the body Nor do the benefits thereof stay only in the Body but ascend likewise to the perfecting of the Soul it self for how manifest is it That through a sober strict diet the Mind all the faculties thereof become waking quick and chearful How is the Wit sharpened the Understanding solidated the Affections tempered and in a word the whole soul and spirit of a man freed from incumbrances made apt expedite for the apprehension of wisdom the imbracement of vertue The Ancient Sages were I am sure of this opinion and Plato in particular made notable remonstrance of it when upon his coming into Sicily from Athens he did so bitterly condemn the Siracusian Tables which being furnished with precious and dainty cates provoking sauces and rich wines sent away their guests twice a day full of good chear But what wouldst thou have said Oh Plato if thou hadst perhaps light upon such as we Christians now adays are amongst whom he that eats but two good meals a day as we term them boasts himself and is applauded by others for a person of great Temperance and singular good diet Undoubtedly our extravagancy in this matter having added Prologues of Break-fasts Interludes of Banquets and Epilogues of Rere-suppers to the Comedy would have caused thee to turn thy divine Eloquence to the praise of those Syracusian Gluttons which in respect of our usages and customs might seem great Masters of Temperance Nay very Epicurus himself however he may thank Tullies slanders his name is become in this regard so infamous yet placed his chief delight this way in no greater dainties than Savoury Herbs Fresh Cheese But I would fain once understand from these Belly-gods that seem born only to waste good meat what the reason may be That now adays the store of victuals is so much abated and the price inhaunsed of that it was in time of old when yet the world appears to have been then much fuller of people then it now is Undoubtedly That scarcity and dearness under which we labor can proceed from nothing but our excessive Gluttony which devours things faster than Nature can bring them forth And that plenty and cheapness which crowned their happy days was maintained and kept on foot chiefly through the good husbandry of that frugal and simple Diet which they used S. Jerom writing of the course of life held by those good Fathers that retired themselves into the deserts of Egypt the better to serve God tell us That they were so inamored of Spare and Simple Diet that they censured it in themselves for a kind of Riot to feed on any thing that was drest with Fire The same in every point doth Cassian report in his Relations of the Holy Monks Hermits of his time I find in Ancient Physicians that the inhabitants of the old world were such strict followers of Sobriety that they Kept themselves precisely to Bread in the morning and at night they made their Supper of Flesh only without addition of Sauces or any first or second courses And by this means it came to pass that they lived so long and in continual health without so much as once hearing the names of those many grievous infirmities that now adays vex mankind What think you might be the cause that the Romans the Arcadians and the Portugals passed so many hundred of years without having any acquaintance at all with Physick or Physicians Surely nothing else but their sober spare Diet which when all is done we are ofttimes constrained to undergo and ever indeed directed advised unto by those who really practise this Divine Science of Physick for the recovery and conservation of their patients health not covetously for their own gain I read in approved Histories that Ptolemy upon some occasion or other outriding his followers in Egypt was so pressed with hunger that he was fain to call in at a poor mans cottage who brought him a piece of Rie-bread which when he had eaten he took a solemn oath That he never in all his life had tasted better nor more pleasing meat And from that day forward he set light by all the costly sorts of bread which he had been formerly accustomed unto The Thracian women that they might bear healthful strong and hardy children eat nothing but Milk and Nettles And the greatest dainties that the Lacedemonians had amongst them was a certain kind of black Pottage that looked no better than melted pitch and could not by computation stand in above three half pence a gallon at the most The Persians that in their time were the best disciplined people on the earth eat a little Nasturtium with their bread that was all the victuals that this brave Nation used when they made conquest of the world Artaxerxes the brother of Cyrus being overthrown in battel was constrained in his flight to sit downwith dry Figs and Barly bread which upon proof he found so good as he seriously lamented his misfortune on having through the continual cloying of artificial dainties wherewith he had been bred up been so long time a stranger to that great pleasure and delight which natural and simple food yields when it meets with true hunger True it is our belly is a troublesom Creditor and ofttimes shamelesly exacts more than its due but undoubtedly if we were not partial and corrupted by the allurements of that base content which dainties promise we might easily quiet the grudgings murmurings thereof It 's not the Belly I wish which would rest well enough apayed with that which is at hand but the satisfaction of our capricious Phansies that makes us wear out our selves weary all the world besides with uncessant travel in the search of Rarities and in the compounding of new Delicacies If we were but half as wise as we ought to be there need none of all this ado that we make about this and that kind of Manchet Dutch-bread and French-bread and I know not what new inventions are brought on foot to make more business in the world whereas with much less cost trouble we might be much better served with that which grows at home is to be found ready in every thatcht cottage That which is most our own that which we therefore perhaps fools as we be most contemn in this kind Barley-bread I mean is by all the old Physicians warranted for a most sound and healthful food He that eats daily of it say they shall undoubtedly never be troubled with the Gout in the feet Shew me such a vertue in any of these new inventions and I 'le yield there were some reason perhaps in making use of them if they might with ease and quiet be procured But to buy them at the price of so much pains time and hazard as they cost us were undoubtedly too much although they brought asmuch benefit as they do prejudice Consider well I pray whether it be not a thing to make a wise
the means of sleep for sleep serves to both these ends And then besides that sleep of theirs is very short and such as they could easily forbear but when by weariness and custom they are inclined thereunto Some of them indeed sleep a good while but those use to abate as much of their nights rest as they take out thus in the day dividing as it were into two parts the rest and sleep that is due to their bodies But indeed generally it is more agreeable to health to forbear all sleep after meat at noon according to the commonly received opinion of Physicians 11. The second Rule is If so be thou take so much meat and drink as thou afterwards findest a certain kind of dulness heaviness and slothful weariness whereas before thou wast quick and lightsome it is a sign that thou hast exceeded the fitting measure except this come to pass through present sickness or the reliques of some former disease For meat and drink ought to refresh the strength and powers of the body and to make them more chearful and no ways to burden or oppress them They therefore who find their constitution to be such as they feel oppression after their meals ought to make abatement of their daily allowance having first used good and diligent consideration whether this inconvenience arise from the abundance of their meat or of their drink or of both together and when they have found out where the error lies it is by degrees to be amended till the matter be brought to that pass that there be no more feeling of any such inconvenience 12. Many there be who are much deceived in this case who although they eat and drink liberally and use nourishing meats yet nevertheless complain of continual weakness and faintness and that they perswade themselves comes from the want of nourishment and spirits whereupon they seek out meats of much nourishment and provide breakfasts betimes in the morning lest Nature should faint for want of its due sustenance But as I said they are miserably beguiled in this opinion and do hereby add a surcharge to their bodies which are in truth already overburdened with ill juice and moisture For this weakness which they complain of proceeds not from defect of nutriment but from the abundance of ill humors as both the constitution of their bodies and the swelling of their bellies in particular do evidently shew Now these ill humors do cloy up the muscles and the nerves through which the spirits have their course and passage whereby it comes to pass that the animal spirits from which as from the most general and immediate instrument of the soul all the vigor of the body in sense and motion is derived cannot freely take their course nor govern and order the body 〈◊〉 they ought And hence comes that weakness and lumpishness of the body and that dulness of the senses the animal spirits being as it were intercepted in their passage by this excess of humors Daily experience shews this to be true in divers bodies abounding with ill humors and vicious moistures which in the morning are faint and dull through the superfluities of moisture remaining in them upon their former nights supper sleep But when these moistures are consumed by abstinence and the purgations of the head they become more chearful and active and this vigor goes on still increasing till night come albeit they take little or nothing at all at noon But in case they eat whilest these moistures remain unconcocted in the body especially if it be in any great quantity or moist food the indisposition is renewed and they presently return to their former misery Wherefore if a man desire to be always quick apt and ready to motion and to every other use of his senses these humors are to be lessened by abatement of diet so that the spirits may have their free passage through all parts of the body and the mind may find them always ready to every motion and service in the body 13. the third Rule is We must not pass immediately from a disordered kind of life to a strict and precise course but it is to be done by little and little by small abatements subtracting from that excessive quantity whereunto we have been accustomed until at last we come to that just measure which doth not at all oppress the body nor offend and hinder the operations of the mind This is a common Tenet amongst Physicians For all sudden changes if they be any thing remarkable do prejudice Nature in regard that Custom gets almost the force and quality of Nature it self Wherefore it cannot but be very dangerous to be driven off forcibly from that which a man hath been long used unto and to be put upon the contrary For as that which is against Nature so likewise that which is against long and inveterate Custom is very grievous to be undergone whilest the strength and power of Custom remains on foot We must therefore break off old usages by degrees and not all at once going backward step by step as we grew on towards them and so the alteration being not much perceived in the progress will be less difficult in performance 14. The fourth Rule is That albeit there cannot be any one determinate quantity set for all in respect of the great difference of ages strength and other dispositions in men as also in respect of the great diversity in the nature and quality of several kinds of food yet notwithstanding generally for them who are stept in years and for those who are of weak complexions it seems twelve thirteen or fourteen ounces of food a day should be enough accounting into this proportion bread flesh egges and all other kind of victuals And as many or but a few more ounces of drink would suffice This is to be understood of those who use but little exercise of body and are altogether addicted to study and other offices and imployments of the mind Verily Lodowick Cornaro whose Treatise touching a Sober life we have hereunto annexed approves greatly this measure having stinted himself thereat when he was thirty six years old and kept it constantly as long as he lived and that was indeed very long and with perfect health The holy Fathers likewise that lived in the deserts albeit they fed only upon bread and drank nothing but water exceeded not this proportion establishing it as it were by Law every where in their Monasteries For so Cassianus writes in his second Collation of Abbat Moyses chap. 19. Where Abbat Moyses being demanded what was the best measure of temperance answered on this wise We know there hath oft times much discourse been amongst our Ancestors touching this matter For examining the several manners of Abstinence used by divers to wit of those who passed their lives only with pulse or altogether with herbs or fruits they did prefer before them all the Refection by Bread alone The most equal measure whereof they
what abundance of inward consolations those men who addict themselves to sobriety may if so be they have any reasonable understanding in divine mysteries attend Divine Service and the hearing of Gods Word their private devotions and meditations and in sum all manner of spiritual exercises And this indeed was my principal aim in the writing of this Tractate this my chiefest wish and desire As for the benefit and help that it affords to Students of good learning and to all those whose imployments consist in affairs and businesses appertaining to the mind and understanding I say nothing at present purposing hereafter to speak more at large thereof Whether you take the matter therefore or the end this Treatise can no way misbeseem a Divine And so good Reader thou hast an account of my reasons in undertaking this business CHAP. II. What is meant by a Sober life and what is the fit measure of meat and drink TO come then to the thing it self I will first set down What we mean by a Sober life Secondly By what way and means we may come to the determination of the just measure that is to be observed in our life and diet And thirdly What the commodities and benefits thereof be 5. Touching the first point then We call that a Sober life or diet which sets stint not only in drink but also in meat so that a man must neither eat nor drink any more than the constitution of his body allows with reference to the services of his mind And this self-same we term an orderly regulate and temperate life or diet for all these phrases and names we shall make use of intending by them all one and the same thing The matter than about which this Diet or Temperance is mainly conversant is Meat and Driuk in which a constant measure is to be kept Notwithstanding it doth likewise reach unto the care and ordering of all other things such as are immoderate heat and cold overmuch labor and the like through the excess whereof there grows any inconvenience in bodily health or disturbance in the operations of the mind 6. Now this measure is not the same in respect of the quantity in all sorts of people but very different according to the diversity of complexions in sundry persons and of youth and strength in the self-same body For one kind of proportion belongs to Youth when it is in its flower another to Consistency a third to Old age The Sickly and the Whole have likewise their several measures as also the Phlegmatick and the Cholerick In regard that in these several constitutions the nature and temper of the stomach is very different Now the Measure of the food ought to be exactly proportionable as much as possibly may be to the quality and condition of the stomach And that Measure is exactly proportionable which the stomach hath such power and mastery over as it can perfectly concoct and digest in the midst of any employments either of mind or body and which withal sufficeth to the due nourishment of the body I say In the midst of any employments of mind or body c. In regard that a greater measure is requisite to him that is occupied in bodily labor and continually exercising of the faculties of the body than to him that is altogether in studies meditation prayer or other like works and exercises of the mind Inasmuch as the exercises and imployments of the mind do very much hinder and disturb the concoction and that either because in calling up the whole force of the soul they do as it were abate and suspend the power and actions of the inferior faculties as experience shews for when we are very intent on study or prayers we neither hear clock nor take notice of any thing that comes before our eyes or other senses or else because they do withdraw not only the animal but the vital and natural spirits themselves from their proper services And hence it comes that for the most part twice as little food serves their turn who are continually imployed in study and affairs of the mind as is necessary for them that apply themselves to bodily exercises although equal age and temper might otherwise perhaps require an equality in both their diets 7. The difficulty then lies in finding out this measure Which S. Austine of old well observed in his fourth Book against Julian and in the fourteenth Chapter writing thus Now when we come to the putting inâ—ure of that necessary pleasure with which we refresh our bodies who is able to declare in words how it suffers us not to know the measure of necessity but if there be any of those things that yield delight before us it by their means steals a way and hides and leaps over the bounds and limits of procuring health whilest we cannot think that to be sufficient which is indeed sufficient being willingly led on by the provocation thereof fancying our selves to be about the business of Health when indeed we are about the service of Pleasure so that Lust knows not where Necessity ends In these words he refers the ground of this difficulty to Pleasure which blinds us that we cannot discern when we are come to the due measure we ought to hold but hides the bound-marks thereof to draw us past them and perswades us that we do but make provision for Health when in very truth we canvass for Pleasure Concerning the discovery of this measure therefore are we to treat in the second place producing Rules whereby it may be clearly and certainly found out 8. But here perhaps some will object That in Monasteries and other regular Societies such as are Colledges in the Universities c. no man need trouble himself touching this measure inasmuch as either the statutes of the Societies or the discreet orders of Superiors have set down the just measure that is to be held appointing according to the several seasons of the year such and such portions of flesh egges fish roots rice butter cheese fruits and broths and such quantities of wine and bear as are fit all of them being proportioned out by weight and measure so that we may boldly say they take our allowance in these things without danger of excess These men will by no means believe that the catarrhs coughs head-aches pains of the stomach fevers and other the like infirmities whereinto they often fall should proceed from the excess of their food but lay the fault upon winds ill airs watchings too much pains-taking and other the like outward causes But questionless they are deceived in this opinion inasmuch as it cannot possibly be that any one certain measure should be found proportionable to so many different sorts of complexions and stomachs as use to be in such kind of Societies so that what is but reasonable to a young and strong body is more than twice or thrice too much for an old or infirm person as Thomas following Aristotle doth
well prove 2. 2. q. 141. art 6. and is indeed of it self without proof manifest These allowances then both for quantity and variety are not set out by Founders and Superiors as just measures for every man but with the largest for all in general to the intent that the strongest and they who need most might have enough and the rest might take of that which best liked them yet always keeping within those limits which reason prescribes and in those things which they forbore might have opportunity to exercise their vertue For it is no great glory to shew temperance in the absence of temptations but to keep hunger on foot at a banquet and to restrain the greediness of the belly in the midst of provoking dainties why this is a mastery indeed especially to Novices and such as have not gotten the victory over their appetites It is a great mastery I say and therefore undoubtedly of no small price with God To the intent therefore that the exercise of this vertue and the benefit of the reward that by Gods mercy belongs to it might not be wanting to them that seek and endeavor the increasing of their reward hereafter the Founders and Institutors of religious Societies have perhaps allotted a larger measure and more variety of food than is necessary or they would have every one to make use of Touching this matter we have a very pertinent example in the life of Pachomius faithfully written 1200. years ago as it is extant in Surius 14. Maii. Where it is mentioned that this Pachomius in his Monasteries and especially in those that younger persons lived in would have beside bread and salt some sod or rost meat set before all the Monks to the intent that albeit the most of them were so abstemious that they contented themselves only with bread and salt or some green fruit yet they might have it in their free choice and liberty either to eat thereof or to forbear And so if either for mortification sake or the better fitting of themselves for devotion they should abstain they might exercise a greater vertue since it is a more difficult thing to abstain when meat is set before us and by its presence doth provoke the appetite than when it is removed out of our sight More to this purpose may be read in Jacob. de Paz. Tom. 2. l. 2. de Mortif ext hom cap. 5. Nor will it any thing at all abate from the probability of this opinion to say that in this allowance of variety and abundance there was a direct intention of giving some kind of refreshment to Nature Inasmuch as the refreshment which the Institutors and Founders of these Societies meant consisteth not in this that the true and right measure of temperance should at any time be notably exceeded but that there might be now and then an opportunity of delight ministred through the different and grateful savor of sundry kinds of meats yet so always as this delight should be kept bounded within the limits of temperance and the appetite never fully satisfied For whatsoever exceeds this measure is to be accounted vice be it upon what occasion it will whether of Marriage Dedication of Churches or any other solemn Feasts whatsoever Now that is alwaies excess which proves more in quantity than the stomach can perfectly digest without leaving any crudities at all behind CHAP. III. Seven Rules for the finding out of the right Measure 9. NOw to find out this right Measure we shall make use of these Rules and observations following The first Rule is If thou dost usually take so much food at meals as thou art thereby made unfit for the duties and offices belonging to the Mind such as are Prayer Meditation Studies of learning and the like it is then evident that thou dost exceed the measure which thou oughtest to hold For both Nature and Reason exact that the Vegetative part in a man that is that wherein the growth and conservation of the body consisteth should be so ordered and cherished as that there should arise no offence or damage thereby to the Animal and Reasonable parts of the soul in as much as the Vegetative part is ordained to the service of these other and therefore ought to be of furtherance and help and no ways of hinderance unto them in their several functions and operations Whenever therefore there is so much food taken in upon account of the Vegetative part as proves of any remarkable offence or hinderance to the operations of the superior faculties to wit of the Senses the Imagination the Understanding or the Memory then it is a sign that the fitting measure in this kind is exceeded Now this impediment and offence proceeds from the abundance of vapors that are chiefly sent up into the head out of the stomach which as experience demonstrates would be but sparingly sent up if this measure were not exceeded For they who follow a sober course of life are as apt and ready to all services and imployments of the mind after their meals as before as our Author whom we have annexed to this present Treatise doth oft times testifie and my self and divers others of our Society do daily make proof of Nay those holy Fathers of old who eat only once a day did it so sparingly as they were no whit at all thereby hindered in their performances of the functions belonging to the mind How much more easily than may it be effected by them who divide the quantity and twice a day use moderate refection 10. I said before that those vapors and fumes which cloud and overshadow the clearness of the Brain are chiefly caused by the meat taken down into the stomach Chiefly I say in regard that however this be the principal yet it is not the only cause For these vapors proceed not only from the meat immediately before taken which begins to boil and concoct but also from the abundance of blood and other humors which are in the Liver the Spleen and the Veins which together with the meat fall on seething as it were and send up great abundance of these kind of sooty fumes But a Sober diet doth by little and little diminish this abundance of humors and abates this ill moisture and reduceth them to their due proportions both in quantity and quality so that they do not more upon eating send up these kind of fumes For when Nature doth perfectly govern all the humors of the body by the ministery of the vegetative faculties she doth so order and dispense all things as neither any diseases arise in the body nor any impediment follows to the superior offices and duties of the soul Nor matters it at all that many men addicted to sobriety are accustomed to sleep a while after dinner inasmuch as they do it to the intent that their vigor and the spirits which have been spent and wasted by any labor either of mind or body might be refreshed and restored by
Two or Three days together For so they will both be easilier born and with much more benefit For the first day the first region as the Physicians term it is to be purged that is the Bowels The second day the Liver and the third day the Veins in which lies the great drain of ill humors For they who do not live temperately do every day add some crude humor which being sucked in by the veins as by a spunge is afterwards dispersed through the whole body 28. So that after Two or Three years space there is ofttimes such a mass of ill humors gathered in the body as a vessel big enough to hold Two hundred ounces would scarce serve to receive them in Now these humors in tract of time do corrupt and putrifie and cast a man upon mortal infirmities and are the very true ground why most men die so much before their time For almost all that die before old age die by this means those only excepted who are slain by outward violences as by fire sword wild beasts water or the like as also those who die of the stone of poyson of the plague or some such other infection And questionless there be many who with store and plenty of all things in their own houses die and perish through this abundance of malignant humors in their bodies who had they been condemned to the Gallies and there kept at bisket and water might have lived long and with good health This danger therefore may in great part be remedied by purging seasonably at least twice every year For so it will come to pass that neither the quantity of the ill humors will be very great nor be much putrified being evacuated and kept under by this purging at every half years end I have known many who by this means have prolonged their lives to extream old age and scarce all their lives long been oppressed with any great sickness CHAP. V. Of the Commodities which a sober diet brings to the body and first That it freeth almost from all diseases 29. NOw follows the third of those things which we propounded to wit The explication of those Commodities which a sober life brings both to soul and body The first Benefit therefore is That it doth free a man and preserve him from almost all manner of diseases For it rids away catarrhs coughs wheazings dizzinesses and pains of the head and stomach it drives away Apoplexies Lethargies Falling-sickness and other ill affections of the brain it cures the Gout in the feet and in the hands the Sciatica and those diseases that grow in the joynts It likewise prevents Crudity the mother of all diseases In a word it so tempers the humors and maintains them in an equal proportion that they offend not any way either in quantity or quality Now where there is an agreeable proportionableness amongst the humors there is no matter for sickness to work upon inasmuch as the ground of health lies in this That the humors be rightly and proportionably tempered in the body And this both Reason and Experience doth confirm For we see that those who keep them to a sober course of diet are very seldom or rather never molested with diseases and if at any time they happen to be oppressed with sickness they do bear it much better and sooner recover than those others whose bodies are full fraught with ill humors bred through the intemperance of Gluttony I know very many who although they be weak by natural constitution and well grown in years and continually busied in imployments of the mind nevertheless by the help of this Temperance they live in health and have passed the greatest part of their lives which have been many years long without any notable sickness The self same is to be made good by the examples of the Holy Fathers and Monks of old who lived very long healthy and chearful in the height of spare diet 30. The reason hereof is For that almost all the diseases with which men are ordinarily vexed have their beginning and birth from Repletion that is to say from mens taking more of meat and drink than Nature requires and then the stomach can perfectly concoct In proof whereof we see that almost all diseases are cured by Evacuation For blood is taken away either by opening a vein or by cupping-glasses leaches or otherwise that Nature may be lightened The great overflowing of humors in the bowels and throughout the whole body is abated and drained by Purgings and other Medicines Abstinence and a very spare diet is prescribed All which ways of cure do plainly shew that the disease was bred by Repletion For contraries are cured by contraries Whereupon Hippocrates Sect. 2. Aphor. 22. saith Whatever diseases are bred by Repletion are cured by Evacuation and those that are bred through Evacuation by Repletion But diseases by Evacuation happen seldom and scarcely otherwise than upon dearths sieges sea-voyages and the like chances In which cases the adust humor which the heat through want of food hath bred and kindled is first to be removed and after that the body by little and little is to be nourished and strengthened the measure of food being increased by degrees The self-same course is likewise to be held for the repair of Nature when upon great sicknesses the Evacuations have been many whereby the strength hath been much impaired Since therefore almost all diseases proceed from this ground to wit That more food is taken into the body than Nature requires it will follow That he who follows the just measure shall be free from almost all diseases Which thing is also intimated in that famous saying of Hippocrates l. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sect 4. The Rule of health is to eat without fulness and to be diligent in labor Whereby he makes the true course of preserving health to consist in spareness of food and exercise of the body 31. The self-same is confirmed by that which Physicians affirm That Crudities are the Nursery of all those diseases wherewith men are ordinarily vexed Whereupon Galen in his first Book concerning meats of good and evil juice or nourishment saith No man shall be oppressed by sickness who keeps himself warily from falling into Crudities And in respect of these Crudities the common saying is That more are killed by surfets than by the sword And the holy Scripture saith Ecclus. 37. Many have perished by surfets but he that is temperate should prolong his life And a little before Be not greedy upon every dainty and pour not thy self out upon every meat for in many meats there will be sickness Now a sober course of Diet doth prevent these Crudities and thereby cuts away the ground of diseases That which we call Crudities is the imperfect concoction of Food For when the stomach either through the over-great quantity of meats or for their refractory quality or for the variety of them taken at the same time
do not die by sicknesses bred through corruption of inward humors but by some outward violence used towards them And in like manner they who are studiously addicted to Lust cannot be long lived that there is nothing which doth so much exhaust the spirits and the best juice in the body as Lust doth nor which more weakens and overthrows Nature 38. But some will say There are many in the world who come to extream old age who never keep this sober diet that you speak of but when occasion serves gives the reins to Gluttony as you call it stuffing themselves almost every day with meat and drink to the full To which I make answer That these are but rare and must needs be of a rare strength and temper For the greatest number of Devourers and Gluttons do die before their time Now if these strong and irregular Eaters would observe a convenient moderation they would questionless live much longer and in better health and effect far greater matters by their wit and learning For it cannot be but that they who live not frugally should be full of ill humors and ofttimes vexed with diseases Nor can they without great prejudice to their healths much or long intend hard and difficult businesses appertaining to the mind both in regard that the whole force of Nature and of the spirits is as it were enthralled in them to the Concoction and Digestion of meats from which if they be violently withdrawn by means of Contemplation the Concoction must needs prove vicious and many crudities necessarily follow As also in regard that the head hereby becomes full fraught with vapors which do overcloud the mind and if a man intend his thoughts much cause pain and grief Lastly these men are forced to use much exercise of body or often to take medicines for the purging thereof so that in truth however they may seem to live long in the body yet as much as belongs to the mind and the understanding they live but a while in regard that it is but a little and short time that they are fit for the functions and affairs of the mind being forced to spend the greatest part of their time upon the care of their bodies which is in very truth to make the Soul become the servant of the Flesh that is a Slave to its own Vassal Such a life suits not with Mans nature much less with Christianity whose good and happiness is altogether spiritual and is not to be otherwise purchased than by mortification of the Senses and imployment and exercise both of Mind and Body 39. Add further to that which hath been said That they who are of weakly Constitutions if so be they live temperately are much more secure touching their health and the prolonging of their lives than those who are of the strongest Constitution that may be in case they live intemperately For these of the former sort know that they have no ill juices or moistures in their bodies or at least not in any such quantity as to breed diseases But those other after some few years must of necessity have their bodies cloyed with evil humors which by little and little putrifying do at last break out into grievous and deadly sicknesses Aristotle in his Problems testifies That there was in his time a certain Philosopher named Herodicus who albeit in all mens judgment he was of a most weakly Constitution and fallen into a Consumption nevertheless by the Art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is That which prescribes the course of Diet he lived till he was a Hundred years old Plato mentions the same man in his third Book de Republ. Galen in his Book de Marasmo and in his Book of the preservation of Health reports that there was in his time a certain Philosopher who had set forth a Book wherein he took upon him to teach the way how a man might conserve himself free from old Age. Galen doth indeed worthily deride this as matter of vanity yet nevertheless the Philosopher by his own example gave proof That his Art was not altogether vain but very available to the prolonging of mans life For when he came to his 80 year and was so utterly consumed as there seemed nothing but skin and bones remaining yet nevertheless by his Art and the singular moderation and temper of his diet he brought to pass that he died not but after a great while lingring in a gentle Consumption And the same Galen in his Fifth Book of the preservation of Health says They who come forth weakly complexioned from their mothers womb may by help of that Art which prescribes the course of Diet attain to extream old Age without any diminution in their Senses or interruption of health by pains and sicknesses And further adds touching himself As for my part although I neither had a healthful Constitution of body from my very birth nor did alway lead a life free from disorder yet using this self-same Art after the Twenty eighth year of my life I never fell into the least sickness except perchance now and then for one day into a Fever and that gotten through overmuch weariness 40. Nor do these followers of Temperance only come to extream old Age without feeling the pains and diseases belonging thereunto but in their very dying pass away without sense of grief inasmuch as the bond that knits together their soul and body is unloosed not by any violence used to Nature but by a simple Resolution and Consumption of their Radical Humor And it fares with them as with a Lamp that when the Oyl is spent goes out of it self without any ado or business For as a burning Lamp may be three ways extinguished First by outward violence as when it is blown out Secondly by pouring in much water whereby the good Liquor of the Oyl is drowned and corrupted and Thirdly by the waste and spending of the Oyl it self So likewise a mans Life which in truth resembles much the nature of a Lamp is extinguished by Three ways and means First by external force to wit of the sword fire strangling and the like Secondly through the abundance of ill Humors or the malignant quality of them whereby the Radical Humor is opprest and overthrown Thirdly when the Radical Humor is in long space of time quite consumed by the Natural Heat and blown out into the air which is done after the same manner that boiling water or oyl is wasted by the heat of the fire Now in the first and second kinds of death there is a great disturbance of Nature and so consequently much grief must needs ensue as long as that continues in regard that the Temper is overthrown by the violence of that which is contrary to it and the bond of Nature is forcibly broken But in the third there is either none at all or very little grief in regard that the Temper is inwardly dissolved by little and little and the
Original Humidity in which Life chiesly consists is wasted together with the inbred heat For whilest the Humidity or Moisture wasteth the heat founded therein doth equally abate and the moisture being spent the heat is joyntly extinguished as we see it comes to pass in Lamps After this manner do most of them die who have observed an exact Rule of diet unless perchance they die by means of outward violence For having prevented evil Humors by their good diet there is no inward cause in them whereby their Temper should be violently overthrown nor their Natural Heat oppressed And therefore it will needs follow that they must live till the Original Moisture together with the Heat that is founded thereupon be so consumed as it is not sufficient to retain the soul any longer in the body And in the like manner would a mans death be if God should withdraw his conservation of the Natural Heat although the Radical Humor should remain or on the other side if the Radical Humor should by divine operation be in an instant consumed 41. The Fifth Commodity of a sober Diet is That it makes the body Lightsome Agil Fresh and Expedite to all the motions appertaining thereunto For Heaviness Oppression of Nature and Dulness proceed from the abundance of Humors which do stop up the way of the spirits and cloy the joynts and fill them too full of moisture so that the excess of Humors being taken away by means of Diet the cause of that Heaviness Sloth and Dulness is taken away and the passages of the spirits are made free And moreover by means of the self-same Diet it comes to pass that the Concoction is perfect and so good blood is bred out of which abundance of pure spirits are made in which all the vigor and agility of the body mainly consisteth CHAP. VIII That it maintains the Senses in their integrity and vigor 42. WE have found Five Commodities which Sobriety brings to the Body Let us now see the Benefits which it affords to the Mind and they may likewise be well reduced to Five The First is That it ministreth soundness and vigor to the outward Senses For the Sense of Seeing is chiefly deaded in old men by reason that the Optick Nerves are cloyed with superfluous humors and vapors whereby it comes to pass that the Animal spirits which serve to the sight are either darkned or not afforded in such abundance as is needful for quick and clear discerning of things This impediment is taken away or much diminished by the Sobriety of meat and drink and by abstinence from those things which replenish the head with fumes such as are all fat things and especially Butter if it be taken in a good quantity strong wines and thick beer or such as are compounded with those herbs that fly up into the Head 43. The Sense of Hearing is likewise hindered by the flux of crude and superfluous humors out of the Brain into the Organ of hearing or into the Nerve that serves unto it for by this means it comes to pass that a man grows deaf or thick of hearing in that part where this flux of humors is Now this flux is very easily prevented and driven away by the Sobriety of diet And as it may be taken away by help of Physick after it hath befallen a man in case it be not let go on too long so as it take root so likewise it may be taken away by means of Diet especially if together therewith some Topical Medicines to be used 44. The Sense of Tasting is chiefly marred by ill humors that infect the Organ thereof As if cholerick tart or salt humors possess the tongue and throat whether it be that they come out of the Head or out of the Stomach whose inward tunicle is continued with these Organs all things will relish bitter tart and salt This indisposition is taken away by good Diet by means whereof it is further brought about that the most ordinary meats yea and dry bread it self do better taste and relish a sober man and yield him greater pleasure than the greatest dainties that can be do to those who are given to Gluttony For the evil juices that did infect the stomach and the Organ of the Taste and which bred a loathing and offence being removed and cleared the Appetite returneth of it self and the pure relish and natural delight in meats is felt In like manner good Diet conserveth the Senses of Smelling and Touching 45. Nevertheless I grant that by long age the vigor of the Senses and especially of the Eyes and Ears is much abated and almost extinct in regard that the Temper of the Organs as also of the other parts is by little and little dissolved the Radical Humor and the Native Heat being by degrees consumed and dried up whereupon the Temper becomes more dry than is proportionable to the operations of the Senses and all the passages and pores are stopped up with cold Phlegm which is most of all other things contrary to the functions of the mind For as old men by the inward temper of their bodies grow dry and cold in excess so likewise they become full of moisture by reason of excrementitial humors so that old Age is nothing else but a cold drie temper proceeding from the consumption of the Radical Humor and the Native Heat to which there must needs be conjoyned great store of cold Phlegm dispersed through the whole body CHAP. IX That it mitigates the Passions and Affections 46. THe Second Commodity which a sober Diet brings to the Soul of a man is That it doth very much abate and diminish the Affections and Passions and especially those of Anger and Melancholy taking away from them their excess and inordinate violence The self-same it works upon those Affections which are conservant about the taste and touch of delectable things so that in this regard it ought to be highly prized For it is in truth a shameful thing not to be able to master Choler to be subject to Melancholy and to sower cares of the Phansie to be enthralled to Gluttony and Slave to the Belly to be hurried on with violence to eating and drinking and poured out as it were to the exercise of lust and concupiscence Nor is it only shameful and contrary to Vertue to be thus disposed but also very prejudicial in regard of Health and full of opprobry in respect of good men But Sobriety with much ease remedies all these mischiefs partly subtracting and partly correcting the Humors of the body which are the causes of them For that the Humors are the causes of such Passions is both a received ground amongst all Physicians and Philosophers and manifest by experience 47. Inasmuch as we see those who are full of Cholerick Humors to be very Angry and Rash and those who abound with Melancholy to be alwaies troubled with griefs and fears And if these Humors be set on fire in
by little and little that offence is diminished and divers do in the end find such benefit by Abstinence as that they choose willingly ever after to forbear Break-fast The self-same do many prove in forbearing of Suppers And in like manner after that men have a while forced themselves they find no pain in abstaining from divers kinds of meats to which their appetites did formerly lead them with great violence It is therefore altogether untrue which is commonly objected That a sober Diet doth torment a man with continual hunger 63. Secondly I answer Suppose there were some trouble in such kind of diet and that it should dure long which yet in truth is not so yet ought we to consider the many profits and benefits which it brings in recompense of this small trouble to wit That a sober Diet expels diseases preserves the body agil healthful pure and clean from noisomness and filthiness causeth long life breeds quiet sleep makes ordinary fare equal in sweetness to the greatest dainties and moreover keeps the Senses sound and the Memory fresh and adds perspicacity to the Wit and clearness and aptness for the receiving of divine Illuminations And further quits the Passions drives away Wrath and Melancholy and breaks the fury of Lust In a word replenisheth both soul and body with exceeding good things so that it may well be termed the mother of Health of Chearfulness of Wisdom and in sum of all Vertues 64. And on the contrary a disordered life repays that small and fading pleasure which it affords to the throat with an innumerable company of mischiefs For it oppresseth the belly with the weight thereof it destroys health it makes the body to become noisome ill-sented filthy and full fraught with muck and excrements it inflames Lust and inthrals the mind to passions it dulls the Senses weakens the Memory obscures the Wit and Understanding and in sum makes the Mind become lumpish and unapt for performance of the functions proper thereunto such as are Learning Prayer Meditation and all other excellent and lofty matters whereby is brought about that there can be little progress made either in knowledg of good things or in holiness of life or in the exercise and performance of good works And what a goodly Benefit is it for the injoyment whereof we undergo all this loss and damage Nothing but a short delight of the throat for a minutes space which is only felt whilst the meat is in chewing and going down into the belly which in its own nature is very base and contemptible being no other than that which is common with us together with the beasts and such as doth affect only a very small portion of the body to wit the tongue the palate and the throat For this it is that we pull upon our selves all these mischiefs and through the desire of this it is that the following of Temperance seems such a difficult business For were there no pleasure in taking meat and drink there would be no grief in forbearing them Intemperance then hath no other piece of goodness in it than only a base momentany delight and pleasing of the throat What a height of misery and indignity then must it needs be for a man to inthral himself to the slavery thereof and for this cause to indanger so many inconveniences and prejudices what a deal of wormwood and gall doth Gluttony pour in after the small sweet and pleasure which it hath afforded 65. These things ought to be disigently considered and weighed by wise men and especially by Church-men and such as set themselves apart to the service of God whose profession is to attend continually upon divino mysteries and the functions of the mind For if we carefully ponder these things it will not be possible but that we should make choice of Sobriety and find it pleasant and easie and on the contrary intemperance will appear and prove full of horror and detestation unto us we shall be ashamed of our delicacy and blush at the feeble and base tempers of our minds that are so captivated to the service of Gluttony that we slavishly obey the Tyrannical Rule of it not being able to resist the most base and transitory allurements thereof What can be more vile and undecent for a man than to be a slave to his belly And what greater madness than to renounce and quit our interest in all those excellent benefits which Sobriety brings both to Soul and Body for a little tickling delight in the throat and to expose our selves to the lash of all those evils both of Soul and Body wherewith Intemperance scourgeth her followers Oh the wretched condition of mankind that is subject to so great vanity blinded with so much darkness and beset with so many errors whose mind is deluded in his judgment and choice by a vain appearance of delectable good as it useth to be in dreams 66. And thus much shall suffice to have spoken touching Sobriety as it is the soveraign means and instrument for preservation of bodily health and vigor of mind in and unto long old age and as it is a procurer of the most excellent good that can be to both parts of a man bringing abundance both of Temporal and Spiritual Benefits to the exercisers thereof I heartily beseech God that the things thus written may prove to the good of many and will conclude in the words of S. Peter exhorting all men to Sobriety 1 Pet. 5. 6. Be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour whom resist stedfast in the faith For Sobriety is not only available for the overcoming of the temptations of the Flesh to which the greatest part of the world are subject but absolutely for all other likewise and is helpful to every kind of vertue as is plain and evident by what we have formerly in this Treatise proved A TREATISE of Temperance and Sobriety Written by LVD CORN ARVS Translated into English by Mr. GEORGE HERBERT HAving observed in my time many of my friends of excellent wit and noble disposition overthrown and undone by Intemperance who if they had lived would have been an ornament to the world and a comfort to their friends I thought fit to discover in a short Treatise that Intemperance was not such an evil but it might easily be remedied which I undertake the more willingly because divers worthy young men have obliged me unto it For when they saw their parents and kindred snatcht away in the midst of their days and me contrariwise at the age of Eighty and one strong and lusty they had a great desire to know the way of my life and how I came to be so Wherefore that I may satisfie their honest desire and withal help many others who will take this into consideration I will declare the causes which moved me to forsake Intemperance and live a sober life expressing also the means which I