Chapter VIII.
To highlight the benefits of fasting, it presents a most elegant description comparing the inconveniences of gluttony and the disturbances that the same gluttony often causes; to which an exhortation to moderation is added.
22. But why should I make use of old examples, when even the present gifts of gratitude abound with fasting? Who has ruined his house by fasting? Who has diminished his resources? To whom has luxury been a cause of suspicion? To whom has abstinence not been venerable? Whose bed has frugality desired? Whose modesty has drunkenness not injured? Fasting is the rule of self-control, the discipline of chastity, the humility of the mind, the correction of the flesh, the form of sobriety, the norm of virtue, the purification of the soul, the expense of mercy, the institution of gentleness, the allurements of charity, the grace of old age, the protection of youth. Fasting is a remedy for weakness, a nourishment for health. No one has ever become sick from fasting, no one has ever felt a loss of blood from self-control; on the contrary, it has suppressed and expelled everything. It is a good provision for a journey, a good provision for all of life: it is good on the sea, it calms shipwrecks, it preserves food.
23. Those who say that fasting is burdensome should be asked who has died from fasting. Many have died while eating lunch, and many have vomited up their feast and lost their life. Finally, what animal has groaned that fasting was the cause of its death? A noose is not hidden in food, a hook lies hidden in bait, food leads to a pit, and food leads into a snare; food even binds birds with sticky substance, and food causes flying creatures to fall to their death. Are these not dangers for the stomach? Animals do not know crime, and they are punished only as if for a crime. Moderation of the mind is fasting, in this senses thrive, in this judgments are dealt with, in a feast, drinks. Fasting preserves discipline, while poverty follows luxury. Luxury is the mother of hunger (Tobias IV), according to the prophetic saying. Fasting loves rest, luxury loves restlessness. Fasting sows leisure, luxury sows business.
24. Sometimes the sword of the cook's footsteps will strike. May the butcher rest, who knocks on other people's doors before daybreak and wakes up the sleeping as if a war were imminent. You see him disturbed, panting; you give notice: you ask what is the cause of the disturbance. He demands, he says, that his master wants to know where the wine is best sold, he asks where a harder vagina can be cured, where liver is softer, where pheasant is fatter, where the fish is fresher. He runs through various places; and when he finds something, he hurries with great speed. He disturbs the sleepy master, the prices are raised. If he moves the price of a fish, he says that a better one cannot be found, indeed that it is lacking. Yesterday, he says, there was a storm, today a tempest, I could barely detect him hiding. Many people crowd in the market: if you give it back, another will give more; and what will you offer for lunch? That wine is his birthday wine, these oysters are selected from that lake: such is the bidding for each item. There is a certain quarrel between the hunter and the shepherd. Disturbed, he questions who is diminishing the rights of his possessions.
25. They run to the kitchen, there is a great noise, there is a commotion. The whole household is in uproar, everyone curses, because no rest is given to them. Finally, finally give the cook some rest. Like a statue, the butler's right hand is frozen by extreme cold. He exercises his hands in the cold, they wash the marbles. They clean the floors wet with wine, and covered with fish spines; and how many are wounded while they walk? In the very banquet, there is the noise of feasting, the groaning of those being flogged. If something happened to displease friends, they laugh, you become angry. Let the house be silent sometimes from the many disturbances of people running here and there, empty of smoke, and the smell of half-cooked food. Do not think it is a kitchen, but a slaughter: a battle is being fought, not a meal prepared; everything is floating in blood.
26. The evil mistress serves gluttony, which always desires, never satisfies. For what is more insatiable than the stomach? Today it indulges, and tomorrow it demands. When it is filled, there is discussion about self-restraint; when it is digested, it says goodbye to virtues and seeks excess. Among drinking cups, philosophy is preached; among philosophers, wine is praised. 'Watchfulness,' he says, 'and anger, and torment for the insatiable man' (Sirach 31:23): he eats and shortly regrets; his own intemperance did not delight him for long.
27. Listen to the rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day, while at his gate lay Lazarus, a beggar covered with sores, longing to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man's table. But after a little while, when he had died, he began to beg, placed in Hades, that the tip of his finger might be dipped in water and cool his tongue, which was burning with fire. Where are those riches? Where are those feasts? He who was getting drunk is thirsty: he who was begging is full. In the very banquet while they drink, they are thirsty; and when they have become drunk, they drink more. Wine is no longer drunk as if from an open fountain, but poured in like from a jug: the cup is not sipped, but emptied.