28. Why dost thou consider thyself greater than
another, when a Christian man ought to put others before himself, to
claim nothing for himself, usurp no honours, claim no reward for his
merits? Why, next, art thou not wont to bear thy own troubles
rather than to destroy another’s advantage? For what is so
contrary to nature as not to be content with what one has or to seek
what is another’s, and to try to get it in shameful ways.
For if a virtuous life is in accordance with nature—for God made
all things very good—then shameful living must be opposed to
it. A virtuous and a shameful life cannot go together, since they
are absolutely severed by the law of nature.