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De octo spiritibus malitiae (sub nomine Nili Ancyrani)

BY THE SAME, CONCERNING THE EIGHT SPIRITS OF WICKEDNESS.

CHAPTER 30. Concerning gluttony.

The beginning of fruit-bearing is the flower, and the beginning of the practical life, continence; he who masters the stomach diminishes the passions, but he who is overcome by foods increases pleasures. The beginning of the nations was Amalek, and the beginning of the passions is gluttony. The fuel for fire is wood, and the fuel for the stomach is food. Much wood raises a great flame, and a multitude of foods nourishes desire. A flame is dimmed when fuel fails, and a lack of food withers desire. He who mastered the jawbone destroyed the foreigners, and broke the bonds of his hands with ease. The taking up of the jawbone brought forth a spring of water, and gluttony, being abolished, brought forth practical contemplation. A tent peg, passing through, destroyed an enemy's jaw, and the word of continence put passion to death. The desire for food brought forth disobedience, and a pleasant taste cast out of paradise. Luxury of foods delights the throat, but nourishes the unsleeping worm of licentiousness. A needy stomach prepares one to be vigilant in prayer, but a full one brings on much sleep. Sober thought is in the driest diet, but a moist life plunges the mind into the deep. The prayer of one who fasts is a fledgling eagle flying upward, but that of one who carouses, weighed down by surfeit, is dragged down; the mind of one who fasts is a bright star in a clear sky, but that of one who carouses is covered in the dark of the moon; a mist covers the rays of the sun, and the thick vapor of foods darkens the mind.

CHAPTER 2. A soiled mirror does not clearly show the form falling upon it, and

the intellect, dulled by satiety, does not receive the knowledge of God. Uncultivated land brings forth thorns, and the mind of a glutton sprouts shameful thoughts. It is not possible to find spices in mud, nor in a glutton the fragrance of contemplation. The eye of a glutton scrutinizes banquets; but the eye of the continent, the assemblies of the wise. The soul of a glutton numbers the memorials of the martyrs, but that of the continent imitates their lives. A cowardly soldier shudders at a trumpet signaling war, and a glutton at continence being proclaimed. A gluttonous monk is a tributary to his belly, and being scourged is required to pay a daily79.1148 tribute. A swift traveler will quickly reach the city, and a continent monk a peaceful state; a slow traveler will lodge in the open in the desert, and a gluttonous monk will not arrive at the house of dispassion. The vapor of incense makes the air fragrant, and the prayer of the continent is a sweet smell to God. If you give yourself to the desire for foods, nothing will suffice to fulfill the pleasure; for the desire for foods is a fire, always receiving, and always burning. A sufficient measure has filled a vessel, but a bursting stomach does not say, "It is enough." The stretching out of hands turned back Amalek, and uplifted practices subdue the passions of the flesh.

CHAPTER 3. Destroy from yourself every breathing thing of evil, and the members of your flesh

mortify strongly. For just as a slain enemy will not cause you fear, so a mortified body will not trouble your soul. A dead body does not know the pain of fire, nor a continent man the pleasure of a dead desire. If you strike an Egyptian, hide him in the sand, and do not spare the body on account of a defeated passion; for as in rich soil it grows

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De octo spiritibus malitiae (sub nomine Nili Ancyrani)

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΟΚΤΩ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΠΟΝΗΡΙΑΣ.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Λʹ. Περὶ γαστριμαργίας.

Ἀρχὴ καρποφορίας, ἄνθος, καὶ ἀρχὴ πρακτικῆς, ἐγκράτεια· ὁ κρατῶν γαστρὸς, ἐλαττοῖ πάθη, ἡττώμενος δὲ βρώμασιν αὔξει τὰς ἡδονάς. Ἀρχὴ ἐθνῶν Ἀμαλὴκ, καὶ ἀρχὴ παθῶν γαστριμαργία. Ὕλη πυρὸς ξύλα, ὕλη δὲ γαστρὸς βρώματα. Ξύλα πολλὰ μεγάλην ἐγείρει φλόγα, πλῆθος δὲ βρωμάτων τρέφει ἐπιθυμίαν. Φλὸξ ἀμαυροῦται ἐπιλειπούσης ὕλης, καὶ βρωμάτων ἔνδεια μαραίνει ἐπιθυμίαν. Ὁ κρατήσας σιαγόνος, ἀνεῖλεν ἀλλοφύλους, καὶ δεσμὰ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ διέσπασεν εὐχερῶς. Ἀναίρεσις σιαγόνος πηγὴν ἐγέννησεν ὕδατος, καὶ γαστριμαργία καταργηθεῖσα, θεωρίαν ἔτεκε πρακτικήν. Πάσσαλος σκηνῆς παρελθὼν, σιαγόνα ἀνεῖλε πολέμιον, καὶ λόγος ἐγκρατείας ἐνέκρωσε πάθος. Ἐπιθυμία βρώσεως ἔτεκε παρακοὴν, καὶ γεῦσις ἡδεῖα ἐξέβαλε παραδείσου. Πολυτέλεια βρωμάτων τέρπει λαιμὸν, τρέφει δὲ σκώληκα ἀκολασίας ἀκοίμητον. Ἐνδεὴς γαστὴρ ἐν προσευχῇ ἀγρυπνεῖν παρασκευάζει, ἡ δὲ πεπληρωμένη ὕπνον ἐπάγει πολύν. Νηφάλιον φρόνημα ἐν ξηροτάτῃ διαίτῃ, ὑγρὸς δὲ βίος βαπτίζει νοῦν εἰς βυθόν. Νηστεύοντος προσευχὴ, νεοσσὸς ἀετοῦ ἀνιπτάμενος, ἡ δὲ τοῦ κραιπαλοῦντος βαρυνομένη τῷ κόρῳ, καθέλκεται· νηστεύοντος νοῦς, ἀστὴρ ἐν αἰθρίᾳ λαμπρὸς, ὁ δὲ τοῦ κραιπαλοῦντος ἐν σκοτομήνῃ καλύπτεται· ὀμίχλη καλύπτει ἡλιακὰς ἀκτῖνας, καὶ νοῦν σκοτίζει παχεῖα βρωμάτων ἀνάδοσις.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Βʹ. Ἔσοπτρον ῥυπωθὲν οὐ διαρθροῖ τὴν προσπεσοῦσαν μορφὴν, καὶ

διανοητικὸν ἀμβλυνθὲν κόρῳ, οὐ δέχεται γνῶσιν Θεοῦ. Χερσωθεῖσα γῆ ἀκάνθας τίκτει, καὶ νοῦς γαστριμάργου βλαστάνει λογισμοὺς αἰσχρούς. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν βορβόρῳ εὑρεῖν ἀρώματα, οὐδὲ ἐν γαστριμάργῳ θεωρίας εὐωδίαν. Ὀφθαλμὸς γαστριμάργου περιεργάζεται συμπόσια· ὀφθαλμὸς δὲ ἐγκρατοῦς συνέδρια σοφῶν. Μνήμας μαρτύρων ἀριθμεῖ ψυχὴ γαστριμάργου, ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἐγκρατοῦς μιμεῖται βίους αὐτῶν. ∆ειλὸς στρατιώτης φρίσσει σάλπιγγα σημαίνουσαν πόλεμον, καὶ γαστρίμαργος κηρυσσομένην ἐγκράτειαν. Γαστρίμαργος μοναχὸς, κοιλίας ὑπόφορος, καὶ μαστιζόμενος ἀπαιτεῖται δα79.1148 σμὸν ἡμερούσιον. Ὁδοιπόρος ὀξὺς ταχέως καταλήψεται πόλιν, καὶ μοναχὸς ἐγκρατὴς εἰρηνικὴν κατάστασιν· ὁδοιπόρος βραδὺς ἐν ἐρημίᾳ αὐλισθήσεται ὕπαιθρος, καὶ μοναχὸς γαστρίμαργος οὐ φθάσει εἰς οἶκον ἀπαθείας. Ἀτμὶς θυμιάματος εὐωδιάζει ἀέρα, καὶ προσευχὴ ἐγκρατοῦς ὄσφρησιν Θεοῦ. Ἐὰν δῷς σεαυτὸν ἐπιθυμίᾳ βρωμάτων, οὐδὲν ἀρκέσει πρὸς τὸ πληρῶσαι τὴν ἡδονήν· πῦρ γάρ ἐστιν ἐπιθυμία βρωμάτων, ἀεὶ δεχομένη, καὶ ἀεὶ φλεγομένη. Μέτρον αὔταρκες ἐπλήρωσεν ἀγγεῖον, γαστὴρ δὲ ῥηγνυμένη, οὐ λέγει, Ἀρκεῖ. Χειρῶν ἔκτασις ἐτροπώσατο τὸν Ἀμαλὴκ, καὶ πράξεις ἐπηρμέναι χειροῦνται πάθη σαρκός.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Γʹ. Ἐξολόθρευσον ἐκ σοῦ πᾶν ἔμπνεον κακίας, καὶ μέλη σαρκός σου

νέκρωσον ἰσχυρῶς. Ὃν τρόπον γὰρ ἀνῃρημένος πολέμιος, οὐ παρέξει σοι φόβον, οὕτω νεκρωθὲν σῶμα οὐ ταράξει σου τὴν ψυχήν. Οὐκ οἶδε πυρὸς ὀδύνην σῶμα νεκρὸν, οὐδὲ ἐγκρατὴς ἡδονὴν ἐπιθυμίας νεκρᾶς. Ἐὰν πατάξῃς Αἰγύπτιον, ἐν ἄμμῳ κρύψον αὐτὸν, καὶ μὴ πιάνῃς σῶμα ἐπὶ ἡττωμένῳ πάθει· ὡς γὰρ ἐν λιπώσῃ γῇ φύει