Many foolish deeds injure mankind,
either from selfwill, or from want of thought.
Even as some men do who foolishly fast
beyond their strength in the catholic Lent,
even as we ourselves have seen, until they have fallen sick.
Some also fast, so that they have refused to eat,
save on the alternate day, and then ate greedily ;
but books tell us that some so fasted,
that they afflicted themselves very grievously,
and had no reward for this great hardship,
but were the farther on this account from God's pity.
Now the holy Fathers have appointed that we fast with prudence
and eat befittingly every day,
so that our body become not enfeebled,
nor again over fat unto vain lusts.
Moreover, this country is not so abundant in strength,
here, on the outer edge of the earth's extent,
as is that in the midst, in the strength-abundant region,
where men can fast more easily than here.
Nor is mankind so strong now as men were at the beginning.
There is no fasting so good, nor so pleasing to God,
as is this fasting, that a man shun foulness,
and avoid sins, and leave off contentions,
and please God with good services,
and live discreetly, even as we said before.
The wise man must not be without good works,
nor the old be without piety,
nor the young be without obedience,
nor the wealthy be without almsdeeds,
