Envy as the most destructive disease

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Basil is describing how the envious person behaves toward the misfortunes of others, and now turns to show that envy is the most destructive passion, tracing it from the devil to Cain and Saul.

But if he sees many people joining in the praise, he changes course again and envies the dead man. He admires the wealth after it has been lost. He praises and exalts the beauty of the body, or its strength and vigor, after illness has come. In short, he is an enemy of what is present and a friend of what is perishing. What could be more destructive than this disease? It is the corruption of life, the ruin of nature, hostility toward the gifts God has given us, opposition to God. What drove the arch-evil demon into his war against humanity? Was it not envy? Through it he was openly exposed as a fighter against God—grieving at God for the great gift given to man, and taking vengeance on man because he could not reach God. Cain is shown doing the very same things: the devil's first disciple, taught by him both envy and murder, the kindred lawless deeds that Paul also joined together when he said, "full of envy, murder" (Romans 1:29). What then did Cain do? He saw the honor given by God, and he burned with envy, and he killed the one who was honored, so that he might strike at the one who gave the honor. Unable to fight against God, he fell into brother-murder. Let us flee, brothers, from a disease that teaches fighting against God, that is the mother of man-slaying, the confusion of nature, the forgetting of kinship, the most irrational of disasters. Why are you grieved, man, when you have suffered nothing terrible? Why do you make war on someone who has good things, who has diminished nothing of yours? And if you are angered even while receiving benefits, are you not plainly envying your own advantage? Such was Saul, who made the excess of benefits the occasion for his war against David. First, after being freed from madness by that all-harmonious and divine music, he tried to pierce his benefactor with a spear. Then, after being saved together with his army from the enemies, and freed from the shame over Goliath, still—because in the victory songs the dancing women attributed to David ten times the credit for what had happened: "David struck down his ten thousands, and Saul his thousands"—because of this one phrase, and the testimony that came from the truth itself, he first tried to become his murderer with his own hand and to kill him from ambush. Then, after making him a fugitive, he did not even so put an end to his hatred, but finally marched out against him with three thousand chosen men and searched the deserts. If he had been asked the reason for the war, he would certainly have said: the man's good deeds. For at the very time of the pursuit, when he was caught sleeping and lay ready for slaughter before his enemy, and was again saved by the righteous man, who guarded against laying hands on him, he was not softened even by this benefit. But again he gathered an army, and again he pursued—until, caught a second time by the same man in the cave, he made David's virtue shine more brightly and made his own wickedness more evident. Envy is the most difficult kind of enmity to manage. For benefits make those who are hostile for other reasons gentler; but the envious and malicious person is provoked further by being treated well. And the greater the benefits he receives, the more he is angered and grieved and annoyed. He is more burdened by the power of his benefactor than grateful for what is done for him.

Greek

Ἐὰν μέν τοι πολλοὺς ἴδῃ συντρέχοντας τῷ ἐπαίνῳ, μεταβαλὼν πάλιν, βασκαίνει τῷ τεθνεῶτι. Τὸν πλοῦτον θαυμάζει μετὰ τὴν ἔκπτωσιν. Τὴν ὥραν τοῦ σώματος, ἢ τὴν ῥώμην καὶ τὴν εὐεξίαν μετὰ τὰς νόσους ἐπαινεῖ καὶ ἐξαίρει. Καὶ ὅλως, ἐχθρὸς μέν ἐστι τῶν παρόντων, φίλος δὲ τῶν ἀπολλυμένων. Τί ἂν οὖν γένοιτο τῆς νόσου ταύτης ὀλεθριώτερον; Φθορὰ τῆς ζωῆς, λύμη τῆς φύσεως, ἔχθρα τῶν παρὰ Θεοῦ δεδομένων ἡμῖν, ἐναντίωσις πρὸς Θεόν. Τί τὸν ἀρχέκακον δαίμονα εἰς τὸν κατὰ ἀνθρώπων ἐξέμηνε πόλεμον; Οὐχ ὁ φθόνος; δι' οὗ καὶ θεομάχος φανερῶς ἀπηλέγχθη, ἀχθόμενος μὲν Θεῷ ἐπὶ τῇ μεγαλοδωρεᾷ τῇ εἰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὸν ἄνθρωπον δὲ ἀμυνόμενος, ἐπειδὴ Θεὸν οὐκ ἠδύνατο. Τὰ αὐτὰ δὲ ταῦτα ποιῶν καὶ ὁ Κάϊν δείκνυται, ὁ πρῶτος μαθητὴς τοῦ διαβό λου, καὶ φθόνον καὶ φόνον παρ' αὐτοῦ διδαχθεὶς, τὰς ἀδελφὰς ἀνομίας, ἃς καὶ Παῦλος συνέζευξεν, εἰπών· Μεστοὺς φθόνου, φόνου. Τί οὖν ἦν ὃ ἐποίησεν; Εἶδε τὴν παρὰ Θεοῦ τιμὴν, καὶ ἐξεκαύθη πρὸς ζῆλον, καὶ ἀνεῖλε τὸν τιμηθέντα, ἵνα καθάψηται τοῦ τιμή σαντος. Πρὸς γὰρ τὴν θεομαχίαν ἀδυνατῶν, εἰς ἀδελφοκτονίαν μετέπεσε. Φύγωμεν, ἀδελφοὶ, νόσον θεομαχίας διδάσκαλον, ἀνδροφονίας μητέρα, σύγχυσιν φύσεως, οἰκειότητος ἄγνοιαν, συμφορὰν ἀλογωτάτην. Τί λυπῇ, ἄνθρωπε, μηδὲν δεινὸν πεπονθώς; τί πολεμεῖς τῷ ἐν ἀγαθοῖς τισιν ὄντι, μηδὲν τῶν σῶν ἐλαττώσαντι; Ἐὰν δὲ δὴ καὶ εὐεργετούμενος ἀγανακτῇς, οὐκ ἄντικρυς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ὠφελείας βα σκαίνεις; Ὁποῖος ἦν ὁ Σαοὺλ, ὃς τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν τὰς ὑπερβολὰς ἀφορμὴν τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ πρὸς τὸν Δαβὶδ ἐποιήσατο. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ, τῇ παναρμονίῳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ θείᾳ μουσικῇ τῆς μανίας ἀπαλλαγεὶς, ἐπειρᾶτο δόρατι διαπεῖραι τὸν εὐεργέτην· ἔπειτα σὺν αὐτῷ τῷ στρατῷ ἐκ τῶν πολεμίων περισωθεὶς, καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ Γολιὰθ αἰσχύνης ἀπαλλαγεὶς, ὅμως ἐπειδὴ ἐν τοῖς ἐπινικίοις τὸ δεκαπλάσιον τῆς τῶν συμβάντων αἰτίας τῷ Δαβὶδ ἀνέθεσαν αἱ χορεύουσαι· Ἐπάταξε Δαβὶδ ἐν μυριάσι, καὶ Σαοὺλ ἐν χιλιάσιν αὐτοῦ· διὰ μίαν ταύτην φωνὴν, καὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας ὑπάρξασαν μαρτυρίαν, πρῶ τον αὐτόχειρ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἐξ ἐνέδρας ἀνελεῖν ἐπ εχείρησεν· εἶτα φυγάδα καταστήσας, οὐδὲ οὕτω τὴν ἔχθραν ἔστησεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τελευταῖον ἐκστρατεύσας ἐπ' αὐτὸν τρισχιλίοις λογάσι, τὰς ἐρημίας διηρευνᾶτο. Εἰ δὲ ἠρωτήθη τοῦ πολέμου τὴν πρόφασιν, εἶπεν ἂν πάντως τὰς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς εὐποιίας. Ὅς γε παρ' αὐτὸν τὸν καιρὸν τῆς διώξεως καθεύδων καταληφθεὶς, ἕτοιμος εἰς σφαγὴν προκείμενος τῷ ἐχθρῷ, καὶ πάλιν περισωθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ δικαίου, ἐπαγαγεῖν αὐτῷ τὰς χεῖρας φυλαξαμένου, οὐδ' ὑπὸ ταύτης τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἐκάμφθη· ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλιν ἐστρατολόγει, καὶ πάλιν ἐδίωκεν· ἕως, καὶ δεύτερον ἁλοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ, τοῦ μὲν τὴν ἀρετὴν λαμπροτέραν ἀπέδειξεν, ἑαυτοῦ δὲ τὴν πονηρίαν καταφανεστέραν ἐποίησε. Δυσμεταχειριστότατον ἔχθρας εἶδος ὁ φθόνος. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλως δυσμενεῖς ἡμερωτέρους ποιοῦσιν αἱ εὐποιίαι· τὸν βάσκανον δὲ καὶ κακοήθη τὸ καλῶς παθεῖν πλέον προσερεθίζει· καὶ ὅσῳπερ ἂν μειζόνων τύχῃ, μειζό νως ἀγανακτεῖ καὶ ἀνιᾶται, καὶ δυσχεραίνει. Πλεῖον γὰρ ἄχθεται τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ εὐεργέτου, ἢ χάριν ἔχει τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν γινομένοις.

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

Basil calls envy the most deadly of the passions: it eats up the envious, drove Joseph's brothers and Christ's enemies, and is cured by prizing virtue above wealth and fame.

Basil of Caesarea (c. 330–379) wrote this homily for a Christian congregation addressed as "brothers" to warn them against envy, which he presents as a destructive passion that makes a person an ally of the devil and an enemy of God and neighbor.

Preaching against envy in his congregation, Basil argues that envy is the most destructive passion of the soul because it consumes the envious person from within while doing little harm to its object, tracing it from the devil through Cain, Saul, Joseph's brothers and the Jews who crucified Christ as the root of murder and opposition to God, and then showing how envious people misrepresent virtues as vices and feed on others' misfortunes before urging the remedy of treating worldly goods as instruments for virtue and replacing envy with kindness and mutual forgiveness. The reader will meet Cain, Saul, David, Goliath, Joseph, Pharaoh, Paul and Solomon, and will hear quoted words from Paul on envy and murder and on mutual kindness, from Solomon on envy, from an imagined confession of the envious person, and from the women singing victory songs about David and Saul.

Here envy renders two Greek terms for grief at a neighbor's prosperity, envious person renders the one who resents another's good, and other key terms are rendered as the devil, virtue, prosperity, fighting against God, hypocrisy, conceited and demons. Basil quotes the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) and the New Testament, cited as Romans 1:29, Galatians 5:26 and Proverbs 14:30, with LXX noted where the wording differs, since the Greek of Proverbs 14:30 reads as a man's envy comes from his companion. The shame over Goliath refers to Saul's shame removed by David's defeat of the Philistine champion, after which the women's song comparing David and Saul provoked Saul's envy.

No published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Migne PG text (Aegean University Digital Patrology, via (Greek)
Also checked Migne PG 31, archive.org scan patrologiae_cursus_completus_gr_vol_031 (Greek machine-read text) (Greek · check (same print; machine-read text compared word by word))

This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake