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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. 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."
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.
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