Monologium, on the Being of God50 Chapter L. The same love proceeds equally from Father and Son.
Chapter L. The same love proceeds equally from Father and Son.
It is, at any rate, clear to the rational man that he does not remember himself or conceive of himself because he loves himself, but he loves himself because he remembers himself and conceives of himself; and that he could not love himself if he did not remember and conceive of himself. For no object is loved without remembrance or conception of it; while many things are retained in memory and conceived of that are not loved.
It is evident, then, that the love of the supreme Spirit proceeds from the fact that he remember himself and conceives of himself (se intelligit). But if, by the memory of the supreme Spirit, we understand the Father, and by his intelligence by which he conceives of anything, the Son, it is manifest that the love of the supreme Spirit proceeds equally from Father and Son.
Palam certe est rationem habenti, eum non idcirco sui memorem esse aut se intelligere, quia se amat, sed ideo se amare, quia sui meminit, et se intelligit; nec eum se posse amare, si sui non sit memor, aut se non intelligat. Nulla enim res amatur, sine ejus memoria aut intelligentia; et multa tenentur memoria et intelliguntur quae non amantur. Patet igitur amorem summi Spiritus ex eo procedere, quia sui memor est, et se intelligit. Quod si in memoria summi Spiritus intelligitur Pater, in intelligentia Filius manifestum est quia a Patre pariter et a Filio, summi Spiritus amor procedit.