Verse 11. — Terrors shall frighten him on every side. 16. The sinner, drawn by depraved desires to evil action, is ensnared by fear. — For such a man suspects all to be against himself, such as he himself strives to be against all. What indeed these terrors effect in his action is subjoined when it is said: Same verse. — And shall entangle his feet. For feet, if they be entangled, cannot have free steps, nor can they take any road, because their own entanglements hold them back. Depraved desires, therefore, draw to most wicked action, but most wicked action constrains in fear. Which fear, forsooth, entangles the feet, so that they cannot go forth into right action.
And it often happens that someone therefore fears to be good, lest he himself should suffer at the hands of the wicked that which he remembers he has done to the good; and while he fears to suffer what he has done, terrified on every side, suspected on every side, he as it were has entangled feet, who is ensnared by fear, and prevails to do nothing freely, because in good work he has as it were lost his step from that source whence he passed over to the evils which he had craved. There follows: