Bonaventure

The numbered footnotes below correspond to markers in both the Latin body above and the English translation. Anchors are page-qualified to the printed page (p902) on which Quaracchi restarts its footnote numbering.

Quaestio III.

Utrum omnia videantur simul ab omnibus.

Tertio quaeritur, utrum omnia videantur simul ab omnibus. Et quod sic, videtur:

1. Quia super illud Iob octavo¹: Induentur confusione, Glossa: «Viso iudice, mala omnia ante oculos mentis versantur».

2. Item, ratione videtur: quia insimul infligetur tota poena, ergo simul scietur et ponderabitur culpa: ergo si magnitudo culpae pendet ab actibus et circumstantiis et earum² iteratione, omnia haec manifestari debent simul.

3. Item, maior confusio est et dolor in memoria³ duorum quam unius, et omnium quam aliquorum malorum; econtra de bonis maius gaudium: ergo si boni habebunt perfectum gaudium, mali perfectam confusionem; patet, quod omnibus simul patebunt.

Contra: 1. «Unum solum intelligimus», sicut dicit Philosophus⁴: ergo non plura simul: non ergo omnia poterunt videri simul.

2. Item, in damnatis non erit eorum natura melior, quam nunc est: ergo si eorum intellectus nunc non potest plura intelligere simul, nec tunc poterit; quod si tunc poterit, ergo sublimatus erit.

3. Item, in iudicio erit discussio⁵, quae est prius de uno quam de alio: ergo prius erit unius recordatio quam alterius.

Conclusio. Omnes repente, vel simul omnia peccata videbunt, et probabilius simul.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod omnes repente, vel simul omnia peccata videbunt, et credendum est magis, quod simul. — Ad quod intelligendum notandum est, quod simul videre multa ut multa, hoc potest esse tripliciter: aut ratione eius, in quo videt, quia videt multa uno; et sic in speculo aeterno est videre multa, quia per idem ibi homo videt diversa. Aut ratione sublimationis intellectus, qui efficitur deiformis per gloriam; unde videt plura, sicut et Deus, licet non omnimode; sicut Angelus beatus simul cognoscit Deum in se et creaturam in Deo et in proprio genere⁶. Aut ratione divinae virtutis hoc facientis; quae tamen non efficit gloriam, ut ostendat ei exemplar aeternum, sed levat intellectum, ut possit aliquid supra se, vel ad gloriam, vel ad poenam. — His tribus modis videbunt simul animae bonae in iudicio, primis duobus modis in patria⁷; sed tertio tantummodo animae malae in iudicio. — Utrum autem post sic videant in inferno; hoc non determino, quamvis non improbabiliter dici possit, ut poena vermis sit consummata et uniformis.

1. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod intelligimus unum solum; dicendum, quod illud verum est per naturam; sed iste modus intelligendi erit per virtutem divinam⁸.

2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod cognitiva in damnatis non debet sublimari; dicendum, quod illa sublimatio potius est depressio, scilicet in ostensione omnium turpitudinum. Sicut enim recogitatio multorum bonorum amplificat laetitiam, ita recogitatio multorum malorum amplificat tristitiam.

3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod erit discussio; dicendum, quod etsi singillatim fiat discussio de singulis, quia non possunt omnia simul dici; tamen ad confusionem erit simul memoria de multis. Nec mirum, quia potentior est virtus cognitiva quam expressiva sive interpretativa; intelligimus enim statim, quod non possumus exprimere tempore diuturno⁹.

---

Question III.

Whether all things are seen at once by all.

Thirdly it is asked whether all things are seen at once by all. And that they are, it seems:

1. Because on that passage of Job, chapter eight¹: They shall be clothed with confusion, the Gloss [says]: "When the judge has been seen, all evils are set before the eyes of the mind."

2. Likewise, it seems by reason: because the whole punishment is inflicted all at once, therefore the fault too will be known and weighed at once: therefore, if the magnitude of the fault depends on the acts and the circumstances and their² repetition, all these things must be made manifest at once.

3. Likewise, there is greater confusion and grief in the memory³ of two things than of one, and of all than of some evils; and conversely, greater joy concerning goods: therefore, if the good will have perfect joy, the wicked [will have] perfect confusion; it is clear that all things will lie open to all at once.

On the contrary: 1. "We understand one thing only," as the Philosopher says⁴: therefore not several things at once: therefore not all things will be able to be seen at once.

2. Likewise, in the damned their nature will not be better than it now is: therefore, if their intellect now cannot understand several things at once, neither then will it be able to; but if it will then be able to, then it will have been elevated.

3. Likewise, in the judgment there will be an examination⁵, which is of one before another: therefore the recollection of one will come before that of another.

Conclusion. All will see all their sins suddenly, or at once, and more probably at once.

I respond: It must be said that all will see all their sins suddenly, or at once, and it is rather to be believed that [they will see them] at once. — For the understanding of which it must be noted that to see at once many things as many can be so in three ways: either by reason of that in which one sees, because he sees many things by one thing; and thus in the eternal mirror there is a seeing of many things, because through the same [mirror] a man there sees diverse things. Or by reason of the elevation of the intellect, which is made deiform through glory; whence it sees more, like God also, though not in every manner; just as a blessed Angel at once knows God in himself and the creature in God and in its proper kind⁶. Or by reason of the divine power doing this; which nevertheless does not confer glory, so as to show it the eternal exemplar, but raises the intellect so that it can [attain] something above itself, whether unto glory or unto punishment. — By these three modes the good souls will see at once in the judgment, and by the first two modes in the fatherland⁷; but by the third alone the wicked souls [will see] in the judgment. — But whether afterwards they thus see [things] in hell, this I do not determine, though it may not improbably be said [to be so], so that the punishment of the worm may be complete and uniform.

1. To that which is objected, that we understand one thing only; it must be said that this is true by nature; but this mode of understanding will be by divine power⁸.

2. To that which is objected, that the cognitive [power] in the damned ought not to be elevated; it must be said that that elevation is rather a lowering, namely in the display of all [their] foulnesses. For just as the recollection of many goods amplifies gladness, so the recollection of many evils amplifies sadness.

3. To that which is objected, that there will be an examination; it must be said that, although the examination be made singly concerning individual [sins], because all things cannot be said at once, nevertheless unto [their] confusion there will be at once a memory of many things. Nor is it a wonder, because the cognitive power is more powerful than the expressive or interpretative [power]; for we understand at once what we cannot express in a long time⁹.

---