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Objection 1: It seems that lust is not a capital vice. For lust is
apparently the same as "uncleanness," according to a gloss on Eph.
5:3 (Cf. 2 Cor. 12:21). But uncleanness is a daughter
of gluttony, according to Gregory (Moral. xxxi, 45).
Therefore lust is not a capital vice.
Objection 2: Further, Isidore says (De Summo Bono ii, 39)
that "as pride of mind leads to the depravity of lust, so does
humility of mind safeguard the chastity of the flesh." Now it is
seemingly contrary to the nature of a capital vice to arise from another
vice. Therefore lust is not a capital vice.
Objection 3: Further, lust is caused by despair, according to
Eph. 4:19, "Who despairing, have given themselves up to
lasciviousness." But despair is not a capital vice; indeed, it is
accounted a daughter of sloth, as stated above (Question 35,
Article 4, ad 2). Much less, therefore, is lust a capital
vice.
On the contrary, Gregory (Moral. xxxi, 45) places lust among
the capital vices.
I answer that, As stated above (Question 148, Article 5;
FS, Question 84, Articles 3,4), a capital vice is one that
has a very desirable end, so that through desire for that end, a man
proceeds to commit many sins, all of which are said to arise from that
vice as from a principal vice. Now the end of lust is venereal
pleasure, which is very great. Wherefore this pleasure is very
desirable as regards the sensitive appetite, both on account of the
intensity of the pleasure, and because such like concupiscence is
connatural to man. Therefore it is evident that lust is a capital
vice.
Reply to Objection 1: As stated above (Question 148, Article
6), according to some, the uncleanness which is reckoned a daughter
of gluttony is a certain uncleanness of the body, and thus the
objection is not to the point. If, however, it denote the
uncleanness of lust, we must reply that it is caused by gluttony
materially---in so far as gluttony provides the bodily matter of
lust---and not under the aspect of final cause, in which respect
chiefly the capital vices are said to be the cause of others.
Reply to Objection 2: As stated above (Question 132, Article
4, ad 1), when we were treating of vainglory, pride is accounted
the common mother of all sins, so that even the capital vices originate
therefrom.
Reply to Objection 3: Certain persons refrain from lustful
pleasures chiefly through hope of the glory to come, which hope is
removed by despair, so that the latter is a cause of lust, as removing
an obstacle thereto, not as its direct cause; whereas this is
seemingly necessary for a capital vice.
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