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446 CITY OF GOD
enveloped in the same enigmatical words. Having suffi
ciently explained about the first battle, I must now
speak of what happened in the second. Although Lucifer
and his demons had already been punished in their
first rebellion by the eternal loss of the beatific vision
and hurled into hell, they were now punished anew in
this second battle by additional accidental torments cor
responding to their evil desires and attempts against the
most blessed Mary. The explanation thereof is, that
the natural faculties of a creature draw satisfaction and
contentment from their attaining what they strive after
and this in proportion to the vehemence with which they
have striven ;
and on the other hand, pain and disappoint
ment in not attaining their object, or in experiencing
opposite results. Now, the demons since their fall had
desired nothing more vehemently than to see that One
fall from grace, who was to be the medium of grace
for the children of Adam. Hence it was an inconceiv
able torment for the infernal dragons to find themselves
vanquished and foiled in the desperate desires and hopes
entertained by them for so many ages.
508. The heavenly Mother on the other hand, on
account of the same and many other reasons, in the
overthrow of the ancient serpent gained a most joyful
triumph. For the conclusion of this battle, moreover,
and for the state which She was then to enjoy during
the rest of her life, her divine Son held in readiness so
many and such great blessings, as surpass
all human and
angelic capacity. In order to say something of what I
have been made to understand, the reader must remem
ber, that, on account of our limited powers and capacity,
we are constrained to use for the most exalted mysteries
the same terms and words as we use for the more ordi
nary ones. Yet in what I am to speak of now, there is
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