Whether Reviling Consists in Words?
Objection 1: It would seem that reviling does not consist in words.
Reviling implies some injury inflicted on one's neighbor, since it is
a kind of injustice. But words seem to inflict no injury on one's
neighbor, either in his person, or in his belongings. Therefore
reviling does not consist in words.
Obj. 2: Further, reviling seems to imply dishonor. But a man can be
dishonored or slighted by deeds more than by words. Therefore it
seems that reviling consists, not in words but in deeds.
Obj. 3: Further, a dishonor inflicted by words is called a railing or
a taunt. But reviling seems to differ from railing or taunt.
Therefore reviling does not consist in words.
_On the contrary,_ Nothing, save words, is perceived by the hearing.
Now reviling is perceived by the hearing according to Jer. 20:10, "I
heard reviling [Douay: 'contumelies'] on every side." Therefore
reviling consists in words.
_I answer that,_ Reviling denotes the dishonoring of a person, and
this happens in two ways: for since honor results from excellence,
one person dishonors another, first, by depriving him of the
excellence for which he is honored. This is done by sins of deed,
whereof we have spoken above (Q. 64, seqq.). Secondly, when a man
publishes something against another's honor, thus bringing it to the
knowledge of the latter and of other men. This reviling properly so
called, and is done by some kind of signs. Now, according to
Augustine (De Doctr. Christ. ii, 3), "compared with words all other
signs are very few, for words have obtained the chief place among men
for the purpose of expressing whatever the mind conceives." Hence
reviling, properly speaking, consists in words: wherefore, Isidore
says (Etym. x) that a reviler (_contumeliosus_) "is hasty and bursts
out (_tumet_) in injurious words." Since, however, things are also
signified by deeds, which on this account have the same significance
as words, it follows that reviling in a wider sense extends also to
deeds. Wherefore a gloss on Rom. 1:30, "contumelious, proud," says:
"The contumelious are those who by word or deed revile and shame
others."
Reply Obj. 1: Our words, if we consider them in their essence, i.e.
as audible sounds, injure no man, except perhaps by jarring of the
ear, as when a person speaks too loud. But, considered as signs
conveying something to the knowledge of others, they may do many
kinds of harm. Such is the harm done to a man to the detriment of his
honor, or of the respect due to him from others. Hence the reviling
is greater if one man reproach another in the presence of many: and
yet there may still be reviling if he reproach him by himself, in so
far as the speaker acts unjustly against the respect due to the
hearer.
Reply Obj. 2: One man slights another by deeds in so far as such
deeds cause or signify that which is against that other man's honor.
In the former case it is not a matter of reviling but of some other
kind of injustice, of which we have spoken above (QQ. 64, 65, 66):
where as in the latter case there is reviling, in so far as deeds
have the significant force of words.
Reply Obj. 3: Railing and taunts consist in words, even as reviling,
because by all of them a man's faults are exposed to the detriment of
his honor. Such faults are of three kinds. First, there is the fault
of guilt, which is exposed by _reviling_ words. Secondly, there is
the fault of both guilt and punishment, which is exposed by _taunts_
(_convicium_), because _vice_ is commonly spoken of in connection
with not only the soul but also the body. Hence if one man says
spitefully to another that he is blind, he taunts but does not revile
him: whereas if one man calls another a thief, he not only taunts but
also reviles him. Thirdly, a man reproaches another for his
inferiority or indigence, so as to lessen the honor due to him for
any kind of excellence. This is done by _upbraiding_ words, and
properly speaking, occurs when one spitefully reminds a man that one
has succored him when he was in need. Hence it is written (Ecclus.
20:15): "He will give a few things and upbraid much." Nevertheless
these terms are sometimes employed one for the other.
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