,the ,frugal ,life4      8,that a ,spare
 ,diet is    better than a splendid     
and sumptuous40      ,a ,,paradox3      
,by ,ortensio ,lando1 ,m4,d4    #aedc4  
,with ,introduction    by 4444          
,,william ,e4 ,a4 ,,axon4               
,,manchester4    #ahii4          ,,the  
,,paradox ,,of ,a ,,frugal ,,life4      
,,introduction4      ,the friendship of 
,nicholas ,ferrar1 the head of the      
remarkable  household at ,little        
,gidding1 and of the saintly ,george    
,herbert1 is a  pleasant episode of     
seventeenth century history4 ,one of its
 results  was the appearance at         
,cambridge in #afcd of a little volume1 
entitled  8,hygiasticon40 ,this contains
 a translation1 believed to be by       
,ferrar1  of the treatise on dietetics  
by the learned ,jesuit1 ,leonard        
,lessius1  ,george ,herbert's version of
 ,luigi ,cornaro's book on ,long ,life1 
and 8,a  discourse translated out of    
,italian that a spare diet is better    
than a  splendid and sumptuous40 ,this  

version was made by one whose initials1 
,t4,s41 have not been deciphered4 ,the  
name of the original author was  equally
 unknown to bibliographers4 ,it is1 in  
fact1 the twenty-fourth of  the         
8,paradossi0 printed at ,lyons in #aedc4
 ,this book1 although it has  no        
author's name attached1 is known to be  
the production of ,ortensio  ,lando1    
sometimes known by his ,latin name of   
,hortensius ,tranquillus4 ,he  was born 
at ,milan about the end of the fifteenth
 century1 and died at  ,venice about    
#aeec4 ,he was a graduate in medicine of
 the ,university of  ,bologna1 and for  
years led the life of a wandering       
scholar1 but finally  settled at ,venice
 where he died4 ,he was the author of   
fifty or more  books4,a ,this           
seventeenth century version of ,lando's 
paradox whilst  not slavish1 makes an   
excellent presentation of the spirit and
 aim of  the original4 ,in the few      
places where the ,english writer has    
amplified  the additional matter is     

noteworthy4 ,it has1 therefore1 been    
thought  sufficient to modernise the    
spelling1 modify the arrangement and    
punctuation1 and substitute here and    
there a modern word for one that        
sounded less crude in the seventeenth   
than in the nineteenth century4    ,when
 a scholar1 such as ,ortensio ,lando    
was1 undertakes to defend  paradoxes he 
is not always to be taken too seriously1
 but in this  praise of frugal life and 
simple diet there is an accent of       
sincerity  that carries conviction4     
,,william ,e4 ,a4 ,,axon4               
,,that ,a ,,spare ,,diet ,,is ,,better  
,,than ,a ,,splendid ,,and              
,,sumptuous--,a ,,paradox4      ,i      
verily believe1 however ,i have titled  
this opinion1 yet it will by no  means  
be allowed for a ,paradox by a number of
 those1 whose judgement  ought to bear  
the greatest sway4 ,and1 to speak       
freely1 it would seem  to me very       
uncouth1 that any man that makes a      
profession of more  understanding than a

 beast1 should open his mouth to the    
contrary1  or make any scruple at all of
 readily subscribing to the truth and   
evidence of this position1 that a frugal
 and simple diet is much better  than a 
full and dainty4    ,tell me1 you that  
seem to demur on the business1 whether a
 sober and  austere diet serves not1    
without further help1 to chase away that
  racking humour of the gout1 which by  
all other helps that can be used1       
scarce receives any mitigation at all2  
but1 do what can be done1 lies          
tormenting the body1 till it have spent 
itself4 ,tell me whether this  holy     
medicine serve not to the driving away  
of headache1 to the cure  of dizziness1 
to the stopping of rheums1 to the stay  
of flukes1 to  the getting away of      
loathsome diseases1 to the freedom from 
dishonest  belchings1 to the prevention 
of agues1 and1 in a word1 to the        
clearing  and draining of all ill       
humours whatsoever in the body4 ,nor do 
the  benefits thereof stay only in the  

body1 but ascend likewise to the        
perfecting of the soul itself3 for how  
manifest is it1 that through  a sober   
and strict diet1 the mind and all the   
faculties thereof  become waking1 quick1
 and cheerful1 how is the wit sharpened1
 the  understanding solidated1 the      
affections tempered1 and1 in a word1 the
  whole soul and spirit of a man freed  
from encumbrances1 and made apt  and    
expedite for the apprehension of wisdom1
 and the embracement of  virtue8    ,the
 ancient sages1 were1 ,i am sure1 of    
this opinion2 and ,plato in  particular 
made notable remonstrance of it2 when   
upon his coming into  ,sicily from      
,athens1 he did so bitterly condemn the 
,syracusian tables1  which being        
furnished with precious and dainty      
cates1 provoking  sauces1 and rich      
wines1 sent away their guests twice a   
day full of  good cheer4 ,but what      
wouldst thou have said1 oh1 ,plato6 if  
thou hadst  perhaps lighted upon such as
 we ,christians nowadays are2 amongst   

whom1  he that eats but two good meals a
 day1 as we term them1 boasts himself1  
and1 is applauded by others for a person
 of great temperance and  singular good 
diet8    ,undoubtly1 our extravagance in
 this matter1 having added prologues  of
 breakfasts1 interludes of banquets1    
epilogues of rere-suppers to  the comedy
 would have caused thee to turn thy     
divine eloquence to the  praise of those
 ,syracusion gluttons1 which1 in respect
 of our usages  and customs1 might seem 
great masters of temperance4    ,nay1   
very ,epicurus himself1 however1 he may 
thank ,tully's slanders1 his  name is   
become in this regard so infamous1 yet  
placed his chief delight  this way in no
 greater dainties than savoury herbs1   
and fresh cheese4    ,but ,i would fain 
once understand from these gluttons1    
that seem born  only to waste good meat1
 what the reason may be1 that nowadays  
the  store of victuals is so much       
abated1 and the price enhanced of that  
it was in time of old1 when yet the     

world appears to have been then  much   
fuller of people than it now is8        
,undoubtedly1 that scarcity  and        
dearness under which we labour1 can     
proceed from nothing but  our excessive 
gluttony which devours things faster    
than ,nature can  bring them forth4 ,and
 that plenty and cheapness1 which       
crowned their  happy days1 was          
maintained and kept on foot chiefly     
through the good  husbandry of that     
frugal and simple diet which they used4 
,s4 ,jerome1 writing of the course of   
life held by those good fathers  that   
retired themselves into the deserts of  
,egypt1 the better to serve  ,god1 tells
 us1 that they were so enamoured of     
spare and simple diet1  that they       
censured it in themselves for a kind of 
riot1 to feed on  anything that was     
dressed with fire4 ,the same in every   
point doth  ,cassian report1 in his     
relations of the holy monks and hermits 
of his  time4    ,i find in ancient     
physicians1 that the inhabitants of the 

old world  were such strict followers of
 sobriety1 that they kept themselves    
precisely to bread in the morning2 and  
at night they made their supper  of     
flesh only without addition of sauces1  
or any first or second  courses4 ,and by
 this means it came to pass1 that they  
lived so long and  in continual health  
without so much as once hearing the     
names of those  many grievous           
infirmities that nowadays vex mankind4  
,what think you might be the cause1 that
 the ,romans1 the ,arcadians1  and the  
,portugals passed so many hundred of    
years1 without having any  acquaintance 
at all with physic or physicians8       
,surely nothing else  but their sober   
spare diet1 which when all is done1 we  
are ofttimes  constrained to undergo1   
and ever indeed directed and advised    
unto1  by those who really practise this
 divine science of physic1 for the      
recovery and conservation of their      
patient's health1 and not covetously    
for their own gain4 ,i read in approved 

histories1 that ,ptolemy1  upon some    
occasion or other out-riding his        
followers in ,egypt1 was  so pressed    
with hunger1 that he was fain to call in
 at a poor man's  cottage1 who brought  
him a piece of rye-bread2 which when he 
had eaten1  he took a solemn oath1 that 
he never in all his life tasted better1 
nor  more pleasing meat3 and from that  
day forward1 he set light by all the    
costly sorts of bread1 which he had been
 formerly accustomed unto4    ,the      
,thracian women1 that they might bear   
healthful1 strong1 and hardy  children1 
ate nothing but milk and nettles1 and   
the greatest dainties  that the         
,lacedemonians had amongst them1 was a  
certain kind of black  pottage1 that    
looked no better than melted pitch1 and 
could not by  computation stand in above
 three half-pence a gallon at the most4 
,the  ,persians1 that in their time were
 the best disciplined people on the     
earth1 ate a little ,nasturtium,b with  
their bread2 and that was all  the      

victuals that this brave nation used1   
when they made conquest of  the world4  
,artaxerxes1 the brother of ,cyrus1     
being overthrown in battle1 was         
constrained in his flight to sit down   
with dry figs and barley-bread  which   
upon proof he found so good1 as he      
seriously lamented his  misfortune1 in  
having1--through the continual cloying  
of artificial  dainties1 wherewith he   
had been bred up1--been so long time a  
stranger  to that great pleasure and    
delight1 which natural and simple food  
yields1 when it meets with true hunger4 
,true it is1 our stomach is a           
troublesome creditor1 and ofttimes      
shamelessly exacts more than its due3   
but undoubtedly1 if we were not         
partial1 and corrupted by the           
allurements of that base content which  
dainties promise1 we might easily quiet 
the grudgings and murmurings  thereof4  
,it's not the stomach1 ,i wis1 which    
would rest apayed with  that which is at
 hand2 but the satisfaction of our      

capricious  fancies1 that makes us wear 
out our selves1 and weary all the world 
besides with uncessant travel in the    
search of rarities1 and in the          
compounding of new delicacies4 ,if we   
were but half as wise as we  ought to   
be1 there need none of all this ado that
 we make1 about this  and that kind of  
,manchet1 ,dutch-bread1 and             
,french-bread3 and ,i know  not what new
 inventions are brought on foot1 to make
 more business  in the world2 whereas   
with much less cost and trouble we might
 be  much better served with that which 
grows at home1 and is to be found  ready
 in every thatched cottage4 ,that which 
is most our own1 and that  which we     
therefore perhaps1 fools as we be1 most 
contemn in this  kind1--barley-bread ,i 
mean1--is by all the old physicians1    
warranted  for a most sound and         
healthful food4 ,he that eats daily of  
it1 say  they1 shall undoubtedly never  
be troubled with the gout in the feet4  
,shew me such a virtue in any of these  

new inventions1 and ,i'll yield  there  
were some reason perhaps in making use  
of them1 if they might  with ease and   
quiet be procured4 ,but to buy them at  
the price of so  much pains1 time1 and  
hazard as they cost us1 undoubtedly too 
much1  although they brought as much    
benefit as they do prejudice4 ,consider 
well1 ,i pray1 whether it be not a thing
 to make a wise man run beside  himself1
 to see such a ransacking of all the    
elements by fishers  and fowlers1 and   
hunters2 such a turmoiling of the world 
by cooks  and comfit-makers1 and        
tavern-keepers and a numberless many of 
such  needless occupations2 such a      
hazarding of mens lives on sea and land1
  by heat and cold1 and a thousand other
 dangers and difficulties2 and  all     
forsooth in procuring dainties for the  
satisfaction of a greedy  maw1 and      
senseless stomach1 that within a very   
short while after must  of necessity    
make a banquet of itself to worms4      
,what an endless maze of error1 what an 

intolerable hell of torments and        
afflictions hath this wicked gluttony   
brought the world unto4 ,and yet1       
wretched men that we are1 we have no    
mind to get out of it1 but like  silly  
animals led by the chaps1 go on all day 
long1 digging our graves  with our      
teeth1 till at last we bring the earth  
over our heads much  before we otherwise
 need to have done4 ,and yet there was a
 certain odd  fellow once in the world1 
,i would there were not too many of the 
same  mind nowadays6 ,philoxenus by     
name1 that seriously wished he might    
have  a swallow as long and as large as 
the cranes1 the better to enjoy the     
full relish of his licorish morsels4    
,long after him1 ,i read of another  of 
the same fraternity1 ,apicius1 ,i trow1 
that set all his happiness in  good     
cheer3 but little credit1 ,i am sure1 he
 hath got by the means2 no  more than   
,maximinus1 for all he was an ,emperor1 
by his using every meal  to stuff into  
his paunch thirty pounds of flesh1      

beside bread and wine  to boot4 ,but    
,geta deserves1 in my opinion1 the      
monarchy of gluttons1 as  he had of the 
,romans4 ,his feasts went alway         
according to the letters  of the        
alphabet1 as when ,p's turn came1 he    
would have plovers1 and  partridges1 and
 peacocks1 and the like2 and so in all  
the rest1 his  table was always         
furnished with meats whose names began  
with one and  the same letter4    ,but  
what do ,i raking up this carrion8 ,let 
them rot in their corruption  and lie   
more covered over with infamy than with 
earth4 ,only1 to give  the world notice 
who have been the great masters of this 
worthy science  of filling the stomach  
and following good cheer1 ,i have been  
enforced  to make this remembrance of   
some of their goodly opinions and       
pranks4  ,which let who so will be their
 partner in3 for my part1 ,i solemnly   
avow1 that ,i find no greater misery    
than to victual the camp1 as the        
proverb is1 cramming in lustily over    

night1 and to be bound next  morning to 
rise early and to go about serious      
business4    ,oh what a piece of        
purgatory is it1 to feel within a man's 
self those  qualms1 those gripings1     
those swimmings1 and those flashing     
heats that  follow upon over-eating6    
,and what a shame1 if our foreheads were
 not of  brass1 and our friends before  
whom we act them1 infected with the same
  disease1 would it be to stand yawning1
 stretching1 and perbreaking the        
crudities of the former day's surfeit6  
,on the contrary1 what a happiness do ,i
 prove1 when after a sober  pittance ,i 
find sound and quiet sleep all night    
long1 and at peep of  day get up as     
fresh as the morning itself1 full of    
vigour and activity  both in mind and   
body1 for all manner of affairs6 ,let   
who will take his  pleasure in the      
fulness of delicates2 ,i desire my part 
may be in this  happy enjoyment of my   
self1 although it should be with the    
abatement of  much more content than any

 dainties can afford4    ,when ,i was   
last at ,messina1 my lord ,antonio      
,doria1 told me that he  was acquainted 
in ,spain with an old man who had lived 
above a hundred  years4 ,one day having 
invited him home and entertained him    
sumptuously1  as his lordship's manner  
is1 the good old man instead of thanks  
told  him1 8,my lord1 had ,i been       
accustomed to these kind of meals in my 
youth1 ,i had never come to this age    
which you see1 nor been able to         
preserve that health and strength both  
of mind and body1 which you make  shew  
so much to admire in me40    ,see now6  
here's a proof even in our age1 that the
 length and happiness  of men's lives in
 the old world was chiefly caused by the
 means of  blessed temperance4 ,but what
 need more words in a matter as evident 
as the sun at noonday1 to all but those 
whose brains are sunk down  into the    
quagmire of their stomachs8 ,i'll make  
an end with that which  cannot be       
denied1 nor deluded1 nor resisted2 so   

plain is the truth1  and so great is the
 authority of the argument2 and this it 
is3 ,peruse  all histories of whatever  
times and people1 and you shall always  
find  the haters of a sober life and    
spare diet to have been sworn enemies   
against goodness and virtue3 witness    
,claudius1 ,caligula1 ,heliogabalus1    
,clodius the tragedian1 ,vitellius1     
,verus1 ,tiberius1 and the like4 ,and on
  the contrary1 the friends and         
followers of sobriety and frugality to  
have been men of divine spirits1 and    
most heroical performances for the      
benefit of mankind2 such as were        
,augustus1 ,alexander ,severus1 ,paulus 
milius1 ,epaminondas1 ,socrates1 and all
 the rest who are registered for        
excellent in the lists of princes1      
soldiers and philosophers4    ,a spare  
diet then is better than a splendid and 
sumptuous1 let the  ,sardanapaluses of  
our age prattle what they list4 ,nature1
 and reason1  and experience1 and the   
example of all virtuous persons prove it

 to be  so4 ,he that goes about to      
persuade me otherwise shall lose his    
labour1  though he had his tongue and   
brain furnished with all the sophistry  
and  eloquence that ever ,greece and    
,italy could jointly have afforded4     
,,footnotes3    ,a ,a full account of   
his life and works has been prepared for
 the  ,royal ,society of ,literature by 
the present writer 78,transactions1     
#ahii074 ,those who are interested in   
,nicholas ,ferrar should consult        
,professor ,j4 ,e4 ,b4 ,mayor's volume  
devoted to him in 8,cambridge in the    
,seventeenth ,century40    ,b ,cress1 or
 ,wild ,mint4        ,,transcriber',s   
,,notes3        ,italicized or          
underlined text is surrounded by        
underscores3 italics4      ,obvious     
typographical errors have been          
corrected4      ,the cover image for    
this e,book was created by the          
transcriber and is      entered into the
 public domain4