Dist. 50, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 3
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/4/d/50/q/bon-sent-IV-d50-p1-a1-q3
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### Question III. *Whether the damned would rather that all were damned, than that some be damned and some blessed.*

Thirdly it is asked whether the damned would rather that all were damned, than that some be damned and some blessed. And that they would rather have all damned is shown:

1. First, by that which men are commonly accustomed to say: « It is a solace to the wretched to have companions of their punishments ».

2. Likewise, this is shown by what is said in Isaiah the fourteenth: *They have risen up from their thrones;* the Gloss: « It is a solace to the wicked to have many companions of their punishments ».

3. Likewise, Augustine, *On Catechizing the Uninstructed*: « Be on your guard, lest the enemy creep upon you from another quarter, because he seeks out, as the most malevolent solace of his own will, those with whom he may be damned »: therefore that is the solace of the wicked: if therefore they themselves seek and desire what makes for solace, it is clear, etc.

4. Likewise, it seems so *by reason:* because envy arises from a defect of charity and from love of one's own good; but both of these are in the damned: therefore there is in them the greatest envy: therefore, if an envious man would wish no one to be seen good nor blessed: therefore the damned would wish that all together with them were damned, rather than that some be damned and some blessed.

5. Likewise, the Saints and the damned are enemies to one another, on account of this, that the damned are enemies of God: therefore since the damned do not love their enemies, but rather hate them, and he who hates another would rather see him wretched than blessed; therefore, etc.

**Contra:** 1. In Luke the sixteenth it is said of the rich man that he prayed for his brothers, that they might not come *into the place of torments:* therefore, since the damned have many kinsmen in heaven, therefore they would rather that these be in heaven than in hell.

2. Likewise, the damned, although they have an evil will, nevertheless have not lost natural affection; which is clear, because the most impious men love their neighbours; but in the present life, if a wretched father has a wretched son, he does not rejoice, but is rather saddened at such fellowship: therefore likewise in hell.

3. Likewise, if the damned desired the damnation of others: therefore, just as the damnation of others would grow, so also would their consolation, because desire, if it be fulfilled, delights the soul: therefore after the damnation of all they would be in greater consolation; which is manifestly false — rather, desolation will grow, as is said upon that verse of the Psalm: *The desire of sinners shall perish;* the Gloss: « With no solace following ».

4. Likewise, a Blessed one added to the multitude of the elect multiplies joy: therefore *from the opposites* a damned one amplifies grief; but just as the Blessed one desires the amplification of his joy, so the damned one the diminution of his grief: therefore, since the Blessed always wish the wretched to come to glory, the damned shrink from having any descend to their misery; therefore they would not wish the Blessed to be damned.

### Conclusion

> *Generally speaking, the damned would rather that all be wretched, than that some be blessed while they themselves remain wretched.*

**I respond:** It must be said that although in the damned the lustful affections are in some way slackened on account of the magnitude of their punishments — those affections, I say, which have delight annexed to them — nevertheless the other affections, in which there is penalty, are invigorated; hence, although the affection of lusting and of domineering actually ceases, nevertheless the affection or fury of impatience and the malice of envy is intensified; hence then *they shall gnash  with their teeth and pine away*. And since hatred and envy will be strong in them, they will also be vehemently saddened and will pine away at the glory of God's elect; and therefore, to sate their most impious rivalry and hatred, they would wish that none be blessed, but rather that all be wretched. And because they themselves can neither attain to beatitude nor remove others from the state of beatitude, therefore they vehemently pine away and are confounded within themselves. — It must therefore be granted that, generally speaking, they would rather that all be wretched, than that, while they themselves remain wretched, some be blessed. — And the reasons for this are to be granted.

**To the arguments for the opposite side:**

*To 1.* To that which is objected concerning that rich man, who did not wish his brothers to be damned; it must be said that although in general the damned do not wish to see any blessed, but all wretched; nevertheless, because they have more especially a natural and private love of certain persons, they would not wish these to be damned while others remain in the state of glory; because, even if those be damned, there still remains rivalry and occasion for pining away. It would not be so concerning all.

*To 2.* And by this the following argument concerning natural affection is clear; nevertheless they love no one so naturally that they would not wish them to be damned, on this condition, that none be blessed. And the example is clear in those who hold a mortal hatred, who desire the life of their kinsmen; and yet they would wish that many of their kinsmen were dead, so that they might be able to fulfil the desire of vengeance upon their enemies.

*To 3.* To that which is objected, that if they desire damnation, etc.; it must be said that they do not desire the damnation of any whatsoever, but of those whom they *envy,* for this reason, that they see them exalted, and of those from *comparison with whom they are confounded,* and these are the Blessed; and because they cannot obtain this, therefore they do not thereby gain solace, but thereby have great torment.

*To 4.* To that, that they shrink from desolation; it must be said that just as a healthy man, in whom nature is well disposed, seeks the foods suitable to him, whereas a sick man seeks those things which harm him, because he judges them to be of profit: so the Blessed, as being sound of mind, seek the glorification of others, which is truly profitable to them, whereas the damned seek the damnation of the Blessed, which they judge useful and delightful to themselves, as the envious man seeks another's overthrow; and yet, if it came about, their misery would not on that account decrease, but rather increase. For the impious and sinners will many things which, if they obtained them, would make them more wretched. To confirm these things the authority of Augustine in the second chapter does much, where he says that anger, hatred and blindness will increase in the damned.

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