49. But, you will say, there
are good men also in the world,—wise, upright, of faultless and
purest morals. We raise no question as to whether there ever were
any such, in whom this very integrity which is spoken of was in nothing
imperfect. Even if they are very honourable men, and have
been worthy of praise, have reached the utmost height of perfection,
and their life has never wavered and sunk into sin, yet we would have
you tell us how many there are, or have been, that we may judge from
their number whether a comparison3743
| 3743
Lit., “opposition;” i.e., “the setting of one party
against the other.” |
has been made
which is just
and evenly balanced.
3744
| 3744
Lit., “weighed with balancing of equality.” |
One, two, three, four, ten,
twenty, a
hundred, yet
are they at least limited in number, and
it may be within the reach of names.
3745
| 3745
Lit., “bounded by the comprehensions of names;” i.e.,
possibly, “the good are certainly few enough to be numbered,
perhaps even to be named.” |
But it is fitting that the human
race should be rated and weighed, not by a very few good men, but by
all the
rest as well. For the part is in the whole, not
the whole in a part; and that which is the whole should draw to it its
parts, not the whole be brought to its parts. For what if you
were to say that a man,
robbed of the use of all his limbs, and
shrieking in
bitter agony,
3746
| 3746 So
LB., reading ex cruciatibusfor the ms. scruc. |
was quite well, because in
3747
one little
nail he
suffered no
pain? or that the
earth is made of
gold, because in
one hillock there are a few
small grains from which, when dissolved,
gold is produced, and wonder excited at it when formed into a
lump?
3748
| 3748
Lit., “admiration is sought for by the putting
together”—congregatione. |
The
whole mass shows the
nature of an element, not particles fine as
air;
nor does the
sea become forthwith sweet, if you cast or throw into it a
few drops of less
bitter water, for that small quantity is swallowed up
in its immense mass; and it must be esteemed, not merely of little
importance, but
even of none, because, being scattered
throughout all, it is lost and cut off in the immensity of the vast
body
of water.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
