And though men dradden nevere for to dye,
Yet seen men wel by resoun, doutelees,
That ydelnesse is roten slogardye,
Of which ther nevere comth no good n’ encrees;
And syn that slouthe hire holdeth in a lees
Oonly to slepe, and for to ete and drynke,
And to devouren al that othere swynke.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Second Nun’s Prologue. The narrator of this tale about the life of Saint Cecelia, the Second Nun, is talking about the dangers posed to the soul by idleness. Even people who never feared death or judgment in the afterlife could reason that no good or profit comes from idleness, she feels. Sloth holds idleness on a leash, allowing her to devour all the gains that others earn from working, she says. The old saying "the devil makes work for idle hands" comes to mind in her warning here about sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.