300, at Rhodes. He held that the highest good consisted in freedom from pain and trouble.) on freedom from pain, or (as Herillus346    Sus. v. 35.    Herillus. Cf. Cic. de Finib. V. 25. Of Carthage; a Stoic. The chief good, according to him, consisted in knowledge.) on knowledge. For Herillus, hearing knowledge very highly praised by Aristotle347    S. Matt. xxvi. 63.    Aristotle, the famous philosopher and writer. Born b.c. 384. Taught chiefly at Athens, where Theophrastus was his pupil. and Theophrastus,348    Prov. iv. 23.    Theophrastus of Eresus in Lesbos, also a voluminous writer. He is mentioned by Cicero thus: “Sæpe ab Aristotele, a Theophrasto mirabiliter caudatur scientia, hoc uno captus Herillus scientiam summum bonum esse defendit.” (de Fin. V. 25.) made it alone to be the chief good, when they really praised it as a good thing, not as the only good; others, as Epicurus,349    Isa. vi. 5.    Epicurus. Cf. Cic. Tuscul. V. 30. Born b.c. 342 in Samos. The founder of the Epicurean School of Philosophy. With him pleasure constituted the highest happiness, but probably not sensual pleasures. Cf. note on I. 50. have called pleasure such; others, as Callipho,350    Ecclus. xxviii. 24, 25.    Callipho. Cic. Acad. II. 42: A disciple of Epicurus. The chief good of man he said consisted in the union of a virtuous life with bodily pleasure, or, as Cicero puts it, in the union of the man with the beast. (Cic. de Off. III. 33.) and after him Diodorus,351    Ps. xii. [xi.] 6.    Diodorus living about b.c. 110, at Tyre. His view was as stated above by St. Ambrose, whereby an attempt was made to reconcile the Stoics and Epicureans. understood it in such a way as to make a virtuous life go in union, the one with pleasure, the other with freedom from pain, since a happy life could not exist without it. Zeno,352    Isa. i. 6 [LXX.].    Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic School. the Stoic, thought the highest and only good existed in a virtuous life. But Aristotle and Theophrastus and the other Peripatetics maintained that a happy life consisted in virtue, that is, in a virtuous life, but that its happiness was made complete by the advantages of the body and other external good things.

5. But the sacred Scriptures say that eternal life rests on a knowledge of divine things and on the fruit of good works. The Gospel bears witness to both these statements. For the Lord Jesus spoke thus of knowledge: “This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.”353    Ps. iv. 4.    S. John xvii. 3. About works He gives this answer: “Every one that hath forsaken house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”354    S. Matt. xix. 29.

6. Let no one think that this was but lately said, and that it was spoken of by the philosophers before it was mentioned in the Gospel. For the philosophers, that is to say, Aristotle and Theophrastus, as also Zeno and Hieronymus, certainly lived before the time of the Gospel; but they came after the prophets. Let them rather think how long before even the names of the philosophers were heard of, both of these seem to have found open expression through the mouth of the holy David; for it is written: “Blessed is the man whom Thou instructest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law.”355    Ps. xciv. [xciii.] 12. We find elsewhere also: “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, he will rejoice greatly in His commandments.”356    Ps. cxii. [cxi.] 1. We have proved our point as regards knowledge, the reward for which the prophet states to be the fruit of eternity, adding that in the house of the man that feareth the Lord, or is instructed in His law and rejoices greatly in the divine commandments, “is glory and riches; and his justice abideth for ever and ever.”357    Ps. cxii. [cxi.] 3. He has further also in the same psalm stated of good works, that they gain for an upright man the gift of eternal life. He speaks thus: “Blessed is the man that showeth pity and lendeth, he will guide his affairs with discretion, surely he shall not be moved for ever, the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.”358    Ps. cxii. [cxi.] 5, 6. And further: “He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his justice endureth for ever.”359    Ps. cxii. [cxi.] 9.

7. Faith, then, has [the promise of] eternal life, for it is a good foundation. Good works, too, have the same, for an upright man is tested by his words and acts. For if a man is always busy talking and yet is slow to act, he shows by his acts how worthless his knowledge is: besides it is much worse to know what one ought to do, and yet not to do what one has learnt should be done. On the other hand, to be active in good works and unfaithful at heart is as idle as though one wanted to raise a beautiful and lofty dome upon a bad foundation. The higher one builds, the greater is the fall; for without the protection of faith good works cannot stand. A treacherous anchorage in a harbour perforates a ship, and a sandy bottom quickly gives way and cannot bear the weight of the building placed upon it. There then will be found the fulness of reward, where the virtues are perfect, and where there is a reasonable agreement between words and acts.

CAPUT II.

Variae philosophorum de beatitudine opiniones: eam in Dei cognitione ac bonorum operum studio consistere primum probatur ex Evangelio: tum ne a philosophis videatur hoc sumptum, prophetarum testimoniis confirmatur.

4. Itaque philosophi vitam beatam, alii in non dolendo posuerunt, ut Hieronymus: alii in rerum scientia, ut Herillus, qui audiens ab Aristotele et Theophrasto mirabiliter laudatam esse rerum scientiam, solam eam quasi summum bonum posuit; cum illi eam quasi bonum, non quasi solum bonum 0104B laudaverint. Alii voluptatem dixerunt, ut Epicurus: alii, ut Callipho, et post eum Diodorus, ita interpretati sunt, ut alter ad voluptatem, alter ad vacuitatem doloris, consortium honestatis adjungerent, quod sine ea non possit esse beata vita. Zenon Stoicus solum et summum bonum quod honestum est: Aristoteles autem vel Theophrastus et caeteri peripatetici in virtute quidem, hoc est honestate vitam beatam esse, sed compleri ejus beatitudinem etiam corporis atque externis bonis asseruerunt.

5. Scriptura autem divina vitam aeternam in cognitione posuit divinitatis, et fructu bonae operationis. Denique utriusque assertionis Evangelicum suppetit testimonium. Nam et de scientia ita dixit Dominus Jesus: Haec est autem vita aeterna, ut cognoscant 0104C te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum (Joan. XVII, 3). Et de operibus ita respondit: Omnis qui reliquerit domum, vel fratres, aut sorores, aut patrem, aut matrem, aut uxorem, aut filios, aut agros propter nomen meum, centuplum accipiet, et vitam aeternam possidebit (Matth. XIX, 29).

6. Sed ne aestimetur hoc recens esse, et prius tractatum a philosophis, quam in Evangelio praedicatum 0105A (anteriores enim Evangelio philosophi, id est, Aristoteles et Theophrastus, vel Zenon atque Hieronymus, sed posteriores prophetis), 72 accipiant quam longe antequam philosophorum nomen audiretur, per os sancti David utrumque aperte videatur expressum. Scriptum est enim: Beatus quem tu erudieris, Domine; et de lege tua docueris eum (Psal. XCIII, 12). Habemus et alibi: Beatus vir qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus cupiet nimis (Ps. CXI, 1). Docuimus de cognitione, cujus praemium aeternitatis fructum esse memoravit, adjiciens Propheta, quia in domo hujus timentis Dominum, vel eruditi in Lege, et cupientis in mandatis divinis: Gloria et divitiae, et justitia ejus manet in saeculum saeculi (Ibid. 3). De operibus quoque in eodem psalmo subjunxit 0105B vitae aeternae suppetere praemium viro justo. Denique ait: Beatus vir qui miseretur et commodat, disponet sermones suos in judicio; quia in saeculum non commovebitur. In memoria aeterna erit justus (Ibid., 5, 6). Et infra: Dispersit, dedit pauperibus, justitia ejus manet in aeternum (Ibid., 9).

7. Habet ergo vitam aeternam fides, quia fundamentum est bonum: habent et bona facta, quia vir justus et dictis et rebus probatur. Nam si exercitatus sit in sermonibus, et desidiosus in operibus, prudentiam suam factis refellit: et gravius est scire quid facias, nec fecisse quod faciendum cognoveris. Contra quoque strenuum esse in operibus, affectu infidum, ita est ac si vitioso fundamento pulchra culminum velis elevare fastigia: quo plus exstruxeris, 0105C plus corruit; quia sine munimento fidei bona opera non possunt manere. Infida statio in portu navem perforat, et arenosum solum cito cedit, nec potest impositae aedificationis sustinere onera. Ibi ergo plenitudo praemii, ubi virtutum perfectio, et quaedam in factis atque dictis aequalitas sobrietatis.