1. Accordingly, if pride is the beginning of all sin, and concupiscence the penalty of sin, vicious concupiscence cannot be conquered otherwise than if first pride — which is its enemy — is guarded against by the virtue of humility. A proud will makes God's precepts to be despised; humility, to be kept. Pride made demons out of angels; humility makes men like the holy angels. The former makes the rebellious subject to the devil; the latter joins the humble to Christ. The proud long to have proclaimed of themselves what they do not do; the humble shun having any good they do acknowledged. The former, by estranging their vices from themselves, excuse the perversity of their will, and, by crediting their good deeds to their own powers, basely boast of themselves;
the latter, if they have committed any sins, accuse themselves by confessing voluntarily; and, by attributing all their good to the divine gift, continually praise God. Wherefore, since virtue does not dwell in a vicious soul, let pride yield to the rule of humility; for the mind cannot have the kingdom of the virtues unless it has first shaken off the yoke of the vices. For then are the vices faithfully driven out and depart, if they yield to the virtues. Otherwise either, expelled, they subside for a time, or they return — unless virtues have succeeded into the places of the vices that have been driven out.
Wherefore let piety in us resist cruelty, let patience grounded firmly check anger, let chastity conquer lust, let tranquillity remove animosity, let measured silence restrain wordiness, let spiritual delight diminish carnal desires, let the rigor of abstinence blunt the goads of the flesh, let spiritual zeal succeed curiosity, let drunkenness yield to sobriety, let savagery give way to gentleness, let maturity master fickleness; and, as the love of God and of neighbor grows, let all worldly desire be consumed;
let true frugality exclude luxury, let diligent virtue chastise sloth, let profound humility repress boasting, let pure simplicity drive out folly, let no inconstancy hinder banished steadfastness, let amended morals increase discipline, let religious clemency break savagery, and let acquired goodness root out malice from its very foundations, so that by the expulsion of the vices the glorious introduction of the virtues may be celebrated. But concerning the virtues we shall see in the following chapter; now let us proceed, as we have begun, with the vices.