The Danger of Memory and Lust

It will be moved by a passionate impulse.

Chapter 4. On Fornication. Temperance gives birth to self-control, but gluttony is the mother of licentiousness; oil feeds the flame of a lamp, and the company of women kindles a torch of pleasure. The violence of waves wrecks an unmoored ship, and the thought of fornication destroys an uncontrolled mind. Fornication will take a youth as an ally, for it will leave him and stand with the adversaries, and in the end, it will fight alongside the enemies. He who loves stillness remains unharmed from the arrows of the enemy, but he who mixes himself with the crowd receives continuous wounds.

The sight of a woman is a poisoned arrow; it wounded the soul and deposited its venom, and as long as it lingers, it works more rot. He who guards himself against these arrows does not compare them to public festivals, nor does he surround himself with them during feasts; for it is better to remain at home idling in prayers, than to become a tool for enemies while thinking one honors the feasts. Flee the company of women, if you wish to be temperate, and do not give them boldness, lest they ever tear you apart. For they have piety in the beginning, either truly or pretending; but later they dare everything shamelessly.

At the first meeting, they cast their eyes down, speak softly, and weep sympathetically; they fashion themselves solemnly and sigh bitterly; they ask about purity and listen earnestly. Second, I saw, and they slightly lifted their eyes upward; third, they pay attention shamelessly, having smiled, and they laughed when you were poured out; thereafter they adorn themselves, and clearly show you, shaping their gaze, being delighted by the passion, they raise their eyebrows and roll their eyelids, they expose the neck, and they agitate themselves with their whole body; they speak words softening the passion, and use a tone that is an enticement to the ear, until through all these things they besiege the soul. These things become hooks to lure you toward death, and complex snares to drag you toward destruction, lest they mislead you with words used quite decently; for a wicked venom of beasts is hidden within them.

Chapter 5. Rather approach a burning fire than a young woman, being a young man yourself; for approaching fire, though pained, you will quickly leap away, but being softened by feminine words, you will not easily withdraw. Vegetation flourishes standing by water, and a passion of licentiousness in company...

One who is full of belly and promises to be temperate is like one who tries to restrain the energy of fire in a reed. For just as it is impossible to stop a stream of fire running in a reed, it is impossible to stop an uncontrolled, burning impulse in the genitals. A pillar relies on its base, and the passion of fornication rests in the genitals. A ship tossed by storms hastens to a harbor, and a temperate soul seeks solitude; the former flees the waves of the sea threatening danger, while the latter flees the form of women mourning destruction. A form adorned like a wave sinks the hand deeper; for the one is able to pass through by the desire for life, but the form of a woman, having deceived, persuades one to despise even life itself. The desert bush avoids the flame of fire without harm, and the temperate one, having separated from women, was not ignited by the passion of incontinence; for just as the memory of fire does not burn the intellect, so also passion has no power when the material is not present.

Chapter 6. If you show mercy to an enemy, he will be an enemy to you, and if you spare the passion, it will rise up against you. The sight of a woman stirs up uncontrolled impulse toward pleasure, but it makes the temperate man turn toward the glorification of God; if the passion becomes calm in the company of women, do not believe in its promised apathy. For even a dog barks when left with a crowd, but having come out, it shows its domestic wickedness. When the memory of a woman arises apathetically, then consider that the boundaries of temperance have been established. But when the idol of her arises for contemplation, and her arrows surround your soul, then consider that you are outside of virtue. But do not even thus entertain such thoughts, nor for long converse in the intellect with the form of a woman, for the passion is turn-loving, and the danger is near. Just as a well-proportioned crucible purifies silver, but one that is poorly made for long use easily destroys it, so a fantasy of a woman destroys temperance by entertaining it; do not converse for long with the appearing face, so that the flame of pleasure may not ignite in you and surround the net of your soul; for just as a spark, having stayed in unlit places, raises a flame, so a remaining memory of a woman inflames desire.

Chapter 7. Concerning avarice. Avarice is the root of all evils (1 Timothy 6:10), and it feeds the remaining passions like evil branches, and it will not let those things from it be dried up.