Now what can be more
monstrous than to maintain that by losing all good they have
become better? If, then, they are deprived of all good, they will
cease to exist. So long as they are, therefore, they are good.
Therefore, whatsoever is, is good. Evil, then, the origin of
which I had been seeking, has no substance at all; for if it were
a substance, it would be good. For either it would be an
incorruptible substance and so a supreme good, or a corruptible
substance, which could not be corrupted unless it were good. I
understood, therefore, and it was made clear to me that thou
madest all things good, nor is there any substance at all not made
by thee. And because all that thou madest is not equal, each by
itself is good, and the sum of all of them is very good, for our
God made all things very good.[207]
CHAPTER XIII
19. To thee there is no such thing as evil, and even in thy
whole creation taken as a whole, there is not; because there is
nothing from beyond it that can burst in and destroy the order
which thou hast appointed for it. But in the parts of creation,
some things, because they do not harmonize with others, are
considered evil.
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