E5P31S
Scholium — Part V
Latin
Quo igitur unusquisque hoc cognitionis genere plus pollet, eo melius sui et Dei conscius est hoc est eo est perfectior et beatior, quod adhuc clarius ex sequentibus patebit. Sed hic notandum quod tametsi jam certi sumus mentem æternam esse quatenus res sub æternitatis specie concipit, nos tamen, ut ea quæ ostendere volumus facilius explicentur et melius intelligantur, ipsam tanquam jam inciperet esse et res sub æternitatis specie intelligere jam inciperet, considerabimus, ut huc usque fecimus; quod nobis absque ullo erroris periculo facere licet modo nobis cautio sit nihil concludere nisi ex perspicuis præmissis.
English (Elwes 1883)
In proportion, therefore, as a man is more potent in this kind of knowledge, he will be more completely conscious of himself and of God; in other words, he will be more perfect and blessed, as will appear more clearly in the sequel. But we must here observe that, although we are already certain that the mind is eternal, in so far as it conceives things under the form of eternity, yet, in order that what we wish to show may be more readily explained and better understood, we will consider the mind itself, as though it had just begun to exist and to understand things under the form of eternity, as indeed we have done hitherto; this we may do without any danger of error, so long as we are careful not to draw any conclusion, unless our premisses are plain.
Modern English
The more anyone excels in this kind of knowledge, the more fully conscious of himself and of God he is, that is, the more perfect and blessed he is, as will be still more evident from what follows. We must note here, however, that although we are already certain the mind is eternal insofar as it conceives things *sub specie aeternitatis*, we will nevertheless — so that what we wish to show may be explained more easily and understood better — consider the mind as though it had just begun to exist and to understand things *sub specie aeternitatis*, as we have done up to this point. We may do this without any danger of error, provided we take care to draw no conclusion except from evident premises.