On Nobility
XCII. On Nobility
1. God has been noble from time immemorial
and He is noble in terms of <His> honour,
worth and perfection.
2. Nobility does not befit an absence of virtue,
for it is not befitting that a noble man <who has> succumbed to vice
should be held dear.
3. Nobility enjoys greater worth by doing good
and avoiding evil
than it does by reason of antiquity.
4. Since ancient times, nobility has dwelt in goodness
by virtue of the bonifier, the bonified
and bonifying.
5. Nobility is worthier in the present
than it is at the <point of> death,
for <in the former case> it is more remote from nothingness.
6. A noble man can be sinful
and a sinful man can be kind,
if he is faithful, generous (lit. “free”)[1] and humble.
7. Insofar as God has become incarnate,
He has bestowed great nobility upon man
by virtue of His deity.
8. <A> man is nobler by reason of the Incarnation
that God adopted, and by reason of His Passion,
than he is by reason of <his> antiquity or expenditure.
9. Man is nobler by reason of <his> knowledge
than he is by reason of gold or possessions,
so long as he acquires <that knowledge> with good will.
10. He who despises this world
possesses an abundance of nobility,
above, below and all around <him>.
[1] See n. 1, Ch. 52, § 5.