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the contempt of present matters, and such great perfection and precision, that there are some even now, if not saying it in words, yet by their deeds crying out this same thing, of how much accusation would it be worthy? For there are, there truly are, those who think they have been brought into this life for this reason, that having lived in luxury, and having burst their belly, and having fattened their body, they might so depart, preparing a more lavish table for the worm from their own flesh. And would that this were the only terrible thing, that they were consuming their present things in vain and at random and for no good purpose; and yet even this is not without charges, nor accusation. For when the resources given to us by God for the nourishment of the body, and for the assistance of those in need, we consume in licentiousness and insolence and the utmost indolence, this most wicked expenditure will not be without accountability for us, but we will surely give an account, and what was said about the five talents, and the two, and the one, can be said also of money, and of all other things. As I was saying, then, that certainly, even if we have come into being at random and in vain, not even so was such an action without accountability for us; but now apart from this another penalty will also be imposed. For it is necessary for one who lives with luxury, and practices drunkenness, and feeds parasites and flatterers, and is bursting with meat-eating and wine-drinking, often to sin both unwillingly and willingly, both during the time of this present place, and after the departure from there. For just as a ship that has received a quantity of cargo greater than its own capacity, weighed down by the size of the load, becomes submerged, so also the soul, and the nature of our body, having received more food than its own strength can bear, becomes waterlogged, and not bearing the weight of what has been put upon it, is plunged into the sea of destruction, and destroys the pilot, and the sailors and the lookout and the passengers, and the cargo itself along with all of them. Therefore, just as in the case of ships in such a state, neither the calm of the sea, nor the skill of the pilot, nor a multitude of sailors, nor the suitability of its construction, nor a favorable season of the year, nor anything else helps a ship so storm-tossed; so indeed it also happens in the case of those who live in luxury; neither a multitude of reasonings, nor teaching and exhortation, nor admonitions and counsels, nor anything else, not fear of the things to come, not shame, not accusation from those present, nor anything else can save the soul so storm-tossed; but excess prevails over all, henceforth carrying down submerged the one who suffers from such things, both unwilling and willing, and working a grievous shipwreck, from which it is not easy even to recover. And not only with respect to the things to come and the reckonings there, but also for the present life such a person becomes useless, and fit for nothing, but everywhere ridiculous, both in public and in private affairs; and if something urgent must be done, he will be found having nothing of foresight, nothing of management, being an easy victim to all his enemies, useless to all his friends and relatives. Such a person is not only easily abused in dangers and circumstances, not unbearable in calm and security, but also in difficulties he will be useless for each of the things that befall him on account of his excess. For there, I mean in days of misfortune, cowardice, and unmanliness, and immoderate fear, and great indecision will possess him; but here recklessness, and indolence, and licentiousness, excess and pride, and arrogance, make him more difficult for all to bear than the former things. For not only do the bodies of those in such a state become both unseemly, and flabby, and moist, and full of an unbearable stench from all sides, but the soul is also much more unseemly than the body, having received far greater maladies than it from the

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τὴν τῶν παρόντων ὑπεροψίαν πραγμάτων, καὶ τὴν τοσαύτην τελειότητα καὶ ἀκρίβειαν, εἶναί τινας ἔτι καὶ νῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῖς ῥήμασι λέγοντας, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἔργων τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο βοῶντας, πόσης ἂν εἴη κατηγορίας ἄξιον; Καὶ γάρ εἰσιν, εἰσὶν ὄντως, οἱ διὰ τοῦτο νομίζοντες εἰς τόνδε παρῆχθαι τὸν βίον, ἵνα τρυφήσαντες, καὶ τὴν γαστέρα διαῤῥήξαντες, καὶ τὸ σῶμα πιάναντες, οὕτως ἀπέλθωσι, δαψιλεστέραν τῷ σκώληκι παρασκευάζοντες τράπεζαν τὴν ἐξ οἰκείων σαρκῶν. Καὶ εἴθε τοῦτο μόνον ἦν τὸ δεινὸν, ὅτι μάτην καὶ εἰκῇ καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν δέον τὰ παρόντα ἀνήλισκον· καίτοι καὶ τοῦτο χωρὶς ἐγκλημάτων οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδὲ κατηγορίας. Ὅταν γὰρ τὰ πρὸς τροφὴν σώματος παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δοθέντα ἡμῖν χρήματα, καὶ εἰς ἐπικουρίαν τῶν δεομένων, εἰς ἀκολασίαν καὶ ὕβριν καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ῥᾳθυμίαν καταναλώσωμεν, οὐκ ἀνεύθυνος ἡμῖν ἔσται ἡ κακίστη αὕτη δαπάνη, ἀλλὰ πάντως δώσομεν λόγον, καὶ τὸ περὶ τῶν πέντε ταλάντων, καὶ δύο, καὶ ἑνὸς εἰρημένον, καὶ ἐπὶ χρημάτων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἐστὶν εἰπεῖν. Ὅπερ οὖν ἔλεγον, ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν, εἰ καὶ εἰκῇ καὶ μάτην παραγεγόναμεν, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀνεύθυνος ἡμῖν ἦν ἡ τοιαύτη πρᾶξις· νῦν δὲ χωρὶς τούτου καὶ ἑτέρα κείσεται δίκη. Τὸν γὰρ τρυφῇ συζῶντα. καὶ μελετῶντα μέθην, καὶ παρασίτους τρέφοντα καὶ κόλακας, κρεωφαγίᾳ τε καὶ οἰνοποσίᾳ διαῤῥηγνύμενον, πολλάκις 50.770.30 καὶ ἄκοντα καὶ ἑκόντα ἀνάγκη ἁμαρτάνειν, καὶ παρὰ τὸν τοῦ παρόντος τόπου καιρὸν, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἀναχώρησιν. Καθάπερ γὰρ πλοῖον μεῖζον τῆς οἰκείας συμμετρίας τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀγωγίμων δεξάμενον, τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ φόρτου βαρυνόμενον ὑποβρύχιον γίνεται, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ, καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις, πλείονα τῆς οἰκείας δυνάμεως δεξαμένη τὰ σιτία, ὑπέραντλος γίνεται, καὶ τὸ βάρος οὐ στέγουσα τῶν ἐπιβληθέντων, εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀπωλείας καταποντίζεται πέλαγος, καὶ κυβερνήτην, καὶ ναύτας καὶ πρωρέα καὶ ἐπιβάτας, καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν φόρτον μετὰ πάντων προσαπολλύει. Καθάπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων πλοίων, οὐ γαλήνη θαλάσσης, οὐκ ἐπιστήμη κυβερνήτου, οὐ ναυτῶν πλῆθος, οὐ κατασκευῆς ἐπιτηδειότης, οὐχ ὥρα ἔτους εὔκαιρος, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν τὴν οὕτω χειμαζομένην ὀνίνησι ναῦν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τρυφώντων γίνεται· οὐ λογισμῶν πλῆθος, οὐ διδασκαλία καὶ παραίνεσις, οὐ νουθεσίαι καὶ συμβουλίαι, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν, οὐ φόρος τῶν μελλόντων, οὐκ αἰδὼς, οὐ κατηγορία τῶν παρόντων, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν διασῶσαι δύναται τὴν οὕτω χειμαζομένην ψυχήν· ἀλλ' ἐπικρατεῖ πάντων ἡ ἀμετρία, καὶ ἄκοντα καὶ ἑκόντα λοιπὸν ὑποβρύχιον τὸν τὰ τοιαῦτα νοσοῦντα καταφέρουσα, καὶ ναυάγιον ἐργαζομένη χαλεπὸν, ὅθεν οὐδὲ ἀνενεγκεῖν ῥᾴδιον. Καὶ οὐδὲ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ τὰς εὐθύνας τὰς ἐκεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἄχρηστος γίνεται, καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἐπιτήδειος, ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ καταγέλαστος, ἔν τε πολιτικοῖς, ἔν τε ἰδιωτικοῖς πράγμασι· κἂν δέοι τι πραχθῆναι τῶν κατεπειγόντων, οὐδὲν προνοητικὸν, οὐδὲν οἰκονομικὸν ἔχων εὑρεθήσεται, πᾶσιν 50.771 εὐχείρωτος ὢν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, πᾶσιν ἄχρηστος τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τοῖς προσήκουσιν. Οὐκ ἐν κινδύνοις καὶ περιστάσεσιν εὐεπηρέαστος μόνον ὁ τοιοῦτος, οὐκ ἐν γαλήνῃ καὶ ἀδείᾳ ἀφόρητος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ταῖς δυσκολίαις ὑπὸ τῆς ἀμετρίας ἑκάστῳ τῶν προσπιπτόντων ἔσται ἄχρηστος. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν, ἐν ταῖς δυσημερίαις λέγω, δειλία, καὶ ἀνανδρία, καὶ φόβος ἄμετρος, καὶ ἀβουλία πολλὴ καθέξει· ἐνταῦθα δὲ θράσος, καὶ ῥᾳθυμία, καὶ ἀκολασία, ἀμετρία καὶ τῦφος, καὶ ἀλαζονεία, τῶν προτέρων μᾶλλον δυσχερέστερον παρὰ πᾶσι ποιεῖ. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον τὰ σώματα τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων καὶ ἀειδῆ, καὶ πλαδαρὰ, καὶ διάβροχα, καὶ δυσωδίας ἀφορήτου πάντοθεν ἔμπλεα γίγνεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ πολὺ τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ἀειδεστέρα, πολλῷ μείζονα ἐκείνου νοσήματα δεξαμένη παρὰ τῆς