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Gregory of Nyssa. The Lord blesses, not those who live outside of passion (for it is not possible in a material life to achieve a wholly immaterial and passionless life), but those who are slow and sluggish with respect to the impulses of nature.

Pleasure, having been set forth as a kind of bait for all evil indeed, easily draws the more gluttonous souls to the hook of destruction.

Of Clement. The corruption of virgins is spoken of, not only as fornication, but also the giving away before the proper

time; when, so to speak, she is given to a man unseasonably, whether by her own doing, or by her parents.

From the Fathers. Fornication is aroused through four things, from

eating and drinking to satiety; and a surfeit of sleep, and being idle and playing and speaking idly; and the embellishment of clothing.

Of Nilus. Send away from your wife the eunuch 15Ε_038

Smaragdus; for even if he should seem to have been cut of the lower twins, yet above he has in his face, as it were, the twin eyes, looking with passion, and already drawing on wicked testimonies.

Of Cyril. Like smoke, or like certain vapors of innate pleasures

desires rise up in us. But the temperate and youthful man rebukes the movements, and does not allow them to proceed further; by which the passion, being still inactive, is easily conquered; but the lazy and negligent man admits the beginnings of pleasures while they are still mere thoughts; and having allowed them to proceed to a wider extent, he will find the resistance most difficult. For he who has been captured and conquered beforehand is not lord of his own desires; but is rather subject, as to some Barbarian, to the conquering passion.

Of Menander. Temperance is the treasury of virtue. From the Epistles of Iamblichus concerning Temperance. 741 Every virtue dishonors everything mortal, but the immortal

it embraces. But temperance, in a very different way, has this zeal, inasmuch as it dishonors the pleasures that nail the soul to the body, and stands on holy foundations, as Plato says. For how does temperance not make us perfect, banishing from us all that is imperfect and passionate? You might know that this is so, if you consider Bellerophon, how, striving together with decency, he destroyed the Chimera and the whole bestial, savage, and untamed race. For in general the immoderate dominance of the passions does not even permit men to be men, but drags them toward an irrational, bestial, and disordered nature.

Be mindful of hunger and thirst; for these things are of great power to those who pursue temperance.

From the Aristognoppoumma. He masters pleasure, not the one who abstains, but the one who partakes, yet is not carried away; just as 15Ε_040 in the case of a ship and a horse, it is not the one who does not use them, but the one who directs them where he wishes.

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Γρηγορ. Νύσσης. Μακαρίζει ὁ Κύριος, οὐ τούς ἔξω πάθους βιοτεύοντας (οὐ γάρ δυνατόν ἐν ὑλώδει ζωῇ τόν ἄϋλον καθόλου καί ἀπαθῆ καατορθωθῆναι βίον) , ἀλλά πρός τάς τῆς φύσεως ὁρμάς βραδέως καί δυσκινήτως ἔχοντας.

Πάσης ὄντως κακίας οἷόν τι δέλεαρ ἡ ἡδονή προβληθεῖσα, εὐκόλως τάς λιχνοτέρας ψυχάς ἐπί τό ἄγκστρον τῆς ἀπωλείας ἐφέλκεται.

Κλήμεντος. Παρθένων φθορά λέγεται, οὐ μόνον πορνεία, ἀλλά καί ἡ πρό

καιροῦ ἔκδοσις· ὅταν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἄωρος ἐκδοθῇ τῷ ἀνδρί, ἤτοι ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτῆς , ἤ παρά τῶν γονέων.

Ἐκ τῶν Πατέρων. ∆ιά τεσσάρων πραγμάτων ἐγείρεται ἡ πορνεία, ἐκ τοῦ

φαγεῖν καί πιεῖν εἰς πλησμονήν· καί ὁ κόρος τοῦ ὕπνου, καί τό ἀργεῖν καιί παίζειν καί ἀργολογεῖν· καί ὁ καλλωπισμός τῶν ἱματίων.

Νείλου. Ἀπόστησον ἀπό τῆς συμβίου σου τόν εὐνοῦχον 15Ε_038

Σμάραγδον· κἄν γάρ δοκοίη τῶν κάτω διδύμων ἐκτετμῆσθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ἄνω ἔχει ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ πως τούς διδύμους ὀφθαλμούς, ἐμπαθῶς ἐμβλέποντας, καί ἐπισυρομένους ἤδη πονηράς μαρτυρίας.

Κυρίλλου. Καπνοῦ δίκην, ἤ καί ὥπερ τινές ἀτμοί τῶν ἐμφύτων ἡδονῶν

ἀνίσχουσιν ἐν ἡμῖν αἱ ὀρέξεις. Ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μέν σώφρων καί νεανικός, ἐπιτιμᾷ τοῖς κινήμασι, καί περαιτέρω προελθεῖν οὐκ ἐᾷ· ᾧ καί ἀδρανές ὄν ἔτι τό πάθος ἥττηται ῥᾳδίως· ὁ δέ ῥᾴθυμος καί κατημελημένος, εἰσδέχεται μέν τάς τῶν ἡδονῶν ἀρχάς ὡς ἐννοίας ἔτι ψιλάς· ἐπιτρέψας δέ προελθεῖν εἰς πλάτος, δυσχερεστάτην εὑρήσει τήν ἀντίστασιν. Ὁ γάρ προαλούς καί προηττημένος, οὐ τῶν ἰδίων ἐστίν θελημάτων Κύριος· ὑπόκειται δέ μᾶλλον καθάπερ τινί Βαρβάρῳ τῷ νικήσαντι πάθει.

Μενάνδρου. Ταμεῖόν ἐστιν ἀρετῆς ἡ σωφροσύνη. Ἰαμβλίχου ἐξ Ἐπιστολῶν περί σωφροσύνης. 741 Πᾶσα μέν ἀρετήν τό θνητοειδές πᾶν ἀτιμάζει, τό δέ ἀθάνατον

ἀσπάζεται. Πολύ δέ διαφερόντως ἡ σωφροσύνη ταύτην ἔχει τήν σπουδήν, ἅτε δή τάς προσηλούσας τῷ σώματι τήν ψυχήν ἡδονάς ἀτιμάζουσα, καί ἐν ἁγνοῖς βάθροις βεβῶσα, ὥς φησι Πλάτων. Πῶς γάρ ἡ σωφροσύνη τελείους ἡμᾶς οὐ ποιεῖ, τό ἀτελές καί ἐμπαθές ὅλον ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐξορίζουσα; Γνοίης δ᾿ ἄν ὡς τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, τόν Βελλεροφόντην ἐννοήσας, ὡς μετά τῆς κοσμιότητος συναγωνιζόμενος, τήν Χίμαιραν καί τό θηριῶδες καί ἄγριον καί ἀνήμερον φῦλον πᾶν ἀνεῖλεν. Ὅλως γάρ ἡ τῶν παθῶν ἄμετρος ἐπικράτεια οὐδέ ἀνθρώπους ἀφίησιν εἶναι τούς ἀνθρώπους, πρός δέ τήν ἀλόγιστον αὐτούς ἕλκει φύσιν καί θηριώδη καί ἄτακτον.

Μέμνησο λιμοῦ καί δίψους· ταῦτα γάρ δύνανται μεγάλως τοῖς σωφροσύνην διώκουσιν.

Ἔκ τῶν Ἀριστογνοππουμμῶν. Κρατεῖ ἡδονῆς, οὐχ ὁ ἀπεχόμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ

χρώμενος μέν, μή προεκφερόμενος δέ· ὥσπερ 15Ε_040 καί νηός καί ἵππου, οὐχ ὁ μή χρώμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μετάγων ὅπου βούλεται.