I was reading about accidie, and came across a rather wonderful quotation from Aquinas's Summa Theologica, SS 35, which explained it spot on:
...acedia est quaedam tristitia aggravans, quae scilicet ita deprimit animum hominis, ut nihil ei agere libeat.
which is to say
"Accidie is a certain oppressive sadness: namely, that which weighs down a person's mind until they want to do nothing."
I've never read the Summa, and now I think I'd rather like to read at least some of it. What I'm pondering is whether to read it in translation. You always lose something if you do, and at one point my Latin was good enough I could read Virgil, so I assume I could have read Aquinas. It isn't good enough to read Aquinas any more, but perhaps if I put a little work in, it could be.
What do you think?
...acedia est quaedam tristitia aggravans, quae scilicet ita deprimit animum hominis, ut nihil ei agere libeat.
which is to say
"Accidie is a certain oppressive sadness: namely, that which weighs down a person's mind until they want to do nothing."
I've never read the Summa, and now I think I'd rather like to read at least some of it. What I'm pondering is whether to read it in translation. You always lose something if you do, and at one point my Latin was good enough I could read Virgil, so I assume I could have read Aquinas. It isn't good enough to read Aquinas any more, but perhaps if I put a little work in, it could be.
What do you think?