Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/321

312 ongeat ðæt hie gulpun hiera fæstenes: Oft ðonne mon ma fæst ðonne he ðyrfe, ðonne eowað he utan eaðmodnesse, & for ðære ilcan eaðmodnesse he ofermodegað innan micle ðy hefiglicor. Gif ðæt mod full oft ne aðunde on ofermettum for ðære forhæfdnesse, ðonne ne talode se ofermoda Phariseus to swæ micle mægene ða forhæfdnesse swæ he dyde, ða he cwæð: Ic fæste tuwa on wucan. Ongean ðæt sint to manianne ða ofergifran, ðeah hie ne mægen ðone unðeaw forlæten ðære gifernesse & ðære oferwiste, ðæt hie huru hiene selfne ne ðurhstinge mid ðy sweorde unryhthæmdes, ac ongiete hu micel leohtmodnes & leasferðnes & oferspræc cymð of ðære oferwiste, ðylæs hie hit mid ðæm oðrum yfle geiece, & eac ðonne he his wombe swa hnesclice olecð, ðæt he forðæm ne weorðe wælreowlice gefangen mid ðæm grinum uncysta. Ac we sculon geðencean, swæ oft swa we ure hand doð to urum muðe for gifernesse ofergemet, ðæt we geedniwiað & gemyndgiað ðære scylde þe ure ieldesta mæg us on forworhte, & we bioð swæ micle fierr gewitene from urum æfterran Mæge þe as eft geðingode, swe we ofðor aslidað on ðæm unðeawe. Ongean ðæt sint to manianne ða fæstendan ðæt hie huru geornlice giemen, ðær ðær hie fleoð ðone unðeaw ðære gifernesse, ðætte of ðæm gode ne weorðe wierse yfel acenned, ðætte, ðonne ðonne ðæt flæsc hlænað, ðæt mod ne beræse on ungeðyld, & ðonne sie unnyt ðætte ðæt flæsc sie oferswiðed, gif ðæt mod bið mid ðæm ierre oferswiðed. Oft eac, ðonne ðæt mod ðæs fæstendan bið mid ðy ierre ofseten, ðonne cymð sio blis seldhwanne, swelce hio sie cuma oððe elðiodig, forðæm ðæt mod bið mid ðy ierre gewemmed, & forðæm forliest ðæt god ðære forhæfdnesse

the Colossians, when he perceived that they boasted of their abstinence : “Often, when a man fasts more than he need, he makes an outward display of humility, and is all the more proud internally because of the same humility.” If the heart were not very often inflated with the pride of abstinence, the proud Pharisee would not have esteemed abstinence so great a virtue as he did, when he said: "I fast twice in the week.” The gluttonous, on the contrary, are to be admonished, if they cannot abstain from the vice of greediness and gluttony, at any rate not to run themselves through with the sword of fornication, but understand how much frivolity, folly, and loquacity proceeds from gluttony, lest they aggravate it with the other evil, and lest by pam- pering their belly so delicately they be cruelly caught in the trap of vicos.