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Not the skill of a pilot, not a multitude of sailors, not the fitness of the equipment, not a favorable season of the year, nor anything else helps a ship so tempest-tossed; so indeed does it also happen in the case of those who live luxuriously. Not teaching and exhortation, not admonition and counsel, not fear of the future, not shame, not accusation of present things, nor anything else can save a soul so tempest-tossed. But such a person also becomes useless for the present life, and unfit for every good work; from here, and nowhere else, do those who live in continuous luxury fall prey to severe and incurable diseases, thinking that for this reason they were brought into this life, that having lived luxuriously, and burst their bellies, and fattened their bodies, they might thus depart, preparing a more lavish table for the worm from their own flesh. For they become susceptible to tremors and paralysis and consumption and catarrhs and pains in the feet and many other things, which the sons of physicians speak of. For such tables will be no better than deadly drugs; or rather, if the truth must be told, much worse. For those immediately carry off the one who took them, and bring on death insensibly, so as not to grieve the dead man even by this very thing; but these bring on a life more grievous than a thousand deaths to those who make much of them. And other passions have many who sympathize with them; but those which come from luxury and drunkenness do not permit even willing onlookers to sympathize with those overcome by them; but while the excess of the evil bends one toward pity, the cause of the disease provokes the one who knows it. For they were not abused by nature as those others were, nor were they plotted against by men, but they themselves became the creators of these diseases for themselves, willingly casting themselves into the abyss of evils. A scorpion or a snake sitting in our entrails 63.648 does not corrupt us in every way as the desire for luxury overturns and destroys everything. For the plot of those beasts is limited to the body; but this, when it settles in, destroys the soul along with the body. If, then, the matter is a ruin of all things and an utter mockery, spare yourselves the health of your body. I do not say to lead yourselves to harsh discipline, if you do not wish; let us do away with what is superfluous, let us cut off what is beyond our need. For what excuse do we have, when others are not even masters of enjoying what they need, while we live in luxury beyond our need? For whom would we say lives more luxuriously, the one who is nourished on vegetables and is healthy, and has nothing unpleasant, or the one who sets out a Sybaritic table, and is full of a thousand diseases? It is clear that it is the former. Therefore let us seek nothing more than what is needful, but let the one who is able to be content with pulses and be healthy seek nothing more; and let the one who is weaker, and needs the cure that comes from vegetables, not be hindered. And if anyone should be weaker than this, and should need the moderate help from meats, we will not exclude this one either. For we do not advise these things in order to destroy and corrupt people, but in order to cut off what is superfluous; and what is superfluous is that which is more than what is needed. For when we are able to live healthily and decently even without this, what is added is entirely superfluous. Do you not see against whom our struggle is? Against the incorporeal powers. How then, being flesh, shall we overcome them? For if one wrestling against men needs to feast moderately, much more so one wrestling against demons; and when we are bound by much flesh and by wealth, how could we prevail over our opponents? For just as with a lyre, when the notes are delicate and soft and not well-tuned, the excellence of the art is undermined, being forced to serve the poor quality of the strings; so also in the case of the body, when it enjoys much care from us, the soul endures a bitter slavery. Let us not, therefore, fatten the body, nor make it faded and flabby with luxury. Not

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οὐκ ἐπιστήμη κυβερνήτου, οὐ ναυτῶν πλῆθος, οὐ κατασκευῆς ἐπιτηδειότης, οὐχ ὥρα ἔτους εὔκαιρος, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν τὴν οὕτω χειμαζομένην ὀνίνησι ναῦν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τρυφώντων γίνεται· οὐ διδασκαλία καὶ παραίνεσις, οὐ νουθεσία καὶ συμβουλία, οὐ φόβος τῶν μελλόντων, οὐκ αἰδὼς, οὐ κατηγορία τῶν παρόντων, καὶ ἄλλο οὐδὲν διασῶσαι δύναται τὴν οὕτω χειμαζομένην ψυχήν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἄχρηστος γίνεται, καὶ πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἀδόκιμος· ἐντεῦθεν, οὐκ ἄλλοθεν, χαλεποῖς καὶ ἀνιάτοις ἁλίσκονται νοσήμασιν οἱ τρυφῇ συζῶντες διηνεκεῖ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο νομίζοντες εἰς τόνδε παρῆχθαι τὸν βίον, ἵνα τρυφήσαντες, καὶ τὴν γαστέρα διαῤῥήξαντες, καὶ τὸ σῶμα πιάναντες, οὕτως ἀπέλθωσι, δαψιλεστέραν τῷ σκώληκι παρασκευάζοντες τράπεζαν τὴν ἐξ οἰκείων σαρκῶν. Καὶ γὰρ τρόμοις καὶ παρέσει καὶ φθόῃ καὶ κορύζαις καὶ ποδαλγίαις καὶ ἑτέροις πλείοσιν, ἅπερ ἰατρῶν λέγουσι παῖδες, ἁλώσιμοι γίγνονται. ∆ηλητηρίων γὰρ φαρμάκων οὐδὲν ἄμεινον αἱ τοιαῦται διακείσονται τράπεζαι· μᾶλλον δὲ εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, καὶ πολλῷ χεῖρον. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ εὐθέως ἀπήνεγκε τὸν λαβόντα, καὶ τὴν τελευτὴν ἀναισθήτως ἐπήγαγεν, ὡς μηδὲ αὐτῷ τούτῳ λυπῆσαι τὸν ἀποθανόντα· αὗται δὲ ζωὴν μυρίων θανάτων χαλεπωτέραν ἐπάγουσι τοῖς αὐτὰς περὶ πολλοῦ ποιουμένοις. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάθη πολλοὺς ἔχει τοὺς συναλγοῦντας· ὅσα δὲ ἀπὸ τρυφῆς καὶ μέθης γέγονεν, οὐδὲ βουλομένους τοὺς ὁρῶντας ἀφίησι συναλγῆσαι τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν χειρωθεῖσιν· ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν ὑπερβολὴ τοῦ κακοῦ πρὸς ἔλεον ἐπικάμπτει, ἡ δὲ ὑπόθεσις τοῦ νοσήματος παροξύνει τὸν εἰδότα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐπηρεάσθησαν καθάπερ ἐκεῖνοι, οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπεβουλεύθησαν, ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ δημιουργοὶ τῶν νοσημάτων ἑαυτοῖς τούτων ἐγένοντο, ἑκόντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐκριπτοῦντες εἰς τὸ τῶν κακῶν βάραθρον. Οὐχ οὕτω σκορπίος ἢ ὄφις τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ἡμῖν 63.648 ἐγκαθήμενος λυμαίνεται πανταχόσε, ὡς ἡ τῆς τρυφῆς ἐπιθυμία πάντα ἀνατρέπει καὶ ἀπόλλυσι. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ θηρίοις ἐκείνοις μέχρι τοῦ σώματος ἡ ἐπιβουλή· αὕτη δὲ ὅταν ἐγκαθεσθῇ, μετὰ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν προσαπόλλυσιν. Εἰ οὖν λύμη πάντων ἐστὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ κατάγελως ἔσχατος, ὑμῶν αὐτῶν φείσασθε τῆς τοῦ σώματος ὑγείας. Οὐ λέγω πρὸς σκληραγωγίαν ἑαυτοὺς ἀγαγεῖν, ἂν μὴ βούλησθε· τὸ περιττὸν ἀνέλωμεν, τὸ τῆς χρείας ἔξω περικόψωμεν. Ποίαν γὰρ συγγνώμην ἔχομεν, ὅταν ἕτεροι μὲν μηδὲ τῆς χρείας ἀπολαύωσι κύριοι ὄντες, ἡμεῖς δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν χρείαν τρυφῶντες ὦμεν; Τίνα γὰρ ἂν εἴποιμεν τρυφᾷν μᾶλλον, τὸν λαχάνοις τρεφόμενον καὶ ὑγιαίνοντα, καὶ μηδὲν ἔχοντα ἀηδὲς, ἢ τὸν Συβαριτικὴν παρατιθέμενον τράπεζαν, καὶ μυρίων γέμοντα νοσημάτων; Εὔδηλον ὅτι ἐκεῖνον. Οὐκοῦν μηδὲν πλέον ζητῶμεν τῆς χρείας, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ὀσπρίοις δυνάμενος ἀρκεῖσθαι καὶ ὑγιαίνειν, μηδὲν πλέον ἐπιζητείτω· ὁ δὲ ἀσθενέστερος, καὶ τῆς διὰ τῶν λαχάνων δεόμενος θεραπείας, μὴ κωλυέσθω. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τούτου τις ἀσθενέστερος εἴη, καὶ τῆς συμμέτρου τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν κρεῶν δέοιτο βοηθείας, οὐδὲ τοῦτον ἀπείρξομεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἵνα ἀνέλωμεν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διαφθείρωμεν, ταῦτα συμβουλεύομεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὰ περιττὰ περικόψωμεν· περιττὸν δέ ἐστιν, ὃ τῆς χρείας πλέον ἐστίν. Ὅταν γὰρ καὶ χωρὶς τούτου δυνάμεθα διάγειν ὑγιεινῶς καὶ εὐσχημόνως, περιττὸν πάντως ἐκεῖνό ἐστι προστεθέν. Οὐχ ὁρᾶτε πρὸς τίνας ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη; πρὸς τὰς ἀσωμάτους δυνάμεις. Πῶς οὖν σάρκες ὄντες τούτων περιεσόμεθα; Εἰ γὰρ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους τις παλαίων δεῖται σωφρόνως ἑστιᾶσθαι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον πρὸς δαίμονας· ὅταν δὲ μετὰ τῆς πολυσαρκίας καὶ τῷ πλούτῳ ὦμεν προσδεδεμένοι, πόθεν κρατήσαιμεν τῶν ἀντιπάλων; Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς κιθάρας, ὅταν ὦσι φθόγγοι ἀπαλοὶ καὶ μαλθακοὶ καὶ μὴ διατεταμένοι καλῶς, καὶ ἡ τῆς τέχνης ἀρετὴ ὑποτέμνεται, ἀναγκαζομένη δουλεύειν τῇ κακίᾳ τῶν νευρῶν· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος, ὅταν πολλῆς ἀπολαύῃ παρ' ἡμῶν τῆς θεραπείας, πικρὰν ὑπομένει τὴν δουλείαν ἡ ψυχή. Μὴ τοίνυν λιπαίνωμεν τὸ σῶμα, μηδὲ ἐξίτηλον αὐτὸ καὶ χαῦνον τῇ τρυφῇ καθιστῶμεν. Οὐ