THE CAPITAL SINS 79 



Scripture graphically compares this vice to "rottenness of 

 the bones" 35 and intimates that it consumes its victim 

 body and soul. 36 



V. Gluttony. — Gluttony (gula) is an in- 

 ordinate desire for earthly goods in general and 

 food and drink in particular. 37 Man is expected 

 to use food and drink according to right reason. 

 Inordinate use of these things (as if they were 

 an end in themselves), degrades him to the 

 level of the brute. Besides this grosser form 

 of gluttony (voracitas, ingluvies, ebrietas), there 

 is a more refined though equally sinful variety, 

 which consists in craving for food and drink 

 solely for the pleasure they give and making them 

 the principal object of one's thoughts and desires 

 (cupedia). This epicurean gourmandise (syba- 

 ritism), like the grosser forms of gluttony, con- 

 fuses the end with the means. Saint Paul says 

 of those addicted to it that their "God is their 

 belly." 38 



A very common form of gluttony is drunkenness 

 (ebrietas). Complete drunkenness (ebrietas perfecta) 

 temporarily deprives man of the use of his highest pre- 

 rogatives — reason and free-will. Voluntarily to put one- 



35 Prov. XIV, 30. quo bonum virtutis moralis consistit. 



36 Wisd. VI, 25. Ex hoc autem dicitur aliquid esse 



37 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., peccatum, quod virtuti contrariatur. 

 2a 2ae, qu. 148, art. 1: "Gula non Unde manifestum est, quod gula est 

 nominat quemlibet appetitum edendi peccatum." 



et bibendi, sed inordinatum. Dicitur 38 Phil. Ill, 19; cfr. Rom. XVI, 



autem appetitus inordinatus ex eo, 18. 

 quod recedit ab ordine rationis, in 



