And although amongst the
matters which I conceive of in this way, some indeed are
manifestly obvious to all, while others only manifest
themselves to those who consider them closely and examine them
attentively; still, after they have once been discovered, the
latter are not esteemed as any less certain than the former.
For example, in the case of every right-angled triangle,
although it does not so manifestly appear that the square of
the base is equal to the squares of the two other sides as
that this base is opposite to the greatest angle; still, when
this has once been apprehended, we are just as certain of its
truth as of the truth of the other. And as regards God, if my
mind were not pre-occupied with prejudices, and if my thought
did not find itself on all hands diverted by the continual
pressure of sensible things, there would be nothing which I
could know more immediately and more easily than Him. For is
there anything more manifest than that there is a God, that is
to say, a Supreme Being, to whose essence alone existence
pertains?21
And although for a firm grasp of this truth I have need
of a strenuous application of mind, at present I not only feel
myself to be as assured of it as of all that I hold as most
certain, but I also remark that the certainty of all other
things depends on it so absolutely, that without this
knowledge it is impossible ever to know anything perfectly.
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