e quidem cuiquam permanebit." "Verum
est," inquam. "Omnia igitur," inquit, "unum desiderant." Consensi. "Sed
unum id ipsum monstrauimus esse quod bonum." "Ita quidem." "Cuncta igitur
bonum petunt, quod quidem ita describas licet: ipsum bonum esse quod
desideretur ab omnibus." "Nihil," inquam, "uerius excogitari potest. Nam
uel ad nihil unum cuncta referuntur et uno ueluti uertice destituta sine
rectore fluitabunt, aut si quid est ad quod uniuersa festinent, id erit
omnium summum bonorum." Et illa: "Nimium," inquit, "o alumne laetor, ipsam
enim mediae ueritatis notam mente fixisti. Sed in hoc patuit tibi quod
ignorare te paulo ante dicebas." "Quid?" inquam. "Quis esset," inquit,
"rerum omnium finis. Is est enim profecto, quod desideratur ab omnibus,
quod quia bonum esse collegimus, oportet rerum omnium finem bonum esse
fateamur.

XI.

"I consent," quoth I, "for all is grounded upon most firm reasons." "But
what account wilt thou make," quoth she, "to know what goodness itself
is?" "I will esteem it infinitely," quoth I, "because by this means I
shall come to know God also, who is nothing else but goodness." "I will
conclude this," quoth she, "most certainly, if those things be not
denied which I have already proved." "They shall not," quoth I. "Have we
not proved," quoth she, "that those things which are desired of many,
are not true and perfect goods, because they differ one from another
and, being separated, cannot cause complete and absolute goodness, which
is only found when they are united as it were into one form and
causality, that the same may be sufficiency, power, respect, fame, and
pleasure? And except they be all one and the same thing, that they have
nothing worth the desiring?" "It hath been proved," quoth I, "neither
can it be any way doubted of." "Those things, then, which, when they
differ, are not good and when they are one, become good, are they not
made good by obtaining unity?" "So methink," quoth I. "But dost thou
grant that all that is good is good by partaking goodness?" "It is so."
"Thou must grant then likewise that unity and goodness are the same. For
those things have the same substance, which naturally have not diverse
effects." "I cannot deny it," quoth I. "Knowest thou then," quoth she,
"that everything that is doth so long remain and subsist as it is one,
and perisheth and is dissolved so soon as it ceaseth to be one?" "How?"
"As in li