What happiness is
Although happiness is properly the same thing as the enjoyment of the chief good, and therefore the best experience which may be desired, nevertheless because this state of enjoyment includes the chief good, happiness itself was made to be called the chief good. It is called the “chief of goods,” “the ultimate good,” “the end of the ends,” and “the end par excellence,” because all other things are desired and sought after for its sake, while happiness itself is ultimately desired for its own sake. Let’s first consider two important points. The first is, that we shall not concern ourselves here with the happiness upheld by Holy Men, particularly when they teach how happy is he who is helped by Divine Providence, devotes himself purely to the worship of God, and who, full of faith, hope, and charity, spends the rest of his days gently and calmly. We will speak only about that which can be known as natural, i.e., acquirable by natural means, which the philosophers did not...