Sin
‹ 4 · Outline · 6 ›
5.Particular sins and their catalogues
5a.Pride and vainglory
See also: Art 8a · Philosophy 7a
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 58Aias perishes for proud boasting that he escaped the sea despite the gods.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 210Pride and impiety toward gods, defying Jove and imitating his thunder, bring damnation.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 33–34Pride, and the malicious 'subverters' whose jeering he lived among, likened to devils.read · scan
- p. 34–35Pride swelled him and made him disdain to be a little one.read · scan
- p. 55Men fell by ascending against God through pride; Christ came to save sinners and heals the sinful soul.read · scan
- p. 105–106Proud rising against God set inferior things above him and pressed him down.read · scan
- p. 106–108Pride separated Augustine from God; God resists the proud and heals his swollen, deformed soul with sorrows.read · scan
- p. 141Pride and high imaginations are lowered and crooked ways straightened by divine mercy.read · scan
- p. 191Pride and ambition; the adversary spreads snares of 'well done' that sever joy from God's truth.read · scan
- p. 193–194Vanity and pleasing oneself, taking God's gifts as one's own or envying grace in others; he confesses his wounds.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 183The terrace purges pride; the proud bend under heavy stones, and humility is set before them as example.read · scan
- p. 183Dante rebukes proud Christians; the punishment of pride is the debt to God's justice, cancelled through suffering.read · scan
- p. 183–186Proud souls bowed under stones; those overtrusting themselves remain abortive, like embryonic worms, unready for judgment.read · scan
- p. 186–187Prayer for pardon and deliverance from the old adversary's wiles; souls purge the world's stains.read · scan
- p. 187Omberto confesses pride of ancestry ruined him and his kin; Oderigi says he too was consumed by pride.read · scan
- p. 191Pavement carved with examples of pride punished: Lucifer, giants, Nimrod; Dante walks bowed in contrition.read · scan
- p. 191More carved examples of pride brought low: Niobe, Saul, Arachne, Rehoboam, Sennacherib, Cyrus, Holofernes, Troy; Dante warns the sons of Eve.read · scan
- p. 191One of the P's is erased; as sin's marks are removed, the climb becomes lighter and delightful.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 266–267Pride and presumption lead to loss of grace and near-irremediable blindness.read · scan
- p. 268–269Self-esteem and iniquity stand against the soul; grace favors the humbled.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 116–118The white knight calls Bagdemagus's attempt great folly; the shield punishes presumption on unworthy bearers.read · scan
- p. 136King Evelake approached the Sangreal too nearly, displeased God, and was struck almost blind until he cried mercy.read · scan
- p. 152–154Launcelot is rebuked for turning to the sinners out of pride; black covering betokens unconfessed sins.read · scan
- p. 154–156Launcelot is warned of hell and everlasting pain for vainglory, pride and poor belief.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 221Vainglory is treated as a fault that God corrects.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 289–291Fears England's sin of pride and excess will resemble Sodom and Gomorrah, abusing God's benefits.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 139Pride and lust are man's chief maladies.read · scan
- p. 154Their pride in stopping men's love at themselves shows unrecognised corruption.read · scan
- p. 162Pride and sloth are sources of sin, cured by God's justice and mercy; mercy spurs good works.read · scan
- p. 190–191Pride produces heresies; Scripture contains contrary words to bring fruit in time.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 389Pascal calls Epictetus's claim that man can cure all vices unaided diabolic pride.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 69–70Christian's pride leads to his fall, and the old man's taunt about burning.read · scan
Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40
- p. 407Pride in reasoning is man's error; aspiring beyond one's sphere sins against order, as angels fell.read · scan
- p. 411–413Presuming to disturb the order is pride and impiety.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 89–90Her blasphemous pride is answered by a raging storm, signaling judgment on overreaching.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 420Ambition, the desire of shining and outshining, was the beginning of sin in this world; self-love as Golden Calf.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 331–332Vanity and disobedience bring Karen into condemnation; the shoes cling as punishment.read · scan
- p. 356–357The Buckwheat's pride and vainglory in looking at the lightning brings ruin; the willow speaks of the punishment that follows such sin.read · scan
5b.The seven deadly sins and their purgation
The Bhagavad-Gita; or, Song CelestialVol. 45
- p. 861–863Lust, wrath and avarice lead to Naraka and repeated devilish rebirths until men find and worship God.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 25Ciacco is damned for gluttony, called a damned vice.read · scan
- p. 28Anger and sullenness in life are the sins requited here.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 194–195The second cornice purges envy; envious souls wear sackcloth with eyes sewn shut.read · scan
- p. 195Souls cleanse the sin of envy through penitential tears and prayer, seeking heaven's grace to clear the conscience.read · scan
- p. 199The argument announces the souls purged of envy, with instances of envy recorded.read · scan
- p. 203Voices cite envy's examples; man is baited by the old enemy and doted on earth despite heaven's calls.read · scan
- p. 208Wrathful souls pray for release from the bonds of wrath.read · scan
- p. 212Anger is purged on this cornice; the argument names the sin of gloominess purged on the next.read · scan
- p. 216Spirits rush by shouting examples of zeal and of sloth, spurring themselves to make amends for former lukewarm slowness.read · scan
- p. 216Spirits chide their sin of sloth with examples of those who died before reaching the promised land and who chose life without glory.read · scan
- p. 222Avaricious penitents lie prone weeping, their souls cleaved to dust, as punishment for love of earthly things.read · scan
- p. 223Pope Adrian confesses avarice, covetous of earthly things and alienated from God, now punished lying prone.read · scan
- p. 223–225Argument foretells examples of avarice on the fifth cornice.read · scan
- p. 225–227Avarice is cursed as an inveterate wolf never filled; penitents lament their all-infecting malady.read · scan
- p. 227–228Avarice condemned: it sells daughters like slaves, drives the French king's seizure of Boniface, and is recalled at night by Pygmalion, Midas, Achan, Sapphira.read · scan
- p. 228–229Examples of avarice sung at night: Heliodorus's plunder, Polymnestor's murder, Crassus's gold, contrasted with day's praise of blessedness.read · scan
- p. 234Many will rise at the resurrection with shorn hair, having died unrepentant of prodigality through ignorance.read · scan
- p. 234Statius did penance four centuries on the fourth circle for lukewarmness, hiding his faith from fear.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 222–223Neglecting holy exercises through sloth is sinful; strive against the sins that most easily beset us.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 53–55Sister refuses mercy to the drowning girl, out of envy.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 122–123The good man explains Melias's wounds: pride, presumption, covetousness and theft, and taking knighthood without clean confession; the two knights signify deadly sins.read · scan
- p. 159The knights' sin and wickedness make them black bulls, lacking virtuous works; confession is sought.read · scan
William Caxton, Prefaces and EpiloguesVol. 39
- p. 13Idleness is a capital deadly sin, mother of lies, overthrowing strong men, nourishing pride and leading to hell.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19
- p. 227–228The Seven Deadly Sins parade before Faustus, each showing its own disposition.read · scan
- p. 228–229Faustus says the show of sins feeds his soul, and Lucifer tells him hell holds all delight.read · scan
John Eliot, Eliot's Brief NarrativeVol. 43
- p. 143A teacher's drunkenness is called a sin the English brought to them.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 382Avarice, brutality, debauchery and blasphemy expose men to damnation.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 52–54Rankine's drinking and tricks will send him sinking like Korah to hell; poet calls him wicked sinner.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 353–355Sloth, 'the sin which doth most easily beset us,' keeps laborers poor and their families ignorant.read · scan
Robert Browning, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1074–1075Worldly bishop's greed, envy of Gandolf and hidden fault.read · scan
5c.Murder, treachery and kindred crimes
See also: Punishment 10d
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 170–171The crew slay Helios's cattle, a monstrous deed, and Helios demands atonement.read · scan
Aeschylus, The Libation-BearersVol. 8
- p. 102–103Catalog of women's crimes (Althea, Scylla, Lemnos, Clytemnestra) as examples of impious deeds hated by gods.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 56–57Menelaos, ungrateful to his hosts, sacrifices two native children to gain a wind and becomes abhorred.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 675Murdering his brother's son for inheritance and regretting a gift bring hell to the treasurer.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 80–85Pygmalion's crime of murder at the altar and concealment through lies.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 411–412Judas betrays with a kiss; disciples warned of temptation.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 424–425Judas's iniquity and gruesome death, the field of blood, mark his fall from apostleship.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 996–997Cain slays his brother and repents after the crow shows how to hide the body; Israel is punished with wandering.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 7Grendel descends from Cain, whose killing of Abel brought exile; his evil breed wars against God and is punished.read · scan
- p. 8Grendel is firm in guilt, unrighteous, ruthless murderer, refusing compensation or pact of peace.read · scan
- p. 20Unferth's slaying of his kin condemns him to the curse of hell.read · scan
- p. 40Grendel's kin trace to Cain's fratricide, marked with murder and driven from men's delights.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 145Murder from jealousy, concealed by burial and by flight.read · scan
The Voyages to VinlandVol. 43
- p. 17–19Freydis murders the five women, conceals her guilt with gifts and threats, and the shameful deed is exposed.read · scan
Songs from the Elder EddaVol. 49
- p. 387–390The giantess accuses Brynhild of destruction and blood, worst ever born; she answers she was betrayedread · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 112–114Poet notes Ganelon's oath crowned his guilt.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 257Sigi murders Bredi and lies about it, hiding the body in a snow-drift.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 69Geryon, image of Fraud with a just man's face and serpent body, embodies deceit; usurers sit tormented in the seventh circle.read · scan
- p. 73Flattery is condemned: Alessio confesses his flatteries sank him low, and the harlot Thais shows false, fawning speech.read · scan
- p. 77Simoniacs prostitute the things of God, which should be wedded to goodness, for gold and silver.read · scan
- p. 78Pope Nicholas confesses simony: he heaped wealth to advance his kin, and predecessors and successors share the guilt.read · scan
- p. 78Avarice of popes afflicts the world, treading down the good and raising the bad.read · scan
- p. 97Caiaphas and the council are seed of ill and sorrow to the Jews.read · scan
- p. 102–103Fucci's blasphemous gesture of defiance; Cacus punished among thieves for fraudulent theft of the herd.read · scan
- p. 134Traitors' guilt is named and their sins recounted among the damned, e.g. betrayal of city and party.read · scan
- p. 137Treachery damns the soul at the moment of betrayal.read · scan
- p. 140Betraying benefactors is the extreme evil, placed lowest in Hell.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 82–84The murder is a great crime, with a burial unlike any since Adam's days.read · scan
- p. 116–118Marie's infanticide and concealment before the Queen bring guilt and judgment.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 175The hermit warns Lionel that slaying his brother will be mortal sin; Lionel kills the hermit anyway.read · scan
- p. 175–177Bors fears the sin of fratricide and the wrath of God; Colgrevance prays for mercy and penance for his soul.read · scan
- p. 190After the slaughter they hold themselves great sinners, but Galahad says vengeance belongs to God.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 426The suspected poisoning by the priest and Sbietta's wife is a crime of malice and greed.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 339–340Withering murder moves like a ghost with Tarquin's strides; Macbeth goes to kill Duncan.read · scan
- p. 344Macduff discovers the sacrilegious murder of the Lord's anointed king; Macbeth feigns ignorance.read · scan
- p. 352–354Macbeth plots Banquo's and Fleance's murder; he hopes Banquo's soul finds heaven that night.read · scan
- p. 354–356Macbeth plans further murder, saying things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.read · scan
- p. 356–357The hired murderers ambush and kill Banquo treacherously at Macbeth's direction; Fleance escapes.read · scan
- p. 357Murderer reports Banquo's throat cut with twenty gashes; Macbeth praises cut-throats.read · scan
- p. 358–360Macbeth says blood will have blood; murderers are revealed by omens.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 826–827Cariola fears damnation for lack of confession; Bosola declares murder shrieks out above other sins; guilt and remorse follow.read · scan
- p. 841The Cardinal's secret murder, which Julia calls as great as adultery.read · scan
William Hazlitt, Of Persons One Would Wish to Have SeenVol. 27
- p. 280Lamb cannot conceive of Judas's betrayal of Christ after sharing his dish.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18
- p. 301Orsino weighs murder, hoping for the profit without sin and peril, and quiets his accusing conscience.read · scan
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1174–1175The dying king begs a priest to shrive his soul; the traitor refuses, offering the sword's shrift.read · scan
5d.Sexual sin and adultery
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 21–22Lust, pleasure-lured, drives the sinner like a false coin revealed; Paris's ravishing of Helen brings ruin.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 64The rumored ravishing of the daughter by her father and her suicide.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 328–331Hippolytus is horrified at the speechless sin he has heard and repudiates the Nurse as a pander.read · scan
Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 496Paul condemns fornication of a man with his father's wife and calls for his expulsion, delivering him to Satan.read · scan
- p. 497–498Fornication is a sin against one's own body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.read · scan
Paul, The Second Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 531Fear of finding strife, factions and unrepented uncleanness among them; he will mourn those who sinned.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 23Exceeded God's limits in lust yet could not escape His scourges.read · scan
- p. 31Concupiscence and lustfulness defile the spring of friendship.read · scan
- p. 31–32He rejoiced in theatres with lovers wickedly enjoying one another; warns against uncleanness.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 915–916Fornication is an abomination, killing children a great sin; God forgives the penitent.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 34The wife's adultery and the husband's killing of her and her lover leave both laden with sin, sent to the fire.read · scan
- p. 69–70The cousin's forbidden act is punished by fire now and by the punishment of the other world.read · scan
- p. 70The forbidden passion, with the Devil taking hold of the pair, brings divine fire and the promise of worse punishment.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 21Carnal sinners, whose reason is swayed by lust, are damned; Semiramis legalized lust to escape blame.read · scan
- p. 21Famous lovers such as Cleopatra, Helen and Tristan are damned as carnal sinners; Dido and others stained the world with blood.read · scan
- p. 73Fraudulent sinners, including panderers who seduced women from duty, are condemned in the eighth circle.read · scan
- p. 73Jason's seduction and desertion of Hypsipyle, and deceit like Medea's, condemn seducers; flatterers lie in filth.read · scan
- p. 123Myrrha's incestuous deceit and Schicchi's impersonation to forge a testament are named as sins.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 250Penitents shout the sins of Sodom and Pasiphae as they pass, rebuking themselves in the burning.read · scan
- p. 250Guinicelli confesses lustful sins, broke the law of human kind following beasts, and cleanses himself with repentance and shame.read · scan
- p. 250–254Arnault laments his past folly, wading through fire in penitence, and asks for prayers.read · scan
- p. 254The fire purges last sin; torment but not death is felt, on the way to the terrestrial Paradise.read · scan
- p. 255The fire is the last purgation before ascent; a voice calls the blessed of the Father to come.read · scan
- p. 278The fox rebuked for ugly sins; the whore and giant embody lust and corruption.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 172–174Had the two sinned together they would have been damned.read · scan
- p. 190–192The earl's three sons commit incest with their sister, slay her, imprison their father and destroy chapels and priests.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 261–262Her loss of maidenhood and his betrayal; oaths on saints broken.read · scan
- p. 334Mistresses' sins make them slaves to their servants, obliged to conceal dishonest conduct and unable to rebuke it.read · scan
Sir Philip Sidney, The Defense of PoesyVol. 27
- p. 25David's adultery and murder are brought home to him through Nathan's parable, leading to the Psalm of Mercy.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 100–102Hamlet calls the marriage most wicked speed and unrighteous tears.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 215–216Gloucester jokes about the 'fault' of Edmund's conception; Kent cannot wish it undone.read · scan
Nathaniel Ward, The Body of LibertiesVol. 43
- p. 79–81Sexual acts labelled abomination and punished by death.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 684–687Pharamond hunts ladies for sport and hopes they are not honest; Galatea rebukes bawdy talk.read · scan
- p. 697Megra is denounced as 'all-sin, all-hell', a sea of lust and disease.read · scan
- p. 710–713He charges her lust with a boy and sees hell in women's hearts.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 505A woman seduced and betrayed finds guilt and shame that only death can wash away.read · scan
- p. 509The seduced country girl, lost to friends and virtue, lies houseless at her betrayer's door.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 159–161Mephistopheles' song warns maidens against seducers and giving up their prize without a ring, while planning Margaret's seduction.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 102–104Sinners converted for a day; jobs begun that may end in fornication.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 162Councillors say God forbids a father to marry his daughter and that such a crime would ruin the kingdom.read · scan
- p. 162–163The daughter calls her father's intention wicked.read · scan
Lord Byron, ManfredVol. 18
- p. 432–434He asks forgiveness and says it was the deadliest sin to love as they loved.read · scan
Robert Browning, A Blot in the 'ScutcheonVol. 18
- p. 372–373Mildred says sin has surprised them and punishment will follow; Mertoun claims he alone sinned.read · scan
- p. 386Mildred's guilt is denounced as wanton, deceitful sin.read · scan
- p. 392Mertoun says 'We've sinned and die' and warns Tresham that God will judge him.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1124–1125Merman calls her faithless.read · scan
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