Julianus Pomerius, on Sir 10:13

“For when a man shall die, he shall inherit serpents, and beasts, and worms.”

“Who could say anything clearer or of more value? "Pride is the beginning," it says, not simply of some but "of every sin," in order to emphasize how pride is, in itself, the cause of all sins. Not only is it in itself sin, but also no sin could have been, can be or ever will be committed without pride. Every sin, in effect, is nothing other than contempt of God, leading one to trample on his commandments. And what, other than pride, inspires people to this contempt? Indeed, in the devil it showed itself to be the cause of eternal damnation, and from the angel that he was he became (precisely) the devil. And it was he who, knowing that he was cast out of heaven for the sin of pride and banished to this dark prison, and corrupting the one whom God had created innocent, with serpentine cunning he insinuated the vice of pride in humankind. He was certain that once pride, the root of every evil, was accepted, the man would then easily commit all sins, which germinate only in the proud soul.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.