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Dear M. David,
Sure. PL is Patrologia Latina, by Jacques Paul Migne, a Latin collection of Early Church Fathers. 31 is the book of the Morals (Moralia in Latin) of Job, and 45 is the paragraph number.
I do see the locust paragraph in Moralia. But according to The Companion to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is the relevant paragraph:
1866 Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job 31, 45
The leader of the devil's army is pride, whose progeny are the seven principal vices. While there are vices which attack us in an invisible warfare under the leadership of pride, some behave like officers and others like troops. For not all faults occupy the heart from the same quarter. But while the greater and less frequently-occurring faults can overcome a mind not on its guard, the lesser but more numerous faults pour in en mass. And once pride, the queen of vices, has fully conquered a heart, she soon hands it over to the seven principal vices, or to her generals. The army follows these generals for there is no doubt that persistence multitudes of vices follow them. We will better be able to demonstrate this if we enumerate these leaders and the army. Certainly the root of all evils is pride, of which Scripture says,
"Pride is the origin of all sin" (Ecclesiasticus 10:15).
The first of her progeny are certainly the seven principal vices which came forth from the virulent root, namely, vainglory, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, lust. And because he grieved at our being held captive by pride's seven vices, our Redeemer wages a spiritual war of liberation for us, filled with a spirit of a sevenfold grace.
Ignatius Press, The Companion to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: A Compendium of Texts Referred to in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002) |
I think the problem is you are looking at the wrong index numbers. My version has numbers in both Arabic and Roman numerals. The Arabic numerals reckon the locust paragraph, but the Roman number 45 (xlv.) reckons the following:
xlv. 87. For the tempting vices, which fight against us in invisible contest in behalf of the pride which reigns over them, some of them go first, like captains, others follow, after the manner of an army. For all faults do not occupy the heart with equal access. But while the greater and the few surprise a neglected mind, the smaller and the numberless pour themselves upon it in a whole body. For when pride, the queen of sins, has fully possessed a conquered heart, she surrenders it immediately to seven principal sins, as if to some of her generals, to lay it waste. And an army in truth follows these generals, because, doubtless, there spring up from them importunate hosts of sins. Which we set forth the better, if we specially bring forward in enumeration, as we are able, the leaders themselves and their army. For pride is the root of all evil, of which it is said, as Scripture bears witness;
But seven principal vices, as its first progeny, spring doubtless from this poisonous root, namely, vain glory, envy, anger, melancholy, avarice, gluttony, lust. For, because He grieved that we were held captive by these seven sins of pride, therefore our Redeemer came to the spiritual battle of our liberation, full of the spirit of sevenfold grace.
Pope St. Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job (Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; F. and J. Rivington, 1847–1850), III, 489–90 |
I do not know what the Arabic numerals represent.
I suspect that the "76, 621A" is a book and paragraph reference in Patrologia Latina, but I do not have it (curses; I have Patrologia Graeca, but not Patrologia Latina), so I cannot confirm, but you have the paragraph above, and hopefully that sufficiently answers your question.
Eric |
