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21.t Chapter 21. That one who has chosen to live rigorously must be alienated from every kind of bodily pleasure.

21.1 Since it was shown to be impossible to approach the purity of God without first becoming such oneself, it would be necessary for one to separate himself from pleasures by some great and strong wall, so that the purity of his heart might in no way be defiled by this approach; a safe wall is perfect alienation from everything performed with passion. For pleasure, being one in kind, as one may hear from the wise, just like water divided from one spring into different channels, mingles with the pleasure-loving through each of the senses. Therefore, the one who is overcome by a pleasure that arises in him through one of the senses is wounded in the heart from that point, as the voice of the Lord teaches, that he who has fulfilled the desire of the eyes has received the injury in his heart. I think that the Lord has here spoken figuratively about every sense organ, so that, following what was said, we might well add, that he also who heard so as to desire and he who touched and he who drew down every power within us to the service of pleasure has sinned in his heart.

21.2 Therefore, so that this may not happen, the temperate man must use this rule for his own life, never to attach himself in soul to anything to which some bait of pleasure is mixed, and above all, to be especially on guard against the pleasure of taste, because this seems to be somehow more immediate and, as it were, the mother of the forbidden one. For pleasures in eating and drinking, increasing through the immoderation of edibles, create in the body a necessity for involuntary evils, since satiety for the most part begets such passions in men. Therefore, so that the body may remain as calm as possible for us, not being troubled by any of the passions arising from surfeit, one must take care for a more continent way of life, defining the measure and limit of enjoyment not by pleasure, but by the need in each case.

21.3 And we see farmers skillfully separating the chaff mixed with the wheat, so that each of them might be taken for its proper use, the one for human life, the other both for burning and for the nourishment of irrational animals. Therefore, the worker of temperance also, distinguishing the need from the pleasure, like the wheat from the chaff, will cast the one away to the more irrational things, of which "the end is for burning," as the Apostle says, but of the need itself he will partake according to what is required, giving thanks.

22.t Chapter 22. That one must not practice self-control beyond what is necessary and that both corpulence of the body and immoderate affliction are equally opposed to the soul's perfection.

22.1 But since many, having slipped into the other kind of immoderation through excessive rigor, have unwittingly striven for the opposite of their own goal, and in another way turning the soul away from higher and more divine things have brought it down to base cares and occupations by inclining their thought to bodily observances, so that their mind no longer soars in freedom and looks at the things above, but upon the laboring and crushed state of the flesh

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21.t Κεφάλαιον καʹ Ὅτι χρὴ τὸν ἀκριβῶς ζῆν προελόμενον πρὸς πᾶν

εἶδος σωματικῆς ἡδονῆς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχειν. 21.1 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῇ καθαρότητι τοῦ θεοῦ προσεγγίσαι, μὴ αὐτόν τινα

πρότερον τοιοῦτον γενόμενον, ἀδύνατον κατεφάνη, ἀναγκαῖον ἂν εἴη μεγάλῳ τινὶ καὶ ἰσχυρῷ διατειχίσματι πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς ἑαυτὸν διαστῆσαι, ὡς ἂν μηδαμοῦ τῷ προσεγγισμῷ τούτῳ τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς καρδίας ἐπιμολύνοιτο· τεῖχος δέ ἐστιν ἀσφαλὲς ἡ τελεία πρὸς πᾶν τὸ ἐμπαθῶς ἐπιτελούμενον ἀλλοτρίωσις. Μία γὰρ οὖσα τῷ γένει ἡ ἡδονή, καθὼς ἀκούειν ἔστι τῶν σοφῶν, ὥσπερ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐκ μιᾶς πηγῆς εἰς διαφόρους ὀχετοὺς μεριζόμενον, δι' ἑκάστου τῶν αἰσθητηρίων τοῖς φιληδόνοις ἐγκαταμίγνυται. Οὐκοῦν ὁ διά τινος τῶν αἰσθήσεων τῆς ἐγγενομένης αὐτῷ ἡδονῆς ἡττηθεὶς ἐκεῖθεν ἐτρώθη τὴν καρδίαν, καθὼς διδάσκει ἡ τοῦ κυρίου φωνή, ὅτι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ὁ πληρώσας ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τὴν βλάβην ἐδέξατο. Οἶμαι δὲ ἀπὸ μέρους ἐνταῦθα περὶ παντὸς αἰσθητηρίου προειρηκέναι τὸν κύριον, ὥστε ἀκολου θοῦντας ἡμᾶς τῷ εἰρημένῳ καλῶς ἂν προσθεῖναι, ὅτι καὶ ὁ ἀκούσας πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι καὶ ὁ ἁψάμενος καὶ ὁ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν δύναμιν εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν ἡδονῆς κατασπάσας τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐξήμαρτεν.

21.2 Ἵνα οὖν μὴ τοῦτο γένηται, κανόνι χρηστέον τούτῳ πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον βίον τῷ σώφρονι, τῷ μήποτε προσθέσθαι τινὶ κατὰ ψυχήν, ᾧ δέλεάρ τι ἡδονῆς παραμέμικται, καὶ πρό γε πάντων τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς γεύσεως ἡδονὴν διαφερόντως φυλάττεσθαι, διότι προσεχεστέρα πως αὕτη δοκεῖ εἶναι καὶ οἱονεὶ μήτηρ τῆς ἀπηγορευμένης. Αἱ γὰρ κατὰ βρῶσιν καὶ πόσιν ἡδοναὶ πλεονάζουσαι τῶν ἐδωδίμων τῇ ἀμετρίᾳ ἀνάγκην ἐμποιοῦσι τῷ σώματι τῶν ἀβουλήτων κακῶν, πλησμονῆς ὡς τὰ πολλὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐντικτούσης τὰ τοιαῦτα πάθη. Ὡς ἂν οὖν μάλιστα γαληναῖον ἡμῖν διαμένοι τὸ σῶμα, μηδενὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ κόρου παθημάτων ἐπιθολούμενον, προνοητέον τῆς ἐγκρατεστέρας διαγωγῆς μέτρον καὶ ὅρον τῆς ἀπολαύσεως οὐ τὴν ἡδονήν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάστου χρείαν ὁρίζειν.

21.3 Ὁρῶμεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἀναμεμιγμένον τῷ σίτῳ τὸ ἄχυρον τεχνικῶς διακρίνοντας, ὡς ἂν ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν προσήκουσαν χρείαν παραληφθείη, τὸ μὲν εἰς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωήν, τὸ δὲ εἰς καῦσίν τε ἅμα καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀλόγων τροφήν. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ τῆς σωφροσύνης ἐργάτης διακρίνων τῆς ἡδονῆς τὴν χρείαν, ὥσπερ ἀχύρου τὸν σῖτον, τὴν μὲν ἀπορρίψει τοῖς ἀλογωτέροις, ὧν «τὸ τέλος εἰς καῦσιν», ὥς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, τῆς δὲ χρείας αὐτῆς κατὰ τὸ ἐνδέον εὐχαριστῶν μεταλήψεται.

22.t Κεφάλαιον κβʹ Ὅτι οὐ δεῖ πέρα τοῦ δέοντος ἀσκεῖν τὴν

ἐγκράτειαν καὶ ὅτι ὁμοίως ἐναντιοῦται τῇ ψυχῇ πρὸς τελείωσιν ἥ τε πολυσαρκία τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἡ ἄμετρος κακοπάθεια.

22.1 Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον εἶδος τῆς ἀμετρίας

κατολισθήσαντες διὰ τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης ἀκριβείας ἔλαθον ὑπεναντία σπουδάζοντες τῷ ἰδίῳ σκοπῷ, καὶ ἄλλῳ τρόπῳ τῶν ὑψηλῶν τε καὶ θειοτέρων τὴν ψυχὴν ἀποστήσαντες εἰς ταπεινὰς φροντίδας καὶ ἀσχολίας κατήγαγον πρὸς τὰ σωματικὰ παρατηρήματα τὴν διάνοιαν ἑαυτῶν κλίναντες, ὡς μηκέτι αὐτοῖς ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ μετεωροπορεῖν τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὰ ἄνω βλέπειν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ πονοῦν καὶ συντριβόμενον τῆς σαρκὸς