Dist. 6, Dubia
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/2/d/6/q/bon-sent-II-d6-dubia
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### DOUBTS CONCERNING THE TEXT OF THE MASTER.

#### DOUBT I.

In this part there are doubts concerning the text, and first it is asked concerning that which he says: *That those falling took up the dwelling-place of the murky air... for our probation:* therefore it seems from this, which is said last, that they ought to dwell on the earth, since they are appointed for our exercising. — Likewise, in the *Dialogue* it is read that a certain woman ate lettuce and was at once possessed by a demon; and there a reason is given, that the devil was in the lettuce which she bit: therefore it seems that they are on the earth.

I RESPOND: It must be said that the divine clemency and providence provided a secluded place for the demons, that they might not tempt us too sharply, yet not too far from us, that they might be able to exercise us. Hence that they dwell in the murky air, this is of the divine *decree;* but that they come to us, this is of [divine] *permission.* Hence, since the interstice of the air is threefold, if it be asked in what part they are; it seems probable that they are in the middle, where there is turbulence and disturbance and variety of impressions; and hence it is that they frequently stir up winds and rains.

#### DOUBT II.

Likewise it is asked concerning that which he says: *In this murky air, which is a prison for them.* For it seems that it is in no way a prison, because they run about wherever they will. — And again, they are spiritual, therefore they are neither hindered nor detained by a body. — Likewise, the wind cannot move nor disturb a ray [of light], therefore much less a spirit. — Likewise, since they do not have bodily sight, it seems that no place is murky for them, nor do they seem to be punished by bodily darkness.

I RESPOND: It must be said that, just as by a certain fittingness the empyrean heaven is for the holy Angels a suitable and apt place, both from [its] light and from [its] spaciousness, so that it can rightly be called a *palace,* attesting to the brightness and tranquility and amplitude of charity; so, conversely, this murky air is a prison, because [it is] small and narrow and dark, not by a darkness which darkens, or a narrowness which constrains, but rather [one] which attests to the straitness of mind and the cold of iniquity and the agitation of the affections. And therefore it is rightly called a *prison.* And just as in one manner a corporeal place locates spirits, in another bodies; so also in one and another manner it imprisons. And thus the objections are clear.

#### DOUBT III.

Likewise it is asked concerning that which he says, that *power will be given to him by God of tempting men, which he does not now have. On the contrary:* Job, forty-first [chapter]: *There is no power upon earth that can be compared with him;* therefore if his powers exceed ours, it rather seems that God ought to increase the *ability* for us rather than for the demons; or he seems to act unjustly and unequally, while he exposes the weak to the strong and strengthens the strong against the weak.

I RESPOND: It must be said that that power, of which Job speaks, is the power of natural strength, [it] is not the power of tempting. For the power of tempting is weak, unless it be strengthened by the consent of the one tempted. «For the enemy is weak, who does not conquer except the willing». Yet because, on account of our concupiscence and ignorance, he deceives and allures us in many ways, therefore he is strong, and so much so that few there would be who would not be conquered, unless God restrained his cunning and deceit, which at the end, by a just judgment, he will permit to be enlarged. And therefore he is said to give the power of tempting, not by conferring a new potency, but by allowing him to operate according to that potency and astuteness which he already has.

#### DOUBT IV.

Likewise it is asked concerning that which he says, that *it is not permitted to that spirit which has been conquered to assail anyone. On the contrary:* it is probably believed that the great devil, who tempted Adam, tempted Christ and was in every way conquered: therefore it seems that he never henceforth tempts; which is against the text of the Apocalypse. — Likewise, if this is true, then the army of demons seems so diminished at the end that it cannot tempt; but this is false, since he tempts the more strongly at the end.

I RESPOND: It must be said that concerning this it is difficult to determine the truth. For that there should be a diminution in that army of demons does not seem improbable, since we thus see it happen according to the law of war, that he who is overcome is removed from the war; *how much,* however, and *when,* it is difficult to determine; whence, whatever Origen may say, it is better to doubt than to define anything about this.