How the Eight Faults Are Linked

Of these eight faults, then, although they differ in their origin and in the way they affect us, the first six, namely gluttony, sexual immorality, greed, anger, dejection and acedia, have a kind of connection with one another. They are, so to speak, linked together in a chain, so that any excess of one becomes the starting point of the next. For from an excess of gluttony sexual immorality is sure to spring; from sexual immorality, greed; from greed, anger; from anger, dejection; and from dejection, acedia. So we must fight against them in the same way and by the same methods, and having overcome one, we should always take up the fight against the next. A tall, spreading tree of a harmful kind will wither all the more easily if the roots it depends on have first been laid bare or cut. A dangerous pool of water will dry up at once if the spring and the flowing channel that feed it are carefully stopped up. So, to overcome acedia, you must first get the better of dejection. To get rid of dejection, anger must first be driven out. To quell anger, greed must be trampled underfoot. To root out greed, sexual immorality must be checked. And to destroy sexual immorality, you must chastise the sin of gluttony. [a]

The two remaining faults, empty glory and pride, are connected with each other in much the same way as the others we have spoken of, so that the growth of one becomes the starting point of the other, for an excess of empty glory provokes pride. Yet they are altogether different from the first six faults and are not placed in the same class with them. Not only is there no opening for them to spring up from those, but they are actually stirred up in an entirely different way and manner. For when the others have been rooted out, these flourish all the more vigorously, and from the death of the others they shoot up and grow all the stronger. That is why we are attacked by these two faults in quite a different way. We fall into each of those six faults at the moment when we have been overcome by the ones before it; but into these two we are in danger of falling when we have been victorious, and above all after some splendid triumph.

In the case of all the faults, then, just as they spring up from the growth of the ones before them, so they are rooted out by getting rid of the earlier ones. In this way, if pride is to be driven out, empty glory must be stifled. And so, if we always overcome the earlier ones, the later ones will be checked, and once those that lead the way have been destroyed, the rest of our passions will die down without difficulty. And though these eight faults are connected and joined together in the way we have shown, they can be divided more exactly into four groups and subdivisions. For sexual immorality is linked to gluttony by a special tie, anger to greed, acedia to dejection, and pride is closely allied to empty glory.