Allas, the shorte throte, the tendre mouth,
Maketh that est and west and north and south,
In erthe, in eir, in water, men to swynke
To gete a glotoun deyntee mete and drynke!
Of this matiere, O Paul, wel kanstow trete:
"Mete unto wombe, and wombe eek unto mete,
Shal God destroyen bothe," as Paulus seith.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Tale. In the Pardoner’s homily against the sin of gluttony and excessive drinking, he quotes St. Paul to support his teaching about the dangers of these. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians in the Bible says: "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them." The Pardoner uses terms like "short throat" and "tender mouth" to describe the glutton. But let’s not forget the hypocritical Pardoner is partial to alcohol and food himself, needing to drink and eat of a cake before he began his tale:
"But first," quod he, "heere at this alestake
I wol bothe drynke and eten of a cake."
"But first," quod he, "heere at this alestake
I wol bothe drynke and eten of a cake."