e end is the result of
"despair," while avoidance of those goods which are the means to the
end, in matters of difficulty which come under the counsels, is the
effect of "faint-heartedness," and in matters of common
righteousness, is the effect of "sluggishness about the
commandments." The struggle against spiritual goods that cause sorrow
is sometimes with men who lead others to spiritual goods, and this is
called "spite"; and sometimes it extends to the spiritual goods
themselves, when a man goes so far as to detest them, and this is
properly called "malice." In so far as a man has recourse to eternal
objects of pleasure, the daughter of sloth is called "wandering after
unlawful things." From this it is clear how to reply to the
objections against each of the daughters: for "malice" does not
denote here that which is generic to all vices, but must be
understood as explained. Nor is "spite" taken as synonymous with
hatred, but for a kind of indignation, as stated above: and the same
applies to the others.

Reply Obj. 3: This distinction between sorrow and sloth is also given
by Cassian (De Instit. Caenob. x, 1). But Gregory more fittingly
(Moral. xxxi, 45) calls sloth a kind of sorrow, because, as stated
above (A. 2), sorrow is not a distinct vice, in so far as a man
shirks a distasteful and burdensome work, or sorrows on account of
any other cause whatever, but only in so far as he is sorry on
account of the Divine good, which sorrow belongs essentially to
sloth; since sloth seeks undue rest in so far as it spurns the Divine
good. Moreover the things which Isidore reckons to arise from sloth
and sorrow, are reduced to those mentioned by Gregory: for
"bitterness" which Isidore states to be the result of sorrow, is an
effect of "spite." "Idleness" and "drowsiness" are reduced to
"sluggishness about the precepts": for some are idle and omit them
altogether, while others are drowsy and fulfil them with negligence.
All the other five which he reckons as effects of sloth, belong to
the "wandering of the mind after unlawful things." This tendency to
wander, if it reside in the mind itself that is desirous of rushing
after various things without rhyme or reason, is called "uneasiness
of the mind," but if it pertains to the imaginative power, it is
called "curiosity"; if it affect the speech it is called "loquacity";
and in so far as it affects a body that changes place, it is called
"restlessness of the body," when, to wit,