directly; but, on account of his neglecting to consider the harm that
might ensue, a man is deemed punishable for the evil results of his
action if it be unlawful. If, on the other hand, the harm follow
directly from the sinful act, although it be neither foreseen nor
intended, it aggravates the sin directly, because whatever is
directly consequent to a sin, belongs, in a manner, to the very
species of that sin: for instance, if a man is a notorious
fornicator, the result is that many are scandalized; and although
such was not his intention, nor was it perhaps foreseen by him, yet
it aggravates his sin directly.

But this does not seem to apply to penal harm, which the sinner
himself incurs. Such like harm, if accidentally connected with the
sinful act, and if neither foreseen nor intended, does not aggravate
a sin, nor does it correspond with the gravity of the sin: for
instance, if a man in running to slay, slips and hurts his foot. If,
on the other hand, this harm is directly consequent to the sinful
act, although perhaps it be neither foreseen nor intended, then
greater harm does not make greater sin, but, on the contrary, a
graver sin calls for the infliction of a greater harm. Thus, an
unbeliever who has heard nothing about the pains of hell, would
suffer greater pain in hell for a sin of murder than for a sin of
theft: but his sin is not aggravated on account of his neither
intending nor foreseeing this, as it would be in the case of a
believer, who, seemingly, sins more grievously in the very fact that
he despises a greater punishment, that he may satisfy his desire to
sin; but the gravity of this harm is caused by the sole gravity of
sin.

Reply Obj. 1: As we have already stated (Q. 20, A. 5), in treating of
the goodness and malice of external actions, the result of an action
if foreseen and intended adds to the goodness and malice of an act.

Reply Obj. 2: Although the harm done aggravates a sin, it does not
follow that this alone renders a sin more grievous: in fact, it is
inordinateness which of itself aggravates a sin. Wherefore the harm
itself that ensues aggravates a sin, in so far only as it renders the
act more inordinate. Hence it does not follow, supposing harm to be
inflicted chiefly by sins against our neighbor, that such sins are
the most grievous, since a much greater inordinateness is to be found
in sins which man commits against God, and in some which he commits
against himself. Moreover we