P44: Hate completely conquered by Love passes into Love, and the Love is therefore greater than if Hate had not preceded it.

Dem.: The proof of this proceeds in the same way as that of P38. For he who begins to love a thing he has hated, or used to regard with Sadness, rejoices because he loves, and to this Joy which Love involves (see its definition in P13 S) there is also added a Joy arising from this—the striving to remove the Sadness hate involves (as we have shown in P37) is wholly aided by the accompaniment of the idea of the one he hated, {who is regarded} as a cause {of joy}.

Schol.: Although this is so, still, no one will strive to hate a thing, or to be affected with Sadness, in order to have this greater Joy, i.e., no one will desire to injure himself in the hope of recovering, or long to be sick in the hope of getting better. For each one will strive always to preserve his being, and to put aside Sadness as far as he can. But if, on the contrary, one could conceive that a man could desire to hate someone, in order afterwards to have the greater love for him, then he would always desire to hate him. For as the Hate was greater, so the Love would be greater, and so he would always desire his Hate to become greater and greater. And by the same cause, a man would strive to become more and more ill, so that afterwards he might have the greater joy from restoring his health; and so he would always strive to become ill, which (by P6) is absurd.