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Objection 1: It seems that patience is the same as longanimity.
For Augustine says (De Patientia i) that "we speak of patience in
God, not as though any evil made Him suffer, but because He awaits
the wicked, that they may be converted." Wherefore it is written
(Ecclus. 5:4): "The Most High is a patient rewarder."
Therefore it seems that patience is the same as longanimity.
Objection 2: Further, the same thing is not contrary to two
things. But impatience is contrary to longanimity, whereby one awaits
a delay: for one is said to be impatient of delay, as of other evils.
Therefore it seems that patience is the same as longanimity.
Objection 3: Further, just as time is a circumstance of wrongs
endured, so is place. But no virtue is distinct from patience on the
score of place. Therefore in like manner longanimity which takes count
of time, in so far as a person waits for a long time, is not distinct
from patience.
Objection 4: On the contrary, a gloss [Origen, Comment. in
Ep. ad Rom. ii] on Rm. 2:4, "Or despisest thou the riches
of His goodness, and patience, and longsuffering?" says: "It
seems that longanimity differs from patience, because those who offend
from weakness rather than of set purpose are said to be borne with
longanimity: while those who take a deliberate delight in their crimes
are said to be borne patiently."
I answer that, Just as by magnanimity a man has a mind to tend to
great things, so by longanimity a man has a mind to tend to something a
long way off. Wherefore as magnanimity regards hope, which tends to
good, rather than daring, fear, or sorrow, which have evil as their
object, so also does longanimity. Hence longanimity has more in
common with magnanimity than with patience.
Nevertheless it may have something in common with patience, for two
reasons. First, because patience, like fortitude, endures certain
evils for the sake of good, and if this good is awaited shortly,
endurance is easier: whereas if it be delayed a long time, it is more
difficult. Secondly, because the very delay of the good we hope for,
is of a nature to cause sorrow, according to Prov. 13:12,
"Hope that is deferred afflicteth the soul." Hence there may be
patience in bearing this trial, as in enduring any other sorrows.
Accordingly longanimity and constancy are both comprised under
patience, in so far as both the delay of the hoped for good (which
regards longanimity) and the toil which man endures in persistently
accomplishing a good work (which regards constancy) may be considered
under the one aspect of grievous evil.
For this reason Tully (De Invent. Rhet. ii) in defining
patience, says that "patience is the voluntary and prolonged endurance
of arduous and difficult things for the sake of virtue or profit." By
saying "arduous" he refers to constancy in good; when he says
"difficult" he refers to the grievousness of evil, which is the
proper object of patience; and by adding "continued" or "long
lasting," he refers to longanimity, in so far as it has something in
common with patience.
This suffices for the Replies to the First and Second Objections.
Reply to Objection 3: That which is a long way off as to place,
though distant from us, is not simply distant from things in nature,
as that which is a long way off in point of time: hence the comparison
fails. Moreover, what is remote as to place offers no difficulty save
in the point of time, since what is placed a long way from us is a long
time coming to us.
We grant the fourth argument. We must observe, however, that the
reason for the difference assigned by this gloss is that it is hard to
bear with those who sin through weakness, merely because they persist a
long time in evil, wherefore it is said that they are borne with
longanimity: whereas the very fact of sinning through pride seems to be
unendurable; for which reason those who sin through pride are stated to
be borne with patience.
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