One of the things that always fascinates me about Dante's Comedy is that Purgatory and Hell are asymmetrical
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An excess of sloth--radical indifference--doesn't merit a special penalty in Hell, on the contrary, it means you're not even bad enough...
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...to be admitted to Hell in the first place. You're doomed instead to join the crowds outside Hell, chasing the banner of self-interest.
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So if Sloth is punished in ante-Hell, what about Envy and Pride? Welcome to Inner Hell, inside the walls of Dis.
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Dante's treatment of Inner Hell suggests that Envy and Pride (which even in my untrained mind are closely related) are especially wicked...
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...because of the terrible variety of expressions they have. All manner of sin springs from them. Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery.
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For these deeper circles, Dante is faced with such a variety of evil that he has to set up sub-circles in each (except heresy).
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Violence is too broad--so there is violence against others, then against self, then against God.
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Fraud is such a vast category that Dante sketches out ten distinct bolgia, some of which have more than one kind of fraud in them.
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And finally, Treachery--the single WORST expression of Pride and Envy--even this, he breaks into four smaller categories.
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Betrayal of kin, then country, then guests, and finally benefactors. Satan's treachery against God is the most dramatic example of the last.
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So, this is good news. Resist Pride and Envy and you'll be avoiding the worst kinds of sin, and better able to resist the other kinds.
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But don't be complacent either--you don't get brownie points for sin A instead of sin B. Even the slightest sin is rebellion against God.
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The only reason to "rank" sins at all is to make it see how each one begets others, and how you can work backwards away from them.
End of conversation
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