The good must then be desirable; but it is good not because it is
desirable, but it is desirable because it is good.[121] Thus in the
order of beings, rising from the last to the First, it will be found
that the good of each of them is in the one immediately preceding,
so long as this ascending scale remain proportionate and increasing.
Then we will stop at Him who occupies the supreme rank, beyond which
there is nothing more to seek. That is the First, the veritable, the
sovereign Good, the author of all goodness in other beings. The good
of matter is form; for if matter became capable of sensation it would
receive it with pleasure. The good of the body is the soul; for without
her it could neither exist nor last. The good of the soul is virtue;
and then higher (waits), Intelligence. Last, the good of Intelligence
is the principle called the Primary nature. Each of these goods
produces something within the object whose good it is. It confers order
and beauty (as form does on matter); or life (as the soul does on the
body); or wisdom and happiness (as intelligence does on soul). Last,
the Good communicates to Intelligence its influx, and actualization
emanating from the Good, and shedding on Intelligence what has been
called the light of the Good. The nature of this we shall study later.