his house being his own body. You shall see many spectators at that
play where their charges are defrayed out of the public stock, as
they do at Athens. Now among all the liberal arts, medicine not only
contains so neat and large a field of pleasure as to give place to
none, but she pays plentifully the charges of those who delight in the
study of her by giving them health and safety; so that it ought not to
be called transgressing the bounds of a philosopher to dispute about
those things which relate to health, but rather, all bounds being laid
aside, we ought to pursue our studies in the same common field, and so
enjoy both the pleasure and the profit of them.
MOSCHIO. But to pass by Glaucus, who with his pretended gravity would
be thought to be so perfect as not to stand in need of philosophy,—do
you, if you please, run through the whole discourse, and first, those
things which you say were not so exactly handled and which Glaucus
carped at.
2. ZEUXIPPUS. A friend of ours then heard one alleging that to keep
one’s hands always warm and never suffer them to be cold did not a
little conduce to health; and, on the contrary, keeping the extreme
parts of the body cold drives the heat inward, so that you are always
in a fever or the fear of one. But those things which force the heat
outwards do distribute and draw the matter to all parts, with advantage
to our health. If in any work we employ our hands, we are able to keep
in them that heat which is induced by their motion. But when we do not
work with our hands, we should take all care to keep our extreme parts
from cold.
3. This was one of those things he ridiculed. The second, as I
remember, was touching the food allowed the sick, which he advises us
sometimes both to touch and taste when we are in good health, that so
we may be used to it, and not be shy of it, like little children, or
hate such a diet, but by degrees make it natural and familiar to our
appetite; that in our sickness we may not nauseate wholesome diet, as
if it were physic, nor be uneasy when we are prescribed any insipid
thing, that lacks both the smell and taste of a kitchen. Wherefore we
need not squeamishly refuse to eat before we wash, or to drink water
when we may have wine, or to take warm drink in summer when there is
snow at hand. We must, however, lay aside all foppish ostentation and
sophistry as well as vain-glory in this abstinence, and quietly by
ourselves accustom our appetite to obey reason with willingness, that
thus we may wean our minds long beforehand from that dainty contempt of
such food which we feel in time of sickness, and that we may not then
effeminately bewail our condition, as if we were fallen from great and
beloved pleasures into a low and sordid diet. It was well said, Choose
out the best condition you can, and custom will make it pleasant to
you. And this will be beneficial in most things we undertake, but more
especially as to diet; if, in the height of our health, we introduce
a custom whereby those things may be rendered easy, familiar, and,
as it were, domestics of our bodies, remembering what some suffer
and do in sickness, who fret, and are not able to endure warm water
or gruel or bread when it is brought to them, calling them dirty and
unseemly things, and the persons who would urge them to them base
and troublesome. The bath hath destroyed many whose distemper at the
beginning was not very bad, only because they could not endure to
eat before they washed; among whom Titus the emperor was one, as his
physicians affirm.
4. This also was said, that a thin diet is the healthfulest to the
body. But we ought chiefly to avoid all excess in meat or drink or
pleasure, when there is any feast or entertainment at hand, or when
we expect any royal or princely banquet, or solemnity which we cannot
possibly avoid; then ought the body to be light and in readiness to
receive the winds and waves it is to meet with. It is a hard matter
for a man at a feast or collation to keep that mediocrity or bounds
he has been used to, so as not to seem rude, precise, or troublesome
to the rest of the company. Lest we should add fire to fire, as the
proverb is, or one debauch or excess to another, we should take care to
imitate that ingenious droll of Philip, which was this. He was invited
to supper by a countryman, who supposed he would bring but few friends
with him; but when he saw him bring a great many, there not being much
provided, he was much concerned at it: which when Philip perceived,
he sent privately to every one of his friends, that they should leave
a corner for cake; they believing this and still expecting, ate so
sparingly that there was supper enough for them all. So we ought
beforehand to prepare ourselves against all unavoidable invitations,
that there may be room left in our body, not only for the meal and
the dessert, but for drunkenness itself, by bringing in a fresh and a
willing appetite along with us.
5. But if such a necessity should surprise you when you are already
loaded or indisposed, in the presence either of persons of quality
or of strangers that come in upon you unawares, and you cannot for
shame but go and drink with them that are ready for that purpose,
then you ought to arm yourself against that modesty and prejudicial
shame-facedness with that of Creon in the tragedy, who says,—
’Tis better, sirs, I should you now displease,
Than by complying next day lose my ease.[118]
He who throws himself into a pleurisy or frenzy, to avoid being
censured as an uncivil person, is certainly no well-bred man, nor has
he sense of understanding enough to converse with men, unless in a
tavern or a cook-shop. Whereas an excuse ingeniously and dexterously
made is no less acceptable than compliance. He that makes a feast,
though he be as unwilling to taste of it himself as if it was a
sacrifice, yet if he be merry and jocund over his glass at table,
jesting and drolling upon himself, seems better company than they
who are drunk and gluttonized together. Among the ancients, he made
mention of Alexander, who after hard drinking was ashamed to resist
the importunity of Medius, who invited him afresh to the drinking of
wine, of which he died; and of our time, of Regulus the wrestler, who,
being called by break of day by Titus Caesar to the bath, went and
washed with him, and drinking but once (as they say) was seized with
an apoplexy, and died immediately. These things Glaucus in laughter
objected to as pedantic. He was not over-fond of hearing farther, nor
indeed were we of discoursing more. But do you give heed to every thing
that was said.
6. First, Socrates advises us to beware of such meats as persuade a man
to eat them though he be not hungry, and of those drinks that would
prevail with a man to drink them when he is not thirsty. Not that he
absolutely forbade us the use of them; but he taught that we might use
them where there was occasion for it, suiting the pleasure of them to
our necessity, as cities converted the money which was designed for the
festivals into a supply for war. For that which is agreeable by nature,
so long as it is a part of our nourishment, is proper for us. He that
is hungry should eat necessary food and find it pleasant; but when he
is freed from his common appetite, he ought not to raise up a fresh
one. For, as dancing was no unpleasant exercise to Socrates himself,
so he that can make his meal of sweetmeats or a second course receives
the less damage. But he that has taken already what may sufficiently
satisfy his nature ought by all means to avoid them. And concerning
these things, indecorum and ambition are no less to be avoided than
the love of pleasure or gluttony. For these often persuade men to eat
without hunger or drink without thirst, possessing them with base and
troublesome fancies, as if it were indecent not to taste of every
thing which is either a rarity or of great price, as udder, Italian
mushrooms, Samian cakes, or snow in Egypt. Again, these often incite
men to eat things rare and much talked of, they being led to it, as it
were, by the scent of vain-glory, and making their bodies to partake of
them without any necessity of it, that they may have something to tell
others, who shall admire their having eaten such rare and superfluous
things. And thus it is with them in relation to fine women; when they
are in bed with their own wives, however beautiful and loving they
may be, they are no way concerned; but on Phryne or Lais they bestow
their money, inciting an infirm and unfit body, and provoking it to
intemperate pleasures, and all this out of a vain-glorious humor.
Phryne herself said in her old age, that she sold her lees and dregs
the dearer because she had been in such repute when she was young.
7. It is indeed a great and miraculous thing that, if we allow the
body all the pleasures which nature needs and can bear,—or rather, if
we struggle against its appetites on most occasions and put it off,
and are at last brought with difficulty to yield to its necessities,
or (as Plato saith) give way when it bites and strains itself,—after
all we should come off without harm. But, on the other hand, those
desires which descend from the mind into the body, and urge and force
it to obey and accompany them in all their motions and affections,
must of necessity leave behind them the greatest and severest ills, as
the effects of such infirm and dark delights. The desire of our mind
ought no ways to incite our bodies to any pleasure, for the beginning
of this is against nature. And as the tickling of one’s armpits forces
a laughter, which is neither moderate nor merry, nor indeed properly
a laughter, but rather troublesome and like convulsions; so those
pleasures which the molested and disturbed body receives from the mind
are furious, troublesome, and wholly strangers to nature. Therefore
when any rare or noble dish is before you, you will get more honor
by refraining from it than partaking of it. Remember what Simonides
said, that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often
that he had spoken; so we shall not repent that we have refused a good
dish or drunk water instead of Falernian, but the contrary. We are not
only to commit no violence on Nature; but when any of those things are
offered to her, even if she has a desire for them, we ought oftentimes
to direct the appetite to a more innocent and accustomed diet, that
she may be used to it and acquainted with it; for as the Theban said
(though not over honestly), If the law must be violated, it looks best
when it is done for an empire.[119] But we say better, if we are to
take pride in any such thing, it is best when it is in that moderation
which conduces to our health. But a narrowness of soul and a stingy
humor compel some men to keep under and defraud their genius at home,
who, when they enjoy the costly fare of another man’s table, do cram
themselves as eagerly as if it were all plunder; then they are taken
ill, go home, and the next day find the crudity of their stomachs
the reward of their unsatiableness. Wherefore Crates, supposing
that luxury and prodigality were the chief cause of seditions and
insurrections in a city, in a droll advises that we should never go
beyond a lentil in our meals, lest we bring ourselves into sedition.
But let every one exhort himself not to increase his meal beyond a
lentil, and not to pass by cresses and olives and fall upon pudding and
fish, that he may not by his over-eating bring his body into tumults,
disturbances, and diarrhoeas; for a mean diet keeps the appetite within
its natural bounds, but the arts of cooks and confectioners, with their
elaborate dishes and aromatic sauces, do (according to the comedian)
push forward and enlarge the bounds of pleasure, and entrench upon
those of our profit. I know not how it comes to pass that we should
abominate and hate those women that either bewitch or give philters
to their husbands, and yet give our meat and drink to our slaves and
hirelings, to all but corrupt and poison them. For though that may
seem too severe which was said by Arcesilaus against lascivious and
adulterous persons, that it signifies little which way one goes about
such beastly work;[120] yet it is not much from our purpose. For what
difference is there (to speak ingenuously) whether satyrion moves and
whets my lust, or my taste is irritated by the scent of the meat or the
sauce, so that, like a part infected with itch, it shall always need
scratching and tickling?
8. But we shall perhaps discourse against pleasures in another place,
and show the beauty and dignity that temperance has within itself;
but our present discourse is in praise of many and great pleasures.
For diseases do not either rob or spoil us of so much business, hope,
journeys, or exercise, as they do of pleasure; so that it is no way
convenient for those who would follow their pleasure to neglect their
health. There are diseases which will permit a man to study philosophy
and to exercise any military office, nay, to act the kingly part. But
the pleasures and enjoyments of the body are such as cannot be born
alive in the midst of a distemper; or if they are, the pleasures they
afford are not only short and impure, but mixed with much alloy, and
they bear the marks of that storm and tempest out of which they rise.
Venus herself delights not in a gorged, but in a calm and serene body;
and pleasure is the end of that, as well as it is of meat and drink.
Health is to pleasure as still weather to the halcyon, giving it a
safe and commodious birth and nest. Prodicus seems elegantly enough to
have said, that of all sauces fire was the best; but most true it is
to say, that health gives things the most divine and grateful relish.
For meat, whether it be boiled, roasted, or stewed, has no pleasure
or gusto in it to a sick, surfeited, or nauseous stomach. But a clean
and undebauched appetite renders every thing sweet and delightful to a
sound body, and (as Homer expresses it) devourable.
9. As Demades told the Athenians, who unseasonably made war, that
they never treated of peace but in mourning, so we never think of
a moderate and slender diet but when we are in a fever or under a
course of physic. But when we are in these extremities, we diligently
conceal our enormities, though we remember them well enough; yet as
many do, we lay the blame of our illness now upon the air, now upon
the unhealthfulness of the place or the length of a journey, to take
it off from that intemperance and luxury which was the cause of it.
As Lysimachus, when he was among the Scythians and constrained by
his thirst, delivered up himself and his army into captivity, but
afterwards, drinking cold water, cried out, O ye Gods! for how short
a pleasure have I thrown away a great felicity!—so in our sickness,
we ought to consider with ourselves that, for the sake of a draught of
cold water, an unseasonable bath, or good company, we spoil many of our
delights as well as our honorable business, and lose many pleasant
diversions. The remorse that arises from these considerations wounds
the conscience, and sticks to us in our health like a scar, to make
us more cautious as to our diet. For a healthful body does not breed
any enormous appetite, or such as we cannot prevail with or overcome.
But we ought to put on resolution against our extravagant desires or
efforts towards enjoyment, esteeming it a low and childish thing to
give ear to their complaints and murmurings; for they cease as soon as
the cloth is taken away, and will neither accuse you of injustice, nor
think you have done them wrong; but on the contrary, you will find them
the next day pure and brisk, no way clogged or nauseating. As Timotheus
said, when he had had a light philosophic dinner the other day with
Plato in the Academy, They who dine with Plato never complain the next
morning. It is reported that Alexander said, when he had turned off his
usual cooks, that he carried always better with him; for his journeys
by night recommended his dinner to him, and the slenderness of his
dinner recommended his supper.
10. I am not ignorant that fevers seize men upon a fatigue or excess
of heat or cold. But as the scent of flowers, which in itself is but
faint, if mixed with oil is more strong and fragrant; so an inward
fulness gives, as it were, a body and substance to external causes and
beginnings of sickness. For without this they could do no hurt, but
would vanish and fade away if there were lowness of blood and pureness
of spirit to receive the motion, which in fulness and superabundance,
as in disturbed mud, makes all things polluted, troublesome, and hardly
recoverable. We ought not to imitate the good mariner who out of
covetousness loads his ship hard and afterwards labors hard to throw
out the salt water, by first clogging and overcharging our bodies and
endeavoring afterwards to clear them by purges and clysters; but we
ought to keep our bodies in right order, that if at any time they
should be oppressed, their lightness may keep them up like a cork.
11. We ought chiefly to be careful in all predispositions and
forewarnings of sickness. For all distempers do not invade us, as
Hesiod expresses it,—