It is thereby driven, ultimately, by spiritual pride what Augustine calls superbia and it is an essentially rational act - the training for the ascent is the intellectual training of dialectic. Love is the highest form of knowing

Augustine or Aquinas at least had some attempts to nail down the philosphical problem: the problem with "superbia" (vanity) and "amor sui". Armed and Dangerous

Adeo incomprehensibilis et aspera eorum superbia, &c. 6491. Anatomy of Melancholy

Thou art humble as thou art, it may be; hadst thou been preferred, thou wouldst have forgotten God and thyself, insulted over others, contemned thy friends, [3973] been a block, a tyrant, or a demigod, sequiturque superbia formam: [3974] Therefore, saith Anatomy of Melancholy

If she be fair, as the saying is, she is commonly a fool: if proud, scornful, sequiturque superbia formam, or dishonest, rara est concordia formae, atque pudicitiae, can she be fair and honest too? Anatomy of Melancholy

Flamma simul libidinis ingreditur; ira, furor et superbia, divitiarum sequela. Anatomy of Melancholy

'Tis proper to man alone, uni superbia, avaritia, superstitio, saith Plin. lib. Anatomy of Melancholy

[Chronicon Hierosolymitanum, eodem libro 9.cap. l2.] continueth this historie of these two hundreth saile of ships, and sheweth how by their prowesse chiefly, the multitude of the Sarazens were in short space vanquished and ouerthrowen: The words are these; Ab ipso ver� die terti� feri� dum sic in superbia et elatione su� multitudinis immobiles Saraceni persisterent, et multis armorum terroribus Christianum populum vexarent, sexta feria appropinquante. The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation

Vnum est, quod quicunque in superbia erectus, propria authoritate sine electione principum esse voluerit imperator, sine vlla miseratione debet occidi. The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation