The Instructor 2.1.11

“It is good not to eat meat nor to drink wine,” he himself admits, and so do the followers of Pythagoras; for this belongs rather to beasts, and the vapor from meat, being more turbid, darkens the soul. But if anyone partakes of these, he does not sin; only let him partake with self-control, not clinging to them nor dependent on them, nor greedy for the dish; for a voice will sound in his ears, saying, “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.” It is very foolish to marvel and gape at what is set before us at public feasts after the luxury of the Word; and much more foolish to enslave our eyes to the dainties, our incontinence being carried around, so to speak, by the servants along with them. How is it not unseemly to rise up from one's couch, all but throwing one's face into the dishes, leaning out from the couch as from a nest, as the saying goes, to catch the wandering steam with one's breath? How is it not irrational to smear one's hands in the sauces, or to reach constantly for the dish, not tasting but snatching, filling oneself immoderately and indecently? One can see such people more like pigs or dogs than human beings for their greed, hurrying to be stuffed, so that both cheeks swell at once and the vessels about the face stand out, and besides they are drenched with sweat, gripped by insatiability and panting from incontinence, the food being thrust with unsociable haste into the belly, as if they were storing up provisions for a journey, not digesting.