Quod Gnatonica subest Trasonianae; et de septem
The Interdependence of Vice
The author introduces the relationship between the boastful soldier and his flatterer as a metaphor for human character.
Regarding the principal vices and their consequences, according to blessed Gregory; and how vainglory has a noble origin. In the whole Epicurean family, Thraso is prominent; and though he may not have been the first, he must be considered either the first of all or not the least among the first. For the entire faction of the Gnathonics serves him, even though he is a fool. And perhaps the comic poet introduced Gnatho, the servant of the boastful soldier, to elegantly suggest that in the lives of men and in the assertion of their character, the Gnathonic is subordinate to the Thrasonian. Yet one depends on the other, to such an extent that they can't exist without each other. For Gnatho's work is useless if there is no boastful soldier, and perhaps Thraso's arrogance would rest if Gnatho's deceit didn't catch it. You might perhaps despise the comic poet's 'Eunuch,' but in that 'Eunuch' he expressed the life of almost everyone. And he argues against everyone all the more elegantly because he has exposed their vices through a fictional argument, without causing injury to any specific person.
The Sevenfold Root of Pride
Drawing on Pope Gregory, the text identifies pride as the root of seven principal vices that plague the human soul.
If you are looking for a more noble author, many have come forward to suppress vainglory. Vainglory, as the Fathers have agreed, is an empty glory that puffs up the mind and the ears, and it brings mortals no other benefit from the solidity of virtue. But since pride is the beginning of all sin, it gives birth to this as its first offspring. For from this poisonous root of pride, seven principal vices arise—which are called 'principal' in relation to the lesser ones that sprout from them in many ways, like the heads of a hydra. If you have a moment, pay attention to how the most blessed Pope Gregory depicts this pestilent tree in his Moralia, so that its names and forms may be more faithfully remembered. He distinguishes the first branches of this plant in this way: the first is vainglory, the second is envy, the third is anger, the fourth is sadness, the fifth is avarice, the sixth is gluttony, and the seventh is lust. Hence, the Savior, because He grieved that we were held captive by these vices of pride, came filled with the Spirit of sevenfold grace to the spiritual battle for our liberation. Although five of these vices are spiritual and two are carnal, each one is joined to the others by such a kinship that one is only ever generated from another.
The Proliferation of Sin
A detailed catalog of the secondary vices that sprout from each of the seven principal branches.
Each of these branches has its own smaller shoots, which spread out so far that they almost entirely cover the world, which lies in the power of the evil one. For from vainglory arise disobedience, boasting, hypocrisy, contentions, stubbornness, discord, and the presumption of novelty. From envy are born hatred, whispering, detraction, exultation at a neighbor's misfortune, and distress at their prosperity. From anger come brawls, a swollen mind, insults, shouting, indignation, and blasphemies. From sadness come malice, rancor, faint-heartedness, despair, sluggishness regarding the commandments, and a mind wandering toward illicit things. From avarice come betrayal, fraud, deceit, perjury, restlessness, violence, and a hardening of the heart against mercy. From gluttony are propagated foolish joy, scurrility, uncleanness, talkativeness, and a dullness of sense regarding understanding. From lust are generated blindness of mind, thoughtlessness, inconstancy, rashness, self-love, hatred of God, an affection for the present age, and a horror or despair of the future.
The Chain of Corruption
The text explains the causal progression by which one vice inevitably gives birth to another.
The same teacher explains how these primary vices stem from one another. For the first offspring of pride, once it has corrupted an oppressed mind, soon gives birth to envy; because, naturally, while it craves the power of a vain reputation, it withers away so that no one else can attain it. Envy also generates anger, because the more deeply the soul is wounded by the sting of malice, the more it loses the gentleness of tranquility; and because it is touched like a painful limb, the hand of opposing action is felt as if it were pressing down even more heavily. Sadness also arises from anger, because a troubled mind, in the way it shakes itself inordinately, confuses itself into speaking evil. Once it has lost the sweetness of tranquility, nothing feeds it except the sorrow that follows from that disturbance. Sadness is also diverted toward greed, because when a confused heart has lost the good of joy within itself, it seeks outside for what it ought to be comforted by; and it desires to acquire external goods all the more, the less it has the joy to which it might return inwardly. Indeed, each of these brings forth the fruit of its own destruction: vainglory takes away God, envy takes away one's neighbor, and anger takes away oneself. Sadness becomes ignorant of consolation, and greed, while it wanders through external things, is worn away by the fasting of its own gluttony. But to satisfy the need of its own leanness, it slips into the two carnal vices that follow. In these, it is clear that lust is born from the gluttony of the belly, since in the very distribution of the members, the genitals are seen to be joined to the belly.
The Danger of Vainglory
A warning that vainglory is particularly dangerous because it often disguises itself within our greatest strengths.
So, while one thing is being set in disorder, another is undoubtedly stirred up to insults. This is what Gregory says—or rather, what the Holy Spirit says through Gregory. It’s clear from this that anyone aiming for salvation must extinguish the first offspring of pride, which, if it grows even a little, gives birth to the shoots of all other vices, as has been said. Even if one vice is sometimes dominant in a person, it’s by no means possible for it to exist alone. If vanity stirs someone, they must necessarily fall headlong down the steep path of vices. This is considered the 'noble' vice, and it soothes the human spirit so effectively that it is hardly foreign even to the most brilliant minds. It has a noble origin, and it doesn't recognize the process of its own ruin until it falls from the very height it desired. For vices arise from one another, and vanity even plants its roots in the virtue of its own origin. Whatever someone excels in, they're more easily puffed up by it, unless grace is there to keep them in check.
Read the original Latin
aj principalihus uitiis et sequela eorum secundum beatum Gregorium; et quod inxinis gloria nobilem habet ortum. In tota ergo Epicureorum familia insignis est Traso et, licet non exierit primus, aut omnium primus habendus est aut non minimus inter primos. Ei namque, licet ineptus sit, tota Gnatonicorum factio famulatur. Et forte comicus ideo Gnatonem introduxit seruum militis gloriosi ut eleganter innueret quoniam et in uita hominum et in assertione morum subest Gnatonica Trasonianae. Altera tamen pendet ex altera adeo quidem ut inuieem sine se esse non possint. Nam et Gnatonis opera inutilis est, si non sit miles gloriosus; et forte Trasonis arrogantia conquiescet, si non eam fallacia Gnatonis exceperit. Comici forte contempnis Eunuchum, sed in Eunucho fere omnium uitam expressit. Et eo quidem elegantius omnes arguit quo cautius fictitio argumento sine lesione personarum uitia denudauit.
Si nobiliorem quaeris auctorem, multi procedunt cenodoxiae repressores. Est autem cenodoxia, ut patribus placuit, gloria inanis quae mentem inflat et aures et nichil aliud emolumenti de soliditate uirtutis mortalibus affert. Cum autem superbia sit totius peccati initium, hanc de se primam sobolem gignit. Ab hac enim uirulenta radice superbiae septem principalia uitia oriuntur quae quidem principalia djcuntur respectu minorum quae ex his uelut ydrae capitibus multipliciter pullulant. Quorum ut nomina et figurae fidelius teneantur, qualiter hanc pestiferam arborem beatissimus papa Gregorius depingit in Moralibus, si uacat, paulisper attende. Primos ergo ramos huius plantae sic distinguit ut sit primus inanis gloria, secundus inuidia, tertius ira, quartus tristitia, auaritia quintus, sextus uentris ingluuies, luxuria septimus. Unde et Saluator, quia nos his superbiae uitiis captiuos doluit, ad spirituale liberationis praelium septiformis gratiae Spiritu plenus uenit. Cum uero uitiorum quinque epiritualia sint, duo camalia, unumquodque eorum tanta sibi cognatione iungitur ut non nisi de altero generetur.
Habentque rami singuli de se ramusculos proeedentes tanta quidem amplitudine dilatatos ut mundum fere totum in maligno positum pene operiant. Nam de inani gloria inobedientia, iactantia, ypocrisis, contentiones, pertinaciae, discordiae, et nouitatum praesumptiones oriuntur. De a invidia odium, susurratio, detractio, exultatio in aduersis proximi, afflictio autem in prosperis nascitur. De ira rixae, tumor mentis, contumeliae, clamor, indignatio, blasphemiae proferuntur. De tristitia malitia, rancor, pusillanimitas, desperatio, torpor circa praecepta, uagatio mentis erga illicita prodeunt. De auaritia proditio, fraus, fallacia, periuria, inquietudo, uiolentiae, et contra misericordiam obdurationes cordis egrediuntur. De uentris ingluuie inepta letitia, scurrilitas, immunditia, multiloquia, hebetudo sensus circa intelligentiam propagantur. De luxuria cecitas mentis, inconsideratio, inconstantia, praecipitatio, amor sui, odium Dei, affectus praesentis seculi, horror autem uel desperatio futuri generantur.
Sed quomodo ab inuicem principalia prodeant idem doctor exponit. Prima namque superbiae soboles, dum oppressam mentem corruperit, mox inuidiam gignit, quia nimirum, dum uani nominis potentiam appetit ne quis alius hanc adipisci ualeat, intabescit. Inuidia quoque iram generat, quia quanto intemo liuoris uulnere animus sauciatur, tanto etiam mansuetudo tranquillitatis amittitur; et quia quasi dolens membrum tangitur, iccirco oppositae actionis manus uelut grauius pressa sentitur. Ex ira quoque tristitia oritur, quia turbata mens quo inordinate se concutit, eo ad dicendum mala confundit; et, cum dulcedinem tranquillitatis amiserit, nichil hanc nisi ex perturbatione subsequens meror pascit. Tristitia quoque ad auaritiam diriuatur quia, dum confusum cor bonum letitiae in semetipso intus amiserit, unde consolari debeat foris quaerit; et tanto magis exteriora bona adipisci desiderat quanto gaudium non habet ad quod intrinsecus recurrat. Et quidem singula eorum suae perniciei afferunt fructum, cum inanis gloria Deum, inuidia proximum, ira auferat et seipsum; tristitia solatii fit ignara; auaritia, dum per exteriora uagatur, edacitatis suae maceratur ieiunio. Vt uero maciei suae indigentiam expleat, prolabitur ad duo camis uitia quae sequuntur. In quibus liquet quod de uentris ingluuie luxuria nascitur, dum in ipsa distributione membrorum uentri genitalia uideantur esse subnexa.
Vnde dum unum inordinate reficitur, aliud proculdubio ad contumelias excitatur. Haec quidem Gregorius, imo per Gregorium Spiritus sanctus. Ex quo constat ei qui ad salutem tendit primam superbiae sobolem extinguendam, quae, si paulisper subcreuerit, omnium uitiorum frutices de se, ut praedictum est, gignit. Nam, etsi sit apud aliquem quandoque praecipua, nequaquam possibile est ut sit sola. Si enim quempiam inanis gloria stimulat, necesse est ut per abrupta uitiorum praeceps ruat. Hoc est autem quod nobile censetur uitium, adeoque humanae fragilitatis demulcet ingenium ut uix sit uel a praeclaris mentibus alienum. Nam et ortum nobilem habet, suique dispendii processum nescit antequam a fastigio corruat quod optauit. a Nam et de se inuicem uitia oriuntur, at inanis gloria etiam in uirtute originis suae figit radicem.
In quo enim quisque prae ceteris pollet, in eo, nisi assit moderatrix gratia, facilius intumescit.
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