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• Preface.
• Aquinas Ethicus, Or the Moral Teaching of St. Thomas. a Translation of the Principal Portions of the Second Part of the Summa Theologica, With Notes.: First Division of the Second Part, Commonly Called Prima Secundæ.
• Question I.: Of the Last End of Man In General.
• Question II.: Of the Object In Which Man’s Happiness Consists.
• Question III.: What Is Happiness?
• Question IV.: Of Things Requisite For Happiness.
• Question V.: Of the Attainment of Happiness.
• Question VI.: Of the Voluntary and the Involuntary.
• Question VII.: Of the Circumstances of Human Acts.
• Question VIII.: Of the Will and Its Objects.
• Question XII.: Of Intention.
• Question XIII.: Of Election, Or Choice of Means.
• Question XVIII.: Of the Good Or Evil of Human Acts In General.
• Question XIX.: Of the Good and Evil of the Interior Act of the Will.
• Question XX.: Of the Good and Evil of Exterior Human Acts.
• Question XXI.: Of the Properties Consequent Upon Human Acts Considered As Good Or Evil.
• Question XXII.: Of the Subject of the Passions.
• Question XXIII.: Of the Difference of Passions One From Another.
• Question XXIV.: Of Good and Evil In Passions.
• Question XXVI.: Of Love.
• Question XXVII.: Of the Cause of Love.
• Question XXVIII.: Of the Effects of Love.
• Question XXIX.: Of Hatred.
• Question XXX.: Of Desire.
• Question XXXI.: Of Delight, Or Pleasure.
• Question XXXII.: Of the Cause of Pleasure.
• Question XXXIII.: Of the Effects of Pleasure.
• Question XXXIV.: Of Good and Evil In Pleasures.
• Question XXXV.: Of Pain and Sorrow In Themselves.
• Question XXXVI.: Of the Causes of Pain.
• Question XXXVIII.: Of Remedies For Sorrow Or Pain.
• Question XXXIX.: Of the Good and Evil of Sorrow Or Pain.
• Question Xl.: of Hope.
• Question Xli.: of Fear In Itself.
• Question Xlii.: of the Object of Fear.
• Question Xliv.: of the Effects of Fear.
• Question Xlv.: of Fiery Daring.
• Question Xlvi.: of Anger As It Is In Itself.
• Question Xlvii.: of the Efficient Cause of Anger.
• Question Xlviii.: of the Effects of Anger.
• Question Xlix.: of Habits In General.
• Question L.: of the Subject of Habits.
• Question Li.: of the Generating Cause of Habits.
• Question Lii.: of the Increase of Habits.
• Question Liii.: of the Destruction and Diminution of Habits.
• Question Lv.: of Virtues In Their Essence.
• Question Lvi.: of the Subject of Virtue.
• Question Lvii.: of the Various Intellectual Virtues.
• Question Lviii.: of the Distinction of Moral Virtues From Intellectual.
• Question Lix.: of Moral Virtues In Their Relation to the Passions.
• Question Lxi.: of the Cardinal Virtues.
• Question Lxii.: of the Theological Virtues.
• Question Lxiii.: of the Cause of Virtues.
• Question Lxiv.: of the Mean of Virtues.
• Question Lxv.: of the Connexion of Virtue With Virtue.
• Question Lxxi.: of Vices and Sins In Themselves.
• Question Lxxii.: of the Distinction Between Sin and Sin.
• Question Lxxiii.: of the Comparison of Sin With Sin.
• Question Lxxiv.: of the Subject of Sins.
• Question Lxxv.: of the Causes of Sin In General.
• Question Lxxvi.: of the Causes of Sin In Particular.
• Question Lxxvii.: of the Cause of Sin On the Part of the Sensitive Appetite.
• Question Lxxviii.: of Malice As a Cause of Sin.
• Question Lxxxiv.: of One Sin Being the Cause of Another Sin.
• Question Lxxxvi.: of the Stain of Sin.
• Question Lxxxvii.: of Liability to Punishment.
• Question Lxxxviii.: of Venial and Mortal Sin.
• Question XC.: Of Laws.
• Question XCI.: Of the Variety of Laws.
• Question XCII.: Of the Effects of Law.
• Question XCIII.: Of the Eternal Law.
• Question XCIV.: Of the Natural Law.
• Question XCV.: Of Human Law.
• Question XCVI.: Of the Authority of Human Law.
• Question XCVII.: Of Change of Laws.
• Question C.: Of the Moral Precepts of the Old Law.
• Second Division, Or Secunda Secundæ.
• Question I.: Of Faith.
• Question II.: Of the Act of Faith.
• Question III.: Of the Exterior Act of Faith.
• Question IV.: Of the Virtue of Faith.
• Question V.: Of Persons Having Faith.
• Question VI.: Of the Cause of Faith.
• Question X.: Of Unbelief In General.
• Question XI.: Of Heresy.
• Question XII.: Of Apostasy.
• Question XIII.: Of the Sin of Blasphemy.
• Question XVII.: Of Hope.
• Question XVIII.: Of the Subject of Hope.
• Question XIX.: Of the Gift of Fear.
• Question XX.: Of Despair.
• Question XXI.: Of Presumption.
• Question XXIII.: Of Charity In Itself.
• Question XXIV.: Of the Subject of Charity.
• Question XXV.: Of the Object of Charity.
• Question XXVI.: Of the Order to Be Observed In Charity.
• Question XXVII.: Of the Principal Act of Charity, Which Is Love.
• Question XXVIII.: Of Joy.
• Question XXIX.: Of Peace.
• Question XXXI.: Of Doing Good to Others.
• Question XXXII.: Of Almsgiving.
• Question XXXIII.: Of Fraternal Correction.
• Question XXXIV.: Of Hatred.
• Question XXXV.: Of Sloth.
• Question XXXVI.: Of Envy.
• Question XXXVII.: Of Discord.
• Question Xl.: of War.
• Question Xli.: of Assault and Battery.
• Question Xlii.: of Sedition.
• Question Xliii.: of Scandal.
• Question Xliv.: of the Precepts of Charity. [st. Matt. XXII. 36—40.]
• Question Xlvi.: of Stupidity.

QUESTION XL.

OF HOPE.

Article I.—Is hope the same as desire?

R. Touching the object of hope, four conditions are to be considered. First, it must be good; and hereby hope differs from fear, which is of evil. Secondly, it must be future; for there is no hoping for that which is already in hand; and hereby hope differs from joy, which is in present good. The third requisite is that it be something arduous and with difficulty attainable: for one is not said to hope for a trifle which it is in his power to have at any moment; and hereby hope differs from desire, which is of future good absolutely: hence desire belongs to the concupiscible faculty, but hope to the irascible. Fourthly, that arduous good must be possible of attainment: for one does not hope for what he cannot at all get; and in this hope differs from despair.

Article V.—Is experience a cause of hope?

R. The object of hope is future good, arduous, but possible of attainment. A thing therefore may be a cause of hope either because it makes something possible to man, or because it makes him think something possible. In the first way everything is a cause of hope that increases a man’s power, as riches and strength, and among the rest also experience: for by experience a man acquires a faculty of doing a thing easily; and on that follows hope. In another way everything is a cause of hope that raises in a man’s mind the expectation that something is possible to him: and in this way learning, or any firm conviction, may be a cause of hope; and so also experience is a cause of hope, inasmuch as by experience a man gets the idea that something is possible to him which previously he counted impossible. But in this way experience may also be a cause of lack of hope, because conversely by experience a man is convinced that something is not possible to him which he used to think possible. Thus then experience is a cause of hope in two ways, and in one way a cause of failure of hope; therefore on the whole we may say rather that it is a cause of hope.

Article VI.—Does hope abound in young men and in drunkards?

R. Youth is a cause of hope for three reasons, which may be fixed according to the three conditions of good, which is the object of hope, namely, that it is future, arduous, and possible. For young men have much of the future before them, and little of the past at their back; and therefore, because memory is of the past and hope of the future, they have little of memory, and live a great deal in hope. Youths also, through the heat of their nature, have high spirits, and so the heart in them is dilated; and from the dilatation of the heart it is that one tends to things arduous, and therefore youths are courageous and of good hope. In like manner also they who have not suffered defeat, nor experienced obstacles to their efforts, easily count a thing possible to them. Hence for their inexperience of obstacles and deficiencies young men easily count a thing possible, and therefore are of good hope.

Two of these causes, namely, heat and high spirits, and disregard of dangers and deficiencies, are found also in men under the excitement of drink.

Article VII.—Is hope a cause of love?

R. The object that hope regards is the good hoped for. But because the good hoped for is something arduous and possible, and it happens at times that what is arduous becomes possible to us, not by ourselves, but by means of others, therefore hope also regards that being by means whereof something becomes possible to us. Inasmuch then as hope regards the hoped for good, hope is caused by love, for hope is of good desired and loved. But inasmuch as hope regards the person by means of whom something becomes possible to us, love in that respect is caused by hope, and not conversely. For from the fact of our hoping that good may accrue to us through some one’s instrumentality, we are moved towards him as towards our good, and so we begin to love him. But the fact of our loving any one does not lead us to hope for anything from him except incidentally, inasmuch as we believe that we are loved by him in return. Hence to be loved by any one makes us hope for something from him; but the love that we bear to any one is caused by the hope that we have of something to come from him.1

Article VIII.

§ 1.Hope regards the attainment of good; security regards the avoidance of evil. Hence security seems rather to be opposed to fear than to belong to hope. And yet security does not cause negligence, except inasmuch as it diminishes the idea of arduousness, wherein is diminished also the character of hope; for the things in which a man fears no let or hindrance are no longer regarded as arduous.

§ 3. The desperate in war are dangerous on account of a certain hope attaching to their despair. For they who despair of flight are weakened in their efforts to fly, but hope to avenge their death; and therefore in this hope they fight the harder. Hence they prove dangerous to the enemy.

[1 ]Still there is a love of friendship as well as a love of desire. (q. 26. art. 4.) St. Thomas is an author peculiarly liable to misrepresentation by taking his words in one place to the neglect of what he says on the same subject elsewhere. No one is safe in quoting him who has not read much of him. (Trl.)