,,essays ,,of ,,michel ,,de ,,montaigne ,translated by ,charles ,cotton ,edited by ,william ,carew ,hazilitt #ahgg ,,contents ,,of ,,volume #ai4 ,,xiii4 ,of ,experience4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,of ,,experience ,there is no desire more natural than that of knowledge4 ,we try all ways that can lead us to it2 where reason is wanting1 we therein employ experience1 ,per varios usus artem experientia fecit1 ,exemplo monstrante viam1 ,by various trials experience created art1 example shewing the way4--,manilius1 i4 #ei4 which is a means much more weak and cheap2 but truth is so great a thing that we ought not to disdain any mediation that will guide us to it4 ,reason has so many forms that we know not to which to take2 experience has no fewer2 the consequence we would draw from the comparison of events is unsure1 by reason they are always unlike4 ,there is no quality so universal in this image of things as diversity and variety4 ,both the ,greeks and the ,latins and we1 for the most express example of similitude1 employ that of eggs2 and yet there have been men1 particularly one at ,delphos1 who could distinguish marks of difference amongst eggs so well that he never mistook one for another1 and having many hens1 could tell which had laid it4 ,dissimilitude intrudes itself of itself in our works2 no art can arrive at perfect similitude3 neither ,perrozet nor any other can so carefully polish and blanch the backs of his cards that some gamesters will not distinguish them by seeing them only shuffled by another4 ,resemblance does not so much make one as difference makes another4 ,nature has obliged herself to make nothing other that was not unlike4 ,and yet ,i am not much pleased with his opinion1 who thought by the multitude of laws to curb the authority of judges in cutting out for them their several parcels2 he was not aware that there is as much liberty and latitude in the interpretation of laws as in their form2 and they but fool themselves1 who think to lessen and stop our disputes by recalling us to the express words of the ,bible3 forasmuch as our mind does not find the field less spacious wherein to controvert the sense of another than to deliver his own2 and as if there were less animosity and tartness in commentary than in invention4 ,we see how much he was mistaken1 for we have more laws in ,france than all the rest of the world put together1 and more than would be necessary for the government of all the worlds of ,epicurus3 ,ut olim flagitiis1 sic nunc legibus1 laboramus4 ,as we were formerly by crimes1 so we are now overburdened by laws4--,tacitus1 ,annal41 iii4 #be4 and yet we have left so much to the opinions and decisions of our judges that there never was so full a liberty or so full a license4 ,what have our legislators gained by culling out a hundred thousand particular cases1 and by applying to these a hundred thousand laws8 ,this number holds no manner of proportion with the infinite diversity of human actions2 the multiplication of our inventions will never arrive at the variety of examples2 add to these a hundred times as many more1 it will still not happen that1 of events to come1 there shall one be found that1 in this vast number of millions of events so chosen and recorded1 shall so tally with any other one1 and be so exactly coupled and matched with it that there will not remain some circumstance and diversity which will require a diverse judgment4 ,there is little relation betwixt our actions1 which are in perpetual mutation1 and fixed and immutable laws2 the most to be desired are those that are the most rare1 the most simple and general2 and ,i am even of opinion that we had better have none at all than to have them in so prodigious a number as we have4 ,nature always gives them better and happier than those we make ourselves2 witness the picture of the ,golden ,age of the ,poets and the state wherein we see nations live who have no other4 ,some there are1 who for their only judge take the first passer-by that travels along their mountains1 to determine their cause2 and others who1 on their market day1 choose out some one amongst them upon the spot to decide their controversies4 ,what danger would there be that the wisest amongst us should so determine ours1 according to occurrences and at sight1 without obligation of example and consequence8 ,for every foot its own shoe4 ,king ,ferdinand1 sending colonies to the ,indies1 wisely provided that they should not carry along with them any students of jurisprudence1 for fear lest suits should get footing in that new world1 as being a science in its own nature1 breeder of altercation and division2 judging with ,plato1 that lawyers and physicians are bad institutions of a country4 ,whence does it come to pass that our common language1 so easy for all other uses1 becomes obscure and unintelligible in wills and contracts8 and that he who so clearly expresses himself in whatever else he speaks or writes1 cannot find in these any way of declaring himself that does not fall into doubt and contradiction8 if it be not that the princes of that art1 applying themselves with a peculiar attention to cull out portentous words and to contrive artificial sentences1 have so weighed every syllable1 and so thoroughly sifted every sort of quirking connection that they are now confounded and entangled in the infinity of figures and minute divisions1 and can no more fall within any rule or prescription1 nor any certain intelligence3 ,confusum est1 quidquid usque in pulverem sectum est4 ,whatever is beaten into powder is undistinguishable 7confused74 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #hi4 ,as you see children trying to bring a mass of quicksilver to a certain number of parts1 the more they press and work it and endeavour to reduce it to their own will1 the more they irritate the liberty of this generous metal2 it evades their endeavour and sprinkles itself into so many separate bodies as frustrate all reckoning2 so is it here1 for in subdividing these subtilties we teach men to increase their doubts2 they put us into a way of extending and diversifying difficulties1 and lengthen and disperse them4 ,in sowing and retailing questions they make the world fructify and increase in uncertainties and disputes1 as the earth is made fertile by being crumbled and dug deep4 ,difficultatem facit doctrina4 ,learning 7,doctrine7 begets difficulty4 --,quintilian1 ,insat4 ,orat41 x4 #c4 ,we doubted of ,ulpian1 and are still now more perplexed with ,bartolus and ,baldus4 ,we should efface the trace of this innumerable diversity of opinions2 not adorn ourselves with it1 and fill posterity with crotchets4 ,i know not what to say to it2 but experience makes it manifest1 that so many interpretations dissipate truth and break it4 ,aristotle wrote to be understood2 if he could not do this1 much less will another that is not so good at it2 and a third than he1 who expressed his own thoughts4 ,we open the matter1 and spill it in pouring out3 of one subject we make a thousand1 and in multiplying and subdividing them1 fall again into the infinity of atoms of ,epicurus4 ,never did two men make the same judgment of the same thing2 and 'tis impossible to find two opinions exactly alike1 not only in several men1 but in the same man1 at diverse hours4 ,i often find matter of doubt in things of which the commentary has disdained to take notice2 ,i am most apt to stumble in an even country1 like some horses that ,i have known1 that make most trips in the smoothest way4 ,who will not say that glosses augment doubts and ignorance1 since there's no book to be found1 either human or divine1 which the world busies itself about1 whereof the difficulties are cleared by interpretation4 ,the hundredth commentator passes it on to the next1 still more knotty and perplexed than he found it4 ,when were we ever agreed amongst ourselves3 ,this book has enough2 there is now no more to be said about it8 ,this is most apparent in the law2 we give the authority of law to infinite doctors1 infinite decrees1 and as many interpretations2 yet do we find any end of the need of interpretating8 is there1 for all that1 any progress or advancement towards peace1 or do we stand in need of any fewer advocates and judges than when this great mass of law was yet in its first infancy8 ,on the contrary1 we darken and bury intelligence2 we can no longer discover it1 but at the mercy of so many fences and barriers4 ,men do not know the natural disease of the mind2 it does nothing but ferret and inquire1 and is eternally wheeling1 juggling1 and perplexing itself like silkworms1 and then suffocates itself in its work2 ,mus in pice4--,a mouse in a pitch barrel4--,it thinks it discovers at a great distance1 ,i know not what glimpses of light and imaginary truth3 but whilst running to it1 so many difficulties1 hindrances1 and new inquisitions cross it1 that it loses its way1 and is made drunk with the motion3 not much unlike ,a,esop's dogs1 that seeing something like a dead body floating in the sea1 and not being able to approach it1 set to work to drink the water and lay the passage dry1 and so choked themselves4 ,to which what one ,crates' said of the writings of ,heraclitus falls pat enough1 that they required a reader who could swim well1 so that the depth and weight of his learning might not overwhelm and stifle him4 ',tis nothing but particular weakness that makes us content with what others or ourselves have found out in this chase after knowledge3 one of better understanding will not rest so content2 there is always room for one to follow1 nay1 even for ourselves2 and another road2 there is no end of our inquisitions2 our end is in the other world4 ',tis a sign either that the mind has grown shortsighted when it is satisfied1 or that it has got weary4 ,no generous mind can stop in itself2 it will still tend further and beyond its power2 it has sallies beyond its effects2 if it do not advance and press forward1 and retire1 and rush and wheel about1 'tis but half alive2 its pursuits are without bound or method2 its aliment is admiration1 the chase1 ambiguity1 which ,apollo sufficiently declared in always speaking to us in a double1 obscure1 and oblique sense3 not feeding1 but amusing and puzzling us4 ',tis an irregular and perpetual motion1 without model and without aim2 its inventions heat1 pursue1 and interproduce one another3 ,estienne de la ,boetie2 thus translated by ,cotton3 ,so in a running stream one wave we see ,after another roll incessantly1 ,and as they glide1 each does successively ,pursue the other1 each the other fly ,by this that's evermore pushed on1 and this ,by that continually preceded is3 ,the water still does into water swill1 ,still the same brook1 but different water still4 ,there is more ado to interpret interpretations than to interpret things1 and more books upon books than upon any other subject2 we do nothing but comment upon one another4 ,every place swarms with commentaries2 of authors there is great scarcity4 ,is it not the principal and most reputed knowledge of our later ages to understand the learned8 ,is it not the common and final end of all studies8 ,our opinions are grafted upon one another2 the first serves as a stock to the second1 the second to the third1 and so forth2 thus step by step we climb the ladder2 whence it comes to pass that he who is mounted highest has often more honour than merit1 for he is got up but an inch upon the shoulders of the last1 but one4 ,how often1 and1 peradventure1 how foolishly1 have ,i extended my book to make it speak of itself2 foolishly1 if for no other reason but this1 that it should remind me of what ,i say of others who do the same3 that the frequent amorous glances they cast upon their work witness that their hearts pant with self-love1 and that even the disdainful severity wherewith they scourge them are but the dandlings and caressings of maternal love2 as ,aristotle1 whose valuing and undervaluing himself often spring from the same air of arrogance4 ,my own excuse is1 that ,i ought in this to have more liberty than others1 forasmuch as ,i write specifically of myself and of my writings1 as ,i do of my other actions2 that my theme turns upon itself2 but ,i know not whether others will accept this excuse4 ,i observed in ,germany that ,luther has left as many divisions and disputes about the doubt of his opinions1 and more1 than he himself raised upon the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,our contest is verbal3 ,i ask what nature is1 what pleasure1 circle1 and substitution are8 the question is about words1 and is answered accordingly4 ,a stone is a body2 but if a man should further urge3 ,and what is a body8--,substance2 ,and what is substance8 and so on1 he would drive the respondent to the end of his ,calepin4 ,calepin 7,ambrogio da ,calepio71 a famous lexicographer of the fifteenth century4 ,his ,polyglot ,dictionary became so famous1 that ,calepin became a common appellation for a lexicon ,we exchange one word for another1 and often for one less understood4 ,i better know what man is than ,i know what ,animal is1 or ,mortal1 or ,rational4 ,to satisfy one doubt1 they give me three2 'tis the ,hydra's head4 ,socrates asked ,menon1 ,what virtue was4 ,there is1 says ,menon1 the virtue of a man and of a woman1 of a magistrate and of a private person1 of an old man and of a child4 ,very fine1 cried ,socrates1 we were in quest of one virtue1 and thou hast brought us a whole swarm4 ,we put one question1 and they return us a whole hive4 ,as no event1 no face1 entirely resembles another1 so do they not entirely differ3 an ingenious mixture of nature4 ,if our faces were not alike1 we could not distinguish man from beast2 if they were not unlike1 we could not distinguish one man from another2 all things hold by some similitude2 every example halts1 and the relation which is drawn from experience is always faulty and imperfect4 ,comparisons are ever-coupled at one end or other3 so do the laws serve1 and are fitted to every one of our affairs1 by some wrested1 biassed1 and forced interpretation4 ,since the ethic laws1 that concern the particular duty of every one in himself1 are so hard to be framed1 as we see they are1 'tis no wonder if those which govern so many particulars are much more so4 ,do but consider the form of this justice that governs us2 'tis a true testimony of human weakness1 so full is it of error and contradiction4 ,what we find to be favour and severity in justice--and we find so much of them both1 that ,i know not whether the medium is as often met with are sickly and unjust members of the very body and essence of justice4 ,some country people have just brought me news in great haste1 that they presently left in a forest of mine a man with a hundred wounds upon him1 who was yet breathing1 and begged of them water for pity's sake1 and help to carry him to some place of relief2 they tell me they durst not go near him1 but have run away1 lest the officers of justice should catch them there2 and as happens to those who are found near a murdered person1 they should be called in question about this accident1 to their utter ruin1 having neither money nor friends to defend their innocence4 ,what could ,i have said to these people8 ',tis certain that this office of humanity would have brought them into trouble4 ,how many innocent people have we known that have been punished1 and this without the judge's fault2 and how many that have not arrived at our knowledge8 ,this happened in my time3 certain men were condemned to die for a murder committed2 their sentence1 if not pronounced1 at least determined and concluded on4 ,the judges1 just in the nick1 are informed by the officers of an inferior court hard by1 that they have some men in custody1 who have directly confessed the murder1 and made an indubitable discovery of all the particulars of the fact4 ,yet it was gravely deliberated whether or not they ought to suspend the execution of the sentence already passed upon the first accused3 they considered the novelty of the example judicially1 and the consequence of reversing judgments2 that the sentence was passed1 and the judges deprived of repentance2 and in the result1 these poor devils were sacrificed by the forms of justice4 ,philip1 or some other1 provided against a like inconvenience after this manner4 ,he had condemned a man in a great fine towards another by an absolute judgment4 ,the truth some time after being discovered1 he found that he had passed an unjust sentence4 ,on one side was the reason of the cause2 on the other side1 the reason of the judicial forms3 he in some sort satisfied both1 leaving the sentence in the state it was1 and out of his own purse recompensing the condemned party4 ,but he had to do with a reparable affair2 my men were irreparably hanged4 ,how many condemnations have ,i seen more criminal than the crimes themselves8 ,all which makes me remember the ancient opinions1 ,that 'tis of necessity a man must do wrong by retail who will do right in gross2 and injustice in little things1 who would come to do justice in great3 that human justice is formed after the model of physic1 according to which1 all that is useful is also just and honest3 and of what is held by the ,stoics1 that ,nature herself proceeds contrary to justice in most of her works3 and of what is received by the ,cyrenaics1 that there is nothing just of itself1 but that customs and laws make justice3 and what the ,theodorians held that theft1 sacrilege1 and all sorts of uncleanness1 are just in a sage1 if he knows them to be profitable to him4 ,there is no remedy3 ,i am in the same case that ,alcibiades was1 that ,i will never1 if ,i can help it1 put myself into the hands of a man who may determine as to my head1 where my life and honour shall more depend upon the skill and diligence of my attorney than on my own innocence4 ,i would venture myself with such justice as would take notice of my good deeds1 as well as my ill2 where ,i had as much to hope as to fear3 indemnity is not sufficient pay to a man who does better than not to do amiss4 ,our justice presents to us but one hand1 and that the left hand1 too2 let him be who he may1 he shall be sure to come off with loss4 ,in ,china1 of which kingdom the government and arts1 without commerce with or knowledge of ours1 surpass our examples in several excellent features1 and of which the history teaches me how much greater and more various the world is than either the ancients or we have been able to penetrate1 the officers deputed by the prince to visit the state of his provinces1 as they punish those who behave themselves ill in their charge1 so do they liberally reward those who have conducted themselves better than the common sort1 and beyond the necessity of their duty2 these there present themselves1 not only to be approved but to get2 not simply to be paid1 but to have a present made to them4 ,no judge1 thank ,god1 has ever yet spoken to me in the quality of a judge1 upon any account whatever1 whether my own or that of a third party1 whether criminal or civil2 nor no prison has ever received me1 not even to walk there4 ,imagination renders the very outside of a jail displeasing to me2 ,i am so enamoured of liberty1 that should ,i be interdicted the access to some corner of the ,indies1 ,i should live a little less at my ease2 and whilst ,i can find earth or air open elsewhere1 ,i shall never lurk in any place where ,i must hide myself4 ,my ,god6 how ill should ,i endure the condition wherein ,i see so many people1 nailed to a corner of the kingdom1 deprived of the right to enter the principal cities and courts1 and the liberty of the public roads1 for having quarrelled with our laws4 ,if those under which ,i live should shake a finger at me by way of menace1 ,i would immediately go seek out others1 let them be where they would4 ,all my little prudence in the civil wars wherein we are now engaged is employed that they may not hinder my liberty of going and coming4 ,now1 the laws keep up their credit1 not for being just1 but because they are laws2 'tis the mystic foundation of their authority2 they have no other1 and it well answers their purpose4 ,they are often made by fools1 still oftener by men who1 out of hatred to equality1 fail in equity1 but always by men1 vain and irresolute authors4 ,there is nothing so much1 nor so grossly1 nor so ordinarily faulty1 as the laws4 ,whoever obeys them because they are just1 does not justly obey them as he ought4 ,our ,french laws1 by their irregularity and deformity1 lend1 in some sort1 a helping hand to the disorder and corruption that all manifest in their dispensation and execution3 the command is so perplexed and inconstant1 that it in some sort excuses alike disobedience and defect in the interpretation1 the administration and the observation of it4 ,what fruit then soever we may extract from experience1 that will little advantage our institution1 which we draw from foreign examples1 if we make so little profit of that we have of our own1 which is more familiar to us1 and1 doubtless1 sufficient to instruct us in that whereof we have need4 ,i study myself more than any other subject2 'tis my metaphysic1 my physic3 ,quis deus hanc mundi temperet arte domum3 ,qua venit exoriens1 qua deficit3 unde coactis ,cornibus in plenum menstrua luna redit ,unde salo superant venti1 quid flamine captet ,eurus1 et in nubes unde perennis aqua2 ,sit ventura dies mundi quae subruat arces4444 ,what god may govern with skill this dwelling of the world8 whence rises the monthly moon1 whither wanes she8 how is it that her horns are contracted and reopen8 whence do winds prevail on the main8 what does the east wind court with its blasts8 and whence are the clouds perpetually supplied with water8 is a day to come which may undermine the world8--,propertius1 iii4 #e1 #bf4 ,quaerite1 quos agitat mundi labor4 ,ask whom the cares of the world trouble--,lucan1 i4 #dag4 ,in this universality1 ,i suffer myself to be ignorantly and negligently led by the general law of the world3 ,i shall know it well enough when ,i feel it2 my learning cannot make it alter its course2 it will not change itself for me2 'tis folly to hope it1 and a greater folly to concern one's self about it1 seeing it is necessarily alike public and common4 ,the goodness and capacity of the governor ought absolutely to discharge us of all care of the government3 philosophical inquisitions and contemplations serve for no other use but to increase our curiosity4 ,the philosophers2 with great reason1 send us back to the rules of nature2 but they have nothing to do with so sublime a knowledge2 they falsify them1 and present us her face painted with too high and too adulterate a complexion1 whence spring so many different pictures of so uniform a subject4 ,as she has given us feet to walk with1 so has she given us prudence to guide us in life3 not so ingenious1 robust1 and pompous a prudence as that of their invention2 but yet one that is easy1 quiet1 and salutary1 and that very well performs what the other promises1 in him who has the good luck to know how to employ it sincerely and regularly1 that is to say1 according to nature4 ,the most simply to commit one's self to nature is to do it most wisely4 ,oh1 what a soft1 easy1 and wholesome pillow is ignorance and incuriosity1 whereon to repose a well-ordered head6 ,i had rather understand myself well in myself1 than in ,cicero4 ,of the experience ,i have of myself1 ,i find enough to make me wise1 if ,i were but a good scholar3 whoever will call to mind the excess of his past anger1 and to what a degree that fever transported him1 will see the deformity of this passion better than in ,aristotle1 and conceive a more just hatred against it2 whoever will remember the ills he has undergone1 those that have threatened him1 and the light occasions that have removed him from one state to another1 will by that prepare himself for future changes1 and the knowledge of his condition4 ,the life of ,caesar has no greater example for us than our own3 though popular and of command1 'tis still a life subject to all human accidents4 ,let us but listen to it2 we apply to ourselves all whereof we have principal need2 whoever shall call to memory how many and many times he has been mistaken in his own judgment1 is he not a great fool if he does not ever after suspect it8 ,when ,i find myself convinced1 by the reason of another1 of a false opinion1 ,i do not so much learn what he has said to me that is new and the particular ignorance--that would be no great acquisition--as1 in general1 ,i learn my own debility and the treachery of my understanding1 whence ,i extract the reformation of the whole mass4 ,in all my other errors ,i do the same1 and find from this rule great utility to life2 ,i regard not the species and individual as a stone that ,i have stumbled at2 ,i learn to suspect my steps throughout1 and am careful to place them right4 ,to learn that a man has said or done a foolish thing is nothing3 a man must learn that he is nothing but a fool1 a much more ample1 and important instruction4 ,the false steps that my memory has so often made1 even then when it was most secure and confident of itself1 are not idly thrown away2 it vainly swears and assures me ,i shake my ears2 the first opposition that is made to its testimony puts me into suspense1 and ,i durst not rely upon it in anything of moment1 nor warrant it in another person's concerns3 and were it not that what ,i do for want of memory1 others do more often for want of good faith1 ,i should always1 in matter of fact1 rather choose to take the truth from another's mouth than from my own4 ,if every one would pry into the effects and circumstances of the passions that sway him1 as ,i have done into those which ,i am most subject to1 he would see them coming1 and would a little break their impetuosity and career2 they do not always seize us on a sudden2 there is threatening and degrees ,fluctus uti primo coepit cum albescere vento1 ,paulatim sese tollit mare1 et altius undas ,erigit1 inde imo consurgit ad aethera fundo4 ,as with the first wind the sea begins to foam1 and swells1 thence higher swells1 and higher raises the waves1 till the ocean rises from its depths to the sky4--,a,eneid1 vii4 #ebh4 ,judgment holds in me a magisterial seat2 at least it carefully endeavours to make it so3 it leaves my appetites to take their own course1 hatred and friendship1 nay1 even that ,i bear to myself1 without change or corruption2 if it cannot reform the other parts according to its own model1 at least it suffers not itself to be corrupted by them1 but plays its game apart4 ,the advice to every one1 to know themselves1 should be of important effect1 since that god of wisdom and light' caused it to be written on the front of his temple1--,at ,delphi--as comprehending all he had to advise us4 ,plato says also1 that prudence is no other thing than the execution of this ordinance2 and ,socrates minutely verifies it in ,xenophon4 ,the difficulties and obscurity are not discerned in any science but by those who are got into it2 for a certain degree of intelligence is required to be able to know that a man knows not1 and we must push against a door to know whether it be bolted against us or no3 whence this ,platonic subtlety springs1 that neither they who know are to enquire1 forasmuch as they know2 nor they who do not know1 forasmuch as to inquire they must know what they inquire of4 ,so in this1 of knowing a man's self1 that every man is seen so resolved and satisfied with himself1 that every man thinks himself sufficiently intelligent1 signifies that every one knows nothing about the matter2 as ,socrates gives ,euthydemus to understand4 ,i1 who profess nothing else1 therein find so infinite a depth and variety1 that all the fruit ,i have reaped from my learning serves only to make me sensible how much ,i have to learn4 ,to my weakness1 so often confessed1 ,i owe the propension ,i have to modesty1 to the obedience of belief prescribed me1 to a constant coldness and moderation of opinions1 and a hatred of that troublesome and wrangling arrogance1 wholly believing and trusting in itself1 the capital enemy of discipline and truth4 ,do but hear them domineer2 the first fopperies they utter1 'tis in the style wherewith men establish religions and laws3 ,nihil est turpius1 quam cognitioni et perceptions assertionem approbationemque praecurrere4 ,nothing is worse than that assertion and decision should precede knowledge and perception4--,cicero1 ,acad41 i4 #ac4 ,aristarchus said that anciently there were scarce seven sages to be found in the world1 and in his time scarce so many fools3 have not we more reason than he to say so in this age of ours8 ,affirmation and obstinacy are express signs of want of wit4 ,this fellow may have knocked his nose against the ground a hundred times in a day1 yet he will be at his ,ergo's as resolute and sturdy as before4 ,you would say he had had some new soul and vigour of understanding infused into him since1 and that it happened to him1 as to that ancient son of the earth1 who took fresh courage and vigour by his fall2 ,cui cum tetigere parentem1 jam defecta vigent renovata robore membra3 ,whose broken limbs1 when they touched his mother earth1 immediately new force acquired4--,lucan1 iv4 #eii4 does not this incorrigible coxcomb think that he assumes a new understanding by undertaking a new dispute8 ',tis by my own experience that ,i accuse human ignorance1 which is1 in my opinion1 the surest part of the world's school4 ,such as will not conclude it in themselves1 by so vain an example as mine1 or their own1 let them believe it from ,socrates1 the master of masters2 for the philosopher ,antisthenes said to his disciples1 ,let us go and hear ,socrates2 there ,i will be a pupil with you2 and1 maintaining this doctrine of the ,stoic sect1 that virtue was sufficient to make a life completely happy1 having no need of any other thing whatever2 except of the force of ,socrates1 added he4 ,that long attention that ,i employ in considering myself1 also fits rile to judge tolerably enough of others2 and there are few things whereof ,i speak better and with better excuse4 ,i happen very often more exactly to see and distinguish the qualities of my friends than they do themselves3 ,i have astonished some with the pertinence of my description1 and have given them warning of themselves4 ,by having from my infancy been accustomed to contemplate my own life in those of others1 ,i have acquired a complexion studious in that particular2 and when ,i am once interit upon it1 ,i let few things about me1 whether countenances1 humours1 or discourses1 that serve to that purpose1 escape me4 ,i study all1 both what ,i am to avoid and what ,i am to follow4 ,also in my friends1 ,i discover by their productions their inward inclinations2 not by arranging this infinite variety of so diverse and unconnected actions into certain species and chapters1 and distinctly distributing my parcels and divisions under known heads and classes2 ,sed neque quam multae species1 nec nomina quae sint1 ,est numerus4 ,but neither can we enumerate how many kinds there what are their names4--,virgil1 ,georg41 ii4 #ajc4 ,the wise speak and deliver their fancies more specifically1 and piece by piece2 ,i1 who see no further into things than as use informs me1 present mine generally without rule and experimentally3 ,i pronounce my opinion by disjointed articles1 as a thing that cannot be spoken at once and in gross2 relation and conformity are not to be found in such low and common souls as ours4 ,wisdom is a solid and entire building1 of which every piece keeps its place and bears its mark3 ,sola sapientia in se tota conversa est4 ,wisdom only is wholly within itself--,cicero1 ,de ,fin41 iii4 #g4 ,i leave it to artists1 and ,i know not whether or no they will be able to bring it about1 in so perplexed1 minute1 and fortuitous a thing1 to marshal into distinct bodies this infinite diversity of faces1 to settle our inconstancy1 and set it in order4 ,i do not only find it hard to piece our actions to one another1 but ,i moreover find it hard properly to design each by itself by any principal quality1 so ambiguous and variform they are with diverse lights4 ,that which is remarked for rare in ,perseus1 king of ,macedon1 that his mind1 fixing itself to no one condition1 wandered in all sorts of living1 and represented manners so wild and erratic that it was neither known to himself or any other what kind of man he was1 seems almost to fit all the world2 and1 especially1 ,i have seen another of his make1 to whom ,i think this conclusion might more properly be applied2 no moderate settledness1 still running headlong from one extreme to another1 upon occasions not to be guessed at2 no line of path without traverse and wonderful contrariety3 no one quality simple and unmixed2 so that the best guess men can one day make will be1 that he affected and studied to make himself known by being not to be known4 ,a man had need have sound ears to hear himself frankly criticised2 and as there are few who can endure to hear it without being nettled1 those who hazard the undertaking it to us manifest a singular effect of friendship2 for 'tis to love sincerely indeed1 to venture to wound and offend us1 for our own good4 ,i think it harsh to judge a man whose ill qualities are more than his good ones3 ,plato requires three things in him who will examine the soul of another3 knowledge1 benevolence1 boldness4 ,i was sometimes asked1 what ,i should have thought myself fit for1 had any one designed to make use of me1 while ,i was of suitable years3 ,dum melior vires sanguis dabat1 aemula necdum ,temporibus geminis canebat sparsa senectus3 ,whilst better blood gave me vigour1 and before envious old age whitened and thinned my temples4--,a,eneid1 ,v4 #dae4 for nothing1 said ,i2 and ,i willingly excuse myself from knowing anything which enslaves me to others4 ,but ,i had told the truth to my master1--,was this ,henri ,,vi48 ,d4,w4--and had regulated his manners1 if he had so pleased1 not in gross1 by scholastic lessons1 which ,i understand not1 and from which ,i see no true reformation spring in those that do2 but by observing them by leisure1 at all opportunities1 and simply and naturally judging them as an eye-witness1 distinctly one by one2 giving him to understand upon what terms he was in the common opinion1 in opposition to his flatterers4 ,there is none of us who would not be worse than kings1 if so continually corrupted as they are with that sort of canaille4 ,how1 if ,alexander1 that great king and philosopher1 cannot defend himself from them6 ,i should have had fidelity1 judgment1 and freedom enough for that purpose4 ,it would be a nameless office1 otherwise it would lose its grace and its effect2 and 'tis a part that is not indifferently fit for all men2 for truth itself has not the privilege to be spoken at all times and indiscriminately2 its use1 noble as it is1 has its circumspections and limits4 ,it often falls out1 as the world goes1 that a man lets it slip into the ear of a prince1 not only to no purpose1 but moreover injuriously and unjustly2 and no man shall make me believe that a virtuous remonstrance may not be viciously applied1 and that the interest of the substance is not often to give way to that of the form4 ,for such a purpose1 ,i would have a man who is content with his own fortune3 ,quod sit1 esse velit1 nihilque malit1 ,who is pleased with what he is and desires nothing further4 --,martial1 x4 ii1 #ah4 and of moderate station2 forasmuch as1 on the one hand1 he would not be afraid to touch his master's heart to the quick1 for fear by that means of losing his preferment3 and1 on the other hand1 being of no high quality1 he would have more easy communication with all sorts of people4 ,i would have this office limited to only one person2 for to allow the privilege of his liberty and privacy to many1 would beget an inconvenient irreverence2 and of that one1 ,i would above all things require the fidelity of silence4 ,a king is not to be believed when he brags of his constancy in standing the shock of the enemy for his glory1 if for his profit and amendment he cannot stand the liberty of a friend's advice1 which has no other power but to pinch his ear1 the remainder of its effect being still in his own hands4 ,now1 there is no condition of men whatever who stand in so great need of true and free advice and warning1 as they do3 they sustain a public life1 and have to satisfy the opinion of so many spectators1 that1 as those about them conceal from them whatever should divert them from their own way1 they insensibly find themselves involved in the hatred and detestation of their people1 often upon occasions which they might have avoided without any prejudice even of their pleasures themselves1 had they been advised and set right in time4 ,their favourites commonly have more regard to themselves than to their master2 and indeed it answers with them1 forasmuch as1 in truth1 most offices of real friendship1 when applied to the sovereign1 are under a rude and dangerous hazard1 so that therein there is great need1 not only of very great affection and freedom1 but of courage too4 ,in fine1 all this hodge-podge which ,i scribble here1 is nothing but a register of the essays of my own life1 which1 for the internal soundness1 is exemplary enough to take instruction against the grain2 but as to bodily health1 no man can furnish out more profitable experience than ,i1 who present it pure1 and no way corrupted and changed by art or opinion4 ,experience is properly upon its own dunghill in the subject of physic1 where reason wholly gives it place3 ,tiberius said that whoever had lived twenty years ought to be responsible to himself for all things that were hurtful or wholesome to him1 and know how to order himself without physic2 ,all that ,suetonius says in his ,life of ,tiberius is that this emperor1 after he was thirty years old1 governed his health without the aid of physicians2 and what ,plutarch tells us1 in his essay on the ,rules and ,precepts of ,health1 is that ,tiberius said that the man who1 having attained sixty years1 held out his pulse to a physician was a fool4 and he might have learned it of ,socrates1 who1 advising his disciples to be solicitous of their health as a chief study1 added that it was hard if a man of sense1 having a care to his exercise and diet1 did not better know than any physician what was good or ill for him4 ,and physic itself professes always to have experience for the test of its operations3 so ,plato had reason to say that1 to be a right physician1 it would be necessary that he who would become such1 should first himself have passed through all the diseases he pretends to cure1 and through all the accidents and circumstances whereof he is to judge4 ',tis but reason they should get the pox1 if they will know how to cure it2 for my part1 ,i should put myself into such hands2 the others but guide us1 like him who paints seas and rocks and ports sitting at table1 and there makes the model of a ship sailing in all security2 but put him to the work itself1 he knows not at which end to begin4 ,they make such a description of our maladies as a town crier does of a lost horse or dog--such a color1 such a height1 such an ear--but bring it to him and he knows it not1 for all that4 ,if physic should one day give me some good and visible relief1 then truly ,i will cry out in good earnest3 ,tandem effcaci do manus scientiae4 ,show me and efficacious science1 and ,i will take it by the hand4 --,horace1 xvii4 ,i4 ,the arts that promise to keep our bodies and souls in health promise a great deal2 but1 withal1 there are none that less keep their promise4 ,and1 in our time1 those who make profession of these arts amongst us1 less manifest the effects than any other sort of men2 one may say of them1 at the most1 that they sell medicinal drugs2 but that they are physicians1 a man cannot say4 ,the edition of #aehh adds3 ,judging by themselves1 and those who are ruled by them4 ,i have lived long enough to be able to give an account of the custom that has carried me so far2 for him who has a mind to try it1 as his taster1 ,i have made the experiment4 ,here are some of the articles1 as my memory shall supply me with them2 ,i have no custom that has not varied according to circumstances2 but ,i only record those that ,i have been best acquainted with1 and that hitherto have had the greatest possession of me4 ,my form of life is the same in sickness as in health2 the same bed1 the same hours1 the same meat1 and even the same drink1 serve me in both conditions alike2 ,i add nothing to them but the moderation of more or less1 according to my strength and appetite4 ,my health is to maintain my wonted state without disturbance4 ,i see that sickness puts me off it on one side1 and if ,i will be ruled by the physicians1 they will put me off on the other2 so that by fortune and by art ,i am out of my way4 ,i believe nothing more certainly than this1 that ,i cannot be hurt by the use of things to which ,i have been so long accustomed4 ',tis for custom to give a form to a man's life1 such as it pleases him2 she is all in all in that3 'tis the potion of ,circe1 that varies our nature as she best pleases4 ,how many nations1 and but three steps from us1 think the fear of the night-dew1 that so manifestly is hurtful to us1 a ridiculous fancy2 and our own watermen and peasants laugh at it4 ,you make a ,german sick if you lay him upon a mattress1 as you do an ,italian if you lay him on a feather-bed1 and a ,frenchman1 if without curtains or fire4 ,a ,spanish stomach cannot hold out to eat as we can1 nor ours to drink like the ,swiss4 ,a ,german made me very merry at ,augsburg1 by finding fault with our hearths1 by the same arguments which we commonly make use of in decrying their stoves3 for1 to say the truth1 the smothered heat1 and then the smell of that heated matter of which the fire is composed1 very much offend such as are not used to them2 not me2 and1 indeed1 the heat being always equal1 constant1 and universal1 without flame1 without smoke1 and without the wind that comes down our chimneys1 they may many ways sustain comparison with ours4 ,why do we not imitate the ,roman architecture8 for they say that anciently fires were not made in the houses1 but on the outside1 and at the foot of them1 whence the heat was conveyed to the whole fabric by pipes contrived in the wall1 which were drawn twining about the rooms that were to be warmed3 which ,i have seen plainly described somewhere in ,seneca4 ,this ,german hearing me commend the conveniences and beauties of his city1 which truly deserves it1 began to compassionate me that ,i had to leave it2 and the first inconvenience he alleged to me was1 the heaviness of head that the chimneys elsewhere would bring upon me4 ,he had heard some one make this complaint1 and fixed it upon us1 being by custom deprived of the means of perceiving it at home4 ,all heat that comes from the fire weakens and dulls me4 ,evenus said that fire was the best condiment of life3 ,i rather choose any other way of making myself warm4 ,we are afraid to drink our wines1 when toward the bottom of the cask2 in ,portugal those fumes are reputed delicious1 and it is the beverage of princes4 ,in short1 every nation has many customs and usages that are not only unknown to other nations1 but savage and miraculous in their sight4 ,what should we do with those people who admit of no evidence that is not in print1 who believe not men if they are not in a book1 nor truth if it be not of competent age8 we dignify our fopperies when we commit them to the press3 'tis of a great deal more weight to say1 ,i have read such a thing1 than if you only say1 ,i have heard such a thing4 ,but ,i1 who no more disbelieve a man's mouth than his pen1 and who know that men write as indiscreetly as they speak1 and who look upon this age as one that is past1 as soon quote a friend as ,aulus ,gelliusor ,macrobius2 and what ,i have seen1 as what they have written4 ,and1 as 'tis held of virtue1 that it is not greater for having continued longer1 so do ,i hold of truth1 that for being older it is none the wiser4 ,i often say1 that it is mere folly that makes us run after foreign and scholastic examples2 their fertility is the same now that it was in the time of ,homer and ,plato4 ,but is it not that we seek more honour from the quotation1 than from the truth of the matter in hand8 ,as if it were more to the purpose to borrow our proofs from the shops of ,vascosan or ,plantin1 than from what is to be seen in our own village2 or else1 indeed1 that we have not the wit to cull out and make useful what we see before us1 and to judge of it clearly enough to draw it into example3 for if we say that we want authority to give faith to our testimony1 we speak from the purpose2 forasmuch as1 in my opinion1 of the most ordinary1 common1 and known things1 could we but find out their light1 the greatest miracles of nature might be formed1 and the most wonderful examples1 especially upon the subject of human actions4 ,now1 upon this subject1 setting aside the examples ,i have gathered from books1 and what ,aristotle says of ,andron the ,argian1 that he travelled over the arid sands of ,lybia without drinking3 a gentleman1 who has very well behaved himself in several employments1 said1 in a place where ,i was1 that he had ridden from ,madrid to ,lisbon1 in the heat of summer1 without any drink at all4 ,he is very healthful and vigorous for his age1 and has nothing extraordinary in the use of his life1 but this1 to live sometimes two or three months1 nay1 a whole year1 as he has told me1 without drinking4 ,he is sometimes thirsty1 but he lets it pass over1 and he holds that it is an appetite which easily goes off of itself2 and he drinks more out of caprice than either for need or pleasure4 ,here is another example3 'tis not long ago that ,i found one of the learnedest men in ,france1 among those of not inconsiderable fortune1 studying in a corner of a hall that they had separated for him with tapestry1 and about him a rabble of his servants full of licence4 ,he told me1 and ,seneca almost says the same of himself1 he made an advantage of this hubbub2 that1 beaten with this noise1 he so much the more collected and retired himself into himself for contemplation1 and that this tempest of voices drove back his thoughts within himself4 ,being a student at ,padua1 he had his study so long situated amid the rattle of coaches and the tumult of the square1 that he not only formed himself to the contempt1 but even to the use of noise1 for the service of his studies4 ,socrates answered ,alcibiades1 who was astonished how he could endure the perpetual scolding of his wife1 ,why1 said he1 as those do who are accustomed to the ordinary noise of wheels drawing water4 ,i am quite otherwise2 ,i have a tender head and easily discomposed2 when 'tis bent upon anything1 the least buzzing of a fly murders it4 ,seneca in his youth having warmly espoused the example of ,sextius1 of eating nothing that had died1 for a whole year dispensed with such food1 and1 as he said1 with pleasure1 and discontinued it that he might not be suspected of taking up this rule from some new religion by which it was prescribed3 he adopted1 in like manner1 from the precepts of ,attalus a custom not to lie upon any sort of bedding that gave way under his weight1 and1 even to his old age1 made use of such as would not yield to any pressure4 ,what the usage of his time made him account roughness1 that of ours makes us look upon as effeminacy4 ,do but observe the difference betwixt the way of living of my labourers and my own2 the ,scythians and ,indians have nothing more remote both from my capacity and my form4 ,i have picked up charity boys to serve me3 who soon after have quitted both my kitchen and livery1 only that they might return to their former course of life2 and ,i found one afterwards1 picking mussels out of the sewer for his dinner1 whom ,i could neither by entreaties nor threats reclaim from the sweetness he found in indigence4 ,beggars have their magnificences and delights1 as well as the rich1 and1 'tis said1 their dignities and polities4 ,these are the effects of custom2 she can mould us1 not only into what form she pleases 7the sages say we ought to apply ourselves to the best1 which she will soon make easy to us71 but also to change and variation1 which is the most noble and most useful instruction of all she teaches us4 ,the best of my bodily conditions is that ,i am flexible and not very obstinate3 ,i have inclinations more my own and ordinary1 and more agreeable than others2 but ,i am diverted from them with very little ado1 and easily slip into a contrary course4 ,a young man ought to cross his own rules1 to awaken his vigour and to keep it from growing faint and rusty2 and there is no course of life so weak and sottish as that which is carried on by rule and discipline2 ,ad primum lapidem vectari quum placet1 hora ,sumitur ex libro2 si prurit frictus ocelli ,angulus1 inspecta genesi1 collyria quaerit2 ,when he is pleased to have himself carried to the first milestone1 the hour is chosen from the almanac2 if he but rub the corner of his eye1 his horoscope having been examined1 he seeks the aid of salves4---,juvenal1 vi4 #egf4 he shall often throw himself even into excesses1 if he will take my advice2 otherwise the least debauch will destroy him1 and render him troublesome and disagreeable in company4 ,the worst quality in a well-bred man is over-fastidiousness1 and an obligation to a certain particular way2 and it is particular1 if not pliable and supple4 ,it is a kind of reproach1 not to be able1 or not to dare1 to do what we see those about us do2 let such as these stop at home4 ,it is in every man unbecoming1 but in a soldier vicious and intolerable3 who1 as ,philopcemen said1 ought to accustom himself to every variety and inequality of life4 ,though ,i have been brought up1 as much as was possible1 to liberty and independence1 yet so it is that1 growing old1 and having by indifference more settled upon certain forms 7my age is now past instruction1 and has henceforward nothing to do but to keep itself up as well as it can71 custom has already1 ere ,i was aware1 so imprinted its character in me in certain things1 that ,i look upon it as a kind of excess to leave them off2 and1 without a force upon myself1 cannot sleep in the daytime1 nor eat between meals1 nor breakfast1 nor go to bed1 without a great interval betwixt eating and sleeping1--,gastroesophogeal ,reflux4 ,d4,w4--as of three hours after supper2 nor get children but before ,i sleep1 nor get them standing2 nor endure my own sweat2 nor quench my thirst either with pure water or pure wine2 nor keep my head long bare1 nor cut my hair after dinner2 and ,i should be as uneasy without my gloves as without my shirt1 or without washing when ,i rise from table or out of my bed2 and ,i could not lie without a canopy and curtains1 as if they were essential things4 ,i could dine without a tablecloth1 but without a clean napkin1 after the ,german fashion1 very incommodiously2 ,i foul them more than the ,germans or ,italians do1 and make but little use either of spoon or fork4 ,i complain that they did not keep up the fashion1 begun after the example of kings1 to change our napkin at every service1 as they do our plate4 ,we are told of that laborious soldier ,marius that1 growing old1 he became nice in his drink1 and never drank but out of a particular cup of his own ,i1 in like manner1 have suffered myself to fancy a certain form of glasses1 and not willingly to drink in common glasses1 no more than from a strange common hand3 all metal offends me in comparison of a clear and transparent matter3 let my eyes taste1 too1 according to their capacity4 ,i owe several other such niceties to custom4 ,nature has also1 on the other side1 helped me to some of hers3 as not to be able to endure more than two full meals in one day1 without overcharging my stomach1 nor a total abstinence from one of those meals without filling myself with wind1 drying up my mouth1 and dulling my appetite2 the finding great inconvenience from overmuch evening air2 for of late years1 in night marches1 which often happen to be all night long1 after five or six hours my stomach begins to be queasy1 with a violent pain in my head1 so that ,i always vomit before the day can break4 ,when the others go to breakfast1 ,i go to sleep2 and when ,i rise1 ,i am as brisk and gay as before4 ,i had always been told that the night dew never rises but in the beginning of the night2 but for some years past1 long and familiar intercourse with a lord1 possessed with the opinion that the night dew is more sharp and dangerous about the declining of the sun1 an hour or two before it sets1 which he carefully avoids1 and despises that of the night1 he almost impressed upon me1 not so much his reasoning as his experiences4 ,what1 shall mere doubt and inquiry strike our imagination1 so as to change us8 ,such as absolutely and on a sudden give way to these propensions1 draw total destruction upon themselves4 ,i am sorry for several gentlemen who1 through the folly of their physicians1 have in their youth and health wholly shut themselves up3 it were better to endure a cough1 than1 by disuse1 for ever to lose the commerce of common life in things of so great utility4 ,malignant science1 to interdict us the most pleasant hours of the day6 ,let us keep our possession to the last2 for the most part1 a man hardens himself by being obstinate1 and corrects his constitution1 as ,caesar did the falling sickness1 by dint of contempt4 ,a man should addict himself to the best rules1 but not enslave himself to them1 except to such1 if there be any such1 where obligation and servitude are of profit4 ,both kings and philosophers go to stool1 and ladies too2 public lives are bound to ceremony2 mine1 that is obscure and private1 enjoys all natural dispensation2 soldier and ,gascon are also qualities a little subject to indiscretion2 wherefore ,i shall say of this act of relieving nature1 that it is desirable to refer it to certain prescribed and nocturnal hours1 and compel one's self to this by custom1 as ,i have done2 but not to subject one's self1 as ,i have done in my declining years1 to a particular convenience of place and seat for that purpose1 and make it troublesome by long sitting2 and yet1 in the fouler offices1 is it not in some measure excusable to require more care and cleanliness8 ,naturt homo mundum et elegans animal est4 ,man is by nature a clean and delicate creature4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ib4 ,of all the actions of nature1 ,i am the most impatient of being interrupted in that4 ,i have seen many soldiers troubled with the unruliness of their bellies2 whereas mine and ,i never fail of our punctual assignation1 which is at leaping out of bed1 if some indispensable business or sickness does not molest us4 ,i think then1 as ,i said before1 that sick men cannot better place themselves anywhere in more safety1 than in sitting still in that course of life wherein they have been bred and trained up2 change1 be it what it will1 distempers and puts one out4 ,do you believe that chestnuts can hurt a ,perigordin or a ,lucchese1 or milk and cheese the mountain people8 ,we enjoin them not only a new1 but a contrary1 method of life2 a change that the healthful cannot endure4 ,prescribe water to a ,breton of threescore and ten2 shut a seaman up in a stove2 forbid a ,basque footman to walk3 you will deprive them of motion1 and in the end of air and light3 ,an vivere tanti est8 ,cogimur a suetis animum suspendere rebus1 ,atque1 ut vivamus1 vivere desinimus4 4 ,hos superesse reor1 quibus et spirabilis aer ,et lux1 qua regimur1 redditur ipsa gravis4 ,is life worth so much8 ,we are compelled to withhold the mind from things to which we are accustomed2 and1 that we may live1 we cease to live 4 4 4 4 ,do ,i conceive that they still live1 to whom the respirable air1 and the light itself1 by which we are governed1 is rendered oppressive8 --,pseudo-,gallus1 ,eclog41 i4 #aee1 #bdg4 ,if they do no other good1 they do this at least1 that they prepare patients betimes for death1 by little and little undermining and cutting off the use of life4 ,both well and sick1 ,i have ever willingly suffered myself to obey the appetites that pressed upon me4 ,i give great rein to my desires and propensities2 ,i do not love to cure one disease by another2 ,i hate remedies that are more troublesome than the disease itself4 ,to be subject to the colic and subject to abstain from eating oysters are two evils instead of one2 the disease torments us on the one side1 and the remedy on the other4 ,since we are ever in danger of mistaking1 let us rather run the hazard of a mistake1 after we have had the pleasure4 ,the world proceeds quite the other way1 and thinks nothing profitable that is not painful2 it has great suspicion of facility4 ,my appetite1 in various things1 has of its own accord happily enough accommodated itself to the health of my stomach4 ,relish and pungency in sauces were pleasant to me when young2 my stomach disliking them since1 my taste incontinently followed4 ,wine is hurtful to sick people1 and 'tis the first thing that my mouth then finds distasteful1 and with an invincible dislike4 ,whatever ,i take against my liking does me harm2 and nothing hurts me that ,i eat with appetite and delight4 ,i never received harm by any action that was very pleasant to me2 and accordingly have made all medicinal conclusions largely give way to my pleasure2 and ,i have1 when ,i was young1 ,quem circumcursans huc atque huc saepe ,cupido ,fulgebat crocink splendidus in tunic4 ,when ,cupid1 fluttering round me here and there1 shone in his rich purple mantle4--,catullus1 lxvi4 #acc4 given myself the rein as licentiously and inconsiderately to the desire that was predominant in me1 as any other whomsoever3 ,et militavi non sine gloria2 ,and ,i have played the soldier not ingloriously4 --,horace1 ,od41 iii4 #bf1 #b4 yet more in continuation and holding out1 than in sally3 ,sex me vix memini sustinuisse vices4 ,i can scarcely remember six bouts in one night --,ovid1 ,amor41 iii4 #g1 #bf4 ',tis certainly a misfortune and a miracle at once to confess at what a tender age ,i first came under the subjection of love3 it was1 indeed1 by chance2 for it was long before the years of choice or knowledge2 ,i do not remember myself so far back2 and my fortune may well be coupled with that of ,quartilla1 who could not remember when she was a maid3 ,inde tragus1 celeresque pili1 mirandaque matri ,barba meae4 ,thence the odour of the arm-pits1 the precocious hair1 and the beard which astonished my mother4--,martial1 xi4 #bb1 #g4 ,physicians modify their rules according to the violent longings that happen to sick persons1 ordinarily with good success2 this great desire cannot be imagined so strange and vicious1 but that nature must have a hand in it4 ,and then how easy a thing is it to satisfy the fancy8 ,in my opinion2 this part wholly carries it1 at least1 above all the rest4 ,the most grievous and ordinary evils are those that fancy loads us with2 this ,spanish saying pleases me in several aspects3 ,defenda me ,dios de me4 ,god defend me from myself4 ,i am sorry when ,i am sick1 that ,i have not some longing that might give me the pleasure of satisfying it2 all the rules of physic would hardly be able to divert me from it4 ,i do the same when ,i am well2 ,i can see very little more to be hoped or wished for4 ',twere pity a man should be so weak and languishing1 as not to have even wishing left to him4 ,the art of physic is not so fixed1 that we need be without authority for whatever we do2 it changes according to climates and moons1 according to ,fernel and to ,scaliger4--,physicians to ,henry ,,ii4--,if your physician does not think it good for you to sleep1 to drink wine1 or to eat such and such meats1 never trouble yourself2 ,i will find you another that shall not be of his opinion2 the diversity of medical arguments and opinions embraces all sorts and forms4 ,i saw a miserable sick person panting and burning for thirst1 that he might be cured1 who was afterwards laughed at for his pains by another physician1 who condemned that advice as prejudicial to him3 had he not tormented himself to good purpose8 ,there lately died of the stone a man of that profession1 who had made use of extreme abstinence to contend with his disease3 his fellow-physicians say that1 on the contrary1 this abstinence had dried him up and baked the gravel in his kidneys4 ,i have observed1 that both in wounds and sicknesses1 speaking discomposes and hurts me1 as much as any irregularity ,i can commit4 ,my voice pains and tires me1 for 'tis loud and forced2 so that when ,i have gone to a whisper some great persons about affairs of consequence1 they have often desired me to moderate my voice4 ,this story is worth a diversion4 ,some one in a certain ,greek school speaking loud as ,i do1 the master of the ceremonies sent to him to speak softly3 ,tell him1 then1 he must send me1 replied the other1 the tone he would have me speak in4 ,to which the other replied1 ,that he should take the tone from the ears of him to whom he spake4 ,it was well said1 if it is to be understood3 ,speak according to the affair you are speaking about to your auditor1 for if it mean1 'tis sufficient that he hear you1 or govern yourself by him1 ,i do not find it to be reason4 ,the tone and motion of my voice carries with it a great deal of the expression and signification of my meaning1 and 'tis ,i who am to govern it1 to make myself understood3 there is a voice to instruct1 a voice to flatter1 and a voice to reprehend4 ,i will not only that my voice reach him1 but1 peradventure1 that it strike and pierce him4 ,when ,i rate my valet with sharp and bitter language1 it would be very pretty for him to say2 ,pray1 master1 speak lower2 ,i hear you very well3 ,est quaedam vox ad auditum accommodata1 non magnitudine1 sed proprietate4 ,there is a certain voice accommodated to the hearing1 not by its loudness1 but by its propriety4--,quintilian1 xi4 #c4 ,speaking is half his who speaks1 and half his who hears2 the latter ought to prepare himself to receive it1 according to its bias2 as with tennis-players1 he who receives the ball1 shifts and prepares1 according as he sees him move who strikes the stroke1 and according to the stroke itself4 ,experience has1 moreover1 taught me this1 that we ruin ourselves by impatience4 ,evils have their life and limits1 their diseases and their recovery4 ,the constitution of maladies is formed by the pattern of the constitution of animals2 they have their fortune and their days limited from their birth2 he who attempts imperiously to cut them short by force in the middle of their course1 lengthens and multiplies them1 and incenses instead of appeasing them4 ,i am of ,crantor's opinion1 that we are neither obstinately and deafly to oppose evils1 nor succumb to them from want of courage2 but that we are naturally to give way to them1 according to their condition and our own4 ,we ought to grant free passage to diseases2 ,i find they stay less with me1 who let them alone2 and ,i have lost some1 reputed the most tenacious and obstinate1 by their own decay1 without help and without art1 and contrary to its rules4 ,let us a little permit ,nature to take her own way2 she better understands her own affairs than we4 ,but such an one died of it2 and so shall you3 if not of that disease1 of another4 ,and how many have not escaped dying1 who have had three physicians at their tails8 ,example is a vague and universal mirror1 and of various reflections4 ,if it be a delicious medicine1 take it3 'tis always so much present good4 ,i will never stick at the name nor the colour1 if it be pleasant and grateful to the palate3 pleasure is one of the chiefest kinds of profit4 ,i have suffered colds1 gouty defluxions1 relaxations1 palpitations of the heart1 megrims1 and other accidents1 to grow old and die in time a natural death4 ,i have so lost them when ,i was half fit to keep them3 they are sooner prevailed upon by courtesy than huffing4 ,we must patiently suffer the laws of our condition2 we are born to grow old1 to grow weak1 and to be sick1 in despite of all medicine4 ',tis the first lesson the ,mexicans teach their children2 so soon as ever they are born they thus salute them3 ,thou art come into the world1 child1 to endure3 endure1 suffer1 and say nothing4 ',tis injustice to lament that which has befallen any one which may befall every one3 ,indignare1 si quid in to inique proprio constitutum est4 ,then be angry1 when there is anything unjustly decreed against thee alone4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ia4 ,see an old man who begs of ,god that he will maintain his health vigorous and entire2 that is to say1 that he restore him to youth3 ,stulte1 quid haec frustra votis puerilibus optas8 ,fool6 why do you vainly form these puerile wishes8 --,ovid41 ,trist41 #aaa4 #h1 ,,ii4 is it not folly8 his condition is not capable of it4 ,the gout1 the stone1 and indigestion are symptoms of long years2 as heat1 rains1 and winds are of long journeys4 ,plato does not believe that ,a,esculapius troubled himself to provide by regimen to prolong life in a weak and wasted body1 useless to his country and to his profession1 or to beget healthful and robust children2 and does not think this care suitable to the ,divine justice and prudence1 which is to direct all things to utility4 ,my good friend1 your business is done2 nobody can restore you2 they can1 at the most1 but patch you up1 and prop you a little1 and by that means prolong your misery an hour or two3 ,non secus instantem cupiens fulcire ruinam1 ,diversis contra nititur obiicibus2 ,donec certa dies1 omni compage soluta1 ,ipsum cum rebus subruat auxilium4 ,like one who1 desiring to stay an impending ruin1 places various props against it1 till1 in a short time1 the house1 the props1 and all1 giving way1 fall together4--,pseudo-,gallus1 i4 #aga4 ,we must learn to suffer what we cannot evade2 our life1 like the harmony of the world1 is composed of contrary things--of diverse tones1 sweet and harsh1 sharp and flat1 sprightly and solemn3 the musician who should only affect some of these1 what would he be able to do8 he must know how to make use of them all1 and to mix them2 and so we should mingle the goods and evils which are consubstantial with our life2 our being cannot subsist without this mixture1 and the one part is no less necessary to it than the other4 ,to attempt to combat natural necessity1 is to represent the folly of ,ctesiphon1 who undertook to kick with his mule4--,plutarch1 ,how to restrain ,anger1 c4 #h4 ,i consult little about the alterations ,i feel3 for these doctors take advantage2 when they have you at their mercy1 they surfeit your ears with their prognostics2 and formerly surprising me1 weakened with sickness1 injuriously handled me with their dogmas and magisterial fopperies--one while menacing me with great pains1 and another with approaching death4 ,hereby ,i was indeed moved and shaken1 but not subdued nor jostled from my place2 and though my judgment was neither altered nor distracted1 yet it was at least disturbed3 'tis always agitation and combat4 ,now1 ,i use my imagination as gently as ,i can1 and would discharge it1 if ,i could1 of all trouble and contest2 a man must assist1 flatter1 and deceive it1 if he can2 my mind is fit for that office2 it needs no appearances throughout3 could it persuade as it preaches1 it would successfully relieve me4 ,will you have an example8 ,it tells me3 that 'tis for my good to have the stone3 that the structure of my age must naturally suffer some decay1 and it is now time it should begin to disjoin and to confess a breach2 'tis a common necessity1 and there is nothing in it either miraculous or new2 ,i therein pay what is due to old age1 and ,i cannot expect a better bargain2 that society ought to comfort me1 being fallen into the most common infirmity of my age2 ,i see everywhere men tormented with the same disease1 and am honoured by the fellowship1 forasmuch as men of the best quality are most frequently afflicted with it3 'tis a noble and dignified disease3 that of such as are struck with it1 few have it to a less degree of pain2 that these are put to the trouble of a strict diet and the daily taking of nauseous potions1 whereas ,i owe my better state purely to my good fortune2 for some ordinary broths of eringo or burst-wort that ,i have twice or thrice taken to oblige the ladies1 who1 with greater kindness than my pain was sharp1 would needs present me half of theirs1 seemed to me equally easy to take and fruitless in operation1 the others have to pay a thousand vows to ,a,esculapius1 and as many crowns to their physicians1 for the voiding a little gravel1 which ,i often do by the aid of nature3 even the decorum of my countenance is not disturbed in company2 and ,i can hold my water ten hours1 and as long as any man in health4 ,the fear of this disease1 says my mind1 formerly affrighted thee1 when it was unknown to thee2 the cries and despairing groans of those who make it worse by their impatience1 begot a horror in thee4 ',tis an infirmity that punishes the members by which thou hast most offended4 ,thou art a conscientious fellow2 ,quae venit indigne poena1 dolenda venit3 ,we are entitled to complain of a punishment that we have not deserved4--,ovid1 ,heroid41 v4 #h4 consider this chastisement3 'tis very easy in comparison of others1 and inflicted with a paternal tenderness3 do but observe how late it comes2 it only seizes on and incommodes that part of thy life which is1 one way and another1 sterile and lost2 having1 as it were by composition1 given time for the licence and pleasures of thy youth4 ,the fear and the compassion that the people have of this disease serve thee for matter of glory2 a quality whereof if thou bast thy judgment purified1 and that thy reason has somewhat cured it1 thy friends notwithstanding1 discern some tincture in thy complexion4 ',tis a pleasure to hear it said of oneself what strength of mind1 what patience6 ,thou art seen to sweat with pain1 to turn pale and red1 to tremble1 to vomit blood1 to suffer strange contractions and convulsions1 at times to let great tears drop from thine eyes1 to urine thick1 black1 and dreadful water1 or to have it suppressed by some sharp and craggy stone1 that cruelly pricks and tears the neck of the bladder1 whilst all the while thou entertainest the company with an ordinary countenance2 droning by fits with thy people2 making one in a continuous discourse1 now and then making excuse for thy pain1 and representing thy suffering less than it is4 ,dost thou call to mind the men of past times1 who so greedily sought diseases to keep their virtue in breath and exercise8 ,put the case that nature sets thee on and impels thee to this glorious school1 into which thou wouldst never have entered of thy own free will4 ,if thou tellest me that it is a dangerous and mortal disease1 what others are not so8 for 'tis a physical cheat to expect any that they say do not go direct to death3 what matters if they go thither by accident1 or if they easily slide and slip into the path that leads us to it8 ,but thou dost not die because thou art sick2 thou diest because thou art living3 death kills thee without the help of sickness3 and sickness has deferred death in some1 who have lived longer by reason that they thought themselves always dying2 to which may be added1 that as in wounds1 so in diseases1 some are medicinal and wholesome4 ,the stone is often no less long-lived than you2 we see men with whom it has continued from their infancy even to their extreme old age2 and if they had not broken company1 it would have been with them longer still2 you more often kill it than it kills you4 ,and though it should present to you the image of approaching death1 were it not a good office to a man of such an age1 to put him in mind of his end8 ,and1 which is worse1 thou hast no longer anything that should make thee desire to be cured4 ,whether or no1 common necessity will soon call thee away4 ,do but consider how skilfully and gently she puts thee out of concern with life1 and weans thee from the world2 not forcing thee with a tyrannical subjection1 like so many other infirmities which thou seest old men afflicted withal1 that hold them in continual torment1 and keep them in perpetual and unintermitted weakness and pains1 but by warnings and instructions at intervals1 intermixing long pauses of repose1 as it were to give thee opportunity to meditate and ruminate upon thy lesson1 at thy own ease and leisure4 ,to give thee means to judge aright1 and to assume the resolution of a man of courage1 it presents to thee the state of thy entire condition1 both in good and evil2 and one while a very cheerful and another an insupportable life1 in one and the same day4 ,if thou embracest not death1 at least thou shakest hands with it once a month2 whence thou hast more cause to hope that it will one day surprise thee without menace2 and that being so often conducted to the water-side1 but still thinking thyself to be upon the accustomed terms1 thou and thy confidence will at one time or another be unexpectedly wafted over4 ,a man cannot reasonably complain of diseases that fairly divide the time with health4 ,i am obliged to ,fortune for having so often assaulted me with the same sort of weapons3 she forms and fashions me by use1 hardens and habituates me1 so that ,i can know within a little for how much ,i shall be quit4 ,for want of natural memory1 ,i make one of paper2 and as any new symptom happens in my disease1 ,i set it down1 whence it falls out that1 having now almost passed through all sorts of examples1 if anything striking threatens me1 turning over these little loose notes1 as the ,sybilline leaves1 ,i never fail of finding matter of consolation from some favourable prognostic in my past experience4 ,custom also makes me hope better for the time to come2 for1 the conduct of this clearing out having so long continued1 'tis to be believed that nature will not alter her course1 and that no other worse accident will happen than what ,i already feel4 ,and besides1 the condition of this disease is not unsuitable to my prompt and sudden complexion3 when it assaults me gently1 ,i am afraid1 for 'tis then for a great while2 but it has1 naturally1 brisk and vigorous excesses2 it claws me to purpose for a day or two4 ,my kidneys held out an age without alteration2 and ,i have almost now lived another1 since they changed their state2 evils have their periods1 as well as benefits3 peradventure1 the infirmity draws towards an end4 ,age weakens the heat of my stomach1 and1 its digestion being less perfect1 sends this crude matter to my kidneys2 why1 at a certain revolution1 may not the heat of my kidneys be also abated1 so that they can no more petrify my phlegm1 and nature find out some other way of purgation4 ,years have evidently helped me to drain certain rheums2 and why not these excrements which furnish matter for gravel8 ,but is there anything delightful in comparison of this sudden change1 when from an excessive pain1 ,i come1 by the voiding of a stone1 to recover1 as by a flash of lightning1 the beautiful light of health1 so free and full1 as it happens in our sudden and sharpest colics8 ,is there anything in the pain suffered1 that one can counterpoise to the pleasure of so sudden an amendment8 ,oh1 how much does health seem the more pleasant to me1 after a sickness so near and so contiguous1 that ,i can distinguish them in the presence of one another1 in their greatest show2 when they appear in emulation1 as if to make head against and dispute it with one another6 ,as the ,stoics say that vices are profitably introduced to give value to and to set off virtue1 we can1 with better reason and less temerity of conjecture1 say that nature has given us pain for the honour and service of pleasure and indolence4 ,when ,socrates1 after his fetters were knocked off1 felt the pleasure of that itching which the weight of them had caused in his legs1 he rejoiced to consider the strict alliance betwixt pain and pleasure2 how they are linked together by a necessary connection1 so that by turns they follow and mutually beget one another2 and cried out to good ,a,esop1 that he ought out of this consideration to have taken matter for a fine fable4 ,the worst that ,i see in other diseases is1 that they are not so grievous in their effect as they are in their issue3 a man is a whole year in recovering1 and all the while full of weakness and fear4 ,there is so much hazard1 and so many steps to arrive at safety1 that there is no end on't before they have unmuffled you of a kerchief1 and then of a cap1 before they allow you to walk abroad and take the air1 to drink wine1 to lie with your wife1 to eat melons1 'tis odds you relapse into some new distemper4 ,the stone has this privilege1 that it carries itself clean off3 whereas the other maladies always leave behind them some impression and alteration that render the body subject to a new disease1 and lend a hand to one another4 ,those are excusable that content themselves with possessing us1 without extending farther and introducing their followers2 but courteous and kind are those whose passage brings us any profitable issue4 ,since ,i have been troubled with the stone1 ,i find myself freed from all other accidents1 much more1 methinks1 than ,i was before1 and have never had any fever since2 ,i argue that the extreme and frequent vomitings that ,i am subject to purge me3 and1 on the other hand1 my distastes for this and that1 and the strange fasts ,i am forced to keep1 digest my peccant humours1 and nature1 with those stones1 voids whatever there is in me superfluous and hurtful4 ,let them never tell me that it is a medicine too dear bought3 for what avail so many stinking draughts1 so many caustics1 incisions1 sweats1 setons1 diets1 and so many other methods of cure1 which often1 by reason we are not able to undergo their violence and importunity1 bring us to our graves8 ,so that when ,i have the stone1 ,i look upon it as physic2 when free from it1 as an absolute deliverance4 ,and here is another particular benefit of my disease2 which is1 that it almost plays its game by itself1 and lets 'me play mine1 if ,i have only courage to do it2 for1 in its greatest fury1 ,i have endured it ten hours together on horseback4 ,do but endure only2 you need no other regimen play1 run1 dine1 do this and t'other1 if you can2 your debauch will do you more good than harm2 say as much to one that has the pox1 the gout1 or hernia6 ,the other diseases have more universal obligations2 rack our actions after another kind of manner1 disturb our whole order1 and to their consideration engage the whole state of life3 this only pinches the skin2 it leaves the understanding and the will wholly at our own disposal1 and the tongue1 the hands1 and the feet2 it rather awakens than stupefies you4 ,the soul is struck with the ardour of a fever1 overwhelmed with an epilepsy1 and displaced by a sharp megrim1 and1 in short1 astounded by all the diseases that hurt the whole mass and the most noble parts2 this never meddles with the soul2 if anything goes amiss with her1 'tis her own fault2 she betrays1 dismounts1 and abandons herself4 ,there are none but fools who suffer themselves to be persuaded that this hard and massive body which is baked in our kidneys is to be dissolved by drinks2 wherefore1 when it is once stirred1 there is nothing to be done but to give it passage2 and1 for that matter1 it will itself make one4 ,i moreover observe this particular convenience in it1 that it is a disease wherein we have little to guess at3 we are dispensed from the trouble into which other diseases throw us by the uncertainty of their causes1 conditions1 and progress2 a trouble that is infinitely painful3 we have no need of consultations and doctoral interpretations2 the senses well enough inform us both what it is and where it is4 ,by suchlike arguments1 weak and strong1 as ,cicero with the disease of his old age1 ,i try to rock asleep and amuse my imagination1 and to dress its wounds4 ,if ,i find them worse tomorrow1 ,i will provide new stratagems4 ,that this is true3 ,i am come to that pass of late1 that the least motion forces pure blood out of my kidneys3 what of that8 ,i move about1 nevertheless1 as before1 and ride after my hounds with a juvenile and insolent ardour2 and hold that ,i have very good satisfaction for an accident of that importance1 when it costs me no more but a dull heaviness and uneasiness in that part2 'tis some great stone that wastes and consumes the substance of my kidneys and my life1 which ,i by little and little evacuate1 not without some natural pleasure1 as an excrement henceforward superfluous and troublesome4 ,now if ,i feel anything stirring1 do not fancy that ,i trouble myself to consult my pulse or my urine1 thereby to put myself upon some annoying prevention2 ,i shall soon enough feel the pain1 without making it more and longer by the disease of fear4 ,he who fears he shall suffer1 already suffers what he fears4 ,to which may be added that the doubts and ignorance of those who take upon them to expound the designs of nature and her internal progressions1 and the many false prognostics of their art1 ought to give us to understand that her ways are inscrutable and utterly unknown2 there is great uncertainty1 variety1 and obscurity in what she either promises or threatens4 ,old age excepted1 which is an indubitable sign of the approach of death1 in all other accidents ,i see few signs of the future1 whereon we may ground our divination4 ,i only judge of myself by actual sensation1 not by reasoning3 to what end1 since ,i am resolved to bring nothing to it but expectation and patience8 ,will you know how much ,i get by this8 observe those who do otherwise1 and who rely upon so many diverse persuasions and counsels2 how often the imagination presses upon them without any bodily pain4 ,i have many times amused myself1 being well and in safety1 and quite free from these dangerous attacks in communicating them to the physicians as then beginning to discover themselves in me2 ,i underwent the decree of their dreadful conclusions1 being all the while quite at my ease1 and so much the more obliged to the favour of ,god and better satisfied of the vanity of this art4 ,there is nothing that ought so much to be recommended to youth as activity and vigilance our life is nothing but movement4 ,i bestir myself with great difficulty1 and am slow in everything1 whether in rising1 going to bed1 or eating3 seven of the clock in the morning is early for me1 and where ,i rule1 ,i never dine before eleven1 nor sup till after six4 ,i formerly attributed the cause of the fevers and other diseases ,i fell into to the heaviness that long sleeping had brought upon me1 and have ever repented going to sleep again in the morning4 ,plato is more angry at excess of sleeping than at excess of drinking4 ,i love to lie hard and alone1 even without my wife1 as kings do2 pretty well covered with clothes4 ,they never warm my bed1 but since ,i have grown old they give me at need cloths to lay to my feet and stomach4 ,they found fault with the great ,scipio that he was a great sleeper2 not1 in my opinion1 for any other reason than that men were displeased that he alone should have nothing in him to be found fault with4 ,if ,i am anything fastidious in my way of living 'tis rather in my lying than anything else2 but generally ,i give way and accommodate myself as well as any one to necessity4 ,sleeping has taken up a great part of my life1 and ,i yet continue1 at the age ,i now am1 to sleep eight or nine hours at one breath4 ,i wean myself with utility from this proneness to sloth1 and am evidently the better for so doing4 ,i find the change a little hard indeed1 but in three days 'tis over2 and ,i see but few who live with less sleep1 when need requires1 and who more constantly exercise themselves1 or to whom long journeys are less troublesome4 ,my body is capable of a firm1 but not of a violent or sudden agitation4 ,i escape of late from violent exercises1 and such as make me sweat3 my limbs grow weary before they are warm4 ,i can stand a whole day together1 and am never weary of walking2 but from my youth ,i have ever preferred to ride upon paved roads2 on foot1 ,i get up to the haunches in dirt1 and little fellows as ,i am are subject in the streets to be elbowed and jostled for want of presence2 ,i have ever loved to repose myself1 whether sitting or lying1 with my heels as high or higher than my seat4 ,there is no profession as pleasant as the military1 a profession both noble in its execution 7for valour is the stoutest1 proudest1 and most generous of all virtues71 and noble in its cause3 there is no utility either more universal or more just than the protection of the peace and greatness of one's country4 ,the company of so many noble1 young1 and active men delights you2 the ordinary sight of so many tragic spectacles2 the freedom of the conversation1 without art2 a masculine and unceremonious way of living1 please you2 the variety of a thousand several actions2 the encouraging harmony of martial music that ravishes and inflames both your ears and souls2 the honour of this occupation1 nay1 even its hardships and difficulties1 which ,plato holds so light that in his ,republic he makes women and children share in them1 are delightful to you4 ,you put yourself voluntarily upon particular exploits and hazards1 according as you judge of their lustre and importance2 and1 a volunteer1 find even life itself excusably employed3 ,pulchrumque mori succurrit in armis4 ',tis fine to die sword in hand4 7,and he remembers that it is honourable to die in arms47--,a,eneid1 ii4 #cag4 ,to fear common dangers that concern so great a multitude of men2 not to dare to do what so many sorts of souls1 what a whole people dare1 is for a heart that is poor and mean beyond all measure3 company encourages even children4 ,if others excel you in knowledge1 in gracefulness1 in strength1 or fortune1 you have alternative resources at your disposal2 but to give place to them in stability of mind1 you can blame no one for that but yourself4 ,death is more abject1 more languishing and troublesome1 in bed than in a fight3 fevers and catarrhs as painful and mortal as a musket-shot4 ,whoever has fortified himself valiantly to bear the accidents of common life need not raise his courage to be a soldier3 ,vivere1 mi ,lucili1 militare est4 ,to live1 my ,lucilius1 is 7to make war7 to be a soldier4 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #if4 ,i do not remember that ,i ever had the itch1 and yet scratching is one of nature's sweetest gratifications1 and so much at hand2 but repentance follows too near4 ,i use it most in my ears1 which are at intervals apt to itch4 ,i came into the world with all my senses entire1 even to perfection4 ,my stomach is commodiously good1 as also is my head and my breath2 and1 for the most part1 uphold themselves so in the height of fevers4 ,i have passed the age to which some nations1 not without reason1 have prescribed so just a term of life that they would not suffer men to exceed it2 and yet ,i have some intermissions1 though short and inconstant1 so clean and sound as to be little inferior to the health and pleasantness of my youth4 ,i do not speak of vigour and sprightliness2 'tis not reason they should follow me beyond their limits3 ,non hoc amplius est liminis1 aut aquae ,coelestis1 patiens latus4 ,i am no longer able to stand waiting at a door in the rain4 --,horace1 ,od41 iii4 #aj1 #i4 ,my face and eyes presently discover my condition2 all my alterations begin there1 and appear somewhat worse than they really are2 my friends often pity me before ,i feel the cause in myself4 ,my looking-glass does not frighten me2 for even in my youth it has befallen me more than once to have a scurvy complexion and of ill augury1 without any great consequence1 so that the physicians1 not finding any cause within answerable to that outward alteration1 attributed it to the mind and to some secret passion that tormented me within2 but they were deceived4 ,if my body would govern itself as well1 according to my rule1 as my mind does1 we should move a little more at our ease4 ,my mind was then not only free from trouble1 but1 moreover1 full of joy and satisfaction1 as it commonly is1 half by its complexion1 half by its design3 ,nec vitiant artus aegrae contagia mentis4 ,nor do the troubles of the body ever affect my mind4 --,ovid1 ,trist41 iii4 #h1 #be4 ,i am of the opinion that this temperature of my soul has often raised my body from its lapses2 this is often depressed2 if the other be not brisk and gay1 'tis at least tranquil and at rest4 ,i had a quartan ague four or five months1 that made me look miserably ill2 my mind was always1 if not calm1 yet pleasant4 ,if the pain be without me1 the weakness and languor do not much afflict me2 ,i see various corporal faintings1 that beget a horror in me but to name1 which yet ,i should less fear than a thousand passions and agitations of the mind that ,i see about me4 ,i make up my mind no more to run2 'tis enough that ,i can crawl along2 nor do ,i more complain of the natural decadence that ,i feel in myself3 ,quis tumidum guttur miratur in ,alpibus8 ,who is surprised to see a swollen goitre in the ,alps8 --,juvenal1 xiii4 #afb4 than ,i regret that my duration shall not be as long and entire as that of an oak4 ,i have no reason to complain of my imagination2 ,i have had few thoughts in my life that have so much as broken my sleep1 except those of desire1 which have awakened without afflicting me4 ,i dream but seldom1 and then of chimaeras and fantastic things1 commonly produced from pleasant thoughts1 and rather ridiculous than sad2 and ,i believe it to be true that dreams are faithful interpreters of our inclinations2 but there is art required to sort and understand them ,res1 quae in vita usurpant homines1 cogitant1 curant1 vident1 ,quaeque agunt vigilantes1 agitantque1 ea si cui in somno accidunt1 ,minus mirandum est4 ',tis less wonder1 what men practise1 think1 care for1 see1 and do when waking1 7should also run in their heads and disturb them when they are asleep7 and which affect their feelings1 if they happen to any in sleep4--,attius1 cited in ,cicero1 ,de ,divin41 i4 #bb4 ,plato1 moreover1 says1 that 'tis the office of prudence to draw instructions of divination of future things from dreams3 ,i don't know about this1 but there are wonderful instances of it that ,socrates1 ,xenophon1 and ,aristotle1 men of irreproachable authority1 relate4 ,historians say that the ,atlantes never dream2 who also never eat any animal food1 which ,i add1 forasmuch as it is1 peradventure1 the reason why they never dream1 for ,pythagoras ordered a certain preparation of diet to beget appropriate dreams4 ,mine are very gentle1 without any agitation of body or expression of voice4 ,i have seen several of my time wonderfully disturbed by them4 ,theon the philosopher walked in his sleep1 and so did ,pericles servant1 and that upon the tiles and top of the house4 ,i hardly ever choose my dish at table1 but take the next at hand1 and unwillingly change it for another4 ,a confusion of meats and a clatter of dishes displease me as much as any other confusion3 ,i am easily satisfied with few dishes3 and am an enemy to the opinion of ,favorinus1 that in a feast they should snatch from you the meat you like1 and set a plate of another sort before you2 and that 'tis a pitiful supper1 if you do not sate your guests with the rumps of various fowls1 the beccafico only deserving to be all eaten4 ,i usually eat salt meats1 yet ,i prefer bread that has no salt in it2 and my baker never sends up other to my table1 contrary to the custom of the country4 ,in my infancy1 what they had most to correct in me was the refusal of things that children commonly best love1 as sugar1 sweetmeats1 and march-panes4 ,my tutor contended with this aversion to delicate things1 as a kind of over-nicety2 and indeed 'tis nothing else but a difficulty of taste1 in anything it applies itself to4 ,whoever cures a child of an obstinate liking for brown bread1 bacon1 or garlic1 cures him also of pampering his palate4 ,there are some who affect temperance and plainness by wishing for beef and ham amongst the partridges2 'tis all very fine2 this is the delicacy of the delicate2 'tis the taste of an effeminate fortune that disrelishes ordinary and accustomed things4 ,per qux luxuria divitiarum taedio ludit4 ,by which the luxury of wealth causes tedium4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ah4 ,not to make good cheer with what another is enjoying1 and to be curious in what a man eats1 is the essence of this vice3 ,si modica coenare times olus omne patella4 ,if you can't be content with herbs in a small dish for supper4 --,horace1 ,ep41 i4 #e1 #b4 ,there is indeed this difference1 that 'tis better to oblige one's appetite to things that are most easy to be had2 but 'tis always vice to oblige one's self4 ,i formerly said a kinsman of mine was overnice1 who1 by being in our galleys1 had unlearned the use of beds and to undress when he went to sleep4 ,if ,i had any sons1 ,i should willingly wish them my fortune4 ,the good father that ,god gave me 7who has nothing of me but the acknowledgment of his goodness1 but truly 'tis a very hearty one7 sent me from my cradle to be brought up in a poor village of his1 and there continued me all the while ,i was at nurse1 and still longer1 bringing me up to the meanest and most common way of living3 ,magna pars libertatis est bene moratus venter4 ,a well-governed stomach is a great part of liberty4 --,seneca1,ep41 #abc4 ,never take upon yourselves1 and much less give up to your wives1 the care of their nurture2 leave the formation to fortune1 under popular and natural laws2 leave it to custom to train them up to frugality and hardship1 that they may rather descend from rigour than mount up to it4 ,this humour of his yet aimed at another end1 to make me familiar with the people and the condition of men who most need our assistance2 considering that ,i should rather regard them who extend their arms to me1 than those who turn their backs upon me2 and for this reason it was that he provided to hold me at the font persons of the meanest fortune1 to oblige and attach me to them4 ,nor has his design succeeded altogether ill2 for1 whether upon the account of the more honour in such a condescension1 or out of a natural compassion that has a very great power over me1 ,i have an inclination towards the meaner sort of people4 ,the faction which ,i should condemn in our wars1 ,i should more sharply condemn1 flourishing and successful2 it will somewhat reconcile me to it1 when ,i shall see it miserable and overwhelmed4 ,how willingly do ,i admire the fine humour of ,cheilonis1 daughter and wife to kings of ,sparta4 ,whilst her husband ,cleombrotus1 in the commotion of her city1 had the advantage over ,leonidas her father1 she1 like a good daughter1 stuck close to her father in all his misery and exile1 in opposition to the conqueror4 ,but so soon as the chance of war turned1 she changed her will with the change of fortune1 and bravely turned to her husband's side1 whom she accompanied throughout1 where his ruin carried him3 admitting1 as it appears to me1 no other choice than to cleave to the side that stood most in need of her1 and where she could best manifest her compassion4 ,i am naturally more apt to follow the example of ,flaminius1 who rather gave his assistance to those who had most need of him than to those who had power to do him good1 than ,i do to that of ,pyrrhus1 who was of an humour to truckle under the great and to domineer over the poor4 ,long sittings at table both trouble me and do me harm2 for1 be it that ,i was so accustomed when a child1 ,i eat all the while ,i sit4 ,therefore it is that at my own house1 though the meals there are of the shortest1 ,i usually sit down a little while after the rest1 after the manner of ,augustus1 but ,i do not imitate him in rising also before the rest2 on the contrary1 ,i love to sit still a long time after1 and to hear them talk1 provided ,i am none of the talkers3 for ,i tire and hurt myself with speaking upon a full stomach1 as much as ,i find it very wholesome and pleasant to argue and to strain my voice before dinner4 ,the ancient ,greeks and ,romans had more reason than we in setting apart for eating1 which is a principal action of life1 if they were not prevented by other extraordinary business1 many hours and the greatest part of the night2 eating and drinking more deliberately than we do1 who perform all our actions post-haste2 and in extending this natural pleasure to more leisure and better use1 intermixing with profitable conversation4 ,they whose concern it is to have a care of me1 may very easily hinder me from eating anything they think will do me harm2 for in such matters ,i never covet nor miss anything ,i do not see2 but withal1 if it once comes in my sight1 'tis in vain to persuade me to forbear2 so that when ,i design to fast ,i must be kept apart from the suppers1 and must have only so much given me as is required for a prescribed collation2 for if to table1 ,i forget my resolution4 ,when ,i order my cook to alter the manner of dressing any dish1 all my family know what it means1 that my stomach is out of order1 and that ,i shall not touch it4 ,i love to have all meats1 that will endure it1 very little boiled or roasted1 and prefer them very high1 and even1 as to several1 quite gone4 ,nothing but hardness generally offends me 7of any other quality ,i am as patient and indifferent as any man ,i have known72 so that1 contrary to the common humour1 even in fish it often happens that ,i find them both too fresh and too firm2 not for want of teeth1 which ,i ever had good1 even to excellence1 and which age does not now begin to threaten2 ,i have always been used every morning to rub them with a napkin1 and before and after dinner4 ,god is favourable to those whom ,he makes to die by degrees2 'tis the only benefit of old age2 the last death will be so much the less painful2 it will kill but a half or a quarter of a man4 ,there is one tooth lately fallen out without drawing and without pain2 it was the natural term of its duration2 in that part of my being and several others1 are already dead1 others half dead1 of those that were most active and in the first rank during my vigorous years2 'tis so ,i melt and steal away from myself4 ,what a folly it would be in my understanding to apprehend the height of this fall1 already so much advanced1 as if it were from the very top6 ,i hope ,i shall not4 ,i1 in truth1 receive a principal consolation in meditating my death1 that it will be just and natural1 and that henceforward ,i cannot herein either require or hope from ,destiny any other but unlawful favour4 ,men make themselves believe that we formerly had longer lives as well as greater stature4 ,but they deceive themselves2 and ,solon1 who was of those elder times1 limits the duration of life to threescore and ten years4 ,i1 who have so much and so universally adored that ,the mean is best1 of the passed time1 and who have concluded the most moderate measures to be the most perfect1 shall ,i pretend to an immeasurable and prodigious old age8 ,whatever happens contrary to the course of nature may be troublesome2 but what comes according to her should always be pleasant3 ,omnia1 quae secundum naturam fiunt1 sunt habenda in bonis4 ,all things that are done according to nature are to be accounted good4--,cicero1 ,de ,senect41 c4 #ai4 ,and so1 says ,plato1 the death which is occasioned by wounds and diseases is violent2 but that which comes upon us1 old age conducting us to it1 is of all others the most easy1 and in some sort delicious3 ,vitam adolescentibus vis aufert1 senibus maturitas4 ,young men are taken away by violence1 old men by maturity4 --,cicero1 ubi sup4 ,death mixes and confounds itself throughout with life2 decay anticipates its hour1 and shoulders itself even into the course of our advance4 ,i have portraits of myself taken at five-and-twenty and five-and-thirty years of age4 ,i compare them with that lately drawn3 how many times is it no longer me2 how much more is my present image unlike the former1 than unlike my dying one8 ,it is too much to abuse nature1 to make her trot so far that she must be forced to leave us1 and abandon our conduct1 our eyes1 teeth1 legs1 and all the rest to the mercy of a foreign and haggard countenance1 and to resign us into the hands of art1 being weary of following us herself4 ,i am not excessively fond either of salads or fruits1 except melons4 ,my father hated all sorts of sauces2 ,i love them all4 ,eating too much hurts me2 but1 as to the quality of what ,i eat1 ,i do not yet certainly know that any sort of meat disagrees with me2 neither have ,i observed that either full moon or decrease1 autumn or spring1 have any influence upon me4 ,we have in us motions that are inconstant and unknown2 for example1 ,i found radishes first grateful to my stomach1 since that nauseous1 and now again grateful4 ,in several other things1 ,i find my stomach and appetite vary after the same manner2 ,i have changed again and again from white wine to claret1 from claret to white wine4 ,i am a great lover of fish1 and consequently make my fasts feasts and feasts fasts2 and ,i believe what some people say1 that it is more easy of digestion than flesh4 ,as ,i make a conscience of eating flesh upon fish-days1 so does my taste make a conscience of mixing fish and flesh2 the difference betwixt them seems to me too remote4 ,from my youth1 ,i have sometimes kept out of the way at meals2 either to sharpen my appetite against the next morning 7for1 as ,epicurus fasted and made lean meals to accustom his pleasure to make shift without abundance1 ,i1 on the contrary1 do it to prepare my pleasure to make better and more cheerful use of abundance72 or else ,i fasted to preserve my vigour for the service of some action of body or mind3 for both the one and the other of these is cruelly dulled in me by repletion2 and1 above all things1 ,i hate that foolish coupling of so healthful and sprightly a goddess with that little belching god1 bloated with the fumes of his liquor-- ,montaigne did not approve of coupling ,bacchus with ,venus4-- or to cure my sick stomach1 or for want of fit company2 for ,i say1 as the same ,epicurus did1 that one is not so much to regard what he eats1 as with whom2 and ,i commend ,chilo1 that he would not engage himself to be at ,periander's feast till he was first informed who were to be the other guests2 no dish is so acceptable to me1 nor no sauce so appetising1 as that which is extracted from society4 ,i think it more wholesome to eat more leisurely and less1 and to eat oftener2 but ,i would have appetite and hunger attended to2 ,i should take no pleasure to be fed with three or four pitiful and stinted repasts a day1 after a medicinal manner3 who will assure me that1 if ,i have a good appetite in the morning1 ,i shall have the same at supper8 ,but we old fellows especially1 let us take the first opportune time of eating1 and leave to almanac-makers hopes and prognostics4 ,the utmost fruit of my health is pleasure2 let us take hold of the present and known4 ,i avoid the invariable in these laws of fasting2 he who would have one form serve him1 let him avoid the continuing it2 we harden ourselves in it2 our strength is there stupefied and laid asleep2 six months after1 you shall find your stomach so inured to it1 that all you have got is the loss of your liberty of doing otherwise but to your prejudice4 ,i never keep my legs and thighs warmer in winter than in summer2 one simple pair of silk stockings is all4 ,i have suffered myself1 for the relief of my colds1 to keep my head warmer1 and my belly upon the account of my colic3 my diseases in a few days habituate themselves thereto1 and disdained my ordinary provisions3 we soon get from a coif to a kerchief over it1 from a simple cap to a quilted hat2 the trimmings of the doublet must not merely serve for ornament3 there must be added a hare's skin or a vulture's skin1 and a cap under the hat3 follow this gradation1 and you will go a very fine way to work4 ,i will do nothing of the sort1 and would willingly leave off what ,i have begun4 ,if you fall into any new inconvenience1 all this is labour lost2 you are accustomed to it2 seek out some other4 ,thus do they destroy themselves who submit to be pestered with these enforced and superstitious rules2 they must add something more1 and something more after that2 there is no end on't4 ,for what concerns our affairs and pleasures1 it is much more commodious1 as the ancients did1 to lose one's dinner1 and defer making good cheer till the hour of retirement and repose1 without breaking up a day2 and so was ,i formerly used to do4 ,as to health1 ,i since by experience find1 on the contrary1 that it is better to dine1 and that the digestion is better while awake4 ,i am not very used to be thirsty1 either well or sick2 my mouth is1 indeed1 apt to be dry1 but without thirst2 and commonly ,i never drink but with thirst that is created by eating1 and far on in the meal2 ,i drink pretty well for a man of my pitch3 in summer1 and at a relishing meal1 ,i do not only exceed the limits of ,augustus1 who drank but thrice precisely2 but not to offend ,democritus rule1 who forbade that men should stop at four times as an unlucky number1 ,i proceed at need to the fifth glass1 about three half-pints2 for the little glasses are my favourites1 and ,i like to drink them off1 which other people avoid as an unbecoming thing4 ,i mix my wine sometimes with half1 sometimes with the third part water2 and when ,i am at home1 by an ancient custom that my father's physician prescribed both to him and himself1 they mix that which is designed for me in the buttery1 two or three hours before 'tis brought in4 ',tis said that ,cranabs1 king of ,attica1 was the inventor of this custom of diluting wine2 whether useful or no1 ,i have heard disputed4 ,i think it more decent and wholesome for children to drink no wine till after sixteen or eighteen years of age4 ,the most usual and common method of living is the most becoming2 all particularity1 in my opinion1 is to be avoided2 and ,i should as much hate a ,german who mixed water with his wine1 as ,i should a ,frenchman who drank it pure4 ,public usage gives the law in these things4 ,i fear a mist1 and fly from smoke as from the plague3 the first repairs ,i fell upon in my own house were the chimneys and houses of office1 the common and insupportable defects of all old buildings2 and amongst the difficulties of war ,i reckon the choking dust they made us ride in a whole day together4 ,i have a free and easy respiration1 and my colds for the most part go off without offence to the lungs and without a cough4 ,the heat of summer is more an enemy to me than the cold of winter2 for1 besides the incommodity of heat1 less remediable than cold1 and besides the force of the sunbeams that strike upon the head1 all glittering light offends my eyes1 so that ,i could not now sit at dinner over against a flaming fire4 ,to dull the whiteness of paper1 in those times when ,i was more wont to read1 ,i laid a piece of glass upon my book1 and found my eyes much relieved by it4 ,i am to this hour--to the age of fifty-four--,ignorant of the use of spectacles2 and ,i can see as far as ever ,i did1 or any other4 ',tis true that in the evening ,i begin to find a little disturbance and weakness in my sight if ,i read1 an exercise ,i have always found troublesome1 especially by night4 ,here is one step back1 and a very manifest one2 ,i shall retire another3 from the second to the third1 and so to the fourth1 so gently1 that ,i shall be stark blind before ,i shall be sensible of the age and decay of my sight3 so artificially do the ,fatal ,sisters untwist our lives4 ,and so ,i doubt whether my hearing begins to grow thick2 and you will see ,i shall have half lost it1 when ,i shall still lay the fault on the voices of those who speak to me4 ,a man must screw up his soul to a high pitch to make it sensible how it ebbs away4 ,my walking is quick and firm2 and ,i know not which of the two1 my mind or my body1 ,i have most to do to keep in the same state4 ,that preacher is very much my friend who can fix my attention a whole sermon through3 in places of ceremony1 where every one's countenance is so starched1 where ,i have seen the ladies keep even their eyes so fixed1 ,i could never order it so1 that some part or other of me did not lash out2 so that though ,i was seated1 ,i was never settled2 and as to gesticulation1 ,i am never without a switch in my hand1 walking or riding4 ,as the philosopher ,chrysippus' maid said of her master1 that he was only drunk in his legs1 for it was his custom to be always kicking them about in what place soever he sat2 and she said it when1 the wine having made all his companions drunk1 he found no alteration in himself at all2 it may have been said of me from my infancy1 that ,i had either folly or quicksilver in my feet1 so much stirring and unsettledness there is in them1 wherever they are placed4 ',tis indecent1 besides the hurt it does to one's health1 and even to the pleasure of eating1 to eat greedily as ,i do2 ,i often bite my tongue1 and sometimes my fingers1 in my haste4 ,diogenes1 meeting a boy eating after that manner1 gave his tutor a box on the ear6 ,there were men at ,rome that taught people to chew1 as well as to walk1 with a good grace4 ,i lose thereby the leisure of speaking1 which gives great relish to the table1 provided the discourse be suitable1 that is1 pleasant and short4 ,there is jealousy and envy amongst our pleasures2 they cross and hinder one another4 ,alcibiades1 a man who well understood how to make good cheer1 banished even music from the table1 that it might not disturb the entertainment of discourse1 for the reason1 as ,plato tells us1 that it is the custom of ordinary people to call fiddlers and singing men to feasts1 for want of good discourse and pleasant talk1 with which men of understanding know how to entertain one another4 ,varro requires all this in entertainments3 ,persons of graceful presence and agreeable conversation1 who are neither silent nor garrulous2 neatness and delicacy1 both of meat and place2 and fair weather4 ,the art of dining well is no slight art1 the pleasure not a slight pleasure2 neither the greatest captains nor the greatest philosophers have disdained the use or science of eating well4 ,my imagination has delivered three repasts to the custody of my memory1 which fortune rendered sovereignly sweet to me1 upon several occasions in my more flourishing age2 my present state excludes me2 for every one1 according to the good temper of body and mind wherein he then finds himself1 furnishes for his own share a particular grace and savour4 ,i1 who but crawl upon the earth1 hate this inhuman wisdom1 that will have us despise and hate all culture of the body2 ,i look upon it as an equal injustice to loath natural pleasures as to be too much in love with them4 ,xerxes was a blockhead1 who1 environed with all human delights1 proposed a reward to him who could find out others2 but he is not much less so who cuts off any of those pleasures that nature has provided for him4 ,a man should neither pursue nor avoid them1 but receive them4 ,i receive them1 ,i confess1 a little too warmly and kindly1 and easily suffer myself to follow my natural propensions4 ,we have no need to exaggerate their inanity2 they themselves will make us sufficiently sensible of it1 thanks to our sick wet-blanket mind1 that puts us out of taste with them as with itself2 it treats both itself and all it receives1 one while better1 and another worse1 according to its insatiable1 vagabond1 and versatile essence3 ,sincerum est nisi vas1 quodcunque infundis1 acescit4 ,unless the vessel be clean1 it will sour whatever you put into it4--,horace1 ,ep41 i4 #b1 #ed4 ,i1 who boast that ,i so curiously and particularly embrace the conveniences of life1 find them1 when ,i most nearly consider them1 very little more than wind4 ,but what8 ,we are all wind throughout2 and1 moreover1 the wind itself1 more discreet than we1 loves to bluster and shift from corner to corner1 and contents itself with its proper offices without desiring stability and solidity-qualities not its own4 ,the pure pleasures1 as well as the pure displeasures1 of the imagination1 say some1 are the greatest1 as was expressed by the balance of ,critolaiis4 ',tis no wonder2 it makes them to its own liking1 and cuts them out of the whole cloth2 of this ,i every day see notable examples1 and1 peradventure1 to be desired4 ,but ,i1 who am of a mixed and heavy condition1 cannot snap so soon at this one simple object1 but that ,i negligently suffer myself to be carried away with the present pleasures of the1 general human law1 intellectually sensible1 and sensibly intellectual4 ,the ,cyrenaic philosophers will have it that as corporal pains1 so corporal pleasures are more powerful1 both as double and as more just4 ,there are some1 as ,aristotle says1 who out of a savage kind of stupidity dislike them2 and ,i know others who out of ambition do the same4 ,why do they not1 moreover1 forswear breathing8 why do they not live of their own8 why not refuse light1 because it is gratuitous1 and costs them neither invention nor exertion8 ,let ,mars1 ,pallas1 or ,mercury afford them their light by which to see1 instead of ,venus1 ,ceres1 and ,bacchus4 ,these boastful humours may counterfeit some content1 for what will not fancy do8 ,but as to wisdom1 there is no touch of it4 ,will they not seek the quadrature of the circle1 even when on their wives8 ,i hate that we should be enjoined to have our minds in the clouds1 when our bodies are at table2 ,i would not have the mind nailed there1 nor wallow there2 ,i would have it take place there and sit1 but not lie down4 ,aristippus maintained nothing but the body1 as if we had no soul2 ,zeno comprehended only the soul1 as if we had no body3 both of them faultily4 ,pythagoras1 they say1 followed a philosophy that was all contemplation1 ,socrates one that was all conduct and action2 ,plato found a mean betwixt the two2 but they only say this for the sake of talking4 ,the true temperament is found in ,socrates2 and1 ,plato is much more ,socratic than ,pythagoric1 and it becomes him better4 ,when ,i dance1 ,i dance2 when ,i sleep1 ,i sleep4 ,nay1 when ,i walk alone in a beautiful orchard1 if my thoughts are some part of the time taken up with external occurrences1 ,i some part of the time call them back again to my walk1 to the orchard1 to the sweetness of that solitude1 and to myself4 ,nature has mother-like observed this1 that the actions she has enjoined us for our necessity should be also pleasurable to us2 and she invites us to them1 not only by reason1 but also by appetite1 and 'tis injustice to infringe her laws4 ,when ,i see alike ,caesar and ,alexander1 in the midst of his greatest business1 so fully enjoy human and corporal pleasures1 ,i do not say that he relaxed his mind3 ,i say that he strengthened it1 by vigour of courage subjecting those violent employments and laborious thoughts to the ordinary usage of life3 wise1 had he believed the last was his ordinary1 the first his extraordinary1 vocation4 ,we are great fools4 ,he has passed his life in idleness1 say we3 ,i have done nothing to-day4 ,what8 have you not lived8 that is not only the fundamental1 but the most illustrious1 of your occupations4 ,had ,i been put to the management of great affairs1 ,i should have made it seen what ,i could do4 ,have you known how to meditate and manage your life8 you have performed the greatest work of all4 ,in order to shew and develop herself1 nature needs only fortune2 she equally manifests herself in all stages1 and behind a curtain as well as without one4 ,have you known how to regulate your conduct1 you have done a great deal more than he who has composed books4 ,have you known how to take repose1 you have done more than he who has taken empires and cities4 ,the glorious masterpiece of man is to live to purpose2 all other things3 to reign1 to lay up treasure1 to build1 are but little appendices and props4 ,i take pleasure in seeing a general of an army1 at the foot of a breach he is presently to assault1 give himself up entire and free at dinner1 to talk and be merry with his friends4 ,and ,brutus1 when heaven and earth were conspired against him and the ,roman liberty1 stealing some hour of the night from his rounds to read and scan ,polybius in all security4 ',tis for little souls1 buried under the weight of affairs1 not from them to know how clearly to disengage themselves1 not to know how to lay them aside and take them up again3 ,o fortes1 pejoraque passi ,mecum saepe viri6 nunc vino pellite curas ,cras ingens iterabimus aequor4 ,o brave spirits1 who have often suffered sorrow with me1 drink cares away2 tomorrow we will embark once more on the vast sea4 --,horace1 ,od41 i4 #g1 #cj4 ,whether it be in jest or earnest1 that the theological and ,sorbonnical wine1 and their feasts1 are turned into a proverb1 ,i find it reasonable they should dine so much more commodiously and pleasantly1 as they have profitably and seriously employed the morning in the exercise of their schools4 ,the conscience of having well spent the other hours1 is the just and savoury sauce of the dinner-table4 ,the sages lived after that manner2 and that inimitable emulation to virtue1 which astonishes us both in the one and the other ,cato1 that humour of theirs1 so severe as even to be importunate1 gently submits itself and yields to the laws of the human condition1 of ,venus and ,bacchus2 according to the precepts of their sect1 that require the perfect sage to be as expert and intelligent in the use of natural pleasures as in all other duties of life3 ,cui cor sapiat1 ei et sapiat palatus4 ,relaxation and facility1 methinks1 wonderfully honour and best become a strong and generous soul4 ,epaminondas did not think that to take part1 and that heartily1 in songs and sports and dances with the young men of his city1 were things that in any way derogated from the honour of his glorious victories and the perfect purity of manners that was in him4 ,and amongst so many admirable actions of ,scipio the grandfather1 a person worthy to be reputed of a heavenly extraction1 there is nothing that gives him a greater grace than to see him carelessly and childishly trifling at gathering and selecting cockle shells1 and playing at quoits1 ,this game1 as the ,dictionnaire de ,trevoux describes it1 is one wherein two persons contend which of them shall soonest pick up some object4 amusing and tickling himself in representing by writing in comedies the meanest and most popular actions of men4 ,and his head full of that wonderful enterprise of ,hannibal and ,africa1 visiting the schools in ,sicily1 and attending philosophical lectures1 to the extent of arming the blind envy of his enemies at ,rome4 ,nor is there anything more remarkable in ,socrates than that1 old as he was1 he found time to make himself taught dancing and playing upon instruments1 and thought it time well spent4 ,this same man was seen in an ecstasy1 standing upon his feet a whole day and a night together1 in the presence of all the ,grecian army1 surprised and absorbed by some profound thought4 ,he was the first1 amongst so many valiant men of the army1 to run to the relief of ,alcibiades1 oppressed with the enemy1 to shield him with his own body1 and disengage him from the crowd by absolute force of arms4 ,it was he who1 in the ,delian battle1 raised and saved ,xenophon when fallen from his horse2 and who1 amongst all the people of ,athens1 enraged as he was at so unworthy a spectacle1 first presented himself to rescue ,theramenes1 whom the thirty tyrants were leading to execution by their satellites1 and desisted not from his bold enterprise but at the remonstrance of ,theramenes himself1 though he was only followed by two more in all4 ,he was seen1 when courted by a beauty with whom he was in love1 to maintain at need a severe abstinence4 ,he was seen ever to go to the wars1 and walk upon ice1 with bare feet2 to wear the same robe1 winter and summer2 to surpass all his companions in patience of bearing hardships1 and to eat no more at a feast than at his own private dinner4 ,he was seen1 for seven-and-twenty years together1 to endure hunger1 poverty1 the indocility of his children1 and the nails of his wife1 with the same countenance4 ,and1 in the end1 calumny1 tyranny1 imprisonment1 fetters1 and poison4 ,but was this man obliged to drink full bumpers by any rule of civility8 he was also the man of the whole army with whom the advantage in drinking1 remained4 ,and he never refused to play at noisettes1 nor to ride the hobby-horse with children1 and it became him well2 for all actions1 says philosophy1 equally become and equally honour a wise man4 ,we have enough wherewithal to do it1 and we ought never to be weary of presenting the image of this great man in all the patterns and forms of perfection4 ,there are very few examples of life1 full and pure2 and we wrong our teaching every day1 to propose to ourselves those that are weak and imperfect1 scarce good for any one service1 and rather pull us back2 corrupters rather than correctors of manners4 ,the people deceive themselves2 a man goes much more easily indeed by the ends1 where the extremity serves for a bound1 a stop1 and guide1 than by the middle way1 large and open2 and according to art1 more than according to nature3 but withal much less nobly and commendably4 ,greatness of soul consists not so much in mounting and in pressing forward1 as in knowing how to govern and circumscribe itself2 it takes everything for great1 that is enough1 and demonstrates itself in preferring moderate to eminent things4 ,there is nothing so fine and legitimate as well and duly to play the man2 nor science so arduous as well and naturally to know how to live this life2 and of all the infirmities we have1 'tis the most barbarous to despise our being4 ,whoever has a mind to isolate his spirit1 when the body is ill at ease1 to preserve it from the contagion1 let him by all means do it if he can3 but otherwise let him on the contrary favour and assist it1 and not refuse to participate of its natural pleasures with a conjugal complacency1 bringing to it1 if it be the wiser1 moderation1 lest by indiscretion they should get confounded with displeasure4 ,intemperance is the pest of pleasure2 and temperance is not its scourge1 but rather its seasoning4 ,euxodus1 who therein established the sovereign good1 and his companions1 who set so high a value upon it1 tasted it in its most charming sweetness1 by the means of temperance1 which in them was singular and exemplary4 ,i enjoin my soul to look upon pain and pleasure with an eye equally regulated3 ,eodem enim vitio est effusio animi in laetitia quo in dolore contractio1 ,for from the same imperfection arises the expansion of the mind in pleasure and its contraction in sorrow4 --,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 iv4 #ca4 and equally firm2 but the one gaily and the other severely1 and so far as it is able1 to be careful to extinguish the one as to extend the other4 ,the judging rightly of good brings along with it the judging soundly of evil3 pain has something of the inevitable in its tender beginnings1 and pleasure something of the evitable in its excessive end4 ,plato couples them together1 and wills that it should be equally the office of fortitude to fight against pain1 and against the immoderate and charming blandishments of pleasure3 they are two fountains1 from which whoever draws1 when and as much as he needs1 whether city1 man1 or beast1 is very fortunate4 ,the first is to be taken medicinally and upon necessity1 and more scantily2 the other for thirst1 but not to1 drunkenness4 ,pain1 pleasure1 love and hatred are the first things that a child is sensible of3 if1 when reason comes1 they apply it to themselves1 that is virtue4 ,i have a special vocabulary of my own2 ,i pass away time1 when it is ill and uneasy1 but when 'tis good ,i do not pass it away3 ,i taste it over again and adhere to it2 one must run over the ill and settle upon the good4 ,this ordinary phrase of pastime1 and passing away the time1 represents the usage of those wise sort of people who think they cannot do better with their lives than to let them run out and slide away1 pass them over1 and baulk them1 and1 as much as they can1 ignore them and shun them as a thing of troublesome and contemptible quality3 but ,i know it to be another kind of thing1 and find it both valuable and commodious1 even in its latest decay1 wherein ,i now enjoy it2 and nature has delivered it into our hands in such and so favourable circumstances that we have only ourselves to blame if it be troublesome to us1 or escapes us unprofitably3 ,stulti vita ingrata est1 trepida est1 tota in futurum fertur4 ,the life of a fool is thankless1 timorous1 and wholly bent upon the future4--,seneca1 ,ep31 #ae4 ,nevertheless ,i compose myself to lose mine without regret2 but withal as a thing that is perishable by its condition1 not that it molests or annoys me4 ,nor does it properly well become any not to be displeased when they die1 excepting such as are pleased to live4 ,there is good husbandry in enjoying it3 ,i enjoy it double to what others do2 for the measure of its fruition depends upon our more or less application to it4 ,chiefly that ,i perceive mine to be so short in time1 ,i desire to extend it in weight2 ,i will stop the promptitude of its flight by the promptitude of my grasp2 and by the vigour of using it compensate the speed of its running away4 ,in proportion as the possession of life is more short1 ,i must make it so much deeper and fuller4 ,others feel the pleasure of content and prosperity2 ,i feel it too1 as well as they1 but not as it passes and slips by2 one should study1 taste1 and ruminate upon it to render condign thanks to ,him who grants it to us4 ,they enjoy the other pleasures as they do that of sleep1 without knowing it4 ,to the end that even sleep itself should not so stupidly escape from me1 ,i have formerly caused myself to be disturbed in my sleep1 so that ,i might the better and more sensibly relish and taste it4 ,i ponder with myself of content2 ,i do not skim over1 but sound it2 and ,i bend my reason1 now grown perverse and peevish1 to entertain it4 ,do ,i find myself in any calm composedness8 is there any pleasure that tickles me8 ,i do not suffer it to dally with my senses only2 ,i associate my soul to it too3 not there to engage itself1 but therein to take delight2 not there to lose itself1 but to be present there2 and ,i employ it1 on its part1 to view itself in this prosperous state1 to weigh and appreciate its happiness and to amplify it4 ,it reckons how much it stands indebted to ,god that its conscience and the intestine passions are in repose2 that it has the body in its natural disposition1 orderly and competently enjoying the soft and soothing functions by which ,he1 of ,his grace is pleased to compensate the sufferings wherewith ,his justice at ,his good pleasure chastises us4 ,it reflects how great a benefit it is to be so protected1 that which way soever it turns its eye the heavens are calm around it4 ,no desire1 no fear1 no doubt1 troubles the air2 no difficulty1 past1 present1 or to1 come1 that its imagination may not pass over without offence4 ,this consideration takes great lustre from the comparison of different conditions4 ,so it is that ,i present to my thought1 in a thousand aspects1 those whom fortune or their own error carries away and torments4 ,and1 again1 those who1 more like to me1 so negligently and incuriously receive their good fortune4 ,those are folks who spend their time indeed2 they pass over the present and that which they possess1 to wait on hope1 and for shadows and vain images which fancy puts before them3 ,morte obita quales fama est volitare figuras1 ,aut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus3 ,such forms as those which after death are reputed to hover about1 or dreams which delude the senses in sleep4--,a,eneid1 x4 #fda4 which hasten and prolong their flight1 according as they are pursued4 ,the fruit and end of their pursuit is to pursue2 as ,alexander said1 that the end of his labour was to labour3 ,nil actum credens1 cum quid superesset agendum4 ,thinking nothing done1 if anything remained to be done4 --,lucan1 ii4 #feg4 ,for my part then1 ,i love life and cultivate it1 such as it has pleased ,god to bestow it upon us4 ,i do not desire it should be without the necessity of eating and drinking2 and ,i should think it a not less excusable failing to wish it had been twice as long2 ,sapiens divitiarum naturalium quaesitor acerrimus3 ,a wise man is the keenest seeker for natural riches4 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #aai4 nor that we should support ourselves by putting only a little of that drug into our mouths1 by which ,epimenides took away his appetite and kept himself alive2 nor that we should stupidly beget children with our fingers or heels1 but rather2 with reverence be it spoken1 that we might voluptuously beget them with our fingers and heels2 nor that the body should be without desire and without titillation4 ,these are ungrateful and wicked complaints4 ,i accept kindly1 and with gratitude1 what nature has done for me2 am well pleased with it1 and proud of it4 ,a man does wrong to that great and omnipotent giver to refuse1 annul1 or disfigure his gift3 all goodness himself1 he has made everything good3 ,omnia quae secundum naturam sunt1 aestimatione digna sunt4 ,all things that are according to nature are worthy of esteem4 --,cicero1 ,de ,fin41 iii4 #f4 ,of philosophical opinions1 ,i preferably embrace those that are most solid1 that is to say1 the most human and most our own3 my discourse is1 suitable to my manners1 low and humble3 philosophy plays the child1 to my thinking1 when it puts itself upon its ,ergos to preach to us that 'tis a barbarous alliance to marry the divine with the earthly1 the reasonable with the unreasonable1 the severe with the indulgent1 the honest with the dishonest4 ,that pleasure is a brutish quality1 unworthy to be tasted by a wise man2 that the sole pleasure he extracts from the enjoyment of a fair young wife is a pleasure of his conscience to perform an action according to order1 as to put on his boots for a profitable journey4 ,oh1 that its followers had no more right1 nor nerves1 nor vigour in getting their wives' maidenheads than in its lesson4 ,this is not what ,socrates says1 who is its master and ours3 he values1 as he ought1 bodily pleasure2 but he prefers that of the mind as having more force1 constancy1 facility1 variety1 and dignity4 ,this1 according to him1 goes by no means alone--he is not so fantastic--but only it goes first2 temperance with him is the moderatrix1 not the adversary of pleasure4 ,nature is a gentle guide1 but not more sweet and gentle than prudent and just4 ,intrandum est in rerum naturam1 et penitus1 quid ea postulet1 pervidendum4 ,a man must search into the nature of things1 and fully examine what she requires4--,cicero1 ,de ,fin41 ,v4 #af4 ,i hunt after her foot throughout3 we have confounded it with artificial traces2 and that academic and peripatetic good1 which is to live according to it1 becomes on this account hard to limit and explain2 and that of the ,stoics1 neighbour to it1 which is to consent to nature4 ,is it not an error to esteem any actions less worthy1 because they are necessary8 ,and yet they will not take it out of my head1 that it is not a very convenient marriage of pleasure with necessity1 with which1 says an ancient1 the gods always conspire4 ,to what end do we dismember by divorce a building united by so close and brotherly a correspondence8 ,let us1 on the contrary1 confirm it by mutual offices2 let the mind rouse and quicken the heaviness of the body1 and the body stay and fix the levity of the soul3 ,qui1 velut summum bonum1 laudat animac naturam1 et1 tanquam malum1 naturam carnis accusat1 profectd et animam carnatiter appetit1 et carnem carnaliter fugit2 quoniam id vanitate sentit humans1 non veritate divina4 ,he who commends the nature of the soul as the supreme good1 and condemns the nature of the flesh as evil1 at once both carnally desires the soul1 and carnally flies the flesh1 because he feels thus from human vanity1 not from divine truth4 --,st4 ,augustin1 ,de ,civit4 ,dei1 xiv4 #e4 ,in this present that ,god has made us1 there is nothing unworthy our care2 we stand accountable for it even to a hair2 and is it not a commission to man1 to conduct man according to his condition2 'tis express1 plain1 and the very principal one1 and the ,creator has seriously and strictly prescribed it to us4 ,authority has power only to work in regard to matters of common judgment1 and is of more weight in a foreign language2 therefore let us again charge at it in this place3 ,stultitiae proprium quis non dixerit1 ignave et contumaciter facere1 quae facienda sunt2 et alio corpus impellere1 alio animum2 distrahique inter diversissimos motus8 ,who will not say1 that it is the property of folly1 slothfully and contumaciously to perform what is to be done1 and to bend the body one way and the mind another1 and to be distracted betwixt wholly different motions8--,seneca1 ,ep41 #gd4 ,to make this apparent1 ask any one1 some day1 to tell you what whimsies and imaginations he put into his pate1 upon the account of which he diverted his thoughts from a good meal1 and regrets the time he spends in eating2 you will find there is nothing so insipid in all the dishes at your table as this wise meditation of his 7for the most part we had better sleep than wake to the purpose we wake72 and that his discourses and notions are not worth the worst mess there4 ,though they were the ecstasies of ,archimedes himself1 what then8 ,i do not here speak of1 nor mix with the rabble of us ordinary men1 and the vanity of the thoughts and desires that divert us1 those venerable souls1 elevated by the ardour of devotion and religion1 to a constant and conscientious meditation of divine things1 who1 by the energy of vivid and vehement hope1 prepossessing the use of the eternal nourishment1 the final aim and last step of ,christian desires1 the sole constant1 and incorruptible pleasure1 disdain to apply themselves to our necessitous1 fluid1 and ambiguous conveniences1 and easily resign to the body the care and use of sensual and temporal pasture2 'tis a privileged study4 ,between ourselves1 ,i have ever observed supercelestial opinions and subterranean manners to be of singular accord4 ,a,esop1 that great man1 saw his master piss as he walked3 ,what then1 said he1 must we drop as we run8 ,let us manage our time2 there yet remains a great deal idle and ill employed4 ,the mind has not willingly other hours enough wherein to do its business1 without disassociating itself from the body1 in that little space it must have for its necessity4 ,they would put themselves out of themselves1 and escape from being men4 ,it is folly2 instead of transforming themselves into angels1 they transform themselves into beasts2 instead of elevating1 they lay themselves lower4 ,these transcendental humours affright me1 like high and inaccessible places2 and nothing is hard for me to digest in the life of ,socrates but his ecstasies and communication with demons2 nothing so human in ,plato as that for which they say he was called divine2 and of our sciences1 those seem to be the most terrestrial and low that are highest mounted2 and ,i find nothing so humble and mortal in the life of ,alexander as his fancies about his immortalisation4 ,philotas pleasantly quipped him in his answer2 he congratulated him by letter concerning the oracle of ,jupiter ,ammon1 which had placed him amongst the gods3 ,upon thy account ,i am glad of it1 but the men are to be pitied who are to live with a man1 and to obey him1 who exceeds and is not contented with the measure of a man3 ,diis to minorem quod geris1 imperas4 ,because thou carriest thyself lower than the gods1 thou rulest4 --,horace1 ,od41 iii4 #f1 #e4 ,the pretty inscription wherewith the ,athenians honoured the entry of ,pompey into their city is conformable to my sense3 ,by so much thou art a god1 as thou confessest thee a man4 ',tis an absolute and1 as it were1 a divine perfection1 for a man to know how loyally to enjoy his being4 ,we seek other conditions1 by reason we do not understand the use of our own2 and go out of ourselves1 because we know not how there to reside4 ',tis to much purpose to go upon stilts1 for1 when upon stilts1 we must yet walk with our legs2 and when seated upon the most elevated throne in the world1 we are but seated upon our breech4 ,the fairest lives1 in my opinion1 are those which regularly accommodate themselves to the common and human model without miracle1 without extravagance4 ,old age stands a little in need of a more gentle treatment4 ,let us recommend that to ,god1 the protector of health and wisdom1 but let it be gay and sociable3 ,frui paratis et valido mihi ,latoe1 dones1 et precor1 integra ,cum mente2 nec turpem senectam ,degere1 nec ,cithara carentem4 ,grant it to me1 ,apollo1 that ,i may enjoy my possessions in good health2 let me be sound in mind2 let me not lead a dishonourable old age1 nor want the cittern4--,horace1 ,od41 i4 #ca1 #ag4 ,or3 ,grant it to me1 ,apollo1 that ,i may enjoy what ,i have in good health2 let me be sound in body and mind2 let me live in honour when old1 nor let music be wanting4 ,,apology3 ,in fact1 the first edition of the ,essays 7,bordeaux1 #aehj7 has very few quotations4 ,these became more numerous in the edition of #aehh2 but the multitude of classical texts which at times encumber ,montaigne's text1 only dates from the posthumous edition of #aeie he had made these collections in the four last years of his life1 as an amusement of his idleness4--,le ,clerc4 ,they grow1 however1 more sparing in the ,third ,book4 ,,etext ,,editor',s ,,bookmarks3 ,a well-governed stomach is a great part of liberty ,affirmation and obstinacy are express signs of want of wit ,alexander said1 that the end of his labour was to labour ,all actions equally become and equally honour a wise man ,as we were formerly by crimes1 so we are now overburdened by law ,at the most1 but patch you up1 and prop you a little better have none at all than to have them in so prodigious a num ,both kings and philosophers go to stool ,cannot stand the liberty of a friend's advice ,cleave to the side that stood most in need of her ,condemnations have ,i seen more criminal than the crimes ,customs and laws make justice ,dignify our fopperies when we commit them to the press ,diversity of medical arguments and opinions embraces all ,every man thinks himself sufficiently intelligent ,excuse myself from knowing anything which enslaves me to others ,first informed who were to be the other guests ,go out of ourselves1 because we know not how there to reside ,got up but an inch upon the shoulders of the last1 but one ,hate remedies that are more troublesome than the disease itself ,he who fears he shall suffer1 already suffers what he fears ,how many and many times he has been mistaken in his own judgment ,i have done nothing to-day4--,what8 have you not lived8 ,if it be a delicious medicine1 take it ,intelligence is required to be able to know that a man knows not ,intemperance is the pest of pleasure ,language3 obscure and unintelligible in wills and contracts ,last death will kill but a half or a quarter of a man ,law3 breeder of altercation and division ,laws keep up their credit1 not for being just--but as laws ,lay the fault on the voices of those who speak to me4 ,learn my own debility and the treachery of my understanding ,life of ,caesar has no greater example for us than our own ,long sittings at table both trouble me and do me harm ,made all medicinal conclusions largely give way to my pleasure ,man after who held out his pulse to a physician was a fool ,man must learn that he is nothing but a fool ,more ado to interpret interpretations ,more books upon books than upon any other subject ,never did two men make the same judgment of the same thing ,none that less keep their promise 7than physicians7 ,nor get children but before ,i sleep1 nor get them standing ,nothing so grossly1 nor so ordinarily faulty1 as the laws ,our justice presents to us but one hand ,perpetual scolding of his wife 7of ,socrates7 ,physician3 pass through all the diseases he pretends to cure ,plato angry at excess of sleeping than at excess of drinking ,plato3 lawyers and physicians are bad institutions of a country ,prolong your misery an hour or two ,put us into a way of extending and diversifying difficulties ,resolved to bring nothing to it but expectation and patience ,scratching is one of nature's sweetest gratifications ,seek the quadrature of the circle1 even when on their wives ,so weak and languishing1 as not to have even wishing left to him ,soft1 easy1 and wholesome pillow is ignorance and incuriosity ,study makes me sensible how much ,i have to learn ,style wherewith men establish religions and laws ,subdividing these subtilties we teach men to increase their doub ,that we may live1 we cease to live ,the mean is best ,there is none of us who would not be worse than kings ,thinking nothing done1 if anything remained to be done ,thinks nothing profitable that is not painful ,thou diest because thou art living ,tis so ,i melt and steal away from myself ,truth itself has not the privilege to be spoken at all times ,truth1 that for being older it is none the wiser ,we must learn to suffer what we cannot evade ,we ought to grant free passage to diseases ,whoever will call to mind the excess of his past anger ,why do we not imitate the ,roman architecture8 ,wrangling arrogance1 wholly believing and trusting in itself ,yet do we find any end of the need of interpretating8