CAPUT VII. Qui sint affectus principales, et quo ordine vel modo redigantur in virtutes
Leah's Sons and the Nature of Virtue
Leah’s seven sons symbolize ordered affections, which are virtues, defined as affections rightly directed and appropriately measured.
Now it seems we should talk about their sons, and first about Leah's sons, since she herself is recorded as having given birth first. Jacob's sons by Leah, as we've said, are nothing other than ordered affections. And if they are disordered, they certainly can't be called his sons. So Leah's sevenfold offspring are seven virtues. For virtue is nothing other than an ordered and measured affection of the soul.1 It is ordered when it is directed to what it ought to be; it is measured when it is as strong as it ought to be.
The Seven Principal Affections Named
Seven principal affections—hope, fear, joy, sorrow, hatred, love, and shame—can be either ordered or disordered; only when ordered are they counted among Jacob's sons.
So the principal affections are seven, and they arise in turn from a single affection of the soul. Namely hope and fear, joy and sorrow, hatred, love, and shame. All of these can be ordered or disordered; but only when they have been ordered are they then to be counted among the sons of Jacob.
Scriptural Witness to Ordered and Disordered Affections
Scripture confirms that affections like fear and love can be either disordered (condemned) or ordered (commanded), and this principle applies to all seven affections.
If there were no disordered fear, the divine word would never have said: "They trembled with fear there, where there was no fear." Likewise, if there were no ordered fear, it would not be written: "The fear of the Lord is holy; it endures forever and ever." Likewise, if love were not sometimes ordered and sometimes disordered, Sacred Scripture would neither command the one nor forbid the other: "You shall love," it says, "your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself."2 And elsewhere: "Do not love the world, or the things that are in the world." We should understand the other affections in the same way: sometimes ordered, and therefore good; sometimes disordered, and therefore bad.
Looking Ahead to the Order of Birth
Having identified the good affections as Jacob's sons, the chapter now turns to the order in which they are brought forth.
As for the good ones, which we've also said are the sons of Jacob, let's now see in what order they are brought forth.
Read the original Latin
Nunc de earum filiis, et prius de filiis Liae dicendum videtur: nam et ipsa prior peperisse legitur. Filii Jacob ex Lia, ut diximus, nihil aliud sunt quam ordinati affectus. Qui quidem si inordinati sunt, ejus utique filii dici non possunt. Septenaria itaque Liae proles, septem sunt virtutes. Siquidem nihil aliud est virtus quam animi affectus ordinatus et moderatus. Ordinatus quidem, quando illud est ad quod esse debet; moderatus, quando tantus est quantus esse debet. Principales ergo affectus septem sunt qui ab una animi affectione alternatim surgunt. Spes videlicet et timor, gaudium et dolor, odium, amor et pudor.
Isti omnes possunt esse ordinati, modo inordinati; sed, cum fuerint ordinati, tunc tantum inter Jacob filios deputandi. Si non esset timor inordinatus, sermo divinus minime dixisset: Illic trepidaverunt timore, ubi non erat timor. Item, si non esset timor ordinatus, scriptum non esset: Timor Domini sanctus permanet in saeculum saeculi. Item, si non esset amor modo ordinatus, modo inordinatus, Scriptura sacra nec hunc praeciperet, nec illum prohiberet: Diliges, inquit, Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota mente tua, et ex tota virtute tua, et proximum tuum sicut teipsum. Et alibi: Nolite diligere mundum, nec ea quae in mundo sunt. Similiter debemus et de aliis affectibus intelligere, aliquando ordinatos, et idcirco bonos; aliquando inordinatos, et idcirco malos esse. De bonis autem, quos et Jacob filios esse diximus, nunc quo ordine generentur videamus.
Notes
Benjamin Minor (The Twelve Patriarchs / Preparation of the Mind for Contemplation) companion
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