Otherwise, all possible grades of goodness would not be realized, nor would any creature be like God by virtue of holding a higher place than another.
That's very important. It relies on a simple metaphysical dichotomy of difference and sameness. Nothing can be like God, except inasmuch as other things can be unlike God.
And so, if complete equality were present in things, there would be but one created good, which clearly disparages the perfection of the creature.
This is also very interesting. It seems to divide perfection between God and the creature. The perfection of God just is its unity, but perfection across all creatures is in their multiplicity. The term 'across all' is paramount. Because insofar as any individual creature can be like God, this relies on the multiplicity of the creature, and therefore this is the grounds for the many being more perfect than the one in creation.
Since the distinction between what is good because it cannot err from what is good but which can err is a distinction which results from differentiation, then the good which is inherent in the degree of difference itself between these two categories is also a good which could not have existed without multiplicity and difference. In other words, from out of the degrees themselves a good in itself emerges, making the multiplicity of creation a higher good.
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