70 SIN 



This vice frequently accompanies wealth, high social po- 

 sition, noble birth, etc., and sometimes develops into 

 tyranny, nay rebellion against God and self-deification. 7 

 Arrogance often leads to boastfulness, which is the 

 habit of bragging inordinately about one's own good 

 qualities or talents, nay, even defects or sins, and to hy- 

 pocrisy, i. e., feigning virtues that one does not possess. 



Pride "is so serious an evil because it strikes 

 at the root of the primary obligations of reverent 

 obedience towards our Lord God and love of our 

 neighbor, because it is opposed to the truth, and 

 because of its universality; it is in the heart of 

 every man and quickly grows to fearful dimen- 

 sions unless corrected or subdued." 8 



That there is a legitimate pride appears from I 

 Cor. XV, 10: "By the grace of God I am what I 

 am, and the grace he gave me hath not been fruit- 

 less; nay, I have labored more than all of them, 

 yet not I, but the grace of God with me." 9 Still 

 the Apostle warns against "being more wise than 

 it behooveth," 10 and "being wise in your own 

 conceits." " 



Opposed to pride is the virtue of humility, 



7 Cfr. Gen. Ill, 5; Is. XIV, 14; i\ X&P LS o-vtov if els ifie oi Kev^i 

 Judges VII, 2; IX, 38; 1 Mace. iyevridi], dXXa irepiacroTepov avT<l>i> 

 VII, 34; 2 Mace. V, 21; Matth. IV, ndvrwv tKoiriaoa. ovk eyu> 8e, dXXd 

 9. — St. Thomas, Summa TheoL, 23. i] x<*pts TOl ~ 9 e °v a ^ v ^M '- 



2ae, qu. 162; Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10 Rom. XII, 3, 16. 



VI, 193, sqq.; Horace, Satyrae, I, 6, 11 1 Tim. VI, 17. — Cfr. Homer, 



5, 10, 64; Idem, Epod., IV, 5 sq. Iliad, I, 244; Odyssey, IX, 20; Hor- 



8 Th. Slater, S.J., A Manual of ace, Carmina, IV, 2, 40: "Sapere 

 Moral Theology, Vol. I, p. 155- aude," i. e., boldly strive for wis- 



» \6piTi de deov elfil 6 elpa, Kal dom. 



