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Objection 1: It would seem that some demons are naturally wicked.
For Porphyry says, as quoted by Augustine (De Civ. Dei x,
11): "There is a class of demons of crafty nature, pretending
that they are gods and the souls of the dead." But to be deceitful is
to be evil. Therefore some demons are naturally wicked.
Objection 2: Further, as the angels are created by God, so are
men. But some men are naturally wicked, of whom it is said (Ws.
12:10): "Their malice is natural." Therefore some angels may
be naturally wicked.
Objection 3: Further, some irrational animals have wicked
dispositions by nature: thus the fox is naturally sly, and the wolf
naturally rapacious; yet they are God's creatures. Therefore,
although the demons are God's creatures, they may be naturally
wicked.
On the contrary, Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv) that "the
demons are not naturally wicked."
I answer that, Everything which exists, so far as it exists and has
a particular nature, tends naturally towards some good; since it comes
from a good principle; because the effect always reverts to its
principle. Now a particular good may happen to have some evil
connected with it; thus fire has this evil connected with it that it
consumes other things: but with the universal good no evil can be
connected. If, then, there be anything whose nature is inclined
towards some particular good, it can tend naturally to some evil; not
as evil, but accidentally, as connected with some good. But if
anything of its nature be inclined to good in general, then of its own
nature it cannot be inclined to evil. Now it is manifest that every
intellectual nature is inclined towards good in general, which it can
apprehend and which is the object of the will. Hence, since the
demons are intellectual substances, they can in no wise have a natural
inclination towards any evil whatsoever; consequently they cannot be
naturally evil.
Reply to Objection 1: Augustine rebukes Porphyry for saying that
the demons are naturally deceitful; himself maintaining that they are
not naturally so, but of their own will. Now the reason why Porphyry
held that they are naturally deceitful was that, as he contended,
demons are animals with a sensitive nature. Now the sensitive nature
is inclined towards some particular good, with which evil may be
connected. In this way, then, it can have a natural inclination to
evil; yet only accidentally, inasmuch as evil is connected with good.
Reply to Objection 2: The malice of some men can be called
natural, either because of custom which is a second nature; or on
account of the natural proclivity on the part of the sensitive nature to
some inordinate passion, as some people are said to be naturally
wrathful or lustful; but not on the part of the intellectual nature.
Reply to Objection 3: Brute beasts have a natural inclination in
their sensitive nature towards certain particular goods, with which
certain evils are connected; thus the fox in seeking its food has a
natural inclination to do so with a certain skill coupled with deceit.
Wherefore it is not evil in the fox to be sly, since it is natural to
him; as it is not evil in the dog to be fierce, as Dionysius observes
(De Div. Nom. iv).
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