Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.
Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.
Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.
Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.
Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.
Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.
(www.deadlysins.com)

In Canto 4 six counsellours are described. They are Idleness, Gluttony, Lechery, Avarice. Envie, and Wrath. According to the descriptions of each, they seem to reflect the seven deadly sins, minus one. I took the definitions of each of the deadly sins and listed them above. By comparing these definitions with the descriptions of the counselors it seems that pride is the sin that remains unmentioned. This made me think of your analysis of the story that you presented in class and in your blog about the possible critique that occurs of Elizabeth’s prideful decision not to marry through Spenser’s description of Lucifera. At first, I was confused by the seeming absence of Pride as one of Lucifera’s counselors. Now, however, if your assumption is right, Lucifera herself may be left as encompassing pride, and thus Pride is not one of her counselors. What do you think?

I also thought the passages describing the counselors were quite interesting, specifically in light of which animals were chosen for each counselor to be placed on. However, I am only going to discuss the first, Idleness or Sloth, who is placed on a slow and unattractive animal, the donkey. However, the donkey is often pointed to in the Bible as a common method of travel for biblical characters. Idleness carries a prayerbook with him, further illuminating the similarities between this character and a biblical one. Thus, Idleness not only rides on an animal that may exhibit similar behavior to him, but he also seems to make a mockery of the Bible by wearing a habit, carrying a prayerbook, and traveling on a donkey.