Collation 7 - Collations on the Hexaemeron — Bonaventure
English Latin
A. Fourth Treatise on the First Vision, Concerning the Threefold Defect of Virtues Among Philosophers, And, Later, Concerning Healing, Rectifying and Ordinating Faith
700 SEVENTH COLLATION Fourth Treatise on the First Vision, Concerning the Threefold Defect of Virtues among Philosophers, and, Later, Concerning Healing, Rectifying and Ordinating Faith COLLATIO VII DE PRIMA VISIONE TRACTATIO QUARTA, QUAE EST DE TRIPLICI DEFFECTU VIRTUTUM IN PHILOSOPHIS, SECUNDO, DE FIDE SANANTE, RECTIFICATE, ORDINANTE
B. Some Philosophers Attacked Ideas
1. GOD saw the light that it was good; and He divided the light from the darkness, etc. This passage is quoted to explain the vision of intelligence which is infused by nature. Concerning the fact that it was good, it makes us see, both through scientific consideration and through the contemplation of wisdom. Through scientific consideration, [it makes us see] in so far as it illumines as light, that is, as the truth of things, the truth of expression, and the truth of behavior. Through the contemplation of wisdom, [it makes us see] in so far as it illumines by means of the influx of a radiation from the eternal light into the soul. It procures the vision of this same light in itself, as in a mirror; in a separate intelligence, as in a medium somewhat removed; in the eternal light, as in the original subject. It is also written that He divided the light from the darkness; and that some philosophers attacked ideas, as a result of which the threefold understanding of truth was hidden: that is, the truth of eternal art, the truth of divine providence, and the truth of the fall of the angels—which follows if angels only have their perfection from motion. The consequence of this is a threefold blindness: concerning the eternity of the world, the unity of the intellect, and the question of punishment and glory. 1. Vidit Deus lucem, quod esset bona, et divisit lucem a tenebris etc. Ad explicandam visionem intelligentiae per naturam inditae sumptum est verbum hoc. Et quantum ad hoc, quod esset bona , videre nos fecit et per considerationem scientialem et per contemplationem sapientialem. Per considerationem scientialem, in quantum illustrat ut lux, scilicet ut veritas rerum et ut veritas vocum et ut veritas morum. Per contemplationem sapientialem, in quantum illustrat per influxum radii a luce aeterna in animam, ut videat illam lucem in se ut in speculo; in Intelligentia separata, ut in medio quodam delativo; in luce aeterna, ut in subiecto fontano. -- Dictum etiam fuit, quod divisit lucem a tenebris , quod quidam ideas impugnaverunt, ex quo triplex intelligentia veritatis occultatur, scilicet veritas artis aeternae, veritas divinae providentiae, veritas ruinae Angelicae; quod sequitur, si Angelus perfectionem suam non haberet nisi per motum. Ex quo sequitur triplex caecitas, scilicet de aeternitate mundi, de unitate intellectus, de poena et gloria.
1. Aristotle
2. Aristotle is seen to have proposed the first [of these errors] and also the last, for he is not found to have placed any happiness after the present life. Concerning the intermediate statement, the Commentator says that such, indeed, was Aristotle's opinion. He may be excused in the matter of the eternity of the world, for he understands it as a philosopher, speaking in the order of nature, i.e., saying that it could not have a beginning by nature. He could have meant that intelligences had perfection through motion in the sense that they are not idle, for there is nothing idle in the foundation of nature. Likewise, while placing happiness in the present life, he may have had an opinion concerning eternal happiness, but did not mention it because it may not have seemed relevant. Concerning the unity of the intellect, it could be said that he understood intelligence to be one in relation to the influencing light, and not in itself, for it is numbered according to the subject. 2. Primam videtur ponere Aristoteles, ultimam etiam, quia non invenitur, quod ponat felicitatem post hanc vitam; de media autem dicit Commentator, quod ipse hoc sensit. -- De aeternitate mundi excusari posset, quod intellexit hoc ut philosophus, loquens ut naturalis, scilicet quod per naturam non potuit incipere. Quod Intelligentiae habeant perfectionem per motum, pro tanto hoc potuit dicere, quia non sunt otiosae, quia nihil otiosum in fundamento naturae. -- Item, quod posuit felicitatem in hac vita, quia, licet sentiret aeternam, de illa se non intromisit, quia forte non erat de consideratione sua. -- De unitate intellectus posset dici, quod intellexit, quod est unus intellectus ratione lucis influentis, non ratione sui, quia numeratur secundum subiectum.
2. Presupposed the Existence of the Cardinal Virtues
3. But whatever Aristotle's opinion, other enlightened philosophers presupposed the existence of ideas: they were the worshipers of a single God, who placed all good in the supremely good God, and believed in the existence of exemplary virtues from which the cardinal virtues flowed, first into the cognitive power, and thence into the affective, and finally into the operative, according to the phrase "knowledge, will and definitive action," as established by the most noble Plotinus in regard to the school of Plato, and Tullius of the Academic school. And so these were seen to be enlightened and to be capable of enjoying happiness as such. Yet, these men lived in darkness, since they did not have the light of faith; we by contrast do have that light. Hence, in the First Epistle of Peter: You, however, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people; that you may proclaim the perfections of Him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 3. Sed quidquid senserit, alii philosophi illuminati posuerunt ideas; qui fuerunt cultores unius Dei, quia omnia bona posuerunt in optimo Deo, qui posuerunt virtutes exemplares, a quibus fluunt virtutes cardinales, primo in vim cognitivam et per illam in affectivam, deinde in operativam, secundum illud «scire, velle et impermutabiliter operari», sicut posuit nobilissimus Plotinus de secta Platonis et Tullius sectae academicae. Et ita isti videbantur illuminati et per se posse habere felicitatem. -- Sed adhuc isti in tenebris fuerunt, quia non habuerunt lumen fidei, nos autem habemus lumen fidei. Unde in prima Petri: Vos estis genus electum, regale sacerdotium, gens sancta, populus acquisitionis, ut virtutes annuntietis eius qui vos de tenebris vocabit in admirabile lumen suum .
3. These Virtues First Have Three Operations
a. Assured Eternity
4. These foremost philosophers, together with enlightened men, presupposed the existence of the cardinal virtues as resulting from an influx into our knowledge, yet they did so without faith. The first they called political virtues, in so far as they direct worldly intercourse; the second, cleansing virtues, concerned with solitary contemplation; the third, virtues for the soul already cleansed, in that they make the soul find its repose in the Exemplar. And so they said that through these virtues the soul was changed, cleansed and reformed. 4. Illi autem praecipui philosophi posuerunt, sic etiam illuminati, tamen sine fide, per defluxum in nostram cognitionem virtutes cardinales. Quae primo dicuntur politicae, in quantum docent conversationem in mundo; secundo, purgatoriae quantum ad solitariam contemplationem; tertio, purgati animi, ut animam quietari faciant in exemplari. Dixerunt ergo, per has virtutes animam modificari, purgari et reformari.
b. Perfect Peace
c. Affective Dispositions Must Be Straightened
5. Yet, they are still in darkness, for it is necessary that these virtues first have three operations: that is, that they ordain the soul to its end; second, that they rectify its affective dispositions; third, that the sick [dispositions] be healed. But they do not possess these operations in themselves. Proof. Augustine says, in "The City of God" that a virtue is not true unless it directs the intention toward God the Fountainhead, where it rests within assured eternity and perfect peace. Assured eternity is incompatible with the possibility of loss, perfect peace is possible only in the reunion of body and soul: and this is certain. If, then, the soul is essentially inclined toward the body, the soul is fully at peace only after the body has been returned to it. The philosophers knew nothing of assured eternity. Indeed, they themselves believed that the soul went up through Capricorn and came down through Cancer, then went through the milky circle, which we call the galaxy, forgot what it had done before, and was united to a body poorly adapted to it, until it went up once again. But this is a false beatitude: one in which the soul had already been, and from which it would have come back. 5. Sed adhuc in tenebris sunt, quia necesse est, ut hae virtutes prius habeant tres operationes, scilicet animam ordinare in finem; secundo, rectificare affectus animae; tertio, quod sanentur morbidi. Has autem operationes non habuerunt in ipsis. -- Probatio. Dicit Augustinus in libro De civitate Dei , quod vera virtus non est, quae non dirigit intentionem ad Deum fontem, ut ibi quiescat aeternitate certa et pace perfecta. Certa aeternitas esse non potest, quae amitti potest; perfecta pax non est nisi in reunione corporis et animae; et hoc certum est. Si enim anima essentialiter inclinationem habet ad corpus, nunquam anima plene quietatur, nisi sibi corpus reddatur. -- Philosophi autem ignoraverunt certam aeternitatem. Posuerunt enim et ipsi, quod anima ascendebat per capricornum et descendebat per cancrum, deinde transiens per lacteum circulum, quem nos galaxiam vocamus, obliviscebatur quae superius fiebant, et uniebatur corpori misero sibi aptato, quousque iterum superius rediret. Haec autem est falsa beatitudo, scilicet quod anima esset in beatitudine et postea reverteretur.
d. Affective Dispositions Must Be Healed
6. Neither did they know perfect peace, for they were unaware that the world had an end and that bodies would rise from their dust. No wonder: for they were investigators on the level of the power of reason, and our reason cannot conceive such things as the resurrection of bodies, and the possibility for contrary elements to endure forever in heaven without interaction.! They did not refer to that life, but placed the soul in a kind of recurring circle. And so they were unaware of faith, without which the virtues are worthless, as Augustine says in book thirteen, chapter twenty, of his work "On the Trinity." 6. Pacem etiam perfectam non cognoverunt, quia non cognoverunt, quod mundus haberet finem, et quod corpora pulverizata resurgant. Nec mirum: quia, cum essent investigatores secundum potentiam rationis, ratio nostra non potest ad hoc pervenire, ut corpora resurgant, ut elementa contraria possint sic conciliata in caelo sine reflexione permanere. Non referebant ergo ad illam vitam, sed in abeunte quadam circulatione ponebant animam. Ignoraverunt ergo fidem, sine qua virtutes non valent, ut dicit Augustinus De Trinitate , libro decimo tertio, capitulo vigesimo.
7. Second, the affective dispositions once ordained must be straightened by these same virtues. These dispositions are four in number: fear, sorrow, joy, and trust. And they are not straightened unless fear is holy, sorrow just, joy true, and trust assured. For if fear is prideful, sorrow unfounded, joy inappropriate, and trust presumptuous, then the affections are distorted. Now these affections cannot be straightened by themselves. Indeed, trust, or hope, is concerned with things unseen, such as the life of beatitude; but this life is given only to those who deserve it; and no one deserves it unless he has sufficient merit. Such things cannot be obtained through the powers of free will: they require God's condescension, that is, grace. The sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to come. 7. Secundo oportet affectus ordinatos rectificare per virtutes istas. Affectus autem quatuor sunt: timor, dolor, laetitia, fiducia. Isti autem non rectificantur, nisi sit timor sanctus, dolor iustus, laetitia vera, fiducia certa. Si autem timor superbus, dolor iniustus, laetitia inepta, fiducia praesumptuosa; tunc affectiones sunt obliquae. Virtutes autem istae per se rectificari non possunt. Fiducia enim sive spes est de hoc quod non videtur, ut de beata vita; beata autem vita non datur nisi dignis; dignus autem nullus est, nisi habeat merita sufficientia. Haec per vires liberi arbitrii haberi non possunt nisi per condescensionem Dei, scilicet per gratiam. Non sunt condignae passiones huius temporis ad futuram gloriam .
8. Third, the affective dispositions must be healed in order to be straightened. No one is healed unless he knows his disease, its cause, a physician, and the proper medicine. The disease is a depravation of the affective powers. Now this is fourfold, for through its union with the body, the soul contracts weakness, ignorance, malice, and concupiscence, By means of them are killed the soul's powers to understand, to love, and to act: and so the whole soul is infected. This they did not ignore completely, nor did they know it completely. For they saw these defects, but they thought they were in the imagination, and not part of the inner powers. They imagined that as a sphere is moved against another sphere, so the imagination would lead and incline to exterior things, while the intellect would naturally go to the higher. Yet, they were wrong, for these weaknesses are of the mind, and not only of the senses: the powers to understand, love, and act are infected to the marrow. 8. Tertio necesse est, affectus sanari, ut rectificentur. Non sanatur autem aliquis, nisi cognoscat morbum et causam, medicum et medicinam. -- Morbus autem est depravatio affectus. Haec autem est quadruplex, quia contrahit ex unione ad corpus anima infirmitatem, ignorantiam, malitiam, concupiscentiam; ex quibus inficitur intellectiva, amativa, potestativa; et tunc infecta est tota anima. Has omnino non ignoraverunt, nec omnino sciverunt. Videbant enim hos defectus, sed credebant, eos esse in phantasia, non in potentiis interioribus. Credebant enim, quod sicut sphera movetur contra spheram, sic phantasia moveret et inclinaret ad exteriora, sed intellectus naturaliter ad superiora; et tamen decepti fuerunt, quia hae infirmitates in parte intellectuali sunt, non solum in parte sensitiva: intellectiva, amativa, potestativa infectae sunt usque ad medullam.
e. Medicine: the Grace of the Holy Spirit
9. They did not know the disease because they were unaware of its cause. If, indeed, as the philosophers say, the soul is naturally united to the body, it does not contract a disease—otherwise God would be wasting beings instead of preserving them. But this comes about through sin, from the first principle, that is, Adam. But the fact that Adam ate of the forbidden tree cannot be known through reason, but only by hearing: and so faith is necessary. Wherefore, they did not reach the cause of the disease because they did not believe the prophets. As Augustine says in the thirteenth book, nineteenth chapter, of his work "On the Trinity," "These are the foremost philosophers of the Gentiles, who could see God's invisible attributes... being understood through the things that are made. Yet, because they philosophized without the Mediator, that is, without the man Christ, whom they did not accept as the One who was to come to the prophets and who did come to the apostles, in wickedness they hold back the truth." 9. Morbum nescierunt, quia causam ignoraverunt. Si enim, ut dicunt philosophi, anima naturaliter unitur corpori, non contrahit morbum -- aliter Deus res dissiparet, non conservaret -- hoc tamen fit per culpam a principio originali, scilicet Adam. Hoc autem, quod Adam comedit lignum vetitum , per rationem sciri non potest nisi per auditum ; et ideo fides necessaria est. Ad causam ergo morbi non venerunt, quia Prophetis non crediderunt; ut dicit Augustinus De Trinitate , libro decimo tertio, capitulo decimo nono: «Illi gentium philosophi praecipui, qui invisibilia Dei per ea quae facta sunt intellecta^, conspicere potuerunt; tamen, quia sine Mediatore, id est sine homine Christo, philosophati sunt, quem nec venturum Prophetis nec venisse Apostolis crediderunt, veritatem detinuerunt in iniquitate».
10. Again, they did not know the Physician. Since the disease had come from a crime against sovereignty, the punishment had to be very heavy. No one, then, could heal, unless he were God and man: He alone would have the power of satisfaction, in whom there would be no concupiscence, and who would have been born, not through the law of nature, but from the Virgin. That He indeed was the Physician, He demonstrated through examples of virtue, documents of truth, incitements to love, and saving remedies. This Physician heals all things: For indeed, neither herb nor application cured them, but Your all-healing Word, O Lord! the Word who was incarnate and crucified and who suffered, and later sent the Holy Spirit into the depths of our hearts. 10. Item, medicum non cognoverunt; cum enim morbus fuisset ex crimine laesae maiestatis, punitio debuit esse gravissima. Nullus ergo potuit sanare, nisi esset Deus et homo, qui posset satisfacere; in quo nec fuit concupiscentia, nec natus per legem naturae, sed de Virgine. Quod autem ille esset medicus, ostendit per exempla virtutis, per documenta veritatis, per incitamenta amoris, per remedia salutis. Iste medicus sanat omnia; etenim neque herba neque malagma sanavit eos, sed tuus, Domine, sermo , Verbum incarnatum, crucifixum, passum; et post misit Spiritum sanctum, qui illabitur cordibus nostris.
11. This, then, is the medicine: the grace of the Holy Spirit. Philosophy is unable to grasp such a Physician and such a grace. Why should you glory, you whose science is unable to know your disease, or its cause, or its Physician, or its remedy? 11. Haec ergo est medicina, scilicet gratia Spiritus sancti. Hunc medicum et hanc gratiam philosophia non potest attingere. Quid ergo gloriaris, qui nescis per scientiam tuam nec infirmitatem tuam nec eius causam nec medicum nec medicinam?
12. These philosophers had the wings of ostriches, for their affective powers were not cleansed or ordained or straightened: for this can be obtained only through faith. Hence they proposed a false circle of beatitude, second a false sufficiency of merits in the present world, third an eternal soundness of internal powers. In these three instances, they fell into darkness. 12. Isti philosophi habuerunt pennas struthionum, quia affectus non erant sanati nec ordinati nec rectificati; quod non fit nisi per fidem. Unde primo posuerunt falsam beatitudinis circulationem; secundo, falsam praesentium meritorum sufficientiam; tertio, internarum virium perpetuam incolumitatem. In has tres tenebras inciderunt.