Ambrose of Milan : Let one who still doubts hear the testimony of the Gospel, for the Son of God said, "We have played for you, and you have not danced." The Jews who did not dance and knew not how to clap their hands were abandoned, but the Gentiles were called and applauded God in spirit. "The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh," that is, he becomes involved in the concerns of the body and eats his own flesh, just as does all-powerful death. And such a one will not find eternal life. But the wise person who lifts up his works that they may shine before his Father who is in heaven has not consumed his flesh; instead, he has raised it to the grace of the resurrection. This is the wise person's honorable dance which David danced, mounting by the loftiness of his spiritual dance to the throne of Christ that he may see and hear the Lord saying to his Lord, "Sit at my right hand." — Letters 51-60 (Letter to Bishop Sabinus) Apostolic Constitutions : But if any one is in want by gluttony, drunkenness or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance or to be esteemed a member of the church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says, "The slothful hides his hand in his bosom and is not able to bring it to his mouth again." And again, "The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh." "For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags." And in another passage [we read], "If you give your eyes to drinking and cups, you shall afterwards walk more naked than a pestle." For certainly idleness is the mother of famine. . — CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES Jerome : "The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh." This is the man that is described as slow to comprehend in Proverbs [Cfr Prov. 19, 24.], holding his chest in his hands. For poverty, although he is a fast runner, catches up with him and he eats his own flesh because of the extent of his hunger, but this is said in exaggeration. He is the sort of man who thinks that having one fist of corn and living idly and in a stupor is better than filling each hand by working. But he sows everything so that he can show that he that both works and acquires possessions leaves himself open in the world to envy. Conversely he that desires to live a simple life is oppressed by poverty and because of this both of these two is poor: while the one runs a risk on account of his wealth, the other is consumed by want because of his poverty. Or indeed perhaps it is to be understood in this way: he who envies the happiness of another man is seized as if by the fury of the spirit, and takes envy into his lap, and nourishes it in his heart: thus it is he eats his soul and his flesh. For as much as he sees that man whom he envies as happier, he himself more so wastes away and perishes, and little by little becomes more full of envy and jealousy. Another way of reading this is: his hands are taken on many occasions to lead him to work, just as the passage which states, "the act of the Lord which is done in the hand of Haggai" [Hagg. 1, 1.], or of Ecclesiastes, or of his prophet, because he has done such work, that he appears to be worthy, in whose work is the speech of the Lord. And the man, who corresponds to this man is David, "who leads my hands in battle" [Ps. 143, 1.]. Therefore the fool embraces his hands, that is he draws them together and doesn't want to open them, and so does not eat the toil of his hands, which he does not have, but his flesh, living by the wisdom of his flesh and eating the toil of his flesh. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes Nilus of Sinai : But if any one is in want by gluttony, drunkenness or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance or to be esteemed a member of the church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says, "The slothful hides his hand in his bosom and is not able to bring it to his mouth again." And again, "The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh." "For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags." And in another passage [we read], "If you give your eyes to drinking and cups, you shall afterwards walk more naked than a pestle." For certainly idleness is the mother of famine. — CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2:2.4