Seven

"Now is it bihovely thyng to telle whiche been the sevene deedly synnes, this is to seyn, chiefaynes of synnes. Alle they renne in o lees, but in diverse manneres. Now been they cleped chieftaynes, for as muche as they been chief and spryng of alle othere synnes." --Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parson's Tale

      In modern English, this reads roughly:

     "Now it is necessary to tell of the Seven Deadly Sins, that is, the capital sins. They all run on one leash but in different ways. They are called capital because they are the chief ones, the sources of all other sins."

     The seven deadly sins, also known as the cardinal sins or capital vices, were created by early christian leaders to show followers the tendency of a lost humanity to sin. According to Charles Panati in his novel "Sacred Origin of Profound Things", Greek theologian Evagrius of Pontuswas the first to write a list of eight offenses and wicked human passions. They were, in order of increasing severity: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. Evagrius saw the escalating severity as to represent increasing fixation with ones self, with pride as the most serious of the sins.
     According to Geoffry Chaucer in "The Parson's Tale", the Seven Deadly Sins are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust; they are "healed" by the virtues of humility, contentment, patience, fortitude, mercy, moderation, and chastity.
     Dante's The Divine Comedy is a three part work made up of "Inferno", "Purgatorio", and "Paradiso" "Inferno" divided Hell into nine concentric circles. Four of these circles correspond directly to deadly sins: circle two to lust, three to gluttony, four to greed, and five to both anger and sloth. Punishments for the sins of circle five take place in the Stygian lake, the wrathful being punished atop the lake, attacking one another with the various members of their person, including fangs, while the slothful are punished underneath the lake, breathing sighs in bubbles and singing a dolorous song. The other circles don't correspond with any of the cardinal sins; however, in "Purgatorio", Mount Purgatory is scaled in seven levels.
     In 1589 Peter Binsfeld, a German bishop and theologian, paired each of the seven deadly sins with one of the Seven Princes of Hell, said to temp humans by means of their associated sin. The pairings are these: Pride to the Day Star Lucifer, Greed to the God of Wealth Mammon, Lust to the Prince of Lechery Asmodeus, Envy to the Gatekeeper Leviathan, Gluttony to the Prince of False Gods Beelzebub, Wrath to the Marquis of Hell Amos, and Sloth to the Disputer Belphegor.
    
     Pride is the original and most severe of the seven deadly sins, and also the source of the remaining six. Pride is considered to be holding oneself to have a higher self worth than others while refusing to acknowledge the worth of others. In Dante's Divine Comedy, the penitents of this sin were forced to walk with stone slabs bearing down on their backs to induce feelings of humility, the suggested cure of pride. Perhaps the best known example of Pride is the story of Lucifer.

    Lucifer was an exalted archangel of the lord next in honor to only the son of God, Jesus Christ. An immaculate light shone around him brighter and more majestic than that of all the other angels. Only Christ held pre-eminence over the angel because he was one with the Father before the angels were created. Lucifer, who was immensely jealous Christ, thought that he had been a favorite in Heaven among all the angels. He had been exalted on high, yet still he received no gratitude nor praise from his creator. From this came his wish to be held higher than God. Filled with overbearing pride and envy, Lucifer called forth the angelic host. He stated that he would never again bow to Jesus Christ; he would take the honor upon himself where it should rightfully be and be commander of all who would submit to his will and follow his voice. The angels loyal to God wept. They urged him to renounce his wicked plans. Lucifer did not concede. It was the highest crime in Heaven to rebel against the will of God. And so it was that Lucifer, 'The Light-Bearer', sharer of God's glory, the attendant of his throne, by transgression became Satan, 'The Adversary'.

     Second to pride is Envy. Dante defined this sin as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs." Those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they consider themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it as they are. In Dante's Purgatorio, the punishment for the envious was to have their eyes sewn shut with wire because they had gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low. Of the seven princes of Hell, envy if governed by the gatekeeper, Leviathan.

 

     In constructing the punishments of hell, Leviathan is called to punish the sinners who committed the deadly sin of envy and died without confession and absolution. 

     Greed is the next of the seven. Also known as avarice, greed is an inordinate desire to possess more than one needs, usually in respect to material wealth. In Dante's Purgatorio, the penitents of this sin were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on earthly thoughts. Greed is ruled by Mammon, the god of wealth and one of the seven princes of Hell.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon." --Matthew 6:19-21,24

      Now we come to Lust, also known as lechery. This sin is generally thought of as excessive desires of a sexual nature. Aristotle described lust as an excessive love of others which therefore rendered ones love and devotion to God as secondary. In Dante's "Inferno", unforgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds symbolic of their own lack of self control to their lustful passions in earthly life. Asmodeus is the demon of lust and is therefore considered responsible for twisting people's sexual desires. 

     It is said that people who fall to Asmodeus' ways will be sentenced to an eternity in the second level of hell. In the Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy, Asmodeus is depicted with the breast of a man, a rooster leg, serpent tail, three heads (one of a man spitting fire, one of a sheep, and one of a bull), riding a lion with dragon wings and neck, all of these animals being associated with either lust or revenge.

     Wrath is the next of the cardinal sins. It may be described as uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Wrath, in its purest form, presents with self-destructiveness, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries. It may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness. Dante described wrath as "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite". The sin of wrath also encompasses wrath pointed internally. Because of this, suicide was deemed as the ultimate expression of hatred directed inwardly, a final rejection of God's gifts.

     According to Peter Binsfeld's classification of demons, Satan is the demon who rules over the sin of Wrath. Satan is traditionally identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; thus, Satan has often been depicted as a serpent.

      Next is Gluttony. Medieval church leaders, such as Thomas Aquinas, took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods. Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony, including:
-Praepropere - eating too soon.
-Laute - eating too expensively.
-Nimis - eating too much.
-Ardenter - eating too eagerly (burningly).
-Studiose - eating too daintily (keenly).
-Forente - eating wildly (boringly).     Beelzebub was the demon of gluttony.

     Beelzebub is commonly described as being high in rank in Hell's hierarchy. According to the stories of the 16th century occultist, Johann Weyer, Beelzebub led a successful revolt against Satan and is the chief lieutenant of Lucifer, the Emperor of Hell, and presides over the Order of the Fly.

     The final sin is Sloth. Sloth is defined as spiritual or emotional apathy, neglecting what God has spoken, and being physically and emotionally inactive. Religious views concerning the need for one to work to support society and further God's plan and work also suggest that, through inactivity, one invites the desire to sin. "For Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." Belphegor is the chief demon of sloth.

      He is one of the seven princes of Hell said to help people to make discoveries. He seduces people by suggesting to them ingenious inventions that will make them rich. Bishop Peter Binsfeld believed that Belphegor tempted by means of laziness and thus his government over the sin of sloth.