406 Homily X. Commendation of those who came to hear after taking a meal.—Observations on the physiology of the natural world; and against those who deify the creation; and on the duty of not swearing. 1. I joy, and rejoice with you all, that ye have actually put in practice that admonition of ours, which we lately made with respect to those who were absent, for the reason that they were not fasting. For I think that many of those who have dined1434 are to-day present; and go to fill up this goodly assemblage; and that this is the fact, I conjecture from the more brilliant spectacle that I see around me, and the greater concourse of hearers. Not in vain, it seems, did I lately1435 spend so many words on their account, appealing to your Charity, to draw them to their Mother;1436 and to persuade them that it is lawful, even after bodily nourishment, to partake also of that which is spiritual. And in which case, beloved, I ask, did ye act for the better; at the time of the last assembly when after your meal ye turned to your slumbers; or now, when after the meal ye have presented yourselves at the hearing of the divine laws? Was it best when ye loitered about in the forum, and took part in meetings which were no wise profitable; or now, when ye stand with your own brethren, and hear the prophetic oracles? It is no disgrace, beloved, to have eaten, but after eating to remain at home, and so to be deprived of this sacred banquet. For whilst thou remainest at home, thou wilt be more slothful and supine; but coming here thou wilt shake off all slumber and listlessness; and laying aside not only listlessness,1437 but also all sadness, thou wilt be more at ease, and in better heart in all the events that may happen. 2. What need then is there to say more? Stand only nigh the man who fasts, and thou wilt straightway partake of his good odour; for fasting is a spiritual perfume; and through the eyes, the tongue, and every part, it manifests the good disposition of the soul. I have said this, not for the purpose of condemning those who have dined, but that I may shew the ad- vantage of fasting. I do not, however, call mere abstinence from meats, fasting; but even before this, abstinence from sin; since he who, after he has taken a meal, has come hither with suitable sobriety, is not very far behind the man who fasts; even as he who continues fasting, if he does not give earnest and diligent heed to what is spoken, will derive no great benefit from his fast. He who eats, and yet takes a part in the sacred assembly with suitable earnestness, is in much better case than he who eats not at all, and remains absent. This 1434 ἠριστηκότων. Suidas, however, places this meal about the third hour. 1435 πρώην. Montfaucon assumes that this word is never applied to the preceding day: if so, τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν, Hom. IX. sec. 10, cannot be the morrow, unless some accident delayed the delivery of this Homily. It may be the next Synaxis. 1436 See Hom. IV. 1. 1437 There is a play on the words ‡θυμία and ῥ‹θυμία which it seems impossible to preserve. Homily X 585 Homily X