§17Vetus es, uera si uelimus dicere, tu qui tantum gulae indulges, et merito te priorem iactitas; semper agnosco sapere Esau uenatorem ferarum; ita passim indagandis turdis studes, ita de campo laxissimae disciplinae tuae uenis, ita spiritu deficis.
You are the old one, if we wish to speak the truth, you who indulge so much in your throat, and with good reason you boast that you are prior; I always recognize the taste of Esau, the hunter of wild beasts; so you study here and there to track down thrushes, so you come from the field of your most lax discipline, so you fail in spirit.
si tibi lenticulam defruto inrufatam obtulero, statim totos primatus tuos uendes;
If I offer you a pottage of lentils reddened with defrutum, immediately you will sell all your birthright.
apud te agape in caccabis feruet, fides in culmis calet, spes in ferculis iacet.
With you, love boils in pots, faith warms in kitchens, hope lies on dishes.
sed maioris est agape, quia per hanc adulescentes tui cum sororibus dormiunt. appendices scilicet gulae lasciuia atque luxuriae.
But 'love' is of greater value, because through it your young men sleep with their sisters; namely, the appendages of the throat, playfulness and luxury.
quam societatem et apostolus sciens cum praemisisset non in ebrietatibus nec in comessationibus, adiunxit nec in cubilibus et libidinibus. ad elogium gulae tuae pertinet, quod duplex apud te praesidentibus honor binis partibus deputatur, cum apostolus duplicem honorem dederit ut et fratribus et praepositis.
Which connection the Apostle also knowing, when he had premised 'not in chambering and drunkenness, nor in chambering and wantonness,' added 'not in chambering and chamberings.' It belongs to the eulogy of your throat, that a double honor is assigned to your presidents in double portions, although the Apostle gave double honor both to brothers and to presidents.
quis sanctior inter uos, nisi conuiuandi frequentior, nisi obsonandi pollucibilior, nisi calicibus instructior?v merito homines solius animae et carnis spiritalia recusatis.
Who is holier among you, except the more frequent in banqueting, the more lavish in catering, the more well-provided with cups? Justly do you, men of only soul and flesh, reject spiritual things.
talibus si placerent prophetae, mei non erant.
If prophets had pleased such men, they would not have been mine.
cur ergo non constanter praedicatis: manducemus et bibamus, cras enim moriemur? sicuti nos non dubitamus exerte mandare: ieiunemus fratres et sorores, ne forte cras moriamur. palam disciplinas nostras uindicemus.
Why, then, do you not constantly preach: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die'? Just as we do not hesitate to command openly: 'Let us fast, brothers and sisters, lest perhaps tomorrow we die.' Let us openly claim our disciplines.
nos certi sumus eos qui in carne sunt deo placere non posse, non utique in substantia carnis, sed in cura, sed in affectione, sed in operatione, sed in uoluntate.
We are certain that those who are in the flesh cannot please God—not indeed in the substance of the flesh, but in its care, in its affection, in its operation, in its will.
macies non displicet nobis; neque enim ad pondus deus carnem tribuit, sicut nec spiritum ad mensuram.
Thinness does not displease us; for neither did God give flesh by weight, just as He did not give the Spirit by measure.
facilius, si forte, per angustam salutis ianuam introibit caro exilior; citius resuscitabitur caro leuior, diutius in sepultura durabit caro aridior.
More easily, perhaps, will a leaner flesh enter through the narrow gate of salvation; more quickly will a lighter flesh be raised; longer will a drier flesh endure in the grave.
saginentur pugiles et pyctae Olympici.
Let the wrestlers and Olympic boxers be fattened.
illis ambitio corporis competit, quibus et uires necessariae, et tamen illi quoque xerophagiis inualescunt.
For them physical pride is appropriate, for whom also strength is necessary; and yet they too grow strong on xerophagies.
sed nostra alia robora aliaeque uires, sicut et alia certamina, quibus non est luctatio aduersus carnem et sanguinem, sed aduersus mundi potestates, aduersus spiritalia malitiae.
But our strength is of another kind, and our powers are other, just as our contests are other, in which we have no struggle against flesh and blood, but against the powers of the world, against spiritual forces of wickedness.
aduersus haec non carne et sanguine, sed fide et spiritu robusto oportet adsistere.
Against these we must stand not with flesh and blood, but with faith and a robust spirit.
ceterum saginatior Christianus ursis et leoni- - bus forte quam deo erit necessarius, nisi quod et aduersus bestias maciem exercere debebit.
Besides, a fatter Christian will perhaps be more necessary for bears and lions than for God, unless indeed he ought to practice thinness even against wild beasts.