Exactly what “least deadly” does mean was dramatized by Dante Alighieri in
his great narrative poem, The Divine Comedy, around the year 1300. You recall
— maybe you
recall — that in the poem Dante himself makes a grand tour of Hell and
Purgatory and Heaven. He reveals that Hell is composed like a colossal
sports stadium. The largest circle is at the top and as you descend toward
the bottom each circle is somewhat smaller, much like the circular rows in a
conventional stadium. The very bottom of the stadium is the smallest circle,
the deepest pit of hell, where the worst sinners end up. There Dante sees
those sinners whose transgressions were the least concerned with sexual
desire or weaknesses of the flesh and but were driven by cold, heartless
intellectuality. Down there Hell is frozen over.
But way at the top, where Dante first entered, he sees those sinners who were
blown away by sexual desire, by simple animal lust. It’s here that Dante
meets and talks briefly with a famous pair of lovers, Francesca and Paulo, who in
life were swept away by illicit desire and who, like all such sinners, are
now forever blown about by an eternal wind that whirls them away like leaves
– the punishment fitting the crime.
For those who don’t read Medieval Italian there are several translations of
Dante’s great three-part poem and each translation has its unique good and
bad qualities. A number of translators have tried their hand at the Inferno
but fewer have gone on to do the Purgtorio and Paradiso. The poem is written
in terza rima, a rhyme scheme that goes aba, then bcb, then cdc, and so
forth. (The structure of this poem, down to its details, is based on the
number three.) One of the very few English poems that uses terza rima is
Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind.” As you might imagine, it’s extremely
difficult to compose a rhymed translation of The Divine Comedy.
Everybody has a favorite translation; mine is John Ciardi’s rhymed version
— it’s old, but very good.
But let’s to get back to Lust, this engrossing subject. The reason that Lust
is the least deadly of the Seven Deadly Sins is that you fall for it with
the least foresight or thought. Intellectual sins — such as treason or
calculated lying to destroy somebody’s reputation — are prepared, calculated
and carried out with foresight. Like these theological distinctions, our
secular laws recognize the difference between a criminal act done in a
fleeting moment of weakness or passion on the one hand, and a long-planned
crime which has been carried out with methodical precision. The old
Catholic Catechism of Christian Doctrine used to have questions about
serious mortal sins and less serious venial sins.
Q. How many things are necessary to make a sin mortal?
A. To make a sin mortal three things are necessary: a
grievous matter, sufficient reflection, and full consent of the will.
So, reader, you’re now prepared to examine the sins of the flesh committed
by our politicians
and decide for yourself who is guilty of what and to what degree.
[By the way, the picture posted at the start of this article shows the
lovers Francesca and Paolo being tormented by the ceaseless winds in Dante's
Inferno. It's by Gustave Dore, the nineteenth century artist who illustrated
a number of literary works with dramatically bold engravings which have
become almost as famous as the works themselves]
—Gene Mirabelli