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they will be no better than the dead. And that you may learn, hear how it is possible even for one who has died to live. God, he says, is not of the dead, but of the living. But this, he says, is an enigma again. Therefore, let us resolve both. Someone living is dead, when he passes his time in wantonness. How? 62.568 He lives for the belly alone, but in no way for the other senses; for instance, he does not see what he ought to see, he does not hear what he ought to hear, he does not speak what he ought to speak, nor does he do the works of the living; but just as that man who is stretched out on a bed with his eyes closed, and his eyelids shut, perceives none of the things that exist, so too is this man; or rather, not so, but much worse. For that man is insensible to good things and bad things alike; but this one is sensible only to those things—I mean, the bad things—but toward good things he is similarly unmoved as the one who is lying down. Thus, therefore, he is also dead. For nothing of the future life moves him, but just as into some dark and gloomy den, and a cave full of much impurity, drunkenness, having taken him into its own bosom, makes him spend his time continually in darkness, just like the dead. For when he spends all his time, one moment at breakfast, the next being drunk, is he not in darkness? is he not dead? And even at dawn itself, when he seems to be sober, he does not have a pure sobriety, because the evening's wine has not yet been emptied out and drawn off, and because he is possessed by a strong desire for the next one, and because he spends the afternoon and midday in revels, and the whole night in deep sleep, and most of the morning. This man, therefore, tell me, shall we count among the living? What could one say of the great tempest from luxury, that flows into the soul, that flows into the body? For just as continuous and unbroken cloudiness does not ever allow the sun's ray to shine through; so the vapors of luxury and of wine, having taken possession of the brain as if it were some rock, and having established a dense cloud there, never allow the reason to extend itself, keeping the drunkard in much dizziness. How great a storm do you think is then within the one who has suffered these things? how great the tumult? For just as when a flood occurs, and the water has leapt over the doorways of the workshops, we see the inhabitants always in a tumult, devising buckets and jars and sponges, and many other things, so as to bail it out, lest it rot the foundations and render all the vessels useless; so also the soul, when it is over-bailed by much luxury, the thoughts within are in tumult, and since they are no longer able to empty what has already been collected, because another thing enters again, a great storm is born. For do not look at my cheerful and smiling face, but examine the things within, and you will see them full of much dejection; and if it were possible to cast out the soul and place it before the eyes of the body, you would have seen the soul of the wanton man dejected, gloomy, pained, wasted away. For the more the body is fattened and thickened, the more that one is wasted away and becomes weaker; and the more that one is warmed, the more this one is buried. And just as in the case of the pupil of the eye, if the outer tunics lying upon it are thick, the power of sight is not able to emit its ray and to see, since the ray is beaten back by the thickness, and darkness often results; so also the body, when it is continually fattened, it is likely that much thickness surrounds it. 62.569 But the dead, he says, rot and are corrupted, and much ichor flows from them. So also in the case of the wanton soul can one see, the discharge, the phlegm, catarrh, hiccuping, vomiting, belching; for the other things, which it is shameful even to mention, I pass over. For so great is the tyranny of luxury, that the things which we cannot bear even to mention, it makes them endure these. 4. Do you still ask, then, how the body flows away on all sides? But he eats and drinks? But this is not a proof of human life, since irrational animals also eat and drink. Of a dead

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τεθνεώτων οὐδὲν κρείττονες ἔσονται. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς, ἄκουε πῶς ἔστι καὶ ἀποθανόντα ζῇν. Ὁ Θεὸς, φησὶν, οὐκ ἔστι νεκρῶν, ἀλλὰ ζώντων. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο, φησὶν, αἴνιγμα πάλιν. Οὐκοῦν ἀμφότερα ἐπιλυσώμεθα. Τέθνηκέ τις ζῶν, ὅταν ἐν σπατάλῃ διάγῃ. Πῶς; 62.568 Τῇ γαστρὶ ζῇ μόνῃ, ταῖς δὲ ἄλλαις αἰσθήσεσιν οὐδαμῶς· οἷόν πως, οὐχ ὁρᾷ ἃ χρὴ ὁρᾷν, οὐκ ἀκούει ἃ χρὴ ἀκούειν, οὐ φθέγγεται, ἃ δεῖ φθέγγεσθαι, οὐδὲ τὰ τῶν ζώντων ἐνεργεῖ· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος ὁ τεταμένος ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς μύσας, καὶ τὰ ὄμματα συνειλημμένος, τῶν ὄντων οὐδενὸς ἐπαισθάνεται, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ χεῖρον. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὁμοίως, καὶ τῶν κακῶν ἀνεπαισθήτως ἔχει· οὗτος δὲ ἐκείνων αἰσθάνεται μόνων, τῶν κακῶν λέγω, πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῷ κειμένῳ ὁμοίως ἐστὶν ἀκίνητος. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν καὶ τέθνηκεν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν κινεῖ τῶν τῆς μελλούσης ζωῆς, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ εἰς κατάδυσίν τινα σκοτεινὴν καὶ ζοφώδη, καὶ ἄντρον πολλῆς ἀκαθαρσίας γέμον, λαβοῦσα εἰς τοὺς οἰκείους αὐτὸν κόλπους ἡ μέθη, διαπαντὸς ἐν σκότῳ ποιεῖ διατρίβειν, ὥσπερ τοὺς τεθνεῶτας. Ὅταν γὰρ τὸν πάντα χρόνον τὸν μὲν ἀριστῶν, τὸν δὲ μεθύων διατελῇ, οὐχὶ ἐν σκότῳ ἐστίν; οὐχὶ νεκρός ἐστι; Καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν ἕω, ἣν δοκεῖ νήφειν, οὐκ ἔχει νῆψιν καθαρὰν, τῷ μήπω τὸν ἑσπερινὸν ἤδη κεκενῶσθαι οἶνον καὶ ἀπηντλῆσθαι, καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος σφόδρα τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ κατέχεσθαι, καὶ τῷ δείλης καὶ μεσημβρίας ἐν κώμοις διάγειν, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν νύκτα ἐν ὕπνῳ βαθεῖ, καὶ τοῦ ὄρθρου τὸ πλέον. Τοῦτον οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, μετὰ τῶν ζώντων ἀριθμήσομεν; Τί ἄν τις εἴποι τὸν πολὺν χειμῶνα τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τρυφῆς, τὸν εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν, τὸν εἰς τὰ σώματα εἰσρεόμενον; Καθάπερ γὰρ ἡ συνεχὴς συννέφεια καὶ διηνεκὴς οὐκ ἀφίησι τὴν ἀκτῖνα διαλάμψαι ποτέ· οὕτως οἱ τῆς τρυφῆς καὶ τοῦ οἴνου ἀτμοὶ, καθάπερ τινὰ σκόπελον τὸν ἐγκέφαλον ἀπολαβόντες, καὶ πυκνὸν ἐκεῖ στήσαντες νέφος, τὸ λογικὸν οὐκ ἀφιᾶσιν ἐκταθῆναί ποτε, ἐν πολλῇ σκοτομήνῃ κατέχοντες τὸν μεθύοντα. Πόσον οἴει λοιπὸν ἔνδον εἶναι τὸν χειμῶνα τοῦ ταῦτα παθόντος; πόσον τὸν θόρυβον; Καθάπερ γὰρ πλημμύρας γενομένης, καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος τῶν ἐργαστηρίων τὰ πρόθυρα ὑπερπηδήσαντος, τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ὁρῶμεν ἀεὶ θορυβουμένους, καὶ καδίσκους καὶ ἀμφορέας καὶ σπόγγους, καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ ἐπινοοῦντας, ὥστε ἀπαντλῆσαι, ἵνα μὴ καὶ τοὺς θεμελίους διασήψῃ, καὶ τὰ σκεύη ἅπαντα ἄχρηστα ἐργάσηται· οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ, ὅταν ὑπέραντλος γένηται τῇ πολλῇ τρυφῇ, θορυβοῦνται μὲν ἔνδον οἱ λογισμοὶ, τὸ δὲ ἤδη συναχθὲν οὐκέτι κενῶσαι ἰσχύοντες, τῷ πάλιν ἕτερον ἐπεισελθεῖν πολὺς ὁ χειμὼν τίκτεται. Μὴ γάρ μοι τὸ πρόσωπον ἴδῃς φαιδρὸν καὶ σεσηρὸς, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἔνδον ἐξέτασον, καὶ πολλῆς ὄψει γέμοντα τῆς κατηφείας· καὶ εἴ γε ἐνῆν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκβαλόντα τοῖς τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑποβαλεῖν, εἶδες ἂν τὴν τοῦ σπαταλῶντος κατηφῆ, στυγνὴν, ὀδυνηρὰν, κατισχνωμένην. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν τὸ σῶμα λιπαίνηται καὶ παχύνηται, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἐκείνη κατισχνοῦται καὶ ἀσθενεστέρα γίνεται· καὶ ὅσῳ ἂν ἐκεῖνο θάλπηται, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον αὕτη θάπτεται. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῆς κόρης τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἂν μὲν τοὺς ἔξωθεν ἐπικειμένους χιτωνίσκους ἔχῃ παχεῖς, οὐκ ἰσχύει τὸ διορατικὸν ἀφεῖναι καὶ ἀτενίσαι, τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἐκκρουομένης ὑπὸ τῆς παχύτητος, καὶ σκότος γίνεται πολλάκις· οὕτω καὶ τὸ σῶμα, ἐπειδὰν λιπαίνηται συνεχῶς, πολλὴν εἰκὸς τὴν παχύτητα περικεῖσθαι. 62.569 Ἀλλ' οἱ τεθνεῶτες, φησὶ, σήπονται καὶ διαφθείρονται, καὶ πολὺς ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἰχὼρ διαῤῥεῖ. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς σπαταλώσης ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, τὸ ῥεῦμα, τὸ φλέγμα, κόρυζα, λὺγξ, ἔμετοι, ἐρυγαί· τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα, ἃ καὶ αἰσχρὸν εἰπεῖν, παρίημι. Τοσαύτη γὰρ τῆς τρυφῆς ἡ τυραννὶς, ὅτι ἃ μηδὲ εἰπεῖν ἀνεχόμεθα, ταῦτα ποιεῖ αὐτὰς ὑπομένειν. δʹ. Ἔτι οὖν ἐρωτᾷς, πῶς διαῤῥεῖ τὸ σῶμα πάντοθεν; Ἀλλ' ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο ζωῆς ἀνθρωπίνης τεκμήριον, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ἄλογα ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει. Νεκρᾶς