Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput X: Quod secundum Plotini sententiam minus miseri sint homines in corpore mortali quam daemones in aeterno.

Plotinus certe nostrae memoriae uicinis temporibus Platonem ceteris excellentius intellexisse laudatur. is cum de humanis animis ageret: pater, inquit, misericors mortalia illis uincla faciebat. ita hoc ipsum, quod mortales sunt homines corpore, ad misericordiam dei patris pertinere arbitratus est, ne semper huius uitae miseria tenerentur. hac misericordia indigna iudicata est iniquitas daemonum, quae in animi passiui miseria non mortale sicut homines, sed aeternum corpus accepit. essent quippe feliciores hominibus, si mortale cum eis haberent corpus et cum dis animum beatum. essent autem pares hominibus, si cum animo misero corpus saltem mortale cum eis habere meruissent; si tamen adquirerent aliquid pietatis, ut ab aerumnis uel in morte requiescerent. nunc uero non solum feliciores hominibus non sunt animo misero, sed etiam miseriores sunt perpetuo corporis uinculo. non enim aliqua pietatis et sapientiae disciplina proficientes intellegi uoluit ex daemonibus fieri deos, cum apertissime dixerit daemones aeternos.

Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 10.--That, According to Plotinus, Men, Whose Body is Mortal, are Less Wretched Than Demons, Whose Body is Eternal.

Plotinus, whose memory is quite recent, ¹ enjoys the reputation of having understood Plato better than any other of his disciples. In speaking of human souls, he says, "The Father in compassion made their bonds mortal;" ² that is to say, he considered it due to the Father's mercy that men, having a mortal body, should not be forever confined in the misery of this life. But of this mercy the demons have been judged unworthy, and they have received, in conjunction with a soul subject to passions, a body not mortal like man's, but eternal. For they should have been happier than men if they had, like men, had a mortal body, and, like the gods, a blessed soul. And they should have been equal to men, if in conjunction with a miserable soul they had at least received, like men, a mortal body, so that death might have freed them from trouble, if, at least, they should have attained some degree of piety. But, as it is, they are not only no happier than men, having, like them, a miserable soul, they are also more wretched, being eternally bound to the body; for he does not leave us to infer that by some progress in wisdom and piety they can become gods, but expressly says that they are demons forever.