Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/319

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310
GREGORY'S PASTORAL
[Cotton MSS.

...(un)nyttum geðohtum ðu ricsast ofer ða menniscan hoortan. Forðæm ðæm þe on gifernesse gewitene bioð wile folgian firenlust. Đæt cyðde se witga, ða he ðæt openlice sæde ðætte swæ gewearð, & ðæt gebiecnede ðæt ða giet diegle wæs, he cwæð: Koka aldormon towearp ða burg æt Hierusalem. Ðara koka aldormon bið sio womb, forðæm eall hiora geswinc & hiora ðenung belimpeð to hiere, hu heo weorðe mid swotlecustum mettum gefylled. Đa weallas ðonne Hierusalem getacniað ða mægenu ðære saule. Đa mægenu bið arærede mid wilnunge to ðære uplican sibbe. Ac ðara koka ealdormon towierp ða weallas Hierusalem. Đæt is, ðonne ðonne sio womb bið aðened mid fylle for gifernesse, ðonne towierpð hio ðurh firenlustas ða mægenu ðære saule. Ongean ðæt ðonne is to kyðonne ðæm fæstendum, gif ðæs modes forhæfdnes full oft mid ungeðylde ne ascoke ða sibbe of ðæm sceate ðære smyltnesse, ðonne ne cwæðe sanctus Petrus to his cnihtum swæ swæ cwæð, he cwæð: Nu ge habbað geleafan, wyrcað nu god weorc, & habbað ðonne wisdom, & on ðæm wisdome habbað forhæfdnesse, & eac lærað, & huru on ðære forhæfdnesse geðylde. Ne cwæde he no swæ, gif he ne ongeate ðæt him wæs ðæs wana, ac forðyðe he ongeat ðæt sio ungeðyld oft dereð ðæm monnum þe micle forhæfdnesse habbað, ða lærde he ðæt hie huru sceolden ða habban toeacan ðære forhæfdnesse. Gif eac sio scyld ðara ofermetta ne gewundode ðy oftor ðæt mod ðæs fæstendan, ðonne ne cwæde no sanctus Paulus: Se þe fæstan wille, ne tæle he no ðone þe ete. And eft he cwæð to Kolossensum, ða he


apple, and caught it in the trap of sin : "On thy belly and breast thou shalt creep." As if he had openly said: "With gluttony and un- profitable thoughts thou rulest over the hearts of men, because lust follows those who are found in gluttony." Which the prophet pro- claimed, when he openly said what really happened, and signified that which was yet obscure, saying: “The chief of cooks overthrow the city of Jerusalem.” The cooks' chief is the belly, because all their toil and service concerns it, how it is to be filled with the most luscious dainties. The walls of Jerusalem signify the virtues of the soul. The virtues are raised by the desire of celestial peace. But the chief of the cooks overthrows the walls of Jerusalem. That is, that when the belly is distended with repletion through groodiness, it over-