Chapter V.
Virtue, seeking healthier pleasures, rejects the pursuit of pleasure; it teaches how to resist diabolical temptations, from whom and even temporal things must be sought, and how harmful they are to the wicked; it invites to the feast of wisdom, and it explains how its intoxication differs from drunkenness; and finally, it reveals the evils of greed.
15. His auditis, velut cervus sagittatus in jecore haeret saucius. Quem miserans virtus, et casurum cito videns, improviso occurrit, verita ne inter moras illecebris demulcentibus mens capiatur humana. Palam, inquit, apparui tibi non quaerenti me. Ne fallat imprudentem, et circumveniat te mulier effrenata et luxuriosa quae non novit pudorem: sedet in foribus domus in sella, palam in plateis advocans praeitereuntes (Prov. IX, 14 et 15). Now therefore, my son, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. For she has cast down many wounded, and there are innumerable whom she has slain. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death (Prov. VII, 24 et seq.). Therefore, remove from yourself a perverse mouth and put far away from you unjust lips. Let your eyes look right ahead (Prov. IV, 24 et 25): do not focus on a deceitful woman (Prov. V, 2). For the lips of an adulterous woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the path of life; her ways wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Be more like him who leaps over mountains and transcends hills, looking through windows, standing above nets. The chains of pleasure are evil. It delights the eyes, soothes the ears, but corrupts the mind: it tells many lies, adds falsehood, subtracts truth, promises money, offers gold; but takes away discipline (Prov. VIII, 10). But you, rather accept discipline than money, and knowledge rather than tested gold. For precious stones are better. I will not conceal from you what is the sum of its benefits, lest I seem to hide those things which displease in pleasure, and to overshadow those which please. For it elevates and exalts the mind with persuasive words, showing all the kingdoms of the earth, saying: 'All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' But beware that you are not carried away by passing and fleeting things, in which there is great temptation.
16. Certainly, the Lord Jesus taught you how to resist such temptations. The devil had first set a snare of gluttony, saying: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread (Matthew 4:3-4). The Lord replied: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He loosened this snare with these words. Then the devil set a second snare of arrogance, which often strangles a good mind running on successful paths. And he took him, he said, to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written that he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and that they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone (cf. Matthew 4:6). Therefore, when the Lord Jesus could have easily thrown himself without any danger, since he had the power of spiritual flight, in order to avoid any form of boasting, he replied to the devil: 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test' (cf. Matthew 4:7). At the same time, he taught us to beware of doing the will of the devil. If therefore boasting should truly be avoided, how much more should no one boast false things for true things? The third snare of greed and ambition remains. It shows on a mountain placed all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time (Ibid., 8, et seq.). Well, in a moment, because they cannot be long-lasting. Wait a little while, and they quickly pass. Therefore, those who pursue them seem to themselves to be on a mountain, but they are not perpetual, as it is written: I have seen the wicked exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not (Ps. XXXVI, 35). But whoever does these things seems to worship the devil, whose god is the stomach, and his glory is in shameful things. But you, seek glory in God, who says to you: 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him' (Matthew 4:10), from whom you receive eternal things, not temporal ones.
However, if these things also delight anyone, let them be sought in moderation from the true source of all. For even the possessions that the devil seems to have for himself are actually someone else's, as he himself said: 'All this authority I will give you, and their glory; for it has been delivered to me' (Luke 4:6). Therefore, hope in him, even though the briefness of life does not require a long provision for the journey; hope in him who created the entire creation, who temporarily handed it over to the devil, not for him to possess, but to test. For a crown could not exist without a competition. The doubtful were to be tested, so that the deserving could be crowned.
So, he gave these things to the devil, because in them is the punishment of the recipient, if he does not know how to use them. For what is a treasure to a luxury-loving person, if not the expense of luxury? Therefore, one is not considered luxurious, but rather frugal. And so, use those things as if you were frugal, so that when you eat a lot, you do not become detestable. For vigilance and torment are for the gluttonous person. And below: If you are forced to eat, rise and vomit, and it will refresh you, and you will not bring weakness to your body. Therefore, gluttony kills many, frugality none: countless wines have harmed, no self-control has saved. Most among the feasts spill souls, and fill their tables with their own blood. To others, rawness snatched voice and sense: and if rawness was not harmful to some, drunkenness brought their ruin. Indeed, drunkenness drove others into crime; although it itself is a crime, it reduced others to poverty. Finally, may Christ exclude the audacious: When the master of the house enters, he says, and has shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying: Open to us. And he will answer, saying: I do not know where you are from, depart from me, all workers of iniquity. Then you will begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets. And he will say to you: I do not know where you are from (Luke 13:25-27). Have you heard what he said about those who eat? Now listen to what he says about those who fast: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst now, for they will be satisfied (Luke 6:21). And further: Woe to you who are full, for you will hunger (ibid., 25).
19. But do you want to eat, do you want to drink? Come to the banquet of wisdom which invites everyone with great preaching, saying: Come and eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you (Prov. 9:5). Do songs delight and soothe the feasting? Listen to the exhorter, listen to the Church singing, not only in songs, but also in the Song of Songs: Eat, my friends, and drink, and be intoxicated, my dears (Song of Songs 5:1). But this drunkenness makes the sober; this drunkenness is of grace, not of intoxication. It generates joy, not stumbling. Do not fear that in the banquet of the Church there will be lacking pleasant smells, sweet foods, different drinks, or noble guests, or respectable attendants. What is more noble than Christ, who both serves and is served in the banquet of the Church? Attach yourself to the side of this reclining guest and unite yourself with God; do not despise the table that Christ has chosen, saying: I entered my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spices: I ate my bread with my honey, and I drank wine with my milk. In the garden, that is, in the paradise, there is a banquet of the Church, where Adam was before he committed sin. There Eve reclined before she created and gave birth to guilt. There you will harvest myrrh, that is, the burial of Christ; so that buried with him through baptism into death, just as he rose from the dead, you may also rise. There you will eat the bread that strengthens the heart of man. You will taste honey, by which the sweetness of your throat's passages is enhanced. You will drink wine with milk, that is, with splendor and sincerity: whether it be because pure simplicity is present, or because of immaculate grace, which is taken for the remission of sins, or because it nourishes the little ones with its consolations, so that they, weaned from delights, may grow into the fullness of perfect age. Therefore, join in this feast. Or do you fear that a narrow house and a small place of the feast will confine you? O Israel, how great is the house of the Lord, and the vastness of His possession! Great, and without end, lofty, and immense (Baruch. III, 24). There were those giants, who from the beginning were of great stature, knowing battle. The Lord did not choose them. And rightly so, because they knew battle, not peace. And therefore learn peace, that you may be chosen by God. But perhaps you might think the unadorned greatness of the house, and the pleasure of the pillars may attract you: wisdom has built itself a house, and it has shone with seven pillars. The Lord Jesus himself also mentions that there are many mansions with his Father (John XIV, 2). In this house, therefore, you will feast on food for the soul and drink for the mind, so that afterwards you will never hunger or thirst. For whoever eats, eats until satisfaction; and whoever drinks, drinks until drunkenness.
20. But this drunkenness is the guardian of chastity: that drunkenness of wine is the fuel of lust, through which the internal organs are steamed by meats, the soul is set on fire, the spirit is consumed. Cruel is the stimulus of crimes, which never allows the affected to remain quiet. It boils at night, gasps during the day, wakes up from sleep, leads away from business, recalls from reason, takes away counsel, disturbs lovers, causes the fallen to stumble, lies in wait for the chaste, inflames through drinking, and is kindled through use. There is no limit to sinning, and an insatiable thirst for wickedness can only be extinguished by the death of love. And therefore the Apostle says: Flee from fornication (I Cor. VI, 18); so that by a swift flight, we may avoid the cruelty of the raging mistress and be able to escape from her foul service.
21. For what can I say about greed, with its insatiable desire for money, and a certain lust for wealth, which believes that the more it has taken away, the more it is impoverished? Envious of all, worthless to itself, destitute in the midst of great riches, it weakens its desires because of its abundant wealth. There is no limit to its greed, where there is no measure of its desires. It inflames the soul, it feeds itself with its own fire, so much so that it is different in this regard, that the former is an adulteress of beauty, while the latter is of the earth. It shakes the elements, cuts through the sea, digs up the earth, wearies the heavens with prayers, and is pleasing neither in fair weather nor in stormy, bringing condemnation upon yearly profits and exposing the offspring of the earth. But this is the affliction of the soul, not of the body. Furthermore, Ecclesiastes says: There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, riches being hoarded up to the hurt of their owner (Eccle. V, 12). And elsewhere: He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver (Ibid., 9). And: There is no end of their acquiring (Baruch 3, 18). If you seek treasures, receive the invisible and hidden ones that are in the highest heavens, not the ones you seek in the veins of the earth. Be poor in spirit, and you will be rich in any measure; for life is not in the abundance of riches, but in virtue and faith. These riches will truly make you rich, if you are rich in God.