Chapter 3
327 | Text and Translation Chapter 3 That it cannot be thought not to be And surely it so truly is that it cannot be thought not to be. For something can be thought to be that cannot be thought not to be, and this is greater than what can be thought not to be. If, then, that than which a greater cannot be thought can be thought not to be, that than which a greater cannot be thought is itself not that than which a greater cannot be thought—which is contradictory. Therefore, something than which a greater cannot be thought so truly is that it cannot be thought not to be.
And this is you, lord our God. You so truly are, then, lord my God, that you cannot even be thought not to be. And this is fitting.
For if some mind could think of something better than you, the creature would rise above the creator and judge of the creator, which is completely absurd. Indeed, whatever else is, other than you alone, can be thought not to be. You alone, then, most truly of all, and thus most greatly of all, possess being—for whatever else is does not so truly possess being and thus is to a lesser degree.
Why, then, did the fool say in his heart that there is no God, when it is so evident to a rational mind that you of all things are to the highest degree? Why, indeed, unless because he was stupid and a fool?
I PROSLOGION
CAPITULUM IV
Quomodo insipiens dixit in corde, quod cogitari non potest Verum quomodo dixit in corde quod cogitare non potuit; aut quomodo cogitare non potuit quod dixit in corde, cum idem sit dicere in corde et cogitare?
Quod si vere, immo quia vere et cogitavit, quia dixit in corde, et non dixit in corde, quia cogitare non potuit: non uno tantum modo dicitur aliquid in corde vel cogitatur. Aliter enim cogitatur res, cum vox eam significans cogitatur, aliter cum id ipsum quod res est intelligitur.
Illo itaque modo potest cogitari Deus non esse, isto vero minime. Nullus quippe intelligens id quod Deus est, potest cogitare quia Deus non est, licet haec verba dicat in corde, aut sine ulla aut cum aliqua extranea significatione. Deus enim est id quo maius cogitari non potest. Quod qui bene intelligit, utique intelligit id ipsum sic esse, ut nec cogitatione queat non esse. Qui ergo intelligit sic esse Deum, nequit eum non esse cogitare.
Gratias tibi, bone Domine, gratias tibi, quia quod prius credidi te donante, iam sic intelligo te illuminante, ut, si te esse nolim credere, non possim non intelligere.