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For sleep, like a tax-collector, divides with us half the time of our life. It is far from necessary to sleep during the day, for those who even of the night the greater part for

wakefulness set aside. Democrit. Be watchful in your mind; for akin to true

death is sleep concerning this. Daytime sleeps indicate a disturbance of the body, or distress of the soul, or idleness or

lack of education. Philostrat. For neither do the temperate and zealous doze, even if far into the

nights they study. For sleep does not [come upon] them from without like a master, having acted insolently toward a neck enslaved by wine; but they appear free and upright. And having fallen asleep, they receive sleep with a pure soul, neither being puffed up by prosperity, nor startled by any misfortune. For a sober soul is well-proportioned towards both these things, and inferior to neither of the passions; whence also it sleeps most sweetly and most painlessly, not being driven out of sleep.

DISCOURSE 30. Concerning drunkenness. (15E_258> Luke 21. Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down

with carousing and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.

Rom. 13. Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust.

Sol. 7 . It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. Prov. 23. Do not be a winebibber; for every drunkard will become poor. 884 Whoever is pleasant in wine-parties, in his own strongholds

will leave behind dishonor. Sirach, 31. At a wine symposium do not rebuke your neighbor, and do not despise

him in his cheerfulness. Basil. For just as water is an enemy to fire, so intemperance of wine a sober reasoning

extinguishes. The best measure for the use of wine, is the body's need. Drunkenness does not receive the Lord. It drives away the Holy Spirit. For smoke, on the one hand,

puts bees to flight; but debauchery drives away spiritual gifts. Of the Theologian. And the poor, thus; but we shall recline, splendid

splendidly, on a couch both high and lofty, and of superfluous and untouched coverings. And for some there is much satiety even of water; but for us the craters of wine even unto drunkenness; or rather even beyond drunkenness for the more intemperate; (15E_260> and one wine we will reject, but another we will select as fragrant; and concerning another we will philosophize; and it is a loss, if some one of the local and renowned foreigners is not present, like a tyrant. For we must be delicate and more superfluous than is needful; as if ashamed, if we are not thought to be evil and slaves of the belly, and of the things under the belly.

Chrysost. For those who live in drunkenness and licentiousness, the day is turned into the darkness of the night; not because the sun is extinguished, but because their mind is darkened by drunkenness.

Of Evagrius. Wine strengthens the body; but the word of God, the soul. Plutarch. The world is destroyed by fire and water, but the wealth of the intemperate,

by lust and drunkenness.

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Ὁ γάρ ὕπνος ὥσπερ τελώνης τόν ἥμισυν ἡμῖν τοῦ βίου συνδιαιρεῖται χρόνον. Πολλοῦ γε δεῖ μεθ᾿ ἡμέραν καθεύδειν, τοῖς καί τῆς νυκτός τό πλεῖστον εἰς

ἐγρήγορσιν ἀποτεμνομένοις. ∆ημοκρίτ. Ἄγρυπνος ἔσο κατά τόν νοῦν· συγγενής γάρ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ

θανάτου ὁ περί τοῦτον ὕπνος. Οἱ ἡμερήσιοι ὕπνοι σώματος ὄχλησιν, ἤ ψυχῆς ἀδημοσύνην, ἤ ἀργίην ἤ

ἀπαιδευσίαν σημαίνουσιν. Φιλοστράτ. Οὐδέ γάρ οἱ σώφρονες καί σπουδαῖοι νυστάζουσι, κἄν πόῤῥω τῶν

νυκτῶν σπουδάζουσιν. Οὐ γάρ ἔξωθεν αὐτούς ὁ ὕπνος ὥσπερ δεσπότης, ὑβρίσας εἰς τόν αὐχένα δεδουλωμένον ὑπό τοῦ οἴνου· ἀλλ᾿ ἐλεύθεροί τε καί ὀρθοί φαίνονται. Καταδαρθέντες δέ καθαρᾷ τῇ ψυχῇ δέχονται τόν ὕπνον, οὔτε ὑπό τῶν εὐπραγιῶν ἀνακουφιζόμενοι, οὔτε ὑπό κακοπραγίας τινός ἐκτρώσκοντες. Σύμμετρος γάρ πρός ἄμφω ταῦτα ψυχή νήφουσα, καί οὐδετέρου τῶν παθῶν ἥττων· ὅθεν καί καθεύδει ἥδιστα καί ἀλυπότατα, μή ἐξισταμένη τοῦ ὕπνου.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Λ´. Περί μέθης. (15Ε_258> Λουκ. κα´. Προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς, μήποτε βαρυνθῶσιν αἱ καρδίαι

ὑμῶν ἐν κραιπάλῃ καί μέθῃ καί μερίμναις βιοτικαῖς· καί αἰφνιδίως ὑμῖν ἐπιστῇ ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη.

Ῥωμ. ιγ´. Ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐσχημόνως περιπατήσωμεν· μή κώμαις καί μέθαις, μή κοίταις καί ἀσελγείαις.

Σολ. ζ΄ . Ἀγαθόν πορευθῆναι εἰς οἴκον πένθους, ἤ εἰς οἶκον πότου. Παροιμ. κγ´. Μή ἴσθι οἰνοπότης· πᾶς γάρ μέθυσος πτωχεύσει. 884 Ὅστις ἐστιν ἡδύς ἐν οἴνων διατριβαῖς, ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ὀχυρώμασι

καταλείψει ἀτιμίαν. Σιράχ, λα´. Ἐν συμποσίῳ οἴνου μή ἔλεγχε τόν πλησίον, καί μή ἐξουδενώσῃς

αὐτόν ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ αὐτοῦ. Βασιλ. Ὥσπερ γάρ ὕδωρ πολέμιόν ἐστι πυρί, οὕτως ἀμετρία οἴνου λογισμόν

κατασβέννυσι σώφρονα. Μέτρον ἄριστον τῆς τοῦ οἴνου χρήσεως, ἡ χρεία τοῦ σώματος. Μέθη, Κύριον οὐχ ὑποδέχεται. Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἀποδιώκει. Καπνός μέν γάρ,

φυγαδεύει μελίσσας· χαρίσματα δέ πνευματικά ἀποδιώκει κραιπάλη. Θεολόγου. Καί οἱ μέν πένητες, οὕτως· ἡμεῖς δέ ἀνακεισόμεθα λαμπροί

λαμπρῶς, ἐπί στιβάδος ὑψηλῆς τε καί μετεώρου, καί τῶν περιττῶν καί ἀψαύστων ἐπιβλημάτων. Καί τοῖς μέν πολύς κόρος καί ὕδατος· ἡμῖν δέ καί μέχρι μέθης οἱ τοῦ οἴνου κρατῆρες· μᾶλλον δέ καί ὑπέρ μέθην τοῖς ἀκολαστοτέροις· (15Ε_260> καί τόν μέν ἀποπεμψόμεθα τῶν οἴνων, τόν δέ ἐκκρινοῦμεν ὡς ἀνθοσμίαν· περί δέ τοῦ φιλοσοφήσομεν· ζημίαν δέ, εἰ μή προσέσται τῶν ἐγχωρίῳ, καί τῶν ὀμαζομένων ξένων τις, ὥσπερ τύραννος. ∆εῖ γάρ ἡμᾶς ἀβρούς καί τῆς χρείας περιττοτέρους εἶναι· ὥσπερ αἰσχυνομένους, εἰ μή κακοί νομιζόμεθα καί δοῦλοι γαστρός, καί τῶν ὑπό γαστέρα.

Χρυσόστ. Τοῖς ἐν μέθῃ καί ἀκολασίᾳ βιοῦσιν, ἡ ἡμέρα πρός τό τῆς νυκτός μεταστρέφεται σκότος· οὐ τοῦ ἡλίου σβεννυμένου, ἀλλά τῆς ἐκείνων διανοίας σκοτιζομένης τῇ μέθῃ.

Εὐαγρίου. Ῥώννυσι μέν οἶνος σῶμα· τήν δέ ψυχήν λόγος Θεοῦ. Πλουτάρχ. Φθείρεται μέν κόσμος πυρί καί ὕδατ ὁ δέ τῶν ἀκολάστων πλοῦτος,

ἔρωτι καί μέθῃ.