SECUNDUS GRADUS: DE LEVITATE ANIMI
The Restless Gaze
A monk who looks curiously at others rather than himself is tossed between pride and envy, driven by love of his own excellence.
A monk who neglects himself but keeps a sharp eye on everyone else — now gazing up at those above him, now looking down on those beneath him — is someone who, among some, finds something to envy, and among others, something to mock. And so it happens that the soul, made restless by the wandering of its eyes and burdened by no concern for itself at all, now lifts itself up through pride to the heights, now plunges itself through envy into the depths: at one time it wastes away wickedly through envy, at another it becomes childishly cheerful on account of its own sense of superiority.12 In the one case he proves worthless, in the other vain, and in both he is proud — because he is pained that he is surpassed and glad that he surpasses, and this is what love of his own excellence does.3
The Fickleness of the Restless Mind
The mind's shifting moods reveal that its words are always irrational.
These shifts of the mind — now few and biting, now many and empty, now full of laughter, now full of grief — show that its words are always irrational.45
Pride and Humility Compared
The first two steps of pride mirror the highest two of humility, with curiosity and levity appearing in both.
Compare, if you will, these first two steps of pride with the highest two of humility, and see whether in the last step curiosity is not restrained, and in the second-to-last, levity — you'll find the same thing in the rest, if they're compared side by side.67
Transition to the Third Step
The text now turns to the third step of pride by way of teaching rather than descent.
But now let us come to the third step by teaching, not by descending.89
Read the original Latin
Monachus enim, qui sui negligens, alios curiose circumspicit, dum quosdam suspicit superiores, quosdam despicit inferiores, et in aliis quidem videt quod invidet, in aliis quod irridet. Inde fit ut pro mobilitate oculorum levigatus animus, nulla utique sui cura aggravatus, modo per superbiam ad alta se erigat, modo per invidiam in ima demergat: nunc per invidiam nequiter tabescit, nunc pro excellentia pueriliter hilarescit. In altero nequam, in altero vanus, in utroque superbus exsistit, quia et quod superari se dolet, et quod superare se gaudet, amor propriae excellentiae facit.
Has autem animi vicissitudines nunc pauca et mordacia, nunc multa et inania, nunc risu, nunc luctu plena, semper vero irrationabilia indicant verba. Compara, si vis, hos duos primos superbiae gradus supremis duobus humilitatis, et vide si non in ultimo curiositas, in penultimo levitas cohibetur: idipsum in ceteris reperies, si alterutrum comparentur. Sed iam ad tertium docendo, non descendendo veniamus.
Notes
- 1 ↩levigatus is rare; gloss suggests 'made smooth/polished' but here rendered as 'made restless' to capture the sense of an unsettled, unburdened soul. The wordplay with levitas (levity/lightness) in the chapter title supports this reading.
- 2 ↩aggravatus is rare in this context; rendered as 'burdened' to convey the paradox that the soul is weighed down precisely by having no weighty self-concern.
- 3 ↩amor propriae excellentiae — 'love of one's own excellence' — is the root cause identified here. The phrase captures a self-referential pride that feeds on comparison in both directions.
- 4 ↩autem is rendered as a mild contrastive pivot rather than a strong 'however,' matching the sentence-initial continuative force.
- 5 ↩irrationabilia rendered 'irrational' to preserve the force of the Latin adjective applied to verba (words/speech).
- 6 ↩et after the imperative links the two commands ('compare … and see') and is rendered naturally.
- 7 ↩supremis duobus humilitatis — 'the highest two of humility' preserves the structural parallel with the two steps of pride.
- 8 ↩Sed marks a transition to a new topic — the third step — and is rendered with 'But' to preserve the mild adversative force.
- 9 ↩docendo, non descendendo — the contrast between teaching and descending is preserved; the author signals he will explain the third step rather than continue tracing the descent.
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
Humility is climbed one day at a time
Take the next step each morning with a free daily devotional in Chosen Portion.
Bernard frames humility as a ladder climbed by small repeated acts; Chosen Portion turns that into practice with one daily devotional step at a time.
- A daily 10-minute portion focused on one virtue at a time
- Re-take the 12-step self-check monthly and see real movement
- Historic texts like Bernard's, one readable portion per day