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De casu diaboli

Anselm of Canterbury

Language:
Latin
Status:
Complete work
Authorship:
Written by the author
Condition of the text:
No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
Extent:
~14,900 words · 71 passages
Cite this work
  • APAAnselm of Canterbury. (n.d.). De casu diaboli. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/anselm-of-canterbury/de-casu-diaboli
  • MLAAnselm of Canterbury. De casu diaboli. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/anselm-of-canterbury/de-casu-diaboli.
  • ChicagoAnselm of Canterbury. De casu diaboli. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/anselm-of-canterbury/de-casu-diaboli.

Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.

What it is about

How a good angel, created by God with nothing evil before him, could will evil.

Context and history

The problem is harder than it looks: if all God made is good, where does the first evil will come from? Anselm answers that it comes from nothing, and that this is exactly why it has no cause and is guilt. The third of the dialogues, and the most ambitious.

Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.

How it begins
MAGISTER. Voluit igitur aliquid quod non habebat nec tunc uelle debebat, sicut Eva uoluit esse similis diis, priusquam deus hoc uellet. DISCIPULUS. Nec hoc ita sequi negare queo. MAGISTER. Nihil autem uelle poterat nisi iustitiam aut commodum. Ex commodis enim constat beatitudo, quam uult omnis rationalis natura. DISCIPULUS. In nobis hoc possumus cognoscere, qui nihil uolumus nisi quod iustum aut commodum putamus. MAGISTER. Iustitiam uero uolendo peccare non potuit. DISCILPULUS. Verum est. MAGISTER. Peccauit ergo uolendo aliquod commodum, quod nec habebat nec tunc uelle debuit, quod tamen ad augmentum ibi beatitudinis esse poterat. DISCIPULUS. Palam est quoniam aliter non potuit. MAGISTER. Cernis, ut puto, quia plus aliquid quam acceperat inordinate uolendo uoluntatem suam extra iustitiam extendit. DISCIPULUS. Aperte nunc uideo quia peccauit et uolendo quod non debuit et non uolendo quod debuit. Et palam est quia non ideo uoluit plus quam debuit quia noluit tenere iustitiam sed ideo iustitiam non tenuit quia aliud uoluit, quod uolendo illam deseruit, sicut in auaro de nummo et pane monstrasti. MAGISTER. At cum hoc uoluit quod deus illum uelle nolebat, uoluit inordinate similis esse deo. DISCIPULUS. Si deus non potest cogitari nisi ita solus, ut nihil illi simile cogitari possit: quomodo potuit diabolus uelle quod non potuit cogitare?…

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