Qui si dimostra come la superbia offende e nuoce al proprio suggetto, cioè all'uomo nel quale ella regna
The Destructive Nature of Pride
Pride is identified as the most harmful vice, stripping the soul of God's mercy and darkening the intellect.
Pride offends its own subject more than all other vices—that is, the person in whom it reigns. As Hugh of Saint Victor says, it first takes God—who is every good—away from him, and it also takes away the kingdom of heaven, plunging him into hell. This is what was said to that first proud one, speaking for all the rest, through the prophet Isaiah: 'You said in your heart, I will go up into heaven; but you will be dragged and thrown into hell.' Just as humility lifts one to heaven, pride causes one to crash into hell, according to the gospel law: 'Whoever humbles himself will be exalted, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled.' Pride also harms a person by making him unworthy of God's mercy and grace, as Saint Augustine notes. No one has a greater need for God's mercy than the wretched, yet no one is so unworthy of it as the proud and wretched person who scorns the medicine of mercy. As the wise man in Ecclesiasticus says: 'God held them in hatred, abhorring them for their pride; he had no mercy on them, condemning their whole people.' Pride does a person yet another injury and harm: it takes from him the light of the intellect and makes him dark and shadowy.
The Blindness and Slavery of the Proud
Pride blinds the mind to truth and subjects the heart to the heavy slavery of vice.
The Gloss says of that Gospel passage, Qui vident, coeci fient: The proud, who think they're wise and consider themselves wise, become blind.✦ St. Gregory speaks of this in his Morals, saying that pride of mind is the obstacle to the light of truth. The Savior says in the Gospel that the truth is hidden and concealed from the prudent and the wise, and revealed to the little ones and to children—meaning, as the Gloss says, the proud by the wise, and the humble by the little ones.✦ St. Gregory’s words in the Morals on the phrase Viam eius intelligere noluerunt point to the same meaning: Humility opens the light of the intellect, while pride hides it, leading a person into such blindness that it causes them to fall into error and become a heretic. So it is not ignorance that makes a person a heretic, but pride—by which a person stays stubborn in obstinacy and in error, and defends it. Pride also harms a person by disordering and ruining their affections; what ought to rise toward God, when it rises in pride, falls and is subjected to the wretched slavery of vice. St. Gregory speaks of this in his Morals, saying: The vice of pride, by lifting the wretched heart above others, subjects it to vice itself—and there can be no more wretched or heavier slavery. And so Holy Scripture says: Non elevetur cor eius in superbiam: Let not a person's heart be lifted up in pride.✦
The Deformed Image of the Soul
Pride transforms the soul from the image of God into a monstrous likeness of the devil, spawning multiple vices.
Pride also harms a person because it strips the soul of its beauty and fair form—which is made in the image of God—and draws it into the image of the devil. As Saint Anselm shows in his book of Similitudes, the soul is transformed by what it loves, and pride is nothing other than loving what the devil loves. Consequently, the devil's likeness is stamped on the soul, along with as many deformed, filthy, and twisted images as the things the mind turns to and loves with proud, vicious affection.✦ So the soul, lovely and beautiful by nature and by grace, becomes swollen, blind, twisted, and warped; in short, it loses all its beauty and becomes bestial, monstrous, and ugly. And this happens especially when pride is born from its opposite: for, just as a birth is called monstrous when it is not according to nature—as if a woman gave birth to a bull (as the poets' fables say of Queen Pasiphaë, who bore the Minotaur, half man and half bull), or when the offspring, whether human or beast, had more heads or more limbs, and not in their proper place—so it is with pride, which often springs from its opposite and not from its like, that is, from the virtues and graces given by God, of which a person grows proud, and the mind becomes almost like a bull.1 This is what the wise author of Ecclesiasticus forbids when he says: Non te extollas in cogitatione tua velut taurus, ne forte elidatur virtus tua—Do not lift yourself up in pride like a bull, lest your virtue be struck down and thrown to the ground. Pride doesn't have just one head, but many; as mentioned above, all the other capital vices are born from it—seven principal ones, not counting those that spring from them. Pride is like the Hydra of Hercules, which the poets describe as a serpent with seven heads; if one was cut off, more grew back in its place. The same happens with pride: even if a person sometimes wins a victory over some vice, by swelling up with pride over it, pride makes still more vices spring up and grow back. Pride was well represented by that fierce beast in Saint John's Apocalypse, which had seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads signify the seven principal vices that proceed from pride, and the ten horns signify the overstepping and transgression of the ten commandments of the law. Pride is the beginning and cause of every sin and transgression, as the Gloss says on that word of the Psalm: Si mei non fuerint dominati, tunc immaculatus ero.✦✦2
The Deception of Exaltation
Pride deceives the soul by promising greatness while ensuring a fall, leading to the loss of eternal rewards.
Pride still harms a person because it deceives them in many ways. First, where it seems to raise a person high and place them in a state of excellence and dignity, it actually causes them to fall and come to ruin.3 In fact, that very elevation is itself a fall, as Saint Augustine says, explaining the words of the Wise Man: Deiecisti eos, dum allevarentur—when the proud lift themselves up, you cast them down to the ground. And Saint Gregory says that proud people, by abandoning and despising the glory and power of their Creator, come to ruin in themselves while they seek their own glory. So holy Job, speaking to God with displeasure at the proud, said: Respice cunctos et confunde eos, et contere illos in loco suo—Look upon all the proud, and confound them, and crush the pitiless sinners in their place.4 Saint Gregory explains that saying and says: The place of the proud is pride itself, which strikes down and brings to ruin those whom it lifts high. And so Solomon says in Proverbs: Ante ruinam exaltatur cor—before ruin, the heart is lifted high. Pride also deceives a person by making them sell their own precious things cheaply and buy other people's worthless things at a high price.5
The Folly of the Proud
Pride is ultimately a form of madness, leading the soul to trade eternal goods for worthless temporal praise, as illustrated by the example of holy folly.
A person's precious things are good works, which would be worthy of the eternal reward if he did not want worldly praise and favor for them; and that is what pride makes him do. As Saint Gregory says: When a person seeks or desires some temporal gain from a good work, they sell for a cheap price what was worthy of an eternal reward. The proud person buys worthless things at a high price when, for the sake of the wind of pride, they lose the kingdom of heaven, as Saint Augustine says; he adds that whoever is not puffed up with the wind of pride will not burst in the fire of hell.6 Pride also harms a person, because it makes him mad and foolish.7 As Saint Bernard says: All pride is folly, even though not all folly is pride. Regarding the folly of the proud, Saint Paul says: 'Claiming to be wise and thinking themselves so, they have become fools.' On these words, Saint Augustine comments: If by claiming to be wise you become a fool, then admit that you are a fool, and you will become wise. In these words, Saint Augustine aims to strip away a person's presumption and self-regard, which make them foolish when they consider themselves wise.8 So we read of certain holy men who, to flee pride and to keep their humility, made themselves look like fools, though they were wise. One reads in the Lives of the Holy Fathers that there was a holy abbot whom the lord of the province, hearing the renown of his holiness, wanted to come and see. When that holy father heard of this, he dressed himself in a sack of his own like a fool, and took a piece of bread in his hand and some cheese; and when the lord came with a large company to visit him, he sat himself at the door of his cell and bit into that bread and that cheese, and did not answer a single word to anything that was said to him, and did not stop eating—rather he tried all the harder, rudely taking bigger mouthfuls. Seeing this, that lord held him in contempt; and as he left, the abbot remained in his wisdom, even though it looked like foolish humility, and he fled foolish pride. Isn't it great folly for a person to presume beyond their strength and take on ventures greater than they can bear? The Gloss on the words of the prophet Jeremiah shows this well: 'Superbia eius et arrogantia eius plusquam fortitudo eius'—pride presumes more than one's strength allows; arrogance falsely claims what it doesn't possess. Both are great foolishness.✦9 Solomon says it well in Proverbs: 'Superbus et arrogans vocatur indoctus'—the proud and arrogant man is called a fool.✦10 And if anyone would like to know more about the follies into which pride leads a man, let him read in this same Treatise written in Latin for the learned, where many more things are written about pride than will be here, so as not to write at too great length.
Read the original Latin
Offende più che tutti gli altri vizi la superbia il propio suggetto, cioè l’uomo nel quale ella regna. In prima, ella gli toglie Iddio, ch’è ogni bene, come dice Ugo di Santo Vittore; e toglie il reame di cielo, e profóndalo nello ’nferno. Onde fu detto a quel primo superbo, in persona di tutti gli altri, per Isaia profeta: Dixisti in corde tuo: in coelum conscedam, e quello che séguita; verumtamen ad infernum detraheris: Tu superbo, dicesti nel quor tuo: Io sârrò in cielo; ma tu sarai strascinato e gittato nello ’nferno. Onde, come per l’umiltade si sale in cielo, così per la superbia si rovina nello ’nferno, secondo lo stanziamento della legge evangelica, la qual dice: Qui se humiliat exaltabitur, et qui se exaltat humiliabitur. Nuoce anche la superbia all’uomo, ch’ella lo fa indegno della misericordia e della grazia di Dio; della quale dice santo Agostino. Niuno ha più bisogno della misericordia d’Iddio, che colui ch’è misero: niuno n’è tanto indegno quanto il superbo misero, il quale spregia la medicina della misericordia. Onde dice il savio Ecclesiastico: Execratus est eos proe superbia eorum; et non est misertus, totam gentem perdens: Iddio gli ebbe in odio, abbominandogli per la superbia loro: non ebbe misericordia di loro, dannando tutta la loro gente. Un altro nocimento e danno fa la superbia all’uomo, ch’ella gli toglie il lume dello ’ntelletto e fàllo oscuro e tenebroso.
Così dice la Chiosa sopra quella parola del Vangelo: Qui vident, coeci fient: I superbi a’ quali pare essere e tengonsi savi, diventano ciechi. E di ciò parla san Gregorio ne’ Morali, dicendo che impedimento del lume della verità è la superbia della mente. Onde il Salvatore dice nel Vangelo, che la verità è nascosa e celata a’ prudenti e a’ savi, e revelata a’ piccoli e a’ parvoli; intendendo, come dice la Chiosa, per li savi i superbi, e per gli piccoli gli umili. E a questo intendimento fa quello che dice san Gregorio ne’ Morali sopra quella parola: Viam eius intelligere noluerunt: Il lume dello ’ntelletto l’umiltà l’apre e la superbia il nasconde, e induce l’uomo a tanta cechità, ch’ella fa l’uomo cadere in errore e fàllo eretico. Onde la ignoranza non fa l’uomo essere eretico ma la superbia, per la quale l’uomo sta pertinace nella ostinazione e nello errore, e difendelo. Nuoce anche la superbia all’uomo, che l’affetto suo disordina e guasta; e quel che si doverrebbe levare in Dio, levandosi in superbia, cade, ed è sottomesso alla misera servitù del vizio. Della quale parla san Gregorio nel libro de’ Morali, e dice: Il vizio della superbia, levando il quore misero sopra gli uomini, il sottomette al vizio; che non può essere più misera né più grave servitù. E però dice la santa Scrittura: Non elevetur cor eius in superbiam: Non si levi il quore dell’uomo in superbia.
Anche nuoce la superbia all’uomo, ch’ella toglie all’anima la sua bellezza e la sua formosa figura, la quale è fatta all’immagine di Dio: e ella la induce alla immagine del diavolo, come dimostra santo Anselmo nel libro delle Similitudini: imperò che l’anima si trasforma secondo ch’ell’ama; e superbia non è altro se none amare quello che ama il diavolo; onde e la figura del diavolo s’imprenta nell’anima, e tante isformate imagini, sozze e stravolte, a quante cose superbamente con vizioso affetto la mente si rivolge e ama. Onde diventa l’anima, di sua natura e per grazia speziosa e bella, tutta enfiata, cieca, travolta, torta; e, brievemente, tutta sua bellezza perdendo, diventa bestiale, mostruosa e brutta. E questo spezialmente interviene quando la superbia nasce del suo contrario: chè, come si dice che ’l parto è parto mostruoso quando non è secondo sua natura, come se una donna partorisse un toro (come dicono le favole de’ poeti di quella reina Pasife che partorì il Minotauro, che era mezzo uomo e mezzo toro); o vero quando il parto, o uomo o bestia che fosse, avesse più capi o più membra, e non l’avesse nel luogo suo; così la superbia, che molte volte nasce del suo contrario, e non del suo simile, cioè delle virtudi e delle grazie date da Dio, delle quali l’uomo diventa superbo e la mente diventa quasi come un toro. La qual cosa vieta il savio Ecclesiastico, il quale dice: Non te extollas in cogitatione tua velut taurus, ne forte elidatur virtus tua: Non ti levare in alto per superbia, come fa il toro, acciò che la tua virtù non sia abbattuta e gittata in terra. E non pure un capo, ma molti ha la superbia; chè, come è detto di sopra, tutti gli altri vizi capitali nascono di lei, che sono sette i principali, senza quegli che nascono di loro. Onde la superbia è simile all’idra d’Ercole, della quale dicono i poeti ch‘era un serpente che avea sette teste; e se se ne tagliava una, ne rimettea più. Così interviene della superbia; la quale avvegna che l’uomo alcuna volta abbia vittoria d’alcuno vizio, levandosene in superbia, ne fa nascere e rimettere più. E però fu ben figurata la superbia per quella bestia fiera, della quale dice san Giovanni nell’Apocalisse, che avea sette capi e dieci corna; intendendo per gli sette capi i sette vizi principali che dalla superbia procedono; e per le dieci corna, il trapassamento e la trasgressione de’ dieci comandamenti della legge; imperò che d’ogni peccato e trasgressione è principio e cagione la superbia, come dice la Chiosa sopra quella parola del Salmo: Si mei non fuerint dominati, tune immaculatus ero.
Nuoce ancora la superbia all’uomo, imperò ch’ella lo ’nganna in molti modi. In prima, che dov’ella mostra di levare l’uomo in alto e porlo in istato d’eccellenzia e di dignitade, e ella lo fa cadere e rovinare. Anzi, quello levare in alto è uno cadere, come dice santo Agostino, esponendo quella parola del Savio: Deiecisti eos, dum allevarentur: Quando i superbi si levano in alto, tu gli getti a terra. E san Gregorio dice, che gli uomini superbi, abbandonando e spregiando la gloria e la potenzia del loro Creatore, rovinano in sé medesimi, cercando la propia gloria. Onde santo Iob, parlando a Dio con dispiacere degli uomini superbi, diceva: Respice cunctos et confunde eos, et contere illos in loco suo: Ragguarda tutti i superbi, e confóndigli, e trita i peccatori spietati nel luogo loro. La qual parola espone san Gregorio e dice: Il luogo de’ superbi è la superbia, la quale abbatte e fa rovinare coloro i quali in alto lieva. E però dice Salomone ne’ Proverbi: Ante ruinam exaltatur cor: Innanzi alla rovina si lieva in alto il quore. Inganna anche la superbia l’uomo, in quanto ella fa le sue cose preziose vendere vile, e l’altrui cose vili comperare care.
Le cose preziose dell’uomo sono l’opere buone, le quali sarebbono degne dell’eterna mercede, se l’uomo non ne volesse loda e favore mondano; e ciò fa fare la superbia. Così dice santo Gregorio: Quando l’uomo della buona opera cerca d’avere o desidera alcuna cosa temporale, allora per vile prezzo vende quella cosa ch’era degna dell’eterna retribuzione. Le cose vili compera care l’uomo superbo, quando per lo vento della superbia perde il reame del cielo, come dice santo Agostino; e aggiugne: Chi non sarà gonfiato di vento di superbia, non creperrà nel fuoco dello ’nferno. Ancora nuoce all’uomo la superbia, però ch’ella lo fa matto e stolto. Onde dice san Bernardo: Ogni superbia è stoltizia, avvegna che ogni stoltizia non sia superbia. Onde della stoltizia degli uomini superbi dice san Paolo: Dicentes se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt: Dicendosi e tenendosi savi, son fatti stolti. Sopra la qual parola dice santo Agostino: Se dicendo tu, te essere savio, tu diventi stolto; di’ che tu sia stolto, e diventerai savio. Vuole santo Agostino dall’uomo in queste parole tôrre la presunzione e la propria reputazione, la quale fa l’uomo stolto, tenendosi savio.
Onde si legge di certi santi uomini, che per fuggire la superbia, e per guardare la loro umilità, si mostrarono stolti, essendo savi.
Leggesi nella Vita de’ Santi Padri, ch’era un santo abate, il quale il signore della provincia, udendo la nominanza della sua santitade, lo volle venire a vedere. La qual cosa sentendo quel santo padre, si vestì d’un suo sacco a modo d’uno stolto, e prese un pezzo di pane in mano e del cacio: e venendo il signore con molta compagnia a visitarlo, egli si pose in su l’uscio della cella sua, e dava di morso in quel pane e in quel cacio, e non rispose, a cosa che gli fosse detta, parola veruna e non lasciò il mangiare; anzi più si studiava, iscostumatamente facendo maggiori bocconi. La qual cosa vedendo quel signore, ebbelo a dispregio; e partendosi, l’abate rimase nella sua saviezza, avvegna che paresse stolta umilità, e fuggì la stolta superbia. Or non è egli grande stoltizia che l’uomo pressuma oltre alla sua forza, e faccia le ’mprese più che non porta il suo potere? Onde bene l’addimostra la Chiosa sopra quella parola di Ieremia profeta: Superbia eius et arrogantia eius plusquam fortitudo eius: La superbia prossume più che non è la forza; l’arroganza s’attribuisce falsamente quello che non ha: e l’uno e l’altro è grande isciocchezza. E però dice bene Salamone ne’ Proverbi: Superbus et arrogans vocatur indoctus: L’uomo superbo e arrogante si chiama stolto. E chi volesse delle stoltizie alle quali conduce la superbia l’uomo, sapere più innanzi, legga in questo medesimo Trattato fatto in latino per gli letterati, dove molte più cose si scrivono della superbia, che non fieno qui, per non iscrivere troppo lungo.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.9.39 — And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."
- ↩Matt.11.25;Luke.10.21 — At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants.'" Use "for" to strengthen the prayer's causal movement and reduce repetition with v.26. Luke.10.21 — In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will before you."
- ↩Deut.17.20 — so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and so that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, in order that he may prolong his days over his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.
- ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
- ↩Rev.13.1 — And I stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten crowns, and upon its heads names of blasphemy.
- ↩Ps.19.14 — Also keep your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
- ↩Jer.48.29 — We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is exceedingly proud—his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.
- ↩Prov.21.24 — Scoffer is his name—the arrogant one who acts in the fury of insolence.
Notes
- 1 ↩'nasce del suo contrario, e non del suo simile, cioè delle virtudi e delle grazie': pride is said to spring from virtues and graces (its opposite), not from something like itself—i.e., people grow proud of God-given gifts.
- 2 ↩Source reads 'tune immaculatus ero'; almost certainly a print/OCR error for Vulgate 'tunc immaculatus ero' (Ps 18:14). Translated on that corrected reading.
- 3 ↩The Italian e ella marks a sharp contrast after the show of exaltation: pride pretends to elevate, yet causes the fall.
- 4 ↩Passavanti's Italian expands illos as i peccatori spietati ('pitiless sinners'), a paraphrase of the Job wording rather than a strict word-for-word gloss of illos alone.
- 5 ↩The market image is figurative: later context identifies the 'precious things' with good works and the costly purchase of 'worthless' things with trading eternal reward for worldly praise.
- 6 ↩creperrà (crepare): rendered as 'burst' to keep Augustine's wind/inflation metaphor; the sense is also 'perish' or 'die.'
- 7 ↩però ch' here is causal Old Italian 'because,' not modern contrastive 'however.'
- 8 ↩propria reputazione: self-opinion/self-regard (thinking highly of oneself), not public reputation in the modern social sense.
- 9 ↩Latin citation retained as in the source (Jeremiah via the Gloss); Italian gloss follows Passavanti's own rendering.
- 10 ↩Latin citation retained as in the source; Italian gloss follows Passavanti (indoctus rendered as stolto, 'fool').
Jacopo Passavanti, Lo Specchio di vera penitenza companion
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