The devil, having lost his blessedness, nevertheless preserved the greatness of his angelic nature. His power over the earth is declared to be more eminent than all things, because although by the merit of his action he fell below men, yet he transcends the whole human race by the condition of his angelic nature. For although he lost the blessedness of inward felicity, yet he did not lose the greatness of his nature, by whose powers he still surpasses all human things, though he lies subject to holy men by the casting-down of his own merits. Hence also, when these same saints contend against him, the merit of their recompense grows the more, the more he is conquered by them who by the power of nature glories, as it were, that by right he stands above men. There follows: