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I do not say to wear yourselves out, nor to be harsh, but to eat only so much as has pleasure, which is true pleasure, and is able to nourish the body, and to render it for us well-ordered and well-fitted for the activities of the soul, well-compacted and harmonized. For when it becomes swamped with luxury, it cannot, being so well-compacted, hold together its very bolts, as one might say, and its joints against the flood; for the entering flood dissolves and dissipates the whole. For sufficiency is both nourishment and pleasure and health; but excess is ruin and loathing and sickness. And what is more grievous is that it destroys the soul itself along with the body. And just as very wet earth breeds worms, so also the inborn desire of the body, being steeped in food, breeds pleasures; and when the body has become softer, the soul must also share in the ruin. For if those who drink strained wine are blameworthy, what can we say to those who are dispatched on voyages across the sea for wine, and move everything, so that no kind of vine may escape them, as if they were about to be held accountable, or to be condemned to the ultimate penalties, if they did not get their fill of every kind of wine? Truly nothing is so dear to the demon as luxury and gluttony. For what evil does luxury not accomplish? 63.649 It makes pigs out of men, and worse than pigs. For the pig wallows in mud, and is fed on dung; but this one eats at a more abominable table than that, devising unlawful unions, and lawless loves. Such a one is no different from a possessed person. And while we may pity one who is possessed, this one we turn away from and hate. Why indeed? Because he brings upon himself a voluntary madness, and makes his mouth and his eyes and his nostrils, and simply all his members, conduits of sin. And if you should see what is within, you will see the soul also, as if in some winter storm and frost, congealed and numb, and not even able to help the vessel because of the severity of the storm. For those who are enslaved to drunkenness and gluttony neither get genuine and pure sleep, nor are they free from fearful dreams. How is it not absurd, then, that irrational animals seek nothing more than what they need, but that rational men, honored with the image of God, become more irrational than they, by overstepping the bounds of moderation? For how much better than such men is the donkey! How much better the dog! For when it needs either to eat or to drink, it knows self-sufficiency as its limit, and does not go beyond its need; and even if there were countless people often forcing it, it would not tolerate going to excess; but these men have judged themselves to be more dishonorable than them. And they do not force irrational animals to enjoy food beyond measure; and if someone should ask, Why? They will say, Lest they be harmed; but for themselves they do not provide even this foresight; thus they consider themselves to be of less value than them, and they allow themselves to be continually storm-tossed. For not only on the day of drunkenness do they endure the harm from drunkenness, but also after that day; and just as when a fever has passed, the harm from the fever remains; so also when drunkenness has departed, the dizziness of drunkenness whirls both in the soul and in the body; and the wretched body lies paralyzed, like a ship after a shipwreck; but the soul, more miserable than it, even when it is dissolved, stirs up the storm, and kindles desire more vehemently. Therefore, as for the evils that befall men from drunkenness, I am ashamed to say, but I leave it to their own conscience, which knows these things more accurately. For what is more shameful than the drunkard, simply staggering about, and enduring that difficult shipwreck, and causing the gifts of God to be blasphemed by the foolish? For I hear many saying, when these afflictions occur: Let there be no wine. O the folly! O the madness! When others sin, do you find fault with the gifts of God? For was it wine, O man, that did this evil? Not the wine, but the intemperance of those who

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λέγω κατατρύχειν ἑαυτοὺς, οὐδὲ σκληραγωγεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον σιτεῖσθαι, ὃ καὶ ἡδονὴν ἔχει τὴν ὄντως ἡδονὴν, καὶ θρέψαι δύναται τὸ σῶμα, καὶ εὔτακτον ἡμῖν καὶ εὐάρμοστον πρὸς τὰς ἐνεργείας παρασχεῖν τῆς ψυχῆς, πεπηγὸς καλῶς καὶ συνηρμοσμένον. Ὅταν γὰρ ὑπέραντλον γένηται τῇ τρυφῇ, τοὺς γόμφους αὐτοὺς, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, καὶ τὰς ἁρμονίας, τῇ πλημμύρᾳ κατέχειν οὐ δύναται συμπεπηγυίας· ἐπεισελθοῦσα γὰρ ἡ πλημμύρα τὸ πᾶν διαλύει καὶ διαχεῖ. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ αὔταρκες, καὶ τροφὴ καὶ ἡδονὴ καὶ ὑγίεια· τὸ δὲ πλέον, λύμη καὶ ἀηδία καὶ νόσος. Καὶ τὸ δὴ χαλεπώτερον, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν μετὰ τοῦ σώματος προσαπολλύει. Καὶ καθάπερ ἡ σφόδρα δίυγρος γῆ τίκτει τοὺς σκώληκας, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἔμφυτος τοῦ σώματος ἐπιθυμία, τῇ τροφῇ διαβρεχομένη, τίκτει τὰς ἡδονάς· καὶ τοῦ σώματος γενομένου μαλακωτέρου, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν συναπολαύειν τῆς λύμης. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ τὸν διυλισμένον οἶνον πίνοντες, ἐν μέμψει, τί ἂν εἴποιμεν πρὸς τοὺς ἀποδημίας διαποντίους στελλομένους ὑπὲρ οἴνου, καὶ πάντα κινοῦντας, ὥστε μηδὲν γένος λαθεῖν ἀμπέλου, καθάπερ μέλλοντας εὐθύνας διδόναι, ἢ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις καταγινώσκεσθαι, εἰ μὴ παντὸς γένους ἐμφορηθεῖεν οἴνου; Ὄντως οὐδὲν οὕτω τῷ δαίμονι φίλον, ὡς τρυφὴ καὶ γαστριμαργία. Τί γὰρ οὐκ ἐργά 63.649 ζεται κακὸν ἡ τρυφή; χοίρους ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ποιεῖ, καὶ χοίρων χείρους. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ χοῖρος βορβόρῳ ἐγκαλινδεῖται, καὶ κόπρῳ τρέφεται· οὗτος δὲ ἐκείνης βδελυκτοτέραν σιτεῖται τράπεζαν, μίξεις ἐπινοῶν ἀθέσμους, καὶ παρανόμους ἔρωτας. Ὁ τοιοῦτος οὐδὲν δαιμονῶντος διενήνοχε. Καὶ τὸν μὲν δαιμονῶντα κἂν ἐλεῶμεν, τοῦτον δὲ ἀποστρεφόμεθα καὶ μισοῦμεν. Τί δήποτε; Ὅτι αὐθαίρετον ἐπισπᾶται μανίαν, καὶ τὸ στόμα καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ ῥῖνας, καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς τὰ μέλη, ὀχετοὺς ἁμαρτίας ἐργάζεται. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἔνδον ἴδῃς, ὄψει καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καθάπερ ἔν τινι χειμῶνι καὶ κρυμῷ πεπηγυῖαν καὶ ναρκῶσαν, καὶ οὐδὲ τὸ σκάφος ὠφελῆσαι δυναμένην διὰ τὴν τοῦ χειμῶνος ὑπερβολήν. Οἱ γὰρ μέθῃ καὶ ἀδηφαγίᾳ δεδουλωμένοι, οὔτε ὕπνον αἱροῦνται γνήσιον καὶ εἰλικρινῆ, οὔτε ὀνειράτων ἀπαλλάττονται φοβερῶν. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον, τὰ μὲν ἄλογα ζῶα μηδὲν πλέον τῆς χρείας ἐπιζητεῖν, ἀνθρώπους δὲ λογικοὺς καὶ εἰκόνι Θεοῦ τετιμημένους, κἀκείνων ἀλογωτέρους γίνεσθαι, τοὺς τῆς συμμετρίας ὑπερβαίνοντας ὅρους; πόσῳ γὰρ τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων ἀνθρώπων βελτίων ὁ ὄνος! πόσῳ ἀμείνων ὁ κύων! Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄν τε φαγεῖν, ἄν τε πιεῖν δέῃ, ὅρον τὴν αὐτάρκειαν οἶδε, καὶ πέρα τῆς χρείας οὐ πρόεισι· κἂν μυρίοι οἱ καταναγκάζοντες ὦσι πολλάκις, οὐκ ἀνέξεται ἐξελθεῖν εἰς ἀμετρίαν· οὗτοι δὲ καὶ τούτων ἑαυτοὺς ἀτιμοτέρους εἶναι κεκρίκασι. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄλογα πέρα τοῦ μέτρου τροφῆς ἀπολαύειν οὐκ ἀναγκάζουσι· κἂν ἔρηταί τις, ∆ιὰ τί; Ἵνα μὴ καταβλάψωσιν, ἐροῦσιν· ἑαυτοῖς δὲ οὐδὲ ταύτην παρέχουσι τὴν πρόνοιαν· οὕτω κἀκείνων ἑαυτοὺς εὐτελεστέρους εἶναι νομίζουσι, καὶ περιορῶσι χειμαζομένους διηνεκῶς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς μέθης μόνον τὴν ἐκ τῆς μέθης βλάβην ὑπομένουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην· καὶ καθάπερ πυρετοῦ παρελθόντος, ἡ ἐκ τοῦ πυρετοῦ μένει λύμη· οὕτω καὶ μέθης ἀπελθούσης, ἡ τῆς μέθης ζάλη καὶ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι στρέφεται· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄθλιον σῶμα κεῖται παραλυθὲν, καθάπερ ὑπὸ ναυαγίου σκάφος· ἡ δὲ τούτου ταλαιπωροτέρα ψυχὴ, καὶ τούτου διαλυθέντος, τὸν χειμῶνα διεγείρει, καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἀνάπτει σφοδρότερον. Ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ μέθης προσγίνεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κακὰ, εἰπεῖν αἰσχύνομαι, τῷ δὲ αὐτῶν καταλείπω συνειδότι τῷ ταῦτα ἀκριβέστερον εἰδότι. Τί γὰρ αἰσχρότερον τοῦ μεθύοντος καὶ ἁπλῶς περιφερομένου, καὶ τὸ χαλεπὸν ἐκεῖνο ναυάγιον ὑπομένοντος, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δῶρα παρὰ τῶν ἀνοήτων βλασφημεῖσθαι παρασκευάζοντος; Πολλῶν γὰρ ἀκούω λεγόντων, ὅταν ταῦτα συμβαίνῃ τὰ πάθη· Μὴ ἔστω οἶνος. Ὢ τῆς ἀνοίας! ὢ τῆς παραπληξίας! ἄλλων ἁμαρτανόντων, ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεαῖς ἐγκαλεῖς; Μὴ γὰρ οἶνος ἐποίησεν, ἄνθρωπε, τοῦτο τὸ κακόν; οὐχ ὁ οἶνος, ἀλλ' ἡ ἀκολασία τῶν