s most happy who desires well, whatever
he desires: for good things make a man happy, and such a man already
possesses some good--i.e. a good will." Therefore happiness consists
in an act of the will.

_On the contrary,_ Our Lord said (John 17:3): "This is eternal life:
that they may know Thee, the only true God." Now eternal life is the
last end, as stated above (A. 2, ad 1). Therefore man's happiness
consists in the knowledge of God, which is an act of the intellect.

_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 2, A. 6) two things are needed
for happiness: one, which is the essence of happiness: the other,
that is, as it were, its proper accident, i.e. the delight connected
with it. I say, then, that as to the very essence of happiness, it is
impossible for it to consist in an act of the will. For it is evident
from what has been said (AA. 1, 2; Q. 2, A. 7) that happiness is the
attainment of the last end. But the attainment of the end does not
consist in the very act of the will. For the will is directed to the
end, both absent, when it desires it; and present, when it is
delighted by resting therein. Now it is evident that the desire
itself of the end is not the attainment of the end, but is a movement
towards the end: while delight comes to the will from the end being
present; and not conversely, is a thing made present, by the fact
that the will delights in it. Therefore, that the end be present to
him who desires it, must be due to something else than an act of the
will.

This is evidently the case in regard to sensible ends. For if the
acquisition of money were through an act of the will, the covetous
man would have it from the very moment that he wished for it. But at
the moment it is far from him; and he attains it, by grasping it in
his hand, or in some like manner; and then he delights in the money
got. And so it is with an intelligible end. For at first we desire to
attain an intelligible end; we attain it, through its being made
present to us by an act of the intellect; and then the delighted will
rests in the end when attained.

So, therefore, the essence of happiness consists in an act of the
intellect: but the delight that results from happiness pertains to
the will. In this sense Augustine says (Confess. x, 23) that
happiness is "joy in truth," because, to wit, joy itself is the
consummation of happiness.

Reply Obj. 1: Peace pertains to man's last end, not as though it were
the very essence of happine