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Those things on the contrary are naturally pleasant which stimulate
the activity of a given nature.1
[8]
Nothing however can continue to give us pleasure always, because our nature is not
simple, but contains a second element (which is what makes us perishable
beings), and consequently, whenever one of these two elements is active, its
activity runs counter to the nature of the other, while when the two are balanced, their
action feels neither painful nor pleasant. Since if any man had a simple nature, the same
activity would afford him the greatest pleasure always. Hence God enjoys a single simple
pleasure perpetually. For there is not only an activity of motion: but also an activity of
immobility, and there is essentially a truer pleasure in rest than in motion. But change
in all things is sweet, as the poet says,2 owing to some badness in us; since just as a changeable man is bad, so also is a
nature that needs change; for it is not simple nor good.
[9]
We have now discussed the nature of Self-restraint and Unrestraint, and of Pleasure and
Pain, and have shown in either case in what sense one of the two is good and the other
evil. It remains for us to speak of Friendship.