Article II: On Sins Opposed to Magnanimity

S. Th. II-II, q. 130-133.

918. To magnanimity by excess there are opposed: presumption, ambition, and vainglory, which inordinately seek excellence in works, in honor, or in reputation and estimation. Presumption regards the proximate matter: acts worthy of honor; ambition the remote matter: honors; vainglory the natural effect of honor: praise.

1. Presumption (verwaandheid) or overconfidence is the inordinate appetite of attacking something above one's powers. It is excessive hope. But in the present matter the question is not about presumption opposed to theological or divine hope, which rashly expects beatitude through means not ordained by God and rejects or perverts the divine help from which it is to be hoped for (of which we spoke in the treatise on hope, I, 833), but about presumption or excessive hope in one's own powers: this, namely, is opposed to magnanimity, which is concerned with the passion of hope.

It arises from culpable error concerning one's own powers. Concerning these, error can be committed in two ways: in one way according to quantity, as when someone judges himself to have greater virtue or knowledge or something of this sort than he has, for example, those who without sufficient capacity undertake the office of judge, physician, advocate, confessor, etc., who usurp power which they do not have, who by their own authority without long study interpret the Scriptures...; in another way concerning the genus of the thing from which someone dignifies himself, as when someone esteems himself great and more worthy from that from which he is not great nor worthy, for example, on account of riches or some goods of fortune.

It is of itself a venial sin, because it is not against charity; accidentally it becomes mortal by reason of the cause, as if it proceeded from culpable error in faith, or by reason of the effect, as if it is done with great danger or notable harm, proper or another's, as can happen in physicians, confessors, advocates, who presume without skill to undertake an office or to exercise it in such a way, and in those who without a reasonable cause thrust themselves into the proximate occasion of sinning.

2. Ambition (eerzucht) is an inordinate appetite for honor.

It happens in four ways: by seeking honor for excellence which is not possessed, as if an ignorant man wishes to be honored as learned; or for a blameworthy thing, as for sin or for a thing acquired by sin; or by not referring honor to God, to whom honor is owed principally on account of excellent goods; or by not referring it to the utility of others, but resting in honor: for that in which man excels is given to man by God so that from it he may benefit others.

It is of itself a venial sin, because it is not against charity; accidentally it becomes mortal either by reason of the cause, as if it comes from culpable error in faith, or if someone seeks honor from affection for mortal sin, or abuses honor for that sin; or by reason of the effect, as if someone commits mortal sin to seize honor, prepared for all things on account of honor, or constitutes his last end in honor, or if it is done with grave harm or injury of the neighbor.

3. Vainglory (roemzucht, ijdelheid) is an inordinate appetite for glory and reputation, that is, an appetite for vain glory, or for vain manifestation and estimation among others concerning one's own excellence, whether true or fictitious; an excessive desire for human esteem and praise. This is also a capital sin, as was set forth in the treatise on Sins (I, n. 502).

Glory is clear knowledge with the praise of others; and it is the natural effect and end of honor, since from honor someone is rendered clear in the knowledge of others. For from the fact that testimonies of honor are exhibited to someone, his excellence is clear among others. Hence honor is sought because glory from honor is sought. Whence consequently magnanimity is also concerned with glory, and the inordinate appetite for glory is opposed to magnanimity.

It happens in three ways: a) by seeking glory from that which is not worthy of glory, or of so much glory, as from an evil, false, fictitious, fragile thing, from riches, trifles, etc.; b) by seeking it from those who are not able to discern what is worthy of glory, for example, from one whose judgment is not certain; c) by seeking and not referring glory to the due end, namely, to the honor of God or proper or another's utility. For glory of itself is an indifferent thing, and accordingly to stand in it as in an end and to seek it for its own sake is illicit: for to seek an indifferent thing is not good unless it is done for a good end extrinsic to the thing; therefore to seek glory is illicit except insofar as it is useful for something, otherwise it would be an idle and vain act and accordingly sinful (q. 132, a. 3; cf. Q. D. De Malo 9, a. 2).

Vainglory of itself is a venial sin: for of itself it does not say anything against charity, but is only an inordination of the appetite of a thing indifferent according to itself. Yet accidentally, that is, by reason of another thing or something joined to it, it becomes mortal: 1. on the part of the one glorying himself: a) by reason of the effect, for example, if someone is prepared to sin mortally in order to acquire glory, or constitutes his last end in glory, or grave harm to the neighbor follows from it, as if on account of it a physician is unwilling to employ a colleague, with grave danger of health in the sick person, or a teacher is unwilling to retract a great error which he taught; b) by reason of the end, as if he seeks glory from affection for a mortal sin. 2. Also on the part of the matter about which someone glories: a) if someone glories concerning a good, but falsely, which is against reverence for God (for example, to seek divine honors for oneself), or concerning goods as if they were not from God, or concerning a temporal good loved more than God, or concerning the testimony of men which he prefers to divine testimony; b) if he glories concerning evil, namely, concerning a mortal sin committed (q. 132, a. 3; cf. Q. D. De Malo 9, a. 2).

919. Remarks. - Let the words of St. Thomas be noted (q. 132, a. 1, ad 3): "It pertains to the perfection of man that he know himself; but that he be known by others does not pertain to his perfection; and therefore it is not to be sought for its own sake. Yet it can be sought insofar as it is useful for something, either for this, that God be glorified by men, or for this, that men profit from the good which they know in another, or for this, that the man himself, from the goods which he knows in himself, through the testimony of another's praise, may strive to persevere in them and to advance to better things. And according to this it is praiseworthy that someone have care for a good name and that he provide good things before God and men; but not that he be vainly delighted in the praise of men."

920. To magnanimity by defect there is opposed pusillanimity. - This is a disposition of soul by which someone flees as though too great and exceeding his powers those things which, all circumstances considered, he could and ought to do, since in reality they do not exceed them. Thus one who, terrified by difficulties and not sufficiently trusting in divine help, flees offices proposed to him by superiors, or does not fulfill the offices of his own state, from empty fear.

It arises from culpable ignorance. It is a mortal sin if it draws one back from a grave precept.