In the middle ages 225

this illustration only shows that one should pursue

one's good according to rational judgments, and

follow where they lead him, without letting himself

be deceived by appearances. Man, indeed, is dis-

tinguished from the stone which falls, or from the

wild beast which follows its instincts, by the fact

that he has the privilege of reflecting on his ways

and choosing them freely ; he has the power of mis-

taken choice. Man's counsels lie in his own hands.

The philosophers of the thirteenth century have no

difficulty in proving, that neither riches nor honour,

nor glory, nor power, nor sensual indulgence can

satisfy the demands of the good, the summuTn ho-

num for men; there he is free to seek or not to

seek them as the chief end of life.^

Moreover, every destiny is necessarily personal;

the good is my good. If, for example, I make it

to consist in pleasure, it is quite evident that the

pleasure is my pleasure. A fortiori must destiny

be personal for the scholastic ethics which maintains

that happiness results from the employment of that

which is the noblest and the highest in human life, —

namely, knowledge and love. Nothing is more per-

sonal than knowing and loving. Happiness is so

personal a matter, that the good of another only

enters into it incidentally, and not essentially. It

takes a noble soul to include the destinies of others

within the domain of his own preoccupations.

Now, the individual left quite to himself, as a

3 See above, p. 186.

226 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

solitary being, is not sufficient to attain to his proper

end. He will find himself deprived of material

means, of intellectual directions, of moral support.

-в–  This impotence of the solitary individual, says

: Thomas Aquinas, is the sole reason for the ex-

i istence of society. "Man is called by nature" he

writes* "to live in society; for he needs many things

which are necessary to his life, and which by him-

self he cannot procure for himself. Whence it fol-

lows that man naturally becomes part of a group

{pars multitudinis) , to procure him the means of

living well. He needs this assistance for two rea-

sons. First, in order that he may obtain the ele-

mentary necessities of life; this he does in the do-

mestic circle of which he is a part. Everj^ man re-

ceives from his parents life and nourishment and

education; and the reciprocal aid of the family

members facilitates the mutual provision of the ne-

cessities of life. But there is a second reason why

the individual is helped by the group, of which he

is a part, and in which alone he finds his adequate

well being. And this is, that he may not only live

but live the good life, — which is enabled by the op-

portunities of social intercourse. Thus civil society

aids the individual in obtaining the material neces-

sities, by uniting in the same city a great number

of crafts, which could not be so imited in the same

family. And civil society also assists him in the

moral life."

* Comment in Ethic. Nicom., lib. I.