Fear

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  He regards as a sign of this the fact that when our soul is of strong imagination, the body is affected by mere thought: thus a man while walking on a plank at a height, easily falls, because through fear he imagines himself to fall: whereas he would not fall, were the plank placed on the ground, so that he would not fear to fall. It is also clear that the body is heated at a mere apprehension of the soul, for instance in lustful or angry persons; or again, becomes cold, as happens in those who are seized with fear. Sometimes too, through a strong apprehension, it is inclined to some illness, for instance fever or even leprosy. In this way, says he, if the soul be pure and not subject to the passions of the body, and strong of apprehension, not only its own body is obedient to its apprehension, but even external bodies: so much so that a sick man be healed or something similar occur, at its mere apprehension. He holds this to be the cause of fascination: because, to wit, a certain person’s soul being deeply affected with malevolence, exercises a baneful influence on someone, especially on a child, who by reason of the softness of the body is most impressionable. Hence he maintains that much more, without the action of a corporeal agent, do certain effects result in these lower bodies, at the apprehension of separate substances, which, he says, are the souls or movers of the spheres. This theory is consistent enough with other opinions of his. For he holds that all substantial forms emanate from a separate substance into these lower bodies; and that corporeal agents merely dispose matter to receive the impression of the separate agent. But this is untrue according to the teaching of Aristotle, who proves (7 Metaph.), that the forms which are in matter, do not come from separate forms, but from forms in matter: for thus it is that we find a likeness between the maker and the thing made. Moreover, the comparison with the soul’s impression on the body does not advance his theory very much. For no impression is made on the body as a result of an apprehension, unless united to the apprehension there be some emotion, as of joy, fear, desire, or of some other passion. Now these passions are accompanied by a certain definite movement of the heart, the result being an impression on the entire body, either as to local motion, or as to some alteration. Hence it still remains that the apprehension of a spiritual substance does not make an impression on the body, except by means of local movement.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Reply to Objection 3: The very fact that the punishment, whether of death or of any kind that is fearsome to man, is made known at the same time as the sin, makes man’s will avers to sin: because the fear of punishment is greater than the enticement of the example of sin. Whether vengeance should be taken on those who have sinned involuntarily?Objection 1: It seems that vengeance should be taken on those who have sinned involuntarily. For the will of one man does not follow from the will of another. Yet one man is punished for another, according to Ex. 20:5, “I am . . . God . . . jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation.” Thus for the sin of Cham, his son Chanaan was curse (Gn. 9:25) and for the sin of Giezi, his descendants were struck with leprosy (4 Kings 5). Again the blood of Christ lays the descendants of the Jews under the ban of punishment, for they said (Mat. 27:25): “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Moreover we read (Josue 7) that the people of Israel were delivered into the hands of their enemies for the sin of Achan, and that the same people were overthrown by the Philistines on account of the sin of the sons of Heli (1 Kings 4). Therefore a person is to be punished without having deserved it voluntarily. Objection 2: Further, nothing is voluntary except what is in a man’s power. But sometimes a man is punished for what is not in his power; thus a man is removed from the administration of the Church on account of being infected with leprosy; and a Church ceases to be an episcopal see on account of the depravity or evil of the people. Therefore vengeance is taken not only for voluntary sins. Objection 3: Further, ignorance makes an act involuntary. Now vengeance is sometimes taken on the ignorant. Thus the children of the people of Sodom, though they were in invincible ignorance, perished with their parents (Gn. 19). Again, for the sin of Dathan and Abiron their children were swallowed up together with them (Num 16). Moreover, dumb animals, which are devoid of reason, were commanded to be slain on account of the sin of the Amalekites (1 Kings 15). Therefore vengeance is sometimes taken on those who have deserved it involuntarily. Objection 4: Further, compulsion is most opposed to voluntariness. But a man does not escape the debt of punishment through being compelled by fear to commit a sin. Therefore vengeance is sometimes taken on those who have deserved it involuntarily.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  I answer that, As stated above [3327](A[3]), fear is sinful in so far as it runs counter to the order of reason. Now reason judges certain evils to be shunned rather than others. Wherefore it is no sin not to shun what is less to be shunned in order to avoid what reason judges to be more avoided: thus death of the body is more to be avoided than the loss of temporal goods. Hence a man would be excused from sin if through fear of death he were to promise or give something to a robber, and yet he would be guilty of sin were he to give to sinners, rather than to the good to whom he should give in preference. On the other hand, if through fear a man were to avoid evils which according to reason are less to be avoided, and so incur evils which according to reason are more to be avoided, he could not be wholly excused from sin, because such like fear would be inordinate. Now the evils of the soul are more to be feared than the evils of the body. and evils of the body more than evils of external things. Wherefore if one were to incur evils of the soul, namely sins, in order to avoid evils of the body, such as blows or death, or evils of external things, such as loss of money; or if one were to endure evils of the body in order to avoid loss of money, one would not be wholly excused from sin. Yet one’s sin would be extenuated somewhat, for what is done through fear is less voluntary, because when fear lays hold of a man he is under a certain necessity of doing a certain thing. Hence the Philosopher (Ethic. iii, 1) says that these things that are done through fear are not simply voluntary, but a mixture of voluntary and involuntary. Reply to Objection 1: Fear excuses, not in the point of its sinfulness, but in the point of its involuntariness. Reply to Objection 2: Although death comes, of necessity, to all, yet the shortening of temporal life is an evil and consequently an object of fear. Reply to Objection 3: According to the opinion of Stoics, who held temporal goods not to be man’s goods, it follows in consequence that temporal evils are not man’s evils, and that therefore they are nowise to be feared. But according to Augustine (De Lib. Arb. ii) these temporal things are goods of the least account, and this was also the opinion of the Peripatetics. Hence their contraries are indeed to be feared; but not so much that one ought for their sake to renounce that which is good according to virtue. OF FEARLESSNESS (TWO ARTICLES)We must now consider the vice of fearlessness: under which head there are two points of inquiry: (1) Whether it is a sin to be fearless? (2) Whether it is opposed to fortitude?

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxx. 2) Some one will ask why none of them prevented Him, except Peter, this being a sign not of want of love, but of reverence. The reason seems to be, that He washed the traitor first, and came next to Peter, and that the other disciples were checked by the reply to Peter. Any of the rest would have said what Peter did, had his turn come first. ORIGEN. (t. xxxii. 5.) Or thus: All the rest put out their feet, certain that so great a one would not want to wash them without reason: but Peter, looking only to the thing itself, and seeing nothing beyond it, refused out of reverence to let his feet be washed. He often appears in Scripture as hasty in putting forth his own ideas of what is right and expedient. AUGUSTINE. Or thus: We must not suppose that Peter was afraid and refused, when the others had willingly and gladly submitted to the washing. Our Lord did not go through the others first, and to the first of the Apostles afterwards; (for who is ignorant that the most blessed Peter was the first of all the Apostles?) but began with him: and Peter being the first to whom He came, was afraid; as indeed any of the others would have been. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxx. 2) i. e. How useful a lesson of humility it teaches thee, and how directly this virtue leads to God. ORIGEN. (t. xxxii.) Or our Lord insinuates that this is a mystery. By washing and wiping, He made beautiful the feet of those who were to preach glad tidings, (Is. 52:7.) and to walk on that way of which He tells them, I am the way. (infr. 14:6) Jesus laid aside His garments that He might make their clean feet still cleaner, or that He might receive the uncleanness of their feet unto His own body, by the towel with which alone He was girded: for He hath borne our griefs. Observe too, He chose for washing His disciples’ feet the very time that the devil had put it into the heart of Judas to betray Him, and the dispensation for mankind was about to take place. Before this the time was not come for washing their feet. And who would have washed their feet in the interval between this and the Passion? During the Passion, there was no other Jesus to do it. And after it the Holy Ghost came upon them, by which time they should already have had their feet washed. This mystery, our Lord says to Peter, is too great for thee to understand now, but thou shalt know it hereafter when thou art enlightened.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 4) Or thus: The Apostles did not yet know what the resurrection was of which He spoke when He said, I go, and come again to you; or what they ought to think of it. They only knew the great power of the Father. So He tells them: Though ye fear I shall not be able to save Myself, and do not trust to My appearing again after My crucifixion; yet when ye hear that I go to My Father, ye should rejoice, because I go to one greater, one able to dissolve and change all things. All this is said in accommodation to their weakness: as we see from the next words; And now I have told you before it come to pass; that when it does come to pass, ye may believe. AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxix. 1) But is not the time for belief before a thing takes place? Is it not the praise of faith, that it believes what it does not see? according to what is said below to Thomas: Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed. He saw one thing, believed another: what he saw was man, what he believed was God. And if belief can be talked of with reference to things seen, as when we say that we believe our eyes; yet it is not mature faith, but is merely preparatory to our believing what we do not see. When it has come to pass; then He says, because after His death they would see Him alive again, and ascending to His Father; which sight would convince them that He was the Christ, the Son of God; able as He was to do so great a thing, and to foretell it. Which faith however would not be a new, but only an enlarged faith; or a faith which had failed at His death, and been renewed by His resurrection. HILARY. (ix. de Trin) He next alludes to the approach of the time when He would resume His glory. Hereafter I will not talk much with you. BEDE. He says this because the time was now approaching for His being taken, and given up to death: For the Prince of this world cometh.

• From The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses) (2)

  THE TWENTY-FIFTH CHAPTER How the death of the Asse, and the Gentlewoman was stayed. After supper they began to talke, and declare unto him the going away of the Gentlewoman, and how I bare her upon my backe, and what death was ordained for us two. Then he desired to see her, whereupon the Gentlewoman was brought forth fast bound, whom as soone as he beheld, he turned himselfe wringing his nose, and blamed them saying: I am not so much a beast, or so rash a fellow to drive you quite from your purpose, but my conscience will not suffer me to conceale any thing that toucheth your profit, since I am as carefull for you, howbeit if my counsell doe displease you, you may at your liberty proceed in your enterprise. I doubt not but all theeves, and such as have a good judgement, will preferre their owne lucre and gain above all things in the world, and above their vengeance, which purchaseth damage to divers persons. Therefore if you put this virgin in the Asses belly, you shall but execute your indignation against her, without all manner of profit; But I would advise you to carry the virgin to some towne and to sell her: and such a brave girle as she is, may be sold for a great quantity of money. And I my selfe know certaine bawdy Marchants, amongst whom peradventure one will give us summes of gold for her. This is my opinion touching this affaire: but advise you what you intend to do, for you may rule me in this case. In this manner the good theefe pleaded and defended our cause, being a good Patron to the silly virgin, and to me poore Asse. But they staied hereupon a good space, with long deliberation, which made my heart (God wot) and spirit greatly to quaile. Howbeit in the end they consented to his opinion, and by and by the Maiden was unloosed of her bonds, who seeing the young man, and hearing the name of brothels and bawdy Merchants, began to wax joyfull, and smiled with herself. Then began I to deeme evill of the generation of women, when as I saw the Maiden (who was appointed to be married to a young Gentleman, and who so greatly desired the same) was now delighted with the talke of a wicked brothel house, and other things dishonest. In this sort the consent and manners of women depended in the judgement of an Asse. THE TWENTY-SIXTH CHAPTER How all the Theeves were brought asleepe by their new companion.

• From The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses) (2)

  When we had passed a great part of our journey, before the rising of the Sun, we came into a wild desart, where they conspired together to slay me. For after they had taken the goddesse from my backe and set her gingerly upon the ground, they likewise tooke off my harnesse, and bound me surely to an Oake, beating me with their whip, in such sort that all my body was mortified. Amongst whom there was one that threatened to cut off my legs with his hatchet, because by my noyse I diffamed his chastity, but the other regarding more their owne profit than my utility, thought best to spare my life, because I might carry home the goddesse. So they laded me againe, driving me before them with their naked swords, till they came to a noble City: where the principall Patrone bearing high reverence unto the goddesse, Came in great devotion before us with Tympany, Cymbals, and other instruments, and received her, and all our company with much sacrifice and veneration. But there I remember, I thought my selfe in most danger, for there was one that brought to the Master of the house, a side of a fat Bucke for a present, which being hanged behind the kitchin doore, not far from the ground, was cleane eaten up by a gray hound, that came in. The Cooke when he saw the Venison devoured, lamented and wept pitifully. And because supper time approached nigh, when as he should be reproved of too much negligence, he tooke a halter to hang himselfe: but his wife perceiving whereabout he went, ran incontinently to him, and taking the halter in both her hands, stopped him of his purpose, saying, O husband, are you out of your writs? pray husband follow my counsel, cary this strange Asse out into some secret place and kill him, which done, cut off one of his sides, and sawce it well like the side of the Bucke, and set it before your Master. Then the Cooke hearing the counsell of his wife, was well pleased to slay me to save himselfe: and so he went to the whetstone, to sharpe his tooles accordingly. THE NINTH BOOKE THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CHAPTER How Apuleius saved himselfe from the Cooke, breaking his halter, and of other things that happened.

• From Collected Essays (1998)

  I could not believe-after all, I was only I 9 -that I could have been driven to the lonesome place where these men and I met each other so soon, to stay. The American idea of masculinity: There are few things under heaven more difficult to understand or, when I was younger, to forgive. During the Second World War (the first one having failed to make the world safe for democracy) and some time after the Civil War (which had failed, unaccountably, to liberate the slave), life for niggers was fairly rough in Greenwich Village. There were only about three of us, if I remember correctly, when I first hit those streets, and I was the youngest, the most visible, and the most vulnerable. On every street corner, I was called a faggot. This meant that I was despised, and, however horrible this is, it is clear. 822 OTHER ESSAYS What was not clear at that time of my life was what motivated the men and boys who mocked and chased me; for, if they found me when they were alone, they spoke to me very dif ferently-frightening me , I must say, into a stunned and speechless paralysis. For when they were alone, they spoke very gently and wanted me to take them home and make love . (They could not take me home; they lived with their families.) The baffiement and the pain this caused in me remain beyond description. I was far too terrified to be able to accept their propositions, which could only result, it seemed to me, in making myself a candidate for gang rape. At the same time, I was moved by their loneliness, their halting, nearly speechless need. But I did not understand it. One evening, for example, I was standing at the bottom of the steps to the Waverly Place subway station, saying goodbye to some friends who were about to take the subway. A gang of boys stood at the top of the steps and cried, in high, fem inine voices, "Is this where the fags meet?" Well. This meant that I certainly could not go back upstairs but would have to take the subway with my fr iends and get off at another station and maneuver my way home.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  Other prisoners exploit or react violently to the behavioral symptoms of the mentally ill. Frustrated prison staff frequently subject them to abusive punishment, solitary confinement, or the most extreme forms of available detention. Many judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers do a poor job of recognizing the special needs of the mentally disabled, which leads to wrongful convictions, lengthier prison terms, and high rates of recidivism. — I once represented a mentally ill man on Alabama’s death row named George Daniel. George had suffered brain damage in a car accident that knocked him unconscious late one night in Houston, Texas. When he woke up, he was in an upside-down car on the side of the road. He went home that night and never sought medical assistance. His girlfriend later told his family that at first he just seemed a little off. Then he started hallucinating and exhibiting increasingly bizarre and erratic behavior. He stopped sleeping regularly, complained about hearing voices, and on two occasions ran out of the house naked because he thought he was being chased by wasps. Within a week of the accident he had stopped speaking in sentences. Just before his mother, who lived in Montgomery, was summoned to help persuade him to go to a hospital, George boarded a Greyhound bus in the middle of the night. He traveled as far as the money he had in his pocket would take him. Disoriented and uncommunicative, he was forced off the bus in Hurtsboro, Alabama, after unnerving some passengers by talking loudly to himself and gesturing wildly at objects he imagined were flying around him. The bus had gone through Montgomery, where he had family, but he stayed on until he was thrown off, with no money and wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and no shoes in the middle of January. He wandered around Hurtsboro and eventually stopped at a house. He knocked on the door, and when the homeowner opened it, George walked inside without being invited and roamed around until he found the kitchen table, where he sat down. The alarmed homeowner called her son, who came and physically removed George from the house. George went to another home owned by an older woman and did the same thing. She called the police. The officer who responded had a reputation for being aggressive, and he forcefully removed George from the home. George started resisting while being pulled to the police car, and the two men began wrestling and fell to the ground. The officer pulled his weapon and the two were grappling over the gun when it discharged, shooting the officer in the stomach. He died from the gunshot wound. George was arrested and charged with capital murder. While in the Russell County jail, he became acutely psychotic. Officers reported that he wouldn’t leave his cell. He was observed eating his own feces. His mother visited him, but he didn’t recognize her.

• From Collected Essays (1998)

  It is still true, alas, that to be an American Negro male is also to be a kind of 269 2""'�'0 NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME walking phallic symbol: which means that one pays, in one's own personality, fo r the sexual insecurity of others. The re lationship, therct(>rc, of a black boy to a white boy is a very complex thing. There is a ditlerence, though, between Norman and myself in that I think he still imagines that he has something to save, whereas I have never had anything to lose. Or, perhaps I ought to put it another way: the thing that most white people imagine that they can salvage trom the storm of lite is really, in sum, their innocence. It was this commodity precisely which I had to get rid of at once, literally, on pain of death. I am atraid that most of the white people I have ever known impressed me as being in the grip of a weird nostalgia, dream ing of a vanished state of security and order, against which dream, unfailingly and unconsciously, they tested and very of ten lost their lives. It is a terrible thing to say, but I am atraid that t<>r a very long time the troubles of white people fa iled to impress me as being real trouble. They put me in mind of children crying because the breast has been taken away. Time and love have modified my tough-boy lack of charity, but the attitude sketched above was my first attitude and I am sure that there is a great deal of it left. To proceed: two lean cats, one white and one black, met in a french living room. I had heard of him, he had heard of me. And here we were, suddenly, circling around each other. We liked each other at once, but each was frightened that the other would pull rank. He could have pulled rank on me be cause he was more tamous and had more money and also because he was white; but I could have pulled rank on him precisely because I was black and knew more about that pe riphery he so helplessly maligns in Ihe White Negro than he could ever hope to know. Already, you sec, we were trapped in our roles and our attitudes: the toughest kid on the block was meeting the toughest kid on the block. I think that both of us were pretty weary of this grueling and thankless role, I know that I am; but the roles that we construct are con structed because we ted that they will help us to survive and also, of course, because they fu lfill something in our person alities; and one docs not, thcrct(>re, cease playing a role simply because one has begun to understand it.

• From Collected Essays (1998)

  I lived it over and over and over again, the way one relives an automobile accident after it has happened and one finds one self alone and safe. I could not get over two fa cts, both equally difficult fo r the imagination to grasp, and one was that I could have been murdered. But the other was that I had been ready to commit murder. I saw nothing very clearly but I did see this: that my life, my rca/life, was in danger, and not fr om anything other people might do but from the hatred I carried in my own heart. II I had returned home around the second week in June-in great haste because it seemed that my fa ther's death and my mother's confinement were both but a matter of hours. In the case of my mother, it soon became clear that she had simply made a miscalculation. This had always been her tendency and I don't believe that a single one of us arrived in the world, or has since arrived anywhere else, on time. But none of us daw dled so intolerably about the business of being born as did my baby sister. We sometimes amused ourselves, during those endless, stifling weeks, by picturing the baby sitting within in the sate, warm dark, bitterly regretting the necessity of be coming a part of our chaos and stubbornly putting it off as long as possible. I understood her perfectly and congratulated her on showing such good sense so soon. Death, however, sat NOTES OF A NATIVE SON 73 as purposefully at my fa ther's bedside as life stirred within my mother's womb and it was harder to understand why he so lingered in that long shadow. It seemed that he had bent, and fo r a long time, too, all of his energies towards dying. Now death was ready fo r him but my fa ther held back. All of Harlem, indeed, seemed to be infected by waiting. I had never before known it to be so violently still. Racial ten sions throughout this country were exacerbated during the early years of the war, partly because the labor market brought together hundreds of thousands of ill-prepared people and partly because Negro soldiers, regardless of where they were born, received their military training in the south.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  It was not a sensible question, but I was a little unnerved seeing Walter like this. He’d lost weight, and his gown wasn’t tied in the back, which he didn’t seem to notice. I stopped him. “Wait, let me help you out.” I tied the strings on his gown and we continued to his room. He moved slowly and cautiously, sliding his feet in his slippers across the floor as if he’d forgotten how to pick them up. He grabbed my arm a few feet down the hall and leaned on me as we slowly made our way. “Well, I told them people I got plenty of cars, plenty of cars.” He spoke emphatically, with much more excitement than I’d heard from him in a while. “All different colors, shapes, and sizes. The man say, ‘Your cars don’t work.’ I told him my cars do work, too.” He looked at me. “You may have to talk to that man about my cars, okay?” I nodded and thought of his field of metal. “You do have lots of cars—” “I know!” He cut me off and started laughing. “See, I told them people, but they didn’t believe me. I told them.” He was smiling and chuckling now, but he looked confused and not himself. “Them people think I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I know exactly what I’m talking about.” He spoke defiantly. We reached his room, and he sat down on his bed while I pulled up a chair. He became still and quiet and suddenly looked very worried. “Well, it looks like I’m back here,” he said with a heavy sigh. “They done put me back on death row.” His voice was mournful. “I tried, I tried, I tried, but they just won’t let me be.” He looked me in the eye. “Why they want to do somebody like they’re doing me is something I’ll never understand. Why are people like that? I mind my own business. I don’t hurt nobody. I try to do right, and no matter what I do, people come along, put me right back on death row…for nothing. Nothing. I ain’t done nothing to nobody. Nothing, nothing, nothing.” He was becoming agitated so I put my hand on his arm. “Hey, it’s okay,” I said as gently as I could. “It’s not as bad as it seems. I think—” “You’re going to get me out, right? You’re going to get me off the row again?” “Walter, this isn’t the row. You haven’t been feeling well, and so you’re here so you can get better. This is a hospital.” “They’ve got me again, and you’ve got to help me.” He was starting to panic, and I wasn’t sure what to do. Then he started crying. “Please get me out of here. Please? They’re going to execute me for no good reason, and I don’t want to die in no electric chair.” He was crying now with a forcefulness that alarmed me.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  I answer that, As stated above ([3300]FS, Q[61], AA[3],4), those virtues are said to be cardinal or principal which have a foremost claim to that which belongs to the virtues in common. And among other conditions of virtue in general one is that it is stated to “act steadfastly,” according to Ethic. ii, 4. Now fortitude above all lays claim to praise for steadfastness. Because he that stands firm is so much the more praised, as he is more strongly impelled to fall or recede. Now man is impelled to recede from that which is in accordance with reason, both by the pleasing good and the displeasing evil. But bodily pain impels him more strongly than pleasure. For Augustine says (QQ[83], qu. 36): “There is none that does not shun pain more than he desires pleasure. For we perceive that even the most untamed beasts are deterred from the greatest pleasures by the fear of pain.” And among the pains of the mind and dangers those are mostly feared which lead to death, and it is against them that the brave man stands firm. Therefore fortitude is a cardinal virtue. Reply to Objection 1: Daring and anger do not cooperate with fortitude in its act of endurance, wherein its steadfastness is chiefly commended: for it is by that act that the brave man curbs fear, which is a principal passion, as stated above ([3301]FS, Q[25], A[4]). Reply to Objection 2: Virtue is directed to the good of reason which it behooves to safeguard against the onslaught of evils. And fortitude is directed to evils of the body, as contraries which it withstands, and to the good of reason, as the end, which it intends to safeguard. Reply to Objection 3: Though dangers of death are of rare occurrence, yet the occasions of those dangers occur frequently, since on account of justice which he pursues, and also on account of other good deeds, man encounters mortal adversaries. Whether fortitude excels among all other virtues?Objection 1: It seems that fortitude excels among all other virtues. For Ambrose says (De Offic. i): “Fortitude is higher, so to speak, than the rest.” Objection 2: Further, virtue is about that which is difficult and good. But fortitude is about most difficult things. Therefore it is the greatest of the virtues. Objection 3: Further, the person of a man is more excellent than his possessions. But fortitude is about a man’s person, for it is this that a man exposes to the danger of death for the good of virtue: whereas justice and the other moral virtues are about other and external things. Therefore fortitude is the chief of the moral virtues. Objection 4: On the contrary, Tully says (De Offic. i): “Justice is the most resplendent of the virtues and gives its name to a good man.”

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THAT SINS ARE PUNISHED ALSO BY THE SINNER BEING SUBJECTED TO SOME KIND OF PAINTHOSE who sin against God are to be punished not only by forfeiting beatitude for ever, but also by being subjected to some kind of pain. For punishment should be proportionate to fault, as we proved above. Now when a man sins, his mind not only turns away from his last end, but also turns unduly to other things as ends. Therefore the sinner should be punished not only by being debarred from his end, but also by experiencing hurt from other things. Again. Punishments are inflicted for sins that, through fear of being punished, men may be withdrawn from sin, as stated above. Now no one fears to lose what he desires not to get. Consequently, those whose will is turned away from their last end, fear not to lose it. Hence they would not be recalled from sinning by the mere loss of their last end. Therefore some other punishment, which sinners would fear, should be inflicted on them. Also. If a man abuses the means to an end, not only is he debarred from the end, but he incurs some other hurt besides: for instance, food taken injudiciously, not only does not strengthen, but even causes sickness. Now the man who places his end in creatures, does not use them as he should, namely by referring them to his last end. Therefore he should be punished, not only by forfeiting beatitude, but also by undergoing some hurt from them. Besides. As good things are due to well-doers, so evil things are due to evil-doers. Now those who do aright, reap perfection and joy in the end intended by them. Therefore, on the other hand, such a punishment is due to sinners, that they reap pain and hurt from the things wherein they place their end. Hence it is that Holy Writ threatens sinners not only with exclusion from glory, but also with affliction from other things. For it is said (Matth. 25:41): Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels: and (Ps. 10:7): He shall rain snares upon sinners; fire, and brimstone, and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup. Hereby we refute the opinion of Algazel, who said that the only punishment meted to sinners is their loss of their last end. CHAPTER CXLVI

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Mark here the combination of fear with boldness and great desperation, for it is a sign of devilish despair to speak out boldly, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? but of fear when they pray, I beseech thee not to cast me out. But if thou knowest Him to be the Son of God most high, thou confessest Him to be the God of heaven and earth, and of all things that are contained in them. How then dost thou make use not of thy own but His words, saying, What have I to do with thee? But what earthly prince will altogether endure to have his subjects tormented by barbarians? Hence it follows, For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of him. And He shews the necessity of the command, adding, For oftentimes it had caught him, &c. CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.) Therefore since no one could hold the possessed, Christ goes to him and addresses him. It follows, And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? BEDE. He enquires not his name as ignorant of it, but that when the demoniac had confessed the plague which he endured, the power of the Healer might shine forth more welcome to him. But the priests also of our time, who through the grace of exorcism are able to cast out devils, are wont to say that the sufferers can no otherwise be cured than by openly telling in confession every thing which either waking or sleeping they have endured from the unclean spirits, and above all when they imagine that the devils seek and obtain the possession of the human body. So also here the confession is added, And he said, Legion, because many devils were entered into him. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Hom. 14. in Cantic.) Certain evil spirits imitating the heavenly hosts and the legions of Angels say that they are legions. As also their prince says that he will exalt his throne above the stars that he may be like to the Most High. (Isaiah 14:13.) CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.) But when the Lord had overcome the evil spirits which disturbed His creatures, they thought that because of the enormity of those things which had been done, He would not wait the time of their punishment, and therefore since they could not deny their guilt, they entreat that they may not quickly undergo the penalty. As it follows, And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. THEOPHYLACT. Which indeed the devils demand, wishing yet longer to mix with mankind. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. And hence it is plain that the rebel hosts against the Divine Majesty were thrust down to hell by the unspeakable power of the Saviour.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lvii. 2) What sort of gratitude is this in the parents; concealing what they knew, from fear of the Jews? as we are next told; These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews. And then the Evangelist mentions again what the intentions and dispositions of the Jews were: For the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xliv. 10) It was no disadvantage to be put out of the synagogue: whom they cast out, Christ took in. Therefore said his parents, He is of age, ask him. ALCUIN. The Evangelist shews that it was not from ignorance, but fear, that they gave this answer. THEOPHYLACT. For they were fainthearted; not like their son, that intrepid witness to the truth, the eyes of whose understanding had been enlightened by God. 9:24–3424. Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. 25. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26. Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27. He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? 28. Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. 29. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. 30. The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. 34. They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lviii. 2) The parents having referred the Pharisees to the healed man himself, they summon him a second time: Then again called they the man that was blind. They do not openly say now, Deny that Christ has healed thee, but conceal their object under the pretence of religion: Give God the praise, i. e. confess that this man has had nothing to do with the work. AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xliv. s. 11) Deny that thou hast received the benefit. This is not to give God the glory, but rather to blaspheme Him.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Avoidance of Sin and Negligence on the Sabbath.—Another thing to be avoided on the Sabbath is sin: “Take heed to your souls, and carry no burdens on the Sabbath day” [Jer 18:21]. This weight and burden on the soul is sin: “My iniquities as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me” [Ps 37:5]. Now, sin is a servile work because “whoever commits sin is the servant of sin” [Jn 8:34]. Therefore, when it is said, “You shall do no servile work therein,”[Lev 3:25]. it can be understood of sin. Thus, one violates this commandment as often as one commits sin on the Sabbath; and so both by working and by sin God is offended. “The Sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide.” And why? “Because your assemblies are wicked. My soul hates your new moon and your solemnities; they are become troublesome to me” [Is 1:13] Another thing to avoid on the Sabbath is idleness: “For idleness has taught much evil” [Sir 33:29]. St. Jerome says: “Always do some good work, and the devil will always find you occupied” [Ep. ad Rusticum]. Hence, it is not good for one to keep only the principal feasts, if on the others one would remain idle. “The King’s honor loves judgment” [Ps 98:4 Vulgate], that is to say, discretion. Wherefore, we read that certain of the Jews were in hiding, and their enemies fell upon them; but they, believing that they were not able to defend themselves on the Sabbath, were overcome and killed [1 Mac 2:31-38]. The same thing happens to many who are idle on the feast days: “The enemies have seen her, and have mocked at her Sabbaths” [Lam 1:7]. But all such should do as those Jews did, of whom it is said: “Whoever shall come up against us to fight on the Sabbath day, we will fight against him” [1 Mac 2:41] DO WHAT ON THE SABBATH?“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.” We have already said that man must keep the feast days holy; and that “holy” is considered in two ways, namely, “pure” and “consecrated to God.” Moreover, we have indicated what things we should abstain from on these days. Now it must be shown with what we should occupy ourselves, and they are three in number.

• From Collected Essays (1998)

  Lodging for transient blacks, or entertainment for the locals, is a severely circumscribed matter in the Deep South, so that, for example, if one is not staying with friends or relatives, one stays in a hotel like mine, or, if one's fr iends or relatives decide to buy you a drink, they will bring you to the bar of this hotel. I liked it very much. I liked watching staid Baptist ministers and their plump, starched wives seated but a table away fr om the town's loose and fallen ladies and their unstarched men. I thought it healthy, because it reduced the possibilities of self-delusion-especially in those years. The Man had everybody in the same bag, and for the 400 NO NAME IN THE STREET same reason, no matter what kind of suit he was wearing, or what kind of car he drove. And the people treated each other, it seemed to me, with rather more respect than was typical of New York, where, of course, the opportunities for self-delu sion were, comparatively, so much greater. Where whiskey was against the law, you simply bought your whiskey from the law enforcers. I did it, many times, all over the South, at first simply to find out if what I had been told was true-to see it with my own eyes and to pay the man with my own hands-and then, later, because life on the road be gan to run me ragged. It was almost impossible to get any thing but bourbon, and the very smell of bourbon is still associated in my mind with the mean little eyes of deputy sheriffs and the holster on the hip and the ominous trees which line the highways. Nor can you get a meal anywhere in the South without being confronted with "grits"; a pale, lumpy, tasteless kind of porridge which the Southerner insists is a delicacy but which I believe they ingest as punishment for their sins. "What? you don't want no grits?" asks the wide eyed waitress; not hostile yet, merely baffled. She moves away and spreads the word all over the region: "You see that man there? Well, he don't eat no grits"-and you are, suddenly, a marked man. It is not difficult to become a marked man in the South all you have to do, in fuct, is go there. The Montgomery airport, for example, was, in those years, a brave little shack, set down, defiantly, in limbo. It was being guarded, on the morning of my first arrival, by three more or less senior citi zens, metallic of color and decidedly sparing of speech. I was the only thing, of any color, to descend from that plane that morning, and they stood at the gate and watched me as I crossed the field. I was carrying my typewriter, which suddenly seemed very heavy. I was fr ightened. The way they watched me fr ightened me.

• From Collected Essays (1998)

  Perhaps to compensate for this, Bill now takes me to see Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda in the Walter Wanger production of Fritz Lang's You OnZ1• LiPe Once. I, also, either with her or without her, I don't remember, sec the Warner Brothers production (or screen 1'e11dition, which pompous formulation I adored) of a novel I had read, Ward Greene's Death in the Deep South, brought to the screen by (I think) Mervyn LeRoy, as They Won't Forget, starring Claude Rains; and Samuel Goldwyn's production of William Wyler's Dead End, again starring Sylvia Sidney. Who also starred in the film version of a play Bill took me to see, the WPA Living Newspaper production,-one third of a nation-. It is not entirely true that no one fr om the world I knew had yet made an appearance on the American screen: there were, for example, Stepin Fetchit and Willie Best and Manton Moreland, all of whom, rightly or wrongly, I loathed. It seemed to me that they lied about the world I knew, and debased it, and certainly I did not know anybody like them as f.1r as I could tell; f( >r it is also possible that their comic, bug-eyed terror contained the truth concerning a terror by which I hoped never to be engulfed. Y ct, I had no reservations at all concerning the terror of the black janitor in 17Jey Wou't Forget. I think that it was a black actor named Clinton Rosewood who played this part, and he looked a little like my father. He is terrified because a young white girl, in this small Southern town, has been raped and murdered, and her body has been found on the premises of which he is the janitor. (Lana Turner, in her first movie, is the raped and murdered girl, which is, perhaps, a somewhat cu- CHAPTER ONE 4-93 rious beginning for so gold-plated a career.) The role of the janitor is small, yet the man's face hangs in my memory until today: and the film's icy brutality both scared me and strengthened me. The Southern politician (Rains) needs an issue on which to be re-elected. He decides, therefore, that to pin the rape and murder of the white girl on a black man is insufficiently sensational. He very coldly fr ames a white Northern schoolteacher for this crime, and brings about his death at the hands of a lynch mob.

• From The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25-Year Landmark Study (2000)

  Many grown children of divorce ask me: Why do I feel the way I do? Why am I having so much trouble finding someone to love me and someone I can trust? What’s wrong with me? Why am I so afraid of change? Why am I so afraid of loss? If my wife is thirty minutes late, I wonder who she’s with. Why, if my husband is delayed, do I panic and think I’ll never see him again? Why does getting close to someone I love and having sex seem so scary? I get anguished letters from all over the country every week that pose the same questions, asking for advice. One that came yesterday is typical. “Dear Dr. Wallerstein, I am a child of divorce. I’m thirty-nine and have a loving husband and two wonderful sons. Yet I go to bed every night worried that when I wake up, they’ll be gone. Can you help me?” I think I can. The key phrase they all use is, “I am a child of divorce.” I hear it repeatedly when I talk to people in their thirties, forties, or even sixties. What exactly does it mean? Divorce in childhood creates an enduring identity. Because it typically occurs when a child is young and impressionable and the effects last throughout her growing up years, divorce leaves a permanent stamp. That identity is made up of the childhood fears that you can’t shake despite all the successes and achievements you’ve made as an adult. These are the consequences of the broken template I talked about earlier. You were a little child when your parents broke up and it frightened you badly, more than you have ever acknowledged. When the family split, you felt as if you were splitting in two. When one parent left, you felt like there was nothing you could ever rely on. And you said to yourself that you would never open yourself to the same kinds of risks. You would stay away from loving. Or you only get involved with people you don’t care about so you won’t get hurt. Either way, you don’t love and you don’t commit. You would trust no one since you could not trust your own parents to be faithful to you. You would stay free of emotional entanglements. Your fears and your ways of responding to your fears, which were eminently sensible and logical at the time, became a part of your character and have stayed with you up to this day. There is more. Some of you went another route. You turned on your own feelings. Since feelings are so painful, you damped them down. Because you were a child, you could convince yourself that you don’t feel. Feelings hurt, you said to yourself. So I won’t have them. It worked for many years. Bad news or good news, you felt invulnerable.