last end,
in so far as they share in the Divine likeness, inasmuch as they are,
or live, or even know.

Hence it is evident how the objections are solved: since happiness
means the acquisition of the last end.
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QUESTION 2

OF THOSE THINGS IN WHICH MAN'S HAPPINESS CONSISTS
(In Eight Articles)

We have now to consider happiness: and (1) in what it consists; (2)
what it is; (3) how we can obtain it.

Concerning the first there are eight points of inquiry:

(1) Whether happiness consists in wealth?

(2) Whether in honor?

(3) Whether in fame or glory?

(4) Whether in power?

(5) Whether in any good of the body?

(6) Whether in pleasure?

(7) Whether in any good of the soul?

(8) Whether in any created good?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 2, Art. 1]

Whether Man's Happiness Consists in Wealth?

Objection 1: It would seem that man's happiness consists in wealth.
For since happiness is man's last end, it must consist in that which
has the greatest hold on man's affections. Now this is wealth: for it
is written (Eccles. 10:19): "All things obey money." Therefore man's
happiness consists in wealth.

Obj. 2: Further, according to Boethius (De Consol. iii), happiness is
"a state of life made perfect by the aggregate of all good things."
Now money seems to be the means of possessing all things: for, as the
Philosopher says (Ethic. v, 5), money was invented, that it might be
a sort of guarantee for the acquisition of whatever man desires.
Therefore happiness consists in wealth.

Obj. 3: Further, since the desire for the sovereign good never fails,
it seems to be infinite. But this is the case with riches more than
anything else; since "a covetous man shall not be satisfied with
riches" (Eccles. 5:9). Therefore happiness consists in wealth.

_On the contrary,_ Man's good consists in retaining happiness rather
than in spreading it. But as Boethius says (De Consol. ii), "wealth
shines in giving rather than in hoarding: for the miser is hateful,
whereas the generous man is applauded." Therefore man's happiness
does not consist in wealth.

_I answer that,_ It is impossible for man's happiness to consist in
wealth. For wealth is twofold, as the Philosopher says (Polit. i, 3),
viz. natural and artificial. Natural wealth is that which serves man
as a remedy for his natural wants: such as food, drink, clothing,
cars, dwellings, and such like, while artificial wealth i