Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XI/John Cassian/The Twelve Books/Book V/Chapter 3

by Philip Schaff et al.

Chapter III.

How our first struggle must be against the spirit of gluttony, i.e. the pleasures of the palate.

And so the first conflict we must enter upon is that against gluttony, which we have explained as the pleasures of the palate: and in the first place as we are going to speak of the system of fasts, and the quality of food, we must again recur to the traditions and customs of the Egyptians, as everybody knows that they contain a more advanced discipline in the matter of self-control, and a perfect method of discrimination.