The Seba library treats Esse in 8 passages, across 4 authors (including Jung, Carl Gustav, Cicero, Marcus Tullius, von Franz, Marie-Louise).
Non est ergo malum nisi privatio boni. Ac per hoc nusquam est nisi in re aliqua bona. … bona sine malis esse possunt, sicut ipse Deus
This Augustinian passage, cited by Jung in Aion, deploys esse as the ontological ground of the privatio boni argument: evil has no independent being, existing only as the diminishment of what genuinely is good.
, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1951thesis
eos esse^ habitos deos a quibus aliqua magna utilitas ad vitae cultum esset inventa, ipsasque res utiles et salutares deorum esse vocabuhs nuncupatas
Cicero rehearses the Stoic attribution of divine esse to inventors and useful things, illustrating the classical Latin usage of esse as a predicate of divine ontological status that Renaissance and alchemical authors would later inherit.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45supporting
prima pars est quae ducitur ab ea ratione quae docet esse deos ; quo concesso confitendum est eorum consilio mundum administrari
Cicero structures his theological argument around esse deos as the first and foundational proposition, showing how divine being anchors all subsequent claims about providence and world-governance.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45supporting
nec esse deos nec non esse. Horum enim sententiae omnium non modo superstitionem tollunt in qua inest timor inanis deorum, sed etiam religionem
Cicero presents the suspension of judgement about the esse of gods — neither affirming nor denying divine being — as annihilating both superstition and genuine religion alike.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45supporting
Crediderunt [Christum] non Deum esse, et qui fuit aurum mundissimum crediderunt esse cuprum
Von Franz’s Aurora Consurgens text uses esse in an alchemical-theological register, equating failure to recognise Christ’s divine esse with the alchemical error of mistaking purest gold for base copper.
, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966supporting
Ille vero deos esse * venerantes Manutms : numerantes
A textual crux in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum concerning the predication of esse to the gods, illustrating the philological precision required when esse serves as the central term in ancient theological debate.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45supporting
quid enim est^ in physicis Epicuri non a Democrito ? Nam etsi quaedam commutavit … atomos inane imagines, infinitatem locorum innumerabilitatemque mundorum, eorum ortus interitus
Cicero’s survey of Epicurean physics uses esse obliquely to probe the ontological commitments of atomism — what genuinely exists being resolved into atoms, void, and images — providing a classical foil for later psychological ontologies.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45aside
Deus esse unitatem et individisibilem dicitque dualitatem esse Diabolum et malum, quippe in qua est multitudo et materialitas
In a Paulian compilation of Pythagorean and Platonic theological fragments, esse is predicated of both the divine unity and the diabolical duality, reflecting the Neoplatonist ontological hierarchy that informs alchemical and depth-psychological symbolism.
, Writings on Physics and Philosophy, 1994aside