fortune.
AND. But what a dreadful business!
ST. JOHN. There is nothing more dreadful than envy, or more accursed than pride.
AND. No, both states are pitiable.
ST. JOHN. And the same person is always afflicted by both these vices together. Neither of them is found without the other.
AND. Please explain more clearly what you mean.
ST. JOHN. Well, anyone who is proud must be envious, and anyone who is envious must be proud. For the envious mind cannot bear to hear another praised. It seeks to depreciate those who are more virtuous than itself. At the same time it scorns to be thought unequal to its superiors, and proudly tries to appear superior to its equals.
AND. I understand.
ST. JOHN. That was why this wretched creature felt so cut to the heart - he could not endure to be thought worse than our two friends here. He simply could not see that God's grace was shining in them with fuller light.
