Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/471

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PRIDE


405


PRIERIAS


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This is the outer court or the Lithostrotos. On the that is reprehensible. The last two cases generally day of Christ's trial, the Jews could not penetrate speaking are not held to constitute grave offences, further amongst pagan dwellings without contracting a This is not true, however, whenever a man's arrogance legal defilement. On this pavement stands the chapel is the occasion of great harm to another, as, for in- of^the Condemnation (2), restored in the twelfth cen- stance, his undertaking the duties of a physician with- tury and rebuilt in 190-1. The chapel of the Flagellation out the requisite knowledge. The same judgment is (3) rises about 100 ■ to be rendered when

" ' , -. — _ .^ - ~ - — r- „ I prifjg i^as given rise

t o such t emper of soul that in the pursuit of its object one is ready for anj-thing, even mortal sin. Vain- glory, ambition, and presumption are com- monly enumerated as the offspring vices of pride, because they are well adapted to serve its inordi- nate aims. Of them- selves they are venial sins unless some ex- traneous considera- tion puts them in the ranks of grievous transgressions. It should be noted that presumpt ion does not here stand for the sin against hope. It means the desire to essay what ex- ceeds one's capacity.

Slater, Manual of Moral Theology (New- York, 190S) ; RiCKABT, Moral Teachinn of St. Thomas (London, 1S9G); St. Thomas, Summa Theologica (Turin, 18S5).

Joseph F. Delant.

Priene, a titular see of Asia Minor, suffragan of Ephesus. The foundation of the town of Priene dates from the period when the Carians, Leleges and Lycians, were sole ma.sters of the country. Later it was occupied by the lonians and became one of the twelve cities of Ionia. It was a holy city, and chose the leader of the Panionian feasts. Its tem- ple of Athena, built by Alexander, contained an an- cient statue of that goddess. Situated on the south- em slope of Mount Mycale, it never attained great development, although it had at first two har- bours and a fleet. In the time of .\ugustus it was already forty stadia from the sea because of the in- roads of the Meander. It was conquered by the Ly- cian King Ardys, then by Cyrus, and remained sub- ject to the Persians till the time of .\lexander. Priene endured great hardships under the Persian general Tabates and later under Hiero, one of its citizens. After regaining autonomy, it remained attached to the Ionic confederation. It was the birthplace of the philosopher Bias. The "Xotitia; episcopatuum"


feet more to the east ; it dates probably from the fifth cen- tury, but has been three times rebuilt. On the rock of Baris, the natiu'al site of the royal palace, waa the tribunal, "the inner court", called "the court of the pre- torium " in the Syrian Version (Mark, xv, 16). The chapel of the Crowning with Thoms(5), built inthe twelfth century, is still well preserved. The basilica of St. Sophia (6), reconstructed in the twelfth century, stood towards the east. It was trans- formed later into a Turkish tribunal, and finally razed to the ground in 1S32, when new barracks were erected.

Wilson and W.arren, The Recovery of Jerusalem (London, 1S71) : W.ARREN AND CoxDER, Surcey of Western Palestine: Jeru- salem (London, 1&S4) : Guerin, Jerusalem (Paris, 1SS9): Meis- TERMAXX, Le pretoire de Pilate (Paris, 1902) ; Idem. Xew Guide to the Holy Land (London, 1907).

B.\RNABAS MeISTERMAXN.

Pride is the excessive love of one's own excellence. It is ordinarily accounted one of the seven capital sins. St. Thomas, however, endorsing the appreciation of St. Gregory, considers it the queen of all \'ices, and puts vainglory in its place as one of the deadly sins. In giving it this pre-eminence he takes it in a most formal and complete signification. He understands it to be that frame of mind in which a man, through the love of his own worth, aims to withdraw himself from sub- jection to Almighty God, and sets at naught the com- mands of superiors. It is a species of contempt of God and of those who bear his commission. Regarded in this way, it is of course a mortal sin of a most heinous sort. Indeed St. Thomas rates it in this sense as one of the blackest of sins. By it the creature refuses to stay mthin his essential orbit; he turns his back upon God, not through weakness or ignorance, but solely because in his self-exaltation he is minded not to sub- mit. His attitude has something Satanic in it, and is


GRorN1>-PLAN" OF THE FORTRESS OF .\nTONIA

The broken lines indicate the supposed buildings according to the descrip- tions of Josephus. The figures in the parentheses give in feet the altitude above the level of the .Mediterranean Sea


probably not often verified in human beings. A less mentions it as a suffragan of Ephesus until the thir-

atrocious kind of pride is that which impels one to " ~" '

make much of oneself unduly and without sufficient warrant, without however any disposition to cast off the dominion of the Creator. This may happen, ac- cording to St. Gregory, either because a man regards himself as the source of such advantages as he may dis- cern in himself, or because, whilst admitting that God has bestowed them, he reputes this to have been in response to his own merits, or becau.se he attributes to himself gifts which he has not; or, finally, because even when these are real he unreasonably looks to be put ahead of others. Supposing the conviction indicated in the first two instances to be seriously entertained, the sin would be a grievous one and would have the added guilt of heresy. Ordinarily, however, this er- roneous persuasion does not exist; it is the demeanour


teenth century. Four of its bishops are known: Theo- sebius, present at the Council of Ephesus (431); Isi- dore, who was h\-ing in 4.51; Paul, present at the Council of Constantinople (692 1 ; Demetrius, in the twelfth centiu-y. The beautiful ruins of Priene are at Samsoon Kalessi, near the Greek village of Kehtesh in the vilayet of Smyrna, about two nules from the sea.

Le Quien, Oriens christ., I, 717; Ch.indij:r. Travels, 200 etc.; Leake. Asia Minor (London, 1S34), 239, 332; Fellq-ws, Asia Minor (London, 1852), 268 etc.; Smith, Did. of Greek and Roman geogr. (London, 1878), 3. v., bibliography of ancient authors; ^IA^-NERT, Geogr. d. Grieschen u. Romer, III (1825 sq.), 204; Texier, Asie Mineure (Paris, 1862), 342-^5: Eckel, Doo- trina rei num.. II (Leipzig, 1842), 536.

S. PETRIofes.

Prierias, Syl\'ester. See Mazzolini, SyL^•ESTER,