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Objection 1: It would seem that gluttony is the greatest of sins.
For the grievousness of a sin is measured by the grievousness of the
punishment. Now the sin of gluttony is most grievously punished, for
Chrysostom says [Hom. xiii in Matth.]: "Gluttony turned Adam
out of Paradise, gluttony it was that drew down the deluge at the time
of Noah." According to Ezech. 16:49, "This was the
iniquity of Sodom, thy sister . . . fulness of bread," etc.
Therefore the sin of gluttony is the greatest of all.
Objection 2: Further, in every genus the cause is the most
powerful. Now gluttony is apparently the cause of other sins, for a
gloss on Ps. 135:10, "Who smote Egypt with their
first-born," says: "Lust, concupiscence, pride are the
first-born of gluttony." Therefore gluttony is the greatest of
sins.
Objection 3: Further, man should love himself in the first place
after God, as stated above (Question 25, Article 4). Now
man, by the vice of gluttony, inflicts an injury on himself: for it
is written (Ecclus. 37:34): "By surfeiting many have
perished." Therefore gluttony is the greatest of sins, at least
excepting those that are against God.
On the contrary, The sins of the flesh, among which gluttony is
reckoned, are less culpable according to Gregory (Moral. xxxiii).
I answer that, The gravity of a sin may be measured in three ways.
First and foremost it depends on the matter in which the sin is
committed: and in this way sins committed in connection with Divine
things are the greatest. From this point of view gluttony is not the
greatest sin, for it is about matters connected with the nourishment of
the body. Secondly, the gravity of a sin depends on the person who
sins, and from this point of view the sin of gluttony is diminished
rather than aggravated, both on account of the necessity of taking
food, and on account of the difficulty of proper discretion and
moderation in such matters. Thirdly, from the point of view of the
result that follows, and in this way gluttony has a certain gravity,
inasmuch as certain sins are occasioned thereby.
Reply to Objection 1: These punishments are to be referred to the
vices that resulted from gluttony, or to the root from which gluttony
sprang, rather than to gluttony itself. For the first man was
expelled from Paradise on account of pride, from which he went on to
an act of gluttony: while the deluge and the punishment of the people
of Sodom were inflicted for sins occasioned by gluttony.
Reply to Objection 2: This objection argues from the standpoint of
the sins that result from gluttony. Nor is a cause necessarily more
powerful, unless it be a direct cause: and gluttony is not the direct
cause but the accidental cause, as it were, and the occasion of other
vices.
Reply to Objection 3: The glutton intends, not the harm to his
body, but the pleasure of eating: and if injury results to his body,
this is accidental. Hence this does not directly affect the gravity of
gluttony, the guilt of which is nevertheless aggravated, if a man
incur some bodily injury through taking too much food.
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