Wednesday, June 16, 2010

1a 2ae q35 a8: Whether there are only four species of sadness? Yes.

Et hoc modo loquendi assignantur hic species tristitiae, per applicationem rationis tristitiae ad aliquid extraneum. Quod quidem extraneum accipi potest vel ex parte causae, obiecti; vel ex parte effectus. Proprium enim obiectum tristitiae est proprium malum.

The species of sadness are reckoned by an application of the formal aspect of sadness to something foreign to it, because this foreign matter may be taken on the part of the cause or the object, or of the effect: for the proper object of sadness is "one's own evil."

Unde extraneum obiectum tristitiae accipi potest vel secundum alterum tantum, quia scilicet est malum, sed non proprium, et sic est misericordia, quae est tristitia de alieno malo, inquantum tamen aestimatur ut proprium.

Hence sadness may be concerned for an object foreign to it, either through one's being sorry for an evil that is not one's own; and thus we have "pity" which is sadness for another's evil, considered, however, as one's own.

Vel quantum ad utrumque, quia neque est de proprio, neque de malo, sed de bono alieno, inquantum tamen bonum alienum aestimatur ut proprium malum, et sic est invidia.

Or through one's being sorry for something that is neither evil nor one's own, but another's good, considered, however, as one's own evil: and thus we have "envy."

Proprius autem effectus tristitiae consistit in quadam fuga appetitus. Unde extraneum circa effectum tristitiae, potest accipi quantum ad alterum tantum, quia scilicet tollitur fuga: et sic est anxietas quae sic aggravat animum, ut non appareat aliquod refugium; unde alio nomine dicitur angustia.

The proper effect of sadness consists in a certain "flight of the appetite." Wherefore the foreign element in the effect of sadness, may be taken so as to affect the first part only, by excluding flight: and thus we have "anxiety" which weighs on the mind, so as to make escape seem impossible; hence it is also called "perplexity."

Si vero intantum procedat talis aggravatio, ut etiam exteriora membra immobilitet ab opere, quod pertinet ad acediam; sic erit extraneum quantum ad utrumque, quia nec est fuga, nec est in appetitu. Ideo autem specialiter acedia dicitur vocem amputare, quia vox inter omnes exteriores motus magis exprimit interiorem conceptum et affectum, non solum in hominibus, sed etiam in aliis animalibus, ut dicitur in I Polit.

If, however, the mind be weighed down so much, that even the limbs become motionless, which belongs to "torpor," then we have the foreign element affecting both, since there is neither flight, nor is the effect in the appetite. And the reason why torpor especially is said to deprive one of speech is because of all the external movements the voice is the best expression of the inward thought and desire, not only in men, but also in other animals, as is stated in Polit. i, 1.

Delectatio causatur ex bono, quod uno modo dicitur. Et ideo delectationis non assignantur tot species sicut tristitiae, quae causatur ex malo, quod "multifariam contingit", ut dicit Dionysius, IV cap. de Div. Nom.

Pleasure is caused by good, which has only one meaning. And so pleasure is not divided into several species as sadness is; for the latter is caused by evil, which "happens in many ways", as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv).