John Chrysostom, On Virginity

For here perplexity has seized me and I am unable to comprehend why the entire human race, so to speak, when it is possible to take pleasure with ease and relaxation, they do not even consider the matter a pleasure, but in caring and being distracted and being anxious, they take the greatest pleasure of all. For why does the silver lying in the marketplace not delight them as much as that in the house? And yet that one is more splendid and leaves the soul free from all anxiety. "Because," one says, "that one is not mine, but this one is mine." Covetousness, then, is what possesses the pleasure, not the nature of the silver; since if it were, one ought to be equally delighted by that one too. But if you should speak for the sake of use, glass is much better, and the rich themselves would say this, who for the most part fashion their drinking cups from this material. But if, on account of pride, they should be compelled to make this from silver too, having first placed the glass within, they thus put the silver around it on the outside, showing that the one is more pleasant and suitable for drinking, but the other only for pride and arrogance. And what at all is "mine" and "not mine"? For when I examine these with precision, I see only bare words. For many, even while living, have not been strong enough to restrain it as it leaps away from their ownership. And for those with whom it remained until the end, at the time of death, both willingly and unwillingly, they fell from their authority over it. Not only concerning silver and gold, but also concerning baths and parks and in houses, one might see this saying "mine" and "not mine" to be only a bare word. For the use is common to all, but those who seem to be masters of things that are not theirs have the advantage in the care for them. For the one group only enjoys them, while the others, along with taking great care, reap this same thing which the others do with neglect.

69 That luxurious tables are full of much unpleasantness. But if someone should marvel at much luxury, such as the multitude of carved meats, the excessive expense of wine, the over-elaboration of spices, the skills of table-setters and bakers and cooks, the crowd of parasites and guests, let him know well that the rich are in no better a state in such matters than the cooks themselves. For just as the cooks fear their masters, so the hosts themselves fear their guests, lest they find fault with some of the things prepared for them with much labor and expense. And in this they are equal to the servants, but in another respect the servants even have the advantage over them. For they fear not only accusers but also envious men. For to many, envies have often been born from such symposia, and they did not stop until they brought on the utmost dangers. But eating many things many times is pleasant. Away with that. For when headaches and distensions of the stomach and blockages of breath and dizziness and vertigo and dimness of vision, and things even more terrible than these, spring up from this luxury, what pleasure shall we reap? And would that it stopped only with the daily vexations and the results of that indecency and the harm. But as it is, the most incurable of diseases have their beginning from such tables. For gout and consumption and sickness and paralysis and spasm besiege the body until its last breath. What pleasure, then, could one mention as a counterbalance to these evils? And what hardship would one not choose for the sake of release from these things?

70 That it is more useful and more pleasant not to live in luxury than to live in luxury. But simplicity is not such, but stands far from these difficulties, being productive of health and a good state of body, which you will find to be greater than luxury. And first, from being strong and being troubled by none of those evils, each of which is by itself sufficient to extinguish and overturn all pleasure from its foundations. And second, also from the foods themselves. How? Because desire is productive of pleasure, but not satiety nor

γάρ με ἐνταῦθα κατέσχεν ἀπορία καὶ οὐ δύναμαι συνιδεῖν πόθεν ἅπαν ὡς εἰπεῖν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, ὅταν μὲν ἐξῇ μετ' εὐκολίας καὶ ἀνέσεως τέρπεσθαι, οὐδὲ ἡδονὴν τὸ πρᾶγμα τίθενται, ἐν δὲ τῷ φροντίζειν καὶ περισπᾶσθαι καὶ μεριμνᾶν μάλιστα πάντων ἥδονται. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ αὐτοὺς οὐχ οὕτω τέρπει ὁ κείμενος ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἄργυρος ὡς ὁ κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν; Καίτοι γε λαμπρότερος ἐκεῖνός ἐστι καὶ μερίμνης ἁπάσης ἐλευθέραν ἀφίησι τὴν ψυχήν. Ὅτι, φησίν, ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὐκ ἐμός, οὗτος δὲ ἐμός. Ἡ πλεονεξία ἄρα ἐστὶν ἡ τὴν ἡδονὴν ἔχουσα, οὐχ ἡ τοῦ ἀργύρου φύσις· ἐπεὶ εἰ τοῦτο ἦν, καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ὁμοίως τέρπεσθαι ἔδει. Εἰ δὲ χρήσεως ἕνεκεν λέγοις, πολλῷ βελτίων ἡ ὕελος, καὶ ταῦτα αὐτοὶ οἱ πλουτοῦντες εἴποιεν ἂν οἱ τὰ ἐκπώματα ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης ταύτης ὡς τὰ πολλὰ κατασκευάζοντες. Εἰ δέ που διὰ τὸν τῦφον ἀναγκασθεῖεν καὶ ἐξ ἀργύρου τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, πρότερον ἔνδοθεν θέντες τὴν ὕελον οὕτως ἔξωθεν τὸν ἄργυρον περιβάλλουσι, δεικνύντες ὅτι αὕτη μὲν πρὸς πόμα ἡδίων καὶ ἐπιτηδεία, ἐκεῖνος δὲ πρὸς τὸν τῦφον μόνον καὶ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν. Τί δέ ἐστιν ὅλως ἐμὸς καὶ οὐκ ἐμός; Ταύτα γὰρ ὅταν μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐξετάσω, ῥήματα μόνον ὁρῶ ψιλά. Πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ζῶντες ἀποπηδῶντα αὐτὸν τῆς αὐτῶν δεσποτείας οὐκ ἴσχυσαν κατασχεῖν. Οἷς δὲ μέχρι τέλους παρέμεινεν, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τελευτῆς καὶ ἑκόντες καὶ ἄκοντες αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐξουσίας ἐξέπεσον. Οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀργύρου δὲ μόνον καὶ χρυσοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λουτρῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν παραδείσων καὶ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις τὸ ἐμὸν καὶ οὐκ ἐμὸν τοῦτο ῥῆμα ἄν τις ἴδοι μόνον ψιλόν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ χρῆσις κοινὴ πάντων ἐστίν, πλεονεκτοῦσι δὲ οἱ δοκοῦντες αὐτῶν εἶναι κύριοι τῶν οὐκ ὄντων τὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν φροντίδα. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπολαύουσι μόνον αὐτῶν, οἱ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ ποιεῖσθαι πολλὴν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καρποῦνται ὃ μετὰ τῆς ἀμελείας ἐκεῖνοι.

69 Ὅτι πολλῆς ἀηδίας αἱ πολυτελεῖς γέμουσι τράπεζαι. Εἰ δέ τις τὴν πολλὴν θαυμάζοι τρυφήν, οἷον τὸ τῶν κατακοπτομένων πλῆθος κρεῶν, τὴν περιττὴν τοῦ οἴνου δαπάνην, τῶν καρυκευμάτων τὴν περιεργίαν, τραπεζοποιῶν καὶ σιτοποιῶν καὶ μαγείρων τέχνας, παρασίτων καὶ δαιτυμόνων ὄχλον, εὖ ἴστω ὅτι τῶν μαγείρων αὐτῶν οὐδὲν ἄμεινον ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις οἱ πλουτοῦντες διάκεινται. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς δεσπότας οὕτω τοὺς κεκλημένους αὐτοὶ δεδοίκασι μή τινος ἐπιλάβωνται τῶν μετὰ πολλοῦ πόνου καὶ δαπάνης παρασκευασθέντων αὐτοῖς. Καὶ τούτῳ μὲν ἐξισοῦνται τοῖς οἰκέταις, καθ' ἕτερον δὲ καὶ πλεονεκτοῦσιν αὐτῶν ἐκεῖνοι. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον κατηγόρους ἀλλὰ καὶ βασκάνους δεδοίκασι. Πολλοῖς γὰρ πολλάκις ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων συμποσίων ἐτέχθησαν φθόνοι, καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἔστησαν ἕως κινδύνους ἐπήγαγον τοὺς ἐσχάτους. Ἀλλὰ τὸ σιτεῖσθαι πολλὰ πολλάκις ἡδύ. Ἄπαγε. Καὶ γὰρ ὅταν καρηβαρίαι καὶ γαστρὸς διατάσεις καὶ πνεύματος ἐμφράξεις καὶ σκοτοδινίαι καὶ ἴλιγγοι καὶ ἀχλύες καὶ τὰ ἔτι τούτων ἀτοπώτερα ἀπὸ τῆς τρυφῆς ταύτης ἀναβλαστάνῃ δεινά, ποίαν ἡδονὴν καρπωσόμεθα; Καὶ εἴθε μέχρι τῶν παρ' ἡμέραν λυπηρῶν καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀσχημοσύνης ἐκείνης καὶ τὰ τῆς ζημίας ἵστατο μόνον. Νυνὶ δὲ αἱ μάλιστα τῶν νόσων δυσίατοι ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων τραπεζῶν ἔχουσι τὴν ἀρχήν. Καὶ γὰρ ποδαλγίαι καὶ φθόη καὶ νόσος καὶ παράλυσις καὶ σπασμὸς τὸ σῶμα πολιορκεῖ ἕως ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς. Τίνα οὖν ἄν τις ἔχοι τούτων ἀντίρροπον τῶν κακῶν ἡδονὴν εἰπεῖν; Ποίαν δὲ οὐκ ἄν τις ἕλοιτο σκληραγωγίαν ὑπὲρ τῆς τούτων ἀπαλλαγῆς;

70 Ὅτι χρησιμώτερον καὶ ἥδιον τὸ μὴ τρυφᾶν τοῦ τρυφᾶν. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡ εὐτέλεια τοιαύτη, ἀλλὰ πόρρω τούτων ἀφέστηκε τῶν δυσχερῶν ὑγιείας καὶ εὐεξίας ποιητική, ἣν μείζονα οὖσαν εὑρήσεις τῆς τρυφῆς. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐρρῶσθαι καὶ μηδενὶ τῶν κακῶν ἐνοχλεῖσθαι ἐκείνων ὧν ἕκαστον καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸ πᾶσαν ἱκανὸν σβέσαι καὶ ἀνατρέψαι ἐκ βάθρων ἡδονήν. ∆εύτερον δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σιτίων αὐτῶν. Πῶς; Ὅτι ἡδονῆς ποιητικὸν ἐπιθυμία, ἐπιθυμίαν δὲ οὐχ ὁ κόρος οὐδὲ ἡ