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On Jealousy and Envy

Cyprian of Carthage

On Jealousy and Envy.

About this work

Author: Cyprian of Carthage

Treatise X.

On Jealousy and Envy.

Argument.—After Pointing Out that Jealousy or

Section 1 ›

Envy

is

a

Sin

All

the

More

Heinous

in

Proportion

as

Its

Wickedness

is

Hidden

,

and

that

Its

Origin

is

to

Be

Traced

to

the

Devil

,

He

Gives

Illustrations

of

Envy

from

the

Old

Testament

,

and

Gathers

,

by

Reference

to

Special

Vices

,

that

Envy

is

the

Root

of

All

Wickedness

.

Therefore

with

Reason

Was

Fraternal

Hatred

Forbidden

Not

in

One

Place

Only

,

But

by

Christ

and

His

Apostles

.

Finally

,

Exhorting

to

the

Love

of

One’s

Enemies

by

God’s

Example

,

He

Dissuades

from

the

Sin

of

Envy

,

by

Urging

the

Rewards

Set

Before

the

Indulgence

of

Love

.

Notes

1
[This is numbered xii. in Oxford trans., and is assigned to a.d. 256.]
2
The deacon Pontius thus briefly suggests the purpose of this treatise in his Life of Cyprian: “Who was there to restrain the ill blood arising from the envenomed malignity of envy with the sweetness of a wholesome remedy?”