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and a lapse of understanding. 5.5 How then, tell me, are those who are angry and drunk with wrath in a lesser state than those drunk from wine, showing so much lack of measure as to proceed against everyone alike and neither spare words nor know a distinction of persons? For just as those who are mad and out of their minds, throwing themselves down cliffs, are not aware, in the very same way are those who are angry and besieged by wrath. For this reason a certain wise man, wishing to represent the destruction of such drunkenness, says: “For the impulse of his anger is his downfall.” Do you see how in a brief saying he has hinted to us the excess of this destructive passion? 5.6 And vainglory again and despair are another kind of drunkenness, or rather, worse than drunkenness. For he who is caught by these passions loses, so to speak, the judgment of his very senses and is in no lesser state than those who are mad. For being torn apart each day by these passions, he is not aware, until, having been brought down into the very depth of evil, he surrounds himself with incurable evils. Let us flee, therefore, I beseech you, both the drunkenness from wine and the darkening of our thoughts that comes from absurd passions, and let us listen to the common teacher of the world saying: "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation." 5.7 Do you see how he made it clear to us through this saying that it is also possible to be drunk in another way? For if there were not another kind of drunkenness, for what reason, after saying "do not be drunk," did he add "with wine"? And see the excess of his wisdom and the precision of his teaching through his addition; for after saying, "do not be drunk with wine," he added, "in which is dissipation," all but showing us that the excess of this is the cause of all our evils. "In which is," he says, "dissipation," that is, through which we lose the wealth of virtue. 5.8 And so that you may learn that this is what he is hinting at, I will try to make this clear to you from the word itself. For we are accustomed to call "prodigal" those of the young men whom we see spending their paternal substance simply and randomly and for no necessity, knowing neither a time for expense nor a measure of spending, but in a short time consuming all their paternal wealth and being brought down to extreme poverty. Such also are those who are caught by drunkenness from wine; for they no longer know how to properly dispense the wealth of their mind, but just as the prodigal young men, so also these, being submerged by drunkenness, whether it is necessary to utter words, or to say something improper and bringing much destruction, they both say and do everything fearlessly and, worse than those prodigals who consume the substance of their money, cast themselves into the extreme poverty of virtue, and often bringing forth the secrets of their mind they are not aware, and having consumed the whole substance of their mind they suddenly become desolate and naked of all piety and understanding. 5.9 For the drunkard does not know how to manage his words with judgment, but just as a house open on all sides and easy to attack for all who plot against it, so is the mind of such a one laid open and torn apart by destructive passions. For drunkenness is nothing other than a betrayal of thoughts and a calamity that is laughed at and a disease that is mocked. Drunkenness is a voluntary demon, drunkenness is a darkening of thoughts, drunkenness is a desolation of understanding, drunkenness is the kindling of the passions of the flesh. For we often pity one who is troubled by a demon; but with this one we are both indignant and angry. For what reason? Because that is an outrage of the demon, but this is a sign of laziness and much intemperance, and that is a plot of the devil, but this is a plot of one's own thoughts. 5.10 And so that you may learn that this is so, consider him for me enduring the same things as the one possessed by a demon, or even worse. For just as one possessed by a demon foams at the mouth and falls down and often remains motionless on the ground, not even recognizing those present but distorting the

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καὶ ἔκπτωσις συνέσεως. 5.5 Τί τοίνυν, εἰπέ μοι, ἔλαττον διάκεινται τῶν ἀπὸ οἴνου μεθυόντων οἱ ὀργιζόμενοι καὶ τῷ θυμῷ μεθύοντες καὶ τοσαύτην ἐπιδεικνύμενοι τὴν ἀμετρίαν ὡς κατὰ πάντων ὁμοίως χωρεῖν καὶ μήτε ῥημάτων φείδεσθαι μήτε προσώπων εἰδέναι διαφοράν. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ μαινόμενοι καὶ ἐξεστηκότες κατὰ κρημνῶν ἑαυτοὺς ῥιπτοῦντες οὐκ αἰσθάνονται, τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον καὶ οἱ ὀργιζόμενοι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ θυμοῦ πολιορκούμενοι. ∆ιὸ καὶ σοφός τις παραστῆσαι βουλόμενος τῆς τοιαύτης μέθης τὸν ὄλεθρόν φησιν· «Ἡ γὰρ ῥοπὴ τοῦ θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ πτῶσις αὐτῷ.» Εἶδες πῶς ἐν βραχεῖ ῥήματι τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ ὀλεθρίου τούτου πάθους ἡμῖν ᾐνίξατο; 5.6 Καὶ ἡ κενοδοξία δὲ πάλιν καὶ ἡ ἀπόνοια ἑτέρα μέθη, μᾶλλον δὲ μέθης χαλεπωτέρα. Ὁ γὰρ τούτοις ἁλοῦς τοῖς πάθεσι καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ὡς εἰπεῖν τὸ κριτήριον ἀπόλλυσι καὶ οὐδὲν ἔλαττον πάλιν τῶν μαινομένων διάκειται. Καὶ γὰρ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν τούτων σπαραττόμενος οὐκ αἰσθάνεται μέχρις ἂν εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν βυθὸν τῆς κακίας κατενεχθείς, ἀνιάτοις ἑαυτὸν περιβάλῃ κακοῖς. Φύγωμεν τοίνυν, παρακαλῶ, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴνου μέθην καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν παθῶν τῶν ἀτόπων ἐγγινομένην ἡμῖν σκότωσιν τῶν λογισμῶν καὶ ἀκούωμεν τοῦ κοινοῦ διδασκάλου τῆς οἰκουμένης λέγοντος· «Μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία.» 5.7 Εἶδες πῶς δῆλον ἡμῖν ἐποίησε διὰ τοῦ ῥήματος τούτου ὅτι ἔστι καὶ ἑτέρως μεθύειν; Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἦν καὶ ἑτέρα μέθη, τίνος ἕνεκεν εἰπών· μὴ μεθύσκεσθε, προσέθηκεν· οἴνῳ; Καὶ ὅρα αὐτοῦ τῆς σοφίας τὴν ὑπερβολὴν καὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας τὴν ἀκρίβειαν διὰ τῆς ἐπαγωγῆς· εἰπὼν γάρ· μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ, ἐπήγαγεν· ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία, μονονουχὶ δεικνὺς ἡμῖν ὅτι ἡ τούτου ἀμετρία πάντων ἡμῖν αἰτία γίνεται τῶν κακῶν. «Ἐν ᾧ ἐστί, φησίν, ἀσωτία» τουτέστι δι' οὗ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀπόλλυμεν. 5.8 Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι τοῦτο αἰνίττεται, ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς λέξεως πειράσομαι ὑμῖν τοῦτο ποιῆσαι φανερόν. Ἀσώτους γὰρ ἐκείνους καλεῖν εἰώθαμεν τῶν νέων οὓς ἐὰν ἴδωμεν τὴν πατρῴαν οὐσίαν ἁπλῶς καὶ εἰκῇ καταδαπανῶντας καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν δέον, καὶ οὔτε καιρὸν εἰδότας ἐξόδου οὔτε δαπάνης μέτρον, ἀλλ' ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ πάντα τὸν πατρικὸν πλοῦτον καταναλίσκοντας καὶ εἰς ἐσχάτην πενίαν καταφερομένους. Τοιοῦτοί εἰσι καὶ οἱ ὑπὸ τῆς μέθης τοῦ οἴνου ἁλισκόμενοι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσασι λοιπὸν δεόντως διανέμειν τῆς διανοίας τὸν πλοῦτον, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ οἱ ἄσωτοι τῶν νέων οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ὑπὸ τῆς μέθης καταβαπτιζόμενοι κἂν ῥήματα προέσθαι δέῃ, κἂν ἀπρεπῆ τινα φθέγξασθαι καὶ ὄλεθρον πολὺν φέροντα, πάντα ἀδεῶς καὶ λέγουσι καὶ πράττουσι καὶ χεῖρον τῶν ἀσώτων ἐκείνων τὴν τῶν χρημάτων οὐσίαν καταναλισκόντων εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην πενίαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἑαυτοὺς ἐμβάλλουσι, καὶ τὰ ἀπόρρητα τῆς διανοίας πολλάκις ἐκφέροντες οὐκ αἰσθάνονται, καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῶν τῆς διανοίας τὴν ὕπαρξιν καταναλώσαντες ἔρημοι καὶ γυμνοὶ πάσης εὐλαβείας καὶ συνέσεως ἀθρόον γίνονται. 5.9 Ὁ γὰρ μεθύων οὐκ οἶδεν οἰκονομῆσαι τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ ἐν κρίσει, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οἰκία πάντοθεν ἀνεῳγμένη καὶ πᾶσιν εὐεπίβατος τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσι τυγχάνουσα, οὕτως ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ τοιούτου διάνοια ἀναπεπταμένη καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ὀλεθρίων παθῶν σπαραττομένη. Μέθη γὰρ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἢ προδοσία λογισμῶν καὶ συμφορὰ καταγελωμένη καὶ νόσημα χλευαζόμενον. Μέθη αὐθαίρετός ἐστι δαίμων, μέθη σκότωσις λογισμῶν, μέθη συνέσεως ἐρημία, μέθη τῶν ἐκ σαρκὸς παθῶν ὑπέκκαυμα. Τὸν γὰρ ὑπὸ δαίμονος ἐνοχλούμενον πολλάκις καὶ ἐλεοῦμεν· τούτῳ δὲ καὶ ἀγανακτοῦμεν καὶ ὀργιζόμεθα. Τίνος ἕνεκεν; Ὅτι ἐκεῖνο μὲν ἐπήρεια τοῦ δαίμονός ἐστι, τοῦτο δὲ ῥᾳθυμίας καὶ πολλῆς ἀκρασίας δεῖγμα, καὶ ἐκεῖνο μὲν ἐπιβουλὴ τοῦ διαβόλου, τοῦτο δὲ ἐπιβουλὴ τῶν οἰκείων λογισμῶν. 5.10 Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι οὕτως ἔχει, ὅρα μοι αὐτὸν τὰ αὐτὰ ὑπομένοντα τῷ δαιμονῶντι ἢ καὶ χαλεπώτερα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ δαιμονῶν ἀφρὸν ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ἀφίησι καὶ καταπίπτει καὶ ἀκίνητος μένει πολλάκις ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους, οὐδὲ τοὺς παρόντας ἐπιγινώσκων ἀλλὰ διαστρέφων τῶν