THE CAPITAL SINS 81 



Drunkenness as a habit (ebriositas) is deserving of the 

 severest censure, because it involves waste, destroys fam- 

 ily life, creates dissensions, causes crimes and diseases, 

 and entails the physical and moral ruin of individuals, 

 and sometimes of entire nations. "Drunkenness," says 

 Origen, "seduced him whom Sodom had not seduced." 40 

 Hence the Apostle's admonition : "Be not drunk with 

 wine, wherein is luxury ; but be ye filled with the holy 

 Spirit." 41 



VI. Anger. — Anger (ira, iracundia) , broadly- 

 speaking, is a craving for vengeance. It is not 

 necessarily sinful, because, to quote St. Thomas, 

 "vengeance may be sought either well or ill." 42 



a) There is a righteous anger which inveighs 

 against evil and in favor of goodness. Holy 

 Scripture frequently attributes such anger to 

 God. John the Baptist angrily denounced the 

 Pharisees and Sadducees as a "brood of vipers," 

 who "flee from the wrath to come." 43 "With 

 anger" (/«*■ 6 P y^) and grief "for the blindness of 

 their hearts," 44 Christ pronounced woe upon 

 the Pharisees, 45 drove the money changers from 

 the temple and overthrew their tables. 46 Filled 



805 sqq. — Seneca, Epist., 95, 23: The Cure of Alcoholism, St. Louis 



"Innumerabiles esse morbos non 1913. 



tniraberis: coquos numera." 41 Eph. V, 18; cfr. Luke XXI, 



40Cfr. Gen. XIX, 32 sqq.; Prov. 34; 1 Pet. V, 8. 



XXXI, 4. — Homer, Odyssey, IX, 42 Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 158, 



360 sqq; Iliad, VI, 258 sqq. — Hor- art. 1-7. 



ace, Carm., Ill, 21, 9 sqq. — A. Eg- 43 Matth. Ill, 7. 



ger, Der Klerus und die Alkohol- 44 Mark III, 5. 



frage, 4th ed., Freiburg 1909. — Jos. 45 Matth. XXXIII, 13 sqq. 



Keating, S.J., The Drink Question, 46 Matth. XXI, 12. 

 London 1914. — Austin O'Malley, 



