rum]): "The monk is troubled with sloth
chiefly about the sixth hour: it is like an intermittent fever, and
inflicts the soul of the one it lays low with burning fires at
regular and fixed intervals." Therefore sloth is not a sin.

Obj. 3: Further, that which proceeds from a good root is, seemingly,
no sin. Now sloth proceeds from a good root, for Cassian says (De
Instit. Monast. x) that "sloth arises from the fact that we sigh at
being deprived of spiritual fruit, and think that other monasteries
and those which are a long way off are much better than the one we
dwell in": all of which seems to point to humility. Therefore sloth
is not a sin.

Obj. 4: Further, all sin is to be avoided, according to Ecclus. 21:2:
"Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent." Now Cassian says (De
Instit. Monast. x): "Experience shows that the onslaught of sloth is
not to be evaded by flight but to be conquered by resistance."
Therefore sloth is not a sin.

_On the contrary,_ Whatever is forbidden in Holy Writ is a sin. Now
such is sloth (_acedia_): for it is written (Ecclus. 6:26): "Bow down
thy shoulder, and bear her," namely spiritual wisdom, "and be not
grieved (_acedieris_) with her bands." Therefore sloth is a sin.

_I answer that,_ Sloth, according to Damascene (De Fide Orth. ii, 14)
is an oppressive sorrow, which, to wit, so weighs upon man's mind,
that he wants to do nothing; thus acid things are also cold. Hence
sloth implies a certain weariness of work, as appears from a gloss on
Ps. 106:18, "Their soul abhorred all manner of meat," and from the
definition of some who say that sloth is a "sluggishness of the mind
which neglects to begin good."

Now this sorrow is always evil, sometimes in itself, sometimes in its
effect. For sorrow is evil in itself when it is about that which is
apparently evil but good in reality, even as, on the other hand,
pleasure is evil if it is about that which seems to be good but is,
in truth, evil. Since, then, spiritual good is a good in very truth,
sorrow about spiritual good is evil in itself. And yet that sorrow
also which is about a real evil, is evil in its effect, if it so
oppresses man as to draw him away entirely from good deeds. Hence the
Apostle (2 Cor. 2:7) did not wish those who repented to be "swallowed
up with overmuch sorrow."

Accordingly, since sloth, as we understand it here, denotes sorrow
for spiritual good, it is evil on two counts, both in itself and in
point of its e