Those that live by their honesty, the same observe the measure of reason and live honourably to the world, who eat at the time and at the hour, and take with goodwill what they have both courteously and gladly.
Those that live by what their sins demand observe such manner and measure as one enjoins on them in penance.
Those that live by the Spirit are those that dwell in the love of God, whom the Holy Ghost teaches to observe order and reason and measure; those that have control over their bodies, who is so taught that he asks for no extraordinary thing, and does what the Spirit commands without murmuring and without contradiction.
Now canst thou see, from what we have said here, that the devil has many gins to take people by the throat; for first he shows them wines and meats that are fair and pleasant, as he did the apple to Eve. And if that avails not, he says to him: ‘Eat and drink like so and so and so and so; it behoves thee to keep fellowship, if thou wilt that one should not starve thee, nor esteem thee a hypocrite;’ or he says to him: ‘The health of thy body thou shalt look after, for whoever hath not health hath naught. Be not thine own manslayer; thou owest to thy body sustenance.’ Or he says to him: ‘Take heed to the good things that thou dost or mayest do; thou eatest not for the lust of thy body, but to serve God; thou shalt keep thy strength for God, as David says.’ These reasons are so convincing that the wisest and holiest man is sometimes beguiled.
The third bough of this sin is to run hastily after meat, as does the hound after the hare; and the greater the haste is, the greater is the sin. For as it is no sin to have riches, but to love them too much; just so it is no sin to eat good meats, but to eat them too hastily or immoderately. To eat meats is good for the good, and for them that use them in reason and in measure, and take them with the sauce of the dread of our Lord. For one shall evermore have dread lest one mistake through excess, and one shall praise God and yield Him thanks for His gifts. And by the sweetness of the meat, which otherwise cannot be, one shall think of God’s sweetness and of that meat which fills the heart. Therefore one reads in a religious house at meat, in order that when the body takes its meat on the one hand the heart should take its on the other hand.
The fourth bough of this sin is of those that will live too nobly, who spend and waste, in order to fill (up the measure of) their gluttony, (that) whereby a hundred poor might live and sufficiently be filled. Such folk sin in many ways. First, in the great spendings that they make; afterwards in that they use it in too great heat and in too great lust; and afterwards in the idle bliss that they have. For it is not only lechery of taste, but it is very often for boasting that they seek such rich meats and make so many messes, whereof come often many evils.
The fifth bough is the anxiety of gluttons, who seek only the delight of their swallow. These are properly lechers, who seek only the lust of their swallow. In three things especially lies the sin of such folk. First, in the great anxiety that they have to purchase and to prepare; afterwards, in the great lust that they have in the use; afterwards, in the bliss that they have in the recalling. And who (is there) that could tell what trouble they take in order that their meats may be well prepared, and each to his own smack, and how they may make of one meat many disguised messes because of their foul lust. And when the messes are come, one after the other, then are (there) jests and trifles for entrements, and in this manner goes the time. The wretch forgets himself, reason sleeps, the stomach (in complaint) cries and says: ‘Dame Swallow, thou slayest me; I am so full that I burst asunder.’ But the tongue, the lickster, answers him and says: ‘Though thou shouldst burst asunder, I will not let this mess escape.’ After the lechery that is in eating comes the bliss that is in him who recalls (it). Afterwards they wish that they had the necks of a crane and the belly of a cow, in order that the morsels might remain longer in the throat, and (that they) might devour more.
Now thou hast heard the sins that come of gluttony and of lechery. And because such sins arise commonly in the tavern, which is a well of sin, therefore I will touch a little upon the sins that are done in the tavern. The tavern is the school of the devil, where his disciples study, and his own chapel, where one performs his service, and where he does his miracles, such as it behoves the devil (to do). At church God can show His virtues and do His miracles, to give sight to the blind, to make the crooked straight, to restore the wits of the mad, speech to the dumb, hearing to the deaf. But the devil does all, on the contrary, in the tavern. For when the glutton goes into the tavern, he goes upright; when he comes out, he has not a foot that can sustain or bear him. When he goes therein, he sees and hears and speaks well and understands; when he comes out, he has lost all this, just like one that has not wit or reason or understanding. Such are the miracles that the devil does. And what lessons he reads there! All filth he teaches there, gluttony, lechery, swearing, forswearing; to lie, to slander, to deny God, to misreport, to dispute, and too many other kinds of sins. There arise chidings, strifes, manslaughters; there one teaches to steal and to be hanged. The tavern is a ditch to thieves, and the devil’s castle in order to war against God and His saints; and those that sustain the taverns are sharers in all the sins that are done in their taverns; and forsooth if one said or did as much shame to their father or to their mother or to their lads, as one does to their heavenly Father and to our Lady and to the saints of paradise, they would grow very angry and take other counsel in regard to it than they do.
To Dr. Skeat our cordial thanks are tendered for kindly looking over the proof-sheets and making some valuable suggestions.