Monday, December 02, 2024
Desire for Revenge
Augustine, Sermons 304.3 (Patrologia Latina, vol. 38, cols. 1396-1397; tr. Edmund Hill):
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So why, O man, O woman, does your head swell so? Why, carrion skin, do you stretch yourself so? Why, stinking pus, do you puff yourself up so? You rant, you lament, you get steamed up, because heaven knows who has insulted you. On what grounds do you insist on satisfaction, do you thirst with gaping jaws for revenge, and not desist from your intention, until you have avenged yourself on the one who harmed you?
Quid ergo intumescis, o homo? O pellis morticina, quid tenderis? O sanies fetida, quid inflaris? Anhelas, doles, aestuas, quia nescio quis tibi fecit iniuriam. Unde tu flagitas ultionem, sitis arenti fauce vindictam; nec prius ab intentione desistis, donec de illo qui te laeserit, vindiceris?
