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that the loss of money humbles you, and persuades you to be vexed with the Lord, he will never cease from doing this; but if he should see that you not only do not blaspheme God who made you, but that you also give thanks to Him for each of the terrible things that happen, he will cease from bringing temptations, knowing that the experience of terrible things becomes for you an occasion of thanksgiving, and it works for you more glorious crowns; which also happened in the case of Job. For after taking away his money and striking his body, when he saw him becoming more thankful, he no longer dared to approach, but went away, having suffered a shameful and unforgivable defeat, having made the athlete of God more glorious. And Job, after being crowned with all the crowns of patience and courage, received back double all that he had lost; but you will receive not double or triple, but a hundredfold all things, if you bear it nobly, and you will inherit eternal life; may it be that we all attain this, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 63.645 HOMILY XII. Concerning gluttony and drunkenness. Do you wish that we see what pleasure wealth has and what honor? Let us examine the tables of the rich and of the poor, and let us ask those who are feasting, who especially are they who reap pure and genuine pleasure, those who recline on couches for a measured day, and connect their dinners with their breakfasts, and burst their bellies, and fill their senses, and sink the vessel with the excessive weight of foods, and make the ship overloaded, sinking it as if in a shipwreck of the body, and devising foot-fetters and hand-fetters and tongue-fetters 63.646, and binding the whole body with a bond harsher than an iron chain, that of drunkenness and luxury, and neither taking genuine and pure sleep, nor being free from fearful dreams, being more miserable than madmen, and voluntarily introducing the demon to the soul. and being set forth as a laughingstock to the theater of the servants, and knowing none of those present, being able neither to speak nor to hear, but being carried on a litter from the couches to the bed; or those who are sober and watchful and who set their measure by need, and have as their greatest seasoning hunger and thirst. For nothing so produces pleasure and health, as to partake of the food set before you when hungry and thirsty, and to know satiety as 63.647 need alone, and not to place a burden on the body greater than its strength. But if you disbelieve my word, consider the bodies of both, and the soul of each; are not the bodies of those who feast in moderation robust, and their senses fulfilling their proper function with great ease? while the bodies of those others are flabby and softer than any wax, and besieged by a swarm of diseases? For gout quickly attacks them, and untimely trembling, and premature old age, and headaches and distensions and fillings of the stomach and destructions of appetites, and they are in need of constant physicians, and continuous medicines, and daily therapy. Are these things, then, of pleasure, tell me? and who of those who know what pleasure is would say so? For pleasure happens then, when enjoyment is preceded by desire; since, if there is enjoyment, but desire appears nowhere, the things of pleasure are completely gone and have vanished. And just as a ship that has received a quantity of cargo greater than its proper capacity, weighed down by the size of the load, becomes submerged; so also the soul and the nature of our body, having received more food than its proper strength can handle, becomes waterlogged, and not bearing the weight of what has been put on it, is plunged into the sea of destruction, and destroys sailors and pilot and lookout and passengers and the cargo itself along with everything. Just as, therefore, in the case of ships so disposed, not the calmness of the sea,

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ὅτι σε ταπεινοῖ ἡ τῶν χρημάτων ζημία, καὶ πείθει κατὰ τοῦ. ∆εσπότου δυσχερᾶναι, οὐδέποτε ἀποστήσεται τοῦτο ἐργαζόμενος· ἂν δὲ θεάσηται, ὅτι οὐ μόνον οὐ βλασφημεῖς τὸν πεποιηκότα Θεὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐχαριστεῖς μᾶλλον αὐτῷ, ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν συμβαινόντων δεινῶν, ἀποστήσεται ἐπάγων τοὺς πειρασμοὺς, εἰδὼς, ὅτι εὐχαριστίας ὑπόθεσίς σοι γίνεται τῶν δεινῶν ἡ πεῖρα, καὶ λαμπροτέρους σοι τοὺς στεφάνους ἐργάζεται· ὅπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰὼβ γέγονεν. Ἀφελόμενος γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰ χρήματα, καὶ τὸ σῶμα πατάξας, ἐπειδὴ εἶδεν εὐχάριστον μᾶλλον γινόμενον, οὐκ ἔτι προσελθεῖν ἐτόλμησεν, ἀλλ' αἰσχρὰν καὶ ἀσύγγνωστον ὑπομείνας ἧτταν ἀπῄει, λαμπρότερον ἐργασάμενος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ἀθλητήν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἰὼβ μετὰ τὸ τοὺς στεφάνους τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ τῆς ἀνδρίας ἅπαντας ἀναδήσασθαι, διπλᾶ τὰ ἀπολωλότα ἀπείληφεν ἅπαντα· σὺ δὲ οὐχὶ διπλᾶ καὶ τριπλᾶ, ἀλλ' ἑκατονταπλασίονα ἀπολήψῃ πάντα, ἂν φέρῃς γενναίως, καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσεις· ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 63.645 ΛΟΓΟΣ ΙΒʹ. Περὶ γαστριμαργίας καὶ μέθης. Βούλεσθε ἴδωμεν τίνα ἡδονὴν ὁ πλοῦτος ἔχει καὶ τίνα τιμήν; τὰς τραπέζας τῶν πλουτούντων ἐξετάσωμεν καὶ τῶν πενομένων, καὶ ἐρώμεθα τοὺς ἑστιωμένους, τίνες μάλιστά εἰσιν οἱ καθαρὰν καὶ γνησίαν καρπούμενοι ἡδονὴν, οἱ πρὸς διαμεμετρημένην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐπὶ τῶν στιβάδων κατακείμενοι, καὶ τὰ δεῖπνα τοῖς ἀρίστοις συνάπτοντες, καὶ τὴν γαστέρα διαῤῥηγνύντες, καὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις πληροῦντες, καὶ τῷ ὑπερόγκῳ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων φορτίῳ τὸ πλοῖον καταποντίζοντες, καὶ ὑπέραντλον ποιοῦντες τὴν ναῦν, καθάπερ ἐν ναυαγίῳ τοῦ σώματος καταποντίζοντες αὐτὴν, καὶ πέδας καὶ χειροπέδας καὶ γλωσσοπέδας 63.646 ἐπινοοῦντες, καὶ ἅπαν καταδεσμοῦντες τὸ σῶμα ἁλύσεως σιδηρᾶς χαλεπωτέρῳ δεσμῷ, τῷ τῆς μέθης καὶ τρυφῆς, καὶ μήτε ὕπνον αἱρούμενοι γνήσιον καὶ εἰλικρινῆ, μήτε ὀνειράτων ἀπηλλαγμένοι φοβερῶν, τῶν τε μαινομένων ὄντες ἀθλιώτεροι, καὶ αὐθαίρετον τὸν δαίμονα ἐπεισάγοντες τῇ ψυχῇ. καὶ γέλως προκείμενοι τῷ θεάτρῳ τῶν οἰκετῶν, καὶ μηδένα εἰδότες τῶν παρόντων, μήτε εἰπεῖν μήτε ἀκοῦσαι δυνάμενοι, ἀλλὰ φοράδην ἀπὸ τῶν στιβάδων ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην ἀγόμενοι· ἢ οἱ νήφοντες καὶ ἐγρηγορότες καὶ τῇ χρείᾳ τὸ μέτρον ὁρίζοντες, καὶ μέγιστον ἥδυσμα τὸ πεινῇν καὶ τὸ διψῇν ἔχοντες. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἡδονὴν καὶ ὑγείαν ἐργάζεται, ὡς τὸ πεινῶντα καὶ διψῶντα οὕτω τῶν προκειμένων ἅπτεσθαι, καὶ κόρον εἰδέναι τὴν 63.647 χρείαν μόνην, καὶ μὴ μεῖζον τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπιτιθέναι τὸ ἄχθος τῷ σώματι. Εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς μου τῷ λόγῳ, κατάμαθε τὰ ἑκατέρων σώματα, καὶ τὴν ἑκάστου ψυχήν· οὐχὶ τῶν μὲν συμμέτρως ἑστιωμένων εὔρωστα τὰ σώματα, καὶ αἱ αἰσθήσεις τὴν οἰκείαν χρείαν πληροῦσαι μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς εὐκολίας; ἐκείνων δὲ πλαδαρὰ καὶ κηροῦ παντὸς μαλακώτερα, καὶ ἑσμῷ νοσημάτων πολιορκούμενα; Καὶ γὰρ ποδαλγίαι ταχέως αὐτοῖς ἐφίπτανται, καὶ τρόμος ἄκαιρος, καὶ γῆρας ἄωρον, καὶ κεφαλαλγίαι καὶ διατάσεις καὶ στομάχων πληρώσεις καὶ ὀρέξεων ἀναιρέσεις, καὶ διηνεκῶν δέονται ἰατρῶν, καὶ συνεχῶν τῶν φαρμάκων, καὶ καθημερινῆς τῆς θεραπείας. Ταῦτα οὖν ἡδονῆς, εἰπέ μοι; καὶ τίς ἂν εἴποι τῶν εἰδότων ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστιν ἡδονή; Ἡδονὴ γὰρ γίνεται τότε, ὅταν ἐπιθυμίας ἡγουμένης ἀπόλαυσις ᾖ· ἐπεὶ, ἐὰν ἀπόλαυσις μὲν ᾖ, ἐπιθυμία δὲ μηδαμοῦ φαίνηται, τὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς πάντως οἴχεται καὶ ἠφάνισται. Καὶ καθάπερ πλοῖον μεῖζον τῆς οἰκείας συμμετρίας τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀγωγίμων δεξάμενον, τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ φόρτου βαρυνόμενον ὑποβρύχιον γίνεται· οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις πλείονα δεξαμένη τῆς οἰκείας δυνάμεως τὰ σιτία, ὑπέραντλος γίνεται, καὶ τὸ βάρος οὐ στέγουσα τῶν ἐπιβληθέντων, εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀπωλείας καταποντίζεται πέλαγος, καὶ ναύτας καὶ κυβερνήτην καὶ πρωρέα καὶ ἐπιβάτας καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν φόρτον μετὰ πάντων προσαπολλύει. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων πλοίων, οὐ γαλήνη θαλάσσης,