LXVI. De viiio cupiditatis.

LXVI. De viiio cupiditatis.

For desire has neither love for God nor faithful trust in people; instead, it seizes everything it can, captures all it can, and eagerly draws to itself what is foreign, holding onto excess in mind and belly, and in all its actions and affairs. Those who run around everywhere like dogs and are never satisfied are similar; they are like unclean birds that exist in restlessness and voracity. They have filthy habits, flee from the healthy ways of honesty, and are caught up in the shameful outpouring of many. Thus, they do not know God and look to things that are foreign to them. But those who flee from death and love God, and who seek to attain the joys of eternal promise, should cast aside the excess of desire, and let everything they do be guided both by the world and by God. These things have been said about the souls of the penitent, to be purified and saved, and they are faithful; let the faithful pay attention to these and keep them in mind as they compose their knowledge. I also saw other spirits of the same multitude, whom I heard shouting with a loud voice: 'Lucifer is our Lord, and no one will conquer us while we are with him.' For they propose discord to men, and persuade them to be discordant, and to flee from the harmony of virtues.