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<DIV>[...] Sloth, according to <A
href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08459b.htm">Damascene</A> (De Fide Orth.
ii, 14) is an oppressive sorrow, which, to wit, so weighs upon man's mind, that
he wants to do nothing; thus acid things are also cold. Hence sloth implies a
certain weariness of work, as appears from a gloss on Ps. 106:18, "Their soul
abhorred all manner of meat," and from the definition of some who say that sloth
is a "sluggishness of the mind which neglects to begin good." </DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Now this sorrow is always evil, sometimes in itself, sometimes in its effect.
For sorrow is evil in itself when it is about that which is apparently evil but
good in reality, even as, on the other hand, pleasure is evil if it is about
that which seems to be good but is, in truth, evil. Since, then, spiritual good
is a good in very truth, sorrow about spiritual good is evil in itself. And yet
that sorrow also which is about a real evil, is evil in its effect, if it so
oppresses man as to draw him away entirely from good deeds. Hence the <A
href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm">Apostle</A> (2 Cor. 2:7) did
not wish those who repented to be "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow."
<P>Accordingly, since sloth, as we understand it here, denotes sorrow for
spiritual good, it is evil on two counts, both in itself and in point of its
effect. Consequently it is a sin, for by sin we mean an evil movement of the
appetite, as appears from what has been said above (10, 2; I-II, 74, 4)."</P>
<P><A
href="http://www.newadvent.org/summa/303501.htm">http://www.newadvent.org/summa/303501.htm</A></P>
<P><BR>For Dante, Sloth is a sin that may be "worked off" over time along the
Mount of Purgatory:</P></DIV>
<DIV>"Sloth (technically called <I>accidia</I>) describes a lax (or tepid) love
and pursuit of what is good and virtuous. To correct themselves of this fault,
the slothful now show great vigor in running around the terrace, shouting famous
examples of slothful behavior and its contrary virtue (decisive zeal) as they go
along. One such hurrying soul is the "abbot in St. Zeno," of whom little is
known besides what he says to Dante (18.113-29): he was the abbot of the church
of St. Zeno in Verona at the time of Frederick Barbarossa (12th century), and he
predicts that Alberto della Scala (father of Dante's benefactor, Can Grande)
will regret the decision to select his depraved and deformed son Giuseppe as
abbot of the church, a position he held from 1291 to 1314."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/06sloth.html">http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/06sloth.html</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/gallery06.html">http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/gallery06.html</A> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/inferno6.html">http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/inferno6.html</A></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>