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Chapter 23ViaRegia.1.23

De zelo et livore

The Ancient Roots of Envy

The author traces the history of envy from the devil's fall through the biblical accounts of Cain, Esau, Joseph, Saul, and the rejection of Christ.

To envy and resent another person's good is no small thing, but a great and grave sin. At the very beginning of the world, the devil was struck by jealous envy and was the first to perish, and in doing so, he destroyed others.1 But after seeing the human being made in God's image, he burst into jealous envy and, through persuasion, deceived that wretched human. Yet he himself, the most wretched of all, also lost the angelic blessedness he once possessed. And from then on, as it is written: By the devil's envy, death entered the world.✦ But those who take his side imitate him.✦ Wicked Cain imitated him, and through jealous envy, he killed Abel, his righteous brother. Through jealous envy, Esau became an enemy to his brother Jacob. Through jealous envy, Joseph was sold by his own brothers. Through jealous envy, Saul became David's enemy and persecutor. And not to go on reviewing it case by case at greater length: the Jewish people perished through jealous envy—those who chose to envy Christ rather than believe in him.✦2

The Anatomy of a Vice

Envy is described as the root of all evils, manifesting in various social, psychological, and physical corruptions.

Envious jealousy, though counted as a single vice, sends out many branches from different roots. It is the root of all evil and the fountain of all vices.✦ From it hatred and hostility arise; jealousy inflames greed and stirs up ambition. Through the unjust zeal of envy, the fear of God is cast aside, Christ's teaching is neglected, the day of judgment is not looked for, pride is puffed up, cruelty is inflamed, treachery breaks faith, impatience is shaken loose, discord rages, and anger boils; and whoever has become subject to an alien power can no longer restrain or govern himself.34 From this every bond of peace is broken; from this brotherly love is violated; from this truth is adulterated, unity is torn apart, and people rush into heresies and schisms, while priests are disparaged and bishops envied. Jealousy makes a person proud and twists the mind in the wrong direction. For people like that, food isn't cheerful and drink isn't pleasant; they always sigh after someone else's goods and groan. From this come a threatening face, a grim look, a pale complexion, trembling lips, and the grinding of teeth.✦ What else is there to say? From jealous envy springs the fountain of all vices.

A Royal Call to Charity

The king is exhorted to replace the poison of envy with the weapons of love, peace, and gentleness to secure his heavenly reward.

So then, most gentle and noble king, love everyone, and embrace them all with a father's and a king's affection, and carefully shun that great and destructive evil of hatred; for the apostle James says: Where there is jealousy and strife, there is disorder and every kind of evil.✦ You can see how deadly the outrage of spite and envy is. It burns up every green shoot of the virtues; it devours every good thing with a pestilent heat; it eats away at judgment; it scorches the breast; it afflicts the mind and, like a plague, feeds on a person's heart.5 So then, O king, let a goodness of soul, full of generous gifts, rise to meet the spite of jealousy; against envy, let brotherly love and the weapons of love be made ready.6 Love peace with everyone; keep peace with all. Embrace everyone in gentleness and love. Strive on earth to be sweetly loved by all people, so that you may deserve to rejoice happily in heaven with the angels.

Read the original Latin

Zelare et invidere alterius bono non est parvum, sed grande et magnum peccatum. Diabolus inter initia statim mundi zeli livore percussus periit primus, et sic perdidit alios. Postquam vero hominem ad imaginem Dei factum conspexit, in zeli livorem prorupit, et hominem miserum suadendo decepit: sed et angelicam beatitudinem, quam habebat, miserrimus amisit; et ex tunc, ut scriptum est: Invidia diaboli mors introivit in orbem terrarum. Imitantur autem illum qui sunt ex parte ipsius. Imitatus est illum Cain iniquus, et per zeli livorem Abel fratrem suum justum occidit. Per zeli livorem Esau factus est inimicus fratri suo Jacob. Per zeli livorem a fratribus suis venditus est Joseph. Per zeli livorem David inimicus et persecutor factus est Saul; et ne longius eam recensendo per singulos, Judaeorum populus per zeli livorem interivit, qui Christo maluit invidere quam credere.

Zeli enim livor, quanquam unius vitii censeatur nomine, multiplices per diversa initia generat ramos. Radix est omnium malorum, et fons vitiorum. Inde odium surgit, animositas inde procedit; avaritiam zelus inflammat, ambitionem zelus excitat. Per iniquum livoris zelum Dei timor exponitur, magisterium Christi negligitur, judicii dies non providetur, inflatur superbia, exacerbatur saevitia, perfidia praevaricatur, impatientia concutitur, furit discordia, fervescit ira; nec se jam potest cohibere vel regere, qui factus est subditus potestati alienae. Hinc omne pacis vinculum rumpitur, hinc fraterna charitas violatur, hinc adulteratur veritas, unitas scinditur, ad haereses atque schismata prosilitur, dum obtrectatur sacerdotibus, episcopis invidetur. De zelo superbus efficitur; de zelo perverse animus mutatur. Non est cibus talibus laetus, non est potus jucundus; suspirat semper ad alterius bona et ingemiscit. Hinc vultus minax, torvus aspectus, pallor in facie, in labiis tremor, stridor in dentibus.

Quid plura referam? De zeli livore fons omnium vitiorum consurgit.

Tu ergo, mitissime atque nobilissime rex, dilige omnes, et paterno regalique affectu complectere cunctos, et tantum et tam perniciosum odii caute devita malum; quia Jacobus apostolus ait: Ubi est zelus et contentio, ibi inconstantia et omne pravum. Vides ergo quam lethifera est livoris et invidiae indignatio. Ipsa est quae cuncta virtutum germina concremat; ipsa quae cuncta bona ardore pestifero devorat; ipsa quae sensum comedit; ipsa quae pectus urit; ipsa quae mentem afficit, et cor hominis quasi quaedam pestis depascit. Occurrat ergo tibi, o rex, contra zeli livorem animi bonitas plena munere: adversus invidiam fraterna charitas praeparetur, et arma dilectionis. Pacem ama cum omnibus, pacem retine cum cunctis. In mansuetudine et charitate amplectere omnes. Stude in terris a cunctis hominibus dulciter amari, ut merearis in coelo cum angelis feliciter laetari.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩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.
  2. ↩John.8.44 — You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
  3. ↩Matt.27.18;Mark.15.10;Acts.13.45 — For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over. Mark.15.10 — For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over out of envy. Acts.13.45 — But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting what was being spoken by Paul, blaspheming.
  4. ↩1Tim.6.10 — For the root of all evils is the love of money, which some, reaching for it, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
  5. ↩Matt.8.12 — But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
  6. ↩Jas.3.16 — For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩zeli livore: the fixed phrase pairs zelus (rivalrous jealousy) with livor (envy/spite); rendered throughout this section as 'jealous envy' for consistency.
  2. 2 ↩Medieval source polemic: Judaeorum populus ... interivit attributes corporate ruin to envy of Christ. Rendered faithfully without modern softening; later stages may flag historical rhetoric.
  3. 3 ↩Dei timor exponitur rendered as 'the fear of God is cast aside'; exponere can also mean expose to danger or set forth. The parallel neglect verbs favor abandonment over mere disclosure.
  4. 4 ↩'Alien power' keeps the Latin's sense of a foreign/hostile mastery over the self (diabolical or passion-driven), not merely another person's authority.
  5. 5 ↩Ipsa (feminine) tracks back to indignatio (s2) and personifies the vice of spite/envy through repeated anaphora; English uses neutral 'it/what' for natural register while keeping the force of the chain.
  6. 6 ↩fraterna charitas and arma dilectionis both rendered as love per lexeme policy; 'brotherly love' carries the fraternal/theological force of charitas without forcing charity-as-almsgiving.

Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion

Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat

Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.

Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.

  • A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
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