CRUELTY. – “Cruelty is the atrocity of the soul in inflicting punishments” (Seneca, De Clem., 4). Cruel, from crudus, is one whose manners are savage. St. Thomas likewise derives the term c. from cruditas, harshness, and observes that, just as raw foods have an unpleasant and acrid taste, so c. implies harshness of spirit. Judged externally, in relation to the sufferer, c. is a lack of justice insofar as it exceeds in inflicting punishments that are in themselves deserved, but not to that degree. Considered instead as a disposition of spirit in the one who commits it, it is an act against clemency, a virtue annexed to temperance and characterized by a gentleness of spirit that seeks to mitigate punishments.
BIBL.: S. Tommaso, Sum. Theol., 2°-3°, q. 159, an. 1-2.