Question I: What envy is, and what its object is

On Envy the Fathers have written many splendid things: Cyprian, serm. de Invid., Basil homil. 11. et 21., Chrysostom homil. 44. et 45., Cassian collat. 18., Prosper lib. 3. de vita contemplativa, cap. 9., and others as gathered by St. Bonaventure, Lib. 2. Pharetrae, cap. 8., where, drawing on St. Gregory (Lib. 2. moral. cap. 20. Lib. 3. cap. 17.), he lists the daughters of Envy, which are Hatred, Whispering, Detraction, Anger; and others, from other Fathers, chiefly St. Augustine (de disciplina Christiana, cap. 1.) and Jerome (epist. 99.), where they call it a diabolical vice.

Envy is defined by all as: Sadness over the neighbor's good, judged as an evil of one's own, insofar as by comparison it diminishes the excellence of one's own good. So the Socratic Doctor (opusc. explic. Terminorum Theologiae; et p. p. censil. sect. 19.). Hence Aristotle (Lib. 2. Rhet. cap. 9.) says the cause of Envy is equality, or similarity, and proximity. And the Saints have similar things: Augustine in Psalm. 104., as gathered by St. Bonaventure loc. adducto, Damascene Lib. 2. cap. 24. St. Augustine also, Lib. 11. de Genes. ad litt. cap. 14., describes Envy, saying: Since each loves his own excellence, he envies equals, that they be made equal to him; inferiors, lest they be made equal to him; superiors, because they are not made equal to him; etc. The same is taught by the Angelic Doctor (p. p. censil. sect. 19.). Hence also Lucan sang:

— Emulous virtue gave the spur, and now each can no longer bear that Caesar be before him, or Pompey his equal. —

Therefore not only the surpassing good of one's neighbor begets Envy, but anything even equal, insofar as it is apprehended as diminishing our excellence or impeding our surpassing others. In this sense St. Gregory is to be understood, Lib. 5. moral. cap. 33. We cannot envy except those whom we think better than ourselves in some respect; for he does not call them better simply, but insofar as they diminish our excellence, as Tancretus noted (disp. 2. quaest. 6. dub. 1.), Valencia (disp. 3. quaest. 14. puncto 1.). Hence St. Augustine (Lib. 11. in Genes. cap. 15.), as cited by St. Bonaventure loco cit., says the differences of envy are three: namely, envying superiors, because one is not their equal; equals, because they prosper for the better; inferiors, lest they be made equal to oneself. But one must note that Envy agrees with the other three affections in the character of sadness, but differs by the other parts of the definition, as the Angelic Doctor indicates (p. p. Censil. sect. 19. et in speculo animae, cap. 1.).

For first, there is a certain effect of fear, which is sadness over another's good insofar as it is feared to bring ruin upon us; and this is not a sin, as is clear from Aristotle loco cit. and St. Thomas (hic art. 1. et 2.) and St. Bonaventure in speculo animae. The envious man, however, is not saddened over another's good under this aspect, but as in fact judged to surpass him in his own excellence.

The second effect, similar to Envy, is when one is saddened not over another's good, so as to envy it, but over his own deficiency, insofar as he himself does not have that good; and this is not a sin, as St. Bonaventure says. This affection is called zeal and emulation, as the Philosopher teaches (Lib. 2. Rhet. cap. 11. and St. Thomas art. 1.). But Envy is saddened over another's good insofar as it diminishes one's own excellence. Hence 1 John cap. 3. says, For this reason Cain slew his brother, because his brother's works were just. Here the Angelic Doctor notes that Envy is sometimes called by the name of anger, Genes. 4. Why are you angry? where the Gloss reads: you are tormented by envy; sometimes by the name of hatred: His brothers hated him, Genes. 37.; sometimes by the name of emulation, 1 Kings 1. Her rival afflicted her. To this belongs what Nyssenus says, Lib. de vita Moysi: The envious man grieves at the happiness of others, and rejoices in their calamities. And Chrysostom, homil. 44. ad pop. Why do you grieve, O man, at your neighbor's goods? We ought to grieve at the evils we suffer, not at the goods by which we seem to be held in esteem by others. Therefore this sin is without any pardon. And Isidore, Lib. 3. sent. cap. 25. There is no virtue that has not for its contrary the evil of Envy; only misery is without envy.

The third affection, similar to Envy, is sadness over another's good insofar as we judge him unworthy of that good; and this affection is called Nemesis, or Indignation. So Aristotle loco cit. cap. 9.; and St. Bonaventure asserts that this affection, with regard to temporal goods, which more often bring ruin, is not a sin (in speculo animae, supra citato.). See him also, Lib. primo de profectu Religiosi, cap. 13. Hence St. Gregory (in Pastorali, part. 3. cap. 1. admon. 23.) says: It often happens that, without losing Charity, we are gladdened by the ruin of an enemy, and again saddened by his glory without the guilt of envy: since we believe in our mind that some are thereby well raised up; and as he advances, we fear that very many are unjustly oppressed. So reports St. Bonaventure, Lib. 3. Pharetrae, cap. 21.

From what has been said it follows that Envy does not exist among those who are not equals or similar in some state, as Aristotle teaches (cap. 10.); for among these only the excellence of one obscures the excellence of the other. Hence he infers that neither the dead, nor those most remote at the pillars of Hercules, are envied; but envy, he says, exists among neighbors and rivals, and among those who desire and strive for the same things, whence the saying: The potter envies the potter, and the smith the smith.

Hence you infer that those prone to envy are the faint-hearted, since to them all things seem great, as St. Gregory noted above; to this Job 5: Envy slays the small one. On the contrary, the magnanimous are free from envy, as Silius Italicus says. See Valencia.

From all these things the Angelic Doctor concludes in the place cited in the Summa that Envy is opposed to piety, which arises from Charity.