Verse 18. 'The paths of their steps are entangled.' 34. It profits nothing to propose right things, unless we are tenacious of our purpose. Everything that is entangled is folded back upon itself. And there are some who deliberate, as it were with their whole intention, to withstand the seducing vices, but at the onset of the moment of temptation they do not persevere in the purpose of their deliberation. For one man, puffed up by the wicked daring of pride, when he considers how great are the rewards of humility, rises up against his own self, and, as it were laying aside the swelling of turgid arrogance, promises to show himself humble under any insults whatsoever;
but when suddenly the injury of a single word has assailed him, he returns forthwith to his accustomed elation, and thus is drawn to swelling, so that he in no way remembers that he had desired the good of humility. Another, seething with avarice, pants after increasing his resources. When he sees all things pass swiftly away, he fixes his mind that wanders through covetings, and resolves now to crave nothing, and to possess only what he has already gotten under the curb of great restraint; but when suddenly things that please are set before his eyes, his mind pants forthwith in ambition, cannot contain itself, seeks an occasion of acquiring these things, and, forgetful of the continence it had pledged with itself, disquiets itself with the goads of thoughts through the desires of acquisition.
Another is defiled by the wasting rot of lust, and is now held captive by long habit; yet he beholds how great is the purity of chastity, and perceives it to be shameful to be conquered by the flesh. He therefore deliberates to restrain the fluxes of pleasures, and prepares to resist habit as it were with all his strength. But whether by an appearance set before his eyes, or brought back to memory, when he is shaken by a sudden temptation, he is straightway scattered from his former preparation; and he who had raised against this the shield of deliberation lies pierced through by the dart of delight; and thus lust overcomes him, unnerved, as though he had prepared no weapons of intention against it. Another is kindled with the flames of anger, and is unbridled even to the inflicting of insults upon his neighbors.
But when no occasion strikes his mind to fury, he considers how great is the virtue of meekness, how great the loftiness of patience, and prepares himself to be patient even against insults; but when even the slightest occasion of disturbance arises, he is suddenly inflamed to the very marrow toward outcries and insults; so that not only does the patience he had promised not return to memory, but the mind does not even recognize itself nor the reproaches it utters. And when he has fully satisfied his fury, he returns, as it were after exercise, into tranquillity; and then he gathers himself back to the enclosure of silence, when not patience, but the satisfaction of his own insolence, has set a curb upon his tongue.
Scarcely, then, and late, after the insults have been inflicted, does he restrain himself, because foaming horses too are often checked in their course not by the hand of the rider, but by the boundary of the field. Well, therefore, is it said of the reprobate: 'The paths of their steps are entangled,' because they indeed crave right things by deliberating, but are always folded back to their accustomed evils; and, as it were stretched outside themselves, they return to themselves by a circuit, who indeed desire good things but never depart from evil ones. For they wish to be humble, yet without contempt; to be content with their own, yet without need; to be chaste, yet without maceration of the body; to be patient, yet without insults;
and while they seek to attain the virtues, yet flee the labors of the virtues, what else do they do than know nothing of the battles of war on the field, and yet crave to triumph in the cities over the war? 35. While some men subdue certain vices but neglect others, they presently succumb even to those already subdued. Although this—that their entangled paths are recorded—can still be understood in yet another way. For often some gird themselves vehemently against certain vices, but neglect to subdue others; and while they do not rise up against these, those also which they had subdued rise up again against them. For one man has already tamed the flesh from lust, yet has not yet restrained the mind from avarice;
and while he keeps himself in the world for the exercise of avarice, and while he does not withdraw from earthly deeds, when the moment of occasion bursts forth, he slips even into lust, which he seemed already to have subdued. Another has conquered the heat of avarice, but has by no means subjected the force of lust; and while he prepares the price for fulfilling his lust, he bows the neck of his heart even under the yoke of avarice, which he had long since tamed. Another has already laid low the impatience that was rebelling, but has not yet conquered vainglory, and when through this he thrusts himself into the world's honors, transfixed by the goads of contentions, he returns captive to impatience; and while vainglory raises his mind to the defense of itself, he endures, defeated, that very impatience which he had overcome.
Another has subjected vainglory, yet has not yet laid low impatience; and while through impatience he threatens many who resist him, blushing not to fulfill what he speaks, he is called back under the yoke of vainglory; and this he endures, defeated through another vice, which he had rejoiced to have fully conquered. Thus, then, by mutual aid the vices retain their fugitive, and, as it were, receive back under the right of their dominion one already lost, and hand him over in turn to punishment for themselves. For the perverse, therefore, the paths of their steps are entangled, because although by one wickedness overcome they lift the foot, yet, with another still reigning, they entangle that foot even in the vice they had overcome. 36. The sinner entangles himself, since one fault is the occasion of another and of many that follow.
A man, as it were, degenerates into a beast when, under the pretext of reason, he sins against reason. But sometimes, when the paths of the steps are entangled, one is overcome by no single fault, and one is perpetrated through another. For often the falsehood of denial is joined to theft, and often the fault of falsehood is heaped up with the guilt of perjury. Often some vice is committed with shameless presumption, and often—what is graver than any fault—one is even proud of the vice committed. For although elation is wont to be born of virtue, sometimes nevertheless the foolish mind exalts itself over the wickedness it has perpetrated. But when fault is joined to fault, what else is it than that the steps of the wicked are bound by entangled paths and knotted chains?
Whence it is well said against the perverse mind, under the figure of Judea, through Isaiah: 'It shall be the couch of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches; and demons shall meet with wild asses, and the hairy one shall cry out one to another' (Isaiah 34:14). For what is designated by 'dragons' but malice? And what by the name of 'ostriches' but hypocrisy? For the ostrich has the appearance of flying, but has not the use of flying, because hypocrisy too suggests to all beholders an image of sanctity in itself, but knows not how to hold to the life of sanctity. In the perverse mind, therefore, the dragon lies couched, and the ostrich is pastured, because both hidden malice is craftily covered, and a pretense of goodness is set before the eyes of beholders.
And what is figured by the name of 'wild asses' (onocentaurs) but both the wanton and the proud? For in the Greek tongue the ass is called 'onos,' and by the appellation of the ass lust is designated, as the prophet attests, who says: 'Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses' (Ezekiel 23:20). But by the word 'bull' the neck of pride is shown, just as with the Lord's voice it is said of the proud Jews through the Psalmist: 'Fat bulls have beset me' (Ps. 21:13). The onocentaurs, therefore, are those who, subject to the vices of lust, thence raise the neck whence they ought to have been humbled. Who, serving the pleasures of their own flesh, having driven shame far away, not only do not grieve to lose rectitude, but even still rejoice over the work of confusion.
But demons meet with the onocentaurs, because malignant spirits very much serve according to the will of those whom they behold rejoicing over the things they ought to have wept for. Wherein it is aptly subjoined: 'And the hairy one shall cry out one to another.' For who are figured by the appellation of the 'hairy ones,' but those whom the Greeks call Pans, the Latins incubi? whose form, indeed, begins from a human likeness, but ends in a bestial extremity. By the name of the 'hairy one,' therefore, is designated the roughness of any sin whatsoever, which, even if at some time it begins as it were from the pretext of reason, yet always tends toward irrational motions; and, as it were, a man degenerates into a beast, while the fault, beginning through the image of reason, drags on to an irrational effect.
For often the delight of eating serves gluttony, and feigns to serve the need of nature; and while it stretches the belly to voracity, it rouses the members to lust. But the hairy one cries out one to another, when a wickedness once perpetrated provokes to the perpetrating of another, and, as it were by a certain voice of thought, the fault already committed invites yet another fault to be committed. For often, as we have said, gluttony says: 'If you do not refresh the body with abundant food, you cannot hold out in any useful labor.' And when it has kindled the mind through the desires of the flesh, presently lust too utters the words of its own suggestion, saying: 'If God had not willed men to be joined bodily, He would not have made the very members apt for the uses of union.'
And while it suggests these things as though from reason, it drags the mind to the unbridling of lusts. Which, being often caught, presently seeks the patronage of falsehood and denial; and it does not reckon itself guilty, if by lying it defends its life. The hairy one, therefore, cries out one to another, when, under some appearance of reasoning, a following fault ensnares the perverse mind from the occasion of a preceding fault. And when hard and harsh sins press this mind down, the hairy ones, as it were summoned together, harmoniously lord it over it; and thus it comes to pass that the paths of the steps always entangle themselves the worse, while fault binds the reprobate mind through fault. 37.
The habit of sinning is sometimes preceded by blindness of mind, and sometimes precedes it. But amid these things it must be known that sometimes first the eye of understanding is dulled, and afterward the captive soul wanders through outward desires, so that the blind mind knows not whither it is led, and willingly submits itself to the allurements of its own flesh. But sometimes first the desires of the flesh boil up, and after long practice of unlawful deeds they close the eye of the heart. For often the mind discerns rightly, yet does not boldly rise up against perverse things; and, though resisting, it is conquered, while, judging this very thing that it does, it is overcome by the delight of its own flesh.
For that for the most part first the eye of contemplation is lost, and afterward the soul is subjugated by the labors of the world through the desires of this flesh, Samson bears witness, taken captive by the Philistines, who, after he had lost his eyes, was set to the mill; because assuredly the malignant spirits, after they have dug out within, by the goads of temptations, the keen edge of contemplation, send it forth outwardly into the circuit of labors. Again, that often even the outward operation is lost, and yet the light of reason is still retained in the heart, the prophet Jeremiah intimates, who, while narrating the captivity of Zedekiah, denounces the order of the inner captivity, saying:
'And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Reblatha before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah, and he put out the eyes of Zedekiah' (Jeremiah 39:6-7). The king of Babylon is the ancient enemy, the possessor of the inmost confusion, who first slaughters the sons before the eyes of him who beholds, because he often so slays good works that he who is taken captive sees, grieving, that he is losing them. For the soul often groans; and yet, conquered by the delights of its own flesh, loving, it loses the good things it had begotten, it considers the losses it suffers, yet does not lift the arm of virtue against the king of Babylon.
But while, seeing, it is smitten by the perpetration of wickedness, it is sometimes brought by the practice of sin to this, that it is deprived even of the light of reason itself. Whence the king of Babylon, after first extinguishing the sons, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, because the malignant spirit, after first withdrawing the good works, afterward takes away the light of understanding as well. This Zedekiah rightly suffers in Reblatha. For Reblatha is interpreted 'these many.' For to him too is the light of reason at some time closed, who by his wicked practice is weighed down by the multitude of his own iniquity.
But however the fault may come forth, or from whatever occasions it may burst out, the paths of the reprobate are nevertheless always entangled, so that, given over to wicked covetings, they either crave no good things, or, craving them with feeble desire, in no way stretch the free steps of the mind toward them. For they either do not begin right things, or, broken in the very journey, they by no means attain to them. Whence it for the most part comes to pass that, wearied, they return to their own custom, and lay themselves down from the intention of the mind into the pleasures of the flesh, thinking only of the things that pass away, caring nothing for the things that would abide with them. Whence it is aptly subjoined: