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| Faith is Necessary, that Man May at Some Time Be Blessed, Which He Will Only Attain in the Future Life. The Blessedness of Proud Philosophers Ridiculous and Pitiable.
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Chapter 7.—Faith is
Necessary, that Man May at Some Time Be Blessed, Which He Will Only
Attain in the Future Life. The Blessedness of Proud Philosophers
Ridiculous and Pitiable.
10. And on this account, faith, by
which men believe in God, is above all things necessary in this
mortal life, most full as it is of errors and hardships. For there
are no good things whatever, and above all, not those by which any
one is made good, or those by which he will become blessed, of
which any other source can be found whence they come to man, and
are added to man, unless it be from God. But when he who is good
and faithful in these miseries shall have come from this life to
the blessed life, then will truly come to pass what now is
absolutely impossible,—namely, that a man may live as he will.802
For he will
not will to live badly in the midst of that felicity,
nor will he will anything that will be wanting, nor will there be
wanting anything which he shall have willed. Whatever shall be
loved, will be present; nor will that be longed for, which shall
not be present. Everything which will be there will be good, and
the supreme God will be the supreme good and will be present for
those to enjoy who love Him; and what altogether is most blessed,
it will be certain that it will be so forever. But now, indeed,
philosophers have made for themselves, according to the pleasure of
each, their own ideals of a blessed life; that they might be able,
as it were by their own power, to do that, which by the common
conditions of mortals they were not able to do,—namely, to live
as they would. For they felt that no one could be blessed otherwise
than by having what he would, and by suffering nothing which he
would not. And who would not will, that the life whatsoever it be,
with which he is delighted, and which he therefore calls blessed,
were so in his own power, that he could have it continually? And
yet who is in this condition? Who wills to suffer troubles in order
that he may endure them manfully, although he both wills and is
able to endure them if he does suffer them? Who would will to live
in torments, even although he is able to live laudably by holding
fast to righteousness in the midst of them through patience? They
who have endured these evils, either in wishing to have or in
fearing to lose what they loved, whether wickedly or laudably, have
thought of them as transitory. For many have stretched boldly
through transitory evils to good things which will last. And these,
doubtless, are blessed through hope, even while actually suffering
such transitory evils, through which they arrive at good things
which will not be transitory. But he who is blessed through hope is
not yet blessed: for he expects, through patience, a blessedness
which he does not yet grasp. Whereas he, on the other hand, who is
tormented without any such hope, without any such reward, let him
use as much endurance as he pleases, is not truly blessed, but
bravely miserable. For he is not on that account not miserable,
because he would be more so if he also bore misery impatiently.
Further, even if he does not suffer those things which he would not
will to suffer in his own body, not even then is he to be esteemed
blessed, inasmuch as he does not live as he wills. For to omit
other things, which, while the body remains unhurt, belong to those
annoyances of the mind, without which we should will to live, and
which are innumerable; he would will, at any rate, if he were able,
so to have his body safe and sound, and so to suffer no
inconveniences from it, as to have it within his own control, or
even to have it with an imperishableness of the body itself; and
because he does not possess this, and hangs in doubt about it, he
certainly does not live as he wills. For although he may be ready
from fortitude to accept, and bear with an equal mind, whatever
adversities may happen to him, yet he had rather they should not
happen, and prevents them if he is able; and he is in such way
ready for both alternatives, that, as much as is in him, he wishes
for the one and shuns the other; and if he have fallen into that
which he shuns, he therefore bears it willingly, because that could
not happen which he willed. He bears it, therefore, in order that
he may not be crushed; but he would not willingly be even burdened.
How, then, does he live as he wills? Is it because he is willingly
strong to bear what he would not will to be put upon him? Then he
only wills what he can, because he cannot have what he wills. And
here is the sum-total of the blessedness of proud mortals, I know
not whether to be laughed at, or not rather to be pitied, who boast
that they live as they will, because they willingly bear patiently
what they are unwilling should happen to them. For this, they say,
is like Terence’s wise saying,—
“Since that cannot be which you
will, will that which thou canst.”803
| 803 Andreia, Act ii. Scene i, v. 5, 6. |
That this is aptly said, who denies? But it is
advice given to the miserable man, that he may not be more
miserable. And it is not rightly or truly said to the blessed man,
such as all wish themselves to be, That cannot be which you will.
For if he is blessed, whatever he wills can be; since he does not
will that which cannot be. But such a life is not for this mortal
state, neither will it come to pass unless when immortality also
shall come to pass. And if this could not be given at all to man,
blessedness too would be sought in vain, since it cannot be without
immortality. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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