Introduction
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Divisio (see above) 1) First part: "slander" is speaking about others secretly, with indignation, hatred, resentment and envy (definitions taken from Alexander of Hales and Hugh of Saint Victor). Seven types of slander: 1. «Occultation», i.e. don’t talk about the good of others because of envy; 2. «Negation», i.e. denying the virtue of others. Slanderers are worse than thieves because they steal an intangible and irrecoverable good, that is, the reputation. 3. «Depravity», i.e. corrupting the good done by others. 4. «Poisoning» or «veneration» (cf. General Notes), i.e. first speaking well of a person, to gain trust, and then badly. 5. «Publication, i.e. speaking badly about someone in public, without respecting the precept of charity (Si peccaverit… solum, cf. thema of sermon T21/3 Tuesday after Oculi); 6. «Augmentation», i.e. magnifying the defects of others. 7. «Invention», i.e. finding falsehoods to shame others. The slanderer deserves a painful death (quotes frome Psalmi and Anselm). Quaestio: is slander always a deadly sin? No, it is such only when done with malicious intent. Circumdederunt me canes multi; concilium malignantium obsedit me (quote from Psalmi 21, 17; slanderers = rabid dogs, cf. infra). 2) Second part: slanderers = rabid dogs. Nine properties of the rabid dog/slanderer: 1. mouth always open; 2. hidden tongue, because poisonous; 3. bloody mouth; 4. poisoned teeth (just as the rabid dog has a worm under its tongue that bites it and causes it to become rabid [reference to Pliny the Elder], so the slanderer has the worm of hatred and envy under his tongue; 5. secret biting; 6. low voice (= absence of barking in the dog); 7. constantly moving; 8. treacherous biting; 9. avoiding family members (regarding this thing the dog is better than human being, because the slanderer speaks badly of everyone without distinction). 3) Third part: six remedies to avoid the sin of slander: 1. «affliction in the face of the enemy», i.e. make the slanderer understand that you don't like listening to slander; 2. «distancing» (Si non erit auditor, non erit detractor, quote from Jerome); 3. «discreet reproach»; 4. «humiliation»; 5. «memory»; 6. «compassion».