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[367] Isa. xxv. 8, 9.
[368] Hom. XIV., On Ezechiel.
[369] De Genesi ad Litt., xii. 27.
[370] Gen. xxxii. 30.
[371] Epistola I., to Caius the Monk.
[372] Hom. XIV., On Ezechiel.
[373] The Glossa Ordinaria, taken from S. Gregory's Moralia in Job, xxiv. 5.
[374] Moralia, vi. 27.
[375] De Anima, III., vii. 3.
[376] Dialogues, ii. 35.
[377] Isa. xxvi. 3, 4, 8, 9.
[378] Of the Divine Names, IV., i. 7.
[379] De Anima, III., vii. 1 and 2.
[380] Physica, VIII., vii. 2.
[381] viii. 16.
[382] Of Contemplation, i. 5.
[383] Job xvi. 20, 23.
[384] Hom. XIV., On Ezechiel.
[385] Ps. xxxiii. 9.
[386] Hom. XIV., On Ezechiel.
[387] Ibid.
[388] Conf., viii. 3.
[389] Wisd. ix. 15.
[390] Rom. vii. 24.
[391] Hom. XIV., On Ezechiel.
[392] Ethics, X., iv. 6.
[393] 1 Cor. xiii, 12.
[394] Ps. xxxv. 9.
[395] De Partibus Animalium, i. 5.
[396] xxxii. 30-32.
[397] Hom. XIV., On Ezechiel.
[398] Ps. xxxiii. 9.
[399] S. Luke x. 42.
[400] Topics, I., xiii. 5.
[401] Ethics, X., vii. 2.
[402] 1 Cor. xiii. 8.
[403] Conf., x. 40.
[404] Of the Divine Names, IV., i. 7; and Of the Heavenly Hierarchy, iii.
[405] Ethics, X., vii. 8.
[406] Isa. xii. 1-6.
I. Do all Acts of the Moral Virtues come under the Active Life?
II. Does Prudence pertain to the Active Life?
III. Does Teaching belong to the Active or to the Contemplative Life?
IV. Does the Active Life continue after this Life?
S. Isidore says[407]: "In the active life all the vices are first of all to be removed by the practice of good works, so that in the contemplative life a man may, with now purified mental gaze, pass to the contemplation of the Divine Light." But all the vices can only be removed by the acts of the moral virtues. Consequently the acts of the moral virtues belong to the active life.
As we have said already,[408] the active and the contemplative lives are distinguished by the different occupations of men who are aiming at different ends, one being the consideration of Truth—the goal of the contemplative life; the other external[Pg 221] works with which the active life is occupied. But it is clear that the moral virtues are not especially concerned with the contemplation of truth but with action; thus the Philosopher says[409]: "For virtue, knowledge is of little or no avail." It is therefore manifest that the moral virtues essentially belong to the active life; and in accordance with this the Philosopher[410] refers the moral virtues to active happiness.
