Temperance has those particular advantages above all other means of
preserving health, that it is practicable to all ranks and conditions,
in any season, or at any place; it is a kind of regimen which every man
may put himself under, without interrupting his business, without any
expence, or without loss of time. Every animal, except man, keeps to one
dish; herbs serve for this species, fish for that, and flesh for a
third. Man falls upon every thing that is found in his way; not the
smallest fruit, or the least excrescence of the earth, scarce a berry or
mushroom can escape him.
Though Socrates lived in Athens during a great plague, he never caught
the least infection, which ancient authors unanimously ascribe to that
uninterrupted temperance which he always observed.
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