Tuesday, June 22, 2010

1a 2ae q37 a2: Whether the effect of sadness or pain is to burden the soul? Yes.

Tristitia contingit ex aliquo malo praesenti, quod quidem, ex hoc ipso quod repugnat motui voluntatis, aggravat animum, inquantum impedit ipsum ne fruatur eo quod vult.

Sadness is caused by a present evil, and this evil, from the very fact that it is repugnant to the movement of the will, depresses the soul, inasmuch as it hinders it from enjoying that which it wishes to enjoy.

Et si quidem non sit tanta vis mali contristantis ut auferat spem evadendi, licet animus aggravetur quantum ad hoc, quod in praesenti non potitur eo quod vult, remanet tamen motus ad repellendum nocivum contristans.

And if the evil which is the cause of sadness be not so strong as to deprive one of the hope of avoiding it, although the soul be depressed insofar as, for the present, it fails to grasp that which it craves for, yet it retains the movement whereby to repulse that evil.

Si vero superexcrescat vis mali intantum ut spem evasionis excludat, tunc simpliciter impeditur etiam interior motus animi angustiati, ut neque hac neque illac divertere valeat.

If, on the other hand, the strength of the evil be such as to exclude the hope of evasion, then even the interior movement of the afflicted soul is absolutely hindered, so that it cannot turn aside either this way or that.

Et quandoque etiam impeditur exterior motus corporis, ita quod remaneat homo stupidus in seipso.

Sometimes even the external movement of the body is paralyzed, so that a man becomes completely stupefied.