Tristitia est hominis transitio a majore ad minorem perfectionem.
Sadness is the movement of a person from a greater to a lesser perfection.
EXPLICATIO: Dico transitionem. Nam lætitia non est ipsa perfectio. Si enim homo cum perfectione ad quam transit nasceretur, ejusdem absque lætitiæ affectu compos esset; quod clarius apparet ex tristitiæ affectu qui huic est contrarius. Nam quod tristitia in transitione ad minorem perfectionem consistit, non autem in ipsa minore perfectione, nemo negare potest quandoquidem homo eatenus contristari nequit quatenus alicujus perfectionis est particeps. Nec dicere possumus quod tristitia in privatione majoris perfectionis consistat nam privatio nihil est; tristitiæ autem affectus actus est qui propterea nullus alius esse potest quam actus transeundi ad minorem perfectionem hoc est actus quo hominis agendi potentia minuitur vel coercetur (vide scholium propositionis 11 hujus). Cæterum definitiones hilaritatis, titillationis, melancholiæ et doloris omitto quia ad corpus potissimum referuntur et non nisi lætitiæ aut tristitiæ sunt species.
I say movement. For joy is not perfection itself. For if a person were born with perfection to which one moved, one would be in control of the the same thing without the mood of joy; which is more apparent from the mood of sadness which is contrary to this. For what sadness consists of in the movement to a lesser perfection, is not moreover in lesser perfection itself, no one is able to deny since a person insofar as one denies being sad insofar as one participates in some perfection.
