23. Since it is this Principle which the soul pursues, which
illuminates Intelligence, and whose least trace arouses in us so great
an emotion, there is no ground for astonishment if it possess the power
of exerting its fascination on all beings, and if all rest in Him
without seeking anything beyond. If indeed everything proceeds from
this principle, then there is nothing better, and everything else is
below Him. Now, how could the best of beings fail to be the Good? If
the Good be entirely self-sufficient, and have need of nothing else,
what could it be except the One who was what He is before all other
things, when evil did not yet exist? If all evils be posterior to
Him, if they exist only in the objects that in no way participate in
the Good, and which occupy the last rank, if no evil exist among the
intelligibles, and if there be nothing worse than evil (just as there
is nothing better than the Good), then evils are in complete opposition
to this principle, and it could be nothing else. To deny the existence
of the Good, we would also have to deny the existence of evil; and
the result would be a complete indifference of choice between any two
particular things; which is absurd. All other things called good refer
to Him, while He refers to nothing else.