On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
25. Neither inhereth evil in the brute beasts. For if you take away the passions of anger, desire, etc. (which are not in their essential nature evil, although alleged to be so), the lion, having lost its savage wildness, will be a lion no longer; and the dog, if it become gentle to all, will cease to be a dog, since the virtue of a dog is to watch and to allow its own masters to approach while driving strangers away. Wherefore ’tis not evil for a creature so to act as preserveth its nature undestroyed; evil is the destruction of its nature, the weakness and deficiency of its natural qualities, activities, and powers. And if all things which the process of generation produces have their goal of perfection in time, then even that which seemeth to be their imperfection is not wholly and entirely contrary to nature.t
26. Neither inhereth evil in nature as a whole. For if all natural laws together come from the universal system of Nature, there is nothing contrary to Nature.”
1 i. e. That which is imperfect in them is capable of being made perfect.
3 The sum total of natural laws comes from the ultimate unity of
25. Nor does evil inhere in the brute beasts. For if you take away the passions of anger, desire, etc. (which are not evil in their essential nature, although they are alleged to be), the lion, having lost its savage wildness, will no longer be a lion; and the dog, if it becomes gentle to all, will cease to be a dog, since the virtue of a dog is to keep watch, letting its own masters approach while driving strangers away. So it is not evil for a creature to act in a way that preserves its nature undestroyed; evil is the destruction of its nature, the weakness and deficiency of its natural qualities, activities and powers. And if all things that the process of generation produces reach their goal of perfection in time, then even what seems to be their imperfection is not wholly and entirely contrary to nature.1
26. Nor does evil inhere in nature as a whole. For if all natural laws together come from the universal system of Nature, there is nothing contrary to Nature.”
1 i.e. What is imperfect in them is capable of being made perfect.
3 The sum total of natural laws comes from the ultimate unity of