Whether Sloth Should Be Accounted a Capital Vice?
Objection 1: It would seem that sloth ought not to be accounted a
capital vice. For a capital vice is one that moves a man to sinful
acts, as stated above (Q. 34, A. 5). Now sloth does not move one to
action, but on the contrary withdraws one from it. Therefore it
should not be accounted a capital sin.
Obj. 2: Further, a capital sin is one to which daughters are
assigned. Now Gregory (Moral. xxxi, 45) assigns six daughters to
sloth, viz. "malice, spite, faint-heartedness, despair, sluggishness
in regard to the commandments, wandering of the mind after unlawful
things." Now these do not seem in reality to arise from sloth. For
"spite" is, seemingly the same as hatred, which arises from envy, as
stated above (Q. 34, A. 6); "malice" is a genus which contains all
vices, and, in like manner, a "wandering" of the mind after unlawful
things is to be found in every vice; "sluggishness" about the
commandments seems to be the same as sloth, while "faint-heartedness"
and "despair" may arise from any sin. Therefore sloth is not rightly
accounted a capital sin.
Obj. 3: Further, Isidore distinguishes the vice of sloth from the
vice of sorrow, saying (De Summo Bono ii, 37) that in so far as a man
shirks his duty because it is distasteful and burdensome, it is
sorrow, and in so far as he is inclined to undue repose, it is sloth:
and of sorrow he says that it gives rise to "spite,
faint-heartedness, bitterness, despair," whereas he states that from
sloth seven things arise, viz. "idleness, drowsiness, uneasiness of
the mind, restlessness of the body, instability, loquacity,
curiosity." Therefore it seems that either Gregory or Isidore has
wrongly assigned sloth as a capital sin together with its daughters.
_On the contrary,_ The same Gregory (Moral. xxxi, 45) states that
sloth is a capital sin, and has the daughters aforesaid.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (I-II, Q. 84, AA. 3, 4), a capital
vice is one which easily gives rise to others as being their final
cause. Now just as we do many things on account of pleasure, both in
order to obtain it, and through being moved to do something under the
impulse of pleasure, so again we do many things on account of sorrow,
either that we may avoid it, or through being exasperated into doing
something under pressure thereof. Wherefore, since sloth is a kind of
sorrow, as stated above (A. 2; I-II, Q. 85, A. 8), it is fittingly
reckoned a capital sin.
Reply Obj. 1: Sloth by weighing on the mind, hinders us from doing
things that cause sorrow: nevertheless it induces the mind to do
certain things, either because they are in harmony with sorrow, such
as weeping, or because they are a means of avoiding sorrow.
Reply Obj. 2: Gregory fittingly assigns the daughters of sloth. For
since, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. viii, 5, 6) "no man can
be a long time in company with what is painful and unpleasant," it
follows that something arises from sorrow in two ways: first, that
man shuns whatever causes sorrow; secondly, that he passes to other
things that give him pleasure: thus those who find no joy in
spiritual pleasures, have recourse to pleasures of the body,
according to the Philosopher (Ethic. x, 6). Now in the avoidance of
sorrow the order observed is that man at first flies from unpleasant
objects, and secondly he even struggles against such things as cause
sorrow. Now spiritual goods which are the object of the sorrow of
sloth, are both end and means. Avoidance of the end is the result of
"despair," while avoidance of those goods which are the means to the
end, in matters of difficulty which come under the counsels, is the
effect of "faint-heartedness," and in matters of common
righteousness, is the effect of "sluggishness about the
commandments." The struggle against spiritual goods that cause sorrow
is sometimes with men who lead others to spiritual goods, and this is
called "spite"; and sometimes it extends to the spiritual goods
themselves, when a man goes so far as to detest them, and this is
properly called "malice." In so far as a man has recourse to eternal
objects of pleasure, the daughter of sloth is called "wandering after
unlawful things." From this it is clear how to reply to the
objections against each of the daughters: for "malice" does not
denote here that which is generic to all vices, but must be
understood as explained. Nor is "spite" taken as synonymous with
hatred, but for a kind of indignation, as stated above: and the same
applies to the others.
Reply Obj. 3: This distinction between sorrow and sloth is also given
by Cassian (De Instit. Caenob. x, 1). But Gregory more fittingly
(Moral. xxxi, 45) calls sloth a kind of sorrow, because, as stated
above (A. 2), sorrow is not a distinct vice, in so far as a man
shirks a distasteful and burdensome work, or sorrows on account of
any other cause whatever, but only in so far as he is sorry on
account of the Divine good, which sorrow belongs essentially to
sloth; since sloth seeks undue rest in so far as it spurns the Divine
good. Moreover the things which Isidore reckons to arise from sloth
and sorrow, are reduced to those mentioned by Gregory: for
"bitterness" which Isidore states to be the result of sorrow, is an
effect of "spite." "Idleness" and "drowsiness" are reduced to
"sluggishness about the precepts": for some are idle and omit them
altogether, while others are drowsy and fulfil them with negligence.
All the other five which he reckons as effects of sloth, belong to
the "wandering of the mind after unlawful things." This tendency to
wander, if it reside in the mind itself that is desirous of rushing
after various things without rhyme or reason, is called "uneasiness
of the mind," but if it pertains to the imaginative power, it is
called "curiosity"; if it affect the speech it is called "loquacity";
and in so far as it affects a body that changes place, it is called
"restlessness of the body," when, to wit, a man shows the
unsteadiness of his mind, by the inordinate movements of members of
his body; while if it causes the body to move from one place to
another, it is called "instability"; or "instability" may denote
changeableness of purpose.
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