love is therefore greater than if hatred had not preceded it. For if we
begin to love a thing which we hated, or upon which we were in the habit
of looking with sorrow, we shall rejoice for the very reason that we
love, and to this joy which love involves a new joy is added, which
springs from the fact that the effort to remove the sorrow which hatred
involves, is so much assisted, there being also present before us as the
cause of our joy the idea of the person whom we hated.

Notwithstanding the truth of this proposition, no one will try to hate a
thing or will wish to be affected with sorrow in order that he may
rejoice the more; that is to say, no one will desire to inflict loss on
himself in the hope of recovering the loss, or to become ill in the hope
of getting well, inasmuch as every one will always try to preserve his
being and to remove sorrow from himself as much as possible. Moreover,
if it can be imagined that it is possible for us to desire to hate a
person in order that we may love him afterwards the more, we must always
desire to continue the hatred. For the love will be the greater as the
hatred has been greater, and therefore we shall always desire the hatred
to be more and more increased. Upon the same principle we shall desire
that our sickness may continue and increase in order that we may
afterwards enjoy the greater pleasure when we get well, and therefore we
shall always desire sickness, which is absurd.

FOOTNOTES:

[28] Both here and in what follows to whom we are moved by no emotion I
understand by the word _men_, men (Sp.).

THIRD PART

ON MAN'S WELL-BEING

_All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the
object to which we are attached by love. Love for an object eternal and
infinite feeds the mind with joy alone, a joy that is free from all
sorrow_.

SPINOZA.

CHAPTER XIV

OF HUMAN BONDAGE

_Introductory_

The impotence of man to govern or restrain the emotions I call bondage,
for a man who is under their control is not his own master, but is
mastered by fortune, in whose power he is, so that he is often forced to
follow the worse, although he sees the better before him. I propose in
this part to demonstrate why this is, and also to show what of good and
evil the emotions possess.

But before I begin I should like to say a few words about perfection and
imperfection, and about good and evil. If a man has proposed to do a
thing and has ac