, and this
ignorance diminishes voluntariness and consequently alleviates the
sin. For when a thing is not known to be a sin, the will cannot be
said to consent to the sin directly, but only accidentally;
wherefore, in that case there is less contempt, and therefore less
sin.

Reply Obj. 1: The ignorance whereby "every evil man is ignorant," is
not the cause of sin being committed, but something resulting from
that cause, viz. of the passion or habit inclining to sin.

Reply Obj. 2: One sin added to another makes more sins, but it does
not always make a sin greater, since, perchance, the two sins do not
coincide, but are separate. It may happen, if the first diminishes
the second, that the two together have not the same gravity as one of
them alone would have; thus murder is a more grievous sin if
committed by a man when sober, than if committed by a man when drunk,
although in the latter case there are two sins: because drunkenness
diminishes the sinfulness of the resulting sin more than its own
gravity implies.

Reply Obj. 3: The words of Ambrose may be understood as referring to
simply affected ignorance; or they may have reference to a species of
the sin of ingratitude, the highest degree of which is that man even
ignores the benefits he has received; or again, they may be an
allusion to the ignorance of unbelief, which undermines the
foundation of the spiritual edifice.

Reply Obj. 4: The drunken man deserves a "double punishment" for the
two sins which he commits, viz. drunkenness, and the sin which
results from his drunkenness: and yet drunkenness, on account of the
ignorance connected therewith, diminishes the resulting sin, and
more, perhaps, than the gravity of the drunkenness implies, as stated
above (ad 2). It might also be said that the words quoted refer to an
ordinance of the legislator named Pittacus, who ordered drunkards to
be more severely punished if they assaulted anyone; having an eye,
not to the indulgence which the drunkard might claim, but to
expediency, since more harm is done by the drunk than by the sober,
as the Philosopher observes (Polit. ii).
________________________

QUESTION 77

OF THE CAUSE OF SIN, ON THE PART OF THE SENSITIVE APPETITE
(In Eight Articles)

We must now consider the cause of sin, on the part of the sensitive
appetite, as to whether a passion of the soul may be a cause of sin:
and under this head there are eight points of inquiry:

(1) Whether a passion of th