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He adds to what has been said before, that This also is vanity. Again he takes up another objection, and the objection is this: if you count what is outside of us among vain things, O teacher, whatever we take into ourselves would not reasonably be condemned as vain. But indeed, eating and drinking happen within ourselves. Therefore such a thing is not to be rejected, but one might define such a grace as a divine benefit. This is the thought of the objection, and the words are as follows: There is nothing better, he says, for a man than that he should eat and drink and show his soul good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can drink, without him? 5.371 These things the advocate of gluttony objects to the teacher. But what does the guide of wisdom say to this, to the good man? And the addition of "good" certainly also showed the contrast, so that what is understood as opposite to goodness is clear. Therefore to the man who is not beast-like, who has not stooped over his own belly, who has not acquired a throat instead of reason, but to the good man living according to the image of the only good One, God did not legislate this food, for which the beastly nature gapes, but He has given him, it says, instead of food, wisdom and knowledge and gladness. For how could anyone increase goodness through the foods of the flesh? Man shall not live by bread alone, this is the word of the true Word, virtue is not nourished by bread, the power of the soul does not thrive and grow fat through meats. The higher life is nourished and strengthened by other foods: the food of the good is temperance, bread is wisdom, relish is righteousness, drink is dispassion, pleasure is not that of the body, such as the disposition concerned with desire, but that whose name and work is gladness; for on this account he also called by this name the disposition in the soul which tends toward the good, because such a state comes to the mind from thinking well. It is necessary, therefore, to learn here also what 5.372 we have heard from the apostle, that The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and dispassion and blessedness. But the things that are pursued by men for the sake of bodily pleasure are the pursuit of sinners and a distraction of the soul being dragged down from things above to things below, whose entire span of conduct in this life is spent in the pursuit of adding and gathering. Therefore he who judges this to be good in the sight of God is ignorant, defining the good in what is vain. These things I have said in my own voice, but the citation of the divine words will seal this thought; for it says: To the sinner he has given the distraction of adding and gathering, to give to him who is good before God; because this also is vanity and a striving after wind. Therefore, whatever we have now learned from this parallel examination of both the good and the worse through this reading, may it become for us a help for avoiding the things condemned, and a provision for the things accomplished for the better, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY 6 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter 5.373 under heaven; this is the beginning of the oracles set before us for contemplation. And the labor of the examination is not small, and the profit from the labor is worthy of the labor. For perhaps the aim of the things contemplated by us in the first parts of the book is revealed most of all in this part, as the discourse will show as it proceeds in sequence. All things were condemned in the preceding discourses as vain, whatever is pursued in human life for no spiritual profit. The good was shown, toward which one must through the things in the head

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προστίθησι τοῖς προειρη μένοις, ὅτι Καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης. Πάλιν ἄλλης ἀντιθέσεως καθάπτεται, τὸ δὲ ἀντιτιθέμενον τοῦτό ἐστιν· εἰ τὸ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἐν ματαίοις ἀριθμεῖς, ὦ διδάσ καλε, ὅπερ ἂν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἀναλάβωμεν, οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως καταγνωσθείη ὡς μάταιον. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἡ βρῶσις τε καὶ ἡ πόσις ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς γίνεται. οὐ τῶν ἀποβλήτων ἄρα τὸ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ θείαν ἄν τις εὐεργεσίαν τὴν τοιαύτην χάριν ὁρίσαιτο. αὕτη τῆς ἀντιθέσεως ἡ διάνοια, τὰ δὲ ῥήματα τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον· Οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγαθόν, φησίν, ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ, ὃ φάγεται καὶ πίεται καὶ δείξει τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ ἀγαθὸν ἐν μόχθῳ αὐτοῦ. καί γε τοῦτο εἶδον ἐγώ, ὅτι ἀπὸ χειρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν, ὅτι τίς φάγεται καὶ τίς πίεται πάρεξ αὐτοῦ. 5.371 ταῦτα ὁ τῆς λαιμαργίας συνήγορος ἀνθυποφέρει τῷ διδα σκάλῳ. τί δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ τῆς σοφίας ὑφηγητὴς τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ φησὶ τῷ ἀγαθῷ; ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προσθήκη πάντως καὶ τὴν ἀντιδιαστολὴν ἐνεδείξατο, ὥστε δῆλον εἶναι τὸ τῇ ἀγαθότητι ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου νοούμενον. τῷ οὖν ἀνθρώπῳ οὐ τῷ βοσκημα τώδει, τῷ τῇ γαστρὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἐπικεκυφότι, τῷ λαιμὸν ἀντὶ λογισμοῦ κεκτημένῳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἀγαθῷ τῷ κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ μόνου ἀγαθοῦ ζῶντι οὐ ταύτην ἐνομοθέτησεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν τροφήν, περὶ ἣν ἡ κτηνώδης κέχηνε φύσις, ἀλλ' Ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ, φησίν, ἀντὶ τροφῆς σοφίαν καὶ γνῶσιν καὶ εὐφροσύνην. πῶς γὰρ ἄν τις τὴν ἀγαθότητα διὰ τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ἐδωδίμων αὐξήσειεν; Οὐκ ἐπ' ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὗτος τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ λόγου ὁ λόγος, οὐ τρέφεται ἄρτῳ ἡ ἀρετή, οὐ διὰ κρεῶν ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμις εὐεκτεῖ καὶ πιαίνεται. ἄλλοις ἐδέσμασιν ὁ ὑψηλὸς βίος τρέφεται καὶ ἁδρύνεται· τροφὴ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἡ σωφροσύνη, ἄρτος ἡ σοφία, ὄψον ἡ δικαιοσύνη, ποτὸν ἡ ἀπάθεια, ἡδονὴ οὐχ ἡ τοῦ σώματος, ὁποία ἡ περὶ τὸ καταθύμιον σχέσις, ἀλλ' ἧς ὄνομά τε καὶ ἔργον ἡ εὐφροσύνη ἐστίν· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὠνόμασε τῇ προσηγορίᾳ ταύτῃ τὴν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ πρὸς τὸ καλὸν γινομένην διάθεσιν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ εὖ φρονεῖν ἡ τοιαύτη παραγίνεται τῇ διανοίᾳ κατάστασις. χρὴ τοίνυν καὶ ἐνταῦθα μαθεῖν, ἅπερ 5.372 καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἠκούσαμεν, ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ βρῶσις καὶ πόσις, ἀλλὰ δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀπάθεια καὶ μακαριότης. ἃ δὲ τῆς σωματικῆς ἀπολαύσεως ἕνεκεν παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σπουδάζεται, ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐστι σπουδὴ καὶ περισπασμὸς ψυχῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνω πρὸς τὰ κάτω κατασπωμένης, ἧς πᾶν τὸ διάστημα τῆς ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ διαγωγῆς εἰς τὴν περὶ τοῦ προσθεῖναι καὶ συναγαγεῖν σπου δὴν ἀναλίσκεται. ὁ οὖν τοῦτο τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ κρίνων ἀγνοεῖ ἐν τῷ ματαίῳ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁριζόμενος. ταῦτα εἶπον ἐγὼ τῇ ἐμαυτοῦ φωνῇ, ἐπισφραγίσει δὲ τὴν διάνοιαν ταύτην ἡ τῶν θείων ῥημάτων παράθεσις· φησὶ γάρ· Τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ ἔδωκε περισπασμὸν τοῦ προσθεῖναι καὶ συναγαγεῖν, τοῦ δοῦναι τῷ ἀγαθῷ πρὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· ὅτι καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος. ὅσα τοίνυν ἐκ τῆς παραλλήλου ταύτης συνεξετάσεως τοῦ τε καλοῦ καὶ τοῦ χείρονος διὰ τῆς νῦν μεμαθήκαμεν ἀναγνώσεως, γένοιτο ἡμῖν βοήθεια πρὸς ἀποφυγὴν μὲν τῶν κατεγνωσμένων, ἐφόδιον δὲ τῶν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον κατορθουμένων, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ςʹ Τοῖς πᾶσιν ὁ χρόνος καὶ καιρὸς τῷ παντὶ πράγματι 5.373 ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν· αὕτη τῶν προκειμένων ἡμῖν λογίων εἰς θεωρίαν ἀρχή. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ὁ πόνος τῆς ἐξετάσεως οὐ μικρὸς καὶ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πόνου κέρδος τοῦ πόνου ἄξιον. τάχα γὰρ ὁ σκοπὸς τῶν ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις τοῦ βιβλίου θεωρηθέντων ἡμῖν ἐν τούτῳ μάλιστα φανεροῦται τῷ μέρει, ὡς προϊὼν ἐπιδείξει διὰ τῆς ἀκολουθίας ὁ λόγος. κατεγνώσθη τὰ πάντα ἐν τοῖς προλαβοῦσι λόγοις ὡς μάταια, ὅσα κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρώ πινον βίον ἐπ' οὐδενὶ ψυχικῷ κέρδει σπουδάζεται. ὑπεδείχθη τὸ ἀγαθόν, πρὸς ὃ χρὴ διὰ τῶν τῇ κεφαλῇ