DECIMUS GRADUS: DE REBELLIONE
The Fall Through Rebellion
Unless sustained by divine mercy, the proud person who secretly despised others falls deeper into the tenth step of pride through open rebellion and shameless disobedience against authority.
This person, unless heavenly compassion turns back to him so that — which is very difficult for such people — he quietly accepts everyone's judgments, soon becomes brash and shameless, and falls all the worse into the tenth step through rebellion, the more desperately he has fallen; and the one who had earlier secretly despised his brothers in arrogance now openly disobeys and despises even his master.12
Read the original Latin
Hic, nisi eum miseratio superna respiciat, ut -quod valde talibus difficile est- universorum iudiciis tacitus acquiescat, frontosus mox et impudens factus, tanto deterius quanto desperatius in decimum gradum per rebellionem corruit, quique prius latenter arrogans fratres contempserat, iam patenter inoboediens etiam magistrum contemnit.
Notes
- 1 ↩miseratio superna rendered 'heavenly compassion' — could also be 'heavenly mercy'; the sense is divine compassion reaching down to the rebellious person.
- 2 ↩tanto deterius quanto desperatius: correlative comparative rendered 'all the worse… the more desperately' to preserve the proportional logic of the Latin.
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