Verse 28. — 'Who am to be consumed like something rotten, and like a garment that is eaten by the moth.' 64. Man is consumed by a rottenness born within him. — For as a garment is eaten by a moth sprung from itself, so man has within himself the rottenness whereby he is consumed; and this is that whereby he is consumed, so that he is not. This can also be understood otherwise, if it is said in the voice of tempted man: 'Who am to be consumed like something rotten, and like a garment that is eaten by the moth.' For man is consumed like something rotten, while he is worn away by the corruption of his flesh. And because unclean temptation is born to him not from elsewhere, but from himself, temptation, after the manner of a moth, consumes the flesh as it were the garment out of which it comes.
For man has within himself that whereby he may be tempted. As therefore a moth consumes the garment which proceeded from that same garment, so it is with him. It must also be known that a moth perforates a garment without sound; and often a thought so pierces through the mind that the mind itself does not feel it, except after it has been pierced through by its sting. Well therefore is it said that man is consumed like a garment by a moth, because sometimes we do not recognize the wounds of our temptations, except after we have been pierced through by them in the mind. Which infirmity of ours the holy man, still well considering, adds: