THE FIRST HEAD OF THE BEAST.
The first head of the beast of hell is pride; the second is envy; the third, wrath; the fourth, sloth, which one calls in book-lore, indolence; the fifth, itching—in book-lore, avarice, or covetousness; the sixth, gluttony; the seventh, lechery, or luxury. Of these seven heads comes every kind of sin, and therefore they are called capital sins, because they are the head of all evil and of all sins, and the beginning of all evil, be they deadly, be they venial. Then each of the same seven divides into many divisions, and first we will talk of the sin of pride, because that was the first sin and the beginning of all evil. For pride first broke fellowship and order, when Lightbearer (Lucifer) the angel, because of his great beauty and his great wit, would be above the other angels, and would make himself equal to God, who had made him so fair and so good, and therefore he fell from heaven and became a devil, both he and all his fellowship. All the proud, who fellowship and order of men destroy and break, are like him, when they will be above others, and be more famed and praised than any other that are more worthy.