(41:8) If men had not this hope and this fear, but believed that the
mind perishes with the body, and that no hope of prolonged life remains
for the wretches who are broken down with the burden of piety, they
would return to their own inclinations, controlling everything in
accordance with their lusts, and desiring to obey fortune rather than
themselves. (41:9) Such a course appears to me not less absurd than if
a man, because he does not believe that he can by wholesome food
sustain his body for ever, should wish to cram himself with poisons
and deadly fare; or if, because he sees that the mind is not eternal
or immortal, he should prefer to be out of his mind altogether, and
to live without the use of reason; these ideas are so absurd as to be
scarcely worth refuting.
Prop. [XLII] Blessedness is not the reward of virtue,
but virtue itself ; neither do we rejoice
therein, because we control our lusts,
but, contrariwise, because we rejoice
therein, we are able to control our lusts.
Proof.- (42:1) Blessedness consists in love towards God ([xxxvi] and
Note), which love springs from the third kind of knowledge ([xxxii]
Coroll.); therefore this love (III:[iii] and III:[lix] ) must be
referred to the mind, in so far as the latter is active; therefore
(IV:[D.viii] ) it is virtue itself. (42:2) This was our first point.
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