Pride, Envy and the Devil

In hoc autem opere quaerendum est secundum sanctam Scripturam, quid de diabolo dicendum sit. Primo, utrum ab initio ipsius mundi sua potestate delectatus abstiterit ab illa societate et caritate, qua beati sunt Angeli qui fruuntur Deo; an aliquo tempore in sancto coetu fuerit Angelorum, etiam ipse pariter iustus, et pariter beatus. Nonnulli enim dicunt ipsum ei fuisse casum a supernis sedibus, quod inviderit homini facto ad imaginem Dei. Porro autem invidia sequitur superbiam, non praecedit: non enim causa superbiendi est invidia, sed causa invidendi superbia. Cum igitur superbia sit amor excellentiae propriae, invidentia vero sit odium felicitatis alienae, quid unde nascatur satis in promptu est. Amando enim quisque excellentiam suam, vel paribus invidet, quod ei coaequentur; vel inferioribus, ne sibi coaequentur; vel superioribus, quod eis non coaequetur. Superbiendo igitur invidus, non invidendo quisque superbus est. Superbiam amoremque sui perversum fontes esse omnium malorum. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Genesi Ad Litteram

In this work we seek in accordance with Sacred Scripture what might be said of the devil. First, whether at the beginning, delighting in his own power, he fell away from that society and love by which the blessed angels are nourished, or whether for some time he was just and blessed. Some say that the fall from the high seats was on account of his envy of man made in the image of God. However, envy follows pride, it does precede it; the cause of pride is not envy but the cause of envy is pride. Since therefore pride is the love of one's excellence, envy is hatred of the happiness of another, from whence it is visibly born. Indeed someone loving his own excellence either envies equals because they are his equals, or inferiors lest they become equal, or superiors that they are not equal. Therefore the envious are proud, the proud are not envious. Pride, perverse love of self, is the font of all evil. Saint Augustine of Hippo, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis