MY BELOVED IS MINE AND I AM HIS: SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN THE ...

Gilson’s comments are entirely correct, but should be complemented with two
further points. First, if Bernard believes that curiosity gives rise to all the subsequent
steps of pride, he also believes, as will be shown below, that curiosity gives rise to a self-
deception which itself develops through each of these subsequent steps. So while it is
true to say that curiosity distracts the monk from true self-knowledge, the knowledge
which alone has bearing on oneself from the standpoint of self-knowledge, it is also true
that curiosity prepares the monk to entertain, and ultimately accept as true, a proud false
self-understanding which supplants the true self-knowledge born of humility.
Second, if Bernard’s treatment of curiosity is as long as his treatment of the
remaining eleven steps combined, this is so specifically because, in the case of this step
alone, Bernard decides to embellish his treatment with a discussion of three biblical
exempla of curiositas, namely Dinah, Eve, and Satan. 171 As will be shown momentarily,
in his treatment of these three exemplary figures, Bernard not only shows how each
embodies the vice of curiosity, but also how the curiosity of each ultimately entails their
descent into self-deception, self-will, and the threefold contempt of themselves, their
fellows, and God himself. In other words, for the abbot, Dinah, Eve, and Satan not only
exemplify the first step of pride, but also all the remaining steps of pride put together,
from the highest down to the lowest. By placing these three exempla in his very first step
of pride, Bernard in effect offers his readers an preview of the entire doleful, downward
171 Although Bernard’s treatment of the monk’s own particular form of curiosity is comparable in
length to that of the remaining eleven steps, his consideration of these three exempla, and most especially
the case of Satan, occupies some seven additional pages in the Sancti Bernardi Opera Ominia. See Hum
28-38 (III, 38-45).
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