Chapter XXI.

It is perfectly clear that no one can come near the purity of the Divine Being who has not first himself become such; he must therefore place between himself and the pleasures of the senses a high strong wall of separation, so that in this his approach to the Deity the purity of his own heart may not become soiled again. Such an impregnable wall will be found in a complete estrangement from everything wherein passion operates.

Now pleasure is one in kind, as we learn from the experts; as water parted into various channels from one single fountain, it spreads itself over the pleasure-lover through the various avenues of the senses; so that it has been on his heart that the man, who through any one particular sensation succumbs to the resulting pleasure, has received a wound from that sensation. This accords with the teaching given from the Divine lips, that “he who has satisfied the lust of the eyes has received the mischief already in his heart152    S. Matt. v. 28”; for I take it that our Lord was speaking in that particular example of any of the senses; so that we might well carry on His saying, and add, “He who hath heard, to lust after,” and what follows, “He who hath touched to lust after,” “He who hath lowered any faculty within us to the service of pleasure, hath sinned in his heart.”

To prevent this, then, we want to apply to our own lives that rule of all temperance, never to let the mind dwell on anything wherein pleasure’s bait is hid; but above all to be specially watchful against the pleasure of taste. For that seems in a way the most deeply rooted, and to be the mother as it were of all forbidden enjoyment. The pleasures of eating and drinking, leading to boundless excess, inflict upon the body the doom of the most dreadful sufferings153    ἀναγκὴν ἑμποιοῦσι τῶν ἀβουλητῶν κακῶν, πλησμονῆς ὡς τὰ πολλὰ ἐκτίκτουσης, κ. τ. λ., removing the comma from πλησμονῆς (Paris Edit.) to κακῶν.; for over-indulgence is the parent of most of the painful diseases. To secure for the body a continuous tranquillity, unstirred by the pains of surfeit, we must make up our minds to a more sparing regimen, and constitute the need of it on each occasion not the pleasure of it, as the measure and limit of our indulgence. If the sweetness will nevertheless mingle itself with the satisfaction of the need (for hunger knows how to sweeten everything154    Cf. Cicero, 2 De Fin. Bon.: “Socratem audio dicentem cibi condimentum esse famem; potionis sitim;” so Antiphanes (apud Stobæum), ἁπάνθ᾽ ὁ λιμὸς γλυκέα, πλὴν αὑτοῦ, ποιεῖ., and by the vehemence of appetite she gives the zest of pleasure to every discoverable supply of the need), we must not because of the resulting enjoyment reject the satisfaction, nor yet make this latter our leading aim. In everything we must select the expedient quantity, and leave untouched what merely feasts the senses155    κατὰ τὸ προηγούμενον, principaliter. Cf. Clem. Alexand. Strom.,τὰ ὀνόματα σύμβολα τῶν νοημάτων κατὰ τὸ προηγούμενον, i.e. of general concepts..

[21] Κεφάλαιον καʹ Ὅτι χρὴ τὸν ἀκριβῶς ζῆν προελόμενον πρὸς πᾶν εἶδος σωματικῆς ἡδονῆς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχειν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῇ καθαρότητι τοῦ θεοῦ προσεγγίσαι, μὴ αὐτόν τινα πρότερον τοιοῦτον γενόμενον, ἀδύνατον κατεφάνη, ἀναγκαῖον ἂν εἴη μεγάλῳ τινὶ καὶ ἰσχυρῷ διατειχίσματι πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς ἑαυτὸν διαστῆσαι, ὡς ἂν μηδαμοῦ τῷ προσεγγισμῷ τούτῳ τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς καρδίας ἐπιμολύνοιτο: τεῖχος δέ ἐστιν ἀσφαλὲς ἡ τελεία πρὸς πᾶν τὸ ἐμπαθῶς ἐπιτελούμενον ἀλλοτρίωσις. Μία γὰρ οὖσα τῷ γένει ἡ ἡδονή, καθὼς ἀκούειν ἔστι τῶν σοφῶν, ὥσπερ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐκ μιᾶς πηγῆς εἰς διαφόρους ὀχετοὺς μεριζόμενον, δι' ἑκάστου τῶν αἰσθητηρίων τοῖς φιληδόνοις ἐγκαταμίγνυται. Οὐκοῦν ὁ διά τινος τῶν αἰσθήσεων τῆς ἐγγενομένης αὐτῷ ἡδονῆς ἡττηθεὶς ἐκεῖθεν ἐτρώθη τὴν καρδίαν, καθὼς διδάσκει ἡ τοῦ κυρίου φωνή, ὅτι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ὁ πληρώσας ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τὴν βλάβην ἐδέξατο. Οἶμαι δὲ ἀπὸ μέρους ἐνταῦθα περὶ παντὸς αἰσθητηρίου προειρηκέναι τὸν κύριον, ὥστε ἀκολουθοῦντας ἡμᾶς τῷ εἰρημένῳ καλῶς ἂν προσθεῖναι, ὅτι καὶ ὁ ἀκούσας πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι καὶ ὁ ἁψάμενος καὶ ὁ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν δύναμιν εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν ἡδονῆς κατασπάσας τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐξήμαρτεν.
Ἵνα οὖν μὴ τοῦτο γένηται, κανόνι χρηστέον τούτῳ πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον βίον τῷ σώφρονι, τῷ μήποτε προσθέσθαι τινὶ κατὰ ψυχήν, ᾧ δέλεάρ τι ἡδονῆς παραμέμικται, καὶ πρό γε πάντων τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς γεύσεως ἡδονὴν διαφερόντως φυλάττεσθαι, διότι προσεχεστέρα πως αὕτη δοκεῖ εἶναι καὶ οἱονεὶ μήτηρ τῆς ἀπηγορευμένης. Αἱ γὰρ κατὰ βρῶσιν καὶ πόσιν ἡδοναὶ πλεονάζουσαι τῶν ἐδωδίμων τῇ ἀμετρίᾳ ἀνάγκην ἐμποιοῦσι τῷ σώματι τῶν ἀβουλήτων κακῶν, πλησμονῆς ὡς τὰ πολλὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐντικτούσης τὰ τοιαῦτα πάθη. Ὡς ἂν οὖν μάλιστα γαληναῖον ἡμῖν διαμένοι τὸ σῶμα, μηδενὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ κόρου παθημάτων ἐπιθολούμενον, προνοητέον τῆς ἐγκρατεστέρας διαγωγῆς μέτρον καὶ ὅρον τῆς ἀπολαύσεως οὐ τὴν ἡδονήν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάστου χρείαν ὁρίζειν.
Ὁρῶμεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἀναμεμιγμένον τῷ σίτῳ τὸ ἄχυρον τεχνικῶς διακρίνοντας, ὡς ἂν ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν προσήκουσαν χρείαν παραληφθείη, τὸ μὲν εἰς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωήν, τὸ δὲ εἰς καῦσίν τε ἅμα καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀλόγων τροφήν. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ τῆς σωφροσύνης ἐργάτης διακρίνων τῆς ἡδονῆς τὴν χρείαν, ὥσπερ ἀχύρου τὸν σῖτον, τὴν μὲν ἀπορρίψει τοῖς ἀλογωτέροις, ὧν «τὸ τέλος εἰς καῦσιν», ὥς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, τῆς δὲ χρείας αὐτῆς κατὰ τὸ ἐνδέον εὐχαριστῶν μεταλήψεται.