Whether the Movement of an Angel Is Instantaneous?
Objection 1: It would seem that an angel's movement is instantaneous.
For the greater the power of the mover, and the less the moved resist
the mover, the more rapid is the movement. But the power of an angel
moving himself exceeds beyond all proportion the power which moves a
body. Now the proportion of velocities is reckoned according to the
lessening of the time. But between one length of time and any other
length of time there is proportion. If therefore a body is moved in
time, an angel is moved in an instant.
Obj. 2: Further, the angel's movement is simpler than any bodily
change. But some bodily change is effected in an instant, such as
illumination; both because the subject is not illuminated
successively, as it gets hot successively; and because a ray does not
reach sooner what is near than what is remote. Much more therefore is
the angel's movement instantaneous.
Obj. 3: Further, if an angel be moved from place to place in time, it
is manifest that in the last instant of such time he is in the term
_whereto_: but in the whole of the preceding time, he is either in
the place immediately preceding, which is taken as the term
_wherefrom_; or else he is partly in the one, and partly in the
other, it follows that he is divisible; which is impossible.
Therefore during the whole of the preceding time he is in the term
_wherefrom._ Therefore he rests there: since to be at rest is to be
in the same place now and previously, as was said (A. 2). Therefore
it follows that he is not moved except in the last instant of time.
_On the contrary,_ In every change there is a before and after. Now
the before and after of movement is reckoned by time. Consequently
every movement, even of an angel, is in time, since there is a before
and after in it.
_I answer that,_ Some have maintained that the local movement of an
angel is instantaneous. They said that when an angel is moved from
place to place, during the whole of the preceding time he is in the
term _wherefrom_; but in the last instant of such time he is in the
term _whereto._ Nor is there any need for a medium between the terms,
just as there is no medium between time and the limit of time. But
there is a mid-time between two "nows" of time: hence they say that a
last "now" cannot be assigned in which it was in the term _wherefrom,_
just as in illumination, and in the substantial generation of fire,
there is no last instant to be assigned in which the air was dark, or
in which the matter was under the privation of the form of fire: but a
last time can be assigned, so that in the last instant of such time
there is light in the air, or the form of fire in the matter. And so
illumination and substantial generation are called instantaneous
movements.
But this does not hold good in the present case; and it is shown
thus. It is of the nature of rest that the subject in repose be not
otherwise disposed now than it was before: and therefore in every
"now" of time which measures rest, the subject reposing is in the
same "where" in the first, in the middle, and in the last "now." On
the other hand, it is of the very nature of movement for the subject
moved to be otherwise now than it was before: and therefore in every
"now" of time which measures movement, the movable subject is in
various dispositions; hence in the last "now" it must have a
different form from what it had before. So it is evident that to rest
during the whole time in some (disposition), for instance, in
whiteness, is to be in it in every instant of such time. Hence it is
not possible for anything to rest in one term during the whole of the
preceding time, and afterwards in the last instant of that time to be
in the other term. But this is possible in movement: because to be
moved in any whole time, is not to be in the same disposition in
every instant of that time. Therefore all instantaneous changes of
the kind are terms of a continuous movement: just as generation is
the term of the alteration of matter, and illumination is the term of
the local movement of the illuminating body. Now the local movement
of an angel is not the term of any other continuous movement, but is
of itself, depending upon no other movement. Consequently it is
impossible to say that he is in any place during the whole time, and
that in the last "now" he is in another place: but some "now" must be
assigned in which he was last in the preceding place. But where there
are many "nows" succeeding one another, there is necessarily time;
since time is nothing else than the reckoning of before and after in
movement. It remains, then, that the movement of an angel is in time.
It is in continuous time if his movement be continuous, and in
non-continuous time if his movement is non-continuous for, as was
said (A. 1), his movement can be of either kind, since the continuity
of time comes of the continuity of movement, as the Philosopher says
(Phys. iv, text 99).
But that time, whether it be continuous or not, is not the same as
the time which measures the movement of the heavens, and whereby all
corporeal things are measured, which have their changeableness from
the movement of the heavens; because the angel's movement does not
depend upon the movement of the heavens.
Reply Obj. 1: If the time of the angel's movement be not continuous,
but a kind of succession of 'nows,' it will have no proportion to the
time which measures the movement of corporeal things, which is
continuous; since it is not of the same nature. If, however, it be
continuous, it is indeed proportionable, not, indeed, because of the
proportion of the mover and the movable, but on account of the
proportion of the magnitudes in which the movement exists. Besides,
the swiftness of the angel's movement is not measured by the quantity
of his power, but according to the determination of his will.
Reply Obj. 2: Illumination is the term of a movement; and is an
alteration, not a local movement, as though the light were understood
to be moved to what is near, before being moved to what is remote.
But the angel's movement is local, and, besides, it is not the term
of movement; hence there is no comparison.
Reply Obj. 3: This objection is based on continuous time. But the
same time of an angel's movement can be non-continuous. So an angel
can be in one place in one instant, and in another place in the next
instant, without any time intervening. If the time of the angel's
movement be continuous, he is changed through infinite places
throughout the whole time which precedes the last 'now'; as was
already shown (A. 2). Nevertheless he is partly in one of the
continuous places, and partly in another, not because his substance
is susceptible of parts, but because his power is applied to a part
of the first place and to a part of the second, as was said above
(A. 2).
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