The sins that exceed prudence as to the means employed, what are they?
They are the sins of slyness, with which are connected deceit and fraud (LV. 3-5).
What is slyness?
It is that false prudence which consists in using false and deceitful means whether it be question of a good or of a bad end for which they are used (LV. 3).
What is deceit?
Deceit consists in effecting by words or by deeds the projects suggested by slyness (LV. 4).
What is the difference between deceit and fraud?
The difference comes to this, that although both are concerned with the projects suggested by slyness, deceit puts into execution these projects whether it be by word or by deed, whereas fraud is confined to the execution of some project by deed only.
Are slyness, deceit, and fraud the same as lying?
No, for the lie takes falsehood as its end; whereas the three sins above mentioned take it as a means. If by chance the latter deceive, this is only to gain some end in view.
What follows from this difference?
It follows that lying is a special sin in the order of the moral virtues, a sin that is in opposition to the virtue of telling the truth only; whereas slyness, deceit, and fraud can be in divers genera of sins, not that they constitute any one sin in particular in the order of the moral virtues, but only in the order of prudence whose characteristic it is to be included in all the other virtues.
Next - The Catechism of the Summa - SECOND SECTION - A DETAILED SURVEY OF MAN'S RETURN TO GOD - XV. OF THE SINS THAT ARE OPPOSED TO PRUDENCE, VIZ., OF IMPRUDENCE; HASTINESS; LACK OF THOUGHT; INCONSTANCY; NEGLIGENCE; FALSE PRUDENCE; PRUDENCE OF THE FLESH; SLYNESS; DECEIT; FRAUD; FALSE SOLICITUDE (H)
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