The Mimicry of Vices
On the eight spirits of malice (under the name of Nilus of Ancyra). By the same author, on the eight spirits of malice. Chapter 30. On gluttony. The beginning of fruit-bearing is the flower, and the beginning of practice is self-control; he who masters the stomach diminishes the passions, but he who is defeated by foods increases the pleasures. ‘Amalek is the first of the nations, and gluttony is the first of the passions’ (Num 24:20). The fuel of fire is wood, and the fuel of the stomach is foods. Much wood raises a great flame, and a multitude of foods nourishes desire. A flame dims when the fuel runs out, and scarcity of foods withers desire. He who seized a jawbone slew the foreigners (Judg 15:15), and easily burst the bonds of his hands. The casting away of the jawbone brought forth a spring of water (Judg 15:19), and gluttony, having been abolished, gave birth to practical contemplation. A tent-peg, passing through, destroyed the hostile cheek (Judg 4:21), and a word of self-control put passion to death. Desire for food gave birth to disobedience, and a sweet taste cast man out of paradise (Gen 3). Costliness of foods delights the throat, but nourishes the sleepless worm of licentiousness. A needy stomach prepares one to keep vigil in prayer, but a full one brings on much sleep. A sober mind comes in the driest diet, but a moist life immerses the intellect in the deep. The prayer of one fasting is like an eagle’s chick flying upward, but that of one drunk with food, weighed down by satiety, is dragged down; the mind of one fasting is a bright star in clear air, but that of one drunk with food is covered in moonless darkness; mist covers the sun’s rays, and a thick exhalation of foods darkens the mind.
Chapter 2. A mirror having become soiled does not distinguish the form that falls upon it, and the intellect, dulled by satiety, does not receive the knowledge of God. Land turned to dry waste bears thorns, and the mind of a glutton sprouts shameful thoughts. It is not possible to find spices in mud, nor the fragrance of contemplation in a glutton. The eye of a glutton pries into banquets; but the eye of the self-controlled pries into the assemblies of the wise. The soul of a glutton counts the tombs of the martyrs, but that of the self-controlled imitates their lives.
A cowardly soldier shudders at a trumpet signaling war, and a glutton at self-control being proclaimed. A gluttonous monk, tributary to the belly, though scourged, is exacted a daily tribute. A swift traveler will quickly reach a city, and a self-controlled monk a peaceful state; a slow traveler will camp out in the wilderness in the open, and a gluttonous monk will not arrive at the house of dispassion. The vapor of incense perfumes the air, and the prayer of the self-controlled perfumes God’s sense of smell. If you give yourself to the desire for foods, nothing will suffice to fill the pleasure; for the desire for foods is a fire, always receiving and always burning. A sufficient measure filled the vessel, but a bursting stomach does not say, ‘Enough.’ The stretching out of hands routed Amalek (Ex 17:12), and exalted deeds are mastered by fleshly passions.
Chapter 3. Destroy utterly from yourself everything breathing evil, and mortify the members of your flesh strongly. For just as a slain enemy will cause you no fear, so a mortified body will not trouble your soul. A dead body knows not the pain of fire, nor does the self-controlled know the pleasure of a dead desire. If you strike an Egyptian, hide him in the sand (Ex 2:12), and do not fatten the body upon a defeated passion; for just as what is hidden grows in rich soil, so the passion sprouts up again in a fat body. A withered flame relights itself when it takes hold of dry brushwood, and a quenched pleasure is rekindled in satiety of foods. Do not pity a body lamenting weakness, nor fatten it with costliness of foods; for if it grows strong, it will rise up against you and stir up implacable war against you, until it takes your soul captive and hands you over as a slave to the passion of fornication.
A well-reined horse, a needy body, will never cast down its rider; for the one yields when choked by the bit and obeys the charioteer’s hand, while the body is tamed by hunger and wakefulness and does not buck away from the thought that rides upon it, nor…
Greek
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 1 τὸ κρυφθὲν, οὕτως ἐν σώματι πιμελώδει ἀναθάλλει τὸ πάθος. Μαρανθεῖσα φλὸξ ἀναλάμπει ἐπιλαβομένη φρυγάνων, καὶ ἡδονὴ σβεσθεῖσα ἀναζωπυροῦται ἐν κόρῳ βρωμάτων. Μὴ ἐλεήσῃς σῶμα ἀτονίαν ἀποδυρόμενον, μηδὲ πιάνῃς αὐτὸ πολυτελείᾳ βρωμάτων· ἐὰν γὰρ ἰσχύσῃ, ἐπαναστήσεταί σοι, καὶ πόλεμον ἄσπονδον κινήσει κατὰ σοῦ, ἕως ἂν αἰχμαλωτεύσῃ σὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ δοῦλον παραδώσει σε τῷ τῆς πορνείας πάθει. Ἵππος εὐήνιος, ἐνδεὲς σῶμα, καὶ οὐ μὴ καταβαλεῖ τὸν ἀναβάτην ποτὲ, ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἴκει ἀγχόμενος χαλινῷ, καὶ τῇ χειρὶ πείθεται τοῦ ἡνιόχου, σῶμα δὲ δαμάζεται ἐν λιμῷ, καὶ ἀγρυπνίᾳ, καὶ οὐκ ἀποσκιρτᾷ τοῦ ἐπιβατοῦντος λογισμοῦ, οὐδὲ