Sunday, July 24, 2022
An Imperfection of the Human Mind
Salvian, On the Governance of God 1.10.46 (tr. Jeremiah F. O'Sullivan, with his note):
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We praise more the things that are gone than those of the present; not that, if we had the opportunity to choose, we would prefer to possess them forever, but because it is a well known imperfection of the human mind to want what it has not. As the proverb says:27 'Another's goods please us, and ours please others more.'
27 Syrus v. 28 (ed. Ribbeck).
nos magis laudamus illa quae tunc fuerunt quam ista quae nunc sunt, non quia si eligendi facultas esset, semper habere illa mallemus, sed quia usitatum hoc humanae mentis est vitium, illa magis semper velle quae desunt...ut ille ait, aliena nobis, nostra plus aliis placent.
