[32] For the same cause the lawgiver, when he is minded to do away with all lawless and disorderly intercourse and union, prefaces his command thus, “a man, a man shall not go near to any that is akin to his flesh to uncover their shame. I am the Lord” (Lev. 18:6). How could the command to spurn the flesh and what pertains to flesh be better given than in this form?
[33] And indeed he does not only forbid, but positively affirms that the man who is truly a man will not of his own free will go near to the pleasures which are the friends and kin of the body, but will always exercise himself in the lesson of estrangement from them.
[34] The repeated word, “a man, a man,” instead of the single word, is a sign that he means not the man who is compounded of soul and body, but the man whose life is one of virtue. For he indeed is the true man, and it was of him that one of the ancients spoke, when he lit a candle at midday and told them who asked his meaning that he was seeking a man. Again, there is a cogent reason for his saying that a man is not to go near to anyone pertaining to his flesh. For there are some things which we must admit, as, for instance, the actual necessities of life, the use of which will enable us to live in health and free from sickness. But we must reject with scorn the superfluities which kindle the lusts that with a single flameburst consume every good thing.
[35] Let not our appetites, then, be whetted and incited towards anything that is dear to the flesh. The undisciplined pleasures are often as dogs; they fawn on us, then turn against us and their bite is fatal. Therefore let us embrace that spirit of frugal contentment which is the friend of virtue rather than the things which belong to the body, and thus let us subdue the vast and countless host of her deadly foes. But if some chance occasion force us to receive more than a moderate sufficiency, let us not of our own accord go near to it. For he says, “he shall not of himself go near to uncover shame.”