diff --git a/data/tlg0007/tlg077/tlg0007.tlg077.perseus-eng4.xml b/data/tlg0007/tlg077/tlg0007.tlg077.perseus-eng4.xml new file mode 100644 index 000000000..765bfa2d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/tlg0007/tlg077/tlg0007.tlg077.perseus-eng4.xml @@ -0,0 +1,1140 @@ + + + + + + + Plutarch's Rules for the Preservation of Health + Machine readable text + Plutarch + Goodwin + Matthew Poole + Perseus Project, Tufts University + Gregory Crane + + Prepared under the supervision of + Lisa Cerrato + Rashmi Singhal + Bridget Almas + + The National Endowment for the Humanities + + + Trustees of Tufts University + Medford, MA + Perseus Project + 2010-12-13 + + + + + Plutarch + Plutarch's Morals. + + Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by + William W. Goodwin, PH. D. + + + Boston + Little, Brown, and Company + Cambridge + Press Of John Wilson and son + 1874 + + 1 + + The Internet Archive + + + + +

Text encoded in accordance with the latest EpiDoc standards

+

The following text is encoded in accordance with EpiDoc standards and with the CTS/CITE Architecture

+ + +

This pointer pattern extracts sections

+ +
+ + + English + Greek + Latin + + + Moschio + Zeuxippus + + + + tagging + EpiDoc and CTS conversion + +
+ + +
+ + Plutarch's Rules for the Preservation of Health. + A Dialogue. + MOSCHIO, ZEUXIPPUS. +
+

And you, Zeuxippus, diverted Glaucus the + physician from entering into a philosophical discourse with + you yesterday.

+

I did not hinder him in the least, friend + Moschio, it was he that would not discourse in philosophy. + But I feared and avoided giving so contentious a man any + opportunity of discourse; for though in physic the man + has (as HomerIl. XL 514. expresses it) an excellency before most of + his profession, yet in philosophy he is not altogether so + candid, but indeed so rude in all his disputations, that he + is hardly to be borne with, flying (as it were) at us open + mouthed. So that it is neither an easy nor indeed a just + thing, that we should bear those confusions in terms he + makes, when we are disputing about a wholesome diet. + Besides, he maintains that the bounds of philosophy and + medicine are as distinct as those of the Mysians and Phrygians. And taking hold of some of those things we were + discoursing of, perhaps not with all exactness, yet not + without some profit, he made scurrilous reflections on + them.

+

But I am ready, Zeuxippus, to hear those + and the other things you shall discourse of, with a great + deal of pleasure.

+ +

You have naturally a philosophical genius, + Moschio, and are troubled to see a philosopher have no + kindness for the study of medicine. You are uneasy that + he should think it concerns him more to study geometry, + logic, and music, than to be desirous to understand + + + + What in his house is well or ill-designed, + + Odyss. IV. 392. + + + + his house being his own body. You shall see manyspectators 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.

+

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.

+
+
+

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.

+
+
+

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.

+
+
+

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.

+
+
+

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 shamefacedness 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. + + See Eurip. Medea, 290. + + + + 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.

+
+
+

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.

+
+
+

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.Eteocles the Theban, in Eurip. Phoeniss. 524. 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; + Μηδὲν διαφέρειν ὄπισθέν τινα ἢ ἔμπροσθεν εἶναι κίναιδον. + 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?

+
+
+

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 distemperor 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.

+
+
+

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.

+
+
+

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. +

+
+
+

We ought chiefly to be careful in all predispositions + and forewarnings of sickness. For all distempers do not + invade us, as Hesiod expresses it, — + + + + In silence, — for the Gods have struck them dumb; + + Hesiod, Works and Days, 102. + + + + but the most of them have ill digestion and a kind of a + laziness, which are the forerunners and harbingers that + give us warning. Sudden heaviness and weariness tell us + a distemper is not far off, as Hippocrates affirms, by reason + (it seems) of that fulness which doth oppress and load the + spirit in the nerves. Some men, when their bodies all but + contradict them and invite them to a couch and repose, + through gluttony and love of pleasure throw themselves + into a bath or make haste to some drinking meeting, as if + they were laying in for a siege; being mightily in fear lest + the fever should seize them before they have dined. Those + who pretend to more elegance are not caught in this manner, but foolishly enough; for, being ashamed to own their + qualms and debauch or to keep house all day, when others + call them to go with them to the gymnasium, they arise + and pull off their clothes with them, doing the same things + which they do that are in health. Intemperance and effeminacy make many fly for patronage to the proverb, + Wine is best after wine, and one debauch is the way to + drive out another. This excites their hopes, and persuades + and urges them to rise from their beds and rashly to fall + to their wonted excesses. Against which hope he ought + to set that prudent advice of Cato, when he says that great + things ought to be made less, and the lesser to be quite + left off; and that it is better to abstain to no purpose and + be at quiet, than to run ourselves into hazard by forcing + ourselves either to bath or dinner. For if there be any ill + + + + in it, it is an injury to us that we did not watch over ourselves and refrain; but if there be none, it is no inconvenience to your body to have abstained and be made more + pure by it. He is but a child who is afraid lest his friends + and servants should perceive that he is sick either of a + surfeit or a debauch. He that is ashamed to confess the + crudity of his stomach to-day will to-morrow with shame + confess that he has either a diarrhoea, a fever, or the + griping in the guts. You think it is a disgrace to want, + but it is a greater disgrace to bear the crudity, heaviness, and + fulness of your body, when it has to be carried into the + bath, like a rotten and leaky boat into the sea. As some + seamen are ashamed to live on shore when there is a storm + at sea, yet when they are at sea lie shamefully crying and + retching to vomit; so in any suspicion or tendency of the + body to any disease, they think it an indecorum to keep + their bed one day and not to have their table spread, yet + most shamefully for many days together are forced to be + purged and plastered, flattering and obeying their physicians, asking for wine or cold water, being forced to do + and say many unseasonable and absurd things, by reason + of the pain and fear they are in. Those therefore who + cannot govern themselves on account of pleasures, but + yield to their lusts and are carried away by them, may + opportunely be taught and put in mind that they receive + the greatest share of their pleasures from their bodies.

+
+
+

And as the Spartans gave the cook vinegar and salt, + and bade him look for the rest in the victim, so in our + bodies, the best sauce to whatsoever is brought before us is + that our bodies are pure and in health. For any thing that + is sweet or costly is so in its own nature and apart from + any thing else; but it becomes sweet to the taste only when + it is in a body which is delighted with it and which is disposed as nature doth require. But in those bodies which + are foul, surfeited, and not pleased with it, it loses its beauty + + + + and convenience. Wherefore we need not be concerned + whether fish be fresh or bread fine, or whether the bath be + warm or your she-friend a beauty; but whether you are + not squeamish and foul, whether you are not disturbed and + do not feel the dregs of yesterday's debauch. Otherwise + it will be as when some drunken revellers break into a + house where they are mourning, bringing neither mirth nor + pleasure with them, but increasing the lamentation. So + Venus, meats, baths, and wines, in a body that is crazy and + out of order, mingled with what is vitiated and corrupted, + stir up phlegm and choler, and create great trouble; neither + do they bring any pleasure that is answerable to their expectations, or worth either enjoying or speaking of.

+
+
+

A diet which is very exact and precisely according + to rule puts one's body both in fear and danger; it hinders + the gallantry of our soul itself, makes it suspicious of every + thing or of having to do with any thing, no less in pleasures + than in labors; so that it dares not undertake any thing + boldly and courageously. We ought to do by our body as + by the sail of a ship in fair and clear weather: — we must + not contract it and draw it in too much, nor be too remiss + or negligent about it when we have any suspicion upon us, + but give it some allowance and make it pliable (as we have + said), and not wait for crudities and diarrhoeas, or heat or + drowsiness, by which some, as by messengers and apparitors, are frighted and moderate themselves when a fever is + at hand; but we must long beforehand guard against the + storm, as if the north wind blew at sea.

+
+
+

It is absurd, as Democritus says, by the croaking of + ravens, the crowing of a cock, or the wallowing of a sow + in the mire, carefully to observe the signs of windy or rainy + weather, and not to prevent and guard ourselves against + the motions and fluctuations of our bodies or the indication of a distemper, nor to understand the signs of a storm + which is just ready to break forth within ourselves. So + + + + that we are not only to observe our bodies as to meat and + exercise, whether they use them more sluggishly or unwillingly than they were wont; or whether we be more thirsty + and hungry than we use to be; but we are also to take care + as to our sleep, whether it be continued and easy, or + whether it be irregular and convulsive. For absurd dreams + and irregular and unusual fantasies show either abundance or thickness of humors, or else a disturbance of the + spirits within. For the motions of the soul show that the + body is nigh a distemper. For there are despondencies of + mind and fears that are without reason or any apparent + cause, which extinguish our hopes on a sudden. Some + there are that are sharp and prone to anger, whom a little + thing makes sad; and these cry and are in great trouble + when ill vapors and fumes meet together and (as Plato says) + are intermingled in the ways and passages of the soul. + Wherefore those to whom such things happen must consider and remember, that even if there be nothing spiritual, + there is some bodily cause which needs to be brought away + and purged.

+
+
+

Besides, it is profitable for him who visits his friends + in their sickness to enquire after the causes of it. Let us not + sophistically or impertinently discourse about lodgements, + irruptions of blood, and commonplaces, merely to show + our skill in the terms of art which are used in medicine. + But when we have with diligence heard such trivial and + common things discoursed of as fulness or emptiness, + weariness, lack of sleep, and (above all) the diet which the + patient kept before he fell sick, then, — as Plato used to + ask himself, after the miscarriage of other men he had + been with, Am not I also such a one? — so ought we to + take care by our neighbor's misfortunes, and diligently to + beware that we do not fall into them, and afterwards cry + out upon our sick-bed, How precious above all other things + is health! When another is in sickness, let it teach us + + + + how valuable a treasure health is, which we ought to keep + and preserve with all possible care. Neither will it be + amiss for every man to look into his own diet. If therefore + we have been eating, drinking, laboring, or doing any thing + to excess, and our bodies give us no suspicion or hint of a + distemper, yet ought we nevertheless to stand upon our + guard and take care of ourselves, — if it be after venery + and labor, by giving of ourselves rest and quiet; if after + drinking of wine and feasting, by drinking of water; but + especially, after we have fed on flesh or solid meats or eaten + divers things, by abstinence, that we may leave no superfluity in our bodies; for these very things, as they are the + cause of many diseases, likewise administer matter and + force to other causes. Wherefore it was very well said, + that to eat — but not to satiety, to labor — but not to weariness, and to keep in nature, are of all things the most + healthful. For intemperance in venery takes away that + by which vigor our nourishment is elaborated, and causes + more superfluity and redundance.

+
+
+

But we shall begin and treat of each of these, and + first we shall discourse of those exercises which are proper + for a scholar. And as he that said he should prescribe + nothing for the teeth to them that dwelt by the seaside + taught them the benefit of the sea-water, so one would + think that there was no need of writing to scholars concerning exercise. For it is wonderful what an exercise the + daily use of speech is, not only as to health but even to + strength. I mean not fleshly and athletic health, or such + as makes one's external parts firm, like the outside of a + house, but such as gives a right tone and inward vigor to + the vital and noble parts. And that the vital spirit increases strength is made plain by them who anointed the + wrestlers, who commanded them, when their limbs were + rubbed, to withstand such frictions in some sort, in holding + their wind, observing carefully those parts of the body + + + + which were smeared and rubbed.The text of this passage is uncertain, and probably corrupt. I have given Holland's version of the doubtful expressions. (G.) Now the voice, being + a motion of the spirit, not superficially but firmly seated + in the bowels, as it were in a fountain, increases the heat, + thins the blood, purges every vein, opens all the arteries, + neither does it permit the coagulation or condensation of + any superfluous humor, which would settle like dregs in + those vessels which receive and work our nourishment. + Wherefore we ought by much speaking to accustom ourselves to this exercise, and make it familiar to us; and if + we suspect that our bodies are weaker or more tired than + ordinary, by reading or reciting. For what riding in a + coach is compared with bodily exercise, that is reading + compared with disputing, if you carry your voice softly and + low, as it were in the chariot of another man's words. + For disputes bring with them a vehemence and contention, + adding the labor of the mind to that of the body. All + passionate noise, and such as would force our lungs, ought + to be avoided; for irregular and violent strains of our voice + may break something within us, or bring us into convulsions. But when a student has either read or disputed, + before he walks abroad, he ought to make use of a gentle + and tepid friction, to open the pores of his body, as much as + is possible, even to his very bowels, that so his spirits may + gently and quietly diffuse themselves to the extreme parts + of his body. The bounds that this friction ought not to + exceed are, that it be done no longer than it is pleasant to + our sense and without pain. For he that so allays the disturbance which is within himself and the agitation of his + spirits will not be troubled by that superfluity which remains in him; and if it be unseasonable for to walk, or if + his business hinder him, it is no great matter; for nature + has already received satisfaction. Whether one be at sea + or in a public inn, it is not necessary that he should be + + + + silent, though all the company laugh at him. For where + it is no shame to eat, it is certainly no shame to exercise + yourself; but it is worse to stand in awe of and be troubled + with seamen, carriers, and innkeepers, that laugh at you + not because you play at ball or fight a shadow, but because + in your discourse you exercise yourself by teaching others, + or by enquiring and learning something yourself, or else by + calling to mind something. For Socrates said, he that + uses the exercise of dancing had need have a room big + enough to hold seven beds; but he that makes either singing or discourse his exercise may do it either standing or + lying in any place. But this one thing we must observe, + that when we are conscious to ourselves that we are too + full, or have been concerned with Venus, or labored hard, + we do not too much strain our voice, as so many rhetoricians and readers in philosophy do, some of whom out of + glory and ambition, some for reward or private contentions, + have forced themselves beyond what has been convenient. + Our Niger, when he was teaching philosophy in Galatia, + by chance swallowed the bone of a fish; but a stranger + coming to teach in his place, Niger, fearing he might run + away with his repute, continued to read his lectures, though + the bone still stuck in his throat; from whence a great and + hard inflammation arising, he, being unable to undergo the + pain, permitted a deep incision to be made, by which wound + the bone was taken out; but the wound growing worse, + and rheum falling upon it, it killed him. But this may be + mentioned hereafter in its proper place.

+
+
+

After exercise to use a cold bath is boyish, and has + more ostentation in it than health; for though it may seem + to harden our bodies and make them not so subject to outward accidents, yet it does more prejudice to the inward + parts, by hindering transpiration, fixing the rumors, and + condensing those vapors which love freedom and transpiration. Besides, necessity will force those who use cold + + + + baths into that exact and accurate way of diet they would + so much avoid, and make them take care they be not in the + least extravagant, for every such error is sure to receive + a bitter reproof. But a warm bath is much more pardonable, for it does not so much destroy our natural vigor and + strength as it does conduce to our health, laying a soft and + easy foundation for concoction, preparing those things for + digestion which are not easily digested without any pain + (if they be not very crude and deep lodged), and fleeing + us from all inward weariness. But when we do sensibly + perceive our bodies to be indifferent well, or as they ought + to be, we should omit bathing, and anoint ourselves by the + fire; which is better if the body stand in need of heat, for + it dispenses a warmth throughout. But we should make + use of the sun more or less, as the temper of the air permits. So much may suffice to have been said concerning + exercises.

+
+
+

As for what has been said of diet before, if any part + of it be profitable in instructing us how we should allay + and bring down our appetites, there yet remains one thing + more to be advised: that if it be troublesome to treat one's + belly like one broke loose, and to contend with it though + it has no ears (as Cato said), then ought we to take care + that the quality of what we eat may make the quantity + more light; and we should eat cautiously of such food as + is solid and most nourishing (for it is hard always to refuse it), such as flesh, cheese, dried figs, and boiled eggs; + but more freely of those things which are thin and light, + such as moist herbs, fowl, and fish if it be not too fat; for + he that eats such things as these may gratify his appetite, + and yet not oppress his body. But ill digestion is chiefly + to be feared after flesh, for it presently very much clogs us + and leaves ill relics behind it. It would be best to accustom one's self to eat no flesh at all, for the earth affords + plenty enough of things fit not only for nourishment, but + + + + for delight and enjoyment; some of which you may eat + without much preparation, and others you may make + pleasant by adding divers other things to them. But since + custom is almost a second nature, we may eat flesh, but + not to the cloying of our appetites, like wolves or lions, + but only to lay as it were a foundation and bulwark for our + nourishment, — and then come to other meats and sauces + which are more agreeable to the nature of our bodies and + do less dull our rational soul, which seems to be enlivened + by a light and brisk diet.

+
+
+

As for liquids, we should never make milk our drink, + but rather take it as food, it yielding much solid nourishment. As for wine, we must say to it what Euripides + said to Venus: — + + + + Thy joys with moderation I would have, + And that I ne'er may want them humbly crave. + + + For wine is the most beneficial of all drinks, the pleasantest medicine in the world, and of all dainties the least + cloying to the appetite, provided more regard be given to + the opportunity of the time of drinking it than even to its + being properly mixed with water. Water, not only when + it is mixed with wine, but also if it be drunk by itself + between mixed wine and water, makes the mingled wine + the less hurtful. We should accustom ourselves therefore + in our daily diet to drink two or three glasses of water, + which will allay the strength of the wine, and make drinking of water familiar to our body, that so in a case of + necessity it may not be looked on as a stranger, and we be + offended at it. It so falls out, that some have then the + greatest inclination for wine when there is most need they + should drink water; for such men, when they have been + exposed to great heat of the sun, or have fallen into a + chill, or have been speaking vehemently, or have been + more than ordinarily thoughtful about any thing, or after + any fatigue or labor, are of the opinion that they ought to + + + + drink wine, as if nature required some repose for the body + and some diversion after its labors. But nature requires + no such repose (if you will call pleasure repose), but desires only such an alteration as shall be between pleasure + and pain; in which case we ought to abate of our diet, + and either wholly abstain from wine, or drink it allayed + with very much mixture of water. For wine, being sharp + and fiery, increases the disturbances of the body, exasperates them, and wounds the parts affected; which stand + more in need of being comforted and smoothed, which + water does the best of any thing. If, when we are not + thirsty, we drink warm water after labor, exercise, or heat, + we find our inward parts loosened and smoothed by it; for + the moisture of water is gentle and not violent, but that of + wine carries a great force in it, which is no ways agreeable in the fore-mentioned cases. And if any one should + be afraid that abstinence would bring upon the bodythat + acrimony and bitterness which some say it will, he is like + those children who think themselves much wronged because + they may not eat just before the fit of a fever. The best + mean between both these is drinking of water. We oftentimes sacrifice to Bacchus himself without wine, doing very + well in accustoming ourselves not to be always desirous + of wine. Minos made the pipe and the crown be laid aside + at the sacrifice when there was mourning. And yet we + know an afflicted mind is not at all affected by either the + pipe or crown; but there is no body so strong, to which, in + commotion or a fever, wine does not do a great deal of + injury.

+
+
+

The Lydians are reported in a famine to have spent + one day in eating, and the next in sports and drollery. But + a lover of learning and a friend to the Muses, when at any + time he is forced to sup later than ordinary, will not be so + much a slave to his belly as to lay aside a geographical + scheme when it is before him, or his book, or his lyre; but + + + + strenuously turning himself, and taking his mind off from + eating, he will in the Muses' name drive away all such desires, as so many Harpies, from his table. Will not the + Scythian in the midst 'of his cups oftentimes handle his + bow and twang the string, thereby rousing up himself from + that drunkenness in which he was immersed? Will a + Greek be afraid, because he is laughed at, by books and + letters gently to loosen and unbend any blind and obstinate + desire? The young men in Menander, when they were + drinking, were trepanned by a bawd, which brought in to + them a company of handsome and richly attired women; + but every one, as he said, + + + + Cast down his eyes and fell to junketing, — + + + not one daring to look upon them. Lovers of learning + have many fair and pleasant diversions, if they can no + other way keep in their canine and brutish appetites + when they see the table spread. The bawling of such fellows as anoint wrestlers, and the opinion of pedagogues + that it hinders our nourishment and dulls one's head to + discourse of learning at table, are indeed of some force + then, when we are called upon to solve a fallacy like the + Indus or to dispute about the Kyrieuon at a feast. For + though the pith of the palm-tree is very sweet, yet they + say it will cause the headache. To discourse of logic at + meals is not indeed a very delicious banquet, is rather + troublesome, and pains one's head; but if there be any + who will not give us leave to discourse philosophically or + ask any question or read any thing at table, though it be + of those things which are not only decent and profitable + but also pleasantly merry, we will desire them not to + trouble us, but to talk in this style to the athletes in the + Xvstum and the Palaestra, who have laid aside their books + and are wont to spend their whole time in jeers and scurrilous jests, being, as Aristo wittily expresses it, smooth + and hard, like the pillars in the gymnasium. But we must + + + + obey our physicians, who advise us to keep some interval + between supper and sleep, and not to heap up together a + great deal of victuals in our stomachs and so shorten our + breath (lest we presently by crude and fermenting aliment + overcharge our digestion), but rather to take some space + and breathing-time before we sleep. As those who have + a mind to exercise themselves after supper do not do it by + running or wrestling, but rather by gentle exercise, such + as walking or dancing; so when we intend to exercise our + minds after supper, we are not to do it with any thing of + business or care, or with those sophistical disputes which + bring us into a vain-glorious and violent contention. But + there are many questions in natural philosophy which are + easy to discuss and to decide; there are many disquisitions + which relate to manners, which please the mind (as Homer + expresses it) and do no way discompose it. Questions in + history and poetry have been by some ingeniously called + a second course to a learned man and a scholar. There + are discourses which are no way troublesome; and, besides, + fables may be told. Nay, it is easier to discourse of the + pipe and lyre, or hear them discoursed of, than it is to + hear either of them played on. The quantity of time + allowed for this exercise is till our meat be gently settled + within us, so that our digestion may have power enough + to master it.

+
+
+

Aristotle is of opinion that to walk after supper stirs + up our natural heat; but to sleep, if it be soon after, chokes + it. Others again say that rest aids digestion, and that motion disturbs it. Hence some walk immediately after supper; + others choose rather to keep themselves still. But that + man seems to obtain the design of both, who cherishes and + keeps his body quiet, not immediately suffering his mind + to become heavy and idle, but (as has been said) gently + distributing and lightening his spirits by either hearing or + speaking some pleasant thing, such as will neither molest + nor oppress him.

+ +
+
+

Medicinal vomits and purges, which are the bitter + reliefs of gluttony, are not to be attempted without great + necessity. The manner of many is to fill themselves because they are empty, and again, because they are full, to + empty themselves contrary to nature, being no less tormented with being full than being empty; or rather, they + are troubled at their fulness, as being a hindrance of their + appetite, and are always emptying themselves, that they + may make room for new enjoyment. The damage in these + cases is evident; for the body is disordered and torn by + both these. It is an inconvenience that always attends + a vomit, that it increases and gives nourishment to this + insatiable humor. For it engenders hunger, as violent and + turbulent as a roaring torrent, which continually annoys a + man, and forces him to his meat, not like a natural appetite that calls for food, but rather like inflammation that + calls for plasters and physic. Wherefore his pleasures are + short and imperfect, and in the enjoyment are very furious + and unquiet; upon which there come distentions, and + affections of the pores, and retentions of the spirits, which + will not wait for the natural evacuations, but run over the + surface of the body, so that it is like an overloaded ship, + where it is more necessary to throw something overboard + than to take any thing more in. Those disturbances in our + bellies which are caused by physic corrupt and consume + our inward parts, and do rather increase our superfluous + humors than bring them away; which is as if one that was + troubled at the number of Greeks that inhabited the city, + should call in the Arabians and Scythians.

+

Some are so much mistaken that, in order that they may + void their customary and natural superfluities, they take + Cnidian-berries or scammony, or some other harsh and incongruous physic, which is more fit to be carried away by + purge than it is able to purge us. It is best therefore by a + moderate and regular diet to keep our body in order, so + + + + that it may command itself as to fulness or emptiness. If + at any time there be a necessity, we may take a vomit, but + without physic or much tampering, and such a one as will + not cause any great disturbance, only enough to save us + from indigestion by casting up gently what is superfluous. + For as linen cloths, when they are washed with soap and + nitre, are more worn out than when they are washed with + water only, so physical vomits corrupt and destroy the + body. If at any time we are costive, there is no medicine + better than some sort of food which will purge you gently + and with ease, the trial of which is familiar to all, and the + use without any pain. But if it will not yield to those, we + may drink water for some days, or fast, or take a clyster, + rather than take any troublesome purging physic; which + most men are inclined to do, like that sort of women + which take things on purpose to miscarry, that they may + be empty and begin afresh.

+
+
+

But to be done with these, there are some on the + other side who are too exact in enjoining themselves to + periodical and set fasts, doing amiss in teaching nature to + want coercion when there is no occasion for it, and making that abstinence necessary which is not so, and all this + at times when nature requires her accustomed way of living. It is better to use those injunctions we lay upon our + bodies with more freedom, even when we have no ill symptom or suspicion upon us; and so to order our diet (as has + been said), that our bodies may be always obedient to any + change, and not be enslaved or tied up to one manner of + living, nor so exact in regarding the times, numbers, and + periods of our actions. For it is a life neither safe, easy, + politic, nor like a man, but more like the life of an oyster + or the trunk of a tree, to live so without any variety, and + in restraint as to our meat, abstinence, motion, and rest; + casting ourselves into a gloomy, idle, solitary, unsociable, + and inglorious way of living, far remote from the administration + + + + of the state, — at least (I may say) in my + opinion.

+
+
+

For health is not to be purchased by sloth and idleness, for those are chief inconveniences of sickness; and + there is no difference between him who thinks to enjoy his + health by idleness and quiet, and him who thinks to preserve his eyes by not using them, and his voice by not + speaking. For such a man's health will not be any advantage to him in the performance of many things he is + obliged to do as a man. Idleness can never be said to conduce to health, for it destroys the very end of it. Nor is + it true that they are the most healthful that do least. For + Xenocrates was not more healthful than Phocion, or Theophrastus than Demetrius. It signified nothing to Epicurus + or his followers, as to that so much talked of good habit + of body, that they declined all business, though it were + never so honorable. We ought to preserve the natural + constitution of our bodies by other means, knowing every + part of our life is capable of sickness and health.

+

The contrary advice to that which Plato gave his scholars is to be given to those who are concerned in public + business. For he was wont to say, whenever he left his + school; Go to, my boys, see that you employ your leisure + in some honest sport and pastime. Now to those that are + in public office our advice is, that they bestow their labor + on honest and necessary things, not tiring their bodies with + small or inconsiderable things. For most men upon accident torment themselves with watchings, journeyings, and + running up and down, for no advantage and with no good + design, but only that they may do others an injury, or because they envy them or are competitors with them, or + because they hunt after unprofitable and empty glory. To + such as these I think Democritus chiefly spoke when he + said, that if the body should summon the soul before a + court on an action for ill-treatment, the soul would lose the + + + + case. And perhaps on the other hand Theophrastus spoke + well, when he said metaphorically, that the soul pays a + dear house-rent to its landlord the body. But still the + body is very much more inconvenienced by the soul, when + it is used beyond reason and there is not care enough taken + of it. For when it is in passion, action, or any concern, + it does not at all consider the body. Jason, being somewhat out of humor, said, that in little things we ought not + to stand upon justice, so that in greater things we may be + sure to do it. We, and that in reason, advise any public + man to trifle and play with little things, and in such cases + to indulge himself, so that in worthy and great concerns + he may not bring a dull, tired, and weary body, but one + that is the better for having lain still, like a ship in the + dock, that when the soul has occasion again to call it into + business, it may run with her, like a sucking colt with + the mare. +

+
+
+

Upon which account, when business gives us leave, + we ought to refresh our bodies, grudging them neither + sleep nor dinner nor that ease which is the medium between pain and pleasure; not taking that course which + most men do, who thereby wear out their bodies by the + many changes they expose them to, making them like hot + iron thrown into cold water, by softening and troubling + them with pleasures, after they have been very much + strained and oppressed with labor. And on the other + side, after they have opened their bodies and made them + tender either by wine or venery, they exercise them either + at the bar or at court, or enter upon some other business + which requires earnest and vigorous action. Heraclitus, + when he was in a dropsy, desired his physician to bring a + drought upon his body, for it had a glut of rain. Most + men are very much in the wrong who, after being tired or + having labored or fasted, moisten (as it were) and dissolve + their bodies in pleasure, and again force and distend them + + + + after those pleasures. Nature does not require that we + should make the body amends at that rate. But an intemperate and slavish mind, so soon as it is free from labor, + like a sailor, runs insolently into pleasures and delights, + and again falls upon business, so that nature can have no + rest or leave to enjoy that temper and calmness which + it does desire, but is troubled and tormented by all this + irregularity. Those that have any discretion never so much + as offer pleasure to the body when it is laboring, — for at + such times they do not require it at all, — nor do they so + much as think of it, their minds being intent upon that + employ they are in, either the delight or diligence of the + soul getting the mastery over all other desires. Epaminondas is reported wittily to have said of a good man that + died about the time of the battle of Leuctra, How came + he to have so much leisure as to die, when there was so + much business stirring? It may truly be asked concerning + a man that is either of public employ or a scholar, What + time can such a man spare, either to debauch his stomach + or be drunk or lascivious? For such men, after they have + done their business, allow quiet and repose to their bodies, + reckoning not only unprofitable pains but unnecessary + pleasures to be enemies to nature, and avoiding them as + such.

+
+
+

I have heard that Tiberius Caesar was wont to say, + that he was a ridiculous man that held forth his hand to + a physician after sixty. But it seems to me to be a little + too severely said. But this is certain, that every man + ought to have skill in his own pulse, for it is very different + in every man; neither ought he to be ignorant of the temper of his own body, as to heat and cold, or what things + do him good, and what hurt. For he has no sense, and is + both a blind and lame inhabitant of his body, that must + learn these things from another, and must ask his physicians whether it is better with him in winter or summer; + + + + or whether moist or dry things agree best with him, + or whether his pulse be frequent or slow. For it is necessary and easy to know such things by custom and experience. It is convenient to understand more what meats + and drinks are wholesome than what are pleasant, and to + have more skill in what is good for the stomach than in + what seems good to the mouth, and in those things that + are easy of digestion than in those that gratify our palate. + For it is no less scandalous to ask a physician what is easy + and what is hard of digestion, and what will agree with + your stomach and what not, than it is to ask what is sweet, + and what bitter, and what sour. They nowadays correct + their cooks, being able well enough to tell what is too + sweet, too salt, or too sour, but themselves do not know + what will be light or easy of digestion, and agreeable to + them. Therefore in the seasoning of broth they seldom + err, but they do so scurvily pickle themselves every day as to + afford work enough for the physician. For that pottage + is not accounted best that is the sweetest, but they mingle + bitter and sweet together. But they force the body to partake of many, and those cloying pleasures, either not knowing, or not remembering, that to things that are good and + wholesome nature adds a pleasure unmingled with any + regret or repentance afterward. We ought also to know + what things are cognate and convenient to our bodies, and + be able to direct a proper diet to any one upon any change + of weather or other circumstance.

+
+
+

As for those inconveniences which sordidness and + poverty bring upon many, as gathering of fruit, continual + labor, and running about, and want of rest, which fall + heavy upon the weaker parts of the body and such as are + inwardly infirm, we need not fear that any man of employ + or scholar — to whom our present discourse belongs — should + be troubled with them. But there is a severe sort of sordidness as to their studies, which they ought to avoid, by which + + + + they are forced many times to neglect their body, oftentimes + denying it a supply when it has (lone its work, making the + mortal part of us do its share in work as well as the immortal, and the earthly part as much as the heavenly. But, + as the ox said to his fellow-servant the camel, when he + refused to ease him of his burthen, It won't be long before + you carry my burthen and me too: which fell out to be + true, when the ox died. So it happens to the mind, when + it refuses that little relaxation and comfort which it needs + in its labor; for a little while after a fever or vertigo seizes + us, and then reading, discoursing, and disputing must be + laid aside, and it is forced to partake of the body's distemper. Plato therefore rightly exhorts us not to employ + the mind without the body, nor the body without the mind, + but to drive them equally like a pair of horses; and when + at any time the body toils and labors with the mind, then + to be the more careful of it, and thus to gain its wellbeloved health, believing that it obliges us with the best + of things when it is no impediment to our knowledge + and enjoyment of virtue, either in business or discourse.

+
+
+ +
+
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/tlg0007/tlg078/__cts__.xml b/data/tlg0007/tlg078/__cts__.xml new file mode 100644 index 000000000..92b7ff0a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/tlg0007/tlg078/__cts__.xml @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ + + + Conjugalia Praecepta + + + Advice to Bride and Groom + Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. II. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1928 (printing). + + + + Conjugal Precepts + Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. 1874. + + + + Γαμικὰ παραγγέλματα + Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor; + Leipzig: Teubner. 1888. + + +