Chapter II: Concerning Various Sins Against the Virtues and the Precepts of the Decalogue

Besides the duties proper to particular states, there are others common to all men, to which the theological and moral virtues, and the precepts of the Decalogue, order us. But just as the diverse virtues dispose us so that we may be rightly ordered toward God, toward our neighbor, and toward ourselves, so too there are other sins against God, against neighbor, and against ourselves.

In the present chapter we shall speak concerning certain sins against God and against neighbor; concerning the principal sins against ourselves it comes to be said in the third chapter, where capital sins are treated.