Chapter 24
365 | Text and Translation Chapter 24 A projection of the kind and quantity of this good Arise now, my soul, and elevate the whole of your understanding and think, to the extent to which you can, of what kind and quantity that good may be. For if particular goods are delightful, just think how delightful that good is which contains the pleasure of all goods; and not of the kind we are acquainted with in created things, but as different as the creator differs from a creature.
For if created life is good, how good is the life that creates?
If the haven of what has been made is pleasing, how pleasant is the safety of what makes all things be safe?
If wisdom in our knowledge of created things is lovely, how lovely is the wisdom of what forms them out of nothing?
And if there are such great delights in things that are delightful, what kind and quantity is the delight in him who made those same delights?
366 | PROSLOGION
CAPITULUM XXV
Quae et quanta bona sint fruentibus eo O, qui hoc bono fruetur: quid illi erit et quid illi non erit!
Certe quidquid volet, erit, et quod nolet, non erit.
Ibi quippe erunt bona corporis et animae, qualia nec oculus vidit nec auris audivit nec cor hominis cogitavit.
Cur ergo per multa vagaris, homuncio, quaerendo bona 1 Cor 2:9 animae tuae et corporis tui?
Ama unum bonum, in quo sunt omnia bona — et sufficit.
Desidera simplex bonum, quod est omne bonum — et satis est.
Quid enim amas, caro mea, quid desideras, anima mea?
Ibi est, ibi est quidquid amatis, quidquid desideratis.
Si delectat pulchritudo: fulgebunt iusti sicut sol.
Mt 13:43
Si velocitas aut fortitudo aut libertas corporis, cui nihil obsistere possit: erunt similes angelis dei; quia seminatur corpus animale, et surget corpus spirituale, potestate utique, non natura.
Mt 22:30
1 Cor 15:44
Si longa et salubris vita: ibi est sana aeternitas et aeterna sanitas; quia iusti in perpetuum vivent et salus iustorum a Domino.
Wis 5:16
Ps 36:39
Si satietas: satiabuntur, cum apparuerit gloria Dei.
Ps 16:15
Si ebrietas: inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus Dei.
Ps 35:9
Si melodia: ibi angelorum chori concinunt sine fine Deo.
Si quaelibet non immunda, sed munda voluptas: torrente voluptatis suae potabit eos Deus. ibid.
Si sapientia: ipsa Dei sapientia ostendet eis seipsam.