13. Another hypothesis is that evil owes its character only to its
being an obstacle for the soul, as certain objects are bad for the
eye, because they hinder it from seeing. In this case, the evil of the
soul would be the cause that produces the evil, and it would produce
it without being absolute Evil. If, then, vice be an obstacle for the
soul, it will not be absolute Evil, but the cause of evil, as virtue is
not the good, and only contributes to acquiring it. If virtue be not
good, and vice be not evil, the result is that since virtue is neither
absolute beauty nor goodness, vice is neither absolute ugliness nor
evil. We hold that virtue is neither absolute beauty, nor absolute
goodness, because above and before it is absolute Beauty and Goodness.
Only because the soul participates in these, is virtue or beauty
considered a good. Now as the soul, by rising above virtue, meets
absolute Beauty and Goodness, thus in descending below wickedness the
soul discovers absolute Evil. To arrive at the intuition of evil the
soul, therefore, starts from wickedness, if indeed an intuition of evil
be at all possible. Finally, when the soul descends, she participates
in evil. She rushes completely into the region of diversity,[191]
and, plunging downwards she falls into a murky mire. If she fell into
absolute wickedness, her characteristic would no longer be wickedness,
and she would exchange it for a still lower nature. Even though mingled
with a contrary nature, wickedness, indeed, still retains something
human. The vicious man, therefore, dies so far as a soul can die. Now
when, in connection with the soul, we speak of dying, we mean that
while she is engaged in the body, she penetrates (further) into matter,
and becomes saturated with it. Then, when the soul has left the body,
she once more falls into the same mud until she have managed to return
into the intelligible world, and weaned her glance from this mire. So
long as she remains therein, she may be said to have descended into
hell, and to be slumbering there.[192]