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| Of the Three Opposite Qualities by Which the Platonists Distinguish Between the Nature of Men and that of Demons.
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Chapter 12.—Of the Three Opposite
Qualities by Which the Platonists Distinguish Between the Nature of
Men and that of Demons.
But at present we are speaking of
those beings whom he described as being properly intermediate
between gods and men, in nature animals, in mind rational, in soul
subject to passion, in body aerial, in duration eternal. When he
had distinguished the gods, whom he placed in the highest heaven,
from men, whom he placed on earth, not only by position but also by
the unequal dignity of their natures, he concluded in these
words: “You have here two kinds of animals: the gods, widely
distinguished from men by sublimity of abode, perpetuity of life,
perfection of nature; for their habitations are separated by so
wide an interval that there can be no intimate communication
between them, and while the vitality of the one is eternal and
indefeasible, that of the others is fading and precarious, and
while the spirits of the gods are exalted in bliss, those of men
are sunk in miseries.”351
Here I find three opposite
qualities ascribed to the extremes of being, the highest and
lowest. For, after mentioning the three qualities for which we
are to admire the gods, he repeated, though in other words, the
same three as a foil to the defects of man. The three qualities
are, “sublimity of abode, perpetuity of life, perfection of
nature.” These he again mentioned so as to bring out their
contrasts in man’s condition. As he had mentioned “sublimity
of abode,” he says, “Their habitations are separated by so wide
an interval;” as he had mentioned “perpetuity of life,” he
says, that “while divine life is eternal and indefeasible, human
life is fading and precarious;” and as he had mentioned
“perfection of nature,” he says, that “while the spirits of
the gods are exalted in bliss, those of men are sunk in
miseries.” These three things, then, he predicates of the gods,
exaltation, eternity, blessedness; and of man he predicates the
opposite, lowliness of habitation, mortality, misery.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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