Origin of the currently recognized seven deadly sins His first epistles say that 'to flee vice is the beginning of virtue and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom.' An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each represented by an animal (clockwise: toad = avarice snake = envy lion = wrath snail = sloth pig = gluttony goat = lust peacock = pride). Roman writers such as Horace extolled virtues, and they listed and warned against vices. The seven deadly sins are discussed in treatises and depicted in paintings and sculpture decorations on Catholic churches as well as older textbooks. This classification originated with Tertullian and continued with Evagrius Ponticus. These sins are often thought to be abuses or excessive versions of one's natural faculties or passions (for example, gluttony abuses one's desire to eat). According to the standard list, they are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, which are contrary to the seven capital virtues. The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings.
