The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 1 (of 2)Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Religion
The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Theology -- Early works to 1800; Theology -- History -- Early Church, ca. 30-600
breathing it in!” And how senseless, to besmear their hands with the
condiments, and to be constantly reaching to the sauce, cramming
themselves immoderately and shamelessly, not like people tasting, but
ravenously seizing! For you may see such people, liker swine or dogs
for gluttony than men, in such a hurry to feed themselves full, that
both jaws are stuffed out at once, the veins about the face raised, and
besides, the perspiration running all over, as they are tightened with
their insatiable greed, and panting with their excess; the food pushed
with unsocial eagerness into their stomach, as if they were stowing
away their victuals for provision for a journey, not for digestion.
Excess, which in all things is an evil, is very highly reprehensible in
the matter of food. Gluttony, called ὀψοφαγία, is nothing but excess in
the use of relishes (ὄψον); and λαιμαργία is insanity with respect to
the gullet; and γαστριμαργία is excess with respect to food--insanity
in reference to the belly, as the name implies; for μάργος is a
madman. The apostle, checking those that transgress in their conduct
at entertainments, says: “For every one taketh beforehand in eating
his own supper; and one is hungry, and another drunken. Have ye not
houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and
shame those who have not?”[448] And among those who have, they, who
eat shamelessly and are insatiable, shame themselves. And both act
badly; the one by paining those who have not, the other by exposing
their own greed in the presence of those who have. Necessarily,
therefore, against those who have cast off shame and unsparingly abuse
meals, the insatiable to whom nothing is sufficient, the apostle, in
continuation, again breaks forth in a voice of displeasure: “So that,
my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait for one another. And if
any one is hungry, let him eat at home, that ye come not together to
condemnation.”[449]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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