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— his faculties return to their condition. Indeed, at times a person grows so hungry that he blasphemes his Creator and cannot think what to pray.
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And you see all civilization located near rivers — for irrigation and crop-sowing; from these come the revenue of kings and the pay of soldiers.
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And every person's proverb comes to it: 'This is my bread.' And scripture shows the righteous desiring it:
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'You shall serve the Lord your God and He will bless your bread and your water' (Exod. 23:25); and also: 'The land shall give its yield and you shall eat to satiety' (Lev. 26:4).
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And every banquet, wedding, circumcision, childbirth, and festival — not one of them is complete in its joy except through food; and likewise friendship and fellowship between people and friends.
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They also said: wine is beautiful in color, pleasant in fragrance, delicious in taste — it makes the grief-stricken joyful, the stingy generous, and the coward brave.
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Scripture praises both together: 'Wine gladdens the heart of man, making faces shine more than oil; bread sustains man's heart' (Ps. 104:15).
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I reflected on what they said and found it — indeed most of it — excessive. They looked at food's virtues and overlooked its vices.
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For excess of food increases indigestion, weighs down the limbs, and fills the head and eyes.
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It arouses intercourse to excess, bequeaths the heart stupidity, and transforms human character into greed and voracity — until one no longer even remembers what satiation is.
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He comes to resemble the character of dogs — as it says: 'The dogs are greedy, they know no satiation' (Isa. 56:11). Indeed he becomes like fire,
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— which devours whatever is thrown into it without sensation, as it says: 'The people were like a consuming fire' (Num. 11:1).
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Indeed he becomes like death, which gathers all creatures to itself and is never satisfied — as it says: 'He who has enlarged his throat like Sheol, and is like death and cannot be satisfied' (Hab. 2:5).
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Indeed he becomes like the four insatiable forces — fire, water, death, and barrenness — as it says: 'The leech has two daughters: Give, give! Three things are never satisfied, four never say Enough: Sheol, a barren womb, earth never satisfied with water, and fire that never says Enough' (Prov. 30:15–16).
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He will lower himself to get a morsel of bread even if he himself is rich; and if he offers it, his generosity is insincere — as it says: 'As he reckons in his soul, so he is: eat and drink he says to you, but his heart is not with you' (Prov. 23:7).
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When this trait is manifest in him, kings and the best and wisest of people reject him and refuse to sit in his company.
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For when he eats he rushes, and when he sees a good portion he pounces on it — he is first to extend his hand and last to raise it.
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His eye is always on whatever food comes, drawn wherever his appetite pulls him. Scripture says of this: 'When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider well what is before you; put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite' (Prov. 23:1–2).
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Indeed he waits only to empty himself so he can eat again out of appetite — it is as if he pours in from above and it drains from below — as it says: 'All the tables are full of vomit and filth, without space' (Isa. 28:8).
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Or he vomits it upward — as it says: 'You have eaten and vomited up, spoiling your pleasant words' (Prov. 23:8).
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And the heart goes astray until it abandons its judgment and forgets its Creator — as it says: 'When I fed them to the full and they were satisfied, their heart was lifted up and they forgot me' (Hos. 13:6).
And they neglected to consider wine's effects: it dries out the brain if drunk
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— undiluted; it moistens it if drunk diluted; it overwhelms the mind and corrupts wisdom — as it says: 'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is boisterous, and whoever goes astray through it is not wise' (Prov. 20:1).
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It loosens the nerves, causes trembling, inflames the blood, induces continuous fever, deteriorates the stomach's constitution, damages the liver, and brings on severe pains.
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As it says: 'Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger over wine' (Prov. 23:29–30).
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And sins and immoralities come only through it — as it says: 'In the end it bites like a serpent, stings like an adder; your eyes will see strange women and your heart will speak perverse things' (Prov. 23:32–33).
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And killing, reckless dangers, striking, assault, imprisonment, shackles, and punishments — these come only through it.
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And forms of deception, trickery, and ruin come only through it. Whoever habituates himself to depend on food and drink and cannot obtain them lawfully will take them from wherever they can be had.
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As it says: 'For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence' (Prov. 4:17).
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These things are beautiful for a person only insofar as he takes from them the sustenance that maintains his body — as it says: 'The righteous eats to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked is in want' (Prov. 13:25).
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When his reason sees that he needs it, let him release his appetite for food; and when he has obtained sufficient sustenance, let him curb it.
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Section VI. Chapter Three: Intercourse.
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Certain people held that intercourse must be preferred above all the world's loves, saying: it has a pleasure more wondrous than all other pleasures.
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For all other pleasures have a substitute, but this one has none; and it increases the soul's joy and enlivens it, and lightens the body.