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when it is in good condition and is lifted up to its proper good through the practice of good things, it follows that the condition of the body withers away. We do not praise anything of the things beyond the throat, of equal value, or rather of no value, and likewise to be cast away. To me, intemperance is everything superfluous and beyond need, and this while others are hungry and in need, those made from the same clay and mixture. Nothing is so contentious and quarrelsome as the stomach. You who are given to luxury, take away something from the flesh, and give it to the spirit. Is the poor man near? Help his disease. To this one belch out something of your excesses. Why are you sick with indigestion, while he is starving; and you suffering from a hangover, while he is suffering from dropsy; and you weighing down surfeit with surfeit, while he is overcome by disease? Do not overlook your Lazarus here, lest you be made the rich man of the other world. Let not land and sea bear gifts of dung for us. For thus I know how to honor luxury. The sensation of seasonings has its limit up to the palate, but from the palate onwards the difference of the things put in is indistinguishable, as nature changes all things alike into a foul odor. The seed is the householder's; and from the wheat the bread is made. But luxury is the tare, which was sown by the enemy among the wheat. For who does not know that the root of life's transgressions is the business of the throat? 95.1340 Having eaten, and drunk, and been filled, take heed to yourself. For the place of luxury is precipitous. The love of pleasure somehow always accompanies luxuries, as Isocrates himself also says. Wealth is a servant of vice rather than of virtue. One must abstain from foods, not for their own sake, but because of the harm from them. The thought of gluttony has fornication as its end; and that of fornication has sorrow as its end. Eat what is needful; for partaking with moderation is not forbidden. Eat therefore with thanksgiving, but do not devour. For devourers are hated. Every insatiable and greedy man knows dishonor and passions through gluttony. It is not good for a man who has chosen to be gnostic and temperate to eat more than is necessary. Everything beyond need becomes useless. Do you not know that Israel, having eaten more than was necessary, kicked like a mule, and departed from the one who fed him? -Let not the body be weighed down with immoderate foods and drinks, lest you be harmed by sickness from satiety, and surround the soul with darkness, and march out with the phalanxes of pleasures. -By feeding yourself more than is necessary, you are unknowingly feeding your enemy. You would not be able to stand against the surge of passions, having been burdened with an abundance of delicacies. -But avoid living luxuriously. For it drags one into actions, from which come groans after sobriety returns. -Innate to satiety is the desire for another. -It is necessary for you to make thin the fattened flesh, because a fat belly does not beget a subtle mind, and especially because a scholar needs much sobriety. -Being a lover of pleasure and ostentatious, you are not far removed from the Tartarean Charybdis. -Do not be ignorant that there is nothing more wretched than the happiness that rejoices. -It is a task to control the shameless stomach. It is the god of those overcome by it, and it is not possible for the one who endures it to be acquitted.

TITLE 14. -Concerning those who guard their own tongue.

My lips will not speak lawless things, nor will my soul meditate on unjust things. By sparing your lips, you will be prudent. He who guards his own mouth, keeps his own soul. A silent man calms contention. He who loves his own life, spares his own mouth. Take away from yourself a crooked mouth, and put unjust lips away from you. 95.1341 Refined silver is the tongue of a righteous man. With righteousness are all the words of your mouth. Nothing in them is crooked or twisted. From the fruits of the mouth a man's soul will be filled with them. The healing of the tongue is a tree of life; but he who preserves it will be filled with spirit. Good words are honeycombs, and their sweetness is healing

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εὐεκτούσης καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν μελέτης πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἀγαθὸν ὑψουμένης, ἑπόμενόν ἐστι τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἕξιν καταμαραίνεσθαι. Οὐκ ἐπαινοῦμέν τι τῶν μετὰ τὸν λαιμὸν ὁμοτίμων, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀτίμων, ὁμοίως καὶ ἀποβλήτων. Ἀκρασία ἐμοὶ πᾶν τὸ περισσὸν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν χρείαν, καὶ ταῦτα πεινώντων ἄλλων καὶ δεομένων τῶν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πηλοῦ τε καὶ κράματος. Οὐδὲν οὕτως ἐπίμαχόν τε καὶ φιλόνεικον ὡς γαστήρ. Οἱ περὶ τὴν τρυφὴν, ὑφέλετέ τι τῆς σαρκὸς, καὶ δότε τῷ πνεύματι. Ἐγγὺς ὁ πένης; τῇ νόσῳ βοήθησον. Εἰς τοῦτον ἀπέρευξαί τι τῶν περιττῶν. Τί καὶ σὺ κάμνεις ἀπεπτῶν, καὶ οὗτος πεινῶν· καὶ σὺ κραιπαλῶν, καὶ οὗτος ὑδεριῶν· καὶ σὺ κόρῳ κόρον βαρύνων, καὶ οὗτος περιτρεπόμενος νόσῳ; Μὴ παρίδῃς τὸν σὸν Λάζαρον ἐνταῦθα, μή σε ποιήσῃ τὸν ἐκεῖθεν πλούσιον. Μὴ γῆ καὶ θάλασσα τὴν ἡμῖν κόπρον δωροφορείτωσαν. Οὕτω γὰρ τιμᾷν οἶδα τρυφήν. Μέχρι τῆς ὑπερῴας ἡ τῶν ἡδυσμάτων αἴσθησις τὸν ὅρον ἔχει, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ὑπερῴας ἀδιάκριτος ἡ τῶν ἐμβαλλομένων διαφορὰ, ὁμοτίμως τὰ πάντα τῆς φύσεως πρὸς δυσωδίαν ἀλλοιούσης. Ὁ σπόρος τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου ἐστίν· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ σίτου ὁ ἄρτος γίνεται. Ἡ δὲ τρυφὴ τὸ ζιζάνιον, ὃ παρεσπάρη παρὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τῷ σίτῳ. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι ῥίζα τῶν περὶ τὸν βίον πλημμελημάτων ἐστὶν ἡ περὶ τὸν λαιμὸν ἀσχολία; 95.1340 Φαγὼν, καὶ πιὼν, καὶ ἐμπλησθεὶς, πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ. Ἀπόκρημνος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τόπος τῆς τρυφῆς. Σύνδρομον ἀεί πώς ἐστι ταῖς τρυφαῖς τὸ φιλήδονον, καθὰ καὶ αὐτός φησιν ὁ Ἰσοκράτης. Πλοῦτος κακίας μᾶλλον ἢ καλοκαγαθίας ἐστὶν ὑπηρέτης. Ἀφεκτέον βρωμάτων, οὐ δι' αὐτὰ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰς ὑπ' αὐτῶν βλάβας. Ὁ τῆς γαστριμαργίας λογισμὸς τέλος ἔχει τὸ τῆς πορνείας· τὸ δὲ τῆς πορνείας, τέλος ἔχει τὸ τῆς λύπης. Φάγε τὴν χρείαν· οὐ γὰρ κεκώλυται ἡ μετὰ συμμετρίας μετάληψις. Φάγε οὖν εὐχαρίστως, ἀλλὰ μὴ καταφάγῃς. Οἱ γὰρ καταφαγάδες μεμίσηνται. Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἄπληστος καὶ ἀκόρεστος, ἀτιμίαν καὶ πάθη ἐπίσταται διὰ γαστριμαργίας. Οὐκ ἀγαθὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γνωστικῷ τε καὶ σώφρονι ἑλομένῳ ὑπὲρ τὸ δέον σιτεύεσθαι. Πᾶν τὸ ὑπὲρ τὴν χρείαν, ἀχρεῖον καθίσταται. Οὐκ οἶσθα, ὅτι ὑπὲρ τὸ δέον βεβρωκὼς Ἰσραὴλ, ἀπελάκτισε καθάπερ ἡμίονος, καὶ ἀπέστη τοῦ τρέφοντος; -Μὴ βαρυνέσθω τὸ σῶμα τοῖς ἀμέτροις βρώμασίν τε καὶ πώμασιν, ἵνα μὴ ἐκ πλησμονῆς νοσήματι βλαβῇς, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν σκοτασμοῖς περιβάλλῃ, καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἡδονῶν φάλαγξιν ἐκπορευθῇς. -Σαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τὸ δέον σιτεύων, λέληθας τὸν ἐχθρόν σου σιτεύων. Οὐκ ἂν δύναιο τῷ κλύδωνι τῶν παθῶν ἀντιστῆναι, πεφορτωμένος τῇ δαψιλείᾳ τῶν τρυφημάτων. -Παραιτεῖσθε δὲ τὸ τρυφᾷν. Ἕλκει γὰρ εἰς πράξεις, ἀφ' ὧν στεναγμοὶ μετὰ τὴν νῆψιν γίνονται. -Εμφυτον τῇ πλησμονῇ ἡ τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐπιθυμία. - ̓Αναγκαῖον λεπτῦναί σε τὸ παχυνθὲν σαρκίον, διότι παχεῖα γαστὴρ λεπτὸν νοῦν οὐ τίκτει, καὶ μάλιστα ὅτι σχολαστικὸς πολλῆς νήψεως δεῖται. -Φιλήδονος καὶ φιλενδείκτης ὑπάρχων, οὐ μακρὰν ἀφέστηκας τῆς ταρταρείας Χαρύβδεως. -Μὴ ἀγνοήσῃς, ὅτι τῆς εὐφραινομένης εὐδαιμονίας οὐδὲν ὑπάρχει κακοδαιμονέστερον. - Ἔργον ἐστὶ τῆς ἀναιδοῦς γαστρὸς κρατῆσαι. Θεός ἐστι τῶν ἡττωμένων αὐτῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀθωωθῆναι τὸν ἀνεχόμενον ταύτης.

ΤΙΤΛ. Ι∆ʹ. -Περὶ τῶν τὴν ἑαυτῶν γλῶσσαν φυλαττόντων.

Οὐ λαλήσει τὰ χείλη μου τὰ ἄνομα, οὐδὲ ἡ ψυχή μου μελετήσει ἄδικα. Φειδόμενος χειλέων, νοήμων ἔσῃ. Ὃς φυλάσσει τὸ ἑαυτοῦ στόμα, τηρεῖ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν. Ἀντιλογίαν πραΰνει σιγηρός. Ἀγαπῶν ζωὴν αὑτοῦ, φείδεται στόματος αὑτοῦ. Περίελε σεαυτοῦ σκολιὸν στόμα, καὶ ἄδικα χείλη ἄπωσαι ἀπὸ σοῦ. 95.1341 Ἄργυρος πεπυρωμένος, γλῶσσα δικαίου. Μετὰ δικαιοσύνην πάντα τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ στόματός σου. Οὐδὲν ἐν αὐτοῖς σκολιὸν, οὐδὲ στραγγαλιῶδες. Ἀπὸ καρπῶν στόματος ψυχὴ ἀνδρὸς πλησθήσεται αὐτῶν. Ἴασις γλώσσης δένδρον ζωῆς· ὁ δὲ συντηρῶν πλησθήσεται πνεύματος. Κηρία μέλιτος λόγοι καλοὶ, γλύκασμα δὲ αὐτῶν ἴασις